ANOMALY.MIL (The Conspiracy Series Book One): A Romantic Suspence Novel (6 page)

CHAPTER NINE

General Jeffrey Hawkins stood in a dark room in the basement of a large building out in the middle of nowhere, with a woman at his side and a bourbon in his hand.

The man on the table had proved disappointing, and the terror in his eyes was more than justified. Normally, Jeff objected to a woman seeing this type of thing, but as the woman was the one inflicting the man's pain, he could not very well protest.

"Where is she?" he asked again.

"She's just a little girl, Jeff," the man begged. "Let her grow up, live a little more of life before you take her."

It was a shame, really. He and Ed had fought in Desert Storm together, shoulder to shoulder. Back then, Ed had understood the sacrifices that needed to be made to protect this country. Hell, they had seen those sacrifices with their own eyes. But now…now that the very existence of the United States was at stake, Ed goes and gets soft on him.

"They're all somebody's baby when they get taken, Ed. You've been a soldier for far too long not to understand that." Jeff leaned over the table so he could look Ed in the eye. "The girl will grow, and if we don't get her now…Can you really live with yourself if our enemies get a hold of her?"

A flicker of sanity creased Ed's brow, but then it passed. "What if no one finds her, and she lives her entire life without—"

"What? And let her have her own little girl?" It was crazy. "Come on, Ed. Now that we know what we're looking for, do you really thing that's gonna happen?" He took another sip of his bourbon. "To any of 'em."

Jeff sat down in one of the washable plastic chairs.

"Nah,” he shook his head. “The Pentagon is gonna send me for every last one.” One man in particular. “‘Turn 'em, or burn 'em.’ No matter how long it takes. And you know I'm not the only one looking for 'em. We gotta find them, Ed, and we gotta find them first."

Nothing. Not a single word came out of Ed's mouth, until General Hawkins nodded at his sergeant. She walked over to the table, and began preparing three separate syringes.

"Come on, Jeff," his friend laughed, like this was some big fucking joke. "Let me go."

"Be happy to, Ed." And he would be. "We both know what's in those syringes. It's gonna hurt like hell, and you will tell us where she is in the end. Only difference is, I don't have time to fuck around. So I'm starting with the full dosage."

"You can't do that!" Panicked, Ed yanked on his restraints. "It’ll kill me!"

"Well, you'll wish you were dead. But Inez has a knack for knowing just when to back off, before your heart explodes." He looked at Sergeant Munoz. "She's very talented."

His sergeant smiled in appreciation of his praise, and Jeff could not help but feel a sense of pride at what he had taught her, at what he had created.

"Shall I start with his neck, General Hawkins?" She held up the first syringe, awaiting his orders like the excellent soldier that she had become.

"It's as good a place as any."

Inez leaned over and punctured Ed's jugular with the first needle. But before she could push the plunger down, Ed was begging for mercy.

"Okay, okay. Fine," Ed said, glaring at him. "I'll tell you where the girl is, but she's the only one I know of. I swear to God."

"How did you find her?" The general needed to know, because they would ask when he reported to the company.

"Last year, we took a man named Kevin Kilgore." Ed stared straight at him, waiting for him to recall the mission.

"Sure." Jeff did remember. "We took him in a little town outside of Sheridan, Wyoming. Wasn't it?" he asked, sipping on his bourbon.

"Yes." The man tied to the table was getting tired of holding his head up, so he put it down, forcing Jeff to walk over to him if he wanted to look him in the eye. "The guy wasn't married, and he didn't have any kids. Remember?"

"Christ, Ed. Get to the fucking point."

"Well, it was the way you asked him. ‘Have you ever been married and had kids?'"

"I'm following you."

"The records confirmed that Kevin Kilgore had no marriage licenses issued in his name, and no birth certificates with his name listed on them."

"And?" Jeff sighed, getting bored. Frustrated.

"I just thought, what about birth certificates with
no
father listed at all."
Shit
. He had not thought of that, so he let Ed finish. "I looked up the records for all the hospitals in the area and found a few births with no father listed on the birth certificate, during the right period of time. But, I still didn't
know
, until I went to Kevin Kilgore's hometown.

“Turns out, it was quite the scandal when the football star knocked up the head cheerleader. People were more than willing to gossip about the 'shameful' way Kevin had denied that baby girl. Everyone told the cheerleader to have a paternity test done. But the girl was so angry, she refused, then moved out of town, leaving Kevin Kilgore scot-free of his responsibility to the child."

"And where did the pregnant cheerleader move to?"

Ed sighed. "Littleton, North Dakota."

"And her name?"

Here is where Ed hesitated. He took three long breaths before he gave it up.

"Angela Johnson. The little girl's name is Heidi, and she's only seven. Can't you let her be with her mom just a few more years?"

"I can't do that, Ed," the general said, slamming the last of his bourbon down his throat. "Any more than I can let you leave this room."

"What?" Ed was panicking, and he hated to see that from such a fine soldier.

"Sorry, Ed. You hesitated when I asked you where the girl was. Which means you will withhold information again. And if I hadn't come across those emails…who knows if I ever would have found the little girl at all. It's not like I make it up to…Where was it?" The general asked his trusty sergeant.

"Littleton, North Dakota, sir."

"Yeah," the general raised a brow, laughing. "I don't see myself visiting Littleton, North Dakota without a good goddamn reason." He nodded to Sergeant Munoz. "I guess I got a good reason now, though."

"Come on." Ed looked at him. "Don't do this. You know you can trust me."

General Hawking watched, enthralled, as Inez caressed Ed's neck in search of the largest vein. He had watched her do it a hundred times, and he still found it highly erotic. He waited, watching as she filled a syringe, and then she looked over at him.

"The full dose, sir?" she asked, but they both new what he would say.

"Yeah, the faster the better."

Damn, it was going to be painful, and Jeff was not sure that he wanted to watch. But he owed the guy for saving his ass in Desert Storm, and the bourbon would help him get through what he knew would be a five-minute long process.

"Do it."

Inez nodded as she held up the syringe, flicking it with her finger to make sure that all of the air had risen to the top. Gently, she pushed the plunger, until a tiny drop of yellow liquid oozed out of the tip of the needle.

She looked down, plunging the needle deep into Ed's neck and unleashing the toxin on his unsuspecting body. Once it was done, Inez stepped back and looked at Jeff with sympathy in her dark eyes.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your friend," she said, and then Ed began to scream.

"It's not your fault." The general held her eyes until he couldn't do it any longer, and then he waited.

The screaming was so loud by now that he fought the urge to cover his ears. General Hawkins watched, helpless, as his friend began to seize, and then Inez was holding his hand. They stood like that for a few more minutes, before Ed's thrashing finally stopped.

The silence was deafening.

"It's finished." She whispered what they both knew.

Jeff let go of her hand, ordering, "Take Ed's body to his house before his wife gets home."

The general once again.

"Yes, sir," Inez said, his ever loyal sergeant.

CHAPTER TEN

Darryl Lee was a slippery son of a bitch with a short rap sheet and a really hot sister. That was how Ansel met the guy. His older sister was Ansel's ex, if you call a couple of months of casual sex a relationship.

When her little brother got arrested for stealing phones from students at the University of Washington, wiping them, then selling the same phones back to a different set of students he would probably steal from the following week.

His predilection for thieving aside, the kid was bright. So, Ansel arranged probation for Darryl with the understanding that if he ever needed something, anything…Darryl would repay the favor.

"Darryl," he said, when the kid opened the door to his downtown Seattle apartment.

The kid sighed, like he always did when he saw Ansel. He glanced at Dave and looked Seneca up and down, while she tried, in vain, to hold her shirt closed.

"What do you want, Ansel?"

"To come in."

Ansel pushed past the kid, who had no choice but to move. Their respect ran both ways. Ansel respected that Darryl knew more about computers than he did, and Darryl respected that Ansel could kill him.

"She needs to borrow a shirt." Ansel pointed. Seneca smiled apologetically, obviously appalled by his behavior. "And Dave here will be spending a little bit of time with you."

"Oh, hell no, Ansel! I have shit to do, and I don't have time to babysit…this guy."

Darryl's distaste for slightly balding middle-aged white guys was written all over his Blasian face.

"This…guy," Ansel pointed at Dave with his thumb. "Will be staying with you, until I say otherwise." Darryl rolled his eyes. "And if you're lucky, he’ll teach you something about programming, because he works for Microsoft and is by far the smartest man I know."

Dave turned to look at him, surprised by the truth.

But before his brother-in-law could say a word, Darryl asked, "Who's this?" with a lecherous grin exclusively for Seneca.

"She's none of your concern," Ansel warned, with a quirk of his brow. "And could you go get a shirt, please. Hers is ripped."

"Oh, I can see that." Darryl was staring appreciatively at the gap in Seneca's shirt. "But I'll hook you up." He smiled and then came back a few minutes later with a t-shirt that read, "DTF."

Ansel grabbed the shirt, and threw it back in Darryl’s face.

"Try again."

The kid sulked, and brought out a stretchy woman's t-shirt with geometric designs.

"Here.” He tossed it to Ansel. "It's my sister’s. Although, I'm not sure she will be thrilled with…" He pointed at Seneca. "This little piece of information."

Ansel's eyes darted to Seneca, who looked far from surprised.

"Your sister broke up with me," he protested, so she would not get the wrong impression.

"What I heard is that you wanted to break up with her, so you acted like a jackass, until she broke up with you."

Technicalities. What did it matter.

"Dave is gonna need a computer and a bed," he thought to add. Ansel handed the kid a thousand bucks. "I don't know how long he'll be here."

Darryl's eye went wide, but he didn't take the money. "Are you putting my life in danger, Ansel?"

The kid was bright. "Not if Dave stays off the grid."

"What's he doing off the grid?" Darryl asked before taking the money.

"Tracking a phone, and staying out of sight for a while." Ansel could see Darryl mulling over the offer in his mind, and Ansel wasn't sure which way this would go, so he added, "I'll give you another thousand for every week that he's here."

Darryl had never seen that kind of money, but it didn't stop him from pressing his advantage. "Fifteen hundred a week and you got a deal."

Son of a bitch
. That money was all the savings he had in the world.

"Done," Ansel said, and they shook on it. "Dave needs to track a phone's location. But don't worry, we got that part covered."

Darryl nodded, and then got out a brand new laptop. Ansel glared at him, prompting the kid to say, "I bought it!" with the utmost indignation.

"You better have," Ansel warned.

With a huge roll of the eyes, Darryl set up the computer. But he was surprised when Seneca, not Dave, leaned over and began typing on the keyboard, making her all the more attractive to the kid.

Darryl stood next to her as she worked, but the kid leaned back just long enough to take a good, long look at her ass. He smiled, meeting Ansel's eye with a wink as if he were impressed. Ansel shook his head to indicate that there was nothing going on between them, and Darryl pointed out Seneca's great ass and smirked, not believing him.

He wanted to smack the kid, and he shook his head harder when Seneca stood up, saying, "Okay, I set up an IP address so that Dave can log into the phone feed anonymously."

"I thought only pedophiles use anonymizers," Darryl joked.

"Yeah, well, pedophiles aren't the only people who want to go undetected," Seneca said, stepping back so Dave could sit down in front of the computer. "What's Gunner's personal phone number?"

Ansel gave it to Dave, who began the trace. "He's heading southeast."

"Okay," Ansel leaned over and wrote down the number of the burner phone he would be using, as well as Dave's. "I'll call you when I can. Thanks, Seneca."

Ansel started to leave, but she stopped him. "She might be your sister, but it's my best friend who was kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Darryl yelped, startled. "Shit, Ansel. Why didn't you tell me your sister's been…kidnapped? Damn, that’s fucked up."

Ansel appreciated the sympathy, but at the moment he needed to deal with Seneca. "You can coordinate with Ben from here.” He stared at her. “I'm not putting you in harm's way by taking you with me."

"You're not putting me anywhere. Because I'm a grown woman, who will not give you access to Ben unless you take me with you."

Darryl stared at them like he was watching a boxing match, declaring, "Oh, she's got you there."

Ansel ignored the kid, his eyes locked on Seneca's. "Gunner will not hesitate to kill you if you get in his way. You do understand that?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I also understand that he will not do it publicly. And in private, you will be there to protect me."

His brows furrowed, not sure what to say to that, but sure he did not want that kind of responsibility. She distracted him. A lot. But what choice did he have? He couldn't track the phone without her.

"You do exactly what I say. Especially around Gunner."

Seneca shrugged like it was no problem, but she had no idea what Gunner was capable of. He did.

"Of course,” she smiled. “I'll do whatever you say."

Satisfied with her promise, well, as much as he could be, Ansel turned to his brother-in-law, reassuring him, "We'll stay in contact, and bring her back as soon as we can." He looked at Dave, feeling the need to prepare him, but hating to be the one to do it. "She might need medical attention. If so, I'll let you know where we're taking her."

"Do what you can to protect her, Ansel, because…" Dave started to tear up. "Catherine’s pregnant."