The Compound: A Thriller

by Ben Follows

  Chapter 59

  Agent Thompson stopped outside the offices of Mark Larson and Co., Insurance and Injury Attorneys. He held his gun at his side. He looked over his shoulder and nodded to the team of FBI agents that had fanned out around the hallway. The other offices on the floor had been cleared out.

  Thompson took a deep breath and kicked in the door. “FBI! Put your hands up! Don’t move or we’ll shoot!”

  The receptionist, a petite, dark-haired woman who looked as though she had fallen down some stairs, stood and put her hands in the air as the FBI team spread through the office.

  “Don’t get close to her!” said Thompson. “She’s dangerous. Hello, Emma, nice to meet you.”

  Emma tilted her head. “What are you doing?”

  “Get into the office!” Thompson shouted at the agents, ignoring her. “Before Cuminskey escapes!”

  They barged into the offices, Thompson at the head. Nicholas was on his knees beside a safe hidden beneath the bar, trying to type in a code he couldn’t seem to remember.

  “Nicholas Cuminskey, you are under arrest!” Thompson said.

  Nicholas spun, his hands raised high in the air. “Please! I never killed anyone!”

  “No,” said Thompson, “but you organized hundreds, if not thousands. If you ask me, that’s much worse. It’s nice to finally meet you, by the way. Keelan told me all about you.”

  Nicholas stared at him. “How did you—why—Keelan?”

  Thompson grinned. “He didn’t tell me anything specific, but he told me enough to figure it out. Then there was a video I received from the man who killed Dimitri Kulovich. You didn’t know that, did you? That he was dead? It mentions you and what you did to Frank Tanners. Makes it really easy for me. Oh, I also put a tracking chip on Keelan Ochre that led me right here. That was a pretty important part of it. Where is Keelan anyway?”

  “He’s dead,” said Nicholas, defeated. “Dimitri killed him.”

  Thompson nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that. I liked him, except for the whole 'kills people for money' thing.” He shrugged. “I’d like to hear all about it back at the FBI offices. You’ll even get your own cell. There’s a guy there I want you to meet. You and Dirk Davidson will have a lot to talk about.”

  Emma glared at Thompson and then turned to Nicholas, who shook his head. She surrendered and let herself by cuffed and led away by the FBI agents.

  “Thompson,” said Nicholas.

  Thompson turned to him.

  “Did Dimitri send the video out to anyone else?”

  “It doesn't seem like he did."

  Nicholas smiled incredulously. “I fucking knew it. That paranoid, untrusting asshole.”

  Nicholas was led away, leaving Thompson alone in the offices. In a few minutes agents would return to start sorting through the files on the computers and throughout the offices, hopefully allowing them to solve hundreds of unsolved assassinations.

  He smiled. Jake Lavelle had been right. This case had made his career, not just because they took out The Compound, but they also put an end to an international assassination ring.

  It was the deal he had made with Kathryn Landy to work with Keelan and Jake. Aside from letting Jake escape, he had followed it.

  He thought of Emerson. He sighed and smiled at the same time.

  Thompson left the offices, passing the FBI team coming up to gather information. He walked out of the building and onto the street. There was only one loose end remaining in the case, one he had no intention of pursuing.

  “Where are you, Jake?” he whispered. “What are you doing right now?”

  Epilogue

  Thompson pulled up to the small coffee shop and checked he was in the right place. Most of the parking lot was taken up by large transport trucks and pickup trucks. A few dogs hung their heads out open windows and barked at him as he passed.

  He stepped inside the small single-room café that served drinks and food on the long, empty stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway. He looked around the café and didn’t see who he was looking for until he raised a hand. Thompson walked over and took a seat.

  The man sitting across the table had a beard, glasses, and a hat pulled low. Thompson hadn’t seen him in almost six months, but it wasn’t enough time to hide the shape of his features and the way he moved. He was still the same person.

  “So, Mr.…”

  “Jake. Jake Thomas.”

  Thompson smiled. “It’s nice to see you again, Jake.”

  Jake smiled back at him. “It’s nice to see you as well, Agent.”

  “How are you doing?”

  “I’m doing well. I got a job in a steel mill. It’s hard work, but it’s an honest day’s labor. How’s things on your end?”

  “Good, everything’s starting to get back to normal. The information we got from The Compound has been invaluable. Assassins and criminals we thought were dead are being taken down left and right. The government is even talking about increasing our funding to bring them all in. There are still hundreds we need to track down, but we’re making progress.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments, and Thompson went up to the counter to get a coffee. “You know,” he said when he came back, “I was surprised to get your call. I never thought I’d get another opportunity to speak with you.”

  Jake sipped his drink. “There isn’t an FBI team waiting outside to grab me, is there?”

  “I’m here on my own.”

  There was another moment of silence, then Jake said, “I wanted to thank you.”

  Thompson turned and looked out the window. “You deserve better than the life you had. Landy suspects something, but there’s nothing she can do about it. The pilot corroborated my story. I got suspended for a few weeks for leaving the key in the back with you, but it’s the only mistake I’ve made.”

  “I heard about what happened to Cuminskey and Kulovich.”

  Thompson nodded.

  “I’m glad Chief Williams was the one to pull the trigger. Gives him a sense of closure.”

  Thompson nodded again. “Jake, why did you bring me here?”

  “The director is still out there. He'll be trying to rebuild."

  “Yes, but we’ve moved our resources elsewhere. We haven’t been able to get a single lead. He could be anywhere in the world.”

  “He didn’t have the tooth.”

  Thompson frowned. “What?”

  “When I was in the room with him, he didn’t have the tooth with the poison cap on it. He clenched his jaw. It would have burst. He had run an organization of soldiers willing to kill themselves at a moment’s notice, yet he never even gave himself a poison tooth. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about exactly what it is about him that has made me hate him so much. Factory work gives you a lot of time to think. It's hard, but it’s mostly automatic once you get the motions down.”

  Thompson said nothing, sensing that Jake just needed to talk about his past life with someone who would understand.

  “I’ve been reading a lot,” said Jake. “A lot of moral philosophy, ethics, that kind of thing, as well as quite a few psychology books. I keep looking for some deep meaning, some deep explanation of why I hate him so much. I know he destroyed my life, but I wanted it to mean something more than that.”

  “We destroyed The Compound, we took everything from him. All the people they worked for are being brought to justice. Isn’t that enough?”

  “As long as he’s still breathing, no.” Jake sipped his coffee, using both hands as though concerned he was going to spill it. “I realized that I was overthinking it, that the answer was so much more basic. There is no greater meaning for my feelings. Maybe that makes me selfish, but the true answer is I’m angry that he gets to continue living while he took away my life and my family. He’s a coward who couldn’t even live by the same rules as his inferiors.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Nothing, not yet.”

  “How are you going to find him?�
��

  “I’ll find a way. What happened to the kids?”

  Thompson sighed. “They’re in foster care, but most of them are too messed up to ever lead normal lives. A few, maybe, but not all of them.”

  Jake nodded. “If you find him, can you give me a heads-up?”

  “You can have first swing at him. I’ll tell the FBI you got there first.”

  There was a few moments of silence. Jake said, “You know, the only death I have any doubts about was Harold’s.”

  Thompson looked up. “Why?”

  “Because how is what I did any different? I killed him because he was responsible for Sarah’s death, not because of his betrayal of The Compound. That I understood. And now…" Jake glanced out the window. “I’ve been dating this woman. She’s got a ten-year-old son. I’m beginning to understand why Harold would want to leave all of that for a normal life. I love her in a way I’ve never loved anyone.”

  “Does she know?”

  “Not everything, but most of it. She’s the only person I’ve ever trusted with it who I wasn’t forced to tell.”

  “I’m happy for you.”

  “How about you, Thompson, how are you doing?”

  He sighed. “I’ve been better. My new partner isn’t any replacement for Emerson. Young guy, doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground, but he has potential.”

  Jake laughed, then glanced out the window. “I need to go, my ride’s here.”

  Thompson followed his eyes but couldn’t see what he was looking at. “It was good seeing you again, Jake.”

  “You too, Agent Thompson.” Jake stood and pulled down his hat over his eyes. They shook hands, and Jake exited the cafe.

  Thompson watched as Jake walked over to a black pickup truck. A small boy jumped out of the back seat and ran up to Jake, who lifted him up in a big hug. A woman stepped out of the cab and stood beside the truck, smiling with her arms crossed. Jake carried the boy over and put him down in the back seat. He kissed the woman and climbed into the passenger seat.

  As the truck pulled out, Jake met Thompson's eyes and waved.

  Thompson waved back.

  And then the truck pulled out onto the highway and they were gone.

  Thank you for Reading!

  Thank you, for reading this book! It would mean a lot to me if you left a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

  If you enjoyed this, please check out my other books:

  Blind River

  The Absence of Screams

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to all my beta-readers.

  Thanks, as always, to my parents for your endless support and encouragement.

  Thanks to Allister Thompson, my editor.

  Thanks to James from GoOnWrite.com for the cover design.

  About the Author

  Ben Follows is an emerging author of crime thrillers. The Compound is his 3rd book.

  Learn more at:

  www.BenFollows.com

  BenFollowsbooks@gmail.com

  Copyright © 2017 by Ben Follows

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.