Deadline

by L. T. Ryan

  “Sure, she had to have someone somewhere. And one of those contacts probably monitored for her name all these years. Frank’s good, but there’s better out there in other agencies and even other countries.”

  “If that’s the case, then she knows we’re coming for her.”

  I didn’t doubt that someone might’ve tipped her off about the plan to right the wrong of a decade ago.

  “That wouldn’t be good,” Bear said.

  “We’ll see how things go,” I said. “We don’t know what her capabilities are at this point. She’s been underground. Her forces can’t be that large, if she has any at all. If we need more manpower, we get it.”

  Bear shook his head. “I think you’re wrong there, partner. Frank’s decided you and I are the equivalent of John Wayne in this flick.”

  He was probably right. Frank made it seem like his hands were tied. Whether that was due to those above him or of his own accord didn’t matter. I knew if we asked for another team, he’d deny the request.

  The boat rocked against a series of waves coming in strong from the north. They smashed against the side of the boat. Water rained down on us, and streamed past on the deck.

  The captain came down and told us we were heading to shore. He navigated past the barrier islands off the Netherlands’s north coast, and led us to a small town called Eemshaven, close to the German border. I had expected we’d have to swim to shore. Instead, he brought us up to land. We docked at an empty pier that stretched a hundred feet. There was no marina nearby. Just a stretch of deserted coast with a couple randomly placed houses.

  The man handed me a key. “It’s parked nearby. You’ll find some new creds in the trunk to use if you have to cross the border.”

  “Will we need to?” Bear asked.

  The man clasped his hands and leaned back, shaking his head. “I know nothing other than what I told you. I had no part in arranging any of this. I’m simply a ship captain.”

  “This your boat?” Bear asked.

  The man gestured toward the pier without a word.

  “How far you think we are from Amsterdam?” Bear said as our boots hit land.

  “Maybe two hours,” I said. “Sounds right if my geography is correct.”

  “Think that’s where we’re gonna end up?”

  “Wouldn’t be the worst thing that’s happened, that’s for sure.”

  He laughed for a moment, then regained his composure. We had to remain vigilant. There were at least two forces at work here. Perhaps more than that. Though we had determined that it was possible the men who had followed us worked for Katrine, it was also possible they were agents for another government. Perhaps we’d stumbled upon something they didn’t want us delving into.

  “Why so close to Germany?” he said. “He said if we have to cross the border. So, I’m thinking our woman is here. At least according to the last intel Frank received.”

  “Let’s get the car and wait on Frank.”

  There weren’t many vehicles along the stretch of the two-lane road. I pressed the unlock button, and the lights on an A6 flashed. Not as fancy as the last vehicle, but it’d do. I held down the trunk button and it popped open.

  “Not here,” Bear said.

  He was right. We might be under surveillance. At the same time, I didn’t want to travel far on the creds I flew with. They could be flagged. If we were pulled over that would result in me being detained.

  I found an empty parking lot a couple miles down the road where we stopped and inspected the Audi. The vehicle wasn’t configured like the last. Everything was under the trunk flap, set on the spare tire. There were IDs and passports for each of us, credit cards, and a few other things. I hated relying on Frank when I had safe deposit boxes spread throughout Europe with my own documents. Using the credit cards Frank provided enabled him to track our every move, from renting a hotel room, down to buying a pack of chewing gum. If we tried to purchase a phone, he’d know. If we got cash out of an ATM, he’d probably assume we were using it for a phone. It would all lead to more questions, which we didn’t have time for. We needed answers. Which was why after going through all the documentation in the car, the missing piece of information pissed me off. There was nothing indicating where we had to go.

  Then my phone buzzed.

  “You got the car?” Frank said.

  “Yeah, and our docs,” I said. “But you already knew that.”

  Frank breathed into the phone, said nothing.

  “And there’s nothing that says where to go, or who to meet.”

  “You won’t be meeting anyone unless I get some new intelligence,” he said.

  “Gonna tell me where we should be headed?”

  “Katrine’s last known location was a hideout about an hour from your current position, between the towns of Apeldoorn and Almelo, a couple miles off the E30.”

  “All right. Can you be a little more specific?”

  “Damn right I can,” Frank said, a twinge of excitement in his voice. “I’m going to text the coordinates to you.”

  “Any specific way you want us to handle things when we get there?”

  “Yeah. If she’s there, kill her. No questions. And if there are others, well, we don’t need witnesses. Got it? No survivors. Take everyone out.”

  “How many others might be there?”

  “According to the intel I received, up to five.”

  “Can I ask who provided that intel?” I pictured a shadowy figure in the woods, and drones flying overhead manned by some guy back in Northern Virginia popping Altoids like they were crack.

  “No.”

  The line went dead. I paced a twenty foot span of the road. A few moments later, a text arrived with the coordinates. We hopped in the car and Bear punched the destination into the GPS.

  “You ready for this?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Let’s get it done.”

  CHAPTER 14

  The sun burned off the morning fog as we drove inland. The route Bear chose kept us off the main highways. We made use of single lane backroads. In some cases the road was only wide enough for one vehicle. The route kept traffic — and possible witnesses — to a minimum. Would anyone pay attention to two guys in an A6? I doubted anyone would. At least not until we exited the vehicle.

  After an hour on the road, we closed in on the coordinates. The narrow road morphed into two dirt lines. We followed them into a densely wooded area. The thick foliage hindered the sun’s attempt to shine light through.

  Our destination drew near. The dirt tracks faded as grass overtook the ruts. An old house stood amid a clearing at the end of the path. Weathered wood siding hung at odd angles. Patches of shingles were missing on the roof. Years of sun and wind and rain and snow had taken their toll on the place. The windows were in good shape, even though some were boarded over. The front door was closed. Two rocking chairs on the porch faced us. They moved gently in the breeze.

  “Looks abandoned,” Bear said.

  “Doesn’t mean it is,” I said. “The door, windows, all in good shape. Look, there’s fresh flowers in that tin bucket by the steps. Someone’s been here.”

  “Or is here.”

  We waited outside the clearing for several moments, watching the house, looking for signs of movement within.

  “Think we should back up a bit and approach on foot?” Bear asked.

  It had merit. If we pulled right up to the house, they’d know we were there. Then again, the car stood in view at that moment, so anyone watching would have spotted us already. Hell, they likely heard the crunching earth under the tires as we rolled up.

  “I don’t like the idea of the car being too far away,” I said. “What if we need to get out in a hurry?”

  “Us?” He laughed. “Having to leave in a hurry? Unfathomable.”

  “Yeah, I know. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

  Bear cracked his window and took a deep breath. “Wood smoke.”

  I smelled it, too. “It’s not heav
y. Seems distant.”

  He rolled his window down the rest of the way and stuck his pistol out. “All right, pull right up and lets bum rush this place.”

  I pulled into the clearing and turned the steering wheel hard. The vehicle whipped in a circle and now faced the dirt road. Bear hopped out first, with me right behind him. We split up in front of the house. He went right. I went left. We worked our way around. A simple yell was all it would take to notify the other of danger.

  The shrubs along the side of the house were unruly. Appeared they hadn’t been touched in years. The grass was long and brown. It was bent in places. Laid flat in others. Animals passing through, perhaps staying for a night. The backyard was no better. There were heavy, rusted chains snaking through the high grass. They were attached to thick iron spikes in the middle of the yard.

  Bear stepped out from the corner. His gaze swept the yard. His expression changed as he followed the chains. Looked like his top lip rose in a snarl. We met near the back door.

  “Dogs?” He lifted one of the chains with his foot.

  “Don’t see any other evidence of them.” I picked one of the leads off the ground. “Look at the grass here. It’s stamped down like the chain has been laying on it for weeks or months.”

  He pressed against the sliding door, hands cupped around his eyes, positioned on the glass. “Abandoned.” He rocked the slider until the latch popped. The door grated as it slid along the dirty track. The smell that emanated from the house rivaled that of a freshly run-over skunk. It burned my sinuses, my eyes, my throat.

  Bear backed up, gagging. He bent over, hands on his knees, and dry heaved a few times.

  “Christ,” he said. “What the hell is that?”

  “If I had to guess,” I said, lifting my shirt over my face, “I’d say a dead body.”

  I pictured Ahlberg’s rotting corpse on a defiled bed. We wouldn’t be that lucky. Never had been. Doubt we’d start now.

  A minute or so passed and we somewhat adjusted to the nauseating fumes. With our mouths and noses covered with our shirts, Bear and I headed inside. I took aim at the staircase and shot Bear a hand signal for him to check the downstairs.

  “We might as well talk,” he said. “If anyone’s here — and I doubt anybody could live with that smell —they heard my gastrointestinal pyrotechnics just now.”

  “I’m going up,” I said. “Be on the lookout for a basement or trap door down here. And watch out for traps.”

  The place had all the markings of a hideaway, which meant whoever stayed here might not want intruders to get to them. I tossed a double glance at every square inch I passed.

  The rickety stairs felt like they were going to collapse under my weight. I stepped on the sides rather than in the middle. The putrid smell intensified with every foot higher I rose. A thick layer of dust coated the second floor landing. The hard wood floors had been painted orange in the past. Heavy scratches along the edge wore past the paint. A hallway stretched left and right. A single closed door waited at either end. I started with the one on the right.

  The floorboards creaked with every step. The walls were coated in yellow. A heavy smoker had lived here. I watched the gap between the floor and door for shadows. White light lit up the space. Nothing moved. I stopped in front of the door. The knob turned freely. I pushed the door slowly and its hinges creaked low like an old man humming out of tune.

  The barren walls were the same yellow-tinged white. The hardwood floor hadn’t been painted. There was no furniture or mattress. The room was empty. Not even so much as a scrap of paper littered the floor.

  I made my way to the other end of the hall, moving slowly past the stairs and glancing down. I called out to Bear. “Doing all right down there?”

  “Yeah, got something to show you.”

  “Let me clear this other room, then I’m coming down.”

  The smell intensified with every step. My shirt did nothing to camouflage it now.

  I looked down. There was no light in the space between the floor and the door. Had someone put a towel down? Were the windows blacked out? I prepared myself for what might wait in the room. Pictured a body, maybe two. The door was locked. I didn’t bother to announce my intentions. There wasn’t anything living in there anyway. I kicked the door. It broke at the lock, swung open and slammed into the wall.

  I aimed my pistol into the dark. Light slowly flooded the room. In the back corner, I spotted the source of the smell. I leaned back, took a deep breath and held it in. I entered the room and looked for anything that might offer any clues. There was nothing. I closed the door behind me and headed downstairs.

  Bear waited in the kitchen. “Well?”

  “Found what’s causing the smell.”

  “A body?”

  I looked out back, and nodded toward the chains.

  “Christ,” he said. “The dogs?”

  “What’d you find?”

  “No basement. No trap doors. Pretty plain house, and I can’t imagine that anyone has stayed here long.”

  “What was it you wanted to show me?”

  He laid down a piece of paper on the counter. It was only a few words, but with it we’d leave with more information than what we arrived with.

  Amsterdam. Hotel Grand. Room 815. 11 AM.

  CHAPTER 15

  We were forty miles from Amsterdam. The GPS provided us with the most direct route, and we took it. All the backroads would lead us to the same place, just at a slower pace. Chances of getting stopped were higher in the city anyway. Bear took the wheel. I called Frank.

  “Did you get her?” The first words out of his mouth were filled with anticipation. Either he feigned it, or he really had no idea the house was abandoned.

  “What kind of surveillance did you do on the place?”

  “I just had the coordinates.”

  “So no drones or monitoring? Frank, don’t tell me you didn’t at least check satellite images before sending us in there?”

  “I can’t do that without alerting others.” Frank paused for a beat. “Others are a bad thing here, Jack. You know that. I’m as blind as you on this.”

  “Yeah, well at least you’re not out here walking around with your dick in your hand trying to figure out if you’re gonna get shot up the moment you step foot out of the car.”

  Frank exhaled, started to speak, but thought better of it.

  “When was the last time she was there?” I said.

  “You didn’t find her then,” Frank said.

  “The place was deserted. Nothing there but a couple of dead dogs.”

  “Dead dogs?” He paused for a few seconds. His breathing was erratic, like he was running down a set of stairs. “How fresh were the bodies?”

  “To be honest, I didn’t investigate them all that closely. Back to my question, when was the last time she was there?”

  “Hang on a sec.” The wind howled through his phone. It seemed whatever he had to say, had to be said away from his office.

  We hugged the highway onramp as Bear pushed the A6 to its limit. The tires squealed their displeasure. I braced myself against the door.

  Frank came back on the line. “I don’t have a date. The information came secondhand from a source I’ve only recently vetted.”

  “You sent us there with what could have been false intel from some guy you met at the track?”

  Bear glanced over at me. I shook my head and waved him off.

  “No,” Frank said. “He’s a solid source. He was a part of her group until recently.”

  “You better be damn sure he’s still not a part of it, Frank. They could be playing us, especially if she knows it was us that executed the original hit.”

  “Jesus, don’t you think I know that? The guy is solid. He knows about the house because he stayed there with her, up until Ahlberg tried to have him killed. He fled and through one contact or another, we found each other.”

  I glanced over at Bear and tipped the phone. He nodded, indicating he�
�d heard the important bits of the conversation. I couldn’t put it on speaker. Frank would know and he’d clam up.

  “Where is this guy now?” I asked.

  Frank stammered something indecipherable, then hesitated. “I can’t locate him.”

  “Come on,” I said.

  “I’m working on it, OK? I got a guy over there who’s tracking him. The moment we have his location, I’ll pass it along and you can work him up.”

  “This is bullshit, and you know it, Frank.” I stared out the window at the passing landscape. A blur of green streamed by. “What do you expect us to do now?”

  “I’ve got a safe house you can hole up in until I have more information.”

  “That’s not good enough.” Last place I wanted to go was somewhere Frank could send a team to watch over us. Things already weren’t going according to Frank’s plan. The men we encountered in England. Ahlberg not at the deserted woodlands house. Perhaps he was considering conceding defeat on this one. Admit the error, blame it on us, and accept his slap on the wrist.

  “I don’t know what you expect me to do,” Frank said. “I’ve got nothing, and apparently you didn’t uncover anything while investigating the house. We’re stuck until we find our contact, or she slips up and is spotted. I’ll text you the location to the safe house.”

  “No, we’re gonna work on our own for a bit,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.”

  I hung up on Frank mid-sentence. There was nothing else he could say to convince me to follow his orders right then. I pulled the memory cards and tossed the cell phones out the window, leaving us only with Bear’s personal phone. Probably should have gotten rid of that too, but the big man wouldn’t give it up. It was his only lifeline to Sasha and Mandy.

  “We should ditch the car,” Bear said.

  I agreed. Maybe Frank hadn’t been tracking us with the phones. But any car he provided couldn’t be trusted.

  We were heading into Amsterdam, which was probably the last place Frank wanted us to go. We’d be on the streets, exposed. One false step and our identities could be uncovered, setting off a diplomatic chain of events that might get us killed, and Frank brought up on charges of espionage and treason.