Deadly Interpretations

by Andie Alexander

  “Did you say the Feds?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t worry. They’re not after you.”

  “They’d better not be. I’ll bring Ray with me to get Scotty, but don’t tell them anything about me or Ray.”

  “Good idea. Who’s Ray? Is he a good guy and will he treat Scotty right?”

  I glanced around the corner and saw Jim talking to Scotty. They were both laughing, and I couldn’t be happier to see that. Billy and Scotty didn’t get along very well, and I knew Scotty needed a father figure.

  “You’ll see,” Squirt said. “We’ll be there when you get off work at five. And, Harley, no Feds. Ray and I don’t want to be found.”

  “Got it. You won’t be found.” I looked around the room at all the agents in my apartment. Getting them to leave might be tougher than I thought. For one thing, it meant I had to be nice to Jim, or Squirt would figure it all out. If I didn’t play the girlfriend, Squirt would smell a rat.

  We ended the call and I walked into the room, sitting beside Jim on the couch. “What’s going on here?”

  “I’m teaching your brother the finer things about manhood.”

  “Like what? If you’re teaching him how to feel up a girl, so help me—”

  Jim shook his head slowly. “No, he already knew that.”

  “He what?” I jumped to my feet and stared at Scotty. “Who taught you that?”

  Scotty looked up at me with the most innocent look, his long mop of a haircut almost touching his eyes. “Billy did. Get over yourself. It’s no big deal.”

  “Billy taught you that? Where did he learn it, because he never did that with me.” I covered my mouth and knew my face had turned red. Jim laughed, then leaned over and whispered something to Scotty. He patted him on the leg, then stood up and put his arm over my shoulder. “Time to go to work. Did you have breakfast yet?”

  “No. Did you eat it all?”

  He directed me into the kitchen and pulled me up beside him, addressing Jordan, the blond-haired goon. “She needs breakfast. Lots of it and tons of protein. She’s nasty and I want her happy today.”

  “Sure, boss,” the man said. He threw a few pieces of bacon in the frying pan, along with an egg.

  “But I’m a vegetarian,” I said.

  “Not anymore.” Jim guided me into the dining room and firmly sat me down in a chair. “You have ten minutes to eat and I’m driving us to work.”

  “But my bike—”

  “No. Too much of a target. If they wanted to take you out, you could easily be shot on that thing. I’m driving and you’re coming with me.”

  I was speechless. His face looked angry, and I knew I didn’t deserve it. I lowered my head to the table with a thud. It was better than getting in trouble for something I didn’t do.

  Jim sat beside me and rubbed my back. “Are you okay?”

  I lifted my head and pushed the hair back from my face. “Better than you. You’re in quite a mood today.”

  “I didn’t get much sleep.”

  “So I hear. Can you take some happy pills or something?”

  “About your pills,” he whispered. “I don’t want you taking any. I want you to try it my way first.”

  “No. You don’t know what you’re asking,” I whispered back. “I’ll be a mess then, literally. Every two weeks. Absolutely not.”

  He narrowed his eyes in determination. “Fine, then give me the number to your doctor and I’ll talk to him.”

  “It’s on the refrigerator. Knock yourself out.”

  The cooking goon brought me silverware and a plate containing an egg, bacon, and an English muffin. He went back to the kitchen and returned with orange juice and coffee. I stared at the food, then up at his face. “And I’m to eat all of this?”

  “Boss’ orders,” he said with a grin.

  “Thank you, I guess.” I lifted a fork and started to eat. The egg was okay but the bacon was outstanding. I really missed meat, stuffing all of it into my mouth.

  “Hey, speedy, slow down,” Jim said. “We have time for you to eat.”

  “It tastes so good, though.” I looked over at him, and swallowed. “You really do know what you’re talking about, don’t you?”

  “Yep. Where are your pills?”

  “On top of the refrigerator. Can you bring them to me, please?”

  He did a double take in surprise. “You said please?”

  “Sure.” I smiled. “Is that okay?”

  He turned toward Jordan. “More bacon. Now.” He headed into the kitchen and returned with my pills and another patch. “I have a pen for your purse. It’s a replacement and I put it in the bottom already. I’ve also been reading your diary. Amazing stuff. You were right in the middle of things and had no idea you were even there.”

  “I was?”

  He sat beside me. “You were in the room right before the meeting for the bombing of a jet liner in London. You were at a drop of nuclear codes that our guys thwarted while at a shopping mall with Dieter. You found an envelope in your purse that wasn’t yours and threw it away. We think it was for an assassination for the Prime Minister of France. That was right before you were thrown into the basement.”

  I felt that sinking feeling in my stomach again. I was being used?

  Jim continued. “I think Dieter was protecting you when he hid you, because you were there for five days while his guys were angry. We know that because we pulled a few of the guys in for questioning about unusual behavior on their part around that time.”

  “He was saving my life? I thought he just hated me and wanted me to lose my job.”

  “You left about two months after that, and Claus protected you. He wasn’t just a guard the U.N., but worked with the Swiss counterpart to our Secret Service.”

  “Did he know what was going on?”

  “We don’t think so, but we can’t find him. He disappeared and they’re looking for him all over Europe. We think he’s dead.”

  “Claus? But he saved me from Dieter.”

  “That’s probably the reason he’s dead.”

  My life wasn’t for real. It felt like I’d been living a lie for a long time and didn’t even know it. I’d been used. If I were an official in the U.S. government, I’d be hauling me into federal prison and throwing away the key. But I didn’t know any of this. There was no way to prove it, either, which made it even more frustrating.

  Jim ripped the first patch off my arm, making me howl in pain while I stared at the redness on my arm. “Your bedside manner sucks. You took off my top layer of skin.”

  “Don’t be such a pansy.” He put another one on my other arm, then studied the place where he took off the first. “I should’ve guessed you’d get a rash from that.”

  I rubbed my arm, the pain burning my arm. “Thanks, but the rash is from where you ripped my skin to shreds. Cigarettes never hurt me as much as that did.”

  “No, they’ll kill you instead. Big difference.” He handed me one of the pills, then studied the label, making notes on the paper from his pocket. “I have a call in to your doctor, because I’m taking over your case.”

  “You’re what?”

  He looked up from the prescription medication. “I’m going to be your doctor.”

  “Why is that?”

  “He’s not doing his job. He’s a loser.”

  “But he’s been my doctor for years.” I watched Jim’s face, knowing I wouldn’t win, so I calmed down. “But you know better.” I ate some more of the egg.

  “More eggs,” Jim yelled out into the kitchen. “It’s working.” He was insane.

  Chapter 11

  It was five o’clock and work had been tough. However, I’d rather have stayed and done another day’s work than go home to a house full of agents, Scotty, Squirt and whoever Ray was.

  Jim entered our cubicle, falling into a chair with a grunt. “Man, that’s hard work. Are you ready to go?” he asked me.

  “Yep.” I took my purse from my desk and turned toward Elizabet
h, who had her hands covering her face while leaning her elbows on the desk. “I have to talk to her first,” I whispered to Jim.

  He sat up. “I’ll help,” he whispered.

  I thought about it for a moment. “Give me a minute.” He stood and stepped out of the room while I moved my chair beside Elizabeth. “What’s the matter?”

  She kept her head in her hands, sounding like she was crying. “You’d never understand.”

  “You’d be surprised at what I understand. Try me.”

  She lifted her head. Tears trailed down her cheeks, making her mascara run in big black streaks. “I think I’m pregnant.”

  Uh-oh. I guess she really was a loose woman when she wanted to be. “I didn’t know you were dating anyone.”

  “I sort of am, but it’s not his. I was raped and it’s a long story.”

  Uh-oh. Rape’s never good, and her poor baby had every mark against it already. “Want to talk to Jim about this? He’s really good at this type of thing.” I pointed toward the hallway, just to show her that he was outside.

  She glanced out, then back at me. “He is? Why would he care?”

  I smiled. “Let’s go out for drinks or something. Trust me on this.” I helped her to her feet and we joined Jim, waiting for us in the hallway.

  I leaned closer to him. “We need to go out for drinks.”

  “We do? Who’s we?”

  “All three of us.” I pointed so he’d understand. Like most men, he seemed like a visual type of guy.

  He studied my face, suddenly smiling as it hit him. “I understand. Your brother’s not there yet anyway.”

  “About that.” I grabbed his arm. “Can we have our guests leave when Squirt gets there?”

  “Who’s Squirt?” Elizabeth asked.

  “My stupid brother,” I said. “It’s a long story, but he’s coming to town to visit.”

  “I have a stupid brother or two, myself,” Elizabeth said. “I know the feeling.”

  Jim shot me a knowing look. “As for the guests, they have to stay. It’s their job.”

  I let go of his arm and dropped my shoulders in defeat. “I guess you’re right.”

  As we left the building, Jim grabbed his phone and made a rather quiet phone call. Elizabeth and I followed him, walking two blocks north to a small bar that doubled as a diner. It was rather seedy looking, but Jim walked to the door and put his hand on the doorknob, still on the phone.

  “Yes. I got it. Thanks.” He ended the call and turned toward me. “Our guests at your apartment are friends of yours from out of town. That’s it. They’re here for a convention.”

  I knew Squirt would ask for more information. “What convention?”

  “Uh, I think Chris said International Businessmen of America? It’ll be enough to work.”

  “I see. Now what?”

  He smiled as he opened the door for Elizabeth and me, but didn’t answer my question while we entered the dark establishment. He led the way, walking to the back, through two double doors to the restrooms. Two men approached us, ushering us all into a back room, past the restrooms.

  The room was small with no windows, appearing like a storage room with filled shelves on all the walls. In the middle sat a table and four old wooden chairs.

  Jim and the men helped Elizabeth and me sit on one side, while Jim sat on the other, across from Elizabeth. One of the other men closed the door.

  “What’s going on?” Elizabeth asked, looking up at the men.

  “Just taking precautions,” one of the men said. He had a British accent, and I suspected he was someone from MI6, just from his mannerisms. Both of the men waved a wand over all three of us, just to make sure we weren’t concealing any bugs.

  “You’re clean,” the same man said. He then left the room with the other guy.

  Elizabeth stared at the two of us. “What’s going on here? Why was MI6 here to see if we were bugged?”

  Jim pulled out his wallet and flashed his badge. “I’m with DHS—the Department of Homeland Security for the United States, and I was called in to protect Harley. We’re hearing chatter we don’t like, and it’s centered on the interpreters for the United Nations, specifically ones who know Russian and Chinese.”

  She looked at each of us. “I thought you two were dating.”

  I shook my head, glancing toward Jim. “Not really, but he wishes.”

  Jim returned my stare. “You have to keep our cover.”

  “If you give me a cigarette, I’ll keep your cover.”

  “In your dreams,” he said.

  “You smoke?” Elizabeth asked me. “Since when?”

  “Before Billy and get over it. I’m quitting, but it’s not easy.” I looked down at her purse. “I suppose you don’t have a cigarette in there, do you?”

  “No. But you could try a patch. My father used one of those and it works.”

  “For some people,” I said. “But I’ve been dying for a smoke all day long even with a patch.”

  “Fix it. It’s all in your head.” Jim stared at me with a determined look. He sat up and focused on Elizabeth. “Now what’s wrong?”

  “You can’t tell anyone,” she said. “Or I’ll be killed.”

  He leaned closer. “Who will kill you?”

  “Boris and Mr. Wing. I’ve been interpreting between them for about two months now, and they forced me to keep silent. I can’t even tell MI6 or I’ll be killed. I think there’s a mole in MI6 who reports back to them.”

  “What are they talking about during the interpreting sessions?” Jim asked.

  “I can’t tell you.” She lowered her eyes and began to cry. “But I think I’m pregnant. One of Boris’ men raped me about six weeks ago, and now I’m late and feel terrible.”

  “He’s an ex-medical doctor.” I pointed toward Jim.

  “He raped you?” Jim looked down over her. “Which guard?”

  “Oleg. He’s nasty and hates women. Georgi isn’t much better.”

  “Did Oleg hurt you otherwise?” he asked.

  She wiped her cheeks and lowered her eyes. “He had a gun to my head.” She looked up at Jim again, the tears pouring down her cheeks. “Does that count?”

  “Yes, but did he cut you or give you bruises?”

  “I was bruised all right. He hurt my arm, my head, and anywhere else he could hit that wouldn’t show.” She covered her face with her hands and sobbed, wiping her cheeks when she looked back at Jim. “He beat me then raped me.”

  “Did you go to the hospital to get checked out?”

  “No, because he threatened to do it again if I did. It was really scary. He keeps holding that over my head. If Boris finds out that I’m pregnant, they’ll kill me, just to cover it up.” As she put her head on her arms on the table, I reached over and rubbed her back. Poor thing. She’d kept this all bottled up inside.

  “We can put you into protective custody, if you want,” Jim said. “I promise they’ll never find you.”

  “I can’t.” She lifted her head. “They threatened to kill my family in England if I do, and with that mole in MI6, they’d know about moving anyone beforehand. I’m in big trouble and I don’t think I’m going to live through this. Those two MI6 men who were in here might have reported back to the bad guys. It’s dangerous for me to even be here.”

  Jim touched her hand and she looked up at him. “I can make sure you’re safe,” he said. “But I can’t do it without your help.”

  She shook her head and took a tissue from her purse, wiping her eyes. “No, they’ll let me alone soon enough, I hope.”

  “What did they talk about in those meetings?” Jim asked, lowering his tone.

  She studied his face for a moment, looking like she was weighing her options. “Fine. I’ll tell you. They want to do things without their governments knowing about it. They talked about the different people in their countries and how they can eliminate them so they can get higher up and control their leaders. But first, they needed some sort of distraction to ge
t some country out of the way to gain power. I don’t know what it was that they wanted to do, because they didn’t want to say it in front of me.” She started to cry. “They even killed my pets to make me obey them.”

  “They killed your pets?” I asked. That was more than I wanted to hear. I was ready to take these guys out myself for that. How underhanded could they get?

  “I had a cat and a bird. I came home one day and they were both dead. There was a note on my refrigerator that said, in Chinese, to obey or die.”

  “Nice fortune cookie,” Jim muttered. “I think you need to go into protective custody.”

  “I can’t. They’ll find me. They put some sort of tracking device under my skin with a GPS locator on it. I can’t get away.”

  “Where? Show me.”

  She lifted her left sleeve and pointed to a scar at the top of her arm. He stood, walked toward her, and rubbed his finger over it in awe. “I can take this out if you want.”

  “They said it has some sort of anti-tampering device with poison attached if anyone touched it.”

  “Impossible,” he said. “I need to take you to the hospital to see what’s in there.”

  “No,” she hissed. “I haven’t told anyone—not even MI6. I really don’t want to die. MI6 has a mole and I’m sure of it. Boris told me that himself.” She cried again and Jim knelt down and gave her a hug, then pulled back from her in a very sexy move. Oh boy. I had to learn to turn off my libido.

  “I want to make this better for you,” he said. “Will you at least let me try?”

  She nodded. “Sure. I can’t fight them any longer. I just don’t feel well.”

  “I’ll be right back.” He stood up, glanced at me with some sort of visual message that I didn’t get, and walked out of the room.

  We waited in silence for a long time. I had to find out more, but didn’t know if Jim wanted to be in on the conversation or not. After about fifteen minutes, I decided he’d missed out.

  I turned to Elizabeth. “How did you get into this situation?”

  “I was invited to Boris’ house and he wanted to see me alone. He offered me a lot of money to sit between Mr. Wing and him so they could talk, and told me if I didn’t take it, I’d regret it. From the look on his face, I was in trouble if I turned him down. They kept me there that night, and I was awakened by Oleg. He raped me, just to keep me in line, because I’d asked too many questions about what they were discussing. They let me go the next day, but I was followed and forced to go back more than once.”