“But you killed them,” Dave said, trading a knowing look with me.
“You might call it my introduction to my new career,” Vayl said with a slight nod, his gesture taking in the room but referring to every mission he’d had since signing on with the CIA in 1927. “Of course, it took the government some time to organize a department that could use my particular talents. But when it finally evolved, I became its first staff member.”
I hadn’t known the department Pete now supervised was created around his longest-living and most legendary staff member. But when you thought about it, it made perfect sense.
“That was a pretty slick escape,” said Dave, rubbing his neck as he once had when the Wizard was in charge of him. I could tell by the tone in his voice that he wondered why he hadn’t been able to pull off something similar. Well, hell, if he’d had forty years to plan, maybe he’d have figured something out as well!
Deciding now was the time to make my own exit, I said, “’Scuse me,” as I headed toward the bathroom. When I was safe behind the locked door, thumbing through my short list of numbers, I realized Cole hadn’t contacted me in a while. Did that mean his mission was going well? One could only hope.
My father answered the phone with his usual grumble. “Judge Judy’s on. Make it quick.”
“It’s good to hear your voice too, Albert. How’s Shelby?”
Shelby is Albert’s nurse, and the main reason the old man still has all his fingers and toes. Though why any diabetic needs another human being to explain the dangers of donuts and hot chocolate to him on a daily basis I still have no clue. “He’s fine. He’s the only person I know who can make a salad that fills me up. Explain that, will ya?”
“I imagine he’s injecting the lettuce with steak and potatoes.”
“That’s what I thought too, but I couldn’t find a trace of either one in there.” He sounded so sincere I nearly laughed. Then I went ahead and let ’er rip. Because only a few weeks before I’d thought I might never hear his voice again.
While I’d been working in Iran, Albert had been hit by a woman driving a minivan as he toured his neighborhood on his new motorcycle. During the time he’d been stuck in Chicago West with tubes sprouting from every orifice, he’d become convinced the woman had hit him on purpose. Especially when she skipped bail. But by the time he and Shelby had driven to my sister’s house in Indy to help us celebrate Easter, his whole thought process had changed. Mine hadn’t.
“Any sign of that driver?” I asked.
“Naw. The cops are baffled. They say it’s like she never existed. Dumbasses.”
“Any more phone calls from nowhere? Ghostly guests?”
“I told you what I saw was probably a morphine hallucination.”
I thought the grinning skull that had taken the place of his ICU nurse’s face to warn him of future visitations had probably been as real as the phone in my hand. But when my family doesn’t want to stomach a reality, they do a damn good job of denying it. I didn’t have time to talk sense into him, and nothing had happened since to convince him otherwise, so I decided to go along with the pretense for a while longer. At the moment, Dave’s problem pressed harder.
“Look, I’ve got a situation here.” I explained my theory about Dave. “You’ve been in the military forever. Even if you don’t have firsthand experience, surely you know somebody who has an idea how to get him through this. Someone who’s dealt with guys who’ve been taken hostage or spent time as prisoners of war?”
We sat in silence for so long I began to wonder if I’d lost the signal. “Hello?”
“Goddammit, I’m sorry, Jazzy. So sorry to have brought you and your brother to this spot.”
I was so shocked I plopped down on the toilet. Thank God its last user had dropped the lid or I’d have sunk to the bottom. Thing was, Albert didn’t know the half of it. If he had, he’d probably be on his knees blubbering. Yuck. “We’re grown-ups, Dad. If we’d wanted to do anything different, we would’ve.”
He took a breath. I could almost hear him pulling himself together. Old guys pop like bubble wrap. Especially marines. “Yeah, you know what, there are a couple of people I could call.” There, that assured tone in his voice that had gone missing after his forced retirement. It kept me calling him, asking for small favors that others could have done for me. Well, I had to admit, he’d pulled a few strings lately that had helped my missions skip right along.
That’s what I told myself. But there was still a little girl inside me, her swing set virtually hidden behind a tall, green hedge. Usually I could only see the tips of her white shoes and the matching bow in her hair as she pumped her swing high enough to top the shrubbery and shriek a message that might, or might not, be heard over the heavy droning of my heart and its various connections. Just now I actually saw a red curl flutter in the breeze of her whoosh upward as she called out, “Maybe he loves you after all.”
Chapter Fifteen
When I returned to the sitting room the men had stopped talking. It felt like they’d been waiting for me.
“What?” I asked.
“I would like to speak to Blas,” said Vayl. “Can you take me to the place where you found him?”
I shrugged. “Sure. But I doubt he’s still there. I got the feeling he was hiding from them as much as I was.”
“Perhaps, then, you could follow his scent?”
“I can try.” I wasn’t holding out much hope though. With camouflage like his, I’d be more likely to pick up a physical clue.
As we walked toward the door I realized Dave wasn’t with us. “You’re staying?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Yeah.” That was it. No other explanation. I swallowed the surge of panic that wanted to jump out and start screaming, “Don’t go searching for liquor! You don’t need to get blasted! Help’s on the way!”
I said, “Okay.” I turned to go. And then it hit me. One of those evil thoughts siblings get because, well, that’s what we do. Looking over my shoulder I said, “You know, since you have some free time, maybe you could . . . never mind.”
“What?”
“Well, it’s just that, all those extra calories you’ve been drink—I mean—not burning off have kind of settled on your gut. I didn’t want to mention anything,” I said as Dave’s hand stole to his midsection. “But the general pointed out that you’d lost a few steps training-wise.” I laughed and waved my hand. “I’m sure it’s nothing switching to light beer won’t cure.”
“I am sure Jasmine is right,” Vayl said from behind me. “Cassandra told me once she likes her men pudgy. Something about more to love?”
We left Dave trying to pinch an inch off his battle-hardened frame. As soon as we were out of earshot I said, “So, do you want to give me odds?”
“On which side are you betting?” asked Vayl.
“I’m putting two bucks on the Special Ops commander to do push-ups and squat thrusts the whole time we’re gone.”
Vayl’s lips quirked. “You are a devious woman.”
“Whatever it takes.”
I led Vayl to the closet, which, as I’d expected, was empty. He crouched by the open door. “Blas was just sitting here when you walked in?”
“Yeah. But I’m not sure he came through the same door. There’s another opening.” I showed him the one I’d found during my claustrophobic search. It looked crude, the sides curvy, the edges uneven. Definitely not a planned part of the architecture.
“So did he exit by it?” Vayl asked.
I spent some time in the doorway before crawling into the closet, closing my eyes to better focus my extra sense. “Yeah, I think so.”