Immortal Secrets

by Jerry Moore

  I really wasn’t hungry but made a show of looking through the pantry before settling on a package of crackers. I sat down at the table and made myself eat some of the crackers that I really didn’t want.

  Jenny joined me at the table. “Look, I know how bad all of this looks to you right now.”

  I asked in my most sarcastic tone, “So what do I do now, besides sit in my room and listen to the hick radio stations in this town?”

  She put her hand on my arm. “I don’t know yet. The truth is that Washington is basically siding with Bart on this one. At this point, I am really just along for the ride, and it’s really pissing me off.”

  “So, I guess we’re both stuck, huh?”

  She looked to make sure that Bart was still preoccupied with the football game. “I’ll try and make some phone calls in the morning. Maybe I can get permission for some sort of outing tomorrow. Of course, we would be joined at the hip if we did go somewhere.”

  I tried to sound excited about the whole idea. “Well, I guess that’s better than nothing. Let me know as soon as you get an answer, okay?”

  I put the remainder of my crackers back in the pantry. I seriously doubted that any part of what she had just told me was true. But it really didn’t matter if it was true or not. If my plan worked and I escaped, I would never see her or Bart ever again. If I failed, I would probably be in handcuffs and under armed guard by tomorrow morning.

  I went back to my bedroom, closing the door behind me. I knew it made more tactical sense to wait until the middle of the night to sneak out. There were two problems with waiting. First, I knew where Jeff was right now. He was at Dr. Greene’s house waiting for me. I didn’t know where he would be later or if Dr. Greene would be home later.

  The second problem was that the marshals also knew it made more sense to wait until the middle of the night. They would be waiting for me to try something after everyone went to bed. I tried to lie to myself and say that I would catch them off guard. The only thing working in my favor was that Dr. Greene lived in the same neighborhood as I did. I didn’t have to escape for long or make it very far.

  The sun finally set and it was starting to get dark outside. It was time to get ready. I took the mirror out of my make-up case. Next, I opened the can of black shoe polish and started covering my face with it. After tonight, I would go back to being plain old Lisa Wilson, but for tonight I was turning into Kathy Commando. With my face blackened, I put on my black hoody and made sure my body spray was still in the pocket.

  Hopefully I could blend into the shadows once I got away. I didn’t have any black pants, except for the dressy kind. So my blue jeans and brown sneakers would have to do. I went to the window and tried to open it. No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t give. It figures, they must have rigged it so that it wouldn’t open. It didn’t matter; I was to the point of no return.

  I yanked the heavy comforter off my bed and wrapped myself in it. It was now or never. I backed up from the window. I went backwards until my back was against the wall. I took two running steps forward and dove for the window. I flew through the window with so much force that I didn’t really feel any resistance from the glass or the metal screen outside the window. I heard glass breaking and felt myself plummeting toward the ground. I knew this was going to hurt.

  A split second before I hit the ground I heard what sounded like a siren going off inside the house. I had misjudged how far it was from my window to the ground. I landed awkwardly on my left shoulder. It sent a jolt of pain down my left arm but I managed not to scream in pain. I scrambled to my feet and discarded the comforter that I had been wrapped in. I sprinted for the back gate. It was a cyclone wire gate and only about four feet tall.

  I had figured out what that siren was. It was an alarm system that must have been on all the windows and doors. The marshals knew I was running. My plan of fading into the shadows was gone. My only hope now was speed. I vaulted over the fence and turned left down the alley. I got my can of body spray out just in case. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Bart and Jenny running out the back door in hot pursuit. I had no margin for error. I almost made it to the end of the alley when I saw a man I knew as Brent ‘the bull’, started running down the alley toward me. My heart sank. I didn’t know him because he was a marshal. In fact, he wasn’t a marshal. He worked for my ex-boyfriend. He was an enforcer for the Demarco family. Brent was two hundred and sixty pounds of pure Italian muscle.

  Brent was closing the gap between us in a hurry and I couldn’t slow down with the marshals in pursuit. As Brent got near me I started to go to my left, planted my left foot and darted back to my right. Barry Sanders himself couldn’t have put a better move on Brent. He lunged to my left and as I continued right I sprayed him in the face with my body spray. The mist must have caught him in the eye, because he yelled out in pain.

  I was almost past him, when Brent’s left arm shot out wildly and barely hit me. Unfortunately, it was enough to knock me off balance. I stumbled to the ground. I tried to scramble to my feet. I felt someone grab onto the back of my hood. I spun around and tried to break free by punching them with my right hand. As I spun around, I saw it was Bart and that he easily blocked my feeble attempt at a punch.

  Bart threw a right handed punch of his own. It landed solidly on the side of my face. I went down hard and tasted the blood from my now busted lip. Apparently Bart’s mother skipped the whole speech about not hitting a girl. Through the haze of pain, I saw Bart immediately drew his weapon. I thought he must have seen Brent and realized that the Demarco family had found us.

  Jenny sprinted past Bart with her weapon already drawn. “Freeze, scumbag.”

  Instead of backing Jenny up, Bart stepped toward her and smashed the barrel of his pistol into the back of her head. She went down instantly and Bart kicked her weapon away from her. I tried to get to my feet and help Jenny. I must have still been woozy from that punch I took from Bart. As I stood up, the world went dark and I don’t even remember hitting the ground.

  Chapter Thirteen

  My head hurt. That was the first thing I remember. As I opened my eyes, I also felt my left shoulder throbbing. Maybe I could have relieved some of the throbbing if I had been able to move it around a little bit. Unfortunately, I was also handcuffed with my hands behind my back. At least my lip had quit bleeding. It was all coming back to me now.

  I had tried to escape. I hurt my shoulder when I dove out of my bedroom window. I tried to run down the alley and had wound up taking a nasty right hook from Burt for my trouble. At least it didn’t feel like anything was broken, at least not yet.

  I looked around and realized that I was in the living room, sitting on the couch. I wasn’t alone, I could see Jenny sitting next to me. Her hands were also handcuffed behind her back. Apparently she was a prisoner too. Brent ‘the Bull’ was also in the room. He was sitting in the recliner. He had a nine millimeter pistol pointed at Jenny.

  Brent looked over at me. “So, the princess is awake.”

  Jenny turned her head toward me. “Sorry Lisa, I didn’t realize that Bart was a traitor.”

  Brent stood up. “Okay, that’s enough talk out of you two.”

  Bart walked into the room. I noticed that Bart’s pistol now had a silencer attached to it. That was not a good sign. Another man walked into the room right behind Bart. I didn’t know this man’s name, but I was sure that I had seen him in New York. I was pretty sure he was an associate of Tommy Demarco.

  Jenny looked up at Bart. “You don’t have to do this. She doesn’t know where it is.”

  “For your sake, I hope you’re wrong,” Bart said.

  I didn’t understand why he was threatening Jenny. “What do you mean, for her sake?”

  “The only reason I am still alive is for leverage. They think that if they hurt me bad enough, you’ll give them what they want,” Jenny said.

  I knew that this was the kind of scene that the mob didn’t let anyone walk away from. We had seen their fac
es. As soon as they got what they wanted, they would kill us. I have been around Tommy Demarco enough to know how it worked. The Demarco family hadn’t stayed one step ahead of the law by leaving witnesses.

  Bart looked down at me. “The fact that everyone knows why Jenny is still alive doesn’t change anything. You have something I want. Where is it?”

  I looked at him like he was stupid. “I already told you. I don’t know what you’re talking about. What are you, retarded?”

  He smacked me across the face with the back of his hand. I tried not to scream, but I did anyway. I felt my lip bleeding again. Maybe antagonizing him wasn’t the best idea.

  Bart wiped some shoe polish off his hand. I had forgotten that my face was still covered in it. He dropped down to one knee. He was eye level with me. “You know, I give you a lot of credit. Most people can act and talk tough when they’re holding all the cards, or in this case, the gun. That doesn’t take much guts. But you, you’ve got guts. Most of the guys I deal with, would still be sitting in your bedroom like the little punks they are. But you showed some guts and made a run for it. In fact, you almost got away. No one will ever say that you didn’t put up a fight, but it’s over. So, just give me what I need before this gets ugly.”

  I looked him in the eye. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about. But, if you get off on beating up girls while they are handcuffed, then there really isn’t much I can do to stop you.”

  He smiled. “That’s right, this wouldn’t be the first time that you would have taken a beating would it? I heard Tommy used to knock you around pretty good. I didn’t understand why when you worked at the library. But now that I’ve seen what you’re like when you get that mouth working, I can see why.”

  I glared at him. “Well, Tommy never had to handcuff me before he knocked me around. So why don’t you take these handcuffs off first?”

  He smirked at me. “I have no intention of beating up on you. Mainly, because you probably have the guts to take it and still not give me what I want. See, I don’t think it’s here. I just personally searched your bedroom and didn’t find anything.”

  Brent looked right at me. “Let me try and make her talk. I owe her some pain from that little stunt she pulled with the spray can.”

  Bart stood up. “No, I don’t believe that inflicting any additional pain on Lisa is going to get us anywhere. However, let’s see if she’s as brave when it comes to watching someone she cares about suffer.” Bart pointed his gun at Jenny’s leg. “I can tell you actually do care about Jenny. Are you willing to allow her to take a bullet? Give me what I want!”

  “Don’t give him the evidence,” Jenny calmly said.

  I was not calm. “No, please, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t hurt her. I don’t know.”

  Bart pulled the trigger. I saw a flash. I heard a spitting sound. Blood shot from Jenny’s leg. She screamed.

  “Lisa, you made me do that. I hope you’re proud of yourself,” Bart said.

  I felt Allison in my head. I need to keep them talking. Allison wanted me to keep them talking. “Why are you doing this? I thought you were one of the good guys.”

  Bart shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re into, do you? There are no good guys or bad guys.”

  “A marshal working for the mob? I’d say that meets the definition of a bad guy.”

  “I am working with the mob. I don’t work for the mob. Don’t you get it? The government was never going to let the information you have get out,” Bart said.

  I heard what sounded like a piece of glass fall in my bedroom. Allison was back in my head. Someone should go check that out.

  Bart looked that direction. He looked at the man whose name I didn’t know. “Sal, go check that out.”

  Now he had a name. Sal headed to my bedroom. Whatever was going to happen was going down.

  I needed to distract the other two. “So who in the government is being protected? Maybe if I knew, it would help me figure out where your evidence is.”

  He never got the chance to answer. He looked like he was still thinking about it when the living room’s glass window shattered as Jeff came diving through it. He twisted in midair and fired his nine millimeter three times. He hit Brent twice in the chest. The big man fell backwards and Jeff landed on the living room floor.

  Bart shifted his aim to Jeff but never got off a shot. Allison had stepped from the hallway into the living room as Jeff had crashed through the window. She very calmly fired her nine millimeter pistol; the bullet entered the back of Bart’s skull and went straight through the middle of his brain. He was dead before he hit the ground.

  My ears rang from the sound of rapid gunfire. Allison checked both of my captor’s bodies for vital signs and kicked their weapons away from them. Jeff popped up into a squatting position and swept the room with his weapon. I looked over and could see that Jenny was barely conscious. She was losing a lot of blood from the gunshot wound in her leg. Her eyes were rolling back in her head. Her skin was pale. I was sure she was going into shock.

  Jeff pulled a handcuff key out of Bart’s pants pocket. “Call in Charlie.”

  Allison nodded. “Roger that.”

  Jeff looked into my eyes. “You okay, babe?”

  I was still freaking out and trying not to throw up. There was blood everywhere. I had just seen two men killed right in front of me with brutal efficiency. “Yeah, but Jenny’s in bad shape.”

  He nodded. “I know.” He grabbed Jenny’s left hand and I was blinded by an intense flash that lasted for about ten seconds. “She’s better now.”

  Jenny straightened up. “What the heck was that?”

  Jeff unlocked my handcuffs and handed me the key. “You can explain it to her while you are letting her loose. We have to go. The police will no doubt be here in a matter of minutes.”

  I heard a vehicle pull up outside while I was unlocking Jenny’s handcuffs. “Lisa, what just happened? One moment I’m bleeding to death and the next I am good as new. Not to mention the fact that Bart is lying on the floor dead. I know Jeff is ex Special Forces, but how did he manage to kill a highly trained marshal and a known mafia hit man without even getting a scratch?”

  Dr. Green came through the front door. “Time to roll, people.”

  Jeff looked at Jenny. “Jenny, I know that everything is confusing at the moment. Here is what is important. Lisa is not safe here. The police will be here anytime. Lisa is leaving with me. You can do whatever you want. You can come with us and continue your assignment of keeping Lisa alive or stay here and answer questions about a city block radius around this house that has multiple dead marshals and mob types that will be discovered no later than first light. Which is it going to be?”

  Jenny swallowed hard. “All my marshals are dead?”

  Jeff nodded. “Yes, at least the ones stationed around the block are, it wasn’t us. Your buddy Bart must have told the mob boys where to find them.”

  “Okay, I’m coming. I don’t know exactly what happened but even I can figure out that you just saved my life. I want some answers once we get away from here. As far as I’m concerned, I’m still in charge of Lisa’s safety,” she said.

  Jeff gave her a smile. “No one is disputing that. Besides, I’m gonna want her Aunt Jenny around. You’re the closest thing she has to family at the moment. So, you’ll need to be around when I come to ask for her hand.”

  My jaw dropped. I was pretty sure that Jeff just announced his intention to marry me. I wanted to ask him about it but he took me by the hand and rushed me out to his pickup. The five of us piled in. Jeff and Dr. Greene sat up front while Jenny sat between Allison and I in the backseat. There were already people peeking out of their windows as we drove away. There was no doubt that they could give the cops a good description of us.

  Jenny must have had similar thoughts. “I don’t mean to tell you your business, but the cops will be all over this vehicle within the next fifteen minutes.”

  “I
know, we’re going to switch you girls to a different vehicle,” Jeff replied.

  “What are you and Dr. Greene going to do?” I asked.

  Allison answered for him. “I’m going to take you and Jenny with me in my Mustang. It will be a while before the cops link me to what happened at your house. In another hour it won’t matter.”

  Jenny leaned forward so she could see Allison. “Why won’t it matter in another hour?”

  “By then, we will be at the safe house and the guys will have disposed of this truck. We’re never going back to the places that the police think we live. Our cover is blown, we’re abandoning these identities,” Allison said.

  Within five minutes of leaving my house, we pulled up in front of Allison house. The three of us got out and casually got into Allison’s Mustang. We were in a hurry, but didn’t want to appear to be. Jenny got into the backseat, while I sat in the front next to Allison. She headed straight for Interstate twenty-seven and we headed north out of Lubbock.

  We drove for about thirty minutes. Allison headed down the interstate for about ten minutes and then turned off. She headed down several country roads. It was dark and I had no idea where we were. I was pretty sure that we were somewhere Northeast of Lubbock, but I had no idea how far from town we were. We finally pulled into a long driveway with a good sized farm house at the end of it. Allison pulled the Mustang into the two car garage. I was a little surprised to see a blue Chevy Tahoe sitting in the other side of the garage.

  I got out of the car and tried to get my bearings. “Whose SUV is this?”

  Allison shrugged. “I guess you could say it’s all of ours for the moment. Jeff bought it about the same time as he got this house. They are both for this type of eventuality. Jeff is a big believer in exit strategies.”

  “So this is your safe house?” Jenny asked.

  “Yes, Jeff bought it under an assumed name. He came out and checked on it every once in a while. It’s fully stocked with food and weapons,” Allison said.