Chapter seventeen
CARTER:
“Stay in the car, Carter,” Marcus gives me a look, but I know he knows I’m not staying in this God damn car. I watch as teams of trained agents enter the building, and not far off, I hear the haunting music of multiple police cars as their sirens blare in tandem. I am about to follow along, but out of the corner of my eye, I see a large black SUV kicking up dust on the service road.
“Marcus!” I yell and he stops dead, hearing my panic. He looks to where I’m pointing, and says something into his collar as he sprints back to the car where I’m standing. Without hesitation, we both hop in and peel out, racing alongside the SUV, only a narrow channel of water separating us. I can’t describe it, but I know in my gut that Anika is in that car. I can feel it.
In the side mirror, I see several police cars following along with us in pursuit and up overhead there are helicopters circling.
“Good eye, Linwood,” Marcus compliments, never taking his eyes from the road.
“I just want to get my girl back.”
“I’ll do what I can, but you know I can’t make you any guarantees.” He says, shaking his head as if it is already a lost cause.
“I know, but I will not stop until she’s back where she belongs.”
“I believe that.”
I never take my eyes off of the speeding SUV, so I see everything happen like a slow-motion action sequence. A grouping of police cars has come from the other direction and have blocked off the narrow street ahead of the car. The SUV brakes to avoid hitting the blockade head on, and turns sharply. The force causing the top-heavy SUV to tilt and tumble onto its side before sliding down the steep embankment and into the water filled channel below.
Marcus stops the car and we both fly out running down the street to where the SUV sits partially submerged with only the driver’s side sticking out. The driver’s door opens and a man dressed in black combat gear emerges.
“Get on your knees! Put your hands up!” Multiple officers and agents shout and the guy seems to accept that he’s surrounded and does as he’s instructed.
I keep going despite the shouts for me to stop and I slide down the muddy embankment, and hear someone behind me, but I continue on, hoisting myself up onto the tire, and opening the door. Inside, Anika lays face down against the door, her face in the water that is slowly creeping in around the door frame and Lance Jennings looks like he’s knocked out cold against the center console. My heart hammers in my chest as I slide inside easily and lift her up, brushing aside her dripping hair.
“Ani? Baby. I’ve got you.” I feel for her pulse. I find it easily in her neck- strong and steady, and I feel nothing but relief. I hear Marcus outside calling for me.
“Yeah, she’s here. Jennings and Anika are both unconscious,” I call out to him and I hear him calling out to someone in the distance.
“Do you think you can lift them out?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I respond.
So, focused on getting Anika, I don’t notice the gun until I feel it firmly placed against my head.
“What are you going to do, Lance? Or should I call you Vladislav?” I ask and he lets out a low laugh that sends chills down my spine, but I continue.
“You’re a smart man. You have to know that this vehicle is surrounded by the police and officers from several government agencies. It’s the end of the road.” All I can think of is strangling him with my bare hands. It’s all I’ve wanted for years, and I now understand Anika a little more. The need and the desire to kill is consuming. I’ve wanted this for so long, and he deserves it. I need to do it for me and for Anika.
Before I can overthink my move, I turn suddenly, catching him off guard, but he’s much stronger than he looks. Having more room between us, he has leverage to his advantage and he launches himself at me. I struggle for the gun in his hand, but I’m set firmly in its sights. I try to shift its focus, but when it is planted firmly against your forehead it is hard to do.
“Why?” I grit, glancing to Anika, as she sits up silently with a look of horror painting her face. I realize it might be the last time my eyes ever trace those sharp features and see how her dark hair makes the blue of her eyes almost glow. This is how we end. This is all we were meant to do in this life- bend until we break with no chance of ever putting ourselves back together.
“Because I always have a plan. It’s how this all works. You are all here for me to use. Surely you understand that by now. Nothing happens without me knowing about it. Nothing happens unless I want it to.” he smiles, and his teeth smear with blood from where his lip is split, causing him to look like the vile creature he really is.
“Plans change, motherfucker,” Anika says as she seems to conjure a knife out of nowhere and plunge it into his back. Lance pulls the trigger, the shot firing inches from my head into the leather seat. I manage to pry the gun away from his fingers as Anika plunges the knife in again and again with an uncaged fury. His blood is flying, spattering from her rage.
“Ani,” I say calmly, and she pauses, ready to strike again. “You can stop. You don’t have to kill him, baby,” I say and her face crumples in devastation. She reaches up with a bloody hand to wipe away the tears, smearing a trail of red down her cheek. She looks savage and disturbed, but covered in the blood of our common enemy, she’s never looked so beautiful to me.
“But he has to pay…” her voice breaks and she sniffles.
“And he will. I promise you, he will,” I say, giving her a promise I can keep.
“I think he may already be dead. I finally killed him,” her voice shakes as she drops the knife. I reach forward and feel his pulse as the blood begins to trickle down his neck. It’s definitely weak, but it’s there.
“No, baby. You didn’t. You didn’t kill him,” I soothe and she crawls her way over to my outstretched arms. I pull her close, breathing her in. She smells like home.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, clinging tightly to my shirt.
“Where you go, I go. I told you that we’d do this together.” I say, smoothing down her matted hair.
“Carter?!” I register Marcus’s yells as he calls out to me, and I come to my senses, realizing he’s been calling for me for a while.
“We’re ok, but Jennings is going to need medical assistance now!” I yell.
“Let’s get you out of here.” I release her, and hoist myself through the open car door, and holding out my hand to her. She takes it willingly despite the fear in her eyes.
With our bloodstained hands interlock, I pull her out to face the world together.
Anika:
“Until the world burns down around us.” Carter whispers in my ear. My words on his lips, make me smile.
“Until the world burns,” I confirm as I take in the swarms of police officers and agents that have us surrounded. The lights are blinding in the fading light of day.
Carter only let’s go of my hand for a moment to hop down from the side of the car, splashing in the knee-deep water. He holds out his arms and I jump as he lowers me softly to the ground, placing a soft kiss on my lips.
Immediately no less than five police officers move towards me.
“Anika Rose Borkova, hands up, get on the ground slowly. No sudden moves,” one of them says, approaching me slowly as if I’m a wild animal. My eyes flash to Carters as panic begins to burn through my system. His worried eyes meet mine, but he nods reassuringly.
“I promise you’ll be ok. One way or another. I’ve got you,” he says quietly backing away. I’m patted down thoroughly, and I feel the cold snick of handcuffs around my wrists. I knew this was coming one day. I knew it would be this or a casket, but it doesn’t help as the cold reality begins to set in.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning,” another officer reads me my rights as he carefully lifts me off the ground.
“We’ll get your head checked out soon, ma’am,” the officer says, eyeballing what is probably a bloody mess of hair. I’d probably just scare him more if I told him most of it isn’t even mine.
I take another glance back at Carter as I’m walked to a waiting squad car. He’s speaking with familiarity to an agent in an FBI jacket, but his eyes never leave me. He gives me a wink before the door closes.
There’s a sense of peace and fulfillment that washes over me as the car pulls away from the scene. The shadows of the flashing red and blue lights become fainter on the interior of the car as the seconds tick by. And as I sit in chains in dim light of the fading sun, I’ve never felt freer than I do in this moment. I know I deserve this. I just feel better knowing that I managed to accomplish everything I set out to do, and the world will soon know the truth. What should be the end of my life, somehow feels like it could just be the start, and I smile.
That is, I smile until I catch sight of my reflection in the rearview mirror, because I just look like a lunatic smeared with blood, wearing a gleeful expression.
******
“Did you or did you not collude with Lance Jennings to help Russia revolutionize their warfare?” the weasely looking agent asks for the sixth time in a row. I swear I might actually break is neck if he asks again and it will have nothing to do with revenge, but merely out of pure annoyance.
“Tim? Is that your name, Tim? Ok, well you look like a Tim, so we’ll stick with that. It doesn’t matter how many times you rephrase the question. The answer will always be the same. No. No, I did not collude with him, or work for him in any capacity. Also, another helpful hint. If you’re going to ask the same question, mix it up with questions in between. It might actually throw a suspect off,” I say in frustration.
“She’s right, Tim. Take a break,” an older man with greying hair says opening the door with a large file in his hand. I want to give myself a high five for guessing Tim the Interrogator’s name correctly.
Tim shoots me a glare before sauntering out of the room, and the new man smacks the file down on the metal table top. I glance down at my orange jumpsuit, hating the way it reflects off my skin.
“Anika Borkova, where do I start?” the man sighs a tired sigh, and sits down across from me.
“Tell me how long I’m looking at,” I say quietly, ready to accept my fate.
He laughs a little, but it isn’t a cruel laugh. It is just as if he’s simply laughing at a joke he made inside his head. “You’re looking at two years to life.” He says simply and while I was expecting the latter, the two years throws me for a loop.
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m a little confused. I killed three people, technically four, hacked into government files and databases…” I trail off as I tally up my long list of crimes in my head. My handcuffs clank on the metal as my hands fold in front of me.
He reaches into his back pocket and fishes out a key, motioning with his fingers for my wrists. I lean forward and he unlocks the cuffs one by one and sets them aside as I rub life back into my wrists.
“Thank you.” I say, and he nods putting the key back in his pocket.
“Dan. Call me Dan if you want. Some people around here certainly call me a lot worse.” He laughs again, and this time I find myself smiling with him.
“Do you know who I am young lady?” he asks, and while something about his face seems familiar, I have no idea.
“Daniel Gordon, Deputy Director of the FBI,” he says, and the name clicks.
“Pleasure to meet you, Dan,” I say and he smiles a wide smile.
“Believe me, Ms. Borkova. The pleasure is mine. Now let me explain what I mean by two to life,” he says, reminding me of a high school football coach.
“You’ve got options. You’ve always got options, but from where I’m sitting, if you’re smart there’s only one that makes sense.”
“What’s that?” I question.
“Work for the FBI,” he says in complete seriousness.
“I’m sorry?”
“You heard me. At minimum, we want you for two years to help us take down the rest of this crime network. After that, it is up to you. Judging by your qualifications, you’ll more than likely be given the option to stay on, but you don’t have to,” he says.
“Then what is the other option?” I ask.
“A lifetime of regret for not doing the right thing and finishing what you’ve started,” he says, and my heart is hammering so quickly in my chest, I think I might faint.
“Why? How? I thought…” he holds a hand up to silence my rambling, and something about the way he carries himself causes me to pause.
“I’m aware of your criminal activities, Ms. Borkova. All of them, including the little disclaimer on the State Department’s website.” he gives me the side eye, but he winks and I feel my cheeks heat in embarrassment. Something about him reminds me of my father before everything turned to shit. The thought makes me sad, but Dan, pulls me out of it as he continues, “The reasoning behind it is simple. You’ve got more talent in you than half the Bureau combined. We need you, and I think you need us too. I knew this case had been open and ongoing, with very little lead, but when one of our senior agents requested a meeting and brought this to me?”
He taps the thick file in front of him, “I had to hear it all. You’ve made some foolish choices. I think you and I both know that, but you’re the best. I know you’re the key to helping end not just this one part, but the entire network. You’d be tasked with leading up a cyber team, and at times you may even be working with CIA agents and agents from the NSA. The hours will be long, and your life may even be at risk, but it will give everything you’ve already done a bigger meaning. Your father was a good man, Anika. He helped me out on more than one occasion. Finish what he started. Think about it.” He stands to leave.
“When do I start?
Dan’s face lights up. “Right now. Follow me.”
He holds the door open for me, and the scrawny guy from before stands from the chair he was sitting on, his eyes darting back and forth between us.
“Tim? Meet your new boss, Anika. She’ll shape you up in no time. I think she’s already begun.” Dan chuckles, and I hold out my hand to man giving me an evil stare. This is going to be fun.
“My name is Paul,” he mumbles, shaking my hand weakly and I try to fight my smile.
Dan points to a set of doors. “Everyone already knows who you are and what you’ve helped us with, so don’t mind the whispers, or when they ask you for your autograph,” he jokes and I smile. “Your guy has been here for two days stinking up the offices. Get him home and make him shower. He and Marcus should have some clothes for you to go home in. I’ll be in touch in a couple of days with your first assignment. You’ll be reporting directly to me.” he says, holding out his hand. My palm slides in his for a firm handshake.
“That’s it? I’m free to go?” I ask.
“As free as you’ll ever be working for the FBI, but you can go home if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Thank you,” I say, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
“Don’t thank me, Anika. Thank that smelly man sitting out there. Without him, you’d probably be rotting in an eight by eight cell with a lady named Mikey. Get some sleep,” he says before heading down the hall in the opposite direction.
I hesitantly push open the door, still partly wondering if I’m dreaming or if this is real life. Carter sits across the room, still wearing the same muddied jeans and bloody t-shirt from nearly two days ago, and a face full of stubble. He still looks delicious despite the layer of grime I can see from here. When the door clicks behind me, his head snaps up from his phone and his eyes find mine. He bolts out of his seat and across the room, crushing me to his body.
“Thank you for not giving up on me,” I say and he squeezes me tighter to him. We look at each other with tear filled eyes.
“I’ll never give up on you, Anika. It’s you and me, baby, and you’ll always have me.” he kisses my neck tenderly.
“Let’s go home.” I whisper into his ear as he sways me back and forth.
“Yours or mine?” he asks.
“It doesn’t matter as long as it’s where you are.”
“We’re going to be ok,” he says.
“We will,” I confirm, and I know it’s true because nothing has ever felt more right than this man by my side. We both have a long way to go, but now I won’t be alone.
Our love may not be perfect just like the two souls it belongs to, but it’s beautiful, and it’s ours…