“I should’ve known. What do you know about Señora Bonita?”
“Everything, including your address at Jim’s house. I sent a gang to your home and told them to make you come to Señora Bonita, so we could do tests on you. I even know you think you’re pregnant. And don’t worry, we took it easy on you. But you’re very susceptible to drugs and we implanted a few things in your brain, just in case.”
“In case what?”
“In case we need you again.” He pointed to a chair and I sat down, as did he. “You see, Harley, the Russians and I have this goal for world peace. In order to do that, we need to level the playing field. Until that happens, there can’t be peace. You’re the pawn that’s going to make it happen for us.”
“Me? Why me?”
“No one suspects, yet they all suspect. It’s a conundrum that’ll keep Kent and the president guessing for years. They can’t ignore you in case you’re a sleeper, even though you weren’t a sleeper. We made you a sleeper, and when the time comes, you’re going to do great things for our shared cause.” He glanced over at Boris. “Right?”
“Yep. The woman who killed my wife has to pay.”
“Excuse me one moment.” I faced Boris. “I didn’t kill your wife. You did. You know that, right?”
“Yep. I had Georgi kill her, because as a guard of mine, he didn’t need to be having an affair with her. Have you seen Georgi?”
“No. Where is he?” I asked.
“He’s grounded,” Hugh said, laughing. Boris joined in and I assumed that meant he was dead.
I stared right at Vlad. “Now you know I didn’t kill Natasha. I told you that before, remember?”
“It doesn’t matter. She’s dead and my country wants revenge.”
I pointed at Boris. “Then turn to your own ambassador. He’s to blame.”
He shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”
I crossed my arms. “What are you going to do with me now?”
“I think your job was to play like a helpless female,” Hugh said. “So play helpless.”
“What for? It looks to me like you guys have won and there’s nothing left to do here.”
“Not quite,” Hugh said. “We’ve only just begun.” He nodded toward Vladimir. “Knock her out and make her forget.”
“Yes, sir.” Vlad walked toward me, but Jordan pushed him out of the way. We both ran out of the room, heading down the hallway.
“Follow me,” Jordan said. He opened the front door, and we both ran outside. Thugs were following us, and as we ran down the sidewalk, it suddenly occurred to me. They wanted us to escape. They wanted us to find Kent. Something else was going on here, and I was determined to figure out what it was.
Chapter 37
“Jordan. Stop,” I said.
“What? Why?” He stopped and looked behind me. “Where did the thugs go?”
“Huh?” I turned around, but they were gone. “They wanted us to escape, but why?”
“I have no idea. I think we’re in big trouble now. I want to get to the bottom of this.” We returned to the house and stood outside the living room, listening to as much as we could hear.
“How long?” Hugh said.
“In twenty-four hours, they’ll have infected the entire area. After that, within two days, people will be dropping like flies, all over the U.S.”
“And the antidote becomes a hot commodity,” Hugh said. “People will pay anything for it.” He laughed. “Smart move, gentlemen.”
“We’re infected with something,” I whispered to Jordan. “Where would the antidote be?”
“I have an idea. Follow me.” He headed back around the corner, so I did the same. The sun was high in the sky, so I was sure it was around noon. It was hotter than anything. The sweat was pouring off my face.
“Is it hot out here?” I whispered.
Jordan looked at my face. “No. It’s around seventy-five. Whatever we have, you’re getting it first.”
“Great. Just great.” I looked around the ground, but saw no weapons. When I looked up, I saw a board behind the shed. My favorite weapon.
“Jordan,” I whispered and pointed.
He peeked around the corner and returned back to me. “Two huge guards. As soon as their backs are turned, run.”
“Got it.”
We both watched the guards around the corner. They were just standing by, smoking cigarettes. What I wouldn’t give for one of those, but Jim had taken all my smokes away from me months earlier, the rat.
“Think they’re in town yet?” one man asked in Russian.
“Not yet. I want to make sure they don’t come back here first.”
“What are they saying?” Jordan whispered to me.
“They’re waiting for us to come back.”
“I need to learn that language.”
“Russian,” I whispered. “I think they’re in league with the Saudis.”
“Or just a few madmen ready to level the playing field,” Jordan whispered.
I nodded. It made sense to me.
We waited for a long time, just watching these guys. I checked my watch, and it was nearly three o’clock before they went inside. Jordan and I hunched down and ran to the other side of the shed. We looked at the boards, but Jordan found some tools down a ways from the wood. He found a crowbar, while I found a tire iron. Yep. That would work really well.
The sweat dripped off my face and between my breasts, but I ignored it. I had a mission, and these guys weren’t going to get away with anything.
“Ready?” Jordan whispered.
I nodded. We peeked around the corner, and Jordan headed to the shed door. He opened the lock with one slam of the crowbar, and we entered the building. He closed the door behind us, and, using the light from the windows, I saw many boxes stacked up on shelves all over the place.
“Do you think the antidote is here?” I whispered.
“It could be.” He walked to the wall and checked in the boxes. I went to the other wall and ripped open another box.
“Nothing here,” I said. “These are papers saying how they can take over the U.S.” I read on. “Various people are involved, too.”
“Take it with us. We may need it later.”
I shoved it into my pants pocket and opened a few other boxes. All papers, but I couldn’t take them with me. There were too many.
I approached Jordan, wiping my face. “Why did you make me stay in the infected water?”
“I had to. They were watching me for loyalties. If I didn’t, they’d kill me.”
“Did it affect you?”
“No. They gave me the antidote.”
“Did they give you the antidote to whatever I have?”
He kept looking through boxes. “I don’t know. They kind of put me out after I got here, so I’m not sure what happened.” He stopped suddenly, looking at the mountain of walls. “If I were a terrorist, where would I keep the antidote?”
“Not outside for someone to steal,” I said. “And probably not in that house, either. No, it would have to be some place no one would ever suspect.”
“But where?” Jordan asked. “The house with the blackened windows?”
“You’ve been inside, haven’t you?”
“Yeah. Nothing’s there.” He glanced toward the house. “No, I think they’re keeping it inside the house. They’ve probably all been inoculated, too.” He lifted his crowbar. “I think it’s time to take on the Russian government.”
“Good.” I felt awful, but I had a score to settle with old Boris and couldn’t wait. We headed toward the door, where I spotted a phone on the wall. “Jordan. Look.” I rarely saw public phones, but this was weird. What was this place, anyway?
“Why would there be a phone here?” I asked Jordan.
“I think this used to be a flower shop or something. Call your husband and tell him everything. I’m keeping watch on the door.”
“Understood.” I lifted the phone and heard a dial tone. I dialed Jim’s cell
phone number, which he picked up in less than a split second. “Jim Henry.”
“It’s Harley.” I kept my voice down.
“Where are you?”
“I was kidnapped and I’m in Animas. But Jim, they gave Jordan and me an infectious disease. We can’t be around anyone or we’ll kill people by infecting them. We’re where they’re all located. And it goes higher than Kent. Hugh Jacobsen is in league with Boris.”
Silence.
“Are you there?”
“Yes, I’m here,” he said. “We need to find you, but need the antidote. Do you know what you’ve been given?”
“I have no idea, but I’m sweating up a storm.”
“Where are you right now?”
“We’re behind the house. We don’t want to be out in public, but I have no idea where the house is located for you to get here.”
“We’ll find you, Harley. Hang in there, and I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I felt the tears in my eyes as I hung up the phone. A few trickled down my cheeks.
“You okay?” Jordan whispered.
“Yeah.” I wiped my cheeks. “It’s time to take down the bad guys.” I had to do this for the rest of the United States. If this didn’t prove my loyalties, nothing would. And if I was a sleeper, I wanted to beat the heck out of Hugh, just because he was an idiot.
“I want to get the guards first,” Jordan whispered. “We need to get their guns.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
We waited for a while inside the shed until the two guards came back outside for another smoke break. When they began lighting up like chimneys, Jordan counted to three and we ran outside, hitting them with all we were worth until they went down. They tried to yell, but we were quicker.
We each got their guns, and Jordan felt their pulses. “They’re still alive. I hope they stay that way. I want them questioned.”
“We need to tie them up. Did you see any rope or something like that in there?”
“I’ll check.” He went into the shed and returned with two rolls of duct tape. We dragged the huge men into the shed and wrapped every part possible with duct tape—their hands, their feet, and their mouths. Then we tied them to the bookshelves. Those guys were going nowhere.
I had to admit. It was easier to maneuver holding just a gun.
We went to the back door. Jordan tried the doorknob, opening when he turned it.
“Ready?” he whispered.
I nodded and lifted my gun, ready to shoot. He eased open the back door to the kitchen. It was empty, so we both entered, checking in each direction.
“Where did they go?” I whispered.
Jordan shrugged. We entered the living room, but it was also empty. That’s when we heard it. Arguing was coming from some stairs off the living room.
“Basement,” Jordan said. “Clear the upstairs first. But be careful because there are two sets of stairs to get there.”
I felt awful. Whatever they’d given me seemed to have gotten worse when I went outside. But now, the air conditioning was giving me chills.
We each went from room to room, but no one was upstairs. We locked each of the doors from the inside, and met back at the top of the stairs.
“You go first,” Jordan said. “Shoot anything that moves.”
“Where will you be?”
“Behind you, in case you miss.”
“Chicken.” I inched down the stairs, stopping halfway. The argument had quieted, and it sounded as if the louder of the two was speaking Arabic. That was just frustrating. One language I didn’t know, out of many.
I moved around the corner of the wall that partially covered the staircase with my weapon drawn. All the men had moved upstairs and sat around a big table, eating. I’d even asked them for food earlier, but they’d given me nothing. Now I was angry.
“Put your hands up or I shoot.” I thought twice. “I’ll probably shoot anyway.”
All the men faced me, and as soon as Tilvin reached for his gun, I shot him right in the arm. Assam leaned over him and helped him.
“Anyone else want to make the same mistake?” I asked.
They all shook their heads.
“Stand up and turn toward me. Put your hands on your head, too.”
They all did as requested, and I walked down a few more steps. Jordan stayed at the top as my backup.
“Have the duct tape?” I asked him.
“Yep.”
“Tie them up and I’ll cover them.”
While holding the gun and the tape, he passed me walking down the stairs. When he was one step from the bottom, Hugh yelled a Russian phrase. It sounded like, ‘sladkiye mechty,’ which meant ‘sweet dreams.’
Jordan stopped, mid-step, dropped the tape, and turned toward me. His eyes looked funny and he started back up the stairs toward me, holding his gun down at his side.
“No, them,” I yelled. “Not me.”
“Harley is the enemy of America,” he said, as if in a trance.
“No, I’m not. Jordan. Tie them up.”
He kept walking toward me, but there was no talking sense to him. I had to shoot to save everyone. I aimed for his shoulder and fired off a round, but he kept coming, the blood streaming from his arm. However, he never lifted his gun toward me. I was basically shooting an unarmed man, even though he held a gun.
“Harley is the enemy of America,” he said again.
I retreated up the stairs, firing toward his legs. I had to do something else. Since he didn’t lift his gun, I rushed toward him and pushed him back down the stairs. He rolled to the bottom with a thud and seemed to pass out. I didn’t have time to check on him, because I had to deal with everyone else.
I turned fire on everyone in the room. They all ducked. I ran downstairs but Jordan didn’t move. So, I grabbed his gun and fired using both guns toward the bad guys.
“Stop shooting,” Hugh said. “You’ll be arrested if any of us are shot.”
“No, I won’t,” I said. “Kent already knows what’s going on here. This is self-defense.”
“No, he doesn’t know anything,” Hugh said.
I grinned. “He does now. I called Jim and they’re on their way.” I heard someone coming down the stairs.
A gun cocked at my head. “I’m back early.” I turned slightly. Damon stood right beside me and grabbed my guns. “You’re out of line, agent. I’m going to make sure you do as you’re told, too.”
I remembered what Jordan had told me. “I should’ve guessed someone would use the second set of stairs to this place.”
“Yep. Nice of the builder to include that feature, since this used to be a business.”
“It figures you’d be involved. They needed someone to plant a key word on us. Someone with a psychology background.” Note to self. Don’t ever trust psychologists.
Damon laughed right in my ear. “Move. You have a problem with key words and always have.”
I started up the stairs, feeling incredibly nauseous. I was hot and then I was cold, but never in-between. “Have I?”
“Yes. I’ve worked on you so many times when you didn’t know it, but nothing stuck. For some reason, you think you’re in charge of keeping the United States safe. We finally got through and now you’re a sleeper for us. It took a long time, too.”
“That’s good to know.” And I intended to get rid of it, too, if he was telling me the truth. I’d even talk good old Dr. White, my nemesis, into removing it.
I glanced back and saw Assam run to Jordan. I couldn’t watch what he was doing because I was being forced up the stairs by Damon with the gun at my back. “Why do you have to be a bad guy?” I asked Damon.
“It goes with my name. It sounds like a devil name.”
My stomach churned. “But you can be nice. Just let me go and I’ll take care of the guys downstairs. Find me the antidote, too, and we can work together.”
He chuckled. “Never. You’ve been a thorn in my side since you were being held in D.C. My job depen
ded on figuring you out. I had to tell them you were a sleeper, just to stay employed. No, I think you need to infect a bunch of people so we can do this right.”
I reached the top step and stopped. “Nice comment. It makes me want to infect you, first.” I turned to see him.
“You won’t. I’m inoculated already.”
The sickness was making me feel even worse and I doubled over in pain. “I’m not going to be able to infect anyone.” I fell to my knees, my head falling onto the floor. The cool sweat hit me full-force. While on the floor, I looked up at Damon. Even though his gun pointed at me, he was looking down the stairs. I moved my feet and kicked him, hard, making him fall onto his side near the top step. Once I forced myself up to a sitting position, I grabbed his gun and pointed it at him.
“Make me angry,” I said.
“Don’t do this,” he said. “Don’t make me use your key word.”
“Go ahead. I want to see if it works.”
“No.” He held out his hand. “Give me the gun.”
“No.” I lifted it higher. “I’m not going to infect innocent people, just to make you happy.” The pain in my stomach and head were unbearable. “Am I dying?”
“Yes. I have to get up to get the antidote, or you will die.”
He was trying to get away. I had to play his mind games, I guessed. “You’re lying. If you give me the antidote, I won’t be able to infect anyone. I guess we’re back at square one.”
“Appears so. You’re getting really tired. Very sleepy.”
I felt my eyelids start to droop, but forced them open. “It’s not going to work.”
Hugh walked up the stairs with a gun aimed at me. “Get up.”
I kept the gun pointed toward Damon. “No. You move and he dies.”
“This isn’t wise.”
I forced myself to stand up. “No, and neither is pointing a gun at me.” I backed up a few feet, pointing the gun at both of them. “I think you both need to die.”
“Shooting a high-ranking member of the DHS isn’t going to bode well for you at your trial.”
Murders on the Edge Page 23
