by Estelle Ryan
Despite this new development, I no longer longed for the days when my life was void of friends and the wealth of emotions and experience they brought into my life. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose one of them. I wondered if Caelan was coping with the loss of his friend. Did the intensity of the emotions he was experiencing confuse him or had he learned how to understand and deal with it?
I wasn’t able to ease Caelan’s grieving, but I could do everything in my power to find out who had killed Jace and stop that person. My mind was already cataloguing every bit of evidence we’d gathered so far and prioritising which I should peruse next.
Colin’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen clearly displayed where the phone was in its holder on the dashboard. He smiled at me. “It’s Johan Klein.”
Chapter ELEVEN
“JOHAN, I’M GLAD TO hear from you.” Colin’s accent shocked me and I glared at him. He was speaking with a heavy Scottish accent. He winked at me, then turned his attention back to the road. “How are you?”
“I’m well, Isaac. Just a bit surprised to hear from you.”
Johan Klein was speaking to one of Colin’s aliases. Isaac Watts was known for the hundreds of hymns he wrote in seventeenth-century England, not for the poems or the textbook on logic he wrote. I disliked it immensely when Colin went under a false name. Deception was not a strong point for me and having to remember all his different aliases was exhausting. He enjoyed it.
“Well, the other day I saw a painting that came from your talented hands.” Colin’s tone was calm and respectful.
“You flatter me. What did you see? Where?”
“It was a stunning Roubaud.”
“Hmm.” His reply was quiet and he paused before continuing. “Yeah, that.”
Colin lifted one eyebrow and glanced at me. “Tell me more about this Roubaud.”
“Why?” The suspicion in Johan’s tone was so obvious that even I picked up on it.
“Come on, Johan. You know that I can’t resist finding out about something when I’m intrigued.”
“Word is that you’re turning people in.”
Colin snorted. “Turning people in? What does that mean?”
“That you’re working for the cops now. You’re ratting your friends out.”
I frowned at Colin’s phone and tilted my head in an irrational attempt to hear better. I was concerned. Even though Colin didn’t actively work at maintaining his reputation as a notorious thief, he’d been excessively careful not to let anyone find out he was indeed working for Interpol as well as our team.
Colin didn’t appear worried though. He uttered a sound of derision. “Who said what to you?”
“Nobody said anything specific. It’s just that a few of the forgers you were in contact with are now in jail.”
“For forgery?”
“Uh... no.” Friendliness returned to his voice. “They were arrested for murder, grand larceny and fraud.”
“Things you know I have zero interest in. I only care about art.”
“That you do.” The smile that accompanied his words hinted at history between him and Colin. I thought about this for three seconds and decided I didn’t care. I wanted to find this killer who tortured people before throwing them away like trash.
“So tell me more about this Roubaud.” Colin glanced in the rear view mirror and frowned before he turned into a side street. “You know I want all the juicy gossip.”
“Like a dog with a bone.” Johan sighed. “Fine. I painted that Roubaud on request for a client. A paying client.”
“I know you don’t do illegal stuff, Johan. Just borderline.” Colin chuckled. “That’s why I like you. You skirt the edges all the time.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know if I skirted too close to the edge with this Roubaud.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” It was quiet for a few seconds. “I had a bad feeling about this from the start. The client was very specific about the painting she wanted. There was something off about the whole deal.”
“She?” Colin looked in the rear view mirror again and frowned.
“Yes. Élodie Baille. A soft-spoken young lady. She didn’t know very much about art, but she seemed cultured enough. Her English was quite good, but then we spoke French because she was more comfortable with that.”
“Did she say why she specifically wanted a Roubaud?”
“It was a private joke, she’d said. Didn’t tell me what the joke was.”
“Huh. Did you meet this Élodie?”
“No, we did everything online. She insisted I use a courier to deliver the painting.”
“Do you remember the courier’s name?”
“Yes. It was banal. Easy Post. No creativity at all when they thought up that name.”
“How did she pay you?”
There was a long silence. “What’s going on, Isaac? You’re asking a lot of questions here.”
“It’s something bad.” Colin glanced in the rear view mirror and his eyes narrowed. “So? How did Élodie pay you?”
“In cash. You know, this is another reason I didn’t like this deal. She paid promptly, didn’t quarrel about the price, but...”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to sound like one of those anti-immigrant people, but the guy who brought the cash was Arabic. He looked okay and was very nice. But now you’re asking all these questions and... well, I don’t know. I’m thinking that I should stay far away from Ms Baille.”
When Colin looked in the rear view mirror again, his expression sent a rush of adrenaline into my system. He entered the main road we’d just come from and pushed himself against the seat. “Johan, I’ll have to call you back in a bit.”
“Oh. Okay.” Johan cleared his throat. “Listen, I’ll be unplugged for the rest of today. Phone me tomorrow.”
“Will do.” Colin was no longer paying attention to the conversation. Instead he looked at the side mirrors before ending the call. Immediately, he tapped on the phone to start another call.
I looked behind us, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Except that we’d turned around and were returning to the forest. The road we were on was always busy. It only emptied when one got closer to the forest. As I turned back to ask Colin why we were going back, his call went through.
“Dude! Whaddap!” Vinnie sounded happier than after the confrontation with Manny.
“Vin, we’re being followed.”
“The fuck?” Vinnie paused then shouted to get Daniel’s attention, his voice muffled, but loud enough to make me wince. “Where are you? We’re coming to you.”
“I’m on my way back to the Robertsau forest. We crossed the bridge and are just about to go past the turnoff to Adèle’s house.” Colin glanced in the rear view mirror again. “Two SUVs, both with tinted windows. I can’t see how many inside.”
A door slammed and the sound of an engine starting came over the phone. “You think they know you’re onto them? Did they do anything when you turned around?”
“No. They just continued following us at a distance.”
“Jen-girl, you there?”
My voice croaked when I answered and I cleared my throat. “I’m here.”
“You doing okay?”
“I’m well.” I was also extremely worried and was trying to see these vehicles Colin had spotted. I couldn’t. There were too many other cars on the road to be sure which ones were following us.
“Dude, bring them all the way here. Dan is on the horn to the old man. We’ll get Franny to track as much as she can on the city cameras as well.”
“I’ll keep this line open for now, but I’ll let Jenny speak to Francine. You deal with Millard.”
“Oh, boy.” Vinnie’s resigned sigh would’ve been amusing had it not been for the deep concern etched into Colin’s expression.
“You’re worried.” I felt silly stating the obvious.
“I am.” He nodded. “I have something very precious in the car
with me that I want to keep safe.”
I frowned. “What?”
Colin’s smile was immediate and relieved some of the tension. “Not a what, a who.” He glanced at me. “You.”
“Oh.” I shook my head to change the topic. “I can’t see the SUVs following us.”
“They’re keeping a really good distance and they’re not making it obvious.” He looked at the rear view mirror again. “The first one is the silver SUV behind the small blue Toyota. The second is four cars behind him. A charcoal colour.”
I looked again and saw the silver SUV. But I couldn’t see the darker-coloured vehicle. I turned back in my seat and looked at Colin. Really looked. His eyebrows were drawn in and down, the corners of his mouth also turned down, his lips tight.
Colin’s past and his many aliases had helped him develop exceptional control over his emotions, especially allowing his thoughts and emotions to show through nonverbal cues. To see him so obviously concerned brought pure panic to my mind. Darkness seeped into my peripheral vision and my breathing shallowed.
“Jenny!” Colin’s sharp tone brought me back from giving in to the safety of that darkness. “Love, I need you to phone Francine.”
I couldn’t. I wanted to, but I was frozen. I hadn’t given in to the looming shutdown, but my mind didn’t allow my body to react to Colin’s request. I couldn’t even speak.
I pushed Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major into my mind and thought about Jace. He had overcome so much more than I had. My ability to verbalise my thoughts had always been a way for me to maintain control over my life and mind. He’d never had that. Yet he’d achieved so much. I focused harder on the Allegro playing in my mind. If Jace could venture out into the world without the ability to talk then I could regain control over my hands and phone Francine.
It wasn’t that simple. Colin spoke gently to me, encouraging me, but I felt powerless. Knowing that he needed my help to keep us safe exacerbated my panic. It was the dramatic Queen of the Night aria of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte that jerked me out of this new kind of shutdown.
Immediately, I knew where it came from and I took my phone from its place in my handbag. This might be the only time I wasn’t irritated with Colin for changing the ringtones on my phone. I swiped the screen to put her on speakerphone. “Francine.”
“Hey, girlfriend. Are you okay?”
“No.” I cleared my throat and rolled my shoulders to get rid of the lingering effects of feeling trapped in my own body.
“What can I do?” She paused for a second. “Colin? Are you listening?”
“Yes, you’re on speakerphone.” Colin raised his voice slightly, but didn’t turn towards my phone. I rested it in the palm of my hand and held it closer to him. “Can you get eyes on our location?”
“I got your GPS location from your phone the moment Dan called Manny. But you are fast on your way out of the range of the city cameras.” The sound of keystrokes in the background was non-stop. “You thinking I can get a lock on the idiots following you? Hack their cars?”
Colin huffed a laugh. “Um, no. I wasn’t thinking that, but if you can do it, great. I was hoping for IDs on those guys. Car registration or something that can help us know who we’re dealin—”
“Woohoo! Gotcha!” Francine’s loud exclamation interrupted Colin and startled me. “Dammit. I won’t be able to hack them. These are rental cars, but”—her voice drifted off and the clicking of keystrokes increased—“yup, they’ve disabled all ways to track them or connect to them remotely. No Bluetooth, wifi or anything like that.”
“Where’s Millard?”
“He ran out as soon as Dan called. Ooh! This is interesting.”
Colin glanced in the rear view mirror again, his eyes widening slightly. “It will have to wait. Can you hack the traffic lights of anything that will give us a chance to catch them?”
“No.” Immediately I shook my head. “No. No. I don’t want to catch anyone.”
“You don’t have to, Genevieve.” Daniel’s confident tone coming through Colin’s phone calmed me. “We’re just about finished setting up fifty metres before the entrance to the forest parking area. Colin, bring them in. We’ll close behind you and lock them in.”
“We also cleared all oncoming traffic,” Vinnie said. “As soon as you pass that little condo village and the bend that takes you on the straight stretch before the parking area, drop your foot on the gas and let them race on behind you.”
I gripped the sides of my seat. I didn’t like this plan. I didn’t like breaking the speed limit. And I really didn’t like racing away from unknown assailants.
Colin glanced at my hands. “Should I play Mozart?”
“No. Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries is more appropriate.”
Colin let out a surprised laugh. “Did you just make a joke?”
“No.” I frowned when my answer made him and the others laugh. It did lift some of the tension in my muscles and I listened as Vinnie and Daniel talked in the background about their plan.
We drove past the last upmarket two-storied condo buildings and entered the long bend to the left that took us over a small bridge. Ahead of us, the road straightened and Colin accelerated like Vinnie had suggested. “Vin. Dan. I’m coming in.”
I couldn’t help the keening sound that escaped my mouth. I pulled my knees up and hugged them tightly to my chest, biting down on my lips to avoid another keen from filling the car.
“They still tailing you?” Vinnie asked.
Colin looked at the side mirrors. “Yes. And they’re also speeding up. They know I’m onto them.”
“We see you, dude. Come straight through.”
I could see them. Two GIPN trucks were parked diagonally across the road, leaving a small space in the middle. Colin was aiming for that space. Another keen left my mouth and I felt my muscles lock into place. We raced past a small entrance road to the forest, too fast to confirm that I had indeed seen another GIPN truck parked there.
I didn’t want to be in this car. I didn’t want to see that small space coming closer and closer at a speed that could mean our deaths if Colin merely clipped one of the trucks. Yet I couldn’t close my eyes.
I exhaled on another keen as we went between the two trucks without incident. The moment we cleared the narrow space, Colin slammed on the brakes and with the handbrake turned our vehicle on squealing tyres until we stopped, facing the opposite direction.
There was no longer a space between the trucks. The two large GIPN vehicles blocked the whole road. The road had no shoulder or even space for our pursuers to pass the trucks without risking major damage to their vehicles. I couldn’t see past the large vehicles onto the road, but knew that the SUVs had to be very close.
I saw the silver SUV when it left the road and went onto the rough embankment leading down to the forest. It made it past the left side of the trucks, but hit a log or a rock or something that sent the front end into the air. As if in slow motion, the vehicle became fully airborne, twisting on its way back as gravity won.
It landed with a deafening crunch on the front and continued to flip. Over and over and over until it came to a shuddering halt against a tree.
And exploded.
The shockwaves from the explosion reached our SUV and gently rocked it. I tightened my hold around my knees as Colin uttered a barely audible, “Oh, shit.”
At that moment, the darker SUV came roaring past the other side of the two GIPN trucks, through the billowing smoke and right past my window. I thought of trying to catch a glimpse of the driver, but my eyes were glued to the muzzle flashes coming from the gun aimed at me.
“Jenny!” Colin grabbed my arm, pulled me down and threw himself on top of me as tiny pieces of glass rained down on us.
It was over so quick that the silence that followed felt deafening, the sound of the departing SUV soon gone.
Then chaos erupted.
“Jen-girl! Motherfuckers! Jen-girl! Dude!”
“I’m
okay, Vin.” Colin got up and pulled me too as well. He stared at me, his facial muscles tight with concern. “Jenny?”
I couldn’t speak. This was even worse than before. My muscles were completely frozen. I could barely breathe.
“Love, I’m going to make sure you’re okay.” Colin unlocked his seatbelt, then mine and searched my body for any injuries. My eyes didn’t even want to cooperate and follow him as he lifted my boots and touched my legs. All the while, he talked quietly to me, assuring me that we were safe. Once he was satisfied that I was unharmed, he straightened and looked past me. “She’s okay. But she’ll need a moment.”
“She doesn’t get a bloody moment. Get out of my way!” Manny’s harsh tone was followed by my car door being jerked open. “Missy! Look at me! You don’t get to hide. Tell me you’re okay!”
“Millard.” The gentleness in Colin’s tone brought a familiar tightness to my chest.
“Bugger off, Frey!” Manny gripped my shoulders, something he never did. He shook me. “Tell me you’re okay. Missy!”
I couldn’t. I wanted to. I wanted to reassure him so the stark fear I saw in his eyes would go away. But my mind didn’t allow that. Instead it pushed me deeper into the darkness until I could no longer hear Colin’s soothing words trying to calm Manny.
Chapter TWELVE
THE FIRST THING I BECAME aware of was the discomfort in my arms and legs. I was still clutching my knees to my chest, my arm muscles quivering with the effort. It took mentally writing the first two lines of Mozart’s Violin Sonata No. 17 in C major before I could open my eyes.
I was still in the passenger seat of Colin’s SUV and we were driving. The window on my side was gone, cold air coming into the car, yet I was warm. I looked down and saw a GIPN blanket wrapped around me. The floorboard was covered in small pieces of glass. I swallowed and looked out of the open window.
The streets looked familiar and I soon realised we were about five minutes away from the team room. On a deep inhale I lowered my legs and winced. The blood circulation had been hampered by my position and now that the flow was restored, pins and needles caused me great discomfort.