Echo (The Remote Traveler Series Book 3)

by Finian Blake

  “Tom is as experienced as they get and his suggestions are solid gold,” Rhonda said. “Everything we do is in real time, so we don’t run things by committee. We’re trying to address a real world issue not just cover our asses. We will make our changes, address the issues, but we will take action immediately.” Winnie realized that Rhonda was correct about what was happening but had one final question.

  “You killed that man what are you going to do about that.”

  “We only kill to protect Cherry would probably be dead if it had not been for Adam’s quick action. The only thing that I can tell you would be that he will never be seen or heard from again. Nobody will ever find his body,” Rhonda said calmly. “I understand that it is easy to make a decision to end somebody’s life, but difficult to see it carried out. You must excuse me now we have to address the issue of our other intruder.”

  “What are you going to do about him,” Winnie asked afraid of what she would hear.

  “We have called the police and an ambulance. He was trespassing and assaulted two sixteen-year-old girls. He also had a variety of weapons and duct tape in a backpack. We must assume that he didn’t show up for a picnic.” Rhonda said trying to gauge the surprised look on Winnie’s face. “We follow the law around ninety-eight percent of the time which is a better average than most corporations. When we do break the law it’s a major breach. Now if you’ll excuse me I have arrangements to make.”

  Tom was watching the paramedics load Lloyd into the ambulance. Lloyd was still out cold and the paramedics wanted to transport immediately because they feared that there might be some brain damage. The forensic team was taking measurements and the detectives were just reviewing Tom’s statement with him.

  “Let me see if I have this right,” the detective said reviewing his notes. “It looks as if your daughters were horseback riding when the perpetrator jumped out of the bushes grabbing the reins of their horses. When he did your German Sheppard attacked to defend them tearing the zipper out of his pants. The perpetrator then reached in his backpack for a weapon. Your daughter Sue struck him across the eyes with her riding crop and your daughter Cher kicked him in the head at which point he went unconscious.” The detective looked in the ambulance noting that Lloyd was still unconscious.

  “That’s pretty much correct with the exception of Cher is not my daughter. She is the daughter of some friends of mine that are visiting from England.” Tom was dying to break out laughing but dared not.

  “Well that explains the kick. She must be a soccer player. I believe that we can say that he took a corner kick to the head. Will her parents be leaving soon,” the detective asked?

  “No, a few additional issues have arisen and I believe they will be here for at least two more weeks. Is there a problem,” Tom asked?

  “No, we would just like to clarify all of the statements before they leave town.” The detective flipped his notebook shut signaling the ambulance attendant. “It is okay to leave.”

  “That’s the second time that I hauled somebody out of here that had been kicked in the head,” the attendant said.

  “What do you mean,” the detective asked.

  “It was two years ago, and I even remember the name of the patient because he was way up there in the Justice Department. If I am not mistaken his name was Felix Owens. We took him to the prison ward at Bethesda. I’m not sure if there was a police report or not since he was with justice.” The detective did not return to Tom right away deciding to see if there was a police report first.

  Nadia decided to look up Cherry to see how she was doing. After asking several people she talked to someone who had seen Cherry at the sauna. She was sitting on a bench fully dressed in her clothes, her elbows on her knees and her hands over her eyes. Nadia coughed discretely to announce herself.

  “I know that you have come to give me my lecture about not underestimating your opponent,” Cherry said not taking her hands away from her eyes. Nadia sat next to her placing her arm around Cherry shoulders giving her a quiet hug.

  “No, I just came to see how you’re doing.”

  “I hit that son of a bitch with my best stuff and it didn’t even faze him,” Cherry lifted her head looking Nadia squarely in the eyes with the look of pain and confusion clear.

  “He was Spetsnaz. They train at full speed with full contact sometimes even breaking bones as they spar. They are trained to ignore pain being ridiculed if they don’t. There’s a chance that you might have hurt him but he was never going to show it.” Nadia sat holding Cherry for several minutes until the shaking subsided. She grabbed a handful of Cherry’s hair shaking her head affectionately. “If you ever go to check out an intruder without bringing your gun again, I am going to kick your ass so hard that you will walk on tiptoes for a month.” Cherry kissed Nadia jumping up to run out of the sauna.

  “I have to thank Adam,” Cherry said over her shoulder as she left. Nadia immediately left behind her heading for the new helicopter an Agusta/Westland 109 E. They were going to fly four hundred miles and Nadia was looking forward to trying out the new autopilot system. When she arrived at the helicopter Ted had already loaded the four bodies wrapped with plastic in the rear cargo area. Nadia was going to fly a hundred miles out from the coast to dump the bodies in the ocean. Ted had tied 40 pounds of cinder blocks to each of the four naked bodies with cotton cord which he knew would fail within a few months but by that time the fish would have their fill. The Augusta helicopter had twin turbo shaft engines and Nadia greatly appreciated the increase in power. Nadia increased power and the helicopter seemed to leap into the air. She nosed the helicopter forward flying across the Chesapeake, Maryland Peninsula, and out over the Atlantic Ocean. The helicopter’s autopilot performed flawlessly heading toward the spot that Nadia dialed in on the GPS.

  “Do you think that our guests reported were they were going to their handlers,” Ted asked Nadia.

  “I don’t think so scout teams are given an objective and usually don’t contact their handlers until they get back unless they find information worth reporting,” Nadia said sounding confident. “Reporting in and out represents a greatest risk of exposure to the team and unless things have changed I think they will follow that procedure. The Russian military structure does not allow for very much deviation.”

  The helicopters autopilot sounded an alert when they were ten miles from the selected location. Nadia took control bringing the helicopter up to an altitude of 10,000 feet. She did a slow three hundred and sixty degree turn watching the radar for any signs of transients on the surface. Nadia did a second turn visually scanning the horizon. Not seeing any other vessel or aircraft Nadia dropped the helicopter down to 50 feet above the water as Ted started dumping the bodies into the ocean. Nadia then flew 50 miles north while Ted tied two large rocks in the plastic tarp that they had used to catch any mess from the bodies, throwing the plastic overboard. Nadia entered the coordinates for Echo into the computer and set the helicopter on autopilot smiling at Ted.

  “I can’t wait to get back home to the Amazon Inn. We are taking delivery on one of these as we speak,” Nadia said enthusiastically. “I love the extra power of the twin turbines, and the electronics package is beyond belief.”

  “I prefer the fact that we can carry almost eight people and still have some range. We can actually run some operations with this,” Ted observed.

  Ted and Nadia noticed Tom sitting on a cart waiting for them with another man on the cart. As Ted and Nadia walked over to the cart he remembered meeting the other man at the ambulance. This was detective Short from the Fort Meade Police Department. Ted did not wait for the detective to ask his questions.

  “Detective Short it’s good to see you. Are there more questions which you need to ask?” The detective shuffled his feet finally asking Ted, “I had a few words with the ambulance attendant and he seems to remember making a similar pickup two years ago. I wanted to discuss the incident with you before asking your daughter any questions. I res
earched the matter and found that there were no police reports. Is there anything that you would care to tell me about the incident?”

  “As you know I am the international director for Four Diamonds Security. Two years ago I was here visiting Tom Thomas and his family. Our daughters were having a sleepover in the barn, and Felix Owens broke in the barn with a pistol in his hand. Her dog Tom intercepted him on the stairs and when he moved to regain his gun my daughter kicked him in the mouth loosening three of his teeth.”

  “That is kind of an aggressive move for a fourteen-year-old girl. She was fourteen at the time wasn’t she,” the detective wanted to confirm.

  “I was here to teach classes in combat martial arts of which the main concern is disabling your opponent not causing him to submit. I taught my daughter how to defend herself and as you can see the lessons have stuck,” Ted said in a matter of fact voice. “We later found out that Felix Owens was number three in the Justice Department. He had some kind of a mental breakdown and was taken to the security ward at Bethesda hospital. The Attorney General himself asked us not to press charges, and in return he assured us that Mister Owens would not be released until a psychiatrist approved the action. Of course we could not refuse the Attorney General so all record of the incident was suppressed.”

  “Still all that seems like an extreme move,” the detective pressed. Nadia became incensed with the detective’s last comment. She stepped within six inches of the detective looking down at him from almost a head taller. With Nadia’s aggressive move the detective tried to step back but the cart was immediately behind him. Nadia moved her nose within an inch of his.

  “If you are truly investigating, detective, surely you have looked into his backpack which contained all those weapons and the duct tape. What would you have suggested, offering him tea and cookies? That idiot cut through an eight-foot chain-link fence way laying both girls and assaulting them.” Nadia’s eyes were bugging out, her nose was flared, and their noses were now touching. “Let me assure you that if he had not been unconscious things would have been much worse.” Nadia moved back a few inches, but detective Short still had to bend his neck fullback in order to look her in the eyes.

  “I am only trying to determine the facts,” the detective said hoping to calm her.

  “If you are trying to determine the facts why am I hearing your judgments,” Nadia growled unpleasantly in his face. Ted grabbed Nadia by the shoulder pulling her back a few feet from the detective.

  “I…, I.…, I…,” Detective Short suddenly found himself wishing that he was dealing with the red headed giant instead of his wife. Ted physically turned Nadia by the shoulders pointing to the helicopter not saying a word. Nadia followed his nonverbal instructions stomping over to the helicopter.

  “Detective Short,” Ted said barely above a whisper, “if you have any further questions, ask them quickly before you get my wife’s back up again. The long and the short of it is that my unarmed daughter successfully defended herself against an armed intruder. Anything that happened two years ago has no bearing on her actions today. If you have any further questions of my wife, please ask them now.” Detective Short decided that asking Nadia any more questions was against good sense.

  “No I believe everything looks straightforward thank you for clearing up my questions,” the detective said having no desire to stand toe to toe with Nadia again.

  “Perfect,” Ted said quietly barely speaking above a whisper. “I am sure that Tom will be happy to escort you out. Thank you for not talking to my daughter directly.” As Ted drove him to the gate Detective Short wondered who he would rather face, feeling that Ted’s quiet disposition might have been more threatening than Nadia’s rant.

  When Lloyd woke up in the emergency room there was a moment of panic because he could only see out of one eye and could not move his hands. He looked rapidly around the room with his good eye seeing cabinets loaded with medical supplies and a high-intensity light overhead. He started calling for the nurse but as calls for answer by a woman dressed in a blue security guards uniform.

  “My name is Renée and I will call the nurse for you. I must inform you that you are under arrest and will remain restrained until we get to the security Ward.” Four Diamonds Security had the contract to administer security at the hospital, so it was easy to slip Rene into the emergency room.

  “Release me at once I know my rights,” Lloyd said angrily.

  “You have the right to remain silent,” René said holding up a two-inch-wide role of adhesive tape. “You have the right to an attorney but that will not make any difference because we are not going to question you. Do you have anybody that you would like us to call?”

  “Would you call my friend Steve he will come down and bail me out.” Lloyd said giving René the number.

  “You have been charged with two major felonies, and bail must be set at a hearing. Plan on spending the evening,” René laughed. “When you call him have him bring down a pair of pants for you. The zipper is missing from yours and there was blood all over the place.” The panicked look came over Lloyd’s face as he tried to reach under the sheets with the restraints preventing him. Just then a nurse came in the room.

  “Good evening Mister Puller welcome back to the world of the living,” the nurse said using her best businesslike tone. “The doctor treated some minor cuts on your face, and there were a few minor puncture marks on your thigh which he also closed. Please don’t worry about all the blood everything is still intact.”

  “Thank you nurse,” Lloyd said with a sigh of relief.

  “It’s…no…big…thing,” the nurse said trying to keep a straight face. “Now that you’re conscious we will be moving you to the security wing. You will have a private room with a good stout lock on the door that will keep out those bad ass teenagers.” Fortunately, Lloyd had not broken any bones however between the swelling from the kick and the bright red line from the riding crop just above his eyes it was still a major event. After they rolled Lloyd into his private room René had the nurse leave the room prior to removing the restraints.

  “They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I have a picture for you.” René unbuttoned the middle buttons of her blouse slipping and eight by ten picture out and holding it up in front of Lloyd’s good eye. It was a picture of Tom, Sue’s 110 pound German Shepard sitting proudly holding the zipper between his teeth. She could not hear what Lloyd was saying because his jaw was so swollen. “Dog…gone…,” René said as she pulled the door closed locking it behind her.

  Tamar and Winnie downed their third drink in their effort to recover from this afternoon’s excitement. Tamar led Winnie into her office turning on the computer pulling up Winnie’s image that she had made the day before. Tamar dressed the image in three different outfits, two business suits, and an elegant little black dress. Winnie was more than a little uncomfortable with the way that Tamar changed clothes on the computerized model.

  “That image has a real potential for disaster. It’s so lifelike that you could almost pass it off for a picture,” Winnie said with definite concern in her voice.

  “The only computers that you can work this program from are the one in here, and the one in my office,” Tamar explained. “The computer program that drives this would take up two large personal computers. Boris set this up so the program can only be run from one of the main frame stations, and we have that covered. Would you please follow me up to your room?” Tamar led Winnie up to the bedroom indicating several wrapped boxes, and three garment bags lying on the bed.

  “The three outfits are the ones that the computerized model tried on and the boxes contain lingerie and accessories.” Tamar said with a sincere smile on her face.

  “What if I decide not to do what Rhonda requested,” Winnie asked with serious concern in her voice. “Will you want all of your bribes back?”

  “These are not bribes, they are incentives,” Tamar said sincerely. “We are starting a new line of clothing that will b
e targeting older women, and we would like to use you as a model and spokesperson. You would get to keep the outfits that you model plus receive cash and favors.”

  “What kind of favors,” Winnie asked suspiciously not caring for the title of ‘older woman’.

  “We do have the soundstage that we produce our commercials in. We could help you produce your public service announcements.” Tamar said as she unzipped the three garment bags selecting the little black dress. “Once a month we have what we call ‘dress up Saturday night’. Everybody here has very nice evening clothes, but we never wear them so I invented ‘dress up Saturday night’. We have a dress-up cocktail party at one of the homes down here. Tonight it will be next-door at Cherry’s house. We are calling it “Little Black Dress Night”

  As Tamar and Winnie walked in the door of Cherry’s house there were already several people there. All of the men were dressed in suits, and to Winnie’s surprise all of the women were wearing a little black dress all of which were vastly different in design. When Cherry greeted her, Winnie was surprised to see that her dress had three quarter length sleeves and the hem came down below the knee. She had to ask the question.

  “Cherry, your dress is rather modest I thought that with your body you would wear something more revealing.” Cherry shocked Winnie by lifting the hem of her dress to the top of her thighs revealing a rather large bruise on her right thigh and revealing another large bruise on her left bicep when she slid her sleeve up.

  “That asshole in the hallway this afternoon put some lumps on me,” Cherry said not bothering to hide the venom in her voice. Winnie could not help but notice that she was extremely muscular, not just fit.

  “I see that you take your workouts seriously. Cherry if the question is not too personal may I ask how old you are?”

  “I am forty-one years old and to answer your other question they are 36EE, completely natural and fully functional,” Cherry said with a smart ass smile on her face.