by L. T. Ryan
He shook his head, confused.
“Your phone,” she said. “You left it on the table at Jasmine’s house. I picked it up and put a bug on it. I’ve been listening in and following you all day since you left Jasmine’s.”
“Why?”
“Sinclair got some disturbing news that morning I came to see you.” She nodded toward Jasmine. “About her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We had to catch her in the act and with the documents. I’d have preferred to take her alive, but as it is I almost got here too late.” She looked at the bodies of Bragg and McCarthy. “I was too late to save them. I’m sorry, Jack. I know this isn’t easy to process.”
Jack nodded. “I… Yeah.” He tucked his weapon and reached for her. Pulled her close. Kissed her.
She pulled back at first, then leaned in. She broke the kiss off a few moments later and said, “We need to get out of here.”
Jack collected the documents and the money and followed Clarissa out of the room.
“We need to go up two floors,” she said. “There’s a service elevator there. Safer than taking the main elevator to the lobby.”
They made it outside without incident. Walked three blocks and stopped near the parking garage.
“I believe your car’s in there,” she said.
Jack nodded. He started to walk toward the garage entrance and stopped when he noticed she wasn’t following. He turned and walked back toward her. “Are you coming?”
She shook her head. Tears filled her eyes.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m afraid this is goodbye, Jack. At least for now.”
“Clarissa, come with me. We’ll get this stuff to Frank and then disappear. I’ve got enough money for us to live on for the rest of our lives.”
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. Her tears felt cool against his skin. “Sorry, Jack. I owe Sinclair for this and for him not turning you in. I’m in debt to him.”
“Me? What?”
She silenced him with her finger.
“When will you be back?” he said.
She shrugged and shook her head. With that, she turned and walked away.
Jack fought the urge to chase after her. It wouldn’t make any difference.
19
Bear got in a cab and gave the driver the address to the SIS headquarters. He had considered calling Frank to tell him he was done, but in the end figured the best thing to do was discuss it in person. He tried to put his thoughts into words on the way there, but same as his time on the plane, he could only think of the woman he left behind in France. He knew that he hadn’t actually left her behind. There would have had to have been something between them for that. It was just that no woman had ever made such an impression on him in so short a time. With barely a word, he experienced a connection he’d likely not soon forget with Kat.
As the taxi made its final turn, Bear cleared his head. He pulled out his cell phone and called Frank. “Almost there,” was all he said.
The cab stopped in front of the building. Bear paid the man and got out. Waited until the taxi disappeared before approaching the entrance. The front doors were unlocked. Bear received a surprise as he pulled the door open and stepped inside.
“Bear!” Mandy raced toward him with her arms spread wide.
He dropped to one knee and caught the girl as she slammed into him with the force of a sledge hammer, nearly knocking him over.
“I missed you so much,” he said.
“Me too.” Her hands clung tightly to his shoulders.
He looked up and saw Frank standing a few feet away. Bear pushed Mandy back gently and got to his feet.
“You’re off the hook, Logan,” Frank said.
Bear said nothing. He looked past Frank and saw Larsen standing just outside the hall.
Frank nodded. “I’ve got new help. He’s going to bring down Charles and that organization, and we’ll see where we go from there.”
“And we’re done,” Bear added.
“Disappear,” Frank said. “And if you ever need anything, call me.”
Bear nodded, then grabbed Mandy’s hand and left the building.
“Where are we gonna go?” Mandy asked.
Bear looked down at her and squeezed her hand in his. “We’re gonna travel around the U.S. for a month or so. Then I’m thinking we’ll go to Europe. France, maybe.”
20
Charles sat in the old man’s office. His office, now. He smiled at Alonso and adjusted the items on top of the antique dark wood desk.
“They’re on the way,” Alonso said.
“Good,” Charles said. “Let’s strike fear into their hearts.”
He had a meeting with five men in the organization who had risen to some level of power. The purpose of the meeting was to show them that he would be in charge and they were to get in line and do what he said.
There was a knock on the door and the men filed in, one by one. They each took a seat at the long rectangular table at the other end of the office.
Charles stood and slowly walked toward the table. “Gentlemen, glad you could join us today. I’m going to make this quick and relatively painless. You are here today to swear your loyalty to me. I’m taking over.”
The men looked at one another. The man named Hessler shifted in his seat and said, “I’ve got just as much claim as you do. Since you left, I’ve taken over most of the duties here.”
“Vetoed,” Charles said.
Hessler stood. “These men support me, not you.”
Charles smiled and looked at each man, one at a time. “Is this true?”
No one spoke.
“I’m taking over Charles, like it or not.”
Charles reached inside his jacket, pulled out a gun and shot Hessler in the head. The man’s lifeless body fell backward and collapsed on the floor. Charles stepped over his body and looked around the room. “I’ll ask again. Is what he was saying true?”
The men shook their heads.
“Good,” Charles said as he took a seat at the table. “Now let’s get down to business. I’ve left Alonso in charge of Europe. Anyone have an issue with that?”
The room was silent.
“There’s been a lot of heat on us these past few days. I think the thing to do is lay low for a while. I, for one, am not going to leave these walls for at least a month. We’ll do some intel gathering and start planning our next moves over the next few weeks. Any questions?”
No one spoke.
“Good. Get the hell out of here.” He watched the men leave and then returned to his desk where he poured himself a drink. After the attempt on his life, he knew that his time on Earth was limited. The only thing he could do during that time would be to grab as much power as possible. Today was a good start, he thought. A plan formed in his mind. One that would unfold over the coming days and weeks and months in various stages. And anyone who dared to cross him would pay with their lives. Just like Hessler, he thought as he looked over at the corpse on the floor.
21
Jack sat across from Frank at a booth in a crowded diner. They ate their food and drank their coffee in silence. After the waitress refilled their coffee one last time and left the check on the table, Frank spoke.
“I’ve got an opening, if you’re interested.”
Jack chuckled and shook his head. “I’m done, Frank. I’m retiring from freelancing, government work, everything. I’m gonna travel and maybe settle down somewhere.”
“You’ll go crazy. Look, why don’t you come work for me for a few years. We’ll clean up all the messes out there and fix the country.”
“Sorry,” Jack said. “I can’t help you.”
Frank nodded. “I figured as much.” He took a sip of coffee and turned his head. “I never would have figured Jasmine for a double agent. She was bright eyed and full of vigor when she started. Still seemed to be that way. I’ll have to figure out how that happened.”
“Let me k
now when you do, because she had me just as fooled as you. Even now, knowing how it ended, I can’t find one single piece of evidence that would have outed her.”
“Maybe we’re getting too old, Jack.”
Jack smiled and nodded. “I think you’re right.”
A few minutes of silence passed. Jack thought about Jasmine and Clarissa and how he wished that one was still alive and the other was sitting by his side. That wasn’t the case, though, and nothing he could do would change it. There was no point in dwelling on it.
“Let’s get out of here.” Frank grabbed the check and walked toward the register.
Jack exited the diner and waited on the sidewalk. He assessed every person that passed, a trait that was so ingrained that no level of retirement would prevent him from doing it.
Frank appeared a moment later and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He opened it and offered one to Jack.
“I really shouldn’t,” Jack said. “But what the hell.”
They left the diner and walked and smoked until they found an empty parking lot.
“I’ve taken care of the rest,” Frank said. “You’re cleared. You were working for me when you interfered and stole the documents from Bragg’s courier. But then you were later attacked and lost possession of them. Everything you’ve done since has been in an effort to get them back. You were successful, and now the intelligence community, hell the country for that matter, is forever indebted to you. It’s cleared through the Pentagon and up to the White House.”
“I’m no longer a ghost?”
“Nope. In fact, you can get on a plane using your real ID and passport and go wherever the hell you want.”
Jack held out his hand. “Thanks.”
Frank grabbed Jack’s hand and shook it. “Any time.” He let go and walked toward the sidewalk, leaving Jack behind. Then he turned and said, “Jack, if you ever need anything, call.”
Jack stood still and watched as his old partner disappeared behind the walls of a concrete jungle. He was free now. Free for the first time in his adult life. He pulled out a phone and called Bear, but received no answer. He’d try again later, he figured.
Jack walked through the city with no destination in mind. He purchased a new cell phone, a permanent one, and then tried Bear one more time. No answer again, but this time he left a message with his new phone number.
Later that afternoon he grabbed a hotel room for the night. A good night’s sleep would serve him well and in the morning he could decide on the first leg of his journey.
That night, as he sat in his room eating an overpriced ribeye steak ordered from room service, Jack’s phone rang. He answered without checking the number, figuring it was Bear calling him back.
“Hello?” he said, excited to talk to his old friend and catch up on the happenings of the last few days.
“Mr. Jack Noble?” a man with a British accent said.
“Who is this?”
“Is this Jack Noble?”
“Jack Noble is dead,” he said.
“You and I both know that is not true.”
Jack got up from the table and walked over to the window. He parted the blinds with his thumb and forefinger and scanned the rear parking lot below.
“What do you want?” Jack said.
“I’m calling to offer you an assignment.”
“I’m retired.”
“Yes, Mr. Noble. But this is—”
“Maybe you didn’t understand me because of the accent barrier. Let me spell it out for you. I’m retired. Done. Finished. No more assignments.”
The line went silent and Jack nearly hung up. Then he heard muffled voices in the background and decided to wait.
“Sir, I’ll be brief. I’m calling on behalf of the woman you knew as Blue Willow in one life, and Dottie in another. She says it will be a great personal favor to her if you will at least come to London to discuss the assignment in person with her. She also says that if you saw what she thinks you saw in Monaco six months ago, then you can figure out what this is about.”
Jack sat down and thought back to his night in Monaco. The casino. Seeing Dottie. The encounter with her husband. The attempt on Jack’s life. Seeing Dottie being carried out on a gurney after being beaten. Her husband being taken away in cuffs. The man was a billionaire and likely bought his way out of any jail time. And now he was probably threatening her life.
“Is London nice in the spring?” Jack said.
“Lovely,” the man said.
“I’ll leave in the morning. Give me a number to reach you.”
“We’ll call you at this number, tomorrow, ten p.m., London time.”
The call ended and Jack placed the phone on the table. He got up and walked over to the mirror. Stared at himself for a few minutes and then said, “Retirement can wait a few more days. This is personal.”
The story of Jack Noble continues in Noble Intentions: Season Three (Episodes 11-15). Now available! Look for the link below.
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Other Books by L.T. Ryan
Jack Noble Series in Order
Noble Beginnings
A Deadly Distance
Noble Intentions Season One
Noble Intentions Season Two
Noble Intentions Season Three
Never Go Home
Untitled (Clarissa Abbot) - Coming October, 2013
Noble Intentions Season Four - Coming December, 2013
Mitch Tanner Series
The Depth of Darkness
Mitch Tanner #2 - Coming November, 2013
Mitch Tanner #3 - Coming January, 2014
Affliction Z Series
Affliction Z: Patient Zero
Affliction Z: Abandoned Hope
Affliction Z: Book Three - Coming April, 2014
Noble Intentions: Season Three
Jack Noble is on a plane, heading across the Atlantic to perform one last job. A favor for an old friend, he tells himself. Anything to put off an early retirement for a few weeks longer.
Shortly after setting foot in London, Jack discovers that not all is what it seems. His presence did not go unnoticed by Great Britain's intelligence community. Worse, he finds that he's not the only one after his target. And those same people are after him. Jack refuses to quit until he's uncovered the mastermind of a conspiracy that reaches the top of the UK government.
Noble Intentions Season Three is a gripping and suspenseful action thriller sure to keep you turning pages until the last sentence.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CXXUGIS
Noble Beginnings: A Jack Noble Novel
In March of 2002, while the eyes of the world focused on Afghanistan, Jack Noble finds himself on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq. A Marine in name only, Jack is on-loan to the CIA. Normally an integral part of the team, he finds that he is nothing more than a security detail in Iraq.
Jack and his partner Bear have a run-in with four CIA special agents over the treatment of an Iraqi family. Within hours
Jack and Bear are detained.
All Jack wanted was to finish his enlistment and move on with his life. All he did was intervene and save a family from unwarranted violence at the hands of four CIA agents. But he soon discovers that he did far more than intervene. He has placed himself dead square in the middle of a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of the U.S. government.
http://www.amazon.com/Noble-Beginnings-Jack-Novel-ebook/dp/B009K8RHNQ
A Deadly Distance (Jack Noble #2)
Washington, D.C. Midday. A man waits at a bus stop, his intentions unknown. Two government operatives have been stalking him for days, waiting for him to make his move. Unexpectedly, the man takes off running and heads for a deserted warehouse.
Jack Noble and his partner, Frank Skinner, believe the man to be part of a terrorist organization that is involved in smuggling drugs and guns and men into the country. But it turns out their plan involves far more export than import, and hits a lot closer to home.
As the case unfolds, the man behind it all reaches out to Jack with a simple message... 37 hours.
http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Distance-Jack-Noble-ebook/dp/B00B8548LS/
Also Available:
Noble Intentions: Season One (Episodes 1-5)
The Recruit: A Jack Noble Short Story
Author’s Note
Season Two is complete. Jack has come a long way since the beginning, and so have I. Jack started off in my mind as a pulpy sort of character. A tough as nails, non-nonsense killer. He was only meant to star in a 40 or 50 page short novella. But something happened in the middle of the story that became Noble Intentions: Episode 1. Jack began to resonate with me. I updated a few things and found that the story I was writing wanted to stretch a little further. And then, when I reached the finale, a cliffhanger appeared and I took it. The result is the 500 page Season One book, which as you are aware, did not wrap up cleanly. The story had to continue.
In between Seasons One and Two, a stand-alone novel was written, Noble Beginnings. A story about Jack and Bear and a situation they found themselves in ten years ago. If you've read it then you know the story. If you haven't, then what are you waiting for? Rush out to Amazon and grab your copy now!