Mirrored Man: The Rob Tyler Chronicles Book 1 (43 page)

“Don't turn around,” Rob whispered to June.
“There's someone at the end of the building behind us.” He leaned
in closer. “When it happens, don't think. Just put your back
against the door and make like a shadow. Then as soon as you can,
get in the car and drive to the airport. Let me know you understand
me by saying sure.”

When it happens?
When what
happens?
“Sure, we're okay,” she answered. “Who’s there?” she
called to the stranger.

Rob stepped in front of June defensively,
keeping his left hand behind his back. When the man closed to
within fifteen feet, he said, “That's far enough.”

The stranger stopped and held his hands out
innocently. “Whoa! Take it easy, Commander. It's Simon Pew. Special
Agent Simon Pew, NCIS.”

“Well, Special Agent Simon Pew, why don't
you toss me some ID?”

“Not a problem.” Pew reached into his
jacket.

“Easy.”

Pew smiled, though he doubted Rob could see
him. He slowly removed the wallet from his breast pocket and tossed
it over.

Rob flipped it open. It looked real enough
in the poor light. “Do you know him?” he asked just loud enough for
June to hear.

“No. Never heard of him.” She turned to Pew.
“Where's Agent Santiago?” She pulled a name out of the air to see
if Pew would lie.

Pew shook his head. “Don't know any
Santiago, but Special Agent Edward Perez sent me to find you. And
you two didn't make that easy, let me tell you.”

June started to breathe a sigh of relief,
but then something didn’t seem quite right. “Perez's name is
Eduardo, not Edward,” she whispered.

It wasn't much, but it was enough. Rob took
a step forward and shrugged off the backpack. “Boy, are we glad to
see you!”

In an explosion of motion, Rob rushed Pew,
leading with his shoulder. Pew attempted to dodge him, but wasn't
fast enough. Pumping his legs furiously, Rob connected with Pew's
midsection. He lifted the man off his feet and slammed him down
onto the pavement.

Even though Rob had tried to prepare her,
June couldn't help an abbreviated screech, surprised by the sudden
motion. Then, doing as he had instructed, she whirled around and
backed into the door with a loud bang. She looked away from where
the men were brawling and saw another man dressed in black running
up the driveway toward them. He had already covered half the
distance, and she could see he was aiming some type of handgun in
her direction.

“Rob!” she shouted, glancing back. She
quickly abandoned the thought of any help as Rob and Pew continued
their struggle. She squatted, keeping as close to the door as she
could, as she began rolling it up.

Rob couldn't help a perverse grin when he
noticed Pew’s expression as he laid there, eyes wide and desperate
to take a breath. It was a mixture of anger, confusion, and pain.
“Not quite what you were expectin’, huh?” He reared up and smashed
his elbow into the middle of the man's chest with a sickening
crack
as sternum and ribs shattered. In one motion, he
knocked Pew's hands away, pulled the pistol from its holster under
his jacket, and rolled to his right. He came up half kneeling and
facing June. She thanked the Lord when the door opened easily,
as she had forgotten the lock was missing. She covered her ears,
too late. Rob found the dark form with the sites of his weapon. He
fired two shots nearly too fast for a human to distinguish one from
the other. June looked back at the man in black, expecting he was
the shooter. She was shocked to see him fall to the ground.
Surprised and relieved, she watched the gun sail out of his hands
and slide across the driveway away from him. With her ears ringing,
it took several seconds for her to hear his agonizing screams.

Remembering Rob's instruction to get to the
airport, she turned to the darkness of the storeroom only to see
another form moving fast from behind the car. When her eyes locked
on the syringe in her foe's hand, she grabbed the rope tied to the
door handle and dropped, using her weight to close it. But the
man's arm protruded from underneath, stopping it in the crook of
his elbow.

“Rob!” she yelled as she lost her grip and
fell on her rump.

Rob watched the man in black crumple,
screaming and clutching his leg. Rob’s aim had been true. He
glanced at the sound of June’s voice. There was a flash before his
eyes as he was kicked in the back of his head.

Pew landed on his knees as he watched Rob
tumble forward from the impact. He tried to breathe and grimaced
from the pain in his chest. Never before had he fought an opponent
who had inflicted such damage so quickly. He tried to stand,
desperate to put up a defense, but couldn’t find the strength.

Rob wasn't able to focus, but he was able to
use some of the energy Pew had spent in the attack to roll over his
shoulder. He came up, facing Pew on one knee. He had enough
presence of mind not to fire again so as not to draw unwanted
attention. He ejected the clip, locked the slide back and tossed
the weapon behind him. He heard a loud
bang
and looked to
the storeroom as another man dressed in a suit stepped out into the
alley from the storage locker. On the ground in front of him was
June crawling like a crab backwards to get away from this new
adversary. On her other side, Rob saw the man in black dragging his
injured body toward her.

The new attacker was moving quickly,
reaching for her with one hand as he wielded the hypodermic with
the other. June let out a pathetic, “No!” She tried to scramble
away and then she felt something on the ground behind her. Grabbing
it, she swung at her attacker just as he found a firm grip on her
ankle. She delivered a glancing blow across the bridge of his nose.
He recoiled and let go as blood gushed freely from the injury and
he was momentarily blinded. June looked at her weapon, the pistol
that the man in black had been carrying, and then pointed it at her
disorientated assailant.

Rob came to his feet and covered the short
distance between himself and Pew in the blink of an eye. Pew was
still kneeling with his head hung low as he tried to fill his lungs
when Rob kicked him in the face. Pew fell over heavily and lay
still in an unconscious heap. Rob turned his attention back to June
only to find the woman on her back pointing a gun at her attacker.
“June!” he shouted, but a fraction of a second too late.

When she pulled the trigger, she closed her
eyes in anticipation of the shot. But the
bang
she expected
didn’t come, only a muffled
pop
. She looked up at her foe
and saw a patch of red on his chest. She squinted, trying to
discern what had happened. The patch of red bounced too and fro as
the man began to stumble backward, still clutching his nose. He
dropped the syringe and moments later fell heavily to the
pavement.

“June!” Rob shouted again, startling her
attention away from the crumpled body. “Nine o'clock!”

“Nine o'clock?” She failed to
understand.

Seeing Rob rushing toward him, the man in
black stopped moving and held his hands up in defeat. “I’m
done.”

June reacted to the voice only feet away by
grabbing the barrel of the gun and clubbing him in the head,
knocking him out cold. “Is that all?” she asked, looking back at
the darkened storeroom.

“I hope so,” Rob said, satisfied that no one
else was left to continue the melee and relieved that there had
apparently been no witnesses. He bent down and plucked out the four
inch long black dart tipped with a red feather that was protruding
from the chest of the man who had threatened June with the needle.
He offered her a hand up and gave her an approving look as he
handed the missile to her.

“What?”

“Not a bad shot for an ethologist.”

“Thanks, it's my first”—she searched
unsuccessfully for a word—“whatever this is.”

“Just one question, though.”

“Yeah, what's that?”

“How come you didn't go to the airport like
I said?”

Minutes later, they had the unconscious men
inside the cramped space of the storeroom. Rob used a small amount
of chloroform to be sure that the man in black and the man with the
needle would sleep the rest of the night away and June tended the
man in black’s wounded leg. They agreed not to gag them, fearing
that the man with the broken nose might suffocate. When they
were finished, Rot splashed some water on Pew's face.

“Rise and shine honey, it’s time for some
pillow talk.”

Pew peered through swollen eyes at Rot and
coughed. Rob winced empathetically when he saw Pew grimace.

June, who was standing behind Rob holding
the backpack, grimaced as well and said, “Please don't hurt
him.”

“Well, it's a little late for that, don'tcha
think?”

“Well, just don’t overdo it.”

“I'll try,” he replied sincerely, attempting
to ease her sensibilities.

“Commander,” Pew wheezed, “we're here to
help.”

“Save it. Now, my friend here,” he motioned
with his head behind him, “she doesn't want me to hurt you …
anymore.”

Pew whimpered as he nodded his
agreement.

“Now, I myself have no such misgivings, so
if you don't tell me what I want to know”—he paused for
effect—“this is gonna be a very long night for you.”

Pew shook his head. “No more. Please. Can’t
breathe.”

“Good. I see we understand each other.
That's a good thing. Now,” Rob frowned and looked back at June.
“What do we wanna know?”

“Where's Covington?” she asked.

“Where's Covington?” Rob repeated, looking
at Pew.

“Don't know.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Rob straightened Pew's tie
and placed his thumb in the middle of Pew’s chest. “That was only
question number one and you’re already not cooperating. You know,
they say communication is the cornerstone of any relationship. I'd
say you and I are getting off to a pretty rocky start.”

“Rob—” June started to protest, but Rob
waved her off.

Pew shook his head more vigorously and
immediately paid the price for it. “Don't know. I swear!”

“Don't swear, Simon. Let your yes be
yes and your no be no.”

“I … don't know. We … came here … looking
for … him,” Pew said between gasps.

“I don't think I believe you.” Rob applied a
small amount of pressure to his sternum. “And I'm not in a very
good mood tonight.”

“Please. He went … rogue. He's … off the
grid.”

Rob removed his thumb, surprised by how much
he was beginning to pity Pew. “Okay, let's say that's true. What
are
you
doing
here
?”

“We … were sent … to bring … Covington back.
To arrest him,” he lied.

Rob scoffed. “And it was just dumb luck that
you just happened to stumble on June and me?”

“Yes.”

Rob put his thumb back on Pew's chest, but
applied no pressure.

“Please!” Pew pleaded again. “Please. I
don't … know anything … else.”

Rob snarled, gritted his teeth and leaned in
face-to-face, “I haven't asked you anything else yet! If you're
here lookin’ for Covington then what's he doing here? And what’s
with all the recreational drugs?”

Pew started to cough, his breath rattling in
his chest and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

June touched her companion on the shoulder.
“Rob. This is a waste of time. The police or somebody worse could
be on their way right now. We need to go.”

Rob thought it unlikely that the police
would come after so much time, but he nodded his agreement.

As Rob stood, Pew said, “Tyler, your
family—”

Rob's anger welled up in an instant. He
seized Pew by his jacket. “What about my family?”

“Rob, don't. Please,” June begged, tugging
at his arm.

Pew tried to scream but his breath was taken
from him. Rob, seeing the man in agony, eased him back and let go.
Regardless of what the man had planned for them earlier, he was
helpless now, in agony and fighting to just to take a breath. Rob
withdrew the cloth that he had previously dosed with chloroform
from the backpack and placed it over Pew's face just long enough
for him to slip into unconsciousness. When he looked back at June,
he found her staring at Pew with tears in her eyes.

Slinging the backpack over his shoulder, Rob
fought back the impulse to apologize to her. “Are you ready?”

ROB HAD METICULOUSLY
formulated a
plan to cut through the fence to gain access to the airfield, but
as they drove away from the storage facility, he decided he would
ride along with June to the main gate instead.

“I thought you had this intricate plan all
worked out. 'Plow the road,' you said.” June glanced his way.

“I did.”

“What about security guards?”

“There aren’t any.”

June looked at him doubtfully. “There aren’t
any? How do you know that?”

He shrugged. “Just do.”

“If there aren’t any, then why did you make
the chloroform?”

Again, he shrugged. “Came in handy at the
storage place.”

June couldn’t deny his logic. “So we’re just
gonna drive up to the main gate, and then what?”

“I guess we’ll see when we get there.”

June stopped at an intersection. “Which
way?”

“Right.”

June did as instructed, turning onto
Apalachee Street. “Should I turn the lights off?”

“You’ve seen too many movies,” Rob chuckled.
“No, you might hit somethin’.”

June had trouble reading the street signs on
the unlit road. As they made their way through the small
residential area, she began to think Rob had her going in the wrong
direction. But soon the trees thinned and she could make out the
airfield’s radar array ahead. They passed a parking lot and stopped
in front of the gate in the chain link fence that surrounded the
airfield.