The Desert Lion's True Colours

by Ikechi Hayden

  With a slight nod, Na’talia said, ‘Camistock realised they needed to set up an Agency that would manually take care of any opposition.’ She paused again, - and using a phrase Leon had heard the Chief utilise earlier that morning, - she said, ‘The Agency became the hardware to Camistock’s Software. Anybody that needed to be removed - or in rare cases persuaded, was handed over to the ‘D.L Corps’ under the guise of National Security. Chief Edwards, your father, Pyro and two other highly trained Ex-Marines made up the Desert Lions Security Corporation.’

  Leon respectfully raised his hand and said ‘So I’m guessing your father was one of those ex-marines? That’s the connection you have with my father.’

  Na’talia’s face went blank for a moment then said, ‘Yes. In a way…’ Then after a long heavy sigh she said ‘I never knew my parents. A month after my mother told him she was pregnant with me, my father killed himself and the day I was born my mother handed me over for adoption.’

  ‘Dang!’ Jay exclaimed.

  Leon gave him a look that clearly said shut up but Jay rebuffed it by saying ‘I’m sorry to hear that Nat. That’s fucked up.’

  Na’talia let out a smirk and then nodded in reply.

  ‘Foreal. I’m sorry to hear that too,’ Leon said warmly. ‘However, how exactly did you get in contact with my father?’

  ‘My father’s name was Emanuel Geddess. He and one other member of the team were sent out on a Covert-Operation in Russia.’

  ‘For what?’ Asked Jay inquisitively

  ‘To silence certain members of their government.’ exhaled Na’talia.

  No one said anything in reply to that. So after a slight nod of the head - to signify she was going to continue, she said ‘The long and short of it is - they both got captured. My father’s partner was executed however your dad rescued him before they could do any real damage. Due to his injuries he wasn’t any use to the Corp or Camistock, so they gave him leave - well so he thought.’ She paused again and started to breath heavily, almost as if she was running out of air.

  ‘You going to be ok?’ asked Leon.

  Raising a hand she replied ‘Yeah I’m fine…’ She paused again and then after a few moments of silence said ‘Basically, they messed my father up and caused my mother to lose all hope… however your father somehow got me placed with a family he had connections to. I’ve known the truth since I was 14. It was your father who pushed me to exceed in school. Ended up graduating from Yale with a master’s in ‘Social Research and Behaviour’, then I went on to Study ‘Social Science, at the MIT Research Facility for 3 years.’ She paused and with a gleeful smile continued, ‘. . . Because of whom my dad was, your father knew they couldn’t resist recruiting me into the Agency.’ She paused again and the smile on her face got even wider before she said ‘little do they know instead of being a pawn for them, I have been helping your father stay one step ahead.’

  Jay burst into a sarcastic chuckle and then instantly changed his expression into a serious frown. ‘Are you being serious… ?’ He said doubtfully. ‘. . . So you’re like some double agent?’ After a slight pause, Jay’s expression changed again and the fake chuckle was replaced with an ironic laugh; however when he swung his chair around to look over at Leon, his expression immediately flipped back to one of more seriousness.

  ‘What’s wrong now?’ he asked. Instantly regretting he did.

  Leon refused to reply, - which on one hand was a good thing, - however Jay did not like to be ignored, so he spoke up again. ‘Yo dawg! What’s good?’

  Leon tore himself away from his thoughts and replied, ‘Nothing. Everything’s cool.’ Then turning his attention to Na’talia he said, ‘So now we know your story, what’s the deal with Carter?’

  Na’talia cleared her throat. She was hoping the question would not be asked.

  ‘He’s my partner,’ she said after a long pause. ‘We’ve been working together for years.’

  Leon immediately came back with a combo of questions, ‘Does he know who you really are? Is he on this whole thing with my father too?’

  Na’talia held her silence a little longer than Leon would have liked however she finally nodded slightly and replied, ‘Yes and yes.’

  ‘Is that it?’ Jay asked firmly. ‘Is that all you’re gonna say?’

  Na’talia hesitated for a moment longer and then said, ‘I found out the District Superior wanted someone on the case to follow you guys. So when the request was issued I pulled a few strings to get Carter on the gig.’

  ‘So I take it the Chief knows?’ Leon asked.

  ‘Yes.’ She replied.

  “You said that a little too quickly!” thought Leon. Then turning to Jay he said, ‘Well I guess that explains why the Chief trusts the guy.’

  ‘That makes sense - I guess.’ Jay replied.

  He was about to say something else but Na’talia cut in with ‘By the way. If it was me who tried to save your ass, only for you to assault me afterwards…’ She paused, for just a second and then said ‘. . . Well, let’s just say you wouldn’t be on this plane right now.’

  Knowing Na’talia was talking about his bust up with Carter the night before, Jay let out a fake chuckle and said ‘Whatever… ! Your boy Carter made a bad situation worse.’

  With her face screwed up she said, ‘He potentially saved your life. You ungrateful son of a bitch…’

  Jay was in total shock. He was not expecting that kind of a reaction. Leon however just stood there in silence, with one eyebrow raised. A few seconds passed and no one said a thing, but they were all thinking everything.

  After painstakingly holding his tongue from telling Na’talia where she could go and what she could do while she was there, Jay said ‘Call me a bitch again.’

  Before Na’talia could reply, the familiar clicking sound of the G5’s intercom came through the speakers, followed by Agent Boyland’s voice. ‘Good Morning…’ He said. ‘. . . Just wanted to update you all, that we have been flying for the better part of forty-five minutes and so we should be landing in JFK in just over an hour from now.’

  The jet planes integrated speakers made the same clicking sound as before and just like that, Agent Boyland’s voice along with the airy background noise was gone.

  Despite the minor interruption, Jay was still fuming over what Na’talia had just said to him. He was not the kind of guy, to let anyone speak to him like that however this situation was very different. He realised right away, Na’talia was not going to back down, so he understood that if he pushed the argument it would undoubtedly bring their working relationship to an abrupt end.

  Several, silent seconds passed. Then with a heavy sigh, Leon said ‘So what exactly is my father’s plan?’

  Na’talia took in a deep breath but before she could even exhale, - let alone answer the question, Jay did what he does best and cut in. ‘Wait!’ He ordered. ‘Before you kill us with information over load…’ He paused, turned his attention to Leon and said ‘I’m going to finish getting ready. You can fill me in on the details when I get back.’

  Leon nodded in response.

  Getting out of his chair, Jay looked at the guns, clothes and other equipment still on display and said ‘So I’m guessing this stuff does belong to us?’

  ‘In a manner of speaking, yes…’ replied Na’talia. ‘. . . As of early this morning the jet and the things in it have been handed over to your father by a close friend.’

  Leon chuckled. ‘Close friend huh and who would that be?’ he said.

  Smiling Na’talia replied, ‘A Royal Sultan of Dubai.’

  Remembering what Chief Edwards had said in the car on the way to the airport, Jay said ‘I’m sorry. I’m not sure I heard you correctly. Did you just say the Royal Sultan of Dubai?’

  Before Na’talia could reply, Jay said, ‘You know what, I don’t even w
ant to know whose plane this is. I’ve heard enough. Conspiracy theories, double agents, peeps coming back from the dead, - no offence dawg! Kids being taken away from their family and being put into special schools Shit! What next?’

  Exasperated Jay slowly shook his head from side to side before saying, ‘I’ma head back to the bathroom.’

  With that he gave the clothes a once over and picked out what he wanted to wear. After selecting a pair of pants and a top he returned to the back of the plane and into the bathroom. While he was gone Na’talia broke down Aaron’s plan that would supposedly bring them all some sort of retribution.

  While Leon sat there listening to Na’talia explain his father’s intentions, he could not help but feel hurt and even more deserted than before. Sure he was happy to find out his father was alive but he could not help but think why his father would go out of his way to look out for Na’talia but leave him free to the hands of Camistock. He was about to ask her as much but at that moment Jay exited the bathroom the same way he had done before. – Swiftly and singing. This time the towel was gone and he was now in his Ralph Lauren underwear and a new white wife-beater. Jay called down the length of the plane to Leon.

  ‘Yo, we don’t have much time dude. You need to start getting ready.’

  Leon looked over at Na’talia who nodded in agreement. Looking over his face she said, ‘He’s right. You should go wash-up and take care of those bruises.’

  Leon stood where he was, contemplating how and what to say to her but in the end he decided to keep his thought to himself and just replied ‘Yeah. May be I should.’

  Without another word, Leon got up out of his chair, picked up the sports bag he had packed earlier and entered into the bathroom, - throwing out Jay’s pants and top onto the long couch on the other side of the plane. – Then resting on the edge of the sink he retrieved Kerry’s photograph from his pocket and looked at her face warmly. He had not seen her since she left for work the evening before. No doubt she had been picked up from the hospital already and had been fully debriefed by Carter or the Chief on what was going on. He then thought about the impending reunion with her father. He would have liked to have been there to see that. Trying to make himself feel better, he kissed the face of the photograph and then said ‘I love you’ out loud. With a sigh and Turning to face the mirror he cleaned his cuts with the meds from the first aid kit and then after having a shower and putting on a change of clothes, he Jay and Na’talia spent the remaining flight time going over the next step of the plan.

  CHAPTER 14

  By the time Leon and Jay found their way to the pick-up area outside the main entrance of the airport it was 8:25am – Saturday Morning. As usual they looked good. Well put together. Jay was wearing the pants and shirt he had taken from the plane, a white velvet Kangol hat – to cover the bruise on his head, a white pair of Air Force 1’s and a blue, white and grey diamond pattern golf jumper. Leon on the other hand decided to wear the clothes that he brought. A white pair of Air Force 1’s a plain blue pair of Red Monkey Jeans and a white Hermes varsity jumper. The tag on the inside read cashmere. Kerry had good taste like that. It had a low v neck, a blue letter H sown into the left chest and two blue stripes wrapped around each sleeve. Leon was not one for sun glasses but due to the bruises on his face he decided to put on a wide frame pair of PRADA’s and like Jay he thought it would be best to cover the bruise on his head so he made sure to don a blue New-Era fitted cap, with the ‘305’ area code emblazoned on the front. Na’talia however had on the same clothes she was wearing before they entered the G5 jet-plane. She did not need to change. In fact, she was still sitting in the single, white leather chair on the plane. She knew her roll, she knew where she needed to be, so they all decided it would be best for her to stay behind and wait for Leon and Jay to exit the airport.

  Na’talia was still seen as a CIA Agent, shadowing her partner on a case. So there was no way she could turn up in New-York with Leon and Jay who officially do not know she even exited. The logistics in Miami was easy but New-York was very different. It was closer to home and her CIA partners were located all over the tri-state area.

  From the G5 Na’talia called the number to one of the two mobile phones Leon had taken from the plane. The phone rang twice before Leon answered.

  ‘Hey freedom fighter.’ She said. Her voice was warm and cheerful, almost as if their current situation never existed.

  Leon smiled. ‘Hey, what’s good?’ he said back.

  ‘Just want you to know I understand how you may be feeling.’ She said.

  ‘You do?’ replied Leon mockingly.

  ‘Yes. I think I do.’ She paused for a moment, and then said, ‘Just give him a chance.’

  ‘Who… ?’

  ‘You’re Dad.’

  ‘Oh. Yeah. Is that it?’

  Na’talia let out a sigh. ‘I guess so.’ She said coarsely.

  While her intentions came from a good place Leon did not care much for her statement.

  ‘Aight… I’ll call you if anything should happen. I guess we’ll talk again later on today.’ He said.

  ‘Ok.’ Na’talia replied. ‘. . . Watch your back.’

  Leon raised an eyebrow. ‘Will do,’ He said.

  Ending the call, Leon put the phone back in his pocket and using the mobile phone Perry gave him the night before, called Black.

  The phone rang just once before it was answered. The person did not say hello or give any introduction, just went directly into a question. ‘Are you in New-York?’ It was Perry.

  Assuredly, Leon simply replied ‘Yes.’

  ‘Good…’ Perry gave a slight pause and then said ‘you guys got there kinda quick.’

  Leon could hear the curiosity in his voice, so he decided it would be best to speed up the conversation.

  ‘Yeah well, we’re here now. What’s good?’ he said.

  Perry told him to hold onto the line while he passed the call over to Black. Leon could hear the muffled sound of the phone being passed from hand to hand. A few seconds passed before Black’s distinct voice came through the ear piece loud and clear.

  ‘I see you got to NY in good time.’ He said.

  ‘Yeah, we did aight.’ Leon replied. ‘. . . I just wanted to check-in like you said we should. We we’re just going to catch a cab to a hotel. Get some rest and meet your contact for 10 o’clock tonight.’

  Black started to laugh.

  ‘No you won’t…’ He said. ‘. . . My contact has sent a driver to pick you guys up from the airport. He should be there shortly.’

  Adjusting the phone on to his ear Leon said ‘And we’re supposed to just get into the car with this dude?’

  ‘Yes. Why you ask that?’ asked Black curiously.

  Leon did not answer.

  Black cleared his throat before he said ‘You’re not worried are you?’

  ‘No!’ replied Leon quickly.

  Black made a sound between an enquiring hum and a board grunt and then said ‘Good… Besides, without you and the bags your carrying there’s no deal anyway. So don’t worry. You’ll be taken care of. So hold tight and the driver will be with you guy’s soon.’

  ‘How will we recognise him?’ asked Leon.

  ‘Don’t you worry about that… He knows what you look like.’

  With that Black ended the call.

  As Leon lowered the phone from his ear Jay asked, ‘What’s going on bro? Someone is coming to pick us up?’

  ‘It looks like it?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘I have no idea, but it turns out they know who we are though.’

  Jay frowned slightly then said, ‘That’s bullshit man. What are we supposed to do now?’

  ‘Wait. I guess…’

  ‘For how long?’ Jay retorted angrily.

  Leon did not r
espond right away. He just shrugged his shoulders and let the sports bag he was holding fall onto the floor next to the Gucci bags surrounding his feet.

  ‘I know what you’re thinking… ?’ he said finally. Leon was trying to sound reassuring however he was unsure if Jay was even paying him any attention. So with half a smile on his face he said ‘We have no choice but to go along with this man. We’re just going to have to feel our way through it. We’ve done it before. Everything will be fine dawg.’

  Not happy with the situation, Jay began to mock Leon by saying “We’ll be fine, dawg” in an awful attempt of an impersonation.

  Leon was going to respond to it but decided it was not worth it.

  A few seconds of silence passed between them as they scrutinised all the other passengers standing around them. They watched the intricate commotion of tourists arriving into the Big-Apple for the first time and New-York natives returning to the concrete jungle they called home. Standing on the edge of the curb, Leon turned to his left and watched the car’s coming towards them. Twenty minutes passed and no driver or car looked out of place.

  ‘How long are we expected to wait?’ Jay said finally.

  Leon shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘This wasn’t a part of your pop’s plan…’ instigated Jay. ‘. . . Why are we even here? Shouldn’t we let the Chief or Na’talia know what’s going on?’

  Leon was about to reply but both of their attentions were grabbed by three vehicle’s pulling up to the curb in front of them. Two white Range Rovers. One at the front, one at the back and a white Jaguar XJ, with 20' inch rims sandwiched in the middle. All three of the cars had limo-style tinted windows, making it impossible to see who and how many people were inside each vehicle.

  Jay looked over at Leon and said ‘So are we supposed to just get in?’

  No sooner did he say that the rear passenger window of the Range Rover at the front of the line slowly rolled down. Leon took two steps to his right to get a better look at the person inside. There were four men within the car including the guy sitting closest to the open window. The guy looked Arabian, but due to his full beard and the wide framed sun-glasses he was wearing Leon thought he could have just as well been from Iran, Egypt, Pakistan or some other eastern region of Europe.