The Law of Three

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Home Sweet Home

 -- Manhattan --

Sarkey’s apartment had changed since the last time she’d seen it. Her living room had been turned into a command post. The furniture had been shoved against a wall. A small arsenal of assault rifles, semi-auto pistols and stacks of ammunition clips rested on her coffee table. Two folding tables had been placed in the center of the room. A full suite of video surveillance equipment and computers weighed them down. The chairs from her small breakfast nook had been positioned around the tables.

The monitors displayed exterior angles of the street from north and south, several different views of the entrance to Sarkey’s apartment building and interior views of the hall, stairs and apartment door. They’d been mounted the previous evening by Mann’s personal FBI surveillance team. Although not as elaborate as the warehouse set up, the surveillance array would be sufficient to give them enough warning to prepare for an attack from Union gunmen. However, if the same assassin made an attempt, all the equipment would do is record her death and the death of those who tried to defend her. She knew that’s exactly what would happen if they stayed hunkered down in her apartment.

Warehouse déjà vu only this time Sarkey had the target on her back.

Sarkey glanced around the living room before settling in a chair in front of the monitor bank. Jamie came out of her kitchen with two bottles of water. He handed her one and took a seat next to her.

“Mann’s got teams placed in apartments across the street and in vans up and down the block.” Jamie stated the obvious; “You know he’s using you as bait.”

“You mean us, don’t you partner?”

“I really don’t want to be anywhere near you when...” Jamie tailed off. The handsome features on his black face showed a troubling look of concern. He looked at her and smiled sheepishly. “I meant that as a joke.”

“You’re married with a baby. You’ve seen the tapes. If you stay here your wife’s a widow and your child’s an orphan.”

Sarkey reached over and touched his arm. “Go home, Jamie.”

Jamie shook his head and stood up. He started to pace. Jamie ran 5 to 8 miles everyday. When he couldn’t run he paced. She’d been his partner long enough to know this was how he processed when seeking a solution to a difficult problem. She sat back and waited patiently, watching the monitors and the procession of pedestrians and cars proceeding up and down her block.

“You know I’m not leaving. That means I might survive but then I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing I abandoned you to that damn assassin.”

Sarkey didn’t respond. He had to come to the solution on his own.

“And if I stay. Well, it’s like you said.”

Jamie continued to pace.

“I can’t leave you and we can’t stay. So...”

He stopped mid stride and faced her.

“We leave.”

“Leave?”

“We go mobile. No more sitting duck. We figure this shit out on the move and when we know what we’re dealing with then we take the fight to them. We take down the Cuman Union.”

Sarkey smiled for the first time in days.

“That’s my Jamie.”

Jamie grabbed his chair and turned it to face hers. Sitting down he leaned over elbows on his knees, staring at her intently.

“Of course you already know.”

“Know?” Sarkey asked.

“What we’re dealing with.”

“Not the exact nature but, yeah, I know.”

“Time to spill, partner.”

Sarkey sighed then told him everything she experienced. She watched his eyes grow wide with disbelief, then resignation as he started to comprehend the incomprehensible. When she was done she took a long drink from her bottle of water and waited for him to call her crazy.

“You’re insane. You know that.”

At least he didn’t disappoint.

“You get off on running, computers and surveillance. I will always let you take the lead on that. Me? I interrogate, kick and punch bags in the gym, hit the shooting range every day and practice tactics and training with the team.”

Sarkey paused for a moment realizing all the men she’d trained and served with, save Jamie, were dead. Her eyes went slowly out of focus as the enormity of the loss smacked her full force.

“Sarah?” Jamie said softly.

Sarkey blinked several times and took a deep breath, gathering herself.

“You always let me take the lead when we go tactical,” she continued. “Head shot, Jamie. Point blank. You ever know me to miss? ”

Jamie sat back and mulled over everything he heard and matched it to what he’d seen on the tapes.

“Alright. I can’t even say the words so I’m just going to roll with it. I’ll handle background on the CU. Hopefully I’ll find something everyone else has missed that we can exploit. We need an edge.”

Jamie stood up and began pacing again. Sarkey knew he was getting in the zone. With his mastery of intelligence and surveillance and her martial skills they might just have a chance.

“Whom do we go to for wiretap authorizations?”

“Jamie. We’re getting ready to go clear off the reservation We’re undertaking an operation to hunt down this assassin and kill him along with any CU that get in our way. You think I give a damn about wiretaps and search warrants? This is kill or be killed. You know that, right?”

Jamie stopped pacing long enough to say, “Jesus. We’re really doing this.” Then he started pacing again. “What about the protection detail? Right outside your front door and the entrance to this building are a bunch of guys who aren’t just going to let us walk out of here and disappear.”

“Leave them to me. They’re either going to join us or go home.”

“Right, and just how the hell are you going to accomplish that?”

“You think Mann or anyone else clued them into the fact that they’re on a suicide mission? I’m going to show them the tapes of what happened at the warehouse. They’ll get the idea pretty quick that my apartment is ground zero for the sequel.”

Jamie stopped his pacing and leaned over the table.

“How the hell did you get copies of the tapes?”

“I set up the warehouse job. I’m not stupid, Jamie. The FBI computer in Washington wasn’t the only one receiving the transmission. I have the video safely tucked away.”

Jamie nodded. “Just like I taught you.”

“I beamed it to the cloud you built. If anything happened I wanted you to find it. Which you would have eventually.”

“When the student becomes the teacher,” he said amazed and proud. “After these guys see the tapes how many you think will stick around?”

Sarkey laughed out loud.

“Are you serious?”

Sarkey smirked, turning her attention back to the bank of monitors. She pulled a laptop toward her and brought up a web browser. The she began the process of accessing Jamie’s cloud.

After waiting a moment more for Sarkey to answer Jamie said, dejected, “That many, huh.”

Then he resumed pacing, working out logistics in his head.