Some Ind of Spell

Angela was nervous and on edge. She was glad her day was almost over. She gave her head stylist instructions to close up the Salon and made her way to her own car and got in, revving the engine or her Candy Apple red, Mazda 3 sedan, and putting it into gear. The drive home was nerve wracking and she noted what she presumed was Pierre de la Cruz limousine following her a discrete distance behind. Yet that was not what made her this nervous. It was the implied threat made to her by him self on the phone, that no matter what she would be having dinner with Pierre, and so instead of waiting for the limo driver she opted to make her own way home and lock herself inside her apartment. She was debating whether to call the police when her cell phone rang. She saw the caller ID and decided she would not pull over and take the call. She was going home. That's it. No debate, no hesitation on her part. She would not be bullied and badgered. She would shower, put on her silky pajamas, then heat up some chicken soup, and sit with her crossword puzzle while watching a movie on Netlflix.

With a false sense of security, she ignored the next two phone calls without even checking who was calling. She got out of her car, locked it up, put on the security alarm for it and went quickly to her second floor apartment. She had climbed the inside staircase with ease, hurrying quickly to open her apartment door, deactivate the security alarm and then locked her doors up.

Meanwhile the limo driver, James Balaskas by name, just parked his car, phoned his employer and received further instructions. Mr. de la Cruz had made other phone calls in the interim time from the last call he had been given instructions. Pierre was currently with his mother for a brief chat but would take an Uber or perhaps drive one of the Estates cars himself. With the recent news he had just received, he was taking no chances. This was not a time to hesitate. With the things he now knew, this was no time to have things go wrong. What he would ultimately do? How far would he go? He left that part undetermined. His sense of urgency went up and he began making other phone calls, leaving his mother's side and going to his office in her home so that he could speak in privacy without other ears hearing him.

The burner phone strapped to Angela's belly went off. One ring. She knew then it was time for action. She was going to have to leave her apartment, pull up stakes here and be gone in just minutes and just disappear. She didn't know why or what was coming at her that she had to move now, but whatever it was, she didn't hesitate. She grabbed her special bag that packed the only things she could take with her, and the few clothes she could put in it, and went to the window of her apartment. She slipped open the window having disarmed the alarm, and climbed out, going quickly down the fire escape while leaving the lights on in her place and the TV going. Anyone watching or listening in would assume she was still inside watching Netflix.

She ran from the apartment building to the back alleyway, pushed through the loose board in the fence there and started walking briskly. She stopped near a pay phone and waited. Moments later that phone rang. She picked it up, hearing the familiar voice of her handler from the FBI on the line giving her clipped and precise instructions where to meet him as he would be the one to pick her up and take her to a safe house for the next day or so.

She hailed a taxi, gave the taxi driver instructions and paid him in cash when she reached her destination. There was a dark sedan with the license plate she had been given waiting for her. She didn't hesitate but walked to the sedan, climbed in the back and belted herself in it. Her handler, Gerard Kendall of the FBI was seated next to her in the back, and the driver, another female agent was in the front along side someone that Angela didn't recognize.

"Here, these are your new Id's. Passport, Drivers License, your new identity information and keys to the house where you will be staying for the next 3 days before you are transferred to your new job and residence. This is agent Jacob Morrison and agent, and Alexis Stephens."

"Alexis and I will be the ones staying with you in the safe house the first 24 hours, then there will be a rotation of new agents... We fear we have a leak and want to make sure everyone is protected. So none of the agents from your disappearance time are aware you are being moved or that you are changing identities. It will not be changed until we discover who the leak is and how many of you are compromised. Your Burner phone is still safe, I'm the only one who has your number. Do you understand?" Gerard raised the barrier between front and back seats so that he and Angela could speak though they still used hushed voices. The chances that the car was bugged were slim but they were being cautious.

Angela nodded, and watched the faces of the man and woman in the front seat before turning to Gerard and asking him the one question that burned in her mind.

She leaned over and whispered, "Gerard, is there any possibility that this leak is someone hired or known by Pierre de la Cruz? Could Pierre de la Cruz be involved in this whole thing?"

He whispered back, "We do not know at this point. I doubt he is, but we cannot know for sure until all the information is gathered. And I am sorry to move you but we had to. We just cannot take a risk with your life. The Trial is only a month away now. You are the primary witness and the only one that can give an eye witness testimony. One of our trusted street snitches called and told us there is a lot of talk on the street about a hit planned on you and that they knew now, where you were. I couldn't ignore that. Moving you now is the only way to ensure your protection.

You also will not be able to contact anyone from the past five years or any family or friends. You know the drill. Regrettably, your name is changed again too. You will be known now by Jenna Westin. Your fingerprints of course have been wiped from all data bases so anyone trying to track or trace you from those will come up with a dead end because the background of Jenna Westin is not going to give them anything to go by. Even DNA samples will not net any truthful information. Only your basic Genetic information such as your blood type, general age and perhaps your origins. But that still will not give anything significant way. To all intents and purposes, they will find only what we input into the computer. This will put them off on a false trail and lead them away from you. Even these two agents here with us do not know your real identity or your new name. No one in the department knows. I did this all on my own. So from now on I am totally responsible for you."

"Thank you, and I hope you are right Gerard. I had begun to feel safe where I was. Now I don't know and from what you say, I am not really safe now and won't be until you find the link to the inside man or woman in the department. Whomever is leaking information about me, will likely be tied to those I am testifying against."

"Yes, that is, unfortunately true. Just remember, you only answer now to your new name, Jenna Westin. Any questions you have, use the burner phone. Its untraceable and secure."

The new name would be hard to get used to as her name Angela they had given her and the name she had gone by, was actually close to her real given name, but maybe this was for the best. She was reading the new identity information and then noted her handler had scribbled some thing else on paper and slipped it to her when the fellow in the front seat wasn't looking. Angela looked up at him briefly and understood that he was not wishing anyone to see he had given her the paper. She hid it in her pocket and continued to read the identity information that she would need to know in order to carry on and go forward. They arrived at the safe house, and Angela stayed put until Gerard and the other agent had cleared the safe house and Gerard returned to help her out of the car. He walked into the building with her, along with the female agent now with her in the residence. The driver parked the car and would be keeping an eye on the place while Angela slept and adjusted to her new circumstances once again. She was intent on reading and committing the information to memory. Once she had done that, she shredded it and burned it, throwing the burning file in a nearby metal garbage can. It burned to ashes. Nothing left of it to read. This was now on her to remember and keep her new identity secret.

She ate a banana and drank some hot tea but wasn't really hungry even though she hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning. It was late, and so she showered and got ready for bed. It was almost midnight when she dressed in her pajamas and crawled into bed. She had said goodnight to Gerard and he was watching from the window with the blinds and drapes closed, his eyes peering through the slats and all visible lighting turned off. The dark haired female agent, Alexis Stephens, also dressed down and more casually as she went to the other spare bedroom and turned in to rest for a few hours. Then she would relieve Gerard so he could rest. At least that was the plan.

The needle to his neck two and a half hours later, was administered so quickly he didn't have time to react or stop it. In fact, he heard nothing before hand. Saw nothing. Gerald slipped to the floor unconscious. The two men took Gerald's phone, his gun and ID and tied him up, gagging and blindfolding him and then placing him in the foyer closet with the coats and boots. He would not wake for at least 12 hours. They had wanted to kill him. But their boss said no. He wanted Gerald to feel the pain of his failure. To know that he alone was the reason the girl was now going to die. He wanted Gerald to live with that the rest of his life.

The intruders snuck up on the sleeping form in the bed where they drugged her. They injected her arm, bundled her up in a mummy wrap with her blanket and blindfolded her eyes. This ensured that she would neither see nor hear anything. With the blanket tightly wrapped it was impossible for the sleeping woman to move even had she been awake. She would be out for hours with the drug they had injected her with. The men said nothing at all, just used gestures as they took the silent form out the back and into a waiting car. The car with the body wrapped up and drugged pulled out slowly with no lights on. It moved along a back road until it was on the highway headed east.

The four men did not look for others now as they had disarmed and killed the agent that had been the driver of the car. They picked him off early and removed all identification from his body and all traces of him as they moved his body further into the vegetation and left him there. The four men now moved quietly back to their car noting that the limo was still there. That had been a puzzle for them, an unexpected factor. No one was in the limo when they arrived. One of them had stayed behind to find out who owned the car and anything they could find out. But there was nothing on the car or in it that could tell them anything and they dared not delay any longer. The fourth man joined the other 3 men of the team in time to help take the woman's body out to the car. Then the four of them left as quietly as they had arrived.

Earlier in the evening, Zac had followed along after the car that Angela was in, behind Mr. de la Cruz limo driver in a distance that would guarantee he not lose them but also that he would not be seen. He had studied the map of this area and knew every side road, and main road for a 100 mile radius.

Now he was perplexed but still maintained his distance. Another car was now following the limousine and the car Angela was in. Zac took note of the car and tried to see the license plate. He only got a partial plate and noted that along with the make and model of this other car. He watched then as everyone parked and noted that the de la Cruz limo was also being discrete. The car following behind though gave him cause for alarm. The four inside the car, left their vehicle dressed all in black and after that the binoculars did not give Zac a clue where they had gone once they left the car. They blended into the shadows. He heard the sound of a car door open and then moments later close. But didn't get to it in time to see anything.

Zac made the call he hated to make and reported to Pierre what he had seen while watching, and now hating that Pierre de la Cruz was livid, yelling in his ear.

"I gave you ONLY ONE thing to do and you couldn't even do that! You incompetent bastard! You better pray that nothing happens to that woman, or your life won't be worth a thing!" With that, the phone went silent as the sound of a slamming and splintering sound was heard before the line went dead.

Zac shuddered and then hurried to find where the men had gone to. Meanwhile, Pierre de la Cruz was so angry he punched the wall of his office. He was so angry he didn't even feel it.

Zac got out and stealthily tracked the others, he too blending in as best as he could and staying hidden while also keeping an eye on the 4 black clad men. Four men all moving towards the limo. But to Zac's relief there was no one there. Apparently James was not in the car and the other car that Angela had been in was also empty from what he could see. He had seen the four men split up but now he did not know where they had gone. That alone bothered him. He drew back and took a wider arc around to the back of the house. He arrived in time to see them put a body in the waiting car, and this time he got a full license plate the small plate being lit by the bulb on each vehicles plates to allow others to see even in the dark. Zac, using his binoculars noted it along with car make and model. The color though, he could only guess at because it was really too dark to be sure. But it was either black or dark blue. Moving back a bit more he watched the four men move to the side and then disappear. He heard the dark sedan car starting up and moving back down the lane they had come to the property in. Zac tracked them back in time to see them depart and made sure all four men were in that car. Now he just had to find the driver of the limo and the other car. He moved back towards the side of the house on the dark side.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. He withdrew behind a tree and watched. Whoever this was, moved against the house and in the shadows as much as possible. They seemed to be carrying some sort of knapsack or bag. Short of stature too. And then from the trees adjacent to that another form moved swiftly to intercept the short person. Just as they tackled the smaller person, Zac came out from the shadows and took the larger hulking form off the smaller one. This began a fight that Zac was not sure he could win so he did what he could to maim the man who he fought. A lucky upper cut to the mans nose and he heard the grunt of pain as warm dark blood flooded the mans face and spilled down his chin to his clothing. He screamed with rage and momentarily lost his balance, giving Zac time to grab the smaller form and drag it with him to his car running as if the hounds of Hell were after them. Details began to filter through his brain as the small form made protests and tried to fight him but he stuffed the now identifiable woman into the passenger seat of the car, ran around to his side and hopped in revving the engine and peeling out taking yet another back road that wound around and eventually led them to the free way going south. He was taking no chances and he now knew that the small form he had saved was the woman his boss had sent him for. But there were so many questions.

Angela sat in the car now, staying silent as she watched where this man was taking her. He had just saved her from someone trying to take her. So her mind determined that he was her safest bet for now but then what?

He broke the silence finally when he saw she kept looking over at him and was obviously scared and nervous.

"My name is Zachary Andrew Carson, Miss. I was employed to watch and make sure you were safe. Please, relax. I give you my word I will not hurt you." He glanced at her and watched her face partially in shadows.

"Who employed you?" she asked him her lip now being bitten by her teeth, her hands clenching and unclenching. She was visibly shaking. Zac couldn't really blame her. With what he saw, it had been a situation that anyone, especially a petite female would find alarming.

"I am not at liberty to say but just know that their only concern is for your safety." Zac was pretty sure that Pierre de la Cruz did not wish any one to know he was now involved so he kept the name of his employer out of it for now. But sooner rather than later the truth would come out. He wondered then what this young woman would say and do. For now, she sat quietly, her hands still shaking a bit but her face took on a calmer look as if she was mentally gearing up and getting ready for something.

He continued to drive south, still watching her intently He turned on the radio keeping it low while he listened to weather and news reports. Eventually her head began to nod and she appeared to have fallen asleep. That would make this next part much easier. He pulled off the road, texted his boss the information needed and then took out a thermos of hot coffee and took a sip. The girl slept on probably exhausted.

He checked his rear view mirrors. Still nothing in sight either way. He had not been followed. This too, was a relief. He realized now that the man he had fought and broken the nose of, was the de la Cruz, chauffer, James. Knowing that made him smile for just an instant. James, Zac knew, was an American Special Forces Marine. He also knew that it was sheer bloody luck and the element of surprise that had allowed him to get in that upward blow to James nose, breaking it. He knew too, that when James caught up to Zac, there would be a lot of pain involved knowing too, that he was going to be the recipient of all the pain, and James would be the one doling it out. He did not look forward to that.