Tess Awakening

by Andres Mann

  In the courtroom, Tess’s lawyers were not making much progress with their questioning of Amir. He skillfully continued to deflect many of the questions posed to him, well aware that the facts of what had actually happened could not be used against him without incriminating Tess. As far as the spectators could see, Amir was the epitome of the gentleman, well dressed, polite and erudite. Throughout, he steadily kept looking at Tess, sporting a benevolent smile.

  Now it was time for Tess to testify. Her lawyer asked her to provide a summary of what had transpired. She alleged that Amir had kidnapped little Morgan, taken him to Canada and then brought him to Istanbul. Opposing counsel raised a flurry of objections that the allegations could not be proven. The judge upheld the objection.

  Amir’s lawyer started to harass Tess on the circumstances of Amir’s capture in Iraq. “Ms. Turner, isn’t it true that you and people employed by your company shot down General al-Saadi’s helicopter for the sole purpose of capturing him?”

  “Yes, it’s true,” Tess confirmed.

  “You imprisoned General al-Saadi somewhere in Jordan where you abused him during an interrogation.”

  “Yes; I was trying to find out where he had taken my son. He told me that he was in Istanbul.”

  “Wasn’t that information provided to you under duress? Did you kick my client in the face?”

  “No, I just threw a table at him.”

  Jake winced, thinking ‘Why does the woman always tell it like it is?’

  The lawyer continued. “You went to Istanbul with your employees, all of them hired mercenaries. Did you find your son there?”

  “No. He had been spirited away before we got there.”

  “Objection!” one of the Amir’s lawyers interjected. “There is no evidence that my client harbored his son anywhere.”

  “Ms. Turner, isn’t it true that during your invasion of my client’s house in Istanbul that your men shot one of the guards?”

  “They resisted and we had to neutralize him. He lived. We did not kill anyone.”

  “Isn’t it true that General al-Saadi’s wife who resided in the house was killed by a gunshot to the head?”

  “It is regrettable, but we didn’t do it. Apparently, she committed suicide.”

  “Ms. Turner, can you think of a reason why the death of an innocent woman occurred in such a horrible way? Did you harass her beyond reason?”

  One of Tess’s lawyers stood up. “Objection! There is no way to ascertain why the woman committed suicide.”

  “Sustained,” said the Judge.

  “Ms. Turner, isn’t it true that you returned to Jordan, where you were still keeping my client prisoner? Did you abuse him again? I believe that this time he received severe, life-threatening wounds.”

  “He tried to escape and hurt three of my people. I stopped him and we had a fight. He lost.”

  “Did my client disclose the information you were seeking?”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “Is this because he really didn’t know?”

  “Oh, he knew,” Tess responded. “He just stonewalled us.”

  Your honor, this is the end of our questioning for now. I reserve the right to recall the witness.”

  “Granted.”

  ***

  Lawyer conference; Jackson Davis Esquire speaking. “Tess, if you keep testifying, you are going to get in real trouble. Al-Saadi has covered all angles. He has plausible deniability for just about everything he did. You, on the other hand, are looking like a runaway freight train. I really think that we should reach an agreement with him before it gets worse.”

  “No way! He is not going to get close to my son.” Tess meant it.

  Back to the courthouse, Tess’s lawyer was now asking the questions. “Ms. Turner, eventually you found your son. Would you please tell us about this?”

  “My son was being held at a house in Sorrento, Italy. He was with Amir’s sister Fadime.” We managed to take my son back and left the country.”

  “No further questions, your honor.”

  “Redirect,” Amir’s lawyer stepped in front of her.

  “Ms. Turner, do you have corroborating evidence regarding what you just said?”

  “Yes, my team was there and witnessed that my son was in Fadime’s custody. She was helping her brother Amir hide him.”

  “If we summon your team to testify, will they tell the truth?”

  “Yes, they are all outstanding people.”

  “Nevertheless they are your employees, beholden to you. How credible can their testimony be in front of the court?”

  “As I said, they are all honorable people, and they will tell the truth about what happened.”

  “Ms. Turner, is it true that the Italian police has issued a warrant for your arrest?”

  “I am not the criminal here. I just took my son back.”

  “And yet there is not a shred of proof that your son was kidnapped by my client. Also, Madame Fadime is nowhere to be found, so we can’t have her testify. Is there evidence that she was involved in this scheme, or is this just a fabrication?”

  “My son was taken away from me. He was hidden away in Italy by Amir al-Saadi. I merely took him back.”

  “If any of this actually happened, why didn’t you go the Italian police?”

  “Because it would have taken days to get them to move. It wasn’t a feasible option.”

  “In other words, you decided to take the law into your hands, and you cannot prove that any of this actually happened.”

  Tess’s lawyer stood up. “Objection! Counsel is harassing the witness.”

  “Granted,” said the judge. “Time for recess; we will meet here again Monday at 10 AM.”

  Chapter 77

  Plan in Motion

  Amir was pleased with the court proceedings. His expensive lawyers were worth their weight in gold. Of course, his doctoring of the facts helped. He now looked like the aggrieved victim and Tess had come across as a violent, abusive woman. Perfect.

  That evening, Amir dressed in casual clothes, boarded a car and Kemal drove him to Newark to meet the five mercenaries they had hired. In a conference room at the Hilton hotel, he briefed the men on what he wanted them to do. It didn’t take long to conclude that this was a group of military-trained violent psychopaths with not even a shred of conscience. They would do anything you asked, no matter how heinous; all you had to do is pay them. Taken together, they were a scary bunch; precisely what Amir wanted.

  The legal custody action was just the first stage of his plan. It was pure harassment and a good way to keep Jake and Tess in place.

  The second stage was the release on the Internet of the videos that Fadime had made in England showing him and Tess making love. He felt that this was his secret weapon, particularly since he had doctored the videos to obfuscate his own face, but not Tess’s. There was no way to tell that he was the man in the scene. Amir regretted having to assume anonymity; in his mind, the lovemaking session would have been a source of pride for him — proof of his stamina, virility and amatory skills. Unfortunately, he needed to remain morally pristine so the court would not associate him with such distasteful behavior. He called Kemal and told him to order his computer geeks to post the video on the Internet. Kemal complied and Amir poured himself a cognac, satisfied that he had initiated hell in cyberspace.

  Ten minutes later Kemal called him. “General, something went wrong. All of the Web sites that tried to show the video are down. There seems to be a sophisticated hacking operation at work. Somehow, they detected the video’s signature and destroyed it.”

  Amir gulped the brandy.

  Joe Slezak, Jake’s favorite geek, had been waiting for the release of the video and when he detected the uploads to the web, released a virus that destroyed it everywhere it was hosted. It was pure magic, something that he prided himself doing every day.

  Immediately, Jake rushed SRD operatives to the many pornographic websites nationwide that had attempted to broad
cast the video. They barged into the offices of the administrators with cease-and-desist orders. To reinforce the point, they assured the site managers that should they detect even a hint of defiance in the future, they would be met with unpleasant consequences, and they did not mean legal ones. Joe’s virus completely destroyed foreign-based Web sites. The word got around quickly: Try to do this again, and your systems would implode, plus you stood to meet some very nasty people.

  Amir was furious at Fadime. She couldn’t resist showing the video to Tess when they met in Sorrento. She had alerted Tess’s people, and they had taken preventive measures to make sure that the dissemination of the video would not occur.

  Jake told Tess of what happened. She shrugged her shoulders. “There is so much of this stuff on the net that the video would probably be ignored. Nowadays, it seems that couples of every age feel obliged to post videos of themselves doing the dirty need. It’s so pervasive that Amir’s video would barely make a blip.”

  Jake disagreed. “Amir could have sent the video to every important person doing business with your dad. He might still plan to do it. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

  “How are you going to keep Amir from trying?”

  “I don’t know yet, but I have people working on it.”

  Chapter 78

  Showdown

  Tess stopped by her dad’s large apartment and picked up little Morgan. She insisted on taking him with her to the farmhouse. With Amir in town, anything could happen. She strapped the child on the back seat carrier and gave him a big kiss on his chubby cheek. She and Jake took off in his brand new Land Rover. The previous vehicle had helped them survive the attack on the highway, so Jake just replaced it with a more luxurious model.

  A Suburban SUV with four of Jake’s men followed them. He did not want to take any chances. The men were charged with their protection.

  Carmen and Nicola were still staying at Jake’s farmhouse in Sleepy Hollow. They appreciated the peace and quiet and the opportunity to enjoy each other. Tess called and told her that she and Jake were coming over for the weekend. She also told her to keep an eye on anything out of the ordinary. It seemed that Amir had started unleashing mischief, and she did not want to take any chances.

  Carmen, the ever practical one, asked a logical question. “Tess, do you expect that something will happen soon?” Should we leave this place and return to New York?”

  “I don’t think it would make any difference, Carmen. Jake feels that if there is to be a showdown, it might as well on the farm. He has set up resources there.”

  “What do you mean by resources? Do you have any arms in the house?”

  “Just go to the basement. Push the green tile above the dishwasher. That will open a door to the weapons storage room. Take what you need. Please be careful. We will see you in two or three hours.”

  Carmen and Nicola followed Tess’s advice. They pushed the tile and a concealed sliding door opened. They walked into a room that served as an armory and were astonished to see an assortment of weapons neatly hanging on the wall. There was enough to start a small war — pistols, high-powered sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, a selection of long distance scopes and tons of ammunition. The inventory even included porcupine iron spikes that could be used to surround the property to thwart anyone approaching the house uninvited. Topping the charts were small explosive devices that could be concealed on the perimeter and detonate like mines if they were stepped on.

  Nicola was impressed. “Jake must have built this arsenal after he and Tess were attacked on the highway.”

  “If that still is a concern, why didn’t they move somewhere else?” Carmen was puzzled.

  “Jake told me that he loved this place and he would not let anyone drive him away from it. In any case, if someone wanted to come after them, they would find them anywhere they lived. Jake is not the type to run away from challenges.”

  “Nicola, I have a feeling that something is going to happen soon. We better prepare.”

  ***

  Five of Amir’s mercenaries wore dark uniforms, making them almost invisible in the dark moonless night. They met outside the fence around Jake’s farmhouse and barn. They scoped the area with their binoculars and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. They saw some movement inside the house and the shadow of a man behind a curtain reading a book. They hadn’t expected occupants in the house; they were probably caretakers. This was a minor annoyance that they would need to tackle immediately.

  One of the men used steel cutters to cut a hole in the barbed wire fence circling the property. Stealthily, the group walked through the hole and proceeded toward the house. They were planning to neutralize the people inside and then wait for Jake and Tess. Throughout, the men used transmitters in their helmets to communicate with Amir and Kemal, who were parked in a small cluster of trees not far from the house. Their SUV was crammed with communications gear, with several weapon stored in racks, ready to be used.

  The mercenaries stopped one hundred yards from the house and got ready to rush in and bust the door. The first order of business was to kill the man that was reading behind the curtain. One of them took aim and shot at the silhouette. The man fell. This was the signal to rush in and seize the house. As they started to run, the men suddenly screamed in pain. They had stepped on porcupine devices the Nicola had hidden around the approaches to the house. The barbs had penetrated their boots. That stopped the men for the moment.

  The mercenaries managed to pull the spikes out of their feet; they were now hurting like hell, limping, bloody and in a rage. “Whoever did this will pay,” one of them said, resenting the fact that their intended victims refused to lay back and be killed. They broke the front door and rushed into the house. The man in the chair was down on the floor, but it really wasn’t a man. It was a makeshift dummy positioned at the window behind the curtain. The leader cursed and rushed upstairs, but nobody was there.

  When the attackers cut the fence, they had triggered an alarm in the kitchen. Nicola and Carmen had sprinted outside and rappelled up to the canopy of a giant oak at one end of the property. They had stashed weapons and ammo in an old and rickety treehouse that in the past must have been used by the children of the previous owner.

  The men rushed out of the house looking for the occupants. They heard a crack and one of them fell backward, hit by a bullet in the chest. Carmen was a crack shot, and she had installed a scope and silencer on the tip of her sniper rifle. Nicola was similarly armed. They took a couple more shots, but the invaders had combat experience and quickly took cover behind the house. The mercenaries tried to determine where the shots were coming from, but the silencers on their opponents’ rifles made it hard to detect the source.

  The leader of the group scoped the area once more with his night vision binoculars. An old barn at the far end of the property was too far to serve as a useful platform for the shooters. The large tree a few hundred yards from the house was the only elevation from which the shots could have originated. The shooters must be up there. He signaled and his men fanned out and ran toward the tree, firing their automatic weapons. Carmen and Nicola saw them coming but did not shoot. Suddenly, an explosion hurled one of the men up in the air. “Damn, they placed mines on the ground,” warned the point man. The temporary disorientation was fatal. Carmen dropped the leader with a shot to the head. Nicola followed, hitting the next invader in the leg.

  Chapter 79

  Tragedy

  Amir was monitoring what the mercenaries were doing, using the communications gear installed in his car. He immediately recognized the signs of a rapidly faltering operation. He cursed; his plan was unraveling in real time. Four men down.

  “Kemal, start the car and rush to the house.” He had enough of incompetent underlings. This time, he was going to do the job himself. He would eliminate the resistance and wait for Jake and Tess to show up so he could finish the job.

  Kemal drove the SUV right through the closed front g
ate, knocking it down and slid the vehicle behind the house for cover. Amir grabbed an automatic rifle and rushed toward the lone mercenary survivor who was under a barrage of fire by Carmen and Nicola. Amir and Kemal aimed their automatic weapons at the tree and fired towards its canopy. The tree top shredded, spewing wood and leaves around it.

  “That should take care of them,” Amir said while walking toward the tree with his two men. They kept firing for good measure but did not get any response from the shooters. Then a shot cracked, and the last mercenary fell to the ground. Amir and Kemal hit the dirt, trying to determine where the shots were now coming from.

  Carmen and Nicola had never planned to stay on the tree. They knew that once the shooting started, the tree would not have provided enough protection from gunfire. They had jumped down and hid behind a bale of hay. Then they ran inside the old barn building.

  Amir could not see them, and kept firing automatic fire every which way. Then Kemal saw movement around the barn and sprayed bullets toward the shadows.

  Nicola was hit. Carmen turned around and to her horror saw him clutching his chest. Amir and Kemal continued their nonstop firing, so she dragged Nicola into the barn. He was still conscious, his hand on the wound, trying to stem the blood. Carmen shot an automatic burst of bullets toward the men outside, forcing them to take cover. She quickly made a compress using her military fatigue shirt and used his belt to secure it to Nicola’s chest. She asked him to hold it tight it against the wound.

  Amir and Kemal resumed firing at the barn with their automatic weapons. Carmen was reeling from the horror of seeing her lover wounded, but quickly recovered; she steeled herself and resolved to kill the bastards who did this. She just needed to evade the hail of bullets directed at her. She fell to the ground and started to crawl outside on her elbows. She had done this at boot camp before.