Apex Predator

by J. A. Faura

  She cocked her head as she listened, the coquettish smile still on her face. When he finished, her smile widened, “I do not want anything, Mr. Loomis, and he is not my boss. He is a client, a good client. He calls when he needs my type of services and he pays incredibly well. I asked you here out of professional courtesy.”

  Steven chuckled, “Professional courtesy? So you asked me here out of the goodness of your heart, because you were worried about me? Come on, now, you can do better than that.”

  She looked at him, smile gone from her face, “Frankly, I do not care whether you believe me, I asked you here because I saw the operations you have been involved in and I know you have a family. I know what it is like to have a family you love and to have to split your life in order to engage in the types of operations we have to engage in. And I know of loss.”

  Steven’s eyes narrowed, “We have to engage in? What exactly are you talking about? What types of operations have you engaged in?”

  She pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Steven waved his hand at the smoke and saw an opening to get more information, “Why are we meeting here?”

  She took another drag from her cigarette and blew the smoke at the ceiling, “A close friend and client owns this place, so I am allowed certain…considerations. Look, Mr. Loomis, I have no intention of sparring with you. I asked you here because I truly do not believe you know what you have gotten yourself into. I know Barlow spoke to you, and I have no doubt that by now you have done some digging of your own and you know he is much more than what he appears, but I do not think you understand the full weight of what you have stumbled into.

  “Barlow has been doing his work for decades and has developed a network of resources and allies that rival some official intelligence services. He has a stable of contractors, such as myself, who are called in to do a specific job and then sent on their way. Only he knows his full objective or the reasons for engaging the contractors.

  “He contacted me last week, flew me in, provided only the necessary information on my target, you, and gave me a task to complete. The shot I gave you was a combination of fentanyl and zolpidem that he put together. Once I completed my task, I went to a locker at the train station and picked up my payment. That is how every one of my previous assignments has worked. But this was different, your situation, the deal at the courthouse and what happened with your daughter made it different.”

  Steven listened carefully. It made sense, in order for Barlow to be able to keep his work private he had to compartmentalize every aspect of what he did. Still, the woman was obviously a trained operative and such people were careful about who they worked for.

  There was no way that she had no inkling as to what he was up to, “I see, so he just gives you instructions, lets you know where to pick up your money, and off you ride into the sunset, completely oblivious as to what he does. Is that pretty much it?”

  He had asked the question with a tone that could not be interpreted as anything but sarcasm. She looked directly at him, pondering what to answer.

  They were both professionals and she knew lying or holding back would be useless, “No, I said that is how he likes to conduct business, I did not say that I did not do some of my own research. Before you ask, I do not know what it is he does, exactly. I have my suspicions based on what I have found and on some of the things I have seen.

  “That is what I am willing to share with you, and I am willing to do that because, in spite of what you may think, I do have respect for the things you have done and because of what happened with your daughter. I am a professional, just like you, but even I have some lines I am not willing to cross.”

  Steven, now more attentive, responded, “So you are here out of what…concern? As a professional courtesy you said, right? That’s what you said, right, professional courtesy?”

  The sarcasm was not as marked, but it was still present in his tone.

  She ignored it, “Call it what you want, I simply want to be able to tell myself that I did what I thought was right. Look, Loomis, the man has connections you would not believe – senators, congressmen, judges, highly placed agents at the FBI and the CIA. Some are his patients, he is something of a celebrity therapist among the elite. His practice is only made up of people that have been referred directly to him; he does not take any patients without a referral from another of his patients or contacts. He meets with them at odd hours, whether it is for a therapy session or something else, only he knows. Sometimes he meets with more than one person, but never with more than three.

  “He is constantly on the move and has offices here in New York, in Los Angeles, Vail, Dallas and Chicago, and the time he spends in those places depends on who he is seeing. He also has a facility in Switzerland and another in Australia. He is incredibly well funded, and I mean well funded. With high-powered patients who look to him as something of a messiah, there is never a shortage of fundraising dinners.

  “He has a foundation that he heads, but no one knows what it really does. I know that there are geneticists, physicists, anthropologists and biologists employed by the foundation, but what they do nobody knows. He has positioned it as a foundation dedicated to the better understanding of the human brain, but he never presents any details about what it does. Every single file relating to his work in any way is encrypted. I know you work in intelligence and security and that you know what the cutting edge of encryption technology is, but what he uses goes far beyond anything you have dealt with. Offshoots of the Shnorr signature and El-Gamal systems, stuff that hasn’t even been sniffed by the NSA.”

  He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. She was right, he had no idea of what he had uncovered. The meeting with Barlow had brought him closer, but what this woman was saying brought it home. His only experience with the new species had been Riche and to a certain extent Barlow himself, but he had to concede the point that even though Barlow had hinted at the enormity of what he had stirred up, Steven had been unable to fathom that it went as far as this. Riche had been one individual, one predator engaged in horrible and sadistic behavior. Even so, he had single-handedly destroyed multiple families, not only here in New York but in some of the other places where he had been hunting to hone his skills. But if they were senators, judges, CEOs and, God forbid, people in high-ranking military positions – what kind of destruction and mayhem could they cause? How many lives could they destroy?

  She saw that he was mulling over what she had just said and was trying to put it into perspective, “Do not try to make any sense of it, you will not. I have tried and it is just not possible. The man keeps everything he does completely secure.”

  He shook his head, “You work for Barlow and you know all of this, but you don’t know exactly what he does? Sorry, but I don’t buy it.”

  She smiled and stubbed out her cigarette, “Whether you buy it or not is not my concern, I just wanted to let you know what you have gotten yourself into.”

  Steven had already spent more time at the restaurant than he wanted to, “I don’t know why it is that you and Barlow keep referring to ‘what I’ve gotten myself into.’ I haven’t gotten myself ‘into’ anything. I took out my daughter’s killer because I believed he was something other than human and I wanted to bring attention to the science, to give some meaning to her death, that’s it. I’m not a defender of the weak or an avenging hero; I did what I did because of my daughter, that’s it.” The woman chuckled softly and cocked her head to the side as she had done before, “Oh, Mr. Loomis, you really believe that, you really think this is just about Riche and your daughter.”

  Steven now took on a more intense demeanor, “Yes, that’s what I believe because that’s reality, that’s what motivated me to do what I did.” The woman returned the intense look, “I have no doubt that is what made you shoot Riche and do the research you did, unfortunately for you; however, you stumbled onto something way beyond what you were expecting and that is why Barlow took an interest in you. I do not want t
o waste my time with you arguing about what you believe or do not believe. I wanted to meet with you out of professional courtesy, if you want to call it that, and because I believed, and now you have proven to me, that you really do not get what you have involved yourself in. I have done what I wanted to do, warn you about Barlow and the people he is associated with, so I believe our time together is up.”

  Steven shook his head, “Wait a minute, what do you mean professional courtesy, who the hell do you work for? I’m planning on just focusing on my trial and trying to get back to my family.” She nodded, “I have no doubt of that, Mr. Loomis, but they will not let you simply go back to your life. Now that the world knows what you have found, those who are in fact part of what you have discovered will come knocking. Maybe they will not do it today or in a week or even a month, but trust me on this, they will come sooner or later, and if your family happens to be in their way they will not hesitate, not for a second. As to who I work for, I am a freelancer, Mr. Loomis, I think you already know that, and I am a professional, which means if I take a job I will do it and do it well, but I have limits, and involving someone’s family is something I will not do.”

  As she finished speaking, Steven saw her pendant for the first time, a Star of David hung around her neck. He began to suspect she had probably worked for Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, before going out on her own. She went on, “Barlow pays exceedingly well and he has access to very good talent, all the usual suspects, Delta, SEALs, SAS…”

  Steven interrupted her, “Mossad?” She gave him a small smile and touched her pendant, “Even if I were, do you think I would tell you?” Steven shook his head, “You don’t have to. So what is it you’d have me do? I have a trial coming up, and if you haven’t noticed, the entire world is completely focused on my every move, so what exactly do you think I should be doing?”

  She leaned forward, her elbows on the table, “You said it yourself, just concentrate on your trial, no more research or trying to dig into Barlow or anybody else. I know you are already doing that, but as soon as you are able to, you should try and send your family somewhere safe, somewhere where you can protect them from anything.”

  Now it was Steven who leaned forward, with a menacing look on his face, “Are you saying my family is in danger? That there’s someone coming after them? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?!” The two men in the main dining room got up from their respective seats and started toward the side dining room. She lifted her hand without breaking eye contact with Steven and both men sat back down. “No, Mr. Loomis, I am not telling you that anyone is after your family, I do not know whether that is the case or not. What I am telling you, have been telling you since we sat down, is that there are a lot of people out there that are very interested in you and your case, and you know that I do not mean interested like the rest of the world is interested. I was not lying when I told you that I do not know exactly what it is that Barlow does, but I do know whatever it is brings death and destruction wherever he goes. Not in huge numbers, not like a war or a famine, it is more subtle than that. Wherever he goes, people start locking their windows, holding their children tighter, streets once crowded soon go quiet. It is not noticeable, you see, unless you have followed him and noticed a pattern, and only people like us, Mr. Loomis, people ‘in the business’ as it were, notice those kinds of patterns. Is it too farfetched to think that there could be those out there who might come looking for you, for your family? Who might think that in some way you are talking about them when you talk about a new species? I know there is no way you have not thought about that before now. I am just trying to tell you that those things that you are concerned about might just be closer than you think.”

  She was right and Steven knew it. He had in fact thought about others that might be out there, but he had come to the conclusion that he couldn’t do anything about them. There was only one that Loomis was concerned with, “I told you, I spoke to Barlow and he told me he’d stay away if I kept out of his business and I intend on doing just that. I have more than enough on my plate to worry about him.” She shook her head, “Did you not just hear what I said? It is not Barlow you need to worry about. I agree with you, if you steer clear he will leave you alone, but he is just one person.”

  Steven had had enough, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about others coming after me, is there?! If they’re going to come, they’re going to come, no matter what. I have people in place, but you and I both know that if someone is willing to sacrifice themselves, there’s no way to stop them.”

  She nodded, “That is right, but I do not think anyone will be sacrificing themselves to get to you. These people, Barlow and those around him, do not do what they do out of a sense of duty or in pursuit of a cause. You have read about them, it is what your whole argument is based on. They are predators, predators with vast resources and connections and in positions of power whose ultimate purpose is to prey on others. I just wanted to leave New York with a clean conscience, and now I can. I advise you to send your family somewhere safe, somewhere you know and where they know you.” She gave this last warning while holding Steven’s eyes directly.

  He knew what she was talking about; she was saying he should get his family out of the country and to somewhere familiar where he had people he could count on. Steven could think of a few places like that. Over his career he had visited hundreds of cities all around the world and he had made more friends than enemies, so there were plenty of places he could think of. The problem, and it would be a huge problem, would be convincing Beth to leave. He needed to think things over, but he was thankful to this woman for the warning, “Thanks, I do appreciate it, Ms. …? The woman’s smile reappeared on her face, “You can just call me Diana. And you are welcome. Good luck to you, Mr. Loomis.” Steven nodded and got up from the booth. He got back in the car and told the driver to head to his lawyers’ offices.

  On the way, he gave more thought to what Diana had said, ‘send your family somewhere safe.’ It stood to reason that if she had done the job for Barlow, she knew Beth was in New York and the rest of his family was in Vermont. The media made sure his location, as well as his family’s, was known by all and she obviously did not think they were any safer in Vermont than they would be in New York. As he thought about the situation more carefully, he realized that the intensity of the media attention would actually help to keep his family safe. Whoever or whatever came for them would have a virtually impossible time going unnoticed. Still, she was right, if Barlow or someone like Barlow, someone with the kinds of resources she had mentioned, wanted to get to him or his family bad enough, there was no way he would be able to stop them, not with the trial going on and the eyes of the world on him.

  Well, he couldn’t do anything about the trial, but he damn well could do something about putting his family somewhere safe. Beth would just have to understand, he would make her understand, but to do that he was going to have to tell her everything, and he was truly at a loss about what she might do. He also knew that with all of this, with everything he had learned from Diana, he would have to tell the General. Damn, he hated being put in a position where he really had no choice, where he had to do something. Being a successful Special Forces officer meant having options, backup plans to backup plans, and right now he really felt like he did not have very many options, not options that made sense anyway.

  As they pulled up in front of the building, Steven was once again completely blown away by the number of cameras and reporters in front of the building. Every time he thought there simply could not be any more, more appeared. The driver drove into the garage where security was situated in order to keep adventurous reporters from following the car into the parking garage. As soon as Steven got out of the elevator, Drew was already there, “Damn it, Steven, pick up the goddamned phone once in a while, will you?” Steven gave him a half smile, he was used to Drew’s tantrums, “Alright, I will, but Drew, it’s not even eleven. I wanted to sleep in today
, alright?” Drew, now joined by Max and Ray, smiled, “Yeah, right, you know that’s bullshit. I called your house and talked to Beth, she said you’d been gone since before she woke up.” Steven, now smiling more broadly, headed to where he knew the coffee was brewing, “Alright already, you got me. I just wanted a few minutes to myself, just to get away from all of this for a while, okay?”

  Now, with all four men in the coffee room, it was Max who spoke up, “I think we can all appreciate wanting some time alone, Steven, but with everything that’s happened, you can’t just disappear, you know what I mean? From this point forward, we all have to be like one, working together, strategizing, everything. If we are going to sell this argument, we all have to be on point all the time, okay?” Steven hung his head, “You’re right, you’re right, there’s no excuse. It’s just that sometimes I feel like every single little thing I do is blown up, analyzed and dissected, and I just wanted to breathe a little, but I will not disappear again, you have my word.”

  The four men walked into Max’s office. Drew and Steven sat on the sofa in the room and Max and Ray sat in front of Max’s desk in two chairs turned to face the sofa. Ray leaned forward, “So, Steven, we’ve been strategizing and we’ve decided that we’re going to defer our opening statement in the trial.” He let that hang in the air, expecting some sort of response from Steven, but getting none. Steven looked from Ray to Drew to Max, “I’m not quite sure what that means, guys. You need to give me a clue here.” Drew explained, “At the beginning of the trial, each side gets to give an opening statement where each side explains what they will be looking to prove to the jury. The prosecution goes first and then the defense. That’s how it normally goes, but every once in a while, the defense will hold their opening argument until after the prosecution presents their case. We think that’s what we should do here, let the prosecution present their case and then we make our opening argument.”