She shook her head, looked up at me, and smiled back. “I said no offense. That means you can’t get offended, stupid.”
“Yeah, that’s not really how it works.”
“But listen, okay? I’m totally serious. I read everything that Robert Lorenzo found out about it and everything from the Majestic info that was dumped. I can read between the lines based upon Majestic’s reactions, and now that they’ve lost control, they fear it more than anything else, ever.”
“I figured that when they were torturing me for information I didn’t have.”
“This is what we do know: Majestic thought Blue up as a doomsday scenario. Four operatives were given the mission to prep it, but their superiors were in the dark on the details. Of those four, one was assassinated, the second died in Zubara, you killed the third but only after he’d cut a deal and given Blue to Big Eddie Montalban, and when the last operative, Anders, saw that everyone else was dead, he assumed Majestic was cleaning house, and threw in with Big Eddie’s successor.”
“Katarina.”
“Exactly. Majestic opened Pandora’s box, and then promptly handed it to a psychopath, so now they’re freaking out. I don’t know what they’re planning, but I see where it leads. There will be war, chaos, and worse. The world is on the brink of falling apart already. This might be all it takes to push it over the edge.”
“Colonel Hunter . . .” That was Ariel’s second operative, but he had been my commanding officer in Zubara, so I couldn’t just give the man such a casual designation. I’d been there when he’d died. Crushed and bleeding, his dying confession was how I’d learned about Blue, and his barely coherent last words had been to command me to find someone named Evangeline to stop it. Majestic had tortured the hell out of me to try and find out who that was, but all I had was her name. “Hunter’s journal mentioned a Project Red in China. Millions of people died in the Chinese Civil War, and I think Majestic caused it, just like they used my Dead unit to destabilize Zubara. He said Blue was even bigger.”
“So you know I’m right, then,” Ariel said levelly as she squished her toes back and forth in the grass.
I sighed. “I’m afraid you might be. That’s pretty close.”
“This isn’t about me or what I see, Michael. We’re way beyond that. This isn’t even about Exodus, or Majestic, or any of the other factions fighting for scraps. This time the world is at a crossroads, one path leads to an unknown future, but the other takes us to a hell that even I can’t wrap my brain around.”
“It’s not fair, you know.”
“What’s not fair?”
“You’re too young to have this burden on your shoulders. The world’s about to blow up, but you think you’re the only one who can see it coming. The only people who buy into your theory are a handful of fanatics who think they can make the world a better place if they just shoot enough bad guys.”
Ariel smiled. “It’s okay. This is how it has to be for right now.”
“Why me?”
“Why you what?”
“Why me?” I repeated. “Why do you think I’m the one who can do anything about this?”
She shrugged. “I just know. You always seem to be in the right place at the right time. Trust me.”
I’d made my living kicking doors and pulling triggers. Ariel talked about a world on the brink, but it was men like me who’d put it there. I had spent my whole life fighting somebody else’s war. Here I go again.
“This isn’t someone else’s war, Michael,” Ariel said softly. “If you’re going to win, this has to be your war.”
We sat in the garden for a long time, quiet except for the fountain. I didn’t know if she was crazy, or if I was crazy for believing her. “What should I do first?”
VALENTINE
Salzburg, Austria
September 3rd
Lorenzo raised an eyebrow at me. “Just so we’re clear, you’re here because a teenage girl told you that you need to save the world.”
“It sounds bad when you put it like that, but yeah, basically.”
He shook his head slowly, looking between me and Ling as if we were inmates in a mental ward.
“There’s something else you should know,” I said hesitantly. “Hawk is dead.”
Lorenzo was quiet for a long moment. “How?”
I took a deep breath and looked down. I couldn’t look Lorenzo in the eye anymore. “It’s my fault. It happened right after the Battle of the Crossroads.”
“Your fault? You were on the other side of the planet.”
“The people that held me . . . Majestic, whatever you want to call them. They’re looking for me. They couldn’t find me, so they went after the one person they could find. They killed him over the phone while I listened.”
“Hawk,” Lorenzo said, the word coming out as a harsh accusation.
“Yeah, I don’t remember it, but I probably said something about him under interrogation. They had me so jacked full of drugs that I didn’t even know what was real.”
That sounded pathetic. Shameful. I thought Lorenzo would be angry at my excuses. From him, there would be at least harsh words, or maybe even a gun in my face. Instead he just exhaled and said, “It happens. Don’t blame yourself. What’s done is done.”
“That’s . . . mighty charitable of you.”
“You do what you need to do to survive when you’re in captivity. Every man breaks, sooner or later.”
From what I knew about Lorenzo, that was a strangely humble thing to say. Whatever he’d gone through had left him changed. Had Sala Jihan broken him?
“I called Hawk after the battle. I hadn’t spoken to him since I was captured. I wanted to let him know I was okay. They already had him. The Majestic operatives were waiting for my call. He said his name was Underhill. Older guy, maybe in his sixties. Hawk tried to fight back and they shot him down in cold blood, right on the fucking phone.”
“Anders mentioned something about a guy named Underhill, and being worried that was who his old bosses were sending after him. Anders is probably the deadliest man I’ve ever known, so anyone who worries him is one scary motherfucker. He’s probably still after you.”
“Underhill didn’t strike me as the easily discouraged type.”
“Good. That makes it easier for us to find him and kill him, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t mind being the bait, for Hawk.”
“For Hawk,” Lorenzo agreed.
“Boys, please,” Ling said, interrupting. “Let’s put our penises away and focus on the here and now.” She looked at Lorenzo. “Have you spoken to Jill?”
“No,” Lorenzo admitted. “I wanted to. I thought about it, but the fewer people who know I’m alive the better.”
“Mm-hm,” Ling said, looking down at her phone. She had been sending text messages while I’d been telling my story.
“If they’re not expecting me, I have the advantage. Kat doesn’t know I’m coming for her. She won’t until it’s too late.”
“You keep tossing her guys out of windows,” I said, “and she’ll figure it out.”
“Varga jumped, but no. She’ll be suspicious, but she won’t think it’s me. She has a lot of enemies. I intend to become Kat’s worst nightmare, and Jill doesn’t need to see that.”
“You know,” I said cautiously, “it wasn’t easy for Jill. They came after her.” I raised a hand before Lorenzo got too worked up. “It’s fine. She’s fine. She ran. I guess Kat pulled some strings. The government of the Bahamas seized most of your assets. Tax adjusters went to your house. Nobody was home because Jill had already bugged out, so the police searched the place. She destroyed all your documents, scrubbed everything, but they found your armory. All those guns are illegal in the Bahamas, so . . .” I trailed off.
“I’m glad I never paid taxes, then. Where is she now?”
“I’m not sure. She went back to the States for a while, I think. She’s using one of the other identities you guys had set up, and Reaper was watching o
ver her too. I haven’t talked to her in a while but she’s okay. I promise you, Lorenzo, she’s okay.”
“Good. She was always tougher than she gave herself credit for.”
Ling’s phone buzzed. “Hello?” she answered. “Yes. No, I didn’t know. Yes, he’s here. Okay.” She reached past me and held her phone out to Lorenzo. “It’s Jill,” she said. “She wants to talk to you.”
Lorenzo’s eyes went wide. “What? How?”
“I texted her and told her. The only one you’re fooling with all of that she’s better off without me prattle is yourself. Being a stoic loner will not help you. Here. Take it.”
Jill spoke loudly enough into her phone that we could all hear her, even though it wasn’t on speaker. “You son of a bitch, you pick up the phone right fucking now!”
Lorenzo meekly took the phone. I turned back around and slumped into my seat. It was about to get even more awkward in the van.
LORENZO
Ling held out the phone to me. I hesitated before taking it. I was a con man who could smooth talk his way out of anything, but I didn’t know what to say to the woman I loved. I was . . . scared? That wasn’t the right word. Maybe ashamed was more appropriate, not that I’d ever been good at feeling shame like most people. Jill had never seen me at my worst, and that was where I’d descended in order to survive Jihan’s prison, and where I’d planned on staying in order to get this job done.
“Damn it, Ling. I can’t drag her into this.”
“Seriously, Lorenzo? I can totally hear you!” Jill yelled.
“It’s for the best, Lorenzo. I can see that prison damaged you. There is an emptiness in you, a wound, here,” Ling said, placing one hand over her heart. “The choice is yours how you will fill that hole.”
Metaphysical Exodus bullshit. The only thing over my heart was a big-ass burn from a branding iron. Hooking up with Valentine had turned Ling sappy. I snatched the phone from her, put it to my ear, and took a deep breath.
“It’s me.”
The line was quiet for a really long time, but I could hear Jill breathing. “You’re alive.” It wasn’t a question, more of an accusation. I couldn’t tell if Jill was shocked or angry or happy or what.
Suddenly, my chest hurt. My face burned. “Yeah.” There wasn’t a lot of personal space in the back of the van. I looked at Ling and Valentine. “Give me a minute.” I didn’t want to cry in front of the terrorists.
Ling nodded. “This line should be secure and encrypted, but it would still be best to avoid names.”
Valentine gave me one last odd look before turning around, like he actually got it. But fuck him and his pity. Trying to get as much privacy as I could in the van, I slunk down, and spoke quietly. “I got out. Are you okay?”
“I thought you were dead.”
“Me too. Are you okay?”
“Am I okay? I grieved for you. They told me you were dead.” She sounded out of breath, like she was walking fast or had just gotten done running. “I’m too shocked to cry. Where have you been? How did you escape? When?”
“I was locked up until a couple weeks ago.”
That had to be a slap in the face. “Why didn’t—”
“It wasn’t safe to contact you. It still isn’t.”
“Come back to me. Come home.”
This stung. “I can’t yet. There’s something I’ve got to do first.”
“Then I’m coming to you.”
“It’s not safe—”
“It never is with you. But a lot has changed since you’ve been gone. I need to see you.”
I missed her so much. She was the one who’d kept me alive and sane in the dark, and she didn’t even know it. I wanted to be with her. But then what? I was on a cross-country murder spree. To win, I had to embrace the hate. I couldn’t drag someone so good and decent into that. “Please, Jill. Just stay where you are.”
“I’m in Paris.”
That didn’t make any sense. To Kat, Jill was just another loose end to tie up. She was hiding from the Montalbans, why go where they had so many eyes? “What?”
“I’m here to take care of your ex. Our friends know how to reach me. I’ve got to go.”
Jill was trying to assassinate Katarina Montalban.
I could hear sirens in her background. “I love you.” But Jill had already hung up.
That hadn’t gone the way I’d hoped, and it sure as hell hadn’t lived up to my dreams in prison. “Fuck!” I smashed my fist into the side of the van.
Valentine turned back around. “What’s the—”
I cut him off. “Damn it, Ling. What the hell were you thinking?”
Ling faced me. “I misled Jill to believe you had died, so she wouldn’t throw her life away trying to get you back.”
It was blunt, incredibly cruel, and we both knew if Jill had come back for me, the Pale Man would have destroyed her. I was pissed off, but I did manage to mutter, “Thanks for that.”
“And now I have stopped you from throwing away the one thing in your life that makes you an actual human being. She loves you very much, and she needs you, almost as much as you need her. Jill balances you, Lorenzo.”
“Whatever, Ling.”
“Do you truly think you are the first warrior so tempted to do evil, that you’d set aside all the good in your life because it might hold you back? You know what kind of broken people end up in Exodus? Freed slaves, refugees, and former child soldiers who have lost everything. They hunger for revenge more than even you can understand, yet, if we have to destroy everything we stand for to achieve victory, then what’s the point?”
“I’m not in the mood for Exodus’ cornball philosophy. Here’s the deal. I’m going to Paris. Contrary to Valentine’s assurances that Jill is okay, you must have missed the part where she’s stalking Katarina Montalban.”
Valentine was stunned. “She’s doing what?”
“You didn’t know, did you? I gathered that by the stupid look on your face when I said it. You’re hunting Kat, it’s your business to know. Varga told me Anders shipped Bob to Paris. He’s their patsy. If Kat’s there now, that’s got to be where Project Blue is based out of. After I stop Jill from getting herself killed, I’ll see if I can’t track down my brother’s whereabouts.”
“Exodus has contacts in Paris,” Ling said. “I will reach out to them for information. If Katarina has moved her operations there, we will find her.”
“Good. Because Jihan made it sound like time is running out.”
“So did Ariel,” Valentine said.
“So your little angel and my devil are on the same page then. Fantastic. Before Varga took a header he talked about Blue killing millions.” Valentine and Ling seemed discomfited by that, but not shocked. The description must have matched up the general idea they’d gotten from Exodus’ weirdo mystical teenager. And here I’d been hoping Varga had been exaggerating. “Bob talked about it being big, but I don’t know if he ever realized it was that big.”
They were tight enough now that Ling and Valentine had reached that point where they could share a lot of information just in glances. Valentine gave Ling a questioning look, like hey, I guess I’m supposed to be the leader, but what do I do now, honey? And she nodded in the affirmative, as if to say, go for it. He swallowed, then turned back to me, looking a little uncomfortable. “We’re shorthanded, Lorenzo. We could use all the help we can get. Work with us.”
“The last time we partnered up, I collected several exciting new gunshot wounds and ended up rotting in the Pale Man’s prison.”
“It was your idea to team up with the Montalbans,” Ling said pointedly.
She had me there. “Oh, believe me, I’m full of regret for that little partnership. It gave me something to focus on during the beatings.”
“Call it an uneasy alliance then, but Blue has got to be stopped,” Valentine said. “Are you going to help? Or would you rather keep bouncing around the countryside murdering assholes and ruining months of our work?”
/> “Yeah, I can’t imagine how that feels.”
Valentine frowned as he realized he and Dead Six had done the same thing to my carefully laid plans in Zubara. “No wonder you were such a prick when we first met.”
“Falah, Adar, Hosani? Because if we’re keeping score on ruined plans and general fuckery, you’ve still got a lead.”
“I do, don’t I?” he asked smugly.
“Enough. Our goals are the same,” Ling said. “Let’s not waste any more time getting in each other’s way. We will do what we can. If fate is in our favor, perhaps we will learn enough to tip off the authorities, and they will stop Blue for us.”
“Fat chance of that. You saw what the FBI did to Bob when he started poking around in Majestic business.” Not that I would mind Kat and Anders getting arrested. I could arrange for them to get shivved in a prison way easier than I could pop them on the streets myself. “Fine. Whatever works. But I figure this doesn’t end until we put a bullet in them ourselves.”
“I don’t have a lot of faith in the system either. Does this mean you’re in?” Valentine asked suspiciously.
Normally when somebody tried to persuade me to do something, my instinctive reaction was to tell them to go to hell. As much shit as we’d gone through, he’d never like me, and I’d never like him, but I knew he’d shoot straight with me, and that was better than at me. Say what you will about him, but Valentine knew how to get a job done when he stopped moping long enough to focus.
“I’m in.” My one-man rampage had somehow turned into another messy teamup. I needed some air. “Let me out somewhere I can boost a car. I’ll see you in Paris.”
VALENTINE
Exodus Compound, Azerbaijan
Several months earlier . . .
I stood off at the edge of the room, not saying anything. The faces of the other twelve appeared on a large screen, in two rows of six, as part of a secure video teleconference. They were electronically distorted so I couldn’t make any of them out. Sir Matthew Cartwright, the councilman who owned the Azerbaijan estate, stood off to the side, hands behind his back, while Ariel addressed the bank of screens. Ling was with me, arms folded across her chest, looking unhappy.
Alliance of Shadows (Dead Six Series Book 3) Page 8
