Black Brick - Part Three Read online

  Peck stood at the front of the classroom by the door as if to keep us from bolting without talking to him, which I must admit I'd been thinking of doing.

  “Not trying to sneak away are you?” Peck asked with a smile and a laugh as we approached. “You'll be glad you stayed. Have a seat and wait a moment.”

  Neither of us sat while we waited for the class to empty. Thor appeared to be waiting and I growled under my breath. Hadn't I been rude enough to the kid already? Most people would have taken the hint. Maybe Thor worked with Kris. I should have asked her about him.

  When the last student left, Peck noticed Thor and encouraged him to move along. When Thor had gone, Peck locked the door and turned around.

  “Why'd you lock the door?” Shannon demanded.

  “He knows about us,” I said.

  Peck smiled. “I see you finally read my email, Jake. I must admit I didn’t realize that I’d emailed you from that address until it was too late. When I never heard from you on the issue, I couldn’t decide if you missed it or just didn’t care. I’d thought that you would at least fake enough interest in my class to open it.”

  I pulled out my pistol and aimed it at Professor Peck, Shannon did the same. For his part, Peck didn’t look surprised or threatened, but he did look at the back wall of the classroom. It seemed innocuous enough, but I wondered why his eyes went there of all places when we pointed our pistols at him.

  “Forgive me for not trusting you,” Shannon said. “But I have little love for deception.”

  “Ugh,” Peck said as he sat down in the chair behind his desk. “You want to do this the hard way. Isn't it evidence enough that I know who your name is Jake and that I’m on the Black Brick network?” When neither of us moved, Peck made a motion with his hand. “Very well. Call Beltran and put him on speaker phone.”

  “If you know the number,” I said, “how about you dial?

  Shaking his head, Peck pulled out his phone, dialed, and set it on the desk.

  “Henry,” Beltran said, answering the call.

  “Jeff,” Peck said. “I have Jake and Shannon here. They’re having trouble believing they shouldn’t be holding me at gunpoint right now.”

  “Can they hear me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Jake, Shannon. Disarm now.” We both lowered our pistols.

  Beltran continued. “Make it quick Henry and send them back. Payne just entered the bookstore and we need to get over there. Based on his past visits, we have about an hour before he leaves.”

  Shannon shifted and her lips came up in a silent snarl. She still hadn’t said much about her captivity, but I had been able to glean that Payne was the one who had tortured her.

  “I’ll keep it short.” Peck smiled as he disconnected the phone. “Can you put your pistols away? Thanks.”

  I tried to keep my voice even. “You've been taking a risk, grilling me about assassination and soldiers. I had begun to wonder if something was up.”

  “Of course you did. I meant for you to. I was testing you. The two of you have reached a critical point in your experience that most agents don't reach for years. Frankly, I'm concerned that the stress is getting to you.

  “Shannon, Beltran briefed me on what happened. I can't tell you how terrible I feel and can't help but feel responsible. Beltran and I recruited Martinez personally and I oversaw his training. He was like a son to me, and to see the evil he has become capable of causes me great distress.

  “Jake, I know the deaths of those from the train weigh on your soul. I'd call you a hero if I didn't know that you'd find that to be a mockery of your self-deprecation.

  “Life has not been kind to either of you, but I must say that I'm proud at how you are turning out. You're both on track to be the best agents I've had and I'd hate to think that your desire to continue was waning because of events that frankly have been quite unusual. I've had agents that have never fired a shot on a mission. Already your experience has been the complete opposite of that and neither of you have taken your oaths.”

  “I thought we worked for the government?” I said. “Not you.”

  “So you do, through me. What better cover than a college professor? Who would suspect a man who spends his time in an ivory tower?”

  “So who do we work for?” I asked.

  “The government, obviously.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I need to know more than that.”

  “It's the only answer you'll get.”

  “Why are you breaking cover?” Shannon asked. “We're not even agents yet. We could easily ruin what you have spent years developing.”

  “The commitment I've seen from the two of you has convinced me that I needed to assure you that the sacrifices you have made have a purpose.”

  “The news has been calling us terrorists.”

  “What does the press know? Why do you care what bloggers say? The circumstances were beyond our control. You didn't put a bomb on that train and took great pains to get it off. We work outside the system. Why do you think that we have to keep our connections a secret? Nobody, not even Beltran, knows how we get our funds and who provides us with orders.”

  “So what we do isn’t technically legal?” Shannon asked.

  Peck smiled. “It's a dark grey area, which is why nobody can know about it.”

  “‘When the government takes actions beyond the bounds of the constitution, the very freedoms of the people are threatened,’” I said, quoting the subtitle of the textbook that Peck had written for our class.

  “Using my own words to condemn me.” Peck smiled. “Sacrifices must be made.”

  I snorted. “I feel guilty about the blood on my hands. Do you?”

  “That’s perfectly natural and I'd be worried if you didn't. I bear part of that blame and will do my best to help you deal with it, but this is the sacrifice your country asks of you. Your experiences, though terrible, have opened your eyes to the real world. It's ugly and violent. Death can come suddenly without rhyme or reason. Evil people conspire to take this country apart a piece at a time. We fight to keep that from happening.”

  “By stealing financial records and spying on companies.”

  “Our actions transcend corporate greed and profit,” Peck held my gaze. “You need to decide what you believe.” He looked at his watch. “I need to be going and so do you. Think about it.” He picked up his bag and left.

  We were halfway home when Shannon broke the silence that had dominated most of our walk. No doubt her reticence towards me also had something to do with it. Part of it was due to the open environment we were in; and for the last, we were still dealing with the shock of learning Peck was at our head. No wonder why Beltran had been so insistent we make it to class today, he’d probably known what Peck was going to do.

  “You must admit that his cover is very good,” Shannon said. “I would never have suspected him of being our boss.”

  “This smells,” I said.

  “I trust Beltran and Peck to see the big picture. Do you?”

  “What about the innocent people that have been hurt by our methods?”

  “Payne bombed that train, stop blaming yourself.”

  “Eleven of the dead were children. Beltran knew Payne would be following Lauren and didn’t tell us.”

  “Beltran can’t tell the future any better than you or me.”

  I thought about how Tom had shot at the police during our escape the other day. “Would the President or Congress condone our recent actions?”

  “Of course not,” Shannon said, “that’s why Peck called this a dark grey area.”

  “The trail of bodies behind us continues to grow.”

  “You need to get past this.”

  I didn't respond because I could tell that I was getting nowhere with her. Right before our conversation with Peck, she’d expressed to me her doubts. Now that Peck had said his piece, she wasn’t concerned any longer. Whatever had been bothering her was no longer an issue.

  Peck had man
aged to allay Shannon’s concerns, but mine were continuing to grow.

  Chapter 4

  I tapped my fingers on the wheel while I waited for our parking receipt to print. I had a bad feeling about today and I couldn’t do anything to shake it. I was afraid that Martinez had planted the evidence that had led us to the bookstore in the mall. I’d tried convincing Beltran that it was a trap, but he was insistent that we would be careful. Once the ticket appeared, I grabbed it and proceeded into the mall parking garage. It had been close to forty-five minutes since Peck had called Beltran. Payne was due to leave soon.

  “You going to keep your head on straight?” Beltran asked as I parked. It was the first time Beltran had accompanied me on a mission in some time. While he hadn’t said as much, I believed it was because he didn’t trust Shannon to not shoot Payne as soon as she saw him. She was waiting a block away and would pull up to the mall once we’d grabbed Payne. Beltran probably figured it would be safer that way, but I wouldn’t put it past her to blow him away once we had him in custody.

  “I was wondering the same thing about you,” I said, ignoring his gaze as I parked. I refrained from slamming the door as I left the car and headed up into the mall. Beltran would follow me in a few minutes.

  This was insane and Beltran knew it. A takedown in public like this wasn’t going to be smooth process. Especially considering the fact that we were dealing with a madman who’d already proven his ability to kill indiscriminately.

  The food court was packed and as I passed by a mother with a baby, I considered warning them to leave but couldn’t because that would risk blowing our cover. Beltran might believe these people were safe, but I couldn’t convince myself that was the case.

  Cherry, who’d come over a few minutes before us with Tom, was already sitting at a table in the middle of the courtyard sipping on a drink. The bookstore was visible from where she was sitting. She looked relaxed, but underneath that calm exterior, I was sure she was still conflicted in her feelings for Martinez.

  Tom was eating a sandwich nearby and it was obvious that I wasn’t the only one unhappy with this plan. I circled around the courtyard looking like I was trying to make a decision for dinner. It wouldn't fool Martinez or Payne if they spotted me, but it didn't hurt to keep up the pretense. Nobody jumped out as being particularly worrisome, but neither had the woman I’d shot the other morning.

  Beltran entered the food court at the same time I got in line to buy a pretzel. He looked my direction but didn't make eye contact. How long had it been since he had been in the field? This was his first mission with us in more than six months.

  I purchased my pretzel, pulled out my phone and pretended to make a call. Every so often I took a small bite as I chatted away with my imaginary friend.

  After Beltran purchased Chinese food from a place that sold it by the plate, he sat at a bar, and pulled out his phone to read. Fifteen minutes later, when I noted that Beltran had finally taken a bite of the food, I had long since finished my pretzel.

  The plan was to wait for Payne to come out of the bookstore before grabbing him. If everything went according to plan, we’d be leaving the building at the same time Shannon pulled up.

  There was a sudden movement on the second level just above the food court that drew my attention. My hand was halfway to my pistol before I noticed that it was just some kids playing around.

  I looked back at the woman with the baby and couldn't help but feel relief that they had left.

  That was when I noticed that she’d left the baby carrier underneath the table. I took a step towards it and saw the baby was still in the carrier. Several steps closer and I could see it was a doll and could just make out some wires. Cursing, I wished that I had tried harder to keep Beltran from doing this.

  I turned to Beltran; he was looking right at me.

  “Bomb,” I said. Several people nearby looked up when I spoke but Beltran was already walking away before I repeated it again.

  “Bomb,” I cried out. “Everybody run!”

  People around me were slowly starting to look around and the talk began to subside. I repeated myself and ran towards a table of children. The adult women at the table hadn't heard me. I grabbed the two of them by the shoulders.

  “Take your children and run,” I yelled. “There's a bomb.”

  One of the women scooped up a young boy who dropped his hamburger and started to cry. The other grabbed one of the other children, but several were too small to understand the sudden urgency in their mother’s voice. I picked up both of them and ran towards the glass doors, yelling as I went.

  I had just set the children down outside on a spot of grass when a deep rumbling explosion blasted out the glass doors of the entrance. I put my arms around the children, pushing them down to the ground underneath me.

  When it was over, I shook my head trying to clear it. I didn't realize that the children were crying until I saw their tear streaked faces. Not knowing how to comfort them, I surveyed the scene. Both Cherry and Tom had made it out. Cherry was helping an older woman and I could make out the tears running down Cherry’s face. I wondered what was going through her mind.

  Martinez had just tried to kill her. She hadn’t said as much, but I could tell that Cherry had been hoping that Martinez’s feelings for her would offer her some protection. Whatever had happened between them, she had believed it was real.

  What a cruel way for it to be ripped away.

  The glass doors were shattered and smoke was billowing out. I recognized one of the women from the table and went to her, asking if she was all right. She didn't hear me and my own voice sounded far away. I looked her over and determined that she was going to be ok. Her face had been scuffed up, but the child she carried was more or less unharmed. I went in search of the other mother.

  I found her just before the glass doors. The explosion had knocked her to the ground and her head was bleeding. I saw movement underneath her and pulled out a young boy. He was crying and his face was covered in blood. I pulled off my jacket and did my best to wipe off the boys face. It was a tedious task, but I determined that the boy's scraped face was the only place he was bleeding. I put the boy in the jacket and took him to the other woman.

  I had just returned to the wounded woman, when a second smaller explosion sent me covering her. I stayed on my knees to keep from hurting her further.

  When it was over, I decided to risk moving her, in case there were still more bombs. I carried the woman over to her children.

  She opened her eyes when I set her on the ground. One of the children pounced on her and she tried to say something soothing but it came out as a gurgle.

  I realized several moments too late that I shouldn't have brought her over. Her children didn't need to see her like this. It might be their final memory of her.

  The woman reached for the boy but couldn't quite put her arm around him. I helped her arm up into an embrace of the child. The other woman placed the young crying boy that was wrapped in my jacket on the woman's chest. She took a final look at her children and then stopped breathing.

  I felt utterly powerless as I surveyed the scene, tears falling down my face. Tom and Cherry were already walking away. I needed to do the same but was still in shock and not thinking too clearly. Close to fifty people had made it out before the explosion. I tried not to think of all those who had still been inside when the bomb had gone off.

  Out of the corner of my eye, an individual caught my attention. I focused on him and recognized him from behind.

  It was Payne. He had walked calmly from the burning mall. The arrogance of the man filled me with rage.

  Letting go of the woman as gently as I could, I chased after him, taking my pistol out as I did.

  When I noticed that he was heading towards a car that had just pulled up, I ran faster until I saw I wouldn’t make it in time. Coming to a halt, I brought up my pistol, took aim and fired.

  The first shot went through a window on the passenger side a
nd out the driver’s side. Glass fell to the street as Payne opened the door and jumped in, ducking down. By that time, I was already on my fourth shot. The second had missed, having gone into the door, but the third might have been a hit.

  As the car sped away, I continued to shoot. The rear windshield cracked but maintained its integrity. Even though they were out of range, I fired several more shots until they turned a corner.

  Cursing, I ran up to the street corner where the car had been moments before and found some blood in addition to the broken glass. I’d hit him. Hoping it was a fatal shot or at least a wound bad enough to force him to the hospital, I took off at a run.

  Chapter 5

  I rubbed my ears and tried yawning. I could hear, but it felt like cotton had been rammed down into them, forcing me to partially rely on lip reading. Perhaps that was why I wasn’t guarding my tongue as closely as I should have been.

  Beltran stood at the front of the conference room, red in the face, gripping a whiteboard marker in a fist that was turning purple. At any moment, steam might start coming out of his ears. On any other day that thought would have made me chuckle. It was just as well that I wasn’t in that kind of mood, laughing at Beltran might push him over the edge and I wasn’t sure that I was prepared to face that today.

  Tom and Cherry sat to either side of me. Cherry was looking away from Beltran trying to pretend that she was somewhere else. Tom was just as avidly avoiding the conversation by concentrating on his tablet.

  “You left,” I said, repeating my accusation for a third time.

  “What was I supposed to do?” Beltran asked, with his teeth bared and lips tight across them. “We only had moments to get out. How can you of all people question me about the casualty count? You've racked up the most collateral damage of any of my agents. Think of that before you accuse me.”

  “I didn't walk away from people I could save.”

  “I could have been killed as well and then where would we be? If we die, who will be left to hunt Martinez and Payne? Our responsibility is greater than the life of any single individual.”