Wings of Steele - Destination Unknown (Book 1) (79 page)

"Not
much," replied Lisa.

"So
you didn't tell them about..."

"Are
you
nuts
?"
she hissed. "I don't want to end up in a rubber
room!"

"Stop
exaggerating," said Jack, "they wouldn't do that."

"They
sure as hell wouldn't
believe
me," she sassed.

"Mmm,
you're probably right."

"There's
no probably about it," said Lisa quietly. "If you want
them
to
believe
this story, you're gonna' have to show them concrete evidence."

"You're
just hoping to see the Freedom for yourself," said Jack
sitting
back on the couch and switching on the TV.

"Damn
right,"
confirmed Lisa. "But you know I'm right. They won't
believe
it unless they see it. Not with all that's happened. They'll think
you were forced on drugs or something."

"Ok,"
said Jack calmly, "it's settled then, a midnight tour it is."

"Breakfast...!"
It was not a call anyone in this family was likely to miss. Eggs,
bacon,
pancakes, milk, juice... the whole fanfare. And nobody made it
better. It smelled spectacular and Jack's mouth was watering long
before he sat down at the breakfast table.

"Man,
this is great," said Jack, loading his plate.

"My
Lord," said his mother, "don't they feed you? I mean,
wherever
it
is you've been."

"That's
one thing we do well, is eat," he replied. "I just haven't
eaten
since about seven last night."

"And
where was that..?" said Kyle carefully.

"And
why are you so pale?" asked his mother. "You used to be so
tan."

His
father waved at her to be quiet. "That's not important Lynn."
He
never
took his eyes off Jack. "So what happened, son? Exactly...
Where have you been and why has it taken so long for you to come
home? Your eye, the dog..." he glanced down at Fritz who sat
quietly next to Gus the family dog. "What's happened?"

Jack
was seriously hoping Fritz wouldn't feel the need to speak
anytime
soon. "Well," said Jack, "I'll tell you what I can,
but some of it will have to wait until tonight..."

"Why
tonight ?" interrupted his mother.

The
doorbell rang before Jack could respond and his father rose from
the
table to answer it.

"Where's
my car mom?" asked Jack, between forkfuls.

"In
the garage. Your father and I had to go get it from the airport.
Why?"

"Just
curious..."

Kyle
Steele walked back into the kitchen with a man dressed smartly
in
a blue-gray suit and Jack's stomach filled with butterflies. He
looked like a Fed. Jack had not removed his jacket, his first
instinct was to reach inside and produce the blaster. He resisted
the urge. "Dad?"

"Son,
this is Agent Phil Cooper, FBI. Phil, this is my son, Jack
Steele."
Phil Cooper stepped forward and extended his hand. Jack remained
seated, stone-faced. "He's here to help you, Jack,"
prompted his father.

Jack
rose slowly, taking care to prevent his jacket from dropping
open
and revealing the blaster. He shook hands with the agent, a short,
curt shake, then sat back down.

“
The
scariest words in the English language,” commented Jack, “I'm
from the government and I'm here to help...”

“
Hey!”
shot his father, glaring at him, “that was uncalled for...”

Lynnette
set another place at the table and Phil joined the family
for
breakfast. The Agent munched happily and quietly for some time,
studying Jack as he ate. Jack ignored him. "You were in Chicago
last night," said Phil, after some time, "weren't you?"
He glanced at Lisa and smiled. "It was easy to figure," he
added. He watched Jack's face but there was no reaction. "Yeah,"
he continued, "it seems Jack Steele and body counts are
synonymous."

Jack
looked up from his food and cleared his throat but said
nothing.
His father had stopped eating and was staring at him, his mother
looked pale. The only one that seemed unaffected was Lisa. "Y'know,”
continued Cooper, "those two guys you left in the snow were
Vasquez's men. He won't be happy about that."

"That's
his problem, isn't it?" said Jack sarcastically, still eating.

"Hey
kid, I'm not condemning you. Honest." He took a swig of milk
and
wiped the white mustache off his upper lip with a napkin. "In
fact, in my opinion, you did the world a favor. But there's
something curious, see..." He lit a cigarette and watched the
smoke curl away. "The guy in the driveway is still alive."
He watched Jack's eyes narrow. "And my men tell me, he keeps
babbling something about some kind of lightning gun or something.
The other guy... Christ," he breathed, "they faxed me
pictures, he was burned in half...”

“
Nice
breakfast talk...” interrupted Jack, eating. He waved his
fork, “And if you don't mind, I'd prefer you not to smoke in
my house.”

“
Their
vehicle was destroyed beyond recognition,” continued Cooper,
snubbing his cigarette out in his half-eaten scrambled eggs. “And
there was a small amount of radiation of undetermined origin. Just
what the hell did you use?"

Jack
met his gaze and held it. He took a deep breath and let it out
slowly,
thinking. Stone faced and without blinking, he reached in and drew
out the blaster from under his jacket. Cooper was unmoved. He'd be a
good Ruge player, thought Jack. Ejecting the power cartridge into
his left hand, Jack held the weapon out in the palm of his right
hand. "I used this.
A
lightning gun is actually a pretty fair description...
"

Cooper
picked it out of Jack's hand and examined it, turning it over
and
over. It was about the size and shape of a 9mm semiautomatic pistol
but lighter than it looked. Kyle leaned over and stared at it too.
"This is it? It feels like a toy..." said Cooper.

Jack
snorted. "Hardly." To his surprise Cooper handed it back.

“
How
does it work?” asked his father.

“
Well
I took one apart once...”

“
And?”

“
And
I learned I should never take one apart again,” he chuckled.

“
Don't
be a smartass...”

Jack
shook his head, “I'm not, totally a true story. It's actually
called an Ion Pulse Laser Blaster. It operates on a burst of
intensely focused light. That's the total extent of my knowledge of
this thing...” he slid the power cartridge back in and
re-holstered it. “That and how to reload it.”

"And
how did it come into your possession?"

"Hm,”
Jack smiled, “interesting choice of words, Mr. Cooper. I'm
sure you have a hundred
questions,
but if I told you, I doubt seriously any of you would believe me.
So, if you can all wait just a few hours until tonight, I will be
able to answer all your questions and explain absolutely
everything." He drained his juice glass.

"Why,
what happens tonight?" asked Cooper.

"It'll
be easier to show you rather than just tell you," explained
Jack.

"What
could be so unbelievable?" asked his father. The phone rang
before
Jack could respond and his father rose to answer it. "It's for
you," he told Cooper.

Cooper
came back and sat down at the table after a short phone
conversation.
He stared at Jack. "It seems the B25 Sweet Susie, the one you
disappeared in, has turned up..."

"Do
tell..." said Jack sitting back with a wry smile.

"Really..?
said his father. "Where?"

"Right
back at the hangar where it first took off from," answered
Cooper.
His eyes never left Jack's face. "Would you know anything about
that, Jack?"

Jack
smiled innocently. "Who me?" he shrugged. "Maybe..."

"Funny
thing is," announced the Agent, "it seems it simply
dropped
from
the sky earlier this morning... right through the roof of the hangar
of Miles Aviation. Destroyed the plane, the hangar, and a partly
restored P38 Lightning parked inside."

Oooh,
thought Jack,
bonus
points!
"Aww gee," he said unconvincingly, "that’s too
bad..."

Cooper
looked at him slyly. "Yeah, you look really broken up about
it.
How'd you do it?"

"Tonight,"
said Jack, pushing his chair back. "Midnight." He was
tired,
his left arm aching. He wanted,
needed
some rest.

“
You
know there are a lot of people who want to talk to you, Mr.
Steele...” said Cooper standing, “FBI, CIA, ATF, NCIS...
I could go on...”

Jack
was unmoved at Cooper's posturing, “Please don't.” His
arms were folded casually across his chest.

“
Maybe
we should talk about protective custody,” he said drawing out
a pair of handcuffs slowly. “Give us a chance to straighten
things out, the FBI can protect you...” He laid the cuffs on
the table. “It would be best if you did it voluntarily...”

“
Best
for who...? You?” He glanced at his dad and back to Cooper.
“See what I mean dad? They're here to help... what a crock.
They thrive on using people. I wouldn't have been in the mess in the
first place if it wasn't for the
helpful
folks
in the government.”

“
I
don't want to have to do it the hard way.” Cooper shifted but
froze, he blinked in disbelief. With speed that was difficult to
comprehend, Jack had the Ion Blaster pointed at him, still sitting
calmly. It was as if he hadn't moved at all.

His
parents stared at him silently, blinking. Kyle wasn't sure he had
actually seen him move.

“
So
if it doesn't go your way, you'll bully people. Nice. I've got news
for you, you really don't want to get into a pissing match here, Mr.
Cooper. You will lose. That ballistic vest you're wearing might as
well be made of tissue paper - and you've seen what this thing can
do. So how about you take your hand off that Glock, so I don't have
to mess up the walls of my house with your guts...”

Cooper
let his hand drop to his side, then leaned forward, his hands on the
table. “Kid, you have no idea what you're up against, how much
trouble you're in... there's a
price
on your head. You
need
the FBI's help.”

Jack
laughed hard, “What I'm up against? You pompous ass... you
have no idea what I'm capable of. You saw what happened to the last
two guys that tried to collect on that,” he added flippantly.
“And as far as one branch of the government protecting me from
another branch of government - I can't believe you can say that with
a straight face. It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.” He
stood and slid the blaster back in its holster. “Let me be
perfectly clear, Mr. Cooper, I don't need your help,
or
the help of any government agency...”

Cooper
straightened up and shrugged. “So you want to live the rest of
your life looking over your shoulder?”

“
Cooper,
you're starting to bore me. You're in so far over your head, you
can't even see the light of day... and you don't even know it ”
He glanced at his parents but did not turn away from Phil Cooper.
“Dad, if you value him as a friend, keep him away from me
until tonight.” Jack walked out of the room followed by Fritz
and Lisa. “I'm going to get some rest.”