by Mike Ryan
“Can we tap into the airport video?” Sanders asked.
“I’ll get right on it,” another analyst answered.
The silence was worrisome to the group, not knowing what was happening. Though they were confident of the plan succeeding, anytime something went awry that wasn’t accounted for, it was a cause for concern. Lawson had sat back down with her hands together over her face, almost looking like she was praying. Cain periodically looked over to her to make sure she was OK and hadn’t passed out or anything. They all anxiously waited to hear the words booming over the speakers again, hopefully that Raines had been eliminated
“Feed‘s up,” an analyst noted as video went up on the big screen. “That’s the closest bathroom to the terminal. They gotta be in there.”
Everyone intently stared at the screen as they waited for their agents to emerge. After a couple minutes of no activity they knew something was wrong.
“Something happened,” Sanders stated. “It doesn’t take that long to put a bullet into somebody.”
“Agent Langston, Agent Rivers, what is your status, over?” an analyst asked to no reply. He waited a few seconds before repeating the same question.
After a few more seconds of silence they finally heard a voice reply back.
“The target’s been eliminated,” the voice claimed.
“What took you so long?” Sanders asked, agitated.
“Just had to wait for people to clear out of the bathroom,” Raines answered, hurrying out of the airport before they realized it was him.
“Where are you now? We’ve got video on the bathroom now.”
“We already exited and are leaving the airport now.”
“Well, good job,” Sanders noted. “We’ll start erasing the evidence.”
“It’s been my pleasure.”
Lawson suddenly stood up, alarmed at something she heard. Cain looked at her strangely, wondering if she was OK. He put his hand on her arm which she brushed off, indicating she was fine.
“It’s him,” she stated.
“What?” Sanders asked, turning around.
“Raines. He’s alive. That’s him you’re talking to.”
“How do you know that?”
“He said “it’s been my pleasure”.”
“So?”
“Raines always said that. It was one of his quirky sayings that he liked to say,” Lawson revealed.
“Are you positive?”
“That’s him. Anytime someone said something to him that he felt like he should respond to he’d say “my pleasure”. He’s alive. Trust me.”
Sanders turned back to the microphone on the desk and pushed the red button to talk.
“Raines,” Sanders sternly said.
There was no reply as Sanders looked back at Lawson, who nodded that she was positive it was him. After a minute, Raines decided to respond.
“So, what tipped me off?” Raines wondered.
“What happened to my men?” Sanders asked.
“I’m pretty sure you know the answer to that.”
“I do.”
“Shelly’s there, isn’t she? She has to be. She’s the one who figured out it was me so quickly. Otherwise you wouldn’t have known for a little while yet.”
“She is,” Sanders confirmed.
“May I talk to her?” Raines politely asked.
“Absolutely not.”
“Tell her I’m sorry that it came to this.”
“You’re not one bit sorry.”
“Well, that’s for you to decipher. Tell her I did care for her.”
“She can hear you.”
“Well, it looks as though you’ve interrupted my plans. Now I’m gonna have to reach my destination in some other manner.”
“We’ll find you. Just like we did today,” Sanders told him.
“Even if you do, the results will play out just as they did today. You cannot outthink or outmaneuver me. I will always be one step ahead of you. So beware of the obvious,” Raines warned.
The connection cut out, ending the call, as a deafening silence permeated through the room. A look of sadness and despair overtook the faces of everyone in the room, angry and despondent over what just occurred.
“See if you can get video of the airport and parking lots to see if we can pick up where he’s at,” Sanders told an analyst.
“It’s unlikely we’ll find him. He’s probably disguised himself or lying low for a while,” Lawson said.
“I agree. But let’s do our due diligence anyway.”
“Well we know he was heading back to Indonesia,” Lawson stated.
“Yes, but I’d say it’s a good bet he’ll be changing his plans now that he knows we were on him,” Sanders replied. “At the very least he’ll be changing his method of getting there.”
“Flying’s the only way of getting there.”
“He knows we’ll be watching the flight lists. He’ll come up with something.”
A few people left the room though most of the analysts stayed to continue working. Sanders huffed and sighed as he exited the room. He stopped as he reached Cain and Lawson. Lawson seemed a little dazed, stunned that what she anticipated didn’t come to fruition.
“I want you two to make finding him your top priority right now,” Sanders told them briefly before leaving. “You find him. I want him dead.”
Chapter 9
Lawson woke up a little after five in the morning after a pretty restless sleep, nightmares continuing to run through her mind throughout the night. She dreamt of various scenarios in which Raines was killed, sometimes by her shooting him, or by Cain finishing him off. She laid in bed for ten minutes, staring up at the ceiling, wondering where Raines was at that particular time. She looked over at Cain who was still sleeping, and smiled, pulling the sheets over his naked body. After Raines eluded their capture in San Francisco, Lawson and Cain went to her house to work. Cain mainly went to make sure Lawson was OK and didn’t drink herself into a stupor. He somehow managed to let her get his guard down and started drinking along with her. After a couple hours of getting their mouths wet, they repeated the steps they took in that Indonesian hotel, and had a fun filled night of passion. She got up and took a shower, then proceeded to go to her desk, working on her computer for a bit. She felt a little more clear-headed, the lustfulness of the evening taking some stress off her shoulders.
Cain started stirring once he heard her typing away on the keyboard. He sat on the edge of the bed, yawning, and holding his head.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Lawson greeted.
“Hey.”
Cain got up and got dressed, wondering to himself what he was doing. He didn’t necessarily regret being there but he wasn’t sure it was the right thing they should be doing. He sat down next to Lawson at her desk, looking at what she was doing. They started talking but quickly stopped when a beeping sound started coming from her computer.
“What’s that?” Cain wondered.
“It’s an alert from the tracking program I have on there. It picked up something,” she replied, looking at the information that popped up.
By the look on Lawson’s face, Cain could tell it was something big. Her mouth opened the way it does when someone gets a shock that they can’t believe and her eyes stared at the screen, almost like she was afraid the information would go away if she blinked.
“It’s from Gutawa’s computer,” she said, turning to him.
“And?”
“There’s an e-mail from Raines.”
It read: Will be in Indonesia Friday. I would like to meet with you if you’re available.
Cain looked at the screen as the two of them read the short e-mail together. There wasn’t much to it or any complexities that they could see. They wondered if it was some sort of code but ultimately agreed that it wasn’t. Lawson immediately called Sanders to let him know.
“Yes?” Sanders sleepily answered.
“Sorry to wake you, sir,” Lawson stated.
�
�That’s all right. I was looking to get an early start this morning anyway. I assume something’s happened?”
“I just got a hit from the tracking software I put on Gutawa’s computer in Indonesia,” she informed him.
“Oh? Good news I hope?”
“I’m not sure yet. Raines just e-mailed him asking to meet with him. He said he’d be in Indonesia on Friday.”
“Any reply back yet?”
“Not yet. We should look at the flight lists to see,” Lawson started before Sanders interrupted her.
“There’s no guarantee he’s actually coming in on Friday. He might arrive Thursday. He also might not fly directly in. He could arrive via Singapore, or the Philippines, or even through Australia. Unless we have confirmed his path in then the best course of action is to meet him there. Take Cain and go back. Get the earliest flight you can. When Gutawa meets Raines, so will you,” Sanders said.
“I’ll make the plans.”
“Shelly.”
“Yes?”
“I want you to be careful, understand?”
“I will.”
“You are not an agent. I’m only telling you to go because you’re directly acquainted with the way he thinks and you are probably the best person to track him. I do not want you getting engaged with him if something goes down. That‘s what Cain is for.”
“I understand.”
As soon as she got off the phone she started checking airline information and let Cain know they were flying back to Indonesia. Within a few minutes all the flight times were displayed and she picked the one that’d get them there the fastest with the fewest layovers on the way. They wouldn’t have much time to prepare as their flight would leave in six hours.
Cain immediately left to go back to his apartment. He walked in and saw Heather sleeping on the couch. A small amount of guilt slowly crept into his system for not coming home all night. He went into his bedroom and quickly packed some clothes, while also putting his guns into the secret compartment of his bag so that they’d go undetected through airport security. Heather woke up, the sounds of the drawers opening and closing waking her. She rushed into the bedroom, happy to see Cain, and hugged him. She thought she smelled a woman’s perfume on him as he pulled away from her embrace.
“I was so worried,” she told him. “I sent you a bunch of texts but you never responded.”
“Oh,” Cain replied. He padded the pockets of his pants to feel where his phone was. He never even checked it once he got to Lawson’s house so he never got Heather’s messages. “I, uhh, forgot to check it.”
“That’s OK. I waited on the couch all night for you to get back. I must’ve fell asleep while I was waiting.”
The small amount of guilt Cain felt was growing by the moment. The fact that this woman was concerned about his whereabouts and well-being and he never bothered to even let her know where he was made him feel pretty crummy. He knew he wasn’t obligated to tell her anything but she was staying at his apartment and figured it was probably the proper thing to do.
“So where were you?” Heather asked.
“Umm, we had something important come up at the office. I just couldn’t get away,” he lied.
“All night? And you never checked your phone?” she wondered, not quite believing his story.
“I just forgot.”
A confused look came over Heather’s face as she watched Cain finish packing. She wondered where he was going after rushing in from being gone all night.
“Are you going somewhere?” she asked.
“I have to go back to Indonesia,” he sighed.
“Again?”
“Yeah. Looks like some unfinished business. Hopefully it won’t take too long but I’m not sure.”
“Oh.”
“When’s your flight?”
“A few hours,” Cain answered.
“You were with someone, weren’t you?” Heather finally asked, trying not to sound jealous.
“Uhh,” Cain mumbled, not sure what to say, and definitely not wanting to tell the truth.
“The perfume gives it away,” she told him.
“Oh.”
“So who’s the lucky girl? Do I know her?”
Cain looked down at the floor, ashamed to look at Heather in her face. She could tell by his avoidance that it was somebody that she knew, which cut down the list of suspects dramatically.
She thought for a second, then a look came over her face like she just solved a riddle. She remembered smelling that perfume before, not too long ago.
“It was Michelle, huh?” she asked.
Cain hesitated before answering, still not wanting to say. “Yeah.”
“I remember that perfume. She was wearing it that night she came over here. The night we first met.”
“Oh. Good memory.”
“I usually don’t forget things.”
“I see that.”
“So, are you two an item now?” she asked.
“No,” Cain emphatically answered. “It just kind of happened. Nothing more than that.”
They stood there in silence, both waiting for the other to continue, though neither one did. Heather knew she didn’t have the right to be mad since they weren’t a couple, but she couldn’t help but be a little huffy. Lawson got what Heather wanted. Him. She couldn’t figure out what Lawson had that she didn’t. She figured she should stop peppering him with questions about it since they weren’t together. He had the right to do what he wanted even though it made her heart ache. Cain could tell that Heather was a little annoyed, though he wasn’t sure if it was more the fact he didn’t come home or whether it was his little rendezvous with Lawson.
“Well, I should probably get going,” Cain finally stated.
“OK.”
“Umm, I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Yeah,” she replied, faking a smile.
“I’ll let you know when I’m on my way.”
Cain walked toward the door, turning around to see Heather once he reached it. He only saw her back as she was already walking into the bedroom. She had her head down and he could tell she was disappointed. Cain felt some remorse that he was the reason for her unhappiness and thought maybe he could make it up to her once he got back.
Once Cain arrived at the airport he met with Lawson, who was already waiting for him. She got there a half hour earlier and was on her computer working.
“Looks like we got some more news,” Lawson said.
“About?”
“Gutawa replied to Raines’ e-mail,” she revealed.
“What’d he say?”
“He agreed to meet with him. Ten o’clock at the Makam Perang Jakarta.”
“Say that again?” Cain asked, not understanding what she just told him.
“The Jakarta War Cemetery.”
“Convenient. He won’t have to go far when we’re done.”
“I’ve downloaded a map of the cemetery so we can plan it out.”
They looked over the plans during their long plane ride. The Jakarta War Cemetery contained the graves of almost 1,000 people, many of which died defending Java and Sumatra during the Japanese advance in 1942. Others died later in prisoner of war camps. The cemetery was in the suburb of Menteng Poeloe, almost seven miles from the center of city. It was next to the Netherlands Field of Honour in South Jakarta. It was only open between the hours of eight and five, Monday through Friday, so Raines obviously picked the location for its seclusion. The entrance faces the cemetery where people from the local market often blocked the access, trying to sell their wares. The cemetery was entered from the north side by a short flight of steps which led into a memorial building. Two main grass areas go through the site, one which ran north and south, the other running east to west. The Cross of Sacrifice stands in the middle of where the grass areas meet. In the southern part of the cemetery lies the graves from members of India’s forces. A monument was set up in this part, with sculptured wreaths bearing the words “India” and “Pakistan
” beneath them. The caretakers quarters along with a garage were also in this part of the cemetery. All graves were marked by bronze plaques and concrete pedestals. There were many sub-tropical plants, trees, and shrubs that adorned the property.
“We’re gonna be met by another agent once we get there,” Lawson informed Cain.
“Why?”
“To have more parts of the cemetery covered. He was doing some work in Australia so he was fairly close to bring over.”
“What’s the plan?” Cain wondered. “Doesn’t really seem like a lot of good places to take cover here.”
“The meeting’s scheduled to take place at the Cross of Sacrifice. Agent Stanton will be stationed by the garage where he can see the side entrance and the Indian Forces Monument if he should go that way.”
