Abomination (19 page)

Jennifer didn’t know it was a routine he had repeated
almost every evening since arriving in Georgia four months earlier. The less
time he spent with her, the less chance someone would discover their
relationship. For the time being, he had to limit his visits to a couple of short
hours a few times a month.

*****

As Derek settled into position, several miles away
Ryan’s untraceable phone woke the agent at four-thirty in the morning. He
quickly sat up and answered it on the first ring. He had only been asleep a
little over an hour.

“Is everything okay, Steve?” asked Ryan.

“
Sorry to wake you so early, buddy, but I knew you’d
want to know as soon as Kristina arrived in Georgia. Only two kinds of people
are out at this hour. Bad guys and cops. We didn’t run into either.”

“So everything is okay.”

“Roger that. I’m sending you a text message now with
the address. I posted two of my best inside and four out. They know you’ll be
coming by.”

“Thank you again, Steve. Really, I can’t tell you how
much I appreciate your help.”

“Save it, Ryan. If you need anything else, anything,
don’t hesitate to reach out.”

“I won’t. Good-night, Steve,” said Ryan, ending the
call.

It had been four days since Ryan and the team left
Kristina in New Orleans. And each night Ryan found it difficult to fall asleep.
He was worried about a number of things, but none as much as her safety. He
took a deep breath and returned to his pillow. Ryan wasn’t lying in a dirty
hole outside Kristina’s safe house, but he was close enough to her to find a
few hours of elusive sleep.

It was a very rare occasion for another member of the
team to be awake in the morning before Ryan. But when he made it downstairs,
all three were in the kitchen of the small house used by the Atlanta FBI field
office for visitors. Dallas had completed his sweep for listening devices and
found nothing.

“Good morning, Boss,” greeted Dallas, offering a cup of
coffee. “It’s about time you caught up on some sleep.”

“Yeah, a little surprised I slept so late,” said Ryan,
taking the cup. “I guess my mind stopped racing long enough for me to doze
off.”

“You needed it,” said Michelle. “Tom and I are heading
out shortly to follow up on a missing persons report on the east side of town.
The girl fits the profile of being a victim of one of our guys. We should be
finished by early afternoon.”

“Sounds good,” said Ryan. “Oh, by the way, Kristina
arrived in town last night. Could you stop in and see if she needs anything?”
he asked, tearing off a piece of paper from his pad with the address to her
safe house.

“Ah, the reason for the good night’s sleep,” said Dallas,
knowing he screwed up the moment the words left his mouth.

“What’s that?” asked Ryan.

“I mean knowing she made it to Atlanta safe,” said Dallas,
backpedaling. “I didn’t mean that you’re glad she’s here or anything. I mean,
I’m sure you’re glad. We’re all glad she’s here, right, guys?” he asked, as
both Tom and Michelle stared at the floor. “But I’m not saying glad for you per
se. I mean…shit.”

“No, Dallas,” said Ryan, throwing him a rope. “I am glad
she’s safe. I know what you meant.”

“Exactly,” said Dallas.

“Okay, now that we’ve worked that out, I’m going to grab
a shower. Dallas, you and I are going to canvas the neighborhood where Derek
grew up. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a friend or family member he’s reached
out to recently,” said Ryan, leaving the kitchen.

Dallas looked over at Tom and Michelle who were staring
at him. “What are you two looking at? He knew what I meant.”

“Then he’s the only one,” said Michelle. “Are you really
that dense?”

“Come on, you two,” said Dallas, defending his
suspicion. “You’re trying to tell me you don’t see something going on there? A
little spark maybe?”

“A little spark?” asked Tom. “Between Ryan and
Kristina?”

“Yeah.”

“Even if there was, which I seriously doubt Ryan would
let happen, do you think he’d want you to know?” asked Michelle.

“Why not? What’s the big deal? They’re two consenting
adults, right?”

“That’s the major difference between you and him,” said
Michelle. “He’s actually an adult.”

“Poke your fun,” said Dallas, “But I’ve known him for a
long time and something is going on there. I’m just not exactly sure what it is.”

“Well, good luck, detective,” said Michelle. “And when
he puts a boot up your ass, maybe you can detect which foot he used.”

“You’re a lucky man, Tom,” said Dallas. “You get to hang
out with this ray of sunshine all day.”

*****

Alex Tifton entered the secure section of the Michaels
Laboratory, escorting two men with bruised faces. He knocked on Colonel Brown’s
open office door. “Sir, these gentlemen have something you’re going to want to
see immediately.”

“What is it?” asked the Colonel, turning around in his
chair. “Ah, the two morons that lost Dr. Anderson in Baltimore.”

“They have a video from a jewelry store security camera
covering part of the alley where they were jumped. It only caught a few
seconds, but you may recognize one of the faces.”

Alex placed a laptop on the Colonel’s desk and started
the video. He stopped it right after Paul from Red Team went airborne after
getting his face smashed. The Colonel leaned in close to make the positive
identification.

“Fucking Ryan,” growled Colonel Brown.

“I don’t know how he did it, but he got to Baltimore and
back to New Orleans like he was riding a magic carpet,” said Alex. “Do you
think the Deputy Director knows he has her? I thought he was in our pocket.”

“He is, and I don’t think he knows,” said Colonel Brown.
“Right now, this might actually be a good thing for us.”

“How?”

“Ryan must smell a rat. If he thinks his own boss is on
the take, he won’t let him or anyone else know he has her. He’s trying to
figure out what’s going on, but he doesn’t have all the pieces. The problem is,
he
will
figure it out if he gets to the other Didache scientists. We
can’t let him do that.”

“Those guys are scared shitless that Derek and Joshua
are coming after them,” said Alex. “I don’t see them leaving the safety of this
lab until those two are dead. How did Ryan know Dr. Anderson was even
involved?”

“I think we have our own little rat problem.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“I believe so, but don’t worry about him,” said Colonel
Brown. “I can take care of it from here. I need you in Atlanta today. It’s time
for us to start tying up these loose ends. I need Dr. Kristina Anderson removed
from the equation. Do you understand?”

“I do,” said Alex. “What about Ryan and his team?
They’re not going to be happy when she turns up missing.”

“I don’t think he’s willing to implicate himself to his
boss at this point. If he had all the information he needed, he wouldn’t be
hiding her. But just in case, make it look like Joshua took her. Before you
dispose of her, find out exactly what she told Ryan. We’ll make a determination
then if we need to remove him and his team as well.”

“Kill federal agents?” asked Alex.

“Yes. We’ll kill federal agents to insure the survival
of the Didache Project,” said Colonel Brown, glaring at Alex. “Are you still committed
to that goal?”

“Of course I am, sir. The last thing I want to do is
jeopardize the Project, but killing agents is going to bring a ton of heat and
put a huge spotlight on us.”

“You know all of this is part of the plan,” said Colonel
Brown convincingly. “We knew the FBI would have to get dangerously close to
exposing the flaws of the program. It’s the only way they’ll be convinced this
is an isolated case in which we’re
not
involved. But you also knew if
they came too close, we’d have to make some tough decisions to keep this lab
intact.

“If we fail to do that, this lab will be shut down
tomorrow. Think about how many of our brothers are going to die on the
battlefield because they weren’t given the abilities you have. Abilities that
came at a steep price. It took over twenty years of research to develop,
billions of dollars to manufacture, and cost us the lives of good men who would
want us to carry on the mission. The days of turning on the news and watching
our troops come home in flag draped coffins will be over because of what we’ve
accomplished here. What you accomplished here. I won’t let anyone shut us down
because of one stupid mistake that had nothing to do with us. You’re the future
of modern warfare, Alex. You’re the future of the Marine Corps. You have to be
protected and preserved at all cost.”

“Yes, sir,” acknowledged Alex. “I understand the
importance of completing the mission. I won’t let you down, Colonel.”

“No, Marine. I won’t let
you
down.”

*****

The heat of Atlanta was reaching its summertime peak as
Tom and Michelle left the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office on the east side of
the city. They quickly determined the missing girl wasn’t a victim of Derek or
Joshua. The timeline of her disappearance didn’t fit either profile. The girl
was also too young. She was seventeen-years-old, which was six years younger than
their usual twenty-three-year-old targets.

“This is going to sound crazy, but what if Dallas is
right about Ryan and Kristina,” said Tom, out of the blue while driving back to
Atlanta.

“Where did that come from?” asked Michelle.

“Left field, but what if?”

“First of all, you saying Dallas is right about
something is mind blowing enough. Add Ryan becoming involved with a possible
material witness in the most bizarre serial killer case we’ve ever worked, and
you’re standing on a different planet. He’d never jeopardize his objectivity
because of a crush.”

“You need to cut Dallas a little slack,” said Tom,
earning a glare from Michelle. “He’s a very intuitive person, and he knows Ryan
better than both of us. The fact that Dallas doesn’t have a filter between what
he thinks and what he says is actually an enviable characteristic. You always
know where you stand with him.”

“Okay, for the sake of the argument I’ll agree with you
about that, but not about Ryan falling for a woman under his protection.”

“Her name is Kristina.”

“I know her name, Tom.”

“I think maybe you’ve become
too
objective about
her. You see her as just another player in this very complicated game. Why
would it be so hard for you to believe Ryan may look at her differently?
Haven’t you ever been attracted to someone involved in an active
investigation?”

“No, of course not,” answered Michelle quickly. “It
would only make the game more complicated. And we definitely don’t need this
one to become more complicated. I would hope Ryan understands that. I find it
hard to believe you’re being so cavalier about it. When have you ever known him
to let down his guard?”

“Never, but it really has little to do with letting down
his guard and more to do with him being human,” said Tom.

“You’re losing me,” said Michelle. “We should be talking
about the case, not Ryan’s love life.”

“Okay, okay. Obviously, I struck some kind of chord with
you.”

“No, I just think it would be terribly irresponsible of
Ryan to get involved with a woman he barley knows under these circumstances.”

“Kristina.”

“Good Lord, Tom. You actually just made me wish I was
with Dallas right now.”

“Aha! I knew there was something going on between you
two,” said Tom with a chuckle.

“Okay, now you’re just trying to piss me off. I will
shoot you in the face,” she said with an unconvincing smile.

“Just jokes, Michelle. Lower your weapon.”

“Seriously, Tom, what’s come over you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just getting a little older and
thinking about my empty house and open date book that’s been that way for
years. We all become so involved with the job that we forget to think about
what happens after.”

“After?”

“Yeah, after we’re done with the job. And I don’t mean
this one in particular, I mean when we hang up our guns and rejoin normal
society. At this point in my life, I’d just go home to that empty house
wondering what to do next.”

“Well, any concept I had of ‘normal society’ was skewed
years ago because of this job,” said Michelle. “And the last thing I want to do
is join a group I don’t understand anymore. At least here, we hold the line and
know the bad guys are on the other side. For me, it’s actually a little
comforting not having to think about someone waiting for me to come home. It’s
just me looking out for me.”

“Do you really believe that?” asked Tom with a slightly
hurtful tone.

“You guys are on that line with me, Tom. I know you’re
looking out for me on the job. But when I go home, it really is just me. Just
like it’s only you when you go home. I believe it’s what makes us better at our
job than most. There’s nothing tying us down, and we’re able to trek across the
country at a moment’s notice. There’s no one to check in with and make sure the
kids are set for school and the grocery shopping is done. That has to make
sense to you.”

“Oh yes, it absolutely does, and I agree with you,” said
Tom. “But one of these days, perhaps sooner than later, the job will let us go
long before we’re ready to let it go. I wonder how we’ll deal with waking up
the next morning without those kids and no food in the fridge.”

“I’ll borrow my sister’s monkeys for an evening and
order pizza,” said Michelle. “After a night with them, I’ll look forward to an
empty house.”

“I can’t argue with that logic. Do you want me to drop
you off at Kristina’s?” asked Tom as they approached the neighborhood where she
was being hidden.