by John Day
“Right! Gregor,” said the voice, “I’ll be in touch.” The voice ended his call.
Chapter - FBI closes in.
The second day after Max’s life-saving operation repaired his liver, his temperature dropped back to nearly normal. Max wanted to get up and out of bed. Because his wounds were healing astonishingly quickly and all signs of infection were gone, his drain tubes and drip were removed.
Rodney and Kate were delighted at his recovery and were more convinced than ever that what Carla had told them about Max’s experiment, was true. Already they were planning to take Max’s medical breakthrough and re-launch it as their own.
They asked Carla about the facilities Max had used to develop his treatment. She enjoyed embroidering the lie.
Without Carla or Max knowing, Rodney managed to obtain secure premises that could be used as Max’s laboratory. Secure that is, because Max and Carla would not be able to leave it until Rodney and Kate had the secret process, themselves.
As Carla expected, guards were posted outside their private room and also in the hospital grounds. They followed Max everywhere now he was mobile.
Seven days after the operation Max had fully recovered, even the scabs on the stitched wounds had fallen off, leaving small pink areas of shrinking scar tissue. Max was glad to be able to get properly dressed and move about.
At 11 am that morning Rodney came into the private room looking very worried, Agent Steve Wilcox from the FBI had arrived and was asking questions about a young girl and an older man, one of which was wounded. The physical description matched Carla and Max perfectly. The FBI agent would not say why they were looking for the couple, but it was obviously a serious matter.
Max and Carla were told to pack and would be taken out as patients on Gurneys to a waiting ambulance. There was a safe facility prepared for them.
Max had expected Rodney and Kate to pull a stunt like this, though not so soon. Carla had extremely bad vibes and thought the same, although she wondered if the FBI story was a bit imaginative for Rodney and Kate. Perhaps the FBI were here and closing in on them. They both knew the story was true when the gurneys arrived in a hurry, and no one was stopping to stick them with a strong sedative. Just three minutes later they were in the ambulance, siren blaring as it shot away as though on its way to an emergency.
When the ambulance had to stop at traffic lights in the City, Max and Carla launched an attack on the two guards with them and escaped into the nearby crowd. The ambulance driver and the man with him, gave chase, leaving a string of angry car drivers honking their horns behind the abandoned vehicle, when the lights changed.
Max and Carla took a taxi back to the Douvane Private Hospital and sneaked in to get their car. They needed it for mobility and to recover all their other belongings.
On a hunch, Steve Wilcox saw the ambulance leave the Douvane and followed as best he could in his car. He had left Mike Teal to ask questions at the hospital while he waited to see if it had smoked anyone out. He was now sure it had.
He glimpsed the man and girl slipping out of the back of the ambulance and then two men chasing them, but he was unable to get out of his car in time to pursue them. He called his partner and told him what had happened and made his way back to the Douvane. When Wilcox got back there, Mike Teal met him at the entrance.
“I have just seen the two suspects; they came back for their car and drove off. I have put out a call to follow them when we spot the car and see where it leads us.”
“Good thinking Mike, now we will see what lies behind this set-up.”
Moments later a call came through to them to say that the car had been seen, and gave its location. “Don’t spook them and don’t lose them,” ordered Mike Teal when he intercepted the call.
Gregor’s phone rang. The voice at the other end reported that Max and Carla’s car had been found, and the FBI was just following them to see where they went and who they were working for.
“Kill them both,” demanded Gregor. “That’s not going to be easy with the FBI on their trail.” “Do them as well then, but get the job done now and end the matter,” snapped Gregor and slammed the phone down.
“You look a little tense my love,” said Max in his usual chirpy way, not that he felt that way inside, he was trying to calm Carla.
Carla looked at him dumbfounded. “Don’t you realise, we have the FBI on our trail, probably the police as well not to mention the heavy boys at the Douvane. Here we are crawling along in the lunchtime rush-hour traffic, and you don’t seem to have a care in the world.”
“Damn!” She cursed, “you have missed a turn now, better take the next turn and go back around.”
"Sorry," said Max in a subdued voice, “I was distracted. It’s just that getting up tight won’t change anything and I think clearer if I am calm.” She didn’t comment, but let him loop back to take the correct turn, un-distracted.
“Looks like the two guys in the black car behind us took a wrong turn as well” mentioned Max.
“Oh hell! They are definitely following us, even though they are now two cars behind” observed Carla.
“What shall we do oh cunning one?” Replied Max.
“Just keep going for a while, I will check out the vehicles ahead as well, if they cycle the cars in front and behind I will spot them and when I say so, we will make a break for it.”
She studied her street map and noted the other vehicles in front and behind. Soon a pattern emerged, there were six different cars that turned off either behind or in front of them, but eventually they all returned to tail them.
“Okay, ” she murmured, “I have them, now I’ll see where they go and predict when they return.”
A half hour later she had it figured. “They are keeping up with us because they know better routes using side roads than following the main flow. I think they may also get a priority by remotely controlling traffic lights. When I say-so, indicate right and flow round with the traffic, but at the last minute go hard left and cut across the oncoming traffic.” “What!” Exclaimed Max, “That’s a bit risky, some silly bugger will probably drive into me.”
“Well don’t stop, even if they do,” she retorted “just plough on through.”
A few minutes later, “Okay, ” she said, “Ready, start right!
Now hard left she shouted.”
Max dabbed the brakes hard while accelerating hard and also spinning the steering wheel full lock left. The car behind seeing the taillights, braked hard and stopped in surprise, then the car behind ran into him. Aiming straight across the path of an oncoming black SUV and blaring his horn, Max assumed the driver would stop and let him through, but he accelerated and braked hard across Max’s path. Max had no room to steer in front or behind, to get by, so rammed the back corner of the SUV as he drove by.
The black vehicle bucked and spun around 90 degrees under the impact blocking the whole junction. The crumpled back wing of the SUV ripped open its tyre as it tried to turn around in the road to give chase.
Max accelerated away up the opposite street until Carla gave him new turns to take.
Several minutes later they left the car in a side street, set light to it and carrying their things, set off on foot among the crowd of shoppers.
Chapter - Wild sex.
"Well," said Carla over a latte, “You handled that perfectly. The junction was left in total gridlock, the pursuing cars were all on the other side of the jam except the one you hit up the rear. You turned it round the wrong way and wrecked the wheel nicely, so the only remaining pursuer was stuffed as well.”
She looked so bright-eyed and excited that Max wanted to pull her to him and make passionate love to her. He knew from experience that she was craving for sex, she always was when she was hyped up like this, and he certainly was too.
They finished their drink and hailed a taxi. The driver took them to a small but clean boarding house where they checked in on a big cash bonus for no-questions-asked basis.
The door
of the small room slammed behind them as they dropped all they carried and then they pulled off each other’s clothes on the way to the large double bed. Their hot and sweaty bodies were soon locked in a hard but slow rhythm. Passionate kissing and caressing wound up their sexual craving. They took whatever pleasure they wanted from the other, selfishly and urgently. Their eyes were open but unseeing as their trance-like state overcame them. Carla’s demanding squeals and Max’s gasping moans became more frequent as the rhythm increased, mutual stimulation of every sense reached its final crescendo when they both reached orgasm together. The flood of hormonal relief swept over both of them as their movement subsided and they lay still coupled, gasping for air.
Their hot, satisfied bodies seemed glued together with slippery sweat. Max explored the sensation of their wet bellies as they slid, one against the other. Carla loved this warm and intimate bond and squirmed against him in response. She felt Max’s semen ooze out from her, even though he was still large inside her, it ran down the crack, past her anus and soaked into the sheets. She did not care, it was not her bed. Sleep soon overcame them for the next two hours.
Chapter - The FBI follows the trail.
Teal went mad with rage when he heard how the pair had got away. How five teams of very experienced agents could fail, against an old man and young girl in a strange city, was beyond him. They had even lost the forensic evidence in the car. One car, making the six Carla spotted, belonged to Gregor’s men.
“Right, the only thing we can do now is concentrate on Gregor. The man and girl must know by now that Gregor will not be charged for any crime, so I believe they will try to get him some other way. We are already set up to track Gregor so we must wait for them to make the next move.”
Carla woke first that morning and made coffee.
"Well," said Max, “What have we planned for today my love.”
“Our first priority is to get away from here, fly to Mexico perhaps and then back home under our own names.”
"Sounds fine by me, but I have not heard any news reports about Gregor and his crowd, so I wonder how things turned out in the end," said Max.
“Well, that’s not surprising” she replied, “We have been out of circulation since the news broke and it won’t be news any longer, I will speak to Sam about it, he will know.”
She made her call and was shocked to hear Gregor got away without any criminal charge or investigation. She told Max the news. His face went white with fury. After all the planning and trouble they had gone too, the risks they had taken, all for nothing.
They spend the rest of the day discussing how they could get Gregor on his own to do away with him, once and for all.
His office was too public and would have a high security presence. His home was far less public, but better protected, and the long mountain road made ultimate escape impractical. Between office and home, he was inaccessible in the helicopter and neither could fly one, so pilot substitution was not possible either.
Somehow, they had to get him when he went away on business. For that, they needed to know in advance, where and when he was going.
No doubt, the sensitive areas of the office building were swept for bugs, regularly, so planting one was unlikely to be worthwhile. Max had to find a way of getting the necessary intelligence without being spotted.
“I think we need to look at the office building again to see if there are any different ways to solve this problem,” suggested Carla. Max agreed, and they prepared their disguises in case the FBI was still snooping around.
As they thought, security at the office was extremely tight, and access to Gregor was unlikely to be achievable, without getting caught.
“I think we must figure out what other places he goes to. For instance, we could look into his business connections, subsidiaries and linked companies and perhaps get a lead from that,” suggested Max.
“Public Records Office you mean?” Queried Carla.
“Yes, that’s what I mean, though I don’t know what they call it over here.”
"OK," said Carla, “I’ll deal with that first thing tomorrow if you can keep an eye on Gregor’s flights and possibly identify where the helicopter is based. We might be able to fit a bug in it or even a tracker in case it goes somewhere nearby in the city.”
Next morning they both went their separate ways.
After noting the arrival time of the helicopter and its markings, Max made inquiries to locate the base it came from. He knew from experience, the craft had a good range, but it had to be stationed nearby.
A few phone calls later and he found it. The company was a small concern specialising in corporate hire and had five craft of various types on the ground when Max got there. Max told the taxi-driver not to wait; he would call if he needed him.
Max strolled in and asked what the rates of hire were, from the young man at the reception desk.
“What do you need the helicopter for and how long?” He asked
“Just to see certain parts of the city from the air and take photos,” replied Max. “The little white one over there looks about right to me,” he continued.
“Oh! That one is on permanent standby for one of our clients so that won’t be available I’m afraid,” the lad replied.
“All the other machines are bigger and much more expensive. Why don’t you try the people down the road, they sell aerial photos, it would be much cheaper that way.”
"No," said Max sharply, hoping to sap the lad’s confidence. It worked; he took a distinct disliking to Max and suggested his boss try and help.
Dan Lewinsky ushered Max into his small office. “I understand you want to hire our Raven helicopter for a photo-shoot of the city.”
Max turned on his full charm and replied, “I can fit in with any time you know the machine will be free. In addition, if it is suddenly needed, I can come back another day to complete. I’ll pay cash if it helps?!”
Dan thought for a minute and agreed. The prospect of easy cash was most acceptable. Although the helicopter was being paid for, flying or not, this was an attractive bonus.
“If you can be here at 9:00am Monday,” Dan said, “You can use it for the whole day. The client is off to Florida then, so he won’t need it after that for several days.”
Max could have kissed the man; he never expected to have such a key piece of intelligence handed to him on a plate. He expected a complicated process of surveillance, planting bugs and trackers before anything useful came his way. Max paid Dan a substantial cash deposit and left.
That evening Max told Carla the good news, and she responded with the full address and details of the likely place in Florida Gregor would go to. Max phoned Dan Lewinsky and put off the appointment, saying he had got food poisoning and would be in touch, he could hang onto the deposit though.
Dan was not too disappointed because he still had his cash and Max had him as insurance because he might need him later.
The two of them packed and booked their journey to Florida. They planned to sort out accommodation later when they got there.
Chapter - Gregor followed to Florida.
Late that evening Gregor strode briskly along the deep-water dock followed closely by his two bodyguards. He could have driven to the warehouse, but chose to take the exercise. He privately enjoyed the smell of fuel oil and sea air, the sounds of powerful machinery throbbing in the distance and soothing lap of water close by. It reminded him of his childhood in Murmansk. Although he came from a poor family, he was well cared for and greatly loved by his parents. They scrimped and saved and sacrifice their own pleasures to give him the best they could, including a good education. Sadly, by the time he had enough money of his own to start to repay them, they both were killed by the KGB. He never did find out why, but he tracked down the men responsible and killed their immediate families and then them. He maintained that his Libra Star Sign demanded the scales of personal justice be rebalanced.
Soon after he was approached by the Mafia and recruited in
to their Organisation. He believed in the uncompromising unity of the group. The clear goals and rigid code everyone in it adhered to, fitted perfectly with his personality. Great ability was repaid by greater rewards and power; the incentives drove him onwards to his present peak of success.
The meeting he was just about to attend coincided with the arrival of a large cargo ship from Murmansk. Yet another stage of his master plan was being fulfilled, right under the noses of the customs men.
Allowing for the time it would take Gregor to arrive, Max and Carla staked out the entrance to the dock in a hired car. To ease the boredom they took turns to wander around nearby and try and form some plan of action. It was late that evening before Gregor arrived, and they followed at a distance as he and his bodyguards walked along the dockside.
Gregor and his men entered a large, shabby looking warehouse and locked the door behind them.
Earlier that day, Max and Carla had noted all the security cameras, and carefully made their way to the building. Max’s sensitive Night Owl night vision scope picked up the otherwise invisible beams of infrared light that swept the area. Anything caught in the beams were illuminated as bright as day, on the security monitors.
With the access doors locked, they had to find some other way in and hear what Gregor was up to. Prowling down one side of the building, they came across a stack of pallets with a window above.
“Ah!” Whispered Max, “the stack of pallets, and get in through the window ploy,”
Carla chuckled; Max could see her bright eyes sparkling like black obsidian beads as they darted with excitement in the starlight.
What a girl, he thought no wonder I love her. She saw him looking at her and knew he was thinking about her, by the look of love on his face.