THE 13: STAND BOOK TWO

by ROBBIE CHEUVRONT

  She heard a click-phsst as the concrete slab beside her began to move. Pemberton motioned for everyone to follow as he descended a set of concrete steps. She fell in line and started down the stairs. After a few seconds, the slab moved back into place.

  Inside, Pemberton showed everyone to a sitting area complete with a nice wooden round table and a few chairs. One in particular stood out to her. “Nice chair.”

  Pemberton extended his hand. “Be my guest.”

  “I use to have two of them at my old place,” she said.

  Pemberton shot her a look that said he was impressed. She sat down, remembering how comfortable the Aresline could be.

  The others all took a seat while Pemberton went to the bar and fixed some drinks. When he came back, he passed them out. “A toast.”

  Everyone raised a glass.

  “To new partnerships. And a better future.”

  Everyone nodded and drank as Pemberton sat down with his guests.

  “Thank you all for coming,” he started. “Everyone here knows why we’re here.” He pointed to Alex. “I’d like to introduce you all to my acquaintance. This is Alex Smith. And she is going to be very helpful in our endeavor.”

  Everyone took turns nodding to her and mumbling hello. She politely reciprocated.

  Pemberton continued, “What’s the deal, Irving? You get to Sykes, or what?”

  Irving set his glass down on the table. “I’m afraid it’s not good news. I drove up there to meet him. We talked for about two hours.”

  “What did you tell him?” It was Hayes.

  “I didn’t tell him anything, Milton. You want him to go straight to Walker and blow this whole thing up before it gets started?”

  Instantly, the two men began arguing. Alex sat back and watched. It was amusing. For the level of seriousness this conversation held, they were at each other like schoolboys.

  Finally, Pemberton slammed his hand on the table. “That’s enough!” Then to Alex, “I apologize, Ms. Smith. Everyone’s just a little on edge these days.”

  She gave a curt nod. If these men had known she was largely responsible for the fact that they were in this situation to begin with, they’d probably try to kill her right there. “I understand.”

  “Now,” Pemberton said, turning back to the men, “let’s start again.”

  Irving gave Hayes a sneer and continued, “As I was saying, Sykes isn’t going to budge. When I asked him what he thought about everything going on, he said he wouldn’t do anything differently. Said that Walker, for all the negative press, is doing exactly what this country needs.”

  “Then how do you suppose we move forward?” the governor asked.

  “We can’t do anything without Sykes,” Hayes said. “He controls the military. Even with Walker out of the way.”

  “Wrong,” Irving said.

  “Wrong?” Pemberton said.

  “Sykes might be in charge of the military. But he’s a soldier, just like the rest of them. He’s an order taker. And right now, Walker doesn’t sneeze without Jennings giving him the okay.”

  “So we get rid of him,” Pemberton said.

  “What do you mean, get rid of him?” Hayes asked.

  Pemberton looked to her. “What do you think, Alex?”

  “It can be done.”

  “What can be done?” Hayes asked.

  “If the situation is right, I could do them both at the same time,” Alex said.

  Hayes looked at Pemberton. “What is she talking about?”

  “What do you think she’s talking about? Killing them, of course.”

  Hayes shot up out of his chair. “Now, hold on just a minute. No one said anything about killing anyone.”

  “How did you think this was going to go, Milton?” Pemberton asked. “You think we were just going to go in there and drag Walker out and tell him Joe was the new president? You’re naive, man! Walker has to go. And I mean go. And if Sykes won’t side with us, Jennings has to go, too. You heard Irving. Sykes follows orders. If Walker isn’t giving them, Jennings is. This is war.”

  “It’s going to be a war, if you start killing off the president and his CIA director!” Hayes said.

  “Don’t be an idiot! We’ve always known that it was going to come to this.”

  “Not me. Maybe you. I told you that we could do this through the law. Walker is abdicating his responsibility to protect this nation. All we need is enough of Congress to—”

  “Wake up, man! Listen to yourself. There is no law! We’re half a country. And that half is divided. You want change? Then we’re going to have to take it!”

  This is fun, Alex thought, watching these guys fight between themselves. But she had no intentions of being here all night while these idiots tried to figure out how to get the job done. And possibly change their mind about her. It was time for her to step in. “Excuse me, gentlemen.”

  Everyone got quiet.

  “Mr. Hayes, I’m sure somewhere in your mind you envisioned a scenario in which bloodshed could be avoided. However, I’m just going to be honest with you. Even if the governor can accomplish what you’ve proposed, that’s not going to happen. At a minimum, Jennings will need to be removed. He won’t sit by and watch the governor steal the presidency. And if the governor can accomplish what you’ve suggested, Walker will still be a problem.”

  “Who are you, anyway?” Hayes snapped at her.

  Alex allowed her peaceful demeanor to shift. She narrowed her eyes and cocked her jaw. “I’m the one person in this room who can give you what you want. I’ve removed world leaders, dictators, and heads of state—all so men like you could do what you want to do—restructure a nation. So if you’re done acting like the sanctimonious defense lawyer that you are, why don’t you sit down and shut up.”

  Hayes looked at her with a stunned expression and sat back down.

  “I like her, Gavin.” Irving laughed.

  “Now,” she said, taking her seat again, “if you’ll allow me, I’d like to offer you a solution to your problem.”

  “Please, go ahead,” Pemberton said.

  “Mr. Irving, you’re the former secretary of the navy, are you not?”

  “I am.”

  “And governor, you are the intended successor to President Walker, yes?”

  The governor nodded.

  “And it would not be far fetched to assume that, as president, you would have the power to call the former secretary back to duty, should something happen to Secretary Sykes. Right?”

  “I would suppose it wouldn’t be far fetched at all. Especially given our relationship.”

  Alex was lost. She had no idea what the man was talking about. However, Irving took care of that.

  “Joe is my son-in-law.”

  Alex smiled. “Even better!” She clapped her hands together. “See? Problem solved. With Jennings out of the way, the governor can remove Sykes and call Mr. Irving back to duty, who can then instruct the military to do whatever you wish.”

  “So then.” Pemberton rapped his knuckles on the table. “The only thing left to decide is when.”

  Alex looked at him. “How soon are you ready to take over the White House?”

  Pemberton rubbed his chin. “Well, Joe is a pretty popular guy around here. But I don’t know how much the rest of the country knows him. It’s going to take a week or two to stir some dust up.”

  “And I know just how to start,” Irving said. “Sykes said Walker is going to give some sort of big speech tomorrow. He’s gonna try and rally the country behind him over this idea of turning back to our godly principles. Sykes said Walker has something big he wants to announce. I say Joe goes up there and makes a scene.”

  Pemberton snapped his fingers. “Yeah, that’s good. Soon as Walker announces whatever it is he’s going to announce, Joe can come out and immediately counter it.”

  “I can do better than that,” the governor said. “I’ll stand in the audience. And when he starts in, I’ll make him debate me right the
re. In front of his God and everyone.”

  “Good,” Alex said. “It’s settled. However, there is still the little matter of protocol.” She winked at Pemberton. “Did you have something to ask me?”

  Pemberton rolled his eyes and sighed. “Ms. Smith…we would like you to kill Kevin Jennings.”

  Alex smiled and nodded. “I’ll begin making preparations to take Jennings out. And in a week or two, once the governor has the American public stirred to the point of utter contempt, if need be…I’ll pay Walker a visit and tip the scales in your favor.”

  Pemberton smiled. “And with Joe and Jake leading the charge, we’ll kick the Chinese back where they came from.”

  CHAPTER 31

  Megan slammed her fist on the steering wheel. “Shoot!”

  “I don’t get it,” Eli said. “This map doesn’t show any turnoffs after that huge bend back there for another two miles.”

  “There’s no way he could’ve gotten that far ahead.”

  “Not the way we were following him,” Eli agreed.

  “Well, he must’ve turned in somewhere. Did you see anything? I didn’t.”

  Eli shook his head. “No, I was looking at the map. But that doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

  Megan hit the brakes and swerved the car around. “Hold on.”

  Eli quickly reached up to grab the handle on the top of the door frame as his body weight was pushed against the door. “What are you doing?”

  “Turning around. We missed a turn somewhere.”

  “Yeah, but we can’t just go creeping down the road looking for it. You might as well hang a big flashing sign on the roof saying, ‘Hey where’d you go?’ ”

  Megan knew he was right. If there was an unmarked turnoff, and it was some sort of driveway, driving by slowly could give anyone who was watching a heads-up that someone was there. “Okay. Then we’ll just have to go steady and not miss it.”

  Eli looked over to her with a serious face. “You know we’ve got one, maybe two shots at this before we’d be advertising ourselves again. Right?”

  “Let’s not miss it, then.”

  “Right. You take your side, I’ll take mine. We’ll go back to the big curve and come back through. If we don’t see it by then, we’ll have to just…”

  “What? Have to just what?”

  Eli shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll think of something.”

  The speed limit on the old two-lane was forty-five mph. Megan set the cruise control on thirty-eight mph and started off. She tried to scan every inch of what was passing by her, hoping to catch some narrow dirt road they might’ve missed. Unfortunately, she didn’t. And neither did Eli. They had returned to the spot in the road prior to the big sweeping curve. She turned the cruise off and turned the car around again.

  “See anything?” she asked Eli.

  “Nothing. You?”

  “Nope. Nothing but trees.” She reset the cruise and started back. “Okay, I’ll take this side. You got that one.”

  Eli nodded. And rolled down the window. “Gives me a better look.”

  Megan nodded and rolled hers down as well.

  They were halfway down the straightaway when Eli sat upright. “I think I just saw it.”

  Megan was about to hit the brakes when a pair of headlights appeared in the rearview mirror. Instead, she turned off the cruise and accelerated to the speed limit. “Company behind us.”

  Eli turned in his seat to see the approaching car. It wasn’t gaining on them, but it was the third time, now, that they’d passed by this stretch of road. Couldn’t be too careful. “Just keep it steady and see if they come up on us. If they do, just keep driving until we reach a turnoff. Then take it. See what happens.”

  Megan did as Eli instructed, while Eli kept his head turned just enough to see behind them. Suddenly, Eli tapped her shoulder. “That was it. That was the road.”

  Megan looked in her rearview again to see that the headlights had disappeared. Whoever it was behind them had turned off Durant Road. “That must be where Hayes went.”

  Eli turned back around. “Okay. So, here’s the deal. We can’t just leave this car sitting out on the side of the road. But we can’t go back and turn in there, either. We have no idea how long of a drive—if it even is a drive—or road that is. Or what it leads to.”

  “Can’t be another road. That was just pine straw and an opening,” Megan said. “Has to be a drive of some sort. But you’re right. There’s no telling how far back it goes or where to.”

  “Right. We need to ditch the car and go on foot. How far from that entrance do you think it was back to the big bend?”

  Megan thought about it for a second. “I don’t know. Quarter mile?”

  “That sounds about right.” Eli reached for the map again. “Keep driving and pull over where we turned around before.”

  Megan did as Eli said and continued on around the small bend until the obscure turnoff was out of sight. She went a little farther, just for good measure, and then pulled a U-turn and then moved over to the side of the road.

  Eli, not bothering with the small penlight he’d been using, turned on the dome light. He traced his fingers along the map and then pointed. “There.”

  “What?”

  “That’s about where they turned off. Look here.”

  Megan looked with Eli as he pointed out the large bend in the road.

  “We can park at the start of that bend and cut through the trees,” Eli said. “Even if that drive, or whatever, goes straight north, as long as we walk due west from here,”—he pointed—“we ought to run right into whatever’s there.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me.” She put the car in DRIVE and took off.

  It only took a few minutes to drive back to the start of the huge bend. Instead of U-turning the car this time, Megan just pulled over to the side of the road. She wanted to be facing the way they needed to leave. Just in case. They got out of the car and checked their weapons. Both satisfied, they hurried across the road and into the trees.

  Eli had been spot on. They had only walked a couple hundred yards before they cleared the trees and came upon a narrow dirt road. Looking back down the way, they could now see why it had been so hard to even see it in the first place. A long row of trees lining the main road only had enough of a break in them for the road to exist. The two giant trees’ branches on either side of the entrance had grown into each other and hung low over the entrance. There was just enough of a clearing for a vehicle to pass through.

  Looking the other direction—to where the drive was headed—they could see the outline of a small farmhouse, with a few lights on, about five hundred yards away. They were currently just off the dirt drive in what was opening up to be a large field that ran along the dirt drive all the way to the house. The field, it appeared, had been left unkempt intentionally. The weeds and grass were waist high. They decided this was to their advantage. They could skirt the dirt road via the field and take cover quickly, should another car come through that opening in the trees. They gave themselves about a twenty-yard berth from the road and began moving toward the house.

  “What do you want to do when we get there?” Eli whispered.

  “How ’bout go knock on the door and see what they’re doing?”

  “Works for me.”

  Megan rolled her eyes. Typical guy, she thought. “We’re going to do what Jennings said. We’re going to stay back and watch.”

  “I guess that works, too,” Eli said, sounding disappointed. Then, “Unless someone shoots at me. Then it’s game on!”

  Megan had to laugh at Eli’s candor. “Okay there, James Bond.”

  Eli pulled up beside her. “You do realize that I, technically, am the real James Bond?”

  Megan rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, and Boz is, technically, the real Jack Ryan, and Jon is, technically, the real Jason Bourne.”

  They continued on in silence as they approached the house. When they were fifty yards out, Megan stopped.
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br />   Eli moved over to her. “What is it?”

  “How many cars you see?”

  “Five. Two pickups, an SUV, a crossover, and some sort of sedan behind that. Can’t make it out, though.”

  Megan nodded. “That’s what I see, too.” She let her gaze drift toward the house. Several windows stood opened on the ground floor—not unusual, given the unseasonably warm weather. She lowered her head and strained to listen. “You hear that?”

  Eli stood motionless for a second. “No. I don’t hear anything.”

  “Me either. That seem strange to you?”

  “Maybe. That house has to be close to a hundred years old. Well built. Probably pretty good soundproofing.”

  “I see at least four windows open on the ground floor. We should be able to hear someone talking inside.”

  “We should get closer.”

  Megan shook her head. “No way. Jennings said to stay back. What if they’re down in the basement or something? They could come up any second.”

  Eli pointed to the vented siding on the foundation of the house. “You see that? That’s a crawl space. That house doesn’t have a basement.”

  They sat there, crouched in the tall grass, for another minute in silence before Eli finally said, “The real Jason Bourne, huh?”

  Megan laughed to herself. They were back to that now? “He probably thinks so.”

  “Hmm. I think I’m going to like him.” Then, “Sit tight. I’m going for a closer look.”

  Before Megan could reach out and grab him, Eli was gone.

  She had to admit, though, he was swift and quiet. If she hadn’t watched him leave, she wouldn’t have even known he was in the grass in front of her. She was trying to spot him when she suddenly saw a flicker of movement next to one of the pickup trucks. Eli had somehow completely crossed sides of the field and popped up next to the cars on the other side of the dirt road. She tried to keep him in sight as he moved but lost him again.

  She was starting to get a little worried. He’d been gone for nearly five minutes and she hadn’t seen or heard anything. She was about to make her own way toward the house when a hand touched her shoulder from behind. She whirled around with a backhanded fist, which Eli caught in midswing.