Jae's Assignment

by Bernice Layton

  When she nervously complied, Randy had two shields as he backed away.

  The second Randy stepped into a service elevator, Darius barked out orders to the staff to get the patients back into their rooms and to lock the doors until they received word it was okay to come out. Then gathering together, Darius, Iverson, Amil, Mike, and McGuire briefly came up with a plan to get to Randy before he turned his weapon on the hostages.

  Just then, a contingent of state police and military police thundered in from all areas followed by Rita West. They headed over to Darius.

  “This guy is a disgruntled agent so I wouldn’t put anything past him. Let’s get everyone on this floor secured.” Darius addressed both teams of armed forces. “I also want this facility on lockdown.”

  “No problem, Special Agent Hall, we’ve already got the exits locked down with only our teams coming in or going out. Also, the parking lot is secured so if someone attempts to drive off, they’ll have four busted tires,” a high-ranking officer stated.

  “Good work. I’m also looking for someone who may look like a patient but he’s not. He’s being held against his will,” Darius said, showing the major a picture of Grainger, before dispatching Iverson and McGuire down to the lobby. “Jae’s in this building and if she makes her way out she’ll go to that Buick. Let’s not let that happen.”

  Turning to Amil and Mike, he said, “My gut is telling me if she links Randy to the disappearance of Grainger, she’ll kill him.

  “This is crazy because now I’m wondering how Grainger and Dr. Grant are connected,” Darius thought aloud. “Amil, Mike, you come with me. I want to check the corridors. If Jae’s with Grant, they’re looking for a way out.”

  * * * * *

  Jae and Trevor had taken the elevator back up to the third floor. Once there, they made their way to the stairwell at the other end of the building. They were once again stumbling and struggling and panting down another flight of stairs to reach the second floor.

  Jae’s thoughts almost brought tears to her eyes. All she could think about was Dana Cross, Randy’s anxious, fretful, and oftentimes fragile wife. She wondered if poor Dana knew about the demented side of her husband and if she had, if that was why she seemed so frightened at times. Had he been hurtful or abusive to her? Jae wondered. That and other questions kept coming until they exited the second floor stairwell.

  As they passed a large window, Jae pushed Trevor against it and looked out and down into the parking lot. It was filling up with police and rescue personnel. Several military vehicles were also pulling up.

  Trevor glanced down and braced his palms on the window. “Oh, look, it-it’s a p-park. Gina loves rides.” He leaned over and whispered in Jae’s ear. “G-guess what?”

  For the most part, Jae had ignored Trevor’s drug-induced ramblings as well as his roaming hands. “I don’t care, now be quiet,” she said, mentally calculating how to get down to the Buick she’d rigged earlier.

  “C-can I t-tell you s-something?” he stammered.

  Turning him from the window and getting a grip on his arm, Jae struggled to walk down the second floor corridor when he stammered his question again. “What?” she hissed.

  “I-I loved Gina and I-I ne’er t-told her. Hey, g-guess w-what?”

  “No,” Jae said tightly. She was exhausted and out of breath from hauling him up and down stairwells. She was in no mood for twenty questions.

  “S-she liked r-ridin’ m-me more,” he said, stumbled, and fell against the wall.

  Jae let him fall. She stared at him for a good three seconds until she looked up. Rounding the hallway Darius, Amil, and Iverson closed in on her way. Backing up, Jae reached down and heaved Trevor to his feet and, in a half run, dragged Trevor back down the corridor.

  “Stop!” Darius ordered. “Jae, stop!”

  “Come on, Jae, stop,” Amil and Mike pleaded, closing the distance.

  Jae did as she was ordered just as Amil removed the gun from the waistband of the purple scrubs she was wearing.

  Trevor was holding on to the wall for support. Jae was crushed that things had gone this way. She should have discovered it was Randy sooner. She only hoped Grainger was okay. Trevor must have seen the dejected look on her face because he reached for her but misjudged the distance between them and fell to the floor. She ran to his side.

  Darius came up beside Jae. “You okay?” He touched her arm, concern in his voice.

  “No,” she said quietly before adding, “It’s Randy. He’s been after Trevor all along and he’s here.”

  “He has hostages, but I’ve just gotten word the state police have him cornered on the first floor. He’s in the bulletproof pharmacy that has one way in and one way out. Now, we’re here for you. What the hell is going on and why were you running, Jae?”

  “I had an assignment to finish,” she said, tiredly. “He’s been after Trevor to get the formula and that’s why Grainger personally put him in the witness protection program.”

  “Your assignment is finished, and FYI, there was never a BOLO issued for you or the ape-man,” Darius whispered quietly.

  “Did you do this to him?” Amil asked, giving Trevor’s face the once-over as Mike and McGuire helped him up. Jae shook her head no.

  “Well, nothing appears to be broken, but he’s definitely under the influence of something. I can’t even see his pupils. Let’s get him to the ER.”

  “Y-yeah… Oh-kay, l-let’s go t-to the ER,” Trevor echoed as he swayed.

  “Sure thing, Doc, we’re all gonna enjoy watching them pump your guts,” Mike chuckled.

  “Good t-thing, M-Mighty M-Mike,” Trevor stammered, patting Mike’s shoulder.

  Darius heard his name over the intercom, asking him to come to the receptionist’s desk. He got on his walkie-talkie and replied that they were on the way. Everyone piled onto the elevator and rode down to the first floor. When the doors opened, the hallway was empty and quiet, too quiet. Darius motioned for Iverson to return Jae’s weapon and silently communicated a signal to be on alert for another dangerous situation.

  Still supporting a semiconscious Trevor between them, Mike and Amil cautiously eased down the corridor. Their weapons were drawn as they approached the reception desk. Once there, they spotted a wide-eyed and frightened Rita standing there, seemingly alone.

  As everyone drew closer, they saw she was being held at gunpoint by a deranged looking and profusely sweating Randy. He looked as if he had lost any semblance of sanity and that control was spiraling away from him.

  With red-rimmed eyes, Randy looked at them and grinned maniacally. “Welcome to the party and thanks for bringing the guest of honor with you. How thoughtful. Dr. Grant, please come over here.” He indicated the seat with his gun, leaving no doubt that it wasn’t an invitation, but an order.

  Mike tried to hold the doctor back, but Grant shakily shrugged away from his grasp and walked unsteadily, but determinedly toward Randy and the reception desk.

  Jae looked on helplessly as if fighting the urge to run after Trevor and drag him back to safety. “You sick bastard, Randy. You did this to him. You gave him the drug he created, didn’t you?” she screamed.

  “You’re damn right I did and after just a few hours, he recognizes my commands,” Randy replied proudly, seemingly pleased with himself. “That’s some powerful shit even if it still needs tweaking. And soon there’ll be hundreds more like him. They’ll do what those chicken shit procrastinating government pencil pushers are too scared, or intimated to do,” he said, slowly moving away from the reception desk toward Trevor, pulling a reluctant Rita along with him.

  “Honey, you don’t need to be doing this and it’s a good thing that you let those other two hostages go,” Rita said, pointing to the two nurses locked inside the pharmacy. “But you’re gonna be all right because we’ve got all kinds of doctors right here in this facility and they can
fix whatever ails you.”

  When Randy looked at her as if she had lost her mind, Rita took that opportunity and shoved him away from her. At the same time, she grabbed Trevor by the waist of his pants, dragging him and ducked for cover.

  Stunned and then enraged at being outwitted by the fast-moving woman Randy raised his gun, taking aim at her back, but a split second before he could fire his gun, a single shot rang out.

  For a moment, no one moved as the roar of the blast ricocheted off the corridor walls. Everybody looked around trying to figure out where the shot had come from. There, walking woodenly toward them, a gun still smoking and hanging loosely in her hand, was a battered looking…Dana Cross. One eye was nearly swollen shut and she had a swollen lip.

  As the FBI agents, Pentford security personnel, local and state police, and military personnel all screamed for her to drop the weapon, Dana looked dispassionately at the prone, bleeding figure of her husband with what could pass as a self-satisfied smile on her face.

  * * * * *

  Just after twelve midnight a meeting was taking place at the FBI field office. Jae and her entire team had submitted written reports and now sat in the conference room giving an oral briefing to Deputy Director Roberts.

  “What is the prognosis of former Agent Randy Cross?” the deputy director asked Darius.

  “Critical, sir.”

  “And Dr. Grant?”

  “Stable, sir.”

  “And Mrs. Cross?”

  “She was rushed to the ER following the shooting,” Darius said.

  “I thought she wasn’t hurt,” the deputy director commented.

  “Physically, she’s suffered some domestic abuse, but mentally, she’d going to need some intensive therapy.”

  “So sad,” he said.

  He turned to the sniffing made by the recording secretary, Mary, and asked if she needed take a break, but she shook her head no.

  Sitting beside Mary, Jae noticed the worried look on the woman’s face and asked what was wrong.

  “I-I’m worried about Jeanie, that’s all. I’m sorry,” she apologized to everyone.

  “What about Jeanie?” McGuire asked Mary.

  “She left here for lunch then called back to say she her appointment was running longer than she expected. But I’ve been calling her apartment and her cell phone all evening and she hasn’t answered, and now with everything that’s happened with Randy—” She paused. “I’m just scared for her.”

  “Why, Jeanie doesn’t even like Randy,” Jae said.

  “Oh, I know but they had words today. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but when I came down the hall, I heard her say something. She said she might have seen Randy in a car in the back of that bank days before those teenagers attempted to rob it,” Mary said.

  The deputy director tore off a sheet of paper from his notepad and instructed her to jot down Jeanie’s address.

  “I know where Jeanie lives,” Jae said.

  “Deputy Director, if we’re finished, would you mind if my team checked this out?” Darius asked.

  “Go right ahead and keep me informed,” he said.

  As the team went about gathering jackets and keys, preparing to head out, they saw a man hurrying toward them.

  Dressed in a gray sweat suit that had to be two sizes too small for him and with disheveled hair, Grainger came to a halt looking surprised they were all there.

  There was a sudden explosion of overlapping conversations, hugs, handshakes, and questions amid a relieved and boisterous reunion. No one was happier to see Grainger than Jae and in an uncommon display of affection toward a superior, she threw herself into his arms. “Oh, thank God, you’re alive.”

  “Did you handle that extraction assignment for me, JR?” Grainger asked.

  “Yes, despite several bumps along the way,” she said.

  Luke nodded. “Good job. I’ll talk to you about that later. In the meantime, I need to talk to all of you about Randy Cross. He’s a traitorous mole. He and some guys cornered me in my garage. They held me captive, drugged and tortured me. That son of a bitch also tried to kill me, but ended up shooting me in my ass,” Luke said loudly and pointed to his backside. “Hey, um has anybody seen—”

  Mary let out a wailing cry, catching the tail end of the conversation.

  “What the hell is wrong with her?” Luke asked. He stood up straighter when the deputy director emerged from the conference room and approached him. “Deputy Director Roberts?”

  “A lot has happened, Luke, but what did you mean that Randy Cross shot you?”

  Luke gave a brief rundown of what had happened to him. “I spoke to Jeanie earlier and—” Mary’s sobs interrupted him. “What the hell is going on? Where’s Jeanie? What’s happened to Jeanie?”

  The fear in Luke’s voice resonated throughout the room and raised some questions about his inordinate level of concern for her. Darius suggested Luke come with them, informing him they were on their way to her apartment when he’d walked in.

  Luke stopped. “She was going to my house, then coming for me, but that was hours ago.”

  “Then let’s go to your house instead,” Amil said.

  Darius crooked a finger in Jae’s direction. “Jae, you can ride with me, and Luke, you can ride in the Suburban with the guys. They’ll give you the rundown on the way to your house.”

  The last thing Jae wanted was to be alone with Darius. She already knew she was in big trouble.

  * * * * *

  Making her way across the backyard and into the kitchen, Jae spotted the opened box of peanut butter cookies on the kitchen counter. “She was here,” Jae said, turning to Darius.

  With everyone going to search in different areas of the house, Jae rushed to the basement door, flipping on the light switch and pointing her weapon. As soon as she reached the bottom landing, she spotted Jeanie several feet away and shouted upstairs that she had found her. Poor Jeanie was bound and gagged and curled up in a fetal position mumbling and shaking her head.

  “Oh, Jeanie, honey. You’re all right. We’re all here for you,” Jae said soothingly, pulling her switchblade from her pocket and cutting the tape from Jeanie’s hands and feet.

  “Jae? Oh, God, Jae, it’s really you?” Jeanie squinted against the light. “Jae, hurry, p-please get that hideous t-thing a-away from me, hurry,” she screeched.

  Following Jeanie’s wide eyes to a tiny mouse that sat watching six feet away, Jae had to laugh. Then she shooed the tiny mouse away before throwing her arms around a trembling Jeanie.

  When Luke slid down the stairs, taking them two at a time, Jae moved aside. He rushed forward and gathered Jeanie into a tight embrace as both cried with relief and obvious love.

  Watching their loving reunion, Jae let her own tears fall.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Three weeks later, it was surreal back in the field office.

  To Jae, nothing was normal. Darius jumped each time the telephone rang thinking Sheila had gone into labor, while Mike, Amil, Iverson, and McGuire were too quiet. Gone was their trash talk and easygoing camaraderie.

  It was driving Jae nuts.

  Jeanie and Luke were inseparable and truthfully, that was bizarre. No one saw that coming, but the couple explained they had been seeing each for months and were in love. There was no doubt about that.

  Luke and Jae had the satisfaction of seeing Randy one last time.

  After finding Jeanie, they all went to the hospital to have Jeanie x-rayed due to the large knot on the back of her head. Before leaving the hospital, all three had walked over to where Randy was in the ICU. They watched as it dawned on him that his devious plan had failed. Seeing them, Randy cursed and screamed as much as he could.

  Trevor had also found his way to the ICU and took pleasure in letting Randy know that the men he tried to ruin would receive the best
of care and rehabilitation.

  Randy died that night, not surviving the gunshot that his wife, Dana, had fired into his back.

  Dana remained in a psychiatric treatment facility where they all hoped and prayed for her recovery. When Darius and Jae went to see her to get her statement, Dana had tearfully told them how manic Randy had become over the past eighteen months. She’d said that he had been abusive toward her and she’d had enough and lashed back. But she confessed that when he snapped and beat her she was afraid he was going to kill her. When he had stormed out of the house after slapping her in the face and ripping up the check she had gotten from her parents, she’d made up her mind that it would be the last time he would ever put his hands on her.

  Dana had no memory of getting Randy’s loaded personal weapon or leaving the house to follow him to the Pentford Institute. In fact, she said she’d never been there before.

  Now, just thinking about Dana three weeks later, Jae fought back a rush of tears.

  “Hey, um…what’s going on for lunch today?” McGuire asked, looking around.

  “I could go for Chinese or seafood. What about you, Mike?” Iverson asked, quietly.

  “Tuna sandwich,” Mike said, glancing in Jae’s direction.

  As she tuned them out, Jae continued typing on her keyboard. She didn’t have a choice since Darius had given her five new cases to investigate. When she’d asked him if it was payback for taking the Lexus, he’d replied, “Naw, I wouldn’t do that.” Jae didn’t believe him.

  “Hey, Jae, you want some chili?” McGuire asked, then watched her shake her head, no.

  Just then, Grainger walked in and handed Darius a stack of new case files and announced he was expecting a visitor shortly for a meeting in the unit. When Luke left, Darius cleared his throat, forcing Jae to glance up at him. Darius cheerfully waved the files at her. Jae nodded before returning her attention to her computer.

  “Good afternoon,” said a familiar voice.

  Startled, Jae stared across the room at him. Speechless, heat rushed through her body, momentarily making her lightheaded. Her heart swelled with longing and joy, even as she struggled to remain impassive.