Sealed In Lies (24 page)

It was different with Caroline. She didn’t dismiss him or try to push off his concern about the dreams. She took him seriously. He didn’t, however, want her to think him a wimp. Needing to maintain some of his pride and manliness, he added, “I’ve been through some scary stuff. I’ve been shot at, been in hand to hand combat with dangerous men and weapons, but for some reason this woman scares the ever loving shit out of me.”

Caroline tried to hide the smile that played around the corner of her lips. What a macho man. He couldn’t let her think for one minute that he was not in control of the situation. “Maybe she has something to do with your past life in the military. You said she was Iraqi.”

“
Yeah, I imagine you’re right but I just can’t put my finger on where I’ve seen her before. I know I have seen her but my brain just can’t get wrapped around it for some bizarre reason. It’s almost like I’ve had amnesia or something.

“
Have you ever had something that just hovers at the corner of your mind and just when you think you are going to see what it is it slips away again?” He waited for Caroline to respond. When she nodded he continued. “I know the word ‘picture’ is a clue. I noticed it when she said it in my dream. She said ‘Take a PICTURE’, with a lot of emphasis on the word ‘picture’. It must mean something.”

“
Well, you will figure it out. Just stop trying so hard and it will come.”

“
You know what really scares me the most?”

“
What, Jack?”

“
That I will figure it out and I won’t like the answer.”

Caroline stared at the floor reflectively. She didn’t know what to say to that. She certainly didn’t know Jack well enough to try and offer him anything but a strong shoulder and a good ear. She lifted her head and looked at him. “I’m sure you’ll figure it all out.”

“
Maybe.” He pulled her gently toward him and lifted his hand to trace his thumb down the side of her cheek. Her eyes widened slightly but she didn’t pull away. “Thanks for being here Caroline. It’s nice having someone to talk to.”

He rose and walked to his black duffel bag that sat on the table by the window. “I’m going to take a shower. Then we better get out of here. Warren’s men will know we stayed in the area. They may start searching every hotel within a 50-mile radius of the hospital, which is where I left the chip. We don’t want to be here if they come.”

“
Okay, and Jack?”

Jack paused at the bathroom door looking back at Caroline. “Yeah?”

“
Thanks for taking me with you. I thought about it a lot last night and I know what a risk you’re taking dragging me around with you. I have been living my own nightmare and I just can’t go back to it, but I would understand if you want me to leave. I can make it on my own. There is a couple that were friends of my parent’s that I could go and stay with for a while.”

“
Does Warren know about them?”

“
Yes, they were at my parents’ funeral.”

“
I remember when they died. It was a car accident wasn’t it? A bad one on I95, right outside of Baltimore.”

Caroline nodded. She fought back the tears of the still too painful memory. She missed her parents so much it hurt. She’d never felt so alone. As things began to digress with Warren she had no other family to turn to.

“
I think that would be the first place Warren would go to look for you. If you truly want to be free of him, I think it is best you go underground. You can stay with me for a while and then we will see what better opportunities present themselves.”

Jack walked back over to the bed and looked at her, a stern expression in his dark brown eyes. “I feel I need to say this again, Caroline. There are some dangerous men after me. They will not hesitate to shoot first. You could get caught in the crossfire. If things get rough, I will need you to follow any directions that I give you. If I say run, you run. Is that understood?”

Caroline returned his stare and a sharp shot of temper flared behind her eyes. “I am not some simple minded mealy-mouthed woman that you need to get all chivalrous about, Jack Weaver. I can take care of myself. I might even surprise you.”

Jacks lips turned up slightly at the corners. Well, Mrs. Walters has a temper does she? “Okay, okay, don’t get your panties all in a wad.”

Caroline winced at the crude statement.

“
All I’m saying is that when the heat is on, things will go a lot smoother if you will follow my lead. Okay?”

“
Agreed. Now get your shower, you smell like a pig.”

Jack reached out and captured her chin in his fingers. Surprising her he planted a quick kiss square on her mouth. “Okay then. Glad we got that straightened out.” He smiled to himself on his way into the bathroom.

Caroline just stared after him.

Chapter 27

The Emperor snapped his cell phone shut. He turned to look out the window at the snow-covered ground. Frost began to inch its way across the bottom windowpanes. It must be getting colder. What was on the ground now would re-freeze soon. Shivering, he moved away from the window and walked across the room to the sofa in front of the fireplace. His expensive loafers padded softly on the Persian carpet then clicked on the hard wood before reaching the white fur of the bear rug that was splayed out in front of the huge marble hearth. He hated that rug. He regretted having it shipped from Iraq, but it was his father’s most prized possession. It was killed in Alaska during one of his father’s hunting expeditions. Damn his sentimental nature. He kicked at the ferocious looking head. Maybe he would get rid of it, after all, his father has been dead for ten years.

The Emperor reflected on this latest phone call. He wondered when Jack would call Hutch. It took a little longer than he expected but he called him. A smile played with the corners of the Emperor’s lips. He was lucky to have found out about the affair Hutch was having with Ileana. If he had not stumbled on this information, he would not have been able to get as far as he had with this diabolic, yet simple plan. That fateful night when Warren committed murder, Hutch became the grieving lover. His reaction to it ruined his military career. Kent Larson and Warren Walters saw to that; a fact the Emperor used to his advantage.

Now it was frustrating not to know exactly where Jack Weaver was and what he was up to. Hutch questioned him but Jack wasn’t sharing. He was cautious and that was what made him the best. The Emperor knew Jack was in Bristol, Virginia because that was where his men found the chip. A deep throaty chuckle filled his throat as he thought about the note found with the chip. He thoroughly enjoyed reading that to Warren. That smug son of a bitch thinks he can treat people any way he wants and get away with it. Not so, with the Emperor. He had Warren Walters right where he wanted him and any additional pain that pompous ass could suffer, well then, so much the better.

The Emperor sat down in the leather wing back chair adjacent to the fire. Basking in the warmth, he ran his forefingers along the side of his nose while he thought. He could call Juan Cortez and let him know Jack’s last known whereabouts. He could relax and let the drug lord’s family do all the dirty work. That way he couldn’t be connected to it in any way. What bothered him about that was how long it may take them to find him. The Emperor had a goal. He needed to get those discs that Jack Weaver stole from both Carlos and Warren. The plot he worked so hard on could not be exposed before he could carry it out.

He needed those discs. If Jack decoded them completely, he would uncover a plan that took the Emperor years to put into place. Nearly ten years to be exact. It wouldn’t do to have this meddlesome CIA agent blow the entire thing. If he only knew how much Weaver knew already. He could contact Jack himself. There was no way he would recognize his voice. He had no clue who was behind the mask of the Emperor. If he could talk with him, then he would know how far along he was in figuring out the Emperor’s plan. No, that was too risky. He would have to rely on Hutch. That was his closest link to discovering what Weaver knew.

His work was cut out for him. Jack Weaver wasn’t an easy opponent to outwit. He was the best the Navy SEALS had seen in the last two decades. There was not another like him, nor would there likely be one in the future. It was no wonder that he was selected for the CIA’s most elite unit. The Emperor cursed softly. Of all the people that he would have run up against, it had to be Weaver. He might want to think about coming up with an alternative plan. He might need to adjust his time line. He might need to scrap the plan and start over. That would really piss him off. He stood up so violently that the wing back chair rocked on it back legs. He paced back and forth across the thick white fur.

If only Kent Larsen had done his job. Damn it, he couldn’t believe he’d come this far only to have to start over. He’d put this plan into place that fateful night in Iraq. Walters killed the wrong woman that night. He brutally tortured her with electric probes and used his fists on her delicate beautiful face and she did not tell him what he wanted to know because he she was the wrong witness.

Weaver knew it; the Emperor was convinced of that now. He had tried to stop Walters, but had gotten a concussion for his trouble. How they had kept Jack in the dark all these years was beyond him. Again he was struck by the sense of irony, his problem was not with Weaver, it just simply was Weaver. If Jack added two and two together then the Emperor’s long awaited chance at revenge would be thwarted. He just needed to keep his mouth shut and wait.

He had waited, for ten long years. He had manipulated Warren Walters into the current position he now held, and backed that miserable weakling, Michael Hardy. It was all falling into place and soon he would have the control of the United States Government in his pocket. You know, Gordon Gecko was right, when in the motion picture
Wall Street
, he had said, “Greed is good.” It was certainly good to him. Because of other’s greed he was able to put himself in a position to destroy the United States Government, the entity that was robbed him of his rightful place in history, and robbed his beloved twin of her very soul.

Chapter 28

Caroline sat in the passenger seat of the Nissan Pathfinder, unshackled by handcuffs, and sipped her cup of McDonald’s coffee. She stared straight ahead watching the black ribbon of highway stretch out before them. Most of the snow was cleared but there were still icy patches of slush and crusty snow in shady places where the bright rays of the sun could not reach and melt it off. The temperature outside was freezing but the inside of the car was warm and she sat comfortably in the seat without her heavy jacket.

She glanced over at Jack who was concentrating on the road, staring intently ahead. She could tell he was thinking hard about something because his brows were drawn together and his forehead creased with wrinkles. She glanced away, not wanting to talk now. Her own thoughts were keeping her occupied. She couldn’t get that kiss out of her mind. There was nothing spectacular about it. It was just a quick peck after all and had meant nothing. She should have been furious with him. A good slap across the face was what she should have given him, but she didn’t. He had surprised her that was all. She hadn’t had time to react. Now she was just mad at herself because she hadn’t said anything to him about it since it happened, and what made her even madder was the fact that he hadn’t said anything about it either. What kind of man had she trusted her life to? She was not going to be some trollop he could take advantage of at his own whim.

Yesterday it seemed like a bold move and absolutely the right decision to ask him to protect her from Warren. She knew leaving Warren was the right decision, of that she was sure. She was furious about the tracking chip being placed in her arm without her knowledge. He had treated her more like his property than his wife.

Putting her elbow on the door’s armrest and propping her chin in her hand she turned to look out the window, sipping her coffee. It was still hot and she took tiny sips so she wouldn’t burn her tongue. Yesterday she’d seemed so certain that asking Jack to protect her was the right thing to do. Today, in the bright sunlight she was having doubts. She’d never lived in secret before, having to hide her identity from people, wearing disguises, and dying her hair. She wasn’t sure she could be as good as Jack. He was trained and knew what he was doing. She feared she would do something stupid that would bring Warren’s goons down on them and she worried that Jack would be hurt or worse, killed.

She examined that thought for a moment. Why did she care what happened to Jack? He had kidnapped her, drug her away from her home, put her life in danger, and, she grudgingly admitted to herself, he had given her freedom. That last fact was why she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if Jack were killed protecting her. For a trained killer, he was a decent man. He had a conscience. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be having those horrible nightmares that seem to be plaguing him night after night. The one he experienced yesterday nearly scared her to death. His face turned a deathly shade of gray and his breathing became so rapid that she thought he would hyperventilate in his sleep. She’d heard that it was not wise to wake someone that deep in a nightmare, but she was more afraid of what would happen if she didn’t wake him.