The Last Inferno

by Michael Cross

  “I offered you his name in good faith.”

  “You did. And I accepted that name in the same vein.”

  “You were supposed to contact me about working with us.”

  “I said I’d think about it,” I reply.

  There’s a loud sigh on the other end of the line. I can tell I’m trying his patience. Not that I care all that much. But winding him up is kind of amusing me at the moment. The truth is that I want to keep him talking. I recognize the voice, but I can’t quite place it. It’s stuck behind that wall that’s still keeping the rest of my memories back and not letting me access them.

  I analyze the voice in my head, trying to break it down enough that I might be able to piece it together and remember who this man is. There’s a faint trace of an accent. Irish, maybe. Possibly Scottish. It’s muddled, though. It’s as if he’s been in the States long enough to have diluted it. Or maybe he’s consciously worked on getting rid of it. But it comes out in some of his words now and then. He hasn’t been able to get rid of it entirely.

  “You killed my man. Correction, I let you kill him,” he says. “And in exchange, you were supposed to—”

  “You keep saying I was supposed to do this, and I was supposed to do that like it was a done deal,” I fire back. “But see, here’s the thing. I don’t recall signing a contract with you. I don’t remember even saying I’d join your little club.”

  There’s a silence coming through the line that’s as cold as the Arctic in the middle of winter. I’ve clearly gotten under the man’s skin. This is clearly not going the way he thought it would go. But did he really expect me to be on board with what he and the Hellfire Club are doing?

  “What is it you think is going to happen?” he asks. “Do you think you and your colleagues could possibly be able to beat us?”

  “I think we’re doing a pretty good job of taking important pieces off the board,” I counter. “Take enough of ‘em off and pretty soon, you won’t be able to play anymore.”

  He laughs. “And you really think you and your people can do that?”

  “I think we’re going to try.”

  “Why do this?” he asks. “Why not simply join our cause?”

  I take a long sip of my beer and listen to the crash of the waves for a moment. I’m still hearing his voice in my head, trying to pull his identity out of the fog that continues to linger in my mind. I feel like it’s right there, right on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t quite tease it out. Frustrated, I lash out with my foot, kicking over the small plastic table in front of the chair. It hits the railing at the edge of the balcony and rebounds with a sharp clang before it skips off to the side.

  I take a deep breath and quietly let it out, gathering myself quickly. I clear my throat before answering his question.

  “I don’t hold with what you stand for,” I tell him. “I believe this country, as flawed as it can be, is the best in the world. And it is because of precisely the opposite things you and the Hellfire Club stand for. We don’t need a permanent ruling elite.”

  “Is that what you think we’re trying to do here?”

  “Isn’t it?”

  He chuckles low. “What we’re trying to accomplish is making this country better. More stable,” he says. “We’re trying to bring order from the chaos.”

  “And it requires a certain group of people to bring order, right?” I fire back.

  “Well, you need leaders, yes,” he confirms. “People of a certain quality who can guide this country and the people in it.”

  “See, here’s the problem,” I start, “I believe in a country where anybody, regardless of who they are or where they came from, can be a leader.”

  “Don’t you understand? That’s part of the problem. For far too long, we have labored under a system that encourages the least among us,” he says. “They feed them a fantasy that they can and should be able to lead. And where has it gotten us?”

  I feel the anger bubbling just beneath the surface. I open my mouth to deliver a scathing tirade but decide there’s no point in it and close it again. This is who he is. This is who the people he represents are. And this is exactly why they need to be shut down. Permanently.

  “Thank you,” I say. “You’ve reinforced exactly why I want no part of the organization you work for, in my mind.”

  “Think hard about this,” he responds. “You’ve spent your life in service to this country. Fighting to make it better. You can take that service to the next level by joining us.”

  I recoil from the phone for a second and look at it like it’s a snake coiled and ready to strike. What he said hit me like a shot to the gut, and it takes me a second to gather my wits about me again. When I do, I press the phone to my ear again.

  “What do you know about my service?” I ask.

  His laughter is low and menacing. “We know everything there is to know about you— Ezra,” he says. “We did not just draw your name out of a hat, you know.”

  Maybe I should have, but I didn’t give much thought to the fact that they might know as much about me as the Tower does. They did compromise my identity in a data breach, after all. It was a massively stupid oversight on my part. Something I’m silently kicking my own ass for. Knowing these people vetted me sends a cold chill straight down my spine. But I know I need to play it cool and can’t let on that he rattled me.

  “So you figured out who I am,” I snap. “Should that impress me? Intimidate me?”

  “We figured out who you were shortly after your activities in Maine,” he says. “I’m not trying to impress or intimidate you. Do with that information as you will.”

  I fall silent for a beat, wondering how much he actually knows. Just because he knows my first name doesn’t necessarily mean he knows everything about me. But then I reject the thought the moment it passes through my mind. Of course they know. If they have my name, they have everything. Thinking otherwise is foolish and the product of a frantic mind.

  I tell myself to calm down. To relax. They know who I am. So what? I have all of my cover IDs to fall back on. And just because they have my name doesn’t mean they know where I am. It doesn’t mean I have to worry about a death squad kicking my door down.

  “I’m going to give you one last chance to join us, Ezra,” he says smoothly. “Think hard about it. You should be with us. You have a place among us in the new world order we’re working to bring about.”

  I’m tempted to ask him about my father. I want to know who he is. I want to pump him for as much information as I can. But I know it will do me no good. I’m not going to get any information from him. Nor would I be able to trust any information I did manage to glean. He’s going to know how to play the game as well as I do and likely won’t give up any intel he doesn’t mean to give up.

  “Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to pass,” I tell him. “I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, which is making sure you and your club are shut down.”

  “I’m very sorry to hear that,” he replies. “I think we could have accomplished some great things working together.”

  “No offense, but the world you envision is not one I want to live in.”

  “It will be a world of order and stability. A world where everybody knows their place and accepts their roles,” he says. “Some people were not cut out for more. Encouraging them in that fruitless pursuit is cruel. Face it Ezra, some people are destined for great things, and others are destined to be fry cooks. We seek to help everybody embrace that which they’re meant for. It’s all about managing our own expectations and accepting our role. In that way, we’re creating a world of balance and harmony.”

  I chuckle. “That is a great sales pitch. Very nicely worded,” I say. “It’s a really nice way of reframing the racist, classist, and elitist bullshit nature of what you’re doing.”

  “Are you certain you won’t reconsider?”

  “Positive.”

  “You do realize this is a case of David versus Goliath, don’t you
?”

  I grin. “As I remember the story, David won that fight.”

  He pauses for a beat and then chuckles. “Just know that once you’re done with that little job in Mexico you’re doing, we’re going to take care of you,” he says, his voice growing suddenly cold. “If you’re not willing to join us, we can’t have you standing in our way.”

  The knot in my stomach tightens painfully at his words, but I do my best to play it off.

  “Well, I wish you luck then.”

  “If you change your mind before we get to you, Ezra,” he says, “you have my number.”

  “Don’t hold your breath.”

  I disconnect the call and get to my feet, a freezing chill rushing through my body. I stand frozen for a moment before I realize that I need to get out of here. Now.

  Chapter Ten

  “It’s Temperance,” I say. “There’s nobody else it could be.”

  “That makes zero sense, Ezra,” Nisha replies. “Why would she sell you out to the Hellfire Club?”

  “Because it benefits her,” I tell her simply. “Temperance is going to do whatever is in her best interest. And in this case, having me take care of her Vargas problem than having me taken out by the Hellfire Club is in her best interest.”

  Nisha falls silent on the other end of the phone. I stare out at the early morning waves crashing against the shore. Further out, surfers cut and slash down the face of some six-foot breakers, their hooting and hollering voices echoing across the beach. After I hung up the phone last night, I gathered all of my things and got the hell out of that hotel, setting up shop here in the dunes.

  The fact that he knew I was in Mexico disturbed me to no end. I was no longer sure there wasn’t a death squad closing in on me. I needed to get out. So I found a secluded spot on the beach and hunkered down for the night. Thankfully, it wasn’t too cold last night. But I’ve slept in worse conditions. At least the sand was soft and had retained a bit of the warmth from the day.

  Not that I slept a lot, but I managed a few hours. And when I woke up, I called Nisha straight off to fill her in on everything that’s happening.

  “I can’t believe that,” she says softly. “Temperance is one of the good ones.”

  “She certainly makes herself seem that way,” I tell her. “But there were exactly two people who knew I was in Sonora to take Vargas out—me and her.”

  And Justice, but I leave that out. Even with this newfound level of trust, I don’t want to reveal all the cards in my hand just yet.

  “Are you on a beach?” she asks after a long moment.

  “Yeah, I slept out here last night,” I tell her. “I wasn’t going to sit around waiting for them to come kick my door in.”

  “There has to be a mistake,” she argues. “Some misunderstanding—”

  “Nisha, you’re smarter than that,” I cut her off. “Look at the evidence. Two of us knew where I was going and what I was doing. And before that in Seattle, somehow both Vargas and the Hellfire Club were able to track me down, when not even you knew where I was. How else would the Hellfire Club have gotten that information? Temperance already compromised my identity the first time I met her, and then there’s a data breach, and now it’s just a coincidence that both Vargas and the Hellfire Club can track me?”

  “How do you know she was connected to the data breach? Maybe she’s been wired.”

  I start to argue but let the words die on my lips. If I’m being fair, I suppose it’s possible that this is all a coincidence. But I have to imagine Temperance is smart enough to sweep her place for any sort of surveillance devices. It’s not likely but I can’t entirely rule it out. I’ll need to gather some actual evidence before I do anything.

  “It’s possible, I suppose,” I admit. “And I aim to find out.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to find out.”

  She lets out a frustrated breath. I’m not going to tell her I’m planning on having Justice and Jafi hack into her computers. That probably wouldn’t go over well. But if there’s anything to be found, those two are going to find it.

  “Ezra?”

  “Trust me; there are some things you’re better off not knowing,” I tell her. “Plausible deniability and all that.”

  “Wonderful,” she groans. “You’re going to make life difficult for me, aren’t you?”

  “Of course not. How could I make life difficult for you if you don’t know what I’m doing?” I reply. “Consider it payback for all the mystery you propped up these last few months.”

  She lets out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “Ezra…”

  “Look, I’m giving you cover. Trust me, take it.”

  She mutters under her breath. “This is crazy. She wouldn’t do this.”

  “And that very well may be. I’m going to find out which one of us is right,” I respond. “I need to know once and for all which side Temperance is on. I just need you to give me a little leeway.”

  “Be careful. That’s an order. And call me if it gets hot.”

  “I will,” I reply. “And I need you to keep this between us. Nobody else can know.”

  “You have my word.”

  “Are we up?” I ask.

  I’m sitting in the back of the dark SUV Temperance gave me for the trip down here with my computer in my lap. I have the back tailgate open, and I’m staring out at the ocean, jacked into a personal hotspot device. After talking with Nisha, I got off the sand and got to the SUV to make this call. I need the information desperately and need to get the ball rolling.

  “Yeah, hang on,” Justice says. “I’m patching your friend into the call now.”

  A moment later, Jafi’s face appears in a box on the corner. He gives me a wide smile and waves.

  “Dude, good to see you man,” he grins. “Gotta tell you that Charger is running like a dream. How’s the Camry treatin’ you?”

  “It’s great for stopping bullets,” I offer.

  “Clearly not all of them,” Justice grumbles.

  I laugh and shake my head at her. Jafi simply looks confused. He opens his mouth, I’m sure to ask what I meant, but I cut him off by holding my hand up.

  “Long story,” I tell him. “I’ll tell you later.”

  “Okay man. Cool.”

  “Anyway, Jafi, this is Justice,” I introduce them. “Justice, this is Jafi.”

  She purses his lips. “So this is the hacker you’re cheating on me with?”

  “Variety is the spice of life,” I joke.

  She frowns at me. I can tell I’m going to have to smooth her obviously ruffled feathers. But now’s not the time for that. There are far bigger fish to fry at the moment.

  “Okay so listen, you two are the best hackers I know,” I start.

  “We’re the only two hackers you know,” Jafi cracks.

  “But still the best,” I reply.

  I spend the next fifteen minutes filling them in on what’s going on, careful to redact the information I don’t want getting out. Not yet, anyway. But I give them a clear direction to run in, and if there’s anybody who can crack this open for me, it’s going to be these two.

  “So let me get this straight,” Justice says. “You want us to hack into Temperance’s emails again?”

  “Are we going to do this again, kid?” I chuckle. “I know the size of the ask, and I know you’re putting your ass on the line. And I appreciate it more than I can say.”

  “Fine,” she groans. “You’re no fun.”

  “It’s not just her emails I want you to hack into. What I’m looking for isn’t going to be in her regular email. I guarantee it. I need you two to find her secret email accounts,” I explain. “I need you to hack into any sort of electronic communication device she has. I need you both on this, because I know there’s going to be a lot to go through. I thought splitting up the workload would be best.”

  Justice is looking off into the distance, tapping her pen against her chin. She finally
looks back into the camera.

  “You know I can get in and out of her email programs,” she says. “I’m sure I won’t have much of a problem finding out what other email programs she may be logging into from home or her personal laptop. Shouldn’t be too hard to dig up what you’re looking for.”

  “Yeah, and I’m good with cell phones and other hardware devices,” Jafi adds. “I’ll be able to see her call and text records.”

  “Excellent,” I nod. “I really appreciate you guys doing this. I owe you guys one.”

  “One?” they both say in unison then laugh.

  I grin at them. “Fine. I owe you guys a few,” I admit. “Anyway listen, I need to run. Jafi, remember I need you to move my Charger and hide it like we talked about. I need you to do it tonight. Keep it out of sight until this is clear.”

  “Wait,” he frowns. “Mine or yours?”

  “Mine. The black one.”

  “Right. Right, right, right. You got it, man.”

  “What are you up to?” Justice asks, a note of tension creeping into her voice.

  “Yeah, got a date or somethin’?” Jafi chimes in.

  I look out at the sun, see the way it’s slipping toward the horizon, and feel that old, familiar blend of tension and excitement churning in my gut I get right before an op. It’s time to do this.

  “I’m going for a swim,” I say.

  “Yeah, well be careful,” Justice cautions me, “and if the water gets too choppy, you better get your ass back to shore.”

  I snap her a salute. “Yes ma’am.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “Here?” he asks. “Are you sure, señor?”

  “Yeah. Here’s good.”

  “But there’s no fish here,” Rodrigo argues. “No reefs here, either.”

  I zip up my wetsuit and shoulder my waterproof bag. “I’m good.”

  “Okay. Your money,” he shrugs. “But there’s no nothin’ around here. You’re wastin’ your time, man.”