End Game (Jack Noble #12)

by L. T. Ryan

  She glanced away, said nothing.

  “Christ, we’re never gonna get anywhere if you won’t let me in on what the hell is going on.”

  She forced a laugh. “I could say the same.”

  The girl stepped out into the cold carrying a couple white bags. As she neared the truck, my phone started vibrating. I answered.

  “Any luck?” Bear said.

  “You could say that,” I said, watching Lexi roll down her window again. “What about you?”

  “He’s back at the house. I ditched the car at that gas station and headed into the neighborhood on foot. Looks like he might be alone inside, hard to tell though. What’s the deal with the woman?”

  “It’s someone I already met.”

  “Intriguing.”

  “I’ll fill you in shortly.” I hung up and grabbed the burger Lexi held out to me.

  We ate in silence for the next five minutes. The wind occasionally rattled the truck and found its way inside the cabin. The smell of meat and pickles and fries and bread overtook the musty odor.

  Lexi was first to talk. She took a sip of her iced tea and swallowed hard. “I’ll set up a meeting for tonight with Kozlov.”

  “Where?”

  She held up a finger to silence me. “One condition, Jack.”

  “This’ll be good.”

  “We go together. OK? From this point on, we are joined at the hip on this. You’re not gonna get all the glory for finishing your mission. We find Thanos, and we take him in and let our bosses figure out what to do with him.”

  I took another bite of my burger, chewed it slowly, savoring the thick ketchup-drenched patty.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “I’m thinking about it,” I said through a mouthful of food. I took my time swallowing, washed it down with my soda. “All right, we’ll do it your way.”

  She nodded, but the look on her face told me she knew I was lying.

  32

  We met up with Bear a short while later at a nearby hotel. He’d rented a suite with a king bed and two pull out sofas. The wallpaper looked like it hadn’t been changed since the seventies. The appliances had been upgraded sometime in the nineties. Bear pulled out two cold beers from the fridge and placed one in front of me, then sat opposite me at the small square table. Our forearms nearly met when we both leaned forward. I caught him up on my conversation with Lexi.

  “You trust her?” he asked.

  “I haven’t known her that long,” I said. “But, yeah, I feel like I can trust her.”

  “Feeling like you can and actually doing so are two very different things.” He yanked the pull tab off his can and scratched at his fingernail with it. “She’s out there right now, walking around, on the phone. You believe she’s calling the guy? Or is she on the phone with someone who’d love to catch us in the act?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I’m covered by the SIS shield right now.”

  Bear laughed, tossed the pull tab at my face. I deflected it at the last second. It bounced off the table and landed on the floor.

  “You know as well as I do,” he said, “that you’re only covered as long as Frank says you are. So what, he read you into the SIS again? How far you think that goes with him?”

  “Yeah, I know, man. I’m only half-serious. I don’t trust him anymore than I trust her. I’ve known him longer and know what he’s capable of.”

  Bear emptied his can into his mouth, crushed it and tossed it in the sink. “She comes back in, says she’s got us a meeting, you’re gonna go into that confident we’ll walk out?”

  “I am,” I said. “‘Cause if we don’t, neither will she. Lexi needs us as much as we need her right now.”

  “What’re you gonna do when we find Thanos?”

  “Good question.” I’d been thinking about that since we left to meet Bear at the hotel. “I haven’t come to a conclusion on that. I guess I want to hear him out, find out what the hell he did to piss off the Old Man enough that he put a contract on Thanos’s life.”

  “So you’re gonna play judge, jury, and executioner?” Bear crossed his arms. “Doesn’t sound like you, like us. We take the job, do whatever we gotta do, and earn the paycheck. You seriously gonna balk on this one? What happens back in New York when the Old Man finds out? I’m telling you, it won’t be good. At the very least the well will dry up. No more work from him, or anyone associated with him. We’ll be back on government assistance, dealing with assholes like Frank all the damn time.”

  I sat silent.

  “You never know with the Old Man, Jack. He might sic Charles and all his dogs on you. Take you to that compound, into the dungeon and torture all your secrets out of you. And don’t you roll your eyes, man. You know as well as I do that it exists, and he’s got some creepy frickin’ dudes that’ll pay you a visit down there. Old spooks from the Cold War days, well-trained in the art of making a man talk against his will.”

  I said nothing.

  “That ain’t what I want. Job might not’ve been assigned to me, but for both our sakes, I might finish it for you if we come across this Thanos guy. To hell with your new girlfriend.”

  I arched an eyebrow.

  “Come on, I know what else her and Frank have in common.”

  I folded my arms over the table and leaned forward. “Is that right?”

  “They’ve both fucked you, albeit in very different ways.”

  I cracked a smile. “Look, let’s cross the Thanos bridge when we get there. As it stands right now, I’m willing to work with Lexi if it helps her get out of the shithole she’s in.”

  “Just remember she brought her own shovel to that party and apparently kept digging well after the music stopped. And unless you can sit here, look me in the eye, and say you trust her, and truthfully and I mean tuh-ruthfully mean it, I think you oughta off the dude the first chance you get.”

  I nodded, got up, walked over to the window. It looked out over the parking lot. There were twenty or so cars spread throughout. I figured it would start to fill up around six when all the working stiffs who’d traveled hundreds of miles to be away from their families started piling in from a long day at someone else’s office.

  Lexi stood on the sidewalk by the main road, talking on a cell phone. Was it Kozlov? Someone else? I thought about why she left me out of the loop regarding the Russian. I was someone worth keeping at arm’s distance, maybe a little closer. She had to figure out why I was there. Was that why she slept with me? To get me to let my guard down a little? She had to have known that wouldn’t work, not with my background.

  She shoved the phone in her coat pocket, turned, looked up at the room. I knew she couldn’t see me standing there, but it was as if she were staring right at me. She was too far away to get a solid read on her expression, though I was curious how she felt after her call. She cut across the grass to the side entrance and disappeared from sight.

  I sat down at the table and waited with Bear. He’d refreshed our drinks. Neither of us spoke.

  Lexi entered the room and went to the fridge. She pulled out a bottle of water, took a drink, leaned against the counter with her right foot crossed over her left.

  “All right,” she said. “I got us a meeting with Kozlov.”

  “When?” I said.

  “Tonight.”

  “Where?” Bear said.

  “In the city. You’ll need to dress up a bit.”

  33

  We took a cab into the city from the hotel. Easier that way. No dealing with cars that might be tracked or noticed. No worrying about being pulled over and having to deal with local authorities. It wouldn’t be the first time I had a mission compromised due to local law enforcement.

  We were awash in orange glow from the moment we hit the highway, and it didn’t let up once in the city. The streets and buildings were lit up. Like New York, Chicago never slept. At least not the part we were in. I knew just a few miles in either direction a different scene was playing out. Not the upb
eat, party class, but the rough life, the millions of inhabitants who had nothing and those among them who were willing to do whatever it took to have just a little bit more.

  The cab dropped us off in front of Benny’s Chop House. I raised an eyebrow at Bear as my stomach grumbled at the thought of an aged ribeye. Bear patted his stomach.

  “Don’t get excited, boys,” Lexi said as she shoved Bear toward the curb. “This is just where we’re getting dropped off.”

  “We’ve got a couple hours,” I said. “Might as well make the most of it.”

  We were all standing in front of the restaurant. The cab had pulled away. The line to get in was half a block long. Must’ve been good if people didn’t mind waiting in ten-degree weather.

  “Need a reservation for that place,” she said. “Or you can wait half the night. And last time I checked, we don’t have that kind of time, friends.”

  “You’re the local,” I said. “Lead the way.”

  She moved swiftly through the crowds, finding the smallest seams to pass through, like a striker maneuvering down the field with the ball. Bear and I kept up. If not for her breaking the wave first, we never could have split the groups traveling against us.

  Finally, we stopped in front of Ouzo Cafe, which looked to be a Mediterranean restaurant. Unlike many of the other options, there was no menu on the window. The tables were sparsely populated. An old guy with silver wings on the side of his head and no hair on top stood in front of a long grill, arms folded over his stout belly.

  “It’s good,” she said. “Trust me. He’s an old family friend.”

  I pulled the door open for Lexi, then entered with Bear close behind. She shrugged off her coat, hung it on an empty peg on a rack by the front door. The smell of bread and searing meat filled my nose. My stomach tightened in response. Guess it had been a few days since I’d treated it to a decent meal.

  “As I live and breathe,” the old guy said in a thick Turkish accent.

  Lexi smiled, hiked her hand in the air in front of her and waved. “Hiya, Gus.”

  “My little Lexi, come for a visit.” Gus walked out of sight, banged on a door and yelled, “Amelia, Lexi is here.”

  “Come on.” She motioned for us to take a seat at the table closest to the grill.

  “And who are your large friends?” he asked, eying Bear. “I’m not sure that I have enough food for that one.”

  Bear chuckled. “Just throw me a nice size steak and I’ll be good.”

  Gus pointed at him. “Add on a side of scallops, and you have a deal.”

  “I like this guy,” Bear said.

  Lexi introduced us all to Gus’s daughter, Amelia, then the woman joined us at the table. She and Lexi talked about their home lives. When Amelia asked about Lexi’s husband, Lexi said nothing more than she and her husband had split up. Amelia seemed to know enough about the guy’s past issues not to press for more details.

  Gus served the food, and the family backed off for fifteen minutes so we could eat. Not a word was spoken. None of us knew when we might get another meal like this. I had to assume that the roller coaster would begin the moment we stepped into a room alone with Kozlov.

  After we were finished, Gus brought over a bottle of red wine and four glasses. He sat down next to Lexi, reached out and grabbed her hand. His jovial face had turned sour.

  “What brings you by, Lexi?” he asked. “I have to assume that these two men are not exactly friends, right? This has something to do with work?”

  “Always the astute observer.” She raised her glass to the old guy, then took a sip.

  He placed both arms on the table and leaned forward. His gaze bounced between Bear and me. “Lexi, she is like a daughter to me. Her and Amelia were practically raised together. You see, in the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus, I worked with Lexi’s father.”

  I felt the expression on my face change against my will.

  “Yes,” he said. “You didn’t think I’ve been a cook all my life? No, that I inherited from my grandmother. What I was in my previous life was an intelligence agent.”

  And now I knew why Lexi had brought us here. Wasn’t just for a good meal. Gus might have something we could use. He might have some intel. Being that he was located in town, he probably knew a few people. People who might open up to him.

  I followed Lexi’s gaze around the room, the corners, ceilings, potted plants.

  “Anyone been in here recently?” she asked.

  Gus laughed. “Come on, you think I would let anyone get away with bugging my restaurant?”

  “If they did it right, there’d be nothing to get away with,” she said. “You’d never know it was done.”

  He shrugged. “We check from time to time.”

  “When was the last time?” I asked.

  “Very recently,” he said. “Now this must be serious. Spit it out, girl. What do you need?”

  34

  Lexi reached into her bag and pulled out a white envelope. She carefully worked the flap from the edge, pulling back the clear tape covering the seam. There were five or six photos inside. She folded the flap back and set the envelope in front of Gus.

  He stared at her for a moment before emptying the contents onto the table in front of him. The photos fell out facedown. One by one he picked them up, flipped them over, and reviewed them, nodding occasionally. He held onto them like he was playing poker. After he had checked all five out, he placed them on the table, face up.

  I had expected the photos to be of Thanos, and I wasn’t wrong. But the lineup also included a picture of Kozlov and two of the other guys from his detail. A picture of the man I saw run into Thanos’s house on the last night Thanos disappeared. There was a photo of Jarred Denton, the politician, wearing a gray suit. And finally one of an older guy I hadn’t seen before. He had the look of a powerful man.

  Gus placed his calloused fingertip on the picture of the guy in the suit. “Jarred Denton. I’d recognize him anywhere.” He looked up at Lexi. “I’d heard he was dirty, but I don’t keep up with local politics that much. Guess this confirms it?”

  She nodded slightly, said nothing.

  “And this guy,” he pointed at Kozlov. “He’s Russian. And so is this one.”

  I followed his gaze to the picture of the older man.

  “What about him?” Lexi shifted the picture of Thanos to the middle of the pack. “Do you know him?”

  Gus took a deep breath, leaned back, crossed his arms over his stomach. He kept his focus on the picture, possibly to avoid looking at any of us while he decided how much information to divulge. It was obvious he recognized Thanos. Why would he hold back?

  “Gus, do you know this man?” She paused a beat, leaned her head forward to catch Gus’s stare. “This is important. You know I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.”

  “This man,” Gus thumped the photo with his finger. “Why are so many people interested in him? As far as I can tell, he’s a businessman. Has his hands in many pots. Nothing too bad, though. Maybe a little intimidation, but to be as powerful as him, you have to have that.”

  “Do you know his name?” Lexi asked.

  Gus remained silent and still for several seconds. The murmur of a crowd of people passing outside filled the void. “Thanos.”

  “He disappeared,” she said. “We received word that a contract was out on him, and he was supposed to come with me. I had a place to keep him safe for a couple of days while I figured out what was going on.”

  “You’re going about this wrong!” Gus slammed his open hand on the table. “You screwed up, Lexi. I don’t know why the people around you won’t drill this into your thick head. You have to accept the consequences.”

  “What? Like you? I should get old and run a restaurant instead of doing what I’m compelled to do?” She pushed away from the table, motioned around the room. “And don’t act like you aren’t still in the game. That’s the whole damn reason I’m here tonight. You’re as connected as anybody. You’ve got source
s around the globe.”

  Bear and I sat back and watched the drama play out. Here I thought we were having a quick meal and instead we had a front row seat for tonight’s Spy Theater.

  Gus’s face had turned bright red. He got up, grabbed a fresh bottle of wine and poured a glass for himself. A few gulps later, he’d calmed down.

  “This man got involved with the wrong people,” he said finally getting to what he knew. “I guess that’s putting it lightly. He wound up in possession of something he should have never laid eyes on, and now multiple groups want it. From what I understand, he hid whatever it was, or sent it off for safekeeping.” Gus picked up the picture of the older guy. “I don’t know who has him, but I can tell you that some very powerful people are all looking for him.”

  “Who is that?” she pointed at the photo in his hand.

  Gus shrugged. “Haven’t seen him before.”

  “What about Kozlov?” she said. “Tell me what you know about him.”

  “You know him better than I,” Gus said. “Former KGB. He has no official ties to anyone I see here.”

  She leaned her head to the side, opened her eyes wide. “You telling the truth?”

  “What reason have I to lie?”

  “We’re meeting with this man in less than an hour. If he’s involved in this mess, I need to know now.”

  Gus sighed. “He has connections, yes, but he works independently. Now, put a gun to my head and force me to pick his allegiance, and I’ll say he doesn’t have your best interests at heart. So if you see anyone else in the same room, you better have marked all the exits.”

  Lexi picked up the photo of the older guy. I leaned in closer to her to study his face. I’d never seen him before, not in person, not on the news, not in a dossier. He hadn’t pissed off my bosses enough to draw my attention to him.

  But considering the circles we were dealing with, I began to wonder what his affiliation with the Old Man might be. Was this the guy who reached out with the contract on Thanos? Was this guy the Old Man’s ally in this tangled spider web of criminal minds?