Andrew Peterson - Forced to Kill

At the curb, they both stepped out and walked a few steps away. Nathan kept a close eye on Julio. Harv used 411 to get Dr. Reavie’s office number. He listened to the recorded office message, then pressed zero to be connected to the doctor’s answering service. Because it was an emergency, Harv was transferred directly to Reavie’s cell phone. It took some explaining, but Reavie agreed to treat Nichole. From what Nathan could discern from the call, Reavie’s biggest was about Ms. Dalton’s condition, not any legal issues.

Nathan said, “We should call Grangeland and give her Reavie’s phone number and address. After she’s recovered from the anesthesia, we’ll have Grangeland secure her in a hotel. I want Grangeland to be the only person in the world other than us who knows where Nichole Dalton is staying.”

He made the call to Grangeland, then paused before making the next call. It had the potential of becoming confrontational.

His father answered, sounding perfectly awake and alert. “Nathan? Is everything okay?”

It took several minutes to update him about the warehouse raid and their plans to assault the San Diego safe house and to insulate Cantrell from any negative fallout should things go south.

“Of course I’ll protect her, to the extent I can. I don’t need to say this, but accepting the director’s advice of turning this over to her people sounds like a good idea.”

“I appreciate that, Dad, but Harv and I have the element of surprise on our side. We’ll be okay.”

“As you requested, I’ve placed calls to the secretary of the navy and the secretary of defense. So far, I’ve yet to get a return call. I haven’t dropped the ball, but I can’t push too hard. It’s a fine line.”

“We need to talk about that. Cantrell doesn’t want you inquiring into this. She didn’t come right out and say it, but I know she’s worried about leaks.”

“It’s too late, I’ve already made the calls.”

“When they call back, can you say it was a false alarm?”

“No, that won’t work.”

Nathan said nothing.

“Don’t worry, I’ll think of something. I don’t want you distracted over this. You need to be focused. Will you call me later, no matter what time it is?”

“Yes.”

“Thanks for including me.”

“You’re the chairman of the CDT.”

“I’m speaking as your father.”

“I know you are.”

“You’re a good man, Nathan.”

“I’ll call you later.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

He hung up, feeling relieved that he’d fulfilled his end of the bargain with Cantrell. She was officially off the hook if things went sour. He’d been tempted to ask his dad how the CIA skirted the issue of conducting covert operations on U.S. soil, but he already knew the answer. They hadn’t. And tonight’s operation would never be revealed-especially to Congress-unless it blew up in all their faces. Not a nice thought. Regardless of his political leaning, he had no desire to see the current administration mired in scandal. When the president looked bad, the entire nation looked bad.

“Let’s get going,” Nathan said. They climbed into Harv’s Mercedes and headed for the I-405 south. With Julio in the backseat, Nathan spoke to Harv in Russian. “Cantrell told me she has a green light to eliminate us.”

“Are you serious?” Harv answered, also in Russian.

“Yes.”

“Is she going to do it?”

“She said she’d resign first.”

“I hate to admit this, but I like her,” Harv said.

“Yeah, me too.” They drove in silence for a few minutes. Still in Russian, Nathan asked, “What could Montez possibly know that’s so dangerous? And what could’ve gotten so personal between him and Kramer? Certainly more than just a clean coal negotiation?”

“All good questions, Nate, but until we grab Montez, we’ll probably never know. Right now we need to be more concerned for Nichole Dalton’s girls. They could be in the safe house, probably are. We need to be extra careful. We have to worry about friendly fire penetrating walls and a potential hostage situation.”

“Like you said, we’ll just have to be extra careful.”

They arrived on the outskirts of San Diego after midnight. Sparse traffic enabled Harv to drive eighty miles per hour most of the way. Not much discussion took place. Nathan knew they’d be facing another dangerous set of unknowns. Except to its occupants, a safe house was anything but. All safe houses-by definition-survived on anonymity, and many of them employed secondary measures when their locations were blown. Booby traps. Fortifications. Secret escape tunnels. You name it.

He’d heard Montez’s voice on the other end of the call Julio made from the warehouse. Montez ordered Julio to kill Nichole Dalton, and if he was willing to be that cold-blooded, he probably planned on killing her daughters as well. He hoped they weren’t already dead.

By now, Cantrell’s people would be crawling all over the warehouse and questioning the two wounded mercenaries. If either of them knew the location of the safe house, all bets were off. They might arrive at a raided location with the CIA crawling all over the-

“Damn it.” Nathan spoke in English now.

“What’s wrong?” Harv asked, following suit.

“Our vehicle. Montez won’t be expecting his man to arrive in it.”

“We should’ve thought of that.”

“Options?”

“We’ll have to park at a safe distance and approach on foot.”

Nathan pivoted toward Julio. “What’s your procedure when you approach the safe house?”

“We’re supposed to call just before we get there.”

“I have an idea,” Harv said. “We disabled their vehicle. He had to use ours. If Montez asks, he found it by using the remote switch on the keychain. It was parked down the street.”

“That might work.” He turned toward Julio. “You got that straight?”

“Yeah.”

“Play along and you’ll live through the evening. If you don’t, the world won’t miss you.”

“Who are you guys?”

“We’re the guys asking the questions.”

Julio didn’t respond.

“Are the two little girls in there?”

“I don’t know.”

“What about dogs?”

“No.”

“Are there any motion sensor lights on the outside?”

“No.”

“How many men are usually in there besides your boss?”

“Two.”

“Is anyone else in there, like someone your boss tortured with a knife? ”

“I don’t know.”

“Easy, partner,” Harv said.

Nathan looked out his window before asking several more questions, all related to the safe house’s layout and Montez’s resources. He specifically asked about night vision equipment and Julio said his boss didn’t have any. He felt a little surprised at the lack of security measures and supposed Julio could be lying, but didn’t think so. Montez obviously thought his lair remained safe.

That’s about to change, old friend.

They drove past Mission Bay and took I-8 east to I-805 south. Apparently the safe house wasn’t within the actual city limits of San Diego. Julio had them take Bonita Road east to San Miguel Road. From there they turned south on Proctor Valley Road before making a final turn east on Jonel Road. The surrounding area looked to be mostly rural, dominated by large, flat acreage parcels with lots of vacant land. Newer homes were interspersed with older ranch properties. He’d never been to this area of Bonita before. The absence of streetlights on Jonel Road worked in their favor.

He addressed Julio. “How much farther?”

“Maybe two hundred meters.”

“Which side of the street?”

“The left.”

The pavement ended and Jonel became a dirt road. “Harv, pull over and kill the headlights. Let’s break out our NV.”