by Gabby Grant
“We want all hands on this,” Albert said. “No stone unturned.”
The faces around the room were solemn. Not a soul dared check his watch or make mention of the impending holiday.
Nobody had to tell the people in this room that the woman who was missing was DOS Assistant Director Albert Kane’s daughter. And, whether or not they were individually privy to the whole story, everyone seemed to know things had not always gone exactly swimmingly between Kane and his daughter.
“I’m ready to start hearing ideas,” Mark said, thumping his pen against the table. “Real ideas. No more of this subtle bull crap about how or why it couldn’t have happened. The fact is, gentlemen...” Mark paused and smiled at Colonel Roberts. “Lady and gentlemen is that: a) someone penetrated the information system firewall at the DIPAC, here at DOS, and likely at other subordinate organizations around the globe; b), there is some sort of international intelligence scare in the making; and c) someone has--”
The door cracked open and Marianne Miller leaned her tightly manicured head into the room. “Apologize for the interruption, sirs, but I’ve got an urgent call on line eight for Mr. Neal.”
Mark stood quickly and picked up the receiver on the secure phone on a credenza at the far end of the conference room.
“Neal, here.”
“Sir, this is Major Walker down at the DIPAC.”
Mark felt a split-second of lightheadedness as he fought the urge to panic about his daughter. “Is it Isabel?” Mark began, feeling all eyes on him in the room.
“No, sir. Thank God, nothing like that. She and Maria are holding up just fine.”
Mark breathed an audible sigh of relief then turned away from the others who suddenly seemed very intent on studying the varnish of the conference table’s wood.
“But it’s bad news,” Major Walker continued. “Very bad news, I’m afraid.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense, Major.”
Major Walker cleared her throat. “We’ve had our first verified reports of casualties.” She paused a moment, letting that sink in.
Mark brought a hand to his forehead. “Was that a plural, Major?”
“The intelligence scare, sir. This thing has been cutting two ways. Either people are getting frightened out of their jobs and quite literally resigning or else somebody they know and love...” Her voice grew very quiet as she seemed to flounder.
“I understand, Major,” Mark said, relieving her of the responsibility. “I want you to send everything you’ve got to Colonel Roberts post haste.”
“Already on its way.”
Mark hung up the phone, knowing time was getting tight. And, not just for Ana. For all of them.
At least, he thanked God, Isa was in capable hands. There was no one Mark trusted more at the DIPAC than Major Carolyn Walker.
***
Major Carolyn Walker delivered the baby back into Maria’s arms with a smile. “She’s such a good girl.”
“Very happy baby,” Maria agreed. “You?”
Carolyn shook her head. “No time,” she partly lied. Partly, because what she didn’t have time for was the baby’s father. A child, she could make room for. At age thirty-four, Carolyn was sure of it. Then again, at age thirty-four, her chances of becoming a mother were looking more and more slim. Even if she were to try, if she were to somehow find that someone special and settle down, after serving in Kuwait, she knew her chances were compromised. Reproductive problems were only a part of the package for those who’d survived the undeclared war fought with multiple chemicals and oil fires.
Maria settled sleepy Isabel in her crib and began fanning herself furiously with a nearby magazine. She was stressed and Carolyn could see it. Then again, who wouldn’t be after being holed up in this basement for almost three days?
Carolyn laid a hand on Maria’s arm. “You okay?”
“Me sufogo,” the woman answered. “I suffocate. It’s-”
Carolyn turned toward the wall housing the thermostat. “Here, I’ll just-”
“No, no.” Maria interrupted her with a touch. “Eees just I’m not used to being so much inside, you know?”
“Of course, I understand,” Carolyn said, trying to reassure her. She too, had been commanded to stay here and look after Isabel and Maria. But at least she had her work to keep her busy. She could escape to her every-day world during business hours and forget for awhile she was caged like a zoo animal.
“Maybe I could go to the store? Ten minutes ees all. Un refresco, nada mas. Just a cola?”
Carolyn knew damn well Maria could get a cola just by walking to the kitchen at the end of the hall. Maria knew it, too.
Carolyn tried to pull away from Maria’s dark, pleading eyes, but it was impossible.
“Alright,” Carolyn said, striving her best to remain professional. It was really Isabel she’d been instructed to protect, and as long as the child remained with her at the DIPAC, she didn’t really see the harm in letting the older woman get some air. “There’s a Lucky Seven right around the corner. But ten minutes is all you get.”
Maria nodded enthusiastically and pulled her purse from a nearby berth.
“Ten minutes,” Carolyn said, attempting to put a metal in her voice she nowhere felt. “I’ll look after the baby.”
***
Ana slipped the library card back into her pocket, then locked and chained the door. Room twenty-six had been an easy mark, an obscure second floor motel room, conveniently located in between a couple of occupied others. New lights coming on in an unoccupied corner of the motel would have raised suspicion. But, as it was, one more light on in her target room would scarcely be noticed at all.
Ana turned toward the room, and froze in her tracks.
A black dragon surged- as the brawny Oriental snapped her into his arms.
Hay Long bared his yellowed teeth. “You, Ms. Kane, have more lives than a cat!”
Ana struggled, but again found his might impossible to defeat.
“Let me go, you-”
She bent her teeth to his forearm and he whipped her brutally over the back of the head with something solid and sharp.
The room careened out of focus and Ana stumbled on her feet then toppled over onto the bed.
Hay Long let out a peel of laughter.
“You Americans are so light on your feet,” he said, drawing nearer with a sickly smile.
Ana judged the seconds in slow motion as Hay Long approached the bed. Still dizzy from the blow, she was clear enough to know was about to happen.
Hay Long smirked and unhitched his broad gold belt buckle.
Ana coiled all her strength into the bend of her legs then rocketed her heels into Hay Long’s groin.
The man doubled over with a groan as Ana rolled off the bed. Hay Long righted himself with an angry Chinese cry and lunged in her direction. Ana sprinted to the back of the room. He came after her with the fury of a raging bull.
Ana dove into the bathroom and slammed shut the door, hook-latching its ineffective barrier.
The knob rattled.
More angry curses in a foreign tongue.
Ana’s eyes frantically searched the small sterile space for something- anything.
Not even a window.
CHAPTER 11
Maria Gonzales set the pay phone back in its cradle with a shiver. The mere woven shawl she’d brought along hadn’t been enough to ward off the chill growing inside her. Maria loved Isabel as if she were one of her own. But now Maria’s own children were grown: her two sons lost to the secret rebellion in Cuba, her daughter inexplicably missing for years after a mysterious trip to Miami. After a certain point, Maria had realized that she couldn’t control her children’s fates. Once they’d matured that had been in God’s hands.
Her husband Pepe was all she had left and Pepe wasn’t getting any younger. But Pepe was weak, had always been weak, unable to fend for himself in a fierce world. After thirty-six years of marriage, he still counted on Maria to defend him.
And defend him she would, until her dying breath.
She knew the threats the men had made weren’t idle. Though she hadn’t seen, she’d suspected what had happened to her daughter, Conchita, five years earlier. There were too many evil forces in the world to thwart altogether. All one could do was fend off one little patch of wickedness at a time. And, this patch, this one directed at Pepe, she would stomp into the earth, even if she had to trade a bit of harmless information to do it. Giving away Isabel’s whereabouts couldn’t really bring the baby to harm.
The DIPAC was a fortress. And proving her loyalty to El Lobo would buy her Pepe a little more time. Soon all this would be over. Senor Neal was a good man, a brave man, and he would find a way to put a stop to it. Until then, all Maria had done was make one little phone call. Information, really, that anyone could have gathered had they been observing the situation closely.
Maria reached into her dress pocket and fingered the rosary beads there with one hand, while drawing the shawl more tightly around herself with the other. Just a harmless bit of information. In the grand scheme of things, one long distance phone call meant nothing.
***
Carolyn Walker paced the DIPAC’s underground galley kitchen wondering what could be keeping Maria. She’d made a promise she wouldn’t be gone long, yet the moment she’d disappeared from view, Carolyn had the unyielding sensation she’d been wrong to let Maria go. Carolyn wasn’t certain whether it was fear for Maria or something else. But something was amiss and she would not be able to relax until the nanny returned.
Isabel was sleeping peacefully in the next room, blissfully unaware of the storm that raged around her. Thank God she loved Maria so, and that Maria was equally so good with her. Mark had been right to insist that when Carolyn took Isabel into hiding, she bring along Maria. But if that had been so right, what was it that was bothering the devil out of Carolyn now?
***
Ana steadied herself on the narrow rim of the porcelain sink, one boot sole on either side of the basin.
To her left, the flimsy bathroom door rattled and roared in its frame as Hay Long pounded from the other side.
“I’m giving you to the count of three, Ana Kane,” he spewed from the other side, “and then you’re going to be sorry they want you back alive!”
Ana hoisted the heavy weight of the toilet tank lid to a level just above her shoulders.
“One...” he began in furious menace. “Two...”
Oh God. Ana’s stomach revolted as he threw his weight into the door, which rattled and roared on its hinges.
“Three!” One more smack against wood and the door flew wide, splintering the wood of its frame.
Hay Long stared blindly into the empty room.
In that hint of a second, Ana focused all her fear, all her energy, all her love for baby Isabel into the dead weight in her hands and brought it down hard on Hay Long’s head.
Hay Long spilled to the ground and sprawled, belly-down.
Ana stared in horror as blood seeped from Hay Long’s nose and mouth. She leapt down off the sink and brought a hand to his motionless throat.
She waded through the chill of his skin until finally, finally she felt something. Vague, but it was there.
Ana looked frantically around the small space, past the shards of the toilet tank lid that had shattered when Hay Long’s head had carried it to the floor. When he’d collapsed, something had fallen from his vest.
Ana grabbed for the Glock automatic just as a rabid curse sliced through the air.
Hay Long hurtled into consciousness and brought two vise-like hands around her throat.
“You’ll pay!” he cursed, sitting up part-way, the blood dripping from his face an eerie collusion.
Ana gasped as she felt her senses leaving her, as the harsh light of the room blinked in and out in frantic assault. She reached to the side, extending her right arm with all her might. The pistol was just inches out of reach.
Hay Long grabbed for her arm and forced her right hand down to her abdomen, pinning it between them.
“Want the gun?” Hay Long seethed, thrusting her sideways, then rolling the crushing weight of his body on top of hers. He forced her two wrists together then clamped them tight in his left hand at her hip.
Ana pushed and squirmed beneath him, but he was far too heavy to budge and she was losing air. Losing consciousness, she feared, as black and red sparkles pelted her vision.
Hay Long snapped the Glock off the tile with his right hand and whipped it to her forehead. “Very stupid move, for such intelligent girl,” he said, blood still oozing from his mouth and nostrils. Ana clenched her teeth and as his sticky warmth dripped down upon her, splattering the bridge of her nose.
Ana defied him with squinted eyes, “You’ll never-”
He unlocked his weapon. And, in a fraction of a second, Ana realized that he would.
Hay Long’s eyes glinted with satisfaction. “What do you have to say for yourself now, Ana Kane? Any parting words to leave your baby daughter?”
Ana’s eyes shot to the open bathroom door. “Maid!” she cried out with panicked intensity.
Hay Long’s head whipped toward the door. “What the he--?”
In the split second he turned to look, Ana bucked her knees toward his clamping hand, then thrust freed arms toward the pistol.
Hay Long growled as the weapon angled sideways then discharged, shattering the mirror above the sink.
He shifted in rage and Ana rolled out from under him, knocking the weapon from his hand with her standing force.
The Glock hit the tile and skittered across the floor, coming to a stop beside the toilet tank.
“Stay, stay...away from me,” Ana commanded, stepping backwards into the bathtub.
Hay Long chortled and got unsteadily to his feet. “You...” He took one step and then stopped, apparently fumbling for his balance.
Ana reached behind her and flipped up the shower gauge, then laid her hand on a knob.
Hay Long shook his head with a force that sent blood streaking across the white tile floor. “You bi--” He took another step and then stumbled. “No more,” he said, appearing more and more unsteady on his feet, “chances...”
Ana waited until Hay Long was almost upon her, then harshly twisted the shower knob.
Water streamed out into the bathroom, as Ana recoiled against the shower wall.
Hay Long lunged, then lost his footing on the slick tile floor. His head plummeted forward, striking the rim of the bathtub with a stomach-wrenching crack.
Ana reached over and switched off the water just as its temperature reached the boiling point, then scrambled, dripping wet, over Hay Long’s body and bolted out the door.
CHAPTER 12
Mark lifted his head from his notes to see Albert re-entering the conference room.
Kane’s face was grim as he approached.
“Let’s get outta here,” Albert said, laying a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “I’ve got news.”
The news that Albert had to share actually came in two pieces, neither of them good. First, DOS Headquarters had received a telephone communique making express demands. And second, some evidence had surfaced in Orange County, Virginia. Evidence that pointed to foul play.
“So this call,” Mark summarized, “was obviously too short to trace. And, they said- what? Something specific about my resignation.”
“Yours and mine both,” Kane agreed. “Two birds with one stone. The voice was mechanized, scrambled. But I’ve already got them working on it downstairs, just to see if there’s any telling nuance they can pick up in analysis.”
Mark was aware that all incoming calls and outgoing ones as well were routinely taped at the DOS. Well, if they didn’t have a line trace, at least a potential voice analysis was something, even if mechanized scrambler codes were damn hard to break.
Mark balled his right hand into a fist, but kept it clenched at his side. “And the coat?”
“We’re havi
ng it brought to our lab by a State Trooper.”
“But I thought-”
“No,” Albert said, shaking his head. “They’re backing off on orders from Washington. Like it or not, this whole damn mess is in our laps.”
And on our head, Mark thought. Mark knew there were reasons for the secrecy, not the least of which was the fact that organizations like the DOS did not theoretically exist. Much of the areas targeted by the intelligence scare involved operatives from this top-secret organization and their highly sensitive missions. All DOS needed was for public word to get out about the Defense Operations Service’s factual existence or the efficacy of its growing global objective- to annihilate international terrorism by infiltrating subversive units in its intelligence gathering efforts.
Ana’s driver’s license and car registration had been found in the pocket of the coat discovered drifting downstream in an Orange County river. And a secondary piece of evidence that the state police had refused to discuss on the phone had also been discovered.
Damn stupid to toss anything in a moving body of water. Anything somebody didn’t want found, Mark thought, with a shake of his head. It was an odd custom of Ana’s, Mark and Albert both knew, never to carry a purse. Anything she ever took with her, even lipstick, had to fit in a pocket somewhere or another.
“I’m sure it- the coat, sir, if it is Ana’s- is all a part of the ploy to frighten us.”
Albert slowly shook his head. “Doing a damn good job of it, son.”
Mark stood at an awkward arm’s length from his father-in-law, unsure of what to do. More than anything, he wanted to make Albert believe that the coat meant nothing. Mainly, because he needed to believe that himself.
“Chief,” Mark said, catching and holding Albert’s red-rimmed gaze. “Look at this logically. Why just now make their demands, if they’d already...?” But, try as he might, Mark was unable to finish.