“I kind of thought you might have joined up.” They were a bunch of self-righteous busybodies, trying to make the world a better place. Typical, except unlike most idealists, they were actually willing to get dirty. I could see that kind of idealism appealing to her. She had a good streak a mile wide.
“I kept in touch with Ling, but I’d never join Exodus. I blamed them for your death too. The Exodus survivors told me you could have left them behind and made it out by yourself, but you stuck around, taking turns carrying the wounded. Roland, Svetlana, they all said the same thing. They all would have died otherwise. You stayed behind to delay the brothers to save their lives, even though you knew you’d get caught.”
“Something like that.”
“Ling and Valentine let me think you’d died.”
She didn’t understand right now, but they’d been doing her a favor. “There wasn’t anything anyone could have done for me.”
“They said you were a hero, and it wasn’t just to make me feel better. They believed it. Lorenzo died a hero.” She gave me a sad little laugh. “I bet you never thought you’d hear anybody say that. But I didn’t see it that way at first. It just made me mad at you.”
“At first?”
Jill snorted. “I thought you were gone, Lorenzo. How was I supposed to feel? I know it sounds selfish, and they were just trying to comfort me, but . . .” she trailed off. “I don’t know.”
“I understand.”
“You always talked a big game about looking out for number one, being the merciless hard-ass thief, get the job done and get out, all that. From the day I met you, that was how you acted, how you saw yourself, so I thought I’d been rescued and given shelter by a selfish, greedy, self-centered asshole.”
“Man’s got to keep up his rep.” I’d gone down some dark paths and done some things I wasn’t proud of. Hell, I’d done some unforgivable, horrible things that I could never atone for, but saving someone as good as Jill from someone as evil as Adar al Saud must have made some sort of dent in my karmic debt.
“Past all that swagger, I saw how much you loved Carl and Reaper, and you were there to try and save family you barely even knew. Then in Quagmire, you risked everything for me. That’s the man I fell in love with.”
“Sucker.”
“Don’t be an asshole. I’m trying to have an honest sharing relationship moment here. So yeah, I was mad at you for dying in the Crossroads, but then I thought about it. You gave up your life to save people. How could I hate you for doing what I fell in love with you for to begin with?”
As I’d lain in that crashed bomber, incoherent and bleeding out, with soldiers closing in on me, I’d heard the ghost of my foster father, congratulating me for being the good guy for once. All in all, it hadn’t been a bad way to die. Any goodness I had, it was only because I was trying for her sake.
An hour later, showered, dressed, and happier to be alive than I had been in a very long time, Jill walked me through what she’d been up to.
I hated to admit it, but other than being stressed out and trying not to show it, Jill had been doing a pretty damned good job without me. She’d shown a real knack for shady business back in Zubara where I’d taught her some rudimentary fieldcraft. Then in the Crossroads, she’d done extremely well, and if we’d been trying to pull a con on anyone other than the Devil himself, it would have worked. Jill had taken to heart everything I’d ever taught her, and then kept on learning while she’d devoted herself to ridding the world of Montalbans.
I was impressed. On her own Jill had gotten ahold of some illegal guns, surveillance equipment, and quality fake IDs. She had clothing and props to pull off several different roles, from bland work clothes, to outfits that screamed tourist, to a slinky party dress that I was afraid to ask about. She’d been gathering intel on Kat’s people for months, and was still alive.
“I’ve planted cameras around the block, and I’ve got some of the local drug lookouts double dipping. They’re watching the block anyway. I slip them some Euros every week, and they call this burner phone if they see anything out of the ordinary. If I see anything that smells like Kat, I’ve got three escape routes.”
“I saw two on the way in.”
“I figured so would Kat’s men,” she answered with just a bit of pride. “But I rolled a rope ladder down the out of service elevator shaft, and I made a copy of the keys to the electrical service tunnels in the basement.”
“Nice. Other hideouts?”
“Two. I bounce between them using a couple different vehicles.”
“How’s your French?”
“Pas tres bien,” she said. Not very good. “The fake IDs Reaper prepped say I’m from Barcelona.” That was a good call. Jill was American, with a Mexican father and a Filipina mother, but she was good at tweaking her accent to sound like a Spaniard. “Or I wear a hijab and pretend not to understand French at all. Lots of service workers in Paris are Muslims. Either way I mostly avoid talking to people. Usually I eavesdrop, record them on my phone, and piece it all together later. The rest of us can’t do your language tricks.”
“If crime didn’t pay so well, I could have been one hell of a voice actor. Got anything to eat?” I checked the tiny fridge. There was food, but sadly, it was all bland, packaged garbage. I’d always been the cook in our relationship. There was a little .32 automatic hidden in the egg carton. “Cute. Want something?”
“Sure.” Jill sat down at the table. “You need to eat more. You look terrible.”
She should have seen me when I had first gotten out. I had been practically stuffing my face over the last few weeks and had started exercising hard again. I hadn’t exercised much in prison. You don’t have enough calories to spare for training when you were living off of watery gruel. “Well, you look amazing.”
“It must be because you’ve been blind for a year, because I look like crap right now.”
Women got hung up on the stupidest things. Sure, hard living wears you down, but she was still gorgeous. I found some white bread, crappy lunch meat, boring American style mustard—French’s, ironically—and processed cheese slices wrapped in plastic. “This is barbaric. Who comes to the culinary capitol of the world and buys plastic cheese?” I sat down across from her and started making sandwiches.
“I’ve been busy.” Jill pushed the tablet across from me. It was a map of the city and its surroundings. “Six weeks ago I followed Katarina here from London. The red dots are places she or Anders have shown their faces. I’ve got dates and times for each one, but no discernible pattern yet. She doesn’t even sleep in the same place more than a few nights in a row, and judging by the times she’s been seen and the distances between them, either she can get through traffic like a champ, or I’ve got a suspicion she’s hired body doubles.”
Kat had the resources, skills, and mindset to be a hard target. She knew how to be a ghost. Sadly, she’d learned from the best. Despite that, there were still quite a few dots on Jill’s map. “Did you get these yourself?”
“In person? No way. Don’t worry. I’m angry, not suicidal. Mostly, she stays out of sight and runs her business by phone or proxy. When she does go somewhere, it’s never without a convoy of armored cars filled with armed mercenaries. Since you talked Anders up like he’s got eyes in the back of his head, I’ve been too worried he’d make me to ever try following him. These are mostly from snitches and Reaper stealing security video. The problem is, by the time we pin her down that way, she’s already moved. I started putting together dossiers of her security people and coffee-fetchers. I’ve got a lot of names, but since she pays really well, they’re not super talkative.”
I finished making a sad little sandwich and passed her the plate. “What was your next move?”
“Use one of her employees to figure out where Kat is going to be, get there first, and leave this for her.” Jill nodded at the bomb she’d been putting together.
She said it so matter of factly that it took me a second to have that s
ink in. Jill really had changed. “Just like that?”
“As opposed to what else? It seemed easier than getting into a gunfight with a bunch of hired muscle, a former Navy SEAL, and their boss, the professional assassin, by myself.” She gave me a look, like she was daring me to continue.
“I think Exodus will back us up now. There aren’t many of them, but Valentine brought a few friends.”
“I don’t know. I’m still pissed at him for lying to me.”
That wasn’t fair. Valentine had only been trying to protect her from Sala Jihan . . . But I wasn’t going to argue with my woman to defend the asshole who’d shot me and wrecked my hearing. I wandered over to study what she’d been working on.
The bomb was pretty straightforward. Two blocks of Semtex with a commercial blasting cap. The cap was wired to a cheap cell phone, and there was a spot for a nine-volt battery. The phone wouldn’t have enough juice to set off the cap, that was what the battery was for. The ringing would close the switch, causing electricity to flow from the battery to the cap. Removing the battery would render it safe, and also keep a stray cell call from blowing her up. The Semtex was wrapped in duct tape. A second layer of tape was stuck with hundreds of nails to serve as frag. It wasn’t a complicated device, but it was meant to blow up Kat, not befuddle a bomb squad. Reaper must have been tutoring her.
There wasn’t much of an explosive payload there, but still, it was dangerous as hell. “And what if the next place she’s going to be is next to a daycare or a school?”
“Or a teddy bear hospital? Really, Lorenzo? You’re going to try and play the morality card with me? If there were innocents who might get hurt, I’d wait and try again later.”
“Don’t get defensive. I’m just asking.”
“Why? You afraid I’m turning into Kat? You think I’d just wipe out anybody who got in the way?” Jill seemed really agitated on this point.
“Bombs can be sloppy. That’s all I’m saying. They’re really easy to hurt the wrong people with.”
“If there was any chance of that, I’d back off. You know I would.”
“I know.” Despite having to do some terrible things to survive, and proving way harder than she appeared, Jill had always retained a gentleness in her soul. Relatively speaking, obviously, since we were arguing about her homemade bomb. I couldn’t see it just now, but I figured that gentleness was still there. Well, I hoped it was, because Jill wouldn’t be Jill anymore without it. “If there’s even a chance of collateral damage—”
“Of course,” she snapped. “That’s how Kat got away in London. I had her. I found out about a meeting, I snuck in early and hid a bomb in a planter. When Kat showed up I was down the street with a cell phone. She sat at a table like ten feet away. All I had to do was make a call, and poof, she was gone . . .” Jill trailed off, staring into space. “I was so damned close.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. Other people showed up. I bailed. That’s it . . .” She was remarkably stone-faced as she talked about it, acting like the idea of premeditated murder was no big deal. I’d seen that act a lot in this business, fake it until you make it. “See? No reason to worry about me.”
I’d never seen Jill this haunted before. “How long have you been at this?”
“Almost the whole time you’ve been gone. I started almost as soon as Exodus got us out of Mongolia. I’ve tracked her from city to city ever since. It’s sucked. She’s got a lot of rivals, so she’s nervous as hell. She’s also got a lot of powerful friends. When they get skittish, and find out somebody has been looking into them, they send people. So I run, and work other leads while I hide, and then come back and try again.”
No wonder she was fried. “I can’t believe you’ve been dodging Montalbans for over a year.”
Her expression softened. “Why? Were you worried that when I got over crying for you I’d gotten back on the dating scene?”
That made me smile. “There hasn’t been a man who has ever been incarcerated in history who hasn’t wondered what his woman was doing without him around.”
Now Jill grinned. “Don’t forget, I was hanging out with Exodus for part of that. Have you seen Zach Roland with his shirt off? That dude is chiseled.” I must have scowled, because Jill laughed at me. “Okay, I’ll be honest. You got me. In my time of grief I was so vulnerable that I messed around with Valentine.”
“Now you’re just being cruel.”
“Relax, Lorenzo, I’m kidding. No. I’ve been a little too focused. The closest I’ve come to getting any action is dressing up like a call girl to spy on a Montalban party.”
“How was that?”
“Lots of techno music and the overpowering stench of cologne.” Jill tapped the tablet screen and brought up folders of pictures and documents. “I’ve not accomplished much recently, but that’s because they’ve been extra jumpy for the last week. Apparently somebody has been offing Montalban employees across Europe.” She gave me a very pointed look at that. “Between me on the ground and Reaper being Reaper, we’ve got a ton of information on their operation. I’ve been limited on what I could do with it though. Now that you’re here, and if Exodus is helping, then we’ve got a lot more options.”
I knew it was doubtful. “Any sign of Bob?”
“Nada. I’m sorry, but I gave up on the idea of him still being alive about the same time I gave up on you.”
“Never count a Lorenzo out. Anders wants him alive for some reason. Bob’s supposed to be the fall guy for Project Blue, whatever that is.”
It was obvious that Jill thought Bob surviving was wishful thinking on my part, but she let me keep my comforting delusions. “Blue, huh?” Jill tapped on another folder. It was titled Crazy Town. She opened up a Word document. “Reaper’s been doing a lot of digging on that, nothing concrete of course, considering it was top secret and most of the planners are dead, but he’s come up with some theories. Get ready for some fun reading. I mean like Sea to Shining Sea AM talk radio stuff.”
After the things I’d seen over the last few years, it was getting harder and harder to make fun of Reaper’s crazy conspiracy theories. “Please tell me he isn’t wearing a tinfoil hat and living in a single-wide trailer out in the desert yet?”
“Not quite, but the sad thing is I’ve started to believe him.”
A couple of days ago I’d had a conversation with a man I’d sprung from a secret government black site about the secret war between Majestic and the Illuminati. My life was a conspiracy theory.
“Screw it. Let me catch up on your intel, and we’ll go from there.”
“About that . . .” Jill trailed off as she studied me.
“Yeah.” I pushed the tablet away. As interesting as Reaper’s strolls through crazy town could be, there was some stuff we needed to get out in the open first. “Normally now would be the part where you’d urge me to let it go.”
“And the part where you’d worry about me too much, and try to shuffle me off to somewhere safe,” Jill stated flatly.
“I’m still just a man. I’d be lying if I said I wanted you anywhere near this mess.” I thought about what the Pale Man had told me before we’d cut our deal, friend or foe, death followed wherever I went, and I wanted her to be safe.
But I also really didn’t want to be alone anymore.
“This isn’t the life you chose, Jill.”
“But it’s the one I wound up with when I decided to stick with you.”
The truth hurts. “Which is why I’m saying this now. They know about Saint Carl, so we can’t ever go back there, but I’ve got plenty of money stashed around the world, enough to live long, boring lives away from all these nut jobs and their plots. We let it go. Kat can be Exodus’ problem. Valentine can figure out whatever the hell Blue is without us. We can walk away. There’s nothing stopping us.”
She was quiet for a long time, deep in thought. She flicked the edge of her plastic cheese with one finger. There wasn’t much point to a revenge mission, wh
en the man you were trying to avenge turned out to be alive and sitting there with you.
“What about your brother?”
I had no answer for her.
Jill pushed away her uneaten sandwich. She’d already come to the same conclusion I had and lost her appetite. “You said Varga told you that Blue would kill millions. Could you just let that happen, Lorenzo? Sipping margaritas on another private island, knowing we could have stopped it, but didn’t?”
I shook my head. “Not really.”
That was actually a pretty profound realization for me. Jill really had been a bad influence.
“Then that’s settled. We’re committed. I don’t think either of us is the kind of person who can do anything half way.” Jill gave me that sad little smile again. “I know why you avoided me. You were prepared to do some horrible things to see this though. It’s hard to let someone you love see you like that. Believe me, I understand that better than you think.”
“I can’t let Kat win. That means doing whatever it takes.”
“I know.” Jill reached across the table and held my hand. “Then we’ll do it together.”
She didn’t understand that the hard part wasn’t going down that road. It was coming back.
Reaper stood there in Jill’s apartment, mouth hanging open.
“Hey, Reaper,” I said again.
“Dude . . .” He’d already said that a few times, like it was the only word his brain could process. “Dude!”
Jill closed the door behind him. “Surprise.”
“I’m back. I got out.”
“Dude.” Reaper was blinking rapidly. He was looking a little weak in the knees. He’d gone whiter than usual, and that was saying something. It was like he’d seen a ghost. “Lorenzo?” Articulating my name was good progress.
“Yeah, Reaper. It’s me.”
He cocked his head to the side, studying me carefully. This wasn’t just surprise. It was like he didn’t believe me, like this was a con. “But are you still you?” What the hell that was supposed to mean?
Alliance of Shadows (Dead Six Series Book 3) Page 15