Last to Die r-10 Page 26

  “And your name isn’t really Carole, is it?” said Jane. “Because I know his isn’t Denzel.”

  “Those names will do for now.”

  Denzel said, “They asked me about Nicholas Clock.”

  “Naturally. They’re not idiots.” Carole picked up the fallen weapons and offered them back to Jane and Frost. “That’s why I’ve decided it’s time we worked together. Don’t you think?”

  Jane took back her Glock and considered, just for an instant, turning the gun on Carole and telling her to screw that working together crap. These people had drawn a gun on her, had forced her and Frost to kneel with the full expectation of death. That was not something you easily kissed and made up over. But she choked back her temper and shoved the gun in her holster. “How did you just happen to be here?”

  “We knew you were headed this way. We’ve been keeping an eye on you.”

  “This is like the Leidecker company,” said Frost. “Another fake business, this one used as Nicholas Clock’s cover.”

  “And this is where they’d come looking for him,” said Carole.

  “But Clock’s dead. He died aboard his yacht.”

  “They don’t know that. For weeks, we’ve been leaking rumors that Clock is alive, that his appearance has been altered by plastic surgery.”

  “Who’s looking for him?” asked Jane.

  Carole and Denzel exchanged looks. After a moment, she seemed to come to a decision and said to Denzel: “I need you outside to watch the street. Leave us.”

  With a brisk nod, he left the room, and they heard his footsteps clanging down the stairs. Carole watched from the window and didn’t say a word until she spotted her associate outside.

  She turned to Jane and Frost. “Boxes within boxes. That’s how the Company controls information. He knows what’s in his own little box, but nothing outside it. So now I’m going to give you a box, which belongs to just you two. Not to be shared. You understand?”

  “And who knows it all?” asked Jane. “Who owns all the boxes?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “That’s not part of your box.”

  “So we get no idea of where you stand in this hierarchy.”

  “I know enough to run this operation. Enough to know that having you two mucking around in this threatens everything I’ve worked for.”

  “The CIA’s not authorized to run operations on US soil,” pointed out Frost. “This is illegal.”

  “It’s also necessary.”

  “Why isn’t the FBI handling this?”

  “This was not their mess. It was ours. We are simply cleaning up what should have been finished years ago.”

  “In Rome,” Jane said, quietly.

  Carole didn’t answer, but her sudden stillness confirmed what Jane believed. Rome was where it started. Where the lives of Nicholas and Olivia and Erskine had intersected in some catastrophic event that was still casting ripples in the lives of their children.

  “How did you know?” Carole finally said.

  “Sixteen years ago, they were all there in Rome. Erskine, working as a foreign service officer. Olivia, working as a so-called sales rep.” Jane paused, made an educated guess. “And Nicholas, traveling as a consultant for Jarvis and McCrane. A company that exists only on paper.”

  She saw confirmation in Carole’s face. The woman stared out the window and sighed. “They were so cocky. So goddamn sure of themselves. We’d pulled it off before, so what could possibly go wrong?”

  We. “You were there, too,” said Jane. “In Rome.”

  Carole paced away from the window, her boots clicking across the wood. “It was a straightforward operation. Only Olivia was new to the team. The rest of us had worked together before. We knew Rome well, especially Erskine. That was his home base, and he had all the local assets lined up. People in place. All we had to do was swoop in, snatch our target, and get him out of the country.”

  “You mean … a kidnapping?”

  “You sound so judgmental.”

  “About kidnapping? Yeah, I tend to be.”

  “You wouldn’t be, if you knew the subject in question.”

  “You mean your victim.”

  “A criminal who’s responsible, both directly and indirectly, for the deaths of hundreds of people. We’re talking Americans, Detective. Our fellow citizens, killed in multiple countries. Not just military personnel, but also innocents abroad. Tourists, businessmen, families. Some monsters simply need to be exterminated, for the good of society. Surely you both understand that, considering your jobs. It is, after all, what you do. Hunt down monsters.”

  “But we do it within the law,” said Frost.

  “The law has no teeth.”

  “The law tells us when we’re over the line.”

  Carole snorted. “Let me guess, Detective Frost. You were a Boy Scout.”

  Jane glanced at her partner. “Well, that was right on the money.”

  “We do what needs to be done,” said Carole. “Everyone knows that extreme measures are sometimes necessary, but no one wants to admit it. No one wants to own it.” She moved toward Jane, close enough to be intimidating. “If you want a safer world, you need someone to do your dirty work. That someone would be us. We were there to take a monster out of circulation.”

  “You’re talking about extraordinary rendition,” said Frost.

  “That makes it sound so clinical. But yes, that’s what it’s called. Sixteen years ago, our mission was to scoop him up, whisk him to a private airstrip, and fly him to a detention facility in a cooperative country.”

  “For interrogation? Torture?” said Jane.

  “It’s a lot less than what he did to his victims. This man wasn’t driven by politics or religious convictions. He was in it for the money, and he’d made a fortune at it. Wire him enough cash, and he’d arrange to bomb a nightclub in Bali. Or take down a jumbo jet from Heathrow. His fortune made him untouchable—at least, through normal channels. We knew he’d never face justice in Italy. So we had to deliver justice another way. We had one chance, and only one chance, to snatch him. If we fucked up, if Icarus slipped away, he’d go underground. With his resources, we’d never get another shot at him.”

  “Icarus?”

  “Only a code name. His real name isn’t important.”

  “I’m guessing it didn’t go well,” said Jane.

  Carole went back to the window and peered out through cracked panes. “Oh, we accomplished the mission. Waited outside his favorite restaurant, where he dined with his wife and children and two bodyguards. When they came out, we were ready for them. One team boxed in the bodyguards’ vehicle. The other team pursued the car with Icarus and his family.” She turned to look at them. “Have you ever driven a mountain road there?”

  “I’ve never been to Italy,” said Jane.

  “And I’ll never be able to go back. Not after what happened.”

  “You said you accomplished your mission.”

  “Yes. In spectacularly bloody fashion. We were in pursuit. Four of us, in two cars, winding up killer curves. We almost had him when the truck came around the bend. Icarus hit the guardrail and skidded. The truck hit him broadside.” Carole shook her head. “It was a fucking mess. His wife and the older son crushed on impact. The younger son taking his last breaths.”

  “And Icarus?” said Frost.

  “Oh, he was alive. Not just alive but fighting us. Nicholas and Erskine got him restrained and threw him in one of our vehicles. Six hours later he was on a plane, handcuffed and sedated. He woke up behind bars. You know the first thing he said, when he saw me? You’re dead. All of you.”

  “You did kill his family,” pointed out Jane.

  “That was unfortunate. Collateral damage. But we accomplished our mission. The truck driver was too shaken up to give the Italian police any useful details about us. Erskine continued in his post at the embassy. Nicholas went back to his cover story as a financial consu
ltant.”

  “And Olivia went back to selling nonexistent bedpans.”

  Carole laughed. “At least Olivia went home with a souvenir. She stayed on in Italy for a few weeks. Met a dorky tourist named Neil Yablonski. By candlelight, in a Rome restaurant, I guess even a dork looks good. A year later, she married him.”

  “And you all went on with your lives.”

  “That’s how it should have been.”

  “What went wrong?”

  “Icarus escaped.”

  In the silence that followed, Jane put it all together. The reason why three families were massacred. “Vengeance,” she said.

  Carole nodded. “For what we did to him, and to his family. Those thirteen years he spent in prison made him even more of a monster. It gave him time to nurse his hatred, to feed it, grow it, until it consumed him. The escape was an inside job, that’s the only way it could have happened. I’m sure he offered a king’s ransom to whoever helped him. After he slipped out of sight, we had no idea where he went, or even what he looked like. We never did locate all his secret accounts, so he still controlled a fortune. I’m sure he bought a new face. And new friends in high places.”

  “You said he spent thirteen years in prison,” said Frost.

  “Yes.”

  “So he escaped three years ago.” He looked at Jane. “That must be why Nicholas Clock and his family packed up and left on the sailboat.”

  Carole nodded. “After Icarus escaped, Nicholas got nervous. We all did, but he was the only one worried enough to pull up roots and actually ditch the Company. I didn’t think it would be easy for Icarus to track us down. Until the Italian government got involved.”

  “Why?” said Jane.

  “Blame it on politics, on WikiLeaks, whatever. Word got out to the press that the CIA had committed an act of extraordinary rendition on Italian soil. Suddenly the Italians were pissed. Violation of sovereignty. A CIA operation that killed three innocent civilians. Our names were redacted from all the reports, but money opens doors. Especially if it’s a lot of money.” She went back to the window and looked out, a lean silhouette framed in gray light. “Erskine and his wife were killed first. Shot, in a London alley. Days later Olivia and her husband were dead, too, after their plane went down. I tried to get word to Nicholas, but the message didn’t reach him in time. In the span of one week, all three of my colleagues were dead.”

  “How were you lucky enough to stay alive?” said Jane.

  “Lucky?” Carole’s laugh was bitter. “That’s hardly the word I’d choose to describe my life. More like doomed. To keep looking over my shoulder. To always sleep with one eye open. For two years I’ve been living this way, and even though the Company does what it can to keep me safe, it will never feel like enough. And it won’t be enough to keep those three children alive.”

  “Icarus would go that far? He’d kill children?”

  “Who else would be hunting them? He killed Nicholas and Olivia and Erskine, all dead within a week of each other. Now he’s hunting their children, exterminating the family lines right down to the last survivor. Don’t you see, it’s all about making a point. It’s a message directed to anyone who dares oppose him in the future. Cross me, and I will massacre you and everyone you love.” She paced back toward Jane, and her face seemed etched even more deeply with exhaustion. “He will try again.”

  The sound of a car passing on the street made Carole turn around to the window. She watched as the vehicle passed. Long after the sound of the engine had faded, she was still standing there, searching for, expecting, the coming attack.

  Jane pulled out her cell phone. “I’m going to call the Maine State Police. Ask them to dispatch a team—”

  “We can’t trust them. We can’t trust anyone.”

  “Those children need protection now.”

  “What I’ve told you is classified. You can’t share any of these details with law enforcement.”

  “Or what, you’ll have to kill us?” Jane said, and snorted.

  Carole moved toward her, no trace of humor in her face. “Make no mistake. If I have to, I will.”

  “Then why are you telling us all this? If it’s so top secret?”

  “Because you’re already deep in this. Because your interference could screw up everything.”

  “Screw up what, exactly?”

  “My best, maybe my only chance, to nail Icarus. That was my plan, anyway. Place all three children in one location, and he won’t be able to resist the target.”

  Jane and Frost glanced at each other in astonishment. “You planned it this way?” she said. “You arranged to put those kids at Evensong?”

  “It started as a precaution, not a plan. The Company believed they were safe in their various locations, but I had doubts. I was monitoring them. And when the first attack came, on the girl—”

  “You were the Good Samaritan. The mystery blonde who magically showed up on the scene. And then vanished.”

  “I stayed with Claire long enough to make sure she’d be safe. When the police arrived, I slipped out of sight. Arranged to move her straight to Evensong, where we already had one of our people in place.”

  “Dr. Welliver.”

  Carole nodded. “Anna retired from the Company years ago, after her husband was killed in Argentina. But we knew we could trust her. We also knew Evensong was remote enough and secure enough to keep the girl safe. Which is why we sent the next child to Evensong, too.”

  “Will Yablonski.”

  “It was sheer luck that he wasn’t in the house when that bomb went off. I arrived just in time to whisk him away.”

  “So what went wrong with Teddy Clock? You knew what was coming. You knew he’d be targeted next.”

  “That attack shouldn’t have happened. The house was secure, the system was armed. Something went terribly wrong.”

  “You think?” Jane retorted.

  “I had agents stationed outside the residence, around the clock. But that night, they were ordered to abandon their posts.”

  “Who ordered them?”

  “They claimed I called them off. Not true.”

  “They lied?”

  “Everyone has a price, Detective. You just have to keep bidding higher and higher until you reach it.” Carole began to pace a restless circle around the room. “Now I don’t know whom to trust, or how far up the chain this goes. All I know is, he’s behind it and he’s not finished. He wants those three children. And he wants me.” She stopped, swiveled to look at Jane. “I have to be the one to end this.”

  “How? If you can’t trust your own people.”

  “That’s why I’ve gone outside the Company. I’m doing this my way, with handpicked people I know I can count on.”

  “And you’re telling us all this because you trust us?” Jane glanced at Frost. “That’s a change.”

  “You two, at least, haven’t been corrupted by Icarus.”

  “How do you know?”

  Carole laughed. “Two homicide detectives, and one of you a Boy Scout.” She looked at Frost. “Oh, I did a background on you. I wasn’t joking when I called you one.” She looked at Jane. “And you have something of a reputation.”

  “Do I?” said Jane.

  “If I use the word bitch, don’t take offense. It’s what they call women like us. Because we don’t compromise, we don’t go halfway. We kick that ball all the way to the end zone.” She gave a slight bow. “There is honor between bitches.”

  “Geez, I’m flattered.”

  “My point,” said Carole, “is that it’s time we work together. If you want to keep those children alive, then you need me, and I need you.”

  “Do you have an actual plan in mind, or is this just one of those in principle alliances?”

  “I wouldn’t be alive if I didn’t make plans. We’re going to make Icarus reveal himself.”

  “How?”

  “It involves the children.”

  “Okay,” said Frost, “I’m not liking what I�
�m hearing.”

  “You haven’t heard it.”

  “You mentioned the kids. There’s no way we’ll agree to put them in any danger.”

  “They’re already in danger, don’t you get it?” Carole snapped. “I’m the only reason Claire and Will are alive right now. Because I was there to save them.”

  “And now you want to use them?” Frost looked at Jane. “You know that’s what she’s planning.”

  “Give her a chance to talk,” said Jane, her gaze fixed on Carole. She knew nothing about this woman, not even her real name, and Jane had not decided if she could trust her. Honor among bitches only worked if you knew the other bitch. All Jane knew was what she saw: an athletic blonde in her forties, wearing expensive boots and an even more expensive wristwatch. A woman who had about her the faint air of desperation. If what Carole had told them was true, then she’d been a Company operative since her midtwenties. For the past two years, she’d been continually on the move, under different names, which would have been difficult if she’d had a family tagging along. She’s a lone wolf, thought Jane. A survivor, who’d do what was necessary to stay alive.

  “I know you’re concerned about the children,” said Carole. “But if we don’t end this, they’ll never be safe. As long as they live, they represent failure to Icarus. He needs to show the world that he can’t be fucked with. That if you cross him, he will be relentless. Think about what their lives will be like if we don’t kill him. Every year, they’ll need new identities, new homes. Running, always running. I know what that’s like, and it’s no life for a kid. Certainly not for teenagers hungry for friends and stability. This is their best chance for a normal life, and they don’t even have to know about it.”

  “How are you going to keep this from them?”

  “They’re already where they need to be. A defensible location. A monitored access road. A school staffed by teachers who will defend them.”

  “Wait. Are you telling us that Anthony Sansone knows about this?”

  “He knows only that they’re in danger and they need protection. I asked Dr. Welliver to share that much with him, but not the specifics.”

  “So he doesn’t know about this operation?”

  Carole’s gaze slipped away. “Even Dr. Welliver didn’t know.”