Storm Clouds

by Steven Becker

  Ahmed waited for him to elaborate, but Beecher shoveled another spoonful in his mouth.

  “I will arrange for a diversion.”

  “You do that.”

  Ahmed explained his plan. Even without the files, Rashi had been confident of the general location of the tomb. That was enough to get started.

  Adjacent to the Valley of the Kings lay the Valley of the Queens, where the majority of the pharaoh’s wives were entombed. Several had become pharaohs in their own right and, though they were not entombed in the valley with the kings, there were some secreted in caves in the hills above it. Several gravesites of lesser nobles and ruling queens had been discovered in the limestone cliffs surrounding the valley. There was no doubt that undiscovered tombs had been cut into the limestone cliffs as well.

  “Smart.”

  Ahmed brushed off the compliment. He removed a folded-up piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the man. “GPS coordinates. Find it and burn it. No paper trail and no email. You need me, you call.”

  “I’ll have a look-see tomorrow and give you a timeline.”

  Ahmed knew this was the best he could hope for right now. Beecher would get the job done.

  Leaving the excavator shoveling food in his mouth, he left the restaurant and had the driver drop him at his residence, where the first thing he did was pour himself a scotch.

  9

  Bethesda, Maryland

  Gretchen entered the room, saw something was wrong, and immediately jumped back into the hallway. Fortunately, the two men were pinned by the bed against the wall to her left. Mako saw the confused look on her face. She had no idea what was happening.

  “Against the wall. They’re armed,” he warned her.

  She took a tentative step forward as she swung the barrel of the Glock Nano to her left as she cleared the entry alcove. The men were close enough together that the weapon threatened both of them.

  A raspy sound came from John. Mako’s head jerked forward when he heard his father’s harsh whisper.

  “Trust her.”

  Mako had already decided on a course of action, and that was to get John out of harm’s way. Gretchen was incidental to his plan.

  He looked at the doctor. “Can he be moved?”

  The doctor turned to Gretchen. “Did you get the adrenaline?”

  She removed a small vial and syringe from her pocket and placed them on the bed. One of the men leaned forward as if to grab them and gain some kind of advantage, but she was faster and he froze, then dropped to the floor when the butt of her gun hammered into the back of his head.

  Mako was a gambler and recognized the odds had changed. Essentially now three-to-one and equally armed, they needed to make their move.

  “This should help,” the doctor said. He glanced at Mako, who nodded, then retrieved the vial and syringe. After drawing the fluid into the vial, the doctor stabbed the needle into one of the ports dangling from John’s arm. Seconds later the elder Storm’s eyes fluttered open.

  “Easy,” Mako said, but John started to rise, then fell in a lump back to the bed.

  Mako looked at the man on the floor. “This one won’t be going anywhere for a bit. We need to take the other one out.”

  Mako scanned the room. Several dispensers were mounted by the door for different sized gloves. Next to those was the hazardous material disposal. He thought for a second about retrieving a spent syringe and jamming it into the carotid artery of the man, but pragmatism took over. The phone cord presented a more reliable solution. He disconnected the receiver from the base, pulled the unconscious man’s hands behind him, and bound them with the cord. He turned his attention to the other man.

  Gretchen approached with the barrel of her Glock pointed at the man’s head. He didn’t flinch. The interlude had given him enough room to draw his gun, which was now aimed at John. From his compromised position, he had made the right play and they were at a standoff—until Mako saw the doctor lift the IV tree and slam it into the man’s back. He wasn’t disabled, but it threw him off long enough for Gretchen to replicate her hit on the first man. He crumpled to the floor. It seemed for all her inexperience she had no trouble striking men in the head. He noted the trait.

  Needing something to restrain the second man, Mako grabbed the IV bags. With a jerk, he separated the tubing from the bags, spilling the solution onto the floor. The tubing was more flexible than he would have liked, and he torqued it as tight as he could as he tied the man’s hands behind his back. A roll of adhesive tape sat on the bed table, which Gretchen used to place strips over each man’s mouth.

  With the men incapacitated, the tension in the room dropped several levels—until the doctor spoke.

  “He’s still not out of the woods. I can get a couple of MPs and place a guard on the room.”

  Mako expected whoever was trying to kill John had other resources. They had already failed, first with the initial attack that had put him in the hospital and again with the injection by the suspicious nurse. Mako wasn’t going to risk another attempt. There could easily be more backup in and around the hospital. He decided to stay with the plan. John was safer elsewhere.

  “Thanks, but we gotta go.”

  He reached forward and grabbed his father under the armpits. Hoisting him from the bed, Mako lifted him onto his shoulder. The fireman’s carry was an efficient way to take the weight, but Mako still sagged under the load.

  Carrying him out of the hospital without assistance was going to be a massive, obvious effort, but they had to move now. Mako walked out the door. Brushing past two doctors, he moved down the hallway, surprised at how hard it was to find a wheelchair. The floor was getting back to normal, but there were still patients on gurneys and the wheelchairs were occupied.

  “This is as far as I can go with this. Get him help ASAP,” the doctor said. He moved down the corridor before Mako could thank him.

  “We need a wheelchair,” Mako grunted under his father’s weight.

  “Keep heading toward the elevators. I’ll run ahead to the nurses’ station and see if there’s one there.”

  Mako watched Gretchen as she navigated the hallway. His eyes were on her instead of what lay ahead.

  “You, there. Stop.”

  Mako turned to see a uniformed soldier with an MP band on his arm. If he’d been paying attention, he would have noticed him and found another route. Now, he had no choice but to comply.

  “Just looking for a wheelchair.”

  “Funny way of looking. You have some ID?” he asked, moving toward John to read his wristband.

  Mako saw an opportunity. He guessed the man was stationed outside the room he stood in front of. It was standard procedure to bring military prisoners to Walter Reed for treatment and each one required an around-the-clock guard.

  “If you’d find me a wheelchair I’ll set him down and show you my ID. I’m his son.”

  He knew he had the MP in a bind. If he followed up on his suspicions about Mako, he would be forced to leave his post. With nothing concrete to stop the pair, the MP decided to follow his orders.

  “If you’re family, I suppose it’s alright.”

  Mako thanked him and kept moving. The adrenaline had taken effect and John was awake now. His conscious state only added to the difficulty. Instead of carrying the dead weight of an inert figure, John’s squirming made him much harder to handle. Mako’s shoulders were sagging and his steps getting shorter. Just as his body was about to fail, Gretchen appeared around the corner pushing a wheelchair. When she reached Mako, he dumped John unceremoniously into the chair.

  “You have a plan?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Get him out of here.”

  “You could ask me,” John said, his voice still rough. “I’ve got a safe house.”

  “The doctor said you need help.”

  “Call the vet. Now push on.”

  With the messenger bag still slung over his shoulder, Mako wheeled John to the elevators. Gretchen pressed the down butt
on and they anxiously watched the displays over the doors. Several cars stopped on their way down, but each was too full for the two of them and the wheelchair. Frustration was building when a ding came from the far left doors.

  Mako wheeled John over, hoping that it would be empty. The doors opened and two men began to exit. A pregnant pause ensued that ended with the men reaching behind their backs. Mako recognized the movement and turned hard to the left, pushing John back into the hall. The weight, momentum, and surprising cornering ability of the chair aided him as he wove around the medical equipment and staff in his way. The corridor was like an obstacle course, but was far from static as orderlies and nurses returned patients to their rooms. With Gretchen running beside him, Mako wove through the obstacles like a NASCAR driver. The openings quickly closed behind him, frustrating their pursuers.

  “This is going to end badly. We need a better plan,” Gretchen panted.

  The floor was a large rectangle, broken into two squares by the elevator banks and adjacent nurses’ station. In theory, they could run in circles forever. That wouldn’t get them out of here. Desperate, Mako removed his right hand from the handle and reached into his pocket. He felt for the earbud and was about to pull it out and activate it when he saw the MP still at his post several rooms ahead.

  Mako slowed slightly as he approached the room and chose what he hoped would be the safest course available. He spun John to the right and through the open door. The guard was startled for a second, but reacted quickly. He muttered something that Mako couldn’t make out into a microphone clipped to his lapel and followed them into the prisoner’s room. The guard stationed himself in the doorway where he could see both the interior of the room and the hallway. He drew his service weapon.

  “Nobody move.”

  Mako looked past the barrel of the gun into the hallway. The good news was the men had seen the MP and moved past. The bad news was there was a gun pointed at them.

  “Commander John Storm,” John said to the guard.

  “Sir, what is going on here?”

  “Call for backup. We’re being pursued by two men with weapons. There is another pair restrained in my room and a rouge nurse at large somewhere, but I expect she’s left the premises.”

  “With all due respect, I’m going to need to see some ID. I already called for help.”

  “Y’all got to move. I can’t hear the TV.”

  They turned in unison to the man handcuffed to the bed frame.

  Mako had grabbed the plastic bag with John’s personal effects from the bedside table, but there was no time to find any kind of identification. Mako shrugged, glancing at his father dressed in the hospital gown.

  The guard looked skeptical and was about to say something when Mako noticed the doctor who had helped them earlier walk past the door.

  “He knows us,” Mako said.

  The guard turned toward the hallway and called the doctor over. Before he was able to confirm their story, two more MPs joined the party. The room was crowded now. The prisoner continued to complain, making it even more chaotic. The original guard asked the doctor to step outside. They returned a minute later.

  “He vouches for you. Best we can do is escort you out of the building to your transport.”

  “We’d be grateful,” John said.

  “What about those men?” Gretchen asked, glancing toward the doorway.

  “They’re out-manned and out-gunned. These guys’ll buy us enough time to get out of here,” Mako said.

  Mako spun the wheelchair in place. He nodded at the newly arrived MPs, who led them into the corridor. Mako scanned the hallway as they moved back toward the elevators. There was no sign of the men, and he breathed out in relief when an empty car arrived. They descending quickly, the guard discouraging any new entrants at the floors the car stopped at. In less than a minute they reached the ground floor.

  “I have a car in the lot,” Gretchen said. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

  The MP nodded and followed them out of the hospital. There was no sign of the pursuers and they reached the car without incident. John thanked the MP, who saluted and stood by while Mako helped John from the chair into the back seat. Once they were all safely in the car with the engine running, the MP took the wheelchair and started back toward the building.

  “That was too close. You think there are more of them?”

  “Probably not. Two teams is what I’d use,” John said. “The files, Mako?”

  Mako had forgotten about the bag hanging from his shoulder. “Is what happened to you related to these?” he asked, as he removed the bag and handed it back to John.

  “This is a bad business, and our girl in Key Largo is on the wrong side of it.”

  “I need a destination,” Gretchen said.

  John rattled off an address, which Gretchen entered in her phone. As she was about to initiate the route, John stopped her. “Those guys tracked you two here. We need to take precautions.”

  Gretchen understood that meant turning her phone off. Mako knew it would be better to be rid of it, but understood her reluctance. John seemed satisfied with it off, so he let it go.

  “I’ll give you directions,” John said.

  As they drove, Mako noticed his father was fading. It wasn’t obvious, but he’d seen his dad age and knew he was out of juice. His feeling was confirmed when a second later, John leaned against the door. His eyes closed and his head dropped to the headrest.

  “What now?”

  “We need a convenience store so I can grab a burner phone, and we’ll find his place.”

  10

  Bethesda, Maryland

  Mako checked his surroundings as he crossed the parking lot to the car, slipping into the passenger seat. The packaging quickly frustrated him as he struggled to open the burner phone he’d just bought. Finally, with the phone plugged in, he entered the address his dad had recited into the navigation app and pressed Start.

  Mako’s eyes darted from the side-view mirror to the phone to the street ahead. It appeared they had evaded their pursuers, but for how long? Every security ploy he tried had been thwarted. He suspected there was a tracking device attached somehow to Gretchen—or the car. Either one would have been an easy way to track them. Everywhere the car—and Gretchen—had gone, the men had followed.

  “We need to ditch the car and get a cab,” Mako said.

  Gretchen slammed her hand on the wheel. “Of course. I can get an Uber.”

  The woman was still a puzzle. Mako had seen her poise under fire at the hospital, and his father trusted her, but she made mistakes. It had taken him awhile to realize that her sloppiness was actually a lack of training. She wasn’t one of them, but what was she? The realization made her seem more accessible, and desirable, to Mako.

  “Too easy to track. We need an old-school cab,” Mako said. He picked up the phone, closed the navigation app, and did a quick internet search for a local cab company. Within a few minutes, a yellow cab pulled up to the storefront where Gretchen had pulled over.

  “Go and tell the driver to hold on for a sec. I’ll get my dad,” Mako said. He stepped out of the car and opened the back door. His father was only semi-conscious. Not recognizing Mako, he struggled. Mako easily overpowered the older man and hauled him out of the car to his feet. But Mako had misjudged John’s condition and his father crumpled to the ground. He tried to rise but failed. There was no point scolding his dad for the effort, because his stubbornness was genetic, and at least it meant that John, hopefully, was returning to normal.

  Mako bent over and placed John’s limp arm over his shoulder. He half-carried, half-dragged him to the waiting cab. The driver glanced in the rearview mirror as Mako pushed John into the back seat. “He’s just had a few drinks.”

  The driver turned to face the back. “Gonna cost you an extra hundred, just in case. Otherwise you can call an Uber if you want. I don’t take drunks.”

  Gretchen slid the pistol out of her purse before Mako could sto
p her.

  “How’s this for a deposit?”

  The driver turned back to face the road. “Where to?”

  Gretchen gave him the address while Mako finished settling John in the seat. He snugged the seatbelt to hold him in place. The threat of the gun had the driver focused solely on the road ahead as the cab pulled out of the lot. Mako glanced over at Gretchen, wanting to tell her that if you pulled a gun you needed to be prepared to use it. It would have been better all around to give the driver the hundred he asked for.

  Mako watched the road, but as the miles passed he became more confident that the pursuers had lost their trail. He checked his father. His breathing was consistent, if a little shallow, but he seemed alright.

  “He’s going to need a doctor. I can call someone discreet,” Gretchen said.

  Mako didn’t answer right away. Instead, he simply nodded and used the time until they reached the safe house to decide how far he could trust Gretchen.

  The men chasing them were clearly after the files. Mako decided to hedge his bets. Once John was settled, the first thing Mako needed to do was to have a look at those files. Then, figure out what part John and Alicia were playing in this mess.

  “I know you’re doubting me,” Gretchen said.

  She’d read his mind. Mako shot her a quick look, noticing that at least she wasn’t using her feminine attributes to seduce him. Some women could pull that off, while for others it looked contrived. Gretchen didn’t need to go there at all.

  “You never said who you worked for. Maybe that would be a good start?” Mako asked.

  “Before we have true confessions, I think you should have a look at the files. That will answer a lot of questions,” she replied.

  So she’s not just a delivery girl, Mako thought. Before he could figure out how to counter that, the cab slowed and pulled against the curb. Mako noticed they were in front of a row of townhouses. He reached into his pocket to pay the driver and realized he had no cash.