Elite Operatives: Demons Are Forever Part 47

"Eyes only, Jack. If you stop him or do anything to alert him, we're screwed."

Jack nodded. "I realize that. If we catch him, he knows he's a dead man walking anyway. He'll have no reason at all to tell us where Ca.s.s is."

"And by the time we find her, if we ever do, it'll be too late."

"I realize, I said." Jack was getting irritated, but Chase had to make sure she didn't act on anger.

"Time to turn on the earpieces."

Both switched on their tiny mic/audio pieces and placed them in their ears.

"Good to go." Jack got up and headed for the door as Chase threw a few Euros on the table.

Not long after, she took up her own position, casually leaning against a kiosk in front of the hammam. She was pretending to be absorbed in a French magazine when she spotted Dario's goon. "If Dario's description is right, his guy is about to enter. He's holding a small black gym bag."

"No sign of Rozsa here," Jack replied from the back entrance.

"He shouldn't be long. I don't see anyone who looks like him going in. So many are coming and going at the moment."

Andor Rozsa smiled as he checked himself one last time in the window of the antique shop, four doors down from the meeting place. He'd shaved his beard and mustache, cut his dark hair to near- * 350 *

stubble and dyed it blond, and added a pair of cheap reading gla.s.ses to complete the look. Dressed in plain black trousers and a T-s.h.i.+rt he'd bought in a harbor gift shop, he looked radically different from the photos that had appeared worldwide during the pandemic he'd unleashed. The camera around his neck completed the I'm just another tourist image he was going for.

He'd chosen the meeting place with care. Though he didn't know Dario well, he knew him enough to suspect he'd have some game up his sleeve. People like Dario didn't just give money away, and the man considered him a liability. But he had to take the risk.

The fifty grand wouldn't last long, and he had no means to make any himself anytime soon. The payment he was about to receive from Dario would at least ensure a comfortable life. He had no other options. The people who'd promised to return his millions in exchange for his prisoner were all excuses and delays; they apparently weren't concerned enough with getting the girl back to find a way to make it happen.

Ideally, he would have sent his aide Patrik to the meeting in his stead, but he'd been arrested back in Budapest, and Andor couldn't afford the luxury of trusting anyone else. They'd either recognize him and turn him in-the price the FBI had on his head was one he'd never be able to match-or they'd take their chances with whatever was in the bag and run.

The Hammam Eden was the best place for him to get the transaction done in person. Whoever Dario sent with the money would have to undress, which would make concealing a weapon impossible. Not that he expected the emissary to recognize him, but it was better to be safe than dead. Of course they might catch him on the way out, but he'd done a very good job preparing his disguises, even if he said so himself. He would look one way coming and going from the place, and an entirely different way for the drop itself, to minimize the chances they would recognize him as he left.

He entered the toilet in the locker room and took a gray wig and mustache from his bag. He put them on and removed the fake gla.s.ses, pleased with the result. Moments later, wrapped in a towel, * 351 *

he entered the steam room and sat among the dozen or so men already there.

The conditions were ideal. This was the busiest time of day for the bath-which he'd learned during a phone call that morning-so it was easy to blend in. And the thick mist made it difficult to see anyone clearly.

Once seated, he removed the towel like all the other men and waited, trying to appear relaxed. He was nervous, but the prospect of getting the money kept him focused. Not long after he'd arrived, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and a big man got up to leave. Andor waited another couple of minutes, then moved to where the man had been sitting. When he reached beneath the bench, he found the small duffel.

He glanced around casually. No one was paying him any attention, and the steam was thick as fog. He leaned over, unzipped the duffel, and rummaged through it for a closer look. It was full of hundred-Euro bills, with no sign of a tracking device. Satisfied, he closed it again and leaned back against the wall. He remained there another twenty minutes.

In the locker room, he entered the toilet stall again and placed the small duffel in his own bigger one and removed the wig and mustache. Back to his new blond self, he dressed and left through the back emergency exit, which he'd spotted the night before while scoping out the exterior.

He was home free. Dario had lived up to his word. Maybe they could do business together again, after all. Now all he had to do was return to the boat to pick up his belongings. He'd dispose of his troublesome prisoner out at sea, en route to his new life.

Jack's nerves were so on edge she jumped when a man exited through the back of the hammam. She'd been waiting behind a trash bin in the alley for forty-five minutes, and no one had used this door except a couple of employees stepping out for a smoke. "A blond guy with gla.s.ses just came out through the door."

* 352 *

"It doesn't sound like Rozsa, but why leave through the back?" Chase said into her ear.

"Exactly. His duffel looks d.a.m.n heavy, if you ask me."

"Stay on him."

"I intend to."

"Let me know where you're headed."

Jack watched the blond stranger get farther down the alley. She was just about to step out from behind the bin to follow him when a second man came through the rear exit. He wasn't carrying a gym bag, and he strode purposefully after the first man. "f.u.c.k. We have company. Dario's guy. Black hair in a ponytail?"

"That's him. But it doesn't make sense. He came out thirty minutes ago, and he's still parked on the bench out front. Green polo and blue jeans?"

"Yup."

"A double," they said at the same time.

"Dario's trying to pull a fast one on us," Chase said. "When did he arrange all this?"

"The goon's behind Rozsa and in front of me." Jack came out of hiding and started after them as quietly as possible, her Glock in her hand.

"Do what you have to."

"You know I will."

Ponytail was closing in fast on Rozsa, who was too intent on making a getaway and probably so confident he'd succeeded to bother looking back. It would be easy for the goon to off him in this quiet back alley, and if it were Jack in his place, she'd take him out right now.

When Ponytail reached for his chest, Jack broke into a run as silently as she could. He had the gun out and was taking aim at Rozsa when she jumped him from behind, hitting him on the back of his head with the b.u.t.t of her Glock. The big man dropped like a brick wall and Jack had to use all her might to catch him so he didn't make noise. Rozsa was still in view; all he had to do was turn around and he'd see both of them.

* 353 *

Jack kept one eye on the fleeing figure as she let Ponytail fall quietly onto the cobblestone pavement. She didn't have time for this s.h.i.+t. She had to keep up with Rozsa, and he was nearing the main thoroughfare where he could lose himself in the crowd, or maybe get into a waiting car.

She stuck Ponytail's gun into her coat pocket and was about to leave when the guy came to and pulled a small automatic from the back of his jeans. Jack didn't hesitate. She raised her Glock with its silencer and shot him in the head, then ran after Rozsa.

* 354 *

ChaPter thirty-eight.

What's going on? Where is he headed?" Chase was restless. She'd heard a struggle in her earpiece and then Jack's fast breathing. She wanted to run in the direction Rozsa was headed, but Jack's lack of feedback made that impossible.

"I had to take down Ponytail," Jack finally whispered. "Rozsa is headed toward the cabs at the intersection of La Canebiere and Rue Papiere."

Chase ran to the rental van, parked a few feet away from the bathhouse entrance, and punched the address into the GPS. "On my way."Less than two minutes later, Jack was next to her in the van and they were tailing Rozsa's cab.

"Looks like we have company," Jack said.

Chase looked in the rearview mirror. She'd seen it, too-a small Clio with two men inside was keeping pace with them, always careful to stay a few cars back. "I noticed."

"Dario told his men to follow us if Rozsa got away," Jack surmised.

"I think they were ordered to follow us anyway. Only I'm not sure whether Dario or his sister put the request in."

"Same thing as far as I'm concerned. I'd love to get my hands on that crazy b.i.t.c.h."

"I know what you mean."

"When did he talk to her last?" Jack asked.

* 355 *

"He hasn't since the call we recorded, as far as I know. But it's possible he contacted her that last morning in Beijing. He probably had his cell when he met with Zhang, and by that time, he knew about the wire. The only person he spoke to after I got him in custody was his own guy-Dario made him get rid of Jules's body and told him he was going to take care of Rozsa himself and that the plans had been altered."

"Could be that the guy Dario talked to informed his sister and got new orders."

"But she had no way of knowing where Rozsa's meeting place was.""She'd know if the Ponytails informed her after Dario called," Jack replied.

"I think we overestimated Dario. His sister's controlling this operation."

Chase pulled out her cell. "If she had somebody waiting at the airport to find out why Dario made the change in plans, they may have been following us ever since we got here. Which means they may know about the hotel."

She called the reception desk. "I'd like to book a room for two for...right now. My friend will check in, in a few minutes." She gave her own name and credit card number and then called Jack's room, relieved when Heather answered. "I need you to go to reception right now and pick up the keys for room 305. Then uncuff Dario and take him and your things to that room and stay there. You can leave our bags behind."

"What's going on?" Heather asked.

"I'm not sure yet," she said, gripping the phone tighter as she imagined Dario's sister sending goons to the hotel after her brother.

"Just do it, and do it now."

"No problem," Heather replied calmly.

They followed the cab for another twenty minutes until it finally stopped at the quiet harbor of Montredon, a village south of Ma.r.s.eille. Rozsa got out and hurried toward the marina.

"Reno was right," Jack said. "He's been hiding on a boat the whole time."

* 356 *

Chase looked out over the crowded moorings. "At least two hundred boats are out here. If Dario's men attack now-"

"I'll check every single one until I find her," Jack said.

"Not if he's anch.o.r.ed somewhere out at sea, or at another harbor altogether."

"f.u.c.k. They're getting out."

Two rows behind where they were parked, Chase saw two men get out of the small Clio that had been following them. She and Jack pulled their Glocks out. "Who do you think they'll go after first, us or Rozsa?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.

"We're closest, but he's about to get away with the money and his blackmailing a.s.s."

"Him it is, then."

"Yup." Jack grabbed her small rucksack. "And I'm not letting that b.a.s.t.a.r.d out of my sight, either." They got out of the rental and stayed close to the other parked cars, dodging and avoiding Dario's men, but keeping an eye on them. The goons seemed too preoccupied with Rozsa to notice them.

"I think our hides are a bonus, not a must."

"Rozsa's on the dock. They're going to move in on him." She took off in that direction, staying back, while Jack followed Rozsa onto the pier.

The small marina was bustling with people and activity, and Rozsa seemed completely oblivious to the fact that four people were after him. He got into a small blue speedboat with an open c.o.c.kpit.

Jack hung back, several slips away. She looked like she was inspecting the various watercraft anch.o.r.ed all around her.

At the same time, one of the goons Chase was following disappeared into the boat rental office, while the other waited outside.

"What are you doing?" Chase asked her through the mic.

"I doubt there'll be a shoot-out here," Jack said, "and we can't just walk into the rental office with the other two to get a boat."

"You can see them from there?" It was impossible from Jack's position.

"That's what I would do. Am I wrong?"

* 357 *

"No." She had to admire Jack's perceptiveness.

"Didn't think so. Be ready to jump on."

"Are you going to hijack one?"

"Of course not. I'm going to borrow it without asking." Chase pa.s.sed the boat rental and headed closer to the dock. She could feel the one goon standing lookout staring at her while they both kept an eye on Rozsa. Moments later, the other guy came out and they hurried toward a red speedboat just as Rozsa's blue one started moving.

"I hope you're almost done hotwiring," she told Jack as she closed in on the pier herself. "Rozsa and the goons are on the move."

"Walk faster. We're good to go." Jack waited behind the wheel of a small yacht, already idling, and when she jumped on they took off after the others. They cruised behind Rozsa and the other boat for fifteen minutes, headed out to sea. Like them, the goons were keeping their distance from Rozsa. On this sunny day, the Mediterranean was dotted with pleasure craft, mostly sailboats.

"Where the h.e.l.l is he going?" Jack asked.