Outside Forces
Page 38
CHAPTER 30
Monday 15:05 Paris, France
Nathaniel felt the disposable cell phone vibrate in his pocket. Diane and the girls were immersed in a large portrait from the 1600s, a farm scene, simple yet consuming. He stepped back, slipped out the phone, and looked at the small screen. It was Lucas. He had to take the call.
He tapped Diane on the shoulder, interrupting her ramble to their two daughters. “I’ve got a call I have to take. I’ll only be a moment,” he said and slipped out of the smaller side room and answered the call as he walked to the far end of the larger main gallery.
Diane frowned briefly. She was used to him taking phone calls, even on vacation, but it still annoyed her.
“Lucas.” He looked at his watch. “What have you got?”
“I lost him, Nate.”
“What?”
“I lost Hui inside the airport last night. He checked in at Air Canada. I had to guess where he was headed from the departures board. Bought myself a ticket but I guessed wrong. He checked through a different security gate. I should have waited to see what security he was going through first.”
“You probably wouldn’t have had the time. Damn.”
“He’s staying domestic at least. Nothing goes overseas out of that gate.”
“That’s a bit of a relief, I guess. I kind of thought he might be headed my way.”
“Out to Paris? Why would he follow you?”
“Because he’s annoyed at me. If he’s not flying international, there’s only one place for him to go. He’s on his way to Victoria.”
“We’ve still got eyes and ears on his house, front and back, if he returns.”
“But if he has gone to Victoria you might as well pull out of there. Keep the monitoring active, just in case. Geordie’s only given me a few days to wrap this up, and I doubt Kaito will be back in Calgary before my time’s up. Did you pick up anything else from his home?”
“Nothing at all since we grabbed his boy out front.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Not a whisper.”
“How about his wife, Lena?”
“Nope.”
“Hmm. Maybe she’s away somewhere. Leave your ears open in case we’re wrong on this and either of them comes home, but call Jack and tell him you’re on your way to help him out. If that is where Kaito’s headed, then Jack’s going to need all the help he can get.”
“You think Metcalf knows Hui’s heading his way?”
“We have to consider it a possibility. We don’t know what either of these men are thinking, and for the life of me I still don’t see the connection.”
“I have some people I can call. Maybe there is a legal connection to all of this, lawyer to lawyer.”
“Hui’s would be mostly corporate lawyers. Metcalf is criminal and procedural. I doubt he would have had a need for criminal lawyers.
Lucas laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But if there is a connection, I’ll find it.”
“You do that. And thanks, Lucas, for digging into this. You know I certainly can’t do this on my end.”
He hung up and looked down to where Diane and his girls were—inside the small side room immersed in the paintings multiple generations old. He still needed another minute or two. Clean up the mess, Geordie had said. Taka had been the biggest mess so far and was now secured. Nathaniel dialled up the safe house. Randal picked up.
“How’s our boy doing?” Nathaniel asked.
“Not so good, really. We may have a problem.”
He didn’t need any new problems. Time was slipping by much too fast and he still had no idea what was going on.
“What problem?”
“I’m not sure this kid knows anything about what went down on Friday.”
The suggestion infuriated Nathaniel. They had made that same claim when they first grabbed him. “And you’re sure you’ve got Taka Hui?”
“Oh yeah,” he chuckled. “This boy is definitely Hui’s son.”
“Damn it.” Nathaniel wasn’t used to making so many snap decisions during an operation before. There was always middlemen to take charge. Every detail was carefully planned, and the further down the chain, the finer the detail. It left very little margin for screw-ups and indecision. But that was then. It was only Nathaniel now, and he was full of indecision. “Who have you got with you on this?”
“It’s just us two. We’re overlapping shifts to keep our boy covered.”
Nathaniel wasn’t surprised. “Just the two of you?” he repeated as if to suggest he misheard what was said the first time.
“Yeah.” Randal let a half chuckle out. “We received a call before we even touched down out here.” He chuckled again. “It seems someone’s carved you out and we’re all you’re getting. I’m told we are in lockdown and we’re not to call anyone but you until further notice.”
“I see.…” Things were worse than he thought. What annoyed him most was he wasn’t even told how deep and wide the strings had been being severed.
“What’s this lockdown about anyway?”
He didn’t know, but it was best to put Randal at ease. “Listen. I know you are both tired and want to get back. These lockdowns happen sometimes. I really can’t say any more than that. Until you hear otherwise, we are on our own.”
“We’re here as long as you need. Just wondering where the rest of the team had gone, that’s all. It’s gone quiet out there.”
Agents who asked questions made Nathaniel skittish. Geordie’s expectation to eliminate every threat beat its way into the forefront of his mind. He had two agents right here, right now, holding Kaito’s son and wanting to go home. It would be so easy to just give the order Geordie wanted him to give, and Hui’s son would vanish without a trace. It was what Geordie was expecting of him, but he couldn’t give the command. Not until he knew more.
“So tell me about the boy,” Nathaniel said.
“He keeps breaking down. Claims he doesn’t know why he’s out here.”
“Hmm. You think he’s acting?”
“Could be, but he’s a damn good actor if he is. I haven’t seen others hold out this long. And he insists he had nothing to do with any abduction on Friday night.”
Nathaniel didn’t like what he was hearing.
“But he admits he was with her on Friday?”
“Not at all. He claims he wasn’t anywhere near this girl.”
“Where does he say he was?”
“At the airport to catch a flight to Mexico. Arrived late because of the traffic and they wouldn’t let him board. Says he went straight home after that.”
“I don’t like this.” He sighed. “Look, I’m tired as shit, but I want to talk to him myself. I know this kid.”
“You know him?”
“Yeah, personally. I know him. Just keep on him, see if you can break him. There’s something he’s not saying. But don’t get physical on him. I don’t want him touched.”
“I wish you would have told us that before. I hate when you guys do this.”
Nathaniel felt a wave of nausea float across his belly.
“There’s no bruising,” he added as if that made it okay. A phonebook across the head and ears, twisting an arm behind the back to its breaking point, same with fingers and toes: there’s lots of ways to inflict pain without leaving a bruise.
“Just…just be gentle with him from now on until I arrive.”
“He will remain cuffed and secured.”
“Fine.” Secured meant chained. “I’m fading fast out here, jet lag, otherwise I’d be on my way right now. I’ll come out tomorrow—say, noon?”
“You know we’ll be here.”
“See you then.”
He never imagined the boy would be cuffed and chained for three solid days. But what did he expect? Taken at gunpoint and flown halfway around the world. The safe house was for hiding people who wanted to stay hidden. It wasn’t supposed to be a jail.
“Damn it.”
He immediately dialled H
ui and waited. One ring and then it went to voicemail.
“Kaito, It’s Nate. I need you to call me. You know why. Use this number from here on.” He hung up and looked up to see Diane and the girls walking towards him. He smiled. Diane rubbed up against him and tucked one arm under his.
“Can you put that phone away for a while,” she asked sweetly. She smiled and reached up and kissed him once on the cheek. “We’re on vacation.”
“Yes we are, dear,” he replied. “Which one’s next?”
“We still have the upstairs galleries to view.”
“Of course we do,” he replied. “Lead the way.”