“Yes, I do. I’m sorry it had to end this way between us, Finn, because I had really started to like you. Who knows? The world is a crazy place. Maybe our paths will cross again some day.” I permitted myself a sad smile.
He yanked on the handcuffs again to no avail. “That will be unlikely if you’re dead.”
“Then let’s hope a little of your Irish luck rubbed off on me. Goodbye, Finn.”
As I left the room and carefully locked up, I heard him swearing after me in Gaelic.
Chapter 16
It was a quarter past ten by the time I exited the hotel. The sun was still shining, the birds singing. It was weird, but in the summer in Sweden, I guess the sun never really sets. I don’t know how people got used to it. Still, it played in my favor since I was able to see my surroundings more clearly.
As expected, I quickly spotted a surveillance team just outside the hotel. A bald man sat on a bench across from the hotel entrance reading a newspaper, and a thin, blonde woman was sipping coffee at a café a few meters away. I knew they were together because the moment I exited the hotel, the man gave me a startled glance and then hastily looked over at the blonde. They both seemed pretty shocked to see me, so I guess Finn had informed them that we’d be in for the night. The element of surprise definitely worked for me because I sincerely doubted they would have so obviously given themselves away without it.
I strolled down the sidewalk, pretending I didn’t notice them following me. I kept track of them by monitoring their reflections in the store windows. They followed me at a careful distance, one on each side of the street. They didn’t seem to be taking too many precautions to hide themselves, which likely meant they thought I hadn’t spotted them. Why should they suspect I had? I’m a twenty-five-year-old computer desk jockey, never trained as an agent, who’d been abroad only once before in her entire life. Let them think I was clueless—it would make my job a lot easier. Right now my job was temporarily eluding them so I could have a minute or two alone with Basia before the party started. I definitely didn’t want our little gathering to start until all parties were present. That made timing the trickiest part of the plan.
As I continued down the sidewalk, I noticed a young couple in front of me. The woman whispered something to the man and he scooped her into a hug, laughing. It seemed innocent until he glanced over at me. For the briefest of seconds, we made eye contact and I turned away, my heart racing.
Shit! They had put another team on me. I don’t know how I knew for sure, but I just did. My gut had made them, and I’m a big believer in gut instinct. So that made four agents tailing me, two more than I expected. That threw me for a serious loop because I hadn’t expected to be so well covered. I probably had Finn to thank for that.
Panic swelled in my throat. Now I wasn’t sure I could pull this off. Ditching one surveillance team would be hard enough, but there was no way in hell I’d be able to shake both teams.
Think, Carmichael, think.
I walked ahead blindly, not noticing that someone had come up quickly behind me until he threw an arm of iron around my shoulders and squeezed hard.
“Keep walking,” he said in a low voice before I could say a word. “You have two teams of two watching you. Whatever you do, don’t scream or act frightened. I’m an unexpected variable so they won’t make a move unless I appear to threaten you. My best guess is that we’ve got about three, possibly five, minutes before they move.”
My mouth gaped open in shock, but I managed to keep walking. “Elvis! What in the hell are you doing here?”
“Saving your hide.”
“What?” I hissed. “Are you nuts? What happened to Rule #1—Absolutely, Positively No Deviating From the Plan?”
“Look who’s talking, Ms. Queen of Deviation,” he hissed back. “Where’s Finn Shaughnessy?”
“Handcuffed to a bed.”
“What?” he practically screeched. “You were using handcuffs?”
“Jeez, Elvis, it’s not what you think. I mean, it’s not about sex.” I remembered the kiss. “Um, not exactly. Anyway, I handled him just fine.”
“I’m not worried about him. What happened to your arm?”
“It’s my wrist and a three-hundred-pound thug fell on it. Don’t worry, I handled him, too. Sort of.”
“We have to abort the plan. There have been some new developments.”
I glanced in a shop window as we passed and I saw the blonde woman talking frantically on a cell phone. The young couple was whispering to each other and neither looked happy. The bald man was nowhere in sight. Apparently Elvis’s unexpected appearance had freaked them out and now they were all trying to figure out what they were supposed to do next.
“We can’t abort,” I said. “We’re too close.”
“We have to. Samir Al-Naddi is putting a wrench in our plan.”
“Al-Naddi the Yemeni terrorist? What does he have to do with this?”
“A Yemeni businessman was murdered last night in Munich, Germany. All his ID, including his passport and credentials, were stolen. Someone used his passport to enter Sweden this afternoon. I got a tip from a friend at the NSA who says the hit on the businessman smelled to high heaven of Al-Naddi’s work. But here’s the kicker: the U.S. thinks it’s Al-Naddi himself here in Sweden, masquerading as the businessman.”
“Here?” My mind raced furiously. “Slash said the CIA suspected that Al-Naddi had something to do with the murder of Al-Asan’s bodyguards in Genoa, but we couldn’t finger the connection. Now it looks like Al-Naddi could just be another player at the table.”
Elvis’s expression was grim. “He’s not just another player, Lexi. He is the player.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’ve discovered his connection to all of this. He’s interested in Judyta Taszynski because she is carrying his clone.”
I stopped dead in my tracks, despite Elvis’s direction to keep walking. My blood turned to ice. “What did you say?”
“Keep walking,” Elvis urged and pulled me along by the arm. “Look, once I was in Bouker’s computer, I decided to do a little browsing around. Slash’s connections in the CIA were right. Al-Asan’s bodyguards were hit by followers of Al-Naddi.”
“But why? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“It makes perfect sense. They stole Al-Asan’s DNA and replaced it with Al-Naddi’s.”
I pressed a hand to my mouth, my thoughts racing. Pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “Oh, my God,” I breathed. “The terrorists hijacked Al-Asan’s DNA before the cloning procedure took place. Then they somehow delivered it to the doctors at Bright Horizons without letting on that anything had happened.”
“They must have used look-alikes of the men who were killed.”
“Which would explain why the bodies of the men were hidden for a short time and then laid out again to be found,” I said. “Slash said the Italian medical examiner couldn’t figure out the anomaly. Their bodies couldn’t be discovered before the delivery had been made. It also means the doctors unwittingly implanted Al-Naddi’s clones into the women without anyone knowing.”
“Everyone except Al-Naddi and his followers.”
“But who’s killing the girls?”
“Yemeni intelligence. They’ve been making sure that no clone of Al-Naddi’s exists. President Al-Fulani of Yemen is an archenemy of Al-Naddi. It’s no secret. He’s made it his number one goal to eradicate the man and his terrorist operation from Yemen soil.”
“But the girls didn’t know they were carrying Al-Naddi’s clone,” I protested. “Why kill them?”
“To ensure that none of them carried to term.”
I swallowed the nausea that rose in my throat. “Except Judyta is still alive and pregnant. Oh, man, this is seriously bad.” I glanced in a shop window and realized I’d been so distracted I had lost the location of all the members of the surveillance teams.
“So, you can see why it’s too risky to continue,” Elvis said. “It’s one thi
ng to bring together members of different governments. It’s something entirely different to add a terrorist to the mix. Especially one as volatile as Al-Naddi.”
“How do you think he found out about the rendezvous?” I asked anxiously.
“Possibly a sympathizer in the Yemeni Embassy. But I have an even more ominous supposition.”
“Which is?” I asked, not certain I wanted to know.
“It’s possible the U.S. government or even Vatican intelligence tipped Al-Naddi off to your whereabouts on purpose.”
“A set-up for Al-Naddi,” I breathed. “Here. Basia and I are the bait.”
“As noble as it may seem to you, being bait for a terrorist, we can’t possibly continue. Al-Naddi could blow us all to kingdom come.”
My thoughts were spinning. I took several deep breaths and then stopped, clutching Elvis’s arm.
“No,” I said, trying to organize my thoughts. “Al-Naddi wouldn’t hurt me or Basia. We’re the only ones who can lead him to Judyta.”
“He might not kill you, but he could capture and then torture you until you coughed up the information.”
I winced. “Okay, good point. Especially since torture is not on my list of things to experience in this lifetime. Certainly Al-Naddi should be considered unstable and dangerous. Normal rules of conduct don’t apply to him. But what would happen if we abort the plan? Al-Naddi disappears and regroups for another day. Judyta and Basia have to remain in hiding because they will still be hunted by Yemeni intelligence, the U.S. government, MI-6, Vatican intelligence and Al-Naddi’s followers, although for radically different reasons. My life and that of everyone connected to me in this matter remains at risk. I could get picked off at any time just for knowing too much. No thanks. I’d rather not be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life wondering when and from whom I’m going to buy it. I want to finish it now.”
Elvis looked really worried. “Lexi, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Me, too. But think about it. You know I’m right. Aborting the plan at this stage carries its risks, too. If Al-Naddi is here, he might get lucky and locate Judyta and Basia even without us. Look, we could do this and still stay in control. I just need a few minutes with Basia alone to clue her in to what’s going on.”
Elvis didn’t appear convinced. “There are so many chances for things to go wrong.”
“I know. But we’ve also got everyone in place. I’ve got to trust that the U.S. has enough invested in this to protect Basia and me. I’m going ahead with the plan. Are you in?”
He exhaled loudly. “You’ll have to lose both surveillance teams.”
“I think I already have. Do you know where they are?”
He pulled me into a hug and put his head close to mine, like we were conversing intimately. “Talk to me,” he ordered, scanning the street over my shoulder. “Make it look like we’re having a heartfelt discussion.”
“We are having a heartfelt discussion.”
“Well, keep talking in a heartfelt way then.”
“I’m too nervous. Want me to recite the periodic table?”
“You sure know how to turn a guy on.”
The quip surprised me because I never imagined Elvis as a guy who could be turned on. I don’t know, I guess I just pegged him as a genius too elevated to bother with everyday things like dating, social skills and sex. Maybe I was wrong.
“Okay, let’s see,” I murmured. “Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine—”
“Found them,” Elvis interrupted. “As far as I can tell, we’re still being watched by two teams. They’ve apparently been told to hold position. I bet they want to figure out who I am and what you’re going to do now.”
“Good question. What am I going to do now?”
“You know the tram schedule to Djurgarden Island?”
“Yes. Every fifteen minutes on the hour.”
He glanced down at his watch. “We’ve got five minutes. Let’s do it.”
“Do what?”
“The new plan.”
“You’ve figured it out already?”
“That’s why I get paid the big bucks. Thinking on the fly does have its advantages.”
“I’m officially impressed.”
“Good to know.”
He leaned over and brushed his lips against mine, soft, tender and totally unexpected. My heart gave a little jump. I had no earthly idea what was going on. Three kisses in the past forty-eight hours with three extremely different guys. That was definitely a record for me. In fact, it would probably stand as a lifetime record, seeing how I might not live much longer. It was fascinating data and the analytical part of my brain wanted to examine each one. But now wasn’t the time to try and figure out what it all meant. Besides, Elvis had already begun to move again and I had to hustle a couple of steps to keep up.
“Listen carefully,” he said and quickly outlined his plan.
It was astoundingly simple, which meant it had a fair-to-decent chance of working since I was the one who had to put it into play.
Nonetheless, as we headed for the tram stop my heart was thundering so hard in my chest, I thought I might have a heart attack. Sweat oozed down my back and I was glad I wasn’t holding hands with Elvis because my palms were slick with moisture. I wasn’t cut out for this secret agent stuff.
I glanced in a window and saw our teams were again in place and that they trailed along behind us now, no longer bothering to act discreet.
“They know we’ve made them,” I observed.
“Yes,” Elvis agreed. “But it doesn’t change anything.”
“Guess not.” Then trying to lighten the mood, I said, “Did I mention I like the fedora? Kind of reminds me of Indiana Jones. But what’s with the trench coat?”
He smiled, likely just to put me at ease. I noticed his brown hair was squished flat under the hat and his glasses were slightly askew. He looked pale and exhausted and I realized he must have flown all night and then hightailed it to the hotel to save me.
“Always wanted to play secret agent,” he said lightly. “In my opinion, no better way to do it than in a black trench coat.”
I smiled back. “The Matrix fantasy. Yeah, I get it. It’s ace. No, you’re ace.”
“Sure, that’s me,” Elvis said, grinning, and then glanced again at his watch. “Tram is late.”
“Maybe your watch is fast.”
“Maybe.”
Just as he said that, I saw the tram come into sight down the street. There were three passengers waiting at the stop—two young women and a kid about six years old.
“Good luck,” Elvis whispered.
“You, too,” I said.
I calculated the distance and the time I needed to make a dash for the stop. Six seconds. It was an iffy estimate, a bit tight considering how out-of-shape I was, but I could make it. Barely.
“Keep walking. And don’t stare at the tram. Take judicious glances.”
“Okay,” I said, my chest feeling tight.
A tremor shook in my leg muscles and my breathing had become shallow as if I’d already been running for miles. I forced myself to calm down. Relax, focus and concentrate. All I needed was six frigging seconds. I could do it.
The tram pulled up to the stop, the doors opened and some people got off. The young woman with the little boy climbed on.
My hands clenched into fists and I ground my teeth together.
Wait…wait…wait.
Sweat slid down my temples, plastering my hair to the sides of my cheeks.
Don’t screw it up, Carmichael. There’s a hell of a lot riding on you.
I waited until the last woman lifted her foot to climb on to the tram. “Now,” I breathed.
At exactly the same moment, Elvis and I made our moves.
Chapter 17
I heard the warning shouts behind me, but adrenaline surged through my veins as I swung aboard the tram with one second to spare before the doors closed. I
dared a glance out the window and saw that Elvis had done exactly what he had said he would and blocked the path of the closest agent—the young man who was half of the cute, giggling couple. Elvis had stepped into his path, neatly tripping him and sending him sprawling face-first into the pavement before effectively disappearing into the gathering crowd. The pretty young woman raced after the tram, but she was too far behind to catch me.
At this point all the agents following me had abandoned any pretense of discretion and were either running or shouting. The thin blonde woman was shouting into a cell phone and I spotted the bald man dashing toward a parked car. But the tram picked up speed and there was nothing they could do but watch as we sped out of sight. They now knew I was headed for Djurgarden Island, but it was a big place with lots of tourist attractions, so it would likely take them some time to find me. It was all the head start I needed to talk with Basia. I only prayed she’d be on time for our rendezvous because if she wasn’t, things would start to fall apart fast.
I got off at the stop for the Grona Lunds Tivoli Amusement Park directly in front of the ferry docks. Even though it was nearly eleven-thirty at night the crowd was young, and it was a good place for me to blend in. I pulled my blue sweatshirt out of the tote bag and over my head and then tucked my hair up into a ball cap. It wasn’t a sophisticated disguise and it certainly wouldn’t hide me forever, but it might give me a few extra minutes.
I made my way toward the Nordic Museum, staying as much as I could with the crowd. I didn’t spot anyone tailing me and hoped that would hold for a while longer. The museum was the most conspicuous building on the island. I made a circle around the structure, but didn’t see anyone. A glance at my watch indicated it was eleven-thirty on the dot.
“Come on, Basia,” I breathed and leaned against a door on the east entrance, which was partially obscured by some bushes.
Exactly one minute later, I saw a lone figure in jeans and a green blouse walking toward the front steps. The size and shape of the figure was right, but the hair was too short and light blond. It was the way she walked that gave her away.
No One Lives Twice (A Lexi Carmichael Mystery) Page 31
