“I would prefer to live another day without having to fight,” Starnes said.
“Wouldn’t it be loverly,” Rosey sang the words.
Rosey and Starnes quickly located their backpacks, weapons, and some containers of water. All five of us left through the back door and headed up the steep hill directly behind Starnes’ house. Three humans and two dogs marched single file up the mountain trail. We followed the path that led us over the mountain range that looked down upon Starnes’ house. We hoped to return to this sanctuary soon, but none of us had any real hopes of doing so in the near future now that the bad guys knew the location of our lair.
My consolation was that my guardian angel was watching over us, despite the missing morality of the thing for my friends. I was perhaps the lone wolf who appreciated Diamond’s tenacity and developing friendship, if you could call it such. I was in search of an illusive term to describe my relationship with Diamond.
Twenty minutes into the hike along the trail that would ultimately take us over to Ida Carter’s place on the other side of Laurel Ridge, we heard gunshots coming from behind us. There was a rifle fired at the end of several barrages of what sounded like 9mm handguns.
I stopped to listen. Rosey and Starnes followed suit. The recurring pattern of handguns making noise followed quickly by the singular rifle shot continued for several minutes.
I knew it was Diamond who was using the rifle. I could easily guess that the handguns belonged to whatever governmental agency had come looking for Rosey. My money was on Diamond. With her skill set, she could easily hold off those official trackers bent on following us. At least she could hold them off long enough for us to get away and secure our position deep into these woods of the Blue Ridge. I was also betting that our trackers were not students of this particular geography and that even if they miraculously overcame Diamond’s expertise thus getting by her, they would have an impossible mission ahead of them.
“Think she can hold them off?” Starnes said to me.
“No question.”
“You certainly have some unusual friends,” she said.
I smiled but said nothing. I was thinking the same thing.
“Think they’ll follow us along this trail?” Starnes said.
“They have to get past her first.”
“They could be sneaky and clever,” she said.
“They had better be sneaky, clever, and invisible to her keen eyesight.”
“You have an abundance of confidence in that woman,” Starnes said.
“Like I do in you,” I said.
She turned away and headed on up the trail without comment.
The dogs were leading the way. Starnes and I were following as close behind them as we could physically keep up. Rosey was a good fifty yards down the trail behind us. He couldn’t tolerate any surprises from the rear. Too much training, no doubt. When I questioned as to whether he should be the one lagging behind and keeping watch, he only laughed at me without saying anything.
I did have one concern about this trail. I did not want our journey to Ida Carter’s place to bring any kind of trouble to her and her nearby kith and kin.
An hour into the hike, we decided to rest and talk it over. Starnes and I were sitting on a moss-covered tree fall which proved to be quite comfortable. Rosey soon joined us and perched on a large rock that faced us at an angle and still allowed him a view of the trail behind us. We all three consumed water without speaking for a minute or so.
We were deep into the woods so our view of the surrounding mountains was restricted. In our haste to escape the uninvited visitors back at Starnes’ place, we had missed some of the grand views of the ridges in this sector. Our loss. Maybe another time. When running for your life the beauty that surrounds you is often missed.
“I have a plan,” I said.
“A plan is good,” Rosey said.
“Does it involve death and destruction?” Starnes said.
“I’d like to avoid death and destruction. I’m thinking espionage.”
“As in surveillance?” she said.
“The same,” I said.
“What will we be spying upon?” she said.
“Well, in my plan, you two will not be spying upon anything.”
“Goodie, goodie,” she said. “That must mean you’ll be Jane Bond.”
“Without the gadgets and the cool car,” I said.
“What do we get to do in this plan of yours?” Rosey said.
“You two go on to Ida Carter’s place and wait for my call. I’m going back to Starnes’ house to see if anything is happening there.”
“If the house is blown up and there’s nothing left, don’t tell me,” Starnes said.
“You’ll have to know eventually,” I said.
“Eventually is good. I’d rather not know about the demise of my home whenever we immediately rejoin you. It’s okay if you delay the bad news for a little while.”
“We’ll build you a new place if need be,” Rosey said.
“If you’re still alive,” she said.
“Oh thou faithless woman,” he said.
“These enemies of yours are serious about taking you out,” Starnes said to him.
“And we’re serious about not letting them,” I said.
“I get that. But they seem to have more and more, you know, in terms of numbers. As soon as we stop two or three, they send in another squad. Where does this Wilkerson fellow get all that gun-power?”
“He networks rather well,” Rosey said.
“I’ll say,” Starnes said. “He must have all the resources of D.C. at his disposal. Don’t those people ask questions when he tells them to go kill somebody?”
Rosey glanced at me without answering. I shrugged and nodded my head in the direction of Starnes.
“I’ve said nothing to her. That was her thinking coming out.”
“A hole in your plan is that you’re still injured,” Rosey said.
“I’m healing quickly.”
He got up, came over to me, grabbed my left arm, and squeezed gently.
“Ouch!” I said.
“You have a ways to go,” he said.
“Especially if you keep doing that!”
“Just demonstrating my point,” he said.
“I don’t often shoot with my left hand.”
“Pain is pain,” he said. “It can create a mental diversion which could ultimately cost you.”
“But it means that I’m still alive. And still alive means that I’m a force to be reckoned with.”
“Go get ‘em, Sylvester,” Starnes said.
“It also means you’re a target,” Rosey said.
“Been here before,” I said and left the comfort of my moss-laden log.
15
Rosey didn’t like my plan, but neither did he want to be the one to go back and check on Diamond. He was a long way from becoming BFFs with her, or for that matter even being concerned about her welfare. It wasn’t that he had animosity towards her. It was more along the lines of him having no feelings at all about her. I was the one with the feelings.
At the same time, he didn’t want the three of us splitting up. The mountain culture was still foreign to him, but at least he had the skills of a chameleon except for skin color. He could adapt to any surrounding but he couldn’t change the fact that he was African-American. Nor would he want to. Nevertheless, in the mountains of western North Carolina he did stand out somewhat.
He did have Starnes on his side and that was quite enough in this culture.
The last thing we agreed upon was to turn off our cell phones. We all felt rather stupid when we finally deduced that Wilkerson’s kill-squads had found us so easily by satellite. Technology is too much a way of life and we forget about it. At least I forget about it. Must be an age thing. Big Brother has the ability to track us just about everywhere. However, truth be known, there are some dead zones here in the mountains and that’s a good thing. But failing to turn off our cells was
a serious blunder that could’ve cost us.
We agreed to contact each other at sunset. That just meant that we were on our own for the rest of the day.
Starnes, Rosey, and Dog were heading towards Ida’s place. I waited for them to get a good thirty minute head start before Sam and I backtracked to Starnes’ place to see what damage had been done there. My guess was that Diamond had been perched so as to hold off a small army while we escaped to the hills like the von Trapp family.
Whatever happened after we were safely along the trail and out of sight would be anybody’s guess. I needed to know. I also wanted to find Diamond and talk with her. I had another plan and I needed her skill set.
Walking fast and jogging where I could, I made excellent time returning to Starnes’ home. Sam and I eased along the top of the hill behind the house and found a good spot where we could see below as well as view a good portion of the mountains that surrounded her place.
It was quiet now; there were no gunshots of any magnitude.
We secluded ourselves in a tiny grove of trees and bushes just off the trail which provided us with an excellent view of what we needed to be viewing. Sam was down on all fours but remained alert to the sights and natural sounds around us. I lay down on my stomach and used my trusty, outdated binoculars to get up close and personal to the house below. My spy glasses were not powerful enough to aid me in viewing the distant mountains around the house. I knew that Diamond could’ve been perched anywhere in those distant mountains. Her range was phenomenal.
There was no movement around the house as far as I could see.
“You need a better hiding place,” Diamond said to me as she crawled on all fours to join us in our nearly secluded spot atop the hill.
“Holy … you scared the moisture right out of me, girl!” I said. “Sam, you need to pay better attention.”
He whined as if telling me that she was no threat. That probably meant that he had heard her approaching and chose not to alert me.
“I spotted you two coming on the trail before you decided to hide in this place.”
“So much for my stealth,” I said.
“You need more practice.”
“I need to stop making enemies.”
“Or get safer friends,” she countered.
“Worth considering. So, tell me what’s happening around here.”
“Four came. Two are down. The other two took their dead comrades, loaded them in the back of their SUVs, and drove away. I thought I’d hang around a day or two just to see if another squad of stupid agents would come here looking.”
“Did they see us leave?” I said.
“Maybe, but I doubt they paid much attention to you. I kept them busy with obstacles.”
“And you only shot two of them.”
“I only aimed at two of them.”
“Speaking of accuracy, I have this faint recollection of that rainy day after the Jeep was rolled and I crawled out, I seem to remember four shots. There were only three bodies. You need to go the target range some more?”
“I doubt it.”
“Not used to you missing anything except for me and Rosey that one time.”
“Yeah, I still have questions about that. I don’t miss.”
“Four shots and three bodies,” I said.
“Hit one guy twice.”
“Oh.”
“So where’s the rest of the little troupe that left here earlier?” she said.
“Headed towards a friend on the other side of the mountain.”
“Did you turn off your cell phones?”
“Yeah, we finally remembered.”
“Could’ve got you killed.”
“Almost did,” I said.
“So why did you come back here? Didn’t trust me to handle the situation?”
“Far from it. I was concerned about you.”
“Oh, how sweet. Not many on that list.”
”I’ll bet.”
“The truth, please.”
“I have a plan and it involves you.”
“I fear for my life.”
“Yeah, you should. It requires grit and fortitude.”
“I have a little.”
“You have ample,” I said.
“What’s the plan?”
“We’re going to Washington.”
“How thrilling,” she said.
“It could be. Depends on our reception.”
“Let’s hope they don’t have time to plan for our visit.”
“That would be my hope.”
“And what do we hope to gain by our little excursion to the evil capital?”
“We plan on stealing a flash drive,” I said.
“I’m surrounded by fugitives and thieves.”
“You blend nicely.”
16
I’ve never traveled with an assassin. This one drove a gray Silverado pickup. It looked to be at least ten years old and needed washing. That is saying a lot because my standards are set so low for taking care of vehicles. By the time Diamond had donned her Atlanta Braves ball cap, large sunglasses, and dirty gray sweatshirt, she could’ve been a man driving a truck in the South. The only thing missing in the cab of her truck was the gun rack attached to the back window. She could’ve passed for any good old boy or girl driving a truck in Virginia. Talk about hiding in plain sight.
Sam and I were a lot more conspicuous. At least her truck was an extended cab, so Sam had the entire back compartment to himself. Mostly to himself. Diamond carried a large box which I figured to be her collection of weaponry along with a generous supply of ammo. It was safely hidden behind the seat in a compartment which Diamond had no doubt had some metal shop build-in for her secretive cargo of tools.
We threw our small duffle bags in the bed of the truck and took off in the dark of night. I finally made contact with Rosey and Starnes. We had agreed to turn on our phones at the designated hour and try to make contact. I called Starnes.
“You with that woman?” she said.
“Yes.”
“Don’t tell me your plans.”
“Mum is the word. Everything copacetic with you and yours?”
“Just lovely,” she said in her flat, monotone as if taking an order for groceries. “Coming home soon?”
“Before the next election.”
“Take no prisoners.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
That was the extent of our conversation. We both had decided that our phones were probably bugged along with just about everything else. Diamond had scoured her truck in search of a bug or bomb before we had left the mountains, despite the fact that she had secluded her truck a mile or two from Starnes’ place, safely nestled in a thicket of brush and small trees. She had this hand-held device that would detect the smallest of surveillance things, and found nothing. Apparently assassins are tech savvy. It might explain a lot.
I decided that I needed to read more just to keep up with the criminal mindset.
I had made the call to Starnes while we were still in McAdams County. We were sitting in the parking lot of the Wagon Wheel. It was closing time. The last cars were leaving, so we left with them and headed towards Highway 19/23 or the future I-26 but not before Diamond got her to-go order of multiple hamburgers and curly fries. If she ate like that all of the time, how did she manage that girly figure? I wanted to ask, but my better judgment decided against it. Perhaps later.
We took our time along 19/23 just to be sure that no one was following. We stopped in Erwin, Tennessee for some gas and then headed out again towards I-81. Once on 81 we traveled north into Virginia making our way to the world of evil in D.C.
Now and then Diamond would pull off the interstate and sit and wait for something to happen. On this occasion, Diamond found a busy eatery and gas stop for all types of vehicles.
“You look disappointed,” I said.
“Nary a bit.”
“You don’t trust many people.”
“I stay alive by not trusting
people.”
“Alive and lonely.”
“I have my guns.”
“Solid relationships are vital for humanity.”
“You’re a funny woman, Clancy Evans.”
“I’m glad I know you,” I said.
“That’s not funny.”
“Didn’t mean it to be.”
“You know we can’t be friends.”
“Not in the usual manner.”
“I’m dangerous for you.”
“As well as my salvation.”
“Recompense,” she said.
“Your bill is paid in full.”
“It’s an internal code. No one has ever been kind to me.”
“Damn, that’s sad.”
“Don’t cry. It’s a way of life.”
“Sadder still.”
“I’m not cryin’,” she said without emotion.
She got out of the cab, walked around the vehicle twice, and studied the cars and trucks moving around the fast food gas station. She did it so inconspicuously and with such ease that unless you were watching her specifically, you would never notice her at all. She appeared to be a guy checking out his truck before leaving. She even kicked all four tires. Wow, she was good.
We were back on I-81.
“Where are you from?” I said.
“Too much information.”
“And your real name, along those same lines?”
“Ditto.”
“How old are you? Is that a safe question?”
“Safe, but nosey. I am a girl after all.”
“Yeah. I forget that from time to time.”
“But then gender is not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“You ever been in love?” I said.
“Once.”
I detected a slight note of pain in her voice. Ever so slight. Only an intuitive, shrewdly deceptive detective such as I could have picked up on that slightest of notes. I might have imagined it. Or superimposed it since I thought along some romantic lines myself.
“Long ago?” I said.
“Seems like forever.”
“This always been your career choice?”
“Not a career choice, at least not one that you sit down and read about and say, ‘Hey, that’s what I want to do.’ I do what I do because I’m damn good at it and the money is terrific.”
Out Jumps Jack Death: A Clancy Evans Mystery (Clancy Evans PI Book 8) Page 9