On the other, was a lone woman sitting in the center. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her rigid posture made it clear that she was not willing to share the seat. John figured she was in her mid-forties. She wore a business suit with a skirt that covered her knees. Her dark hair was pulled back into a loose bun.
With the bag tucked under his arm, John strolled along and stopped directly in front of her. “Excuse me,” he said. “I was wondering if you might know the name of a good café that stays open late.”
The lady looked up at him. It was the second time that evening that the identity of a woman had taken him aback. The lady sitting on the bench was Senator Nancy Daniels, the very same woman he had seen on the television before leaving his hotel room.
“Yes, in fact, I do,” Senator Daniels said. “There’s a place called Pandora that I hear has an exceptional menu.” With that, she slid over a bit, allowing John some room on the bench beside her.
He sat down, gripping the bag with both hands. He tried to recall what he had heard on the newscast just before he left Maria in the hotel room.
The Uranium One Deal, he remembered. Why the hell would that bring her to Barcelona? Or maybe this is something totally unrelated…
Senator Daniels looked at him with her mouth in a straight line. John was shocked to find that he was a bit reluctant to hand the bag over to her. He had no idea why—perhaps because of the massive storm of shit he had just gone through to get it.
Three murders…
The idea wouldn’t leave his mind. He’d have quite a bit of processing to do in the coming days.
John slid the bag over to the Senator. She extended her arm, gently picked it up and laid it in her lap. There was a practiced sort of poise in the way she moved. For some reason, John believed this was not her first under-the-table meeting in a random place. He pictured scenes from cheesy TV dramas about politicians meeting in the dead of night by some monument or cemetery in Washington DC. For some reason, it seemed to fit Senator Daniels.
“Thanks so much for this,” she said as if he had given her an expensive gift. When she reached into the bag and removed the small shape, John was almost disappointed to find that the object she took out was a key fob. John then recognized it as not just a standard run-of-the-mill key fob; he’d seen several identical to this one during his time as a cybersecurity specialist. Something about the sight of it made him uneasy…especially given what he knew about the Senator’s history.
“That’s all?” John questioned as he gestured toward the key fob with a nod of his head.
“It is,” she said, placing it in her pocket. “And from what I understand, you’ve performed remarkably well.”
He shrugged his shoulders while nodding his head at the same time, still not sure what to think about how the events of his first mission had played out.
“From here,” Nancy explained in a voice a bit more cheerful, “you just go back home. Payment will be waiting for you. I’ve arranged for a private jet to fly you back to the States. All you need to do is be at the Barcelona Executive Airport in two hours. And I’d get there as soon as you can if I were you. As I understand it, you made a bit of a mess on your way here, didn’t you?”
She already knew, he thought. How is that possible?
He glanced around the square to see if they were being watched. The only thing he saw that stood out as suspicious was a black limousine parked along the edge of the plaza about thirty yards away. The windows were heavily tinted.
“I’m sure that after today, you’ll be called on again quite soon.”
With that, the Senator stood up from the bench. He jumped to his feet as a sign of respect and extended his hand. But all he got was a thin smile as she turned and walked toward the limo.
“Oh, there’s one more thing,” she said, facing him again. “I am sorry how things played out. Maria was a very beautiful woman.” Before he could respond, she continued toward the limo pausing along the way to toss the leather bag into a trash bin.
The comment was layered with mixed messages, and he detected an air of contempt that stung—not only because he had to live with the fact that he had killed her, but because Senator Daniels somehow knew about their relations, knew Maria’s name, and knew that she was dead.
But how?
He had no answer for it. In fact, now that his assignment was over, he had more questions than he’d been faced with at the start. After watching her get into the limo, he sat on the bench for a while longer until it disappeared around a corner.
That comment about Maria…it was loaded, he thought. Somehow, she knew everything that I had been through. Probably back to when Maria and I met the night before last when we got drunk, and I invited her to come back to my room.
John slumped and sunk back on the bench. Suddenly, he felt dirty at the notion the Senator may have had a camera inside his hotel room and…
It was too much to consider. He was in pain, hot and tired.
Besides, he apparently had a plane to catch.
John palmed his hair and thought for a moment. Then he stood up and stretched. Walking over to the street, he stuck out his thumb.
Chapter Nine
Two weeks passed, and John Seal had managed to only suffer two nightmares about the woman he had accidentally killed in Barcelona—the same woman he had slept with less than two hours before her murder. He’d had a few fitful dreams during his time in the military, so John was well acquainted with trauma-induced nightmares and knew time was the best healer.
During those two weeks, John had kept a close eye on the TV and internet for the national and international news. He was looking for anything concerning Senator Nancy Daniels making a trip to Spain but never saw a single thing. Her name came up in little blips here and there about the uranium stories, but that was it.
Initially, John wondered if he’d made a mistake in pursuing a career as a spy. Something about his first mission in Spain seemed dark and immoral. In his first task, he’d found that sometimes hard decisions had to be made. Breaking necks, knocking people out cold, stealing motorbikes…blatant murder. But being able to carry those acts out without any sort of reprimand from someone higher up in the ranks or the lack of any consequences, seemed illogical to him. Yet, as the days past an excitement was building inside. John was curious about his future. One thing was sure. It was going to be a whole new world, one that presented a wide array of challenges. And John loved challenges.
That’s why his heart leaped inside his chest when his doorbell rang on the sixteenth day after the Barcelona job. No one ever rang his doorbell, not even the UPS guys when they were making a delivery. He raced upstairs and opened the front door, but there was no one there. He glanced past the porch to his driveway—empty!
Then he looked down. On the top step of the porch and saw a package.
It was perfectly wrapped, right down to the blood-red bow, identical to the one he had found beneath the pew in Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar. He picked it up and carried it inside where he sat down on his couch.
He held the box in his hands.
Then slowly, he unwrapped the paper and found a little white box underneath.
I wonder if there’s more dot matrix paper inside of this one, he thought. Of course, there was only one way to find out.
John opened the box and looked inside.
On a simple card was written: WELCOME TO PANDORA
About the Author
Michael D. Wright is an emerging author who enjoys creating entertaining mystery/thrillers whose characters are confronted with dangerous situations that take place all around the world. His first series features John Seal, a rookie CIA agent, who specializes in cybersecurity. John is torn between upholding his moral values or protecting American citizens by any means necessary against an organization with a global agenda.
Watch for Michael’s next novel, Electric Eel, due out this spring.
Michael loves to stay connected to his audience, so feel
free to contact him at:
https://www.sweetwatercreekpublishing.com
[email protected]
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