Cardinal Rule: A James Kendrick Thriller

by James Kendrick

  20

  THE BUTCHER SAT silently in his seat - thirty-thousand feet above ground level - contemplating his next course of actions. Mentally walking through each step of his plan. First. Locate the local contact. Then secure the package. He’d a ten hours lead time to get it. Second. Get rid of the contact. There can be no trails leading back to him. The contact was only as good as the mission was. Third, secure the package back into Russia: hand it over to his generous benefactor.

  The wire transfer had come in. One million dollars. Half of what the mission was worth. The other half would be banked in when he handed over the package. That would be two million dollars in total. A hell lot of money. Tax-free, of course. He chuckled greedily. He allowed his thoughts to slip off the mission for a brief moment: pondering the number of sinfully illegal ways he’d invest the filthy loot on.

  He eyed the slender flight attendant trailing down the aisle and waivered his hands casually at her. The youthful Russian blond - probably in her mid-twenties - nodded her head gingerly and approached him promptly. She’d a fit athletic build. Good-looking and attractive. Curvy and shapely. Covered in a uniform that was crisp and tight. Two buttons casually undone at the top, revealing a thin slice of naked skin that ran down into her ample cleavage.

  “Sir, can I help you?”

  Dimitri gestured her closer towards his face. She bent over and hovered by his ear. Her uniform hung an inch from her lean frame. With stunning full-blown breasts that came into his direct view. He stared down at them and ogled them with gusto. Then licked his upper lip in delight.

  The flight attendant sensed his lecherous, probing, gaze. A slight chagrin washed over her face but she smiled courteously and prompted him politely again.

  “Sir, can I help you?”

  He slowly shifted his gaze from her perky breasts to her strikingly elegant face.

  “I need to make a phone call.”

  “Yes, sir. You can call out on our phone located at the back of the aisle for a fee.”

  He raised his finger in the air and signaled at her to come closer to his face. She hesitated briefly. Then did. Close enough to his face that she could smell the vodka laced in his breath. He craned his head closer to hers and then whispered into her ear.

  “I’ll pay you for a fee. Five-thousand dollars. Right now. Take it or leave it.”

  The flight attendant smiled, straightened her back and stood erect. She gestured him gently: waving her arms towards the back of the aisle.

  “This way please, sir,” she ushered him.

  21

  TIM HUGGED HIS legs close to his chest. He looked up at James with a desperate look in his eyes. Nancy gazed at her anemic looking father, confused by the whole ordeal. They’d been lounging in the airport for far too long. Like they’d had no place to stay.

  “It’s going to be OK,” Lee said, with an apologetic look in his eyes.

  James Kendrick offered a sympathetic smile at his kids. Then switched his gaze towards Lee.

  “We don’t have much time. They know your location. One of them was here.”

  “What do you mean…?”

  James didn’t answer.

  Then Lee spotted an entourage of security officers. They rushed towards a lift a few feet away from where they sat. A curious crowd of passengers gathered around the mouth of the lift. There were loud gasps and exclamations. A small commotion ensued. Then a stretcher rolled out of the lift. A man lay on it. Wrapped with a thick brace around his neck. Blood trickled from his nose and mouth.

  Lee’s felt his heart quicken. He swung his head at James with a questioning look in his eyes.

  “But how did they know we’re here?”

  James pointed at the black bag slung across his shoulders.

  “The tablet. Inside your bag.”

  Lee’s eyes shot wide.

  “Oh my god!” he exclaimed.

  He flung the bag across his shoulders, flipped the front flap open and pulled out his tablet.

  “But I’ve switched it off,” he said as he pressed the power button by its side.

  “It’s useless,” said James.

  “Why?”

  “You said Tara gave the tablet to you, right?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Was it her personal pad?”

  “No. It was given to her…,” he stopped.

  “Oh my god…by the agency,” Lee exclaimed.

  “There must be GPS chip somewhere inside it that is separately activated. Can you get rid of the table?”

  Lee shook his head furiously.

  “No…No. I can’t get rid of it. And I can’t destroy it as well. There are no other copies of the formula that exist. It’s just far too valuable to destroy it. I have already told you that. But what the hell do we do now?”

  James pondered the question for a second.

  “We need to get it over to the CDC.”

  “No. No way,” Lee projected.

  “It’s the only way.”

  “No. I can’t do that. I don't trust them. The government,” protested Lee.

  “And even if I did? What do I say to them? That I have an antidote developed for a super virus that could kill half the population of the world in a year?” Lee said, raising his voice in anger and defiance.

  “There’s no other options.”

  “OK. So let’s say I do it. Then what? The FBI is going to be breathing down my neck. The CIA. The military. The government. Asking me all sort or questions. They’ll treat me like I’m some sort of terrorist. They’ll take me into custody. Put me in jail. Put me away for good. And the kids? Who’ll take care of them?”

  “There might be a way out of this. But you’re going to have to trust me,” James replied, eyeing Lee directly in the eyes.

  Lee fell silent. A tinge of doubt brewed at the back of his mind. “Could he really be trusted?” he questioned himself, “He did help us. But what if I’m wrong about him?”

  Lee peeled his eyes away from James and looked at his kids. At their tiny innocent faces. They trusted him. Trusted James. Whoever he said he was, they wasn’t afraid to be around him. Maybe he was there for a reason. To protect them. Like a guardian angel of some sort. His guts told him that he should stick with him. That, maybe, just maybe, he could be trusted.

  Lee swung his head and met James in the eyes. Then nodded his head slowly.

  “OK. So what do we do now?”

  James sighed. He knew they’d no other choice. There was only one man he could count on. The very person he’d avoided himself from. The man who had depended on James once to save his family. But James had disappointed him. Still, right now, he knew, he was the only man he could trust. The only man who could get them out of this mess.

  “I’m going to call someone. I think he can help us. Until then, we’re going to lay low. Stay here. In the terminal. Like you said, no one can bring in weapons here without clearing the security checks. But that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down. They’ve already sent someone for you. It’s just a matter of time before someone else gets to you,” James cautioned.

  Lee cringed at the thought. Someone had tried to get to him. He swallowed his spit nervously. Felt his throat recoiled painfully as it went down his dry throat. James was right. Now, it was just a matter of time before someone else got to him.

  22

  JOHN STARED INTENTLY at the screen of his desktop. He trained his eye on a single name. Basov. Garri Basov. A Russian-born microbiologist. Graduated first in his class from Kursk State Medical University. Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. Worked his way up to head of the advanced research division at the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology. Now deceased.

  “He’s dead.” John said into receiver.

  There was a long streak of silence on the other end of the line.

  “How?”

  “They fished him out of the river.”

  He heard a long sigh on the other end.

  “They’re probably going to come f
or him too, James.”

  “I know.”

  “And you don’t want him to come in?”

  “No.”

  John kept silent. Expecting an explanation.

  “We both know he doesn’t stand a chance, John. Once he gives himself up, it’s over. The FBI will get involved. USAMRIID will get involved. He would be deemed a national security threat. Be put away for good. Kiss any chance of seeing his kids again goodbye. And what about them? The kids. Bounced around here and there until they end up on the streets? Their mother is dead, John.”

  “But consider the alternative. They all could die instead.”

  “Not if you can help it.”

  There was a moment of pause. Then John sighed heavily.

  “We can’t take that chance, James. It’s too dangerous. But I can help you…”

  “Yes. It is. It’s a long shot. But if we do this right, we can keep a family together.”

  “James, you don’t have figure this out alone. You know what…,”John stopped.

  Then squeezed his eyes shut. He scanned his memory. Remembering the pain he’d kept repressed in the deepest recesses of his soul. Pictured her face in his mind. He missed her very much. But he knew what happened to her wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was part and parcel of the job. She knew the risks when she took it. He knew the risks too. And he’d accepted it. He took a deep breath. Then sighed.

  “You know James…what happened to Sandra, wasn’t your fault.”

  A long streak of silence followed. John waited for the voice to say something. But he heard nothing. Only the slow rhythmic breathing of air being blown into and sucked out of the receiver from the other end. And it prolonged. For what seemed like an eternity.

  “I know,” the voice finally said.

  But he sensed the clipped tone in his voice. It was ridden with guilt. With burden and torture. Laced with the haunting mea culpa that the man on the other side carried in the deepest regions of his god-forsaken soul. He still blamed himself, John knew, for what had happened. And would continue to blame himself for it.

  Six months ago, John’s wife, Sandra, worked as an undercover agent for the Department of Justice. Investigated a corrupt high ranking church official involved in an alleged child sex abuse scandal. But, instead of exposing a despicable cover-up, she’d stumbled upon a diabolical plot to assassinate the holy Bishop of Rome. The pope himself. And when the cardinal had learnt of her knowledge of the plot, he’d shot her at point-blank range and left her for the dead in an ancient tomb in Rome. John had seek James’ help to locate his wife. He knew James could cut through the red tape and get to her in time. But despite all his efforts, and by the time he’d gotten to her, it was too late. Sandra had died. A horrible death. John came to accept her death in time. He felt her death wasn’t in vain. That she’d saved hundreds of lives because of what she did. But it wasn’t the same for James. He could never accept her death. Could never get over the fact that he’d let one of his family members die in a cold-blooded murder. John had forgiven him. But James couldn’t forgive himself. And he’d blamed himself for it.

  Then there was that incident in Afghanistan. Something god awful had happened over there ten years ago. Something that had broken him physically, mentally and emotionally. Something that had prompted James to go M.I.A during an active combat rescue mission. No one knew what had happened to him. They presumed him dead. Then nearly a year later, he surfaced up at the border of Pakistan. At the brink of death, they told him. He made full recovery over the course of the next six months. But they discovered at the end of his rehabilitation that he was never the same man again. Something in him had changed. Something had snapped in his brother. And he’d refused to share a word of what’d happened in Afghanistan. A week after he was discharged, he left the Air Force abruptly and vanished off the face of the earth. For close to ten years.

  “I need to get the tablet to you, John,” the voice on the end broke his train of thought.

  John paused. Then reorganized his thoughts on the present.

  “OK. Tell me where and when.”

  The man on the other end left him a set of specific instructions on how to proceed.

  “One more thing,” the man said.

  “What?”

  “I’m going to need someone else. An expert on biological agents. Someone whom you can trust who won’t leak a thing to the authorities or the press.”

  John thought for a while. Then nodded his head. He pressed the receiver close to his mouth.

  “I think I know someone who can help.”

  23

  JAMES HUNG THE receiver on its handle. Then backed out of the payphone booth and faced a frightened Lee.

  “Where are the kids?”

  “The restroom.”

  James nodded his head.

  “We need to get them.”

  “They’re just right around the corner. But what…now?” Lee asked.

  “Now we wait.”

  “But we’ll be like sitting ducks out here. They can track us.”

  “No. They can track the pad. Not you.”

  Lee eyed James with a questioning look in his eyes.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You need to trust me.”

  “What? Are you saying…?”

  “Yes. You need to give it to me,” James said.

  “But…”

  “Look, these men who are after you…they mean business. I can handle them. I can lay low. I can avoid them. You can’t. Not with the two children by your side. If they find you, you’re going to have a hard time dodging them. But if they track me, I’ll make them run in circles. And I can figure out a way to get the tablet to right people properly. Besides that, it’ll give you enough time to get the hell of here.”

  “But where will I go? What will I do? There’s no place in the world where I can hide away from them.”

  “They won’t come looking for you. They’re not going to waste their time chasing a useless lead. All they want is the pad. Not you. And from what you say they plan to launch the virus soon. They’re on a schedule. On a strict timeline. They’re not going to deviate from that plan because of you.”

  Lee eyed James nervously. The thought of leaving the only known trace of a vaccine that could save thousands of lives, in the hands of a complete stranger, suddenly, scared the living daylights out of him. And it was no less a man whom he’d just met less than twenty-four hours ago. A total stranger who had claimed to know someone in the government. A person in the government who could help get the precious formula to the right kind of people.

  “What if he wasn’t whom he say he was? What if I’ve been wrong about trusting him? What if this is all just a set-up? What if he kills me after I give the tablet to him?” The disturbing thoughts pounded him one after another. It overwhelmed him. Overloaded his reasoning. He felt his heat rate quickening. Then a cold shiver that ran down the back of his spine.

  “What if he just wants the vaccine for himself?” The thought made him shudder. Made him sick to the gut. A sudden onset of fear and panic took over him. It struck into the very heart of his soul. It quickened his pulse further. Messed around with his emotions. Then he eyed James with a cold gaze. One that was filled with suspicion and alarm.

  “No,” he said sternly. Then backed away from him.

  James immediately sensed it: the brewing anxiety and doubt that washed over him. He was afraid of that this would have happened. The one thing that could destroy the entire plan in a jiffy. Jeopardize the whole mission. Fear. Cold, naked, fear. This wasn’t good. And now he’d to take steps to defuse the situation.

  “Lee, calm down,” he said.

  But Lee ignored him. Grabbed the bag slung by his side and pressed it closed to his chest. Felt the square edges of the tablet poke him through the bag and into his breasts. He wasn’t going to give it up. He panicked. Then he spun around and darted into a crowd of passengers that had just poured out into the terminal from a nearby gate. Shov
ed his way aggressively into them. Not caring about the passengers that yelled and waived their hands angrily at him. He snaked his way through the thickening crowd like fish swimming in water. James started after him but the crowd grew thicker and denser. Poured out through gate like a swarm of bees buzzing around honey and formed an impossible barrier to penetrate. He shouted at Lee to stop. Watched him helplessly as he bulldozed his way through the crowd and disappeared out of sight. James knew he couldn’t catch him anymore. Not until the crowd had disperse. It was too late. There was nothing he could do anymore. Lee was already gone.

  He backed away from the crowd. Slapped his forehead in anger. Then felt himself bump against a smaller body behind him and heard a tiny yelp.

  “Oww….That hurt.”

  It was Tim. Standing beside Nancy. Grabbing her arm tightly and sobbing quietly. Nancy looked at James. She was as pale as a ghost. Wearing the look of confusion on her face. Stunned at the sight of watching her father dashing off into the crowd and disappearing out of sight.

  “Where’s my dad? Where did he go?” Nancy asked. Tears shimmered in her frightened eyes.

  James looked at her. Didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what to answer. He was good at handling a lot of stuffs. But he wasn’t good at handling children. And now he’d to deal with two of them instead.