by Estelle Ryan
His smile and wink lacked their usual playfulness, but did lighten the mood. “Who sent you what?”
I opened the message and frowned. “This is strange.”
Two more notification tones sounded around the table. Pink and Manny both lifted their phones and swiped the screens. Manny scowled at his smartphone screen. “What the bloody hell is this?”
Pink gasped and jumped up. “It’s Nikki.”
Exclamations drowned out my own confusion. I looked at my smartphone, then tilted it towards Colin when he leaned closer to look. His face relaxed in a relieved and genuinely happy smile. “That’s my girl.”
“Okay, stop!” Roxy slapped her hand on the table. “What’s happening?”
Pink looked at Francine. “Open what3words.”
“What three what?” Roxy looked from Pink to Francine to me, her curly hair bouncing around her face.
Francine ignored her question and looked at me. “What word did you get?”
“Three forward slashes and ‘Spaced’.”
Francine tapped on her tablet screen, then looked at Manny. “You?”
“‘Cantered’.”
“I think mine is the second word.” Pink walked over and stopped behind Francine, looking over her shoulder. “I have a full stop before and after my word. ‘Seesaw’.”
“Do you have any full stops?” Francine asked Manny.
“No.”
“Would someone please explain to me what’s going on?” Roxy’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
Pink didn’t look away from Francine’s tablet screen. “It’s an app that gives your location within three metres of where you are at that moment.”
“Three metres?” Roxy’s eyes widened. “Is it accurate?”
“You would know about this if you hadn’t dismissed me when I tried to upload it to your phone.” Francine looked up from her tablet, her jaw tight, her nostrils flared. This was one of the few times she’d exhibited such open anger towards a friend. “You shushed me when I told you about this. Six weeks ago. Remember? You said you don’t need another stupid GPS thingie because Vinnie drives you everywhere.” She looked back to her tablet. “And now this stupid GPS thingie might just save our Nikki’s life.”
Tears formed in Roxy’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, Francine. That was... I have no excuse.”
“All this tech can become overwhelming, Rox.” Pink glanced up for a second, then returned his attention to Francine’s tablet screen. He shifted on his feet. “The app developers divided the entire planet into a grid of three-by-three-metre squares. Every square within the grid has a combination of three words that will pinpoint that location.” He gasped the same moment as Francine punched the air in victory.
Her eyes were wide, but filled with tears. “We have her! She’s in Croatia.”
“Holy, bloody hellfire.” Manny leaned closer to look at Francine’s tablet. “You sure? Croatia?”
Francine turned her tablet screen for us to see. A map filled the screen, a red pin close to a body of water. “She’s on the north-east coast. Barbariga.”
“Hmm. A nothing little place between Rovinj and Pula.” Colin was looking at his smartphone screen and tilted his head. “Huh.”
Manny slammed his fist on his thigh and looked at me. “I hope you’ve got your Mozarting thing going strong, Doc.”
“Mozart is not a verb.” I frowned. “Why?”
“We’re going to get our little punk, right?” Vinnie got up, his body turned towards the elevator. Some tension left his body when Manny nodded and also got up.
He looked at Colin and pointed at me. “Get her ready. We leave as soon as we’ve got transport.”
Chapter SEVEN
“JENNY, WE’RE LANDING.” Colin’s hand was warm on my forearm, his tone calm and reassuring.
I nodded, but didn’t open my eyes. Not yet. I’d attempted to utilise the time on this one-hour flight to try to reach a state of calm. I had not been very successful.
Acute anxiety had overcome me when Manny had insisted I join him, Vinnie, Pink and Colin to fly to Croatia. This was not how I’d planned my day. There was no place in my routine for an unscheduled flight. Even worse, an unscheduled flight that would put me in such close proximity to other people’s breath, bodies, germs.
Francine had been the one to find a solution. She’d contacted Émile Roche. When I’d met him during one of our cases, he’d already left his life of organised crime and had been finalising the process of making all his business dealings legal. When he’d heard about Nikki’s kidnapping, he hadn’t hesitated to offer his private plane to take us wherever we needed to go. At first, he’d insisted on joining us, but to Manny’s profound relief, he’d decided to stay behind in Strasbourg and contact people he knew in Croatia to assist us.
We were now descending to the Pula airport about six kilometres from the city centre. Émile had been quite proud to announce that this airport attracted a clientele who enjoyed flying privately or who rented entire aircraft for themselves. I looked around me and sighed. I was currently sitting in such an aircraft. This Cessna was small enough to make me slightly anxious, but it could comfortably seat nine people in outrageous luxury. There were only the five of us.
It had been hard to find justifiable reasons for a ten-hour drive versus the one-hour flight to Croatia, but even when Émile had offered us the use of his private plane, I hadn’t been pleased. My attempt at calm had not only been about my paralysing worry about Nikki. The horrendous carbon footprint we were creating stole my breath. I hated that this was our best option. But Nikki’s wellbeing, her safety, her life was a short-term emergency that overrode every long-term effect this flight would have.
Besides, Émile had reassured me that his granddaughter had influenced him so strongly that he now donated triple the usual contribution to counterbalance every air mile his plane flew.
The high-pitched notification sound of Manny’s phone jerked me out of my thoughts. I opened my eyes to watch him swipe the screen of his phone. He nodded, then looked at me. “That reformed criminal has organised a doctor to meet us at the three-dot place.”
“what3words.” Colin shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. What kind of doctor did Émile organise?”
“How should I know, Frey?” Manny scowled as his phone pinged again. He swiped the screen and his expression softened significantly. Francine. He nodded again. “Francine checked up on this doctor. Apparently, he’s the best trauma surgeon in this part of Croatia. He also has a lot of field experience in emergency medicine. Francine believes he can fix whatever medical needs Nikki and Martin might have.”
I gasped. Medical needs.
“Breathe, Jenny.” Colin took my hand in both his and rubbed it. “It’s just a precaution. A wise precaution.”
I knew that, but it didn’t lessen the panic that weighed me down when I thought Nikki might be hurt. I brought back Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet to play in my mind like it had done for most of the flight on a repeated loop. Note by note, the panic receded and I focused on the people in the plane with me.
Colin was still rubbing my hand, but he was talking to Manny about Daniel’s counterpart, who would be meeting us as soon as we landed. Daniel had immediately contacted Captain Luka Dalić when Pink had told him about Nikki’s location. At first Daniel had questioned whether it had been Nikki who’d sent those messages. I understood how he could think that this seemed too easy, too convenient.
Yet we all believed it had been Nikki. She’d taken all the steps Francine had taught her. I would’ve been much more sceptical had Nikki not sent one word each to three of us in the format she had. It was the way Francine had told us to do this to ensure the others would know the messages were authentic. That had convinced Daniel.
The plane landed with a quiet thud and I exhaled in relief. This was one of the smoothest flights I’d ever taken. I shifted so I could see past Colin out of the window. The airport building was a squat L-shaped building. Compared t
o other European airports, this one was small and forgettable.
We taxied for about three minutes before stopping next to a well-maintained meadow, a distance from the building. Four vehicles were right in front of us, four men next to the dark SUVs, watching our approach. They had the same body language Daniel’s GIPN team had when they were being vigilant.
The pilot welcomed us to Croatia and the flight attendant opened the door. I continued to stare out the window. There was so much unknown waiting for me outside this plane.
“Missy!” Manny snapped his fingers in my direction.
I pushed myself back into my seat. “What?”
“Move it.” He turned around and walked to the open door.
Colin snorted and got up. “There are days I dream of hurting that man.”
“Really?” I took his offered hand and followed him and Vinnie to the door.
Colin’s smile was genuine. “Maybe a little. But it’s more a figure of speech.”
“Not for me.” Vinnie waited for us to exit the plane before he followed us down the stairs. “My dreams are more like hopes, wishes, goals.”
“I can hear both of you,” Manny said over his shoulder, but continued walking to the men waiting by the cars.
A man in his mid- to late thirties held out his hand. “Colonel Millard? I’m Captain Luka Dalić, Daniel’s friend. Please call me Luka.”
His accented English was quietly spoken, his nonverbal cues those of someone who wasn’t intimidated by foreign situations, languages or people. His confident posture was the same as the men next to him, very similar to Daniel and his team. His dark brown hair was trimmed close to his head, his square jaw cleanly shaved, his smile genuine.
“Luka.” Manny shook his hand. “Thank you for doing this.”
“It’s our job,” the man next to Luka said. He was the same height as Luka, but had lighter hair and a trimmed beard. He shook Manny’s hand. “Bruno Draganja. Our job is to help people and that’s what we’re about to do.”
“Well, this means a lot to us.” Colin let go of my hand and shook the men’s hands. “I’m Colin. Nikki is family. And that makes Martin family too.”
“Did Daniel brief you on the details?” Vinnie asked as he shook the men’s hands. “Name’s Vinnie.”
Luka raised one eyebrow when both Vinnie and Colin omitted their surnames, but didn’t say anything. He nodded. “Maybe not everything, but he told us that Nikki and Martin were kidnapped in Strasbourg and that she sent you her location.”
“Then let’s go.” Manny pointed at the identical black SUVs. “One of those ours?”
“Two of them.” Luka handed Manny the keys, but Vinnie grabbed them. Luka chuckled and held out another set of keys, looking at us. “Doctor Lenard. Forgive me for not greeting you earlier. We won’t shake your hand. Daniel told us you’re non-neurotypical and we’re quite familiar with that.”
“Are we ever.” Bruno gave an exaggerated sigh. “One of our IT guys is an aspie. He’s the best of all of us and we’ve learned a lot from him.”
“You haven’t yet learned to wash your coffee mug, Bruno.” The man speaking was the shortest of the team, yet he looked me in the eye. He had blond hair, ruddy cheeks and a mischievous expression. “It drives us all crazy when Bruno leaves his dirty coffee mugs all over our kitchen. My name is Anton Zorko. Everyone calls me Zork.”
“Enough chatting.” Luka handed Colin the second set of keys, his body turned towards the SUVs. “Let’s get Nikki and Martin to safety, then you can talk all the bullshit you want.”
The change in the men was immediate. All lightheartedness was replaced by focused purpose. Bruno looked at Luka, then at Manny. “Did Daniel tell you we’re doing this unofficially?”
“No.” Manny’s frown deepened and he turned to Luka. “Is that a problem?”
“It shouldn’t be. We have a bit of freedom over here. If this thing with Nikki and Martin turns out to be something larger that involves Croatian citizens and laws being broken, we’ll have to make this official.” He narrowed his eyes. “You can’t use any weapons. Hell, you can’t have any weapons here.”
“We’re not armed.” Manny turned to the parked vehicles. “Let’s do this.”
Colin and I walked to the SUV Luka pointed out. Pink went with Vinnie and Manny. Colin opened the door for me and I hesitated. But a quick glance inside reassured me. This vehicle was spotless inside. It still smelled like the cleaning agents detailing shops used. I got in and within two minutes we were racing down a country road.
For the next seventeen minutes, I watched the Istrian landscape as Colin expertly navigated the many twists and turns in the road. The scenery here was very different from what I was used to in the eastern parts of France. It could’ve been a peaceful drive if we hadn’t been going at alarming speeds. And if Luka hadn’t been leading our convoy with lights and sirens.
Istria was a heart-shaped peninsula in the northwest of Croatia, known for truffles and award-winning olive oils as well as wines. I’d read about this area and had wanted to visit. I had envisioned taking my time to visit these places and buying the local cheeses that complemented the wines. I had not planned on racing past the many olive groves and vineyards on a rescue mission.
A sudden quiet jerked my attention away from the foliage lining the narrow road. Luka had turned off the sirens.
“We’re close.” Colin leaned forward, his eyes not once leaving the road. “Luka must want to make a stealthy approach.”
No sooner had Colin said this than we slowed down. We were the second last car in the convoy, Bruno behind us. We followed Luka and Vinnie onto a winding gravel road. Overgrown vegetation lined both sides, the leaves of the deciduous plants a fresh spring green.
The panic I’d mostly managed to suppress returned in full force. I had no idea what we were about to see, experience, be confronted with. I crossed my arms tightly across my torso.
Colin slowed down even more as Luka’s hand appeared out of the driver’s window and he raised a fist.
I didn’t have any of the training Vinnie had with Daniel’s team, but I knew that gesture meant we were stopping. Still I couldn’t see a building where Nikki could be hiding. The view to our left was completely obscured by vegetation and to the right was an olive grove so large, I couldn’t see its border.
It was eighteen minutes past three and the SUV’s thermistor showed a balmy nineteen degrees Celsius outside. It was a comfort, albeit small, to know that Nikki wasn’t running for her life in sub-zero temperatures.
Colin parked the SUV and opened the door when Vinnie and Manny got out. He hesitated for a moment, then turned to me. “Do you want to wait here?”
I nodded. Then I shook my head. “No. No. No.”
“Okay, then.” His smile was gentle. “When you’re ready.”
My brain wanted predictability, routine, safety. I didn’t think I would ever be ready for this. Ready for something so terrifyingly unknown.
It was only my crushing concern and love for Nikki that gave me the power to unlock my safety belt and open the door. It took three deep breaths before I could get out.
I pulled my shoulders back and walked around the SUV. Colin took my hand and we walked to Vinnie and Manny. They were looking at something past the vegetation. This made me walk faster. Could they see Nikki?
“Not yet, Doc.”
I frowned at Manny’s mumbled answer and realised I had voiced my question aloud. I stopped next to him. “Why are we waiting?”
“Luka and his team are securing the building.” Approval was clear on Vinnie’s face as he nodded towards a structure that looked like it could’ve been a cottage. Only half of the building was still standing, the rest lying in heaps of rubble, vegetation growing around and through it. “They’ll call us as soon as it’s clear.”
Pink didn’t say anything. It looked like he was waging an internal battle of his own. His feet were turned towards the building and the tension in his body indicated that
he wanted to be with Luka’s team, not here waiting. The concern on his face wasn’t helping my own struggle.
Luka gave a hand signal. Zork and the fourth teammate immediately moved to the other side of the structure. Luka and Bruno flanked a wooden door that looked like it was hanging by only one hinge. Their body language communicated their focus on the inside of the building, their assault rifles steady in their hands, pointing towards the door.
Luka held up three fingers and counted down. When his hand closed in a fist, Bruno jerked the door open. Luka entered and Bruno followed him immediately. Both disappeared into the shadows of the front room. It felt like my lungs collapsed and my heart had stopped.
Shouting came from the building, followed by a piercing female scream. Immediate darkness entered my peripheral vision. I gripped Colin’s hand even harder and tried to take a breath. I couldn’t. My system only allowed short gasps while I fought a shutdown.
“Doc G! Let me go, you beast. Doc G!”
I surprised myself. I’d become so used to being frozen into inaction whenever my system was being overloaded by stressful stimuli. Not today. I let go of Colin’s hand and ran towards the ruins.
Nikki was shaking off Bruno’s hold on her arm, her eyes widening when she saw me. “Doc G!” She ran away from Bruno’s renewed attempt to hold her back and didn’t hesitate when she reached me. She threw her arms around me.
There was far too much emotional information bombarding me at the moment to experience my usual panic whenever Nikki insisted on hugging me. Tears were streaming down my face and I became even more distressed when I noticed a bruise discolouring her cheekbone. I tried to speak, but my throat was too tight with emotion. Instead I wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly against me. How did parents survive the emotional toll? Nikki wasn’t my child, yet I felt like I was about to disintegrate from the relief, fear, anger, worry and love.
“I’m okay, Doc G.” Nikki rubbed my back. “I’m okay. You came for me. I knew you would come.”
