Assassin Affairs
Page 34
“I've heard they're around four thousand feet, kid. This reminds me of the old days when we all lived in L.A. and enjoyed the sunsets.”
“Do you miss my mom and Danny?”
“I do. I especially miss the mother-daughter invitations. Do you think the offer is still open-ended?”
“It is as far as I'm concerned, and I've never heard her say otherwise. Those times were a blast. It's Danny who nixed it when you pissed him off. My Aunt Jenny lives with them now.”
“Yeah, I know. I introduced her to the lifestyle and the subject came up,” said Renée.
“You and my aunt!? Geez, does your sleaze know no bounds?”
“She was bi-curious. I was only helping.”
“Uh huh, helping yourself. I don't care to hear the details.”
“I wonder if it's time to for me to mend fences, make amends with Jo and Danny,” said Renée.
“Probably, but you'll have to play into Danny's weakness.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know his love for family affairs; get him interested in the three sisters. Make it clear that his path to them is only through you. He'll be like putty in your hands.”
“It sounds like you've been putting some thought into this.”
“I miss those times. The last time I spoke with my mom, I casually mentioned some sexual stuff about the sisters. She'll tell him, his interest will be aroused. I'd like for the four of us to be together again.”
“Me too,” said Renée.
“If you had let her use a condom that night, everything might be different now.”
“I know, Jess. I've given that a lot of thought.”
“And?”
“And I'd do it all over again,” she said with a chuckle. “That look on Joanna's face the first time Danny was making love to her was priceless, especially right at the end! It's forever etched into my memory. What's your favorite recollection from that night, Jess? Was it when we revealed you'd been watching us having sex with your mom all night through the slats in the closet door and you came out and said we should continue and pretend you weren't even there?”
“That was definitely a rush, but my all-time best memory was from earlier in the evening when you manipulated her into getting down on her knees, literally begging you and Danny to go to bed with her. That was truly inspiring.”
“Thanks!”
“By the way, there's something I’ve been meaning to talk with you about, Renée. Back when Pepper was still CIA Director, and Julie and Kacey were there on a regular basis, working on her special computer hacking projects and accommodating her under her desk, they got to know an interesting couple in the cafeteria named Samantha and Dexter Douglas.”
“Oh, how interesting were they?”
“During their daily small talk chatter, the subject of celebrities came up. Dex mentioned that he had once been a bodyguard for my mom before he got married, about twenty years ago. That was back in her flirtatious phase, if you catch my drift.”
“Huh?”
“They said I have his eyes.”
“Oh, kid, I hope you're not still harboring the fantasy of finding your dad. Don't get your hopes up. It's probably all lunchroom bullshit. Do you know the odds?”
“Hey, you should know better than anybody, Renée, what it's like!”
“Yeah, okay, I'll give you that. Why didn't you tell me about this before?”
“I didn't want to jinx it. I've been doing due diligence on the couple in my spare time. That's why I suggested we hide-out here in Hawaii. They're going to be celebrating their twentieth anniversary on Kauai. The girls got this photo of him in the agency parking lot.”
“He looks a little like Danny.”
“And they're both ex-Special Forces, too,” said Jessie.
“Do you know where they'll be staying?”
Jessie nodded.
“Of course you do.”
Jessie pointed up. There was a luxury hotel on top of the cliff. “They will be arriving today. It's not like I can call his room and say 'hey, I might be your daughter', so I thought we could check-in and hang out by the pool for a few days, maybe meet them there casually. What do you think?”
It was mid-morning the next day when they spotted them at the crowded poolside. Renée tipped the attendant to set up an adjacent table, and the foursome spent the better part of an hour chatting about the islands.
“You both look a little familiar,” observed the wife. “Have we met before?”
“Oh, I get that a lot,” said Jessie. “My name is Jessica Jennings.” She didn't say anything further, letting the name sink in for a moment.
The married couple was only half-listening as they read through their tourist brochures. What Dex missed, his wife picked up on in a flash. They had both been with the famous Joanna Jennings many years earlier when a terrorist cell had launched a beachside attack on the Space Shuttle. Years later, both had watched Jessica's kidnapping episode unfold on television. There was no chance this meeting was a coincidence. How had this young woman gotten a line on Dex? Was she for real? Sam's eyes opened wide as she continued reading, feigning indifference to the name.
The expression didn't escape Jessie. “Find something interesting?” she coyly inquired.
“So many places to see, so many things to do, and so little time,” she responded. A moment later she tried to covertly snap a photograph with her smartphone.
“Please don't do that,” requested Renée.
“Do what?”
“Using facial recognition software is like smoking cigarettes. Both can be hazardous to one's health. We're here as friends, otherwise you'd be dead already.”
That line got Dex's full attention.
“It was just a photo,” Sam said.
“You and I both know that's not true, honey. It's paramount that our whereabouts remains off the grid. We're black-ops, sort of,” revealed Jessie. “Shall we call you Samantha, or do you prefer to go by Jane on vacations?”
Jane was her real name, the one her kids knew her by. Only her CIA boss and her husband knew both names, or so she had thought. Julie and Kacey had hacked the information while at Langley.
“Who are you people?”
“Like I said, we're friends, maybe more. That's what we're here to find out,” said Jess.
Sam's eyes drifted over to her beach bag.
“Forget about it,” said Renée with her New Yorker accent. “That would be so not a good idea.” She glanced down at her own beach bag, implying they were both armed, and they were.
“I'm sorry,” said Dex. “I wasn't paying attention before. What did you say your name is, dear?”
“Jessica Jennings. I do believe you knew my mother, sir.”
“And you were born when?”
She told him. He did the math.
“This is interesting. I never knew. Your mom had lots of special friends back then. I left her employ several months after we had been together and never saw her again,” Dex revealed. “How is she? Does she ever talk about me?”
“She's okay. And no, never. How about a DNA test, Mr. Douglas?”
“I'd like that. Oh my God, I might have a kid, Samantha!”
“How do you feel about that, sir?” asked Jess.
“You mentioned 'black-ops, sort of'; perhaps a chip off the old block. Care to elaborate, Jessica? And please call me Dex, not Mr. Douglas or sir.”
“She has your eyes, honey,” observed his wife.
“Suffice it to say we knew Pepper,” said Jessie.
Sam began to feel more uncomfortable with their new friends and whispered, “So you knew the just-assassinated Vice President, you're sort of black-ops, secrecy of your whereabouts is paramount, and you know both my names. This is not a warm and fuzzy scenario.”
“I admit it's not the best of timing. Perhaps we should come back another day,” said Jessica, standing up to leave. “When I recently found out about this possible connection, I became obsessed with learni
ng the truth. Maybe now isn't the time.”
“I can understand that,” said Dex. “Now is good.”
Samantha looked over at Renée. “And why do I feel a sense of familiarity with you, too? What's your name?”
“Renée.”
“Are you ashamed of your last name?”
“I never use it.”
“Make an exception,” Sam requested.
“McGillicuddy.”
Samantha leaned closer, examining her facial features.
“What?” asked Renée, not appreciating the violation of her personal space.
“That's it, that's why you look familiar! You're Sandy's kid, aren't you?”
Renée's mouth dropped open in shock. “You know my dad?!”
“He was one of my mentors twenty years ago when I first started with the company, and then we lost touch. I owe him a lot.”
Jessie spent an hour bringing Sam and Dex up to date on her life, minus the incriminating details. She told them the horrors of the kidnapping, about the rescue of Kacey, about how she had rescued teammates in Thailand by flying them out in a chopper, and then embellished on some of the other tales. Sam shared some stories of working with Renée's dad.
“We're going now,” said Jessie as she pulled out two baggies, each containing a cotton swab. “We'd both love to stay, but it's too risky for everybody.” She swabbed her mouth for DNA, then had Dex do likewise. Each kept the other's swab for independent tests.
“How can I contact you?” asked Dex.
“You can't. If these results come back as a match, may I contact you again?” Jess asked.
“You'd better! I'd like to hear from you regardless, Jessica. Here, I'm writing down both of our cell numbers for you.”
A moment later they were gone. Dex looked at Sam and said, “Someday I'd love to hear all the parts she left out.”
Renée and her dad had established a clandestine method of communicating. Anytime he found even the hint of new information on the Ruling Council, he passed it along. She let him know of her contact with Samantha. He responded that he remembered her as a friend and felt that she could be trusted. He also added an update on the one member of the council that he had been tracking. He finally had an address.
“Jessie, my dad's found the location of that council member! He goes by the code name 'Samson' and he lives outside Los Angeles.”
“Cool, let's go get him. Maybe we could stop by and pay Joanna and Danny a visit since we'll be in the neighborhood.”
“Business first, pleasure second, kid.” They caught the next flight out to L.A.
“Geez, Renée, are you sure we've got the right place?” Both had been expecting to find Samson living in a palatial estate. What they found was a modest rural home.
“No, this can't be right. This is like finding that the great, mysterious wizard behind the curtain is really not what he seems.”
“Yeah, or like that multibillionaire who lives in a humble home in the boonies. Life is full of surprises. That's what keeps it interesting, I guess,” said Jessie. “Maybe it's a trap. Maybe we should surveil it for a couple of days.”
“And maybe we'd lose the element of surprise in the meantime, or maybe he'd score a hit on one of our family members. Let's make our move.”
“Maybe they don't even know who we are. Pepper always kept us off-book, played everything pretty close to the vest, on a need-to-know basis.”
“She had the sisters in her office regularly. Karlee and Kristie were pretty famous at one time, so easy to track. They could find their parents. Plus, when Pepper froze all our assets while in Thailand, there'd be a paper trail there, Jess.”
Renée made her move, Jessie followed. A moment later they were inside the house, catching Samson off-guard. He was home alone and had been preoccupied with a project on the laptop.
“Put your hands where we can see them!” shouted one of them.
Startled, Samson fumbled for the desk drawer, pulled out a pistol and prepared to fire. Before he could get off a shot, both assassins double-tapped a few rounds into his chest and he slumped over.
“Damn, I wish he wouldn't have done that. I wanted to ask him a bunch of questions,” said Renée.
“Things are rarely that easy in this business. Let's see what we can find on his laptop. Maybe there's a Delilah.”
Renée pushed his body aside and got comfortable in his chair. “Look at this, Jess! He was working on his banking page.”
“Holy smokes. There's a billion dollars in this account! Why was he living like this? And with no security?!”
“When someone is poor and dumb, they're called stupid. When wealthy and dumb, it's called eccentric. He was eccentric, hon. When I was working for Uncle Chip, he had me set-up an offshore bank account. I thought it was a silly idea at the time, but it came in handy when Pepper froze our U.S. assets and when I was living off-the-grid in the South Pacific. It's gonna come in really handy right now, Jessie!”
“What do you mean?”
“I've memorized my bank routing and account numbers. Let's try a little experiment and see what happens.”
Renée clicked on a few links, typed in some information, and clicked send.
“Holy shit, Jessica! A billion dollars just disappeared from his account. I hope it goes through. Being offshore, it'll take a while to show up in my bank if it works.”
“Hey, don't forget about your loyal and faithful partner!”
“Let's see what else is on here,” said Renée as she excitedly searched Samson's electronic files. “There are more bank accounts! It looks like we'll need the passwords for them. There are numerous emails from his associates. We need to get our two computer aces out here. Maybe they can find them through IP address tracking.”
“Let's just take the laptop to them,” suggested Jess. “Is there a Delilah on there? Who are the other council members? How many are there?”
They spent the next few hours exploring for information, then stumbled onto a shocker.
“He has a file on Briana! There's a transfer of a million dollars to an account for her! That freaking bitch is a mole for the council! There's a new email on here from her giving their location outside Philadelphia. Oh my God, I bet it's for a hit!”
Renée immediately pulled out her throw-away cell phone and promptly dialed Kacey's emergency-only cell number.
“Hello? Renée? What's up?” Kacey asked anxiously as she went into the bathroom for quiet and privacy.
“Are you outside Philadelphia?” She read off the address on Samson's laptop.
“Yes, we were there an hour ago. We've moved on. How did you know?!”
“Oh good, I'm glad you guys are safely out of there.” She went on to explain how she knew, then took a few minutes to reminisce about their last experience together in the apartment. “Kacey, I was afraid I was going to lose you. You are very special to me. I want you to know how much you are appreciated. Sometimes I don't put things into words very well. I loved the way you initiated the triple tasting party back in Colorado, and the way you had sex with your sister's husband for me, and the way you introduced me to the pleasures of the whip.” Renée was in a particularly good mood having just transferred a billion dollars to her offshore account. “Is there some way I can express my gratitude?”
“Well, it does look like I'm about to be out one sex slave. Briana has kind of spoiled me, so there is one thing I would like to ask of you, Renée.”
“Name it and it's yours.”
“I want Julie. I want to have her permanently, not just on loan. I want to own her outright and irrevocably. The way she and I have flip-flopped between dom and sub has been fun, but I want you to give her to me totally so that I can have her as my full-time slave like Briana was, and I'd like to keep baby Juliette. What do you say to that?”
“Done and done! As of now, you own both to do with as you please. Happy, Kacey?”
“Totally, and so looking forward to our next session together!”
This was their secret code for meet at noon tomorrow at your main metro area library.
“Roger that,” said Kacey. “Anything else?”
“Interrogate Briana. Ask her about the names Samson and Delilah. See what you can get out of her. She's got a million dollars somewhere. If your group can find it, you can have it. Other than that, you know what has to be done with her. Give my best to Ashley.”
As soon as they were done with the call, Renée and Jessie packed up Samson's laptop and left.
Meanwhile, back in suburban Philadelphia, the group was curious.
“Why did Renée call? What's the emergency?” asked Ashley as the foursome sat together in a motel room with baby Juliette.
She brought them up to date, and they moved Briana into the bathroom for an interrogation. It was easier to clean up blood there, and would spare the baby from the unpleasantness. They began badgering her for information on Samson, Delilah and the money.
Kacey bitch-slapped her hard. “Tell us what we want to know, or we'll kill the baby!” She didn't mean it and was looking forward to inheriting the child, but wanted to intimidate her.
Briana couldn't help them with the names. She had been approached anonymously, but she did reveal where she had hidden the money.
“Do one of you guys want to have the honors, or shall I?” asked Kacey, attaching the silencer to her Glock pistol.
Both nodded the go ahead and looked on with mixed emotions as she fired a bullet into Briana's head. They moved the limp body into the tub and closed the shower curtain. As they began to pack their suitcases, Kacey shared the other details.
“Renée was in a surprisingly good mood today, Jules. I'm not sure why she was, but I took advantage of it. I got her to agree to let our relationship be permanent! You're no longer merely on loan to me.”
A delighted Julie beamed approvingly.
“We also get to keep Juliette.”
“How did you pull that off, Kace? You must have really made her happy that day in the apartment.”