Ice Cold

by Mark Graham

  “Your safe room down there also has a decent single bed and cupboard full of canned and sealed food if you need it. I forgot to show you but there is small door down there that leads to a half bath, sink and toilet, The only time you will need it to the most extent is if you come under a complete attack and can’t leave. The room will not save you from an atomic blast right here on your property, but anything else won’t, and can’t penetrate that room. Ice will show you all this stuff again until you get it figured out. Basically you have a very nice house, with a bunch of bells, whistles, and toys nobody but us will know about. We’ve set it up so that both you or Ice can operate the system and if you get to a point where Ice is no longer your mentor or partner you can pick another agent be your second. We always have you pick one other person in the agency so that if something happens to you some one else is able to come over and disarm the system, or whatever. There is a code that is buried in the Director’s files that will be able to enter this system. But it has to be one of our computers, because as you know our stuff will not work without it, and this stuff is impossible to hack. I heard a rumor a while back that a hacker had learned something about us, and tried to hack in. The result was that his computer and every other electronic device in his home was completely fried. Good to know too, so if something happens to you, a stranger can’t just go to a coffee house and try to get into your stuff from outside.

  Another man took Joyce around and showed her how everything in the house worked. There was a bunch of stuff included and she wouldn’t have even guessed at some things within the structure of the house.

  The third man showed her on his computer what the landscape was like around her property, by using a satellite. From this angle she could see for miles and see where a river was, a village, and the closest city. He zeroed in and she could see a very small tag that had somehow been attached on the very top ridge of the house and she could read, “Hi Joyce, welcome home.”

  It actually took her and Ice all three days to get her settled in. Her own property was sent for and it would be delivered some time in the next week. All she had to do was call and let them know when she would be there, and it would be delivered and put wherever she wanted it.

  They took a whole afternoon to go to the store and go shopping for food and things needed for the house. When they returned they found that she had more room in the refrigerator than she realized. It was one of the door in a door kinds. She could see she had the top of the line in everything.

  They talked about Mosely and decided to go take care of him, whatever that might mean. Ice got on the computer and ran a check on him, just starting with his name and going from there using his date of birth and social security number. Ice loved it. Mosely wasn’t a criminal by nature or trait so was kind of stupid when it came down to this kind of thing. Ice thought, “Hell, this guy can’t be even watching any TV. It seems every body know enough about this stuff to be a petty criminal, or in some cases very good. It didn’t take Ice long to get hold of Mosely’s credit card path and tell where he had been and where he was at the present.

  Joyce had been working with the program that could find and locate a cell phone. She, even being new at this realized this guy be a genius, but was dumb as a stump when it came to hiding himself. They both got together and matched notes, with both of them knowing where he had been and they both agreed that presently he was near Phoenix, Arizona; and had been for the last two weeks.

  They found a flight that went to Phoenix from an airport a hundred miles away and decided to take the first flight available. Ice had so many miles accumulated that he could be upgraded most of the time to first class which made the flights much more easier. The difference between the two classes was worth it if that was what he had to resort to, to enable him to fly with more leg room and it gave him more space.

  They had been on the road for about twenty minutes, driving in the center of three lanes. They heard and saw a car pull up beside them as if to pass, but when it got next to them they heard a bang, and saw and felt two rounds from a hand gun penetrate the passenger window, right in front of where Joyce was, and an angle meant for Ice. Ice checked his rear view mirror, slammed on the brakes and went off to the right and right down an exit ramp. When they stopped both were shocked. Since the car had bullet resistant glass they learned what it meant to stop bullets up to and including a .357 magnum. Ice assumed it must have been a .357 because the bullets had actually penetrated and he could actually feel the front of the mashed bullet, but it was still stuck in the window.

  Ice took off down whatever road it was they were stopped at and called the Director to report the event. They agreed to continue down, staying off the highway to get to their destination.

  “Being you made it so far down the road,” the Director told him, “I think we do in fact have a rat, and only persons that knew you were going down there were you and the other four senior agents. Hate to learn that but at least it gives me a direction to go in.”

  The two continued down the road they were on and finally came across a gas station and picked up a state map. Ice usually had an atlas that covered the whole country but had taken it out and gave to another agent because he had needed it and was actually on his way to complete an assignment.

  The rest of the trip both of them looked at every medium colored blue vehicle they saw. As usual, since they were looking it seemed like there were an abundance of that color around. Ice had recognized the make and knew it was a Chevrolet model, a couple years old probably. Possibly even being older and was the last made of the big cars Chevy had put out.

  They made it to the airport without further problems. Their plane gate was easy to find and within only an hour they were in the air.

  When they arrived they did the rental car thing again and searched for a decent restaurant. Joyce pointed to a Mexican joint and Ice turned into the lot, parked, and they walked into the restaurant and ended up having an excellent Mexican meal.

  After supper they checked into a motel, with two rooms not next to each other but only three rooms between them. Both being tired and having had spent so much time with each other they both thought it would be a good time to be alone and just be able to close down and relax.

  The next morning they met and had the typical coffee and buffet breakfast. After they ate Ice picked up every thing and threw the trash away. They both walked into the lobby that was kind of small and got on their computer.

  “It looks to me,” Joyce said “that Mosely spends most of his time in the afternoon at a particular address. When cross checking, I find it is a porn shop, and theater that is marketed to gay men.”

  “I get the same thing,” Ice said. “Evidently Mosely buys stuff from the store part, or maybe uses his card for admission.”

  “This should be easy,” Joyce said.

  “I think so,” Ice answered. “Let’s see if we can get him today.”

  Joyce smile and that and said, “okay. Me or you?”

  “Doesn’t matter as long as it gets done,” Ice said.

  A few hours later they walked through the front door of the porn place. What they found was quite a clean and open store. There were sex toys along the entire side wall, close by some glass doors. They had a DVD porn section that included about every subject Ice thought he heard about, and learned they served straight people too. A person would think they walked into a good DVD place or a typical clothing store. They looked around and found where they needed to go to get to the theater.

  They walked up to the man behind the glass and Ice said, “Two tickets please.”

  The man answered, “Twenty bucks,” which Ice paid, surprised at the cost, but realized everything had gone up in price.

  They walked down a short hall with a number of doors. Ice told and showed Joyce that each door went to a little room and who ever went in there could watch a video by themselves, or possibly like some places he’d been where a light went on and a real man or woman would do a strip dance or wh
atever it was they did.

  They walked a little further down and found a double door, with names of three movies above the door. They walked through the door and stopped to get accustomed to the dark. It took them a few minutes, and Joyce was surprised when she saw Mosely half way over, sitting by himself, in the second row from the back. The back row only had three seats so they sat in the two that were directly behind Mosely.

  After sitting there and seeing the film was about two gay guys, Ice said low enough for Joyce to hear him say, “well, fuck this.” He leaned forward put his left hand around, covering Mosely’s mouth and Joyce leaned forward and slipped the sharp end of a big knife in his side that just slightly penetrated the clothing and skin on Mosely’s side.

  “Okay mother fucker,” Ice said quietly into Mosely’s right ear. You know us, and I know you know Joyce there don’t you ass wipe?” Ice said softly with a threatened voice. “I am going to take my hand off your mouth and you shut the fuck up. You whisper, if you draw any attention Joyce here will bury that knife into wherever it can reach and I can tell you it’s a real long knife. In my hand I have an ice pick that I find is very effective, so just shut up.”

  Ice removed his hand and asked, “Do you understand?”

  Mosely quickly nodded.

  “Now tell me quietly why you continue to kill folks. I’m talking about the two families last week. I know you’re the one. Now tell me about it,” he ordered.

  Mosely was real scared and showed it. He mumbled, but Ice understood most of what he said, “I just had to kill them. Both men screwed me out of my business when it was closed down and I was imprisoned with you and those other guys. I needed to get even and you had given me some ideas, and that is why I did what I did.”

  That was all Ice needed, and that was the confession. He slowly brought his right hand up, covering Mosely’s mouth again, and punctured Mosely’s neck with a needle. He pushed the plunger in, got up as did Joyce when she saw Ice get up and they left. Ice dropped the needle in a waster container that was sitting right out side the door. They left by the side entrance. When they were in the complete light and a way from the store Ice just said, “I believe that was the shortest job I ever did.”

  Joyce smiled, and asked, “For learning purposes, why didn’t you just kill him. I never heard the Director tell you what to do?”

  “Don’t need it,” he responded. “The Director has a certain way about him and you’re going to learn how he thinks. By the way he agreed that Mosely was the guilty party and for me to go get him, it meant just that. Get him, and that’s what we did. He usually comes right out if others are around and use a word like kill, or do away with. He has a tendency to side step some words so that if someone thought they would get one up on him they wouldn’t have any evidence of the Director saying it. Besides, there is so many advanced electronics in that room, some of which I don’t even know about. But I do know that there is not a listening devise out there that can penetrate that room. If a recorder is used, the person recording will only be able to hear a very high pitched squeal when listening to it.”

  “The guy really has his bases full, doesn’t he?” Joyce asked.

  They got back in their car and went directly back to the airport, and were back in New York for a late supper.

  When they returned Ice got a message from the Director telling him to take a one week vacation and tell Joyce she had one too. Both were glad because they had been under the gun and needed a week of mental ease.

  Joyce was glad to have the chance and check out her house more, get her stuff delivered, and live under no pressure for several days.

  Ice had some business he had to take care of in and around Maumee, and he wanted to put some thought into whoever it was that was after him. While there he did see a few mid-blue cars, but none of them appeared to be his man. The last day he was there he saw a car that looked just like the one that the driver had shot at him and Joyce and the guy looked like the guy that the pictures the Director had of the guy. If it had been a day earlier he would have run the car down and taken care of whatever the problem was. He only had a short time to get to the airport and get back, so he couldn’t take the time to check it out.

  Back in New York he went to a different hotel then he usual did so that if the guy that was going to kill him would have to work a lot harder for it.

  The the day he showed up at the Director’s conference room a little early and surprised to see Joyce already there. She looked refreshed and seemed to be very happy and laughing at Talon’s jokes. The two of them had ggrown quite friendly and Talon felt himself being lucky that she would talk to him and be so nice.

  The seats on the other sides of Joyce were already taken so he sat only two seats from where the Director would be, across and down from Joyce. He figured that she was a shadow and needs to at least feel on her own for a while. Ice knew how it was being a rookie.

  When Ice got up to get his second cup of coffee, he sat down and talked to Cynthia who was sitting in the next chair over. They talked over a couple things concerning some of the things Cynthia was doing, so she needed some input from Ice.

  The Director came into the room and found that there were several agents missing. He asked and found out that three of them had gone to a class that they all had to attend at least once a year. Ice thought it was a waste of time, but went within a month before he was scheduled to have to go. The Director checked his notes.

  “Guess we’re ready to get going,” the Director said. First, Ice and Joyce took care of the Dr. Mosely situation and did a good job on it. We had people go into where he was staying in Phoenix and found three small cannisters of what could be the gas we questioned. We also checked his home up here and they found a can of what looked like one of those small propane tanks used on a grill. Mosely didn’t have a grill so they took it and and got rid of it safely, as they did with the smaller canisters.

  “Ice,” the Director said looking at him, “About fifteen or twenty minutes after the meeting I need you to meet me in my office. Ice nodded.

  “Okay, here’ our assignment sheet this week,” the Director said as he passed the small piles down each side of the table. “Take a gander at these, and if you want to volunteer go for it.”

  The first was Talon this time and he volunteered for one job that would take him most of the week to get planned and possibly be taken care of over the weekend.

  “I know we’ll get it, so Joyce and I will volunteer for number four,” Ice said with a smirk. He looked across the table and saw Talon give him a thumbs up. Joyce gave him kind of shrug, knowing it was going to be wet work.

  There was enough on the list to go around, giving everyone a chance to have at least one thing. One of the agents volunteered to go to Israel, the mission taking probably more than a couple weeks to do what had to be done.

  Ice grabbed a cup of coffee and went out into the hall and waited for Joyce.

  “I knew you were going to ask for that one,” Joyce said with kind of a silly smile.

  “Well,” Ice responded. “I knew that we would end up with it anyway so why put someone else in a jam and recommending I do it any way. A lot of the guys don’t have a problem with wet work, but this is a little more than just a simple torture. Be glad it’s not a twenty-four hour ordeal. It will probably take a couple days to get it planned properly but once we start with the actual work I can’t see it taking more than a few hours at most.

  They agreed to meet in the lobby. Joyce had one of the books with her and was glad to get back into it.

  “Come on in,” the Director said to Ice as he met him at the table.

  I needed for you to come in to talk about this guy who is after you. More important to me is how your information got out in the first place. All I can think is that you pissed one of your cohorts off, or there’s a jealous one in the group. It makes me feel like a fool to learn it is one of my five most trusted agents. And a senior agent at that.”

  “Well, we hav
e me, and Stu. I don’t think Stu would be the one but I’m like you and really don’t know where to point the finger. Pamela has her shit together quite well it seems and we’ve never had any differences. I think she’s glad I will do the wet work because she really doesn’t like doing that. Brierson’s been here a year longer than I have, and I haven’t had any run in’s with him either. Gary Peterson has always seemed to be one of those guys who talks only when he has something to talk about, and does all his jobs well as far as I know.”

  “Yeah,” the Director said. “For rational sake you of course need to include me because I am a wild card.”

  “You’re a wild card alright!” Ice said laughing.

  “Well, as far as you are concerned, you should,” the Director said to him smiling. “There are actually six of us who know the level of stuff we know. The rat has to be one of us. For my excuse, I value your talents a great deal. In thinking about it, and I’d hate to admit it, but I would hate to be in fact the rat. I’d only have one chance to step on my dick and I’m almost positive you would make it a very terrible experience for me. So with all my bravato, I’m just saying it ain’t me.”

  “Director,” Ice stated, “I will admit I have trust issues, but you have never done anything that made me question that. If I did then you can suppose I would consider you a possibility.

  “Well, I have a plan,” the Director said. “I am going to send the other four a coded e-mail telling them where you’re going. However, I am telling each one a different location.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Ice said.

  “You and Joyce are going to sit at one location. I personally am going to another of the locations. Everybody always sees me in this suit. I am actually going to wear overalls and a straw hat, with a bunch of pens and such in my pocket. I might get one of those temporary tattoos put on my forearms.”

  “For the other two I have selected two people who we trust a great deal. Both are a part of our support staff, and have been agents in the past and left in good standing. I’m paying them enough so they could not refuse. Both have wives with expensive tastes,” he said smiling.