Complete Novel

The Black Knight Squash Fiction League Match #3

The Loose Strings  The Racketeers
.
Chapter 16

 Sacre Bleu
by Tammy Mehmed
  
The car explosion in the Tarrytown safe house had created such an earthshaking boom that it probably woke the ghosts in the neighboring Sleepy Hollow cemetery.  Jack Vaughn had been calmly waiting for his daughter to bring back the single malt scotch while sitting in a wingback leather chair at the other side of the house when the explosion occurred.  Not knowing what caused the blast, but realizing it was in the general direction of where Hayden had gone, Jack ran from the den and out the sliding glass door.  He could see the garage was now on fire and it was spreading.  Running toward the front drive, he could not see Hayden anywhere.  Because of the location, he started to assume she had started the fire.  The questions started blurting out like voices in his head:  ‘I just don’t understand.  What is she up to?  Where did she go? Did she encounter a problem with Steve and his minder?  I didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary.  This wasn’t in our plans.’  With the size of the blast, Jack knew the local authorities would be there any minute, and he needed to be long gone.  He quickly ran around the outside of the house looking for her and just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Steve run from the house and into the woods, all the while holding his shoulder.  After all, Steve no longer had a car.  Seeing Steve alone, Jack realized he must have lost a man in the commotion of the blast.  The carnage left in the house would now include Steve’s two cohorts, Jack’s colleague minding Steve and Ollie in the basement.

Jack got into his Mercedes SUV that was parked discretely down the street.  He could already hear the sirens coming across town.  He sent a text message to his colleague who had left to retrieve the company doctor and wrote “cancel doc order, new plan, details shortly.”  Jack started the SUV and proceeded down the street, through downtown Tarrytown toward the on ramp.  In the rear view mirror he watched the fire trucks scream passed.

************

Steve ran into the woods behind the house.  His shoulder was bleeding from Jack’s gunshot and throbbing with pain.  He thanked God he had the wherewithal to grab a few of those charming Laura Ashley towels.  He gently placed them under his coat and around his shoulder.  ‘What the hell just happened?  One minute, little Miss Hayden walks by us, the next thing there is an explosion from the garage and fireball- like meteors are shooting through the air,’ thought Steve.  With the darkness of the evening, he shouldn’t be spotted in the woods right away.  He didn’t know how long he would have to wait for help and worried about the bite of fall air.  Feeling weak from the blood loss, he hoped the bullet grazed his shoulder.  Unfortunately, it felt like it went right through. 

The local authorities, he was sure, would start snooping around the premises once they got control of the fire.  He kept walking along the wooded area and found a grouping of trees and low bushes that still had leaves on them which provided him with some protection and camouflage.  He took out his cell phone and dialed the Special Ops Extraction Line. 

“This is agent 108 and I need extraction and medical assistance.”  The voice on the other end responded, “Agent 108, please indicate your passcode.”  Steven calmly said “Jester on the Moon”.  “Thank you Agent 108; extraction process has been initiated and your location is being tracked.  Someone will be there in about 20 minutes.”  Steve sighed as he heard the firetrucks approach and the sirens fizzle out.  He was getting cold and tired and the pain in his shoulder was making him light headed.  They couldn’t get to him fast enough, he thought.  Steve knew he needed to stay awake and present, so he decided to scan the news on his cell phone.  Looking for local alerts on the house fire would pass the time until help arrived.  He put his phone on mute so no sounds could be heard.  He kept an eye on the direction of the house to watch for any changes and impatiently waited for help.  He had many things to report to his superior – 1) that Ollie was definitely terminated, 2) that two of his men appeared to be dead as well and 3) that somebody, quite possibly Hayden, seemed to have blown up the safe house.

**************

MT, short for Madame Ted, as she was known to her Quebec operatives, had been leading the covert arm of the Quebec Intelligence Group (“QIG”) for several years.  With Jean-Luc, her most senior operative now dead, she counted on Steve and was anxiously awaiting information. She had no idea that while she had been enjoying her poutine at the base of the mountain all hell had broken loose in Tarrytown.  Though it was evening, she feared she was going to have a great deal of work ahead of her, so she headed to her office in Montreal. 

After the hour plus drive she pulled into her private parking space in the base of the Tour de la Banque Nationale, where QIG held their offices.  With no name on their suite and a private elevator to their office, MT felt safe at any hour.  Plus, there was almost always someone in their gadget and electronics lab.  Just as she settled in at her desk and opened her email, she received an instant message that Steve had activated the extraction process.  At least she now had an idea that things did not go down well.  She suspected Jack was most definitely behind this mess.  Once Steve was picked and driven to the local medical safe house, she would be able to speak with him directly.

As she stared out her 29th floor window at the beautiful lights of the city and Square Victoria, she worried about Hayden and thought to herself, ‘Have I missed her return call?  I’m sure she’s confused, maybe she needs more time.’   Just then a call came through to her office line:

“MT, please excuse the late call, but this is Jules from tech calling and your cell phone doesn’t seem to be responding.  We are investigating that right now and it seems as though your phone has been hijacked so you don’t receive anything.” 

MT responded, “Thank you, for confirming something is wrong.  I was waiting for a call and was beginning to wonder why I hadn’t received it.” 

Jules continued, “I wanted you to know that we are also seeing correspondence on your daughter’s cell phone with someone seeming to impersonate you saying they are ‘Ted’.  It appears Hayden also tried to send you a text message which reads ‘Pursuing exit strategy now. See you soon.’ "

“Sacre bleu,” blurted MT.  “Can you get a read on her location?”

“I’m sorry Madame, but we are guessing whomever has taken control of your phone, has also blocked her GPS.  We’re working on clearing on this and will let you know as soon as it is completed.”






Tammy Mehmed is practically a native San Franciscan having relocated from Michigan in 1981.  By day she is a legal secretary at a large international law firm; by night and weekend she trains people and their dogs and competes in canine agility and rally obedience.  She first learned that squash existed in the late 70s from her high school boyfriend and may have even watched a few matches.