Monster

by Bernard L. DeLeo

  “Too bad Dino didn’t smell something when we went past, Jen,” McDaniels said wistfully. “We could have moved on them.”

  “Look at the bright side, Cold. You get at least one more night with Diane on the government tab.”

  “Oh, you are so funny. Enough with your porno imagination, Agent Rutledge, concentrate on the reality of this job. Was there any movement as far as supplies or meetings?”

  “Not yet, Colonel,” Barrington answered for Rutledge. “We have every place they could arrange for a pickup under surveillance. They’ve had no visitors and no meetings. I’m sure they’re making contacts at that trading company they all work at. We have a listening post set up over there too. We just haven’t turned up anything as yet.”

  “We do have good news on the target site,” Rutledge added. “The name and description of the school is in the file marked target I gave you. We already have a team in place watching the school. We swept the entire school and grounds overnight and cleared the target for explosives in place for now. We at least have a starting point.”

  “I guess that’s good news, Jen.” McDaniels leaned back in his seat, relief obvious in his demeanor. “How positive are you?”

  “We found a suspected mole in their janitorial staff, hired at the same time the Mercados took in house guests, my friend,” Rasheed said with satisfaction. “I am the new hire who will be starting tomorrow.”

  “You three are the best. If only we could have zeroed in on things in Iraq like this, huh Kay?”

  “Indeed.” Rasheed nodded his head in agreement. “With these resources, Iraq would have been brought into the light much sooner.”

  “Here’s where we are,” Rutledge instructed. “We have the target and the players. What we don’t have is the location of the explosives and the time frame they plan to use them.”

  “I’m betting they’re in the Mercado house already, sealed against possible detection. I don’t see any way we can find out without going in there. I don’t want the little boy hurt.”

  “How about a distraction?” Barrington suggested.

  “Fine, but it would have to be enticing enough to draw them all out and keep them out. I doubt they all would leave even if you set off a bomb on their front lawn.”

  “Why not go right to the front door with the dog,” Rasheed suggested. “Perhaps they will invite you in if you give them something of interest.”

  “Such as?”

  “Speak to them in Arabic. They will be very surprised you know both Russian and Arabic.”

  “I’ll think it over, and see what the Boss says about the idea,” McDaniels replied thoughtfully. “I know they won’t invite me in. Maybe Dino will get a whiff of something when they open the door or one of them will make a mistake.”

  “Hey, I don’t like the sound of that,” Rutledge cautioned. “What do you mean by a mistake, Cold? One of them looks at you cross-eyed and you waste them all?”

  “Yes,” Rasheed added with a grin. “That would be too bad - the poor terrorists. Can I come along?”

  “No more of that talk,” Barrington broke in. “They’ll roast us alive if we blow this gig.”

  McDaniels held up his hand in a calming gesture. “I meant by a mistake that one of them might betray their intentions in some way. As I said, I don’t want the little boy in there to get hurt. If I launched a single-handed attack at the front door the boy would surely get hurt. It’s a good idea though to just walk right up and introduce myself. It might throw them off. I will only entertain the idea if Reskova had a nice meeting with the Chechen woman.”

  “Good thinking, Colonel,” Barrington acknowledged. “Even if the visit didn’t go well, you could undo some of the damage with a neighborly visit.”

  “Maybe. I’ll give Reskova the last say on it anyway. How safe is that E-mail drop you set up for me, Jen? Is it safe for you to leave us updates or do I keep anything new to myself until I get back over here?”

  “Use the E-mail drop anytime you want,” Rutledge assured him. “It has more security than the Pentagon.”

  “Why doesn’t that make me feel more comfortable?”

  Rutledge smiled. “Because you’re an untrusting hunk with a cool nickname and a new playmate?”

  “Yuck it up.” McDaniels grinned, as the others laughed loudly in appreciation of Rutledge’s remark. “There may come a day in the future when we all find ourselves back in the woods together.”

  Rutledge shut up immediately, a look of dread on her face. “Not funny, Cold.”

  This brought renewed laughter from Barrington and Rasheed at the look of horror on Rutledge’s face.

  “Remember to bring your camp shovel next trip, little Sculley,” McDaniels needled her.

  Barrington quickly explained the remark to Rasheed, evoking yet another yelp of outrage from Rutledge.

  “You ain’t ever getting me out in those damn woods again, Mr. Mountain,” Rutledge told McDaniels with certainty.

  “Shall I tell my new friend, Agent Rutledge, about the Saddam loyalist we found in our midst?” Rasheed asked McDaniels, not pausing for an answer. “He went to sleep at night during one of the many assaults on Fallujah. In the morning, Cold woke us all up. He motioned for us to attain a position where we could see one of the barricades the fools within the city thought they could keep the Marines out with. There, on the very barricade itself lay our traitor. He woke up when the first F16 approached. By the time he realized where he was at the F16 vaporized him along with the barricade. The Cold Mountain has a very cruel sense of humor and a very long memory, Agent Rutledge.”

  Barrington and Rutledge had listened to the story with interest. At the end, Barrington chortled but Rutledge looked over at McDaniels worriedly.

  “That’s really not funny, Cold,” Rutledge whispered. “I was only joking with you, Colonel. Honest to God, I know you’d never touch Reskova inappropriately. I… Colonel… I…I don’t want to wake up in the woods.”

  McDaniels’ face lost the grim look he had maintained the whole time Rasheed had told the story of the traitor on the barricade. McDaniels stood up and walked around the table and patted Rutledge on the shoulder comfortingly.

  “I’m going to make a mountaineer out of you yet, Jen,” McDaniels promised.

  “Then the story about the traitor on the barricade never happened?” Rutledge asked hopefully.

  McDaniels walked out without answering and Rasheed patted Rutledge’s hand compassionately.

  * * *

  “Honey, I’m home,” McDaniels called out as he entered the front door, fending off an excited Dino. “What’s for dinner?”

  “I’m in here,” Reskova called out from their equipment room.

  McDaniels walked in, expecting to see Reskova hard at work, looking over files or communiqués. Instead, Reskova sat on the sofa with her legs propped up and a glass of red wine in hand. She wore black boxer shorts and a white sleeveless halter-top. McDaniels sat down on the loveseat next to the sofa, still petting Dino, who now sat upright in front of the loveseat.

  “Want a glass of wine, Cold?” Reskova asked, smiling as she sipped her beverage.

  “It’s only four o’clock in the afternoon, Boss,” McDaniels reminded her. “Remember the scheduled debriefing we talked about doing after my return?”

  Reskova sighed with some displeasure. She set her wine glass aside while sitting up to face McDaniels. “I haven’t had a real day off since Tom, Jen, and I went after Hughes, even during the time we were supposedly thrown off the case. Last night was the first time I’ve slept straight through a night in years. After the Chechen woman came over at around eleven this morning, I decided I could relax for twenty-four hours. Are you here to spoil it?”

  “No.” McDaniels shook his head negatively, covering up the surprise he felt seeing Reskova in a new light. “I take it the meeting with the Chechen went well?”

  Reskova nodded, clasping her hands in front of her enthusiastically. She leaned forward. “You will be
pleased with the impression I gave her. When I spotted the bitch heading over to the house, I threw down a couple of quick shots of vodka from the bar. I left out the bottle and glass on the bar-top. Dino greeted her for me while I took a few moments to let her stew on the steps.”

  “I heeled wonder-dog and opened the door a notch, dressed just as I am now. After I let out an irritated ‘Da?’ the woman looked like she thought she had walked up to the wrong house. In Russian she asked me if I had just moved in and mentioned overhearing us speaking Russian.”

  “Not bad, Boss,” McDaniels said approvingly. “I see where you’re going with this. You played the drunken Russian housewife for her and covered up any possible gaffs in your conversational skills. Then…”

  “Are you telling this story, McDaniels?” Reskova cut him off with somewhat of an inebriated irritation.

  “Sorry, Boss. Please go on.”

  Reskova paused as if expecting him to interrupt her anyway. When McDaniels merely watched her with a look of expectation, Reskova continued. “She asked if I was married. I immediately went into a suspicious rant about what business it was of hers and what interest she had in my husband. She’s not bad looking if you like the full figured, blonde floozy look. You…”

  “You look like a full figured, red headed…” McDaniels interrupted, unwittingly thinking he could insert joking banter into their discussion. He shut up as if Reskova had slapped him in the face, instead of what she did - lanced him with a look so full of malice, McDaniels paused in mid-sentence.

  “Excuse me!” Reskova said through clenched jaws, drawing the two words out like a razor poised at McDaniels’ throat.

  “Nothing, Boss,” McDaniels smiled innocently at her. “I was just…”

  “Don’t interrupt me again,” Reskova said ominously.

  McDaniels nodded, wondering just how much of the afternoon Reskova had spent drinking.

  “The bimbo acted shocked at being accused of watching you,” Reskova explained after another seemingly endless silence. “She apologized profusely while I gave her the same look I gave you a moment ago. I motioned her over to the bar. I sat down, put a shot glass in front of her, and poured another shot of Vodka for myself. When I gestured questioningly as to whether she wished to join me, she shook her head no. I toasted her silently and popped down my third shot.”

  “I looked at her for a while as she stood there shifting from one foot to the other in front of the bar and then I said thanks for stopping by, see yourself out.”

  When McDaniels was sure Reskova did not plan to say anything more, he again nodded his understanding. “Well played, Boss. How did Dino react to her?”

  “Pretty much as he did to me after you told him it was okay not to rip my throat out. Dino just watched her. He had already sniffed her out pretty well when I let her in. You think I’m drunk, don’t you, Cold?”

  “Maybe a little, Boss. Want to hear and see what I received from the team? We could take a walk with Dino first, just to let you clear your head.”

  “Can I go like this?”

  “It’s a little chilly for your present outfit. Do you have a long coat?”

  “I’ll get it.” Reskova stood up a little unsteadily. Dino followed her to the closet, much to McDaniels’ amusement.

  “It seems Dino has taken a great liking to you,” McDaniels observed.

  Reskova slipped on a pair of black pumps and into an ankle length, black polyester raincoat. After retrieving Dino’s leash from the closet as the dog gamely tried not to jump right into her arms, she walked around to the glass coffee table in front of the sofa. She downed the rest of her wine, looking appraisingly at McDaniels as if she dared him to say something.

  “I’ve been feeding wonder dog pieces of steak all day,” Reskova told McDaniels, as she clipped the leash onto Dino’s neck collar before straightening again. “He’s my bitch.”

  McDaniels laughed. “I see that. The way to a male’s heart is through his stomach.”

  McDaniels stood up and Reskova moved close to him while still holding onto Dino’s leash.

  “I don’t remember feeding you anything.”

  “So I’m your bitch too?” McDaniels asked questioningly, meeting her eyes without blinking.

  “I don’t know… are you?” Reskova countered, swaying slightly.

  “Arf!” McDaniels barked comically, taking her arm.

  Chapter 15

  Change Of Plan

  When the unlikely trio began walking down the street together the wind picked up slightly, blowing the autumn leaves around under a rapidly darkening sky. Reskova leaned in close to McDaniels, keeping Dino at heel.

  “Follow my lead, Cold,” Reskova ordered, just before stumbling slightly and losing her balance.

  “I get it,” McDaniels whispered, catching her just in time to keep Reskova from falling down. He gestured at her, looking around guiltily before leaning in to whisper angrily and shake her slightly at the shoulders. McDaniels looked around once more before taking her by the arm as they continued walking.

  “You’re a quick study, Mr. Mountain.” Reskova let McDaniels support her as they walked.

  “I have to be, considering the speed you come up with mission nuances.”

  “Nuance? I wouldn’t have thought that word would be in your vocabulary.”

  “I learned it during the Bush, Kerry election season.”

  Reskova laughed appreciatively. She took a deep breath, glancing around at the gray sky and swirling leaves. “This is kind of nice. It’s almost like we’re real people.”

  “You don’t think we’re real?”

  “Sometimes I wonder. Maybe you’re right, I am a little drunk. This walk is a good idea. I don’t know what got into me.”

  “Hey, I liked your improvisation with the inebriated housemate bit,” McDaniels said with conviction. “That was a stroke of genius.”

  “But I should have quit after Blondie left, huh?”

  “I don’t know,” McDaniels answered truthfully. “I admit I’ve started throwing a couple down and ended up throwing down a couple too many. Before you start it seems like a great idea. You’re walking and planning moves pretty well so I doubt you’ve gone overboard by much.”

  “So you do take a drink?”

  “Guilty. This walk with you and Dino does feel like a slice of time spent in a parallel universe.”

  “Did you miss me today?”

  “Whenever I thought of you today I had to remain seated for at least five minutes. When one of the others brought you up in the conversation, the vision of you opening your robe and sitting on my lap popped into my head like a blasting cap.”

  “Good.” Reskova grasped his hand as Dino paused to take care of some street business. “Why didn’t you jump my bones the moment you walked in?”

  “I was afraid you had decided last night was a bad idea.” McDaniels looked up at the sky as it began to sprinkle. “Secondly, I wanted to let you know what the team came up with about our house sitting time.”

  Reskova stopped abruptly, turning to face McDaniels. “Shit!”

  “Yep, office pool as to when we did the deed and everything.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I gave an award winning performance which had my two male comrades apologizing for even suggesting such a thing. Jen needed a little more convincing,” McDaniels went on to explain his conversation with Rutledge along with Rasheed’s story. Reskova laughed throughout McDaniels’ telling of it, taking his hand again as Dino led off down the street.

  “It won’t do any good though. Jen will never let loose of it. I never would have expected them to start speculating that quickly.”

  “I believe Kay may have instigated it with some of his rapier like wit, asking innocent seeming questions about the details of what our job was at the house. Tom and Jen, I’m sure, did not need much coaxing to run with it from there.”

  “All I have to do is blush once or stutter when she kids around and I’m dead.�
��

  “They won’t rat you out. Don’t play their game. Snap them into line and get right to whatever business you have with them. I’ll take care of our Iraqi companion.”

  “I don’t want to stop, Cold,” Reskova stated quietly.

  “Who said anything about stopping?” McDaniels suddenly realized how distasteful the thought of ignoring Reskova was to him.

  “I thought I sensed disapproval when you came back to the house and found me in the middle of my act.”

  “I was keeping myself in check so I wouldn’t take you right on the couch. I liked the shorts and halter top.”

  Reskova moved closer, leaning against McDaniels for a few steps. “I can do better than those. What do you think?”

  “I think I’m glad I wore a coat,” McDaniels replied, causing Reskova to immediately release McDaniels’ hand and reach into his coat at the front.

  “Wow, I think you’ve torn through your underwear, Mr. Mountain.”

  McDaniels put his arm around her and they walked on in silence for a time. Rounding the corner leading back to the terrorist house, they slowed their pace. Reskova allowed Dino to romp a little at the end of the long leash. They paused repeatedly, letting the dog sniff out everything along the sidewalk. A tan delivery van parked in front of the Mercado house had the words Osbourne Plumbing printed on the rear doors. A ladder, various pipes, and braces were belted down on the roof carrier of the van.

  Dino came to a stop at instant attention in front of the terrorist house, pointing bodily at the van. The dog whined and gave a short bark as he strained at the end of his leash. McDaniels took the leash from Reskova. Squatting down next to the dog, McDaniels stroked Dino as if to calm him. After a few moments McDaniels heeled Dino and gripped Reskova’s arm. They crossed the street to their temporary home. Inside the house, Reskova immediately jotted down the license plate number and every detail she could recall about the van. McDaniels released Dino and hung up his coat and the leash.

  “Jen said we could E-mail her safely now,” McDaniels said, leading the way into their equipment room.

  McDaniels sat down at the desk, already adjusting the headset for listening in across the street. Reskova logged on and typed furiously. McDaniels knew after she contacted the site and received an acknowledgement, Rutledge would contact them in real time on a secure line. McDaniels watched Reskova until she looked up and motioned him over.