by Kim Baldwin
“What do you want to do?” Domino asked.
“Give me his exact coordinates.” They were off the highway, and Haarlem was only a couple of miles farther, so Allegro slowed her speed dramatically, grateful there was no one right behind her. Since Domino was following the Audi’s position as well, from the tracker in Kris’s coat, she could relay their proximity to Azizi.
“He’s on Gedempte Oostersingelgraacht, a mile ahead, on your right.”
“Where are you?” Allegro asked.
“I’m at equal distance behind you,” Domino replied.
“Keep a bigger distance,” Allegro told her before disconnecting. She reached the intersection and turned onto the two-lane, one-way street. There was parking on either side, and the Peugeot was five hundred yards ahead. She increased her speed slightly and headed straight for him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Haarlem, Netherlands
“Oh, my God, is that the Afghan?” Kris gasped.
Allegro nodded. She did a U-turn, Azizi following. But just before she got back to the highway, she turned onto a side road that led away from Haarlem to the pastureland beyond. It was a flat two-lane, with deep, water-filled ditches on either side to keep animals from crossing over. Now and then there was a break in the ditch to accommodate the driveway to a farmhouse or barn.
The sun had just set. She could barely make out the vague white shapes of cows sleeping in the fields to her left, and the occasional silhouette of a tractor or stacked bales of hay. There was no local traffic on the country road; the only headlights were hers, Azizi’s, and Domino’s, far behind them both. The speed limit was thirty miles an hour, but they were going seventy or more. When the Afghan got too close, she’d gun it to keep him out of shooting range but always within sight.
“Where are we going?” Kris kept glancing back at their pursuer.
“You’ll see.” Fifteen minutes into the chase, Allegro pulled out her phone and called Domino. “There’s a gas station with a car wash a couple of miles north on the highway. Meet me in there.”
Without waiting for a response, she disconnected, then glanced into her rearview and saw the distant headlights of Domino’s rental make an abrupt U-turn. A couple of minutes later, when she neared a circle intersection with another country road, she slowed to let Azizi close the distance. When he got a couple hundred yards behind them, she accelerated, screeching around the circle just as he came to it and heading back the way they’d come at ninety miles an hour.
Kris shrieked in terror during the wild turnaround, but calmed when she realized Allegro’s maneuver had left the Peugeot’s headlights far behind. “We’re losing him,” she said, glancing back.
“Can’t have that.” Allegro eased her foot off the gas until the Afghan got within five hundred yards again, a distance she maintained until they could see the highway in the distance. As she’d hoped, the traffic had cleared substantially.
She stomped the gas pedal and the Audi shot forward with alarming speed. Kris shrieked again when she realized Allegro wasn’t going to brake for the on-ramp, a sharp curve to the right. The Audi’s tires protested with a deafening squeal, and the smell of burning rubber filled Allegro’s nostrils. When she reached the highway, she pushed the gas pedal to the floor.
Kris clutched the overhead handle with both hands. “We’re going to die!” she screamed, when Allegro swerved around another car, going well over a hundred miles an hour.
“Don’t worry,” she said calmly. “I do this for a living.”
“Do what for a living?” Kris’s breathing was so rapid and loud Allegro was worried she might hyperventilate.
“I have a regular job as well,” she said, checking her rearview to make sure she’d lost the Peugeot. She was fast outdistancing the few cars behind her. “I test-drive and fix race cars. Formula One. This is nothing.”
The gas station was coming up fast, so she braked hard and drove directly into the car wash. Domino was sitting in her car, parked directly in front of them.
“Do you really think this is the right time to be worrying about the shine on your car?” Kris asked, flexing her hands.
“I’m glad you got your sense of humor back.” Allegro unbuckled her seat belt. “Kris, you need to get out.”
“What are we doing here?”
“Come on, you’ll see.”
They walked around to the front of the car as Domino got out of hers.
“Kris, this is Luka. Luka, Kris. But I know you’ve met,” Allegro said.
Domino smiled.
Kris stared. “You’re the woman from the tram.”
“She’s been following you when I couldn’t, to protect you from the Afghan,” Allegro explained.
“That’s why you stopped me from going to that seat,” she said to Domino. “And he was behind us in line at the museum.”
“Hi, Kris,” Domino said.
“If we’re done with the introductions, I need you to get her out of here,” Allegro said. “Go to the mansion.”
Kris tugged her sleeve. “Where are you going?”
“To take care of him.”
Kris frowned. “You’re going to kill him?”
“We need to go, Kris,” Domino said.
But Kris kept her full attention on Allegro. “What about the diamond?”
“Give it to Luka. I’ll meet you at the house.”
Kris looked as though she was going to say something else, but after a few seconds, she started toward the passenger door of Domino’s car. She paused there and turned back toward Allegro. “I…I’ll see you later.”
Domino handed Allegro the tracking device. Azizi had passed the car wash and was heading away from them on the highway. Allegro took off after him, caught up to the Peugeot within a few minutes, and shot past him so he couldn’t see into the Audi. She was certain he’d recognized the car, though, when he took off after her.
She made sure to keep ahead of him, grateful that the high seats of the sports car made it impossible from the rear to see whether there was anyone in the passenger side. They were passing more farmland, the next big city still miles away. She took the next exit, with Azizi on her tail, and quickly found another back road much like the one they’d just left. Steep, water-filled ditches on either side, as before, the pavement more pitted, but flat. And this road had two advantages: it was narrow and had even fewer farmhouses than the one outside Haarlem.
Allegro gunned the engine to leave him well behind, and once she passed a long stretch without barns or farmhouses, hit the brakes at the next driveway and quickly turned around. His headlights in the distance were coming toward her at a high rate of speed. Okay, son of a bitch. Time to see who’s got the bigger balls. She accelerated and headed straight for the Afghan, driving down the middle of the road. She clicked on her brights to blind him.
She could almost feel his panic. The Peugeot slowed dramatically. But Allegro kept her speed steady, calmly closing the distance between them. He had only two options: stop, or get out of the way. He was on a mission, and she knew what that meant in his world. A soldier never disappoints, it could mean his head. There was nowhere for him to go. He had ditches on both sides, and the road was too narrow to avoid her. She kept her speed constant.
Mere seconds before impact, he swerved. She shot past him as he careened into the ditch to her right. Allegro braked hard and skidded to a stop, then hit reverse and shot backward until she was beside the vehicle. The car was half submerged, and Azizi, gun in hand, was trying to pull himself out of the passenger window.
Still in the Audi, she hit the button to lower the passenger window with one hand and reached for her Walther, equipped with its silencer, with the other. Aiming through the open window, she fired at the gun in his hand. Azizi screamed and fell back into the Peugeot as the gun broke in two and took part of his hand with it. Allegro got out of her car and walked to the edge of the ditch, looking down at him through the open window.
Good-bye, son of a bi
tch. She raised her gun and fired, hitting him cleanly between the eyes. A shot to the head was the traditional way. Always make sure you aim to kill. A second shot, and she was done. She removed the tracker from the Peugeot and sped back to the mansion.
*
“Are you part of this…organization, too?” Kris asked Luka as they left the car wash and headed toward the mansion, thankfully at a normal rate of speed.
“Yes. That’s how we know each other. What has Misha told you about us?”
Kris noted the nickname. Misha. A sign these two women were close. “Nothing. Just that you’re getting rid of scum and making this a better world.”
“Sounds about right.”
“I still don’t know what that makes you.”
“It makes us necessary,” Luka said. “What we do…what Misha does, is not who she is. It’s part of her, but she’s so much more.”
“That’s right. She’s a Formula One mechanic,” Kris said drolly. “How about you? What’s your cover story?”
Luka laughed. “It’s not a cover story. We have actual jobs, and we’re called to duty when things get out of control. When we have to go where others can’t. I’m an art restorer.”
Kris studied Luka in profile as they drove through the lighted streets of Haarlem. She looked like the artsy type, but her toned physique, like Misha’s, made it also entirely believable that she was capable of taking care of herself in a fight. “Why didn’t she pick something safe, normal, like you did? If she’s not out playing Rambo, she’s on the track racing killing machines.”
Luka’s smile faded as she glanced toward Kris. “Because she needs the adrenaline to feel alive. We lead rather complicated lives that deprive us of the usual emotional highs. Highs that matter.”
“How do you get your emotional highs?”
“I used to try the most ludicrous things, not caring what might happen to me.” They stopped at a traffic light and Luka turned to look at her. “When that didn’t work, I turned into a shut-in. But recently, I found what I’d been missing all those years. What I’d been depriving myself of, thinking I didn’t deserve it.”
“What’s that?” Kris asked.
“Love.” Luka smiled and, for a moment, looked past Kris, as though her thoughts had taken her elsewhere. “I found someone who accepts who I am and what I do. Accepts my moods and takes away the pain by giving me warmth and understanding. Loves me unconditionally although she knows I can’t give her answers or explanations. All she asks is that I love her unconditionally in return.”
“Do you?”
“I would risk my life for her. Misha is like that as well.” The light changed, and Luka returned her attention to the road.
If anyone knew about the women in Misha’s life, Kris thought Luka the most likely candidate. “Is there someone she would risk her life for?”
Surprise registered on Luka’s face. “What do you think she’s doing now? The only reason she asked me to come here was to protect you. She wasn’t ordered to protect you, Kris, and nobody asked her to get rid of the Afghan. Her mission was to get the diamond. That’s all.”
Kris’s mind was whirling. “What are you saying?”
“He’s a danger to you, so she won’t leave until she’s dealt with him,” Luka said. “I’ve known her all my life, and I’ve never seen her more afraid of losing someone. She’s always been fearless because she’s had no one she cared enough about to fear for. Except me, but we’re like family.”
They turned onto the road to the mansion. Kris remembered the morning she’d picked Angie…Misha…up here, carrying her duffel bag. The cocky American tourist she’d already decided not to like. So much had happened since, in such a short time, it hardly seemed possible. She’d only known Misha for a few days, and hadn’t known her at all as it turned out. Yet she couldn’t ignore the feelings that threatened to engulf her. Even in the confusion and shock of the events swirling around her, she could find a strange calm deep within, a sense of certainty she could not explain. She was in love. Impossible, illogical, and undeniable.
“Is she going to be all right?” she asked.
“She’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” Luka said it with such confidence it did help calm Kris’s nerves.
“How do you know?”
“Because she’s one of the best.” Luka pulled into the driveway. “But also because she has reason to come back.”
“The diamond?”
Luka shook her head and smiled. “You. She loves you, Kris.”
*
Kris dug in her purse for her key, as they mounted the steps to the mansion.
Luka closed her phone and said, “She’ll be here in twenty minutes.”
“Thank God.”
“She wants you to get the diamond. We’ll have to leave immediately, as soon as she grabs her things.”
Kris slid her key in the lock. Immediately. If she’d known their conversation in the car might be their last, would she have done anything differently? Misha had known, she realized, and that was why she’d poured her heart out. Somehow that made the words she’d said easier to believe.
Luka’s hand on her arm stopped her as she reached for the knob. “Allow me.” With her gun in her hand, she pulled Kris behind her, then opened the door with one hand and pointed her gun inside with the other.
“The light switch is on the right,” Kris said.
Luka reached around to switch on the light, then stood still, scanning the interior and listening. There was no sound from within. They moved as a pair, until they could see into the next room, where the renovation work was being done.
“Aside from the mess, does everything look like it should?” Luka asked.
Kris glanced past her. “Yes. As far as I can tell, anyway. It feels like I haven’t been here for months.”
“A lot has happened. Where’s the diamond?”
“In the vault,” Kris said. “The entrance is through the garden shed. It’s faster if we go out through the kitchen. But I have to get the keys first. One to the shed, and one to the trapdoor.” As she started toward the den, Luka stopped her.
“Please stay with me. I’ll walk us there.”
They moved as one again, Luka with her gun pointed, and Kris behind, her hand on Luka’s back. When they reached the den, Luka turned on the lights. The room was empty, and it didn’t appear that anything inside had been disturbed. Kris started around the desk, Luka close beside her. One of the work tarps blocked the bottom drawers because there was something large beneath it. Kris’s heart began to beat faster.
Luka touched the edge of the shape with her foot. “Stand back, Kris.” She crouched, her gun pointed, and swiftly pulled back the tarp.
Kris screamed when she saw it was Jeroen, his eyes open and unnaturally wide, blue lips frozen in a permanent grimace of pain. “Oh, my God.” She put her hands over her eyes, but she could still see his face, burned forever in her memory.
“Do you know him?” Luka asked gently.
“Jeroen. The…the handyman.” A wave of dizziness washed over Kris. “He was a friend of my uncle’s.”
“I’m sorry. From the looks of him, I think he was killed late last night or early this morning.”
As Kris backed away from the body, her knees started to buckle. She stumbled to the nearest chair and collapsed into it, then put her head down. “When will all this stop?”
“Tonight,” Luka said. “It stops tonight. By tomorrow, everything will be back to normal.”
Kris rocked back and forth in her chair while they waited for Misha. The only sound she could hear was the faint ticking of the grandfather clock in the next room until finally a car pulled into the drive.
“I’ll be right back.” Luka departed, leaving her alone with Jeroen.
*
Allegro had raced back to the mansion, her heart growing heavier with each passing mile, knowing she’d have only mere minutes with Kris before they had to leave for the Middle East. She’d said everything she’d
needed to say to her, how she felt and what Kris meant to her. Everything except the fact that knowing her had changed everything. For she knew in her heart that her escapes with fast cars and anonymous women would never be enough any more.
Domino met her at the door and briefed her on what they’d found. Tucking her gun into the back of her waistband, Allegro hurried into the den and found Kris rocking back and forth in her chair, her head in her hands. She knelt in front of her, but didn’t dare touch her.
“He’s dead.” Kris started to sob.
“I know,” Allegro said. “He was a sweetheart. He never deserved this.”
Kris wiped at her eyes and looked up at her. “I’m so scared.”
“You have nothing to fear anymore. He won’t be bothering you again.”
“You killed him?”
“He was a ruthless, sick bastard.”
“And you killed him,” Kris repeated.
“Yes.”
Kris’s eyes swept over the tarp. “Good.”
“Kris, I know this is difficult,” Allegro said gently, “but we’re running out of time. Luka and I have to leave. The sooner we go, the faster you can call the police to notify Jeroen’s family. We can’t be here when the police arrive.”
Kris acted as though she hadn’t heard. She was still staring at the body.
Allegro placed a hand lightly on her cheek and turned her face until their eyes met. “You can stay here with Luka while I go get the diamond. Just tell me where it is.”
“It’s in the vault. Through the garden house.”
She’s in shock. She’s not thinking clearly. “No, it’s not, Kris. I’ve already checked there.”
Kris looked puzzled. “When?”
“The night before last,” she said. “The night you went out to get it.”
Kris bit her lip, and went quiet for a moment, as though trying to focus her thoughts. She was staring at her feet. “I gave it to my uncle when we went over there yesterday. I was going to put it in a lockbox because Jeroen…” Her voice broke at the mention of his name. “Because Jeroen wanted to start working on the fake wall. But because I’d made plans with you and couldn’t get to the bank, Uncle offered to return it to the safe last night. He didn’t think it wise to keep it in his office, and he had to be in Haarlem to visit a friend anyway. He was going to ask Jeroen to wait to work on that wall.”