by Alton Reich
{SNIP}
"Like something to pinpoint the location of that cabin," Zenya suggested. That still bothered her. The cabin Chris escaped from was a tangible thing, a place they could go to and look around, maybe even find some kind of useful evidence, if only they could locate it. But without more information, it was an impossible task, as they had discussed before. There are just too many cabins on too many mountains for a search to be effective.
"Would he be willing to talk to us," Jim asked.
"He wants to know what happened to him," Vanessa said, nodding.
"Another perspective listening to what he has to say couldn't hurt," Jordan agreed. "Zenya, I'd like you in on it. See what sort of impressions you can come up with. Meanwhile, I have a meeting with Ann Cross."
{END SNIP}
"You need back-up?" Jim asked from across the room.
"That's probably not a bad idea," Jordan replied. "Leo can you got with Zenya and Vanessa to talk to Chris?"
"Sure," Leo replied.
Jordan nodded, "Martin, come with Jim and I." Jordan stood up and pulled his jacket from the back of the chair. "We're going to have to hurry a little if we're going to be on time."
Jim and Martin followed Jordan out to the elevator and got on with him when the doors opened. They stepped into the empty car and Jim pressed the button for the lobby.
"Ann told me to come alone, although I doubt she expects me to follow that particular instruction," Jordan explained, "so we shouldn't go into the train station together."
"I'll go first," Jim volunteered, "I haven't been with the team for a while, so anyone watching might not make the connection between us."
"Sounds reasonable," Jordan agreed. He turned to Martin, "So you get stuck with the job of watching my back."
"My pleasure," Martin replied with a smile.
"I was hoping you'd feel that way."
The elevator slowed to a stop at the lobby and the three agents stepped off. They immediately began to ignore each other. Jim headed straight past the security guards and out the front door. Jordan paused at the water fountain before following, and Martin ducked into the bathroom for a moment before heading out on to the street.
Jordan walked toward the entrance to the nearest Metro station. He could catch brief glimpses of Jim about half a block ahead of him through the other government employees and tourists on the sidewalk . He was tempted to turn around to ensure Martin was following him, but he resisted. Martin was back there, and he didn't want to give any potential observer any clues to his presence.
Jim rounded a corner and sank out of sight as he stepped on to the escalator that led down to the station. Jordan slowed his pace slightly to allow Jim time to get on to the platform. He paused briefly to examine the Metro route map posted near the top of the escalator before starting down himself.
At the bottom of the escalator, Jordan followed the concrete-walled corridor under the street. As he walked, he pulled his access card from the pocket of his jacket. He fed it into the turnstile, which noted the location of the start of his train ride and gave the card back as he stepped through.
Jordan's eyes swept the platform for any sign of Ann Cross. At first he didn't see her, but as he looked again he saw her standing next to a billboard advertising a new exhibit at the National Gallery of Art.
She must have seen him at about the same time because she stepped forward slightly as he approached. Once again, he had to fight the urge to look around for Jim and Martin.
"Ann," he said casually as he fell in next to her, "it's good to see you again."
She managed a strained smile, "I'm glad you could make it. There's something that I need to show you."
"Here?" Jordan asked.
The lights at the edge of the platform began to flash and signal the approach of a train. In their odd glow Ann shook her head, "Not here. First we need to go someplace a little more private."
"Your place or mine?" Jordan asked above the growing rumble of the approaching train.
Ann gave him a vaguely amused smile, and said "Very funny."
Jordan was about to reply when Ann lurched forward. She stumbled off the platform and into the path of the decelerating train. Jordan looked on in shock as she impacted the windshield of the train with a sickening sound.
Martin dashed over to Jordan's side with his gun drawn as people began to scream in panic. Jordan drew his own gun and looked around franticly. He saw someone moving quickly across the platform toward the exit.
"There!" Jordan cried pointing, "Go!."
Martin nodded and moved to follow.
NRPG:
Peter: So, could Jim be the pusher? Could it be part of the "programming" that you alluded to? I'll leave that up to you.
I expect Ann will be dead after her little "run-in" with the train, but that's for another post. She may have something on her (I'm thinking floppy disk) that may shed some light on things.
On the home front, Beth is feeling much better. The next obstacle will be our move to Huntsville in early January. Stay tuned for more details.