by David Archer
Noah continued to face Dickinson as he moved toward the front door, then quickly turned and walked out. He got into his rented Cadillac and backed out of the driveway, then drove away at a sedate speed. There had been no sign of Dickinson’s face at any of the windows he could see, so he didn’t anticipate any immediate repercussions.
Noah drove toward his hotel and then stopped at a small cafe for breakfast. He sat at the counter because there was a television above it that was tuned to the local news channel. He ordered steak and eggs and was pleased to see that there was no mention of an attack on a local citizen when he finished eating a half hour later.
He drove back to the hotel and went up to his room, repacked his bag, and then googled for a charter flight back to Kansas City. He got lucky this time, because the first number he called had a plane and pilot that could be ready to go within an hour. He went down to the front desk and checked out, then drove back to the airport and turned in the car. He asked the clerk at the rental agency where he should go to catch a charter flight, and the young lady was happy to give him directions.
This time, the plane was a twin-engine turboprop model. The pilot was sitting in a lounge area just inside the building from the charter gate, and Noah had no trouble finding him.
“Are you Wilson? I’m John Babbitt, your pilot. Want me to take that bag for you?”
“I’ve got it, thanks,” Noah said.
“No problem,” Babbitt said. “Let’s get going.”
Noah followed him out to the plane and accepted the invitation to sit up front. He always enjoyed flying and had even taken the controls a few times when he was younger, flying with his grandfather before his grandparents decided he was just a little too strange. That experience had come in handy a few months earlier, when he had actually had to steal a plane and fly it out of China after rescuing Sarah.
Babbitt liked to talk, and Noah put on an act for the man, laughing at his jokes and pretending to believe some of the whopper stories the fellow told. He even managed to tell a few of his own, but Babbitt would have been shocked if he had known that Noah was telling the truth.
Talking made the flight seem shorter than it actually was, and the plane touched down at the Kansas City airport at just before noon. Noah thanked Babbitt for the ride and made his way out to the parking lot.
The Charger was sitting where he had left it, although there were a couple of men standing close by and staring at it. When Noah unlocked the door and opened it, one of them hurried over.
“Man,” the fellow said, “that’s got to be the most beautiful car I’ve ever seen. Is she fast?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Noah said, and then he slid in behind the wheel and shut the door. When he pushed the ignition button, the man standing just outside broke into a huge smile and waved as Noah backed out and drove toward the gate.
He paid for his parking and left the airport, getting back onto I-70 and driving on toward Kansas City proper. The airport sat about forty miles west of the city itself, but traffic was light and so it didn’t seem to take very long until he had crossed into Missouri. His GPS directed him to turn south onto I-49 a few minutes later, and he was almost out of the city before he decided to stop for lunch.
He pulled into a McDonald’s and ate quickly, then got back on the road. The GPS told him that he was only three hours away from his destination, and the road was clear. With his Wyatt Wilson ID tucked into a hidden compartment of his bag and the Rex Madison documents back in his wallet, Noah decided that being in character would mean breaking the speed limit. He pushed the car up to eighty-five and waved back at all the kids who smiled from the back seats of their parents’ cars as he flew past.
Three hours later, Noah parked the car in the parking lot of the federal courthouse in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He had to walk all the way around the building to get to the front door, where a pair of federal marshals required him to show his ID, then empty his pockets and put his shoes and belt into a tray that rolled through an X-ray machine. Once that was done, he stepped through a metal detector and then was allowed to collect his things and put his shoes and belt back on.
The marshals directed him to the probation office on the third floor, and he rode the elevator up. When he stepped out, signs directed him to room 319, and the receptionist there asked him his name. Noah handed over the documents he had been given for this purpose, along with his driver’s license.
“Oh, yes,” the receptionist said, “Mr. Madison. Mr. Roberts is expecting you. Just have a seat for a moment, and he’ll be right out.”
Noah sat down in one of the chairs in front of her counter and waited only a moment before Craig Roberts stepped out and walked up to him. Noah rose to his feet as Roberts extended a hand.
“Rex Madison? I’m Craig Roberts, I’ll be your new probation officer. I got all your paperwork a couple days ago, but I wasn’t actually expecting you until tomorrow.”
“Well,” Noah said, with a bit of surliness in his voice, “I figured I might as well come on over and get this out of the way. My daddy always told me to take care of the unpleasant business first, because it makes everything else seem to go even smoother.”
Roberts grinned. “Yeah, I heard you had a bit of an attitude. Come on back to my office, and let’s see how much trouble you’re going to try to give me.”
He turned and walked past the receptionist’s counter, and Noah followed him into an office. Roberts shut the door and sat down behind his desk, pointing to a chair in front of it. Noah took the seat he indicated and slouched in it as if he’d prefer to be absolutely anywhere else.
“Let’s just cut to the chase, shall we? I understand you’re going to be living in Berryville?”
“Yep. My sister lives there, so I’ll be staying with her until I find a place.”
“Yeah, that’s what I got. She lives on Pleasant Street, right?”
“Right. 111 Pleasant Street,” Noah said. “Katie Madison is her name, in case you don’t have it already.”
Roberts grinned at him again. “I’ve got it. I understand you’re coming here to look for work? What kind of work do you do?”
Noah shrugged. “Whatever I need to do,” he said. “Katie says there’s lots of opportunities over there.”
Craig Roberts look him in the eye for a moment, his grin never leaving his face. “There’s a lot of opportunities, all right,” he said. “The question is what kind of opportunities you’re looking for. Berryville is pretty much the center of a lot of the criminal element in this part of Arkansas. You’re not looking to get hooked up with anything like that, are you?”
Noah put on an exaggerated expression of innocence. “Who, me? Hell, no, I don’t need none of that. I’ll probably look for something slinging burgers, maybe washing cars. Ain’t no way I’m going to give you a chance to send me back to Beaumont.”
“Uh-huh,” Roberts said. “Well, here’s the deal. I’ll be coming over to see you about once a month, and when I do, you’re gonna have to pee in a cup for me. As long as you manage to stay out of trouble, you and I are going to get along just fine. Understood?”
“Understood, Captain,” Noah said. “Believe me, I don’t want any more trouble than you do.”
Roberts reached down beside his desk and picked up a urine sample cup and held it out. “Bathroom is around the corner,” he said. “Try to get it at least half-full, will you?”
Noah took the cup and got up from the chair, stepped out of the office, and found the bathroom. A few moments later he returned and set the cup on Roberts’s desk. It was nearly full.
Roberts glanced at it and then grinned up at Noah. “Okay,” he said. “You checked in. That’s all till next month. If you move out of your sister’s place or change your phone number or get a job, call and let me know. Other than that, you won’t have to put up with me at all until I come to see you.”
Noah nodded. “That sounds fine to me,” he said. He turned without another word and walked
out of the office, made his way down the elevator and out the front door, and then around the building to where he had left the Charger. He got back in, started the car, and followed the GPS directions to Highway 45.
The Arkansas countryside rolled past, and Noah thought that the colors of the leaves seemed a little brighter than they did back in Colorado. Highway 45 led him to Highway 412, and he cruised along at just a little over the speed limit until the GPS told him to turn north. He followed its directions for another half hour and suddenly found himself in the tourist town of Eureka Springs.
A right turn put him on Highway 62, and he followed the winding curves through the quaint little town that seemed to be trying to imitate something from the Swiss Alps. There were hotels, motels, and restaurants all along the road, along with dozens of obvious tourist traps, and he found himself feeling slightly relieved when he finally left the town behind him.
The road to Berryville was still pretty curvy, but at least it was open road. He noticed a couple of bed-and-breakfast places along the way, a motel that was specifically designed for bikers, and several antique and junk shops. One spot on the left had about two dozen antique cars in various states of decay, while another seemed to be nothing but a pile of salvaged building materials. Despite himself, Noah found himself thinking about coming to check those places out when he got a chance.
Suddenly the road widened and seemed to level out quite a bit, and he spotted the first sign indicating that he was coming into Berryville. He had put in Kate Madison’s address, so the GPS directed him all the way through town. He passed the big Walmart on the right, followed the turns that led to the town square, and then went another mile before he had to turn right to get to Pleasant Street.
He pulled up in front of Kate’s house, a little brick house on a dead-end street full of other brick houses. He stopped the car at the curb and shut it off, then stepped out and stretched.
“Rex?” A woman’s voice came from the side of the house, and he turned to get his first look at his “sister.”
Kate Madison was about five foot six and, as Sarah had said, rather chubby. She was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt and stood with her hands on her hips as she stared at him. Like Noah, her hair was blonde, but while his was short and neat, hers looked like she’d gotten it caught in a blender.
“Hey, sis,” Noah said. “You put on a little weight since I saw you last.”
Kate sneered at him. “Not that much,” she said. “Well, don’t just stand there. Get your stuff and come on in.” She turned and walked across the front of the house to the front door and went inside without bothering to see if he was following.
Noah leaned back into the car and grabbed his bag, then shut the door and locked the car up. He walked across the yard to the door and pushed it open without knocking. He stepped inside and glanced around as he closed the door behind him.
Kate was standing in the middle of the room, but now she was wearing a smile. “You didn’t have to make the wisecrack about my weight, you know,” she said. “It was definitely in character, though.” She looked him up and down. “Damn,” she said, “you really do look a lot like Rex. Sometimes I almost forget about him, but as much as he was a pain in my ass, I always loved the little jerk.”
Noah shot her a grin. “I figured if I’m supposed to be your annoying kid brother,” he said, “I should let any nosy neighbors catch on to that fact pretty quickly.”
Kate walked over and extended a hand. “Well, it’s good to finally meet you. I’ve been briefed, so I know what you’re really doing here, and while it seems a little extreme—well, I guess I can understand why the big guys think it’s necessary. I’ve been here going on three years, now, and nobody has been able to touch these people in all that time. Everyone who tries dies, so I can understand why they sent you in.”
Noah nodded. “Well, they seem to think I’ll be here quite a while. Any idea where I should start?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Kate grinned and motioned for him to follow her, leading him into a small bedroom. There was a single bed in the room, along with a dresser and a small desk. “Start by settling yourself in here. This will be your room while you’re with me, but I understand that won’t be very long. According to my briefing, you’ve got a wife coming soon?”
“Yep,” Noah said. “Her name is Angie, and she’s bringing her little brother with her, too. He’s a tall, skinny computer nerd.”
Kate looked at him sideways. “And are they—are they like you?”
“Not exactly,” Noah said. “Angie really is my wife, and Neil is part of my team. He’s my intelligence specialist—that boy can do things with a computer that would amaze anybody.”
Kate nodded. “Okay, I just wondered. From here on out, we won’t ever discuss your mission unless you need to tell me something or ask any questions. It’s safe enough at the moment—I just scanned for bugs this morning—but we need to avoid any risks we can. Go ahead and unpack your stuff, while I put on some coffee. You do drink coffee, right?”
“Yes, and that would be welcome.” Noah dropped his bag on the bed and opened it, then started putting his clothes into the dresser. Everything he brought with him fit into the top drawer, and he set the empty bag on the floor beside the desk.
Kate was still standing in the doorway. “Well, that didn’t take long. Come on out to the kitchen.”
Noah followed her and sat down at the kitchen table while she busied herself with the coffee maker. “Nice little house,” he said. “What’s it like around here?”
“This is a pretty decent neighborhood,” Kate replied. “I guess the whole town is actually kind of nice, and you don’t really hear about a lot of what goes on behind the scenes. Morgan, as bad as he is, tends to keep the riffraff out of the area. I mean, don’t get me wrong, every town around here has its share of tweakers and drunks, but most of them are more afraid of Morgan than they are of the cops. Unless you get on his bad side, you can leave your door standing wide open while you’re gone for a week on vacation, and when you get back, everything will be just the way you left it. Morgan can’t stand thieves, unless they work for him. The last guy who broke into somebody’s house in Berryville was found beaten half to death out by the fairgrounds. That was a year and a half ago.”
“Well, I definitely hope to get on his good side. Any idea how I can do that?”
“A couple,” she said. “He hangs out most evenings at a bar over in Eureka, a place called the Barn. It’s a pretty decent club, live music and all that, so you should check it out. If you can get close enough to talk to him, make sure he gets a look at that car of yours. He loves cars, and he’s got quite a few of his own. I’m pretty sure that one will get his attention in a hurry, and if it’s as fast as it looks, he’s gonna want you for a buddy.”
“Okay, that’s one. You said a couple ideas. What else?”
The coffeepot was half-full, so Kate poured them each a cup and then let it finish filling. She set one in front of Noah and sat down across from him. “Well, if you’re as tough as you look, then you need to kick some ass. Hang out around him and wait for somebody to start trouble. If you can put a stop to it in a hurry, he’s going to start thinking you might be an asset. With your cover story, fresh out of prison and all that, you’re probably exactly the kind of man he’s looking for.”
Noah nodded. “I can handle most people,” he said. “Does trouble break out around him often?”
“Hah!” She laughed. “Jimmy Morgan is the kind of guy who likes to keep all the other alpha males close, where he can watch them. He’s big enough and tough enough to handle just about anybody, but every now and then there will be some rutting young buck with a few stupid buddies who decide they can make a move on him. When that happens, Jimmy’s boys all jump into the fray. He likes to sit back and watch the fight, and anybody who stands out by kicking a lot of ass suddenly finds himself being Morgan’s fair-haired boy for a while.”
“So, if I can put on a
good show in a fight, that could get me in with him?”
“Not just could, it would. Like I said, he likes to keep the toughest guys close. If you can kick the snot out of a few others, he’s going to want you right where he can watch you closely. That’ll give you the chance to convince him you might be executive material in his organization, and I’m guessing that’s part of your plan. Am I right?”
“Pretty close,” Noah said. “I don’t want to be his right-hand man, but I want to be somewhere close to that. I need to be able to move around inside his mob, get to know who all of the big players are. I’m supposed to take as many of them out as I can, but I have to do it all at once. I can’t leave enough standing that they can regroup and keep it together.”
Kate was sitting there looking at him, and suddenly she shivered. “My God, you say that so nonchalantly. I can’t imagine what it must be like to do what you do.”
Noah said nothing, and she finally looked away.
“So,” she said, “how do you want to proceed? Do you want me to try to introduce you to any of the locals, or just go out and meet them on your own?”
“We’re not supposed to be close, remember? I think we should maintain that act, keep a little hostility going between us until Angie gets here. The plan is for the two of you to become friends, and that’s supposed to loosen things up between you and me. Until then, we need to keep up appearances, so I don’t think you would be too eager to introduce your black-sheep brother to too many people.”
Kate shrugged, but she was grinning. “Makes sense, I guess. Still, we should probably let ourselves be seen together around town a bit. I’ll just make sure to be grumpy with you when you take me out to dinner, okay?”
