The Uccello Connection (Genevieve Lenard, #10)

by Estelle Ryan

  Roxy smiled. “Chișinău is Moldova’s capital. I was working at the academic hospital and also lecturing at the university. Five months in, I published a paper on improving the functions of important protein molecules to use in medical diagnostics and therapy. While doing my research, which was fascinating by the way, I came across a few things in the university’s data that didn’t look right to me. But the paper had to be published and I focused my attention on that. Once it was out in the big wide world, I returned to those things that had caught my attention.

  “I did most of my research in their molecular biology lab, which is in the biomedical engineering department, and I noticed that the numbers didn’t make sense. The laboratory’s inventory showed that they’d had two hundred grams of anthrax and they’d used a hundred and fifty. Yet their records showed that they had ordered and taken delivery of two hundred and fifty grams. That means there were a hundred grams unaccounted for.”

  “Dear Mary and all the holy saints.” Manny sighed heavily, shaking his head.

  Roxy straightened in her chair. “Anthrax is one of the easiest ways to off someone from a distance. You don’t need all that much inside an envelope to give someone a lethal dose. Provided of course they open said envelope. Anyway, I looked a little deeper and found that the opposition leader’s brother was a researcher at the lab. He was the one who had ordered the anthrax and also had full access to the stock.

  “To make a very long story short, my discovery triggered an investigation that revealed a plot against the president. I helped the special investigations unit get enough solid evidence against the opposition leader to arrest him. When the guys went to arrest the leader, the idiot pulled out a gun. The rest is history.”

  “No, it’s not.” Manny leaned towards her. “I’ve never heard about this.”

  “Because it was kept very hush-hush. At that time, Moldova was at a bit of a delicate stage in politics and something like this would’ve resulted in an uprising. Not the good kind of uprising. So the death was explained away as a suicide.”

  “You said you killed him.” Vinnie leaned towards her, his posture exhibiting anger. “You didn’t.”

  “Technically I didn’t.” Remorse flashed across her features. She tightened her lips and pulled her shoulders back. “I know I shouldn’t feel guilty, but I became a doctor to save lives, not cause the end of anyone’s life.”

  “Your reasoning is flawed.” I didn’t like the sadness that had crept into Roxy’s usually cheerful expression. “Were you there when this person was killed? Did you order him to be killed? Did you have any control over the situation that could make you responsible for the outcome? Did you tell the leader to pull out a gun when faced with law enforcement officers who are all well-armed?”

  Roxy’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “The answer to all those questions is no, but somehow my heart doesn’t want to accept it.”

  The softness in Vinnie’s expression when he reached over and pulled Roxy into a hard hug distracted me from being annoyed at people using an organ to explain their emotional centre.

  “Ooh, I’ve got something!” Francine bounced in her chair, but didn’t take her eyes off her computer. “This is just...”

  “For the love of all that is holy.” Manny slapped his hand on the table. “Would you for once finish a sentence?”

  Francine looked up, her faux embarrassment ridiculous in its exaggeration. “Handsome, don’t flirt like that with me in front of all these people.”

  Manny’s lips tightened even more as his cheeks gained extra colour. “Supermodel.”

  She winked at him and smiled when Roxy giggled. “Okay, fine. I’ve traced the two emails sent to Roxy. They were both sent from 3G internet from a phone. But that’s not the really interesting bit. What has me all excited is that there is a connection between the SIM used to send the emails to Roxy and the SIM used for the phone and internet to send those emails to Daniel.”

  “What connection?” Vinnie straightened.

  “Emad is smart. He didn’t buy the SIM cards from the same store or on the same day or with the same credit card. As a matter of fact, he didn’t use a credit card when he bought the SIM cards. But both these cards connected to the same four cell towers. So I installed some software that pushed an installation in both the devices to give us a location.”

  “And?” Manny shifted in his chair. His feet were already pointed at the door, his hands on his knees, ready to push him up.

  “Both devices are at 316 Rue de Nami.”

  “That’s seven blocks from us.” Vinnie got up. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait.” I closed my eyes and thought about everything Otto had told us before he’d gotten killed. When I opened my eyes, I looked at Francine. “Bring up a map of the street.”

  “Give me a sec.” She worked on her computer for a few seconds. “What are you looking for?”

  “I want to see what the building looks like.” I thought some more. “It most likely won’t stand out. And it’s already close to us.”

  “Close to us?” Manny asked. “What the hell, Doc?”

  I saw the realisation dawn on Francine as she got back to work. I turned to Manny. “Before Otto was assassinated, he said that Emad was hiding in plain sight, closer than we think.”

  “Got it.” Francine stared at her computer with wide eyes, then turned it around. “Look.”

  I leaned closer to see the building on her computer monitor. It was beautiful, but fitted in so well with the neighbouring buildings that it became nondescript.

  “Anyone coming with me?” Vinnie walked to the door. “I’m going to gut that motherfucker.”

  “Hold your horses, big guy.” Manny rubbed his hand over his face. “We’ve got to do this right.”

  “Yeah, you should put some thought into this first.” Julien flinched only slightly when Vinnie looked at him with great aggression. “This is not only about your friend. It is also about a politically delicate situation, about the president’s reputation, about his wife’s reputation, as well as about the lives of Daniel and Amélie Didden.”

  “Fuck!” Vinnie glanced at the door, his fists tight, his arms away from his body. “I can’t just stand here.”

  “We’re not going to.” Colin got up. “But if we want to do this right, we should get Daniel’s team in on this.”

  “Is that wise?” Julien shook his head. “I mean, they’re all emotionally invested in this. Won’t it cloud their judgement?”

  “They are the best for this job.” Colin looked at Manny. “I’ll get them up to speed. They can converge here and you can take it further.”

  Manny nodded at Colin, then turned to Julien with one eyebrow raised. Three seconds later, Julien threw his hands in the air and leaned back in his chair. Manny’s smile was triumphant. “Thought so.”

  Vinnie shifted on his feet, restless. “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter TWELVE

  I pressed my thumb hard against my little finger. Usually it worked to trigger a response I’d conditioned myself to feel. Yet the expected calm didn’t come at this moment. I hated feeling this powerless and anxious for the lives of those I cared for. At least Nikki and Roxy were safe at home and Colin was sitting next to me. I shifted a bit closer to him.

  My non-neurotypical mind screamed at me to get away from this highly distressing situation. Another part of me wouldn’t allow me to leave the GIPN operational truck. My eyes were glued to the monitors showing the body cameras of all the team members.

  Vinnie was wearing a GIPN uniform, complete with body camera. Manny had donned a bulletproof vest and two holsters around his thighs. I watched him through Vinnie’s body camera as he talked to Jean Bonnard. He was third in command after Daniel. Pink was still in the GIPN truck with us, but as their second-in-command and now the one in control, he would leave soon to guide the team as they entered the building down the street.

  We were parked three houses to the west, blocking the street. Not that it was
a problem at this hour. Very few people were awake at five thirty in the morning. Most would only wake up in another hour and leave for work an hour after that. The street was quiet in the glow of the streetlights.

  This was one of the older areas in Strasbourg. The houses in this street, in this area, had been built for the affluent who’d wanted to have a few floors as well as a back entrance for the servants. Most of these buildings had long since been subdivided into apartments, the original layouts lost.

  Francine had researched the owners of the house we’d tracked Emad to, while Pink had found the blueprints for the building. This was one of the very few houses that had never been subdivided and it appeared to have been in the same family for the last hundred and twenty-three years. It was a four-story mansion squeezed in between similar buildings from the same era.

  It was most uncommon for a large residence in such a sought-after neighbourhood not to have been monetised by subdividing it. The plans showed large rooms, high ceilings and a wide staircase leading from just past the entrance all the way to the top floor. Pink had forwarded the plans to his team’s devices and they’d planned their breach.

  “Bonnard and Mécary are in place.” Jean’s voice was quiet and controlled. I glanced at the monitor of his partner Claudette’s body camera and saw his posture was alert and ready for action. A quick look at his camera confirmed that Claudette was just as focused as Jean. They were at the front door, already having picked the lock. They were ready to open the door and enter.

  “Meslot and Gautier in place.” They’d used the neighbouring building to get to the roof and now were on a small balcony on the top floor. The two glass doors had been easy enough to force open without making too much noise. They too were ready to enter.

  “Millard and the big guy are in place.” Manny’s tone was crisp. Again I glanced at Vinnie’s body camera and saw Manny standing upright, his vigilance unmistakeable. They were at the back of the house, at what used to be the servants’ entrance.

  All of them, including Manny, were wearing night vision lenses over one eye. While strategising the breach, they had decided to only turn on the house’s lights at the very last moment.

  “That’s my cue.” Pink got up and turned on his communication unit. “I’m exiting the truck. One minute. Francine will monitor the infrared and update us.”

  “The target is still sleeping.” Francine had taken Pink’s seat and clicked through a few monitors until she settled. Pink had sent up GIPN’s drone with the infrared camera to monitor the house. Only one body was visible in the whole building. It was on the third of the four floors and had moved only once since we’d arrived. The sleeping figure had gone from lying on his left side to lying on his back.

  Francine was convinced it was Emad sleeping in the house, but I was careful not to make assumptions. If it were indeed Emad and GIPN safely captured him within the next few minutes, I would experience great relief. The last seven months with the threat Emad and Fradkov posed not only to me, but also to my team and the political stability of Europe, had added stress to my life that I did not find easy to process and control.

  Francine clicked once and all the images on the monitors changed from the dark shadows to the eerie green from night vision. I could see a lot more now. The detail from the night vision devices didn’t allow me to see micro-expressions, but I caught the changes in posture and larger nonverbal cues.

  “Positions.” Pink’s voice came over the system. On screen, he joined Vinnie and Manny at the back door. “Breach in three, two, one. Execute, execute, execute.”

  I was fascinated by the stealth with which the big men moved through the house. Meslot and Gautier opened the balcony’s two glass doors and quietly moved from room to room on the top floor while declaring each area secure as soon as they went through the room thoroughly, looking behind and under furniture and opening all cupboard doors. Still with minimal sound.

  Pink, Vinnie and Manny entered the back door and met with Jean and Claudette at the staircase. Vinnie, Manny and Pink went straight to the room with the sleeping figure, leaving Jean and Claudette to secure the lower floors.

  “Target still asleep.”

  I jerked at the sound of Francine’s voice. She was taking over the role of Pink, keeping the team updated with any and all changes she observed from the truck. The few times I’d been in the truck during a GIPN operation, I’d been astounded at the wealth of information Pink received from the electronic surveillance and how quickly he relayed it to his team.

  On Vinnie’s camera, Pink was leading them up the stairs, Manny behind him, their weapons raised, one finger resting next to the trigger, ready to take action. At each landing, they checked the area before taking the next flight.

  The walls along the stairs were filled with artwork that had Colin leaning closer to the monitors. He didn’t say a word, but the tension in his muscles increased with each new painting that came into view. The unexpected cache of art was not a priority at the moment, but I knew Colin would not wait a second longer than necessary to enter that house and analyse the paintings that looked like masterpieces to my untrained eye.

  Pink, Manny and Vinnie passed the second floor, paused to check the next flight and quietly made their way up the stairs. On the third floor, they moved towards the room they had earlier determined held the sleeping person.

  “Still asleep.” Francine’s voice was a bare whisper and I wondered if they’d heard her. They moved quietly along the hallway, clearing three open rooms, two on the left and one on the right. Before they reached the second door on the right, Pink held up his fist and they stopped.

  “Still no movement,” Francine whispered again.

  Pink raised two fingers and waved them forward. Manny immediately tapped Pink on his shoulder and moved past him to the other side of the open door. Vinnie’s hand moved past his body camera to also tap Pink on his shoulder.

  They waited until the other four members declared all the floors secure. Meslot and Gautier remained on the stairs while Jean and Claudette came from the second floor to join Manny, Vinnie and Pink. They approached the room from Vinnie and Pink’s side. Claudette tapped Vinnie on his shoulder, who responded immediately by tapping Pink on his shoulder.

  Pink raised his open hand and with his fingers together pointed three times into the room. Vinnie and Pink entered the room first. Manny followed them and didn’t even look at the figure lying on the bed. From Claudette’s body camera, I saw Manny sweep the room until his posture relaxed marginally and he positioned himself at the far side of the bed.

  “Lights.” Pink’s soft, yet audible command was followed immediately by chaos. Jean switched on the bedroom’s lights. There was a momentary flash of white on the screens before Francine clicked once to change the cameras back from night vision to normal viewing.

  The monitors were filled with jerky movements and a lot of shouting came through the system. Pink and Vinnie’s voices were the loudest, ordering the person on the bed to remain still and not even move his hands.

  Most of the movement settled to show Manny not having moved from his position, his assault rifle trained on the person in the bed. Vinnie was standing next to the bed, his handgun pressed against the person’s head. I leaned forward to get a better view and exhaled a breath I didn’t even know I’d held.

  It was Emad.

  His eyes were wide, his pupils pinpricks as he jerked his gaze from gun-wielding man to gun-wielding man. I saw the moment he realised there was no escape for him. The tension around his mouth relaxed into an almost-smile and his shoulders sagged back into the mattress. “What do you know. You found me.”

  “Move and I’ll maim you.” Vinnie moved his weapon from Emad’s head to press against his shoulder. If Vinnie were to shoot, he wouldn’t kill Emad, but the injury would be painful and could cause permanent damage.

  Pink pulled the light duvet off Emad to reveal the criminal’s pale, naked body. He didn’t move, didn’t even attempt to hide h
is exposed genitals. His body was well-toned, but not very muscular. Knowing the human psyche, I wasn’t surprised to see a micro-expression of vulnerability flash across his features. Even though clothing couldn’t stop bullets, that layer gave us a certain subconscious protection against the world.

  “Get up, asshole.” Vinnie tapped the gun against Emad’s shoulder. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

  Manny moved around the bed to stand next to Vinnie, not taking his aim off Emad. “You heard what the big guy said. Get up.”

  My entire being was focused on the monitors in front of me. Reading Emad’s nonverbal communication was both surprising and illuminating. His facial muscles relaxed even more as he looked from Manny’s rifle to Vinnie’s expression of rage. He turned his head to look at the gun against his shoulder, the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth genuine. “I might need a little bit of space to get up, gentlemen.”

  Manny nodded at Vinnie, but didn’t step back. It took Vinnie another two seconds to rein in his anger and lift the muzzle of his handgun from Emad’s shoulder. The smile lifting one corner of his mouth was not genuine. It was filled with malice. “Please do something stupid so I can shoot you. Please.”

  “My stupid card is filled up.” Emad lifted his hands palms out and slowly sat up. “Tomorrow is another day. Right now, I think getting some trousers might be the best move for me. Unless you like looking at my junk?”

  “That’s just the kind of thing that might get you shot, asshole.” Vinnie lowered his weapon until it was aimed at Emad’s crotch. “Although I might need binoculars to get a good aim.”

  Emad laughed loudly and shook his head. Still holding his hands up, he got out of bed and walked towards a large antique wardrobe and pointed at the door. “One of you might want to open this and get me a pair of trousers. And preferably some boxers too. I don’t really like the whole free-in-the-air commando thing.”

  Pink looked at Manny and Vinnie. “You got him?”