‘The times Na’talia and my father spoke today.’ Leon said.
Jay snatched the phone from Leon’s hand and went through the call list on his own. While he scrutinised the numbers on the screen, Leon sat in complete silent - watching Na’talia drive a safe distance behind the Benz. It was minutes to three in the afternoon and the traffic was getting thicker. Leon looked over at Na’talia, tracing her jaw line. He noticed her cheeks flinch as she clenched her teeth. He could tell she was scared. He had a good idea why and he was going to apply pressure until she broke.
From the back seat Jay said, ‘According to this you spoke to Aaron right before you supposedly came to rescue us and again when we were in the Range.’
Na’talia kept her focus ahead with her face rigid. Leon gave Jay a signal with his head, which was quickly followed by Jay placing his gun into the side of Na’talia’s rib cage. The feeling of the gun pressing through her clothes caused her to flinch, veering the vehicle from left to right.
‘You have it all wrong.’ She said dryly.
‘Do I… ?’ Leon replied. ‘. . . Well, just answer this. Where is the old man now?’
Na’talia followed the black Mercedes into the right lane before replying ‘I don’t know.’
‘Liar!’ Leon shouted.
Sitting forward so that he could move the gun up under her arm with ease, Jay said ‘What you mean you don’t know? Weren’t you supposed to have met him straight after the airport?’
Na’talia did not reply. Apart from the ambient sound of the world behind the tinted windows, the inside of the Yukon was quiet. Raising his own gun towards Na’talia’s direction Leon said ‘If you don’t talk, I swear I’ll let Jay kill you.’
With her face straight and her vision ahead a tear formed in the corner of her left eye and a lump started to rise in her throat. As calmly as she could she hit the button for the electric window and allowed it to buzz down a quarter of the way. The air from outside rushed in and after the breeze had blown her eyes dry she said. ‘I really don’t know where he is. Now.’
‘But you do know where he was?’ Jay asked.
Na’talia nodded. Leon started to smile, then chuckle then after a few seconds burst into a full blown laugh.
‘Yo, what’s up dude… ?’ Jay said, ‘. . . You’re starting to worry me.’
Staring into the side of Na’talia’s face Leon said ‘You knew we were going to be set up didn’t you?’
‘What?’ Na’talia replied. ‘You’re crazy.’
‘Am I?’ Leon replied.
‘You knew we were being set up and you were sent to make sure everything went to plan.’
‘Whoa, you’ve lost me dude. What are you saying?’ Jay interjected.
‘I’m saying. If those guys’ didn’t kill us, she would have.’
The colour in Na’talia’s skin started to fade away. Jay let out a gasp and eased back into his seat. He and Leon had been through way too much for him to doubt him now, so with just a little hesitation he stretched out his arm at full length, with his aim pointed towards the right side of Na’talia’s head and said, ‘One, Two,’
‘You won’t kill me!’ Na’talia interrupted.
‘Say what!’ Jay replied. Na’talia’s statement was like fighting talk to him.
‘You most think I’m new to this.’ He said.
‘You won’t kill me because…’ She paused, and for the first time since the conversation began looked at Leon, revealing a tear streaming down her face.
‘What the hell!’ Jay said, surprised to see Na’talia crying.
Wiping the evidence of guilt from her face she said ‘You won’t kill me… I’m your sister.’
Leon’s mouth fell open.
‘She’s lying to you dawg!’ Jay called out.
‘No I’m not.’ She snapped back.
Leon was agitated. ‘Shut up… !’ He said. ‘. . . I grew up with my mother and father until I was nine. I remember it clearly. So what the hell are you talking about?’
Taking in a deep breath Na’talia replied, ‘I’m saying your father’s name is Emmanuel Geddess.’
‘She’s lying.’ Jay repeated.
‘I can prove it! When you were raiding the Range Rover I received an encrypted email from a reliable source verifying certain suspicions I had.’
‘What. You really expect me to fall for that?’ Leon retorted.
‘You don’t believe me?’ Na’talia replied. ‘Then look for yourself. Go ahead. If I’m lying, I’ll pull over and you can put one in the back of my head.’
Leon looked back at Jay who had his aim still focused towards Na’talia’s torso.
‘What you got to lose.’ Jay said handing the phone back to his partner.
Finally coming to terms with the phones general functionality Leon located the file holding Na’talia’s emails. As he went down the list she said, ‘Check the one from Brookes.’
Without saying a word, Leon opened the email and read the one and only line:
‘I’m late. Sorry’
‘And this proves what?’ Leon enquired.
‘Open the attachments.’ She said louder than intended.
Leon clicked on the first tab which immediately revealed a letter from a CIA appointed doctor showing the blood analysis of five people. The first two names belonged to his mother and another woman he did not recognise.
‘Who is the woman?’ He asked.
‘Margarita Lopez,’ she said. ‘My mother.’
Leon looked at the following two names and paused at the section under results. His eyes got wide, and his breath started to become shallow. There it was in black and white. Twenty-five percent of their alleles were in common. They were half brother and sister. Leon continued down the page and underneath his name was the fifth, Emmanuel Geddes; and next to his were Leon and Na’talia’s results.
‘Shit!’ Leon said.
They had the same father.
Leon heaved a sigh, shook his head and said, ‘All this proves is that you were going to kill your half-brother.’
‘Are you fucking kidding me dude… ?’ Jay exclaimed. ‘. . . You two are brother and sister for real? Aaron isn’t your pops after all?’
‘Believe me. I didn’t know until today.’ Na’talia pleaded.
Still in shock Leon said ‘I don’t get it Na’talia. If all this is true why didn’t you tell us what you knew when we were on the plane or after you got confirmation? Why go through all of this?’
Na’talia let out a sigh and then said ‘I don’t know… ‘After a short pause and without taking her eyes off the road she continued, ‘. . . A few weeks ago I found some photographs of Aaron, your mother and who I found out to be our father and my mother. After some snooping around I found a letter in Aaron’s things. It was written to your mother from our dad. He told her how sorry he was for putting her in the situation she was in and that he would do everything he could to protect her if the secret got out. It did not make sense at the time, so I told Aaron I found the letter and for the first time I felt scared of him.’
‘What do you mean… scared?’ Leon asked.
‘I don’t know.’ She said frustrated. ‘I guess I thought he was going to hurt me.’
‘Did he?’ Jay asked.
‘No.’ she said.
‘But that whole situation made me want to find out more. I contacted an associate in London, an Operative of Her Majesties Secret Service.’
‘What! Some James Bond niggah?’ Jay interrupted.
‘Not exactly,’ Na’talia replied. ‘He used to be with the MI6 and now he is an advisor for the SAS. He has ways of finding information off the grid, if you catch my drift. Anyway, I asked him to find out as much as he could and it’s only by coincidence he got back to me today.’
<
br /> Leon stared into her eyes. He could tell she seemed to be more relaxed. The tension had left her face, neck, arms and wrist and the colour in her face was beginning to return. It was clear she was relieved to have everything out in the open.
‘Check the next attachment.’ She said.
Closing the PDF, Leon opened the second attachment. It was an FBI report, a ‘Class 2 Mission Summary’. Code named ‘Wounded Lion’: Requested by Aaron, sanctioned by the Agency, signed off by District Upson himself and finally carried out by Aaron himself.
‘Revenge.’ Na’talia said coldly. ‘. . . He found out about the affair and had our father wiped out. He was already considered as waist so they got rid of him and made it look like a suicide.
Leon shook his head. ‘I’m sorry.’ He said.
‘I’m sorry too. He was your father as well.’ Na’talia replied.
Everyone was silent for a moment before Leon said ‘So before you knew we were related, back at the hotel. Why didn’t you just let those guys kill us?’
Na’talia replied ‘At the very last moment Aaron decided to change the plans. He told me if anyone was going to kill you it would be him, so he sent me in to make sure you stayed alive.’
‘So he told you to kill the same people he’s working with?’
Na’talia nodded. ‘He needed to divert attention. The men who picked you up at the airport work directly for Karim however the men who carried the bags are the ones Aaron implanted into Karim’s entourage several years ago. Usain was one of the first, worked his way up to one of Karim’s trusted guards. With a couple of his own guys dead, Karim is going to want to have extra security. This means he is going to want Usain right by his side.’
‘And that is exactly what Aaron wants.’ Leon cut in. ‘. . . I know what’s going on and what Na’talia has just said proves it.’
‘Proves what?’ Jay asked.
Before Leon gave a reply he looked up through the windshield and noticed that they had left the Cross Bronx Expressway behind and was now travelling on the George Washington Bridge heading towards Fort Lee - the Combined Arms Support Command. However they did not make it there as they followed the car Black was in and took Exit 74 onto Palisades Interstate Parkway north.
Finally Leon said, ‘It proves Black thinks he is on his way to meet up with Mr Red Death himself, but he is actually going to get double crossed. Not by Karim but by Aaron.’
Leon suddenly stopped talking. He was reminded of something and felt horrible for not thinking about it before. With urgency in his voice he turned to Na’talia and said, ‘You told us Carter was brought onto the case by you.’
Her eyes widened as if someone had just told her that her house was on fire.
‘What was his real mission?’
‘I’m sorry.’ She said.
‘No time for sorry Na’talia. What was he really sent to Miami for?’ Leon’s voice was stern and callous.
With complete remorse in her voice she replied ‘To eliminate Pyro and the Chief.’
‘So Aaron’s plan to take over Camistock was a lie?’ Jay asked.
Na’talia nodded again. ‘I don’t know why. But he said for his plan to work he had to get rid of all the Desert Lion’s and the only ones left are Chief Edwards, Pyro and Aaron.
‘How was it supposed to go down?’ Leon enquired.
‘I’m not sure,’ she replied hesitantly. ‘But Carter has a thing for explosions, big ones.’
Leon and Jay spoke in tandem. ‘The airplane.’ They said.
‘On their flight to New-York…’ Leon started to explain. ‘. . . He’ll take out the plane.’
‘We gotta warn the Chief!’ Jay insisted.
‘I need to warn Kerry.’ Leon thought. ‘Pass me one of those phones you got back there Jay.’ Leon said.
‘Sure thing.’ He replied, handing Leon one of the dead guy’s mobiles.
Shaking his head at the weird turn of events Leon used the stolen phone to text Kerry a message he hoped she would not just read but believe and then instead of calling the Chief sent him a text urging him to call him back discreetly.
They had been driving for 20 minutes in the middle lane, with the Mercedes carrying Black and Perry in the lane to their right. They were definitely heading towards Up-State New-York but which part was anyone’s guess.
CHAPTER 20
Time was passing and Leon was becoming increasingly concerned with the fact that he had not heard anything from the Chief or Kerry – More so Kerry.
Na’talia however, despite keeping a close eye on their target, was deep in thought. Her main question being - how was she going to kill Aaron? - He killed her father months before she was born. He made her mother give her up for adoption. Lied to her about the truth and then made things look like he had Na’talia’s best interests at heart. She felt used and abandoned, hurt, angry and most of all foolish. She tried to rationalise that she was ignorant of Aaron’s true colours and had no way of knowing. But that was not enough to cover the feelings of stupidity. He abused her trust in a way that resembled Camistock’s objective. The realisation made her feel sick. Right at that moment as if he knew what she was thinking, Leon rested his hand on her shoulder and said ‘Everything’s going to be ok.’ Na’talia took her eyes off the road to look at her half-brother. The corners of her mouth gave way to a slight smile, before it quickly vanished and she said,
‘I want him dead.’ She said.
‘Who?’ Leon replied.
‘Aaron.’
Leon stifled a chuckle. ‘You’re not the only one.’
The car fell silent again.
Thirty miles north of their location, Aaron had just ended a call with Usain, - Finalising the last part of his plan. Despite it being mid-afternoon, Aaron had the door of the home office almost closed and the long silk ceiling to floor curtains pulled together. He was sitting in the dark smiling to himself, comfortably reclined in a brown leather armchair, behind a large oak desk. It was about 6'ft x 4.5ft and the only things on it was his phone, a lamp sculpted into the shape of a naked woman holding some sort of water vessel on her shoulders, a leather writing pad – no pen. His two P-266 Smith & Wesson’s and to the right of the lamp was a humidifier holding real Cuban cigars – ‘Diplomaticos’, his favourite. He took one from the box, ran it gently across his top lip and breathed in deeply. He then turned his attention to the other items on the desk, a single glass tumbler and a bottle of ‘Pyrat XO’ Reserve Rum he had taken from the decanter across the room. Smiling, he poured himself a double.
‘That’s what you call the good stuff.’ He said. He was about to take a sip when his phone started to vibrate on the desk in front of him. Picking it up quickly, he said ‘Talk to me.’
It was Kevin Carter O’Neal.
‘Everything is in place.’ He said. ‘They should be boarding the plane at 5' o clock.’
‘Good.’ Aaron replied. ‘I need them gone. For this to work; there can only be one Desert Lion alive who knows the truth.’
‘I understand.’ Carter paused for a moment then asked, ‘Has Na’talia contacted you?’
Aaron did not reply straight away. He switched the phone into his right hand, picked up the glass of Anguillan Rum with his left and drank it down in one go. After savouring the taste he said ‘No I haven’t heard from her.’
Carter was concerned. ‘Should we be worried?’ He asked.
Aaron did not reply so Carter continued with ‘Do you think Nathan and Dean got away? Or even killed her?’ Carter heard Aaron chuckle to himself so he said, ‘Sir, how is that funny?’
‘It’s not.’ Aaron replied.
Confused Carter said ‘Sir, I’m not with you.’
‘You’re not supposed to be.’ Aaron barked. ‘. . . You and Na’talia were given two different assignments. I could have pi
cked anybody but I went against my better judgement and allowed myself to be coaxed into choosing you. I was told you had been cooped up in an office for your little indiscretion so I decided to give you a chance. So if Na’talia is still alive, should not be your concern. However if she isn’t, I will make sure her assignment is completed. The same goes for you.’ Aaron paused for a second and then said, ‘Don’t call me back until they have all been sent to their maker.’
‘As you wish.’ Carter replied. ‘Sir… ?’
‘Yes Carter. What is it now?’
‘What about the District Superior? He sent word that he would be flying from New-York to Miami to discuss Chief Edwards impending investigation.’
‘Don’t worry about that.’ Aaron said smiling. ‘I don’t think the District Superior Upson will be making that flight.’
With that, Aaron ended the call and looked over to the only part of the room that had any light. There was a long wool coat hanging over a leather briefcase - an executive looking luggage carry-on with grey rubber wheels – and next to that was Superior Upson tied to a highly polished rocking chair.
In between chuckles Aaron said ‘Your boy - Sorry, I should say my boy Carter seems to be concerned about your future plans. But I don’t think we need to worry about your flight to Miami. Do you?’
District Upson could not respond. His mouth was taped shut and his hands and feet were tied. He was bleeding from his lip and head. Before tying him up, Aaron had used the butt of his gun to beat him up pretty bad. Aaron had entered the house from the night before and waited in the attic until the morning to take out the security from the inside out. Aaron may have been in his mid-sixties but his honed ability to take out the enemy was alive and almost reborn. After he neutralized the security staff he made easy work of the two maids and butler, which left the District all alone.
‘I told you I would kill you.’ Aaron said.
Through the pain District Upson raised his head so his face was now in the shadow and mumbled something behind the silver duck-tape strapped across his lips. Aaron let out a hearty laugh. ‘You’re pathetic… !’ He shouted. ‘. . . With all your money and power, where is all your security and peace of mind now? Where are all your political contacts? Your friends in high places…’ Aaron paused and then in a low voice said ‘. . . Where your Camistock buddies?’
The Desert Lion's True Colours Page 24