Kill on Command (41 page)

III

I didn’t get your name

Berlin - Mid-July - 6 weeks earlier

Sean was now an expert at managing foreign airports and cities where he didn’t know the language.  Berlin was no different and he left the terminal with little effort, grabbing a cab and arriving at his hotel.

“Man, I am sick of sitting around hotels,” he thought to himself looking out the window at the early evening lights of Berlin.  He powered up his iPad and Googled concerts and clubs and thankfully for him, much of it was in English.  It seemed like there were thousands of clubs in Berlin and he didn’t have the patience for any real research, so he searched again, this time looking for classic rock.  The search turned up three-dozen options.  Much more manageable.  He scrolled through the list of shows and landed on an AC/DC cover band, whose show started at 10 P.M.   He looked at his watch.  It was nearly 7:30.  The club was twenty minutes away. “Not too bad,” he thought to himself.

On the same floor, Sandy was monitoring his internet activity. 

“Shit.  I don’t feel like chasing him through a club,” she said aloud.  She went to her luggage and pulled out a black skirt and a V-neck t-shirt.  She tossed them on the bed.  She wished he was a wallflower that just read books and watched TV.  It would make her life so much easier.

“That should work,” she said to herself, looking at the clothes.  She hated it when Sean went running off to see soccer games and concerts, where there were always metal detectors that required her to go without a weapon.  It made her nervous.  There was no way she could take Sean down without the element of surprise and a gun.  She always feared that Waters would turn Sean on her and it was something she prepared herself for.

She knew Sean’s assignment was tonight, which would definitely complicate things.  She called Waters.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“He’s on the move,” she reported.

“What?  Not tonight.  He goes active in six hours!”  Waters said, losing his patience. 

“There’s not much I can do to stop him,” Sandy explained.

“Stay close to him.  I will have the support team nearby.  We will not get a second chance at this,” he ordered and hung up.

Sandy tossed the phone on the bed, flipping her hands in disgust.  Waters made her stomach turn.  “Not much longer,” she told herself.  She had a plan but was not sure when it was going to be put into play.

She pulled her blonde hair up in a tight bun on top of her head. No red hair tonight.  She thought she looked weird, but what the hell, she was going to what probably was a strange German nightclub.  She put on a little too much eye make-up and finished it up with some dark lipstick.

Sean took a quick shower and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.  He went downstairs to the lobby and had dinner.  The doorman at the hotel got him a cab and told the driver where to go.  Sean looked out the cab’s window as it wound its way through the streets of Berlin.  Sandy and her team followed close behind.

The cab arrived outside of the club.  It looked like any other club you would see in a large city.  Industrial area.  Brick building with blacked out windows with black double doors leading into the club.  A large bouncer stood outside.  Bouncers seemed to be the same the world over.  Big, bald and lacking a sense of humor.   Sean got out of the cab and stood in a line about twenty deep waiting to get into the club.  Sandy fell in about six people behind Sean.  She was right.  Everyone looked weird.  Sean stood out with his jeans and t-shirt.  She thought he needed a little more leather to really fit in.  Sean passed through a metal detector at the door and then was patted down by the bouncer.  Sandy watched him hold up his phone for the bouncer, pay and walked into the club.  Sandy could already hear the bass pounding the walls.  She could feel it in her chest.  She had doubts she would be able to hear her back-up team or Waters though her earpiece.  She walked through the metal detector and the bouncer motioned for her to move over to him.  He started to pat her down.  He was a pig.

The club smelled of smoke, sweat and spilled beer.  It was dark, loud and crowded. The band had just started its first set.  The strobe lights made it hard to find Sean.  However, she knew him pretty well by now.  He would be up at the bar.  She pushed her way through the crowd and stood five or six feet behind him while he ordered a drink.  There was no way he would be able to pick her out.  The place was jammed with people. 

Sean paid for his beer and pushed his way through the crowd towards the stage.  The music was loud.  Very loud.  Sandy couldn’t hear herself think.  The place was filled with smoke.  She rapidly came to the conclusion that she hated this place.

Sean however was having a great time.  The cover band was pretty good.  Sandy watched him take out his phone and call up Facebook with one hand, the other hand holding his beer.  He checked in.

“Dirty deeds.  Indeed!  Loving this AC/DC cover band!” he typed and posted the comments. 

Sandy’s phone vibrated and she saw his post as he typed it.  She saw him put the phone in his back pocket. 

Sean finished his beer and turned to go back to the bar for another round.  Sandy stood where she was.  She was pinned in by the crowd and Sean passed right in front of her.  He made eye contact with her, winked and kept walking.

Sandy felt herself blush. She felt a little panic.   “Did he make me?”  “Does he know?”  She shook her head.  “No way,” she told herself.  He does that with everyone.  She turned and pushed her way back towards the bar.  He was ordering a beer and now was talking to two girls.  They were laughing at something he said.  She doubted they knew what he was saying.  To them he was a big, good-looking American.

She watched all three of them shove their way back towards the stage.  People were jumping up and down.  Sean stood watching the band and drinking his beer.  One of the girls from the bar was clearly into him and was hanging on him.  Sandy watched from ten feet away and was getting a little pissed and concerned - she could not let him hook up with this random German tart.

The band played on.  Sean showed no sign of leaving.   Sandy could vaguely hear screaming in her ear.  She knew who it was, but could not hear Waters clearly.  She kept Sean in her sights and pulled back towards the bar.  She put her finger in her left ear and cupped her hand over her right ear.  She could still not hear, so she pulled out her phone and sent a text

S:  What?

W:  GET HIM TO ANSWER HIS PHONE!!!!

Waters was trying to activate Sean, but he couldn’t hear his phone in the club.  Sandy put the phone away and glanced at Sean.  The girl was still hanging on him, running her hand up his back and through his hair.  Sandy thought for a moment.  She needed to get him out of the club where he could hear his phone.   

Then she did something she had wanted to do for a long time.

She reached around and un-hooked her bra and pulled it out of one of her sleeves and dropped it on the floor, walked over to Sean and stood directly behind him.  She tapped the girl on the shoulder.  She turned to look at Sandy.  As with most women, the German girl was five or six inches shorter than Sandy.  Sandy held her thumb out and made a motion for her to scram.  The girl scowled at Sandy and took her hand off Sean and started to flip Sandy off.  A big mistake.  Sandy did not have time for this.  She grabbed the girl’s finger, bent it back, pulled her close and in German screamed in her ear.

“THAT’S MY HUSBAND YOU SKANK!”

The girl said something that Sandy could not understand, made a face and walked away with her friend.  Sean did not notice that they had left.  She put her hand on Sean’s back and stood next to him.  He turned and saw Sandy smiling at him.  He nodded at her and kept watching the band.

Now Sean really thought his night was going great - a second girl was clearly into him.  She was tall and hot, too.  Nearly as tall as he.  He could feel her hand on his back, running down to his waist. 

Sandy had her left hand on his waist and slid in front of him, pressing her body tight against his.  Sean dropped the beer.  Losing the bra was a good idea she thought.  She knew he could feel her breasts against his chest.  He put his hands around her waist and started making out with her.  He ran his hand down her back and put his hand gently on her rear.  Her skirt started to ride up.  She ran her hand up under his shirt and caressed his chest.

For Sandy, the room went silent as he kissed her. She had realized months ago that she had a thing for Sean.

Sandy stopped kissing him and took his hand.  Sean followed her like a puppy as she knew he would.  She learned a long time ago that men would do anything she wanted.  She was leading him out of the club, when she felt Sean gently stop and pull her back towards him.  They started kissing again.  Sandy did not stop him.  “What were a couple minutes?” she thought to herself. 

Sandy looked over his shoulder and saw the restrooms.  She took his hand and forced her way to the front of the ladies room, pulled him inside and locked the door.  She pissed off half the bar.  People were pounding on the door and screaming obscenities in German.  The bathroom was tiny and painted all black with a black toilet and small sink with a graffiti covered mirror above it.  She could still hear the bass pounding through the walls.  Or was it her heart?

She pushed Sean against the wall and kept kissing him while working the belt and buttons on his pants. Their hands were all over each other.  His hand moved under her skirt and he started to remove her white cotton thong panties, while kissing her neck.  Sean picked her up and placed her on the sink of the tiny restroom.   Sandy put her arms around him and kissed his ear.   There was no ventilation in the room and both of them were sweating. Neither cared.  She had been fantasizing about being with him for a long time, not necessarily in a bathroom of a loud smelly club in Berlin, but she would take what she could get. 

“Oops,” Sean said unconsciously.  Sandy didn’t notice right away.

They continued kissing and Sandy wrapped her arms around his neck. Sean picked her up by the waist and placed her feet back on the floor.  He had a big smile on his face.  No surprise.  She was smiling too.

“Who are you?” he tried asking over the music.

In German she kept saying “What?”  She knew he did not understand her.  She straightened her skirt and grabbed his hand.  Like before, he followed her.  They opened the door and were greeted by twenty or more irate German women.  Sandy pushed past them towards the exit.  The outside air felt twenty degrees cooler.

“Let’s go somewhere else!”  Sean said, in a voice that was closer to shouting than talking as his ears had not adjusted to the relative quiet after the ear crushing decibels of the club.

Sandy smiled at him again and started to speak when his phone rang.  He looked at it. She was suddenly sad.  It was not like her.  She knew he would not remember their first time together, but she would never forget it.

“I am sorry.  Excuse me.” 

“This better be good,” he mumbled, as he put the phone up to his ear.  Part of Sandy wanted to slap it out of his hand, but it was too soon. She was not ready to begin her plan.  She was nervous because she also knew that she might never see him again.  She needed him.  A dead Sean would not help her in the least.

“Hello?”  Sean answered, still slightly screaming from exposure to the loud music in the club.

When he answered, Waters opened the door to Sean’s subconscious via the triggers and gave him his assignment. Almost instantaneously, a van pulled up and Sean and Sandy got in.

Later that night, an accused Serbian war criminal died in his bed. 

There were no witnesses.

No witnesses left that is.

IV

How would the Talking Heads say it?

Nashville - Holiday Inn

Sunday Night - Late

“Look Sean.  I know you are upset.  I wanted to tell you, but there’s so much to talk about that I didn’t know where to start.”

Sean stared into Sandy’s eyes.   He knew why she was pregnant now.  The damn condom broke.  “Shit!  Shit!  Shit!” he said to himself.

“Sean, there are black spots in your memory.  Some right before Waters gives you the triggers and then right after.  Our first time in the club was on the fringe of the activation.”

“I know why you’re pregnant.  The condom broke,” he volunteered and looking up at her.

She smiled.

“I know it did.” 

Sean now started to freak out.  She seemed a little on the nutty side and getting more so by the minute.  He was sure his facial expression spoke volumes.

“Sorry!  Sorry!  I should not have said it like that.  I sound like a psycho,” Sandy said, putting her hands over her face.

“Just a little bit,” Sean whispered.

“I meant to say that I know it happened.  I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”

“Sure.  No problem.”  Sean didn’t know what else to say. 

Sandy rolled off of him and walked to the bathroom.  Sean watched her long legs and quickly forgave her, at least for the moment.  She pulled on a pair of panties and came back into the bedroom.

She got into bed next him and rolled over on her side and looked at him.  He was staring up at the ceiling.

“Sean?”

“Yes?”  He rolled over on his side to face her.

“You stink.” She smiled as she spoke.

Sean took a deep breath.

“All this time, I thought it was you.”  He got up and headed for the bathroom.

“Shut-up.”

Sean smiled at her and shut the bathroom door.  He turned on the water and got in.  He was exhausted, physically and emotionally.  All of this was too much to take in, but he did not have a choice, he had to deal with it.  He used up the rest of the hotel shampoo and got out of the shower and brushed his teeth.

As he opened the bathroom door, he saw Sandy sacked out in the bed, the sheet only partially covering her body.   He turned off the TV and the lights and got into bed next to her.  She put an arm across his chest, Normally, that would have been great, but it wasn’t.  He felt like a pawn in some larger scheme that he had absolutely no control over and didn’t fully understand.

In addition, she was freaking him out.  He had known her for eighteen months, but could not remember her.  She seemed to be in love with him, but he had few memories of ever speaking with her, save the bathroom encounter. Oh! And who could forget, she says she’s also pregnant.  That’s a big one.  No, a huge one.

On top of that, he had to meet her father in the morning and was praying that she had not told him about the baby.  He did not relish the thought of a huge, Russian Special Forces soldier choking him to death.