Authors: Kelly Abell
He remembered how the team told Jack that the encampment was attacked and blown up. He caught the brunt of the attack and received a concussion. The stupid fool believed them. Why wouldn’t he? They were his Buddies, his Team. You always trusted the Team. Oh Jacko, old boy, if you only knew.
Warren held the highball glass in a vise-like grip. Now here he was, 10 years later, dealing with that son of a bitch again. Would he ever stop causing him heartburn? The Emperor had been wrong to send Larson to Colombia. They should have leaked Jack’s identity to the Colombian press and let the rest take care of itself. Warren knew plenty of people who could carry out the assassination of Michael Hardy. They didn’t need the Colombians. Hell, he could do it himself. He chuckled softly at this thought. Now wouldn’t that be a kick? The
President is shot by the Vice President, and not a shred of evidence to be found.
Warren was about to make a call when the phone rang in his hand.
“
Hello?”
“
Senator Walters?”
“
Yes.”
“
Please hold for the Emperor.”
Warren sneered at the phone. The ego of this man was unbelievable, as if the use of the code name, the Emperor, wasn’t pompous enough, he had to treat Warren like some kind of second class citizen. It was disgusting.
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter. The Emperor had Warren by the short hairs and he knew it. If the Emperor ever went public with the information he had, Warren Walters would be finished. So, for now, he would cooperate. The Emperor better watch his step, though, because soon Warren would have the upper hand.
“
Warren, are you there?” That cold steely voice shattered Warren’s daydreams.
“
Yes, I’m here. What have you got? Did they get her back?”
“
They found the chip in a garbage can outside of a Wal-Mart in Knoxville, Tennessee. Jack and Caroline were nowhere to be seen. There was a note with the chip.”
Warren was turning a deep shade of crimson on his end of the phone. He asked through clenched teeth, “What did that bastard say?”
“
The note was from Caroline, not Jack Weaver.”
Warren almost dropped the phone. He had not expected this. Caroline? What was Jack Weaver trying to pull now? “Read it.”
“
I’m not sure you are going to like this, Warren.”
“
Read it!” he shouted.
The Emperor read the note. He could hear the roar of rage on Warren’s end of the telephone. He needed to calm Warren down before he lost it and did something stupid. “Warren, listen to me.”
“
That bitch,” he screamed. “I’ll kill her, I swear I will. She has humiliated me in front of the entire country. The press will get wind of this and my career will be ruined. I’m going after her. She and Weaver are both going to pay for this.”
“
Warren!” The Emperor shouted into the receiver in the hope he would get through Warren’s tantrum.
“
What?” Warren shouted back. “I thought you said your men were competent. You said they were going to get them and bring them back. Where’s your almighty power now, Emperor.” The last word dripped with sarcasm.
“
Warren,” the chill in the Emperor’s voice stopped Warren temporarily. “I would watch the implied threats. Now, listen to me carefully. I do not anticipate this note will get to the press. I have no reason to believe that any other copies have been made. For now your dirty little secret is safe.
“
You will not take matters into your own hands. You will remain the worried husband and play the role to the maximum effect. If the public gets even a sniff of your treatment of Caroline you are through. I will be the least of your worries.
“
I will find Jack Weaver. I have a feeling someone will be notifying me very soon of his whereabouts. Don’t worry, Senator, I will bring him in. You stay calm.”
For a moment, the Emperor could only hear Warren’s labored breathing on the other end of the line. He knew Warren was fighting to control his rage.
“
Alright, I’ll keep it cool for now. Once you find them you call me. Keep me informed, Emperor, or I’ll go after that son of a bitch myself.”
“
I’ll call you.” The Emperor hung up the phone.
Warren slammed the phone into the receiver. He grabbed the phone and jerked it out of the wall, hurling it at the heavily framed walnut vanity mirror above his dresser. The phone smashed into tiny pieces and the mirror cracked, the sound filling the room like a gunshot.
Caroline hadn’t written that note. He just wouldn’t believe it. This was another one of Jack Weaver’s tricks. He forced her to write it. Caroline knew better than to try to leave him. He had shown her what he would do if she ever did try to leave him. He smiled as he remembered the fear in her eyes the last night before she was kidnapped. No, she hadn’t written that note. He was sure of it.
Chapter 25
Jack returned with the list of requested items. He knocked three times on the door. “Louise, its me.” He waited.
Caroline checked the peephole and when she saw Jack’s bald head reflecting the light from the small porch light outside, she unlocked the door and let him in.
“
All quiet?” he said.
“
So far.”
“
We must have been far enough ahead of them. I’m sure they have found the chip by now though.” Jack chuckled. “Boy, I would love to see the look on Warren’s face.”
Caroline shuddered. “I wouldn’t.”
“
Yeah, I guess you’ve seen that look more times than you care to remember.”
“
I have.”
“
Well, you’ve opened Pandora’s box now, my dear. We will just have to deal with what comes out of it.
“
I got the items you requested. I hope the hair color is right. When you wrote down Platinum Glory, I wasn’t sure what color that was. I can’t picture you as a blond. Should be very interesting.”
She took the bag from him without comment and inspected the contents. She began unloading the items onto the bed. There were scissors, hair color, make up, two pairs of jeans and three shirts. He did exactly what she asked of him. She snorted with laughter when she held up one of the t-shirts that said, “When the going gets Tough, the Tough go Blond.” She entered the bathroom fully prepared for her makeover.
While Caroline did her Marilyn Monroe transformation, Jack called Hutch.
The deep voice answered on the first ring. “WorldCom Security.”
“
Hutch, its Jack.”
“
Jack?” He paused then laughed a deep throaty laugh. “Well, I’ll be damned. Jack Weaver.” He pronounced the last name with a definite southern drawl. It came out sounding like “Weevah”.
An image of Hutch flashed into Jack’s mind. The large black man with the strange amber colored eyes and whose rock hard muscles made him a formidable opponent in any altercation. His hands were so large he needed only one to wrap around Jack’s size 16 neck. Jack could remember Hutch barreling through a group of men in a training exercise and scattering them like bowling pins.
“
How are you, Hutch?”
“
Better than you apparently.” Hutch chuckled.
Jack wasn’t all that surprised by this comment. If Hutch were involved, then he would have heard the entire story about Larsen by now, but Jack decided to play along. “What’s that supposed to mean, old buddy?”
“
Well, word gets around. I hear from good old CNN that you’re in a peck of trouble. Done shot yourself one of the Deputy Directors of the CIA and I heard that you’ve gone rogue. Now, Jack what would you want to go and do all that for?”
Jack could hear the teasing note in Hutch’s voice. “Well, I was bored, Hutch. You know what happens to us ex-Navy Seals when we get bored.”
“
Seriously, son, you really are in a fix. What are you going to do about it? Where are you anyway?”
Jack was not about to give away his current location or where he was going. Hutch’s talent at finding people was enough to keep Jack cautious. “I’m safe for now. I need a favor though, buddy. I need two new ID’s. One for me and one for a lady who’s about 38 with blond hair, green eyes, and weighs about 120. We both need to disappear for a while. Can you help me?”
“
That ‘lady’ you’re referring to wouldn’t be a certain Senator’s wife now would it?”
Jack raised an eyebrow. Either the media worked fast, or Hutch was very well connected. “It’s interesting how the media can put two and two together so quickly.”
“
Yeah, funny how that works.”
Jack caught a strange note in Hutch’s voice. It felt like a warning. It gave him pause. He knew he and Caroline would need new identities in order to try and start a new life, but he was having serious doubts involving Hutch. Jack trusted Hutch, but then he had trusted Kent Larson too, and look how that turned out. He proceeded warily. “What else have you heard, Hutch?”
“
Did you really think someone wouldn’t call me and ask about you? Did you honestly believe the CIA and the FBI and every other government agency who has spare manpower wouldn’t ask me, one of your former SEAL teammates, where you might be? Come on, Jack.”
That was true. It would be a logical step to follow, as that was what he was doing right at this very minute. He began to worry about the security of the line. “Hutch is this line secure?”
“
Jack, have a little faith, brother. I’m not in the business I’m in because I’m a true-blooded American. You know how I feel about government agencies and I’m very good at keeping secrets. I’d be pushing up daisies in North Carolina if I weren’t.
“
You need new ID’s and I’m in the new ID business. I’ll hook you up. Listen, Jack, I’m not sure how you got tangled up in this mess, as smart as you are, but you better be watching your back. There are forces at work here much bigger than you or me.”
Jack rubbed his chin with his free hand while he held the phone with the other. There was that veiled warning again. Jack’s instinct confirmed his suspicion that Hutch was involved, he just didn’t know how deep. “I will Hutch. Can you get those ID’s to the address I’m going to give you by tomorrow?”
“
Of course, of course. You know you can count on me, Jack. Who would you like to be this time? Still dark haired and brown eyed?”
“
No, but go ahead and make the ID that way. Just use my old CIA photo; I can pull it off with the way I look now. Pull a picture of Caroline off the Internet, but change her hair color to blond. Just close enough to pass without scrutiny.”
“
Okay, I’ll get them done. What’s that address?”
Jack gave him the address of a post office box in D.C. and decided to test one more thing. “You know, Hutch, I might need your help with one more thing.”
“
What’s that, Jack?”
“
Well, I’m not sure exactly what is going on but I’ve found some discs that may shed some light on the matter. The trouble is they are coded so deep I can’t bust them. Think you might be able to break the code?”
“
Well, now that all depends. I’m good, but I’m no miracle worker. Why don’t you tell me where we can meet I’ll see what I can do.”
“
How about I bring them to you when I’m ready. Larson blew my cover, Hutch. He wanted me dead. I had to kill Cortez and Larson because I had no choice. This whole situation reeks, man. It’s dirtier than a bucket full of manure. If I can break the code on those files I can blow this thing apart, but I can’t do it alone. I need your help.”
“
Man, sounds like some serious shit. Tell me where you are and I’ll meet you to give you the ID’s. We can work on the files then.”
“
No, just mail them to the address I gave you. I’ll contact you again when I’m ready for help with the files. I have one more thing I want to do first.”
“
Jack, maybe you shouldn’t dig too deep, man. Sounds like this might be over your head, with all this encrypting and shit. You sure you want to get involved with this? Why don’t you just let the woman go and disappear? That would be the smart thing to do.”
Jack raised his eyebrow again. This was getting very interesting, but he thought about Caroline and the promise he made to her. “It’s more complicated than that, Hutch. I’m a part of it now. It’s got to stop and I’ve got to be the one to end it. Just send the ID’s and I’ll be in touch.”
“
Okay, I’ve got it, Jack. You be careful. You have some serious heat looking for you. You’d be better off dumping the woman, though. Why don’t you just leave her behind?”