Raphael said, “Sir, we’re about to meet some very bad people. Are you okay? Should we abort?”
Garrett said, “No, not at all. I’m fine. As you said, I’m flying tomorrow. Just contact me when you get there. Do you have the linkup information? After you meet the Knights people at the airport?”
“Yes, we do. We meet the Knights of Malta folks at the airport, stay in their place, and then meet the contact. What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing. I’ll find my own way home and leave my car.” He looked at the man on the bed and said, “Everything is fine.”
He hung up the phone and turned to the student, saying in Italian, “Do you have a car?”
“No. I have a bicycle.”
He realized he couldn’t leave the student alive after this. He was a weak link who could compromise the mission. He said, “Where’s it parked? And is it locked?”
“It’s in the rack on the side of the complex. A beachcomber with a Kryptonite U-lock on it. You want me to show you?”
He thought, Smart man. If Garrett let him leave the apartment, he would begin sprinting once he hit the street. He said, “No. Just give me the key.”
The student leaned to a nightstand, rummaged through a drawer, and pulled out a key ring. He separated one and held it up, his hand trembling.
Garrett took it, then said, “One other thing. You don’t have a red cord or sash here, do you?”
Chapter 49
I’d now been running on about three hours of sleep over the last twenty-four, working to get Knuckles and Brett released after our operation in Trastevere, my head sagging down every few minutes as my brain demanded rest, only for me to jerk back awake. Everyone else was racked out, but I could not go to blissful sleep just yet, because I’d been told that George Wolffe wanted to see me via our VPN.
It was closing in on 4 a.m. in Italy, which meant it was about 10 p.m. in DC. That he wanted to talk this late was an ominous sign. Maybe he’d failed to get the State Department to engage for Brett and Knuckles.
We’d returned to the hotel after the hit in Trastevere, the adrenaline still coursing through me, and Jennifer—acting as my TOC commander—had told me that Wolffe wanted me to stand by for contact, and like a good soldier, that’s exactly what I was doing, although it was starting to piss me off. If you wanted to talk to me, then give me a call. Don’t make me wait like teenager pining for a date-night phone to ring.
I heard a door open and saw Jennifer come out of our bedroom wearing Nike shorts and a T-shirt, saying, “Still no word?”
I said, “Nope. Not sure why, but it can’t be good. Go back to bed. At least someone will be alert when we go to war.”
She stood next to my chair and said, “What happened in that room? What happened with Lia? I saw the video feed from the Echo, but it cut right when the action started.”
“Nothing, really. It was easy. Aaron missed the guy climbing out of the back, but there wasn’t anything that would be what I’d call outside the ballfield. No gunfire. No real contact.”
She looked at me for a moment, then said, “Okay. If you say so. It just seemed you guys had touched the beast. Shoshana was on fire when she came back.”
I chuckled and said, “Well, that part is true. The guy we’re chasing is in fact a beast. I think the man we’re hunting wants to start World War Three to cause a biblical apocalypse, and he’s also apparently a damn serial killer. I mean a real, honest-to-God serial killer. He is the beast. Shoshana wants him in a bad way, but nothing happened during the assault.”
She rubbed my back and smiled, and I felt the connection. Ever since we’d met, she’d protected me from my worst instincts, and she was attempting to do it now. She leaned in and kissed my head, saying, “Don’t let that bad man get to you. I saw the video.”
Meaning she’d seen what that asshole was doing right before we entered, and because of it, she was afraid of my talent. She knew my history and was leery I’d fall back into the abyss because of his craziness.
Truthfully, I had a skill few on earth possessed, and she was afraid I’d use it indiscriminately. It wasn’t anything that could be leveraged for money, power, or fame, but it was potent. Maybe ten or twelve people on planet earth had my talent, and when the worst happened, when the bad man came, I was the person you wanted to show up to help. Jennifer understood my power, and she didn’t want that unleashed in the wrong way. And she wasn’t wrong.
The truth is that at one point in time I had been just like the guy I was chasing, my moral compass broken. But I was way beyond that now. I was on a different plane, not the least because of Jennifer.
I turned and brushed her cheek with my lips, saying, “All I’m worried about right now is rolling this guy up so I can get married. Something none of these DC assholes seem to remember.”
She chuckled, then said, “I’m serious, Pike. Don’t get wrapped around this guy. I saw you when you found out he was killing women. Don’t do it. Let’s find him and eliminate the threat, but don’t turn into Shoshana.”
I leaned back and said, “Hey, that’s not fair. Not fair to her. She doesn’t kill out of anger.” Which was something I’d done in an earlier life. To the point that I was almost a serial killer in my own right.
She ran her hand through my hair and said, “I know, but since I’ve been with you, I’ve seen the beast on my own. I’ve killed for vengeance, and I’ve regretted it ever since. I still have dreams.”
Not for the first time, I wondered about the world I’d pulled her into. I’d done many, many things I’d regretted, and I really didn’t want my wife to feel the same. It wasn’t exactly a good foundation for a long-term relationship.
She said, “Shoshana is like you on this one. The Ramsad was her touchstone. She’ll kill now just to relieve the pain, even if it’s not right. Just like she did in Bahrain.”
I pulled my head away from her hand and said, “You know you’re the one who created that monster. She wants to be you not me.”
She laughed and said, “Monster? Come on. She’s not that. She is what she is, but she’s a little off on this one because of the Ramsad.”
“Yeah, well, her instincts are still pretty damn good. I don’t know how she does it, but she’s like a cadaver dog sniffing the ground. When she finds something, it’s usually right, and she was right on this one.”
She lowered herself to my level in the chair and said, “I get that. I really do. She’s my bridesmaid for a reason. Just don’t let her do anything that will make me regret she’s my bridesmaid.”
She locked on to my eyes and I saw the earnestness of her plea. She didn’t want Shoshana to do something evil, even if it meant a greater good. I nodded and said, “I hear you. I understand.”
She stood up and said, “That didn’t come out right. Don’t ever let her do anything that makes her regret being my bridesmaid. She loves me and I love her. We are the same, even if we’re different. Keep her from doing something in the heat of the moment she’ll regret. I don’t want another Bahrain killing.”