Witness Protection: Moving Target

by Jet MacLeod

  “Like what?”

  “Do you think she’s pretty?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Do you think she’s pretty?”

  “Cole, where are you going with this?” Del asked him.

  “Just answer the question, Del. And, answer it honestly. Do you think that she is pretty?”

  “Yes.”

  “You like her, don’t you?”

  “Define like.”

  “Delia Montgomery, you like her, don’t you? That is the real reason that you called. You like her and you don’t know what to do about it, isn’t it?”

  “No.”

  “Why don’t I believe you?”

  “Because we were taught to trust no one,” Del answered.

  “When was the last time you went on a date?”

  “I was eighteen and in New York, before I joined the Army, why?”

  “Seriously…what about…okay, when was the last time that you went somewhere with someone other than someone in the unit, maybe someone who didn’t really know what you did, and just had fun?” Cole asked her.

  “Yulia and in Kiev?”

  “So, four plus years?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’ve forgotten what it was like to have someone else care about you, didn’t you?”

  “Besides, you and the guys, yes.”

  “She is the one that shot you, isn’t she?”

  “Cole…”

  “Look, I know that you told me that it was Sasha’s men. We rounded them all up. They all knew who you were, but they all swore they never touched you. It was Yulia, wasn’t it?” he asked, an edge in his voice.

  “I need to go to bed.”

  “Del…”

  “What do you want me to tell you, Cole? Yes, Yulia is the one who shot me. Should I have seen it coming? Probably, but there is only so much cover that you can take from an AK47 when you are alone and somewhere you don’t know. I still don’t know how the hell you found me so fast and frankly, I don’t care. Yulia shot me. She was the one that tried to kill me and I can’t blame her for that. I am the one that killed her father. I am the one that ended her life.”

  “You didn’t kill her, Del. I know that. I also know that she was found dead surrounded by five of Sasha’s men. There were bullet holes everywhere and in everyone. I was amazed that you actually still had a pulse when I got you out.”

  “You killed her? You killed Yulia? Why?”

  “I had to.”

  “But, why?”

  “Because, she knew who you were and she wouldn’t stop until you were dead. It was either her or you and I knew that I couldn’t let you make that call. The guards all just showed up at the wrong time. I barely had enough time to get your rifle to shoot them.”

  “You covered it all up?”

  “No, I made an insane international incident seem more plausible. I did my job. We took out the threat, made it look like a rival gang did it, and then I got you the Hell out of the Ukraine. It was nothing that I hadn’t done before. I just wasn’t expecting to find you like Swiss cheese.”

  “You killed her?”

  “Yes, I did it for you.”

  “I can’t believe that you killed her.”

  “Listen to me, Del. I didn’t take joy in it. I knew that she meant something to you, but you couldn’t see that she was learning to take over the arms business from her father. Sasha was a fool when it came to his daughter. She was a master manipulator. Unfortunately, the ‘Unit’ found out about her ambitions a little too late. I was dispatched to remove you and take care of the threats. She wasn’t the sweet innocent woman you thought she was.”

  “That is why there is a lot of redaction?”

  “Yes, we had to cover up most of the op even to the Alphabets. Things went south quickly. It wasn’t like Colombia, when we could just toss up to the cartels and make it fourth page news. This might have started a war. We needed to protect everyone, including you, even if it meant from yourself,” Cole explained.

  “You lied to me?”

  “To protect you,” he answered.

  “And, I am supposed to believe you.”

  “Do you remember what happened in Bostan?”

  “In Iran?”

  “Yes.”

  “How could I not?” Del asked.

  “Then you know that what I did, I did out of love and respect for you, Girlie.”

  Del was quiet for a few moments. She took a deep breath and sighed it out. She looked at the lake hoping that it would help her find the calm that heart was so desperate for.

  “I know, Sarge. I know. I need to go.”

  “Lieutenant, I am not saying these things to hurt you, but it wouldn’t hurt for you to find someone besides me to talk to about things. Angie is easy to look at and she doesn’t seem to judge you for what you did in your past. Those can be important things. I am not saying fall in love with the woman. I am saying talking to her might heal your heart more than you think.”

  “Good-bye, Cole,” she said hanging up.

  She stood on the deck. A flurry of emotions crossed through her mind and she realized that she wouldn’t be sleeping at all now. She would start to plan for their next stop tomorrow, after their boat ride. They needed move. Because now, she didn’t know how much she could trust Cole anymore. He had been like a father figure to her and now, he had destroyed her faith in him. She wondered why he would do that. Why did he wait until now to tell her that he was the one that killed Yulia? Why didn’t he tell that four years ago when she woke up? Why?

  Chapter 14

  Del woke up. She was warmer than normal. She felt that her shirt had ridden up and her left hand was directly under her left breast. Her right leg was cocked and her foot was tucked up under her left knee. Her right hand was haphazardly thrown over her head. The light from the windows was only partially dimmed by the thin vinyl blinds and the sheer curtains.

  She rolled her head to the side. She looked at the window and blinked. She couldn’t remember going to bed, but it was obvious that she had. She moved to sit up and that is when she realized that Angie was in the bed with her. Her mind began to race. Did she go to Angie’s room? She immediately took in the surroundings of the room and realized that she was in her room in the cabin. That meant that Angie had come to her bed at some time in the night.

  “Good morning,” Angie said, groggily as she woke up beside her.

  “Morning” Del responded automatically.

  Angie gave her a lazy smile and got out of the bed. Del just stared at her as she crossed the room. Angie stopped at the door way and smiled at Del, again. She made a motion to say something and then shut her mouth. She watched Del for a second, waiting for the questions, but when they didn’t come quickly, she started out the door before she said anything.

  “Get up. I’ll get breakfast ready. I can’t wait to go out on the lake today. I’ll go make some sandwiches so we can have a picnic while were out. We’ll act like tourists today. It’ll be fun.”

  Del just stared. She blinked a few times and Angie was gone. She looked down at herself. She had already taken in Angie’s long legs beneath the boy shorts and tank top that she had been wearing. Del had to shake herself. She couldn’t believe that she had shared a bed with her and she wasn’t in anything but a pair of boxers and an old ratty t-shirt.

  “Well that would explain the warmth, but that still doesn’t explain the why,” she said to herself.

  She quickly grabbed a pair of loose fitting jeans and put them on. She was determined to find out why Angie was in her bed that morning and she wasn’t going to rest until she knew. She would take them out on the pontoon boat she’d rented, and they would have fun, but Del would get her answers. She had to know. She didn’t know what to think, but she was worried about Angie’s explanations, too.

  She made her way up the hall and into the kitchen. Angie pushed a mug of coffee at her as she sat on a bar stool at the high counter/bar that surrounded th
e sink. She was now sitting where Angie had been while she had been making dinner the night before.

  “How do you want your eggs?” Angie asked turning back around to the stove.

  “Scrambled?”

  “That didn’t sound like you were too sure. You okay? I don’t have to make eggs if you don’t want any,” Angie told her, turning back around to face her through the cutout between the cabinets.

  “I am fine. Sorry. No, scrambled is fine or however you are making yours will be fine, too.”

  “Del, what’s wrong?” Angie asked, taking off her glasses and setting them on the counter.

  “Can you tell me something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Why were you in my bed?” Del asked.

  The Night Before

  Del was angry and hurt. She couldn’t believe that Cole would do that. She couldn’t believe that he had actually lied...to her. She knew that he did it to protect her but that didn’t make it any easier. She was angry. She was furious. She needed to let it go. It was four years ago and there was nothing that she could do about it now. She could call in some favors, but what good would it actually do for her?

  Nothing, she would have answers to questions that she never thought to ask. She didn’t know if she was angrier with Cole for killing Yulia or herself for never suspecting that Yulia was as ruthless as her father, Sasha Plushenko. She couldn’t answer that question and it hurt her brain and her heart.

  She walked slowly to bed. She decided that she just needed some sleep. She needed to work through this new information and turmoil in her head. There was no one else who could help her. She needed to do this on her own. She didn’t want to lose Cole, but she was having a hard time right now dealing with the information. She sighed as she entered her room.

  She tore off her blouse and t-shirt. She stood before the mirror and looked at her marred torso. Her fingers ran over the random circular scars from the bullets. She touched each one with a new reverence as the memories of that day flooded her mind. She didn’t need this now. She didn’t need the nightmares and the memories. She just needed sleep.

  Quickly she tore into a drawer and pulled out an old and very-worn Army t-shirt. She put it on, covering up the scars and memories, before looking back into the mirror. With the scars hidden from view, her mind began to quieten down again. She sighed. It was definitely going to be a long night.

  She slowly took off her jeans and threw them in the corner. She ripped her underwear off and tossed them into the pile with her jeans and blouse. She fished through the chest o’ drawers and found some boxers. She put them on and turned to go to bed.

  She lay down and stared at the ceiling. The pale whiteness of the ceiling only gave her mind a canvas for her memories and like a movie they played before her eyes. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t realized the truth before. She could remember, now, looking back on certain days with Yulia that Cole was lurking in the distance. She always disregarded it as they were making sure that she was still in control of her operation and herself while she was still getting the intel on Sasha. Now, she knew the truth. He was watching Yulia while she was watching Sasha.

  She shook her head and wondered if she would have done anything differently. Would she have walked away once she knew that Yulia was a target, too? She doubted it and Cole knew her enough to know that she was under and in extremely deep with the family. She wouldn’t have been able to just walk away and pull the trigger. No, it had to be done up close and personal. There had been no other way. She could see that, but it didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt.

  She thought back to her debriefings. They were all very closed lipped on the survivors of Plushenko’s arms business. She had been purposely asking about Yulia until Cole told her to drop it and forget about her. She had dismissed it then thinking that Cole was doing it to help her move on and focus on the mission at hand.

  Now, she knew. He felt guilty. She had gotten in too deep and he had to pull her out. He was just doing his job. She knew that, but it didn’t make the pain any less painful for her.

  She knew that life wasn’t fair. She was the prime example of that with her upbringing. It made her who she was. She wasn’t quick to trust or emotion. Cole was one of the few that had broken through her armor and got inside. And, now, he had broken her trust by not telling her about Yulia and his involvement. It hurt, but she just didn’t understand why. Why hadn’t he told her? Why?

  She tossed and turned for what seemed like hours before she couldn’t take the confines of her bed any longer. She jumped out of it, grabbed a thin, long sleeved shirt and the burner cell phone she had used earlier. She was out of her room before she realized what she was doing. She made her way down the hall and slowly opened Angie’s door.

  She watched her sleeping and sighed. Angie wasn’t Yulia. She wasn’t going to hurt her. Cole had even made a point to tell her that at his farm. All she had to do was give Angie a chance, but now, she didn’t know if she could. It seemed like everything had been a lie. She stole another glance at the slumbering blonde angel and shut the door, retreating from her room as quietly as she had entered. It wouldn’t be fair to Angie to disturb her rest just because she couldn’t sleep.

  Minutes later, Del found herself on the deck again staring at the night-calmed waters of the lake. The peaceful and serene sight actually began to invade her and bring up a calmness that Del needed, desired, and wanted. It was a new beginning, a beginning with the truth, but she so desperately needed it. Yulia had destroyed her and she had to admit that the last four years she had spent more time running from the memories than actually processing them to deal with it.

  She didn’t realize that she was calling Cole again, until he answered.

  “Not done yelling at me?”

  “Why?” she asked him simply.

  “She had gotten larger than her father. She was buying tanks, missiles, weapons from the former Russian states and selling them to the highest bidders all over Southeastern Asia. We couldn’t let those arms fall into terrorists’ hands,” Cole told her.

  “And Sasha didn’t know?”

  “He had no clue that his own daughter was amassing wealth, contacts and leads right from under him. He wasn’t exactly a likeable man. She was. Most of her buyers didn’t care that she was a woman. She delivered what she promised when she promised. Her father has started to gain a reputation of being late with deliveries or asking for more money to speed up the process.”

  “He got greedy,” Del stated with understanding.

  “Yes, he did and she saw it. His own lieutenants were starting to question him openly on channels and most were seeing what Yulia was doing. She wasn’t ruthless but she was smart. No one crossed her more than once and those that did didn’t live long enough to learn from their first mistake. Her father would just kill them, torture them. She removed them from the picture.”

  “But, she wasn’t ruthless about it.”

  “It only took two mishaps and the buyers no longer questioned her abilities. They knew better. Her reputation was building while her father’s was falling. Sasha was getting desperate and we knew it. That is why you were sent in. We needed to know how desperate he was. He still didn’t know that Yulia was undermining him. Hell, at that point, we didn’t either. No one in the intelligence communities did. She was a ghost and she was very good at hiding her abilities.”

  “She was wickedly smart, wasn’t she?”

  “I would hope so, considering who she chose to teach her things.”

  “What does that mean?” Del asked him.

  “She learned arms dealing and smuggling from her father. She learned how to hack computers and use them to help her hide while she was school in the States. She went to MIT. She learned our systems quickly. It was another reason that she was so good at hiding her movements from us. She was watching us as much as we were watching her. It was another way to stay ahead of the game. And trust me, she upped the ante as she played by our rules every day,”
Cole stated.

  “Did she know who I was?” Del asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “I didn’t have time to interrogate her when I was shooting at her. I was too busy trying to stay alive and keep her from killing you. She did say something as she lay dying on the floor, but it wasn’t Russian, Ukrainian or English. I couldn’t understand it.”

  “What did she say?” Del asked.

  “Skažy joj, što vieĺmi škada. Ničoha asabistaha; byla sprava. Ja sapraŭdy klapacicca pra jaje.”

  Del gasped. She understood every word that he had spoken. Fresh tears came to her eyes before she exclaimed into the phone.

  “Shit!”

  “What?” Cole asked, realizing that Del understood it.

  “It is Belarussian. She told you to tell me that it wasn’t personal. It was business and that she was sorry,” Del told him.

  “Is that all?”

  “No, it wasn’t.”

  “Do I want to know?” Cole asked her.

  “Probably not.”

  “She told me that she loved you, didn’t she?”

  “In her own way, yes, she did,” Del answered and hung up.

  *****

  “Angie, are you going to tell me why you were in my bed last night?” Del asked again.

  Angie hadn’t realized that she was staring at a very confused looking Del over her coffee mug. She had been making breakfast. She remembered asking Del how she wanted her eggs when they both sort of spaced out. It had only been two minutes though.

  “The same reason that you check on me every night,” Angie replied.

  Del gave her a look and lowered her head. She didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t expected that answer and now she didn’t know how to process it.

  “Look, Del, you needed a friend. You couldn’t sleep. I came in there and held you for a little while until we both fell asleep. Don’t get weird on me now,” Angie told as she turned around back to the stove.

  “How did you know?” Del asked, staring at the back of the blonde’s head.

  “Because you are the only one who has trouble sleeping,” Angie admitted.