The first deception, p.8
The First Deception, page 8
part #1 of Jack Noble Prequel Series
Noble wiped a layer of sweat off his brow and looked up at his partner. “Yeah, let’s do this.”
“Cribbs said it has to look like a gang killing,” Bear said, referring to the man who had made their lives hell for close to two months on the Farm.
The old bastard had told them this could not look like a professional job. No problem, Jack thought. It was their first time. It was bound to look sloppy.
Noble produced an H&K 9mm pistol and threaded a suppressor on the end of it. It wouldn’t silence the shot to the sound of a nun’s fart, but it’d reduce the noise enough to prevent the restaurant’s patrons from hearing, like a pebble in a tin can. He questioned the use of the Heckler and Koch, though. Would it be a gangbanger’s weapon of choice?
Bear pushed the stall door open with his foot. In Witherspoon’s haste, he had failed to secure the lock. The sight before them looked like something out of a drug awareness campaign. Witherspoon’s forehead rested on the toilet tank. His glasses were on the floor surrounded by a lake of blood-tinged vomit. The guy’s face had turned beet-red.
Witherspoon noticed the men behind him. He wiped his face with his sleeve and lifted off the toilet seat. His gaze shifted to the pistol in Noble’s hand.
“Who are you?” Witherspoon said. “What do you want?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” Noble said.
“I-I-I’ll pay you anything,” he said reaching for his pocket. “Let me offer you—”
Noble squeezed the trigger. The bullet entered Witherspoon’s forehead and tore through his brain. It exited at an angle, shattering a wall tile. He gestured toward the lifeless body. Bear stepped forward and delivered a couple of blows to Witherspoon’s torso and face to make it look like he’d been roughed up first.
“Good enough,” Noble said. “Let’s move to phase two.”
Bear heaved through a couple of breaths. He was taking it harder than Noble. “Should we move him?”
Noble considered this for a moment. Would it better if they perched him on the seat? “It won’t match up if we do. Splatter will be all wrong, plus we’ll get his blood all over us. Right now we’re pretty clean. Out through the back and no one will ever know we had anything to do with this.”
“All right, leave him where he is.” Bear pulled the stall door closed and managed to get it to catch and stay.
Noble broke down his H&K, pocketed the suppressor and holstered the pistol.
A rap on the door echoed through the restroom. The two men looked at each other. Bear held up a finger, pointed for Noble to move to the hinge-side of the door, out of view.
Bear opened the door about six inches, enough for his face to press through. His large frame blocked the opening. “Can’t come in. There’s been an accident in here. You can use the bathroom upstairs.” He paused a few seconds, then shut the door. “That was too close. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Noble pulled out the plans for the building. Their escape route was marked in blue highlighter. “Storage room is to the right, then left at the end of the hallway. The exit will be in the back corner.”
Bear held the door open for Noble to exit. After Jack had passed, Bear pulled a small wooden wedge from his pocket. He pulled the door closed until it held the wedge in place. One final yank ensured it would be some time before anyone managed to open it. Wouldn’t be long until someone started looking for Witherspoon. It’d take a while for them to get to the dead man though.
They moved at a hastened clip, down the hall, to the left, through the door labeled with a small black plaque that read ST RAGE. The O had been marked out with magic marker. It was in the room that the building showed its true age. The brick walls hadn’t been reconditioned to simply look weathered. They were covered with the dirt and grime of a century or more of various uses. Mildew hung in the air. Mold stained the ceilings. Jack scrunched his nose at the smell as he pushed through. Light seeped in through small windows near the ceiling, but it failed to provide enough illumination. A fan droned on while cold air billowed down on them through an open vent.
“Watch your step,” Noble said to Bear as he stepped over a ladder perched sideways on the floor.
A disheveled stack of cardboard boxes blocked their path to the exit. They began tossing them over their shoulders. Noble’s fingertips slid into the wet cardboard. It felt like picking up rotted corpses.
“The hell is this?” Bear yanked the final few boxes out of the way and slapped the brick wall with his open hand. “Jack, you sure it was this corner?”
Noble pulled out the plans and verified they were in the right spot. “This is it, man.”
“Why are we staring at a solid goddamn brick wall?”
The constant mechanical whirr in the room gave way to the sound of sirens. In a matter of seconds they rose to a peak before silencing amid squealing brakes. It was too soon for an ambulance to arrive for Witherspoon. Hell, it was too soon for anyone to have arrived. Noble shook his head as he caught Bear’s eye. His stomach felt as though it had flipped and twisted and been severed in two.
“They set us up.”
Chapter Fourteen
The mountain of discarded boxes they’d tossed behind them provided the first obstacle on Noble and Bear’s path to escape. Jack took large steps, crunching the cardboard down. Bear opted for a more direct route and barreled through.
See escape, get to escape.
“What’s at the other end of that hallway?” Bear yelled over his shoulder as he grabbed the door handle and yanked it open.
Noble recalled the building plans. “The office.”
“Should be a window in there.” The big man pulled the door all the way open and dashed into the hallway. Seconds had passed since they heard the sirens. Enough time for the police to have breached the restaurant and determine what had happened?
Jack turned his head as he ran through the intersection. Four people crowded the restroom door, including a hysterical woman saying something about her husband being followed on his way home last night.
Mrs. Witherspoon, if only you knew the truth.
Someone yelled at Noble to stop.
Not a chance.
Bear drove his shoulder into the office door. It broke clear off its hinges. Jack caught sight of the door sign and noted that the first F in OFFICE had been crossed out and changed to RI. Clever. And fitting. If they didn’t get out of the building now, they’d be taking it up one of their orifices in short order.
“What are you doing in here?” A woman in her early forties shoved away from her desk, knocking over a mug filled with pens. They scattered and fell on the uneven floor and rolled toward the opposite wall. She aimed her computer mouse at Bear.
Noble pulled the H&K from its holster and drew a bead on her. Her face slackened as she threw her hands in the air. “Please, don’t shoot. I’ve got a boy at home.” Her eyes darted between him and the wall behind him. He took a quick glance and spotted the camera mounted in the corner.
Noble didn’t want additional casualties, and he especially didn’t want any recorded. “Get that window open yet?”
Bear worked the window free from years of dirt buildup on the sill that had cemented it in place. He pushed the black screen out and stuck his leg through. The rest of him followed.
Noble looked back at the woman. “Get home to that little boy.” Outside, he looked around, adjusting to the sunlight and gathering his bearings. He’d gone over the aerial images a dozen times that day alone. “You remember the area?”
Bear nodded. “I got it.”
Jack pointed down the alley. “You go left. I’m heading around this building.” He pointed at the weathered grey stone structure on the other side of the asphalt. “We’ll meet on Q Street. Got it?”
They had decided earlier if things went sideways and the authorities closed in, they would split up to reduce the risk of both of them being caught.
Bear took off without a word. The man moved faster than you’d think given his height and muscle.
The empty loading dock provided shaded cover as he put distance between himself and the restaurant. Sirens wailed, drowning out the sound of his footfalls as his boots slapped the concrete. Any cops inside were assessing the scene at this point. It would be another few minutes before they made it through the office, and another five before they started venturing out beyond the building’s walls.
They would have additional units coming to create a web around the area. To get out, Noble had to avoid the chokepoints.
He turned left at the next alley, a slick, wet stretch of street lined with dumpsters and grease traps. He covered his mouth and nose with his sweaty shirt. The smell was worse than where they used to pile up the shells and sand they collected while dredging the sea in Florida. His mother loved taking them there when they were kids.
“Oh, look, another sandollar!”
Blue and red lights brightened the shadows as a squad car raced past. They were gone in an instant. Noble rested against the wall for a moment and slurped down a few deep breaths. He’d sprinted the entire four minutes since leaving the loading dock. Another squad car raced past. This wasn’t the place to linger. After catching his breath, he continued on to 29th Street.
He was half a mile from his rendezvous point with Bear. He cut down a side street and continued to work his way over.
Bear’s route had been more direct. All the big man had to do was head due north for the most part. The first few intersections were the most treacherous where he’d be out in the open for longer stretches. Bear had proven himself intelligent while on the farm. Jack had little doubt the guy would be waiting for him.
It was hot for mid-November in D.C. The temperatures had peaked at eighty earlier that day, and hadn’t given in much since. Humidity was high in advance of an approaching tropical storm. Noble didn’t know the name. He’d been kept from such things for the better part of two months now. They were only told about the storm because Cribbs didn’t want them to get caught up in it.
Get the job done and get the hell out.
Cribbs had made it clear they would have a very limited window to get out of the city. But Noble saw through it all now, starting with the walled-in escape route. He knew there’d be no car waiting for them at the rendezvous point.
A chill raced down his spine. They were making the wrong move and he had no way to warn Bear. The big man might not suspect whoever waited for them there. Someone armed with an identical H&K 9mm with a suppressor threaded on the end.
Noble paused for a moment, took a few deep breaths. He had to get there before the big man. He broke into an all-out sprint, dodging pedestrians and bikers. He paid no attention to traffic signals. Cars honked at every intersection. Drivers probably flipped him off. He didn’t bother to look. A few narrowly avoided colliding with him. Crunching metal indicated he’d caused at least one accident.
He made it a half-mile before his burning lungs and thighs could no longer keep up. He collapsed against the side of a building and sucked in air so thick it might as well have been steam. Sweat dripped off the ends of his hair. Noble glanced up at the street signs and found them on his mental map of the area. The rendezvous point was only one block away.
Two men and a woman all dressed casually in jeans and sweaters walked past. Where the hell were they from that they were cold today? Jack filed in behind them. He stayed close to the woman and kept his head down. Every few seconds he tossed a glance at the upcoming corner.
Bear wasn’t there.
He’d figured it out.
Noble exhaled in relief.
“What are you doing?” The woman stared at him like he was an overgrown mosquito trying to bite her. “Get away.”
Both men stepped between Noble and the woman.
He threw both hands up in front of his chest and backed off to avoid a scene. Lucky for the men he had bigger things to worry about. This was not ideal though. He had hoped to cross the street with the group. He glanced around for another option and found it in the form of an open door.
The fan above the doorway blasted him with frigid air. In a few seconds he’d gone from overheated to slightly chilled as his sweat-soaked skin devoured the AC.
An Asian man holding a cleaver next to a meat cooler stared him down. He didn’t ask if Jack needed anything. Why would he? Noble looked so out of place in the shop the man behind the counter probably figured he was there to rob the store.
“I’ll be on my way in a moment,” Noble said. “Hot as balls out there.”
The guy brought the cleaver down on an unsuspecting duck carcass. He tossed the head into a bowl and pushed the rest of the body aside. His stare never wavered off of Jack.
“Dammit,” Jack muttered. He spotted Bear at the opposite corner. The big man towered above a group of school kids wearing blue plaid uniforms.
The light turned. The kids went and so did Bear, keeping a couple yards of separation between them. Noble heard the engine rev before he saw the unmarked sedan. It skidded to a stop in the middle of the intersection. Jack reached under his shirt and put his hand on the H&K while he waited for the sedan’s occupants to exit the vehicle.
He feared they were a couple of spooks from Langley, there on Cribbs’s orders. It made sense. If Noble and Bear were dumb enough to head to the rendezvous point after what had happened in the restaurant, they deserved to die. Lesson failed. No retest given.
The entire time they had been staring at that map before leaving for the job, Jack kept thinking they needed an alternate place to meet up. One where they wouldn’t be found. But Cribbs’s men hadn’t given them a chance to wipe their asses alone. Forget about time to create their own plan. This mission was about following orders and proving they could get the job done.
He’d thought so, at least.
Two male police officers hopped out of the sedan, guns drawn. They shouted at Bear, ordering him down.
The big man backpedaled with his hands in the air, yelling, “Don’t shoot! I’m a federal agent.”
This led to more shouting over one another by the cops.
Noble grabbed a large brim hat off a coatrack as he slipped out of the shop. The butcher yelled something at him, but Jack ignored it. A crowd of people stood by and watched the scene unfolding in the intersection. The cops were so embroiled in their situation with Bear, they hadn’t noticed Jack coming up behind them.
Bear had though.
The big man locked eyes with Noble for a second. The confidence in his look was all Jack needed to see. It wasn’t lost on him that he was about to commit a felony for a guy he couldn’t stand a few short months ago. Not only that, Noble had grown up with a strong sense of right and wrong. It was pounded into him by his father. The waters began to muddy after his sister’s murder, but he still had a moral compass that guided his decisions. He wondered if he ever would again after this. He pulled his pistol from his belt, spun it in his palm. A woman shouted, “Behind you!” to the cop. The officer ignored her.
Big mistake.
Jack cracked the guy over the back of the head with the H&K. The officer stumbled, fell to his knees and mumbled something. His partner must’ve been a rookie. He turned his back on Bear to see what had happened behind him. Before the cop could make sense of the situation, he leveled his Glock 17 at Jack and opened fire.
Noble had seen it coming and dove behind the sedan before the first shot rang out. The rounds ricocheted off the asphalt. A man screamed out in pain. A red blossom spread across the midsection of his white tank top.
The officer lurched forward and collided with the ground a few feet from Noble. The street had torn half the skin off his cheek. Bear was on the guy’s back. He looked over at Jack, grinned.
“Get in the car,” Bear said.
Jack scrambled to his feet and pulled the passenger door open. A second later, Bear slammed into the seat next to him. The vehicle was running. Bear dropped it into reverse and slammed the skinny pedal to the floor. The tires spun before gaining traction on the asphalt. He whipped the car around in a tight semi-circle, threw it into drive and sped off with the lights on and the siren blaring. Cars and pedestrians hustled to get out of their way on the busy D.C. streets.
Bear slammed his hands on the wheel. “I gotta get me one of these, man.” Adrenaline was a powerful thing, and right now, it had a grip on Bear.
Jack took a deep breath and wiped his face. Against all odds, they had made it. He couldn’t believe it. A chuckle escaped his mouth. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the chilled air billowing out of the vents.
He felt something buzzing against his thigh. He pulled out the thick portable phone Cribbs had given him earlier that day.
“That him?” Bear said.
“I hope so.” He pressed the button to answer the call.
“Noble,” a woman said. “If you want to get out of the city alive, then listen carefully to every word I say.”
Chapter Fifteen
Bear pulled the sedan to a stop a hundred feet from a beat up dark-green Jeep Wrangler. He had cut the lights and sirens following the phone call. The woman never identified herself to Noble. She said her purpose was to help them escape the city. The moment Jack asked her a question, she hung up. That had been after she gave them directions to the Jeep.
“What you think, man?” Bear asked.
Noble scanned the area, studying windows and doorways looking for shadows or a protruding barrel. He gripped the warm bezel of the side mirror and angled it, giving him a view of the escape vehicle. A minute later he popped open his door. “I think if we stay in this unmarked, we’re done for. Let’s go check it out.”
Noble lifted his shirt and tucked it behind the H&K’s grip. The easier the access, the better. Bear remained a few steps behind. He grunted every few steps. Must’ve picked up an injury along the way. When Jack reached the Wrangler, he placed his hand on the rough hood. It felt cool. There was no lingering smell of gas and oil. It had been parked there for a while.
