Edge of Anarchy_A Thriller, Action, Mystery Novel

by David Archer

  It was almost noon, so Jenny said goodbye and drove back to Noah’s place in the hopes of getting there in time for lunch. She made it, and with a half an hour to spare. Sarah had decided to make beef stew, and Jenny was delighted to find that there was plenty to go around.

  “Well, Mr. Mitchell says I’m ready,” she said. “So far, this has been pretty easy. All I really have to do is be myself, but pretend I did all these things that Victoria did. That just isn’t very hard.”

  “Not for you, it isn’t,” she heard inside her head. Her eyes went wide, and she had to look around to figure out that it was Neil who had subvocalized the message to her.

  He grinned, and she said-whispered back, “Oh, this could be fun.”

  “Yes,” she heard, and she could tell that it was Sarah, “except that you are broadcasting. Noah and I can hear you, as well, so keep it clean, kids.”

  Jenny laughed so hard she snorted, but Neil turned slightly pink.

  “The whispering makes it a little hard to tell who’s talking,” Noah said. “I suggest that when we use this, we start by saying who is speaking.”

  “Like this,” Neil said with a grin. His lips moved silently, and they all heard, “Neil to Noah, you’ve got gravy on your shirt.”

  Sarah, Jenny and Noah all looked at his shirt, but saw nothing.

  “Just kidding,” Neil said. “I just think that should be the way to handle it. Say who’s speaking and who we are talking to as we start each statement.”

  “I agree,” Noah said. “That should be the best way to handle it.”

  “So, you’re done at at Mission ID?” Sarah asked.

  “Yes, but I probably should keep working on making sure I got all this memorized. Neil, you can help me with that later on.”

  Neil nodded. “No problemo,” he said. “I’ll be glad to, honey.”

  They finished lunch and decided to relax for a while. Marco showed up shortly after they had finished eating, and they practiced using the silent communication method. Within half an hour, they were all easily transitioning into the format they had decided to use, and then they began to experiment with range.

  It took only a short time to figure out that Neil and Jenny could hear the others even when they were over at the trailer. Despite the fact that the trailer was covered in metal, the signal came through loud and clear.

  “You’re just going to have to make sure you mute it every night,” Sarah said with a grin, when they came back. “The last thing I need is to listen to you two being all lovey-dovey.”

  “Speak for yourself, girl,” Jenny said. “You guys get pretty romantic yourselves, sometimes.”

  “Yeah, but we’re married,” Sarah said, sticking out her tongue. “We can get away with it.”

  FIVE

  Their flight took off a few minutes late the next morning and landed four hours later in Miami. They rented three separate cars, with Jenny taking one, Neil and Marco in another and Noah and Sarah in the third. Jenny wasn’t due to meet with Newsom until the following evening, but Noah wanted time to check out the place where the party would be held and look for potential dangers. They checked in to their rooms and gathered for lunch in the hotel restaurant. Neil had done some research before they left, so they had already located the venue where the party would be held.

  “The place is called Intuition,” he said. “It’s a nightclub on Biscayne Boulevard, the kind of place where music is loud and the dancers are crazy enough to make you wonder why you got on the dance floor.”

  “Oh,” Jenny said, “sounds like my kind of place. Is it open this afternoon?”

  “It opened at eleven, doesn’t close until 2 AM.” Neil looked at Noah. “Think we ought to go and check it out?”

  “That’s the whole reason for coming early,” Noah said. “Sarah, Marco and I will go and look it over. I don’t want Jenny seen there until the party tomorrow. For all we know, Newsom could have people watching the place.”

  “Oh, come on,” Jenny said. “I’ll put on a wig and sunglasses, nobody will know it’s me.”

  Noah looked at her for a moment, then nodded. “All right, but only in disguise.”

  Sarah grinned at Jenny. “Hey, this could be fun,” she said. “Music and dancing, and a couple of drinks.”

  They finished up their lunch, then went back to their rooms. Jenny always carried a couple of wigs with her, so it took only a few minutes to get into her disguise. They met up at Noah and Sarah’s room, and Noah agreed that she looked just different enough not to be easily recognizable.

  “We’ll all go,” he said. “Jenny, you need to wander around by yourself, just get a feel for the place. Marco, you and Neil can hang out together, while Sarah and I try to act like a normal couple. We’ll all spend a half-hour just casing the place, looking for the most likely spots a threat could come from. After that, we can slowly gravitate together. Neil, you and Jenny can flirt with each other, but be sure to act like you are meeting for the first time. Marco, you’re just the spare wheel. We let the girls get up and dance a bit, so that we can check to see if anyone is watching them. If we see anyone paying too much attention, I want to know who it is.”

  “That’s fine,” Marco said, “but remember that guys are always watching the girls dancing together. Could be nothing but typical male interest, you know?”

  “That’s what we want to find out. If it’s anything else, I want to know the reason behind it.”

  Since it was already past noon, they were all dressed casually. They got into their cars and headed toward Intuition.

  The nightclub was in a busy area not far from the beaches, and was in what used to be an old warehouse. There were neon lights and lasers flashing everywhere, and a band was on the stage even though it was still early afternoon. The dance floor was already crowded, but there was a lot of empty tables and spaces at the three different bars.

  Jenny went to the biggest bar and climbed up onto a stool. Neil and Marco took stools a slight distance away from her, while Noah and Sarah sat down at a table just behind her. All of them were watching the others in the place carefully, trying to get a feel for the type of clientele that it served. Most of the people they saw were young, the vast majority in their early twenties. They seemed to be a mix of both professional people and regular workers, and there were even a few people out on the dance floor in work uniforms.

  “What will it be?” asked the bartender.

  Jenny smiled at him. “Something easy,” she said. “How about a screwdriver?”

  “Coming up,” the bartender said. A moment later, a glass of orange juice and vodka was placed in front of her.

  Jenny handed the bartender a card.

  “You want to start a tab?”

  “Might as well,” Jenny replied. “This looks like a fun place to hang out.”

  The bartender shrugged, but smiled. “It’s all right,” he said. “It gets a lot better in the evenings, naturally, but it’s a great place to hang out during the day, too.”

  “Lots of tourists?” Jenny asked.

  “Oh, yeah, we get them. Not everybody, though. This is one of the most popular places for the locals to go, at least most of the time.”

  The barmaid approached Noah and Sarah, and they each ordered a drink. Noah went for a beer, while Sarah had her favorite vodka Collins.

  “Pretty big place,” Sarah said. “How does it look from a tactical point of view?”

  “Well,” Noah said, “there aren’t a lot of places to hide. I don’t see any doors or blind corners. About the only place somebody could hide would be behind the bar, but that would interfere with the way the bartenders move. I don’t see any sign of it at the moment, but the bartenders seem to be having to move around obstacles. Later on, I want to know why.”

  “This actually looks like a pretty fun place. You want to dance?”

  Noah looked around one more time, then nodded. He stood up and took her hand, and they walked out onto the dance floor.

  The mus
ic was fast, and Sarah was pleasantly surprised to see that Noah had some serious moves. The two of them were able to put on a bit of a show, and it was obvious that quite a few of the other dancers and many of the people seated at tables were watching them closely.

  “Drawing attention,” she said during a moment when they were close to each other. “People are staring at us, but they all seem to be smiling.”

  “They’re probably just wishing they were me,” Noah said.

  Sarah chuckled. “That was sweet,” she said. “Actually, I see an awful lot of women watching us. I suspect some of them are wishing they were me.”

  “Just don’t let them cut in,” Noah said. “I don’t want to dance with anybody but you.”

  At the bar, Neil and Marco were nursing bottles of beer and talking about commonplace things. Nobody seemed to be paying them any attention, but they continued watching the mirror behind the bar. Marco caught Noah’s eye in the reflection and sent him a questioning look, but Noah pretended not to notice.

  “Boss seems to be taking it cautiously,” he said softly to Neil. “I’m watching everybody else, why don’t you go ahead and make a move on Jenny?”

  Neil had already looked at Jenny a couple of times, sitting off to his right, and he turned to look at her again. He kept his attention focused on her for a moment, and she finally turned to look back, so he smiled.

  “You come here often?” Neil asked.

  “Nope. First time,” Jenny replied. “You guys local?”

  Neil shook his head. “No, down here on business. I’m a computer technician, and some of my clients are having network issues. I like coming to Miami, it’s a lot of fun down here.”

  “I’ve been here a couple of times,” Jenny said. “Not to this club, just to Miami.” She looked at the three stools between them, then got up and moved over to sit beside Neil. “Goodness,” she said, “you’re pretty tall.”

  “He is, isn’t he?” Marco asked, turning to look at Jenny. “I call him Treetop, and he hates it.”

  Jenny giggled. “Treetop? Why don’t you like it? That sounds like a good nickname for somebody as tall as you.”

  “Makes me sound like I might be stupid,” Neil said. “A tree? Sounds like a wooden head. Not a lot of brains inside a wooden head.”

  “I get the impression you got plenty of brains,” Jenny said. “I don’t think you need to worry too much about people thinking you’re a wooden head.”

  Neil smiled at her. “Ah, thanks,” he said. “I really just hate my buddy picking on me. Hey, do you like to dance?”

  Jenny’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I love to,” she said. “Think you can keep up with me?” She smiled at him coquettishly.

  “Don’t know until we try,” he replied, returning the smile. “Shall we?” He held out a hand, and Jenny took it.

  Neil led her onto the dance floor, and they seemed to fit together perfectly. They carefully danced their way closer to Noah and Sarah, who was still on the floor, and Neil “accidentally” bumped into Noah.

  “Oops, sorry,” he said.

  Noah grinned at him. “No problem,” he said. “Dancing can get kinda crowded out here. You guys from Miami?”

  “Not me,” Neil said. “I’m from up by Chicago.”

  “And I’m from New York,” Jenny said. “What about you two?”

  “No, we’re just here on vacation. Thought we’d see what the nightclub life was like around here.”

  “I’ve heard some good things about this place,” Jenny said. “This is my first time actually visiting it, though.”

  “Alberta here,” Noah said. “I’m Jack, and this is my wife, Deanna.”

  “I’m Lisa,” Jenny said. She looked at Neil questioningly. “Hey, I haven’t even gotten your name yet.”

  Neil chuckled. “It’s Leon,” he said. “Nice to meet you, Lisa. And my big buddy over there is Chuck.”

  Sarah leaned toward Jenny. “Lisa, why don’t you guys grab Chuck and come join us at our table.” She stopped dancing and took Noah’s hand, and Neil and Jenny followed. Jenny sat at the table beside Sarah, while Neil went to fetch Marco.

  “Come on,” he said quietly. “Boss wants us all over there.”

  “Sure,” Marco said boisterously. “More the merrier.” He picked up his bottle of beer and followed Neil back to the table.

  “Hey, everybody,” Neil said, “this is Chuck. Chuck, this is Jack, Deanna and Lisa.”

  The two of them sat at the table and they all began a simple conversation. As they spoke, however, each of them was looking in different directions, searching for anyplace that might serve as a hiding place for a potential shooter.

  They stayed for another hour, then Noah said he and Sarah needed to get back to their hotel. The two of them walked out, and the rest followed only a short time later.

  “That place is pretty solid,” Neil said, when they got back to the hotel rooms. “I didn’t see any place that a shooter could hide without being visible from some point in the bar.”

  “I agree,” Noah said. “Newsom couldn’t have picked a better place, if you wanted a public meeting spot. I suggest we take it easy tonight, and get ready for whatever activity might begin after Jenny meets with him tomorrow night. We’ll all be there, just to keep an eye on the situation, but I don’t really anticipate any trouble at this point.”

  “There won’t be any,” Jenny said. “I get the feeling that whatever they want Victoria for is pretty important to them. Let’s give them the chance to tell us about it, and then figure out what the next move will be. Right?”

  “That’s exactly what I’ve got in mind,” Noah said. “The most important thing of all is to figure out who’s behind the PRA, whether Newsom is really the top guy or not. After that, we need to know what it is they want Victoria for. Once we have those two pieces of information, it will be time to take Newsom out and hopefully shut PRA down.”

  Jenny smiled. “I am so looking forward to it!”

  SIX

  The team took it easy the rest of the day, staying at the hotel and ordering room service for dinner. They gathered in Noah and Sarah’s room for the evening, and relaxed while watching a movie during dinner, and then another one after they had finished.

  “Okay,” Noah said at about 10 o’clock, “we all need to get some sleep. We can plan on meeting for breakfast downstairs, I don’t think there’s any risk of our being spotted here at the moment. After the meeting tomorrow night, we might need to keep our distance from Jenny for a bit.”

  “Well, that’s gonna suck,” Neil said.

  “You’ll survive, babe,” Jenny said. “This mission shouldn’t take very long, then you can be my cuddle bunny again.”

  Neil, Jenny and Marco went to their own rooms, and Noah and Sarah showered together before climbing into bed. Sarah turned on her side to look at her husband, and smiled.

  “So,” she said. “I was thinking that maybe, after this mission, we might ask for a little time to go back to Feeney Manor for a while. All of us, just go take some time off there. What do you think?”

  “I wouldn’t mind it,” he said. “It wouldn’t break my heart at all to spend a little time relaxing. I’m sure the rest of them would be up for it.”

  “Good,” Sarah said, and she raised up to kiss him. “Because I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world where I’ve felt so much at peace.”

  The two of them slept well, and Noah awoke when the sun came through the curtains. A glance at his phone told him that it was only a little after seven, so he got quietly out of bed and showered before Sarah even woke up. He was getting dressed when she rolled over and looked up at him, and she smiled.

  “You could’ve stayed in bed a while longer,” she said. “It’s not like we’re in any kind of a hurry this morning.”

  “Actually, I want to get breakfast over with and start getting ready for tonight. Jenny’s supposed to go to the party about seven thirty, and that time will be here a lot sooner than you think. I wa
nt to make sure our communication systems are working properly, check her video feed and make sure we’re all in the right places when things start to happen. I just figured we can spend a few hours planning, so that we don’t make mistakes later.”

  “Yes, boss,” Sarah said. She threw off the covers and slid out of bed, and kissed him as she walked by on the way to the shower. Noah heard the water running only a moment later, and sat down on the bed to wait for her.

  “Neil to Noah,” he heard in his ear. “Are you guys up and out of bed yet?”

  “We are,” Noah said in a whisper. “Marco?”

  “Marco here,” Noah heard. “I’m up and ready.”

  “It’s Noah again. Sarah is in the shower, but we should be ready in about twenty minutes. If you guys want to go on down, you can.”

  “Neil to Noah, we’ll wait.”

  “Noah to Neil. Okay, sounds good.”

  Sarah came out of the shower ten minutes later, but it took her another twenty minutes to be ready to go down to breakfast. Blow drying her hair occupied the majority of that time, and she was rushed as she put on her makeup.

  Finally, she was ready to go and Noah used the silent communication system to let the others know that it was time to head down for breakfast.

  “Noah to team,” he said silently. “We are ready. Meet you all in the breakfast room.”

  Sarah turned and grinned at him. “Oh my God,” she said, “you’re playing with that thing.”

  “No,” Noah said. “It’s just easier than dialing a phone, and I can reach everybody at once, as long as we’re so close. Come on, let’s go eat.”

  Still grinning, Sarah followed them out the door where they found Neil, Marco and Jenny waiting.

  “About time,” Neil said. “My stomach is beginning to think somebody cut my throat.”

  “You’re always hungry,” Sarah said. “If only we knew where you put it all.”

  “You got a hollow leg,” Jenny said. “That’s what my dad always used to say, when somebody could eat a lot.”

  They took the elevator down to the lobby level and went to the breakfast room. The hotel had the standard complimentary breakfast, with waffles and fruit and cereal. They all went for waffles, but Neil made sure to grab a few extra oranges.