Frightened, Paranoid and Armed
Chloe and The Mice
Chapter 9
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"Agent O'Brian is on assignment to MI-5." Harry told the Scotland Yard detective over the phone. "She's not just some crazy American tourist. She is on assignment on a matter of national security. That means that we don't have to turn her over to you and you are to turn over everything you have to us. I expect it here in half an hour. Also if you mention her name to anyone I will charge you under the Official Secrets Act so fast it will make your head spin." He hung up the phone. "Now can someone tell me what the hell's going on around here!?'
One hour and four minutes ago.
Chloe got up bright and early. She still hadn't bought any groceries yet so she didn't have breakfast. No big deal. She'll get something out of the vending machines at Thames House. No coffee either. Chloe wasn't fully awake until she's had her morning coffee. She'll have to get that at Thames House also. She walked out to her car, put the key in the door and opened it.
A split second of confusion. Oh yeah, British car, steering on the other side. She glanced across at the steering wheel with the block of C-4 under it wired to the driver's side door.
"Oh Hell!"
Chloe didn't shut the door, she just took off running down the sidewalk. There might be a backup in case the bomb didn't go off. Sure enough she heard the sidewalk behind her shatter with the impact of a bullet. She didn't hear the rifle, probably silenced. No high heels this morning. Just her sensible rubber soled flats. The handful of people out on the street this morning looked at her with curiosity. They didn't know what was happening, probably figure it out before too long.
Chloe dived headfirst behind a parked car landing on her hands and knees. She felt her pants leg rip and skinned her knee badly on the concrete. She also ripped the stitches on her hand and thumped her forehead on the sidewalk. Wow! All this is probably going to hurt later. Right now she didn't have time for pain.
With a loud bang a jagged hole appeared in the car door about a foot from her head and Chloe gave out a loud squeek of fear. .50 Caliber Barrett M107 sniper rifle. American made. This car's about as useful as a sheet of plywood. Chloe's heart felt like a jack hammer in her chest. Don't need no coffee. Wide awake now. She scooted behind the hole hoping the sniper wouldn't shoot the same place twice and looked around desperately . Nowhere to go. Another shot went through the hood and punctured a tire with a loud pop and hiss. The car settled a few inches and Chloe whimpered. She felt somewhat embarrassed by her cowardice. Michelle never would've whined like that. She looked at the Italian restaurant across the sidewalk from her and saw her reflection in the large plate glass window. If she could see it so could the sniper. How long before he figures that out? Five seconds? Six? If she stays here she's dead.
Her left hand yanked her shirt open as her right hand grabbed the Beretta. Two shirt buttons bounced on the sidewalk unnoticed as she fired five rounds rapid fire into the large plate glass window of the restarant. Each shot left a little hole with a spider web of cracks that moved across the glass and intersected with each other. She then grabbed her laptop with her left hand and scooped up her purse with the little finger of her gun hand. She swung the purse out to the rear of the car. As she hoped the sniper saw the movement and took the bait. A bullet ripped through the purse tearing it from her grasp. At that same instant she jumped up and ran pell mell into the weakened plate glass. As the glass shattered around her she tripped. Every instinct in her body screamed that if she fell here in the window she's dead. Just go faster, try to keep her feet under her, off balance she stumbled deeper into the restaurant hit a chair, spun around, and fell on the floor.
She got up as fast as she could snatching up her laptop with one hand and the pistol with the other. No bullets ripped through her flesh. Apparently she was deep enough into the restaurant that the sniper couldn't see her. Good thing this place doesn't open for breakfast. Chloe ran through the kitchen and opened the back door tracking the alley with her pistol. An old woman dropped her bag of garbage and scurried back into her house. As Chloe moved swiftly up the alley she holstered her pistol and pulled a small blue cell phone out of her jacket pocket. She made a quick phone call to Scotland Yard to report the sniper and give the location and license number of the car bomb then shut the phone off and removed the battery. She got to the opposite side of the block from the sniper and hailed a cab.
"Where to ma'am?"
"The British Museum." Chloe blurted out the first place she could think of.
As they drove the cab driver asked, "Are you OK ma'am? You're bleeding."
Chloe looked at her reflection in the cab window. Yes a small cut on her forehead was bleeding she also had several small scratches on her hands and face as well as a couple of bruises. "Don't worry, it's alright."
"You really should get that taken care of."
"Just mind your own business!" She snapped.
At the British Museum Chloe picked up her laptop and exited the cab. The cabbie rolled down his window. "Don't forget my fare."
Chloe set down the laptop, unhooked her necklace and passed it through the window.
"This isn't a pawn shop ma'am."
Chloe leaned into the window "That's a seventy dollar necklace! Take it!"
She had forgotten the two buttons she'd pulled off her shirt. The cabbie's eyes were drawn to the dainty bra covered breasts but were quickly distracted by the butt of the pistol holstered under her left arm.
"OK! OK!" He quickly sped off.
Chloe hurried around to the side of the museum. "Well Chloe, here's another fine mess you got me into." Aside from a little pocket change she had no money, no passport, no friends, and was being stalked by rogue members of British Intelligence. She didn't know who to trust. Adam? He went home with her. He knew where she was staying and what her car looked like. Plus she had told all her suspicions to him. He might have planted the bomb himself. Jo? She was a reporter and Chloe didn't trust reporters. She might have resented Chloe's rudeness. She claims no one followed them but was she lying? Harry? Harry didn't like or trust her and the feeling was mutual. He probably wouldn't turn against his own people to help her. Ruth? She was too close to Harry. Chloe wasn't sure what their relationship was but there was something going on there.
She opened up the laptop and began working. She had an idea but she was sure all calls to MI-5 were monitored. She just had to bypass that. She was checking phone billing records. Hello! This might work. There's a pay phone down the street.
Colin Wells was fine tuning a tracking device when he felt the cell phone vibrating in his coat pocket. He got an exasperated smile on his face when he pulled it out. "Yes Mum, what is it this time?"
"It's me, Chloe."
"Chloe! How did you get this number? It's unlisted. Only my mother has it."
"Never mind that. I'm in trouble. Someone's trying to kill me."
"I'll get Harry."
"No! I don't trust Harry!"
"Well I do."
"But I don't! Come alone. I'll be in front of the British Museum."
As Colin hurried out he noticed that Harry was meeting Jo and Adam in his office. Ruth was on the phone and Yas was making a paper airplane.
Colin pulled up in front of the museum. He looked around but couldn't see any sign of Chloe. A scraggly looking man with a guitar approached him and knocked on the car window. "Are you Colin?"
Curious, Colin rolled down the window. "Yes."
"The American lady said you'd give me twenty pounds if I gave you this note."
"The American lady has a very generous soul when it comes to other people's money" Colin grumbled as he fished two ten pound notes from his wallet.
The note instructed him to turn around and go back the way he came for two blocks then turn left. He followed the instructions and Chloe ran up to his moving vehicle and opened the passenger side door. She tumbled in and tried to crouch low. "Keep driving."
Colin glanced over at Chloe, she looked like a mess. "What happened?"
"Someone put a bomb in my car. It was set to go off when the driver's side door was opened. I wouldn't have even seen it if I hadn't have tried to get in the wrong side. I owe my life to the fact that you Brits build your cars ass end backwards."
"We prefere to think that it's you Yanks who build your cars ass end backwards but as long as it saved your life, Viva la difference!"
"After I spotted the bomb a sniper took a couple of shots at me but he missed and I got away."
Judging from her battered appearance Colin figured there was more to the story than that but he didn't press the matter. "I'll take you to Thames House, you'll be safe there."
"No! Don't take me to Thames House. Someone in British Intelligence is trying to kill me! I don't know who to trust!"
"You trust me don't you?"
Chloe grimaced. "Not really, but you're the closest thing to a friend I have over here. I don't make friends very easy."
She popped the magazine from her pistol and inspected it. Four bullets in the magazine and one in the chamber, five shots. It would have to do. Even if she had money she didn't know where to buy ammunition. She hadn't seen any gun shops in London. Do they even have gun shops over here? She could ask Colin to get some bullets from MI-5. No, too risky. Just have to make do.
"Why don't you stay in my flat until we figure out what's going on here."
"You'll have to promise not to tell anyone where I am."
"I promise."
Colin's building was about a century old. It was kept in good repair but still had the slight Edwardian elegance and the worn patina of a hundred years of inhabitants. His flat was small and comfortable. Chloe glanced around the apartment. There were no feminine touches anywhere. A very modern computer station was set up in one corner. The dining room table was covered with tools, paint jars, and debris, apparently left over from building his Guy Fawkes puppet.
"There's a first aid kit in the kitchen under the sink and some iodine in the bathroom medicine cabinet. You'd better take care of those cuts. Help yourself to anything you want. I'd better get back to work. See you later this evening and I promise not to tell anyone where you are."
"Thanks Colin." She gave him an awkward hug and he left.
Harry stood in the conference room looking at the evidence Scotland Yard brought in laid out on the table. There were some misshapen and broken bullets, apparently .50 calibre and 9mm. Chloe's purse had a bullet hole torn through it. All the contents were laid out. Aside from the usual napkins, cosmetics, ball point pens and other typical purse contents there was also a PDA smashed by the bullet which also punched a hole through her burgundy passport and shattered half a roll of peppermint Life Savers. There was also a Tazer, her CTU I.D. and her billfold which was clipped on the edge by the bullet. Her keys were found on the sidewalk where she apparently dropped them and there were several photos of the crime scene, the car bomb, and some blood stains. Adam and Jo had already left for the crime scene.
Ruth entered the room. "Harry, I'm going to see the security officer at the party. His log should have the names of everyone at the party."
"Good idea Ruth. Take Zaf with you. This situation has gotten pretty dangerous."
He saw Colin walk in and head to the tech room. "Colin, I need to talk to you."
"Yes sir." Colin followed Harry into his office.
"Colin, where is Agent O'Brian?"
"What makes you think I know?"
"The fact that you left for fifty minutes and just came back with some fresh blood smeared on your back."
"I promised not to tell." He saw Harry's jaw set. "Sir, at the moment she's frightened, paranoid, and armed. She's being hunted by someone in British Intelligence, that's us. She doesn't know who to trust. She trusts me but not very much. If she thinks I betrayed her there's no telling what she might do. She might even get violent."
Harry understood how dangerous someone in that situation could be. On cold mornings he still ached from where Tom Quinn had blasted him with the shotgun. And during his 30 some years as a spook he'd been in her situation a couple of times. Including a rather unpleasant week in Bulgaria during the Cold War. That's one reason he'd been so forgiving of Tom. "OK, I don't need to know where she is right now. Go to her. I promise not to put a tail on you when you leave. Just try to reassure her and win her trust. We'll be needing her help before long.
