by Terry Toler
Niazi was so pleased, he brought out alcohol and a party had ensued. Pok wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. More work had to be done, and he needed another plan if Halee hadn’t hacked into his camera systems. On Niazi’s insistence, Pok reluctantly joined in and pretended to be having a good time. What he really wanted to do was go through all the logistics of his plan one more time.
“Relax, my friend,” Niazi said, raising his glass in a toast. “Put a smile on your face. You did good. Today was a success. Tomorrow will come soon enough. Today, we celebrate a great victory over the enemy who has been brought to its knees. Let’s toast to the men who sacrificed their lives for Allah.”
Pok raised a glass, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking through everything that happened, looking for confirmation that Halee was watching him. The British police did react quickly. Could they have reacted that fast without some advance warning?
That thought moved him off the fence into the belief that Halee was watching him. Fortunately, Niazi hadn’t associated the increased security to Pok’s double cross. The fact that a number of people were still killed satisfied the man’s thirst for blood. Not their most successful mission, Niazi commented, but better than most.
Pok took another sip of wine. The strong drink began to relax him some. Niazi was right. Things had gone well. Tomorrow would be another day.
The day he finally got his revenge against Alex Halee.
***
Safehouse
Jamie got up from her chair where she’d been watching the television, came over to the sofa, and sat on my lap.
“You know… we still haven’t made love yet,” she said in a sweet voice which was a stark contrast to the images we’d just watched unfold before our eyes. Curly had taught us to segment the mission from our personal feelings. Turn them on and off as necessary. Like a light switch. Apparently, Jamie was better at it than I was.
“We’ve been married four days,” she said. “Don’t you think it’s time?”
I used my free hand to rub my eyes roughly. It’d been more than thirty-six hours since I’d slept, and now that the adrenaline from the bombing was subsiding, I was starting to crash. The thought of finally making love to my wife for the first time was countering the sluggishness somewhat.
I felt the sudden need to apologize. “I know. I’m sorry. First you got hurt. Then I’ve been consumed with finding Pok. I need to get up about three in the morning to see what I can find out about tomorrow.”
She kissed me seductively on the lips. Clearly attempting to get my attention off Pok and the mission.
When the kiss ended I said, “I haven’t slept in two days. I don’t know how good I’ll be.”
I wasn’t sure how good I’d be anyway. I’d never done it before.
“I have an idea,” she said. “You go get in bed and sleep for about three hours. Set an alarm. At nine thirty, I’ll come join you. Then you can sleep until three in the morning. You can get back to saving the world after you’ve spent time with me. How does that sound?”
“That sounds amazing.”
Jamie gave me another kiss. Hard and strong. It sent chills down my spine. I wondered if I’d even be able to sleep after that. I decided to give her another kiss. Even deeper.
But before I could, Brad called. His distinct ringtone filled the room with an unwanted distraction.
“I’d better get this,” I said to Jamie as she stood to get off my lap.
I picked up the call, but before I could say hello, Brad said, “The Brits seemed pleased.” .
“Good. I’m glad. Too bad they don’t know I deserve the credit. I’m sure they’re still trying to find me and arrest me.”
“You can stay at the safehouse until things blow over. How’s Jamie?”
“I’m fine,” Jamie said. I had the call on speaker so she could hear it as well. “Back to normal.”
“You were never normal to begin with.”
“Ha. Ha.”
It felt good to hear Brad joking with us again.
“You two are the only ones I know who could turn a honeymoon into a mission.”
“We didn’t do it on purpose,” I said.
“We’re going to need time off from our vacation,” Jamie quipped.
“Still more work to do,” Brad reminded us. Not that I needed reminding.
Pok was still at the forefront of my mind so I ended the call so I could get to sleep as soon as possible.
Hopefully, the nap would wipe the mission out of my mind, and I could focus all my energies on my wife and our first time. I was halfway tempted to skip the nap, but I needed a shower first anyway. Maybe after the shower I wouldn’t need a nap.
Jamie was probably thinking the same thing. I figured she needed me to sleep for a while so she’d have time to prepare. Take a shower. Primp. Do whatever it was she did to look so amazing. Hopefully, she’d put on that silky white nightgown she was wearing the first night, before I got distracted and ruined it.
The sooner I got to sleep, the sooner I would wake up and be with her. Something I’d been dreaming about for four years. I was within three hours of it happening and was determined that nothing was going to prevent it this time.
“I’m taking a shower,” I said.
I gave Jamie a quick kiss on the cheek and bolted out of the room. After a hot shower, I felt better. As soon as my head hit the sheets, I was out.
***
I slept hard because when I woke up, I had no idea where I was at first. The alarm on my phone wasn’t beeping but I could hear the shower running. Why did I wake up early? Something had startled me out of a deep sleep. It took a second to clear my head. I laid it back down to go back to sleep but then remembered why I was going to wake up. Jamie and I were going to make love for the first time. The anticipation must’ve awakened me early.
Jamie was obviously in the shower getting ready. When she was done, I needed to brush my teeth, and then I’d be ready.
The anticipation rose in me and overcame the grogginess.
Then I felt something. Again.
A presence.
Someone was in the room.
I knew that feeling.
Not Jamie. A threat.
I lifted my head off the pillow.
Slowly.
I wasn’t sure why I was being so cautious.
I had a sudden urge to reach for my gun which was always on the nightstand. Making a sudden movement didn’t seem like a good idea.
The lights in the room were off. The only light came from the bathroom where the door was slightly opened.
A man was standing at the foot of my bed. He held a gun pointed right at me. “Don’t make any sudden moves, Alex,” he said.
An unfamiliar voice. Not Weaver.
Who was he, and how did he know my name?
28
What I saw wasn’t making any sense.
A man I didn’t know was standing at the foot of my bed in the safehouse with a gun pointed at me. Even though I’d been asleep, I wasn’t now. My senses were on full alert. Like a sports car, my heartbeat had gone from a resting sixty to one-twenty in the course of five seconds.
“Keep your hands under the blanket,” the gunman ordered.
A smart, strategic move. My gun was on the nightstand next to the bed. Even back home, I always slept with it next to me. With my hands under the blanket, any move I made would be futile. An amateur could gun me down in the time it took to get my hands free, grab the gun, aim, and fire.
This man was no amateur. I took several seconds to study him. Made easier when he reached back and turned on the lamp on the desk behind him, fully illuminating the room. He was tall. Cary Grant handsome as Jamie would say. Forty-five to fifty years old. He wore a suit and a thin tie. Expensive suit and dress shirt. Designer cufflinks. Not a hair on his dark head was out of place. Dimples emerged on the side of his cheeks when he smiled. Which he did almost continually, like he was pleased he’d bested me.
I had to
give him that. What he’d done was no small feat. To get to this position, he had to avoid the motion detector lights on the outside of the safehouse, pick the lock on a door or window, stealth into my room without waking me up, and then have the nerve to confront me with a gun while a gun was within my reach and Jamie was in the other room.
Brazen. Something I would do. I had to give him credit for that much, anyway. Even though I was going to kill him, I still respected his effort.
Neither of us said anything. I could only assume he didn’t want to alert Jamie of his presence. I stayed quiet for the same reason. Until I had a plan in my mind, I didn’t want her bolting into the room not knowing the nature of the threat. How could she know that someone was in our room with a gun? I didn’t even know why and I was right there with him.
The man wasn’t a terrorist. Not MI5. My first thought was that Weaver sent him. But men like Weaver and his ilk weren’t that skilled. Only a professional operative with extensive training could do what he’d done. MI6 maybe. Probably. A James Bond type. He looked the part. Smooth. Demure. Confident in his abilities. Killing him wouldn’t be easy. At the moment, I didn’t see a way to reverse the situation. The only consolation was that if he had wanted me dead, he could have easily killed me already.
That would buy me some time. I wanted to warn Jamie, but she might be the best hope in this situation. Two against one would improve our odds. The shower was no longer running, and I could hear her moving around, probably getting into her white nightgown.
The alarm on my phone went off sending a bolt of anger through me for the first time since I’d awakened. I wasn’t sure what was making me angrier. The fact that he had a gun pointed at me and was threatening to kill me, or that he’d ruined our plans which the alarm reminded me of.
“Ready or not, here I come,” Jamie said, in the most seductive voice I’d ever heard from her.
The door to the bathroom opened. Jamie was wearing the white nightgown. She had a huge grin on her face. That turned to a twisted look of disbelief. Jamie was the best at processing a dangerous situation and acting on impulse which was almost always right And something she would do quickly.
As I expected, she started toward the man immediately. Almost running.
I prepared to remove my hands from under the blanket and grab the gun. The man’s head turned toward her. The gun was still pointed at me. The brain couldn’t process a threat quickly enough to do both at the same time.
Jamie was on him. Instead of commandeering the gun, she threw her arms around his neck.
“Bond Digby,” she said, to my shock. “What are you doing here?”
Where had I heard that name, and why did this man have his arms around my wife?
They kissed both cheeks. He had his free arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. Out of instinct, I saw an opportunity.
Like a flash of light, my hands were out from under the blanket, and I pointed my gun at him. He had lowered his slightly, distracted by my wife’s attention. I’d practiced the move a thousand times and had perfected it. I could’ve shot him, but Jamie was in the way.
Was this Jamie’s plan?
I didn’t like it, even though it was working. The two of them were much too friendly for my liking.
Who the hell is Bond Digby?
And… where have I heard that name?
Weaver.
I remembered him mentioning that name. MI6. Jamie had a mission in London and was working with a Bond Digby. He had vouched for Jamie and said she was the best operative he’d ever worked with. Some of it was starting to make sense. I still kept my weapon on him. That got his attention, and he raised his. To the duel position. Both of us stared at the other, totally fixated. Neither of us blinked.
Jamie seemed unconcerned.
“You two put down those guns before you hurt someone,” she said.
I didn’t move a muscle. Neither did he. I think if either of us twitched, we might’ve shot the other.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Jamie said. “Alex, this is Bond Digby. He works with MI6. Bond this is my husband, Alex.”
“So, you really are married?” Bond said. “I heard that, but I didn’t believe it.”
Bond hadn’t released his grip around Jamie’s waist. I didn’t care if they were best of friends. If he didn’t get his hands off my wife soon, I’d shoot him anyway.
“I don’t see a ring on your finger,” Bond said.
Jamie waved her ring hand in the air. “I got some acid on my hands. I haven’t been able to wear my rings.”
“I always thought you and I were going to get married.”
Who is this guy? Why have I never heard of him?
“You’re way too old for me,” Jamie quipped.
“Ouch.”
“I’m going to go change,” Jamie said, as she finally broke free from his grip.
Digby and I still had our guns raised.
Jamie’s eyes rolled and she threw back her head for emphasis.
“You two idiots try not to shoot each other until I get back,” Jamie said, as she turned, walked back to the bathroom, and closed the door.
“You put your gun down first,” I said sternly.
“You put yours down first,” he retorted.
Jamie didn’t see him as a threat, but I still did. The man broke into the safehouse. Held a gun on me. He didn’t go to all that trouble for nothing. Weaver probably sent him here to arrest me. That couldn’t happen. I had to find out what Pok was planning.
“Who are you and why are you here?” I said roughly, still holding my gun on him.
He suddenly holstered his. “I have the same question for you.”
“I can’t tell you why I’m here. That’s top secret. Need to know basis.”
“I’m here to arrest you.”
“Good luck with that. You’ll have to kill me first.”
Bond let out a laugh. “I could’ve killed you ten times by now. While you were sleeping.”
“You guys put your testosterone away,” Jamie said as the door to the bathroom burst open and she emerged fully clothed clearly having heard what Bond just said. Then she started ordering us around.
“Alex, get dressed.”
She looked at me somewhat apologetically. The moment was ruined. Again! I could tell she felt bad about that.
“Bond, let’s go get some iced tea and get caught up,” Jamie said grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the door.
When I came out of the bedroom, Bond and Jamie were sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea. Jamie was telling Bond about AJAX, which shocked me. I didn’t think we were telling anyone. From Bond’s demeanor, it might’ve been a good thing. He seemed much more at ease. When I sat down next to Jamie, it appeared that he no longer considered me a threat because he didn’t tense up at all. In fact, they barely acknowledged that I was there. He seemed fixated on her now.
“I really am no longer with the CIA. Not technically anyway,” Jamie said.
“That sounds interesting,” Bond said.
“I was telling Bond about AJAX,” Jamie said to me.
“I heard,” I said, with a slight glare at Jamie to let her know I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. Not that it mattered. She’d already told him.
Jamie was sitting forward with her elbows on the table, facing Bond with her back to me. He was sitting in my chair, in front of my laptop, which was thankfully closed. I hoped Jamie didn’t take it upon herself to reveal my mission or that I’d hacked into London’s security camera system.
Jamie leaned back and then turned slightly so she was facing me. “When you asked me, Alex, who I thought would be good to work for AJAX, Bond was the first person who came to mind.”
That wasn’t happening. This guy was much too flirty with Jamie. I could tell he had a thing for her.
I could see why she thought of him, though. Under different circumstances, he would’ve been perfect. He was good at his job and looked the part. Even through the suit,
I could tell he was in excellent physical condition for his age. Fit. Muscular in a runner’s sort of way. The way he handled the gun was top notch and professional. He was cool under pressure. It took restraint to keep from pulling the trigger when I had my gun pointed at him.
He also had a striking charisma about him. The same thing Jamie had. I was rough around the edges socially. More awkward. Jamie could talk to anyone, anywhere, at any time and make them think she was their best friend. That’s one of the things I loved about her and one of the things that made her so good at her job.
Bond’s face turned more serious as his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed.
“Tell me what you know about the dirty bomb,” he asked me in a tone I didn’t like.
“Tell me what you know about it,” I said back in the same tone.
“I talked to your boss, Brad. He said he had a source for information. It didn’t take me long to put together that you were the source. You seem to know about every terrorist attack in London before it happens. I want to know how.”
“How do you know about the safehouse?” I asked.
“Bond dropped me off here,” Jamie answered. “When I was on my mission to England, we made some serious enemies. I needed to go into hiding for a couple days, and this was the logical place for me to go.”
“Your wife saved my life,” Bond added.
“She’s saved mine on more than one occasion too,” I said.
Bond wasn’t going to get distracted by chitchat. “What about the bomb? I’m under a lot of pressure here. My bosses want me to bring you in.”
“If you bring me in, you’ll never know the time or where the bomb is going to go off.”
“Are you blackmailing me?”
“No. I’m just saying that you need me.”
“You’d withhold information about a bomb that could kill millions in order to save your own skin?” He leaned back in his chair and turned his head in a look of disgust. “I was right about you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said angrily.
“I told them that you were doing this for attention. I figured you were washed out of the CIA. Probably for stealing money. You’ve been orchestrating these attacks so you can be the hero.”