The Protector (16 page)

“You were watching out for her this morning?”

He nodded.  “I was kind of getting the nerve to ask her out.  I didn’t want to do it on base. I asked her yesterday if she was getting coffee this morning and she had mentioned she would be so, I thought I would give it a shot. But I didn’t catch her in the place, too crowded. I followed her out and saw her take a nose dive.”

“When you talked to her yesterday, was there anyone with her, anyone around who might have heard you?”  He looked at me puzzled. “No, it was just the two of us. I passed her in the hall. I mentioned to my friend that I was coming here to ask her out. He came with me.” He turned and pointed to another man in camo. His friend was talking to the police and pointed back in our direction.  “He’s been giving me all sorts of shit for not asking her out.”

“No one else knew?”

“No one else I know of.”

I watched the Lieutenant and he continued to watch Alison in the back of the Ambulance. His concern for her was genuine and if I hadn’t walked into the picture, there was a good chance she would be going on a date with this guy fairly soon.  He seemed like a nice guy and I was sure she would have thought he was handsome enough.

I suddenly felt both sad for him and extremely possessive of the woman I was protecting. I wanted to tell him not to bother asking her out, but it was not my place. She was not my claim to stake. The sergeant who had taken me into custody earlier returned with a detective in tow.  The detective pulled Lt. Thompson aside and the Sgt. put his hand on my back and guided me away from the two men talking.

“We ran your badge number and it comes up with a message to call a certain number.  We had to have our chief do it. And well he was already grumpy because of this little incident.  All he was told was that you and the girl were to be let go and we would be compensated for our response. It was a national security matter. Care to explain?”  He stopped walking and we were face to face. I was a little closer to the ambulance and could see Alison. She looked calm, but I was sure she was hiding her fear well.

I heard every word the cop had said, but I chose to act as if I hadn’t.  “I’m sorry? We’re free to go now?”

The cop looked disgusted as I began to walk away from him and toward Alison. “You aren’t going to tell us anything are you?”

“Nope,” was my only response to his question as I once again began to walk toward Alison. I wanted to get her the hell away from the ongoing chaos. And I didn’t need her to see the coroner bringing down the body of the man that had tried to kill her.

“Look, we are going to have to go on camera and explain what the hell happened here. Care to give me some idea of what I am supposed to say to people?”

I stopped walking and looked at the cop.  He was in his
mid-forties
, trim for his age.  “Tell them some guy was disgruntled and started shooting from a roof top. Tell them that the Lieutenant over there talking to your friend shot him.”

“It doesn’t co borate with the eyewitness accounts.”

“I don’t give a damn what you tell the media Sergeant. Just leave the two of us out of it ok?” I turned again to go to Alison, but stopped and turned back to the cop.  “I need my weapons back please.”

I reached Alison quickly.  She was as I expected calm and breathing normally.  “Come on, we are leaving.” I reached into the ambulance and grabbed her hand.

The paramedic put his hand on her chest as she got up from where she sat. “No, I want to take her to the hospital for shock. “

“No,“ I grumbled. 

Alison pushed her way free of the paramedic and jumped out of the ambulance.

“Are you going to live?” Her eyes were sullen as she walked with me. She didn’t answer and I didn’t push her.  She would talk when she was ready. I held her hand tightly as we walked through the parking lot toward her car. I had decided no matter what we were leaving. I wasn’t sure what kind of scene we were going to cause, but we needed to get away from the chaos and anyone else who might be lurking around.

The Sergeant stood near the door of Alison’s car. The crime scene investigators had finally arrived and people were spread out taking pictures, and picking up spent shells.  Many people still stood around in utter shock. Some were quiet, some were loud and could not believe what had transpired. Others, mostly women, cried. Some were hysterical and some sobbed quietly against someone.

“My weapons?” I didn’t let him get a word as I grabbed for the firearms he held in his hands. I quickly reached past him and put one under the seat and the other I put in the holster under my shirt.

“Is there a way we can get a hold of you if we need to talk to you,” he asked. I was pretty sure he knew the answer to his question, so I chose to remain silent and focus my attention on Alison.  I walked with her and opened the passenger’s side and helped her climb in.  I quickly closed the door and walked back to the Sergeant who still stood there.

“I guess we can call the number your badge brought up?”

He was a nice guy only doing his job and I genuinely felt bad for him. But I knew Conway would be taking care of the fallout from this situation.  “I guess,” was my only reply as I got into the vehicle and slammed the door shut.  His eyes tightened in frustration.

Alison’s cell phone began to ring as the police officers guided us through the parking lot past the gaping witnesses to the street.  She didn’t move to pick it up, letting it ring.  Psychological shock had begun to set in and I wanted desperately to get her somewhere safe where we could talk and I could get some water or other kind of fluid in her. I just wasn’t sure where to go. I also needed to get somewhere, where I could call Conway and brief him on the shooter.  I was sure if the cops ran his prints they wouldn’t find much of anything.

Alison’s phone was ringing once again. This time it was a ring I recognized as Stacy’s.  I reached past her into her purse and grabbed the mobile device.  I fumbled with it as I drove trying desperately to answer it. Finally, I could hear Stacy’s voice on the other end. “Allison?”

“No, it’s me Jack.” As if on cue, my Irish accent returned.

“Where’s Alison?” I could hear the fear in her voice as she tried to spit out more words.

“Stacy, she is here next to me. Look, I need to take her someplace quiet and safe. Are you at home?”

“Yes. Was she, the coffee place shooting, she goes there a lot. Was she there? Were you with her?”

I looked over at Alison and she had not moved, not even an inch in her seat. Her face was ashen white and tears came streaming down her cheeks.

“Stacy, I need a place to take her? Help me please?”

Stacy quickly gave me directions to her house. Although I had been there earlier in the week, I had not memorized its exact location. I had not found it necessary at the time.  I made sure no one was following us as I drove to through the city.  Stacy was outside frantically pacing and I had barely pulled into the driveway before she had the door flung open and was unbuckling Alison out of her seat.  Alison had moved by then and was trying to unbuckle herself. Anger filled her voice as she began to hit the friend that was trying desperately to help her. “I got it! Let me do it.”

Stacy backed away and looked at me. Her eyes furrowed together as she watched her friend climb gracefully out of her car.  She reached down and grabbed her purse and walked past Stacy into the house. 

“Shock,” I shrugged my shoulders and followed behind Alison into the house. 

Alison went straight to the kitchen and got herself a glass of water. Stacy and I watched her a few steps away, in amazement.  There were no more tears and she paced around the kitchen with a purpose, although I wasn’t sure if she knew what that purpose was.

“What the hell happened,” Stacy whispered to me. 

Alison heard her friend. “We were shot at. Some man decided he wanted to shoot some people up who wanted coffee.” Her eyes focused on me with an intensity I had not seen before from her.  She was playing along with what I had told the cop to say.  Her eyes were dark and her voice was an octave higher.  I could also feel her breathing get heavier and heavier.  Alison could feel it coming on and quickly reached into her purse for her inhaler. 

Stacy guided Alison to a chair at the kitchen table and watched as her friend took a seat. 

Alison pointed at me and took a deep breath. “Jack pushed, NO yanked me out of the way.”  Again Stacy looked back and forth between me and Alison.  For the first time since we arrived I heard the television on in the den.  I left the two women alone in the kitchen and followed the sound.  I was curious how the police would put a spin on it.

Stacy listened intently as Alison mumbled on and on about what happened. I knew it hadn’t fully hit her just yet. Did she realize that those bullets were meant for her? Did she know that these people would not stop until she was dead and they had the processor ?

I continued to watch the news feed on the television.  They were reporting it exactly how I called it to the police. And I knew if it wasn’t already, it was being fed live to every major cable news network in the world.  I grabbed the remote and flipped channels. To my surprise I did not see any coverage of Alison and I.  Thankfully the press had ignored our exit and our involvement in the mess.

The cell phone in my pocket began to buzz and I quickly answered it knowing full well who it would be.

“She safe?” It was Mike on the other end.

“Yes,” I whispered.  In a low voice I relayed what had happened along with a description of the shooter I had killed. “It was like he knew I was coming for him and he didn’t care. It reminded me of one of the young guys training to be a suicide bomber. They have their mission and that is it. Failure was not an option.”

‘We’re looking into it, but we are not sure we are going to be able to identify him. We are going to have to come up with a local cover story for his identity. I have one of the guys working on that now.”  I heard Mike sigh on the other end of the line and I knew what was coming. “Bring her back. You have the processor and we can keep her safe here Jack. Safer than you can there.  She can stay in the safe house with Mrs. Walker or go to one of the others here in Virginia and you can find these yahoos who are trying to kill her.”

I listened to his words but did not let them sink in before I responded. “No.  We know this wasn’t some random Middle Eastern group. Tom was approached by someone within our government. Someone who has access to the same information we do. I bring her back and they’ll find her.”

“You don’t know that.” I could hear the frustration in his words. “At least here she has a network to protect her. You can’t do it alone Jack. And we need that processor. The Israeli’s want what was promised them. We have arranged another hand of. They have agreed not to go after her”

I was going to stand firm. Alison was staying with me and I wasn’t taking her back to DC.  “No. Processor stays with me until we get this mess straightened out. “

“Jack? This isn’t a game. You need to bring her and the processor back to DC. And this is not a request, it’s an order. “   Mike’s voice was hard and demanding.  I had decided, no matter what his order was, my responsibility was to Sonny, not to him.  Suddenly everything I had ever been loyal too was thrown out the window for the safety of this woman.

“I have to go, I will talk to you later.” I quickly hung up the phone as Stacy came walking in from the kitchen. 

“I don’t get it?”  Her eyes were filled with concern for her friend and I knew instantly she was suspicious of me. 

“And what don’t you understand,” bringing back the perfect Irish accent. 

“She’s calm as can be right now.   The guy shot at her and she is calm. I’d be hysterical and downing the Xanex if I were her.”

I had to stifle back a laugh at Stacy’s comment.  “I don’t know. People handle things differently. Although, I didn’t expect hysterics but wee bit more crying or something like that. What is she doing now?”

“Calling her mom.  Can I ask you a question Jack?”

Stacy’s eyebrows furrowed together as she looked at me. She was beautiful woman, but not in the same sense as Alison was. Her hair and makeup were impeccable.  She held her head high with confidence and knew she could turn any man’s attention just by walking down the street.  I shrugged my shoulders and looked intently into the woman’s blue eyes.  I guessed she wanted to know what my relationship was with Alison.

“What is going on between you two?” A thin smile pursed her lips.  She put all of her weight, which wasn’t much, all on one foot and crossed her arms against her chest.

“Nothing,” I lied through my teeth. I had wished desperately that there was more going on between us.  “Why?”

“The way you look at her.  The way she is acting.  She would never just let someone she just met stay with her. She’s more cautious than that. All of this,” and she moved her hands in a circle, “is so not like her.”

“I can assure you there is nothing going on between us. She is a friend and right now I am glad I was there today. That is it.”  I began to walk away from her towards the kitchen. I wanted to check on Alison and see if she was ok.  Stacy put her arm out and stopped me.

“Then why the firearm?”

Her question startled me. And then I realized my weapon was visible.  I was making mistakes that I didn’t normally make and it was frustrating.