Hoping for a nice shower before heading out to get some clothes in any available shop around, Jake Sullivan shook his head in dismay as the water came running down his face. He was living like a fugitive and he never would have thought it possible.
Chapter Thirteen
C
limbing up the fire escape was easy as pie and without seeing Sarah’s car in the driveway, it was safe to assume she wasn’t in. Breathing heavily and unscrewing her window from the outside to gain access into the living room. Jake made light work of it in minutes. It wasn’t his first breaking and entry and with the life he lived in the shadows, it wasn’t going to be his last.
Stretching mildly with the window out of the way while he slipped into the room, he carefully made his way in before putting the window in place.
“Her makeup box!” he thought.
Navigating through the dark room was harder than he had imagined, having been there just once and without perfect mental image of the entire house. Thankfully for him, the dressing room stood not far off from the bedroom bed and had a standing lamp Sarah always kept on for whatever purpose. He hadn’t thought of it until he saw the light in the dressing room on, but she could have an alarm and he would be fried in seconds if he made a mistake.
“It’s a worthy risk”, he told himself before approaching the dressing room.
Looking through her makeup area, where the large sized box laid on a perfectly seated frame, he flipped it open to the feminine scent he recognized to be part of the cologne she donned every time they met. Bearing no business with her cologne, he shoved the boxes aside until the casings bearing her lipsticks came to view.
“There you are”, he mumbled excitedly to himself.
With widened eyes and subtle breaths escaping his nostrils, Jake took out the lipstick he had retrieved from Captain Luke’s house on the day they discovered the murder before comparing it with the ones inside the lipstick rack. It was no different from them and an empty slot existed on the row of six which meant it was meant to be there.
Turning around and heading out of the dressing room, Jake felt his heart pound while he tried to understand what exactly it was that Sarah wanted with him.
“What game are you playing Sarah?” he whispered.
If she knew about him, then why not report to the authorities. It would have been the noble and sensible thing to do, but that alone wasn’t what puzzled him, if not for the face her lipstick had been found on the crime scene and they had arrived there together which made it impossible to have fallen from her purse on that day.
Deciding to snoop around some bit in hopes of getting some information, Jake located her computer situated in the small sized study room just along the hallway leading the living room to the bedroom. The slightly ajar door granted him unrestricted entrance, while he flipped on the lights for better navigation.
Settling himself into her seat and booting up the computer, he waited for the mainframe to load up and the desktop page to come to life.
“What are you hiding Sarah?” he thought, while flipping through the files on her desktop page.
Ranging from crime scene photos he wasn’t familiar with, to images of knives and a really odd fascination about blades in general, Sarah had them all in different folders.
“So you like blades huh?” he smiled and continued with his search of every part of her computer.
Surprisingly, there was nothing more to find on the computer and that left him somewhat disappointed. Resting back into the seat and staring at the desk in general, he reached for one of the three drawers and pulled it out, finding nothing but useless papers in it as did the second but the third drawer wouldn’t budge, indicating it was locked.
Curious and completely taken in interest as to why just that one drawer was locked, he got to his knee immediately and began trying to break into it with his picking knife. Upon yanking harder at it with the knife lodged into the edge of the drawer to help the lock give way, it finally opened. The revelation within it was startling and absolutely shocking.
“Oh my God!” he gasped and almost fell backwards.
Gently taking out a knife placed inside a sealed transparent bag, Jake went ahead to remove the underlying photos underneath the knife as well. Holding a total number of four photos in his hand, with the first bearing a dead body belonging to Susan but without so much as a single cut all over her. His throat clamped shut and his eyes felt watery immediately.
Gasping and unable to hide his shock, he mumbled, “Oh Sarah! What sort of demon are you?”
Being what he was, he could very well tell another depraved person when he saw their handiworks. Sitting on the floor and going through the pictures, he soon realized something Sarah had not told him on the night he met her at the morgue.
“She knew all along”, he thought. “It was exactly why she was there and not the coroner”.
Unable to believe his eyes as he stared at the second picture with carvings made into it, while the third showed even more cuts being made into the skin presumably by the knife he had in his hand. The pictures were unbelievable and still could not connect as to how Susan’s death had come to be and why. He had been the one she was after, but for some reason, Sarah might have killed the undercover agent.
Instinctively taking pictures of the photos on his phone as well as that of the knife, Jake placed everything back as he had found them; making sure not to leave anything out of place as he jammed the drawer back and yanked at it to see if it was still locked. Satisfied with the manner in which things were, he got up and shut down the computer immediately.
Heading right back for the living room window through which he had come, Jake was on the verge of making a clean getaway when the hand landed on his back, yanked him around and rammed him hard in the face with a punch. Dazzled and greatly tossed off his balance, Jake struggled to find his footing.
“You must really think low of me to assume you were getting away that easy”, Sean sounded boatful and angry at the same time.
Jake stumbled over a stool and hurriedly got back to his feet, “What the fuck is your problem!?”
“I promised you there is no chance in hell I’m letting you go after what you did to Susan!” Sean promised.
Pulling out a large knife from underneath his shabby looking coat Sean took his attack stance and growled in rage at Jake.
“Dude! How did you even find me?” Jake inquired.
Snorting teasingly and shaking his head, Sean replied, “I tagged you with a tracker during our last meet”.
Certain that he had changed clothes and had a very thorough bath, he found it hard to believe.
“The wound you dummy… when I punched you earlier, I was tagging you with a special CIA Nano tracking device”, he explained
Feeling jilted, Jake slowly tucked his phone into his pocket and readied himself with clenched fists. “You are not having it easy this time”.
Sean spat to the ground and snorted. “I find it pathetic that you would come to your girlfriend’s place to hideout”.
Jake made the first move this time around, dancing across the ground like a butterfly and barely giving Sean the opportunity to connect as he swung his knife at the younger man. Doing well to dodge and ramming his fist in return into Sean’s ribcage, sending the man stumbling back and groaning in pain.
“I swear to you man… I didn’t kill your wife!” Jake tried to clear himself again.
Sean barely listened before racing forward in better composure and with two knives in his hands now. His movements were better too, narrowly missing Jake’s face before tearing the wallpaper off of the wall. Jake seemed perplexed by the anger building up in the man while he struggled to keep balance with Sean’s newly found resolve and strength.
“There is no hiding away from me now!” Sean chuckled in an evil tone.
Jake made a good dodge of an incoming blow before kicking one of the knives out of Sean’s hand. Watching th
e blade rise into the air and temporarily distracted, Sean rammed his fist into the man’s jaw and sent him staggering backwards, before catching the falling blade and leveling the fighting field with blades in both their hands.
Sean rubbed some feel into the struck spot and began circling the room. Jake kept his eyes peeled for any sudden movements but made no lunge towards his opponent.
“Susan was a skilled fighter you know? I can understand how it was possible for you to take her down”, Sean sat to the ground and felt his jaw firmly again.
Jake shifted to the side and watched Sean’s had twitch, before making a dummy move to his left and getting the man to move in the same direction, granting him good opportunity to make a run for the window through which he had come.
“I did not kill your wife… I will take a fucking polygraph if I have to!” Jake yelled.
Pumped on adrenalin now and bearing better reflexes than before, Jake sought his escape plan perfectly as he raced towards the frames on the wall to arm himself with them. Tossing all he could at Sean from photo frames to mugs lying perfectly on a mini table, to a large tray, he hoped to distract the man just about enough for him to make his run.
Sean wasn’t buying or falling for it and he kicked through everything before slashing his knife straight at Jake and connecting with his face. Jake stumbled backwards, feeling his torn flesh and the copious amount of blood oozing from it, with his eyes reddened and his lips curled into an angry twitch.
“That is the last time you’re going to inflict any more injuries on me!” he swore.
Moving as fast as he could on his toes and slashing back at Sean in quick combination of deceptive punches and knife attempts, he had Sean backed into a corner in the room with their knives clashing and their skins barely inches away from being dealt dangerous cuts. Jake had gotten the upper hand he needed when he swept the unsuspecting Sean off of his feet with a sly kick.
Pinning the large man to the ground as best as he could while his face dripped with sweat, they lock themselves in gaze as Jake whispered, “As much as I hate you, I have bigger fishes to fry in my own life right now”.
Sean struggled and wiggled endlessly underneath Jake’s restraint but couldn’t seem to get up. Jake looked at his escape route once again and motioned to head towards there when the front door opened without warning and the high heeled boots walked into the room. Both with their eyes widened and completely caught off guard, Jake was the first to move out of the way.
Sarah pulled out a magnum from inside her purse and pointed it in his direction, “Well… Well… Well”.
Jake’s stomach twitched immediately as he stared at the lady in red dress looking dangerously beautiful and harmful at the same time. The deadlock gaze on her face was indescribable and her lips continued to twitch on every turn as she steadied herself into position and locked Jake in her shooting range.
Waving his hands high enough for her to see he was without a gun, Jake pleaded, ‘I know how this must look but I can explain… there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this I swear”.
“Shut it!” she commanded him with a smirk before looking at Sean. “I must be blessed… if it isn’t Sean Stein in flesh in my living room”.
Still too perplexed to speak or at least that was what Jake made of Sean’s expression, Jake wondered how she knew about him with some degree of familiarity in the tone with which she spoke.
“Angelina Hammon”, Sean mumbled in a disgusted tone.
Lost and definitely in need of answers, Jake looked from the lady to the man, “You got your facts wrong dude… she is Sarah Connell… same way you’re wrong about me killing your wife!”
Sarah purred and shook her head. “My gullible Jake… what a pity my plans have to get a wrench tossed into it in this way”.
Jake had let his guard down; torn between trying to figure out what portal of madness he had fallen into once again, granting him not enough warning as Sean maneuvered him and hand his arm wrapped around Jake’s throat in choke hold.
“Oh no you don’t!” Sean punched away the knife in Jake’s hand immediately.
Holding his blade to Jake’s throat and trying to adjust so he wouldn’t be in Sarah’s shooting range, Sean tried to fathom every possible scenario things could play out into in his head. Sarah definitely was an excellent shot and she would take it once she had a clean or even half a chance to pull the trigger.
“What exactly is going on in here?” Jake demanded out loud with his windpipe feeling the immense force from Sean’s biceps.
“That right there is a rogue operative of the CIA”, Sean replied. “You know her as Sarah, well I know her too well as Angelia Hammon… my boss’s daughter who went AWOL years ago on one of the biggest infiltration cases yet to be solved by the United States”.
Unable to believe any of the words he had just heard, while his mind tried to understand how things could have gotten so crazy within minutes, Jake stomped his foot into Sean’s and struggled with the man, but the tightened and rather persistent grip wouldn’t let go.
“You seriously need to stop moving or I will slit your fucking throat!” Sean threatened.
Jake called his bluff with a chuckle, “Do that and you’re dead meat… in case you haven’t noticed, gun beats knife”.
The air within the room thinned and the trio remained still for a moment while Sean for reasons unknown to Jake, moved closer to Sarah before shoving his captive in the lady’s direction, causing her to shoot but with a misplaced aim.
“Fuck!” Jake screamed before tackling Sarah to the ground.
Determined to get out while Sarah hurried to get her gun as Sean scrambled out the door, Jake followed him, limping and wincing in pain. Sean punched button for the elevator doors to open, sliding inside immediately but not fast enough to prevent Jake from making his entrance. Jake figured dealing with Sean just got a lot easier than dealing with a rogue CIA operative who had been lying about who she was and was now armed with a gun.
Watching the doors slowly close while a bullet struck the inside wall just an inch to Sean’s face, Jake rested against the wall and slowly slumped to the ground with a wry smile.
“How does it feel to be shot at?” he said.
Still overwhelmed by the incidents that had occurred in the past few minutes, Sean gave no response immediately as he looked at the bullet hole and back at Jake. Swinging his leg hard and against Jake’s face, his knee connected and blacked the wounded man out immediately.
“That should shut you the fuck up!” Sean spat at his side and rested his back against the elevator wall.
Reminiscing on the events all over again, he couldn’t help but wonder how crazy things were definitely about to get. Seeing Angelina Hammon in the picture made viewing the entire scenario pretty important.
“Shit!” he whispered as the doors chimed open and Jake’s body slumped to the ground.
Watching the bleeding man struck out cold and realizing he had to carry him made Sean curse out loud and angrily kick at the wall to his right. He bent over, looked into Jake’s face and smiled before lifting him to his shoulder and carrying him out the front door with no security in sight to accost him. Heading for his car and slumping Jake’s body in the backseat, Sean drove away immediately.
Unknown to him, Sarah stood by the window and watched his every move. She slowly lifted her phone to her ear and waited for the call she had dialed to connect. “I need you to trace a car’s plate for me”.
Chapter Fourteen
B
lurry images fizzled through his mind while he whizzed in breath and sniffed in dust at the same time. Weakened and absolutely drained of any idea as regards what was going on around him, Jake slowly felt his consciousness return in hazy images as light pierced through the darkness, he had dwelled in for quite some time now.
Groaning in response to a stinging feel in his right leg, he motioned to move but found himself unable to. Yanking at whatev
er restraints had his hands incapable of being free, he heard someone grumble incoherently just a few feet from him and suddenly topped his attempt to get his hands free.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” the voice grew louder now and definitely shaped out to be Sean’s.
Instinctively and without much visibility as regards where Sean was, Jake lunged up from where he was positioned and roared in the direction he had heard the voice coming from.
“I will kill you! I will freaking kill you!” he yelled, swinging his tied arms but unable to hit anything, before crumbling hard to the ground and striking his head against a table’s edge.
Walking slowly over to Jake, Sean stood above him and hovered his face just atop of Jake’s before sighing. “You should be glad I’m trying to save your worthless life”.
Jake rolled on his back immediately, breathing exhaustively now and wincing in more pain as a spot from his leg shot immeasurable amount of discomfort through his nerves and spine in equal.
“You got shot”, Sean reminded him.
Scowling and recalling the incident, Jake mumbled, ‘You got me shot… you… you got me shot”.
Sean chuckled annoying and slowly dragged Jake to his feet before helping him over to a couch where he laid the man to rest.
“I need to finish stitching the wound, if you don’t mind keeping still”, Sean advised Jake.
Jake’s vision had gotten a whole lot clearer now and he could see Sean threading a needle before holding his wounded leg in place. The man was articulate with the needle, weaving in and out of the wound without fuss and humming as he went about the business too. Jake wondered if he was actually enjoying the act of inflicting pain on him but something in Sean’s expression had definitely changed.
He seemed calmer and he wasn’t overbearing as Jake had noticed him to be all through their previous encounters. The man was definitely thinking and plotting something and he wished he knew what it was exactly. Jake groaned and called Sean’s attention towards not trying to enjoy the work he was doing on stitching his leg.
Mangled Page 13
