Not today.
Today was his birthday.
Sixty eight and counting. The old man still had all his faculties, but most of them were diminished now. Thus, he didn’t hear the creeping footsteps nor see the burgeoning shadow. He felt a lance of cold pierce his heart — a premonition — but assumed it was the by-product of a conversation with the shrew this morning. Such things never went well, and he tried to avoid them at all costs.
The first thing he knew was the hand across his mouth. The second an agonizing pain through the ribcage. After that the shadow fell across him further as gloved hands reached out toward his keyboard.
He died wondering how a man that had lived such a long life, experienced sixty eight years, had always been fated to die at the hands of a silent killer. All that life, that understanding — for what? For this…
He fell off his chair, his fall cushioned by his killer. The job was already done and, like the other Hoods before him, he’d also checked to see if their target had forwarded the Athens email on to any others.
The old man was left, dying. It didn’t matter now. Only the Master’s command mattered.
In Warsaw, Gabrielle said goodbye to her family and headed out the door. A biting wind greeted her, and that was okay. She barely felt it, so consumed was she with the events of last night. Her cheating boyfriend had confessed his third one-night-stand in two years. The next few hours were volcanic, fraught. The final few hours she spent with her mother and father, lamenting the end of one more failed relationship.
The walk to work was short, and barely noticed. Gabrielle couldn’t remember taking the bus nor crossing the busy road junctions. She ended up standing outside her place of work, looking up at the blank windows, wondering if there might be more to life than all this. A career in archaeology had sounded impressive, exciting. The real truth wasn’t quite in the same league as the thought.
The man came out of the museum, actually holding her computer. Gabrielle knew it was hers as she recognized the yellow ‘happy face’ emoji stuck to the side alongside a postcard sent from Athens by her friend Niki.
She opened her mouth to talk to what she assumed was an engineer. Had something happened during the night?
The silenced revolver filled her mouth, the taste metallic, hard and revolting. She saw a quick glimpse of gloved hands pulling the trigger and then knew no more.
The killer didn’t even break pace.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Bodie evaluated the team at a rest stop. The cuts, bruises and scrapes they’d already received since leaving Acapulco were surprising, especially since they had so far failed to engage their real enemy. He was more concerned that they were operating outside their expert skill set. Of course, they all had their strengths and could mix it up with anyone in a wide range of circumstances, but they were all gifted at one thing in particular — a heist.
The rest stop consisted of a wide, curving lay-by, its road actually wider than the carriageway, with several benches and a burger van. Trees sheltered the clearing from any sun that may threaten more pasty tourists but, Bodie thought with a slight shiver, there was no chance of that today. Sunlight had vanished with the earlier atrocity and now the skies were a deep, leaden gray, promising only misery.
He perched on a bench opposite Heidi. The CIA agent was just getting put through to somebody via a satphone. Out of courtesy Bodie gestured that he would leave but Heidi shook her head, asking him to stay. The gash on her forehead had finally stopped bleeding.
“Yes, sir,” the blonde finally said in answer to a question. “The Hood escaped by car, we think. We’re no further forward.”
Bodie felt badly about that, but their whole trip to Thessaloniki had been an educated guess, and they’d been on the back foot since hopping out of the chopper.
Heidi listened for a while, then turned to Bodie. “They found which IP address belonged to the Athens archaeologist tasked with studying the map and are remotely checking the museum’s server to see if he sent out any emails.”
Bodie refrained from the pointless comment of legality. This was the CIA. “Didn’t the Hood cleanse the system?”
“Yeah, but he can’t turn back time. There’s always a digital footprint, Bodie.” Heidi turned a quick smile upon him. “Always.”
What’s that supposed to mean? Bodie frowned.
“The best, wiliest and cruelest thing the American government ever did was convince the public that the Internet meant freedom,” Gunn said from behind. “The entire world connected. Freedom like never before. The planet becomes a much smaller place. Freedom?” Gunn shook his head. “Nah. It’s the opposite.”
Heidi held up a finger to stop him. “Four?” She sounded surprised, then looked down at the table in regret. “Ah, I see.”
“Heidi?” Bodie saw it wasn’t good.
The blonde muted her phone for a moment. “The fuckers killed them all,” she explained in a quiet voice. “Four emails were sent containing the map attachment. All four recipients are now dead. All unwitting, innocent people. Goddamn it.”
Gunn plonked himself down beside Bodie. “As I was saying. Nobody’s safe anymore.”
Heidi ignored him. “They’re checking now to see if the four recipients forwarded the emails on to anyone else.”
“In one way, I hope they did,” Bodie said. “As it will give us something to work with. But on the other hand…” He paused as Heidi nodded and started listening to her superior again. He took the time to finish his evaluation of the team. Gunn, of course, was being his usual quiet, detached self; a quirk in his high-intellect makeup. Human emotion, especially shared, did not come easily for him. Cassidy was raring to go, desperate to hurt and bring down a bad guy — any bad guy, but the Hood would be preferable. Cross conserved energy by resting on a bench and demolishing a bacon sandwich. Jemma couldn’t get the look of sadness off her face; moved and crushed by all that had happened at the bus station.
Bodie listened up as Heidi ended her call. Bodie saw a complex mix of emotion on her face. “What?”
“One of the original recipients forwarded the map to somebody else.” She shook her head. “We have to assume one of the Hoods extracted that information too.”
“And the bad news?” Gunn asked blandly.
“That is the bad news,” Heidi said shortly. “The good news is that he sent it to an address in Istanbul.”
Bodie stared for three seconds, then looked to his right. “Istanbul? Shit.”
“Exactly.” Heidi’s face crinkled as she found Bodie on the same wavelength. “We’re an hour away from this guy.”
Bodie rose fast, then paused. “ ’Kinell,” he said. “We need—”
“Chopper’s on its way back,” Heidi said. “The boys back home are working on some kind of clearance.”
Bodie looked surprised. “Above board?”
Heidi’s eyes widened. “I’m not sure what that means?”
Gunn chortled. “Never break cover,” he said. “You should know that.”
“And what about the Hood?”
“He can wait,” Heidi said. “One hour there, one hour back. We’ll catch up.”
Bodie wasted no time rounding up the team. “Okay people, we’re making a little side trip. Istanbul.”
Cassidy looked over. “What? You need a souvenir, or something?”
“The map,” Gunn explained. “An email was forwarded over there. We can get the map.”
“Not to mention save a life,” Heidi said pointedly. “Which is the big issue here.”