Second Thoughts and Last Chances
By
Latikia
Edited by
The Old Fart
Copyright © 2007,
2008
Chapter 23
The drive to San Francisco takes, or so I was told by the girl at the car rental counter in Beverly Hills, about six hours if you take I–5, about half an hour longer using 101. Not counting our forty minute stop for dinner, it took us just under six hours.
Finding a hotel took longer than I would have liked, and
much longer than Lilly liked, although she did get a pretty good night-time
tour of the city. We ended up taking a
mid-sized suite at the St. Regis, just off of
It was a pretty fancy place.
As nice as the Raffles had been, it couldn’t come close to matching the
view from the corner suite windows that looked out on the
And that night we did.
I was feeling pretty relaxed by nine that evening, lying back on the ‘L’ shaped couch looking out on the cityscape, watching the fog as it slowly rolled in across the Bay.
Lilly was beyond relaxed. She was buzzed, wobbly and had an itch she couldn’t reach. She stumbled across the room, jumped up and landed next to me on her knees then fell lengthwise on my chest.
“Whatcha’thinkin’bout?” she slurred; her eyelids drooped slightly and her smile was a little sloppy and lopsided.
I kissed the tip of her nose and returned her smile.
“I was just trying to make sense of it all.”
“Well, maybe there isn’t any sense to make.” she said.
“You could be right.” I admitted.
Lilly twisted her body around and peered out the window above and behind my head. “Can you feel them? This city?”
I nodded and licked her exposed neck. Lilly giggled happily and dropped back down. I brought my right hand down and began running my fingers up and down her spine.
“This one and the one on the other side of the Bay.”
I began applying more pressure with my fingers, eliciting a stream of soft groans and humming sighs.
“You don’t seem any crazier than usual.” she whispered as her muscles relaxed.
“No…it’s all just pain and hate and fear. No reason, no purpose…no point. And it never stops. Never.”
I put my left hand behind her neck and worked my fingers into her hair, massaging her scalp while I continued working on her back.
“There ought to be a point, don’t you think? A reason for it all?”
“There probably is a reason for most of it.” she said, rubbing her breasts against me. “But since you can’t see the thoughts behind the feelings I suppose it’s always going to seem pretty meaningless.”
Well bugger me with a fish-fork!
I hugged Lilly tightly, bursting with love and admiration.
Her entire body quivered as she returned my embrace, humming the whole time.
“Do you have any idea how much I love you, Lilly Blacktower?”
“How much?”
I linked our bodies and emotions. “This much.” And then I showed her.
Life is pain. My mother told me that once. Not the mother produced by my fragmented psyche, but my real mother. I was eight years old and it was after one of my many run-ins with Izzy in a tormenting mood. You have to learn to accept the pain, because it’s always going to be there, in one shape or another. It doesn’t last, she told me. It passes. All things pass.
She was wrong about that. But then, she was talking about regular people.
The clock on the night stand chimed
Three hours had passed and I still hadn’t been inside her. Not my cock anyway. Fingers and tongue, they’d been there and done that, my lips had been everywhere lips could go, and by my count Lilly had cum, large and small, about seven times.
I’d said she could have anything she wanted. She made me promise; no cheating. So no amping her feelings, no sending her mine…but that didn’t mean I couldn’t read her body.
I played her like a sexual instrument, and her pleasure, her joy and physical delight brought me peace. When she felt good, I was happy. When she sighed, groaned, whimpered, gasped, and cried out with pleasure, it was the most beautiful music I could imagine.
I kissed and licked my way up her back, nibbled at the base of her neck and, sensing her exhaustion, laid down, covering her body with mine.
“…so nice…” she murmured.
“Yes you are. Absolutely delicious.”
Lilly’s phone, on the nightstand in front of the clock, started beeping.
I rolled off of her, snatched up the little device and put it into Lilly’s hand.
“Better see what they want. I’ll see if there’s any of that champagne left.”
Lilly gave me a happy little smile and turned over on her side, thumbed the call button and slid the phone under her hair and against her ear.
“Hello?”
I got up and strode out of the bedroom. The champagne bottle was empty. I shrugged, turned and looked out the windows at the skyline; tall buildings, bridges, ships and streets lit up like something out of an artist’s wet dream.
“Ike!” Lilly called out, a note of hysterical panic in her voice. I charged back into the bedroom. She was huddled up against the headboard, knees pulled up tight to her chest, tears on her cheeks, dread in her eyes and fear in her heart.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“They’re sick. The babies are sick.”
I sat down next to her on the bed, took the neglected phone from her unresisting fingers, put my arm around her shaking shoulders, pulled her close and held the little phone up to my ear.
“Lilly!” Izzy’s voice came shouting out of the damn thing.
“Izzy, it’s me. What’s going on?”
“Where’s Lilly?”
“Right here next to me on the bed. What happened to the kids?”
“It was so sudden. There wasn’t any warning; none.”
“Izzy, calm down, take a deep breath and just tell me what happened, okay?”
“Peggy and I took the kids into town this morning to pick up the presents you promised the girls. When we got home, all four of them went outside to play and we used the time to wrap their gifts and hide them.”
“Okay, so far so good.” I commented, just to let her know I was still on the line.
“Yeah, well after we had hidden them and went down to fix dinner, we saw all four of them running around the front yard stark naked.”
“Aw shit!” I swore softly.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I said. They must have been out there for about forty minutes.”
“How bad was the weather today?”
“Not that bad really. About thirty five degrees, not much wind, no snow.”
“Okay, what then?”
“We ran outside and dragged them back in and put them in our bath tub to warm up. Then we put them to bed and fed them hot soup and tea. They seemed to be fine.”
“Izzy, where are you?” I asked, dreading the response I just knew was coming.
“
“What did the doctors say?”
“They think it’s some kind of flu.”
I thought fast, did some calculations in my head and tried to sound more positive than I felt.
“Alright sweetie. Here’s what you do; call Evan and let him know what happened. I’ll get in touch with Eric and have him put some people in the hospital to watch over you guys. Lilly and I will finish up here as soon as we can. We’ll be on our way home this afternoon. If there’s any change, any change at all, call me. Me Izzy. Okay?”
“How’s Lilly? She didn’t sound so good.”
“She’ll be fine. I’ll take care of her. You and Peggy take care of yourselves, and try to get some rest. We’ll see you at the hospital tonight.”
“I’m so sorry…”
“Izzy, it’s not your fault. It’s not Peggy’s fault. Sometimes kids do dumb things. It happens.”
“Come home soon.”
“As soon as we can, I promise. I love you all.”
The phone went dead. I set it down and stared at the far wall for a few moments.
“They’ve never been sick before.” Lilly said faintly. “Not once.”
I thought back over the seven years of my children’s existence and realized that she was right. No colds, fevers, chicken pox, flu…none of the usual children’s illnesses had ever touched them.
“Lilly, when was the last time you were sick?”
“I don’t know.”
I thought hard. Every year, each month, week, day, they all flashed thru my mind in vivid detail and clarity.
“You haven’t been sick since I’ve known you. None of you have.”
I couldn’t remember a time when I’d been sick. Did that mean something? What were the odds?
I’d gotten a barrage of shots when I went into the Army and another when we shipped out for Saudi. Most people experienced some discomfort or unpleasant effect from at least one of the injections. Not me. I never even got the trots from drinking the local water.
I picked Lilly up and put her on my lap, holding her in my arms, rocking back and forth while I sent her wave after wave of soothing reassurance.
“I can’t lose them again.” she sobbed against my chest.
“They’re going to be just fine.” I assured her.
“Not again.”
“Lilly, I swear to you, nothing is going to happen to them. I won’t let it.”
I was very careful, easing Lilly into sleep by amplifying her exhaustion. She needed the rest and I needed time to make arrangements.
Once I’d wrapped her up in the duvet I went out into the living room with my secure phone in hand and started making calls.
I put the aircrew on standby, telling them to have the plane fueled and ready to go on ten minutes notice.
I called Eric’s home number and had him send what was left
of our department’s agents to stand four hour shifts in
Lastly I got on the hotel’s phone and notified the front desk that we’d be checking out early. They weren’t too thrilled about losing the revenue, as we’d planned on being there at least three days, but I wasn’t very happy either and rapidly running out of patience. Eventually I decided that mayhem wasn’t the way to go and told the twit on the end of the line that they could keep the money, seeing how we’d already paid in advance, and that seemed to mollify his pecuniary predicament.
I spent the next five hours cursing myself for being a lousy father; worrying myself silly over events I couldn’t do a damn thing about, and swallowing the emotional residue of two cities.
Morning arrived with a dull thud. A heavy fog had rolled in and devoured the city, leaving it looking as shrouded and cold as I felt inside. The memory of four small holes dug into the wet sandy dreamscape beach of my mind just would not go away.
Lilly was cuddled up next to me, half way beneath my arm and half draped across my chest and hip. I shifted slightly, easing the strain on my left arm and repositioning the duvet around us.
I heard a determined knocking on the suite’s front
door. I glanced at the clock on the
night stand;
The first thought that popped into my head was that the San Fran cops had come to pay a social call.
Upon brief reflection I decided to dismiss that idea out of hand.
My second thought was to wonder why Marcus would even bother to send a team after me, if what he really wanted was Lucifer.
Stupid thought. Marcus wouldn’t. But Justice might.
Third thought; I didn’t care who was on the other side of the door. One wrong word, just one, and they were toast.
That thought made me feel better than I had all damn morning.
I slid out from under Lilly and the duvet, put on a pair of pants and headed for the door.
Four sets of emotions. I could feel them very clearly. Distinct, but oddly similar. Anxious, tense, worried, apprehensive, resigned.
I unlocked the deadbolt, swung the door open and looked out.
Four men, somewhere between the ages of fifteen and forty-five, all right around five feet eight and one hundred and forty pounds, with black hair and brown eyes; they were wearing black or blue slacks, white collar-less shirts, black leather jackets and dress shoes.
They looked like clones. Or relatives lacking in any kind of individual fashion sense. The way they dressed, combed their hair, carried themselves…there was something vaguely military about the four of them.
The one closest to me gave a little bow.
“Doctor Blacktower?”
“Yes, can I help you?”
“My apologies for intruding, but circumstances require that we change your appointment this morning with our CEO.”
“You gentlemen represent White Dragon?”
“We represent the CEO of White Dragon, yes. Will you come with us please?”
It wasn’t really a request, even if it was phrased like one. He was very polite, but there was a definite under-current of restrained violence in all of them.
San Francisco is famous for many things; the Golden Gate
Bridge, Lombard Street, the Forty-Niners, Alcatraz, the
Summer of Love (before my time, but I’d heard about it), the earthquakes, Jack
London, Fisherman’s Wharf, cable cars and of course Chinatown. There’s hardly a major city on the west coast
that doesn’t have a
The entire Bay area is renowned for its multi-cultural
diversity. That’s a PC term for having
lots of different people of lots of different races and national origins all
within the same zip code. Blacks and
Whites, Mexicans, Indians (from
None of which even begins to touch on the subject of
organized crime, something else
The four men standing before me were definitely Asian, and I was pretty sure they shared a common country of origin, but I couldn’t tell which group they might belong to.
I can’t tell one European from another either, just looking at them.
Their leader spoke west coast American English without a trace of foreign accent. He sounded like a TV news anchor. No help there.
All four watched me closely, curiously, waiting for a response.
I nodded. “Now?”
The leader inclined his head slightly.
“Come on in and have a seat. We’ll get dressed and be right with you.” I stepped to the side and waved them in.
“I’m afraid not, Doctor. We were instructed to bring you, no one else.”
I stopped moving in mid wave and linked with the four men.
Their arrival with news of an earlier meeting was, from my point of view, a fortuitous and welcome development. The sooner my business was finished, the sooner we could get back home to the children. But my patience had been stretched exceedingly fine during the early morning hours and I wasn’t in the mood for negotiating.
Bam!
I wasn’t as gentle as I could have been, as I usually was
when turning someone. It wasn’t that
there were four of them, or that I did all four at the same time. Up to then I’d been in the habit of inserting
rings individually, but since coming to
It wasn’t really their fault; they simply came at the wrong time and caught me in a less than genial frame of mind.
“Come in and sit down.” I commanded.
Two, the leader and the man on his left stepped inside. The two behind looked up at me, confused and bewildered expressions on their faces.
“Inside, now!” I said sternly, heat building behind my eyes.
Their spokesman snapped out a short sentence in a language I’d never heard before, at which point the reluctant pair relaxed and scurried inside. I shut the door and herded the little group into the living room.
“These two don’t speak English?” I asked their spokesman.
“No, they have only been in
I nodded and pointed to the L – shaped couch by the windows.
“All of you sit down. I’m going to explain a few things to you…what are your names?”
“Thanh Duc Fan.” the spokesman said. “This is my brother, Kim. These are our cousins, Vin and Han.”
“Alright. Thanh, I’m going to explain something to you and your brother, and then you tell your cousins exactly what I said. Are we clear? Exactly.”
“Yes sir.” he replied, no change of expression on his face.
I proceeded to give them my standard lecture on loyalty, obedience and absolute defense of my family and my personal interests.
Thanh and Kim listened intently, nodding in all the right places while I reinforced my words with emotions. Then we did the same thing to his cousins, Thanh acting as my verbal proxy.
“Wait here. I’ll wake my wife, we’ll get dressed and then we’ll go meet your CEO.” I said, once I was sure each of them understood my instructions.
“As you say, Doctor.” Thanh replied politely. I got to my feet, and all four men stood, bowing their heads at me.
I shook my head slightly and smiled, just a little, then returned the gesture.
I turned away and I heard them sit back down, talking softly amongst themselves as I walked quickly into the bedroom.
I woke Lilly and explained what had just happened. We showered in a hurry, dressed, packed our bags and joined our new retinue in the living room. I introduced Lilly to the four newest members of my…
I’m still not sure how to best describe the men and women I’ve turned. They aren’t friends, but they’re more than just acquaintances or followers. They aren’t slaves, because my first experience with Anya had soured me permanently on that process. I’d rather kill than travel down that path again.
The six of us went down, checked out and retrieved the
briefcase from the hotel safe, piled into Thanh’s
ugly green mini-van, headed down
I held Lilly’s hand in mine, easing her worries and fears, while going over what little information I had managed to acquire on White Dragon Security.
It was a privately owned business with only thirty employees. Thirty officially listed employees. Yet they had managed over their five year existence to become one of the most lucrative and well respected computer security companies on the west coast, and had, so most experts agreed, the potential to become the primer IS company in the country within the next five.
Privately owned. Family owned. My information said that the CEO of record was also the President. L. Fan. The Chief Financial Officer was also named Fan, as were all the VPs.
As was our driver and now loyal protector.
We turned right on
The lot across the street was empty, a flattened out patch of dirt with four corroded copper pipes sticking up like chopped off saplings. No other buildings were closer than two hundred feet. I could see a baseball field beyond the parking lot that was on the opposite side of the empty lot.
All six of us got out of the van, leaving our luggage behind. I held Lilly’s hand in my left, the briefcase in my right, and followed Thanh and his brother Kim. The cousins trailed after us as we were led inside the building.
The interior was as different from the exterior as could be imagined.
Dark wooden paneling, colorful decorative wall hangings of cloth, crepe and thin metal, bright overhead track lighting, modern furnishings and thick plush red carpeting that covered the rear-most half the reception area’s floor.
Thanh and his brother escorted us into the large, comfortable reception area, complete with over-stuffed leather chairs and plush three person love seats upholstered in garish red colors.
At the far end, opposite the entryway, was large wooden desk, with no one behind it. To the right of the desk, was a single metallic fire door with no markings of any kind. To the left was a set of heavy dark wooden doors inlaid with carved dragons that ran from top to bottom. On the right hand door was a heavy metal plate, and inscribed on the plate: L. Fan.
No sooner had Lilly and I taken a seat on one of the red love seats, than the fire door on the right opened and a tiny little girl emerged.
She pulled the door shut behind her, turned around, saw the six of us against the far wall, smiled brightly and began walking towards us. As she got closer I was forced to reassess my first impression.
She was no little girl; small, just a bit taller than Belle or maybe a little shorter than Peggy, but her attitude and deportment were definitely those of a mature woman. She had a youthful face, and shoulder length fire engine red hair that had to have come out of a dye bottle, but her calculating jade green eyes held years of experience, and her emotional state spoke of vast unwavering self confidence. Her clothing was a bizarre catholic school girl and punk rocker mix; mid thigh high blue-gray plaid pleated skirt, white fishnet stockings, ankle high black Peter Pan boots, a horrid pink tee shirt peaked out from beneath an ancient looking leather biker jacket that was easily two sizes too big and covered with metal badges and pins of all types and shapes.
“You must be Doctor Blacktower.” she said, her voice a warm contralto that oozed latent sexuality.
I stood slowly. Her eyes followed my upward progress with interest.
“You’re younger and whiter than we were led to believe.” she said with a smile that held no malice.
“How old did you think I was?”
The little woman chuckled. “I don’t know; fifty-fifty five.”
I smiled back. “I’ll be thirty one this summer.”
“You look much younger.”
“And just how white did you think I’d be?”
She blushed, an interesting effect coupled with her light olive complexion. “Please, forgive me, I shouldn’t have said that. Actually, we thought you’d look more like a Native American.”
I nodded. “The name, right?”
She smiled. “Exactly.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I am part Sioux, Navajo and Apache. Also Chinese and Korean.”
Her smile grew larger. “Are you really? Yes, I can see it now, just around the eyes. Isn’t that something?” She turned her attention away from me. “And who is this, your little sister?” she asked, looking over at Lilly.
“This is Lilly, my wife.”
“Very nice to meet you Lilly.” she said, holding her hand out.
“You too.” Lilly replied, shaking the proffered hand, but there was an air of wariness lurking within her.
The little woman shot a look in Thanh’s direction. “Forgive me, but we weren’t expecting you to bring your wife.” She snapped off a short, angry sounding stream of words at Thanh, who was standing next to me.
“Bay lau nay may o dau? Khoe khong ha?”
“Tao khong chac.” he replied stiffly.
“Y may muon noi gi?”
“Tao khong the noi chac.”
“Do ngu!” she nearly snarled, but had somehow managed to look like a sweet little girl throughout the entire exchange.
I held up my right hand, palm out.
“Go easy on him; I didn’t give them any choice in the matter.”
She looked up at me, eyebrows climbing. “Is that so?” she asked archly. “What did you do, threaten to kill them?”
“I don’t care much for threats. It’s been my experience that they don’t usually work, and then you’re forced to either follow thru or look like an idiot.”
“Very true. It’s amazing, isn’t it, how many people, and by people I mean men, just don’t get that?”
I smiled thoughtfully. “If you say so, Miss…?”
Her smile widened. “No need to be formal. My name is Lucille, but you can call me Lucy, everyone else does.”
“What is it you do around here, Lucy?”
She shrugged her shoulders, looking too damn cute for words. It was very distracting, and I assumed that was at least half of the reason she was there with us in the first place.
“A little of this, a little of that; you know how it is. Today I’m the receptionist, yesterday I was the Vice President in charge of Programming, tomorrow…” she shrugged again, “…who can say. I love your hair. It looks so natural. How do you keep it looking so silky? I’ve tried everything on mine; conditioners, hot oil, but nothing works.”
“Lucy,” I interrupted, “it’s kind of important that I speak with whoever is in charge of White Dragon. Life and Death important.”
“So I guess you want to talk to the big boss, huh?”
I nodded.
“What’s in the suitcase?” she asked, changing the subject abruptly.
“Five hundred thousand dollars.”
She pursed her lips and let out with a long, slow, mournful whistle.
“That’s a lot of money for one man to be hauling around, even one as big as you.”
I dropped the briefcase to the carpeted floor and opened the right side of my overcoat, exposing the Glock hanging along my ribs.
“It’s safe enough,” I grinned at Lucy, “especially now that Thanh, Kim and their cousins are here to keep an eye on things.”
Her face, a sweet, slightly oval shaped face, took on a curious expression that I had trouble deciphering. Her emotions though were crystal clear. She was worried.
“You should speak with my brother.” she said finally. “Follow me.”
Lucy turned on her heel and marched right at the big double doors with the dragons on them.
Lilly and I followed after her, but after two steps something stopped me in my tracks. A group feeling of bewilderment sprang up out of nowhere and tapped me on the back of my head.
I turned around and saw that Thanh, his brother and their cousins had clustered together; all speaking so fast I could barely make out what was being said.
“May ban-fah.” one of the cousins said to Thanh’s brother.
“Bu i-ding.” Kim replied quickly
“Chiu ni duh!” was Thanh’s sharp counter retort.
Whatever it was they were saying, and I had no damn idea what that might be, they weren’t happy. But as unhappy as they were, they couldn’t quite muster up enough concern to get between tiny Lucy and whatever was waiting for us behind door number three.
“Lucifer.” I said, looking into each of their faces, searching for some visible reaction. Nothing. Not one of the four men gave so much as an emotional flinch.
But behind me; that was a different story.
I spun around in time to watch Lucy shove the double doors open wide. As the doors swung apart I got a glimpse of a long narrow room, deeper than it was wide, with a desk at the far end that was almost as wide as the room itself.
And sitting behind it was a large hulking figure, bent over and peering into one of the three computer monitors that sat on top of the desk.
“Ni dzai gan shem-muh?” the little woman snapped, marched thru the doorway and headed straight at the desk.
I grabbed Lilly’s hand in mine and we followed her in.
The figure behind the desk looked up suddenly and lurched upwards.
“Co gi bat thurong khong?” he rumbled as he extended himself.
Up and up and up.
Lilly and I stopped moving when we were about five feet behind Lucy. My eyes were on the man behind the desk.
He was the tallest Asian I’d ever seen.
Thanh and his group were all about five-eight or nine. Few of the Orientals I’d known, and granted
there weren’t many, were more than
The man behind that desk towered over me by a good four inches.
“Chac la vay.” Lucy muttered
Lucy half turned and looked back at me. She grinned. “This is my big brother, Lam Fan.” She turned back to look up at the tall man. “Lam, this is Doctor Blacktower, and his wife Lilly.”
Lam Fan was a tall man whose face looked as if it had endured more than one beating over the years. Scared cheek bones, broken nose, slightly misshapen lips, jutting chin, cold dark eyes and a thick shaggy mop of unruly coal black hair. But despite his exceptional height, I doubt he weighed more than two hundred and ten pounds. He had shoulders an axe handle wide, but the rest of him was as thin as a scarecrow.
“Good morning.” he boomed in a deep, heavily accented bass voice. His less than handsome triangular face gave every indication of being pleased to see us. I felt genuine good will flowing from the man.
Lam slipped out from behind the desk, moving much more gracefully than I thought possible for a man his size, dropped down in front of Lucy, bent nearly in half and kissed her cheek. The affection between the two was palpable, even without my being privy to their inner feelings. Then he stood up, moved toward me and extended his hand.
I have large hands and can easily palm a basketball without any real effort. His were larger.
I handed the briefcase to Lilly, took his hand and we shook. My hand disappeared when his fingers enveloped it. His grip was firm but no more than that.
“My brother used to be a monk. He is a master of five different forms of unarmed combat.” Lucy informed us. “Lam, Doctor Blacktower works for the CIA and he is carrying a gun.”
Lam’s eyes went from friendly and warm to cold and menacing in the space of a heartbeat. His hand tightened around mine.
“Actually, I’m carrying two. Lucy,” I said softly, “do you love your brother?”
“Very much, Doctor. Almost as much as he loves me, I think.”
“Then you’d best tell him not to do anything foolish, like trying to hit me.”
The tiny woman laughed. “Doctor, if Lam decides to hit you, there’s nothing either one of us can do to stop him.”
“I came here today to save your life, Lucifer. If I’m forced to kill your brother, it’s going to be very difficult for us to have any kind of decent working relationship.”
Calling her Lucifer caused a repeat of the emotional reaction I’d felt before entering the office.
“Cho Lam!” she said. “Save me from what?”
I looked up into Lam Fan’s cold eyes. “Please let go of my hand. I’m not going to hurt your sister.”
The tall man reluctantly released his hold on my hand, but didn’t back away or relax his stance.
I flexed the fingers. He had one hell of grip. “Thank you.”
“Save me from what?” Lucy repeated her question. “You’re the only one I know of who’s been looking for me.”
“Is that why you had Captain Haggarty and Lt. Chambers harassing us? To scare me off?”
“Why are you looking for Lucifer?” she asked, not admitting to anything.
“You’re very good at what you do, Lucy. I don’t know just what it is that you’ve been doing, but up to now you’ve only had the NSA after you. And maybe some local types. The NSA wants to recruit you into their organization. And thanks to me, they now know where you are. Not who, but they do know where to look. It’s only a matter of time before they know who you are.”
“Thanks to you.”
“An unfortunate side effect of my search. They thought you were probably out this way, but it was just a guess. I’m the one who put the pieces together, using information from the CIA, the NSA and the FBI.”
“Why is the CIA after me? I’ve never bothered them.”
I smiled down at her. I could feel the lie even as the words left her mouth. “You wouldn’t know as much as you do about me if you hadn’t hacked our database. Truthfully, the CIA doesn’t give a damn about you. They aren’t even aware, I don’t think, that you got in.”
“Then why are you here?”
“You pissed off someone, or some group. A lot. Because they went and hired an ex-CIA agent and he did to me what you did to Haggarty and Chambers. His name is Alex Chorney, or Carlos Negron, and he is blackmailing me for the sole purpose of eliminating you and whatever threat you pose to his employers.”
“So you are here to kill me.” The big man standing before me tensed up again.
“No. I’m here to make sure that the hacker Lucifer is never heard from again.”
“How?”
“The NSA is coming. I can’t stop that. But I can use them to tell the world that Lucifer is dead. They’ll be cover for your escape. Chorney will believe it and he’ll tell his bosses and we’ll both be off the hook.”
“Why do you want to help me? What do you get out of it?” she asked suspiciously.
“As I said, Chorney is blackmailing me. He claims to have some pictures and video of a compromising nature, the kind that can ruin a person’s career, or their life.”
Lucy’s expression changed dramatically, as did her emotions. A mix of guilt, remorse, curiosity and disappointment.
“So what’s this guy got on you?”
I shook my head. “Not on me. On someone I love.”
Lucy’s eyes shifted immediately to Lilly.
“No, not Lilly either. Look, you know how this game plays out; even if I were to kill you, there’s no guarantee he’d keep his word and destroy the evidence he claims to have. What would you do in my place?”
“I’d destroy him before he could do the same to me.”
I nodded. “Precisely. So what I propose to do is fake your death, relocate you and your entire operation to a safe location, and then put you to work finding him.”
She frowned slightly and then nodded her head. “Makes sense, from your perspective, but not from mine. I’ve lived my whole life in this city. I like it here, and I don’t want to leave.”
“If the NSA gets their hands on you, do you think they’ll give a shit what you want? What they’ll give you is the option of doing what they want or going to prison for a very large portion of you natural lifespan.”
“You’re assuming that they’ll be able to get their hands on me. I’m not without resources of my own you know.”
I raised one eyebrow and cocked my head off to one side. “Please tell me you’re not talking about the Tongs. Do you honestly think a street gang is going to be able to protect you from the federal government?”
“But you can?”
“Yes, he can.” Lilly said confidently.
I smiled down at my wife and got a loving grin in return.
“Lucy, in that briefcase Lilly is holding is half a million dollars in cash. It’s yours. So you can start over when you leave here. Think of it as investment money. I’m investing in our new business.”
“Didn’t you just say the CIA wasn’t after me?”
I laughed softly. “I’m not here on behalf of the CIA. What you and I are discussing is strictly between us. Your family and mine. This new business we’re going to start…I can see it making us all extremely wealthy. And very, very influential. I won’t be sticking my nose into your part of the business, because frankly I have more than enough to keep me occupied as it is. I’ll take care of the external security, the rest I’ll leave up to you.”
“And what, exactly, would we be doing, this new business of ours?”
I shrugged dramatically. “What would you like to do? Save the whales? Destroy the rain forests? Champion research into a cure for terminal stupidity? Lucy, the sky’s the limit as far as I’m concerned. We can masquerade as a law firm or a non-profit charity. Hell, we can call it a think tank and bury it so deeply beneath layers of legal red tape that no one will ever find out that you or your family have anything to do with it. All I ask in return is your help with Chorney. Eventually the NSA will give up and stop looking for you, but he won’t. Helping me solve my problem will benefit you as well.”
“Where would we go?” she wanted to know.
“The east coast, for the time being. We have a horse ranch several miles from DC
near the
“Nine!” she countered quickly.
“Done.” I agreed. What did I care, it wasn’t coming out of my department’s budget.
She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I’ll need to bring my servers and storage units. And all the staff.”
“How much weight, how many people and how long to round it all up and get moving?”
“All the electronics are in
“Okay, we’ll give that job to Thanh, his brother and the cousins. They can transport the stuff across
country. I’ll arrange for temporary
storage in…how ‘bout
Lucy nodded her head slowly. Then her eyes lit up.
“You trust my people that much? What’s to keep them from hiding the equipment somewhere else and me from taking off the second your back is turned?”
“Thanh will do exactly what I tell him to.” The light in her eyes dimmed just a little.
“You’ve got an awful lot of confidence in a man you just met this morning.”
“I’m very good at reading people. Now, how many people are we talking about moving?”
“Fifteen.”
I frowned. “Fifteen? The IRS records say you have thirty employees.”
Lucy smiled impishly. “We lied.”
“Fifteen total? No wives, or husbands or children?”
“No. I don’t have people with divided loyalties working for me. They’re all young and unattached. Geeks and nerds; socially inept, but absolute geniuses in their areas of expertise. On top of which, every one of them is related to either me or my brother.”
“Okay, that’ll make things easier. Are they here now?”
“Most of them are.
Two are out on a job in
“That could be a problem. Can you reach them quickly?”
“Sure.”
“Do it. Tell them to
drop what they’re doing and get to the
“We all have cars, and there’s a company van. We use it on the hardware jobs.”
“The last thing I want is a convoy of vehicles leaving out of here. We’ll have Thanh and his group take a car and put everyone else into the two vans. And we need to get moving quickly.”
“There is something you should know about Thanh, Kim and their cousins.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“They are family, but they don’t actually work for us. They’re kind of like contractors.”
“Tong or Triad?” I asked.
“Tong.”
“Well, thanks for telling me but it doesn’t change anything. They may have been bangers before, but they’re mine now. Gather up your people, and don’t forget to call in the two out-of-towners.”
“Uh…could I see the money first, as a show of good faith?” She was just a little bit embarrassed.
“Sure.” I took the briefcase from Lilly, stepped around Lam and put the case on the desk top. Fiddled with the combination locks, removed the hidden key from my watch band and disarmed the explosive device, opened the lid and stepped back.
Lucy moved closer, as did her brother, and peered inside.
“Ga wu!” she muttered.
“Bu shing.” her brother rumbled.
She looked up at me. “You weren’t kidding.”
“No I wasn’t. Not even a little bit.” I handed her the little key, explained about the explosives and gave her the combination. “Better gather your people together. We have to get moving.”
Lucy spoke quickly to her bother and he rushed out. She stayed behind and closed up the briefcase, pocketing the little key.
“Lam will call back the field team and bring our remaining people to the reception area. Tell me Doctor, how do you plan to fake our deaths?”
“I thought I’d burn the building down.”
She laughed.
“We’re wired directly into the island’s fire department thru the building’s smoke detectors, and there’s a built-in fire suppression system.”
“Guess fire’s not much of an option. Well then, I suppose I’ll just have to blow the place up.”
The tiny woman looked me over. “You’ve got thirty pounds of C-4 hidden under that coat of yours?”
I smiled briefly. “No.”
“Then how…?”
I raised one hand to ward off her questions. “You wouldn’t believe me. When the time comes, you’ll see for yourself.”
Lilly moved close and took hold of my arm. “Ike…?”
I bent down and put my arms around her. “Soon, sweetie. We’ll be going home very soon.”
“Remember what you said about renting loyalty.” she whispered in my ear.
I nodded and kissed her. “I haven’t forgotten. Once they’re all on the plane.” I whispered back.
Lucy cleared her throat loudly, obviously wanting to catch our attention.
“How long have you two been married?” she asked Lilly.
“We’ve been together for eight years.”
“Eight?” Lucy was confused and the irritation it was causing her was beginning to annoy me.
“Yes. We met in
1991. Both of us were patients at Walter
Reed. That’s an
“You were in the Army?”
“No, my ex-husband was. Ike was too.”
“Oh yeah? What did you do in the war Doctor?”
I looked into her eyes for a long moment. “Different things.”
There was a brief, uncomfortable pause.
“I probably shouldn’t ask, but I’m going to anyway. What’s with your skin? Is that because of the war?”
“No. I was born this way.”
“You aren’t an albino. Your eyes aren’t pink.”
“No. I’m just really, really pale.”
We heard something of a commotion going on outside her office. Lucy picked up the briefcase and walked quickly towards the reception area. Lilly and I followed.
A small crowd of people were gathered around the towering figure of Lam Fan, all of them talking a mile a minute.
“Ting wo shuo!” Lucy shouted at the top of her lungs. Silence reigned as all eyes turned towards the three of us. “The NSA finally found us. We have to leave right away or every one of us could end up in prison.”
The babbling started up again, louder and less organized than before.
“Enough!” I bellowed, projecting fear and menace throughout the room. “This is not the time or place for debating. Keep quiet, do what you’re told and everything will be explained…later.” I eased up on their emotions, tapped Lucy on the shoulder and knelt down next to her. “Tell Thanh where to get your equipment and let’s get him out of here.”
She hustled over to where I’d left the former Tong members. Lilly and I followed along, getting fearful looks from the people huddled around Lucy’s brother. After receiving his instructions and directions, Thanh and his crew looked over at me.
“Do as she says. I’ll
arrange a place in
“Yes Doctor. I don’t know that it will work out of state though.”
“Okay, just in case it doesn’t,” I reached inside my jacket, took out one of my rarely used business cards and handed it to him, “call this number when you get there. Leave a number where you can be reached and I’ll get right back to you with instructions. And Thanh…take very good care of this cargo. Don’t do anything that might attract attention to yourselves, but protecting this equipment is essential.”
“Understood sir.”
“Very good. And leave the mini-van’s keys here. We’re going to need it.”
The four men stood in unison, Thanh handed his keys to Lucy then they inclined their heads towards me and marched out single file.
Lucy shook her head. “Damn. What did you do to them? They were never that polite or respectful to me unless Lam was around.”
“That’s another thing you wouldn’t believe.” I told her. “Is there anything in this building that you can’t live without? That any of these people can’t live without? Because if there is, you’d better get it now. Once we’re outside there’s no coming back.”
Lucy shook her head.
“All we have here are remote workstations. The important stuff is in
“Alright then…get everyone outside and into the vans.”
While Lucy and her brother herded their charges out the door, Lilly and I hung back.
“Are you really going to blow up the building?”
“I’m sure as hell gonna try.”
“How? It’s not something you can link with like the trees.”
“Yeah, I know. If it doesn’t work I may have to do something really stupid and completely immoral.”
“Like what?”
I looked into Lilly’s eyes and smiled sadly. “Like blowing up the island.”
The expression on her face was one of shocked disbelief.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to protect our family Lilly. If you never believe another word I say, believe that.”
Her eyes bored into mine, wistful and sad, and not a sparkling star in sight.
“I guess you’d better figure out how to blow up the building then.”
I nodded. “That would be preferable.” I said as we left the building.