The Operator

by Craig Martelle

  My phone was two days beyond its useful service life. I should have destroyed it immediately following Nader’s hit.

  Jenny wasn’t up yet. I wrote a note that I had gone out to the store to get something special for lunch. I needed to do that, but I also needed to be a long way away when I powered my phone up. Even though the GPS was off, a phone could still be tracked.

  I’d make the call to The Peace Archive and then destroy the phone. I borrowed a hammer from the shed.

  I took Jenny’s car and drove two towns to the south on a main artery leading back to the big city. In a mall parking lot, I dialed the number.

  The line connected as if someone answered, but no one spoke. I waited. They had sent the note to contact me. The ball was in their court.

  “We know what you did.”

  A simple sentence made by a computer modulated voice. Ambiguous. A threat. They had made the first move in a verbal chess match. They were searching to see where I was. They’d figure it out, but they didn’t have any assets close enough. I’d give them two minutes of my time, and then I would disappear.

  “So what?”

  “It’s bad for the group’s reputation. Pressuring clients to keep their money while not satisfying the contract is very bad for business.”

  “I doubt that. Don’t drop contracts on good people, and you won’t have these kinds of problems. You should be thanking me for cleaning up your mess. Next time, make sure you get it right.”

  I hung up and turned off the power. I started the car and hurried onto the main road, accelerating on a vector away from Jenny. Five miles distant, I stopped at a hiking trail’s parking lot. On one of their decorative boulders, I hammered the phone into non-existence before depositing pieces and shards into each of the lot’s four garbage cans.

  I casually drove toward home, stopping at the first grocery store and meandering through the aisles, looking for something I wanted to cook for lunch. I settled on burgers with freshly baked rolls for buns. I knew Jenny failed miserably when it came to selecting the proper mustard for each occasion, so I picked some up, along with pickles and barbeque sauce in lieu of ketchup.

  The self-checkout was efficient. I was done in under a minute. The drive back to Jenny’s house was uneventful, as all drives should be.

  My thoughts were heavy since I knew we needed to go. This afternoon, we needed to be winging our way to Italy, probably never to return to this town. It was the life I had promised Jenny, and she had accepted.

  When I pulled up, a car was parked on the street across from Jenny’s house. I’d been there on and off for a week and had not seen anyone park in that place before. I pulled in behind the car and jumped out, ducking behind my open car door.

  The engine revved and the car spun out, sending rocks and dirt my way. I backed up and raced into the driveway, sliding to a stop. I bolted into the house and sprinted down the hall to find Jenny still asleep.

  I leaned over the bed to kiss her face, fighting to slow my breathing. She moaned softly in the delight of being woken in such a way. She tried to pull me into bed.

  “We have to go. Right now. They’ve found me, and they aren’t happy.”

  “The police?”

  “The Peace Archive. We’re on the wrong side of a group of hired killers. We need to regain the high ground.”

  Jenny blinked the sleep from her eyes and helped herself out of bed. “What’s that mean?”

  “It means our plans for a world cruise are temporarily on hold. I need to deal with this, but I have to make sure you’re safe first.”

  “We can fight this together.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled her naked body tightly against me.

  “If we want the freedom to do this, we need to run. Right now. Clothes on your back. We’ll take your phone, but power it down. We’ll buy what we need on the way.”

  “What about our home?”

  “Our home has become wherever we are. It cannot be here because they know about this place, which means they know about you. You have a target on your back, Miss Jenny. Don’t be afraid, be alert. We will select the battlefield, and then we will win this fight. Nothing matters right now besides surviving the day.”

  Jenny backed away from me until she leaned against the wall. Her eyes glistened. My reality had been fine when people didn’t want us dead.

  I ran back to the front room. The car had not returned. I went outside to check for an improvised device, but if there had been one, it would already have detonated. We didn’t have a propane tank outside or an easy way to build a weapon.

  I grabbed the remaining ammunition for the two pistols. Into the kitchen to take a few non-perishables in case we couldn’t stop. Jenny appeared wearing jeans and a loose top, hair still messy.

  “You look beautiful,” I told her.

  “Can’t they wait for a decent hour to deliver their vendetta?” She stared out the living room window.

  “We plan for tomorrow while living for today. Every day from now until we’re done.” We took two coats on our way outside. She wore her workout shoes and carried her purse. Good choice.

  I had my computer. I had planned on donating it to Goodwill, but I hadn’t scrubbed it clean yet.

  I locked the front door because it needed to appear normal. We drove out earlier than we wanted, but on our way to somewhere else.

  “How did they find us?”

  “I don’t know. They could have dug through my VPN to find me. Or they got my name from the hotel, and then got your name because I fell in love.”

  Jenny took my hand and held it as we drove away from all things urban. Fifty miles away, I spotted a car sitting in a yard with a price on the windshield.

  I held a finger to my lips. “Let’s get something to eat before we keep driving to Boise. No one will find us there.” I parked at a local diner. We stood outside the door, where I kissed Jenny passionately and whispered into her ear, “I’ll return with the car, and then we’ll set a trap for whoever is following us.”

  She nodded. Jenny had turned pale from the stress of the day’s ordeal. She went inside, and I jogged away. Across the highway to a frontage road and back to where I’d seen the car for sale. A Toyota Corolla in decent shape. Forty-five hundred dollars. That would take most of my remaining cash, but I could Western Union some more.

  I knocked on the house door. An elderly gentleman answered.

  “I’d like to look at your car.”

  “My granddaughter’s car. She used it for college.”

  “How great is that? A grandfather making sure his family gets their education. Looks like a decent daily driver.” He grabbed a key off the hook by the door and followed me back to the car. He started it and let it run. It sounded good, was mostly clean. “Let’s take it for a ride.”

  I hopped in the passenger seat and we took off, driving a mile down the frontage road before pulling into a turnaround. We changed places. It drove fine, but it wouldn’t win any races. It had a few thousand miles left on it. That was all we needed.

  I thrust my hand toward him. “I’ll pay your price in cash right now.”

  “Damn, sonny. I just put the sign on it this morning.”

  “Then serendipity smiled on both of us.” I started counting out the bills.

  “I’ll get the title. She signed it before flying to Japan for an internship.” He disappeared into the house. I finished at forty-five one-hundred-dollar bills. I reversed them and counted again.

  “Congratulations,” I called after him. He shuffled back into view, waving the paper. We traded money for title.

  “You can fill it out when you take it to registration.”

  “Easy day, my good man. I thank you again.” We shook a second time, and I hopped in and drove off. It was that simple. Across the road and into the Walmart parking lot next to the restaurant. I parked close to the entrance, slipping between other cars. I strolled into the store, along the wide walkway just past the registers, and out the garden entrance. />
  Jenny was picking at her food when I joined her. I initially sat across from her, but that wasn’t what she needed. I moved and slid in next to her. I kissed her ear and nuzzled her neck. She shivered and leaned against the wall.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making time with my gal?” Judging from the look on her face, that wasn’t the right answer. I leaned close. “We’re going to go to the hotel on the other side of Wally World. We’re going to get a room and park your car right in front of the door. We’re going to wait for whoever shows up, and I’m going to kill them.”

  Jenny closed her eyes. “Do you have to?”

  “Yes. They’ll keep coming until they find it’s too dangerous, which means too expensive. We make the hit and we disappear. After this hotel and abandoning your car, there will be no way for them to find us.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that. Being an international man of mystery comes at a steep price. I’m sorry, Miss Jenny. I truly am. I’m sorry for being so selfish as to drag you into my world.”

  She smirked. “Does love have to have a trade-off?”

  “To me, the answer must be yes since this is the only time I’ve been in love.”

  “Me, too. It takes the edge off the bad stuff.” She tipped her head up enough to smile at me.

  “The bad stuff. We’ll see what we can do about that. Get our room, and then we need to go shopping.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “We may be likened to two scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life.” J. Robert Oppenheimer

  We were too early for check-in, so we paid for two nights to get the room today and through the night. I checked in under a phony name, one The Peace Archive knew, paid with one of my pre-paid cards, and registered Jenny’s car.

  In the room, I pulled out my computer to access the hotel’s internet. I used the VPN to get to Western Union and sent five thousand dollars to the Walmart customer service counter for my pickup.

  I needed a burner phone. Jenny remained distraught, unsure of what to do with herself. I made sure the wireless security cameras were ready to go, then closed my laptop and pocketed my thumb drive. Jenny stood at the window, peeking out. I leaned past her to close the curtains.

  “I expect if they’re out there, they can see us much better than we can see them.”

  She hung her head, but I pulled her away from the window, just in case. I doubted The Peace Archive would spare her. No need to make it easy for them if they planned a drive-by hit.

  I slid my arms around her waist. “Are you Bonny, or am I?”

  She stared at me. “We’re better than Bonny and Clyde, aren’t we? They killed people and stole money.”

  “I don’t steal money,” I conceded. “And you don’t break any laws because you are my angel.”

  She snorted. “That’s quite a stretch.”

  “Just trying to take your mind off today’s minor issues. I’m willing to profess my love for you if that would help.”

  She cracked a smile for only an instant, but I saw it.

  “We are well into the game, but checkmate is not imminent. We have our main pieces in the middle of the board, vying for a superior position and pressing the other through constant attacks until victory.” Jenny’s beautiful green eyes sparkled in the sketchy light of the motel room. “They will only have one, maybe two assets assigned. That’s it. The Peace Archive has worldwide reach but is still a small operation. Plus, I had a few days left to satisfy my contract. They had to put the counter operation into play in a day, no more.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then we go on our world cruise. Give them time to calm the hell down. Then we’ll find a nice country we want to live in.”

  “I’ve heard Cabo San Lucas is nice,” Jenny offered.

  “Or the southern coast of Spain. How about Tuscany?”

  “Can we get visas without letting anyone know where we are?”

  “With money, all things are possible. Think about a new name for yourself. Your days of being the unrepentant Jenny Lawless could be quickly drawing to a close.

  “Jenny Bragg?” she offered.

  “I can go with that. Eldon and Jeannette Bragg. I go by Ian and you, Jenny, but in any documentation, it won’t be obvious.”

  “Is it that easy?”

  “Much easier doing a variation on an existing name. Getting that through the system is almost effortless, but The Peace Archive knows that, too. Still, they don’t have unlimited reach.”

  “Is this our life now? Cheap motels and running from shadows?”

  “We’re not staying here. You deserve far better than this. So, nice hotels.” I smiled while stroking her hair. “We’re not running from anyone. Never take your foot off the gas. As soon as we get defensive, they’ll have us. Are you ready to go to Wally World?”

  “Do you have your pistol?”

  I tapped the back of my pants. “I do. Why?”

  “I have mine, too.” She pointed to her purse.

  “We will win this game.”

  “Win or die trying?” Jenny started to sink back into the doldrums.

  “There is no try, according to Master Yoda. We shall do unto others as they would do unto us.”

  “Quoting movies and clichés?” Jenny rotated her shoulders, forcing herself to relax.

  I hugged her for a long, long time. She had to go through all the emotions and settle into her new normal. I went out to the car and set up three security cameras, looking left, right, and out the back. I wiped down the inside of the car. When I returned to the room, Jenny was ready to go.

  The customer service clerk was exceedingly patient and thorough with the Western Union forms, forking over the money after fifteen minutes of documentation exchanges. We grinned like two college kids getting their allowance.

  Walmart had the disposable phone I wanted. We picked up one with a data and voice plan. We left by the garden entrance, walking beside a family into the parking lot and staying behind taller vehicles until we were in our new ride.

  I explained my plan to Jenny, keeping it simple. We had to draw out whoever they’d sent after us. I assumed they were already here. We’d been in this location for more than four hours.

  We backed out and casually drove through the parking lot, Jenny keeping a keen eye out for someone sitting in their vehicle. We found a couple of candidates to watch. We finished our tour and parked where we could see them.

  “If they saw us leave, they’ll be waiting for us to return,” Jenny said. “How do you think they’re going to do it? A sniper rifle from a mile away?”

  “Operators travel light. That was one of the critical factors in getting hired—the ability to improvise. If they rushed to get here, they don’t have a rifle, not one that is sighted in, anyway. I think they’ll go with something like a fire-bomb through our window.”

  “But we won’t be there.”

  “We have to go back now, but we’ll be out of there when they come for us.”

  “What makes you so sure?” Jenny squinted at one of the potential vehicles as a woman and two kids climbed in. The man who had been waiting fired up the engine and quickly drove away.

  “This isn’t something they’ll do in the daylight. They’ll wait for darkness, especially if they think we’re not going anywhere. We’ll be going to bed early tonight, honey.”

  “I can’t wait,” Jenny deadpanned.

  “I can’t wait until we’re in a comfortable hotel with each other for company. Plan for tomorrow but live for today.”

  Jenny turned toward me. “I look forward to it. You owe me a back rub.”

  “I’ll enjoy paying my debt, even if it doesn’t end in sex.”

  “Even if…” Jenny chuckled lightly. “It’ll end in sex. That’s part of the deal, and you better pay up, mister.”

  “I shall do my very best, but unfortunately, not tonight. I think tonight will be car city, just until w
e have our target locked.”

  We looked at each other before steeling ourselves for the return walk to the motel. We headed back into Walmart to buy two sandwiches to complete our cover by carrying a bag and getting a throwaway dinner at the same time.

  I couldn’t spot our pursuer, who I felt was nearby. I couldn’t scan the area without looking obvious. We hurried along the walk in front of the rooms before diving into ours. I moved a chair to the window and pulled the blinds and curtain up in one corner. I looked out while bringing up my new phone, getting it online, and downloading the security app. I accessed the three cameras and brought up the feed through the hotel’s Wi-Fi.

  “What do we do now?” Jenny asked.

  “Wait, but be ready to go. We’ll only have a few seconds when the opportunity arrives. That’s when we’ll make our break.”

  “I still don’t see how we’ll draw them to us.”

  “Hubris,” I explained while watching out the window. The inside lights were off, and Jenny was antsy. I reduced the screen brightness on my phone so it didn’t highlight my face like a bad ghost show. “They need to suffer the pain of coming after me when the contract was canceled. I cleaned up their mess. That made someone angry, probably whoever brokered the contract.”

  Jenny was still trying to get her head wrapped around it.

  She laid down and forced herself to relax. We talked about anything and everything. What we wanted to see from the world. Archaeology. Mountains. Rivers. Wildlife. Art. Opera. Most importantly, we were destined to conduct a food tour of the world. Wherever we stopped, we agreed to try the local specialty. We both loved a good meal. I also loved a bad meal when I was hungry enough, but we would avoid those as much as possible.

  I opened my sandwich and ate it slowly.

  Jenny fell asleep while I watched. I couldn’t keep myself from glancing at her. I considered myself lucky at having been graced with her presence. She was easy to fight for and willing to fight with me once she knew what she had to do.

  By six in the evening, I saw what I had been waiting for. A big orange self-moving truck parked at check-in.

  “Jenny, get up. We’re ready to go.”