Borderline

by D B Steward

  “Both King and Moretti are alive and kicking. Minus a few bumps and bruises.”

  Timmerman hummed in acknowledgement before speaking again. “How soon can you extract them?”

  “I have them driving to Mexico City tomorrow and then flying out that night and back to Chicago.”

  “I want all of you here for a debriefing the next day so reroute them to D.C. and you hop on the first flight back here.”

  Trace couldn’t get out of the dingy motel fast enough. “They’re going to resist. They’ve been through a lot tonight and they might want to decompress a bit.”

  “Not possible. I need to debrief you all as soon as possible.”

  Trace’s raised an eyebrow in the dark. “Does this have anything to do with what happened in Idaho?”

  “Just make sure you are all back here in two days.” The call ended. Trace stared at her phone for a moment, perplexed by Timmerman’s urgency. She pushed the thought out of her tired brain. Idaho had taken over the news cycle from the senator’s murder already. She knew the two women would fight her about going to D.C. but that was something she could worry about tomorrow. Well, in a few hours anyway, she corrected herself as sleep finally took her.

  Timmerman replaced the phone back in the pant’s pocket of her suit. She was on her way out the door when Trace had called. It was a little early for her to be heading to work, but she had a lot to deal with right now.

  She retrieved her atache and keys before heading out of the apartment. The morning traffic on the beltway was still light and she was making good time on her way to the Pentagon. She was driving on autopilot while her thoughts played in her mind.

  Noah T. Pierpont was the most famous man in America right now even though he was presumed dead. The compound in Idaho was still smoldering. Search and rescue crews had been working non stop since the explosion. There were over one hundred dead so far and the death toll was still rising. The first responders had pulled men, women, and children from the ruined buildings and the entire nation was in shock. Pierpont had families inside the compound and most had not survived.

  There were a few survivors found, both law enforcement and militia members. Finding them was the only bright spot that could be taken away from the massive tragedy. It was a catastrophe that dwarfed Ruby Ridge. Timmerman anticipated shockwaves resonating from this for years.

  She pulled into her spot in the parking garage as her thoughts wandered to Pierpont. He was an enigma to the rest of the world, but Timmerman knew that the press would keep digging until they found something. And when they did uncover who he was, she knew that there would be Hell to pay.

  Timmerman flashed her credentials at all the appropriate checkpoints. But when she reached the elevator she hit the button for her boss’s floor instead of hers. She was going to need answers and she wasn’t going to leave without them. She saw that his assistant had not arrived yet but there was a light coming from his closed door. She knocked and heard his voice inviting her to come in.

  “Nancy.” He was at his desk and hardly looked up from the papers in front of him. “You’re in early today.” She closed the door behind her and stood in front of his desk. “Something I can help you with?” He finally met her eyes.

  “I need to know everything about Noah Pierpont.”

  England stared at her in silence and then reclined in his chair. With a sigh he motioned her to sit. “I guess you do.” She sat and waited for him to begin. He rubbed his face with his hands and when he removed them he looked tired. “Noah served with me in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was under my command along with Sanchez.”

  Timmerman took in the information that she already knew. She watched him walk around his desk and start to pace. “And to be transparent, he and I had a relationship.” She digested the news. She had never guessed about or even cared about England’s sexual preferences. But learning how close the two had been was alarming. The fallout from this was going to be even worse than she had thought.

  He continued. “But there was an incident. After an IED killed some of the men under his command Noah went out and grabbed some prisoners. He interrogated them and things went bad. He killed them.” England exhaled hard. “Sanchez found out. The two of them didn’t like each other in the first place, Noah thought I was favoring Sanchez over him. At the time I was trying to keep our relationship secret and not appear to show favorites.” He rubbed his hand over his crew cut. “But Noah got jealous. I started to see that he wasn’t mentally stable. I had assumed that he was intense and driven, I didn’t want to see that he was crazy. Sanchez wanted him court martialed, but Noah threatened to tell everyone about us. So I covered it up. I arranged a promotion for Sanchez and sent him back stateside. As for Noah I had him charged with a lesser crime and then court martialed him. Then I buried everything in paperwork and mustered him out of the Army.”

  Timmerman knew that it would be the end of England’s career if this got out. He might even be facing prison time himself for what he had done. There were still missing pieces to the story, she assumed and continued to listen.

  ​“Once he was out, I put him to work for me.” Timmerman’s eyebrows went up, she was not expecting to hear that. “He was too skilled for me to cut him loose, so I gave him a job in secret.”

  “The job that we are currently doing.” She said without uncertainty and he nodded in affirmation. “Were you still together at that time?” He nodded again.

  “The arrangement worked for a while but Noah began to unravel.” England stopped pacing and leaned against his desk. “He started to become more and more violent on his missions. I tried over and over to rein him in. He was starting to draw too much outside attention, so much so that I wasn’t going to be able to keep it a secret much longer.” She waited for him to continue, there had to be more to the story. “Then I learned he was recruiting people.”

  “Recruiting?”

  “Noah has always entertained delusions of grandeur. I thought it was cute at first, but after Afghanistan it got worse. He has this idea that it's his destiny to lead this country.” Timmerman’s eyebrows raised again. “He’s trying to start a revolution.”

  Timmerman shook her head. “Well it’s a good thing he’s dead then.” England grimaced at her statement.

  “He’s not dead. This morning I got a message from him saying that I was going to see the next phase of his plan soon.”

  The office fell silent. Timmerman realized that their problems were only beginning.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  ​“And I wonder who told them not to give me the good drugs?” Kelly said sarcastically as they walked through the door of their safehouse. “I’m supposed to make do with only aspirin? I got skewered for Christ’s sake!”

  Sonny rolled her eyes as she locked the door. Kelly had been whining ever since they left the clinic. “I suppose someone could have let slip that you have a substance abuse problem.” She shrugged. “Be thankful I am letting you drink tequila.” Sonny’s voice was hoarse.

  Kelly huffed as she plopped down on the bed with the bottle in her hand. “Yeah. Because this is so much better than a couple of oxy’s” She twisted the cap and gulped down some of the burning hot alcohol. “And I don’t have a substance abuse problem. I enjoy substances and that’s all.” She downed another mouthful.

  Sonny smirked as she removed her jacket. “Well you look like a cowgirl, drinking out of the bottle like that since you got Young Guns Two’d in your arm.”

  Kelly did a little spit take. “Like when Christian Slater stabbed Lou Diamond Phillips through the arm in that graveyard!” She smiled and took another sip. “I remember that. Nice reference there Moretti.” She saluted Sonny with the bottle. “You know, since I’ve met you, I’ve been shot in the ass and stabbed through the arm.”

  Sonny removed her shirt, leaving her sports bra on. “If you knew how to get out of the way you wouldn’t be getting hit so much.” She joked.

  “Ha ha, very funny.” Kelly was starting to
slur her words. She took another sip and squinted. “How is your neck? That bruise is going to be there a while.” Sonny touched her neck.

  “It’s not that bad. I’ve had worse.” She removed her shoes and stretch pants. “I’m going to take a shower and get this blood off me. I suggest you do the same before you pass out.”

  Kelly wiggled her eyebrows up and down. “Should I join you to save time and water?” Sonny chuckled as she stood by the bathroom door.

  “Miss King, neither one of us are in any condition to do anything but sleep.” She winked and ducked behind the door.

  “You’re no fun.” Kelly sucked down more tequila and noticed that it wasn’t burning as much as it did before. She heard the shower start. Sonny was right, she thought. The only thing that was keeping her awake was adrenalin. When that wore off she was going to crash hard. She lowered herself onto her back and took a deep breath. A hot shower was going to feel great on her muscles. Although it was going to be a pain to keep the dressing dry on her arm.

  She closed her eyes and cradled the bottle in her arm. The physical pain would go away after a while. But she knew there were going to be emotional wounds that might never heal. Since meeting Sonny she had seen terrible things. But tonight was something straight out of the pits of Hell. It was going to take a lot of substances to bury those images.

  Kelly thought about Sonny’s remark before about her drug use. Thinking about it irritated her a bit. Sonny didn’t understand that she could handle herself. Sonny sticking her nose into her business might cause a problem down the road. As for right now, the tequila was dulling any hard feelings about it. In fact, it was a little cute that Sonny was worried about it. It had been a long time since someone had cared about Kelly like that. Maybe it was a good thing that someone did. For the first time in a long while she didn’t feel alone.

  The phone that Trace had given them rang. It was coming from Sonny’s pocket and Kelly’s tipsy brain was irritated that Sonny always seemed to be holding the phone. With a groan she rolled over and grasped around on the floor for the ringing and annoying device.

  “Why are you ringing this phone so loud?” Kelly slurred into the phone.

  “Are you drunk already?” Trace’s voice asked through the line.

  “I am drinking for medicinal purposes only I will have you know.” She took another sip. “Now, what is the reason for your call, may I ask?” She said, sounding very drunk now.

  “The boss wanted me to tell you guys to get back to D.C. as soon as you can for debriefing.”

  “Aww, I don’t wanna go there!” Kelly whined. “I want to go back to Chicago! Don’t tell her I said this.” Kelly lowered her voice to a whisper. “She’s a real bitch.”

  Trace couldn’t hold back the snort that burst out from Kelly’s remark. “You are drunk aren’t you?”

  “I may not be sober right now, but I am drunk!” She said with conviction. “And what is there to debrief anyway? We came down here. Almost got killed. Ended up killing the guys that almost killed us. And I got stabbed. End of debrief, now time for a vacation.”

  Trace sighed. “Well I don’t know how much vacation time there’s going to be. There was a major incident in Idaho that we're going to have to look into.”

  Kelly sat up. “Idaho? What did you say about Idaho?”

  “Some nutjob named Pierpont blew up his compound along with his militia and a bunch of FBI guys.”

  “What did you say?” Kelly demanded, suddenly sounding sober. Sonny reentered the room with a towel wrapped around her. She was drying her hair, but stopped when she saw the pained look on Kelly’s face.

  “What’s wrong?” Sonny asked with genuine concern.

  “The FBI tried arresting this Pierpont guy and the shit hit the fan. Major carnage, it’s going to take days to sift through this mess.”

  “Was Reggie there?” Kelly was on her feet now and her voice sounded panicked. “Is he okay?”

  “Who?” Trace and Sonny echoed each other.

  “Agent Reggie Burns! Was he there? He was the head of the office up there! Is he

  okay?” She was screaming now.

  “I don’t know.” Trace said, taken aback by how emotional Kelly was. “I’ll check. Hold on.”

  Kelly could hear keys clicking on the other line. Sonny had moved next to her and placed a hand on Kelly’s shoulder. Kelly’s bright eyes shone with unshed tears and the look of anguish on her face broke Sonny’s heart.

  “What’s wrong Kelly?”

  “It’s Reggie! My friend! He might be dead!”

  “I found him!” Trace announced. “He’s in the hospital. He was shot and he’s in a medically induced coma.” Kelly’s hand trembled as she covered her mouth. “Sorry.”

  “Kelly?” Sonny wasn’t sure what she should say at the moment. She had no idea how to comfort the redhead. Kelly turned to Sonny with tears streaking down her face. Her bright eyes blazed with angry determination.

  “We’re going to Idaho.”

  EPILOGUE

  Ken had never been to Egypt before. It was different from the war torn areas he had seen in Iraq. . There weren’t refugees everywhere. The buildings weren’t shattered and bullet riddled. The streets were not cratered by mortar rounds. Cairo was a bustling and thriving city. And now he was overwhelmed by the change in culture. From the sights, sounds and even down to the smells he was aware that he wasn’t in the USA anymore. He was sitting in an outdoor cafe trying to drink what the locals called tea. He couldn’t find a decent cup of coffee in the entire city. He had never thought of himself as an ‘ugly american’ before, but he was shocked with how different life was outside the states.

  He sighed and took another sip of the strong and exotic liquid. He put it down with a frown and decided to stick to bottled water for the rest of his stay. He hoped it wouldn’t be a long stay. Pierpont had given Ken a window of three days. Pierpont would rendezvous with him in about three days' time. He hadn’t informed Ken on what he was doing or where he was. It was on a need to know basis, and Ken guessed that he didn’t need to know. A family of three with a particularly active young boy passed by him. The child’s exuberance distracted him enough that he didn’t notice Pierpont was behind him.

  “I knew I could count on you Ken.” He felt the firm pat on his shoulder from behind and recognized the voice. “You have always been my most faithful soldier.” Ken watched as Noah T. Pierpont sat down across from him. “How’s the tea?”

  “A little strong for me sir.” Ken admitted and Noah laughed.

  “Yes, I don’t think they allow Lipton’s in the country.” Pierpont’s face became serious. “I’ve been monitoring the news and I see the camp was liquidated as planned. It will be weeks before they are able to identify the remains.” He waved his hand to get a server’s attention. “But by then it won’t matter.”

  Ken nodded. The server stopped and asked for Pierpont’s order in passable English. Pierpont surprised them both by speaking Egyptian. Ken couldn’t understand the conversation, but he could see that the server relaxed around them. Once again, Ken admired Piepront’s charisma. He was always able to charm anyone. Ken figured that Pierpont’s ability to establish relationships was his greatest asset. None of what he had already done or planned to do would have been possible without it. People believed in Noah T. Pierpont.

  The server left and they were alone again. “So we move on to phase two now sir?”

  Noah nodded. “Affirmative.” Noah smiled as the server returned with his tea. Pierpont sipped and it was clear to Ken that he had a taste for the heady brew while he didn not. “Now we assemble the rest of the organization. We are taking the next flight to Bucharest where we will be meeting Amina and Gregory.”

  Ken had never met Amina Golovkin or her partner Gregory, but he knew that they were Noah’s financial backers. Pierpont hadn’t explained to him how he had met the two; once again, a need to know basis. “Understood. What about your friend in Washington?” Pierpont had not shared t
he name of his partner in the government. Although he had hinted that the person was someone who had power in D.C. They might even be someone in Congress.

  “I’ve been in contact with him and he is taking care of his end over there. Once we are done in Bucharest we’ll be meeting with him.”

  “In D.C.? Is that a good idea? Your face is all over the news and people are going to be looking for you sir.”

  Pierpont laughed. “Ken my boy, by the time we get back home we are going to be welcomed as heroes. After that we start phase three.”

  “And then you’ll take your place as the Julius Caesar of the USA.” Ken said with confidence.

  Noah raised his cup in a toast. “From your lips to God’s ears.” He took a sip and closed his eyes. Visions of his triumphant return played in his head. The beginning of his reign was near and no one was going to stand in his way.

  No one.

  THE END

  King & Moretti