Hunting the Fox

Chapter 7

The drive back her condominium was relativity short. True to the Jefferson Hotel's reputation, most high profiled people used the back entrance to avoid the media or other people. How Ryan had gain access for its use was a mystery to her. In fact, Ryan was a mystery to her. She really thought she knew what kind of person he was, but the man was proving to be quite the enigma.

The driver did not asked questions as he drove Kiera to her location. Kiera pulled the collar of the shirt to her nose to inhale the fragrance of Ryan's cologne and smiled. The memories of their past came flooding back, she had tried so hard to keep those memories locked up tight in the back of her mind. She guessed that here was no running away from her past. She looked down at the collar to take another sniff when she saw something that confused her.

On the edge of the collar where she inhaled, there was a crimson spot of blood. Confused she touched to the back of her hand to her nose and felt something warm and wet. Pulling her hand back sharply and looking at the back her hand, she gasped slightly in shock to see a small amount of blood on the back of her hand.

'A nose is bleeding?' Kiera thought and pulled out her phone.

Changing the setting her phone to the selfie cam, Kiera looked at her nose to see a small amount of blood.

'That is weird?' Kiera thought, 'Must have hit it last night, but why is it bleeding now?'

Kiera did not have much time to think about it before the driver spoke up, "Ma'am we are at your location."

"Thank you," Kiera said distractedly wiping the blood off her nose, "How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing Ma'am," The driver responded, "Everything has been paid for."

"Ah, thank you." Kiera said dumbfounded and exited the car. The driver waved to her and drove off.

Kiera shrugged and walked up to the main entrance to the condominium. The door attendant opened the door for her.

"Good morning Dr. Reid," The Doorman said with a surprised look, "Did you have a long night?"

"Manuel, you have no idea." She patted him on the shoulder, "No questions about it. Also please let Mrs. Kimball and Mr. Garza in when they show up."

"Well it looks like someone has been burning her midnight oil." A woman's voice spoke in disgust from behind her.

"And good morning to you too, Mrs. Jenson." Kiera sighed turning around to see a woman in her late seventies looking her up and down this disgust.

"You look quite disgraceful Dr. Reid." Mrs. Jenson said walking past with her dog.

"And you are as honest as always Mrs. Jenson." Kiera retorted shaking her head.

Manuel held the door open for Mrs. Jenson then walked back to Kiera, "I will let them in Kiera and don't let Mrs. Jenson get to you. She's old and moody."

"Thank Manuel," Kiera smiled.

"May I ask you something?"

"Sure Manuel," Kiera noticed that he was shifting his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"Well Kiera," He swallowed and took a deep breath, "I have been having some trouble with my teenage son."

"What kind of trouble Manuel?

"He has been pretty secretive lately and has been coming home late."

"I see, please tell me more." Kiera probed.

"When I asked him about why he is out so late. He just looks down at the ground as if he is guilty, but he will not tell me. I want to yell at him or demand him to tell me."

"That would not be the best idea right now," Kiera offered, "Manuel you should give him his space right now. He doesn't have any marks or bruises on him?"

"No," Manuel said shaking his head, "He looks happy when he comes home, until he see me and then he looks sad or embarrassed."

"My suggestion is to give him space and tell him that you are here for him if he wants to talk." Kiera smiled empathically and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you Kiera," Manuel smiled, "I will try it your way."

"You are a good father Manuel," Kiera offered advice. "He will open up to you."

Kiera squeezed his shoulder then walked over to the elevator. Once in her condominium, she walked into the bedroom. Stripping off her clothes, she winced slightly from the bruise on her neck and back. Looking in a mirror, she saw how dark the bruises were. Ginger came into the bedroom meowing as Kiera changed into some fresh clothes.

"Hello Ginger." Kiera said kneeling to pet her cat, "Hungry?"

Ginger responded by purring and meowing lightly.

Looking at her phone, she saw that Marcus and Sandra would be arriving in about thirty minutes. Walking into the kitchen, she fed Ginger and made some coffee. Right as the clock struck 11:00am. There was a knock on the door. Kiera took a sip of her coffee, walked over to the door, and opened it. Marcus and Sandra stood there greeting her.

"Where were you last night?" Kiera accused Marcus as she smacked him hard across the face.

Marcus stood there stunned by the question and the slap. Kiera noticed Sandra smirking from behind Marcus.

"I asked you a question." Kiera inquired calmly.

"May we come in to talk about last night?" Marcus responded recovering from the slap as he rubbed his chin.

"By all means, please come in." Kiera said sarcastically holding the door for them.

"Are you feeling alright," Sandra asked with concern. Kiera was sure she could see the bruise on her neck.

"Let's just say that I have had better nights." Kiera closed the door and sat down on in a chair wincing slightly.

"Report what happened." Marcus ordered as he and Sandra sat down on the couch.

"What happened," Kiera felt her anger rise, "I almost got r***d and beat up by an unknown assailant in the alley last night or kidnapped by some agent." Kiera said coolly, "The alley that you were supposed to meet me in. That's what your note said right?"

"You are correct," Marcus showed no response to her comment about her being possibly drugged and kidnapped. "Command called and I had to respond. I sent another agent to meet up with you."

"Was that the agent that tried to drug me?" Kiera inquired trying to keep her voice neutral. Then Kiera saw his eyes widen slightly.

'Oh s**t,' Kiera thought, 'Did he send that agent? Why?'

"Kiera our agent was found dead a few blocks away. That person in the alley was not our agent." Marcus replied and Kiera heard him trying to keep the tone of his voice neutral.

"I overheard Ryan this morning saying the person who attacked me was an agent." Kiera said and saw Sandra smirk, but Marcus on the other hand narrowed his eyes.

"Kiera," Sandra spoke up clearing her throat, "We I.D. the unknown guy in the alley at the morgue, and he is a German native working for the LNF."

'So Ryan was right.' Kiera thought.

"Wait at the morgue?" Kiera asked confused, "Ryan said that he knocked the man out then call the police."

"He did all that," Sandra agreed, "But the man clearly had his windpipe crushed."

"That was the weird sound I heard, but why would Ryan lie about no killing him.' Kiera thought. She observed that Marcus was keeping quiet during this conversion.

"Did you hear anything else from this morning's conversion?" Marcus asked and she noticed that he was clearly uncomfortable.

"He was talking to someone called Dragon." Kiera thought back, "He said that everything was going to plan and he could work around Durand. He did not mention Durand specifically, but I'm sure that is who Ryan was talking about." Kiera explained, "He said Durand was supposed to deliver some codes. Did Durand have codes?"

"No clue," Marcus shrugged, but his tone told her that the codes did mean something, "Durand did not have anything on him."

'Marcus knows something,' Kiera thought watching how uncomfortable he looked. He shifted his weight on the couch and rubbed his hands together. These were sure signs.

"I'm having dinner with Ryan tomorrow and he invited me to Rome." Kiera said looking at Marcus and then at Sandra.

"I don't think Rome would..." Kiera cut him off in midsentence.

"I already said yes," announced Kiera holding up her hand, "The G7 will be Rome, it is the best option we have as of right now. Maybe this will be all over next week, but I wanted to leave the option on the table."

"I think it sounds like a great idea." Sandra piped in then Kiera saw her give a sidelong look at Marcus.

"Also it would be suspicious if I back out now. Ryan did mention that he came to Washington D.C. to see me." Kiera explained, "He knew I was working at the Foxhole."

"I will discuss the change of events with command." Marcus replied and glanced quickly at Sandra, "We need to tread carefully."

'What the hell was that?' Kiera thought, observing the eye exchange between them.

"In the meantime," Sandra added, "find out anything you can about what is going to happen at the G7 Summit."

"I will try," said Kiera warily keeping her eyes on Marcus, "He trust me now and we have time on our hands."

"Well we have to go give an update to command." Marcus said suddenly standing "Let's go."

"I need to talk to Sandra about something." Kiera requested quickly.

"Go ahead Marcus," Sandra nodded, "I will catch up with you."

Kiera saw him look suspiciously at both women, but then shrugged. "See you downstairs in five and the police will not be interviewing you. We have taken care of that." Marcus said walking towards the door. He opened it and left closing the door behind him.

Kiera waited a few seconds then turned on Sandra, "What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing is going on Kiera." Sandra shifted her eyes as she shrugged.

"Don't lie to me Sandra," Kiera warned, "Your eyes gave you away. You know something."

"Kiera..." However, Kiera held up a warning finger to stop her.

"Let me stop you right there." Kiera said, "Be very careful what you say right now. You are standing on thin ice."

She watched Sandra take a deep breath, "Here is something going on, but I can't figure it out." Sandra whispered, "Marcus is up to something. He did get a call last night, but not from command. I had someone we know hack his phone records. I'm concerned that he is up to something."

What is he up to?" Kiera asked observing the serious expression on Sandra's face. Sandra was telling the truth.

"He is talking to someone outside of the agency, but I can't discover who it is." Sandra said frustrated.

"Please try to find out." Kiera asked, "I don't know what is going on with him, but I don't like what I see. He is nervous about something."

"I will see what I can find out," Sandra said standing as Kiera did. Sandra placed a hand on her shoulder, "Be careful Kiera. Also which Kiera showed up last night?"

"The one that I was afraid would show up." Kiera sighed.

"Maybe it is for the best." Sandra offered.

"Maybe," Kiera sighed again.

Sandra gave a reassuring smile then left to go meet up with Marcus.

Kiera sitting down on the couch lowering her face in her hands. The meeting today and the conversion Ryan had gave her a lot to think about. She stretched out on the couch and Ginger jumped up onto her stomach. He found a comfortable spot on Kiera and lied down.

As Kiera thought over all the events of the day, a sudden thought came to her. She grabbed her phone from the coffee table and scrolled through the contacts until she found the owner of the Foxhole's number. Pressing the connect button she waited. After a few rings the phone connected.

"This had better be good?" The grumpy voice of the owner asked from the other end of the line.

"Steve, it's me Kiera." Kiera said trying to sound as cheerful as possible.

"Kiera is that you?" The owner sounded confused as first, "How the heck are you feeling?"

"I had better days," answered Kiera.

"Look, I'm sorry you got hurt..." Nevertheless, Kiera cut him off.

"Steve, I'm ok, but do you have a copy of from that security camera?" Kiera asked. She remembered when Steve had told her about the small security camera installed in the alley.

Silence for a second, "A big guy in a suit took the copy from the hard drive."

"Do you remember what he looked like?"

"Yeah not hard to miss," Steve replied, "He was a big Puerto Rican guy. He made a lot of threats."

Kiera felt dizzy for a second at what the owner said. She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes until the dizziness passed.

'Marcus saw the video first and didn't say anything about it.' Kiera thought confused.

"Hey, Kiera you still there?" His voice sounded like it was coming from the other end of a tunnel.

Shaking her head to clear her mind, "I'm here," answered Kiera, "You don't happen to have another copy or something?" She probed feeling hopeful.

"In fact I do, I keep another hard drive system at home."

"Do you think you can email me a copy of that night?"

"Sure Kiera," He sounded weary, "You're not suing me or something like that?"

"Nothing like that Steve, I want to find out what happened last night in case the police have some questions for me."

"Yeah I will send you a copy today."

"Thanks Steven, you're the best." Kiera responded, "Here is my email." Kiera gave him her personal email address, "I really need it."

"I will get it over to you soon." Steve repeated.

"Thanks again Steve."

As Kiera hung up her phone, she suddenly felt tired and decided to close her eyes for a bit.

Hearing a beep, Kiera opened her eyes and looked down at her phone through sleepy eyes. Surprisingly the time read 6:00pm. Rubbing her eyes and sitting up Ginger jumped down giving her a look. Stretching she noticed that her lower back felt better.

"Sorry about that Ginger." Kiera said in a sleepy voice and stretched.

Looking through her messages, she saw a test message from Steve.

'Check your email, good luck, and bye.'

Kiera typed back, 'thx'.

Kiera laid her phone down, walked sleepy into the bedroom, and stripped off her clothes. She felt something wet on her upper lip. Walking into the bathroom, Kiera looked in the mirror and jerked back in surprise. There was blood on her upper lip and it was still wet.

'Why is my nose bleeding?' Kiera thought touching the blood with her finger.

Kiera looked at the blood on her finger in shock. She used a tissue to wipe away the blood from her nose.

'I think I should call a doctor.' She thought as she wiped away the blood. She looked at her nose in the mirror, but could not figure out why it was bleeding.

Shrugging Kiera changed into a loose fitting pink long sleeved shirt and shorts. Picking up her laptop, Kiera walked into the kitchen. She made something to eat for Ginger and herself. Pouring a glass of wine, she sat down on the couch and felt a headache forming in the back of her head. Signing, Kiera stood up and got some aspirin.

Putting her glasses on, Kiera flipped open her laptop and turned it on. While it booted up, she ate some of her dinner. After her laptop booted up she clicked on her personal email account. Scrolling through her messages, she saw one from her parents about a new project.

'I will have to see what that is about.' Kiera thought and scrolled past until she found the email she was looking for. She shook her head at his email address, 'Steve balling'.

"Here is what you were looking for. There is no sound to the video, but the camera picked up a lot.' The message said.

Moving her mouse over the attachment, she clicked the attachment and drank some wine while the video loaded. A video appeared with a low light filter. It was still grainy and faced towards the alley entrance. The camera installed over the back door and gave great coverage of the area. She leaned forward and watched as a man walked into the alley looking around, but something was odd about the way he was looking around. He glanced around the alley to make sure no one was following him. Kiera could clearly see it was the executive from the bar.

The man walked up to the back door and tried the handle, but found it locked. Then he walked out of the line of site of the camera.

'He is probably waiting in the back of the alley.' Kiera thought. 'But what is he waiting for?'

Kiera continued to watch the video as the time when by. Then Kiera saw herself open the back door. Kiera watched as she walked out into the alley and dropped the garbage. Kiera looked away during the altercation between the suspect and herself shuttering as she remembered the events.

Glancing back at the video, she noticed someone come into the alley as she fell to the ground. She saw that the suspect was holding something in his hand. Not a gun a pressed against her temple, but something small and thin. At the time, she thought it was a gun, but he must have switched to the small device.

'That must have been what he was going to drug me with, but why?' Kiera thought.

The other person who appeared in the alley was Ryan. Ryan quickly came up behind the suspect and knocked him to the other side of the alley. Ryan then wrapped his arms around the agent's throat and squeezed. The LNF agent struggled against Ryan's hold trying to hit Ryan. Suddenly the man stopped struggling and collapsed onto the ground.

'Did Ryan just kill that man?' Kiera thought watching as Ryan knelt next to the suspect and checked his pockets.

She noticed that he pulled out a small rectangle object and flipped it open.

'The guy had a flip phone?' Kiera thought confused.

Kiera was confused when Ryan tossed the phone under some garbage. He leaned over Kiera in the video and picked her up. By then the police had arrived and Ryan quickly explained the events. He then left carrying Kiera out the alley and the view of the camera.

'Everything happened as he said.' Kiera thought, 'Ryan was telling the truth.'

Kiera took another sip of wine and she was glad that she did not stop the video. She watched as one police officer pointed out of the alley. The other officer shrugged and walked out. The first officer looked around.

'It looks as if he wants to make sure no one is around.' Kiera thought leaning in towards her laptop to get a better view.

Once he was satisfied, the officer patted the LNF agent clothing. The officer did not find what he was looking for. His body language portrayed anger. His body tensed and he hit the ground. Then the officer positioned himself in front of the body and slipped his hand onto his belt. It looked like he took out something small and leaned over the limp form of the LNF agent. Kiera could not be sure, but it seemed as if the officer was pressing against the LNF agent's throat.

"Oh god." Kiera said aloud.

She watched horrified as the agent suddenly struggled against the officer. In less than a minute, it was over with. The police officer stood up and yelled something. The other officer came into the alley and the first officer was explaining something to him. Kiera paused the video to look at the side profile of the officer. She noticed that he had a handlebar mustache and a scar down his right cheek.

'Does Ryan know what happened?' Kiera thought, 'And the phone, I wonder if it is still there?'

Kiera remembered Sandra saying that the LNF agent had his throat crushed.

Kiera closed her laptop and stood up thinking about leaving now to find the phone. She looked out the window and saw the sun was setting. Probably not a good time to go out and her head started to pound again. Kiera jumped suddenly when her phone started to play Mozart. She picked up the phone and saw it was from an unknown number. Taking a deep breath Kiera pressed the connect button and held it to her ear.

"Good evening Gazelle," Ryan's rugged voice said over the phone, "I promised I would call you."

"Good evening Fox." Kiera replied with a smile. She felt her body warm to his voice. Taking a sip of wine, "You did not forget." All thought of the video leaving her mind.