Blood Money Page 15

  “And what if they don’t show themselves,” Jessica said. “What if they just fly a plane over to keep an eye on us and wait for our next move? What do we do then?”

  Kelton shrugged. “Write them a message in the sand, I guess.”

  “What will it say? WE GIVE UP?”

  “Either that or PLEASE COME AND GET US,” Kelton said, a little grin forming on his face. “I haven’t decided yet.”

  Jessica barked out a harsh laugh and shook her head. “You better hope you have these guys figured correctly,” she said. “Or else we’re both going to have one hell of a sunburn.”

  A few miles later, they came to a slight rise in the desert. Kelton followed it to a small plateau that sat a good twenty feet above the rest of the valley. He stopped the car and stepped out into the hot, dry air of the early afternoon. He opened the rear door of the car and pulled a pair of binoculars out of the black duffel bag, then climbed on top of the vehicle and brought the binoculars to his face. First, he looked back towards the road they had taken from Furnace Creek, but he couldn’t find it. He then began to survey the surrounding area.

  “Nothing out there,” Kelton said as he began to climb down from the roof of the Explorer.

  “You needed binoculars to tell you that?” Jessica said. “Hell, a blind man could see there’s nothing out there but sand and cactus.”

  Kelton reached into his pocket, and pulled out the tiny, complicated little piece of metal that had been imbedded in Jessica’s arm less than an hour ago. He bent down and set the transmitter on a flat part of a large rock jutting out of the sand, then cast his gaze towards the desert floor, and eventually found a fist-sized rock with a smooth, flat bottom.

  He picked up the rock, walked back to where the transmitter was sitting on the ground and dropped to his knees. He used the rock to smash the transmitter, slamming it down three times before flinging it back into the desert. He then climbed to his feet, made his way back to the car and sat down on the trunk, his legs dangling over the bumper.

  Jessica stood over the tangle of wires and metal for a few seconds before joining him. “What now?” she asked.

  “Now we sit tight and hope I didn’t just make a huge mistake.”

  Kelton saw the first plume of dust shortly after he crushed the transmitter. It came from the same dirt road they had taken through the desert to get to the small plateau where they now sat. He stood up, grabbed the binoculars and brought them to his eyes.

  A black Humvee was bouncing along at what appeared to be a fairly significant speed, leaving a trail of dust in its wake that didn’t allow Kelton to see if there were any more vehicles behind it.

  “Is it our friends?” Jessica asked.

  “Sure looks like it,” Kelton replied.

  “How many cars?”

  “I can only see one so far.”

  “Just one?” Jessica said. “They must not be taking us very seriously.”

  Kelton was just about to agree with her when he heard the unmistakable thump-thump-thump of an approaching helicopter. He pulled the binoculars from his eyes and took a few steps forward to have a clear look at the sky.

  After a few moments of scanning, he saw a black dot high in the sky to the east. He used the binoculars to get a better look at it.

  “That’s more like it,” Jessica said from behind him.

  “What’s up?” Kelton asked as he searched the sky for more choppers.

  “It looks like we have more company than we first thought,” Jessica said. She was pointing in the direction of the approaching vehicle. “The dust thrown up by the first Humvee must have been hiding the ones behind it. Now I can see four separate dust trails. They seem to be surrounding us.”

  “Plus there are two choppers up here,” Kelton said.

  “That seems a little excessive, don’t you think?”

  “More than a little,” Kelton said. “What the hell do they think we’re going to do out here? Set off a nuke?”

  “Who knows?” Jessica said. “But it sure looks like they’re not taking any chances.” She stood up and walked over to Kelton. “How long until the chopper gets here?”

  “Two minutes, three tops. About the same time as the Humvees.”

  Jessica looked at the large, ugly vehicles lumbering along the desert floor beneath them, up at the choppers approaching in the sky, then back at Kelton. “I hope you’re right on this one, my friend.”

  “So do I,” he said under his breath. His earlier confidence was under assault by the forces of doubt. “So do I.”

  They were standing next to each other on the plateau, watching the net close in around them, when Kelton felt Jessica take his hand and give it a quick squeeze. He looked at her, smiled thinly, opened his mouth, then abruptly shut it.

  “What?” she said with a smirk of her own. The choppers were still far enough away that it was possible to talk without shouting.

  “Nothing,” Kelton said. “I was just thinking about us.”

  “Is there an us?”

  “I guess that’s the question.”

  “Well,” Jessica said. “That’s something we’ll have to discuss further. But not right now. I think we’ve got enough on our plates at the moment.”

  Kelton laughed at the absurdity of his timing. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “We’ll figure us out later. Okay? After we get all this other crap sorted out.”

  Kelton felt an absurd urge to turn and kiss her right there, regardless of the armed forces massing around them at this very moment. But the madness passed abruptly, as the scorching desert air was filled with the bullhorn-enhanced words: “FACE OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS AND STEP AWAY FROM EACH OTHER.”

  They did as they were told, sharing one last squeeze before their hands separated. Kelton could see soldiers massed alongside each Humvee. Every one was armed with Heckler and Koch MP-5’s and dressed in desert fatigues.

  “PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEADS,” the voice intoned. “DO NOT SAY A WORD. DO NOT MOVE ONE MUSCLE. YOU WILL BE SHOT IF YOU DISOBEY.”

  Kelton followed the directions.

  Soon enough, the soldiers were on the move, climbing up to the small plateau with their weapons at the ready and pointed at their quarry. He didn’t make a sound as they glided up to him, frisked him, forced him to the ground face first, pulled his arms behind his back, and zip-tied his wrists together.

  Kelton caught a glimpse of Jessica as they lifted him to his feet. He flashed her a quick wink. She had time to return the gesture before the soldiers spun her around and started marching her towards the Humvees.

  They placed a black hood over Kelton’s head, shoved him into the back seat of one of the vehicles, and drove off.

  It wasn’t until the rough bouncing of the desert floor gave way to a paved road that Kelton heard anyone in the vehicle speak.

  “Now what, exactly, was that all about,” said a soft, leisurely voice.

  Kelton turned to the right, towards the speaker. “Talk to me face-to-face. Like a real man.”

  “I am truly sorry, my friend, but I cannot remove your hood until we arrive at our destination.”

  “I’m not your friend.”

  “No? Then why the friendly gesture of giving yourselves up so easily back there?”

  “I have my reasons,” Kelton said.

  “Would you care to articulate them to me?”

  “I don’t know, would you care to take this damn hood off my head?”

  “As I stated earlier, I simply cannot do that at this particular moment.”

  Kelton shrugged. His right hand started to tingle and he adjusted his arms to alleviate the pressure. “Then I guess our conversation will have to wait until we can see each other.”

  “Very well then, Mr. Howlett.”

  Kelton took a deep breath, let it out slowly. He shouldn’t have been surprised that they’d been able to track down his true identity, not after what he’d witnessed over the last couple of days, but still, it pained him to b
e called by his given name.

  “James Howlett has been dead for five years,” he said.

  “Very well then, Mr. Kelton. But understand, whatever you call yourself these days, not only do we know who you are, but we know who you were. We know everything about you. We even know about your little foray into the home of the son of a certain billionaire financial giant a few days back. Not to mention your role in his death.”

  “Yeah, well I know about you, too,” Kelton fired back, trying not to think too deeply about his visitor’s previous comment. “And last I checked, the FBI didn’t go around sticking transmitters in people’s arms without them knowing about it.”

  A throaty chuckle was the only reply.

  “What?” Kelton said. “Did I say something funny?”

  “Ah, Mr. Kelton. You know so little, and understand even less. Who ever said anything about the Federal Bureau of Investigation being involved with this operation?”

  “You mean you’re not with the FBI?”

  “Of course not,” the voice said. “Certainly you have figured that out by now.”

  “Then who are you with?” Kelton asked.

  “We will get to that in time, my friend. Do not worry.”

  “I told you before—”

  “You are not my friend. Yes, I remember. But if we are to continue on with our relationship, you are going to have to at least pretend that we can get along with each other.”

  “Taking off this hood would go a long way towards me adjusting my attitude.”

  “I am sorry,” the voice said. “But like I have explained twice already, I simply cannot do that right now.”

  “Then how about telling me who you are.”

  “You can call me Nicholas.”

  “I didn’t ask you what your name was,” Kelton said. “I asked who you were.”

  Nicholas’s laugh sounded like sandpaper being rubbed against concrete. “All right. In the spirit of extending an olive branch, I will tell you that I am a high-ranking member of an intelligence group that operates at the utmost levels of the government.”

  “Care to get a bit more specific?”

  “I do not think that is necessary at the current time.”

  “It is for me,” Kelton said. “If you really want to be friends, you need to share some information with me.”

  Nicholas paused for a moment, then said, “We are known as the National Defense Commission.”

  “I’ve never heard of you.”

  “And there is no reason why you would have, as we are not a public entity.”

  “If you even exist at all,” Kelton said.

  “I can assure you that we do exist,” Nicholas said. “We are a very small group, created relatively recently, made up of only the most highly-skilled operatives from the more well-established agencies. We operate under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security but answer only to the White House itself. Our specialty is domestic operations. And we are very good at what we do.”

  “See, that wasn’t very difficult.”

  “It was more difficult than you know,” Nicholas said. “Especially considering how much trouble I could get in for spelling it out to you like that.”

  “Well I thank you for being straight with me. It certainly helps our relationship.”

  “I will do what I can in that regard. Assuming, of course, that you are truthful with us, Mr. Kelton.”

  “If I have one weakness, Nick, it’s that I always tell the truth.”

  Nicholas laughed again, and this time it actually sounded like there was some humor mixed in. “There are many out there who consider that a strength.”

  “Not in our line of work.”

  “Very true, indeed,” Nicholas said. “As I said earlier, I will do all I can for you. I promise. But now, I am afraid I must end our conversation. I have other business to attend to. It was a pleasure talking to you, Mr. Kelton, and I look forward to more fruitful conversations in the very near future.”

  “As do I,” Kelton said.

  The Humvee came to a stop and Kelton was hit by a blast of hot air as the door opened and Nicholas presumably stepped out. Then they were moving again.

  Kelton relaxed his body as much as possible and turned his thoughts to Jessica.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  By Kelton’s rough estimation, they had been driving for about an hour before finally coming to a stop.

  He caught a whiff of a conversation between the driver of the vehicle and what sounded like a guard of some sort, and then they were moving again. They continued on for another few minutes before stopping, this time presumably for good, as the engine was shut off.

  The door to his right opened, and a pair of hands pulled him out of the Humvee.

  “Where are we?” Kelton said.

  There was no reply.

  Somewhere near him, a conversation was going on, and although they weren’t talking about anything important, Kelton could tell by the way the voices echoed that they were in someplace large and open, like a warehouse, or possibly even an airplane hanger.

  Probably some old, de-commissioned military base in the middle of the desert, he thought before being gently prodded from behind.

  He walked blindly for a couple hundred feet before somebody stopped him in his tracks with a palm to the chest. He heard a button being pressed, then an automated prompt for a fingerprint scan. There was a beep, then a click, and a new voice told him to walk forward three steps and turn around. He did as he was told, and a few seconds later, his stomach dropped slightly and he realized they were in an elevator going down.

  After they came to rest a few seconds later, Kelton was led out of the elevator and through a carpeted area, finally coming to a stop after about 30 steps. He heard a door open in front of him and felt a tug on his arms, then suddenly, his wrists were free. Someone gave him a soft push and he stumbled forward a few steps. A door slammed shut behind him and he turned around quickly, rubbing his hands together to get some circulation flowing through his arms once again.

  “Can I take this damn thing off now?” he asked aloud.

  When he got no answer, he tore the hood off, blinking at the sudden brightness. He dropped the hood to the floor, rubbed his eyes and realized he was alone in what appeared to be an interrogation room.

  The space was small, and its white walls held no pictures or any other decorations, save for the large one-way mirror that took up the wall opposite the door. The only furniture was a wooden table with a black plastic ashtray in the center and two flimsy plastic chairs set on opposite sides. The air was cold, almost to the point of discomfort.

  Kelton wasn’t bothered by the room. He had been in similar situations before. He figured they’d come at him hard and fast with two, maybe even three agents throwing threats his way to get him on edge. Then, after the groundwork had been laid, a nicer, gentler agent—Nicholas, most likely—would come in and work a deal.

  He was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t go down like he’d imagined.

  Kelton was sitting on one of the plastic chairs when someone knocked on his door. He didn‘t bother getting out of his seat as the door swung open.

  A short man with wire rim glasses and a business suit walked in and nodded his head once. The man looked to be in his middle to late forties, and quite small—5’8”, 125 pounds, tops—with short blond hair and a rapidly receding hairline. His face was sharp, with hard lines around his jaw and eyes, his eyes piercing, his skin taut and nearly wrinkle-free.

  “I am glad to see you are still in good spirits Mr. Kelton,” the man said. The words were slow, deliberate, and free of contractions.

  Kelton recognized the voice immediately.

  “Glad to finally see your face, Nick. Although it’s not quite what I expected, I must admit.”

  “I get that a lot,” Nicholas said as he sat down. He looked across the table at Kelton with a stare that revealed nothing.

  “Well, I must say I’m glad you decided to get d
own to business so quickly,” Kelton said. “I was expecting the typical dog and pony show to try and loosen me up a bit before you swooped in to cut a deal.”

  Nicholas shrugged his shoulders and held his hands out, palms up. “There are those who wanted to do it that way, to be sure. But I argued against it.”

  “And won, it looks like.”

  “Yes, well, I can be very persuasive at times.”

  Kelton smiled. “Oh, I’m sure you can.”

  “Plus, there is a certain element that we have to contend with that helped sway the decision in my favor.”

  “And what element is that?”

  “Time,” Nicholas said. “There are those of us who are afraid that if this conversation drags on too long, circumstances will begin to spiral out of our control.”

  “That’s probably a good assumption.”

  “But I must warn you, if we think that you are not complying fully with us, we will be forced to take a different approach to this meeting.”

  Kelton’s smile faded. “I hope that’s not meant to be a threat.”

  “Not in the least,” Nicholas said, meeting Kelton’s piercing stare with neutral eyes. “Besides, there is no reason to believe that you will not be completely truthful and straight-forward with us, right?”

  “Why would there be?” Kelton said. “After all, I gave myself up to you guys, remember?”

  “I do indeed,” Nicholas said. “Speaking of which, why exactly did you choose to go that route? It was . . . unexpected, to say the least.”

  Kelton leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms at his chest. “Basically, I got sick of things not working out with my employer. And once we found your little gift inside Jessica’s arm, I wanted to know what the hell was going on.”

  “What makes you think we could help you in that regard?”