“What do you say, Lucky? Feeling more cooperative?” Bart said.
Through sobbing, Lucky told them all he knew. It wasn’t exactly what Bart wanted to hear, but it was all he had. They believed him and finally released him from his prison. He was too weak to walk, so they dragged him to the storage room and threw him on the floor where Ginny came to him and cradled him on her lap, caressing his head and mumbling soothing words he could not make out. He focused on the sound of her voice and rode the timbre of it. She was there and that’s all that mattered. All that mattered.
Chapter 30
Jake was sitting in the window seat on Delta heading northwest at thirty-six thousand feet. The aircraft bucked lightly every few minutes but for the most part, the flight was smooth. Winslow was next to him and Bodey was in the aisle seat. She and Bodey were talking animatedly about some programmer’s language and Jake was left with his thoughts.
The last minute booking had been a little difficult and they had two stops between Jacksonville and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They would arrive just before midnight local time. A long day of flying and sitting.
Surprisingly, Sven and Bob had seemed unconcerned with their rapid departure and lame excuse, but for some reason, Jake was worried they had smelled them out. He kept looking around the plane’s compartment in search of the buzz cut, Special Forces operatives. So far, he had been happy not to see them anywhere.
Maddy had cried in his arms at the house and the kids had joined her. Even though they had no idea what was going on, it was second nature for them to feel what their mother was feeling and share her fears and concerns. He promised them he would be back as soon as he could and they seemed to believe him. Maddy had been tougher to convince.
“You call me whenever you can,” she said. “I want to know what’s happening every second you’re there.”
“I’ll try, Maddy, but you know I can’t keep the phone glued to my head. Try not to worry.”
“Right. I knew you were going to say that. I’ll be here worrying the whole time.”
“Go to the lab and do some busy work. That way, if I need something from the computers, you’ll be there to get it for me.”
She shrugged, but then nodded. “I guess if I feel I’m doing something to help…” She pressed her head to his and sighed. “Come back safe to me.”
“I promise.” That had been four hours ago and Jake couldn’t get the scene out of his mind. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt as if things were going to go bad. Stupid, he knew, but it kept nagging at the back of his mind. If only he could see into the future, instead of the irritating tingle in his ear when somebody was lying. Now that would be useful.
“…this guy. I don’t know of anyone with your qualifications,” Bodey said and Jake missed most of it.
“I missed that, Bodey. Sorry.”
“You all right?” Bodey said.
“Yeah. Just missing Maddy. What were you asking me?”
“I was saying I was surprised we haven’t heard anything about this other guy. I don’t know of anyone else with your qualifications. How could this guy fly under the radar for so long?”
“I was wondering the same thing. I’m not saying I’m above everybody else, but this guy should have been in circulation. MIT, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, anything. But I can’t even begin to think of who it would be.”
“Didn’t that Elise woman have a fiancé?” Winslow asked. “What was his name?”
“Bartholomew,” Jake said. “Bartholomew Guillott, I think. Ring any bells?”
Bodey shook his head, but pulled out his iPad and turned it on.
“Do you think she would give this guy’s real name?” Winslow asked.
“She used her own name,” Jake said.
“That’s true.”
“What’s her full name?” Bodey asked.
“Aren’t you supposed to keep that thing off on the airplane?” Jake asked, but Bodey just gave him a withering look.
“Bartholomew Guillott,” Bodey quoted. “Son of Aaron Guillott of Amsterdam. Graduated top of his class at Cal Poly and then dropped off the face of the earth. Oh wait…he had a few problems with the law while at Cal Poly. Apparently he enjoyed visits with the oldest profession and has an arrest record spanning three separate instances. One of them accused him of battery but it never stuck. What’s the girl’s full name?”
“Elise Boudreau,” Jake said.
Bodey pecked at the screen of the iPad and waited. “Nothing. Not a single hit. That’s weird.”
“Maybe she’s one of those who works hard staying off the grid,” Winslow said.
“But I can’t even get a social security number on her or a birth certificate.”
“What the hell program are you using?” Jake said. “How can you get that stuff?”
Bodey just stared at him.
“Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“Still, not much on these two that will help us,” Bodey said. “I guess we’ll be winging it in Wyoming. That’s not a very good feeling.”
“I know,” Jake said. “But we have an address and we know they have the system. I think we’ll be all right.”
“I hope so,” Bodey said and put the iPad away. “I hope so.”
~ ~ ~
Jake was in the dream again. The wind howled in the night air and the sound of Beth breathing through the ragged hole in her neck competed with the whipping winds. The eerie light seemed to breathe with her and grow darker in intensity as her breath slowly failed. He looked up to find himself in the wrecked lab again and the air had grown still. Her ragged breathing continued. Teri walked toward them, the gaping hole in the floor between her and them. The wound in her chest leaked black blood as her gaze stared straight through his soul. This time she stopped at the edge of the precipice just as Beth ceased breathing. He didn’t want to look away from Teri, but he needed to see if Beth was alive. He looked down and a scream rose in his throat. Maddy was in his lap. Her eyes bore into him, ringed red, and a trickle of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. Her hair was a matted mess and she shared the same gaping hole in her neck that Beth had suffered. Her mouth barely moved, but her voice boomed in the silence.
“Being lucky will not stop Benjamin. You must help.”
A huge ripping noise erupted and Jake looked up to see an opening form over the chasm in the lab. Elise stepped out of it as well as a man Jake felt for sure was Bartholomew Guillot. Then, one after another, people began exiting the opening, following Elise and Bart. They were dressed in a type of uniform and carried weapons with them. They looked exactly like an army.
Teri stepped into the void and stopped the flow of people. She disappeared. A faint wailing could be heard as she went. Jake looked down and Maddy was gone, replaced by Beth who lay still and quiet in his arms. She was dead.
Jake woke with a start and Bodey looked to him surprised. “You all right?”
Jake nodded hesitantly and then shook his head. “Bad dream,” he said.
“The nightmare?”
He nodded. “But this one was different. Maddy was in it and she said something I don’t understand. Something about being lucky.”
“Weird, Bro.”
“You’re telling me.”
The plane touched down in Jackson Hole at that moment and Jake felt a little disconnect. He must have slept longer than he thought. “How long have I been out?”
“About an hour. You were snoring like a dog, so we let you sleep.”
The plane taxied to the terminal and they slowly filed off the plane. As Jake turned in to the terminal, a face briefly caught his eye and then was gone. He stopped and stared, but the face did not reappear. Bodey came up and said, “What is it?”
“I’m not sure, but I think I just saw Sven.”
“Sven of Smith’s gang? You’re kidding, right?”
Jake shook his head. “I’m almost positive it was him. Just a quick glimpse and then he was gone. Shit.”
“What’s up?�
� Winslow said.
“I think we’ve been followed,” Jake said.
“By who?”
“Sven.”
She looked around. “I don’t see anyone I recognize. Are you sure?”
Jake had been almost positive, but now that Bodey and Winslow were standing next to him questioning his sighting, it seemed far-fetched and maybe just a little imagination playing tricks with him. “Maybe I was wrong,” he said. “Come on. We’ve got places to go.”
“You sure?” Bodey asked.
“Yeah. But keep your eyes open just in case.”
They trekked through the terminal with Jake’s phone pressed to his head as he updated Maddy on their progress. It was after midnight her time but she didn’t seem to mind. He told her about the dream and she seemed disturbed by it. She said she had not had any nightmares while she napped waiting for his call.
They did not see Sven or Bob.
They checked into a motel in Jackson Hole and the proprietor looked at them funny at the late hour. Jake guessed they didn’t get many visitors at this time of the year and especially at this time of night. The cold kept most away and it was definitely cold. Nothing Jake had felt in a long time. Not since his days at Johns Hopkins. And this cold was even meaner; bitter, biting cold that crept through even the hardiest outdoor gear. Jake had bought a heavy-duty coat before they left and now realized that the department store clerks in Florida had no idea what the hell they were talking about. The salesman had assured Jake the coat would handle anything the Grand Tetons would throw at them. The salesman had been wrong. Jake was freezing.
As they left the office heading for their rooms, a car drove by and suddenly accelerated away. Two large shadows could be seen through the windows. Jake felt he recognized one of the silhouettes. He no longer believed they were alone in the Grand Tetons.
~ ~ ~
Peter sat in the front of the lead Chevrolet Suburban. There were three of them heading north and west to Jackson Hole. The black paint and dark tinted windows would have made them invisible in the night save the headlights and taillights that were a requirement in the public domain. Peter would have preferred darkness.
Still no word from Ginny or Lucky and this bothered him. He had expected some type of contact from them and now believed them to be compromised. Maybe even dead. Sven and Bob had remained uncharacteristically quiet also and Peter was wondering if he was dealing with something or someone much more sophisticated than he had originally estimated. Or, it could just be coincidence. Whatever the reasons, he was heading into an operation partially blinded and he did not like it. When they arrived in Jackson Hole in the deep of the night, they still would not have a destination. Part of the operation now involved them actually attempting to locate this lab and then formulate an attack plan. Without his eyes and ears, he had no intel beyond what Lucky and Ginny had last reported.
Somewhere out in the night, Jake, Bodey and a Jake’s new lab assistant were also heading into some type of confrontation and Peter didn’t like not knowing where that scenario was headed. The last thing he needed was for Jake to show up and confuse the situation. Knowing the man and his uncanny ability to find trouble, he was pretty sure they were probably heading to the same destination Peter’s team was pointed toward and he hoped he could get there before Jake got himself killed.
~ ~ ~
“We have to move now,” Jake said.
“But we just got here,” Winslow said.
It was 3:00 a.m. and they were all tired, Jake knew, but time was of the essence. “I think Sven and Bob are here,” he said. “We need to move before they detain us.”
“How can you be so sure?” Bodey said. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“Did you see that car that accelerated away as we were walking to our rooms? They were inside.”
“Even if they were, Jake. They can’t do anything.”
“They could inform Peter and you know what would happen then.”
“They can’t communicate with Peter,” Bodey said.
Jake stared at him. “And why would that be?” but he already knew the answer.
Bodey grinned. “Because I disabled their phones.”
“And when did you do that?”
“Back in the lab in Orange Park.”
“And why did you do that?”
“I had a feeling they would be trouble.”
“So did I,” Jake mumbled. “Glad we’re on the same page. Do you agree that there’s a possibility they are here?”
Bodey nodded. “Extremely high probability.”
“Now you sound like her,” Jake said, pointing to Winslow.
“I’m learning,” Bodey said.
“Statistically speaking,” Winslow said, “bearded guys learn faster than clean-shaven.”
Bodey grinned.
“How did you disable their phones?” Jake asked.
“Just a little program of mine. Phones are easy.”
“I’m sure they are,” but Jake just shook his head. “I know it’s the middle of the night, but I think we need to move now, before Sven and Bob decide it’s in their best interest to detain us.”
“What exactly do you have in mind?” Bodey asked.
“I’m kind of winging it,” Jake said, a little embarrassed.
“No shit. Don’t you think ‘winging it’ will be highly dangerous? We have no idea what we’re in for.”
“I have some idea.”
“Well, why don’t you enlighten us, because, frankly, I’m a little lost.”
“Me too,” Winslow said and leaned against Bodey for support. Jake noticed that Bodey seemed to enjoy it even though the tension was ratcheted up.
Jake went to his laptop and pulled up the satellite view of the house here in Jackson Hole. “Okay, we know where the place is, right?” They nodded. “What we don’t know is where the lab is located inside and how difficult it will be to get inside. I’m counting on you two to provide a way in and then I’m going in on my own.”
“What? Bullshit.” Bodey said. “Maddy will kill me if I let you do this alone. You’re going to need our help more than you know and if you can’t admit that, then we need to abandon this right now.”
Jake shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said quietly, unable to look them both in the eye. “All I know is that I’m supposed to be here and there is something I must do. What that is I don’t know yet. You two do not fit into the equation, if you want to call it that, and I can’t risk anything happening to you. Why can’t you just leave it at that?”
“Because you sound like a lunatic and I can’t let you go in there alone in this state of mind. This is not a suicide mission,” Bodey said.
“Statistically, suicide missions usually end in failure,” Winslow said.
“Yes,” Bodey agreed. “At least for one person. All kidding aside, this is not a suicide mission. We are here to shut this place down and that is all. We can do that easily, just by cutting their power or disabling their cable TV. God knows what they will do if they have nothing to watch. Come on, Jake! We are not Special Forces.”
“I know. You guys are right as usual. Something just doesn’t feel right and I don’t know what it is.”
“It’s the cold. Nobody could feel normal in this shit,” Bodey said. “And I’m from Chicago. This is freakin’ cold.”
Jake knew Bodey and Winslow made sense, he just couldn’t shake this feeling he had. It bothered him that he couldn’t pin it down and he worried that maybe he was losing his mind. The dreams, the tingling in his ear, this feeling of impending doom, all made things seem to stand out more. Like a black wolf against a stark white field of snow. Nowhere to hide, and yet some purpose that needed fulfilling.
“All right,” Jake said. “We’ll just go to the house and see if there is a way to cut their cable or something. But I still feel it’s something that can’t wait. We need to go now.”
“I’ve got my coat on,” Bodey said, matter-of-factly.
<
br /> “Me too,” Winslow said.
Jake smiled and shrugged his on. “Let’s go.” He opened the door. Sven and Bob stood blocking the way.
Chapter 31
Lucky woke to find Ginny holding him in her lap. She was leaning against the wall, her head back and her eyes closed. Her face was beautiful despite the darkening bruise that marred one side. Her soft breathing only reminded him of how delicate she was and he would never be able to forgive himself if she didn’t make it out of here alive. She stirred and then looked down at him.
“Hi.” She smiled despite their predicament and it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
“Hi.”
She bent to him and pulled him close. “I was worried I’d lost you there for a bit.”
He remembered the ordeal in the machine and couldn’t imagine her having to go through it. He wondered if they put her through the same trauma. “I’m okay.” He pulled back and touched the bruise on her face gently, tracing its edge.
“How bad do I look?” she asked.
“Oh my God, you’re hideous. I can hardly stand to look at you.”
She blushed, and then shook her head. “You should see yourself. Couldn’t you at least clean up a little?”
“I wanted to but they were in a hurry.”
“Assholes.”
“I agree.” He stared at her and couldn’t seem to look away. That horrible place of death he had been through, that small place he had hid himself, as the suffocating scene played out in his mind, had been occupied by only her. He had held on to her vision as a place of sanity, an anchor in a storm that he felt surely would sweep him away. Only her vision and her strength had kept one foot in the real world while the rest of him endured the pain of death. He owed her his life.
“What?” she said, touching his face and seeming to sense something deeper than either were willing to admit at the moment.
Near Sighted (A Jake Townsend Science Fiction, Action and Adventure, Thriller Series Book 2) Page 18