Rules of Engagement

by Ken Fite

  Jami went back to the laptop and started to get ready for when Morgan would come back on the line as Chris stepped closer to us and said, “I’m sorry.” I guessed that he could see my disappointment. “I was hoping he’d be here.”

  I nodded, thinking about Charlie Redding and wondering where to go from here. Then I thought I heard a sound from inside the main building we had come from. I turned and listened.

  “Sorry, guys,” said Lennox through our earpieces as he came back on the line. “Simon told me that—”

  “Morgan,” I said, interrupting him as I reached behind my back, grabbed my weapon, and held it steady and level, “are you seeing any activity outside the embassy? I just heard something outside the room.”

  Jami turned back from the laptop and grabbed her weapon. I watched as Chris reached for his as well.

  “Pulling the Predator around, hang on.” Morgan paused for several moments. “Bloody hell.”

  “What is it?” I asked as my heart started to beat faster.

  “I see several men entering the embassy through the courtyard in the back. They’re going in fast, Blake.” Morgan paused as I turned briefly to Jami and Chris. “And I see one more walking over from the building next door.” We heard Morgan typing frantically. “It’s the former ambassador’s residence, looks like it’s part of the same complex. I’m sorry, guys. I don’t know how I missed it. They’ve been waiting next door.”

  I took a step closer to the door and gripped my weapon tight as Jami and Chris stood on both sides of me.

  “It’s a trap,” said Jami from my left. “They were just trying to draw us in. Now we have nowhere to go.”

  We watched as a group of men approached the entrance, their guns trained on us. I counted five of them. They stood just outside the room and yelled for us to drop our weapons, but we held them steady.

  “We need a way out of this,” I said to Morgan over the loud voices of the men shouting from the doorway.

  “There’s nothing I can do,” replied Lennox.

  “Yes, there is, Morgan. Just think of something.”

  The men just outside the Persian Room continued to shout. One of them fired a shot and it came close to Jami. “Okay!” I yelled and raised my Glock into the air and held my other hand up as well. Slowly, I started to kneel and lowered my weapon, setting it on the rug in front of me, and got back to my feet.

  “Kick it away,” another man yelled.

  I kicked it to the left side of the room and watched it slide to the wall.

  “Now it’s your turn,” said the first man as his eyes moved between Chris and Jami on both sides of me.

  I turned to Chris, then to Jami. I nodded. They lowered their weapons and kicked them away just as I had. The three of us stood defenseless as the five men entered, kept their weapons trained on us, and stopped. From behind them, I heard the sound of someone clapping outside the room. The clapping was slow and distant. The sound became louder as we watched the men step aside and create a pathway at the door.

  It was Dimitri Ivanov.

  The young man kept walking and passed between his men. When Dimitri was just a few feet in front of us, he stopped clapping and dropped his arms to his sides. He smiled and looked us over with smug satisfaction. “Mr. Jordan, it is great to see you again,” he said as his voice filled the expanse of the room. His smile widened. “I was wondering how long it would take you to find me.” Dimitri glanced at his watch. “An hour,” he said with a raise of his eyebrows and surprise in his eyes. “Not bad for a washed-up special agent like yourself.” Dimitri Ivanov cocked his head to one side and lost the smile. “Where is my father?”

  “Don’t tell him,” Morgan said through my earpiece, and I realized that he could hear what was happening.

  “First, tell me where you’re keeping Charlie Redding.”

  One side of his lips curled up. He was enjoying this. “I handed him off to someone. Insurance, if you will.”

  I glared back at the man. “Landry.”

  Ivanov raised his eyebrows again and nodded. “You’re starting to catch on, Mr. Jordan.” Dimitri brought his hands behind his back and kept them there. “Now what Mr. Landry does with him is his business.” Ivanov cocked his head to one side again. “Where is my father?” he repeated as he started to pace.

  I stared back at the man, deciding what to do. I took a deep breath. Let it out. “Your father’s dead.”

  “Very good!” Dimitri stopped pacing and clapped slowly again. “Very good,” he repeated, with inflection.

  My eyes scanned left to right as I looked over Dimitri’s men. “If you knew, then what’s this all about?”

  Ivanov shrugged. “It’s called a distraction, Jordan. A diversion. Misdirection.” He smiled. “And it worked.”

  FIFTY-TWO

  I STARED AT Dimitri Ivanov as he ran his fingers through his hair. “How long have you known?” I asked.

  “About my father?” His smile faded. “I was contacted last month. I learned that my father survived the explosion in New York. They were supposed to get him out of Mount Weather.” He looked away briefly. “But he was killed.” He looked back at me somberly. “So I was given an opportunity to avenge his death.”

  “By helping Landry,” I said. “So that’s how your father got connected to the Bureau six months ago. Landry tried to help your father dismantle the surveillance program at the NSA substation in New York.”

  “Help?” said Ivanov. “He recruited him. Just like he recruited me to finish the job that my father started.”

  “What’s your goal? What are you trying to do, and what’s he paying you? How much is all of this worth?”

  Ivanov shook his head. “It’s not about money, Mr. Jordan. It’s about power.” He checked his watch again. “And soon, Landry will be in charge of the most powerful intelligence agency your country has to offer.”

  In my earpiece I heard Morgan clear his throat. “Are Ivanov and his men in the center of the room, mate?”

  Dimitri took a step closer and also asked me a question. “Do I need to connect the dots for you, Jordan?”

  “Yes,” I said, answering both of them.

  “Initially, we were just going to kill the girl,” he said, looking at Jami. “Then I had a better idea—detonate the bomb in Agent Davis’s vehicle at the DDC field office, forcing the agency to go to the Hoover Building. Combine the DDC and Bureau teams. Put them under one roof.” He paused and his eyes fell back on me. “Distract you and your team—and in effect, distract your president—while Landry kept Mulvaney busy. Get him occupied so we could take him out. Then we’d kill you.” He smiled. “Right about now, actually.”

  I narrowed my eyes and shook my head, trying to understand. “You’re going to take out Mulvaney?”

  “We’ll take the whole thing out. Anyone inside.” Dimitri laughed. “Then Landry becomes acting director.”

  “Listen, Blake, I have an idea,” said Morgan. “I’m assuming that Ivanov and his men are at the entrance to the room. I need you guys to move to the north and south sides of the room on my mark. Do you copy?”

  “How?” I asked. Morgan started to respond, but I interrupted him. “How are you taking the building out?”

  Ivanov grinned. “The only way you can take a building out, Mr. Jordan—we’ll blow the damn thing up.”

  “Where’s the bomb?” I asked, but he shook his head, and I knew he wouldn’t tell me. My mind started to race. “Who else is involved?” I asked. “Simon Harris? What about Lynne May? Is she a part of all of this?”

  “Okay, guys. I need you to move right now,” Morgan yelled. I turned to Jami, then Chris. “Do you copy?”

  “There are many who oppose your president and will stop at nothing to bring him down,” said Dimitri.

  I knew what Morgan was going to do. We all did. Morgan yelled again that we needed to move. I stared at Ivanov. “You need to know that we’re gonna stop Landry.”

  Dimitri looked confused.

 
“Now!” I yelled. Chris dove right. Jami and I went left. We braced for impact as the massive Predator drone breached the wall.

  FIFTY-THREE

  WHEN I OPENED my eyes, I was on the ground next to Jami. I looked back and saw a gaping hole in the wall. Bright rays of sunlight streaked across the room and caught the dust and debris that still hung in the air. I saw the damage that the mangled, twenty-seven-foot drone had made. My eyes moved to where Ivanov and his men had been standing, but I saw nothing but rubble.

  “You guys okay?” asked Morgan.

  “I think so,” I replied as I saw Chris get to his feet. I reached down and grabbed Jami’s hand to help her up.

  Jami regained her balance, bent to grab our weapons, and handed my Glock back to me. “We need to check the ambassador’s residence next door.”

  I nodded and walked to the rubble, scanning everywhere, and confirmed that Ivanov’s men were buried underneath the wreckage. I kept scanning and found Ivanov’s bloody face—his eyes were tracking me from an opening in the debris as I approached.

  “You can’t stop us,” he groaned. “Landry’s too powerful now. And we’re going to keep coming after you.”

  I lifted my weapon, aimed it between Dimitri’s eyes, and shook my head. “I’ve heard that before.”

  I squeezed the trigger once and sent a round into the man’s forehead. Squeezed it again to make sure. I lowered my weapon and turned to Jami and Chris as they stared back at me. “Morgan?” I said.

  “I’m here, mate. Guess it worked,” he replied as I stepped over more debris and got to the door to leave.

  “We’re going to check out the residence next door,” I said. We left the Persian Room and entered the courtyard. “Morgan, you were about to tell us something when we heard Ivanov and his men approaching. What was it?” I asked as we crossed the parking lot and stood outside the former residence.

  “Simon had something to tell us, but now he’s showing as away on messenger. I’ll try to get a hold of him so I can patch him through to talk with us. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said, and the line went silent.

  Jami, Chris, and I huddled together as we checked our weapons and discussed our approach. We decided to enter the same way that we had gotten into the former embassy next door—only Jami and I would take the back entrance together while Chris took the front. We’d clear each room and meet up in the middle.

  We entered and cleared the residence quickly, finding nobody inside. We were coming out the back and headed to our vehicles when we heard Morgan’s voice again. “Okay, guys, I’ve got Simon on the line now.”

  “Can you hear me okay?” asked Harris.

  “Copy,” I said as we continued to head toward our vehicles. “What do you have for us, Simon?”

  “Mrs. May had me tracking Agent Davis’s vehicle after she lost contact with her,” he said. Jami and I exchanged a look as he continued. “After she disappeared, Mr. Landry came to see me. He gave me access to the Bureau’s fleet-tracking system so I could help him track Chris Reed and monitor both vehicles.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Mr. Landry never came back. Now he’s missing. I tried to talk to Director Mulvaney, but he blew me off.”

  We approached the wall behind the embassy and climbed over as we kept moving toward our vehicles.

  “Security isn’t helping much. So I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out how I can find Mr. Landry to try to get some answers. That’s when I realized that I still have the access that he provisioned me earlier.”

  I stopped short of the vehicles and stood still. “Access to what, Simon? The Bureau’s fleet tracker?”

  “Yes,” he said nervously, following a long pause.

  I turned to look at Chris and Jami. “Simon, what are you telling me? Are you tracking Bill Landry?”

  There was another pause before he spoke again. “Yes. He’s here. He’s at the Hoover Building right now,” he said, and I knew it wasn’t nervousness that I was hearing. It was the sound of a man who was terrified.

  I looked at Chris and said, “You’ve got a Bureau vehicle. Can you get us into the Hoover Building garage without raising any red flags?”

  He nodded.

  “Good. You drive, then,” I said. We left the DDC vehicle behind as Jami and I climbed into Chris’s SUV. “Morgan, are you still there?” I asked as Chris started the ignition.

  “I’m here,” replied Lennox as Chris approached Massachusetts and floored it.

  “Do you have access to the live feeds from the security cameras in the building?”

  “I’ll have to confirm, Blake. Simon and I were just trying to access the archive to figure out where May went. I’m sure I can tap into the cameras and monitor what’s going on in real time if you need me to.”

  “Get me eyes on Landry,” I said as Reed continued pushing the car faster down Massachusetts, slowed as we approached Dupont Circle, and stepped on the gas as we continued our approach to FBI headquarters.

  “Chris, any idea where Landry might be?” asked Jami from the backseat.

  I turned to Reed and saw him shake his head slowly. “No. He could be anywhere.”

  “But we know where he’s going,” I said as I faced forward and thought about what Dimitri had told us. “Simon, there’s reason to believe that Landry may try to harm Mulvaney. We need to make sure that—”

  “I just saw him a second ago,” said Harris, interrupting me.

  I turned to look at Chris as I listened to the man.

  “I’m standing up at my cubicle and I just saw the guy walk down from his office. He just passed me.”

  My mind was racing. We were still a few minutes out. “Simon,” I said, “I need you to go after Mulvaney.”

  “Hang on,” he said, and we heard Simon breathing hard as he ran down the corridor to follow the director. “Okay, I’m at the elevators. I think he went to another floor, but I have no way of knowing which one.” Harris paused. “I can check the other floors and see if I can find him. Maybe he’s meeting Mr. Landry.”

  “No,” I said as I held a hand against my ear to try to block out the road noise. “Listen, Simon. Bill Landry is a very dangerous man.” I looked up ahead and added, “Stay away from him.” There was no response. “Why don’t you head down to the garage and meet us there in two minutes.” Still no response. “Simon?”

  “Okay,” he finally replied. “I’ll go there now.”

  I held on tight as Chris took a sharp turn at Ninth Street and pushed the vehicle hard and fast. We sat in silence as Chris approached the Hoover Building. I thought about every interaction I had ever had with Landry over the years. I thought about the first time I had met the man in Chicago the night that Keller had been kidnapped. I thought about the operation he had kept me in the dark from in New York six months ago. I thought through every time he had tried to work against me. And now he wanted me dead.

  As we approached FBI headquarters, I was focused on one thing: stopping Landry before it was too late.

  FIFTY-FOUR

  WE STOPPED AT the Hoover Building’s guardhouse as an officer stepped out and reached for Reed’s credentials. The guy looked them over briefly and then tapped on the backseat window. “Lower it for me,” he said and then looked at me. I reached across Reed and gave him my Executive Office of the President ID. He nodded, recognizing me from prior visits with Chris and Mark. “What about you?” he asked Jami.

  “Agent Davis,” she said. “I’m part of the DDC team visiting from across the street. I should be on the list.”

  He took her ID, went into the guardhouse, and emerged a minute later. “Thank you,” he said and waved us through. Chris waited for the barrier arm to lift up, pulled into the Bureau’s employee garage, and parked. The three of us stepped out and jogged to the elevator, where I saw Simon Harris waiting for us.

  “Never saw Director Mulvaney,” he said with concern in his voice. “He might be back in his office now.”

  “Chris,
why don’t you and Simon go check,” I said and turned to Jami. “We’ll search for Landry’s vehicle.” I put my hand to my ear. “Morgan, are you still with us?” There was no response. I reached into my back pocket and grabbed my cell and saw that the call was dropped. “We lost the signal,” I said, turning to Chris.

  “We’ll look for Mulvaney, and I’ll call Morgan from upstairs, see if he’s seen anything from the cameras.”

  I looked around and noticed that there weren’t any cameras inside the underground parking garage where we stood. “It’ll have to be from inside the building. I’m not seeing any surveillance down here, Chris.”

  Reed took a quick look around, agreed with me, and pushed a button on the wall to call an elevator. The doors opened and he stepped inside, followed by Simon. “We’ll be back in a few minutes, Blake.”

  A thought crossed my mind and I held the elevator door open. “Does Landry have his own parking spot?”

  Chris thought about it and nodded. “Far corner,” he said, pointing to his right. “All the way at the end.”

  I let the elevator doors close and turned to Jami. “Ready?” I asked, and she nodded that she was. I reached for my weapon and we jogged to the far corner of the garage. When we got there, I looked up and saw a fire extinguisher, a pickax behind glass, and a small red pull station underneath it to trigger the fire alarm. There were two reserved parking spaces—one for the director and the other for the deputy director. Both were occupied. I walked up to the space marked deputy director and felt the hood.

  “Engine’s warm,” I said. This had to be Landry’s vehicle. I stepped to the back, knocked on the trunk, and listened carefully, but didn’t hear anything. “Need to get this open,” I said as I pulled on the locked trunk. Looking past Jami, I saw the pickax and walked up to it. I used the butt of my gun to break the glass and placed my weapon in the small of my back as I reached inside and grabbed the ax with two hands.