"We're together on that, then. I'm relieved to hear you say it, though. I was pretty sure you felt that way."
She nodded. "Okay. That doesn't make me a Girl Scout. Just so there's no misunderstanding between us, I've got connections to some unsavory characters, but they're based on mutual respect, sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Tacit understandings that we won't go after one another — unless there's a good reason. 'Live and let live' is a corollary of sorts to 'kill or be killed,' in my line of work."
"And mine. I understand."
"Good. I'm glad we've talked through all this," Mary said. "I trust you, but I'm not sure about this Nora woman. Do you think she's out to expose the corruption we've found?"
"I wondered about that. But that's a big change from the work we do. Assassination and investigation are different skills."
Mary laughed. "Now that sounds like something a government bureaucrat would say. To a self-employed entrepreneur like me, the distinction's not that clear. I would be comfortable helping her expose those bastards, even though I won't kill them for her. Unless they provoke me, of course."
"Of course," I said. "We'll ask Nora about it. Then we can decide."
"Do you have a secure way to communicate with her, since she's been fired?"
"Yes. She gave me a new satellite phone after I destroyed the old one."
"You destroyed it? Why?"
"She sent me a text warning me it was compromised. She's got one that's the mate to the new one. Both off the books, strictly between the two of us, but the same technology. They'll only connect with each other, same as the old ones."
"So she still has access to that kind of stuff," Mary said.
"In our world, Nora's and mine, that is, an awful lot of things happen based on personal relationships. We all know the government considers us expendable, so we look out for one another."
"You have people you could call on besides her?"
"Yes, but only for certain things, technical stuff, mostly. Like when I got your passport."
"She knew about that, though."
"But only because I told the person who got it that it was okay to treat it as official business. If I told him it was personal, he wouldn't have passed it on to her."
"Why didn't you treat it as personal?"
"I was still trying to figure you out. Letting him tell her was an underhanded way to get them to check you out."
"And did they?"
"Of course. You could have been a big risk to one of their valuable assets."
"Do you know what they learned about me?"
"Yes. In Nora's words, 'Nothing she didn't mean for us to discover.'"
Mary grinned. "So I did well covering my tracks, at least for an amateur, huh?"
"Yeah, but I don't think anybody would mistake you for an amateur."
Mary smiled. "You're sweet."
"I'm serious. You're the best I've run across in 20 years."
She reached across the table and grasped my hand. By then, we were finished with dinner.
"You want dessert?" I asked.
"Yes. But not here. Take me to our room, sailor."
I left enough cash on the table to cover our dinner, with a generous tip. No way I was going to wait for a check after seeing the hunger in her eyes.
25
Dressed like all the other tourists, Mary and I attracted no attention as we got off the ferry from Tortola. We walked to the customs and immigration desk in Red Hook, St. Thomas, and showed our passports. I was supposed to meet Nora at a nearby beach resort.
Before we went to sleep last night, I checked the satellite phone and found a message from her. She asked me to meet her this morning; I was to give her a call a few minutes before I arrived at the resort so she could give me the room number. I was a little anxious because part of her message didn't make sense. She closed with: Don't get too excited. Missing you a lot, but still sore from last time.
Aside from the ribbing I got from Mary about that, it worried me. I didn't do anything in St. Martin to make her sore, either literally or otherwise.
Nora only sent the most concise texts; the teasing tone of this one worried me. It might be a covert warning, but I couldn't decipher it.
Once out of the fenced area enclosing the ferry terminal, we were only minutes from the beach resort. I keyed all the necessary digits into the phone, and Nora answered.
"Finn?"
"Yes. I should be there in a few minutes."
"Okay. I ended up in a villa. It's unit 3A, on the beach. Are you alone?"
"Yes."
"Good. Hurry."
With that, she disconnected, and I put the phone in my backpack.
Mary had been standing close, her head next to mine. "What do you think?" she asked.
"She sounded stressed," I said.
"That's what I thought, but I don't know her voice. She sounded congested, like maybe she'd been crying."
We got in a taxi and agreed to an exorbitant fare for the short trip. We could have walked, but arriving in a taxi helped hide where we came from. Mary asked the driver to drop her at a row of tourist shops just outside the entrance to the resort property.
"See you in a few," she said. "Don't forget to call me when you're checked in."
I nodded, and the driver took me to the main entrance to the hotel. I settled with him and got out.
Before I went inside, I took a moment to make sure my cellphone was connected to Mary's, and I muted the speaker. She could hear what was going on around me, but she couldn't talk to me. That was what she meant about calling her after I checked in. I slipped the phone back in the front pocket of my jeans and hoped for the best as I got out of the taxi.
I paused in the lobby for a look at the map of the property. Spotting the villas on the diagram, I leaned down to pick out 3A. The detached villas each housed two suites, and 3A appeared to offer beach access from its patio. Once through the lobby, I followed the signs and soon saw where I was going.
At my knock, the door was opened by a burly man pointing a pistol at me. I registered the suppressor on the muzzle as he pushed it against my belly. Amateur. I decided to let him keep his gun, for now.
Nora was tied to a straight chair in the middle of the room, her clothes shredded and bloody. Her head was covered in a black cloth bag. Another thug held a pistol to her head.
"Come in, Finn," Special Agent Kelley said. He was sitting in an easy chair a few feet in front of Nora, his back to me. "Don't do anything stupid, and you'll get to walk out of here in a few minutes."
"I'm sorry, Finn," Nora mumbled through the cloth. "I tried to — "
The thug guarding her swiped his pistol across her hidden face. Her head snapped back from the blow, but she was so far gone she barely flinched.
"Don't worry about it, Nora," I said. "It'll be all right soon."
Kelley laughed and got to his feet, turning to face me. "I'll keep it simple, Finn. I want two things from you in the next 24 hours. Deliver, and you'll live to fight another day. Understand?"
"So far, yeah," I said. "What two things?"
"Thing one, I want your little girlfriend. Thing two, I want the files she stole." He showed me a microSD card in the palm of his hand, the one Nora and I had copied the files to, probably. "They're classified; you know what that means, I'm sure. And I want all the copies. You turn over your laptop and the microSD card the girl has. We'll be able to tell if you've run any copies of either one. If you have, bring the media you copied them to. If you don't have them any longer, I'll need the names and addresses of the people you've shared them with. If I find out you made copies and didn't tell me, I'll hunt you down and make you sorry. Understand?"
"Yeah, I got it. But when I give you the girl and the files, Nora goes free. You won't need her for leverage once you've got what you want."
Kelley laughed and looked toward Nora and the man holding the pistol to her head. "Now, Gregory," Kelley said.
The man's supp
ressed pistol coughed, and Nora's head exploded inside the cloth bag.
"That was just to show you I'm serious, Finn. I've got leverage you can't even imagine, son. You have 24 hours to get your shit together. Keep your cellphone charged. You'll need it for the delivery instructions. Now get your sorry — "
Kelley was interrupted by the crash of a patio chair coming through the sliding glass door. Before it even hit the floor, Mary was through the opening. She shot the man closest to me first, then the one who killed Nora. Kelley didn't manage to draw his pistol from his shoulder holster before she put rounds in each of his shoulders. That knocked him down, and she stepped closer to him.
"You wanted to meet me, Special Agent Kelley. You got your wish. You're a lucky man. You know why?"
"N-no. I — "
"Because I'm in a hurry. That's why you're lucky. Otherwise I'd make you pay for what you did to the woman. But now I don't have time to waste listening to you scream. Nice meeting you."
She shot him in the forehead. Taking a rag from her shoulder bag, she wiped the pistol she used and bent over the body of the man closest to me. She took his pistol and dropped it in her bag. Using the rag, she put her pistol in his hand and wrapped his fingers around the grip.
"Let's go," she said, grabbing me by the hand and leading me out the shattered sliding door. We walked hand-in-hand down the beach, moving at a pace that indicated we were out for exercise, but not hurrying enough to attract attention.
"Disconnect our phone call," she said, reaching into her bag for her own phone.
"Thanks. I forgot. That trick worked pretty well. Good idea you had."
I took my phone out of my pocket and pressed the red icon.
She watched, frowning, but didn't say anything as I put the phone away again.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"Disappointed that I didn't move faster. That's all. Poor Nora."
"Where'd you get the pistol?" I asked, after a moment.
She nudged me, turning into the next resort along the beach. We sat down at a table with an umbrella and ordered two glasses of fruit punch.
While the waitress went to get our drinks, Mary answered my question about the pistol. "One of my neighbors at the Fiddler's Green left it in the stairwell."
"He left it? For you?"
"Close enough. He dropped it when I broke his arm. He wanted to be an armed robber, but he was unclear on the concept."
"I see."
The waitress delivered our drinks. "Are you staying here in the resort?" she asked, as she set the glasses on the table with a check.
"No, just out for a stroll along the beach," Mary said.
"Nice morning for it. Thanks for stopping in."
"Thanks," Mary said, taking a sip of her punch as I paid the waitress.
"Just let me know if you guys need a refill," the woman said, smiling.
Once she was gone again, Mary said, "Let's take a taxi downtown and kill a couple of hours, in case somebody's smart enough to watch the ferry terminal."
We drained our glasses, and I nodded. We both stood and walked through the lobby to the front door, where there was a taxi waiting for a fare. We got in and told the driver we wanted to go to Fort Christian in Charlotte Amalie.
He nodded. "You like this hotel?" he asked.
"Yes. It's really nice," Mary said.
"Where you folks from?"
"The States," Mary said. She slid across the seat to snuggle against me, turning her face up for a kiss to give the driver a clue that we weren't looking for conversation.
As we pulled out onto the main road, an ambulance and two police cars roared by, sirens screaming. Our driver shook his head.
"Drugs. Almos' always drugs behind that kind of t'ing."
"Nowhere's safe anymore," I said, breaking off our lingering kiss.
"Amen," Mary said, crossing herself.
I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. She turned her face up to mine again, her lips parted in anticipation.
26
The driver let us out at the sidewalk leading up to Fort Christian, and we merged with the crowd of tourists. Strolling through the fort, studying the placards that described its history, we let 15 minutes pass.
"Let's go find somewhere to have a nice long lunch," I suggested. "Then by the time we get back to Red Hook, the ferry will be crowded. Safety in numbers."
"Sounds good to me," she said, as we made our way out of Fort Christian. "You have anywhere in mind?"
"No. Let's walk until something strikes your fancy."
She nodded and took my hand, weaving her fingers through mine. Once we were clear of the crowd exiting Fort Christian, she looked over at me and asked, "You okay about Nora?"
I shrugged. "Comes with the job, I guess."
"I know you said there wasn't anything between you — romance, I mean — but 20 years is a long time. It's okay to feel bad for her; you won't upset me if you need to mourn her."
I stopped and tugged her hand, turning her to face me. Leaning toward her, I planted a kiss on her lips. "Thanks. It may hit me later; I don't know. But I appreciate your kindness."
She smiled. "It feels good," she said, as we started walking again.
"Feels good?"
"Just being with you, walking along and holding hands. I've never had anybody like you, anybody that… I don't even know where to start."
"Yeah," I said. "Me either. It does feel good. By the way, thanks for saving my ass this morning, speaking of new experiences."
"I'm glad I could help. Sorry I didn't read the situation well enough to save Nora."
"Don't second guess yourself. Even being in the room with them, I didn't see that coming. I was as surprised as they were when you crashed through the door. Having backup's something new for me."
"I know. Me, too. I like having a partner, Finn."
"Good. I like it, too. It's still strange. But thanks again for saving me."
"You're welcome, but we both know you'd have been fine without me. I saw you getting set to attack right before I threw the chair through that glass door. Those two guys were newbies. I was tempted just for a minute to watch you take his gun away."
"Glad you didn't wait."
"But I'm curious. Were you going to shoot him first? The guy closest to you?"
"No. The one who shot Nora would have been number one. Kelley would have been two. I would have knocked the one closest to me out with a head butt when I took his pistol. I was moving around to put him between me and the others when you broke the sliding glass door."
"Nice plan. I wondered."
"Did you think to pick up the microSD card Kelley took from Nora?" I asked. "I missed that in the excitement."
"No. I thought about it, but I decided to leave it. Maybe it'll fall into the hands of somebody who's not crooked. A little exposure might be good for these bastards."
"Might be," I said. "I didn't expect that Kelley was going to come after us like he did. Any idea what prompted that?"
"No, not really. I don't see how they could have known I was here. And he gave you 24 hours to get me here, so he probably didn't know. You see any signs that point to a different conclusion?"
"No, except for Nora."
"What about her?"
"I'm wondering how Kelley even knew about her. You already know as much about her as I do. That's precious little. He managed to find her, but how?"
"You said she got in trouble for asking about him. Think that might have gotten back to him, somehow?"
"You mean, somebody up the line blew her cover?"
"Yes. Could that be?"
"It could, but that's a scary thought. Besides whoever else there is like me, I can only think of three people who even knew she existed. But I didn't know enough to blow her cover, so I have to figure the other operators like me wouldn't, either."
"You won't like this, Finn. But I'm going to ask, anyway."
"You can guess the one at the top. The next one down is — "
<
br /> She put a finger to my lips. "That's not what I was going to ask."
I frowned, shaking my head. "What, then?"
"You think she could have been part of it?"
"Part of it? You mean could Nora have been paid off? Gone rogue? I don't — "
"Don't rush into that. I know what your knee-jerk reaction is. Think about it while we have lunch. Give it time to percolate."
I chewed on the inside of my cheek and nodded. She could be on to something.
"Okay," I said. "I'll do that."
"This looks like a good place to eat and kill a little time," she said, breaking her stride.
We studied the menu taped in the window of what looked to be an upscale seafood restaurant.
"Suits me," I said.
"Let's don't talk about her while we eat, okay?"
"Okay," I said. "Better not to rush it, for sure. Good idea to let it percolate, like you said."
"Yes, and besides, it spoils my fantasy."
"Fantasy?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
She tugged my hand, moving me into the restaurant, ignoring my unspoken question.
"Table for two?" the hostess asked.
"Yes, please," Mary said. "Something private, for me and my husband. We're on our honeymoon."
The hostess smiled. "I've got just the spot for you — a nice, secluded booth in the back. Follow me, please."
After the hostess seated us and left, I asked, "Husband? Honeymoon?"
"Part of my fantasy. I've always wanted to say that. Does it make you nervous?"
I thought about that for a second, watching the emotions play across her face. "No. No, not even a little bit. Tell me more about this fantasy of yours."
"Later. I promise. But I don't want to break the spell by talking about it right now. Okay?"
"Okay," I said, feeling an uncontrollable grin spread over my face. "I'm glad you're letting me share your fantasy."
"Oh, you're not just sharing it. You're the heart of it. Now, let's talk about where we're going next."
"On our honeymoon," I said. "Where would you like to go next?"
"I've always had the notion that there were islands where there were no other people. Are there any?"
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