Black Pawn (Michael Cailen Book 1) (47 page)

“He's dead?”  His eyebrows raised
in disbelief.

“Apparently he kept a cyanide pill
on his wrist under some latex.  Looked like a scar,” Preston chimed in.

“Who does that?” Michael asked,
feeling disturbed by the news.

“My thoughts exactly,” Corvo
replied.

Michael took a deep breath then
glanced over at Jessica who was watching him, curled up on the bed hugging her
knees.  He walked over and sat down next to her.  “How are you holding up?”

She rested her head on her arms. 
“You're leaving, aren't you?”

He sighed.  “You know I have to.”

She turned away from him and
looked at the wall.

He frowned.  “Jess.”

A few seconds passed before she
suddenly moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck hugging him
tight.  He hugged her back, tightly embracing her.

“Please be careful,” she
whispered.

He pushed her away so he could
look in her eyes.  He brushed a strand of hair away from her face.  “I will.” 
He leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

When he stood up he was confronted
by Corvo.  “Where do you think you're going?”

“We don't know who's after her or
why.  They've lost the trail, they're going to go to anywhere they think they
can pick it up again,” Michael replied.

“Get to the 'you're leaving'
part,” Corvo demanded.

“I know where they are right now,
but they won't be there for long.  If I want answers, I need to go now.”

“Where are they?” Corvo asked.

Michael looked away and smirked. 
“You don't really think I'm going to tell an FBI agent my plans, do you?”  He
looked back at him.

“I want to get to the bottom of
this too, Michael.  Why don't we work together?”

“I don't think so.”  Michael
brushed past him and out the door.  Preston watched on, wondering how it was
going to play out.

Corvo followed him into the
hallway.  “You can't go home alone,” he spoke quietly.

Michael grinned to himself. 
Knowing Corvo was CIA was a huge advantage.  “What makes you think I'm going
home?”

“You and I both know it's the
first place they'll look.”

He turned around to face Corvo. 
“And if I manage to get one.  What then?  Arrest him, take him in for
questioning?  Hope he talks?”

Michael could see the wheels
turning in Corvo's head.  He wanted to go with him but he didn't want to seem
too eager to break the law.

Corvo bit his bottom lip.  “As long
as you don't kill them, I can look the other way.”

“Fine,” he agreed.

“Let me get my gun.”  Corvo went
back into the room to grab his shirt, gun, and badge.  He told Preston he was
going with Michael.  Preston was not pleased, but he didn't have much choice.

Michael never would have allowed
Corvo to tag along if Gatti hadn't told him he was CIA.  Knowing that, he knew
Corvo wouldn't fret over breaking a few laws.  Another advantage was that CIA
operatives were trained to notice things a normal person, or even an FBI agent,
wouldn't think twice about.   They were also very smart.  You can't be a covert
operative if you're dumb as a doornail.  Having him around could prove very
useful.

As they left the hotel, Corvo
asked how they would get to his house.  Michael thought it was interesting he
didn't suggest taking his vehicle, which was readily available.  If Corvo was
just an FBI agent then it would have been totally natural and even logical for
him to propose taking his vehicle.  Corvo, however, knew it would be a bad idea
to show up in anything that could be traced back to him or the hotel.  It would
be better to steal a car and he was hoping Michael would suggest it, which he
did.  He pretended to protest, but Michael insisted it was safer this way.  He
made an act of caving in and they were soon driving a stolen Camry to Michael's
home.

“By the way, Michael.  While you
were out stealing this car, I tried to get hold of that agent who was following
you.  He's not answering his phone and no one has heard from him in a while.  I
have someone looking for him,” Corvo informed him.

“That doesn't bode well.”

“No.  It doesn't,” Corvo agreed. 
“Any idea what they're after?”

“I have no idea.  But I can't wait
to find out.”

Michael stopped the car a block
from his house.  “How are we going to do this?” he asked.

Corvo opened his mouth to speak
when his phone rang.  “Agent Corvo,” he answered.  “Are they certain? How long?
All right, thanks.”  Corvo hung up the phone, took a deep breath and released
it.  “They found the agent who was following you.  He's dead.  His body was
found a few hours ago in an alley.  They just confirmed his identity.”

“Oh, this just gets better,” 
Michael said, shaking his head

“They probably don't know my
face.”  Corvo returned focus to the mission at hand.  “I could make a pass and
see if anything stands out.”

“All right,”  Michael agreed.

He climbed into the backseat and
lay down.  Corvo slid into the driver's seat.  He drove down the street looking
at everything and everyone.  He kept it just under the speed limit so as not to
draw any undue attention to them.

“Michael, I don't see anyone
watching the house.”

“Doesn't mean they're not.”

Corvo tilted his head and
scrunched is face.  “Maybe.”

“Drop me off on the other road and
keep an eye on me as I approach the house,” Michael suggested.  “If someone is
watching, you should be able to spot them.”

Corvo did as he asked.  He watched
Michael walk down the sidewalk to his house.  He looked around in cars and in
the windows of nearby homes.  He couldn't see anyone watching the house. 
Perhaps someone was inside, he thought to himself.  He pulled up closer as
Michael approached his house.

Michael stepped through his front
door and wasted no time retrieving a gun he kept hidden in a closet in the
entry.  He checked the clip and cocked it as he began searching the house.  It
was empty.  He came out to see the Camry parked in his driveway.  Outside it
Corvo was standing, looking around at the neighbors' homes.

“They're not here.”  Corvo said it
before Michael could.

They both seemed baffled.  “Why
not?”  Michael asked.  He pulled out his phone and called Josh.  He asked him
if there was anyone watching his place.  Josh checked and told him no.  Michael
asked him to check again, which he did, but the answer was still no.  He
thanked him and hung up.

“They don't know where she is,”
Michael thought out loud.  “The first thing they, or anyone, should do is start
with with what they know, her home, friends.  They should be here, but they're
not.”

Corvo had a sudden and unsettling
realization.  “Maybe it's because they already know where she is.”

The thought struck Michael like a
bolt of lightning.  He ran to the car and jumped in the driver's seat.  Corvo
barely had enough time to get in before he took off.  Michael dialed Josh
again.

“Josh!  You need to get to Jessica
right now!” 

Josh could hear the panic in his
voice.  “What's going on?”

“I think they know where Jess is. 
I'm at the house.  You're closer.”

“Where is she?”

Michael gave him the address to
the hotel and her room number.

“I'm leaving now,” Josh said as he
raced from his apartment.

Corvo then tried to reach
Preston.  After a few rings he answered.

“Mark!  I think you might have
company soon.  We believe they know Jessica is there and they might be coming
for her,” Corvo warned him.

“What?  How?”

“There's no time to explain.  You
need to get out of there,” Corvo urged him.

“All right, all right.  We're
going.”

Preston hung up the phone looking
anxious and distressed.  Before Jessica could ask what was wrong, he told her
to grab her stuff, they had to leave.

“What's going on?”  She grabbed
her purse and slide her phone inside it.

“My partner thinks they know
you're here,” he told her as he walked to the door.

He checked the peephole, then
opened the door looking both ways down the hall.  It was clear.  He motioned
for Jessica to come while stepping into the hallway.  She was right behind him
as he started walking.   Two men emerged from the elevator ahead of them.  The
men looked surprised to see them in the hallway and one started reaching for a
gun in his waistband.  Preston yelled for Jessica to run while he drew his. 
She wasted no time moving in the opposite direction of the gunmen.  She feared
for Preston, but her adrenaline and survival instincts took over.  Shots rang
out in the hallway behind her.  She turned to look just as Preston went down. 
The men were standing right over him.  She couldn't help but pause to see what
would happen to him.  She saw blood on the wall that she knew must be his, and
he wasn't moving.  Her heart sank thinking he was likely dead.  One of the men
was doubled over.  Preston must have gotten off a good shot before he went
down.

The remaining healthy man looked
at her.  Putting away his weapon, he started advancing towards her.  That gave
her the push she needed to get moving again.  She ran down the hall and into
the stairwell.  As she ran down the stairs she heard a door floors below her
open and someone running upstairs.  She leaned over the railing to see who it
was and saw another man, holding a gun, coming up the stairs.   She now had
someone above and below her in the stairwell.  She had no choice but to exit
onto another floor and try to escape another way.

JOSH ARRIVED
at the hotel as people were running out of it.  He knew it
had already started and was concerned he may have arrived too late.  He got to
the floor Jessica's room was on and saw a man lying lifeless in the hall.  His
leg was bloody from a gunshot wound and a large gash on the side of his head
didn't look too good either.  Josh walked quickly to him and checked for a
pulse with one hand as he searched for an ID with the other.  He quickly found
an FBI badge along with a strong pulse.  The man was alive, just unconscious. 
He slowly came around with Josh urgently trying to wake him.

“What happened?” he moaned.

“Where's Jessica?” Josh asked
pressingly.

“I'm not telling you anything,” 
Preston replied defiantly, not realizing Josh was a friend.

“I'm not with them.  Did they get
her?”

He looked Josh in the eye and saw
the genuine concern on Josh's face.  “I don't know,” he replied.

“Do you have a phone?” Josh asked.

“Yeah.”

“Call it in.”  He got up and left
to search for Jessica.