Apocalypse now.
However, like any trained commando, he had a contingency plan. His involved a well-stocked storage locker in Arlington, Virginia. Cash. Guns. KA-BAR knife. Night-vision goggles. Everything he needed to take out the enemy.
‘Okay, here’s my second offer,’ Kate said with a surprising measure of boldness. ‘Not only does my friend Cædmon Aisquith live in Paris, but he’s a walking encyclopedia when it comes to symbols and their meanings. If you want to decipher the tattoo and medallion, Cædmon is your man.’
Hearing that, his gaze narrowed suspiciously. ‘I thought you were the symbol expert.’
‘My field of expertise is the peoples and culture of Central Asia. Cædmon is a medieval scholar with a graduate degree from Oxford.’
‘Loosely translated? He’s one of those nut jobs who plays the lute at the Renaissance Festival.’ This time, Finn did roll his eyes.
‘I’ll have you know that Cædmon is a serious scholar.’
‘I don’t need a scholar. All I need is a loaded weapon and a clear shot.’
‘Did I mention that he owns a bookstore on the Left Bank?’ Knowing full well that she hadn’t, Kate kept pounding at a very dead horse. ‘He has a zillion reference books at his fingertips.’
‘And I’ve got Google at mine.’
‘You said it yourself –’ snatching the medallion off the coffee table, Kate hefted it in the air – ‘this is your leverage with the Seven. So it might be a good idea to know what this means. As Cædmon is fond of saying, “Knowledge is power”.’
‘This is my fight, not yours. And it sure as hell ain’t Lute Boy’s battle.’
‘Where do you get off claiming this isn’t my fight? A few hours ago the Seven arranged to have me killed. Why? Because I chauffeured you to the embassy. And I only did that because you conned me into giving you a lift. You knew full well how dangerous these people are, yet that didn’t stop you from dragging me into the viper’s nest.’ Having just laid the mother of all guilt trips on him, Kate, arms belligerently crossed over her chest, stared him down.
‘Do I feel bad about what happened? Hell, yeah. But it doesn’t change my mind.’
‘Let me be blunt, Sergeant. Because you did drag me into this mess, I now require your protection. I’m scared to death. And, trust me, I didn’t like saying that any more than you liked hearing it.’
Finn opened his mouth to lob the next salvo. Only to clamp it shut an instant later. Arguing with Kate Bauer was a lot like arguing with a computerized voicemail system. You could talk yourself blue in the face, but it wouldn’t make a damned bit of difference.
He rubbed a hand over his jaw. Taking her to Paris would be a major pain in the ass. Hell, they’d be flying directly into the eye of the shit storm. But what choice did he have? She’d been targeted for execution. And he’d always been good at juggling more than one ball. So, yeah, he figured that he could protect her and hunt down the Dark Angel.
‘You’ve got me pinned in a corner. You know that, don’t you?’
‘Does that mean you’ve changed your mind?’ There was no mistaking the flicker of hope in those grey-blue eyes.
Finn nodded tersely, already regretting his decision. ‘You might know a lot about symbols, Doctor Bauer, but when it comes to dealing with unfriendlies, you don’t know your left from your right. My mission is to apprehend the Dark Angel and get my buddies the justice they deserve. And I don’t want anything to distract me from that. Which is why you will obey all of my orders. Without question. Understood?’
She nodded eagerly. ‘Understood. When do we leave?’
‘As soon as we can pack it up. And, Kate –’ he paused, making sure he had her full, undivided attention – ‘once we leave this houseboat, the only safe day will be the day just passed.’
PART II
‘I am convinced that there are universal currents of Divine Thought vibrating the ether everywhere and that any who can feel these vibrations is inspired’ – Richard Wagner
19
Paris, France
4 August, 0848 hours
‘Before we blow this joint, I need to lay down some ground rules. First of all, we’re not on a French wine-tasting tour. This is a search and destroy mission. Period. The end. That said, you will stay close to me at all times; you will obey every order given to you; and you will not question my authority. Am I making myself clear?’
Topsails slack, Kate nodded silently. In that instant, it occurred to her, yet again, that Fate was not merely capricious, but threw a mean sucker punch.
She hitched the knapsack strap a bit higher on her shoulder and lengthened her stride. Several minutes ago they had disembarked from the high-speed Eurostar, Finn now in a ‘big-ass hurry to put the mission op into play’. A one-man assault on the City of Love.
At this hour of the morning, the cavernous Gare du Nord train station brimmed with hundreds of travellers rushing pell-mell in every direction. Overhead, the departure board loudly click-clacked, yellow letters and numbers flipping past at a dizzying speed, like a slot machine run amuck. Kate averted her gaze, the rolling tabs inciting a nauseous churn. To add to the chaos, a strident female voice incessantly announced the arrivals and departures on the PA system.
Finn inclined his head in her direction. Although his lips moved, the ensuing remark was completely drowned out.
‘You’ll have to repeat that,’ she told him, cupping a hand to her ear.
Coming to a halt, Finn leaned towards her, his cheek brushing against hers. ‘Just outside the station, I see a line of cabs.’
Taken aback by the combination of warm breath, warm body and prickly stubble, Kate recoiled, hit with an unexpected jolt of sexual awareness. Something that had been happening with an unnerving frequency over the last few days. When they’d shared an office suite at the Pentagon, she’d been intimidated by Finn’s sheer physicality, the man taller, broader, more muscular than most. Now, for some inexplicable reason, she found herself strangely attracted to those very qualities.
Baffled by her reaction, particularly since Finn McGuire wasn’t her type, Kate wondered if she might be suffering from a variant form of Stockholm Syndrome. Like a hostage with her captor, was she attracted to Finn because she was so completely dependent on him to keep her safe?
‘Hey, soldier, you okay?’ A concerned look on his face, Finn gently squeezed her hand.
Even though Kate knew it was his way of bolstering the troops, it caused another spasm in the base of her spine. Wordlessly, she stared at him. At that close range, she could see each individual whisker that covered his lower face, the five o’clock shadow making him appear dangerously sexy.
‘I’m fine,’ she lied, fearing the frantic, non-stop pace was finally starting to catch up with her. ‘Would it be possible to grab a cup of coffee? There’s a café over by the –’
‘Later,’ Finn interjected, letting go of her hand. ‘We need to hit the road.’
She suppressed a groan. For the last two days, they’d been pounding the pavement. Hard.
Travelling under the radar, they’d left the houseboat in Washington and headed straight to a storage facility in Arlington, Virginia. Much to her surprise, Finn maintained a rental unit well-stocked with guns, ammo, a metal box full of cash and a Harley Davidson ‘Fat Boy’. Offering no explanation as to why a sane person would go to such extreme lengths, he’d packed what he called a ‘Go Bag’ – a heavy-duty canvas satchel with a leather strap reinforced with a stainless steel cable. He wore the Go Bag bandolier-style across his chest, having yet to take it off.