Sealed In Lies (20 page)

“
Yes. The chip is in her arm. There will be a man with her. Special Forces trained him so you will need to be extremely cautious. He won’t think twice about killing you and he will be extremely hard to trap. He’s already killed two and won’t hesitate to kill more. You understand?”

“
Understood. What about the woman?”

“
Kill her too.” The Emperor smiled. That should keep Senator Warren Walters right where he wanted him.

Chapter 22

Jack pulled into the parking lot of the Bristol Memorial Hospital. He turned to Caroline. She was silent for the last several miles. She was looking out the window up at the hospital when suddenly she turned to face him.

“
Jack,” she said. She had not used his name before and it surprised him to hear it come from her lips. “I’m not getting out here.”

He looked at her hard. “What do you mean you’re not getting out here?”

“
I’m staying with you.”

“
Like hell you are. I told you I’m through with you. That chip in your arm is going to get me caught before I can accomplish what I set out to do. You’re a danger to me and if the truth be told I am a danger to you. I need you gone. Now get out of the car.”

“
No,” she said calmly. He started to protest again, but she held up a hand and cut him off. “No, listen, Jack. This time I need you. I have given this a great deal of thought. I am afraid of you and I don’t know you very well, but you are my only hope. When you broke into my house the other night I was praying for a way out. I was brutally raped and beaten by my own husband. It’s not the first time it has happened and I know if I go back it will not be the last. I can’t face that any longer, Jack. I’ve been thinking about it for days and every time I think about going back to Warren, I just get sick.

“
He will somehow blame me for all that has happened here. He will blame me for allowing you to get into that safe and take those discs. He is crazy enough to even think that I went with you on purpose. I might as well make that a reality and take what chance I have with you.”

Jack knew Warren and what he was capable of, but to hear all this come from her lips was still a shock “Jesus, Caroline.”

She went on quickly with her plan before he could continue. “We can take the chip out of my arm and leave it somewhere. He will track the chip and think he’s found us. By that time, we will be long gone. I need you for protection, Jack. I’ve got money of my own that Warren can’t touch. I can pay you. If Warren finds me, he will kill me. He’s threatened my life many times. The man is insane, you know that don’t you.”

It wasn’t a question. Jack knew she was right, but he just couldn’t take her. It was far too dangerous. “Caroline, he’s your husband. He’s soon to be the Vice President of the United States.” His words trailed off. Anything else he said at this point would not be true. He had been about to say that she would be safer with Warren than with him. Jack couldn’t believe he’d even thought the words. The look on her face tore at his heart. It actually bothered him a great deal to leave her behind. The thought of what Warren did to her repeatedly made him want to kill the bastard. He didn’t know Caroline well, but he’d already discovered how beautiful and smart she was. No one deserved to be treated that way. If she were his woman…

He stopped that thought cold and ran a hand over his bald head. He couldn’t believe he was having these kinds of thoughts about a woman that he barely knew. Not to mention the fact that she belonged to another man. That other man was a mean son of a bitch, granted, but Warren was her husband, not him. He had no right to her. Besides, there were too many dangerous people after him. There was a high probability she’d be killed if she stayed with him.

“
Jack do you have any idea what a hell I’ve lived in for the past 10 years? I haven’t been safe with him since the day we got married. Oh, he puts on his little show for the entire world to see, pretending we are the loving couple, but Jack, he’s a monster. I can’t go back there. I can’t live through that torture any longer.”

Before she could stop them the words of her story began to pour forth. “It started about two years ago, with small slaps. Then the sex got rough and he would pinch me and punch me in places no one could see. Lately its been escalating.

“
We were at the celebration dinner for the election and I danced with several men and only danced with him once. He was jealous. He said I was acting like a whore and if that was what I wanted to be then he would treat me like one. Before I could react he attacked me. I scratched him and tried to fight, but he’s just too strong for me. He has never hit me in the face before.” She absently touched her bruised cheek. “He never wanted anyone to know what he did to me. He said if I ever told anyone he would see to it that I was shut up permanently.”

She looked desperately at Jack, “Don’t you see? You showing up in my house that night is the answer I was praying for. I’ve got to get away from him and this is the perfect answer.

“
I don’t care what we have to do. I’ll fake my own death if I have to, but I cannot go back to that hell hole of a marriage.”

The more Caroline talked, the more she liked her plan. She looked at Jack, stared into his eyes. He was wavering she saw it. She pressed on. “I don’t know what you’re working on, but I can help you. I’ve known that man for years and I know how he thinks. I also know a great deal about his business dealings. He thinks he kept all his secrets from me but I was a Computer Science minor in college. I can crack code too.”

Now Jack was surprised. “A beauty queen with a degree in Computer Science? That’s rich. I never would have figured you for a computer geek.”

He sighed. He could see how desperate she was even though she was trying very hard not to show it. “Caroline,” he said. “I can’t take you with me. I might be able to help you get somewhere under ground but I can’t take you with me. As I have told you before, there are some ruthless people after me. The family of a very powerful drug lord whom I just killed is after me. I shot and killed the Deputy Director of the CIA. I am not winning any popularity contests right now. My own country thinks I’ve gone rogue. Hell, only a few hours ago you were telling me that there is talk all over Washington about me. There will be any number of people after me that will shoot first and ask questions later. I just can’t put you in that type of danger.”

She was desperate but she wasn’t going to beg. She would try one last time and if he didn’t agree then she would have no choice but to get out of the car and try to do this on her own, but her mind was made up.

“
I have put up with Warren’s torture for so long. I’ve been the dutiful wife, but I can’t do it any longer. That man is evil and all he cares about is becoming President. I have no idea what he would do to see that dream come true, but nothing is going to stand in his way. I can’t be a part of that, Jack. If you won’t help me, then I have no choice but to do this on my own, but I’m not going back.”

Caroline reached for the door handle and opened the car door.

“
Caroline, wait.” Jack reached for her hand. He stared straight into her eyes. They shone bright green in the soft glow of the car’s dome light. Damn, like his Granddaddy used to say, she had pluck. She would rather walk into the unknown without him, knowing it was dangerous, than go back to that monster. He knew he would curse himself for this later, but he said, “Okay, you can stay.”

Immense relief washed over her. She was terrified she was going to have to get out of this car and try to make it on her own without him. Even though she knew what he faced was dangerous, even that he was dangerous, she wanted to stay. As her Daddy always said, “Sometimes, Caroline, it’s better to be with the devil, you know.”

For some strange reason Caroline trusted Jack. He was fierce, and he was hard as steel when it came to finding out information he needed to know. She saw him kill a man in cold blood with no remorse at all, and then, not a few hours later she’d heard the love and compassion in his voice when he talked to this Lucy person. He’d treated her with nothing but respect and she’d actually been touched when he brought in two different kinds of food from Wendy’s because he cared about what she wanted to eat. Is that something a kidnapper who didn’t care would do? That was not the behavior of someone who meant her harm. He would take care of her.

Chapter 23

Jack pulled the car out of the hospital parking lot and got back on the interstate. He was quiet for a while. He needed to think. He wasn’t at all sure he was making the right decision about keeping Caroline with him, but how could he resist those green eyes? God, if she only knew how sexy her eyes were. There was absolutely no way he could say no to her. Besides, he rationalized, what kind of man would he be if he let her go back to that monster, knowing what he does to her.

Now for his second dilemma, how could he remove the chip from Caroline’s arm safely? They needed to do it now. For all he knew, Warren’s goons were closing in fast. Once he removed the chip, what then? His mind whirled. They were going to need new identities and Caroline would drastically need to change her appearance. He actually toyed with Caroline’s idea about faking her death, but decided against it, too many holes to plug with that plan. No, the key was to go underground. They would need to reshape their lives entirely, at least until Jack could get those discs decoded and expose the plot against Michael Hardy. Going underground would give him the time he needed to solve the puzzle, contact the appropriate people through Lucy, and reveal the truth.

They needed to become different people, but how could he do that when all his contacts were in the CIA or the Bureau? He couldn’t use Lucy to do it. She was in enough danger just staying in touch with him. He needed someone who could create new lives for them both on line and on paper. There was only one man Jack knew of who could get false identities in a hurry and that was Hutch. There were risks with this plan because Jack suspected that Hutch was somehow involved. He had no proof but after seeing that code on Warren’s programs, Jack had his suspicions. If he asked Hutch for help then he would know their aliases and relay them to the others. Jack mentally weighed the pros and cons and came to a decision. It was a chance he was going to have to take.

Two hours later, when he crossed into Knoxville, Tennessee, he decided to take the chance and stop at another motel. He needed a sterile environment and a clean hotel bathroom was going to be the best thing at his disposal. He would remove the chip and then decide what to do.

Caroline stayed in the car again as he went to register. He came back with a key and grabbed his black duffel bag out of the back. He also grabbed a black medical kit and walked Caroline to the hotel door. He chose a room on the first floor in case they had to escape quickly. He didn’t want to be trapped by stairs. He wanted two clear exits out of the room.

Once inside, he tossed his duffel bag onto the bed and unlocked the cuffs from Caroline’s hands. He assumed after their conversation he wouldn’t need them any longer so he stuffed them into the side pocket of the duffel. Caroline sat down on the side of the bed watching him as he prepared to remove the chip from her arm.

“
This is not going to hurt like hell, you know,” he said. “I have nothing to numb you with and only aspirin to ease the pain.”

Caroline’s face paled slightly but she said bravely, “I know. I’ll be okay.”

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly. “Think you’re a real tough guy, don’t you?”

She smiled back. “Maybe.”

“
Well, we will see how tough you really are in just a few minutes. Come on into the bathroom and wash your hands and arms really well. Soap all the way up to your elbows and then just let them air dry. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Caroline did as she was told and was waiting, arms dripping, seated on the toilet when Jack came into the bathroom a few minutes later. In his hand he carried the black medical case. “Sit on the floor with your back against the bathtub,” he ordered.

She did and he knelt on the floor beside her. He took a clean towel, spread it on the floor, and on it placed a small scalpel, a needle, a pair of tweezers, some heavy thread, and a bottle of alcohol. He glanced at the wall and noticed a magnifying mirror mounted beside the larger vanity mirror. He braced his legs across the width of the bathroom floor and gave the mounted mirror a hard jerk. It popped off it’s mounting and the tiny metal screws holding it to the wall pinged across the floor as they settled behind the toilet.

“
Good Lord, Jack. What are you doing?”

“
All the better to see you with, my dear,” he quipped.

He balanced the magnifying mirror on Caroline’s leg and adjusted it so he could look sideways and see her arm in the mirror. “You need to hold it steady. These chips are very hard to see. Can you do that?” She nodded.

He unwrapped the cotton cloth of his t-shirt that he’d used as an outer bandage and then removed the gauze. The wound was angry and red. That chip was going to have to come out soon anyway. He could tell it was working its way to the surface and that would make it easier to remove. “Ready?” He looked steadily into her eyes. “This might sting a little.”