The Informationist: A Thriller

by Taylor Stevens

  “I had nothing to do with what happened to Michael,” Bradford said. “I’m just as confused about the chain of events as I assume you are or she is.”

  “But you are extremely eager—even demanding—to accompany Vanessa back into the country. Why is that?”

  “It’s my job.”

  Beyard shook his head slightly. “It was no longer your job at one point, and yet you persisted.”

  “Look,” Bradford said, irritation breaking through in his voice, “I’ve known Emily and her family since she was a child. I’ve been through hell with both of her parents while they tried to locate her—her mother eventually killed herself over this. After four years of searching, we finally have a tangible trail to follow. I’m not going to let it go. I have a personal interest in bringing Emily home.”

  “And you don’t feel that Vanessa is capable of doing this?”

  Bradford began to say something and then stopped. No matter what he said, he would back himself into a corner.

  “What you’ve just told me,” Beyard continued, “Vanessa has also told me.” He paused and stared at Bradford, rubbing his thumb against his chin. “But this is not the primary reason you have returned. You know it, so do I, so does she. In order to assess with certainty what threat you constitute to Vanessa—and by implication to myself—or to the assignment, I need to understand what compels you to return, the things that run deeper that you are not telling.”

  “It is what it is,” Bradford said. “I don’t have anything more to tell.”

  Beyard stood. “As I suspected. And so I’ve made arrangements for you to fly back to Houston—your flight leaves tomorrow morning. You will be sedated, and I will accompany you to the plane to be sure that you are on it. I suggest that you don’t return or attempt to find us, and should you be so foolish as to try, I will personally see to it that you are stopped. This is my home, Miles, and I am well connected. Do not underestimate me.” He turned to go. “There will be no more questions. I’m sure you’re hungry. I’ll have food sent to you.”

  Bradford closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It wasn’t all bad. He could leave the house—it wouldn’t be that difficult—keep tabs on them, follow them. Yeah, right. Maybe on another continent, in another country, but not this one. He didn’t know the land or the language, didn’t have time to acquire resources and assets. Munroe would be traveling into remote areas, would know he was there and eliminate the threat she found in him. No, if he wanted to be there when Emily was located, the only way was by gaining Munroe’s trust. She had calculated this, was manipulating the situation and using this man, Beyard, as a buffer so that the only way to her was through him. There had been no bluff in Beyard’s voice, no malice. He presented an opportunity that would soon be gone. Bradford debated until Beyard’s hand was on the door and then said, “I loved her mother.”

  Beyard stopped, turned.

  “What guarantee do I have,” Bradford asked, “that this will be enough?”

  “None,” Beyard said, and returned to the chair where he’d been sitting. “But motive is a powerful thing, and I need to know what yours is. Ultimately Vanessa will make the call. I am … how should I say? I am the screening process.”

  “The truth is, I made a promise to her mother. The night before she killed herself, she made me swear I would bring Emily home.”

  “An oath is something I can understand,” Beyard said. “Why was it made?”

  “I loved her,” Bradford said. “It really is that simple.”

  Beyard nodded. “And this man Richard Burbank, the father, the one you manipulated into hiring Vanessa, he was no doubt unaware?”

  “Manipulated.” Bradford gave a quick snort and shook his head slightly. How much could they actually know? “Yeah, I manipulated Richard into hiring Michael, and no, he didn’t have a clue about the extent of the friendship that Elizabeth and I shared.”

  “So you are the one responsible for Vanessa twice having been nearly killed?”

  “Oh, I’m sure she’s been nearly killed many more times than that,” Bradford said, and then quickly followed with, “I was responsible for getting her hired, but like I already said, I had nothing to do with what happened in Malabo or whatever the fuck else you’re talking about. I certainly don’t want to see her dead. I want her to find Emily.”

  Beyard said nothing and, with arms crossed and legs stretched out, stared at Bradford while silence filled the room.

  Finally Bradford spoke again. “Richard introduced me to Elizabeth about a year after they’d been married. We’ve never been friends, Richard and I. Acquaintances, business associates, I guess you could say. We’ve worked together on and off over the years on assorted deals, and it was at some formal business event that I first met her. No matter what it looked like on the outside, they weren’t happy. Richard is a controlling, demanding asshole, and it carried over into their marriage. Elizabeth turned to me for advice, and in time we became very close.” Bradford’s voice caught, and he paused for composure. “I would have done anything for her, you know? God, I loved her.” He raised his eyes to meet Beyard’s. “Yes, we were lovers.

  “I was with her the day before she died—I’d gone to see her at the retreat where she’d been staying. I’d been making fairly regular visits just to check on her, but on that particular day she was different, stressed, nervous, had difficulty focusing. Richard had come to see her the day before to talk about her will. Apparently everything she had was to go to Emily, and with Emily having been missing for nearly a year, Richard wanted her to rewrite the will. For obvious reasons the conversation didn’t go well. Elizabeth refused to believe that her daughter was dead. Richard seemed to think otherwise.

  “She spent a lot of time talking about Richard, about him forcing her to make changes she didn’t want to make. She made me promise that I would do everything I could to find Emily, that I would bring her home.” Bradford looked directly at Beyard. “I did, and the next day Elizabeth was dead.”

  Beyard was silent for a moment and then finally said, “Why Vanessa?”

  Bradford smiled. Almost laughed. “You’re from her past. I guess you don’t know much about her present. Michael deals in information, and as far as I know, she’s the best there is at getting it. You give her a scenario, a country, whatever it is, and she’ll find a way. Doesn’t matter the language, the gender, cold, hot, war zone, military dictatorship, whatever—she gets it. I used some of the stuff she put together for a couple of the security jobs I worked. It was always accurate, always good.” Bradford paused and brushed his fingers through his hair, sighed and stared toward the window. “I was running out of time. It had been four years since Emily’d disappeared, and I realized that unless we tried a different avenue, we’d keep turning up nothing. I’d been watching Michael for a couple of years, had assembled something of a portfolio on her.” He stopped and looked at Beyard. “Before you start jumping to conclusions, my curiosity was purely professional—admiration, the way one artist admires the work of another. Anyway, I knew that Michael’s assignment in Turkey was close to finished, so I brought what I had to Richard and asked him to give it one last shot, told him that if Michael couldn’t track down Emily, nobody could, and that he could know for certain that she was dead, and he could have the closure he wanted.” Bradford shrugged. “That’s pretty much it, from the beginning, my side of the story. True to form, Michael began to deliver, and then we got to Malabo and the shit hit the fan, and I’m still trying to figure out what the hell happened.”

  Beyard put his hands on his knees and said, “Well, Miles, that’s a very interesting story.” He stood. “One last thing: I have been asked to collect a notebook. It’s inside your bag there. I have seen it but prefer to allow you the courtesy of giving it to me rather than taking it from you.”

  “Is there any difference?” Bradford said, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Either way I have no choice.”

  “A matter of semantics.”

/>   Bradford nodded, dug the notebook out of his bag, and handed it to Beyard.

  “Thank you,” Beyard said, and opened the door. “You’re free to leave, stay, wander, as you wish. Make yourself at home.”

  “I’d like to talk to Michael.”

  “She’s not here at the moment.” Beyard glanced at his watch. “Three hours, perhaps.”

  chapter 18

  When Munroe returned to the apartment that afternoon, she found Miles and Francisco sitting at the kitchen table, empty bottles of beer between them, conversing like long-lost drinking buddies. Without intending it, she stared until the room grew silent, then rolled her eyes in disgust and walked to the bedroom. Whatever she’d expected upon returning to the flat, it wasn’t to see the two of them interacting like old friends. Was it some fucking mercenary code of brotherhood they could sniff off each other?

  She dropped the items from her arms onto the bed and returned to the kitchen. The boys were still talking but weren’t as jovial as they had been, and when Munroe reached for a glass from one of the cupboards, Francisco caught her eye. She could see from the masked strain on his face that he was concerned about her reaction, and so, without acknowledging Bradford’s presence, she walked to the table, leaned in front of Francisco, and kissed him.

  He responded by pulling her closer, kissing her harder, and from the corner of her eye she saw Bradford shift, visibly uncomfortable with this display of affection. She suppressed a wicked smile and whispered into Francisco’s ear. She might as well have lifted a leg and peed on him; she was marking territory, establishing dominance, letting Bradford know that regardless of what might have transpired between the two of them while she was out of the house, she was still the one running the show. Francisco reached for her hand and stood, and as he walked with her out of the room, he said to Bradford, “Make yourself at home.” Munroe glanced over her shoulder, saw genuine pain in Bradford’s eyes, and was satisfied.

  In the bedroom Munroe knelt on the bed and wrapped an arm around Francisco’s neck, pulled him close, ran her hands up his chest, and kissed him. He returned the warmth of her mouth and then took hold of her wrists, stepped back, and said, “Don’t do it, Essa. I know this is manipulation, and it isn’t necessary.” And then he brought her hands to his lips. “Don’t try to control me—you already own me, what more do you want?”

  The counterplay, the shift in control dynamics, and the challenge that came with it brought on the giddy urge to laugh. Instead she wrapped her arms around his neck and put her cheek to his and with an ear-to-ear grin across her face whispered, “I’m sorry.”

  He sat on the bed, pulled her down with him, and said, “There’s a lot we need to discuss,” and with her head resting on his shoulder he repeated what Bradford had told him. When he finished, Munroe stood and walked across the room to the window and stared into the compound. “I wish I would have known these things before taking the assignment,” she said.

  “Does this validate your view of Miles as a threat?”

  She turned toward Francisco. “If I understand it correctly, Miles wanted to find Emily, ran up against brick walls, and so manipulated Richard and used Richard’s money to get me to find her?” She let out an involuntary chuckle. “It’s brilliant, really.” She turned back toward the window. “If what he told you was true, and you seem to believe it is, then no, Miles is not a threat, at least not directly and not that he himself is aware of.” She shook her head slightly. “I’ve been set up to fail,” she said. “Fucking bastard.”

  “Who?”

  “Richard Burbank, the guy who hired me, the poor bleeding-heart father who’s so desperate to find his daughter. Him.” And then, seeing a look of puzzlement cross Francisco’s face, she said, “Never mind. You don’t have the information to understand where I’m coming from with this. Has Miles made any phone calls, accessed the Internet since he’s been awake?”

  “No. That I can guarantee.”

  “And what are your views on his coming with us?”

  “I believe under most circumstances he would be an asset. He knows his shit—I’d take him on my team if he was accepting offers. Frankly, I’m tempted to make one. Additionally, he knows this girl personally, and when we find her, that can only be a good thing.”

  Munroe nodded. “Fine. What about the notebook? Do you have it?”

  Beyard pulled the book from a drawer and handed it to her. Munroe opened and read. A smile formed at the corners of her mouth, and a few pages later she laughed. Who would’ve thought? The gun-toting tough guy was writing a romance novel, and from the looks of the notes it wasn’t his first.

  Munroe found Bradford on the living-room sofa, hunched over the coffee table eyeing the chessboard. She sat down beside him. “Do you play?”

  “It’s been a decade or more,” he said. “And I was never very good. You?”

  “I used to play often with Francisco—obviously, it’s been a while.” She nodded toward the board. “I rarely beat him, but this time I’m giving him a run for his money.” She handed Bradford the notebook. “Have you been published?”

  “Yeah,” he said, and his cheeks flushed color. “Four books.”

  “I suppose we all have our little secrets,” she said, and smiled a half grin. And then, in seriousness, “We’re leaving at first light tomorrow. If you want in, you can have at it, but there are a few stipulations you’ll have to agree to. One: You cannot under any circumstances contact anyone without my explicit approval—no calls or e-mails, period. Two: If you become a liability, we will leave you wherever we are and you’ll have to work your own way out.”

  “I can live with those.”

  “And I’m no longer your job,” she said. “Whatever the terms were in your arrangement with Richard, they’ve changed. I’m letting you come along because Emily knows you and it might come in handy when we find her. You’re not coming to protect me or stick by my side, and you’ll have to agree to follow my instructions whether they go along with what you think is your assignment or not. Will that be a problem?”

  “I’ll manage.”

  She nodded. “Then welcome back.” She took a deep breath and said, “I wish you’d have told me about Richard from the beginning. It might have saved me from getting dumped into the ocean, and we might already have found Emily by now.”

  Bradford hesitated and then said, “Told you what about Richard?”

  “That he wasn’t the one behind this whole assignment—you were. Not to mention that you were fucking his wife.”

  Bradford drew a breath and his face grew hard, evidence she’d struck personal, pushed him far. Although she expected him to react, after a moment’s pause he said only, “I don’t get it, you think Richard is out to get you?”

  “Did you tell Richard we were going to Malabo?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What about Bata?”

  His whisper was so low she could barely hear it. “Yes.”

  “I don’t have all the dots connected yet,” she said. “But it’s looking like Richard has had his hand in this somehow. From the way Francisco tells it, you’ve been the main person concerned with finding Emily, regardless of how Richard represented himself to me. That’s a strike against him. That Titan Exploration just happens to have its oil wells in the same country that Emily goes missing could be coincidence, but I don’t think so—at the very least, Richard has governmental connections in Equatorial Guinea. That’s strike two. Someone close to me has been feeding information to the bad guys—it’s the only explanation I have for some of the events that have taken place. Strike three.”

  Bradford ran his hands through his hair and then stared up at the ceiling. His breathing was slow and deep, and finally he said, “But why?”

  “I don’t know, Miles. There are a lot of unknowns at this point. But if I had to make a guess, I’d say it was money.”

  Disbelief was written on Bradford’s face. “Richard has more money than God.”

  “Maybe he do
es and maybe he doesn’t. I’m living proof that what you see is not always what it is. You said Richard was trying to get Elizabeth to change her will. That says money. You’re a smart man, Miles. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought of it yourself.”

  “You know, the thing with Elizabeth, I can understand that. He was a crappy husband, and maybe it was about money then—that happened before Titan hit oil, before his big break. But for all his faults, he is a good father, and he loves Emily, and he’s suffered a lot through this. It may have been me pushing for it, but Richard has financed each step, never hesitated once. It was only this past year that he started to protest, and it was never about the money. It was because of the personal pain that came from not being able to let it go. Why would he want the one person who can find Emily killed? It makes no sense.”

  “Maybe someone else is using him. There are too many unknowns, but I’m willing to place a hefty bet that when we find Emily, a lot of the answers will be waiting with her.” She stood. “And now I have to make a phone call that I wish I didn’t have to make.”

  Munroe picked up the phone and dialed Burbank’s office. As before, she was immediately transferred to his direct line, but this time she was left on hold for at least five minutes. When he picked up the phone, the exhaustion in his voice carried through the wires. “It’s been a while, Michael. I’ve heard that things have been rough for you over there—I hope all is well.”

  “Things are fine, Mr. Burbank,” she said. “As required, I’m calling to update you. As I’m sure you’ve heard through Miles, and though it may be difficult to believe, we have eyewitnesses who’ve placed your daughter alive on the mainland of Equatorial Guinea, the latest sighting now within the last six months.”

  “Yes,” he said. “It was amazing news, still is. Getting word about the death certificate was devastating, though a relief in a way. It meant that we could lay her memory to rest. And then to follow that with the hope that she might possibly be alive, it all seemed like such a cruel joke. I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster since.”