“Not us, we only want to stay alive,” Jake told him.
“Anyhow,” Carpenter continued. “There I was reconnoitering the HQ, when — Jesus! I could not believe my eyes! This jet came whizzing down the street, crashed into the hotel and exploded. Jesus, I ain’t seen anything like it.”
“What happened to the hotel?” Jake asked.
Carpenter made a toppling action with his forearm. “9/11, man, a goddamned 9/11.”
The gang gasped as they digested this newest piece of information. “We heard the explosion, dude.” Jake whistled. “And you thought that we were behind the attack?”
“Fucking A. I was kinda hoping. That’s my sort of retaliation,” he said. “Cut them off at the knees.”
Jake smiled and said. “Good luck with that, buddy. We don’t want a war. We just wanna get out of here. You’re welcome to tag along. I’m Jake.”
Carpenter shook his hand, “Lei –, Lew –is, Lewis Carpenter.” He covered. “So, how are you planning on escaping?”
Jake started, “Well, we thought our best chance—”
Winnie cut him short. “You ask a mighty amount of questions for a stranger.” She gave the newcomer the evil eye. “Well, what you got to say for yourself, hmm?”
“No offence ma'am, I’ve been on my own since this started and I wanted to talk to a fellow human being. The loneliness has turned me into a chatter-box, I meant no harm.”
This convinced Jake, he signaled for him to sit, as did the rest of the group and they settled back down to an impromptu meal. Jake offered him an opened can of beans. He sat and ate the baked beans, cold, and straight from the can. Winnie eyed him suspiciously. She pulled Jake aside. “This is too much of a coincidence. Look at him; he ain’t starving. He ain’t been out on the streets, trying to survive. His shoes ain’t even scuffed.”
“You think he’s a plant?” he asked, then after a moment said. “Why would the Government do that?”
She pondered the question, and then shrugged. “Well, no, it don’t make no sense, but he’s up to something. I don’t like it.”
“We’ll keep our eyes on him. But I just can’t think why they’d send in spies.”
Carpenter saw Winnie whispering to Jake who seemed to be the self-elected leader of the little group. He took off his boot, pretended to rub his foot as if it were aching, then twisted a cover from the heel and flicked a transmitter switch on a tiny GPS tracker hidden in the false heel.
Mission accomplished, thought Lieutenant Carpenter with a smile.
CHAPTER 26
Lieutenant Carpenter’s movements were now being monitored. He was on a top-secret mission entrusted to him by General Malloy himself, no less. He felt honored and could not wait to tell his mom and pop, after a suitable period of course. It was a top-secret mission, after all. He would not let the general down. He thought of him crushed under the collapsed hotel and sighed. Still if anyone could survive the catastrophe, it would be him. He was the toughest son of a bitch he’d ever met, no desk jock neither, he led from the front, not like those Washington pussies who’d never been up the sharp end. No, you could respect a man like Malloy.
Carpenter had thrived in the army, and his natural cunning had made him rise to the top, he applied for airborne training and knocked them dead at Fort Bragg. From there he’d been recruited into a special forces brigade, where his unusual knack for becoming a local effortlessly, made him perfect for counter-terrorism. He could blend seamlessly and could quickly pick up the patois and vernacular of the local population. Commended many times, Major Osborne took him under his wing as his rising star, and pushed him forward to General Malloy for his special mission.
His mission was of the utmost importance, to track and infiltrate the terrorists. They knew the terrorists were being helped, probably by little rag-tag armies like this band of losers. To fool the little gang had been a cinch. They had taken him on face value, apart from the old coon — she was watching him. He’d snuff her out if needs be, the general had given him a blank check to track the terrorists, he had unlimited resources, and a license to kill — just like James Bond, his all time hero. The mission simple, to flush out the terrorist Sophie Garcia, he had a bribe that would be irresistible for any information leading to her capture.
He knew that in the present climate there was no honor amongst thieves and if the misguided folk hiding the terrorists knew that squealing on them would earn them the most tremendous reward, then now might be the right time to drop it into conversation, while everyone was eating, feeling full, relaxed, and content. “Have you heard about the reward?” he asked casually.
“Reward, what reward?” Jake asked, tossing his bean can and opening a coke.
“For information leading to the capture of the terrorists,” he replied nonchalantly, scraping the bottom of the bean can, feigning starvation.
“What terrorists?” Winnie asked, her eyes narrowing. “We ain’t heard nothing about no terrorists.”
Lieutenant Carpenter smiled at them. “The terrorists responsible for this catastrophe — the virus.” he prompted.
“You saying it’s not a natural epidemic?” Jake queried, totally baffled by this. He gazed around his gang, noting everyone else was listening to the newcomer avidly.
The lieutenant shook his head in dismay. “A man-made virus manufactured by some rag-headed haters of the US.” He smiled. “Or the Bubonic Plague, here, in present day United States, I mean, Come on.”
Most of the gang seemed to agree with this theory. It was what they wanted to believe rather than some ancient microbe coming back to wipe them out. “Makes sense,” said a bald man in a Kiss t-shirt.
“How come you’re so well informed?” Winnie asked suspiciously.
“Firstly, I personally think hijacking a plane is not the work of the Bubonic Plague,” he said sarcastically. “Or crashing said plane into the military HQ is not the work of the Bubonic Plague. Secondly this.” He reached in his pocket and unfolded a flyer. “I took this from a tree down the street, it’s offering a reward, and has a couple of photographs of the people they’re interested in.”
“Let’s have a look.” The gang were keen to read about the reward. “How much money are they offering?” asked the guy in the Kiss T-shirt.
The gang’s sudden greed surprised Jake. It disturbed him. He took the flyer and saw a grainy photo of Sophie and his recently made friend, Luke. “This ain’t right. I know for a fact this dude ain’t involved.”
“Do you know him, where is he?” Carpenter asked a little too quickly.
“It ain’t him, I’m telling you,” he said firmly.
“If he’s innocent then he can prove it, can’t he? Meanwhile you’ve pocketed the reward,” Carpenter said fairly.
The crowd jumped up on their feet. “What about the reward?”
“Think about the money!” shouted another.
“How much is the reward?” a woman wanted to know.
“Oh, the reward is not money…” Carpenter answered cryptically, drawing it out, “It’s better — much, much better than money.” He smiled broadly knowing that he had them hooked.
13:00 PM
Luke and Sophie trudged wearily towards the docks, soaked in sweat, the hazmat suits doubled the heat and their exhaustion. “I remember a speedboat hire place up ahead. I did a story on it once, because they don’t lock their boats at night, as apparently, the replacement costs to fix the locks were astronomical. Yet on the odd occasion that one of them was taken for a joyride it was usually abandoned somewhere nearby, it made a quirky story because it was cheaper to leave the speedboats unlocked and let them be stolen.”