by David Archer
Renée blew him a kiss. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“I am not, however,” Joshua said, “without some other news. There is a reception this evening, and you, Mr. Lancaster, are expected to attend. You may bring your friend along if you wish, but a few of the council members would like to speak with you about your most recent assignment.”
Dawson looked at him. “In what regard?”
“It seems that you may have inadvertently caused an issue,” Joshua said. “The death of Mr. Hapgood, while perfectly in accordance with your assignment, was so obviously contrived that the man the Director had intended to replace him has fallen under suspicion. As a result, the post has been given to someone else.” Joshua almost seemed happy. “I do believe I have warned you before about some of your more spectacular techniques. The Council is not pleased, Mr. Lancaster.”
“Fine, I’ll go talk to them,” Dawson said. “When and where?”
Joshua let out a sigh and passed him a slip of paper. “The address is there. A reception three nights hence at the Royal Crown, seven p.m. Be sure to be there.”
“No problem,” Dawson said. He took the paper and got to his feet, and Renée followed him out the door.
“Don’t let Joshua get to you,” he said as the chauffeur held the door open for them to climb back inside. “He’s just an old grouch.”
She grinned at him, but his cell phone chimed at that moment and he took it out and looked at the screen. She couldn’t see it, but it seemed that there was something on it that troubled him.
“Something wrong?” she asked, but he put the phone away quickly and smiled at her.
“Nothing at all,” he said, and then he turned to her. “I think it’s time I treated you to some of the finer things in life. When we get back to the hotel, go ahead and pack up.”
“We’re going somewhere?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “A much nicer hotel that I like to frequent now and then. You’re going to love it.”
She smiled, and told herself that she would let the others know as soon as she got a moment to herself and could activate her subcom. The only problem with that was Dawson’s habit of staying right beside her all the time. The bastard wouldn’t even let her go to the bathroom alone, but she’d find a way. There was no other choice.
* * *
“Something is wrong,” Noah said two mornings later. “It’s been too long since we’ve heard from Renée.”
Marco looked from Noah to the clock in the room and then turned back to his boss. “Almost thirty-nine hours,” he said. “We haven’t heard a thing since before they went to bed two nights ago. Noah, you don’t think Dawson caught her out?”
“We don’t know much of anything at the moment,” Noah said. “I’ve already notified Allison that she’s gone silent, and she’s calling in favors from other agencies to see if anyone has a lead on her. We need to get some kind of idea what’s going on with her, and quickly.”
“I should’ve planted a bug while I was searching the room,” Marco said. “Then at least we’d know if they were still in there. The way it is right now, we don’t know squat. He could have killed her and taken off.”
“No,” Neil said, sitting at his computer. “I’ve just gotten into the hotel’s security video feed, and they left together about midnight the night before last. I was able to track them out of the room, down the hall, down the elevator and out the front lobby doors. They got into a taxi, but that was the last I saw. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the car number from the camera angle on the outside.”
Marco let out a sigh. “But she didn’t say anything to anyone? Why would she leave without saying something to one of us?”
“Her subcom was off,” Neil said. “I don’t know why, but she hadn’t turned it on before they left, and the server says it’s off now. For whatever reason, she must not have wanted any of us to hear what was going on.”
Noah turned to him. “What about the taxi? Can’t you find out what cars were here last night, see where they went?”
“You know I can, and I’m already on it,” Neil said. “Unfortunately, it’s going to take a little time. Most taxi cab companies don’t bother to keep their records online, so I’m having to do things the old-fashioned way. I’ve got a liaison request in through our guy in Atlanta, to have the FBI contact all of the taxi companies and get us their dispatch schedules and tracking reports. They can probably zip that stuff up and email it, but it still isn’t going to be here in the next ten minutes. We’re talking hours, maybe even a day or more before I find out what car that was.”
“Maybe something’s wrong with her subcom,” Marco said. “I mean, it’s a gadget, right? Could be something was wrong with it. She might be trying to reach us and even more worried than we are when she can’t get a response.”
“No.” It was Neil who spoke. “Ever since they set up the telephone interface, our subcoms log on to the server as soon as they come online. I checked the server logs and she was on it twice during the night. I don’t know why she’s gone silent, but it’s not because of equipment malfunction.”
Marco scowled. “I can’t imagine any other reason she would do this,” he said. “Unless Dawson isn’t letting her out of his sight, and she’s being careful to keep it turned off whenever he’s close by. Still, you’d think she would find some chance to at least send a message, let us know where she is and if she’s okay or not.”
Jenny leaned forward. “I’ve kinda felt she shouldn’t have been on this assignment. I should have gone in, not her. Renée doesn’t have the field experience for something like this.”
“No,” Noah said. “What she does have is the build and general appearance that we know appeals to Dawson. She has also had all the training, and has been judged a capable field agent. I’m confident she can do her job; I just don’t know why she’s gone radio silent on us.”
It was a complicated mission, but its end goal was one that they all believed in. They were out to identify and eliminate the international crime lord known as Spear; partly as revenge for the loss of their friend Donald Jefferson, but mostly because Donald’s assassination had given them the first real lead they’d ever had. Spear had been on the international radar for quite some time, but no one had ever gotten close to finding out who he was.
“She was keeping fairly close contact,” Noah said, “until she suddenly stopped. Now all we know is that she left the hotel with Dawson. Allison, as you can imagine, is quite concerned.”
“We need to find her and pull her out, then?” Marco asked.
Noah looked him in the eye. “You’re assuming she’s even receptive to coming back.”
Marco stared back, trying not to accept the subtlety of his meaning. Neil, Gary and Jenny looked at one another, then turned their own attention to Noah.
“We have to accept the possibility that she might not be,” Noah said. “The fact that she left with Dawson and didn’t bother to check in with any of us could mean that she doesn’t intend to come in. They could even mean that she’s already told him what’s going on, about all of us.”
“I can’t believe that,” Marco said. “She’d never do something like that of her own free will. Could Dawson be drugging her?”
Noah looked at Neil, who shrugged. “She seemed perfectly lucid on the security video as they were leaving,” he said. “I saw no sign that she was coerced, drugged or under any other kind of duress.”
“Maybe that’s a signal in itself,” Marco said. “Maybe she was hoping you’d see that, realize that she was being forced to keep up an act to survive.”
“We’re not going to write her off just yet, Marco,” Noah said. “The trouble is, we have to get this settled relatively soon. Unfortunately…” He trailed off without finishing his sentence.
“What, Noah?” Marco asked, staring at him. “What is it that you’re not saying?”
“According to Doctor Parker, when one of our people suddenly becomes noncommunicative
, it generally means they’ve turned traitor. It’s quite possible that Renée is actively working against us even now.”
“What?” Marco’s eyes narrowed, and he shook his head vigorously. “Oh, no,” he said, his Cajun accent raging to the forefront again. “I gar-on-tee she not gonna do nutting along dem lines!”
“Marco, we believe you,” Neil said. “The only problem is that even Allison has to report to people, the oversight committees and such. If they get the idea that one of our people has gone rogue…”
Noah looked at his team, at their silent but grave faces. They all knew what that meant. If Renée was thought to be a traitor, it would be Team Camelot who would be ordered to either capture or eliminate her.
“I know her better than any of you,” Marco said, “and I’m telling you, she would never do such a thing. It ain’t even a possibility, Noah.”
“No,” Neil stated, quietly but firmly. “I agree with Marco. She is completely trustworthy.”
Noah looked at him for a moment. “We’ve been given a week to prove Renée is not a turncoat. But it cannot interfere with our current mission. We still need all the information Dawson can give us, anything that can help us to identify and eliminate Spear.”
“What do you suggest, Noah?” Neil asked.
“Marco,” Noah said, “when we do find her, you’ll need to be the one to go and find out what’s going on. We’ll cover you, but Renée is more likely to talk to you than any of us.” Noah looked at the window for a moment. It looked like it might rain. “We have to find out what’s going on before this gets out of our control.”
“Noah,” Gary said, “do you really think that’s wise? Dawson has seen Marco several times, albeit in different disguises.”
Noah nodded. “I’m afraid it’s necessary,” he said. “Gary, you need to work your magic with him. It will need to look as different as possible from any of the disguises he used before.”
Gary clicked his teeth and looked nervous. “I’ll do what I can,” he said.
“We’ll do fine,” Marco said. “How soon do you want me to go looking for her?”
“There is no point in looking until we get a lead on where she might be,” Noah said. He then added, “I can’t emphasize enough how dangerous this is, Marco.” He hesitated. “If we find out that Renée has gone rogue on us…“
“Noah,” Marco began, but he couldn’t seem to find the words to complete whatever he was trying to say.
“You need to understand something, Marco.” He spoke firmly, actually addressing them all. “We all need to get this right in our heads. As unlikely as it is, if it turns out to be true, we will have no choice but to eliminate the problem.”
“Noah, are you saying we would have to kill her?” Marco asked.
“Yes.” Noah looked from Marco to Gary to Neil and then to Jenny. “If Renée does prove to be a traitor, Marco, we will have to kill her.”
Marco stared at him. “Noah, there has to be an explanation. There’s no way I could…”
“You won’t have to,” Noah said. “It’s my responsibility, if it comes to that. All I want you to do is try to find out what’s going on with her. If there’s any hope of bringing her back, it’s probably going to be because of you.”
Marco looked at him for a few seconds longer, then shook his head and lowered his eyes to the floor. He and Renée had become very close over the past few months, and it was understood that they were intending to be married. Everyone knew it, and the whole team had accepted her as if she were family.
But now, she was being accused of treachery and treason. When they found her, he was expected to go in, understand the situation, and if Renée really had somehow turned traitor—which he did not believe for even a moment—he was to report that fact back to Noah, which would mean he would be signing her death warrant. He simply couldn’t imagine what life would be like without her, and he certainly couldn’t believe he would ever be the one to cause her death.
His eyes closed. The very thought of betraying her that way was more than he could handle.
Another day passed, and then another. As each one went by without any further leads, Marco felt his hopes weakening, and nothing the others could say was making him feel any better.
TWELVE
Noah’s phone rang and he saw that it was Allison calling. It was the fourth time he had spoken to her that day.
“Camelot,” he said as he answered.
“Camelot, report.” Allison’s voice was as clipped as ever.
“We are trying to ascertain what might have happened to Renée,” Noah said. “Everything started off according to plan, but the second day into her mission, she stopped communicating with us. She has now been missing for more than four days, and we’re doing everything we can to try to track down where she and Dawson may have gone. At this point, I’m not willing to believe that she’s gone rogue; I suspect she may have needed some time to convince Dawson he could trust her. Until we know differently, I’m not going to assume that she’s a security risk.”
“Noah, I understand your reluctance,” Allison said, “but I can’t afford to lose your entire team.”
“I’m aware of that,” Noah said. “I’m just trying to be certain of what I’m dealing with before I make an official report. Marco, as soon as we locate her, is going to try to make contact. That should give us a concrete idea of whether she’s salvageable or not.”
“And if you determine that she cannot be salvaged?”
“I will then proceed accordingly,” Noah said. “I understand the protocol, and if necessary, I will terminate her with extreme prejudice.”
“Very good,” Allison said. “In the meantime, I have another situation that I need to discuss with you. I’m transmitting some pictures to your phone, can you see them?”
Noah put her on speaker and called up the pictures that had come in by SMS. “I see them,” he said.
“Dr. Harold Simpson. According to our intel, he’s an extremely wealthy orthopedic surgeon who lives in Melbourne, Australia, but he also has a practice here in the United States. The NSA has asked us to arrange for him to have an accident. They believe that he may be deeply involved with Spear, to the point that a lot of his money might be supporting what Spear and his organization are doing. Trying to put a stop to him through conventional channels has been failing for more than a year, because his lawyers seem to intimidate everyone, including judges on both sides of the ocean. He’s considered a very serious threat, and he arrived in Atlanta two days ago.”
“Do you have his location?” Noah asked.
“You know as much about him as I do, at the moment. Hell, maybe more. The main reason they want us to eliminate him is because there is a lot of concern that he could actually displace Spear and become even more of a problem. While we can’t prove it to the satisfaction of a court of law, there is an awful lot of evidence that he has been involved in a number of high-profile assassinations.”
“Assassinations? And the NSA is certain about that?”
“That’s what they tell me, yes,” Allison said. “The problem is that they have a couple of witnesses who claim he’s arranging an assassination right now, that this is what he’s doing in the States at the moment.”
“Who?” Noah asked. “Any idea?”
“The target? One of three, according to chatter: John Stansberry, head of the truckers union; Albert Linden from Liondale Pharmaceutical Company; or, and this is the one that we are most afraid of, Congressman Barton Sneed, who sits on the House Ways and Means committee. All of them are involved in some important negotiations with countries in the East, and will probably be helpful in getting the treaties we want. Somebody else wants to make sure those treaties don’t happen, so they’ve approached Doctor Simpson about making sure they don’t.” She paused and said, “Ironically, Simpson and all three of the potential victims are going to be at a reception tonight, right there in Atlanta. Caleb Dawson is also on the guest list.”
“What
time is the reception?” Noah asked, his eyes opening wide. “And where?”
“It’s set for seven p.m. at the Royal Crown Convention Center. I already arranged your invitations, under your mission identities, and they are waiting for you at the front desk of your hotel.” She paused for a couple of seconds, then went on. “This might give you the chance to confirm whether Renée has turned on us as well. If she’s sticking close to Dawson, she’ll probably be with him tonight.”
“I had the same thought,” Noah said. “If nothing else, it might create an opportunity for Marco to get close to her and get her to talk.”
“That would be great if you can pull it off,” Allison said. “But remember, your primary mission is to eliminate Simpson. With him gone, his companies will go into a tailspin, and most of the criminal community will be scrambling to try to salvage whatever position they can. It could give us a breather while we work on taking out Spear.”
“Once we find Renée, I’m going to make sure we stay on top of her. I’m not going to risk letting her get away again. I would say the odds are good that she and Dawson can still lead us to Spear, and he is our primary target. Eliminating Dawson, and Renée if necessary, can wait until after we’ve taken him down.”
“I’m in agreement with you on that,” Allison said. “And, Noah? If there’s any way to save her, do it. Even if it means we have to lock her up back here for a while, I’d rather have her alive.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Noah said, and then the line went dead as it always did when Allison was done talking.
* * *
The reception was a lavish affair, with music, dancing, food, attractive socialites and well-dressed men trying to impress them. Noah had encouraged Gary to do everything he could to disguise them, and the results had been surprisingly good.
Champagne glass in hand, wearing an uncomfortable tuxedo, a beard and a dental appliance that made his mouth look strange, Noah stood quietly near the back of the room and kept his eyes on the crowd. He had not yet seen Dawson or Renée, but with over five hundred guests wandering through the place, it was difficult to focus his attention completely. Noah had shaken dozens of hands and forced himself to laugh at some very stupid jokes.
