Highest Order_An Action Thriller Novel

by David Archer

  “Carita,” the driver said. “I have brought you guests. American guests. Open up for them.”

  Carita suddenly seemed more awake, and held the door open to allow Noah and the team to enter.

  “Welcome, welcome,” she said in decent English. “We are happy to have you. You need rooms?”

  “Yes,” Noah said. “Three rooms, please. I’m afraid I don’t have any euros, will American dollars be okay?”

  Carita’s eyes narrowed. “American dollars? Okay, okay, will be sixty American dollars.”

  Noah only nodded. He pulled three twenty dollar bills out of his pocket and handed them to Carita, who smiled brightly. She handed Noah three keys, and never even bothered to ask for their names. “Okay, three rooms on second floor. Second floor, okay?”

  “Second floor will be fine,” Noah said. He handed a key to Neil, and another to Marco, then led the way up the stairs.

  The building was old, and had definitely seen better days. When they got to the rooms, Noah quietly beckoned all of them into the room he would share with Sarah. He waited until they were all inside and the door was locked, then looked at Marco.

  “I get the feeling this might not be the safest place,” he said. “You and I got sleep on the plane, so we’ll keep watch for the rest of the night. I’m going to call Jefferson in a moment, just to let him know we got here, so by tomorrow we should be able to look for better accommodations.”

  “No problem,” Marco said. “How about I take first watch? I’ll go to five, and you can take over after that.”

  “Sounds good. Everybody try to get some rest, and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”

  “Hey, Noah,” Neil said. “Do you want me to see what I can find out about what’s going on back home?”

  Noah shook his head. “No, I want you to get some rest. We’ll find out soon enough, and I’ll let you all know in the morning if Jefferson has any news. I want us all as alert as possible when we leave here in the morning.”

  “Okay.” Neil took Jenny’s hand and started out the door, but she stopped and turned back to Noah.

  “Don’t worry, Noah,” she said. “Yeah, yeah, I know you never really worry, but this is all going to work out, somehow. Don’t let it drag you down. We’ll get through it, together. All of us.”

  She turned and followed Neil out the door and to the next room, which would be theirs. Marco went to his own, and Noah took out his phone. He dialed the number for headquarters, and was not surprised when a gruff voice answered.

  “Camelot?” Parker said. “Where the hell are you?”

  “We made it to Barcelona, sir,” Noah said. “We’re in a hostel for the rest of the night, but I’m going to need money and assets. Any word on what’s going on?”

  “It’s some kind of damn foolery,” Parker shot back. “I’ve got the president himself hopping on this, but it seems some of the Democrats think they can use this against him. There is even talk of trying to impeach him, just because we exist. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere, but we definitely have a nightmare on our hands.”

  “It sounds like it. Is there anything we can do?”

  “You can stay the hell out of the U.S., for now,” the old man said. “The stupid warrant is open-ended, it just says they want to arrest all parties who were involved in the Arkansas mission. It doesn’t actually name any names, but I’m quite sure the CIA knows who you are.”

  “Yes, the station chief in Tindouf actually called me as we were leaving the country. She said she had just received orders to arrest us, and wanted to be sure we got out of her jurisdiction. I’m half surprised they weren’t waiting for us when we got here.”

  “I’ve been rattling cages. Both Donald and I spent a lot of years with the CIA, and we’ve each got contacts. We been spreading the word that this is pure bullshit, and that nobody wants to be on our bad side once we get it straightened out. I think most of the CIA would just assume we should handle this as an internal matter, and do their best to stay out of it.”

  “How is Allison?” Noah asked. “Any updates on her?”

  “The only thing I’ve managed to find out is that she’s being held in a secret lockdown in Denver. Word has it that some of the senators are coming to talk with her tomorrow, but I don’t know if that’s true or not. We aren’t allowed to talk to her at the moment, and the FBI showed up here a few hours ago demanding access to everything. There was almost a gun battle when they tried to get into the restricted area; it took the chairman of the Joint Chiefs calling the Attorney General to get them to stand down before our Marine guards took them out.”

  “Sir, I get the feeling there’s more to this than just an end run around the president. It’s almost like somebody is planning to use Allison and the agency as some sort of shock propaganda. If they get her to admit anything…”

  “I’m way ahead of you, kid,” Parker said. “But don’t you worry about Allie. The interrogator hasn’t been born that could crack her. She’ll have them telling her what she wants to know long before they find out anything. I’ve seen her work, you can trust me on this.”

  “All right, sir. Mr. Jefferson told me to check in when we got here, and that he would put me in touch with our station chief.”

  “Yep. I don’t want you giving up your location, not to anybody, not even me. I’m going to give you his number, and I want you to call him tonight. He’s already been warned, so you don’t have to worry about waking his ass up.” He rattled off a number, and Noah committed it to memory. “Give him a call and make arrangements for whatever you need. I don’t know how long you’re going to have to be off the grid, but try to enjoy it while you can.”

  The line went dead. Noah dialed the number he was given and put the phone back to his ear.

  “Yeah, hello?” a sleepy voice answered, and Noah wondered if the chief had gone back to sleep anyway.

  “Camelot,” he said. “We’ve arrived in Barcelona.”

  “Good job,” the voice said, suddenly sounding wide awake. “I’m Jorge Rivas. I’ve been expecting your call. Are you safe for the night?”

  “Yes. We got in about an hour ago, and found some rooms. Low-end, low profile.”

  “Good thinking. I spent half an hour on the phone with Parker as he filled me in. I’ve got new IDs in the works for you. Since none of you speak Catalonian, however, I’ve decided it might not be best to keep you here. How would you feel about becoming rich ex-pats in England?”

  “We could live with it. What about money, resources?”

  “I’ll have new credit cards for all of you, with pretty much unlimited funds. You won’t have to worry about running out of money anytime soon. If you’re okay with England, I’ll call my opposite number in London and start the process of getting you established. Do you want all of you to stay together?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, that will actually make it a little easier. One house, a couple of cars. You’re supposed to be rich, so we’ll probably put you on some country estate, one of the smaller communities. The kind of place nobody would think to look for you.”

  “That sounds good,” Noah said. “When should I contact you again?”

  “Call me about lunchtime,” Jorge said. “I should have things pretty well set up by then, and we can start working on getting you on the way to your new home.”

  Noah thanked him and ended the call, then turned and pulled Sarah into an embrace.

  “Noah,” she asked, “what do we do if it all blows up?”

  “We retire,” he said. “We’re going to England for now, but I don’t know if it would be a good idea to stay there if we had to go AWOL. I’m sure we could manage to make it to somewhere safe, and then we learn how to go native. I’m thinking Brazil, Australia, somewhere English is commonly spoken and there are lots of expatriates.”

  Sarah smiled up at him. “You almost make me wish for it,” she said. “That would be nice, if we could just retire and settle down, somewhere. But do you really think
we could? Don’t you think we’d be hunted?”

  Noah released her and started taking off his clothes, and she did the same.

  “I don’t think anyone would get very serious about it, depending on just how things go back home,” he said. “I’m pretty sure we could manage to disappear, if we wanted to. And, to be honest, I don’t think there’d be much chance that anyone would come after us, not if E & E is either shut down or stripped of power. CIA would be more likely to just be glad we were gone, as long as we didn’t stay in the intelligence game.”

  “Maybe for you and me,” Sarah said. “But what about Jenny? Do you think she could give up killing? She’ll tell you herself, she actually gets off on it.”

  “She’ll have to, if she wanted any kind of normal life. If she stayed in the assassination business, they’d catch on to her sooner or later. If she couldn’t shake it off, I’m afraid she’d either end up dead or in prison.”

  They crawled into bed and Sarah cuddled up to her husband. Noah held her for a few moments, and then felt her breathing slow as she drifted off to sleep.

  * * * * *

  Allison was driven to Denver, and arrived at the facility she would be held in at just about the same time Noah got back to his hotel in Tindouf. It looked like an old factory building, except for the armed guards standing around the perimeter and manning the gate. The car was waved through when it arrived, and then was driven through a large overhead door into a sally port.

  “Just sit still for a few minutes,” Howard said. “This is an extremely secure facility where we house terrorists and such when it’s necessary to have them in Denver. They go through a lot of procedural crap here.” He climbed out of the car and walked up to a window, passing some paperwork through a slot like you might see at a bank drive up. Armed guards inside the building could be seen through the window, and two of them looked the paperwork over carefully.

  When they seemed satisfied, a door beside the window opened and three men came out holding submachine guns. Howard walked around to Allison’s side of the car and opened her door, then took hold of her arm as she climbed out.

  “No quick moves, just walk slowly with me. These guys have the itchiest trigger fingers I’ve ever seen.”

  “Yeah? You should hang out with some of my kids.” Allison smiled at him, and he barely contained a chuckle.

  The guards let them proceed through the doorway, and they ended up in a hall that led straight into the building. Another guard was waiting for them beside a door, and opened it when they approached.

  “Inside,” the guard said.

  Allison stepped inside as she was told, and the guard removed her cuffs before closing the door. She saw that she was in a room that held nothing but a shower and a bench. A panel in the wall slid open and a woman’s face appeared.

  “Take off your clothes and pass them through the window,” she said, “then take a shower and put these on.” A stack of clothing was passed to her, and she took it and set it on the bench.

  Irritated, Allison stepped out of her clothes and tossed them through the window. The shower was simple, with a single knob that controlled temperature and pressure. She turned it on and waited for it to warm up, which took only a matter of seconds, then stepped in and let it run over her. There was a bottle of soap that was labeled for both hair and body, so she lathered up quickly and then rinsed off.

  There was a towel with the clothes, so she dried herself as quickly as she could and then got dressed. The clothing, though it was nowhere near the quality she was used to, fit her perfectly.

  As soon as she was dressed, the panel slid shut and the door opened. The same guards were waiting for her, along with Marshal Howard, and her cuffs were reapplied. She stepped out and let them lead her farther down the hall. They stopped in front of a door and opened it, and one of the guards motioned for her to enter.

  Allison glanced into the room and was surprised at what she saw. Instead of a sparse and stern jail cell, it looked like a room in a moderately priced motel. There was a nice-looking double bed, a TV on the wall, and a table with three chairs. If she had seen a mini fridge, she wouldn’t have been surprised.

  She stepped inside and the guard shut the door. A slot in the door opened, and the guard told her to squat down and put her hands through the slot. A moment later, her handcuffs were removed and she was able to stand up again, rubbing her wrists.

  Marshal Howard appeared at the window in the door. “My understanding is that some of the committee will be coming to see you tomorrow,” he said. “I know you may not believe this, but I really hope you get this all straightened out pretty quickly.”

  Allison turned and smiled at him again. “If I do,” she said, “and if you want a better job, you make sure to come see me. Okay?”

  Howard glanced to his left, then faced her again. He winked, and then was gone.

  “Curiouser and curiouser, said Allison,” she said to herself. “Well, if I have to be locked up, this is the place to do it.” She looked around and saw a basic bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower. She looked inside and decided it would do, then stepped back into the main room. She sat down on the bed and found it comfortable, then picked up the remote and turned on the television.

  She scanned for news, but there was no mention of anything going on that might be connected to her situation. She finally settled on a movie and was about to make herself comfortable when the slot opened the door again. She glanced over at it and saw a youthful female face smiling at her.

  “Hi,” the girl said. “I’m Jeannie, I’m on the night staff. Do you want anything to drink? A snack? Anything like that?”

  Allison looked at her, a bemused grin on her face. “I’ll tell you what,” she said. “This has got to be the most unusual jail I’ve ever seen.”

  “Yeah, no kidding,” Jeannie said. “I think it’s really for when important people get in serious trouble, because they want to be treated better, know what I mean?”

  Allison got up and walked over toward the door, then squatted down so she could look Jeannie in the eye.

  “That’s probably true,” she said. “So, you really pass out drinks and snacks?”

  Jeannie pointed behind herself, where Allison could see a cart with cans of soft drinks and many different kinds of snacks, such as you might find in a vending machine.

  “That’s my job,” she said. “Want anything?”

  “Hmm, sure. Do you have orange soda? And maybe some potato chips?”

  “Yep,” Jeannie said. She produced a can of ice cold soda and a decent size bag of rippled chips and passed them through the slot. “Anything else? Oh, I’ve also got things like toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, that kind of stuff. You can have any of it you want, but only one of each at a time.”

  “Oh, great,” Allison said with a smile. “How about a toothbrush, and do you have Colgate?”

  Jeannie handed her a small bag that contained a toothbrush, a small tube of Colgate toothpaste, a comb, and a small hairbrush. “There you go,” the girl said. “I gotta make the rest of my rounds, but if you need anything else, just bang on the door. My little cubicle is right down at the end of the hall, so I’ll hear you.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Allison said. Jeannie shut the slot and waved at her through the window as she pushed her cart down to the next door.

  Allison took the soda and chips back to the bed and sat down on it, dropping the bag with the toothbrush and such on the blanket beside her. She opened the chips first, then popped the top on the soda and leaned back against the wall as she watched her movie.

  Now, she thought, if only I had a phone.

  Chapter EIGHT

  When morning came, Noah and the team went looking for breakfast. They found it in a small, open-air eatery a short distance from the hostel and enjoyed strong, flavorful coffee with bikinis, which turned out to be toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. They were quite delicious, though the waitress explained that most people ate them for second breakfas
t, rather than first. Second breakfast usually happened around ten a.m., but Sarah told the girl that they were American tourists and just didn’t know any better.

  “I’m pretty sure she figured that out for herself,” Jenny said when the waitress and walked away. “I think it kinda shows.”

  “Well, we’ve never been here before,” Neil said. “It’s hard to know the customs at a place you’ve never been, right?”

  “Actually, I was here once before,” Marco said. “It was a couple years ago, I was on loan to Team Aladdin for a mission. We were only here for a couple of days, and spent most of that cooped up in a hotel room. I actually wanted to get out and see the place, but it just didn’t pan out.”

  “It’s not going to this time, either,” Noah said. “Jorge said to call him around lunch time. I’m guessing that would probably be around one.” He looked around at the neighborhood they were in. “I suppose we could walk around here for a little while. There are some interesting buildings.”

  “Yeah, you and architecture,” Neil said. “Noah loves looking at buildings, especially older ones.”

  “We might as well,” Sarah said. “We may never get another chance.”

  They finished eating and began to stroll around, just admiring the city around them. They were all a bit surprised at the amount of foot traffic, and Sarah and Jenny made a point of holding onto Noah and Neil. It seemed that people just walked wherever they wanted in Barcelona, and moving down the street was a lot like fighting your way through a river. No matter which direction you were going, it seemed to be against the flow of traffic.

  Unfortunately, this put a limit on the amount of actual sightseeing they could do. There weren’t very many exciting buildings, though they did see a couple that looked like they would be more suitable as sculptures than as buildings. A plaque near one of them, with legends inscribed in both Catalonian and English, explained that it was known as La Pedrera, and had been built in the early nineteen hundreds. It was the work of architect Antoni Gaudi, revered in all of Barcelona for his Art Nouveau styling.