Lethal Liaisons (Willful Women Assassins Series) (7 page)

“Done!” he
promptly exclaimed. “We're still lining up financing for the
project, but expect to start production in the near future.”

Meanwhile, Alexei was
lining up other work for her, too. She went on several missions that
weren't of much consequence until one day when he called with a
special undertaking.

“Karlee, one of the
senior American diplomats has been kidnapped for ransom by a small
group of Middle Easterners. They are holding him, his wife and kids
as hostages on a fishing yacht in the Caribbean. We have been engaged
to deliver the payoff and secure their release.”

“Okay, Alexei. What's
the plan?”

“I've worked with one
of our agency contacts to get both you and your sister included with
a group of girls that have been hired to provide an escort service
for some of their comrades. You'll each have the usual comm device
concealed in your ear. Janine and I will come aboard with the payoff
after you two have ensured that the family is alive and well. We'll
be using a go-fast, or cigarette boat, in case things go awry and we
need to pursue them. Randolph will provide additional cover from
another yacht nearby. Several others will be providing assistance.”

It was a few days later
when the half-dozen escorts boarded a boat at a pier in Key West to
take them to the yacht. Kristie looked over at an adjacent boat to
see Randolph watching inconspicuously. He winked at her. The pick-up
boat promptly delivered the young ladies at the awaiting luxury
craft. As the foreigners welcomed them aboard, their demeanor made
her skin crawl.

“You ladies will make
certain that these men are kept happy! Be sure that their fishing
lines are always baited and that their drinks are always full. There
is a changing room down below with your bikinis.” He then
turned around and resumed his conversation with the other men in
Arabic.

Karlee, seized the
opportunity to search the lower deck and determined where the
prisoners were probably located. Once all the girls were back on
deck, they were joined by the diplomat and his wife, with an armed
man accompanying the anxious looking couple. Both were middle-aged
and rather frumpy in appearance. The girls determined that the kids
were being kept secured in the lower deck area to keep the parents in
line.

Inspired by the stories of
the 911 terrorists drinking alcohol at the Florida strip clubs, these
men also ignored their religion's dictates. “Girls, bring us
some drinks!” ordered one of them with his middle eastern
accent.

As the morning wore on, the
sisters kept an eye out for other boats, hoping to see Randolph's as
well as one with Janine and Alexei.

“I just love the
turquoise color of this water,” marveled one of the other girls
as the warm, salty, sea-breeze blew gently against her face.

“Oh, look, there are
some dolphins!” shouted out another.

As the liquor flowed, the
men became more obstinate, continuing to speak mostly in their native
tongue.

“Girls, now that we
are out past the three-mile limit, the rule is no bathing suit tops
allowed.”

The other four girls were
used to such things, and casually complied. Kris and Karlee were less
eager.

“You two, go topless
or go overboard!” shouted one of the villainous characters.

Wanting to blend in with
the other girls, they too removed their tops.

“Now bring us more
drinks, bitches!” he said arrogantly.

By the time morning slipped
into afternoon, the sisters had been able to confirm the children
were safe below deck, although bound and gagged. The men slipped into
a state of increased drunkenness. Several other party boats joined
them in the area as a school of fish had been detected by everyone's
sonar. Many of the other partiers were topless as well, with some
being totally nude.

“Look there,”
pointed out one of the liquored-up men, “those girls on that
boat are naked. Oh, I love some things about this country!” As
Kristie brought him some fresh bait for his fishing line, he reached
over and tore off her thong.

“Hey, you can't do
that!” she shouted at him.

He slapped her and Karlee
started shouting, too. Having enjoyed seeing his comrade tear off
Kristie's bottom, another one of the men boldly tore off Karlee's
thong as well. As both sisters struggled with the men, the leader
shook his finger disparagingly at them.

“You two must learn
the meaning of obedience. After all, we are going to take you back to
our homeland with us.”

“You can't do that,
asshole!” shouted Kristie.

“I can do anything I
want to with you. Not only are we out in international waters, but I
also have Diplomatic Immunity!” he claimed with a boisterous
laugh. “You both are now my property!” He then gave Kris
a swift swat on her bare butt.

One of his associates
suggested it might be fun to see how long one of them could tread
water. He agreed and threw the naked Kristie into the colorful sea.

“Help!” she
shouted, struggling to stay afloat in the calm sea. “I hope
those fins are dolphin fins coming this way,” she said
anxiously.

The men set aside their
fishing poles and gathered at the edge of the boat to jeer at her.
Karlee threw her a life preserver.

“Here comes a boat!”
one of them yelled. “It must be the Americans bringing our
money.”

“Bring the girl back
into the boat and take them all down below,” he ordered.

A few moments later, Janine
and Alexei were climbing aboard with a silver case in-hand. They wore
side-arms and several armed men accompanied them, but remained on the
idling cigarette boat. Randolph had positioned himself, along with
his sniper rifle and scope, unnoticed on one of the neighboring
fishing yachts.

“Is that our money?”
the leader inquired as his men lined up along side him, also armed.

“Where is the rest of
the family? We need all four of them on board our boat before we hand
over the case.” Alexei opened the container to show lined-up
stacks of hundred dollar bills.

When the exchange had been
made and the family was aboard his boat, Alexei said, “I
believe I saw some young ladies depart the pier and come here this
morning. Where are they?”

“They are busy. We
are done. Go now!”

A scream and loud ruckus
could be heard from down below. Seconds later both sisters emerged
nude and disheveled. One of the kidnappers grabbed Kristie and put a
gun to her head.

“Leave now or she
dies, this other one, too!”

Just then a hole appeared
in his forehead, no rifle fire had been heard. Randolph had taken the
shot from a quarter-mile away. The man dropped dead, then another,
and their associates promptly stepped back and took cover. Janine and
Alexei pulled out their weapons and a fire-fight ensued. When several
of the men on deck got away, Randolph picked them off one at a time.
Janine went below deck to retrieve the other four girls, along with
all their clothes and the silver case full of cash.

The group showed no mercy
to the remaining terrorists. Being independent contractors in
international waters and there in no official capacity, they
proceeded to gather up and kill all the surviving men. Everyone was
back on deck except for Janine.

“Bomb!” she
shouted from down below. Seconds later she appeared on deck, out of
breath. “That last one set-off a timer as I shot him. It says
ninety seconds and it's counting down!”

They all scrambled for the
idling go-fast boat and quickly crammed themselves into it. Alexei
gunned the powerful diesel engines and the craft's response was
instantaneous. The engines roared loudly as they sped away. Seconds
later the luxury fishing yacht exploding into a million pieces. The
concussion could be felt for hundreds of yards.

“I can never thank
you people enough,” said the relieved diplomat as he exuded
gratitude. “Anytime I can do anything for any of you, please do
not hesitate to tell me!”

“He is a man of much
influence,” added his adoring spouse. “When he says he
can help you with anything, he means it!”

“Thank you. We're
just glad we could save your whole family. We got lucky this time.
Besides, we were well paid,” said Alexei.

At the end of the day, the
diplomat and his family returned home. The others stayed to unwind
and enjoy a sunset walk along one of the Florida beaches. A few
lingering clouds made it even more scenic and memorable.

Shortly after returning to
Chicago, the sisters got the call from Peter that they had been
waiting for. Financing for the rogue agent movie had been secured and
they both were needed in Hollywood as soon as possible.

A few days later as the
pair sat together in their dressing area of the studio going over the
script, several men in suits approached.

“Karlee Kingston, I'm
FBI Special Agent Charles Tibbals. This is Special Agent Ibarreta.”

“How can I help you
gentleman?”

“We're investigating
the killing of Lieutenant Governor Wallace from Illinois,” he
revealed in a menacing manner. “We've retrieved digital voice
prints from the scene. Our computers routinely search the digital
universe for matches in such cases.”

Kristie's face began to
reveal a look of grave concern. Karlee's remained emotionless.

“And?” Karlee
asked.

“And we have an
eighty percent match on your audio track from the scene you two
played together in that long-lost twin TV episode. You've become a
person-of interest
.”

“Eighty percent isn't
a lot,” said her sister dismissively.

The agent continued, “We'd
like you to come downtown with us, take a lie detector test and
provide us details of your whereabouts that night.”

“No thank you, sir.”

“It's not a request,
Miss Kingston.”

“First of all, I have
no idea what night that was, and when you will tell me, I'll have no
memory of my whereabouts on any given night from such a long time
ago. Secondly, a lie detector test could pick up false indications
from some childhood memory, erroneously implicating me. It could only
serve to get an innocent girl like me into more trouble. Thirdly, an
eighty percent correlation isn't enough for you to get a warrant,
otherwise you'd have one. I'm sorry you wasted your time, gentlemen,
but I must ask you to now leave us alone as we have lines to
rehearse.”

“Don't leave town,
miss. You'll be hearing from us again very soon!” The two
agents were clearly agitated as they departed.

“Karlee, I like the
way you handled those men. You certainly have no shortage of lawyers
if you need them. There's Carlton, or any of your old classmates, or
what about that guy who was one of the extras? Bob, wasn't it?”

“I'd kind of like to
keep the chapter with Carlton a closed one, and I haven't kept touch
with any classmates from law school. I don't know anything about Bob.
Hopefully things won't even go that far.”

“Let's call that
diplomat. Maybe he can help get them off our back!”

“I don't even know
who he was, Kristie. I'm calling Alexei. With his connections, he can
surely help.”

He got back to her the next
morning.

“Karlee, that
diplomat you helped save is actually a Director with the government
agency that covertly handles black ops for our country. Such activity
is never officially acknowledged as they want plausible deniability.
That's why the government was willing to pay so much to get him and
his family rescued.”

“I didn't even know
it was the government who had contracted us, Alexei.”

“You've helped out
Uncle Sam more than once, hon.”

“Wow, I had no idea.”

“The man was so
impressed with how you handled yourself that day, and so appreciative
of all that you did and risked, that his agency has elevated you to
license-to-kill
status.”

“I thought that just
existed in the movies.”

“The best part for
you is that it's retroactive. That means you can't be held
accountable in Wallace's death.”

“Oh my God, that
sounds too good to be true. That is so awesome!”

“As with most things
in life, there is also a downside, Karlee.”

“What could possibly
be bad about all that?”

“The agency likes to
know the people to whom they grant such a privilege. They're going to
look into your background most thoroughly.”

“Oh, let's not go
there. I don't want to talk about it,” she said, tensing up.
Her face began to turn an ashen color.

After that, the FBI matter
ceased to be of any further concern. The film-shoot continued for the
next six months and wrapped. The consensus was that it showed great
promise. Kristie became envious of her sister's elevated status, and
joined her on the next trip overseas to meet with Alexei and discuss
getting the same classification.

“I can get you what
you want, Kristie, but you will have to do something for me, too,”
Alexei said. “Your sister limits herself to killing only the
bad guys as she calls them. Many of my jobs are for good people who
have merely been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but offer
handsome payments. If I can use you for these things, I will get you
what you want.”

“I don't know,
Alexei. I generally follow my big sister's lead on such things. If
something's not right for her, it's not for me either.”

“Well,
think it over. I've just come into a very special list from a
retiring U.S Marshal. In exchange for a seven figure payment into his
retirement fund, he has provided me with the names of numerous people
hiding in the Witness Protection Program. So far no
Witness
Security
Program
participant, who has followed security guidelines, has been harmed
while under the active
protection
of the U.S. Marshals. With this list in my possession, that's about
to change. Here, look it over.”