by Dave Daren
“And that includes you,” I said with a glance toward Hank.
The beefy man gave me a nod as he talked on the phone. He’d have someone there to protect Arielle once we were gone, so the only thing left to do was serve the subpoena and break into their records.
We spent the next few hours solidifying our plan as we tried to come up with as many solutions to as many scenarios as we could. The problem, of course, was that we couldn’t be certain about everything we might encounter, but I felt like we were ready by the time we finally packed up again.
We snuck back into the city, grabbed a late lunch, and then prepared ourselves for the task at hand. There was tension in the air as we climbed into the car one more time, but I was used to that after my time with the Febbos.
I felt like James Bond as I pulled the car into the parking lot of the Gryffon building in my freshly pressed suit. I’d dropped Hank and Gabriele off a block away so that they could sneak in once I’d distracted everyone. I looked over at Arielle, nodded, and then climbed out of the car with my briefcase in hand.
“Are you ready to be dramatic?” I asked with a smirk.
“I was born for it,” the brunette laughed as she flipped her hair over her shoulder.
She was still in her blue jeans and dark red blouse, but she’d stopped to replace her shoes with matching kitten heels. She had put on lipstick that matched her shoes and her shirt, and her eyeliner was sharp enough that it could cut. She was breathtaking, and I was fairly certain that she’d be the bigger distraction to the male guards than I could be.
I held open the door for her and then followed as she stalked up to the receptionist’s desk. I almost felt bad for the mousy woman as she looked up at us from behind thick lenses that made her eyes seem bigger than they were.
Her desk was situated in the middle of the wide lobby with only one window in the wall behind her, and a small floor lamp next to her to give her some extra light. The overhead fluorescents poured milky-white light over the tile and the beige walls, which gave the whole place a vaguely hospital-like feel to it. There were two elevators, one on the left wall and one on the right, and several doors that I knew from the blueprints led to the maze of hallways and the rest of the building.
“May I help you?” the receptionist asked in a thick accent.
“Yes,” I said. “We’re here to serve a subpoena for all of your records.”
“Excuse me?” she asked as she took the piece of paper that I handed her. “I-I wasn’t told about this.”
“Of course not,” Arielle said while she tossed her long hair over her shoulder. “That would give you time to get rid of the evidence.”
“E-evidence?” the young woman stuttered.
“Yes,” the government lawyer said with a grin. “Of corruption. Surely you know who you work for.”
The receptionist spluttered for a few seconds before she picked up the phone on her desk. She said something in a language that I didn’t understand, waited, and then bobbed her head as she hung up.
“Just-just a moment,” she said.
She dialed someone else and began to talk to them in a more frantic tone. She repeated the process a few more times, and finally a representative came to the desk to help her. She showed the older man the subpoena, and they argued for a few minutes.
“They don’t know who to call,” Arielle translated for me in a hushed whisper. “The man doesn’t want to call the director, but he isn’t sure if your subpoena is valid or not.”
“Is this going to take all day?” I asked. “Or do I need to call the authorities to have them help us execute this order?”
I threw my hands up into the air as I channeled every overly dramatic American lawyer that I’d ever seen on television. I spotted my bodyguard and hacker as they scurried through the front door, and I wanted to make sure that they went unnoticed by the crowd of people that had started to gather around the receptionist’s desk.
“S-sorry, sir,” the young woman said. “Uhm, we-we need to make sure that we understand what the paperwork says.”
“Don’t you speak English?” I growled.
The woman had tears in her eyes, and I almost cracked as I had the overwhelming urge to comfort her. I was being a jackass, but if it meant that I could bring down Gryffon and the Serbian mob, and protect my client, then I would play the part to perfection.
“Yes, sir,” the mousy receptionist said. “But… I am unfamiliar with some of the words.”
“Do you want me to translate it for you?” I asked. “Or can no one in this building read a legal document?”
The older man’s face turned bright red, and I knew that he could understand exactly what I was saying, but he only walked over to the phone. He started to talk quickly into the receiver in the same language that everyone else had been speaking, and then slammed it down as he turned to give me a satisfied smirk.
It took everything I had not to look at Hank and Gabriele as they slipped into the elevator, but I kept a lookout for them out of the corner of my eye. I had to buy them more time. I had my phone set to vibrate so that I would feel the all clear text from the young hacker, but he’d need at least another twenty minutes to burn a copy of the files for Arielle and to send a copy to the US.
“I can read it out for you,” the brunette lawyer next to me offered with a smile. “It states that you are to hand over every file that you have to us.”
“That is not necessary,” a man in a black suit said as he stepped out of an elevator to our right.
He had his short black hair slicked back, and his almost black eyes were focused on me as he strode across the lobby. He had his hands in his pockets as if he was coming to greet an old friend, and his smile was easy-going.
“Mr. Hunter, I presume,” the man said as he stopped a few feet away from me. “It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“And who are you?” I asked as I turned to stare the man down.
“My name is Nikolai,” he responded. “I am the director of Gryffon. At least, the Andorran branch.”
“It’s about time someone with authority showed up,” I said. “Now, are you going to honor the subpoena, or not?”
“Or not,” the well-dressed man said with a nonchalant shrug. “You see, I’ve been talking to our attorneys in the US, and it seems that I don’t have to honor your little piece of paper.”
“It’s a legal document,” Arielle said from beside me.
“Yes,” Nikolai said as he glanced over at the brunette. “But it’s an American one. And unless you’ve had a magistrate sign it, then it’s no good here. And I very much doubt that anyone authorized it.”
“I’m a lawyer for the Andorran government,” the brunette woman said as she pulled her shoulders back.
The terrified woman from the hotel had disappeared beneath the guise of a confident attorney, and I was glad that I didn’t have to stand opposite her in the courtroom.
“Yes, Ms. Arielle Garcia, I know who you are,” the director said with a lifted eyebrow. “But I also know that you have no one to back you. I see no state police with you to enforce this. And that means that I don’t have to do what the subpoena says.”
I looked around the lobby to see that everyone was watching us in rapt attention, which meant that no one was paying attention to the cameras or to Gabrielle and Hank as they worked. I still hadn’t received a text, so I needed to drag this out a little longer. I dug in my heels and lifted my chin in the air as I glared at the well-dressed man.
“Should we call the authorities and find out if they agree?” I asked.
The director threw his head back as he let out a laugh that echoed back against the tile and concrete of the large room. He was joined by a few nervous chuckles from the people behind me, and I bristled as I made a fool out of myself.
I knew that the subpoena was garbage since no one had authorized it in Andorra, and the cops couldn’t help even if they weren’t being paid to look the other way, but I needed to d
istract them for as long as possible.
“Go ahead,” Nikolai said as he managed to control himself. “Do you honestly think that anyone here will help you? Either of you?”
He shifted his attention from Arielle to me as he sneered at us.
“In fact,” he glanced over at the mousy receptionist. “Go ahead and call security. Please have these two escorted from the building. You can leave your subpoena here. I may need another good laugh later.”
I rolled my eyes as I turned to glare at the young woman with the phone in her hand. I slipped my cell phone out of my pocket to see if I had missed any texts, but there was nothing there. I needed to draw this out for just a little while longer.
“That’s them!” Arielle screeched from beside me.
She pointed toward the two security guards that had emerged from a nearby hallway. It was the same guys that had followed her to the hotel and chased us out.
“Excuse me?” Nikolai said in a bored tone, though his shoulders had tensed.
“Those men followed me this morning on my morning jog,” the brunette said. “They had guns! They were going to kill me.”
The onlookers began to whisper amongst themselves, but none of them would look at their director. They knew enough not to get on his bad side, and I could use that fear to keep their attention on us.
“Is this your plan?” I snapped as I gestured to the two men. “Are you going to ‘escort’ us from the building and then have us killed in some backwoods?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Nikolai huffed. “The young woman is clearly mistaken. She must’ve spent too much time drinking last night and not enough time sleeping.”
“I know what I saw,” Arielle said. “They were following me. I’m not going anywhere with them. You’ll just have me killed.”
“I do not murder people,” the director said through clenched teeth.
I didn’t believe him, and by the carefully blank faces of his employees, neither did they.
“Of course, you don’t,” I said. “You don’t do anything against the law, right? So why won’t you honor my subpoena? Or are you afraid your employees will finally find out what kind of company they work for?
The well-dressed man bristled at the insult, but he managed to keep his cool as he motioned for the security guards to come closer.
“I run a legitimate business, Mr. Morgan,” he said. “And I will not give you what you want. You have no authority here, and I do not trust my company’s private files in the hands of an American.”
He said the last word with so much disdain that I immediately heard the whispers start behind me. I could only imagine what they thought of Americans, and my dramatics were not going to help with that. I didn’t care what they thought of me, though, as long as I had their complete and undivided attention.
“I’m not going anywhere with those men,” Arielle said again.
I tried to think of how I would keep them at bay without giving them a reason to call the cops, but the two beefy men looked like they were ready to shoot us even with all the people between us. I pulled my shoulders back as I prepared to argue my point for another few minutes.
And then my pocket vibrated.
Chapter 13
“I’m afraid that you don’t have a choice but to go with them,” Nikolai said with a nod to the two security guards.
I used the commotion to glance at my phone. I had a text from Gabriele that said that they had what they needed and were clear of the building. I grinned, slid my phone back in my pocket, and put my hand on Arielle’s arm as she readied herself for another round of shouting.
“We can find our own way out,” I said. “But we’ll be back.”
“I’m sure,” the director sneered. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll make sure that you don’t get too lost on your journey to the exit.”
The well-dressed man motioned for the guards to follow us out, and then he smirked at Arielle as the woman huffed and turned to follow after me.
“See you soon,” the government attorney said with one last glare.
The beautiful brunette fell into step beside me, glanced at the men behind us who were close enough to be our shadows, and then faced forward with a small shiver. She didn’t say anything as she stepped out into the afternoon sunlight.
“We need to call a taxi,” I said as I tugged my phone back out of my pocket.
“I know the number of a good company,” Arielle said.
She dialed the number for a place, started to talk to somebody in what I suspected was Catalan, and then handed the phone back to me when she was done.
“How long will it take them to get here?” I asked.
“We’re in luck,” the blue-eyed woman said with a bright smile. “There’s one only a kilometer away.”
“Good,” I said before I turned to look at the guards. “You can go back into the warmth of the building now.”
The taller one lifted an eyebrow at me and then leaned over to whisper something to his companion who only laughed and shook his head while he kept his attention on Arielle. Neither of them moved.
I rolled my eyes and looked out to the road just in time to see a cab pull into the parking lot. I waited until the car came to a complete stop before I opened the back passenger door for the beautiful lawyer next to me. I had to seem like I wasn’t bothered so that they wouldn’t become suspicious enough to follow me. I slid in next to Arielle and then waved to the two guards who still stood by the front door.
“Where to?” the gruff man asked.
“The crater,” Arielle said.
The man nodded in the rearview mirror and then pulled out of the parking lot. He took the same streets that Hank had taken earlier, and he drove just as fast. Soon he pulled into the park, right next to the rental car, and I paid him with more than what was necessary to make sure that he forgot where he dropped us off.
“That was amazing,” Gabriele said with a bright smile.
The purple-haired hacker sat on one of the old wooden picnic tables with an energy drink in his hands and his computer next to him. His long legs were stretched out in front of him, and he bounced a little with barely-contained excitement.
“Is it done?” I asked once the taxi peeled out and left us behind.
“Yep,” the young man said. “There’s a copy of the data on this USB for Arielle, I have a backup in my bag, and another is already back in the US on Gryffon’s servers. It’s hidden so that only someone who knows where to find it will discover it.”
“Perfect,” I said. “I thought that it was just going to Anthony, but this’ll be better.”
Hank walked out of the woods with his cell phone in his hand and a frown on his face.
“My guys were detained,” the bodyguard said. “Another job popped up. I’ll have to make a few more calls.”
The beefy man sat next to Gabriele on the table as he began to scroll through his contact list with a deep scowl while he muttered to himself about favors.
“I need to check in with Anthony,” I said.
Arielle teetered over to the car on her kitten heels, rifled through our bags until she found her sneakers, and then plopped down in the back seat as she changed out her shoes. She rubbed her feet before she slipped on the more comfortable footwear, and she gave me a quick smile when she caught me watching.
I smiled back when I realized I was staring, and then I forced myself to turn away and call my client.
“How’d it go?” the mafioso said on the first ring.
I started to pace through the picnic tables and around the fire pit.
“Perfect,” I said. “I met the director, Nikolai. He’s a real peach. I only wish that I could see his face when everything comes out.”
The younger Febbo chuckled.
“Maybe it’ll be on the news,” he said. “So Gabriele got everything that he needed?”
“He did,” I said with a glance over to the hacker as he tore into another pack of Twizzlers. “He’s hidden a f
ile in the Gryffon system so that we can lead the feds right to it. I have to admit, he’s pretty good.”
“I’m the best,” Gabriele said as he offered Arielle one of his sweets.
I laughed and shook my head at the young hacker.
“He’s the best,” I corrected.
“He is,” Anthony agreed. “We can let the feds know about the latest development once you get home. When does your flight leave?”
“We haven’t booked it yet,” I said. “We still need to take care of a few things here. The protection that Hank arranged for Arielle fell through so he needs to find someone to come to Andorra.”
The beautiful lawyer looked up from her seat next to Gabriele, and her foot began to bounce as she chewed thoughtfully on the red candy rope that hung from her mouth. Her icy-blue eyes watched me for a moment before they shifted over to my beefy bodyguard.
“How long will it take for them to get here?” she asked.
“That depends on who I find,” Hank said. “No more than twenty-four hours.”
Both of her feet began to bounce so much that the whole picnic table started to shake.
“They’ll grab me before then,” the attorney said. “They can have the cops look for me, and my own people will be on their payroll. Nikolai looked angry enough to have me shot in broad daylight. And how long will your protection stick around?”
“As long as they need to,” I said. “We won’t leave you hanging. If it wasn’t for you, then the whole thing would’ve fallen apart.”
“Hunter,” Anthony said from the other end of the line.
I’d almost forgotten that I was on the phone with the mafioso as my mind started to race with ways to keep Arielle safe after we’d left. I knew that Hisashi would work fast once he had the information, but there would still be red tape, and it might take a little while for the Andorran government to finally step in on this side of the ocean.
“Yeah?” I asked in a distracted tone.
“Tell her that we’ll take care of everything,” my client said in a calm voice. “Have her give Gabriele her routing and bank account numbers, and he’ll deposit the money for her. She should take a nice long vacation. Somewhere warm and sunny where Gryffon won’t think to look. A few weeks should do it.”