An Unlikely Hero (1) (14 page)

“Shut up, Zoric,” he said offhandedly. “You artist types are all alike.”

“Romantic,” he said quietly as sleep approached.

“I was thinking weird.”

With a soft chuckle Zoric let his sleepy smile fade. “Yes. Weird and romantic.”

That had been several hours ago. The sun was brilliant above the clouds but the weather report indicated showers all day. The pilots had flown around some turbulence in New Orleans, going northeast through St. Louis. Although Benjamin Clark’s newest toy, the Aerion SBJ, could out fly anything in the sky, going to Mach 1.8 easily, the pilots felt like they needed to break her in before pushing the limit. The plane gave Chase and his team a time advantage even though they weren’t maximizing the advantage of the 80 million dollar aircraft.

He’d searched the computer for Lion’s Breath after Zoric faded into sleep. The number of articles on the extinction of North African lions filled more cyberspace than Chase desired to read. A few chosen summaries convinced Chase that the symbol of lions killing and eating the infidels deemed the possibility of an imminent terrorist attack a viable risk. He rubbed his eyes with thumb and forefinger and decided he’d leave them closed for only a few minutes to ponder the information he’d read.

The sun’s piercing rays opened them again as he realized he’d taken a nap. A sideways glance at Tessa revealed she slept soundly. It was time to wake her although looking at the angelic expression of innocence and peace on her face forced him to acknowledge Zoric was correct. Tessa Scott got to him. He wasn’t sure how, but she’d affected him in a way no one ever had before. As he stretched lazily his eyes fell on Zoric who sat across from him with his legs extended across two seats. He sat with his back against the window, sketch pad in hand, looking at Tessa as his hand quickly captured her essence.

Zoric shifted his eyes to meet Chase’s. “Don’t you wish we could sleep like that?” he grinned.

“What do you think you’re doing?’ Chase stood and grabbed the sketch pad. “I didn’t know you were drawing again.” He handed the pad back carelessly.

“I want you to have something to remember when we are finished with her.”

“I’ll make some coffee,” he said frowning as he moved away.

Tessa Scott stirred lazily as she smelled coffee. “Hmm. Is that coffee I smell?” She pushed the blanket away trying to remember when she’d gotten it. Sitting up, Tessa stretched her arms out in front of her before rubbing her face with cool hands. A shiver ran across her as she realized the air conditioner was set lower than considered “green” at her house.

“Here,” Chase said handing her a mug of steaming coffee. “It’s an African blend. Ben is partial to that. I added cream and sugar.”

Tessa took the mug with both hands, caressing it, as the warmth spread through her fingers and palms. Just before she took the first sip she tilted her head and met the captain’s wide brown eyes with her own. Most of the day before he’d had them narrowed or hooded, deep in thought. Now they were relaxed, wide and handsome. “How did you know I took cream and sugar? Surely Claudia didn’t know that too.”

“You had vanilla creamer in your frig. That’s not a guy thing. There was a sugar bowl full of sweetener too.” Tessa nodded in acceptance of his answer. “But,” Chase smiled warmly, “I saw you add cream and sugar last night around midnight when Vernon brought you coffee.” He was rewarded with a smile.

Sleep had made her blonde hair curl out of the ponytail holder. One wayward curl fell across her forehead and Chase resisted the urge to move it away from her bright blue eyes. He’d never seen eyes that shade of blue. Although her lipstick had long faded and the thick lashes lacked mascara, Chase found the woman lovely. A slight tightness came into his chest and he instinctively put a hand on his heart.

“Are you alright, Captain Hunter?” Tessa saw the creases around his eyes appear as he’d touched his chest.

Chase stood and backed into the aisle, smiling. “Not enough sleep and too much caffeine. We’ll be landing in ten minutes. Buckled?”

Tessa took another sip of her coffee. “Buckled. And thanks for the coffee, Captain Hunter.”

He nodded and turned away and moved to the front of the plane where he spoke briefly to the pilot. He then sat down in a seat near the front, buckled himself in and waited for the sound of rubber meeting runway.

Benjamin Clark squeezed the phone as if his hand were wrapped around the Secretary of Homeland Security’s neck. “No! You’re not on speaker phone! I’ve got people on the scene without this intel.” Ben switched the phone to his shoulder where he could sandwich it there with his tilted gray head.

He picked up the secure phone developed by an Enigma sponsor. All his team members carried one. The size made it look like all the others on the market, but this one could do anything just short of launching a nuclear strike. Vernon had snickered at that restriction, commenting that he’d already had a look around in that department. At the time Benjamin decided to put Vernon on probation from field work for the serious misuse of Enigma property in hopes of teaching him a lesson. Benjamin quickly realized his mistake when Vernon spent the time snooping in other areas that didn’t concern him. The phone blinked to life as Benjamin slipped it onto the back of his handset.

“
What the hell was that sound?” Tobias fumed. Even the Secretary of Homeland Security remained in the dark about some of the fancy toys Enigma possessed. Benjamin intended to keep it that way.

“
Dropped the phone. Continue, Tobias. We don’t have all day. You put my people in danger without this information.”

“
Those misfits are like junkyard dogs, Ben. They wrote the book on surviving unlikely scenarios and you know it.”

“Those junkyard dogs are going to bite you in the ass one of these days. Now what do you have?”

“Secretary Jackson,”

“
Of the Department of Energy?”

“
The same. He phones me at 2a.m. and wants a meeting. Turns out Essid worked for the DOE for the last two years.” Tobias heard a disgusted exhale on the other end of the phone. He could almost see the usually calm leader of Enigma start to redden with anger. “The FBI missed this during the interview process. He has a pretty good background profile. No problems with the lie detector test. He’d lightened his skin, dyed his hair and even wore blue contact lenses. He looked more American that you!”

People in high places-the White House, FBI, CIA, NSA and Homeland Security knew that Benjamin Clark was the half-brother of the Prime Minister of Israel. His hawkish good looks and no nonsense disposition made him a favorite of the spy business. When the president needed to meet or talk to Ben’s brother off the record, it was handled through Enigma without the other agencies ever knowing about it. The hint that Benjamin Clark wasn’t a full fledge card carrying American had come up before. Several CIA agents still limped from that misconception.

“Sorry, Ben. You know what I mean,” Tobias cleared his throat. “Anyway, Jackson shows up at my place looking like a scared rabbit. Thinks he’s being watched. Always was a little paranoid if you ask me. Anyway Essid left Washington last week but not before he tried to hack into the Oak Ridge National Laboratory schematics and security system. We think whoever is assisting him may have the information needed to bring down the lab.”

“So why is he so skittish? What are you not telling me, Tobias?”

“One night the two of them ended up at the same party. You know Jackson,” Tobias hesitated, “doesn’t like the ladies, if you know what I mean.”

“I don’t like where this is going, Tobias!”

“Apparently Essid goes home with Jackson, gets him drunk followed by a little rough slap and tickle. When Jackson wakes up the next day he’s tied to a toilet, buck naked. Fortunately, his cleaning lady shows up in the afternoon. Not only was he embarrassed but his place had been ransacked top to bottom. He refused to let the cleaning lady call the police, thank God, and sent her home. Like the idiot that he is, he’d given Essid his protected password that enabled him to have a look around in both Oak Ridge and Los Alamos. He tried to contain the mess by changing all the security codes and alert both labs of a possible breach. But the damage had already been done.”

“And he waited to tell Homeland Security until this morning!” Ben barked with exasperation.

“He’s in the oval office even as we speak with his letter of resignation. We have a clean-up crew standing by in case of blood spatter.”

Benjamin grinned knowing how cowboy the president could be. “I thought you took all the president’s guns away from him.”

“Hell! You know how the president is. He might cut Jackson’s heart out with a letter opener.”

“Hope it’s a dull one so it takes longer.” Benjamin looked at the large clock hanging on the wall with Eastern Time written below it. He had clocks all around the room that told the time in any given time zone around the world. “What else you got for me?”

“You aren’t going to like it.”

Essid calmly turned on the television, muting the sound immediately. He activated the button for hearing impaired so that only the words would scroll across the bottom of the screen. He tried twice before finding CNN. Nothing about the bomb made it into the news. Essid frowned then hurled the television remote at its screen. Another obstacle. He turned around to check on his prisoner who still slept on the cot near the warehouse window. There was no movement.

Essid hoped Jericho Crawley hadn’t died during the night. He needed him a little longer. He wasn’t confident that the information extracted last night could be counted on as credible. The old man had fought them at first, refusing to give any hint about where the isotopes were kept. Jericho Crawley knew not only where they were kept but where they were manufactured and shipped. Some things never changed, not even after 9/11. The old man had warned them, but too many gaps in security plagued the nation at the time. No one listened to a crazy old scientist. Fortunately for Essid he’d uncovered the letter of warning from Crawley during his two year stint at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The weaknesses noted and possibilities realized directed Essid’s path to California where he’d been observing Jericho Crawley for six months. He knew Jamaal to be a bumbling idiot. He just didn’t realized what a total failure he would turn out to be. It had been the plan to take Crawley after chaos ensued in Sacramento. Had it been the will of Allah for the bomb to land in Crawley’s yard? His men believed this to be true. Essid wasn’t convinced.

It wasn’t difficult to predict the trajectory of the wayward missile carrying the small bomb. If Crawley hadn’t been out in the middle of the night moving around in his yard their sensors would never have known for certain which house to invade. Essid smiled with satisfaction knowing his plan still could be salvaged.

The old man took a beating pretty good, Essid had to admit. He even spit on one of the interrogators, Jamaal, at one point. It wasn’t until Essid opened his laptop and sat it in front of Jericho Crawley, that he saw pain and fear in his eyes.

“Yes, Mr. Crawley, take a good look. It’s a live feed.” Essid waited patiently. Jericho’s half closed eye tried to focus on the screen. “What do you see?”

Jericho batted his eyes for clarity. “No!” he moaned.

Essid smiled as he bent down and looked at the figures moving on the screen. “So you recognize them. Good. I believe that one is Sean Patrick, and oh look! There’s Heather hugging her daddy’s neck. I wonder where Daniel could be. Let’s scan a bit out,” Essid said kindly as he touched a button. “There he is! And with a fetching park ranger, I see.” Essid straightened and folded his arms across his chest. “Honey is not as sweet as her name, I’m afraid.” The screen was pulled away by another captor. “Now, I need to know where you created the super vault that stores the isotopes. It’s not on the schematics. I want those isotopes before I level the lab. So be a good boy and tell me.” He grabbed the computer again and turned it around carefully. The sound of children laughing as they played flashlight tag reduced Jericho Crawley to tears.

“Don’t hurt them. Please.”