Lazar's Intrigue (The Jack Lazar Series) (22 page)

“Yes,
I know,” Ben replied.

“Well,
whose idea was that? For God’s sake, Ben, we’re trying to do something good for
the world, and the only thing anyone wants to do is kill us.”

“Now
calm down, Sarina,” Ben said lucidly. “I had nothing to do with that. It was
the director’s idea, and the situation got out of control before I was told
anything about it.”

“Of
course. You’re never to blame,” she retorted as she paced around the room. Then
she stopped and took a deep breath, apparently trying to calm herself. “So
how’s your arm?”

“My
arm?”

“Yes.
When you were in the car with Bob. When he got killed?”

Ben
hesitated for just a second. “Oh yeah. It’s fine now. It really wasn’t too
serious.”

Sarina
scrutinized the message in his eyes before he looked away.

“Oh
no,” she said despondently. “Ben?”

He
just stood there, clearly trying to think of something to say.

“You
son of a bitch!” She lunged forward and struck him squarely on the jaw.

Ben
crossed his arms in front of his face while she continued to beat on him.

Finally
Jack apprehended Sarina and restrained her.

“No!”
she wailed. “I can’t let him get away with it! Let me go!”

“This
won’t solve anything!” Jack tightened his grasp.

She
ceased her fight and collapsed in Jack’s arms, crying feebly. The fabric of her
world had clearly been ripped to shreds.

Ben
settled onto a cot and buried his face in his hands.

“How
could you possibly join up with Antonucci?” Jack asked him calmly.

Sarina
lifted her head to witness the man’s response.

Ben
looked up, his arms stretched out in confession. “I never thought it would go this
far. Everything seemed so simple at first.” He looked toward Sarina. “Remember
how desperate I was to pay my daughter’s hospital bills, and I couldn’t bear
the thought of them sending her to that state facility? Well, everything
changed after Mr. Antonucci came to me. All I had to do was steer our
investigation in the wrong direction from time to time, and my daughter had everything
she needed.”

“So
what happened?” Jack asked.

“Well,
the plan was working just fine until Sarina started taking matters into her own
hands. I did everything in my power to reel her back, but before long things
got complicated. Then Bob caught wind of what was happening, and everything
fell to pieces. You should have followed my orders and kept your nose clean,
Sarina. Dammit, why did you have to be so insubordinate?”

“Don’t
you dare blame this on me!” she screamed, struggling again with Jack’s hold on
her. “You selfish bastard!”

“Sarina,
I’m sorry.”

“Bullshit!
If you were sorry, we wouldn’t be in this shithole right now having this
conversation!”

“I
didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“I
bet you shot Bob yourself, didn’t you?”

“Of
course not. Bob was my friend.”

“But
you let them kill him.”

“I
had no choice!” he insisted. “You don’t know these people. It was either him or
me.”

“Well
then, it should have been you!” She struggled harder. “Let me go, goddamnit!”

Sarina
broke free and lunged back toward Ben. She was just about to strike him again
when a deep voice from the shadows interrupted their scuffle.

“That’s
enough! This is going nowhere!” Enzo Antonucci stepped forward into the light,
and Phil stood next to him. “You’re never going to find out anything now that
you’ve compromised their trust. We should just kill them and hope they haven’t
divulged any information to your superiors. Hopefully, if she had anything, she
would have entrusted it with you until now.”

Ben
rose from the cot and straightened his clothes before walking over to join
Antonucci’s entourage. “You mean kill Mr. Lazar, don’t you? You said you’d give
me a chance to work with Sarina.”

Antonucci
sighed. “As much as I’d like to believe it would be possible to turn her, I
think it’s obvious she’ll never defect to our side. Look at the passion she
feels for what she’s doing.”

“You’re
damn right,” Sarina blurted. “I’d rather die than associate with you.”

“I
didn’t see you complaining when we were together.”

“I
was working undercover, asshole. There was never anything between us.”

Antonucci
laughed heartily. “I knew about your operation the whole time, Sarina. In fact,
I asked Ben to set it up for me.”

“What?”
She looked at Ben in total outrage.

“Well,
you were sleeping around anyway,” Ben said sharply. “And you were being such a
bitch to me all the time. What difference did it make?”

“What
difference did it make? Jesus. How could you prostitute me like that?”

“C’mon.
You said you liked fucking him.”

“I
just said that to piss you off.”

“Well,
what goes around comes around.” Ben folded his arms.

Jack
realized that Sarina had slept with both men in this conversation, not to
mention himself, and it made him feel foolish to be part of such a bizarre web.
But there he was, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why.

“That’s
quite enough,” Antonucci intervened again, and he took a deep breath as he
stared into Sarina’s dark, burning eyes. “You can’t honestly say you didn’t
feel anything for me at all.”

“Absolutely
nothing,” she responded indignantly. “Like I said, you were a reasonably good
fuck, but that’s about it. Of course, good old Jack here could blow your doors
off any day of the week.”

Jack
widened his eyes with alarm. The last thing he wanted was to be dragged into
their pissing match. But Antonucci did nothing more than glare at him for a
moment before turning his attention back toward Sarina.

“Impossible,”
Antonucci grumbled.

“Enzo,
there has to be a solution other than killing her,” Ben said.

“Do
you think that’s what I want? Of course not. But I can’t afford to worry about her
anymore. She and Mr. Lazar have already caused more problems to our operation
than I could have imagined. We’ve worked so hard to smooth over the Intercontinental
deal, coordinating with you and Hesterling to make it look like a legitimate
business transaction. But these two suburban commandos keep throwing it out
into the open for everyone to see, and it’s a wonder we’ve been able to keep
things under control. We have no choice here, but if you have a problem with it,
feel free to join them. I’m sure we’ll have no problem finding another person
just like you at the DEA to take over your role.”

Ben
stood there in silence, apparently thinking.

“So
are you with us or against us?”

“I’m
with you.”

“Phil,”
Antonucci continued, “I’ll leave these two in your capable hands. At least I
can count on you to do what needs to be done. But please wait until I’ve driven
away this time. You know how I hate violence.”

“It
would be a distinct pleasure, sir.”

Antonucci
looked at his watch. “Well, I need to get to the airport. Seems I have a dinner
date this evening with the governor of California, our good friend Mr.
Hesterling and, oh yes, Jack’s former boss—Harry Benson, isn’t it? In fact, he’s
having all of us over to his home. It’s sort of a get-acquainted meeting now
that we’re establishing a more active, ongoing business relationship. So as you
can see, Sarina, all is well despite your petty little interventions, and your
efforts have been for nothing. Keep that in mind while you are dying.”

“Fuck
you!” Sarina spat at him as he turned to leave.

Antonucci
walked slowly out of the building, leaving Phil, Ben and two of the guards
behind. Jack could feel the sweat bead down his brow, the fear of his own
mortality causing his body to tremble. It seemed impossible to stop now, and
for some reason he was ready.

Sarina
stood there blankly as if equally preparing for her demise when Phil raised his
Uzi and discharged multiple rounds into her upper body. He had a look of disturbed
pleasure on his face, and he was absolutely beaming as he turned the gun toward
Jack.

Ben
lunged forward and wrestled with Phil for the Uzi as it continued to spit bullets
around the room. The weapon angled toward the two bewildered soldiers in the
midst of the scuffle and cut them to the ground before Ben finally twisted it
out of Phil’s hands.

Jack
intervened, a blow from his foot sending Phil into the wall, and he prepared
himself to fight.

“Get
out of the way!” Ben shouted.

“No,”
Jack answered as he stared into Phil’s eyes. “I want this son of a bitch!”

Phil
smiled arrogantly. “Perfectly fine with me.” He jumped into a first strike, his
leg sweeping the air as Jack darted backward, eluding the blow. Visibly surprised,
Phil’s head tilted in respect for his adversary, and he worked his shoulders,
preparing for a more extended battle. He seemed ignited by the challenged.

Jack
took his customary stance as he recalled Tasagi’s advice.

Allow
your body to flow through the movements without any mind toward thought or
intention.

Closing
his eyes for a moment, Jack took a deep breath, focusing his Chi, and he knew he
was ready. His heart raced out of control, but he would pay it no concern. The
fight would be more of a spiritual challenge than a physical one.

Phil
came at him again, this time catching a single clean mark on the side of Jack’s
face, but his following punches were blocked, and Jack used Phil’s lack of
momentum to release a spattering of blows on the man’s midsection with another
solid hit directly to his left eye.

Phil
staggered backward as he released a fit of anger, the contempt for his
momentary defeat clearly being released, and a trickle of blood oozed over his
temple. His teeth grinded together with unmistakable rage, and he lunged
forward even stronger this time, finally finding success in overcoming Jack’s
defensive posture. His blows hit the mark time and time again.

The
pain from each punch was almost more than Jack could take, and he could feel
the exhaustion settling into his body. He sensed defeat as the strength he
needed eluded him, and he fell to his knees as Phil began kicking him, the
man’s vicious laughter enveloping the space around him.

Jack
thought the dizziness in his head would send him to the ground at any moment,
and blackness would pervade his consciousness forever, but a surge of renewed
energy suddenly swept through his muscles as if someone had given him a shot of
adrenaline. His strength returned, and his body and mind instantly locked into
balance as if Tasagi himself had imparted it on him. He swept his hand around,
catching Phil’s foot in mid-strike, and toppled him to the dirt.

Phil
jumped quickly to his feet, the fall barely impacting him, and he charged
toward Jack again as if confident in his impending victory. But this time Jack
was prepared, and he denied the man’s attack, responding instantly with a long
series of well-pointed strikes, each one pushing Phil backward, farther and
farther until he smacked against the wall.

Jack
stared at Phil’s bloody face and relished in his triumph. He knew it was
important to finish him now, and he was about to move forward when the bullets
whizzed by.

Ben
had stepped forward with the Uzi and terminated Phil himself, a look of blatant
satisfaction on his face as Phil seeped to the floor.

Although
Jack had been robbed of the opportunity, he was nonetheless relieved, and he
rushed back into the cell for Sarina. He pulled her upper body onto his lap and
noticed that the blood from her chest was flowing freely.

“Sarina!”
he shouted. “Please, dear God. No!”

Jack
hadn’t realized until now that she had been hit so seriously. He had saved her
life twice before and almost took for granted that he could do it again, but he
knew in his heart that nothing could be done this time. He would lose her right
here, right now.

Sarina
opened her glazed eyes and looked at him, struggling to smile. “It’s okay, baby.
I knew this was going to happen.”

Ben
walked back into the cell and stood over them, his head shaking in dismay. He
appeared truly regretful.

“Bullshit!”
Jack said. “You can pull through this. C’mon!”

Her
body fell limp as the life energy faded from her eyes until it was completely
gone, the horribly vacant stare prompting Jack to cry in protest. He raised her
body to his chest and embraced her, praying that she would come to life again.

Ben
reached down and placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “C’mon, Jack. There’s
nothing you can do now. We have to go.”

“I
can’t leave her!” Jack’s mind raced with bewildered thoughts. “What the hell am
I going to do?”