Monster (21 page)

“So I’m your bitch too?” McDaniels asked questioningly, meeting her eyes without blinking.

“I don’t know… are you?” Reskova countered, swaying slightly.

“Arf!” McDaniels barked comically, taking her arm.

Chapter 15

Change Of Plan

When the unlikely trio began walking down the street together the wind picked up slightly, blowing the autumn leaves around under a rapidly darkening sky. Reskova leaned in close to McDaniels, keeping Dino at heel.

“Follow my lead, Cold,” Reskova ordered, just before stumbling slightly and losing her balance.

“I get it,” McDaniels whispered, catching her just in time to keep Reskova from falling down. He gestured at her, looking around guiltily before leaning in to whisper angrily and shake her slightly at the shoulders. McDaniels looked around once more before taking her by the arm as they continued walking.

“You’re a quick study, Mr. Mountain.” Reskova let McDaniels support her as they walked.

“I have to be, considering the speed you come up with mission nuances.”

“Nuance? I wouldn’t have thought that word would be in your vocabulary.”

“I learned it during the Bush, Kerry election season.”

Reskova laughed appreciatively. She took a deep breath, glancing around at the gray sky and swirling leaves. “This is kind of nice. It’s almost like we’re real people.”

“You don’t think we’re real?”

“Sometimes I wonder. Maybe you’re right, I am a little drunk. This walk is a good idea. I don’t know what got into me.”

“Hey, I liked your improvisation with the inebriated housemate bit,” McDaniels said with conviction. “That was a stroke of genius.”

“But I should have quit after Blondie left, huh?”

“I don’t know,” McDaniels answered truthfully. “I admit I’ve started throwing a couple down and ended up throwing down a couple too many. Before you start it seems like a great idea. You’re walking and planning moves pretty well so I doubt you’ve gone overboard by much.”

“So you do take a drink?”

“Guilty. This walk with you and Dino does feel like a slice of time spent in a parallel universe.”

“Did you miss me today?”

“Whenever I thought of you today I had to remain seated for at least five minutes. When one of the others brought you up in the conversation, the vision of you opening your robe and sitting on my lap popped into my head like a blasting cap.”

“Good.” Reskova grasped his hand as Dino paused to take care of some street business. “Why didn’t you jump my bones the moment you walked in?”

“I was afraid you had decided last night was a bad idea.” McDaniels looked up at the sky as it began to sprinkle. “Secondly, I wanted to let you know what the team came up with about our house sitting time.”

Reskova stopped abruptly, turning to face McDaniels. “Shit!”

“Yep, office pool as to when we did the deed and everything.”

“What did you say?”

“I gave an award winning performance which had my two male comrades apologizing for even suggesting such a thing. Jen needed a little more convincing,” McDaniels went on to explain his conversation with Rutledge along with Rasheed’s story. Reskova laughed throughout McDaniels’ telling of it, taking his hand again as Dino led off down the street.

“It won’t do any good though. Jen will never let loose of it. I never would have expected them to start speculating that quickly.”

“I believe Kay may have instigated it with some of his rapier like wit, asking innocent seeming questions about the details of what our job was at the house. Tom and Jen, I’m sure, did not need much coaxing to run with it from there.”

“All I have to do is blush once or stutter when she kids around and I’m dead.”

“They won’t rat you out. Don’t play their game. Snap them into line and get right to whatever business you have with them. I’ll take care of our Iraqi companion.”

“I don’t want to stop, Cold,” Reskova stated quietly.

“Who said anything about stopping?” McDaniels suddenly realized how distasteful the thought of ignoring Reskova was to him.

“I thought I sensed disapproval when you came back to the house and found me in the middle of my act.”

“I was keeping myself in check so I wouldn’t take you right on the couch. I liked the shorts and halter top.”

Reskova moved closer, leaning against McDaniels for a few steps. “I can do better than those. What do you think?”

“I think I’m glad I wore a coat,” McDaniels replied, causing Reskova to immediately release McDaniels’ hand and reach into his coat at the front.

“Wow, I think you’ve torn through your underwear, Mr. Mountain.”

McDaniels put his arm around her and they walked on in silence for a time. Rounding the corner leading back to the terrorist house, they slowed their pace. Reskova allowed Dino to romp a little at the end of the long leash. They paused repeatedly, letting the dog sniff out everything along the sidewalk. A tan delivery van parked in front of the Mercado house had the words Osbourne Plumbing printed on the rear doors. A ladder, various pipes, and braces were belted down on the roof carrier of the van.

Dino came to a stop at instant attention in front of the terrorist house, pointing bodily at the van. The dog whined and gave a short bark as he strained at the end of his leash. McDaniels took the leash from Reskova. Squatting down next to the dog, McDaniels stroked Dino as if to calm him. After a few moments McDaniels heeled Dino and gripped Reskova’s arm. They crossed the street to their temporary home. Inside the house, Reskova immediately jotted down the license plate number and every detail she could recall about the van. McDaniels released Dino and hung up his coat and the leash.

“Jen said we could E-mail her safely now,” McDaniels said, leading the way into their equipment room.

McDaniels sat down at the desk, already adjusting the headset for listening in across the street. Reskova logged on and typed furiously. McDaniels knew after she contacted the site and received an acknowledgement, Rutledge would contact them in real time on a secure line. McDaniels watched Reskova until she looked up and motioned him over.

“They’ll be on in a minute,” Reskova explained as McDaniels brought a chair over beside her. “Kay already called Jen and Tom in. He heard them talking when the van arrived. They’re sending pictures of the two guys from the van who are still inside. Our other teams watching their movements have the arrival on tape. They’ll be following these guys when they leave. I let them know Dino reacted to the van.”

“I guess things will be speeding up from here. I hope…”

Rutledge’s face blinked on as she piped a feed directly into the laptop Reskova and McDaniels sat in front of. Rasheed and Barrington were seated on either side of her with grim looks on their faces.

“AD Dreyer is getting the go ahead to hit the house at dawn,” Rutledge began. “You two will assist with on-site intel. Dreyer wants to know every movement you two see from now on. If they sneeze, he wants to know time and duration of it, his words. Have you listened to what was recorded earlier yet, Colonel?”

“Not yet. We wanted to do a sweep and see if Dino picked up on anything. I never expected the van. It wasn’t there when we began the walk about forty-five minutes ago.”

“On it,” Rutledge replied. “Our other surveillance teams called it in right away. We have a live feed going from the front of the house you two are in. Dreyer wanted to know if you might have any input for the teams taking the house in the morning, Colonel.”

“Don’t use amateurs. I’ll lead it if he wants me to.”

“He already anticipated your offer. AD Dreyer said he needs live terrorists.”

“Dreyer does realize these clowns have God knows what explosives, doesn’t he?” Reskova asked. “They may have enough to kill everyone in the area.”

“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” Rutledge went on. “If we evacuate the houses around, we might lose the surprise factor. If we don’t evacuate, we might end up with a whole lot of collateral damage. If we take them in route to their target they’ll have the bombs ready to go for sure.”

“Are you sending Kay over to get the janitor?” McDaniels asked.

“No, we have agents ready to hit his house the moment they get the okay from us,” Barrington spoke up. “He won’t ever see the school again.”

“Good, then Kay should be listening in on these guys at the same time as me, with a dedicated line between us, so we can transcribe everything they say in real time, comparing it instantly,” McDaniels suggested.

“I’ll get it set up right through our connection now. Just type on the keyboard as you’re listening. I’ll have Kay doing the same from this end. I’ll split the screen so you can speak or talk while watching what the other comes up with. That’ll leave you watching the visuals, Diane. Are you feeling okay after this afternoon’s performance?”

“The walk helped,” Reskova acknowledged, remembering the team had been monitoring the terrorist house. “Did they buy the act, Kay?”

“They did indeed, Boss. The woman dismissed you as just a drunk and seemed only disgusted.”

“That’s good news. Lets get to work.”

An hour later, McDaniels listened absently for any stray conversation. Although he could hear their movements, the occupants of the house across the street were not talking. McDaniels watched the split-screen intently. He could see Rasheed seated in front of a computer terminal on one half of the screen, and a cursor and notepad on the other half where their typed word translations would appear. McDaniels made sure Reskova was busy before typing one word: Kay.

“Yes, my friend,” Rasheed acknowledged in text.

“Would you and Ansa like a son?”

“You know Ansa cannot have any more children.”

“There is a little boy across the street who will need a new set of parents shortly,” McDaniels typed.

“What… no… I do not want to know,” Rasheed typed, looking into the screen at McDaniels intently. “Tell me what you want of me.”

“Find a way to be driving by the street corner opposite of where our other surveillance guys are at exactly zero two hundred hours. I will have a son for you or I will be dead.”

The two men looked at each other for a moment. Rasheed nodded his understanding. Each man deleted the text of their conversation and went back to listening. McDaniels noticed Reskova trying to stay awake as she watched the video feed from across the street.

“Hey, take a break, Diane,” McDaniels called over to her. He switched off volume to their team’s office momentarily. “Turn your screen my way. I’ll keep an eye on it while you take a nap. I’ll wake you in an hour.”

Reskova smiled her thanks. She immediately turned her screen toward McDaniels. She stretched and walked over to the coach to lie down. Five minutes later McDaniels chuckled as Reskova began to snore. He looked at the screen clock. He leaned back in his seat, watching Reskova’s screen as he adjusted the volume to their office again. Rasheed glanced up at McDaniels with a grin, shaking his head as he heard Reskova snoring.

At midnight, Reskova was back at her terminal. All lights had been out at the house for almost an hour. McDaniels had not heard any conversation since the terrorists had shared a meal together nearly three hours earlier. They had mentioned nothing about their plans at any time. The men from the plumbing van had left before the meal. They were followed. Reskova left her seat and walked over to where McDaniels sat.

“I think we can call it a night,” Reskova said, for both McDaniels and Rasheed to hear. “You had better get some sleep, Kay. It will be a long day tomorrow.”

 “As you say, Boss,” Rasheed replied, taking off his headset and waving at the screen before walking out of sight.

“You go on to bed, Diane. I’ll sleep down here in the chair with the headset on.”

“Okay,” Reskova yawned. “Remember, we have rotating teams watching the house anyhow.”

“I know but better safe than sorry. I’ll be comfortable enough here. You go get some sleep.”

Reskova nodded and walked out of the room. McDaniels smiled as Dino also jumped up, looked at him for a moment, and then followed Reskova. The bedroom was on the second floor. McDaniels listened to her footsteps until Reskova ascended the stairs. McDaniels put his headset down quietly, thinking it would also be an eternal night for the terrorists. He walked over to the entryway closet and quietly retrieved one of the bags he had brought along with him.

* * *

Rasheed slowed his small Ford Escort as he approached the intersection McDaniels had indicated. He flashed his lights off and on again once. A huge dark shadow detached itself from the side of a house and approached the Escort quickly. Rasheed stopped his car. He hit the unlock button for all the doors. McDaniels, wearing all black including a pullover black head mask, squeezed carefully into the small passenger seat of the Escort. In his arms he cradled a small bundle wrapped in a baby blue blanket. McDaniels handed the bundle over to an eager Rasheed carefully.

“He is a beautiful boy, Kay.”

“Oh, my friend, they will surely lock you away for all time.” Rasheed opened the blanket. “How do you do these things?”