“What’s this?” Tony asked, not in a whisper, looking at Faulkner. The man next to him said nothing. The colonel looked at the face under a hat, behind the shades. Maybe a hint of recognition, but clearly, not Dan.
“What do you want?” Faulkner asked.
“I want this conversation to be private," Tony stated calmly. "If this asshole doesn’t go away now, whatever he's pressing against my ribs will be shoved right up his ass.” He'd turned to face the man next to him as he said this, saw nothing in the eyes looking back.
There was a very brief exchange of looks between them, then the colonel nodded. Tony’s bench buddy did a quick one-handed pat down of Tony’s waist, then pocketed what he held in his right hand, slid out and walked over to the bar where he sat on a stool, facing the two at the table.
“Now, what do you want?” Faulkner repeated. “What I want, Colonel, is to make certain that when you meet with a mutual acquaintance of ours, it remains a friendly meeting. It appears you don’t necessarily share the same desire, based on your dickhead friend over there.”
“Considering what Hardesty's mixed up in," the colonel’s reply was caustic, "I hardly expect it to be a friendly meeting.”
“Okay. Fair enough. You're both anxious. Let’s start there and try this again. Maybe we can have a better outcome than what would have erupted here. Wanna try again tomorrow?”
“All right," he nodded, "tomorrow. Same time. Tell Hardesty I don’t have time to waste if he doesn’t want to show up.”
Tony nodded, slid out from the table, then walked over to the bar. He leaned in so that the man there could not miss his whisper.
“If we should meet again, keep your dick in your pants if you don’t want to lose it, fuckhead.”
He straightened, walked out of the lounge, out of the building and turned toward the back of the lot, watching over his shoulder to see if his pals had emerged. Nobody came out of the building as he got to the car, where he slid into the passenger seat.
Both he and Dan hunkered down so that a casual glance would not see their heads through the windshield and while they peeked over the dashboard to watch the doors, Tony briefed Dan on the meeting.
As they'd imagined might happen, about a twenty-minute, two-cocktail slam later, the colonel emerged from the building and got into his car. They watched it lurch into the street from the parking lot, entering moderate traffic and its driver, perhaps a bit fuzzy, and certainly pissed off, barely glanced at rear view mirrors as he cruised toward home.
◆◆◆
Faulkner's mind stumbled ahead, thinking about tomorrow and how best to deal with Hardesty, and consequently, gave no thought or attention to the sedan that pulled out and into the afternoon traffic behind him.
Twenty minutes later, his backtrack drive transformed into a gently rolling suburb of large homes on huge lots, in Silver Springs. As he pulled up into a driveway that bisected the properties of his and his neighbor’s home, he remained oblivious to the car that was just then cruising slowly past the driveway on Live Oak Drive.
97. CLOSING THE JAWS
From the passenger seat, Dan watched the back end of the car as it blended into the afternoon shadows of the driveway's border shrubbery. I'm waist deep in a gulley full of the very shit I hate. When this is done, I have to start over, get further away from old trails. Done with this!
Things had mushroomed over the course of handfuls of hours, and looked like it could finish one of two ways. One direction could end his mission on the planet, and soon, and involved him doing nothing, other than wait. The other path required that he keep his hand on the tiller, steer this in a direction of his choosing.
Either way, he wasn’t enthusiastic about options. He wasn't ready to lay down, allow these events to dictate his future. Tony convinced him that they needed to apply significant pressure on Faulkner in order to get him to admit any mishandling on his part.
By 0500 the next morning, they were coffee’d up, waiting down the road from Faulkner’s home. At 0622, they watched the colonel’s sedan appear at the end of the driveway, pull out into the street and enter the road.
Fifteen minutes later, their rental car was not quite parked and not quite in the road, but blocking enough of the driveway to prevent a vehicle from getting in or out.
They had the hood up and while Tony sat behind the wheel, Dan stood at the front, looking busy about wiggling wires, checking connections to the engine. He had the ground wire battery connection loose so that it easily slid off the post. He could tweak it to allow the car to almost start, tweak it to kill the power.
Now they had to wait, but not for long. At 0710, as they continued their broken down charade, Claire Faulkner came walking down the driveway with her two daughters to wait for the school bus.
When they first appeared around the curve of the driveway, Tony's camera, nestled in the crook of his arm, captured a few quick photographs. Then he returned to being a frustrated driver trying to get his car started while his friend screwed around under the hood.
◆◆◆
Nearing the sidewalk, Claire realized that car was blocking the driveway, watched them with sideways glances as she chatted with her daughters. The car almost started a couple times. Within a couple minutes, the bus arrived, the girls were on board and the bus drove away.
"Do you want me to call a tow truck?" Claire asked Dan, looking at him from where she stood on the sidewalk. "I can go inside and call someone if you need."
"I'm so sorry," he apologized. "Would you mind? That would be great.”
She turned to leave, and Dan swiftly closed the distance, got behind her.
“Mrs. Faulkner, don’t move. If you love your kids and husband, you need to come with me.”
She wheeled around at her name, finding herself face to face with this man. He looked deadly serious and a quick glance at the other man confirmed it. He'd stepped out of the car, was watching, waiting. The man standing in front of her informed her that she would not have a chance at getting away. She briefly pondered fighting, but digging up self-defense training seemed like a foggy distance away from the here and now.
“What do you want?” was all she could ask before the man placed his hand on her forearm and steered her to the car.
“Please don’t do this. Please don’t hurt us.”
He walked her to the car’s back door where the other stood, and he said in a low voice, “Keep these on.”
He placed sunglasses on her face and eased her down onto the seat. The glasses were immediately disorienting for her and she allowed the strong arms to set her down and then assist in turning her to sit facing forward. He reached across her to connect the shoulder restraint, asking her for her first name.
“Claire” she responded and before closing the door, he said softly, “You’ll be fine, Claire.”
He walked around and entered the back seat from the other side. She turned to look at him but the glasses completely distorted his image. She found that in looking through them, her eyes immediately strained to focus, leading to a wave of nausea. She turned her head back to face forward and closed her eyes. While this was happening, the other man had returned to the front of the car where he pounded on something, then dropped the hood. He got back in and started the car and they drove slowly out of the neighborhood.
98. GLADYS
Gladys Humphreys wasn't a busy-body! She always drank her morning’s second cup of coffee while sitting in the living room, looking out the window on the morning’s activities.
She didn’t want to add to the local gossip about her being nosey, but the fact that she just watched her neighbor get into that car with those two men didn’t seem right to her.
She'd first noticed them when they rolled up across the street, blocking the Faulkner's driveway. Sipping at her coffee, she watched them, could hear the car almost start a couple times. She wanted so badly to tell someone. She could try Alfred’s cell phone, but he refused to answer it while driving, and would only retu
rn her call after he got to the office.
She picked up the phone, thinking instead that she might call a friend, then stopped. It was still pretty early. In addition, Alfred was always telling her to mind her own business. Would this be any different? One thing was certain. Alfred had seemed particularly edgy and quick to anger lately. She didn’t need to add to that.
She placed the phone down and went into the kitchen to wash the breakfast dishes and watch the morning show on TV.
99. PACKAGE SECURE
The rental car traveled southwest, and Tony encouraged her to relax as possible, reiterated that their plan was to keep her safe and secure, that no harm would come to her or to her children.
“But what about my husband?” left a cool stillness in the moving car, and Tony didn't respond.
“You realize that harm to my husband will be harm to us, don’t you?” Tony gave a small nod she might have seen.
After a moment, he said to her, “Your husband’s future will depend on his actions. There are some things we have no control over.”
Tony was silent for a minute or so, and Claire remained quiet as well. He'd been thinking about her upcoming role and had discussed possibilities with Dan in their planning. He made the decision to proceed, knowing that it was fair that if she didn’t know anything about her husband’s line of work, she should understood some of the risks he faced.
◆◆◆
“Claire, do you know what your husband does for the military?”
She didn't reply, having already considered the possibility that these two were spies or foreign agents or something.
“That’s okay. We know part of his job description. He is directly involved with operations involving drone surveillance and similar functions. Do you know what else he does?”
She didn't want to talk about Sam’s work. She knew she wasn't allowed, yet here she was, feeling like her children’s lives, Sam’s and her life might be at risk if whatever happened here and now didn't go well.
I'll do whatever it takes to prevent a family tragedy. Claire knew that Sam had top security clearance, dealing with the drone program and that whatever he did beyond that, he didn’t share it with her.
There were several times in their life together, and even more so recently, when Sam was so distant, had seemed so far away, that while sitting at the dinner table, he might as well have been on the moon. There had been hints of problems at work on numerous occasions, but anytime she'd asked if there was anything she could do, Sam had replied that she shouldn't ask, couldn't know what he was doing. Those types of replies had scared the hell out of her.
◆◆◆
“Claire, I'm not going to tell you a lot about your husband’s work. I will tell you that over the last half of his career, he's been involved in some of the highest security level activities taking place in other nations and in our own country."
"I know this," Tony continued, "because I've been involved in some of the very same activities. Your husband not only directs drone programs around the world, but also serves in a much more secretive capacity.”
“He acts as a government contact point for some very dedicated people," Tony went on, "who work completely anonymously, outside of what one would consider normal military operations, both here and abroad. These people rely on him as a vital link and on occasion, have to entrust their very lives on this relationship.” Tony let that settle and decided that it was enough, at least for now.
He reminded her to stay calm and informed her that she'd be talking to her husband soon. Claire tried to look at the man next to her a couple times by keeping her head forward, casting her eyes to the side to look between her cheek and the dark lens, but the glasses were a wrap-around type that did not allow much of a side view and caused more eye strain.
“Can you tell me what this is about? Maybe I can help you. Please tell me.”
“Our business issues will have to be discussed with your husband. I'm sorry."
The conversation ended and they continued in silence, each of them deep in thought.
◆◆◆
Dan drove to Chantilly, near the motel where they were staying under alias, and pulled into a business section of the Chantilly Shopping Center. There was a Walmart and many small fast food and medium-sized restaurants close by.
Their plan included the need for short-term food and beverages and a few miscellaneous items, but the priority was to determine if this location would serve more important purposes. Dan parked the car amidst a cluster of others, turned toward the back seat and handed the car key to Tony as he asked Claire what she would eat and drink.
“I don’t want anything.” Dan reminded her that their short time together required her cooperation in order to keep it a calm time.
“All right, anything. A cheeseburger, a burrito, some kind of sandwich, whatever is easy. If I could get a bottle of water or some kind of juice, that would be good.”
“Great. Thanks, Claire.” With eyebrows raised at Tony for feedback, and receiving a thumb’s up, he continued, “I'll try not to keep you guys waiting too long.” Dan turned back in his seat and exited the car.
He walked across the lot and entered the Walmart, where he worked his way around the store with a cart. In the hardware aisle, he picked up a small bundle of cordage, a roll of duct tape, and a spray can of varnish. In the automotive section next to it, he grabbed a bottle of motor oil, added to the basket. He picked up a dozen hand-held 'meals', a six-pack of soda, a couple juice bottles, a package of bottled water and an assortment of candy and granola bars.
After making those purchases, he returned to the car and placed them on the front seat, handed two bottles of water back to Tony.
"Okay. One more errand. I'll be back soon."
He walked the other way, crossing a street, and entered a building that appeared to have several food options. He did some quick recon and found what he was hoping for.
The building offered many choices for the public to access and importantly, had an employee only entrance to the back areas where deliveries were made. He walked in that direction, looking around discreetly to see if any employees were near, then stepped through the “Employees Only” marked door that led to the service and delivery area.
From there, it was easy to see that this restricted area serviced the restaurants and a couple other store backs and could easily serve them in their needs. Satisfied with the location, he returned to where the car was parked and got in.
“Was there anything else either of you might like while we’re here?” Dan asked, and they both shook their heads. He got into the driver’s seat, belted in, drove them out of the parking lot and back in the direction of their motel.
When they arrived, Dan and Tony escorted Claire to the motel room. Dan walked her to a recliner chair and had her sit. Tony went back out to the car and collected the bags of purchased items and returned, setting the bags onto the dresser top.
He pulled the cordage from one of the bags and tossed it to Dan, who used it to bind her to the chair so that she could not stand up. She was again reminded to keep the glasses on. Tony placed a roll of duct tape into her lap and informed her that it was best that she stay quiet, and that if they needed to do so, they would be inclined to gag her. That was enough for her to remain quiet. Dan tuned the television to an entertainment channel and set the volume low.
There was no conversation in the room. About an hour later, Dan selected a sandwich and brought it and another bottle of water over to where Claire sat. When he offered them to her, she asked if she could use the bathroom and Dan agreed, untying the rope that kept her in the chair. He walked her to the bathroom door and opened it, stepped aside to let her pass.
“Claire, don't lock the door, please. We will not be coming in unless we hear anything other than your use of the toilet or the sink, and I can assure you, the door lock won't slow us down. Is that clear?”
She nodded her agreement.
While she was occupied, Tony spent
a couple minutes gathering up the personal items they'd brought into the room, and when everything was collected into a duffel, he placed it by the door. About two minutes later, Claire left the bathroom, the sunglasses still in place and Dan walked her back to the chair.
“Can we leave this rope off, Claire?”
"Oh, please. Thank you."
They began to eat, and as they did, Claire spoke up.
“You men have been very nice, polite, but I'm worried. Our girls ride the bus home from school and I need to meet them when they get home. They won’t know what to do if I'm not there.”
“Claire, we have an appointment to meet with your husband this afternoon,” replied Dan. “We'll be having you speak with him at that time, but not until then.”
“But what about our kids? Please. It must be getting late and our girls come home from school at 2:30.”
“I’ll tell you what I can do for you, Claire. I'll allow you to call your neighbor or a friend whom you trust, so that you can ask the big favor of meeting your daughters. Whoever you call, you can assure them that you will back home before dinner time.”
100. BIRD FOR THE ROASTER
Robbie was the only passenger on the executive jet that flew to Dulles Airport, then taxied in front of a private terminal. He collected his duffel, walked out of the terminal’s front entry and flagged down a cab, directing the driver to take him to a car rental agency a few miles away.
After securing a sedan using false identification, he drove out to a neighborhood nearby. He roamed, searching, then selected an older model Ford pick-up truck that would serve his purpose. He parked the rental car around the block, and with his duffel in hand, walked back to where the truck was located.
He was inside of the locked truck in seconds with the help of a slim-jim, and within two minutes, had connected wires from under the dash and started the truck. He drove away from the neighborhood, proceeded in the direction of a military complex where he knew that Colonel Faulkner spent his working day.
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