Jack looked away. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“That’s my business, not yours.”
“Again, you’re right.”
Chase took off her shirt and started toward the bathroom.
“You probably want to postpone the stripping act.” Jack waved her over and pressed the headphones to her ears.
She checked her watch. Dario’s call was ten minutes early. She put her shirt back on and had her headphones in place even before she sat next to Jack.
“Have you decided how you want to handle Rózsa?” Dario asked the person on the other end. He listened, and then, “Of course we have to make him disappear, but we don’t know what rock that idiot is hiding under. If the authorities can’t find him, how are we—” After a short pause, he said in a surprised voice, “Cooperate?” He listened again. “Yes, I understand. But how am I going to get him to give me his location?” Another short pause. “Of course, but I haven’t been exactly friendly or receptive to his contacting me. Why would he believe me now?” A long pause this time. “Of course I realize what is at stake here, and I know very well that it will be my hide and not yours, dear sister, but—” He listened some more, and when he spoke again, he was clearly angry. “Don’t patronize me. I’m not one of your lackeys. Yes, it was my idea to work with him, but you were only too eager to welcome a new supplier.” Another pause. “Very well.” He sighed. “I will contact you when I know more. I expect his call in ten minutes.” They heard the cell disconnect. “Cold bitch,” Dario said, either to himself or his goon.
“They want to off Rózsa,” Jack said. “That means—”
“We won’t let that happen.”
“Dario has no idea where he is.”
“It doesn’t sound like he’s in China.” Chase sat back, trying not to feel as defeated as Jack looked.
“Fuck.” Jack threw her earphones on the desk. “What the fuck now?”
“We wait for Rózsa to contact Dario. The only thing we can do is see how Dario plays it out. Maybe he’ll actually manage to find out where Rózsa is hiding.”
“I’m betting he will,” Jack said. “Rózsa desperately wants money, which makes him predictable.”
“And desperate people make desperate decisions.” She motioned to Jack. “Dario’s phone is ringing.” She pressed the Record button.
Jack grabbed her earphones just in time to hear Dario answer.
“Hello.” A brief pause. “Ah, good evening. Please let me start by apologizing for being short with you earlier. I was in the midst of a business meeting with a most unpleasant client. It was rude and unprofessional of me to take it out on you.” Dario listened, then laughed. “Yes, one of those. I see you’ve had your share of egomaniacal wannabes.” A pause. “Of course.” He laughed again. “I have. As a matter of fact, I just finished discussing the matter with my partner. We are of the same opinion. We hold your cooperation with us in high regard. We have worked together for two years and you—” He stopped short to listen. “Indeed, nearly three years. How time flies. You have always delivered, and your dependability means a lot to us. We are hopeful we can continue to work with you once you are in a better place.”
Dario listened some more before continuing in the same ingratiating, almost jubilant tone. “We are willing to help you get to that better place. We will give you the money you need to make a new beginning. An advance, of sorts, for your future services.” Another pause. “Of course, we know it is only a matter of time.” He listened for a while. “Yes…about that. We are going to have to handle the transaction differently this time. Electronic banking is being monitored too closely, and an amount like this would undoubtedly set off alarms.” Pause. “Yes. We came up with a solution. We are going to pay cash. In person.” Another pause. “We have people all over the world. You could have the money as soon as forty-eight hours from now.”
Dario listened a long time before he continued. “I understand how sensitive your situation is, of course. But you will have to meet us half way. We cannot jeopardize a multimillion-dollar corporation.” Rózsa was apparently balking at the idea of a face-to-face meeting, because the rest of Dario’s side of the back-and-forth conversation was obviously designed to gain Rózsa’s trust. “You are safe with us, I can guarantee you that.”
“As a matter of fact, we can offer you shelter should you need somewhere to stay or…work.”
“I understand your trepidation so perhaps it is wise you think about it before you decide.”
“In that case we will unfortunately not be able to help each other. A pity, don’t you think?”
“Andor, please. We are doing our best for you. You know you can’t hurt us, because you would expose yourself. And even if you managed to get away with it, what would you gain?”
“Exactly. So consider our proposal. Like I already mentioned, you can have that money in two days.”
“Very well, where can we meet you?”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Of course. I understand. I’ll expect to hear from you then. We have people nearby who can connect with you.”
“Thank you, the pleasure is all mine.”
“Rewind and turn up the volume,” Jack said as soon as Dario hung up. He hadn’t repeated the location Rózsa had given him, and the drop-off was apparently in two days. They played the recording ten times, but still couldn’t make out what Rózsa said.
“Goddamn it.” Jack jumped up and started pacing. “Dario’s people are near Rózsa and as soon as they meet him…” Her hands clenched into fists. “And you know what that means for Cass. They’ll either kill her on sight, or, if she’s not around, she’ll die locked up somewhere before we ever find her. If we ever find her.”
“I’m going to mail this file to Reno,” Chase said. “Let’s hope he can get something.”
“He will. He has to. It’s his job, and he’s good at it.” Jack stopped pacing and stared out the window.
She tried to lighten Jack’s panic. “So Reno sounds like a bright summer’s day just about now?”
“Oh, what a knee-slapper. Just send the damn audio file.”
A half hour after they sent the phone call to headquarters, they got a call back.
“I’m in Pierce’s office,” Reno said. “He wants to talk to both of you after I update you on what I found. I ran the call through several filters and enhancement software and was able to get Rózsa’s side of the conversation. He’s meeting Dario’s people somewhere in France and is demanding Dario pay him half a million dollars. He’s also supposed to call back tomorrow at eleven a.m. with specifics about the meeting place. My software enabled me to isolate the sound of a boat horn and the clanging of a ship’s rigging in the background, which means he’s at a harbor, either on shore or on a boat.”
“He wouldn’t risk being at one of the more popular resorts,” Chase mused. “He’s too recognizable, even without a hostage.”
“And he can’t be on some big commercial vessel, like a cruise ship, for the same reason,” Jack added. “Reno, I know it’s a long shot, but see if you can find his name on any boat rental or purchase records there.”
“Will do.”
“This latest development has made it imperative we get one of you to France ASAP,” Pierce said. “Dario’s people will be headed there to eliminate him as soon as they get a fix on his exact location, and we need to get the jump on them. Also, Rózsa’s got to be suspecting by now that he’s not going to get his money back from us. Allegro has stalled him as best as she can, but he’s not stupid. Now that he thinks he’s going to get help from Dario, he has little reason to keep Lynx alive.”
“I’ll go,” Jack said. “Chase can stay here to get the exact location and follow me over.”
“Already anticipated you’d say that. There’s a ticket in your name waiting for you at the airport,” Pierce said. “Your flight to Paris leaves in two hours. I have Allegro on standby to help you if needed. Sh
e’s in the Netherlands, so she can be there in an hour. I’d rather not involve Interpol if we don’t have to.”
Jack immediately got up to pack.
“Since Rózsa’s supposed to call back at eleven, have me booked on a flight around one thirty,” Chase said. “And we need to have a ticket booked to New York at about that same time in Heather Snyder’s name. I’ll find a way to get her away from Dario.”
“You got it,” Reno said. “Send me a recording of tomorrow’s call before you leave, and I’ll see if I can pick up something further.”
“Roger that.” Chase asked. “Anything else?”
“Not at the moment. Good luck, you two,” Pierce said. “And Phantom?”
Jack stopped packing and came over to the speakerphone. “What?”
“Don’t try to do this alone. Wait for backup.”
“By any means necessary, Pierce, or have you forgotten?” Jack said, reciting the EOO creed that had been drilled into them as children. She disconnected and returned to throwing her clothes into her duffel.
“He’s right, Jack. Wait for me, or call Allegro if you get a lead on where he is. Don’t go off half-cocked,” Chase said.
“I’ll do whatever I have to,” Jack said as she put her coat on. “Regardless of what Pierce thinks, I’m not one of his lackeys any more, and I’ll do things my own way.” She picked up her bag and headed toward the door. “See you in France.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sainte-Maxime Harbor, France
Early next morning, November 26
Andor Rózsa went below deck to the sleeping compartment and checked on his hostage. She was still out cold and her breathing was slow and shallow. He’d had to give her a heavy dose to ensure she didn’t wake while he transferred her from the car to the boat he’d rented, but perhaps he’d overestimated. Looking at her now, he could see she’d lost significant weight during her captivity, and he should have allowed for that. He wasn’t too concerned. He shouldn’t have to keep her alive much longer, anyway. Her people seemed unable to get his money back, and if Dario was true to his word, he’d soon have a safe place to hide and enough money to start over. He wouldn’t need her as collateral.
He went topside and glanced around the dark harbor. No other boats were near; they were anchored far from the main pier. He pulled his coat tighter and settled into the captain’s chair of the cruiser to keep watch. It would be dawn in a few hours, and fishing boats from the small village would be heading out to sea soon.
He planned to remain here only another couple of hours, until he called Dario again with the location of their rendezvous—Marseille, 100 miles farther along the coast. Then he’d set to sea and remain there until shortly before the rendezvous in two days, and he’d give Dario only a few minutes’ notice of the actual meeting place—a Turkish bath—to minimize the chance of a double-cross.
If all went according to plan, he’d return to the boat and dump his hostage at sea. With half-a-million dollars and Dario’s connections, he could restart his organ business anywhere and use the proceeds to build a new lab. Perhaps he’d go to South America and set up near one of the myriad slums that surrounded Lima or Sao Paulo, where he’d have an ample supply of potential donors who wouldn’t be missed if they disappeared.
* * *
Beijing, China
Chase was in the midst of choosing her clothes for the day, her hair still wet from the shower, when she heard Dario’s voice over the laptop speaker. She glanced at her watch. 7 a.m. Still a few hours until his phone call from Rózsa. She didn’t expect him to do anything more noteworthy in the interim than have breakfast, so she was surprised to hear him say he’d be ready to leave in just a few minutes. As she hurriedly dressed, she listened in.
“George will drive me. I want you to stay here and make sure Heather doesn’t leave,” Dario said. “I want to talk to her when I get back. I’ll be gone at least a couple of hours, maybe more.”
Where the hell was he going? Most important, would he be back in time for Rózsa’s call? If he took it away from his room, they’d have no way to find out details of the meeting in France. She managed to get downstairs ahead of him and was parked near the entrance in her rental when he emerged in his wheelchair and got into his own car. She followed them through the narrow streets of the Changping District north of Beijing proper, until the car stopped at a restaurant in the village of Nanshao.
Chase checked her watch. Ten minutes to eight. Dario’s driver helped him into his wheelchair and took him to the entrance, but Dario went in alone while the other man returned to his vehicle. Not long after, a Chinese couple tried to enter the restaurant but was sent away, and so were the next three people.
“Looks like it’s going to be breakfast for two,” Chase said to herself.
At precisely eight, a sedan drove up and a Chinese man in a drab suit got out. Chase snapped pictures as he strode from the car to the entrance and went inside. Dario’s company had arrived. It certainly wasn’t Rózsa, so who was he? And what was the purpose of the meeting?
She e-mailed the pictures to the EOO and her phone rang ten minutes later.
Reno. He must have found something to be calling back so quickly. “Who is he?” she asked.
“Zhang Anshun. He’s a Grand Justice of the Second Rank, in the Chinese Supreme Court.”
“Which begs the question, what does he want with Dario?”
“Zhang is apparently the go-to man to expedite and approve paperwork for condemned prisoners. My guess is Dario’s using him to get papers signed.”
“I wouldn’t say he’s using him. I’m sure Zhang gets paid a pretty penny to sign those papers.”
“Cripes, how many are involved?” Reno mumbled.
“Too many. It would appear the organ trade is the new black,” Chase said, and disconnected.
An hour later, the meeting inside the restaurant broke up. The Chinese justice emerged first and Dario followed a couple of minutes later. Chase tailed his car back toward the hotel. She kept glancing at her watch as they inched forward in the crush of traffic streaming toward the city center. At this rate, they’d barely be back before time for Rózsa’s call.
She hurried up to her room. The call, a few minutes late, was brief. Once again, she could make out only Dario’s side of the conversation.
“So where is the meeting to be?” Silence, then, “That will be no problem. And you’ll contact us shortly beforehand with the exact location in the city?” A pause, then, “That’s fine. We look forward to renewing our mutually beneficial relationship, Andor.”
As before, Chase sent the recording to Reno for analysis. Once that was done, she packed, went downstairs and checked out, and put her bag in the rental. Now all she had to do was get Heather out of there, and she could join Jack in France. She wasn’t happy their ride to the airport together would likely be the last time she would see Heather, though it was probably best. Heather had stirred up too many unfamiliar emotions, and she needed to get her head back fully in the game and return to her well-ordered existence. At least the ride would give them a chance to say good-bye and hopefully move past the awkwardness of their staged and abbreviated sexual encounter last night. It still stung that the encounter could have stirred her so, while Heather clearly wanted no part of it and only went along because of their mission.
She texted Heather: Call me if the coast is clear.
* * *
Heather was in her bedroom flipping through the TV channels when her cell phone chimed with a text message. She’d wanted to go out this morning, stretch her legs and free her mind of the images swirling through her head from last night, but Dario’s goon had told her she wasn’t to leave, that Dario was out. Though he was back now, she was doing her best to avoid him.
The text was from Landis. Heather shut off the TV and put her ear to the door. She could hear Dario talking, either on the phone or to one of his men, so she called Landis’s number. “Is everything okay?” she whispered.
“You stayed.”
“Of course. I’m not leaving you behind. We don’t have a lot of time, so I need you to do a couple of things.”
“I’m listening.”
“First, remove the three bugs I planted last night.”
“The wire is already in my suitcase.”
“Great. Now there’s one by the phone, one under the dining table, and one at the bar,” Landis said. “Then you need to talk to Dario. Tell him you changed your mind and want to go home.”
“I’ll tell him my brother got sick.”
“He seems to know everything about Adam and where to find him. Don’t lie to him because he can check if he wants to. Tell him you spent the night reconsidering this arrangement and can’t live with it. Tell him you can’t be bought, etcetera, and meet me outside in fifteen. Can you do that?”
“I can be packed in ten.”
“If there’s a problem, text me.”
“Okay.” She hung up and hurriedly threw her clothes and shoes into her suitcase. She could care less whether anything got wrinkled or even left behind. She just wanted to get the hell out of there. She left the bag by the bedroom door and, on her way out, grabbed the envelope Dario had given her from her purse.
He sat at the desk with papers in front of him, but was staring out the windows at the glorious view. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to remove the bugs as Landis had asked, since all were in view of where he was sitting.
“Dario, I need to talk to you,” she said seriously.
“Oh?” He looked at her with a neutral expression. “What’s this about?”
“I’m going home.”
He almost smiled, but there was no humor in it. “No, you’re not.”
“I can’t do this, Dario. I thought I could, but I honestly think it’s time I made some changes.”
“What kind of alterations are you thinking of?”
Demons are Forever Page 24