by Matt Lincoln
In addition, I really wanted to turn at least one of them over to the authorities and let the chips fall where they may. I had a pretty good idea that even if the police or one of the other agencies got them, that they’d disappear in the system or be traded for a bigger prize. The worst would be if they got bailed out for a more perverse reason, but I didn’t want to consider that right now.
I headed back out to the living area to find everyone else in various states of readiness. “Let’s all go in there low-key, casual, and calm. Rosa? You have enough earpieces with you to get Eve in on this?” I wanted her to be able to hear and respond to everything we could. She was going to be invaluable once we got in there, and also if we needed a way out that required some legal finesse.
Rosa handed us each a small, clear and tan ear device that could pass as a type of implant or hearing aid if tested. It wouldn’t hold up to great scrutiny, but it would be enough to get ignored by the masses. Xavier rigged up the microphones, as well. They are earbud-style and clip to our collars. We’ll look connected to the media and disconnected from the rest of the world. Just like everyone else.
I nodded over at Xavier by way of thanks. “Those will be perfect. Doc, Rosa? How are your hands and your leg if you don’t mind me asking?” I hadn’t completely forgotten about their prior injuries. I was just hoping that time had cut us some slack, and that they were doing better than expected.
Doc shook his head. “I’m not doing any hand-to-hand, that’s for sure. I can be eyes, ears, and feet, but that’s about all.” With the cast and his limitations, that couldn’t be helped. We’d work around it. We needed everyone we had, no matter what. I turned to Rosa.
You’ll have eyes and ears from me too, but no feet. I can’t do any running, even short sprints. Long, leisurely walks are out, too. I’ll take a high point and signal down on my phone. That’s what I can offer today. She looked dismayed at this, but we’d done more with less. Rosa also showed off her small, fiberglass lock-picking tools. I also had a pair in my back pocket. She would be an asset in any given condition.
“Xavier, that leaves you and me to run the groundwork. You up for it?” This was going to put him out of his forte, but I knew that he’d step up. While his station was usually in the background, with a laptop and the gear, he had been training among us for long enough to certainly hold his own. He could do what was needed, no question.
Xavier nodded but remained silent. His arms were crossed in a very dead-pan, hardcore way. He looked ready, even if it was all just bravado. “I remembered to wear my running shoes this morning. So yeah, I’m good.”
Chapter 32
Jake
One fairly quiet ride later, and we entered the bustling airport, brimming with people. We’d ditched all of our metal gear and goods in favor of ceramic, plastic, or wooden defensive weapons. Even with those, we had to be exceptionally careful. Security was no joke, and we had a lot of ground to cover with multiple potential marks and targets. It was going to be a long, taxing day.
First of all, we had no defined way of knowing exactly where the duffle bag was supposed to be. Common sense said that it would be locked up in the passenger’s lockers, which was the most likely location given that Chorley was the one to store it. Getting into that area was going to be a task within itself, and we’d all been working on ways and plans to get there.
The easiest action was simply to buy four tickets to get all of us in. Then we’d head in and carefully search for the locker. That was going to take a while, but we had a singular gadget that would help.
Xavier had a limited field type of identification program on his cell that would give us a very narrow advantage in locating electronic devices that emitted certain kinds of RF waves. Most people would never leave a necessary piece of equipment like a cell phone or a laptop for an extended period in an airport storage unit. But we knew that Arik’s duffle bag probably had phones in it, and this made Xavier confident that he could at least pinpoint some lockers that we should investigate.
Once we got there, there would be another issue. We all had come to the same conclusion, and that was that we’d have to be picking the locks of some lockers. We’d need all four of us there to run interference and protect each other as we searched. With Eve, that gave us five, but I didn’t want to put her in any more illegal type of situation than she already was. She was going along as a lookout, nothing more.
We all split up into the crowds to accomplish our first task of buying separate tickets, all to different destinations.
“Hey, just a thought, but did anyone get a good look at the gym bag Kippy was talking about?” Xavier asked through the earpiece. “It just might make it easier if we knew roughly the color, size, design… you know, just… something to identify it.”
“Why?” I asked as I headed to the nearest ticket counter. “You think that we may not be the only ones here today?” I wondered if he was getting the same worries that I had about the kidnappers trying to beat us to the duffle bag.
“I just have a weird feeling that they’d move on the intel as soon as they got it, just like we are,” Xavier responded to me. I hoped that everyone else was aware of the possibility, too. “And if they do, or have, then maybe we should also be looking for the duffle bag. Just in case.”
“I can text her for a picture if you want,” Eve’s voice suggested as she headed off in a different direction. “She might send it to me.” Eve was speaking so politely and submissively that it made me laugh. When there were no objections, she continued. “Give me a minute or two. I’ll see what I can get.” In the silence, I knew she was texting a nice, friendly message to Ozoa, asking for help. I wondered how that would go down.
I got a text as well, this one from Rosa. I had already lost sight of her in the crowd. I’m on my way up to get some pictures from a higher vantage point, just in case we need a quick getaway. Stand by. Or don’t. Maybe walk around. Fly casual, you know? Leave it to her to be having way too much fun on an op in the middle of an insanely busy transportation hub with no idea of what we were going to face.
“There are too many exits and entrances to the storage area to cover with the manpower that we have. I’m looking at it now, and it is already insanely busy, Header.” Doc suggested through the earpiece. “I don’t see a way for Xavier to legitimately set up here and scan the lockers one at a time. We’ll be too noticeable.”
“Okay, so we’ll take it in turns. Xavier will station himself there, and one or two of us at a time will come in and check the lockers he points out.” I was prepared for us having to improvise some of this, anyway. “We’ll just have to pass off the lock picks as we switch out.” With Rosa and I both possessing a pair, we could hand them away with ease when we needed to.
Rosa had texted something about being at a checkpoint and trying to get higher up for a better viewpoint for a hasty retreat if we needed it. That would help the rest of us out a lot. The only negative bit was that we’d have to be checking our phones very often to get back into position and keep each other informed. That might look suspicious to some people. Just one more action we’d have to be careful of today.
Eve’s voice crackled through again. “Hey, um, this might be good news, maybe, but Kippy says that she’s here in the airport as well.” Eve’s voice was not exactly apprehensive, but she did sound uncertain. “Um, Jake? She texted me a picture of the bag. I’ll send it to all of you, but… Hold on.”
“She’s here? Where and why?” I didn’t like this news, but there was nothing I could do about it. “Scratch that. I don’t care. We just need a photo of the bag, so we know what to look for.”
A few moments later, the photo was downloaded to our phones. It was grainy, as if it had been taken in motion. I could see a heather blue color with brown leather-bound straps or handles. It looked possibly high-end and not exactly a gym bag that someone would throw smelly, sweaty clothes into.
Doc was the first to mention the obvious. “Could she send a better pictur
e? This one looks like a kid took it from a merry-go-round or something. All I see is a brown and blue blur.” There was a commotion bleeding through from his earpiece, apparently close to his position.
“Doc, turn down your speaker. We’re getting a lot of background noise from your location,” Xavier explained. “These aren’t great for such loud spaces, but it’s what I could get rigged up. We’ll just have to adjust the volumes and talk more slowly if that helps. And I finally have my ticket. I’m heading to the locker storage now.”
“Um, Jake?” Eve’s words were plodding in their formation. “I think Kippy’s, like, right here. Like headed for us.” There was a ring of a cell on Eve’s end, and she answered it. “Hello? Yeah! Kippy, where are you? What’s… What? Um, okay.” There was a slight pause. “Jake? She says that she’s chasing a kid with orange hair and that he had the duff---, oh my God! I just saw Arik. Holy… Arik’s here! He’s in---”
We could all hear Eve drop her phone, cussing up a storm as she did so. I then heard Doc running, his breathing excited but steady as he moved past people, calling out ‘excuse me’ and ‘sorry’ as he went. I had no context of his location from where I was, and that made me anxious for him. Eve remembered her earpiece finally and continued talking us through whatever she was seeing.
“Arik and a big, bearded guy with black hair just walked past me. It looked like Arik was being dragged along. The big guy had him by the arm, and Arik looked--- oof!” Eve’s voice stopped abruptly and was replaced by the sound of thuds and grunts. Her grunts.
“Eve? Eve! Give me your location!” I raced toward the east gates with a momentary flash of fear for her safety. I knew this was where I’d seen her venture off to. I scanned the crowd for a big man and a younger guy together, both with dark hair, while also keeping an eye out for any sign of threats and targets. There were just so many people going in so many directions that it was close to impossible to do this. They’d have to run into me for me to notice them.
“Header,” Xavier said calmly. “I see Kippy and the orange-haired guy. Security’s almost on them.” Xavier was watching from the south end of the place, which meant that there were several operators in the field. Right now, we could only guess if they were all coordinating or moving in separate cells.
“Doc, what’s happening on your side of---” I caught a guy with a black beard walking past, and I stopped to check him out. He was alone. That was a bust, and my heart sank a bit. I kept moving as quickly as I could, hoping to find Eve quickly. “Doc? Do you have anything?”
There was tapping from someone’s earpiece, and at first, I thought that it was just static or more background noise coming through. It continued, and then I heard it for what it really was. “-. .- -.-. . / --- -. /-- .” Xavier picked it up a second before I could.
“Nace has Doc. That means that the DEA is here, too.” Xavier’s tone was flat and all too business-like. “Header? Kippy just flashed a badge, and the airport cops took the orange-haired guy. I’m going to get, oh, nevermind. She sees me.” A few moments later, we could all hear the conversation between the two of them, though it was faint. I listened as well as I could while I continued my hurried search.
“I think Nace is in the building.” I recognized Kippy’s voice, and I felt a pit in my stomach flare up. “I’ve seen suits and guns in places that shouldn’t be. The tangerine had the bag, but he tossed it in a wastebasket like a mile back.” She was exaggerating and breathing heavily. It probably felt like she’d run a mile in this crowded place.
“So that guy didn’t have anything on him? Can you find the trash can again? I’ll go with you.” Xavier asked her in rapid-fire. “We’ll try to retrieve the bag, Header.” He was thinking smart, and that was a good sign. We now had two marks, Arik and that bag. If we got lucky, the orange-haired kid had dumped it for someone else to pick up and to draw Kippy out into a chase. That was enough to give us a chance.
“My copain is here?” Kippy’s breathing was getting back to normal, and she sounded pleased to hear my name. “Tell him to meet us at the Brewhouse. That was the closest place I pegged the bag at. Come on, sport. We’ve got to dash.” It took me a second to realize she was addressing Xavier.
I checked in with my position, too. “I’m on my way to Eve. She saw Arik, and then I think she was assaulted. She hasn’t come back on yet. I need to get to her unless I come across Arik and the black beard wannabe before that.” I hadn’t stopped moving this whole time. I was moving with pure motivation to get Arik in my sights, and that was all. I was slicing through people with ease and elegance, hoping not to draw attention to my hurried, almost running speed-walk.
With Doc in Nace’s custody, we were a man down. With Eve unresponsive, that made another one down. Rosa had yet to check back in, so I was unclear about her location and her status. We had added Kippy, but I wasn’t exactly counting that as a win or bonus. This was not turning out how I’d pictured it earlier on the drive over.
Xavier was relaying my instructions and comments to Kippy, and they were sticking together. Then I could hear her response, loud and clear, and directed at me. “What the… you mean that they brought Arik here to get the bag? Listen, copain, that thing was in a locker. Chorley had paid it for two months, out of his own pocket. He didn’t want it to be found. You can’t get into those things without a warrant or…”
There were a bunch of ‘heys’ and more colorful words thrown out from both Kippy and Xavier, and then they went silent. I grabbed my phone to check on Rosa, texting her with more urgency than I normally did. Where are you? I really needed to know her location.
Her text reply was quick this time. I’m hiding in the women’s bathroom. A suit was after me. I ducked in here, but he’s probably waiting for me. Ideas? I knew she needed backup that I couldn't provide from where I was. This was turning into a really bad day. I needed to get this under control. We needed to find Arik at all costs.
I heard yells and screams from where Xavier had been with Kippy. For a minute, I hoped that something had gone in our favor, but I wasn’t going to bet on it. Xavier could handle whatever they’d run into. I knew that. I needed to worry about all the other stuff going on now. I continued moving through the crowd, and then from out of nowhere, Eve’s voice came back into our ears.
“Sorry about that,” she said quickly. “I ran into a very not-nice lady, and I had to let her kick my butt. But it worked out in the end. Airport security took her, and I had to make up a whole story for them to let me go and not file a report. I had to switch off the ear thingy, but I’m back now.” She sounded positively thrilled at this turn of events.
“Are you alright, Eve?” I wanted to hear her say it. Once I was assured of her well-being, I could focus on my team. If things had been going better, I would have told her to break off and get out of here, but we needed all the help we could get just now. I really hoped that she wasn’t too shaken to continue with the mission.
“Oh, I’m fine,” she assured me. “I think I lost all of my breakfast back there, but I’m okay now. I’m trying to catch up. Where is everyone? And what is going on?” She made some odd, pained noises when she wasn’t talking, and I had to assume that she might be in worse shape than she was letting on.
A new text came in from Rosa. She was including Eve and me alone now in her texts. With Doc and Xavier possibly compromised, we had to be careful. I hear yelling, but it’s far away from me. I’m going to chance it and look out of here quickly. I’ll see if I can get back out there with you. Wish me luck.
I stood still and waited, taking a moment to refocus and for Rosa to act. I scanned the faces and heads for our guys and any signs of my team, but I came up empty. I glanced down for any word from Rosa but got nothing. A minute later, I started to fear the worst. It looked like she had gotten found out, and that left just Eve and me to cover the entire set of exits.
There were some raised voices over to my left and then a whistle, so I turned to look. From out of nowhere, Kippy was stand
ing there, smirking at me. No, not me, at someone to my right. I spun around and saw a six and a half foot plus guy with a long, manicured beard next to a younger guy with a ball cap and old, ill-fitting clothes on. I still recognized him, though. It was the first time that I’d seen Arik since that night on the boat, and I would never forget him.
I took only one step forward before Black Beard pulled a push knife on me and lunged rapidly ahead. I dodged him and grabbed his wrist to restrain him from acting with it further. Arik was being pulled and thrown around, and I had to be careful not to get him crushed or entangled in this. I elbowed Black Beard hard in the nose, and blood gushed out. Screams echoed off the walls as people started to clear out fast.
Kippy swooped in and broke the guy’s grasp on Arik with brute force and surprise. I grabbed the bearded guy’s arm and bent it over my leg, making him drop the knife and freeing me up from getting stabbed. I had to hope that she would move quickly to secure the blade and keep Arik safe while I handled the assailant. Black Beard and I continued to tussle, which quickly turned into an old school fistfight. Even with his arm broken, the guy had some skill at hand-to-hand.
I didn’t want to pull out any blades I had with me in case security made an appearance. This exhibition was already going to get me into trouble. I didn’t need an added weapons charge on top of it. I took a gut punch to expose the back of his neck to me. Then I balled up with my fists and slammed them down hard just under his right ear.
I heard the sickening thud I’d been trained to listen for, and Black Beard stopped for only a moment. I pressed my advantage and jerked my knee up to connect with his chin and jaw. Blood poured out from his mouth, and there may have even been a few teeth mixed in. He screamed through garbled yelps and fell to one knee.
