Senator Plow seethed as she waited for the Directeur to arrive at her office. She had been checked out and released from the hospital in less than thirty minutes, and had spent the better part of the morning fielding reporters and trying to find out just what the hell had happened. 1 The door opened to her office, and Directeur Bermen walked in. "Senator," he said easily, "I’m so glad that you weren’t injured earlier."
"Where were you?"
"I had meetings in Ottawa," he said as he sat in the chair in front of her desk. "I flew back as soon as I heard of the attempt."
"Cut the shit," the Senator said. "That was five hours ago. I don’t recall it taking that long to get from Ottawa to Halifax."
"Closed-door meeting," he replied blandly.
"What happened?" she demanded. "This wasn’t suppose to be so….close." She stood and started to pace her office. "They blew up my car! People were injured! Kyle Suene saved me, and damn it, I’ll be in hell long before I forgive your assassin for making that happen."
The Directeur tried not to smile at that. It had to really pain her that Commander Suene had not only helped save her, but had remained with her until the paramedics arrived. Even her own security detail hadn’t done that, and he knew for a fact that they had all been replaced within two hours of the attempt.
Senator Plow sighed. "At least now it’s over, and I can go back to winning this election."
"Of course, Senator."
~~~~~~
Celia leaned back in her chair and stretched. "Is today over yet?" she asked no one in particular.
Céilidh Williams, the other female on the team, gave her a brief, apologetic smile. "It’s not even four." She reached for the phone when it rang. "Yes?"
"Cel..Cel-id? Williams, please."
"It’s Kay-lee," Céilidh said kindly, far too used to people mispronouncing her first name. "And you’re talking to her."
Celia turned away as Céilidh talked on the phone, and tried to bring her attention back to the information in front of her. She watched the security tapes again, hoping to see something, but knowing she wouldn’t be that lucky. This Keren Pelgrew was an absolute professional, and wouldn’t be caught that easily.
She looked up as Kyle entered, and then went back to the tapes. She glanced at him a few times as he sat gingerly at his desk, grimacing a few times as he reached for things. She had completely redone her initial assessment of him, now knowing that he was neither washed-up or a has-been. What he was, was a person who knew what had to be done to get a job finished, and wasn’t afraid to do it. In the few days that she’d known him, she’d yet to see him back down from anything, including the Senator and the Directeur. It was refreshing to have someone who was willing to stand up for what they believed in, and she fleetingly hoped that he would remain with the Central Access Agency after this was over.
"Earth to Sub-Agent Taylor."
Celia jerked slightly and blinked. "Wha?"
Kyle looked slightly concerned. "Are you spacing out for a reason?"
"I was thinking," she said lamely. "Been a long day, and my mind it wandering."
"Ah."
"Everything all right with the doctor?" she asked, trying to get his searching gaze off her.
"She didn’t tell me to fuck off," Kyle replied with a shrug. "So I guess it’s okay."
"Commander?"
Kyle glanced to his left. "Yeah?"
Céilidh hung the phone up and passed him a digital photo. "This was taken by news cameras about an hour after the shooting, outside a pub a few blocks from it."
Kyle took the photo and studied it. "Looks like her," he said slowly, searching for recognizable features. "Do you have any motion?"
Céilidh glanced at her computer and nodded. "Just messengered to me." She touched a button and the space above her desk became a viewing area for the noon-hour news report. "This," she said, "was edited out of the broadcast for time, but the news thought it might be helpful for us."
Kyle watched the reporter as she talked to various people. He sat straight as a familiar figure walked out of a pub and through the area. The woman hesitated as she spotted the camera, then continued as if nothing happened. "That’s her," he said.
"Her hair’s darker and longer than the other day," Celia said.
"And it’ll be something different the next time," Kyle told her. He looked at Céilidh. "How’d she pay?"
"Bartender says cash chip." She looked at her notes. "He remembered her because she was a new face, and was drinking alone."
~~~~~~~~~~~
From her rented car, Keren watched as Doctor Jillian Johnston got out of her own car and started for the building her office was in. Keren’s eyebrow went up when she noticed a young man get out of the passenger side and follow. She could tell that he had a weapon under his jacket, and chuckled at the thought.
"Ah, Kyle," she whispered with a shake of her head. "Giving your whore a bodyguard won’t help."
She watched as they entered the building, then she drove away, intending to return soon.
~~~~~~~~~
Sub-Agent William Chalmers stopped short as Jillian held a hand up.
"You can’t come in my office," she said.
"The Commander’s orders were that I stay with you."
Jillian pulled out her cell phone, pushed a button and waited. "Kyle?…fine… would you please tell Agent Chalmers that he can not come in to my office." She stopped, a completely pissed off look on her face. "Because I can’t have him in there when I’m seeing clients, that’s why…doctor/client confidentiality, Kyle." She handed the phone to him.
"Sir?" Chalmers replied.
"Sit in the waiting room," Kyle said in a weary voice. "No one goes in without an appointment."
"Yes, sir." He handed the phone back.
"Kyle?" Jillian listened some more. "Thank you." She hung up and motioned to a row of comfortable looking chairs. "Make yourself at home. Bathroom is over there, and small kitchen is there." She pointed at two doors nearly hidden behind large indoor trees.
~~~~~~~~
Keren rode the elevator in silence, patting down the front of her dress as the floors flicked by. Getting out on the top floor, she casually glanced around, then set off for the office halfway down the hall. She knew that Kyle Chambers was getting close again, and she knew that she had to do a few things to throw him off. The little visit to the good doctor’s office would be one of those things.
She had considered hiring someone to rough the members of his team up a bit, but decided that something of that nature was best done in the wee hours of the morning when nerves would be easier to rattle. Making a mental note to contact a few rather large and intense men, she put a smile on her face, and opened the office door.
~~~~~~~~~
Senator Wellian looked up as the man entered, and motioned to a chair as she went back to her phone conversation. Central Access Agency Directeur Bermen waited patiently as she finished.
"Why did she miss?" the Senator asked as soon as she disconnected the call.
Directeur Berman smiled tightly. "Senator Plow’s protection was better than we anticipated."
"It wasn’t her protection that saved her." Senator Wellian stood and leaned against her desk. "It was the man you placed so that she would be preoccupied."
"A slight miscalculation on my part," he admitted. "Although, the Senator is rather annoyed that Commander Suene was the one who saved her."
"Good. I hope it annoys her for the rest of her life." She gave him an arctic stare. "And I hope that lasts for the shortest time possible."
He tried not to show his unexpected nervousness. He never gave thought that this woman might be a bigger adversary than the other Senator, but something in her demeanor suddenly made him wary. "It will be finished soon," he assured her.
~~~~~~~~~
Sub-Agent Chalmers looked up from a magazine that was older than he was to see a rather attractive woman walked through the door. He went back to the magazine, but surreptitiously kept his eyes on the woman as she sat in a chair across the room.
Keren tried to adopt a pose of nervousness and unconcern. She grabbed a magazine and looked through it, intent on looking like someone who was here for her very first appointment.
She checked her watch, waiting until five minutes had passed before she grabbed another magazine and leafed through it. Damn. At least she could spring for some book chips…talk about cheap. Keren preferred the small book chips to paper book since they were easier to look through, and not so annoying to hold.
Both glanced up as the office door opened and a woman walked out. Jillian stood in the doorway, glanced at Chalmers as her patient left, then looked at Keren. "Samantha?"
Keren offered her a small smile and stood. "Yes." She walked across the waiting room, happy that she had thought to break into Jillian’s patient schedule, and take the place of the last appointment of the day. The real Samantha was at home, not knowing that the woman who had called to reschedule her appointment had been Keren, and not someone from Dr. Johnston’s office.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Directeur Bermen walked into the office area, and clapped his hands. "Report." Celia and Ceilidh looked at him, then back at their computers, Kyle merely ignored him. He stared at them. "Remember me, the guy in charge?" He gave them all an annoying look. "I need your final reports on this assassination attempt."
Kyle sighed in patronizing annoyance. "You're right. It was just that, and attempt." the other man looked at him. "Keren Pelgrew doesn’t miss unless she intends to."
"What?"
"That was a no assassination attempt," he said. "It was her playing around...testing things."
Berman nodded once annoyed at the Commander’s insight. Perhaps it had been a mistake to reactivate him. "Fine. If it was fake, then when is the real attempt?"
"The speech on the Promenade," three voice replied in unison.
The Directeur grimaced slightly, his annoyance kicking up a notch a their acumen. He looked at Kyle. "Then I trust you will continue to follow leads?"
"Of course."
Bermen gave him a smarmy political smile. "Let’s just hope you don’t cut it so close next time. It would be a shame for the Senator to get killed because of faulty information."
"Damn shame," Kyle said dryly as he imagined himself punching the Directeur right between the eyes. "Be even more of a shame if someone on the inside was involved." He watched closely for a reaction.
To the Directeur’s credit, he hid his anger well. "I’m going to overlook that remark, Commander," he said slowly, then turned and walked away.
Kyle watched him go, then stretched, suddenly remembered that it wasn’t a good idea to do that as pain shot through his side. He coughed as he let his body ease back, then slowly stood. "Do you have the Senator’s appointments?" he asked.
Celia glanced on her desk. "Quiet evening at home with her family and twenty Central Access Agency security agents."
"Good." Kyle stood and yawned. "Damn." He looked at her again. "What’s the extension for the car pool?"
Celia smiled slightly. "One-two-three."
"Of course," he muttered. "Forgot that I can’t drive since I’m technically high."
"I can drop you off at your place," she offered.
He shook his head. "It’s okay. I’ll get a driver to Jill’s office, then go home with her."
"You sure?"
"Might as well abuse the power while I have it." He grabbed the phone.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Keren walked out of the office and tried not to smile. She had told Jillian a load of shit, spinning a highly believable, yet completely fake story of why she was there. She listened patiently as the doctor spoke, and agreed to set up another appointment.
Chalmers looked up as Jillian stuck her head out the door.
"I’ll be done in a few minutes," Jillian told the agent.
Keren waited until Jillian went back into her office, then she walked to one of the doors on the wall. Pretending to pull on one, she grunted loud enough for the other person to hear her.
Chalmers glanced up at the woman and saw that she was having trouble with a stuck door. "Need a hand?"
She turned, slightly frightened, then calmed. "Okay." She took a step back as he approached.
Chalmers walked past her, not concerned since she was one of Jillian’s patients, and put his hand on the door. He opened it easily, and suspicion once again surfaced about the woman he had earlier dismissed as a threat. He put his hand on his weapon and started to turn the same instant he felt pain at the base of his neck, was shoved from behind and into the washroom.
~~~~~~~~~
Senator Plow sat nervously in the back of the car, weary from the day’s events, and wanting nothing more than to be sitting in her own living room doing nothing. It was rare that she had a free evening, and she actually liked an occasional one here and there.
She hissed in shock as the car stopped suddenly, and became worried. "What’s going on?" she called out.
"Just traffic, Senator," came the reply.
She calmed slightly, and wished she was home. Had she known that the assassination attempt would have rattled her this much, she might have vetoed it. Although, he nerves were realistic for someone who had gone through what she had. Al she had to do was wait a few weeks, and she was guaranteed the leadership of the country.
Pushing a small button on the personal recorder set in her watch, she started to speak, then stopped. She was going to memo herself about disbanding the little team that was searching for her assassin, but thought better of it. Canceling them now might tip someone off that it had all been a hoax.
She smiled tightly. She could put up with them for a week longer.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Commander?"
Kyle’s eyes popped open at the voice, and he sat straight. "Yeah," he whispered as he ran a hand over his eyes. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep during the short drive to Jillian’s office. He was about to make some comment about it, but stopped when he saw a figure disappear around a corner.
Not sure if he imagined it or not, he quickly got out of the vehicle. "Come with me," he ordered the driver, not waiting while she shut the car off and climbed out.
"Sir?" she asked as she followed him into the building, and made it to the elevator as the doors were closing.
Kyle punched the button for the top floor. "Come on come on come on," he muttered under his breath. He glanced at the woman with him. "I think I saw Keren Pelgrew…but, I’m not sure."
The woman nodded once as she placed her hand on her weapon as the elevator opened on the top floor.
Kyle did a quick check of the hall, then quietly and quickly made his way to Jillian’s office. He opened the door and looked in, then entered the empty waiting room. Everything looked normal, but he couldn’t get rid of the nervous feeling he had when he saw the figure go around the building.
"Wait here," he ordered and crossed to the office door.
"Yes, sir."
Kyle placed a hand on the knob, and knocked with his other hand.
"I’ll be another couple minutes, agent," a voice called from within. Kyle nearly sunk to the floor in relief at hearing the voice. Then it dawned on him that Jillian thought Chalmers was in the waiting area. Kyle opened the door, not caring if she had a patient or not. "Where is he?"
Jillian looked up. "Nice to see you, too."
Kyle blinked impatiently. "Where is Sub-Agent Chalmers?"
"In the waiting room," Jillian said.
"He's not there," Kyle pushed his jacket back and rested his hand on the hilt of his weapon. "When was the last time you saw him."
Jillian's gaze never left his hand. "About five minutes ago."
Kyle looked behind him, said something to someone else, and stepped to the side as a tall thin woman entered. "Stay in this office." He looked at Jillian then at the woman.
"Kyle?"
"Jillian, please." He turned and left, the door closing behind him. He turned as it opened again, not surprised to find Jillian standing there. He shook his head as he turned again, and stooped. "What's in there?" He pointed at a door.
"Washroom," Jillian answered.
Kyle pulled out his weapon as he walked to it, put his hand on the knob, and slowly opened it. "Fuck!" he yelled harshly at the view that greeted him.
Sub-Agent Chalmers' body was crumpled in a corner, bleeding from a vicious cut that crossed his throat, his eyes staring at nothing.
He shut the door before Jillian could see, and pulled his phone out.
~~~~~~~
Keren sipped a coffee as she watched police and an ambulance screeched to a halt in front of the office building. Soon, a body on a stretcher was taken out, and away in the speeding ambulance.
She waited a while longer, just until Kyle and his woman walked out, and smiled sarcastically as he had a comforting arm around Jillian, who seemed on the verge of collapsing. Keren sighed in contentment. It had been a good day for her, and it wasn’t even five in the evening.
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