Complicated Creatures: Part Two Read online

  “You’re calling us ‘additional security personnel,’ sir?”

  “That’s correct.”

  Sam slid both files into her attaché case. She looked up at him. “You knew I’d go after him either way, didn’t you, sir?”

  “Well I knew you were you,” Morrissey’s smile was grim. “I knew you wouldn’t take any attack lying down. I may have to play geopolitics these days, but we both know whose side I’m on here.”

  Sam nodded, already thinking through the details. “How much do you want to know, sir?”

  Morrissey shrugged, feigning ignorance. “’Bout what?”

  Sam smirked, standing. “I’ll send you back the signed documentation.”

  “Of course you will.” Admiral Morrissey stood as well, rounding his desk. He took her hand. “You have some exceptional men on your team from what I understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He leaned down, looking at her hard in the eye. “You give that bastard hell.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Non sibi sed patriae.”17

  Chapter 11

  December 9th—Evening

  Thirty-Five Thousand Feet, Somewhere Over Ohio

  S A M A N T H A

  “Rox, I’m going to need you to meet me at our usual place tomorrow morning,” Samantha said into the phone as she looked out at the bank of dense gray clouds covering the night sky.

  “This got anything to do with a dust-up in Rio?” her friend replied.

  “You heard about that?”

  “Anything to do with you I pay attention to,” Rox replied. “You know that, chica.”

  “Yeah, you’re diligent like that.” Sam smiled.

  “So what can I do for you, Sammy?” Rox asked.

  “I want a full work up on three new employees of mine and one potential I’m considering, pending your findings.” Sam gave her the names. “I’ll forward you the background checks, but I want all the gritty details, Rox.”

  “How come you only call me when you want to find out the dirty, underhanded shit no one else knows?”

  “Maybe because you’re the only woman I know who can see through a person’s bullshit even better than I can,” Sam replied with a smirk.

  “Nah, I just wade through it better,” Rox laughed lightly. “You don’t have the patience, Sammy.”

  “That too,” Sam conceded. “So can we meet?”

  “I won’t have everything you want by tomorrow morning,” Rox answered. “Even I can’t work that fast.”

  “No, tomorrow’s for something else. Something special.”

  She heard Rox suck in a little breath. “Now I’m intrigued.”

  “And I’d like to keep you that way,” Sam told her.

  “You got it,” Rox replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow at our usual place.”

  As Roxanne hung up, Samantha closed her eyes, laying her head back against the headrest. Harris, her flight attendant, approached with a glass of water. “Sure you don’t want dinner, Ms. Wyatt?” he asked gently.

  “No, I’m alright, Harris. Thanks for the offer,” she smiled tiredly.

  “We’re about an hour away from Chicago, ma’am.”

  “Great; thanks,” she replied, closing her eyes. She’d just begun to drift off when her phone rang again.

  “Hey, how’d it go today?” Carey asked her.

  “We’re security subcontractors for the United States Navy now.”

  “Didn’t think you were flying to D.C. to re-enlist, Sammy,” Carey remarked wryly.

  “Remember what I told you about in the office that day?” Sam replied. “About what went down with Arman Nazar?”

  “Of course,” he said. “How could I forget?”

  “The men that guarded Nazar, as well as the lead interrogator, were all assassinated while we were in Rio.”

  “Jesus H., Sammy. Things are going to hell in a hand-basket fast,” Carey sighed. “You’re on the jet right now? When will you be back here?” he asked. “I’ll come out with Rush and Talon to get you at the airfield.”

  “Now don’t get all worked up, Bear, but I’m not coming back to Texas just yet,” Sam replied, rubbing a hand over her eyes.

  Carey sucked in a breath. “You get your ass back here, Sammy. I’m not kidding.”

  “You issuing orders now, Bear?” she replied, unbuttoning her jacket gingerly. Her bruised sternum was throbbing. “How well you think that’ll work out for you?”

  “Sammy—”

  “Bear, I’m not arguing with you,” she interrupted. “It’s been a damn long day, and I just don’t have it in me, alright?” Sam took a sip of her water. “I’ve got to head back up to Chicago. I need to see Rox and get my ducks in a row with the senior partners at Lennox,” she explained. “Landing the United States military as a client will look like a huge coup even if it’s just a cover for the op.”

  “Sammy, you don’t have anybody with you,” he argued. “You think I don’t know you relieved the two guys I sent with you this afternoon?”

  “I had to make private calls in the jet. What was I going do, Bear? Ask them to stay in the bathroom the whole flight?”

  “I figured you were coming home, so I didn’t flip out about you running around DC without security, but—”

  “I’ll only be in Chicago a couple days at most, Bear,” Sam assured him. “I’ll make sure I’ve got a couple guys with me when I’m out, but right now, only you, the pilots, and Harris know I’m heading back to Chicago instead of Texas.”

  “What if they’re casing The Whitney?” Carey asked, clearly anxious. “What if one of Lightner’s or Nazar’s men tries to take you again when you get home?”

  “I’m not going back there,” she assured him. “And I don’t need any drama with Jack on top of it,” Sam sighed. “Don’t worry, Carey. Not about this, alright? I know how to take care of myself. Now listen to me while I explain what’s going on.”

  Sam outlined what she’d learned from Morrissey, avoided describing in too much detail how the men she’d served with had been killed, in spite of Carey’s prodding. She focused on explaining how they were going to leverage the subcontracting deal to get their team and equipment into Afghanistan.

  “I’m going to take Rush, Talon, and Cameron Kurt with me to London,” she told him. “Simon and Henri will meet us there to prep.”

  “I may have some good news for you then,” Carey told her. “Avi Oded is on board, and he may have viable intel on Nazar’s location.”

  Sam recalled, with some reservation, the Israeli ex-Sayeret Matkal officer Carey had begun trying to recruit away from Leviathan a few months ago. “How do we know he’s not being set up as bait?”

  “We don’t,” Carey replied. “But from what I can tell when we met in New York, he has very little incentive to help a Muslim extremist, and there’s no love lost between him and Lightner either.”

  “Could be a front,” she pointed out.

  “Could be,” Carey conceded. “But meet him yourself when you get to London. If you don’t like what you see, you know what to do.”

  “Has Marvin gotten any leads on the mole?”

  “Not yet. He’s pissed though, Sammy. Marvin’s worried you think he had something to do with it.”

  “I know Marv’s legit,” she replied. “He’d cut his arm off before he’d knowingly help anyone hurt us. And he’s no snitch.” Sam sighed wearily, staring out at the inky night sky from the jet’s window. “I know we ran backgrounds on everybody, but I’m putting Rox on this. I want her to look into every nook and cranny before I take any of Leviathan’s men with me into Nazar’s home turf. Maybe she can help us locate and leverage the hacker too. That’ll be one of the three heads of the Chimera, right?”

  “Agreed,” Carey replied. “So where will you be?”

  “Invisible,” she replied, touching the cold window of the jet. “Until I’m ready to be seen.”

  *

  December 10th—Dawn

  Little Village, South Side, Chi
cago

  R O X A N N E

  Roxanne de Soto scanned the interior of the Sabas Vega restaurant from a corner table as the early morning crowd began to line up for the little restaurant’s birria de chivo, flavored with chile. Office-types mingled with construction workers while parents coordinated schedules and car pools over cheap, delicious food in the former butcher shop.

  Rox scanned the rows of people inside and outside of the restaurant. A few of the rougher-looking guys glanced back at her, eyes appreciative, but she ignored them, making a point of looking out the window as she scanned her surroundings in the glass’s reflection.

  She’d dressed ‘hood today, her lip liner a little too thick, her eyeliner a little too dark, with heavy gold hoops in her ears. If anyone asked later, they’d say they saw some chola, no one the wiser that a woman who’d supposedly died eight years ago in this very barrio was eating carnitas right next to them in vivid, living color.

  A shadow fell over the table, and Rox turned, catching the drab olive green of an old military jacket out of the corner of her eye, a sharp reproach ready on her tongue.

  “Can’t remember the last time I was able to sneak up on you, Roxy.” Sam leaned against the booth beside her, smiling. “You loosin’ your touch, mija?”

  Rox’s eyes glanced over her friend’s shapeless army surplus jacket and up to the dark military hat hiding the dark fall of hair. “If I’d known I was looking for a Sandinista, I would have spotted you,” she replied with a smirk, standing to hug her longtime friend.

  “What—you don’t like my new look?” Sam joked, sliding into the seat across from her. “Gotta lay low today.”

  “Clearly,” Rox observed. “Fidel called, by the way. He wants his jacket back.”

  “Hey now,” Sam laughed, pointing to Roxy’s flannel top, loosely buttoned over a tight white tank top and black bra. “I gotta look like I can ride with a member of the Latin Kings and Queens today. The only thing you’re missing is a neck tattoo.”

  “Want to go get matching ones?” Rox asked.

  “Pass.”

  The waitress arrived with two hot café con leches and two orders of their famous carnitas.

  Sam’s eyes radiated with pleasure under the brim of her hat. “You remembered,” she sighed as she added a bit of sugar to her coffee.

  “I know what you like,” Rox nodded. “So what’s going on, Sammy?”

  “What have you heard?” Sam replied, forking a bit of the carnitas into her mouth with obvious pleasure.

  “I heard you were shot in Rio,” Rox answered. “The rumor was you were killed.”

  Sam glanced up with a smirk. “And you weren’t worried?”

  “Not when I found out that a Sam Roman checked into the hospital near where it happened.”

  “Good catch.”

  Rox shrugged. “You’re the luckiest, toughest bitch I know. Well, besides me,” she winked. “I figured if I really needed to worry, I’d have heard from Carey.”

  Sam leaned back in her seat, her eyes narrowing. “The man who tried to kidnap me in Rio had Carey shot first.”

  Rox’s brows shot up. “Is he alright?”

  “He is,” Sam nodded. “He’s laid up somewhere safe while he recovers.”

  “No wonder you’re dressed like a bum,” Rox chuckled, chewing her food thoughtfully. “I just gotta know what pinche pandillero18 has the cojones to try to take you and your partner out?”

  “The order came from my main business competitor, a man by the name of Lucien Lightner. He heads up Leviathan Risk International.”

  “Former employer of the four men you want me to look into?” Rox asked.

  “Yes,” Sam nodded. “But I also need your help locating Lightner. I’m almost certain he wasn’t actually in Rio.”

  “So he’s in hiding?” Rox replied.

  Sam’s brow lifted. “Wouldn’t you be if you didn’t succeed in killing me?”

  Rox smirked. “My guess is there isn’t a deep enough hole to hide in for this guy,” she answered. “Why aren’t you looking for him then?”

  “Divide and conquer,” Sam replied. “I want the man behind Lightner. Getting me out of the way was simply convenient for Lightner. The man funding him—he’s the man I have unfinished business with.”

  “A score to settle?” Rox asked lightly.

  “Something like that.” Sam pushed her plate aside as she leaned forward. “I can’t ignore Lightner. I’ve been actively recruiting his men and taking away key clients. He has a vested interest in hurting me any way he can, but I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with him and this other man,” she admitted.

  “So you want me to make sure the men you hired away aren’t still working with Lightner, and you need me to track him down wherever he’s hiding.” Rox summarized. “Then what?”

  “I imagine a man like Lightner has done a lot of shit to piss people off,” Sam smiled grimly over the rim of her coffee cup. “I’d like you to make sure he gets what’s coming to him. I want him weak and disabled by the time I get around to him.”

  “Rough justice,” Rox observed, sitting back.

  Sam shrugged. “I’d say he knows what’s coming to him. That’s also why I need it to be someone he can’t see coming.”

  Rox nodded. It made a good deal of sense. He’d never suspect a twenty-eight-year-old ghost from South Side, Chicago rolling him.

  “And if I find out anything you don’t like about his former employees?” Rox asked, sipping her coffee.

  “You leave them to me.”

  “God help those guys if they’re double-dealing.”

  Sam’s eyes sparked. “Doubt God will want to get involved with anything I’ve got planned. I’ll pay you the usual fee plus a hefty bonus for Lightner.”

  “Well, then, I’ll leave today.” Rox smiled, standing. “Pleasure doing business with you, Sammy.”

  They embraced briefly.

  “You take care of yourself, chica,” Rox told her.

  Sam’s answering wink was sly. “I always do, mija.”

  Chapter 12

  December 10th—Late Morning

  Jaime’s House in Oak Park, Chicago

  J A C K

  “And in tech news today, shares of Sentient Applications fell more than forty percent since renowned developer and CEO, Talvin Gupta, was found dead early this morning in his Silicon Valley home. Though the medical examiner’s report is unconfirmed, it is believed that Mr. Gupta was shot twice in the chest and once in the head. Police are still investigating leads—”

  “Holy shit—Jack! Jack—get in here!” Jaime shouted from his upstairs room.

  Jack pulled off his glasses, setting aside his laptop as he turned off CNN in the den and made his way up to his brother’s room.

  “Jack!” Jaime shouted again.

  “Alright, alright, I’m coming,” Jack called out as he made his way up the stairs. “Che due palle!19 Keep your pants on.”

  Jaime was standing in front of his television, staring. “Did you see this?” he asked, pointing at the screen. “Did you see the news?”

  Jack glanced at the television as he leaned against the door jamb. “You called me up here to talk about TV?” he asked. “I thought you had a real issue, that maybe you’d fallen and couldn’t get up,” he teased, wondering why his brother was freaking out.

  Jaime rounded on him. “It’s Talvin Gupta!” he said loudly, pointing at the screen with wide eyes. “He’s been murdered—”

  “The tech guy, yeah—so what? I saw the news report downstairs,” Jack replied, moving to stand beside him as a picture of the murder victim smiling with his family came up on the screen. “Did you know him?”

  “Yes, I knew him! He was in Brazil with me!” Jaime exclaimed, Jack looking at him like he was crazy. “Jack—he’s the reason Sam wanted me to have security in the first place! She said Gupta was linked to terrorists, that she didn’t think it was safe to be near him—”

  “Wait,” Jack stopped him, tryin
g to process the new information. “Jaime, back up—what are you talking about?”

  Jaime turned back toward the television, running his hands through his hair as he shook his head in disbelief. “Remember how I told you she said someone on the trip had shady connections?” Jaime glanced back at Jack with a guilty look. “I may have understated what she actually said—”

  “Jaime…” Jack warned, tension in his voice.

  His brother turned to look back at the screen, watching footage of the medical examiner removing a body bag from Talvin Gupta’s house.

  “Sam said his company had been linked to terrorists in Pakistan—that they were on government watch lists,” Jaime admitted, swallowing anxiously. “She said I’d be insane not to be prepared for any possible outcome. She was trying to protect me from this,” Jaime told him, pointing at the screen.

  Jack grabbed the remote from his brother’s hand and turned up the volume. As Jack stared at the screen, he recalled every doubt, every fear, he’d had about Samantha. He remembered the vicious things he’d said in anger, remorse eating at him as he recalled his doubt in her. Jack pulled out his phone, striding out into the hallway.

  “Where are you—” Jaime began to ask.

  “Just give me a minute,” he told his brother over his shoulder.

  Jack dialed; the phone on the other end rang once.

  Twice.

  Samantha…

  Three times.

  “Gianni?” his father asked upon pick-up. “Is everything alright?”

  “No, Dad,” Jack responded, his voice catching. “What do you know about a man named Talvin Gupta?”

  “Why do you want to know?” his father asked cautiously.

  “Because he’s the reason Samantha sent security down with Jaime in the first place. Gupta’s the reason she insisted he have coverage.” Jack took a breath. “Tell me what you know about him, Dad. Please.”

  “He was killed sometime last night—”

  “I know that,” Jack interrupted. “Tell me why.”

  “Gianni, I just learned about this myself,” Sandro sighed. “Had I realized the man’s connections, I would have never let Jaime spend time anywhere near him.”