“That’s Grandma’s,” Jenny corrected. She stood and held out her hand. I took it, and we headed outside. A quick tour of the yard, then a trip to the store to pick up a four-pack of wireless security cameras.
After that, we made sure the rest of the evening was about only today. We would take care of tomorrow when it came.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“But he did not grow too proud, and he kept that garden as a mongoose should keep it, with tooth and jump and spring and bite, till never a cobra dared show its head inside the walls.” Rudyard Kipling
I tested the cameras and made sure I could see them through Jenny’s phone. I would have to leave my phone near the cameras to act as the Wi-Fi for them. I had a double ziplock to protect it from the rain.
I used Google Maps to do an in-depth study of the area, map mode, satellite view, and the best granularity through the street view. Multiple paths through nearby neighborhoods offered a wide variety of escape routes, but the least likely would be going through the watershed. We’d arrive on foot from the neighboring wilderness.
I had to get my cameras in place before the advance teams arrived, if there were going to be any. That meant an early morning.
I think Jenny was getting used to my embrace of the best part of the day. As long as I had the coffee ready, she was willing to give morning a chance. She also walked around naked at that time of day. I had not gotten used to that yet and didn’t know if I ever would, but I liked it a lot.
We headed out early to beat most of the traffic. I had to play Rush. Jenny tolerated it. I jammed Signals for the trip to the hotel.
Our first stop was the hotel to pick up my car. I didn’t want Jenny’s associated with this meeting, even if we were going to hide the vehicle.
We stopped in to take advantage of the breakfast. Rose was there, along with a handful of guests. “I missed you yesterday.”
“We got trapped away from the hotel, so we honeymooned over there for a while. We just made it back but need to head out again. No rest for the weary.”
The heat lamps were cranking and trays loaded.
“A conference?”
“They arrived last night.” Rose waved me away from the heat lamp meals. “Get your coffee and find a seat.”
I wiggled my eyebrows at Jenny. She smiled back. The conspiracy to one-up the other guests was well underway. We did as advised, taking a table closest to the swinging door leading to the kitchen. I kept my rain jacket on since I had the M1911A1 tucked into the back of my waistband. Jenny kept her purse on her shoulder because the .25 was inside, despite her protests. Rose reappeared and dropped off two plates with a breakfast that did not look microwaved.
“A little something special for our special couple.”
“So much better than we deserve!” I jumped to my feet and gave the older woman a one-armed hug. “I am already enjoying them way too much.”
“Go on, you two. Eat and keep up your strength. I remember what it’s like to be a newlywed.”
“We just act like newlyweds,” I corrected. Jenny giggled, but she was already eating. I joined her, trying to eat slowly to enjoy the fresh sausage and crumbly biscuits. A minute later, they were gone.
I sipped my coffee and waited for Jenny to finish.
Rose stopped by to take our plates. “Magnificent, Rose. I can’t thank you enough. We hate to eat and run, but we have to go do great things. Maybe they are small things, but we’ll do them in a great way.”
“Keep that attitude.” Rose turned to go back to her duties. I tucked a twenty into her apron before she could object.
Jenny and I strolled out. “That was an unexpected pleasure.”
“Everybody loves some Ian Bragg.” Likeable. Loyal.
“What’s not to love?” She wrapped her arm around my waist, and I wrapped mine around hers. We walked out of the hotel, hip to hip.
In my car, my hobo clothes in the trunk did not do the interior any favors. I opened the door for Jenny, and she started gagging when she was only halfway in. I hurried around to the driver's side to get in and start it, open the windows, and turn on the fan.
“That is the worst man-smell that has ever polluted my body.” She held her hand over her mouth while pinching her nostrils closed.
“I don’t think I’ll need them again. They might have a date with a dumpster.”
“And make the dumpster smell bad.”
I put Rush on and dialed up Roll the Bones . Dreamline started jamming. “This could be our song. Listen to the words, Miss Jenny.”
After it finished, she tapped the screen to replay it. After the second pass, she turned down the volume. “The resolution for our song has been forwarded for consideration. I second the motion. All in favor, say aye.”
“Aye,” we agreed.
“What a strange way to pick a couple’s song,” Jenny started. “But my life stopped being normal the second you walked into it. I don’t get picked up in bars.”
“Good, because I don’t pick up women in bars.”
“Yet you did.”
“Guilty as charged, and I throw myself on the mercy of the court. Today we focus on today. Let me talk through what we’re going to do…”
***
When we reached the entry to the equestrian center, Jenny hopped out while I turned around. She positioned one camera in a tree that faced down the entry road. She put a second looking toward the equestrian center and hid the phone behind it. Jenny’s total time outside the vehicle—fifteen seconds.
We drove away from the entrance, stopping a second time to tuck another camera in a second tree. We continued three blocks farther before turning into a powerline trail access. We parked where people parked before they hiked into the watershed.
Jenny pulled out her phone and brought up the cameras. Three screens showed a full-color view of the road leading to the center. The smart camera recorded a frame a second unless the motion detector activated, then it recorded at full speed. It maintained a record of each activation, and we could browse those separately.
We left our parking spot and cruised three different egress routes out of the area. Once past the entrance, a car could easily disappear in the neighborhoods with their various winding streets, most of which were secondary routes into adjacent neighborhoods. A veritable spiderweb of roads. We picked the route closest to the powerline trail, winding along a road that was little more than an alley.
After making sure we had it down, we returned to the parking area and got out. Time to hike our route to the center.
Jenny wore a big black overcoat, nicer than a usual hiking jacket. It was cold, and she needed a jacket. Everything else in the closet consisted of bright colors. I wanted something that stood out a little less, especially if we were running for our lives through the woods and brush.
My overcoat was dark gray, still muddy from my foray to the campaign office.
We strolled away from the car, holding hands and walking without urgency. A casual hike for a nice couple.
Who happened to be heavily armed and ready to do battle. At least I was ready. I doubted Jenny could pull the trigger unless she saw her death as imminent, or she thought she needed to protect me. I kept my concerns to myself. It was nothing to worry about. One never knew until the fight started. At that point, all souls were bared before the world.
“You’re a good soul,” I blurted, building on my thoughts.
“Thank you, but where did that come from?”
I told her about my philosophy.
“Let’s hope we don’t have to find out,” Jenny stated matter-of-factly. We continued talking softly about the trail and the scenery. An eagle flew overhead.
“That’s good luck,” I claimed. “I’ll take it and any other omens that are casting positive vibes in our direction. Cross your fingers.”
“And my toes, I suppose.”
“If you can, make it happen.” We took a hard left on the first hiking trail leading into the watershed. We had to go
single file, so I took the lead while Jenny checked the cameras. We had not seen any other vehicles with people inside. Nothing like a surveillance van. Nothing like what the movies showed.
We ran into a problem when we were even with the equestrian center. There was no trail leading that way. I headed into the brush first, trying to stay on high ground to avoid tramping across marshy areas. When I saw the fence up ahead. I started breaking branches so we could find our way back to the trail. It was a board fence to keep horses in. Easy to duck under and climb through.
I turned back. Time to wait in the car until closer to our appointment. Jenny blocked my way, wearing a lopsided smile. “And here I thought we were going to meet a billionaire and the future mayor of Seattle.” She pointed at her shoes, covered in mud and grime.
“I’ll bring a rag when we come back. Anything from the cameras?”
She checked the live feed before digging into the activated images. A couple of workers at the center and that was it. I looked back at the center. Both cars in the employee parking lot accounted for.
“No bad guys,” she told me.
I worked my way back to the trail, clipping branches to finish marking the way.
“If we did all this prep work for nothing, what would that tell you?”
“Better safe than sorry?” She patted her purse.
“Player,” I declared. “That is exactly right. Then we review how we can do it better next time.”
“How did you do all this alone? I’m surprised it didn’t drive you insane.”
“Who’s to say I didn’t reach the precipice, ready to fall in? It’s much better with a partner.”
“I really don’t want to be doing any of this,” Jenny declared.
“I don’t either. Not anymore, but as long as I’m still in the game, I’m going to do it the best way I know how. The only way out is to win.”
We didn’t talk about anything else. We walked single file back to the powerline trail and then held hands for the return trip to the car. I took solace in the simple act. The world would spin faster soon enough.
When 11:30 AM rolled around and no one lined the roads waiting for us, I suspected my feelings about Jimmy were right, although one never knew about the inestimable Clive Barrows.
At 11:45, we left the car and started hiking back down the trail into the watershed. We turned off at the broken branch exit and headed into the backside of the equestrian center. When we reached the fence, we used my hobo t-shirt to wipe off our shoes. Jenny wrinkled her nose at the smell and gave me the hard side-eye. I stuffed the rag into a bush, wiping my hands on its leaves before climbing through the fence. We waited at the back of the property until Jimmy appeared in his vehicle with his father-in-law in the passenger seat. They parked next to the horse barn and got out, standing around uncomfortably until Jimmy spotted me.
He waited. We walked toward him while watching the entrance. Jenny was mesmerized.
“Watch your phone. Look for anyone coming in,” I whispered harshly. She fumbled with her phone, almost dropping it. She brought up the video feeds.
“Road’s clear,” she said softly.
I picked up the pace. Jenny strode by my side, checking the phone every couple of seconds. The two men moved into the open.
“Jimmy, Mr. Barrows.”
“Randy,” Jimmy replied. “That’s not your real name, is it?”
“It is not. My name is Ian Bragg, and this is my wife, Jenny.”
Clive scowled. Jimmy’s trademark smile was missing. We stood uncomfortably for a few moments. “Is there a room inside?”
“This is all the privacy we need,” Clive replied.
Jimmy pulled a notebook from an inside jacket pocket and handed it to me. I thumbed through the neatly written pages.
“The last message he sent was a chair, the deck, a cloud, and Margarita.” I showed Jimmy the entries. It was an address in Kirkland.
Clive looked at it before turning his steely glare on me. “Do you know who Daniel Nader is? Manager of the Xterra Worldwide hedge fund?”
“Daniel Nader. XTW. Was he born in 1974?” I asked the question but already knew the answer.
“Sounds about right. How did you know that?” Clive wondered.
“How did you know it was him?” I pressed.
“A father knows these kinds of things.”
Jimmy looked away. The conversation was between Clive Barrows and me. Jimmy was hanging onto the out-of-control roller coaster. I expected most political lives had backroom deals where a person like Jimmy was uncomfortable with but had to let slide. “I need to talk to this man about canceling the contract on Jimmy.”
“Already done. Daniel Nader put out a contract on Jimmy so he could have my daughter to himself,” Clive stated, leaving no doubt about the finality of the statement. “But I have one other thing that needs to happen. Despite what my business challengers might say, I have no idea how to hire a hitman, but Mr. Nader has intruded on my daughter’s life one too many times. I will pay you one million dollars to remove Daniel Nader of Xterra Worldwide from this existence.”
Jenny coughed. I looked hard at Jimmy. “Is that what you want?”
“I want my wife back,” Jimmy pleaded, looking at the ground, his hands in his pockets.
“And I want my daughter to know her place. This is a message that has been a long time coming. It has to be sent. She will hear it, loud and clear.”
“Accident, or mugging gone bad?”
Clive Barrows didn’t hesitate. “An ugly accident. He cannot suffer enough for what he’s done.”
“Does Nader deserve to die for something more than pissing you off?”
Clive Barrows studied me, the corner of his mouth twitching up as I met his gaze.
“His hedge fund is built on a Ponzi scheme. He’s defrauding his investors. My daughter isn’t his only conquest. One of many. I have no idea what she gets from her interactions with him.”
Jimmy had his back turned to us. He couldn’t watch and tried not to listen, but his father-in-law made sure he heard every word.
“I’ll check into Nader’s business. I need to confirm the contract is canceled, and then Mrs. Tripplethorn will arrange a meeting with him. I’ll take care of it as long as the money is in my account by Saturday. Do you have a pen and paper?”
Clive removed a notebook from his sports jacket and handed it over, along with a gold Waterman.
I wrote down my transfer account and the routing number for my bank in the Caymans. I would move any money from the transfer account into my final and secret account as soon as it arrived.
“It’ll be done later today.”
I handed the notebook and pen back. I shoved Tricia’s codebook into my pocket.
“I’m sorry, Jimmy. I’m sorry you had to find out about all this, and that you had to see the kinds of things people do when they aren’t under the spotlight of notoriety.”
Jimmy nodded and kicked at a rock. This was not something he wanted to be a party to, but Clive was teaching him a hard lesson, too.
“I hope Tricia returns to you, not because she doesn’t have a choice, but because you are the best choice.”
Jimmy turned around to face me, creases making him look much older than he had two days prior. “You are a strange man, Mr. Bragg. You seem to understand a great deal about how the world works. In a different situation, I would have liked you.”
“In a different world, yes. For now? You won’t see us again. I’ll conduct my due diligence to ensure Nader’s a viable target. Once confirmed, I’ll meet the contract terms. Then I’ll be gone.”
Clive Barrows held out his hand. We shook on it. A million-dollar deal. Jenny was still reeling from the day’s revelations. She had turned pale.
Clive gestured for Jimmy to get into the vehicle. I guided Jenny away from the meeting. “Just breathe, sweetheart.” I rubbed her back as we walked. “We’re a helluva lot closer to being free than when we got up this morning.”
&nbs
p; Jenny turned to me, forcing herself to relax. “I’m okay, honey.” She clicked her phone and looked at the time. “That took four minutes.”
“When there is one hundred percent focus on problems, they tend to get taken care of quickly.”
Jimmy backed out and drove away. Neither he nor Clive looked at us.
“We might as well leave by the front door.” Jenny looked at me, confusion gripping her. I explained. “Take the road. Grab my phone and the cameras on the way out. I’m okay not walking through the mud again.”
She took a deep breath. “Practical.” She closed her eyes and tipped her head back to drink in the smell of the horse farm amid the cool, moist air. I stayed close, resting my arm across her shoulders. When she opened her eyes, she smiled, close-lipped. “Clear-minded. Focus. No judgment, just action. This is a rough game, and men like Clive Barrows are not afraid to play it.”
“To teach his daughter a lesson regarding consequences. Jimmy was having a hard time. I don’t think he expected what Clive had planned.” We walked down the road that led out of the center. “Hang on. Let me grab my t-shirt.”
I jogged to the fence and crawled through to grab the rag before returning to Jenny.
She looked at the stinking t-shirt in my hand.
“What?” I asked her. “I’m not going to litter. ”
“The future mayor of Seattle is right. You are a strange man. So loveably, wonderfully strange.” I held her hand as we walked, jaunty. I felt good. Jenny was improving quickly. “You called me your wife. How am I supposed to take that?”
“I feel like there’s no answer I can give that would be satisfactory. How did you take it?”
“I’m still figuring that out.”
We stopped by the tree to grab the cameras and my phone, then hit the second tree closer to the main road. We strolled the neighborhood street. I kept my head on a swivel as we walked, watching everywhere at once.
“I thought you said we were free?”
“It could have been a setup, but Jimmy was there, arranging a hit on his wife’s lover. Even as a setup, that would be a lot to ask the public to accept as a made-up story. It sounds true, but one never knows. Maybe we should have walked through the watershed.”
The Operator Page 14
