Authors: Kelly Abell
When he awoke in the hospital they told him there was an explosion and Jack, not being able to remember, believed them. Jack gasped. Oh God, the woman, the one in his dream, it was her. It was the woman Warren was killed that night. The wrong woman.
“
Jack, have you been able to get…” Caroline stopped the minute she saw Jack’s pale face. “God, Jack, what happened. Are you all right? Are you hurt?” She rushed over to him and placed a cool hand on his sweaty forehead.
He looked helplessly up at her. “It was her, Caroline. Warren murdered her and I couldn’t stop him.” A tear slid slowly down his cheek.
“
What? Warren? Murdered someone?” Caroline was confused. What had happened here? Had Jack had some kind of stroke? He wasn’t making any sense. She sat on the bale of hay beside him, ignoring the sickly odor. She took his face into her hands and turned him to face her.
His brown eyes were leaking tears and his face was full of grief. “I let them kill her Caroline. That’s what she’s been trying to say in the dream. I let them kill her. I couldn’t stop it.”
This must have to do with the nightmares Jack was having. Beginning to understand slightly Caroline said, “Tell me what just happened, Jack. You must have triggered a suppressed memory some how. That can be a traumatic experience. Work through it slowly. Tell me what you’ve remembered.”
He did. He told her all of it, the whole sordid nasty tale as he saw it. He was unable to convince the team that she was the wrong woman and Warren had killed her in an effort to find out information that she obviously could not have known. The Navy covered up the blunder and no one had ever known. As long as Jack couldn’t remember they were safe.
Caroline was shocked at what she heard. She knew Warren was cruel and had experienced that first hand, but she didn’t think he was capable of such a cold-blooded sadistic murder. She shuddered. “Jack are you sure about this? I mean did it really happen or is it just part of a really bad dream?”
“
Caroline, I’m sure now. I wasn’t before and I couldn’t put my finger on why I kept dreaming that same horrific dream about that Iraqi woman over and over again. Now it seems like she was trying to contact me all along trying to get me to remember. Like she wants me to grant her some type of revenge and get restitution for what I let happen to her.”
“
Jack,” Caroline said sternly. “You did not let this happen to her. You tried to convince them and they attacked you. They knocked you unconscious and tied you up. There was nothing you could do. Even when you came to they knocked you out again so hard it caused you to lose your memory. Jesus, Jack, her death is not your fault.”
Jack looked at Caroline. He took a hand and swiped away the tears, that for some reason he was not ashamed for her to see. Maybe she was right, but the guilt he felt was over powering. He understood all of it now. If his memory had not been destroyed he would have seen to it that Warren and the rest of the team were prosecuted. It would have ruined any chance Warren had in politics, which was one ambition he never kept secret. Warren often bragged about what he would do when he became President.
Jack rose suddenly. “I’ve got to get to my laptop. I need to continue to work on those files. We’ve got to know who the Emperor is. He is the key, I just know it.”
Caroline watched him walk purposefully out of the barn and head straight for the car. He opened the back, removed the black duffel bag, and strode into the house. She was confused now. Who was this Emperor he kept talking about? It was like being caught up in a Hollywood movie. She needed to know what was going on and now was as good a time as any.
Chapter 31
Hutch waited in the elaborately decorated study. He liked this room and enjoyed studying everything in it each time he was summoned to “appear” before the Emperor. Any room looked smaller when Hutch’s six foot five, 300 pound frame was in it and he positively dwarfed this one. He walked the length of the room weaving around the expensive leather sofa to get to the leather wing back chairs next to the fireplace. He studied the pieces of sculpture that were placed strategically on each of the end tables and the coffee table.
They were all wildlife sculptures. How fitting, Hutch thought, that this man would choose to decorate his home with predators. He studied a bronze of a howling wolf. It stood over its dead mate, head thrown back, ears flattened. You could almost hear the mournful cry echoing in the dark corners of the room.
Hutch then examined the pewter sculpture of an eagle, forever frozen with its talons extended, ready to snatch some unsuspecting prey. He fingered the sharp metal claw and couldn’t suppress a shiver. All of these wild predators scattered about the room reflected some personality trait of the Emperor. Hutch wouldn’t consider himself a friend, but he knew this man well after having worked with him for the past 10 years. They had something in common, grief.
Ileana was dear to both of them but for different reasons. Hutch walked to the fireplace and picked up the silver framed picture of the beautiful woman. His big hands held the delicate frame and he gently traced a finger down the curve of her photographed face. An unexpected tear slipped from his eye and plopped on the glass. He quickly swiped at his eyes with the back of his shirtsleeve and rubbed the picture against his chest to clean it. Not much could make this huge man cry, but this overwhelming grief would reach in and grip his heart every time he came here. While he was away, he could focus on his security company and not think about his loss, but walking into this study where her beautiful smiling face looked out at him, always touched his soul. He sighed deeply and set the picture back on the dark walnut mantle.
“
We owe her a great deal, Hutch.” The Emperor had come silently into the room. “She suffered tremendously for no reason.”
Hutch turned to see the smaller Iraqi who was Ileana’s twin walking toward him. He was short, Hutch mused, but one look in his cold black eyes and you knew who was in command. He immediately took charge of a room. It wouldn’t surprise Hutch if this man was the spawn of the devil himself and he never wanted to cross him. He worried about Jack Weaver. “I know that,” Hutch said taking a seat in one of the wing backs.
The Emperor crossed to his freestanding bar and made himself a drink. He gestured to Hutch with his glass, “You want one?” Hutch declined.
“
Why have you brought me here this time?” Hutch asked.
“
You’ve had contact with Jack Weaver.”
“
Yeah, so?”
“
What did he want?”
Hutch crossed one of his long muscular legs over the other. The fabric of the black trousers he wore stretched taught across his thighs. “He wanted new identities.”
“
Did you provide them?” The Emperor was finished pouring his drink so he came to the leather wing back chair and sat opposite Hutch. The brown leather of the chair blended so well with the jacket of his suit that he seemed to just melt directly into buttery leather. He leaned back his sharp dark eyes focused on Hutch.
“
Yes. They are now Jane and Kevin Reynolds. I don’t know where they are living because he had me mail the material to a Washington D. C. post office box. Said he would pick them up there. Don’t know how that’s possible as you said they were in Tennessee when you last caught up with them. He must have someone else that could forward the stuff to him. You find that person, you’ll find him.”
“
I don’t have time for all that research. I need Jack Weaver gone now before he does any more damage to my plan. He decodes those discs and we are all ruined, you understand?
“
You know, Hutch, you are without blame in all this. If word gets out about your involvement in Ileana’s death, you will be prosecuted along with the rest of them. You were there and you didn’t report what happened. That makes you as guilty as the man who killed her.”
Hutch’s anger flared and it flashed in his eyes. He managed, however, to keep the rage out of his voice. “The only thing I am guilty of is loving her. I did not kill her.”
“
I know that, and you know that, but do you think America’s Government will see it the same way if they should find out?” He eyed Hutch over the crystal glass then continued. “We need more time. If Weaver exposes this plan, getting retribution for Ileana will be set back for many years. I have worked too long and too hard to let one man ruin everything.” He stood and began to pace the room.
Hutch hated that wild look he got in his eyes whenever he spoke about his “plan”. Ileana was dead. Nothing he did would bring her back. He said so now. “Look, man, Ileana is gone. She died over ten years ago. All you’ve done is focus on this plot to avenge her death and for what? It’s not going to bring her back. I regret more than anything that I couldn’t stop her death. I tried. I truly did,” his voice hitched. “Why can’t you let it go?”
The Emperor turned on Hutch his eyes blazing. “Let it go? I have worked for ten years to put that imbecile Walters in a position so I could see him destroyed. I have backed him in election after election, just to get him to this point. He killed my sister and your lover. Have you no sense of loyalty? Of pride? Have you no desire to see all these men and the self-righteous country they come from punished for their heinous crime?” The Emperor crossed to the chair where Hutch sat and leaned down into the big man’s dark face. He poked a slim finger at his chest. “You,” he accentuated each word with a sharp jab of his finger, “are a coward.”
Hutch stood, towering over the smaller man. The Emperor held his ground. Hutch grabbed the wrist attached to the poking finger, and twisted. “Listen, you insane bastard, I am no coward. I have faced more gun barrels and explosive devices than you even know exist. I am not afraid of you or the United States Government. I just know Ileana and I know she would not want this. She’s gone and she would want you to let her be. Killing millions of people is not going to bring her back. She would tell you that herself, if she could.”
The Emperor jerked his wrist from Hutch’s grasp and glared at him. “But she can’t, can she, Hutch? She can’t because she was tortured and murdered for a secret she knew nothing about. She was a treasure. She was pure and just and your SEAL team snuffed out her life as if she were worth no more than a dog on the street. Had she not loved you, I would kill you where you stand. Make no mistake her death and the wrongness of it will be avenged.”
Hutch stepped back a step. For a small man he was ferocious and as deadly as a rattlesnake. Hutch did not doubt what he said. He wondered when the day would come when he would not walk out of this office alive. He knew the Emperor kept him around only because of the connections he had and because of how close he could get to the players in the Emperor’s little game. “Why did you bring me here?” Hutch asked again.
“
I want you to contact Jack Weaver and have him come to your home in the Keys. I want you to offer to help him decode those discs. Tell him you have information that will help him. Tell him whatever you have to, just get him to your house. Call me once he’s there and I will turn Cortez’s men loose on him. They will take care of that problem for us until we need them again for the assassination in January. If we put them to work for us the murder cannot be traced to me. It will look like the Cortez family ordered Weaver killed because he killed Carlos, Juan’s only son and heir to the Cortez empire.”
“
I’ll try, but he was pretty tight lipped about where he was. If he’s squirreled away somewhere he thinks is safe, he won’t budge. That’s why he was always such a good operative. He got into a position where his back was covered and he waited.”
“
He also knows you are the best decoder in the business. If anyone can read those files, you can. That’s probably why he called you in the first place. Play on that angle. Get him to trust you. Once he is in place call me. Understand?” The Emperor walked back over to the bar, picked up a fat Cuban cigar, and clipped the end. He picked up a solid gold lighter and clicked on the flame. He puffed as the tip caught and the strong odor of tobacco filled the air. He lifted his eyes to Hutch who stood in the same spot. “Understand?” he repeated.
“
I’ll try.” He moved toward the door of the study. “I’ll contact you when I speak to him.”
“
Good, you do that.” The Emperor turned, a wicked smile on his face. He absently rubbed the head of the bronze wolf. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”
Hutch walked out and shut the door behind him with a firm click.
Chapter 32
“
Damn it!” Jack shouted aloud and slammed the lid of his laptop shut. Caroline, who was mopping the floor in the kitchen jumped and the mop clattered to the floor.
“
What’s wrong?”
Jack looked at her, frustration radiating from his deep brown eyes. “I can’t break this code. I have tried everything I can think of and used every program I’ve got on this piece of shit machine and I can’t crack it. I’ve gotten some information, but Warren has built the code to self-destruct if I push this any further. Shit, I never dreamed he was that smart.”