by L. T. Ryan
“If you think of anything else, you call me,” she said.
He said nothing. He didn’t look at us. We left him in the room and made our way to the front door.
“You buy this?” April said.
I nodded, said nothing.
“You live in a world where something like this is possible?”
I nodded again. That was as much as she needed to know. Bad things happen to people when they get involved in my world. It was best I leave her out of it.
We walked toward her cruiser, which idled in the street. I saw Fults on his porch. He leaned against the front railing. He had a flask in one hand, a cigarette in the other.
“Let’s go have a talk with the neighborhood watch,” I said.
We crossed the street and cut across the man’s unkempt lawn. He staggered back and found a mildewed white plastic chair to park himself in.
“Sheriff,” he said.
She said, “Mr. Fults, we have a couple questions for you.”
“Sure,” he said.
“Did you see a black sedan out here recently?” I said. “Parked in the street a couple days at a time?”
“Oh, yeah, sure did. Thought it kind of strange. It’d be there for a few days, then disappear. Come back again for a few hours, leave. Sat out there for a week one time.”
“How long had this been going on?” April said.
“Couple months, at least,” he said.
“Ever see anyone get in or out of it?” I said.
He looked up toward the ceiling. “You know, can’t say that I did. It was just…there.”
“Thanks, Mr. Fults.”
I stepped off the porch and headed across the street. April stayed behind, presumably to ask additional questions. I had no need to hear anything else.
Glenn stood next to April’s cruiser. I stopped a few feet short of him. He said nothing.
I said, “Sorry about, Jessie, Glenn.”
“Thank you.” He paused, glanced up at the sky, rubbed his face, then looked me in the eye. “I’m always gonna believe this is your fault, Jack. Somehow, someway, you led her into this. Whether directly, or by her trying to find you. She must’ve stumbled upon something way over her head.”
Unwittingly, Glenn had given me a direction to follow.
“Just make me one promise,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“I know you’re into some special forces, mercenary crap. It’s a running joke with some of us that went to school together, played football, you know.”
I nodded, said nothing.
“You find this bastard who killed her, and you torture the hell out of him. Don’t let him die right away. Take your time. Make him suffer. Cut him up part by part.”
Though I had no plans to torture her killer, I felt obligated to Jessie to do something. Eleven years ago, I almost got her killed by showing up at her doorstep in the middle of the night. Something happened after that. I don’t know what, though. She picked up a trail, or someone picked up hers. She fell into the trap that so many do. It’s something that no one else in their life knows about. Ultimately, they have to do what they’re told to keep those they love alive. In the end it leads to their own death.
Glenn walked back to his front door.
“You want a ride?” I called out.
April walked up behind me. “What?”
Glenn came back to the car. “Sure.”
I looked back at April. “Least we can do.”
We took our places in the car. Halfway between Glenn’s house and the church, my cell phone rang. I pulled it out and checked the number.
Marcia.
“Pull over,” I said.
April slammed on the brakes. The car fishtailed. She got it under control and veered onto the dirt and gravel shoulder.
I stepped out into a cloud of dust, answered the phone.
“You need to get out of there now, Jack,” Marcia said.
“What?”
“You’re in danger.”
“We chased the danger off last night. He killed a cop, not me. I doubt he’s—“
“Shut up and listen to me, Jack. You have no idea what’s going on. The web is huge and you’re flying right toward the middle of it. Before you know it, it’s going to close around you.”
I paused a beat. “If you know what’s going on down here, then tell me.”
She said nothing.
Neither did I. It was a game of chicken, and I wasn’t about to swerve first.
After a minute, she spoke. “Call Sasha, tell her to get the flight ready. Also tell her that you’ve decided to work for me. She’ll bring an extra car and you and I can leave without her.”
“Why should I do this?”
“I have the answers you’re looking for.”
“Then why won’t you tell me now.”
“I can’t, Jack. I need to see you first. Once I do, I can tell you what happened to Jessie.”
The line went silent. I lifted my hand in the air and then flung it down. Somehow I managed to keep the phone in my grasp. I decided to call Sasha before my mind began processing Marcia’s words.
“Jack?” she said.
“I’m ready,” I said. “Where do I need to go?”
“I’ve got a jet waiting at a private airport north of Tampa. How soon can you get there?”
“Probably forty minutes.”
“OK. They’ll be ready. I’ll message you the address.”
“Sasha?”
“Yes?”
“I’m going to do it. I’m taking over security for Marcia. Bring her with you. Have an extra car waiting at the airport.”
“You got it.”
We hung up. I placed one more call before getting back in the car. April leaned across my seat and tapped on her watch. I held up one finger.
My brother answered on the second ring.
“Sean, listen to me. You need to get out of town. Far out of town. Take Deb, Kelly and Dad and go.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it.”
“Where should we go?”
“Drive to Texas for all I care. Get out of town. Don’t use your cell phone. Don’t let anyone know where you’ve gone. Don’t even tell them that you’ve left.”
“I’ve got a practice to run, Jack.”
“Dammit, Sean. Do it. Now.”
He paused, said, “OK,” and then hung up.
I got in the car. My skin was flushed. I didn’t notice the air conditioning at first. “I need you to take me to Tampa.”
“Why?” April said.
“I can’t say.”
She hit the gas, pulled away from the shoulder and drove to the church. We let Glenn out next to the parking lot entrance. The crowd gathered near the back of the graveyard, presumably waiting for him. I didn’t see Sean or his family or the Suburban. He’d taken off already. I hoped he heeded my warning and stayed away from his house.
April turned on her lights and did ninety down the highway. She only used her sirens in spots where traffic cluttered the road. The closer we got to Tampa, the more often she needed to use them.
Sasha texted me the address along the way. I plugged it into the car’s GPS. It would only require a couple turns to reach our destination.
We were silent for the majority of the drive. April had questions for me. I had questions in general. Neither of us voiced our concerns.
It took twenty-five minutes to reach the private airport. It was easy to find the jet. Every other plane we saw was a single prop. April stopped the cruiser a hundred feet away. I didn’t move. We didn’t speak. The cold air pelted our faces.
Two minutes passed. April broke the silence. She shifted in her seat. Said, “Will you ever come back?”
“Probably not.”
She turned her head toward the windshield. “Can I come visit you?”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“Why?”
“My life is complicated. Take those things
that you thought about me, and multiply them by one hundred. It’s not so much that I’m in danger most of the time, rather than those around me are. I can watch out for myself. But I have to live a detached life. Everyone close to me ends up in trouble. Sometimes dead. I can’t do that anymore. I can’t do that to you.” I reached out and placed my hand around the back of her head. “I’ve got this little girl back in London, and I struggle with it every day. I want to see her more, but I know I shouldn’t see her at all. It’s not her fault that things are this way, so I give in because I don’t want her to grow up believing that she did something to drive me away.”
April said nothing. Tear tracks ran the length of her cheeks.
“There’s no record of her and I having any kind of connection. Our visits are secret. I’ve got friends that help with that. I’m starting to wonder if that’s good enough, though. If I ever piss them off, who knows what will happen? Look, I know this sounds like an excuse to you. This visit, it is what it is, but you shouldn’t risk your life to explore it further. I won’t risk your life, that’s for sure.”
She opened her mouth, closed it, and turned away. “Just go, Jack.”
My hand slid down her neck, along her shoulder and settled on her arm. She pulled it away. I hesitated a moment, then tugged on the door handle and stepped out. Before walking away, I leaned inside.
“I’m sorry.”
Chapter 35
I swung the door shut. April shifted into drive and hit the gas. She pulled away before I could think to tell her to stop. She exited onto the highway and drove off. I watched her go until I could no longer see her car.
I could have handled the situation better. All she wanted to hear was that I’d return. We might’ve kissed, hugged, said goodbye. It would have been me dealing with the reality of the situation. Instead, I put it off on her.
“Are you Jack?”
I turned around. The man standing a few yards away from me was bald, short and skinny. His legs looked like toothpicks sticking out from his shorts. He couldn’t have weighed much over a buck forty, if that.
“Sir?” he said.
I nodded, said nothing.
“Baggage?”
“Just what I carry on the inside.”
He gave me a funny look, shrugged and turned. “Let’s go.”
I followed him onto the jet. He had a hitch to his walk, as if one of his legs was artificial. I knew it wasn’t. A bad hip injury at one time, I presumed. The jet was smaller than the last, and not as nice inside. The seating was standard. Nothing custom about it.
“Sit anywhere you’d like,” he said. “We’ll be taking off in twenty minutes. You need anything?”
“A drink.”
“Soda?”
“Alcohol.”
“Nervous flyer?” He smiled and nodded.
“No, just thirsty and tired and not wanting to waste any mental energy on this flight.”
His smile faded. “I’ll be right back.”
The far right seat in the last aisle had an open space in front of it. I sat there, and stretched my legs out in front of me. While not as comfortable or appealing as the couch on my last flight, the seat had plenty of cushion. I might not even need my drink to fall asleep.
Before the thought could settle in, the small man emerged from the narrow hall carrying a cup and five mini-bottles of rum. “This enough?”
I reached out and took them. “I know where to find you if I need more.”
He stood there, and for a moment shuffled between his left and right foot. Was he nervous? Did he need to use the toilet?
I avoided his stare and focused on emptying two of the mini-bottles into the cold plastic cup. The ice cubes had holes that ran through the center. The brown fluid washed over and through them. I downed the first cup in two gulps. The spiced rum burned my throat. I didn’t cough.
The guy backed up, turned and walked toward the front of the plane.
He had too much nervous energy. I didn’t like it. I set the bottles on the seat next to me, stood, pulled the M40 from my waistband. I still wore Sean’s suit. Everything happened so fast I didn’t have time to change. The shorts and shirt I had brought were in his Suburban.
I had finished the fifth bottle by the time the plane taxied. My eyes were closed when we lifted off the runway. And I was asleep before the pilot leveled out.
Chapter 36
Alessandro pulled into the parking lot of a deli named Cool Cuts. He saw a small car parked near the front door. Inside, a woman stood on one side of the counter, and a teenage kid wearing an apron was on the other side.
He parked in the middle of the lot, facing the entrance, and then called Vera.
“Are you in Tampa?” she said.
“About twenty miles north,” he said.
“Have you ever heard of a man named Noble?”
Alessandro thought for a minute. “Sounds familiar, but I have no recollection of ever having met him. What’s his background?”
“Marines, loaned out to the CIA. After that he worked for a government agency you’ve probably never heard of. He left abruptly and went into business for himself. He had a partner for a while, but that’s irrelevant. More recently, he did some work in London with British Intelligence.”
Alessandro caught a flash in the rear-view mirror. He angled his head to get a better view. The front door had opened. The woman emerged carrying a white plastic bag. She stepped out from under the awning and shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand. She walked to her car, got in and pulled away from the parking spot. He looked over his shoulder. The kid in the store was out of sight.
He said, “So what’s any of that got do with me?”
Vera cleared her throat. “You know not to ask questions like that.”
“You had me take out one of your best guys today. Now I’m taking my second trip to Crystal River in less than a week. What the hell is going on here? If there was more, why’d I leave instead of finishing up?”
“He messed up.” She paused. He said nothing. She added, “And you’re the best I have. You left because the job was done. Then it wasn’t. I didn’t want to put you in the same place days after completing your task. I thought Leon could get the job done. Apparently, I was wrong.”
He had been able to surmise everything she said on his own. There was more to this, and he wanted those details.
“Look, Vera, you know I’m a good soldier, and I don’t make waves. But this time, I need to know what’s going on.”
She said nothing. If it weren’t for her breathing, he’d have thought she’d put the phone down and walked away.
“Don’t freeze me out.”
“Listen to me. I can have done to you what you did to Leon. If this goes down successfully, then I’ll consider bringing you in on what happened. But for now, you would be wise to do what you’re told, when you’re told, like the soldier I hired you to be.”
“Sure thing.” Alessandro ended the call. He squeezed the phone. He knew when he signed up that there was no way out. Even if he could track down Vera and kill her, there was someone behind her. He had no idea who. He had no idea who ultimately employed him, or who she reported to. The calls came from her. The money was deposited into any number of bank accounts, which changed regularly.
He had to do what he was told, like when he killed that unarmed woman, or he would end up like that poor sap, Leon.
Chapter 37
The jet rolled to a stop in an area lit up by huge lights fixed to the top of tall poles. I stood at the top of the metal staircase that had been wheeled up to the side of the plane. Sasha stood at the bottom. She had a smile on her face. It did little to hide the concerned look in her eyes. Behind her, almost identical Audis sat parked side by side. I assumed the black one had been brought for me. Through the semi-tinted front windshield, I made out the shape of Marcia in the passenger seat.
“How was your flight?” Sasha said.
“I slept. Guess that makes it good.” My
feet hit the pavement. I took two steps toward her. “Now tell me what’s going on here.”
She shrugged. “You saw how she is. She won’t—”
“Not her,” I said. “Nothing has come up about me? No one knew I went to the States?”
She turned and gestured for me to follow. Once we reached her car, she said, “All I can tell you is that we came across credible intelligence that indicated your life was in danger.”
I decided against telling her Marcia had said the same thing. “What kind of evidence?”
“Someone was in town to kill you,” she said.
“I already knew that. He got someone else. Best we can tell, he fled.”
She said nothing.
“Where did this tip come from?”
“I can’t say.”
“It’s my life on the line, Sasha. You need to tell me.”
“I can’t say, because I don’t know, Jack. It was anonymous. But when I put my resources to work, they confirmed it.”
My comfort level shifted to the negative. We were in a wide-open space. At least two people in London knew where I was. How many more knew?
“Why didn’t you come right out and say it?” I said.
“Would you have wanted me to? Besides, we found out after they fled.”
I didn’t get the feeling that the women were sharing information. Marcia had stated that the man who fled was not the danger.
“Anything we can do to follow up on this?” I said.
“Like what?”
“You’re the one that works in Intelligence, Sasha. You tell me.”
She looked away. Her cheeks turned red.
I held up my hands. “I’m on edge.”
“I understand, Jack. And I need you to realize that I’m doing everything I can to get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, you’ve got a new responsibility, one that you agreed to. So get in that car and do whatever Marcia Stanton tells you to do.”
“Anything she says?”
“Within reason.” The tension drained from her face. She smiled, reached out and touched my cheek. “Be careful. Check in with me in the morning before you guys leave.”
“OK.”