by Dirk Patton
“I’ve been thinking about that. There can only be so many agents involved in the conspiracy. Things like this, well, you don’t exactly invite every Tom, Dick and Harry to participate. There will be a select few. They’ve probably known each other for years, or maybe even decades.
“That’s great for operational security, but it sucks when you need resources in different parts of the country at a moment’s notice. So, you have a good point. There will be some of the people involved in the plot here looking for us, but I think we got here faster than they anticipated. At the moment, they don’t even know if we made it off that jet.”
We had passed several of the buildings, and a close up and personal look reinforced the opinion I’d reached after looking at the street on Google. Arriving at the coffee house, I held the door for Julie and we were greeted by the wonderful aroma of roasted beans being brewed.
Three women were hard at work behind the counter, one of them operating the register while the other two busily made the drinks ordered by a short line of customers. We stepped up behind a man of no more than 25, wearing an expensive suit, and waited our turn. He had a phone pressed to his ear, talking a mile a minute. After briefly listening to the conversation, it was clear he worked for a politician from Minnesota.
When it was his turn, he ordered without even looking at the woman behind the register and tossed a five-dollar bill at her before walking away. The look on her face said it all as she picked up the money, put it in the drawer and dropped twenty cents of change into a tip jar.
I had read the menu and already knew what I wanted, but after we stepped up, Julie kept staring at it. My order placed, the woman looked expectantly at her. Waiting. After a bit I prompted her.
“Know what you want?” I asked.
“Trying to decide,” she said.
“Didn’t take you this long to decide to come with me.”
I was teasing, and earned myself a sharp elbow in the ribs. She finally ordered, I paid with some of my purloined cash, and we moved to a quiet corner to wait for our drinks.
“You don’t think they’ve already counted the bodies on that plane?” Julie asked in a quiet mumble to keep our conversation private.
“That thing was a blast furnace. Jet fuel burns at something like 6,000 degrees. More than hot enough to completely consume a human body. Maybe the fire department got there in time to knock down the flames, but I don’t think so. I’ll be surprised if there’s enough evidence for them to determine if we were on board or not.”
“Fine. But what about the helicopter that fired the missile? They probably had night vision. Don’t you think they would have seen us?” She asked.
I thought about that for a minute. Replayed the whole scene in my head.
“Maybe not,” I said. “We were running for the hangar when it fired. From the far side of the jet. We should have been screened from the helicopter’s view at the time. And once that plane went up, it would have washed out the electronics. If they’d stuck around, they would have eventually seen us when we took the Explorer, but I’m pretty sure they got the hell of the area when that missile struck.”
Our drinks were ready and I walked over to pick them up. The young man was still on his phone, stepping forward directly into my path to collect his, which had been sitting waiting for him for almost a minute. I bumped into him, jostling his arm and causing him to nearly drop the phone.
“Watch out, asshole,” he barked without even looking at me.
The impulse to twist his little pin head right off his shoulders surged through me, my hands curling into fists. Julie must have recognized the signs as she quickly moved up and grabbed my arm, distracting me. I looked down at her face, the message clear in her eyes. We could not afford to make a scene. Nodding, I smiled my thanks at her and stepped back until Poindexter walked away, still completely oblivious to just how close to a serious beating he had come.
“He’s a dick,” the young woman who had made our coffees said when I picked them up. “Keep hoping someone is going to kick his ass.”
“He has no idea how close he just came,” Julie smiled.
She smiled back and we headed for the door, drinks in hand. Exiting onto the street we turned left, towards the hotel. And the building we were interested in.
It was near the end of the block, and when we got there I wanted to turn to check the angle on the front of the restaurant. But I didn’t want to be obvious about it.
“When we reach the building, stop and mess with your shoe like something’s wrong,” I said to Julie. “I want to turn around and look at the target.”
We sipped our coffee as we strolled, now holding hands. Julie was on my right, closer to the street. As we approached the suspect building, I took note of the three windows that didn’t have any stenciling on the glass. Two of them had blinds tightly drawn, but the third had them rolled open slightly.
When we were in front of the third window, Julie came to a sudden stop and leaned down to examine her right shoe. She had held onto my hand and I’d continued to walk so that when I suddenly came up against resistance, it looked perfectly natural for me to turn to my right. Directly facing the restaurant, across and down the block.
I released her hand and stood there, like a man waiting patiently for his companion to repair a problem with her wardrobe. My head was tilted slightly down, as if I were watching her, but my eyes were cut up as I stared at the target. Line of sight was perfect. Distance was good. Not too far, but far enough to be clear of the blast radius.
“Good?” Julie asked, still fussing with a strap on her sandal.
“Good,” I said.
She straightened, reached out and took my hand, moving close to me again. As we moved past, I cut my eyes to the left without turning. The bottom edge of the window was a foot above the top of my head. That gave the location an elevated view of the street. More importantly, it gave the ground team enough height to not have to worry about the laser being blocked by a car parked at the curb. This had to be it.
At least I was pretty sure this was the right spot. The team was hidden from view, which I knew had to be the case. Carpenter’s analysts had reviewed archived satellite images and hadn’t been able to find them. The on-site, Secret Service teams hadn’t seen them. There was no question that they had to be concealed inside a building, and this one was the best candidate. By far.
Moving beyond the far edge of the structure, a narrow alley ran between it and the adjacent building. It was just wide enough for a truck to pass. I wanted to head down it, look for a rear entrance, but couldn’t come up with a way to do so without raising a big, red flag.
Julie had seen my head turn, slowing with me as I took as much time as reasonable to stare down the alley. We’d talked about rear entrances, so she must have guessed what I was thinking.
“The floor plans will be available online,” she said, exerting light pressure on my arm to get me moving faster. “I’ll be able to pull them up when we get back to the hotel.”
Again, I was very thankful she was with me. We’d spent enough time in the area. Any more, and it wouldn’t be surprising if a Secret Service agent stopped us to ask questions. Questions we wouldn’t be able to answer satisfactorily. Recon was complete. Now, it was time to get the hell out of sight for a few hours.
47
We held hands for the entire walk back to the hotel. I finally released Julie’s when I opened and held the door to enter the lobby. Despite myself, I scanned the entire area, looking for Monica. I was hoping to get a glimpse of her, and Roberto, but was glad when I didn’t. The last thing I needed was to get distracted, thinking about what could have been.
Julie was quiet in the elevator ride to our floor, following me down the hall and into the room. I had learned that she wasn’t a talker. She didn’t feel the need to fill every silence with inane babel. But this was quiet even for her.
“We should check on our guest,” Julie said, leading the way to the second bedroom.
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Cummins was still sleeping soundly. Quietly closing the door, I walked towards the table where her laptop was, ready to look at floor plans for the building. We had just over eight hours until the missile was fired, and I wanted to be ready. Memorize the layout and prepare to go in and take out the ground team before they could paint the target. But Julie didn’t head for the computer. Turning, I saw her standing in the middle of the living room floor.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“No,” she said, shaking her head and taking a couple of steps closer. “I was just thinking we should talk about that kiss outside the restaurant.”
“Look. About that,” I stammered. “I’m sorry. I kind of got carried away. That wasn’t cool on my part, and…”
I stopped, surprised, when she rushed forward and threw her arms around my neck, pulling me down into a deep kiss. It lasted much longer than the first one, and this time I didn’t stop myself from pulling her tight against me. We stood there for nearly a minute, making out like two horny teenagers, grinding our bodies against each other.
When I finally came up for air, she leaned her head against my chest and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist. Giving me a squeeze, she took my hand and stepped away to arm’s length. Smiling, she tugged and I followed her into the bedroom.
An hour or so later, we lay naked in each others’ arms. Sweat dampened sheets were twisted around us, not covering any part of her spectacular body. We were both breathing hard from some of the most athletic love making I’d ever experienced. Now, her head was pillowed on my chest and her leg was thrown across mine. My arm was under her, hand slowly tracing the curve of her exposed hip.
“That’s the first time since my husband,” she said in a far off voice.
I wasn’t sure if I should say anything to that. Was she feeling guilty, or relieved? After a moment I realized I should say something.
“Thank you,” is what I came up with, instantly regretting it and trying to fix it. “I mean, I’m glad it was me. Well, that’s not what I mean. I’m… well… fuck! I’m sorry. That’s a pretty profound thing and I wanted to say something nice. Sorry. I’ll just say I’m touched and shut the hell up.”
Julie had lifted her head to look at me half way through my fumbling speech. When I finished, she looked into my eyes for a moment and began laughing.
“That’s why you were the first,” she smiled, snuggling her head back in place. “You really are a good guy. I could tell that two minutes after the first time we met. Well, maybe longer than that. Maybe after you quit aiming a rifle at my head.”
She chuckled and lifted her hand, tracing her fingertips across my chest and stomach. I shivered at the sheer pleasure of her touch. Turning my head, I kissed her sweaty brow, leaving my lips pressed against her face.
“First time for me in eleven years,” I said in a far off voice.
“I could tell. You damn near bent me in half,” she teased, flicking my nipple hard enough to send a jolt all the way to my feet.
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I told you I won’t lie to you,” I said, earning another nipple flick.
“So, what happens now?” She asked after a long silence.
“I stop the assassination, then go after Johnson,” I said. “Once that’s cleared up, I get you reimbursed and the director has the horsepower to clear your name of any wrongdoing.”
“That’s good,” she said. “But not what I meant.”
“Oh.”
“Not exactly the right answer to the naked woman who just screwed your brains out,” she said.
Her tone was light, but I could tell I’d hurt her a little bit.
“Sorry,” I said. “It’s been a while since I had anyone interested in me. I’m not exactly saying the right things.”
“Just be honest, and I’ll deal with your stupidity,” she chuckled.
I laughed with her, squeezing her tightly against me. Thinking about how to answer her question.
“Remember I told you about having to return forward in time?”
She nodded.
“That’s going to happen tonight. I’ll just disappear from wherever I am. I’ll be back in the project facility, and I don’t even know where that is. It’s on an oil rig, or a modified oil rig, somewhere in the ocean. That’s all I know.
“They don’t let me have a phone or computer or anyway to communicate with anyone. For that matter, up until now there wasn’t anyone for me to communicate with. I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again.”
“Do you want to?” She sat up and crossed her legs, looking down at me.
“Is this where I’m supposed to be completely honest?” I asked.
She gave me a warning look before reaching down and firmly grasping my balls in her hand.
“It would be in your best interest to answer truthfully,” she smiled.
“Yes, I want to see you again,” I said in a firm voice.
“Well, then, we’re just going to have to figure something out. I’m not going to be the girl that you banged in a hotel room and forgot about.”
“No chance of that happening,” I said, reaching up and pulling her down on top of me.
We spent another hour in the bed, exploring and enjoying each other. I think both of us had some demons to exorcise, and I can’t speak for her, but for the first time in years I felt some faint hope for the future. But, first things first.
Finally, we were spent and after a few more minutes of holding each other tightly, we got up. I stepped into the bath and cranked on the water in the shower. Julie joined me and we soaped each other up. Rinsed off, I stepped out and found two robes hanging from a hook on the back of the door. Handing hers over, I paused when a thought struck me.
“Can I ask a question? And I don’t mean it to be offensive, just something that occurred to me?”
“You can ask,” Julie said, an expression on her face I hadn’t seen before.
“Birth control,” I said. “If you haven’t been, um, active since your… Um, well…”
“Isn’t it a little late to be asking?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling like an ass. I’d hurt her again.
“No need to worry,” she said, opening the robe she had just donned and exposing her nude body. She pointed at a scar on her lower, left abdomen. “See that? Hysterectomy. Courtesy of some shrapnel from an Al Qaeda IED. I can’t have children.”
I stared at the jagged, white line on her otherwise flawless skin. Not only had I asked a jerkoff kind of question right after having sex with a woman, but I’d stumbled into an area that was probably very sensitive for her.
“I’m really sorry,” I said, hanging my head and pulling my robe’s belt tight. “That was a pretty shitty thing to ask.”
She looked at me for a bit, then walked to where I was standing without bothering to close her robe. Pressing against me, she slipped her arms around my waist and buried her face against my chest. My arms automatically went inside her robe, holding her bare skin.
“You really are kind of awkward, aren’t you?” Her voice was muffled. “It’s OK. It was a really touchy subject for me for a while. I felt… I don’t know. Incomplete? Less of a woman? Whatever. I’ve dealt with it. Cried my eyes out. Got drunk and raged at the world. Purged it from my system. I only hope I’m right when I think your question was innocent, and you weren’t going into a panic thinking the crazy bitch you just screwed is going to get knocked up and ruin your life.”
“Wasn’t thinking that at all,” I said, laying my cheek on top of her head. “I just have a bad habit of saying the first thing that pops into my head. It was more of a… well, logistical question.”
“Logistical?” She stepped back and looked up at me. “My God, you’re not awkward. You’re a dork! I slept with a dork!”
She began laughing, pulling away as I reached for her and dashing into the living room. I followed, grinning at this amazing woman.
“OK, dork. We need to do some work,” she said
, closing her robe and cinching the belt tightly.
I joined her on the couch, our hips touching. She began working the laptop and in a few moments had found a diagram of the building on the DC building commission’s website. She downloaded the file and opened it, both of us leaning close for a better look.
48
It was a warm evening as I made my way down the alley. I had circled around to the next street behind the building I’d identified as the probable location of the ground team. Following the path I’d mapped out on Google Earth, I had slipped into darkness and come to a stop, listening and watching.
After a few minutes of seeing and hearing nothing, I opened the cheap duffel Julie had purchased in the hotel gift shop. It held my weapons, and the FBI logo jacket I’d taken from the Suburban in California. Slinging the rifle in front of my body, I pulled the jacket on and filled the inside pockets with magazines and the two flash-bang grenades.
Initially, I’d thought about wearing the all back jacket, but Julie had convinced me to wear the other one. Her point, which I acknowledged was valid, was that I was going to be prowling around in close proximity to the President of the United States. Secret Service had snipers on the roof tops. If they so much as got a glimpse of one of my weapons, they’d probably put a bullet in me and ask questions later.
Maybe, if I was wearing an FBI jacket, they wouldn’t be quite as quick to shoot. Maybe. But that maybe was what had swayed me. I didn’t want to get shot. I just wanted to get this over with, get back to real time and deal with Johnson, then find a way to see Julie again.
Rolling the thin, fabric duffel into a tube, I stuck it in the back of my waistband. Once the ground team was down, I needed to slip out of the area quickly and quietly. Wearing a jacket with FBI on the back in foot high, yellow letters, with a rifle in my hands, wouldn’t exactly be stealthy.
