by L. T. Ryan
“Yessir,” he said, then paused. “Right, can’t tell what’s up ahead. Traffic stretches over a hill, but you can see the emergency lights bouncing off the sky. Any chance we can get some eyes on it? Mhmm. Mhmm. OK, I see.” He set the phone on the dash.
“What is it?” Bear asked.
“Probably nothing, but we’ll—”
The first round shattered the side window and obliterated the driver’s face. Blood and chunks of bone and flesh sprayed through the car, the majority of it settling on the other guard.
The air was sucked out of the car. Mandy screamed. Bear pulled her close to him.
The glass on the other side of the guard imploded. His head exploded. His body went limp.
Sasha reached for her door handle. It was locked. She searched for the button, smacking her open hand everywhere.
“Bear!” Mandy grabbed him tight. He pulled her in even closer. They could riddle his body with bullets and he’d never let go.
Sasha looked at him, her face bathed in blue light. “Can you open your—” Her eyes widened. Bear didn’t hear the round punch through the vehicle’s door. Not at first. But as the red bloom spread across Sasha’s chest, he heard the impact echo throughout his head.
He reached out for her, bracing for impact, and welcoming it. End it now. He couldn’t go through this again.
“Sasha.” He almost crushed Mandy as he reached for her. By the time he had a hand on her, she had gone limp.
Bear unleashed a yell few had ever heard, and none would ever want to witness. Mandy joined in, presumably a mix of fear and rage, too.
He cocked his right arm across his chest and drove his elbow through the window. Ignoring the searing pain, he scraped the glass away with his bare flesh and then hoisted Mandy through the opening.
“Get low and run.”
“What?” She looked at him from outside, her face bathed in similar light as Sasha’s.
“Go, girl, now! Run to the cops.”
She took off and slid out of sight at about the same moment he felt the impact on the side of his head, whipping it hard to the right through the opening where the window had been.
He blinked against the dark encroaching the edge of his vision and turned back to see the body slumped against the opposite door.
“Sasha.” But it sounded more like mush coming out of his mouth. Pain rifled through the left side of his face. He brought his hand up. Found his jaw shifted about an inch to the right. Fighting through the agony, he reached out for the woman he loved.
A projectile slammed into his left shoulder. His entire arm went numb. His momentum kept him going and he fell onto the seat, onto Sasha’s legs. Bear worked his right arm up to hers and felt for a pulse. Any lingering hope faded at that moment.
He looked up to find the source of the voices. German. Three men, maybe four. They had him surrounded. The door whipped open. Sasha slid out, her head hitting the concrete and the rest of her body following like a snake slithering through the weeds. Bear tried to reach for her. His arm wouldn’t comply.
“Get her out of the way.” A man said in a thick German accent. He followed it up with a command in his native tongue, then stepped back. Bear thought he made out part of the exchange.
It’s him.
The next guy appeared with a firearm extended. Bear tried to plead with the guy. He just needed them to free him from the vehicle. Then he’d kill every last one of them.
They’d never give him that opportunity.
The sound when the guy pulled the trigger wasn’t what Bear had expected. Nor was the penetrating feeling of a needle in his neck. He brought his right hand up, fingered the back end of the dart.
He felt high, lost sensation in his extremities. The fear and anxiety faded, as did his desire to kill. The pain in his shoulder and face dissipated. The ache in his heart intensified.
A larger man reached in and dragged Bear out, letting him fall on top of Sasha. One of them laughed. Bear stared into her lifeless eyes. Those sweet eyes where warmth once radiated.
“Get him off of her.”
The laughing ended. Bear was hoisted to his feet by two men. He spotted the awaiting van on the other side of the concrete barrier. They pushed him over, letting him crash to the ground again. Bear mustered every ounce of strength he had and got his good hand down first, stopping his fall. Someone tried to kick it out. He grabbed hold of their foot, yanked, twisted, brought the guy down hard on his face. And then Bear jumped on him. He didn’t have much he could do, but he could bash the guy’s head in with his own.
And he did until they knocked him off. Bear smiled at his handiwork as one of the men aided his bloodied companion. They stood Bear up.
“That was stupid, my friend.” The scar on the man’s cheek dug into his smile.
Bear spit at the guy, but due to the state of his jaw, it just dribbled down his chest.
The man laughed.
Bear mouthed something at him.
The man leaned in. “I couldn’t hear you.”
“I’m gonna fucking kill you.”
The man leaned back, laughed harder, and then smacked Bear upside the face with a club, rendering him unconscious.
Chapter 39
The train pulled into the small station, whipping dust and debris and a few loose pieces of paper around in coordinated chaos. The hot air smelled of trash and thankfully settled down within a few moments.
An announcement came over the speakers. A few people filed in from the benches outside. The doors to each train car opened. No one got off, but they had to wait before boarding. Once they were allowed, Clarissa paused until the others were on, then she climbed aboard.
She was still walking through the cars when the train started moving. She wanted quiet. She wanted to be able to see around her. Best place to be was in the back of the last car. She continued until she reached it and took a seat in an empty row.
The morning sun shone across the table. She reveled in the warmth on her outstretched hands. After a few moments, the scenery shifted, trees blocked the sun, and she turned her attention to the phone on her table.
Powering it up would send a signal out, revealing her location. She had been told to only do this if she truly needed help. It would get back to one man. The only man she could trust. When she last saw him, they each held their index finger up, a sign of solidarity between them.
And maybe more.
But she couldn’t think about that. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever.
She hoped he understood after this was over. After everything was over.
She set the phone on the table and spun it with her index finger. It circled around and around, as though the motion of the train kept it in perpetual orbit.
The door to the car opened. Clarissa tensed. She slid the phone off the table and stuck it in her shorts. Conveniently, she had a knife stolen from the cottage in the same pocket.
The conductor walked through the sparsely populated car and checked tickets. Clarissa held her paper printout for him to see. He stared at it, then her, then back at the ticket before handing it back to her without a word.
After he left, she settled into her seat, deciding that the time to turn on the phone had not yet arrived.
Soon. It would be time soon.
Chapter 40
Jack sat in the same chair, drinking the same beer as he had the day before. Only this time, he was alone. Clive and Sadie saw the pain in his eyes. Felt his grief. They told him to take what time he needed; they’d leave him be.
So, he came back out and stared at the olive trees and the sky and inhaled the dusty air and felt as pale green as the leaves reflecting the sun.
Sasha had been a part of his life for long enough that he’d miss her. They worked closely together for a spell. He thought there might be something between them at one point, but that faded quickly, and he knew that she and Bear were the right match, even though that would never play out.
A familiar feeling surfaced.<
br />
Guilt.
It ate at him, the way it always did when he knew someone had passed due to his recklessness. If he hadn’t dragged Bear into the mess with Katrine Ahlberg, a botched hit he messed up and had to correct, this wouldn’t have happened. He should’ve done it on his own. The outcome could have been the same, him taking out Skinner the way he did. Or maybe Skinner would be alive, and Noble would be dead.
Either way, a positive result depending on who you asked.
The target on Bear’s back would’ve been a lot smaller. And it wouldn’t have extended to Sasha.
When he’d gone in for another beer, Sadie filled him in on the details, adding a few more. Mandy hadn’t been found. There was no word on Bear other than from a few eyewitness accounts who said the attack team loaded him into a van, but not before he put one of them into a coma.
If Bear didn’t finish the rest off himself, Noble was going to make sure every last one of them suffered a death far more horrible than Sasha’s passing.
The beer did little for his anger and grief. He dumped the remaining alcohol in the can, crumpled it, tossed it into the fire ring. He shoved his hands in his pockets and went back to staring at the thickest olive tree in the orchard.
The screen door slammed, and Sadie stepped onto the porch. The wind whipped her loose curls about. She stepped down and approached Jack.
“Wanna talk?”
He shook his head. “Nothing to say.”
“That’s all right. We can talk about nothing, like the old days.”
“We talked about all kinds of things.”
“Did we though, Jack? I mean, Bear and I had lots of conversations. You, however, kept your distance from me.”
“Did I?”
She nodded while pouting her lips. “Got the feeling you didn’t like me.” She looked at a bare patch of dirt between her feet. “Still get that feeling.”
He felt his shell retreat. “Look, Sadie, I never had any problems with you. I’ve always tried not to get close to people in this business. Lost too many friends. This thing with Sasha, Christ, I just can’t put into words.”
“You blame yourself?”
He didn’t answer.
“How’d you two meet?”
He told her about the little restaurant. Great steak. Even better beer. The old man running the place, and his daughter helping out. Sasha.
They talked and even laughed for a few, and when things went silent, Sadie excused herself for a few moments. Jack watched her cross the barren lawn to the house, her sundress rippling in the wind, rising, showing off the backs of her thighs. He brushed off the thoughts that arose. It would be a nice distraction from his current feelings, but then it would create an entirely new problem. One he had no time for.
She returned a few minutes later, carrying a bottle of whiskey and two rocks glasses.
“Seemed like the beer wasn’t doing the trick, so thought this might help.” She stood in front of him, uncorked the bottle, filled a glass halfway. She took a sip, smiled, handed it to him. Before sitting down, she poured her own. He inhaled the honey and oak scent. They sipped together. Jack grimaced as the whiskey made its way down. Sadie did not.
“Thanks for this.”
“Sure. It’s a pretty good rye.”
“Not the drink.” He smiled. “The distraction.”
“We all need one at times, right?”
“Suppose so.” He took another sip, then set the glass down. “Where’s Clive?”
“Working from his mobile command center.” She looked over her shoulder at the house. “I swear, the guy never sleeps. He is always working, always figuring something out, making connections between the letter A and the number thirteen.”
Jack chuckled. He found the guy impressive in his ability to relate. He figured Clive’s background helped him to do so. A lot of guys that smart had trouble finding common ground with the grunts who did the dirty work. He supposed that’s why Clive had so much success. His team believed in him. Trusted him. Even when everything went sideways, they weren’t bailing. They were working to find the solution.
“What’s your feeling on him, Jack?”
He mulled it over for a moment. “I’m sitting here, aren’t I?”
“You didn’t have much choice.”
“I could’ve left at any time. He’s not watching me.”
“He trusts you.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I told him not to.”
Shaking his head, Jack lifted his glass and offered a cheers to Sadie. “Dick.”
She laughed and said it back to him. After swallowing her whiskey, she continued, “He knows you’re a good man who made some bad choices that led you down the wrong path. And that you’ve spent the time since atoning for those mistakes. And in doing so, you made a possible error in judgment when you righted the worst wrong of all, Frank Skinner.”
“If you knew the things the guy had been doing for the past decade or longer, Sadie.” His right hand clenched in a fist. “The guy was selling the country out, and worse than that, his own agents, both in the SIS and the CIA. He fed all the intelligence he could get paid for to the highest bidder.”
“Why didn’t you call it in, deliver on the evidence?”
“Who’re they gonna believe? Me? Or him?”
She shrugged. “That’s a pretty bad tossup, gotta admit.”
“Dick,” he said again.
She said it back again.
“We would’ve made a great team,” he said.
“We did. Don’t you remember?”
“That was the three of us. You and Bear worked alone, not us.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I agree with you. And you didn’t hear this from me, but we might be working together for the next few days at least.”
Jack waited a beat as a gust of wind danced across the property. He inhaled deep, his throat grating against the mouthful of dust he swallowed. After the wind died down, he cleared his throat. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Got a lead on that van.”
“The one that took Bear?”
Smiling, she nodded. “Dumb bastards took the highway. Clive had a few people combing feeds in the area. Narrowed it down to a few possible vehicles. Long story short, we’ve got a name that flagged in the database, and it’s tied to the license plate.”
“Could be a dead end.”
“Might not be.”
“When do we leave?”
“Not even curious where it traces back to?”
“I don’t need to know. Don’t want to, actually. Just get me there, arm me, and stay the hell out of my way.” He fired an imaginary weapon into the distance.
She refilled their glasses, set the bottle down, excused herself. He watched her jog back to the house, her sundress lifting again with every bounce.
“Stop thinking it, man.” He shook his head, smiled to himself. The buzzing against his left thigh wiped the smile off his face. He glanced back toward the house. Sadie was out of sight. He pulled out the phone and tapped on the screen.
One message waiting.
He opened the secure app where he had a notice from Br@nd0n. Jack had once asked him why he spelled it like that. Brandon just laughed and said Noble would never get it.
Jack swallowed hard, looked over his shoulder again, then opened the message. It read:
“you getting the band back together, man? not only do I see Bear online, Clarissa just pinged in.”
Chapter 41
Jack powered the phone off and shoved it back into his pants pocket as Sadie stepped through the door onto the porch. She’d pulled her hair back into a messy bun and slipped a thin white button-up shirt on over her dress. The sun was high and hot and the extra layer would give her a little protection from its harsh rays.
A Florida boy at heart, Noble didn’t care.
She smiled as she sat down, crossing her legs in a way that her dress scooted up her thighs toward her waist as she eased b
ack into the chair. Her shirt smelled of faded perfume. She angled her head, softened her look. “You OK?”
He didn’t answer right away. He couldn’t say yes, and for some reason, he found himself unable to answer her with a lie.
“Jack, what’s going on? Look like you saw a ghost.” She grimaced right after saying it. “I’m sorry, that was the wrong choice of words.”
He reached out and put his hand on her arm. “It’s OK. Look, I need a minute. Do you mind?”
She shook her head as she took a drink.
He walked off into the orchard and paced through the rows of trees, repeating the message from Brandon in his mind. How was Bear online? Unless he had managed to take out the attack team who apprehended him and killed Sasha, there was no way he had that phone online. Maybe the assault team found it and powered it up, but they should be too smart for that, realizing it would lead anyone looking for Bear right to him. So, what was the answer?
He pulled his phone out, checking on Sadie while waiting for it to power up. She sat in the same seat, her head tipped back, face toward the sun.
Noble fired off a quick message to Brandon.
“Bear’s in custody, can’t be online. What’s the 20?”
A few seconds later, he got a reply, but it didn’t include a location.
“Will send details after switching us to a better encrypted server. Stand by.”
Jack typed up a quick message about Clarissa but didn’t bother sending it. The change Brandon was making could take five minutes, or five hours. Noble had no way of knowing, so he waited. He walked back to Sadie and left the phone on so he’d know the moment the message arrived. There were a handful of excuses useful for getting away for a few moments.
“Everything OK?” She leaned forward, drink in hand, revealing a little bit of cleavage when Jack walked up.
“Yeah. All good.” He sat down next to her. “Think we should be drinking like this? Sounds like Clive might have us on the move soon, yeah?”
