Finding North

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  Raz and Joseph stood when Alex approached. Raz helped her with her chair. They were just getting settled when the waitress brought their dinner. Alex looked down at her steak and pushed the plate away from her. Raz noted her movement and reached for her hand under the table.

  “What did you see?” Joseph asked. “I know you saw something.”

  “Romulus,” Alex said in a low tone.

  “Romulus?” Joseph asked. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

  Raising her eyebrows, Alex bit her lip and nodded. Joseph leaned over to her.

  “Jesse shot him,” Joseph said. “Seven years ago.”

  Alex nodded.

  “He thinks it’s a copycat,” Alex said.

  “Jesse?” Joseph asked. He took a bite of his steak and chewed for a moment. “We need to check . . .”

  “Exactly,” Alex said.

  “What’s a Romulus?” Colin leaned in to ask in a low tone.

  “Romulus was one of the world’s most notorious kidnappers,” Raz said in the same conspiratorial tone. “Born to a missionary couple in the Congo, he kidnapped people all over the globe. He held no allegiance to anyone, so he kidnapped individuals without regard for country, creed, or people. He received close to a billion dollars in ransom, usually paid in gold, and murdered or left for dead every single person he kidnapped. He was a threat the Fey Special Forces Team eliminated.”

  “He was a major threat to royalty,” Alex said. She gestured with her hands to keep the conversation quiet.

  “He never took one, though,” Joseph said.

  “Not for lack of trying,” Alex said. “He’d space out his work. Years would go by before he’d strike. That’s what made him so successful. In the intervening time, people would forget that he existed, forget that he was evil. He’d snatch someone, and the family would pay. Every time.”

  “How’d you catch him?” Colin asked.

  “He was one of the first people we dealt with,” Alex said. “We’d tracked down a two-year-old case. The youngest daughter of some friends of Charlie’s wife, Charlene, had been kidnapped from a resort vacation in Spain. Over the course of two years, the kidnapper would give them details or an article of clothing in return for a large cash payment. We found her decaying body one week after the family had made such a payment. The kidnapper vanished. No physical evidence. He was like a ghost. A few years later, he struck again.”

  “And then again,” Joseph said. “Each time, we got closer to catching him. You see, he’d counted on pitting agencies against each other. That’s what had worked so brilliantly for him. He didn’t expect one hostage-retrieval team with jurisdiction over the entire globe. By being one team, we were able to track him, wherever he went, around the world. We caught him because he didn’t expect us.”

  “We were very close the second time,” Alex said. “When he kidnapped that girl in Singapore, we bagged him before he had time to murder her.”

  “Bagged, tagged, and sent to Langley,” Joseph said. “There’ve been no reports of him or this kind of activity since then.”

  “Is it possible that he’s been licking his wounds this whole time?” Raz asked.

  “I doubt it,” Alex said.

  “The time period is longer than any break he’d ever taken,” Joseph said. “Plus, he’d be in his eighties by now.”

  “Close to ninety,” Alex said. “To our knowledge, he had no children.”

  “So, what are we dealing with?” Colin asked.

  This kind of “cut to the chase” questioning technique was one that Alex had taught Colin. Alex gave him a bright smile. He nodded in acknowledgement.

  “A copycat,” Alex said.

  “Someone knows we’re watching,” Joseph said.

  “Not necessarily,” Colin said. “If it’s a copycat, they might have just read about this notorious kidnapper on the Internet and decided to emulate him.”

  “Anyone who knew the story well wouldn’t pretend to be Romulus in front of the two of you,” Raz said.

  “What’s that mean?” Colin asked.

  “Let’s just say the Fey Special Forces Team stalked the man, cut off access to his money, eliminated his ability to get around, and then got rid of him,” Raz said. “With extreme prejudice.”

  “Not extreme,” Alex said. “If you’d ever talked to any of the families of the people he took, you’d know that we were way too kind to him. He was a monster. He’d string families along for years.”

  “And all that time, their loved one was dead,” Joseph said. “Alex is right. He was a monster. After all the money, energy, and time, he’d refuse to tell the family where to find the bodies.”

  “That’s what we did,” Alex said. “We found the bodies and brought them home.”

  “You found them,” Joseph said.

  “It’s something I helped with when we started working together,” Raz nodded. “We found the last body a year or so before the assault.”

  “We need to check the tape for Romulus’s details — stuff only we know,” Joseph said.

  “Even if it’s a copycat,” Alex said, “it doesn’t change the outcome.”

  “Dex is dead,” Raz said.

  “I’m sorry,” Alex said.

  Raz nodded. She squeezed his hand.

  “What if no one knows you’re here?” Colin said. “I mean, we’ve been looking at the ‘things’ and information we need to collect to resolve this . . . situation. What if the truth is that only you, Alex, can sort out what’s going on because you’re the only one who remembers all the details of all of the cases you guys did? I mean, the files are gone.”

  “You mean it’s more than Linear A,” Alex said.

  “Linear A is a part of it, sure,” Colin said, “but this is more about what you guys did as a team, all that you did, connected with . . . something else.”

  “That’s why it’s personal,” Joseph said. “Only Alex can put it together.”

  The men looked at Alex, who shrugged.

  “Why did Charlie delete all the electronic files?” Raz asked.

  “That was me,” Joseph said. “I was afraid that the files would bring more harm than good.”

  “And what did it matter?” Alex asked. “The hostages were home. Cases closed.”

  “US government policy states that the US government doesn’t compromise or negotiate,” Joseph said. “We compromised and negotiated a lot. It would be quite a scandal if that information got out.”

  “That’s what Charlie said,” Alex said.

  “It is what he said,” Raz said. “But I wonder why you think he deleted everything?”

  “What do you think?” Colin asked Raz.

  “I don’t know,” Raz said. “I have this weird, kind of glimmer of a thought — something like, there’s a detail, a shadow, a something that exists across a bunch of cases, that you missed in the constant press of having to work case after case. After Joseph was on leave, Charlie saw it. He realized that, if other people saw that you missed this thing, it would sully the work of the Fey Special Forces Team.”

  Alex and Joseph looked at Raz and then at each other.

  “Anything is possible,” Joseph said.

  “How do we find this ‘something’?” Colin asked.

  “We look at the cases the Boy Scout was interested in,” Alex nodded.

  “Do you know what those were?” Colin asked.

  “I do,” Raz said.

  “You do?” Alex asked. She looked at him and blushed.

  “Of course,” he said and stroked her cheek. She leaned into him. He put his arm around her and kissed her hair. To Joseph and Colin, he said, “I’ve been working with MI-6 to determine how we can deal with the Boy Scout.”

  “And the cuddle?” Colin asked.

  “They need to look like a couple having a romantic dinner, Colin,” Joseph said. “Breaks the tension.”

  “Just horrifying,” Colin said. He pointed to Alex’s plate. “Are you eating that?”

  Alex s
hook her head. Colin took her plate, and started to eat.

  “Why is it horrifying?” Joseph asked.

  “All the signals are wrong.” Colin waved at Raz and Alex with his fork. “You can’t tell . . .”

  “All the signals are wrong,” Alex said. She sat up straight. “Raz, do you have the key Dex gave you?”

  “Yes,” Raz said.

  “Joseph, call the team,” Alex said. “Have them meet us at the Zeno estate.”

  “Yes, sir,” Joseph said as he stood up.

  “Major?” Alex asked.

  “Sir?”

  “Fully loaded,” Alex said.

  “Yes, sir,” Joseph said.

  Joseph put his phone to his ear and walked out of the restaurant. Raz signaled their waiter.

  “What just happened?” Colin asked.

  “I just realized our signals are wrong,” Alex said. “We’re waiting for the NYPD and the FBI; they’re probably waiting for us. In the meantime, we think Romulus took Dex . . .”

  “It’s all a ploy to keep us away from Dex’s house,” Raz nodded.

  “Right,” Alex said.

  Raz paid the bill, and they left the steak house. They were on the street when Colin started to laugh.

  “What?” Alex asked.

  “I’m so glad I’m not a school teacher anymore,” Colin said.

  Raz put his arm around Alex, and they laughed.

  F

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tuesday night

  May 17 — 8:23 p.m. EDT

  New York City, New York

  Alex stood under a surveillance camera in the alley along the east side of Dex’s home. From where she stood, she could see the sixteen-point compass rose with the eye over a side door to Dex’s home. The team, including Matthew, who’d arrived an hour ago, had rolled up to the house wearing fatigues, helmets, boots, and carrying weapons. Colin and Raz were out front while Alex waited in the alley. The hope was that the team would engage the NYPD, which would bring the FBI and chaos. While NYPD and FBI argued in front, she, Raz, Colin, and the team could use his key to get inside the house.

  “Hmpt,” a woman’s voice came from Alex’s right. She looked down the alley to see Rosa Williams, the police detective they’d dealt with before. “I said to myself, ‘I bet they’re trying to get in the back.’ I told my partner that, but . . . And looky here. You’re trying to get in the back.”

  She nodded. Alex pointed to the surveillance camera above her head. Detective Williams looked up and scowled. She stepped beside Alex.

  “That’s new,” Detective Williams said.

  “Yours?” Alex asked.

  Detective Williams shook her head. Alex shrugged.

  “What ’chu waitin’ for?” Detective Williams asked.

  Alex put her fingers to her lips and pointed up. Detective Williams nodded. They waited in silence for ten more minutes. Detective Williams shifted as if to say something when Max walked down the alley from the south end. He had a Belgian Malinois with him and walked at a casual pace. He looked like a man out walking his dog.

  “Whoa,” Detective Williams said.

  Max nodded to Alex and kept walking toward the front of Dex’s home.

  “That guy looks like he could be your twin,” Detective Williams said in Alex’s ear.

  Alex nodded. They watched Max move out to the sidewalk. He peered at the hive of activity caused by the Fey Team stirring the NYPD-FBI nest. Visibly alarmed, he turned in place and came back down the alley. Raz, who had been standing at the street end of the alley, followed Max toward Alex. Max was ten feet from Alex when he nodded. Alex pulled an electronic jamming device from her pocket and turned it on.

  With Max as his guard, Raz ran to the side door. Alex knelt down to say hello to Master Sergeant Bill Bailey.

  “What is this?” Detective Williams asked.

  Bill gave a warning growl.

  “Detective Williams?” Alex smiled. “This is my brother, Max, and our friend, Master Sergeant Bill Bailey.”

  “You mean you know them?” Detective Williams asked.

  “She’s my little sister,” Max said.

  “He’s my big brother,” Alex said. “And the Master Sergeant is our special friend.”

  Raz looked at Alex and Max and made a show of rolling his eyes. Detective Williams chuckled.

  “Ready?” Raz asked.

  Raz took out his key and moved to the door.

  “Hey, how’d you get . . .?” Detective Williams started.

  “Listen,” Alex said. “You can come with us, but you have to go along. If you can’t do that, you’re welcome to join most of your department on the street in front.”

  Alex whistled. Vince, Leena, Trece, and Royce jogged down the alley toward them. Detective Williams raised her hands as if to say she’d given up. When Trece got to her, he took her thumbprint on his wireless device. Trece’s hand moved like lightning, and he snatched a piece of her hair and slid it into the device.

  “Hey!” Detective Williams put her hand on her head. “Don’t you need a warrant for that?”

  “I don’t,” Trece said.

  Raz raised his eyebrows in question, and Trece nodded. Raz turned the key in the lock. To their surprise, the door opened to a long stairway. Sergeant Pete Beetle, Master Sergeant Bill Bailey’s handler, ran down the alley to the door.

  “What the hell?” Detective Williams asked. “I went through this door not three hours ago. There was no stairwell then!”

  She closed the door to look at it again.

  “It had three or four wood stairs up to the kitchen,” Detective Williams said.

  “Different key,” Alex said.

  Raz opened the door again. Alex nodded to Pete, and he took Bill from Max. The soldier and his dog went into the building. They waited almost five minutes before Pete gave the all-clear over the team’s earbud communicators. On Pete’s signal, Trece and Royce went down the long stairwell. Margaret and MJ ran down the alley and joined them at the door. A few minutes later, Trece and Royce gave the all-clear over their earbud communicators. Vince and Leena moved down the stairwell. Troy and Sergeant Dusty joined them in the alley.

  “You will stay with one of my team,” Alex said to Detective Williams. “Do not go off on your own. Raz and Max are with me. Sergeant Dusty?”

  She nodded to Detective Williams.

  “Yes, sir,” Sergeant Dusty said.

  “Do not lose him,” Alex said to Detective Williams. “We don’t have any idea what we’re getting into here.”

  White Boy and Colin brought up the rear to guard the door, leaving Matthew and Joseph to argue with the NYPD and the FBI. Alex nodded to Troy, and he started down the stairwell. She followed Troy. Max followed Alex. Raz waited a moment before coming after them.

  “How’s Helen?” Alex asked as they headed down the stairwell.

  “Good,” Troy said. “But she won’t do it.”

  “That’s okay,” Alex said.

  She glanced behind her to Raz.

  “We assumed she wouldn’t,” Raz said. “Your mother said she’d try again.”

  Troy glanced back at Alex and Raz.

  “Thanks,” Troy said, as his feet hit the floor.

  He put his hand up to slow Alex and Raz down. Alex stood next to Troy on the floor. Raz stopped on the stairwell. They were standing in a dimly lit, cement-lined hallway or tunnel. Ahead, they could hear Trece, Royce, Pete, and Bill signal each other as they worked.

  “I do love these underground cement hallways to nowhere.” Raz put his hand on the small of Alex’s back.

  “Brings back fond memories, doesn’t it?” Alex smiled.

  “No,” Raz said.

  Max looked at Raz and laughed.

  “Shall we?” Troy asked.

  She nodded. Troy started down the hallway. Alex followed close behind. Raz waited a moment to signal MJ and Margaret before following them.

  The hallway went the length of the building before making a sharp turn ri
ght. Royce waited for them at the door.

  “Sir,” Royce said. “It’s oddly cluttered. We’d prefer it if you stayed here until we finish our sweep.”

  “Oddly cluttered?” Alex asked.

  “Bill indicates that the clutter may hide items of interest,” Royce said. “It doesn’t look like anyone has been here in a while. I believe Raz was correct when he said that Dex was overwhelmed by all of this.”

  “All of this?” Alex asked.

  “A hundred or more years of papers, notebooks, journals . . .” Royce gestured to his left. “There’s a room filled with art and old maps. We’re going to have to check this stuff against the Art Loss Registry.”

  “Why?” Alex asked.

  “There’s a room full of paintings, big and small, stacked on their sides,” Royce shrugged. “It had to come from somewhere.”

  “Sounds like someone’s been collecting for a long time,” Alex said.

  “About that,” Royce said. “You should go straight and then into the room on your left in the corner. There’s a timeline.”

  Alex nodded. She motioned to Troy, and he started forward. They entered a large open room with smaller rooms along the edges. The rooms were built out of solid cement, and the lighting was dim. They saw the round bright lights of Pete and Bill’s headlamps as they worked the opposite end of the large room. Behind them, they heard Royce guiding Margaret and MJ to where they were needed most. They reached the end and went into the room in the corner.

  Compared to the larger room, this room was stiflingly small and dark. Raz found a light switch. An overhead fluorescent light blinked before washing the room with bright white light. They blinked at the light.

  “Wow,” Raz said as he sucked in a breath. Alex looked at him, and he pointed to the walls.

  Someone had written dates in the concrete that made up the walls. The timeline started around 6000 BC, with plenty of space for the present and future. Max went to the beginning.

  “Leaving Africa,” Max shook his head. “It starts with leaving Africa, and there’s still space to fill in pre-6000 BC. That’s pretty thorough.”

  Alex shook her head.

  “Begin at the beginning,” Alex and Max quoted their father in unison.

  Slashes in the concrete marked events, calamities, and wars on every continent. As if to say “pay attention to these,” some wars had lines underneath them. World Wars I and II were marked and underlined. The concrete markings stopped at the end of the 1950s. The documentation was continued on two walls of blackboards.