Nemesis: A Jordan Quest FBI Thriller

by Gary Winston Brown

  Madelaine calculated her options. She was doubly armed now. She could approach the passenger side of the vehicle quickly, surprise the woman at knife or gunpoint, and take her chances that she would surrender. But her every instinct told her this would not be how the confrontation would go down. This was not a random kidnapping carried out by amateurs. This was a targeted, well-orchestrated abduction executed by professionals. There was no way the woman would surrender quietly or go down without a fight. Despite Madelaine’s belief that she could likely hold her own if it came down to exchanging blows, she was still feeling the effects of the drug. Her reflexes were slower than normal, and she had exerted much of her energy in subduing the man now lying unconscious at her feet. No, the wisest course of action was to escape, to put as much distance between her and the woman as fast as she could.

  The road they had traveled was quiet. She had not heard the sound of passing traffic from inside the trunk in the last five minutes since they had exited the freeway. Madelaine rationalized that if she were to run right now, the hard packed dirt road and heavy bass beat would cover the sound of her footfalls.

  Last chance. Confront her abductor and make a stand or run.

  The choice was clear.

  Madelaine pulled the gun from her waistband, trained it on the car, faced the vehicle, and stayed low. Slowly, she crept away from the back of the car. When she had put a solid fifty feet between her and the Mercedes, she turned and bolted down the road as fast as her shaky legs would carry her. As she disappeared around a bend in the road, she heard the woman cry out.

  “Zhang!”

  9

  JORDAN, CHRIS, AND Colonel Hallier left the parking garage. “We’ll take my car,” Hallier said.

  As they exited the building, a DARPA agent stationed at the front door was taking the brunt of a verbal attack from a courier who was attempting to deliver a package.

  “Look, man,” the courier said. “I’m just doing my job. Step aside and let me through.”

  The agent placed his hand against the man’s chest as he tried to walk past him. “That’s not gonna happen, my friend,” he replied. “You can drop it here.”

  The courier displayed his electronic signature pad, tapped the screen. “See what it says here? Oh, sorry. My bad. I’m assuming you can read. In case you can’t, let me read what it says. Signature required upon delivery. Right here, under the name. C-O-L-T-R…”

  Hallier had heard enough. He grabbed the package out of the courier’s hand.

  “Hey!” the courier yelled. “Give that back!”

  Hallier glared at the man, said nothing. His eyes bore a ‘you-really-don’t-want-to-mess-with-me’ look.

  The courier tried to stand his ground. “It’s just that…”

  Hallier raised his finger. “Did I give you permission to speak?”

  Bewildered, the courier replied. “No.”

  Hallier leaned in. “Anybody in your family ever serve, son?”

  The courier lowered his head, stared at the lobby floor. “Yes, sir.”

  “Based on that, can I safely assume your parents raised you to respect the uniform?”

  The courier nodded. “They did.”

  “Then don’t insult them by acting like an asshole.” Hallier pointed to the man’s delivery truck. “Now get the hell out of here.”

  The courier turned, grumbled under his breath as he walked away, jumped behind the wheel of his truck, slammed the door, then flipped the agent the finger as he drove off.

  Hallier turned to the young agent. “Nice work, son. You don’t have to take that kind of crap from the likes of him or anyone else.”

  “Thank you, sir,” the agent replied.

  Jordan interjected. “He had started to spell Coltraine. Is the package for Maddy or Spencer?”

  Hallier read the name. “It’s for Spencer.” The colonel punched through the packaging tape with his thumb, then pulled off the paper wrap, exposing the box itself.

  Chris smiled. “You know, Colonel, tampering with the mail is a crime which can result in not just a significant fine but time in a federal prison.”

  “Exigent circumstances, Agent Hanover,” Hallier replied. He opened the box, unwrapped its contents from the protective bubble wrap and examined it in the light. “Well, what do we have here?” He handed the devices to Jordan.

  “They’re miniature tracking devices,” Jordan said.

  Chris checked out the trackers as well. “These aren’t just run-of-the-mill trackers. These are top of the line GPS microdots. If properly concealed, they’d be virtually undetectable.”

  “I’m sure we’re all thinking the obvious right now,” Jordan said.

  “Exactly,” Hallier replied. “What use does Mr. Coltraine have for them?”

  “How do you want to handle this, Colonel?” Jordan asked. “Maddy’s the priority, not these devices. Every minute we spend standing around here is another wasted not searching for her.”

  “I agree.” He handed the DARPA agent the package. “Give this to Tech Ops. Tell them to run a background check on the shipper. I want to know everything about who sent it, then take it upstairs and give it to Mr. Coltraine. Apologize for opening the box. Tell him that under the circumstances, you had no choice but to inspect the contents to make sure it posed no threat to him or his wife. Compliment him. Tell him you’ve placed half a dozen of these same gadgets on valuables around your home and that they’re the best security devices you’ve ever bought. Give him the impression we’re not the least bit interested in his reason for ordering them. And tell him I recommended he not stay home, that it would be best if he went about his day as usual so as not to draw undue attention to himself.”

  “Yes, sir,” the agent replied. He turned to carry out his orders.

  “One more thing,” Hallier said.

  “Sir?”

  “Find Agent Anderson. I want the two of you to establish 24/7 surveillance on Mr. Coltraine. From now until Dr. Coltraine is found, I want to know everything about him we don’t already know. Who he speaks to here in the building, where he goes when he leaves it, the whole nine yards. Copy?”

  “Copy, sir.”

  Jordan waited until the DARPA agent was out of earshot. “You really think Spencer could somehow be involved in this?”

  Hallier shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time a partner sold out their significant other in favor of a payday.”

  “But to put Maddy’s life on the line and risk being arrested for treason?” Jordan shook her head. “I’m sorry, Colonel. I can’t see Spencer doing that.”

  “How well do you know him?”

  “Not very. Maddy and I are very close. But I’ve never really had much to do with Spencer.”

  “Well, you’re about to find out exactly who your cousin is married to. Because now the goddam U.S. military is going to crawl up his ass, and there isn’t a proctologist in the country that can look deeper into him than we can.”

  Chris turned to Jordan. “What did you see when you read the car, J?”

  “It’s not what I saw,” Jordan replied. “It’s what I heard.”

  “Heard?”

  Jordan nodded. “A conversation between Maddy’s abductors. Something about calling the ship… that they have the cargo.”

  “You know what it means?”

  Hallier answered. “They must be referring to the Port of Los Angeles.”

  “You think they’re planning on taking Maddy out of the country?” Jordan asked.

  “I’m afraid so,” Hallier replied.

  “But to where?” Chris asked.

  “Judging by the appearance of the two people captured on the parking garage video,” Hallier said, “my guess is China.”

  “China?” Jordan asked.

  Hallier nodded. “If we don’t find out what ship she’s on before it leaves port, it’ll be all over. The next time anyone will hear about her is when she’s offered up for a prisoner exchange. And that will only happen if they believe she
’s still of value to us.”

  “And if they don’t?” Chris asked.

  Hallier opened his door. Jordan and Chris took their seats in the vehicle. “Simple,” he replied. “They’ll kill her.”

  10

  WHAT WAS TAKING so long?

  Qin muttered as she threw open the car door and walked to the back of the vehicle. “Dammit, Zhang,” she said. We don’t have time for th—”

  The sight of her partner lying on the ground stopped her in her tracks.

  “Zhang!” she cried. Qin dropped to the ground, shook the fallen man. “Wake up!”

  Zhang slowly came around. He clutched his throat, tried to speak, couldn’t.

  “What happened?” Qin asked. “Where is she? Where’s the girl?”

  Zhang swallowed hard, forced out the words. “Got… away.”

  Qin was furious. She scanned the empty road. “I can see that! Where did she go?”

  Zhang propped himself up on his elbow, shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  Qin drew her pistol from the cross-draw holster beneath her jacket, pressed the muzzle to his forehead. “What do you mean you don’t know? Are you fucking kidding me?” She shoved her partner to the ground in a fit of rage, then stood, balled her fists against the side of her head, and began pacing back and forth.

  “You realize Chang and his men are waiting for us,” she yelled. “You told him we were twenty minutes out... twenty minutes!... and that the package was intact and there were no problems. What are we supposed to do now?” She pointed down the road. “You realize there’s a freighter and crew waiting for us, more specifically, for her? They’re set to depart the minute we arrive. What are we supposed to do now?”

  Zhang slowly rose to his feet. “Calm down.”

  “Calm down?” Qin yelled. She walked towards the operative, pointed her gun at him. “How do you expect me to—”

  Zhang thrust out his hand, knocked her hand aside, grabbed her throat, began to squeeze. Qin started to choke. She tried to raise the gun, point it at him. Zhang responded by squeezing harder. “Drop it or I’ll crush your windpipe,” he demanded.

  Qin hesitated, then let the weapon fall to the ground.

  Zhang swept her leg with his, then powered her to the ground with the thrust of his hand.

  Qin hit the dirt road hard.

  Zhang stared down at her. “Are you calm now?”

  Qin gazed up at him defiantly. Zhang answered her fiery stare with the promise of more pain by tightening his grip on her throat.

  Qin nodded.

  “Good. I’m going to let you up now. But before I do, know that if you try anything, I’ll make good on my threat and squeeze the life right out of you. You’ll die right here and now. Am I clear?”

  Common sense prevailed. Qin relaxed her body, let the fight leave her. She nodded once more.

  Zhang released his grip on her throat, stood, retrieved Qin’s gun from the ground, shoved it into his waistband. “I’ll give it back to you after you’ve cooled off. And before you feel the need, I’ll say it for you. I fucked up. I let my guard down. It’s never going to happen again. But I’m not the one you should be fighting with right now. We need to find Dr. Coltraine. She’s on foot, so she couldn’t have gotten far. My guess is she’s still feeling the effects of the Midazolam, which means she’ll be groggy and not moving very fast.” He pointed down the road behind the car. “She had to have gone that way. You’d have seen her if she ran past you.”

  Qin regained her composure, nodded. “Do you have any idea where she could have gone?”

  Zhang shook his head. “Not a clue. I’m just following the directions Chang provided.”

  “Then I suggest you take the car and drive the area. I’ll search for her on foot. With any luck, she’s passed out and lying somewhere on the side of the road.”

  “All right,” Zhang agreed.

  Qin held out her hand.

  “What?”

  “My gun.”

  Zhang hesitated.

  “Relax,” Qin said. “I’m not going to shoot you. Not anymore.”

  “Lucky me.”

  Qin secured her weapon. “If you find her first, call me.”

  “I will,” Zhang lied, unwilling to confess to his partner that not only had the woman rendered him unconscious, but that she had also relieved him of his cellphone and weapons.

  Qin ran down the road in search of her quarry. Zhang returned to the Mercedes, opened the glove box, withdrew his backup weapon, chambered a round, then slipped the gun into the small of his back. He needed to find the woman first. Qin was reckless, a hothead. He worried that if she came across Madelaine Coltraine before he did and the woman put up a fight, there would be only one undesirable outcome. Dr. Coltraine would die, and in killing her, Qin would sign not only her death warrant but his as well.

  The MSS did not tolerate failure.

  Zhang started the car, turned it around, and began driving back in the direction they had come.

  He touched his damaged throat, a reminder of the dishonor and embarrassment the woman had brought upon him.

  Maybe he would kill her after all.

  11

  MADDY CLEARED THE corner just as she heard the woman call out. She had found her partner. She wished she had been able to cover more ground, gained an even greater advantage over her kidnappers by putting more distance between them. No such luck. The angry yell spiked her adrenaline. Although she was running as hard and fast as she could, her legs were nowhere near as responsive as she needed them to be. She felt wobbly on her feet, unsure of her next step. Still, she pushed on, searching for a place to hide. She knew she had an extremely high tolerance for the sedative they had given her, but she was not entirely immune to its undesirable effects. She struggled to retain her focus, at times feeling like she might pass out. It was the unseen pothole in the road that brought her escape to a halt. Maddy felt her ankle twist as she somersaulted, struck her head, then landed flat on her back. She lay still in the middle of the road for a moment, disoriented, evaluating her injuries. She touched her forehead, felt a warm trickle of blood, winced from the pain, sat up, tried to focus. The world in front of her began to spin. She closed her eyes, took several slow deep breaths, then opened her eyes. Better. The surrounding landscape still turned, but not as violently as before.

  Maddy examined her twisted ankle. The pain was incredible. “Dammit!” she muttered.

  From somewhere behind her on the roadway, she heard animated voices, the man and the woman, yelling, arguing, their conversation most assuredly about her. They would begin to look for her soon. When they did, Maddy knew they would see to it that she never escaped from them again. Instinct told her they would not kill her. She had been drugged and kidnapped, nothing more. If they had intended to kill her, they would have done so in her car in the underground garage, the perfect target, with no opportunity to defend herself and no one around to hear her screams for help. No, they wanted her alive. There was only one logical explanation for what was happening to her: Project Overlord. She thought about the events of the last week and Farrow Industries’ urgent need to update her on executive security protocols and the reminder of the safe house locations. Had they known something and were keeping it from her? Had they already identified a threat to her life? This wasn’t a minor project they had assigned her to. This was the most sophisticated, technically advanced military-funded project Farrow Industries had ever undertaken. She was certainly their intended target. The accent of the man and woman were Chinese, but were they Americans? A frightening thought suddenly occurred to her. Perhaps they were foreign intelligence operatives from the People’s Republic of China. She had read the reports DARPA had copied her on, issued by the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance in which the Chinese threat had been discussed and examined. There had been rumors that a major attack was imminent. That was the reason DARPA had partnered with Farrow Industries in the first place. They needed a research and development po
werhouse to manage Project Overlord and ensure it would be impenetrable. She was that person. And now she was within reach of falling into enemy hands.

  Not going to happen.

  Maddy pulled herself to her feet, tested the ankle, stood.

  Not broken.

  Thank God.

  She had to keep moving. The fall might have slowed her down, but she refused to allow it to keep her down. She was quiet and conservative by nature, but when the chips were down, she was as defiant and strong-willed as any man she had ever known. Her indefatigable attitude had been responsible for her success. Her father had drilled many of his Navy SEAL sayings into her and encouraged her to commit them to daily life. One such mantra, recalled in her father’s voice, came to mind: Stay low, go fast. Kill first, die last. One shot, one kill. No luck, all skill.

  Maddy pulled her assailant’s gun from her waistband, ejected the magazine, inspected it. Full.

  The voices behind her were quiet now. This could not be good.

  In the distance, a car engine revved.

  Maddy quickly scanned the area. In her weakened state, she needed to hide, give the ankle time to recover, and the head spins time to fade.

  There.

  Down the road.

  One hundred yards, maybe less.

  The boatyard.

  Maddy would have much preferred it to be a police station, but it wasn’t. This was what she had to work with, so that’s what she would do.

  Her father’s voice in her head again: ‘You’ve got this, Maddy. Remember what I taught you.’

  Maddy shuffled down the old dirt road, one agonizing step after the other. “I know, Dad,” she said aloud. “Adapt. Improvise. Override.”

  When she had reached the back fence to the boat storage yard, Maddy looked back down the road.

  Headlights broke the corner, flashed across the roadway.

  They were coming.

  “Not today,” she muttered.