The Book of Luke, page 2
Using the key to enter his hotel room, he thought, these people really needed his brother’s skills. Adam could create keyless entrance pads or better yet, a biometrics system to get into their rooms. Stepping inside the room he heard a crunch under his foot. Looking down, he noticed a folded sheet of paper. Luke picked it up as the door closed behind him. Thinking it was the final bill from the hotel, he tossed it on the table in the sitting area of the suite.
“They really need Adam to update their antiquated way of handling business.” He walked into the bathroom and was about to strip out of his clothes when it dawned on him, he was not there on a personal visit. He was there on a goodwill tour for the team. He should not be the one receiving the bill.
Luke walked back into the sitting area of the suite and picked up the sheet of paper. To his surprise, it was not a bill. It was a note. He read it.
Your family is in danger. Meet me at the third booth in the bar.
Luke read the note again. He opened the door and looked down the corridor. He did not see anyone. He knocked on the door across from him. His personal security who traveled with him, answered before he could knock a second time. Luke stepped inside the room.
“This was under my door. Did you see anyone near there tonight?”
Kayeshene Brown, a five-eight, one hundred twenty-five pounds of pure muscle, feisty beauty with black and blonde streaked hair, who he called Slay, stared back at him. “Is it from a woman?” She asked before looking at the note.
“No.”
After reading the note, she grabbed her holster and weapon from the table and strapped it on. “Give me five minutes then come down.”
Luke nodded, then returned to his room knowing Slay was going to stake out the bar area before he entered. Slay had a tendency to eliminate potential issues before they arose. If she noticed anything shady, he would get a message. He checked his phone. Nothing came through. Exactly five minutes after knocking on her door, Luke left his room.
Upon entering the area, Luke saw Slay at the end of the bar. Their eyes met, letting him know all was clear. He stopped at the bar and ordered a drink. Once he received it, he took a seat in the booth as instructed. A few minutes passed, as he sat alone. He had almost finished his drink when he heard a voice behind him.
“Do not turn around Mr. Lassiter. I am here to warn you there have been inquiries regarding the true identity of one of your brothers. Plans to identify, locate then eliminate him and his family are in the elementary stages. That is all I know at this time. More will be provided soon.”
“Who are you?” Luke asked.
“My name is not important. I have taken steps to ensure you will receive more information if I do not survive this visit. Take heed Mr. Lassiter. You and your family are in danger.”
“From who?”
A few moments passed with no response. Luke stood as if he was ready to leave. He glanced at the booth behind him. It was empty. He glanced down the bar, Slay was also gone.
Walking briskly out the door, Luke pulled out his cellphone and pushed a button. A red dot appeared on his phone. He glanced around then followed where the dot directed him. The red dot turned down a street about a block away from the hotel. The street in front of the hotel had people moving about. Luke walked briskly through the crowd of partygoers until he reached the corner. The red dot had moved further away. Luke glanced at the face of his phone then looked around. There was an entrance to an alley. He looked at the graphic on his phone then ducked down into the alley. He followed it until it intersected with another. Checking the phone, he began jogging. Slay should be right around the corner, he thought. And she was, but she wasn’t alone. Two men had cornered her near a dumpster. She was kicking one of their asses and if they were in the States, he would be content to let her have all the fun. However… he put his phone in his pocket and pulled his nunchaku from his waist then ran over to where the fight was taking place.
Slay had just jump kicked one man when the other grabbed her from behind. She pulled him over her shoulder as the other man was getting up from the ground.
“Yo,” Luke yelled.
The man turned and met Luke’s fist right in his throat. The man fell back two steps then charged back at Luke. The man spoke as he kicked out at Luke. He had no idea what the man was saying and did not care. Luke grabbed his leg mid-air then flipped him on his ass.
“I’m trying not to get a murder charge here. Stay down.”
“I don’t think he understands you,” Slay said as she stood with her foot on the chest of the man she had rendered unconscious.
Luke looked up at her just as the man charged at him. The man hit Luke’s abdomen. He bounced off him as if he had hit a brick wall. Luke hooked his weapon around the man’s neck and squeezed until the man’s legs gave out. He dropped the man to the ground unconscious. He looked over at Slay.
“Is he out?”
She looked down at him. “Of course,” she stated.
He nodded to Slay as he glanced around to ensure no forensic evidence that could connect to them was laying around. He pulled a device from his pocket then turned it on. A blue light appeared. He scanned the device over both men, to clear any prints from their bodies. “Okay, let’s split up. I’ll meet you back at the hotel.”
To ensure no one followed him, Luke went back to the bar at the hotel and ordered a drink.
Fifteen minutes passed. Luke paid for his drink, then returned to his room. As soon as he entered, he pressed a button on his phone. He held the phone up watching the program he had activated to see if any indication of a listening device appeared. Satisfied he was still in a clean space, Luke dialed his brother Adam’s number. The call was answered on the second ring.
“Did I wake you?” Luke questioned.
“No, Amber and I are working on a new chip.” Adam replied.
“After the incident with Joshua, I suggest you find a safe location to house it.”
“Not funny. It’s two in the morning in London. Are you just getting in from the clubs?”
“No,” Luke replied. “I’m just returning from an interesting meeting.”
“With who?” Adam asked.
“I don’t know. It was the kind of meeting you and Joshua would have.”
“Explain.”
“I never saw the man’s face only heard his voice indicating our entire family was in danger.”
At that point Luke could hear Adam’s demeanor change in his tone. “The family? How so?”
“I can’t tell you much more than that. The man sounded Middle Eastern. He stated, a member of the family had a powerful enemy and that the family was now a target of this enemy.”
“And you did not see the man?” Adam asked.
“No, his back was to me the entire time. Slay followed him. I caught up with her in an alley where two men jumped her. We handled it, then split up. When she returns I may have more information for you.”
“Why did this man reach out to you? How did he know who you were? What member of the family? Does this man know our family’s connection to the government? If so, how?”
“All valid questions that I have no answers to,” Luke replied. “Here’s what I can tell you. The man also stated that he made arrangements for more information to come to me if he did not survive the visit.”
“So he believes his life is in danger from warning you.”
Luke exhaled. “That is the impression I got. Is there any reason to believe Joshua’s or your personas have been uncovered?”
“Doubtful, but not impossible,” Adam replied. “I’ll do some digging to see if any of our systems have been compromised. In the meantime, you need to make your way back to the States.”
“On the first plane back.” Luke replied.
“No,” Adam countered. “Commercial flights are out of the question. I’ll send a private jet to bring you home. Tell your teammates it’s a family emergency. Be ready to leave within the hour.”
There was a knock on Luke’s door when he disconnected the call. He opened the door to Slay, as he expected. “What did you discover?”
“Not much, but I can tell you I was not the only person following the man.”
“Describe him.” Luke requested.
“Middle Eastern features, late thirties, maybe forty. Very careful in his movements.”
“You detected a tail on him?” Luke asked as he pulled his bag out to pack.
“Two men in a black SUV moved the moment he stepped outside the hotel. He was on foot. I followed him until he entered a cut and went underground. One of the men got out of the SUV and followed him down. The other two came at me.”
Luke frowned. “They picked up on you?”
Slay nodded. “Almost the moment I walked out of the hotel. They either expected me or are pros.”
“Any thoughts on the language they were speaking?”
“Not familiar to me.” Slay answered. “Whoever he was, you were a little slow on the take down.”
“I’m the client. You are the professional. I’m not supposed to fight.” Luke pointed out.
“I had it under control. You just wanted to have some fun,” she raised an eyebrow at him.
“True,” Luke nodded then exhaled. “We don’t have much to go on.”
“Enough to know this is not a prank,” Slay replied. “What are you doing?”
“Packing to leave. A private jet will be waiting for us in an hour.”
“You want to activate the team?”
Luke thought for a moment. “No. I may need them in the future. For now, let’s keep this between us.”
Chapter 2
Luke returned home to see Adam waiting for him. Home was a 6-acre estate close to the Potomac River, in Arlington, Virginia. The three-level traditional style home consisted of 6 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms, surrounded with windows allowing breathtaking views of the river. However, there was a fourth level not visible to the outside world. The 5,000 square feet of underground living space was only accessible to those who were in a need-to-know group.
Luke walked into the mudroom that resembled more of a locker room, dropped his bags, and then walked down a set of stairs to the lower level of his home. The hallway looked long enough to be a landing strip at the airport. It had two huge openings into what appeared to be a great room and kitchen combination, with a huge island that could seat an army. There were sofas and chairs of all kinds around the room. At the far end, there were doors leading to five bedrooms. Mounted on the walls were twenty display monitors. Spread out in front of those monitors were multiple control panels. There were five chairs positioned at the control panels, with a microphone in front of each. Adam was seated in the middle.
“I figured you would be here.”
“Welcome home.”
Luke took the seat next to him then stretched out his legs. “What did you find out?”
“No chatter worth mentioning.” Adam turned to face him.
“But some?” Luke raised an eyebrow.
Adam nodded. “More than I’m comfortable ignoring.”
“How do you want to proceed?”
Adam pointed to one of the monitors. “First we get a good location on every member of the family. I activated the monitoring system we implanted in all the adults.”
Luke looked up at the monitor. A picture of each of his siblings was on the monitor as if they were a stick pin, pinpointing their exact location around the country. “Does everyone know it’s been activated?”
“No,” Adam shook his head. “I did not want to alarm anyone until we had more to go on. In the meantime, this will let us know how to disburse our resources if needed.”
“The family is spread out these days,” Luke pointed to the monitor. “Up the 95 corridor we are pretty secure with Pearl, Joshua, your place and my place here. We are all connected by CUTS. My concern is more on the folks in Richmond.”
Adam nodded. “Can you design escape routes with Joe and Sally being the meeting point?”
Luke looked at the location of each of his siblings’ homes in the Richmond area. “Matt will be easy, he is less than a mile away from the family home. Opal, Timothy, Diamond and Phire are within a mile of each other, then we have Ruby who is on the outskirts of the city line. She’s close enough to Samuel to connect those two. That leaves Jade as the only one outside the circle.”
Adam nodded in agreement. “That’s a concern. She is vulnerable in New York by herself.”
“How secure is the building she is in?” Luke asked.
“Typical doorman with security features. Not to our standards.”
Luke looked at the lone dot on the map. “That’s our weak point. If anyone is really watching this family they will see that too.”
“I will intensify her monitor to read vitals in addition to locations for now. But we have to come up with something better. I don’t want to receive an update with her vitals shutting down. We need someone in the area to watch over her.”
“Do you have someone in mind?”
“I’ll get Sally to work on that,” Adam replied. “What is the season looking like? Is the team going to have a post season? When do you report to camp?”
“Last week of July,” Luke replied. “The coach is pretty reasonable. Barring anything outlandish from the players, there shouldn’t be any issues as far as time goes.”
“Do you think you can come up with a plan for the security of the homes before the season gets underway?”
Luke nodded. “I’ll have it done by Memorial Day. That will give us time to give everything a test run before we have to use it in real time.”
Adam nodded with a heavy sigh. “This is family, Luke. I can’t protect the country and the family the way they both need it at the moment. There is chaos happening on all fronts with the election coming up. We cannot blink or miss a step or this country will be going to hell. Samuel and Joshua will be on full alert as will I. That leaves you to keep the family safe. Are you ready to carry the ball?”
Luke glanced at his little brother. He was carrying the weight of the country on those shoulders. As proud as he was of Adam, he knew he could only juggle but so much. “I got you on this. My team is three hundred deep. I can have them here within 24 hours of calling. Any idea when you will get more intel on what this is all about?”
Adam raised an eyebrow. “Three hundred deep?”
“At least,” Luke replied.
Adam stood. “Okay. My people will be checking in with me. As soon as I hear anything I will let you know.”
Luke could tell by the expression on Adam’s face he was doubtful. But he would be, Adam had no way of knowing how many men and women worked with Luke. It was also clear he was concerned. Luke stood, giving his brother a fist bump. “You take care of the country. I will take care of protecting the family.”
Hours after his brother left, Luke stood at the stained-glass window of his home office looking out over the estate. In the distance he could see the swimming pool, basketball court, the obstacle course he had built for training and the guest house. Under those grounds is where his work took place. At any given time, there were ten to twenty computer techs following activities in other countries. Since that meeting in London, Luke’s life was taking on a new meaning. He could feel it in his bones, his mornings of five a.m. workouts, press conferences and appearances were about to change.
Luke checked his watch, it was close to nine a.m. Thinking everyone should be in the office, he placed a call to his agent. There were a few items that needed to be discussed.
Nick Brooks of the Pendleton-Brooks Agency answered the call on the second ring.
“Luke, how did the goodwill tour go?”
“It went well. I don’t think we did anything to cause the country any embarrassment. But then you never know.” Luke laughed. “Nick do I have anything coming up that cannot be cancelled?”
“For how long out?”
“A few weeks, maybe until I have to report to training camp in July.”
Luke could hear keys clicking in the background. “You have an interview with Clovia Sinclair. Everything else I can easily place another client in for you.”
Luke exhaled. “I don’t suppose there is any way we can cancel that?”
“It would be the third time we canceled,” Nick replied. “This could look bad for her at the network.”
Luke exhaled. “I don’t want to do that. What time is the interview?”
“Today at three p.m.” Nick replied. “What’s going on?”
“I have a few things happening with the family that need my attention. I may need some time.”
“Anything I can help with on my end?” Nick asked.
“No,” Luke replied. “I’m in the second year of my three-year contract with Washington. What are my options for that third year?”
“You had a pretty good year, even if the team did not. A repeat of last year’s stats and I am certain the owners will want to extend you for another three-year deal.”
“What’s the penalty if I step away from the last year of the contract?”
There was a momentary pause on the line. “Are you ready to hang up your cleats, Luke?”
Luke hesitated. “I don’t know Nick. The joy is not what it once was for me.”
“Everything okay with you?”
Luke could hear the concern in his friend’s voice. “Yes, I’m good.”
“Everything okay with the family?”
“You know the family. There is always something going on.” Luke smiled. “Nick I’m feeling a little unsettled these days. Being this close to the family has shown me how much time I’ve missed with them. Everyone is getting married, settling down and having children. Hell I don’t even have a steady woman in my life. There’s got to be more out there for me than just playing ball.”
