Immortal Secrets

by Jerry Moore

  “Tonight we killed because I believed there was no other option. I regret it, Allison regrets it. I wish there had been another way.”

  “Isn’t this where you tell me how silly it is for me to be jealous?”

  “I think you already know that. The only woman that I want is you. I love you, never doubt that. Besides, dating Allison would be like kissing my sister.”

  I leaned over and kissed him on the neck and put my mouth right next to his ear. “I love you and I want you in my life forever. So, you need to decide soon whether you want me as your wife or just want us to live in sin. I can wait, but not forever. Otherwise one night I am just going to crawl into your bed and have my way with you.”

  He took a deep breath. “I think Allison is waiting for you.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  I walked out the back door and onto a large wooden deck. Allison was sitting at a picnic table on the deck. She seemed oblivious to the cool night air.

  I sat down across from her. “Hey girl, I was just looking for you.”

  Allison looked down at the table. “I guess Jeff already talked to you about Brenda’s husband. I’m sorry and ashamed of how selfish I was. I know I put you in harm’s way.”

  I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “It’s okay, I get it. You know, I was beaten by my ex boyfriend. It was bad enough that I thought he might kill me next time. I suppose part of my running to the feds was out of revenge. So, I understand why you did what you did.”

  “No hard feelings?” She asked.

  “Nope, you saved my life earlier tonight. They would have gotten around to killing me eventually, no matter what you did. Besides, how could I be mad at you? I love you. You’re like the big sister I never had. As far as I’m concerned, we’re family now.”

  Now she looked up and I could see her eyes were moist with tears. She was trying to maintain her composure. “Wow, I was prepared to beg for forgiveness. I wasn’t prepared for you to call me your sister. Just for the record, I’m not apologizing for kicking his butt. He had that beating coming.”

  I frowned. “Isn’t that what those kind of guys say when they slap us around?”

  “I know you’re right, but I wasn’t willing to just let him walk away. The system couldn’t touch him, I could.”

  “I can’t argue with that. So what happened? I want to know everything,” I said.

  Allison started telling me her story of how it all went down. I just sat there and listened to her talk. I could see it in my mind as she laid it out to me. After Allison and Carl had lunch with me, they went back to Carl’s dorm room. She spent about thirty minutes laying out some basics of writing as essay. Of course, it’s always easier when you can plant suggestions directly into someone else’s mind.

  It didn’t take long for Allison to bring up the idea that she wanted to go to Dallas for the weekend. Allison offered to take Carl, and assured him that she would pay for everything. It probably wasn’t a very hard choice for Carl. He could either stay in Lubbock and be ignored by snobby girls who weren’t even in Allison’s league or go to Dallas with Allison. He chose to go to Dallas with the pretty red head sporting the bright smile.

  Allison knew that Carl wouldn’t be able to resist telling his friends they were going to Dallas together. She also realized that when Carl got back, he was sure to leave the impression that it had been a romantic getaway. That was the trade she was making. Carl would be her unwitting alibi and in return she wouldn’t try to correct anyone’s impression of what had happened over the weekend.

  They drove straight to Dallas. Allison checked them into an upscale hotel. She set Carl up in their suite, gave him her credit card and encouraged him to use it. She didn’t tell him what she was doing. Allison only said she had some business to take care of and wouldn’t be back until much later. She left the suite knowing that every time Carl used her credit card, he was making it look like she was still in Dallas.

  Allison got into her Mustang and let the horses run. She put the pedal to the metal and used her little mind trick to keep the police away from her, all the way back to Lubbock. Allison stopped at a convenience store just before she got to Lubbock and changed clothes. Gone was the classy looking red head in a simple cotton blouse and loose fitting slacks. In her place was the trashy looking vixen in skin tight spandex pants and an extremely low cut top. Neither piece of clothing left much to the imagination. She was also wearing a brunette wig, just for good measure.

  She knew from years of experience that any guys she ran into would be so busy checking out her butt and her boobs that they wouldn’t even remember what her face looked like. She of course would be trying to mix up the mind of every single person she came across until she left Lubbock again. Hopefully that would be in just a few hours.

  Allison arrived at the bar, a little before eleven o’clock. She knew Robison would be there. He was always there on Friday nights. Allison had done her homework and knew that most weeks, Robison picked up women from the bar and took them to the hotel up the street.

  As soon as Allison walked in the club, she spotted him. He was about six feet tall with dark hair and a mustache. He was a stocky looking guy. Robison was standing near the bar, talking to three other men. Allison sat at the bar, where Robison could get a good look at her. Considering that she was dressed like a tramp, it wasn’t too hard to get his attention.

  He came over and Allison let him feel like he was running his game on her. She gave him her best bedroom eyes and he took the hint. Robison walked her outside. He told her he wanted to go someplace quieter so he could get to know her better. Allison knew that was guy speak for ‘let’s go have sex’.

  Allison let herself be led to the parking lot. He was at least fifty pounds heavier than she was. That didn’t concern her. She had been training five hundred years for this fight. She planned on taking him apart and there was very little he could do about it. The two of them were walking across the parking lot, presumably to his car.

  Allison stopped. “I think that’s far enough.”

  Robison turned and looked at her. “What are you talking about?”

  “You’re not getting lucky with me tonight. It’s going to be just opposite of lucky, actually. The only bed you are headed for is a hospital bed, just like the one you put your wife in,” she said.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Your family bought your way out of trouble after you almost beat your wife to death. Too bad that can’t buy your way out of what I’m about to do to you,” Allison said.

  “What are you, crazy or what? Why don’t you run along before you get hurt?” Robison asked.

  Allison sneered at him. “What’s wrong, afraid to hit a woman who’s not too scared to hit back? You’re a coward!”

  He looked around the parking lot. “I get what you’re doing. You’re trying to get me on camera. You’re trying to get me to take a swing at you. Did my worthless wife put you up to this? I’m not falling for it; you can just keep on talking.”

  Allison smiled at him and then lashed out with a right jab that caught Robison squarely on the nose. “Well, then I guess you can just stand there and bleed then.”

  Blood trickled from his nose. “I’m gonna clean your clock.”

  He drew his arm back and threw a lunging right handed punch at Allison’s jaw. She easily ducked under his punch and used her left hand to guide him past her. Then Allison threw a compact right that caught him in the kidneys.

  Robison winced and grunted. “So you wanna play rough, huh?”

  He spun toward her and threw another looping right hand. She stepped inside it and smashed the heel of her left hand into his nose. He stumbled backwards, clearly stunned. Allison did a reverse pivot and unleashed a back kick to his ribs. She smiled at the cracking sound she heard when her foot slammed into his midsection.

  Robison screamed and doubled over in pain. “Play time is over!” He reached into his boot and pulled out a knife. “Now, I’m gonna cu
t you up.”

  She laughed at him. “What wrong, can’t fight a little old girl like me without a knife? Did you give Brenda a chance to grab a knife?”

  He lunged toward Allison with the knife. She deflected the thrust with her left hand, while grabbing his wrist with her right hand. She violently yanked his wrist downward as she brought her knee up. Allison’s knee collided with his wrist, making a sickening snapping sound. His wrist was broken.

  Robison cried out as he dropped the knife. “Okay, I give. You win.”

  Allison kicked the knife away. “Not yet.” She spun around and smashed her elbow into his nose, adding to his list of things she had broken.

  He screamed again. “Please, leave me alone.”

  Allison knew he was about to run. She raised her foot and brought it down squarely on his knee. He went down with a dislocated knee. He wouldn’t be running anywhere. Allison hesitated for a second before landing a roundhouse on his jaw. Robison slumped to the ground, only partially conscious.

  She stood over him. “You can remember this the next time you think about putting your hands on a woman. I really wish I could be there when you tell your friends how the tramp you were going to get lucky with, kicked your butt all over this parking lot. Maybe they’ll think you’re just as pathetic an excuse for a man as I do.”

  Allison left him on the ground bleeding. She walked over to her Mustang and headed back to Dallas. She stopped on the way to change back into her normal clothes and threw away the clothes she had been fighting in. Allison was back in her hotel suite by three thirty.

  Once she stopped telling her story, I didn’t know quite how to respond. The person she described didn’t sound like the person I thought I knew. Even when I had first met Allison and thought she hated me, I never thought she could be as vicious as the woman that beat up Brenda’s husband. To say that Allison had a dark side would be an extreme understatement.

  “Well, you wanted to know how it went down. I’m sorry if I seem cold or callous. I know what I did wasn’t what a good person does. Are you sure you want to be sisters? You can change your mind, you know. I wouldn’t blame you,” she said.

  “He never had a chance against you, did he? Not even with a knife,” I said.

  “No, it wasn’t a fair fight when he beat up Brenda. So, it wasn’t a fair fight that night either.”

  “Do you think that is what Brenda wanted?” I asked.

  “What she did or didn’t want is irrelevant. This was about his next victim.”

  “So, this wasn’t about you?”

  “In a way it was. I admit that. He was the same kind of filth as the men who attacked me. I won’t be sorry for anything that I do to that kind of man,” Allison said.

  “So what did you tell Carl?” I asked.

  “I told him I had to take care of some personal business. He didn’t press the issue.”

  “He’s a geek, but a nice geek.”

  “Know what else he is?” She asked.

  “What?”

  “He’s a better kisser than I thought he’d be.”

  With that Allison got up and walked back into the house. I was left with my own thoughts. I could understand where Allison was coming from. I totally got her desire to even the score, but where did the violence stop?

  Chapter Sixteen

  I woke up and realized that it was already light outside. I could hear voices coming from the dining room area. Jenny was nowhere to be seen. She must have already gotten up. I got out of bed and wished I had my jeans and a t-shirt to change into. I was stuck wearing these borrowed sweats that I had changed into last night.

  I found everyone else in the dining room or kitchen. Jenny and Allison were busy cooking breakfast and Jeff and Phil were sitting at the dining room table. They were both staring at my pendant which was lying on the dining room table. The other thing lying at one end of the table was a nine millimeter Beretta piston in a black leather holster. Next to it were two clips of ammunition. As I looked around, I noticed that everyone else except Jenny was wearing a sidearm. Jenny was wearing sweats, so the pistol on the table must have belonged to her.

  It occurred to me that nothing had changed. I was still a witness with a protective detail. The people were different, now I knew the people protecting me. That bottom line was still that a group of men and women were willing to kill or be killed to insure my safety.

  Jeff looked up as I approached the table. “Well, good morning sleepy head.”

  “Morning, babe. Have you found out anything?” I asked.

  “Yeah, we know several things this morning.”

  “Breakfast is almost ready,” Phil said.

  As if on cue, Allison appeared in the dining room. “Actually, breakfast is ready.”

  “Okay, then let’s get breakfast on the table and then I’ll brief everyone at once,” Jeff said.

  I started to protest not getting an immediate answer. Then I realized that everyone else immediately started doing what Jeff told them to. Everyone had taken off their masks. Twenty four hours ago, everyone would have acted like Phil, aka Dr. Greene was in charge. Now, it was clear that it was Jeff’s word that was law.

  Once the food was on the table and everyone started eating, Jeff started his briefing. “Okay, we are getting a pretty good picture of the situation this morning. I still have a lot of contacts in the government that all think I am someone else. First of all, local law enforcement isn’t looking for us. The feds are looking for us, but trying to keep a low profile about it.”

  “I don’t understand, we left a bloody mess behind, when we left. Why aren’t the police out looking for us?” I asked.

  “They want to limit local access. They closed down the scene didn’t they? I bet they stepped on a whole bunch of toes, but they are keeping all the locals completely out of it,” Jenny said.

  “Exactly, they don’t want us in police custody. They don’t want anyone asking any more questions than they already are,” Jeff explained.

  “This is an escalation on the government’s part, they would probably prefer Lisa to be dead as opposed to chance some local cop believing her story,” Allison said.

  I looked at Jeff. “Is that true?”

  “Probably,” he conceded.

  I shook my head in disgust. “Great, now the government and the mob both want me dead.”

  “We have a choice here. We can stay and fight or we can pick up and disappear again,” Jeff said.

  Phil finally spoke up. “Eventually we need to disappear, but it would be much easier if the government and the mob didn’t have a compelling reason to find us.”

  Jenny looked around the table. “I don’t want to get pushed underground, but do we have anything to fight with?”

  Phil held up his finger, looking very much the part of a professor. “We might. I don’t know yet. We were correct about the pendant. It is what everyone was looking for and no one could find.”

  I leaned forward. “What did you find?”

  Phil scratched his head. “Now, that’s the thing. There was a data card imbedded in the pendant. It will actually work in any cell phone, but it’s encrypted. I am positive that it is what we are looking for. I just don’t know what it is.”

  Allison’s face brightened. “What would we need in order to break the encryption?”

  I looked at her. “No, I know what you’re thinking. No way.”

  Phil seemed to ignore me. “We would need a high level decryption program or someone who has or knows how to write one. Normally we could use our government contacts for something like this. In this case, that wouldn’t be the wisest thing to do.”

  Allison clapped her hands. “I know just the person.”

  “I already said no. We don’t need him,” I said.

  “What the devil are you two rattling on about? Does this person have a name?” Jenny asked.

  Allison was beaming. “His name is Carl. He’s a genius, he’s even smarter than most of the other geniuses. He’s like a ge
nius times two.”

  I cut my eyes at her. “She only wants to involve him because she thinks he’s a good kisser.”

  Allison raised her eyebrows. “Jealous much?”

  Jenny nudged me. “Ladies, act your age. This isn’t high school.”

  “Almost everyone my age is dead,” Allison said with a smirk on her face.

  Jenny rolled her eyes. “Whatever, now is this the boy from English class?”

  I nodded. “Right, he’s a total geek and apparently a genius. I guess Allison and him are some sort of hot item.”

  Jeff looked at Allison. “I hadn’t really stopped to think about anyone else but Lisa. Are you and this guy an item?”

  Allison shrugged. “I don’t know. But we did go to Dallas over the weekend. I’m sure Carl will play it up like we’re a couple.”

  “We have to go get him. He’s a leverage point,” Phil said.

  Jeff nodded. “Agreed, it has to be today, hopefully before the bad guys realize who he is.”

  I turned to Jenny. “What are they talking about? In English please.”

  “When you and Allison did things with him socially, you probably gave the mob and the feds the impression that he was important to both of you. They might use him as bait or a bargaining chip,” Jenny said.

  “You mean they want to trade the data card for Carl?” I asked.

  “Exactly, that’s why we have to go get him. We’re not going to knowingly sacrifice an innocent party in all of this,” Jeff said.

  “So, are we running or standing our ground?” Phil asked.

  Jeff looked around the table. “We stand our ground and stay as long as we think we have something to bargain with.”

  I waited until after breakfast to corner Jeff. I saw him head into his bedroom. Phil was still in the dining room, so I knew I would be alone with Jeff. He was looking through his backpack when I walked in and closed the door. He spun around when he heard me close the door.

  I have him my best smile. “Relax, babe. I’m not here to try and seduce you. I just wanted to talk.”