“Only for a minute. How are you doing, Jack?”
“I’m doing alright,” Jack replied.
“Still not much of a talker, I see. You never really were. I guess it’s because you want an explanation. You deserve one just the same. I don’t suppose you would do me the honor of talking about it later, over dinner? I discovered this beautiful restaurant down the street called Rossario’s.”
“I have the time. I do want an explanation. I deserve that much from you.”
“Yes, you do. Shall we say 7 o’clock?” Natasha smiled.
“Seven is fine,” Jack said.
“I guess I better be off, I have more errands to run. It was nice seeing you again.” Natasha said as she hugged him and unlocked her car door.
“Goodbye, Natasha,” Jack said as he turned back around to head back to the office again.
“Jack?” Natasha called out.
“Yes, Maria?”
“I really am sorry. For everything.” Natasha said.
“I know you are. We’ll talk about it later.” Jack gave a reassuring smile and walked away.
Jack returned to the office some time later, he didn’t keep track of the time, but it took longer than the fifteen minutes it was supposed to take to get back to the office. He was distracted by what had just transpired that he just kept walking without being aware of where he was going.
Mel was missing, and it was an even bigger relief to see that she was in his office. As he was shutting the door, Agent Woods stopped the door with his boot.
“We’ve got some news.”
“What is it?” Jack asked, opening his office door.
“We received some intel that Aleksandr Baladin made his way stateside,” Woods confessed.
“Ah. That is news. What of his whereabouts or agenda?”
“Nothing but we’re working on it.”
“What?”
“Agents were sent out to bring him in from JFK, but he must have chartered a private jet because there’s nothing on the books in his name or anyone affiliated. He must have paid a lot to disappear into thin air when he landed. But don’t worry, the men are on it. We’ll find him.” Woods assured Jack.
“I hope so. If we don’t get him now, he’s gone for good. Once gone, I don’t think he’ll pop up again unless he’s planning something.”
Chapter Six
Mel popped into his office some time later. “I’ve got good news.” She said smiling. “My car is fixed.”
“That is good news indeed,” Jack said not looking up from the file he was reviewing. “Just don’t crash into another wall again.”
“Ha ha, funny.” Amelia feigned a laugh and rolled her eyes. “Well not fixed yet exactly, but they said more than likely it will be finished by tomorrow afternoon.”
“That means you’re still stranded here.”
“Yep. Which means you are the lucky winner who gets to take me home, partner.” She beamed. “So where did you go earlier? You aren’t supposed to go out on the field without me. Trying to stay away from me?”
“Yes if you must know.”
“Well, that’s a sad thought. A little fire is good for you.”
“What’s good for me is a little peace and quiet.”
Amelia decided to ignore his last comment and said at last, “I’ve done some investigating you know.”
“Oh really?”
“I’ve been looking into the Baladin case and discussed it with the team, and I managed to track him down here locally. There was a charge made at this restaurant down the street called Rossario’s. I went down there, but he was long gone by then.” Amelia explained.
Jack nearly choked on his saliva. He wanted to warn her that it was dangerous to go out on his own. How could she not see that? He struggled to say what he was thinking. “Ms. Antonov-”
“It was a good idea, right? It’s fabulous in fact.”
“Hold it-”
“So I’ve been making some outlines, you know, devising a plan.”
“Wait for just a-”
Mel didn’t listen but begin to describe her plans with naïve enthusiasm. “…it will take a lot of manpower, but with your experience and my sheer talent, we can just handle it ourselves.”
“Will you be quiet?!”
“Sure! Something you want to add?”
Angry and frustrated, it took Jack a lot of strength to hold it inside, but he managed to say, “Just what the hell are you doing?”
“Was I talking too fast? I can repeat myself-”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what? The only way Baladin is going to get caught is if we act right now. But we’re just standing here wasting time.”
“This is a horrible idea.”
“You can’t do this all by yourself, West. You aren’t the only person in the agency, you know. Now if we go-”
“We?” he snapped. “There is no we!”
“Of course there is. You and me. You could use help anyway. You’ve been doing this by yourself for years. You must be bored, and you need a fresh perspective from a third party.”
“Oh go to hell! We are not doing anything, Woods and Johnson are already on this, and I have plans.” Jack said furiously.
“Oh. Where are you going? Can I come?”
“No.”
“Why not? Is it a date?” Amelia grinned.
“For one thing, it is none of your business. Secondly, no it isn’t a date.”
“Then why can’t I come with you? It doesn’t seem that important if I can’t go, maybe we should focus on Baladin-”
“My plans have nothing to do with you.” Jack snapped as he put back on his suit jacket. “And you are not a part of the Baladin case so you can forget any idea you have about being involved and playing hero.”
“Hearing that makes me sad. It’s a good thing that Fitz gave me carte blanche on my plan.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I told them how I tracked Baladin down and I showed them our plan, and they said to let you know I can go ahead and join the case.”
Jack balled up his fists and found it difficult to hold in his rage.
“Look, can I be honest? I want to be out in the field, alright? It’s a priority to me. I want to be proud of myself for once, and I am coming along.”
She was going to get what she wanted no matter what, Jack resigned. She had no idea what Baladin was capable of and what she was she was getting herself into. Having lost a few agents along the way, sending in a trainee was one of the worst ideas anyone had. Worst of all, she clearly had no idea how difficult she now made everything.
“Ms. Antonov, you don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
“About Baladin. About what he has done to our men.” He tried to think of the right words to say, but it was hard. “I just need you to stay here.”
“I don’t get what the problem is.”
“Look I’m going to Rossario’s.”
“Okay great. I’m going with you.”
“You can’t.”
“Oh yes, I can, and you can’t stop me.” Amelia huffed.
“Like hell you are!”
“Oh come on. What are you not telling me? Are you saying you are worried about my safety, are you?”
“I-”
“Are you denying it?”
“My God-”
“Admit it, West. You think I knock your socks off and you are worried about my safety. Look, I may be new to the field, but I can handle myself. You’ll see.”
“I’m going to be meeting your mother,” Jack said at last.
“What??”
After Jack holstered his Glock Model 22 and badge as he started to make his way outside. “I ran into your mother earlier today. Did you know she was in town?” Jack asked as he stopped at the door.
“Yeah, my mother and father decided to come visit me. I kind of just took off without telling anyone.” Amelia shrugged. “She’s married you kn
ow, so don’t get any ideas. My father is a good man.”
“I don’t have any ideas I assure you Ms. Antonov. We are just going to catch up and talk, and you need to stay put.”
“Hmm,” Amelia said suspiciously. “Well, what about Baladin.”
“When I get back, I’ll gather up the team, and we will coordinate. I will allow you to sit in, but you sit back and say nothing. You hear me?”
“That’s no fair.”
“Look, there are an infinite number of situations that can happen. We don’t have much in the ways of intel about what he is up to or his current whereabouts, so it’s important that we handle things the smart way and you trying to play Sherriff isn’t going to help. Got it?”
“But-”
“No buts. If you want to be a part of the case, then you need to listen to what I say from now on. There’s no running to Fitz every time you don’t get your way.”
“Alright.” Amelia rolled her eyes.
“I’m going to go there, check the perimeter and clear the inside and then I am going to talk with your mother.”
“I get it. I’m not that new.”
Amelia watched Jack descend the stairs. What was the big deal anyway? She couldn’t imagine but what he didn’t know was her ties to Baladin. She found herself smiling anyway. She was starting to not only make a name for herself, but it was also giving her the opportunity to find out who was responsible for her Uncle’s death. The more Jack let her be involved in the discussions, the faster she’d find out and take care of it. Jack wasn’t too bad to look at either.
He was attractive for an older guy, and there was something under the surface that he tried to keep in check that made him seem all that much sexier. Something that made him very appealing and vulnerable at the same time.
She loved seeing his expression change when she got to him, and he was on edge. He looked alive when he was furious. Any other time he looked lifeless. Every reaction he had, though, seemed like he thought before he spoke and reacted. But when he was furious with her, he appeared to be an entirely different man. Jack was more expressive, moved and spoke more.
She liked him better when he was more animated and was angry enough to growl at her. Something seemed to be bothering him, though.
“I better find out what it is later, it’s for his own good.” She muttered to herself.
****
“I wanted to thank you for agreeing to meet me, Jack.”
“It isn’t a problem at all, a huge part of me was very curious.”
“About what exactly?”
“Whether or not you are going to do me the honor and giving me an explanation of why you disappeared so long ago.” Jack cut to the chase.
“I do owe you that much, don’t I?”
“I’d say so,” Jack said as he sipped the red wine they had previously ordered.
“To be honest, I can’t even begin to tell you. I had plans when you had met me so long ago, and somewhere along the way, I lost sight of what I was trying to accomplish.” Natasha sighed.
“What do you mean? What kind of plans?”
“I had plans, Jack. I had goals and objectives and things I had to accomplish and to put it frankly; you were a distraction. My family thought you were a distraction. On our wedding day, it had finally hit me at what I was doing. I didn’t plan on being here long and by the day of our marriage
I had already completed my goals and objectives, and I had no reason to stay. So I left.”
“No reason to stay? What about me? We had just gotten married!”
“I didn’t plan on getting married, Jack. Don’t you see? I was here for a reason, and I had never planned on staying. I was always going to go back. Look, I’m sorry Jack. I never meant to hurt you, but you’ve got to understand that I never intended to fall in love with you either.”
“Is that it? Is that the truth, Maria?” Jack asked.
“Yes, of course, it is. I only planned on coming here for a short while. I didn’t plan on meeting you, and I got distracted, but I managed to come and do what I wanted to do and when done, I had to leave. I am sorry I caused so much pain and grief when I disappeared.
“What did you want to do here?”
“Jack, it doesn’t matter honestly. It was 15 years ago; I just wanted to give you the apology you have deserved for a long time, and I hope it hasn’t haunted you. I do hope you have been able to move on with your life.”
He wanted to say initially, it became a ghost that haunted him for years, and he searched for her whereabouts and even used agency intelligence to try and track her down, but surprisingly, it was as if there was a weight lifted off his shoulders. Without realizing it, he had moved on.
“Absolutely.” He said, and it was the truth.
“That’s good. Enough about the past. Let’s talk about now.” Natasha laughed.
They were laughing as they both got up to leave. After paying the check, Jack helped Natasha with her jacket. It was weird to see him smile. It was an hour later, and Jack and Natasha were finally coming out of the restaurant.
“I had a great time Jack, and I’ll have to say I have not seen you talk this much ever, not even back then.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You were often reserved and quiet. I wonder what changed.”
“Probably, Mel. That girl has me yelling at her on an hourly basis. Tell me, is she always this frustrating?”
“Yes, she is. She’s always been quite the handful. You just have to be a handful back. We are here.” She said as he walked her to her vehicle parked at the end of the block.
“Thank you for taking the time to make amends, Jack. Hopefully, I’ll see you again.”
“Someday. It was night catching up.” Jack said as he hugged her goodbye. That could be the last time he would ever see her, and he amazed to think that he was finally okay with the thought.
****
Jack returned to the office feeling somewhat better than he had ever been in years.
“How was the food you ate?” Amelia asked when she noticed he had returned.
“It was terrific, in fact.” He said.
“I hope it gives you food poisoning.” She pouted.
“Doubt it.”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “Did you see Baladin inside?”
“No, I didn’t. Must have been there for a quick meal or meeting and left before we arrived.” Jack walked up to Agent Johnson’s desk.
“Johnson, pull the team together.” and then to Amelia, “You remember our deal right? No talking.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
Amelia was now in the conference room surrounded by agents under Jack’s supervision. The officials varied in classification from Level 1 through 5, and some agents that had their own team under their command joined in the aid to catch Baladin. Amelia was amazed by the amount of activity within the agency when they were on the hunt. As instructed, Amelia sat in the chair off to the side as an observer.
“Nicolai Petrovich died several a couple of months ago as we invaded the warehouse he was overlooking in Jersey. We know he has a direct connect to Aleksandr Baladin and we kept a watch on that guy for quite some time. Baladin saw himself as well as Nicolai as a modern day Che Guevara, brilliant men and some of the highest IQ’s in the world.”
“Wasn’t that smart, didn’t even cover his tracks well, obviously.” Agent Smith joked.
The other agents laughed in unison and high-fived Smith. Amelia wasn’t quite sure if the praise was related to his snarky remark or if he was responsible for what happened to Nicolai. Either way, he deserved to get decked again.
“Upon his death, we expected there to be some sort of immediate chaos and retaliation, but there have been none, but we cannot let that fall to deaf ears. We have been receiving word over the past several weeks from various sources of Baladin sightings and of his men. We know that he is planning something, whether it’s retaliation for the death of his right-hand man or something else we are not q
uite sure.” Jack informed the group.
“In Nicolai’s pocket, we recovered keys to what we’ve identified as another warehouse at a shipyard up north. I want a few of you to go up there and case the building, cargo, measurements, any internal operations, everything. Locate any plans or shipments that are being held there and come straight back. That is all, do not perform any retrieval. We can’t risk being identified, or they will hightail it out of there. You might think that this is just a simple reconnaissance operation, but until we find out what Baladin’s next move is, we need to assume that his men will be there and are waiting so don’t go into it naïve.”
****
“Are you going with them?” Amelia asked Jack as they headed outside the building towards his car. He promised he’d take her home again.
“No, I’m not, but I am on call. Will not know until they return.”
“Oh. Boy, I’m starving. Talking about steak earlier, made me hungry. Let’s go get something to eat.”
“I just ate!”
“Look, either take me to eat, or I’ll become a real pain. I am cranky when I’m hungry.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t want that to happen,” Jack said sarcastically.
“It’s not funny!”
“I wonder what you act like when you don’t get your way.”
“Come on! Tell you what. Let’s get something to eat, and I’ll cook dinner for you tomorrow night, at your place. What do you say? My treat!”
“Might as well. It’s not like I have a choice do I?”
“Not at all.” Amelia beamed.
They got into Jack’s vehicle, and Amelia directed him to a cafe she noticed that was on the other side of town. It was nothing special, just one of those run-of-the-mill diners.
Jack simply ordered a cup of coffee, and Amelia ordered the biggest burger plate on the menu. “Boy, I’m starving. It’s been a long time since I had a hearty meal like this.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Jack asked randomly.
“Sure, can you pass the ketchup?”
“How did you end up nothing like your mother?” Jack asked as he slid the bottle of ketchup to her.
“Why is everyone so obsessed with how I am? I am an individual, geez. I don’t have to be as deliberate and controlled. Why are you laughing?”
Break Away Page 31