“How did you ever get him to talk?”
“I used my charm. Filip’s gay, you know.”
Her eyes widened.
“You didn’t know?”
She shook her head. “That’s why he never touched me. He told me before we landed in Budapest that I was supposed to pretend that I was his woman, but—”
“He’s lucky he never touched you, or I would have to break his arms…again.”
“You hurt him?”
“Just a little.” He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “Come back to bed. You need sleep. Tomorrow, you’re going to have to be at the top of your game.”
“I’d like to stay here a while. I like the fire.”
“Do you want to be alone?”
She snuggled against him, looked up. “No. It feels good to be held.”
When she fell asleep, Ash continued to hold her. In fact he didn’t let go of her all night. He’d told her maybe it was time she started living her own life. Maybe it was time he took his own advice.
Chapter 14
She wasn’t in his arms when Ash woke up, and again a knot formed in his gut. But then he smelled the aroma of bacon frying, and he let out a relieved sigh.
He came to his feet, noticed that the fire had been fed. He walked into the kitchen and found her in his shirt standing in front of the stove.
He said, “She can cook.”
She looked over her shoulder. “I like my eggs over easy. You?”
“That sounds good to me. How long have you been up?” He noticed her hair was wet. She’d been up long enough to shower.
“A few hours. You snore. Did you know that?”
“If you say so.”
“We should go over your plan again. I have a few questions.”
“There’s time.”
“I found some tea. If you—”
He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her slender waist. “You could have left while I slept.”
“As you pointed out last night, I have a tracker in my cheek.” She turned around. “I wonder what’s in the other one?”
“We’ll find out soon.”
All business this morning, she pushed his hands away and pulled down two plates from the cupboard. “The food’s ready. If you’re taking a shower, it’ll have to wait.”
She poured him a cup of water from the teapot, and then dropped a tea bag in and handed it to him. “To keep your hands busy.”
He grinned. “New rules to go along with the new day?”
“We both need a clear head. You can be distracted easily. As you said last night, we need to be on top of our game today.”
“You saying I can’t keep up with you?”
“We’ll see.”
He ambled over to the table and sat. “So where did you learn to cook?”
“It was one of the things Bonnie taught me.” She carried the plates to the table, then went back for the toast. She set the plate down in front of him and then sat across from him. “Juice?”
“I’m good with the tea, thanks.”
She started to eat, and for a thin woman, she seemed to enjoy the food this morning. She went after the bacon like she’d been deprived.
After the second bite, she closed her eyes and savored the burst of flavor. When she opened them and caught him staring, she said, “I haven’t had bacon in months. At the base, I ate vegetables and lean protein. The meat… It was goat, I think. Once a day I was allowed fat, a pad of butter the size of a postage stamp.”
“You said goat?”
“Yes.”
The wheels started to turn in Ash’s head. The Chameleon was still in Greece. “You said you don’t remember where this compound is?”
“I was blindfolded when I left. The other times I don’t remember.”
“Because they were wiped out.”
“Yes, I think so.”
“When you left, did you fly out or go by boat?”
“Boat. The blindfold came off a few hours later. I was met in Athens and taken to Nescosto.”
“To Yurii Petrov.”
“I was there a few weeks before he arrived.”
Ash finished his eggs and bacon, and sat back with his tea. “That must have been about the time he escaped from prison. The Chameleon knew he would. That means he was behind the jail break.”
“I want to see Filip.”
“To make sure he’s alive?”
“No, to see how much damage you did.”
“Not a good idea. I had Naldo pick you up some clothes.” Ash motioned to the bag by the door. “As good as you look in my shirt and nothing else, you should probably change.”
“It seems you’re always buying me clothes. Thank you.”
“Thank you for breakfast.”
Ash’s phone rang, and he set down his tea and stood. Phone to his ear, he said, “Where are you?”
“I just delivered Chanler to Stillman. Did you talk to Merrick?”
“I had to leave a message.”
“Stillman wants to know if you’ve found the disk yet.”
“Tell him I’m close. Did you tell him I’ve got Jaz with me?”
“No.”
“Don’t.”
Jaz sat in the back of the limo next to Ash dressed in a black sweater and black pants. Ash was wearing jeans and his boots, his leather jacket hugging his broad shoulders.
The plan he’d laid out proved that he was a man who was as thorough in his job as he was in bed.
She watched him open the cupboard built into the console. He pulled out a small Beretta and handed it to her.
“Tuck that away.”
She slipped it into the waistband of her pants and pulled the sweater over it just as Naldo was rounding the circle drive at Ballvaro.
Ash got out and Jaz followed him. Inside the bastion, the smell of smoke hung heavy in the air. It reminded Jaz of what had happened last night at Dominika’s party. She hoped that she and Sophia were all right. She didn’t have much use for Casso, but she did like his wife and daughter.
Two guards led them down a hall and opened Casso’s office door. Stepping inside, she saw Salavich seated at his desk with another guard standing behind him.
“Mr. Toriago, this is a surprise. Where is Filip?”
“Filip is under the weather today, and he’s asked me to represent him.”
“I wasn’t aware you two were close.”
“He and I have a few things in common.”
Ash grinned, as if he had just let his secret out of the bag. Jaz understood. He was suggesting that he was gay.
“I had no idea that you and Filip…well…” Casso turned his attention on Jaz. “Miss Nightingale, I’m glad to see that you are all right.” His attention returned to Ash. “I’m afraid, Toriago, without Filip this meeting will not be possible. He has—”
“Given me the information. Like I said, he and I have become…friends.”
Casso stood. “You must think I’m a fool.”
“On the contrary, I think you’re a very smart man,” Ash said. “You’re also in need of money.”
“You seem to know a lot for a man who has recently come to Budapest, Toriago.”
Jaz glanced at the clock; it was almost ten. “I have a scheduled flight back to Athens that leaves in an hour. We do this now, or we don’t do it at all. Then you can explain to Cyrus why it didn’t happen.”
Salavich glared at Jaz. “Either you are a stupid woman, or very brave.”
“I wouldn’t be working for Cyrus if I was stupid.”
“You are nothing but a courier.”
Ash cleared his throat. “Are we ready to proceed?”
Casso glanced at his guards. “Step into the hall. Leave the door open. If either one of them tries to leave, kill them.”
The guards moved quickly. Casso sat back down and hit a button on his keypad, while Jaz slipped into the chair in front of his desk. Ash flipped open Filip Petrov’s cell phone, touched a button on the keypad,
and set it down on the desk.
The Chameleon’s voice filled the room. “I’m here, Filip.”
Ash took his phone from his pocket, hit a record button, and Filip’s voice came over the sound waves. “I’m here with Salavich, ready to decode, Cyrus.”
Cyrus said, “Salavich?”
When Casso hesitated, Ash pulled his Beretta from his pocket and aimed it at him.
“Yes, Cyrus?”
“Are you ready?”
He sat back. He didn’t look like he was going to answer at first. Finally, he said, “I’m ready.”
“Where’s Nightingale?”
“I’m here, Cyrus,” Jaz answered.
“Kalimera, Nightingale.”
“Good morning,” she answered, and in that instant she remembered the letters in their proper order and they began to spill from her mouth like a fountain.
Ash stepped behind the desk and watched Casso Salavich’s chubby fingers racing across the keyboard. The minute Jaz stopped reciting the letters, he gave her a nod that Casso had gotten down what she’d recited. The room now quiet, she stood and went to the sideboard and poured a glass of water. Sipping the water, she returned to the desk and switched off both phones.
It took Salavich another ten minutes, and then he sat back with a heavy sigh. “I’ve got it.”
Ash leaned over and studied the information on the screen. Stillman was right. The information would destroy the SDECE. It was all the access codes to every department within the organization.
He slid his hand into his pocket and triggered a mini-detonating device. Seconds later an explosion outside rattled the house. Casso started to get up, but Ash shoved him back into his chair, pressing the barrel of the gun into the fat man’s neck.
“Send the guards outside to investigate that noise,” he ordered quietly. He pressed the cold steel to a thick fold on Salavich’s neck. “Go on, send them away.”
“Joey, take the men and see what’s happening outside. Go quickly!”
As the men scrambled down the hall to follow their boss’s orders, Jaz set the glass of water on the desk, then went and closed the door.
“You’re never going to get away with this,” Casso promised. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
“And neither do you,” Ash said. “Get on your feet.”
Casso stood slowly.
“Over here in this chair,” Jaz said, her gun now drawn, to persuade him to move.
Casso did what he was told. “You won’t get out of here alive.”
Ash ignored Casso’s threat and quickly sat down at the desk and made a disk of the information on the screen. He then slipped the disk in his pocket and pulled a handful of pea-size explosives from his pocket and tossed them on the computer’s keypad. As he rounded the desk, he grabbed the glass of water and tossed it on the computer. The minute the liquid made contact with the red-hots, as Ash called them, the computer began to short out, then expel a putrid smell.
“No!” Casso screamed. “You have no idea what you’ve just done. Years of work. Billions gone!”
Ash grinned. “Did you say gone? That doesn’t sound good. Especially for a man who’s been having money problems lately. Your enemies will be celebrating shortly, I imagine.”
“Bastard!”
Casso tried to get up, but Jaz shoved him back in his chair. When Casso opened his mouth in protest, Ash jammed a small rubber ball in it, then jerked the overweight man back to his feet.
Cuffing his hands behind his back, he led Salavich to the closet and shoved him inside. “Now if I were you, I wouldn’t move until one of your men finds you. That ball is real touchy. A little too much pressure and you just might go boom.”
The minute Casso’s eyes widened, Ash shut the door.
“That was a little extreme, wasn’t it?” Jaz asked.
“What? It was just a rubber ball. Come on, we’re out of here.”
“That’s going to be difficult now that you blew up the limo.”
“It’s toast.”
“Then how are we getting out of here? You never did explain that part of the plan.”
“The hard way. Stay close.”
He moved into the hall with Jaz close behind him. Ash heard a shot behind him and he turned to see that Jaz had taken out a guard.
He started into the foyer, when she said, “Not that way.”
He spun around and quickly followed her down another hall.
“Where’s Naldo?” she asked.
“He’s waiting for us at the helicopter pad.”
“Can he fly it?”
“That’s the plan.”
A gunshot ricocheted off the wall and missed Ash by less than an inch. “We have to get outside or we’re going to get trapped.” When they reached the sweeping staircase, Jaz started up.
“What the hell are you doing? I said out, not up.”
“Up then out.”
She shot the guard at the top of the stairs, and then spun around and shot two more that had taken chase.
It was a sight to see, her in action. Jaz was like a machine, her moves so damn automatic Ash was speechless.
She said, “Call Naldo and tell him to get the helicopter in the air.”
“What!”
“Tell him to secure a rope and toss it out, then take off. Do it!”
On the run, Ash pulled out his phone and called his cousin while Jaz shot two more guards. Naldo was sure he hadn’t heard right, and Ash repeated the order. They had reached the second staircase when they heard the chopper winding up. Still moving like hell on fire, Jaz didn’t slow down when she started up the third staircase. Taking the steps two at a time she easily kept ahead of Ash while he was doing double time to keep up.
“What’s your holdup? Come on, Boy Scout.”
Puffing, Ash yelled, “Where are we going?”
“To the roof.”
She had to be crazy, he thought, as they reached the fourth floor. That’s when she really kicked it in as she raced down the hall and through a door. More steps, and these she took at the same breakneck speed, flying up the stairs like she was a bird being carried on the wind.
She opened another door, and they came out on the roof. Naldo was in the air now, and Ash called him and gave him their location.
A volley of gunfire warned him that they’d been spotted, and he grabbed Jaz and shoved her behind him. They were pinned down and he knew that Naldo was going to see some action soon. He’d be shot down if they didn’t make a move.
“How well do you climb?” she asked.
Ash glanced at her. “This isn’t a good time to tell me you can’t.”
She grinned, then said, “Tell Naldo to move in. There’s only one rope, remember? We need to grab it both at the same time. On three I’ll go high, you go low.”
The door behind them blew off its hinges, and the second the noise registered, Jaz rolled to her side and shot the guard before Ash blinked.
“Hell, woman.”
She grinned. “Better not get me mad.”
“I’ll remember that.”
Ash called Naldo and the helicopter made a wide sweep and started toward the roof. The helicopter flew over them, and on the count of three, they grabbed the rope. Seconds later the guards on the ground unloaded a pound of lead at the helicopter.
Ash looked up to see where Jaz was. He found her halfway up the rope when disaster struck.
He saw her take the hit. Then she let go of the rope.
“I’m sorry, Stillman, Grant didn’t make it. She’s dead.”
“Dead?”
Ash had flown into Paris four hours after he’d recovered the disk. He pulled it from his pocket, then took a seat in front of Stillman’s desk. “I did manage to recover this.” He handed it to the SDECE commander, then sat back and crossed his leg over his knee and lit a cigarette.
“You recovered the disk! Wonderful.”
“About Grant.”
Stillman sat back in his chair. “Yes,
what about her?”
“She was shot while I was trying to escape with her from Ballvaro.”
“Did you get a chance to talk to her and find out why she did it? I still can’t believe she turned traitor on us.”
“She didn’t. I know Chanler’s convinced that’s what she is, and you, too. But the truth is she was captured and brainwashed. She wasn’t herself when she stole that disk. She had no idea she’d even done it until I told her. She helped me recover the data to prove herself to you.”
“And you believe her motives were pure?”
“I wouldn’t have gotten the disk back without her help. She went through hell.”
Stillman stood and turned his back. He rubbed his neck, considered what he’d heard.
Ash waited for some sign, some kind of appreciation. Loyalty. Admiration. What he got left him cold.
“It’s just as well that she’s dead. I could never bring her back to the SDECE. It would have been a messy ordeal. Chanler, I can explain. I’ve figured out how to bring him back, but Grant… No, she’ll be missed, but it’s better this way.”
Ash did all he could do to stay seated. “It’s all about you, isn’t it? It would be too messy for you.”
Stillman spun around. “Have you been in contact with Merrick?”
“No, not yet. But I will be shortly. As far as this goes, I don’t need anyone to draw me a picture. There are some things that a man can figure out for himself. It was your negligence that put Jaz Grant back in the hands of the enemy. If you want someone to blame for this, look in the mirror.”
“She was my best agent. I needed her back in the field. I took a gamble and I lost. You’re sure she’s dead?”
“Yes. I want her record clean. I don’t want one blemish on it.”
“Of course. With her dead, there is no reason anyone should know about this.”
“I thought you’d see it my way.” Ash stood.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to Onyxx. I did what you asked. And I figure since I know more than I should, you’d prefer to have me as far away from here as possible.”
“Are you blackmailing me?”
“I cleaned up your dirty business, Stillman. You owe me my freedom. I’ll take it now, or I’ll see you on the street with a broom.”
Undercover Nightingale Page 17
