H&K: Path of Knowledge

Chapter 2

It was nearly nine o’clock by the time the arson squad and police officers had departed. Hank and Bob entered the house.

“Bob, I can’t stay here tonight,” Tess said.

“Why don’t we go to dinner?” Katharine suggested. “That’s what we were supposed to be doing anyway. And we can try to forget about all this.”

The four agreed to take Hank and Katharine’s SUV to a nice restaurant and bar. When they were seated, the waitress asked if they wanted to place an order for drinks while they looked at the menu.

“I think we’ll wait awhile to order dinner. Why don’t you bring us a few drinks from the bar?” Hank suggested.

After the waitress took their drink orders, she disappeared. She reappeared a few minutes later with two wines for the ladies and two Guinnesses for the men. The three watched as Tess downed her wine in one gulp, her hands shaking.

“Want mine, cuz?” Katharine offered. Tess took Katharine’s drink and downed it in one gulp.

The waitress was still standing at the table.

“Can we have four more wines please, miss?” Hank asked as Bob put his left hand on Tess’s right hand. Her shaking slowed under his soft, tender touch. She turned to him and kissed him.

“Well, I don’t know about any of you, but I need to use the ladies’ room,” Katharine announced. “Care to join me, Tess?”

Tess got up, kissed Bob, and slid her hand from under Bob’s to walk with Katharine to the ladies’ room.

“You haven’t said or asked anything, Hank,” Bob observed.

“It’s none of my business unless you want to divulge something,” he stated.

“Don’t say anything to Tess, but she was attacked at work by a coworker. But that isn’t what’s frustrating her.” Bob took a long swig of his Guinness. “One of the doctors associated with the hospital, someone we thought of as a good friend, propositioned to have an affair with her.”

Hank sipped his Guinness as he listened but also observed one of the would-be arsonists wearing a baseball cap pulled down to obscure most of his face as he weaved his way through the crowded bar area, glancing toward their table nonchalantly. No one seemed to be with him.

“This doctor wouldn’t be Doctor Martin, would it?” Hank asked. “He’s the only doctor I have seen at any of your cookouts or get-togethers.”

“Actually, it was,” Bob replied.

Once they entered the ladies’ room, Tess’s frustration grew. Her hands clenched into fists as she began to pace about the ladies’ room like a caged lioness. Luckily, the ladies’ room was vacant for the moment. Katharine watched her cousin as she paced furiously about and waited.

Finally, Tess got herself under control as she locked the ladies’ room door. Then everything flooded forth as Tess stepped close to Katharine. Katharine listened without saying a word.

“Oh my god,” Tess said starting to pace again. “I now know why he was always shadowing me whenever we all got together. He would never offer to help but always lurked nearby. He even cornered me in the kitchen a couple of times and tried to kiss me. When I pushed him away, he said he was just playing. He even walked into my bedroom once while I was changing into my bathing suit. I guess I was lucky Shannon was with me.” Shannon was her seven-year-old daughter.

“You need to tell Bob all of this,” Katharine told her. Her concern for her cousin intensified with the new revelation.

“He knows about today,” Tess replied.

“No, I mean everything else. All the times he tried or said things. He needs to know everything.”

When the two exited the ladies’ room, a line had formed. They walked straight to the table where their husbands had begun to worry about what was taking them so long.

“We need to go out on the veranda, away from the crowd,” Katharine stated, picking up two of the wines. Tess grabbed the other two.

Bob picked up his half-empty Guinness to follow the ladies. Hank hung back, his empty glass still resting on the table. Hank thought about flagging down the waitress to order another until he spotted the would-be arsonist moving in the direction of the veranda, slithering through the crowded bar.

Hank followed the other three a little slower than the others and a few steps behind them, aware of the would-be arsonist following close behind the group.

As the other three rounded the corner into the hallway leading to the veranda. Hank stepped around the corner into the hall, out of sight of the would-be arsonist, and stopped. Hank counted to three and stepped into the face of the man following them. The man, surprised as he was, recognized Hank and swung his fist at Hank’s face. Hank dropped low as he spun, capturing the man’s right arm by the wrist, and stood up with the man’s arm over his right shoulder. He jabbed the man in the left rib cage with three quick consecutive blows with his left elbow, knocking the wind from the man. The man’s baseball cap fell to the floor. A backward uppercut sent the man flying backward onto the floor, unconscious. Hank picked the man up, placed him in a chair in the hallway, put the man’s cap over his face to cover his eyes, and proceeded to the veranda.

Hank was surprised at how easily his training was returning to him after all these years. He felt invigorated and alive in a way he hadn’t in years. He smiled to himself even as his muscles and joints began to ache slightly with more activity than they had seen in quite some time.

Once on the veranda, Tess gulped two more glasses of wine. With prodding from Katharine, she finally began to relate all she could remember that Doctor Martin had been doing over the past four years they had been associating with him and his family. His wife was an assistant district attorney whom Bob worked with frequently.

They had started associating after work since their children went to the same school. So, it seemed natural for them to become friends. But how friendly Doctor Martin wanted to be hadn’t been apparent until his actions that morning.

Bob fumed; murder was in his eyes. Tess grabbed his arm, pleading with him. Hank laid a supportive but assertive hand on his shoulder, holding Bob in place.

“Not worth it, dude,” Hank told Bob.

Slowly, his temper eased as he took his wife in his arm to hug and kiss her. She was shaking with frustration, but gradually, her shaking ceased. The four continued talking, changing the subject to lighten the mood. Two bouncers were observed carrying an unconscious man out of the hallway to deposit him in the alley behind the bar/ restaurant.

“I guess someone had one too many,” Katharine chuckled, indicating the unconscious man.

Soon, the four were laughing and making plans for the next outing they could schedule. Hank was due to leave on another consulting assignment in two days. He usually had more time between assignments, but this was an emergency request that his company could not refuse. It was decided that they would sleep over and enjoy swimming in the pool or lounging in Bob and Tess’s Jacuzzi on the side of the pool.

It was after two in the morning when they arrived back at Tess and Bob’s house. Tess became more like herself, having time for the frustration to dissipate. The four drank more, talked, and listened to old CDs. Since the kids were with their grandparents, they could act like young adults with no care in the world. The sun was just coming up as they all hugged before heading to bed. Hank excused himself as the other three headed to bed. He explained that he needed to go for his regular morning run since he had started trying to lose weight in the last two months.

Even in dress shoes, Hank’s pace quickened, his mind replaying all the events of the previous night. He had stripped down to his brown T-shirt before leaving on his run. He lapped the neighborhood several times, judging at least three miles. As he started his fourth lap, he spotted a silver blacked-out Audi four-door parked a few houses down from Tess and Bob’s. A white BMW was parked in front of the Audi. A white blonde woman stood pointing at Bob and Tess’s house with three men in dark suits. She handed one of the men an envelope. They nodded as the woman climbed into her BMW and sped off. The three men returned to their black Audi and proceeded to leave the area in the opposite direction, driving past Tess and Bob’s home.

Hank took notice of both license plate numbers and slowed his run to a slow jog. Taking his cell phone out, he quickly took several pictures as he jogged past the vehicles. When Hank was a reasonable distance down the street, he sent them as a text to himself with both license plates visible as well as the individuals as he slackened his pace to a walk. Once the pictures were sent, he picked up his pace to run full speed for the last part of the lap. At the end of the fourth lap, he returned to the house. The heavy breathing of sleepers could be heard as he quietly sat down at the kitchen table with a glass of water. He peered out the window between the vertical blinds.

Hank took out his cell phone, looking at the pictures more intensely. He then dialed his cell phone and waited.

“Designation?” a feminine voice came from the phone.

“Alpha One Zero Southern Star. I have a situation. I need to speak with Delta Zulu Yellow,” Hank explained.

“Alpha One Zero Southern Star, this is against protocol. You are not on an active assignment. You are breaking protocol,” the voice stated.

“To hell with protocol. Patch me through,” Hank demanded just above a whisper.

“Relaying.”

“Logan, what’s with the call? You’re not on assignment. You are breaking protocol,” a man angrily said.

“Billings, I have a situation concerning an assistant DA ordering a hit on a civilian in Philadelphia. My gut tells me there’s something major going down here,” Hank told the man.

“Logan, that is outside the scope of your mission as surveillance and analyst. Stand down. If you have an issue, hand it off to the local authorities or the area FBI officer,” Billings told Hank.

“You’re not listening. This deals with an assistant DA, mafia, and a known domestic assassin,” Hank angrily replied to Billings.

“Logan, you are breaking protocol. Stand down, or I will have to report this incident. You are jeopardizing your future with the agency. You have been a valuable asset, don’t mess this up,” Billings warned.

“Very well, I’m standing down. I’ll hand the situation off to the appropriate authorities,” Hank conceded.

“Good boy,” Billings said as he terminated the connection.

Hank shook his head. Anger welled up in him as he thought of how absurd the call had been and the fact that Billings had ended the call with “Good boy”. The statement made his blood boil for the first time in a very long time. Out of desperation and anger, Hank dialed another almost forgotten number.

“The number you have reached has been changed or disconnected. Please check the number and dial again,” the automated message stated.

Hank pressed several buttons on his phone and was rewarded with a low click sound. Hank waited thirty seconds before a male voice came onto the line.

“Please state the nature of your call,” a digitized male voice came from the other end of the call. “This is a restricted line.”

“Control, this is Alpha One Zero Southern Star for Alpha One Zero Actual. 911,” Hank quietly spoke into the cell phone.

“Alpha One Zero Southern Star, you are breaking protocol,” the male voice stated. “Make contact with your prearranged handler.”

“Witches brew, Control,” Hank spoke hesitantly into the phone.

“Received.” The voice stated and the connection was terminated.

It was nearly eight-thirty in the morning when his cell finally rang.

“Well, you sure picked a hell of a time to rekindle our relationship,” a familiar feminine voice came out of the cell phone with a snicker. “What do I owe the honor after so long?”

“Adaline, I’m calling in a favor. I believe a friend and his family are in danger,” Hank told the woman on the other end of the line.

“Okay, I know you wouldn’t be contacting me unless something serious wasn’t up. Why aren’t you speaking with law enforcement or your present handler? Please explain,” Adaline Sarasin replied.

“I have been ordered to stand down by Billings, thus this is completely off the books and you are the only one I can truly trust with this,” Hank began.

Hank relayed all the events that occurred the previous night along with the situation with Tess. He explained about the two vehicles watching the house.

“For old time’s sake, I’ll check it out, but you owe me for this one,” Sarasin stated, emphasizing “for this one.”

“And you always collect,” Hank finished her statement before she could. “You know me. I haven’t changed. You name it, within reason, and the favor is yours.”

“Like old times?” Sarasin asked as she terminated the connection.

“Something like that,” Hank said silently to himself as he set his cell down.

Hank pondered why his handler told him to stand down instead of assisting him. In the past, Hank had requested assistance with no issues about breaking protocol or any pushback. Now Hank was finding that he had to reach out to someone outside of his chain of command from his past for help. Hank had a bad feeling, and it was growing with every passing minute.