Rule 53

by Elaine Nolan

  “If we know the location, why take the risk bringing a civilian?”

  “Believe me, if I could do this with only seasoned personnel, we wouldn’t all be standing around here,” Tom answered, and Leigh narrowed her eyes at the jibe and dig at her experience. “But this is a two-stage operation. The hard drive isn’t enough, we need an encryption key to access it. Apparently not even Harte’s computer voodoo can crack it.” She harrumphed on cue, earning quiet chuckles from the others. “Given what happened when the US Marshalls rocked up, I’m not taking any chances on leaving him behind should they try again, and we need him to get the key. I expect we’ll be followed as soon as we roll out, but if they’re watching and we do this right, they won’t know who’s who or in what vehicle.”

  “How?”

  Adam handed large golfing umbrellas to two of his team.

  “Keep them low and forward to block faces,” he told them. “We move two at a time.”

  “The Sergeant will come with me,” Tom told her. “You and Harte are similar height and build, so let them think Harte’s with me, Rainey’s stand-in goes with Blake. Once in the back keep heads down and faces away from windows. If anyone lets themselves been seen, I will shoot you myself. Understood?” His response was a chorus of ayes, in Irish from the army personnel.

  He lined them up, Adam and Nate’s body double first out the door to the SUVs as they pulled up, on Tom’s signal. The idea was to cover them just enough with the umbrellas in the downpour, but to give the hint they were moving Rainey, thus taking the focus away from the rest.

  The first SUV sped away from the Embassy as the second one pulled up, with the second wave of Tom and the Sergeant. Fifth in line Nate found it hard to control his nerves, and glanced to his calm and poised sister, an intent and focused look on her face. At their turn, she twisted her body sideways, took a firm grip of his arm while tilting his head forward and down. Even despite the umbrellas she still wasn’t taking any chances. She pushed him in to the SUV first, and jumped in beside him, and again firmly held his head out of view as the wheels spun on the wet ground.

  She listened to the chatter in her earpiece, happy to hear the amount of cars Tom procured for this was more than enough to throw off any surveillance teams following them. It was one of the best counter-surveillance techniques she’d even seen, or been a part of, but the warning from their driver of a car following them snapped her from of any sense of complacency. She used the car’s wing mirror to check their tail. The drivers expected this, no doubt Tom had briefed them first. The dialogue in her ear clued her into the game Tom was playing and it was the simplicity of it she admired. Whoever was following them had to stretch their resources and could only follow so many, and certainly not in all the different directions they went in, no one SUV anywhere close to another one. They were to continue on, look like they were leaving the city until the tail dropped away, then circle back towards their intended destination.

  Tom’s SUV lost their tail, pretending to stall at one set of traffic lights only to peel away at the last moment and leaving their tail behind at the lights. A simple trick that only worked because the dark SUV blended in with the multitude in the city. Adam’s situation however sounded like their pursuers fell for the decoy, and in a merry chase through the city found they’d picked up the other car Tom’s vehicle had shaken off. In her earpiece she heard Tom barking orders to his driver, moving to intercept Adam’s vehicle and run interference for them.

  Leigh’s car turned, changed direction and she checked the wing mirror again.

  “Are we clear?” she asked her driver, getting a nod, and she relayed that information to Tom. He told them to get their asses to the cemetery. Cars three and six confirmed they too were clear of any one following them and were now en route to the target destination. Leigh took a breath and gave Nate a tight smirk.

  “This just might work,” she told him.

  CHAPTER 58

  They arrived at Oak Hill cemetery at the same time as the others, and followed by Adam, with Tom’s car having intercepted long enough for them to slip away. The rain continued, but despite the downpour Adam decided against using umbrellas. They might give protection from the weather, but would only hinder them and get in the way, both in surveilling the surrounding area, or if they came under fire and had to take cover. Besides, their training in damp Irish weather meant the downpour was nothing they couldn’t handle. Except for Rainey, unused to being out in this level of inclemency, but he stopped moaning at receiving glares from more than just Leigh.

  “The sooner you locate the drive, the faster we get out of this weather,” she told him, and he needed no more encouragement.

  “I think it’s this way,” he answered and headed towards the chapel, but veered to the left and started making his way through the tombstones, weaving through the rows, then doubling back on himself. He tried not to show his confusion and fear at not finding it.

  “I thought you said it was a statue of an angel, there're only headstones here, no statues,” she said, and he ignored her as he scanned the slabs of stone, then stopped at one. Not a statue of an angel, but a carving of one, and he wondered how he’d gotten that detail so wrong. He called out to Leigh, feeling confident it was the right spot. Leigh alerted Adam, who handed one of his squad a trowel to dig. The soft, yielding ground came away as he scraped with care, not wanting to damage the hard drive by stabbing the implement into it by accident.

  Adam spread the rest of the team in a defensive circle, muttering into his comms unit. Leigh heard him, and Tom’s replies in her own earpiece, hearing the concern in both their voices. The squaddie called out to Adam, having hit something solid, and now cleared the dirt from around the plastic wrapped object.

  A mobile phone chime sounded and, startled, everyone turned towards the source of the sound, finding Rainey pulling his phone from his pocket. Furious at his stupidity, Leigh snatched it from him, and he gave a guttural, non-verbal reply at her roughness. He made a grab for it, but she pushed him away, the heel of her palm catching him in the chest, and making him gasp from her forceful impact, but he took another step back at seeing Adam fast approaching him too.

  “What the hell…,” he said, rubbing where she’d hit. She ignored him and checked the screen. Then, to his horror, she threw it at the gable wall of the small square chapel. It shattered on impact and Rainey’s confusion turned to anger.

  “What the fuck?” he demanded of her.

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” she roared back at him. “You’ve just put everyone at risk, everyone here who’s trying to save your miserable little arse, and you do something this fucking stupid, by bringing your phone?”

  “It’s just a phone,” he argued back.

  “It’s a tracking device, you fucking moron. All they had to do was ring it, and now they know where you are. You’ve just fucked up the precautions and efforts to keep you safe.” He retreated a step, both from her temper, and as realisation hit him. He risked a glance at the other Commandant and found no ally there either.

  “Did you have to smash it? My entire professional life is on that device, my contacts, my network,” he tried a different track.

  “Unlike you, I know how to back up information,” she retorted. “Your precious tech can be cloned.” Adam’s voice in her ear distracted her as he updated Tom. The squaddie handed Adam the packet and he opened it, confirmed it contained the hard drive, and confirmed to Tom they had it.

  While the rain distorted and masked sounds, they heard cars at the nearest entrance, and everyone, except for Rainey, reacted to the impending threat and they readied weapons. Leigh grabbed hold of Rainey’s arm, and pulled him behind her. Adam barked orders to the rest of the team, moving them forward to form a protective line between the new arrivals and Rainey. They took defensive positions behind the larger headstones and trees as their armed adversaries entered the cemetery, using the same entrance as they had, and cutting them off from their own vehicles.
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  “Move,” Adam roared at her, and she pulled Rainey with her. Keeping low to the sound of gunfire, they darted between the tombstones and memorials, running away from the fray, Adam a step behind them and defending their rear.

  “Where… we…?” Rainey tried to ask, in between gasps of breath.

  “Other side, Tom’s on his way,” she answered, and without the same shortness of breath he experienced. He heard cries of pain over the gunshots and hesitated, but neither Leigh nor Adam gave him a moment’s respite as they pulled and pushed him along. His lungs and thighs started to burn. He couldn’t understand it. He went to the gym, he worked out, how the hell was he in this much pain and winded, and why the hell weren’t they? Leigh’s grip on him hurt, the same arm where she’d shot him. He tried to pull loose, but she only tightened her grip further, and he knew he’d have a large bruise to add to his injuries there.

  Shouts and gunfire grew louder and closer behind them, and Rainey didn’t think it was possible, but the pair increased their pace. He stumbled as he tried to glance back.

  “Watch where you’re going,” she told him, and he felt comfort in hearing her breath becoming ragged, but the look of concern she gave Adam did nothing to ease his growing fear.

  “But McGregor’s…,” he tried to say.

  “Adam’s got our six,” she told him. “Tom’s inbound.” He tripped again, his mind whirling at her curt and calm words. How the hell could she stay so calm? They reached the far edge of the grounds, but Leigh didn’t stop. She continued to pull him down the embankment towards the Rock Creek River and paused only to check Adam’s position. Rainey hesitated at the water’s edge, but she dragged him in and across it. The icy water hit his ankles but her grip never wavered and held him upright as he stumbled forward.

  Adam brought up the rear and let Tom know their location, but Tom had them in view as the SUV came to a halt alongside them on the Parkway. The four in the car clambered out, and Tom moved into the driver’s seat as Leigh shoved Rainey into the back and sat in beside him. To the three remaining soldiers, Adam told them where to find the rest of the squad, then jumped into the front passenger seat. The tyres spun on the wet road before gripping as Tom tried a fast getaway. While the embassy was less than a mile from their current location, they had to get the second part of this puzzle now. There was no guarantee they’d get a second chance to get Rainey out of the Embassy again and he was essential for this next part.

  Their next destination was an apartment in the Brightwood Park district, in the city's northeast, and again Tom took a circuitous route there, making sure they weren’t being followed. To add insult to injury, as Tom drove Leigh frisked Rainey, paying close attention to the contents in his pockets, but getting up close and very personal in the body search. He blushed as her hands brushed high along his upper thighs, and wondered why she wasn’t as embarrassed as he was, but then remembered she’d already seen him naked, she was the reason he’d been naked.

  “Anything else?” Tom asked, watching her via the rear-view mirror.

  “Found nothing,” she answered.

  “What?” Rainey asked.

  “Anything else you were stupid enough to bring along that can track you,” she told him.

  “Only the satellite tracker in my ass,” he retorted, and regretted it as she pushed him sideways and checked. In any other circumstances, and by any other woman, he might have enjoyed such a grope, but not now, not that roughly and certainly not from his sister. He now wondered if she would’ve treated him less crudely if he’d been nicer to her at the start. But he had other, more immediate things to worry about, and he hoped the coast was clear, that he didn’t have another vengeful woman to face.

  CHAPTER 59

  “Stop at the next building,” Nathan instructed Tom, who pulled over to the kerb in front of the apartment complex. They got out but Nathan hesitated. Despite wearing a protective vest, he felt ill-prepared and defenceless. The other three watched him with concern as he paused, but he willed himself to move before Leigh grabbed him and inflicted more pain on him.

  “Why the hesitation?” she asked instead.

  “Emm, it’s complicated,” he answered.

  “Complicated is her default setting, give it a shot,” Tom ordered.

  “The encryption key is with an ex-girlfriend, but she doesn’t know she has it,” he answered.

  “And how recent is the ex part?” Adam asked.

  “A couple of months,” he answered, feeling uneasy at Leigh’s growing amusement.

  “Did she kick you out?” she asked.

  “No, I left her, after I found out why she was interested in me,” he said. The three waited, looking for more information, but unlike his usual audiences, these three didn’t hang on his every word, and could rough him up to encourage him to talk more. “Hopefully she’s at work, she should be, so it’s not someone you have to worry about.” He took a breath and pressed forward, entered the code to open the front door, grateful it still worked, and hadn’t changed since he’d last been there. He led them to a studio apartment on the top floor of the three-storey building.

  “How do you still have a key?” Leigh asked him as he opened the door.

  “Forgot to give it back,” he answered, but she didn’t believe him. “I kept it in case I needed to get the encryption key, okay?”

  “See, it’s much easier when you tell me the truth straight off,” she answered, hearing Tom chuckle behind them. “So why did you dump her?” He glared at her, not wanting to delve into the ruins of his bumpy relationship, but Leigh’s smirk told him she wouldn’t drop the matter. He gave her a pained sigh which only increased her smirk.

  “I found out she wasn’t as interested in me as much as she was interested in my appointment on Swayne’s Great American Rebuild project. Her boss put her up to it, to find out who and what I was,” he answered, annoyed to see her smirk developing into a cheeky grin.

  “The wannabe badass got played,” she captioned his state of affairs, but the snort of derision from Tom pissed him off more.

  “She’s a Congressman’s aide and… fuck,” he said as a woman appeared, armed with a kitchen knife, most likely the most convenient weapon to hand at hearing strangers in her home. The three reached for their weapons, but didn’t draw them. “Hey Kim,” he greeted her, and tried to sound jovial. She lowered the knife as he approached her.

  “What are you doing here, Nate?” she demanded.

  “Babe,”

  “Don’t babe me, you asshole.”

  “Kim, I left something behind, something important.”

  “And you couldn’t call and ask for it?”

  “Not really.”

  “So you just thought you’d break in here and steal it?”

  “I have a key, so technically it’s not breaking in. And it’s mine, so it’s not stealing.”

  “I took my key back. You made a copy? You asshole.”

  “Technically, yes, but Kim, what I’m looking for you stole from me,” he argued back, but with an ex-lover and three strangers standing uninvited in her apartment, his accusation only stirred her anger more, and she raised her knife towards him. Leigh stepped forward, her hand up to forestall any further action from Kim.

  “What we’re looking for is a vital piece of evidence in an investigation,” she tried to explain to the woman, but it backfired. Kim brandished the knife towards Leigh but remained focused on Nathan.

  “And who’s this? Your latest girlfriend? You thought you’d just throw her in my face too?” she demanded.

  “I’m nothing of the sort,” Leigh answered. “I’m his sister.” That angry glare now focused on her.

  “Sister? Is that the best you can come up with?”

  “Kim, she’s telling the truth,” Nate jumped back into the fray. “She is my sister, I just never mentioned her. And what does it matter? Just because there was no mention of her in the file you had on me, you think we’re lying?” He knew he hit a sore spot. He’d en
ded the relationship with her when he found that file.

  “I’m getting bored with this. You need to get what we came here for,” Leigh said to Nate, ignoring the other woman. “Do you know where it is, or not?”

  “I’m looking right at it,” he answered her, and reached for the heavy silver pendant Kim wore. She tried to stop him, but the chain broke, snapping at the back of her neck and she squealed. It took her a moment to recover and tackle Nathan to grab it back, but Leigh grabbed her wrist, twisting it and the knife out of harm’s way. Behind them Adam came closer to step in if Leigh needed help. Tom remained at the door, keeping a watch. The knife fell to the floor and Leigh kicked it away.

  “That was a gift,” Kim hissed at him.

  “It was nothing of the sort, babe,” he answered. “You snooped and found it, jumped to wrong conclusions, and took it thinking it was for you. It wasn’t.”

  “Are you willing to risk going to prison over a trinket?” Leigh asked Kim. “It’s not exactly Cartier or Tiffany’s.”

  “It was in a fancy box,” Nate joked, but neither woman found it amusing. Leigh’s question gave Kim pause.

  “Prison?” she asked.

  “Yeah, prison, for obstructing an investigation.”

  “You’re cops?” Kim asked. Nathan pointed to Tom.

  “He is,” he answered.

  “And your… sister?” Kim asked in a derogative tone.

  “She’s army intelligence,” Nate answered, taking pleasure from seeing Kim’s confusion, watching her trying to piece it together, but failing.

  “We good?” Leigh asked Nathan and he nodded. Leigh released her hold on Kim, and Nathan presented Kim with the key to the apartment.

  “A show of good faith,” he said, knowing it was another barb. She snatched it from him.

  “What are you caught up in, Nate?” Kim asked,

  “Don’t worry, Kim, unlike the last time, this investigation has nothing to do with your precious Congressman, or shouldn’t.” It was another barb, but he didn’t wait for a reply. He passed Adam as he walked out, and waited with Tom in the corridor for Leigh and Adam before descending in the elevator and exiting the building.