‘We found the car abandoned at the docks. Her passport hasn’t been used to clear customs, but she’s gone. The pair of them are nowhere to be found. A One World private jet left Lennart-Meri Tallinn Airport fifteen minutes ago. No registered passengers on the manifest. They’re on that plane, I know they are.’
It’s taken care of, that was what she had said.
Shepherd had given her a kill order and she’d carried it out. She was one of them. One World.
‘She’s a Protector,’ Frankie said, from the bed. ‘One of the cult’s footsoldiers.’
‘Fuck fuck fuck. OK, he’s in the air. Where does he run?’ Peter asked. ‘Hell, maybe he’s not even on that plane. The car’s dumped at the docks. It’s ten minutes from the ferry terminal to the airport terminal by taxi. Either could be a decoy.’
‘The compound?’ Frankie said. ‘He ran there last time.’
Peter shook his head.
‘It’s crawling with state police. There isn’t an inch of that forest that isn’t cordoned off. No. He’s run. He’s left the country, it’s the only choice he’s got. So, he’s either on that plane, he’s on a boat, or he’s driven out of here. No one’s checking his passport on the border if he’s driving. He’s got a limo, right? Find that fucking limo, Law. Shit. Shit. Shit. OK. Thinking. Where can he run to?’
‘He’s got a refuge in every country One World preach,’ Laura said.
‘Not helpful.’
‘Half a dozen don’t have extradition treaties with the EU. Twice that are out of our jurisdiction,’ Frankie said.
‘Even less helpful.’
‘If Rebane got him out of the country, we’re not finding him,’ Laura said.
‘She’s with him,’ Frankie said. ‘She’s his real right hand.’
‘Sometimes I wonder if you even know me, Law,’ Peter said, going over to stand at the window. He gazed out over Tallinn, at the dome of the cathedral and all of the landmarks in between.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean we’re just beginning. We play hunt the holy man and bring his entire church crashing down around him, wherever the fuck he’s hiding. Like he’s so fond of saying, it’s all one world, and it isn’t big enough for him escape me. We’ve got Irma out. We’ve found a treasure trove of stuff at his safe house. We’ve broken that compound. We’ve got links to every damned scheme he’s running, and a gallery of people who owe him enough to risk everything to save him. We are going to find him. He can run all he likes. He can’t keep on running. Eventually he has to surface somewhere. There isn’t a place on this planet he can run to where we can’t get to him in the end.’
‘There’s something else I need to tell you,’ Laura said eventually.
‘What?’
‘You’re not going to like it.’
‘Tell me anyway.’
‘It’s about Marseilles,’ which meant it was about Mitch.
‘Spit it out, Law. I’m in a bad fucking mood already, so you may as well get it over with.’
‘Division got a hit on the shooter.’
He didn’t say anything, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
‘His name is Jefferson Archer.’
‘Is that supposed to mean something to me?’
‘I pulled up his record, but there’s nothing there. I knew the name though. I couldn’t work out where from until I saw Bray’s book, Fork-Tongued Saviour. He’s in there. Bray claims Jefferson Archer is John Shepherd’s bag man.’
‘Say that again.’
‘He’s one of them. One world. What did Frankie just call them?’
‘A Protector,’ Frankie said. ‘A hit man.’
‘What the fuck was Mitch mixed up in?’
‘I don’t know, Pete, it feels like we’re standing on the edge of a deep dark hole staring down, and I don’t think we’re going to like what’s waiting at the bottom.’
The Black Shepherd Page 29
