by Kim Foster
Shit. How is he always so close?
I moved in the water so a palm tree was in the middle of the sight line between us. And then, I saw him lock on to a target and start moving. He was beelining for Walker. I breathed a small sigh of relief.
Hendrickx reached the edge of the pool where Walker floated. He looked directly at the man. “Sir, we need to talk.”
I let my eyes flick around, searching. Where was Ethan? I needed to get away. But I needed to get that cell phone back in position even more. If Walker detected its absence, he’d be suspicious and change all his passwords and stored information. Everything we’d done today would have been wasted effort.
No, we had to get it back to him without either Walker or Hendrickx seeing it happen. But I was trapped in the pool, and Ethan was nowhere to be seen.
My earpiece crackled to life. “Cat—come in! . . . urgent!” I could make out Jack’s voice. “Hendrickx . . . on his way . . . pool . . . looking for Walker . . .”
I bent my head down and spoke quietly. “I know. He’s already here.”
At that moment Ethan burst out of a service stairwell, looking out of breath and flushed—which, for him, meant he’d run hell for leather to get here. But he was too far away.
His eyes went immediately to Hendrickx. Concerned, but not surprised. He’d known. Which made sense. His earpiece hadn’t been compromised by water.
Nothing had changed. We still needed to get Walker’s phone smuggled back to him. This was going to take some fancy footwork.
While Walker was distracted, speaking with Hendrickx, I slipped out of the water. Hendrickx’s gaze didn’t turn in my direction; he was too focused on his urgent conversation with Walker. A curious urge overtook me. What were they discussing anyway?
I climbed nimbly from the pool and pulled on my large sunhat and a wrap. I withdrew a magazine from my bag and opened it, covering the rest of my face.
“Cat! . . . have to get out of there!” came the crackly directive from Jack.
“No. I need to hear what he’s going to say,” I said quietly. “I need to know how much of this op is compromised.” I glanced at Ethan, who was hovering by the bar, watching me uncertainly. He was ready to bolt. He was ready to take me with him.
Walker climbed out of the pool, still deep in conversation with Hendrickx, and grabbed a towel. Mercifully, he seemed to have forgotten about me. In fact, both men were paying me absolutely zero attention. Walker sat back on his lounge chair and Hendrickx hovered nearby, still speaking.
Ethan grabbed a tray of drinks from the bar and walked toward me with it. I knew he must have had the cell phone. “I can’t get close enough now,” Ethan said in a low voice when he reached me, holding out the tray. I took two of the frosty cocktails.
My eyes, behind the sunglasses, flicked to Hendrickx and Walker. “It’s okay—I can. Give it to me.”
“We should just go.”
“I can do it.”
He stared into my eyes another moment, and I stared back at him over the rims of my sunglasses. He must have seen the look of determination in my gaze. Quick as silver, he slipped me the phone. I tucked it into the folds of my wrap. Ethan straightened and strode away.
A loud group of tourists moved away then, which allowed me to hear some of the conversation between Hendrickx and Walker.
“Fine. I will have some people look into it,” Walker was saying.
Hendrickx scowled at this. “That’s not a particularly satisfactory answer,” he said. “We should really discuss this in private.”
“No, I’m perfectly happy here.”
Hendrickx’s jaw flexed. “Very well. I am concerned about the contents of your vault.”
“Concerned? In what way?”
“Concerned that they may include a stolen item.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Hendrickx paused, then spoke calmly but with authority. “I’m asking you to kindly allow me to inspect the vault.”
“Do you have a warrant?”
Hendrickx hesitated, then produced a piece of paper. Walker inspected it. “This is an application for a warrant. Not an actual warrant.”
Hendrickx’s face flushed and my eyebrows raised momentarily. It was unlike Hendrickx to be so sloppy. He must have been truly desperate. I was also surprised at Walker’s acumen, his resistance to being cowed by an aggressive Interpol agent. Perhaps Walker wasn’t quite as boorish as he appeared. He wasn’t an idiot. You didn’t get to the position he did by being stupid. Cocky, maybe, but not stupid.
“Come back with a proper warrant and I will be happy to show you the contents of the vault,” Walker said with an easy smile. Hendrickx had to know there would be no more discussion on the topic. He stalked away, casting not a glance in my direction.
Once he was gone, and well out of sight, I stood from my lounge chair and strolled back over to Walker, carrying the two cocktail glasses. “That didn’t look like a fun chat,” I said. “Here.” I held out a chilled drink for him, flashing a warm smile. “You look like you could use this.”
I held my breath. Was this going to be too much, too soon? He didn’t really know me, after all. Was I being too pushy?
Walker looked deep in thought, considering Hendrickx’s words, perhaps.
He turned to me, and my stomach flipped. But then, a small smile curled his lips. “That is exactly what I need.” He took the glass.
“Everything all right?” I asked as he drank.
He nodded and crunched ice cubes. “Fine. I have something new to deal with. But I’ll tackle it tomorrow. For now, I have much more interesting things to attend to . . .” He winked and clamped that predatory look on me again. I smiled and felt the phone under the fold of my wrap. I prayed I would have a window of opportunity soon.
There was a loud crash behind us. A tray of drinks had been dropped to the pool deck. Walker’s head turned and in that instant I leaned down and slid the phone on the ground under his lounge chair.
“Oh, is this your phone?” I said, with a surprised, helpful tone. Channel your inner Girl Scout, Cat. “It was under the chair.” I plucked the phone from the ground and held it up for him.
This was the moment of truth.
He looked at it, and looked at me. “Indeed, that is my phone,” he said. And then he smiled. His tone told me everything as he said, “Why, thank you, gorgeous.”
Not even a little bit suspicious.
I flashed him a coy expression and let him take the phone out of my hand, his fingers brushing mine as he did so.
Now I needed an exit strategy. I wasn’t quite in the clear; it was all in the finish. I needed to get out of there without raising even a hair of suspicion. If he decided to get cautious and change his data, we’d be back to square one.
“Listen, I have an appointment at the spa,” I said. “A girl has to take care of business, you know?” I pulled out a card and wrote a number on it. “But if you like, you could call me later.”
It was a fake number, naturally.
My excuse seemed acceptable to him, and my bold offer seemed to appease his ego. “I’m playing in a poker tournament tonight,” he said, “and I plan to celebrate my winnings afterward. I need to see you there.” There was no question what he meant by his plan to “celebrate.” He handed me an invitation and I promised to be there. I gathered my things and strolled away from the pool, commanding myself to walk slowly. Inside, I was jumping out of my skin with the feeling of triumph—we had done it.
Once I was out and safely within the elevator, I slumped against the wall and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
It didn’t last long, of course, because I now knew we had a very big problem. We were going to have to do the job much sooner than we’d planned.
We were going to have to do it tonight.
Chapter Forty-Two
“Tonight? Are you crazy?” Jack said, staring at me in disbelief.
“We’re not ready to do the job tonight!”
I s
hrugged. “Well, it’s now or never. Hendrickx warned him, so he’s going to move it tomorrow.”
We were all back at Raffles, gathered in Templeton’s suite.
“How can you be sure he’s not going to move it tonight, my dear?” Templeton asked.
“He said he was going to deal with it in the morning. He’s got a poker tournament and then he’s throwing some kind of party tonight.”
There was protracted quiet as everyone on the team processed this.
“If we don’t go in and get it tonight,” I said, “we may never have another chance.”
They knew I was right. There was further silence.
At last, Ethan raised his head. “All right, I say tonight it is. I think it’s possible.”
Felix nodded. “Let’s do this.”
I swiveled my head to look at Jack. Reluctantly, he dragged his eyes back up to mine. He shrugged. “You’re all insane. But all right. Tonight it is.”
I grinned and we set to work, concocting a detailed plan of attack. And the plan we came up with? Well, if we could pull it off—it would be nothing short of spectacular.
I’m not sure why I called them that night. I told myself it was because I wanted to check in and see how my mom was doing. Today was the day she was supposed to be discharged from the hospital.
“Dad? How is Mom? Is she back home now?”
“She’s right here.”
He handed the phone to her. “Darling!” she said. “It’s so nice to hear your voice. Listen—while you’re in Yorkshire, you should really look up the Petticoat family. You know, Thomas and Susan?”
“Oh, Mom, I’m not—”
“Don’t protest, Cat. This is your cousin. Have you never looked at your family tree? Your father took ages putting it together a few years ago. We have plenty of family in the North. Anyway, I’m sure they could introduce you to someone. I’m positive there are many eligible men in North England—”
“Mom,” I interrupted. “I’m not in Yorkshire anymore.” Extended family in England was not going to be much assistance to me now.
“Oh.” She paused and sniffed. “Next time, then.”
“Any chance I have some well-connected relatives in Singapore, Mom?”
“I’m afraid not,” she said. Then she asked, more quietly, “Is that where you are?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened; she asked no further questions about what I was doing in Singapore. Of course she knew.
“Sweetheart, I want to be sure you’re trying to be safe.”
Define “safe,” I thought. I resisted the temptation to say it, staying quiet instead.
My mom filled the silence. “So, Singapore?” she said brightly. “That’s exciting. A lot of suitable men, there, I’m sure—”
“Mom,” I warned.
“What? It’s simply an observation. Besides, you know your ovaries aren’t getting any younger . . .”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I can see you’re back to normal, Mom. Did they expect you to recover quite this quickly?”
As much as it irritated me, the truth was, she was right about my biological clock. It was the thing she’d always nagged me about, always wanting me to find a man and settle down and, most importantly, produce babies. And I’d always protested and resisted.
But just then, I really couldn’t find it in me to protest. Because . . . it was a future that didn’t sound all that horrible anymore.
“Listen, darling, do be careful, all right?”
“Yes, Mom, I’ll try.”
I disconnected the call and sat back. There had been something different about our conversation. Our talks usually had a certain cadence: she nagged and pushed her agenda; I brushed her off and dismissed her issues. It was a dance we did. This time however, there had been something different in her voice—a little more concern, maybe. And in my voice, a little more sincerity. Something more than lip service.
For the first time, I wondered if she was right. What kind of future was I creating for myself, flitting around the globe, all tangled up with the criminal underworld? It was no kind of future at all. Something needed to change.
As soon as I completed this mission.
Chapter Forty-Three
We were supposed to be getting an hour’s rest before the job. We were ready, and there was nothing more to do but wait for our go time—midnight. So Templeton had ordered us all back to our respective rooms for a brief catnap before leaving.
Trouble was, I couldn’t sleep. My brain felt like a hamster wheel, continuously rotating at a furious pace.
I stared out my suite’s window at the slowly sinking sun and ran through the job in my head. I thought of everything that could go wrong. And, in particular, I thought about all the people I cared about who might get hurt in the next few hours.
I had to prevent that if I could.
Maybe it was talking to my mother that had triggered these feelings. Maybe it was the awareness that Templeton and Gladys and Felix—none of them field agents—were all here, ready to risk everything. Undoubtedly it was the memory of what had happened to Esmerelda, only a few days ago.
I knew what I needed to do, whom I needed to talk to. And it had to happen before the job started. I climbed from bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and crept down the long hallway to Jack’s suite.
To my surprise he answered my knock right away. “Can’t sleep?” I said.
He shook his head. “You neither?”
I shrugged.
“So . . . what’s up, Cat?” Jack was one of the few people I knew who looked good when sleep-deprived. His shirtsleeves were rolled up, and his hair rumpled, like he’d been running his hands through it. The scruff on his face from a couple of days without shaving . . . well, the whole picture was a red-blooded look for him.
“I need to talk to you about something,” I said, unsure exactly how to say it. “It’s about the job.”
“Okay, well, come in.” He stood back to let me in.
I walked in quickly, head full of the things I needed to tell him. Once inside, however, with the door closed, I became acutely aware of the fact that Jack and I were alone, together, in a hotel suite.
I went to sit on the bed, then decided that was the wrong way to go, and settled for an armchair.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked, looking at me with concern. “Your head—is it giving you trouble?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Feeling ready, then?”
I frowned slightly. “I think so. I mean, I know everything is in place. I just . . . have to get my mind wrapped around a few things.”
“You know what I think?” he said, walking over to the mini-fridge. “You need to relax.” He brought out a bottle of Shiraz, already opened, and poured two glasses. “Here, have this.”
“No, Jack, I’m okay—”
He pressed the drink into my hand. “You need it.”
I nodded and took the glass.
“You’re putting too much pressure on yourself,” he said as I sipped. It was a really good wine—dark and full-bodied. “You’ve got this, Cat. You’ve done this kind of thing a hundred times.”
“Yes, but usually it’s just me. If I get caught, that’s my own damn fault. I’ve never worked with such a large team before. If anything happens to anyone, it’ll be my fault—”
“Hey, we’re all grown-ups. And nobody is being forced into anything. Things happen. There’s risk. We all know that.”
I sipped again, thinking about what he said. The wine started to soak into my insides, softening my bones.
“Well, that’s what I came here to talk to you about.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“I need you to promise to do whatever it takes to keep people safe. Even if it means compromising the job.” As I said it, I knew I was doing the right thing. Jack was FBI; he was uniquely positioned to help whoever needed it. “I mean—I know I need this job to succeed. But, in fact, it’s more importa
nt to me that everyone gets out of there in one piece.”
He looked at me carefully for a long time. And then he nodded. “If that’s what you want, Cat, I can do that.” He took a sip of his wine. “But tell me—what’s going on with you? Why is this such a thing for you right now?”
I shrugged and shifted in the armchair.
“Does it have something to do with what happened to your mother?”
I looked at him sharply. “You know about that?” I fiddled with the glass in my hands and gazed down. Of course he knew about that. Jack always seemed to have the inside scoop when it came to me and my life. “My mother has always supported me in my career choice; she’s never questioned it. But after she got shot . . . I guess I was the one to start questioning it.” I laughed. It felt good to talk about it; I’d been keeping it inside far too long. “And you know what’s even crazier than that? For the first time in my life, I’m starting to think all my mother’s nagging about me getting married, having babies . . . well, you know, it’s not all that off base. I think I actually want all that in my future—”
I stopped, realizing in that moment exactly who I was talking to. I glanced around awkwardly. “The point is, I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me.”
Jack’s eyes were gentle. “You have my word on it, Cat. I will be looking out for everyone. And . . . that includes you.”
I covered my mouth with the wineglass and took a large sip. My stomach tightened and I cast about for a change of subject. “Did I mention how amazing your suite is?” I said brightly and stood up. “Look at this balcony!” I walked out into the warm Singapore air prepared to feign admiration, but then quieted at the sight of the sunset: blazing pink clouds amid an aquamarine sky. A cashmere blanket lay rumpled on a plush chaise lounge, an empty coffee cup resting on a small table beside it. Jack had been sitting out here earlier. I wondered—what had he been thinking about, as he sat out here, alone?
The balcony overlooked the courtyard, lush with palms and ferns. I took a deep breath; the air was soft and full of the nectar of flowers.