“Sir…we’re getting ready to close. We need to ask you to leave.”
“What? What time is it?”
“It’s almost 2:00 AM.”
Jackson quickly looked all around him. The bar was empty. Gone were the Warden and the other man. The bright lights were on overhead and the TV was playing Brady Bunch re-runs. He slowly stood up, feeling slightly wobbly. The man quickly placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
Jackson nodded. “Yeah…I guess I fell asleep.”
“You did. Been like this for hours. It happens. Can we help you to your room?”
“No I’m fine.” He leaned on a nearby table and looked towards the empty bar. “The two men that were seated over there…did they leave a while ago?”
“Everyone has been gone for about an hour. We just decided to let you be.”
“Thank you.” Jackson felt his feet move below him and he slowly made his way towards the door looking again at the two empty seats. He couldn’t believe how lucky he had been. He slowly made his way out to the hotel lobby and smiled seeing two cabs idling outside the door. He waved down the closest one and directed them to the motel. He rolled down the window and felt the rush of cold air blowing on his moist face covered with a cold sweat. It was only about a ten-minute drive. He thanked the driver, paid him and hopped out of the cab. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he saw movement in a small Chevy sedan parked behind him. There was a man seated in the front seat. He could immediately tell he was watching him. The figure bolted upright in the seat as soon as Jackson looked towards him. Jackson felt his nerves immediately waken, and his feet start walking quickly in the opposite direction. He quickly walked past the motel’s front door and headed towards the side of the building. His room was located on the opposite side. He looked back over his shoulder and saw the interior light on in the Chevy. The door was open, and the figure was getting out. Jackson kept moving. He could feel his injured leg tightening up with each step, but he kept pushing forward. The light was off and the man was behind him and closing in. He walked quicker and made it to the end of the motel then turned towards the back disappearing momentarily from the pursuer. He began jogging, ignoring the worsening pain and made it to the back. It was a long motel composed of maybe fifty individual rooms on each side with a parking lot in front of the rooms both in front and back. He looked back again and didn’t see anyone, so he bolted to the parking lot and squatted behind a pickup truck and waited. His leg was screaming. He rubbed it with his hand and tried to ignore it….no pain, no gain he told himself. A minute later, he saw the shadow of a dark figure slowly making his way around the motel and stepping into the parking lot in front of the rooms. The man was keeping to the shadows so it was difficult to make out any details about him, but it was clear he was following him. Jackson leaned in closer to the truck. He watched as the man ducked behind a car near the corner. He was only about twenty yard away. Jackson went down on his knees and began crawling away from him. He quickly made it behind a small Volkswagen. He could feel his leg giving out. He wasn’t sure how much further he could go on it. Why was it so sore now? He couldn’t see or hear any movement from his pursuer, but he knew he had to keep moving. He placed his knees back on the hard pavement and made his way to the next car. He thought he saw a shadow about ten yards away but he wasn’t sure, so he kept going. He didn’t stop at the next car. He decided to stand up and begin running. He felt his body moving in between cars like he was skiing a giant slalom. His leg was cooperating. He was amazed at how efficient he was. He made it all the way to the other end before sliding behind a large dumpster. He tried to catch his breath as he slowly looked around the dumpster area. He didn’t see anything at first, but out of the corner of his eyes, he saw someone coming directly towards him. There was no way he could get out of the way. The man was only a few feet away and Jackson buckled backwards as the man’s shoulder connected with his chest. He felt himself rolling uncontrollably away from the dumpster and onto the hard pavement. The man was much larger and heavier then him. He felt his body’s weight pushing him down. He was trapped. A few seconds later, all movement ceased and he opened his eyes. He felt slightly woozy and sore. His head and body ached from striking the pavement. He thought he felt blood trickling down his forehead but he couldn’t move his hands; they were trapped under his body. He looked into two of the nastiest and darkest eyes he had ever seen. Then everything suddenly went black.
Chapter 23
Dever jumped out of bed immediately kicking the rust out of his head from the last scotch. Alcohol had no lasting effect on him. He quickly threw on a pair of gym shorts and an Under Armor shirt his son had purchased for him last year. He said he had to look the part during his work outs. Dever preferred to wear his old Marine Corp shorts and a white T-shirt, but he gave into his son’s wishes. A few minutes later, he was running on one of the treadmills in the exercise room located near the hotel’s main lobby. The clerk behind the desk gave him a strange look as he walked by. The clock said it was 4:00 AM. Dever liked to get started early. He had always been that way. He was always the first one up for as long as he could remember. Even when he was a small boy, his parents would come downstairs and usually find him busy building model tanks from militaries all over the world, his favorite hobby as a kid and still to this day. He had every model tank he could find in his basement back home. It was filled with probably close to eight hundred different ones each painted to the finest detail possible. He did thirty minutes on the treadmill and then began working the weights. He looked at his body in the mirror and was still pleased with what he saw. He still looked like a Marine. Once a Marine, always a Marine was his motto, and he lived by that every day in everything he did. He spent another thirty minutes or so on the weight machines before heading back upstairs and heading into the shower. He had a long day in front of him and an important one as well. He had to make some progress in catching Jackson or he may never be caught. He began writing his attack plan on a small tablet of paper next to him as he shoveled in two scrambled eggs, bacon and a side of wheat toast in the restaurant.
Jackson slowly opened his eyes to a dark room. He couldn’t see anything, and he couldn’t move his arms or legs. He was tied down. It looked like he was in a motel room similar to the one he was staying in. It wasn’t his, but he guessed it was in the same motel due to the same cheap furniture and wall décor. He was lying flat on his back on a bed. There didn’t seem to anyone around. He moved his head all about looking towards the door then back to the tiny bathroom. There was no one there. He waited for the warden to pop out at any moment, but nothing happened. He wasn’t sure how long he was awake, because he quickly felt himself drifting back to sleep. He couldn’t keep his eyes open, and his forehead ached so much. He wanted to reach out and touch it, but he couldn’t move his arms. He finally gave in and let his body go back to sleep…gone were the pain and worries. He opened his eyes again sometime later. He wasn’t sure how long it had been, but the room was lit up from the sunlight streaming in through the half-open blinds. They were arched upwards to allow one to see out but not in. He quickly scanned the room and didn’t see anyone, till his eyes reached a chair near the back of the room by the bathroom. He was holding a newspaper in front of him and appeared to be studying something in great detail. He appeared to be middle-aged with brown wavy hair, long bangs flowing over his forehead and a pleasant face. He was dressed in a navy blue polo and dark jeans. He could pass for any guy you would see on any street anywhere in the United States. Jackson studied his face trying to see if he recognized him, but he couldn’t recall ever seeing him. He watched as the man finally placed the newspaper down and slowly stood up and walked over to the bed. He stopped a foot or so away from his right side.
“How are you feeling Mr. Stewart? How’s your head?”
He had a smooth voice like one you might hear on the radio late at night doing commercials. Jackson kept his eyes focused directly on his, not blinking o
r turning away.
“I’m fine.”
“You have a nasty cut on your forehead, sorry about that, but it was dark and I had to work fast.” Jackson watched as his hand reached up and touched his forehead. He jumped when he felt the pressure. “Sorry. I just wanted to check the dressing. I tried to clean it up as best I could. I think you’ll be okay.
Jackson slowly nodded. “Who are you?” He looked all around the room again for anyone else.
“Don’t worry it’s just me. You don’t have to worry about the Warden in here.”
“Who are you?”
“That’s not important right now.” Jackson tugged on his arms. “Don’t bother…you’ll just end up hurting yourself.”
“If you’re not with the Warden why am I in here?”
“Do you want me to let you go? Because I can make one phone call and a hundred police cars will be here in less than two minutes. You’re a wanted man.” Jackson nodded his head up and down. “We need to talk about what happened at SITA five years ago.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you know what I’m talking about. Do you remember me now?”
Jackson studied his very closely. The narrow green sparkling eyes and long slender nose didn’t strike anything in his memory. “No I don’t.”
“You better think hard.” Jackson kept studying the man and after a minute or so he shook his head. “I was the one that hired you for that job.” Jackson closed his eyes and tried to remember that fateful night in a hotel suite in Washington, DC. He had been working as a computer consultant offering his services to a whole array of clients. They were mostly defense contractors, but there were also a few fun ones, like the tanning retailer that hired him to implement a new point of sale system that couldn’t be penetrated. Apparently, there had been a few cases of missing money. Part of the deal was free tanning for life, but he never took them up on that. Then there was the SITA job and Jackson was hired to try and penetrate the system. He usually performed these kinds of services a few times a year. It was the kind of assignment where he got to put all his skills to the test and see if he could break a system. He usually could, but this one was different. They had wanted him to go on site and test out his work after hacking in and de-activating the security system. He remembered feeling excited about it and when he met the employer he was so intrigued that he let a few of the important details slide. He studied the man’s face again and then it hit him. It was the same guy he had met in the hotel, he just looked different. He had been wearing glasses, his nose was different and his eyes were a different color. He must have had surgery or was wearing facial add-ons, but it was the same guy.
“Now you remember me…right?” Jackson nodded. “You like it? Compliments of my favorite plastic surgeon.” The mam took a step back. “So now you know why I’m here right?” Jackson shook his head again. “Really…does the sum of twenty million dollars ring a bell?”
“Twenty million dollars?”
“Yes…tell me where it is and you are free to go. I can promise you the Warden will never find you.
“I never had twenty million dollars.” Jackson watched as the man took a step closer.
“Look I’m not here to play games. I know you got the money when you shot the security guard because when I went in the safe was open and empty.”
“I never saw a safe.”
“Do you want me to make the call to the police? You want to go back to prison?” Jackson shook his head.
“I just entered the building then I heard the gunshot and I ran away. I didn’t see a safe. I didn’t even see the security guard.”
Jackson watched as the man pulled out an iPhone and held it up. “Stop…please. We both know you were the only one there besides the security guard. I have you on camera walking in the building.” Jackson closed his eyes and remembered entering the building. He had been sitting in his car in the parking lot of the SITA building. It was a giant defense contractor corporation that dealt in classified Government cash transactions, for what he had no idea. It was a large glass building consisting of seven floors and housed close to four hundred employees. It was his job to deactivate the security system, which he easily did by connecting to the console and server from his laptop. It only took him ten minutes to turn off, though he had done hours of research prior to being in the parking lot. After he turned it off, the directions stated he was to enter the building and stay inside for five minutes so it could be recorded and reviewed the next day with the management team. The jury had seen the footage of him entering the building. He had even admitted to turning off the alarm system despite his lawyer advising him not to. The jury convicted him in less than an hour for murdering the security guard. There had been no mention of the safe or the money during the trial, the only battle his lawyer had won.
“I don’t have any money. Please just let me go.” The man leaned closer and punched him in the forehead causing Jackson’s vision to become blurry and then finally fade out.
Chapter 24
Dever pulled into the Stewart driveway and had Timmons park behind a police cruiser. It was one of the new Fords. The Crown Vic’s were casually being phased out. Dever strode up to the house alongside with Timmons and banged on the door. A minute later, a new officer answered the door. Dever and Timmons blew by him and found Michelle on the couch watching a kids show with Stephanie in her lap. It looked like Dora the Explorer but he couldn’t be sure. They all looked the same to him.
“Warden?” Michelle said. She immediately repositioned Stephanie on her lap.
Dever sat in a dark blue recliner across from them. He glanced at the TV screen quickly. “Did you hear back from him yet?” He watched Michelle shake her head. “We’re going to have to monitor your email from here on out. I hope you understand.”
He watched Michelle look at Stephanie who was fully engrossed in the show then back at Dever. “I’m still not comfortable with setting him up like this tonight.”
“I understand Mrs. Stewart but as I told you yesterday it’s for his own safety. We need to get him off the street and back safe into prison before some overaggressive police officer finds him.” He looked toward the young police officer standing in the doorway. The officer quickly looked away.
“I understand, but what if we don’t hear back from him?”
“I expect we will hear from him. You’re the reason he is back, if you say you want to meet him. He’ll show.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I promise you we’ll give you time with him too, before we take him back…let him spend some time with your beautiful little girl there too.” They both looked toward Stephanie who was still watching Dora.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing Warden. I just don’t understand why he left. He never said anything about it.”
“He probably knew there was a chance his email was being monitored and didn’t want to take any chances. I have to say your husband is one of the cleverest people I have ever dealt with. I mean he has escaped me at least three times. It’s like he just vanishes into thin air.” He shook his head. “I can honestly say I have never seen anything like him and I spent twenty years in the Marine Corp fighting against some of the deadliest and smartest foes in the world.” He watched Michelle nod her head and look at a picture on the end table of her and Jackson. They both looked much younger. “How did you guys meet?”
“In college. We got teamed up in a public speaking class. He kept asking me out and I said we couldn’t date because we were working on a project together, so as soon as the class was over he asked me out and I said yes and we’ve been together ever since…at least till they came and took him away.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “He was the most gentle and kindest person you could ever meet. You should have seen him with Steph. She was his world.”
“I don’t dispute you ma’am, but I read through the transcripts and they had a pretty tight case. They even have him on camera entering the facility after he admitted t
o decoding the security system.”
Michelle shook her head so hard it caused Stephanie to look back. “It was his job Warden. He accepted assignments all the time. He was a freelance computer security consultant. He was hired to show the weaknesses of the system.”
The Warden glanced down at his phone then placed it back in his pocket. “I didn’t know it was a computer security consultant’s job to physically enter a building after turning off the security. With all due respect ma’am, there may have been more to your husband’s job than you thought.”
Michelle quickly stood up. “With all due respect Mr. Warden there may be a lot more to Jackson than you know. I’d like to ask you to leave us alone now so I can spend time with my daughter. Thank you.” Dever stood up and slowly walked towards the door behind Timmons. He stopped and turned around and looked back at Michelle and Stephanie.
“We’ll see you tonight at the Candlelight.”
Evasion Page 10