by L. T. Ryan
What if the guy that got away had already reported that I was with her? The Old Man just played me like a two-dollar fiddle.
23
Lexi stopped talking mid-sentence and she and her father stared at me like I was a crazy man busting down their screen door.
I took a moment to catch my breath following the sprint to the house.
“What is it?” she asked, walking toward me.
“We need to separate,” I said. “And you need to get out of here.”
“Jack, what are you talking about?”
I stood just inside the front door. The dog followed me in, nuzzled his head against my outer thigh. I felt uncomfortable being in the house even with our head start. They couldn’t track me until they had the number, and chances are they only found out about it recently, otherwise the Old Man would’ve called sooner. I’d place my bet that whoever the Old Man was going to send was based in Chicago, worst case would be Indianapolis, in which case we had more than half-an-hour lead time.
“Look at this.” I met Lexi halfway, pulled out the phone, and showed her the pictures the Old Man had sent to me.
“OK,” she said. “That’s me. And…?”
“Someone sent those to me, and thinks you’re involved with Thanos’s disappearance.”
She put her hands on her hips and took a half-step back. “We both know that’s not true.”
I had to spell it out. “Lexi, this person doesn’t know that you and I are working together. Get it?”
“Then why’d they send you my…” She leaned back against the wall and wrapped her hands around the back of her head. “Shit.”
“Shit is right,” I said. “There’s a contract out on your life, and they want me to fulfill it. And to make matters worse—”
“What could possibly be worse?” her father said.
“—they called me. On a burner phone. That means they know where we’re at right now. I don’t know how much time we have, but we can’t waste any of it. Someone is gonna show up here sooner or later, and I’m betting all my money on sooner.”
The old guy shook his head, spat into the sink. “Come on, girl. I can take you and the dog to my hunting cabin. Ain’t no one gonna find us out there.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Tell me who,” she said. “Who’s doing this?”
I shook my head. “Lexi, I can’t do that.”
“Is it the SIS?”
“SIS?” her father said. “Son, is that who you work for?”
I said nothing to him. “No, it’s not them, Lex. Another organization. I can’t explain right now. We don’t have time for this, you need to get moving.”
“You sure? I spoke to your guy, Frank. He might’ve—”
“No, he wouldn’t have,” I said. “A move against an FBI agent wouldn’t come from him. He doesn’t have that kind of power.”
“But the people who control his budget do,” her father said.
“It’s not like that, sir.” I reached for Lexi, but she pulled away. I walked over to the table and wrote down a number on a scratch pad, then tore a few extra sheets of paper off in order to eliminate anyone finding the indentation. “I want you to get a good distance from here and pick up a phone from a drug store. You call this number later and it’s gonna ring to me. It’s an untraceable line. Not even the NSA can hack it.”
The old guy leaned in and whispered something to his daughter. Lexi looked at him and he nodded reassuringly while squeezing her hand.
“Jack, there’s something you should know. It might help you make sense of all this.”
I shook my head. “I already know. They washed you out after your incident while undercover and tried to put you in witness protection. You already mentioned you’re AWOL. We don’t have time to get into it right now. We each need to create some distance from this place. But I need you to tell me the names of the two men from that meeting and what Thanos’s connection was to them.”
The dog started growling. All three of us turned toward the front door. Somewhere beyond the trees, tires crunched along the gravel driveway.
“I got an ATV parked out back.” Her father leashed the dog and led him to the back of the house. “Lexi, let’s get moving. Jack, I got an AR-15 behind the fridge. It’s ready to go, thirty rounds and a spare mag on top of the fridge.”
“Jack,” Lexi said.
“Go. I’ll take care of whoever’s out there.” I grabbed her wrist and placed the paper with my number on it in the palm of her hand. “Don’t stop at the first place for a phone. I guarantee if there’s cameras, they’ll get a hold of the footage. If they can spot you, they can get the number of the phone you purchased. It’ll be game over then and you won’t even know they’re coming.”
She leaned in and kissed my cheek. The lingering wetness absorbed her hot breath. “I’ll call you tonight.”
As they exited through the rear of the house, I heard her father say, “Nothing going on between you two, huh?”
I pulled the refrigerator out a foot and grabbed the rifle. It was equipped with a red dot scope. I flipped the safety off, chambered a round. The soft hum of an idling engine was all I could hear. I moved to the front window, hoping the layer of dirt and grime would hide me from view. Scanning the front yard, I spotted the car in the woods, made out the grill and hood. Looked like a black Chevy Tahoe.
A door opened and slammed shut three seconds later. The engine cut off. Another door opened and closed. Two men emerged from the trees. They wore long black coats, black pants, sunglasses. They had arrived too quickly for the Old Man to be involved. Even if he knew my exact location, it’d take time to get his guys here.
Were they Feds?
It made sense only if the FBI knew where Lexi’s father hid out. Considering his background, I assumed someone kept tabs on the guy. Old spooks make for nasty skeletons when they get lost in the closet. The Bureau wouldn’t actively monitor him, though. Sharing was the buzzword in this day and age of real and immediate threats of terrorism. But the kindness only went so far, especially without hard evidence. Chances of the Agency revealing the locations of retired operators to anyone not on a need-to-know basis were slim to none.
Could the FBI have been tracking Lexi, and by proxy me, the whole time? Why wait until now to take her down, though? They could have easily nabbed us last night in the motel.
A diesel engine chugged to life in the distance, maybe a quarter mile away. The guy in a wool cap signaled to the other and they slipped back into the woods. The SUV’s engine turned over. A few seconds later I lost sight of them, and not long after that it fell silent.
I pulled up the snapshot of the area in my mind. From what I saw on our drive in, there wasn’t another road other than the ones we came in on for miles. Lexis’s father would have other ways out, of course. He might even have a way to get to that hunting cabin using trails and fire roads. Would be better for the both of them if that were the case. It seemed they’d be OK for now. If somehow they ended up in a shootout, I placed the odds in Lexi and her father’s favor. They knew the terrain here, knew what spots offered the best vantage points.
I exited the house, rifle in hand, and set out on foot into the woods. I made my way through the tangle of brush and trees. The clearing beyond was empty. The road, too. Whoever it was had gone, and I figured it was time I did the same.
The rental wouldn’t make it across the land behind the house. The only available route out was the way we had come in. My plan was to get to the highway and start back toward Chicago. I put the rifle in the trunk then headed out with the windows down and the radio and fan off. The frigid air intensified, but it was necessary for a few miles. The men could be waiting, hidden on a driveway or tucked in behind a cluster of trees. If that V-8 roared to life, I needed to know so I could create as much distance as possible between us.
By the time I reached the end of the narrow country road, I couldn’t feel my face. I checked the rearview, holding my gaze steady
for several seconds. No one had followed me out. I rolled the window up and blasted the heat on high.
A quarter-mile later the car dinged at me a couple times and the gas light cut on. I recalled a gas station not far from the diner where we’d eaten breakfast, ten minutes away at most. I passed five cars and two eighteen-wheelers during the ride over.
The gas station lot was empty except for a late-eighties model Buick parked on the side, in front of the propane tank cage. The sun reflected off the store’s glass front. I shielded my eyes but couldn’t see anything inside. I pulled up next to the pumps. A sign said, “Cash Only - Pay Inside First.”
The glare intensified as I walked up to the store. Heat radiated at me so intensely that by the time I reached the entrance it felt close to sixty degrees. I went inside where I was greeted by an elderly woman who didn’t bother to look up from the tabloid spread across the counter.
“Twenty dollars on two,” I said.
She raised her hand and nodded without making eye contact.
“Coffee fresh?” I asked.
She nodded again, said nothing.
“Go ahead and add that as well.”
“It’s on the house, hon,” she said.
I poured a cup, dropped a twenty and a five on the counter, and left the store. The sun prevented me from seeing anything. At least the canopy over the pumps would provide a little relief.
I was halfway across the parking lot when I heard the sound of a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. The black Tahoe I’d seen in the woods swerved onto the shoulder and was headed right for the gas station. Its outer wheels crashed against the curb. The driver slammed on the brakes, skidded across the parking lot, and came to a screeching stop on the other side of the rental, blocking the front escape. Doors opened, boots hit the ground. I couldn’t tell how many men there were.
To either side of me was nothing but road shoulder and woods. Behind me was the store, and behind that, more trees. The fastest path to cover was the store. I had to hope there was a back exit. I dropped my coffee, lowered my center of gravity a couple inches and turned to sprint.
“Don’t move, Jack!”
24
Two silhouettes stood out in the brightness on opposite ends of the SUV. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like a third person remained inside the vehicle behind the wheel. The Tahoe’s engine gurgled in silence.
“You’re covered, man,” the guy said
Would they get into a shootout here, gas pumps between us? Hell, all I had to do was shoot one and hope I could run fast enough to get out of the explosion. I reached for my hip. A gunshot tore through the still air. Whatever birds had remained for the winter booked it out of there, squawking as they hauled off in fifth gear to get away from the gas station. I grimaced, waiting for the searing pain to set in.
“That was just a warning shot,” the guy said. “One more move, you die.”
I held my hands out wide. “You wouldn’t go through all this to kill me.”
“You’re right,” he said. “But I’ve got no problem shooting you in the knee cap, so put ‘em up, man.”
I had little choice with no escape path and two armed men honing in on me. I lifted my arms upward, palms to the sky. One of the men approached, told me to turn around and face the store. He put his hand on my back.
“Don’t try to be a hero, man.” He worked through my jacket, pulled the pistol on my hip, and the one behind my back. “What the hell were you up to today?”
“Was hoping some ugly bastard would give me a reason to kill him. I’d say you’re pretty damn close if you don’t put my pistols back where you found them.”
The guy chuckled. “You’re not a fucking legend, are you?”
“What’re you talking about?”
“You’re every bit the asshole I heard you were.” The guy yanked me back by my collar and pulled me around to face the SUV.
There in front of the rear passenger door of the SUV stood a man I hadn’t expected to see in Indiana.
“The hell are you doing here?”
“Good to see you, Jack.” Frank Skinner blew into his cupped palms, then pulled on a pair black leather gloves. “Sorry we had to do it this way. Figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to just walk up to you.”
“These assholes your new recruits?” I said.
“You could say that.” He pointed at the guy who’d frisked me. “Gary there is former Army SOF. Miguel’s from Mexico, worked on a cartel task force. We brought him in for his expertise in that area.”
I glanced at each man, then back at Frank. “Nothing better to do today than screw with an old friend?”
Frank laughed. “Friends is kinda harsh, isn’t it? I mean, maybe in the beginning, but…ah, who’m I kidding. I think you’re a sonofabitch and you think I’m a sonofabitch. One of us is right.”
“Maybe both of us.” I jutted my chin toward Gary. “Now that we’re all acquainted, how about returning my pistols.”
Frank nodded at his understudy and held out both firearms, handles toward me. I holstered them then walked up to the SUV. Frank pulled open the rear door and waved me in. After speaking with Gary and Miguel, Frank joined me in the back.
“So what’s this all about?” It was a dumb question. One meant to irritate him. We both knew why he was there. Partially, at least.
“You have a suspended FBI agent call me to verify you and you don’t think I’m gonna follow up on that?” Frank motioned for Gary to pull out of the parking lot. “Christ, Jack, you have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into? Do you know, and I mean really know, who this new girlfriend of yours is and what’s she’s done?”
I wanted to spend as little time as possible in the SUV with Frank and his guys, so there was no point pussyfooting around or trying to piss him off moving forward. I needed additional intel that he might have. Screwing around with him would only encourage him to withhold that information. I took a deep breath to settle my heartrate.
“She went AWOL while on assignment, on a covert op. Her husband got into trouble and she had to make a choice. His life or her career. She chose him even though he was a heartless bastard who didn’t deserve her. Ended up blowing her cover. Because she’d been made, they put her into the protection program, but she couldn’t take it. Too much left undone. I’m not entirely sure on some of the details, the men she was after, or what Thanos has to do with them, but it’s starting to come together.”
Frank stared hard at me for a good five seconds before offering any input. “Close enough.”
“What am I missing?”
“Nothing too important.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a folder bound with red string. He unwound the string, opened it and set it on his lap. It contained a series of photos. The first of which I recognized as Thanos. “OK, you know this guy. How about him?”
It was Ginger, the security guard. “Yeah, I had a run-in with him.”
“Get his name?”
I shook my head.
“We don’t have it either. Best we can tell, he’s from Russia.”
“Sounded American to me.”
Frank altered his accent. “And I can sound like a bloody Brit, can’t I?”
“Point taken.”
“We assume he’s hired security for Thanos.”
“You’d be correct,” I said, leaving out the fact that the last time Thanos had been seen was with Ginger.
“Might be a good idea to track this guy down, see what he knows.” He raised his hand and cut me off. “I know, easier said than done. We’ve got a team working on his location. As soon as we have it, you will, too.”
“Who else you got in there?”
He pulled out a photo of a middle-aged man, maybe fifty. His hair was mostly grey, minimal wrinkles. “This is Will McGrath. He runs the Chicago mob.” He shifted to another photo.
“I know him,” I said.
Frank nodded. “Figured you might recognize him. That’s Jarred Denton, a local politician. Pr
obably seen him in the news being investigated for fraud a year or so ago. DA couldn’t make the charges stick. That’s when they got your FBI friend involved. She worked the mob for eighteen months and finally made it in with McGrath’s inner circle. He secured the meeting with Denton. It was actually their second meeting, the one you referenced. He finally felt comfortable enough with her to hear the pitch.”
“And she blew it.” Another piece in place. “What’s Thanos have to do with this?”
“What we know about Thanos is that he’s a money guy. Doesn’t get his hands too dirty, though. Uses someone like that redheaded security guy, who uses his own guy. That way there’s no direct connection between the underling who carries out the activity and Thanos.”
“If Lexi was trying to protect Thanos—”
“Hold your horses there, partner,” Frank said. “We don’t know what she was doing there. But I’d like to know exactly why you were in his house when those idiots shot the place up and drew every eye in the Midwest to this clusterfuck.”
“He was my mark.”
Frank cleared his throat. “Who gave the order?”
I held his gaze, said nothing.
“Right,” Frank said. “Can’t tell me.”
“You wouldn’t want me to reveal you in a similar situation, right?”
He didn’t answer. “I can also tell you that as of eight this morning a contract has been placed on your friend through unofficial channels. But believe me, it is as official as it comes. You better hope her interest in this jackoff is solid, or the first time someone has her in their crosshairs, she’s done.”
I needed to warn her that the threat to her life was legit, if the pictures I showed her hadn’t done the trick. It was too soon for her to have tried calling, but I needed to get a phone soon. I’d already trashed the phone since the Old Man had compromised it.
“I assume she was back at that house?”
I didn’t answer.
“Would have been better if she hadn’t run. She could’ve helped us fill in these blanks, get things moving.” He paused a few seconds. “There’s still time for that, Jack. If you can reach her—”