Maddy took a first tentative step, then a second.
Bullet let her stand on her own. “Well?”
Maddy smiled. “I won’t be running marathons anytime soon, but yeah, I think I’m good. Thanks, Bullet.”
“You’re welcome. Come on. It’s time to go.”
“Go where?”
Bullet smiled. “To meet the gang.”
33
JORDAN AND CHRIS watched Eric Palomar operate the boom lift’s backup remote control. The operator’s platform slowly retracted from its lofty perch adjacent to the rooftop of the adjoining building until it reached its home position on the ground.
Jordan and Chris stepped onto the platform. “Take us up to the same position,” Chris said.
“Will do,” Palomar said. “Just be careful. Hold on to the safety rail. It can jump around a little.”
The agents rode the device up and over the chainlink fence until it shuddered to a stop at the precise location where they had found it.
Chris and Jordan scanned the platform with their flashlights, searching for any evidence which might prove useful.
“I think I found something, J,” Chris said.
Jordan turned her beam to the area Chris indicated, knelt, inspected it. She removed a latex glove from her jacket pocket while Chris snapped a picture with his phone. “Blood,” she said.
“Madelaine’s?”
Jordan focused on the area. Leaping from the platform… a sharp burst of pain in her leg mid-flight. The psychic image disappeared as she watched her cousin land hard on the rooftop. “Yes,” she answered. “It’s Maddy’s.”
The agents jumped from the platform across to the adjoining rooftop and continued their investigation. “Here,” Chris said. He took another few steps, then said, “Here again. More blood. You think whoever killed Mr. Bodine tried to kill Madelaine too?”
“It’s the same energy signature.”
The rooftop offered an unobstructed view of the surrounding area. Chris surveyed the neighboring companies. Across the road, dozens of businesses backed onto a large tract of undeveloped land. He shook his head. “That’s a lot of ground to cover, Jordan. We’re going to need help.”
Jordan nodded. She walked across the roof, found the caged service ladder attached to the outside wall of the building, touched the top rung, then saw Maddy’s ethereal image descending it as fast as her wounded leg would permit. The stream of psychic energy trailed across the road and disappeared into the vacant lot. Jordan pointed across the road. “That’s where she went.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Chris stepped into the ladder cage. “Then let’s go find her.”
Jordan’s cellphone rang. The display read HALLIER. She answered the call. “Yes, Colonel?”
“Mr. Palermo just showed me the cloud footage from the marina’s security cameras,” Hallier said. “The images are a little blurry but usable.”
“What did they show?”
“Everything. A camera at the back of the lot facing the service road captured a woman running up to the fence, then shimmying through a tear in it. Palomar says he’s aware of it and had been meaning to get it repaired but hadn’t gotten around to it. That’s probably a good thing. I’m confident it’s Dr. Coltraine. A second woman came into frame a few minutes later and entered the yard the same way. It’s obvious she was chasing her. Other cameras in the boatyard picked up what transpired after that. We followed the second woman as she made her way through the yard, encountered Mr. Bodine, executed him, then made her way through the facility in search of your cousin. By the time she reached the boom lift, Dr. Coltraine was already up in the air. We saw her shoot, but nothing after that. The cameras at the main gate only face into the yard. The angle of fire indicates she was shooting at an upward angle toward the lift. We recovered the brass, but it won’t matter. If she’s a pro, they’ll be clean. There won’t be a print to lift. There was someone else with her, a man. The two of them tried to hide Bodine’s body under the boat bumpers. I think I know who they might be.”
“The driver and passenger caught on camera exiting Maddy and Spencer’s condo.”
“That’s right.”
“Do you know which way they went?”
“She exited the boatyard the same way she came in. They met up on the service road, then split up from there. He’s in a car, a Mercedes. Right rear taillight’s out. She’s on foot.”
“Leave it with me,” Jordan said. Her tone was cold. “I’ll find her.”
“I don’t like the sound of that, Agent Quest.”
Jordan said nothing, let her silence speak for her.
Hallier warned her. “I know Dr. Coltraine is family to you Jordan, but I can’t have you taking matters into your own hands. We need to take these people into custody alive and well and in one piece. That and rescuing your cousin is the mission here. You understand?”
“I’ll meet you halfway.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I’ll give you the alive and well. As for the part about delivering her in one piece, that’ll be up to her.” Jordan ended the call.
Hallier immediately called back. The call went to voicemail.
Jordan pointed to the field across the road, turned to Chris. “You ready?” she asked.
Chris had already begun his descent down the cage ladder. “Thought you’d never ask.”
34
SEVERAL BLOCKS AWAY from the Blue Water Marina, Zhang drove through the maze of service roads which crisscrossed the surrounding area in search of their lost prisoner. The more he thought about the accusation Qin had made about his actions, the angrier he became. And yet it was the truth.
You let her get the better of you.
He had to find the woman, make it right, get her back into their custody as soon as possible. He knew his partner’s reputation for violence. He had reviewed her file before accepting the assignment to come to America to put his country’s plan into action. Regardless, he hadn’t been given a choice to work with her. Just like Qin, he had made the shortlist from hundreds of MSS operatives, primarily for his extensive knowledge of computer systems and software, and for how the two of them graded on paper. Psychological profiling ensured they were compatible, just as the operational directive required them to be. But what the selection process never took into consideration was that they might dislike one another. Should that turn out to be the case, they would be required to overcome that obstacle one way or the other. Personal feelings did not matter, only their ability to complete their mission. The MSS had made their objective abundantly clear: success at any cost. The pressure that had been placed on them to infiltrate American cyber networks with the goal of bringing them down was enormous. Never before had an undertaking of this magnitude been attempted by their government on foreign soil.
He had tried to like Qin, and for a short time felt that they might have been getting closer, but at every turn she had proven herself to be less interested in him than other men. He knew it was wrong of him to expect their relationship to grow beyond the utilitarian function it served. Still, there was an inexplicable quality about her that drew him to her. There was no denying that she was a very beautiful woman, but he had to continually remind himself that her beauty was simply another tool in her arsenal, one which she wielded as adeptly as a gun or a knife. She had proven once again how unpredictable and deadly she could be when earlier she had pulled her gun and trained it on him point blank. The anger in her eyes reflected how much she wanted to pull the trigger and kill him for his act of incompetence. Had it not been for her overriding fear of Chang and what he would do to her if they didn’t soon reacquire their prisoner, she would have shot him dead right on the spot and carried on the mission without him. He knew how smart she was. If she were to have killed him, she would have found some way to make his death look like an accident. Worst of all, he knew China wouldn’t care that he died just as long as the mission was accomplishe
d. He and Qin might have been the MSS’s best choices at the commencement of the assignment, but he knew full well that in sleeper cells across the country, junior operatives were being trained and groomed to take their place at a moment’s notice. Perhaps that was exactly what she wanted; for him to be eliminated in the most convenient way so that she could take full credit for their work. This mission was to have been the crowning achievement of their careers, and he had messed it up.
The lead he had insisted on following up turned out to be a dead end. The dog he had heard barking was a stray. He had seen no sign of the woman. Over the years, he had developed a finely honed ability for tracking down his prey. He had searched everywhere in this section of the sprawling complex and found nothing. If the woman had been here, she had already made good of her escape. Which meant that he and Qin were now as good as dead.
No, that couldn’t be the case. Qin was still out there looking for her too, and she was as equally adept at tracking as he was. He needed to turn the car around, leave the area, and find her before Chang’s men arrived under the guise of assisting them with their search. They would continue looking for the woman. They would just do so after killing them both.
Zhang returned to the location where he and Qin had split up. At the far end of the complex, a flashlight beam bounced off the wall of a three-story office building. He cruised down the road. If the woman was still here, they would have a better chance of finding her now that certain areas of the sprawling complex had been investigated and eliminated. Chang’s men were five minutes out, maybe less. Qin knew that as well, and that thought concerned him. Her fear of what could happen to them would make her even more difficult to deal with than she already was. Perhaps it was time to take matters into his own hands. He weighed his options. He could leave now, turn his back on the whole operation, consider it a failed mission, find a way to disappear. He had already made a contingency plan. He had hidden a specially designed thumb drive in the lamp on his desk in his home office. The biometric-protected device recognized his thumb print only and contained an exhaustive list of secret contact names and operational details for all covert MSS missions he had knowledge of that were currently being executed on American soil. With that information in his possession, he could walk into any FBI field office or U.S. embassy, claim political asylum, and demand special protection and a new identity. The acquisition of the information contained on the drive would be a windfall for the National Security Agency. Moreover, its release into enemy hands would deliver a crippling blow to the MSS. American politicians would finally be able to prove what they long suspected, that for decades foreign spies had been inserted into the highest levels of U.S. government and been working right under their noses feeding information back to China.
The beam from a distant flashlight struck the middle of the road. Zhang observed Qin step out from between two buildings at the far end of the street, then quickly turn off the light. She stared at him for a brief second, then ran back into the complex when she observed a vehicle rounding the corner.
The car pulled in behind him, flashed its high beams.
Zhang suddenly felt his stomach drop. He did not want to die at the hands of Chang’s men. Not tonight, not ever.
He pulled out his backup weapon, chambered a round, placed the weapon under his leg, checked his rearview mirror.
Waited.
35
HOW THE HELL did they find him?
Spencer opened his door and complied with Agent Tamblyn’s demand to exit the car.
“Turn around,” Tamblyn yelled. “Interlace your fingers behind your head.”
Somehow, they had been able to track him. There was no other explanation. He had left the Hummer in his rearview mirror and made good his escape. Yet here they were, the two agents now holding him at gunpoint.
Spencer locked his hands behind his head.
The traffic in front of the car wash had come to a stop. Motorists afraid of being caught in the middle of a gun battle kept a safe distance back from the unfolding drama.
“Walk backwards to the sound of my voice,” Tamblyn yelled. “If you lower your hands, you will be shot. If you make any threatening movements, you will be shot. If you attempt to run, you will be shot. Call out now. Acknowledge you understand my commands.”
“Yes. I understand.”
“Move!”
Spencer walked backward to the sound of Tamblyn’s voice. Footfalls closed in behind him. Agent Anderson took him to the ground hard, patted him down, checked him for weapons, found none, then dragged him to his feet. “Let’s go, Mario Andretti,” he said.
“It’s not my fault the agency never taught you guys how to drive,” Spencer replied.
At the Hummer, Agent Tamblyn secured his weapon. “You mind telling me just what the hell that was all about, Mr. Coltraine?”
“What what was about?”
“What do you think? Your little game of evade and escape back there.”
Spencer smirked. “That was you?”
“Who the hell did you think it was?”
“Are you seriously asking me that question, Agent? My wife has been kidnapped.”
“I know,” Tamblyn replied. “That’s why we’re here.”
“But what you don’t know is that it wasn’t just her who’s been followed for the last few days. I was too. For all I knew, you were one of them.”
“Us, the bad guys? We’re driving a Hummer, Mr. Coltraine. It’s not exactly inconspicuous. Not to mention the military license plates. Kind of makes us stick out like a sore thumb, don’t you think?”
“You can’t blame me for being paranoid right now.”
“I’ll give you that. But the way you tore through that intersection and cut off that transport trying to ditch us? Someone could have been killed. And that would have been on you.”
“Speaking of ditching you, exactly how did you find me? You didn’t have eyes on me.”
Anderson chimed in. “You realize which department of the military we’re with, right?”
“You tracked me.”
“That’s correct,” Tamblyn replied.
“My car or my cell?”
“Both, actually.”
“I don’t understand,” Spencer said. “Why follow me? You should be out looking for my wife!”
“You’re a smart, guy,” Tamblyn said. “The answer to that question should be pretty obvious to you by now.”
“You think I had something to do with my wife’s disappearance.”
“Did you?”
“Of course not!”
“Then why are you being so damn difficult?”
“What are you talking about?
“Colonel Hallier told you to stand down and stay out of our way, yet you insist on doing the exact opposite.”
“Seriously? Tell me something, Agent Tamblyn. Are you married?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Then answer me this. If the roles were reversed, and you were in my shoes, and it was your wife who had suddenly disappeared without a trace, would you be standing around doing nothing?”
Tamblyn and Anderson stared at Spencer. Neither agent spoke.
“I didn’t think so,” Spencer said. “It wouldn’t matter what anybody said to you, whether it was Hallier or the president of the United States. You’d be doing exactly what I’m doing. Which is everything in your power to find her. And you wouldn’t stop until you did or died trying, whichever came first.”
“We both appreciate the position you’re in, Mr. Coltraine,” Tamblyn said calmly. “Unfortunately, we can’t let you proceed. We’re under orders to take you into custody until this matter has been resolved.”
Spencer felt his anger rising. “This matter?”
“You know what he means,” Anderson said. “The situation with your wife.”
“It’s not a situation, you moron,” Spencer said. “It’s a fucking kidnapping.”
“Please don’t use that tone with me, Mr. Coltraine,” Ander
son said. “We’re just doing our jobs.” The agent opened the back door of the vehicle. “Now get in the car.”
Spencer fumed. “I need to get something out of my car first.”
“Whatever it is, I’ll get it for you,” Tamblyn said.
“All right. My laptop. It’s in the back seat.”
“I’ll get the computer. You stay put.”
Anderson apologized to Spencer. “For the record, Mr. Coltraine, I am sorry for what you’re going through. It must be an incredibly difficult experience. We’ll get her back. I promise.”
Tamblyn walked six bays down to where the Range Rover was parked, opened the back door, looked inside, called out. “I don’t see a computer, Mr. Coltraine.”
Spencer glanced inside the Hummer, then replied to Agent Anderson, “Thank you, Agent. But I can’t count on promises, only myself.”
He shoved the DARPA agent as hard as he could. Anderson fell back, hit the ground. Spencer jumped into the Hummer, slammed the door, locked it, and turned the key. The engine roared to life.
As Spencer tore out of the car wash, the agents drew their weapons and fired. The rounds deflected harmlessly off the vehicle’s bulletproof body.
Anderson gathered himself up from the ground, then ran to the Range Rover to meet his partner.
“Don’t bother,” Tamblyn said. “Sonofabitch has the keys.” He kicked the car in anger.
“And our laptop,” Anderson added.
36
BULLET LOOKED DOWN at the dog. “Stay,” he said.
The massive animal stared up at his master, cocked his head, whined.
“Don’t worry, boy.” He scratched the dog behind his ears. “I’ll be right back.” To Maddy he said, “Give me a second to check the laneway. I wanna make sure you know who isn’t out there snooping around.”
“I heard you yelling at her earlier, threatening to call 911.”
Bullet removed his cellphone from his back pocket. “I was bluffing. I’d never call the cops. Last thing I need in my life is someone knowing where I live and booting me out of my house. Thanks, but no thanks. Besides, it’s a burner. I’ve got maybe three minutes left on it, tops.”
Nemesis: A Jordan Quest FBI Thriller Page 12
