by Patton, Dirk
I stared at her, the smile melting off my face as realization of her words hit me.
“You can’t be serious,” I said, feeling like I’d been gut punched.
Fresh tears sprang up as she nodded.
“If it was just me, I’d go to the ends of the earth with you. But I’m going to be a mother. Nothing is more important, even you. I love you, but if I can’t trust you to not harm me or the kids...”
I stood there with my mouth open for what felt like forever. Rachel cried silently as she watched the full impact of what she’d said sink in. At an utter loss and feeling lower than I had since I’d buried Katie, I slowly nodded and turned away.
“Stay with her, Dog,” I said before walking away into the darkness.
4
Jessica walked into Admiral Packard’s hospital room, nodding a greeting to a very tired looking Captain Black. The Marine was seated in a well-padded chair the nursing staff had taken from the Doctors’ lounge.
“How’s he doing, sir?” she asked, dumping her purse and a backpack with a laptop in the corner.
“No change, Chief,” Black said, rubbing red rimmed eyes. He checked his watch and got to his feet.
“Begging your pardon, sir, but are you sleeping?”
Black snorted a laugh and gave her a weak grin.
“What’s on the agenda today?”
Jessica rifled through her pack and pulled out a worn paperback. She held it up for him to see.
“Book four. Can’t wait to get started reading it to him and find out what happened after that idiot jumped into the Mississippi River. I’m hooked. Thanks for the recommendation.”
Black nodded and scooted the chair close to the Admiral’s bed so Jessica would be close enough to not have to raise her voice while reading. Giving her a smile, he left the room and took an elevator to the lowest level. Stepping out into an echoing parking garage, he automatically looked around for any threat that might be lying in wait.
Seeing nothing other than silent vehicles waiting for their owners, he strode across the smooth concrete to where a Marine Corps Humvee occupied two parking spaces. It was just too damn wide to fit in one and hospital security had given up trying to make him park off-site.
“Captain.”
Black whirled, hand already on the butt of his holstered pistol.
“Easy,” a woman’s voice said. “I am stepping out where you can see me.”
From behind a thick pillar that supported the roof, a woman in her mid-30s emerged. She was turned out perfectly in a sleeveless dress and heels with long hair hanging loosely down her back. A small bag on a long strap was across her body and her hands were held out slightly from her sides to show she was unarmed.
“Can I help you?” Black asked, eyes darting around to make sure she wasn’t the distraction while someone else surprised him.
“We need to talk,” she said, moving to within a few feet.
He was struck by how pretty she was but forced himself to stay aware of the surrounding environment.
“Do I know you?”
“No, but that does not matter. I have some information.”
Black frowned.
“There are better ways to do this than surprising me in a parking garage. Why not just come to the gate at Pearl and ask for me?”
He was sure he knew the answer but asked the question to put her on the spot. She laughed, smiling at him and shaking her head. He was mesmerized by the way her raven hair swished across her bare shoulders.
“That would be… impractical,” she said, still smiling. “This is much simpler. And far more private. No?”
Moving deliberately so he didn’t feel threatened, she reached into her bag and removed a small USB drive and held it out for him to take.
“What’s this?”
“Information,” she said, hand extended patiently. “Information that will help uncover the faction that ordered Admiral Packard’s assassination.”
A storm cloud passed over Black’s face and he took two fast steps forward, towering over the much smaller woman. To her credit, she didn’t flinch or shrink away, simply stood with her head tilted back and looked into his angry eyes.
“What did you have to do with it?” he growled.
“Me, personally? Nothing. I was as surprised as everyone else.”
“But you know who’s responsible.”
She didn’t blink under his intense stare.
“The information you need is on this drive. I am risking my life to bring it to you.”
Their eyes remained locked for several long beats, then Black’s gaze slid to the side where she held the small piece of plastic in a hand with perfectly manicured nails. Slowly, he took it from her and slipped it into his pocket.
“Who are you? How do I contact you if there are questions?”
“It does not matter who I am, and you cannot contact me. I only know what is on the drive, so it would be pointless and almost certainly result in my death.”
“Maybe I should take you with me? Maybe you know more than you think you do and could use some time with an interrogator.”
The skin around the woman’s big, blue eyes crinkled slightly in amusement and she gave Black a thousand-watt smile.
“You could try, Captain. And perhaps you would succeed. Perhaps not. In other circumstances, it could be an interesting proposition to see who would come out on… shall we say... top?”
She reached forward and gently placed the palm of her hand on his chest. Her eyes widened slightly as she pressed against the rock hard muscle beneath the uniform.
“Very interesting,” she said, her meaning clear.
Black took a step away. She watched him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“I am sorry if I have made you uncomfortable,” she said, appearing anything but.
“You’re good,” Black said. “So good that I almost missed it.”
“I sincerely doubt you miss very much, Captain. But I have been here too long and must be on my way.”
The woman turned and began to walk away, deliberately putting a little extra motion into her hips for Black’s benefit. The click of her high heels echoed loudly in the garage.
“Why should I believe anything on this drive?” he called. “Comrade.”
She stopped and looked over her shoulder.
“You are as advertised, Captain. Very good. And you can believe the data or not. That is up to you. Just understand that what our president has done and is planning to do is not who we are.”
Black blinked, wondering if she’d slipped up or deliberately given him a nugget of intelligence.
“Planning? What’s Barinov planning?”
“Look at the files, Captain. Everything you want to know is on that drive. Perhaps I will contact you again. Only in a more pleasant setting, I think.”
Indecision, which was exceedingly rare for Captain Black, kept him rooted in place as she approached a generic Japanese-made sedan. Part of him thought he should arrest her and bring her to Naval Intelligence. But would she prove to be more valuable if he allowed her to leave?
He was still trying to decide the best course of action when she climbed behind the wheel and started the engine. With another brilliant smile and a flirty, fingertip wave, she drove out of the parking spot and disappeared up the ramp to the ground level exit.
Black noted the car’s license number and hurried to the Hummer to write it down. He had no doubt it would lead to a dead end, but he was going to run the plate as soon as he got the chance. Checking his pocket to ensure the drive was securely in place, he hurried to the elevator.
5
“A Russian agent?” Jessica exclaimed. “Here in the hospital?”
Captain Black nodded and extended the USB drive. She took it from his hand as if it were a deadly poisonous spider.
“We need to see what’s on this,” he said.
“That’s a really bad idea, sir. Do you know how easy it is to have all manner of viruses
and malware hidden on something like this, just waiting for someone to plug it into a computer? We could wind up giving the Russians a backdoor into all our systems. This thing needs to be quarantined and the contents examined by an expert.”
“An expert like you?” Black retorted. “Come on, Chief. If this is really information about who was behind the assassination attempt on the Admiral, we have to know!”
Jessica looked at the small piece of plastic resting in the palm of her hand and sighed.
“Sir, it’s not your fault. I want the bastards who did this as badly as you do, but we’re playing with fire. Trust me. I’ve been burned.”
“Chief, you’re the one person I completely trust when it comes to the Admiral. I don’t know what we’re going to find in those files, but I can’t take the chance that there’s a conspirator amongst us who might be able to do something else just as damaging if he or she knows they’re about to be caught.”
Jessica watched him intently for a moment before lowering her gaze to the drive.
“Sir… I…”
“Fine, Chief. Give it here. I’ll look at it on my personal laptop.”
He reached out, but she closed her hand and pulled it away.
“No way, sir. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I’m not stupid, Chief. I’ll have the Wi-Fi disabled so even if it does infect my machine, it can’t get to anything else.”
“Not that simple, sir. It’s easy to make a user think their computer is completely isolated even when it’s pumping data onto the network like crazy.”
“Damn it, Chief, I need answers, not more problems!”
Jessica stared at him, trying to come to a decision. Everything she’d ever been taught screamed at her to not take the risk, but the Captain had a good point. Did they know who they could trust? Then a bad thought occurred to her.
“Why should we trust anything on this drive, sir?”
“What do you mean?”
“Disinformation. Maybe the whole Russian plan is to make us start a witch hunt amongst our own ranks. Let’s say there’s evidence on here that implicates one or more people, how do we know it’s true?”
“I wasn’t born yesterday, Chief. I’m well aware the Russians are masters of misdirection and false flags. Regardless of what that drive contains, it will have to be independently verified before we take any action.”
Jessica considered his response, finally shaking her head in surrender. Standing, she retrieved the laptop from her bag and turned it on. She spent several minutes disabling the machine’s wireless radios, both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, then several more building a virtual quarantine area.
“Here goes nothing,” she said.
Taking a breath, she inserted the drive into a USB port. Captain Black moved to peer over her shoulder as she began viewing the data contained in multiple folders.
“Sir, this isn’t good,” she breathed as she scrolled through hundreds of audio files.
“What is it?”
“Recordings of phone conversations. Both internal land-lines at Pearl as well as Navy issued cells. And here, these are intercepts of private phones. I don’t even know where these would be stored, but if the Russians are able to access them, they’ve probably got a door into just about everything.”
Black blinked in surprise, a feeling of cold dread washing over him.
“Could they know about Exodus?”
“Can’t say, sir. I don’t know if anyone has discussed specifics on a phone or created any data files. But I can’t rule anything out at this point.”
They were quiet for a moment as the implications of the enemy having access to their most secure data sank in.
“Sir, I have to report this.”
“Not yet, Chief.”
“Sir, this is much bigger than one person, even if it is the Admiral. We don’t know what’s been exposed to the enemy and we need to immediately start locking everything down until we find out how they got in.”
“Not yet, Chief!” Black reiterated. “She said it was a ‘faction’ that wanted the Admiral out of the way. That word implies more than one conspirator and we need to know who they are. Maybe we can use that to our advantage.”
“Sir,” she began, then paused and took a deep breath. “This isn’t for us to start playing James Bond with. Intelligence needs to know. Now! Captain West and Admiral Huber need to know. Surely you don’t suspect them!”
Black had leaned close to the screen as she spoke, peering at the list of files. Reaching out, he pointed at an eleven second phone call that had occurred less than an hour before the Admiral had been stabbed.
“Play that one.”
Jessica frowned, not understanding the significance of the specific file which was from a privately-owned cell, but she clicked on it anyway. Two male voices boomed out of the laptop’s speaker.
“Yes?”
“You’re clear to proceed.”
“Understood. Clear to proceed.”
“Don’t miss. There won’t be another chance if you do.”
The call and recording ended without either man speaking another word. Jessica, obviously shaken by the meaning of the conversation looked up at Captain Black who wore a shocked expression on his face.
“Sir?”
“I know the voice that gave the go-ahead,” he growled. “Play it again, Chief.”
6
“What was his excuse?” I asked Lucas.
We were standing in near-complete darkness outside his house. After the surprise appearance of the large group of females, he’d turned off all the exterior lights and made sure Ziggy had tightly closed the blackout curtains he’d recently installed. Rachel and Dog had returned shortly after I did, disappearing into the house without even a glance in my direction. I was trying to not let it bother me.
“Smyth?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you say he had the watch?”
Lucas nodded.
“He was diddling Natalie.”
I was mildly surprised.
“He’s been around long enough to know better than to pull that kind of shit.”
Lucas shrugged and shook his head.
“He won’t make the mistake again. And he just drew latrine duty for the next month.”
Lucas’s house was connected to a septic system that was designed to support his home, which meant he and Ziggy and their children. The small building Rachel and I were sharing was also tied in, but everyone else had to use a good old-fashioned outhouse. Nothing more than a rough shed with a bucket beneath a seat.
Periodically, it needs to be cleaned out and the contents of the bucket disposed of. The best way to accomplish that and not contaminate the area you live in is to douse the waste with fuel and burn it. Yes, it smells as bad as one would think it does and it’s a really shitty job. Still, for what could have happened if the females had made it past the prepared defenses, Smyth was getting off very lightly.
“How’d you know they were out there?”
I thought about deflecting. Or lying. But Lucas and I have been friends too long and I owed him the courtesy and respect of an honest answer to his question. So, I told him. And once I began talking, everything came spilling out, including what had transpired between me and Rachel.
“She’s pregnant? That’s great! Right?”
I hesitated long enough for him to turn his full attention on me.
“John? That’s a good thing, right?”
“I thought so,” I said. “Also didn’t think she’d start issuing ultimatums.”
I couldn’t have been more surprised when Lucas began laughing.
“What’s so fucking funny?” I grumbled.
“You. That’s what,” he said, still chuckling. “Holy hell, mate, she’s gonna be a mom. Don’t you realize what that means?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Okay. Sorry. Don’t mean to make fun of you, but you’re a bleedin’ idiot. She’s a momma bear, now. Especially in th
is world. Women are just wired that way. They can’t help it. Ask her to choose between you and her child, you’ll lose every time.”
“But it’s my child, too,” I protested.
“Don’t matter. It’s not inside you, it’s inside her. And there’s nothing she won’t do to make sure it’s safe. Doesn’t mean there’s any rational logic to her decisions and actions. That’s just the way it is. Take it from me. Been through this with Ziggy a few times. Rachel loves you, but she’s probably about as crazy as a cross-eyed wombat at the moment with her hormones all out of whack. But…”
His voice trailed off and he seemed to be struggling with what he wanted to say.
“Go ahead and say it, whatever it is.”
“Fine. I agree with her. If you have the opportunity to find out what’s going on with you, you need to take it.”
“Go to Hawaii and be a lab rat? That what you’re saying?”
“Quit being a fuckin’ arsehole. You know me better than that. I’m saying, if this guy you know in Hawaii can check you over and give her some peace of mind, things will blow over. If you want to be with her and be part of your child’s life, you’d better take this seriously. Women don’t fuck around when it comes to their kids.”
“Christ,” I breathed, wanting to be angry at someone, but there wasn’t anyone who’d done anything wrong.
“Just my advice, mate. Take it for what it’s worth.”
“Got more important things to worry about,” I said, changing the subject. “Like where the hell did all those females come from and are there more of them out there?”
“Wondering the same thing,” Lucas said. “Thinking about taking the plane up for a little recon. Wanna go for a ride?”
“You going to start farting again?”
“No promises,” Lucas said, leading the way to the barn where the aircraft was stored.
We got the doors open and climbed into the cramped cabin. Lucas had apparently already refueled after the flight back from Sydney, so as soon as the engine had warmed up he advanced the throttles and brought us out onto the dirt runway. Turning into the wind, he shoved them all the way forward and the plane leapt ahead. As usual, we were in the air much faster than I expected, Lucas putting us into a steep climb.