Chapter 2 – The other side
Rhett Jackson drove his SUV up to the white picket fence on the quiet
tree lined street that was Maple Drive. He had already been to pick up two
coffees at Starbucks one a soy latte with a solitary sweetener and the
other a steaming hot brew of black coffee smothered with four sugars. The later
was his, and the former his partner of just six weeks, a young and not
unattractive Alice Dobbs. The pair had been put together as part of the
unrelenting push by the Bush administration to counter any and all intelligence
measures in place by the Eastern block or now aptly renamed the European Union.
Alice was top of her class in psychology with an unusual penchant for
the supernatural and all things that go bump in the night. Her claim to fame was
a case involving a missing senator’s son who was kidnapped for ransom by the
Mexican cartels in San Diego. The reported story was that she had an informant,
but the sealed case file showed her locating the boy using ‘Telempathy’ the
power to use another person’s emotions to understand what they are thinking,
therefore deriving an answer to a question that the subject did not wish to
divulge. The power also lets her feel emotion over distance by way of
telekinetic location, and once locked on to the subject she is like a hound dog
with a scent of prey.
It’s not always one hundred percent accurate, but it has many advantages
when time and lack of locality are the only known variables. Other than that
Alice is a loving and almost childlike spirit because of her gift, and not a
hard case.
Alice knew Rhett was there before he pulled up, and was on her way out
the ornate led light front door with a depiction of a snow topped mountain
landscape as the theme, just as the shining black vehicle pulled to the curb.
Her slim legs and muscular frame accentuated by the form fitting Navy suit she
had to endure in the position she now held with the Special branch of the CIA.
“Good morning Rhett, I see you have breakfast sorted as usual” she said
sliding into the leather passenger seat next to him.
“Yes! Coffee, Soy and one sweetener as always and a thick slice of Aunt
May Banana bread wrapped in the obligatory cling film from hell.” Was the
response she got and it was becoming a habit even after only six weeks.
“You still drinking that over sweet swill I see.”
“Yep hot and sweet, the right combinations to take paint right off the deco.”
They both took a sip from their paper cups and placed them in the centre
console for later use as Rhett slid the automatic gear shift into the drive
position and pulled out into the quiet street and started the journey to a yet
undisclosed address that was sent via pager to Rhett.
“So what’s on the cards today partner Alice said as she picked up a file
that was sitting on the dash board in front of her.
A man and woman had been murdered in their beds and the perpetrator was
still on hand at the scene where they had been holding him waiting for the pair
to arrive. The husband and wife were nobodies on the surface but the style in
which they were murdered by the assailant reeked of careful planning and a
planned hit. A single shot to the head and heart in each with little or no
defense suggested a hit indeed. The problem was there is little or no evidence
on the man responsible. The murderer a Chechnya dissident who was noticed as he
came into the country and was followed but the CIA were too late he had already
achieved his purpose.
“So why are we on this case?” Alice questioned as she looked over the
details once more.
“The CIA had this guy but was not fast enough to stop him from achieving
his goal, so now it’s up to us to find out who sent him and why.”
“Ok so he flies into the US from Jamaica, goes to the house and shoots
both occupants dead. Then he goes and gets himself caught...Why?”
“That’s were you come in Alice, they want you in his head to see if we
can track him back to a start point, they know he left Odessa two days ago and
now he’s in a van outside the house where he shot a husband and wife dead.”
“Ok, but why these two, what is the story with them, drug lords or money
laundering?”
Rhett looked over at Alice and said “Page fifteen”.
Alice moved the pages and found the information she was looking for both
immigrants to the US twenty years prior, he a doctor and she a school teacher
for special needs children.
Something didn’t add up they were model citizens, no children of their
own on record but they were active in the local area and seemingly normal.
“That’s it isn’t it they were too good to be true!” Alice started to
feel the couple as she read and saw the details between the lines.
“Sleepers?”
Rhett looked over at Alice and smiled.
“It would seem our couple was so good at being normal they slotted right
in and were virtually invisible, except something must have gone wrong.”
The rest of the drive was spent in silence with Alice reading the file
over and over looking for details not written and Rhett was singing to himself
as the radio played the best tunes of yesterday and today.
Rhett slowed down and pressed the electric button to drop the driver’s
side window and showed his badge as he drove on and parked the SUV in the drive
way of the cordoned off house in suburbia. He noticed the neighbors around,
some crying, some questioning or being questioned by CIA intelligence
operatives but all seemed genuinely stunned at the actions of the night.
As he got out coffee in hand Rhett shut the door and lit a cigarette as
he nonchalantly wandered around the scene. It was not a normal act for him but
one he had practiced many times before. The act of lighting a cigarette and
hiding behind a cupped hand gave him those precious seconds to scan the area
almost unseen as Dracula would hide behind his dark cloak in the shadows,
looking and picking out his next victim. He found the action disarmed a lot of
people and disgusted others so he too blended into the background of
invisibility. Nothing outstanding, people in dressing gowns, work suits, joggers
and even the odd school kid but there behind a few onlookers at the back was a
man in sunglasses and a short sleeve shirt, wearing jeans and black military
style boots.
Replacing his cigarettes and taking out a small compact camera he slid
behind the vehicle and snapped quickly toward the general area the man was in,
but he was gone.
“Damn, I had him” he whispered.
“What was that Jackson” Dave Dickson lead investigator with the CIA said
as he moved closer and slapped him on the back.
“Nothing Super, I thought I saw something” I lied taking a mental note
of the man his height weight, features that I would call upon later when I sat
in front of a sketch artist.
“It’s a clean kill both shot twice, head and heart, just like the old
days” Dickson said almost with a smile as he remembered the late seventies
fondly.
“Is Alice ready Jackson, we need to understand why they were hit” he
said as he walked toward the large secure van surrounded by agents and police.
“Yes sir, Alice over here partner the super wants you to weave your
magic while I go inside and look around.”
“Ok” she said as she made her way with the super and entered the high
security van.
“Be careful Alice, something’s not right with this” I said softly to her
as she passed through the cordon of security and into the metal box as the door
was locked tight behind it.
I made my way into the house after I was bagged up, a term used by
forensics when they use the all over paper suits, masks and booties to ensure
no contamination of the crime scene.
The door was not touched at the front and nothing was disturbed, the
rest of the house seemed perfect, the furniture sparse yet comfortable, loads
of photos around but none of the young couple just images from the last twenty
something years. No baby or child images of either, nor were there any extended
family photos either. The couple was clean and meticulous with the house and
the cleanliness, as well as the security, a full security system inside with
motion sensors and all door and window alarms.
A look out the rear door saw the guard dog with one well placed nine
millimeter slug in his head also. A small hole cut in the back window to allow
egress into the house and the security pad cover was open and in the switched
off position.
“This was no robbery or accident this was planned to perfection.” I said
aloud to myself.
Walking slowly up the stairs I noticed a photo hanging on the wall had
the glass smashed as if the assailant had hated to look at them on the way out
I am gathering.
Footsteps ahead and people talking as the forensic guys were doing their
thing vacuuming the bodies and the carpets as well as the bed clothes for any
physical evidence left behind. A visual scene of almost serenity greeted me as
I viewed the dead lying unknowing and comfortable in their bed. But the stench
of death is something you never mistake for anything else in the world.
The bullet wounds precise and consistent with close range and the wife
looked as if she rose slightly as if she had heard something but had no chance
in saving either of them.
“John anything unusual buddy” I said to the lead forensic investigator
John Stewart.
“Rhett, long time pal, no nothing unusual except there is a post mortem
contusion on the right cheek and side of the head as if the murderer hit him
with something after he shot him in some weird rage.”
“So we have a hit that was personal as well.” I said rubbing my chin.
John stood and handed me a plastic bag that was sealed and tagged with
“Evidence 12”
“What do you make of this Rhett” he said as I took hold of the bag and
examined the contents.
It was a Makarov single action pistol, late seventies vintage made in
Russia and used by the military police as well as the KGB, but their version of
choice was usually the silenced Makarov PB.
“Can I take this and show Alice? She has a thing for old handguns.” Well
that’s what I told him anyway.
“Sure but remember it has to go back with the rest into evidence.”
I waved my appreciation back at John as I left the room with the cold
metal in my hands.
Alice sat across from the man accused of murder and stared thru him not
at him as he met her gaze. She studied his face his features and saw sorrow in
his eyes that was match and outplayed by the sense of purpose he held within
him. The features were Russian but not Muscovite but more Baltic, Latvian
mainly, which explained a lot to Alice as she finally met the killers
gaze.
“Jums ir dzili nepatiksanas biedrs” she said in slow but deliberately
fluent Latvian which translated meant “You are in deep trouble comrade”.
The man shifted in his seat his eyes widened slightly and the pupils
dilated marginally as he became quickly uncomfortable.
With only a faint hint of an accent he replied in English, and quickly
regained his composure.
“So you know where I am from pretty lady, big deal.”
Alice tilted her head slightly and picked up the hesitance and then
training that had created the perfect wall again as his guard went back up but
in that fleeting instant she felt the feeling of being alone and without help.
“You do know you will never see light of day once more don’t you! But
something tells me that’s not the issue here.”
Again uncomfortable he shifted and she picked up a longing to somewhere
else.
“What is your name can we at least talk on equal terms?” she said
quietly with a hint of honey coated mesmerism that he could not resist.
“Dainis Balodis, and yours?”
“Alice, let’s keep it informal shall we, there is no need for
formalities here especially as you have just murdered two innocent people.”
Again she studied his face as she spoke, and a flash of anger and pride
flashed across his face as if he had no choice but to kill these people for an
injustice they had perpetrated somehow. He sat back and crossed his arms
showing tattoos on his arms that proved to her the feelings of anger and loss
of belonging at a young age.
“Dainis why are you so angry at these people, what have they done to
you?”
“Not to me….” He stated to say as he moved forward in his seat but then
stopped short and regained his composure.
“If not you Dainis, then who, your family?” no response was forthcoming.
“Your ideals your country” a spark of knowing wiped across his face as
if a movie flickered in and out of existence that on Alice picked up on.
“So they did something that upset your ideals, your pride was hurt and
this was your job is that it?”
Alice knew she had hit a nerve and he became agitated and uncomfortable
in his seat.
“Just take me back and throw me in a cell. That’s what you’re going to
do isn’t anyway so just do it!” he yelled at her across the table.
Alice shot out her hand and held his manacled hands for the merest of
seconds. A life of anger and hatred and a sense of belonging at last
overwhelmed her as she felt his emotions welling inside almost to a boiling
point.
“You’re a pawn Dainis, what are you atoning for, what sins have you
perpetrated to allow you to do this to another human being.”
“They were traitors, scum.” He spat back at her pulling his hands free
from hers.
Alice stood and thanks Dainis for his assistance and then turned to Dickson
and nodded.
“He is muscle for hire, he is just a pawn in this and it seems our
murdered perfect family was more than likely sleepers, Russian agents from the
seventies sent here to infiltrate and learn but like most they became soft and
enjoyed what the west gave them. This was Payback for not doing as they were
ordered.” Alice stood and pointed at the murderer.
“He is a thug and hired gun and he was doing as he was told nothing
more.”
Dainis swore in his native tongue and then to add insult also in Russian
just so she would know where the orders came from, and in solid drawl told her
she was dead anyway, they were all dead.
Rhett made his way to the front door of the house as the first bullet hit
is mark, the police officer at the door was thrown backward three feet by the
impact and his head now nothing but a pulpy mass of exploded flesh. He hit the
ground instinctively and his training took over but his first thought was
Alice. A second and third shell burst into the house picking out targets and
around the secure van, agents and police were taking cover as the high caliber
silent killers stalked them.
A shell hit the van and exploded inside hitting Dave Dickson in the
thigh tearing at the artery inside.
Dave screamed at the driver to get them the hell out of the line of fire
but unknown to him the driver was already dead and slumped against the wheel.
Alice took cover as best she could while the murderer sat laughing.
All was quiet for just a few seconds before Rhett heard the unmistakable
hiss of machine pistol fire and saw three more of his colleagues gunned down at
short range. The gunman was the fleeting image he had seen only minutes before.
As he lifted his head to see out the window he drew the pistol from his
shoulder holster and was greeted by a wave of shells as they tore into the
house to ensure no-one would exit.
The attacker opened the secure door and looked the three occupants one
at a time before he sprayed the remainder of the clip into Dainis Balodis as he
sat cuffed to the makeshift interrogation desk exploding his chest into a mass
of blood and bone.
Alice looked over at the super only to see him struggling to remain
conscience from loss of blood from the previous injury. He struggled to hold
his pistol and the new assailant quickly replaced the clip and chambered the
next round.
As he took aim at Dave he stopped and redirected the stubby smoking muzzle
at Alice who at this point was holding her standard issue nine mm Glock outstretched
and it was a standoff, with Dickson now out cold it was just the two of then
left.
“Time to die sweetheart” he said in a thick Russian accent.
Then before Alice could blink the left side of his head exploded
outwards and she turned to see Rhett standing at the doorway to the van with
his gun held tight and straight.
“You ok Partner”
“I am now, but the super is in a bad way” she replied pointing to Dave
Dickson.
“Its ok ambulances are on their way.”
“Rhett this was a setup, he knew this guy was coming for us and he was
prepared to die. I don’t get it yet.”
Rhett sat on the table and placed the safety on once more as he put the
pistol back in its holster.
“I don’t get it either but they were sleepers, been around a while too,
this was a hit to let others know that when you belong to the cause there is no
getting out.”
“I get that Rhett but why this guy?” she said pointing to the second
killer.
“Not sure but he targeted our suspect and then wanted to take you out,
so who have you pissed of lately?”
Alice ran her blood stained hands over her jacket top and pants as she
thought.
“Maybe my reputation precedes me!” she said with a smile, and then she
looked at Rhett and they both knew it would never be the same again.
