The Remote Traveler (The Remote Series Book 1) Read online

  Alex pushed over the bodies and pursued the last suspect out the door. The driver had a bead on Alex and was about to fire when Anna fired into the driver’s door. The six rounds shredded the door catching the driver in the back. Anna hopped out of the car running to the back door of the van. She threw open the back door and found the van to be empty and the third man was on her. Anna kicked the man in the knee rolling him into the van. Alex jumped in the van to control the survivor. Anna pushed the driver between the seats and backed the van in the driveway. Alex opened both of the back doors and guided Anna within inches of the garage door while Bill rolled the door up. The van doors blocked the view into the garage from the street. Alex looked around the garage and found a sheet of cardboard and some tape. He taped the card board over the bullet holes in the front doors moving the wounded prisoner into the garage and Anna examined the contents of the van. There were body bags and cleanup equipment in the back of the van. They moved the body bags in the house and started loading the body bags. Anna looked over at the prisoner. He took a bullet in each arm, one in the leg and several in the body armor. Alex came out and switched vans. He did not want to be driving around in a van loaded with bodies having all of those bullet holes. As Alex made the switch, Anna sat down next to the survivor.

  Anna did not raise her voice, “Are you the ones that hit the clinic?” She stroked his cheek gently catching him off guard. The man silently shook his head indicating that he was not going to answer. He thought that the sweet old lady would not question him hard. Anna walked over to the work bench. After a few minutes she returned with an oily shop rag and a flat bladed screwdriver. The man felt that he had nothing to fear from an old woman. Anna roughly shoved the oil rag into his mouth and shoved the screwdriver into the wound in his arm putting a knee on his chest as he thrashed around in pain.

  Anna remained calm and spoke softly. “I have been interrogating prisoners for forty years and have never missed. I don’t intend to miss now.” She gave the screwdriver a quarter turn. The man screamed into the oil rag once again bucking wildly. Anna whispered calmly in his ear. “You have two choices. You can talk or you can scream. By the way you went in I figure that you are directing this operation, yes or no.” Anna put her hand lightly on the screwdriver. The man violently shook his head, no. “I would like the truth. I am almost 65 years old but I am not senile.” Anna stuck her head in the door of the house. “I need a cork screw.” She returned to the man on the floor. “The cork screw is for your eyes. Do you want to talk or scream?” Anna yanked the oily rag out of his mouth.

  “I am in charge. My people will come looking for me. You can’t do this. It’s against the law.” Alex and Bill walked into the garage with a body bag between them. Bill tossed a cork screw on the man’s stomach.

  Anna stroked the man’s face, “Neither you or I are worried about the law. You are a sweeper team and you were going to do something like this to Bill and his family. You were told to come back with certain information. When we are finished you will tell us everything.” Anna shoved the rag in the man’s mouth again.

  “Bill can I talk you into making a full turn with the screwdriver.” Bill took a firm grip on the screwdriver and did a full three hundred sixty degree turn. The man screamed for several minutes into the oily rag. “This is not the military and there no limits to which I will not go. You are an assassin not a soldier.” Anna picked up the cork screw. “Bill, grab his head I want this dead center. The man mumbled in to the gag and Anna removed the gag.

  “I’ll talk…” The man proceeded to tell her everything:

  He had been called in for an emergency sweep. They wanted everything either collected or destroyed. They dispatched Bonnie and Doctor Swift burning them in the clinic. The team was to kidnap Edward and kill everyone else. Jane was to be interrogated to find the source of her orders. They were to dispose of the bodies and burn the evidence. Edward could not be allowed to run around loose. A team of two was waiting for him to return to his apartment at this minute. They were to take the van with the evidence to a parking lot where it would be disposed of. The call came from Washington and the NSA had made the request. That was all he was able to relay. Bill gave him his reward by shoving the screwdriver through the side of the man’s throat. Alex looked on as the man flopped around like a chicken.

  “Bill, we need to clean up. You need to lay low until we can sort this out.”

  “We can’t leave for that long. We have no place to go and I don’t want to endanger anyone else.”

  “I have a place that you can stay at. Do you have a passport?”

  “No, I never felt the need to leave the country after I served with the Marines in Vietnam.”

  “I can fix that. Pack a bag for cool weather. Call your friends and tell them that you are going on vacation. I will take care of your employer.” Alex loaded the man into a body bag stacking him by the garage door with the others. He left Jane and her parents to pack and clean up. He took one empty van with Edward following in their car while Anna called Jeff and Cassandra on the cell phone. They were forgers that were related to Anna. “We are going to need three sets of paperwork tonight. You can do the back ground later. Use the witness protection cover.”

  “With the new bar codes I won’t be able to access the passport section until tomorrow and it has been taking Father Cash longer to do the work ups on the back grounds,” Jeff pointed out. “The computer age has complicated our work. They just swipe the passport and everything is recorded. He will probably need $30,000 and at least two weeks.”

  “We just need something to get out of town with. We will go out on a private charter. I understand that Lori and Connie have been flying the Gulf Stream five for Francesca. We will need it as soon as the papers are ready. If you need extra cash, you can tap our emergency deposit. We will be there in two hours. This will probably be an all-nighter.”

  Alex dropped the van in a truck stop leaving the keys in the ignition walking out of range of the security cameras hopping in the car with Edward with the two men driving back to Bill’s house.

  Edward had to ask, “Why leave the keys in the van.”

  Alex smiled, “There is a ninety-five percent chance that somebody will steal it and drive it out of state. Vagrants hang out at the truck stops looking for just this thing. The tank is full and it should be at least two states away by morning, even if they don’t steal it, the van won’t be found for weeks.”

  They picked up the other van at Bill’s house claiming Anna for the next step. Alex drove to Edward’s apartment. On the way there he stopped at Vons, going directly to the bakery. They bought enough sweet rolls to require five pastry boxes. They stacked the contents of two boxes into the remaining three and put a mac 10 in each of the empty boxes. When they circled the block it was not difficult to spot the white Econoline van with government plates. The driver was sitting in the van. Anna gently stroked Edward’s cheek.

  “Edward, take out the van when we call you on the cell. Alex and I will check out the interior. Stay low we have to assume that they have your picture. Be careful, that agent said that it was a two-man team. The other two groups were four man teams. I have a feeling that we are looking for four.” Anna and Alex shifted their clothes and rearranged their hair and when they were done they looked like a retired couple worn out from the day. Anna slipped one pastry box containing a Mac 10 into each of the brown paper grocery sacks. After they left the van, Anna and Alex carried the bags in a flat position. Edward lived on the second floor of a three story building. Anna and Alex walked down the hall.

  Anna was whining loudly, “No, no, no you Alzheimer old fool. You have it all wrong. We don’t live here.”

  “I ought to know where I live.” Alex started to put the key in the door. Two men stepped out of the fire exit and the apartment door flew open. Alex started to whine loudly.

  “You can have my wife. She’s a bitch anyway.”

  Anna shrieked back at him, “I may be a bitch, but I
can tell a two from a three you Alzheimer’s asshole!” The agents started to laugh. The bag started to tip. “If you ruin those pastries, I will cut your withered up balls off.” They both grabbed for their respective bags. Anna fired through the bag with the Mac 10 and shot the two agents in the fire exit. Alex shot through the bag taking out the agent in the apartment. He and Anna dragged the two agents in the apartment. She noticed that one of the men was starting to move. Anna clubbed both men with the barrel of the silencer. Alex did the same for the third man even though he was not moving. Anna called Edward on the cell phone. “Take out the driver and be careful they were wearing vests.” Alex pulled the electrical cord from some of the lamps binding their hands.

  “Edward walked up to the driver’s door of the van.

  “Hey man you are in my parking space.”

  The man held out a badge, “Official business, take a hike.” Edward grabbed the hand and pulled the agent half way out of the window. He struck the agent in the forehead with his elbow and struck him in the back of the head with another blow. The man was unconscious with the first blow. Edward pushed him back in the van and checked the van. He found hand cuffs and a roll of duct tape which he used to secure the agent. Anna was at the door of the van just after he finished securing the driver. Edward handed her the extra cuffs and the duct tape.

  “I think that they were going to use these on me.”

  “Wait here your father and I will be right down.” It took fifteen minutes for Alex and Anna to walk down with the other agents. “I am happier than hell that we didn’t kill these clowns. Carrying them out would not have worked.” When they were loaded in the van, Anna walked Edward to the car. Meet us at the Baxter’s place we will be right behind you. She got in the back of the van. Anna combed her hair and pulled two of her stainless steel hair picks out of her raven hair sitting on one of the agents back. Anna placed the pick at the base of the agent’s scull.

  “Nobody hurts my baby.” She gave the pick a violent push. It pierced his medulla and he died. Anna repeated the act three more times while Alex drove calmly behind Edward. By the time they reached Jane’s place Anna and Alex had the four dead agents in the body bags intended for Edward. Alex pulled the van in the drive so that the side doors of each van lined up. He climbed in back and started to shift the four bodies into the other van moving all of their equipment into the empty van. Bill and his family were still packing. Anna took the car while Edward ran inside to hurry the Baxters up. Alex took another van leaving the one with the bullet holes at the Baxters. Alex had Edward follow him to the same truck stop that they dumped the first van at finding that the first van had been stolen. Alex parked the second van once again leaving the keys in the van walking out of range of the security cameras.

  “You see Edward, van number one is stolen within less than an hour and the same thing will happen to van number two.” They drove back to the Baxters place. “Edward, take the Baxters to Aunt Cassandra’s office. She has all of the instructions. Your mother and I will be along in a few hours.” Alex took the van with all of the neatly bagged bodies in it. Anna followed in the Mercedes. He pulled on one of the black jerseys and knit cap that one of the agents were wearing.

  Alex drove to the garage that the agents were supposed to leave the van in. He looked around the van one last time. He took one of the unused body bags and covered the windshield with it taping a piece of cardboard over each side window. Alex had one more trick, he punctured the top of the radiator hose in several places with an ice pick so they would have to make a repair or shift the bodies to another van. Alex locked the van and jogged a few blocks back to where Anna was waiting for him. He walked through a shadow disposing of the jersey and cap. Alex climbed into the Mercedes kissing Anna passionately.

  “I feel like I am forty again.”

  Anna laughed, “I can hear your breathing you old fart and you are clean out of breath.” She kissed him. “No matter what you feel like you’re getting older.” Alex jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

  “I am getting older, and they’re not. Besides, I like heavy breathing.” He ran his hand up her leg. “You did a fine job yourself, back there.”

  Anna purred and pointed the car toward Jeff’s office in Huntington Beach. Jeff decided to move from the LAX office, after Alice completed the second building of her complex. Alice was his sister in law and his land lady. He took half of the first floor and the entire third floor. Alice decided to make the second building three stories, increasing the size to 45,000 square feet. Jeff kept a small personal apartment along with his editing facilities on the third floor. It served for his personal projects. Only he and Cassandra had access to this area. He had an oversized private elevator that went between the first floor and the third floor. There was a private door so that he could access his ground level studio from the parking lot directly through a garage door that was next to the loading dock.

  Anna called Jeff on her cell phone when they arrived. Jeff was already hard at work preparing for the Baxters papers. He had Bill remove his beard in stages and put Cassandra to work taking the grey out of his hair. Jane’s mother Stephanie was also taking the grey out too. Jeff called in a trusted friend that specialized in black make up to insure the quality of work. Jane was still in shock. Her good friend Bonnie and her boss had both been killed with her parents narrowly escaping the same fate. Now she was going to get a whole new identity. In between bouts of crying she was working on filling out Jeff’s questionnaire working on his laptop. He made it a point never to connect this one directly to the internet. This was what he worked his most sensitive projects from. All of the forms that he needed were loaded on this computer. Most of his work was done digitally and he worked closely with most of the developers, so he had the sensitive equipment before it was even in restricted use. Of course his price for a first class set of papers had gone up with the technical demands. Jeff and Cassandra had worked with the best, so their work was the best available.

  Alex all ways paid the going rate even though Jeff offered to do the work at a family rate. Cassandra was a world class forger too. She had married Jeff shortly after the Pakistan affair and her knowledge of languages put the demand for their work at a global level. With a full iron clad treatment, the price would be $60,000 each. It had been a long time since Alex had requested an iron clad setup, so there was no doubt about the quality needed for this job.

  Alex walked into the room in which the makeup artist was working on Bill. Bill was still trying to get a handle on things.

  Bill still didn’t fully understand, “What the hell was all of that?”

  “Jane and Edward were working on a project that no one ever thought would be successful.” Alex collapsed in a chair. “They succeeded far beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. Edward made a break through on the project and Jane was one of the principal researchers. The CIA commissioned the work, and the NSA hit the panic button when they succeeded. They sent out a sweeper team, to clean up the mistake. Bonnie and Doctor Swift were killed and the clinic was burned to the ground with them in it. If Edward had not been so tired Jane would have been at the clinic too. They would have sent the sweepers after you anyway because Jane lives with you.”

  “What about you?”

  “Anna and I kept Edward at a distance from us because we were worried about people going after him to get at us. This time it worked in reverse. There are several layers of insulation between him and us. We were able to control the security checks, so the trail to him will not lead anywhere.”

  “What do you do?”

  “Right now we are investors. Before that Anna and I were in the transportation business. We specialized in doing what the government would not and should not do.”

  “What are we supposed to do,” Bill pressed.

  “Start a new life. If you go back to your house they will send another sweeper team. They got to Bonnie and Doctor Swift. We were lucky, and found out about the sweepers visit about a half hour after they lef
t the clinic, but the next time we won’t be that lucky. We are working on fresh IDs for your family now. They will send another team when they find out that this team missed. I sent them a message. They will not be too eager to pursue the issue.”

  “What message would that be?”

  Alex said quietly, “I left their bodies where they were supposed to leave your bodies.”

  Bill was confused. “What the hell kind of a message is that?”

  “It tells them that one or more of the sweepers talked before they died.”

  “Edward told us that you captured the four men at his apartment.” Alex shook his head, no.”

  “They tried to kill Anna’s baby boy. They all died.”

  Bill sounded shocked, “She killed them all?”

  “Yes, just like you did at your house.” Alex came up with a thought. “I need to talk to Edward. Please be assured that we will help you.” He hurried off to find Edward.

  Edward was still trying to calm Jane down. Alex pulled Edward to the side. “Did I understand you to say that you can go anywhere you want when you are meditating?”