Double Play (Nadia Stafford 3.5)

"He's going to want to speak to his girl before he believes you have her."

"Do not tell us how to do our job."

"I'm just warning you. I know Jack and--"

"And you will control him and convince him to do as we ask. He will speak to his girl when we are ready. We have much experience in these things and we do not appreciate some drunk mick thug--"

"Hey! I'm--"

"A thug. A blunt instrument. Do not attempt to think. You will only strain yourself. Two hours."

The line went dead. Jack stood there, holding the phone, eyes closed.

"So they have--" Evelyn began.

He raised his finger, asking for a moment. To his surprise, she actually stopped talking.

"All right," he said when he opened his eyes. "They seem to have her. But she's okay. Alive. They won't hurt he

r. Not unless I refuse their job. I have two hours."

"They won't have left her cell phone on, Jack," Evelyn said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "They probably wouldn't even take it with her."

"Yeah, but it'll tell us where she was last. That's my only clue. I'll take it. I just need to set an alarm." He took out his phone and did so. "Two hours. Gotta make sure there's no background noise." He pocketed it. "Now can we drive? Get into Virginia?"

Evelyn nodded, and Jack retrieved his backup weapons and kit.

Twenty minutes after they left the motel, Felix called with a GPS location. The current one. Her phone was still on. Felix had tried calling but gotten no answer. That was troubling--both the lack of an answer and the fact that the phone was still active. In the meantime, Felix wanted to know what was going on. Jack was driving . . . and feeling even less talkative than usual.

"Put Evelyn on," Felix said. "I'm trying to help, Jack, not merely satisfy my curiosity. I can tell by the number you used that you're on a backup phone from one of your lockers. It's a safe connection, yes?"

It was. Jack had disabled the phone he'd used in Ireland. He hated doing that to his only possible connection to Nadia, but it was the safe move. He passed his phone to Evelyn. She left out the details of where Jack had been and who he'd been working for--most of which Jack hadn't shared himself. Then she put Felix on speaker.

"So the client who brought you overseas, Jack," Felix said. "You knew him?"

"From years back. Owed him a favor. Open chit."

"And he conveniently chose to close it at a time when you're trying to cash all those in."

"Yeah. Guaranteed I'd come."

"Where's he now?"

"Tied to a bed."

Felix chuckled. "Did you leave him a bowl of dog food and water? I've heard that's a specialty of yours."

"Something like that. He's fine. Not going anywhere. Gotta figure out how to handle it. What to do with him."

Evelyn made a noise that said the answer was clear. Cillian had to die.

"If you need someone to handle it for you . . ." Felix said.

"If it needs doing, I'll do it. Only right. Anyway, he's alive. Needed that. Just in case."

"Agreed, but you've made sure he can't tell this cartel you're coming for Dee and that's the important thing right now--that he is incapacitated. As for the cartel . . . Evelyn is right, this scheme is a lot of effort to hire a pro. That means they need the best. No substitutes possible. I'm going to guess it's political. That is, sadly, becoming more common for the cartels. If they can't bribe a politician, they take him out of office--permanently. To need you on the job suggests it isn't some village mayor they want killed. We're talking serious political assassination."

"Doesn't matter. Not doing it."