Critical Play (Michael Cailen Book 3)

by Mel LeBrun

  There was no answer on Jessica's phone and Corvo tried again. Then a third time with the same result. Abandoning that avenue, Corvo called Gatti to get assistance with contacting Jeff to warn them. Gatti assured him that he would take care of it immediately.

  The paramedics arrived just seconds later and the focus became getting Jinx to the hospital and trying to keep her calm as she repeatedly begged Josh to kill her. Josh could hardly take seeing his wife in that condition and feeling utterly helpless to comfort her. He continued to try his best while himself feeling dread over Jessica and Tatiana.

  Because of her extreme emotional state, Jinx was sedated almost immediately upon arriving at the hospital. Having nothing else to do, Corvo parked himself in a chair in the waiting room and waited for an update on her condition. Even though Jinx, his coworker and close friend, was being treated in the emergency room, all Corvo could think about was Jessica. The minutes dragged by with still no word from Gatti. He should have been able to reach her by now, Corvo thought. Losing patience he called Gatti back to find out what was going on.

  “I can't reach her,” Gatti informed him.

  “What do you mean you can't reach her? Have you tried calling Jeff?” Corvo asked as if the thought never occurred to Gatti.

  “Yes, of course I tried. I can't reach anyone. I even tracked down the cell numbers of his bodyguards. No one is answering.”

  “Well send somebody over there!” Corvo nearly shouted.

  “I'm going to let that go,” Gatti said, referring to Corvo's tone. “I already gave the order. I have our closest asset going to the house now. ETA is two hours.”

  “Two hours?!”

  “It is the best we can do. What do you want me to do? Send the local police? And tell them what?” Gatti asked. “Because I sure as hell can't explain what's going on. And you know as well as I that by the time they decide what to do with the request and actually dispatch someone to the house our guy could have been there already.”

  Corvo anxiously paced the hallway trying not to lose his mind. He just knew something bad happened. There was no other explanation that made sense. The pit in his stomach grew so big it felt like it combined with his heart and the two were now one.

  Gatti could sense his anxiety. “Don't jump to conclusions, Lance. We don't know anything yet. They could be fine.”

  “Do you believe that?” Corvo asked.

  The truth was, Gatti didn't. He too feared the worst but was trying to keep it together until he got confirmation. If something happened, there was nothing they could do about it now anyway.

  “I'll call you when I hear from our guy,” was all Gatti replied.

  Corvo just shook his head and hung up the phone. He sat back down and clutched his head in his hands, wishing he hadn't made Jessica go to her father's. While Gatti was close with the Cailens, Corvo had more personal contact with them and thus his emotions were more involved than Gatti's. Compound that with Corvo's romantic feelings for Jessica, and the he was ready to lose his mind.

  Corvo waited out the next two hours agonizing in the hospital waiting room. He still hadn't heard from Gatti when Josh came out to bring him news. With swollen and bloodshot eyes, Josh looked like he had been dragged through hell and back.

  Corvo stood as he approached and tried to act calm. “How is she?”

  “Sleeping now. They got her cleaned up. Bloodwork came back OK. No drugs in her system. Whatever they used, it metabolized. She's dehydrated, obviously.” Josh wiped away tears.

  “Was she...” Corvo ran his hand down his face not able to finish the question.

  As if someone had just turned on a faucet, steady tears streamed down Josh's face. He shook his head. “They don't think so.” He resorted to using his sleeve to dry his face as it became impossible to keep up with the flow of tears that just wouldn't stop.

  Corvo felt relief over that. It would be hard enough to recover from what happened to her without that element added to the trauma.

  “They're running tests though, just to be sure,” Josh continued.

  “It will give her piece of mind,” Corvo said. “In case she doesn't remember.”

  Josh nodded in agreement.

  “Can I see her?” Corvo asked.

  Josh shook his head. “She doesn't want to see you. Don't take it personal. She doesn't want to see me either. I'm just not giving her a choice.”

  “She's gotta forgive herself,” Corvo said.

  “I know. Right now she won't.”

  Corvo could tell Josh was holding back. He looked like he was ready to burst.

  “Has she said anything?” Corvo asked.

  “She uhhh...” Josh dried his eyes. “She keeps asking me to kill her.” As he said the words he completely broke down sobbing. He loved Jinx so much and to hear her pleading with him to take her life was unbearable.

  Corvo didn't know how to respond. Though he wasn't big on hugging other guys, he felt perhaps he could make an exception in this case. He put his arm around Josh in an effort to console him.

  While Josh was trying to regroup, Corvo's phone rang. It was Gatti. Corvo answered, anxious for news on Jessica.

  “Who is with you?” Gatti asked.

  “Just Josh. Why?” Corvo responded.

  “Go someplace where you can be alone,” Gatti said.

  Corvo gave Josh a look and then walked down the hall towards an exit. “What's going on?”

  Gatti was silent for what felt like an unbearable amount of time.

  “Jeffrey Bowen's estate is engulfed in flames. There is no sign of Jeff, Jessica, Dmitri or his friends,” Gatti bluntly informed him.

  The news took Corvo's breath away. Flooded with emotions too complicated to process all at once. he could only stand there in shock holding the phone in his trembling hand.

  “They are still battling the fire,” Gatti continued. “Bullet casings were found outside the house. It will be hours before they can even get into the house, days before they will be able to ID any bodies they find in the wreckage. Assuming there are some.”

  Corvo couldn't speak.

  “Lance?”

  “I'm here.”

  “You OK?”

  “Not really.”

  Gatti took a deep breath. “To be honest I'm just trying not to think about it.”

  Corvo could only grunt in response. His legs felt weak and his head was spinning.

  “Look, Lance. I know you're close to them. I am too. But you need to put your personal feelings aside and do your job. Renier may still be out there and we still have a nuclear weapon in the hands of terrorists.”

  In that moment, Corvo wanted to tell Gatti where he could stick his job but he restrained himself.

  Gatti continued, “As soon as I hear anything about Jess or Jeff I will contact you.”

  “Yes sir,” Corvo replied.

  “In the meantime, I want you to track down the informant who gave us the address.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I suspect it was Renier or one of his men who gave us the intel.”

  “Why would they?” As Corvo was asking the question, he realized the answer. “They gave us the address because they were already gone.”

  “I suspect so.”

  “Greedy...” Corvo mumbled a few expletives.

  “That greed was the only reason they told us where she was. Otherwise, I think they would have left her there to die a slow and painful death.”

  “I suppose that's true.”

  “Find the informant. And Lance?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Don't tell Josh and for God's sake, don't tell Michael.”

  Corvo closed his eyes and shook his head not liking anything about what Gatti was asking him to do. “Yes, sir.”

  Corvo hung up the phone feeling like a part of him had just died inside. He immensely regretted not going to Jessica when she begged him to. Her pleas echoed in his head. He thought about how things might have turned out differently if he had thrown ca
ution to the wind and gone to be with her.

  Corvo tried to push the thoughts of Jessica out of his mind. He wanted to crumple in a ball on the floor and disappear in a mass of self-pity but instead h­e channeled those feelings in a different direction. He focused his mind on revenge. Whatever it took, he would find Renier and make him pay.

  Gatti hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. He glanced across his desk at the man who was seated on the other side. Tall with salt and pepper hair that rivaled Gatti’s, the man was wearing a black suit and tie. He was sitting back, relaxed with one leg resting on his knee, patiently waiting for Gatti to finish his call.

  “Well?” the man asked. “What do you want to do?”

  Gatti pondered the question some more before finally responding, “Bring him in.”

  Corvo slowly, numbly walked back to the waiting room where Josh was still recovering. Josh was oblivious to his return until he took the seat next to him.

  “Was that Tim?” Josh asked. “Is Jessica all right?”

  “We don't know,” Corvo answered. “He didn't get a hold of her yet.”

  “After this long?” Josh asked in disbelief. “What did he say?”

  “Nothing, he just called about a case. That's all.” Corvo's mind was like scrambled eggs and it showed in his voice.

  “A case?” Josh asked, not believing it for a minute. “Jessica and Ana are in mortal danger and you two take a time out to discuss some case?” Josh waited for a response but Corvo gave none. “Bull,” Josh said finally. “What happened?”

  “I have orders,” Corvo tried to explain.

  “If it's about Jessica, then to hell with your orders. What happened?”

  Corvo knew that disclosing the truth could unleash a fury like nothing he'd seen before if it ever got back to Michael.

  “Lance,” Josh said sternly. “Is Jessica safe?”

  “No,” Corvo answered. “Our agent reported Jeff’s estate on fire. They're still trying to put it out. We don't know what happened and there's no word on Jess or Ana. We won't know if they were in the house for a few days at least.”

  Josh was horrified. He knew how it felt not knowing where his wife was or if he would ever see her alive again. He couldn't comprehend the additional distress of missing a child, not to mention the one that was on the way. The mere thought of it was unbearable.

  “Maybe they got out,” Josh suggested. “Maybe they got away.”

  “I think she would have called by now,” Corvo replied, suppressing feelings of anger and despair. “I don't think we should tell Michael,” Corvo added. “Not until we know for sure.”

  Josh fell back in his seat. He couldn't speak. Couldn't think. Didn't want to think. He wished it was just a nightmare he could wake from. Both men sat quietly, wishing for the same thing. For none of it to be real.

  Chapter 24

  As Michael and David conducted agonizingly boring surveillance on the apartment where Grekov's suspected mistress lived, Michael thought it might be a good time to try and check in with everyone back home. Was there any news on Jinx? How were Jessica and Tatiana doing? Questions he had pushed to the back of his mind were becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

  Michael left David to watch the apartment alone while he went to purchase a new phone. He couldn't get through to Gatti, so he left a message for either Gatti or Corvo to call him back.

  Gatti was in his office staring blankly out the window trying desperately not to dwell on everything that was happening with Michael, Josh, and Jessica. He was told that Michael was on the line and purposefully declined the call. He couldn't bear to tell him what had happened. He didn't know if the news would just break him or send him on a murderous rampage. Either way, he wanted to prolong it from happening as long as possible. After a few minutes of silently cursing himself, he picked up the phone to call Corvo.

  Corvo had just left the hospital. Josh had gone back in to sit with Jinx, and there wasn't anything Corvo could do for her or Josh. He decided to start tracking down the informant who gave them the information. The money they wired was long gone. As soon as they transferred it to the account, it was immediately transferred out to a different bank. From there, who knows where it went. Getting foreign bank records was an almost impossible feat, let alone doing it quickly.

  But they weren't without any evidence. The calls were recorded. If they could match the voice to one of Renier's known associates or to Renier himself, then they would have him. It was a long shot, but right now it was all they had.

  “Michael's trying to call,” Gatti said.

  Corvo hung his head and covered his eyes. He could barely cope with not knowing what happened to Jessica. The thought of having to explain it to Michael made him want to run away.

  “Tried?”

  “I didn't take it,” Gatti admitted. “I don't know what to tell him.”

  “Well we can't keep dodging him,” Corvo said.

  “I know.” Gatti sighed. “How is Jinx?”

  “Terrible. She keeps asking Josh to kill her. They’ve sedated her. She's sleeping now but I don't know how she's going to deal with it if ...” Corvo closed his eyes unable to finish the sentence. He could hardly think about it himself. He desperately wanted Jessica and Tatiana to be OK, but the logical side of him knew that probably wasn't the case. He clenched his jaw as he thought back on the things they could have done differently. “We should have put Jinx in protective custody immediately after what happened to Jess,” he said bitterly.

  “We thought we were dealing with Russian intelligence operatives,” Gatti reasoned. “They would have never taken a federal agent like that.”

  “Tell that to Jinx.”

  Gatti wearily rubbed his face. “You're right.”

  “I'm going to track down that informant. We're analyzing the phone recordings. Hopefully there's something we can use.”

  “All right. Let's see if we can recover anything good from this nightmare.”

  “What do we do about Michael?” Corvo asked.

  “Lie.”

  “Lie? We're going to lie to him about his family?”

  “What else are we supposed to do? Tell him 'Your wife and daughter might be dead. We don't know, we'll get back to you in a few days.'”

  “Still seems better than lying to him,” Corvo said.

  “How well exactly do you know him?” Gatti asked rhetorically. “If someone killed Jessica and Ana, what do you think he'll do?”

  Corvo didn't give an answer.

  “Nothing good. That's for sure,” Gatti answered for him. “Probably talking a double-digit body count. He could end up dead or in prison. Neither of which I want to see. We'll tell him when we're there to control his reaction. After we know for sure what happened.”

  Corvo could hardly argue. It seemed the most likely outcome and it was true, they didn't know what happened to Jessica and Tatiana yet. They should wait for more intel before breaking the news.

  “Fine,” Corvo sighed. “But for the record, I don't like it.”

  “Neither do I, Lance. I'll update you if I hear anything.”

  MICHAEL RETURNED to the car, frustrated at not being able to reach anyone. He sat anxious and stewing.

  “Something wrong?” David asked.

  “I can't reach anyone,” Michael admitted.

  David pondered Michael's problem for a minute before responding, “You haven't had trouble before?”

  “Not like this. It's almost like they're avoiding me.”

  “Perhaps they are just preoccupied with finding Josh's wife?”

  That seemed like a logical explanation, and Michael decided to go with it rather than give in to paranoid thoughts that he was purposefully being ignored. An hour later and that was significantly harder to do.

  “They can't call me back?” Michael asked out loud, expressing his agitation. “Why wouldn't they take two minutes to call me back?” Gritting his teeth, he stared out the window. His heel bounced rapidly on the floor of
the car as it had been for the past hour; an unstoppable and constant force that David had decided one could set their watch to.

  “Why would they ignore you?” David asked.

  Michael knew the answer to that but didn't want to acknowledge it.

  “Perhaps there is something they don't want to tell you?” David suggested.

  It was exactly the thought Michael had. He closed his eyes wishing the darn phone would ring. What would they keep from him? Why would they keep it from him? Michael could hardly concentrate on anything else.

  David received a text on his phone. It was a request to call in. Since he wasn't doing anything terribly involved, he took a minute to take care of it. Knowing Michael didn't speak Hebrew, David remained in the car for the conversation.

  “We are now monitoring Grekov's emails,” David declared after he hung up. “And his land lines at home and work,” he added. “We've set up listening stations around town to intercept his cell phone and we have one mobile station in case he moves out of range.”

  Michael was too distracted at the moment to care. He said nothing in response.

  “Did you hear me, Michael?”

  The intrusion of his thoughts was most unwelcome, but stressing over Gatti and Corvo not calling him back was unproductive. Michael decided to focus back on the mission and not dwell on something he couldn't change.

  “Where do we stand now?” Michael asked.

  “We're a go.”

  “So we just have to get into the apartment building then?”

  “Do we have a plan?”

  “Am I the only one who can think of plans around here?” Michael asked annoyed. The fact was, he didn't have a plan and in his current state of mind one wasn't likely to come to him either.

  “Of course not, but you've been doing good so far so I thought I would ask,” David replied. “We don't exactly have a way in with the girl. She's not looking for companionship. She's money driven. Spends her time shopping. Probably why Grekov chose her. All he has to do to keep her happy is throw money at her.”