by Ralph Rotten
“Yes?” Confused by the blank caller ID, he answered the phone in a leery voice. Listening intently, he took in the woman’s words quietly. “Excuse me…?”
“I said release the woman, right now, or I will reach up your anus, grab you by the tongue, and yank you inside-out. Am I clear?” Alexis’s voice was a growl. “If she doesn’t walk out the back door in the next thirty seconds I will have my men skin you alive where you stand now. No one knows you’re here, and my agency technically doesn’t even exist, so unless you want to find out how long a man can survive without epidermis I’d send the woman out the back door right now.”
The line went dead before the kidnapper could respond, leaving him to imagine the end she had described. As awful as it sounded, he had seen far worse done to captured agents. Thinking fast, he tried to consider of an alternative.
It was the sound of boots that distracted him. Not a single pair of feet, but dozens of running feet. Above that he could hear the metallic sound of a dozen safeties being unleashed. It sounded as if there was an army out front of the house. Feeling his blood freeze in his veins, the kidnapper instinctively gestured for the other two masked men to check it out. It made no sense; why would they tip their hands so? If they had a team outside, then why would they not have simply deployed it and retaken the hostages?
Moving into the living room, he could hear the indistinct chatter of men talking on radios. Peeking out of the corner of the window he could not make out anything in the darkness. Still, it sounded like there was an army out there, at least a few dozen soldiers…
When the lights in the house flicked off he began to feel a deep sense of concern. With only a smidgen of light coming through the ratty curtains, it was pitch black in the house. Feeling fear for the first time that night, the kidnapper stumbled his way back to the hostages he had left in the kitchen. Fumbling about he pulled a small flashlight from the duty holster he had worn while pretending to be a highway patrolman.
Casting a beam, he saw that Asanté was still laying on the floor, his hands and feet tightly bound. Moving the light to the center of the room he was surprised to find the metal chair empty, a pair of handcuffs dangling from the back of the seat. Feeling his heart sink, the kidnapper was just turning to the table where he had left the agent’s weapons when he found himself face to face with Jenna.
“Hi.” She flashed him a smile just a split second before her pistol struck him in the side of the head.
Feeling pain flash through his skull, the kidnapper never had a chance to react before she pummeled him to the ground with a series of kicks and blows from her pistol. Within seconds he was out cold, left to lay there on the ground twitching from the head injuries he had just sustained.
“Told ya I was gonna fuck you up.” Smiling in the darkness, she reminded him of the promise she had made earlier. Plucking the flashlight from his grip, she gripped it alongside her duty weapon as she moved down the hallway where she had last seen the other two kidnappers go.
Leaning around the corner, she centered the flashlight on the first of the hooded men before snapping off a fast double-tap. Swinging her aim to her left, the second masked man was just turning to face her when she let off another pair of fast shots. Seeing him sag to the ground, she knew they were both down to stay. Her center mass shots had just ended their spy careers permanently.
Strolling back out to the kitchen, she was not surprised to find the gangly man still lying where she had left him. Giving it a thought, she delivered another kick to the man’s head before turning to Asanté.
“Why are you here?” She growled.
“And hello to you, too.” Sarcastic, Marco struggled against his bindings. “Do you mind?”
“I do actually.” She made no move to release his restraints, instead listening to the sound of tires screeching outside. Again there was the sound of men and equipment, followed by the crash of the front door being kicked in. Placing her weapon on the tray, she remained motionless with her hands in the air as the tactical team swept through the house. Giving no resistance, she allowed herself to be pushed to the ground and handcuffed for the second time that night. As much as she hated being treated like a perp, she knew better than to fight it. The team would secure all people in the dwelling first, and sort them out later.
It took twenty minutes before the HRT commander had a handle on who was who. Removing the restraints from both agents, there had been the standard debriefing as the two agents told their sides of the story. After verifying their credentials, Jenna and Marco were finally returned their badges. Although neither was a suspect, their duty weapons were kept from them until ballistics could confirm or deny which weapons had been used to kill the two men in the bedroom. It was all SOP, or standard operating procedure.
While her rendition of the events had been compelling, there was one detail she had no answer for: who had released her from the chair?
“I dunno.” She admitted. The lights went out, and someone…whispered in my ear.”
“Whispered what?” The lead agent raised an eyebrow.
“He asked me if I wanted to go out with him sometime, get a cup of coffee or mebbe dinner.” She shrugged haplessly. “Then he unlocked my handcuffs and cut the straps on my feet.”
“What about the caller?” Trying to figure out that one last detail, the investigator looked her in the eye.
“That wasn’t you guys?” Jenna seemed surprised. “But we heard you guys out there?”
“We got there about ten seconds before we kicked in the door. The only thing we found out front was some kind of device on a tripod, aimed at the front window. Our tech guy is looking it over, but he says he’s never seen anything like it. He seems to think it’s some kind of sonic cannon. I can only assume your mystery man left it.” Closing his notebook, the investigator seemed satisfied that she was telling the truth.
Finally walking out the front door, Jenna felt relief at still being alive. Although she had done an admirable job of concealing her fear, there had been so many times that she was sure that her rotting corpse would be found tied to a chair in an abandoned house. Stopping on the walkway out front, she took a deep breath as agents and forensic scientists swarmed the site. They would tear the house apart in their search for clues. Finding out who these men were had just become top priority.
Turning to the street she scanned the moonlit sky until she saw it. There, hovering silently above the house at the end of the block she could just make out the silhouette of the little candy-apple red Mustang. Jenna stood looking at it for several seconds before she saw the vehicle slowly turn and vanish from sight.
Marco was still seething when he reached the FBI office. Having had a gun held to his head just an hour ago, he was in no mood to stop and chat with the SAIC. Moving with purpose, he found his way to Jenna’s office.
Still incensed at having been found handcuffed and bound on the floor by the same tactical team he had summoned, it bothered his pride to know that the general impression had been that Jenna had saved the day. Even more maddening was the fact that the woman who called him there had most likely sent him into the situation knowing full well what awaited him. In truth, he was glad to have broken his promise to come alone. In fact, he truly wished that the tactical team had arrived earlier so they could have stormed the building together. Instead he had been made to look like an ass while his ex-wife begged their captors to execute him.
Rustling about through the papers on Jenna’s desk, he found nothing of interest. Sure that she must have been onto something big, he continued to check the desk for any clues. It was when he discovered the top drawer was locked that he knew he was getting warm. Pulling his knife from the pocket where it had been clipped, he ruined the blade as he pried open the simple latch mechanism. Finally popping open the drawer, he spotted the request for a search warrant laying there in a blank folder. Snatching it up, he began reading intently.
As surprised as he was that she had a solid lead on the case, he w
as even more surprised at how she had found the Sparks brothers when hundreds of other agents had been unsuccessful. Begrudgingly he had to admit that she was an outstanding agent, even if she had just risked his life less than sixty minutes ago. Scowling as he thought of his fear at that instant, he felt no remorse for breaking into her desk. By his way of thinking, she was hindering the investigation by hoarding this knowledge.
Standing upright, he slammed the drawer shut before leaving the office with the warrant application in hand.
In the darkness of the early morning, Alexis deftly piloted the vehicle that Jack referred to as the Submarine. Designed for aerial flight, the pair of water tanks, joined at one end by a mechanical coupler, was equipped with a variety of the brothers’ inventions. Designed to appear to be nothing more than a rooftop water tank, it was an innocuous device. Moving as fast as the disaffinity system could leverage it, the vessel sped north at relatively low altitude.
Shrouded in night, the Submarine slowed only when it approached the compound. Stopping in mid-air, Alexis used the onboard cameras to make one last check for the guards who were routinely posted on the rooftop of the main building. Their recon on the black site had told them that the post was unmanned from 2300hrs until 0400hrs. During that period they relied on cameras and the guard towers to keep an eye on the grounds. It was this hole in their schedule that Alexis had intended to exploit.
Seeing no one on the rooftop, Alexis maneuvered the tanks into position on the west side. After more than three weeks of studying the facility they had been able to map the guards movements well enough to know where they rarely tread. Setting the vessel down in the middle of the rooftop, she checked the GPS coordinates one more time before shutting down the gravitational disaffinity drive. Switching the Submarine to standby mode, she turned her attention to other pending matters. There were still her local files to purge, records to encrypt, and a fabber to be digitally scrubbed.
She had only just parked the sub when the stairwell door opened. Sauntering up the stairs the first of the guards already had an unlit cigarette between his lips. While there were many of the staff that objected to the rigors of being stuck on a hot rooftop all day, Officer Jenkins actually enjoyed the post. After all, the roof was the only authorized smoking area in the whole building. It helped that Jenkins had set himself up a nice little spot that included an awning, overflowing ashtray, and a little fridge full of root beer. All the comforts of home.
His face briefly illuminated by the bic lighter in his hands, his attention was focused almost entirely on the cigarette he lit. Taking a hungry drag on the Kool menthol in his mouth, he never even noticed the extra water tank as he made his way to the little guard post he had set up for himself on the west side.
“Home sweet home.” Cracking open a soda from the fridge, he settled in for his shift.
Jackie had been heading for home when he noticed that the Mustang was no longer bearing north. Glancing down at the GPS unit on his dashboard he could tell there was something wrong. Turning the wheel he tried to correct, only to find that the little Mustang was unresponsive to his inputs.
“What the frack?” Initially he thought there was an electronic failure in the system, until he remembered that it was a triple redundancy system. A failure would have been almost impossible.
“Alex!” Raising his voice, he suspected it was not really a malfunction.
“You can’t come home right now. I’m sorry.” Apologetic in her tone, Alexis knew that he would be understandably angry.
“What’s he up to?” As much as he wanted to blame the AI, Jack knew that his brother was undoubtedly behind the change of plans.
“Jack, it’s time to let you in on the rest of the plan.” Cautious as she spoke, Alexis knew that the next few minutes would be difficult.
Jamie never budged from his seat, even when he heard the boots stomping about upstairs. He had known that this was an inevitable part of the plan, and that eventually they would catch up to the brothers. Rather than try to postpone the matter, the savant had instead chosen the time and place. While the government would hail this as a victory, it was all just more sleight of hand.
Reading a vintage copy Asimov’s Martian Chronicles, he had already shut down every computer in the building except Alexis. With the level of encryption he had applied to each of the systems, he calculated that the government would spend a week or more trying to access the data on those hard drives. But their efforts would be for naught; anything of value had long since been moved offsite along with Alexis’ core operating system. All that had been left behind would be misleading bread crumbs designed to keep them busy.
“Freeze!” The agent shouted from just a few feet away as he aimed an MP5 at the savant’s back.
“With an ambient temperature of seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit, it is unlikely that I would be able to comply with that request.” Smirking, Professor James pointed out the obvious flaw to the command.
Ignoring the comment, agents moved in and forcefully shoved him to the ground before applying handcuffs. Taking another moment to search him they found that his pockets were completely empty. Another few minutes and they had finished clearing the rest of the basement workshop. Returning their attention to the man on the ground, the troops parted as Marco entered the room.
“This was the guy?” He asked the nearest agent. “There’s supposed to be two of them, and a woman too.”
“Just found this guy sitting here was all.” Confirming the situation, the man in Kevlar gestured to Jamie.
“Take him to secure holding, then get the techs in here. I want this place searched from top to bottom.” Nodding grimly, Marco did his best to hide his glee. After the harrowing night he’d had, it felt good to make some headway on the case. Finally he would have something to report to his handlers.
Watching them manhandle Jamie out the door it seemed odd to Marco that the man did not protest in any way, simply showing them all a broad smile as he was dragged away. Usually by now the defendant was busy demanding an explanation or insisting on their innocence. Asanté pondered this atypical behavior as he scooped up the book on the ground.
“Hmmmph.” He merely grunted at the sight of the science fiction novel. It had always been something he had little interest in. It was geek literature by his accounting. At best it was a waste of time.
“Agent Asanté, you have no right to be here.” Alexis’ voice startled him. Drawing his weapon as he spun about, his nerves were already frayed from a near-death experience.
“What?” He asked as his eyes scanned the room for her hiding place. Aside from the cupboards and work benches there was little else in the workshop beside the big cabinet adorned with the letters ALXS.
“You heard me. You are trespassing.” She insisted, her voice emanating from a small pair of speakers on the work bench.
Approaching hesitantly, Marco looked left and right for any sight of the woman who had sent him into a hostage situation just a few hours ago.
“Actually I have a search warrant for the premises. This is a legal action.” Correcting her, he opened several of the cabinets to see if she was hiding within.
“Show me.” Came her insistence.
“You first.” He challenged her.
“I’m standing right in front of you, now show me the warrant.” An edge to her voice, Alexis did not like Asanté, not one little bit.
Slowly it occurred to him that he may not be talking to a human. Opening one of the access panels on her tall server case, he could see nothing but electronic components within.
“Show me the warrant.” She again insisted.
Raising an eyebrow he noticed the camera just below the letters on her case. Unfolding the paperwork he held up the warrant for a few seconds.
“That warrant is no good, and you are trespassing. You have violated Jamie’s constitutional rights under color of law.” Refuting his claim, she was no-nonsense in her tone.
“Bullshit. I got a warrant, rememb
er?” Giving her a smug grin, he gestured to the paperwork in his hand.
“No, you have a warrant for 1014 West Cedar. But this basement is 1014-B West Cedar. Hence, the warrant is null and void for this address. Again, you have no legal right to be here now. Please get out now.” Refuting his claims, she did her best to anger the man.
Shrugging off the discrepancy in the address, he said nothing. It seemed pointless to argue with a computer. Seeing one of the techs descending the stairs he gestured for the woman to join him in Jamie’s office.
“See this thing?” Gesturing to the cabinet, he made sure she knew which piece of equipment he was referring to. “Box it up, take it to the center and see if it has anything of interest inside.”
“Sure, what is it?” The woman seemed surprised at the sight of the cabinet. “ALXS?”
“I’m not a what, I’m a who.” Alexis was clearly irritated at the two people.
“Oh, wow.” The tech seemed immediately fascinated by the computer. “We’ll get right on it.”
Leaving the workshop to the NSA technicians, Marco climbed the stairs to check on the rest of the agents sweeping the home. Having assumed the position of Senior Agent, he would leave the searching to his minions. But in the end he would take credit for all of it.
It was the sight of Jenna striding purposefully towards him that shook him from his thoughts. He had only just cracked a smile when her fist lashed out and caught him square in the mouth. While he watched stars swirling around his head, she used a scissor kick to send him crashing into a book case.
Moving in while his brain was still resetting, Jenna had Marco by the collar as her fist hung in mid-air. Ready to deliver another series of blows, she had never detested her ex-husband as much as she did at that very moment.