Echo (The Remote Traveler Series Book 3)

by Finian Blake

  “Shit they’re on the club floor you need to use a keycard in the elevator to get up there. The Ambassador Suite on that floor is $1500 a night. The minimum price for a room on that floor is five hundred a night. We are going to have to stake out the lobby. God only knows what time they are going to leave there. They parked across the street from the hotel taking turns watching the front. About ten a.m. Steve and Lloyd agreed to take turns walking through the lobby being desperate for some sign of the couple. At about eleven o’clock Steve saw Mary Lee and the senator leaving the elevator following them out to the cab stand. There were ten people waiting for cabs, so Steve got in line behind the Senator and Mary Lee. He noticed that she was barefoot and the tie that she was wearing the night before was missing. Mary Lee held out her arm which seemed to have a bright red mark around the wrist.

  “Just look at this I won’t be able to work for a week,” Mary Lee held out her barefoot, “and my ankles are bruised too.” Steve looked down to see that there was a red ring around each ankle too. “I was supposed to do a shoot today. I can’t work looking like this. Just look at my eye.” Mary Lee turned her head so that Steve could see that one eye was decidedly bruised and there was a dull red line around her throat.

  “Then you will follow instructions on Monday.” The Senator said forcefully.

  Mary Lee reached in her purse to pull out a few dollars to tip the doorman. When she pulled her hand out of her bag a gold plastic room key fell to the ground. Steve bent over pretending to tie his shoe scooping up the room key staying in line to pick up any loose conversation.

  “I am having a hearing Monday, and you will meet me in my office exactly at four o’clock. You’re a smart girl, so I am sure that you will not disappoint me.” The Senator slipped his hand around to the back of Mary Lee’s neck under her hair lifting up until she stood on her toes making the red line around her ankles obvious. “How did I tell you to dress?” Mary Lee looked around in a panic, locking eyes on Steve. The Senator shook her head by the back of her neck lifting until her toes no longer touched the ground. “How did I tell you to dress?” He said more forcefully.

  “Shoes, I am to wear platform ankle boots that lace up with six-inch metal heels. The heels are to be spikes not just skinny heels. Hose, are to be red patterned stockings with garters and not pantyhose. Skirt, I am to wear red spandex skirt with the hem at least four inches above my knee and it is to be one size too small so it displays my great ass. Blouse, I am to wear a flesh colored lace bra with a transparent blouse over that. And finally I’m to wear my hair braided back in a tight single ponytail.” When Mary Lee finished the list the Senator lowered her so that she could stand flat-footed once again. “I will look like a damned tart.” Mary Lee complained.

  “A strawberry tart,” the Senator said pushing his hand firmly between her legs. Steve’s jaw dropped to his chest as a red stain started to form on her pants between her legs. Just then a taxi pulled up and the doorman opened the rear door with the senator pushing Mary Lee in the taxi slamming the door behind her. “If you forget, last night will look like a church social. You will follow instructions or pay the price.”

  “I will take the next taxi,” Marvin said turning to the doorman.

  “Take the fucking bus asshole,” the doorman said turning his back on Marvin. Marvin said nothing walking across the street to another hotel for a Taxi.

  Steve looked to the left of the lobby doors seeing Lloyd rapidly snapping away with his long lens. Steve stepped out of line walking hurriedly up to Lloyd who was just lighting a cigarette in front of the building.

  “The asshole has the disposition of a male rhino in heat, I believe it’d take an elephant gun to stop him if he went on a rampage,” Steve said not trying to hide his rage. “It looked like he blacked her eye and tried to strangle her. She is missing that tie and she was bare foot. I know that she had shoes on when they went upstairs. He held up the keycard showing it to Lloyd and both men walked quickly to the elevator for the club floor.

  “I heard the desk clerk tell them room 2001,” Steve said when they entered the elevator. Room 2001 was at the end of the hall Steve tried the room key and they both quickly entered. The bed was a wreck as they started looking around the room a pair of panties sitting on the table caught Steve’s eye. They were pale blue with red lipstick smears on them. Lloyd walked up behind Steve looking down at the table legs.

  “Lift this edge of the table,” Steve lifted up the edge removing a half a pair of pantyhose from each leg. Lloyd bent over to pick up the hose he noticed the tie that she was wearing on the floor had several knots in it. The loop at one end of each of the hose had to be cut because the knot was so tight. The same was true of the tie. Steve looked down at the floor pointing to a red spot.

  “I’ll bet that’s blood. Mary Lee was menstruating.”

  “How can you tell,” Lloyd asked.

  “I saw her get in the Taxi and there was a big red stain in the crotch of her pants.” Steve held up the hose and tie examining the knots which were pulled unbelievably tight. “Jesus, she really must’ve struggled there is absolutely no way to untie these knots. That explains the bruises around her wrists and ankles.” Just then there was a soft knock at the door. The two paparazzi jammed the souvenirs in their pockets just as the maid walked in to clean the room. They pushed past the maid ignoring her protests. They made it to the lobby door sprinting to their car.

  “$500,000,” Lloyd screamed at Steve. “She is one of the hottest models out there today, and he is a senior senator that always beats a drum screaming about family values and lost morals. Yes, sir, we are looking at some major bucks.” Lloyd took the chip out of the camera downloading it into Steve’s laptop computer. Both men reviewed the pictures. The picture of the Senator walking Mary Lee into the hotel with her arm bent behind her back was unbelievably clear, the picture of the senator holding Mary Lee by the back of her neck with her feet off the ground came out beautifully defined with the red rings around her ankles and wrists visible too, and finally the red spot on her pants was abundantly clear in the shot of her bending over to get into the taxi. Lloyd regretted not taking a picture of the hose, tie and panties before he picked them up, but with the other pictures it would be easy to sell the idea that they were Mary Lee’s clothing.

  “These are worth $500,000 or better. We will have magazines and tabloids fighting for exclusive rights to this. I think we will insist on separate rights newspapers, magazines, and television. This little package is worth a damn fortune,” Lloyd raved as he hit the enter button on the laptop.

  “What the hell are you doing,” Steve exclaimed grabbing Lloyd’s hand.

  “I am sending a copy of the file to my home computer just as I always do.”

  “You left your home computer on,” Steve asked desperately. “Think back two days. You can remember two days ago!”

  “Yes I remember that asshole fried my computer, but I have been working on my home computer since then and nothing has gone wrong. Your friend Rudy talked about Boris is if he were a God, well I am here to tell you that he is just a man.” Just then Steve’s computer started to smoke burning Lloyd’s lap. Lloyd tried to pull the camera chip out of the computer. It was hot to the touch. Lloyd let out a scream throwing the computer onto the floor mats of the car. The sickening smell of burnt electronics was overpowering. Steve threw the car in gear almost hitting a passing car driving like a madman.

  “Where the hell are you going? You’re driving like you were going to a fire,” Lloyd exclaimed.

  “I hope not…,” Steve exclaimed. “I do believe that you have more ego than brains.” A sickening realization crept over Lloyd.

  “Do you think that he got to my home computer,” Lloyd asked urgently. Steve just shot him a disapproving glare running another red light. The two men jumped out of the car making a mad dash into the house, being greeted by the smell of burning electronics.

  “Fuck…,” Steve screamed kicking a hole in the wall. Steve
walked out of the house without saying another word. He and Lloyd shared an inventory of approximately 60,000 pictures. Steve picked his laptop off of the floor mat on the passenger side of the Chevy Suburban. Even after twenty minutes it was still unpleasantly warm. He climbed in the Suburban and drove off to an electronics store. Lloyd examined his computer noting that there had actually been a small fire inside the tower. He had to ask himself how this was possible. If Boris wanted war he would give him a war!

  Mary Lee was just doing a walk around on the helicopter at Reagan National Airport when her cell phone rang.

  “Boris darling were you able to do anything for me,” Mary Lee purred.

  “After you called me I started researching the possibilities. Your two paparazzi downloaded the pictures on Steven’s computer which I was not keeping a close eye on. Fortunately, Lloyd transmitted the pictures from Steve’s computer to his home computer. I downloaded the files and transmitted the Chernobyl virus to both computers. Let me tell you, the results were spectacular. I am hoping that all of the pictures they took were downloaded. There were some pictures in those files that might cause you some problems but I can safely say those pictures were destroyed. We will have to investigate that a little farther.” Mary Lee jumped into the helicopter because the concrete was burning her bare feet. She had left her shoes in the room and had neglected to bring a spare pair. “I have some other news for you. You and the Senator were seen by another paparazzi having dinner with him. A picture of you kissing the Senator is in the gossip column of the Post. As I remember the caption read: A NEW MAY DECEMBER RELATIONSHIP, in the final line of the article read IS SENATOR BELIGHT ON A RAMPAGE…GIRL?”

  “You’re kidding me,” Mary Lee squealed.

  “Absolutely not, you are officially the subject of hot gossip,” Boris laughed heartily into the phone. “You are a hot looking honey, and Marvin is officially a dirty old man. I am still trying to search out any new computers that our two Einstein’s have put into action.” Boris broke the connection without saying goodbye which was his usual habit.

  This was a busy time at the airport and the tower informed her that she would have to wait twenty minutes for clearance, so she decided to call Marvin. He had given her his personal cell phone number which he would answer night or day, and Marvin picked up on the second ring. When they dressed to leave she had smeared the mascara around her left eye to darken it and taken her lipstick to draw a red line around her throat. She had also drawn a red line around each wrist and ankle to complete the illusion. Mary Lee was more than pleased with her makeup talents.

  “What can I do for you today my dear?” While they were doing their little set up in the Ambassador Sweet, Mary Lee instructed Marvin on the cell phone protocols that she would accept. The first protocol was that no names were to be used at either end of the conversation.

  “My computer friend tells me that all the compromising pictures that are friends took were downloaded onto two computers. Those computers met with a very bad fate.” Mary Lee was trying not to laugh so hard that she could barely talk. “The information quite literally went up in smoke.”

  “I am half sorry to hear that. I think that being linked to you romantically might be a good thing,” Marvin sighed.

  “Have you read the post yet this morning?”

  “No I haven’t had time yet, but it is on my table.”

  “Well check out the gossip column,” Mary Lee said trying hard not to laugh. She could hear the paper rustling until the rustling stopped when the line was silent for about a minute.

  “Holy shit how did this get in the newspaper?”

  “Those two assholes that followed us last night are not the only paparazzi in town. There are a few more out there that are a little more discreet.” Mary Lee wanted to test how the Senator felt about the issue. “Read the last line of the article.”

  “IS SENATOR BELIGHT ON A RAMPAGE…GIRL?” Marvin laughed into the phone, “I was last night. We really wrecked that bed.”

  “Asshole,” Mary Lee teased into the phone. “You have things to do. I will meet you in your office at exactly four p.m. Monday afternoon.”

  “Are you going to be a good girl or a naughty girl,” Marvin asked with a devilish tone in his voice.

  “You will find out at exactly four p.m. Monday afternoon.” Mary Lee broke the connection without saying goodbye flipping the switches on the helicopters control panel to fire up the engines.

  Winnie woke up around eleven o’clock she could not believe that everybody showed up for happy hour in bath robes. She met Tom who is the director of Four Diamonds USA Division his wife Helen and his daughter Sue. Winnie also met two of the other owners of Four Diamonds International Nadia, Ted, and their daughter Cher. Colleen the chief financial officer also had a top clearance with the NSA, and her husband Adam was an instructor with the SAS on convalescent leave caring a high security clearance himself. She was a bit uneasy with the idea of Brits controlling the company that had so much to do with American security. Winnie was also uneasy with the idea of so many foreigners especially Russians dealing with sensitive NSA computers however it was pointed out to her that Boris had been working for the NSA prior to starting this company. He held the highest security clearance possible. The group was a drinking crowd and the booze flowed freely last night. Winnie was especially glad that with all the alcohol flowing everybody managed to stay in control having a good time. By the time she staggered up the stairs to her bed Winnie was feeling more comfortable with the idea of Four Diamonds Computer Services doing contract work for the NSA. She was especially taken with Nadia at her six foot four height and her husband Ted who at six foot seven towered over Winnie by a full foot. It was eleven o’clock and she wanted to observe one of the training classes that Ted and Nadia were teaching at the gym.

  Winnie wandered downstairs to the kitchen following her nose to the coffee pot. Tamar was standing at the kitchen counter dropping two slices of bread in the toaster.

  “I would’ve ordered breakfast for you, but I did borrow a coffee pot. As much as you had to drink last night I thought that coffee and toast would be the safest start,” Tamar said softly placing a glass of orange juice and a bottle of aspirin in front of her. Winnie did not hesitate shaking out two aspirin, swallowing them down quickly with the orange juice.

  “I haven’t had that much to drink in many years,” Winnie said unsteadily pointing at the kitchen windows. “Those windows face East don’t they?”

  “Yes those windows do face East you are very observant.”

  “Not observant… The light hurts.” Winnie mumbled softly. Tamar left the room briefly returning with a pair of dark sunglasses placing them on the counter without saying anything. Winnie picked up the glasses slipping them on.

  “You are a true humanitarian, Your Majesty. How did you put that happy hour together so fast?”

  “Friday night happy hour is a weekly event here. The chef had all of that ready to go at four o’clock he just needed to know where to take it. We have a chef on duty for twelve hours a day and he will do breakfast lunch and dinner for those who work here and for those who just don’t want to cook. We have security twenty-four hours a day, and there is always someone working at the computer center day and night. Boris, Nikki and Mary Lee monitor the Russians on a contract basis. It is a rare thing to see them in the daylight.” Tamar stopped to allow Winnie to ask a question.

  “Mary Lee, the one that threatened to shoot the Directors balls off,” Winnie asked in disbelief. “You are using a model as a computer expert?”

  “No darling, we are using a computer expert as a model,” Tamar said with quiet simplicity. “Mary Lee was one of the finest analysts on the American economy in Russia. Cherry brought her and fifteen other top Russian programmers over from Russia. Boris explained it to me. If you want to break into a Russian system you need to think like a Russian, and seven of the fifteen were studying how to break in to the American computer systems, so they continue to atta
ck Americas systems. Once a programmer finds a weakness they report it to us and we close the door. We never ask anybody to betray their former country. We only ask them to keep doing what they are doing exclusively for us.”

  “So how does that hurt Russia,” Winnie asked.

  “They are all top programmers. They are no longer working for Russia which deprives Russia of their talents. Boris allows people to patent and copyright their discoveries as long as we have license to use their talents, so they reap the financial rewards of their efforts,” Tamar said quietly. Winnie decided that she would need some time to digest that idea so she changed the subject.

  “Tell me Tamar what subjects are Ted and Nadia here to teach?”

  “Nadia teaches long range shooting and Ted is teaching combat martial arts,” Tamar said waiting for a reaction from Winnie.

  “What do you mean long range shooting?”

  “Nadia teaches sniping,” Tamar said flatly. “She served with the Russian Army in Afghanistan and has over eighty kills.”

  “Eighty kills, I don’t believe it,” Winnie said.

  “Nadia was known as the Red Angel because she introduced so many men to Allah. All of Russia was very proud of her,” Tamar said letting her own pride escape her. “Ted was a master instructor in the SAS. He has participated in over twenty live round hostage rescue operations.”

  “I can believe that about Ted, but Nadia sounds like a Brit not a Russian,” Winnie said amazed. “She is so sweet.”

  “Come Winnie you can watch while Ted teaches a class at the gym. Then you can ask more questions.”

  The gym had a high-level jogging track which is about twenty feet off the floor, so Tamar and Winnie took a position on the rail. Winnie was surprised to see Rhonda and Cherry dressed in sparring attire. The class started with a demonstration of what Ted expected. Cherry and Nadia stepped out on the mat. Nadia made a move to attack Cherry and she countered the attack ending up with Nadia’s head clamped between her legs with her arm in a painful position. Winnie could not believe the speed of the moves. Ted explained the next move as Colleen walked out on the mat in sparring clothes. Ted explained the next move with Rhonda and Colleen stepping out to demonstrate. Colleen attacked Rhonda who ducked the move giving Colleen a flying backspin kick in the back dropping her to the mat. Rhonda moved up to Colleen confidently, but when she was almost on top of her Colleen did a prone spin sweeping Rhonda’s legs and putting her in a submission hold. Ted stepped out in the middle of the mat.