Probe

by Douglas E Roff

  Paulo’s aspect changed. Demitri was suddenly uncomfortable with his Enzo comment.

  Paulo said, “Make your plan and get back to me within forty-eight hours.”

  “Agreed.”

  “And Demitri.”

  “Yes?”

  “Enzo is not a traitor.”

  “I’m sure he’s not. But we can’t take any chances with this. If the Black Shirts go after Vera Capri, or find Hannah Parker before we do, you know what the Human will do next. We have an agreement and it was already violated once. By your brother.”

  “You don’t believe his explanation?”

  “I only consider result, not causation. I have no idea what is in his heart or mind. I only know what he did. Can’t have a foul up this time. The Black Shirts want war; this would be the short cut they’re looking for. End run you; get the conflagration ramped up. We’re not ready for war. Not yet.”

  ***

  Charles Hanley left the room, collected his things then went for a short ride into New York City. From his private apartment in a mid-town high rise, using a cell phone that never left the residence, he called her.

  “I have news. We found someone, someone important. Her name is Vera Capri and she has something to do with the Human. Not sure who she is or why she’s important, but we have reliable information now that she lives in London, England, not London, Canada. Find her, kill her and you’ll get the war you want. But do it carefully; I don’t want this news boomeranging back on me.”

  “Can’t guarantee that; can’t guarantee anything once we light the fuse.”

  “Don’t be an idiot. I can show you how and it will all land on Enzo Fortizi.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Good. Now here’s what we need to do.”

  Chapter 46

  Ellie Marks awoke early to the blaring sounds of an underground London group playing on her clock radio. It was five in the morning and the day outside had little to recommend it. It was cold and wet, and the sun was still hours away from illuminating her part of the world. On any other Tuesday, she would’ve seriously minded being up two hours early, but today wasn’t just any Tuesday. She didn’t mind the inconvenience at all; today was special.

  She walked down the hall to the tiny converted bathroom to take her shower, being careful not to disturb her two roommates of the past three years. She had moved up to London from Salisbury where she had grown up in the shadow of the great Cathedral. It had not made much of an impression that a copy of the great Magna Carta was on display there; what had that to do with anything important in her life? Though hardly a small town, she felt trapped in the city of her birth and longed for the excitement and romance that London promised and awaited her just a short train ride away.

  After finishing Sixth form, she decided University wasn’t for her but had no funds to make her move north, so she went to work in a local department store saving every penny of the income she didn’t share with her single mum. She would miss her little sister, but not the oppressive environment in which she thought she lived.

  Ellie Marks was attractive; tall, athletic and with an amazing sense of fashion. Her girlfriends, and even some of the boys she knew growing up, thought she was going places. It wouldn’t have surprised any of them if she wound up on the cover of some international glamour magazine or on the catwalks of Paris and New York. That’s why Ellie Marks had to leave Salisbury; living there any longer would be the trap that would hollow out her soul. The girl had plans and dreams; she thought them all attainable.

  She left amid tears and minor pangs of guilt. Her sister would be dreadfully sad, but her mother feared the worst for her eldest daughter. The promise of London wasn’t easily earned and not without taking its toll on the spirit of the innocent. London, the greatest city in the world, could be cruel and heartless, like all great cities of the world. Her mother hoped her little girl would survive and fulfill her dreams. She too had once had dreams.

  One night out at a local club just after she arrived in London, Ellie met two girls who seemed like a lot of fun. They too, had plans. But they were practical and while they awaited the arrival of their big break, they worked. The girls offered Ellie a place to stay and help in getting work with them at Heathrow Airport. They kept their word and now three years on she had a good job with prospects and her girlfriends had turned out to be amazing.

  Still, a good job as an administrative assistant even with amazing friends wasn’t her goal. She wanted and expected more. From herself.

  One day, while hidden away in the small office she had just earned through hard work and long hours, she was unexpectedly visited by her roomies who were beyond excited.

  For her.

  Had she seen the latest YouTube video of the beautiful American who was in the news so often lately? Her story had originally made the news, but not her photo. Then, suddenly, video of the incident had surfaced shot on a cell phone by a patron of the bakery. It showed the American and her two English girlfriends taking down the ex-boyfriend of one of the gals who had not taken the breakup well. He was at their bakery, drunk and not taking “no” for an answer. The ladies, emboldened by their own significant others, weren’t in the mood for his belligerence or his threats. Rather than cower from this idiot and run away and hide, the American and her friends kicked and punched him, pushing him outside and away from the bakery and their customers. They eventually wrestled him to the ground before the Bobbies arrived and hauled him off in the Paddy wagon.

  The incident hit the papers, then the evening news. When the video of the incident hit YouTube, the City went wild for the ladies. They decided this was the big break they had waited for and the girls deftly kept themselves in the public eye as they opened another location their new venture: 3 Birds Bakery and Confections.

  For months following the incident, the girls began giving interviews and making more YouTube videos promoting themselves and their business. One incident led to more bakery locations. Their business had taken off.

  The bakeries were, by now, a small tourist attraction with one of the “hop on, hop off” tourist buses regularly driving by the original location where the incident had occurred. The girls continued doing promotional videos and regularly visited their bakeries to meet and greet customers, have their photos taken and generally bring positive press to themselves and the surrounding businesses. Foot traffic in the area was up and everyone knew and liked the women who had been so remarkably brave and plucky that day.

  Eventually, photos of the ladies made it into the press along with the 3 Birds logo, a caricature of the three women, the American in the center. Along with that was a video interview that made it to YouTube, and that’s what caused a stir with Ellie’s girlfriends.

  The woman, Vera Capri, was a dead ringer for their friend Ellie. Had Ellie seen the video? There was much more than a passing likeness or even just a close family resemblance. No Ellie was so alike in every tiny detail that she could have almost passed for her twin sister. Height, weight, figure, and facial characteristics were all present. Her friends admitted to Ellie that they had taken a photo of her and sent it to the American to see if this could finally launch their friend on her way. The American was drop dead gorgeous, but certainly no more than their friend.

  To Ellie’s friends, everything was possible for her: modelling and a new career they had always known was hers if she could just get that one big, awesome lucky break.

  This was it. They just knew it.

  They had read that the American was super nice and the kind of woman who was completely unaware of her amazing looks. She had come to London, made friends with her two English mates, the sisters Pennington, and had gone into business with them. She had baked, worked the counter and made deliveries when she first got to know her new friends and decided to help them out. Then she started the catering business with them, planning the marketing strategy and doing sales calls. They had done well, but it was the “incident”,
the press and the American’s marketing and promotional savvy that had rocketed their venture from a local family bakery doing middling well into a catering phenomenon.

  The theme of the 3 Birds was international baked goods and expat hometown treats, appealing to tourists and foreign residents visiting London from around the world, but missing their hometown breads, pastries, and confections. It became a family friendly establishment where parents from around the world could bring their kids to enjoy a goody, a coffee, and a hometown beverage. Each store was different and catered to different parts of the expat community, but all had a very high level of service, could communicate in many languages, and were skilled in the art of cross cultural communication.

  Ambassadors were known to frequent the 3 Birds, make cuisine suggestions and a few even took a turn behind the counter. The tone of each location was distinctive: family, friendly and welcoming – just like the great City itself.

  That day Ellie’s girlfriends had just gotten a reply from the American. Ellie and her two friends were invited down to 3 Birds #1 to meet Vera, Doris, and Penny. The American couldn’t wait to meet Ellie; she was sure in her heart that their reunion was fate. The American had no siblings; perhaps Ellie was a long-lost relation. Their resemblance was uncanny; she could hardly wait to meet Ellie and her friends who she was sure would become like family.

  As the day approached, only Ellie could get the day off. Her friends couldn’t have been more disappointed, but the American had said not to worry, they would all meet up for dinner at a later date. The American would have them over to her local pub to meet all the extended 3 Birds family. Though annoyed that their bosses were being so difficult, they took the American at her word. They would revel in Ellie’s stories of meeting the 3 Birds.

  Ellie showered and dressed, briefly saying goodbye to her roomies, then dashed off to the Underground for the short journey from her flat near Heathrow, to the bakery located not far from Trafalgar Square.

  She was to meet them at 8:00 am for coffee and a tour, followed by breakfast at a nearby five-star hotel so they could sit down and get to know one another.

  Ellie arrived precisely on time.

  That was unfortunate.

  Chapter 47

  “Are you sure that’s her? We can’t afford a fuck up here and, as soon as this is done, we need to fly. And I mean as far away from here as fast as we can. CCTV is everywhere and we’re going to show up on somebody’s camera. You know that, right?”

  His companion today was a big man, well-dressed and looked like a Fleet Street barrister. He was not.

  “Relax, man. It’s all taken care of. You’ll be out of the country and fast, with money and a new identity. You know Derek; he’s a man of his word.”

  The big man spoke with an American accent and was said to be a close associate and confidant of Derek Nobilus. Derek was the smaller man’s boxing manager, though his skills in the ring didn’t equal his skills with explosives. The smaller man was tough and ex-military. But he wasn’t stupid; blowing up a bakery in central London was an act of terrorism; the British authorities would hunt him down with vigor.

  “Still, you better be damn sure this is the bird we’re after. I’m not going down for this if you have the wrong bird. You understand?”

  “See for yourself.” He brought out a photo of the American and showed it to his chum. “This is the American and that looks a lot like the woman walking this way. Just get your gadget ready and let’s take off as soon as she gets inside.”

  “Where do you want me to leave it?” He was referring to the stylish briefcase that contained his “gadget”.

  “Give it to the girl behind the counter and ask her to hold it while you go out to feed the meter. That way we can’t miss.”

  “Not likely anyway. There are three pounds of PE-4 in this briefcase with a digital detonator. Once I press the button, we will have sixty seconds to be as far away as possible. It will make a very big boom. No one gets out of here alive. That’s for sure.”

  Neither would he, unfortunately. Derek liked the human, but knew he was essentially a liability that would’ve to be cleaned up afterward. That’s why none of his Nobilus folk could be given the task. The taller companion that day was said to be a family member related to Enzo Fortizi who had just flown in a few days before from upstate New York. Task completed, he would board a plane at Heathrow and fly directly to Costa Rica. There he would head for the wilds of the Tapanti National Park just outside the small town of Orosi. There he would disappear for a good long while.

  ***

  “Hurry up, we’re going to be dreadfully late.” Doris was always pushing or pulling her sister and Vera to move along. They had said they would meet this intriguing young woman who was the spitting image of Vera and all three ladies were anxious to see if there truly was a resemblance or just trick photography and a good makeup.

  They were now certain to be at least a half hour late, maybe more if they didn’t get moving.

  Vera said, “Just call the shop, and let them know we’re running a little late. Lives don’t depend on this; I’m sure Ellie will be more than understanding if we’re a bit tardy.”

  Doris called and got the manager, letting her know they were on the way. Maybe she could give Ellie a little tour of the place, the nickel tour reserved for dignitaries. Yuki, the manager of the location and a Japanese resident of London, was just stowing the nice businessman’s briefcase behind the counter as she spoke to Doris on the phone. The businessman and his colleague walked out of the bakery as Yuki spotted Ellie coming in. Yuki mentioned to Doris that the girl could indeed be Vera’s missing twin. The resemblance was well beyond remarkable.

  The two men walked away and put a good distance between themselves and the shop. The human had the detonator in his coat pocket and fidgeted with it nervously. As they reached a street corner about two hundred yards away, but still in a direct line of sight with the shop entrance, he squeezed the button, pulled up the collar of his coat and walked briskly with his companion toward the entrance to the Underground.

  The two men were on the Underground platform “minding the gap” when they heard the massive explosion shake the walls around them. They boarded the subway train in a direction away from the center of London where they had parked the human’s car in a rented garage. The human got in the car behind the wheel and put the key in the ignition.

  That’s as far as he got.

  His companion put two bullets in the back of his head, wiped the silenced 9 mm, then tossed it in the back seat. He calmly locked the car, locked the garage, and headed back to the Underground where he would take the subway back out to Heathrow. He would be in San Jose, Costa Rica by the next morning and in Orosi two and one-half hours later, if the traffic in San Jose and through Cartago and Paraiso to Orosi wasn’t too bad.

  The man was quite pleased with the whole project, as a whole, and was quite certain he would never be caught. How could he? He would transform within a matter of days and blend into the lush jungle of Tapanti. He wouldn’t transform again for many years.

  And that was fine with him.

  Chapter 48

  The girls heard the news on the radio as they drove into London from the Manor. They had been late getting started because they were filming a spot promoting 3 Birds six London locations that was behind schedule and due for release within a matter of days. They were anxious to meet the young woman, Ellie Marks, but even Doris’ prodding to get the shoot wrapped up faster had failed.

  Vera thought it important to meet the young woman on time, but it was far from “life or death”. They would be late, for sure, but Vera would make it up to Ellie afterward with her charm and a leisurely breakfast at an elegant and upscale old-world hotel. Ellie wouldn’t mind; she was young and eager and would likely get some of the much-needed press her friends had hoped to get for her.

  What raced through the minds of the ladies was that, as sad as the likely death of Ellie
might be, had the three met her on time and on schedule, they too would now also, very likely, be dead. Vera’s mind was racing, not only assessing what might’ve been but considering what was likely to come. Vera’s former position in logistics and coordinating activities for Team Hannah had led her to have more insight into what Hannah and her team were doing and the stresses on Adam and Edward in addressing the conflict with the Gens Collective. There had been death threats all around, not just to those who were most prominent. Nobody on Team Hannah or in Barrows Bay were safe; all were in some danger simply because they were working together.

  After Rome and later incidents, Hannah had taken safety and security ever more seriously and what had been strict had suddenly become even stricter.

  New protocols had been instituted and Hannah was less than enthusiastic about Vera becoming the commercial face of 3 Birds. But she couldn’t be told to not follow up on the fortuitous events that had brought her and her partners to the forefront of London tourism. Vera was happy and had found her career; she was excellent at promotion and had a mind for business even she had never thought to possess. But there it was. 3 Birds was a massive success and riding an even more massive wave of free publicity.

  Now this.

  Was this old-fashioned international terrorism directed against the Brits and Americans or a more localized attempt on the life of Vera Capri? Vera was certain how Hannah, her team and the Barrows Bay contingent would respond. She hoped Edward would moderate the wild speculation that Vera feared was certain to follow. Her life with the girls and their guys and the constant work schedule had been the first real direction and serious work Vera had ever undertaken in her entire life. Now she had purpose and employees who depended on her to keep the business going. She had a career and a partner she adored in her life. Things could not have been going better.