“I don’t care who you are, Mister LeCroix. I have had a long day and I’m getting ready to eat and go to bed. Go away.”
LeCroix laughed that off. “Not quite yet, sir. We have come to escort you to meet with Colonel Thomas Markey. It won’t take long.”
“Never heard of him.”
“Well, sir, apparently he has heard of you. Let us in and I will explain.”
Kyle stepped aside and the two army investigators entered the suite. “So explain.”
LeCroix unbuttoned his coat and put his hands in his pockets to show no threat. “Colonel Markey is a senior fellow here in Tallinn at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.”
Swanson settled into a big chair, maintaining the cover of an arrogant businessman. As he adjusted the pillow behind him, he stuck his pistol between the cushion and the armrest. “Good for him, but I’ve never heard of that, either, and I’m not in the army.”
With the good guy/bad guy routine, Harrelson finally spoke in a deep voice as he flipped his coat back to reveal a holstered weapon. “Fuck you, asshole. Enough games. Get on your feet and let’s go.”
LeCroix half-turned to his partner. “That’s not needed, Ralph. Stay cool.” Then he looked back at Kyle. “We are aware of your military background and your current status with a certain government agency, sir, so I’m afraid that we must insist that you come with us.”
Swanson carefully withdrew the Beretta from the cushion and rested it on his knee. “And I insist right back that I’m not going anywhere. Keep your hands where I can see them, Ralphy-boy. Here is the only deal I’m willing to make. You go back and tell the colonel that I am a private citizen and a businessman with a major defense contractor. If he wants an appointment, I can give him twenty minutes tomorrow after breakfast. Then I leave town. He should be here at nine o’clock.”
Harrelson snapped, “You can’t talk that way to us, or dismiss an army colonel’s order, you rich snot.”
Swanson responded, “Leave now.”
The two warrant officers exchanged looks, then at a motion from LeCroix, they went to the door. “The colonel is not going to be pleased with this noncooperation,” he said. “After all, we are all on the same team, right?”
The room service cart arrived five minutes later, awash with delicious aromas. A luggage cart was also there, with the new clothes for Anneli. Kyle signed the chit, including a nice tip, and lifted one of the curved metal lids from the food tray. There was a T-bone steak, medium rare, with sautéed onions, mushrooms, and a silver cell phone on top of the sixteen-ounce cut. It bore a gravy-stained card that read: PRESS CALL BUTTON. Swanson dropped the card in a trash container, wiped the phone and made the call.
“We’ve been waiting for you to show up,” said a male voice.
“Here I am. I cannot talk now. I will call you tomorrow morning and straighten everything out. Where is Ivan?”
He heard the man chuckle. “I will tell you tomorrow morning. What are you going to do with the girl?”
“Turn her over to you. She’s wanted by the bad guys, and is a potentially very valuable HUMINT asset.”
“I figured that. You have already bought her some clothes, so you are going to buy her a few more. Tomorrow morning at eight o’clock, take a taxi to the Kristiine Shopping Centre, a mall that specializes in fashion. Look for a store called Rags, and ask for the owner. Her code name is ‘Calico.’ She will take the girl off your hands, and then we’ll meet up.”
“Safe house; the works. Trust me, she can help us.”
“Yes. You leave at noon for Brussels for the debrief.”
“Okay.”
“One last thing. How did you get off the ferry without being seen?”
Kyle laughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just walked down the gangway like everybody else.”
The caller repeated the instructions. “Rags. Calico. Brussels. Look forward to meeting you the next time through here.” He hung up.
Kyle dropped the phone in his pocket, then called out, “Anneli! Come on out. Chow time.”
She emerged from the master bedroom wrapped in a thick white hotel robe, using a rumpled towel to dry her hair. She warily walked to the table on which he had laid out the trays, and picked at the salad. “I’m not really hungry,” she said.
“I am,” Kyle said. “I turned off the electronic snoops so we can speak freely, Anneli. I will tell you what I can. Mostly, one more time, you are not in danger here. You have stumbled into some waters that are way over your head, but we are going to fix that.”
She sniffed and dabbed her nose with the towel. “I need to save Brokk,” she said. “I am worried sick about him.”
“People will be working on that, too, but first things first. My real name is Kyle Swanson and I really am with a large business called Excalibur Enterprises, based in London. That is the truth, and all you need to know about me.”
“I saw you kill two men. I think you are a soldier.” She picked up a fork and knife and trimmed off a small piece of steak. The proximity of the food was calling to her.
Kyle kept eating, pausing now and then to push the narrative without giving her everything. “I was in the U.S. Marines for many, many years, Anneli. That is where I learned how to fight. I remember the training.”
She curled her bare feet up beneath her and ate another piece of meat. Her hunger had replaced the initial reluctance. “So why did you pretend to be a tourist journalist in Narva?”
“Now, what I am about to tell you is secret. You will understand why. I also work once in a while for an American government agency. My trip over there to Narva was to gather some specific information, and that was why I kept my distance from you and Brokk. It was not that I did not want to help you, but I could not jeopardize my mission.”
She just stared at him for a while with those dark eyes, chewing a small potato slice. “I was not part of the deal, huh?”
“No, you weren’t. The coffee shop and the pub were no problem. However, once you ran onto the gallery, we had no choice. I wasn’t going to let them take you away, and we couldn’t stay in Narva, could we? So here we are. Questions?”
“I have a million questions and you probably will not answer any of them.”
“Probably not. Tomorrow morning, we’re going to meet a woman who will take you on the next step of this new journey. Your life is about to change, Anneli, but not in a bad way. My agency is going to give you a velvet-glove welcome and do everything possible to find Brokk, too.”
“It is the Central Intelligence Agency?”
He handed her a small white pill. “You will be told everything at the right time. Right now, just enjoy the food and go get some sleep. You have been through a lot today, and this will help you rest if you need it. Be ready to leave at eight o’clock in the morning. Wear the black suit.”
10
The shopping center was a fashion rainbow. After decades of living in a drab communist world, where utilitarian clothes matched black and gray skies and hopeless faces, Tallinn had charged into the modern world. It had become a place where clothing mattered and it was permissible for a woman to be beautiful. The mall was lined with shops that featured the latest in women’s wear, and business was brisk even at the early hour. Clothing was coming in and going out of the loading docks on wheeled racks that darted through the corridors. Despite her personal anxiety, Anneli Kallasti could not suppress a surge of excitement as she went inside with Swanson, beneath the painted gazes of mannequins dressed like strutting peacocks.