Milwaukee Deep

Sam kept watch on the traffic behind him as he sped along the Long Island Expressway.

“Won’t be long now, Michael,” he said softly, almost to himself, as his companion and passenger lay asleep in the back of the ambulance.

Merging into the right lane, Sam kept sure the speed he travelled stayed above sixty miles, knowing that at that speed he’d be sure to notice any tails he had on him.

Spotting an emergency phone up ahead, Sam signalled to merge to the far right and pulled up at the side of the road.

After checking to see if Michael was still sedated and asleep, Sam stepped out of the ambulance to use the emergency phone.

He opened the tiny metal box that housed the handpiece, placed it to his ear and pressed the emergency button on the base.

“Emergency patrol, what’s your emergency?” Said the female voice.

“Ma’am, this Special Agent Sam Crease of the FBI. My I.D number is one, seven, three, three, four, nine. I am requesting a patch into a private line. Do you receive?

“Checking one moment please…copy that Agent Crease. What is the number?”

“Great. The number is nine, one, seven…four, six, three…nine, five, eight, three. Can you please put me through?”

“Waiting…okay go right ahead”

The phone began to ring.

Jensen picked up the call…”Hello?”

“Phil, are they following you?” asked Sam

“Sam? Your number didn’t come up, where are you?”

“I’m on the side of the road using an emergency phone”

“An emergency phone?”

“Phil, there’s no way I’m turning on my cell phone - if I do, they’ll find me in no time.”

“Okay, well there’s no sign of them, Sam – I guess they still think you’re at my surgery,” said Jensen.

“Good. I’m about fifteen minutes away from meeting up with our taxi. Just to be safe make sure you keep driving away from the rendezvous point until I call you back, okay?”

“No problem,” said Jensen, “But we did promise those paramedics not more than ten minutes.”

Sam glanced down the expressway at the oncoming traffic

“Don’t worry, I’m about to get off the freeway very soon – shouldn’t be too long now.”

“Good and don’t forget to call me when you get there,” said Jensen.

“I won’t, but in saying that, make sure it’s clear to that psychiatrist friend of yours that she’s to talk to no one once you give her our location. Remember, Phil, once we’re in this safe house, no one, I repeat, no one can know where we are – and call her from a payphone – I don’t want to take any chance of the call being traced..”

“Your secret’s safe with me, Sam. Just make sure that ambulance gets back in one piece and as quickly as possible.”

“Don’t stress, I’ll contact you once I leave in the taxi and you can come and pick it up. Talk to you soon.”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting.”

Tom Harding strode down the hospital corridor towards George Willow’s private room. He could see Agent Karidis standing guard.

“Karidis,” said Harding, “how is it going down here?”

“Well, Sir. What brings you down this way?”

“I need to speak to the Secretary. Do me a favour and go wait for me in the car – I won’t be long.”

Karidis looked at Harding.

“Sir, I have my orders. I need to-“

“Forget your orders. I’m telling you to go outside and wait for me.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Make sure you grab Cooper on your way out – he’s standing post down the hall.”

“And the Secretary – will he be leaving soon?”

“Soon enough,” said Harding, “now go.”

“Sir,” replied Karidis as turned and walked away down the hall.

Harding took a deep breath and opened the door to the Defence Secretary’s hospital room.

Willow was asleep.

Although the heart attack was far from real, the Secretary still required a fairly large dose of sedatives to calm him – the loss of his daughter was too much to bear.

Harding carefully shut the door, making sure Willow did not wake.

He approached the bed.

“Sorry for this, Sir,” he whispered as he pulled out a small, black wallet sized leather case.

Harding unzipped it and took out the needle that sat neatly in its foam sleeve.

“If it’s any consolation you won’t feel a thing.”

Harding pierced the needle into the neck of the Defence Secretary and pushed down on the syringe.

Willow’s eyes remained closed as the poison rushed through his veins.