The 15th Star (A Lisa Grace History - Mystery) (24 page)

The two guys pointed them in the opposite direction of where they
’d come from. They took Julian and Keiko to an old storage room about the size of a cell. The door was metal so vermin wouldn’t eat through it to the barley and hops stored inside. Nothing in the way of holes. When the door shut behind them and locked, Keiko and Julian were in total darkness with nothing to do but think and wait for the time being.

Julian reached out and put his arm around Keiko.

“What now?” she asked.

“
Don’t worry. We wait,” he said.

“
I think Benton’s planning on getting rid of us,” Keiko leaned into him.

“
He could, but he really doesn’t know who he’s dealing with,” Julian said, “Let’s sit down and make ourselves comfortable. I’m sure we won’t be in here more than an hour. As soon as Ray rounds up some of his associates we’ll be out in no time.”

“
You’re sure?” Keiko said feeling the cold damp starting to seep into her clothes.

“
If I weren’t sure would I do this?” Julian took her face in his hands kissed her gently. Even though they were in great danger, now was all that mattered.

Julian slowly let her go. Keiko couldn
’t see a thing in the dark but she could hear Julian moving.

“
What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

She heard him grunt.

‘It’s okay, phantom leg pain. I need to adjust my leg.”

“
Oh.”

Keiko reached out until she could touch him. Her hand landed on his bicep.

“Is it painful?”

“
Occasionally. I know we have a spirit body because even though the flesh is gone, my leg is still there. I can wiggle the toes. I get itches I can’t scratch. I even get cramps. When I get in the water, my missing toes can feel whether the water is cold or hot. In a way, I still have my leg. You just can’t see it.”

“
Is there anything I can do?”

“
Sure. You could massage it.” Julian paused, “Keiko, I’m kidding.”

Keiko punched the arm she so recently had been holding onto.

“How can you joke like that when we’re stuck in here with our lives possibly at risk?”

“
Look, we’ve got our guns and you’ve got me so we really have the upper hand. But I’m sure Ray is going to get to have all the fun and take care of things while I‘m sitting here protecting you.”

“
This isn’t funny, it’s dangerous!”

“
You’re right. You might accidentally hit me in the nose, here in the dark,” Julian stood up, reached out his arm until he brushed against Keiko. He helped her to her feet. “We should get ready in case Ray engages the enemy.” Julian reached down and pulled out his hidden gun.

“
Put your gun where you can reach it easily. Safety’s off, right?”

“
Yeah, I’m ready. Do you really think Benton thinks we could keep quiet about this?”

“
In Washington the only thing bigger than the monuments are the egos. His plan may very well be to let us, including him, get credit for finding the star. A career boost in D.C. is considered an even trade for ignoring illegal activities, even murder. Besides, as he said, if we make a scene he can always arrange for an ‘accident’. It maybe his backup plan in any case.”

Keiko shivered. Julian hugged her.
“It’s okay. Benton’s an amateur. He has just stepped in a big pile of it, but the smell hasn’t reached his nose yet. You do not mess with an ex-Special Forces Army guy who has a secret service agent for a father.”

“
This is in case we don’t make it out,“ Keiko reached out to pull Julian’s head down for another kiss.

There was the sound of the door sliding open. Julian pointed his gun at the door and shielded Keiko with his body. Ray shined his light on them.
“Maybe I should have knocked first,” he said.

Julian lowered his gun and said,
“Can you give us a minute?”

“
Give you a minute? You’ve got killers on your tail and you want a minute? Sure, we’ve got the rest of the night. No hurry.” He walked away shaking his head.

“
Look, when we get out of this mess, I want to make us permanent,” Julian said, “I’ve been around enough to know what I want from life, and I want you.”

“
Are you asking me to marry you?”

“
Yes, I’m asking.”

“
Can we discuss this when killers aren’t locking us up and planning our accidental deaths? How do I know it’s not the adrenaline speaking? We can’t make a decision that important based on adrenaline and circumstances.”

“
Keiko, look, life is short. I’ve seen too much death. You have too. There is no guarantee for tomorrow. I don’t want to wait to live the rest of my life. I want a life with you. Don’t make us wait.”

“
Ask me when we’re not in danger. You might change your mind. You know I have a problem, with letting go—with my parents… Julian, I’m not quite—all right yet. You need time to think about who I really am.” Keiko couldn’t bring herself to break from his embrace. She was afraid if he thought it through, he
would
change his mind. If she took him at his word now, and he changed his mind later… She wasn’t sure she could handle another loss. Better for him to wait.

“
Keiko, I’m not going to change my mind.”

They stood there holding each other until Ray called from the other room,
“Come on already!”

*

***

*

Chapter 16 - Jacks Place

Jacks got back from the bar, excited Keiko had called him. He was still feeling a little drunk so he went to the fridge and grabbed a Red Bull. The walk home helped to clear his brain. The other day, when she had walked by holding that Doctor
’s hand, his stomach had flopped. He knew he should have asked her out. She was only a year older than him. Why exactly was she so intimidating? Jacks wasn’t sure why, but he was. In a year, he could write his own ticket for a good job in this town. Jacks knew Keiko was too beautiful to be unattached for long. If only he weren’t afraid to do anything but ask stupid questions. Every time he approached her, all his thoughts froze like a hard drive with a virus. She made him nervous, unsure. Keiko had not seen the real him yet. This was his chance to show her he was more than a stumbling bumbling college student.

He sat down at his computer, his head still foggy. Beer always did it to him. He waited for his laptop to get hooked into a phantom IP address. From there he typed in yet another router, and finally went in through a public Wi-Fi site. This should throw anyone off his tail. They might put a tracer on him, but the information was going to be parked on a server in a different country and the protocols, unless they were using some top security clearance spyware, would keep anyone from tracing the trail back to him. And really, what were the chances of that? Who cared about history and what would it have to do with anything involving the government? Jacks was sure Keiko was overreacting. He was so sure he was right, he would bet his life on it. So he did.

***

It was still dark when Jacks woke up and went into the bathroom to empty his bladder again. He
’d slept in his clothes, not an unusual occurrence. He took his time, still half-asleep and hungover. When he paused to shake the sleep from his eyes, he heard the front hall floorboard creak. He instantly froze. He zipped silently. Someone was in his hall. That board only creaked when weight was put on it. The footsteps continued into the living room. He only had moments to think before they figured out where he was. “Oh crap,” he whispered. Then from his desk where he’d been working, his cell phone began to ring. He looked at the window in the shower. It led out to the fire escape. The phone ringing might mask the sound of the window going up. He only had a split second to make his decision. Jacks reached up, pushed the latch open, and hauled himself up and out. He lowered the window silently and prayed he had a minute to get far enough away. He climbed up the fire escape onto the roof. Jacks jumped the space between the buildings and went in a rooftop door. Jacks turned and locked it from the inside. He vaulted over the railing getting down as fast as possible. Outside one of the apartments he passed on the way down, he saw a pair of flip-flops. He stopped briefly to put them on. His toes hung over the edge. Running every day, preparing for marathons, kept him in top shape. Jacks barely broke a sweat. When he reached the bottom, he went out the building and back towards the center of town.

Jacks had a few blocks to walk and think. While it was still dark out, shopkeepers and businessmen were out getting an early start on their day. In Washington life started before daybreak. He went a different route and ended up in an alley. Jacks paced and thought about where he could go this early in the morning. Work? No. He wondered how safe it would be. Luckily, while he had set his phone on his desk, he
’d forgotten to remove his wallet from his jeans pocket. He left the alley, turned into the Spy City Café, and ordered a large coffee. He chuckled to himself at the name. It was certainly apropos. Here he was, caught red-handed, cyber-spying on someone who was cyber-spying on him. He went and sat at a back table facing the front window. There was a chance that whomever broke in didn’t know he was home. But if they did…

With all the precautions Jacks had taken, he wasn
’t careful enough. Keiko had warned him. He thought some classic moves would be enough to throw basic spyware off his trail. But this was jail-time serious. Keiko was right. He couldn’t believe the IP address that popped up when he ran the trace. Why a congressional representative would bother a historian was beyond weird. What had Keiko done? This was government. Big time scary. Or maybe he was a secret boyfriend of Keiko’s? She didn’t seem the type to have an affair with a married congressman or to cheat on a boyfriend with that Doctor guy. Nah. Had to be a weird government thing. In a few hours, whoever they were would know everything about him. His habits, where he hung out, any place he’d made a credit or debit card order. Luckily, being a broke student, he lived mostly on cash. How to survive until he could find out what was going on, that was what he needed to think about. And what could be so worthy of a cover up? Of course, this being D.C., it was possible they were just checking him out because of the hacking. No, they wouldn’t have broken in. They would have knocked, served him with a search warrant, and arrested him on the spot.

No, these guys were secret service—or worse. They weren
’t there to arrest him. There was only one reason those kind of guys broke in, and it didn’t have anything to do with following the law. Where would they think he would go next? He should go to the last place they would look, if Jacks only had an idea of where that was.

He took a sip of his coffee and mentally ran through a list of everyone he knew and places he commonly went. Then Jacks thought of all the people he barely knew and never hung around. Out of them, who did he trust the most? Where could he hide out that they wouldn
’t find him? He saw a messenger on a bike stop in and go back to use the restroom. That gave him an idea. He borrowed a pen from the counter and wrote on a napkin. He quickly constructed a makeshift envelope from a paper place mat and shoved the napkin in.

When the guy came out Jacks asked,
“Hey, would you deliver this letter for me? If no one’s there, just slip it through the mail slot.” Jacks held out a twenty, “This is for doing me a favor man.”

“
If it’s on my route..,” the courier looked at the address, only a few blocks away, “Sure man, it’s on the way. Thanks dude.”

“
I’d do it myself but my boss called and I gotta head back in five. Thanks man.”

“
Sure dude, later.” The courier gave him a hand sign, got back on his bike with the money and message safely tucked away in his pouch.

Jacks sat back and waited. At least he could leave the information for Keiko as he had promised. It
’s all he could do.

***

Jacks waited for Joe the bartender to show up. He sat back at the table sipping his coffee with three sugars and cream. A poor man’s latte. He’d given that bicycle messenger a good chunk of his change. He still had a fifty-dollar bill, one twenty and some singles left. Not a lot, not in this town. He and Joe used to work at a restaurant together before Joe had moved onto the bar for better tips. Jacks had taken the security guard job where he was working mostly nights with some overtime into the early morning hours. Those were the days he got to see Keiko.

His schedule freed him up to take his college classes during the day so he could feel like a normal college student. One that didn
’t have to work a job to go to school.

With Joe meeting him here, he could find out if Keiko called back and had gotten the name of who was spying on her. If not, he would have to think of a way to warn her she was in danger.

*

***

*

Chapter 17 - 1819

A few days after Grace received the Major Rivers’ letter, she began to relax. Now that she and the Major had an understanding, Grace was ready to live the rest of her life. There was a knock at the door. Bethany dried her hands on a towel and went to answer the door. Mary was indisposed, having woman’s problems. They had just finished a large job of new colors for two new merchant ships and were actually giving their fingers a rest. After a big job, Grace and Mary’s fingers tended to swell from the repetitious movement of the needles’ ins and outs. It also made their wrists hurt. A day or two off always helped relieve the soreness. They weren’t expecting anyone. Bethany came back into the kitchen. “There’s a man out in the parlor needs some flags made for his troops. I told him Mrs. Mary is not receiving visitors so he asked to see you.”