by D S Kane
Ann asked, “You got pregnant? Then where’s your child?”
“I had an abortion.” Her face contorted. She wouldn’t tell the teenager how she was raped by the assassin paid to kill her. Or that she murdered him in self-defense. She’d had no intention of bearing the child of a rapist killer. She pulled on a turtleneck, and removed slacks from a hanger in the closet, slipping them on.
Ann gulped. “An abortion?” Her brows furrowed. “Wow. And I thought I was messed up. Uh, so, when you got pregnant you grew tits? How’s that work? I thought you just had what you had.”
Cassie hadn’t intended explaining the facts of life to Ann. But it was a matter of trust to answer her questions. She couldn’t keep the reluctance out of her voice, though. “Mine have always been tiny. But they get larger during pregnancy.”
Ann petted the sleeping kitten. “Sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t ask so many questions.”
Cassie wondered what to say. She wasn’t ready to tell Ann why she wanted—no, needed—to be a parent. She turned away as she dressed, wiping away tears. In the mirror she watched Ann bend down petting the kitten. Forcing her voice to sound normal, she said, “Gizmo really seems to like you.”
She looked at herself in the mirror. Casually dressed, loose-fitting clothing. No weapons. She sighed; still a bit of time left before she must leave.
She faced Ann. “I led a messy, complicated life over the last year. As I told you, I have a boyfriend. Lee Ainsley. We both worked for one of the Fed’s intelligence agencies.”
“Where is he?” Ann brushed back hair that had fallen into her face.
“I have to go get him now. He was hunted, too. It’s what brought us together. Before that, we didn’t like each other much. But when I had to run away, Lee came with me. He helped me get my life back.” She looked at herself again in the mirror. “The government arrested him. So he’ll probably be… I’m guessing they tortured him for helping me.”
Cassie felt awkward as she packed a suitcase with fresh clothes for Lee. Ann studied her. She waited for the girl to say something, but Ann was silent. When she finished packing, she straightened and zipped the suitcase closed. “Back in a few hours.”
Ann stood up. “You don’t want me to come with you?”
“They told me to come alone.” And unarmed, Cassie thought.
“Right.” Cassie could tell Ann wasn’t convinced. “Uh, well, okay. I’ll just watch television.” Ann sat on the couch and picked up the remote, but she didn’t turn on the TV. Tension filled the room.
“I’ll be back soon. Okay?”
Ann said nothing, her face impassive.
Cassie dragged the suitcase behind her and closed the apartment door. She moved as quickly as she could down the steps and onto the street, where she hailed a cab. “Reagan Airport.” She finally started to breathe normally as the cab pulled into traffic. It was harder working with a teenager than she’d thought. And how would Ann and Lee get along? What had they done to him? Would he be okay? Able to walk? Would he recover? An endless list of questions.
As she sat back in the cab, exhaustion overtook her and she dozed. It had been two nights since she’d slept. She dreamt of being back in Afghanistan at the caves near Tora Bora, inside a cave with her infantry mercenaries, carefully creeping toward the terrorists lodged there. Cassie could hear them talking in Pashtu. She could smell their unbathed bodies. She saw a child soldier put on and arm a vest filled with C-4 explosives. Her eyes widened as he held the explosives’ trigger. Not a young man, still prepubescent, he looked right at her, grinning. He said in Pashtu, “Now you all die,” as he pressed the trigger. Her head bolted up, slamming against the taxi cab’s roof as she jerked awake.
Her pulse raced as she desperately sought to regain her internal balance. The dream was no worse than the reality of last week when her mercenary hit squad murdered seven hundred terrorists and tortured their two leaders to death.
The dream left her with a sardonic grin, reflected in the cab’s side window. To comfort herself, she focused on Ann. Calm once again.
Cassie thought of Mark McDougal, her old boss who’d blown her cover, sold her identity to terrorists, and got her drummed out of the agency. It still stung to consider the treachery of the man who had recruited her. To stay alive, she’d fled Washington and stole money for her operations by hacking into terrorist bank accounts. She used their cash to fund a mercenary army called Kravgruppe, run by Avram Shimmel, a former Israeli major. Her bodyguards had found the evidence to blackmail both McDougal and the President of the United States. The money she’d stolen from the US government would have been used to fund terrorism. It was a huge amount of cash, and more came in every day. As of this morning, she had just over two billion dollars in stolen funds. She’d used her hacking skills to keep the money well hidden.
Because she’d led the Arab world to believe that the agency had killed the Houmaz terrorists, the agency had turned on her and Lee. To absolve themselves, the agency had publicly blamed her partner and boyfriend, arresting Lee. To save him from torture and death, she’d used the blackmail evidence to get him released from Guantanamo Bay.
Lee’s plane would land in just under one hour. They would be together again, she and he, and—for the first time in their relationship—they would not have to worry about who wanted them dead.
But starting a new life wasn’t enough. Her boss at the government had cheated her of her innocence. She felt compelled to remedy the mistakes she’d made and the guilt she felt. She wanted to feel whole at last.
The doctor who performed the abortion said she’d probably never bear children. Her uterus was now scarred. Loving Ann Silbee was her redemption. She’d traveled to New York City and found the teenager. This was just the first step.
She expected the government Lee worked faithfully to protect had damaged him. She knew she could twist the system only as long as this President occupied the office. Four more months at most. And after that she was sure they’d come for her.
She’d created no plan to protect herself. Yet. And she knew that the agency’s technology toys would find her no matter how well she hid.
Cassie decided for as long as she was able, she’d use the money and evidence of blackmail to live out her dreams, her vision of a family. Lee, Ann, and Gizmo. There were loose ends to fix. The biggest one was her desire to use the money for some good causes, and the most important of those was a consulting company to correct the evil done by the sitting President.
When she arrived at the airport, she located the terminal where they‘d be delivering Lee. It was an old military hanger, corrugated aluminum and broken single-pane windows. Cassie showed identification to a sentry, then waited alone, happy they would be reunited. She ran her hands through her hair, trying to straighten it, but a stiff breeze ruffled it again and again.
Her mind drifted back to her meeting with Mark McDougal, just two days ago. The bald spot at the top of his head reddened with rage when she’d shown him the evidence that forced him to release Lee. She knew McDougal would be a never-ending problem. Her only other choice was to kill him. Oddly, she enjoyed controlling him. Plus she didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else’s death—even his—ever again.
The military transport landed and taxied toward the hanger. Lee!
No one ever left Gitmo alive. Lee Ainsley knew death was near and there was nothing he could do. He was sure he was being taken to an agency-sponsored interrogation camp. They’d asked him endless questions, and he’d had no answers. As the plane landed, he wondered where he was. Kabul? Oman? Samarkand?
Someone yanked him from the aircraft’s seat and pulled off the hood covering his face. He looked around. Inside some sort of transport plane. Four guards, two of them in business suits. He was the only passenger.
“What day is this?” His voice sounded faint to his ears. The sound of his own screams over the last few days still echoed in his head. “Where are we?” He felt weak and slipped back into his seat.
One of the uniformed guards prodded him in his ribs. Lee winced in pain. “Just come with us.” The other guards were silent. He knew there were marks all over his body. They’d been so careful when they beat him, using torture methods he could barely have imagined. But they’d done so much. There had to be bruises in the places where he felt pain. He tried to walk but his legs buckled. One of the uniforms moved to grip his arm and the two other guards dragged him by the elbow to the door of the plane.
One of the sentries forced him upright and pushed him forward. Two uniformed guards walked on one side of him and the two guys in suits on the other.
They stopped as if they were waiting for something to happen. A flood of memories welled up inside him. His work in the agency as Director of Security. He and Cassie escaping from the Houmaz brothers. His arrest in Washington just after Cassie and her mercs had disarmed the nuclear device in the Washington Monument. Where was she now? Was she okay? He remembered buying an engagement ring for her. Where was it now? Did they have her, too?
The aircraft’s door opened and steps descended from the fuselage. She watched, pacing back and forth, her right hand fidgeting with her hair. Two uniformed sentries came down the steps, followed by Lee in an orange jumpsuit, cuffed hand-to-leg. Then two men wearing suits. One of the sentries prodded Lee, and he stumbled down the ramp and into the hanger. His eyes downcast, he seemed not to notice his surroundings.
When she saw how damaged he was, Cassie bit her knuckle to keep from crying out. Both his eyes were blackened. Ripped flesh swollen on the left side of his mouth. His right ear was black and blue. She imagined injuries she couldn’t see as he limped forward. His eyes stayed focused on the ground, like a caged animal that had learned helplessness.
Cassie stopped herself from running up to him, smoothing her turtleneck sweater and focusing on her own breathing. A private chant. A mantra. Once Lee and the guards reached their destination on the hangar floor, the two suits unlocked his cuffs. The armed soldiers headed back to the aircraft, and the suits passed Cassie and moved toward the airport parking lot. They seemed to see her, but ignored her.
Lee remained standing and shivering alone in the intense heat, obviously too terrified to move. Cassie walked slowly toward him. When she was close, she whispered his name.
His head jerked up. He looked around, his expression confused. Cassie could smell a horrid mix of body odor, vomit, dry blood, and stale urine coming from the orange jump suit. Some of his bruises oozed blood. She waited.
His expression changed, now incredulous. “Cassie?” His voice was just above a whisper. He raised his arms, limping toward her, and flinching in pain from the effort.
Cassie moaned, and held her arms out. He felt heavy against her and her nose wrinkled from the smell of him. She’d expected that, but still…it was so putrid. She hugged him—as if he were marked “fragile”—and looked into his eyes. “Oh, Lee. What did they do to you?”
He looked away from her. He must feel humiliated, she thought.
“Do you need a hospital?”
He shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
She nodded, expecting he would want no one to know what they’d done. But Ann would see him. Too late now. “Let’s get out of here.” Cassie promised herself she’d tend to his wounds once they were safely at his apartment. She handed him a two tabs of Oxycontin and a water bottle. “Take these for the pain.” He nodded, popped the pills and swallowed some water, almost gagging. He dropped the bottle. She left it there.
“I brought you fresh clothing.” She pointed to the small suitcase, her eyes tearing. “Let me help you put these on. Just stand there and I’ll dress you. There’s no one in this hanger now, so no one will see you. Please, Lee.” His body smelled like death. She could barely stand being this close.
Lee looked at her as if unsure of what to do. She stripped off the stench he wore. When he winced she stopped tugging. Cassie helped him struggle to keep his balance. She tossed his old clothes as far away as she could.
She saw the black-and-blue marks covering his body like the map of a bombed-out village. Even his genitals were purple from nonstop beatings. All this damage from just three days at Gitmo. She held him gently and helped him dress. His movements were stiff and slow. When they finished, she gently hugged him and held her breath to kiss him, afraid that the strong odors coming off his body—even in the fresh clothing—would still make her gag. “Lee, I worried about you so much. Welcome home.”
His voice sounded craggy, hoarse. “No one ever leaves there. How’d you get me out?”
She wanted to be brief, but the words came gushing out, beyond her control. “I used the evidence against McDougal, Greenfield, and the President. I own them. McDougal’s my dog forever.” She forced a smile. “So, you can have your old job back at the agency, but with a promotion to Operations Executive Director and a substantial raise in salary, all as an apology for what they did to you. It’s what you told me you wanted, before… before—”
She thought about him working in such a toxic environment. “But I think it would be better for you to leave the sleaze of Washington and work with me at Swiftshadow Consulting Group. That’s what I’m going to call the new company. Lee, I got the feds to give Swiftshadow preferred vendor status for contracts.”
He nodded, surprise on his face. Then tried to smile. She could see that at least he hadn’t lost any teeth.
A half-mile walk to the airport passenger terminals. They had to stop several times for him to rest. Lee walked slowly, in obvious pain. It took over an hour to cover the distance. Neither spoke but they did hold hands. She hailed a cab and they headed back to the city.
On the way home Cassie shifted so she could see his face. “Yesterday I went to New York. Remember the teenager I met there?” Lee nodded. She continued. “I found her! I brought her back to Washington. You’ll meet her when we get back to your apartment. Lee, I want to adopt Ann Silbee. She’s smart and she can still grow up normally. Lee, I have to do this. Oh, and I found a stray kitten.” She stopped, realizing she’d been talking too loud. “Uh, you’ll be okay with this, won’t you?”
He just stared back.
She could see he was puzzled and realized she’d made a mistake. Still, she couldn’t stop herself. “We’ll need a bigger place, but that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve reconciled my bank accounts. After the dust settled, I paid the mercs. Lee, I have just over two billion dollars! All stolen from the United States Tax and Treasury System. It’s the money they used to fund terrorism under the President.”
“Stop, Cassie. Way too much information. It’s all flying over my head. Can’t concentrate.” He turned away. In seconds she could hear him snoring, head back against the taxi’s upholstery.
Lee awoke as the moving taxi slammed into a pothole. He kept his eyes shut so he could think without her interrupting him. All her decisions surprised him. All he wanted was sleep, food, and a chance to recover. He’d never felt so weak, so helpless before. His mind rolled back over the pains shooting through his body. He could still hear the prison alarms screeching constantly so he couldn’t nod off. Saw bright flashes of light. Felt a rubber mallet pounding on his hand, his ear, and his face. Someone wearing a steel-tipped boot had kicked him in the groin. This last one had him bolting upright in the cab.
She’d been busy while they were working him over. He wanted to keep his studio apartment. He slowly turned toward her, grimacing as pain shot through him. “My studio is rent-controlled.” He took a deep breath. “I want to continue working at the agency. Using your money for rent or purchase of property that we live in, can’t do that. Conflict of interest since you have preferred vendor status.” Cassie stared.
He seemed to strain his focus, to use his last bit of conscious energy. “This is the first time I’ve ever heard you mention adopting this Ann Silbee. Who the hell is she? How’d you meet her?”
His eyebrows shot up. “My God, we’d become instant parents. I don’t know how
I feel about that. They don’t allow pets in my building.” He shook his head. “Cassie, isn’t the girl like the stray kitten you said you found? I’m so confused. I haven’t slept since they took me. They tortured me. Give me time to think. Please, give me time.”
The taxi pulled up to the curb in front of Lee’s Georgetown studio. “Could we take this slow? Let’s try living together. Let’s see if I can make friends with this kitten. What if this girl doesn’t like me? What will you do then? Stay with me? Choose her?” He staggered as they walked up the steps toward his apartment’s door. When he stumbled, she caught him.
As they trudged up the three flights of stairs, she was careful to help him. Cassie thought about Lee’s objections. “I want to be with you. I also want Ann. And Gizmo. I want everything I’d hoped for, all the hopes and dreams normal people achieve, all that was taken from me by our government and the terrorists. I want a future. I want to follow my heart. I’ve been a tool of others for too long, Lee. Please. Try it my way.”
“But, what if it doesn’t work?” He took his apartment keys from the small satchel of his belongings returned by his captors when they released him. He found the tiny box containing the engagement ring still there. But now wasn’t the right time.
Lee opened the door and found himself face-to-face with a small black cat looking more like a big-eared rat with a furry tail. “Gizmo?” The kitten looked up at his face, as if being asked some question she couldn’t understand. The cat stood its ground and meowed a reply.
Cassie picked the cat up and held it out to him. “Uh, yeah. Gizmo. She’s still jumpy. When you sit, she’ll find your lap.” She looked towards the living room area and saw Ann on the couch staring back at them. “Ann, this is Lee.”
Ann walked toward them. As she closed the distance, she said, “You must be Lee.” She sniffed the air and stepped back. “You smell gross.”