by L. T. Ryan
"Or maybe Keller has something on Marlowe."
"Yeah, maybe Keller does have something on Marlowe and if he came out and accused Keller, it would be political suicide. Maybe even more than that. With all that's happened, jail time could be involved. None of us could be considered a choir boy. Top to bottom."
Bear nodded and said nothing.
"Or, yeah, maybe they are working together. Sent us down here so they could finish what they started in Iraq. We could walk into that house and be shot on sight."
After a minute Bear asked, "What's your gut tell you?"
I thought it over.
"My gut tells me that Marlowe is on our side, at least, as much as he can be. That Keller was the architect behind this plan and somehow Abbot was involved. Whether he was for or against is anybody's guess. I think he was going to blow the whistle the other night before he was murdered. But, whether Marlowe lied or not, I fully expect Keller to be ready for me when I knock on that door. They've been a step ahead the whole time it seems."
"Yeah. Wait. You're going to knock on the door?"
"I want you to wait outside, Bear. You're going to wait in the car while I go inside. After five minutes, move to the house."
"I'm going to look like a damn peepin' Tom out here."
I laughed, the reaction caused by nerves more than anything. "We're waiting till sunset." I pointed at the wide orange sun hovering over the houses at the end of the street. "Another half hour and it should be dark out here."
Bear nodded.
"You remember the layout of the house?"
"A bit," I said. "Walk into a ten by ten foyer. Stairs off to the left, beyond that a dining room. On the right, the foyer opens up to a huge living room. I'm going to try and stick to that area."
"What's your plan when you get inside?"
I hadn't decided on an exact plan. I thought it over during the drive. There were a few possible scenarios. I could walk in and Keller could be alone. That would be simple. Get the confession and leave. But, if he was waiting for me, then anything could happen.
"Jack? You got a plan?"
"Winging it, big man."
Bear cursed under his breath and whipped his head side to side. "I'll go on record as saying if we die, it's on your hands."
"Sounds good."
* * *
My boots thudded against the white concrete sidewalk. The sound echoed through the air. I had debated whether to cut through backyards or just walk up to the house and knock. I decided to walk up to the house. I didn't care if he saw me coming. If things went the way I hoped, then he wouldn't think I was there to take him down. He would think I was there for help. On the other hand, if he knew we were coming, then he'd be prepared no matter how I entered the house.
Light shone through downstairs windows. A little white sign attached to a stake was planted at the corner of his yard. It read, "Don't walk on the lawn." I kicked the sign out of the ground and crossed the grass to the steps leading up to the front porch. I stopped in front of the red painted front door. I leaned toward the door, my head turned sideways. Silence.
The handle turned. The sound of metal clicking broke the silence. I took a step back and the door swung open. I recognized the swollen face that stared back at me. The short dark stubble on the top of his head wasn't there a couple days ago when I broke his jaw, though.
"Jarhead," he said through teeth that were wired shut. His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. He brought his arms in front of him and clenched his fists.
Keller stepped into view. "Hello, Jack." He stepped into the foyer and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. "You've met my stepson, Mike."
I nodded and scanned the room behind them. Three brown leather couches formed a U shape in the middle of the room. Two small square tables joined the middle couch with the others. A plain rug covered the hardwood floor in the empty space between the couches.
"Why don't you come on in, Jack?"
Keller pulled Mike back and gestured me through the door.
I stepped in and felt his hand on my back.
"Can I take your jacket?"
I dipped my shoulder and spun around.
"No thanks."
He lifted his hands in an off-putting gesture. "No problem." He shut the front door and walked past me and took a seat on the couch facing me. "Have a seat."
"I'm fine standing."
He sighed. "What can I do for you, Jack?"
Mike walked past Keller and headed for the hall.
"I want him to stay in here," I said.
Mike kept walking.
"Mike," Keller said sternly.
The young man stopped and turned, then took a seat on the same couch as Keller.
A smug look crossed Keller's face. "Why are you here?"
"You know why."
"I'm afraid I don't."
"Four Marines are dead. Six are in prison in Iraq. Two are on the run and wanted for murders they didn't commit."
Keller shook his head.
"I don't know. There's some damning evidence against those two Marines on the run. I've seen it with my own eyes, Jack."
I said nothing.
"If you need me to help you, I might be able to arrange something. But, to be honest, killing that man in D.C., and then Abbot. Christ." He turned his head toward Mike. "Look at what you did to my boy here. The assault charge alone carries twenty years in prison."
Mike lifted his head from his chest and stared at me. His lip curled. Even in his current state I didn't doubt that he'd attack like a junkyard dog if given the command.
"I know what you did, Keller."
Keller put his hands in his pockets and cocked his head to the side. He grinned and lifted his eyebrows a half inch.
"What I did? I don't follow, Jack. What do you know?"
I took a deep breath. I had to keep my composure, for now.
"You set all of this up. You had the Iraqi family killed and then framed me for the murder." I left Bear's name out on purpose. "You didn't count on Abbot getting us home, back to the U.S., though. Did you?"
Keller sat back in the corner of the couch, crossed his arms and legs and smiled at me.
"Abbot pulled a few strings and got his guys out of there, got us out of there. He didn't know that the others had been set up yet. You had a twenty four hour plan and set it in motion with me. You got wind of what Abbot had done and then had the plans changed. That's why the CIA met us at the airport and not Abbot or an MP."
Keller said nothing. He sat there with the same smile on his face with his eyes crinkled upward. He nodded his head slowly.
"So they took us to Camp Lejeune. Nothing out of the ordinary there, right? I had to report there at the base quarterly, at a minimum. Throwing us in the brig was a nice touch though." I waited for him to respond. He didn't. I continued. "Then you tried to have me killed, first with the psycho in the cell, which was a pathetic attempt, and then in the bathroom. Just nod if I'm right."
He sat motionless. The smile slowly faded from his face.
"Didn't count on Abbot getting McDuffie to get me out of there though, did you?"
"No, I didn't." He frowned and looked down at the floor. Back up at me.
I smiled. "You must have crapped a brick when you found out I was heading up to see Delaney. I just want to know, why didn't you have him killed before he met with me?"
"Because I wanted both of you dead and making the hit at the same time seemed the best option." He glared at me now.
"Who did Delaney work for?"
He shrugged and held out his hands. "We'll never know, will we?"
"Then you tracked me to-"
"Let me save you some time, Noble. We tracked you through your damn cell phone." He leaned forward and then stood. Crossed in front of one of the couches and then behind it, using the couch to separate us. He stopped and placed his hands on the back of the couch and hunched over it. "Tracked you to the girl's house. Thought it would be good to give you a sca
re before taking you out. You know, the phone call."
"All you did was gave me a head's up."
"Yeah, well…" He lifted a hand and ran it over his head. "We had the men in place to take you out."
"I saw them."
"Martinez called them back. He wanted to-"
"Martinez," I said flatly.
Keller raised his voice. "Yeah, Martinez." Then he continued. "He was about to take Abbot out. We knew you'd be heading there next, so why not try to coincide your visit with Abbot's murder, then get you at the next stop."
"Only you lost me. Isn't that right?"
"Yeah." Keller turned to glance over his shoulder, and then looked back at me. "Found your phone, though. Want it back?"
"Keep it. Hate the damn thing, anyway." I didn't give him a chance to talk. "So you gave the order to take out Abbot. Why?"
"He was going to screw it up all, Jack. Everything we had going for us."
"You hated the idea. Don't you remember that? You were pissed when you sent us off to Langley for this program."
He nodded. "After a while they, uh, helped me see the light."
"They paid you off."
He hiked his shoulders a few inches and held out his hands.
"Admit it. You were getting paid off. That's how you were able to afford this place."
"No, actually, that's not true. Nancy did get that book deal everyone talked about. We settled for this place only because I'm stuck here for a few more years."
"So what did you do with the money?"
"That's for me to worry about, Jack. And it goes beyond the money."
I studied him for a moment before responding.
"Then what?"
"Politics, Jack." He smiled and stood up straight. "The things I was doing were helping me get in with the right people."
"You murdered Abbot and a man you didn't know just so you could get a pass in D.C.?"
He smiled and winked.
I shook my head and turned toward the door.
"You might not want to leave just yet, Jack."
Mike walked past me and stood in front of the door, blocking my exit.
I laughed and looked over my shoulder at Keller. "You think he's going to stop me?"
"No," Keller said. "No, I don't. But you might want to wait a minute."
I heard footsteps echo through the room. They came from the hallway behind Keller. A man stepped out.
"Hello, Jack."
I nodded. "Martinez."
A second man appeared from the hallway. I recognized his face from the base in Iraq, but didn't know his name. His extended arm pulled at something from the hall.
Jessie.
Her glossy eyes and tear stained cheeks told me all I needed to know.
My eyes shifted from Jessie, to Keller and back to Martinez, who now aimed his pistol at me.
Keller laughed. "Didn't you think I was a bit too forthcoming with my confession, Jack?"
I felt Mike's hands touch my shoulders and then proceed to pat down my sides and my legs. He reached around my stomach. My Beretta pushed into my ribs when his hands discovered it.
"He's armed," Mike said.
Keller nodded. "Would have been surprised if he wasn't, though. Nice and slow, Jack. Put it on the floor."
I took a deep breath. I didn't know if Mike was armed or not. Martinez was and he aimed his gun at me. His partner probably was, but his weapon wasn't drawn. Keller didn't appear to be, but most likely had a weapon hidden somewhere in the room. The moment I pulled my weapon, Martinez would be on high alert and would shoot me if I made any movements that didn't lead to me putting my gun on the ground. I could try and take him out first. Two problems with that, though. One, he'd get his shot off at the same time, if not sooner. Two, his partner had Jessie and might kill her before I could manage a shot in his direction.
The next option was to take out the partner. There was nothing to stop a clean shot. Martinez would have the same clean shot on me, though. And then after he had killed me, he would kill Jessie.
"Jack," Keller said. "Remove the gun and place it on the floor. This is the last time I'll ask."
I held my hands out in front of me and then reached into my jacket. I froze in position. I had to stall as long as possible.
"Now," Keller said.
"I'm just moving nice and slow, just like you asked."
I pulled the gun from my jacket and held it out, extending my fingers so they weren't near the trigger. Martinez watched every move. He tensed. I sensed his urge to pull the trigger. He had probably dreamed of it since that night in Iraq, hell, maybe even before then. I held one arm out and gestured with the other for everyone to remain calm.
"Nice and easy," I said.
The door behind me crashed open. I didn't have to turn my head to know that Bear had kicked it in. The crash was enough to distract Martinez. I fired a shot at him. He collapsed where he stood. His partner took aim at me and I dove behind the couch and crawled toward the end. Bullets tore through the leather and thudded into the wall behind me.
Jessie's screams were silenced with a thud. I peeked over the couch and saw the man hovering over her. Then I checked over my shoulder and saw that Mike had charged Bear. The big man seemed to be handling him on his own. Keller had run upstairs. I'd deal with him in a minute.
I leapt up and fired at the man standing over Jessie. My shots missed. He dove into the hall. His footsteps echoed through the room as he ran down it. I hurried to where Jessie lay on the floor and pulled her by her feet so she no longer an easy target. She had been knocked unconscious by the man. I moved her further away from the hall and then backed up to the wall. I peeked around the corner and was met with a hail of gunfire.
"Christ," I said. "Bear, finish him and get Jessie out of here."
The big man delivered a heavy blow to Mike's head and dropped him on the floor. He ran toward me. Dove over the couch as a shotgun blast ripped through the air from above.
"Guess Keller's weapon wasn't as close by as I thought," I said.
Bear said nothing.
I pointed toward a hall that led to the kitchen. "There's a door leading out back through there."
He nodded, scooped up Jessie and started toward the hall.
I peeked around the corner again. Empty. I moved slowly down the hall. Each side had two doors. Three of the doors were closed. The last one on the right was open. I stopped a few feet from the door and listened. Complete silence. I checked over my shoulder to make sure Keller wasn't standing behind me. He wasn't.
I grabbed the TracFone from inside my jacket and threw it into the room. The man bumped the door as he turned to see what I threw. I exploded around the corner. He stood closer than I anticipated, and I had to strike him. I moved in sideways and hooked his right arm with my left. I applied pressure and bent his elbow in the wrong direction. He let out a roar and dropped his gun to the floor. I brought my right arm up to smack him across the face with my gun, but he managed to get his arm in between and the sudden jarring stop caused me to drop my gun too.
He continued bringing his arm forward and wrapped it around my head and took out my leg with a quick kick. A moment later he had positioned himself behind me and had me in a choke hold.
I fought for position. I fought to loosen his grip. I was losing on both counts.
"General," he yelled.
I heard Keller's footsteps as he walked down the hall. The barrel of his rifle appeared in the doorway. I knew he wouldn't be far behind.
I reached behind me and found the man's head. I jammed my thumb in his eye. That was enough to loosen his grip. I shifted my body weight and broke free from his grasp. Then I ducked and slipped behind him. I held his arm behind his back and pushed him toward the doorway.
Keller spun around and fired blindly. The bullet hit the man in the front of his chest and tore through the back, leaving an opening the size of a melon.
I lunged forward, using the wounded man as a body shield. We crashed i
nto Keller and he fell backwards. He landed against the door across the hall. It broke from the latch and he continued his fall to the floor. He dropped the rifle. I tossed my human shield to the side and grabbed the rifle off of the floor and lifted it and aimed it at Keller.
"Jack," he said as he wiped blood from his mouth. "You don't have to do this."
"Do what?"
I fired into the back of the room.
He covered his head and cowered close to the floor.
I aimed the rifle at his head. "Get up."
He did.
"Down the hall." I backed up and let him slip by me. "Nice and easy, Keller. Arms up, hands behind your head."
He complied and walked slowly down the hall. When he reached the end he stopped.
"Keep going," I said.
He took a few more steps and stopped again. I stuck the end of the rifle into his back and pushed. He took a few more steps forward. Mike was sitting on one of the couches, holding his arm to his chest. The arm was bent at an odd angle halfway between his wrist and his elbow. It had been a rough week for Mike.
"Go sit next to your son," I said.
Keller did as he was told and walked to the couch. He stopped and turned toward me.
I kept the rifle steady and aimed at his chest.
"You won't get away with this, Noble."
"Why's that?"
"You broke into my house. Attacked me and my son. Christ, look at his arm." He swung his arm to the side dramatically and pointed at his son's twisted arm. "Then you killed my guests, two government employees, Jack. You killed them in cold blood."
"Who's going to believe that story?"
He laughed. "Who wouldn't? A General versus the word of a Sergeant?" He stepped toward me. "Put the gun down, Jack. You won't get away with this. Even if you kill me, you won't get away with it."
I circled around the front of the couches, toward the front door. Kept the gun aimed at Keller.