White Jade (The PROJECT) (4 page)

His
door was
blocked s
hut.

"
Can you open your door?
"

She pushed hard. It groaned open with a sound of bent metal. Selen
a got out
. H
e
slid across
the seat
and stood beside her.

"
Stay here.
"
Smoke from the flaming Suburban
swirled around him
.
It smelled of burning rubber and roasting
flesh
.
Nick
felt his mind try to pull him back to Afghanistan. He pushed the
memory
away.

He
walked toward the motionless figures on the ground,
toe to heel, bent low,
holding the .45 straight out in front
with
both hands
.
He
nudged
the first
body
with
his
foot. A pistol lay
on the ground
, a Beretta by the looks of it.
He
kicked it away.

The thick steel and leather of the Mercedes and bad shooting had
kept
the nine millimeter rounds from penetrating far into the body of the car.
Something with more punch
,
he
thought,
he
'd
be dead.
Selena would be dead.

Sightless Asian eyes stared up at
him
.
Carter
checked the others, one by one.
His
.45 hollow points had done a lot of damage. None of them were breathing.
They all looked Asian
.
He
figured
the driver cooking in the SUV would turn out to be the same.

He
put the
pistol
in
his
shoulder holster and w
ent
back to
where
Selena
stood by the car
.

"
What did they want?
"
She was pale under her tan.

"
You. I don
'
t think they expected trouble.
"

She clasped her arms around herself.
He
wondered if she was about to faint.
Then her
face got tight and angry.

"
Goddamn it, this is America
, not fucking
Afghanistan
!
This isn
'
t supposed to happen here. That was a new car. Look at it!
"

She surprised him, the language. He hadn't figured her for someone who would swear like that.
He looked at the car
.

Her hundred and fifty thousand dollar Mercedes was
totaled
. The front end was buckled and listing to the right
. T
he tires were spider webs of shredded metal and rubber. There was a long dented scrape along the driver
'
s side. All the windows were gone
. T
he ground around the car
was
littered with tiny fragments of broken glass. The beautiful paint job was pocked with bullet holes. Antifreeze and oil
made
a widening pool on the dirt.

"
Maybe the insurance will cover it," he said. "
I'm going to make a call
.
"

She looked at him like he was crazy. She shook her head.

A news helicopter circled overhead, getting pictures to feed the greed for violence on the evening news.
Sirens
wailed
in the distance.
Carter
took out
his
phone and called the Director. She
'
d
get
them
out of the clutches of the law a lot faster than explanations would.

At least his headache was gone
.

Chapter
Six

W
ord came down
. Two hours later
the cops let
them
go. The Director sent a car
.
They
rode
in silence
over to the Mayflower.

"
I need a drink,
"
she said.
"
Let
'
s get one here at the hotel.
"

Carter's
jacket and shirt were streaked with blood.
His ear was bandaged where a
round had taken off most of the lobe.
He gestured at the ruined jacket.

"
You think they
'
ll
let me in
? Might scare the customers.
"

"
They
'
ll let you in. You
'
re with me.
"
She was
wired.

They
went inside. People turned to look and then quickly away again
. T
hey
strode
through the lobby and into the bar
and
took a table in back.

The waiter came over. He
seemed not to see
Nick
'
s
bloody appearance.

"
Good evening, Art.
"

"
Good evening, Doctor Connor.
"

"
I
'
ll have a
Long Island
iced tea, with the premium.
"

"
And you, sir?
"

"
A double Jameson
'
s, straight up, soda back.
"

He wrote it down and left.
They
waited
for
the drinks.
The waiter returned.

Selena downed a third of her drink and set her glass on the table.

Carter
said,
"
I was going to offer you dinner somewhere. Maybe another time.
"

"
People just tried to kill us and you
'
re thinking about dinner?
"

He
shrugged.
"
Still have to eat. You all right?
"

She took another hit from her glass.
"
Better.
"

"
Want another?
"

"
Yes.
"

Carter
signaled the waiter.

When he came over she said,
"
Art, can you bring us some calamari and a cheese plate, maybe some bread and oil on the side, with some of those little sausages? And another round?
"

Nick
reached for
his
wallet.
"
I
'
ll get it.
"

She touched
his
hand.
"
Please. Let me. If you hadn
'
t been with me I wouldn
'
t be sitting here right now.
"

True.
He
put
his
wallet away.

"
Where did you learn to drive like that?
"
he said.

"
I took a course in case I ever needed it. My uncle was
wealthy
, it made me a potential target. I
thought
I might have to get away fast some day.
"

"
You were right.
Why didn
'
t the airbags deploy?
"

"
I turned them off. There
'
s a switch on the dash.
"
She emptied her glass.
"
I never thought anyone would shoot at me.
"

"
They missed, that
'
s what counts. Harker
's putting
a guard outside your room tonight.
"

Selena fiddled with her straw.
"
You always carry that gun?
"

"
Yes.
You shoot?
"

"
I
'
ve got a Ladysmith, but I don
'
t carry it. I never felt I needed
to, but I will now
.
I
'
m a good shot.
"

She took the straw from her glass, looked down at it and twisted it in her hands.

"
I can
'
t get over how fast it was. I don
'
t know what to think. People died out there.
"

"
Better them than you.
"

"
Maybe they just wanted money. I could have given them that.
"

"
I don
'
t think so.
I think s
omeone wants that book. It would have been bad if they
'
d grab
bed
you.
"

"
You think they know about the house? Where we
'
re going?
"

"
Probably not
. They don
'
t know the book is in
California
and they think you
'
re here in D.C. It should be okay.
"

Carter
wasn
'
t sure it would be okay, but there wasn
'
t anything to do about it
. K
eep
his
eyes open.

Art brought the food and another round.

"How did you get involved with Harker?" she asked.

"She
recruited
me when I came back from
Afghanistan
. A friend introduced us."

"What was it like, over there?"

The memories started. He didn't want them. "It was insane." He picked up his glass and changed the subject. "Harker said you're a language expert?"

"
D
ialects and ancient languages.
I give lectures and I consult with NSA.
I come to Washington a lot.
"
She sipped her drink.
"
Your Director
seems pretty sharp.
"

"
Not much gets by her.
"

"
What branch of the service were you in?
"

"
Marine
Recon
, thirteen years.
"

There was an awkward pause. Carter picked up a piece of bread.

She said,
"
You have any family around here?
"

"
No
.
My mother
'
s
in California. She's
got
Alzheimer
'
s. My sister
is
two years older than me. We don
'
t see eye to eye on things.
My father's dead."

Something about
Selena
made it eas
y to talk
.

"
My father
was a drunk.
He used to
beat the hell out of my mother
and
me.
He was one of the reasons I went into the Marines
,
to do something about people like him
. People who
use fear to
get what they want
. I figured the
Corps
would give me a shot at making a difference.
It didn't work out like I thought.
"

Nick
looked at the gleaming bottles
behind the
bar, thinking about
his
father.

"
How about you?
"
he said.

Something flickered across her face, a moment's darkness.
"
My parents and brother
died
when I was ten. Uncle William brought me up. There
'
s no one else now.
"

She
set a half eaten
snack down on her plate.
"
How are we going to stop these people
who came after us
?
"

"
With Harker on
it
we
'
ll get them. It might take some time.
"

"
I want to help.
"

"
We need to know what
'
s in the book
and why they want it
.
Maybe you could
translate it.
"

"
The Sanskrit's no problem.
Everyone guesses at
Linear A.
"

Nick
looked at
his
watch.
"
I have to
make a call
. Thanks for the drinks.
"

"
My pleasure.
"

"
Here comes your bodyguard." He gestured at a tall man coming into the bar. "
Harker will send a car in the morning.
You want me to walk
you to your room?
"

"
No, I
'
ll be fine.
"

He
got a cab outside the hotel and thought about her
standing
on
a
highway littered with spent shells and
bodies
.
Standing in
an instant war zone
. S
he could have gotten hysterical. Instead, she
'
d been pissed about her car.

He
liked her for that.