For a moment she wondered if she’d reached the bottom floor, but saw a walkway lined with what looked to be electrical service for the hotel. Several light bulbs dangled precariously, glowing with a faded voltage.
When she reached out to grab the handle her awkward position toppled her out. Bracing the fall with her right hand drove a sharp pain up her weak shoulder. Her uncle hadn’t dislocated it, but yanked hard enough to make it tender. Struggling to get up, she heard the dumb waiter door slam like a tennis ball against wood. At the sound of its descent, Tessa rose and stared at a shadow holding a rifle.
His silence comforted her knowing Jake was thinking. She used to ask him as a small child why he was such a quiet man. He would gather her up in his arms and give her a piece of peppermint from his pocket before saying he was thinking about how to make the world a better place. Could he have been devising this night’s rendezvous with death even back then?
“Uncle Jake?” No reply. “Uncle Jake, I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t,” she swallowed hard as she took a timid step forward as she rubbed her shoulder. “Just don’t hurt me. Okay, Uncle Jake?”
A slow movement into the light revealed a man she hardly recognized. Gone was the uncle who took her hunting, wore a crown at her tea parties and read to her when he filled in as a babysitter so her parents could have a date night. The lines around his eyes and mouth had deepened. His thinning gray hair looked white in the eco-friendly light. The funny colored eyes she’d once loved to stare into were now rimmed in dark circles and puffy skin.
“You’ll help me get my friends back?” It was a question that sounded like an order.
“Yes. Just, please don’t shoot the…”
“No! You help me. No questions.” A threatening step forward caused Tessa to freeze.
“Okay. Just tell me what the plan is so I know how to help.”
“First tell me who those men were I saw with you. The dark one first. The one in the picture.”
“He’s Serbian. He works for the government, just like the man you took down.”
“And the last one? The big one who helped you.”
“The captain. He’s in charge. He asked for my help.”
Jake narrowed his eyes to focus better. “Who are they? FBI?”
Reaching out to him Tessa shook her head. “Homeland is all I know, Uncle Jake.” Lying to her uncle wasn’t easy. He knew her as well as anyone. “It’s a secret agency that works for the president.”
The sound of applause could be heard again drifting upward. She guessed they were over the stage.
“Do you work for them?”
“Yes, as of last night. It’s temporary. It’s a long story, Uncle Jake. Robert knows nothing about this. I’ll explain later. But now we need to go to the captain and explain before you get killed.”
He shook his stubborn head, inching forward. “I’ve got a job to do, Tessie. I can’t let my friends down.” His voice took on urgency. “How can you help me?”
“Do you even know who did this or where they are being held?
“Not yet, but” a grin started to appear on his lips, “I hog tied the one they sent to make sure I did my job.” A sniffle laugh escaped him as he looked over the metal railing where more applause drifted upwards.
“Why did you tie him up?” Tessa hoped he was having second thoughts about shooting the president. “Can’t he tell you where the men are? You could’ve brought him to us to help.”
“Doesn’t speak much English and I kinda knocked him out with a broken pot I found behind a dumpster about two blocks away. I figured there was more than one of them watching me. Where you see one cockroach there’s lots more hiding.”
“Where is he now, Uncle Jake?”
“The weather was looking ugly by the time he came to. Since he couldn’t tell me anything I could understand, I gagged him. After that I helped him get in the dumpster to ride out the storm. Didn’t figure on it getting this bad though. He may have flown that puppy down to Pennsylvania Avenue and straight into the White House.” A chuckle escaped him as he took another step closer. He almost sounded carefree.
Between security cameras and the Secret Service, chances of them getting out were slim to none. If she could usher him from the building maybe he’d survive. “Let’s go get him. Maybe I can understand him. Your hearing isn’t what it used to be. Do you know how to get us out of this area? They’ll be looking for me any minute.”
Jake nodded and reached out to touch Tessa’s arm. “Sorry I tried to hurt you. Levi said…”
“Gilad Levi? He told you about my arm? How did he know?”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. He’s a shifty SOB, I’ll tell ya that. Those Israelis haven’t changed one bit.”
Tessa could see that this line of communication would only get him agitated. “Okay.” She could now lay a hand on the arm that cradled the rifle. “How do we get to a lower level?” Forcing a weak smile Tessa watched her uncle tilt his head and adore her with his eyes. “I love you, Uncle Jake. Let’s get out of here.”
A rattling of metal against hurried footsteps jerked the two back to reality as their eyes peered into the darkness.
“Uncle Jake?” Tessa watched as her uncle smiled lovingly at her. “Ready?”
He nodded.
~~~
Chase wished the metal didn’t echo. He could hear voices as he lifted Carter’s Beretta to a readied position. Hearing a woman’s scream accelerated his cautious approach as he topped the narrow stairs.
Outlined in dim light he saw Tessa bending over a body on the floor. “Tessa.” He rushed forward as she jumped up. Trembling with fear, her eyes went to the man convulsing on the floor.
“He’s having a seizure!” Tessa pushed the hand down that carried his weapon. “Do something!”
Foam poured out of the old man’s mouth as Tessa fell back to her knees to restrain him. “Make sure he doesn’t hit his head. I’ll get help.” Chase took several steps and turned away as he touched his earwig to speak. “Get the paramedics up here.” He gave the location. “Looks like a seizure. Yes. Agent Scott is here too. Move it.”
Pivoting on his heels, he found Tessa standing less than two feet from him. She looked pained. Those blue eyes that made him feel like he was drowning were batting with a nervous anticipation. Never a good sign.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
The moment he underestimated the situation, Chase looked down to see that Jake’s body was gone. “What the…”
Before he could finish the sentence something slammed into the back of his knees, pitching him forward. He rolled to his back in time to see the butt of a rifle make contact with his nose. The pain forced him flat on the floor. Blood ran over his lips as he tried unsuccessfully to rally. Tessa fell down beside him. In that fleeting moment when she brought her lips to his ear, he felt the pain in his chest that came with her touch.
“I quit.”
Chapter 18
Staggering to his feet Chase wiped his nose against the sleeve of his suit jacket. Someone tried to take a look at his injury, but he shoved them off so hard the paramedic staggered backwards. Blinking back the sharp pain under his eyes, he tried mentally to clear the cobwebs. His forehead felt like it collided with a hammer. After discovering his earwig was missing, he searched on the floor. Hoping he’d see it in the proximity of Carter’s gun dropped during the scuffle, the captain realized that too was gone.
Pulling back his shoulders, Chase reached inside his jacket and pulled out his own weapon. The image of the old man jamming the butt of his rifle into his face forced him to admit the woman tricked him yet again.
Standing still for only seconds, he recalled Tessa’s soft hair touching his cheek as she relieved him of his earwig. He remembered how she ran her fingers along his bloody cheekbone before shouting at her uncle to stop.
Stop what, he wondered. He looked around him as Secret Service agents began looking for signs of the two. Tessa threw an arm across him
and nearly landed in his lap. Squinting his eyes, Chase visualized the old man, foam around his mouth with the butt of his gun ready to land another blow. She’d protected him from further attack. Maybe she knew if he rallied the old man’s neck would be snapped like a twig. Either way Chase needed to get to her before the Secret Service.
“Stop,” he shouted. He looked around at the men speaking to others throughout the building with annoyed expressions. They knew the woman worked for Enigma. “She’s listening to you. Everything you say lets her know where you are so shut the hell up!” He stormed into the darkness. “Get the president off the stage now!”
~~~
Tessa watched her uncle wipe the remaining foam from his face as he peered out through a small crack between the door frame and door. Luckily she’d picked up some Alka Seltzer in the hotel store. Developing an upset stomach earlier in the evening, Tessa knew it would only get worse before the night ended. With the sound of footsteps, she forced her uncle to pop one in his mouth. Seconds later, fizzy foam poured from his lips.
Tricking Chase would be her undoing. He hated insubordination, especially from her. Putting the moves on her meant nothing more than enjoying the bare skin exposed in a rather revealing dress. How many times had she seen him turn the charm on and off? Whatever innocent charade she’d try now would be wasted. He wasn’t anything like her husband Robert, who could be manipulated with a little remorse.
The image of the two men in her life almost made her laugh out loud. Robert’s picture would probably be next the word predictable in the dictionary, whereas Chase’s would be looming next to lethal. Robert obeyed the letter of the law, like the professional lawyer he strived to be. Chase used the law to break others, sometimes with his bare hands.
Robert believed her to be plagued with indecision and clumsiness, which he said could be endearing at times. The man who dragged her into an alley and forced himself on her believed Tessa to be a dangerous manipulator who couldn’t be trusted. His intentions felt wild and brutish when he’d crushed her against his chest the night before. Promises of protection through gritted teeth would now turn to revenge. Robert was safe. Captain Hunter resembled quicksand.
Tessa listened to dead silence on the earwig. “We need to move, Uncle Jake.”
With the help of the earwig Tessa knew people were on the move with the president. She touched the door as Jake stepped aside to check his rifle. Leaving a smear of blood she’d taken from Chase’s face she made a small arrow pointing down and out the hall. She pushed Jake back when several men rushed by toward the stage door. Secret Service.
How many were left to guard the exterior door? Two more? Three? She knew enough to understand they didn’t abandon their post without orders. The door would still be covered by more armed Secret Service waiting for her or the president.
Leaving traces of blood on her escape route was a last second decision. Would Chase be able to follow? She feared the vulnerability she now faced. Would Chase kill her too, in order to take down her uncle?
Unexpectedly she recognized Chase’s voice, causing her hand to touch her ear. He’d secured another earwig. Imagining him ripping it out of someone else’s ear made her flinch. Now she realized his warning drove the guards forward for extra protection. That meant more agents outside protecting the door. At first she thought a dog was growling before the hair started to stand on the back of her neck.
“Tessa, if you’re listening to me, I’m coming for you. And when I catch you, and I will catch you, I’m going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget.” There was a pause. “Provided you survive long enough to remember it.”
The lights flickered. The roar of the storm sounded like an angry giant pounding on the exterior. The smells from the kitchen mingled with the sickening sweet smell of rotting garbage as the exit door sucked open. Gingerly the two slipped out into the corridor. If they could get to the kitchen they might find a way out.
The wind sounded like a roar as it forced itself into a space which acted like a wind tunnel. Even though they were at the opposite end, blowing rain reached in like sharp icy fingers. Jake nearly lost his balance as he moved out onto the wet floor near the kitchen doors.
Tessa cringed for only a second as rain blew in to sting her bare skin above her breasts. Her eyes were drawn to something red washing into the corridor. Blood.
In the time it took to touch her earwig she knew the large lumps sprawled across the loading dock were bodies, not trash bags blown from containment areas.
“Officers down!” She screamed. “Repeat! Officers down. Do not bring the president into the exit corridor! Chase! Somebody! Listen to me!”
There was a moment in time which would later haunt her in the middle of the night. The nightmare began to unfold. Although it occurred at warp speed, Tessa would experience it in slow motion over and over again until she jerked awake drenched in sweat with a pounding heart.
Jake swung around toward the door bringing up his rifle. He’d seen the bodies too. The stage doors opened vehemently with agents coming through two deep before Tessa spied the president. She stole a glance back at the exit as masked men with some kind of automatic weapon burst in and stopped short for a couple of seconds. Their bodies hunched with anticipation in what would follow. Weapons lowered toward them.
Without hesitation, Jake shot one in the chest, sprawling him in front of two others who tripped and fell. Their guns discharged into the overhead lights, leaving the corridor in darkness. Only the light from the exit sign remained. The escape route, now bathed in a pool of pale light revealed a floor glistening with a mixture of rain and blood.
The invaders hunched low like shadowy monsters wearing ski masks. With determination, Tessa swung around toward the president and his protection detail. They pushed him back toward the door when the lights went out. Their weapons raised, the brave men who protected the president tried to neutralize the threat.
“Uncle Jake, get down,” she screamed as she fell to the floor and tried to crawl toward the Secret Service. Earlier she’d relieved Chase of the Beretta then rammed the barrel of weapon into the top of her bodice. The butt of the gun rubbed her chin as she scampered toward what she believed to be safety. Her knees ached. The crazy thought of losing one of her new shoes made her look back toward the fire fight unfolding.
Jake continued to fire his rifle as the Secret Service came alongside him. She wasn’t sure why they didn’t kill him. Maybe the fact that he fired at the greater threat kept him alive. She knew he had to be close to empty. Did he have more ammo? Could he reload under such dire circumstances?
She watched two more attackers fall but just as many Secret Service fell. One dropped across her legs smashing her flat. With elbows pressed into the concrete, Tessa managed to pull free of the dead weight on her calves. Something wet and sticky running down into her half on shoes created a gag reflex. She felt a bullet whiz by her ear, forcing her head down so hard she nearly knocked herself unconscious against the floor.
Tears gushed out of her eyes from the sudden jolt of pain. She looked up to see the president hunched down behind John Elliott, the point man for the Secret Service. He’d been the one who forced her to interrogate the girl. He walked backwards, gun drawn, pushing the president back against his will. The wall stopped them. John’s gun was drawn with other men to stand and block a fatal shot.
As she tried to crawl again she heard John’s agitated command. “Stay down.”
Was he talking to her or the president? Her eyes lifted to John just as she watched his gun fly up and out of his hand. The same instant his hand fell to his neck as an explosion of blood flew back on the president. He tumbled forward, leaving the president exposed.
Something clicked inside Tessa. She saw chaos in the stock market, battle lines drawn for war, NORAD open missile silos, and her children crying. She scrambled up with the grace of a three legged gazelle.
“Mr. President!” She jumped in front of him, grabbing him by the shoulders. H
is eyes went wide with surprise as he put his hands around her waist. She tried to pull him down to the floor, but he resisted as his eyes watched the unfolding mayhem. The tug of his hands nearly pushed Tessa aside. She could feel him draw her near as if it were her who needed protecting. “I’m sorry, Mr. President.”
Reaching inside his jacket she found an exposed spot on his neck. Between her index finger and thumb Tessa grabbed some skin around his juggler and pinched viciously.
President Austin looked down at her in bewilderment and pain as she released him. He jerked back hitting his head against the wall. This gave Tessa enough time to knock him off balance and force him down. A bullet ricocheted off the wall just as they hit the floor. As awkward as it felt, Tessa flipped over and found that she had straddled the president’s lap.
A fleeting press release appeared in her head: “The president was found dead with an unknown female sitting in his lap. Speculation is that…”
Tessa pushed the report from her head.
“Chase. Chase,” was all she could manage to yell as another Secret Service agent fell.
With horror Tessa watched one of the attackers take his gun and slam it into her uncle’s head as he tried to reload.
Jake waved the others back saying: “Take care of the president.” He fell through the swinging doors of the kitchen as another masked man rammed the barrel of his gun into the old man’s gut.
The smell of gun powder, sweat and something else repulsed her as the attackers stepped in over her uncle.
The agents backed toward the president, eyeing her as she covered his body. She rolled off with a clumsy attempt to stand as she reached down for him. Would they shoot her too? “He’s safe,” she declared staggering while trying to pull the president to his feet.
Thirty seconds. That’s all it had taken to nearly destroy the leader of the free world. Tessa knew, as did the agents, it would start again as soon as the attackers reloaded and sucked in some courage. She guessed they were surprised at the appearance of the Secret Service coming through the doors.
Winds of Deception (Enigma Series Book 2) Page 19