by L. T. Ryan
Jack entered the room, followed by Bear and then Clive.
“Make yourselves comfortable.”
“Got a beer?” Jack said.
“A little too early, don’t you think?” Clive said.
“For a beer?” Bear said. “The hell country we in?”
Clive grinned as he steepled his fingers in front of his chest. “Nice try, my friend.”
“Since when did you and I become friends?”
Clive looked disappointed. “Fair enough. Trust must be earned. It is not given.”
“I’ll never trust you.”
“I took care of Mandy, didn’t I?”
“For one night.” Bear glanced down at the table. “And I haven’t heard anything about Sasha.”
Clive’s eyebrows rose into his forehead. “Ah, I was just about to mention that.”
Bear rose out of his chair. “What?”
“She’s back in London. There was a team nearby who extracted her, got her safely out.”
As relieved as the big man looked to hear that, there was something bothering him. “That’s all we got on her?”
“Of course not. They went back to look for you and the girl. But Sasha was their number one priority, and they got her safely on a private jet at once.”
“She knows we’re alive?”
Clive nodded once. It didn’t instill any confidence.
“Listen up, man—”
Jack cut Bear off. “I think it wouldn’t be too much to ask to at least let Mandy speak with Sasha. Right, Clive?”
“That depends.” Clive stood, shut the door, cut the lights. He grabbed a remote and turned on the projector. A blue rectangle filled up half the wall.
“Depends on what?” Jack said.
“Whether you agree to help us or not.”
“Help you with what?”
“I’m about to tell you, but you must know, it is in your best interest to say yes now. Once I present you with this information, there is a chance you will refuse. And refusal, well, will result in termination, one way or another. I won’t say it will be at our hands. And I can’t assure you you’ll walk out of here alive.”
Bear pushed back from the table, almost toppling his chair over in the process. Jack reached out to steady him, but had his hand swatted away.
“Listen up, asshole.”
“Bear.” Jack did his best to run interference.
“Shut up, Jack. If it wasn’t for you going rogue, we wouldn’t be in this position.” Bear placed his big hands on the table and leaned forward. “I’ve run out of patience for all of you. Let me take the girl, get us on a plane to London, and get us and Sasha a free pass back to the US. Whatever you need, I’m sure Jack can handle it if you pair him with one of your people. They are more than capable if they managed to extract both of us safely amid all that damn chaos.”
Clive cleared his throat and did his best to mirror Bear. He wouldn’t back down. He couldn’t, even if it meant ending up in a chokehold that would crush his larynx in less than five seconds.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you leave.”
Bear straightened up. Jack prepared to stop the fight.
“I promise you,” Clive said. “The girl will be well taken care of. We are isolated here. No one knows this place exists. They cannot spot it from the air. It’s completely normal above us. We can’t be detected down here. We also have two people close to Sasha right now. She will not be in any danger.”
Bear took a step back and stumbled. “What good am I to you? I can barely stand. Gonna end up dead. Jack’s gonna end up dead. Why do you need us? Just kill us now.”
Bear’s ragged breath occupied space within the silent void. His features were hard, same as Jack remembered him in the most intense moments they had shared over two decades. All the passion in the big man’s body weighed down on each of them.
Clive leaned back in his seat, head against the rest. He held Bear’s gaze, though, not sulking away. Not many could do it. The intimidation factor was legit.
“Look,” Jack started, “there’s merit to what Bear has to say. Whatever you need, it’s probably best I tackle it solo, or with one of your people. Ines bested me. Lacy seems tough enough.”
“Sadie.” Bear eased into his seat. “We already have a working relationship with her.”
“That was a while ago,” Clive said. “And she’s different now. She’s a leader.”
“She was then.” Bear dropped the last few inches. The seat squealed in rebellion.
“It’s different now,” Clive said. “She won’t play second fiddle. Plus, she’s already invested in this in a different capacity. And Ines, Lacy, they work two different jobs. Ines needs a break, too. She tracked you down over two months, Noble. It wasn’t easy on her.”
Frustration mounted in the room as the trio reached an impasse. Jack agreed with everything Bear had said. He also saw Clive’s point of view, though he had no idea what the job entailed. What reason would require the two of them to team up? An old associate from the SIS days? From their time on loan to the CIA after enlisting in the Marines? Any of the dozens of jobs they performed as contractors?
“Let’s get to the point,” Jack said. “Who’s the target.”
Clive cleared his throat, stood, said, “Wait here a moment,” then left the meeting room. The door clicked shut behind him.
“Think that’ll open?” Bear asked.
“If not, we can ram your head through it.”
“About the only part of my body that works right anymore.”
“That’s not saying much.”
“Screw you. I’ve always been smarter than you.”
“Probably true.”
“No probably about it.” Bear pushed back from the table and stretched his legs out in front of him. His hands rested on his stomach, which protruded a little further than it had last time Noble saw him.
“What’s Sasha been feeding you?”
“All the steak I want.”
“And potatoes, by the look of it.”
“Just jealous no one wants to cook for you.”
Jack laughed, but his smile faded quickly. He did have someone who wanted to cook for him. And he disappeared in the middle of the night. Again. Same woman. Same outcome. Why did she continue to put up with him?
“Stop thinking about her.” Bear tossed a napkin at Jack. “The word you are looking for, Mr. Noble, is toxic.”
“That’s me.”
“It sure as hell is.” Bear paused a beat. “What do you suppose this is all about?”
Jack shrugged. He still hadn’t come close to a solid guess. But he figured he’d try to jog Bear’s mind. “There’s a few candidates.”
“Like who?”
“Remember Reese?”
“Detective? Manhattan?”
“Yeah.”
“You ran into her down in Texas, while she was in witness protection.”
Jack thought of the days they spent together in that little apartment over the garage. He remembered the old couple, kind enough to take him in when his Wrangler died on him. And he thought of all the trouble he’d brought the people in that Texas town. And the trouble he brought to Reese.
Toxic.
The door opened and Clive stepped in carrying a manila file folder about an inch thick.
“Favorite recipes?” Jack asked.
Clive smiled, but wouldn’t meet Noble’s gaze. He set the folder down, turned it, straightened it, and lifted the cover. But his arms covered the contents.
“Get to it, man,” Bear said.
“Your target will be familiar to you. She’s in a lot of danger and faces death or certain jail time, even if we get to her first. But I promise, I’ll do my best to get her into the hands of the government who will treat her best.”
Clive thumbed through several pages before stopping on some glossies. He pulled a few out, separated them and placed them on the table for Jack and Bear to view.
They spoke at the same time
, saying the name like a curse.
“Clarissa.”
Chapter 24
The sheer curtains dancing in the breeze and the taste of the salt air, sounds of children playing in the surf, the chatter from the cafe below all combined to overwhelm Clarissa’s senses as she hung in that ether between sleep and wakefulness. The thunderstorm she drifted off to the night before had given way to a clear day. Might be a nice one to get out and explore the area.
She crossed the room and tied off the curtains while taking in the view of the expansive Adriatic. Her gaze drifted to a nearby marina. She wondered what kind of passage she could arrange should she need to leave in a hurry. Might be a nice place to stop off and make a friend.
She glanced at the tied-off bag with hair clippings and leftover coloring in the wastebasket. She caught her reflection in the mirror. For a moment, she didn’t recognize the woman staring back, who looked more like Mila Jovovich in The Fifth Element, just with dark hair.
The style fit her face well. It was shorter than she had ever had it, and she’d only dyed it this dark once before. The goth phase had passed her by, something her father was grateful for. The red highlights provided an edgier look, which should keep potential suitors at bay. If anything, they’d call her GI Jane instead of honey or sweetie or yelling out ‘I love you’ as foreign men often did to American women walking alone.
She ventured down to the lobby, where a small buffet had been set out. Most of the food had gone cold, but Clarissa’s hunger pangs didn’t care. She grabbed a half-dozen sausages and wrapped them in a napkin before setting out.
The action along the road consisted of families heading to and from the beach, shoppers in and out of the boutiques, and the general hum of resort-town activity.
Clarissa did her best to fit in with the crowd, popping into a shop here and there, making a few small purchases in cash. She kept her bearings fixed first on the marina, and second where she had left the Vespa. Traveling to the latter would give her an up-close look at the former.
From the road, sighting the layout of the marina had been difficult. It wasn’t until she had looked from her hotel window he had spotted the service road entrance.
On her walk, she passed close by and noticed only a single bar extending across the narrow lane. Its release was triggered by a button push. There was no guardhouse. No one watching at all. Nothing to stop her from walking right in.
She snapped a few pics while pretending to talk on her cell phone, then continued on until she reached the packed parking lot where she had left the scooter. There were several in the section designated for motorbikes. After a few moments, she spotted it. She walked past, not stopping, not paying attention, just making sure it did not appear to have been tampered with.
The tripwire shone in the sun, vibrating slightly in the breeze. It ran from the right handle to the seat and was still intact, leaving her to believe no one had attempted to inspect the bike up close.
The best gift Beck had ever given her was a clean, untraceable license plate. The smartest thing she had done during her exit from Italy was swapping the license plate out after she had crossed the border.
She only wished she had another.
Beck could no longer be trusted. Once word got back that she had fled, and it would, he would flip the switch and every license plate reader in Europe would be ready to ping the moment she passed. Fortunately, there were few in Croatia that she knew of, and most were relegated to the few highways that snaked across the country.
She worried about Mrs. Calabase. The original license plate would trigger an alert and would lead back to her dead husband. It was only a matter of time before whoever was behind this, whether Beck or someone else, would know the woman had aided Clarissa.
Would Mrs. Calabase know to get out of town? Clarissa doubted the story about going to her sister’s was true.
Clarissa fired up her cell phone while pulling a small notebook from her pocket. In it, she had a few contacts listed. She had developed her own encryption system so that if she or the notebook fell into the wrong hands, they wouldn’t be able to decipher it.
The notebook wouldn’t give up its secrets. She might, though, and for that reason, she felt vulnerable even having it on her person. In Italy, she had hidden it behind a piece of wall she had carved out. No one would ever spot or find the makeshift safe she had created.
Clarissa located Mrs. Calabase’s entry and started to dial the number.
“What are you doing, girl?” she muttered.
If she had wanted to broadcast her location to Beck or anyone else who had a hand in this, there was no better way than calling the woman. She had to find another method to reach out and warn her to leave town for a while.
The ground crunched behind her. She turned to locate the source of the disturbance. A tour van had pulled into the lot. It came to a stop and the doors opened. A stream of foreign conversation followed. She recognized it as Korean.
Several women all wearing white t-shirts with something written in Korean on them entered the lot and gathered twenty feet or so from the van.
Clarissa rubbed her eyes, blinked hard, and worked up a few tears. She approached the women.
“English? Anyone, speak English?”
The first row of ladies stared blankly at her. She repeated her request, adding a please on top of a choked sob. After a few seconds, a hand rose above the group, and a small woman stepped forward.
“I speak English.”
“Thank God,” Clarissa said. “I was robbed, and all of my stuff was stolen. I have this stupid phone, but it doesn’t work. Is there any chance I can borrow yours?”
The women convened in a circle, and after a little back and forth, the lady handed Clarissa her phone.
Clarissa stepped back a few feet and dialed a number she only prayed still worked. It was one of several Jack had given her. The call would route through a private server that changed IP addresses constantly, connecting the next call through a switch in Brazil, or Belize, or Bermuda, or any number of other countries that started with the letter B.
Several button presses and a few moments of dead air later, the phone rang and Mrs. Calabase answered.
“Oh, I’m so glad I reached you,” Clarissa said. “You need to get out of town, now.”
Mrs. Calabase responded in Italian. Clarissa understood some. “I understand that now and will make arrangements soon, dear. I’m excited to come see the new baby.”
“Baby?” Clarissa said, before realizing Mrs. Calabase wasn’t alone. “Oh, no. Look, you don’t have to keep this up. You can give them my location and they’ll leave you alone. I’m in—”
“It’s not worth it for you to make the trip, dear. I’ll come down as soon as I can.”
The line went dead.
And so did Clarissa’s hope that Mrs. Calabase would be OK.
Chapter 25
The eight-seater touched down on a small airstrip outside of Genoa as the sun crested the mountains. Jack opened his eyes as the brakes locked in and the jet went from a hundred to zero in the matter of a few football fields.
The light coming in from behind Bear’s head was blinding and silhouetted the large man, making him look like a wild beast.
“Are we done?” It was the first time Noble had noticed the big man exhale. Bear still had the armrest in a death grip. Of everything that could take the guy’s life, it was the safest form of transportation that scared him most. Irrational, yes. But a legitimate fear nonetheless.
“Yeah, we’re here,” Jack said. “I think. Are we, Sadie?”
Sadie pulled her AirPods out and put them back in their charging case. “Yeah, this is the place.”
“Where to from here?”
“One thing at a time, Jack.” She unbuckled, shuffled through the cabin, rapped on the cockpit door. It opened, and she leaned her head in and said something in Spanish, then gave Noble and Bear a thumbs up.
The wind was fierce and cool and damp, coming in
off the Mediterranean as though a blue norther had set it off. Jack took in the sight of the mountains to his right and the sea to the left. They were south of Genoa, meaning their destination would be further south than where they were now. No point traveling through a city with well over a hundred thousand people.
A black Audi sedan was parked near an unmanned guardhouse. Sadie pulled out her cell phone. Tapped the screen. The vehicle roared to life. Exhaust plumed from the rear and dissipated into the clear sky as the wind got hold of it.
Noble slid onto the backseat and stretched his legs, while Bear took the front passenger seat, and Sadie got in behind the wheel. She messed with her phone for a few moments until their route was set. She eased up to the gate, which opened automatically. A few turns later, they were on a two-lane road heading south, and Jack slid back into the semi-lucid state he considered sleep.
He woke to Sadie’s door opening, wiped away the cobwebs, inhaled the air. They were in a village that seemed as though it had been cut from the mountain. The smells were familiar. Too familiar. He’d had a hunch this was where they were going.
After exiting, he gestured to where the road split. One way led out of town. The other to their assumed destination.
“You know the way?” Sadie asked.
Jack nodded. “Walked it a hundred and sixty or seventy times, give or take.”
“That’s not all we’re here to see,” she said.
“This is where you went after the Skinner thing?” Bear said.
“Spent a couple of months here. Clarissa would head out for a few days at a time, but for the most part, we were together.”
“How’d that feel?”
Jack shrugged. “I don’t know, and I don’t want to get into it. Not now. Not with everything going on. I can’t let emotions get in the way of this.”
“In the way of arresting her? You lost your mind?”
Jack waited until Sadie was out of earshot. “Of course not. I’m not down for hurting her. But if Clive is right, and if someone else is after her, we might be her best shot.”