North’s Nikki

by Dale Mayer

  Jonas walked through the house, headed for the dining room, as if he’d been here many times before.

  Following behind him, Nikki didn’t know what to say. When she walked into the dining room again, she saw Jonas sitting down beside Charles. She pulled out her seat, and North sat down beside her.

  Charles looked at Jonas. “What’s up?”

  “Are you sure nothing has been touched?”

  Charles gave a clipped nod. “I said so, didn’t I?”

  “I was sent to make sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  Jonas rapped his fingers on the tabletop and frowned. “I’m not sure that’ll be enough for them.”

  Charles stiffened. “Are you calling me a liar?”

  Silence fell around the table, and Nikki realized that was the worst insult somebody could give her granddad. She leaned forward, looked at Jonas and said in a hard voice, “Get the hell out of his house right now.”

  North reached over, covered her fingers with his and said, “I’m pretty sure that’s not necessary.”

  But her grandfather stared at Jonas, his gaze hard and pinched. She had never seen that look on his face.

  Jonas held out both hands in front of him in a placating manner and said, “I did not mean to imply that,” he said quietly, “but you know those above me want more than just verbal assurances.”

  “Well, that’s all there is to give,” Charles said, his voice tired and yet not bending an inch. “If they want more, then they can call me personally, not send a lackey.” He got up. “I’ll be in the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Let yourself out.”

  Jonas blew out a heavy sigh as Charles left the room, the atmosphere heavy with confrontation. “That didn’t go so well.”

  “What did you expect?” she snapped. “My grandfather’s word is everything.”

  He nodded. “And I have never doubted his word before, and I don’t doubt it now. That doesn’t mean those above me aren’t looking for something a little stronger.”

  “Then they need to remember who they’re dealing with,” North said. “Because, although they might be of the generation where a handshake is not good enough, his still is. And to insult him as you did, and in his own home too, will not be easy for him to forgive or to forget.”

  Jonas thumbed his fingers on the table as he considered North’s point.

  “You’re right. I’ll let them know how badly they insulted him. Yes, they used me as the weapon, but they’re the ones who have to make good to get back into his graces.” His face broke into a big smile. “And that won’t be all that easy. They should grovel. Sometimes I hate being in the pecking order. It’s not so bad if you’re at the top and if you get to make plans and decisions, but, when you’re down the line, and you don’t get to see the reasoning behind the decisions, it’s frustrating.”

  Anders snorted. “Why do you think I left the navy? So many orders kept coming down that made no sense. And because the higher-ups don’t feel they have to justify or explain themselves to the grunts, nothing ever makes any sense to us. We were to follow orders without hesitation and without questioning them just because we had been ordered to do so, and that finally wasn’t enough for me.”

  “I guess it’s not only the government but it’s every military service all over the world, isn’t it? We have commanders for a reason, and we’re supposed to trust their judgment. But, because they won’t listen to our input or get our take on things before reaching a decision or even let us speak up when we see an injustice, it becomes just following orders because we have to. Not because they make sense.” Jonas stood carefully. “Please understand that I meant no insult personally to Charles.”

  North gently squeezed Nikki’s fingers before releasing them and rose. He smiled at Nikki and walked with Jonas back to the front door. And she let him. She was too tired to deal with it, and she didn’t really want to give him the courtesy of walking him to the front door. She slouched back in her chair, picked up her coffee and took a big sip.

  “You’re quick to come to your grandfather’s defense,” Anders said.

  “Wouldn’t you be?”

  He nodded slowly, his gaze searching.

  She didn’t understand what he was searching for. Not sure why she felt she needed to give an explanation, but she added, “He is still blood. Even though he is capable, he is obviously involved in a whole lot more than I’m allowed to know about. He’d be insulted to think I was worried about him, but he’s my grandfather, and I love him, so of course I’m worried about him. And any insult to him is an insult I won’t tolerate.”

  He gave a slight approving nod, and she was quick to admit it made her feel better. She got along with North much better than Anders, although there was no particular reason why she didn’t connect with him the same way. But North, well, he was North. Something about him was a little more to her liking. There was this energy, a spark, that connection that was missing with Anders. She liked them both well enough, but there was something special about North.

  Just then he returned. He smiled at her as he retook his spot. “Wanted to confirm he left by the front door without stopping anywhere else,” he said with a grin.

  “Thanks,” she said. “I wasn’t quite ready to deal with that part of it.”

  “Not an issue.” He glanced at his empty cup, then stood again and walked to the sideboard. He brought over the coffeepot and refilled her cup and his.

  He held up the pot for Anders, who shook his head and said, “I need real food. All that caffeine is swimming around in my stomach.”

  “Good,” Charles said as he pushed a trolley toward them. “I took the opportunity to put a baked pancake in the oven before we were interrupted. I made it extra large, and it benefitted from a bit longer cooking time.”

  Nikki smiled as she watched her grandad cutting up the large fluffy pancake and then divvying it among them. It was followed by fresh steamed apples sprinkled with cinnamon and then topped with homemade whipped cream. “You’re such a fine cook,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re still single.”

  Charles chuckled. “Of course I’m single. You’re the only lady in my life, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “Oh, that’s so sweet,” she murmured. “Does that mean I can travel around the world and leave you, like Mom and Dad did?”

  “Absolutely you can. Today’s technology is completely different,” he said. “No matter where you are, we can stay connected. So don’t ever feel like you have to stay in England because of me.”

  She nodded. “That’s what I was thinking too.”

  “So where are you going?” Anders asked.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Apparently my job is ending, no matter whether I’m willing to admit it or not. So I need to have another plan in place.”

  “The world is your oyster,” North said. “You can go almost anywhere you want.”

  “I know. I’ve been thinking about it. I spent a lot of years in the US, and a part of me would like to go back. Just not sure whereabouts in the entire country I’d land,” she said with a laugh. “The tendency is to go backward. I’ve been in Boston, and it’s a beautiful area. I really enjoyed my time there. But I don’t have many friends there. I do have friends in California, so that’s an option.”

  “It’s a big country. You could explore almost anywhere and find a reason to stay or a reason to not stay,” North said. “But you’re right. It’s usually those we know and love who bring us to a certain place. A home is not a location. It’s the people who live there.”

  She smiled, really loving that phrase. “I think that’s very wise of you.” She glanced at the two of them. “Do you both live in Levi’s compound?”

  “At the moment. More individual apartments are being fixed up, so there’s a lot of shuffling going on. Once that pool’s in, it’ll be awesome,” North added.

  The conversation stayed light as they made their way through breakfast. Until she remembered Jonas was supposed to ge
t back to them about the faces. “We didn’t ask him about the photos—Carl and his accomplice.”

  “I asked him,” North said. “He was supposed to send it to my email. He doesn’t know them himself, and they didn’t show up in any databases. That doesn’t mean a whole lot though.”

  “And what about the results on the lab tests? Did he have a chance to get his sample tested?” Anders asked.

  “He said he was waiting on the results. Expected them today but has no idea when,” North replied.

  “And the warehouse?” Nikki asked. “Did he lock it down and seize the goods?”

  North nodded. “He did, but they’re making light of it at the moment, until they get the drugs analyzed. The owners of the company say they don’t know anything about this. They leased the warehouse, then subleased half of it to another company.”

  “And the company that subleased the second half of the warehouse?” Anders asked North.

  “Nobody has been able to reach them. One of their offices is in France. Apparently they have a head office in Dubai.”

  “Interesting. So nobody knows anything anywhere.” Nikki shook her head, her frustration evident to everyone.

  “Chances are,” North added, “even if the warehouse was leased to somebody, it wasn’t in actual use by the named person or company on the lease. Somebody else could have been using it for their own gain. All one needed was a key and to keep using it until they were told they couldn’t.”

  “That’s entirely possible,” Charles said. “It’s easier to cover your tracks that way, if you don’t have anything on paper. And they could have done a secondary sublease and just paid cash for it. In that case, it’ll be a little harder to track the who and the what.”

  “Exactly. So what do we do now then?” Nikki asked.

  “It’s the weekend. Relax, get some sleep. Enjoy yourself. Look after your grandfather,” Anders suggested.

  “We can’t let MI6 take over and leave us completely out of the loop,” Nikki complained.

  “We’ll do some looking around,” North offered, “but we don’t really have any other leads to tug, other than to keep an eye on the comings and goings of the warehouse. We should see if we can track down this Carl guy back to something a little more useful than the warehouse you guys already use. And, if you want to be helpful,” North said, as if seeing Nikki’s mouth opening in protest, “get as much information as you can on Booker & Sons and Only the Best. Like, employee lists, how long each person has worked for the respective company, how long the company has been in business. If they’ve made the headlines, good or bad … We’ll need that to find out who is behind this. Also we need somebody to run a command center from here, to keep us informed on your grandfather’s health. It’s still within twenty-four hours of his injury, and he does have a mild concussion,” North warned.

  She snapped her mouth shut and glared at him. “You just added that so I would stay home and look after him.”

  He gave her a cheeky grin. “And it worked, didn’t it?”

  She sighed and nodded. “He comes first. Everything else is secondary.”

  Charles, his voice soft and gentle, said, “Only if you come first as well.”

  She smiled mistily. “That works for me too.”

  *

  North loved to see the relationship between the two of them. He’d often wondered about some of these special men who seemed all alone in the world. But it was nice to know Charles wasn’t one of them. He was loved and cared for. He was busy, and he had a lot of government assistance on his side. North wondered what the outcome of Jonas’s visit would be because Charles had taken offense, and that was not something to be lightly glossed over.

  As soon as breakfast was done, North stood, helped collect all the plates, setting them on the trolley. With a goodbye to Charles and Nikki, he and Anders headed out to the vehicle. “Where do you want to start?” Anders said, walking around to the driver’s side.

  With one last look toward the window, seeing Nikki standing there watching them, North reached up a hand, waved at her and got into the car. “I want to return to the warehouse. Both of them.”

  “Which one first?”

  “The only one we can get into right now. Jonas won’t give us clearance for the second one.”

  “Right. And, if we go in on our own, they’ll know, and that breach will put us in the middle of the squabble between Jonas and Charles that we definitely don’t want to be in the middle of.”

  “Exactly.”

  The drive back to the London Emporium’s warehouse was done mostly in silence. Just before they came to the final intersection, Anders said, “How much do you like her?”

  North didn’t pretend to ignore or misunderstand. “A lot,” he admitted. “But I hardly know her.”

  “I don’t think very many of Levi’s team knew their partners for very long before things clicked in a permanent way.”

  “I’ve often wondered about that. I mean, if you think about how fast some of those relationships started, the odds are against them to still all be ongoing. Yet none of the original couples have broken up. And that’s amazing to me. But that doesn’t mean this will work with me and Nikki.”

  “But maybe it could.” Anders’s ever-present grin was missing.

  “You’re not smiling. Does this bother you?”

  Anders shot him a surprised look as he pulled into the parking lot. “No, not at all. I’d be happy for you. I haven’t met anyone who matches up with me yet, and maybe I never will. At the moment, that’s okay too. But Nikki does have a lot of qualities I admire. She is loyal. She is steadfast. She is independent, and yet she is the first one to jump in to help protect anybody else, and she is also upset by the injustices in the world. There’s an awful lot there to like.”

  “Are you interested?” North asked, hating the sinking feeling in his gut. But it was better that they discuss this now.

  At that, Anders chuckled out loud. “No. She is not for me. She is definitely for you.”

  “Well, the jury is still out on that,” North said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

  Being daytime, the traffic was much heavier, but they still made good time. Only one spot was left in the parking lot, and, when they hopped out and walked toward the warehouse, North said, “What do you think? Will they let us in?”

  “We may have to call Nikki to get access to the warehouse.”

  He pulled out his phone and dialed Nikki’s number. When she answered, he asked, “Is anybody likely to be in your warehouse now?”

  Nikki answered readily enough. “There could be. Just tell them that I sent you.”

  “We’ll stay on the line when we walk in. I might need you to speak with them.”

  At the warehouse, they pushed on the double doors and walked in. “Okay, Nikki. The doors are unlocked, so I presume that means somebody is here.”

  “Go to the office on the left,” she instructed. “Stan should be there.”

  North walked to the designated office, rapped on the door and got no answer. “Nobody’s answering the door. Are you okay if I try to open it?”

  “Of course,” she said. “I feel like I should be with you. Dammit, why didn’t I go with you?”

  He tried to turn the knob. “The office is locked.”

  “That probably means he hasn’t arrived yet.” She muttered about the time. “He normally starts at eight.”

  “Yes, but it’s a weekend, remember?”

  Relief flooded her voice. “Oh, my goodness, I forgot. So, no, Stan won’t be there, but the warehouse doors should have been locked.” Her voice rose at the other end. “We need to confirm nothing is missing.”

  “Is it possible anybody would have come in to work on the weekend?”

  “Normally it’s just Stan, and Scottie used to work part-time and maybe still does,” she admitted. “I go so rarely it could all have changed, and I wouldn’t know.”

  “Do you have Stan’s phone number? Maybe give him a quick ca
ll at home and see if he has any idea what’s going on. Also, if you have half the warehouse rented out to another company, you know those employees could be here.”

  “I must be tired,” she said on a soft groan. “Of course that’s it. I’m seeing boogeymen when there aren’t any.”

  He chuckled. “But now we’re emissaries on your behalf, so stand by your phone while we do a quick search to see what’s going on here.”

  “Will do. What’s your excuse for being there though?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “What should we say?”

  “Maybe as a prospective buyer of the warehouse. Say you were given permission to check out the size, in case it would suit your own needs.”

  He nodded. “That’s a good one, considering the Emporium business is for sale too.”

  “Exactly.” She hung up.

  He told Anders what the excuse was if they met anybody. “She had first thought Stan might be here or a Scottie. Both of them work for her company, but she said it’s unlikely they’d be here on a weekend. So we’re assuming whoever is here works for the other business.”

  The two walked through as if they owned the place. They talked out loud about the size, volume, space, the loading doors, the bays, the traffic outside, the difficulties with unloading and loading, all as a cover while they surveyed the interior of the warehouse. They hadn’t run across anybody inside yet, but the doors had been found unlocked, and they didn’t unlock themselves. At the far back were several forklifts; one of them had London Emporium written on it, so North knew it belonged to the same company Nikki worked for.

  He walked back and forth several times, trying to get a good idea of the layout, how much stock would fit inside because, if someone were looking at smuggling in drugs, what volume would be required? Thirty cases every order was not much, and that was something else to consider. They must have other routes to move more product to justify this cleanup. North could easily see how three hundred cases or even three thousand cases would be much more profitable.

  “Hey, who are you?”

  North spun and smiled at the two men walking toward them. “Hi, we were given permission to come in and scope out the size of the warehouse,” he said smoothly. “We’re interested in purchasing the business, and this warehouse space is part of that. We needed to see if it was big enough for our needs.”