Spy Thriller: An Involuntary Spy: An espionage thriller (Involuntary Spy Espionage Thriller Series Book 1) (14 page)

     Dawn broke on what would be Seth’s last day in the city of St. Louis.  Seth wouldn’t miss his adopted city.  Sure, he had had fun in the clubs on Washington Avenue and the hip bars and restaurants on the Delmar Loop.  Those were times he would never forget.  He also had spent many a moment at peace, away from the bustle of the city, biking through Forest Park, but the city was never really home to him.

     “Home is where you hang your hat for a while,” his dad always used to say, but St. Louis felt more like just a workplace.  When he was partying away from work, it was really like a coffee break.  Work was always there and was always the priority.  He never really did hang his hat in St Louis.  He would miss his parents, and, through this entire ordeal, had not had the time to visit them in California.  The thought of possibly never seeing them again was worse than anything else.  Maybe it would have been easier to stop at this point.  Was all he was about to give up really worth it?  Would anyone really listen or care?  But it was too late now.  He was already a suspect and was sure to be caught eventually.  Staying was no longer an option.

     Seth over packed a small bag to check in all the things he would need.  He stuffed so many things into the bag, he had to sit on it to zip it up, and when he picked it up, it felt like a ton of bricks.  He would pick up the go-bag at the bank, withdraw as much cash as possible, so he could pay cash for all his tickets, leaving no credit card traces, and head straight for the airport.  Seth thought about putting the .357 into the bag as well, but he knew that in Russia, his final destination, guns were illegal, so he left it behind.  He didn’t need to supply any more reasons to anyone to get himself arrested.

     As he exited the apartment and entered the parking lot, he looked carefully around for anything suspicious or out of place.  Everything appeared to be quiet and nobody was on the street.  Seth slowly walked to his car, threw the bag in the trunk, got behind the wheel and drove away.

     As he turned the corner onto Graham Street, he noticed a gray Chevrolet sedan in his rear view mirror.  Having just been followed the day before, any abnormality, even a slight one, could not be overlooked.  He took a sharp right turn on Clayton Avenue.  The sedan was still there.  He sped up, and took a left on Hampton Avenue; but the sedan was still in the rear view.  This was too close for coincidence.

     Seth kept ahead on Hampton, approached the next signal and, just as it was about to turn red, hung a screeching U-turn in the intersection, floored it and headed back the opposite direction.  This move failed to shake the sedan, which gave chase, followed him with a U-turn through the solid red, and swerved to avoid hitting a truck.

     Seth pushed the gas pedal to the floor as he looked for an escape route.  He saw the sedan in the left side mirror, accelerating through traffic.  Spotting a grocery store, he pulled right into the store parking lot, quickly parking as close to the entrance as he could, and went inside, looking over his shoulder at his pursuers.  As Seth quickly lost himself in the middle aisles, he saw 16E and F exit the gray sedan, and make a swift walk into the store.

     As they disappeared into the produce section, Seth left through the other exit and crept in between the cars in the parking lot to the opposite side of the gray sedan.  With his keys, he depressed the valve of the rear front tire until it was completely flat, and then sneaked back into the store.  He grabbed a pack of gum and some snacks from the racks near the cash register, and then spotted 16E and F and made sure that they had spotted him as well.  He checked out and slowly walked to his car, and made sure that he was being followed this time.

     He watched 16E and F as they discovered their tire was flat and 16F ran frantically run back into the store.  Seth got in his car and made his way to the bank, parking as close to the entrance as possible.  He pulled his briefcase out of the safety deposit box and withdrew the maximum cash allowed from his account, all the while looking around for any sign of his pursuers.  Seeing nobody, he left the building.

     As Seth approached I-64, he saw the gray sedan again in his rearview mirror, closely approaching.  The stop at the bank must have given them enough time to use a can of quick fix to fill up the tire.  Seth took a sharp right on Clayton and another on Oakland Avenue, screeching another right on Macklind, through a red light, then tried to shake his tail by weaving through the residential areas in random fashion.  Finally, he doubled back to Hampton and hit I-64.  There was still no trace of them as he merged onto I-70 and Seth breathed a huge sigh of relief.

     As he exited for the airport, Seth saw, from his right side mirror, the gray sedan, weaving maniacally through traffic.  Too late to take evasive maneuvers – he had already made the exit.  Seth punched it, but the gray sedan gained speed, rammed his rear bumper, and sent his car fishtailing off the road and onto the dirt shoulder.  The car spun around, making its own dust tornado, as Seth turned toward the spin and regained control of the car.

     He headed straight for the airport police station, and slid into a parking space among the police cars, with his pursuers hot on his tail.  Before they realized it, 16E and F’s car came to a screeching halt in front of the police station and several police officers who were heading for their vehicles looked up at them.  Seth waved to police.

     “Officer, these guys were chasing me.  I passed them on I-64 and they got pissed off.  I think it’s some kind of road rage.  One of them waved a gun out the window.”

     That was it for 16E and F.  One officer came over to him to take a report, as two headed toward the gray sedan as it backed up in an attempt to leave.  The officers signaled the sedan to stop, but it kept backing up.  They drew their weapons and took a firing stance, and the car stopped.

     “Out of the car, hands on your heads!” said one officer to 16E and F.

     Seth was stuck giving reports in the airport police station for the next hour.  When they finally let him go, he headed for long term parking at the United Airlines terminal.

     Relieved, but still shaken, Seth got out of the car in the parking lot, holding his briefcase, and got the small heavy suitcase out of his trunk.  He opted for the stairs, as he didn’t want to be trapped in any close spaces, like the elevator.  It would be hard to carry the heavy case down the stairs, but even worse to be cornered in an elevator.  As he turned to descend the last flight of stairs, he almost ran into Bill, who was below him, a pistol trained right on him.

     “Seth, you are so predictable,” said Bill, with one of his famous toothy grins.  Seth looked around – nowhere to run – Bill was blocking the only way out.

     Sunday night could not come soon enough.  Seth was ready for a break from the madness of what his life had become, and Natasha was just what he needed.  She arrived around 6 pm with two bags of groceries.

     “What’s this?” asked Seth.

     “Well, it’s not really much now, but it will be our dinner.”

     “Dinner sounds good.  What is it?”

     “Russian borsch.  My mom’s recipe.”

     Natasha set the groceries down in the kitchen as Seth approached her from behind.  He hugged her and pressed his face into her back.  Her smell was alluring and enticing.  Every moment that Seth spent with Natasha was precious to him, and she was becoming more and more important to him every day.

     “Were you ever planning on introducing me to your parents?” asked Seth, turning her around and slipping his hands around her waist.  He tenderly kissed her on the lips.

     “Only if it gets serious,” said Natasha, turning her attention away from the groceries and returning the kiss.

     “It is serious,” said Seth, continuing the kiss.  Seth felt so close to her, it was as if they shared the same breath.  Natasha finally pulled away.

     “Really?”

     “Really.”

     Seth led Natasha to the couch by the hand and continued to kiss her as he caressed her cheeks and hair.  Suddenly, he reached the realization that all the waiting was over, and surrendered himself to passion.  He held her, reaching under her shirt and across her back to unsnap her bra.  Meeting no resistance, he slipped his hand under the cup and caressed her breast.  She sighed and kissed his neck.

     He reached down below her undergarments and she matched his strokes under his as they continued to kiss.  At the height of passion, both of them lost control and began to strip each other, one garment at a time, while they explored each other’s body.  As their passion gained fury, Seth perched above her, looked into her wanting eyes and he sank into the moist and hot bed between her thighs.

     When Seth opened his eyes the next morning, the pleasant sight of Natasha’s sweet sleeping face on her pillow was the first thing he saw.  Her eyes opened, and they exchanged mutual smiles.

     “Good morning,” she said.

     “The best morning.”

     “I’ll fix breakfast.”

     Seth would have given anything to prolong this pleasure, but it was Monday morning, and he needed an excuse to complete his surveillance.  As Natasha put freshly poached eggs and toast on the table, Seth said to her, “I probably won’t come to work today.”

     “Why, are you sick?”

     “I’m getting a little cold, I think. Hope you don’t get it.”

     “I’ll be right over after work to take care of you.”

     “Really, that’s not necessary.”

     “Nonsense.  The Borsch is better the second day.  It’ll make you feel healthy in no time.”

     There was no sense arguing with her.  Arguing with a woman after she’s made up her mind about something is as useless as taking a shower with your clothes on.

     After an ample breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham and potatoes, Natasha left for work, and Seth took his post at the café across from Dave’s apartment building, and watched.  After a few hours, Julia came out, turned right, and walked right past the café.  He put some money on the table for his bill, followed her, and lost himself in the crowd that was moving along the street to conceal himself from her, but not so much that he was not able to see her.

     When she finally reached her destination, Seth was relieved to see that it was the shopping mall.  He had at least one hour – maybe an hour and a half to be safe – to get into Dave’s apartment, copy his hard drive, and install the spyware.  He quickly trotted back to Dave’s apartment.

     Seth rang the bell for Dave’s apartment, just to make sure it was really empty.  He waited a few moments, then rang several other neighbors’ bells until he got buzzed in at random.

     He went up the stairs to the first landing, inserted his home made key into the lock and turned it until he heard the multiple cylinders click one, two, three times – then he was in.

     Seth took a look around the apartment.  It had a small corridor, a bathroom, a living room and kitchen.  The apartment was in pretty clean condition, so he assumed Julia was a good housekeeper, or that she had hired one.  There were two bedrooms, each with a bed, a small desk and each had their own laptop.  Seth was surprised that they had not taken any precautions to guard against access.

     One bedroom was clean and tidy.  Its closet was full of women’s clothes.  The other was unkempt and messy.  The bed was not even made.  It was a double bed, but only slept in on the right side.  The closet in this room had only men’s clothes. It was obvious that Dave and Julia did not sleep together. Seth quickly filed that thought away, as there were two computers to crack instead of one like he had expected.  He started on the one in the messy room.

     This was Dave’s laptop, and it was not so easy to get past his password as it was with Bill’s computer.  After sweating over it for about fifteen minutes, he was in, but that was fifteen minutes that he couldn’t get back.  Seth loaded the spyware program, plugged in a hard drive and started copying Dave’s files, then went off in to the other room to crack Julia’s computer.

     Julia’s password was even harder to crack.  Seth checked the time.  He had at worst 45 minutes and at best half an hour left, and there was no way to copy the hard drives any faster.  He set up his flash drive to copy Julia’s documents file and went to the other room to check on Dave’s computer.  The copying was 65% complete.  Suddenly, he heard the cylinders turning in the lock of the front door.  He pulled out the hard drive, put it in his jacket pocket and ran into the other room, closing the door behind him as he had found it.

     “Julia?”

     It was Dave’s voice in the corridor.  Seth looked for an escape –there was none.  He opened the window and looked out at the small uncovered balcony.  This would have to do.  He pulled the window closed as best he could and looked down.  It was a one story drop to the ground, but if he hung from the balcony, he could cut the distance of his fall so as not to injure himself.  Just as he put his leg over the railing in order to begin his descent, he looked back into the room, and saw his flash drive, blinking in the USB slot of Julia’s computer. 
Shit. 
It had already been about two minutes since Dave had entered and called Julia’s name.

     Seth could either risk going back into the room or leaving his flash drive in her computer.  He quickly reopened the window, jumped back into the room, grabbed the flash drive and went back out, closing the window behind him.  Swinging first one, then both legs over the balcony railing, Seth turned toward the window and lowered himself down on the balcony rails until he was hanging from the bottom of the balcony.  He was either going to break both of his ankles and lay on the ground until someone helped him or walk away.  Mustering up his courage, he let go of his grip and fell.