Nightstalker: Red Team (18 page)

“Fuck that, it’s him. I know it’s him. I can feel it, Black.”

“Shit, Jasmin, if you are putting together an op, you call me. I have plenty of leave. My Commander will approve any request when I tell him it is for Ghost. No marker.”

Hell, yeah, Black was in on the op if I needed him, and I would not owe him a marker for his help. Said a lot about Lincoln that Captain Black would put his career and life on the line for him.

“Copy that! You get some shut eye and I will be in touch in a few hours.”

Zane stared at me, his face pinched, the vein in his neck was visibly throbbing. Oh, hell no, he was not going to lose his shit on me.

“Zane, I say this with the greatest respect and love for you, but I know I am right. Lincoln knew that shit was FUBAR before the explosion. He asked about Micro Doppler images, he had a feeling there were tunnels under that compound.” I knew my next words would piss Zane off even more. “I am going to find Lincoln whether you approve or not. I do not give the first fuck what anyone thinks. I know you all think I am fucking crazy not accepting that Lincoln is dead, but Zane, I know. I know that something is not right. I feel it deep down in my soul. I know he is your brother. I know I am asking a lot of you. I need your help on this but just know either way I am doing it. I am going to bring my husband home.” 

“MOTHER FUCKING SHIT” Zane roared. I swear I felt the whole room shake. Leo rushed in the room along with three secret service agents. Guns drawn.

Shit and Damn. Just what we needed. Bloodshed in the Treaty room. The agents scanned the room for any threats and Leo just stared at me. All my guys were doing that lately. Just watching me. I loved them for caring but I was starting to feel like some lab rat in a cage.

“Stand down.” My uncle demanded. He stood tall behind the wall of agents. My niece is not a threat to me, neither is her team.

“Sir.”

“Now.”

Oh shit, my Uncle looked pissed.

“Get the team together, I’ll clear the situation room.” I stood with my mouth agape, surprised by my Uncle’s demand. “Close your mouth Jasmin, I knew it was only a matter of time before you snapped out of it and figured out a way to rescue your husband.”

Zane let out a slew of curse words and followed The President. I shot off a text to the team and told them where to meet us. I sent the file that Garrett sent me to the printer and waited for what seemed like fifty years for all the pages to print.

With my report in hand I ran down the hall and down the back stairs. I slowed to a fast walk once I made the main level of the White House. Luckily I had remembered to grab my badge, so I easily maneuvered past security.

I pushed my way into the situation room. All conversation stopped and every man looked at me. Whelp, I was already looked like a raving lunatic, so I  might as well just let it all hang out.

“I called in a marker and asked Black to go back to Sonreir’s compound to see if Lincoln’s hunch was right, that there were tunnels under the house. Turns out Linc was right. The tunnel collapsed four hundred and ten yards south of the house. Black should be emailing a map and coordinates any minute. I also asked Garrett to look into the Clark brothers. Something does not make sense there.

If Timothy Clark was the one that left classified information about Lincoln and Zane being brothers in my work up, Sonreir was playing a long game. That was over six years ago. I have that report here.” I lifted my hand, shaking the papers. “I also asked for all known addresses for Sonreir and all his aliases.”

I stopped, waiting for my team to chastise me and tell me I had to just let Linc go. It never came.

“Give me the Sonreir aliases and locations,” Leo said holding out his hand.

I dropped the stack of papers and sorted through them giving him what he asked for.

“Pass me the Louis Clark file. Let’s see what this Deepweb asswipe was up to,” Eric said.

“I’ll take Timothy Clark,” Colin said grabbing his pile of papers.

“Holy shit did, Garrett seriously get the Director’s personal files? I’ll take those.” Jax lit up when he saw the Director’s name.

A tear slid down my cheek, just one single tear. This was the last tear I was going to shed. I had my family at my back and I was going to find my husband. 

Lincoln

Every single part of me was in excruciating pain. I think even my hair hurt.

“Tell me.”

Thwack, thwack
. Two more blows to my ribs. I would be surprised if every one of my ribs was not already broken. These assholes had been using me as a punching bag for hours, days really.

“Speak, mother fucker.”

I felt spittle hit my battered face. I kept my mouth shut. It was the same thing every time. I was praying I would just hurry up and pass out from the pain; I could get a reprieve, even if it was only for a little while. I still did not have all the information I needed to escape, there was still one more door I needed to see behind.

I would die in this hell hole before I would sell my brother out.

Mother fucking Christ! I felt the sear of the burn before I smelt the burning flesh. My back was on fire, another burn; the impact of the fist to my back came next.

My head dropped forward and my vision blurred.

“Tell me, you stupid gringo.”

Sweet oblivion…

***

I smelled her before I saw her; the sweet smell of her lotion filled my nostrils. I made my way further into the house, inhaling deeply. Walking through the simple living room of the safe house we are living in my eye paused on the framed picture of Laura and I in front of the sandstone Brandenburg Gate. I loved that picture of Laura; she was looking up at me with a huge, bright smile while I was looking at the camera. It was taken the day after we got married.

I went in search of my wife, stopping in my tracks when I found her in the kitchen sporting a workout top and the tightest pair of spandex shorts I had ever seen . A feral growl slipped past my lips as visions of my woman in various yoga poses flashed in my memory. She was still recovering and had only been approved to do light workout activity. 

“Oh no, big boy, I hear you over there snarling like a beast ready to pounce. I just got done and I am all sweaty gross. You’ll have to wait.”

She laughed and continued to cut up cantaloupe, never even looking my way. Of their own accord, my feet took me to her. I had been happily living my life, one operation after another, never thinking about the future or wanting to be tied to one woman. Then I saw Laura Bennett and everything else in my life seemed to pale in comparison. It was all bland and monochrome. She was a bright light, full of color and hope and my future. I knew it the minute my name passed her lips. She was mine.

I pressed my front to her back, not caring that I was dripping my sweat on her; I needed to touch her, smell her, be next to her.

“Funny that. I am all sweaty too. What do you say we go clean up together?”

I felt rather than heard the intake of breath. She had stopped cutting and grabbed onto the side on the counter, slightly arching her back.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes, baby I am.”

“I cut up fruit. I can make you an omelet.”

I pressed my hard dick into the small of her back and she squirmed against me.

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.”

“Hell yeah. I’ll race you to the shower.”

She pushed off the counter and shot off like a bullet towards the bathroom, giggling as she ran. Chuckling, I chased after her.

That’s my girl!

***

“Wake up!” I felt a boot kick me in the gut and I tried to curl up into a ball to protect my broken ribs. I was back in the cell, lying on the concrete floor. All I could do was bide my time, assess how many guards were in this shit hole with me, how many rooms there were, and where the exits were. These guys were a joke, mistake after mistake. You do not transport a prisoner anywhere without taking their eyesight first, yet they walked me around this compound without a blindfold or hood. Idiots! You certainly never leave a man like me with the use of his arms and legs. They had yet to break either. Amateurs! They also were no longer shackling me to the wall. I guess they figured the bullet wound, knife wounds, and the burns would slow me down. Stupid fuckers were underestimating me at every turn. They would soon learn. It would be the death of them. There was one room I had yet to see into. The door always remained closed, a guard placed in front of it. Someone or something in there was important.

Another swift kick. “Come on gringo, we have a special guest for you today. Get up.”

I sat up slower than I needed to, keeping up the pretense I was no threat.

The guard shoved and pushed me down the hallway, trying to get me to move faster. Where was everyone? The guard normally in place on the closed door was gone; the normal chatter I heard through the small house was gone. Fuck, shit, damn, this was not good. As in “I am about to get dead” not good.

I stopped in the doorway when I saw who was sitting in the lone chair in the room. My blood heated and every muscle in my body coiled ready to fight.

“The fuck?”

“Hello Ghost. I see you are still the uncouth, wild animal you always were.”

“Yeah, that’s me, uncouth. Better to be that than a sell out and a mother fucking traitor. You will bleed for this, asshole. I am going to tear your ass apart.”

“You’ll be dead, Ghost. Your threats are so meaningless, I couldn’t care less.”

Jasmin

I was pacing again. We were missing it. That one piece of the puzzle that ties everything together. Reports, maps, and pictures were spread out all over the table. Five screens were active with intel. Live drone footage of known locations for Sonreir.

The Director was clean. Eric had picked apart every piece of his life and had to begrudgingly admit it. As much as Eric hated the man, the Director had no involvement. That was both good and bad. He was not the traitor, but we were no closer to finding out who was.

Timothy Clark was stupid but he covered his tracks and did it well. There was no electronic footprint. As in none. He was also in the wind. Just up and vanished. An analyst with no previous military training did not have the capability to go to ground without help.

“Garrett, what do we have on the Deputy Director?”

“Give me a minute to pull up what we have, I am sending it to ViCom screen six. I will need about ten minutes to dig deeper.”

Garrett’s voice filled the room through the speaker phone. The information that Garrett promised popped up on the screen.

“What are you thinking Jasmin?” Leo asked.

“I’m not sure. If the Director is clean, it has to be someone who is high enough in rank to have access to our mission reports. We are given a lot of leeway when we go black. As much as each of us hates to admit it, we still work for the CIA. Even though our pay checks do not come from them, they still pull the strings, handing over the ops that they could not touch.” I stopped to gather my thoughts for a moment, “Who has knowledge of our operations?”

“Mother Fucker!” That was Garrett, “Mr. President, may I ask you to clear the room of any agents, sir?”

“Everyone out.”

“Yes, sir, we will be out in the hall.”

“Tom, you might want to step out of the room as well. Plausible deniability and all that bullshit. You might not want to hear what Garrett has to say if he has asked for a clean room.” Zane was right. My uncle did not need to be involved in this. If it went south he could lose the Presidency and face a congressional hearing. Not good.

Tom cleared his throat. “I am going to say this once and once only, so listen up boys and listen closely.” My uncle’s voice was low and menacing, “I am an American first. I do not deny shit. I will never back down or cower away from anyone. I am an uncle second. I have Jasmin’s back one hundred percent and by extension all of yours. I am also the God damn President of these here United States and if there is a traitor in my ranks, I will hang him by his balls. I will not have cowardly men under me. End of story. You find me that God damn traitor and eliminate the problem with extreme prejudice. Are we clear?” 

Holy shitballs, my uncle the badass. Who knew? All the men in the room looked at him with a newfound respect. The kind of respect that was normally reserved for only each other. Hell yeah!

“Crystal, sir.” Zane’s lips twitched, trying to hold back a grin.

Then the room exploded. There was a flurry of commotion as each man jumped into action, moving reposts and maps clearing space on the white board for new intel.

“Garrett, you are good to go. ViCom one is ready.”

There where sixteen Visual Communication, ViCom, screens in the room. ViCom one was the largest center screen.

“Brace, this shit is whacked.” Garrett warned just as the screen filled with an image.

Sweet Jesus it was the deputy director’s wife and three small children all tied to chairs. The deputy director’s wife looked like she had been worked over. She had a black eye and cut lip, a smiley face burned on her cheek. A newspaper was sitting on her lap, proof of life. This just got worse. Way worse.

“What in the ever loving fuck? How in the hell does this shit go unnoticed? Mother FUCK!” Zane roared.

“What is the date on that image?” Leo inquired.

“Forty six days ago.”

“The fuck you say, forty six…” Zane trailed off.

“Affirmative.”

“Where is the deputy director now?” Jax asked.

“He filed a travel chit with the director to go to the U.S. Consulate to meet with Mexican General Chavez to discuss weapons trafficking. As of yet he has yet to check in and that was five days ago,” Garrett relayed.

“No one thought to report that the deputy director of the God damn CIA is MIA?” That was the President. There was a distinct difference between Tom my Uncle and Tom the President; he was now in complete control of the room. He pulled his cellphone out of his suit jacket, swiped the screen, and stabbed the buttons of his BlackBerry. After a moment he began to speak. “Get Director Warner on the line. Tell him I need him at the White House immediately, code word firefly. Password of the day: bravo, tango, echo. I repeat, firefly.” He pushed a few more buttons before he slammed the phone down on the desk.

“What else you got, Garrett?” Zane asked, giving the President a moment to compose himself.

“Not a whole lot at the moment. I need some time to dig around. I have a few programs running. Unfortunately, Mexico does not have CCTV. Therefore it is making a facial recognition  trace difficult.”

“Copy that, call us back when you have something.”

A knock came at the door and a voice came over the intercom. “Warren, Charlie niner lima. Password of the day: bravo, tango, echo.”

The President pushed a button and the door lock disengaged. The Director of the CIA walked in like he didn’t have a fucking care in the world.

“Mr. President,” he greeted, not bothering to look at the rest of us. He knew that, given a chance, every one of us would slit his throat. Normally his biggest threat was Eric, but today it was me. I was going to get information out of this bastard if I had to beat it out of him.

“That was fast Warren.” The President had accusation in his tone.

Maybe it was not me the Director had to worry about. It sounded to me like the President was ready to go to blows with Warren.

“I was in the building; I have a brief with the DOD in thirty minutes.”

“I see. In the interest of you making your meeting on time, we’ll get down to brass tacks. You want to explain to me why your deputy director has been missing for five days and I was not made aware of it?” the President’s tone was deadly serious.

“With all due respect sir, if we could clear the room I would be happy to…”

That was it, I snapped. There was no other explanation for my behavior. The nervous breakdown I know everyone was afraid of came, and when it did I let it all hang out.

“Shut your God damn mouth with that all due respect bullshit. You respect no one. You’re a lying piece of shit and every single one of us in this room knows it. I do not give the first fuck who you think you are, what title you have in front of your name. Today you are simply Warren and I am Jasmin Parker, your worse fucking nightmare. Now where in the fuck is the deputy director of the CIA?”

“I think you forget who you are talking to Jasmin.” Warren stood tall.

“I know exactly who I am talking to, I am talking to the man I am going to gut if he does not start talking. You see we have a little problem here, Warren. My husband has been captured and your deputy director is the one responsible. Now you wanna tell me what the fuck is so broken in your house that you did not know that your deputy director’s family has been kidnapped? And why you are so mother fucking stupid you did not report it when he went MIA?”

Warren stilled at my words. He did not know the deputy director’s family had been taken. “I don’t like your tone of voice young lady and I certainly do not take kindly to your threats. I will have you in cuffs by the end of this meeting.”

“By the end of this meeting Jasmin Parker might be the least of your worries. I will have your ass in rendition so fast, so buried in a foreign country you’ll never be found.” The President held the director’s eyes and spoke very slowly. “Now, you have precisely sixty seconds to save your life Warren. You can kiss your job goodbye. You are relieved of those duties effective immediately.”

“I will not be led around by a bunch of blowhards threating my life.”

Wrong answer. Each member of the team took a step forward while the President took a step back.

“And I will not be led around by my dick! You think what happened to the deputy director cannot happen to you. You are wrong. It can happen in a flash. Now, I know you are not stupid. You know how this all will play out. Save yourself like you always do, and tell us what you know.”

Fear flashed in the Director’s eyes as the President’s words registered. “Deputy Director Banning came to me seven days ago and filled a travel itinerary to meet with General Chavez. No red flags were raised; we had been in talks with him. When Banning did not check in I had my secretary call the Consulate. He was a no show. I immediately put a team together to find him. It was unclear if this was a hostage situation. This would not be the first time a US official has been kidnapped. We have protocol put into place for exactly this.”

“Yes we do, and part of that protocol is to notify ME!” The President roared.

Warren ignored him and continued. “My team has found nothing. A little over two months ago Banning told me his wife and children were leaving on a missionary trip with their church and would be gone for some time. Again I did not question it, it did not happen often, but it was not unusual for his family to do missionary work. That is all I know. I will call my secretary and ask her to send over the files. Operation code name: nemesis. Password to extract the file is: 92156741 echo charlie.”

Oh shit, Warren just gave away more than he probably intended Zane was about to go thermonuclear, “The fuck you say? Nemesis? You knew Sonreir had Banning.”

“I had my suspicions, yes.”

“Yet you decided not to share, you slimy little cocksucker. For what? So you could one up me? Prove you have bigger balls?” Warren had the decency to look contrite. “If my brother dies, this is on you. There will not be a corner far away enough for you to hide. You will live out the rest of your life knowing that I am watching you just waiting to end your miserable life.”

“Fuck you, Zane, you and your boys traipse around like you are God damn Rambos, thinking you are above the law and chain of command. Someone needs to knock you down a few pegs, son.”

Oh hell, this asshole did not know when to keep his mouth shut.

“Did this mother fucker just call me son? I take it back; you will not live your life knowing the threat. I will simply end you.”

The secured line rang and Eric hit the button to connect the call.

“Be advised Warren is in the room.” Eric called out before Garrett could speak.

“Then remove him now.”

Leo walked to the door scanning his badge to open the door, two secret service agents stood at the door awaiting orders.

“Please take Mr. Warren to the basement. Call in my personal security to sit on him until Blue team arrives. They will be en route within minutes they will handle him from there. Duct tape this assholes mouth if he gives you any trouble, he is to be treated as a traitor.” The President’s voice was as harsh as his words.

The agents showed no emotion as they flanked Warren, grabbing him by his upper arms to escort him to the basement.

“Room’s clear.”

“ViCom one, this is drone footage from ten minutes ago. Banning has been spotted at a known Sonreir location.”

“Wheels up in ten,” the President bellowed.