The Tenth Cycle: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 1) (24 page)

A gunshot echoed through the house, followed closely by a woman’s scream, and then Daniel was there to help Pierce subdue the man he was struggling with. With a swift roundhouse kick, Daniel swept the perp off his feet, where Pierce pounced on him and pinned his gun hand. Daniel wrested the gun from him.

“Get off, man, I can’t breathe,” said the hostage taker. Pierce slowly disentangled himself, watching for tricks, but Daniel was holding the man’s own gun on him. They took him back to the kitchen, where Ellis had stopped to untie the old couple. Now they used the same clothesline to bind the bad guy to the chair, then Pierce took the gun to watch over the other until he regained consciousness. Bess rushed at Daniel, who caught her in his arms and hugged her fiercely.

“Are you all right, Grandma?” He also looked up anxiously to find his grandpa and assess his condition. A trickle of dried blood on Nicholas’s lip sent a wave of rage through him, but since the only place to take it out was a tied man and an unconscious man, he suppressed it.

Nicholas had found his voice, and now scolded Daniel. “What were you thinking? Couldn’t you let the authorities handle this? I’m glad to see you, boy, but that was a hell of a risk.”

Keeping one arm around his grandma, Daniel pulled his grandpa in for a hug. “Hell, Grandpa, I couldn’t wait for them. I’d like you to meet two of the finest Marines I ever knew, Sgt. Ellis and Sgt. Pierce. Hey, guys, do you have first names?” His expression was so comical that everyone broke out into helpless laughter at the non sequitur.

“No, man, the Marines take away your first name in boot camp. Ellis and Pierce will do,” Ellis said. Pierce didn’t get a say because he was still in the front room guarding the unconscious man.

Bess said, “I can’t thank you men enough for helping Daniel.”

“Least we could do, ma’am. You may not know it, but your grandson here saved our lives outside of Kabul a few years back. Marines leave no one behind, you know. Now we’re even.”

Nicholas was on the phone to the local constabulary, who would soon on their way to take the two hostage-takers into custody. Before they arrived, Daniel cautioned everyone not to say much, as he didn’t know if even the cops in the tiny township could be trusted. They agreed on a half-truth; that they’d dropped in on the Rosslers as a surprise and were shocked to find them taken hostage. Since they were combat veterans, they just acted instinctively to rescue the old folks, and they had no idea why anyone would want to take them hostage in the first place.

Daniel was fairly certain the perps wouldn’t say a word, and he was right. When the police showed up, they both asked for lawyers and then went quiet. The officers were far more concerned about making sure Nick and Bess were all right than about any questions about Daniel’s and the Marines’ role in the rescue. After checking them over themselves, they called a local doctor to come and check them as well. Living in a small town did have advantages sometimes. Because it was late, they even told Daniel and the others that they could come in the next day to give their statements. Then they left with the uncooperative hostage-takers.

~~~

It was later that night when Daniel took another call from David. He was still at his grandparents’ house. Grandma insisted on whipping up a supper of pancakes, eggs and bacon, but afterward he had made sure his grandparents were safely tucked into their bed. Then he talked to Sarah and filled her in, absorbing her distress and anger at him for not telling her before. Then he assured her he would be there the next day and wouldn’t leave her side until the ringleader was apprehended.

He was trying to get comfortable enough on the living room sofa to sleep when David’s call came through.

“Yeah,” he said, letting his annoyance be heard.

“Daniel, its David. Have you been trying to reach me?”

“Hell, yes! I had a crisis and needed your help, but you weren’t answering the phone, so I had to deal with it myself,” he complained.

“Oh, man, sorry about that! I’ve been having trouble with my phone, just realized I missed your calls. Why didn’t you leave a message?”

“Your phone kept cutting me off without giving me a chance. Do you even care what happened?” Daniel’s grievance was just, but he realized he needed to dial it back a bit. He still needed David’s help. “Look, I’m sorry, it’s just, things were a little nuts here for a while.” He explained what happened.

David said, “Well, good job then! I’ll coordinate with the police there. Glad it worked out. I’ll be in touch.”

“Wait, David!”

“Yes?”

“The guy that called me gave me twenty-four hours to get him the data. As soon as he realizes his team has been arrested, he’ll go after Sarah. You’ve got to swear to me that you’ll keep her safe until I can get there.”

“Daniel, don’t worry. I’m on it. Sorry I let you down,” David said.

Daniel knew he had an important errand back in New York the next day before he headed for Providence. He needed to contact Sinclair O’Reilly with the news. The man could still back out, now that the stakes had been raised. But when he said as much to his grandfather the next morning at breakfast, Nicholas told him he’d bet on Sinclair being all the more eager to help.

“Nothing that boy likes better than a fight,” Nicholas said. “He’s Irish, you know.” Daniel got a kick out of Grandpa calling Sinclair a ‘boy’, since he had to be at least sixty.

“Well, he ought to like this, then. Our IT specialist has gone to ground in a safe house, our math guy is dead, and now look what happened to you two. We’ve got to get this done and out, before they catch up with us and someone else dies.”

Pierce spoke up then, and said, “I’m not doing much of anything these days, gettin’ too fat for my own good. Could you use my kind of help?” Ellis was nodding his agreement.

“Guys, I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done here, but I think we’ve got it covered now,” Daniel said. Was it his imagination that his buddies seemed disappointed not to have more action?

Once that was settled, Nicholas wanted to talk about what Daniel thought could be so valuable in the pyramid code.

“I don’t know, Grandpa. But there doesn’t really have to be anything valuable in it, only the idea that there might be. I wish you and Grandma would go somewhere safe until we get to the bottom of all this.”

“Where would you suggest, boy? It seems your enemies have some deep resources,” Nicholas retorted.

“I was thinking Mom and Dad’s,” Daniel said. “But if they could find you here, they could find Mom and Dad, too. Can I send you on a cruise?” he asked, only half-joking.

“I’ve got a better idea,” growled Pierce. “How about Ellis and me go with them to wherever your parents live, and make sure all of ‘em are okay?”

“You’d do that for us?” Daniel asked. “That would be outstanding, but how would I ever be able to repay you?”

Ellis raised his artificial leg and waggled the articulated ankle. “You already did, buddy. You already did.”

It was settled that Pierce and Ellis would drive the older Rosslers to Asheville, North Carolina, where Daniel’s parents and two younger brothers lived, and stay in the area, keeping watch outside the house whenever Daniel’s mom and grandparents were home alone. Daniel felt a huge relief, knowing that now he didn’t have to choose between his family and Sarah in keeping them safe.

After breakfast, they took both cars to the police station to give their statements as instructed the night before. When they got there, though, they were told that the suspects had been moved. Daniel was puzzled.

“Moved? When? Why?” he asked.

“All I know is the Chief got a call in the middle of the night, woke him up and pissed him off. Some bigwig in the state capitol told him to cooperate with a guy that was on his way. About five a.m., in comes this guy dressed like one of those dudes in Men in Black and takes custody of them, leaves without even filling out paperwork. Darnedest thing I ever saw,” the sergeant said. It was more excitement than he’d seen in the last five years or more, so he was very talkative about it.

“Let me guess,” Daniel said. “Called himself James Jones.”

“Yeah, that’s the guy!” the sergeant exclaimed. “So, you know him?”

“We’ve met,” said Daniel grimly. “Listen, I’ve got to get back to New York, can I go ahead and give my statement?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” said the sergeant, with wonder. “That James Jones fellow said there’d be no need. But if you’ll all just leave your names and contact information, if we change our minds, we’ll be able to get hold of you.”

The five filed out of the station after giving the requested information, and stood outside in the parking lot discussing this turn of events.

“What the Sam Hill was that all about?” Nicholas demanded.

“I’m not sure, but I’ve run into that James Jones before. Everyone I’ve talked to about him seems to think he’s some sort of government spook. What he has to do with this business I can’t imagine. But as soon as I get to Providence, I’m going to see if David has any ideas.”

They went their separate ways, then, Daniel hugging his grandparents close and whispering to them that he loved them. Then, standing up tall, he said to the Marines, “Keep ‘em safe.” Both men spontaneously gave the standard response: Oorah!

Ignorant of the events in Little Egg Harbor, Impes once again considered whether he should throw in with Barry, or curry favor by turning him in. The more he thought about it, the more he thought that the value of the information in the pyramid code was far greater than what he was being paid by the Orion Society. He rather suspected that the same would be true of Sidus, who occasionally relayed orders from the bosses. Impes reasoned that if both he and Sidus stood up to them, the bosses would respect them more and would reward them with more money. But there was no need to let Barry in on it. They didn’t need him, they could hire a linguist for less than a third of the profit.

His final decision was to contact Sidus and see if he could play him, get him to agree to hold out for more money. Impes made the call.

“Sidus, I’ve got information for you. You probably don’t know about this operation, because I’ve been working directly with the big guys on it, but something big is going down. I’ve got a proposition for you.”

Sidus wondered what Impes had done this time, but he was afraid he already knew. He was seriously going to have to kill the man if he kept meddling. “Go on.”

“There’s a guy at the Joukowsky Institute that’s turned us on to a research project that the big guys are interested in. Something about a code. Allan Barry is the professor’s name.”

With a sinking feeling, Sidus asked, “What’s the proposition?”

“I’ve arranged to take the primary researcher’s grandparents hostage. He agreed to report his findings to us before anyone else, to ensure their safety. I figure we can get the information, and sell it to the highest bidder. Of course, that’ll probably be Orion, but you never know. And I need your help to take the proposition to Septentrio. That guy scares me, you know?”

As Impes spoke, Sidus’s eyes narrowed until they were little more than slits through which he angrily studied his surroundings. “Sounds intriguing. Let’s meet in person to hammer out the details.”

“Okay, I’ll come to you. Shall I meet you there in Langely?” Impes asked importantly.

“No, we shouldn’t be seen together. Let’s meet outside the Beltway. How about Riverbend Park? Can you be there by nine p.m.?” Sidus answered.

“I think so. I’ll text you if I’m going to be late.”

“Don’t be late, Impes.”

At nine p.m., Sidus waited in the empty visitor’s parking lot. The park had closed at eight, and there were periodic patrols of the area by local law enforcement. Sidus figured he could wait no more than ten minutes before he’d have to leave and arrange another meeting. This whole thing was very inconvenient, so his temper was high already. At five minutes after, another car approached, but it didn’t appear to be law. Impes was here.

“Hey, buddy,” Sidus called, when the other man got out of his car. “Jump in, let’s go grab a drink.”

Leaving his car in the lot, Impes gladly got into the passenger seat and twisted to lock his seat belt in place. He was startled to see an angry scowl on Sidus’s face just before his hand came up with a hypodermic that he stabbed into Impes’s arm before he could react.

When Impes regained consciousness, he was restrained on a cloth-covered table with a bright light shining into his eyes. He closed them to get away from the light, only to let them fly open as he felt a stabbing pain in his arm.

“I thought you were awake,” Sidus’s disembodied voice said. Impes tried to peer around him, but the surrounding darkness was impenetrable because of the blinding light. “I’m afraid you’ve screwed the pooch, buddy,” the voice went on. “Didn’t Septentrio tell you to stand down until further orders?”

Now Impes began to be truly terrified. He’d made a terrible mistake in trying to involve Sidus. The only way to get out of what he knew was coming with a minimum of pain was to give up Barry. “It was Barry’s idea,” he whined.

“If someone told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it,” mocked Sidus in a high voice meant to sound like every scolding mother in the world. “Let’s hear the whole story.”

Impes began to babble, trying to tell it all at once, until the stabbing pain in his arm stopped him. Sidus spoke once again. “Start from the beginning, and tell it in sequence, or by the time you die you’ll have no skin left.” To Impes’s horror, a hand emerged from the gloom, holding a strip of skin an inch long and half that wide, with a few drops of blood on it. Was that what was hurting him? A little more of his belief that he would survive this died, and he whimpered.

Pain! And then Sidus’s voice again. “Go on, start talking.”

“Barry contacted me that he had a researcher on staff that was getting somewhere on something he thought Orion would be interested in. I wanted to find out what before I bothered you or them, and besides Barry was hinting that he’d like me to help him gouge them for more money for it.” Pain!
Oh, shit, why is he still doing that?
Impes thought wildly. He talked faster.

“I tried to get more information from a math professor that was helping them, but my team messed up and killed the guy. I’ve already taken care of their punishment for that.”

“Was that after Septentrio told you to back off?” Sidus asked.

“Yes, but he wanted me to kill them, I’m sure,” Impes said eagerly. Pain!
Shit! Was there any skin left?

“So, after he told you to back off, you still thought it was a good idea to interfere?” Sidus’s tone was implacable.

“I’m sorry. I got carried away. Barry told me they were holding back on him. I thought if I could make them cooperate, it would go better.”

“You mean, you could get the information faster and double-cross Orion, don’t you?” Sidus stated.

“No! That was Barry’s idea! I wanted to trap him,” Impes said, forgetting that he had already laid the plan out for Sidus. His arm was on fire, and he wanted to end this so he could get medical attention. Now he jerked with anguish as the pain moved to his other arm.

“So, you didn’t mean what you said when you offered me the same deal without Barry. Or were you trying to trap me, too?” Sidus asked, anger creeping into his voice.

“No! I mean yes! I mean, ahhhhhhhhhh!” he screamed, as a deeper pain registered, all the more frightening since he couldn’t see. But his hand throbbed. Another scream punctuated the air as it happened again. Then he understood. Sidus was clipping his fingers off, one by one. He knew what this meant, and his bladder let go as he faced his death.

“Sidus, for the love of God, kill me first,” he begged. But Sidus was angry, and there was no one nearby to hear the screams. Therefore, the process of removing anything that could identify Impes before his body was slipped into the Potomac would happen
before
he died. It didn’t pay to anger Sidus, much less his powerful employer.