by Sofia Grey
Scarab crouched over him. “What did they do? It’s going to be my turn next. I know it.”
Jack curled in the foetal position and groaned some more. “What didn’t they do, more like it. Christ.”
Scarab fluttered around him.
“They want to know where Yanni moved to,” continued Jack. “I couldn’t tell them. I was only there a few days. They’re coming back for me in half an hour, and I swear they’ll kill me this time. I can’t tell them anything. I don’t fucking know anything.”
Jack gazed up at Scarab. The man’s face was white and pinched in the harsh lighting, and the stink of his sweat clung to his clothes. Jack could smell his fear.
Scarab opened and closed his mouth but said nothing.
Maybe he didn’t know anything after all.
“For Christ’s sake, Scarab, do you know where he is? I heard they beat Merlot so bad, he’s in a coma. A fucking coma. These guys mean business.”
Scarab swallowed hard and hunkered down, his hands rubbing his face. “I know where he might be, but I’m not supposed to know. If you know what I mean.”
Okay. This was more promising.
Jack spat onto the floor, coughed a little, and made it look as though he tried to sit up. “They’ve got fucking electrodes for me next. They showed them to me. If you can tell me anything, man, just a snippet to buy me some time, you gotta do it. I helped you out when the police stopped us. Remember?” Jack pretended to retch.
Scarab slumped to the floor, the wall behind him. It was probably the only thing holding him up. “Electrodes?” He looked as though he was about to pass out. “They can’t do that. Can they?”
Jack squeezed out a couple more gut-wrenching coughs and groans, while Scarab rocked back and forth. Come on, Jack urged silently. Give it up.
Footsteps approached, and keys rattled. Jack glanced at Scarab. Fat tears rolled down the kid’s face.
Jack felt a moment of pity for him. But Juli was somewhere out there with Yanni, and Scarab was Jack’s best chance of finding her.
SATURDAY 20 JANUARY
Chapter Thirty
Daisy felt wretched in the morning. She didn’t know how Alex and Sylvie were coping and planning to go ahead with the concert tonight. Sylvie had been given clearance from the hospital, as long as she sat on stage rather than standing, and they had a backup bass player on standby, in case she felt ill during the performance.
It took guts for them to carry on, and Daisy admired them even more. They supported each other so well, it was a beautiful thing to watch.
She wished more than ever that she could have that with Charlie. It was breaking her heart to stay away from him.
No. Her heart was already smashed into a million tiny pieces. And he did that. He couldn’t hurt her any more. Not worse than he already did. Talking to him—spending any time with him—felt like ripping a new scab from a recent wound. She had to avoid him, for the sake of her sanity if nothing else.
While she ate a silent breakfast, the media gathered in the street outside. More TV cameras and reporters, waiting for news on the story of Callum’s kidnap.
Alex and Sylvie went out to face them. They appealed again for help, reassured Joni she wouldn’t face any charges if she returned Cal unharmed, and reiterated their promise of a generous reward for information. And then, with a tired smile, Alex confirmed the gig would go ahead tonight.
The TV crew had a fluffy blonde fronting the cameras. She spoke at length about how New Zealanders were horrified at what had happened—Wellingtonians in particular—and how everyone was keen on seeing Callum’s safe return.
Daisy watched from a distance, reluctant for the journos to see her again.
Lucky passed her an email printout. “There’s an update,” he said. “Will you please take it to Alex? Your face is over the media, but mine isn’t.”
“Let me,” said Charlie. “Daisy can do without this shit.” He plucked the paper from Lucky’s fingers and hurried to where Alex stood with his arm around Sylvie.
Daisy hadn’t realised Charlie stood behind her. Did she feel thankful he’d done this, or annoyed with him for not respecting her boundaries?
Alex scanned the printout and cleared his throat before speaking. “There is some news,” he announced. “One of the car hire companies in central Wellington arranged a rental for Joni yesterday evening. The police now know what car she hired and are actively searching for it.”
He went on to give out the make, colour, model and registration number, and to ask again for people’s help to find Callum.
When the cameras were gone, and Alex and Sylvie were back in the house, Lucky gave everyone an update on last night’s events. “I don’t know if Jordan or Nick told you, but Jack O’Donnell is still in New Zealand, and was working undercover, infiltrating Yanni’s organisation. He took part in last night’s operation, and is currently working with Aiden and the Kiwi team to find Yanni, who escaped. We’ve no news yet about Juli Pascal and we’re pretty concerned. We’re all working hard to coordinate the search for Callum at the same time as looking for Juli.”
He looked directly at Alex. “The plan is for me to attend the concert tonight, if there’s no news on Callum by then. I can monitor the phones and let you know the minute there’s anything to report.”
Wait. What? Jack was still here? That was a surprise. Daisy thought he was thousands of miles away, in Houston. How would he be feeling, with Juli still missing? They were having a thing; it was easy to see. Daisy had guessed even before she saw Juli sneaking into Jack’s room one night, wearing just a white shirt.
The wonderful news about Jordan and Nick coming safely back was dulled by Callum’s disappearance. Should Daisy have insisted she stay with Sylvie and Cal when they disembarked the plane? Joni would have found it difficult to take them both on.
Ifs and maybes were pointless.
She wished again that Charlie hadn’t been such a giant asshole at the stadium. It would be so good to hold him and be held, and for them to share their pain and upset. Daisy wasn’t flying to Christchurch with the others tonight. She wanted to be here if Joni brought Callum back. True, it was more likely that it would start raining unicorns, but she could hope.
It also spared her from having to face the journos again and from seeing the Barbie dolls. They were going to be offering Charlie more hospitality, she knew it. One bout of utter humiliation was enough. Daisy wasn’t signing up for another.
To add to her stress levels, it felt as though a storm was on the way. The temperature was rising, along with the humidity, and Daisy’s singlet clung to her in all the wrong places. She checked the weather forecast. A summer storm was sweeping down from the north and would hit Wellington tonight. With luck, it wouldn’t reach Christchurch until after the concert was over, but it would make for an uncomfortably sticky stage appearance.
The sudden clamminess didn’t help anyone’s mood. Charlie was withdrawn, while Alex and Sylvie snapped at each other.
They were just about to climb into the limo, when Kate rushed to speak to Charlie. “Hey,” she said. “I’ve just had a text from my journalist friend, Lily. She told me there’s a big story breaking in tomorrow’s UK news. Something to do with you. She doesn’t have the details yet, but she wanted to give you a heads up.”
Charlie huffed a breath. “Probably more of the same, but thanks anyway.”
Alex scowled at him. “Yesterday was bad enough,” he said. “There isn’t anything else I should know about is there?”
“No.” Charlie’s face was shuttered. “We’re late. Let’s go.”
*
By the time Yanni reached the normal-looking house, set in the middle of a normal-looking street, Juli felt like a zombie from lack of sleep. Her eyes would need to be propped open with matchsticks soon. Yanni parked the car in a garage and guided her into the house, checking the doors and windows were all locked.
She’d no idea where they were, what time it was, or even the day. T
he past week had dissolved into a blur, more like a dream world, with every hour that passed.
Trust was now an alien concept.
Yanni showed her to a large double bedroom and settled her on the bed, then removed her shoes and covered her carefully with the quilt. “I’ll be close by,” he said. “You can sleep in safety.”
At this point, she was too exhausted to care. She closed her eyes with relief.
She awoke with a start, and sat up feeling confused. Where the hell was she? Memories of last night flooded back. She listened for sounds of Yanni.
Moments later, he appeared in the bedroom doorway, a mug of coffee in each hand and a smile on his face. “Good morning,” he said. “You looked wiped out. I let you sleep as late as I could.”
She accepted the mug and murmured her thanks, sipping the rich, strong brew.
Yanni perched on the edge of the bed and sipped his own drink. “I’ve been making some calls. It seems all my men have been taken into custody.” He gazed at Juli, his face thoughtful. “I have to assume my enemy—let’s call him Mr X—has contacts in the police here. That’d explain why they were circulating my photograph. It’ll also make it more difficult for us to travel.” He took another pull of his coffee.
Juli said nothing.
“We’re on our own now,” Yanni continued. He stood and moved to the window, to gaze at the quiet street beyond. “My men shouldn’t give up this address. Working on that assumption, we’re okay here for the moment.”
Juli rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned. “What time is it?”
“Almost noon. I planned to stay here until tonight, then move on. The weather’s changed though, and there’s a storm on the way. We should head up to the target point earlier—get it set up before the rain starts. Then we’ll head north and get the hell out of here.”
“Hang on. What do you mean, the target point?”
He turned to face her. “That’s where we lay the device. I’ve rigged it to a timer, rather than a cell-phone detonator, so we don’t have to be there when it activates.” He was deadly serious. “We’d like to be quite a few miles away, just in case.”
Juli shivered. He was insane. “What will happen? I mean here. When it goes off.”
“Similar to the one down south. A number of deep tremors, followed by a prolonged series of aftershocks. There are several major fault lines in Wellington, and it’s easy enough to plant the device where it won’t be found.”
“Yes, but what will happen to the people in Wellington? I have friends here.”
He pulled a face. “I’ve upgraded the oscillator since the test last year. That means more tremors, and they should increase in intensity until it runs out of power. Having said that, these houses are built to withstand earthquakes. Your friends will probably not even notice it.”
He was serious about setting off the oscillator. Crazy as it sounded, if it worked, he might do real damage to the Wellington area, especially if he’d increased the power output.
She had to tell someone, but who? It wasn’t the kind of thing she could go to the police with, even if she got the chance. What could she say? A mad maybe-terrorist is setting off an earthquake in central Wellington at midnight? You need to warn everyone?
Yeah, no. Her best bet was to find out where he was going to plant it, and then break free.
*
Charlie’s promise to Sylvie, to find Callum, seemed impossible to make good on. Every instinct told him he should be out there on the streets, searching for Joni, tracing her car, and finding his nephew. To be flying down to Christchurch instead was madness. AJ wanted to pull this concert, to cancel it and give refunds, but Jordan and Kate had somehow persuaded him to carry on with it.
Right now there was nothing any of them could do but wait for the police and their security team to do their stuff. They might as well go ahead with the concert, though it was going to be fucking hard to perform.
As they boarded the flight, AJ turned to Charlie, his eyes flinty. “I’m gonna ask you now, to get it out of the way. What are your plans with Daisy?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like I told you in the first place, she’s my kid’s nanny. We are going to get Cal back, and I don’t want her walking out on us. If you’ve upset her, it’s down to you to sort it out.”
Fuck. If only it were that easy. “She’s too good for me. I didn’t want her thinking there was anything—you know—long term.”
AJ’s gaze grew colder. “So you fucked a couple of bimbos, to prove what a shit you are?”
He wanted to protest, to explain that he hadn’t actually fucked the blondes, but it was a technicality. He’d taken them to his dressing room with that goal in mind, and it was only a last-minute change of heart that stopped him. A tiny bit of common sense? Not very likely. Charlie usually subdued that little voice, in favour of having fun.
“You’re my oldest friend,” continued AJ, “but you’re right. She is too good for you. Why couldn’t you talk to her?”
Another good question Charlie didn’t have an answer for. Fuck it. There was something he wanted to ask AJ, and now was as good a time as any.
Sylvie walked down the aisle to her seat, but Charlie held up his hand for AJ to wait for a moment.
“How did you know Sylvie was the one for you?”
“What?”
“You heard.”
AJ looked at the woman he loved, who was getting comfortable in her seat. “I guess when I realised her happiness was more important to me than my own.”
That made perfect sense. “Yeah,” said Charlie. “That’s kind of how it is.”
“Charlie, the situation was a little different for me and Syl. She had Rico. As far as I know, Daisy isn’t seeing anybody else. Look—it’s not too late. Tell her how you feel and apologise for being an arsehole.”
AJ clapped him around the shoulder. “If there’s one thing I learned from my dad,” he said, “it’s to be honest. He maintained that the truth would always come out. So tell her. What have you got to lose?”
Everything. If the truth about Charlie’s parentage came out, he’d lose everything.
*
Juli showered and dressed in fresh clothes Yanni left out for her. Again, they were men’s clothes and far too large, but they were clean. As she emerged from the bathroom, she sniffed the air. That was the smell of food cooking.
When was the last time she ate? She was suddenly ravenous.
She followed the aroma to a bright kitchen, where Yanni tossed something in a frying pan, amid much sizzling and delicious garlicky fragrance.
“Hungry?” He smiled and gestured toward the table with a fork. “Steak okay?”
“Yes, thank you.” She lurked in the doorway. “Should I do anything?”
“Just sit down. It’s almost ready.”
He served up the steaks, accompanied by potato wedges and a sour-cream dip. He’d already laid the table with cutlery, glasses of water, and salt and pepper.
Juli sat, thanked him for the plate of food, and tucked in. It was good.
After she helped to clear away the plates and stack them in the dishwasher, Yanni caught her hand and led her to the table. “We need to talk,” he said.
She nodded.
“I’m sure you probably have more questions for me than I could answer”—he flashed a cheeky smile, “but I’ll try to answer them anyway. And I need you to understand the plan for tonight, in case it fails.”
“You mean if the device doesn’t work?” She spoke slowly.
“No. Not that.” He paused and gazed intently at her. “I mean if we get caught or ambushed.” He paused. “Do you know how to use a gun?”
An image of Jack burst into her mind. Jack lifting the handgun and hitting Jean-Luc. Then shooting him.
She shook her head. Words deserted her.
He nodded slowly. “I didn’t think so. It’d be useful, though.”
“Oh no. I can’t use a gun. I mean, I don’t feel
comfortable doing that.”
“Okay. We’ll come back to that.”
So many questions. How much of the truth had he told her, and how many lies? Would he ever let her go? First she had to understand more about his plans for tonight.
“Where are you going to put the oscillator tonight? Is it going to be in a built-up area?” she asked.
“I was going to use Harcourt Park, near here, but there are roadworks in place, which will make it difficult to get in and out unobserved. My backup plan is somewhere in the city centre. For your own safety, I’m not going to tell you exactly where, but you’ll see later.”
Wellington was a compact city. It reminded her of Edinburgh, especially with all the hills, but it did little to narrow down the location.
“Anything else?”
“The man who killed your wife... Do you think you can find him?”
Yanni stared out the window at the grey afternoon. “I’m closer now than ever before. He’s made some mistakes, in his hurry to silence me.” He looked at Juli. “Proving the oscillator works is crucial. He’s desperate for the technology. And when I deliver it, I close the trap.”
“What happens to the oscillator then?”
He shrugged. “It’s not important. Most likely, it’ll go on a shelf somewhere, ready to be used if necessary. Simply owning it—instead of their enemies having it—is enough. Of course I can demand more money, depending on how effective it is, and that’s why I need your input. It’s still too unreliable. But I’m running out of time here. We’ll have to go with what I have.”
“What happens next?”
He smiled briefly. “In the ideal world? We whet his appetite with the demonstration. We sail away to somewhere quiet—Fiji maybe, or Tonga—and set up another laboratory to work on the design some more. Then, when it can fulfil its promise, I’ll put it on the open market and wait for him to bid.”
Juli could tell there was more. She stayed silent and waited.
“But this isn’t the ideal world, and all sorts of things can go wrong tonight. In the worst instance, we get caught by him.” Yanni squeezed her fingers. “And that’s why we need to talk about the plan. If I’m taken, I’ll do my utmost to make sure you get clear. Got that?”
