Chapter 23 #2
Undecided how much of his thoughts to share with Dmitry, Alexei went into the locker JD had chosen and made a quick search through his trouser pockets.
As he expected, he quickly found JD’s car keys.
He then balled up JD’s clothes along with his wallet and shoes and hid them temporarily in a small cabinet meant for pool equipment.
Although he had zero expectation of anyone coming to the house looking for JD while he and Dmitry were getting rid of the car, he wanted to be sure.
His plan was to ultimately deal with JD’s personal effects when he and Dmitry returned.
That taken care of, at least temporarily, Alexei headed back upstairs and found everyone in the kitchen where Dmitry was having a quick bite and the others creating a grocery list for their evening meal.
Alexei dangled JD’s keys in front of Dmitry’s face.
“I’ll go ahead and drive the Lexus into town.
How about you pick me up where you usually do in front of the school in fifteen to twenty minutes? ”
“Will do,” Dmitry said as he wiped his face and slid off the barstool.
Outside Alexei had a little trouble opening JD’s aged driver-side door as there was an old partially rusted crease that ran down the car’s side from the front fender almost to the taillight.
He found that to get it to open, he had to lift up as well as pull out.
Once inside he had no trouble starting the vehicle, and proceeded to head into town.
As he drove, Alexei was oblivious to the surroundings, playing over and over in his mind the seductive idea of faking a theta prion harvest. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded.
He also made a snap decision to definitely raise the idea with Dmitry, despite his initial reluctance.
The more he considered it, the more convinced he became that the possibility of being apprehended by the American authorities was just too big a risk, and in his mind the chances it might happen were increasing with every passing hour.
What particularly sparked this mounting concern was recalling exactly what Jack Stapleton had said was on his mind, namely the issue of Ethan Jameson’s missing body and his questioning the commander’s supposed beer-making interests.
And perhaps even more worrisome, his personal interest in the Bennet Estate’s diving board.
Alexei winced, trying to think of what he might say if Jack Stapleton sought him out to specifically ask if he could come over to the Bennet Estate and use the diving board.
Or worse yet, what if Jack decided to just appear on his own, since using a diving board on a shared lake wasn’t all that out of the question.
Alexei literally shuddered to think of a forensic pathologist out there diving in the company of Ethan Jameson’s body and now JD’s.
“Get ahold of yourself!” Alexei suddenly yelled out loud. For the moment he knew he had to stop thinking about Jack Stapleton as he was driving himself to distraction. Instead, he had to go back to concentrating on the mundane task of disposing of the car.
Shunning Main Street for the slight fear someone in the town might recognize the vehicle being driven by someone other than JD, Alexei used back streets and drove to the Bennet Park parking lot.
It had occurred to him en route that the park would be a good place to leave the car because JD frequently parked there for basketball, and it was also conveniently screened with vegetation from the park itself, so it was possible he wouldn’t be observed by any of the current park patrons.
Before he pulled in, Alexei checked it out.
Although a half dozen cars were there at that time in the afternoon, conveniently enough there were no people milling around.
Alexei pulled in and quickly parked. After one last rapid check that the coast was clear, he exited the car, leaving the keys in the ignition.
He then rapidly walked out of the parking lot itself.
Without slowing he skirted the elementary school and emerged onto Main Street.
There he was pleased to find Dmitry already waiting for him.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he climbed up into the truck’s cab.
“Have you been here long?” Alexei questioned as he did his seat belt to keep the blasted alarm from going off.
“Two minutes,” Dmitry said as he backed up and then accelerated along Main Street.
Alexei explained where he’d put JD’s car and why, then, with that out of the way, he told Dmitry that he had something particularly important to discuss with him.
Dmitry looked over at Alexei with a confused expression. “Okay. What’s on your mind?”
“Our freedom,” Alexei said cryptically. He’d decided he’d broach the subject, not with the potentially traitorous idea of falsifying the theta prion concentration but by convincing Dmitry about the seriousness of the threat that Jack Stapleton posed and which Viktor was ignoring.
His idea was that once he’d succeeded in making Dmitry as concerned about Jack as he was, only then would he provide the solution.
What he intended to emphasize once again was that they had already accomplished what they had come to Essex Falls to do, namely to establish the proof of concept that theta prion was without doubt the ultimate bioweapon for the East’s conflict with the West. He also planned to make it a point to explain that what they were currently doing with this unnecessary final harvest was putting their lives at risk merely to play to Viktor’s vanity.