by Storm Chase
Although she now got along well with Paco, and didn’t mind Sam whose interests centred on cooking, money and gambling, Pandora still didn’t like the other people who came to see Xavier. She slowly realised though that visitors trod lightly around her. Somehow the news of her taser attack had trickled out; everyone knew the new Pandora wasn’t a soft target.
In June they got news that the brigadier had been identified.
“He’s working for another outfit,” Xavier said after a short call from pink tie. “And it seems that they’re gunning for us. Better keep an eye out for anything unusual, Panda. Turf wars can get quite tricky.”
Tricky wasn’t the word; it was brutal. Within a week they heard that Sir Harry had been shot, ostensibly by a burglar. Miss Pickles was killed in a hit-and-run accident the same day. By July the Committee let it be known that ten operatives in Europe had either been killed or had disappeared.
Pandora didn’t say much when she heard the news, preferring to leave discussion until she and Xavier were safely out on one of their diving expeditions. They were locked down for the best part of July, so when security relaxed Pandora instantly dragged Xavier off for a day’s diving. Popping up for a breather over one of the reefs, Pandora ventured that this might be a good time for them to disappear too.
“Not a hope,” Xavier said. “This means my enemies have extra eyes looking for me, and my people have increased surveillance because of it. Making a move now would be suicidal.”
Seeing Pandora’s expression, he swam close to her and held her hand. “Don’t worry. These things don’t last long. A few more weeks and the war will be over. Then, while everyone is licking their wounds and trying to get everything set up again, we’ll slip out.”
And with that, Pandora had to be content. In August they spent a week in Buenos Aires, working for a Brazilian company, and in September, they were in Mexico, working for a Chilean group.
Determined to take advantage and see a bit of the world, Pandora picked up a smattering of Spanish and went off on city tours accompanied by a minder. As Xav was twitchy about security, she wore a wig of long black hair and big sunglasses. “I feel quite covert,” she announced when she came back. “Like I’m a female Ethan Hunt.”
Xavier looked worried. “Is that good, Panda?”
“Yes!” Pandora laughed. “I’m feeling very empowered!”
By the end of October the turf war died down and stopped. “We all took a beating,” Xavier said. “They lost more than half of their people, including their brigadier. We’ve lost three quarters of the Committee. It’s going to take months or even years to get it all set up again.”
As they were in the living room, Pandora was too aware of possible hidden ears to ask if that meant they could now get out. Looking at Xavier, she decided not to ask. She could see by the faraway look in his eye that he was considering options. She hoped it would be soon. Xavier had tried to hide it from her but Paco had decided she needed to learn some harsh realities of life.
“We had a committee of eight,” he explained. “Three of the Committee were assassinated by the other side, but the other three were killed in-house. The two who are left standing, Neil Griffiths in England and Diego Ortega in Argentina, decided they’d be better off wiping them out and dividing everything between them.”
“What does that mean for us?”
“In theory everything stays the same. But eventually Griffiths and Ortega will battle it out, and then we’re going to have to decide who we’re with.” Paco shrugged. “Frankly, I don’t like it. This is the problem about working for outfits like ours; they’re not long-term thinkers.”
Pandora looked at him without saying a word.
Paco nodded encouragingly. “You can say what you want. I swept for bugs half an hour ago so nobody’s listening.”
“You think they check in?”
“Sure! Bound to. But not at the moment,” Paco said cheerfully. “Anyway, as I said, the problem with the Committee is that they think about themselves first. They think that taking out personal competition during a war is clever but it’s actually very stupid. Now the Committee is mostly gone, they’ve lost their edge. It leaves us vulnerable to any outfit that wants to challenge us. I don’t like it at all.”
Pandora didn’t like it either. The quicker they could get out, the better.
The next day when Pandora woke up and checked the news, the headline concerned a projection of Christmas sales. Calculating, she realised she had been with Xavier for almost a year. It seemed a lifetime.
Pandora wondered if Xavier had opened negotiations with Sig. She decided to wait until their next walk on the beach to ask him. No point in breaking their pattern.
When she broached the subject Xavier was surprisingly evasive. “I’d rather not talk about it,” he said. “You’re very good now at hiding your feelings, Panda but you’re not perfect. It’s safer if you don’t know anything.”
“All right,” Pandora said equably.
“You don’t mind”? Xavier asked with rare surprise.
“Nope. It’s your job and I trust you.” Pandora looked out at the sea. “Let’s go diving, Xav. I hear there are hammerheads out by the reef. I’d like to see them up close.”
He laughed. “I never thought I’d hear you say that!”
Pandora shrugged. “A shark is nothing compared to Griffiths.”
“A shark would probably spit him out,” Xavier said cheerfully. “Professional courtesy.”
At Christmas, Xavier announced it was time they moved house. “We’ve been here too long,” he told Pandora. “We should have been out of here months ago but the war pinned us down. It’s time to move on. People are beginning to recognise us and wonder who we are. Where do you want to go, Panda?”
“Hawaii,” she said promptly. “I’d like to see the volcanoes, the diving is superb, and there’s some great surfing there. I’d like to learn, if you’ll teach me.”
“All right. Want to keep this place or shall we sell?”
“What?”
“This condo, Panda. We can keep it or sell it. If you think you’ll want to come back here, sometime, I’ll keep it. If not, then we’ll sell.”
Pandora stared at him. “You bought this place? Xav, do you know we’ve never talked about money?”
Xavier shrugged. “I’ve been rich and poor. At the moment I’m rich.”
Pandora sensed a story. “Tell me.”
“About four years ago, just before I joined this group, I was on the run. I went to Colombia. There are some great doctors there, and they’re so used to working on drug people that it’s no questions asked. Anyway, I needed money, so I pilfered Willy Varela’s accounts.”
“Who?”
“Leader of the North Valley Cartel.”
Pandora stared at him. “Sounds like a dangerous man to rob.”
“Yeah well, he made regular payments to a terrorist group called the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia. Contract killings and that sort of thing. I just put in two extra payments. Nobody ever checked.”
“Will he ever find out?”
“Unlikely! He died soon afterwards.”
“Well, that’s okay then.”
“No lecture, Panda?”
“Nope. If it’s a choice between drug lords having cash and you, I pick you.”
“Good. So do you want to come back?”
“If you can sell at a profit, do so. Best keep liquid, Xavier. You never know if this place will go up in some revolution.”
“You think it will? It looks pretty stable to me. Prosperous too.”
Pandora shrugged. “Sure. But in a few years they’ll want more democracy and less corruption. It’s a small place. One rabble-rouser is all it would take to cause trouble and set land prices tumbling. And we may not be in a position to come back here.”
“All right. I’ll sell.”
“Just on my say-so?”
“You understand people. It’s what you’re good at, Panda.”
The move was simple. Sam went ahead and sent back photos of suitable properties. They picked one, and told Sam to set up. Paco decided to take a break and went skiing in Switzerland, promising to join them in the New Year.
Left on their own, Pandora and Xavier took a last dive, then packed. All Pandora had was a bag with clothes, a small case with her diving suit and fins and her iPad and her laptop. “To think I used to have a flat full of stuff,” she kidded Xavier. “Who would have guessed that a life of crime meant being out of the consumer race?”
As always, they took a circuitous route. After three days and changing planes four times, the security people escorted them to a helicopter at Kona International Airport.
“I thought this was it,” Pandora said.
“We’ve got a place on Lanai,” the security officer said. “It’s two islands over.” He pointed to a small helicopter. “You’ll be there in an hour.”
“Just us?” Pandora worried. “Where are you guys going?”
“We’ll be right behind you,” he said pointing at a second chopper.
Pandora twitched. She didn’t like the idea of being without security. “Isn’t there a bigger helicopter that can take us all?”
“We’ve checked it out. It’s a short ride. You won’t be out of our sight.”
“We can go by boat tomorrow if you’re worried, Panda,” Xavier offered.
That made security twitch. “Best to stick to the plan,” he said shortly. “We haven’t done any background for that.”
“If Pandora doesn’t like this -” Xavier started.
“I’m fine,” Pandora said hastily. “I’m just tired, I guess. Come on, Xav. I’m dying to get home. I need a bath. I can smell myself.”
They climbed into the tiny chopper and two minutes later they were flying over the ocean. The sun was going down in a spectacular sea of orange and red. Pandora looked at the view but felt unsettled. She had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. They flew over the ocean, into the swiftly falling darkness. Pandora could see a light in the distance. At first she thought it was an island; then she realised it was moving.
“Your escort,” the pilot roared. “They’re in a hurry, aren’t they? Guess they want us to speed up.”
The tiny chopper had almost no insulation. Every beat of the rotor could be felt and heard inside the tiny cabin. Fifty minutes later, when Pandora was almost deaf with the sound, they spotted a line of lights.
Pandora should have felt reassured but instead, her stomach heaved. “Xav,” she said into his ear. “Something’s not right.”
“Airport!” the pilot said loudly. “Almost there, folks!”
The moment he said it, there was a loud coughing sound. The helicopter lurched dramatically.
Xavier put an arm around her. “Hold on, Panda!”
Black smoke poured out from the side of the machine. Pandora sat silently as the pilot began to send out a frantic mayday. Xavier flipped open his phone and pressed speed dial. The sound and the smoke were deafening.
“Shit, Xav, we’re going down!” Pandora yelled. She put her hand underneath the seat, looking for a float or lifejacket. To her horror, the thing she tugged out was a hand. From the rigidity and colour, it clearly belonged to a dead body.
Abruptly, the helicopter landed. Pandora thought her coccyx was going through the top of her skull. To her amazement the pilot reached back, plucked the phone from Xavier’s hand and threw it out of the window. They were at the edge of the beach, standing in about a meter of water. She saw the phone land in the ocean with a splash.
“Come on, folks, run!” the pilot said. “This thing blows in 40 seconds!”
The doors popped open and hands reached in, grabbing for her. She could see hands grabbing for Xavier too. Pandora let herself go loose but held onto her laptop. She was hastily dragged out in the water, over a tarpon that lay over a rocky beach and into some trees.
“Everyone down!” a quiet voice said. It sounded vaguely familiar.
Pandora dropped to the ground. “Xav, you okay?” she gasped.
“Yup,” came a muffled voice.
To her relief, his hand came snaking out of the dark and held hers. A second later there was a blast of heat and a wall of flame and noise. When the small burning items stopped landing about them, Pandora lifted her head. She could see Xavier grinning at her.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yes. Unconventional landing though.”
“Sorry about that,” the vaguely familiar voice said.
Mayhem and dead bodies. “Hello, Mac,” Panda said into the dark. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
Chapter Fourteen
Pandora got to her feet and looked back. The helicopter was burning merrily. Two men were pulling the tarpon up the beach. The heavy plastic had disguised their footprints. Anyone taking a look would be certain nobody had come to shore.
“Good to see you both.” Mac stood in front of them, covered from head to toe in dark camo gear. He was holding out thin looking cloaks. “Put these on,” he ordered them. “They’ll hide us from infrared sweeps.”
Pandora slipped hers over her head. It smelled funny, like dirty rubber. She was breathing quickly but she surprised to see that her hands weren’t shaking. Xavier was wet through but he looked his usual calm self. An earthquake probably wouldn’t upset him, she thought.
“We’ve got to hurry,” Mac said tersely. “Your security will be here in less than four minutes, Dragon.”
“Then stop standing about chatting,” Xavier snapped. “Let’s go!”
They ran through the dark, dodging trees and jumping over the big roots that strewed their path. Pandora held onto her laptop with one hand, and Xav with the other. At first she ran directly behind Mac, copying his moves in order to stay on her feet. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the dark.
The trees were huge but evenly spaced. They were in some sort of plantation. Pandora listened for sounds of pursuit behind them but all she could hear was the soft fall of their feet and their own breathing.
They ran full out for ten minutes, jogged for another ten, and then ran for ten more. When Mac finally called a halt, Pandora was gasping. To her annoyance, none of the men were.
“You should come running with me, Panda,” Xavier grinned at her.
“Your knees will go by the time you’re forty,” Pandora panted. “Flexibility is what counts.”
Mac’s voice came to them through the dark. “We’re halfway to our rendezvous point. Can you make it, Pandora?”
“Same speed and distance? Sure.” But by the time they reached the shore at the other end of the island, Pandora was exhausted. She held onto Xavier’s hand as they ran over more rocky beach and into shallow water, feeling every breath burning in her chest.
A small fishing boat with a large sail was waiting for them. Pandora hit it at a trot and then felt herself begin to pass out. Dimly she felt hands pull her on board. They lay down on the deck and were covered with the tarpon Mac’s men had carried with them. Seconds later, they were moving out silently.
“As long as we stay down, we’re hidden from view,” Mac said in an ordinary voice. “Even if they spot us in the dark, and use infrared, they can’t see us. This cover is tunable so we can just disappear off their radar. It’s the latest technology.”
“Vanadium dioxide coating,” Pandora yawned. “Very impressive. Where did you steal it from?”
“It was issued to us fair and square,” Mac protested. He was silent a moment. “How the hell do you know about vana-? Vena-? Whatever?”
“I can read,” Pandora laughed. “And it’s vanadium dioxide.”
“You’ve changed,” Mac observed with interest.
“Hmmm. Yes. How long before we get to where we’re going?” Pandora asked.
“Three hours.”
“Wake me when we get there.” Tucking herself into Xav’s arms, and using the laptop as a pillow, Pandora went to sleep.
; When she woke up, it was still dark but the boat was bumping against a beach. They climbed out, splashed through more shallow water, travelled a few hundred meters through more plantation, and then were mercifully picked up by a jeep that drove them rapidly to a small plane waiting on a tiny landing strip.
The second they tumbled into the cabin, the doors were slammed shut and the plane began rolling down the runway. Then they were in the air, leaving the island behind them.
The plane was a small jet, arranged for executive travel with large comfortable leather seats set in small groups to facilitate discussion. It was small, but luxuriously appointed. Whoever these people were, Pandora thought to herself, they had money.
Mac and his colleagues got up and moved to the back of the plane, pointedly leaving a gap between Pandora and Xavier sitting in the front. Pandora took a deep breath. Now to see what was up.
Xavier was looking slightly worried. He leaned towards Pandora and spoke quietly in her ear. “This isn’t what I was expecting.”
Before Pandora could speak, a tall, broadly smiling man with short dark hair and little round glasses sat down opposite them. “Xavier, Pandora, it’s good to meet you at last. I’m David.”
“Hi.” Xavier’s deadpan look didn’t fool Pandora; she realised he was feeling vulnerable.
“You did the right thing to come to us,” David said. He handed Xavier a laptop. “Sig wants to talk.”
“Sig?” Pandora asked. “How did he get into this?”
“Sig’s a girl,” Xavier said. He flipped open the laptop.
“I thought Sig always had woman trouble?” Pandora said blankly. Then it dawned on her. “Oh, right. Sig’s gay.”
“Sig planned everything,” Xavier said. “It’s what she does.”
He opened the screen and started typing. Instantly Pandora felt him relax. “Sig says she’ll be waiting for us,” he announced. “I was expecting her to be here but she says she never gets involved in the physical operation. Huan’s arrived safely too.”
Pandora stared at him. “What?”
Xavier smiled at her. “I told Sig we needed out. All of us. And it had to be foolproof. Huan went first. He got out a week ago and walked to the coast. Took him 4 days. Sig had a boat waiting for him. I laid a false trail inland. They still think he’s in Chengdu. When he got on board, it was our turn.”