Chapter 87

 

 

Hertfordshire, England

 

Day 5

Friday, July 11, 2:28 p.m.

 

Jack negotiated a tight bend and accelerated the car up a forested hill. The Elizabethan-style manor was tucked away on a private twenty-acre hill. It had been in the Mason Laskfell family for over a century. Previously guarded by a fierce army of staff, security alarms and closed-circuit television cameras, the home had been the envy of any government security hideout.

Today it was a shadow of its high-tech past. The eight-suite estate comprised of three cottages, a walled outdoor swimming pool, and a generous, landscaped garden which skirted the grounds with a series of pebbled pathways and herbaceous borders.

It was quieter now that its previous cybercriminal owner, Mason Laskfell, who’d had been a arrested by ISTF. The Hertfordshire house had been confiscated by the government at that time and handed over to ISTF.

ISTF cameras, which had been mounted around the property, were still in operation.

The car shuddered to a halt at the top of the hill in the driveway. Jack tapped in the door code at the front gate.

Nash sat up front as Calla took the back seat. Jack first glared at Nash and then his eye caught Calla’s in the rearview mirror.

What was with these two? One minute unable to strip their eyes off each other and then another acting as if they didn’t know each other’s names. Jack eyed his best friends. Something had been wrong for a few weeks now.

It was unusual for Nash and Calla to be so quiet, but then again something must have happened. He hated to admit, they were his best friends but he’d had a strange connection to Calla for a long time and God forbid he should ever make it known. What did it matter now? He’d lost his chance the minute his best friend had seen her emerald eyes and touched her sunkissed olive skin, not to mention engaged in fascinating conversations that stemmed from her switched on mind.

Ironically, he’d know Calla longer than Nash. The day he’d met her at the TED conference in Edinburgh had changed the way he looked at women. She was the smartest and most beautiful woman he knew. That day in Edinburgh, one long conversation about high-tech security systems was all they needed to strike up a lifetime friendship. She’d offered him more belief and assurance than anybody ever had. If only he’d told her how he felt when they’d first met.

But how could he have feelings for his best friend’s girl?

Why hadn’t he made a move before these two had gotten together?

It was too late now and Jack held back a nagging feeling. What if he would never find anyone like her? Had he already met the woman he wanted, only to watch his best friend make the first move?

Jack trusted few ever since he’d left the Seychelles. His mother left his father for a younger man in Mahé at the age of five. For a long time, refuge had been secured in his inventions and gadgets. Jack depended on himself and anyone around him had to earn his trust. Nash and Calla were the only ones to ever earn that trust. His family was nowhere close, especially Fiora.

Fiora Kleve was Jack’s younger sister, once a contender for Miss Universe, he’d not seen her in six years. He rarely stayed in touch and besides her, his family might as well be dead to him.

Jack took a deep breath. Perhaps he was a step closer to being all he wanted, not decorated with fame or accolades, but being ahead of the worst criminal mindsets and behavior the world had seen. Mindsets he was sure ran in his family.

He recalled how embarrassed he’d been when his father was arrested one night for attempting to slice his mother’s lover’s head with a broken vodka bottle. Though convicted, his father had walked free after three years in the state penitentiary, it had left a very bitter aftertaste with Jack.

He later found out that his father had harbored pirates who frequented the Indian Ocean, terrorizing western tourists and lived most of his life on the grimy funds they paid. That was why Jack had been so ready to leave the islands. And thank God, his university scholarship had seen to it. Nothing around his upbringing was normal, his parents, his house and even the dreads he wore. He had to achieve something phenomenal in the inventions arena if he were to tame the demons of mediocrity that tailed him and find a woman he loved to share that with, perhaps…

But she was already with the best friend he’d ever had.

 

He reversed the BMW into position and killed the engine. Sun rays hit the dashboard and with the unusual summer heat wave in England, he lowered the windows. He mopped the back of his neck with his sleeve.

The ride had been quiet, Nash had just arrived from Budapest, where Jack had picked him up at the airport after collecting Calla from Allegra’s. It was unusual for Nash not to discuss a trip, so he didn’t ask. That was the way with the NSA; an organization shrouded with mystery. Jack recalled a conversation with Nash about his work in the federal agency born in silence, not even a public announcement. Birthed in secrecy would become a disease that infected the best who worked there.

ISTF had been more like that lately. Jack wanted to leave and pursue his own interests. The only thing that kept him there was access to government privileges and access to scientific and technological research.

Not yet. He wouldn’t leave yet. He didn’t have to work for anyone. If the truth were known, Calla and Nash were what kept him there as well.

Suited and armed they approached the house quietly. Calla had refused a gun as always. It bothered him. Calla was a moving target and Valletta had been a narrow escape. He needed to do something about her lack of use of firearms, and as one who’d lately created many a military gadget for defense, he had to do something for her.

Nash led the way to the front door and coded in a password issued by ISTF at the oak door. It clanged open. Nash flipped on a switch that flooded the first floor with light. The internal appearance of the entryway was a testament to an attention to detail with the bordering and architraves fitted amid broad oak paneling.

A giant dragonfly embroidered in a large vintage tapestry greeted them as it hung above the dining room door to the right.

“The technology room is in the basement,” Jack said.

“Mason had five accomplices plotting a global technology hijack. That plan is what we need. We’ve never been able to identify who those five were. They never used names, or any digital footprint which only means they exist on a digital planet of their own,” Calla said.

Nash paused for a moment’s reflection. He drew his firearm as a precaution and inched forward. “We checked the whole place, I can’t imagine there’s anything here. Let’s see if Laskfell was hiding more than just a questionable network.”

They treaded down to the basement. Calla’s eyesight penetrated a far wall on which an elaborate Raphaelite hung. “In here,” she said.

She neared the wall and slid her palm across the wallpaper. “There’s a room in there.”

Nash approached. “You sure.”

“Yup. Stand back.”

The men retreated a couple of feet back knowing the damage Calla could do to the wall. She placed her hand on the painting and brought it down. “You belong in Tate Modern, my friend. We’ll make sure you make it back.”

She handed the painting to Jack, who placed it at the far end of the dining room. With one glance at the men, she charged for the wall and rammed it with her shoulder. Her effort dented the wall. She repeated the action until a human size hole appeared. Calla stepped through darkness into the room. Nash pulled a flashlight from his back pack.

Jack’s eyes widened in the sharp rays of Nash’s flashlight. Data centers lined every inch of the wall. No one had been living in the place, yet the wires flickered with light transmitting data to unknown destinations. Jack flipped on a switch he discovered by the wall. A boardroom-like setting was centered by a high-tech control panel. This was it. They explored the space.

Calla paced to the far corner of the room, her mind occupied with deep thought as she explored.

“What’s eating her?” Jack said.

Nash didn’t respond but took Jack to one side as Calla pursued her investigation. “I need to ask you for a favor, Jack.”

Jack nodded briefly. “Sure, anything.”

“I should have told you before.”

“What is it?”

“What I’m about to ask you is possibly the biggest favor I’ll ever ask as a friend.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Nash, we’ve been through a lot together.”

He nodded quietly and took Jack out back into the fore room.

“There’s never a reason to ask for favors. You know I’ll do it,” Jack said.

“When Calla and I were in Colorado we got married.”

Jack’s face betrayed a cocktail of emotions. Calla and Nash had always been serious, but getting married, that was something else.

“We didn’t tell you. Not because we didn’t trust you but because… there’s really no excuse. You’d do anything for either of us. And I’m sorry, Jack.”

“Couldn’t have happened to two better people.” He ran a hand through his dreads. “Nash, I’m happy for you. Gosh, you two have secrets. I understand why though.” He peered at his friend. “Is everything okay?”

“No, we lost the baby.”

Jack’s silence allowed him to digest the information line for line. “It happened in Malta, didn’t it? Nash I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say. The jump?”

“I don’t think so, Jack. Calla was born a protector and defender and I believe that, whatever the situation, she thinks of herself last and would have put that baby’s life ahead of anything.”

Jack found it difficult seeing Nash like this. “I’m really sorry. What can I do?”

“Not sure yet, but one thing I know is there was something the operatives feared about Calla and I having a child.”

“Can’t you ask Calla’s parents? Wasn’t Calla also a risk for them to have.”

“You know, I don’t think we ever found out what that risk was, but maybe it’s time. I just need a little more.”

“Like what?”

“Like what is the real threat? What makes a new generation so dangerous to them? Especially if they don’t call the shots?”

“We need to find out.”

“This information came from two operatives I’ve never understood. One you know as Taiven. The other is kind of like a ghost, Merovec. It was how I found out who Calla really is and what she’s capable of.”

Jack eyed him carefully. “Have you ever really understood them? You saying Calla is …? What do you mean who she really is? Was she deliberately targeted in Malta?”

“It’s possible, Jack. And I want to know why. They could have come for Calla anytime. Why now?”

“You think this is to do with the pregnancy?”

“I don’t know. No one knew, Jack. But maybe someone found out or took a lucky guess.” He was suddenly quiet. “When Calla told me she was pregnant, she asked me for only one thing, to be a strong father and I’ve failed.”

“You haven’t failed, Nash. You never fail at anything.”

“That’s why I need your help, Jack. Besides some questionable people at ISTF, you’re the only one I know who can understand genetic technology and what a sample of pregnancy tissue can be used for. This was my child, and I have to be the father Calla never had. She deserves so much more.’’

“I’d have to do more research and call in some favors.”

“Jack, help me find out what kind of daring bastards we’re dealing with.”

Jack narrowed his gaze. His friend was hurting and he couldn’t understand the pain that both Nash and Calla were going through. “How does Calla feel about this?”

“She can’t know. We haven’t really talked about it since the news of the miscarriage. The pain of losing her child is so clear in her eyes and somehow, she never really wanted children. She won’t look at me the same way and maybe I’m selfish but, I want her back.”

Jack ignored his own feelings about the news. “You really do.”

He nodded. “And now I can’t help but feel guilty for putting her in this dangerous situation.”

“You didn’t put her in any dangerous situation. I know her. Calla had that child with you because she wanted to. I’m sorry about all this. What can I do?”

Nash nodded a thank you, his voice low. “Jack, perhaps if you found out exactly what makes our child so scientifically valuable, maybe we can begin to understand the situation better. We need to find the bastards who did this to us.”

He set a hand on Nash’s shoulder. “Consider it my life’s work, Nash. I will.”

“Thanks.”

“I can’t find anything here,” Calla said returning to where the guys stood. “Could Mason have another place where he kept things private?”

A thought caught Jack’s mind. “Cal, when is your committee hearing?”

“This week.”

“When you are accepted by the ISTF committee, you’ll become second in command after the prime minister in intellignece matters. That way you can access any classified files in this country and those of the five member countries and their allies. You need to pass that hearing.”