One Hand On The Podium (5 page)

“Well,” Alex answered, “I don’t think Moss meant to give it to us. He thought he gave us a simple map to this farm.”

“Moss was a suspect for awhile, but then he seemed to fade out of the picture. So, until earlier this year, we’d quit watching him. But then, we got word he was shipping the jet here from England. He rented this barn from the young girl who owned the farm. Her parents were dead and she was doing all she could to hold onto the property. The money Moss gave her to store the jet here may have been a help.”

“Oh, come on,” Alex chided them. “That’s your evidence? A farm girl?”

We recruited her to help us out. Frankano stared squarely into Spencer’s eyes. “We paid her to keep an eye on things if Moss were to return here. Moss is definitely our man.”

“Then why don’t you just pick him up?”

“We can’t do that.”

“Why not? If you’re so sure you have plenty of evidence?”

“There’s never enough evidence in a case like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Simply, if we were to bring Moss to trial now with what we have on him, he’d be free in a couple days.”

“How could that happen? If he’s doing what you say, surely you have to stop him.”

“We believe he will stop himself. Now all we have to do is find the money.”

“Money?”

“The money he got for selling the documents. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe millions.”

“When we talked with him he mentioned he had a lot of money stashed away in St. Louis for a political campaign,” Alex said.

“What about this farm girl? Does she live in that house there? Where is she now?” Mary broke in.

The agent shook his head and looked down at the ground. “The girl turned up dead in a land fill a little while back.”

“Dead?”

“Dead.”

“Moss had her killed?”

“Maybe. Someone did. We think it was most likely him or someone working for him.”

“A few weeks ago the girl called us from her cell phone in a panic. It’s hard to make out the message she left, but it sounded like she was running and saying that she saw Moss bring a car load of men here to the farm. She said they had all entered the barn. She then said that two of the men looked foreign. Very dark skinned Arabs or Iranians. She said she was behind the barn listening in to their conversation when Moss came dashing out and caught her there on the phone to us. She whispered in the phone, “He sees me.” She must have ran from him, to her house, crying for help, then the message went quiet. Then, unfortunately, —she turned up dead in the landfill soon after.”

“Unfortunately? That’s horrible. Why are you letting this man walk around free?”

“Don’t worry, when all the evidence is in we’ll make our move.”

“Aw, for crying out loud, Frankano, you know he’s a killer. You know it and you’re not doing anything about it. And the girl, why didn’t you protect her? What’s wrong with you people?”

“We tried, but he got to her when we weren’t looking. I know it’s difficult to understand, Spencer, but it’s always harder to convict a person of treason than it is proving a murder charge.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“That’s the way it is. Besides, if Moss were picked up now for killing the girl, do you know who would get him? Probably the local authorities.. They would fight us in court for jurisdiction. The farm girl has a cousin who is a state trouper, who’s been fishing around, asking more questions than we’d prefer. All the work we’ve done would be for nothing. This is a big case, and we want Moss on our own terms. It has to be that way. That’s our best hope of building a stronger case against him.”

“I’ve got to admit it sounds pretty incredible. I mean, we just saw the guy this morning. He’s kind of weird and sort of screwy, but I would never have guessed him to be a killer. Wow.”

“Let me reassure you, folks, that when we make our move on Moss, whether it’s tomorrow, a year or even five years from now, we’ll have all the evidence we need to present our case and bring him to justice.”

Mary asked, trembling, “You’re just going to let him walk free now, after he killed that girl?”

“Ma’am, we are talking about a former colonel in the United States Air Force selling government secrets to a hostile regime, which could be used for weapons against our own fighting men during a time of war. You’ve got to realize that takes precedence over anything else.”

“You, Frankano, are an asshole,” Mary boldly stated.

Alex turned his face toward Mary, his eyebrows higher than the St. Louis Arch. He’d rarely heard her swear. His slight grin showed his surprise.

“Well, are you finished with us?” Mary asked nervously wringing her hands and wiping her palms.

Frankano looked up. The wind rustled through the weeds. A front was moving into what had moments before been a clear blue sky. He faced his partner who still hadn’t said much. “I think we’re done here, Tom.”

Alex and Mary exchanged looks. “That’s it then?” Alex asked.

“Yes, you can go. We’ll take this blueprint and see where it leads. Two things, though, before we leave. Forget what we’ve told you here today, and stay away from Moss. He’s a very dangerous man.”

“Come on, Mary, let me get my computer and we can leave. These men are just doing their job.” Alex put his arm around her, but she pushed him away.

“Some job!” She walked away from the group and waited for Alex by the barn door.

The agents shook Alex’s hand, got in their car, then they quickly sped off in the distance.

Alex turned and made his way to Mary following her back to the barn. “This isn’t the kind of honeymoon I had planned for us, Mary. I’m so sorry to put you through all this.”

“Oh, Alex, it’s not your fault.”

He stepped close to her and wrapped one arm around her, burying his face in her thick, blond hair. He held her that way, his lips nuzzling the softness between her neck and shoulder.

“Oh, I wish we were already in Chicago. I wish we were anywhere besides this field in front of this musty old barn.”

“Well, let’s get my stuff out of the barn and head out. Then it’s just you and me, Baby.”

Mary’s quick kiss on his cheek cut him off as she grabbed his hand. “Then what are you waiting for, Mr. Spencer. Let’s do it.”

Alex shifted gears as his mood lifted. “Okay, Mrs. Spencer,” he said, as they entered the barn again to retrieve his papers and laptop.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, “Not so fast, Spencer!”

Startled, Mary screamed. Alex felt the steely hardness of something shoved in his chest. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he saw it was the barrel of a military rifle.

“Moss?” Alex yelled.

“Hey, nobody can hear you.” Simon Moss appeared out of the dark barn pushing the couple back outside. “Your FBI friends are gone.”

“What are you doing here?” Alex asked, willing himself to appear cool even as he felt a tremor rip through his body.

“Well, if you don’t know, Spencer, I’ll tell you, you jackass.”

“How did you get here? Where’s your car?” As Alex talked, Mary looked on in terror. “What do you want?”

“My car’s back down the road a little bit. I walked the rest of the way when I saw you and your buddies standing out front jabbering. I snuck around and came in the rear door, if that’s alright with you.”

“What do you want, Moss?”

The colonel swung the butt of his rifle around in answer, violently smashing Alex’s jaw.

“You’re a smart ass, Spencer.”

The young man fell to the ground, his face registering the force of the blow and its accompanying pain. Mary dropped to her knees beside him. “Alex! Alex! Are you alright?” She tried to look at his face, but he turned from her, holding his jaw in his hands. He fought back the pain, determined not to cry out or show Moss any sign of weakness.

“You people are so fucking stupid. You really shouldn’t have given those agents that blueprint. It was an ignorant move on your part, Mrs. Spencer.”

“Please,” she begged, “please don’t hurt us.”

“I don’t think I have a choice in the matter now.”

“Please,” she begged again, “I’ll do anything, but please don’t hurt my husband again.”

“I realized I had given you the blueprint instead of the map, and now, I just saw you giving it to those agents. Why did you go and do that? That was a real fucked up thing to do my dear. None of this would be happening if you’d just left me alone.”

“That was all unintentional. All we wanted —” Alex struggled to finish, his words muffling through his rapidly swelling face, “—were serial numbers off the jet. I told you that.”

Mary dabbed at the blood on Alex’s face with her jacket sleeve. Her husband’s lip was torn from his mouth at one corner. “Look what you’ve done to him. Please, please, let us go. We won’t tell anyone.”

“It’s too late, folks. If those Feds hadn’t spilled their guts to you, everything could have been smooth sailing. But now–.”

“What are you going to do with us?” Mary asked, her body trembling, even as her mind raced for a way out of the situation.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to do what I did to that little bitch farm girl who tried to double-cross me. You heard the agent. I’m a very dangerous man.” His laugh riddled the air, frightening Mary even more.

“Oh, no, please, no, no,” Mary breathed heavily with each word, begging for her life and that of her husband. “Please, don’t kill us. Don’t kill us!”

“Now, now, Mrs. Spencer, you pretty little thing. Help your husband up and come back into the barn. I don’t want to make a bloody mess right here in broad daylight.” He laughed again as he waved them inside with his rifle.

Mary sobbed and Alex moaned in pain, but they did as they were instructed and stumbled together toward the door. Moss walked behind them with the rifle at Alex’s back. When they were a few inches from the doorway Alex quickly spun around and grabbed the rifle barrel with both hands, pulling it from Moss before the startled assailant knew what was happening. Then he grasped the rifle with both hands and shoved Moss with all his strength.

The colonel fell to the floor, inside the barn. The rifle lay near him. He fumbled on the hard dirt, trying to regain his footing but Alex’s kick in his backside flattened him once again. He grabbed Mary and ran for the door, pulling it shut behind them.

“Come on, Mary, run, run.” Adrenaline flowing, he pulled her to the car. Blood gushed from his wound as he threw open the driver’s side door.

“Get in. Hurry, get in!” Alex’s shaking hand searched in his pocket for the keys.

“Hurry, Alex, he’s coming,” Mary screamed as she saw the barn door slide open and Moss stumble out.

Clumsily Alex stuck the key in the ignition, started the car, backed up in a reckless, semi-circle facing the long country that led to the main highway. He looked back as they sped away on the paved country road. The colonel was a tiny, flailing speck, running towards them with his rifle pointed at their fleeing auto. The sound of bullets pinging off metal rang through the car as Moss fired several times.

“Get down, Mary, get down!” Alex put his hand on his wife’s head and pushed her down on the seat. The blood flowing from his wound had soaked his jacket and shirt.

Alex sped to try to get to the interstate highway, where he knew they had a better chance of escape. “Shouldn’t we go to the police, Alex?” Mary tried to lift her head, but he held her down.

“Stay down. I’m not sure,” he panted. “I’m not sure who we should go to.” They raced along the country road at over ninety miles an hour. The clouds above finally gave way, and rain pelted the speeding car.

“I think the best thing we can do is get back to the hotel, pack up, and get out of here fast. Moss doesn’t know where we’re staying.” He checked the rearview mirror. “I think the coast is clear, Mary. You can sit up. Keep an eye out for him, though.”

“Oh, Alex, your mouth, I can see your jawbone. We need to get you to a doctor.” She reached down for her purse, found a Kleenex, and held it to Alex’s mouth to try soak the blood and support the piece of his dangling lip, all the while watching for signs of Moss.

After a few minutes, they were minutes from what Alex thought would be the safety of the interstate.

“Alex, look,” Mary shouted. He glanced in the rear view mirror to see a car closing in behind them.

“Oh, no,” he said in an exhausted voice.

“Is it him? Alex, is it Moss?”

“Yes, he’s getting close. Get down!” He pushed Mary down on the seat and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. All his training as a federal investigator had not prepared him for a high-speed chase on a wet rural road. He cursed the ambition that had brought them to this horrifying moment.

Ignoring Alex’s pleas, Mary lifted her head over the seat to look out the back window at the oncoming car that was rapidly closing in on them. She began to cry as the reality of the situation sunk in. She wanted the nightmare to end. Alex kept yelling at her, “Get down, get down!” But she wouldn’t.

She cried hysterically and watched as the other car moved right up behind them. She looked right into the face of Simon Moss. “You bastard!” she shrieked.

Suddenly there was a loud thud. The car lurched forward. “He’s ramming us, Mary. Hold on!” Alex swerved the car, but Moss moved right with them and rammed the car again. Alex’s head jerked backward, then forward, blood spewing from his wound onto the dashboard and windshield. Through sheer will, he somehow maintained control and took a quick glance at his wife.

“Mary, please get down! Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”

“Alex, Alex. We’ve got to make him stop! Do something! What can we do?” she shrieked in desperation. As if in slow motion, Moss’s car moved alongside of them, his rifle pointing directly at Mary’s head. She froze, her eyes wide with horror.

The rifle’s blast blew Mary sideways into Alex. The blood from the gaping wound in her forehead splattered Alex and the inside of the car. Moss fired again. This time the bullet glanced the front of Alex’s neck. He grabbed his throat, gurgling blood and turned the wheel, guiding the car to the edge of the road.

He closed his eyes for an instant to try to ease his pain. Just as he did, the car raced off the wet pavement and careened a tree, then back across the other side of the road. The car suddenly went airbourn then down an embankment, crash landing in a creek that lined the wooded area. The bodies lurched forward as the car jolted to a sudden stop facing down into the ditch. On the way down, the passenger door was ripped away. Mary’s twisted body lay on the embankment near the ditch.