“I thought you said reasonable prices.” Jake said. “Have you ever looked at the menu?”
“The food is excellent.” Perez laughed.
“Why did you bring us here?” Kaplan grumbled.
“Because the desserts are to die for.” Perez said.
“Odd choice of words.” Kaplan said. “Because if we miss Khan, that might be what happens.”
They were seated at a table next to the window where Jake watched the hordes of pedestrians stroll by as if they had nowhere to go. No one seemed in a hurry. The trio ordered sandwiches and waited too long before the order was brought to the table. Jake glanced at his watch, 1:45. It was getting close to time for him to elude Kaplan’s constant monitoring of him and make his way to Piene del Vientos where he was to meet his blind date.
Jake finished his sandwich well ahead of the other two. “That was good.” Jake stood up. “Time to make a head run.”
“Don’t take too long.” Kaplan complained. “We’re short on time.”
Jake could tell Kaplan wasn’t expecting him to disappear this soon. “Keep your sense of humor, Gregg. We might need it later.”
Jake scoped out the location of the restrooms as soon as they arrived at the café, noting who went in and when they came out. The men’s room was the first room down the hall and he could tell by the floor plan that it backed up to the kitchen. He saw men waiting outside the door several times so he knew it was a one-man facility. The women’s room was at the end of the hall and he'd noticed numerous occasions when more than one woman entered at a time. And each time the door opened, Jake could see the reflection of outside light — meaning it had a window. He just hoped the window was large enough to squeeze through.
Jake walked down the hall, glancing back to see Kaplan’s watchful glare. He grabbed the knob. Locked. As he knew it would be. Jake bounced up and down enough to let Kaplan see his urgency, and then he walked to the women’s room. He gave Kaplan a ‘what the hell’ look and stepped inside. Jake had watched this room carefully, he was sure it was empty.
Jake opened the door and slipped inside, locking the door behind him. He heard a shuffle behind him.
“I beg your pardon. This is not the men’s room.”
Jake turned. A brunette was standing at the mirror touching up her makeup. She was older, he guessed mid-forties and wore a tight black dress, spiked heels with ankle straps, and was quite attractive.
“I’m sorry. I thought it was empty.” Jake pleaded his case. “And I really have to get out of here.”
Not part of Jake’s plan, not Plan A, anyway. “Look, I can’t hide in here much longer. I was having a drink at the bar and asked a woman for a date. Her boyfriend wasn’t very happy about it.”
“Not a smart move.” Her eyes scanned him up and down. She smiled. “You should have waited for me. You’re luck might have been better.”
Think fast, Jake. “Now I wish I had. You’re a beautiful woman. Get me out of here and I'll buy you dinner. Can I can meet you somewhere?” He couldn’t believe what he was saying.
She laughed. “You’re cute. Not very smooth, but cute.”
Jake walked to the window and opened it as far as it would go. The opening was large enough to crawl through. Now to see how gullible the woman was.
“Are we on?”
She grinned. “We’re on. When and where?”
“How about at the end of the Boulevard by the water. Say, six o'clock? Then we'll go wherever you'd like. I owe you that much.” He pulled himself to the window ledge.
“I’ll be there.” Her voice turned sultry. “Let me give you a little push.”
“Thanks.” He moved through the window opening and felt the woman’s hand run up his leg to his groin, then squeeze his buttocks.
“Nice and tight.” She said. “That’s why I love younger men.”
He felt himself flush. He crawled out the window and dropped to the ground.
At first, he thought he’d made a mistake. The area behind the café was blocked off with no apparent way out but up — and no way to get up. He followed a wall that led him through a maze of nooks and crannies until he caught a glimpse of a street. He exited through a barred six-foot gate, fortunately not locked, which landed him on a narrow pedestrian street. He glanced at his watch, 2:00. He had to hurry; he had over three kilometers to run and only thirty minutes to get there. He had a problem, though. He’d lost his bearings in the maze and had to regain them fast without exposing himself to the café he'd just exited.
He used the shadows stretching from the structures around him to help him get his bearings. Soon he was standing on the Boulevard, the main walking street in Old Town San Sebastian.
The opportunity made him smile, a vendor was renting bicycles to tourists. Jake paid the man double, explaining he’d left his ID in his room, and then started pedaling down the route he’d already planned prior to their arrival in Spain.
By now, he concluded, Kaplan would have discovered he’d slipped out of the café and would be contacting Bentley. When he returned, he knew Kaplan would be mad but he’d get over it. Then together they would track down Arlo Delgado — Khan.
CHAPTER 55
Gregg Kaplan stared at the bathroom door, waiting, wondering what was taking Jake so long. He almost went after him when he saw Jake go in the women’s room instead of the men’s room but Perez talked him out of it. “When you got to go, you got to go.” Perez said. Now Kaplan was getting suspicious.
He panicked when the door opened and the person Kaplan saw leaving the restroom was not Jake but a woman. He rushed down the hall pushing two women from the restroom entry and burst inside. He pushed open the stall doors. Nothing.
Perez followed behind Kaplan, tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed to the open window. “Looks like he ditched us.”
“Son of a bitch.” Kaplan stormed out of the room looking for the woman in the black dress. “Bentley is going to be pissed. We need to find the woman who just came out.”
“You mean the hot one? She’s over at that table.” Perez pointed to a couple seated at a rear table.
It was definitely the woman who had been in the bathroom with Jake and she was whispering in the ear of an older man with a shaved head and goatee. She had her purse tucked under her arm and started to stand when Kaplan walked over to the table. “Excuse me, ma’am. But did a man come in the restroom while you were in there?”
“Yeah. He told me what happened with your girlfriend.” She said. “Seems he made a mistake and was afraid you were so upset with him that you might try to do something about it.”
“I’m not here with a girlfriend. I’m here on business.” Kaplan grabbed her arm and squeezed. “Now where did he go?”
“Oww. That hurts.” The woman frowned. “I don’t know where he went. Out the window.” She yanked her arm free.
Kaplan motioned to Perez. “Come on, let’s move.”
“Where to?”
“The Hotel Maria Christina.” Kaplan motioned at Perez’s cell phone. “Call your man and tell him to be on the lookout for Jake.”
“What do you think Mr. Pendleton is going to do?”
“I don’t think, I know. Jake missed Khan in Paris. Wiley’s granddaughter was injured and hundreds of innocent people were killed and even more injured. Jake is going to kill Khan.” Kaplan started running. “We have to make sure he doesn’t get to him first.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. He knows we’re staking the place out. He knows we’re watching.”
“One thing I’ve learned about Jake is he’s unpredictable.” Kaplan pulled out his cell phone and pressed the speed dial for CIA Director Scott Bentley. “That’s also what makes him dangerous.”