“We’ll go now!” Jordan shouted and he turned the key and threw the car into gear. The tires caught traction and the black Suburban jolted forward through the woods.
“Wow, that was close!” Kate shouted.
“Timing is everything.” Jordan smiled as they came out of the woods and turned onto the paved road.
They proceeded to the hotel and called into their respective chains of command. The downloaded data seemed to indicate that this cell had put them on the market and had actually taken bids for their services. A name kept consistently popping up in the data. A man named Tahir. He seemed to be interested in engaging this group in some of his plans. Nothing seemed to have developed to a point of a specific target and mission but, it seemed this group had gone from being controlled by Libya to possibly being under Pakistani leadership. Tahir was a new name to both Kate and Jordan. That was not surprising as new names were coming up all the time. Terrorists were like cock roaches; the more you exterminated the more that seem to appear.
No one had any leads on the men who blew up the house. Maybe it was other Libyans who knew of the group’s defection or it could have been Pakistani’s who didn’t want someone interfering on their turf. One step forward, two steps back.
The green light was given to take down the other sub cells identified through the data discovered as quickly as possible. Kate and Jordan were ordered to return to D.C. as soon as possible. Since it was Friday and it was going to take another twenty-four to forty eight hours for the specialists to pour through all of the data they had taken from the house, Jordan told them Kate and he would be there first thing Monday morning.
Chapter Twenty-Six
UPPER MAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP, BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
“So, you in any hurry to get back home?” Jordan looked at Kate, with anticipation.
Kate held her breath. “No, I’ve got nothing forcing me to get back. What did you have in mind?”
“Would you like to come to my place? Have a great dinner, real food, nice bottle of wine, spend the weekend combing through some antique shops.”
“Sounds great and relaxing and, after what we’ve had to eat up here, I’m not sure I’ll recognize real food.” Kate felt her whole body tingle with anticipation. “How far away are we?”
“I think we can make it in about two and a half hours. The heart of Bucks County Pennsylvania is calling.”
“Let me grab my bag and I’m ready to go.”
They headed off and Kate soon found them leaving Interstate Eighty-Four and on rolling country roads. They went through small villages with the names of Upper Black Eddy and Carversville.
Jordan slowed the car and turned down an unpaved drive. In front of them was an electric gate. Jordan lowered his window and punched in a code. The gate slowly opened and they proceeded down the lane, with nothing in site.
“Oh, my gosh! You’re a serial killer and you are going to dump my body where it will never be found.”
“You’ve figured me out. It’s the only way I can handle the stress of a Federal job.”
They both laughed and Kate just about choked as they came around a bend and a beautiful stone farmhouse lay in front of them. A large front porch wrapped around the front of the obviously well restored three-story home.
“Wow,” was all she could say. “Is this really yours?”
“Yes, my home away from home. I never get to spend as much time here as I like, but it’s my paradise.”
“It’s right out of a home magazine. Are those your horses? My God how much are they paying you. I’m in the wrong agency.”
Jordan laughed. “One of the few smart things my father ever did was to set up a trust for me. When he went bust, he couldn’t touch what he put aside for me. So, it comes in handy for things like this. Let’s get inside.”
The inside was even more incredible than the outside. It was the most comfortable home she’d ever been in. Every room begged for you to come in and just drop into a chair. The kitchen was one step down from being in a five star restaurant. If Jordan asked, Kate would stay here with him forever.
“I want to take a quick walk around. Why don’t you take your things upstairs? Pick any room except the one in the back on the far left. That would be mine. I should be back in about thirty minutes. Feel fee to take a shower. Kate, make yourself at home.”
Kate headed up the stairs. She toured the three available rooms. Any of the three would have worked for her, but she fell in love with the bedroom at the front of the house. It contained a large canopy bed and, as she entered it was wrapped, in the warm golden sunlight of the afternoon. It also was ensuite, so she wouldn’t have to go down the hall to use the bathroom. She unpacked the contents of her small bag and decided she would take a quick shower.
Out of the shower and into a comfortable pair of jeans and a cotton shirt, Kate headed back downstairs. “What a great place!” She thought to herself this was just another piece of the Jordan Wright puzzle she was trying to put together.
She walked around the downstairs, moving from room to room. All she could keep thinking was how perfect each room was and how everything flowed. Could Jordan really have done this himself? She entered the kitchen and looked out the windows, toward the barn. Jordan was talking to someone in the yard, a young male with work clothes on.
Jordan noticed Kate in the window and waved. She felt a little embarrassed that she’d been caught. She quickly waved backed and then moved away from the window and went back to the family room, plopped herself down into a comfy chair that seemed to envelope her and grabbed a couple of magazines from the table. She thumbed through them, most with articles about the area and restaurant reviews, when she heard the back door open and close.
“Kate?” Jordan was moving through the kitchen.
“In here, Jordan. Just making myself at home,” Kate announced.
“Great,” he entered the room and stood over her. ”Found a room and the shower?”
“Yep. This is really a great place.”
“Indeed it is. Kate, I need to ask you to keep this between us. I don’t need a lot of crap from people and I definitely don’t need the Inspector General investigating how I paid for this. I kind of like to keep my personal and professional lives separate.”
“Jordan, you won’t hear me say a word on one condition.”
“And what might that be?” Jordan moved around to face her.
“You bring me back here every so often.”
They both laughed. Jordan reached down and grabbed Kate’s arms and pulled her from the chair. “Let me show you around. I’m pretty proud of this place.”
He showed her the house and described the various places he’d found different antique pieces and then they headed outside. He took her into the barn and they climbed to the top of the hayloft and Jordan opened the access doors so they could look out at the rolling hills and, in the distance, see the Delaware River, dividing Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“I’ve never been anywhere like this,” Kate remarked, still staring out the door and looking at the incredible vistas.
“It has that effect on people. You can feel a million miles from anywhere. That’s why I like it. There’s no one else around. You won’t believe how quiet it will be tonight.”
“If there is no one else around, who was the man I saw you talking with?” Kate inquired.
“That would be Steve. He oversees this place when I’m not here. He has a cabin out in the woods. He is the true outdoorsman. Stocks me up with venison and wild turkey and he keeps this place in shape.”
“Why would you ever leave?”
“Oh, you know. I have to save the world every now and then.”
She turned and lightly punched him in the chest. They stood facing each other, not sure what to do next, both wanting to hold the other, but neither sure if that was what the other wanted. It was an awkward few seconds.
The silence was finally broken by Jordan. “You getting hungry?”
“Famished, but I’m not sure about venison and turkey.” Kate said.
“How about some good old prime steer? I called Steve before we left and he headed to the market and stocked us up. Are you ready for a Chef Jordan meal?”
“How close is the nearest poison control center?” Kate looked up at Jordan with a smile.
“Well, you can always go hungry! Besides, you have to help. So, if we get sick it will be both of our faults,” Jordan declared.
“Oh, Jordan! Always ready with the plausible deniability, whether at work or play,” Kate teased.
They laughed as they headed out of the barn and back to the house. Together, they fixed an incredible dinner of filets, twice baked potatoes, sautéed spinach with garlic and onions and a tossed salad made from lettuce grown by Steve. It was one of the best dinners Kate had ever eaten. Part of it was the food, but more of it was the company.
After dinner, they went out to the back porch to watch the evening fade to darkness.
“You are an amazing man, Jordan Wright. Full of intrigue and mystery.” Kate stated playfully.
“I’m an open book. People just don’t take the chance to pick me up and leaf through the pages,” Jordan shot back.
They both laughed. They spent the rest of the night on the porch. One bottle of wine turned into two. The conversation touched on everything — work, mutual acquaintances, and even politics.
Kate glanced at her watch and realized it was after midnight, even though she thought it was no later than nine. She excused herself to turn-in. Jordan said goodnight, but decided to stay out for a bit longer.
Kate headed up to her room and got ready for bed. Her head was swimming, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the wine or the conversation. She was truly amazed by Jordan. He wasn’t just some macho terrorism operative. She was finding so many levels of who he was — almost like pulling back a layer on an onion, only to uncover another with each one more of interest than the last. Oh, how she wished she could stay here and peel all the layers back.
When Jordan woke up, he could smell bacon being fried in the kitchen along with coffee being brewed. He wasn’t used to having someone here that would also get up and cook. He grabbed his robe and headed down the backstairs that led directly to the kitchen from his bedroom. He opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, causing Kate to jump from the sink and away from the door.
“Sorry! Didn’t mean to startle you,” Jordan told Kate apologetically.
“You’re lucky I left my gun in my room,” Kate responded.
They both laughed and Kate returned to her cooking chores.
“This wasn’t necessary, Kate.”
“Well, I wanted to show my appreciation. I was up and hungry and my host was nowhere in sight, so I had to fend for myself,” Kate said teasingly.
“Well, seems you’re doing all right by yourself,” Jordan responded, smiling.
Kate got plates out of the cupboard and scooped scrambled eggs, bacon and toast onto each plate. Jordan had taken a seat at the kitchen table. He dug in as soon as the plate was down.
“Kate, this is great. I would have never realized you could cook like this.”
“Well, Mr. Wright, you aren’t the only one able to surprise.”
They left the house later that morning, for the trip back to Washington. They took their time making several stops at antiques shops along with a leisurely lunch at one of the taverns which could be found throughout the area. Any observer would have commented on the fun the young couple was having and would have guessed they were destined for the altar.
In much too short a time, Kate found herself saying goodbye to Jordan as he dropped her off at her apartment building. Memories of the past couple of days swirled in her head. She’d noticed, as they got closer to the District, Jordan changed. He was back to the Jordan on the mission. Their talked changed from wine, food, travel and antiques to a focus on the case. Who were those men that blew up the house? Who and where was Tahir? What happened to the Libyans?
Kate entered her apartment. It was dark and bland. She threw her bag down by her bedroom door and walked back to the kitchen. She grabbed a bottle of cold beer and before the door on the refrigerator closed, she caught it and pulled out another one. She headed back toward the bathroom and drew a bath, opened a beer and slowly slid her body into the hot water. She had one thought to ponder: Did Jordan harbor the same feelings for her that she had for him?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
WASHINGTON, D.C., FOUR WEEKS AGO
Kate wasn’t sure what the day would bring. She knew Jordan would be in every meeting she was in today. She knew he would be totally professional and she knew he didn’t want people to know about his home in Pennsylvania or anything else they had discussed. She did, however, want to be focused on looking for other clues. Would he look at her differently, make some sort of gesture or subtle recognition?
They had their first debrief at eight o’clock. Jordan was already in the room when Kate arrived.
“Hey ya, Kate.” Were the first words she heard as she came through the door. Surprisingly, they were from Jordan, who had the reputation of not always recognizing people when they came into a room with a response. She took this as a good sign.
The meetings were tough and while there was a lot of data and intelligence recovered from the house, most of it just reinforced things they already knew. There were no leads on the men in the Suburban who had planted the bombs. The Suburban had been found at Stewart Airport outside Newburgh, New York, in the parking lot. While not the busiest airport, it was the ideal airport to leave from. There was enough domestic service to get you to just about any city in the United States within two to three hours. It had a small TSA presence and, since nothing much happened there, the staffs of the airlines weren’t that observant. Since neither Jordan nor Kate had gotten a good look at any of the men, no visuals were available to show.
Later in the afternoon, word came from the N.Y. State Police that the car had been found which the Libyans were driving when they left the house. Discovered in a warehouse area of Rochester, in an abandoned Kodak facility, word also came that the bodies of the Libyans had been found in one of the buildings, all executed.
At a break late in the afternoon, Jordan and Kate found themselves alone for the first time. Jordan approached Kate and, after looking around to ascertain they were truly alone, he bent over to her ear.
“If we get out of here at a decent time, do you want to go grab a bite to eat?”
Kate nodded yes, the less said, the better. His question had taken her by surprise, but now, she just wanted to get out of there and be back in that world with Jordan. She knew the rest of the day would just drag.
Stan came running down the hall. “Everyone back into the room now! We’ve got a break.”
It took less than a minute for the room to fill.
“We’ve got a lead on Tahir. Tahir Amadi is a Pakistani national. He seems to be a brain for hire, helping less intelligent terrorist groups plot better actions to have a greater impact. We talked to the UK and Pakistan. They both believe Tahir has been involved in the subway bombings in London and the recent events in Spain. A cell they broke up in Denmark seemed also to be working with him. The Pakistani’s have now asked for help. We’re activating an Irregular Warfare Joint Operations Team under Jordan to assist them in bringing in Tahir. They have him isolated in Karachi, but have been unsuccessful in his capture. They keep missing him, and they are sure it is because someone is leaking Intel to him.”
“When do we go?” Jordan didn’t lift his head when he interrupted Stan. He was already in operation mode, beginning to list what he and his team would need.
“There’s a C37-A being readied out at Andrews. You go as quickly as you can get out there.” The C37 was the military version of the Gulfstream G-5. While the military version was stripped down compared to the corporate jet, it was still a great way to travel. To have secured it, this mission had to be of high priority and th
e top echelons of the Pentagon and State Department must have already been briefed.
Kate sighed to herself. There would be no dinner with Jordan tonight.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA
Kate just stared at the back of his head. She hadn’t heard from him since he left for Pakistan. She’d heard the mission had gone well and Tahir was in custody of the Pakistani ISS, but that was weeks ago and he hadn’t even sent a text message. This was the part of Jordan she just hadn’t been able to figure out.
She was also determined not to give up. One thing Kate Woolrich was known for was the fact that, once she set her mind to something, she didn’t stop or let anything get in her way until she’d gotten it. Why should Jordan be any different?
She’d missed most of the introductions as she recalled the last time she had been with Jordan. She’d just nodded at individuals who had been pointed out to her by Frank. “Great,” she thought to herself. “They just think I’m another stuck up Washington bitch, coming in to tell them how to do their jobs.” Frank was looking at her, knowing that she was preoccupied. She grinned and turned. She had Jordan in her sights and she wanted to take the initiative. Nothing over the top, but she wanted him to know she was there and that they were going to be working together. More importantly, she needed to get his reaction. She needed to read his body language, to see if there was still interest. Or, did he consider her yesterday’s news?
She walked over to the table where it looked like he’d been listening to some tapes.
“So, how’s tonight for dinner?” Shy was never a trait attributed to Kate. She was always ready to put it right on the table.
“Kate, it’s good to see you.” Jordan stood up. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Yeah, last I heard you were off to Andrews to catch a flight.”
Enemy Among Us-A Jordan Wright Thriller Page 11