She walked down the street to the nearest Café Nero and paid for a cup of their Columbian blend. She wobbled a bit from the whiskey her boss had plied her with but she wasn't drunk. She sat at one of the tables and pulled out her phone. She scrolled through the call log. How many calls had she made to Gina while the poor girl was missing? She counted them.
Startled when the phone rang, she almost dropped it. When she recovered, she put it to her ear even though she didn't recognize the number. Maybe it was about Gina. "Hello?"
"Is this Olga Quinn?"
"It is. Who is this?"
"You don't know me but Jacob Rhys told me that you're Gabriel Swicord's girlfriend."
"Who is this?"
"My name is Martin Fraser. I'm sure you have no idea who I am, but--"
"I know exactly who you are, Mr. Fraser," Olga interrupted him.
"In that case, don't hang up. If Gabe told you who I am, you must have already formed some opinion of me that wouldn't be favorable. Am I right?"
"You could say that." Olga sat silent. After all, the man had called her. She waited to hear what he was going to say next.
"Are you still there?"
"I am, and you're wasting the minutes on my phone plan, so I'd appreciate it if you'd get to the point of this call."
"I wanted to let Gabe know about Julie."
"I don't think he'll want to hear about his former lover and his best friend. Haven't you both already hurt him enough?"
"Look. I haven't seen Julie since that day in her flat. That was a one time thing that never should have happened."
"You're right about that. It was pretty awful. I mean, can you imagine the pain he was in from his injury and his loss? And then to come home to that? What the hell were you thinking? No, wait, don't answer that. You weren't thinking, were you? It was all about getting what you wanted. Getting into his girl's pants. You should be ashamed, both of you."
"Look, you weren't there. You don't know anything about it."
"Seems like I know the gist of it. The fact that his best mate in the world would do such a thing to him was like a knife going in. He didn't say so to me but the way he spoke when he talked about it to me leads me to believe that your betrayal was worse than hers in his mind." She took a sip of her now tepid coffee and grimaced. "You've made my coffee go cold. I need to get a refill now. Café Nero allows refills, right?"
"I have no idea. But can we get back to the conversation? After all, it's your minutes I'm wasting here, right?"
"My break is short and I have to get back down the street to the lab, but pray, go on. You were saying something about your betrayal of your best mate with his girlfriend, right?"
"Interestingly enough, I found out a few days ago that I didn't betray him like he thinks I did. I've been trying to talk to him about it ever since."
She barked out a laugh.
"What are you laughing about?" he asked.
"Do you have any idea how that sounds?"
"What?"
"I didn't betray him like he thinks I did?" she mocked him in a falsetto voice. "Hello? You were naked with his girlfriend who was equally naked. What could Gabe have misunderstood about that? Now, granted, he didn't see it, since he's blind, but he was there. He heard both of you in the flat trying to cover. His father told him what was going on and he left. How can he have made a mistake? And why are you coming forward now? I mean, why now?"
"Julie called me last week. She asked me to come up to Edinburgh to see her. She said it was urgent that I come."
"And you went?"
"Sure. I went. She's in a cancer ward and is terminal. She was dying."
"She was?"
"Yeah. She succumbed on last Friday. She's gone. She wanted me to tell Gabe something, but he won't talk to me. I'm asking you to set up a meeting so I can talk to him."
"I'm not sure I can do that."
"Please. This is my chance to set the record straight and, even if he never wants to see me again after the meeting, he needs to know what's going on. I mean, what went on."
"What I meant was, right now, Gabe is mad at me. Maybe if you tell me what it is, I can get him to talk to me first and then I'll set something up with you two."
"I don't know how that will help, but I'll tell you. That day in the flat was a setup."
"What?" Olga gulped some now cold coffee.
"Yeah. It seems that Gabe's father, the man who has controlled him all his life, orchestrated this as well."
"I find that hard to believe." Olga slammed her cup to the table.
"Have you met him?"
"Yeah, briefly."
"Then you have to know what a bastard he is."
"He did seem a bit harsh to Gabe, but tell me what this whole setup thing is about."
"Julie wanted to try to make amends for what she did to Gabe's relationship with me before she died so she called me to come see her. She told me that Gabe's father came to see her while Gabe was still in the hospital. He wanted her to know that he was going to have his son institutionalized after he got out of rehab because he'd never be able to live on his own. He offered Julie money to break up with Gabe, to make his transition to an institute for the blind easier."
"What? That makes no sense. Gabe is able to function. He's living on his own and doing fine. What kind of crap is this and what kind of girl was this Julie person to even consider something like that?"
"She was a prima donna. A prima ballerina actually. She'd been catered to her whole life. Mr. Alexander Swicord painted her a picture of a life with a handicapped man that would be a huge burden on her. He did a number on her head about it. She was never a nurturing soul and she told me that she had this vision of a life of drudgery and being held back by Gabe. So, she took the money."
"And how did you figure into the equation? How'd they get you to cooperate?"
"It wasn't too hard. She spiked my drink. I didn't know it at the time. All I knew was I was on a couch with her naked when Gabe came in with his father. I had no recollection of anything. I scrambled to my feet when they came in and looked down in shock that I had no clothes on."
"That's insane. Why didn't you say something? Did you ask Julie what was going on when Gabe and his father left?"
"I did. She just shrugged and said we had sex. I figured I got drunk and lost my mind. She was my best friend's mate and she wasn't even my type. I don't like those skinny ballet girls who never eat. I didn't tell her I didn't remember because I didn't want to offend her. You know, for her to think she wasn't memorable."
"Oh, my God. I can't believe that you didn't want to hurt her feelings when you'd destroyed your friend. What about Gabe's feelings?"
"I tried to call him. Over and over. He wouldn't call me back."
"Did you try to see him?"
"Yes. He wouldn't open the door. I yelled through it and he still wouldn't come to let me in."
"When you saw Julie, what did she say happened?"
"She put a Valium in my coffee and, when I passed out, she took my clothes off and covered me with a duvet. When she heard them coming up the outside steps to the flat. She stripped off her own clothes and hopped under the coverlet with me. We never had sex, not at all."
"Well, Martin Fraser. I'm glad to hear that. Your best friend quotient just went up. Let me see if I can get Gabe to talk to you. I think he needs all the friends he can get, especially with that jerk of a father. I mean, really, who needs a manipulative son of a bitch like that as a sire?"
"I think I'm going to like you, Olga Quinn."
"Same here. Let me call Gabe and get back to you. I have your number now in my phone, so I'll talk to you hopefully soon."
"Please stress to Gabe how much I want to reconcile our relationship. I've missed him."
Olga couldn't help but hear the catch in Martin's voice as he said the words.
"I will tell him, Martin, and I promise, I'll do everything I can to help make it happen." She hung up the phone. Now, I just have to get Gabe
to speak to me first, then I can work on the Martin issue.
*****
Olga left the coffee shop, tossing her still half full cup in the trash bin on her way out. She poked in Gabe's number on her mobile phone.
When he answered, she said. "Don't hang up, it's Olga."
"I'm not going to hang up. That's not how I operate."
"Thanks. I want to apologize for Saturday. I've been meaning to call but it's been crazy." She stopped walking and leaned against the brick wall under the awning of the nearest building to be out of the way of the other pedestrians.
"What's been so crazy that you couldn't call? I kept hoping you'd come to your senses on Saturday and come back to my place so we could talk."
"I was going to. I went to work after I left your flat. While I was there, I decided you were right and I wasn't being fair to you, so I decided to come to your place to talk."
"Gosh, Olga, it's Monday now. Did you get lost?"
"You don't have to be sarcastic."
"It all sounds strange, you have to admit. You say you were coming over and, yet, you haven't."
"I had a scare. Someone was following me."
"What do you mean, following you?"
"A man in a mask and all black was in my office building. I had to call the cops."
"Did they catch him?"
"No. They searched the place and no one was there, but I saw him. Then I was spooked. I went home in a cab and didn't venture out the rest of the weekend until today. When I got to work, I found out Gina has been missing since Friday night. We were the last people to see her. She never got to her flat after she headed to Waterloo station." Olga bit back a sob.
"Have they found her yet?"
"No. That same detective inspector is investigating. I think they think she's another victim of the guy who's been leaving those notes on dead bodies."
Olga ran her hand over her eyes. "Oh, God, I hope not. I can't bear to lose another friend." She gave an involuntary shudder at the thought and remembered an old saying of her grandmother's about a ghost walking over her grave.
"Do you want me to come to your office? Come and be with you?"
"No. I wasn't calling to get you to come here. I want to see you, but I'll go to your place. I've had a conversation with your friend, Martin--"
"Wait," he interrupted her. "He's not my friend and why would you be talking to him?"
"He called me and you're really going to want to listen to what he has to say. It's very important."
"I don't think you should interfere in something you know nothing about."
"Please wait until I get there before you make any decisions about talking to him. I think you should give him five minutes of your time. Okay? Will you do that for me?"
"I guess I will, but not here at my place." Gabe sighed, "Pick somewhere neutral."
Olga stepped back out onto the main part of the sidewalk. She kept the phone to her ear as she walked toward her building while Gabe tossed out a few places near his flat that they could meet.
A black van roared up beside her too close to the curb. The smell of diesel fuel gagged her and she glanced over to see why the scent was so powerful. The van was practically on the sidewalk beside her.
A man pointed a handgun at her out the window. Olga's heart leapt to her throat and her reflexes kicked in. She let out a squeal and turned to run but before she could get more then a few steps, two other men grabbed her. She screamed, kicked at them and landed a blow to one of the men's faces. Her phone fell to the pavement.
She bit the other one's hand that he placed over her mouth to stop her screams. She fought fiercely but she was too weak to throw them off. They manhandled her and as she twisted and fought against them, they carried to her the back of the van. They finally subdued her and tossed her inside the vehicle as they driver pulled away from the curb. They leapt in behind her, slamming the doors shut. The van screeched away.
Chapter Twenty-One
"You can't wash the black off a black dog."
Russian Proverb
When she woke, it took a moment for Olga to realize where she was. She tried to scream but the tape over her mouth prevented her from letting it loose. She was handcuffed to the rail of a twin bed. In another bed, also handcuffed, lay Gina. She faced Olga but seemed to be asleep. At least that's what Olga hoped. She stared for a long time to see if Gina's chest was moving but she couldn't tell since the room was so dark.
There were only the two beds in the room and two straight-back chairs. There was a window but it had a piece of plywood over most of it. All Olga could see was the very top of the glass. Enough to be able to tell it was a window.
The door was closed, but Olga could hear the sound of voices. She couldn't tell what they were saying but it sounded like two people. Her head ached but she thought she remembered three men were in the van. A driver and the two in the back. She thought she could identify them since she'd seen all three before she passed out.
Or did she pass out? She tried to recall if they'd hit her or not. No, wait. It was a needle. She was poked with a needle. She must have been drugged.
She reran the incident in her mind so she would have a clear idea of what each of the men looked like who grabbed her. In case she was rescued, she could pick them out of a line up.
She sobbed into the tape. God, what if we're not rescued? What if Gina is dead? What's going to happen to us? Surely Gabe heard me scream and will call for help. But he didn't know where I was. She sobbed harder.
The door opened and a man in a black mask and black clothes entered the room. Was it the same man who had been at her building on Saturday? It was too dark to tell. She wished she could see his shin because she was positive she had to have left a bruise when she kicked him off the elevator.
The man strode over to the bed. He loomed over her and stared.
She closed her eyes, terrified of what he was going to do.
"If you scream, no one will hear you. Do you understand?" The man spoke with a French accent. Was it fake or real? She couldn't tell.
She nodded without opening her eyes.
The tape was jerked off her mouth and Olga did scream from the pain and shock of the glue ripping at her sensitive skin. She wiggled her lips to get the feeling back, then said, "What the hell do you think you're doing, grabbing me off the street?"
"You're not really in a position to be asking questions in such a belligerent manner, lady. You seem to forget that you're tied to a metal bed and I'm not." As if to illustrate his point, he planted his foot on the side rail and shoved the bed against the wall.
Olga's teeth rattled with the force of the impact. She bit the inside of her cheek and cried out in pain.
"I told you not to scream." The man smacked her on the head so hard her neck popped.
Tears swam in her eyes. She forced herself to keep her mouth shut for a moment. When he didn't move and continued to stare at her, she had to speak.
"Why did you have to do that? I thought you said no one could hear me, so why hit me?"
"Because I can."
"Is my friend alive?" Olga nodded toward the bed where Gina lay, still eerily silent.
"I don't know." The man shrugged. "I may have given her too much sedative. I haven't checked on her lately. Do you think I should feel for a pulse or leave it that she's being quiet and be happy about that?" He held his index finger to his chin as if thinking about it. Finally, he said, "Nope. I'm not going to check. I tell you, she can scream pretty damn loud so I think I'll leave her be."
"You're an awful beast." Olga rattled her handcuff against the bed.
"Of course, I am, my dear. I kidnapped you and your friend for money."
"From who? Who's paying you?"
"Sweetheart, you know I can't tell you that. Besides, he owes me double now since I have both of you to deal with."
"What does that mean? You were only supposed to take one of us? Didn't you know which scientist does what? Did you make a mistake?"
<
br /> "You think this is related to your work with the space program?" The man threw his head back and laughed. "You think this is corporate espionage? Can you really believe you're so important to the space passenger shuttle service development that someone would grab you for your knowledge?"
"Yes. I do. After all, I'm an integral part of the program and they hired me based on my work in Houston. I'm actually pretty well known in the scientific community." Olga practically spat out the words.
"Oh, I know that, dear, I did my research after I realized -- or I should say was told -- that I had the wrong woman." He looked over at Gina and shook his head. He faced Olga again. "Wouldn't it be tragic to lose another coworker best friend to some lapse in judgment?"
At Olga's gasp, he continued, "Ahh, yes, I see I hit a nerve, didn't I?"
"Gina better not die because of me. If she does, I will kill you."
"Knock yourself out there, Olga Quinn. You're not in a position to do anything of the sort, but I do admire your spunk. It's a shame really, that you're not going to be around much longer. A real shame." He turned and walked out the door. She heard several locks click shut.
She lay on the bed for a moment staring up at the ceiling. Tears ran down her cheeks and down into her ears. This could not be happening. Not again. This time would turn out differently. It had to.
She faced Gina again and called over to her, "Gina. Gina. Are you awake?"
When no one answered, her thoughts turned to Renee and the reason she left Houston in the first place. She sobbed at the memory of finding her friend dead in the lab. She blamed herself for Renee's injuries even though everyone said she wasn't at fault, and even though the investigation cleared her of any wrongdoing. The science failed them. It was nothing that she did. The flaw was in the material used for the rocket part. The material that had been tested over and over in other labs. The explosion was most likely inevitable. Or at least that's what the investigators said.
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