by Suzanne Hart
“That’s better. I’ll be up there in five minutes, be ready to leave.” I buzzed him out.
Black was staring at me now, curiously. His head tilted slightly to one side. Then he started shaking his head, smiling in disbelief.
“Well, I have to hand it to you, Mr. Slade. You certainly are putting your best foot forward. Just one thing though? What exactly are you going to do when… if you get to this group of islands? Do you have an actual plan? Just curious.”
I didn’t like his tone, and I liked the look in his eye even less. I heard the door open, we both turned to see Rollins, looming slightly larger, annoyed at the interruption.
“Yes! Mr. Black? What is it? I am extremely busy right now with Mr. Leone.” His dark look didn’t faze Black, who almost purred to himself.
“Doctor Rollins, I don’t think Mr. Slade is quite himself. As second in charge here, I’d like you to…”
Rollins didn’t give him a chance to finish. “You call me in here for this? Fuck you, Black. I never did like you anyway…” He glanced over at me, almost hesitating to go on. I nodded lightly. “I think, seeing as Mr. Slade is actually in charge of security here, at the direct request of my patient, Mr. Leone, you had better ask him if he thinks he’s quite himself!” He turned on his heel, shaking his head furiously and slammed the door.
“Well! That’s that then.” I grinned, feeling for my phone and gun in my jacket. “It’s settled. You can go fuck yourself, Black. If we weren’t in Don Leone’s house, I’d redecorate this room with your fucking skull! Now, if you’re not with me on this, you’re against me. Duly noted. In the meantime, stay the fuck out of my way unless you want me to kill you, okay?”
Black swallowed, hard, then sat down in his seat again. He nodded slowly. I left the room as soon as I could. I’d get the actual location data on the chopper’s computer for the pilot. If I stayed one second longer, I knew I would’ve killed Black.
Not yet, though. I need to find out what’s been going on first, then tell Don Leone. Then I can start handing out the justice pills.
Black was right too. I knew he was. I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t even know exactly where I was going, nor did I have anyone to back me up. It was suicide. The pilot seconded Black’s opinion as I briefed him before we took off. I assured him that we had a few hours, yes, more than a few hours before we reached the islands; and that the rest of the crew would join us once we were closer to the location. He didn’t buy it, and neither did I.
The chopper whined as it approached take off. I was strapped in next to the pilot, the glow from the screens showing the coordinates I had given him. The ones that were based on Mia’s screenshot, plus the images from the weather satellites. He gave me one, last, disbelieving look as we lifted jerkily off the roof of the Leone estate.
The wind had picked up, making it a bumpy ride over the grounds. My stomach lurched, my side ached. I was still fuzzy from whatever the fuck Rollins had given me. Self-doubt crept in. I could hear the drill sergeant warming up in my mind, telling me what a fuck up I was, and how it was all going to shit.
Suddenly I felt my phone pulse, I picked up without even checking the number. “Mr. Slade? Please, don’t hang up. I’m Special Agent Gull. FBI. I’m wondering if I can have a moment of your time?”
Sixteen
Mia
I felt the blood rushing from my head, I was fainting. Giles shook me, then slapped my face. The slap itself did nothing; it was the fact that someone had dared to even do it that brought me to full attention. My eyes narrowed, and I could feel venom about to spew from my mouth, but he had grabbed both my wrists. Hard.
“Listen, Mia. There’s about 14 seconds to explain a year’s worth of shit, so just fucking listen, okay?” I found myself nodding, against my instinct, which was to scratch this guy’s fucking eyes out.
“Good! First things first. I’m not really Giles, your secretary. I work for… a particular government agency, who shall remain nameless. Got it?” Again, I nodded. He was speaking so fast, his eyes burning into mine, but it was starting to make sense, even without the words.
Are you psychic, Giles?
“…A bit, but that’s a different story. Will you shut up and listen?” I was already nodding.
“Your father is fine; Jack is most-likely on his way here, right now.” He rolled his eyes. “I know you want him to break the door down and sweep you off your feet, but it would kind of ruin a decade’s worth of our work, if you catch my drift?”
Woah! Big psychic projection, huge conspiracy… I get it, I think? Are we in trouble with the government?
Giles looked cross for a split second, for me interrupting his speed-talking. “Not exactly, but you will be in more trouble than that if you don’t shut up and do exactly as I say, actually, we’ll both be in trouble…” We heard steps in the hall, Carlo Bernardi’s voice was rising above the sound of men walking with guns.
“What do you mean he got out of his room? Are you fucking children? They told me you were professionals! Who gave him so much? I’m not paying if you can’t even... ah, shit!” We heard the sound of something being knocked over, dropping and smashing with a loud clang, with Bernardi swearing at the others to help him clear it up.
Giles’ eyes focused on mine again. I felt a pressure in my temples and I started to panic as I felt his thoughts entering my mind like a tidal wave. I felt his hand gently squeeze mine, his eyes softening some to let me know it was okay.
“We need Bernardi, more than you guys do. Alive. Yes, you were set up, no it wasn’t me. In the toilet cistern is a gas mask, put it on when you have to. I’ll try and get Mikey out with you. Oh! Forgot to ask. Does my ass look big in the dress? Gotta go!”
He pecked my cheek, then suddenly stood back from me as Bernardi entered. He cleared away the oxygen mask, exiting the room without a second glance from Bernardi or his men. I watched Giles from behind as he left the room.
Yep. Sorry Giles, but yes, it does.
Bernardi was sweating, flushed and irritable. He had something spilled all over him. My lunch, I imagined. I saw the tray with broken pieces of crockery being wheeled away behind him in the corridor.
I wasn’t hungry anyway; the whole thing with Giles had to have been a hallucination, from the lack of oxygen, or drugs they had given me. Note to self: check toilet cistern.
My mind was reeling, but I resurrected the plastic Mia doll for a while, something to show Carlo Bernardi while he gave me his next instalment of: do what I say or something bad will happen to you and your family. I felt strangely calm. Even if I had imagined the Giles thing, how cool. Imagine if that were true! Someone or something was coming to rescue me, after all. If not, it made a change from all the terrible, suffocating thoughts I’d been having without enough oxygen.
Bernardi collected himself, scanning the room with his wide eyes, pausing momentarily as he glanced into the bathroom, then back to me.
“Mia,” he began softly. “It would appear that your brother, Mikey, has had an… accident, we’re looking after him. There’s no need to worry about that.” The mention of Mikey set a part of my soul back into a panic. I had to reason with myself. If he’d made it this far, he stood a good chance of getting out of this with me.
I eyed the bathroom doorway, wondering about what the nurse, or Giles had said. Was there really a gas mask in the cistern? Little bit out there, Mia. I think you may be tripping a little bit, girl. Wouldn’t hurt to look, though?
“Mr. Bernardi,” I began, interrupting him before he’d even got warmed up. “I’d like to continue our conversation, I really would… but… I…well...”
I eyed the bathroom door some more, until I saw him click. He nodded, ordering the guards outside for a minute, while he turned his back to the open doorway, promising not to peek.
I managed to get myself up and into the bathroom, I really did need to go, so that wasn’t such a push. I checked the cistern. A flat-packed black mask with some white discs coming out of it
was inside a Ziploc bag in the cistern water.
Hmm! Okay, this is real!
I stumbled a little on my way back to the bed, Bernardi turning to me patiently, with his men also rejoining our meeting.
“Better?” he asked, seeming to be genuinely interested.
“Much.” I smiled, practically collapsing back onto the bed. I was exhausted still, and had no idea how I was supposed to do anything, if and when the time came to be rescued.
“Ah, good,” he said as he smiled. He seemed unusually pleased for some reason, glancing up at the cameras, giving a silent little nod to himself before continuing. “I hope you have had some time, to reflect on our previous discussion. I understand you may have been a little… uh... unwell when we spoke last. I hope we can continue our conversation, as adults…”
I smiled slightly. My eyes probably betraying me, but it was the best I could manage.
He grew a little more serious. “Mia. There is someone who wants all the money, all our money. Yours included. Our own offshore financial interests have been affected recently, and we think; if you and your father’s family did some digging, you would find the same.” My look told him everything.
I was a dynamo at business deals, design and everything else; the finances were left to other people. People I assumed knew what they were doing. I also knew, instinctively, to be careful in believing anything that came out of Bernardi’s mouth. He did look sincere though, every time he said money, and his eyes looked fearful. I detected an element of truth in what he was saying.
I didn’t have to try hard to look puzzled. “What would you have me do? Check my bank balance while being held hostage?” I hadn’t meant to sound so flippant, but Leone meets Bernardi was never going to be 100% polite.
He frowned. “Mia, this is serious. I understand, your situation here, it’s… not ideal. But I need to ask for your help. If I’d come to your office…” I laughed out loud, scoffing unintentionally. “Exactly,” he said, collecting himself.
I could almost hear him telling himself not to lose his temper. A vein above his left eye began to twitch and throb. He took quite a few moments to settle himself before continuing.
“Mia, your father’s family business, my family business. There’s room for both. I know we don’t always agree, but if we work together, there’s room for both. But! A third factor has… ah… presented itself. We’re not sure exactly what or where it’s coming from, but we do know, now, that it isn’t your family. It threatens to swallow all of us up.” He could see I was growing bored with roundabout, vague facts.
I sighed, rolling my eyes. “In English, Mr. Bernardi. Speak plainly or not at all.” The coldness of my own voice shocked me a little, Bernardi too. He wrung his hands in front of himself, unsure if he should speak.
One of the guards put a finger to his earpiece, nodding. He hesitated, then reached out to touch Bernardi’s arm.
“What? What is it man? How dare you interru--” The guard had moved forward, whispering into Bernardi’s ear. The meeting was over.
Bernardi’s face fell, then his eyes narrowed. He nodded. They all turned in one swift movement, ignoring me completely and leaving the room. The door swished shut again.
I lay there, still for a few moments. Trying again to reason if any of this was really happening, or just the product of being held captive without enough air. I knew I’d seen the mask in the cistern. I’d spoken with Giles… That’s what had me doubting the whole thing. I must have been hallucinating. I saw Mikey, and I saw Giles. How the hell would those two, of all people, have gotten here?
Had Bernardi just been in here? The room wasn’t hot, not yet. I could breathe, as if there was good air in the room again. I got up, gingerly, and walked around the room. It felt like there had just been people in here, so it must be real. I went into the bathroom; the bath was steaming, full of water. I checked the cistern again. The mask was there.
I felt the pit of my stomach giving out again, at the thought of Mikey. If everything else was real, he must be here, too.
Oh, Jack. Are you here?
I felt myself more confused than I’d ever been since being brought to that damned place --wherever it was.
I found myself gazing at my rippled reflection in the tub. The water was still steaming, just right, I thought to myself. What else did I have to do, right at that moment? I slipped out of my gown and into the water, feeling its warmth hold me, dissolving the fear. Just for a while. It was a little too warm, and I had to ease myself all the way back into the water slowly, letting my head rest on the edge, eventually.
I closed my eyes, trying to breathe in slowly, to find that center again. It was easier when I was running out of air because my brain was now running at a million miles a minute. And if Bernardi was right, about someone siphoning off money, why was he so worried? Surely they’d just find out who or what it was, and take care of it. Wouldn’t they?
And Giles? What the fuck was all that about? I must have imagined that part… but the mask was right there. Another of Bernardi’s tricks?
Mikey had been no trick. He was there, and they had fucked him up with so much coke he’d overdosed right in front of me. I felt the warmth of the water begin to make my skin itch, like a prickly heat I couldn’t stand all of a sudden. Thinking about Mikey made the walls close in on me. I could feel his pain, his madness somehow. I wanted to get out of the tub, but I’d just gotten in it.
Oh Mikey, hang on baby brother!
It took a lot of willpower, but I reasoned to myself that I had to, at the very least, clean myself after being stuck in a stifling room for god knows how long. The bath was excellent, just the right temperature now. And there were some oils on a little shelf just above me which I added, making me relax as I breathed in the soft lavender. It began calming my mind, almost allowing me to begin enjoying the moment.
There was a sponge and some nice soap too. I was determined to enjoy what time I had in the bath now. It seemed like I’d missed a lot of fine details from the room, from being dizzy, weak and disoriented. I noticed the tray that the nurse, that Giles had left at the end of the bath. I risked losing some water as I heaved myself over to the large domed tray, lifting up the lid.
I saw my naked form reflected boldly in the steel of the barrel. It was a shiny new 9mm handgun with Mia engraved on the pearl handle.
Seventeen
Jack
Getting a phone call from the feds was never penciled in my diary, not even on a day as bizarre as the one I’d been having. How he got the number, I could only guess. My first reaction was to hang up, but I knew I had at least a minute to try and get some information from the guy, if he was FBI. It seemed everyone I’d counted on or trusted in the past 24 hours, save Don Leone, had duped me. I quickly reminded myself to check my ammo before the day was out. I had a lot of cleaning up to do and wasn’t sure I had enough rounds. So many assholes, never enough bullets. So true.
Agent Gull seemed to read my thoughts. “You actually have around two minutes before we can trace you, but never mind that. I hope you’ll hear me out.”
“I’m listening,” I droned, straining to hear anything over the chopper blades a few feet away. The cockpit was the noisiest part, on the inside of this chopper.
“Okay, real quick. Two words: Carlo Bernardi.” He was waiting for a reaction.
“”Goodbye, Agent Gull.” I heard my own voice in the one earphone over my right ear, I sounded bored. Tired. Fed up with whatever was going to happen next. I felt like I’d lost already, with everybody coming out of the woodwork to expose themselves as a participant in the events that I myself was struggling to understand.
I wonder how much Mia knows? And if she’s even been kidnapped at all. I could be walking right into a Slade-sized trap!
“Jack! Wait! We want Bernardi, not you, or Leone. Hell, we don’t even want Little…” I had the phone back to my ear. “…Well, maybe just a little, pardon the pun.”
I was in no humor for hum
or, and my sigh of irritation told Gullfuck he’d already wasted a third of his time.
“Speak, Gull. Cut the shit,” I said roughly. I heard him take in a long breath.
“A government agency, not the FBI is currently en route to a small island, located south of a major tropical cell. I think you’re aware of the approximate location. Mr. Slade, if you continue your course, they will shoot you down and you won’t save her. Come in and help us, Slade. Help us to find out who’s got Bernardi acting for them. Getting yourself killed won’t achieve anything.”
I sat in silence for a while, I knew my two minutes were up, but I had kept the line open. I had never felt so out of the loop in my whole life, not since my parents had been murdered that night. I didn’t even know what my own loop was anymore.
Did everybody know about my plan to save Mia, about my feelings for her? Christ, I’d only woken up to the fact… yester-fucking-day!
“How much time before they get to Mia? Will she be safe?” I asked. I had to know now, and be damned who else knew, or cared. I had to know she would be safe, if not for my own reasons; for Don Leone. For the family.
“I can’t… I won’t say, Jack. Just know that if you keep going that way, you will not be coming back, least of all with Mia, or Bernardi. Come in to us, Jack. We want to help, and we need yours.”
My thumb zigzagged my stubbled chin. It reminded me of how long a short time could actually be. It seemed an age ago I was in my boxers, getting my morning coffee. Now here I was, almost twenty-four hours later. Fuck.
“Alright,” I heard myself say. “I’ll give you one hour to brief me in person. Meet me at the...”
“Great. Thank you, Jack. Jack, on your right is Special Agent Jeremy Falks. And he’s currently flying you to us. We arranged one of our choppers to pick you up once we got intel about the gunfight at the Lakehouse. I’ll see you in twenty.” He hung up. I was staring at the call ended display, dumbfounded.