Outside Forces

by R E Swirsky

CHAPTER 27

  Sunday 20:15 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

  Pre-boarding for the flight to Paris was in full motion when Nathaniel’s phone rang. It was Jack. The A380 Airbus was a monster and it took a long time to feed a monster of this size one person at a time.

  “Hi, Nate. Wanted to catch you before you boarded.”

  “How did you make out?” he asked.

  Jack laughed. “Christ, Nate. You ready for this? They’re only letting Lucas and me have one man each on this.”

  “One? That’s it?”

  “Geordie did say the leash was short.”

  Nathaniel had not expected it to be this short. Geordie also said seventy-two hours and the clock was ticking fast. It had only taken one phone call and one hour to have Kaito’s son in custody and on a private jet headed overseas. It took many men to make that happen so quickly. It sounded very much like the door to expediency and manpower was now closed. What other doors had Geordie closed?

  “Metcalf is high profile and reporters will be swarming him for a comment. He’s not made any public comment so far that I know of. Do you have a plan at least?”

  Jack laughed again. “No one told me you were a comedian, Nate. My plan?” He chuckled softly. “Lucas and me, that’s it.”

  “You?”

  “And my man, Antonio. We’ll be making it up as we go on this one. Not sure if you know him or not. He’s already on his way to Victoria and then out to Harvey’s to get things set up overnight. I’m still waiting for my damn luggage here.”

  With limited resources, it was going to be next to impossible to track these two men properly.

  “So where do we start?”

  “I know the area where Metcalf lives and I have a friend within eyeshot of his palace on the water. I can sit and watch his place from there until Antonio gets the van ready. As soon as they find my damn bags, that is.”

  “Good luck with that.” Nathaniel laughed.

  “The damn terminal is nearly empty and my bags still haven’t come down.”

  “I’m guessing you flew Air Canada.”

  “Piss off. It was the first flight I could get. The West Jet flight departed an hour later and right now I’m standing here staring at the bags from that West Jet flight coming down the carousel. Never again.”

  He was liking Jack already. “Let me know when you find Harvey. I need to know how he’s responding to his daughter’s death.”

  “Ha! Finding him will probably be easier than finding my bloody bags.”

  Nathaniel laughed.

  “I’ll be in touch once I find him. But you must know, I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Field work. I’ve mostly been doing my part raising funds for—well, you know. The only real action I’ve seen on any of these types of operations has always been at least one more level up. Never out front like this.”

  One more level up was very removed from what happened in the field. It wasn’t unusual for members of the Order to have a complete hands-off approach during an operation; in fact, it was the norm, but Jack was a ways up the chain. Nathaniel himself was rarely directly involved; he left everything he could to the men who were well seasoned and trained for this kind of work. One level down: that’s how it worked. The deeper down you went, the more skilled and specialized the operatives became. Most were military background, some were tech geeks, and others just knew how to get things done.

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously, Nate. I really have no idea what I’m doing here. I’m taking all my leads from Antonio. He’s a good man, a gadget man, and knows how to get inside a place like Metcalf’s.”

  Nathaniel wasn’t sure he liked how tight the screws had been turned. It was very odd to have someone from Jack’s level involved in the field. At least he had a gadget man on his side. There were only a handful in the organization and Nathaniel knew how far inside these type of men could go.

  “Listen, Nate. I think the only reason Geordie asked me to get involved on this one is because of my connections with the art world over here on the island. Metcalf’s wife has her fingers in most of these organizations, and he knows I can get close to him through her if I have to.”

  “Then you need to be careful.”

  Jack let go what sounded like a nervous laugh. “It’s only surveillance. There’s nothing dangerous in what I’ll be doing. Antonio knows his way around. He’ll take care of me.”

  “Just be careful anyway. Oh, and Jack, it seems the other two targets were taken clean. Our Russian friend and Shaw.…”

  “I know. I’ve been on the web here while waiting for my bags and found both. They look good, so with any luck, we can clean this up quick and go home.”

  Nathaniel was still uneasy, even with the news that the two official targets were cleanly executed and even though that was always the expected outcome. He just had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be as easy to put to bed.

  “My real concern is about Kaito and Metcalf’s daughter. If this was Kaito’s work, I just hope he’s finished with Metcalf. If he is, then this might be over already,” Nathaniel said.

  “You think killing his daughter was just the beginning? Maybe a warning of more to come?”

  “That would be one hell of a shot over the bow, don’t you think? But only Kaito knows what’s going on. I just don’t understand what Metcalf’s daughter has to do with any of this. And as far as I can tell, Kaito and Metcalf have never met.”

  “That would really change things if he’s not finished with Metcalf.”

  “It would change things, and that’s what worries me. At least Kaito won’t have any of our people to help him do any more damage. As per protocol, all would have fallen out of contact with him the moment the two official operations were taken care of. I’d like to speak to one of them about what went on.”

  “Six months’ hiatus after any takeout is policy, so there’s no way to find any of them until they want to be found.”

  “Yeah, and we can’t wait six months. Geordie’s given me seventy-two hours.”

  “Seventy-two hours? For what?”

  Nathaniel wished he hadn’t mentioned Geordie’s deadline. “To sort it out.”

  “Hmm,” Jack mumbled. “What happens after seventy-two hours?”

  “I don’t know. What I really need is to find out what Metcalf is thinking—how’s he reacting. We need anything that can connect Kaito Hui to him, and most importantly, we need to know if it was Kaito that took out his daughter, then why.”

  “I’m on it, Nate.”

  “Good. But be careful. Kaito might have more planned for Metcalf.”

  “I’ll take that under consideration.”

  “I’m serious. Kaito has deep pockets. If he has more planned, he may have other resources available to him. That’s why you need to be very careful.”

  “I will, but first I’ve got to find someone about my bags.”

  Jack hung up the phone without saying goodbye. His casual demeanour worried Nathaniel. He didn’t fit the profile of a man to be involved in such activities, and he truly hoped Jack wasn’t in over his head on this one.

  Kaito Hui’s whereabouts was Nathaniel’s next concern. If he was on the move somewhere in Calgary, he hoped Lucas was on his tail. The boarding process for his flight was nearly completed. He’d have to make the next call to Lucas a short one. After several rings, Lucas picked up.

  “Lucas, I didn’t think you were going to answer.”

  “I’m driving, and this rental doesn’t have Bluetooth. You’re on speakerphone. Can you hear me clearly?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine. I’m about to board a plane to Paris. I need whatever update you can give me on Kaito. I spoke to him briefly a while ago and he seemed highly agitated. He was all over me about his son.”

  “Was that call you made to him just over an hour ago?”

  “Yeah. That’d be about right, why?”

/>   Lucas’s voiced perked up. “I think I was watching him fill up on gas when you called. Whatever you said to him got him riled right up. He kicked out at a plastic garbage can by the gas pumps and then hopped in his car and peeled out of the lot. I’ve been following him ever since.”

  “I told him to forget about his son and get on with life.”

  “He’s not taking your advice. Looks like he has plans to catch a plane somewhere. I’ve been following him for the last hour through rush hour traffic and we’re just now turning onto Airport Trail as we speak.”

  “Shit. You keep on him and find out where he’s headed.”

  “I am on him.”

  “Good. He doesn’t have any field training, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”

  “I really should let you go. We’re nearing the terminal and I need two hands on the wheel.”

  “Call me when you can.”

  “Later,” he said, and hung up.

  Nathaniel glanced out the terminal window and stared out at the dozens of planes all connected up to the terminal building by the many long, slender tubes. Feeding tubes. Is that what we are? The thought struck him in an odd way.

  “Damn you, Kaito,” he whispered. He pulled out his passport and ticket from his inner pocket and approached the gate for his flight to Paris.