by L. T. Ryan
“I only enjoy ten of those minutes, if I’m lucky. The rest is cuddle time so you don’t come crawling after me.”
Mason laughed. He set down the papers and picked up the sandwich, took a bite. The time he’d spent stuck with Gloria hadn’t been that bad. They’d talked more than they had since they split up. Hell, more than they had during the last few years of their marriage. He remembered the things he loved most about her. The way her hair smelled. How her soft snores eased him to sleep. The distinct way the right side of her mouth curled right before she smiled.
“What?” she said.
“What?” he said.
“Why are you staring and grinning at me?”
He shrugged.
“No, it ain’t happening. Not tonight. Not under these circumstances.”
He dropped the sandwich and rose, walked toward her. She backed up, never taking her eyes off of his. She ran into the counter. He approached, placed his hands on her waist, kissed her neck, her mouth. His right hand glided up her side, then back down, past her hips, under her buttocks, down to mid-thigh. He lifted her leg. They pushed into one another. Fast, hot breath intermingled.
“You sure about that?” he said.
“About what?”
“Not tonight.”
“Yes. It’s still daytime. You’ll be too tired for tonight.”
They kissed. Off went his shirt. Hers followed. Their hands re-explored one another’s bodies.
Mason’s phone rang. A series of notes played in a fashion that most would find appealing. Not Mason though. The ringtone was dedicated to his boss.
“Dammit,” he said, pulling away from Gloria.
“What? Don’t go. I’m sure it can wait.”
“It’s Mills, Gloria. He won’t wait. I don’t answer, he’ll send someone here.”
She placed her palms on the counter behind her and hoisted herself up.
Mason admired her tight abdomen as he backed up toward the couch. He turned, found his phone, answered.
“Yeah, boss?”
“We’ve found him,” Cameron Mills said.
“Who?” Mason feared that a team had picked up Noble.
“That son of a bitch, Naseer. That’s who.”
“Where?”
“All that’s coming to you. You’re leading a raid tonight. We’re going to take him down.”
“How many men?”
“Small team.”
“Joe?”
“No one’s heard from him. Was hoping you had.”
“Not yet.”
“I’ll reach out, see if I can find him.”
“OK, sir. Anything else?”
Mills had nothing else for him, so Mason hung up and dropped the phone on the sofa. Gloria came toward him, but he held out his hands and moved her aside. He rushed upstairs to his office. He made sure the fax was on and the line clear. Then he pulled out a second cell phone from his pocket. He placed a call. Jack Noble answered on the fourth ring.
“We’ve got him.”
“Who?”
“Naseer.”
“In custody?”
“No, we know where he is though. I’m leading a raid tonight. I want you there.”
“Hold on a minute.”
It sounded like Jack’s phone was set down on a table, then covered with the man’s palm. All Mason could hear were muffled voices. A minute later, Jack got on the line.
“OK, I’m in, but only if I can bring a couple people.”
“I’ve got no problem with that.”
“Where are we going?”
“Waiting to find out.”
“Gloria still with you?”
“Yeah. You said not to let her leave. I haven’t yet.”
“Hold on.” Jack came back on the line a moment later. “Come to Number 10. Bring Gloria with you.”
“Are you with the Prime Minister?”
“Something like that.”
“How did that happen?”
“I’ll explain later. Get moving. We need you here two seconds ago.”
Mason hung up and trotted down the stairs. “Gloria, get your bag. We’re leaving.”
“Where are we going?”
Mason hit the bottom step, jumped toward the door. He looked over his shoulder and saw Gloria standing in the kitchen, half-dressed.
“Do we have to go now?” she said, her hands on her hips.
“Get your shirt on, Gloria. We’re going to Number 10.”
“What did you do?”
“What? Nothing.”
“Then why are we going to see the Prime Minister?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Then why do I have to go?”
“Because.”
“Because why?”
“Because they said you did.”
Mason waited for her to dress, then he took her hand and led her outside. They walked a half block to his car. He opened the door, waited for her to get in. The door slammed shut with a solid thud.
“They could have sent a Rolls for us,” she said when he got in the car.
Mason laughed. “Nothing’s ever good enough.”
“That’s not true. I just think things can be better sometimes.”
Mason glanced at her, smiled, said, “I think you’re right, Gloria.”
CHAPTER 49
“Can we trust him?” Alex said. “I want your gut feeling, Jack.”
Jack leaned back in his chair, looked up at the ceiling. At this point, Mason was an enigma. Jack’s instincts fought over the question. “I can’t say that we shouldn’t.”
“But you can’t say that we can,” Jon said.
“That’s right,” Jack said.
“Let’s wait till he gets here, then question him a bit,” Jon said.
Everyone agreed. Whether Mason had told Jack the truth, or was trying to set him up, they’d determine shortly. Before then, he wanted to arrange for Erin and Mia to be transported to the Prime Minister’s house. They’d be safest in the bunker with Mandy. Even if someone tried to blow the place up, the reinforced room thirty feet underground could withstand the impact and Jack assumed it had an escape route.
So he got up and left the room and made the call to Dottie.
“Jack, how is it going there?”
“Things are moving in the right direction, I think. We’ve got some leads and will be following up on them soon. Look, I’ve asked and Alex has agreed that Erin and Mia should come here. There’s a safe room. They’ll be protected there. Some of his guys will stay to protect the girls no matter where we go.”
A moment of silence, then Dottie said, “Erin’s been taken to the hospital, Jack.”
“What? I thought she was OK? What happened?”
“Her leg.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“She started bleeding. Collapsed to the floor.”
“Is she OK?”
“I haven’t heard from Leon yet, and I don’t want to speculate.”
She didn’t need to. Jack knew the location of the wound and realized there must have been damage to the femoral artery. The doctor had missed it or perhaps caused it. A tiny perforation at first. Over time, pressure had built, the lining had ripped.
“Which hospital?” Jack said.
“I’m not sure where they went.”
“Which one is closest?”
“They wouldn’t have gone there. Leon would never…”
Jack waited, but she did not finish the sentence. He didn’t have time to pull the answer out of her. “Find out and let me know. In the meantime, we need to get Mia and Hannah here.”
“OK. Do you need me to arrange that?”
“It’d help. I doubt I can get them to spare a guy to drive out there. In fact, you might want to bring them yourself. You can wait here, too. No sense in you putting yourself in further danger. The guys that took care of Thornton might want to hurt you as well.”
Dottie paused. “The thought had crossed my mind.”
Jack wondered if the target was in fact Dottie. Perhaps these guys were not after him. What if they were using him to get to her?
“Maybe you shouldn’t come here,” he said.
“Why not?”
“It’s probably better you and I aren’t in the same place. All I can think is that they are using one of us to get to the other. I’m starting to think that you might be their main objective.”
“Or both of us to get to the Prime Minister.”
“Do you know anything you shouldn’t?”
“Of course. It came with the territory in my old job.”
“Not that. You know what I mean. Were you involved in any of your husband’s dealings?”
“No, Jack. Never.”
Jack didn’t expect her to tell him if she had been. Not yet, at least. “OK, Dottie. Get the girls here. We’ll work on getting you a team for protection.”
“I’ll be fine when Leon gets back.”
Jack ignored her last statement. He wasn’t about to argue. They’d send someone and that was that.
He returned to the room. Jon and Sasha were talking about possible attacks and their reactions. Alex seemed to listen intently to their conversation. Jack went to the other end of the table, settled across from Bear.
“They coming?”
“Dottie’s sending them.”
“So this Mia, she’s really your kid?”
“No denying it, Bear. When you see her, you’ll know.”
“How’re you feeling about this?”
“It’s settling in. Kind of weird, to tell you the truth. You go through your whole life, and at the end of the day, you’re responsible only for yourself. I mean, there’s more than just me, of course. But to a man, I’m it.”
Bear nodded. “Understood.”
“And now that’s changed. In the back of my head, I keep thinking, is Mia OK? Will she be safe through all of this? Will they get her just to get to me? Just by sharing my DNA, she’s in danger. That’s a hell of a weight.”
“It’s how I feel about Mandy, Jack. I won’t let anything happen to that girl.”
“You feel good with her here?”
Bear shrugged. “There’s better places we could be. But I wouldn’t be here and have her down there if I didn’t think she was safe. We’d bail. And I mean that with no offense to you, but my life is changing, Jack.”
Jack felt a pang of guilt. “I know. You shouldn’t be here. Again, I’ve put you in a difficult situation. I’m done after this, Bear. We’ll take a few train rides and clean out some bank accounts when this is all over. Split it up evenly and go on our own ways. It’s time for you to release yourself from this feeling of responsibility you have toward me.”
Bear smiled. “Gosh, sounds like we’re divorcing.”
Jack laughed. “Had to happen sooner or later. You’ve lost that girlish figure I fell for so many years ago.”
Bear cackled and almost fell out of his chair.
“Glad to see you two can laugh it up down there while this nation is enduring a crisis.”
Jack turned his head and saw Jon standing, his face red, fists clenched.
“Lighten up, Jon. We’re in a holding pattern right now. Once Mason gets here, or we get more news, we’ll be ready.”
Jon stormed out of the room, slammed his palm against the wall on the way out.
Alex rose. “Don’t mind him. He gets a little high strung at times.”
Jack knew the feeling. He’d been there before. But it was him that had been targeted, not Jon. And it had been Alex that received the death threat. Jon took that personally and Jack understood why.
They relaxed a while longer. The conversations were concise and polite. Sasha joined Jack and Bear while Alex left to discuss the events with members of his cabinet.
“How long have you been close with them?” Jack asked.
“Couple years,” Sasha said. “Jon noticed me first, introduced me to Alex. We traded information as we saw fit. I helped them more than they helped me, and now they’re paying me back, so to speak. In another ten years, I’ll be a serious candidate for Director.”
“Is that what you want to do?” Jack said.
“I want to be the best,” she said.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I want what any good agent wants, to do the best I can, to protect and serve my country. If that means leading the organization, then I’d be honored. This, of course, could be a major road block. If it doesn’t go well, it could not only affect my career, but theirs as well.”
“Well, death has a way of doing that,” Bear said bluntly. “I’d imagine it’d be hard to get re-elected from the grave.”
She smiled. “That’s not the only possible outcome. Have you thought that maybe all this is a ruse? Just a diversionary tactic intended to get us looking in the wrong place?”
Jack nodded. “The thought’s crossed my mind. Guess we’ll know more after Mason gets here. If his intel checks out, and we can take down Naseer, maybe this will all be over.”
“Or maybe it’ll just be starting.”
The three were silent for a few minutes as they contemplated this.
“What do we gotta do to get some food?” Bear said. “It’s been a long day, and I’m starving.”
Sasha rose, went to the bar and picked up the phone. She returned a minute later. “They’ll have something up shortly.”
But the food never arrived. Jon and Alex did though, and they had Mason with them.
“Let’s go,” Jon said.
“We got food coming,” Bear said.
“No time,” Jon said.
“What’s going on?” Jack said.
“We’ll talk in the car.”
CHAPTER 50
They hurried down the stairs, a hall, another set of stairs. Instead of using the front door, they moved to the rear of the house and went down another level and entered a lit tunnel. LED lights cast a bluish hue over them. The passage extended a few hundred yards. They stopped in front of a reinforced door. Alex pulled out a key, stuck it in the top lock. Jon put one in the bottom lock and turned both. The door opened. A gust of air blew past, carried the smell of old oil and gasoline.
“How many tunnels are there under this place?” Jack said.
“Off the record, four that I can tell you about,” Alex said.
“Where do they go?” Bear said.
“That I can’t tell you.”
Jon stopped in front of a panel on the wall. Next to the panel was a keypad. He curled his fingers and punched in at least eight numbers. A hiss and click followed. He pulled the panel open, retrieved two sets of keys. He handed one set to Sasha and kept the other to himself. He pressed the key fob and a black van honked and flashed its lights.
“That’s our ride?” Bear said.
“Armor plated, bullet proof glass, equipped with a tactical defense system and enough weapons in back to arm two dozen men,” Jon said.
“I was just going to say it’s my kinda van,” Bear said. “But that other stuff’s cool.”
Jack shot Bear a look.
Bear hiked his shoulders an inch and held out his hands. “What?”
“Cut the guy some slack. He’s wound a bit tight. That’s going to come in handy later as long as you don’t piss him off so bad he leaves us on the side of the road.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’m riding in back.”
They piled into the van. Jon drove, Alex took a seat next to him. Bear and Jack settled in the back. Sasha and Mason in the middle.
Jon navigated the van through a network of tunnels. The dash had an LCD screen built in. The van came to a stop and Jon pushed a button below the screen. The LCD came to life and they saw what looked to be a small parking garage. Jon and Alex nodded to one another, then Jon pushed another button. The wall in front of them rose, and the image from the screen appeared in front of the van. The van pulled through the opening. The wall dropped into place behind them.
W
hen they emerged from the garage, Jack wasn’t sure where they were. He had little interest in finding out. He wanted to hear what Mason had to say and he wondered what the man had told Jon and Alex already.
“So let’s get down to business,” Jack said. “What did you tell them that you didn’t tell me, Mason?”
Jack felt as if someone was watching him. He looked up and met Jon’s stare in the rear view mirror.
“I got a directive from my boss that we’re to capture Naseer. The order came down from above him. They want him alive.”
“That it? Anything else? Did you figure out any of the other players from that night?”
“I’ve got the address. He’s holing up north with a few of his trusted guys. And no, still no clue who that man was.”
“I’d presume the men with him now are the same from the warehouse,” Jack said.
Sasha flashed him a look.
“One would assume,” Mason said. “Anyhow, I’ve got a team that is going to meet us there. Still working on reaching my partner.”
Jack looked at Sasha. She gave a slight shake of her head.
Don’t say a damn word. Understood.
They drove in relative silence for another half hour. They left the city and the suburbs behind. Freshly born leaves, light and bright green, adorned the trees. The sunlight peeked through. Jack felt the van slow. He turned his head forward and saw a break in the tree line.
The van headed off road and down a path. They bounced and rocked at a slow speed until the road was no longer in sight. Jon shifted out of gear, pulled the emergency brake, got out, came around to the passenger side and opened the door.
“Get out.” Jon aimed a pistol at Mason.
“What’s this about?” Mason said.
“Go,” Sasha said. She put her hand in the middle of his back and pushed.
Mason slid out of his seat and hopped to the ground. Sasha and Jack followed.
Jon aimed his pistol at Mason’s head. “Tell us everything.”
“Jon, what are you doing?” Jack said.
“I swear, I’ll put one in your brain if you don’t talk,” Jon said.
“What is going on?” Mason said. “Jack? What’s this about?”
Jack had no idea. Added to that, he was still unarmed. Sasha had her hand on her weapon, but had not yet drawn it.