The American rk-1

by Andrew Britton

  North quickly turned back to business as he hunted for a piece of paper and a pencil. He drew a diagram on the center console as he spoke. “Okay, it’s pretty straightforward. There’s only one front entrance, but the interior is surprisingly large. As soon as you go in you have a seating area on the right, four pool tables on the left. Past that is the bar, facing the door. I know for a fact that the owner keeps a sawed-off shotgun under the counter, double-barreled.” Ryan didn’t like that piece of information, and the DEA agent registered his concern. “I know, I know. I’ll watch that. There’s no need for you to announce yourself. I’ll go in loud and let them know who I am. Since they’ve seen me before, they’ll be less likely to come up firing.”

  “What are you carrying?”

  North pulled a long case out from behind his seat and opened it halfway.

  “Jesus, what the hell is that thing?”

  “It’s an M4 Super 90. Benelli only makes them available to law enforcement. Pretty imposing, huh? The telescopic stock helps to compensate for the size, and it fires on semiautomatic. The drawback is that it only holds five rounds, but I’m loading slugs. If I have to pull the trigger, nobody’s going to lift a finger afterward. I tried to get my boss to spring for a custom version chambered for seven, but the number crunchers over at Justice didn’t like the cost.”

  “I think what you have will do the job. Naomi needs something. Do you have a backup piece?”

  North looked concerned. “Yeah, but that’s it. Without it, you can only count on me for five rounds.”

  “Believe me,” Ryan replied, “if you need more than that, we’re already in trouble.”

  Naomi emerged from the restroom, the anger gone from her face. Kealey was relieved; she was going to need her mind clear in a few minutes. She had changed into a tight T-shirt and a pair of low-slung jeans. The new outfit was more practical, but did nothing less to show off her admirable figure. As she got back into the truck, North went on with his explanation.

  “So that’s the only front entrance. You see what I’m talking about, Kharmai? Okay, good. Now, the bathroom is over here adjacent to the bar, so you can keep an eye on both at the same time. The door to the stockroom is shielded from view, but you should have time to react if anyone comes out. There are no windows in the bathroom, so you don’t have to worry about our guy getting out that way.

  “Here’s what I’m thinking: I’ll go in first unarmed to make sure that Elgin is there. If he is, and he should be, then I’ll come out to collect my weapon. Naomi, I already explained to Ryan that I’m going in loud. You don’t need to say anything. You head to the front and keep an eye on this blind spot.” He pointed to the diagram and she nodded her head in understanding. The DEA agent turned to Ryan. “You want to get him out of there quick. Like I said, this is not a friendly place. I’ve spent a lot of time in there recently, and even I can’t always tell who’s carrying. You should make it clear that we are only there for Elgin. Otherwise you’ll get some asshole with a warrant out in Idaho pulling down on you from behind.” He searched their faces. “Are you sure you want to go ahead with this?”

  “Definitely. The longer we wait, the greater the chance that he catches on and we lose him. It’s now or never,” was Kealey’s decisive response. Naomi looked a little less eager.

  North grinned. “My kind of man. Let’s go.”

  He put the heavy truck into gear and they drove on down to the docks. North dug out his backup piece and handed it to Ryan, who in turn checked the chamber and passed it to Naomi, butt first.

  “This is a Glock 29. You have nine rounds plus one in the chamber, okay? It doesn’t have an external safety. All you have to do is squeeze the trigger.” Turning to North: “That’s your backup?” He made a show of looking around the interior of the truck. “This thing is like a mobile armory. Where do you keep the grenade launchers?”

  That earned him a brief laugh. It was Ryan’s way, and had been ever since he was a young platoon leader, to try to ease the tension before heading into harm’s way. A certain amount of stress and fear was useful, because it kept you sharp. Too much, though, could cause even the most experienced people to freeze up at the worst possible time. Looking back, he could see the tension in Naomi’s face, and hoped that she would keep it together long enough to do what was needed.

  “That’s it,” North remarked. They were rolling slowly past a low, cinder block building. The exterior hadn’t seen new paint in many years, the white coating cracked and missing entirely in some sections. Blocklike letters in black paint spelled out THE WATERFRONT across the uppermost part of the building’s face. The windows were streaked with dirt and covered with rusting steel mesh.

  There were only three other cars in the litter-strewn parking lot as North pulled in on the second pass.

  “Do me a favor, Kealey. Pull out that shotgun while I check it out. I’ll be back in a sec.” North hopped out and ambled toward the entrance. Ryan reached behind the seat and pulled out the soft case. Keeping it below the passenger window, he opened it and withdrew the Benelli. It was 3 ^ 1? 2 feet in length, the barrel alone accounting for almost 19 inches. Looking back, he noticed that Naomi’s eyes were wide at the sight of the weapon.

  “Don’t worry,” he said as he checked the breech to verify that it was fully loaded. He turned awkwardly in his seat to face her, but her eyes were darting away. “Naomi, look at me.”

  She finally met his gaze. When she reached up to brush her hair back from her face, Kealey saw that her hand was shaking. “You’re going to be fine,” he said. “I need you to be focused in there. Just watch the bathroom door and my back, don’t worry about Elgin. I know what I’m doing, okay? You have to trust me.”

  “Hey,” she said, her eyes suddenly flaring. “I’m not scared, Ryan, and I don’t need your help. I can bloody well take care of myself.”

  Kealey lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything in response.

  North came out of the bar moving slowly at first, then faster as he approached the vehicle. Ryan pushed the door open.

  “We’re good to go. He’s sitting at the bar, blue jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. You’ve seen a picture?” They both nodded in the affirmative. “Okay, let’s move.”

  Kealey handed him the Benelli, and North checked the breech instinctively. That small gesture gave Ryan added confidence in the ability of the young DEA agent as they moved quickly forward, Ryan’s Beretta low by his side as he trailed behind the bigger man.

  They were inside.

  North moved to the left as soon as he cleared the doorway to make room for the two CIA officers following a half step behind. His shotgun was up, traversing the room and he was shouting: “DEA! Get on the ground! I said, GET ON THE GROUND!”

  Most of the people in the room froze at the sight of the big agent and the semiautomatic shotgun that he held. Then they were falling to the floor as Ryan came up low between the tables. The bartender’s hands dropped under the counter as he watched the approaching agents.

  “Don’t do it!” Ryan shouted. “This is not about you! Get your hands in the open!”

  He could see the hesitation in the old man’s grizzled face as he reached the bar. Naomi was facing away from Elgin as she approached, her attention entirely focused on the bathroom… And then Elgin was up and moving fast, but Ryan couldn’t take his aim away from the bartender. Elgin with a knife out, turning Naomi around and the knife tight against her throat, her body between the two men.

  Elgin whispering into her ear, the eyes cold and empty.

  Naomi, the Glock loose by her side, her eyes wide and locked onto Ryan’s.

  No time to decide as the bartender brought the 12 gauge up and Ryan dropped to the ground, the Beretta swinging left across his body as he fired. The bullet plowed a shallow furrow across Naomi’s thigh before it ripped into Elgin’s left kneecap. Over his head, the shotguns booming in unison, glass shattering into thousands of pieces behind the bar. Elgin screamed in agony as the kni
fe moved away from Naomi’s throat and she turned, dragging him down by the hair, the muzzle of the Glock pressed against his head.

  Then they were both on the ground, Naomi turning him so he lay facedown as she straddled him from behind and kept the pistol jammed into the base of his neck. The bar erupted as the small group of people rushed for the front door. Ryan stood up to look over the counter and could see the bartender on the ground, a half-inch hole in his chest, the body surrounded by thousands of shards of bloody glass. Turning, he was relieved to see that North wasn’t hit, the shotgun dangling in his right hand as he walked up.

  “He got a round off?”

  “Into the counter, I think. He didn’t get it up all the way,” North replied. Ryan turned his attention to Naomi. The pistol hadn’t moved from Elgin’s head. Her eyes were glazed over, her face pale.

  “Naomi, it’s over,” he said in a soft voice as he gently pulled the pistol from her outstretched hand. Her leg was bleeding badly, but she didn’t seem to notice the pain.

  “Get some pressure on that, North. I think she’s in shock. I need to talk to this bastard.” Ryan grabbed Elgin’s shirt collar and dragged the injured man toward the stockroom, ignoring the screams of pain as he pulled him over the floor littered with broken glass.

  The rear of the building was a large, dark room stacked floor to ceiling with crates. Ryan propped Elgin up against the cool stone wall next to the door and searched him quickly but thoroughly. Satisfied that he had no other weapons, Ryan moved back into the bar and picked up the man’s knife.

  “What the hell are you doing?” North demanded. He had located a first aid kit and was working on Naomi’s leg.

  North’s eyes moved up from the weapon in the other man’s hand to Ryan’s face. The young DEA agent, several inches taller and 90 pounds heavier, abruptly shut his mouth and looked away. Ryan walked back toward the stockroom, his knuckles white around the rubber grip of the knife.

  Thomas Elgin was leaning against the wall just as Ryan had left him, his breath coming in short, fast spurts. He looked up as Kealey entered the room, eyes defiant as he clutched his ruined leg.

  “ Fuck you want, asshole?” he snarled.

  Without saying a word, Ryan crouched and pushed the first inch-and-a-half of the knife into Elgin’s chest. He was rewarded by a shriek of agony as he twisted the handle to make the wound more difficult to close and to encourage blood flow. Ryan was well aware that he didn’t have a lot of time, and guessed that Elgin would be more motivated to talk if the hole in his chest was leaking at a steady rate.

  In a low, menacing voice, he said, “I need some fast answers from you.”

  “ What do you want, you sick fuck! ” Elgin screamed, twisting his body, desperately trying to get away from the knife. Kealey obliged and pulled it out of his chest. The injured man’s words didn’t seem to have any effect on him, though. This time, the serrated edge scraped across the protruding bone of Elgin’s mangled kneecap.

  In the other room, Special Agent Adam North of the DEA shuddered as another unearthly scream echoed throughout the building. The howl of pain almost managed to drown out the sound of the approaching sirens as North finished applying the improvised pressure bandage to Kharmai’s thigh. She was starting to come around now, a spark visible in her large green eyes as her mouth moved in an attempt to speak.

  “Take it easy,” he said. “You’re okay now. You did a great job.” It was a sincere compliment. For an intelligence analyst to be thrown into this kind of situation and react the way she did was an amazing thing. The sirens grew louder and the door burst open, paramedics swarming into the building. They were followed closely by officers from the Norfolk and Portsmouth police departments and a number of Virginia state troopers. As soon as they came through the front door, Ryan emerged from the stockroom, his face an impassive mask.

  As the police officers secured the building, several returned from the back room with pale faces and immediately looked in Kealey’s direction. Confusion seemed to rule the day, but it wasn’t long before a consensus was reached, and a nervous officer put handcuffs on Ryan Kealey at the behest of the person now in charge, Captain Gina Nolan of the Norfolk Police Department.

  CHAPTER 13

  NORFOLK

  “What the hell were you thinking, Ryan?”

  Kealey and Harper were seated in the sterile interrogation room at Norfolk Police Headquarters. The irony was not lost on Ryan as the DDO questioned him from across the cold metal table. “I had to pull a lot of strings to get you out of this. I thought I told you to use kid gloves. Does that phrase mean anything to you?”

  Kealey’s gaze drifted across the bare walls as the other man glared in his direction. “I realize it didn’t turn out the way we-”

  “Ryan,” Harper’s voice lowered, even though the door was closed and there was no one else in the room. “Elgin had a lot to say about you. If he starts talking to the press, even the director won’t be able to contain the shit storm. Rightfully, this operation should have landed on the DEA’s doorstep. You went too far with him.”

  Kealey looked to the upper corner of the room and saw that the camera used to monitor interrogations was disconnected, the wires hanging loose against the wall. He wondered why he had checked. “You said that the president cleared this, John. I did what was necessary.”

  “Bullshit!” Harper tossed several photographs onto the table. “Pictures don’t lie. The Bureau can’t pressure Elgin because we have this hanging over our heads. In other words, we can’t force his hand because you took away our only leverage.”

  “John-”

  Harper held up his hand to silence the younger man. He stared at Ryan intently for a moment before quickly looking away. “Ryan, you went too far,” he repeated. The anger was gone from his voice, replaced by a weary resignation. “The director wants you out, and he’s going to get his wish if Elgin doesn’t open up. The State Department sent some people over to talk to the little bastard, but so far they’re coming up empty. I need you to give me some good news, because I’ve called in all my debts.”

  “The boat that the explosives came in on is called Natalia; it’s a 25,000-ton container ship registered in South Africa. It has a regular route, making stops in Marseille and Rosslare in the south of Ireland before heading over to our East Coast.” Ryan looked up to catch Harper’s incredulous expression. “Jesus Christ, John, I didn’t go in there to make idle threats. This is what we needed, and now we have it. We don’t have time to waste with gentle persuasion, you said so yourself.”

  “Well, why the hell did you keep me hanging on? This might be enough to save you — did he identify March?”

  Kealey sighed and shook his head wearily. “I knew he wasn’t going to be able to. If Shakib had told March about the situation, then Elgin would be in a dirt-covered hole somewhere and we wouldn’t have gotten this far. I told you before, March is not given to making mistakes. He doesn’t believe in loose ends.”

  The irony of this statement was immediately apparent to Jonathan Harper. Clearly, Jason March’s biggest mistake to date was not killing Ryan Kealey on that Syrian hilltop seven years earlier. But that thought had come unannounced, and it was incredibly disloyal. He felt ashamed that he had identified with a killer, even if only for a moment. It went against everything that he valued.

  Ryan watched a myriad of emotions cross the other man’s face and wondered what he was thinking.

  With Kealey’s contribution, the tension was gone from both men. It was still an interrogation room, though; the cold gray walls felt closer by the second, the scarred metal desk screamed confessions, and the disconnected camera seemed to watch over everything with an unwavering eye. Ryan was tired of it. He thought of Katie and for a moment felt better, lighter.

  “I think I’ve done enough for today, John. Can you get me out of here, or did you just come down for the conversation?”

  A sly grin eased itself across the older man’s face. “Who do you think you’
re talking to, Junior?”

  They departed the Norfolk Police Department less than a half hour later, both men down low in the backseat of a Chevy Suburban almost identical in appearance to Adam North’s. The heavily tinted windows shielded the occupants from the view of the few reporters savvy enough to stake out the department motor pool.

  “I should have asked before, but how’s Naomi doing?”

  “She’ll be fine,” Harper said. “North ran her over to the De Paul Medical Center. They stitched her up okay and gave her something for the pain. She’s checked into the Marriott Waterside. That’s where I’m taking you.”

  “John-” Kealey started to protest, but was cut off just as fast.

  “Ryan, you got what we needed. I want you to get some rest, because you’ll probably be moving out again tomorrow, depending on what we dig up. Everything else that needs to get done today is on my side of the fence, and if I show up at the DEA division office with you in tow, it’s going to cause more problems than it will solve. They aren’t too happy with you right now.” Kealey nodded his head in reluctant agreement as the vehicle turned onto Waterside Avenue.

  “I’ll call for you tomorrow morning,” Harper said as the vehicle slowed to a halt next to the hotel. Ryan moved to climb out, but the other man stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “You got what we needed, Ryan, and all three of you walked out. That’s the important thing. Go talk to Kharmai; North said she looked pretty down when he left her.”

  “What happened today wasn’t her fault, John. It was mine. I told her she could trust me, and then that bastard got to her with a knife… She has a right to be upset.”

  “Hey, she’s only alive because of what you did for her in Washington, okay? Keep that in mind. She should be grateful to have you around. Go get some sleep.”

  Ryan gave a mock salute and Harper couldn’t help but smile as the Suburban pulled away from the curb. As he went through the process of checking in, Ryan began to realize how tired he actually was. It was hard to believe he had woken up with Katie just twelve hours earlier.