Page 35

CHAPTER 35

NICK

“You heard her, mate. Seems you’re not the only lucky bastard.”

“The world’s changed mighty fast,” my old friend says.

“Yeah. I’d say so.” I smash my lips against Scarlet’s and grin. I have half a mind to carry her into the back space and give the ops team an earful, but there’s no time.

“Where are you thinking?” Leo asks.

“My original plan had been to holiday until the controversy died down. I’ve got a spot that shouldn't be connected to me.”

“How secure on that are you? The explosions launched a press field day. Lots of speculation. BBC has a quote from the Ministry of Defense saying terrorism has not been ruled out. A zealous reporter dug up your Russian connections.”

A female voice weighs in. “So far, we’ve only picked that up on fringe media sites.”

“Only a matter of time before the networks validate it,” I say. “I didn’t hide my ancestry. My last name’s Ivanov, for Christ’s sake. It’s the Russian equivalent of Smith. What’s the casualty count? Have they said?”

“Hasn’t been released. If terrorism is on the table, they’ll be tight-lipped as long as they can,” the woman says.

“And what did you say your name is?” It’s unnerving to speak into a void and not know all the participants. These damn Americans are bloody informal.

“Kairi. I’m with Arrow Tactical. Everyone on the line except for Nomad is with Arrow Tactical.”

“Right. And you are the US government?”

“No,” Kairi says. “We’re a private operations group. We take on odd jobs. And right now, helping you is one of those jobs.”

“And you’re helping me…why exactly?”

“You helped us,” Tristan says.

“I owe you for my life. And my wife,” Leo pipes in.

“And now you’re a goddamn rhyming poet,” I say.

He snorts.

“All right. Can you let me know if Ash made it?”

“We’re working on our end to get an accounting,” Tristan answers. “Have a man attempting to gain access to your estate, but it’s a bit of a mess with the bobbies at the moment.”

“I’m sure it is. Can you get me a secure line? I have some calls to make.”

“That van’s about as untraceable as you’ll get,” a woman says.

“Who are you thinking you want to reach out to?” Leo asks. “Based on the intel I’m gathering, I don’t trust any of your so-called friends.”

I do love a man with brutal honesty. “Need to get my PR team spinning as it seems my reputation’s at stake.”

“Glorious as it is,” Leo says.

“Piss off,” I say, but I’m grinning. I’ve missed the bloke.

The guy sitting at the computer types away.

“I also want to reach out to Ash. See if he?—”

“His mobile’s out,” Leo says. “We’ve tried to track it. It’s not on. Area hospital hasn’t released names yet.”

Shite. His mobile went up in the blast. Please let Ash not have gone up with it.

“Okay,” Leo says. “I’m getting reminded we need to strategize. Do you have a definitive location, or are you planning on contacting someone first? I wasn’t shitting you. I don’t think you can trust any of the folks I’m privy to.”

“Nooyi’s likely working against me.” I tug on my jaw, thinking it through. “He stopped by and was looking about…. I think he was a designated scout.”

“He knows your property. You think he stopped by to collect intel on security levels?”

“They could’ve gotten that from a satellite, no?” One of Dorian’s companies has over 6,000 operating satellites in the sky. “Of course, tough with the trees to get a good satellite view. It’s one of the reasons I bought the estate. I’m thinking he was scouting for a safe room location. Don’t trust the bastard. I trust Jiang Tu.”

“Interesting you say that,” Tristan says.

“Why?”

“We suspect Xi is currently detaining him. It’s not public knowledge yet, but he hasn’t been seen since returning to Shanghai.”

“Damn.”

“If he follows the course of Xiao Jianhua, we may not hear from him for months.”

“And when he returns, he won’t be the same Jiang,” I say. Even if he seems the same, he couldn’t be trusted.

“Droga? Do you trust him?” Leo asks. “We could leverage his resources to ship you off from Ireland.”

“Jiang said he voted for me. He’s solid.”

“What about Mansueto?” Leo asks.

“Track what his news network says about me. If it’s blowing up with conspiracy rubbish, that’d be a no.”

“I’ll set my team on it,” a woman, I believe Kairi, says. “He’s got strong connections to the social media sites, too, right?”

“He has influence,” I answer. It’s all about influence. “The one I want to call is Dorian.”

“And you know you can’t trust him,” Leo says.

“Eh, true enough. If I stand a chance of getting that bounty on my head dropped, it’s Dorian. We have history.”

“All right,” Kairi says. “Use one of the lines Sophia gives you. You can count on Moore tracing the call. We’ll run it to Iceland.”

“Brilliant.”

“Do you have his number?”

“Got it memorized in this head of mine, right along with eighties song lyrics.”

Scarlet rubs my back, comforting me. She’s a mite younger. Does she like old eighties tunes? Are they familiar to her? We have so much to learn about each other.

Sophia passes me a handset. The rectangular device connects to a base with a cord.

“Type the number in using the keyboard. I’ll handle connecting the call.”

I do as she says and wait. It takes a minute or two and a lot of clicks and clacks cross the line. I wink at Scarlet as I wait, letting her know there’s no cause for concern. This is a negotiation.

The Moore men are bright ones. They’ll be expecting my call. Or at least, Dorian will. Halston prefers to be a step removed. I’ve not got a good read on the man, and it never bothered me before, as his son is my mate. A lesson for the future. Know everyone with power well.

“This is Moore.”

“Hello, mate.”

“Nick?”

“How many Brits call you in a day?”

“Thank god. You survived. I was concerned.”

“Were you now?”

Silence falls on the line.

“How disappointed are you to learn they won’t be pulling my body from the rubble?”

“I didn’t want this. I’m not responsible, if that’s why you’re calling.”

“Who is?”

“Someone you pissed off.”

“Who?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“You threatened me.”

“The rules stand, whether we like them or not. That’s what I said. I didn’t plan to wipe you out.”

“The rules? Are you really going on about that?”

“You became a problem. For many, it seems.”

“Rules of the syndicate,” I say, mocking the man who used to be my mate.

“Death solves all problems. No man, no problem.”

“Quoting Stalin now? That’s an interesting philosophical evolution.”

“It’s not my philosophy. It’s the philosophy of whoever put the bounty on your head. Whoever you pissed off most recently. I’m guessing you’re not in Iceland.”

“No, Dorian ol’ boy, I’m not.”

“Who are you working with?”

“Nope. This is my dime. Did your father place the bounty? Are you protecting him? That Stalin bit is classic Halston.”

“My father isn’t behind this. He also doesn’t need my protection.”

“Quite right. Then I need you to relay a message to him.”

“Why not call him directly? You believe I did this, not him.”

“We both know your father’s a stubborn arse. And a narcissistic one, to boot.”

“We all possess a degree of narcissism.”

“Defensive. No doubt you’ve evolved, mate. University Dorian could’ve written a dissertation on the negative effects of narcissism on logic and decision making.”

Static crosses the line. I lean closer to the computer screen to confirm he hasn’t ended the call.

“What do you want, Nick?”

“Well, I’d like to share oxygen a mite longer. And I’ve no desire to spend the rest of my days in a secluded, third-world location deprived of takeaway.”

“I’m not the one who placed the hit. And for the last time, I don’t know who did.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate. Because you’ve opened Pandora’s box, friend.”

“Me?”

“Unless that bounty is rescinded, I’ll administer a kill order of my own. And I’d like to remind you you’re in the United States. I have access to greedy bastards who purchased powerful weapons perfectly primed to earn a quick five hundred mil.”

“You’re off on this. We want you out. Not dead. You broke the rules. But we’re not the ones looking to terminate you.”

“Your father didn’t consider he’s going up against an opponent with means, did he? In this situation, you nor anyone else knows where I am. And I’ve got a tracker on your father. And people watching your compound. How confident does your father feel he can escape without the locusts descending?”

“That’s your game? Assuming you’ve got the right guy, the two of you outbid each other until someone somewhere figures out a way to claim the bounty?”

“It’s a ludicrous situation, no? Talk with your father. Call this off. I’ll back out. My excommunication will be my punishment for breaking the jacked rules.”

“And the Lupi Grigi?”

“Oh, that arrow’s flown, friend. They’re good and fucked.”

“If you sacrifice the witness?—”

“No. She stays out of this.”

“You give her up, you can stay in the syndicate. I’ll fight for you.”

“Let me be clear. If anything happens to Scarlet, I will scorch the entire state of Colorado and every yacht on the sea in my hunt to personally decapitate you, your father, and every single member of our so-called alliance. Capisce?”

“I’ll devise a more diplomatic manner of communicating your agreement to exit the syndicate.”

“As you wish.”

“For the last time, though, I do not know who placed that bounty. If you go after my father,” he half laughs, “you’ll only be creating more enemies.”

“Oh, I trust you to sort it.”

“You’re crazier than my father ever was.” His huff piques my interest. “How do I get in touch with you?”

“If the bid isn’t withdrawn within an hour, I post my counter bid.”

“Let’s say a syndicate member is responsible for this order. What does he get if he rescinds?”

“To live, Dorian. Your father gets to live.”

* * *

“Are you really going to walk away?” Leo asks after I end my call with Dorian.

“The syndicate is one alliance. An idea born from a place of na?ve idealism. It’s gone belly up.”

I wink at Scarlet, and her soft smile shoots a fission of warmth through my chest cavity. This mess will wrap up shortly, and I’ll be wrapped up in my angel soon.

“I disagree,” Leo says.

“What’s that, mate?” Yeah, I unleash the argumentative tone, but the bastard left my world, literally. Weasel’s got shite to say about it.

“Falcon, this is Jack Sullivan.”

“Ah, nice of you to announce yourself.”

“I got looped in when you were on the call with Moore.”

I’ve met Jack a handful of times over the last decade. As the CEO of a weapons manufacturer and the brother of an innovative weapons developer, our paths were bound to cross. “There are reasons we need you to maintain contact with as many syndicate members as possible.”

“You might’ve missed the bit where relations have soured.”

“We’re aware. If you’re open to it, I’d like to brief you on the intel we’ve been gathering.”

“I’m not a useful asset anymore, Jack. Not with these blokes.”

“That depends on how you play your hand,” Jack says. “Just hear me out.”

“I’m not teaming up with the bloody CIA. MI6. Any of the devious scoundrels.”

A light touch on my forearm grounds me and pulls me away from the crowded van and electrical displays. Evergreen irises claim me. For seconds, she becomes all I see.

“Listen to them,” she mouths.

This woman . She’s full of beauty and surprises. Although I should’ve expected she’d see the intelligence blokes as friendlies.

“What’ve you got?” My gut tells me I’ll regret this maneuver.

“We have reason to suspect an attack is imminent on the United States and its allies.”

“That’s broad.” It’s also what Jiang Tu went on about, and I have every reason to believe he’s right.

“Great Britain and European Union at a minimum. Canada, Mexico, and India likely. Australia and New Zealand, less likely. Russia or China are likely the culprits. One. Or both.”

“You think they’re aiming to instigate the Third World War?” I shake my head because they are so off. “If such an effort by China or Russia were underway, we would’ve picked up on it. Even without the syndicate, my Russian sources would’ve notified me.”

“The intel is inconclusive. Might not be the effort of a nation-state,” Tristan says.

I laugh out loud. “You think the syndicate is attempting to start World War III? You are way off, mates.” People get these visions of an evil syndicate, but that’s not what we were about. Business and legal interests were our primary concerns, and peacetime aids our interests.

“I’ve studied the intel,” Leo says. “And communications we’ve captured between syndicate members.”

“You hacked them?” I ask. “You Americans listening to everyone?” I grit my teeth, but once again, Scarlet’s hand on mine calms me right down.

“Like you, we have sources,” Jack says as calmly as if we’re sitting at a fine-dining establishment.

“All right. Let’s hear it. I concur. Something’s off. What’ve you got?”

“Attacks against the electrical facilities in the United States have increased.”

“Terrorgram. Been going on for years.” That really hasn’t been on my radar.

“Right,” Leo says. “By white supremacists and alt-right groups fostered mostly through Terrorgram messaging. The alliance member leading those fringe groups is Halston Moore.”

“Correction. He has influence because he donates to their causes. He’s not sharing a pint with them.” Yes, I believe he’s the one wanting to kill me, but he’s been a two-sideser for decades.

“Agree. But the nature of the attacks has changed in the last month. They more resemble exploratory scouting, and there’s the occasional hit to a transponder, as if capability and impact are being measured.”

I roll my eyes because there are at least a dozen parties interested in taking out the US electrical grid. “Is that all you’ve got?”

“The gas line cutting exploratory,” Leo adds.

“That is Russia.” We’re all clear on that point.

“The Russian fishing boats made us think that,” Leo says, “but we dug deeper, and the boats are owned by a shell company.”

“Likely Russian,” I say.

The Russians would theoretically love to damage the connection to the West.

“And there’s the theft of the gas from North Korea.”

“You determined who did it?”

“Private entity. And we’ve located a lab that’s producing more of it, following the same formula.”

“Why haven’t you shut them down?”

“Can’t get to them. They’re in China.”

“And they’ve got Jiang isolated, so the alliance is blind at the moment.”

“There’s buzz that an EMP attack is imminent, too,” Kairi adds.

“You think it’s all going to happen at the same time? An electrical grid attack, an EMP attack, and chemical warfare?” I shake my head and cross my arms. I don’t trust Halston, but Bedrock Advisory, his pride and joy, controls funds worth trillions. Halston protects his self-interests. “That would destroy the financial markets. No one in the syndicate would take part. It goes against our mandate.”

“My theory,” Leo says, “is that the syndicate has fractured, and the mandate and vision have changed.”

“The syndicate has fractured, I’ll grant you, but you’re talking about a massive ideology change.” I’m fighting Leo just like I fought Jiang Tu.

Of course, even as I say it, Dorian quoting Stalin comes back to me...and then another quote from Stalin which would appeal to Halston: “The only real power comes out of a long rifle.”