by L. T. Ryan
Boris froze for a second. His smile still etched into his face. Fear in his eyes. He brought his left hand around and grabbed at the fabric surrounding Clarissa’s chest. She pulled to the left, twisting and turning and forcing herself away from Boris. Away from being his human shield.
Boris brought his other hand forward and pointed the gun in Jack’s direction. He didn’t take time to aim, just fired. The bullet traveled over Jack’s head and slammed into the wall behind him and Jasmine. He felt small chunks of drywall pelt the back of his head.
Jack brought his right hand up, steadied his left, and fired two more shots. Both connected with Boris. One in the chest, the other right between the eyes.
The gun fell from Boris’s hand and hit the floor. Clarissa wrenched herself from his grip and ran to Jack.
Jack hugged her. Took a moment to clear his head and then said, “The documents? Where are they?”
Bear said, “The desk.”
Jack went to the desk and grabbed a stack of papers. Now wasn’t the time to review them. They had to get out.
“That’s them,” Bear said.
Jack looked over his shoulder and nodded. He looked around for something to place the papers in. Saw a briefcase behind the desk, against the wall. Grabbed it and dropped the papers inside.
“We need to get out of here,” Bear said. “Might have more cops coming.”
“OK,” Jack said.
They grouped up, armed themselves and left the office. Down the hall, into the foyer and through the front door. They located a passenger van in the courtyard. Easy to find as it stood out against the luxury vehicles. Pierre hotwired the van and Bear drove. They sped through the lot and down the gravel driveway. Turned right on Kennedy Street and left on Highway 14.
“We need to get Mandy,” Bear said.
Jack nodded. Said nothing. One more stop. Hopefully one with no gunfire.
Bear pulled out his cell phone and called Larsen. Larsen told Bear he’d be waiting in the hotel lobby with Mandy.
They pulled up to the hotel ten minutes later. Larsen came out with the girl. Jack and Bear got out of the car.
Bear rushed over to Mandy. Picked her up off the ground and squeezed her to his chest.
“I trust everything went well?” Larsen said.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Most of them are dead.”
“You should come with us, Larsen,” Bear said. “At least for tonight. It’s not be safe for you here.”
Larsen agreed to join them.
They drove east on I-80 for four hours, crossing into Illinois. Found a hotel forty miles from Chicago. They rented three rooms for the night. Jasmine contacted Frank, and he arranged for a private jet to fly them to D.C. in the morning.
18
Clarissa walked across the hotel parking lot. The night air was cool and damp and carried the sweet fragrance of dogwoods in bloom. A hazy ring surrounded the moon and streams of thin clouds floated across the dark sky.
She continued thirty yards and then pulled out her cell phone. Placed a call to Sinclair. He answered midway through the fourth ring.
“Sinclair, it’s Clarissa.”
“What happened?”
“Things got out of control. We weren’t the only ones in town.”
Sinclair remained silent for a moment. “Did you get your assignment from Melikov?”
“Melikov won’t be giving anymore assignments.”
“Who was there?”
“I can’t really say.”
“Why not?”
“He’d prefer I didn’t.”
“I can find out, Clarissa. You don’t want me to find out on my own.”
“It’s Jack.”
“Noble?”
“Yes.”
“I thought he was dead.”
“So did I.”
“Who is he working for?”
“I think the S.I.S. again.”
Sinclair said nothing.
“And I think we should team up with them to bring down the man Melikov worked for.”
“Do we know who that is?”
“Boris said a name. Jack knew who it was.”
“Did you get it?”
“There was so much going on.”
Sinclair paused and it sounded like he scratched at the stubble on his face. “Will Jack agree to work with us?”
“I’m sure he will.”
“You haven’t asked? He hasn’t offered?”
“Correct.”
“If you can sell it to him, I’m in.”
“Thanks, Sinclair.”
“Call me tomorrow with an update.”
The line went silent and she stuffed her phone in her coat pocket. She pulled the zippered edges of her jacket close together and turned around. Saw Jack standing ten feet away. She froze.
“How long have you been there?” Clarissa said.
“Long enough.”
She bit her lip and let go of her coat, letting her hands fall to her side. “Can we work together?”
“Sure, but that’s not why I’m standing here.”
She stood motionless while Jack approached her. He stopped six inches away and reached for her. His hands felt cool to the touch, warm to her soul, and electric to her heart. He drew her close and leaned forward. Her heart rate doubled. Their lips met. He grabbed her by the waist. She brought a hand up and slipped it behind his head, running her hands through his hair.
Jack pulled away and said, “I thought about you every day. In that dungeon cell waiting for my bogus trial. In Black Dolphin. Your face is the last thing I remember thinking about before I took my last breath when they gave me that paralytic agent to fake my death. Every day in Greece, when I watched the sun rise and set, I thought of you. I saw you in everything.”
Clarissa melted at the words she had longed to hear from Jack for so long. She said, “Same here.”
Jack smiled, and leaned in, and kissed her again.
“Let’s go to your room,” she said.
“OK,” he said. Then he added, “Wait. I’m sharing with Bear.”
She stepped back. “I’m sharing with Jasmine.”
Jack looked around as if the answer was waiting for him on a billboard.
Clarissa said, “We could get another room.”
Jack nodded. Grabbed her hand and led her inside the hotel lobby. They approached an older man who stood behind the counter. He had thinning gray hair, a full mustache and brown eyes.
“Help you folks?”
“One room,” Jack said.
“Sorry, no vacancy.”
“No vacancy?” Jack repeated.
“Yup.”
“How is that possible? We’re forty miles from Chicago.”
“Guess it’s that convention,” the man said.
“What convention?” Jack said.
“Oh, some sci-fi slash fantasy convention they’re having right now.”
Jack turned to Clarissa and said, “Guess that explains the elves I saw earlier.”
Her disappointment momentarily lifted and she burst out laughing.
Jack looked back at the old man and said, “Thanks anyway, pal.”
Clarissa grabbed his hand and led him through the lobby. They went back outside and found a bench near the building where they sat and talked and kissed and relaxed.
After some time, Jack looked at his watch. “Four a.m. We really should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.”
She nodded and stood. Grabbed his hand and pulled him up. They walked hand-in-hand through the lobby, to the elevator. They split up, Jack going right and Clarissa going left, when they stepped onto their floor.
19
“Jack, Jasmine,” Frank said. “How was the flight?”
Jack nodded and Jasmine said, “Good.”
Jack looked around the gray painted room. Over his shoulder at the city street. The building was inconspicuous. Had to be since it was in the middle of D.C.
Frank walked past the empty re
ceptionist desk and stopped in front of the group.
“Think you know most of them,” Jack said.
Frank nodded. “Logan, how are you?”
Bear smiled. Said nothing.
“Clarissa, I understand you’re going to be helping us with this, uh, operation.” Frank’s eyes stopped on Mandy and he smiled and winked. Then he looked at Larsen and said, “Don’t believe we’ve met.”
“Detective Larsen, Knoxville, Iowa, P.D. Was, at least.”
“He stepped up for us, Frank,” Jack said. “That department’s corrupt. Larsen needs our help now.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Shouldn’t be tough. I’ll put him and the girl up in a safe place until this is over and then we’ll talk.” Frank then looked at Pierre and smiled. “Been a long time, Pierre.”
Pierre stood and reached his hand out. Frank grabbed it. There was a knowing look shared between the men.
Frank said, “Glad you’re back on our side, Pierre.”
Pierre looked at Jack, who shrugged.
“We know everything, Pierre,” Frank said. “You made the right choice. I want to talk to you and Bear about doing a job for us. We want to tie up all the loose ends that exist regarding this situation.” Frank paused and nodded toward the briefcase that Jack held. “A certain old man was responsible for delivering some highly classified material into the wrong hands.”
“Not to mention the bastard wanted me dead,” Bear said.
Frank nodded. Then he pointed at Jack and Jasmine and said, “You two come with me.”
Jack stood and waited for Jasmine to do the same. He smiled at Clarissa. Squeezed her shoulder. Then he followed Frank past the empty receptionist desk to a well-lit hallway. The passage contained no doors except for a single one at the end.
Frank stopped, swiped a card through a card reader and then opened the door, which led to an elevator lobby. There were three elevators. One on the right, on the left, and straight ahead. Frank continued forward, swiped his card again and pressed the down arrow next to the elevator in the middle. A moment passed and the elevator opened. Frank stuck his arm in the opening and gestured Jack and Jasmine through with the other.
Jasmine entered, then Jack. There were five buttons on the right side of the doors. Two were for opening and closing the doors. A third had an alarm symbol on it. The fourth was labeled with an “L” and the fifth with a “B.” Jack watched as Frank pressed the “B” button.
The elevator dropped and the lights dimmed. They descended for approximately thirty seconds. Jack worked it out in his head that they had traveled close to two hundred feet when the elevator stopped and the doors opened.
“New headquarters?” Jack asked.
Frank lifted a single eyebrow into his forehead and nodded. He then led them through two security doors and finally into his office. He took a seat behind his desk. The surface area held nothing more than a keyboard, widescreen monitor and a pad of yellow legal paper. On top of the pad was a black ball point pen.
“The documents, Jack.” Frank held out his hand.
Jack lifted the briefcase and sat it on top of the desk.
Frank placed the briefcase on his lap. Pulled the documents out and sat them down in front of him. He went through them one by one. He nodded. He shook his head. He grunted. He groaned.
Jasmine leaned forward and followed along.
Frank looked at Jack and said, “You had no idea?”
Jack shook his head. “Never would have done it if I had.”
“That business you’re in—”
“I’m done with it,” Jack interrupted. “No more.”
“You’ll come back to work for me?”
“Not saying that.” He looked at Jasmine who appeared to watch the conversation with great interest. Jack added, “At least, not yet.”
“So what do you think?” Frank asked.
“Let’s finish this.”
“Ivanov?”
“Yeah.”
“How do we get to him?”
“Clarissa,” Jack said. “She impersonated some Russian agent. Well enough to fool Ivanov’s number one guy over here.”
“So you think she can get to Ivanov then? Maybe lead him somewhere where you two can get to him?”
“That’s right.”
“OK.” Frank leaned over and Jack heard a drawer being opened. Frank reappeared a moment later with two blue passport folders. He tossed them on the desk. “Your identities for this trip. Fly to Athens. Go down and check on Alik and see if you think he can be of any use to us on this. He knows the layout, right?”
“He knew Black Dolphin.”
“We got him in there for you.”
“You ever gonna tell exactly how you pulled that off?”
“No.”
Jack shook his head. Said nothing.
“Once you meet up with Alik, I’ll arrange transport into Russia.”
Jack grabbed his passport without looking inside.
“Does Clarissa need our help getting over there?” Frank said.
“No, I’m sure her team can arrange it,” Jack said.
“She’s squared away then?”
“Yeah.”
“Who’s she working for?”
“Sinclair.”
“Christ,” Frank said.
“You gotta let it go, Frank. We need their help on this.”
Jasmine said, “What’s this about?”
“Nothing,” Jack and Frank said at the same time.
“Before your time,” Frank added.
Jasmine held up her hands in a “back off” gesture and stood. “We should get going. Need to get to the airport.”
“I’ll arrange your flights while you head over.”
He led them out of the office. Through two security doors. He swiped his card next to the elevator and the doors opened. They returned to the lobby. Mandy and Detective Larsen were gone.
“Where’d they go?” Jack asked.
“They’re safe, Jack,” Frank said.
Jack looked at Bear, who nodded while his lips thinned.
“Gotta trust me, Jack,” Frank said. He pointed at Bear and Pierre. “Come with me for a minute.”
He walked them to a corner and they spoke in hushed tones. Three minutes later they returned.
Everyone stood.
Frank said, “Clarissa, get on the next flight to Russia. Coordinate it with Sinclair.” He handed her a card. “Memorize that number. No matter what phone I’m near, you can reach me at that number. Call me when you get settled in and we’ll figure out where Ivanov is and the best way to get to him.”
“OK,” Clarissa said.
“You two.” Frank pointed at Bear and Pierre. “Book the first flight to New York.” He handed Bear a card. “Call me as soon as you land. I have a safe place you can stay.”
“OK,” Bear said.
“Jack,” Frank said.
“Frank,” Jack said.
“Take care of my girl.”
“He’s the one that got clubbed in that house,” Jasmine said.
Frank smiled for a moment and then looked through the glass door and to the street. He pointed a stretch limousine. “Your ride’s out there.”
The group of five filed through the double glass doors and onto the sidewalk. They got inside the limo and headed to Dulles Airport.
20
“What is the damage?” Ivanov said.
Julij looked up from the report in his lap. He wiped a thin layer of sweat from his brow. “All the players are dead, except for Anastasiya.”
“Where is she?”
“Missing.”
Ivanov drummed the edge of his desk with his fingers. He stared at Julij. His young ward averted his eyes and focused at a blank spot on the desk. Ivanov followed his stare. How had this happened? They had everything in place. Then New Jersey fell apart. Atlanta ran into the feds. And now Iowa and, more importantly, Boris and Chernov had been incapacitated. Everything had been ruined. He lifted his han
ds and balled them into a fist. Drove his fists down onto the desk.
Julij flinched and looked up at Ivanov.
“How did this happen?”
Julij hesitated and then said, “Sir, I, uh, we don’t know.”
Ivanov stood and turned his back on the younger man. He stared out the window. The setting sun cast an orange glow over the normally brown and dreary courtyard behind his office. How would they recover? Who did he have, in Russia, that he could send and pick up where the others had left off? Where the others had failed.
“Any more bad news?” Ivanov asked.
“Yes,” Julij said.
Ivanov looked over his shoulder. “What?”
“The documents, sir. They’re gone.”
Ivanov clenched his jaw. “Who do we think has them now?”
“CIA maybe. Possibly Homeland Security. Whoever it is, there’s no getting them back. Our guy in the government probably doesn’t have the resources.”
Ivanov dropped his chin to his chest. Shook his head. “It’s over then?”
“Nothing is ever over, sir. But, it might take a while for us to recover. We’ve had so many losses these past six months.”
“Who is behind this?”
“We don’t know.”
“Who is behind this?”
“We’re not sure.”
Ivanov turned. Placed his hands on his desk and leaned forward. He narrowed his eyes and said, “Who is behind this?”
“There’s a chance that it’s… That it’s Jack Noble.”
Ivanov backed up until he reached the wall. He felt the color drain from his face and his stomach knot up. “Jack Noble,” he paused a beat, “is dead.”
“That’s what we thought. But a man at the house in Iowa, he, well, he hid and he heard the name. He saw him. We sent a photo and it was close enough. Noble has a beard now, and his hair is a bit longer. But he said it was him.”
“Impossible. He died in Black Dolphin.”
“No, sir. He’s alive. He killed our men. He took the documents. And we have reason to believe he knows it’s us behind it all.”