by Scott Blade
He watched her walk away and get into the driver’s seat of the SUV and drive off.
Unfortunately, he did see her again. He saw her two weeks later when he found out that she never made it back to the airport with Sossaman, like she was supposed to.
He saw her in crime scene photographs.
They were ambushed thirty minutes later near an empty industrial parkway. Their SUV had been blown up and flipped over by an attack. Italian police said it had been a roadside IED, and not a homemade one either. It was professional.
They found the shell casings that held the bullets that killed the male FBI agent, whose name Widow couldn’t remember. They didn’t find Escobar until three days later, north across the border in Switzerland.
They found her, dumped in the woods. She had had extreme rope burns and lacerations to her wrists and ankles. She had been raped by multiple assailants. Her face was bruised and battered, but recognizable.
Widow remembered all of it.
He remembered that she had been bruised around the neck and that she had been found, ziptied, her hands and feet behind her.
But all of this came after she was raped and tortured. Then the attackers had hogtied her and slit her throat. She had died in utter agony.
CHAPTER 48
TEN YEARS LATER, Widow still remembered.
He looked at Liam Sossaman. The man was thin, not quite skeletal, but not far from it.
Machines whirred and blipped in the room. Widow saw and heard a breathing machine with an accordion-looking piece that sucked in air and then pushed it out and down long, plastic tubes and into Liam’s mouth through a breathing mask.
Widow was never told anything beyond what had happened to Escobar. He never knew what became of Sossaman. Ten years is a long time.
He looked around the room and saw a chair and a table next to it in the corner. There was a house phone plugged into the wall. It had a long, curly cord.
Widow picked it up and dialed the number for Unit Ten. He waited and got the guy from last time.
He said, “Put her on.”
“Sir, who is this?”
“Put Cameron on the phone.”
“Sir, who is this?”
“Put Cameron on!”
The voice said, “Sir, this is a law enforcement number you’ve dialed. It’s illegal to harass operators of law enforcement.”
Widow took a breath and calmly said, “This is Jack Widow. Put Cameron on the phone.”
The voice said, “Yes, sir. Hold please.”
Not even a minute later, Cameron’s voice came over the line. She said, “Widow?”
“You should’ve just told me.”
“Forget about that. Widow, I need you to listen. We’ve been tracking a mole here at NCIS. A dirty agent. We got him. But Widow we traced his phones to Sossaman’s old partner, a guy named Gilpin out in California. We’ve already got LAPD picking him up.”
Widow said, “Sounds good.”
“No, listen. There’s a problem.”
Widow listened.
“We didn’t know who to trust. We used Hogan. He used to be in at Air Force. We asked him to look out for you. He was supposed to pick you up, lead you to the Sossamans’ for temporary work.”
“Really? That’s unnecessarily complicated. Don’t you think?”
Cameron interrupted. Fear was in her voice.
She said, “Widow, Hogan’s not answering his phone or his radio.”
Widow stayed quiet, looked at Sossaman’s numb face.
“Gilpin broke down and confessed everything. He didn’t even wait until he got to the station. He said he’d give up his partner for a deal. The detectives told him first to give us something about him.
“He told us that his partner in this, some guy he that he’s known for decades, is the one who killed Escobar. He’s the one who ambushed her. He’s the leader of the group that induced Liam into a coma.
“Widow, we think he’s already there. We don’t know how many there are.”
Widow asked, “Who is this guy?”
“The only thing that we know is he goes by the name Qatal.”
Widow said, “Killer?”
“Yes.”
“Is he Arabic?”
“No. It’s a nickname. He got it in Iraq or something. Widow, he’s a former SEAL too.”
Widow looked away from Sossaman at the open door.
“We think he’s there and he’s not alone. We think that he’s hiding behind some other criminal element.”
“Like what, another crew?”
“Possibly. We think he’s using a patsy.”
Cameron was quiet for a moment. Then she said, “Widow, you might be up against two teams here. One group of random degenerates that he planned to blame and Qatal and his men.”
“Blame for…” Widow said.
Before he could finish, Cameron said, “An all-out assault. Widow you gotta get the Sossamans out of there. Qatal thinks that if he kills them all, there will be no evidence left. He doesn’t know that we got Gilpin. And Gilpin won’t call him until we get immunity papers signed by the attorney general.”
Widow said, “Cameron, don’t get those papers. No matter what. Send me some backup!”
“We’re scrambling a chopper to you now from Malmstrom. There are MPs onboard. But Widow, they won’t be there for forty minutes.”
Just then, Widow heard an explosion in the distance and the phone lines went dead. The power shut off and the house went black.
CHAPTER 49
QATAL LOWERED THE ACR and watched as the transformer high above them burst into electrical flames and the power grid for the whole street went black. The only lights were from the flames and their vehicles.
“This FBI woman, you sure that she’ll make a move?” Judd asked.
“I’m sure.”
“How do you know she’ll go now?”
“I told her to watch for a sign. Can’t get much more of a sign than a power outage.”
Judd nodded.
Qatal walked back to the truck and tossed the ACR onto the front bench. Then he reached in and pulled out a Mossberg shotgun.
He said, “Take this.”
He tossed it to Judd.
Judd took it and pumped it and tucked it in between the saddlebags of his motorcycle and the chassis.
He asked, “We sparing anyone? The guys that you suggested to Escobar?”
Qatal shrugged and said, “What for? We burn and turn. They all die.”
Judd smiled. He liked this job.
CHAPTER 50
A BACKUP POWER GENERATOR hummed and droned and jumpstarted to life.
Widow figured that years ago, the doctors had suggested that they install backup generators to help keep power going to Liam’s breathing apparatus and vital sign machines.
Widow stood in the near darkness. A small backup light was drilled into the north corner of the wall. It lit up, illuminating the room in spots and casting unusual shadows in others.
Widow kept on holding the phone. He listened. There was no dial tone and everything was blacked out, which meant that the transmitter had been destroyed and the phone lines had been cut or destroyed.
“He’s a former SEAL too,” Cameron had said.
Cutting the phone lines and killing the power grid was all included in the assault field manuals.
They needed to hunker down and prepare for an attack. It may already be too late.
Widow dropped the phone and headed toward the hall. He walked down to Crispin’s bedroom.
She popped out with a cellphone and a flashlight application turned on. It was a small beam of light, but it was bright and hard to stare at.
Widow said, “It’s me. Move the light.”
“What’s happened? The power is out.”
“I know.”
She moved the light to the floor and away from his face. He could see that she had just jumped straight out of the shower. She wore a towel around her torso. Her hair was wet an
d slicked back and she was barefoot.
He said, “Throw some clothes on and meet me in the living room. And Crispin, stay away from the windows.”
“Okay.”
Widow turned and went to the living room.
He called out, “Miranda.”
“I am here, Señor,” she called from the kitchen.
The living room had no backup lights and neither did the hallway, but the kitchen had one in the corner. Widow followed the light and went into the kitchen.
He found Miranda trying to light a thick, scented candle in a glass jar. She succeeded in lighting it and placed it on the counter.
She said, “Oh dear, I think I’ve got a flashlight here somewhere.”
Widow said, “Miranda, listen carefully.”
“Yes, Señor?”
“Something bad is about to happen.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I can’t explain right now. There are men coming. Bad men. I need you to help me. We need to get everyone together in the living room.”
Miranda nodded and said something in Spanish that Widow didn’t understand, but sounded like worrisome chatter.
“Okay, let’s go. Go and find Carson and Casey. Look in their rooms. Get them down here.”
“Yes, Señor,” Miranda said and she took the candle off the counter and carried it with her to light the way.
Widow scrambled down the other hall, ran past the backdoor and to the library. He wanted that Heckler and Koch MK25.
He found the library and listened carefully because he heard the family dog. He was out in the backyard, barking furiously.
Widow went to the wall in the corner and tried to remember how Casey had opened the panic room. He thought back. There was a button on the corner behind the door.
Widow felt around at what was Casey’s eye level and found it and pushed it in. The door unlocked and he pulled it open.
Inside, the lights overhead blurred to life. They were apparently also wired to the backup generator, which made sense. But it wasn’t that bright. They had only about half the juice as before.
Widow went over to the MK25 and picked it up. He ejected the magazine, which was fully loaded. He racked the slide. The chamber was empty.
It was bad practice to use an unchecked gun, so Widow dry fired it. It seemed to work fine. The MK25 was loaded with nine millimeter Parabellums. One of his favorite rounds.
Widow slipped the magazine into place and chambered a round. Stuffed the gun into the waistband of his jeans.
He stopped at the door on the way out and picked up a Maglite, a hard, metal flashlight that’s generally use by law enforcement the world over. It works well in the rain and makes for a fine clubbing tool.
Widow headed back the way he had come and arrived in the living room.
He found Miranda and Carson and Crispin standing there.
Crispin had slipped on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
She said, “What’s going on? What’s this about bad men coming?”
Carson was staring at his mother’s lips. Widow could see that he knew exactly what was going on.
He started to sign to his mother big, obvious gestures. She looked down at him and then at Widow. She said, “Casey isn’t here.”
“Where is he?”
“Oh God. He’s still out with King. They’re out in the fields with the cattle.”
Widow walked over to Crispin and took her by the arm, pulled her with him to the wall near the foyer.
He said, “Which way are the fields?”
She pointed the way. Looked like it was to the west of the barn.
He said, “Take this.”
He handed her the gun and asked, “You know how to use this?”
She nodded and said, “Point and shoot.”
“Right. Anyone comes to the door other than me or Casey or King, you shoot him. Don’t warn him. Just shoot him. You got it?”
“I got it. What about you?”
“I’m going to get Casey.”
She said, “We should call the police. Hogan can help.”
Widow took a breath and said, “Hogan’s dead.”
“What?”
“They probably killed him. We already tried reaching him.”
“Who tried? Who are you?”
“It’s my old unit. I used to be a cop in the Navy SEALs. Now don’t worry. Keep Carson away from the windows.”
He could’ve told her to go to the panic room, but that would only trap them. That room didn’t lock right.
Crispin said, “There’re bikes in the barn. They use them to wrangle the cattle.”
Widow nodded and paused a beat. He had the urge to grab Crispin and steal a kiss from her, but he didn’t.
He turned and ran toward the door and out into the front yard and the horseshoe driveway. He held the Maglite in his hand, but kept it off. He looked right and left. Saw no one.
Widow ran toward the barn. He busted through and found it was empty except for some horses. Suddenly, he felt grateful that Crispin had mentioned a dirt bike. He wasn’t much for riding horses.
Widow found one bike left. He hopped on and started it up. He backed it up and rode slowly over to the heavy door in the front of the barn. He looked it over. It looked like a simple push-pull design. He kicked it open and rode the bike off toward the pastures.
CHAPTER 51
THE OLDEST WATCHER STOOD near Escobar and the brother who was in charge and said, “What happened to the power?”
Escobar was feeling very uneasy about this whole thing now that it was about to happen.
The second oldest brother said, “Ma’am, you all right? You don’t look so good.”
Escobar said, “My friend. He cut the power. He said he could make it happen for us. We don’t have all night. We’d better get in there.”
Escobar had read through all of the notes that they wrote. Thinking back on it, the notes were only a good idea if she had hired competent watchers. These guys so far seemed more than a little unhinged.
She felt her stomach turning and had to fight all of her instincts to back out now.
But she wanted to see justice done. Her sister’s death had gone unavenged for long enough. Qatal had told her that the wife knew something.
Escobar just had to scare her a little. That was all.
She said, “I’m fine. Now remember no one gets hurt.”
The watcher in charge said, “Don’t worry.”
The oldest one said, “We know the plan. You talk to the pretty lady and we look menacing.”
She nodded and said, “That’s right.”
That’s when both brothers pulled out their guns—a Beretta and a Glock. Both nine millimeter. Both black and cold in the moonlight.
“Wait! I said no guns!”
The oldest brother said, “We gotta look menacing, right?”
Escobar stayed quiet.
The other brother said, “You wanted it to look believable. You paid us a lot of money to help you. Now we’re here to do the job that you paid us for.”
“No one gets hurt,” she said, again.
One brother said, “No one gets hurt.”
The other said, “Don’t worry.”
Then Escobar asked, “Where are the other two?”
“They out farther on in the fields.”
The oldest brother said, “They acting like lookouts. You know? So, as we not interrupted so you can ask your questions.”
CHAPTER 52
OUT IN THE FIELDS, King and Casey were on horseback.
They had wrangled the steer out to the right spot and Casey had gotten a little carried away and King let the boy play around for longer than he should. But he knew that the boy was under a lot of pressure. He knew that Crispin was going to pull the plug on his dad. Essentially, she was giving up hope on the father. So, he let the kid have a little fun for longer than he should’ve.
The boy had ridden his horse up and down the river for a good long way
s. They galloped and trotted. Now, they both looked beat and King was definitely tired.
He rode over to Casey and said, “It’s gotten too late, Casey. We’d better head back.”
“What about the steer?”
“It’s too late to drive them all back. Just leave ‘em.”
“Are you sure?”
“Hell, they ain’t going nowhere.”
Which was true. There wasn’t anywhere to go. They were surrounded by the river and the trees in the distance and the road, which was fenced.
King added, “We’ll get up bright and early and round them up tomorrow.”
“Early?”
“Yeah, boy. That’s the rancher’s life.”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday.”
“Then you can sleep on your horse.”
Casey laughed and smiled.
He looked at King and didn’t realize it, but it would be the last time that anyone ever saw King. Because a moment later, Casey heard a loud BOOM!
And a gunshot CRACKED across the sky. The sound echoed and ricocheted from tree to tree and rattled into the distance.
Casey didn’t realize it, but he was screaming.
The sound terrified his horse and it threw him. He flew back and hit the dirt. He felt a feeling like a kick to the gut. It was the wind being knocked out of him.
He continued to try to scream, but no sound came out.
He had seen King’s head blown in half by a sniper’s bullet.
CHAPTER 53
WIDOW HEARD THE GUNSHOT.
It was just ahead of him now. He pushed the accelerator as fast as he could go. He killed the lights as soon as he heard the sound. He didn’t have to veer in any direction because the gunshot had come from directly in front of him.
The dirt bike was hopping up off the ground, not from the track being dangerous or hilly. It was pretty flat land. It was because he was riding faster than it was meant to go and he was a heavy guy.
The bike buckled down and hopped up with every bump that he hit. He squeezed the brakes and came to a stop, kicking up dirt and grass behind him. He looked in the distance and saw two horses, both running in back toward him.
He waited until they got closer. It looked like there was someone on one of them.
