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Guardian Program Ch. 33
A novel by R.C.PeterGabriel, all rights reserved.
"Welcome back, Mrs. Smith, Mr. Smith," Scott stated in greeting, as he held the door for Sam to get into the back of his car. I watched his face the whole time I descended the stairs from the plane. Once seated, the door was closed and I was still without a clue as to whether or not the news was simply bad, or devastatingly bad. If it had been good news, he would have told us right away, regardless of Sam's request.
Scott was completely deadpan. He did cop-face well. Ex-marine, the first person in history allowed to be assigned to Camp David for more than one tour of duty. Decorated several dozen times, and one of a small handful of people I completely trust my life to. He's also one of a small handful of people still willing to spar with me after their first time.
Sam stayed pressed against me. Or maybe it was I who was pressed against her. I guess the semantics of it didn't matter. I was also trying to do deep breathing exercises to stay calm but without much success. She tried to distract me by saying that we had met at the very airport we just left. I told her she was wrong, pointing out that I had met Julie at the airport and didn't meet her until somewhere over Idaho or Nevada. Immediately after the words came out of my mouth, I was forced to chuckle at myself.
Sam looked slightly crestfallen and asked, "Are you laughing at me?"
"No Baby. I was laughing at myself. I had just thought about the pointlessness of arguing semantics, not ten seconds before I did exactly that. Proof that intelligence isn't the same as wisdom."
"Oh, I think you're as wise as they come," she responded, then snuggled in against me even tighter. However, her distraction bubble popped because I was forced to point out that if I was so wise, we wouldn't be in the situation to begin with. I would have protected Toni and Jessie and I wouldn't be seeing the memory of Jessie scolding me for being careless about security.
We rode the rest of the way in silence. I didn't even notice when Scott took us out of the way, getting us to the house from the far side. He drove us into the garage and closed the door before getting out and opening the car door for us.
I thanked him and led Sam into the house. Inside she stopped for a moment, I assume it was to get her bearings with the reversed floor plan. When she nodded to herself, I motioned to the living room. She led the way with Scott bringing up the rear.
The room held seven others, five men and two women. I was overwhelmed by the obvious look of 'cop' that all of them put off. Shepherd was the only one who seemed comfortable being there, but he still had on all of his tactical gear, minus the helmet, so he stood out from all the suits. The fact that he was behind the bar, helped provide the look of comfort.
"Hello Sir, I made this for you," Shepherd stated while holding up a highball. "Mrs. Smith, can I get you anything?"
I crossed the room and shook his hand across the bar, then took my drink. "Dark beer." I requested, then downed about a third of my drink before holding my last gulp. I closed my eyes and savored the rich flavor of my twenty-year-old bourbon. When I heard the top come off Sam's bottle, I opened my eyes and swallowed.
I downed the rest and set down my glass before taking Sam her beer. I looked at Scott. "Okay Greg, I'm as sedated as I'm going to get until after you've delivered the news."
He motioned around the room. "Don't you want to know who's been working with us?" he asked instead of providing the information.
"Look, I'm not a child. I know you're all wondering when I'm going to snap and end the world. I know you're stalling, trying to give my drink time to get to my blood. I also know that you know, I don't need introductions." I started pointing to each individual, and with Hal's help, naming names and who each of them worked for. Lieber had sent Secret Service, Homeland Security, and FBI. "Now Greg, we've been friends for a long time, but you're starting to piss me off. What aren't you telling me?"
Sam set her beer down. I don't think she had even tasted it. She took my hand saying, "Sweetheart, why don't we all sit down."
I took my hand back, "Please Sam, go ahead and sit. I don't want to sit. I've been cooped up in the plane for over eleven hours, plus the travel time before and after. I've been out of my mind with worry. Now for the last time Greg, tell me what you know. Now!"
Scott sighted. "Ease down, Robert. I'll tell you. Just so you know, everyone in the room has signed non-disclosure contracts, and four of the six got here less than an hour ago so they hardly know any more than you do." He paused, looking uncomfortable. "Robert ... you really should sit down."
I knew at that point, that the news was going to be devastatingly bad. I looked behind me to see Sam. Her expression was pained and her perfect eyes were brimming with tears. "I'm so sorry Robert," she sympathized and held her hand out to me. I slowly accepted her hand, and the two of us sat on one end of the sectional.
Scott motioned and everyone else but he and Shepherd took a seat as well. I knew Shepherd didn't trust the Feds and probably had his weapon in his left hand below the counter the whole time. He was watching my back, which made me even more anxious because I hadn't thought of the Feds as a risk.
Greg sat on the coffee table in front of us. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, making the space between us more intimate. He was trying to inform me personally, and not make it into a group debriefing.
"Last night before dark we canvased the neighborhood as per your suggestion. We knocked on the door of every home within a quarter mile along the shore, and three blocks inland. We also knocked at any home along the other side of the lake that has a direct view of your house. Not one person admitted to seeing or hearing anything unusual. At least before the standoff that is.
"Of course, no one answered at many homes. When that happened we scanned the house and found nothing of note. All except for your neighbors to the south, the Clemons. We tried to scan into their house but all we found was that it was privacy-protected, under your orders.
"We were all set to call you when Mrs. Smith called."
I squeezed Sam's hand but didn't take my eyes off, Greg. "She had followed the location tracers on both of Toni's and Jessie's phones and found that they had only been in two locations since the conversations that you had had with each of them. One was here, of course. The other was the Clemons'.
"I explained to her that we'd attempted to scan into the house without success, due to the privacy lock. So, she had Hal lift it. What we found was significant. From outside we noted no life signs, but significant quantities of human blood."
I must have gone away for a moment because, in the next second Greg was attempting to pry my fingers out of Sam's, while Don was using a pressure point on my elbow to get me to let go from that end.
When I realized what was happening, I let go immediately and apologized. She flexed her hand assuring me that she was fine, that nothing was broken. Don produced a glass of water, and I thanked him, while Sam snuggled in against me and hugged my arm. I took a long pull on the water and asked Greg to go on.
"We kicked the front door, and what we found was nothing short of a major crime scene, but I want to assure you that our findings show that it is possible, that Toni and Jessie are still alive.
"We found a large blood trail leading from the basement, where there appeared to be a makeshift torture chamber set up. We found evidence that one or more plastic drop cloths were laid down and at least two victims had been suspended from a hook in the ceiling and beaten with a cane.
"Castoff on the walls indicates the torture must have taken place for many hours. There was a splatter pattern on the wall, along with a 9mm slug that would be consistent with a through-and-through shot to the chest of Debra Clemons. No bone was noted but the amount of splatter would indicate a fatal wound.
"Copious amounts of blood belonging to both William and Debra Clemons, led up the stairs and to the garage. There must have been a hole in the tarp or the blood leaked from the end while being dragged. The quantity of blood along the trail, coupled with an estimate from Hal as to the amount that would be left in the tarp or tarps, indicates the certain fatality of both of the Clemons."
I could tell that I was starting to sweat, and I knew Sam could feel it, but I hoped it was subtle enough that no one else could see. I had no idea what was going on and was starting to feel like a caged animal.
Who could have tortured and killed my friends? But, the more important questions to me were, 'Where is the rest of my family', and 'Are they alive'?
"You said, Toni and Jessie, might be still alive," I stated in a voice that even I could tell was pleading.
"Yes ... Robert, the signs did not indicate that they suffered a fatal wound in the house. I do need to tell you that we did find a large carving knife stuck in the torture room's wall that had Toni's blood on it. We also found her blood on the floor at a point that seemed to be the edge of a drop cloth.
"We have no idea how much she bled onto the tarp itself, but the amount we found was less than ten milliliters.
"If they tortured her, they certainly didn't do it in the same manner as they did the others. We found no cast-off or other evidence indicating that they tortured her at all. And we didn't find any of Jessie's blood anywhere on the premises."
I found myself able to relax a small amount, but it was enough that it allowed me to think. "Okay, so it looks like we're back to the kidnapping. I'm sure Toni would have offered them money. The only question is how much she would say I was worth. If she told them about the new phone I'm about to go to market with then the price will be extreme, but no matter what the price I'll let them think they're getting it.
"One thing I'm confused about though is if they knew about the phones alerting us, then that would suggest an inside job. The fact that the Clemons were tortured and killed, suggests that Toni and Jessie were either just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the Clemons tried to bargain for their lives and used them as a bartering tool. It can't be both an inside job and an attack on the Clemons that overflowed to us. It just doesn't compute."
