Fires of Autumn (32 page)

He swung
around a corner and the parking garage loomed off to his left.  He drove up to
the ticket box and swiped his card, waiting impatiently while the arm lifted. 
Then he tore up the ramp, heading to the third level and immediately seeing
Casey’s SUV by the staircase on the far end.  He gunned it across the garage,
squealing to a halt next to her car.  Throwing his vehicle in park, he bailed
out of the still-running car and ran to Casey’s driver’s side window.

The front
seats were empty and he couldn’t help the panicked little gasp that escaped his
lips.  But in the darkness, he could see her purse in the passenger seat and
he’d never felt so much dread in his entire life. He tried to open the door but
it was locked.  Just as he tried the door to the back seat, he saw movement in
the darkness.  Something was moving in the car and as he strained to see, he
could make out a pair of legs with boots.  Someone was lying in the back seat. 

“Casey!”
he shouted, pounding on the window. “Angel, open the door!”

She didn’t
move. Seized with terror, Colt ran back to his car, popped the trunk, and
emerged with a tire iron.  Racing to the driver’s window, he smashed through it
with one powerful swing.

Inside the
car, he could hear a scream. Reaching in through the broken glass, he unlocked
the doors.  Tossing the tire iron aside, he threw open the back door about the
time Casey was sitting up.   Her face was extremely pale, make up smeared all
over her cheeks. She looked like hell and Colt stood in the open door, his
expression wide and frightened.

“Angel,
what happened?” he demanded softly. “Why are you here? Everyone is worried
about you.”

Casey just
stared at him.  As he watched, her featured dissolved into tears and she
suddenly turned away from him, huddling up in a ball against the opposite door
as if cowering from him.   He climbed inside and she screamed at him.

“No,” she
shouted. “Don’t come in here. Leave me alone!”

He was
sitting behind the driver’s seat, watching her with big eyes. His heart was
pounding so hard in his chest that he seriously thought it might break.  He was
frightened and confused.

“Casey,
what’s wrong?” he begged softly. “Please tell me; what happened?”

Casey was
collapsed against the opposite door, sobbing her heart out.  “Oh, my God,” she
wept. “How… how could you do this to me?”

His
breathing began to quicken. “Do what?” he pleaded. “What did I do?”

She wept
to the point of hysteria. “You… you lied to me,” she gasped. “You said you were
working today but you weren’t.  I came to bring you turkey because I felt sorry
for you and you were nowhere to be found. You lied to me.”

Colt’s jaw
ticked as he closed his eyes, feeling sick and ashamed.  He went to open his
mouth and say something, anything, but Casey whirled on him.  Despondent, she
was full of venom.

“Chris has
video of you going through the boxes at my desk,” she hissed, “Boxes that
contain Russ’ personal financial information. You went through the records, all
of them. Why? What were you doing, Colt? You had no reason on God’s good earth
to be digging through those boxes, but you were. Why? What else have you been
lying to me about?”

Shocked at
the accusation, Colt struggled to recover.  He thought he’d been so careful
about everything, knowing security placement and every detail of the office,
but it never occurred to him that there was a camera, somewhere, that he had
missed.
Damn!

“Angel,
listen to me,” he begged hoarsely. “It’s not what you think. It’s not….”

“Don’t
call me that,” she screamed at him. “I’m not your angel. I’m just someone you
slept with and lied to, God knows why. I never did anything to hurt you, Colt,
not one goddamn thing, but you still lied to me and told me you loved me. Why
did you do it? Why did you treat me like that?”

She was
hysterical, and for good reason. He didn’t blame her in the least.  So he just
sat there, listening to her cry, feeling like the lowest form of human life. 

As he
pondered the situation, he found himself weighing what was more important;
Meade’s directive or Casey’s love. It took him about two seconds to realize
that it was Casey.  It was all about Casey.  He couldn’t live without her. 
Therefore, he had to trust her. He had to trust her and pray it didn’t backfire
on him.

“Casey,”
he said softly, calmly. “I’ll tell you what’s going on, but you need to slow
down. I know you’re upset, angel, but please calm down. It’s important.”

“Who is
she?” she acted like she hadn’t heard him. “Just tell me who it is. Who were
you with today?”

He didn’t
say anything.  He just sat there, listening to her weep, hoping she would cry
herself out and begin to calm down so they could carry on a rational
conversation.  As it was, she was far gone with devastation and he didn’t want
their conversation to deteriorate into a shouting match, saying things they
didn’t mean just to be hurtful.  So he sat and waited.

Casey cried
until there was nothing left.  Then she went through a series of dry heaves,
absolutely distraught and exhausted.  Colt watched her, painfully, feeling
horrible and disgusted with himself to have caused her such agony.  After what
seemed like ages, she stopped weeping and gagging, and just sat huddled up
against the door.  Her eyes were closed and she was breathing in swift little
pants.  The storm had passed for the time being.

“Casey, I
want you to listen to me,” Colt finally said, his voice soft with emotion.
“Angel, there
is
no one else. There has never been anyone else. There
has only been you and there will only ever
be
you until I die.  I love
you and only you, I swear.”

Casey’s
eyes slowly opened; Colt could see it. She was staring at the floor of the car
as she spoke. “Then where were you today?”

“In New
Mexico.”

The
information didn’t register for a moment.  Then, she blinked as if suddenly
understanding him and she lifted her head, fixing him with her dark-circled
eyes.

“New
Mexico
?”
she repeated. “What in the world were you doing there?”

 He gazed
at her steadily. “Casey, I swear I will tell you the absolute truth about
everything.  It’s your choice whether or not you believe me, but everything I’m
about to tell you is God’s honest truth. Do you understand me?”

She was
sitting up by this point, gazing steadily at him.  She looked so very tired.

“Why did
you lie to me?” she asked, her voice soft and hoarse.

He sighed
faintly. “If there had been another way, I wouldn’t have. I had no choice.”

She wasn’t
buying it; he could tell.  She shook her head and averted her gaze and, feeling
rather desperate, he continued.

“I know
you’re upset,” he said softly. “You have every right to be. I deserve the
screaming and the distrust.  But what I’m about to tell you can’t leave your
lips or my life might be in jeopardy.  Are you with me so far?”

She nodded
her head, barely, and he quickly continued before he lost his audience.

“My family
name stands for something, just like yours does,” he murmured. “My dad was in
the army, as was my grandfather, and on back.  When I graduated from the Naval
Academy,  my dad started talking to me about some really weird stuff.  He
started telling me stories that sounded like they came out of a James Bond
movie, spies and secret weapons and crazy people wanting to take over the
world. I thought it was just my dad making up stories but I came to find out
that those stories my dad told were about him.
He
did all of that crazy
stuff.  I didn’t believe him but my mother confirmed it.  My dad did more stuff
during the Cold War to keep the United States safe than you can possibly
imagine.”

Casey was
looking at him again, all braced up against the door still. She looked like she
was recoiling from him and he didn’t like that feeling one bit.

“Anyway,”
he went on, “when I graduated from the Naval Academy, my dad took me to meet up
with some of the people he had been working for.  The meeting was so cloak and
dagger that it was unbelievable, but I became acquainted with a covert branch
of the Central Intelligence Agency with unlimited resources and power. This
group has
access to files and laboratories and information that are beyond
the realm of comprehension. It’s a super-secret domain of the CIA that grew
into something they can no longer control, and it’s something as far-reaching
as you can imagine.”

Casey was
listening to him seriously, torn between disbelief and curiosity. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Who are
they?”

“They call
themselves the Core.”

“I’ve
never heard of them.”

He snorted
softly. “No, you wouldn’t have,” he murmured. “To mention their name anywhere
inside the walls of Washington D.C. is pretty much a death sentence. Anyone who
knows about them, and openly speaks about them, is dealt with.  They’re
that
powerful.”

Casey was
calming somewhat but along with the calm, she was starting to feel some
apprehension. “So why are you telling me?”

“It’s
where the term ‘Anti-Christ’ came from. Those who first called me that are
dead. Those who continue to call me that don’t have any idea how I really got
the name.”

Fear was
creeping into her veins. “Colt, now you’re scaring me.”

He smiled
gently at her. “I’m not trying to, angel.  I’m just trying to explain
everything to you so you understand that I haven’t been deliberately lying to
you and I certainly haven’t been cheating on you.”

“Go on.”

He shifted
in the car seat so he could move closer to her.  She was still pressed up
against the passenger door. Carefully, he put a hand on her booted food.  He
just wanted to touch her.

“Because
of my dad, I was recruited into this group,” he said softly. “I’ve been doing
their dirty work for over twelve years, spying, counter-spying, taking care of
problems when they arrive, and doing the occasional snuff job.”

Her eyes
widened.  “You
what
?”

He could
see she was getting upset again and he stroked her booted foot. “Black ops,” he
whispered. “That career that Brody seems to want. Trust me when I tell you he
doesn’t want it.”

Her eyes
were filling with tears again. “You’re an assassin?”

He sighed
heavily and hung his head, gripping her foot. “I’m a lot of things,” he
murmured, lifting his head to look her in the eye. “I’ve done it all, Casey. 
These people have connections like you can’t believe.  When I got out of the
Marines, they got me a fairly well-placed job with the CIA, where I ended up
ratting out a high-placed official who had been selling secrets to Venezuela.
When the Venezuelans sent agents to dust this guy, I had to take care of the
entire cell. It was… messy. Then, I was moved into the Secret Service to get
close to Clinton during Whitewater. I was the one who provided enough
information to convict Clinton’s business partners in the fraudulent scheme and
also enough evidence to convince the man who succeeded Clinton as the governor
of Arkansas.  The Core wanted to nail Clinton himself but I was never able to
get enough evidence on him.”

Casey’s
tears had faded as she listened to him. “So… you’re a spy?”

He
shrugged. “Kind of,” he said. “I was with Obama for several years because the
man is linked with Chicago politics and, as we all know, crooked as hell.  But
we could never get anything tangible so for awhile, they moved me into arms
dealing.  I was in Russia for a year or so shadowing Putin.  That guy’s
crazy-crooked. He runs that entire country like his own private Mafia gang.”

She was
becoming more interested in what he was saying. “Do you speak Russian?”

He nodded
faintly. “
Eu vorbesc foarte fluent si daca poti sa ma inteleaga, atunci stii
cit te iubesc
.”

“What did
you just say?”

“That I
love you very much.”

The
wariness returned to her expression. “Then tell me why you were going through
Russ’ files and why you lied to me about today.”

He sighed.
“With everything that I’ve told you, you should probably see a pattern in my
presence.”

She cocked
her head as she thought on his statement. Then it occurred to her. “Are you
spying on Russ?” she asked, shocked.

 He didn’t
say anything for a moment.  Then, he reached out his hand to her.   She gazed
at his open palm a moment before shaking her head.

“Not until
you tell me everything.”

Pain
flickered across his expression and he lowered his hand. “Casey, angel, you
need to understand that if anyone knows who I really am or what I really do, I
won’t live to see the sunrise,” he said softly. “If I tell you everything, my
life is literally in your hands. Fellow Core agents don’t even know each other
for the most part. It’s too dangerous if we do.  There are a lot of people who
would like to see me dead. So what I tell you can never, ever be repeated. Do
you understand?”