He didn’t want to think what Lena would do if they were able to communicate out before Philippe was able to arrest them. Philippe didn’t know what Lena was trying to keep secret, but he had witnessed what could happen when other men had disappointed her. He didn’t want to suffer the same fate.
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
“This is Shek.”
A man’s voice. “Manning has made a phone call. We are refining the call origin geoposition now. Initial assessment is near the intersection of Daly Street and Esplanade.”
Philippe called up to his driver, “Daly and Esplanade. Go.”
The man on the phone said, “We need you to find him soon. Ms. Chou wanted me to convey the importance of timing. She also said that using lethal force would not be looked down upon.”
Philippe grimaced. “Understood. However, what you are mentioning… that is outside my normal scope.”
A moment’s pause. “You’ll be compensated proportionate to the risk.”
The line went dead and Philippe tucked the phone back in his pocket. The car made a sharp right turn and accelerated down the road.
“You gonna call her now?”
David said, “You think it’s safe?”
Henry said, “I don’t know. But we already made one call. I doubt they’re going to have a call quota. Either they know about us and they shut the connection down or not.”
“I need to call her. I’m going to.”
“Call her. Just… don’t spend more than a few minutes on the line if you can help it.” Henry was uncharacteristically serious when he spoke.
“Got it.”
David picked up the remaining cell phone from the table and took a deep breath. His palms were sweaty. She was fine, he kept telling himself. He dialed the number.
There was a clicking noise and then the phone rang. David’s heart was in his throat. He was breathing heavier just at the anticipation of speaking to his wife after such an ordeal.
It went to voicemail. Son of a bitch.
He dialed again and Lindsay’s phone went straight to message just like the last time. He dialed two more times before finally deciding to just leave a message. Henry watched David’s frustration from the chair near the window. He turned away and looked out the window, across the street.
David was nearly crying when he recorded his voicemail. “Lins. It’s me, David. I love you honey.” He sniffed and wiped away the first of the tears that began streaming down his cheeks. “Listen, I want you to know that I’m okay. I love you. Please tell the girls that I love them and miss them. I’ve been… in some trouble for the past couple weeks. I think I’m almost in the clear now, but I’m going to leave it at that over the phone.” David thought about leaving the room number where they were staying or the cell number for her to call back but he decided against it. And the application that Henry had them using for these phones meant that she couldn’t dial his cell number. “I’ll call back soon. Like I said, I’m alright. I know you’ve probably been through a lot. I think about you every day.” Crying harder now, he wiped his nose. “I’ll call you soon.”
He hung up, looking away from Henry.
Henry’s eyes were low. “Sorry,” he said.
David nodded. “You said text messaging and email wouldn’t work, right?”
“Not with the way I’ve got it rigged up. Sorry. Just outgoing phone calls for now.”
David said, “You wanna make a call?”
Henry took the phone from him and began to dial. He held the phone to his ear and then looked at the screen. He pressed the red button to end the call. He snorted. “Voicemail.”
“You don’t wanna leave a message?”
“Nah. It was my daughter. And we haven’t talked in a while. She’s the only one that I really need to call.” Henry handed the phone back. “You got anyone else you want to try?”
David thought about that as he took the phone.
Henry said, “I’m gonna run down to the lobby and see if they have any beverages we can bring up.” He walked out of the room.
David only knew a few phone numbers by heart anymore. He tried his sister’s. The clicking sound came on the line and then it went to her voicemail. She was deployed right now, wasn’t she? She probably wouldn’t get this message for weeks, if not months. He hung up.
He called his brother, Chase. Now there was a guy that never answered his phone. David left a message. “Chase, it’s David. I…” He had planned out every word of what he would say when he called Chuck Lundy at work, but now he couldn’t think of what was appropriate to tell his brother. Should he unload everything on a voicemail? Did he even know that David had been missing? He must. Lindsay would have emailed Victoria and she would have contacted Chase by now.
“I’m okay. Please tell Lindsay that I love her. I couldn’t get in touch with her and… I’m not sure what’s going to happen to me yet so just please let her know that you heard from me and that I’m okay and that I love her…” David looked up at the closed door. “Listen, I’m in trouble. Some pretty bad things are going on. Some people may be after me and I…”
The door opened and Henry came in, holding a six-pack of beer.
David said into the phone, “… I’ll call you soon.” He looked down at the phone, and the time elapsed read over one minute. He pressed END and terminated the call.
Henry said, “You want one?”
David shook his head. “No, thanks. Not right now.”
Henry hopped on the bed and grabbed the remote control, flipping on the TV.
David said, “Why aren’t you more worried?”
Henry looked at him. “This is me worried.” He cracked open his first beer, closed his eyes and took a long swig. “Ahh. But sometimes you just need to let it go.”
David said, “We’re going to have to set up a schedule so that one of us is always watching the street.”
Henry was still looking at the TV. A soap opera was on. Henry seemed content.
“Henry.”
“Yeah.” He took a sip of beer, eyes still on the TV.
David sighed. “I’ll take the first shift.” David looked at his watch. Forty minutes until they needed to call Lundy back.
Philippe’s car pulled up on Peel Street outside the hotel. He looked down at the address that had just been texted to his phone.
“This is it.”
He sent a text message on his phone. READY.
A moment later he got a message back. STAND BY FOR OUR ORDER. EXPECT A 10-MINUTE WAIT.
The driver said, “Are we going in?”
Philippe said, “Soon.”
David sat at the table and said, “Okay, let’s do this.”
Henry was over at the window now, sipping his second beer and half-watching the hotel across the street. The remote was still in his hand and he glanced at the TV every few seconds. At least he had put it on mute, David thought.
David dialed the number and hit send.
After a few rings, an intense-sounding voice said, “Is this David Manning?”
“This is David.”
“And is Henry Glickstein with you?” Henry watched David now.
“He is.”
“Good. Gentlemen, Mr. Lundy contacted my office about an hour ago and brought me up to speed. My name is Bob Crowley. I’m with the Central Intelligence Agency.”
“Is Chuck there?”
“I’m here, David.”
“And could everyone on the phone please introduce themselves?”
Six more men gave introductions. There were representatives from the Departments of Justice, State, and Homeland Security, and three branches of the military.