Luthecker (27 page)

The two of them, along with a uniformed officer who looked to be in his twenties, stood in a small observation room that hadn’t been upgraded since the mid-eighties. The walls were faded stucco-beige, the floors were well-worn green linoleum, and the furniture consisted of three folding chairs arranged in front of a small television stand, on which rested a low resolution 32-inch tube television monitor that carried a video feed from the adjacent room.

The video feed showed Alex, seated at a small table, with his right wrist handcuffed to a metal bar that was attached to the tabletop. His head was hung low, his shoulders slumped, and Nikki noticed that he looked much different than the night she first saw him. His hair was frazzled and his clothes were dirty, as if perhaps he had not showered in several days.

“What happened to him?”

“Ma’am, is that him? Is that the man from the club that caused all the commotion before your brother and Scott Forsyth got in the car, approximately twenty minutes before the accident?” Miller asked, trying to keep Nikki on point.

“I think so. I can’t be sure, the video isn’t clear enough. I’d have to see his face.”

She turned to Miller, nervous.

Miller nodded, and turned to the uniform.

“Let’s bring her in the room for a second. Confirm a positive ID.”

The young officer tilted his head, confused.

“Are you sure, sir? I thought we were told-- “

“Look, I want to close this out, and get him out of here, just like everyone else. Is that a problem, Officer?”

“No sir.”

The uniform nodded, reached for the key loop attached to his belt before leading the three of them out of the room.

• • •

Alex looked up at the sound of the cell door opening. He watched as three people entered the small, 10x10 room. A uniformed officer, a detective in a navy blue wool sport jacket, of the one hundred and fifty dollar variety, and standing directly between the two law men, the woman from that fateful night in the club. She had manipulated the man in the sport jacket in order to arrange this visit. He held back any reaction.

“Is that him?” Miller asked Nikki, as the uniform watched the interaction closely.

Nikki wasn’t paying attention. Her eyes were locked on Alex, and he returned the stare intently.

“Did, did you cause the accident that almost killed my brother?” She stammered, her voice barely above a whisper, unsure what else to say.

Alex knew he had at most, twenty seconds. He was going to have to read what he saw in her eyes, her face, her stance, her clothes, her movements quickly and concentrate hard, perhaps even wing it a bit.

One thing that was clear by the dark circles around her eyes was a lack of sleep, the fatigue visible in her face a clear sign of extreme stress that masked a combination of fear and anger. Her hesitant movements, particularly with the hands, indicated a psychological disorientation, one usually associated with nervousness and indecision. One thing that was not visible was the deep sadness of loss, which to Alex meant one thing: Her brother had survived the inevitable car accident that night. There was much more, but he had to speak, and speak now.

“I’m happy your brother’s alive.” He started. “And that’s not the question you really want to ask. You study patterns, just like me. That’s the only reason you would come here: You need to know. The momentum of that moment in the club was strong, even though you knew that getting in the car that night was high risk. I gave you an out. I gave you clarity. I gave you a second chance. And you know it. And you want to know how. You’re not angry at me, you’re angry with yourself for not stopping your brother from getting in the car.”

Nikki froze. She hadn’t known what to expect, but it wasn’t this.

“You don’t…know me…” She finally whispered.

“The question you really want to ask,” Alex continued, without skipping a beat, “Is do I succumb to the momentum of what I know, or do I change? Do I reconsider the offer I was given? And you already know the answer to that question too, so let me give you another out: Be strong. In your heart, you know it’s not who you are. Don’t second-guess yourself. With what you know, you can change the world.”

Nikki’s jaw dropped in shock.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Miller cut in. He could see that Luthecker was overwhelming her. Miller had to end this now. He turned to Nikki.

“Miss Ellis, I need to know.”

“Yes. It’s him.” She answered, her voice low, barely above a whisper. She never took her eyes off Alex.

“Good.”

Miller carefully took her by the arm to lead her out, but she didn’t move, her eyes still locked with Luthecker’s.

“Miss Ellis?” He said to get her attention, along with a tug of her arm.

She snapped her attention away from Alex, as if breaking from a trance, and turned to Miller. She nodded and flashed a brief smile before exiting the room.

Miller turned to the uniform.

“You can release him to those two bounty hunters who brought him in.” He told the officer, before he followed Nikki into the hallway.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Ellis. You’re free to go. I’ll escort you down to the lobby.” He said to her, within earshot of the uniform.

They walked in silence a moment, until the hallway was clear.

“What the hell happened in there?” Miller finally asked Nikki.

“I’m…I’m not sure.” She answered, still a bit dazed by her conversation with Luthecker.

She turned to Miller.

“Did you see his eyes?”

“Yes. And you’re right. There is something strange about him. He sounded like one of those religious crazies. I should have never let you talk me into this. It was a mistake.”

“No it wasn’t. I’m glad you did. Thank you.”

They reached the lobby entrance, and stopped.

They stood for a moment before Nikki spoke.

“He had nothing to do with the accident. He saw it. Before it happened.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Not for him.”

“Is that what you got out of that conversation?”

Nikki didn’t answer.

“Well it doesn’t matter now. They’re going to take him. And I have to close the file before they do.”

“We can’t let them.”

“Nikki don’t do this.”

“I recognize you.” A voice interrupted.

Both Miller and Nikki turned towards the source, and saw agents Stern and Wolfe.

“You were at the club that night.” Stern continued as he approached Nikki, curious.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I know you.” Nikki nervously said in response.

“I never forget a face.”

“Is there a problem?” Miller asked, stepping between them.

“What is she doing here?”

“None of your fucking business.”

“Really? It’s gonna be like that?” Stern replied, stepping into Miller’s personal space.

“Gentlemen.” Wolfe said as he wedged himself between them like a referee. He gently pulled his partner aside.

“What’s this about?” Wolfe asked Stern.

“She was there that night. At the club. Where I first spotted Luthecker.”

Wolfe’s eyes went wide in surprise. He turned to Nikki, Miller.

“Is this true?”

“Look; she’s here for something that has nothing to do with your guy.” If you saw her in a club that night, that’s pure coincidence.”

“And how do you know about “my guy?”

“You papered the fucking city with him. Everyone knows why you Coalition Merc’s are here.”

“Fuck you.” Stern answered.

Nikki swallowed hard, nervous. Miller could get in big trouble because of her, and she had to say something.

“You’re right. I did see him. But I don’t know what you’re talking about. He hit on me that night, like a lot of guys did, and you tackled him, and that was it. Look, my brother was nearly killed -- “

Miller put his hand on her arm.

“Nikki.” He interrupted. “You don’t have to say shit to these guys.”

“That can change real quick.” Stern interrupted.

“Look. You want him, he’s all yours. My case is closed. Everything else is your fucking ego.”

Stern opened his mouth, about to escalate the war of words, when Wolfe put a hand on him.

“We don’t need to argue, because it’s all in the report, right?” Wolfe pressed Miller.

“Yes. Now get him the fuck out of here already.”

Wolfe nudged Stern, and the parties went in opposite directions, Miller and Stern watching each other until out of sight line.

Miller turned to Nikki.

“I’m sorry.” She said.

“Don’t worry, about it. I can handle those two assholes. And nobody ever looks at the report.”

He watched Stern and Wolfe turn the corner out of sight.

“It’s been a strange couple days. Why don’t we grab dinner later? Have a drink, take the edge off.” Miller asked.

Nikki tried not to react. Miller had gotten her to see Luthecker, and she couldn’t really say no, she felt. And he still may be able to help her.

“Okay.” She replied, forcing a smile.

“What do you think?” Stern asked, as the two agents walked in the other direction.

“I think he thinks like you think.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Did you see the way he was hovering over that girl? He doesn’t give a shit about Luthecker, trust me.”

The two men showed their ID’s to the cell lobby guard, and made their way down the hall towards the cell where Luthecker was being held.

“Brown’s gonna want to know she was here.” Stern commented.

“Do you think after our last little fiasco outside the nightclub he’s going to let this mistake slip? I don’t know about you, but I want my bonus. Our job is to deliver the package, and we are just about to do exactly that.”

Stern abruptly halted.

“We’re not mercenaries.”

Wolfe looked at his partner like he was some sort of alien.

“Of course we are. Now let’s get Luthecker and bring him to Brown, and collect our cash already.”

• • •

“Don’t try anything stupid.” Stern said, as he did a final check of Luthecker’s prisoner manacles.

Alex said nothing, just stared straight ahead at the grey concrete of the wall.

With Wolfe on one side, and Stern on the other, Alex was escorted out of his interrogation cell, and into the bright fluorescent-lit hallway.

Each agent held one of Alex’ arms, Wolfe on the left, Stern on the right. He shuffled his feet, his well worn Nike sneakers taking the maximum step length the foot chains of the manacles would allow, which wasn’t much, slowing their pace to a dead man’s walk. Alex glanced over at Stern. He could see that something was on his mind, some puzzle he was trying to solve, something recent, and Alex went through the possible causes of that particular look on his face, and the timing of it, and the incident of contact in the club, the near simultaneous space and time occupation of himself, the woman he warned, and Stern, and how attractive she looked that night combined with Stern’s muscular build and young alpha gait and the fact that she was just here, and the proximity of it all, and took a gamble.

“Did you get her phone number?” He asked.

Stern pulled Alex hard to a stop.

“What?”

“The girl who wore the black dress in the club. She was here. You ran into her. You think she’s hot. Did you get her number this time?”

Stern threw Alex against the wall.

“Who the fuck are you?” He screamed.

“Marcus.”
Wolfe warned, restraining his partner. “Control yourself.” He added, before letting his partner go.

Alex locked eyes with Stern.

“Beware sheep in wolves clothing.” He ominously warned.

Wolfe slapped Alex across the face. Hard.

“If you don’t shut the fuck up, you ain’t making it to your next stop.”

Alex turned his gaze to Wolfe, who took a defensive step back.

Blood began to drip from Alex’ nose.

He shot a quick glance at Stern, noted the look on his face, a mixture of anger, surprise, confusion, and fear, the result of a large combination of patterns colliding, some that he knew he had set in motion, questions of purpose, present, past and future, and he hoped that from all this chaos in the man, new patterns would begin to emerge.

The agents each grabbed one of Alex’ arms, and no longer feeling the need to be patient, began to drag him down the hallway.

• • •

“I think I have a right to know sir.”

Stern spoke clearly but carefully as he stood across from Brown. The men were in Stephen’s office, Brown more or less taking the Director’s office space over.

The two agents had successfully delivered their target to the Coalition Properties West Building, and against his partner’s wishes, Stern had requested a private meeting with Brown before the official mission debriefing.

“You’ve successfully completed your mission, soldier. You will receive your bonus.”

“Thank you sir. I appreciate that. I just have some questions.”

“You were Special Forces, correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“So you know better.”

“Yes, I was sir. I’m a decorated Veteran. But I’m not .…” He hesitated.

“I’m not a soldier anymore. I’m a private citizen now. And as such I’m allowed to ask questions.” His words had a slight hint of defiance, one that gave Brown pause.

“This guy knew things about me sir. And I feel I have a right to know how he knew.”

Brown examined his employee a moment before responding.

“He’s a very clever terrorist.” He finally answered. “And you let your guard down. You forgot you are still on the battlefield. You let him get in your head. You probably shared things with him that you didn’t even know, and he spun those things back at you to scare you.”

“With all due respect, sir, that’s not what happened at all. I shared nothing with him. Some of the stuff he said, he’s seen my file. I know it. Hell, he knew things that wouldn’t be in my file. He knew things that no one would know. And I want to know how. I want to know if I was ever a target of something. I want to know why
he’s
a target of something. What has this man done?”

“Son, you’re a shooter. And you’re one of the best. That’s why you’re here. But this is the information business. And information is a far more dangerous weapon than bullets. Congratulations, you’ve just discovered that. And if you let us train you, we’ll make you far more dangerous with intelligence than you ever were with a rifle. But until then, you’re going to have to trust me. It’s not only friendly advice, soldier- it’s a condition of your employment.”