One Rough Man

She squinted at me, the touch of a grin on her face. Waiting a beat, she said, “Sure. Gives me something to do, anyway. We’ll just meet back here?”

I realized I was still holding her hand and dropped it like a piece of hot iron. “Yeah. I should be gone no more than an hour. Get your stuff. We can walk to the Metro together. If you get off two stops after Reagan National you’ll be at a pretty big mall. The stop’s Pentagon City.”

When she saw my embarrassment, Jennifer’s little grin threatened to break into a smile, causing a clash of confusing feelings. I dealt with it the usual way — by getting pissed off.

“What? What’re you grinning about? Can we go?”

She rolled her eyes, holding her hand in front of my face and making me feel like an ass. “Yeah. Let me get my purse before your head explodes.”

We headed to the Metro station and hopped on the first train in, the Blue Line. We sat in the back, away from anyone else, and rode silently past the first two stops. One minute out from the Pentagon City stop I remembered what we were doing, and the fact that Jennifer wasn’t a professional. I kicked myself for having taken her precautions for granted. She was going out by herself, into a world where someone wanted both of us very badly. A world full of invisible predators.

“Hey, the next stop is yours. Look, I don’t want to scare you, but please be very, very careful. I’ve racked my brain about the Homeland Security alert, and can’t come up with any reason whatsoever for that to have occurred. One name might be a coincidence, but both our names together is outside the realm of believable. I think that the alert has something to do with what we know.”

“You said that was just a mistake. Why would anyone do that on purpose?”

I held up my hands. “I don’t know it was done on purpose. On the one hand, it could simply be a mistake, some crossed wires from our visit to the embassy in Belize. There is also the very, very slim chance that it was sent by Kurt, and once we were in the interrogation rooms they would have simply put us in contact with him.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Well… the other reasons aren’t that good. It could mean that someone knew we were traveling together, and so knew why we were traveling. Whoever that someone is wanted us to get arrested so that we’re out of the picture.”

Jennifer pondered a bit, asking a question softly: “You really think that alert was done intentionally to get us out of the way?”

“I honestly don’t know. In my heart, I don’t believe that, but I want you to act as if it’s true. Treat the entire mall trip as if you’re walking through a crack slum. Check out anyone coming near you. Avoid any contact with strangers. Someone stares at you the wrong way, get the fuck out. Go back to the hotel room. You tracking?”

She nodded.

I continued. “As soon as you’re off the train, call my cell phone so you can simply hit redial in an emergency. Call me every thirty minutes. If you don’t get through, if I don’t answer, get out. Go straight to the hotel. Lock the doors and wait. I’ll get in touch. If I don’t hear from you, I’m coming straight here, to the mall. If anything happens, try to stay in the area, create a scene, whatever you can do to give me a clue on finding you.”

“Whoa — are you serious? You think it’s that bad? I can’t believe this. All right… I’ll try to leave a bloody napkin or maybe a finger for you to find.”

“Come on. That’s not funny. I don’t think it’s that bad, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”

“Okay, okay. I can handle myself. I’ll stay in crowded areas and scream my head off if someone tries anything. What about you? You’re going straight to the one place that has people like you, the one place that can hurt you. What if they’re the ones that did it? Maybe we should just call your unit.”

I shook my head. “They change numbers every three months. I can’t call. Even if I could, it’s not the Taskforce. No way. That’s not what they do. If anything, they can figure out what’s going on.”

The train pulled into Pentagon City.

“This is you. Don’t get hurt.”

Jennifer smiled. “I’ll be okay. Trust me; I can deal with a shopping mall.”

She jumped out just as the doors were closing. I continued to stare out the window, seeing her pull out her phone to call me. My phone rang as the train pulled away. I gave her one more admonishment about being alert, then hung up. I was wondering if splitting up was such a hot idea. The cell phone contact plan was of more psychological help than anything else. It would allow me to know she was safe but wouldn’t do anything to help me find her. If she didn’t call, I knew there would be very little I could do.

I put myself at ease with the thought that nobody had paid us a second’s worth of attention on the drive up here, and both hotels had checked us in without question. While the police were probably ripping my boat apart in Charleston, we hadn’t been on any news programs I had seen. I’d just have to hope our luck continued.

69

Lucas assessed his assembled team, satisfied that they could get the mission done. He had called ten men, needing at least five for the mission. Four of the ten were already contracted on another assignment. Out of the remaining six who answered his call, four were ex-U.S. Navy SEALs and two were ex-U.S. Army Special Forces. All were ruthless, intelligent, and very highly trained. After thanking them for coming, he started the PowerPoint slideshow, giving them the background on the targets.

He began with Jennifer, getting juvenile comments on her looks and heckling about why their skills were needed.

The demeanor changed when he got to Pike. The men became serious, taking notes and asking questions.

After the background, he gave them the mission statement.

“Both of these targets are to be terminated. There are no specific constraints on the termination. The only rules of engagement are that they are both out of the picture, and the act cannot be traced back to us. Collateral damage is acceptable as long as it is restricted to five or less.

“We know they’re coming here, to D.C. In fact, they may already be here. Through information from other sources, we believe they’ll make contact with an individual or individuals here in Washington. One of those individuals is tied to this phone.”

He held up the cloned handset. “This is our only lead. We’ll set up a duty roster, with this post manned 24/7. During the day, you’ll stay here, just like that mission against the defense contractor six months ago. The bunks are still in the back, Xbox and cable still hooked up. At night, if you’re not on duty, you’re free to do what you want, as long as you can get back here in thirty minutes on a recall, sober and ready to work. Along with the man minding the phone, half the team will bunk here each night on a rotating basis.

“The actual mission will be fluid, no set plans or rehearsals. The Fort Bragg op was a pretty good template to use. Get this done, and we get a pretty good paycheck.”

He turned to the SEAL directly to his right. “Mason, you’re the team chief. Set up the duty roster however you see fit. Assign positions and issue out the necessary kit. Sean’s out front with your beepers and cell phones, all new and clean.”

Lucas paused. “All of you look at me.”

He waited until he had their undivided attention, “This Nephilim character’s picture is next to the definition of badass in the dictionary. Do not underestimate him. We need to take him out quick. If you get him in your sights, and can meet the rules of engagement, take him down. We can deal with the girl at our leisure, but make a mistake against this guy, or let him know he’s being hunted, and he’ll kill you. Any questions?”

Lucas spent the next thirty minutes answering a barrage of queries on everything from the title trace of the cars they would drive to the response time of EMS vehicles at an automobile accident. Holding true to the ethos of the special operations units they had come from, Lucas let the planning evolve from the bottom up. He gave out the guidance and let them sort through the gritty details.

Forty-five minutes later, they had the skeleton of an operational plan, with various straw man scenarios