by L. T. Ryan
“Why do you think they massacred so many at the hospital?”
“To make it look like a terrorist attack. Only thing that makes sense. They could have slipped someone inside, a PT or nurse, a bribe and taken Logan out in a way that nobody would have suspected.”
“These people are insane.”
Clive shook his head. “It is the lack of insanity that makes them dangerous. A crazy person, while unpredictable and unstable, is an easy target. These people, whether driven by money or some other power trip, are our worst nightmare at the present time.”
“I’ve gone over the train station footage dozens of times. No one else was there. We had the platform on lockdown.”
“But they might have the footage. Which means they’ll have Sadie’s face, and a half-dozen of our men.”
“Talking about me again?” Sadie slipped into the room like a silent breeze over a still pond. She had her hair pulled back and was dressed down in a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt.
“Speak of the devil,” Clive said.
“And she will appear,” Sadie said. “Are we getting backlash for the train station incident?”
“Nothing we can’t handle,” Clive said.
“Nothing at all, actually,” Isa said.
Sadie joined the duo near Isa’s workstation. “Have you spoken to Bear?”
Clive gestured toward one of the screens. “Not yet. He’s alone with Noble now. We’ve got someone listening in, but I doubt they’ve said anything important.”
“Knowing those two the way I do—” a grimace crossed her face, “—or the way I did, I should say, they’re talking about old times while eating a steak and having a beer.”
“You’re five minutes late to witness that.” Clive studied Sadie as she watched Noble and Logan. The frown faded, and she smiled. He knew they had been teammates at one time. Friends, even. Sadie considered the two men to be big brothers. They’d been in a few jams, and to get out, Sadie learned to trust them with her life.
Sadie drifted toward the screen. “Who ya gonna send in there?”
“I think I built some rapport with Noble a while ago. Lacy had fun with him, but I’m not putting her back in there. Ines might be a good choice, too. She’ll rattle him a bit.”
“Did Ines bring him in?” Sadie looked surprised and impressed.
Clive nodded. “She’s taking after you more every day.”
“That’s my girl.” She grabbed her left elbow and scratched her chin. “I don’t know that she’s the one to handle this, though.”
“Whom do you have in mind?” Isa couldn’t contain her grin.
“Oh, gosh.” Sadie feigned doubt. “I don’t know that I’m capable of making that kind of decision.”
“Sure you’re not.” Clive chuckled at Sadie’s attempt to be some sort of Southern Belle who demurred at the thought of taking on the task.
“Well, I mean, if you’re begging.”
“I’m not.”
“And you can’t find anyone else.”
“I can.”
“I guess I can take a crack at it.”
“You should.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter 21
Deep blue waves slapped against the rocky shore. Foam soared through the air and landed on the blackened shoreline. Tendrils of seaweed, sweet and aromatic while salty and bitter at the same time, draped the water’s edge.
Clarissa dragged her bare feet through the sand, creating a line that led back to her entry point. She loved the feeling of cold, wet sand between her toes. It was a pleasure she’d enjoyed since childhood, when her mother would take her to the Outer Banks during late Spring, before the tourists overwhelmed Kittyhawk, North Carolina.
All the good memories of her mother took place there. And it was the final one she held dearest.
Nestled at the tip of a peninsula, the picturesque small town of Medulin, Croatia, looked out over the Adriatic Sea. Several hundred feet behind her, the tourists flocked to the clearer shallows where they wallowed like seals in the water. She might join them tomorrow, after she rested.
Her travels had taken longer than the six and half hours Google suggested. Clarissa aimed to stay off the highways as much as possible while traveling east through Italy. Once she passed the border, she skirted the coastline, stopping here and there to rest, reflect, have a bite to eat, and a drink. Or two. When she finally arrived, her hotel room wasn’t ready, so she headed out for a walk.
The bottle of wine she found was local, and pretty good. She thought the bold red would stand up against most of the wines she’d had in the sleepy little town she’d called home, and most certainly when compared to the fancy restaurants Beck used to wine and dine her in.
All part of the stipend!
She doubted that now. The US Treasury Department might literally print money, but they didn’t allow members of the Secret Service to blow six hundred euros a night on dinner.
How had she not seen it? Why had she been so blind? And worse, how had her street smarts and instincts been so completely and utterly wrong about the guy?
She stopped and took a few steps closer to the water and waited for the next wave to crash over her, covering her to her knees. The seawater was cool, refreshing, and so thick with salt she felt it enveloping her even after stepping back a few feet.
She wished the undertow could pull her doubts away with the same ease it returned sand to the sea.
“Maybe…”
She couldn’t complete the sentence. She couldn’t say that maybe Beck wasn’t involved. All the evidence pointed to the contrary. And then to top it off, he had pinned it on her.
”Resign, and you’ll face no consequences. I’ll take care of it, Clarissa.”
Lying bastard.
Sort of.
True, she had survived in the little town for months without any problems. The bank accounts remained topped off at a hundred thousand dollars each, which prevented her from needing to access her own numbered accounts. She supposed it was Beck’s way, or someone’s way, of tracking her, and that was why she went to great lengths to make it appear she was drawing the funds from banks in Berlin, and Paris, and London. On the move. Never in one place. If they sent someone, they’d have to peel through millions of people to find her. And, of course, they never would.
So why did she have to run?
She asked herself that many times during her ten hours on the Vespa. Best guess, someone in the town had tipped them off. Beck knew she had a private apartment somewhere along the coast. He could’ve had an agent, or more likely a private investigator, working his way through the area until fate intervened and placed her indirectly in their sights. Or perhaps she’d slipped up when making a withdrawal or transfer. Failed to activate the VPN to place herself in Berlin, or Paris, or London. She couldn’t be sure.
And it didn’t matter, anyway.
Life had changed. She had to accept it. For Clarissa, there was no other choice.
She took a seat on the sand and watched the sun fall deep into the horizon, a couple of hours from nestling into the Adriatic. Already, the sea tinged with orange reminiscent of Winslow Homer’s Sunset at Gloucester.
In between the crashing waves, she embraced the silence. Her thoughts came in and washed away. The nothingness in between is what gave her the fortitude to take on whatever would come next.
For the next two hours, she remained there, meditative, feeling the sea breeze, taking in the laughter of children, the barking dogs, and the songs of the birds. This was all she wanted in life. A place on the beach where nothing could get to her. Where nothing else mattered.
As the pieces of the idealistic image cracked and faded and shattered, she turned her attention to the problems at hand and the steps she needed to take care of first.
Lodging.
Shower.
Food.
Wine.
And not necessarily in that order.
Concrete stairs leading
away from the beach were a short walk away. She crossed the packed sand, donned her flats, climbed to the boardwalk. The street vendors had gone. Lights illuminated the narrow street. The crowd had shifted, as locals and tourists alike prepared for an evening out.
Clarissa kept a low profile as she crossed the street and made her way to her hotel. She had reserved a room online using a cell phone she picked up when she had entered Croatia. The hotel’s app notified her the room was ready and gave her the option to use her phone as her key. She obliged. The less time she spent in front of people, the better.
Before entering the lobby, she dipped into a small boutique to buy a scarf and a pair of large sunglasses. Big brother wasn’t watching the streets here, but he would be present inside the hotel. She would exit the room a completely different person after using the scissors and hair dye she’d picked up at the small store where she purchased the cell phone.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy, Clarissa. Easy. Freaking. Peasy.
Chapter 22
“The hell is going on, Jack?” Bear set his fork down, a chunk of steak still stuck to the tines. “One minute I’m rehabbing under an assumed name in Nowhere, France, and the next the hospital’s being shot up to hell. Lost Sasha—”
“Those goddamn bastards.” Jack regripped his knife as though he were going to run someone through.
“Not like that. I don’t think. Haven’t seen her, but they say she got out.” He shoved the steak in his mouth and washed it down with a swig of beer. “And they’ve got Mandy set up nice here.”
“She’s here?”
Bear waved him off. “She’s good, man. Made sure of that. Sadie brought me in.”
“Holy blast from the past, big man.”
“Yeah, right. Thought for a moment she was there to help, showed up outta nowhere, like you did back when I was working with her… Shit, what? A decade ago?”
Jack shook his head.
“Feels longer.”
“Right.” Jack pushed away from the table and stood. “So, she wasn’t there to help, then?”
Bear looked around and swept his hand, gesturing to the room. “You tell me? Look at this place. Better than most of the others we’ve been holed up in. Even when the government put us up.”
“True.” Jack paced to the door, checked the handle. Unlocked. “Aside from my first interaction leaving my room, everything has been above board.”
“Why is that?”
“They want us to work with them.”
“Look at me.” Bear dipped his face toward the table. Looked like he was about to go full on bear and chomp down on the steak. He pointed to the scar on his head. “I still can’t walk right half the time. What the hell am I gonna do for them? They gave me a shot, said it’ll help me recover faster. I doubt it’ll work.”
“You’ve always been the brains of the operation, my friend. I’m the brawn.”
“You’re a puny little rat is what you are, and the surgeons took a chunk of my brain.”
Jack laughed. He did so to hide the impact of Bear’s words. He knew the big man didn’t think of him as a rat. But the tone, there was too much unsaid between them. Bear finished with Noble some time ago. But here they were, forced together, again, and Jack shouldered the blame.
“How’d they get you?” Bear asked.
“I’d really like to see Mandy. Where is she?”
“Tell you in a minute. Answer me.”
“Got sloppy, I guess. Two parties found me. One blew the head off a reporter who was going to expose all of Skinner’s corruption.”
Bear leaned back, whistled. “Christ.”
“Bullet was meant for me. Someone blocked me, kept me from getting to the door first.”
“Guardian angel watching over you.”
“They knew my next move would be out the back door. Knew the route I would take after leaving the hotel. Same person was there, waiting in a car, with a different look. Businesswoman inside.”
“Party chick outside.”
Jack laughed. “Pretty much the mullet of spies.” His smile faded. “She got me to a parking garage where she had a car waiting. Fed me a story. Could’ve taken me down right then and there, but had to get me outside the city.”
“Which city?”
“Luxembourg City.”
“Great place. Great beer.”
“Right?” That was the cue for both to take a drink. “Anyway, feeds me a story about this duffel bag. I never checked it, was too busy driving. Plus, she’s a great actress.”
“What’s that?” Bear said.
“What?”
“That smile.”
“What smile?”
“The one that formed when you said she’s a great actress. You crushing on this chic?”
“Please.”
Bear tipped his head back and bellowed. By the time he opened his eyes again, tears were streaming down his cheeks.
“Glad you’re enjoying my complete emasculation at the hands of a well-trained spy.”
“Nah, that ain’t it.”
“Then what is it?”
“You still can’t admit it when you fall for a woman stronger than you.”
“Give me a break. Name one time.”
“This time.”
“Any other?”
“Clarissa.”
That struck the most intense nerve Noble had in his body. He tried to hide the grimace, the pain, but it was too much. “About Mandy…”
“What happened to Clarissa?” Bear pushed back in his chair. Thick muscles rippled across his forearms. “Tell me she’s dead, and I’ll smash your head into that wall.”
Jack offered a calming gesture. “She’s fine. Was fine last time I saw her. After Skinner, I spent some time with her. Stayed at her getaway for a couple of months.” He paused and thought of the time spent with Clarissa wandering around the town, hiking down the mountain to the coast, spending all weekend riding the train to different towns. They had made memories. Again.
“And?”
“Got a call. The heat was on me. They were getting close.”
“These guys?”
“Hard to tell, but I am guessing these guys gave me the heads up, and it was the other group getting too close.”
“You think we can trust this Clive dude?”
“I can’t answer that. But I can say they knew enough to have someone close to that hospital to get you out.”
“It was a train station twenty miles away.”
“They knew you were down there, just had the attack wrong.”
“And they knew about your hit?”
“They narrowed it down. Ines, that’s the spy who loved me, she stopped me from taking that bullet.”
“But she sacrificed the reporter.”
“Guess there wasn’t time.” Jack bowed his head and thought of the man who had been murdered in his place. “When this is all over, I’ll find his family and make things right for them.”
“So, what do you think this’ll be about?”
“Not sure, but I think we should accept. They’ve got us. They’ve got Mandy. They probably have a lead on Sasha. And I wouldn’t doubt they know where my brother and Mia are.”
Bear struggled out of his seat. He took a moment to catch his breath, then used his hand on the table to steady himself as he took a few steps. He looked down at Jack. “This is what you’re taking on. Think you can handle it?”
“I’ve dragged you home from bars in worse shape than that and we managed to take out five thugs at once. I think we’ll be good.”
Bear extended his hand. Jack grabbed it. Bear pulled him in.
“Partners. Again.” Bear looked him in the eye. “But for the last time. After this, me and Mandy are gone. This is it.”
“I agree.”
“Let’s go see the kid.”
Chapter 23
The next morning, Jack was awoken by light tapping on his door. He waited for someone to barge in. Instead, humming emanated in from the hallway
. Soft. Light. A familiar song he couldn’t place. It stopped. Another knock. He got up and opened the door.
“Hello, Jack.” Ines wore a black track suit with neon yellow accents. Her hair was pulled back tight. She looked more like the Tomb Raider than the bohemian drifter he’d met in Luxembourg.
“Ines?”
She nodded and gestured to her right. The woman from the day before appeared. “And you met Lacy already.”
Jack noted the two women stood close, closer than two co-workers.
Jack ignored it. “How did you know I’d be in Luxembourg? From what Clive said, they didn’t have a clue where I’d turn up. You went off their radar, and by the time they picked up on it, it was too late.”
She shrugged and waved him off. “Can’t give up all my secrets. Still don’t know that I can trust you.”
“Simple answer, you can’t.” He paused. “You’re not here to chat, so what’s up?”
“Need you to come with us,” Lacy said.
“Where?”
“Does it really matter, Jack?” Ines said.
“No. Guess I need to see what this is all about anyway. Give me a second to change.”
Ines stuck her foot between the door and frame, preventing it from shutting.
“If you want a show, just ask. No need to be sneaky about it.”
Ines rolled her eyes. Lacy laughed again.
Two minutes later they repeated the process with Bear, who put up less of a fight. Ten minutes later, after they had traversed a maze of stark white corridors, they reached what appeared to be a control or command room of sorts.
There were a few dozen workstations, most empty. News feeds and surveillance footage played on monitors mounted throughout the room. Clive sat at a desk that overlooked the operation. Next to him was a younger woman. She spotted them first. Her breath seemed to catch as she tapped Clive’s forearm.
Clive stepped down from the platform and approached, and as he did, Ines and Lacy left in the direction they had come from.
“Gentlemen.” He waved them over to an open door. A meeting room. A gray table stretched the length of the room. White boards littered with acronyms, pictures, strings, and arrows were on each wall. A projector was mounted to the ceiling.