Ripper (29 page)

Since Senator Garrison Lee had died three months before, Alice had kept pretty much to herself. Jack and the others figured
she needed the time to grieve and allow the senator’s memory to settle into its proper place. But as Collins looked down upon the eighty-five-year-old woman, he could see that if she were grieving, it was one dirty process. She had paint covering most of her face and even more of her arms and hands.

“Jack,” she said loudly and then reached up and put her arms around him and squeezed him so tight
he lost his breath.

“And how are you doing?” he asked when he was able to pry her arms off of his neck.

“Just rockin’ out here and painting the old place. You know, adding a little color now that … that the ogre has gone to the great beyond.”

Jack could see that as much as Alice tried to hide it, the loss of Lee was still etched into her mind.

“Ogre, yeah, whatever you say,” Jack said as he
stepped into the foyer of the small house.

“Now, I understand you’ve had some excitement?” Alice said as she walked a few steps to the bar, a new addition to the house Jack noted. She started pouring whiskey for both of them. “Ice?” she asked, holding up the amber fluid, which reminded Jack of the substance they removed from Perdition’s Gate.

“No ice, and yes, much excitement.”

Alice stepped
from behind the bar and handed Jack his drink, which he looked at curiously because of its color.

“So, tell me Jack, what’s it like to be a civilian?” she asked as she took half of her drink down in a swallow.

“How in the hell did you know about that already?”

Alice smiled and batted her eyelids, just the way she used to do with Garrison Lee, which drove him insane. “Now, just because I haven’t
returned to work yet, doesn’t mean I don’t have my sources.”

“Sarah,” Jack said as he downed his entire drink in a swallow.

“Well, actually I received calls from Sarah, Carl, Niles, Virginia, and Charlie Ellenshaw.”

“Did they think you could do something about my resignation?”

Alice took Jack’s empty glass and returned to the bar and refilled them both. Before she could return, the phone rang
and she answered it.

“Hello?” she said.

“Yes, I’ve heard. I know it hurts, but you have to let him sort through this. I know you do, but like the rest of us have to do, you just need to give him his space. Yes dear, thank you, and yes, you can come over anytime. Yes, goodbye, Will.” Alice hung up the phone and then brought Jack his drink.

“You can add Will Mendenhall to the list.”

Jack shook
his head and then had to smile.

“Hey, since you’re no longer an officer and a gentleman, Mr. Collins, would you care to get drunk with an old woman and tell me a story?”

Jack downed his second drink and then pursed his lips as the whiskey burned its way to his stomach.

“It would be a pleasure, Mrs. Hamilton. But get this straight young lady—I am not helping you paint. I draw the line right
there.”

EVENT GROUP COMPLEX
NELLIS AFB, NEVADA

Will Mendenhall had actually worn his Class “A” uniform just two times since his promotion two years before to that of a second lieutenant. As he walked through the reception area for incoming aircraft he noticed for the first time how empty the uniform looked without his old E-7 rank on his shoulders. He missed being a staff sergeant on most days,
but now that he had officially been promoted to second in command of the security detachment at the Group, he realized he really wanted to be just a soldier again. As he rounded the corner he saw the four men and two women he was there to meet and escort to the Event Group Complex. The first person he saw caught his attention and he came to a stop thirty feet from the mingling group.

The young
black woman saw Will and she smiled. She held the handle of a small rolling suitcase in her right hand and with her left she waved at Will. For his part, Mendenhall turned around to see who she was waving at. When he saw no one behind him but the two crewmen of the Blackhawk that took him to the reception center, he turned back to the young woman who held her smile as she looked the young officer
over. Will realized then that the girl had actually been greeting
him
. He tried to smile and felt it faltering even as he attempted it. He decided he better just do what he came to do and leave the smiles for another time.

“Hi, are you the escort we’re supposed to meet?” the young lady said as she held out her small hand to Mendenhall. He cleared his throat as he tried to speak but quickly decided
that he would also abandon that thought. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her gorgeous brown ones. “Hello, anyone home?” she said jokingly as she was joined by a rather stern-looking man dressed in the uniform of a lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army. Finally Will saw the rank staring at him and instead of shaking the girl’s hand, he saluted the colonel.

“Never saw a second lieutenant that would refuse
the handshake of a beautiful woman in order to salute an old man,” the colonel said shaking his head.

“I don’t think he’s capable of speech, Dad,” the beautiful woman said as she lowered her hand just as Will raised his to shake. She laughed and tilted her head and looked at Mendenhall. “Maybe we’ll start over later; right now we’re supposed to be met and escorted through to the Group. It seems
our security badges have lapsed, at least that was what Director Compton told us.”

Will started shaking his head up and down and then after a few insane-looking minutes he finally found his voice. “Sir, I am here to bring you into the secured area of Nellis. Can you give your identification cards over to this man,” he said gesturing to the crew chief standing behind them. “He’ll run your security
clearance and then we can be on our way.” Mendenhall’s eyes locked on the woman again and this time managed a small smile that was returned instantly. He then managed to pull out the folder he had been carrying. He looked at the list of names and then checked them off as the crew chief gathered their identification cards. He noticed immediately that the woman’s name was Gloria Bannister. Then
he saw the letters following her name. He stopped counting after sixteen, which all boiled down to the woman having just about fifteen years more education than Will had. And that made her—

“Dr. Bannister,” she said once more holding her hand out when she saw Mendenhall looking at her name on the Event Group recall list. This time Will didn’t hesitate; he shook her hand. Her eyes traveled to
the bandage covering his hand and then rose to meet his. That was when she saw a small bandage covering his jawline from just below the ear. “It’s too bad I’m not that kind of doctor; it looks like you could use one,” she said as she released his hand. “You’re new since my last trip back to the Group.”

“Oh, uh, this,” he said looking at his hand. “Just part of the job around here. And I don’t
think I’m that new; I’ve been here for six years.”

“Well, I guess we missed each other.”

“They all check out Lieutenant,” the crew chief said as he started handing the IDs back to their owners. The crew chief had to tug and pull Dr. Bannister’s ID from Will’s grasp.

“I’m Lieutenant Colonel William Bannister, young man, and I am supposed to be in charge of this band of fools from the CDC, including
my daughter here, Dr. Bannister.”

Mendenhall’s eyes slowly moved away from the now grinning girl to the large man in the same Class “A” uniform he wore.

“Although it’s written into army regulations that anyone, and I mean anyone, above the rank of first lieutenant can make a fool out of second lieutenants, I will forgo that right at the moment. Right now I understand we are needed for some particularly
dirty work at the complex, so may I suggest we get to it?”

“Yes, sir, right this way.” Will turned away after placing the file under his arm and with eyes wide shooed the two chiefs away ahead of him.

The young doctor slapped her father on the arm and then placed her arm through his. “You’re just plain mean sometimes,” she said and they both laughed as they followed the scared second lieutenant
out to the flight line. “Sometimes I think working too closely with Senator Lee all those years has made you mean at heart.”

The Blackhawk flew for only seven minutes. It circled the ancient hangar where at one time B-25 Mitchells and P-51 Mustangs sat like waiting dragons to take to the war-torn skies of the world. It had been over sixty years since the propeller-driven beasts ruled the air
and just as long since the giant hangar had housed anything other than insects and Gila monsters.

The Blackhawk swept the area twice so the security detail surrounding the hangar could clearly identify them. Then it circled to the front of the old hangar and the large rotored craft settled to about ten feet off the desert scrub. Wind and sand blew up and obscured the Blackhawk as it eased itself
through the giant and dilapidated hangar door, so it would look to the casual observer to be hanging from only five of the twenty giant hinges on either side. The helicopter hovered for the briefest of moments before the experienced pilot sat it down onto what looked like a cracked and broken concrete center floor.

Suddenly every one of the reactivated Event personnel from the CDC gave out a
loud breath when they felt their stomachs heave up slightly as the Blackhawk was lowered down by the massive lift.

As the twenty-seven-ton lift operated on ultraquiet hydraulics, it was hard to tell once your stomach settled if you were still moving or not. Finally the elevator came to a stop and Niles Compton was there to greet his returning team.

Will jumped free of the Blackhawk and then
handed the file folder to Niles.

“On behalf of our department, I would like to welcome you back home to Nevada,” Niles said.

“Whatever this is about Mr. Director, I sure hope you can afford my fees,” Colonel Bannister joked with his old friend as he held out his hand.

Niles took the colonel’s hand and shook it. “Good to see you again Billy,” he said looking over at the colonel’s daughter. “Gloria,
sorry to drag you back to the Group on such short notice, but budgeting for a full-time disease control staff is a little beyond us.”

“It’s good to be back, Niles,” Gloria said as she waited for their mission to be described to them.

“We have an element in house that needs to be treated with respect, and I trust you to see that it’s analyzed and then, if need be, destroyed after study.”

“Sounds
fascinating,” Colonel Bannister said as he followed the soldiers carrying his suitcase toward the elevators. The others followed Bannister.

Gloria smiled as she walked by Will. Compton half smiled as he watched Mendenhall’s eyes follow the attractive doctor as she walked away.

“What’s wrong Lieutenant? You look sick. Aren’t your new expanded duties meeting with your approval?”

“Huh?” Will stammered,
not hearing a word Niles had said. “Sir?”

Niles turned his head and watched the group of doctors as they entered the elevator. Compton smiled and then raised his eyebrows as he turned and looked at Will.

“Carry on, Lieutenant,” the director said.

“Huh?”

Niles smiled as he turned away and strode to the elevator, leaving a confused second lieutenant in his wake.

MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

The large man going by the name of Smith stepped off the chartered flight from Denver. He was met by a team of three men and they were backed up by four more in a car he knew was there but couldn’t see as per their training.

As the large well-dressed man stepped up to the black Chevy Tahoe, he looked at his watch and then turned to the man holding the door. He saw that he was
wearing a black windbreaker.

“How much longer does the transmitter have before it dies?” he asked as he eyed the man who led the Black field team inside the Las Vegas city limits.

“We lost the signal five minutes ago, Mr. Smith.”

“You have GPS locations for all of the stops the target made?”

“Yes, sir, we do. Actually, he made only one stop after appearing at 2896 Koval Lane, and that was
a private residence out on Flamingo Road.”

The man named Smith shook his head and then buttoned his blue blazer. As he stepped by the smaller man who held the door open, he looked down at him and without his other men hearing said, “What’s with the black windbreaker?”

The man was taken aback as Smith seated himself in the backseat of the Tahoe. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came
out. After all, he had heard the rumors about Smith and his famous temper. He had also heard that the man really had one passion in life, and that was to end other people’s aspirations for a long one.

“We never wear black when the need to intimidate isn’t called for,” he said as he looked over at the man who was now having second thoughts about running the Las Vegas office for him. “And investigating
doesn’t call for the intimidation factor. Don’t wear that shit again unless I specifically order you to.” Smith reached out and closed the door in the man’s face. The former U.S. Army Ranger swallowed and then ran around to the opposite rear door and climbed inside.

Smith once more looked at his watch. “Take me to where our target first appeared. That’s quite a jump from Nellis to Koval Lane
in downtown Las Vegas with the route the subject took. According to the report, he cut through rough desert and the basements of several casinos to get to this location on Koval Lane. I’m interested in knowing how he achieved that little stunt.”

“Yes, sir,” the driver said as he placed the large Tahoe into gear.

“What’s the name of this place again,” he asked the chastised man next to him.

The man pulled out his notebook and then decided at that precise moment to remove the offensive black windbreaker. He opened the notebook and studied his notes, infuriating Smith even more than he had been.

“The Gold City Pawn Shop,” the man finally answered without looking up.

“Then why aren’t we at the Gold City Pawn Shop already?”

The Tahoe screeched out of the charter area of McCarran airport
heading to downtown. As they pulled out onto the main drive heading toward the city, another black Tahoe pulled out after them.