by Keith Hughes
“Can I help you?”
Earnest flashed her the fake badge. “Good morning, ma'am,” he said smoothly, smiling back at her. “My name is Detective Pall, and this is Detective Rohr.”
Reed nodded. The older man did not smile but looked slightly less threatening than usual. The clerk looked interested, no doubt questioning what had brought two detectives to her doorstep.
“We are trying to locate this man,” Earnest continued.
Reed placed a surveillance photograph of Relevont and his wife on the counter.
“He may have had this woman with him.”
Cathy stared at the photo for a few seconds. “Yep, he was in here last night. I’d be willing to bet the woman came with him, but she stayed outside. I didn’t get a great look at her.” She turned to the aging computer on the desk and tapped a few keys. “He checked in at 8:58 p.m. and is in room 112.”
Earnest glanced over at Reed, who nodded.
“Is he still here?” Earnest inquired.
The clerk clicked the mouse once. “Well, he hasn't checked out, but not everyone bothers to. Most times, we don't find out people have left until the maid cleans the room.”
“How did he pay?” Reed’s voice sounded like a rockslide. He tried to smile, but the result came off as so hideously strained that Earnest had to suppress a grin of his own.
Far from comforted by Reed's attempt, Cathy looked at him nervously. “Cash, for one night.” Her eyes flitted apprehensively between the two men. “It stood out because most people don't pay that way anymore.”
“Room been cleaned?” Reed probed.
The unease Cathy exhibited with the glowering form of Reed nearly made Earnest smile. It was all part of the plan. At that point, the clerk would do almost anything to get the grizzled mercenary out of her lobby.
She raised a walkie-talkie to her lips. “Consuela, are you there?”
The radio produced a hiss of static before a heavily accented voice came back. “Si, señorita.”
“Have you cleaned room 112 yet?”
“No, señorita. I have two to do before it.”
“Thanks, Consuela,” Cathy said before putting down the radio.
“Can we get a key to the room, ma'am?”
Cathy seemed relieved to turn her attention fully on Earnest again. In fact, he knew from experience that most people were more than happy to give him what he requested instead of dealing directly with Reed again. He was a rabid bulldog but had his uses.
“Sure.” She took a plastic card from a stack and slid it into a machine on the desktop then tapped a few keys on the computer before pulling the card out and handing it to Earnest.
“Is he dangerous?” she asked. “Do I need to clear out the surrounding rooms?”
They had no concerns about any resulting collateral damage, and he did not want the attention an evacuation would engender.
“No, ma'am, this is largely routine. There's no need to inconvenience anyone. Thanks for your help.” Earnest flashed his best smile again, which appeased the woman.
They left the lobby and strolled along the long row of motel rooms.
“Think he's still there?” Reed looked doubtful.
“If he's smart, he cleared out after the ruckus you described.”
Silently, they stepped up to the room’s door. The curtain was closed, moving slightly because of the room's air conditioner. They took positions on either side of the entrance before Earnest inserted the key. The lock gave a quiet beep, and a green light glowed. He glanced over at Reed and saw his right hand clutching his gun, still hidden inside his jacket. Earnest stood in the same position. The older man gestured, and Earnest opened the door.
He waited a tick until the door swung wide and bounced off the wall. After risking a quick peek at the dim interior, he rolled around the doorway and into the room. Reed followed him. Both pulled their guns out, ready to lock onto any and all targets. Reed shut the door, and the darkness deepened until Earnest flipped a light switch.
The bed looked like it had been well used, with the covers mostly on the floor. Earnest knew what he would be doing in there with Relevont's wife, and he grinned as his imagination painted the scene. He’d always had a thing for white women.
Reed paused on the other side of the bed, his gun aimed at the floor, where someone could be hiding. The way his shoulders relaxed confirmed to Earnest that no one was hiding there. He moved to the small bathroom at the rear of the room. After verifying the tub was empty, he put his gun away and called for Reed. When his coworker appeared in the doorway, Earnest indicated the open window.
“I guess he is smart,” he said and passed Reed as he left the bathroom. He threw the key card in the middle of the bed’s rumpled sheets. “Let's go.”
Earnest led the way out of the room. In a minute, they were across the parking lot and climbing into the van, and Earnest pulled out his cell phone and called Karl. He frowned when he got voice mail.
“Karl, this is Williams. We found the motel where the Relevonts stayed last night, but they cleared out. Call me back.”
“Let's go back to the lab,” he said to Harrison, who was concentrating on backing the van out of its parking space.
“You got voice mail?” Reed asked.
Earnest nodded.
“Very odd,” Reed commented, and Earnest silently agreed. In fact, he could not remember another time when it had happened. Karl never let a call go unanswered.
He glanced back to see Reed had his cell phone open, pressing buttons with intense purpose. “What are you doing?”
“Checking Karl's location via GPS,” Reed growled.
“Look, he's probably in the bathroom with this month's edition of East German Playboy.” Earnest grinned at his own joke. He heard a snicker from Harrison, who drove the van out of the parking lot and turned south.
“This says he's at the Rochester-Utica Recreation Area.”
“It's a park,” Harrison offered, sounding surprised.
“So?” Their need to ride to their boss’s rescue exasperated Earnest. “Our lead didn't pan out, so we return to the lab for further orders. S-O-P.”
“Do you believe Karl went there for a little bird watching?” Reed demanded. “Perhaps to work on his tan?”
Earnest frowned as he considered Reed’s comments. Karl had always answered his phone before, and the park was a strange place for the German to be in the middle of the morning. But he’d had enough of Reed’s second-guessing each decision he made. The older man had proved himself too volatile to lead the team. He knew it, Harrison knew it, and he would bet Karl knew it. Because of Karl’s choice not to ordain a leader of their team, they had to work out every choice through arguments.
He blew a breath out through pursed lips. “Is he moving?”
Can Reed hear the defeat in my voice?
The old mercenary tapped some more buttons. “No,” he retorted, and the triumphant tone confirmed that he knew he had won the round. They could not afford to ignore Karl's possible need for assistance.
“Turn around.” Earnest sighed. “Let's go to the park.”
The time was coming when he and Reed would need to have it out, the long-avoided final conflict that would determine who would lead and, likely, who would be buried. Reed would tread on his last nerve at his own peril. One of these days, old man, Earnest thought, you're gonna realize I'm the one in charge.
Instinctively, he knew the only thing he could use to convince Reed would be a bullet to the head. He both looked forward to and secretly dreaded the day he tried to put one there, though he would not have long to wait. He could sense its approach like a cat in the dark, silent and menacing.
* * *
Karl awoke to pain. His head throbbed in two places: in the side where the Relevont woman had struck him with the gun, and in the back, where it had struck the tree. His shoulders protested the way his wrists were bound, and invisible pins pricked at his hands. Lastly, his cheek stung as if he had been slapped.<
br />
He opened his eyes to see Reed crouched in front of him. Harrison was standing behind him with his gun drawn, watching the tree line. Karl’s hands came free, and Williams strode into view from behind, folding a knife closed.
Karl's wrists were covered in dried blood where the tight restraints had made shallow cuts in his flesh. He rubbed his raw skin, and the tingling in his hands increased as normal blood flow resumed. Reed gave him a hand to his feet, and his head swam briefly.
Damn the woman! Karl hoped he had been spared a concussion.
When Reed handed him his cell phone, his attempt at nonchalance looked forced. Karl slipped it back into the holster hanging from his belt without explanation. For an instant, Reed might have had trouble keeping a smile from his face, but a closer look revealed his typical lack of expression. This situation will undoubtedly be the cause of much levity.
“How did you know to come here?” Karl had frankly expected to be a captive for far longer.
“Well, we didn't imagine you would come here to bask in nature.” Williams sneered. “So we decided we'd better see if you needed help.”
Karl repressed a smile at the glare Reed shot at the black man. Apparently, coming there had been his idea, and Williams wished to take credit. The power struggle between the two operatives served him well, and he purposely did nothing to defuse it. If he were forced to pick one of them, it would be Williams. Despite their shared history from his industrial-espionage days in Europe, Reed’s unpredictability could not be mitigated. Karl knew he would do anything asked of him but preferred reacting to reasoning. He figured as long as the two men kept sniping at each other, they were not making trouble for him or John.
“Good,” Karl agreed. “Relevont hid the device here.”
Harrison was examining the hole and the metal box.
“I caught them and made him dig it up, but he managed to use it to get a duplicate here and captured me,” Karl reported, dusting off his clothes.
“So he tied you up and knocked you unconscious?” Williams asked.
“You have the general idea.” Karl’s face colored a little. He would never admit Relevont’s wife had been the one to lay him out.
Williams and Reed traded looks, obviously suspicious that he was holding something back. His embarrassment must have been apparent, as Williams could not keep a grin off his face, and even Reed raised an eyebrow with a little smirk.
“I received a kill order from John, and before I could execute the woman, a duplicate of Relevont stopped me,” Karl offered. He touched the tender lump on his head.
“The box is empty.” Harrison showed them the empty Ziploc bag.
Grimacing, Karl turned toward the path. “We should go. I assume they took my car?”
“I guess so,” Williams agreed. “It was gone when we got here.”
Karl led the way along the trail, his head throbbing with each step. He claimed the van’s passenger seat and swiveled around to look at Reed in the rear seat. Next to him, a small table had been mounted to the wall, and a couple laptops had been attached to its surface. “Get on the computer and track my vehicle's anti-theft system. It will tell us where they have taken it.”
Reed opened a computer and tapped its keys. “It's heading south,” he reported after a slight pause.
Karl gestured to Harrison, and they left the parking lot and followed their quarry along Dequindre Road. His head still throbbed, leading him to search the glove box for an aspirin bottle. He finally found it, shook out two pills, and after a bit of consideration, added two more. Then he dry-swallowed the pills one by one.
He and his men would catch the Relevonts, and they would die — not quickly, not easily, but they would definitely be dead by the time Karl finished with them. The wife would receive his special treatment, or perhaps he would let Reed play with her for a while. In the end, she would plead for him to kill her.
Just like the old days.
In spite of the pain, Karl grinned. He would enjoy utilizing his long-ignored KGB skills on the troublesome couple. Their screams for mercy and pleas for the release of death would be music to his ears, a primal symphony he had not heard in far too many years.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Explanations
Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 9:18 a.m.
Angie had been so sure her life would end at Karl’s hand that her mind had difficulty accepting the reality of her survival. Her hands trembled, and tears gathered at the corners of her eyes as her emotions tried to adjust to the new circumstance.
I was a hair's breadth away from having a bullet in my head.
Those words kept reverberating through her mind. What happened to make him want to kill us? For some reason, they had become expendable.
In addition to her inner turmoil, some of Ness’s comments made her question what he had done to survive the last time he tangled with Intellisys. He had been on the run then, too, but she wondered what he'd done to survive. Did he kill? Have I shared my bed the last two years with a murderer?
The cost of Ness’s previous altercations with those men was high: her life had been altered, Dr. Bertrand had died, and her husband might have become a killer.
Except he wasn't my husband at that point, she reminded herself and almost screamed. Her emotions were jagged spikes, cutting her open inside with startling intensity. She needed to find a way to blunt them. She needed answers.
Angie looked at Ness, who was in the driver's seat, his face a mask of concentration as he watched the road. Is he fighting his own internal battle?
“Paul Robbins,” she said. “Did you kill him? Last time?”
He glanced at her before returning his gaze to the road. She had a hard time reading his expression. Did I see guilt there?
After an uncomfortable silence, Ness spoke. He seemed to be wrestling with what to tell her. “I didn't pull the trigger. Glenn did.”
Angie sensed he was not telling her everything. “But...” she said.
Ness glanced at her again and sighed. The fear etched in his face surprised her. “When I was returning to Dr. Bertrand's house after retrieving the second device from the lab, I determined that for events to play out as they had, with Glenn killing Paul and imploding, I needed to leave the second device in the house where Glenn could find it.”
He paused, glanced at her again, and took a big gulp of air.
“I went to the correct time and left the device for Glenn. That enabled him to go back in time and kill Paul along with imploding himself. Does my refusal to alter events further make me an accessory to murder? I don't know.”
“So what else did you do?” She sensed he had more to tell.
He again spoke with difficulty, coming close to tears. “There was the cop.”
Angie’s eyebrows rose, even as her heart tore by his obvious distress.
“I took Glenn on a wild goose chase to lure him away from the apartment. As we were racing down I-696, a state trooper pursued us. He shot into her car at point-blank range, killing her and seriously wounding her partner. Again, he pulled the trigger, but I engineered the situation. How culpable am I? I don’t know.”
“Holy shit.” Angie remained stunned into silence for a few heartbeats. “Anything else?” She gave him a little side-eye, as if worried what more he might confess to.
“Oh, I whacked Thing One in the head a few times, like you did with Karl.” He gave her a small grin, apparently tamping down his guilt with effort. “I'm hell at whacking.”
“You'll have to give me some pointers,” she said, returning the smile, “because it hurt. My fingers are still sore.”
They fell silent, and she watched him out of the corner of her eye as his grin faded.
“I had a harder time not killing Karl than I ever did with Glenn or Paul,” he said quietly.
Angie let his comment pass for a time but turned to look at him again when the car stopped for a traffic light. “Why do you find it so difficult this time?”
He met her eyes and stroked her c
heek. Though he was smiling, Angie could tell his heart was not in it. When he turned back to the road, his knuckles whitened from his tight grip on the steering wheel.
“Because now I have you, and Karl wants to take you away from me. When I was standing behind him with the gun to his head, all I could focus on was the stolen time. The years together they want to take from us. The joys we wouldn't share, the arguments we would never have, the life we couldn't live.”
He paused, and a sound close to a sob escaped him. Then the light changed, and he got the car moving again.
“Last time, I only had to worry about myself. My life alone had been threatened. I did everything I could to save it, but I didn't want to become a murderer to do so. I guess indirectly, I did, but not actively. Not consciously. But now we are together, and with these men endangering you, I find myself wanting to go further. I fought the desire to pull the trigger and end Karl's life. Like the heady scent surrounding a bakery during the morning bake, it nearly intoxicated me. It took all my strength to resist.”
She watched as a tear ran along his cheek.
“Your life is more precious to me than mine,” Ness said, giving her a look filled with love and determination. “And if it comes to it, I would kill to save you.”
Angie absorbed that silently. The love of her life had been willing to commit murder to save her. Ness had never struck her as a violent man, but she had become aware of a different side to him, an inner part willing to take any measures to protect her. The notion both warmed and chilled her, and she shuddered with a strange mixture of dread and excitement.
She looked over at her husband, who was once again staring straight at the road, and thought his tight grip on the steering wheel might split the skin of his knuckles. Ness’s jaw clenched, and he blinked rapidly. Angie had seen that look before over the years. Ness was afraid. Of my reaction? Is he afraid he went too far, told me too much?
Ness had revealed a darker side, one she had never witnessed before. But Angie’s actions had shown depths of rage she had never suspected herself capable of as well. Both had their faults, and their situation magnified them. Even so, Angie still loved him with her whole being. She unfastened her seat belt and took advantage of the bench seat by sliding over to snuggle into his side.