Unlike the previous access points, this one also contained a retinal scanner. A thin green beam of light flashed into Agent Casey’s right eye, and once his physical identity was confirmed, the door slid open. He nodded to the guards, who again acknowledged his presence while ignoring Jack. The two then stepped out of the building and into a small parking area.
Except for a single lamp above their heads, the area was shrouded in darkness. If it weren’t for the taillights and soft engine purr from the pair of sedans parked just in front of them, Jack wouldn’t have been able to tell either car’s location. It seemed to him that the center’s location must be somewhere remote. Yet, it still had to be accessible to a metropolitan area for Peter to have mentioned Richmond’s close proximity.
The front passenger door from the closest sedan swung open and Agent Steve Iverson stepped out of the vehicle. Jack immediately felt a lump form in his throat that grew even larger as the dome light illuminated the car’s other occupants. Agent Frank Reynolds’ massive frame was squeezed into the driver’s seat, and Jeremy was seated directly behind him. The sullen anger on his brother’s face let Jack know he had an urgent bone to pick with him.
“It’s so good to see you again, Jack! Did you miss me?” taunted Agent Iverson. “I believe your brother’s really missed you, because he sure seems anxious to talk with you!” He moved over to the sedan’s rear door and opened it, motioning for Jack to join Jeremy in the back seat. “Bring him over, Ben, so we can get moving!”
Agent Casey shoved Jack toward the open door, and as soon as he was close enough, Agent Iverson grabbed Jack by the shirt and threw him into the back seat. Before he could sit up straight, both agents moved in and secured his seat belt tight enough to completely restrict his arms.
Confused by the rough treatment, Jack glanced at his brother hoping he could provide an explanation. He was shocked to see Jeremy’s upper lip was bleeding and a pair of welts just below his eyes.
“Ben, you’re riding with Bo Cochran,” said Agent Iverson. “We’ll follow you over there.”
“So, Bo’s coming along for this after all?” Agent Casey sounded amused as he stepped away from the car. In the soft glow provided by the dome light, Jack could see the perplexed look on his face.
“He needs to be there—just like the rest of us!” Agent Iverson eyed Agent Casey sternly until he nodded obediently and walked over to the other sedan. The rear passenger door slammed shut and Steve Iverson climbed into the front passenger seat. Once he closed his door, the dome light slowly dimmed to darkness.
Agents Reynolds and Iverson turned to face the brothers. Jack immediately looked down. He felt vulnerable and ill prepared to face the hostile glare from either man. He chanced another look at his brother and was surprised to find Jeremy glared at him as well.
“You told them, didn’t you?” Jeremy sneered disgustedly.
“Told them what?” replied Jack.
“Your story, Jack. Your goddamn story!”
“I...I didn’t tell them everything, Jeremy. Honest!” he said. “I only talked to Agent McNamee—I swear, man!”
“Ah, but you knew we were listening in, didn’t you?” said Agent Reynolds, smiling in amusement at the potential fight brewing between the brothers. “That was quite a tale, I might add. Though, definitely worth keeping to one’s self.”
Jeremy looked away from Jack and studied Reynold’s face in the sparse illumination provided by the car’s dashboard.
“Yeah, I’d have to agree with both your brother and Frank here,” Agent Iverson added, snickering as he turned to face the other sedan, which had begun to creep along a dim driveway. “I’d say you’re pretty much fucked, now!”
“What?? Where’s Peter? I want to speak with him right now!!” demanded Jack.
Frank Reynolds turned to face the driveway and soon followed the other vehicle’s lead.
“Why’d you do it?” Jeremy lamented, his voice barely above a whisper. His anger had changed to bewilderment. “Why in the hell did you tell this Agent McNamee anything at all, Jackie?”
“Jeremy, we can trust him—I’m sure of it!” implored Jack. “It’s these other guys I’m not sure abou—.”
“Damn it, Jackie, stop!!” Jeremy interrupted him. “You’re so fucking naïve, man! I mean, he’s one of them, just like these fine gentlemen sitting here with us!” He motioned with his head to the front seat where the two agents glared at him.
Meanwhile, the sedans reached the end of the driveway, where it forked into two roads. The sign on the left said ‘Manassas Municipal Airport, 13 miles’. The one on the right said ‘Manassas Park, 3 miles’. In between these roads sat a guard station.
A retractable barrier fence blocked both roads, and an armed guard stood on either side of the station. The lead sedan pulled up to the small building, and a large black man stuck his head out through the driver side window. In the bright glow provided by the station’s lights, Jack saw Agent Casey sitting in the passenger side of the vehicle. Since no one else was in the sedan, the driver could only be the agent the others referred to as Bo Cochran.
The guard speaking with Agent Cochran motioned for him to continue to the right, as the barrier began to slide open. As soon as the lead sedan moved through the open gateway, the guard motioned for the other sedan to follow. Both automobiles turned onto a deserted dirt road located a short distance away.
“Don’t you get it, Jackie?” Jeremy continued. “I mean, for one thing, they don’t seem too worried about what we can see. Granted, it’s nighttime. Nevertheless, you and I know a lot more about the place we were taken to now than when we first got here. Right?”
Jack nodded. They both were blindfolded when they left Alabama two days before. ‘Standard protocol’ was the phrase Agent Casey used then as well.
“How do you think I got these ‘beauty marks’?” asked Jeremy, tilting his face toward Jack so he could get a closer look at the matching pair of welts under his eyes and his split upper lip. “I bet they figured I was free for the taking once you started talking, roughly four hours ago by my estimation. And here’s the kicker, little brother. You can bet every penny your worth that there’s a pair of bullets nearby with yours and my name on them.”
Jack stared at Jeremy in disbelief. He had expected a pleasant ride, either to the airport in D.C., or down to Richmond with Agent McNamee. His mind was filled with eager anticipation at the mere thought of being allowed to review the books in Peter’s possession. To be so cruelly duped by the agent seemed incomprehensible to him. He slumped in silence while Jeremy mumbled softly to himself.
Suddenly, the car started shaking as both sedans pulled onto another road. This one was deeply rutted, and the group traveled for nearly a minute like this in the country darkness until both vehicles came to an abrupt halt.
A cloud of dust splashed up against the car’s windows. When it cleared, Jack could see the lead sedan in the headlight’s beams. Both Agent Cochran and Agent Casey had stepped out of their car and were on the way over to them. Cochran carried a semi-automatic pistol equipped with a long silencer.
“Well, I guess this is the end of the line for you boys,” Reynolds advised, unlatching his seat belt. He drew a 9mm pistol from his jacket and released the safety. An instant later, Iverson did the same thing, eyeing Jack in such a way that sent an icy shiver down his spine. The man liked to hurt people, and if he could somehow create an excruciatingly painful demise for him and Jeremy, he would surely do just that.
Jack straightened up and looked over at his brother again. For the first time in years he sensed fear building within Jeremy. But, he still held out hope that Peter would resolve this if only he could speak with him. “Before you do something you’re sure to regret, please let me talk to Peter!” he pleaded with Agent Reynolds, looking past the smirk of Iverson.
The senior agent chuckled and glanced over at his partner, who laughed lightly to himself. “What do you think, Steve?” he asked. “Should we take him over t
o Peter and see if he’d be willing to listen to him?”
“I don’t know that Pete would care to, actually,” Iverson replied, feigning an air of seriousness. “Especially after all the trouble this asshole caused him.”
Cochran tapped his silencer’s tip against the driver’s side window, letting Reynolds know he and Casey were ready for them.
“Ah, hell, why don’t we take these boys to see good ole Pete—we’re coming, Bo!” said Reynolds. He and Iverson stepped out of the sedan, slamming their doors shut in unison.
“This may be it, Jackie,” Jeremy sighed. “I seriously doubt they’re going to wait on what your buddy has to say.” He looked over at his younger brother for what he thought was the last time. Jack was immediately overwhelmed by the sadness and compassion in Jeremy’s eyes. “I’m not holding anything against you,” Jeremy went on. “This shit was bound to happen sooner or later.”
The rear passenger doors clicked and swung open. Jeremy struggled to smile and Jack bit his bottom lip to keep from crying.
“I love you, Jeremy,” said Jack.
“I know,” said Jeremy. “‘Same to you, bro.”
Before they could say anything else, they were both yanked forcefully from the car. The immediate area around the sedan grew very dark once the vehicle’s dome light dimmed and Reynolds turned off the headlights with his remote access key. The only illumination at this point came from a flashlight held by Casey.
“Bo and Ben...these boys want to have a word with Peter before we bid them ‘adieu’. It shouldn’t take long, I imagine,” said Agent Reynolds. “Why don’t you bring that light over here for a moment, Ben.”
The agents prodded the brothers toward the rear of the car. Reynolds directed Casey to point the beam from his flashlight just above the trunk, which was slightly ajar. He raised the trunk’s lid slowly, grinning maliciously.
Once the trunk was fully exposed, all Jack and Jeremy could do was stare at its contents in horror. Sprawled out before them, amid a tire jack, shovel, and three twenty-pound bags of lime, lay the stiffening corpse of Peter McNamee. With his face frozen in a silent scream, a small river of blood had already congealed just below the bullet wound in his left eye socket.
Jack gazed helplessly upon the dead body of the only remaining hope he and Jeremy had for escaping their present predicament alive. He saw that Agent McNamee died without a struggle, for his designer suit, shirt, and tie were unruffled, nearly as neat and pressed as they had been when he first arrived that evening.
“Go ahead, Jack, ask away!” encouraged Reynolds. “Ask to your heart’s content, but don’t take too long. Save a moment for your last words to your creator.”
“We’re so fucked!” Jeremy whispered, unable to remove his eyes from the gruesome sight before him.
Casey moved closer to the trunk, when suddenly the light flickered out. Immediately, everything was cast into thick darkness where none of the men could see one another. An instant later, the flashlight flickered back on and its beam returned to full strength.
“I thought you said that goddamned thing was brand new, Ben!” Reynolds scolded him, visibly irritated by what just happened.
“It is, Frank,” Casey replied, grimacing from his boss’s rebuke. “Maybe it’s a lemon. Let’s hope to God it’s not!”
“Well, shit! That changes our plans a little,” said Reynolds, reaching into the trunk to pull out the shovel and one of the bags of lime. “It may take us longer to take care of our business here this evening, but I’m going to make sure there are absolutely no fuck-ups with this. That means we’ll dispose of these boys one at a time. Is everyone with me so far?”
The other agents told him they were.
“Good. We’ll start with Jeremy,” he continued. “Bo, grab Jack and throw him into the trunk for now. Then, you and Steve grab Jeremy and take him to the site.”
Bo Cochran was an enormous man with incredible strength. He moved over to Jack and effortlessly lifted him off the ground, and then stuffed him inside the trunk next to Peter’s body. Jack wondered why they just didn’t let this behemoth twist his and Jeremy’s heads off their shoulders and be on their merry way.
“Go ahead and close the trunk, Bo,” Reynolds instructed. “Ben, we’re going to leave you here just in case anybody stumbles upon us out here...”
The rest of the agent’s words were reduced to a muffle for Jack, as the trunk’s lid suddenly slammed shut. Almost immediately, the buildup of heat and lingering exhaust fumes engulfed him, along with the familiar scent of Peter McNamee’s expensive cologne. Aside from the tire jack and remaining bags of lime, it was just the two of them lying side by side in the trunk: one sweating profusely from terror and the trunk’s cramped oppressiveness, while the other lay rigid from the mortification process that began shortly after the bullet shredded Peter’s brain.
Jack soon discerned an acrid smell among the other noxious odors permeating the trunk. He grimaced at the thought that Peter should’ve relieved himself one last time of the many cups of coffee he consumed during their interview. Since he couldn’t move away from the agent’s leaking corpse, it made the experience even worse.
He tried to distract himself by listening for noises outside the sedan. Suddenly, he heard the faint sound of gunfire. This was followed by two more evenly spaced shots, and then finally, one last report came to him. A death-like silence soon enveloped the entire area surrounding the car.
Jack squeezed his eyes tightly shut as burning tears of sorrow and fear welled and trickled down his cheek. He also felt an odd sense of pride that Jeremy didn’t go down easy since there were so many shots. Then there was quiet. The unnerving stillness lasted for only a few minutes, but seemed like an eternity. At one point, he thought he heard Ben Casey call out to his comrades. Then, all grew quiet again. The wait for whatever was to come next grew unbearable.
A slight glow began to seep through the rear taillight reflector nearest to his head. Casey shouted something indiscernible just before a heavy object landed on the ground next to the sedan’s rear-end. A moment later, a key jiggled inside the trunk’s latch and the lid flew open, allowing a rush of fresh air and near-blinding light to fall upon Jack’s face.
“Let’s get the hell out of here, Jackie!” It was Jeremy, though Jack couldn’t see him yet. Jeremy reached into the trunk and pulled him out. As he did, he lowered the flashlight enough for Jack to see him clearly. His handcuffs were gone and he now held the pistol with the silencer in his left had. “Stand up and turn around!”
Jack did as he was told and Jeremy quickly removed his handcuffs, tossing the keys into a nearby bush when finished. Jack noticed his brother’s shirt was soaked with blood, and the wetness glistened grotesquely in the flashlight’s glow.
“What happened? Are you all right??” asked Jack, worried by the amount of blood covering Jeremy’s clothes.
“I’m fine, but there’s no time to discuss anything right now,” he replied. “Do you need any shit from in here?” He motioned to the open trunk, shifting the flashlight’s beam to Peter’s lifeless body.
Jack immediately thought of the agent’s duffel bag and attaché case, probing for them with his hands around the corpse.
Jeremy only allowed him a moment to do this before nudging him on the shoulder. “Whatever it is you’re looking for, you need to forget about it,” he advised. “I’m serious, Jackie, we need to get the fuck out of here!”
The bag and case weren’t in the trunk and Jack soon confirmed they weren’t anywhere else inside the sedan either. He moved back to the rear of the sedan just as Jeremy closed the trunk. That’s when he noticed Agent Casey’s body lying face up on the ground.
“We’re taking the other car,” Jeremy advised, quickly moving to the other sedan parked a short distance away. The flashlight’s beam lingered long enough on the agent to reveal several dark streams trickling down the side of the man’s face.
“Did you do that?” Jack asked him in shock, pointing back
at the lifeless form that soon was engulfed by darkness.
“Yep.” said Jeremy, as he reached the other car. “Now, get your ass over here before anyone else decides to join our little ‘going away’ party.” He moved up to the driver’s side while motioning for Jack to get ready to enter the sedan on the passenger side of the vehicle. He then unlocked the door and pulled it open, but hesitated before climbing into the front seat.
“Are the others dead, too?” asked Jack.
Jeremy nodded ‘yes’, but then pressed the silencer’s tip to his lips. “You’ll have to hold your questions for now, man,” he whispered. “At least until we don’t need this set of wheels any longer. Get in!”
Jack wasn’t sure if he could control his curiosity or not, but climbed into the car with his brother. In the brightness afforded by this sedan’s dome light, he studied Jeremy more closely, noting the large amount of blood greased upon his shirt and pants. If it weren’t for Jeremy’s acute alertness, Jack would’ve never believed he escaped serious injury, based on his appearance.
Once they closed their doors, Jeremy motioned again for Jack to remain silent and then started the car, pulling the sedan back onto the bumpy dirt road that brought them to this desolate place near Manassas Park. Before long, they reached the main dirt road that would either take them back to the agency’s interrogation center, or on into the park if they turned right. Jeremy rolled down his window and cut the lights off for a moment, as he listened to the air around them. Once he was satisfied there was no one from the center immediately on their way to get them, he turned right onto the road and headed toward the park.
The road soon merged with another one that was paved, and Jeremy continued to leave his window down until they were nearly a mile inside the actual park. He relaxed and looked over at Jack, smiling weakly. Jack stared back solemnly.
The sedan’s dashboard was equipped with an agency communication and computer system. Jack finally looked away from his brother to study the various components attached to the dashboard. Although the system stirred his curiosity, he knew that dabbling with it might give away their location. A digital clock in the dashboard presently read 11:04 pm. He prayed the remaining hours of darkness would give them a significant head start on whoever pursued them.
The Golden Talisman Page 38