Noble Beginnings: A Jack Noble Thriller (Jack Noble #1)

  Chapter 18

  I found a taxi willing to take me to Springfield. Figured that would be better than dealing with crowded Metro stations. The driver fought the traffic and dropped me off two blocks from the hotel. I walked the remaining distance. There wasn’t anything of value in the room, so I didn’t go in. I got in the car and merged onto I-95 southbound. Along the way I called Conners and told him I had to act on a lead and I’d get in touch with him as soon as I knew something.

  Two hours later I arrived in Petersburg and parked a block away from the hotel where Jessie and Bear were staying.

  I wanted Bear to come with me to Keller’s. He could provide backup, even if he wasn’t in the room during the confrontation. I still didn’t trust Marlowe, and something told me Keller would be expecting me. I thought about taking this to one of my agency contacts, but knew that would get me nowhere. For one, the guys I knew could care less about political BS. They would wave me off and tell me to go piss up a tree. Regular authorities were out of the question. They’d arrest me without giving it a second thought. Hell, I probably had a shoot on sight designation on me by that point.

  There was still the question of who Delaney and Conners worked for, and who pulled the trigger on Abbot. I hoped Keller could answer those questions for me.

  I got out of the rental car and walked to the hotel. I kept my head down and wore sunglasses. Cars passed by at regular intervals, but no one seemed to care about the guy walking on the sidewalk while they were busying themselves driving to work.

  The distance between D.C. and Petersburg, Virginia was approximately 120 miles. That made the difference in temperature even more astounding. At nine a.m. it was warm enough here for me to want to take off my jacket. I kept it on to keep my weapon concealed, but I started to sweat under its bulk.

  I reached the hotel and scanned the parking lot before entering the lobby. A young lady stood behind the counter. She glanced up at me, smiled, and then returned to her keyboard when she saw that I had no intention of approaching her.

  An elderly woman stood alone in the elevator lobby. I stopped next to her and waited for the elevator doors to open. A minute passed. I glanced around and saw that the elevator call button had not been pushed. I looked at her, smiled and leaned forward to press the single button with an up arrow printed on it. A chime sounded and the doors opened. I stuck one hand in the opening and gestured her through.

  “Three please,” she said.

  I had already pressed the button for the third floor. That’s where Bear and Jessie were staying.

  Less than half a minute later the doors opened and I waited for the woman to exit. She did so and turned to the right. I stepped out and turned left.

  The room was located at the end of the hall. I jogged to the door. I wanted to tell Bear everything I had learned in D.C.

  And I wanted to kiss Jessie.

  I stood in front of the door and rapped on it with my knuckles. A pinhead of light shone through the peephole cut into the center of the door. A few heavy steps rumbled below my feet and the pinhead of light disappeared. A second later the door opened.

  “Jack,” Bear said.

  I nodded and stepped through the open doorway as he walked to the back of the room. I looked around, but didn’t see Jess. My eyes met Bear’s. He wore my disappointment on his face.

  “She’s gone.”

  “Where’d she go?”

  “Don’t know. I woke up and she was gone.” He opened a dresser drawer and pulled out an envelope. “She left this for you.”

  I took the envelope labeled “Jack” from him and stared at it for a minute. “You read it?”

  “Nah.”

  “She give any indication she was leaving?”

  Bear shook his head and hiked his shoulders up an inch.

  “You’re sure she left. She wasn’t taken?”

  “Jack, no, man. We went to sleep. I got up and she was gone. If someone was going to go through the trouble of taking her from the room, don’t you think they would have killed me?”

  I fell back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He had a point. If someone had broken in, they would have either taken him with them or taken him out. Plus, Bear would have woken up if someone broke in. The man might be nicknamed Bear and look like a bear, but he sure as hell didn’t sleep like one.

  “Read the letter, Jack.”

  I lifted my arms and held the envelope over my face. I decided against opening it, at least for a while. We had work to do. I sat up and tucked the sealed letter into one of the inside pockets of my jacket.

  “I’ll read it later,” I said. “I need to catch you up on what’s happened.”

  I talked, and Bear listened. He remained silent until I finished.

  After I was done, he said, “You’re sure Keller is behind it?”

  I took a moment to respond. “I don’t know, Bear. But I’m going to find out.”

  He nodded and leaned back in his chair.

  “What I need to know is if you think you can come with me. Can you?”

  “Yeah, Jack. I’m good to go. It hurts, but it won’t stop me if things go south.”

  We sat in silence the next few minutes.

  Bear leaned forward, his mouth open an inch. He furrowed his eyebrows and pointed at the TV behind me. “Where’s the remote?” He got up.

  I turned in my seat and saw what had shocked him.

  Bear picked up the remote and unmuted the station.

  The display under the woman said her name was Cassandra Phillips. She spoke in the serious tone all newscasters had to perfect.

  “Once again, we are stunned and shocked to be reporting this breaking news. At six a.m. this morning, police found the bodies of Richard Gallo and Eddie Bealle, both CIA agents involved in the conflict in Afghanistan. The reports we’ve received indicate that the men were murdered, execution style, in downtown Washington, D.C.”

  They flashed head shots of both men on the screen and then cut to a scene in front of Gallo’s home. A local news team spoke to his wife, who kept herself half hidden behind the door. A small child with blond hair clung to her exposed leg.

  I tuned out the broadcast and turned to Bear.

  “I just met with them last night.”

  “That’s what you said.”

  “Someone is going to recall seeing them with me.”

  “You didn’t do it, right Jack?”

  Cassandra’s voice returned on the TV and I spun around to watch.

  “There are no suspects in the case at this time. Police have said they are looking for a person of interest, but details have not been released. We will keep you apprised of the story as we become aware of additional developments.”

  I threw my hands behind my head and grabbed my hair. “It’s either the same people that took out Delaney, or it’s…”

  Bear waited a second and then prompted me to speak.

  “Martinez,” I said.

  “Martinez? You think he’d take out his own guys?”

  “They weren’t his guys. He was loyal to his original team. So, yeah, I wouldn’t put this past him.”

  Bear turned off the TV and moved to the window. He pulled back the curtains and studied the parking lot.

  “We should go.”

  I got up and walked to the door.

  “Yeah. Get your stuff.”