Black Brick - Part One
Author: Decker, Dan
Date: 2015-02-26
Publisher: Xander Revolutions LC

BLACK BRICK
PART ONE

Dan Decker

Text Copyright © 2015 Dan Decker

All rights reserved

Published by Xander Revolutions LC

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Dedication

For my wife, son, and family.

Contents

Dedication

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

BLACK BRICK PART TWO

Author’s Note

About the Author

Chapter 1

I couldn’t silence the alarm bells ringing in my head as Bruce Andrews and his date walked out of the restaurant. They were heading to the ballet, but weren’t going to make it.

With a glance towards my partner Shannon, I dropped enough cash on the table to cover the bill.

Shannon was staring after Andrews and I almost reminded her to not break cover but I thought better of it when I saw the silent snarl on her lips. I headed towards the door instead.

I was nervous now that Andrews was out of our sight. He had just made a lewd comment to his date and she had giggled. Shannon growled and I shook my head.

Our surveillance team had planted a bug on Andrews earlier in the day and I was beginning to wish that they hadn’t. Ignorance would have been useful. We couldn’t be expected to stop something if we didn’t know about it. When Andrews made his next comment I almost removed my Bluetooth ear bud altogether.

“I’m gonna let her kill him,” Shannon said as she darted past me and waited for me to open the restaurant door, I zipped up my coat before grabbing it. “I swear I will. I don’t care if he thinks she’s an escort, nobody should have to put up with that kind of abuse. I hope she tortures him too. I’m gonna watch and enjoy every minute. This smelly city will be better without a scumbag like him.”

Shannon had a point but I almost shushed her until I saw that nobody was close enough to overhear.

The blonde woman couldn’t have been okay with the way Andrews had been treating her during dinner, though by her laughter you would have thought he had her enthralled. No woman would appreciate being compared to differing varieties of dogs. It was an act, it had to be.

This was the reason I wasn’t sticking around to finish my caramel covered brownie and ice cream. Instead, I now stood out in the cold keeping tabs on a detestable man.

Andrews should have figured out his date had hidden motives, but he was as dumb as he was crude. We would have to break our cover to keep him from getting killed because protecting him had been part of our orders as well.

“Instead of letting her kill him,” I said, “we could leak his actions to the media. The blogosphere will ransack him and Diggon will be forced to do something about it. Give it a week and he’ll be gone.” My arm brushed against the bulge of my pistol as I spotted them half a block away. I hadn't planned on using it tonight, but now I wasn’t so sure.

“We should have requested a closer table,” Shannon said. “I could have recorded them on video and posted it to YouTube.”

“We could have live streamed the whole thing,” I said. I’d wanted to use the hidden camera on my ballpoint pen for months. Anytime I needed to make a video I usually went for my phone because I forgot about that feature.

“Getting him fired won’t be enough,” Shannon said. “We’ll make sure everybody he knows gets a copy of the surveillance tape in their inbox.”

When Andrews had explained what he wanted to do after the ballet, all the while referring to his date as his little mutt, Shannon had turned red and I had been forced to grab her hand because I didn’t like the way she’d been holding the knife. I had never known Shannon to stand by while someone disrespected a woman. She also didn’t break out of cover too often. Either way, I hadn’t wanted to take the chance.

“How about this?” Shannon asked. “We’ll shoot him in the knee and bring her in. If she knows what we need, good. If not, no harm done.”

I shook my head. “Not worth the risk. What if Diggon is on to him and she’s here on their behalf?”

“She’s the buyer.”

“Yeah, I’m not going to trust your instincts on this one. We’ll play this straight and follow our orders exactly.”

There were a lot of unknowns at the moment that were making me uncomfortable. I’d forgotten how many months we had been keeping tabs on Andrews, but today was the first time this woman had surfaced and the timing was too convenient.

Our analysts had just found evidence that Andrews had been stealing money from Diggon in addition to selling information.

If we knew, chances were good that Diggon top executives had learned of it too. A company with that many government contracts had to be spying on their employees as well.

The street was well lit and despite the low temperature there were a surprising number of people about. I took Shannon’s hand as I glanced around. We were supposed to be a young couple out for a pleasant, though chilly, spring evening on the town. I hoped we were pulling it off, but I was far too tense to expect that we did.

“Jake!” Shannon said in a whisper while squeezing my hand. I felt her breath quicken as she wrapped her arm around mine. “She's not alone.”

A tall broad shouldered man crossed the street in front of us and followed after Andrews and his date, the tall man’s eyes were glued onto them in a way that caused my hackles to go up. I hadn’t been able to spot an obvious weapon hidden beneath his thick coat, but the way he walked and the alert expression on his face was enough to mark him as a threat.

I walked to the curb and pretended to be waiting for the crosswalk light while Shannon turned sideways and used me as cover while she kept on eye on them.

“Another has joined up with that big guy.” Shannon leaned in close as she whispered, her blonde hair swaying in front of me. I could feel the warmth of her breath on my ear and tried to not let it distract me, but it was hard. I hated that we had to hide the true nature of our relationship when we weren’t on assignment.

Hoping to clear my head, I went through a mental checklist. My compact pistol in my shoulder holster already had a round chambered. Steeling myself against the cold, I unzipped my coat so I would have easier access to it. An extra ammo magazine was in my right pocket and a spare subcompact pistol was in the left.  I also kept another subcompact pistol in an ankle holster that wasn’t company issue.

I took pains to keep other team members—including Shannon—from knowing about it. It wasn’t that I had any reason to suspect my teammates, trust just didn’t come naturally to me.

There hadn’t been much expectation of any gun play tonight, so I’d grabbed my standard issue Glock 23. I preferred weapons with a bit more firepower than the silenced Sig Sauer Mosquito I carried when I knew I would need to keep things quiet. The Sig Sauer was a .22 caliber and the Glock was a .40 caliber. The subcompact pistols in my pocket and on my ankle were .40 calibers as well, the Glock 27.

Shannon hadn’t brought a silenced weapon either, so if it came to a gunfight, we’d have to get out quick.

I tried to tune out the feed from Andrews’ bug to focus on our surroundings, but was sucked back in when Andrews said something coarse. I hoped he would see through her ruse. It would be much easier if he came to his senses and ran. I hated saving such a revolting man.

“They’re turning down an alley,” Shannon said. “The two men followed.”

I cursed.

We approached the alley as quick as we could without running and stopped at the entrance to listen. Andrews was close enough that I didn’t need the earpiece to hear him pleading for his life. He offered money and said he’d give them anything they wanted.

A man laughed while the woman cursed, calling Andrews a name that I couldn’t quite make out. There was a thwack and Andrews screamed.

“I go left,” I whispered to Shannon, “you go right.”

“You’ll back me up if I take Andrews out, right? You know, fog of war and all that.”

I snorted but Shannon’s smile sent a chill down my spine. “Don’t you go vigilante on me. Stick to the mission.”

“We’re protecting a dirt bag.”

“We usually are,” I said, pulling out my pistol and wishing for a silenced weapon.

I should have waited another couple of seconds. A man was passing by that I hadn’t noticed, when he saw my pistol, he lifted his hands above his head.

Growling, I motioned for him to continue on his way. Once he had gone, Shannon turned to hide what she was doing and pulled out her pistol.

“Whose trigger happy now?” she asked.

I shrugged. Things like this happened when I became too focused.

I didn’t like the thought of the scare I’d given that man, but there was little I could do about it now.

I took a breath and put him from my mind, stamping down the guilt I felt at the alarm I had caused him. Several deep breaths later, my focus returned and I was ready to go around the corner.

I had a bad feeling that when we did, people would die. I tried to ignore it but the face of a man that I’d killed several months ago came to mind. He sometimes kept me awake at night as I played the event over and again, analyzing what I could have done differently. I shook my head. It hadn’t been my fault, but even though I knew it, my subconscious had not yet accepted it.

I made eye contact with Shannon and we turned the corner.

Chapter 2

A single bulb lit the alley. It was enough to see but left everything in shadows. Garbage cans littered either side and there was a wide half frozen puddle right in front of us.

Andrews was crumpled in a heap on the other side of the icy water with his date standing over him, the eager to please smile replaced with a snarl.

The broad shouldered man was on the left and he was pointing a gun at Andrews. We had the element of surprise and our surveillance target was in danger so our training kicked in.

I shot the big man as Shannon fired at the other. The twin explosions in the confined area made my ears ring. Luckily, the one with the hidden ear bud wasn’t affected as badly.

I thought about the surveillance team listening in and wondered how long it would take for backup to get here. Protocol dictated that they call the gunshots in to Black Brick, our base.

They wouldn’t provide much help though. When backup arrived, they would be careful before getting involved. While we worked for the government, we didn’t advertize our presence when local cops showed up.

Our operation ran in a dark grey area and it was best to keep out of entanglement with law enforcement.

Andrews screamed again, the ringing in my ears made his voice sound far away. I could also barely make out commotion from the street behind us as people responded to our gunfire.

The woman raised her hands as I walked forward through the puddle. The man that I shot wasn’t breathing and the one Shannon had taken out was moaning. A roll of duct tape had fallen out of the pocket of his coat and was rolling away.

What kind of man had the big guy had been? Did he have a family? Children?

I looked away from the men and focused on the woman.

“I don’t blame you for wanting to kill Andrews,” I said. “My partner would help you if she could, but we need him alive.”

The woman straightened. “Just get it over with. Make it a clean shot to the head.”

“Hopefully we can avoid that. We just have a few questions. Tell us what we need to know, we may let you go.” I might as well have not said the last part because I could tell she didn’t believe me. “Who do you work for?”

She didn’t reply. Despite her predicament, the woman was resolute and alert, almost as if she were in control of the situation. She stepped away from Andrews, keeping eye contact with me as she did.

“Stop,” I said as the woman reached into her purse. Andrews crawled to his feet. There was blood on his face and he was wet. When he moved to leave I jabbed my pistol into his back. I couldn’t help but think that was less than he deserved. “Freeze, if you know what’s good for you.” Now that we'd broken cover, we'd bring him in for questioning too. Either these two would make a deal or we'd turn them over to law enforcement.

“Advice for the future,” Shannon said to Andrews. “Any woman that lets you talk to her like that has an agenda. Also, I’m gonna find you and kill you myself once this is all over.” She motioned to the woman. “Down on your knees.”

“Shannon,” the woman said. “This isn’t how this is going to go. You can have Andrews, but I’m walking away.”

I tried my best to not let my surprise show. Shannon took a step towards the woman, a snarl on her lips. “Down on the ground!”

“Careful,” I said to Shannon. I'd almost missed it. A small smile had flitted across the woman’s face when Shannon had stepped forward. “She’s gonna jump you.”

“Shut up,” Shannon said to me while motioning with her pistol to the woman. “On your knees. Now.”

The woman sighed in resignation, bent as if to kneel, and then lunged toward Shannon. She locked arms with Shannon and pushed the gun up into the air just as Shannon pulled the trigger.

“I’d rather not shoot you too,” I said to Andrews while looking for an opening to take down the woman. From my peripheral vision, I’d notice him looking toward the street. “But don’t make the mistake of thinking that we’re here to rescue you. I just need you alive. There was nothing in my orders about you needing to have functioning knees.”

I lined my pistol up several times, hoping for a shot, but each time things shifted and my bullet would have hit Shannon as well.

There was a sound overhead and I saw a man peeking off one of the roofs from three stories above. I frowned. Had we attracted the person’s attention with the shooting or had they been there before?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the woman grab Shannon’s pistol. I cursed and almost fired on instinct but was glad I hadn’t. The next moment Shannon was in the way and would have taken a hit to the chest. She wore a bullet proof vest but I didn’t want to take the chance.

There was the whispered cough of a silenced weapon from overhead and blood spurted down the woman’s throat.

She dropped Shannon's pistol and clutched at her neck, trying to speak, but only a gurgling sound came out. I already had my pistol pointed up but I could no longer see the man. I could sense that he was still there and kept looking.

Andrews broke into a run and I stuck out a foot and tripped him. He hadn’t even landed before the hidden shooter took him out with a shot in the back. As Andrews fell, something skidded out of his pocket and hit the wall but I didn’t look to see what it was.

By that time, I’d moved up against the wall of the building where the shooter was located and was in a kneeling position. Landing in the puddle, I aimed my gun up towards the roof, prepared to shoot at anything that moved. Everything was still except for the man Shannon had wounded, he was moaning softly.

The seconds ticked by as I scanned the area while water seeped into my pants.

“Shannon, get under cover.” She hadn’t moved since the woman had been shot. I wasn’t even sure if she noticed that Andrews had gone down as well. When she didn’t respond, I repeated myself.

She looked over at me. The light cast much of her face in shadow but I could see the whites of her eyes. Her mouth hung open and blood splatter from the woman covered her grey coat.

It wasn’t the first time we’d been shot at during an operation, but it was the closest Shannon had ever come to flying bullets.

“See the shooter?” Shannon asked, shaking off the stupor and retrieving her pistol from the dead woman before ducking up against the same wall I had.

“Briefly, just before he started.”

“Why didn’t you take him out?”

“Made a mistake.” He hadn’t looked like a threat at the time, but now that I had a chance to think about it, I knew I’d read the situation wrong. A sane person wouldn’t have been curious about an alley full of gunfire; no, they’d have gone for cover.

My eyes focused on the object that had fallen from Andrews’ pocket. A cell phone. I didn’t dwell on it because his phone had been bugged for months and we had a copy of everything on it. The street we’d come from moments before was deserted.

My eyes returned to the phone.

That wasn’t Andrews’ phone, he had a smart phone. With a look back at the roof—still no shooter—I scooted over to the device and picked it up. It was cheap, like the kind of phone you could buy, make a few calls, and then throw away. Chances were Andrews’ surveillance team knew about this other phone as well, but I put it into my pocket just in case.

A car screeched to a halt on the street. Flashing red and blue lights reflected off the alley wall.

I swore under my breath and began to move in the other direction, keeping to the shadows.

“Beltran is gonna be mad,” Shannon said, “he’ll make us pay for this.” She was referring to our boss, Jeff Beltran.

“Probably,” I said, not relishing the idea of showing up at Black Brick with this to report.

“Kill me,” begged the wounded man. His gun lay several feet away but it wasn't within his line of sight. We should have disarmed him earlier. In the heat of the moment neither of us had thought about it.

I kicked the gun further away. If he had a chance at living, I wasn’t going to take it away. I’d seen enough death for one day.

As Shannon followed me down the alley, I kept a close eye on the roof and heaved a sigh of relief when we ran out the other side.

Chapter 3

The sun peeked out of the clouds as Shannon and I walked onto Kingstone Campus; it was nice to have a brief moment of heat to temper the cold of the early spring. As the sun disappeared again, I dug my hands deeper into the pockets of my coat and tried to clear my head from the morning’s research. Everything I’d read was starting to jumble together and I was glad for the exercise.

“Why can’t the news sites get anything right?” Shannon asked as she walked with her phone in hand, eyes glued to the screen while she flipped through stories. “Here’s one that claims you and I were Latino men. I just finished another that said it was a fight between three rival gangs.”

I was glad the media didn’t have their facts straight. It made it harder for the incident to be linked back to us.

“Any word on the ID of the victims?” I asked, wishing that we would have had time to snap a few photos of Andrews’ assailants. At least then we would have had something more to look into.

Shannon shook her head without looking up. I took her arm and guided her to one side of the sidewalk so that a cluster of approaching girls could pass on the other side.

Jeff Beltran’s contact with the police hadn’t got back to him yet, so we didn't know what evidence they'd been able to collect. Depending on what came back, Beltran might use his connections to obfuscate anything that led to us.

We'd turned in the guns we'd fired and taken new ones. Our old pistols would be destroyed. The last thing we wanted was somebody connecting our missions together through ballistics.

When I had produced Andrews’ throwaway cell phone, the people on our surveillance team had become excited. The information on the phone was being analyzed and we might have the results before we were done with class.

I hated waiting. I needed something to do.

“Why didn't the sniper kill us too?” Shannon asked for the twentieth time, putting away her phone and pulling several strands of hair out of her eyes as she put on her sunglasses.

She was wearing a thick purple coat that complimented her figure nicely. I didn't tell her she looked good, for some reason she didn't enjoy those types of compliments even though she went to a lot of effort to keep her clothing trendy. The only time I got away with that type of thing was when she was in the right kind of mood.

I shrugged in response to her question and pushed away thoughts of the man I’d killed. I hadn’t slept much the night before, the shooting continuing to play in my mind. Shannon had wounded her guy, why couldn’t I have done the same with mine? At least then I wouldn’t have another death on my shoulders.

I took a deep breath and let it out.

“I mean, it makes sense for the sniper to kill Andrews and the woman. He saw we had her and wanted to keep her from talking.”

“You got it wrong,” I said. “Vargo figured out that Andrews was selling company secrets.” I was referring to Lane Vargo, the CEO of Diggon. “The woman was the buyer, that’s why he killed her too.”

“No, the shooter and woman were working together.”

“If they were, it would have made more sense for him to take out you and me.”

She frowned. “Hmm. You have a point there. Ok, so the sniper probably wasn’t with the woman.”

“And who else would have an interest other than Diggon?”

Shannon nodded her head. “Assuming that’s true, why would the Diggon sniper leave us alone?”

I smiled, a thought occurring to me, I wondered why I hadn't seen it before. “He knew we were government and was worried that killing us would result in a drawn out investigation.”

The thought that Vargo might know about us made me uncomfortable. Diggon had been the target of numerous investigations over the course of the last two years. We didn't have anything definitive on the company, but as a whole, it smelled. I'm sure it wasn't the only defense contractor that got its hands dirty, but it was one of the largest.

I suppressed a groan as I thought about going to class when we’d just made a breakthrough. I’d been in the middle of reviewing the surveillance logs we had on Andrews, wondering if additional evidence of the woman he’d been with last night would turn up, when Beltran had stopped by our desks and reminded us about it. Attending class was a distraction we didn’t need, but Beltran had been insistent that we keep our cover intact.

“We must work for the only federal agency that requires their agents to masquerade as students,” I said.

“You need to learn how to whisper,” Shannon said in a hushed voice that was almost as loud as mine.

I looked around, there wasn’t anybody within earshot. “Nobody heard me.”

“You of all people should know better.”

I shook my head, she was right. We walked in silence the rest of the way to class. Several minutes later, when we passed a group of girls, I wondered what it would have been like to be a real student here. Even if I graduated, the degree would never do me any good because it was attached to a fake identity. And honestly, what good was a history degree anyway?

We approached the George Washington building, an impressive old four story stone structure that housed the social science schools. We found our classroom on the second floor and took our seats at the back. The lecture hall was arranged with stadium seating and a podium was located in front.

Professor Peck stood at the lectern, waiting for class to start. He was a tall man with black hair that was beginning to turn gray on the sides. Rumor had it that he was wealthy and taught for free because it was his passion. I had meant to look into Peck because of this peculiar story but hadn’t found the time.

Somebody nodded at me from the front row and I made eye contact with Thor. I nodded back, doing my best to hide my dislike for the man. On one of those rare times when I’d paid attention, Peck had been drilling him. For some reason I couldn't remember, I’d read the assignment and after it was obvious Peck wasn’t going to let up on the poor kid, I'd jumped in and directed away Peck’s attention. I’d regretted it ever since because Thor hadn’t left me alone.

Having outside connections wasn’t a good idea for my line of work. Friends were a luxury that I couldn’t afford. I’m sure Beltran would have wanted me to be nicer for the sake of my cover, but I didn’t see the need. It wasn’t worth the effort.

While pulling out my tablet, I saw that the dark haired girl from several rows up was trying to make eye contact with me again. She’d been eyeing me since the beginning of the semester.

I looked away with a tight smile and hoped that Shannon hadn’t noticed. Sure enough, a message popped up on my tablet from Shannon a moment later.

I didn’t respond as I shifted, trying to find a comfortable position. These chairs weren't made for somebody with long legs like mine. That, combined with the body armor I wore, always made attending class a chore. We were also required to wear thin invisible latex covers that hid our fingerprints that made it harder to use the tablet. I’d long since gotten used to those, but I doubted I’d ever be comfortable with the armor.

When I brought up the news, I tried to tell myself that I wasn’t checking out of guilt, but knew that it was a lie. A few minutes later I found a follow up to an initial news story about Bruce Andrews’ murder. They’d identified the woman Shannon had fought. Gina Townsend. I read on until the article identified the man I’d killed.

Terrence Morrison. The name seemed to burn into by brain and I knew I’d never forget it. I scanned the rest of the article hoping for additional information about the victims but was disappointed.

Still, the names would be a good starting point. I forwarded the news link to Shannon and then elbowed her.

“You check the woman, I’ll research the men?”

She scowled, wondering what I meant, until I pointed at the message that had just popped up on her screen. Sighing, she nodded.

Toward the end of class, I hadn’t managed to learn anything useful about Terrence and was becoming convinced that Terrence Morrison wasn’t the man’s real name. I didn’t have access to all the tools the research team did back at Black Brick, but I should have been able to learn something about him.

Shannon nudged me and I looked in the direction she indicated. Peck was picking on a student in the row in front of us and the dark haired girl was staring at me. I gave her a small smile. She returned it with a wide mouthed grin. My face turned red and I avoided making eye contact after that but could feel her eyes burning into me.

Did she have no shame? Shannon was sitting right beside me. Part of our cover was that we were dating. We acted the part when on campus in a way we never did at Black Brick. Well, at least not when others were watching.

“Stop leading her on,” Shannon said.

“You baited me.”

“You know, there’s something odd about this. You’re ugly, cute in a blockhead sort of way, but still ugly. Think she’s onto us?”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re paranoid.”

Shannon scowled. “She’s way out of your league.”

“Thanks for thinking so highly of me. She's not a problem.” My tablet vibrated and I turned the screen back on, Beltran had just sent an email. The results from Andrews’ phone were back. I smiled. The information gave us a new lead and Beltran had included a mission assignment. Shannon and I had less than two hours to catch a plane to San Diego. We needed to investigate a hacker named Jason Kurt.

Bruce Andrews had called Jason Kurt seven times in the last two weeks. The surveillance team was going to be furious that they missed this. I didn’t want to be around when Beltran chewed them out for their mistake.

How had Andrews kept the calls off the radars? We had his home, office, car, phone, tablets, and computer bugged.

I was busy reading through the report when Peck called my name.

“Mr. Chever, what's your take on Executive Order 11905?” I didn’t recognize the name until Shannon kicked my foot. I looked up, already halfway through Beltran’s email. The classroom discussion was the furthest thing from my mind.

“Mr. Chever,” Mr. Peck said. “What’s more important than this class?”

My feeling of elation evaporated as I looked up into the cold eyes of Peck and my mind went blank. I used my Sam Chever alias on campus and I was embarrassed I hadn’t recognized it.

“Executive Order 11905?” prompted Peck.

“Not sure I’m familiar with it,” I said.

“Skipped your reading, I see. I’m referring to our government’s ban on assassination.” Peck folded his arms and glared. The man should have been a judge, I felt condemned and guilty. “Your thoughts?”

I nearly choked.

Terrence Morrison’s face came to mind unbidden. It was followed by the other man I had killed. Sure, I hadn’t assassinated any of my victims, but that sort of activity fit within my job description. “Uh... It’s important to make sure that other leaders feel reassured that we won’t target them. It would change the dynamics if we had an open policy of assassination.”

“Open policy? Do you suggest that there should be a secret policy?”

I cursed. I shouldn’t have answered that way. I wished Peck would leave me alone. “Why not? Why should soldiers sacrifice their lives because of disagreements among idiot politicians?”

This wasn’t going well. Shannon was looking away, but I could tell she thought I was being reckless.

“So. Mr. Chever, you have no qualms about our government planning cold blooded murder?” Shannon placed her hand on my leg, her nails dug into my thigh.

“I didn’t say that.” I could feel sweat forming on my forehead. “I’m just saying war is costly. We should make the leaders duke it out in the ring instead.” It was a lame attempt at a joke but nobody laughed.

“We’d stop electing old white men to the Presidency,” Peck said. He smiled at the smattering of laughter he received. The pressure from Shannon’s nails was going to tear through my jeans if she pressed any harder.

“Mr. Chever, please be sure to read the assignment for our next class. I'll send you some extra reading, be prepared.” Peck dismissed us.

“Skirting the line, Sam.” Shannon whispered as we packed up our things. I followed her eyes to the dark haired woman.

“It’s going to take us forty minutes to get to the airport,” I said. We still had to get back to Black Brick and collect our luggage. We always left it packed so that we were ready to go at a moment's notice.

I grimaced when I noticed Thor approaching, a wide grin on his goofy face. He was a short man and kept his hair cropped close to his head.

“We need to go,” I said but it was too late. Thor was already here.

“Peck was tough, but you held your own.” Thor grinned and alternated between me and Shannon hoping for an introduction. I wasn’t going to give it.

“That wasn’t bad. I was just having some fun. Good seeing you.” I slung my pack over my shoulder and headed for the door, leaving Shannon to catch up.

Chapter 4

The frothy water reached out to lick the tip of my shoe, but my foot wasn’t down on the sand long enough for it to matter. The pounding of my legs on the beach seemed to be in harmony with those of Bill Martinez and Tom Vandyke who ran to the side of me. The crashing waves kept time with our gait and the sunny day was a welcome change to the cold back home.

When we'd arrived at the airport the previous day, I'd been surprised to see Martinez, Tom, and Cherry Mann waiting for us. Beltran's email hadn't mentioned anything about them. Like Shannon and I, Cherry and Tom were still on temporary status.

Martinez wasn't part of our usual team, but I'd worked with him in the past. I wasn't happy to have him along because I didn’t like the way that he operated. The last time we’d been on an assignment together he had broken a man’s kneecap to get him to talk. I could still hear the man’s screams whenever Martinez was nearby.

The flight had been uneventful and we'd spent the evening before doing surveillance and research on our target, Jason Kurt. This morning, Kurt was still sleeping and we'd all agreed that we could afford some time at the beach before he woke up.

I allowed myself to relax so that I could take it all in and was glad I didn't have to attend class today. A run on the beach was a much better substitute.

The breeze was slight, the air warm, and the sun was out. It had been months since I’d experienced pleasant weather.

One day I wanted to retire and live in a place like this. I took a deep breath and let it out.

I closed my eyes and was a kid again, running through the desert sun of Texas, the beating sun cleansing my soul. That brought with it the disapproving face of Sister Bautista. I pushed it away and allowed my focus to return.

Beside me, there was a swift movement as Tom kicked out and connected with my shin. I shifted my weight to compensate and was barely able to keep from toppling into the surf and got my foot wet in the process. So much for dry feet.

“Still two to one,” I said, smiling when Tom didn’t answer.

“Break a leg or sprain an ankle,” Martinez said. “I’m not helping either of you.”

We fell silent and I pushed ahead while keeping a wary eye on Tom, he matched my speed and took a slight lead. I didn’t make a move to get ahead because I was better able to keep an eye on him now.

“A little help?” A woman waved to get our attention and pointed at a volleyball that had landed just ahead of us. I was surprised to see a group of people out this time of the morning. It wasn’t even ten yet. They looked like college students. Weren't they supposed to be sleeping till noon?

The jagged cliffs towered several hundred feet behind the woman and she was standing in front of a pile of a bulbous ocean plant that I had no name for. Despite my concentration, I noticed that her bright red swimsuit made a nice contrast to the rest of her.

Like a distant gust of wind in a storm, I didn’t allow this thought to touch me, and was surprised when I realized I was darting ahead.

“Sure thing.” I scooped up the ball and tossed it to her before either of the others responded. It was of course no surprise that Martinez hadn’t made an effort and Tom appeared to not have noticed the woman.

If Tom hadn’t been good with a rifle at a thousand yards and deft with a computer, he would have long since been washed off the team because of his habit of zoning out.

“Join us?” The woman smiled, motioning back at the game. That small part of me that I never let take control was tempted. It looked fun, but we didn’t have long before we needed to return to Shannon and Cherry, who’d opted out of the morning run to tan instead. Tom, who’d just noticed the woman, looked ready to stop, but Martinez didn’t slow or even glance at her.

“Thanks. Next time.” I felt a twinge of regret. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been able to relax and if I was honest with myself, I wanted nothing more than to join the game.

I got lost in the run again as the sun washed over me. The warm breeze from the ocean felt good and both were a perfect help to maintaining my focus.

Before long, we ran out of time. When the others turned back, I hesitated, and wished that I could continue.

The cliffs ended just ahead and I could make out a greater expanse of beach. I’d run forever, if given the chance. For a fleeting moment, I thought of fleeing my problems, but slowed and chased after the others.

True to habit, they were running faster now.

One of these days, I would just keep running, but that couldn’t be today. I still needed the structured life that Black Brick provided. Without it, I doubted that I would have made it past the deaths of my parents.

Even with our faster speed, Tom would still have attempted to trip me up, and I wasn’t in the mood for the game any longer. I kept Martinez in between us. If Tom tried it with Martinez, he’d end up with a broken neck.

I was taken out of my trance when we passed the volleyball game and the woman waved, flashing a toothy smile. I nodded and put her from my thoughts. I had Shannon waiting for me.

Twenty minutes later, when we came around the bend and could make out Cherry and Shannon absorbing the sun, we ran faster. The ground disappeared beneath us and our gait tightened up until we were in sync with each other.

This lasted for several heartbeats. Tom was the first to fall behind. I noticed that Shannon was looking our way and adrenaline shot through me, bringing out a final reserve of energy. I overtook Martinez and felt a small thrill rush through me.

It wasn’t long though before my chest burned, my eyes watered, and then Martinez was at my side, keeping pace while I gasped. The sound of Tom calling from behind reached my ears, but I couldn’t make out the words. Then it was over and I could go no further, I slowed to a stop, wheezing for breath as Martinez rushed ahead.

At first, I thought it was just my imagination that a man was taking pictures of us with his phone. But when I looked at him, he stopped and turned away. He was a hundred feet off and was wearing a wide brimmed hat that did a good job of obscuring the rest of his face.

“You almost had Bill!” Shannon called out.

My heart skipped, and I hoped I didn’t show my surprise. I’d been so focused on the man that I hadn’t noticed Shannon approaching. If she realized she’d startled me, I’d never hear the end of it. The breeze twisted her blonde hair around her neck and her smile made me forget the woman at the volleyball game.

If only I saw Shannon smile more often.

Tall for a woman, Shannon was still several inches shorter than me. She was wearing sunglasses and had a yellow sundress pulled on over her swimsuit. It was hard not so stare.

“Did you twist an ankle?” she asked. “I warned you about running on the sand. Just be glad you lost to Bill, Tom wouldn’t ever let you live it down.”

I looked back at the man in the wide brimmed hat, but he was already walking away. Maybe he had just been taking pictures of the ocean.

“How’s your future case of melanoma coming?” I was still out of breath and my voice sounded off. I scanned the beach and noticed that Cherry and Martinez were standing a little too close. If they weren’t more careful, Beltran would find out about them.

“How's your future case of a broken nose coming?”

“Try it and you’ll pull back a bloody stump.” I took a deep breath. “Did you see him? The man taking pictures.”

Shannon looked around and focused on the man who was now a good distance away. “Stop being paranoid. Nobody knows we’re here.”

“You forgetting about Jackson?” I studied her face. She really did think I was worrying over nothing. She grimaced when she heard the name Jackson.

On a mission a few months back, I'd begun to suspect that a man named Frank Jackson knew we were playing him. I'd expressed my concerns to Shannon but she'd thought I was worried about nothing. I’d allowed her to allay my fears. That had been a mistake. Jackson had ended up leading us into a trap. Even though we had managed to escape, Jackson was still out there and we might have to deal with him again one day.

“You ever going to let that go?” Shannon asked.

“Not until you admit you were wrong,” I said, glancing at my watch. We didn’t have long before we needed to get into place around Jason Kurt’s home. He should be waking up soon.

“Stop being petty. You’re too paranoid, even for a spy.”

I scowled. “We need to go.”

Chapter 5

I was waiting for Jason Kurt’s last computer to power down when there was a sound at the doorway to Kurt’s bedroom. I turned from the bank of computer screens expecting to find Shannon but instead recognized Lisa, Jason Kurt’s younger sister. Somehow we’d missed the fact she was still here when we’d broken into the home.

“Hey mister,” Lisa said in a small voice. “Whatcha doing?”

The little girl stood in the doorway, her hair in pigtails and a smudge of something on her cheek. Grape jelly? She wore a shirt that sported cartoon characters I didn’t recognize and clutched an ugly orange stuffed animal that looked like the progeny of a horse and a dolphin.

I covered up my surprise. Shannon and I had already been in the home for half an hour and had gone through every room. How had we missed her?

Cherry and Tom must have assumed Lisa had left with Kurt’s mother. I should have confirmed that they’d seen Lisa leave as well.

“Oh, I’m just helping your brother out with a few things.” I smiled at the girl, wondering why she wasn’t afraid of me. Lisa twisted around, and disappeared in a room down the hall. I thought about pulling the plug on our mission as I watched her go.

She didn’t appear bothered by our presence, but I was uncomfortable having her here. Innocents were supposed to be left out of things like this. Shannon would have overheard the exchange through the earpieces that both of us wore. Her silence was telling. That meant she’d found Lisa and hadn’t told me.

I had already removed several cameras that Kurt had set up in his bedroom and Lisa had seen us. If we didn’t snag the hard drives now, we might not get a second chance. Things would be okay, Lisa was too young to give a reliable description of us and we’d be gone soon.

I looked back at the computer monitor; I still had a few minutes before it shut down. I shifted, brushing more garbage from the desk onto the floor. How could somebody live like this? Candy wrappers and empty soda cans littered the desk and a nearby bookcase. The floor was barely visible and covered with clothes, books, a half eaten bag of chips, and loose paper. How could Kurt’s parents tolerate an adult child who chose to live in squalor?

My mother would never have put up with this, I was sure. Unbidden, my focus shattered and the memories came rushing back. I could see every event vividly, as if watching a movie, but more real. The smell of fresh vomit, the feel of my father’s cold stiff body when I tripped and fell on top of him, the shrill screams of my mother, the loud explosion of the revolver and the acrid smell of gun powder. The man’s laugh still echoed in my mind.

My ear bud cackled. I made myself focus on the present. I was stealing the hard drives of a hacker and needed to complete my mission.

“What are you doing on Jason’s computer?” Lisa asked, bouncing back into the room. “He never lets anybody touch it.” I looked at the small girl. “Jason doesn’t like it when other people touch his things. I know, because he yells at me when he catches me in here. That doesn’t mean I stop though.” The girl shook her head as she giggled, causing her pigtails to flick into her face. “If he catches you in here when he comes home from school, he’ll be real unhappy.”

I forced a smile and chuckled. “Well, I’ll just have to see he doesn’t catch me.” I didn’t blame Kurt for not wanting Lisa in his room. It wasn’t a place for an unattended child.

In addition to the two widescreen computer monitors that sat on Jason’s cluttered desk, two additional monitors were fastened to the wall. A large flat screen television hung off a swivel stand on the other side of the bedroom, muted and tuned to a news network.

Cords peeked out from underneath the clothes that were strewn across the floor. Posters of women covered the window. I recognized one as an actor, but I didn’t know any of the others. The most recognizable feature of the room was the pungent smell of sweat, rot, and dirty clothes.

“He’ll know,” Lisa said in a high pitched voice, “he always does!”

I thought of the cameras we’d removed and grunted. “It’s okay, I won’t let him catch me and I won’t tell on you. We’ll just keep this our little secret.” I patted the girl on the head. I never spent much time around children and it seemed like an appropriate thing to do, I stopped though when Lisa frowned.

“Okay,” Lisa said running out of the room dragging the stuffed toy behind her. I smiled as I watched her go, hardly a care in the world. Had I ever been like that?

“I almost shot her,” Shannon said stepping into the room. Her nose scrunched up as the smell hit her. “Thought she was the dog.” I unplugged the computer I’d just powered down, and pulled it out from under the desk. It was the first of four.

“Yeah, her pink ribbons are really confusing. Thanks for the warning, by the way.”

“Hey, Tom’s the one that missed her,” Shannon said. “She won’t be left alone for long.”

I didn’t comment on Shannon’s obvious assessment and opened the computer case, removed the hard drive, wrapped it in plastic, and placed it into my briefcase. The silenced Sig Sauer Mosquito in the breast pocket of my suit coat bumped against my chest when I stood, reminding me why I’d considered pulling the plug. This wasn’t a game, people sometimes got hurt.

“You find anything else?”

Shannon shook her head. “Nope. This smelly hole is the only place of interest.”

“What’s the update on Kurt?” I asked.

“Just got out of class,” Shannon said. “Bill says Kurt has a thing for his professor and is hanging around bugging her.” Martinez had followed Kurt to class while we’d stayed behind to nab the drives.

I didn’t bother to put the computer back together because Jason would know we’d been here regardless, and that was kind of the point that Beltran had wanted us to communicate when he sent us to track Kurt down. Beltran had called it an intimidation tactic, but I thought it was more likely to just piss Kurt off.

I turned to the other computers and removed those hard drives as well. Rummaging around the room, Shannon managed to find an old laptop underneath the bed and a tablet computer that Kurt apparently slept with, both went into her briefcase. Afterward, once Shannon had taken pictures using her cell phone, we placed bugs around the room. One in a vent, another under the bed, we even pulled up part of the carpet in the corner and placed one underneath.

As I replaced the carpet, I noticed white dust beside a small bookcase that stood against the wall beside the bed.

“Drugs?” I asked as I examined the white powder wishing there had been time for a full surveillance workup. Beltran had been adamant that our raid take place as soon as possible. I rubbed some of the powder between my finger and thumb and was surprised that it felt familiar.

“Let’s go,” Shannon said. “Drugs are the least of his issues.” She looked at her watch and muttered something that I didn’t hear.

It took me a moment to place it. The last time I’d seen this white dust was when I’d helped Sister Bautista hang sheet rock at the Boone Ranch for Boys. It had been an ambitious project for an older woman with a handful of boys under ten.

I pulled back the bookcase expecting to find a hole, but instead I found the wall undamaged. There was more dust on the floor, so I ran my hand along the wall just above it and felt several ridges.

Kurt's sloppiness had given him away. He'd done a good job on patching up the wall but he should have cleaned up afterward. Ignoring Shannon’s look of impatience, I pulled a flashlight from my briefcase and became certain that the wall had been disturbed. I could see the variations in the paint. Following along the edges, I cut a square of the wall away using my pocketknife and found a paper bag inside.

“Let the cops handle this,” Shannon said, “let’s go.”

“This isn’t drugs.” I opened the bag and pulled out a stack of photos. The picture on top had three people, two women and a man. They were in a conference room. The second and the third were of the same people. I stopped on the fourth. It was the woman from several nights ago. It took me a moment to remember her name. Gina Townsend. She was talking to another man that I recognized but couldn’t put a name too.

I showed the picture to Shannon. “Know him?”

She shook her head.

I wondered if Kurt had left behind the powdered sheet rock, hoping an intruder would find the hidden compartment in his wall and stop there. It was a paranoid thought, but I couldn’t help it. I inspected the other walls by running my hands along them. When Shannon saw what I was doing, she sighed.

“I think we got everything,” she said. Her phone beeped with a text message. “Kurt’s on his way.”

Hoping there wasn't something else hidden away, I put the pictures in my briefcase.

My phone vibrated. It was a news alert—I’d lost count of how many I set up—with an update on the Andrews murder investigation. I was about to put my phone away, thinking it could wait, until I saw the headline. They had a lead on the suspects in the investigation. I clicked on the alert to read the story.

“Find the remote to that TV,” I said to Shannon. “They found footage of the suspects from the Andrews murder.”

I paused. “They have us on video.”

When she wasn’t able to find the remote, I started switching channels on Kurt’s television by hand. Unfortunately, the story wasn’t big enough to interrupt the national news cycle. Andrews was an executive for a large corporation, but he’d been a minor player at the company.

I growled.

Shannon had her phone out by then and was searching for additional information.

“We don’t have to destroy his room as well,” Shannon muttered, glancing up. With a start, I realized I had grabbed onto the television with one hand and was in danger of pulling the swivel stand off the wall. I released my hold.

I felt numb. It was the first one of our missions that had been brought back to our doorstep. I’d killed a man and the man Shannon shot had died as well.

If the video led to us, Beltran might have no other choice but to cut his losses and let us take the fall. That was the risk we took in this line of work.

My phone vibrated again. I pulled it out, expecting another update to the story, this time one that included our pictures.

It was a text from Cherry asking why we hadn’t left yet. I remembered what Shannon had said, just before the alert had come in. Kurt was on his way back.

I took Shannon by the arm and pulled her out of Kurt’s bedroom. That earned me a glare, but she came along, phone clutched in hand.

When we got to the car, I took the driver seat while Shannon called into Black Brick.

Chapter 6

I remained in my seat on the airplane when the seat belt sign turned off and the pilot announced we could get up.

Those around us stood and began to remove luggage from overhead bins. Beside me, Shannon was flipping through emails. She hadn’t waited for the plane to stop moving before she had turned on her phone.

I checked my watch, it was almost seven in the evening, it had been an eventful day and we'd still need to brief Beltran once we returned to Black Brick.

We’d waited for clearance from Black Brick before heading to the airport. It turned out that the video that we’d been panicking about had been too grainy to give the cops anything useful. I hadn’t seen it yet, but it showed us approaching the alley, taking out our weapons, and then heading in.

Despite the assurances from Black Brick that we were safe to return, I was a little nervous that we’d find police waiting for us at the airport.

“I’m starved,” Shannon said. “Think we have time to grab a bite before heading back to Black Brick?” As she spoke, her phone rang. She listened for a moment and answered affirmatively before hanging up. “Beltran wants us back immediately. He just learned that we took a later flight. Apparently we’re late for a meeting.” Shannon stood and pushed past me, almost running over an elderly man in the process.

I apologized to the man before following Shannon off the plane and into the airport. When Shannon decided on a course of action, heaven help anybody who stood in her way, even an old man with a cane.

At the end of the exit ramp, I looked around, in what I hoped was a casual manner, and didn’t see any police. Even though it was a clear spring evening, I expected that it would be cold outside, in contrast to the pleasant warm weather of southern California. I was glad for the suit and wondered if I might want my overcoat that was packed away in my luggage.

I examined the crowd waiting at the baggage claim, looking to see if anybody was paying too much attention to us. I half expected to see the man that had been taking pictures of us at the beach, but I didn’t. A family of four waited nearby. The mother was trying to calm her crying baby without success, while the father was looking for their baggage, eager to be on his way. He was gripping a toddler by the arm that was doing her best to escape. I took out my phone, pretending to check email while I continued to scan. I didn’t expect to find anything, but looked anyway.

Even though it had been a short trip, we’d still taken a full complement of luggage according to standard operating procedure. We never knew when an overnight mission could turn into several weeks.

“It’s kind of sweet that you were so worried about Kurt’s sister,” Shannon said. After we’d left I’d listened in on the bugs to make sure that Kurt hadn’t gone into a rage and done anything to his sister because of what we’d taken.

I couldn’t tell if she was mocking me. Her arms were folded and she was looking away while she spoke. She’d put on sunglasses shortly after getting off the plane. Combined with her dark suit, she was looking too official.

“You never know what a man is capable of.” I spotted our luggage and began pulling it off.

Shannon gave an exaggerated sigh. “Beware the evil that lurks in the hearts of men. Women never cause so much trouble.”

I grunted. “Yeah, they never cause problems.”

Shannon’s glare was playful, mostly. “Think things will be less hectic once Beltran gives us our final test and our status changes to active?” Shannon asked as we left the airport. The temperature was indeed brisk, but I was comfortable with just the suit coat. The musky stink of the Philly air was almost a welcoming smell. It always felt good to come home.

“I doubt we’ll remember what sleep was like,” I said.

We passed Kingstone campus half an hour later. The tall clock tower overshadowed the rest of the buildings. I could barely hear it ringing in the hour. If today had been a normal day, I would have attended class.

I sometimes wished that my life had turned out differently. That instead of chasing down terrorists, I was actually attending a university. College was supposed to be a defining life experience and I was doing it as a cover.

We came to the end of the campus and turned towards Black Brick. Despite its name, there wasn’t a single black brick in the modern ten-story office building.

I parked in the underground parking garage and we took the stairs to the main floor. The most notable feature of the lobby was the thin large televisions in the entryway; they rotated through promotional information for Zerutas Ventures, Inc. The company was our cover and did a little business to keep away suspicion.

The plush couches, handmade solid wood furniture, and elegant art had been designed to give the impression that Zerutas was prospering, but wasn’t raking in money. A handful of guards were located inconspicuously throughout the floor and could easily be missed by a casual observer. Various weapons were hidden around the lobby in addition to those the guards had secreted away on their persons.

In the middle of it all, stood a large reception desk that reminded me more of a fortress than a place to greet visitors. Instead of hiring receptionists to operate the desk, Beltran assigned analysts to a four hour rotation. I greeted Dolores and received a warm smile in return. I’d often wondered what a woman like Dolores was doing working for Beltran. She shouldn’t be stuck in the office all day slogging through reports.

Dolores had a new hair cut that was barely longer than mine. It was a rare woman that was able to pull off hair that short, but she managed to do it. I noticed Shannon frowning at me as we headed to the elevator. What was she unhappy about now?

The tint of the windows in the conference room on the fourth floor had been darkened to provide contrast with the large touch screen at the front of the room where Gus Capps, the head of research and intelligence, was touching the monitor to zoom in on a picture of several people that I didn’t recognize. Beltran turned when we entered and motioned for us to take a seat. He was a short man, but solid.

The conference room table was long and narrow with twenty seats around the outside. Cherry, Tom, and Martinez were already seated at the far end of the table. They had returned on a flight earlier in the afternoon, bringing with them several hard drives, the pictures I had found in the wall, and Kurt’s laptop. Martinez nodded to me and I hesitated before returning the gesture.

Martinez leaned over and whispered something in Cherry's ear. She smiled, covering her mouth with a hand as a lock of brunette hair fell into her face. I was surprised to see such an overt demonstration right under the nose of Beltran. Shannon was staring their way. By her expression, I could tell that she knew about them as well or at least had her suspicions.

“Continue Gus,” Beltran said, oblivious to Cherry and Martinez.

“We’ve identified a man with Gina Townsend in the photos you found,” Gus said motioning with his scrawny pale arm that looked like it had never seen the sunlight. Rumor had it that Gus hadn’t left Black Brick for several years. While I didn’t quite believe it, I had to admit that Gus was more disheveled and pale than normal.

He clicked the remote in his hand and the picture of Gina and the man I had recognized showed on the large television screen that hung at the front of the room. “I believe this is Brian Payne.”

I was taken aback. Payne was an elusive man. Nobody had a picture of him. Where had Jason Kurt come by it? Why did he look familiar to me?

Upon closer reflection, Payne did look a little like a movie star, but I wasn’t familiar enough with those things to know who.

“Kurt was stealing money from Diggon and transferring most of it to Payne,” Gus said.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Cherry said, tightening her lips. “Why would Andrews hire Kurt to steal from Diggon only to give it to somebody else?”

I frowned, wondering what I missed. It would have been nice if they’d waited for us to start the briefing.

“Isn’t it obvious,” Tom swiveled to look at her. There was a flash of something in his eyes when he looked at Cherry that I wasn’t able to interpret. “If it comes out, Diggon wants deniability.”

Diggon had hired Kurt and Payne? I wondered what else I had missed.

“Agreed,” Gus said. “Kurt siphoned off close to one million for himself in addition to the couple million he transferred to Payne and was covering his tracks well. Andrews probably didn’t know how much Kurt took, though I assume part of their arrangement was that he’d pocket--” A ringing phone interrupted Gus.

“Is anybody going to shut that off?” Beltran asked before it got to the second ring. I checked my phone, I wasn’t the culprit. The others were doing the same when it stopped. Beltran nodded to Gus who opened his mouth when it started up again.

Shannon nudged me and motioned to my briefcase. I could feel Beltran’s eyes boring into me as I set my bag on the table and removed Kurt’s tablet. It was flashing a notification of an incoming video call. Ordinarily, Shannon and I would have stopped and left the tablet and the hard drives on the third floor with the tech team, but there hadn’t been time.

“It’s Kurt,” I said, “calling his tablet.”

“Well shut it off,” Martinez said.

“Hold on,” Beltran said. “I’m curious.”

I shrugged and answered.

Kurt appeared on the screen. His face was scarred with acne and black wavy hair framed his chubby face. I recognized Kurt’s room in the background and wondered if the bugs we’d hid had picked up any useful information yet.

“You shouldn’t have answered man,” Kurt said. His lips were turned up in a snarl and he looked ready to attack, bits of food were stuck on his unshaven face. Cheetos? “I’ll find you guys! Ya hear? Prepare for the world to come crashing down on you.” Kurt worked his keyboard.

“Nice place you have,” I said. “How many years did it take to cultivate the smell?”

“I’m taking you guys down!” Kurt held up a picture of Shannon and I leaving Kurt’s bedroom. I swore. I’d looked through the room and removed several cameras, I must have missed one. I smiled, hoping I’d covered my shock, but it was too late because a grin split Kurt’s face.

“Now that I’ve got your attention.” Kurt held up another picture, this one showed me walking into a store. “Not incriminating in itself, but later that day you were seen murdering a man.” He held up another photo that featured me with a mask wearing the same clothes, Shannon was visible in the background of both. “Put the two together and that’s some powerful evidence.” The photos were convincing; he was a good artist.

Shannon muttered something I didn’t catch.

“Return what you’ve taken,” Kurt said. “Or you’ll be the most wanted man in America. I’ll plant more photos of you doing other questionable activities. By the time I’m done your own mother will hate you. How would you like the police to come knocking at your door?”

“Yes, well, I’ll be waiting,” I said. “In the mean time, you might want to run as well. I have proof of the money you stole from Diggon. What do you bet they handle it internally? You were supposed to take some, I’m sure, but I bet they didn’t plan on you stealing a million.”

Kurt paled.

“Oh, it seems I have a card to play too.”

“Perhaps we can reach an agreement.”

“No,” I said. “There’s nothing to--” I stopped when I heard screams come from the tinny tablet speakers. A chill ran through my heart as I recognized the high pitched scream of a child.

Lisa.

The next moment Kurt was engulfed in flames and the video feed ended.

“Bomb,” I said, looking around my room. Shannon had a look of horror on her face. Cherry was tearing up. Gus looked like he was going to get sick and even Martinez who was normally stoic, was trying to regain his composure. Of the people in the room, only Beltran didn’t seem bothered.

I pulled out my phone. There may still be time. Perhaps the kid would be okay. I hadn’t dialed more than the first number before Beltran grabbed my arm.

“Think about this. What good will an emergency call from here do? Kurt’s in San Diego. You won’t even get the right operator, we don’t need the attention.” Beltran turned to Gus. “Have one of your tech guys make an anonymous call that looks like it’s coming from nearby Kurt’s place.” They waited in silence while Gus made a call and relayed Beltran’s instructions.

“Good work Jake,” Beltran said. “We confirmed that Kurt was working for Diggon as well as robbing them. Gus, continue.” I watched as the others turned back to the briefing. I was surprised by Martinez’s reaction, he had a faraway look on his face. Sadness or disappointment? I couldn’t tell.

Maybe I was wrong about Martinez; maybe he didn’t lack normal human empathy. I just couldn’t get past Martinez slamming a man’s hand into a car door and then shattering his kneecap with a baseball bat. The man had refused to give up the information we’d wanted but we could have got him to speak another way.

Shannon looked at me, concern showing on her face. It was the first unguarded emotion I’d seen from her in a while. When she touched my hand, I realized I’d been on the verge of snapping the tablet in two. I dropped it to the table.

“People just got hurt,” I said, interrupting Gus. “A criminal, yes, but his innocent little sister was in the house as well.”

“Truly regrettable,” Beltran said. “But there’s nothing more we can do but to soldier on and get to the bottom of this so we can stop it.”

“We’re supposed to protect people,” I said, “not get them killed.”

“Your anger is understandable,” Beltran said, “if you want to take some time off, fine. Otherwise, sit down. We have work to do.”

I hadn’t even realized that I’d stood. I shook my head as I sat, trying to clear it of an image of Lisa burning to death.

Shannon nudged me. “You okay? Let’s take some time off. I could use a day by the pool.”

I shook my head. The cold hard truth was that Beltran’s words made sense. There wasn’t anything we could do other than continue on our path. I tried to concentrate during the rest of the meeting, but kept hearing Lisa’s screams.

“Good work with Kurt,” Beltran said to us once the briefing was over. “The op went well. Before you know it, you’ll all be active.” While the others exchanged smiles, I just bared my teeth, if Beltran noticed, he didn’t say anything.

“Ordinarily, I’d like to give you guys a chance to rest, more especially so given the events of this evening, but I don’t have the time. I have a list of about a hundred things to do. Martinez, a man fitting Payne's description was seen downtown earlier today, find him. I'll email you what we know.”

“Jake and Shannon, shadow Lane Vargo. I want you on him in case the sniper from the other night is targeting Diggon’s executive team. I’ll have mission briefs in tactical by the time you’re ready. Get going.” He looked at Cherry and Tom. “I need you to help out the analysts. You’re going to review the files we have on Ronan Wright and Lauren Griffith.”

Black Brick had been keeping watch on Bruce Andrews, Lane Vargo, Ronan Wright, and Lauren Griffith for the better part of a year. Wright was a Senior Vice President and Griffith was Vargo’s personal assistant, but did far more than that. I don't know what Beltran had been hoping to find on Vargo, Wright, or Griffith, but so far we hadn't turned up anything that was actionable.

“Have you thought this through?” I asked. “Shannon and I were left alive by Andrews’ murderer for a reason. If Vargo was behind that, he may recognize us.”

Beltran frowned. “Unlikely. Bruce Andrews was Vargo’s liaison with Kurt. Get going.”

First, Andrews was stealing from the company. Now, it sounded like he’d been doing it under orders from the CEO. What was going on? What had we missed? When had Beltran learned this and why did he wait until now to tell us?

Shaking my head but deciding against further voicing my doubts, I left with Shannon in tow. If the information was true, that blew apart our theory that the shooter from the other night was working for Diggon.

“Quite the show in there,” Shannon said once we were out of the room. “Next time you’re going to explode like that, let me know? I’ll bring popcorn and a coke.”

I didn't respond and tried to forget what had happened, but knew I never would. The thought of Lisa’s curious bright face being torched with flame would plague me for a long time.

Chapter 7

It took considerable control to not wolf down my food when our orders arrived. I was famished and bit into the hamburger, swallowed, and took another bite. This was the first chance to eat since some stale peanuts I'd had on the plane.

There hadn't been time for a meal after my run on the beach with Tom and Martinez earlier that morning. As soon as we finished cleaning up, we had left for Kurt's house. I’d downed a Gatorade and eaten a Cliff bar on our way.

After our work there, I'd been too distracted by my worry about what police had on us to think about eating. When we'd gotten off the plane, Beltran's order to return had stopped us from getting dinner.

I ripped off another bite and looked around the restaurant, trying to appear like a casual observer. It was unfortunate that I wasn't going to be able to enjoy my meal properly. We’d had to scramble after our briefing with Beltran and the others to get here before Vargo. It was loud and hard to hear. The stale smell of fries and onion hung in the air.

My eyes glossed over Vargo and the woman he was with, Janessa Carlton. They were several tables over and their conversation was being relayed to us from the surveillance van several blocks away. A member of the surveillance team had been able to slip a bug onto Janessa before they’d entered the restaurant.

Vargo was paranoid and had his office, his person, and everything else around him swept for bugs on a regular basis. It was lucky our team had been able to get to Janessa as they entered the restaurant; otherwise, Shannon and I would have been sitting here in the dark.

That wouldn’t have been so bad, it had been weeks since the last time we’d managed to slip out of work and enjoy ourselves.

I was only giving casual attention to Vargo’s conversation over my ear bud. Based on what I’d heard already, Vargo didn’t seem likely to discuss Diggon’s covert activities with Janessa. At the moment, they were discussing an employee that was giving Vargo a headache.

Janessa was a human resource consultant to Diggon and Vargo regularly sought her services. According to our surveillance team, it wasn’t uncommon for them to meet at lunch or dinner and discuss various problems. When somebody needed to be fired, she handled everything. She also did recruiting as well.

Shannon twirled her fork in her pasta and raised some to her mouth. She had a direct view of Vargo, but I could tell she too was bored.

I couldn’t decide if Beltran was paranoid or if he had information that he wasn’t sharing. If my theory was correct and the sniper that took out Andrews was from Diggon, Vargo wouldn’t be in danger.

And even if Vargo wasn’t safe, what did we care? We’d been trying to nail him to the criminal activity of his company for the better part of two years.

I suppose that as a government agent I should have subscribed more to the innocent until proven guilty philosophy of our justice system, but I didn't like spending my evening playing babysitter. It had already been a long day and I needed time to process everything that had happened.

The quick glance I had caught when we were seated was enough for me to know that Janessa was a fastidious dresser, but that she paled in comparison to Shannon. Well, at least when Shannon bothered to smile. The red evening gown Shannon wore suited her, if not the restaurant.

When we'd left Black Brick, the surveillance team had told us that Vargo was wearing a tuxedo and had purchased tickets to the opera. Halfway there, we’d received a call that Vargo had changed directions. Our team knew enough about Vargo’s habits, that they’d given us instructions to come here.

This is why I'd started off wearing a bow tie, but had ditched it and swapped out the suit jacket for a leather coat that happened to be in the company car we’d taken. I wasn't sure who it belonged to, but I was glad to make use of it. It was a bit small but passable at a glance. Shannon hadn't been as lucky, because her formal gown wasn't as easily dressed down.

If I was taking out a woman like the one who now accompanied Vargo, even if it was just business, I would have chosen a classier restaurant. A restaurant with televisions hanging on the walls tuned to basketball games wasn’t my idea of a good date. Vargo was a wealthy executive and he’d chosen to take his attractive consultant to a hole-in-the-wall hamburger joint? Seemed strange to me, but maybe the man liked his hamburgers.

I leaned towards Shannon. “How long have you known about Cherry and Martinez?”

She hadn't looked surprised to see the flirty exchange between the two of them during the briefing earlier. I still couldn’t believe that Beltran had ignored it. There was no way he hadn’t noticed. Perhaps Martinez had done it on purpose to try and get a rise out of Beltran. That was something he sometimes did.

“What do you mean?” Shannon took a sip of her water and studied me with a slight frown and a considering look.

I took another bite. The burger wasn’t particularly good, but it was big and required two hands. Ketchup and mustard along with some grease dripped onto my chin and I grabbed a napkin while precariously holding the burger with the other.

“Why do you always call him Martinez?” Shannon asked. “He prefers Bill.”

“Sure, Bill and Cherry.” That took me by surprise. In my dislike for my Martinez, I hadn't realized that I'd been calling him by his last name. I hoped my distaste for him wasn't obvious. Martinez’s brutal techniques weren’t common knowledge.

Shannon was no longer paying attention to me and didn’t hear my last statement, I nudged her. She gave me an annoyed look and shook her head. She started to raise her hand and then stopped, looking like she’d wanted to point to her ear.

I turned my attention back to the ear bud.

“--your plan depended on a weak link,” Janessa said. “It was too much of a risk.”

“It got the job done, didn't it?” Vargo said, by the tone of his voice, I could tell he was giving her an annoying grin.

“But we have a mess now. Are you behind it? I have a hard enough time fighting fires for you internally. If you are and this becomes public, it will be outside of my skill set to handle it for you.”

There was a pause in the conversation and I got the impression that Vargo was taking time to make eye contact so he could send his point home.

“Janessa,” he said, “I didn't have anything to do with this.”

There was a lengthy pause. “I've been calling in favors from my oldest friends to get you the best. Employees like Lauren Griffith are hard to find and harder to keep. I'd be very disappointed to learn that I'm putting them into a toxic situation.”

“Lauren is working out great. You were right about me trusting her.”

“I'm glad to hear it,” she said. “If I find out you had something to do with this thing, I'll terminate my contract and pilfer those I've brought to you for my other clients.”

The way Janessa was talking, it sounded like Griffith would be more loyal to Janessa than Vargo. I made a mental note to mention this to Beltran. He likely already knew of this dynamic, but it wouldn’t hurt to make sure.

“You've nothing to worry about,” Vargo said, “I promise.”

Apparently that satisfied her, because they moved onto other things. Their conversation had been innocuous enough that it could have been about anything, but with the weak link reference, my mind jumped to Jason Kurt.

If Beltran was correct about the relationship between Vargo and Kurt by using Andrews as an intermediary, then Vargo had known Kurt was a weak link. He probably expected Kurt to steal from them as he siphoned money over to Payne.

Was that the job that Vargo had been referring to? Could the mess be the explosion at the Kurt home? Had Vargo been working late because he'd been coordinating the attack?

I looked at Shannon and could tell that she was jumping to the same conclusions. All small talk between us ceased as we spent the rest of the evening listening to every word they said, even though they never returned to the topic.

Once they finished with their meal, we followed them as Vargo had his driver drop Janessa off before taking him home.

After that, the surveillance team told us we could go home because Vargo’s place was too secure and there was nothing more we could do.

On the drive back to Black Brick, I promised myself that if I ever learned for a fact that Vargo had been behind the deaths of Jason Kurt and his sister, I would make sure that Vargo didn’t get away with it.

Chapter 8

The city passed by as I looked out the train window and tried to relax. The morning news coming out of San Diego said the explosion at the Kurt home was a gas leak, but I knew better.  Four people had died. In addition to Jason and his sister, their parents had been home as well.

Vargo would have a lot to answer for once I could prove he was behind it.

I yawned and tried to clear my mind. The train was slowing down and I could make out the stop ahead when I leaned in closer to the glass. It had been a low key day but I was afraid that wouldn't last for long. The morning had been spent in a biology class.

After that, Shannon and I had met up with Cherry and Tom and we began to make plans to apprehend Lauren Griffith. It turned out that Beltran had already known of her connection to Janessa and wanted to exploit the division in her loyalty.

I’d been a little surprised when we’d followed Lauren onto the train. When she and her bodyguard had taken the seats at the back, Shannon and I had opted for seats just behind the doors at the center of the train car. Cherry and Tom were several rows behind us.

We believed that Griffith sometimes acted as a courier for Vargo by moving information and items that were too sensitive to be trusted to the normal ways of communication and transportation. At some point in the day, she was going to make a pick up. After that, we were supposed to bring her in to Black Brick.

I was surprised at the boldness of our orders but couldn’t help but wonder if Beltran had leverage on her or Janessa. We didn’t bring somebody in unless we had evidence that they were involved in something serious. As far as I knew, we didn’t have anything like that on either of them.

It made me curious about what Griffith was picking up. If the pickup was supposed to happen on the train we wouldn’t notice from our vantage point. But we didn't have any other option.

“If it looks like she’s heading back to work after this,” I said, “we’ll have to move in.”

Shannon rolled her eyes, but didn’t respond. I supposed that it was an obvious next move, but I’d wanted to make sure that we were both on the same page. Given her response, I decided to not say anything to Cherry and Tom.

“Let’s take a break,” Shannon said, leaning in and setting her hand on my leg. “We get so little time together as it is.” Today she was wearing a green coat with a white blouse and black pants. We didn’t know where Lauren would take us so I was stuck in a suit.

Shannon had pulled her hair back. When we'd attended class earlier, she'd been wearing high heels that matched her coat but switched them for a pair of running shoes. She'd learned that lesson the hard way. Whenever she went out wearing heels, it was a good bet that she was carrying a better pair of shoes in her purse in case she needed them.

I didn't respond. Her lips barely touched my ear and sent a chill down my spine. Her smile reminded me of a stolen moment we had last night in the car before returning to Black Brick. I lived for the moments we were able to share, though they were few. Beltran might blow a gasket if he found out about us, but he didn’t seem bothered by Martinez and Cherry.

What did he expect? After learning to depend on one another under extreme circumstances, could he really be surprised when his agents became involved?

I wasn't worried. The risk was worth it in my estimation. I just didn't want Cherry and Tom to learn about our relationship.

“Come now,” Shannon said, looking bothered that I was ignoring her. I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder at the others and hoped they hadn't heard.

I half expected a kiss when she leaned in again, but she kept that boundary, for now. She always seemed to get flirtier when there was a chance that somebody from Black Brick might catch us. I think she got a thrill from it. It just made me uncomfortable. Even though I thought our relationship was worth the risk, I didn't feel a need to increase our odds of getting caught.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I whispered, checking my watch as I threw her a smile to make sure she knew I was teasing. We still had a few minutes before the next stop.

“For good luck?” she asked. When I didn’t lean in she looked disappointed. We’d both agreed to keep it quiet. She chuckled.

I gave in and checked on the others. Cherry was absorbed in a magazine. It was surprising that an editor thought the woman on the cover was attractive enough to sell copies, perhaps she was the daughter of somebody famous. Tom was beside her and playing a game on his cell phone. Neither of them were looking our way.

“You don't think this is the test, do you?” Shannon asked in a more normal voice.

“No,” I said. “It isn't dangerous or complicated enough.” If the rumors were true, you either ended up dead or ready to quit. I didn’t see that happening today. “I overheard Martinez and Scott Henry talking about their final test and didn’t get the impression that they’d known about it beforehand or that it had been easy.” Martinez had stopped midsentence when he noticed me. I didn’t bother to ask for more information because Martinez wouldn’t give it. I was glad Martinez wasn’t on assignment with us today. I needed to find a way to get him booted from our organization.

“Ready to quit or dead.” Shannon frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

I shrugged and pulled out my phone to reread the email from Beltran about today's assignment, looking for anything I might have missed. At the top was a color photograph of Griffith.

“We’re flying blind,” I said. “This feels rushed.” For an operation like this, we should have spent the last week keeping close tabs on Griffith. A month would have been better. The email we'd received from Beltran this morning was short and lacked information and the briefing with Beltran a few hours ago had been quick as well. He had been in a hurry and didn’t have time for questions before leaving the room.

“That’s why it could be our final test,” Shannon said. “Beltran is testing how we handle pressure and uncertainty.”

I shook my head. “Unlikely, the final test will be more challenging than what we’re facing today.”

Suppressing the butterflies in my stomach, I began a silent meditation. When we’d first come to Black Brick, many of our missions had been fakes. They’d been setup to look like the real thing but had been fashioned to be a learning experience. As time continued, some of the operations turned out to be real, where lives were at stake. Eventually the fake missions had been phased out.

When I realized that I was fiddling with one of the .40 caliber subcompact Glocks that rested in the pocket of my coat, I stopped. Small enough to hide in my pocket, but carrying a large enough round to rip a hole the size of volleyball into a man's chest. I’d have preferred my compact, but that wasn’t as easily hid. Subcompacts took more skill and concentration because the smaller pistol had enough recoil to jump out of your hands if you weren’t careful.

The train slowed to a stop and I kept an eye on the exit to make sure Lauren didn’t get off the train.

I examined the people that boarded, wondering if one of them would make the drop. Several old women, a mother with a young son, a couple of men and women in business attire, and a man wearing a jogging suit were among those that got on. None of them looked like a fit and most of them sat forward of us. As they sat, I noticed a man in a baseball cap up front, who had been reading a paper and looked back at the new passengers. I caught a partial glimpse of his face and made a connection.

“Payne is here,” I said.

“What?” Shannon asked. “Where?”

“Man in the ball cap near the front.”

Shannon groaned. “I think you’re right.”

Biting off a curse, I used the front facing camera of my phone to keep an eye on what was happening behind us. Nothing out of the ordinary yet. I fired off a text to Cherry and Tom, letting them know about Payne.

Griffith looked bored but her guard was alert and paying attention.

As the train started to move again, Payne stood up at the front of the car, brandishing a pistol with a thirty round magazine extending out the bottom.

My training kicked in and before I realized what I was doing I had my hand on my pistol and was about to draw when five other armed men stood. Two were right beside Payne at the front; the other three were several rows in front of us. I lowered my hand. The men were wound up enough that none of them had noticed me.

“Nobody has to die, but I might kill a few to keep the rest of you quiet.” Payne pushed his sunglasses up the tip of his nose and pointed his pistol to the back of the train. He smiled. That chin was unmistakable. I felt like an idiot for missing his team of men. Everything we knew about Payne said that he liked to work alone, so instead of trying to assess whether he had a team with him or not, I'd just assumed that we had one problem, not six.

Shannon swore softly.

Payne’s three closest men moved to the rear of the car and I chanced a look back. Griffith’s guard hadn’t moved and he eyed the gunmen as they approached.

When I saw Payne take a step forward and look down at a man, I hesitated, unsure what to do.

“What's this?” Payne asked. I couldn't tell what the man was doing to provoke Payne, but it looked like he had his phone out. Payne shot him before I could react. The gunfire in the enclosed space sounded like a bomb. A child near the front started crying. The mother put her arms around him in a comforting and protective fashion.

“No phones,” Payne said.

I gripped one of the pistols in my pocket while folding my other hand over the top. I didn’t see a way to intervene without getting shot, but holding my pistol grip, helped me to remain calm.

Payne motioned to Griffith. “Come here.”

Everybody's eyes focused on Griffith as she stood and stepped into the aisle. I felt bad for her. Griffith’s bodyguard looked furious and I wondered if he would do something stupid. The man had to know that there wasn't anything that he could do with six armed gunmen staring his way.

The child started wailing again as the gunman nearest Griffith grabbed her and pulled her forward. They were right in front of me when Payne spoke.

“I’ll throw that child off the train if he doesn’t shut up.” His voice was matter of fact and calm, leaving no doubt that he would. Our briefing on Payne had said that he could be cold, but I was taken aback by the threat and tightened my grip on my pistol.

The mother clasped the head of her boy close, whispering into his ear. The boy had quieted by the time the train started slowing for the next stop.

“We’re getting off, everybody else stays here.” Payne pulled a bag out from under his seat. “If we’re not followed, there’s a fifty percent chance of this blowing up. If we are, it becomes a hundred percent--”

He was interrupted by a gunshot. The man that had latched onto Griffith fell, blood spilling out of his chest. For a moment I wondered if Tom had done something stupid, but it was Griffith’s guard that had fired the shot. He had stood, pistol in hand. Foolish idiot, he was going to get other people killed. Reaching across Shannon, I pulled Griffith into our row as her guard dove behind a seat.

There was a brief silence before the cacophony of gunfire filled the train. It stopped several minutes later once the guard was dead. During that time Shannon and I kept our heads down and I expected that Cherry and Tom were doing the same. We knew a no-win situation when we saw one.

That didn't mean I liked it. It also didn't mean that the guilt I'd feel about how this day had gone down would ever go away.

It took me several heartbeats to realize that the gunfire had stopped. The sound was still echoing in my head. The small confines of the train car made the gun shots seem five times as loud.

The people in the rows around me started lifting their heads up, fear at war with curiosity. The guard's body lay halfway into the aisle and it looked like he'd been shot more than ten times. Payne still stood where he'd been when the firefight had started. If anything, his face registered annoyance at the interruption.

“There's now a seventy five percent chance the bomb goes off,” Payne said. “Any more heroes?” Nobody moved.

One of the gunmen pulled Griffith out of our aisle as the train came to a stop. When the doors opened, he pushed her out and followed after her. The others weren't far behind.

Payne placed the bag on the floor and stepped over it. As he walked to the door, it looked like he wasn't concerned about being the last of his men on the train. In fact, if I had to guess, his mind was now on to other things. We were beneath his notice. He'd said his peace and was now making other plans.

Once he left the train, I ran up to Payne’s bag. The people around me were shying away. I noticed the woman with the child had pressed her son against the wall.

“We have no time,” Shannon called after me, but I didn’t stop until I had the bag in hand. When I turned around, she was waiting at the door for me, her hand on the door trying to keep it open. As I ran towards her, I saw we weren't going to make it. The door wasn’t stopping for her hand.

“Get off the train,” I yelled, but she didn't budge. I swore and yelled again, but it did little good. The door was already almost closed. I considered trying to toss the bomb to her so she could chuck it off the train but thought better of it. I doubted that Payne would have taken any precautions with it.

The door was closed and the train was moving again when I reached it. Tom and Cherry were on the other side, chasing after Payne. In my hurry to get to the bag I hadn't noticed them getting off the train. Shannon and I tried to pry the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. Shannon gave me a look that didn't need an explanation. She was pissed at me for going after the bag. I was surprised she was still here. She'd had ample opportunity to get off.

“I had to make sure somebody kept you from getting killed,” Shannon said, when I pointed that out, “because you sure aren't doing the job. You're supposed to run away from the bombs, not towards them.”

I didn't respond as I examined the bag and wondered how long we had.

BLACK BRICK
PART TWO

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About the Author

Dan Decker lives in Utah with his family. He has a law degree and spends as much time as he can outdoors. You can learn more about upcoming novels at dandeckerbooks.com.