by Steve Richer
Thoughts were racing through Rogan’s mind. He could jab the woman with the broom, anything to knock the gun out of her hand. He was confident he could disarm her and avoid getting shot. However, he wasn’t as confident about Cass. It was likely she would be the victim of a stray bullet.
“Walk backwards, these shadows are just making things more complicated.”
Rogan didn’t have a choice and complied. He didn’t let go of the broom but he did retreat until he was standing next to Cass. The intruder came forward at the same time, her steps measured, poised. She was almost strutting.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to turn on the lights. There’s nothing more cloak and dagger than having to do business in the dark. Never could stand this foolishness.”
“Why don’t you just kill us already?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You didn’t used to be.”
The woman leaned to her left and found a light switch. The hallway became almost as bright as day and in spite of himself Rogan dropped the broom. His eyes bore into the woman in front of him and he was agape.
“This is impossible…”
“What?” Cass asked.
“Evening, darling.”
“S-She’s… She’s my wife.”
Chapter 30
Without knowing he was doing it, Rogan grabbed the turtleneck from his shoulder and held it in front of him. It was subconsciously to shield himself but he made no move to put it on.
This didn’t make any sense. The woman in front of him was tall, had an olive skin tone and dark hair, but she couldn’t be his wife. The voice was wrong and so was the way she was standing, so tall and composed.
“This is bullshit,” he said. “You’re not my wife. Who are you?”
She cocked her head to the side. “This is disappointing, you had it right the first time.”
“My wife’s dead. Is that why they chose you, because you look like her a little bit? They thought that would destabilize me long enough for you to kill us?”
The woman took a step forward and lowered her pistol. She pursed her lips and her eyes became sad, startling Rogan. Victoria used to do that all the time.
“Victoria…”
“Yes, but not quite. I’m afraid I had to fake a few things about me during our marriage. Accent, demeanor, career, my name. I swear it was all I was faking.”
Rogan shook his head. “No, you died.”
“Is she really your wife?” Cass asked as she tucked her blond hair behind her ears and closed her blouse.
“It’s me, Rogan. This said, I would appreciate if you called me by my real name instead. It’s Shiloh, Shiloh Kappas.”
“Shiloh? It’s impossible. You’re British?”
“A quarter Welsh, a quarter Greek, a dash of Spaniard as well I’ve been told. Don’t hold it against me. I would love to stay and chat about the wonderful world of genealogy but I’m afraid time is of the essence, Rogan.”
“You’re here to kill me?” To show that he was extremely confused and extremely unlikely to give a shit anymore, he dropped his shirt and extended both arms sideways in surrender. “Do it.”
“I’m not here to kill you, far from it. I’m here to protect you.”
“Protect me?”
“For instance, your friend here. I don’t know who she is but I would wager she means you harm.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? She was my partner, she’s an FBI agent! I’m gonna trust her a hell of a lot faster than I’m gonna trust some crazy bitch pretending to be someone back from the dead. So I’m gonna tell you again, shoot me, get it over with, or prepare yourself to have your skull caved in.”
Shiloh lifted her weapon again but this time she aimed it solely at Cass.
“You heard him, lady. I’m his partner, I’m FBI. You don’t want to shoot a federal agent, I promise you that.”
Rogan stepped sideways and placed himself in front of her. He realized that back in the day his wife hadn’t socialized with people from the Bureau. He had kept his private life to himself as much for Victoria’s sake as for his. He’d enjoyed a private life outside of the office. So it was why Cass had never met his wife.
Then again, why was he thinking like he believed this woman had once been his wife?
“Rogan, darling, there are many things you’re not aware of, the most important of which being that you’re in danger. You’re very important to this situation. Why do you think you were called in from Alaska? So it’s paramount that you stay alive, okay?”
“Staying alive is on my to-do list. If it’s all right with you though I’ll stay alive on my terms, okay? So you’ll put your gun down, we’ll have some of this expensive tequila I’ve been told is lying around, and we’ll have a nice conversation. Deal? Does that work for everybody?”
Shiloh grinned. “I surrender my firearm if your lady friend agrees to cuff herself to the radiator.”
“Kindly go fuck yourself,” Cass spat.
“Just about what I was expecting.” Shiloh got into a shooting stance using both hands and aimed at Cass’s face. “Please step back until you reach the living room radiator.”
Rogan showed the palm of his hands to mollify her. “Everybody just chill. Cass, you’re gonna go get dressed, and you lady, you’re gonna take a couple of deep breaths. We’ll talk about this.”
“Did you just call her Cass? She’s Cass Carranza?”
“That’s right, FBI Special Agent Cass Carranza. She was my partner when I worked in Washington. There’s no reason to panic and be all trigger-happy and shit.”
“Cass Carranza has been working for the other side for a long time, Rogan.”
“What?”
“If she’s pretending to be your friend now…” Shiloh looked him up and down. “Your friend and apparently your lover, then it’s because she has an agenda.”
“Again with the crazy talk.”
“Rogan, listen to me. She’s close to you because she needs to be. I don’t know what they have planned but she’s keeping you alive for a reason. In short order, probably within a few days, she will come up from behind and put a bullet in your head, I guarantee it.”
Rogan shook his head and she shook hers in return.
“Don’t shake your head, you know what happens when you do that. Remember the spaghetti I put on your head so we could take funny pictures? Remember how you splattered the walls with tomato sauce when you shook your head?”
At that, Rogan stopped breathing. It was a silly thing they had done early in their marriage. He had never told anyone about this and he’d even destroyed the pictures which had made her laugh for an entire evening.
“You really are Victoria!”
“And I really am trying to save your life, darling.”
He stared into her eyes, unable to comprehend what was happening. This was real, his wife wasn’t dead. It didn’t make sense but he couldn’t ignore what everything in his body was telling him. Victoria was alive!
There were footsteps behind him and he felt Cass move. He rotated his head toward her, to see what was happening, and witnessed her face go from mild confusion to complete and utter rage.
She backed away to the couch and as if she had done this her whole life she reached underneath. When he straightened up again, she was holding a black Beretta Cx4 Storm carbine.
“What the…”
Rogan didn’t have time to finish his sentence that Cass was already firing toward Victoria. His wife fired back. Instead of rushing for cover into the kitchen she ran forward, shooting toward Cass who went to hide behind the master bedroom wall.
“Get down!” the woman ordered Rogan.
That’s when everything became clear. She really was trying to protect him. And Cass was trying to kill him.
Chapter 31
This was astounding. How could this situation have turned around so quickly? Rogan dove to the side to avoid getting shot and his wife protected him by getting in front of his body. The world had gone mad.
“Get ready to move!” she screamed.
She produced a stun grenade and threw it towards Cass. The blonde understood what was going on and she ran deeper into the bedroom, her blouse opening, exposing her naked body to everyone to save her life.
Shiloh grabbed Rogan’s hand and pulled him along with her as they hurried to the entrance. Just as she opened the door the flashbang went off in a blinding and deafening explosion of magnesium and potassium perchlorate.
It was enough to give them a head start and they ran out of the apartment. Rogan was astonished by his wife – ex-wife? – and her take-charge attitude. He had never known her to be like that. Now she was like the Terminator.
“Hurry!”
They headed straight for the staircase and climbed down the steps two by two. In the commotion, Rogan hadn’t realized just how underdressed he was but now that his bare feet stamped on the cold terrazzo floor he remembered he was only wearing boxer shorts.
That was the last of his worries.
They reached the lobby and Shiloh threw the front door open. She stopped for a second to scan the area, gun pointed forward following her gaze. The street was empty.
“Come on, this way.”
They ran around the corner and 30 feet in Rogan was frozen to the bone. It had to be 15 degrees and steam was coming off his skin, not to mention his breath which was nothing but dense fog. Shiloh stopped by a Ford sedan and got behind the wheel.
“Get in!”
She unlocked the door and by the time he was sliding in the passenger seat she was driving off. Shivering, he turned the heat all the way up but only cold air blasted out from the vents. Years in Alaska had taught him that you had to wait for the engine to warm up before hoping to get anything out of the heater.
He hugged himself, his teeth clattering, and he couldn’t think of anything as Shiloh drove out of the neighborhood. She wasn’t going too fast, the point was not to draw attention, but he had to admire how she kept changing streets to lose anyone who would try to follow.
By the time warm air was finally pumped out, he was confident they had lost any tail they might have had.
“Jesus Christ, every time I’ve met someone new today I’ve lost a piece of clothing.”
“You mean that’s not your usual attire?”
He ignored her, mostly afraid he would enjoy the banter as he had all those years ago when they were married. Man, he wasn’t even sure she was who she said.
“Where are we going?”
“A safe house for now. You’ve always had a terrific body but I think right now I’d prefer if you wore trousers.”
“You and me both.”
“And then we’ll talk, I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that promise,” Rogan said.
She grinned and then turned back toward the road.
~ ~ ~ ~
The safe house was in Aquia Harbour, Virginia. It was a small suburban community and they’d be able to see danger coming from a long way off. Shiloh parked the car in the garage and they headed inside.
Rogan was exhausted and still cold so he gladly went upstairs and took a steaming shower. When he came out, he found that she had laid out some clothes for him: jeans, boots, socks, a T-shirt and a navy blue sweater. He went downstairs and found her in the kitchen making coffee.
“Everything fit to your liking?” she asked. “I chose according to your size, figuring a man like you would keep in shape over the years. There are other sizes in the bedroom if you prefer.”
“That’s fine.”
She had explained on the way over that the safe house was ready for anything and had all kinds of clothing for any eventuality. It was almost 6 a.m. and Rogan was surprised that he had slept close to two hours next to Cass. It would have to carry him for a while.
“I hope you still drink your coffee black, or I have some powdered creamer.”
He took the cup she gave him and drank. She took a sip of her own and then popped frozen waffles into a toaster.
“It’s time we have a discussion, you and me.”
“I think you should eat first.”
“I think it’s time you gave me some fucking answers, Victoria.”
This took her aback and after a moment she nodded. She sat across the table from him.
“First of all, it’s Shiloh.”
“Victoria, Shiloh, the bitch who broke my heart, it’s all the same.”
“The bitch who saved your life,” she offered.
“So I gather you never died?”
She smiled and shook her head. “A corpse from the county morgue was enlisted, burned to a crisp, and the car accident story became believable.”
“I’m mourned you Victo… Shiloh. I still do.”
“I apologize about that. I had to leave the relationship.”
“Some people leave a note or they go out for cigarettes and don’t ever come back.”
“It was suggested I do something a little more drastic, Rogan. Something a little more permanent.”
The waffles popped up. Shiloh stood up and placed them on two plates. She carried the food back along with some butter and syrup. She set a plate in front of him but he didn’t so much as glance at it. Instead he stared at her.
“Why?”
“I needed to leave your life.”
“No,” Rogan said, cutting her off. “Why were you even with me? Obviously, if you were told to leave me it was because you were told to be with me in the first place. So why?”
She pushed her own plate away and took a sip of coffee. They glowered at one another for extended seconds. At long last, she spoke.
“Once upon a time, you were considered as a potential recruit.”
“Recruit for what?”
“We’ll get to that. I was sent to Salt Lake City, under a new identity, under a new persona, and I was put on your path. We fell in love, we were happy together, and it allowed me to observe you. After a while, it was judged you weren’t suited for recruitment after all. I made my exit.”
Rogan’s heart swelled at the memories. He had been genuinely in love with her. To hear that it had been a sham was devastating. He felt like crying but instead he tore into his waffle and swallowed it whole.
“Was it hard to lie to me all these years?”
“Yes and no. Yes because every single day I desperately wanted to tell you the truth. On the other hand, what went on between us wasn’t truly lying. I may have fudged my history but never my feelings. I really loved you, Rogan.”
“If you’d loved me you would’ve told me the truth. You wouldn’t have stretched out this lie for almost two years.”
She furrowed her brow in anger. “It’s because I loved you that I did! My assignment was to date you for two months. I had to beg to stay with you longer! The only reason I agreed to leave you was that they made me understand that your life would be in danger if I didn’t.”
He was about to reply, possibly with something vicious, but instead he kept his mouth shut. He reached for her waffle and began eating it.
“You’re gonna have to earn my trust back, sweetheart. You have to understand that everything coming out of your mouth sounds real suspicious. So how about you tell me what you were trying to recruit me for.”
She got up and put more waffles in the toaster. Then she topped off their coffee.
“You’ll need a smidge of an open mind for this.”
“Hey, I’ve already been proven ghosts exist. What else you wanna hit me with?”
She craned her neck and looked out the window. Dawn was beginning to make things brighter outside but it was a car’s headlights that was the most visible.
“Rogan, I want you to sit very still. We have a guest who will tell you everything.”
He heard a car’s tires crunch on the gravel in the driveway. Somebody was coming.
Chapter 32
Rogan was standing when the visitor came in. Part of it was eagerness but another part was getting ready to bolt i
f this was somehow another ambush. He put his hand on his scorching cup of coffee so he could throw it in that person’s face if it came to that.
The door opened and he heard Shiloh talking softly. Then she came back to the kitchen with the visitor in tow. He knew who the short man was at once.
It was Thomas Hephner, Director of the FBI.
“Good morning, Special Agent Bricks.”
“Surprised to see I’m still alive? Your boys didn’t manage to kill me on the plane.”
“That wasn’t me, I swear.”
“He’s telling the truth, Rogan.”
“If I wanted you dead, I would’ve had Ms. Kappas kill you back in Washington. She’s had ample opportunities. But no, I definitely don’t want you dead. We need you.”
“Need me for what? Will somebody finally tell me what’s going on?”
Hephner squinted as he spotted the coffee maker. “Let’s grab some coffee and sit in the living room. We have a lot to talk about.”
Rogan was about to argue but decided he could humor him for another minute. The three of them grabbed coffee and headed to the living room. It had large patio doors opening up on a gigantic backyard which was mostly covered in snow.
For the first time, Rogan noticed there was a fire going in the hearth and it was fantastic to feel the flames heating up the room. They sat on cheap leather couches which faced each other. Rogan was alone on his as the two others sat across from him.
“Tell me everything.”
The older man sipped his coffee and took his time setting the mug on the table.
“This is going way down the rabbit hole, Bricks. There’s no going back. I tell you what’s happening, it will change your entire perception of the world as you know it. Are you sure you want me to go on?”
Rogan recalled having to jump out of a corporate jet to save his life. “I’m ready.”
“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. There are two governing levels operating on the planet as we speak. You have the elected officials, the general system everybody knows about, and then there’s us.”
