Immortal Secrets (20 page)

“It totally makes sense now. I finally get a babe for a girlfriend and she turns out to be a total gun toting psycho. No wonder she was available,” Carl said.

“I saw Flores,” Allison said in a somber voice.

Jeff’s head jerked up. “Are you sure about that?”

Allison nodded. “I’m sure. We worked with him long enough for me to recognize him instantly. I’m sure he made us. I wonder why
he
didn’t make a play.”

Carl put his hand on Allison’s leg. “So all this is about some guy you used to know?
That’s what
this drama is about? Does the term drama queen mean anything to you or Lisa?”

Allison took his hand. “Well, your psycho babe, drama queen girlfriend did get the three of us out of there because she saw someone she used to know. That someone is Roberto Flores and he’s a professional assassin.”

Now the alarm bells were going off in my head. “So you’re saying you worked with him a while back, like a long while back.”

Allison seemed to understand that I was trying to avoid coming right out with
the
fact that her and Jeff had been around so long that they weren’t just older than dirt, they very well might have named dirt. “Yeah, it was quite a ways back. Probably about as long as what you’re thinking.”

Oh, this was just great. Not only had we almost run right into an assassin, but this assassin was also an immortal. The hits just kept on coming. “Oh, that’s great. Because, you know, I was getting pretty tired of these run of the mill mob killers. I mean a girl has got to have standards about what kind of killers she associates with.”

Carl looked over at Allison. “Y’all haven’t told me everything, have you?

I looked back at him. “Well I guess they don’t call you a genius for nothing.” 

“I well I guess they don’t call you a…,” Carl started to say.

“Both of you stop,” Allison said.

“I’m sorry Carl, I guess the stress is starting to get to me,” I said.

Jeff glanced back at Allison. “Tell Phil to meet us at that Walmart on Avenue Q.”

She looked up. “Okay, it’s done”

Carl looked over at her. “You didn’t do anything. You didn’t talk on the cell phone or radio or anything. So how did you talk to this Phil person?”

She kissed Carl on the cheek. “There is so much I need to tell you. As soon as we have some time, I promise to tell you everything.”

We pulled into the Walmart parking lot and found Phil and Jenny waiting for us. They were parked in the extreme southeast corner of the parking lot. Most people liked parking close to the store, so the area they had picked out was empty of cars or people to speak of. Once we parked everyone got out. Jeff took Phil aside and they seemed to have a brief but private conversation. The rest of us just sort of stood in a semi-circle. I really wasn’t sure what to do next.

Jeff walked over to our little circle. “Okay, we’re going to split up into couples and go into the store. I will go with Lisa, Phil with Jenny, and Allison with Carl. No one, except Jenny will take a weapon in. It wouldn’t do much good in a crowded environment, but it’s part of Jenny’s uniform, if you will. Besides, no one is going to question a federal officer carrying a weapon.”

Carl
looked at me. “So, your Aunt is
a fed?”

“No, she’s a fed pretending to be my aunt. Boy, you have a lot of catching up to do,” I said.

Jeff took me by the hand. “Let’s go, little miss snug.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“That means you seem to enjoy tormenting that boy with the fact that you
know
more than he does, at the moment,” Jeff said.

“It’s not a real attractive quality is it?” I asked.

Jeff shook his head. “Not really, but I can live with it.”

I wanted to change the subject. “So what are we doing here? Shouldn’t we be high tailing it for the farm?”

“I’m concerned about what happened at the mall,” he said.

“What exactly are you concerned about?” I asked.

“I know the man Allison saw. We used to be like brothers. He’s an assassin and he’s very good at it. There’s no way the three of you made it out of the mall without a scratch on any of you unless he didn’t want to hurt you or
he
had orders not to make a move in a public place,” Jeff said.

I stopped and looked at him. “So we’re safe in public places?”

He nodded. “I think we are tempo
rarily. But I have no doubt that
we are being tracked. I’m just not sure how.”

“So what are we doing at Walmart?”

“I want everyone to buy new clothes and leave anything they are wearing in the store. It’s possible than Carl could have a tracking device on something he is wearing,” Jeff said.

We started walking again. “So how will we know if we’re in the clear?”

“We won’t. The longer we stay in the local area, the closer they will get to us. Eventually we’ll have to run,” he said.

“Unless Carl can decode that data card,” I countered.

“Even then, we can’t stay here. Under the right conditions, the bad guys might let us slip away. What they won’t do is let any of us openly defy them. The mob has an image to uphold. The Demarcos can’t afford to look weak in front of the other East Coast families,” he said.

“What is it about running that bothers you? I will be happy anywhere that we are together. Why do you keep resisting the idea of just leaving?” I asked.

“Look, if no one is looking for us, everyone can stay together,” he said.

“And if people are looking for us?
”
I asked.

“Then we have to split up into groups of two,” he said.

“No, I don’t want to do that. I’m not
going
anywhere without you. I also kind of like having Jenny around and Allison is like my sister. We all need to stay together.”

“Well, then we need to know what’s on that data card,” Jeff said as we walked into the store.

Chapter Eighteen

Carl was very quiet on the ride back to the farm. Allison was holding his hand and snuggling up next to him. Judging from the blank look on his face, she must have filled him in on what was really going on with everyone. Everyone was wearing their new clothes. Hey, it was an excuse for new shoes. Any trip that involved new shoes couldn’t be all bad.

I was sure that everyone had the same question on their mind. Could Carl decipher what was on that data card? I assumed that he could since Allison had bought him a new computer and a bunch of accessories for it. Maybe the better question was whether Carl was up to deciphering what was on the data card. He looked pretty freaked out about whatever Allison had told him.

I tried not to laugh, thinking about the look that must have been on Carl’s face when Allison told him that she was an older woman, a much older woman. That wasn’t even taking into account any discussion about how she could beat up almost every guy on the planet and could kill with almost no hesitation.

Of course, the same was true of the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Suddenly, thinking about the look on Carl’s face didn’t seem as funny as it had just a few moments ago. I remembered my own shock and disbelief about Jeff being immortal. Even that was after I had seen Jeff save my friend’s life with what could only be called miraculous abilities.

Once we arrived back at the farm, we reconvened around the dining room table. I could feel everyone’s anxiety increasing. The situation was becoming tenser by the hour.

Jeff looked around the table. “I’m sure everyone would like an update of our situation. Allison, are you guys up to speed on everything?”

Carl looked up. “Yeah, I think I understand things pretty well now. It just took me a while to come to grips with the fact that my girlfriend is a pretty scary person.”

Allison gave him an evil look. “I am a very nice person. Sometimes stuff just happens.”

“Carl, the question is, can you or will you decode the date card we have?” Jeff asked.

“Sure, I can create a program and have it decrypted in a couple of hours,” Carl said.

Jeff raised his eyebrows. “That fast?”

Carl smiled. “At the risk of sounding conceded, I’m a computer genius. I could do this in my sleep.”

Jeff looked around at each person at the table. “Here’s the tactical situation. I expect the bad guys to figure out where we are soon. In fact, they may already know where we are. We need the information off that data card so that we have something to negotiate with. So, starting now, Phil, Allison, and myself will take turns patrolling outside and checking for any signs of hostiles. Phil, you’re the tactical expert. What can we expect?”

Phil paused for a moment. “Flores is very good. However, he has two major problems. First he is outnumbered, as far as us immortals are concerned. There are three of us and only one of him. The second problem is that he will not be in any hurry to advertise the existence of immortals.
He would be bringing heat down on himself if he did. If the world governments knew about us, they would try and hunt us down.
”

I sort of half raised my hand. “Okay, so how does that help us?”

“It limits his options. He knows he probably can’t kill everyone. I suspect that you, Carl, and that data card will be his priority. I expect him to attack fast and in full force. He already knows that bullets are highly unlikely to kill myself, Jeff, or Allison. His friends probably won’t know this. I would guess that he expects to sacrifice all his mortal friends. There is nothing but flat cotton fields for miles around us. This location actually works to our tactical advantage. His troops will have to cross a lot of open ground to get to us.”

Carl
’s
face became pale. “Why me? I mean I get why they would go after Lisa. And why wouldn’t they want to go after Jenny as well? I mean she’s just a mortal, right?”

Jenny sighed. “They won’t kill me on purpose, if they can help it. The mob really doesn’t like the attention created when they kill a federal officer. Make no mistake; this will look like a mob hit and the mob will take credit for it. They can’t be sure what your importance to us is. They will assume it is because of your computer skills. That makes you a danger to them.”

Allison put her arm around him. “Don’t worry; we won’t let anything happen to you. Besides I have big plans for you.”

Once the meeting broke up, I headed back to my bedroom. There really wasn’t anything for me to do. I couldn’t help Carl out with decrypting the data card. At least that is what I told myself. The truth is that I didn’t want to be there when he got it decrypted. I was afraid of what was on that card. Had my mother been involved with the mob? That was crazy. Yet, Jenny claimed that an agent had good information about that.

I lay across the bed and wondered how it had gotten to this. When I first went to the feds, I was the only target. Now the mob had six targets. No one was saying it, but I knew that I was putting everyone in danger. Unfortunately, there was no going back for anyone. The mob would assume that all six of us had seen the evidence. We would get out of this together or not at all.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t even hear Jeff come into the room. I jumped in surprise when he sat down on the bed next to me. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”

He leaned down and kissed me on the lips. “You never have to tell me that you’re sorry.”

“So you decided to come check on me?”

“Actually, I need to talk to you. We need to talk about us.”

He had my complete attention. “What about us?”

“I want us together always,” he said.

I sat up and put my arm around him. “Hey, you’re never getting rid of me. I know that I’ll get older and you never will. I don’t care. I love you like I have never loved anyone before.”

“You know, my last wife showed me how precious time is and how we don’t always have as much time as we think we do,” he said.

I kissed him on the cheek. “You know, you don’t have to tell me about your past. God knows, I’m not perfect and have had a rather checke
red
past, myself.”

“I don’t mind telling you. I have no secrets from you. I wanted to do this a little better, but here goes,” he said.

“Here what goes?” I asked.

Jeff slid off the bed and down to one knee as he took something out of his shirt pocket. “Will you marry me?” He opened his hand, revealing a simple gold band with a large diamond.

I took the ring. “Of course, I’ll marry you. Are you sure it’s been long enough since your wife passed away? If you need some time before we actually get married, I would understand.”

He gave me a knowing smile. “Her name was Ingrid. We lived in Berlin, Germany. She was killed during the fall of Berlin. That was at the end of World War Two, in the spring of 1945.
”

Okay, now I was kind of freaked out. “So, I’m going to marry a man who was a German during World War Two? Were you like an actual Nazi?”

He shook his head. “No, let me explain. Hitler was busy before and during the war collecting religious artifacts. I was in Germany to keep an eye on his activities. That is where I met and married Ingrid. I tried to stay out of the military stuff.”