My first thought is the person driving is a guy, early thirties, probably wearing a suit and works in an office where he’s paid an obscene amount of money for talking shit to strangers. A little presumptuous, maybe, but I’m sticking with my first impression that the guy’s an asshole.
But my second thought is a stroke of genius. The sound of the engine made me think about The European’s fancy Ferrari…
“Ruby, do you know much about cars?”
She shrugs. “I can drive one…”
“Your ex drives a top-of-the-line Ferrari. Wouldn’t something so exclusive have a built-in GPS tracking device? Like as an anti-theft measure or for Triple A or something?”
“Possibly. Sounds like something they would do nowadays. Why does it matter?”
“Because… if someone was able to hack the signal, they could pinpoint the location of the vehicle. I think.”
“You think?”
I shrug. “Not my area of expertise, but it sounds clever, doesn’t it?” I smile as I stand. “Besides, I know a man who can…”
“Where are you going?”
I gesture outside with a nod to the window. “I won’t be a minute.”
I head out the door and take out my burner phone, dialing Josh’s number as a pace away from the junction, so it’s a little quieter. He answers on the second ring.
“Yeah?”
I frown. His British accent sounds tense. Josh never gets tense…
“It’s me,” I say. “You alright?”
He lets out a tired sigh. “Yeah, I’m fine. What’s up?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute. Seriously, man, what’s wrong? I know when something’s bothering you.”
“Mate, you don’t wanna know about my problems, trust me. You’ve got enough of your own.”
“Yeah, I know, but—”
“Adrian, seriously. I’m running one of the largest corporations in the world single-handed, despite having practically no experience in such things. At the same time, I’m deploying soldiers from a private military — which, at last count, isn’t too far behind this country’s own armed force in terms of number of boots on the ground — to all corners of the globe in an effort to keep the peace in nations that have very recently been blown in half. I’m just… I’m just stressed, okay?”
I don’t say anything. I can just about imagine the kind of pressure he’s under. Everyone has a bad day, and everyone sometimes needs to vent in order to stop things from getting on top of them.
I’ll just give him a moment…
He sighs heavily. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just been one of those days, y’know? And at this level, ‘one of those days’ is pretty fucking bad. What can I do for you?”
“Y’know what? It doesn’t matter. I’ll sort it.”
“Adrian, don’t be a dick. What do you need?”
I roll my eyes. “Well, I was wondering if you’d be able to track down the location of a specific car if I told you the owner’s name… Maybe hack into its GPS signal or something.”
I’m met with silence.
“Josh?”
“Huh? Sorry, I just fainted for a second because you asked me something incredibly smart and technical… Who are you? And what have you done with the assassin?”
I smile. There he is.
“Just when I thought I was starting to miss you, you remind me how much of a douchebag you are.” We pause for a second to laugh. “I did tell you that I listen when you talk… So, can you help me or not?”
“Man, you’ve changed… Pretty soon you won’t need me at all!”
“Now we both know that’s never going to happen, Josh!”
He laughs. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Okay, gimme a sec… Seriously, you have no idea how good it is to be given something easy to do for a change! What’s the guy’s name?”
“Fernando Garcia.”
“Fernando… Isn’t that—”
“The European? Yeah, it is.”
“What, have you lost him? What’s going on?”
I sigh. “Okay, long story short, he’s already been hired by General Matthews to kill me and everyone else on the list I got from Ashton Case. Ash is dead, as is the last name, who I didn’t even get chance to approach. I’m in New Jersey now. He knows Jonas Briggs will be here tomorrow, so we’ve got twenty-four hours to find that talking colostomy bag and take him out.”
He lets out a low whistle. “Christ, and I thought my life sucked…”
“It does, Josh. Massively so.”
“Gee, thanks.”
I shrug. “Just calling it like I see it.”
“So, wait, is Ruby still with you? Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine.”
“Well, that’s something… Okay, what car does he have?”
I think back. “It’s a… Ferrari… something.”
“Aww, and you were doing so well…”
“Hey, I’m thinking! It was something to do with a spider…”
“The 488 Spider?”
“Yeah, that’s it! In British racing green — I remember now.”
“Nice car… Hey, what’s the difference between The European’s Ferrari and a hedgehog?”
“I have no idea…”
“On a hedgehog, the pricks are on the outside!”
I laugh out loud. I really didn’t want to, as it just encourages him, but that was pretty funny.
“Alright, let me see here…” he says casually. The line goes silent and I hear the rapid tapping of keys in the background. “And… got him. The GPS last transmitted from the hotel parking lot of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Where are you?”
I subconsciously glance over my shoulder to get my bearings. “I’m about seven or eight blocks west of there, outside an Applebee’s.”
“Okay, well… now you know where he is.”
“Thanks, man. I’m gonna go and, y’know… kill him and stuff. Listen, I appreciate the assist, Josh.”
“Always happy to help, you know that.”
“I know. Speaking of which, have you had a chance to look over my plan yet?”
“Yeah, I’ve had a look… Where the hell did you come up with that?”
“It just kinda came to me, I guess. I thought about the skill sets of everyone involved and went from there. What do you think?”
“I think it sounds like a perverted squirrel’s favorite pastime.”
I frown. “Huh?”
“Fucking nuts!”
I close my eyes and shake my head. “That’s terrible.”
“Hey, I gotta laugh, man, otherwise I’d cry.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“Alright, joking aside, your plan is actually insane, you know that, right?”
I think about it for a moment. “Yeah…”
“That being said… I reckon it could work. There are a lot of moving parts, though. It won’t be easy.”
“Nothing worth doing ever is. Can I leave it with you?”
“You got a time in mind for this thing?”
“Any time after tomorrow. I need Jonas for part of it, so as soon as possible after we link up with him.”
“Okay, I’ll get back to you.”
“Thanks, Josh. Listen, you take it easy, alright? I know it probably doesn’t feel like it right now, but the whole world isn’t on your shoulders. Remember that.”
“I appreciate you saying that, but it kinda is. I mean—”
“Josh, you have an entire company at your disposal. You don’t have to do everything yourself. Well, unless you’re doing something for me…”
He’s silent for a moment and then laughs. “The more things change…”
“…The more I get shot at!”
He laughs again. “Take it easy, brother.”
“You, too.”
I hang up and turn to face the restaurant. I see Ruby in the window watching me as she sips her coffee.