Author's Note: Sorry this update took so long! I've been busy lately and I spent a lot of time drafting where I wanted the plot to go. Hopefully updates will come a lot faster now, but we'll see. Without further ado, here's chapter 4!
Chapter 4 - Homecoming
The tossing and turning in the back of the car was what eventually woke Jason up. Back and forth it rocked, pitching left and right through narrow alleys and sharp turns. Jason sat up quickly and assessed his surroundings.
"Jason, I could really use some help," came the voice from the driver's seat.
Jason looked over and saw Nicky wide-eyed, knuckles white from strangling the steering wheel. Her eyes darted back and forth, scanning the road in front of her, praying that no pedestrians would step out in front of her. An angry car horn blared and faded away, and Jason couldn't blame the driver for being upset.
"Switch," he ordered. Nicky carefully slid over onto the console, pushing herself up with her feet on the dash as Jason ducked underneath her into the driver's seat. Nicky took a moment to readjust herself in her seat but quickly pulled her Walther out of her pocket, checking the magazine before racking the slide.
The crack of a gunshot sounded and the rear window was shattered. Another crack and the left mirror was blown off. Nicky ducked down instinctively, but not for long as she turned around in her seat and fired several shots at the pursuing vehicle. The black SUV behind them swerved out of the way. Jason looked in his rear view mirror and yanked on the steering wheel, sending the chase down a narrow alley. Nicky turned the pistol in her hand and realized the slide had locked back, and the chamber was empty.
"I'm out," she reported.
"Nicky." There was a voice from the backseat.
Jason glanced over his shoulder and saw Christian Dassault lying across the back, grasping his shoulder still. He held out a spare magazine, and Nicky took it, quickly reloading her gun. Jason honked the horn rapidly as pedestrians flung themselves out of the way of the rampaging vehicle. The gunmen in the SUV took a few more shots, and Nicky returned fire.
"Stay down!" he yelled while craning his neck over his seat.
"Like hell I am," Nicky retorted as she continued taking aim at the driver.
The alley ended and Jason pulled up on the brakes as the beat-up sedan slid into the stream of traffic. More cars behind him honked angrily, and he threw the first gear down as he sped up. The SUV followed suit, dodging through traffic erratically. Jason looked behind him and saw the SUV was about 3 cars behind him, but he couldn't afford to chance anything on that gap. Highway signs appeared more frequently, and Jason noticed.
"Map. I need a map," Jason repeated.
"Um..." Nicky dug through the glove compartment for a map, and finally procured one. She pulled it open and scanned through the pages to find the section of city they were currently in. In her haste, she tore one of the pages and cursed loudly again. Jason looked over at Nicky's lap, where the map lay.
"Where's the closest fire department?" he asked.
"Right here. Three blocks down, two blocks east," she relayed.
"It'll have to do." he muttered, displeased. "Is there another highway entrance past that?"
"Uh..." Nicky traced the lines on the map with her finger.
"Is there an entrance?" Jason repeated, louder.
"Yes!" Nicky scowled. "Yes, there's an entrance on your left, five blocks down." Jason shifted into higher gear and continued down the road, quickly turning onto the highway.
The sound of several car horns caused him to look over to his left and he saw the SUV two lanes over, swerving across the highway through traffic. The operative in the passenger seat pointed an assault rifle out the window and took aim. Before he could shoot, Jason crushed the gas pedal underfoot and the car lurched forward, finding shelter behind a long transit bus. He kept speed up with the bus, alternating between watching the road in front and the bus to his left. Through the window, he could see the gunman leaning out the window, now aiming at the wheels of the bus. A few loud pops sounded off and suddenly the bus was tilted on its side, veering off towards Jason's much smaller sedan. The sedan rammed into the side of the bus.
Nicky cried out as glass beads from the shattered windshield rained down into her lap. Locked together, the vehicles screeched in protest as metal dragged along metal, threatening to tear off the front bumper of the sedan. Jason tried to move over to his right, but the car in the opposite lane wouldn't budge. He was forced to brake and drop back out of cover. As soon as the bus was out of the way, the SUV opened fire on the sedan once more. Jason reached out his arm and forced Nicky's head down as he leaned over into her seat. The rapid plink-plink of .223 rounds on the aluminum car doors filled their ears. Jason grabbed his phone and dialed 112, the medical emergency line in Berlin.
"This is emergency services, please state the nature of your emergency," a woman said in rapid German. It wasn't fair to say that Jason's only second language was French, when he spoke German just as fluently as he did about a dozen other languages.
More gunfire sounded, and Jason was sure the operator could hear it.
"There's a man who was just shot..." Jason paused and looked at the map. "...on the corner of Rebhuhnweg and Sterckmannweg."
"An ambulance will arrive shortly. What is your name?"
Jason hung up the phone. The gunfire stopped and he looked over at the gunman who was reloading his weapon, and he took the opportunity to ram the sedan into the larger vehicle. The car jerked as it crashed into the SUV and Jason reached into the other car, grabbing the rifle out of the operative's hands. The operative resisted and was quickly subdued with a strike across the nose which sent him reeling. Jason regained control of the rifle and hefted it in his outstretched hand while his other hand made adjustments with the steering wheel. He focused on the weapon's sights and fired several shots at the other driver. The driver cried out in pain, and the SUV skidded to a stop in the shoulder lane.
"Jason!" Nicky screamed.
But too late, as the sedan crashed into the stopped vehicle in front of them, nearly sending Jason and Nicky flying through the open windshield. In the backseat, Christian was glad he had rolled over onto the floor in all the chaos, preventing him from being thrown out of the car.
Jason heard a loud crack and cried out in pain, quickly assessing that the sound must have come from his ribs. He sucked in deep breaths which caused him great pain, confirming his theory. Nicky looked over in her seat, worried, but Jason shook his head, dismissing her.
He glanced around and realized traffic had come to nearly a complete stop, and he must have not noticed when he was fending off the CIA agents. The man in the car in front of him got out of his car and began to curse Jason out in German, flipping him off with both hands in the process. Nicky simply raised her pistol in response, sending a shockwave of fear into the man, who staggered backward. He put his hands up and slowly got back into his car. Jason smirked.
The squeal of tires on asphalt came from behind, and Jason turned in his seat, seeing another black SUV about eight cars behind them. Three men got out of the car, geared in body armor and assault rifles. With the traffic at a complete standstill, the operatives had chosen to pursue the fugitives on foot. Jason looked to the front of the car and saw that traffic was still not moving.
"We need to move. Now!" Jason ordered.
Christian tumbled out of the car and stayed low, crouching along the side. Nicky followed suit, taking a knee in front of the car. Jason reloaded his pistol and cautiously peered through the broken windshield of the sedan. The men had split up, each of them marching down a lane line.
Jason jumped up and quickly put down an agent, who shouted in pain, drawing the attention of the other agents. They quickly ran over towards Jason, being careful in staying behind the stationary cars for cover. A few shots rang out, glancing off the hood of the car. One of the shots got too close for Christian's comfort, and he fell over on his side, covering his head. Nicky glared at him in disgust for his reaction to gunfire.
Jason spun around and saw one of the agents with a rifle already pointed at him, about to pull the trigger. Jason pulled back on the trigger of his own gun, but only a click resounded. The sound of a gunshot pierced the din of the traffic, but Jason felt nothing. Instead, he saw the agent fall to the floor. Nicky looked around, and Jason realized that the shot didn't come from Nicky either.
Another shot, and the second agent went down. Jason looked around for the source of the gunshot, and found Aaron Cross waving to him from another car behind the CIA vehicle. He was standing outside behind the open door of his car. Jason's face revealed surprise as he looked back at Nicky, who seemed genuinely pleased with herself.
"I told him to tail us in case if anything went wrong," she explained.
Suddenly the wail of a siren grew louder, and flashes of light reflected off the bumpers of the cars in front of the group. Nicky turned around, spotting the ambulance approaching. Cars began to turn out of its path, pulling over into the shoulder. The three of them ran over to Aaron's car.
"Catch you at a bad time?" Aaron asked cheekily.
The ambulance passed, and Aaron stomped on the gas pedal, following the ambulance. The cars in front of the ambulance gave way, and they had themselves their very own linebacker. They continued down the highway until the ambulance signaled to turn off at an exit ramp. Aaron followed them to the corner of Rebhuhnweg and Sterckmannweg, where Jason had originally told the dispatcher. The ambulance pulled over to the side of the road, and Aaron pulled over as well.
Jason dragged Christian out of the car and pulled him over towards the ambulance. A paramedic jumped out of the back, puzzled as he looked around the street corner for an emergency. He was startled as a shuddering Christian Dassault was thrust into his arms by a steely-gazed American. Christian was bleeding more profusely than he was before. Jason briskly walked away from the ambulance to the car where Nicky sat waiting. The paramedic was shouting at Jason to come back and explain himself, but Jason turned around and waved his pistol at them, sending the paramedic running back to the ambulance. The ambulance soon took off, and Jason got back in the car.
"What did you find out?" Aaron asked from the driver's seat. "I take it that Dassault isn't going to be of any more use to us."
"Someone opened the files from my old address," Jason said. "It's a message."
"So what happens now?"
"Airport. We need to go to Missouri."
...
Aaron was first to the gate, then Nicky, then Jason. It was risky enough showing up in Tegel Airport so quickly after they were tracked from Dassault's place, so splitting up their group was preferable to all of them waltzing through at the same time. It was especially crowded today, something that worked to the trio's advantage, and right now they could use all the edge they could get. It was the look on Aaron's face that tipped Jason off. Something wasn't right.
"Dammit..."
"What happened?" Jason asked Aaron.
Aaron pocketed his phone. "Marta. She thinks someone was following her so she fled to our place in London. I have to go."
He looked around nervously and briskly walked away. Nicky watched the scene from afar, looking back and forth between Jason and the departing Aaron. Jason looked back at her and she took it as a cue to walk over to him.
"He's not coming with us. Marta thinks they've found her. They're going to London," Jason explained quickly. Nicky's mouth opened to form a question and she looked back to find Aaron, but he was long gone, having blended in with the bustling crowd.
It was nearly nightfall by the time Jason and Nicky got to Nixa. An orange glow illuminated the street and the tops of the houses. The sun barely sat above the horizon and the clouds that lazily drifted across the sky threatened to block out the sun completely. The taxi driver squinted as the sun shone directly in his eyes, the perfect angle where the light was not quite blocked out by the car visor, but not low enough where it was blocked by the trees or houses.
"They know you're coming here," Nicky said.
The cab rolled down the street. Jason continued to keep both eyes out for any surveillance teams that might be camping on the house. So far, the street seemed empty and everything seemed to be clear. There was one van, however, that sat a few houses down from 8139 Dabney, the most obvious candidate for housing a surveillance team. Sure enough, there was a single agent posted on the sidewalk, conspicuously holding the cuff of his sleeve up to his face.
The cab pulled up to the sidewalk, and Jason got out, keeping a careful eye on the agent down the street. The agent looked directly at him and began walking towards him. Jason glanced over and made eye contact briefly, then continued walking down the sidewalk. He had one hand at the crook of Nicky's arm, tugging her along with him, making sure she kept up pace with him. She kept her head down and pulled her coat collar up as high as it would go.
As Jason rounded the corner, he looked over his shoulder, waiting for the agent to follow. Surely enough, the agent was hot on his tail, and had put a hand into his pocket, probably to pull out a gun. Jason pulled back the sleeve of his jacket to glance at his watch, mentally counting how much time had passed. Nicky shot a worried look at Jason, who showed no reaction. He counted silently to himself and sped up the pace.
The distinctive metallic click of a hammer being pulled back made Nicky flinch just in the slightest, and Jason felt her body tense. Right on cue, a police cruiser blared its sirens and screeched to a stop behind the CIA operative. Doors opened and two officers got out of the car, barking orders at the operative, who had no choice but to drop his weapon and surrender himself. Jason was nearly dragging Nicky alongside him at this point, and they disappeared around the bend at the end of the block.
Nicky could not help but glance back at the scene unfolding behind them. Rather than engage in a direct confrontation drawing out a lengthy firefight, Jason had called the local police, telling them he thought he was being followed by a man with a gun. Instinctively he knew the average response time of a Nixa police unit, one of the many bits of tactical facts he had tucked away somewhere in his mind. He had made the call earlier in the cab, when he was a few minutes away from the house. All that remained was to make sure the operative would be far enough to not be a threat, but close enough that the police would suspect him as a potential mugger.
They rounded the block and came around full-circle to the house. The surveillance van was gone, thanks to the police. Jason went up to the front of the house and turned the knob, but it was locked and did not budge. Nicky began to look underneath the welcome mat for a spare key but Jason took a single kick at the door and it burst wide open. Efficient, she thought. But still ruthless.
Jason stepped inside first and did a brief scan of the house. The entire place was dark and empty. The curtains were all drawn shut, and the house had a certain musty smell to it. A thick layer of dust coated everything he saw. Thin beams of light that escaped through the gaps in the curtains caught the clouds of swirling dust that hung midair. Nicky stepped inside after Jason determined the house was clear. She looked around, lazily dragging a finger across the console that sat by the front door. She lifted her finger up to the light and crinkled her nose in disgust as she brushed off the dust with her other hand. Everything was covered in dust. And there was a lot of it.
A dining table scraped across the floor, and Nicky looked over at Jason who stood behind it. He ran a finger over the top of the chair and found that it too was incredibly dusty. The cushion on the chair was dusty too. The table itself was also covered with dust, and spider webs clung to the corner and ran towards the closest wall. For all Jason knew, the house could have been come straight out of the Dust Bowl, or rather been plunged straight into the Dust Bowl and swirled around for a few decades before being dropped off in the middle of Nixa. The kitchen reeked of rot, and Jason buried his nose in his sleeve as he walked past it. The place looked deserted, as if no one had lived here in months, years even. Something about the whole situation didn't feel right.
Jason stepped into the bathroom and took note of the sink. Fluoride buildup from toothpaste had caked along the drain, and the caulking around the countertop was browned and peeling. The faucet handles were rusted, and an eerie green trail dripped down into the sink. A ring of soap scum had turned the bath tub nearly fluorescent orange. The toilet was in no better condition, and Jason didn't want to bother inspecting it any further. It was clear that this house was largely unoccupied as of late.
"Who lives here, now?" Jason called over to Nicky. "Nicky?"
Nicky didn't reply, and Jason's mind went into full threat analysis mode. He slowly walked back into the main living area at the front of the house. He saw Nicky who was backed up further into the house, pressing herself against a far wall. Her fingers danced along the grip of her pistol and she flicked the safety off. She held a finger to her lips and pointed at the door. She held up a single finger, letting Jason know there was at least one person who was at the door. Jason stepped to one side of the doorway, lying in wait. The door knob turned slower than what seemed humanly possible, and Jason could hear his pulse beat in his ears. He glanced back at Nicky, who nodded and raised her weapon slowly.
The door opened and a dark figure walked through the doorway. Jason shoved the figure up against a wall, causing a picture frame to fall and shatter. He lifted his gun to the person's head and pressed forward. For a split second, Jason hesitated. He was expecting someone to fight back, for vicious blows to be traded as he attempted to subdue his assailant. But this person didn't resist at all. Nicky turned on the lights.
Heather Lee stood there with her back against the wall, a gun to her forehead. She was unfazed and looked Jason directly in the eye. Her jaw clenched as she stared down Jason. No words passed between them for what seemed an eternity. Jason broke the silence.
"You're Heather Lee."
She didn't say anything, only replying with a short nod.
"Are you alone?" he asked.
She nodded again. Jason cautiously lowered the pistol, but Nicky still kept hers in front of her. She was not going to be caught off guard.
"What do you want from me?" he said in a low voice.
Heather looked back at Nicky who stared right back at her. She returned her gaze to Jason. "Help us."
Jason scoffed and shook his head in disbelief. "You sent the Asset after Nicky in Athens. You sent agents after us in Berlin," Jason said accusingly.
"Dewey." Heather answered. "I wanted to help, believe me," she pleaded. "What are you looking for?"
"Answers."
Heather took a few deep breaths. "I can help you. Come back in, and we can talk about this."
Jason's stare was apathetic. Heather saw that she was getting nowhere trying to convince Jason to come in, and she resigned herself to pulling out a business card. She wrote a number down and held it out to him. He looked at it but didn't take it, and Heather gave up, leaving the card on the table. She took one last look at Jason before walking out the door. When the door closed, Nicky finally lowered her gun and Jason pocketed the card.
A shrill ringing came from the dining table, and Jason whirled around. There was a low hum of a vibrating phone, and he walked over to it. Jason picked it up, surprised. The phone was perhaps the one thing in the entire house that was not caked in dust, and he guessed someone had planted it there. Nicky walked over and glanced at the phone nervously. Jason opened it and put it to his ear.
"Who is this?" he asked.
"McCauley park, ten minutes. Bring Nicky and this phone. I have the black ops files," the voice replied. Female, Jason noted. And very familiar. He froze.
There was a dial tone on the line as the other person hung up. Jason slowly closed the phone, looking at Nicky.
"That was Pam Landy. She has the files."