CL Hart -From A Distance (53 page)

The judge, Cori, and a subdued Kenzie sat edgily in the car in the public parking lot across from Seattle's Waterfront Park. Lined with benches and lampposts, the wide wooden boardwalk ran the length of the harbor between piers 57 and 59. It was home to shops, restaurants, charter boats, and the Aquarium. It was early, the sun had just come up, and the boardwalk was already busy with tourists and locals alike. The rush hour was humming along above them on the Alaskan Way Viaduct as Kenzie, Cori, and the judge waited for Manuck's arrival.

"He'll be early," Kenzie said as she watched the South Lake Union Trolley lumber past them, "looking for any sign of a setup."

Cori placed a hand on Kenzie's thigh. "I don't like this. You're making yourself a target and he has nothing to lose." She was relieved when Kenzie had finally returned to her, and she was not happy to have her in harm's way again. "How can you trust him?"

"I can't, and I don't, but he won't trust me either." She put her hand on top of Cori's and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I have to do this or I'll never be able to live with myself. He has answers nobody else can give me. I need to do this for myself."

The judge was quiet in the front seat. His thoughts echoed Cori's concern as he scanned the boardwalk with binoculars.

"It's time. I have to go." Kenzie looked into Cori's worried eyes. "You stay here. The judge will keep you safe."

"And what about you?"

Kenzie gave her a reassuring smile and leaned in to kiss her. "I'll be fine."

The gentle peck was not enough for Cori and she pulled Kenzie into a deep, emotional kiss. "Please, be careful," Cori whispered, as they parted, "so don't do anything foolish or heroic."

"We should have thought of that before we put all this into action," Kenzie said, and then she looked at the judge. "Are we set?"

Not trusting his voice to hide his apprehension, he turned and nodded.

"Keep her safe," Kenzie said as she started to climb from the car. Cori reached out for her hand, and they connected one last time. Kenzie looked into her eyes, not wanting to let go but knowing she had to.

"Come back to me," Cori whispered.

"That's my plan." With one last squeeze of Cori's hand, Kenzie exited the vehicle. Leaving them behind was harder than she'd thought it would be. However, she knew she had to block them out and concentrate on what she had to do. She crossed the trolley tracks and waited for a break in the traffic.

Colonel Manuck was dressed in civilian clothes, though he still walked like a military man. Weary but alert, he strolled casually down the weathered boardwalk. He had checked the rooftops on the east side on his first pass of Waterfront Park, and the west side on this second. There were not many places LeGault could set up without witnesses, but that did little to ease his mind. Several times in the last hour, he had questioned why he was there. He wondered the same thing again as he approached the large, bronze, cubical-shaped fountain.

Not wanting to sit down and give her an easy target, if she was out there, Manuck kept moving, amongst the trees and around the fountain. His back to the ocean, the colonel scanned the buildings, the boardwalk, and the throngs of people. There was no sign of her and that heightened his anxiety. She was out there, he knew it. He just didn't know where.

"Hello, Colonel."

Manuck spun around at the sound of her voice and watched as she climbed over the hand railing that separated the boardwalk from the ocean. "You're a little late," she said as she hopped down beside him.

"So are you."

"Just wanted to make sure you came alone." She eyed the man she had once respected. He looked tired, and a little too confident for her liking.

"Armed?" Manuck asked.

Kenzie unzipped her windbreaker, held it open for him to see, and then turned in a circle. She had no weapon, but she was sure he did. "You?"

"Of course." Manuck pulled back his sport jacket, revealing the butt of a gun.

With Manuck's back to the judge, she was certain he had not been able to see the weapon. Nonchalantly, Kenzie ran her fingers through her curls, signaling the judge that the colonel was armed.

"You look like shit, soldier," Manuck said, noting her numerous scratches, scrapes, and bruises. "But then, most of the other guys are all dead, aren't they?"

"Their blood is on your hands, not mine. I only did what I had to do to stay alive."

"So...why the reunion, LeGault?"

"I know about Maquinar," she said. "I know I have not been working for the government. We've all been hired assassins, paid in full by you, Palmer, and Bucannon."

"You brought me here to tell me that?" He didn't believe it for a moment. "What do you really want to know, LeGault?"

"Whose decision was it to bring me into Maquinar?" It was one of the questions she wanted to ask him face to face.

"Mine."

Kenzie felt deflated. Her mentor, the man whose military career she had emulated, had betrayed her right from the very beginning. "Why me? Why did you pick me?"

"Because you were exactly what we were looking for - the model soldier. You followed orders without question. Your abilities and instincts made you an ideal candidate for what we were doing. You had no family and no friends, no ties to the community. Once we got rid of Mifflin, the rest just fell into-"

"You killed Mifflin?" That information was new to her.

"Well, not me directly. It was one of your colleagues. Viper, I believe."

In shocked disbelief, Kenzie swayed under the weight of the information. "You killed Mifflin." Her tone and wording drew no attention from the passing crowd. "Why?"

"We needed you to learn to work alone."

"You had him killed so that you could get me into your kill squad?"

"Call it...collateral damage. It needed to be done. Viper made it a clean kill."

"You fucking bastard!" Kenzie stared at the man who had been her commander, feeling as if she had been gut-kicked. "He was one of us, one of the good guys." In a flash of memory, she recalled the look on Viper's face when they met before the mission in the desert. What a shock it must have been when he recognized her.

"Mifflin was a problem. He was in the way of what we were trying to accomplish," Colonel Manuck said.

"Just like those soldiers you sent us to murder in the middle of the goddamn desert?" Kenzie inquired angrily.

Only then did Manuck realize how much she had changed. Showing emotion was never a part of her training. "What does it matter? You didn't follow orders then, either, did you? Instead you ended up in a fistfight with two members of your own squad."

"I want to know why the three of us were sent to murder our own men."

"Are you really that naive? You've been around this world and you've seen things most people have not. People die for a lot less than what those soldiers died for."

Kenzie stepped to within an arm's length of him and glared into his eyes. "I want to know why we were sent to murder our own soldiers!"

"Because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, wearing the wrong uniforms," he fired back. "They were sent there to assist in a coup, and if they'd been caught and identified as US soldiers, the ramifications would have been catastrophic."

"For you or for them?" she asked, knowing he wouldn't answer. Kenzie had read some of this in the Maquinar file, but reading the words were a lot different than hearing them. "To assist in a coup? That isn't exactly how I read it. It sounded more like they were there to overthrow the local government."

She saw the car door open and the judge step out.
Why are you getting out? Stay there,
her mind screamed. Then she saw both the judge and Cori standing in front of their car. It was an unneeded distraction and she fought to concentrate on the dangerous man in front of her.

"So those soldiers' deaths were all part of Maquinar, and your bid for money and power?"

"War is a very profitable business, LeGault. A lot of people become very rich and powerful because of it." Manuck eyed her suspiciously. Something about her demeanor had changed and it made him leery. He turned his attention from her and quickly scanned the boardwalk.

"Colonel!" Her tone caused him to turn back to her. "Who sent those soldiers there in the first place?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does to me!" she shouted. "Who sent them there?"

"I did!" he yelled back, uncharacteristically. "It was my decision, my orders!"

Kenzie was stunned. How could she ever have looked up to this man? He was the epitome of what Bucannon had described as the reason behind the founding of Maquinar - an out of control tyrant, killing his own people for money. "I can't believe I followed your orders so blindly."

"That's what soldiers do in time of war."

"This was not a time of war. This was your way of trying to start a war so that you could make more money. Most people don't start wars to make a profit. You did. You had me assassinate people so that you could manipulate and mold foreign governments to your will - all for money," Kenzie said, disgusted by the man she thought she knew.

"And power," Colonel Manuck said firmly.

"You are not God, Colonel. You can't play with people's lives like that." Kenzie didn't want to take her eyes off of him for fear that a simple glance would alert him to the judge and Cori crossing the street.

"With enough money you can."

Kenzie had the answers she wanted and they left her feeling shattered. It was over and she had heard enough. "All the money in the world isn't going to get you out of this," she said as the judge and Cori approached walking up the boardwalk.

"Sure it will," he said smugly as Kenzie stepped away from him.

Tilting her chin toward her chest, Kenzie sighed deeply. "I hope you got that, General," she said.

Colonel Manuck glared at Kenzie and she stared back at him in utter disgust. "It's over, Colonel, and it's all on tape for everyone to hear." Kenzie lifted her shirt to reveal a small microphone taped to the center of a Kevlar vest.

"General... What the hell?" Manuck looked at Kenzie for answers, horrorstricken by what he had admitted to. "What the fuck have you done, LeGault?" He looked to the left and then quickly to the right as the MPs came out of hiding and began to move in. Surrounded, he had no escape, no way out. "You bitch," he said as the circle of military police tightened around him.

"You did it to yourself, Colonel. General Coquette was very interested in the whole Maquinar file and in everything you had to say." Kenzie pulled off the microphone.

Turning to face her, he realized the full extent of what he had said. "You gave the file to General Coquette?"

"All of it," she said, glancing over his shoulder. She managed a small smile as the judge and Cori approached.

"Are you stupid? You're just as guilty as I am, and they now have that on tape, too."

"I'll answer for what I've done, but so will you, Colonel."

Anger erupted inside of Manuck, but before he had a chance to act, the MPs had his arms. "You bitch! You goddamn bitch!" The colonel continued to make a scene while the military police moved in to keep back the curious crowd.

Ignoring his outburst, Kenzie walked contently toward Cori.
It's over. Let the chips fall where they may.
She reached out to embrace the woman who had captured her heart.

Cori held Kenzie tightly, relieved that it was finally over. General Coquette had made no promises to Kenzie, but Cori believed that justice would prevail once the truth came out.