Nothing Ordinary, M J Marlow [ebook and pdf reader .TXT] 📗

Your father called ahead to let us know you were coming.” “Let me guess,” Jeffrey frowned as he tossed his overnight bag in back. “He asked the Commandant to assign me a babysitter while I was here?” “I prefer to think of myself as a guide in your case, Captain,” Marcy said stiffly. She saw his smile return and she was enchanted all over again. She had missed him dreadfully in the past week. He was quite definitely the handsomest man she had seen in some time, and he was all hers! Down girl, she told herself. He was here for two days tops and then he’d be back at the military academy to finish his assignment. “You’re quartered with the Commandant and his family while you’re here. He’s dying to hear all your family news.” “Uncle Edward has been out of touch too long,” Jeffrey nodded. He looked at Marcy pointedly and she shook her head. She hadn’t told Edward about her relationship with Jeffrey yet. He didn’t know whether to be annoyed or intrigued. “Uncle?” Petrie was astounded. “Our Colonel is your uncle?” “Didn’t come up in the bio Captain Lewis ran on me?” Jeffrey teased her. He saw her blush. “You did?” “I investigate every visitor the prison gets,” Marcy defended her work. “It’s part of my job.” She did not admit, however; that once she saw his photo she had dug a lot deeper into his life than any other visitor she’d investigated. She wanted to know everything about his man who had hold of her heart. “If you’re coming, I suggest you get in.” They drove to the prison and went to the Commandant’s Office. It was like every other military prison, cold, sterile, and imposing. Colonel Edward Lang rose as Jeffrey saluted him and returned it with a happy smile. He nodded to Marcy and she left them alone, closing the door as she went to her desk. “She’s a nice girl, nephew,” Edward said as he caught Jeffrey watching her go. “Don’t play with her while you’re here.” “I assure you, Uncle,” Jeffrey replied as he turned to pay attention to his uncle; “Captain Lewis and I are not playing.” He picked up the framed photograph of his father and Karl and smiled. “Has McManus said anything yet?” “Not a word,” Edward replied, frowning. “I’m beginning to think that he can’t.” He saw Jeffrey’s expression. “You think he’s pulling one over on us?” He shrugged. “It’s certainly possible.” He went to the door and opened it. “Shall we?” Jeffrey accompanied him into the prison and he flinched. He didn’t like prisons; they reminded him of what James had gone through while he was a POW. He couldn’t imagine what James would be thinking if he were here right now. He was glad he had thought to spare him this experience. They passed through the first checkpoint after Jeffrey signed in and presented his identification. Down a corridor past offices, then went through a second checkpoint where Jeffrey again presented his identification and entered an interrogation room. Clark went to his feet and stood at attention. “This is not McManus,” Jeffrey said as he met the man’s eyes and saw frustration and desperation in them. He turned to his uncle. “Did you fingerprint him?” “We just finished processing him,” Edward replied. He looked at his nephew curiously. “How do you know this is not McManus?” “Because the Thomas McManus I served with was the coldest bastard on this planet,” Jeffrey replied, “with absolutely no respect for authority, Uncle.” He took out the notepad he always carried in his shirt pocket and a pen and put it on the table. “Tell us who you really are.” “Agent Nicholas Clark,” Edward read what Clark was writing. “FBI? This man is an FBI agent? How the hell did he get here?” “What’s more important right now,” Jeffrey said as he was filled with fear, “is that McManus is out there with Agent Clark’s face. Annie is not going to suspect him when he goes after her!” Edward nodded and called for the guard. “Bring him to my office,” he told the guard as he and Jeffrey ran. They hit the outer office and Marcy got to her feet. “Captain Lewis, call General Owens at Sterling Academy and then you and Petrie come into my office.” Clark was brought by the time Marcy realized they were not getting through. Petrie checked and found that all the power to the Academy area was down because of a major storm in the area. Marcy told them this and Jeffrey hissed. He tried his father’s cell phone and there was no answer. He tried James and there was no answer. “I’ve got to get there,” Jeffrey told his uncle. “Fast!” He was frantic. “Can you arrange a jet and a pilot who can break the sound barrier?” “I’ll go, sir,” Marcy told her commander. “If you can spare me?” “Go,” Edward nodded. “I’ll keep trying to get through from here.” Jeffrey nodded and ran. Edward turned to Clark. “So why haven’t you spoken to us?” Clark took his finger and made a cutting motion across his throat. “The bastard cut your vocal chord?” Clark nodded and Edward hissed. “Write a full report,” he said as he nodded towards his chair and the computer. “One copy for my files, one copy for your superior. Write down the number for your superior and I’ll call him now.” Agent Taylor was waiting at the airfield when Jeffrey and Marcy landed in New York. They headed for the Academy as fast as the siren would allow them and began to see the evidence of the storm’s passing several miles out. They had to stop as a crew appeared ahead of them over the rise trying to clear a downed tree that had cut off the road. They were informed that the side road was under water and impassable. “It’s like nature itself is conspiring against us,” Jeffrey hissed as he slammed his fist onto the hood of the car. “We’re only four miles out, Agent Taylor. I’m hiking in.” He saw the man balk. “You can catch me up once the tree is cleared.” ‘I’m going with you, Jeff,” Marcy said. Jeffrey started to argue. “I’m not letting you out of my sight. There is a man in there who is supposed to be in my prison, and I mean to take him alive.” Jeffrey nodded and they took off at a trot. Agent Taylor shook his head as he saw the sparks those two struck off each other and settled back to wait for the road to clear. 28 Annie had been irritable all day and the storm had not helped. Karl had shrieked when the thunder had begun and it had taken her a long time to settle him down. When he was finally asleep, she curled up on the couch with James and they watched the lightning flash. Owens pulled in an hour later as the storm was abating and he went into the Study with James after greeting his daughter-in-law and looking in on his grandson. Something was going on that she should know about, but her military upbringing was strong enough that she remained on the couch and enjoyed the light show until she dozed off. She woke up as someone rang the front doorbell and got up to answer it. She’d missed the end of the storm she realized and wondered how long she’d been sleeping. “Nick?” she smiled as she recognized the man standing there. “What are you doing here?” “Is your husband here, Annie?” McManus asked in his best approximation of Clark’s voice. Since he was a superb mimic, it fooled her. “He’s in the study with his father,” Annie nodded and turned from him. He clamped the ether-soaked rag over her face and pulled her out of the house. She struggled wildly and he almost lost her before she finally succumbed to the drug. McManus dropped the note inside the house and closed the door quietly. McManus carried her to his car and put her in the trunk. He got behind the wheel and did not see the cadets standing on the other side of the road. They were taking film of the storm damage for a class project. As he started the car, Kelly turned with his camera and caught his face on film. He caught the license number as the car pulled away and wondered who the man was and why he had been at the Major’s house. “General. Major,” Kelly snapped to attention as they opened the door to him. “There was a man outside just now.” He saw the note and picked it up. James’ face went white as he handed it to him and they saw two words written there. “You lose? What does that mean, sir?” “Annie?” James cried as he went into the living room and found her missing. He ran through the house, checking every room and came back to the others. “He’s got Annie, Dad!” “McManus is in prison, son,” Owens reminded him. “He couldn’t have taken her.” He turned to Kelly. “You say you saw a strange man outside?” “Yes, sir,” Kelly nodded and held up his camera. “I think I got his face and the license number on film.” “Good man,” Owens smiled at the boy. “Run it back for us.” They watched and he frowned as he saw the man. “That’s Agent Clark,” he said tightly. “Why would an FBI agent kidnap your wife, James?” “Because that’s not Agent Clark,” Jeffrey spoke up from the doorway. They all turned to see him standing there, soaking wet and panting from his run. “McManus has stolen another person’s life and face.” He nodded to the woman standing behind him. “You all remember Captain Lewis. She brought me here from the prison when we realized the real Agent Clark was there in McManus’ place.” He saw James grab the phones. “All the lines are down, James, and cells don’t work. We’ve been trying.” “There’s a CB unit in the library,” Kelly suggested. “It’s in a display of past communications technologies but I know it works. Sergeant O’Malley let us use it for a class project.” “Son,” General Owens smiled as he clapped his hand on Kelly’s shoulder. “You have just earned yourself a promotion.” Kelly beamed at that and James got his son and the diaper bag. They drove out into the storm and headed for the library. McManus drove away from the Academy smiling happily. He had his woman now and she was never getting away from him again. He was going to make certain of it as soon as they got where they were going. He was not pleased that she was carrying another of Owens’ pups, but if she behaved he would let her keep this one. He got a perverse pleasure out of the thought of raising Owens’ child to hate its own father as much as he did. When the brat was old enough, he would set him on his own brother and family and wipe the Owens’ family out completely. The storm was behind him after an hour and he relaxed and headed towards the airfield he had been told would have a private plane waiting for him. Sure enough, the plane was fueled and ready. He strapped Annie into the co-pilot’s seat and got behind the controls. He went to file the bogus flight plan and showed his credentials. The manager handed him the briefcase his backers had left for him and he opened it cautiously and examined every inch. No trackers, and no traps; he nodded and put it aboard the plane. He glanced over at Annie and smiled. She was started to wake. “Hello, darling,” McManus said in his own voice. “Did you sleep well?” “You’re not Agent Clark,” Annie cried in dismay as she looked at him.