Chapter 20
I love this hilarious freakish Frankenstein x-ray of my neck. See those little screws holding my head up? I successfully keep them hidden under my hair. Just kidding. It took a while, but we finally figured out they were my little post earrings that they assured me didn't need to come out for the x-ray. So funny! The other metal isn't as hilarious. It's called a "spider" and it's made out of titanium. I haven't tried it out in airport security yet. I consider it an ant because it has only 6 legs (screws). Now you know the intimate details of my life inside and out!
Hidden Secrets
Leona Palmer Haag
Chapter 20
"Thanks for watching Katie," Nick said as he
squatted down and helped take her jacket off at Daisy's Day Care Center on
Friday morning.
"That's what we're here for," Linda Jo said.
Katie gave her dad a big hug and kiss and ran off to
play. Nick straightened up and said, "Jenn's flight lands at five-thirty.
I should be back for Katie between three-thirty and four."
"I'm working this afternoon until four, so that
will be fine. Tami and Jill are closing tonight. I'll let them know."
Nick said, "I don't expect Jenn's flight to be
delayed unless the weather moves in faster than expected. There is supposed to
be a major storm moving into the Washington DC area tonight, but it looks like
she'll get out before it hits. If her flight is delayed, I might pick up Katie
later."
"That will work. We're here until seven. I'll let
Tami know it might be late."
"Perfect," Nick said. He scribbled his cell
phone number on a paper and handed it to Jenn's coworker. "Call if you
need me. Katie's a handful."
"Really? Look around. They all are, so we're used
to it."
Nick left laughing. He spent the morning at the office
pouring over new information the team was looking at. Matt had sent him lyrics
to a song, and he'd emailed a code from another song. Everyone was searching
for a message. As best he could tell, there was a date and place, but the name
wasn't familiar and the event about to take place wasn't clear. Was it a drug
deal? A terrorist attack? A transfer of laundered funds? Something completely
different? One thing was clear—millions of dollars were on the line. They
belonged to the elusive Mr. R. And a girl named Carmen was supposed to be
rescued.
Nick carefully studied the information he had and
wondered if Carmen was a code name for something, rather than an actual woman.
Gonzales was in safe hands but no one seemed to be able to get any further
information out of him. Matt and Monica were in Mexico City setting up working
headquarters, but nothing had crawled out of the woodwork there.
It was noon before Nick knew it. "Hey, Kevin,
want to go grab a burger?" Nick invited from the doorway to Kevin's
domain, as he called his office filled with electronic equipment.
Kevin shook his head without looking up. "I
brought lunch. Usually do. I'm a workaholic and like snooping around on non-work
stuff during my down time."
Nick checked his watch. "I'll probably take a
quick lunch and come back for a few more hours before I go pick up my daughter
and head to the airport."
"It's been fun having you in the office for a few
extra hours," Kevin said, jerking his head in a nod before Nick turned
away.
It felt strange spending much time at the office.
Debbie liked to pop her head through the door and tease Nick about things,
Kevin hunkered down with his equipment and was rarely seen, and the rest of the
team only waved as they passed his open door. A few popped their heads in and
asked where Matt was or welcomed him back.
Nick drove to one of his favorite hamburger places and
sat in a booth and ate American food smothered in ketchup. He felt a little
guilty for leaving Katie with a sitter. Jenn had stressed the importance of
daddy-daughter bonding time. He'd done fine with it for three solid days, but
diapers, the potty chair, constant two-year old chatter, commotion, and
senseless destruction had gotten harder and harder to smile through as the time
had passed.
Nick knew he was good at being a dad, but he wasn't as
good at it as Jenn was at being a mom. Jenn loved the constant activity while
it exhausted him. Jenn chattered back at Katie in understanding while he
repeated, "What? Huh? Say that again a little slower!" Katie would
grow impatient and he still never quite figured out what she said. It created a
few tantrums. It wasn't fun when she was making a demand he couldn't figure out
how to meet.
Nick finished eating and dumped his wrappers in the
trash. Instead of going back to the office he decided to go home. "Hey,
Kevin, I've had a change of plans this afternoon," he said when Kevin
picked up. "I think I'll pick up Katie and we'll do a little bonding at
home while I get a few things done. I don't want Jenn to get here and look
around at the mess and put me in the dog house all weekend."
As Nick neared Daisy's Day Care, he changed his plans
again. He decided he'd get more done without ten sticky little fingers
following him around. He stepped through his front door alone and was greeted by
the last twenty -four hours of disaster, and many undone hours before that. The
laundry had piled up, the kitchen floor was sticky and crunched when he walked
across it, and some of the mess had been tracked onto the carpet and spread
down the hallway. Toys were scattered in every room.
"Hello Jenn, good-bye Jenn," Nick said,
knowing if she came home to such a sight, she'd spend the entire weekend
cleaning and might possibly do it in a silent huff while her eyes shot lethal
darts in his direction. That wasn't how he wanted to spend the next two days.
Nick hoped to mop, dust and scrub, then successfully
wine and dine his wife that night. An hour later he discovered it wasn't hard
to make the kitchen shine when he wasn't interrupted a thousand times by a
knee-high lightning bolt. He knew Jenn would appreciate it. There wasn't a hint
that he'd played bachelor with a two-year old in tow.
Nick pulled out his phone and quickly called Linda Jo.
"Hey, can I ask a favor?"
"Let me guess. You want me to take Katie home
with me so you can take Jenn out to dinner tonight to celebrate her
homecoming?"
"You read my mind, but I think I'll throw a few
steaks on the grill. I can come get Katie right now if it's not going to work
out for you."
"I'll keep her, but you know how Jenn is about
leaving her. She'll probably make you stop to pick her up on your way home from
the airport."
"So don't get my heart set on a few hours alone,
is that what you're telling me?"
"You've got it," Linda Jo said.
"What time do you want me to stop by for
her?"
"After you take Jenn to a movie. Or an hour or
two after that."
"That might be pushing it. Let's say somewhere
between seven-thirty and nine?"
"Fine, but if you want to leave her until ten or
eleven, I'll understand. If you need to leave her until morning, we can handle
it. My kids adore her."
Nick thanked Linda Jo and hung up. A
whole night alone with Jenn? It sounded tempting. He turned around to see what
he ought to tackle next. A fist thudded into Nick's jaw and he faltered backward
against the kitchen cabinets. The fist flew out again and Nick sank to the
floor. Black boots. Mexican leather. He took a hard kick in his ribs with the
right one. He grabbed the boot and jerked. The man in black leather from head
to toe fell backward with a thud. A man with a shotgun stood behind him.
"Nicholas Washington?" a voice behind the
red bandana covering his mouth said.
"Wrong house," Nick snarled. "Two,
maybe three doors down." He nodded to his right.
The man on the floor scrambled up and pulled a gun.
"Savage, let's get him to the car," the masked man said.
"I think I'll stay here," Nick said, slowly
rising to his feet to make the playing field more fair.
"Savage, I don't think Mr. Washington heard us
clearly," the masked man said.
A fist struck out, but Nick grabbed it and wrenched so
hard the man flipped down and lay kicking like a mule. A bone snapped and the
man howled and lay still.
"I think I'll stay here," Nick repeated as
he looked into cold blue eyes above the bandana.
"Think again, Mr. Washington," the man said
as he pulled a folded paper from his pocket. He tossed it onto the countertop.
"Open it up real slow and careful like."
Nick stared at the paper. Without seeing the insides
he knew what it was. Kodak was printed on the back and he could see Jenn's
fluid handwriting in the top of one corner. Even upside down he could read
December 2004. It was Christmas in Alabama with Shawn's family. Katie hadn't
been born yet. Nick wasn't sure which photo the man had, but he understood the
message it conveyed.
Nick reached for the folded paper and shoved it deep
into his front pocket. Out came his keys with his hand. He lashed out and an
instant later a boom rocked the house and Savage, who had jumped up to join the
scuffle, staggered, then slumped to the freshly waxed floor behind him. Nick
pushed his key deeper into the masked man's throat. "Who are you and what
do you want?" he demanded as he jerked the man's arm impossibly higher and
heard a muscle rip as it began tearing from bone.
"Mr. R," the masked man squeaked as his body
trembled.
"Wrong. Tell me who you are, not who sent
you," Nick hissed in his ear.
"Parkin. Parkin," the man said through
clenched teeth.
"Parkin, call your men off," Nick calmly
said, wrenching the arm up a fraction of an inch and eyeing two men standing
with drawn guns by his kitchen table.
"Fall back," Parkin said.
The two men each took a step back and a man appearing
behind Parkin left through the front door, shutting it behind him.
"Do better than that," Nick
growled.
"Fall back," Parkin suddenly shouted in
desperation.
A blast ripped through the closed back door and rang
through the house. Parkin slumped down. Two more shots ripped through the
kitchen. Nick instantly hit the floor and grabbed Parkin's gun. He was trapped
in his own small U-shaped kitchen with two dead men and at least one, possibly
two gunmen on the opposite side of the bar.
Nick yanked a knife from Parkin's belt and peeled off
Parkin's mask, and using the tip of the knife shoved the bandana above the
countertop. A blast shattered bits of old peeling laminate countertop throughout
the kitchen.
A quick thought about the damage to the countertop
being more than Nick could easily repair was followed by another insane one:
Jenn hated the dingy avocado color anyway, so he'd let her chose something new.
That thought ended just as quickly and a new one took over: he estimated he had
another two seconds to live, and he ought to make it count.
End Chapter 20
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