“Josip Klaric. Really, Officer, is this necessary? I’m a very private man, and I don’t value—”
“I’m almost through. I appreciate your indulgence.” As he headed into the kitchen, Claude heard another shout—louder now, and he could make out the word for the first time. Help. It was coming from the basement, and it didn’t sound like any radio program he’d ever heard. “I’d like to see what’s downstairs,” he said as he turned toward the homeowner.
Claude registered the odd smile on the man’s face a split second before he saw the flash of something large and metallic coming at his head. He had no time to react.
* * *
New York
Heather spotted Brett and Jack waiting outside her apartment building while she was still a block away, returning home from a workday that had been anything but productive. She was too preoccupied with the previous night’s events and her upcoming trip to China to do much more than the minimum her job required, and her exhaustion from little sleep was rapidly catching up with her.
Before they’d departed, Brett and Jack told her they’d be back the next night to prepare for her phone call to Dario, but she hadn’t expected them to be waiting for her. Brett stood at the base of the steps, a small duffel in her hand, and Jack was next to her. Both watched Heather approach.
She’d been nervous all day about having to contact Dario, and the fact that both women were anxious for her to make that call didn’t help her nerves. Was she crazy to do this? Gigi was most likely beyond saving, yet she had volunteered to help two complete strangers by joining a murdering organ thief. Was her life in such a dip she’d do anything for a rush? Doubtful. Heather had never been the adventurous type, and aside from Direct Connect, her life had consisted of comfortable flat lines. So why had she agreed to help this organization? Was it revenge for what Dario did to Gigi? Maybe. Heather hoped her anger would be enough to fuel the courage she’d need to see this through.
“Hi,” Heather said to both women as she passed them and headed up the stairs, avoiding eye contact with Brett as she unlocked the door. She was still very uncomfortable with the truths Brett knew about her. No wonder Brett had seemed nearly appalled at the idea of their meeting being a date. Heather’s worst angst had finally become reality, and she was afraid she was just about to step into a situation that would give her a brand-new kind of horror. Brett and Jack looked eager to get started, and their disregard for her feelings irritated her.
“No second thoughts?” Brett asked as she entered the apartment.
“Plenty, and constantly, so let’s make this call before I change my mind.”
“Heather, you have to be sure about this.”
“I feel like I’m about to lock myself up in a cage with a lion. I’m afraid, okay?”
“Fear is a good thing,” Jack said. “It means you’re not stupid.”
“I’m glad you noticed.” Heather hung up her coat as both women stood waiting just inside the door. “I called Massimo. He found Dario’s number.”
“Massimo?” Brett asked.
“Yes. It was still where Dario left it.” Heather wasn’t sure why, but Brett was smirking like she was very satisfied with herself. “Are you going to hover all night?” she asked them.
The two women looked at each other. “Dibs on the chair,” Jack said as they walked farther into the living room.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Heather asked.
“Scotch,” Jack said.
Heather poured a glass of Johnny Walker Black and grabbed two cans of Diet Coke. She set the can down on the coffee table in front of Brett. “Glass?”
Brett smiled. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
Heather handed Jack her Scotch and then sat crossed-legged on the floor beside the armchair. Sitting beside Brett on the couch would be too distracting right now, not to mention uncomfortable. “What do I have to do?”
“You’re going to start by telling Dario you had second thoughts,” Brett said. “He knows you’re doing it for the money, so sound like that matters. Ask him how much he’s going to pay and say you want it up front.”
“Okay.” Heather cringed that Brett knew how her job went.
“Let him know you’ll want time to yourself to shop and do some sightseeing.”
“So I have an excuse to meet you if necessary.”
“Correct. And it will be necessary,” Brett replied.
“Got it.”
“We still have no idea where in China. See if you can get him to reveal that.”
“Okay.”
“Also, I know you’re in no mood, but try to sound upbeat. Like he’s going to get his money’s worth.”
Heather sighed. “Anything else?”
“That’s it for now,” Brett said. “Once you talk to him and we know it’s a go, we’ll take it from there.”
“What happens then?”
“I’ll show you how to contact us, how we can contact you, how to place bugs—just in case we can’t get in to do it ourselves—and how to wire yourself.”
“I’m going to wear a wire?”
“Only when you’re out with him,” Brett replied. “We can’t risk you wearing it in the room just in case…”
“I don’t intend to…” Heather looked away. “Entertain him.”
“It’s still too risky.”
“I get it.” Heat rose to Heather’s face.
“I’m going to show you tonight how it’s done and where to place it.” Brett looked away. “We’ll get into more details after you make the call.”
Heather started to rise to get her phone, but Brett put her hand up to stop her.
“Do you have a private number?” Brett asked.
“No.”
“Can I see your cell phone?”
Heather reached for her purse and gave her the cell. “What’s wrong?”
“Use this to call him instead.” Brett brought up one of the menus on the phone. “I’ll hide your caller ID so he can’t see your number. He’ll see it if you use the landline. Don’t give him any more info than he already has.”
“I’m surprised he gave me his,” Heather said, “since he’s so careful about his identity.”
“It’s a throwaway. He’ll use that number and phone once and toss it,” Jack said.
Heather took a deep breath to calm her racing heart and dialed Dario’s number. “Should I turn on the speaker?”
Brett shook her head. “If he’s as paranoid as I know he is, he’ll pick up on it. You can always hear the difference.”
Dario greeted her before Heather could say a word. “Hello, Heather.” Apparently Jack was right, and she was the only one he’d given that number.
“Hi, Dario.”
“I was expecting your call. I take it you have agreed to my offer.”
“Why are you so sure?” Heather wanted to smack the smugness out of his voice.
“I’m positive you wouldn’t have called had you decided to decline.”
“I’ll do it, Dario, but I have one question and two conditions.”
“You want to talk business. How quaint.”
“First of all, how much money are we talking here?”
“You will be paid two thousand per day, for the four days.”
Heather nearly gasped at the amount. “I can deal with that.” She tried to sound nonchalant. “I’d like the money up front.”
“Agreed. And your conditions?”
“I want time for myself to shop. Do some sightseeing. I don’t plan to sit in the room all day and wait for your return or a dinner appointment.”
“You will have plenty of time to do as you wish. I never intended to confine you.”
“And you never said where we’re staying. I want to be able to leave my brother some information, just in case he can’t reach me by cell. He’s my priority, as you understand, or I wouldn’t be doing this in the first place.”
Brett gave her a thumbs-up.
As Dario replied, Heather wrote
down Beijing at the Park Hyatt and passed the paper to Jack, who was nearest. Jack glanced at it and gave it to Brett, while gesturing to her to make a phone call.
“I’ll pass this on to my brother. It looks like we have an agreement.” Heather’s palms were moist and clammy. This dangerous idea had just turned real. What if she couldn’t pull off this Mata Hari stunt?
“I’m thrilled,” Dario said. “I will send someone to collect you at your home tomorrow morning at six.”
“I’ll be ready.” Heather hung up, no longer able to tolerate his voice.
She must have looked as shell-shocked as she felt, because Brett’s expression went from serious to sympathetic. “You’ll do fine.”
“Tell me what I need to know. I have to pack.”
“Let me make a call first, to arrange our transport and accommodations.” Brett got up and walked into the kitchen. While Brett made her call, Jack began briefing her, first making sure Heather memorized the number where she could reach both of them.
Brett sat back on the couch a few minutes later and dug into the small duffel. She pulled out a round device about the size of a watch battery and held it up. “This is how we’ll be able to locate you. Once you’re there, we’ll give this to you, and you’ll hide it in the lining of your purse. You can’t take it now, because of security if you’re on a commercial flight.”
“Okay.”
Next, Brett retrieved a similar device from the bag. “This is a bug. In other words, a listening device, so we can hear what’s going on in the room.” She got to her feet and stepped away from the couch. “Let me show you how to place one.” Heather followed her to her desk and watched as Brett peeled a piece of thin plastic off the device, exposing an adhesive, then affixed it firmly to the bottom of the desk, near the back. “Now you try it.” She gave another small mic to Heather. “Always plant them near places where you think conversations take place.”
“Got it.” Heather sighed. “I can’t believe I’m doing this. At least you’re not using cameras.” Brett and Jack looked at each other. From their expressions, they seemed to be actually considering it. “That’s out of the question and completely embarrassing,” she said firmly.
“No cameras.” Brett wouldn’t meet her eyes.
It didn’t occur to her until that moment that they might have used cameras already. “Have you—”
“No,” Jack replied immediately, and she sighed inwardly in relief.
“Let me show you how the wiring works,” Brett said.
“How am I going to take all this with me undetected?”
“You won’t. We’ll hand it to you in China and wire you personally, but you need to know how to, just in case of emergency.”
“Okay. What do I do?”
Brett looked at the floor. “Take off your clothes.”
Heather gasped. “Do what?”
“I can’t place them otherwise.”
She wanted to get angry at how easily she was expected to undress, but Brett looked so uncomfortable she didn’t bother. Not just taking her clothes off, but having to do so in front of two appealing gay women, one of whom she was extremely attracted to, was awkward at best.
Jack coughed loudly and opened a magazine.
“Fine,” Heather mumbled, and unbuttoned her blouse while Brett busied herself with the duffel bag.
She stood with her shirt undone, unsure what to do next. She was glad she’d at least chosen one of her nicer bras that morning, but it was too sheer for her to feel entirely comfortable. “How much do I need to take off?”
Brett turned to look at her and her gaze froze on Heather’s breasts. “That’s fine,” she whispered.
Heather couldn’t remember the last time someone’s stare made her feel so exposed yet so appreciated.
Brett stood less than a foot away. “I’m going to place this, flat surface down, on your chest.” Her eyes never left Heather’s. Heather nodded for her to continue. Brett knelt and placed the small cold device high on her stomach, just beneath her bra, and held it in place with one hand while she handed Heather a small roll of tape with the other. “I’ll need two pieces about an inch-and-a-half long.”
Heather handed her the first piece. She felt like electricity hit her when Brett’s soft fingers brushed her skin to apply the tape. She tried to control her breathing, but the rest of her body was beyond her control. “I’m cold,” she lied when she saw her nipples react.
Brett took her time looking at them and then up at her. “It is chilly in here.”
Heather handed her the last piece of tape.
Brett maintained eye contact with her as she placed it on top of the device. “Tape it diagonally across and it’ll hold.” She was so close Heather could feel Brett’s breath on her chest. Brett fished into the duffel again and pulled out a thin, square device about the size of a small iPod. “This is the receiver. I’m going to tape it to your back. If you’re doing this alone, try to use a mirror and get it taped securely in roughly the same area.” Heather gave her two more pieces of tape and turned around. She felt Brett place it in the middle of her back, and when she was finished, Brett stood and faced her. “So far, so good.”
Heather couldn’t look away from Brett’s intense gaze; it put her in a trance-like state. “But what happens if I have to wear something a bit more revealing, Brett?”
Brett placed her hands at the top of Heather’s slacks. “May I?” she asked.
Heather nodded, too unsure of her voice to speak.
“Call me Landis.”
Heather looked at her. “Excuse me?”
As she slowly unbuttoned the slacks and pulled them down a few inches, exposing cream-colored silk panties, she replied, “Brett is a cover for this job. My name is Landis Coolidge.” She pulled another bug out of the bag and knelt again in front of Heather. “If you place it here…” Landis looked up at her. “Make sure you shave or—”
“I’m shaved. Was everything you said to me a lie…Landis?” Heather felt strange referring to her that way, but if she’d lied about everything else, maybe she’d also lied about her attraction to Heather.
Landis looked at her panties and with one finger pulled them down enough to expose the smooth flesh above her pubic bone. She felt a little light-headed when Landis’s fingers made contact with her skin, and her hands trembled as she ripped the tape in preparation.
Landis stopped what she was doing and looked at her. “Yes… everything…was a lie.” Her voice was heavy with meaning.
“Will you be able to hear me with the mic down there?” Heather managed to say.
“Loud and clear.” Landis smiled and got to her feet. “Button everything up so we can make sure you’re comfortable and everything is concealed.”
She got her pants refastened, but her hands were shaking badly as she started on her shirt.
“Let me help.” Landis slowly buttoned her shirt. “The bugs… are you comfortable?”
Heather looked around at her surroundings for the first time since Landis touched her. Jack was still lost in the magazine. She took a few unsteady steps. “I think I’m good.” She glanced down at her décolleté to make sure nothing was visible, then up at Landis, who had backed away a couple of steps. “Can you tell?”
“No.”
“You guys finished?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” she and Landis answered simultaneously, still looking at each other.
“’Bout time. Let’s wrap it up. Our fun-packed weekend starts in a few hours.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Mouchamps, France
Next day, November 24
Cassady woke groggy, her jaw still aching from Rózsa’s blows. Thank God she’d had her fill of water in the shower, because he hadn’t been back with food or water since. The malnutrition and dehydration she’d endured were beginning to affect her ability to think clearly, which worried her. Her dreams the night before had been so vivid she could scarcely separate them from reality. She remembered noises
and seeing Rózsa down here, telling her to face the wall away from the door…the same wall she was staring at now. She rolled over.
It hadn’t been a dream.
A few feet away, out of reach, lay the body of a young man, dressed in a blue policeman’s uniform.
Cassady tried to shake off her mental fog as she crawled as close as possible to the man. She was no stranger to corpses in her line of work, so she was able to somewhat detach her emotions as she studied the body, but this new development sent a new thrill of fear through her.
As far as she knew, Rózsa always had others do his dirty work, but this proved he was capable of cold-blooded murder, though he was on the run and being sought by numerous law-enforcement entities. It didn’t bode well for what he might do to her if she tried to escape again. And certainly killing a policeman would bring additional and immediate heat on him, so he might do something desperate.
Was the cop here looking for her? Did the EOO know she was alive? The possibility gave her hope, but she felt partially responsible for the officer’s death. No doubt he’d been the man she’d heard knocking on the door last night, the unfamiliar second set of footsteps walking around the kitchen above her head. Her screams had likely sealed the man’s fate and made Rózsa take such drastic measures.
She peered at the sleeve patch on the man’s uniform. Police Nationale, it read, and beneath that, the blue, white, and red colors of the French flag. So she was in France. Knowing even that tidbit made her feel better. The US had good relations with France, so if the EOO did know she was alive, they’d be able to get local authorities’ assistance in searching for her.
Cassady stiffened when she heard Rózsa descend the stairs. She quickly crawled back to her usual place against the wall, putting distance between her and the body.
The sound of the bolt being thrown echoed through the basement. Rózsa came in with a grim expression and glanced from her to the body. “See what you made me do,” he said. “His death is on your hands. I should kill you now and be done, all the trouble you have caused me.”
“I’m sorry for trying to escape. I won’t do it again.”
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