End Game (Jack Noble #12)

by L. T. Ryan

I nodded, said nothing. Neither did Lexi.

  “You folks are kinda off the beaten path here, aren’t you?”

  “We like to wander around between our appointments,” Lexi said. “Never know what you might find, or who you might meet.”

  “What’re y’all pitching?”

  “Fluoroscopy equipment,” Lexi said.

  The woman’s forehead folded upward, she scratched her chin as though she were contemplating purchasing something she had never heard of before.

  “It’s kind of a niche market,” Lexi said. “Mostly for doctors.”

  “So you two,” the woman wagged her finger between us, “you’re not a couple?” Her voice rose as she said it.

  I glanced over at Lexi. Her cheeks reddened a shade or two.

  The woman nodded and winked. “Yeah, I know how it goes. All those hours in the car together, the hotel rooms, the late-night nightcaps at those fancy bars. So let me ask you, either of you got attachments back home?”

  “You writing a book?” I said.

  “No,” Lexi said, waving her hand in front of both of us. “It’s not like that.”

  The waitress shifted her focus to me. “Yeah, well, I can tell you, hun, you’re missing out if you’re not chasing after a guy like that.”

  “You’ve earned yourself a tip no matter how else the meal goes,” I said.

  The small talk shifted to taking our orders, then the waitress returned to the other end of the counter and chatted with her regulars.

  I threw down two cups of black coffee before my bacon and eggs arrived. Lexi went heavier on the carbs with a meal consisting of grits, hash browns, and whole wheat toast.

  Uneasiness held a tight grip over me as I kept waiting for something to happen. Maybe the cook would come out from behind the line with an AK and shoot up the place. Or some of Thanos’s guys would block us in, take us into custody, torture us. Hell, perhaps Charles’s ugly mug would stroll in through the door and he’d challenge me to a fight on neutral ground. That last one actually held some appeal.

  But an hour passed without incident. We drank our coffee and ate our breakfast and did it in relative silence. We both had things we wanted to say, at least I did. I figured the things Lexi wanted to talk about weren’t along the same lines as me. Or maybe they were. She was a hard woman to read.

  I studied her for a minute, taking note of the hardened look of someone who’d come up in a male-dominated sector. She looked tough as nails. Was the interior as rough as the exterior? She’d let me in a little. What other secrets were hidden in there?

  “You don’t have to worry about me,” she said, holding her loaded fork in front of her mouth. Steam rose off the pie in front of her.

  “What?” I said.

  “Christ, Jack, you’ve been staring at me the better part of five minutes. I told you, I’m a big girl. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “Who said I’m worrying?” I pulled out my wallet and dropped a fifty on the counter. “Just wondering what you’re thinking about, and what’s in store for us today.”

  She shook her head, dropped her fork, and walked out of the diner, leaving her mostly uneaten dessert behind. The waitress came over, collected the fifty.

  “I knew there was more going on with you two.” She smiled and winked. “Let me get your—”

  “You can keep the change.” I barely heard her thanking me as I left the restaurant.

  The car was running. Lexi had already shifted into reverse, her foot pressed on the brake hard. The dog whimpered a couple times after I sat down. I reached around back and scratched his neck. He eased back down and closed his eyes.

  The next twenty minutes were spent in painful silence. I had a hard time believing Lexi’s attitude had to do with what happened last night. So what was it? Did she think someone was onto us? Should I open up about my past, make her understand we were OK?

  She turned onto a dirt and gravel driveway that disappeared into the woods. The Civic sounded like a tank crushing the ground beneath it. We passed through the trees and into a clearing where I saw a small house. A long fence stretched to either side. The flowerbeds were barren. There were no cars out front. A porch swing and a couple of white rocking chairs were unoccupied.

  The blinds in the front window parted a couple inches. I couldn’t make out the figure standing behind them. After Lexi parked the car and shut it off, the window coverings fell shut again.

  “Someone expecting us?” I said.

  “Get the dog,” she said, stepping out of the vehicle.

  I pulled open the back door and helped him out. He limped next to me, doing his best to walk on all fours as we approached the front porch.

  The door opened. A tall male figure was shielded by the shadowy screen door. He eased the screen door open and stepped out wearing faded jeans and a white undershirt. He was thin, but muscular. His silver-and-black hair was thick, as were his dark eyebrows. A thin mustache adorned his upper lip. He held a rifle by the barrel in his right hand.

  “Who the hell is this?” He stared right at me. “I told you don’t be bringing no strangers around here.”

  Lexi sighed, rolled her eyes. “Hiya, Pop.”

  21

  I glanced between the old guy and Lexi. “Pop? This old spinster is your father?”

  “Spinster?” He tensed up. The veins on his biceps stood out. “Figures she ain’t told you nothin’ ‘bout me. My dear Lexi only comes by when she’s in need of something. So what is it this time? This knucklehead knock you up?”

  Lexi blushed and looked down at her feet.

  “Let’s try something easier,” he said. “What’s this fellas name?”

  “Jack,” she said.

  “Jack what?” he said.

  “I only know his first name, Pop.”

  “Can’t say I’m surprised you’re shackin’ up with some fella when you don’t even know his last name.”

  She stepped forward, went toe to toe with the old guy. “You listen here. You will not talk to me or my friend like that. I’m not shacking up with nobody. Jack is a professional associate of mine.”

  “Such a professional you know his full name, right?” He turned his back on us and went inside, letting the screen door fall shut.

  “Come on,” Lexi said.

  I grabbed the door and waited for her to step inside, then followed her in. It was warm, at least seventy-five in there. A wood burning stove sat in the middle of a large square room. The smell reminded me of a month I spent in Vermont. Went there to get away from everything a couple of years ago while recovering from a waterboarding incident.

  Lexi’s father pulled a beer from the fridge, opened it, took a long pull, draining half the bottle. He didn’t bother asking if we wanted one. Might have had something to do with the fact it wasn’t even nine a.m. yet.

  He drew a bead on me. “You undercover?”

  “Something like that,” I said.

  “Something like that,” he repeated with a roll of his eyes. “Pretty simple question if you ask me. Either you are, or you aren’t. Now, maybe you don’t want to tell an old curmudgeon like me. Might help if you knew I spent my whole damn working life in the Agency. Hell, during the eighties I practically lived on the other side of the Berlin wall.”

  “Cold War guy, huh?”

  He nodded. “You young assholes don’t know nothing about that.”

  “I remember watching the wall fall. I was thirteen, so I guess watching was all I could do at the time.”

  He shook his head. “Christ all mighty. You and her make quite the pair. What were you, Lexi? Eight? Nine?”

  “Ten.” She sat down across from him. “Jack’s not undercover. He’s with another agency.”

  Her father rested his elbow on the table and scratched at the stubble on his chin. “Oh yeah? Which one?” He crossed his arms over his puffed out chest. “Not my Agency. Not this guy.”

  “No, sir,” I said. “I worked with those guys in Africa and the Middle East
from ‘95 through ‘02. Part of a special program with the Marines.”

  “So you’re a Jarhead, then.”

  “Was, sorta. Never spent much time in a platoon. Was pulled into that assignment during Recruit Training. Afterward I got into another agency and have been working with them since.”

  “Well, which one?” he said.

  “Afraid I can’t disclose that, sir.”

  “Well that’s some bacon grease fried bullshit, son. Got me all excited to talk shop, and you’re gonna hold out on me like that. Christ, I’m—and I hate to say this with Lexi present—but I’m liable to get blueballs sitting here wondering just what it is you do, and how that got you hooked up with my FBI agent of a daughter.”

  “Dad, come on. Enough of that talk.” She got up, poured a glass of water, took a sip. “Are you gonna help us or not?”

  “Guess that depends on what you need.” He looked back at Lexi. “And why an FBI agent and a man who works for a yet-to-be-named agency can’t gather this information on their own.”

  She rejoined us at the table. “It’s not that we can’t. Things are a bit, I dunno, tense at the moment. If we start asking a bunch of questions, it might raise suspicion. And you know as well as I do, once that happens, you can kiss all your plans goodbye.”

  “It might help if you stop talking in circles and tell me just what it is that you need, girl.”

  “There’s a man named Thanos,” I said. “Lives and works in Chicago. Lexi and I share a mutual interest in him.”

  “For different reasons,” she added.

  “Right,” I said. “Thanos is our common thread. We both attempted to apprehend him at the same time. In fact, that’s how we met. Problem was, someone had already gotten to him. No one has seen or heard from him in over twenty-four hours.”

  “Where and when did this go down?” he asked.

  “Thanos’s house,” she said. “Yesterday morning, around nine.”

  “He was probably at work then,” he said. “Hell, I bet he was in his own damn bed last night.”

  “Doubtful,” Lexi said.

  “Why’s that?” He shifted in his seat to face his daughter.

  “Someone shot up his house while we were in there,” Lexi said. “And I’m not talking about a couple guys with plinkers, Pop. They were armed with shotguns and automatic weapons.”

  “Yeah, guess that could pose a problem,” he said, frowning seemingly over the fact he admitted he agreed with us. “You think the shooters were there for you or him?”

  “Good question,” she said. “I’ve been playing it over and over in my head. Did someone get him out in time, or did someone take him forcibly and then waited around to clean up any mess that might arise? Did they know about his involvement with me?”

  It was an angle I’d only glancingly thought about. Lexi didn’t know about Thanos leaving the night before, and I wasn’t sure now was the best time to tell her that the thirty minute head start she figured Thanos had could indeed be several hours more.

  “So, again,” her father said. “Why can’t you get your people to look into it? They can check his cell phone records, telematics to track his car, look for credit and debit card transactions. Christ, you kids got it so damn easy now. When I was in the field, we had to work to catch somebody.”

  Lexi looked in my direction for several seconds without making eye contact. She didn’t need my help, or for me to intervene. She couldn’t or wouldn’t answer his question with me present.

  As fate would have it, the burner phone in my pocket started buzzing.

  22

  Lexi stared at the phone as I pulled it out. “Who’s calling you on that line?”

  Staring at the number on the screen, I shrugged. “I didn’t give it out to anyone. I’m gonna take it outside so you and your dad can talk alone.”

  I exited through the front door, blocking the dog from following with my foot until the door was secure. I answered the call as I stepped off the porch.

  “Who is this?” The cold air froze my throat and lungs, forcing a stifled cough.

  “Mr. Jack.”

  The Old Man.

  “How the hell did you get this number?” I said.

  “Please,” he said. “You think you are the only one with friends in the spy business? How I got the number is of little consequence. What I am more concerned with is where things are with your job. Give me an update, now.”

  I headed down the driveway into the wooded area. “I don’t have one to give. He’s off the radar, and so am I.”

  A steady breeze rustled overhead limbs and caused the tall pines to sway side to side, sometimes slamming into each other with the sound of a baseball bat driving a triple over the left fielder’s head. I continued to the other side of the woods where I had a view of the winding driveway all the way out to the narrow country road. It was deserted. Would it stay that way?

  “My associates in Chicago are growing concerned over the disappearance of our friend,” the Old Man said. “You say you know nothing of where he went and who he went there with?”

  “If you’ve been in contact with someone who knows him, then you need to share what they told you.”

  The Old Man laughed for several seconds. “Mr. Jack, you see, this is what I love about you. So many men, they are, well I’ll come right out and say it, they are scared to death of me. I don’t know why. I’m a pretty decent boss, and a great friend to have on your side. I guess it’s because if you cross me you won’t have many more opportunities to do so. Even people who have simply upset me by not using a coaster for their beer have found this to be true.”

  “That’s great, it really is. What’s it got to do with me?”

  “You don’t screw around with me, Mr. Jack. You have something to say, you say it. You’re not scared of me. You don’t pussyfoot or tap dance around because you fear what I might do to you.”

  “Got news for you, Feng. You aren’t the biggest badass I’ve ever been around. Hell, the DIs down on Parris Island bit harder than you do.”

  This elicited another round of laughter from the Old Man.

  “So spill already. I’m tired of wasting time here in Wisconsin.” Figured it wouldn’t hurt to throw him off my trail. Although I had a feeling he had one of his contacts monitoring the call in an attempt to isolate my location. Until they did, he had no way to know I was in Indiana, which meant Lexi and I had a two-plus-hour head start. Then again, the Old Man was able to reach me when he didn’t have the number, so it was plausible he already had my location, in which case, we were screwed.

  “They are concerned over the involvement of a rogue FBI agent.”

  My gut tightened. “OK.”

  “Seems that this agent had infiltrated my associate’s organization.”

  “Got to his men?”

  “No, the agent was undercover and managed to get close to my associate and one of his most powerful allies.”

  “What’d they do to the agent when they found out?”

  “They didn’t do anything to the agent because the agent fell off the face of the planet after being outed. Word was that the FBI placed the agent on permanent leave and whisked her away into witness protection.”

  “Her?” I acted surprised.

  “Yes, Mr. Jack. Women can become FBI agents, among other things, these days.”

  “So if this agent is out of the picture, what’s the concern?”

  “She resurfaced recently. Guess the FBI is so bad at their jobs they can’t even keep track of one of their own. Well, when she resurfaced, she went straight to our friend. She had the goods on him.”

  “If that’s the case, why didn’t she just go to her superior at the agency?” I looked back through the woods to see if they’d exited the house. I only saw the dog wandering down the driveway toward me. “Seems to me that would have earned her some brownie points, at least.”

  “Ah, I wish I could answer that. I can only assume that she was thinking she could get back in the B
ureau’s good graces by pulling off a big bust. Put all the pieces together, then go to them with it.”

  I knelt down and petted the dog’s head. “I suppose that makes sense.”

  “My associates believe that this rogue agent was coercing our friend into turning on them. And she may have our friend in custody at an unknown location at this time.”

  “It’s gonna be tough to track that down,” I said. “Unless you’re holding back and have more info to give me.”

  “I’m sure it will be,” he said. “I’m going to send you her picture, and some information about her. I hope you understand, you’ll have to use your own contacts for additional intel. I cannot be linked to this in any way.”

  “How much?” I asked.

  “How does an extra hundred thousand sound?”

  “Come on.” I lowered my voice. “This is a federal agent. That’s a death sentence if I’m caught.”

  “OK, you win, Mr. Jack. A quarter, but no higher.”

  A quarter of a million dollars with the target less than a hundred yards away. Any other day, I might actually pull it off. But I knew half of Feng’s story was rubbish, so I decided to play along for a while to get the missing intel.

  “I’m going to have the details sent to you in a few moments,” he said. “Let me know when you’ve located her.”

  I ended the call without responding and stood at the edge of the woods for several moments with my eyes closed. The distant hum of an eighteen-wheeler rose over the steady wind. I looked out over the property up to the road. Still deserted.

  “What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time,” I muttered as I turned back toward the house.

  The phone vibrated a few times. I downloaded the attachments the Old Man had sent. If there was any doubt in my mind, it was now erased. I was staring at a photo of Lexi, taken recently. Someone had surveillance on her after she came out of hiding. How long had they been following her? When did she manage to lose them?

  It hit me that she hadn’t lost them. We had. They followed her right into Thanos’s house. They were the shooters.

  Son of a bitch.