Special Agent Kenneth Aida goes missing, and Special Agent Rebecca Rogers must find him.
The Ick Files III
Part 1
It was late afternoon one day in the early spring. Two people, a man and a woman, exited from the elevator into the underground parking garage. The dark-haired young man looked at the redheaded young lady, smiled, and took her hand as they walked towards the parked cars.
“Hey, Becky,” the man said, “I was thinking…”
“Oh, you were, were you, Kenneth?” the woman said.
“Yeah. How about going to dinner tonight?”
Becky, also known as Special Agent Rebecca Rogers, smiled at Kenneth, also known as Special Agent Kenneth Aida. “I’d love to, Kenneth! Did you have any place in particular in mind?”
“How about Chinese?”
“Ling Wah’s in Georgetown?”
“Yeah.”
“Sounds perfect!”
“Great! I’ll pick you up at 8:00.”
“All right.”
By then, they had reached Rogers’ green Buick. The couple kissed, and then Rogers climbed in her car and drove off.
Aida watched her drive off, then walked a couple of rows over to his red Mustang convertible. He was putting his key in the lock when a footstep sounded directly behind him. Before he could turn around, a sharp blow connected with his head, and he passed out.
The clock on the wall of the little apartment chimed eight times. Rogers sat on her sofa in a red cocktail dress. She listened intently for the sound of footsteps in the hall, waiting for a knock at her apartment door.
She waited.
And waited.
And waited.
The clock chimed the half-hour.
Rogers sighed heavily.
“Where IS he?!” she muttered to herself. “He’s never been late before. He’s always been right on time.” She thought for a few minutes. “Maybe something came up at the agency…”
She picked up the phone and called the agency.
“Kelly,” she said to the receptionist. “This is Agent Rogers. Is Agent Aida there?”
“No, Agent. I’ve not seen him since you and he left this afternoon.”
“Oh. Okay. Thank you, Kelly.”
Rogers hung the phone up and looked at the clock. It was almost 8:45.
“Where the hell IS he????”
Aida stirred awake, and instantly wished he’d stayed unconcious. His head throbbed like someone playing drums with it. He was tied tightly to a chair. And a blinding light shone directly in his face.
“What the hell’s going on?” Aida asked.
No answer.
“Where am I?”
Still no answer.
“Come on! Someone answer me! I know there’s someone there!”
No reply.
Aida huffed and started fighting against his bindings.
A redheaded man of about fifty, in a finely tailored brown suit, watched Aida from behind a one-way mirror. He smiled viciously.
Ten o’clock.
A green Buick pulled into the agency’s underground parking lot and parked in the first available space. Rogers climbed out of her car. She’d changed out of her dress and into a more reasonable black pants suit. She searched the parking lot until she found Aida’s red Mustang. The keys were still in the door. There was no sign of Aida.
A pang of fear went through Rogers.
Her eyes scanned the ground around the car. She didn’t see anything. She dropped to her knees and looked under the car. She found a police-issue nightstick. She grabbed it and stood up.
Rogers stared at the nightstick in her hand.
“Oh, Kenneth,” she said softly. “What’s happened to you?”
To be continued
Part 2
A redheaded woman in a black pants suit opened the door marked Security and walked in. A young blonde-haired man in a security uniform sat at a counter, his back to the door. He was surrounded by multiple montiors showing different views of the agency and surrounding areas. He was singing to himself and swaying back and forth in his seat.
The woman walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
Startled, the man jumped in his seat, set the magazine he’d been reading down, and removed the headphones of the portable radio he’d been listening to. He turned around and faced the woman, a blush of embarassment on his cheeks. Then he saw the nightstick she held in her hand, and a look of fear crossed his face.
“Y…yes?” the man stammered.
The woman pulled a badge from her pocket and showed it to the man. He looked at it and sighed with relief.
“What can I do for you, Agent Rogers?” he asked.
“My partner, Agent Kenneth Aida, is missing. His car is still in the parking lot. I found the keys still in the door. This nightstick was found beneath the car. I was wondering if you can pull up security video of the underground garage.”
“Sure thing, Agent. Not a problem. What time?”
“Now.”
If this were an anime, a sweatdrop would have formed by the man’s head. “Uh…I mean, video of what time in the garage?”
“Oh. I knew that.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Let’s see,” Rogers continued, ignoring the sarcastic remark of the young man. “Kenneth and I left work about 3:30. Say about five minutes to get to my car…Look for video from about 3:35 this afternoon on.”
“All right. And what are we looking for?”
“Something suspicious at Kenneth’s red Mustang convertible.”
“Which section of the parking lot?”
“G-3.”
“All right. Coming right up, Agent Rogers.”
“Thank you.”
The young man turned around and began typing away on his keyboard. On a nearby monitor, video footage began playing, with a time index running in the bottom right corner, starting with 15:35:01 PM and counting up. At 15:37:36, the image of a young, dark-haired man walked towards a red Mustang convertible. He pulled keys from his pocket and started to unlock the car door. Just then, from the shadows, a tall, dark-haired man in a security uniform walked up behind the man and hit him over the head with a nightstick. The security man caught the other man as he passed out. The nightstick fell to the ground and rolled under the car. The security man slung the other man over his shoulder and walked off.
The young man stopped the video playback and turned to Rogers.
“Well?” he asked her.
“It’s as I feared,” she said. “But who was that man in the security guard uniform?”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t work for us. I’d have recognized him if he did.”
A door opened somewhere behind him. The young, dark-haired man tied to the chair turned his head to look, but all he could see was white spots, owing to the fact that he’d had a bright light shining in his face since he’d been put in the room. He had no idea how long ago that’d been.
“Who’s there?” he asked.
No response.
“I said, who’s there!” he repeated.
Still no reply.
“Come on! Someone, talk to me! Tell me where I am and what’s going on!”
This time, he got a response. However, it wasn’t the kind of response he wanted.
“MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” echoed throughout the room.
Then the door closed.
The man on the chair, Special Agent Kenneth Aida, growled and resumed trying to loosen his bonds.
Rogers walked into a room marked Forensics. A middle-aged, brown-haired lady in a white lab coat approached her.
“Rebecca,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you here this late at night. I thought you left for the day.”
“I did, Jenny,” she said. “It’s an emergency. Kenneth’s missing, and this nightstick is the only clue I have.” She handed the nightstick to Jenny. “Could you see if you can lift any fingerprints off it? I know mine are on there, but see if anyone else’s are and identify them if possible.”
“Sure thing, Rebecca. It’ll take a few minutes. Why don’t you go get a coffee or something? You look like you’re about to drop.”
“Yeah. That sounds good. All right. I’ll be back.”
Rogers walked off, and Jenny headed off to test the nightstick.
A fiftyish, redheaded man watched Aida from behind a one-way mirror. A wicked smile was plastered on his lips. A younger man with hair so blonde it was almost white walked up to him.
“Sir,” the youngster said. “When are you going to let him know what’s going on?”
“Not quite yet, Richard,” the other man said. “But soon. I want to leave him alone in there for a little while longer. It creates a sense of mystery. I can only wonder what sort of ideas he’s creating in his mind as to what’s happening to him.”
“Ah. I see.”
“Good. Now, go, Richard. Bring me a cup of coffee.”
Rogers walked back into the Forensics lab. Jenny saw her and walked up.
“Well?” Rogers asked.
“We were able to pull off one clear set of prints that weren’t yours.” Rogers started to smile. “However,”
Jenny continued, and Rogers’ would be smile turned into a frown, “the prints are not on file anywhere. We’re unable to identify them.”
“Oh. I see.”
“I’m sorry, Rebecca. I know how much Kenneth means to you. I only wish I could have been of more help.”
“I know you do, Jenny. Thanks.”
Jenny noticed how sad Rogers looked, and hugged her in an attempt to comfort her.
Jenny let Rogers go. “Why don’t you go on home, Rebecca?” she said. “Get some sleep so you can think clearly.”
“Yeah, you’re right, Jenny. Maybe just a little nap.”
“You want me to drive you home?”
“No, thanks. I can make it.”
“All right. Let me know if I can help you in any way.”
Rogers gave her a small smile. “I will, Jenny. Thanks.”
Rogers walked off.
To be continued
Part 3
Ring!
Ring!!
Ring!!!
The young redhead stirred in her bed and groaned. She reached over to the nightstand next to her bed and lifted the receiver of the ringing telephone.
“Hello?” she said drowsily. “I hope this is good. Do you have any idea of the time?”
“Hello, Agent Rogers,” said a friendly voice on the other end. “And yes I do know the time. It’s 9:30 in the morning.”
“SHIT!” Rogers said, sitting up in her bed, instantly wide awake. “You’re kidding, Kelly, right?”
“No, Agent. Look at your clock.”
Rogers did look at her clock, on the desk across the room from her, and groaned. It WAS 9:30 in the morning.
“Oh, my God! I can’t believe I slept this late. So, why’d you call, Kelly? To see why I hadn’t come in yet?”
“No. I figured you might have needed the sleep. Dr. Jenny Reynolds told me about your conversation last night.”
“Oh. So, why did you call me, then?”
“A package just arrived for you. I need you to sign for it.”
Rogers looked at the phone in puzzlement. “A package?” she said after a moment. “For me?”
“Yes, Agent Rogers.”
Rogers sighed. “All right. I’ll be there shortly.”
“All right, Agent Rogers. See you shortly.”
Rogers hung up, threw her bedcovers off, and got up from bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fifteen minutes later, Rogers’ green Buick pulled into the agency’s underground parking lot, her tires squealing as she made a very sharp turn and pulled into a parking space.
Kenneth’d be pleased with that move, she thought with a sardonic yet sad smile as she threw the car into park and shut the engine off.
Rogers got out of her car and hurried to the elevator. When it stopped, she hurried down the hall to the main office and the desk of the young, auburn-haired receptionist, Kelly McCallister.
A man in a FedEx uniform paced by the desk with a small package in one hand and a clipboard in the other.
“Ah!” Kelly said when Rogers stepped up. “Agent Rogers! Good morning!”
“Good morning, Kelly,” Rogers said.
The FedEx man walked up to Rogers. “Special Agent Rebecca Rogers?” he asked.
“Yes,” Rogers said.
“I have a package for you. I was told to get only you to sign for it.”
“Odd,” she said.
“Yes. But orders are orders.”
“I know what you mean. All right, then. Where do I sign?”
He handed her the clipboard that held a list of signatures. “Sign on numer 11, please.”
She did so, and as he took the clipboard back he handed her the small package. “Thank you, Agent. Have a nice day.”
“Yeah…,” she said as she looked at the package. “You to.”
The FedEx man left, and Rogers walked off into the interior of the main office. When she reached a closed door with the brass nameplates of Aida and Rogers on it, she unlocked the door and entered the room.
The room was small, and sparse in the way of furniture. A shelf with only a few books stood to the left. Two desks, one cluttered and one neat, sat in the middle of the room, facing each other. Three file cabinets stood side-by-side against the far wall. Rogers switched on the flourescent overhead lights and sat down in the black leather swivel chair at the neat desk. She looked at the small, square box in her hand for a minute, wondering what it could be. Finally, curiousity got the better of her and she opened it. Inside the small FedEx box was another small box. She opened it, and gasped at the contents.
A Rolex watch.
A very familiar Rolex watch.
Tears came with the memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rogers looked at a display case in a jewelry store. A young, handsome, black-haired man looked with her. She pointed to a watch.
“How about this one, Kenneth?” she asked. “You like it?”
“Yes,” he said. “It’s a very nice Rolex. But it’s too expensive. I don’t want you to spend so much money on me, Becky.”
“But I want to, Kenneth. It’s your birthday. And I don’t have anything else to do with my inheritance from my parents. It’s too much money for me. I don’t need it all, and I’d never be able to spend it all on myself. So, let me buy you this, at least.”
“Oh, all right, Becky. As long as it’s not a problem for you to spend that much.”
“Oh, it’s not,” she said with a smile. “It’s my pleasure.”
So, she bought the Rolex, and gave it to him at their private birthday party later that night at his apartment, before they really set about celebrating his birthday in the bedroom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Oh, Kenneth,” Rogers said softly as she looked at the watch in the box. Then she buried her head in her arms and cried for a while on the desk.
Ten minutes later, she wiped her eyes and looked at the FedEx wrapper. She found the label for the return address. However, it gave only a P.O. Box number. She clasped the label tightly in her hand and walked from the office and back to Kelly.
“Kelly,” she said.
“Yes, Agent Rogers?” she asked.
“Mitch isn’t here right now, and since I know you have some skills beside that of a receptionist, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?”
“Sure thing. I’d be happy to brush up on some of my various skills for you.”
“Great.” Rogers handed her the FedEx wrapper. “Find out who owns the P.O.Box given as the return address for me.”
“No problem, Agent!”
“Thanks, Kelly.”
Rogers then left Kelly to do her work, returning to the seclusion of her office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A door opened behind the dark-haired man tied to the chair.
“Who’s there?” he asked. “Talk to me!”
“Special Agent Kenneth Aida,” said a deep voice behind him. “It’s time.”
The blinding light in Aida’s face was suddenly shut off. Aida could see nothing in the total darkness except residual spots from the light. He heard footsteps walk up behind him. Then a gag was suddenly placed over his mouth and a needle pricked his neck. Within moments, he passed out.
To be continued
Part 4
A tall, dark-haired man in a FedEx uniform entered the dimly lit room. A redheaded man stood by a long examining table on which a young, dark-haired man was tied down. A man in a doctor’s lab coat stood over the young man with a needle.
“Sir,” said the FedEx man.
“Yes, Miles?” said the redheaded man.
“She signed it. She actually thought I was a FedEx worker.”
“Good job. You may change out of your disguise now. Burn it afterwards.”
“Yes, sir.”
Miles left, and the redhead turned back to the examination table.
“Soon, Agent Aida, you will be able to play your part in my plan,” he said as the doctor stuck the young man with the needle.
The redheaded woman picked her head up off her desk and wiped tears from her eyes. “Come,” she called.
The door opened and an auburn-haired young lady walked into the office.
“Agent Rogers,” the lady said.
“Yes, Kelly?” said the woman at the desk.
“I finished the task you asked me to do.”
“What’d you find out?” Rogers asked eagerly.
“Well,” Kelly said as she walked up to the desk. She put a FedEx wrapper down on the desk. “The P.O.Box number is a fake. I checked all over. But I did learn that one of the local FedEx offices is missing a uniform and clipboard.”
“So that guy wasn’t really a FedEx worker?”
“That’d be my assumption.”
“This just doesn’t make any sense, Kelly.”
“Yes, I know.”
Rogers looked at the cluttered desk across from hers and was silent for a minute. Then she looked back at Kelly. “You know, Kelly. For some reason, that FedEx man seems familiar.”
“How so?”
“Like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know! Don’t you think if I knew, I wouldn’t be sitting here!”
Kelly flinched. “S-Sorry, Agent Rogers…”
Rogers sighed. “No, Kelly. I should be the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I’m just so upset and frustrated right now. I miss Kenneth, and I hate not being able to find him.”
Kelly nodded in understanding. “Agent Rogers, may I ask you something I’ve been wondering for a while?”
“Sure, Kelly. What is it?”
“Well, everyone knows that you and Agent Aida are more than just partners. How is it that you’re still allowed to work together?”
“Well, President Carlson put Kenneth and me together on that missing nuclear warheads case, remember?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, after that case, while I was in the hospital, Kenneth made some calls to the higher ups, asking for me to stay his partner. I understand that President Carlson himself ordered us to be partners permanently, no ifs, ands, or buts.” Rogers paused, then gave Kelly a wry smile. “You know, I think the President put us together for a reason. I think he knew what would develop between us. Kenneth and the President have a history, too. I’m not sure of all the details, but I know they go back a ways. He knew Kenneth needed someone, and knew I’d be good for him. So he put us together, and made sure we’d stay partners.”
“So, the President played Cupid, huh?”
“That’s what I think.”
There was silence for a second. Then…
“Oh!” Rogers said, standing up suddenly.
“What is it, Agent Rogers?” Kelly asked.
“I just remembered why that FedEx man seemed familiar!”
“Why?”
“He’s the guy on the security video! The one who knocked Kenneth out and carried him away!”
“He is?!”
“Yeah! But I still have no idea who he is. His prints aren’t on file.”
“Well, if you can get me the video, I can try to do a facial match.”
“You can? Thanks! I’ll get Security to give me the tape and I’ll bring it to you.”
A speeding, old white van pulled to a screeching halt at an alley. A side door on the van opened partially, and a young, dark-haired man in a business suit was shoved out. He rolled part of the way into the alley, then just lay there, unmoving. The van’s door closed, and then the vehicle tore off down the street, leaving tire marks on the asphalt.
About ten minutes later, the man groaned and woke up. He stood up, wobbling with dizziness. He put his hand to his head and stumbled out of the alley.
Rogers walked up to her apartment door, fumbling in her pocket for her keys. When she finally got the keys out and in the door, she found the door was already unlocked.
“What the hell…” she said softly.
She opened the door, and gasped.
A dark-haired man in his thirties, in a slightly ragged business suit, sat on her sofa.
“KENNETH!” she cried out in shock.
She ran over to the sofa just as the man was standing up. She threw her arms around him in a fierce hug.
“Oh, Kenneth,” she said. “I was afraid I’d never see you again. I had no idea what happened to you, where you were, or anything. I’ve tried to find you, but all my leads turned out to be dead ends…”
“Shhh…” Aida said. “It’s all right, Becky. I’m here now.”
With that, he kissed her deeply, then carried her to the bedroom.
The two lovers were in middle of a passionate reunion in the bed, with Aida on top, when…
Kill her!
Aida heard the words in his head. A strange look entered his eyes, and his hands slowly wrapped around Rogers’s throat and squeezed.
Rogers’s eyes widened in shock, and her mouth moved, asking a silent question.
Aida continued to squeeze her throat.
To be continued…
Part 5
Kill her!
The words echoed in the mind of the young, dark-haired man and his hands tighted around the throat of the redheaded woman he was on top of. His glazed-over eyes held no expression as he looked down on her frightened face.
“Ken…neth…”she managed to squeak out. “S…stop, p…please…. Ken…neth…”
At the sound of her voice speaking his name, the man’s hands froze. Slowly, the glazed look in his eyes faded. He saw the fear on her face, and his hands choking her. He gasped in shock. Quickly, he released his grip on her throat and sat up.
“Oh, my God, Becky!” he said as the woman gasped for breath and sat up. “I…I’m so sorry. I…I don’t know what I was doing. I… I’d never…”
“I know,” the woman, Special Agent Rebecca Rogers, said weakly as she rubbed her throat. “I know. The look in your eyes as you choked me…It was a vacant stare. Like you weren’t there. Something must have happened to you while you were missing. But what, Kenneth? Tell me. Tell me what happened.”
He was quiet for a minute as he thought back. “Well, I don’t remember much, Becky,” said Special Agent Kenneth Aida finally. “There’s a couple of blank spots.”
“Well, tell me what you do remember,” Rogers said.
Aida thought back. “I remember we made a dinner date to go to Ling Wah’s as we walked to your car.”
“Yes.”
“I watched you drive off, and then went to my car. I was unlocking the door when someone stepped up behind me and knocked me out. Then I woke up tied to a chair in a room. A bright light shone directly in my face. I have no idea how long I was there before someone finally came in, gagged me, and stuck me in the neck with a needle. The next thing I knew, I woke up in an alley. My head felt dizzy, but I forced myself to stand up. And I came here. You weren’t home, so I decided to wait for you.”
“So, whatever happened to you, whatever made you want to kill me, happened during one of those periods that you don’t have any memory for.”
“I guess so. You playing at being Nancy Drew again, Becky?”
She smiled slightly. “Well, at least one of us has to figure out why you’d want to try to kill you own beloved fiancée and partner, Kenneth.”
“True. All right. So, you think something happened to me during one of my blackouts that would make me want to kill you. What do you think could have happened?”
“Well…”
She started to formulate a theory, but at that moment, the phone rang.
“I’ll get it,” Aida said.
He got up from the bed, walked over to the nightstand beside the bed, and answered the phone. “Rogers residence. Kenneth Aida speaking.”
“Agent Aida?!” the agency’s receptionist, Kelly, said on the other end of the phone. “It’s really you??”
“Uh, yeah, Kelly. It’s me.”
“But…I thought you were kidnapped.”
“I was. But I’m not now.”
“Obviously. What happened?”
“You’ll know that when we do.”
“HUH???”
“We’re not sure yet exactly what all happened. I can’t remember some things.”
“Ohhhh….”
“So, why’d you call, Kelly?”
“Oh! Um, I have the results of the test Agent Rogers wanted me to run for her.”
“T…Test?”
What sort of test could Becky have wanted her to run? Aida wondered. He looked at Rogers, who sat on the bed and watched him with a curious look in her eyes. A pregnancy test, maybe? No. She’d have to have a doctor do that. Unless, she wanted it kept secret…
“Yeah,” Kelly said. “She wanted me to try run a facial recognition test on a person on a surveillance tape.”
“Ohhhh…” Aida said, both relieved and disappointed. “So, you got the results, you say?”
“Yeah. If you and Agent Rogers want to come down, I can show you.”
“This is the screenshot I used to run the test,” Kelly said as she brought up a still image on her computer screen.
It was an image of a tall, dark-haired man in a security guard uniform. The picture showed the man standing behind Aida, a policeman’s nightstick raised to strike.
“So that’s the guy who knocked me out, huh?” Aida said as he looked over the auburn-haired receptionist’s right shoulder.
“Yes,” Kelly said.
She punched a couple of keyboard keys, drawing a box around the mystery man’s head and enlarging that picture. Then she hit a couple other keys, and a new, frontal-view picture popped up on screen next to the enlarged security tape image. It was the same man, only a few years younger.
“This new image is what the Facial Recognition Program found,” Kelly said.
“Who is it?” Rogers asked as she looked over Kelly’s left shoulder.
Kelly hit a couple of keys. A window popped up on the monitor, and text giving the vital statistics of the man in question scrolled down it.
“His name is Miles Watts,” Kelly said. “He’s ex-NSA.”
“What’s he doing kidnapping me?” Aida said.
“I’m not sure. He was investigated ten years ago. Turns out he was being paid off. So he was kicked out of the NSA. What he’s been doing since then is unknown.”
“Who was paying him?” Rogers asked.
“The trail was tracked to Aida’s friend Cordonza. But it went beyond him. To whom, it wasn’t found.”
“Do we have an address on this Watts fellow?” Aida asked.
“Afraid not.”
“Well, this is a start, at least,” Rogers said. “Good work, Kelly.”
The two agents walked out of the elevator and into the parking garage. They walked towards Rogers’s green Buick.
“This feels familiar,” Aida said.
“I know,” Rogers said. “Care to try going to Ling Wah’s again?”
He smiled at her. “I’d love to.”
Suddenly, Aida stopped walking. His eyes glazed over. He shoved Rogers aside roughly, and she landed on her rump. Aida ran off out of the parking garage.
“Oh, God,” Rogers said as she clambored up. “Not again.” She ran off after him. “KENNETH!”
To be continued…
Part 6
“KENNETH!” the redheaded female agent called as she chased after the fleeing dark-haired young man who was her partner. “KENNETH! WAIT! PLEASE!”
The two agents ran down a street crowded with people. The woman, Special Agent Rebecca Rogers, did her best to keep up with her partner while trying not to run into locals and tourists. But accidents do happen, however. A big man with a camera who was trying to take a souvenir picture of the Washington Monument - and who wasn’t watching what was going on around him - backed up into her just as she was going by him. Rogers went sprawling to the cement.
“OW!” she cried out as she hit the ground.
“OH!” the tourist said, turning around to see what had happened. “I’m so sorry, miss. I didn’t see you. Here, let me help you up.”
The tourist held a hand out to her, and she gratefully accepted it.
“Thank you,” she said as she dusted herself off.
“Your welcome,” the tourist said. Then he went back to lining up his shot of the Washington Monument.
Rogers scanned the crowd, looking for her runaway partner and fiance, Special Agent Kenneth Aida. But she couldn’t find him.
Damn it! she thought with frustration. I lost him!
She turned to leave, and as she did, the tourist man lining up his shot again caught her eye.
“Uh, wouldn’t it be easier to just buy a picture of it at a gift shop?” Rogers asked.
“Probably,” the man said. “But where’s the fun in that? And besides, this is more personal. I’m actually taking the picture myself.”
“You got a point. Well, have fun.”
“Thanks, I will.”
Rogers then walked off.
What the hell is going on? she wondered as she walked back to her apartment. And where in the hell was Kenneth running off to?
Rogers was sleeping fitfully when there came a knock on her front door.
Kenneth? she wondered as she tossed the bedcovers aside and got up. Is it you? Have you come back to me?
She padded barefoot into the living room, and turned on the light just in time to see a white envelope shoved under her door. As she walked over to the door, she heard footsteps run down the hallway. She yanked the door open and peered outside, but she saw no one. Whoever had been there was now gone.
With a sigh, Rogers shut the door and picked up the enevelope. She took a seat on the sofa and stared at the unmarked item in her hand.
“I wonder what’s in here,” she said to herself. “A ransom note, maybe? Or the first in a series of instructions like Kenneth got when Cordonza had me prisoner?”
With a shrug, she opened the envelope and pulled out a note.
Special Agent Rebecca Rogers, the note read. I hate to resort to these sorts of tactics, but circumstances demand I do so, since my original plan backfired. So, if you want your partner and fiance, Special Agent Kenneth Aida, back, do as I say. Come to the address below at exactly midnight tonight. If you don’t, Aida will die. The note was signed, Your esteemed adversary, R.R. At the bottom of the note was an address.
“R.R.?” Rogers said. “Who’s that?” She looked at the clock and jumped up from the sofa. “AHHH! It’s already 11:00?? Shit! I don’t have much time!”
Rogers parked her green Buick across the street from a huge house. She sat behind the wheel and stared at the massive, elegant construct.
“Who lives here?” she wondered aloud. “Whoever that R.R. person is, he seems to be rich. But just who is he? Or she?”
Rogers took a deep breath and opened her car door. She stepped out and crossed the street. A wrought iron gate closed off the driveway. Rogers tried to open it, and found it unlocked. Well, I am expected, after all. She walked the long driveway up to the house and walked up the front door. She raised a hand to knock on the door, but the door opened for her.
Rogers, hand still raised, stood on the doorstep and looked into the dark interior of the house. She could see no one or nothing except darkness. Slowly, she lowered her hand and walked inside.
To be continued…
Part 7
Special Agent Rebecca Rogers drew her standard issue .35MM gun as she stepped across the threshold and entered the pitch-black interior of the mansion.
“Welcome to my humble home, Becky,” said a masculine voice from the dark somewhere ahead of her.
Rogers thought that the voice sounded vaguely familiar, but before she could place it, a sharp blow landed on the back of her head. She slumped to the ground and blacked out.
Rogers awoke to find herself strapped to a chair in room. Along the wall to her right was a wall-length mirror. In front of her was a blinding light shining directly into her face, causing her to squint against it.
“What the hell is going on?!” she called out as she struggled against her bindings. “Where am I?!”
“Tsk, tsk, Becky,” said the same familiar voice she’d heard earlier. “Such language. It’s not lady-like. Didn’t you parents teach you not to cuss?”
“Don’t call me Becky!” Rogers said. “Only Kenneth can call me that!”
“Oh? It never bothered you before when I called you that.”
“WHAAAAT?!” Rogers cried out in shock. “WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?”
The blinding light was turned down, and a redheaded man stepped in front of the light.
Rogers gasped. “Un…Uncle Roger????”
The redheaded man smiled. “Yes, Becky… Oh, I’m sorry. I mean Rebecca.”
Rogers stared at him in utter dumbfoundment. “But…why? Why, Uncle Roger?”
“Why? Simple, my dear neice. I want your inheritance. I need it to finance my little syndicate.”
Rogers’s eyes widened even more. “What?! You mean, YOU are the crime lord? And Cordonza worked for you??”
The man bowed. “Correct. You always were the bright one, quick to catch on.”
“And you want my inheritance to finance your evil schemes?”
“Yes. I’m afraid I’m running a little low on funds at the moment, what with payroll and expenses and all. Things cost a lot nowadays, you know. Funding scientific experiments, buying off people, hiring people to steal nuclear warheads, keeping regular employees happily paid…It all costs money. But thanks to you and your partner, I don’t have quite as many employees as I did, so that’s freed up some spare money. But I still require more. And the inheritance you received from my dear departed brother will keep me going for a good while.”
Rogers growled at the sneer in his voice as he talked about her father. “You! YOU killed Father and Mother!”
“Yes.”
“Your own brother!”
“Yes. I wanted the inheritance. But I wasn’t able to get it. My timing was off. You had just turned twenty-one, and so according to the will, you got it all. I could have come after you then, but I didn’t really NEED the money then, so I decided to wait. I’m glad I did. This is much more fun.”
“Fun? FUN? Kidnapping my partner and doing God knows what to him so that he’d try to kill me? THAT’s your idea of fun?!”
“Yes. But unfortunately, that plan fell through.”
“And what was that plan?”
“It was quite simple, really. I had your fiance kidnapped, then had a small chip implanted in his head that would allow me to control him. A tiny video camera on his jacket let me see what he did. I also had a fake will drawn up for you, leaving the inheritance to me. Then I had Miles pose a FedEx deliveryman and get your signature so I could have it transposed onto the will. It would have worked, too, except Aida failed to kill you.”
“So, now what are you going to do?”
“Well, my dear, the will is all set. All that’s left is for you to die.”
Rogers gulped. “Are… are you going to kill me?”
Rogers’s uncle shook his head. “No. Not me. I have something else planned. You have a suicide note to follow through on.”
“HUH??”
“You’ve written a suicide note and signed it. See?” He walked up to her and held a note up for her to read. “You were forced to kill your partner, and afterwards couldn’t stand the guilt and didn’t want to live without him. And so, you took your own life.”
“Never! I’d never do that! I’d never kill Kenneth or myself!”
“Oh? Are you sure?” He pocketed the note, loosened her bindings, and walked away from her. He stopped by the only door in the room and tossed something towards her. It stopped halfway into the room. Rogers looked at it. It was her gun.
“You might need that,” her uncle said. Then he walked out of the room.
Rogers continued to sit in the chair, immobilized by shock.
“Damn it!” Roger Rogers yelled as he watched the scene unfold before him through the two-way mirror. “She didn’t even try at all!” The redheaded man slammed a fist on the glass. “RICHARD!!”
“Yes, sir?” said the blonde man standing calmly beside him.
“Kill him. Then see if you can salvage the situation and make it look like the murder-suicide we need for this plan to not be shot all to hell.”
Richard walked into the room. He saw that Aida still stood over Rogers, staring at her. He also saw Rogers’s gun lying on the ground right where it had landed when Roger Rogers had tossed it towards his niece. Richard walked to the weapon and picked it up. He aimed the gun at Aida’s back.
“Adieu, Aida,” Richard said somberly.
Just then, Rogers’s eyes snapped open.
“NO!” she cried out.
Rogers jumped up and tackled Aida to the ground just as Richard pulled the trigger. She grabbed the gun from Aida’s hand and fired it at Richard. The bullet struck Richard in the chest and knocked him to his back. Rogers’s gun flew from his hand and slid across the floor.
“H…How…” Richard asked weakly as Rogers retrieved her gun.
“Bullet-proof vest,” Rogers said as she holstered her gun. “A great little invention, huh? Glad I decided at the last minute to wear one.”
“Damn…” Richard said softly before finally dying.
“Now, then, Uncle Roger,” Rogers said. “It’s your turn. But first…”
She returned to Aida and knelt by his side. He was unconscious.
“Kenneth,” she said as she brushed his bangs of dark hair out of his face. “Kenneth, can you hear me? Come on, wake up. We have a job to do.”
She then kissed him gently, and his eyes snapped open.
“You’re such a work-aholic, Becky,” Aida said with a smile. “Can’t you ever put pleasure before business?”
Rogers smiled in return. “Of course I could, Kenneth, if there wasn’t the possibility of us dying at any moment and a madman getting away with murder and attempted murder. Now, come on. Get up. We have to stop Uncle Roger before he can get control of you again.”
The two agents stood up, and Rogers handed Aida his gun.
“What do you mean by ‘Uncle Roger’?” Aida asked as he holstered his weapon. “Is he YOUR uncle?”
“Yeah,” Rogers said as she headed for the door. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you and Kelly about it later.”
“Fair enough,” Aida said as he followed her from the room.
Rogers and Aida ran down a hallway. As they did so, they spied a man in a white lab coat entering a room at the end of the hall. Rogers and Aida sped up and ran into the room after him, shutting the door behind them.
“FREEZE!” Rogers yelled as she pulled her gun and pointed it at the doctor.
The man stopped in the middle of the room and raised his hands.
The dim room they were was an impromptu medical lab, complete with chemicals, medical instruments, and a long table with straps.
“You are a doctor, right?” Rogers asked.
The man nodded.
“I’m willing to bet you’re the one who put the chip in my partner’s head for Uncle Roger, too. Right?”
Another nod.
“Good. Then you can just take it right back out.” Rogers motioned threateningly with her gun. “NOW! And I’ll be watching VERY closely for any tricks or screw ups!”
The doctor nodded his head vigorously and motioned for Aida to lay down on the table.
“It’s done,” the doctor said about half an hour later as he removed his hands from the bandage he’d just placed on the back of Aida’s neck, just below the skull.
A minute later, Aida came to from the anasthesia and sat up on the table.
“Good,” Rogers said as she lowered the gun that she’d held pointed at the doctor the entire time. “Now, tell me where Uncle Roger is.”
Suddenly, they heard the sound of a helicopter revving up.
“He’d be there,” the doctor said.
“Damn it!” Rogers said. “I’m not going to let him get away with this!”
She ran from the room. Aida followed her, but only after he punched the doctor out cold.
Rogers and Aida ran out to the huge back yard where a helicopter was prepping for take off. Standing by the helicopter was a redheaded man and a tall, dark-haired man. As they saw Rogers and Aida come out, they walked towards them.
“It’s about time you showed up, Rebecca dear,” the redheaded man said. “I’d expected you earlier.” He then saw the bandage on Aida’s neck. “Oh, I see what the delay was. You ran into Dr. Dixxon and had him remove the chip. I’m surprised you’d would have taken the time. No. I take that back. I’m not surprised. You freed the man you love, and eliminated a threat to your life at the same time. It’s just like my niece to make such a touching and yet tactical move.”
“Shut up, Uncle Roger,” Rogers said as she raised her gun to point directly at him. “I’m not going to let you get away with this.”
“Oh, but I have, Rebecca dear. You see, while you were busy with the doctor, I took the time you gave me to get all my stuff together and get my escape ready. I destroyed the suicide note, since that plan’s gone to hell. But I do have the will with me. So, once I’ve made my getaway and you are dead, I can come back later and claim the inheritance.” He turned to face the man next to him. “Miles, get rid of them.”
“Gladly, sir,” Miles said.
Miles stepped between the two agents and Roger Rogers and pulled a gun on Aida and Rogers. Mr. Rogers smiled and walked back towards the helicopter.
“You’re the one who posed as a security worker and kidnapped Kenneth!” Rogers said. “And you posed as a FedEx worker, too!”
“The former NSA agent, Miles Watts!” Aida said.
“Yes,” Miles said. “That’s my name. How did you find that out?”
“We have our ways,” Rogers said.
“Well, I needn’t worry about it, anyway. You can’t tell on me when you’re dead.”
He trained his gun on them. Aida and Rogers stared in wide-eyed fear.
Then, suddenly, Aida kicked out, striking the hand holding the gun. Startled, Miles dropped the gun. At the same time, Rogers fired her gun at Miles. Miles dropped to the ground as the bullet pierced his heart.
Without looking back, Aida and Rogers ran after Mr. Rogers. They caught up to him as he was about to climb into the helicopter.
“Uncle Roger, STOP!” Rogers called out, training her gun on his back.
Mr. Rogers halted, and slowly turned around. He saw the gun pointed at him, and laughed.
“Your won’t shoot me, Rebecca,” he said. “You don’t have the guts to kill a member of your own family.”
Rogers kept the gun trained on him and slowly started to pull back on the trigger. But at the last second, she released the trigger and lowered the gun.
“He…he’s right, Kenneth,” she said. “I can’t do it. He’s family.”
Mr. Rogers laughed.
Aida pulled his gun. “He’s not my family, though,” he said, and quickly pulled the trigger.
Roger Rogers, in the middle of a laugh, fell to the ground with a bullet lodged his forehead.
Special Agents Kenneth Aida and Rebecca Rogers stepped out of the elevator and entered the underground parking garage.
“Well, everything’s been taken care of,” Rogers said. “All the paperwork’s been filed and reports made.”
“Yeah,” Aida said. “So, you want to try going to Ling Wah’s again?”
“How about we try playing it safe, instead?”
“Huh?”
“My place. 8 o’clock. And bring some take-out.”
He smiled at her. “All right, Becky. It’s a date.”
Aida escorted her to her green Buick and watched her drive off. Then he walked to his red Mustang. After checking and double-checking that there was no one hiding in the shadows, he gave a sigh, opened the door, climbed in, and drove off.
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