Black Pawn (Michael Cailen Book 1) (45 page)

He hurried back down to the
interrogation room, pushing his way past the onlookers who had gathered
outside.  He walked to the still unknown man on the floor and looked at his
arm.  There was a loose piece of what looked like fake skin, probably made of
latex, on the underside of his arm near his wrist.  He must have kept a cyanide
pill hidden under the fake skin.  It probably was made to look like a scar and had
gone completely unnoticed.

“Who does this?”  Corvo muttered
to himself.  He walked back to his office where Jessica and Jinx were nervously
waiting for his return.  He stepped in the office and looked intently at
Jessica.  “What aren't you telling me?”

“What happened?” she asked
anxiously.

“Who are these people?”  He
ignored her question.

“How should I know?” she replied
defensively.  “What's going on?”  She stood up.

“The man we captured just
committed suicide.”

“What?”  Jinx and Jessica
exclaimed in unison.

“He took a cyanide pill that he
kept hidden under some fake skin on his arm.”  He waited to see her reaction. 
She looked truly shocked, as did Jinx.  “You have no idea who these people are
or why they're after you?” he asked sternly.

“No!” she shouted, getting angry
with his tone and questioning of her.

He backed down when he saw how
upset he was making her.  Preston walked in just then and suggested they get
going to the hotel.  Corvo agreed.  Jessica reluctantly said goodbye to Jinx
and they were on their way.

They took a different vehicle from
what they drove before.  After riding around for a while, to make sure they
weren't being followed, they pulled in the hotel parking lot.  As Jessica
stepped into the small hotel room, she was having flashbacks of two years ago
when she was on the run with Michael.  While the surroundings were different,
the feelings were the same.  There were two queen sized beds and a small table
with chairs sat by the window on the other side of the room.  The door to the
bathroom was on the left by the door to the hallway.  Across from the beds was
a dresser with a TV on top.

As she studied her environment,
her heart sank and a feeling of dread mixed with anger and distress washed over
her.   Her eyes quickly filled with tears that soon overflowed as she broke
down crying.  She sat on the edge of the bed and buried her face in her arms as
she wept.  Corvo and Preston looked at each other, not sure what to do about
her.  She had been so brave and strong up until just now.  Corvo sat next to
her and put his hand on her shoulder.  She pulled away from him, making it
clear she didn't want him touching her.  He took the hint and moved away.  He
gave Preston a look as he rubbed the back of his neck.  It was going to be a
long day.

After a period of solid crying,
Jessica suddenly sat up and asked to use Corvo's phone.  She wiped her tears
away and composed herself.  The abrupt change in her demeanor was puzzling yet
Corvo handed her his phone.  She dialed a number and put the phone to her ear.

“I need to speak with Timothy
Gatti,”  Jessica said to whoever was on the other line.  “I know he works
there.  Just tell him to call me back on a secure line.”  She hung up the
phone.

“Uhhh.  Who was that?” Corvo
asked, wondering who she just called on his phone.  He reached down and took it
from her hand.

“A friend,”  she replied.

“I gathered that.”  He was about
to ask another question when his phone rang.  Jessica held her hand out for him
to give it back, but instead he answered it.  “Hello?”

“A woman called me from this phone. 
Let me speak to her,” a man responded.

“This is Special Agent Lance Corvo
from the FBI, who are you?”

“I know who you are Agent Corvo. 
I know this is your phone, but you didn't call me.  Put her on, now.”  The
caller's tone was forceful and authoritative.

Corvo looked at Jessica rather
unhappy about the mystery caller and being left in the dark.  She looked back
at him as though he should have expected that to happen.  He handed her the
phone.

“Hi Tim.  It's Jess.”

“Jessica?  What's going on?  Are
you okay?”

“I'm fine, but I'm in a bit of a
jam.”  She went on to explain what happened that day and that Michael was out
of the country.

“What do you need me to do?” he
asked.

“I wondered if maybe you would be
able to get a message to him, let him know where I am.”

“When does his flight leave?”

She looked at her watch.  “About
another hour.”

“Not a problem.  Where are you?”

She gave Gatti her location which
made Corvo and Preston immediately nervous.

“Anything else I can do?”  Gatti
asked.

“I think the FBI is still trying
to identify the man they picked up that was following me.”

“Sure.  Let me talk to Agent
Corvo.”

Jessica handed him the phone.  He
took it, more curious now than ever who the mystery caller was.  He put the
phone to his ear.  “Yeah?”

“I'm Agent Gatti with the CIA.  I
would like a picture and prints of the man you had in custody.  I might be able
to assist in identifying him.”

“That's a generous offer but this
doesn't seem like something the CIA would normally get involved in.  What's
your interest?”

“She is a close friend of mine. 
The rest is classified.”

Timothy Gatti's life had been
intertwined with Michael and Jessica's in a way few people could understand. 
Gatti had headed up the task force that eventually rooted out the corrupt CIA
agents trying to kill the two when they had first met.  Michael ended up saving
Gatti's life from one of those agents.  As part of that debt, Gatti arranged
new identities for Michael and Jessica and they have been under his protective
watch ever since.

“I see.”  Corvo glanced at Preston
who was all ears.  “Well, I have no problem accepting help.  Where do I send
the stuff?”

“Someone will be by to pick it up
in twenty minutes.  I will also be sending someone by with a secure phone for
Jessica.  Expect a visit within the hour.”

“I appreciate the heads up.”

“I'll be in touch.”  Gatti hung
up.

Corvo turned to Jessica looking
vexed.  “You have a good friend in the CIA?”

She shrugged.  “I have more than
one.”

Corvo shook his head as he dialed
his office to request the information be ready for Gatti's man.

Chapter 6

Michael, Josh, Martin and Katie
had been at the airport almost three hours waiting to get on their flight
home.  They had anxiously made it through security only to find their plane had
been delayed.  They settled into some seats for the long wait.  Michael and
Josh sat in a row facing Martin and Katie.

Michael was in agony over
Jessica.  He knew she had been safely picked up by police and that Jinx was
going to send some agents to get her from the station, but he had no idea if
that actually took place.  Maybe the agents didn't get there before the police
were done questioning her.  Maybe something happened after they picked her up. 
The possibilities were driving him mad.  He was restless and his constant shifting
in his seat and sighing was driving Josh nuts.

“Michael, she's fine,” Josh said
for the umpteenth time.

“You've said that ten times,”
Michael snapped.  “Say it again and I'll tear your tongue out with my bare
hands.”

Michael's patience was almost non-existent. 
Trying not to be annoyed with him, Josh just took a deep breath and shook his
head.  He exchanged glances with Martin.  Michael was so worked up it was even
beginning to affect Katie, who leaned closer to Martin for comfort.

As the four sat there, everyone's
patience wearing thin, a stunningly beautiful woman came and sat down next to
Michael.  She placed her handbag by his feet and pulled out a magazine.  He
looked at her, aggravated she chose that seat rather than the many other empty
ones further away from him.  He gave a look to Josh, who just raised his
eyebrows and shrugged in return.  He let out a heavy sigh of irritation.

“I'm sorry,”  the woman turned to
him.  “I didn't even think to ask.  Was this seat taken?”

He looked at her debating whether
to tell her it was or not.  “No.”  He went with the honest answer, even though
he wished she would move.

“You're American?” she sounded
surprised.

“As are you.”

“My name is Summer.”  She smiled
warmly and held out her hand.

He just looked at her.  He didn't
shake her hand, instead leaving it awkwardly in the middle of the air.  “Hi.”

“My friends always joke that I'm
like a summer breeze, always flying through the air,” she laughed, completely
undeterred by his unfriendly and rude demeanor.

Michael's interest was suddenly
piqued.  Jessica's online name when she was an illegal hacker was
SummerBreeze.  He looked at the woman again.  “Yeah?”

“Do you ever go to Boston?” she
asked.

“Sometimes,” he replied even
though he lived just outside and was there all the time.  He got the feeling
this was more than a chance encounter with a friendly woman.

She pulled a pad and pen from her
bag.  “Well, why don't you look me up sometime.”  She wrote an address and
phone number on a piece of paper.  “I'd love to see you.”  She smiled as she
handed it to him.

He warily took the note from her
trying to figure her out.  Josh was looking at him like he was crazy for
talking to this woman, let alone taking her address and phone number.  Martin
too was watching the scene play out.

“Well, I should use the little
girl's room before my flight leaves.”  She smiled again, grabbing her bag as
she stood up.

The three men watched as she
walked away.  Michael stared down at the address and phone number in his hand. 
He looked bewildered and confused.  Josh still couldn't figure out why he took
her number.

“You thinking of leaving Jess?”
Josh asked half-jokingly.

“Hell no,” Michael replied with a
look of disgust.

Martin came and sat next to him. 
“What did she say?”

“She said summer breeze,” he spoke
in a daze.  Michael wasn't sure if he was just paranoid and reading too much
into it but he couldn't shake the feeling that he just received a covert
message about Jessica.  “It was Jessica's screen name.”

“That was an agent,” Martin
realized.  “She just told you where Jessica is and how to reach her.”

Having Martin agree with what he
was already feeling was enough for him.  “She must have called Tim.  I need a
phone.”  He anxiously stood up and looked around.

“Correction, you need a clean phone,”
Martin said.

There were payphones all over the
airport, but using them to make an international call would mean using a credit
card or calling card which would be traceable.  They also couldn't use any of
their cell phones.  Stealing a phone was out of the question.  Michael was
desperately trying to think of how to contact her when they were called for
boarding.  He had no choice but to give up and board the plane.  He would have
to wait until they landed.

The flight was more tolerable for
everyone now that Michael had some information about Jessica.  Knowing where
she was, and that Gatti was involved helped him relax a little, much to Martin
and Josh's relief.  Being around Michael when he was uptight was never fun.  He
wouldn't fully relax until she was safe in his arms, but at least he was now
bearable.

Josh was passed out in the seat
next to him, and though Michael was beyond exhausted, his mind raced with
thoughts of Jessica.  He just couldn't fall asleep.

Josh woke after a few hours and
could tell Michael was still worked up.  The nervous tapping of his heel on the
floor of the cabin was a dead give away.

“If Tim's involved, you know she's
safe,” Josh tried to comfort him.

“In my head, I know you're right,
but I just won't be calm until I can talk to her.”

“What do you think he wanted with
her?” Josh asked.

“I have no idea.  But if I get my
hands on him, I'm going to beat it out of him.”

“Not if I get to him first,” Josh
remarked.

The men sat quietly, lost in their
thoughts until Josh snickered.

“What is it?” Michael asked.

“Remember that mission in
Uzbekistan?”

“Hmm ...  That reporter we had to
rescue?”

“Yeah, remember what he said about
you?”

A slight grin crossed Michael's
lips.  “What? That I was the most intense and threatening man he'd ever met?”

“He also said he pitied anyone who
would dare to mess with someone you were involved with,” Josh added.

“He wouldn't even look at me,”
Michael reminisced.

“He was absolutely terrified of
you,” Josh laughed.