The Freelancer – Chapter 88

“I just got a call from McNamara.  Blackstone is in the offsite fuel storage hanger.  This is going down tonight.  You need to get here. Now,” Collin said.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I said, disconnecting the call.

Jenna gave me a worried look.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I have to go.  There’s an emergency at work.”

Trista shot me a look.  “You’re leaving? Now.”

I was the only one who understood the implications of her tone.  “If there was any way for me to stay here, I would.”

“But…I thought you were supposed to be here all night. With Jenna.”

Jenna shook her head at the blond. “Lay off, Trist. It’s really not that big a deal.  Things are intense with the merger right now.”

“Right. The merger.”

What the fuck did she think she was doing? Was she trying to blow my cover?

I turned to Blaine. “Would you mind taking Jenna home for me? I’m not sure how long this is going to take.”

“No problem. We have to start packing Trista’s condo tomorrow anyway, so we’re staying at her place tonight.”

“Thank you.” I exchanged a meaningful glance with Trista. It would be hard enough to come clean with Jenna about everything, but it would be damn near impossible if her best friend told her first.

I pulled Jenna to the side.  “I am sorry about this.”

“It’s okay. I know you’ll make it up to me when you get home.”

“Indeed I will.”  I gave Jenna a kiss and ran out of the building to my SUV.

Fifteen minutes later, I was on the scene amidst a sea of law enforcement personnel.   I wondered if we had a standoff in progress.  Once I saw the look on Collin’s face, I knew we weren’t that lucky.

“He’s gone.”

I didn’t want to believe the words I heard him speak.  “How did he get away?”

“In all of our planning, we never thought about the fuel.  None of the teams were close enough.  He was gone when we got here.”

“Fuck!  We were so close,” I screamed into the air.

“We have isolated and contained the contaminated fuel.  We’re locking down every mode of transportation out of the city and the highways are being shut down as we speak.”

I shook my head in frustration.  “He can still get out.  Every town has a black market for people smuggling.  He’ll have to meet one of them somewhere.”  I took off my tie and unfastened the button at my collar.  Stuffing the tie in my jacket pocket, I added, “We’ll get him when the deal takes place.  He either leaves this town in handcuffs or a body bag.”

We spent the next few hours getting our teams regrouped.  The metroplex was too large to handle alone.  We had to call in local law enforcement, which felt like it took forever to mobilize.  Once I was certain everyone knew the area they were covering, I pulled Collin aside.

“Go home.”

“I can’t do that, Jackson.”

“Look, there’s the very real chance this won’t be over tonight.  One of us needs to get some rest to be ready for tomorrow.”

“You should go home, too,” Collin snapped.  “Every available agent is on this right now.  Jenna could still be in danger.”

He could be right.  We found Foster and Rodriguez and left them in charge.  We both left as the media started to arrive.  I was grateful for the timing.  I didn’t want Jenna to find out I was with the FBI while she was watching the news.

It was after midnight when I arrived home.  I was opening the door to the building when my cell phone rang.  I knew that I shouldn’t have left the scene.  I closed the door to take the call outside. I didn’t want my conversation to echo through the common area to anyone.

“He was at my apartment,” Collin said, his voice void of emotion.

“How can you be sure?”

“He left Maureen’s head in a cooler on my doorstep.  I’m going after this bastard and when I find him…Jackson, I’m going to kill him.”

“Collin, don’t do anything stupid.  Collin?  Collin?  Dammit!”

It was too late.  He had already hung up.  I was about to go back to my car to find him when I noticed movement coming from the other side of the glass entry door.  A closer look revealed the movement was near my door.

Jenna was sitting in front of my door with a large envelope.  It looked like she had been crying for hours.  I decided Collin would have to take care of Collin right now.

I just hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid.

Continue reading…

…Go back