The Koryo Escort: A Lawson Vampire Mission (The Lawson Vampire Series) Read online

  The Koryo Escort

  Jon F. Merz

  Contents

  Disclaimer

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  About the Author

  Also by Jon F. Merz

  Copyright © 2017 by Jon F. Merz

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Disclaimer

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  1

  After a pretty mild winter by Boston standards, Spring had come early, ushering in a gorgeous season the likes of which I couldn’t recall in recent memory. Cherry blossoms popped into full bloom and a lush green carpet grew all over the Emerald Necklace, the series of parks and outdoor areas that spanned from the Boston Common all the way out to the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain.

  My old neighborhood.

  We’d hit an awesome streak of days in the mid-60s and nights hovering around 40 degrees. And as the first week of the month bled into the second, it seemed like we might not have any other impending snowpocalypses to worry about.

  I loved it. After the dry, cold air of winter, I always love taking long walks and filling my lungs with the warm air. Everything awakens and it just makes you feel good to be alive. And when you do what I do for work, being alive is always a good thing.

  I’m protective of my alone time. My work demands that I interact with a whole bunch of people - sometimes the bottom of the barrel - so any chance I get to spend some quality time with myself, I take advantage of it. Very few people understand what it’s like to be who I am, do what I do, and wrestle with the sort of shit I do. Alone time is a vital necessity.

  Naturally, I tend to get very annoyed when something threatens that solitude.

  I was walking along the Commonwealth Mall in the Back Bay. The Mall runs down the center of Commonwealth Avenue. Two lanes of traffic on either side send cars either into the city or out of it. But the strip in the middle is lined with benches, statues, and a canopy of trees. It’s a pleasant way to spend a few minutes.

  I’d met with Niles earlier for an update on a variety of issues that I suspected would soon be coming to a head. But with nothing concrete to go on, there wasn’t much action I could take at the moment. Something was definitely up, but it wasn’t tangible enough to warrant my involvement.

  Yet.

  So I’d left my car in the garage and chosen to walk for a bit. In the old days, I might have strolled all the way down to Kenmore Square and then up into Brookline where I would have gotten an amazing lunch at Chef Chang’s restaurant. No one made hot and sour soup the way they had. Tony, the owner, once told me they got there at six in the morning to start the slow-cooking process for it.

  Damn, I missed that place.

  Tony and his wife had closed it down when they realized it was costing them too much time in their marriage. Rather than destroy themselves, they decided to retire. I definitely respected their decision, but man, I missed the food. I still hadn’t found a good replacement. And that bummed me out severely.

  So right now, I didn’t have any place in mind; I was just out for a walk.

  Which is why when I stopped to suddenly pat a Bernese Mountain dog, I caught the slightest hint of movement out of the corner of my eye. It was out of time with the flow of the environment and it needled me just enough to suspect that I had a tick.

  I made small talk with the dog’s owner, a dowager of about sixty who looked like she was wearing more money around her neck than a lot of people made in a lifetime. She was a bastion of the Back Bay and clearly enjoyed being spoken to by yours truly.

  But I was just using her.

  “What’s her name?”

  The dowager took a breath like she’d been rehearsing the moment. “Roxi, but with an I, dear. Not one of those dreadful Ys that make her sound like she ought to be swinging around a pole somewhere.”

  I grinned in spite of myself. The image of a dog dressed as a stripper floated through my brain and it cracked me up. “Roxi with an I. Got it.” Roxi clearly enjoyed hearing her name spoken because she started swirling around. Bernese Mountain Dogs are big. And they use their bulk to move you around with them, which was just fine with me because it enabled me to take a good look without seeming like I was purposely doing so. As Roxi nudged me this way and that, I scanned the area behind me. Four hundred meters away, I saw a couple on a bench. Beyond them, a meter maid worked one side of the street, ticketing those cars that hadn’t paid their meters. And beyond that, I saw a kid of about eighteen working some skateboard tricks.

  Interesting.

  “You know, I have a niece who is recently divorced, who might just be looking for the sort of charming man you seem to be.”

  I looked back at the dowager. “I’ve said a grand total of two sentences to you.”

  She smiled. “And my niece isn’t getting any younger. The last bum she ended up with promised her children only to ditch her on their honeymoon. Can you imagine such a thing? I swear, all the real men have vanished.”

  “Not all of us, ma’am.” I smiled. “But I’m afraid I’m not looking for a companion right now.”

  “And why on earth not?”

  “My work keeps me far too busy to ever be much of a husband, I’m afraid.”

  “And what sort of work do you do? Wait-let me guess: you’re a lawyer.”

  I coughed. “Do I look like a lawyer to you?”

  She sighed. “No, I suppose not. And I don’t know why she wants one anyway. Either a lawyer or a doctor, as if they’re the only two jobs in the world. She’s a bit naive, my niece.” She waved her hand. “No matter. Tell me what you do and I’ll make it work.”

  I leaned closer to her. “I’m a covert operative for the government.”

  She paused and then her eyes closed halfway. “If that’s true, then forget about my niece. You can have me instead.”

  I chuckled. “Tempting as that is, I’m afraid I must be going. It was very nice to meet you.” I took her hand and kissed it lightly.

  “I never even told you my name.”

  “We’ll always have Roxi,” I said.

  “I don’t even know your name.”

  I smiled again. “Such things are better left unsaid. Farewell.”

  I walked away leaving her standing there getting a final image of me moving away. A couple of glasses of wine later tonight, I figured I was destined for a bit of visualizing on her part, and I was comfortable being masturbation material. It was the least I could do to pay her back for letting me use her and Roxi to see who was following me.

  I kept my pace pretty normal until I reached Hereford Street and then broke to the right, heading past Marlborough Street toward Beacon. Ahead of me, the New England College of Optometry had several buildings along this stretch that still all looked like stately brownstones. I turned left before I’d crossed the street and then kept moving. A small convenience store stood nearby and as I approached it, I slowed my speed, using the glass on the door to see behind me.

  Once I pulled the door open, I walked in and headed toward the back. I passed the cold cases where they stocked the soda and bottled water. I opened the door that said “employees only” and kept going. I could hear the voices of the storekeeper behind me, but I kept moving through the stacks of boxes of products and saw the small door marked “exit,” pushed it open and then veered to my immediate left again, increasing my speed down the back alley until I saw another option left.

  I squatted next to a dumpster, drew the ball point pen I always carried, and waited.

  I heard the storekeeper’s breathless shouts fade as he gave up the chase and then heard him call out again. “Hey!”

  Which told me everything I needed to know. Whoever was tailing me was now racing to catch up with me so he didn’t get thrown.

  His footsteps were heavy as he raced around the corner and then they stopped. I could see him surveying the scene and wondering if it was worth continuing the pursuit. He’d clearly been burned when I took him to the cleaners, but should he follow?

  He did.

  As I squat
ted there, I heard his footsteps start up again. They drew closer to the dumpster and then as he came abreast of it, I reached out, yanked him off of his feet, and pulled him behind so no one could see us.

  The skate boarder looked terrified when I put the tip of the pen next to the spot under his ear. “Who the hell are you and why are you interrupting my afternoon constitutional?”

  2

  Up close, the kid looked about sixteen, but the terror on his face let me know he was anything but a professional. I kept my arm around him tight and the tip of the pen pressed into him. “Who are you?”

  “I don’t want any trouble, dude! I was just told to follow you and let her know where you went.”

  “Her?”

  He nodded his head like a crack whore going down on a one-inch dick. “Y-y-yeah, dude. Some chick. Amazingly hot. She offered me hundred bucks if I followed you.”

  I let the kid go. “Get out of here. Now.”

  He scrambled away from me, grabbed his board, and then took off running. I stood, dusted myself off and then calmly wandered out of the alley back toward the front of the store. As I did so, I saw her leaning against a mailbox doing her best impression of a tittering Japanese schoolgirl.

  I shook my head. “You.”

  The expression on her face changed from one of glee to one of sheepishness. “Are you upset with me, sir?”

  “Very.”

  She pouted her lips. “I suppose I’ll have to be punished then.”

  “You have no idea,” I said moving closer to her.

  “Hey! You!”

  Shit. The storekeeper came charging out of his establishment.

  I grabbed Talya by the arm and we took off running. “Punishment will have to wait until later.”

  She laughed as we fell down the street away from the pissed off storekeeper - we could outrun him without even breaking a sweat. We ran for a block until I dragged her into an alleyway and pressed her back against the wall as our lips crashed together. When we finally came up for air, she licked at my earlobe and whispered, “What will people think?”

  I glanced around. “Knowing how judgmental most of them are, they’ll be offended, jealous, and then hypocritical. How dare two people still be this passionate after being a relationship as long as we’ve been? Honestly, we ought to be old and boring by now.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  I looked into her eyes. “I don’t ever want to stop feeling the thundering in my chest when I see you. I don’t ever want to feel like I can’t catch my breath when I’m around you.”

  She kissed me again. “Good answer, Lawson. Good answer.”

  “Why’d you put that poor kid in such a precarious situation? He’ll be scarred for life now.”

  “He might need a safe zone, huh?” Talya smiled wickedly. “Maybe I just like having some fun with my prey before I choose to consume it.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Am I about to be consumed?”

  “Very much so, lover. Now take me back to your place and fuck me the way most women only dream about.”

  “Well, if I must…”

  Talya punched me on the side of my arm. “Careful or I’ll go find the boy and make him into a man.”

  “You’d have to change his diaper first, darling.”

  “Good point.” Talya sighed. “Very well, I guess you’ll have to do.”

  I handed Talya a glass of ice cold vodka and sat with my Bombay Sapphire and tonic. I had the windows open in my condo on Boylston Street, letting the evening breezes blow in as the sun eased further west. We’d spent the previous four hours making love until neither one of us could see straight.

  As I sipped my drink, Talya drew a sheet over us and cuddled next to me. Her skin felt warm and I smelled her hair, basking in the scent of it. “I was going to suggest going out for dinner, but frankly, I’m not sure I’ve got the strength after that session.”

  Talya looked up at me. “You’ve got a full service building here, don’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then we’ll get room service.”

  “No Sorellina?”

  “Another time,” said Talya. “I want you all to myself tonight. If we go out, we’ll both be on. You know how it goes. One eye always looking behind.”

  I nodded. “Staying in sounds wonderful.”

  She sipped her drink. “I’ve got to leave soon.”

  “When?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  I took a pull on my drink. “Damn. You weren’t joking.”

  She lay her head on my shoulder and didn’t say anything. I frowned. That wasn’t like her.

  “You all right?”

  “Yeah.”

  I moved her off my shoulder and put my drink down, turning then to face her. “What is it?”

  She took another sip of the vodka. “This assignment…it’s got me on edge.”

  “Why? You’re the best at what you do. There’s no one else that could handle anything the way you do and you know it.”

  “This time is different,” she said. “Ordinarily, the environments I choose to operate in are all permissive. This one is not.”

  “How bad can it be?”

  “Bad,” she said. “It’s as non-permissive as they get.”

  I smirked. “Mogadishu? Tehran? Riyadh?”

  “Worse.”

  I shook my head. “There’s nothing worse.”

  “There is.”

  I reached for my drink and then froze as it hit me. “You’re fucking joking.”

  Talya sipped her drink. “I’m not.”

  “That’s a suicide mission.”

  “It might not be.”

  I took a long pull of my drink. “What the hell’s the assignment?”

  “I’m bringing a defector across.”

  “Holy shit. Are you serious?”

  She smiled at me, her eyes twinkling as she did so. “Most definitely. Someone had to do it.”

  “Why you?”

  “Because this package doesn’t have a chance in hell of surviving unless I can get them across.” She shrugged. “There’s no one else. It has to be deniable. Completely black.”

  “And if shit hits the fan, you’ll be left for dead.”

  “Aren’t we always?”

  I sighed. “I liked this conversation a helluva lot better when we were talking about room service. When we were still basking in the afterglow of sex.”

  I leaned forward and took another drag on my drink. I felt Talya put her arm around me and snuggle in again. “I’ll be fine. You know me.”

  “Yeah, I know you. And you’re the best. But this…” I shook my head. “This isn’t your normal environment. The risks are exponentially magnified. Almost to the point of being unbeatable.”

  “Who Dares Wins,” said Talya.

  “Don’t quote mottoes at me, please.” I stood and finished my drink. “We’re talking about you risking your life for a defector who may or may not be worth it.”

  “It’s worth it,” said Talya.

  “How would you know? Would they even tell you? They’d be in such a hurry to find anyone crazy enough to take the job that they’d tell you whatever they thought you needed to hear to make you say yes.”

  Talya eyed me for a moment and said nothing.

  But the look of disapproval on her face said it all. I held up my hands. “All right, I’m sorry.”

  “Oh? For what?”

  I nodded. “You’re right. That was insulting. You’re not an amateur and I’m treating you like one.”

  “You think?”

  “And I’m insulting your intelligence by suggesting you’re too naive to objectively calculate the risks involved in the op or that you’re gullible enough to believe their bullshit.”

  “You forgot the part about being crazy.”

  “Oh, you’re crazy. I’m standing by that one.”

  She laughed now. “Most men would not stand there arguing while they’re completely naked. I just want to point that out.”

  “Well, I’m not most men.”

  Talya’s eyes wandered further south. “No,” she said. “You most definitely are not most men.”

  “Don’t objectify me…at least not yet. Later. We’re having a serious conversation here.”

  Talya sighed. “It’s already set, Lawson. Plans have been made, things have been staged. I leave tomorrow night. And as risky as it is, someone has to do it.”