by Jill Meengs
“I had to make certain you were okay, I had to be close to you. I’d never felt so compelled by another human being in my life. Determined to get to you, I fought my way to the front of the crowd around you. I expected to find you collapsed on the sand. Instead you were hovering over your brother as they worked to revive him. A lifeguard was doing CPR while you were shouting at him to breathe. You told him that you hadn’t just saved his life to let him die on you now.” He smiled. “That was the moment when I knew you were truly extraordinary.” His look was a mixture of love and extreme, almost demented, devotion.
I could still feel how the sand and gravel had dug into my knees as I knelt by my brother’s side. How my lungs had been raw from going without oxygen for so long and from swallowing sea water. My mother had been sobbing and my dad shouting for Carter to wake up. The second my brother’s eye’s flickered open and he took a breath, my heart swelled to bursting. He had smiled at me, not his usual robust smile, but enough that I knew he was going to be alright.
Then I looked around for the little girl. She was also fine. Knowing that they were both going to make it, I finally released the internal focus I had relied on to keep me going even when my body wanted to fail. Without that to hold onto, to drive me forward, the whole world went black and I collapsed in the sand.
“I wanted to stay close to you, but by then the paramedics had shown up. I backed off, but couldn’t get you out of my mind. A story like that was all over the news, so it wasn’t hard to find out where they took you. The day after you were released from the hospital, you were back on the beach and I was there. You were playing around like the day before hadn’t been a complete physical and psychological drain. I had never seen anything like it. I knew you were special, but even then I didn’t know just how astonishing you are.”
“What do you mean by that?” Chase interrupted.
“As someone who recognized talented individuals, I was almost giddy over your potential. When I returned home, I sent two other spotters to verify what I suspected. What they saw confirmed it. I kept their reports strictly to myself. Over the years I would check in on you personally. I’ve been biding my time, and working on how to recruit her. The opportune moment never arose. Usually, there is some sort of trigger event that provides a way for us to approach you. A personal tragedy, or triumph, something that opens the door for us to start the recruitment process. That never happened with you. I always find a way to get to someone, but not with you, and I found that maddening, yet at the same time almost a relief.”
His fevered gaze was starting to look more and more insane as he continued.
“I found that I cared, almost too much, about you. I wasn’t sure I wanted to subject you to this life. I felt a connection to you unlike anything I’ve ever felt for anyone. I was terribly conflicted about it. Part of me wanted to protect you from this world while another part was desperate to have you close to me; to mentor you, to have you for myself.”
“In the end, the wanting of you won out. However, a way to approach you didn’t come up until I learned of your trip to Europe. I wanted to get close to you myself, so I sent men to follow you while I worked on a way to set up an accidental encounter. I was thinking something could happen to your friend and then it would be easy to bring you into the fold. Then I learned about a complication. I would like to know just how you heard about my interest in her.” The Baron, his hooded eyes narrowed to slits, glared at Chase.
Chase didn’t respond.
Realizing he would get nothing from Chase, the Baron continued. “Once I knew your company was following her, I couldn’t waste any more time so I sent out the order to bring her directly to me. It was not my preference, but the alternative was unacceptable. What I didn’t account for was her ability to evade capture, with or without your help.”
The Baron was glaring at Chase like a spoiled kid who had had a toy taken away by a parent.
“Out of options, I brought in the person I thought was my best operative. I leaked the information that the answers you sought were to be found in Sevilla. Then I waited for you to come to me. I had Vlad come here so he could help me take care of you and finally obtain her. Obviously, he was not up to the job. It seems that in the end, no one was able to deal with you sir, or with you for that matter, my dear.” He shot me a look that was a convoluted mixture of pride, frustration, anger and desire.
The way he looked at me made me feel like an object that was coveted to the point of perversion. Whatever it was this man felt, it was not love. This was darker and far more twisted.
“What is it that makes you want her so badly?” Chase asked.
His question was met with a chuckle from the Baron. “Will and determination, my friend, can accomplish amazing things. The sheer will and determination she showed that day, as well as pure athletic ability and reaction time, were astounding. You would not fully understand because you weren’t there. You haven’t the foggiest idea what she’s capable of.”
Without flinching, Chase squeezed off a round, hitting him in the right shoulder. The Baron let out a piercing scream.
“Try me.”
Clutching his wounded shoulder, the Baron practically spat out the next words. “She could be the best I’ve seen in over forty years in this business. In fact, she is already better than a lot of people out there.” His voice was strained, and his body was contracted in an almost continuous spasm of pain.
“How can that be? She has no training, no experience, nothing,” Chase said.
“Look at what she’s done in the short time you’ve known her.”
Chase looked bewildered while he tried to reconcile what he was being told, what he knew, and what he wanted things to be.
“She is a truly amazing creature. So much potential, and yet even she doesn’t understand it all. In fact, she often hides her abilities from others, from herself, even from you.”
“You’re lying!” I was incensed. Surely he was mad.
The baron grimaced in pain. “You aren’t hiding anything that you discovered when you were very young? Something you go to great lengths to downplay?”
I was stunned. How could he know? I shot a guilty look at Chase, who seemed unmoved by what the Baron had said.
“I know she has a photographic memory,” Chase stated flatly.
I stared at him openly. I’d never allowed myself to think of it in those terms. How had he known?
The Baron looked disappointed that his revelation didn’t have the effect he had expected.
“It wasn’t that hard to figure out,” Chase said in answer to my shocked look. “I don’t see why that would make such a difference. Anyone can improve their memory with training.
The Baron shook his head as if Chase was too simple too understand. “Would you say an object that is gold-plated is as good as something made of solid gold?” Chase didn’t answer so the Baron continued. “No one would because it isn’t. It looks as good on the exterior, but in truth it is not as effective, or as valuable. Imagine someone with all the training you have, who is just as talented if not more so, and has a naturally perfect memory. That person would be nearly unstoppable. While they could be priceless to someone like me, they could also be detrimental if they were to fall into anyone else’s hands.”
He was gazing at me fervently.
“Whatever she may be capable of, I know that your hands are not the best place for her to be.” Chase was scornful.
“You say no one in your organization knows all of this, or anything about her?”
The Baron nodded vehemently.
“What about the spotters you sent to observe her?”
“I usually went myself. The other two I sent are dead.”
Somehow I got the impression that they had not died from natural causes.
“If you let me live, I won’t tell anyone about her or any of this. I have as much to lose as you do if anyone were to find out. I swear I’ll leave you alone.” Sensing that the questioning was done, the
Baron was starting to plead for his life.
“I don’t believe you. You’ve been obsessed with her for the better part of a decade. You won’t be able to let her go.” Chase was unruffled.
“I can be a powerful ally.”
“No bargains.”
“You’ve nothing to lose by letting me go,” the Baron rasped.
Chase eyed him steadily. “You’re wrong. I have everything to lose and therefore I have no choice.” The coldness in his voice made the next words brittle. “To let you live is to risk her life, and that I won’t do.”
He pulled the trigger twice in quick succession. Both bullets hit the Baron in the head. With one last violent shake, his body went still.
The sound of those shots marked the end to the nightmare of the last few days. I felt dizzy and lightheaded. It was over; it was finally over.
Chase walked to my side, wrapping his arms around me protectively. I leaned into him and really breathed for the first time in days. I would have loved to have stayed like that for hours, but we were not alone.
“Marcello,” I whispered, steeling myself for the worst as I rushed to Marcello’s side.
Marcello had watched the final act play out between Chase and the Baron. He looked apprehensive as I approached him as though he wasn’t sure who or what I was. I couldn’t fault him for that. In fact, after listening to the Baron, I wasn’t sure I knew who I was.
“Marcello, are you ok?” I kneeled next to him.
“It’s broken, but it should be ok. Good thing he was too worried about your friend to focus on killing me.” I could tell he was shaken despite his bravado.
“Let me see.” I gently inspected his injury as he continued to eye me warily.
His arm was decimated but there was nothing I could do; he needed to go to a hospital. With my help, Marcello was able to stand up.
“How did you know where we were?” I asked as I helped him hobble a few steps.
“After you left Barcelona, you were caught by surveillance in Madrid.”
“So you followed us here instead of just sending the local authorities after us?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcello flushed with embarrassment. He gritted his teeth and said what was on his mind. “I had to follow you. After what you said in Barcelona, I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I couldn’t just leave you. I knew that whatever your connection with these people, you were in trouble. I wanted to help you.” He shot a guarded look at Chase.
I wasn’t sure what to say other than, “Thank you.”
After I said it, I felt as though it should have been ‘I’m sorry.’ I was right back where I had initially been with Marcello. He was putting himself out there to help me and I was grateful, but it just wasn’t that simple on my end.
“It looks like you had enough help already.” Marcello shot another look at Chase, who stared back with that unreadable expression of his.
“That explains how you got to Sevilla, but how did you find us right here?” I asked.
Marcello shrugged. “Lucky, I guess,” he said, wincing with pain. “I couldn’t sleep so I was out walking. I heard a commotion and investigated. When I saw that guy with the gun holding you, I didn’t even take the time to call for backup.”
Marcello looked at the two bodies. “What now?” The question was directed to Chase.
“Now we leave.”
“The authorities are going to be all over this city as soon as I call them.”
“Give us a head start then,” Chase suggested.
He was handling Marcello with kid gloves, not quite sure yet if he was an ally or an adversary. In reality, he was both in more ways than one.
“What are you going to do?” Marcello indicated me with his head. “Stay on the run and go into hiding? Leave without her and I’ll make sure she gets out of this alright. I can take care of her. I can fix this. You’re only going to drag her in deeper.”
Chase was shaking his head. “Not going to happen. First, I don’t trust you. Second, you have no authority here. They’ll do whatever they want with her. Keeping her with me is the only way I can protect her.”
Marcello was thoughtful. “Getting her out of here tonight doesn’t mean they won’t know she is involved.”
“Not if you don’t tell them she was here. For all they know, after she was seen on that surveillance in Madrid, I put her on a train to another country. Then I came here and did this. If you want to help her, convince them of that.” Chase’s eyes were hard as he looked at Marcello.
“You want me to lie?”
“I want you to protect her like you said you want to do.”
Having reached an impasse, Marcello glanced at me. I knew that I didn’t want to deal with the authorities. I also didn’t want to leave Chase.
“I think it’s better if I go. If I stay here, it’s going to get very complicated,” I said, slowly breaking their standoff.
Marcello looked crestfallen. “Jordan, come with me. I can help you.”
“I know that you would do everything you could to help me, but I need to disappear to someplace safe and get my head straight. Only he can help me do that.” I indicated Chase. “I’m not going to ask you to lie for me, but it would sure help if you couldn’t remember everything very clearly.”
Marcello’s jaw tightened but his voice was filled with resignation as his eyes flicked back to Chase. “What will you do?”
“Take her away. Like I said, if she isn’t here when they find this mess, then her involvement is entirely peripheral.”
“If they want to question her and are able to find her, what then?”
“Plausible deniability.”
Marcello frowned.
“She’ll deny any willing participation. She was a victim, so she won’t get in trouble for anything. Getting to another country today should help,” Chase explained.
“Are you sure?” Marcello gave me one last beseeching look.
“It’s what I need to do right now,” I said softly.
“If you need anything, and I mean anything. Call me, or come find me,” Marcello said.
Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded that I would.
“We need to get going. You have a call to make,” Chase said to Marcello.
“Buena fortuna, bella,” Marcello said, his eyes not leaving my face.
I ran forward to hug him in gratitude. Marcello wrapped his good arm around my waist and pressed me close like he didn’t want to let me go. I kissed his cheek before stepping out of his embrace to return to Chase’s side.
Marcello finally looked away from me to give Chase a hard glare. “This isn’t over.”
“I know,” Chase replied.
The two stood unmoving until Chase finally gave a sharp nod of his head, which Marcello returned.
We walked to the gate. Like before, Chase interlaced his fingers making, a step to help boost me up. Once I was perched on the top crossbar, I twisted gingerly then dropped to the other side. Chase was able to climb over on his own.
Outside the fence, I glanced over my shoulder. Marcello was standing alone and bloodied in the center of the courtyard. The orange trees swayed gently in the breeze as the water in the fountain burbled softly. Unable to ease his physical or emotional pain, I turned my back on that beautiful place which was now marred by violence and death.
Together, Chase and I jogged in the direction of our hostel. I felt strangely exhilarated, like I could take on the world. I paused in the middle of the plaza that bordered the cathedral. Chase stopped so he was standing right by my side. To the west, the slender crescent of a moon hung low in the sky. After the sheer madness of the past few days, I was almost overcome by the peacefulness around me.
“What now?” I asked.
“Now we go find Anna and Max,” Chase said.
“And the rest?” I knew that things weren’t going to just go back to normal, but I was ok with that because whatever happened, we would face it
together.
“We’ll figure it out.”
“How do we find them?
“First, we have to get out of Spain, fast. Once we are settled in a safe place, I’ll get a message to Max. After we meet up with them, we can plan our next move.”
Chase stepped back and looked down at me questioningly.
“Are you ready?”
“Let’s go,” I said.
“Are you sure you’re ready?” Hesitancy, and something else, flickered across his face.
He wasn’t just asking if I was ready to go find Anna. He was concerned that I wasn’t prepared for what was next for me, and for us.
Standing next to him, I felt a solid sense of internal harmony, and something else, something that was almost intoxicating.
I felt truly powerful.
For the first time in a long time I knew that I was exactly where I wanted to be.
This was a pivotal moment.
When I spoke, it was with absolute certainty.
“I’m ready.”
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