Richmond, Virginia
Gerrit could smell snow in the air, cold air cutting into his nostrils like a razor. Since they’d pulled into a motel, he sensed the weather might worsen.
Joe rented several adjoining rooms at the far end of the parking lot, away from noisy traffic and prying eyes. Gerrit felt a hand on his arm.
“We need to talk.” His uncle led him away as the others grabbed their belongings and trudged to their rooms. “Come into my room for a minute.”
Gerrit followed the older man up a flight of concrete stairs and into the room. Inside, Joe turned to Gerrit with a frown. “I’m putting you in charge of this trip to Albuquerque. Give you and the others a chance to work together.”
“And where are you going?”
“I’m heading to England. Kane’s shield of protection cracked just a tad when he took you to Harrogate. A mistake on his part. I want to take advantage.”
“How do you plan on doing that?”
“I actually have some friends stationed at the RAF Menwith Hill site. I plan on setting up surveillance capabilities to identify any visitors Kane might invite to his lair and establish traps to capture electronic communications with others in his group. This is the first time we have had an opportunity to systematically identify our enemy.”
“Be careful. Are you taking anyone with you?”
Joe shook his head. “Nah. You’ll need all hands on deck in Albuquerque. I’ll be fine. I’m not going to do a John Wayne on Kane’s place. Just try to find out what we’re up against.”
As Gerrit turned to leave, doubts started to set in. Splitting up seemed risky. And Joe going solo in Harrogate seemed foolhardy. However, Joe had been doing this for some time. Better not question the teacher until Gerrit knew more.
He got to the door when Joe spoke up. “Oh, wait. I forgot to give you a contact. An Albuquerque PD officer. Here’s his number. Tell him Joe sent you and that Oakland Raiders rule. He’ll get whatever you need. In fact, I’ll give him a quick call to get things started before I leave.”
“And what’s his name?
“Geronimo Sanchez.”
Gerrit raised his eyebrows. “You’re kidding.”
Joe laughed. “Nope. That’s his name. Just don’t try to shorten his name to Geri unless you want to tick him off. He hates it. His old man tagged him with it when Geronimo was young. Only his family gets away with calling him that.”
Gerrit made his way to his own room and saw Alena waiting outside. She watched him unlock the door.
“Joe, talk to you?”
He nodded and gestured inside. “Wanna come in?”
“Only if you leave the door open a crack.”
He smiled. “Don’t trust me?”
She just laughed.
Gerrit grabbed his bag, followed her inside, and set it on the bed. “Joe said he’s headed to England-by himself.”
“He told me.” She waited a moment. “That makes me uncomfortable. We have always worked together as a team.”
Gerrit dragged a chair over for her, taking the edge of the bed for himself. “I don’t have a good feeling about it either. No one for back-up.”
“I know, but he insisted. Claims we are going to need everyone to hit that lab in New Mexico. If we find it, that is. For all we know, Summers might have been, how do you say, full of it.”
A knock on the door made Gerrit jerk. The door opened as Willy stuck his head inside. “Hey guys, turn on the tube. Our boy Gerrit’s on the news.”
Alena and Gerrit exchanged looks. He sprang from the bed and switched on the television. A Fox News anchorman came on, peering into the camera while shuffling papers. “This just in from our reporter Kim Banks outside Seattle Police Department headquarters. Kim, what is the latest on the bombing and murder investigations?”
“Well, Howard, Seattle PD gave a hurried briefing to the press with some surprising information just released. As you know, a joint local, state, and federal investigation has been underway into the brutal murders of federal prosecutor Marilynn Summers, Seattle detective Mark Taylor, and the supposed murder of SPD detective Gerrit O’Rourke, whose home was bombed and the remains of a body recovered among the ruins. And in a related story just in, we’ve learned Senator John Summers, father of Marilynn Summers, was found shot to death in his Bethesda, Maryland, residence.”
The anchorman cut in. “You say the supposed death of Detective O’Rourke? Is there any doubt?”
Kim smiled. “SPD spokesman Lieutenant Stan Cromwell brings us breaking news to answer that, Howard.”
The screen switched to an earlier recording of Cromwell’s press conference. The lieutenant looked older, beaten up, his face contorted with exhaustion and concern. “We have just learned from the coroner’s office that the body found inside our detective’s resident is not that of Officer Gerrit O’Rourke. At this point, we do not know the whereabouts or well-being of Detective O’Rourke. All we can tell you is that the body found inside O’Rourke’s residence is that of an identified male adult. We will not be releasing the identity until after the next of kin is notified.”
Kim, microphone in hand, cut in as the camera zoomed in on her. “There is some speculation that Detective Gerrit may be somehow connected to the deaths of his girlfriend, Marilynn Summers, and his partner, Mark Taylor.”
“Any details, Kim?”
The newswoman soberly looked into the camera. “Federal investigators learned that more than 500,000 dollars was wired into Detective O’Rourke’s account from an offshore business. Investigating further, it has been learned that the source of those funds was an import-export business under the control of a Russian organized-crime group.”
“But didn’t O’Rourke just shoot and kill Russian crime boss Nico Petrosky?”
“Sources close to the investigation believe there might be an internal struggle for power within that group. To create suspicion elsewhere, they may have paid Detective O’Rourke as a hired gun to eliminate competition.”
“But wasn’t he a part of a larger task force, armed with a search warrant for that residence?”
Kim nodded. “Yes. But it is believed that O’Rourke may have escalated the situation in order to take out Nico Petrosky.”
“This is amazing. So, O’Rourke allegedly kills his girlfriend and partner and arranges for his houseboat to be blown up to make it look like he is also a target. Thank you Kim,” Howard said, looking solemnly into the camera while a shot of Senator Summers’s residence loomed in the background. “In other disturbing news, federal investigators are launching a full-court press into the killing of Senator Summers. Earlier this evening, there were reports that his shooting death may have been self-inflicted. However, we have learned from sources close to the investigation that the senator’s death has been ruled a homicide. The FBI is heading up this multiagency investigation, and they remain tight-lipped about the case. No suspects have been identified at this time.”
Howard looked down for a moment as if reflecting on his next words, his brow furrowed. “We can only speculate as to the connection between Senator Summers’s death and those in the Seattle area. Two members of the Summers family eliminated in less than a week.”
Gerrit stood and turned off the television, just as Joe came into the room, Redneck trailing behind. Gerrit looked at the rest of the group in his motel room. “Well, Kane has just put a target on my back. Every law enforcement agency in the country will be looking to get their hands on me. I would imagine a BOLO is already out.”
They looked at Joe. Alena spoke first. “Do we call off this trip to Albuquerque and lay low until we can find out what this is all about?”
Joe raised himself up on his toes, as if exercising a cramp. “Nah, we keep pushing ahead. Laying low is just what Kane wants-to force us into hiding while he tries to clean up his mess. In the meantime, he will be doing everything he can to find us and squash that recording between Gerrit and the senator. Kane’s running scared.”
“While he is doing all that,” Gerrit said, “I’ll try to stay out of jail.”
Redneck bumped his shoulder. “Hey, Mr. G, jail’s not that bad. Three straight meals a day and all the sleep you want.” He winked at Gerrit. “You might learn to like it.”
Gerrit grimaced. “If I land in jail…if any of us land in jail, we’ll be dead. Kane wants to terminate us. And he’ll do whatever it takes to hunt us down.”
Joe smiled. “I finally made a believer out of you.”
Gerrit shrugged. “I’ve just seen how far Kane will go.”
An uneasy silence settled on the group. Joe jerked his thumb toward the doorway. “Come on. Let’s get some sleep. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.”
Gerrit watched them solemnly wander out of his room, Joe giving Gerrit a nod before shutting the door.
Joe had placed Gerrit in charge of this operation. It felt like he was back in the military, preparing to go behind enemy lines once again. But now he was leading a group of civilians who seemed to have no training for this kind of challenge.
He hoped they’d make it back alive.
Joe watched his team board the jet bound for Albuquerque. As the stairs retracted, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a preprogrammed number. A moment later Beck Malloy’s voice came on the line.
“Beck, they’re just leaving for the lab in New Mexico. I am on my way to check out the jackal’s den in Harrogate. I’ll keep in touch.”
“You going solo?” Concern crept into Beck’s voice. “At least let me set up a contact to cover your backside overseas.”
“I’ll be okay. And I have a contact there if I run into trouble. I’m more worried about our boy and the crew heading for New Mexico. The target had to have heard Gerrit’s conversation with the senator. I would bet he already put a hit team together to intercept them once they land.”
“That’s a high probability, Joe. Our agents found wiretaps in the senator’s house. What do you want to do about it?”
A jet roared overhead, drowning out any conversation. Joe waited until the aircraft passed and its blast abated. “Contact our guy at SOCOM. Tell him his favorite Marine is heading into trouble. He and his crew need eyes on their backs without raising any flags with the brass. Keep this covert. Can’t let the public know the military is involved.”
“Communications will be a one-way street with our contact, Joe. Gerrit cannot be given access to military data. His security clearance with Special Operations Command became inactive when he decommissioned.”
“Yeah, but his clearance can be reactivated quickly by the Bureau if people like yourself push it. Besides, our contact would never let a security clearance get in the way of protecting Gerrit. They go way back.”
Beck hesitated. “With Gerrit being a person of interest in connection to the Seattle murders and now the senator’s death, I couldn’t get that through the Bureau even with the president’s help. At least not without raising a lot of eyebrows.”
“Okay. Then let our friend with Special Ops handle it from his end like all the others.”
“Off the grid?”
“Exactly. It’s the safest way for all of us to function right now.”
“Consider it done.”
Joe killed the connection and tossed the phone after making sure its memory had been wiped clean. Time to pack a bag and visit the enemy’s lair.
Richard Kane heard the backblast of jet engines as Collette came on the phone line. “You in Albuquerque?”
“Just arrived, Richard. Any updates?”
“I just learned that the team split up. Joe O’Rourke has designated Gerrit to take the rest of the team to your location and find the lab.”
“And Joe?”
“He’ll be heading to my location in Harrogate. I’ll handle him on my end. You just find and kill that team. I don’t want them getting anywhere near that lab. Do I make myself clear?”
“Perfectly,” Collette said with confidence. “They won’t leave the city.”
He cut the connection. His informant came through again. And if Collette failed, he had a backup. The informant would kill everyone on the team.