The Desert Lion's True Colours (23 page)

Leon got the feeling he sounded aggravated and then figured he was probably upset for being given this assignment at the last minute. Agent Boyland’s voice came through the speakers again.

‘I’ll be your Captain today. If we get some kind weather we should reach JFK in just under two hours. FYI, we do have a shower on board. So you can get freshened up when you’re ready.’

There was a short clicking sound and as quickly as he came, Agent Boyland’s voice was gone.

‘This is nice.’ Jay said out loud.

He was taking in the interior of the plane and admiring its setup. It was a Gulf-Stream V-Cross Continental, with all the amenities
-
plus extras, very spacious, decorated in all white with red and maple wood trim. Jay kicked off his all black ‘Air Force 1’s and rubbed his feet into the thick, plush carpet. He figured it could have held around 15 passengers however the plane only had one white leather couch along the rear left side of the plane and four single leather seats that could recline all the way back and swivel a full 360 degrees. Two on each side,
-
all four sitting next to its own window.

Smiling, Jay said ‘Shit! I need to get me one of these for my birthday.’

Leon smiled as he swivelled his chair slightly to the right so that he could get a clear view of the early morning sky outside. He could sense Na’talia was still looking at him but he was in no mood to make small talk, even if it was with a pretty woman.

The illuminated fasten your seat belt signs protruding from the ceiling switched off and immediately Jay unbuckled his belt, stood up and without saying a word to Na’talia or Leon headed towards the bathroom at the back of the plane, picking up his sports bag on the way.

Turning in her Chair Na’talia called out ‘Agent Ferguson!’

Jay did not answer.

With a shake of the head she said ‘The medic bag is in the cupboard next to the bathroom.’

Still no reply was given. Na’talia let out a sarcastic chuckle and then looked over at Leon who was still staring out the window. Jay located the green medical bag in the cupboard and entered the washroom to shower and tend to his bruises.

‘Is it me, or does he have a problem with my being here?’ asked Na’talia.

Keeping his gaze focused on the multi-colour horizon outside, Leon kissed his teeth.

‘I see.’ replied Na’talia under her breath.

Slowly, Leon turned his head towards Na’talia’s direction and stifled a chuckle.

‘Oh. And what is it do you see?’ He said.

Smiling, Na’talia replied ‘I see two fairly young, pretty handsome FBI Agent’s. Who are relatively ok at their job but due to know fault of their own have been given a raw deal…’

Leon was about to cut in, but she quickly elevated her voice and with an expression that changed to something that looked very much like disgust, said ‘But they’re either brilliantly stupid or have their heads so far up their own ass they can’t see what’s really going on and who is trying to help them.’

Na’talia’s answer caught Leon off guard and a witty reply was not coming to him quick enough, so all he could say was ‘Huh?’

‘Huh, is right.’ She replied.

Leon started to chuckle to himself but openly enough to get Na’talia intrigued with what he thought was so funny. He allowed a few seconds of fake laughter to pass then swung his chair 40 degrees to the left,
-
stopping directly in front of Na’talia. He looked at her from head to toe and then rested his eyes on her face for a moment before he said, ‘Agent Geddes, I don’t know what you’ve been told, or even what you think you know about what’s going on here, but…’ He paused, cocked his head slightly to the right before saying ‘. . . You don’t know shit
-
forgive my French.’

Shaking her head, Na’talia let out a brief sigh and crossed her legs as she rested back into her chair.

‘Really?’ she replied.

‘Yes really.’ retorted Leon.

‘Hmmm, well let’s not talk about what it is you think I don’t know. Why don’t I tell you what I DO know?’

Nodding slightly Leon replied ‘Yeah that would be a start.’

‘Well, I know where your father is… ?’ She paused for a response but Leon gave no reaction.

Still sitting in her reclined position she said ‘I know how we’re going to get Karim.’

Far from impressed, Leon rolled his eyes. Na’talia started to get the feeling as if she was losing the battle so she said, ‘I also know your fathers plan from beginning to end.’

Still Leon gave no reply. Running out of things to say, Na’talia shrugged her shoulders and decided to take Leon’s silence as a chance to rethink her tactics.

The low hum of the jet engines and the previously unheard sound of the wind flowing over the planes exterior filled the cabin. A few seconds passed before Na’talia broke the airy silence.

‘I also know your dad has missed you.’ she said.

Leon cut her off in mid-sentence. ‘Wait… !’ He grunted. ‘I warn you. I have had a very rough 48hrs. So you need to be very careful with what you say next.’

Without hesitation she started to reply but her words and the moment was interrupted by the familiar sound of a shower, followed by Jay’s not so familiar singing. He was not in tune, but he was belting out the lyrics as if he had written the song himself. Leon tried hard not to but he could not help letting out a stifled laugh as he heard the words

‘“Under
my
um-brella
ella,
ella,
ah,
ah,
ah/

Under
my
um-brella,
ella,
ella
ah
 . . .”
’

Leon looked over at Na’talia with a smile. Thanks to Jay the tension had passed and by all accounts she had not yet done anything to cause Leon to doubt her.

‘Look, my bad…’ He said. ‘. . . I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. Why don’t we start again?’

Defences down Na’talia nodded politely. Leon eased himself up from the chair, walked towards the back of the plane and from his bag took out three separate folders and the black leather diary planner.

As he headed back to the main area which held the four separate chairs he heard Jay shout out, ‘Yo dude!’

‘Yo!’ replied Leon.

‘Ask that chick if they have an Iron on this piece. You know dude can’t be doing
this
job
looking all wrinkly.’

Knowing Jay’s request was spoken loud enough for Na’talia to hear and unimpressed with the impression Jay must be making, Leon shook his head and without repeating the question just looked at Na’talia with an expectant expression. To his surprise, she did not seem to take offence to Jay’s “
Chick
” reference however she did take her time to reply.

‘Yes.’ She said calmly. ‘. . . In the cupboard directly opposite the bathroom door, is a fold-out pants steamer and a regular Ironing-board and Iron if he needs it.’

She had spoken too low for Jay to hear her so Leon walked back to the bathroom, tapped on the door to get Jay’s attention and relayed the message in his own version by simply saying, ‘Yeah, there is.’

‘Cool.’ Jay called back.

Turning away from the shower room door, Leon took a moment to look down at his clothes to inspect the dirt, scuffs and dried blood. He gently touched his face and used his fingers to trace the scars. “
Jay
needs
to
hurry
up.”
he thought.

Leon then turned his attention to down the aisle, towards Na’talia in her seated position on the right side of the plane. She smiled, twisted from the waist and used her momentum to swivel the chair a full 180' degrees towards the G5’s cockpit. As the back of the chair came into Leon’s view and the profile of Na’talia’s face exited, he was hit with a distant vision,
-
A vision of her.

Leon walked up to the side of Na’talia’s chair, looked down and saw her pouring herself a drink,
-
A
Cherry
Coca-Cola.
She looked up and smiled. Leon was not. Opening one of the folders in his hand he pointed to the picture of his dad sitting in the New-York Cafe. Na’talia looked down at the picture and for a split second Leon saw complete shock run across every muscle of her face. She tried her best to keep her reaction minimal but Leon saw it clearly.

‘This is you isn’t it?’ he said,

‘Who?’

‘Please don’t be smart.’ Leon said with a sigh.

Pointing to the lady sitting to his father’s opposite left, he said ‘This is you right? The woman my father is talking to, the one with her back to the camera?’

Gently moving the open folder away from her face, she looked up at Leon and smiled.

‘Not bad.’ She said. ‘I’m very impressed. Not because you figured out it’s me in the picture but you actually noticed he was talking to someone else in the room. Bravo.’

Smiling, she admiringly gave Leon the once-over and then started to clap her hands softly. She stood up, raised her glass and said ‘Congratulations Agent Ferron. You finally managed to figure something out.’ She paused for a moment, licked her lips then said ‘. . . You want a prise?’

Leon was unsure what to say, think or feel. Her words and actions were full of innuendos however they were bursting at the seams with sarcasm. A few seconds of uneasy silence passed before Jay finally said ‘What is your problem lady? I’m really trying to be cool about all of this but you’re starting to piss me off. If you’re not going to tell me who you really are or why the fuck your even here then don’t say anything. I’ll call the Chief and he’ll tell me what’s up.’

With that Leon turned away and walked over to the chair he was sitting in and picked up the mobile like phone that was integrated into the armrest.

‘What you doing?’ Na’talia asked.

‘Are you deaf? I said I’m going to call the Chief.’ replied Leon.

Na’talia took a step forward then said ‘Nathan
-
Don’t do that.’

Leon heard her request and paused, for no reason other than the fact she called him by his real name. Turning towards her, with the phone held out on display he said, ‘Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t?’

Na’talia took another half a step forward and with her free hand reached for the phone. Leon jerked his hand back just centimetres out of her grasp which caused her to instinctively go for it again. However, this time she missed by inches, leaving her arm fully extended over Leon’s shoulder. He was about to say something when the bathroom door opened. They both looked down towards the back of the plane and saw Jay standing in a cloud of steam.

‘What the hell are you two doing?’ He asked.

Jay had opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the main cabin with one swift fluid motion, leaving no time for Leon or Na’talia to notice or react to how close they were standing to each other. Jay stood at the back of the jet,
-
in the fading mist, staring at the both of them curiously. Na’talia lowered her arm from its out stretched position. Leon took a sheepish step back. They were all silent. Jay started to slowly walk towards them leaving damp imprints in the carpet. Apart from the white bath towel wrapped around his waist he was not wearing anything else. He could see Na’talia was looking at his body. Not in an erotic way. Sure, his 6'3, 200 pound, wet body was good to look at, but Jay could tell she was more interested in his scars. The dirt and blood had all been washed away, leaving only the work related perks of being an Agent. Jay watched her expression change with every blemish, bullet wound and mark that she saw.

‘Battle wounds.’ Jay said finally.

Na’talia frowned.

‘Call them perks of the trade. The girls love em. Makes me look dangerous…’ he started to laugh. ‘Just call me 50 Cent baby.’

Na’talia shook her head. She was about to say something but Jay cut her off again.

‘I don’t want to cock-block what you and my boy got going on here.’

Na’talia made up her face as if she was offended.

‘There isn’t anything going on.’ Leon blurted out.

Jay scrutinised them both for a moment longer then said, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ He paused, turned to Na’talia and said, ‘Earlier you told the Chief that there were clothes and weapons on this bad boy.’

She nodded.

‘Well, where they at?’ Jay rasped.

She craned her neck upwards, to indicate the storage space over -head.

‘Sweet.’ Jay replied.

Not paying his partner or Na’talia any more attention he reached up with both hands to open the over-head compartment. To his surprise the door folded down revealing a display of hand-guns, knives, cell phones and several mini voice recorders and cameras.

‘Word!’ Jay exclaimed with a smile.

Turning to the other storage space to the right of it Jay said ‘And behind door number two is…’ he paused. ‘. . . Now that is the shit!’ He said.

The door folded down like the first but this time clothes were on display. Starting from the left there were six neatly folded, gently stacked pairs of pants. Old Navy Slacks, lined up in staggered layers, showing colours ranging from light Kaki, all the way through to black. Then next to them were an assortment of jeans, all different designers
-
lined up in the same way as the Khaki pants. Then to the right of them were neatly folded T-Shirts, cardigans and jumpers. Jay noticed another handle above the storage door. Pulling the lever slowly, out came a draw displaying belts from PRADA, watches from Cartier and diamond studded money clips that cost way more than what they could ever hold.

Turning to Na’talia Jay said, ‘is this all for us, or is this how the CIA be rolling all the time?’

‘She isn’t CIA!’ Leon interjected.

‘Yes I am.’ Na’talia replied defiantly.

Leon rolled his eyes and then said ‘Whatever… !’ Then turning to Jay said ‘She ain’t CIA and this G5 doesn’t belong to any Agency…’ He paused, looked back at Na’talia and said, ‘I don’t care who you are, or how you know my father but I’m out. I’m done. This shit right here is frigged up.’