The Runners: Chapter 30
Chapter 30
After finishing their hearty breakfast, the four friends proceeded to start the next phase of the day.
“I’m gone to the pool.” Clumsily standing up from the table, Jason declared where he was going as he headed out. He’s had a big plan to dive into complete relaxation by soaking up the sun for the first time in his life. Jacob and Jane followed behind Jason slowly while Cathy appeared to be in a little hurry going ahead of her two sluggish friends.
“You guys coming to the pool?” Cathy yelled back to Jane and Jacob as she followed Jason out to the pool, leaving them at the door way.
“Maybe later, I want to take a walk on the beach first!” Jane responded, waving her hand in Cathy’s direction.
“OK. I will catch you guys later then!” Quickly turning back to the pool, Cathy ran after Jason and crossed her arm in Jason’s in a platonic and friendly manner. Then, they walked together towards the pool deck. Few moments later, Jacob saw Jason leading Cathy to the right as Jason pointed to empty lounging chaises at the far side of the pool.
“You all right?” asked Jacob still wondering about his encounter with the old man and what possible relationship there may exist between Jane and the stranger.
“Yeah, I’m fine! How can anyone be not fine in a place like this?” She raised her arms as if to place the entire resort into her arms and to say, ‘what a silly question’. She tried her best to be cheerful. However, Jacob spotted, in her expression, a slight pause or blankness in her eyes as if she was looking far out in the distance as if he wasn’t even standing in front of her.
“If anything is bothering you, I am here for you. I am very happy that I’m here with you. I just don’t want you to feel that you are all alone while there is something that’s keeping you worried. Please, know that you don’t have to go through it alone!” Assuring Jane, Jacob kept a close watch on Jane’s reaction. It seemed to have brought some level of peacefulness back to her demeanor. He did not see the obvious lost look in her that he had detected just a moment ago.
“I know. I am glad that you are here as well. I think it was just all the pressure of school and work that’s getting to me. We should just enjoy this beautiful place!” Jane brushed off Jacob’s concerns as she looked into Jacob’s eyes. In some ways, she did not want to bring Jacob into her tangled life and what she was going through. Yet, she took great comfort in Jacob’s company and because of that, she was confused as to what her emotions were telling her.
“Work?” immediately catching on Jane’s response, Jacob probed further, “I thought we were just taking a break from school! What work are you talking about?”
Jane’s heart stopped momentarily. She did not realize that she had said ‘work’ and she was even more surprised that Jacob was so tuned in to every word of what she was saying. She knew they both had feelings for each other. Jane did not see that Jacob’s feeling for her was much deeper than she had realized.
“I meant, school work. You know from all the studying and working tirelessly to make the grades…” Jane tried to circumvent the usage of the word ‘work’ as she was probed by Jacob.
“Jane, if anything is ever bothering you or you need to talk about something, I am here for you. So, please don’t shut me out!” Almost painfully, Jacob begged Jane to open up as he still felt that Jane was not completely honest with him.
“There is nothing to shut you out from. I am just amazed that such place like this exists in this day and age. I am baffled about it and having such a rush from this world that somehow it seems to slow me down. You know…, like being under hypnosis. It must be the sun and the fantastic weather at this resort…, I am fine, really!” Jane put both hands out towards Jacob with her palms wide open. With a slight of bent at the elbows that caused her hands to rise up to her chest, she motioned her hands up and down to assure Jacob that she was fine and that she was not to be questioned or quizzed about her emotions any further. At the same time, Jane took couple of steps backwards before turning around to head out to the beach as if she had enough of this nonsensical conversation.
“I am going to the beach for a walk. I will be back and join you guys shortly!” With her baseball cap on her head and a pair of sunglasses to protect her eyes from the burning rays of the sun, she quickly walked out towards the beach without giving Jacob another chance to speak.
Jacob was surprised by Jane’s quick departure. Yet, he realized that he maybe prodding too much and that it was best to give Jane space to sort out whatever it was that she was going through. However, Jacob was determined to find out one way or another. It just wasn’t right at this moment. Feeling somewhat defeated, Jacob stood by the door. He turned towards the pool to, perhaps, join Cathy and Jason. He wanted to get his mind off of this conversation as he took a couple of slumping steps in Jason’s direction like a defeated soldier returning home from a war. He walked slowly towards his friends without much thought. All the while, however, he was looking behind the path that Jane had taken to go out towards the beach.
Suddenly, a familiar figure caught his attention near the far left end of the pool where the sandy beach of the resort started. Tall, bony, yet well fit for his age, it was the same old man that he had run into while searching for Jane during breakfast. The man had the same bright colored Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and wore a creamy bamboo boater hat. He had on a pair of peachy white Nike boat slip-ons that highlighted his sun tanned legs. Although, he seemed fragile looking in his 50’s, he appeared to move effortlessly over the sand. He seemed to be by himself in the absence of his female companion whom Jacob had seen during the earlier encounter. Jacob kept his eyes on the old man as he moved further away from the pool.
Unconsciously, Jacob changed his direction from heading towards his friends to following behind the mysterious old man. Jacob put down the sun visor that was attached to his cap over his eyes and stealthily walked behind the old man. He wasn’t sure what to expect. But, somehow, Jason had a feeling that this man had something to do with Jane’s earlier emotional state.
The beach was already crowded with leisurely tourists. A group of young scantily dressed women were soaking up the early sun near the water while another group of young people were playing beach volleyball near the sun bathers. Jacob could also spot three little children playing on the beach, diligently digging up the sand, creating a pile and then pouring buckets full of sea water over it. Then, busily moving their hands in well coordinated fashion, they gave some finishing touches to the sand, forming it into a structure of what appeared to be a large castle. Their parents were near-by in their lounging chairs, enjoying tall glasses of exotic tropical drinks while keeping close watch on their kids. He could also see other couples holding hands and simply taking relaxing morning walks on the soft sand. Vacationers were busy enjoying what this place offered them to the fullest even though it was fairly early in the morning.
Jacob quickly scanned the beach in all directions while the tourists were out about in the area enjoying their time. Down the beach to his left, Jacob located a creamy boater hat floating further away among the beach goers with the like motion of a sailboat riding the waves. Jacob locked on to his visual target. To remain unnoticed, he stayed well behind him, well hidden among the tourists as he tailed the old man. Jacob moved about his head as if to look at and admire various sceneries. Yet, behind the dark visor, he kept his eyes on his target and did not miss a single step that the old man was taking.
After five minutes of walking almost straight along the shore, Jacob’s target came to a slow stop. He turned his head towards the ocean and took off his sun glasses. Then, with his right hand raised over his forehead, covering the sun from hitting his eyes directly, he appeared to be taking in on the grandeur of the sun rise. Looking out towards the ocean, Jacob found the sun to be at near 10 degrees above the horizon. The surface of the clear blue water reflecting the sun’s rays off in all directions gave Jacob a serene and hypnotic feeling that almost caused him to forget what he was doing there momentarily.
Suddenly, Jacob felt an instantaneous disturbance of the serene scenes. He felt the water and the sun phasing out ever so quickly then returning to its prior peaceful forms. It was reminiscent of a power surge that causes for a millisecond, the duration of a blink of an eye, of a total darkness, only to have the brightness restored immediately as the power came back.
Quickly, Jacob turned his head back towards the hotel to see the people that he had passed by while pursuing the old man. He saw the girls sunbathing as before and people playing volleyball as if there was no tomorrow. It appeared as if the others were oblivious to that brief disturbance, thought Jacob.
“Perhaps, I’m too sensitive,” Jacob told himself. Again, turning his focus back onto his target, he noticed the old man has now turned around and was heading inland away from the shoreline.
There, where the old man was heading, were tall palm trees that formed the border line between the sandy beach and the lush green forest. And into the forest, the man had disappeared. Jacob, lest he would lose the old man’s tracks, immediately followed behind into the trees, where the strongest and the brightest sunlight that he has ever seen were even shunned from. Jacob smelled the dampness of the forest and felt the instant drop in the temperatures as he entered and moved deeper into the forest as he trailed behind the old man.
——————————-
‘Ring’, ‘Ring’. The incoming call rang loudly and kept resonating inside David’s ears. The noise was loud enough to cause David to blink his eyes. He brought both palms of his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes rather gently then more briskly. He opened his eyes and stared blankly into the ceiling fan that was still rotating as it provided some relief from the heat.
The ringing sound pounded his head as if someone was demonstrating how strong he was at a carnival. It reminded him of people slamming down the giant sledge hammer onto a platform that launches a round piece of metal to shoot up in order to ring the bell at the top of the pole. The banging sound kept coming and coming in his head as if a series of new challengers took the hammer to better the previously successful attempt by a strong man who had rung the victory bell. David felt everyone was winning. After enduring several more rings, David gave up ignoring the annoying bell and clumsily sat up in his couch.
“Connect!” David ordered.
“Mr. Chan, I have been trying get a hold of you since you were discharged from the hospital the other day!” came a rather frustrated voice of Det. Woodson.
“Sir, I’ve submitted a requisition for a few days off from duty.” David shot back. David was in very bad physical pain. He suffered a dislocated shoulder, gunshot wounds to his shin and left clavicle, and sustained internal bruises that required him to spend over five days in the hospital. He was prescribed strong pain medication that more or less left him with limited coherence.
In addition, he vaguely remembered seeing Robin, to whom he owes his life to, being in the ICU with various medical devices attached to her body. She was in coma and being watched 24/7 by the medical staff. This was the final visual remembrance of the end of the encounter at the Manchurian Inn.
Seeing Robin laying in the ICU unconscious, David bore great emotional pain. This brought mentally debilitating effect on him which was greater than the physical wounds that he had sustained. The chaotic scenes kept replaying back and forth in his head, always ending with the vision of Robin falling down in the hall way. He was angry at himself for not being able to protect her and blamed himself for the outcome. For this reason, he had decided, at the doctor’s suggestion, to take a few days of break from his duties. He needed to heal himself fast so that he could right the wrong that had happened to Robin.
“How are you recovering?” Sensing certain level of resentment on the part of David for his intrusion, Woodson wanted to show that he was concerned about David’s well being.
“Recovery is in good progress. Once I get off the pain killers, I should be OK to return to work, sir!” David retreated as well by giving Woodson the due respect as his superior.
“Good to hear. I know that you are going through a lot Mr. Chan and I certainly do regret having to intrude during your recovery—”
“That’s perfectly fine, sir!” David cut him off. He knew that as an UNBI officer, the pain, however severe it was, did not excuse him from answering the calls of duty or from his colleagues, and certainly not from his supervisors. Even being on vacation should not be an exception, David believed. He was nonetheless surprised that Det. Woodson had called on him less than a full day after he was discharged from the hospital.
“What can I do for you, sir?” David inquired with a puzzled look, but still not fully coherent of his mental elements.
“I wanted to bring you up to date on the investigation of the shootout at the restaurant.” With calm, experienced investigator and boss like demeanor, Woodson continued. “We have performed full body scan along with UNBI citizen database searches on the three perpetrators. It turned out the two men were members of the BOA. They are what you may call the enforcers, but without any priors. They kept very clean of their activities from the law. But, the bigger mystery is the identity of the woman…” After a short pause, Woodson went on, “the deceased name is Danielle Simpson, age 23, with extensive training in martial arts and special weapons. Our records indicate that she was rather an intelligent student at the University of Wisconsin. She was majoring in quantum physics. During her studies, she had become disillusioned with the society as a whole with the passing of her mother and developed radical views about the UN. She began paramilitary training down in Nevada. She became quite good, well, extremely good! Eventually, she began working as a mercenary that did not discriminate to offered missions on behalf of whoever was the highest bidder for her services.”
It all sounded unbelievable to David. More alert now, he couldn’t help, but have questions for his superior.
“What sort of projects did she take on?”
“Primarily, VIP protection, usually, for unsound characters and high level politicians in the North East European region, and even carrying out assassinations on behalf of unsavory organizations like the BOA.”
“How could such a person be out of the UNBI’s radar?” With extreme puzzlement and now with added anger, David shook his head and demanded to know how the UNBI’s sophisticated intelligence surveillance programs could possibly miss a present danger that was an obvious threat to the core values of the UN.
“She kept her identity fairly well hidden. Every job that she had undertaken had been performed with extreme precision and accuracy that there was not a shred of evidence to even begin an investigation with.” Woodson replied going just short of praising the killer’s expertise.
“Sir, I’m very confused. Why was this woman at the restaurant and why did she attack us?” Shaking his head and blinking his eyes to stay alert, David attempted to think back many days in the past as to the exact moment the attack took place on him and Robin. He couldn’t quite recall the timeline even after he had tried so hard to remember.
“We are still looking into that. As I had just said, she was very good at her job. Her trails had gone cold since she had left the school for Nevada. And out of the blue moon, here we found her at the restaurant, dead.” Woodson responded in nonchalant tone. However, David sensed that Woodson had more to tell him.
“Sir, I—”
“ What were you doing at the restaurant with Ms. Kumar?” Woodson turned the table around, now becoming an interrogator before David could finish his question.
“Sir?” Caught off guard was David by Woodson’s question. Even though he was incoherent in many ways, David knew that he had to be extra cautious with respect to how he was to respond to Woodson’s questions.
“I have known her only a few days prior to the incident. I met her first during the briefing from the follow up report on my previous incidence.” David responded calmly with a small lie. Then, suddenly, he remembered Robin mentioning Woodson’s name at the restaurant when all the chaos broke loose.
“And what were you doing at the restaurant with her, Mr. Chan?” Woodson’s voice was now cold and sharp. It wasn’t a manner of talking to his subordinate or a patient, but to a possible suspect to a crime.
‘Think fast—, David!’ He urged himself calmly as he responded,
“Since Ms. Kumar’s report…,” David thought it was appropriate to address her as Ms. Kumar rather than Robin, “left some room for further investigation, she had asked me a number of questions about what had happened on that day. Due to the fact that I had my own investigation work left to do and had personal engagement out there, I thought I would just invite her to meet me if she could, sir.” David knew that it was a weak lie, but this was the best one that he could whip up at a moment’s notice. Right now, he needed to distance himself from Robin personally as much as possible.
“What kind of personal business did you have out there?” Woodson wasn’t about to let go.
“I wanted to look into personally taking a VTT trip and I understood that there was a travel agency out in the suburbs that specialized in booking VTT trips. Since they had late hours of operation, I thought I go pay them a visit. Since Ms. Kumar accepted the offer of meeting me to get answers to her questions, I figured that we share a meal since we both needed to eat.”
During David’s earlier investigation, he discovered that Inbox Travel Agency in Aurora specialized in VTT bookings. So, he wasn’t half lying when he said that he wanted to talk to them.
“…. Very well…” With a slight pause, Woodson seemed to buy David’s story or at least gave an illusion that he was buying David’s story. Soon, Woodson continued.
“The female suspect that was killed may have been implicated in a number of assassinations that involved certain deals that had gone bad. She might have had possible links to some of the past political hits that we are looking into as we speak. We know that your record is clean. But, Ms. Kumar’s record isn’t necessarily sparkly.”
“Sir, what do you mean?” David sort of knew the direction that Woodson was taking this conversation. But, he needed to take control of the outcome of this discussion, however difficult it may be to influence it.
“She has been snooping around. It seems, beyond her clearance level. We won’t go into the details here. Besides, she has a cousin who sits in prison today and we are concerned that she may have been the target of the mercenary for some unknown reasons, and…”
David knew that it was all a built up lie and forced to fit puzzle on Robin’s past and her family situation because he was fully aware of the reason for her cousin sitting in the prison. But, David couldn’t refute Woodson. He knew that he had to keep his cool and take the conversation away from being more intimately associating him and Robin together. It hurt David that Woodson was driving this case against Robin. However, the circumstances as Woodson had put it, do allow some room to cast doubt on Robin’s character. He had doubts about Woodson’s intentions, but David couldn’t quite conclude that it was Woodson who was behind all of this. As such, David decided to play a distant third person that wouldn’t mind possibly questioning Robin’s character.
“With a consensus from McMichael, we have relocated Ms. Kumar to a more secure location lest another attempt on her life could be made. It was for her protection while we continue to look into it.”
David’s heart sank and he plopped down deep into his couch. With Robin’s supervisor supporting the move, there wasn’t much for David to do about it and it would be silly to protest for a different action to be taken. Perhaps, it was a good thing that there was not an active visual connection with Woodson. Quickly, putting himself together, David sat up in his couch upright and controlled his breathing. Successfully having managed to bring down his heart rate, David responded calmly without any breaks in his speech.
“Sir, do you mean that they were targeting Ms. Kumar?”
“We do not know that for sure yet. It is only a conjecture.” Woodson replied, but sounded somewhat taken aback by the coolness of David’s response.
“Where was she taken to?” With the tone of an investigator, cool, sharp and nonchalant, David asked. He needed to find out where she was being confined to.
“Ms. Kumar is, at the moment, being watched closely by a team of doctors at a top secret, high security, medical facility operated by the UNBI Chicago Department. To ensure her safety and full recovery, we believe that this move was necessary. When she is well enough, she will be investigated as to whether she has breached any ethics, regulations, or duties that she has sworn to uphold as an UNBI personnel.”
“Are you suggesting that she may be involved in any illegal activities?” Although David didn’t buy what Woodson was saying about Robin, he wouldn’t allow Woodson to develop any suspicion.
“We are not sure. We do have some indications that Ms. Kumar was involved in unauthorized access to certain classified information with respect to her cousin’s and other recent case files. With time, we’ll get to the bottom of it all…” Woodson took a short pause “By the way,” he continued, “she may be working with other individuals in the department, who may also be potential targets by whoever hired Simpson. We’ll locate those individuals as well, Mr. Chan.” Woodson launched a subtle warning shot to David. Perhaps, Woodson already knew something and suspected David to be that insider who was collaborating with Robin.
“Since you were at the scene, it is possible that they may come after you. So, I took the liberty of placing a couple of undercover agents on you for your protection—”
“Sir, I am perfectly capable of—”
“Not negotiable!” Woodson cut-off David’s attempt to interrupt and finished his sentence.
He has intended to put 24/7 surveillance on David and he has succeeded.
“Yes. Thank you, sir!” reluctantly, David conceded.
“When do you feel that you’ll be well enough to get back to work, Mr. Chan?” Having achieved his objective, Woodson went back to being a concerned superior.
“I should be back within 72 hours, sir! The doctor had mentioned that I was healing quickly.” Sounding defeated, David responded weakly. With the targeted gene therapy, doctors were able to accelerate growth to the torn tissues and allow self healing in such circumstances. David was put on the autonomous tissue growth program when he was admitted to the hospital.
“Very well, Chan! Good bye!”
“Thank you, Si—!” ‘Click’ the phone disconnected and went silent before David was able to finish putting in his last words.
David stood up from the couch. He was drenched in perspiration and felt dryness in his mouth. He went to the kitchen and grabbed one of the last three cold bottles of water from the fridge.
“Running short of bottled water…Placing an order for restocking. Are 24 bottles sufficient as usual?” The refrigerator asked as he shut the door.
“Proceed!” David commanded and uncapped the water bottle and gulped down to quench his thirst.
“Please, authorize the purchase!” The fridge came back requesting additional approval from David. As David closed the fridge door, he stood there looking at the LCD screen located on the door. Upon looking at the screen that read ‘24 bottles of Ice Mountain Water ordered’ with the product shown with snow capped mountain in the background, David verified that the correct product and quantity were ordered. So, he proceeded to authorize the payment by glazing over the ‘authorize indicator’ on the LCD screen.
As he remained facing the LCD screen with his eyes open, a red light appeared from the right corner of the screen unit and shone a beam of light directly into David’s eyes. Simultaneously, a beam of bright yellow light was produced from the left top corner of the screen and it shone onto David’s forehead. Soon, both beams of lights crossed each other, producing a purple colored light beam that eventually was sucked up at both corners.
“Payment successful!” A voice followed from the LCD screen, informing David that he had purchased 24 bottles of Ice Mountain Water.
Satisfied with the transaction, David walked across the living room to the window of the room. Holding the half empty bottle of water in his right hand, he held the middle part of the curtain and slightly pushed it to the right to expose a small area of the window. Peeking out, David scanned the street down below.
The front of his apartment building faced a two way street, wide enough for two lanes of cars. With vehicles usually parked on both sides of the street, it would be very difficult for a motorist to maneuver when there was oncoming traffic. The speed must be reduced simultaneously. One must pull to its side, yielding to the other oncoming traffic unless the other side had yielded first. But, it was not a busy street. David found cars parked along both sides of the street. From his vantage point, he could see about twenty cars parked with ample spaces in between on his side of the street. He also saw several vehicles parked on the other side.
One silver sedan, parked at several yards to the right of the main entrance of his building, caught his attention because it did not have the digital window cover that prevents penetration of sun’s heat. He also noticed a birdie launch pad on the roof of the car. Upon careful examination of the vehicle, he saw movements of two men who were sitting in the front, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched by him. The driver turned to his left occasionally to examine the vehicles exiting and entering the parking garage belonging to David’s building.
When the driver turned left, David was able to see and study the man’s face. There was some familiarity in the man’s features as suddenly it dawned on David that he had seen him before. Tracing back in his memory to Robin’s briefing several days ago, David finally recognized the driver to be the person who was sitting next to Woodson.
“Son of a bitch.” David murmured, finding some strange twist over the fact that Woodson had never formerly introduced the two cops to him although Woodson was the commanding officer of them all. David deduced that the driver’s partner was the other person from the briefing. Perhaps, not knowing their names would be better at this time, he convinced himself. David knew that time would come when he must evade these guys and make them fools by doing so.
“I prefer not knowing their names,” David told himself.
David closed the curtain and returned to his couch. Still under the effects of the medication, he was feeling weak and exhausted. He finished the remaining water in the bottle. He placed the bottle on top of the coffee table. Then, he fell back into the soft back support of his leather couch. He thought that this couch was one of the best investments he’s made in terms of furnishing his apartment at this moment. He slid to one side, put his head on to the armrest, and lied flat on his back. Placing his left forearm onto his forehead, he closed his eyes.
David thought about where Robin might be being held captive and how he would go about finding her. But, the immediate task at hand was to find a way to lose the surveillance team that was watching his moves. He knew that they were not there to provide protection.
“Umm…,” the images of chaotic gun battle at the Manchurian Inn came roaring back and he felt his head pounding inside once again. He pressed his temporal lobes to nurse the headache.
‘Beep’, ‘Beep’, a few minutes have passed before David became aware of beeping sounds that apparently have been going on and off at regular intervals. He sat up from the couch to see where the sound could be possibly coming from. ‘Beep’, ‘Beep’, the sounds originated from his bedroom. Barely able to get up, he slowly dragged himself to his room. ‘Beep’, ‘Beep’. Finding that it was his cell phone, David activated the voice interaction.
“One message from UNBI HQ Citizen DB, would you like to open?” the phone asked.
“Of course, please open!” David ordered, trying to stay alert and fight the medicinal effect in order to stay focused:
‘Search result: iris id: 7981184, matching subject’s name: Tom Harris, age: 38, place of
residence Milan’, the voice activated message reading continued, ‘marital status
married, criminal history none’
David quickly logged on to the UNHQ Citizen Mobility Tracker System.
“Iris ID: 7981184, name: Tom Harris. Activate search logs,” David commanded.
‘BING’, with a high alert tone, a report of his travel log for the past two years came back. Upon reading the log, David was immediately disappointed in what he had found, rather hadn’t found. The report indicated that the subject had traveled to number of cities in the last 24 months. He’s been to Paris, New York, Cairo and Nice. But, for the past 6 months, he had stayed home in Milan. David sat back on the couch, all his strength drained by the newest let down.
“Perhaps, there was an error in regenerating the image by Dr. Bertrand,” he hoped quietly. So, he decided to transmit the result of the ID search to Dr. Bertrand. If there wasn’t any error on Dr. Bertrand’s part, he would be back to square one. Therefore, David was desperately hoping for a mistake.
Weakness presided over David as he felt completely exhausted. Here he was, in very bad pain, no lead and the only possible ally and friend who might have more useful information than him, was laying somewhere at a secret medical facility. Above all, however, he was mostly concerned for Robin’s safety. David laid down on his back deep into the couch while pressuring his temples in an attempt to relieve the pressure in his head. He held in that position motionless for a while until the medication took the better of him as he drifted back into deep sleep.