The Lynx Assassin (The Society Book 2)

by Karen Guyler

  So money wasn’t the reason for Agnetha’s assassination order. What else could she learn? She sipped at her drink.

  “What’s the secret then for a happy marriage?”

  Ralph interrupted, bringing over a beautifully presented tower of seafood, but there was nothing on there Eva could eat. Was that caviar? Ouch, her expenses.

  “Do you have any bread?”

  “Of course, madam, would you like salmon mousse with that?”

  “No, thank you. I’m a vegetarian. Bread will be fine, with brown cheese if you have it.”

  “Don’t know what you’re missing.” Agnetha patted her mouth with the thick napkin. “Best way to soak up the alcohol, want to be with it later.” She smiled, flicked a glance at Ralph.

  The brown cheese, a similar sweetness to it as a Caramac bar of caramel chocolate, took Eva right back to childhood Christmases spent with her godparents, magical in the snow and enveloped in the unconditional warmth she’d never really felt from her mother.

  “Do you have children?” she asked.

  “No.” Agnetha’s answer was prompt, practised. But then the champagne prised loose a further truth. “I’d never seen myself without them but we were so busy building the business time ran away with us. It has its advantages, I’m always free to pursue what I choose, go wherever I want.”

  Ralph’s ministrations with the champagne upended the bottle for the last of it to dribble out into Agnetha’s glass. She said something to him in Norwegian; he replied and she ordered something else that he tapped into his phone. A lot of something else, an Amazon jungle fruit to be flown in while they waited and drank the bar dry? Chocolate topped gold bars?

  “I have to go.” Agnetha cut Eva’s wondering short.

  “But–”

  “Another time.”

  “It’s been great to see you,” Eva said. “Fancy bumping into you here, of all the places you go, you have such an exciting life.”

  Agnetha stood up. “Life’s only exciting if you’re leading it.”

  12

  “Hungry?”

  Luke swung himself into the seat opposite Eva in the hotel restaurant. The two slices of pizza left on the black plate gave her away.

  “It’s Margherita, help yourself.”

  Luke gestured at the nearly empty bottles of water and lemonade, the coffee pot.

  “Thirsty, too?”

  Eva nodded, straightening up in her seat.

  “Where’ve you been?” He took a slice and bit into it.

  She leant in towards him. “I met Agnetha.”

  “Have you been drinking?”

  She held up her thumb and index finger a couple of centimetres apart. “Teeny bit, just to keep my cover,” she whispered the word.

  Luke chewed the pizza. She poured the dregs of coffee into her cup, screwing her nose up at the bitter smell. Maybe that was the bit that would work, the rest of it didn’t seem to have done much good.

  He reached for another slice. “When we’re on mission, we don’t do that. You can order a non-alcoholic version of almost everything now, a mock-tail—”

  “She had champagne, out of a bottle.” Eva’s reply was snappier than it needed to be. “I tried to have coffee.”

  “You should’ve answered your phone.” Luke ordered a coffee, gestured at her pot. She shook her head; the thought of anything else to eat or drink made her feel sick. “I could have reminded you we don’t have contact with the clients.”

  “It was kind of an accident. It’s not like there’s a field manual for me to follow, I thought she might lead me to her husband. I wanted to see them together. How was your errand?” Eva tried to change the subject.

  “You were told that’s not protocol.”

  “I know, but it’s my mission.” She clapped her hand over her mouth, looked around her. “Mission,” she whispered.

  “Did you have your phone tracker on?”

  “Course.”

  Luke paused while the server deposited his coffee order on the table.

  “You have to weigh the risks of every step you take on a case. Risk versus reward, the reward has to be worth the danger factor every time.”

  Eva burst out laughing. “The only danger was to my expenses and I’m afraid to report it was fatal. Agnetha had caviar, on top of the champagne.”

  “If you’ve blown it, at least you did it with style.”

  “She bought my,” Eva had to force herself to lower her voice again, “cover story. I’m not an idiot.”

  He sipped his drink, put the cup down carefully on the saucer. “People rarely tell you they don’t believe you to your face, they’re far more likely to give you disinformation.”

  “Well, we can see. I recorded everything she said, including all the stuff she didn’t want me to hear in Norwegian.”

  Nora’s call cut through the moody silence in their SUV.

  “Hey, Nora, you’re on speaker with Luke and me. Any news on us being able to close things up here?” Eva sounded like she knew what she was doing. Had to love that champagne confidence, even if it was making her mouth dry, and feeding a growing ache behind her eyes.

  “Not yet, other than Agnetha Rubin is an impatient lady. She’s messaged The Society to find out why her husband’s still breathing. Offered more money to bring forward his demise. He’s going to Denmark later tonight and she wants us to bring down his jet.”

  “Wow, that’s cold.” Agnetha looked like a model, led a desirable life with everything Rubin’s money could buy, yet she wanted him killed in a fireball, along with the cabin crew. This side of her didn’t marry up at all with what Eva had seen of her. “What did you tell her?”

  “We haven’t replied, no one has The Society dance to their tune.”

  “Let us know when we can hand her in.” Eva disconnected.

  Luke slowed the car and pulled off the main road onto an unsignposted lane. The tyres crunched on the gritted snow. The trees on either side of the narrow turning leant over the car as though they were trying to hide it. Their headlights burrowed through the deepening shadows. A blaze of security lights jabbed at Eva’s eyes as Luke drove out of the natural tunnel onto a flat paved area, banked by shovelled drifts of snow. Behind a mostly open garage door, one of a block of four, the pearlescent Tesla was charging.

  The house didn’t suggest a billionaire lived there. Nestled in the dip where the ground sloped downwards away from the drive, it looked more like an extended cabin.

  Luke turned the SUV round, so it was facing out the way they’d driven in. “Always want to be thinking about your exit. Ready?”

  “I’m guessing I don’t tell him his wife is planning on having him killed?”

  “It’s your call. There’s no set thing we do, it depends on so many factors. Is she in danger if he knows? Is it the only way to save his life? She seems desperate to get rid of him quickly. What might she do if we don’t deal with her now? She might have broken the law but we don’t know what’s going on in their marriage, who they are to each other.”

  Luke was a surprising guy, like a kaleidoscope Eva was never sure which side of him she was going to see. He withdrew his gun.

  They were going in weapons drawn?

  Luke checked his and returned it to his holster, looked at her.

  She had hers in her hand, checking. “Every time before going into a scenario.”

  He took hold of the door handle. “Ready?”

  Not really. She nodded.

  Outside was lit up like a TV studio, dazzling them under spotlights from every direction. Carl Rubin took security seriously.

  Her feet had just touched the ground when Sean Finch appeared.

  “You need to leave.”

  Eva shut the door. “We need Mr Rubin to answer our questions and then we will. We won’t take up much of his time.” Out of his parka, Finch was as muscular as she’d expect a bodyguard to be. Dark blond hair, tall, he had a calm demeanour about him that was probably his biggest asset in his line of
work. It was more threatening than if he’d been screaming in her face to get out of there. There was something about him, his restless gaze, the vibe he gave off that he could take on and beat anything. She straightened up, channelling the authority the fake ID gave her. “My partner’s desperate for dinner, trust me, it’s not worth it for me to be anything other than quick. And, unless you want us to bring local law enforcement out here as well, you’ll co-operate.”

  Tensed against a hand stopping her, she crossed the courtyard, the soles of her boots crunching on the salt laid to stop overnight snow freezing.

  The inside of the house continued the outside surprise, more log cabin than luxurious country spread. Rubin was standing in front of an enormous picture window in the lounge, but the view was lost in the darkness behind the various lamps that threw muted pools of light over the comfy furnishings and warm rugs. The view must be quite something in daylight.

  “Can you close the curtains?” Eva asked.

  Rubin picked up and pointed something at them. They swished together. “You’re very jumpy for an Interpol agent.”

  He pointed it at the blank, uninviting fireplace. Flames instantly ignited, making the room perfect, if she paid no attention to the yawning blackness beyond the fabric at the window that could hide any number of assassins.

  “Biofuel,” he explained, setting the remote down. “Burning wood, apart from being the worst thing we can do to a tree, takes the planet years to recover that carbon.”

  “I’ve heard it’s not so good for us to breathe in either.” Eva said.

  “How did you find this place?” He asked.

  “We’re Interpol, Mr Rubin, we can find a lot of places.”

  “But this one?” He shot a look at Finch. Eva wasn’t going to tell him she’d recorded his wife giving the address to Ralph for a booty call when he’d left for Denmark. “IDs.” Rubin held his hand out.

  He inspected the unassuming cards in their fake leather wallets, apparently reading every character. Eva forced herself to stand still, look relaxed, not snatch it back, repeating Luke’s assurance to herself that they were as good as the real thing.

  “You sound very British.” Rubin observed

  “Interpol officers are drawn from all over Europe.” Eva repeated the spiel that was included in her dossier.

  “You don’t say much.” He gestured at Luke.

  “She’s the lead on this investigation.”

  Rubin returned Luke’s ID, looked at Eva. “Forgive me, Ms Miles, but you seem familiar. Have we met before?”

  “Not that I’m aware.”

  Eva and Luke’s phones both sounded. A text from Nora, Agnetha at the end of her patience, she’d take matters into her own hands if they didn’t complete the job that night.

  “How did you know I’d be here?” Rubin asked.

  “An educated guess,” Eva said. “The quicker you answer our questions, the sooner we can let you enjoy your evening.”

  “You haven’t asked any yet. So what can I help you with this time?”

  “Well, you didn’t help us earlier, let’s hope we make more progress now. Who do you suspect was responsible for Goran Willander’s death?”

  Rubin spread his hands. “As I told the Norwegian police, I have no idea. Goran was well-liked, a good partner, supportive, not as innovative in his thinking as me, but that’s why our partnership worked. It’s been a terrible shock. Why is Interpol interested in a domestic incident?”

  Tell him or don’t. Eva flicked a glance at Luke but he was watching Rubin, not her. A vision of a jet exploding, raining fiery globules of burning aviation fuel and charred body parts loosened her tongue.

  “We believe you were the target, but the perpetrator missed.”

  Rubin looked surprised. “He shot Goran instead of me?”

  Eva nodded. “We would like to take you into protective custody for your safety until we can catch the perpetrator.”

  “Do you have any idea who it is?”

  Rubin waited for her to fill the silence. He couldn’t know she could out stubborn Lily, she stared right back.

  “Let’s speed this up.” he said. “If you’re looking for enemies, I have many and they are legion. I’ve broken the mould of what was before. The oil and gas companies, the people behind those, are probably all my number one enemy. Others in the green energy field, jealous of Futura Energy’s success. No one, I would say, locally, we’re a definite benefit, we’ve brought wealth and jobs to the area and I’ve rejected every suitor trying to woo us away with tax incentives and a lower operating cost. Here,” he waved at the view beyond the closed curtains, “you can breathe, you can feel the power of nature in this vastness. It looks empty, doesn’t it, but you’d be surprised at what’s out there.”

  Eva found herself nodding, she knew there was life hiding within the snow. Her godfather had shown her how to spot it, seek the footprints she’d delighted in identifying with him when her parents had taken her to stay with him in Sweden. Per, such a sadness crushed her at his death.

  “We’re playing catch up,” Rubin was on his soapbox now, “we need to get faster at it. There are those who believe we’re too late to save the planet, but I don’t subscribe to that theory.”

  “Is it true there are enough resources for everyone, they’re just badly distributed, hoarded by people with wealth and power?” she asked.

  “It depends on the metrics used to measure them. We’re an overpopulated planet, that much is certain. We should never have got to this point where we’re jeopardising our survival, but humankind is selfish. Our populations are out of control, expanded beyond the point that a slowdown in the birth rate can save us.”

  “Save us?” Eva asked. It sounded over-dramatic.

  Rubin’s stare was righteous. “We can’t carry on as we are.”

  “Getting back to you, we need you to lie low for a while.”

  “No.”

  “Mr Rubin, I don’t think you understand—”

  “I understand more than you’re aware of.” He looked at his watch. “I have somewhere to be.”

  Eva’s imagination made his plane crash worse by the imaginary addition of a single high-heeled shoe and a captain’s hat strewn at the top of a debris field on a scarred landscape.

  Six o’clock. Ralph was driving there after his shift at the champagne bar, but Agnetha could arrive at any minute. “Your wife is the person who ordered the hit on you.” She blurted.

  “My wife?” Of all the ways he might react, she didn’t expect him to laugh. “You’re mistaken.”

  “She’s instructed another, better operative, who won’t miss. What we’re asking you to do is—”

  “Impossible. I have responsibilities here and abroad.”

  “I’m talking about your life here, Mr Rubin. Surely nothing is more important?”

  “There you are, another human with an inflated sense of self-importance. I’m not going into hiding, if that’s what you’re implying.” He gestured out the window behind her. “That’s important, we’re not, we’re just here for the shortest time, a ship passing.”

  “I’d like to make sure you reach your port.”

  “I’ve no intention of altering my plans. Sean will show you out.”

  Eva could see the members of the review panel shaking their heads, ticking the box on her first objective—fail.

  13

  “What?” Luke watched the windscreen but the blasting heater of their rented SUV hadn’t cleared one ice crystal from the outside. “I can hear you thinking from here.”

  “What do you do if the potential victim won’t co-operate?”

  “Doesn’t usually happen.”

  “Rubin’s reaction was odd, wasn’t it? Who laughs when they find out their partner wants them dead?”

  “You’d be surprised at how some people deal with it.”

  “But why would he think that way if she’s saying she’ll kill him if we won’t.”

  Luke peered through the clea
r sliver at the bottom of the windscreen. “What else?”

  The security lights lit him up from behind, so his face wasn’t easy to read. Was this a test?

  “He’s not impressed we found it, this place, he seemed more surprised about that than anything.”

  “What makes you say that? Maybe he’s late to get wherever he’s going. Plus, as far as he’s concerned, we’re law enforcement. No one gets to be where he is without a few skeletons.”

  Luke released the handbrake and drove forward slowly.

  Maybe the house was the origin.

  “This address not being listed in his or her name,” Eva persisted, “means it’s hidden by a front company. Why? What doesn’t he want us to find here?”

  Luke reached the end of the drive.

  “What you said about risk versus reward, how does waiting for Rubin to leave and then taking a look around figure?” Eva asked.

  “You want to break into his house?”

  She rubbed her hands together, warming them up while the heater focused on the windscreen. “He closed the curtains as soon as I asked but at the fjord, right out in the open, he wasn’t bothered about an assassin?” She let Luke catch up to her hunch.

  “There’s something out there he doesn’t want us to see.”

  Eva ignored the tap dance her insides were doing. “No need to break into anywhere if it’s in the back garden. What do you think?”

  “You did the training part about stakeouts, right?”

  “I did, boring, cold, boring, tiring, boring.”

  “And you still want to do it?”

  They were approaching the end of the tree tunnel. To the right was Bergen, the hotel, dinner, sleep, warmth. To the left an uncertain time in an inhospitable environment waiting. For nothing potentially. Eva nodded to herself. “I do.”

  “Okay, it’s your call.” Which made her think it was the wrong one again. “Just in case they have cameras out here.” Luke indicated right and turned toward Bergen. He drove until he passed the first bend and did a rapid three-point turn. Back past the Rubin property line, he did the same again to park on the verge, turning off the headlights and engine.