Change of Fortune

by Jana DeLeon

  “Pony up money first,” I said. “Buy-in is twenty bucks. Ida Belle’s holding the kitty.”

  “You’re playing for money?” he asked.

  “What’s the point otherwise?” Ida Belle asked.

  He smiled and pulled a twenty from his wallet and handed it to her. “There is none. Just happy to see you guys observing the real rules of the game.”

  We played a couple hands while Gertie fixed Carter some lunch, then more as he ate, reverting back to our Celia discussion.

  “She’s really on a rampage,” Carter said. “I got a call from the governor’s office asking if she was a mental patient.”

  “She complained to the governor?” I asked.

  “Not exactly,” Carter said. “He has staff that prevent people like Celia from ever getting his ear, but apparently, she’s worn them out to the point that they thought they’d call and ask if she was off her rocker.”

  “What did you tell them?” I asked.

  “I said she was your basic southern Louisiana crazy, with a whole load of butthole thrown in,” Carter said.

  Ida Belle nodded her approval.

  “They laughed and thanked me for letting them know,” Carter said. “I have a feeling Celia won’t be getting a return call.”

  “She’ll show up at his office if she doesn’t,” Gertie said. “She’s that pushy.”

  “Then she’ll have to deal with the governor’s security,” Carter said. “My money’s on the security detail.”

  We played for about an hour and finally, the knock at the door that I’d been waiting for came. I let Harrison in and we all huddled in the living room, staring at him as if he were personally delivering an atomic bomb. In a way, he was.

  “I know you guys have been waiting and I know how much that sucks,” he said, “so I’ll get right to what you want to know. Everyone take a seat.”

  Carter and I sat on a love seat and Ida Belle and Gertie on a couch. Harrison perched on the end of a coffee table where he could easily see all of us. “First,” he said, “I want to thank all of you for being here. I know you’re aware of what we’re up against, and I respect and admire your desire to be involved, despite knowing how dangerous this is.

  “I debriefed the team on the flight here,” Harrison said. “They were told that a foreign dignitary’s daughter was kidnapped and we have intel that places her inside the warehouse. They’ve been instructed to infiltrate through the water tunnel and rescue the daughter. I’ll be taking point. Once inside, comm will instruct us that he’s spotted Ahmad inside the building and he is now our first priority.”

  Carter nodded. “That way, on the off chance that anyone on the team has been leaking information, he won’t have the opportunity to do so.”

  “Exactly,” Harrison said. “If someone is taking pay on the side, he won’t risk exposing himself in the middle of a mission, and especially not in front of other men equally capable of killing him. Ahmad is just another paycheck to someone selling intel. When he’s gone, someone will replace him.”

  “So you don’t think there’s any loyalty?” Carter asked.

  “No,” Harrison said. “Ahmad’s not in business for a cause. His claims of being a terrorist are simply his form of advertising. He’s in business for himself. He doesn’t have followers. He has employees. If there’s another mole, he won’t show himself, and while I’d love to expose any traitors, the only goal here is to eliminate Ahmad. The agency will deal with anything else later. Mind you, all this precaution is strictly that—precaution. Neither Morrow nor I believe there is more than one insider, and the one we know about is going to go down.”

  Harrison pulled some papers out of his pocket and unfolded them, showing us a diagram of the warehouse. Then he went over the exact setup, from my location to the entry point for the team, to the expected point of ambush. It was all stuff I’d covered with them already, but I think it helped them to hear Harrison lay it all out in professional speak.

  When he was done, he looked at them. “Any questions? I’ll answer anything that I’m authorized to.”

  “What can I do?” Carter asked.

  “I know you’ve got training,” Harrison said, “but I can’t put you on the insertion team. We work with a certain rhythm and you’re not up to speed on our methods.”

  “I understand, but surely there’s something.”

  “I’ll have two men on the ground. I’d like you with them. If that’s all right with you, of course.”

  “I’ll go wherever I can help,” Carter said.

  “Great. The ground team will hang back until they get signal that Ahmad’s men are on the property. We anticipate Ahmad will attempt the assassination alone but will have his men on the perimeter.”

  “And the goal is?”

  “To eliminate the threat,” Harrison said. “And as far as the CIA is concerned, you were never there. I’ll introduce you to the team as a local contractor that we’ve been using for intel. We do it a lot, so they won’t even blink. When I leave, I’ll take you back with me and get you outfitted and give you a rundown on your route.”

  Carter nodded, and I could tell he was relieved to be included but still wishing he would be on the inside with me. He reached over and took my hand in his, and I could feel the sweat on his palm against mine, belying his otherwise calm demeanor.

  “I don’t mean to question you,” Carter said, “but are you sure Fortune is okay in there alone? There’s no way to have someone else with her without creating a heat signature?”

  “Not that we can readily accomplish,” Harrison said. He studied Carter for several seconds, then glanced at me before speaking again. “I know you’re aware of what Fortune’s work for the agency comprised, but I also know Fortune, and I doubt she’s gone into much detail. So I’m going to share something with you.”

  Harrison leaned forward and looked directly at Carter. “The woman sitting next to you is one of the best we have and have had for well over a decade. She’s an awesome human being, but she’s also the deadliest person I’ve ever known. If anyone can handle Ahmad, it’s Fortune.”

  Carter squeezed my hand. “Are you telling me I should be afraid to date her?”

  Harrison smiled. “Only if you plan on pissing her off.”

  “So what can we do?” Gertie asked.

  Harrison looked at the two women. “While I appreciate your service and am aware of exactly what it entailed, I’m afraid this mission isn’t the place for you.”

  “You can’t expect us to just sit here staring at each other,” Ida Belle said.

  “I don’t,” Harrison said. “When we’re done here, you’ll go next door and join the communications agent. I’ll inform him of the real purpose of the mission right before I deploy with the team.”

  “What if the comm agent is compromised?” Ida Belle asked. “He’d have time to warn Ahmad off.”

  “I’d trust the comm agent with my life,” Harrison said. “In fact, I do on a regular basis. He also happens to be my brother. But if the unthinkable happens, and he’s turned, you have the CIA’s permission to put a bullet in him.”

  One look at his face let Ida Belle and Gertie know that he was totally serious about every single word.

  “You’ll be able to see the video feed and hear all communication,” Harrison continued. “I know it’s not the same as being there, but it’s what I can do.”

  They both nodded, and I could see they were somewhat relieved that they wouldn’t have to just sit here and wait.

  “Thank you,” Ida Belle said. “Doing nothing isn’t our strong point, but we want Fortune to have the best chance of success. Regardless of how we wish things were, our being there would weaken that chance. But we appreciate being allowed in the hub. Sitting here, knowing nothing, would have driven us both crazy.”

  “So when does this happen?” Gertie asked.

  Harrison rose from the table. “Now.”

  I jumped up. “Now? Ahmad’s in New Orleans?”

/>   “We’re pretty sure. Our intel reported a private jet leaving Houston and landing in New Orleans. The names on the manifest don’t match, of course, but the descriptions match Ahmad and some of his men. The plane landed three hours ago. Enough time for Ahmad to get a scout en route to the warehouse and for him to find a position to monitor it.”

  Everyone else had jumped up along with me, and now we all looked at one another, none of us knowing how to act now that the actual moment was here.

  “So what now?” Gertie asked.

  “Now, Carter comes with me,” Harrison said, “and Fortune gears up and heads to the warehouse.”

  “Don’t you need to wire her?” Carter asked.

  Harrison shook his head. “She’ll have a small earpiece so she can hear our communications and comm will be able to communicate solely to her when needed, but we can’t risk her talking once she’s inside. Ahmad’s scout could easily drop an audio sensor. She’ll have a sat radio, but it’s only for an emergency. Use of it otherwise would give away our involvement.”

  “Can she take her cell phone?” Ida Belle asked.

  “Yes, but I doubt the signal will be reliable where she’ll be,” Harrison said.

  “The farthest corner in a basement of cement,” Ida Belle said. “Probably not.”

  Harrison put a hand on each of their shoulders. “I know you’re worried, and I wish I could tell you that everything will be fine, but I’m not that guy. What we’re doing is dangerous and we’re playing with a target who is unpredictable and willing to die. The risk is incalculable. But also necessary. Sooner or later, this day has to happen. Better for it to come when we have some control over the circumstances.”

  Harrison pulled an earpiece out of his bag and handed it to me along with a booster. “Make sure you boost the signal when you’re inside. When I go silent, you’ll know we’ve gone under. Communication may be sketchy on the inside of the warehouse, even with the boost, so you might not hear everything. I’ll signal comm with a blip so he knows we’re in, but at that point, all communication will probably become one-way, with comm relaying intel as he receives it from the outside.”

  I nodded. It was exactly the way I would have handled it.

  “I’ll step out,” Harrison said, “and let you guys say goodbye.”

  He stood in front of me and put his hand up for our ceremonial high five. “Kick serious ass,” he said.

  “Always,” I replied.

  I looked at Ida Belle and Gertie. “Thank you for being here. I know you think you’re not doing much, but your presence here with me today and knowing you’ll be with comm makes me feel better. It gives me even more strength and determination.”

  They both moved forward and hugged me, and we stood there, clinging to one another, until my arms started to ache. When they stepped back, Gertie was already crying and I could see Ida Belle’s eyes growing red.

  “Don’t you dare die on us,” Gertie said.

  “Not planning on it,” I said.

  “Come on,” Ida Belle said to Gertie. “Let’s give them some privacy.”

  They headed into one of the bedrooms and closed the door behind them. I looked at Carter, excitement, fear, dread, and anticipation all coursing through me. I hoped for the best, but I was a professional. I knew the odds. And the odds meant this might be the last time I ever spoke to Carter. The last time I ever saw him.

  “Promise me you’ll walk out of that warehouse,” he said. “You’ve changed my life, Fortune. I can’t say it’s always been for the better, but it’s never been dull. A big part of me had stopped living. You changed that, and now that I know how life can be, I don’t want to let it go.”

  I felt the tears form in my eyes. “After coming to Sinful, I realized that a big part of me had never started living. The one thing I want more than anything is to step over Ahmad’s lifeless body and see you and Ida Belle and Gertie smiling. It’s the image I’ve had in my mind for days, and I’m going to make it happen.”

  He pulled me into his arms and kissed me long and slow. I could feel his heart beating against my chest, and his arms trembled slightly as he squeezed me even harder. He’d lost someone he loved in the past. Someone whose job it was to take risks. And he’d promised himself that he’d never get involved with someone who took those risks again. So I knew what it would cost him to hug me and then let me go. My heart clenched so hard it made my chest ache. Carter might not be perfect, but he was perfect for me.

  When he finally released me, his expression was serious, and I could see him already shifting into military mode. “Watch your back,” I said. “The men you’re with are some of the best the agency has. Depend on your team. Don’t be a hero.”

  He smiled. “You sound like my old commander.”

  “He must have been a genius.”

  “Good luck, Fortune. I’ll see you soon.”

  I nodded. “Soon.”

  He gave me one final kiss, and I could see the fear and uncertainty in his eyes as he looked back at me before closing the door behind him. I went into the bedroom and gave Ida Belle and Gertie one final hug, then grabbed my bag of gear and headed out of the hotel.

  It was time to get my life back.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It was midafternoon when I pulled up at the warehouse. It was quiet, but that was expected. I knew the well-hidden cameras were watching my every move. I climbed out of the unregistered car the agency had provided and pulled my bag of supplies from the back seat. I glanced around, as I normally would, casing my surroundings. Everything about my behavior needed to appear as if I were a trained agent hiding out. A bag of supplies would be normal. Constantly checking my surroundings would be normal.

  I hefted the bag on my shoulder, pulled my pistol out of my waistband, and hurried inside. I couldn’t see Ahmad, but I could feel someone watching. Every good agent seemed to have that sixth sense built in. It had saved my life on more than one occasion.

  Once inside, I did a quick visual sweep of the room, noting a new set of footprints in the dust. Someone had been here checking things out. It wasn’t Harrison’s team because they’d avoided the entry for exactly this reason—so that I could tell if someone else had entered—and because we wanted my footprints to be the only sign of occupancy left behind. The footprint was probably one of Ahmad’s men, doing some reconnaissance for his boss.

  I motioned toward the camera that I knew was in the upper-left corner and pointed to the ground. There was a bit of static in my earpiece for a second, then I heard the clear, calm voice of the communications operative.

  “One of Ahmad’s men doing recon,” he said. “He entered while you were driving over and was inside about ten minutes before leaving. We got him on film going to the basement, but the cameras down there are only connecting in small blips, so I can’t verify that he entered your room.”

  I held up my thumb and headed downstairs. I’d figured the cameras might be sketchy with all the cement. I worried that my earpiece might be as well. I had the booster for it and its signal was much stronger than the cameras, but I knew there was still a chance I’d be sitting blind.

  The tunnel room was clear, of course, and the tunnel uncovered. Harrison and his team would be upriver, waiting for Ahmad to show before they swam downstream and entered the tunnel under the cover of the muddy canal water. We had no way of knowing when Ahmad would appear or where, but regardless, Harrison’s team had to be ready to move in a second and move fast or they wouldn’t breach the warehouse in time to ambush Ahmad.

  I continued down the concrete hallway to the last room, the one that had been designated as my hideout, noting the extra set of footprints as I went. Ahmad’s man had attempted to step inside my prints when he walked, but he couldn’t disguise his larger foot. Not from an expert. I headed inside the room and pulled the door closed behind me. It had a lock, but it was one that Ahmad could easily bypass as his man had apparently done before. We didn’t want to create obstacles too large, or they might de
lay entry or wait for me to leave the building again to make an attempt.

  I had used a penlight to traverse the dark hallway, but Mannie had provided me with a lamp. I turned it on and let a dim glow penetrate the room. It gave me enough clarity to operate but didn’t illuminate the room so that everything was easy to pinpoint. I pulled the signal booster for the earpiece out of my bag and got it running, then looked up at the camera and waved to see if I’d get a response. No one responded. I hadn’t really expected it. I just hoped I had audio. At the very least, I’d know when Ahmad entered the building, even if they couldn’t track his movements once he went into the basement. And I’d know that Harrison and his team had deployed.

  I pulled the guns from my backpack and checked them all once again, then I placed them in different areas around the room, hidden from view. I would have multiple weapons on my body, of course, but if hand-to-hand combat ensued, you never knew where an extra weapon might come in handy. Once the weapons were in place, I paced the room a couple of times before finally settling down on a chair in the far corner. I had instructed Mannie to erect a makeshift barrier in the back of the room, made from concrete blocks that had been stored in the tunnel room.

  The blocks were stacked to form a three-foot-high wall. It gave me the perfect cover to have Ahmad in my sights when he walked through the door but not be readily visible to him. Unlike the movies, I didn’t plan on some dramatic exchange with him before I fired. I planned on pulling the trigger and getting on with my life.

  I heard the telltale click of the earpiece and froze.

  “Fortune, this is comm. I don’t have visual in your room, but I wanted to let you know that Ida Belle and Gertie are here with me. Gertie says to tell you she has her rabbit’s foot and Bible and is wearing her, uh, lucky underwear. Ida Belle says don’t hesitate. Harrison and his team are in place and ready to go. I’ll signal when Ahmad breaches. I hope you’re hearing this.”

  I smiled. Comm had never seen the likes of Ida Belle and Gertie. I could just imagine what he was thinking when he relayed a message about lucky underwear. I opened a bottle of water and took a sip. This was the part of every mission that was the worst. That point where every second seemed to last an hour. And this time was the worst of all.