by R E Gauthier
Kelsey understood Aisling’s emotional response to this woman’s presence. Even though she couldn’t read the woman, she could sense something evil. What the hell was the woman doing here? Kelsey stopped with her gun at the ready, aiming for Marina Carlotti’s head. “At least this time, it will be a fairer gunfight,” Kelsey snarled.
“You don’t have to do this, Marina; I don’t understand why you’re here.” Aisling reached out to take Marina’s arm.
Marina shook off Aisling’s hand. “I’m not surprised; for an intelligent woman, you’re dense when it comes to me. It must be the powers you imbued this ring with; I know it works when you still look at me with that clueless expression on your pretty face.”
Kelsey had to stop herself from striking the woman. She didn’t want to endanger Aisling while she stood so close to Marina Carlotti. Where is Nikki? “Ais’ what ring is she talking about?” Kelsey decided to attempt to distract Marina from her goal until Nikki returned.
“This thing,” Marina held up her right hand.
Kelsey saw a small silver band with something written on it, on the ring finger of Marina’s right hand. “What powers did you imbue it with?”
Aisling looked to the floor. “I used a blocking incantation. It was so that I didn’t hear and see all of Marina’s emotions and thoughts.”
Kelsey frowned. It sure would help if she could sense the woman’s intentions at that moment. Thinking she could possibly negate the power to block if she could only touch the ring, Kelsey reached out to Aisling. She needed her cousin to distract Marina long enough for her to touch the ring. Aisling replied she understood.
Aisling reached out, touching Marina’s left arm. “Marina, please, can we can talk? I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
Marina turned to her left with her gun towards Aisling, leaving her right hand closer to Kelsey.
Kelsey leaned forward to touch the hand.
Marina’s gaze spun their focus directly back. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Do you want me to kill you right now? I was hoping to wait until Nikki got here on her own, but one more move like that, and I’ll shoot you. That will get her here sooner to witness your real death. I’d really don’t want to alert all of Interpol, but if you make another move like that, you’ll force me to put plan B into action.”
Aisling gasped. “Be careful, Kels; she’s an expert mark. She never misses.”
Kelsey snickered. “Oh, but you’re wrong, she missed me, and if she can miss once, she’ll miss again.”
Marina snarled. “You were lucky that day. Today you won’t be so fortunate. I’m just sorry I can’t see the life fade from your eyes, but a gunshot will have this place crawling with nosey agents. I’m leaving here today, but you two won’t be so blessed.”
Kelsey heard and felt Nikki’s approach.
“Hey! You two got quiet. Did you have any luck finding the file?” Nikki shouted from the left of them.
Marina whispered her warning. “Warn her, and I’ll kill your precious cousin. This time you will know she is dead.” Marina grabbed Aisling by the arm and forced her in front as a shield. Marina’s gun pressed into Aisling’s left temple.
Kelsey’s heart lurched. She was afraid for her cousin’s safety, but then her vision came back to her. Nikki lay on the floor and a gun, that gun in Marina’s hand, was there as well. She held out her hands and let her gun fall away from its earlier position aimed at Marina’s head. “Don’t do anything crazy; you’re going to need a hostage.”
“I’m well aware of that. I have planned this for months; the only thing is I thought we’d be in a more private place, and she wouldn’t be here.”
Kelsey decided she had to try and touch Marina’s ring again. Lowering her gun to the floor, she said, “I’m going to put my gun down. Take me as a hostage. I can be of more help to you than Aisling can.” Kelsey reached for Marina’s hand, holding her cousin.
Marina’s hand came up to shove Kelsey away.
Kelsey grabbed the hand and touched the ring at the same time her other hand grasped her amulet at her throat. Thoir an cumhachd air falbh; leig dhomh faicinn dè a tha na cridhe, leig dhomh faicinn dè a tha na h-anam (Take the power away; let me see what's in her heart, let me know what's in her soul) Kelsey saw the rage, pain, and hatred before she saw the gun in her peripheral vision. Then her world went black.
Chapter Fifty-One
Secret Storage Room, London Interpol Offices, May 31, 2012
Nikki wondered why Mack and Aisling were not answering her questions. “Are you two trying to startle me, because I don’t scare easily, ask Mack…” Nikki rounded the corner of the stack to see a blonde woman strike Mack in the head with a gun. In slow motion, she saw her best friend fall to the floor into a heap. Aisling screamed, and the blonde woman grabbed Aisling and whispered something into her ear. Nikki took her Glock out of its holster. Aiming at the blonde’s head, Nikki said, “what the fuck is…” The shock silenced the rest of the words from escaping her mouth. Nikki felt as if her world tilted on its axis. Immediate dizziness disoriented her, and nausea caused bile to rush up to her throat. Her body felt like it was on fire. “Willow, what the fuck is going on here?”
Willow smiled. “I wondered if you’d recognized me.” Tearing off the wig, she said, “I didn’t have time to bleach it this time.” I’ve been waiting for you; now I’ll take that.” Willow grabbed at the file Aisling clutched in her arms. “I’ll also take that key card too. I don’t want you two doing anything stupid like coming after me. When the others miss you, they’ll come let you out.”
“Willow? What are you talking about, Nikki? This is Marina, and she’s gone crazy.” Aisling pulled away from Willow’s reach.
“Yes, I’m Marina and Willow. It’s been too long. I had to keep up this farce. Give it to me, Aisling. There is no sense fighting me.”
Nikki watched Aisling, who she had thought was fierce, act like a scared rabbit. Aisling handed the file to Willow without a fight. Her blood boiled, but she still couldn’t figure out what was going on. Holding her gun, but knowing she couldn’t shoot Willow, Nikki felt torn. “Willow, I don’t understand all of this. Were you hired to get the file? You’re a technical analyst; it doesn’t make any sense.”
Willow laughed and grabbed the gun from the floor. “People have been underestimating me for years. Little Marina, little Willow, no one thought I could do anything, no one, but…you’re coming with me, Nikki. I never wanted you to be here. Why didn’t you go back home after the shooting? That is what you were supposed to do.”
Nikki tried to understand what Willow said. None of it made any sense. Nikki saw Mack stir, and relief spread through her. She wanted to go to her best friend and check on her, but dealing with the shock of learning the girl she knew as a child was an international spy, trumped everything. “Mack, are you alright?”
Mack nodded her head, obviously trying to clear her head after coming to from being knocked unconscious.
“She’s fine, for now. Nikki, you’re coming with me.” Willow shoved Aisling away from her. If you don’t want your new lover hurt, you’ll be smart and stay back.”
Nikki heard Aisling’s stifled gasp.
“Did you think I didn’t know? I’m not surprised that Nikki couldn’t keep her hands off of you, but it took me months to convince you even to let me kiss you. I thought you were the worse prude I ever had to woo. You were so tiring.”
Nikki saw the shock and pain in Aisling’s eyes. Her shock wore off, and her anger built. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” Raising her gun to aim directly at Willow’s chest.
“Don’t be stupid, Nikki. You won’t shoot me. That’s why I’m taking you, because of the three women here, you’re the only one who remotely likes me. Besides, if you shoot me, you won’t find out why I did what I did. You were always the one who needed to get to the root of every problem and mystery.”
Nikki shook her head. “I don’t give a fuck about your reasons.
All I know is that you’re a crazy woman who has knocked my best friend out and is threatening my…Aisling.”
“How touching, you sound like you care for Aisling. If you care for her, you’ll come with me, and she and your precious Mack will be allowed to live. Try something stupid, and this place will fill with a deadly gas that I set to go off with this remote.” Willow held up a small electronic device.
Mack slowly came to her feet. “What? How could you have…no one knew what our plans were.”
Willow scoffed. “What? How? You wouldn’t understand if I told you. I’ve been one step ahead of you all this time. I only needed to know where this was hidden. I needed you to find it, but now I don’t need you anymore. Nikki, if you don’t want these two to die a horrible death drowning in their own blood, you’ll come with me. Give me your gun.”
“Do what she says, Nikki. Aisling and I will be fine,” Mack said, nodding her head.
“But I can’t leave you, what if she lies about the gas?” Nikki silently urged Mack to do one of her incredible saves.
Mack shook her head and said, “it is like that case in Washington; we have to let it go until we can do something else.”
Nikki knew Mack was trying to make her feel better about their lack of options, but then Mack’s words sunk in. The Washington case was three years ago, and in that case, Mack had plans Nikki didn’t know about. Was Mack trying to tell her she had plans and to trust her?
Mack nodded. “Follow your gut and be safe; when we can, we’ll come for you.”
Willow snickered. “Yeah, listen to your best friend. We all know how perfect she is and never makes mistakes. Trust her, Nikki. Come with me, and you will see her again, one day.”
I love you, Aisling. Nikki knew her lover could hear her thoughts. She didn’t want to aggravate Willow, by saying it out loud. Aisling's smile and nod told Nikki that her feelings were heard.
“Kelsey and I won’t stop looking for you,” Aisling said.
Willow pushed past Mack. Grabbing Nikki by the arm, Willow said, “don’t do anything stupid Mack, because not only will Aisling pay for your stupidity, and you die; you’ll also die knowing you’re the reason I’ll have to kill Nikki once I get out of here. Be a good girl, and everyone gets out of this alive to live their lives.”
Nikki knew she needed to trust Mack. It wasn’t easy to leave the two women behind as she went with a woman she didn’t even know.
Outside of the room, Willow leaned in. “I lied.” She pushed a button on the device.
“No!” Nikki said, knowing it fell on deaf ears. She would never see Aisling and Mack again.
***
In a car driving through the streets of London, May 31, 2012
Nikki remained silent as Willow drove, muttering to herself. Rage bubbled up, and she fought off the urge to strike the woman while she drove. It didn’t matter that she would most likely die if she followed through with her plan. With Aisling and Mack dead, Nikki didn’t have much reason to keep alive. Reaching out to carry out her plan, Nikki felt a hand on her shoulder. The sensation so powerful, she almost asked Mack why it took her so long. Shaking her head. Mack isn’t here and will never come to save me again. Closing her eyes, Nikki tried to muster up the courage to stop Willow, knowing it meant she would also die in the process.
They walked past all the agents, and Willow, acting like Marina Carlotti, assured them everything was perfectly normal. Nikki and Willow walked out of the Interpol offices without anyone knowing that Mack and Aisling were in danger and most likely died from the gas inside the locked room. Nikki wanted to scream, but the gun in her side stopped her. More innocent people didn’t need to die today. Nikki decided not to try anything until she could be sure no one else would die. If it meant Nikki would die today, then so be it, as long as the woman who killed Mack and Aisling would be stopped forever.
Resigning herself to let fate take her where it may, Nikki asked Willow what her motivation had been all this time. “Why? Why did you do all of this, Willow? Did he offer you money? What would make you betray everyone as you have?
Willow shook her head while keeping her eyes on the road. The day’s light dimmed as early evening crept upon them. “You would never believe me if I told you. I could always get away with so much because no one ever suspected me — no one except that meddlesome woman. I took care of her, but not before she convinced him to pursue me. Well, we know what happened to him, don’t we?”
Nikki listened to Willow’s babble. Nothing made sense. “What woman, who are you talking about?”
“It was easy to make sure no one believed her. The medication could be easily tampered with, and I made sure she took it every day. Now, they think she’s a mindless simpleton. No one will believe anything she says. But that husband of hers was going to die sooner or later. I needed to up my plans, but then I lost the files. I needed to devise another plan to get them. Then the cousin interfered at the right time. I could have killed her, but then a new plan evolved when she survived. I needed to resurrect my Willow Matheson persona one more time. How fortuitous that I knew a Nicole Hyland, who had become an FBI agent and was the best friend of that cousin?”
Nikki’s head spun with the jumbled information Willow revealed. It sounded like Willow wasn’t just a paid patsy working for the Ghost, but an active and willing participant. “Willow, or would you prefer me to call you Marina?” Nikki didn’t care what she called the woman. As soon as it was possible, she would stop her once and for all.
“I don’t care what you call me. I do have to say of all the people I have been involved in throughout my life; you were the one who means more to me than the others. I didn’t have to act when I was around you.”
Those words piqued Nikki’s curiosity. “So, were you married and had a son, or was that all a planted backstory to maintain your undercover stories?”
Willow paled slightly. “I’m surprised you’d ask that; I never lied about Adam and David. Adam was never supposed to die, but David decided at the last minute to bring him along with him. I had plans for Adam; we were going to travel and see the world as I promised him when he was a baby. I did think I could be a good mother, but to do that, David had to be out of the picture.”
Nikki reeled from Willow’s simple explanation of how her husband and son died. Willow had planned to kill her husband, and her son was collateral damage. “I thought it was an accident; you said they died in a car accident.”
Willow chuckled manically. “Accidents are my specialty. It’s a family talent. David dying wasn’t an accident, but losing Adam wasn’t part of my plan.”
The cruel, soulless words made Nikki shiver. How could I have been so wrong about Willow?
Chapter Fifty-Two
In another car driving through the streets of London, May 31, 2012
Kelsey followed the car carrying Nikki and Marina/Willow carefully. The last thing she wanted was for Marina to know they were following closely behind. Kelsey and Aisling caught up to the car when police stopped traffic for several minutes. All part of Kelsey’s plan. When the three of them arrived at Interpol, she excused herself and spoke to an agent, Torres told her she could trust explicitly. Agent Gilbert was to watch for an agent who acted strangely or arrived after they did. Then she was to tag that agent’s car with a tracker. Also, Agent Gilbert arranged to have a traffic snafu stop the car once it left the office building, giving Kelsey and Aisling time to catch up. The rest was up to Kelsey herself to pull off.
“I still don’t know how you knew the mole was Marina. How did you know to grab the extra keycard?” Aisling had been asking Kelsey questions ever since they left the building.
“I didn’t know anything for sure, but I had an odd feeling as soon as we entered the building. It was as if I’d been there before. Then when I saw Agent Gilbert walk past, I recognized her from Torres’s information and knew I needed to talk to her. I cannot explain it; it was as if someone spoke through me. I found myself telling her to tag the car of
the next agent who walked in after us. I didn’t know who that may be; I didn’t know it was Marina. All I knew was that our lives depended on me, arranging for someone to watch our backs.”
Aisling shook her head. “But why not tell Nikki or I about your plan?”
Kelsey couldn’t explain it in a way that didn’t sound extraordinary. “It is hard to explain, but I didn’t have the plan until it came to me, and then I didn’t know how to tell you two. It looks like it was wise to keep it to myself, though. As it turned out, my plan worked perfectly.”
“So, grabbing the key card wasn’t a plan until you did it?” Aisling asked.
“When Agent Matteson said that other agents would have access to the room, a feeling came over me, and a voice in my head told me to take his key card. I did and put it in my pocket.”
Aisling snickered. “And getting knocked out was also part of the plan?”
Kelsey took a quick left, three cars behind the car carrying Nikki. Part of her concentration on the redhead. Driving and attempting to project her mind into Nikki’s was exhausting. “I didn’t plan to get knocked out, but I knew I needed to see inside of Marina’s mind. So, I took the chance to get close enough to touch her ring. I didn’t get knocked out, really. I played possum for a while to see her plans. I know where she is going. I saw she planned on releasing that gas. I saw everything. Aisling, she is the one who killed your father.”
Aisling’s gasp erupted before she could utter the scream building within her. “How? No, that can’t be true. She would never have done that to me. I don’t understand why she would work for that monster.”
Kelsey felt Aisling’s pain tear through her. Concentrating on the car in front of them, she said, “Marina is not only the mole; she’s the Ghost’s daughter.” Kelsey didn’t have to see how that news affected her cousin; the bile rising in her throat, and nausea spinning her world told her that Aisling was about to vomit.
Aisling retched for several minutes.