by Chogan Swan
“My thanks,” Tiana said, smiling as she finished leafing through the envelope’s contents. “You are every bit as amazingly competent as your great-grandfather was. Do I pay you enough, Charles?”
“Of course not,” said Sackett with a crooked grin. “That would be suspicious. The work has other rewards. This last hour has been the high point of my life. We owe you a debt of honor and knowing that my family’s efforts have helped means more than you may understand.”
“Charles, the payment far outweighs the debt. Sincerely, I thank you for the loyal friendship of your house. The honor of your family will be remembered.” She tucked the envelope under her blouse and into the sash at her waist.
“May I walk the two of you out?” asked Sackett.
“Thank you, Charles,” Tiana said as she rose to her feet. “But I need to talk to Jonah and I’m sure you have several things to do on my behalf now that I’m here. Another thing, I’m ordering you to give yourself a raise at the first non-suspicious opportunity. Please, tell your father that I am very much looking forward to meeting him.”
“I will indeed,” replied Sackett. He rose to his feet, walked to his desk and pushed the intercom button on the phone. “Grace would you be so kind as to unlock the door for my clients as they go?”
Grace’s professional, “Certainly, Mr. Sackett,” came through the speaker as they left the office.
“Mr. Sackett,” Jonah said. “It has been an inspiration meeting you. I look forward to the next opportunity.”
Sackett bowed slightly in response. “Please take good care of my employer, Mr. Brandyr.”
Tiana laughed. “I assure you, Charles, you have no need to worry on that score.”
Her response warmed Jonah, helping to restore some of his equilibrium.
Grace met them at the end of the hall and walked them to the door, unlocking it and holding it for them as they left.
As they waited in the lobby for the elevator to arrive, Tiana came around to stand in front of Jonah, looking into his eyes. “Many friendships survive adversity, but fail at prosperity. Jonah, I assure you that my friendship for you is not that kind. You sheltered me, supporting me when I needed you, and I still need you as a friend and partner. If you can’t see that, you are far underestimating your value to me and this troubled world.”
“Thank you,” Jonah said. His lips twisted wryly. “It seems easier to accept that philosophically than emotionally. I’m working on it” He reached out and took her hand, squeezing it.
The elevator bell chimed, and the stairwell door crashed open at the same time. Jonah felt Tiana tug his arm, sending him flying across the floor. He slid into the wall, but managed to rebound in a crouch.
While spinning across the floor, he’d registered two men in black tactical clothes framed in the elevator doorway and the impression of Tiana walking on the ceiling. Short bursts of suppressed automatic gunfire burped from the elevator and the open doorway next to Jonah. He had to protect her.
Jonah dove at the stairwell door, slamming it shut with his shoulder. He rolled out of the field of fire from the elevator and crashed into the other wall. He ripped open the messenger bag holding the Mauser, glad the Velcro tabs fastening it to his belt had kept the strap from wrapping around his neck.
The stairwell door crashed open again as he pulled the Mauser clear. The shooting from the elevator had stopped. Muttered plans drifted from the stairwell. It sounded like two of them. There was no sound from the elevator. From where he crouched, he couldn’t see inside it either.
He had the Mauser, safety off, covering the stairwell. If anyone came through, they’d need to be fast or they’d be extremely sorry.
Jonah heard a WHUMP from the elevator and—almost faster than he could follow—Tiana flew out of the elevator and across the room in a tight-tucked ball. There was a sharp, double crack of gunfire, and she bounced off the corner between the wall and the floor to fly back across the open doorway. This time, Jonah saw the Borchardt cradled in her hand. Two more sharp cracks sounded as she passed the stairwell door.
She rolled over to him. “Were you hit?”
“No. Were you? You got the two in the stairwell?”
“I’m fine. They’re dead. That Grace woman betrayed us,” she said with a ripping tone to her voice. “Where did you learn to react like that under fire?” she asked.
Jonah gave a shaky laugh. “Paintball weekends with my kids. How in the …. How did you get those two in the elevator?”
“No one ever looks up.” She pointed to the cast-iron grill above the elevator. “I went to the side then jumped above them.” She turned to the office door. “I’m going in for her.”
“The fire escape! She’ll get away.” Jonah took a step toward the stairs.
Tiana grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. “There might be more that way. Stay with me. I have her scent, she won’t get away.” Tiana fitted a fresh magazine into the Borchardt and strode to the door. With a single powerful snapping motion, she kicked the lock out of the frame and dropped to enter the office with a skittering lizard-fast commando crawl. Jonah glanced at the bodies slumped in the elevator and shivered before following her. By the time he got to the hall, Tiana had already worked her way to the south end of the office corridor where the fire escape window gaped open.
“Stay at the door with weapon ready, she’s still in here. The window is a red-herring.” Tiana turned and paced back down the corridor. “Grace,” she called in a penetrating tone. “You have one chance to survive, but only if Charles does too. Do you understand me? I hear him breathing, but I also smell his blood and know he is unconscious.”
“They'll kill me if I fail them,” Grace’s voice filtered through the door.
“No, they only may kill you. They are not here now, but I am, and I will surely kill you if you don’t surrender. Whoever they might be or how terrible they are—they are not here. Certain death now compared to possible death later? This should not be a difficult choice.”
Tiana stalked back down the hall. Jonah saw her remove two brown golf ball sized objects from her belt.
“Besides, in what way have you failed them? You alerted the assassins. It’s not your fault they failed. How much blood has Charles lost?”
Grace muttered. “Only a little. I hit him with a paperweight. It’s only a scalp wound. He was charging into the lobby, the idiot. I saved his life. Can’t you just let me go?”
“Open the door,” Tiana said. “If I can see he will recover, you can leave by the fire escape. All I want is to be sure Charles is okay.”
The door swung open. Tiana darted inside; a gasp and a thud followed. Jonah ran down the hall and into the room. Tiana knelt on Grace’s back, tying her hands and feet behind her with the silk scarf.
“You said you’d let me leave,” snarled Grace, lifting her face sideways out of the carpet and glaring.
“And you will,” Tiana said. “Though I didn’t say when, but when you do, it will be by the fire escape as I promised. If you cooperate, you may even be alive.”
Tiana stood and moved to where Sackett sprawled on the floor. She ran her hands over his head; her fingers danced over the bruise and the cut.
“Can you come get my phone out and dial for me?” she said.
Jonah stepped to her side and reached into her kaftan pocket for the phone.
Tiana rattled off the numbers.
Jonah plugged them in, hit the speaker button and placed the phone on the conference table.
After three rings, a man’s voice answered. “Hello, who’s calling, please?”
Jonah went back to the door to cover the hallway.
“Hello, sir,” Tiana said. “Charles Sackett the fifth gave me this number for emergencies a little earlier today, and unfortunately this situation has already become one. Is this his father?”
“Yes it is,” the voice answered. “Now can you tell me who you are and what this is all about?”
“This is Tiana Morgan.”
“Good God!”
“Mr. Sackett, to confirm your identity, I need to ask you a question. What was my good friend’s nickname for your grandfather?”
“Edward’s name for him was, Smokey, Miss Morgan.” Even through the tiny speaker of the phone, the elder Sackett’s voice was tense.
“Thank you,” Tiana said.
“Miss Morgan, Can you tell me the pet name you had for him?”
“Very good, Sir. In fact, I didn’t have one for him. I called him Charles in private conversation as that was how he introduced himself. However, I did call him imbecile once. Satisfied?”
“Yes, it’s you, all right.”
“Mr. Sackett, I’m calling now because enemies ambushed me when I was leaving your son’s office ten minutes ago. I captured one of the culprits for questioning, but it seems our organization has at least one spy. Four of the assassins are dead and I want the bodies collected and the mess cleaned up. Your son has a mild concussion from the struggle with the prisoner and I am working on healing him now. I'll be questioning my captive directly when I'm certain that Charles is fit, but I need a place where the prisoner will be safe in return for cooperation. I’ve promised it.”
Tiana turned her head and fixed Grace with a direct stare, nodding when Grace met her gaze.
Tiana turned back to her work on the younger Sackett.
“Miss Morgan, Are you still at Charlie’s office?”
“Yes, I don’t want to extract the prisoner yet. We are in a secure position, unless they have the power to take out the whole floor, but they may have laid more traps. Can you send reinforcements and secure transportation for four persons? I need a stretcher, your son cannot move on his own. In addition, I would not want anyone to track us when we go. Will that be possible?”
“Yes. Expect reinforcements in fifteen minutes. The shibboleth will be ‘Sukey Lou’.”
“Sukey Lou, confirmed,” Tiana said.
Jonah waved his hand to catch Tiana’s attention then tapped the wall and pointed to his ear.
“Thank you, Mr. Sackett,” Tiana said. “I also need more cash or portable untraceable liquid assets, and I’ll be at this number if you need to coordinate anything.”
“Okay, I’ll call if there’s anything else,” said Sackett. The screen on Tiana’s phone blinked out.
“I’m glad you realized that, but they won’t fool me,” Tiana assured Jonah. “I’ve been assuming that since the attack. We’ll continue on that assumption, but some things can’t be avoided. Then again, others can.” She finished closing the cut on Sackett’s scalp then stood and grabbed a legal pad and pen from the conference table. She wrote rapidly then held the pad in front of Grace. Jonah glimpsed it from where he stood.
Nod or shake your head to respond to each question. I will know if you lie. To the best of your knowledge, is this room bugged for either sight or sound by your employer?
Grace shook her head briefly. Tiana nodded satisfied then wrote again.
Could they without your knowledge?
Grace shrugged.
Are you being paid to spy? (Nod) Coerced? (Shake) Both? (Shrug)
Grace shrugged again.
Is there a backup team in reserve watching the exits now?
Grace nodded.
“You aren’t sure of that,” Tiana said, pausing.
Grace shrugged.
Tiana wrote again.
If there were, might they be armed with missile weapons or something capable of destruction of the entire floor?
Grace nodded. Tiana went back to Sackett.
“Charles, I know you are groggy, but focus on what I’m asking. Is there a place on this floor safer from explosion?”
Sackett groaned and stirred. He spoke in a hoarse whisper, “My file room. Reinforced concrete on six sides. Steel door.”
“Bring her,” Tiana said, lifting Sackett and hurrying to the adjoining file room. Jonah grabbed the hem of Grace’s silk dress and pulled her sliding along the carpet into the file room. He swung the door shut behind him, almost expecting an explosion any second. He glanced at Grace. Instead of glaring at him, she put her cheek on the floor, looking relieved to be behind reinforced concrete too.
Tiana knelt beside her and turned Grace’s head toward the pad again.
Did anyone brief you on me or my capabilities?
Grace nodded. Tiana sighed with frustration. “Okay, I don’t have time to do it this way anymore. Tell me what they said and describe your employers for me.”
Grace hesitated before saying, “They said you would be dangerous, a highly skilled fighter and very fast.”
“Yet they only sent four?”
“They had Mac-10s and knew how to use them,” Grace said. “At least I thought they did.”
“So the methods and resources were your decision?”
“Some of my resources went AWOL. The fools are probably dead now. You can’t quit and live. I hadn’t been able to get replacements.”
“Well, they’d be dead now had they stayed. That’s all they said about me?”
Grace nodded.
Tiana looked at her darkly. “Don’t play games with your life, Grace. Helping me is your only hope now. Is there more you might have deduced or anything of that sort?”
Grace slumped in resignation, “They mentioned mystic powers.”
Tiana laughed, showing her teeth.
Jonah imagined that, if Grace could see behind her, she would shiver.
“Describe them.”
“I never saw them. The room was always dark.”
Tiana put her fingers below Grace’s chin and turned her head so that she would look into her eyes. “Grace do you believe that I can tell if you lie? You have tested me in it already.”
Grace nodded.
“I am turning your safety over to my friends in a few moments, Grace. Sukey Lou is at the door. When I return to visit with you again, I will ask if you have done everything, you can to help defend us, and yourself, from your previous employers. You need to tell me now; is there anyone they can hold hostage that would cause you to betray us?”
“No,” said Grace. “I’m careful not to get attached to anyone.”
Tiana nodded. “When I return, if you can tell me truthfully that you have cooperated fully, I will try to keep you alive, useful and as content as possible given our circumstances.”
She stepped around Jonah and opened the door. “Halt,” she called, warning in her voice. “Who is there?”
“Sukey Lou?” came the response from the hall.
“Shiboleth confirmed,” replied Tiana. “Advance one to be recognized.” She turned and spoke over her shoulder. “Charles, are you feeling well enough to open your eyes yet? We have visitors, hopefully friends of yours.”
A tall woman with dark skin and tawny-brown eyes advanced into the next room.
She approached with weapon lowered. “Safe transport for four as requested,” she said. “The stairwell is secure.”
Sackett called weakly from the file room, “I recognize the voice. It’s Amber Rodriguez, security leader for Squad Five.”
Tiana nodded, “A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Rodriguez.” Tiana turned back to the doorway. “Advance friends.” Three men came in the door. They wore tactical gear and carried bullpup compact rifles. Two took defensive positions covering the door; the other stood ready, scanning the room.
Tiana turned to Rodriguez. “We'll take the fire escape out. I realize it may seem more exposed, but the stairwell would be an easier place to conceal a bomb—much harder to do that on the fire escape. Please deploy your men and have them sweep for traps.”
“Your orders, Mr. Sackett?” said Rodriguez.
“Follow her orders even more stringently than you would my own,” replied Sackett. “She’s seen more combat than your entire team combined.”
“Yes sir,” said Rodriguez, touching her earpiece. “Team One, redeploy to the rear of the building. Secure the landing of the fire escape and start
sweeping up the stairs for traps. Put a sniper team on the top of the public stairs. Don’t let anyone through from the south. We’ll clear the top of the fire escape and sweep down to meet you. Bring me four armored vests and helmets. Team Three, get two Scorpions blocking the driveway. Secure front and side doors to the building.” Rodriguez looked at Tiana for confirmation.
“Thank you, Ms. Rodriguez,” Tiana said. “If you have uniforms for us, I’d like to be indistinguishable from your team when we leave.”
Jonah whispered to the wall, knowing Tiana would hear.
Tiana continued smoothly, “Also, let’s hang on to the bodies of the four men who tried to kill us, but clean up the mess in the lobby and stairwell. I wouldn’t want to endanger the police officers who might try to discover who they were, but I would very much like to know myself.”
Rodriguez couldn’t resist cutting her eyes over to Sackett for a moment.
Tiana turned to Sackett. “I still have diplomatic immunity from that previous administration don’t I, Charles?”
Sackett grunted. “I’m sure that was never revoked, seeing as how later administrations didn’t know anything about it. The documents are in my files. From that point of view, we're all members of your ambassadorial staff. But, Amber, let’s do our best to be sure the current administration never looks into the matter.”
“Roger that, sir,” said Rodriguez. She touched her microphone again. “Cleanup crew, put the trash in the freezer. We’ll sort it later. Bring two spare uniforms with the body armor, male and female, size large.”
Tiana turned to Grace, “Do you have anything you want to tell us before we venture into the hostile environment you’ve created for us?”
“Yes, please untie me so I can have a hope of surviving. Otherwise anything else I might know will be lost to you.”
“Do you have wrist ties, Ms. Rodriguez?”
Rodriguez nodded.
"Switch her hands to the front, but keep them snugged to her waist. Ankles too until we go. Then keep a leash on her.”
She knelt down next to Grace. “What is your real name, Grace?”