“Hampton, E-1 has known every place I’ve been since I hit town, right?”
“I would say so, yes.”
“And the kill team failed in the hit on my family….”
Luther started the Ford and roared off. Hampton was thrown back in the seat as they tore onto the Davison Freeway.
“What the hell…?”
“The kill team will go to any Rule 35 backup they can find.”
“What backup? Your whole family was there in the house,” said Hampton.
“Not everyone,” said Luther. “You’ve made reports on everything, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then E-1 knows every contact I’ve made,” said Luther. “All of them.”
Dr. Vanessa Brown was ending a good day. She had seen great progress on two patients, and a third, a little girl with a nasty virus, was looking good as well. It was days like this when she remembered why she’d gone through hell to become a physician.
Her offices were on the ninth floor of a high-rise in South-field near Ten Mile Road. It was a modern building with a private parking area for VIP tenants. Dr. Brown qualified for this special treatment because she was leasing almost half the ninth floor. Business was very good. There were not many general practitioners left in the medical business, so she was a popular woman.
Vanessa was thinking about Luther as she finished up with her last patients. He wasn’t the old Luther anymore; he was different, almost like he’d become someone else.
Luther had been destined for great things. She’d always seen him as an international businessman or maybe a politician. But she didn’t know what he really did for a living. His “government contractor” story was thin, and he always seemed to be hiding something. She wondered what his life had been like for the last decade, where he’d been and whom he’d been with.
“You’re double-booked again,” said Deena Wilson, Vanessa’s office manager and part-time medical assistant.
“You know the drill. Put them in adjacent rooms and give me both files.”
“Hiring another doctor would solve this problem, you know,” said Deena with a sly smile.
This was a conversation they’d had many times. Vanessa had interviewed many potential medical partners, and she’d always found something wrong with them. They were too serious, not serious enough, too Republican, too “technical.” In reality Vanessa just didn’t like to give her precious patients to another doctor.
“Don’t start, Deena,” said Vanessa. “Just get the other patient ready.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Deena walked off. Vanessa smiled and moved on to her next patient, happy to be ending her day on a good note. Her thoughts again went to Luther. She wondered why he’d really come back home and if she’d see him again.
“Doctor, there’s a man here to see you,” said Deena.
“We’re almost done for the day,” said Vanessa.
“He says he’s from the FBI.”
Vanessa sighed, then walked to the waiting area. There she saw a man seated on a couch reading one of her many magazines. He was alone—all her other patients were in examining rooms.
“May I help you?” asked Vanessa.
The man didn’t respond. He pulled open his jacket, revealing a gun.
The kill team arrived at the medical center just before Dr. Vanessa Brown was scheduled to come down. Frank drove the van toward the building and around to the back. They planned to gain access through the service area and take Dr. Brown in the building’s underground parking lot. Sharon wanted to wait and take the doctor at her home, but Frank had vetoed that. He didn’t want to wait and he had a feeling that Luther would have taken steps to protect Dr. Brown at her home.
Hampton had reported that Luther had contacted this Dr. Brown only once, but a check of his E-1 file showed that she was an old flame from high school. The agency’s background check was thorough, and it was at times like these that Frank was glad they did it. Brown obviously meant something to Luther, and maybe this would give them an advantage. Frank thought it was totally out of character for Luther to have such a soft spot. It would prove his undoing.
Frank’s mission was simple: They would kill this Dr. Brown and then move on.
The kill team went to the rear of the building. There were supposed to be posted guards, but they didn’t see any.
“Did you check the security rotation?” Frank asked Kam Lim.
“Yes,” said Kam. “It’s-”
Suddenly their van was hit by two quick shots. Frank, Sharon, and Kam all armed themselves as Frank pulled the van to a stop.
Luther stood in the service door of the building holding a weapon. Quick as a flash, he was gone.
“He wants us to follow,” said Sharon.
“Then it’s got to be a trap,” said Kam.
“I know,” said Frank. “He’s diverting us from the girl, this Dr. Brown.”
“Your call,” said Sharon.
“We didn’t come here to kill some doctor. Let’s take him.”
Hampton hustled Vanessa, her staff, and the last few patients out of the offices and down to their cars. He sighed in relief after they were all safely away. He’d told them that he was FBI, that the terror threat had come to the suburbs, and that this building had to be cleared out. No one had questioned him.
Hampton checked his watch. If all were going well, Luther would need him soon.
Frank and his team opened the door to the rooftop of the building, having followed Luther up there. Luther wanted a showdown, and Frank planned to give him one. The kill team had put on flak jackets. Kam carried a Namor autogun. Frank and Sharon held 9mm pistols.
It was windy as they stepped out of the service stairway. The sun was setting, and its orange-gold rays washed over the rooftop. Bane and Kam Lim took flanking positions around Frank.
There were tall power stations angled and lined up on one side of the roof. The way they were positioned, a man would be hard to see as long as he kept behind them in the proper angle. The sun was in their eyes as well, thought Frank. Luther was a clever adversary indeed.
“The power stations,” said Frank. “Spread out. As soon as he shows himself, we take him.”
“Wait,” said Sharon. She went to the stairwell door, closed it, then stuck a small device on it. If someone opened the door, he would get blown away.
Sharon joined her partners, and then the three agents dispersed, fanning out in an arc and moving almost in unison along the line of the power stations.
Luther saw them enter the roof area from the stairwell. He was behind one of the first power stations. As they walked closer, he quickly stepped to the next one, knowing that all they might catch was a glimpse of him.
Luther had the sun at his back, so they would have an even harder time seeing him. He was playing a dangerous game.
The kill team arced out as they approached. Kam Lim was the closest to him. Since Kam was the best fighter of the three, he would have to go first. Luther pulled on a pair of dark goggles and waited.
Without warning, the door to the stairwell was blown off its hinges and went sailing across the concrete roof. Kam Lim jumped up as it skidded under his feet.
Sharon turned her weapon at the now open stairwell. Kam and Frank kept their eyes on the power stations.
“I don’t see anyone!” said Sharon.
“Dammit!” yelled Frank. “The explosion will bring the locals. Let’s—”
Just then a small black disk flew from the dark stairwell, over Sharon’s head. As it hit the ground, it burst into brilliant light.
The kill team was momentarily blinded. Luther rushed to Kam and slammed a blow into Kam’s neck. Kam dropped his Namor, swung, and connected to Luther’s chest. Luther grabbed Kam’s arm and spun his body around between him and the rest of the kill team. Then he shot Kam with the tranq gun and ran off back toward the power stations as Kam fell into a heap on the ground.
The light faded. Frank and Sharon saw Kam’s body
. Frank checked him and then cursed as he scanned the area, looking for his prey.
“He’s hiding there,” said Frank to Sharon, indicating the power stations.
Sharon ran to the stairwell and ripped several shots down the stairs.
“Forget him!” said Frank.
Sharon ran back to Frank, not wanting to take her eyes off the stairwell.
Frank and Sharon moved in tandem to each of the stations, and then Frank walked to the back of the first one so that he and Sharon kept the stations between them as they moved along. If Luther was hiding, he’d be flushed out.
One by one the stations passed between them. Sharon kept looking back at the stairwell, fearful that Hampton or Alex Deavers or whoever it was might still be there.
As they approached the end of the long row, Luther struck. He leaped from behind a station, grabbed Sharon’s gun, and raised it up. She fired into the air. Luther hit Sharon with a blow to the jaw, then grabbed her twisting body and wrenched her gun away from her.
Frank stepped clear of the station and found Luther hidden behind Sharon. He froze for just an instant, but it was long enough for Luther to thrust Sharon at him. They fell into each other. Frank’s gun was dislodged from his hand and skidded across the concrete floor.
Frank and Sharon recovered and moved to attack. Sharon jump-kicked at Luther, but he sidestepped her. Unfortunately, his movement sent him too close to Frank, who caught him with a glancing blow. Luther recovered, then grabbed Frank’s arm. He paid dearly for this as Frank reversed the hold and drove an elbow into his side. Before Frank could strike again, Luther dropped and swept Frank’s legs from under him, rising just in time to avoid Sharon’s side kick.
Luther went to Frank and grabbed him. Sharon was advancing again, and Luther used Frank to block her. He pushed Frank into her, pushing Frank’s elbow into her jaw. They both toppled, then scrambled back to their feet.
Luther moved quickly to Frank and kicked him in the temple, knocking him out. He turned to Sharon and was ready to finish her, but he stopped cold. In her hand was a gun. In that instant Luther thought that she must have recovered it when he pushed them to the floor.
Luther raised the tranq gun, and they both fired at the same time. Luther was hit in the upper right chest and fell backward. The tranq gun’s dart hit Sharon in the neck. She was out before she made contact with the floor.
Luther struggled to his feet. He was badly hit, but he still had one good arm, which he used to shoot Frank with a tranq dart.
Luther then went to the stairwell and called down to Hampton. Hampton answered. He was down a few levels, waiting, and he quickly ran up to the roof. “You okay?” he asked.
“Barely,” said Luther. “Did they get out all right?” he asked, referring to Vanessa and her staff.
“They’re fine,” said Hampton. “Long gone. Goddamned bomb on the door was smart. Luckily I’m smarter. I triggered it with a minicharge of my own.”
“Guess I’ll have to find a new TWA,” said Luther.
“This is bad,” said Hampton, pointing to Luther’s wound. “We need to get you out of here.”
Hampton dressed Luther’s arm as fast as he could, and then they began the long process of dragging their three captives away.
Spook
Kilmer Gray was worried. The kill team had checked in last night, but Agent Hedgispeth had not called Kilmer directly. He’d sent a coded message to Kilmer’s computer in the early hours of the morning. Kilmer had left instructions to contact at any hour of the day, but Hedgispeth had apparently forgotten that. The message reported that Luther, Hampton, and Alex Deavers all were dead and their corpses incinerated.
Kilmer checked the news database, and sure enough, there had been a “suspicious” break-in at a local garbage-incineration facility in suburban Detroit. The best news was that the kill team had recovered a cache of documents gathered by Luther and Alex Deavers. These documents had been burned along with the bodies.
But none of these were why Kilmer was worried. There were little things. Frank’s message seemed too by-the-book, too perfect. But the code used to transmit was verified.
The team was coming in. They were a bit banged up, by their account. Luther had not gone down without a fight, as Kilmer had expected.
Kilmer was mentally exhausted. This business had taken a lot out of him. He had almost gone to Detroit himself, but that would have raised too much suspicion. He hadn’t been in the field in twenty years.
He wondered if any of the others were as worried as he was. Kilmer had kept tabs on those in the Africa Project Group. Most of them were dead now, their legacies taken up by children and successors who knew nothing of their terrible sin.
In retrospect it had been a bad idea to try to backwash Alex Deavers in Africa. Deavers was a lot tougher and luckier than anyone could have imagined. When he survived, the remaining members of the APG panicked and cut off all contact.
“Sir, they’re here,” said Thomas. His voice sounded a little troubled.
“Let them in,” said Kilmer.
Kilmer’s door opened, and through it stepped a ghost. Worse for wear but very much alive, Luther Green strode into the boss’s office with a look on his face that was both determined and violently angry. Behind him came Hampton, looking better but just as serious. The mystery of how Luther had gotten through security was answered when Adelaide Gibson walked in and closed the door. Unlike the other two, Adelaide did not look angry, but in her hand was a sidearm pointed at the floor.
“Prodigal sons,” said Kilmer, his voice grim.
“I wanted to see you before you were arrested,” said Luther. “I wanted to ask you something before I bring the wrath of God down on you.”
“Agent Gibson,” said Kilmer, “I don’t suppose that sidearm means you’ve taken these two into custody.”
“You suppose correctly, sir,” said Adelaide. “The weapon in my hand is for you. Sir, under Rule 200 I’m going to have to ask you to stand down.”
“You?” said Kilmer in disbelief. “You’re an overpaid assistant.”
“I’m also the agent with the most seniority in the institution. Under Rule 200, I must step in.” Adelaide moved toward Kilmer and cocked the weapon. “Inform Security Chief Davis that you are transferring power to me under Rule 200. If you say anything remotely out of line, I’ll kill you, sir.”
Kilmer complied and verified the order with a security code. Adelaide then told Chief Davis to send a security detail to the director’s office.
Hampton searched Kilmer for weapons and found only a small gun the director always carried. He took it from him.
“Adelaide has been suspicious of you for a long time,” said Hampton.
“She left me a note warning me not to take the mission,” said Luther. “She knew that something wasn’t right.”
“I did some internal investigating after Luther was given the mission,” said Adelaide. “I hacked the company’s computers and found out you were covering up something, sir. You broke protocol to get Luther on the case and covered up Alex’s mission in Africa by creating a phony internal agency mission.”
“If the humiliation is over,” said Kilmer, “I’d like to know where my team is.”
“They’re in the infirmary recuperating. Alive.”
“And Alex?” asked Kilmer.
“He didn’t make it,” said Luther, “so you can add another name to your list of the dead.” Luther knew that Alex was alive, but he didn’t want anyone at the agency to know. It was his and Hampton’s secret.
“I’d like to make a plea to you, Agent Green,” said Kilmer. “I assume you’ve protected the information you and Alex gathered, keeping it somewhere safe. That’s fine. You should take it and destroy it and forget about all of this.”
Luther let out a short laugh. “You’re going to answer for your crimes, and this nation will account for what it has done.”
“No,” said Kilmer. “I will be killed and the rest of it covered up.
You know that.”
“He’s right,” said Adelaide. “It’s how things are done.”
“Bullshit,” said Hampton. “The bastards killed millions of innocent people. Someone has to pay for that.”
“Do you know about Rule 225, sir?” asked Luther.
“Of course,” said Kilmer.
“Then you know why I will not let this go.”
They heard footsteps outside the door. “Security detail,” said a man’s voice. Adelaide told them to wait.
“I just want to know why you didn’t stop it when you could,” said Luther. “Why let it go on?”
Kilmer laughed, and it was a sound that was close to madness. “Agent Green, I’m surprised at you. We did nothing because it was working. It got away from us a little, but all in all it was doing what we wanted it to do.”
Hampton took a step toward Kilmer and then stopped, realizing that he meant the man bodily harm.
The security detail entered. Kilmer was taken away without a word. They watched as he was carted off in humiliation through the offices.
“What’s going to happen now?” asked Luther.
“We’ll wait until your information is verified, and then we’ll turn him over to a military/CIA panel,” said Adelaide.
“And if it doesn’t check out?” said Hampton.
“You don’t want to think about that,” said Adelaide. She put away her weapon and went to Kilmer’s desk. “I’m going to call all agents back to Washington for the time being. Luther, you and Hampton have to stay here until this all blows over.”
Luther and Hampton shared a look. It had been a long journey, and each saw the exhaustion in the other’s eyes. The two men started for the door, knowing that this was just the beginning of their work to make things right again.
Bluemail
The Executioner's Game Page 19