CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

“Kim, do you remember our arrangement?” says the voice on the other end of the phone.

 

Kim stops and puts down her coffee cup.

 

“Yes,” she says.

 

“Well,” says the voice, “It’s time, my little birdy.”

 

Kim hangs up the phone.

 

She picks up the phone again and dials a number she has been forced to memorize.

 

“Yes?” asks a female voice.

 

“OCTAVIUS,” says Kim.

 

“Are you certain?” the voice asks.

 

“Definite. I’ve seen the tattoos. I put the envelope in the park, just as you asked. Now, leave us alone!” Kim hisses into the phone.

 

She hears a throaty chuckle as she slams down the phone as if it were a snake.

 

—————

 

Brett and Kady were riding in the car with Ted and Sarah.

 

The Driver had picked them up and was ferrying them between Pecker headquarters and the airport.

 

Martin was on the phone, frantically arguing his case that they should be more cautious, especially after the attacks, and in light of the growing influence of the Jaegers.

 

“Ted, I know this seems paranoid, but I guarantee that Dorcan and that son-of-a-bitch Reighland is somehow tied into this!” he fretted.

 

“Martin, do you have any evidence? Anything solid we can use?” said Ted Ghent.

 

 

 

“Just a hunch, Ted. Brett, do you remember when Pecker first was funded, and we finally managed to figure out there was a shell corp that was run by one of Reighland’s thugs? Then, Derek and Travis tied it into the King organization down in Miami?” asked Martin.

 

“Yes, and I thought that David and Derek had finally figured it out, and Blaise was the man at the top?” replied Brett.

 

Kady was looking out the window of the car.

 

Something was moving rapidly across the sky.

 

“What’s that?” she said, pointing to the left of the car.

 

The Driver followed her gaze.

 

He saw something bright and orange streaking towards them.

 

Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes, and the Maybach went into a power slide.

 

“Hang on!” he yelled.

 

“Brett! Ted! What’s going on?” said Martin.

 

His face filled the monitor, and he tried to see what was happening.

 

A huge explosion rocked the Maybach, and the Driver fought to control the careening vehicle.

 

Behind them, one of the Black Dog sedans that was following them as part of the security detail was blown apart, as a rocket slammed into it.

 

Another salvo exploded next to the Maybach, blowing out a chunk of the retaining wall in the highway.

 

Pieces of concrete flew all over, shattering windscreens on other cars, and causing mayhem as the cars maneuvered to avoid the exploding rockets and other debris.

 

“Brett!” Kady yelled as she hugged Sarah.

 

“Get down!” yelled the Driver.

 

Another explosion rocked the car, and one of the side windows caved in as the concussion hit them.

 

Ted Ghent looked across the vehicle, not seeing anything.

 

“Ted! Ted! Oh, Christ! Ted! Get us to a hospital!” screamed Sarah.

 

Ted Ghent fell across his wife’s lap.

 

Blood was pouring from his mouth and nose, across his white shirt, and his eyes were wide open.

 

“Brett! Brett! Dad’s hurt!” Kady cried.

 

Brett pushed Ted off of his mother’s lap, now bright red from the blood.

 

He placed his father on the floor, and unbuttoned the bloody shirt.

 

Kady and Brett yelled as the Driver raced down the highway, oblivious to the other traffic.

 

Cars squealed and swerved violently out of the path of the Maybach, crashing into each other and running off of the highway.

 

The Maybach crested the median and shot into oncoming traffic as the Driver fought the wheel.

 

Smoke was coming from the engine compartment, and suddenly they were being pursued by two police cruisers.

 

“Stop now! Pull over!” came the voice over the loudspeakers.

 

The Driver ignored them, speeding up to take the off ramp where he’d seen the symbol for hospital, a white “H” on a blue background.

 

Ted Ghent lay face up across Kady and Sarah, his eyes locked onto something in the distance.

 

He was not breathing.

 

Sarah was wailing, as Brett attempted CPR.

 

Kady was still screaming, and then the Driver squealed to a halt in the Emergency lane of a hospital.

 

The Driver yanked open the doors to the passenger compartment, allowing Kady to exit.

 

Kady raced into the hospital.

 

“Help us!” she yelled.

 

She grabbed at random people, finally cornering a doctor.

 

“Help my Dad, please!”

 

A nurse and an EMT ran out, just as the two patrol cruisers screeched to a halt.

 

Four officers exited, guns drawn and aimed at the Maybach and its passengers.

 

“Get down! Hands on the ground in front of you! Now!” they ordered.

 

The Driver calmly stepped away from the Maybach, showing the palms of his hands.

 

“Officers, we were attacked back on the highway, and one of my passengers is severely wounded. His son is the man performing CPR, and his wife is the lady in the back seat. That woman, coming towards us with the hospital staff,  is the son’s wife,” he said.

 

The officers holstered their pistols, still wary.

 

The lead officer, a sergeant reported to his superiors, using his radio.

 

“Affirmative on that, we have the Maybach and the suspects in custody,” he said.

 

“Suspects? What on earth do you mean?” yelled Sarah.

 

The medics came out and moved Ted onto a stretcher.

 

“I’m going with him!” Sarah yelled,

 

“You,” said the sergeant, pointing at his partner, “go with her, Palmer, and make sure she doesn’t leave!”

 

Sarah, weeping, and calling out Ted’s name, followed the gurney into the hospital as the doors shut behind them.

 

Brett, the Driver, and Kady stood next to the Maybach.

 

Two officers were inspecting it, carefully.

 

They walked around the vehicle, opening the trunk and hood.

 

“What are they doing?” said the Driver.

 

“What do you mean, suspects?” asked Brett.

 

“You’re Brett Ghent, of Pecker, correct?” asked one officer.

 

“Yes, sir, I am,” replied Brent.

 

“We have orders to detain you under arrest for the murder of Admiral Reginald Decker,” he told them.

 

“What the hell are you talking about?” Brett demanded.

 

“Admiral Decker was found at Pecker headquarters approximately forty-five minutes ago, sitting in his car,” replied a female officer.

 

“He was shot in the left temple at close range, by a silenced weapon of approximately twenty-two caliber,” she continued.

 

“Gun, partner! Here, in the glove box!” said another officer.

 

He held out a Walther P-22, with a suppressor attached.

 

He removed the magazine and peered into the empty well, then sniffed.

 

“It’s been fired recently, sir!” he said.

 

“Okay, you are all under arrest,” said the female officer.

 

“You have the right to remain silent,” she began.

 

On the monitor, Martin’s tiny face looked on in dismay.

 

—————

 

‘Kevin Mitchum’ had seemed like such a nice man when they’d met, thought Kim.

 

He’d called her to set up a meeting, and when she arrived, he told her his plans.

 

He warned her not to tell anyone, or the consequences would be very severe.

 

All she’d need to do, he’d told her, was to tell ‘Kevin’ if she saw anything odd regarding Rachel Bloom.

 

Like a tattoo or a scar or anything like that.

 

And, if at all possible, she was to collect some of Rachel’s DNA.

 

He told her to put the samples into an envelope and place it in a park near her.

 

He’d arrange for it to be found, he told her.

 

—————

 

Kim remembered leaving the meeting with Kevin Mitchum.

 

Shaking with fright, she’d left him, struggling to find a way to alert Derek or Brian, but still not endanger her family.

 

She could find no logical alternative, so she swore to herself that she would see it through to the end.

 

Her small betrayal would forever remain her own, lonely secret, she swore to herself.

 

No one would find out, no one would know, and they would all be safe and sound.

 

—————

 

When the group assembled in Singapore, Kim gasped in shock, at how well received ‘Kevin’ was by the Alpha Team.

 

She  just could not reconcile this man with the one she had met, and whom Rachel had gushed.

 

They apparently didn’t know of his darker nature, she had guessed.

 

But, his participation in the shootout, defending them against the attackers, seemed just a ruse now.

 

How ruthless he must be!

 

Such a man would have no qualms about killing Brian and their son.

 

And, what about my new baby, she thought?

 

No, she could do this small thing, and be shut of it.

 

No one would find out, and she would never tell.

 

It was her dark secret.

—————

 

She’d needed some excuse to see Rachel as nude as possible.

 

Derek’s recovery had given her the opening she’d needed to discover what was requested of her.

 

She even managed to get some DNA samples, by wiping under her fingernails with a cotton swab and putting it into a Ziploc baggie.

 

She’d placed these into an unmarked manila envelope, and left it under a bush in a park one afternoon, as she’d been directed by Kevin at their meeting.

 

She never knew if anyone had picked up the samples.

 

She didn’t care.

 

She and her family were safe, now.

 

She hugged her belly and began to cry with relief.

 

—————

 

‘Kevin Mitchum’ smiled as he looked in the mirror.

 

He then began to laugh, as he removed the prosthetics from his face and head.

 

If you wanted something done right, sometimes you just had to do it yourself, he thought.

 

That fool of a half-brother of his just didn’t understand the finer points of getting it done.

 

He sighed.

 

Harlon Calloway had gotten pretty far, although he was exceptionally inept in his opinion.

 

He did have to give the old bastard credit for surviving as long as he had in the world of the Mandarin organization.

 

But, he had managed to both outlive and outsmart his twin brother, Walter, and take over his large organization.

 

And he, Jonathon Reighland, had also managed to run a huge conglomerate of his own while climbing the ranks in Mandarin.

 

So, Harlon’s accomplishments failed to truly impress him.

 

—————

 

Kim Wilder had been duped by Reighland long enough for him to threaten her with the death of Brian and R.B. if she didn’t cooperate.

 

The rubber nose and latex appliances had disguised ‘Kevin’ well enough for his appearance to fool Rachel and Kim.

 

As he rubbed mineral oil on his face, wiping off the makeup, Jonathon Reighland remembered the shocked look on the real Kevin Mitchum’s face when he had kidnapped the man.

 

He’d grabbed Mitchum directly after he had helped defend against the Mandarin attack in Singapore.

 

Mitchum had put up quite a fight, but it did him no good once he’d been hit with the tranquilizer darts.

 

Now, he was now being held a prisoner in one of King’s old warehouses in Miami.

 

When his usefulness to Mandarin was spent, he would disappear.

 

Another in a long list of casualties in this war.

 

And, Ophelia had come through with flying colors, after her disastrous performance at the Sands attack.

 

She’d managed to retrieve the envelope and act as a cut-out between him and that stupid woman.

 

Then, she’d expertly put an end to one of the biggest pains in the ass that had ever plagued Mandarin – Admiral Decker.

 

Reighland smiled and decided to call on his ignoramus half-brother, Harlon Calloway.

 

He decide to brag about killing the old fucker to him.

 

Then, he’d remind Harlon that he was not even a true Reighland!

 

That always made him feel better!

 

Reighland laughed as he picked up the phone and dialed the old fool.

 

He always enjoyed tormenting the bastard.

 

—————