‘Where are you going?’
‘Away from here.’
‘What?’ Flick asked. ‘You’re going to leave her in there?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘No, I’m not. I’ve got a car parked around the next bend, and a motel room twelve miles from here.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Flying in there with guns blazing won’t do anyone any good. Rushe and I thought we could play the long game on this, but this is... I can’t sit on my ass anymore, and now he’s locked up in there. And he has a woman, Rushe has a woman...? No one saw that coming. Victor’s one fucking bastard.’
Jansen stopped long enough to grab hold of her. ‘What are you doing?’
‘You’re coming with me.’
‘I am not,’ Flick said, and tried to yank herself away, but it was futile.
‘You’re coming with me. We’re gonna get you cleaned up, and fed, then you’re going back in there.’
‘You’re sending me back to Victor?’
‘I said you were going back. I didn’t say you were going alone.’
Flick couldn’t get out of Jansen’s grip. Much as she wanted to go back to Rushe right this minute, she could only do what Jansen told her. Flick had to follow his orders, because she needed his help. Rushe was still in there, and if word got back to him that the shipment had been run off the road, and that there were casualties, he would think the worst.
Victor might not tell him because making Rushe think she’d been sold would get his blood boiling, and Flick wasn’t entirely sure that wasn’t Victor’s overriding intention. Men were intimidated, they were threatened by Rushe. They believed him to be superior, which he was. John had almost dared Rushe to fight, and he had known there were backup fighters in the passage ready to jump in when Rushe dispensed with the others.
So Flick did as she was told; Rushe would be so proud of her. But anything could happen at any time so she wanted to get back there, to get Rushe out without him being hurt, and before he did anything rash.
Jansen walked with determination in his gait, and Flick wondered how he’d got through six months without a woman he clearly cared about. When he’d intercepted that first lot of women he must have been sure that Serendipity was in it, and to find her not there must have broken his heart.
After seeming to screw over Victor, Jansen couldn’t go back to that house. But Flick didn’t understand, because if Jansen was Victor’s number two then surely there was no reason to hold Serendipity at all. But Jansen had said this was Victor’s modus operandi, and Flick had seen how Victor enjoyed tormenting Rushe with her. Playing games with people, mentally torturing men by using the object of their love against them was Victor’s hobby. But they were going to get their own back.
In taking the object of someone’s love all Victor achieved was the complete focus of the persecuted party. He would get no mercy. Flick had her own anger toward Victor, but that would be nothing compared to the anger of Jansen, and now the anger of Rushe.
It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt and Victor had done the hurting. Rushe and Jansen would ensure that after laughter came tears, and those tears would be Victor’s, of that Flick was certain.
Chapter Thirteen
Jansen fed her after she’d showered to clean out her wounds. He’d patched her up, and demanded that she slept. Flick wasn’t interested in sleep and so had fought against the suggestion. She wanted to get on with getting Rushe out of his captivity. She wanted to get back to him, to liberate her love without any delay. So they came to the agreement that she would try to sleep for half an hour, and if sleep didn’t come, then they would talk about a plan.
Flick opened her eyes, and half a second later, she sat up. Clenching the blanket to her chest, she tried to discern her surroundings; a motel room, murky light, and the smell of... pizza.
‘It’s still hot,’ Jansen said, and she swung around to see him sitting on the bottom corner of the bed.
‘I fell asleep.’
‘Yeah, I won that bet,’ he said.
‘What time is it?’
‘Five.’
Flick knew they hadn’t got back to the motel until around that time in the morning, so it had to be in the evening. ‘You let me sleep all day?’
‘Victor will have spent the day trying to work out what went wrong. He wouldn’t have known that the shipment didn’t get to its destination until his crew returned, or in this case didn’t return. Their orders would have kept them out until at least midday. When they didn’t get back on time, he’d have given them another couple of hours before he started to ask questions – sometimes there are holdups. We’ve got time. It’s only about now that he’s getting the news that the girls never got there. He’s probably on his way to talk to Rushe as we speak.’
‘Then we should get over there,’ she said, throwing back the covers only to remember she’d slept without clothes, because her tee-shirt had been torn and soiled.
Jansen took another bite of pizza, and didn’t seem to notice her quickly covering herself again. ‘Clothes in the bag on the floor beside you.’
Flick peeked over to see a white plastic bag with its top scrunched down. When she gathered it up, and pulled out its contents, she shrugged in frustration. No underwear, just a pair of jeans, and a black cotton scoop neck that was about three sizes too small for her chest.
But she pulled the clothes on under the covers, and Jansen pushed the pizza box toward her, so Flick selected a slice.
Jansen was tough to get a read on, but he wasn’t as blank as Rushe. Jansen was around six foot, his hair was longer and thinner than Rushe’s, and he hooked it back behind his ears. Still, a rather fierce looking tattoo sprouted from his tee-shirt, covering his neck from his shoulder. Maybe he wasn’t as hard as Rushe, but he sure didn’t look much softer.
‘Is she your wife?’ Flick asked, and Jansen stopped chewing. ‘If you don’t want to talk about it—‘
‘Ex-wife,’ he said. ‘Sorta. We got married real young, I fucked around, and we split. But a couple of years ago...’
‘You got back together,’ Flick said when he didn’t.
‘Yeah,’ he said, flinging his pizza slice into the box. ‘After this she’ll never want to see me again.’
‘You don’t know that.’
‘I do,’ he said. ‘This whole mess is my fault. I got her into it, Rushe too, and now you. If I hadn’t fucked up in the first place...’
‘What happened?’
‘I needed money,’ Jansen said, wiping the pizza grease from his hands onto the thighs of his jeans. ‘Got it from Victor.’
‘You didn’t pay him?’
‘I paid him back, all of it,’ Jansen said. ‘That’s the kicker. I could’ve walked away.’
‘But you didn’t?’
‘No,’ Jansen said.
‘Serendipity found out that you were working with him?’
‘Nothing that simple, Victor wanted me to do some work with him. So I did. Then the jobs got... serious.’
‘You said no?’
‘Tried to,’ Jansen said. ‘But he picked up Serendipity, just ripped her off the street. It wasn’t about money any more. When he got Serendipity, he had me. He knew I’d do anything to keep her safe. First couple of months were bad enough, but Victor was acting invincible, then he got an idea. A contact wanted something, a big shot client, I don’t know. But he got this idea about the trafficking in his head, and a guy knew a guy, which is always the way it is...’
‘You were in over your head.’
‘I’m not a bad guy. I don’t know how it came to this, I make bad decisions... which Serendipity will tell you is an excuse, but I make the decisions, I know it’s my fault.’
‘So you called in Rushe?’
‘Victor made a few comments which made me think that Serendipity would be in the first shipment, that it was the best, the easiest, and the quickest way to get her out of his hair. I think he wanted to see what I’d do; he likes to have
rats in his maze. If I let Serendipity go in the shipment, then my loyalty to Victor would be assured. If I could turn my back on the woman I loved for him...’
‘But you couldn’t?’ Flick asked.
‘I tried to make him think I’d go along with it, but I knew a guy who knew a guy...’
‘Which is always the way it is,’ she said with a smile, and he exhaled a laugh. Flick tossed what was left of her pizza into the box and moved it to the unit the TV was on, then she sat next to Jansen on the end of the bed.
‘Rushe just appeared one day, he doesn’t really exist,’ Jansen said. ‘I mean he does but... he’s sorta known for being a shadow. Surveillance is part of his gig; the guy’s got absolutely infinite patience.’
Flick recalled how his patience receded when she took too long getting her clothes off. ‘Yeah.’
‘He can watch a guy for months without ever making a move; just watch him, constantly, all the time. I’m not talking about interesting people with interesting lives, we’re talking Joe Normal.’
‘Why would he—‘
‘People want information for a whole bunch of reasons, and if you want information under the radar there’s only one guy to go to. Rushe is the master of information extraction. He checks out every story, he does his own background check on anyone who wants to use his services, every person who hires him, and all of their stories. He takes nothing on faith. He doesn’t trust a soul. He checks out every avenue before he makes a move.’
‘A move?’ Flick asked.
‘Surveillance is his bread and butter I think, but... he can find out anything, about anyone, he can watch and watch... and if he can’t see it, he asks.’
‘Nicely?’ Flick kind of already knew the answer to her own question.
‘Rushe is a ghost; he can do what he wants because he doesn’t exist. He’s also been known to...’
‘What?’ Flick asked.
‘He’s been known to disappear people, if you know what I mean.’
Flick wasn’t surprised about the watching, the man could sit for hours saying nothing. The way Rushe had spoken to Skeeve, and the things he’d said to her in the car about Robert made Flick sure – as she’d once told him – that he was capable of anything.
Rushe found out things, extracted information, disappeared people. He was, as Jansen had put it, private enforcement.
‘You didn’t know,’ Jansen said. ‘He kind of has a specialty... which is how I ended up getting his attention.’
‘A specialty?’
‘Cases involving female victims,’ Jansen said. ‘He takes cases in defence of women.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. Like I said, I knew a guy who knew a guy. Since I hired Rushe I’ve heard stories, seen him in action. But nobody knows him personally, he doesn’t have friends. I didn’t even know what he looked like until this. He spends his life predicting everybody’s next move.’
Flick knew that about him too. ‘So you’ve been working together all this time?’
‘Kind of, Rushe got involved through a friend of mine. I could never afford Rushe on my own, and I know he turns down more jobs than he takes. This was supposed to be a quick one; easy in, easy out... it hasn’t worked out that way.’
‘You wanted Rushe to find Serendipity?’
‘I thought she was going to be in the first shipment, but I knew Victor didn’t trust me. Rushe came in on his own, nothing to do with me, or so Victor thinks. But now Rushe is in it, and you’re in it too.’
‘We’ll figure it out. Is there anyone we could ask to help us?’
‘No,’ Jansen said. ‘I don’t know Rushe’s contacts, though I guess he has them. If I thought... I mean if I’d known Serendipity was never going to be in a shipment then I’d... I wasn’t even sure if she was alive; going in all guns blazing seemed reckless when I didn’t know where she was. You’ve seen her?’
‘Yes.’
‘How is she? I mean, how did she look? Did she say anything?’
Flick thought of that lifeless woman whose only action was to blink. ‘I think it’s been tough on her,’ Flick said. ‘She’ll need time. But the sooner you get her out of there, the sooner you can start making it better.’
‘Where is she?’
‘The basement,’ Flick said. ‘So is Rushe... Maybe if we go back to the scene of the crash last night...’
Jansen was shaking his head. ‘The cops will be all over it. That was why I said I was done, and why I know that time is short. They’re closing in. When Serendipity wasn’t in the first shipment I let the women go, but they went to the police. They didn’t give details about me so far as I know, they didn’t know who I was, but the police are sniffing around. I told Rushe I was done. I wasn’t going anywhere near the shipment last night. I told him it was over. But I... at the last minute I... Anyway, last night... those women will have told the police, and the net will be shrinking.’
‘Maybe we could phone the police, ask for help—‘
‘They’ll raid the place,’ Jansen said. ‘If Victor hasn’t already, he’ll make sure no one makes it out of that basement alive.’
‘What do you think we should do?’
‘There’s two options, we go in the front, we go in fast and loud... but with there only being two of us, and you... you don’t look like the gun, or hand-to-hand combat, type.’
‘I’ve shot a gun,’ she asserted.
‘Yeah?’ he said, with a flash of surprise. ‘Do you have training?’
‘No,’ she said, somewhat deflated. ‘It was just once.’
‘Right, so the bad guys will shoot us.’
‘I don’t like that idea.’
‘No,’ Jansen said. ‘They’re not gonna bring Serendipity out voluntarily, but now that you’ve told me she’s alive. I’ll go in for her. I’d rather die trying than give up and leave her there... If you come—‘
‘I’m coming.’
‘You’ve got to be ready to die for him Felicity, are you willing to die for him?’
‘Yes,’ she said, without having to think about it. ‘And everybody calls me Flick.’
‘Ok Flick, we’ll go in, but we’ll have to do it quietly. If we can get Rushe out of wherever he is, then we can get out of that house. We won’t bring the bastards down, but we can get the people we love out.’
‘That’s our main priority,’ she said.
‘You’re a woman, and they’ve sent you out in one shipment. If they know now how Rushe feels about you... it could be bad for you Flick, very bad.’
‘You don’t have to warn me,’ she said, placing a hand on his knee to comfort him. ‘I’ve seen what these people are capable of. I don’t want to be back in their hands. But I won’t see Rushe imprisoned there, just as you won’t see Serendipity abandoned.’
‘Ok,’ he said. ‘I’ve got some supplies in the car. We’ll wait until it’s dark then we drive to a couple of streets over and walk to the house. It’s an old house and Victor doesn’t want to draw attention to the fact that it’s there, or that he’s living in it. So there’s as little traffic as there can be, and he doesn’t patrol the perimeter. They lost a few guys last night, so their numbers are down slightly. We sneak in, get our people out, and go home.’
Jansen made it sound so easy, in, get people, out again, but Flick knew it wouldn’t be as easy as those three steps. If it had been so easy to do, then Rushe probably would have brought Serendipity out that way in the first place.
Rushe was what they relied on. Jansen had said if they got Rushe out of his cell, then they could get out of that house. But that meant if they didn’t have Rushe they were stranded. If Rushe had found a way to free himself, it would take him too long to realise she had gone back to that place for him. This would have to work, or it would be the last thing Flick would ever do. But like she’d told Jansen, she would die for the man she loved, fighting for him was worth it.
Standing outside in the cold night with Jansen made Flick very aware that she wo
uld have been more confident taking orders from Rushe, especially when Jansen put a gun in her hand.
‘The safety’s off so just point and shoot,’ he said. ‘Don’t point it at me.’
He closed the trunk and put on his backpack. When Jansen started moving through the night, Flick quickly followed. With the camouflage paint, and the Lara Croft up-do, Flick was sure she looked the part more than she felt it. But jitters could only get them hurt.
Throughout this, Rushe had given her instructions to keep her alive. Only when Flick ignored them did she get into hot water. Rushe’s counsel would get her through this, but she didn’t have it. She didn’t have the option of it, much less the luxury. Now Flick was relying on a man she met for the first time less than a day ago. But he’d screwed over Victor, so that was a point in his favour.
Jansen’s love had been locked up for half a year and he hadn’t managed to retrieve her. But he’d tried, and Flick couldn’t fault him that. As Rushe had told him, dead does her no good. Still, Flick couldn’t imagine Rushe being aware of her location for that long without taking action, and he was a man with infinite patience – though that hadn’t necessarily been her experience.
‘Come here,’ Jansen said, when he steered them against a brick wall. ‘When we get around this wall, no more talking.’ She nodded. ‘I’ll get you into the basement, but we’ll have to go through the front, ok?’
‘The front of the house?’
‘The broken windows at the front are the quickest way. There is only one door in and out of the basement. If they come in with any women—‘
‘Ok,’ she said. ‘Let’s do it.’
Jansen didn’t hesitate now, he led her forward, and around to a section of wall with some loose bricks. He took half a dozen out of place, and with the gap already present, they could each squeeze through. Jansen went first, taking the time to scan the area before bringing her through.
All around them were trees, and Flick didn’t even know where the house was. Just as she began to panic about where they were going, Jansen pushed her past a group of small bushes, and there it was, the house.
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