Critical Play (Michael Cailen Book 3)

by Mel LeBrun

  “Wheelchair,” Josh answered while staring off.

  “Wheelchair?” Martin at first seemed surprised but then seemed to agree. “How are you going to manage that?”

  “I'll either be too sick to walk or I'll injure myself. Haven't decided yet.”

  “Might want to go with injury. You don't want to end up in quarantine.”

  “Yeah, I thought about that.” Josh finally looked at him. “You're probably right. I'll fake a sprain or something.”

  “Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, you should get to your gate. They should be boarding soon.”

  “I can't thank you enough, Martin.

  They both stood up and embraced.

  “I love you, coz,” Martin said. He stood back and squeezed Josh's shoulders and looked in his eyes. “This is what family does. We stick together.”

  Josh nodded and wiped away more tears.

  “Hang in there, Josh. We'll find her.”

  “Thanks, Martin.”

  JINX HAD had spent the past twelve hours receiving consistently timed injections of the experimental drug her captors were using to interrogate her. As soon as the pain would begin to subside, they would give her another injection to keep it going. For the last four hours they didn't even ask her any questions.

  Her whole body quivered. Her hair and clothes were drenched. She always thought that if pain was unbearable a person would pass out. Yet it didn't happen for her and she didn't understand why. The drug in fact was laced with a stimulant designed for that very reason. So that the subject would get no relief. They would remain awake and fully aware. All their senses intact to feel the full force of the pain inducing drug.

  The man entered the room again. And again, she begged for mercy.

  “Please,” she cried out. “Please no more. Please!”

  “Are you going to tell me what I want to know?” he asked.

  She wept bitterly. She contemplated telling him what he wanted to know so her nightmare would end. She hated herself for even entertaining the thought.

  He brought the needle to her arm. “Suit yourself.”

  “Please, no,” she said desperately. “They're in Brazil.” She continued sobbing not sure if they would believe that and afraid of what they would do if they didn't.

  “Where in Brazil?”

  “I don't know. Michael has a friend there who said he could help them.”

  “How did they get there?”

  “I don't know.”

  “That's because they're not there.” He brought the needle back to her arm.

  Jinx knew if she could sell this it might buy her some time. She looked the man's eyes. “I swear,” she said. “Please, I can't take anymore. I'll tell you everything I know.”

  “What is the name of this friend?”

  “I don't know his last name. Michael called him Domingo. I'm not even sure if that's his real name.” Jinx tried desperately to compose herself but just could not stop crying.

  “How did he contact this 'Domingo'?”

  “They made a VOIP call to him from the computer.”

  “What is his number?”

  “I don't know. I wasn't there. Jessica told me about it after.”

  “What does Domingo do and how does Michael know him?”

  “I guess Michael worked with him before. I'm not sure. I don't know what he does.”

  “If Michael is in Brazil, where is his wife and daughter?”

  “I haven't spoken with Jessica in days. Last I knew they were home.”

  The man seemed to ponder a long time over what Jinx had just told him.

  “Please, that's all I know,” she said, desperately hoping he would believe her.

  He pulled the syringe away from her arm and stood looking down at her.

  “There will be consequences if you are lying to me. Worse than what you've experienced so far.”

  She shook her head. “I'm not lying.”

  The man left the room without subjecting her to further torture. Jinx was so relieved to have a break from the hellish pain she didn't even care what the consequences might be later on if, or rather when, they discovered she was lying.

  HALFWAY THROUGH the flight to Moscow, David got up to use the restroom and on the way back sat down next to Michael. Michael looked at him, obviously irritated.

  “That's Josh's seat,” Michael informed him and then returned to looking out the window.

  “Yes, but Josh is not here,” David replied.

  “What do you want?” Michael asked while staring out the window.

  “I'm sorry about Josh's wife. We had nothing to do with it. You know that right?”

  “I know you didn't do it,” Michael agreed.

  “Then why are you so pissed at me?”

  Michael sighed heavily but seemed to soften. “I'm not pissed at you. I just ...” He shook his head and looked at David. “I'm just frustrated.” He looked away and sighed again as he tried to gather his thoughts. “I left this life behind for a reason. I have a family. I've had enough of the killing and the corruption. But it seems like the harder I try to leave this life, the harder it tries to pull me back in.”

  “This is not the first time you've been pulled back in?”

  Michael shook his head. “God, just a year ago I got wrapped up in some mess. Jess and I had to go on the run. She got shot. I almost lost her. Now she's on the run again. This time with our daughter. She's pregnant. She's so bad off she could lose the baby. Josh's wife is kidnapped. And we're on the other side of the world waist deep in crap that's not even our own.” Michael shifted in his seat. Just talking about it worsened his anxiety. “I can't even imagine how things could get worse.”

  “Well I guess in light of that I can't blame you for being uptight.”

  “I'm sorry.”

  “You and Josh have been friends for a long time?”

  “We were SEALS together,” Michael reminisced about the time they met. “We just clicked. It was like we could read each other’s minds. All it would take was a look and we knew the other was thinking.” A weak grin crept onto Michael's face. “One time, while we were SEALS, a bunch of us went to this bar to blow off some steam. Josh struck up a conversation with this cute blond at the bar. They talked for more than an hour. She was really into him and he was totally digging her. Right up until she started telling him how he wasn't like any other man she had met. And then proceeded to tell him all about her last two boyfriends who, according to her, treated her terribly. going so far as to file restraining orders against her so they wouldn't have to talk to her.”

  “Oh boy,” David remarked. “I'd be running like hell from that.”

  Michael laughed. “Yeah, well that's what Josh wanted to do. Only he had already given her his phone number and she put it in her phone. And he had no idea what he should do about it.”

  “So what happened?”

  Michael continued, “From across the bar he looked at me and without even saying anything, I knew. The look of sheer panic on his face was priceless. Of course I had to help him. I had one of our guys run interference. He approached them at the bar pretending to be drunk and obnoxiously hit on her. While she was distracted, I slipped her phone from her purse, quickly found Josh's number and deleted it. I slipped it back in her purse and Josh breathed a huge sigh of relief. I pulled our pretend drunk friend away before that got out of hand. Josh then excused himself to use the restroom and never came back.

  I watched her look though her phone after he didn't return. She seemed very confused and upset at not being able to find his number. Needless to say he never went back to that bar.”

  “Now see, that's why I don't date American women,” David said. “Too many crazies.”

  “Oh right, cuz Israel has none of those.” Michael laughed.

  “Well, Israel crazy and American crazy are two different things.”

  “I've never been afraid my wife was going to stab me in the neck while I'm sleeping,” Michael replied.

/>   “Ah, you had to bring that up?” David shook his head.

  “You left that door wide open,” Michael teased.

  “I most certainly did,” David agreed. “Though I'm willing to bet you've never cheated on your wife.”

  “No, I have not,” Michael replied. “How is your cousin doing? Did he ever recover?”

  “Yes. He recovered. He remarried. Now he has a new wife and a new mistress.”

  Michael shook his head. “Didn't learn a thing.”

  David laughed. “No, he did not.”

  The plane landed a short time later, and Michael and David's team met up with a local Mossad agent who had been conducting recon on Grekov in preparation of their arrival. He studied his routine and put together a rudimentary schedule.

  David gave Michael the option of taking some time to rest or getting straight to work. Michael opted to get right down to business. He didn't want to be away from his family any longer than he had to. And perhaps they might be able to learn something about Jinx in the process.

  The local agent brought David and Michael to the building where Grekov worked. The agent explained that the day before, Grekov had gone to an apartment building for a few hours before going home to his wife and kids. He didn't know what Grekov was doing there, but his security hadn't gone in with him. They had waited outside in the car for him to return.

  “We need to find out what he was doing there,” David said.

  “Yeah,” Michael agreed. “Is there anything of interest about that building?”

  “Nothing that we've found yet. But we just barely started looking,” the agent explained.

  “It's a start,” David said.

  Chapter 21

  Josh finally landed in the United States. He spent much of the flight rehearsing what he would do to get himself put in a wheelchair. As the plane was unloading he put his plan into action. As he was getting out of his seat he pretended to get his foot caught on the edge and fell into the aisle. He clutched his ankle and writhed in pain for several seconds until a stewardess came rushing to assist.

  “Are you OK, sir?” she asked him.

  “I twisted it getting up.” Josh pulled himself to his feet. He hopped on one foot and then put pressure on his pretend injury. He winced. “Ow. That doesn't feel good.”

  “Sir, why don't you have a seat. Once the plane clears I will bring a wheelchair for you.”

  “No. It's OK,” Josh said. “I can walk.”

  He tried again but looked even more pitiful than before. He hobbled a few more steps, clearly having a hard time.

  “Sir, it's really no trouble. I don't want you to further injure yourself. Please have a seat.”

  Josh hung his head not appearing happy about the suggestion. “All right. I guess I should.”

  He sat back down and waited as the rest of the plane cleared. The stewardess returned with the promised wheelchair. She ask him to fill out some forms as she wheeled him from the plane.

  Josh shook his head. “I don't want to fill out forms. It's not a big deal. I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm getting a ride home.”

  She tried to insist but he insisted more and she didn't press it any further. From the plane, a security guard took him the rest of the way to customs. Being very familiar with Martin's life, Josh easily passed through customs. The guard brought him outside and Josh said he wanted to wait on a bench for his ride to come. He traded the wheelchair for the bench.

  The security guard had barely left him when a man approached. He was average height with brown hair, dressed in a suit.

  “Josh?” the man asked appearing not quite sure.

  “And you are?” Josh asked.

  The man held out his hand. “Special Agent Davis. Lance Corvo asked me to pick you up.”

  Josh shook his hand. “He couldn't come himself?”

  “We're still searching for your wife. Corvo is heading up the investigation. He couldn't be pulled away.”

  Davis' words brought Josh back into the mode of despair that had momentarily passed while he was distracted by his performance for the airline staff. Josh was afraid if he replied he would end up crying so he simply nodded and said nothing. He stood and followed the man to his car. He continued to limp for the cameras, just in case.

  “What's wrong with your leg?” Davis asked.

  “Nothing. I'm fine.”

  Though Davis didn't believe him he didn’t push. He led the way to the car and brought Josh to the local FBI office where Corvo was directing the search efforts. When they got out of the car Davis noticed Josh's limp was gone.

  “You weren't kidding,” Davis remarked.

  “What?” Josh asked, not understanding what he meant.

  “Your leg.”

  “Oh. Yeah. Like I said, it was nothing.”

  Davis sat Josh in Corvo's office and then left to tell Corvo that he had arrived. Josh sat quietly observing his surroundings trying as hard as he could not to think about the fact that Jinx's office was only a few steps away. He rubbed his eyes and then his face. He hadn't slept at all since learning what had happened to his wife. The door opened and Corvo stepped in.

  He wasn't wearing a suit jacket. His sleeves were rolled up and his tie was hanging loose. He looked just as exhausted as Josh. He was carrying a cup of coffee. His sixth one of the day.

  “How was the flight?” Corvo asked as he sat at his desk.

  “Long. Where do we stand?” Josh asked, not wanting to beat around the bush.

  Corvo sighed. “We've exhausted security footage. They knew what they were doing. They stayed out of sight. We have men staked out on the route the truck took looking for signs of anything. We've enlisted the eyes and ears of the local PD.”

  “What about the reward?” Josh cut him off.

  “I put out the word as soon as Kevin said he would front the money. We've had a few responses. None credible.”

  Becoming agitated, Josh shifted in his seat. “I thought that was supposed to produce something.”

  “It will. It takes time.”

  “She may not have time,” Josh said as tears welled in his eyes.

  “We're doing all we can.”

  Josh leaned forward and buried his head in his hands. He wished he could wake up and this would all be just a bad dream.

  “What's Tim doing?” Josh asked.

  “He's running down the mercenary angle.”

  “No one's found the Russian agents who were after Jess?”

  “We did,” Corvo answered.

  Josh looked at him. “Well? Were you going to tell me?” he asked, perturbed.

  Corvo bit his tongue. Josh had cut him off earlier when he was about to explain. Though Josh wasn't the only one with frayed nerves, Corvo knew that what Josh was going though was far worse than what he was feeling.

  “CIA received an anonymous tip telling us where we could find them. We've had them under surveillance ever since.”

  “Surveillance?” Josh mocked loudly. “They may have abducted my wife and you're only watching them?!” he shouted.

  “You think if we pick them up they're going to spill their guts and tell us everything?” Corvo shot back almost just as loud.

  “No. You beat it out of them!” Josh stood and turned his back to Corvo. He leaned on the wall and closed his eyes trying not to scream at the top of his lungs.

  Corvo took a deep breath and thought long and hard about how to word his response.

  “Josh, you've done this kind of work before. You know it could take days or weeks, but most likely longer to break a trained operative. The quickest and easiest way to find out what they're up to and what they've been doing is to do exactly what we're doing. I'm not telling you anything new here.”

  Josh finally boiled over. He punched the wall with all his might. His fist went through it, narrowly missing a support beam. Corvo shot up from his chair not sure how to react to Josh's outburst. Without saying anything, Josh stalked out of the room. Taken aback, Corvo could only stand there wi
th his mouth open. The phone on his desk rang and he grabbed it.

  “Yeah … I'll be right there.”

  Corvo walked briskly to a large conference room stuffed with laptops, TVs and a person for each laptop and TV. It was oddly quiet and everyone was gathered around one laptop, watching the screen.

  “What do you have?” Corvo asked.

  “It could be nothing,” a man answered.

  The audience cleared a path for Corvo and he leaned over the shoulder of the man operating the computer.

  “OK,” Corvo said. “What did you find?”

  “This is security footage from a convenience store three blocks from where the truck was dumped around 4:30 in the morning. The truck passed by this store just fifteen minutes earlier.”

  The agent played the video back for him. There was virtually nothing going on in the video and that's precisely why they missed it the first dozen times they watched it. But this time, Corvo saw it.

  “There!” Corvo pointed at what everyone else already knew was there. The leg of someone passing by. It was only in view for a few seconds as the person walked past just out of range of the camera. Though it was true, it could just be nothing. The man was walking dangerously down the middle of the road instead of safely on the sidewalk near the store where he would have been in full view. Not conclusive but suspicious.

  “Get that down to tech and see what they can pull,” ordered Corvo.

  “Yes sir.” The agent left immediately to do as he was instructed.

  “Should we focus our efforts on the direction he was walking?” someone asked.

  Corvo thought for a moment and then nodded. “Devote more agents but not all of them. It still could be nothing.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good work, people.” Corvo commended them.

  Just then Corvo's phone buzzed. It was a coded message from Gatti. Corvo excused himself and phoned in.

  “What have you got?” Corvo asked.

  “Think we've figured out who Grekov hired. A small team of mercenaries led by a Marcel Renier. French Special Forces. His team is from all over. Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy.”

  “Well that's great. How do we find him?”