by John Carrick
“He lawyer-ed up and returned to Glasgow.”
“So?”
“So, pack your gear.”
“We have no jurisdiction there.”
“That’s why it’s just going to be you and me.”
“We’re just going?”
“We’ll be working with Scotland Yard and Interpol.”
“Do they know that?” Von Kalt asked.
“What?”
“I think you’re making a mistake.”
“Surprise, surprise.”
“What do you want with MacPhail anyhow?”
“He’s got something he needs to give me.”
“You honestly want to up and leave the kids?”
“They’re just kids. We know Ross has them. When they turn up, we’ll come back.”
A car swerved to the curb in front of Ashley and Geoff, they froze. Ross popped open the hatch, "Get in," he said. Ross looked to be bleeding from at least two gunshot wounds to the midsection and another to his left shoulder.
"Hurry up," he said, with a calm that belied his injuries.
Ash approached the car, Geoff trailing along behind her
"Come on, they're going to be here any second, and I need your help.”
Ashley put her right hand into her back pocket and slipped into the transport. Geoff climbed in and sat next to her. The door closed behind them, and they lifted off.
Ross put the vehicle in gear and scrambled the booster drives to get them away from the agents.
Once cruising safely in city traffic, he engaged the autopilot, took a deep breath and turned his chair from the console to face them.
"So, now, when you're running, there are three things you need to be aware of." Ross didn’t waste time.
"Running?" Geoff asked.
"Three rules," Ross snapped his fingers, cutting off Geoff’s interruption.
“One, family first. Trust no one. Well, trust each another, but no one else. As long as you've got each other, that's all that matters.”
The grizzled veteran waited for some kind of acknowledgment. Ash nodded and elbowed Geoff who did likewise.
"Number Two. Never go anywhere you can't escape from. No small places. No confined spaces. Know your exits or don't go in.”
The brother and sister nodded; the message was clear.
"Three. Never go anywhere twice, not ever. Never ever go anywhere twice. Repeat them, now, one two three, please.”
Ross coughed, his hand came away bloody. “One two three,” he said, grabbing napkin from the side console.
Ash looked to Geoff and nodded. "Family first," Ashley said.
"Family first," Geoff repeated.
"Two..." Ash started.
"Don't get trapped," Geoff jumped in.
"Don't get trapped, " Ash nodded.
"And three, don't go anywhere twice, ever," they said together.
"That's right. It's a big world. Plenty to see and never get bored." Ross seemed pleased. "Okay, now. Four things you need to survive. Some people say three, I say four. Here they are; food, water, information and energy. To get any of them, you can use cash.”
This took a second to sink in for Ashley. Geoff remained quiet.
Ross relaxed into the chair and took slow breaths.
"Trust no one? What about you?" Ashley asked.
"Don't trust me either. You don't know me from Adam, but I'm wounded and not trying to hurt you at the moment. I’d say, right now, I need your help more than you need mine right now. Besides, you have a knife in your hand, don’t you?”
"You worked for my father," Ashley said, ignoring his comment about the Micronix.
"I did, until yesterday.”
"What happened?”
"You saw what happened," Ross answered.
"I saw..." Ashley let the statement hang unfinished.
“Where have you been?” Ross asked.
“What do you mean?” Ashley replied.
“You disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“We lost you. We were ready to pick you up last night, but you vanished off our scanners.”
“What are you talking about?” Ashley asked. “We spent the night in the park.”
“Under a slide,” Geoffrey added.
“You what? The park was crawling with feds until after midnight.”
“Not where we were,” Ashley said.
“We didn’t see anyone,” Geoff added.
“No kidding.” Ross coughed again.
"What are we going to do?" Geoff asked.
"We're going to a safe house," Ross said.
"Not Mexico?" Ashley asked.
"No. Why would you do that? That’s a horrible idea. What's in Mexico?" Ross asked.
"Mexicans," Ashley replied.
"We're not going to Mexico. We're going to Canada. But not yet, we need IDs first and that's going to take a couple of days," Ross answered.
Ashley glanced over to her little brother. Geoffrey followed the conversation intently. Ash noticed that he didn't miss a gesture or subtle bit of emphasis.
"Are you going to tell us what happened to our parents?” Geoff asked.
Ross coughed. "You were there.”
"But what happened?" Geoff asked. "Why?”
“That could take years. Hell, I’m not even sure I know.” Ross took a deep breath and coughed again, pressing his hand to his side.
"Are you okay?" Ashley asked.
"I'll be fine." Ross plugged his phone into the console. "Hold on, I have to make a call.” He dialed a line and leaned back, trying to catch his breath.
The call was connected, and CWO Reid’s face filled the terminal “What’s up?” he asked. “I was beginning to get worried. Are you okay?”
"I need you to send a trauma kit over to St. Vincent's.”
“What’s up, you don’t want to talk this way?” Ried asked in a thought, over the amplifier. Out-loud, he said, "We've got a few there, courtesy of our old friend, Justin Case.”
“Fox asked us to keep this fifth wall up, keeping up appearances. Ash has Mike in her pocket.” "Great. I'm sending you the intercepts now. I'm pretty sure it's the NID and his deputy, but I want confirmation. Did you get anything?”
“Sure, copy that.” "We've got new units in the decanter, but there's no rush. We’re one-eighty; however you look at it.”
"I need twenty hours before I can travel, if you haven't already wrapped things up by then. Any progress on the visas?" Ross asked.
"Everything is approved and in the pipeline. It'll take forty-eight to seventy-two. I'll keep you updated. Manana, muy amigo.”
"See you." Ross relaxed back into the chair.
Geoff looked over to Ashley, pleading with her to ask the question in his eyes. Despite their separation in age, Ashley and Geoff were still close enough to understand each other with a glace.
"Tell us," Ashley said.
"Tell you what?" Ross asked.
"Tell us what you know," Ashley answered.
"I'll give you a rundown, sure.” He coughed, but lightly. "I've known your father since we were kids, went to school with him and a bunch of 'the guys.’ Most of them were destined for greatness. I was destined for the officer corps, infantry. I did a good job most of the time, which means I excelled at killing bad guys. Eventually karma caught up with me and took my leg.
"When your father approached me with the 3 AM project, I have to admit, I was interested. There were eight of us, nine including your dad.
"You may think your old man was a book worm scientist, but he was not. He was one of the toughest guys I've ever met. His code name was Red, and I'm telling you, we never went on a mission that didn't get wet."
Ross leaned back in the chair. Talking seemed to be making him tired.
Geoff tugged on Ashley’s shirt, “What does he mean, wet? Like seals?” he asked.
Ash shrugged him off. "Who was that on the phone?"
"Reid, he's chasing down some of your dad’s friends, mak
ing sure everyone who might be in danger is safe.”
“In danger from the guy who shot my dad? Why didn't you stop him?"
"Believe it or not, because your dad asked me not to.”
“What do you mean?” Ashley asked.
“I mean your dad trusted that guy, and I don’t think he believed he would hurt him.”
“Isn’t anyone going to do anything?!” Ashley was getting angry.
“Here’s the situation,” Ross said. “Our government is fractured. It’s at war with itself and you to have just be come the equivalent of a castle or a mountain pass, you represent tide-turning potential.”
“What is his name?” Ashley asked. “The man with the gun. Tell me his name.”
“The less you know the safer you are. They’re looking for you, and the less you know the safer you are.”
"What do they want with us?" Ashley said. "We're just kids.”
"You're not just anything. They want you, they want the evidence.”
Ashley held up the prototype. "This evidence?”
“That’s nothing,” Ross smiled. "You are the evidence."
Ashley turned to look out the window.
After a long pause, Ross spoke. "When negotiations between the government and your father broke down, things unraveled pretty quickly and everyone started improvising. The people in Washington panicked. They were very scared by something your father had been working on.
"Those agents in the forest... Ashley, what happened to those agents last night, those soldiers who were chasing you? Did you kill them?”
"Last night?" Ashley asked.
Geoff looked up at her.
"Four soldiers were killed. Did you do it? What happened? Do you remember any of it?"
"We didn’t kill anyone. I remember all of it," Ashley looked at Geoff.
Geoff nodded.
"It was Mr. Dunkirk," Ashley said.
"It was, " Geoff said. "We saw him in the trail, just before they caught up to us. But we were running, and we couldn't see what happened. We heard them fighting. We heard gunshots."
"It was him? He was there?" Ross asked.
"His shirt was covered in blood,” Ashley added.
"Bobby was there too. We saw him," Geoff said.
"Who’s Bobby?" Ross asked.
"Bobby Dunkirk," Ash replied.
Ross cleared his throat. "While you guys were at camp, your father went missing for almost three weeks. He vanished somewhere in the DC area, after a briefing at the White House. He didn't turn up until yesterday, when you saw him at home. We figured out where he was and who had him. We talked to him, but he asked us to stand down. He wanted to let this play out. None of us thought it would go this far.”
"What are we going to do now?" Ashley asked.
"What did your father tell you to do?”
"He said to head south, to Mexico, until you found us.”
"Mexico, right! Okay, sure, if you're ever all alone, that's the thing to do. But since I found you, we're going to do a little better than that.”
"We're going to make them pay?" Ashley asked.
Geoff was fixated on the traffic outside his window.
"Soon we'll all have new identification and visas for Canada. I'm a software engineer who just got a big contract in Vancouver.”
"I don't want to go to Canada," Ashley said.
"How would you know? You've never been there.”
"How do you know I've never been there?”
Ross laughed and clutched at his side.
Ashley scowled, "I'm not going to Mexico or Canada. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to find out who did this. I'm going to find them, and I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill them all." The tears in her eyes and her trembling voice did little to conceal the child's furious anger.
Geoff lowered his eyes to the floor, the streaming weather and vehicles no longer appealing.
No one spoke again until they reached their destination.
Chapter 46 – Nostalgia
Saturday, Noon, July 25, 2308
The transport settled into a landing trajectory over the small parking garage for the T-shaped motel. It consisted of seven units, four singles and three suites, tucked away in a run down industrial district. They parked in an automated garage, and waited for the door to fully close, before exiting the vehicle.
"We'll wait here while I arrange new documents for us. We're going to set up your room downstairs. You can eat what you like, just don't go outside. There's nothing to see, and there is no such thing as fresh air around here anyhow.”
Ashley and Geoff followed Ross from the garage to the central corridor. They could access all seven of the units from the central maintenance passage, as well as the garage and main office. It was obvious the facility had been used as a safe house for several dangerous cases, not all of them successful.
"How long are we going to be here?" Ashley asked.
"A few days. We've got our work cut out for us tonight. Come on, grab those groceries.”
Ash and Geoff realized the back of the transport was packed with lots of stuff besides groceries. As they carried bags into the kitchen, the children were hard pressed to find counter space. Ross gestured to the floor as the table and counters were covered with bags of other supplies.
Ross coughed a few times, his hand coming away wet with blood. "There's something I've got to take care of. I'll be back in half an hour. Don't break anything."
Ash and Geoff made several trips from the transport back to the kitchen. Ross had purchased every kind of pot known to man. Some of the bags threatened to rip; they were so full of metal cups, pots and pans. Deeper in the car there were several bags of industrial materials.
It took the children almost twenty minutes to unload the cruiser.
Forty minutes later, they still hadn’t seen Ross and decided to eat. Ashley made sandwiches and Geoff poured juice.
Two hours later, after an uncomfortable nap on lobby couches, Geoff shook his sister awake.
“He’s still not back yet?” Ashley asked.
Geoff shook his head. “Ash, I hear voices.”
Ashley shot bolt upright.
Sure enough, from one of the units down the hallway, Ashley could hear them too. There were voices, plural, as in more than two.
Ashley was off the couch and pulling Geoff toward the kitchen. They didn’t go through the door, but Ashley fished the Micronix from her back pocket waited for a few moments in the doorway.
“What are we doing?” Geoff asked.
Ashley raised her finger to her lips. She looked at the door they were crouched beside. She could back through it, into the kitchen and out of the central lobby. Opening it would make noise. There was no way around that. Across the lobby, and up three stairs, the hallway ran toward the intersection at the end
She looked down at the Micronix in her hand. She pressed downward on the stiff button. It sunk a bit, but the blade didn’t pop.
Ashley coughed and jammed down on the trigger. The blade snapped out. It was not quiet, but Ashley’s ruse appeared to have covered it. The conversation in the back room continued, unbroken.
The wicked knife in hand, Ashley lowered her brow and set out toward the hallway entrance, Geoff trailing along behind.
They made their way down the hallway, toward the three-way intersection at the top of the T. At the corner they waited. The doorway to unit six, in the center of the hall, was open. There were at least three people inside, maybe four.
“I can’t believe you sent me to Jerusalem,” the woman said.
“I can’t believe you came back empty handed,” a deep-voiced male replied.
“I did leave in something of a hurry,” she answered.
“Regardless,” Ross interrupted the bickering. “What we need to do now, is work up a believable cover and get them out of here?’
“What did you have in mind?” the man asked.
“Vancouver,” Ross answered.
“That can’
t actually be your plan? Canada?” the woman asked.
“What’s wrong with Canada?” Ross responded.
“What about killing this son of a bitch?” the woman replied.
“What about it?” Ross sounded tired.
“Well?” The woman directed this to another part of the room.
“Well what? You heard him, he asked us not to shoot him.”
“I think the President may have shined him on a little bit,” a fourth voice suggested.
“That’s exactly what I think,” she replied, sounding familiar somehow.
“What’s he after, then?” one of the men asked.
“Ha! Everything?” she replied.
“Fox told him about MacPhail and the Midway.” Ross said.
Everyone laughed.
“Oh, you’re kidding?” someone said.
“I’m not. Our friend had him arrested, and MacPhail asked for his lawyer, so now Woody is on his way to Glasgow for some Manx kippers and the keys to the midway.”
The adults laughed loudly.
Ashley hit the button, retracting the blade; they didn’t hear it. She slipped it back into her pocket.
“I didn’t think anyone was dumb enough to fall for it,” the woman said. “Oh my god that’s priceless.”
“It gets better. After their scheduled visit to the fabled vessel, our intrepid director is scheduled to visit the Anserini-Chen Lodge, and ask for the managing director, Mr. Porter about participating in the Annual Snipe Hunt.”
“He can’t be that stupid!” someone said, between great belly laughs.
“Has he got anyone assigned to us at all?” Ross asked.
“The Agency, the Bureau and the Marshall’s office formed a joint task force. You guys got your very own Federal Posse on your ass.” The third male said.
“They didn’t invite Ice and the Marlboro Man?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” The third replied.
“It’s been twenty-four hours,” she objected. “Why haven’t we killed this ass hat yet?”
“Are we back to this?” the deep-voiced one objected. “Why don’t we just jump to the end, blow into the oval office and shoot Potus?”
“who’s potus?” Geoff whispered to his sister.
“i don’t know. shhh,” Ashley replied
“This is what Fox was afraid of happening,” one of the men said,
