Jake Adams spent most of the day trying to get his shit together. But mostly he tried to get some feeling in his extremities. After so much time in the cold water, and then running through the frozen city with only wet pants on, his core body temperature had surely dropped a few degrees.
Yet, he had gotten away without giving these men any information. His escape had almost been too easy. Maybe he had done exactly what they wanted him to do. If so, he’d have to be much more vigilant.
He suspected those who had taken him would think he would never go back to his hotel, but that’s what he had done, grabbing his clothes and checking out in just a half hour. His room had been trashed, so he had simply shoved everything into his rolling duffle bag, which consisted mostly of dirty hunting clothes anyway.
Jake’s encounter with the Slavic men had done a couple of things for him. First, it had put him back into the game—made him much more aware of his surroundings—like his days with the Agency, always checking his six and observing people who might be taking too much interest in him. And second, they had pissed him off. He could still taste the acrid water and smell the rotting rat. Despite his best efforts, some of that water had gotten into his lungs. He could only imagine how his lungs were fighting to remove all that crap. It would take days, or weeks, to get rid of everything not supposed to be there.
Away from the hotel now, he rode in a taxi toward Ronald Reagan Airport. He checked his phone, but it was dead. However, he always kept a spare battery so he could swap one for the next while on the road. Having pulled the charged battery from his bag before leaving his room, he popped open his phone and immediately shook his head once he looked into the battery compartment. Inside was a tiny chip that would keep his GPS working off an unused sector of his battery. Yeah, his escape had been nearly predetermined. Those guys wanted to get him heading off to find the professor. They would be able to track him and maybe even listen to his calls in real time. Nice technology. Without removing the tracking chip, he put in the new battery. He could play this game.
Once the new battery was in, he saw he had a number of new messages. In fact, more than twenty, which was really out of the ordinary. If he got one message a week, he would be amazed. Why? He was retired, and not many people had his cell number.
When he heard the first message, he guessed what the rest might say as well. They were almost all from people at FOX News wanting him to come on various shows to talk about his testimony before congress. He called just one of those back and said he would be available within the hour. Then he instructed the driver to divert to the local studio.
Jake had never been interviewed by a major news outlet. During his time with the Agency he avoided the spotlight. It could be the death of a field operative’s career, or real death if the opponents caught the broadcast. But this was different. He already had millions of hits on the internet for how he had dressed-down the congressman from California.
After he got to the FOX News studio, he realized that their security was better than what he had gone through before entering the congressional subcommittee chambers. He guessed FOX had more enemies and they knew it. Congress actually had more enemies, but they thought everyone loved them. Ostriches with their head in the sand, or up their own asses.
Jake had devised his strategy while on the drive to the studio. He would need at least ten minutes to get his point across, assuming they’d let him talk without too much interruption.
Bill O’Reilly had the largest audience on cable. Hell, he had the largest audience in the country on television. Although Jake agreed with the man about eighty percent of the time, he really didn’t have time to watch him. Also, he was starting to lean a little too far to the left for Jake’s taste. Besides the fact that the man was a self-aggrandizing, bloviating blow-hard. Realistically, Jake was about as independent as possible. He didn’t have much use for politicians in general, regardless of which side of the aisle they sat on. He believed in the Constitution, and had put his life on the line to defend it. That was as political as Jake would ever get.
The interview would be taped by satellite and air later that evening. After the normal pleasantries, Bill got right into it.
“You really shook up the congressional subcommittee yesterday, Mister Adams,” Bill said. “Did you plan on dressing down the congressman from California?”
Jake laughed. “No, it was just an added benefit of my time there.”
“You’ve really set the internet on fire,” Bill said.
“Yeah, too bad I don’t have a book to sell.”
“Right. You could call it How to Eviscerate a Congressman. I’d buy that.”
“Talk to your publisher,” Jake said. “Put in a good word for me.”
“I will. Do I get fifteen percent as your agent?”
“I’ll give you ten.”
“Deal. Now, seriously, why did you decide to engage congress the way you did?”
“Because I was sick of assholes. . .can I say that on cable?”
“Sure. You just did.”
“Okay, I was sick of assholes spewing their political positions ad nauseam and not actually asking me a straight question. They use their entire time trying to get their point into the congressional record. They didn’t want to know what happened. The facts had already come out on that. I had been cleared of all wrongdoing. These people are supposed to represent us in congress, and all they’re concerned about is making themselves look good for reelection. They’re the poster children for term limits.”
Bill laughed and sat back in his chair. “Whoa. Why don’t you say what you really think? Are you sure you don’t want to run for office.”
“I’d have to lose at least fifty points on my intelligence exam,” Jake said. “Maybe get a frontal lobotomy.”
Bill laughed again. “What about your own congresswoman, Lori Freeman.”
“I admire her,” Jake said. “She says what she means and means what she says. She gives people the benefit of the doubt until she doubts their benefit.”
“Do you know the congresswoman from Montana?” Bill asked.
“We’ve met now,” he said. “And let me make one thing perfectly clear to anyone listening out there. If any harm comes to her, I will hunt you all down and kill you.”
Bill looked shocked, but he cleared his throat and said, “Where did that come from Mister Adams?”
“I was kidnapped from my hotel last night and tortured for hours,” Jake said. “And I’m not talking about water boarding here. The kidnappers made threats to me and the congresswoman.” Well, they had to Jake, but not the congresswoman directly. He continued, “I was able to escape.”
Now Bill looked stunned. “Are you serious? What did they want from you?”
“I can’t discuss that. But I’m just putting them on notice right here on your show. If anything happens to anyone I know. If an associate of mine stubs his toe. If Congresswoman Lori Freeman so much as comes down with an unexplained cold. I will find you.” He pointed his finger at the camera now. “I will hunt you down. And you will pay. You can count on it. You know what I can do.”
For the first time in years, Bill O’Reilly was speechless, his mouth hanging open.
Jake pulled out his ear piece and left his chair in front of the camera.
Before leaving the building he found a land-line and made a quick call.
“Lori,” he said. “Jake. Where are you?”
“I’m at home,” she said. “Why?”
“What are your plans this weekend?”
“Jake Adams. Are you asking me out?”
He hesitated as he glanced around the dark corridor outside the studio. “Maybe,” he said.
“Well, you must be psychic. I was just about to call you. Our professor is in custody in Whitefish, Montana.”
“What the hell’s he doing there?”
“Not over the phone.”
They agreed to meet and then hung up.
Outside and in a taxi, Jake looked at his cell phone and wondered if he should get rid of the tracking chip inside. Not yet.
The cab dropped him off at a coffee shop down the block from Congresswoman Freeman’s condo complex. She was already waiting at a table away from the front window in a corner booth. She had a large coffee half full in front of her and a medium backpack on the bench next to her. Good, she had taken his advice.
“You want a coffee?” she asked him.
“No, I’m fine.” He sat down and shoved his rolling duffle bag under the table.
“If the tabloids see us,” she said, “they’ll guess we’re going off together for the weekend.”
“We are.”
“You know what I mean.”
He smiled and then said, “I’m guessing you watch FOX News and Bill O’Reilly.”
She admitted this with a shrug.
He explained what had happened to him since they had last met, including his kidnapping but leaving out some of the brutal details, and ending with his visit to Bill O’Reilly. “I won’t apologize for what I said there,” he said. “I needed to put them on notice.”
She leaned across the table closer to him. “Do you really think I’m in danger?”
“It’s possible. You might have been flagged with some of the inquiries you’ve made.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Regardless, you and I have been linked. So someone is making the assumption that I’m working for you. That’s not a good thing for either of us. We need to get out of town. What’s on the agenda next week?”
“We’re on a break until the State of the Union,” she said. “I have a trip to South Korea with a bi-partisan committee to attend six-party talks with the North.”
Jake thought about his next move. “So, you were planning on going back to Montana anyway?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure what you have in mind.”
“We’ll travel together alone.” He smiled at her and continued, “Let’s go Lori. We have a plane to catch and a professor to meet.”
Her sigh said everything as they got up and left the coffee shop.