by L. T. Ryan
“I can’t trust that guy.”
“He didn’t kill us. Not only that, he saved us from those who were trying to kill us. Gotta count for something, yeah?”
Bear waved him off. “We’re nothing to him. As soon as this is done, we’re dead.”
Jack glanced around, spotted a few familiar faces. He did his best to shield himself from them. “I’m working on that.”
“A way to bail?”
“Once we have Clarissa.”
“They’ve got Mandy.”
“You’ve got Sasha. She can get Mandy out of there. We just need enough time to make it all happen.”
An older man walked up, held up a chess piece, pointed and smiled at Noble. His yellow, crooked teeth told a hell of a story.
“Good to see you, Antonio,” Jack said. “I’ll come by the cafe a little later for a rematch. I want that championship belt back from you.”
The old guy smiled and smoothed down wild wisps of hair as he returned to his path.
“What about Sadie?” Jack said.
“What about her?” Bear said.
“Trust her?”
“She seems different.”
“You knew her better than I did. But are you sure it isn’t just age? It’s been a decade. People change. Now think about people like us. Everything we’ve seen, done, experienced the past ten years. It had to have hardened her. I mean, what led her to working with Clive?”
“Can’t imagine.” Bear’s gaze followed the woman as she pretended to browse racks of scarves outside a small store. “She’s hardly acknowledged me.”
“Got your feelings hurt?” Jack poked the bear.
“Actually, yeah.”
“They manage to find your feelings when they had your skull peeled back?”
“Fuck you, Jack.”
“Fuck you, too, Bear.”
An awkward silence lingered a beat too long before Bear broke into laughter loud enough to alert all nearby citizens of the strangers in their midst. Sadie turned and rolled her eyes at them. But a smile formed on her lips for the first time since the trio had been reunited. Bear’s hearty laugh had a way of doing that.
The facade had cracked. She was still one of them, and she’d be on their side when it came time to do the right thing.
Sadie strode across the square and met them on a bench shaded by two large fig trees.
“Quiet around here,” she said.
“It is,” Jack said.
She placed one foot on the bench between them, hiked up her sock. “How long were you here?”
“About as long as you’ve been.”
“Cut the shit, Jack. You dropped off the grid entirely for over six months. I guess there’s places you coulda gone for that, but considering where you were, and the footage they had of you executing Skinner—”
“Someone had to play judge and jury.”
Sadie continued without missing a beat. “—you couldn’t have made it far before being spotted. Getting out on a passport would’ve been impossible, no matter how good a fake. Your face was your poison.”
“Still is,” Bear said.
“Big man still has jokes,” Jack said.
Sadie put her hands on her hips and tipped her head back. “God, why did you send me these two clowns again? Haven’t I had enough already?”
“You got a microphone direct to Clive here? Or…?”
“Jack, just answer my damn question. How long were you here?”
He leaned forward, placed his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands in between them. “Two months. Right after the Skinner incident.”
“Spent it all with Clarissa?”
Jack nodded. “When she was here.”
“Where else was she?”
“Work, I guess.”
Sadie took a step back and folded her arms over her chest. Her eyes narrowed, brows knit together. “What work?”
“Whatever she was doing with that Beck character.”
Sadie continued staring at him as though he’d grown a second nose.
“What?” Jack said.
“How much did Clive fill you in?”
“Not a whole lot,” Bear said. “Told us it was in everyone’s best interest that we find Clarissa before anyone else.”
“Jesus Christ.” Sadie walked away while pulling out her cell phone.
Noble watched her animated conversation as Bear tried to pull theories out of midair. Jack couldn’t entertain them, not now. Not as the reality set in that Clarissa had been lying to him during their time together. He couldn’t blame her. It’s not like he’d recommend anyone get close to him. There one day, gone the next. No chance of commitment. No chance of this life never catching up to him. It’s why his daughter Mia was with his brother Sean. It’s why Mia and Sean and Sean’s family had to flee and live under assumed identities in Belize or wherever they were now.
But why would Clarissa lie? She could’ve been direct with him. She always had in the past. What was different this time?
Another townsperson spotted Jack and waved. The young man worked in the hardware store and had been a fixture at the small bar Noble frequented while Clarissa was off on her adventures. The guy strode over and spoke with Jack for a few minutes. Noble played along with the conversation, hoping it would be a distraction. It wasn’t. But it passed the time until Sadie hung up.
She stood across the square for a few minutes, speaking to no one at all. Had to be quite the spectacle for the townsfolk.
Anxiety built like bile rising in his throat as Sadie crossed the square again. She shoved her phone into her pocket.
“How are things back at HQ?” Bear asked.
“Shut up,” she said.
“The hell did I do?” Bear said.
“Your face is pissing me off,” she said.
“What happened to old Sadie?”
“Clive.” She sucked in a gulp of air and spat it back out as though it was laced with arsenic. “And I can’t believe that son of a bitch didn’t tell you what you were getting into.”
“He kinda had us by the short and curlies,” Bear said.
“That’s disgusting,” she said.
“Really disgusting,” Jack said. “Besides, you like to shave down—”
Sadie threw up her hands. “I don’t want this to go any further, you got me?”
Jack nodded, said nothing.
“And I’m gonna kick Clive’s ass when I see him again, which better be soon.”
“Are you gonna tell us what this is all about?” Jack draped his arms along the back rail. “You left me with a bunch of memories that aren’t exactly what I thought they were, and I’m kind of in the middle of an existential crisis.”
Sadie dipped her head, shaking it. “You two are going to be the end of me. You know that?”
“Planned on it.” Jack rose from the bench and met Sadie toe to toe. “What is going on?”
“You might want to sit your ass back down, Noble. This is gonna suck for you.”
Chapter 26
The wind shifted away from the coast. Dry, warm air barreled down the mountainside and through the narrow streets until it whipped the debris in the square into a frenzy. Dirt and dust and wrappers and paper coffee cups formed a mini tornado that died moments after it formed.
Then everything fell still, as though the mountain and the sea had reached a stalemate in an ongoing battle for the region.
Jack stared into Sadie’s dark eyes. She had pulled her curls back into a loose ponytail. Strands fell about her face, stuck to her cheeks and lips.
“What is it?”
“She stole two hundred million dollars.”
“Good for her.”
Bear’s bellow broke the stillness surrounding them, sending birds invading the shade tree scattering into the air.
“Did you hear me? She committed a major crime while an acting member of the Secret Service stationed here in Italy.”
“When?” Jack thought back to his time with Clari
ssa. She had nothing fancy, no car, no jet to take her anywhere. Her clothes were plain and simple. She didn’t wear jewelry or a watch. She preferred basic sandals most days.
“Six months ago.”
“Doesn’t make sense.”
“Why’s that?”
“How was she left to be all that time?”
“Details are fuzzy.”
“Fuzzy?” Bear stood repositioned next to Sadie. “What the hell is fuzzy about two hundred million dollars. I mean, how the hell does someone even get away with that?”
“OK, they don’t know for sure that she took it.”
“She didn’t,” Jack said.
“You can’t say that with any certainty,” Sadie said.
“Can you say with certainty she did it?” Jack said.
“I just told you I can’t.”
“Well, I can tell you that two hundred million is no joke, and there’s no way she could have continued living here, in this small town, under the watchful eye of whoever would be keeping a watchful eye on this place, if she had actually taken the money.”
Sasha closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. “ wish someone would tell me what I did to deserve you two in my life. I really do. I had it made, you know. Rising star in the Agency. Until you two botched my job all those years ago. Been downhill since.”
“You ain’t lying, sister,” Bear said.
Sasha gave him a death stare. “Clive thinks there’s a coverup going on here. She had a partner, Beck, who negotiated some kind of release. It gave her some time to prove her innocence. She had to come up with concrete proof, though. Because this, well, this goes down a pretty deep rabbit hole.”
“How deep?” Bear asked.
“Deeper than I have a shovel for today.”
“Yeah, I mean, you gotta dig through all our shit, right.” Jack looked away as he digested the intel. He’d been here with Clarissa during part of this. Rather than confide in him, she had kept it a secret. She wasn’t going off to work. She was working this case, trying to figure out a way to either get away with it, or bring down whoever was behind it. He leaned toward the latter, but the former had some legs, too.
Two women entered the square with five kids in tow. The ladies took a seat on a nearby bench while the children raced around, kicking a soccer ball. Their laughter filled the gaps in conversation.
“Look, guys,” Sadie said. “Either she did it, or she didn’t.”
“Or she’s caught up in something,” Bear said. “Which, having known the girl for damn near two decades, I’m more inclined to believe.”
“It doesn’t matter. Get it? There are people after her. Maybe the same people who were after the two of you.”
The words hit Noble like a sack of bricks shot from a cannon. Had this not been about Skinner after all? He’d been with Clarissa for a few months. All it took was one surveillance photo at an inopportune time to place him as a person of interest.
“We can give her a chance. I’ll go out on a limb here and say we are her only chance. These other groups, they’ll—”
“Kill her,” Bear interrupted. “We get it.”
“No, Bear,” Sadie said. “They won’t kill her. Not right away. They’ll torture her until she gives up the details. And then they’ll kill her.”
“What if she doesn’t break?” Bear said.
“Let’s not let it get that far,” Jack said.
“I agree.” Sadie sat down next to Jack and put her arm around his shoulders. “So how about you tell me everything you remember while you were here with her. Every villager she interacted with. Every single person you got to know. We need to figure out where she went before anyone else does.”
Jack filled her in during the short walk from the square to the apartment. He told her of the villagers he’d met. The bar he frequented. The old men and ladies who made him feel as though he’d grown up in the town. Then he stopped and looked across the street and felt the emotional weight of those months slam down on him.
“That’s it right there.” They stood at the corner where they were afforded some cover from prying eyes.
“I’ll go,” Sadie said.
“No,” Bear said. “Let me.”
Jack put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from moving forward. “What if there’s someone waiting?”
Bear gave him a crooked smile. “One shot. That’s all I need. Remember?”
Jack scratched a phantom bruised cheek. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Here.” Sadie pulled a pistol from a holster at the small of her back. She held it up. It smelled freshly oiled. “Still remember how to use one of these?”
“Isn’t it enough I get shit from him?” Bear pushed Jack hard enough he backed into the wall.
“I can’t be one of the boys now?” Sadie pouted.
“Yeah, prove yourself first.”
“Again?”
“All right, you two,” Jack said. “Let’s break up this little spat.” He put his hand on Bear’s elbow and pulled him in close. “The door is tricky. It’ll feel locked, but you don’t need a key. Turn the handle like this—” he pantomimed the motions required “—and then give it a good nudge. Not so hard you could break it off the hinges.”
“Baby nudge,” Bear said.
“Baby nudge,” Sadie repeated.
The big man tucked the pistol in his waistband and crossed the street. He walked uphill and back downhill along the side of the building. He realized the shot they’d given him back at headquarters had worked. He kept on past the front door and circled back around.
The street was empty. The sounds coming from the windows were of afternoon wind-down, not people minding the business of their neighbors.
Bear approached the front door. Jack felt his heart pound in his throat. He slowed his breathing, loosened his focus, let the world blur until it was impossible to tell where street met sky.
He heard the rusted latch. The thud of Bear’s knee or hip against the wood. The squeal of hinges that should’ve been replaced three decades ago.
Bear slid into the darkness and became a ghostly silhouette. Then the door closed. The sound of Jack and Sadie’s breathing intensified, ragged and harsh.
“He’s gonna be OK,” Sadie whispered.
“He better be,” Jack replied.
She looked over at him. For a moment, the tough exterior crumbled. Her eyes watered. She’d blame the wind, he knew, but they both were aware of the gravity of the moment.
“I know this is crushing your soul.” Sadie shoved a hand in her pocket and stared at the ground. “We never want to believe that someone we trusted so much would betray us.”
“Funny, because that’s what I’m wondering about you right now.” He waited to judge her reaction.
She gave him none.
He pushed the envelope. “Skinner set me up over the course of a decade. Longer, actually. How do I know you didn’t do the same?”
“You son of a bitch.” There was the fire he sought. “I’ve given everything to our country.”
“And it repaid you so well, here you are, working for the highest bidder.”
“You’re one to talk, you know. I’ve followed your career, Noble. Know all about your exploits.”
“Exploits?” He chuckled at the word. “Everything I did was above board.”
It was Sadie’s turn to laugh. And she did. Loud enough that someone stepped out on their third-floor balcony to see who was down there making noise.
She nudged Jack in the ribs and pointed the guy out. “Let’s tone it down.”
“And now we gotta wait a few extra minutes.” He diverted his attention across the street to Clarissa’s apartment.
“Shit.” He dragged his hand down his face.
“What?” Sadie followed his gaze.
“Look.” He couldn’t take his eyes off the open door.
“Shit.”
Chapter 27
Every monitor Clive had purchased and installed in the temporary command cent
er was blank. Every television played snow on repeat. The internet had been hijacked. Computers were being wiped at an alarming rate.
He made the decision to pull the plug after the first system failure had been detected. It was ten PCs too late. Their only link now was Isa on her personal MacBook Air, tethered to her iPhone.
Eddie had hacked into the security feed surrounding the location. He, Clive, and Isa gathered around while Ines and Lacy stood guard at the conference room’s only point of ingress and egress.
“Does it feel like the temperature’s rising?” Isa loosened her collar and wiped sweat from her brow. “Or am I having an incident?”
Clive had already detected the change and assumed the hackers had accessed the building’s climate control.
“What are we seeing outside?” Clive asked.
“No one out there,” Eddie said. “And I’ve already cycled through other exterior monitoring devices up to a mile out. No unusual activity detected.”
Clive rubbed his cheeks. “So, there’s no hit or tech teams disguised as utility crews out there?”
“Definitely not.” Eddie flipped through feeds at a rapid pace.
“We could have been hijacked from anywhere in the world.”
“Definite possibility.”
Isa stepped back from the group and paced the outer edges of the room. This was beyond her comfort level. Social media tracking, sure. Hunting someone on the web, she’s your woman. Obvious attack from a group who would be happy to sell everyone in the room to the highest bidder and then watch them be tortured, not something the woman ever imagined when she answered the obscure Craigslist job posting that led her to Clive.
Ines approached from behind Clive. Her breath was hot on his neck. “She gonna be OK?”
“Yes,” Clive said. “We all are. Let’s just relax and get back control of our comms.”
“Boss,” Ines lowered her voice. “You don’t think—”
“Noble and Logan?” He shook his head. “Not with Sadie.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“They have a history. A long one.”
“Those guys are killers.”
“So is she. It’s their bond.”