“We will, Derek,” Janet said.
“Good, go ahead now, use the back streets, take off your coat and ties and try to blend in as much as possible.” The two agents left as Valerie and Henry went to their hotel rooms to get in disguise.
“Are we ready?” Henry asked as he and Valerie had changed into their scrubbies. Scrubbies for Valerie was a sweat shirt and jeans that together cost three hundred dollars. Henry was wearing a polo shirt that cost him eighty. But that’s what they had and it’d have to do.
“I guess, let’s see what happens.” They slipped down a back exit, into an alley and after a few steps Henry stopped. “What’s wrong, Henry?”
“We still look too good for these people.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at those people across the street there. These are poor people. Look how dirty they are and uncombed hair. You see that couple by the street sign. That’s how we should look.”
“What do you propose?”
“When was the last time you played in the dirt?”
“What?”
“Remember when you were a kid and you went out to recess and rolled on the ground?”
“No.”
‘Well it was like this,” Henry said as her reached down picked up a handful or dirt and smeared it on Valerie’s sweat shirt.
“This was new, Henry.”
“That’s the problem, we need to look old, dirty, disheveled.”
“Okay,” Valerie said and smeared dirt on Henry’s shirt and face. After five minutes of this they were much like everyone else.
“Alright, now we can walk and hail a cab.” A few people looked at them but many took no notice and after ten minutes they seemed to blend in with their surroundings.
“I think it’s working,” Valerie whispered. They were about ten blocks from the hotel, which is what they planned. To grab a cab in front of the hotel could tip off someone. Where they were now was part commercial and residential and there were very few people. Henry put up his hand and a red cab stopped. He showed the driver an airport brochure and pointed. The driver nodded and they were on their way, it was a ten-minute ride. They got out and Henry gave the man a large bill. The driver nodded and smiled before pulling away.
“Here we go.” They went inside and spotted the ticket window. This was an airport in name only. There were very few customers and a solitary janitor sweeping up cigarette butts. Apparently, the no smoking wave had not reached The Crimea. At the ticket window Henry did his best with his very limited Russian to buy two tickets to Kiev. He recognized the Russian spelling of Kiev on the schedule board and pointed. The ticket taker handed him two tickets and Henry paid in large bills. They sat on a bench a few feet from the gate. All the while they were there a man in a suit was sitting on a chair watching them. Valerie noticed him and hoped he’d look away but he didn’t.
“What’s wrong?” Henry asked as he noticed Valerie seemed nervous.
“That little man to our right keeps looking at us.”
“Probably wants our autograph.”
“Very funny but I’m getting scared.”
“Relax and don’t look at him.” There were about fifty people waiting to board the plane. At 6:45 a man spoke in Russian and people got up to board. The man in the suit began approaching Henry and Valerie. Henry could see he had a gun on a shoulder holster.
“What do we do?” Valerie asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You cheating bastard!” A woman screamed as she yelled at a man and stuck her finger in his chest.
“You have room to talk, what about that gardener, I bet he tilled your soil.”
“Don’t change the subject!” The two were blocking the path of the little man in the suit and as he tried to get past them, they shifted to stay in his way. Then the couple began moving and pushing the little man with them. He was the quintessential 98-pound weakling. The more he tried to get past them the more they pushed him to a hallway still yelling at each other. Valerie and Henry boarded the plane. In the hall the little man reached for his gun but the man grabbed his arm and bent it behind him as he took the weapon and handed it to the woman. It was agents Wilkins and Chester playing a role to help get Valerie and Henry on the plane. The little man started to yell for help but John dragged him under a stairway and knocked him on the head. He fell on the floor out cold. Looking around they saw no one and took the man into a supply closet and tied him up.
“That should take care of him until they get to Kiev.”
“Must be a Stalinist agent,” Janet said. They left the closet and broke off the inside knob as they went. The plane was moving down the runway and took off.
“Well, they made it out of Kerch.”
“Yeah, now if they can get to Washington,” Janet said. An hour passed then two.
“They’ll be there by now,” John said. They left the airport and walked the streets. They’d make their way back to the hotel to do what they could to keep Andrew safe.
“We made it,” Henry said.
“So far.”
“Way to be optimistic, Valerie.”
“Sorry but I’m not in a good mood.”
“Welcome to the foreign service.”
“More like the foreign legion.” Henry chuckled. Henry worked his magic at the ticket booth and they had two coach seats to Washington D.C. This airport was much bigger and busier. It was another hour then they were on the plane and it took off.
“I’m going to sleep,” Henry said.
“I’m going to imbibe when the drink cart gets here.”
“Be my guest.” Henry leaned back and closed his eyes.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Val check the halls all over the floor,” Trent said as they made it to the sixtieth floor.
“On it,” Val said and took off.
“Johnny, how are you doing?” Trent asked.
“Not so good, I think I’ll just be a burden to you.”
“No way, now rest here on this bench till we find a good place to stay.” Kent sat with Johnny and wiped his brow as he was sweating profusely.
“Here’s a suite,” Bonnie said. “It’ll be comfortable for the President.”
“Bonnie, we’re being chased by homicidal lunatics, three of our people have been shot… comfort is hardly a consideration,” Trent pointed out.
“Mr. Wilson, check this out,” Warren said and Trent went to a door marked maintenance.
“I like it, no windows into the hall and a thick steel door.”
“Yes, and we can move a bed in here for the agent who is wounded,” Dave said.
“Alright everyone, we’re going in here,” Trent said as he waved them inside a rather large room with electrical panels on the wall. It was full of janitorial supplies, chairs, tables, etc. They brought in a bed from the suite for Johnny and Dave attended to him. A couch was added and Little Wolf sat with his leg up. Clarice found a chair and sat down. Dave was an EMT and the only person with any medical background at all so it fell upon him to act as doctor. Warren was examining the panels and stood back to think for a moment.
“What’s wrong, Warren?” Ariel asked.
“I’m thinking.”
“That’s dangerous,” Ariel quipped.
“Funny. They’re going to get up here eventually, you know that.”
“Of course, it’s just a question of when.”
“There are plenty of electrical supplies in here, with a little luck we can have a surprise for them when they do arrive.”
“I checked the floor, there’s a back entrance. There’s a lock on the door. I went down four flights and locked all of them. They’re not as solid as the front entrance door but they’re substantial’” Val said as he returned.