by Dee, Bonnie
She closed her eyes and her lips trembled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you never go on shopping sprees and come back all giddy. I thought you’d spend the time with Ethan talking about the changes in your lives and what you planned to do now that you both know who and what you are.” He let her go and turned away from her, his voice low. “I thought you might be…”
“What? Ripping my clothes off and making love with him?” She started to pace. “Oh, this is too rich, too funny. You know what? You both can just take a flying leap onto Ba’al’s cock and screw yourselves! I’m going down to the dining room and have dinner. You can do anything you damn please!”
The mirror over the dresser shook with the force of the door slamming as Brigid strode out of the room.
Gabe stared at the silent door.
“Oh, shit.”
He’d screwed up again.
* * * *
Ethan sipped at the tenth or was it the twelfth cup of tea and went over his stupidity with Brigid for the tenth or was it the twelfth time.
He knew how loyal she was, knew how strong-willed. He knew her from old. Knew she’d die rather than give into temptation.
Knew he was a bastard.
How many times would it take for him to get it through his skull that it was over between them? Had to be over? He bowed his head and offered a prayer for a lost love.
“Have you seen Brigid?”
Ethan raised his eyes. Gabe stood before him, his hands shoved deep in his jacket pockets. He didn’t look happy.
He looked like Ethan figured he probably looked.
Like shit.
He shook his head. “Haven’t seen her for a couple of hours. Not since just after you got on the phone. Why? Is she missing?” He stood up abruptly. “Is she missing? What’s wrong?”
Gabe sank into the chair across from Ethan’s and slumped down. He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t think there’s anything wrong, at least, not physically, and not mentally, either. I just…”
Ethan stared at the older man. In the admittedly short time he’d known Gabe he had never heard him sound so … agitated? Confused? Concerned? Helpless?
Guilty?
“What the hell did you do to her?” It didn’t even get a rise from Gabe.
He glanced up at Ethan, then quickly looked down. “I think she’s left me.”
Ethan fell back into his chair. “Are you crazy, man? She loves you. Why the hell would she leave you?”
“Because I’m a stupid asshole.”
Ethan laughed. “Hell, that’s nothing new. Why would she leave you now?”
“Because I really am an asshole.”
An exasperated, female voice cut in. “Yes, you really are, but you’re my stupid, er, I’m not going to say that word. You’re mine, stupid. Get used to it.”
“Brigid?” Both men exclaimed in unison. Gabe jumped up, tumbling his chair. He grabbed her, raining kisses on her face.
In between kisses, he muttered incoherently. “I’m an idiot. A moron. A bastard. I don’t deserve you.”
She pulled back. “Hey, I say whether or not you deserve me.” She cupped his face. “You deserve me.” She grinned. “I wouldn’t wish me on anyone else.”
Ethan watched, invisible, as they reconciled whatever differences they might have had between them. He firmed his mouth.
This was the final proof. The here and now was what counted the most. And in the here and now, she was well and truly lost to him.
Just as he’d thought.
* * * *
1st May—Evening
“Damn it, we should have heard from them by now.” They were back in Ethan’s room after a quick and mostly silent meal. Gabe paced back and forth, while Ethan and Brigid watched him.
“You’re wearing a hole in the floor, man. Have patience, like you’re always telling us.”
Gabe halted and threw Ethan an exasperated look. “Something must have gone wrong.”
Brigid sighed. “Maybe they couldn’t get to a phone.”
Gabe shook his head. “They have cell phones, Bridge. It’s not the eighties!”
She sniffed. “Excuse me, oh, ancient one. I was only a little girl then!”
“Wait. My phone’s vibrating.”
Ethan swallowed whatever snide remark he was about to make and watched as Gabe answered his cell.
Gabe’s face drained of all color. “No. You’re sure? You didn’t miss him? He didn’t—He never…” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Yes. Yes. Thank you. I’ll tell Donovan. I know. Yes. My thanks again.” He ended the call, stared at the phone in his hand and threw it against the wall. “Shit! Damn it! I don’t fucking believe it!”
He looked at Ethan and Brigid and snarled. “The son of a bitch wasn’t on the plane! He never took his seat. They thought at first he had used his Speaker power to make the crew and passengers forget his presence, but they checked the security cameras at Heathrow—one of the team has connections and they needed to get in touch with them, that’s what took so long—and no one even remotely resembling Nolen’s description or Enola Hadjidakis’s showed up. The son of a bitch must have switched planes or taken some other type of transportation!”
“Could he have realized Eileen had made him and changed to another flight?” Brigid offered tentatively.
Gabe exhaled. “I don’t know.”
“Let’s start checking here in Kerry first. We can question the agent at the other airline. Look at their passenger list,” Ethan said.
“You don’t think he’s still at work, do you?” Brigid asked.
Gabe shook his head. “Let’s find out his home address and try to talk to him in private. Ethan can use his—what do you call it, Bridge?—Mojo, and help him dredge his memory. Maybe he can recall someone resembling Nolen and if he took the earlier flight.”
“Aye. I wonder how much mojo I’ll need to get that bit of information. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
* * * *
“Thank you for seeing us, Mr. McCarthy. We appreciate your helping us.” Ethan sent waves of gratitude toward the ticket agent.
The man wiped off a wet ring from the highly polished table, slipped a coaster beneath the glasses of fruit juice sitting in front of Brigid, Gabe and Ethan and smiled. “Always willing to do my part. Now, how can I help?”
Ethan leaned forward and spoke clearly and forcefully. “We’re looking for a woman, around late fifties, exotic, very stylish…”
“Mrs. Thancas! Why, it must be her.” He blushed, even under Ethan’s talent he couldn’t contain his reaction to Nolen’s female persona. “Quite lovely she was and so … gracious.”
The three looked at each other.
“Would you tell us what her itinerary was? We’d truly appreciate it.”
“Why, of course. She’s taken the flight to… to…” He wrinkled his brow. “Give me a minute.”
Gabe broke in impatiently. “Think, man,”
“I’m trying but, you know, she didn’t say.”
“But you know what airport. It’s a scheduled connection.”
McCarthy looked at him quizzically. “I don’t know.” His mouth trembled. “I don’t know.” He looked at Ethan. “I should know.” He buried his head in his hands.
Ethan turned to Gabe and whispered, “Is it possible that Nolen could selectively wipe his memory?”
Gabe frowned, responding under his breath. “If he did, he’s a hell of a lot more powerful than I thought. This man showed no resistance at all to Nolen. McCarthy obviously hasn’t any Terran in him at all, unlike Eileen.”
“We’re going to have to access the computer records at the airline and trace his route. We know that the first stop was Manchester, but after that he could have made connections to several different airports,” Brigid said softly. “You don’t think Nolen tampered with the computer, do you?”
Ethan sighed. “We’d better hope not.”
Gabe looked at the bewildered
agent still trying to grapple with the gaps in his mind. “We’ll need his pass code to get into the computer files and access the records. Let’s hope Nolen didn’t wipe that out of his memory, too.”
Ethan shrugged. “Let me ask.” He tapped McCarthy on the shoulder. The man started, turning frightened eyes to him. Ethan smiled. “Easy, man. Can you give us your access code?”
McCarthy nodded and offered up the information, then asked, “Can I help you any more?”
“You’ve been a doll!” Brigid’s smile burst forth and McCarthy beamed back.
“And now, let’s see if I can match Nolen’s skill and make McCarthy forget he ever saw us. I’m going to use my,” Ethan smiled, “mojo.”
He took a deep breath and intoned a brief string of notes while he looked at McCarthy.
And made him forget.
Chapter Fifteen
1st May—Evening
The airport terminal was not as busy as one would expect, but then it was a weekday. Ethan hurried over to the targeted airline reservation counter, hoping that he could access the information they needed without any problems. Brigid and Gabe hovered near one of the airport’s information kiosks pretending to browse through the many different tourist brochures. Brigid thought they’d draw less attention if Ethan made contact with the attendant on his own.
“Are you sure skulking is any less attention getting?” Ethan asked before he left them.
“It will be if you leave now.” Brigid gave him a slight push and shooed him away.
So now he approached the uniformed ticket agent and smiled, adding his special mojo to the mix. “Excuse me, miss, but I need to check your passenger list from this afternoon’s flight. I’m sure you won’t mind. If you’d just give me the access code?”
The bemused female shook her head. “Of course not, sir. Just type this and you’re in. Go right ahead. I’ll just help these other passengers.”
Ethan turned and flashed Brigid and Gabe a triumphant glance as he stepped behind the counter. The slim, young woman shifted over to a second computer, offered a professional smile to a customer and ignored him.
Within moments, he’d pulled up the pages with the passenger information. Wanting to spend as little time as possible in the open, he quickly printed off the data. With a wide smile and a nod of thanks, he logged out, left the counter and strolled to where Gabe and Brigid waited and motioned them over.
“Mission accomplished.” Ethan offered the sheets of paper to Gabe with a flourish. “The poor girl offered no resistance at all to my considerable charm.”
Gabe snorted. “You mean your magical mojo.”
“Whatever.”
“Give me those.” Brigid grabbed the sheets. “I’ve got better eyes than you.”
“Cheeky,” Gabe muttered but didn’t argue with her. “Let’s head back to the car while you check the names.”
She scanned the list, looking for Nolen’s alias. She halted and then checked again. “Here. You look. I can’t see any name remotely resembling Thancas.”
They paused below a spotlight in the parking lot. The moon was just beginning to rise, but their hopes were falling.
Gabe crumpled his page in his hand, threw it on the ground and cursed.
“He’s not on here!” Ethan snarled and started to rip his sheet into pieces.
“Wait, guys! Look at the seat numbers. Are they all accounted for? Even if Nolen’s name isn’t on here, if all the seats are filled, he must have gotten onto the plane.”
Ethan bent and picked up Gabe’s balled up piece of paper and smoothed it. “Let’s check it out.”
“Let’s get back to the inn and think about this for a moment,” Gabe cautioned. “He still might have taken a different flight.”
Brigid shook her head. “Eileen saw Nolen at the airport. He didn’t get on her flight. McCarthy remembers Nolen as a female under a different name reserving a ticket on the earlier flight. If he did leave from here, who else might have seen him to confirm it?”
Gabe stopped dead in his tracks. “The baggage handlers! I don’t think Nolen would consider even for a moment that they were worth worrying about.” He whirled back and stalked over to the curbside baggage check-in.
“Excuse me, were you fellows here earlier this afternoon?”
Two of the five men nodded. One of them, a burly, hairy man, took a pugnacious step toward Gabe. “Who’s wanting to know?”
“Well, you see I was supposed to meet my sister earlier and I think we got our signals crossed. I’m afraid she might have taken the wrong flight.” He paused. “Tall, attractive looking woman around fifty-five, sixty? Navy blue suit? Good dresser? Joan Collins type?”
Suddenly the Irish bulldog’s face was wreathed in smiles. “Ah, she’s your sister? Quite an armful. Indeed, she had us load up a crate and just the one suitcase for flight eighty-one. I was just starting my shift when she pulled up.”
Gabe turned to Ethan and Brigid. “She apparently planned to get on the earlier flight. We’ll have to make sure she made all her connections now.” He held out his hand. “Appreciate your help.”
The baggage attendant clasped Gabe’s hand with both of his. “No problem. Hope you find her.”
Gabe sighed. “You and me both.”
* * * *
Brigid glanced around the interior of their rental car and her lips twitched. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
Ethan laughed briefly. “We’ve got to find Nolen.”
“Now that it’s clear that Nolen did get on the earlier flight under yet another name, is there a way we can track him?” Brigid asked. “A way to tell what seat he took?”
“Maybe I can get into the security area to access the cameras and download the boarding and actually see Nolen getting onto the plane and glom onto his seat number.”
Gabe shook his head. “Too risky. I don’t think we should chance any more attention at the airport.”
“I agree,” Brigid said. “Perhaps we can narrow it down a bit more. Let’s concentrate on female passengers continuing their travels, making connecting flights.”
“Excellent idea, Bridge! You know, the more I consider it, the less likely I think it is that he stayed in Europe. If I had been restricted to one tiny corner of one small country for thousands of years, I would head as far away as I could get to some place where I could easily travel.” Gabe’s voice slowed as he spoke. He looked at Ethan and Brigid as they all uttered one word.
“America!”
There was a brief moment of silence and then their ideas tumbled over each other.
“Okay, this gives us a final destination.” Excitement permeated Brigid’s words as they looked at the list again.
“Here.” Ethan pointed to one of the pages. “I have ten females making connecting flights at Manchester to Heathrow and then to the States.”
“I have five.” Brigid counted, placing a check next to the names.
“Twelve for me.” Gabe shook his head. “That’s twenty-seven names, too many to check each one quickly.”
Brigid stroked his hand trying to soothe him. “We have no choice.”
Gabe brought her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. “You’re right.” His lips thinned. “It may not be too late to get an American team in place. If we can check out the videos from the flights to America, maybe we can find out which flight he took.”
Ethan nodded. “So, we need to get someone who’s already in place to check out the security videos for each flight. Do you know anyone?”
Gabe nodded. “I know the head of security at Heathrow airfield.” He smiled. “He thinks I work for Interpol.”
“Would he be willing to send you the video files from the security cameras for each of the flights we need?” Brigid asked.
“And if he can, how quickly can you get in touch with him?” Ethan took a deep breath. “Will it be in enough time to do any good?”
“We won’t know until we try. We’re going back to the inn. I’ll call from
there.”
Gabe put the car in gear and headed out from the parking lot. He tried to keep his hopes from crashing, but it was a difficult fight. Any delay in getting the information added to Nolen’s already wide lead.
He could only pray for a miracle.
* * * *
1st May—Nighttime
“Thanks, Kevin. You’ve no idea how dangerous this bastard is. He’s a master of disguise…” Gabe laughed. “Yeah, I know that sounds melodramatic. Unfortunately, it’s the truth.” He grinned. “Right, I owe you one.”
He ended the call and faced the two younger Terrans. They’d returned to his room. Brigid had used her charm and Mrs. Clancy had opened the kitchen and made some cheese and tomato sandwiches for them and a pot of hot tea. Now, half-eaten sandwiches sat forgotten on linen napkins as Brigid and Ethan waited for Gabe’s news.
“We’re set. It’ll take a while, but we should have video scans for each of the eight listed flights in less than two hours.”
“Two hours?” Ethan exclaimed. “That’s bloody wonderful. How’d you manage it?”
Gabe smiled. “Let’s say that Kevin enjoys spy movies and thrillers a bit too much for a fellow in his position. He can access everything from his home PC through some back doors he created—just in case.”
Brigid looked bewildered. “Just in case of what?”
Gabe chuckled. “Just in case he could take part in a hush, hush super-secret international, government mission—like this.”
Ethan shook his head with admiration. “Hell, you didn’t need my mojo; you have bloody enough of your own!”
Gabe laughed. “Ah, but your mojo doesn’t need any connections in high places.”
“Well, if you two are done high-fiving each other, I think Gabe’s got something coming in.”
Gabe looked startled. “What? So soon?” He checked his mail and turned to the others. “It’s from Donovan. He wants to know what’s happening. Damn! I should have touched base with him when the Malaga team failed to make contact!” He smiled ruefully. “I’m getting old. Give me some time to catch him up to date, okay?”
“Sure. Ethan and I can…”
“Take a walk?” Ethan suggested.
Gabe nodded, already distracted working on a detailed message to Donovan.