by Jet MacLeod
“And, if I can’t?” Angie stated.
“Then, you fight your way into the bedroom. There is a closet with an attic access. You will climb your way to the roof and hide. I will leave preparations up there for you.”
“Preparations?”
“Yes, there will be a dump phone and a pistol. I’ll show you how to use it later. There will be preprogrammed numbers in the phone. The first one will be for me. You will call me and I will come faster than you can imagine. The second number will be to the Marshalls. They will send a team as fast as they can, but it won’t be fast enough. The third number will be the FBI. Same deal with them. The fourth number will be 9-1-1. That is your last resort. You will call us all in order. You will only tell the 9-1-1 operator what you can and never who you are. Do you understand?” Del asked her.
“What? Wait? You aren’t staying here with me?”
“Oh, I am. But, I have some things to do first. I need to know, that if I am not with you, that you can handle this. If you can’t, we leave tonight. No questions asked. My priority is keeping you alive. If you can’t handle this, tell me now and I’ll have a car downstairs in five.”
“I can handle this. How long will we be here? Can you tell me that?” Angie asked her.
“That depends on you and how hot things really are here.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“Not more than an hour,” Del stated as she stood up from the couch and went back to her cases.
She replaced her notebook and her scope. She pulled out a small compact five shot pistol. It was a custom .45. She checked it and made sure that it was loaded. She walked back to the couch and handed it to Angie.
“This is for you and only if you have to use it.”
“I don’t like guns.”
“I don’t like bullets, but the people out there use them both. This is just for protection and only as a last resort. You are to run first and call me.”
“I got that part.”
“Good. Now, stay here and don’t even think about going out. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I have to check in with the local Marshalls that were in charge of you. I will find a place for us to hide where no one would think to find you. Until then, we will stay here,” Del told her.
“Fine.”
“Angela, I know that this isn’t ideal for either of us, but as long as you do as I ask, it will be an easier and quicker relationship until your court date.”
Angie didn’t respond. She reluctantly took the pistol from Del and held it. Del waited until it seemed that Angie was able to handle the weapon effectively. She gave Angie a look and went back to the cases. She locked them up and grabbed them.
“I’ll be back soon. Lock the door and bolt the chain. I’ll call the phone in my bag over there before I come back. No one has that number. I will call only once. I will let it ring four times and hang up. Let the phone ring. If someone leaves a voice mail, hide. If someone calls and doesn’t let it ring four times, hide. Under no circumstances are you to answer that phone.”
“Yes, Mistress, I understand,” Angie answered her sarcastically, with a mock salute.
Del just rolled her eyes. She knew that Angie was going to test her, but what Angie didn’t know was that Del was about to test her. She wasn’t going to speak with the Marshalls or the FBI. She had already had the only briefing that she was going to get. They were on their own. Angie didn’t know that yet, but Del knew that she would have to make her understand how vulnerable she really was. Angie was in for one helluva surprise.
She didn’t know that Del was testing her. The next hour would set the tone for their unorthodox relationship. Del knew that she would have to have Angie back in the City in six months for court. Angie didn’t even know that much. They weren’t letting her know when the case was going to trial because they knew that Angie would demand to be there for the whole trial. Del wasn’t going to let her know where they were going until they got there. She figured the less that Angie actually knew the better off she would be. No one would be able to find her, if she didn’t know where she was going until she got there.
She waited outside the apartment’s door until she heard Angie lock the door behind her. She started to walk away when she finally heard the chain and bolt being slid into place. She smiled as she walked down the corridor. She made sure that she counted each step. She looked at each door until she made it to the elevator.
She pushed the button to go into the parking garage. Once she was in the garage, she made her way to her unmarked SUV and put the cases back in the hatch. She sat in the driver’s seat and turned on the radio. She waited a few minutes and tuned in to an AM station. She waited a few minutes and she could hear Angie moving around in her pack.
She smiled. She knew that Angie was a naturally curious person. She knew that Angie wasn’t going to sit back and not give her some sort of grief about basically being under house arrest. She was a social person and in the elite circles of New York. This world, this entire operation was a completely foreign idea to her. She couldn’t fathom the depths that she was about to fall into and have to learn to survive in because it meant her life.
Del turned the radio up. She knew that the bug would only give her limited range. She pulled out of the space and started out of the garage. She would go to the building across the street. It had the best vantage point and many places on the roof for an assassin to make a hide. She was going to investigate and use it to scare Angie.
It wasn’t meant to hurt her. It was meant for her to realize that Del was there to protect her and keep her safe. She would have to do something drastic so Angie would learn to trust Del’s instincts and her knowledge.
She read the file four times before she realized why she was chosen. She pulled into a space behind the building in question. She reviewed the file once again. She shook her head and then hid the file again in the secret compartment. She got her scope and a laser pointer and made her way up to the roof. She was amazed at how easy it was for her to gain access. It was just another reason that she would move Angie.
She made her way up to the corner of the building and hunkered down. She waited. She lay there in wait, because she knew that Angie would get curious and go to the window. She was good at waiting. She knew that it wouldn’t take her an hour to make the move. She might have already missed in while she was driving, but she doubted it.
As she sat in the corner of the building, with her scope in hand, she began to think about where they would go. Money wasn’t going to be a problem. She’d made sure of that. The Alphabet soup wouldn’t be a problem either. She wasn’t about to tell anyone where they were going or where they were once they were there. She was a lone agent with a mission. Her own handler wouldn’t even know where she was. She was a government ghost. It was her job. She was good at it. She was going to make Angie a ghost, too.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement. She’d been surveying the rooflines and looking for other vantage points that she might have missed being in the apartment. She turned at the movement and caught Angie standing in full view of the window. She reached in her pocket and turned on the laser. She shined it right onto Angie’s chest. It was only a warning, but it would serve its point.
She watched through the scope as Angie saw the red light. She backed up away from the window and ducked behind the couch. Delia waited. She ran the laser around the room a few times just to be sure that it wasn’t a fluke and Angie had really seen it. Then, her cell rang. She smiled. She turned off her laser pointer and started her way back to the SUV.
“I’m on my way,” she said into the phone.
She didn’t need to look at the caller ID. Only one person had that number, and it was Angie. She smiled as she made her way to the apartment. Angie could learn quickly. She actually listened to what Del had told her. Del thought that maybe she could get through to her now and Angie would actually do as she asked without question or reservation.
She decided that they
would leave that night. She would use the dark as cover. She would slowly pack the SUV so if any of the Alphabets were watching, they would think that she was unloading and moving in. Getting Angie out tonight would test not only her abilities, but also the Alphabets determination on watching Angie. Tonight, they would learn that Del never took a job she couldn’t complete and she always did it her way. Tonight, they would become ghosts.
Chapter 2
Del didn’t wait. She used her key, but forgot that she had Angie bolt the door with the chain locks too. She busted through the door and was inside the apartment before Angie could register what was going on. She crossed the room and found Angie still hiding behind the couch, pistol in hand, but trained on nothing. The fear in her eyes was apparent. Del squatted down beside her.
“What happened?” she asked, already knowing the answer, but not betraying herself to Angie.
“There was a laser sight. I didn’t know what to do. I did what you told me.”
“Did you call any of the other numbers?”
“No, just you. You answered and told me that you would be right here. I was just so scared I didn’t know what to do. You said that you were coming. That was all I needed to hear,” Angie told her.
“So, now, you will listen to me, because you know that I can keep you alive. That is amusing to me, Miss March. You had to be threatened, again, to take this seriously. That actually disturbs me and makes me wonder about my own safety when it comes to you.”
“I am sorry,” Angie replied.
“For what?”
“Not listening,” she told her.
“What did you do?”
“I was looking out the window.”
“There is no harm in that,” Del told her, already knowing how close she was to the glass.
“I wasn’t behind the line you told me to use,” Angie admitted.
“Ah, so you were at the window?” Del asked.
“Yes.”
It was a simple answer, but it spoke volumes about how Angie felt now. Del could tell that she was scared. Maybe the trick was mean, but it made Angie realize that Del only had her safety in mind. She knew that she would fess up about it later...much later, when they weren’t in the City. It gave her the resolution she was looking for and now she would be able to get Angie to listen and follow her directions. She could only hope that her obedience would last long enough to get her to the court house.
“We need to move.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t planning on leaving the City this fast,” Del lied, but then continued with the truth. “I haven’t checked in with the Alphabets and I don’t have a safe house ready. If we go, we go blind and to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“We would go blind?” Angie asked.
“Yep.”
“What does that entail?”
“It would mean that the Alphabets wouldn’t even know where you were. I would be the only point of contact for you and they only have one number for me. They will try to track me, but they’ll fail. I was given a mission and I have a tendency not to resurface until I’m ready and the mission is completed. They know that. They also know that I don’t plan on failing. So, they’ll let me do things my way until you don’t show up for court. Then, they’ll come after my ass. This is why you’ll make the court date, once I find out when it is.”
“You don’t know, yet?” Angie questioned, worried about her supposed lack of information.
“I wasn’t given a formal briefing, Miss March. I was given a file, a name and a location. That is it.”
“So, we really doing this blind, then,” Angie replied.
“Yes, we are,” Del responded, happy that Angie was on board.
“What do we need to do?”
“Pack up some clothes and toiletries, take nothing that has your name on it. Angela March no longer exists. We’ll figure out a new name later. Now, we need to go.”
“What about you? What should I call you? Are you going to change your name?”
“No, because according to the government, I don’t exist. So, you can call me Del or Delia, whichever your prefer. I answer to both. If you have a name in mind, I’ll make some calls and get your identity in the works. I have a few select individuals that I can trust long enough to make a new you. Are you opposed lo dying your hair?” Del asked as she began to search through the cabinets.
“Dye my hair?”
“Yeah, ever thought about being a brunette or a red head?” Del asked her seriously.
“No, I haven’t.”
“Well do, the less you look like you the better.”
Angie didn’t know how to reply to her comment. She stared at Del as she continued to go through the kitchen. She hadn’t noticed when Del grabbed her back pack, but she noticed that she was grabbing some of the food. Then it hit Angie like a ton of bricks. They were leaving. They were running. The gravity of the situation hit her hard. She didn’t like to run. She wanted to confront the drug dealers and now her life was in danger. She had placed others in danger all because she wanted to win the case.
She shook her head, got up from the couch where she’d been placed by Del and made her way into the back bedroom. She looked around the room for minute. Everything was falling apart around her. She wasn’t prepared for this to happen. She was supposed to be the “Cold-hearted DA;” where had she gone so wrong with the case?
She sat down on the bed and looked at the clothes she had been given. None of them were something that she would actually wear. Half of the items she hadn’t owned anything like them since she was kid. She hadn’t seen a pair of jeans since college. She missed the comfort and grabbed them to take. She grabbed the tanks, camies and a few sweat shirts. She decided that comfort would override the desire to look good. She was on the run after all, practicality was more important.
She came back into the living room to find Del waiting on her. She had a small suit case waiting on the table for her. Angie didn’t know where she procured it from and she didn’t care. She put the clothes inside it and then went back for some shoes, socks and underwear. Once she was completely packed, she closed the suitcase and looked over at Del. Del took the suit case from her and started towards the door, expecting Angie to follow her.
“I’m ready. Let’s go,” Angie told her. “Oh, and by the way. You can call me Emily Rossi.”
“Emily Rossi, huh? Where did that come from? Don’t tell me that you have any relation to the name or anyone with those names, though,” Del told her.
“Well, I have a DA friend that has the last name Rossi,” Angie replied, following Del out of the apartment and into the hallway.
Del turned, locked the doors, and started down the corridor to the elevators, shaking her head. She sighed. She didn’t spare a glance at Angie as they entered the elevator and prepared to go to the parking garage. She knew that Angie was on autopilot now and was just blindly following her, but there was something about it that bothered her.
“You can’t use Rossi, then,” Del told once they were on the elevator.
“Why not?”
“You have a personal connection. You can’t use anything that has a personal connection. When someone wants you dead, they’ll use everything and anything they can that is personal to get to you. I am sorry. You’ll have to pick something else for a last name. Does Emily mean anything to you?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Okay, Emily,” Del replied.
Angie looked at her for a second before she realized what Del was doing. She was trying to help her learn her new name. The more Del called her Emily. The more likely she would actually use it.
“I never thanked you.”
“You don’t have to, Emily,” Del told her.
“I still feel like I should. I mean, you are putting your life on the line for mine. I should be able to thank you for that. I know that this is
your job, but I think that I am getting a more personal touch than others would. You’ve even admitted that to me,” Angie replied.
“I did, but that is because I have never done a protection detail. I don’t exactly work well with others. You’ll find that out as time goes by. I was selected because of my skill set. I was picked because you have singlehandedly bested the best of all the Alphabets.”
“Who are the Alphabets?” Angie asked.
“The FBI, the CIA, NSA, et cetera, et cetera...I call them the Alphabets. I don’t work for them. I refuse to do so. Too much politics for my taste. I like simple, cut and dry missions. I don’t like to think about what I am doing. I want to get in, eliminate whoever quickly and get out. I’ll admit that I am good at it. I was one of the best, but I was getting tired of it. Politics inevitably come into play with eliminations, too. I realized this the hard way and I wanted out.”
“Killed someone that didn’t deserve it?”
“Oh, no, they deserved it. I just didn’t like the pretext in which I was sent to do it. The person that put out the contract trumped up some charges, which in the end turned out to be true,” Del explained.
“Did it bother you?”
“At the time, yeah, after I found out it that the trumped charges were true, not so much. It was just the principle of the matter, then. I don’t like being lied to about who I am supposed to kill. If they deserve it, it’s one thing. I refuse to let an innocent die, if I can help it.” Del stated.
“I guess that is how you ended up with me, then,” Angie said.
“It is one reason I agreed to take the mission, yes.”
“And, the rest?” Angie asked.
“I’ll let you know, later. Over there is my SUV. We’ll take it out of the City. I’m sure that they are going to try and track it. I already called for another vehicle. We’ll move into it soon. Go ahead and get in. I’ll just finish packing the hatch,” Del told her as she popped the hatch and the locks.
Del knew how dangerous this mission could be for the both of them. Their lives were at stake, but she was used that being a problem. There were plenty of missions that she shouldn’t have come home from, but she did. She learned not to question it, because she didn’t believe in a higher power. If she did, she would question her entire life and that would be more dangerous than the position she found herself in with Angela March.