The Gemini Deception (44 page)

“As you already know, I trade in organs,” she said. “Illegally, yes, but my clients are significant individuals, aware of how the trade works and where the organs come from.” She tried to control her voice. “It’s very possible, however, the person you are looking for voluntarily donated an—”

“Her name is Jack, and she hasn’t voluntarily donated anything.”

She was caught so off guard she couldn’t entirely hide her surprise. “Jack?”

“The woman you blackmailed into working for you.”

TQ stared at him a while longer before she smiled and, soon after, began to laugh. “Are you telling me all this is about Jack the…paid assassin?”

“That’s the one,” Pierce said seriously.

TQ laughed again. “May I ask what your interest in her may be? Why someone of your stature would be willing to bargain so much for someone so inconsequential?”

“No.” His eyes narrowed dangerously. “You may not.”

“I can’t fathom any reason other than she’s done something to upset you. You’re after her for the same reason I was. To make her pay.”

“It’s none of your business, Ms. Rothschild. Time is money, so let’s move along.”

“Of course.” She felt almost giddy. Not only was the trade-off laughably easy, but Jack was going to pay her dues with or without her. Of course, she’d much prefer to end the assassin’s miserable life under her own terms and after a considerable amount of pain. “You can have her, although I will miss playing with my toy girl.”

“Where is she?”

“In the basement.” TQ laughed. “In storage, until I was done playing and she heals.”

Pierce got up. “How bad?”

“She was managing, when I saw her last. Of course, that was hours ago, and well…I left her in the company of two very eager men.” She smiled as she imagined the kind of shape Jack must be in by now. “You’re free to leave her with me. I’m sure I can make her pay for both of us.”

Pierce banged his hand on the desk. “Call your men and tell them to stop. I want to see her.
Now
.”

She jumped, startled. What a strange reaction from someone who wanted Jack to suffer as much as she did. She called her guy in the basement. “How’s my friend doing?”

“She passed out.”

“Shame. Anyway, enough fun for tonight. Shane will be coming by to pick her up. Both of you are done for the night.” She hung up.

“One of my men can take you,” TQ snapped, and one of the four men stepped forward. “Escort Mr. Pierce to the lobby. Then fetch the woman.”

She extended her hand to Pierce. “It turned out to be a pleasure after all.”

Pierce didn’t take it. Instead he leaned forward and towered over her. “If you ever touch or go looking for her again, I will personally strangle you.” He pivoted and walked to the door where the guard was waiting.

TQ got up when she heard the fax machine come to life not long after he’d gone. Distracted by his reaction, she picked the two sheets off the tray and glanced at the first.

This is all I could find. It’s old, but it’s all I can do. The rest remains out of my league.
TQ flipped to the next page, where a full-color picture of a man stared back at her. Under the photo was the caption M
ONTGOMERY
P
IERCE
, C
HIEF OF
COVERT O
PERATIONS
.

It wasn’t the same guy at all. Who the hell did she just talk to?

“Stop him!” she yelled to the three remaining men. If Jack thought she could pull tricks and have some friend help her escape, she was sorely mistaken. No one fooled her. No one.

Jack had somehow informed this nobody about her real identity and the switch with the president. Although she didn’t appreciate an outsider walking around with this information, he was as inconsequential as Jack, and no one would believe him. Definitely not without proof. She had to hand it to Jack for coming up with the name and identity of Montgomery Pierce, and someone to pull it off with a very convincing performance.

*

“It’s almost over,” Shield said, peering out at TQ’s glass-fronted office building across the street. She couldn’t keep from glancing at the van, parked down the block with Ryden inside.

She and her two companions had positioned themselves in the hotel restaurant because its front windows provided an ideal visual. All of them wore earpieces hooked into David Arthur’s listening device. None of them had touched their coffee.

So far, everything was proceeding without a hitch. Jack should be out of there in a few minutes. Arthur was in the elevator, headed down.

Pierce, on the booth seat opposite, cracked a smile at her comment and then returned his attention to what Arthur was doing.

Lynx, beside her, was absorbed as well in every nuance of sound coming through their earpieces; she looked tightly coiled and ready to spring.

Pierce had wanted to confront TQ in person, but he’d had to abort the plan after he, Arthur, and Lynx had boarded the EOO jet for Washington. Apparently, the tension was too much for him, and he’d started to have chest pains.

Shield had no idea Pierce had health problems, but then again, his pale, sweaty complexion had never been as obvious as tonight. Arthur insisted on taking his place and had made the phone call from the jet, so TQ would recognize the voice when they met in person. According to Lynx, who’d briefed her once they were out of Ryden’s earshot, Arthur had also insisted he was better suited because he was capable of staying calm in the face of the woman who had taken Jack.

Shield could understand that now. All during Arthur’s conversation with TQ, Pierce kept mumbling about how he wanted to go in and kill her. He’d become particularly upset and enraged when TQ mentioned her men had been torturing Jack for hours. Shield and Lynx had had to hold him down, and then Shield had to hold Lynx down when she’d insisted she go in instead and beat TQ to oblivion.

“What’s this?” they heard Arthur say. “Let go of me.”

“We will, pal,” another man said, “as soon as we get to where your friend is.”

Shield heard a struggle and then TQ’s voice. “You thought you could fool me? Well, the joke’s on you, whoever you are.”

More struggling. “Do you recognize the man in this picture?” TQ asked.

When Arthur didn’t answer, TQ continued. “Let me enlighten you. His name is Montgomery Pierce, and he looks nothing like you. So, my question is, who are you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Take him to the basement and finish both of them. I’ve simply lost my will to spend any more time on that conniving lowlife assassin.”

“Let’s go,” Pierce said as Lynx took off out the exit.

“No.” Shield got in front of him. “Stay here. We’ll take care of it.”

“Out of my way.” Pierce pushed her aside, but he’d gone only a step or two before he stopped short and grasped his chest. His face was ashen.

“You’re not well, Monty. Look, I’ll let you know if we need backup, okay?”

Pierce nodded. “Go,” he rasped.

By the time she got outside to the curb, Lynx was speeding toward her in the van. The guy who’d been behind the wheel was now escorting Wagner, one hand on her elbow, briskly toward the restaurant.

The van slammed to a stop two feet away. “Get in,” Lynx shouted.

Shield jumped in and grabbed the two automatic assault rifles that Lynx had already retrieved from the duffel in the back. “Let’s do it.”

They buckled up, and Lynx floored it at the first gap in traffic a second or two later. The van shot across the roadway, up half a dozen wide marble steps, and straight through the big glass entrance of the building. The SRS bags popped immediately, but Lynx kept going, the sound of screeching tires, shattering glass, and the rev of the engine deafening. Finally, the van hit something solid and would go no farther. Shield gave one rifle to Lynx before they got out.

“Give me your location, Arthur,” Shield said.

“Two floors down,” came a crackled response.

“Hang in there. We’re on our way.”

No sooner had she said that than TQ’s men started shooting. Shield couldn’t tell how many, but the shots seemed to be coming from all directions. They dove for cover behind the massive marble reception counter and fired back. Shield got one man in the chest while Lynx got another in the neck.

She pointed to the emergency exit a few feet away. Lynx nodded, and both kept firing while they ran to the stairwell.

They made it through the heavy door and heard voices from below. Both waited at the landing until two men came into view and showered them with bullets.

“One more level to go,” Shield said as they headed down.

“Door at the end of the hall,” Arthur’s voice came again.

“Is she alive?” Pierce asked in her ear, obviously to Arthur.

“She’s…we need to get her out now,” Arthur replied.

Lynx accelerated at this, taking the last few steps two at a time, and was about to bolt into the hall of the sub-basement when Shield grabbed her. “Easy.” Shield carefully checked to see if anyone was in the hall. “Two guarding the door.”

“We have to take them out
now
,” Lynx whispered.

Both took a deep breath and stepped into the hall, shooting. They ran to the door, stepping over the two corpses, and when they found it locked, Lynx started firing at the lock while Shield checked the bodies for keys. She was sure no amount of gunfire would open the thick steel door, and so was Lynx, for that matter. But Shield knew Lynx had only one thing on her mind and a lot of anger.

Shield put her hand on Lynx’s shoulder, signaling her to stop. “Arthur, is there a lock on the other side?”

“I’m looking, but nothing here. You haven’t even put a dent in it,” he replied. “Jack’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Keep her conscious,” Lynx yelled, and pounded on the door.

“I’m trying,” he said.

“Someone’s coming,” Shield whispered. Both turned to look down the hall, rifles at the ready. Shield tried the door to her left while Lynx the two on the right. “Damn,” Shield said.

“Get ready.” Lynx lifted her rifle in preparation.

“Shield, Lynx. Cease fire,” came Pierce’s voice through the mic.

“What’s going on?” Lynx asked.

“I’m almost there,” Pierce replied.

Shield, shocked, looked at Lynx, who was obviously just as surprised.

“Monty, it’s dangerous,” Lynx said.

The elevator door started to open and both of them took aim.

“Put your weapons down,” they heard Monty say before they saw him.

When the doors opened completely, Shield saw that Pierce wasn’t alone. Next to him stood TQ, who looked scared but forced a smile nevertheless when she saw Shield.

“What the—” Lynx said.

“Move faster. You’re on a time limit,” Pierce said to TQ as they walked down the hall.

TQ picked up the pace and stopped three feet away from the steel door. She looked up at the right corner, straight into the sensor, and nodded. The door made a loud unlocking sound and opened.

Lynx ran in first, with Pierce behind her.

“You screwed with the wrong people,” Shield said to TQ as they both waited outside.

“How’s the florist?” TQ looked smug.

“How’s your face?” Shield asked.

TQ’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “My what?”

Shield backhanded her across the face so hard TQ hit the wall.

Lynx came out, with Pierce behind her and Harding in his arms. Lynx put her gun to TQ’s head.

“We had a deal.” TQ looked to Pierce.

“You had a deal with him, not with me,” Lynx said menacingly.

“As much as I want to see her dead,” Pierce said, “I’d much rather see her suffer.” He turned in the direction of a sudden ruckus behind them.

“Police! Drop your weapons,” a male voice shouted as a small army of armed men came into view down the hall. With them were two paramedics, carrying a portable stretcher.

“Who called for an ambulance?” Shield asked.

“I did,” Pierce replied.

The cops came at them with their guns drawn, and both Shield and Lynx dropped their weapons.

“She needs immediate care,” Pierce said. “GSW to the leg and internal hemorrhaging.”

“Put her down,” one of the policemen ordered, apparently the guy in charge.

“She needs to go to a hospital,” Pierce insisted. “
Now
. If I have to repeat myself, you’re going to find yourself writing tickets for the rest of your life. As to who I am, call the Agency and ask about a Montgomery Pierce. Maybe you should mention TQ has been caught.”

“Who?”

“We had a deal,” TQ repeated, terror evident in her face.

*

From the cop’s expression, it was clear neither name registered, but he let the paramedics through. “Someone stay with her,” he said to his men as the EMTs pried Harding from Pierce’s arms.

“I’m going with her.” Lynx jumped forward as they strapped Harding to the stretcher.

“No one is going anywhere until we figure out what happened here,” the head cop said.

“Then get on the goddamn phone,” Pierce ordered him.

Harding was taken away while the police kept their guns trained on the rest, and the one in charge stepped away to make the call. He came back moments later. “Thank you, sir,” he said to Pierce, and extended his hand. “My sincerest apologies for the inconvenience. You and your people are free to go.”

“About time.” TQ made to push through.

“Not you.” Shield pushed her back.

“What is this about? I am the victim here. This is my place of business they broke into.”

“Have Mrs. Rothschild arrested for terrorism against the American government,” Pierce said, “to name just the first of many charges.”

TQ was handcuffed and pushed down the hall while the cop read her her rights.

Back outside, Shield found Ryden anxiously seeking her out amongst the cars and cops.

“Thank God, you’re all right,” Ryden said, running up to her.

“I’m fine.” Shield smiled.

“I panicked. Didn’t know what to think when all the cops and the ambulance showed up. I thought…I thought…”

“Shh.” Shield held her by the shoulders to calm her. “It’s over. TQ was arrested.”