by L. T. Ryan
My eyes adjusted to the lighting in the pub after I stepped inside. Sasha waved at me from the table. Our food had been brought out. Steam rose from the thick cuts of steak.
“Eat up,” she said. “You leave in two hours.”
Chapter 6
We left the restaurant after eating and having a few more beers. After navigating through the streets, Sasha got on the M4 heading west. I figured we were further east than I had estimated. I closed my eyes for a few minutes. The Audi’s soft leather headrest felt better than most hotel pillows. Five minutes passed. I opened my eyes and saw we were still on the highway.
“Why are we headed toward the city?” I asked.
She glanced at me and gave me a look. “We’re going to the airport.”
“I know I’m not from around these parts, but isn’t Heathrow behind us?”
“Who says you’re leaving via Heathrow?”
I thought she would understand by now that I hate wasting breath. “Then where are we going?”
“London City Airport.”
“Never been there.”
“It’s not the type of attraction a tourist would head to.” She paused a moment, presumably to see if I would take the bait. I didn’t. She continued. “It’s all charters. Definitely easier for us to use in a case like this. You’ll get out unnoticed, which is better for all of us. We don’t need anyone over there to know that you’ve left the country.”
“Do you have intel that says someone is watching me over here from there?”
She shook her head. “Don’t need it. You’ll always be watched, Jack. And as long as you work for me, it’s in my best interest to keep them off your back.”
I shrugged. “I can handle that.”
She said nothing. She changed lanes without signaling. A car honked at us.
I glanced out the window. “So you’re sneaking me out of England to deposit me into the busiest airport in the U.S.?”
“No, you aren’t going to Hartsfield-Jackson. We’ve arranged to drop you off at Dobbins.”
Sean couldn’t get on base. This grew more complicated by the moment. “This isn’t necessary, Sasha. I can fly under an alias. I’ve got a clean one no one knows about. Passport, credit cards, everything.”
She wagged her hand at me. “Don’t tell me things like that. Besides, someone, somewhere, knows this information, which means they might, too.”
I resigned myself to the fact that she had an answer for everything. She always did. And I didn’t mind. Last thing I wanted to do was worry about the details. It had been a hell of a day. My head ached, and so did my heart.
I called Sean as we passed through the center of London. He didn’t answer. I left him a message telling him when I expected to land and that I’d work on getting a flight to Florida. I hung up and leaned back, letting my head fall to the side. My unfocused eyes watched lights pass by like laser beams.
“No luck reaching him?” Sasha said.
“No.”
“You can call from the plane. It’s only, what, around four there?”
“Something like that.”
A few minutes later Sasha pointed toward a sign I didn’t bother to read. “Almost there.”
I nodded and emptied my head again. But a single thought brought me back.
“Dammit,” I said under my breath.
“What is it?” she said.
“Mia.”
“You want to say goodbye.”
I nodded. I hadn’t seen my daughter in ten days. I hated the thought of leaving without letting her know.
“We can stop by if you’d like.”
I was surprised she offered. Didn’t sound like something she would have thought of as a good idea. I contemplated it for a moment.
“Better not,” I said. “It’s late. And it’ll just worry her and Erin. Besides, I’m only going to be gone a couple days.”
“OK,” she said. “That’s that.”
“That’s that,” I repeated.
We drove in silence until we reached the small airport. She pulled up to a gate manned by an armed guard. One look at her identification was all it took to get us past.
“That’s it, right there.” She extended her arm in front of me and aimed her finger at a passenger jet. She stopped the car fifty feet away.
I cracked my door. The smell of jet fuel overwhelmed me. My nostrils burned and my eyes itched. I took a moment to adjust, then stepped onto the pavement. My back and shoulders had stiffened during the hour-long ride over. I worked out the kinks before heading toward Sasha.
She stood at the back of her car. The trunk was open. She reached in and pulled out a small bag.
“Be careful,” she said, handing the bag to me. “It’s loaded.”
I took it from her, unzipped it and looked inside. “M40?”
“I know it’s not your favorite. Only untraceable one I had.”
I pulled the sidearm out and tucked it behind me. “You can keep the bag.” I tossed it into her trunk.
She shook her head.
“What?” I said. “It could be bugged.”
“Whatever, Jack. There’s a suitcase on board containing a couple changes of clothes. Not that you’ll take it.”
“Don’t need it. I can borrow some of Sean’s. We’re the same size.”
“You sure about that?” She attempted a joke by patting my stomach.
“No change on my part, Sasha. Looks the same as it did twenty years ago.”
She rolled her eyes. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“I guess six years ago.”
“And you don’t think it’s possible that he’s put on a few pounds?”
“Sean? Doubtful.”
“Take the clothes, Jack.”
I wasn’t going to get rid of her until I agreed, so I said, “OK.”
She walked me to the jet. I glanced up. The lights and the clouds made it impossible to see the sky. We stopped in front of the stairs. She wrapped her arms around my neck. Beer and steak and perfume and her natural scent washed over me. I had the urge to kiss her. I didn’t, though.
“Take care of yourself, Jack. Be safe, and be careful.”
“I’m going home, Sasha. It’s the safest place I know.”
She pulled back far enough to look me in the eye. A small crinkle appeared in the middle of her forehead when she furrowed her brows. “Where exactly is home?”
“Only two people I know have that information, and I’m not about to make it three. If that got out, it wouldn’t be the safest place anymore, would it?”
She kissed my cheek. Her lips felt soft and wet. She slowly released her grip, then took a couple steps back.
“You best get going.” She looked up. “That storm is getting close.”
I followed her gaze and glanced up again. The clouds were thick and gray. Too early for the remnants of a hurricane, I thought. I opened my mouth to ask, but Sasha had already closed her door. The Audi’s brake lights lit up. The emergency brake clicked when she disengaged it. She raced toward the gate we had entered through.
I worried about her. She’d gotten too close. Her feelings went too far. I could tell that.
And I knew that left her vulnerable in too many ways.
She wasn’t the only one though.
“We’re ready to depart, sir.”
I looked up at the man at the top of the stairs. He had short, dark hair and wore blue pants and a white polo shirt. He motioned for me to board. I climbed the steps and brushed past him. He didn’t smell as good as Sasha.
“Sit anywhere you’d like,” he said.
A leather couch stretched along the opposite wall. It was dark and deep and wide and broken in.
“Can I lay there?” I asked.
“After we take off, you can,” he said. “Grab a seat and strap in and I’ll let you know when you can move.”
I grabbed a spot near the couch. It felt as soft as the couch looked. I strapped my seat belt over my lap and settled i
n for takeoff. Ten minutes later we were in the air. Twenty minutes after that I was on the phone with Sean.
“They’re taking me to Dobbins.”
“How long until you arrive?” Sean said.
“Four hours. Maybe five. Not exactly sure.”
“So around seven or eight my time?”
“I guess. They said there will be a car waiting for me if I want to use it, but I’m leery of that. No telling if they want to try to track where I’m going.”
“They don’t know where you’re from?”
“I hope not. Last thing I want to do is bring a bunch of my kind of people into town.”
Sean exhaled into the phone. It sounded like a powerful gust of wind.
“I just messaged Deb. She’s cool with me coming to get you. I’ll probably be there around nine-thirty, though. Think you can find your way off base, maybe head over to a Waffle House or something?”
“It’s Atlanta. I shouldn’t have trouble finding a Waffle House.”
“You know what I mean, Jack.”
“Yeah, I’ll get somewhere and meet you there.”
“All right, baby brother.”
“All right, old man winter.”
“I’ll see you in a few hours.”
I kept the line open for a few seconds longer.
“You there?” Sean asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“What’s up?” he said.
I paused a beat. I hadn’t had anyone to talk to for a while now, and there was a lot I needed to work through. Sean had always been a good ear for me. He had things to do, though. I knew that. Perhaps on the ride home.
“Forget it. I’ll see you soon.”
Chapter 7
I hung up, lay down on the couch and closed my eyes. My mind drifted and settled on Sasha for a few minutes. The woman had become a big part of my life over the past month or so. But the tension grew between us. It seemed to culminate tonight. If there’s one thing that life had taught me, it was that two people in my line of business should never get involved. It always ended messy. What if one of us was captured? Tortured? I’d heard of spies giving up every ounce of intelligence they had to save a spouse or child. That’s why I never let anything get far enough to be a detriment.
And that’s why Mia threw such a wrench into my life. I was still trying to come to grips that I had a daughter. Only a few people knew. One of those people was Sasha, and that posed a problem.
This all factored into my decision to decline the offer from Marcia Stanton. The money she dangled in front of me almost got me to accept. Perhaps Jessie was still trying to save me, even from the grave.
With the vision of Mia in my mind’s eye, I dozed off. The nap extended into a deep sleep. I never saw the Atlantic Ocean even though we flew into the sunset.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and opened my eyes. It wasn’t the man who welcomed me on board. My right arm reached across my body and grabbed a hold of their wrist. The woman gasped. She dropped the water bottle she’d held in her other hand.
A second later I realized where I was and let go of her arm. She moved to the other side of the plane. She was out of breath and shaking.
“Sorry,” I said. “You startled me.”
She gave me a tepid smile. The water bottle rolled around on the floor. She chased it down.
“Are we close?” I said.
“Fifteen minutes,” she said.
“That water for me?”
She nodded, held the bottle out.
I stood up and took it from her. After taking a sip, I said, “You familiar with Atlanta?”
She shook her head. “I could look some information up on my phone for you.”
“That’s OK.” I returned to my original seat and buckled in.
The woman walked toward the front of the plane. She glanced back once, still scared. I didn’t see her again.
The sun was still out. The horizon was orange and red and pink. The city looked like a painting of Tuscany. We passed downtown in a matter of seconds.
Our landing was smooth. The jet came to a halt in front of a large green hangar probably made from galvanized steel and large enough to fit a couple football fields inside.
The pilot stepped out from the cockpit. He tossed a look in my direction. The stairs banged against the side of the plane. The pilot opened the door and gestured for me to get up.
“You ready?” he said.
I nodded.
“There’s a black automobile over there. I believe that is for you. See the man standing next to it for the keys.”
“How do you know it’s that one?”
“Because there aren’t any others out there.”
“Fair enough.” I stepped past the man.
My footsteps echoed as I jogged down the steps. Heat rose off the blacktop. Less than ten feet from the jet, the Georgia humidity swallowed me whole. My forehead grew damp. The thick air disagreed with my sinuses and lungs.
“You forgot your luggage,” the pilot called out.
“You keep it,” I said. “I don’t need it.”
He gave me a funny look, but didn’t protest. They were used to eccentric people, I figured. The charter jet business had to be an interesting one.
I continued toward the Lincoln. A black man in a black suit stood next to it. However hot and muggy I felt, he had to feel ten times worse. The guy waved at me. I waved back. He dangled a set of keys and gave me a thumbs up and a big smile.
Nice fella, I thought.
He popped the trunk and opened the driver’s door. The engine roared. The belts whined. I barely noticed the puff of exhaust from the tail pipe. He walked toward me, smiling.
“Luggage?” he said.
“Nah,” I said.
“None?”
“Not a single bag.”
His eyebrows lowered and his lips and nose rose up. He angled his head to the side and looked past me, toward the plane. The thought of no luggage must’ve perplexed him more than the pilot.
“It’ a quick trip,” I said. “I’m traveling light. They’ll have what I need when I get where I’m going.”
“Hey, if it works for you,” he said.
“It does.”
He turned and took a few steps toward the front of the car. I closed the trunk. By the time the lid latched, the man had opened the rear door.
“What’s this?” I said.
“I suppose you can sit up front next to me if you’d like,” he said. “Most folks don’t,” he added.
“I’d like to sit up front in the driver’s seat. Car’s for me, right?”
“Yes, sir. And I’m your driver.”
“Driver?”
He rolled his eyes. “You ain’t gonna call me your chauffeur, now, are you?”
“I think there’s a misunderstanding. The car was supposed to be left for me. Me. Not you and me. Just me. All alone. I don’t work any other way.”
“No, sir. That’s not how this works. Now pick a seat, front or back, and let’s get you on your way.”
“I don’t think you’re hearing me right.”
He closed the door, took a step forward. “Look, man. We get off base, you do what you want. OK? But for right now, we both need to be in this car to get out of here. Those guys guarding this place with M16s ain’t gonna take kindly to either of us walking around on the streets. Especially after dark. You got no idea what I had to go through just to get in here. So if you want to get out of here, get in the car.”
I wasn’t familiar with the layout of the base. I couldn’t tell anyone how to get to the PX, or the Commissary. I didn’t know whether the place had a movie theater or bowling alley. Getting out wouldn’t be a problem. If I had the car. Wandering around looking like I did was sure to draw some attention, though.
“All right, man,” I said.
He smiled wide. His teeth stood out against his dark lips and the black goatee that surrounded them.
I walked around the back of the vehicle. The jet
had already taxied away. I double-checked the trunk. It remained latched. I shifted my pistol from the back to the front of my pants. No reason other than being cautious. The man didn’t strike me as anything other than a glorified cab driver.
He waited in front of his seat. I got in, then he did. We were both sweaty. We both exhaled loudly when we sat down. He reached for the air conditioning control and turned it to max. Cold air shot out of the vents. I adjusted the two in front of me so the streams met at the middle of my face. The air smelled like used cigarette butts, but it felt good.
“So where we headed?” he asked as he shifted into drive.
“Off base,” I said.
“Then where?”
“Wherever you want to get out, man.”
He took his foot off the gas. The car slowed to a crawl. He let the car glide to the right. The wheels scraped the curb.
“This is my car,” he said. “You aren’t getting it. If you want to go somewhere in this car, I’ll be driving.”
I looked at him and smiled.
Chapter 8
We passed through with no issues. The MP positioned there glanced over his shoulder at us. That was it. The man drove west, away from Atlanta, toward the outskirts of Marietta.
I waited five minutes before asking where we were going.
“You didn’t say anything,” he said. “So I’m going home. There’s a motel nearby. You can stay there.”
At that moment I knew this guy wasn’t affiliated with anybody or anything. He was just a driver. Sasha must’ve used the internet when she arranged for a car to meet me. All that trouble to sneak me into the country unannounced, only to put me in a vehicle with a random stranger. Didn’t make sense. Of course, what did these days?
So I faced a dilemma. Let the guy drop me off somewhere, or flash my gun and steal his vehicle. With Sean on his way up, I didn’t have to go far, so I didn’t have a need for the man’s Lincoln. Still, I had to make it look real. I spotted a rental car lot up ahead and knew that was the best option.