Noble Intentions: Season Two (Episodes 6-10) (24 page)

He found himself on Main Street again. He had already driven the length of it west and was now making a pass going east. He reached the edge of the downtown district. Turned right on 5th Street, and right again on Robinson. He drove another block and pulled up to the curb. Cut his headlights. Leaned forward and narrowed his eyes as he scanned the sidewalk ahead.

Jack saw four people. Two men standing side-by-side, their backs to Jack. Ten feet or so in front of them stood a man and a little girl. The man looked huge. The shape all too familiar to Jack.

It couldn’t be.

He looked at the two men, backs to him, side-by-side. Studied them. They stood with similar posture. Slightly hunched over. Left arms dangling. Right arms cocked at the elbow. In front of their bodies they aimed weapons at the man and the child. Jack couldn’t see it, but he’d seen the posture enough to know.

Jack placed his left hand on the door handle. His right hand traveled inside his jacket instinctively, reaching for his gun. He didn’t have one. He had to ditch it at the airport.

“Christ,” he muttered under his breath.

One of the men stepped forward. The man’s arm straightened and Jack saw the gun. A car turned a corner about the same time and its headlights washed over the scene. There was no denying it.

Bear and Mandy.

Jack’s spine and hands and feet tingled. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. The excitement he felt over seeing his old friend quickly dissipated as the gravity of the situation they were in became clear. Panic started to set in. All Jack’s training and experience kicked into gear and he channeled his emotions into action.

The man closed in on Bear. Jack knew his friend needed a hand. Something that Jack could provide. The element of surprise. He dropped the car into drive and peeled off. Tires screeched against asphalt. Rubber burned as it tore against the jagged road. He placed his hand on the horn and didn’t let up.

Bear reacted as Jack guessed he would. With his left hand he pushed Mandy behind him. With his right, he disarmed the guy who had turned his head, looking back at Jack. Then Bear placed him into a choke hold. The second man watched as Jack’s rental car approached. Jack hit the brakes and the tires squealed. Jack hit the sidewalk and yanked the wheel to the right, sending the car into a fishtail. It stopped sideways. Back tires on the street. Front tires on sidewalk. Only a car door and ten feet of concrete separating Jack from the man.

Jack flung the door open and charged the stunned man. The guy lifted his arm and squeezed the trigger, firing wildly into the air. The bullet missed Jack by several feet. The man didn’t recover quickly enough and Jack knocked the gun out of the guy’s grip with his left hand. Drove his right hand into the bridge of the man’s nose.

“Jack?” Bear said.

Jack had leaned over and delivered four more blows to the man’s head. Then he looked up and smiled at his old friend, who had already disposed of his attacker.

“Is that really you?” The big man threw his hands behind his head and stared at Jack in disbelief. He opened his mouth repeatedly, but the only sounds to escape were unintelligible grunts.

“I’d love to stay here and catch up, maybe grab a cup of coffee, but I’ve got business to take care of.” He cast his eyes toward at the men on the ground. “Looks like you do too. Care to team up?”

Bear nodded.

“Get in the car, get Mandy in the car.”

The trio jumped in the rental vehicle and Jack pulled into the street and headed out of town.

After a minute or two, Bear said, “What the hell is up with that beard? And the hair? And…” he paused, his face a mixture of confusion and excitement and adrenaline. “You’re dead. What the hell are you doing here?”

Jack grinned. “I’m not dead.”

“Mr. Jack?”

Jack looked over his shoulder at Mandy. “Yeah, sweetie?”

Mandy leaned forward and stuck her head in between the front seats. “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

Jack laughed. “Me too.”

“I was scared for you.”

“Me? You don’t have to be scared for me. Just like I don’t have to be scared for you. Not when Bear is around to protect you.”

The little girl smiled and leaned her head against Bear’s shoulder.

Jack looked at Bear. “Where’re we going?”

Bear gave him directions to the house and Jack told him everything that had happened. He told him about
Black Dolphin
. About the escape and the paralytic agent. Bear had questions about that and Jack had to shrug. He hadn’t had time to broach the subject with Frank. Jack moved on to Greece and the six months he spent there. How he tried to call Bear, but the number had been disconnected. Bear only nodded and offered up no excuses as to why. Jack told him how he ended up back in the States and the commitment he made to Frank.

And then he told him about Jasmine and the Russians and the plot for a massive terrorist strike.

“Jesus, Jack,” Bear said. “That’s one hell of a story.”

“Couldn’t make it up, big man.” Jack looked out the window at a line of dark houses with box shaped yards. Was Jasmine inside one of these homes? “Now I just need to find where they are keeping her.”

“We can help with that.”

“Yeah?” Jack said. “We?”

Bear smiled. “Yeah, we.” He pointed across the dash. “That’s the house. Turn on the next street. We should park a few houses away.”

9

The crowd inside the gallery had thinned over the past half hour. Clarissa noted that if she was going to leave undetected, now would be the time. A large group gathered by the front door. They were talking and hugging and saying their goodbyes. She joined them. Placed herself in the middle of the group as they moved in unison through the doors.

She cast a glance over her shoulder. No one had watched her leave. A clean escape.

She hung with the group, drifting toward the back, as they left the gallery and turned right. One man, close to the front said, “Let’s go to Ted’s Bar for a drink.”

The others in the group voiced their approval.

Clarissa figured she should join them and look for an opportunity to leave from within the bar.

They walked the block or so to Ted’s and the man in the front who suggested the bar held the door open. He was tall with a full head of gray and black hair. He wore steel rimmed circular shaped glasses. Had a broad smile spread across his face. He spouted off each person’s nickname, or real name, or perhaps a name he invented on the spot. When everyone had passed through the open doorway and only Clarissa remained, he lowered his gaze and said, “Well, I have no name for you, now do I?”

“Janice,” she quickly said.

“Well, hello, Janice. I’m Gary. Care to have a drink?”

She smiled and passed by and sought the anonymity that only a dark and crowded bar could provide. The group huddled around the bartender and she passed by, choosing an empty table toward the back of the establishment. She sat with her back to wall. She had a view of the room, the bar and the door. If anyone entered, she’d notice. At least, she would when Gary got out of her way.

“Help you?” she said.

“How about that drink?” he said.

“I’ll pass.”

“Waiting for someone?”

She looked at him, then at the door, then back at him. “Yes.”

He lifted his hands and stepped back. “I’ll be up at the bar if he doesn’t show.”

She wished she hadn’t followed the group inside. Gary was making it hard for her to go unnoticed. His lingering by her table had cast several unwanted eyes in her direction. A waitress came by and Clarissa ordered a beer. A few moments later the waitress returned with the beer and set it on the table. Clarissa took a long pull from the frozen glass mug. She savored the taste. The bar remained in a state of equilibrium for several minutes. No one entered. No one left. People chose tables and a few remained on barstools.

Would the balance change soon? Would some of Boris’s men leave the party and take refuge at Ted’s?

Clarissa finished her beer, dropped a five dollar bill on the table and placed the mug on top of the money. She followed a corridor behind her to the lady’s room. She stepped into the restroom and noticed a window on the opposite wall. She went to inspect it. There was enough space for her to slip through. What was on the other side? She flipped the latch in the middle and lifted the glass pane. Pulled herself up and stuck her head out. The space between that building and the next was over five feet wide. Plenty of room. She turned her head left then right. The alley connected to both Main and Marion Street.

She reached behind and pulled out her gun. Having her gun drop in the bathroom as she passed through the open window would not be ideal.

With her gun in hand, Clarissa pulled herself up and out through the open window. She switched to a seated position on the window sill and swung her left leg over. Then the right. She hopped down onto the asphalt coated alleyway and walked toward Main Street.

The most treacherous part of her journey would be walking through downtown, a five block radius full of too many streetlights and, on this particular night, too many Russians. She slipped out of her heels and picked them up. Ran down the alley. She slowed her pace in an attempt to blend in once she hit Main Street. She headed east and turned right on 4th Street, then left on Robinson. One block to go until she entered the residential part of town.

Footsteps echoed off of the buildings that surrounded her. They came from behind. They indicated whoever was behind her was moving quickly, possibly running.

She squeezed the handle of her gun and lifted it to her chest. Her left hand wrapped around her right, keeping it steady.

The steps closed in on her quickly. She waited until they were within twenty feet and spun around. Arms stretched out, gun aimed at the first person she saw.

A man and woman, dressed in dark tracksuits with reflective strips, froze in place. She looked them up and down. They wore running shoes that matched the tracksuits. The man reached his arm out in front of the woman and ushered her behind him. He spoke between deep breaths, “We don’t have any money on us.”

Clarissa shook her head. “I’m sorry. Someone’s after me.”

The woman peered over the man’s shoulder. “We can call the cops for you.”

“No good. Just forget you saw me. Please.”

Clarissa spun on her heel and took off in a sprint and didn’t let up until she’d run at least a half mile. She slightly decreased her pace and ran another half mile in less than three minutes.

She saw Bear’s house. One car in the driveway. Porch light on. Light on inside the front window. Light on around the side, where she remembered the kitchen being located. She hunkered down next to a car parked on the curb and watched the house while she caught her breath. Finally, satisfied that the area was clear, she crossed the street and Bear’s front lawn. She stood in front of the door. Straightened out her clothes. Dropped her heels to the ground and held her gun behind her back. Then she knocked on the door.

10

“Who the hell are you?” the guy said.

Jasmine lifted her head and stared at the Russian who had identified himself as Boris. They were the only two in the basement room used as a dungeon of sorts. She said nothing to him.

“I’m going to ask you again, and I expect a response. Who are you?”

“Or what?” she said. “What’re you gonna do? Beat me?”

Boris smiled, let out a soft chuckle and leaned in. He placed a hand on her waist and slid it up her side, stopping just past her ribs. He brushed the hair caked with blood and dirt to the side of her head, out of the way. Said softly, “I’m not going to beat you. I’m just going to shoot you. And eventually kill you.”

Jasmine turned her head away and stared at the wall, the wall that might be the last thing she ever saw. She took a deep breath and composed herself.

Boris said, “Well?”

“Screw you.”

“I’ll be back.” Boris turned and walked away from her. He walked up the stairs, one at a time, one heavy step after the other.

She placed her upper back against the wall, letting her arms relax. Blood flow returned to her wrists. The pain remained. She looked around, checking the wall and the floor for anything she could use against Boris when he returned. Found nothing. Even if she had, she wouldn’t be able to reach it. Not when chained to a wall.

Her best chance was to get her legs around him and climb. Squeeze and work her legs upward and wrap them around his neck. That only solved one problem, though. She’d still be stuck down here, and someone would come down and see her chained up and Boris dead on the ground. They’d likely fire a bullet into her head before they asked what happened.

She brushed the thought aside and tried to come to grips with the fact that she’d be dead before sunrise. Not that she’d know the exact time. Not while stuck in the windowless basement.

Should she just give in? Give him her name? Tell him who she works for and what she was doing?

It violated everything she had ever worked for and every ounce of her training. Besides, Boris wouldn’t stop at just her name, and she knew it. He also seemed to be the kind of man who could gather a lot of information based on her name. So even if she refused to talk any further, he’d be able to use his resources to get the answer, making her useless to him. And when dealing with men like him, useless was not ideal.

In the end she decided that the best thing to do would be to hold out as long as possible. They’d gone through the trouble of bringing her here, wherever here was, all the way from Atlanta. They wanted something from her and wouldn’t dispose of her until they had it.

Fight, resist, stay strong.

The door opened and the far corner of the room by the stairs lit up. She heard Boris start down the stairs. Then she heard two more sets of footsteps descending behind him. He had brought reinforcements.

Pussy
.

He rounded the corner and she tensed. He had a black bag in his hands. The men that came down with him were two that she did not recognize. Boris stopped in front of her. The men moved to the side of her, out of range of her legs.