Had he not taken two wrong turns, it would have been less than thirty he figured as he turned into the lakeside area and noted the familiar selection of street names all cleverly bearing the word Lake in some form.
A familiar house stood at the end of the road. From there, Sean just needed to turn left and another two hundred yards would see him back at Katie’s house. Someone, he realized, he was looking forward to seeing.
Luis managed somehow to get ashore; it took every ounce of strength his body possessed but he managed. The property he had come ashore at was a few hundred yards down from the troops and despite definitely being out of sight, he crawled on his belly from the shoreline to the safety of the house, just in case. Sitting in his boxer shorts, exhausted and dripping wet, he thanked God that the home owners hadn’t witnessed his sorry sight as they had exited their property, thankfully it seemed, running late, as they air kissed one another before jumping in their respective cars and screeching from the driveway.
It had been hours since he had left Sean at the riverside. He wondered if he had walked into the trap at the house. He realized then that he had become so embroiled in working with Sean, he hadn’t even considered the prospect that Sean had called in the troops. Sean had double-crossed him. Luis kicked himself for being so stupid. He was El Jefe’s nephew, what in the hell was he doing getting into bed with an ex CIA assassin? He needed to get out of there and alert his uncle to the scheming Sean Fox and his miraculous reincarnation. El Jefe would know what to do.
With renewed energy, Luis got up and edged himself to the side of the house. He looked carefully around the corner and fortunately could not see Sean’s house. He was out of the sight of the watchers but half naked and carless. He stepped back from the corner and tried the windows and doors of the house, all locked. The noise of a door opening across the street caught his attention. A young mother was struggling from her house with a stroller. With no one else in sight, he had his chance. He grabbed a rock from the garden and rushed across the street. The young mother’s car would be perfect as a get away car.
As Sean neared the street corner, the sight of a naked Luis racing across the street caught him somewhat by surprise. The rock in his hand and his focus on the young mother with her child were alarming. Fortunately, as she struggled with the door, her back to the imminent danger, she was unaware of Luis’ attack. Sean could have called out but that would have alerted the young mother to her peril and probably resulted in Luis’ incarceration and James’s death.
Fortunately, Luis had been so intent on the woman, he had not noticed Sean was barreling down upon him.
Sean launched himself at Luis and grabbed for his mouth as he tackled him from behind. The result was the two lying in a tangled mess at the bottom of the young mother’s drive, out of her sight behind her car. Sean’s hand was clamped across Luis’ mouth stopping him screaming with shock and alerting the neighborhood to his presence.
“What the fuck are you doing?” whispered Sean into Luis’ ear.
“Sean?” came the muffled and consumed response from Luis.
On answering yes, Luis immediately stopped struggling and relaxed.
As the mother went about finalizing the locking of her front door, Luis and Sean crawled out of her line of sight and hurried around into her back garden. Some clothes hung out to dry. The young mother’s husband’s clothes were a fairly good fit for Luis and as he dressed, he explained what had happened.
Sean nodded as he listened to Luis explain the moment the six soldiers had literally materialized from the ground. None of it was good.
“Is that everything?” asked Sean.
“Yes,” replied Luis thinking hard if there was anything he had missed.
Sean sent his fist into Luis’ face like a bullet, catching him square on the chin and depositing him straight on the ground. It was a short and fairly powerless jab but made a very important point.
“If I ever see you even look like you’re going to attack a woman again, I’ll kill you,” warned Sean with real menace.
Luis nodded in agreement, too stunned to argue.
Sean reached down and helped Luis to his feet. “Now let’s see what we are up against.”
“I need to borrow your phone,” said Sean holding out his hand.
“Where exactly did you figure I stashed that in my waterproof boxers?” asked Luis, not hiding his anger.
Sean smiled and let it go. He had humiliated Luis with the punch and let him have his little jibe in return. That, however, did not solve the problem of how to uncover what was happening further up the street. Sean set off at a pace that Luis struggled to keep up with. He worked his way through the rear gardens at the opposite side of the street from Katie’s. He had remembered that most, if not all, of the homes were empty. One in particular, diagonally opposite, wasn’t even complete. It would be the perfect location to see what was going on. Unfortunately, Sean was not the only person who had thought the same.
Chapter 43
After three hours of waiting, Borodin could wait no longer and hit the dial button on the phone that had been staring at him silently. Pushkin answered after one ring.
“General, I’m sorry no update,” he whispered.
Borodin hung up. He had never been a patient man but he couldn’t let his inability to control himself interfere with a mission.
“Vasiliy!” he shouted.
Vasiliy entered the office and thought twice of reminding the General of the small intercom button that negated the need to scream his name.
“Yes, General?”
“Any word from Surkov?”
Vasiliy could have said of course not, I would have told you if there had been but again went with the far less confrontational. “No, General, nothing yet.”
“Has the President called?”
Vasiliy was beginning to struggle. “No, General, sorry, he has not.”
“OK, thanks,” he waved dismissively for Vasiliy to leave.
Surkov had assured him things were in action that would necessitate his greater involvement imminently and to ready his assets. Either himself or the President would be in touch to discuss the next steps of their plan. Until then, he should sort out the Sean Fox problem and relax.
Ever since he had found out about what really was happening at Grebnevo, the one thing he most certainly couldn’t do was relax. It was not until then that he fully understood why Sean Fox was such an issue. As far as Surkov was aware, the other Sean Fox had died in a light plane crash five years earlier. The news that another Sean Fox had died three months earlier had therefore not fazed him in the slightest. However, news that another Sean Fox had risen from the grave was a very startling prospect. As far as Surkov knew, there were only two! Which meant there was every chance that the live one could have been his. Whatever the case, the danger was too great. Sean Fox had to be killed. If he was Surkov’s Sean Fox, he knew too much. Depending on which one was which, they may have told the wife and as a result that was why she also must be eliminated. After that, it had all got a little confusing, his Sean, the other Sean, Borodin began to lose track.
As he drummed his fingers on the table the satellite phone sprung to life. He grabbed it.
“Done?” he asked.
“Da!” was the succinct reply before the line went dead.
He hit the redial but nothing happened, the line was down.
“Vasiliy!” he screamed.
Vasiliy rushed to the General’s aid.
“This damn thing has cut out!” he shouted, throwing it at Vasiliy, clearly expecting him to fix it.
Vasiliy tried for a minute before calling in proper technical assistance. The chief designer of the system was rushed into Borodin’s office, from the technical department two floors below. He brought another sat phone just in case the problem lay with the General’s handset. It did not. Neither handset could connect to Pushkin’s.