Leopard: Chapter 1

Washington, DC is a city comprised of a variety of distinct areas. It is well known for its diversity. There are the monuments that grace the skyline with poise and are rich with history; the commanding buildings that are at the seat of the government, where the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House abode. Then you have areas with beautiful homes in nice safe neighborhoods; yet there are some places that are not safe for man nor beast.

From his vantage point, perched on the rooftop of a twelve-story apartment building, the operative known as Hammer could view all aspects of the complex city. The sounds of traffic below, music playing in the distance, and quiet alleyways behind buildings had his senses on alert. In the shadows of the heating and air systems, his presence was undetectable, giving him a clear view of the entrance to a private club in a remote section of Washington.  

His mission was two-fold tonight. Test the prototypes and keep tabs on the targets of an investigation. Three men had entered the establishment earlier that evening. It was now well past 2 a.m., and none had left the building. Congressman Edward Ackerson, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Justice Patrick Cunningham, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and Arnold Vance, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were all powerful men independently, and damn near indestructible if they joined forces. The recent death of Senator Jason Rolfeman, Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, provided evidence that all four of the most powerful men in the current administration had indeed conspired to overthrow the government. The FISC, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, granted surveillance on Vance, not Cunningham or Ackerson. However, all three were in attendance for this meeting and considered fair game for the recordings. A fourth individual entered the meeting but was not identified. The flow of the conversation seemed to indicate there was an internal struggle amongst the co-conspirators, now that Rolfeman, who was considered the mastermind behind the conspiracy, was dead. 

This was where Hammer’s technical skill set was needed. From the rooftop, using a midsize laptop, he was able to triangulate his equipment to gather satellite visual and audio surveillance on the meeting taking place inside a building that was a block away from his location. As he was sitting in the shadows gathering intelligence, a sound pierced the quiet of the area. He glanced over the rooftop to see a light from the back exit point appear. Moving closer to the edge of the rooftop, he noticed a man leaving the building. It wasn’t one of the men he was surveilling, it was the unidentified visitor. He noted the information on his laptop, including the time and location of the action. He was about to ease back into his position when he picked up on another person shadowing the man. The person appeared to look in both directions then stepped out of the darkness into the light. The person pulled the collar of their coat up around their ears and pulled their hat down low, an obvious sign that they were attempting to avoid facial recognition. That intrigued Hammer. The man had a shadow that did not want to be identified.

“Well, sorry, Charlie. A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

Hammer proceeded to key in a few coordinates to adjust his equipment on the shadowy figure. Once the coordinates were set, he noticed the man made an evasive move by turning into an alleyway.  Hammer glanced back determining the distance between the man and his shadow.

“He’s detected his tailer. This is getting interesting.” Hammer walked along the rooftop following the man’s movements below. His laptop beeped, indicating the identity of the shadow figure was complete. He turned back and cursed.

“Well damn, it’s a woman,” he whispered somewhat surprised. 

He turned back to the action below and noticed the man had just slipped into the doorway toward the end of the alley. Hammer looked back to see the shadow figure about to enter the alley. No way she could have seen the man slipping into the doorway at the other end.  The man was setting a trap for her.

“Shit!” Hammer exclaimed as he secured his laptop, threw the strap of the case over his shoulder, then hurried to the fire escape ladder.

***

Leslie Ann Carrington had only one thing on her mind. The man she was following could have information regarding the death of her parents. For five years she had been spending every free hour investigating the so-called accident. A month ago, she discovered a code in one of the programs her mother had developed for a think tank group called DiscoveryU. She had tracked the source of that code to a group of men. She had been trailing one of them for over a month now. Tonight, he had led her to yet another link. He’d met with several other men, two of whom she recognized as high level political figures. One she knew for a fact was connected to her mother’s past. That was not a coincidence. This could be the lead she had been waiting for.

She glanced at the door at the back of a building praying she had not missed his exit. The door opened. She eased back into the darkness, hoping the shadow from the building would conceal her presence. She watched as the man glanced around. It was the wee hours of the morning, with very little activity happening around. The area wasn’t completely vacant. Every now and then, a person turned the corner or entered a building. Nothing she considered to be dangerous, however, just to be safe, she reached into her pocket and turned on the record function of her phone. 

The man began walking in her direction. As he strolled by without so much as a glance her way, she exhaled the breath she was holding, relieved that he had not seen her. Using one of the techniques she had read about, Leslie counted to ten before easing out of her position. Pulling up the collar of her black trench coat, then adjusting the hat on her head, she followed the man down the street. Her research on surveillance had suggested using everyday objects to assist in the surveillance. Looking ahead, using the windows of the store fronts across the street to follow the man’s movements allowed her to keep a good distance from him. When she saw him turn down an alley, she hurried forward but stopped before looking down the alleyway. She saw him turn to the left at the end of the alley. Not wanting to lose him, she hurried down the alley but stopped again before looking around the corner of the building. She peeped around and saw his back. She counted to ten then headed his way.

“Damn,” she exclaimed when she did not see him. “Did he get to the other end of the alley that quick?” 

She was speed walking, hoping not to lose the man, but she did not want to appear to be running in case someone was watching. The neighborhood wasn’t bad, but it was the kind of hood that when one person starts running everyone joins in. She had just reached the middle of the alley when a hand reached out and grabbed her. The man pushed her up against the back of the building and put his hands around her throat.

“Why are you following me?” 

Leslie was too shocked to answer the man. His hands tightened around her throat, literally lifting her body from the ground. All the self-defense class lessons were escaping her mind while her hands were frantically trying to pry the man’s fingers from around her throat. She couldn’t scream, hell, she was barely breathing. He was too strong, and his thumb was cutting off her windpipe. Her vision was becoming blurry, her throat was burning, and her chest was heaving for air. The more she attempted to fight the man off, the harder it was to breathe. Eyes wide open, she saw a man jumping from the building across from them.

Suddenly, the pressure was gone and her body fell to the ground. As she was desperately gasping, struggling to finally get some air into her lungs, she saw a figure in all black with a hoodie covering his face, knocking the hell out of her attacker. She was trying to yell not to kill him, but nothing came out. Then she heard a blow that had to have broken several bones in the man’s face, if it had not indeed killed him.

The figure in the hoodie ran towards her, grabbed her by the arm and literally half carried, half dragged her from the area. He was moving so fast, she did not remember her feet ever touching the ground. Suddenly he stopped and pushed her into an alcove of a building, covering her body with his. She started to speak, but he put his hand over her mouth, then pushed both of their bodies further into the darkness.

There was a jolt when their bodies met. He must have felt it too. She could feel his body tense against her. All she could see was his eyes. What she saw caused a warm surge to rush through her veins. It had to be the adrenaline from all that was happening around them, she thought as he adjusted his body. It wasn’t clear if she should be just as afraid of him as she was of the man who had attacked her. He looked just as dangerous, dressed in all black and doing all he could to hide his face. Then she felt his chest rising and falling against hers, taking slower breaths, as if trying to control his breathing, almost willing it to slow down. She wished she could do that. At the moment, she was catching hell attempting to grab gasps of air between his fingers.

Footsteps ran past them. Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes grew wide. More men had arrived. Their voices were loud and angry. Some were cursing but she could not make out what they were saying. She wanted to scream so bad but even in the dark she could see the warning in the eyes of the man covering her. He moved in closer.

“Shh.”

The low rumble of his voice caught her off guard. It had a rich texture, a whisper against her ear. Her fears dissipated. Hell, she wasn’t sure what was causing the odd feeling she was experiencing, but the sound of a vehicle pulling up cleared her mind quickly.

A whimper must have escaped from her.

“You’re safe.”

His voice was a warm caress against her skin, soothing her concerns about the situation. Now, that was crazy. She didn’t even know this man, yet his voice was soothing her.

“Put him in the van,” a loud voice ordered. “Search the area. He said someone was following him. We need to ensure he was not seen with the Congressman.”

“Do you want us to take him to the hospital?”

“No, drop him off at the dump site then meet me back at the office.”

Leslie did all she could not to gasp at the order. They were going to kill the man or let him die, which meant the man covering her had killed him. Oh god, what in the hell. She was trapped with a killer.

The vehicle pulled away, but they did not move. They waited for a long while before the hooded man’s body relaxed, then he eased his hand from her mouth.

“Are you alright?”

The tension she’d seen in his eyes before was gone. Now there was a look of concern and something else she could not identify.

“I’m still alive,” Leslie retorted. “But you just killed my best lead.”

His eyes narrowed on her, which gave him a menacing look with the hood shadowing his face.

“You’re welcome,” he replied sarcastically.

“Who in the hell are you?”

“The man who just saved your life.”

“You are also the man who cost me the only lead I had,” she hissed.

“Lead to what?”

She exhaled. “That’s not your concern.”

“You are right. It’s not. A man strangling you in an alleyway was not my concern either.”

Leslie closed her eyes knowing the man was right. “That’s true and thank you, but I would have eventually gotten away.”

“When? In the afterlife?” he retorted.

“No. I would have gotten my senses back and defended myself.”

“With what? A kick and a smile? That wasn’t the kind of man you were dealing with. Let’s go.”

The man turned his back then took a step out of the area. She still could not see his face. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You killed that man back there.”

“I left him breathing, which is not what he would have done with you. Now, let’s go.”

“You can’t be giving me orders I don’t even know who you are.”

Even from a distance she could feel his stare boring into her. Then just like that, he shrugged.

“Okay.” He began walking away.

She attempted to step out of the darkness into the light, but the pain from her ankle shot up through her leg. She groaned. He kept walking.

“Hey, you’re just going to leave me here, hurt?”

He stopped. That’s when she noticed he had a laptop bag strapped across his shoulder. Only nerds carried laptops around these days. She knew because she was a nerd and a proud one at that.

“An honorable man would never leave a lady stranded.”

She watched his body tense then turn back to her. In the blink of an eye he had walked over, picked her up and was carrying her from the area.

“Your mother raised a good man.” She attempted to move his hoodie so she could get a look at his face, but he released her legs, literally holding her up with one arm, pulled the material from her hand, then bent a little to gather her legs back in his arms and continued walking.

“Wow. You did that without missing a step.”

He didn’t say anything, just kept walking.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“Home.”

She struggled in his arms. “I’m not going home with you. I don’t know you like that.”

“You don’t know me at all,” he responded.

“My point exactly,” she replied. “Besides, I still need to know who that man was and where he was going. That man could have given me answers, and you damn near killed him.”

“Stop fidgeting. We are in a populated area, and you are causing a scene.”

She glanced around. Looking over his shoulder, she smiled at a couple who were walking by holding hands. “How are you doing?”

The couple nodded then kept walking. “Do people ever go to sleep around here?” 

“Not really,” he said just as they reached a black SUV. He unlocked the vehicle then put her in the passenger seat.

“Genevieve, evaluate the injury to my passenger.” He closed the door then walked around the vehicle.

Leslie watched as lights on the console began flashing. The vehicle was equipped with an automotive artificial intelligence system. Why would he have access to that type of technology? Those systems were not available to the general public…yet.  The driver’s side door opened, interrupting her thoughts.

 “Assessment?”

Light sprain to the right ankle. Swelling will ensue. No broken bones. Medication for discomfort dispensed.

A tray under the dashboard console slid out. Sure enough, there were two tablets inside.

“Thank you, Genevieve,” the hooded man stated then handed the tablets to her.

“Take this for the pain.”

She couldn’t help but notice that he kept his head down the entire time.

“I’m not in the habit of taking drugs from a stranger,” she replied while attempting to remove her shoe from the injured ankle.

He ignored her again then closed the door.

The low ankle boot she wore was giving her a little trouble coming off. The sound of the back door opening caused her to jerk around. She watched as he fumbled around, then he opened the passenger door, picked her up, and placed her on the back seat.

“Slide back.”

“You could have warned me, you know.”

He was completely ignoring her as he gently pulled the boot off her foot. It hurt like hell she thought, but his hands were gentle as he poked around.

He didn’t even bother to look up at her. He simply opened the First Aid kit and activated the icepack. After placing it around her ankle, he wrapped a towel around it, then placed a pillow under her foot to elevate it. Closing the kit, he placed it back under the floorboard and walked around to the passenger door. He eased the seat down, then pulled out another pillow.

“Lie back on this and keep the leg elevated.”

He closed the door. Leslie guessed he expected her to follow his command, and she knew he was right, but she kind of resented the take charge air about him. He reached behind the seat then handed her a small bottle of water.

“Take the pills. It will help with the swelling and the pain you are sure to experience once your adrenaline calms down.”

Leslie hesitated. Should she trust this man? He did save her from the attack that still had her throat feeling raw. She glanced around. They were in the Penn Quarter area of DC. That put her about a mile away from her car.  She couldn’t walk there on her injured ankle. This night had not turned out the way she had planned. Damn. She took the pills, laid her head back against the pillow, then exhaled. 

Hammer sat in the driver’s seat then glanced at her through the mirror. In the semi-lit interior of the vehicle, he could feel her fear. He saw it in her eyes while they were in the alcove, yet even with her fear, she was questioning him at every turn.

Hammer was a patient man, most of the time. However, in this instance, she had interrupted his mission, which meant he had limited information to report to his superiors. In addition, he was going to have to explain why he brought an unknown man to within an inch of his life without cause. To add insult to injury, he was going to have to explain the presence of this woman. There was no way she could drive herself with a sprained ankle which meant he was going to have to take her home. He was sure he was going to regret his next question, but curiosity was eating at him.

“Why were you following that man?” he asked.

“Why are you out in the night dressed like a ninja?”

“Minding my business.”

“I was doing the same until you leaped from the building like a leopard after his prey. And why are you riding around in a vehicle that can assess medical conditions and dispense medicine? Are you with the government?”

He pushed the vehicle’s start button. “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.”

“That’s classified.”

She replied with a quickness that let him know she did not want him to know where she lived. However, the framing of her response piqued his interest.

“Where you live is classified?”

“Not classified, just not something I’m willing to share at this moment. You can just take me to my car. It’s not far from here.”

“Then what?” He continued watching through the mirror as he made his way into nighttime DC traffic, which was the lightest you would get at that time of morning. “You can’t drive on that ankle.”

“It’s not that bad. I’ll make it work.”

That was wishful thinking. He shrugged his shoulders. “Alright. Where is your car parked?”

“I’m parked at the…” she stopped.

“Where?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

He chuckled. “Let me get this straight. Where you live is classified and you are not at liberty to say where your car is parked.” He continued to chuckle. “Just to come full circle, and I know I’m going to regret asking this question, but who in the hell are you?”

“If I tell you that I’m going to have to kill you.”

He burst into laughter for real. He had saved a nutcase, for sure.

“What’s so damn funny?”

“You are. Did you watch a spy movie or something before coming out tonight?”

“I did not.” She hesitated then continued. “I did some research.”

“On being a spy?”

“Yes. It was for a mission, if you must know.”

He held up his hand. “Nope. I don’t need to know anything else.” He pushed a button on the steering wheel. “Genevieve, contact Hypnotic. Tell him I’m coming in with a guest.”

Affirmative, the automated voice of Genevieve replied.

He made a U-turn in the SUV then proceeded in a different direction.

“Where are you taking me?”

“To a place where I know you will be safely delivered to your home. Wherever that may be,” Hammer replied.

“How do I know you are not taking me to an underground facility where I will disappear, never to be found again?”

“That is exactly where I am taking you.” 

“Alright, alright. Stop. I don’t live in DC,” she stated, which technically was not a lie. “I’m visiting my godmother.”

“That’s nice. I just need an address.” “One Conservatory Circle.”