The Persuasion

by Iris Johansen

  “Are you ready?” Caleb was moving toward the front door. “I’m going to go down and talk to Franco. You wait on the landing until I tell you to come running.”

  “Talk to him? Are you nuts? You’re not supposed to be here. You’ll get both of us—”

  Caleb shut him out as he ran the rest of the way down the steps. He stopped at the foot of the staircase, concentrating on the man behind that door and letting the information flow into him. Franco. Weapons: Gun in holster beneath jacket. Switchblade in right-hand pocket of jacket. Okay, now character and motivations: Scumbag. Full of his own importance. Afraid of Santo. Hates this job of watching his bitch. He wasn’t even allowed into the Barza rape, but had to stand here listening while they had their fun. He could move up in the organization if Santo would give him a chance doing something else. But Santo’s fucking was always getting in his way.

  Caleb was ready. All he had to do now was build a scenario from what he’d just learned. He focused and then made the first mental adjustments inside Franco. Nothing too complicated. Recognition. Guilt. Acceptance. Recognition and acknowledgment that Caleb was really Norris, who had committed the first rape. Guilt that Franco was the one who must be confused and must have done something wrong. Last and most important, acceptance that everything Caleb said was truth.

  “Franco!” he shouted as he ran toward the front entrance. “It’s Norris. Where the hell were you?” He threw open the door. “Santo is going to kill us both.”

  Franco whirled on him. Confusion and then recognition. “What are you doing here, Norris? I didn’t see you come in.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” Caleb said impatiently. “Santo told me to come in the balcony like we did last time. He wanted Barza to know it could happen anytime he wanted it to happen before he took him off to Paris, where it might be easier for Barza to get away.” He scowled. “But you were supposed to be there, too, dammit. You gave Santo enough hints that you wanted in on screwing Barza the next time it happened. But when I came over that balcony tonight, you weren’t there and neither was Barza.” He added menacingly, “Did you and Gilata double-cross Santo? Did you take Barza’s money to help him escape? You should have known it wouldn’t work. I’m not going to let you pull me into this mess and get me in trouble.”

  Franco’s eyes widened. “Barza’s gone?”

  “As if you didn’t know.” His gaze narrowed on his face. “Maybe you didn’t. I think you’re smarter than that. Then it must have been Gilata. We didn’t go easy on Barza, and he must have been desperate not to have it happen again. Gilata would have no trouble squeezing a fat bribe out of him to let him go.” He stared Franco in the eyes and increased the concentration. “You realize that’s true because you know him best.”

  “Yes, I know that’s true. No one knows Gilata better than I do.” He began to curse beneath his breath. “He’s not going to get away with this. I’m in charge, and Santo will hold me responsible.”

  “Yes, he will. But maybe you can save yourself. I saw Gilata down at the pier when I came up the balcony. He probably smuggled Barza out of the apartment, took his cash, and then went back on duty to keep anyone from suspecting him. Does that make sense to you?”

  “Of course. And he’d hope that I’d get the blame.” His face was flushed. “Dirty, sneaky asshole.” He whirled and started across the garden, still glaring at Gilata standing on the pier. “I’m going to kill the son of a bitch.”

  “That’s up to you,” Caleb murmured. “I’m sure he deserves it.”

  He stood there watching until Franco reached the pier. Gilata evidently could read his body language and was straightening warily. Time to go. It might get both noisy and violent at any moment.

  He turned and called up the stairs, “Get down here, Barza. It’s safe now.”

  “Safe?” Barza was running down the steps. “It was crazy. I couldn’t tell what was happening.”

  “You didn’t have to know. I just needed Franco to think he knew what was going on and to accept everything I suggested. That went off quite well.” He was pulling him out the door and then toward the docks. “My friend Palik is waiting in that speedboat and we’ll get you out of here right away. If all continues to go well, Gilata and Franco will soon try to kill each other, and I don’t want you seen. It doesn’t really matter who succeeds. Santo will no doubt be so frustrated, he’ll get rid of the survivor afterward.” His lips turned upward. “Though it would be amusing if the survivor was Franco and he tried to talk his way out of having let you go missing and killing Gilata.”

  “Amusing?” Barza shook his head. “Insane. The entire fucking gibberish was insane.”

  “Not insane. Not gibberish. It has a name and a purpose as ancient as that fancy palatial apartment where I found you.” He had reached the speedboat and nudged Barza toward it. “Some call it the persuasion…”

  Chapter

  10

  Kendrick Castle

  1:40 A.M.

  Jane tried to gasp, but there was no air!

  She couldn’t breathe!

  What was happening…

  Pain…

  Her lungs were on fire…

  She was coughing, trying to stop that searing congestion—

  Not right. Something was wrong.

  She opened her eyes and immediately closed them again as the stinging smoke struck them.

  Smoke?

  She forced herself to open her eyes again and saw the haze of smoke in the tent.

  Something had to be on fire!

  Michael! No, Michael was with Joe. He’d be okay.

  Lisa…She had to get Lisa out of the tent.

  She grabbed her shoes, jeans, and shirt from the camp chair. Then she was crawling across the tent toward Lisa’s sleeping bag. She shook her hard. “Get up.” Her voice was a croak. “Fire.”

  Lisa opened her eyes and then started coughing as soon as she took a deep breath. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m saving you. Get the hell up.” She got to her knees and then her feet. She tried to take shallow breaths to keep from inhaling that stinging smoke. “Get out of here. Hurry. I have to go check on Joe and Michael…”

  “I am hurrying. I’ll go…with you.” Lisa was staggering to her feet and grabbing her clothes. “But I don’t see any fire in here, just smoke…”

  Neither did Jane, and once she was outside for a brief instant even the smoke seemed less dense. “No fire? Then I don’t know what that—”

  And then she saw the fire.

  The entire lower tent city was in flames! Dozens and dozens of the volunteers’ tents were blazing. And the fire was creeping closer to the mess tent and the showers.

  Screams!

  Jane saw one of the students run out of a tent enveloped in flames. Dear God, even her hair was on fire!

  “I’ve got to go help.” She was throwing on her clothes and shoes. “Wake up Joe and Michael, Lisa…”

  “I’m awake.” Michael was standing outside Joe’s tent with Joe just behind him. His eyes were wide with horror as he gazed down at the blazing tents. “What happened? Why, Jane?”

  “We don’t know how it started. That’s not important now. We’ve just got to get those people out of there. Stay with your dad, Michael. Call the fire department, Lisa.” Then she was running down the hill.

  * * *

  “Jane, stop, dammit!” Joe shouted after her as he ran out of the tent. “Get back here!”

  But Jane had already disappeared into the smoke. Another teenage boy ran out of a tent, screaming.

  “I think that’s Colin, Dad. He’s my friend.” Michael’s voice was anguished. “They’re all my friends.” He was frantically throwing on his clothes. “I need to be there.”

  “No, you don’t. The last thing we need is another kid down there in that bonfire.” Joe was already grabbing his jacket and thrusting his feet into shoes. “But I do need to be down there, Michael.” His voice was urgent. “Listen, you know I’m in the volunteer fire de
partment back home at the lake. Maybe I can organize a water brigade down there at the creek and help put out the fires. Trust me, okay?” He whirled on Lisa and said fiercely, “You said you wanted to keep Jane and Michael safe? Well, do it, dammit. I’ll go down and find Jane and send one of Tovarth’s men up here to guard you and Michael. But you call the fire department and then you keep Michael up here and out of danger. Promise me.”

  “I promise.” Lisa’s gaze was on the flames that were leaping upward from the tents to the ancient oaks beside the path. “Get out of here, Joe. Michael and I will be fine.” She reached for her phone. “I’ll keep him safe.”

  Joe gave a last glance at Michael as he started down the hill. “You’ll stay with her? It’s important, Michael.”

  “Dad…Jane’s there, too.” Michael’s gaze was on the horror of flames and screams. “I should go—”

  “Trust me,” Joe said again. “Tell me you’ll stay with Lisa.”

  “I’ll…stay.”

  “Good boy.” Joe motioned to Tovarth’s guard as he passed him to go back up the hill to Lisa and Michael. Then he broke into a full run as he raced down into the smoke.

  The scene was pure chaos.

  Flames. Smoke. Screams. Moans. The smell of burnt flesh.

  He covered his mouth and nose with his shirt and ran toward the mess tent. Buckets. The mess tent should have the buckets he needed and hopefully a hose as well. Maybe tablecloths that he could soak in the brook…

  “Joe!” He looked over his shoulder to see Jane kneeling beside a woman who was moaning with pain. “I think there are at least two more burn victims. Where is it safe to take them to get them away from the flames?”

  “In the woods across the brook,” he said curtly. “The fire is jumping from one tent to another. Get everyone over there, away from the tent area. I have to get some kind of equipment from the mess tent to get buckets to—”

  It was too late. The mess tent was now in flames!

  “Shit!” Joe’s hands clenched into fists as he turned away. “Okay, we’re screwed as far as a water brigade goes. I’ll help you herd everyone across the brook.” He carefully picked up the woman Jane had been tending. “I’ll take her across now. You follow as quickly as you—”

  But Jane was already on her feet, running through the smoke, shouting, and gathering survivors in her wake. “The brook! Get across the brook. Stop running and help each other, dammit.”

  It jarred them enough to make them start toward the brook, and then they were doing as Jane asked and helping each other. By the time Joe was back among them assisting the other burn and smoke victims, all signs of the panic had disappeared. Between them he and Jane managed to get the burn victims and the rest of the shocked and dazed survivors to the comparative safety of the woods.

  “Where are those firemen?” Jane wiped the smoke from her face with her shirtsleeve. “They should be here by now, Joe.”

  “Soon. It hasn’t been that long,” Joe said. “It only seems like a hundred years.”

  “Tell that to those burn victims. They need to get to a hospital.” But at least now that the first panic was over, they were being cared for as well as they could by the other volunteers. One of the teachers even held a first-aid certificate and was ordering the other volunteers like a top sergeant. “Should we call again to—”

  “Shit!” Joe’s gaze was fixed on the castle. “We didn’t need this.”

  Fire!

  They could see the glow of flames through the deep-set windows of the first floor of the castle. And smoke was pouring from beneath the massive oak door.

  “No, we didn’t,” Jane said. “And neither did Lady Kendrick. I was hoping the sparks wouldn’t jump from the tents to the castle. She doesn’t need to lose any more than she has already.” She suddenly tensed. “But where is she? I don’t see anyone on the grounds outside the castle. I saw her secretary, Nigel, running up here to help at the tents when I first arrived. She probably sent her staff to do whatever they could.”

  “Because she thought the fire wouldn’t reach the castle, either,” Joe said grimly. “It appears that we were all mistaken. I’ve got to go check on her. She’s not a young woman. Even a small amount of smoke might damage her lungs.” He was already running out of the trees toward the castle. “You’ll be okay?”

  “I’ve got plenty of help. Just get her out of there.” Jane watched him until he reached the edge of the forest and then turned back to the others to see what else she could do for them. Had she heard a siren? Lord, she hoped so. It was sad enough what had happened to all these bright young people that she had grown to respect and like. Now she had to face the possibility that the kind, tough lady who had only wanted to keep her home and heritage intact could have died tonight.

  She could only hope Joe got there in time.

  * * *

  “I should have gone,” Michael whispered. He hadn’t taken his gaze from that smoke-filled inferno at the tents since Joe had run down there several minutes ago. “I need to help, Lisa.”

  “I know how you feel.” Lisa pressed the DISCONNECT button on her phone and turned back to him. “But the fire department should be down there any minute. When I finally got through to them, the operator said that the fire had already been reported.” She put her hand comfortingly on his shoulder. “And between your dad and Jane down there, they should be able to take care of everything until the fire trucks get there. Of course they’d be better off if we helped. Because we’re truly awesome.” She made a face. “But we both made promises and we have to keep them. Is your dad really a volunteer fireman?”

  “Yes, he says everyone should be prepared to protect their homes. But he won’t let me do that, either. I have to wait until I’m sixteen.”

  “That sounds like Joe.” She could see a new outbreak of flames to the left of the tents. Was that the castle? She had to get Michael away from standing here watching this destruction. “Why don’t we throw on some more clothes and then straighten up the tents?” She motioned to Harold Albert, the policeman whom Joe had sent up to guard them, to come and help. He’d been standing transfixed, staring at the fire with the same horror as Lisa and Michael. “Will you go into my tent and start getting it ready for visitors, Harold?” As the policeman nodded and quickly hurried to obey her orders, she turned back to Michael. “We might need to temporarily share accommodations with some of your friends. Don’t you think that’s a good idea?”

  He nodded jerkily. “And maybe call Jane and tell her to bring them up here right away.” He ducked into his tent and was quickly finishing dressing. “Colin was hurting. I could feel his pain. Will you phone her and ask, Lisa?”

  “I’m already doing it.” She tried twice and made no connection. “There’s a problem. It’s probably the fire. Or maybe she’s too busy helping Colin and the others. I’ll call later.” She was throwing on her own clothes. “You start straightening your tent and getting it ready for visitors.”

  “Okay.” But he had come back outside and was staring at the flames. “The castle is on fire. Do you suppose Lady Kendrick is okay?”

  “I’m certain she is,” Lisa said. “Jane says she’s very smart and tough. And everyone would make sure that she knew what was happening on her own property.” She tilted her head sideways. “I think I hear the sirens of the fire engines. I told you everything was going to be all right.”

  Michael’s gaze never left the castle. “Maybe…” He was suddenly tensing up. “It’s not all right. She’s not all right. She can’t breathe and there’s darkness. She’s trying to get out the door, but it’s locked…”

  Lisa stiffened. It could be only imagination, but this was Michael and she wasn’t about to shrug it off. “Are we talking about Lady Kendrick or Jane?”

  “Lady Kendrick. Jane is still safe…no darkness.” He moistened his lips. “But there’s so much darkness and it’s all around…” His gaze flew in panic to her face. “It’s all around you, Lisa.”

  She shook
her head. “I’m fine, Michael.”

  “No, you aren’t. It’s close. Too close.” He suddenly dived toward her and rammed her, knocking her off-balance. “Down!”

  Pain.

  A stabbing pain in the flesh of her shoulder.

  She instinctively pulled Michael down to the ground and rolled on top of him. “Don’t move. I have to—”

  “They don’t want to hurt me.” He was trying to get out from underneath her. “It’s you they’ll hurt, Lisa. Run!” He stopped, his gaze on someone beyond and above her. “It’s too late. He’s here…”

  Another stabbing pain, this one in the nape of Lisa’s neck.

  And then, nothingness…

  * * *

  Thank God the fire trucks were here at last, Jane thought as she watched the flashing red lights of the vehicles wheeling through the gates followed by two ambulances.

  At last? Joe was right, maybe it only seemed a hundred years.

  Should she make one more pass to check those still-burning tents? She was sure everyone was out of that inferno now, but it wouldn’t hurt to verify. There had been so much smoke…

  Her phone was ringing. Lisa. She’d heard it before, but she’d been too busy to answer.

  “Sorry, Lisa. It was crazy down here. But thank God there aren’t any deaths so far. Now that the EMTs are here, we’ll get the patients to—”

  “I hate to interrupt, Jane, but I’m really in a bit of a hurry,” Luca said. “I’m sure your friend Lisa would have been interested but I understand she’s a bit indisposed at the moment. Do you suppose it’s all the smoke?”

  She went still. His meaning was unmistakable and chilling. “Hello, Luca. Smoke? Then I assume you’re to blame for all this ugliness and pain? Could I hope that you’re somewhere on the property so that you feel some of it yourself? Though I’d rather you’d burn in hell.”

  “You could hope, but you’d be disappointed. I’m not on the property. Though I’m close enough to still get a whiff of that smoke every now and then. It hurts the lungs, doesn’t it? Poor Michael is coughing every now and then.”