High Treason

CHAPTER ELEVEN

All semblance of fatigue evaporated when Jonathan’s feet hit the eleventh-floor landing and it was time to do business. He never looked behind as he shouldered open the stairwell door and stepped into the minimally carpeted hallway. One stride in, he heard someone bellowing a command to open the door.

“Step it up, Big Guy. This thing’s going down now.”

Boxers didn’t answer, and he didn’t need to. An impending fight was the perfect Boxers bait.

Tactical options spun through Jonathan’s mind as he quick-walked around the corner to the right, toward the source of the shouting and pounding. He wanted to avoid firearms because of the population density. An errant bullet fired in this cheap construction could travel through walls from the front of the building to the rear until it hit either a structural member or somebody’s body. Plus guns made a lot of noise and raised a lot of attention.

Not wanting to shoot brought with it a necessity not to draw fire from the opposing force. If he rushed the bad guys, they likely would panic and start firing. If he just strolled in, he might arrive too late. In this business, a microsecond too late meant forever as a corpse.

He slowed his gait, settled himself with a breath, and straightened the front of his suit, making sure that the coat was unbuttoned, but his .45 still concealed. He walked with purpose to the turn in the hall. He was a step or two away from the turn when he heard the stairwell door open and close, and Boxers’ heavy footsteps approaching from behind.

“I was gonna kick your ass if you started without me,” Big Guy said.

“Hey, if you stroll when others are running, you miss the good stuff.” Jonathan noted that for all the effort, Boxers wasn’t even breathing heavily. “Our guys are right up here.”

Scorpion and Big Guy turned the corner together, nearly in step. Jonathan saw the two guys in the suits braced against the wall on either side of a door six or seven apartments away. Both had pistols drawn — they looked like SIG Sauer P226s, but it was hard to tell from this distance — and they stood off to the side, as if preparing to dodge bullets fired through the door.

Boxers reached to his hip to draw his weapon, but Jonathan placed a hand on his forearm. Not yet.

The look he got in return was exactly the one he’d been expecting. Are you nuts?

It wasn’t the first time the question had been asked of Jonathan. Whoever these guys were, they hadn’t yet noticed their approach, and if they did and saw weapons—

The guys moved like lightning as they crashed the door open and slipped inside.

It was time to run.

They say everything happens in slow motion during moments of mortal terror, but for David Kirk, life became a freeze-frame, an impossibly distended moment in which the entire world reduced to the reality of the gun muzzle that seemed bigger than a railroad tunnel when it was pointed directly at his head.

He had some vague awareness that he was diving to the floor, but even as he fell, his eyes stayed focused on the big black circle that would launch the bullet that would kill him.

Becky had been in the midst of saying something about there being no escape, and the precise accuracy of the statement pissed him off. Maybe if she’d shown a little more positive—

More men charged the room, one of them a man like any other, though lean and powerful with piercing blue eyes that burned with anger. It was the other one, though, that triggered a new round of fear. The guy was huge. And he seemed to be enjoying himself.

In seconds, it was over.

Jonathan crossed the apartment’s threshold at a full run, and never slowed as he lowered his head and drove his shoulder hard into the middle of a gunman’s back. He heard something crack and worried for an instant that it might have been his own collarbone. As he saw the gunman’s weapon leave his hand and cartwheel through the air, he knew that he had earned them all a second or two — all the time necessary to settle what needed to be settled.

As he and his prey lunged forward toward the floor, Jonathan made an effort to drive the bad guy’s face into the edge of the coffee table, but they fell short, so he drove the face into the parquet floor. Teeth broke, blood spattered.

Jonathan used his driving momentum to roll to his feet, from which position he drove a savage kick to the gunman’s ear. The bad guy didn’t move.

Through his peripheral vision, Jonathan saw Boxers’ punch nearly rip the second would-be shooter’s head from his shoulders. The way the guy dropped, he might have been dead. Either way, the imminent threats had been neutralized.

“I’m clear,” Jonathan said, largely for Venice’s benefit on the far end of the radio.

“Clear,” Boxers echoed. Big Guy closed the apartment door.

Jonathan drew his .45 and pointed it at the chest of the man he assumed to be his Precious Cargo. “Are you David Kirk?” Behind him, Boxers drew down on the girl.

The kid threw his hands in the air. “Please don’t shoot me.”

“Please answer the question,” Jonathan countered. “Are you David Kirk?”

The kid’s face made snow look pink. “Y-yes. P-please don’t shoot.”

Without looking at the girl, Jonathan said, “And are you Becky Beckeman?”

She made a squeaking sound that sensible people would agree meant yes.

“Are either of you armed?” Jonathan asked.

“No,” David said, with such speed and emphasis that it had to be true.

“Becky, I need an answer from you, too.”

“No, of course not.” As if having a weapon at a moment like this would be a bad thing.

Jonathan made a show of holstering his Colt. Boxers, by contrast, merely let his Beretta dangle at his side, muzzle to the floor.

“I’m here to take you to safety,” Jonathan said.

“To safety?” David said. “Who the hell are you?”

“You ask that as if you had options,” Boxers grumbled.

“You can call me Scorpion,” Jonathan said. “This is Big Guy. It seems that some people at the highest level of government want you dead. Others at that level want you protected. I’m on the protection side. Are you really inclined to debate?”

The kid raised his hands even higher. “Dude, I just want something to start making sense.”

“That makes you a member of a big club,” Jonathan said. “You have to believe me that I’m a friend. If you choose not to, and you instead produce a gun or a knife or a really ugly face, I promise you that I won’t hesitate to kill you. Big Guy really won’t hesitate to kill you. It’s extremely important that you understand this.”

David looked even more frightened. As if that were possible. “Dude, I just want this shit to stop.”

Jonathan laughed. “And the best way to do that was to poke a stick into the hornet’s nest?”

“I told you,” Becky said.

“Big Guy, get prints from the shooters. And a pulse if they have one.” Jonathan locked David’s and Becky’s attention with a glare and an aimed forefinger. “I’m here to be your best friend, but you can turn me into your worst enemy. Behave yourselves.”

“Scorpion, Mother Hen,” Jonathan heard in his ear piece. “Is everything stable there?”

“We’re stable,” Jonathan said, drawing a look from the young folks who no doubt thought that he was talking to himself. “We’ll be out of here in a few minutes. Get ready to receive fingerprints.”

Both of the bad guys were alive, and both had strong pulses. Neither of them moved, however, as Boxers dipped their hands into their own blood and pressed their fingertips against a stray envelope he found on the coffee table. There were higher-tech electronic means to do this, but neither Jonathan nor Boxers had planned for the day to go the way it was going.

While the Big Guy busied himself with fingers, Jonathan used his iPhone to take pictures of the gunmen’s faces — full face and profile — in order to do a more thorough database search. When the recordings were completed, Jonathan and Boxers handcuffed them to the old-fashioned radiators in what Jonathan called the elephant position, with their arms extended through their crotches, with the chain wrapped around the radiator’s water pipe.

Jonathan turned his attention back to David and Becky. They literally had not moved. “Are you two okay?”

They nodded in unison.

“Are you up for a little more adventure?”

Another choreographed nod.

“I assume you know that you can’t stay here,” Jonathan said. “And with some very bad people hunting for your head, you’re in desperate need of a friend.”

David said, “You’re that friend. Or so you keep telling me.”

“Yes,” Jonathan said. “And if that somehow doesn’t resonate for you, I suggest you look at who’s lying on the floor and who didn’t just get shot.”

“Where are you taking us?” Becky asked.

“Damned interesting question,” Boxers said.

“To a secure place,” Jonathan said.

Boxers scowled, waiting for the answer.

In his ear, Venice said, “Are you bringing them here? To the Cove?”

“Affirmative,” Jonathan said.

Boxers’ shoulders slumped. “Oh, shit. What about OpSec?” Operational security.

“It’s a chance we have to take,” Jonathan said. “I’m open to alternatives if you have them.”

“Who are you talking to?” David asked.

“Voices in my head,” Jonathan said. He was being deliberately provocative, and the look he got in return was more than worth the price of admission.

“We’ll put them in the mansion’s basement,” Venice said. The basement she referred to was more opulent than most college dorm rooms. Back in the day, those rooms had served as the servants’ quarters, the rooms in which Venice had spent her childhood.

“I’m switching off VOX,” Jonathan announced, and he reached behind his back and flipped the appropriate switch by feel. He was no longer broadcasting every word he said.

“Here’s the deal,” he said to his new charges. “You’re in a world of shit. David, you have stumbled into territory that is way beyond your abilities, and Becky, David has sucked you into his sucky world. We’ll work out all the finer points as we go along, but for the time being, you need to know that your friends in the world can be counted on one hand. Big Guy and I take up two whole fingers. Are you with me so far?”

They both just stared. The two-plus-twos of their worlds no longer equaled four.

“Bottom line, you can come with us and live, or you can stay and die. Sorry to be so blunt, but it’s hard to sugarcoat binary choices.” He paused.

They stared.

He said, “Now would be a good time to say ‘okay.’”

They spoke in unison: “Okay.”

Something about the delivery, in the context of the facial expressions, made Jonathan laugh. “Guys, you’re not walking the Last Mile here. Don’t look so terrified.”

“You just killed two men in my apartment,” Becky said.

“They’re both still alive,” Jonathan said.

“But they’re sleeping very soundly,” Boxers added. “And when they wake up you’ll be able to light New York from the energy of their headaches.”

As so often was the case, Boxers’ attempt at humor landed like a turd.

Jonathan focused on Becky. “Young lady, my orders are to take David with me. I have no business with you. Under the circumstances, though, you’re welcome to come along. But you have to make your choice now.”

“Where are we going?”

“I can’t tell you that. And frankly, you don’t want to know if you’re not coming along.”

“Suppose I don’t want to come along?” David asked. Jonathan prayed that it was a rhetorical question.

“Trust me, kid,” Boxers said. “You’re coming along. The only variable for you is whether you’ll remember the trip.”

Becky’s head still hadn’t joined the game. “You come in here and beat up a couple of guys and I’m—”

“We saved your life,” Jonathan corrected. “At least get your facts straight.”

She searched for the right words, for the right thing to do. “But I need time. I have obligations. I can’t just leave.”

Jonathan acknowledged her with a brief, percussive nod. “Fine. Big Guy, David, let’s go.”

“Wait!” Becky said. “These men—”

“I’d give them a wide berth when they wake up,” Boxers said. “They’re gonna be cranky.”

“Becky, you can’t stay,” David said.

“Don’t you say anything,” she snapped. “You’re the reason I’m in this.”

“Pardon me for trying to—”

“No,” Jonathan said. “That shit stops now, before it begins. We’re not doing the boyfriend-girlfriend spat thing. Becky, make a decision.”

Pundits talk about the twelve stages of grieving, but you never hear about the stages of accepting the inevitable. You go through the denial and the anger, and whatever the hell else you go through, but sometimes, there’s only one correct decision. Jonathan saw it dawn on Becky’s face.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll come. But I need to gather a few things. I need, like, five minutes.”

“You can have two,” Jonathan said.

As Becky turned and headed toward the bedroom, Jonathan followed.

She stopped and turned. “Where are you going?”

“With you,” he said. He didn’t tell her about his concern that she might call 911, or that she might pull a weapon out of a nightstand drawer. Instead, he said, “Trust is a two-way street. I earned mine a few minutes ago. It’s your turn.”

Jonathan ended up granting Becky six minutes to gather her meds and makeup and a few pairs of shoes and other clothing, which she tossed into a small suitcase. Returning to the living room, Jonathan noted with some amusement that Boxers and David were standing farther apart than they were before. Being afraid of Big Guy was never a bad idea.

“Do you both know what a blood oath is?” Jonathan asked.

Their faces donned identical scowls, and they cocked their heads like curious puppies, David to the right and Becky to the left.

“I need a response.”

“Like a pinky swear with attitude?” Becky offered.

Boxers rolled his eyes.

“With extreme attitude,” Jonathan corrected. “It means a solemn promise for which the penalty for violation is death.”

Boxers seemed to swell at the notion. The kids both shrunk a little.

“What are you suggesting?” David asked.

“I’m suggesting that from this point forward, you will see things and hear things that you have no right to see or hear. As reporters, you have a genetic desire to share this kind of stuff with other people. I need a blood oath from each of you that that will never happen. I want you to understand that if Big Guy or I ever see in writing anything that remotely resembles the truth, we will be very, very unhappy. That means you will be extraordinarily very unhappy.” He gave it a couple of seconds to sink in. “I’m not being too cryptic, am I?”

“You’re saying you’ll kill us if we ever report what we’re about to see,” David said.

“I certainly reserve the right,” Jonathan said. “Whether I exercise it or not should be a source of sleepless nights for the rest of your lives if you betray me.”

“Who are you people?” Becky asked. “I don’t believe for a moment that you’re the police.”

“If I were the police, your buddy David would be on his way to a life term in the hoosegow,” Jonathan said. “Take comfort in the fact that we’re good guys and let it go. I still need to hear you swear the oath.”

It took a while, as it should.

Probably the better part of a minute as they searched their souls and consciences to decide what they could live with.

David went first. “Okay,” he said. “I swear that I will never write about what I see.”

That was a relief. It saved Jonathan the effort of blindfolding him for the trip out to Fisherman’s Cove. People hated blindfolds.

“I don’t think this is fair,” Becky said. “I feel coerced. But if it’s the only way for me to be safe, I guess I—”

Boxers held up his hand. “Be careful now, young lady,” he said. His voice had taken on a tone that rumbled the parquet floors. “Don’t say anything you don’t mean. Once the words are out, they can’t be withdrawn.”

She hesitated, her mouth slightly agape. “Okay,” she said. “I swear that I will never write about what lies ahead.”

“Okay, then,” Jonathan said quickly. He didn’t want a morose pall to cloud a clear victory. “Let’s get moving.” He pointed toward the door. “You follow Big Guy here.”

They both bristled. No one looked forward to alone time with Boxers.

“I’ll be along in a minute,” Jonathan assured. “I just need to make a phone call about our friends here.” He tossed a glance toward the sleeping attackers. “Don’t worry about Big Guy. He’s just a big ol’ puppy dog.”

To emphasize the point, Boxers growled.

On the way out the door, Becky slapped David in the arm, apparently just for good measure.

When he was alone in the apartment, Jonathan dialed Wolverine’s number from memory. She answered on the third ring.

“I have another cleanup job for you,” he said.