by Jan Coffey
“When are you taking the culture?” he asked.
“Today, if that’s the direction you want to go.”
“Absolutely,” David said. “We don’t have any other choice, do we?”
The two physicians’ silence gave David his answer.
CHAPTER 24
FEAR
Istanbul, Turkey
There was no reason for them to go to the police department to fill out paperwork. Joe Finley and the U.S. Consulate had arranged for everything to be handled from the Galvins’ penthouse suite at the Ritz-Carlton Istanbul.
Steven took an inventory of what was in Nathan’s room before they left, and Kei took one of her son’s sweaters with her.
For the first time, Steven’s fears matched his wife’s. There was no logical explanation for Nathan going missing for as many days as he had and leaving all his personal belongings in the hotel room.
It wasn’t until they had settled into their hotel that Steven Galvin was told by Tansu that Finley had stopped her from contacting the newspapers. He was angry enough to throw the young man from one of the windows, but—for Kei’s sake—he waited until he and the FSO were alone in the suite on the Club Level that he planned to use as base of operations.
Finley began explaining before Steven even had a chance to start laying into him.
“Sir, you have every reason to be angry, but my orders came out of Ankara. The ambassador himself called me. He said to tell you that people who can shed light on the situation are on their way. My instructions were to stop any public reference to the situation until the Information Officers get here and can meet with you in person.”
“Look, I don’t give a damn what your orders were,” Galvin snapped. “This is not a matter of national security. I don’t take orders from U.S. Government. I am looking for my son, and I plan to do everything in my power to find him. So you can get right back on the phone and call the ambassador. You can tell him I am sending you back to Ankara, too, if you plan to interfere rather than help.”
“Sir, we have intricate relationships with law enforcement in this region. The ambassador wants you to be assured that we can operate far more efficiently in the face of a delicate situation.”
“Don’t even try to bullshit me, young man. Yesterday, when I was on the other side of the world, you people were giving me a song and dance about Nathan not registering with the Consulate, and about the fact there was not a great deal that you could do,” he told him. “I made one phone call, and suddenly you’re meeting me at the airport. I tell you that we’re going to go public, immediately, and I don’t give a damn that the ambassador is sending in the heavy artillery. I don’t trust you. I don’t trust the Consulate. Time is of the essence here. And I plan to do everything in my power to locate my son. So just get out of my way.”
Finley’s cell phone rang. At the same time, there was a knock at the door and Steven opened it. Tansu was standing in the hallway with two men.
“Mr. Galvin, these gentlemen say they are from the Consulate.”
Steven cast a dark glance back at Finley. “Thank you, Tansu.” He looked at the two men. “Come in.”
“Mr. Galvin?” the older of the two men spoke. Badges appeared and introductions were made. The older man was named Siegel, the other Cooper.
Seeing Finley, Siegel motioned for the FSO to wait outside, and the young man quietly slipped out of the room.
“You’re the Information Officers from Ankara,” Steven said, confirming what he’d seen on the identification badges.
“Yes and no, sir,” Siegel replied.
“Which is it?”
“That is only part of our function here.”
“Look, Mr. Siegel,” Steven said curtly. “I didn’t bring my decoder ring, so why don’t you just talk straight to me.”
He walked toward the window then turned back to face them. The two men hadn’t moved.
“What’s going on, Mr. Siegel? Why are you here?”
The men exchanged a look first. Cooper was the one who spoke this time. “We were sent here, sir, to suggest that you let the U.S. Government handle the situation with your son.”
“This is the second time in five minutes my son’s disappearance has been referred to as a ‘situation’. Why?” he snapped, his temper rising. “What do you know? Where is Nathan? If you know something, why can’t you people just come out and say it?”
“I’m afraid we have strict guideli—”
“This is bullshit,” Galvin interrupted. He’d worked enough years in business to recognize when someone was trying to pull the wool over his eyes. “Do you know where Nathan is? Is he hurt? Is he…is he dead?”
Siegel and Cooper exchanged looks again.
“Mr. Galvin, I can tell you that your son is alive and safe,” Siegel told him. “For the moment.”
A flicker of hope lit in his chest. “And how do you know that?”
“Because we know.”
“That’s not enough. Explain,” Steven barked.
“What I am about to tell you is classified information. You cannot divulge this information to anyone outside of this room, sir.”
“What have you got to tell me?”
“Your son is on assignment.”
“Assignment for whom?” Galvin was past controlling his temper. He knew he was snapping and he didn’t care. “Nathan doesn’t work. He’s taking some time off after graduating from college. He’s a tourist, for God’s sake.”
“He’s working for the U.S. Government, sir.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Steven looked at him sharply. “Doing what?”
“Intelligence,” Cooper said in a low voice.
Steven stared at them. “Are you telling me that my son is a spy?”
Siegel nodded. “Because of your status with certain members of our government, I have been given special permission to give you information that is closely guarded…information your son was not at liberty to divulge. Sir, your son is an operative, working with the Central Intelligence Agency. Part of this past year, he trained with us. After finishing his basic training, Nathan was promoted to field operative just three months ago. Turkey is his first overseas assignment.”
CHAPTER 25
TERROR
Ghana, Africa
Finn loved Irish rugby. He went to the games, checked the scores when he was away. He knew the players. He followed the training news of who was hurt and who was hot. He knew Niall O’Connor had picked up a knock to his left hip in training last week. He’d learned Ferris had been recalled to the squad. Isaac Boss was nursing a calf strain, but that wouldn’t stop the captain.
Finn could make predictions with the best as to who was being drafted and who would be ditched. He’d been at the Lansdowne Street Stadium in Dublin on that chilly January night in ‘99 to watch his Ulster lads whip the Frenchies for the Heineken Cup, and he knew everyone who sat around him for home games at Ravenhill. In so many words, rugger was his sport.
He couldn’t say the same thing about football. David Beckham was a silly pop star, so far as Finn was concerned. He never followed the game. Never cared a straw about it. That was why it was easy to get this job done. He was glad Issa Bongben wasn’t a rugby player. He was just a bloody football player.
The Africa Cup of Nations was in progress, and the competition provided the perfect screen. He had the name, picture, date, time, and place. As much as he made it his business not to learn anything more about his target, it was impossible to miss it in the headlines of every paper. Issa Bongben was the goalie for Cameroon National Football Team, and they were playing Egypt in the finals tomorrow. Bongben had long been suspected of being under the influence of gamblers, but that made no difference to Finn. He was just a bloody job.
The street below him was crawling with people. Finn saw his target leave the hotel restaurant, surrounded by his entourage of bodyguards, handlers and women. As the footballer stepped onto the crowded sidewalk, everyone else disappeared from Finn’
s focus. He and his mark were the only two people existing in the world at this moment. He stared at the face. He had the right mark.
He fired. The target went down.
Only Finn was left in this world now, and the Cameroon national football team would need a new goalie for Saturday’s finals. Finn eased the window shut as the noise of the crowd going wild erupted outside.
“Ninety-eight, Kelly darling,” he whispered. “Two to go.”
CHAPTER 26
LOSS
Common sense told Alanna to end it completely. She loved Ray, but there were too many secrets…too many unanswered questions. Since he’d come back into her life, she found herself wondering whether either of them had truly known the other before. She needed answers. She’d never been the kind of person who let others make decisions for her. She was a leader, not a follower. She wouldn’t be led on blindly to wherever. Not by Ray or anyone else.
Emotions tore at her heart, but her head was telling Alanna that the relationship she had with Ray was different now. The blush was off the rose. Too many times she found herself being critical of him. She wondered why he hadn’t tried to fight and keep her with him the first time around. She questioned the depth of his love.
She questioned the depth of hers.
Alanna was glad that he wasn’t staying with her. She had time to think. Stepping back, she could see the situation with a clearer head. She knew she had to end their relationship. No more secret meetings, no more phone calls, no more uncertainty.
She’d told Ray exactly that when he’d called the day after she sent him the text message. Still, she’d let him talk her into one last meeting. The absolute last time he would bother her, he’d promised.
Ray had asked her to drive up to the Sonoma Valley wine country. For all the years she’d lived in the San Francisco area, she’d never once played tourist and driven up there. That would have been considered a leisure activity. She’d never made time for leisure activities.
She knew about the area, of course, from reading the Sunday paper and hearing about it from others. The Napa Valley wine country had the large wineries and attracted the tourists. Napa became famous in 1970s when, during a blind taste competition held by the French, a couple of Napa Valley wineries won medals over their French rivals. This event brought with it a great deal of publicity for Napa Valley and then the development of a burgeoning tourist industry. And in the wake of that, Sonoma Valley was ignored.
Actually, Alanna thought as she drove, being ignored was exactly what she could use right now. She really just wanted to be left alone. She’d grieved the loss of Ray for so many months. This time, she told herself, it would be easier to let him go because she knew he was alive. She could make it now. She could get through it.
The fifty-five mile drive to Santa Rosa was a pleasant one on a Sunday morning. She was supposed to meet Ray at the FountainGrove Inn. She had no trouble finding it. Pulling up to the front door, she told the attendant that she was having brunch in the Equus Restaurant with a friend.
Ray always matched Alanna’s sense of punctuality, so she wasn’t surprised at all when he came out and greeted her only seconds after she’d arrived. It was one minute to eleven.
He was wearing a wide-brimmed Stetson and sun glasses and, as soon as the attendant drove her car away, he leaned over and kissed her.
She wished he hadn’t done that. She didn’t want to be tempted. She’d made her decision.
He took her by the hand. “Let’s go for a walk.”
Alanna very much preferred to say what she had to say in private. She’d made up her mind what had to be, but the pain of doing it, of saying goodbye was still raw. To have the discussion they needed to have in public only added to her anxiety.
The hotel and conference center had been built on what was once a historic ranch, though only vestiges of the old property remained. The buildings swept out in a low profile, and there was an unobstructed view of a pretty round barn above. She realized that was where they were heading. The redwood, oak, and stone had been carefully blended in the landscaping plans to provide a mix of old and new.
Ray didn’t say anything as they walked past two groups of guests strolling back down toward the inn. Alanna looked around, trying to focus on anything and everything but the man walking beside her. She pulled her hand out of his and he let her.
“You changed your mind,” he told her when they were out of earshot of others. There was no accusation in his tone, only hurt. “I don’t know why.”
“I can’t do it,” she said passionately. “I can’t walk away from my responsibilities…from my grandmother and my work. They matter too much to me.”
“But you still love me?” he asked.
“I do. I do, Ray,” she looked into his face. “But I know who I am. And I am certain that as happy as I would be with you for the short term, I would suffer in the long term because of my guilt. I would make you suffer. I believe in responsibilities, Ray. And there are just too many things…too many people…who depend on me. It doesn’t matter how badly I want happiness, how deeply I love you. I can’t choose that life over these other things.”
He turned his face and stared straight ahead as they walked.
“You told me that you were a mess when I was gone.”
“I was. God knows, I was. But I’ve thought hard about it. I’ll be better this time. I’ll know that you’re alive and living somewhere safe.”
He reached for her hand again. She let him. “I couldn’t stay away before. Do you remember that first day that you saw me in the parking lot?”
She nodded. “I thought I’d lost my mind. You were supposedly dead and here you were walking to the bus stop.”
“That was the morning I got back to the San Francisco area. I had to see you. So I just got on one of the shuttles and was dropped off inside the gate. My life was in danger but I was only thinking of seeing you,” he told her. “I was lucky that morning that I didn’t run into anyone who might recognize me. And the driver didn’t pay much attention to my old ID. It wasn’t until I was so close to finding you that I realized what I was doing. I had to think this through. I had to do it right this time.”
She stared at her feet taking the steps. It hurt to hear his confessions.
“I know I’ll do the same thing again if I have to. I can’t live without you, Alanna.”
“I wish you wouldn’t say that, Ray. You had a life before me. You’ll have one after, too. You and I are both survivors. We’re strong people. You, maybe, even more so than I. But I’m asking you to go. I’m begging you to set me free.”
He stopped. She saw him study her small hand nestled in his large one. He removed his sunglasses and looked into her eyes. “There might be another option.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told you I was meeting with some people. They have some ideas…that they want to run by us.”
Alanna could tell he was nervous. She took his hand in both of hers.
“Run by you, you mean,” she said. “Whatever decision you make should be right for you. I’m not going to be part of this decision.”
He shook his head. “No, this is different. I think you might want to hear what they’re saying…that is, if you still love me.”
“Ray, don’t make this harder for me than it is. I can’t go away. I won’t,” she repeated.
“I think, with what they may be offering, you don’t have to. And I won’t have to, either.”
She looked up at him, confused.
“I want them to explain it to you. To me again, too. I know it sounds too good to be true. But they’re saying they can resolve the source of the problem that made me need to disappear. And I think they may really have the power and the resources to do it. That’s why you have to be there with me, to hear their offer. Please, Alanna.”
“Who are these people?”
“The people I’ve spoken to only refer to themselves as consultants.”
“What kind of con
sultants?” she asked.
“Technical consultants,” he said.
Alanna didn’t think there was a more general statement than this. She resented that she had to spell out everything. “Who do they work for?” she asked.
“You can ask them yourself.”
“Ray,” her tone was sharp enough to have him focus on her words. “My grandmother has a saying, sometimes we jump over a puddle and fall in the well. Is this what you’re doing?”
He didn’t answer for a moment.
“Ray, it sounds like they’re offering to do something that law enforcement agencies failed to do. This says something about their resources—the way they do business. As far as you know, they could be part of organized crime.”
“You don’t know that. I won’t know it, either, until we speak to them.” He took hold of her arms and looked deep into her eyes. “Please, Alanna. They’re here at the restaurant. We can talk to them now, hear what they offer and what they’re asking.”
They were here. Alanna now understood why Ray wanted her to drive out here. She was annoyed that he hadn’t told her this before. “Ray, I think you should go and talk to them yourself.”
“No, Alanna. They won’t do anything for me. They won’t help me unless…unless you are involved, too.”
“Why me?”
“Please, just come and ask yourself.” He motioned over his shoulder toward the building they’d left behind. “This is a public restaurant serving brunch. They can’t hurt us. I know they only want to help us. Let’s just go and talk to them.”
Alanna didn’t want to go. She had decided on the course ahead. She knew how she was going to live through losing Ray again. His actions only made her realize that how much easier would be this time around. But he sounded almost desperate. She reasoned that she had to give him this chance to make his life work.