POCKET CHANGE 3: HIDE and SEEK
by Sharon R.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The blinds against the wall of glass and sliding doors rattled in the wind waking Carter from a deep sleep. He squinted against the rude morning sun, comforted by Anna's soft, exposed form still in his arms. Rubbing his eyes, he soon realized they weren't quite alone.
"Didn't take you long to play booty tag." The voice, while unexpected, was not entirely strange. "Geez Carter, you could at least be humping hide with someone a little closer to your kind of people."
"What's going on?" a sleepy Anna asked as she focused her eyes above through the starchy yellow glow of daylight. The figure was tall, but not too tall. The hair, outline of his form, all familiar.
Carter protectively secured the sheet over her exposed body and moved closer to Anna on the floor putting his arm around her shoulders and drawing her into him. "Got company," he whispered.
"What? Who…" Anna sat up straighter and held the sheet just above her breasts. "What are you doing here? Get out, Max."
"Now, Anna, you know the marriage counselor said you needed to not push me away."
"She also said that out of all the couples she's worked with, we were only one of three she recommended get divorced as soon as possible."
He leaned against the armoire almost as a necessity. "That's not what she meant," he said with his eyes at half mast.
"Oh, god, he's high. What are you on this time, Max?"
"Leave, Max," Carter warned, "before we call the police."
The intruder smirked, then laughed as he rubbed the side of his face before sitting down on the end of the bed. "Are we back to that again?" More smirking, his nose seemed irritated, then Max's mood spun harshly. With one of his booted feet pressing on Carter's hip, he leaned over and spoke quietly, but directly to the couple. "You didn't impress me when I met you the first time in Chicago all those years ago, John Boy, and you're even more laughable now."
"Anna's not laughing," Carter shot back, but only to Max's consternation as he shoved Carter hard enough to nearly flip him over.
"Stop it, Max," Anna yelled. "Get out. Don't you have any respect for me at all? There are children in this house -"
" -Certainly didn't stop you two perverts."
"How did you even get in here?" she asked.
"You love the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves when you sleep. Right? What a fool. God damn sliding door was wide open."
"That's enough." Carter stood up and, totally naked, grabbed his pants from the bathroom floor and stepped into them intent on throwing Anna's ex out of the house for good.
"See, this is where it gets a little tricky," Max said as he reached behind him and pulled a gun from the waistband of his pants. "I need you to do something for me." He waved the gun around as he spoke, then as Carter began to bend over and retrieve his shirt, Max not so carelessly pointed the gun right at him prompting him to straighten up sans shirt. "Go open the front door, Anna, and I'll keep your wittle boyfwiend company."
Carter put his hands out in front of him as if to deflect any bullets that might happen to escape from the barrel of the gun, while simultaneously looking back and forth from Anna to Max. "This really isn't necessary." He tried to think of something better to say, but somehow that was all he could muster.
"Actually, it is."
"Max, look out that window," Carter said as he pointed out towards the shore, his hands still instinctively in front of him. "There's a boat off shore with federal agents watching us right now. They're there to protect us."
"Oh, I doubt that."
"Just look, Max," Anna pleaded.
"I don't have to. I know. Maybe you should look." The three remained in place, none making a move. "Go on. It's a clear day, you can see forever," he gave with a sickening joviality as he waved Carter over to the sliding doors with the gun.
"John?" Anna stayed on the floor covered only by the sheet. He stayed at the window too long to just be taking a quick look. "What is it, John?"
"What is it, John?" Max mocked with a feminine squeal to his voice, his face holding back the enjoyment he was obviously getting from it all.
"They've moved," Carter said quietly.
"Probably docked in Norfolk by now." Max walked over to Carter and shoved the end of the gun under his chin forcing his head back. "You assume I'm a fuck-up, don't you? Well, think again. The boat wasn't your secret. Your friends aren't as safe as you think and if you don't do what I say, not only will I give you an instant GCS of zero, I'm afraid that your friends will be shark bait."
"Anna, go open the door," Carter said, fearful of moving, his voice not so steady.
Gathering the sheet around her, Anna stood up and started for the door.
"Uh, uh, uh," he sang, "come on baby, put some clothes on." Opening her dresser drawer, Max pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. "Right here. Take your time. You always turned me on the way you got dressed." As Anna reached over to open another drawer, Max beat her to it and slammed it shut. "Underwear? Now, that's no fun. All those panty lines and straps ruin a good fantasy, don't they Carter?"
Max leaned into Anna and slowly slipped the barrel of the gun under the sheet wrapped and tucked into her bosom. With his other hand he pulled the sheet away and let it fall to the floor, then slowly traveled the gun down her cleavage then onto her right breast, tracing the lines of her areola, all the while Anna stood motionless, her anger seething through her flaring nostrils.
"Stop it," Carter demanded, "Stop!" This time he shouted and made a move in their direction.
Even though his eyes were still on Anna, his gun fondling her breast, Max reached out with his free hand and very skillfully grabbed at Carter's neck. All of Carter's strength couldn't pry Max's hand from his throat and as his grip tightened, Carter's oxygen level decreased.
"Better hurry up baby," Max warned pushing Carter back to the floor by the neck and redirecting the gun to his head, "as soon as you open that door I'll let lover boy breath again. I'd say we have three minutes before serious brain damage sets in, and no matter how many Viagra you give him, it won't give a vegetable a hard-on."
Seeing Carter's eyes bug out, his face darken as he struggled to breath, Anna raced from the room, down the stairs to the main landing, but before unlocking the door she reached over and flipped the switch Bob had installed for the security system. She cracked the door open and ran back up the stairs to her room not even stopping to look for the others.
"Anna…?" Bob called out as he came around the corner from the kitchen area.
"Don't worry baby," Max gave her in a hauntingly calm voice, "you had another couple minutes to go. Man, you're speedy." Letting go of Carter's neck, his hand print well ingrained into the skin, Max backed off and let Anna tend to him.
"John?" she called to him as he lay on his back. His arms were limp and eyes closed, but his chest hungrily heaved in the air once, then after a moment one more time. "John?" Anna roughly rubbed his sternum with her fist as she would any unconscious patient. She leaned over and tilted her ear next to his mouth to listen for breaths, then felt for a carotid pulse as Carter started to sputter and toss his head around. "You son of a bitch," she cursed at Max as she attempted, but failed, to keep her tears at bay.
His mind was a jumble of thoughts, his senses mixed up - nothing seemed logical to him. Carter struggled to get a breath and tossed his head back and forth to try and get the burlap bag to loosen up. The jungle air was thick, his chest felt tight, and the fear rampant. There was a gun, yes, he remembered that. He was held tightly, knocked down and now hands were on his chest, neck and face.
"Anna?" Bob asked as he came around the corner into her room. "What's going on?" Carter was on the floor, not quite conscious with Anna at his side. But before Bob could react to Max and the gun he was sporting, he felt the all too obvious sensation of another gun barrel tightly hugging the back of his head.
"You're getting sloppy old man," the new voice smoothly spoke. "Losing your touch."
"Thought I taught you better than that, Ellington."
"Taught me so well they let me be your boss."
He needed to come up for air but Carter felt like she was smothering him. He could smell her shampoo, the freshness of her femininity, and felt the soft curves of her skin. But he knew that there was something else she was there to do…
"Colleen." By the time Carter reached up and grabbed Anna's arm, he was breathing evenly again. He was dizzy and queasy, but after a quick replay of the past twenty four hours he soon realized where he was and what had happened.
"No, John. It's me, Anna."
"Holy shit," Max laughed, "didn't take long after the old bump and grind for him to forget your name, baby. How's it feel?"
"Anna?" Carter's eyes flew open as he remembered what Max had been doing to her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but what about you?"
"Hello? Can you two get your hands off each other long enough to pay attention to the two guns in this room?" Max was cocky, almost too self assured. Over confidence - a trademark of certain elicit drugs.
"Let's take this party out to the living room, shall we?" Ellington was over confident in another way. A way that grows from ingenuity and success. "I understand the view from there is outstanding. But first," he said shoving Bob hard against the wall, "a little game of pat down and find the hidden weapons." With the gun pointed at Bob's back, Ellington started to frisk Bob but stopped after seeing Max's eyes glued to Anna. "My hands seem to be occupied. I'll need the little lady to step in and give me a hand."
"I will," Carter quickly offered trying to get to his feet.
"No, I don't think so." Ellington easily pushed Carter back on his ass with his foot. "I think we'd all like Anna to do the honors. I'll tell her just where to put her hands. It's probably been quite a while since a pretty girl had her long fingers on Bob's, shall we say, physique."
Anna was slow to walk over to where Bob was standing, and startled when Ellington shoved a knee into the small of Bob's back forcing him to be firmly pasted against the wall.
"Hands up under his shirt first, sweetheart. Feel around - don't miss anything."
She did as she was asked and pretended in some small way to be examining a patient, in a weird sort of way. Her hands slipped up under his shirt and felt Bob's bare skin around the front, then up over the shoulders, then finally the small of his back where she felt something and pulled back.
"What is it?" Ellington asked.
"A gun," she stuttered. "I, um, think it's a gun."
"Well, good girl," he relished. "Go ahead, take it out and give it to me."
She pulled the pistol out of his waistband by the handle and, noticing Max's gun pointed straight at Carter, handed the weapon over.
"Now the pants."
She felt down his left leg like she had seen cops do in the movies and, again, paused when she felt something odd just above his ankle, only this time she didn't ask what to do. Yanking his pant leg up she saw another holstered pistol - a small one, and gave it to Ellington. She found a large knife strapped to his right leg in the same place and took that from him as well. Standing up, she amazed herself at the hardware Bob had secreted away on his body.
"Not done yet," Ellington whispered while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear with the barrel of his gun. "See, spies like Bob always put things where they are least likely to be found. Now, where do you think that would be, hmm?"
"You have everything," Bob managed to get from the side of his mouth. He could almost taste the paint on the wall. "Leave her alone."
"And I should trust you?"
"Go on, Anna," Max ordered with a grin, "see what else he has hidden away." His eyes were glazed over, his words slightly slurred. "Maybe it's a real big gun."
"Give Bob a good exam, now, Dr. Anna," Ellington whispered not so quietly. "When it's all over you can give him a sucker."
"Anna, don't." Carter finally got to his feet, and although still a bit shaky, managed to get to her and grab her hand. "He can do it himself."
"Maybe I can," Ellington finally spoke up, "but I think Max here is enjoying the show, and I do owe him that at least." Taking Bob's double edged knife from its sheath, Ellington handed it to Max who gladly accepted it.
After admiring both sides and slowly dragging the tip across a pillow easily slicing it open, Max then rested it against Carter's bare back, admiring the scars and tracing them with the cold, heavy metal. "Didn't think you two were into the kinky stuff already," he snarled as he scraped the scars planted by Jules' men.
This gave Ellington a belly laugh who then turned his attention back to Anna. "Sweetheart, I'd do as I was told if I were you."
She looked apologetically at Bob who seemed to tell her with his eyes that it would be alright, then nodded vaguely. She took a deep breath and let it out all at once as she closed her eyes momentarily before slipping her hand down the front of Bob's pants. She kept her fingers from his private areas as best as she could and tried to stick just to the pelvis.
"Both sides, babe," Max told her with dirty exhilaration.
"Nothing," she blurted out with relief as she took her hand out of his pants.
"Sorry to hear that Bob," Ellington laughed as he turned Bob back around and went through his pockets. "Always knew you were the agency's resident eunuch."
After marching the three of them out to the living room and putting them side by side on the sofa, Max and Ellington retreated to the other end of the room to talk.
"I'm sorry Bob," Anna quietly offered, "I didn't…"
"He didn't do it for my benefit. It was all a show for you." Bob felt as though somehow he was responsible for losing the first game of a lifelong winning streak. "Humiliation is the first step in breaking people down. I'm fine. I've had worse done to me. Whatever you do, don't let him get to you."
Their attention was immediately drawn to the staircase when they heard the front door open and a rush of feet on the stairs.
"Hey El," one of the strange men said, "we lost them."
"How the hell does that happen? You've tailed experienced terrorists through the streets of Madrid and Beirut. How the hell do you lose two civies and a couple kids in North Carolina?"
"Some old lady in an orange car pulled right out in front of us. She was all over the road. Before we knew it, they were gone."
"You fucks… these are barrier islands. They couldn't have gone far. Get out there and don't come back until you find them."
"Where's Luka and Sam?" Carter whispered to Bob.
"I sent them on their way. I slept out on the deck. When I woke up, the boat -my men - were gone. It was beginning to stink so I got them the hell out of here."
"Talking about our friends, Bob?" Ellington asked as he spied the three captives talking.
"Look a little frazzled, El."
"Where'd your friends go?"
"I don't know. Sightseeing maybe."
"Like you'd let them out of your sight. We'll find them and if you don't give me what you know I'm looking for, I may have to liberate you of your daughter."
"We've known each other a long time, Ellington, you don't have it in you."
"I may, for the right price." Ellington stood and walked in back of the sofa. He reached around and gently placed his hand on Anna's throat, his fingers caressing the ridges of her trachea. "I was going to send Max on - a job well done. But it seems I'm going to be needing him a little bit longer. Nothing like a happy reunion, dear, is there?" He sensed her tension and continued to play off it, his face leaning right in between Anna and Carter. "You and your friend here had quite a night. Was it good for you? It was for me, and I think Max particularly enjoyed it."
With that, Carter barreled over the back of the sofa and attempted to tackle Ellington only to find that he was undersized and out matched. Knowing Carter's history, the larger man flipped him onto his stomach, pulled his arms back as far as they could go and kneed hard into the small of his back getting just what he wanted - painful groans, though muffled by the force of his face in the floor. "Try that again," he angrily spit through gritted teeth, "and you'll see what can happen to women who don't cooperate, and it ain't pretty. Get him in a chair, Max, and tie him as tight as your incoherent self can manage."
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"I don't know, Sam." Luka took the curves as tight as he could without flipping the SUV. "We got rid of that one tail and now I think there's another. Hold on…" The following car tapped the corner of his rear bumper just enough that Luka overcompensated and dove-tailed into a parking lot entrance, the tailing car cutting him off completely. "Everyone okay? Just keep quiet and don't do anything unless I tell you to." The two kids stayed quiet - unusually quiet - in the back seat. "What the hell…?"
"Follow me dear, and you'll be alright."
"Mrs. Bernard," Sam asked as the little old lady spoke to them through Luka's open window, "was that you?"
"You betcha… No time to waste though." Mrs. Bernard clapped her hands as though rounding up a kindergarten class on the playground. "Come on. Toot sweet." Her steps were short but quick as she got back to her little orange Chevette and drove out of the lot, Luka close behind.
"That old lady sure can drive," Alex nearly shouted. "Bet she could show you a thing or two, Luka."
"I'll show you a thing or two myself if you don't keep quiet," Sam scolded. "Geesh, let the man drive."
Finally they got to a recreational rental store where they both parked. After Mrs. Bernard talked to a man off to the side, she motioned for Luka and the others to get out of their SUV.
"It'll be a tight fit, but we can do it. Come on, in my car." She didn't wait for questions or protests - instead she opened the passenger door then walked to her side and confidently got behind the wheel. When no one got in with her she stepped out once again and looked over the roof - barely. "Now, you can stand here and wait for those bad asses to catch up to you, or you can take a ride with me. It's up to you. Personally, I think my bite is less painful."
Alex and Amanda were the first to get in after meeting eyes briefly. Pain spoke volumes to them. Luka and Sam were less than eager to trust this woman but eventually let their gut instincts guide them straight into the orange car. Poor Luka's knees wouldn't be the same.
"Your under whelming enthusiasm is truly inspirational," the lady sarcastically spouted as she handily backed out onto the highway.
"Hey," Alex shouted giddily, "you peeled out! I didn't know you could burn rubber on a car like this."
"Alex," Sam scolded.
"Oh, now dear, he's got spirit. Don't ever smother a child's spirit. That's what will make him a man." She paused before catching a glimpse of the kids in her rear view mirror. "Don't underestimate this old jalopy, Alex. Besides, it's not the car that does the tricks - it's the person at the controls." Sam caught the wink she and Alex shared and let it go.
"Mrs. Bernard," Luka started, uncomfortable in more ways than one, "what is going on here?"
"I suspect that Bob was minutes ahead of the men looking for you and felt that they were about to move in. Looks like he was right because that black van back there was trying to tail you."
"Where are we going now?" Sam asked.
"Where they would least expect to find you," she said as she stepped on the gas. "My house."
Mrs. Bernard pulled around to the back of the house where they could exit the car out of sight of Anna's house. Once inside the house, she directed them all the way upstairs to a small cubicle known as a widow's walk. "This is where a wife in the 1800's would have stood waiting for her husband's fishing boat to get back to shore. But it's not the water I've been watching." Removing several books from a shelf, she exposed a bank of TV screens all showing different angles of the exterior of Anna's house.
"Cool," Alex predictably shot off.
"I bet you don't look at the stars with that telescope either," Amanda surmised.
"Well, sometimes I do," the elder lady chuckled, "but lately the only stars I've been watching is you two." Putting her frail arms around the shoulders of the two kids, she gave them a big squeeze, easily and eagerly reciprocated.
Luka had been cautious, his arms crossed in front of him, hand nervously rubbing at his mouth - but for a moment as the children formed a bond with this seemingly fragile old lady, albeit a stranger, he relaxed and shared a smile with Sam.
"That's right you two," Mrs. Bernard said to the two adults, "don't ever forget to smile. My late husband, Henri, used to tell me that with every smile you add a day to your life. Once when we were penned down inside a shelled building outside Paris during the war, we thought that was going to be the end for us. We had SS soldiers looking for us on one side, German foot soldiers on the other but you know what Henri said to me?" Her voice had become quieter as she stole her audience of four into her world. All four shook their heads. "He said, show me that beautiful smile of yours, I'll show you mine and we'll love each other for two more days." Even the children understood, though the silence may have told otherwise. "Okay, now, we have some serious work to do. That calls for cookies and I happen to have a fresh batch of snicker doodles down in the kitchen."
As Sam scooted the kids down the few steps to the upper level where the living room and kitchen opened up to each other, Luka hung back and focused on the screens looking for some indication of who was at the house. Looking into the telescope and focusing on the upper windows, he scanned them one at a time hoping to find answers.
"What are you looking for dear?" Mrs. Bernard's touch was warm as her hand rested on Luka's back almost lovingly.
"I don't know. Carter. Anna. Bob."
"I know that. But what are you looking for?"
Luka stepped back and resumed his face rubbing, lip biting routine of no answers.
"It's right in here," she said poking her finger into his chest. "You can look inside yourself but you'll never find it. Only someone you love, someone you trust can find what you've lost, but you have to accept it from that person." Her eyes were a silver blue and as Luka finally looked her in the eyes, he felt oddly at home. "Trust Samantha. Let her in." She continued to hold that connection with his eyes and he with hers until she nodded and smiled and he, almost reflexively, returned that nod. "Smile…"As she turned to go downstairs she noticed that Luka was not leaving his station so she went back to him once more, this time taking the telescope from him and easily finding her target. She rested her hand on his arm, suddenly serious, and backed off to let him take a look.
"Sranje!"