Rogue Operator (6 page)

Sometimes
though it’s just nice to know you had the option, even if it was never
exercised.

She
loved this town. To a point. It was so small compared to Seattle, it seemed
sometimes everyone was in your business. They made an effort to get to know
your name, to greet you by name. Whether it was at work or at the grocery
store. Sure, that was small town friendly, and knowing you could count on your
neighbors was a wonderful thing.

But what
if you wanted to just go out and grab a pint of Dulce de Leche Häagen-Dazs ice
cream without taking a shower and dolling up? You could risk that in the city,
since nobody wanted to know you. But here, in Ogden? It terrified her that
she’d become water cooler chatter.

And it
was locker room chatter that caught her attention.

“Did you
hear what happened over in Huntsville?”

“Nope.”

“A
nine-one-one hang up call. Operator figured it was a misdial, but when she
tried to call back, the lines were dead, so we were sent over on a low
priority. When we got there, everything looked fine, nobody home. But some
neighbor came out and said she saw two black SUVs on the street. One had pulled
into the garage for a few minutes, then both sped off.”

“That’s
odd.”

“Yeah,
so we forced the door, went inside, nobody there, but one of the doors to what
looks like the guy’s home office had the shit kicked out of it.”

Jamie
was already on her feet, rounding the lockers.

“Did you
say ‘two black SUVs’?” she asked.

The
officer, in nothing but bra and panties, looked up and nodded.

“Yes,
Detective.”

“Anything
come of it?”

The
young officer shook her head.

“We
called it in, and have an APB out on the vehicles, and my partner is doing the
paperwork on the missing persons reports now. We can’t find the teenage boy,
the mother or the father.”

Jamie’s
mind raced. Black SUVs. Multiple Black SUVs. It was thin. Very thin. “Where’d
the husband work?”

“Omega
Bionetix. Some kind of scientist.”

Bingo!

A little
less thin. If it was assumed this second family was kidnapped as well, the
evidence connecting them was actually fairly substantial. Same type of vehicles
used. Same day. Approximately the same time by the sounds of it. Husbands
worked at the same company, doing the same type of work possibly.

“You
said your partner is still doing the paperwork?”

The
officer nodded as she buttoned up her shirt.

“Holder.
He’s upstairs right now.”

“Great,
thanks.”

Jamie
rushed from the locker room, tossing her empty water bottle in the recycling
bin.

Much
bigger than we think.

Unknown Location

Jason Peterson awoke again with a throbbing headache, and a raging
pain in his nose where he had been hit. This time he kept his eyes closed, and
just listened, his lesson learned. He could hear voices, but they sounded
distant, the drone of some type of engine drowning them out.

He took
the risk, and moved his head slightly, eyes still closed. He raised his right
ear off the floor of whatever vehicle he was being transported in or on, and suddenly
the voices became much clearer.

“—forced
to take them on a public street. Didn’t go according to the original plan, but
no worries, it worked out.”

“No
worries? Are you kidding me? That public takedown means the police are already
involved. We were supposed to have at least a twelve hour window!”

“Unavoidable.
The Peterson residence was too well secured. Gated community, with one hell of
a security system. The guy’s paranoid.”

They’re
talking about my house!

But what
did they mean? Public takedown of who? Their kidnapping on the lake certainly
wasn’t public. And besides, his house could in no way come into play. He wasn’t
even in the same county.

“Still,
you could’ve figured out something a little more private.”

“We did,
but she deviated from her normal route. We were lucky to get the truck in place
in time.” There was a pause and Peterson’s mind raced to catch up to what it
was piecing together. “Why are you giving me the sixth degree on this? We got
the wife and kids. Nobody knows who we are or where
they
are. Mission
accomplished. Move on.”

Maggie!

He
wanted to cry out, to jump to his feet and attack whoever was within reach.
They had his wife and kids. His family.
But why?
What was going on? Was
it ransom? Were they being held hostage so his family, or the company, would be
forced to pay some massive amount of money for their safe return? He knew the
company had kidnap and ransom insurance, and he had even had the mandatory
meeting with the K and R specialist at the company, an ex-Navy SEAL named Connelly
who Peterson hadn’t taken very seriously at the time.

Who
would want to kidnap me?

The
question had seemed reasonable and ridiculous at the time, but now here he was,
hog tied in some vehicle that to him sounded like a propeller driven plane,
with at least two men who were talking casually about the kidnapping of his
family.

And he
was helpless to do anything about it.

“And the
other one?”

“She was
apparently a fighter. Caught Kurt in the face. He’s okay. Rendezvous went as
scheduled. Everyone’s clear. Stop worrying.”

“I’m
paid to worry. It’s my neck on the line if this fails.”

“That’s
why you hired the best.”

“And the
best
still fucked up.”

“No, the
best
adapted and overcame an unexpected occurrence, and successfully
completed the mission.”

There was
a grunt, as if someone were reluctantly agreeing.

“Don’t
worry about it. My team got the families. It’s done. Now let’s just deliver the
packages, collect our money, and retire some place warm.”

Something
squawked, and a voice came over a PA system.

“Landing
in five.”

I’m
on a plane!

He
opened his eyes a crack, and could see no one, which he hoped meant nobody
could see him. Opening them some more, his heart hammered in his chest. He was
aboard some sort of military cargo plane. He had seen the interior of a
Hercules enough in the movies to recognize it and its configuration
immediately.

This was
a military aircraft.

And if
it was military, this was no ordinary kidnapping.

It
has to be the work!

There
wasn’t a foreign government on this planet that wouldn’t kill to get their
hands on his research. The weaponization potential was too great. But they had
to know he’d never cooperate. But how would they know? They didn’t know him.
They probably figured they could threaten him, or torture him, but he had
already made the decision, along with Carl and Phil, to not let anyone know how
far they’d come, before they could build in the safeguards necessary to prevent
the doomsday scenario that had almost occurred.

And he
would die before he’d help anyone use his creation for evil.

He had
heard a language on the boat he didn’t recognize. It had sounded Chinese or
Japanese, but he couldn’t be sure. He could definitely see the Chinese trying
something like this. Industrial espionage was a daily activity for them, but
kidnapping a top secret researcher? That was pushing it, even for them.

But
they’re speaking English!

He heard
a footstep behind him. He squeezed his eyes shut.

“Jesus
Christ, this one’s awake again!”

“Don’t
hit him in the head like last time, we need his damned brain functioning. They
said they wanted them alive. I’m sure they didn’t mean comatose.”

He felt
something cold, hard, push against the side of his neck, and as the flow of
oxygen was cut off, he slowly began to pass out, his final thoughts of his family,
and what these bastards had done to them.

Ogden Police Department

2186 Lincoln Ave, Ogden, Utah

Detective Jamie Conway took the stairs two at a time, and with the
help of the desk sergeant, was standing in front of Officer Holder within
minutes. Holder held a finger on his left hand up, without looking at her, as
he finished typing something, one handed, on his computer. Finished, he looked
up at her and smiled.

“Detective
Conway! Funny, I was just about to go look for your partner.”

“You
heard?”

He
nodded as he stood up and walked over to the printer. “Black SUVs? Husbands
work for the same company? I don’t believe in coincidences.”

Jamie
nodded.

“Is
everything in the report?”

He
nodded, handing her a copy of the printout. “I was going to drop this on Jack’s
desk, but I guess you can do that.”

She took
the pages and began to scan the incident report.

“Anything
not in here?”

“Of
course not.”

She
smiled at him and nodded.

“Of
course not.”

Officer
Holder stapled the pages he held, then handed them to another officer.

“Make
sure these get actioned tonight. I don’t want to come in tomorrow and find them
sitting in someone’s inbox.” The officer glanced at the pages, then briskly
walked away as if with a purpose. “I’m done for the day. Do you need me for anything,
Detective?”

Jamie
finished reading the report. There was nothing much in it beyond what she had
overheard in the locker room, but she was convinced it was connected to her
case. She looked up at Holder and shook her head. “No, go ahead, I’ll call you
if I need anything.”

“No
problem, Detective.” He turned on his heel and made a hasty exit, someone
probably eagerly awaiting his arrival at home, his wedding band not having gone
unnoticed to the trained detective.

One
of these days.

Give
it a rest!

For all
she knew he was running home because his wife would scream at him if he were
late.

You’re
such a cynic.

She
headed to her partner’s desk, rereading the pages, trying to regain her focus
rather than dwell on her unique trait of aloneness, and almost bumped headlong
into him as he stormed from the stairwell.

“I was
just coming to see you,” she said, shaking the pages. “Did you hear about
this?”

Percy
almost didn’t acknowledge her, his face contorted in rage, as he stormed past
her, then slowly turned, relaxing slightly.

“Hear
about what?” he growled, then raised a hand, closing his eyes for a moment.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to take it out on you. What have you got?”

Jamie
frowned.

“What’s
up, Boss?”

“They
took us off the case,” a semblance of the rage returning to his face. He looked
about, as if for something to punch.

She
didn’t notice, her own rage beginning to boil. Her chest tightened and she
could feel her cheeks flush as her jaw tightened.

“What?”

Her own
response sounded like a growl as well.

“Apparently
the LT got a call. The Feds are taking over, they’ll be here later.”

Jamie
tossed her head back the moment she heard the word ‘Feds’.
The fucking Feds.
“This hasn’t crossed state lines, has it?”

Percy
shrugged his shoulders. “Fucked if I know. Last I heard, no. Apparently that’s
not their excuse this time. This time it’s a national security issue.”

“National
security? What the hell does this have to do with national security?”

“Apparently
the husband is some top secret research scientist, working on some Defense
Department project.”

“So?”

But she
already realized her statement was stupid. This was a kidnapping, most likely
for ransom. The question was, ransom of what? Money? The research? Military
secrets? No matter what, it was out of their hands and there was nothing they
could do about it. She looked at the papers she held.

“What’s
that?” asked Percy, following her gaze.

“Another
kidnapping possibly; husband works at the same company. Neighbor reported
seeing two black SUVs, an interior door was kicked open, wife and kid are
missing.”

Percy’s
fists clenched into balls.

“Fuck!
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he muttered, shuffling in a circle, Jamie still convinced he
was looking for something to hit. He sucked in a deep breath, unclenched his
fists and let the air out slowly, his eyes closed, head cocked slightly to the
side. He opened his eyes as his phone vibrated on his hip.

“Percy.”

He
nodded, grunted, then said, “Fifteen minutes.”

He hung
up and snapped the phone back on his hip.

“Let’s
go,” he said, cocking his head toward the stairs.

“Where
to?” asked Jamie, leading the way, chivalry she knew not lost on her partner.

“That
was an old Air Traffic Control buddy of mine at the airport. He’s got something
for us.”

“But I
thought we were off the case?”

“You
want to go home?”

She
flashed a grin over her shoulder at him.

“Not on
your life.”

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

Today, Four Days after the Kidnappings

Chris Leroux’s eyes drooped. He was burning the candle at both ends
again, but he had a hunch. And when he had a hunch, time, sleep and personal
hygiene—sometimes—took a backseat to the pursuit.

Last
week, three scientists had drowned on a fishing trip, but no bodies had been
recovered. Divers had been sent in but no evidence could be found of them beyond
their shattered boat, it apparently run down by one much bigger. It wasn’t a
big lake, it wasn’t a deep lake, and the search continued. The only reason it
had reached Langley’s attention was the nature of the scientists’ work, and
what else had happened that same day.