Noble Intentions: Season Three (38 page)

Sasha had left Number 10 before
Jack had. She had to go to the office and wanted to stop by the hospital and
check on Mason. The same hospital Jack was about to enter. But that wasn’t the
reason Jack was here. Erin had been taken to the same hospital the day before.
She’d been rushed into emergency surgery to repair her torn femoral artery.

Jack walked past the double sliding
doors that led to the emergency room and instead used the main hospital entrance.
He hadn’t bothered to wash up or change his clothes from the night before. He’d
gotten used to the smell by the time they reached the outskirts of London. His
dirty appearance drew several stares from patients, visitors and staff. The
woman at the information desk was no exception. She avoided making eye contact
and spoke to him with disdain in her voice as she told him Erin’s room number
and gave him directions.

He thanked her and moved quickly
through the halls. When he reached Erin’s room, he found the door open. He took
a step inside and rapped his knuckles against the door. Leon, who had been
asleep in the chair next to the bed, jolted up. The guy’s hand slipped inside
his coat, eased out when he realized it was Jack in the room.

Erin turned her head from right to
left and smiled. The tension Jack felt in his neck and shoulders lifted.

“Hi, Jack,” she said.

He crossed the room, leaned over
and kissed her cheek. “You OK?”

She nodded. “Going to be fine.”

Leon rose. “I’ll be out in the
hall.” He bumped into Jack’s shoulder as he passed. The space between the bed
and wall was tight, but not that tight.

“What is it with him?” Jack said.

She shrugged. “No clue. Grumpy, I
guess.”

“Where’s Mia?”

“She’s with Hannah.”

“Where are they?”

“They left a while ago.”

“Erin, where did they go?”

“I shouldn’t tell you this.” She
bit her lip, reached for his face. “Then again, maybe I should.”

Jack intercepted her hand and
placed it on the bed, resting his on top. “What?”

“They’re with an old friend of
yours.”

“The only old friend I have in
London is with the Prime Minister right now.”

“Clarissa.”

“What do you mean, Clarissa?”

“She’s here. She’s watching the
girls. Taking them someplace safe.”

Jack glanced over his shoulder.
Leon stood in the doorway. The man nodded. “Someplace safe.”

“How did this happen?” Jack said.

“She was with the man you called to
help us in Paris,” Erin said.

“Spiers? How did she end up with
him?”

Erin shrugged.

Jack remained quiet for a moment.
He processed the new information and let it settle. The pieces began to fall
into place. He knew the connection between Clarissa and Spiers intersected
through Sinclair. That must’ve been the reason she left.

“OK,” he said. “We can deal with
this soon enough.”

“Don’t be a fool, Jack.”

“What’s that mean?”

Behind him, he heard Leon answer
his phone and step into the hall.

“It means that you and this woman
are meant to be together. Don’t be a selfish jackass and drive her away.”

“You don’t understand. That’s not
how...”

“That’s not how what?” she said. “I
know you better than you think. Seven years hasn’t changed you all that much,
you know.”

“There’s more important things than
my love life at play here, Erin. The Prime Minister has been threatened. We
thought we eliminated the threat, but it’s ongoing.”

Her face became worried. “Do you
think they are still after us?”

“I don’t know if the two are
related. It seems that way. Yet, there’s a link missing. Every person I suspect
turns out to be clean. What the hell is the connection between me, you, and the
Prime Minister?”

“You’re the spy, not me.”

“Thanks for the observation.”

Leon entered the room, the color
drained from his face.

“Leon,” Erin said. “What is it?”

He opened his mouth, but no words
came out.

Jack turned and walked up to him.
“What’s going on?”

He looked from Erin to Jack. “Come
to the hall.”

Jack followed him out of the room.
The lights in the hall shone brighter and he squinted to adjust to the
brightness. Three nurses, one who looked fresh out of nursing school, passed.
They all stared at Jack’s dirt covered clothes. He heard one make a comment,
but dismissed it after
did you see
.

Leon interlaced his fingers behind
his head and forced out several quick, deep breaths.

“Leon, what’s going on?”

“The girls,” he said.

“What about them?”

“They’ve been abducted.”

“All three?”

“There’s only two.”

“The woman you sent with them.”

He shook his head. “They don’t know
what happened to Clarissa. Something about a car crash, bullets flying.”

Jack’s vision darkened around the
edges, his head spun. His lungs felt like they had collapsed. He couldn’t force
a breath into them. He reached for the wall, fell against it.

“Jack?”

Leon’s words sounded like they came
deep inside a canyon, over a mile away. He heard his name over and over, more
and more diminished each time. He’d experienced this in the past, but it had
been a few years at least since the last episode. Jack felt himself collide
with the wall, then the floor. The world around him went black.

A burst of ammonia roused Jack from
his unconscious state. The three nurses hovered over him. The young one looked
scared.

“Are you all right, sir?” one of
the older ones said.

“Fine.” He struggled to find his
balance and rose. He reached out and used the wall to steady himself. “What
happened?”

“You passed out. Have you been
feeling well?” the nurse said.

“I’m OK. Go on.”

Leon stepped back, looked Jack up
and down. A certain amount of fear hid behind the man’s eyes.

“That’s never happened,” Jack said.

Leon shook his head in short,
smooth bursts. “No worries. It was nearly my reaction as well. Look, Jack,
whatever you need, I’ll help.”

They both brushed the incident
aside. Jack nodded. “We’ve got to tell her.”

“I know.”

Together, they reentered the room.
Erin sat upright in the bed, tears streamed down her cheeks. She shook her head
when they approached.

“No,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Jack said.

“We’ll do everything we can to find
them,” Leon said.

Jack hugged Erin for several
seconds, then pulled away. “I’m going to find whoever did this, and I’m going
to kill them. Erin, I won’t rest until these people are dead.”

“Just find my baby, Jack.” She took
a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Find our baby.”

“I will,” Jack said as he leaned
over and kissed Erin on the forehead. He gave her one last look, pushed off the
bed and headed for the door.

“Jack,” Leon said.

Jack pushed past the man, said
nothing. Leon followed him into the hall, called for him twice. Jack kept
going. He navigated the maze of hallways and exited through the ER waiting
room. Through it all, he ignored the stares from people offended by his dirty
clothes, and the harsh words of those telling him he didn’t belong in a certain
part of the hospital.

Single, focused thought and action.

To hell with them and anyone else
who managed to get in his way.

The ambulance lane was packed four
deep. Medics unloaded gurneys with people who looked like they had been lucky
to survive a major accident. For a second he wondered if there had been another
attack. He figured the hospital would have been buzzing if that were the case.

He walked between the front and
back of the first two ambulances and then jogged across the traffic lane
between the parking lot and hospital. A white mini-van stopped and waited until
he passed. The parking lot was full. Fuller than it had been when he arrived.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key fob and pressed the panic
button. A horn went off in three second intervals. He saw the silver Audi and
its flashing lights. The driver’s door was closed. An electric car no bigger
than a refrigerator had wedged itself between the Audi and a car next to it.

Jack slid into the driver’s seat.
He had to adjust himself to being on the right hand side of the car. Every time
he drove in London it played with his brain. He’d narrowly avoided a few
accidents due to habit taking over. He didn’t avoid hitting the electric car
when he backed out.

Oh well.

Being a motorcade vehicle, the Audi
was equipped with strobes and a siren in addition to its advanced GPS
navigation features. As he pulled out of the parking spot and neared the exit,
he switched all three on. The drive, which could have taken upwards of an hour
in London’s parking lot they called roads, took Jack fifteen minutes. The GPS
unit led him to the parking garage that adjoined the underground room that
connected to the labyrinth of tunnels beneath and around Number 10.

He parked and stepped out of the
car. Gas fumes surrounded him. The only door in the room opened following a
series of clicks. Multiple locks, various types. Jon entered the room.

“How’s your lady friend?” Jon
asked.

“She’s going to be fine.”

Jack walked past Jon without
looking at him and took the tunnel in the only direction it led.

Jon caught up and placed a hand on
Jack’s shoulder. “But?”

Jack jerked to the side to free
himself from the man’s grasp. His opposite arm brushed against the tunnel wall.
Condensation coated his hand.

“There’s more trouble.” Jack said.

“What happened?” Jon said.

Jack cast a glance behind, verified
no one else was inside the tunnel. He decided it was time to test Jon. He
twisted to his left, drove his right fist into Jon’s solar plexus. The guy let
out a wheezing gasp. Jack grabbed the man by his throat, refused to let him bow
over and relax his diaphragm. He hoisted Jon up and slid his back against the
domed wall, head to the ceiling so he was forced to look down at Jack.

“What?” Jon tried to say. It came
out hollow.

“Why’d you do it?”

The man said nothing. It wasn’t
that he had nothing to offer. He couldn’t speak. His face turned deep red.
Veins poked out on his forehead, like serpents riding the surface of a blood
red sea. Jon’s eyes started to bulge and roll back. Jack let go. The man fell
to the floor, knees, forearms, then face. His body formed a huddled mass. He
rolled to his side. A loud gasp escaped his mouth when he finally managed to
force air into his lungs.

“That’s enough,” Jack said. He
reached down, grabbed Jon by the collar and yanked him back up. He pushed the
guy into the wall, pinned him there, but did not choke him this time.

Jon panted, caught his breath.
“What are you doing?”

“You tell me.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking
about.”

“No idea, huh? Ask me why I don’t
believe you.”

Jon said nothing. He closed his
eyes and swallowed hard.

“Ask me!” Jack yelled. He pulled out
his Beretta, jammed it under Jon’s chin.

“Ask me,” Jack said again.

“Why?”

“Tell me why you did it.”

“Did what?”

“The girls. Why’d you have them
kidnapped? What kind of game are you playing here?”

Jon went slack. Every tensed muscle
in the guy’s body seemed to relax. Or maybe he entered some kind of forced
paralysis. The guy leaned his head back against the wall, his shoulders
drooped. He looked down his nose and leveled his gaze with Jack’s.

“Tell me,” Jack said.

“Jack, I didn’t do anything. My
sole responsibility is to Alex. That’s it. I’m one hundred percent legit. I’ll
give you anything you need to find them. I’ll scour the damn city with you. You
have to believe me. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

Jack lowered his hands and took a
step back. Jon didn’t move. Jack holstered his weapon and kept his gaze fixed
on Jon.

“I don’t know if I believe you.”

Jon extended his hand, sideways,
fingers spread.

Jack didn’t accept it.

“I’ve been there before, Jack.
Everyone is an enemy until proven otherwise.”

Words that Jack lived by. And Jon
still hadn’t proved himself, one way or another. On one hand, he’d been distant
and snapped at them. On the other, the guy had managed to pass every challenge
they’d put him through.

“Let’s go,” Jack said.

Jon led and Jack followed through
the maze of tunnels. He kept one eye on Jon, one eye ahead. He kept track of
each turn in the event he walked into a setup. When they reached the main
tunnel that led to the house, he relaxed. They reached the end, climbed a set
of stairs and continued past the first level of the house. Two more flights
with a hall in between deposited them into the meeting room with the old long
wood table and the bar with the two thousand dollar bottles of whiskey. Jack
forced himself not to take a line that led to the first opened bottle he
spotted.

Bear was the first to greet Jack
when he entered. The big man rose and took a few steps forward.

“We just got word,” Bear said.

Jack said nothing. Alex approached
and grabbed him by the shoulders and moved his head in front of Jack’s until
they made eye contact.

“I pledge to you every man I have.”

“You need them,” Jack said.

“So do you.”

“This is a tactic. We all know it.
They’re trying to divide us, get us away from you, Alex.”

“Won’t work,” Alex said. “I’m going
to be by your side, and I’m going to put a bullet into the head of whoever took
your little girl.”

“Appreciate it,” Jack said.
“Where’s Mason? Still at the hospital?”