Divide & Conquer

by McDonald, Murray

  She returned to the study and checking the governor was still asleep, she moved across to his desk and using the letter opener, sliced open the package. A number of documents were enclosed. The documents, passes and details of their trip to Moscow. The photo id for Nicole Brown fell on the desk, her beautiful eyes stared back at her lover and killer. Katherine turned the pass over. The next document detailed the latest itinerary. There had been a couple of minor changes but nothing of any real note. The final document was one she knew nothing about.

  An emergency VISA in the name of Sean Fox. Expedited that day and already at the mansion. Katherine looked at the photo, handsome guy but she had no idea who he was or why all of a sudden he was in the party. As she read on, the VISA detailed him as a bodyguard and Katherine lost interest, probably just a replacement for some other State Department security guy.

  “Nicole, is that you?” asked a weary sounding Rick Brown.

  Katherine dropped the documents and rushed to remind the Governor of his wife’s death. It was bad enough telling him once, enough already. Her guilt and sympathy had waned. Katherine after all had a reputation to uphold, whatever she wanted and she wanted the Governor to go to Moscow.

  ***

  Mike’s arrival back at Langley coincided with the first call in relation to Jane’s foray into cross agency co-operation. A very flustered Jane thrust the phone at Mike as he entered the office.

  “Hello?” said Mike into the mouthpiece.

  “Vincent, is that you?” screamed a voice. Mike looked at Jane as she scribbled 'FBI Director’ on a pad.

  “I’m afraid there’s been a ter…” Jane hit his arm and scribbled I’ve not told anyone about heart attack.

  Mike couldn’t believe it and had no idea what to do. “I’m sorry he’s not here at present,” he mumbled and promptly hung up.

  “You realize we are totally fucked,” he concluded succinctly sitting on the end of Jane’s desk. The phone rang. They both looked at it and ignored it.

  “We need Vincent!” they both concluded as one.

  They both smiled. Vincent, they knew, would smooth things over. They just had to get through the rest of the day.

  “Wait a minute,” thought Mike. “What have you told people about Vincent?”

  “He’ll be back tomorrow and is out for the rest of the day!’ she said.

  “But the air ambulance and being stretchered out?”

  “We’re on the exec floor at the end of the corridor, there’s a chopper pad out that door,” she pointed half way down the hallway. “Most of the other execs are out today, nobody knows!”

  “And if he’s not here tomorrow,” queried Mike intrigued how far ahead she had planned.

  “Let’s not go there,” she suggested with a look of concern.

  “He has had a heart attack!” exclaimed Mike.

  “I know Vincent, he’ll be in here tomorrow,” she said taking $20 from her purse and slapping it on the desk.

  Mike looked at the offer of the bet. “Are you mad? I’d be as well throwing my money out the window!” he smiled.

  The phone rang again. They both looked at each other before grabbing their jackets and left the office and phones as they closed the door.

  “Where to?” asked Mike.

  “I’m going to Bethesda,” announced Jane.

  Mike smiled knowingly.

  Jane caught the smile. “Have to make sure the old goat’s here tomorrow to save our asses!”

  Mike’s smile instantly disappeared. He hadn’t made any of the calls, what did she mean our asses!

  Chapter 59

  As the day had progressed into the evening, Borodin’s mood had darkened. He began to fixate on the phone. Willing it to ring. Willing Pushkin to call and confirm that Sean Fox and his family had been dealt with. He hadn’t and they had not.

  After four hours, he assumed the worst and after six hours stopped even looking at the phone. The added issue of the VISA played on his mind. How on earth was he going to explain that one to Surkov? Instead of eliminating the Sean Fox, he had in fact authorized his VISA to attend the state banquet. Not only that, he had authorized for him to be armed.

  After nearly eight hours of no contact, he was about to head home. He buried his head in his hands as Vasiliy entered with another vodka. He had told Vasiliy he needed at least one every 30 minutes. Both had stayed on into the night, just in case. However, the chances of not receiving a call after a successful mission by this hour from at least one of the ten-man team was inconceivable. The mission had obviously failed.

  Vasiliy laid the glass of vodka down tentatively and remained standing. Borodin looked up. The concern on Vasiliy’s face was not comforting.

  “What?!” barked Borodin, grabbing the vodka and downing it in one gulp.

  “Dr Surkov is on line 2!”

  Borodin looked over at his phone and noted the flashing line and checked the time, it was almost 2 a.m. “Shit, what did you tell him?”

  “That I’d see if I could locate you!”

  Borodin considered being unlocatable but that would be delaying the inevitable.

  He waved Vasiliy out and lifted the handset and, taking a deep breath for confidence, hit the flashing button.

  “Dr Surkov!” he offered pleasantly.

  “Ah General, I see your assistant managed to locate you, how fortunate!”

  “How can I help you, Doctor, at this very late hour?” asked Borodin.

  “Yes, it is rather late to still be in the office. You don’t have a crisis, do you?” asked Surkov suspiciously.

  Borodin considered being upfront about the Spetznaz apparent failure but decided to see what Surkov knew.

  “Not at all, just busy. How can I help you?”

  “I have the president coming to Grebnevo in the morning, be here at 10 a.m.”

  “Of course, Doctor,” replied Borodin smiling, things were finally happening.

  As he replaced the handset, he realized for the briefest of moments that he had forgotten about Sean Fox. Something had to be done. His future was in jeopardy as soon as Surkov discovered his failure. Ten Spetznaz troops! How could they possibly fail? He had no assets on site, other than, he remembered, he had sent the assassin to deal with the SVR agents. He picked up the phone. There was still a chance Surkov would never know.

  ***

  Surkov sat at his desk contemplating the conversation he had just had with Borodin. He had been trying his home number for some time, when on a whim he had tried the office. Borodin’s assistant had answered the phone as though his life depended on it. It was 2.00 a.m. in Moscow. What could be so important that Borodin was waiting for a call in the office? Surely they would call him at home. Unless they didn’t have his home number or were in another time zone, many hours behind. A time zone where a certain Sean Fox was a problem that Borodin should have dealt with. Or hadn’t he? A feeling of unease swept over him. The more he considered the call with Borodin, the more he realized something was wrong. Sean Fox, was he dead or not? Was he still an issue?

  Surkov’s Sean Fox was an issue. The American one was not. But he had no idea which the live one was. When his Sean had escaped Grebnevo all those years ago, they thought he had died during the escape. He knew the plan intricately. He knew what they planned to do. He knew everything. He had also scoffed at the whole idea and laughed at how ridiculous Surkov was to believe it could even happen. He never believed in the ideology. He had embraced the American lifestyle too readily.

  As events unfolded and lives progressed, Surkov’s Sean had become surplus to requirements. His life became a mirror of the real one, with no real purpose. Surkov should have seen it coming but was too busy with his other projects. The excitement of Sean’s real life was too much for Surkov’s Sean and he had escaped the confines of Grebnevo and fled. Surkov had always loved Sean like a son and had been devastated by his loss but relieved that the secrets of Grebnevo would remain protected. Until three months earlier, he had remembered Sean fo
ndly. The realization that he could still be alive had rocked him to the core. With just about every block having fallen perfectly into place, a project only dreamt of over six decades earlier was becoming a reality.

  Surkov’s move in eliminating the Governor’s wife would be a clear sign to his Sean that Surkov’s crazy plan was actually about to go into action. Sean Fox and the wife had to be killed. Whether it was his Sean or not, it was the other’s wife. By elimination, either it was Surkov’s Sean or it was his wife. It had to be one of them, either way, one of them would be aware of what was happening.

  Surkov picked up his communication device and sent a message to the one woman he knew had never failed at anything she was ever tasked with, Katherine. She would find out once and for all if Borodin had succeeded and if not, deal with it once and for all. He hit 'Send’ and went to bed. It was going to be a very busy morning and the beginning of a new dawn was just on the horizon.

  Chapter 60

  Sean crept through the shrubbery that circled the base of the hill that led to the ranch. So far, Luis had been truthful. The pressure sensors were there and had he not known about them, he would have most certainly had the cartel’s foot soldiers crashing down the hill towards him. He reached the point as described by Luis that offered the best approach and again it seemed to be correct. Luis was a little more ruthless than Sean had realized. He obviously wanted to rule the roost and Sean was his key to doing it. Sean checked his watch. Luis should be arriving and insisting they leave immediately.

  ***

  Luis did as Sean instructed. He raced his car into the forecourt and ran into the house. Drama would sell urgency. Urgency would make them move first and think second.

  Luis brushed past the crowd of guards who were desperate to know where their friends were. Luis decided against explaining he had chopped them to pieces and sent them to the bottom of a lake and instead opted for the sullen silent approach as he pushed through. The noise had alerted El Jefe to Luis’ arrival and he stood at the main entrance to the ranch, Juan by his side.

  “Luis, where is your friend?” asked El Jefe putting a menacing emphasis as he said friend.

  “He is not a friend uncle but he has arranged for us to meet the men we need to meet?”

  “We do not need to meet anyone,” announced Juan to the men that were watching the interaction and scoring a point with El Jefe.

  “Of course, forgive me, he has arranged for a meeting with the men that wish to meet with us!”

  “Excellent, when will they arrive?” he made a show of checking his watch.

  “I am to take you to them,” explained Luis his resolve was beginning to falter; this had not gone anywhere near as easily as Sean had suggested it would.

  “Surely they come to me?” announced El Jefe, strongly and received a cheer from his men.

  Juan watched as Luis squirmed. He knew there was no way on earth the men would come to them.

  “May I speak with you privately, Uncle?”

  “Whatever you have to say, you can say to my men!” he announced to another cheer.

  Juan leant into El Jefe’s ear and whispered something to him. Luis did not hear but a nod from El Jefe resulted in Juan walking to Luis and pulling him aside.

  “OK, what is the plan?” he asked quietly.

  “I’ve to get El Jefe and yourself into the car and we will be given directions to the meeting. Once you are happy with the contacts, we have to release the boy and then after the meeting, if we are happy, the woman.”

  “We both know there are at least two problems, the boy will be dead in sixteen minutes and myself and El Jefe will not be getting in your car.”

  “But they have got your contacts for you?” pleaded Luis.

  “And I gave them a deadline, I will not renege on a deal, I never have and never will,” he smiled. His word was his bond.

  Luis hadn’t discussed the prospect of failing to get both in the car with Sean but figured if it was going to be anybody, best he removed El Jefe.

  “Well I better get going, I have a deadline to keep too,” smiled Luis. “I’ll just grab El Jefe,” he moved to go past Juan.

  Juan stepped in front of Luis. “El Jefe!” he shouted. “I will go with Luis and meet with these men that wish to deal with us!”

  El Jefe waved in agreement and received another cheer from his men.

  Luis walked back to his car. Juan turned to one of his men and whispered in his ear, the man listened and ran off at a sprint. Juan ignored Luis’ offer of the front passenger seat and instead opened the rear door and took a seat in the back.

  Luis was being put in his place.

  As Luis took his place behind the wheel, Juan leant forward. “Not so fast, we have another passenger coming,” he said as Katie came into view and was torn away from her son, James, before being thrown, kicking and screaming, into the back of the car, next to Juan.

  “You don’t want us to hurt him, do you?” suggested Juan menacingly, sending a very clear message to Katie to calm down. She did instantly but her tears and whimpering did not.

  As they began to pull away, Juan tapped Luis’ shoulder indicating for him to stop. He indicated for his man to come to him. The message he passed on was simple but deadly. “Five o’clock exactly!” Juan said, before tapping Luis’ shoulder once more.

  Luis looked at the little boy crying for his Mommy and couldn’t think but wonder what the hell he was doing with these people.

  ***

  Sean checked his watch, ten minutes to go. The cheers from the courtyard ahead had been good cover and allowed him to make better than expected progress. He was almost at the back of the white barn.

  He had watched the car disappear down the hill. Three bodies were inside which was encouraging; it seemed Luis was coming through. He pulled out the cell and hit the dial button.

  “Are you on your way?”

  “Yes,” replied Luis.

  “Put me on speaker,” demanded Sean. If they were on speaker it would sound like Sean didn’t trust Luis.

  “No,” replied Luis, they weren’t on speaker.

  Perfect. Sean could talk freely “Have you got them both?”

  “No!”

  “But there are three in the car.”

  “Yes,” replied Luis.

  Sean thought quickly. He couldn’t ask too many questions otherwise he’d expose Luis.

  “Male or female.”

  “Did you say first and then second exit?” confirmed Luis.

  Male and a female. It had to be Katie. At least he knew where she was and wasn’t being used in one of the cartel’s whorehouses, as so subtly suggested by Luis earlier.

  “Your uncle.”

  “No, sorry, I didn’t catch you the lines not great.”

  “Juan?”

  “OK, yes, got it.”

  Juan being with Luis was not great news. He would see through things far more readily than El Jefe. Thank God the meetings were real thought Sean. How they had managed, he didn’t know but he had a lot of thanking to do if he managed to get out of this alive.

  The noise from the courtyard had died and the men that guarded the ranch house had returned to their milling around or the barracks that housed them while on duty. Sean squatted by the white barn, just out of sight. The small outbuilding that housed James lay just to his right but there was no way to get to it without exposing himself. Time was not on his side, two minutes to five.

  He waited for a moment when none of the men were watching the 20-yard gap but nothing. The sight of the Mexican walking towards the outbuilding sharpening a knife with barely a minute to go made any decision with regard to staying out of sight irrelevant. They really were going to kill the boy at five, for absolutely no reason, other than they had said they would. Sean had never before met such a ruthless bunch of bastards in his life and he was including the Taliban in that list.

  Being spotted was an irrelevance, he wasn’t going to be able to stop the man and save the boy without aler
ting everybody to his whereabouts. Sean lay his ammo on the ground before him, along with the Gyurza and lined up the would-be child killer in the sights of the MP-5. There was little or no chance he’d manage to save himself and James but he’d take as many of them with him as he could.

  He pulled the trigger and the silenced shot took out the Mexican’s kneecap, a second shot took out the other and a third hit him in the gut, all delivered in quick succession. By the time the Mexican screamed, all three rounds had hit. It would take him hours to die in agony. Sean grabbed the ammo and as heads turned to the screamer, he raced to James’s outbuilding. The maid who was looking after him was startled as Sean burst through the doors but not as startled as young James to see his dad before him.

  As the realization of what had happened hit the courtyard, weapons began to train on the outbuilding. Sean suggested that the maid might want to take her chance to leave. She didn’t hesitate and rushed out of the door away from the large American. The hail of bullets that cut her down as she rushed from the outbuilding only emphasized how screwed Sean and James were. Particularly as with James clamped to Sean’s leg, there was very little he could do anyway.

  As the screams of the would-be child killer filled the air, bullets began to ping off the outbuilding’s structure, which was sturdier than it looked.

  The small outbuilding was stone built with two small windows and a solid wood door. They were going to need heavier weapons or storm the building thought Sean. He managed a peek through the window and watched as both seemed likely. A rocket launcher was being passed forward while another group looked as though it were readying for an assault. Luis was right again. The guards were ex-military and knew what they were doing. He raised his MP-5 and shot off a couple of rounds through the window. Two hit target while the rest went wayward as Sean was pulled off target by James pulling at his leg and calling him 'daddy’. Sean thought better of pointing out he wasn’t his daddy as it seemed likely the point would be moot soon enough. There were at least forty soldiers surrounding them and from the sounds of it, more were coming.

  His cell rang and was a welcome distraction. “Hello?” he answered, keeping an eye on the movements outside.