Authors: Kelly Abell
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I’m not entirely sure what part Warren plays in this. I know the fact that he would become President when Michael died was mentioned in the files. I had to stop looking for information when Carlos came back from a business deal in Europe. He told me about this big party he was planning for some hot shot American. He wanted me to make sure security was airtight. I got busy with that and didn’t have time to hack in to his system any more. I managed to copy everything I’d found but couldn’t get all of it decoded.
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When I walked into Carlos’ office the night of the party, Kent Larson was there laughing with Carlos in his study.” Jack paused reflectively. “When I entered, Kent immediately blew my cover by calling me Jack. Carlos reached for his gun and that was when all hell broke loose. I shot Carlos and then, when I saw Larson pointing his gun at me, I shot him too.”
Caroline was so enthralled in this story that she had completely forgotten about her dinner. Jack put another bite of fish in his mouth and gestured with his fork again wanting her to eat. She took a few bites and took another sip of beer. “Kent Larson knew Carlos,” she offered.
Jack nodded. “That was obvious. They were laughing like old school chums. What I can’t figure out is, what was he doing there in the first place.”
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Well, if he blew your cover, my guess is he was sent to have you removed. Someone knew you were poking around, Jack. From what Warren told me, Larson knew each of you on that SEAL team better than your own mother knows you. Maybe this Emperor, that’s certainly an egotistical code name by the way, felt that Larson could control the situation better than anyone else.
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I remember commenting to Sarah Hardy at the celebration dinner that it certainly was odd that Larson would have gone looking for a rogue agent himself. He certainly could have sent another agent to do it, so there was a reason for his personal involvement. By the way, how did you get out of there without security figuring out you shot Carlos and Kent?”
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I had to stab myself in the leg to make it look like I’d been injured while trying to save Carlos. They brought a doctor in to sew me up and the next morning I got the hell out of there.”
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Where did you go?”
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I used another alias and came back to my hidey hole in D.C.”
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So that’s where the limp comes from.” She looked concerned. “Does it still hurt? Shouldn’t you have taken the stitches out by now?”
He smiled. It was nice to have someone be concerned. That was not something he experienced very often. “I already did. It’s still very sore, but it is healing okay. How about you? How’s your arm?”
She looked absently at the bandage and said, “I’d almost forgotten about it until I started doing some cleaning today. The bandage got wet and I had to change it. It’s a little red still, but I guess it is healing okay. Like yours, it’s still sore, but I’m sure it will be for a few more days.”
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Are you taking the antibiotic?”
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Yes,” Caroline said impatiently. “Now get on with your story.”
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Okay, keep your pants on,” he took a long swallow and finished the beer. He signaled the waiter and ordered another for both of them. “While I was in my apartment in D.C. I was able to decode more of the files and Carlos mentioned Warren. He recorded several meeting dates where Warren had met with this Emperor character.
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Later that night someone found me in the apartment. I think it was the CIA because they were the most likely to locate me that quickly, but I didn’t stay around to find out. I escaped out the window and made my way to a storage shed and got my Nissan and some supplies. Then I found your address and came to your house to see if I could find any information that Warren may have about this plot. You know the rest.”
Caroline was speechless. To think that her husband, one of the most prominent Senators in Washington, could be a part of something so despicable, turned her stomach. “I had no idea, Warren was involved in something so heinous.” She laid a hand on Jack’s arm. “I promise you Jack, if I had known I would have turned him in myself. Michael and Sarah are dear friends of mine. It makes me sick to think of what could happen to them.”
Her eyes widening, she started to rise. “Jack, we’ve got to call them and tell them what’s going on. We’ve got to warn them.” Jack grabbed her arm.
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Now, hold on there. We can’t go running off to the future President of the United States and spill our guts about something like this without proof. I don’t think they are going to attempt anything any sooner or they won’t achieve their prime directive, which, if I’m right, is to get Warren in the White House. The secret service is good. They will protect Michael for now, but I have got to get into those files and find out who this Emperor is. If I can find that out I might be able to stop this.”
Jack put his fork down and leaned back in his chair. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
Caroline raised one eyebrow. “Like I don’t already?”
Jack laughed. “Okay, I deserve that, I guess, but seriously I think all this may have something to do with my nightmares. When I had that flashback of memory in the barn today, it made me feel that somehow all of this is connected. I can’t quite put my finger on how it relates, but I know it does. That Iraqi woman is trying to tell me something from beyond the grave. It’s like she’s almost trying to help me remember.” Jack sighed. “That really does sound crazy, doesn’t it?”
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Do you believe in that kind of stuff? All that from beyond the grave woo-woo?”
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I don’t know if I do or not, but I know I’ve been having these dreams for a long time and while I was in Colombia they stopped. When I came back to the U. S. they started up again. I just think it is strange how all of this seems so connected to the past.
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I mean, there was Kent Larson trying to kill me, Warren’s name comes up, and I am calling Hutch Armstrong to help me get new identities and he starts asking a bunch of weird ass questions. Plus-,” he paused not wanting to tell Caroline her husband’s role in the death of the Iraqi woman.
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Plus what?” she asked.
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When my memory cleared, I was able to remember the entire incident that took place one night in Iraq. The team told me that a bomb had gone off in the palace and that I was injured in the blast, but I know now that wasn’t true.
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I couldn’t remember anything that happened that night for years. Then about two years ago, I started having these strange dreams about this Iraqi woman. What I remembered today is that Warren was the one who tortured and killed her. He thought she was a spy for Saddam Hussein and knew the location for a weapons depot that we were looking for. I remember trying to tell him he had the wrong woman. I was comparing a picture of her to the one in the dossier and she was not the same woman as the one in the photograph. I tried to stop Warren from torturing her but he clubbed me over the head and tied me up. I came to a few minutes later and when he saw I was awake he kicked me in the head with his boot.”
Caroline was horrified. “Oh My God, Jack. This can’t be true. I mean Warren is mean, I know that better than anyone, but to do something like this.”
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I know it shocks you to hear it, but I think you need to know what we are up against. What I think Kent Larson did was bury the incident. When I woke up in the hospital, after it was all over, I couldn’t remember anything, and they fed me this story about a bomb going off in the palace. What I think they have done, Caroline, is bury that story so no one would have to answer for the murder of that poor woman.
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Now that I look back on it, everything with the team sort of fell apart after that. Hutch became extremely depressed and received a medical discharge, which Warren and Kent pushed him into. I didn’t remember anything so I was no immediate threat, but Kent kept a close eye on me. He was the one that offered me a job with the CIA once I got out of the military. I should have questioned my good fortune to receive a job like that but I wanted it so badly I didn’t question it.”
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So let me get this straight.” Caroline leaned toward him, her elbows on the table. “You think that the incident that happened in Iraq all those years ago is somehow connected to this plot to assassinate Michael Hardy? That’s a bit of a stretch isn’t it?”
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I know it sounds like it, but I have good instincts. I know the incidents are related. It is not a coincidence that the entire SEAL team is involved in this.
Let me ask you something. Have you ever heard Warren mention anyone by the code name Emperor?”
Caroline thought for a minute. “No, not that I can recall, but let me think about it. I worked with his files a great deal and I might remember something if you let me take a look at them when we get back.”
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Well, I can use all the help I can get.” The waiter returned to the table with the bill and Jack got up and grabbed their coats. “Let’s go get some supplies at the Wal-Mart and then we can get back to work”
Chapter 33
While Jack put the groceries away in the kitchen, Caroline took a crack at the coded files. She studied what he had already decoded and shook her head in disbelief. Jack was right. Warren was involved in some type of plot to have Michael Hardy assassinated. She knew his ambition to be President was important to him, but she never dreamed it had consumed him to this magnitude. It confirmed her decision to run away. The man is insane. When this whole thing comes out in the open there will be hell to pay, she thought. She was just glad she was separated from it.
Her fingers tapping on the keys, she began to create her own program that would decode encrypted files. She started with what Jack already created and tweaked the code until she thought she had something that would work. Saving a backup on the portable hard drive she found on the desk she started the program run. She would let it run for an hour or so before she mentioned what she’d done to Jack.
She stood, stretched, and walked into the kitchen. “Did you fix some of that coffee we bought? I sure could use some. Sitting at the lap top will make you crazy after a while.”
Jack looked up from a stack of documents he was studying on the kitchen table. “Sure, I’ll make some. Having any luck? I heard you in there typing away.”
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Maybe.” Caroline leaned against the counter and watched him make the coffee. It struck her how domestic this scene looked. She smiled.
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What are you smiling at?” Jack wondered pouring water into the coffee maker.
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I was just noticing how domesticated this all looked, except the roles are a little bit reversed. It should be the one making the coffee.”
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Really? I bet you make lousy coffee.”
She laughed. “How did you know?”
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Just a guess. Princess upbringing and all that. So what magic did you work in there?”
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I’m trying a few strings of code added on to what you already did and I think it might work. Whatever encryption Warren used, or more likely, had someone else use for him, is very similar to what the military uses. There are a few variations and the strings of code I added to your program will pick out what’s different from the traditional military encryption methods and separate it out. Hopefully it will show us a finished product when it is done.”
Jack was astounded. “How did you learn so much about programming and encryption?”
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I’ve always been interested in it, ever since I was a kid. I double majored in computer science and beauty queen prep.”
Jack laughed. “I know you’re good at the beauty queen stuff,” he slid a wolfish glance up and down her body. “Let’s just hope you’re as good with encryption code.”
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Why Jack, you doubt my abilities?” She forced a small pout.
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My fair lady, you are constantly surprising me with your abilities. I never know what you will have up your sleeve next.”
Caroline smiled and looked at Jack through lowered lashes. He radiated sex appeal. He had taken a shower when they returned from the store and he stood before her in jeans with the top button undone and no shirt. His chest was mostly bare with a small patch of curly brown hair in the center. A faint line of it trailed down his six-pack abs and disappeared into the top of his jeans. Never had she seen such a perfect specimen.
Water spit and sputtered as the coffee maker finished its cycle. Neither one of them moved to fill the empty mugs sitting on the counter, they just stood locked in place. Desire took over Caroline’s brain. She knew it was bold and probably the most daring thing she would ever do, the urge to touch that rock hard body overwhelmed her. The strength of the heat building in her body shocked her. She’d never wanted a man this much. Where was this coming from? Her cheeks blushed scarlet, but she didn’t walk away. In fact, she took a step forward.