"Fuck you, Green! Tell me what I need to know."
"Savannah is still in New York. With today’s snow he couldn’t leave the city, two hotels have replied to our notices, and Savannah slept in one of them using an alias. He left just before eight in the morning, but he can’t have gone far.
“We checked the passenger lists, one of our informants who works in the New York Police has spoken to the flight attendants: one said that our friend was engaged with a passenger, a certain Aisha Moreau; she’s a model, and lives in Manhattan. Here’s the address of the hotel where he slept, and here the one for the model. Now go."
"Thanks Green. I’ll start with the model. If I were Savannah and in a difficult situation like that, I would hide in her arms for one night...to unwind a little."
"You’re not romantic at all."
"Savannah’s not romantic...and neither are you from what I remember."
"Have a good trip SkylineP92, I'll be keeping an eye on you."
"Just let me breathe Green. Talk to you soon."
50
At three in the afternoon, the helicopter landed in New York and Anaïs immediately took a room at the hotel opposite Aisha Moreau’s apartment: from her room window, she could control not only the entrance of the building, but also the rooms that faced the street.
The house seemed to be empty at the moment, the lights were off and the detector did not show any movement.
At 5:30 pm Aisha appeared at the entrance with her hands full of grocery bags, she went into the kitchen of her house, put a few things in the fridge and left the rest out on the kitchen counter.
‘Hey stunner, do you have a dinner with friends tonight?’ thought Anaïs.
Aisha left the kitchen and went into the bedroom to change the sheets, sprinkling them with perfume.
‘Um...maybe you have hot ideas for after dinner?’
Anaïs followed all the stages of the food preparation, she saw how Aisha made the tiramisu and chose the wine; but she wasn’t able to catch a glimpse of how Aisha had set the table, the living room was out of the reach of her bugs and overlooked the courtyard.
At eight o'clock, a tall man with a bouquet of flowers rang the bell at the entrance of the building; the agent saw Aisha answering the intercom in the kitchen.
Mark Savannah entered the apartment and Anaïs recognized him when he came into the kitchen to put the flowers that he had brought on the table.
‘There you are, murderess and burned 007, let's see if you'll be alone or you'll have friends tonight.’ Anaïs smiled to herself.
At 9:00 pm Savannah and Aisha were alone, and the model had taken a dish out of the oven after having taken two glasses and opened a bottle of wine.
‘Aha! Romantic dinner for two...but then you know what’s going to happen...I’m coming to visit and spoil the party under the sheets...so I’ll have less work to do!’
At 11:00 pm Anaïs watched as Savannah unbuttoned Aisha’s blouse in the kitchen and kissed her with passion while she slipped a hand into his pants, and then she led him into the bedroom, skipping all the preliminaries.
SkylineP92 was already prepared and when she saw them naked between the sheets, she decided to take action and left her room.
She easily entered the building and climbed the stairs to the third floor, then she slowly worked on lock of the model’s apartment until she was able to noiselessly open the door.
Aisha had left the bedside light turned on, their agitated and sweaty bodies were moving into each other; they had moved the sheets into a corner. SkylineP92 raised her silenced gun and took aim.
The two lovers were moving too much. Mark dominated and then suddenly pulled Aisha over him so fast, that Anaïs could not take aim and fire without killing the woman.
SkylineP92 couldn’t shoot him. She realized that it was not just a matter of her aim and the tangled bodies, but it was also her: seeing the intense, ecstatic and Dionysian sexual intercourse had stunned her. She watched Savannah’s body moving sensually above that of the model and realized with horror that she wanted to be in Aisha’s place.
Anaïs had to look away and lean against the wall for a second to regain control of the situation.
When Savannah had unleashed his pleasure and had come, whispering his enjoyment in Aisha's ear, SkylineP92 burst into the room without hesitation.
"Get out, Aisha. Get out!" she shouted, aiming the gun at Savannah.
Savannah was not intimidated at all. He got up, hit her with a chair. The chair hit her on the wrist, and SkylineP92 dropped the weapon like an idiot.
SkylineP92 had hesitated to shoot, and now she was fighting tooth and nail against her target. Despite the recent orgasm, he was showing the reflexes of a martial arts champion.
They fought with all their might until SkylineP92 was knocked unconscious by a well-aimed blow from Savannah. He then picked her up and tied her to a chair.
"Shall I call the police?" asked Aisha. She was terrified and could not move from fear.
"Absolutely not, forget it, forget about what has happened," said Mark as he dressed.
"Why? Who are you?"
Savannah led Aisha into the living room and said, “Call the station and check if the trains are running, and don’t say anything beyond yes or no... Do you have a garage?"
"Yes, what are you going to do…kill her?”
"I should, she tried to kill me but I will not do the same. I just want to convince her to talk and then I'll lock her in the garage and leave. She will get free by herself but I will be far away. She’s not going to hurt you, I'm her target. Not you."
While Aisha went to the kitchen and called the station, Mark Savannah went back to the bedroom.
He sat down in front of SkylineP92’s unconscious and tied body and looked at her: he found her extremely attractive and he almost regretted having given her such terrible bruising over her right eye. He couldn’t understand why, but he felt something was familiar about her.
Aisha appeared at the door and nodded, and then he told her:
"Help me to take her to the garage, then I'll go away, and I'll leave her tied up. Like I told you, she is not going to hurt you. We’re not trained to kill innocent civilians..."
“You are..." Aisha had no time to finish her question.
"Come on, help me!"
Ten minutes later they were in the garage of the building.
"Aisha, now you have to go back home and go to sleep. Please, give me your cell phone, I will return it. I'm so sorry for what happened, but I have to question this woman and then I have to move faster than light...It's absurd to tell you now, but I loved tonight."
Still in shock, Aisha approached him, kissed him on the lips and left him the keys to the garage. "I hope to see you again one day, I knew that you were a bomb...see you Mark, good luck!" she managed to smile.
Meanwhile SkylineP92 had awakened aching.
"What's your name?"
"What do you care? Please, kill me and let's get this thing over with."
"How's that pig, Colonel Reed?"
SkylineP92 remained silent.
Savannah then gave her a slap on the eye black, making her scream in pain.
"I told you to kill me, I am not going to speak."
A second blow hit her and stunned her again making her nose bleed.
Savannah stepped back and wiped his hand, he felt miserable and with a gesture that surprised even him, he moved her long hair back, revealing the entire face, and he wiped the blood that was coming forth copiously from her nose.
"I am sorry about that, believe me. Now tell me who you are."
"Kill me..."
Mark looked at the time, there was no time, he knew the departure time of the last night train that would take him to Texas and he could not miss it; he grabbed Aisha’s phone and took a picture of his prisoner, then he made her faint again after having put a makeshift bandage on her eye and her nose.
"I’m sure you will be able to free yourself, I’m locking t
he door but I'll leave you the keys...I can't kill you."
Savannah closed the door of the garage behind him and ran to the station to take the subway.
He managed to get on the last night train and after making sure that he had not been followed and that there was no immediate danger, he fell asleep for a few hours.
51
SkylineP92 awoke at dawn, still suffering but surprised to be alive and to have some sort of bandage on her eye.
She looked around and immediately realized that the knots had been left purposely loose and she effortlessly rid herself of them.
She went out of the garage, closed it, and left the keys in Aisha’s mailbox. Then, exhausted, she called Green on the phone.
"Jago, I'm really in bad shape. I have a black eye and probably some cracked ribs. I’ve lost a lot of blood from my nose and I have a sharp pain in the spleen...Savannah didn’t want to kill me. He's gone, I don’t know where he went. I was unconscious...I need a doctor...come and rescue me, please."
"We’ll be there in ten minutes,” replied Jago, keeping his voice steady. “A van will pick you up, and take you to the helicopter. Hold on, Anaïs! We’ll get you here, and then I'll soon get you back in shape. I’m going to inform the Colonel."
Ten minutes later an anonymous van picked up SkylineP92, who was lying on the ground in a parking lot next to the garage. They gave her first aid on the way to the heliport, then they carried her on board.
When Anaïs woke up, she found herself in a bed at the Biosketch Technologies Inc. Medical Center. Colonel Reed and Jago C. Green were next to her bed.
"Welcome back SkylineP92,” said Reed. “You have two broken ribs, and they’ve done a little embroidery on your eyebrow, but you have no internal injuries and your spleen is in good shape. You were lucky that he didn’t kill you."
"Hello, Colonel. You were right…Savannah reminds me of the Terminator," replied Anaïs in a faint voice.
"Get some rest now. In a week you'll be back in shape and you'll start hunting again," smiled Jago.
"Jago, please, prepare a complete file on Savannah dating back to the "Uday, who runs fast" mission, I have to start all over again."
"Stay calm, you’ll find the documents in your mailbox within four days. Goodbye, you're beautiful despite that purple eye...what can I say...You almost look better."
"Fuck you, Green!"
"Can you hear her?” laughed Jago. “She’s fine Colonel, you don't have to worry!"
"I'll come to see you tomorrow, Anaïs,” said Reed. “If you need anything, Ms. Rice is at your disposal. Goodbye for now."
"Thank you, Colonel."
52
When Anaïs had woken up in her garage, Aisha was already on the plane to Paris. She had changed the locks and all the keys to the house and had bought a new smartphone: she had a new phone number and it didn't even cross her mind to look for Savannah on her old phone.
Mark had told her a lot of lies, he had scared her to death, and she did not want to see him again, even if the thought of the sex the night before sent a chill between her legs.
Aisha decided to spend a month in Paris; she had no desire to return to New York.
Mark Savannah arrived in Dallas two days later. He was upset and he could not get rid of the image of the woman agent who had ambushed and tried to kill him. Why had he bandaged her wounds after beating her up? He couldn’t answer that question just yet.
He called the County Southwestern Medical Center from a pay phone at the station.
"Hello, my name is Mark Savannah, I would like to talk to Dr. David Marshall, please."
Marshall came to the phone almost immediately.
"Mark? This is Marshall. What’s your real name?"
"First you have to tell me who contacted me and from where,” replied Savannah coldly.
"Andrew Davis, from Buenos Aires."
"Ok,” Savannah relaxed, “the name’s Barnett Cooper. It's a pleasure to talk to you."
"Third Floor, Department of Neurology. I'm waiting here for you,” said Marshall. “I’ll recognize you: I have a picture of you."
"I’ll be with you within an hour" Mark said and hung up.
PART THREE
Mark Stearman
53
The County Southwestern Medical Center was a hospital and a university center that provided specialized services of the highest level. The organization promoted numerous clinical trials per year and followed an innovative methodology in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases.
Only a few other institutions in the United States were able to compete: the department of neurology and neurosurgery were indeed the pride of the state.
Mark arrived at reception and asked for Dr. David Marshall, then he went up to the third floor of the neurology department.
"May I come in?" he asked.
"Please, come in," answered a baritone voice.
Mark found himself in a large and bright office, there were several blooming orchids and an open box of Swiss chocolates on the desk.
"Hi Mark, I'm David," he said extending his hand.
David Marshall was a man of about sixty, short of stature and skinny, while the deep and warm voice completely contrasted with his slender and insignificant figure.
"Mark, make yourself comfortable, and taste one of these, my sister brought them back from a holiday in Switzerland. They’re really good!"
He did not need to be told twice; Savannah loved chocolate and especially Swiss chocolate. It tasted very different from all other chocolate because it is less sweet and much creamier. He put two in his mouth, choosing dark ones…he loved the bitterness of the cocoa on the back of the tongue.
"Um...they are fantastic, David! I would eat at least ten of them, but in addition to permanently depriving you of such a pleasure, I might get used to too much serotonin. In the past few days mine has been well below the safe limit," Mark said smiling and winking.
"Yeah, and I guess you must be pretty tired,” replied Marshall. “I owe you an explanation and then I'll let you rest until tomorrow morning...but tell me honestly, are you here right now because you have no alternative, or because you trust Davis?"
"Davis was my father’s best friend and he gave me the missing pieces of my childhood puzzle. In addition to that, I need to catch my breath, I am a doctor and I want to go back to my medical profession, probably forever, considering the courtesy of my former employers...but what does Davis want from me now. Who does he work for? "
"As he has already explained to you: he has kept himself out of the fray for a long time, now he just wants to protect you."
"Well, you don't expect me to believe that, do you?"
Marshall ignored the question.
"You can stay here as long as you want; starting from tomorrow, you'll be working with me at the Department of Neurology, you are a permanent employee under the name of Mark Stearman.
“All your documents relating to your degree and your PhD were filed in the personnel and administrative offices with that name. You just have to sign your letter of employment. Here, this one..." Marshall handed him the document.
Mark read it and signed it without hesitation.
"You have a studio apartment on the campus included in your "package". Here are the keys.” Marshall stood up and handed the keys to Savannah. “I'll walk you over there now, so that you can relax and become familiar with the facilities before starting tomorrow. Here's your access badge, remember that when you leave you will have to return it."
"I am both amazed and pleased to be a psychiatrist again,” said Savannah as he reached for the keys and pass. “I’ve missed the contact with patients and the lab research...I can work on new projects, right?"
"Of course, if you didn’t have the pedigree you have, you wouldn’t be here anyway. Davis is a good friend, but I'm not your benefactor...Welcome to Dallas, Doctor Stearman!"
Marshall walked Savannah to his quarters and then returned to the neurology department. Mark mad
e the bed and spent the entire afternoon sleeping; he was in dire need of sleep in order to have a relaxed mind for the next day.
Before falling deeply asleep, he thought how his code name, Lisunov Li-2, was now on the shelf like clothes that were out of style.
When he woke, it was already evening and he decided to go out and do some shopping and buy Doctor Stearman some suitable new clothes. Marshall had given him a cash advance on his salary and Savannah could finally be independent again.
When he was on the way back, he remembered that he still had Aisha’s cell phone, and that as soon as possible he should contact Pavel in Sofia to give him some news. He stopped at a mall and bought a smartphone.
Savannah sat down on a bench beside the road and sent the photos he had taken of the assassin from Aisha’s phone to his new device via Bluetooth. Then he wiped the model’s phone clean and destroyed it.
‘I'm sure you've already bought a new one and after the scare I gave you, you will not want to have anything to do with me.’ Mark thought with a grimace as he picked up the pieces and threw them in various waste containers.
After dinner, he sent a text message to Pavel Doko, “QTH Southwestern County Medical Center QRA Dr. Stearman, need my magic smartphone, thanks."
Savannah knew that Pavel was waiting to hear from him and get his position so that he could send him the new device that would allow them to communicate without problems.
Pavel was in his bunker in Sofia when he read the message; he was gorging himself on ice cream while talking on the phone with Anna, who was telling him about her chaotic day at the office.
Black Hawk Day Rewind: An action packed spy thriller (Mark Savannah Espionage Series Book 1) Page 11
