Authors: Dakota Banks
M
aliha speed-dialed Jake’s work phone number and he answered immediately.
“I missed you,” he said. “Did you like the flowers?”
“Yes, they were great. I’d like to get together as soon as we can, Jake, away from your office.”
“Whoa, woman, you must have
really
missed me. How about this evening?”
“What about in an hour at your apartment?”
“See you then.”
She took a cab to McKinley Park and walked a couple of blocks. He lived on the second floor of a building with four apartments. She’d arrived early, so she kept walking past his building. Watching his arrival from half a block away, she noted nothing unusual about it or about him. He looked as handsome as ever, lean, broad-shouldered, curly black hair falling over his forehead. She gave him a few minutes, and then buzzed his doorbell. He told her to come up.
When he opened the door, his blue eyes caught and held hers. She saw only love and desire in them.
He couldn’t be involved. No way. Maybe . . .
Jake had changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants, and there was a fire going that looked inviting. He swept her into his arms and kissed her, then nuzzled her neck.
“You’re beautiful,” he said. “I can’t get enough of you.”
She pushed him back, smiling. “Are we going to do this in the hall, or do I get to come in and take off my coat?”
“Of course. Please come in.” He stood aside and waved her in with a bow.
His place was decorated with antiques mixed with modern furniture. The antiques blended right in and had a comfortable, worn look to them—they hadn’t been refinished, and they were meant to be used. No velvet ropes to keep them on display.
He bought them new.
Jake settled her on the couch and brought out a package of Oreo Double Stuf cookies and two glasses of milk.
“You remembered,” she said.
“Yeah.” He gave her a big smile that warmed her and released a smile of her own. “After you said they were your favorites, I started keeping a package in case you came over. Of course, I couldn’t have them get stale, so I started eating them.” He patted his hard abdomen. “Gotta watch my waistline, so I stopped. These might be stale.”
They weren’t. She ate two, twisting their tops off and licking the icing from the middle.
“Okay, I’ve had my comfort food and I’m a pliable ball of emotions.”
“You’re never a pliable anything.”
Not with you. I need some answers.
“Hey, I brought back something for you.” He disappeared into his bedroom and came out with a small crystal jar, just an inch high. He handed it to her and she looked at it, puzzled. “Any guesses?”
“Looks like beach sand.”
“Close, but off by six point eight miles straight down. It’s diatomaceous sediment from Challenger Deep, the lowest part of the Mariana Trench. I wanted you to know I was thinking about you even when I was working.”
So much for the candy.
“Uh, thanks. How did you get your hands on it?”
“Friends in low places?”
She smiled, but wondered what a Drug Enforcement Administration agent had to do with deep-sea exploration.
I’ll never know.
She examined the sediment in the jar. “It’s fabulous. I’ll treasure it.”
He took the jar out of her hands and moved closer on the couch. His hands began roaming her body. It was time to act, or he’d find her hardware. She slid against him, rotated one of his shoulders, and in a fraction of a second had his back to her and a knife at his throat. Her leg wrapped around his, pinning them in place. This was the riskiest moment. He was Ageless and the situation wasn’t going to be in her favor for long. Only surprise had made it possible.
She sliced deeply into his throat.
He slumped on the couch. She leaped up and fastened his wrists and ankles in handcuffs. She ran to the kitchen, retrieved some clean towels, and pressed them to his throat. The bleeding was already beginning to stop on its own, due to the nearly instantaneous healing of the Ageless. Then she subdued him with an injection of curare.
It was a delicate balance to give enough to keep him immobile without paralyzing his diaphragm and stopping his breathing. It was a technique Maliha had learned at the feet of a shaman of the Piaroa Indians, natives of Venezuela living along the Orinoco River, long before most of them became Christian. They hunted with curare-tipped darts shot from blowguns and were experts in its effects. Chick had processed her rush custom order with true professionalism. She was starting to like the man.
The small dose she’d given Jake would last about fifteen minutes for an ordinary man. For Jake, she estimated it would be three to five minutes, so she didn’t have any time to lose. She threw the rest of her glass of milk into his face, backed away, and pointed a gun at him. He sputtered and opened his eyes.
“Hey! Ouch! What . . .” His voice was synced with his breathing, like a person with a tracheotomy. He looked down at his body, which wasn’t responding to his calls for action. “What did you do to me?” Then he glimpsed the blood.
“You tried to kill me!” he said. “You know that won’t work unless . . .” He shut his mouth, not wanting to give her any ideas if she hadn’t already thought of them. A sure way to kill the Ageless was decapitation, making sure that the head and body were far enough apart that they couldn’t grow back together.
“Pay attention! I only have a few minutes,” Maliha said. “Did you kill Abiyram Heber? Or Arnie Henshaw?”
“What? No!”
She viewed his aura. It was familiar to her. A black base hovered near his body and extended spikes inches farther. That reflected the evil he’d done in the service of his demon Idiptu. It wasn’t surprising. Her aura was the same. There was no way to tell if the blackness was centuries old or acquired recently. Wisps of red indicated that he was angry but trying to control it, and she could understand that. Her behavior hadn’t met his expectations, to put it mildly. Splotches of blue showed that he did have a desire to help others, and that fit with what he’d told her at the beginning of their relationship.
“I love my work. Remember the Justice League comics?” Without waiting for an answer, Jake went on. “I used to get them used. Never did get my hands on the 1960 debut. Anyway, I knew that’s what I wanted to be part of. I couldn’t be a superhero, but I could still bring the bad guys to justice. Sounds sappy, huh?”
She shook her head. “What’s sappy about saving lives?”
He pointed at her. “See, you get it. Lots of women out there don’t. Can’t cope with a guy whose life doesn’t revolve around them.”
His aura showed no sign of deception. Maliha had never known anyone who could significantly alter an aura, only manage it a bit, and then she could usually detect the deception.
Yanmeng would know about altering auras. Too bad I can’t ask him.
“What is your involvement with the secret blood gold program?”
He said nothing.
“I know where your swords are kept,” she said, alluding to decapitation.
“All right. How did you find out about the gold program?” he said, with his voice in the odd cadence of puffs of breath.
“I’m asking. You’re answering.”
“It was during the years I haven’t wanted to talk about. Everything I did, D.R. Congo, Venezuela, the Philippines, Sudan, Indonesia—all of them. I did it to save lives.”
“You could twist it to see it that way. Makes you sound like a hero. Is gold from those countries smuggled out and used to support dictatorships?”
“I was . . .”
“Yes or no?” she said.
“Yes. But I didn’t mean for that to happen and I’ve been working to dismantle it. It’s not like I can just wave my hand and turn off the tap.”
Jake’s aura didn’t waver. He was telling the truth. She had only a minute left. He was beginning to shuffle his feet. She remembered what Abiyram had told her about the blood gold.
At no time were Jake’s actions unknown to a few in the U.S. government. A few at the top.
Jake could have done all the grunt work and then been betrayed by the people at the top.
Jake started moving his feet sooner than Maliha had expected. Keeping the gun pointed at his head, she moved in and gave him another injection.
“Damn. Stop that,” he said.
Maliha didn’t want to mention that she’d used her last injection. When he began to recover this time, there would be a serious problem.
“There’s more,” he said. “Abiyram got the basic facts right, but he made sure you thought I was responsible for the blood gold. I wasn’t, I swear. Abiyram had another motive. Since you came back into his life, he wanted you for himself. He approached me and tried to bribe me to get me to leave you alone. When that didn’t work, he sent an assassin after me. He doesn’t know about the Ageless and how hard we are to kill. I sent his assassin back in pieces. He’s left me alone since then. When that route didn’t work, he made things up that he knew would alienate you from me.”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” she said. “I know Abiyram. He would never do anything like that!”
“How well can you know anyone like that? He was a man accustomed to a lifetime of lying and manipulation. You told your team you were considering him as a new member. He desperately wanted that, and wanted you. You slept with him, didn’t you?”
Maliha sighed. “Yes. Once.”
“He was old, Maliha, and he thought there was some secret process to make him young again. You showed up on his doorstep looking the same as you did thirty years ago and never explained it. He took you to bed and became obsessed with the idea of being young again—with you.”
“I told him there was no process.”
“He would think you were lying, because that’s exactly what he would have done in your position.”
“He was my friend. My old friend,” Maliha said.
“Exactly. Your old friend from thirty years ago. Did you ever try to confirm a word he said about me?” Jake sounded bitter. He shifted his body so he was sitting up straight on the couch. Tensing his arms and shoulders, he snapped the chain of the handcuffs behind his back.
Right now, right this instant, I can still pull the trigger. A head wound would slow him enough for me to get out of here.
He pulled his hands forward, the metal bracelets still in place, then reached down and bent open one of the links of the chain on his ankles, freeing his feet to move.
Maliha’s time was up. She kept the gun pointed at him but she knew that now, with his Ageless speed, he could disarm her and she wouldn’t even see him do it.
He stayed on the couch, patting the towel against his neck. The knife wound was almost closed. “Did you confirm anything he said, or just take his word over mine? I’m the man who loves you.” His breathing was back to normal, but there was a hurt tone in his voice.
“I . . . I trusted him.”
“And you didn’t trust me? Did you ever check his aura?”
Maliha thought back and then lowered her eyes. “No.”
When humility hits, it’s a knockout blow.
“Why didn’t you tell me all of this?” she said.
“Abiyram was involved in the blood gold project, deeply involved. That’s why he knew so much about it in the first place. I have that setup ready to tumble, and when I do, I’ll be cleaning house. Abiyram would have been dead in a matter of weeks.”
“So you wanted to spare me knowing about him.”
“Yes, and I guess that was a bad idea. Look at what it’s done to us.” He pointed down to the pillows of the blood-soaked couch.
Maliha sat down on the couch across from him. She was defenseless, physically and emotionally. “I made a mistake.”
“Put that gun down and get these cuffs off me. You have to remember that Abiyram was an expert at manipulation. It’s not your fault.”
She took the cuffs off. “I’m no babe in the woods, Jake. I’ve used men for my own purposes for centuries. I should have caught on.”
“There’s a difference this time. You’re mostly human. You were blinded by friendship.”
He moved over to sit next to her and lifted her chin with his fingers. Tears flowed down her cheeks and her eyes were closed. She couldn’t face him. Jake kissed each eyelid gently and then kissed her on the lips. He picked her up in his arms and carried her toward the stairs.
“You owe me a new couch,” he said.
M
aliha came out of the shower. Jake brushed her hair as she sat naked on the edge of the bed, talking to him.
“I have to get back home. There’s a lot going on,” she said.
“Chess game with Yanmeng?”
“Yanmeng’s missing.”
She heard a sharp intake of breath from Jake, and he stopped brushing. “Why didn’t you tell me right away?”
“Because I thought there was a chance you might be involved in it.”
“Do you still think so?”
“No. Yanmeng’s in horrible trouble, Jake, and so am I, in a different way. He’s being held captive and his fingers are being returned to us. The last package was a strip of skin. I’m being blackmailed to kill people that someone else is choosing.”
“Oh no. Is Eliu safe?”
“She’s with us.”
The look he gave her let her know that if she didn’t tell him everything immediately, she’d be the one with a knife to her neck.
“Come back to my condo with me and we’ll fill you in.”
“I take it I’m on the shit list with the rest of the team.”
“Yes, but I’ll explain. I need to leave now.”
“Wait—Yanmeng is a remote viewer. Why hasn’t he been in touch with you or his wife?”
“Presumably he’s being kept sedated.”
“An induced coma.” He clasped her around the waist from the back, leaned forward, and kissed her neck tenderly. “I want to help. Let’s go.”
M
aliha went through the door of her condo first. Both of her team members were armed, and Hound might shoot first and determine the merits of it later. All three in residence were at the kitchen table, eating pizza.
“Where have you been?” Amaro said. “Why weren’t you answering your phone?”
Jake stepped in from the hall.
“Oh.” Amaro lifted a large slice to his mouth, bit into it, and dragged cheese down over his chin.
Hound drew his weapon and aimed at Jake. “Over there, Maliha,” he said, nodding toward the opposite side of the room. She took the look on his face seriously and moved.
“Now, do we want this guy in here or not?” he asked her. He wasn’t acknowledging the fact that Jake could wipe all of them out in a few seconds and not be breathing hard.
“Yes,” she said.
He raised his eyebrows at her and she knew he was thinking of their conversation about being easily swayed.
“I said yes.”
“Okay, then.” He put the gun down on the table next to the pizza box. Jake and Maliha sat down.
“I have a lot of catching up to do,” Jake said. “Who wants to go first?”
A
n hour later, they were up to talking about that morning’s meeting in Mrs. Page’s Diner.
“Fingerprints?” Maliha said.
“The men at the counter ordered coffee but didn’t touch it. They wiped the countertops with their jacket sleeves as they left. The booth you were in got the same treatment from Green Jacket. They’ve done this kind of thing before.”
“I figured they were a step up from the first one I met in the abandoned house,” she said. “What about tailing them?”
“Took us all over the damn city and then they must have thought they lost us. All three ended up at the same place. A cemetery. They started digging a grave with a backhoe and a couple of shovels.”
Maliha nodded. “Low-profile cover jobs. So we know names and addresses?”
“Nope,” Amaro said. “We checked employment records later. They didn’t have any gravediggers working that day. When we went back out, they were gone.”
“Not my finest hour as a P.I.,” Hound said.
“We all have our share,” Maliha said.
“So now what?” Amaro said.
“Jake, I’d like you to do one of two things. Either stay here and patrol the hallways looking for another box delivery or start checking hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices in person. Both of them are weak links for us. We can’t cover as much ground as you can.”
“I’ll do hallway patrol. The most direct way to Yanmeng is to capture and question that messenger. I think he or she is more involved than just carrying around a box,” Jake said.
“Why?” said Hound.
“Maliha said that the severed parts were very fresh when they arrived here. They didn’t go through a long chain of custody and sit around in somebody’s living room before getting here. There’s no ice packed in the boxes. The messenger picks them up directly from the site. Or the messenger is the one doing the slice and dice.”
Eliu winced. Jake glanced at her. “Sorry.”
“They’re keeping him sedated for one of two reasons. One, they know about the remote viewing,” Hound said. “If he’s allowed to regain consciousness, he could contact you and somehow give you his location. Two, the person doing this is concerned about not causing him pain.”
“A compassionate kidnapper?” Amaro said.
“Someone comfortable in an operating room,” Jake said.
Maliha said, “Amaro, look for surgeons, anesthetists, doctors, even residents or interns with gambling problems, addictions, lawsuits, psychological problems . . . anything that might tip them over the edge.”
He frowned. “I can try, but that’s one hell of a fishing net. You’re probably talking about half the docs in this city,” Amaro said.
Amaro headed off to his computer to get started and Hound joined him. Maliha walked Jake to the door. He spoke to her in a whisper.
“I know that this is tearing you up inside and you’re thinking about going through with the assassination to buy time. Say the word and I’ll do it,” Jake said.
“I’m not your demon master. I don’t give you assignments.”
“I know that. Just keep it in mind if you can’t pull the trigger. I’ll carry this burden for you.”
He vanished, and she knew he was running the hallways at top speed, something he could keep up for days.
“Eliu,” Maliha said, “I’m heading for Washington, D.C., again. Let the others know, will you?” She had a strong feeling that the dossier was correct, and that it came down to the journalist or Yanmeng. She had her assignment. Her jet was waiting at the airport. She packed hurriedly and left, before her team could try to talk her out of it.