Amy Lynn, Into the Fire

by Jack July

  “Yes, I don’t want anyone in his way.” Bogus turned to Princeton, his face red with rage. “And you, Mr. Princeton, need to come up with how we have reached such an impasse. How was someone able to take Micky? How was someone able to come up the hill and take a car parked next to the stable with no one stopping them?”

  Princeton looked defeated. “Sir, per your orders, Luther is at the hospital with Carla Jo. He would be the one monitoring the roads during the day.”

  “And you assigned no one to take his place?”

  “I have no excuse. I will tender my resignation.”

  Bogus let out a choked laugh. “Hah. What? Resignation? Oh no, Princeton, oh no, no, bloody hell no. You get to stand next to me when I have to tell the Lady that while surrounded with the best security money can buy, someone kidnapped HER SON!”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Bogus regained his composure and took a breath. “Monitor Athos’ progress. Keep me informed. I need to speak to my father-in-law.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter 35

  Doctor Earle waved from the front porch as the CIA SAD Blackhawk lifted off from the mountain retreat. With a cruising speed of one hundred and forty knots, she touched down at the Langley heliport in two hours and fifteen minutes.

  Amy arrived in Director Harris’ office at three fifteen p.m. sharp. Karen, her admin, let out a muted “Yay,” along with a little clap. She got up from behind the desk and walked up to Amy, staring at her belly. “Can I touch it?”

  Amy nodded. “Sure.”

  “Ahh, Boguslaw Zielinski’s child; you are sooo lucky.”

  “Yeah, I reckon so.”

  “So when’s the big day?”

  “Middle of February.”

  “Oh, a Valentines baby. Wonderful.” She looked up at Amy. “Your hair looks terrible.”

  Amy laughed and shook her head. “Yes, I know. It wasn’t planned.”

  Karen kept rubbing Amy’s belly. “I know what happened. It’ll grow back. Do you want a Dr. Pepper?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  Karen went to the little refrigerator under her desk, pulled one out and handed it to her. “You can go in, they’re waiting inside.”

  “They?”

  “Yes, Mr. Masters, the director, and Officer Harrick.”

  Amy took a deep breath and let it out. She reached down for the door handle and thought, Okay then, here goes. The first thing she saw when she opened the door was Cody sitting in a wheelchair. She immediately froze, and her face registered the horror. Cody smiled at her. “Hey, hillbilly.”

  She kept looking at him, unable to move. Cody didn’t understand. “What? What’s wrong?”

  She blurted out, “Are you paralyzed?”

  “Oh, the chair. No, no, the doctors don’t want me walking around until my innards have healed a bit more.”

  She put her hands over her face and looked down as she trembled a bit. “Thank you, God.” She walked over to him and gave him a hug. “Where in the heck are John and Adele?”

  “In the little conference room on a call.”

  She sat down in a chair beside Cody. “Hey, Cody? I am really, really sorry for what I did. What I put you through. I, ah, lost it. I just lost it. I am so sorry.”

  “Why you apologizing to me? I accepted the mission.”

  “Mission? What mission?”

  “The mission to protect you.”

  Just then the door opened on the small conference room. Adele walked out and gave Amy a smile. “There you are,” was followed by a hug.

  Masters wasn’t so friendly. “Hi, Mr. Masters,” said Amy.

  “Hello, Fenian. Pardon me for not throwing you a parade but I’m still cleaning up your mess.”

  Amy nodded. “Yes, sir, well... I apologize for that.”

  “If it were up to me, you would have been fired. You follow the orders you are given. None of this, and I repeat, none of this would have happened had you only followed orders.”

  “Yes, sir, I understand that. It won’t happen again.”

  “You pull that shit again and I will make it my mission to bounce you out of this service. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Masters looked over at Adele. “I see no reason to be here. I have work to do.”

  “That’s fine, John; you’re dismissed.”

  He shot Amy one last hard look and walked out. When the door shut, Amy looked at Adele like a puppy that got swatted on the nose with a newspaper. “He’s pretty upset.”

  Adele tilted her head back and forth a few times and gave Amy a smirk. “Yeah, but he’s not as angry at you as he is with me.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, we have this little thing called chain of command. Everything you do is supposed to go through him. I kinda left him out. As far as he was concerned, you were in Alabama. Then the shit hit the fan and he was left holding his dick, fielding questions from important people. And, he didn’t have those answers.”

  “Oh, wow, that hardly seems fair.”

  Adele chuckled. “Fair? Ferris wheels and corn dogs? No, honey, this is covert operations; no such thing as fair. He fell on the sword like a good soldier. Which is why he’ll be sittin’ in this chair one day. Got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “What do you think of Doc Earle?”

  “He don’t suffer fools. I like him. He’s the most patient person I think I have ever met.”

  “How many times did you think about killing him?”

  Amy was surprised by the question. “What? Well, maybe once.”

  Adele grinned at Amy. “Oh, that’s not too bad. Okay, young lady, shall we watch a movie?”

  Amy looked a little perplexed. “A movie?”

  “Yes, Cody had a car that was outfitted for ops, cameras front, rear, and inside.”

  Amy whispered under her breath, “Oh, God, please don’t make me watch myself lose it.”

  “Nah, I got a meeting in an hour, no time. Let’s just hit the high notes, shall we? Cody?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Cody picked up the remote and turned on the overhead projector. The first part was Sonda and Odetta arriving at the orphanage. Adele took over narrating. “Okay, we have arrived at the orphanage, you disappear inside, time lapses. Fast forward please, Cody.”

  Adele continued the narration. “Cody stopped when the police arrived. Now, they exit the car, one goes around the side, one at the front door, two remain behind. A few moments later, ‘BANG.’ They react and charge the door. What appears to be Sonda, shoots back wounding one. They retreat. You take out the one around the side then work your way to the corner of the building. See? There you are, how cute. You open fire on the other two, and so does Cody. All the nice officers are dead. Now from what I understand, a bullet ruptured a gas line?”

  Amy nodded. “Yeah, Sonda wanted to leave the babies. I wanted to get ‘em out.”

  Adele went on, “Very well, fast forward. Cody moves closer to the building, another car shows up, later identified as Galiano Corsica’s crew. They get out, leader goes inside. He is no doubt spooked by the police officer’s brains all over the inside of the door. The other three follow him to the door. Cody waits until they are all out in the open, lines up the shot, takes them down. Inside guy sees Sonda, smells the gas but the dumbass pulls the trigger anyway. ‘BOOM!”

  Amy sucked in a deep breath as she watched them die all over again. Adele watched her tear up. In a softer voice, Adele said, “Hey, pay attention. This is the important part.”

  Amy leaned forward in her chair. “Hey, Cody, wait.” Cody stopped the video. She took her index finger and pointed at the screen while doing a little head count. “If they’re all dead, who shot Sonda?”

  “See, Cody? I told you she’d figure it out.”

  Cody cocked his head. “No, you didn’t. You said—”

  Adele interrupted, “Shut your Jambalaya hole and roll the video.”

  “Yes, ma’am.�
��

  Cody jumped back in the car and raced for the back corner of the building. He stopped and got out. Amy was sitting with something in her hand, oblivious to the rest of the world. Sonda walked quickly toward Amy, lifted the gun and stuck it to the back of her head. Cody fired, Sonda fell.

  Amy nearly came out of her seat. “What? What the fuck? She was gonna kill me?”

  Cody looked at Adele. “I told you she would swear.”

  Adele gave Cody a little grin. “Okay, I’ll give ya that.” She looked at Amy, “Yes, dear, she was going to put a hole in your pretty little head.”

  “But, why?”

  “Exactly what we’ve been trying to figure out. Then the pieces began to fall into place. Like, the baby that was buried with Mia Stanton didn’t come from that orphanage or Romania. DNA tests show the child to be Bosnian. Why four cops instead of one or two? Why a Corsica hit squad following close behind, and why did the Romanian police find Sonda’s husband dead in their apartment?”

  “Her husband’s dead?”

  “Yep, she shot him right in the face.”

  Amy shook her head, even more confused, and mumbled under her breath, “That shootin’ in the face must be a family thing.” After a few more moments of thought, she asked, “But, why?”

  Adele reached into a file and handed Amy a sheet of paper. “Courtesy of our good friends at the NSA.”

  Amy began to read. “What the FUCK? A hit? Seriously? On me? I don’t even know anyone in Qatar.”

  “Here’s another little thing you need to come to grips with; when you fly in, take care of your business and fly out, what’s left behind don’t always throw up their hands and move on. Some want revenge. Especially the goat fuckers; they love their revenge. Remember that young sailor that kinda decapitated Taliban’s number two in someplace called Khawak Pass?”

  “Um, yeah.”

  “Well, his name was Achmed Thani. Do you know what the Emir of Qatar’s family name is?”

  “Let me guess: Thani?”

  “Yes.”

  “So the Emir of Qatar put a five million dollar hit out on me?”

  “No, a Prince, Achmed’s half brother. His name is Hamad Al Thani.”

  “Wow, just… wow. But how do they know it’s me?”

  “The video, complete with Tatiana telling the combat controller your name. They think it leaked through the Justice Department. Remember the asshole that wanted to charge you with war crimes?”

  Amy’s jaw got tight. “That son of a bitch.”

  “Yeah, he’s in an interview room as we speak. I may go talk to him myself.”

  “Okay, but what about the police, Corsica, and Sonda?”

  “Sonda wanted out of an abusive relationship. She had already secured American passports for herself and her son. The five million would have kick-started her new life. She got the information through her intel circle. The head of police in the town where the orphanage was located has a brother in Romanian Intelligence. Corsica has men inside that police department. People move fast for five million dollars.”

  Amy leaned back in her chair as the realization of what happened hit her. “So then, this really wasn’t my fault?”

  Adele gazed out the window of her office, contemplating her next words. “If you would have come home when I told you to, none of this would have happened.” Adele paused for effect. “No, it wasn’t your fault. Sonda picked that orphanage because it was out of the way, in a more industrial area. It was a good place to kill you.”

  Even though it made sense, Amy was still in disbelief. “I really need to, um, give this some thought.”

  Adele stood and gathered some files. “I have to leave, but I need you to understand something. You are an officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. You have sworn an oath to the Constitution. Implied in that oath is that you will follow orders to a ‘T’. You do that? We can help protect you. That shit you pulled will get you killed. You will die out there. Understand me?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good, now go have that baby. You’re gonna be a great mom. I love you, honey.”

  Adele gave her a hug and walked out.

  Cody sat quietly. Amy sighed and looked over at him. “So, Gator, what do you think?”

  “I think you are one of the most amazing people I have ever been around, but Adele’s right. You need to control it.”

  “Yeah.” Slipping back into a more southern accent she said, “I reckon I have to get a new attitude.” She rubbed her belly, “Especially now.”

  “Hey, Amy?”

  “Yes?”

  “You didn’t happen to bring your jet, didja?”

  “No, I flew in a Blackhawk. Why?”

  “Oh, never mind. I’m not looking forward to squeezing my broken ass into a commercial airline seat.”

  “Goin’ home to Louisiana?”

  “Yeah.”

  Amy walked over to Adele’s desk and picked up the phone. “Karen? Amy. Give me an outside line.” Amy dialed a number. “Cobber, it’s Amy.”

  Cobber was excited to hear from her. “When are you coming home?’

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Should I come get you?’

  “No, I need you to fly into DC, pick up my friend Cody and take him to Louisiana. He’s injured, so he’ll need a little help.”

  “Yes, of course, what time?”

  Amy looked over at Cody. “Hey, Cody, what time do you want to leave?”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, what time?”

  “Eight a.m.?”

  “Cobber, eight a.m.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll be at the corporate F.B.O., Reagan International.”

  “Thanks, Cobber. Bye.”

  Cody looked at her, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

  “Yeah, well, I just watched what you did for me. It’s the least I can do.” Amy leaned over and gave him a hug. “I have to go. You need anything, call.”

  “I will, thanks.”

  She made it to the door and turned around. “How about sending me some pickled Gator tongue?”

  “Now, how in the hell do you know about that?”

  “You ain’t the only Cajun I know.”

  “I’ll see what we got on the shelf.”

  She gave him the smile and a little wink and walked out the door.

  Once she cleared security she got her guns and phone back, then she dialed the number she couldn’t wait to call. “Hey handsome, I will be on my way home in the morning.”

  Bogus took a deep breath, “I cannot wait. You know, I think we should get you home sooner than that. Can you leave this evening?”

  She felt her cheeks flush and her breath catch in her chest. “Oh yeah, I want you so bad right now.”

  “Yes, the feeling is mutual. However, there have been developments since you have left.”

  “Developments? Like what?”

  “Let’s just say there are things that require your attention.”

  “Micky?”

  “Among other things. I’ll send your plane.”

  “My plane is on its way to Washington to pick up a friend and take him home.”

  “Very well, I shall send my plane. Where should I send it?”

  “Huntington, West Virginia. What about my truck?”

  “I’ll send someone to drive it back home.”

  “Okay. I love you so much.”

  “And I love you.”

  Chapter 36

  Leon sat on a bucket in the barn next to an old disker, trying to free up one of several seized disks. Whenever he needed to think, he took on a project. He had much to think about. Bogus opened the door. “Excuse me, sir.”

  Leon gave him a little grin. “Hey, son-in-law, pull up a bucket.”

  “Thank you for the offer. However, we have serious matters to deal with. I need your help.”

  Leon set down the wrench and wiped his hands with a rag. “So, whatcha need?”

 
“I need to find Jack Brown.”

  Leon looked away. “I cain’t help ya.”

  Bogus leaned over and handed him the photo of Micky. “Your grandson has been kidnapped. He is being held captive until Jack speaks with Congressman Stone.”

  Leon’s mouth fell open as he looked at the photo. “Jesus Christ, that son of a bitch.”

  The loud popping of rotors reverberated across the countryside as Tigger did a fast power insertion with the 429. Leon jumped up, walked to the barn door and watched a heavily armed Athos climb aboard. “Boy looks like he’s goin’ to war.”

  “God willing, he is going to retrieve Micky. We have found where we believe he is being held.”

  “You reckon he’s gonna need help?”

  “No.”

  Leon started to ask, “Is he one of them…”

  “He’s Micky’s personal security. He’s taken it personally. He is upset.”

  “I thought Princeton was his…”

  “No, Princeton is the head of security. Now sir, we need to dispense with this small talk and focus on a larger issue. In seven hours your daughter is going to be sitting on that porch. She has no idea what has gone on here. The woman she loves like her mother is in a hospital, in a coma. Her son, if you will. She couldn’t love him anymore if he were her son. Will at least be badly beaten, and his heart will be broken once he finds out his beloved horse is dead.”

  “Mathias is dead?”

  “Yes. He was shot. He may have been protective over Micky and attacked his assailants. He almost made it home by himself before he bled to death. If you could take your tractor and dig a hole so he can bury his horse, I’m sure he would be grateful.”

  Leon nodded. “Yeah, I can do that for him.”

  “You need to understand that your family’s problems have worked their way into my home. Your family’s enemies are now mine.”

  Leon folded his arms across his chest. “So, you sayin’ you ain’t part of this family?”

  “No, no that’s not what I’m saying.”

  “Well that sure as hell is what I just heard.”

  “Sir, I need to speak to Jack. Where is he?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t want to know. You’d be best off not findin’ him. He has done stepped outside his mind.”