The phone rang as Max opened the door to the hotel stairway. She was on the fourth floor, but the stairway would give him both privacy and time. He was making his way past the second floor when he finally got an answer.
“Max.”
“Wilkes.”
“Why haven’t you been answering my damn calls?”
“I’m busy. Did you hear from MI-6 and confirm their thumb drive approach?”
He was up onto the third floor now, trying not to sound strained as he took several steps at a time.
“Now listen up, Max. I’ve got something urgent to tell you. There’s a problem.”
Fourth floor. He pushed open the door and began walking down the hotel hallway, reading the room numbers as he went.
“What is it?”
Max found her room. Two more doors down. He walked slower, wanting to hear what Wilkes had to say.
“I just spoke with MI-6. I replayed everything you told me about Charlotte Capri. It wasn’t her, Max.”
The door opened.
“What do you mean?”
Charlotte stood there. She smiled, holding a drink in her hand. That same flirtatious look in her eyes. Max could feel his blood pressure rising.
Max had his phone pressed up against his ear.
“Charlotte Capri was found dead in Key West several days ago.” Wilkes’s voice was frantic.
“Get off the phone and come in.” Charlotte smiled.
Max held up his finger. He mouthed to Charlotte, “One minute.”
“Did you hear what I just said?”
“I’m sorry. Could you say that one more time?” Max said into the phone.
“Charlotte Capri. The MI-6 agent. Is. Dead,” Wilkes said. “Her body was found by some snorkelers in Key West. MI-6 thinks Morozov found out about her and had her killed. The estimated time of death was several days ago. Right when you were down there.”
How was that possible? Max was looking at Charlotte in the flesh.
Max’s voice was quiet. “Any thoughts about that?”
Charlotte twirled her hair, her head tilted. Her eyes staring at Max’s own. Studying him.
Wilkes’s voice whispered through the phone receiver. “Whoever you’ve been talking to, it isn’t Charlotte Capri.”
18
“Got time for one quick drink before you leave me?” Charlotte said.
Max pressed the end call button on his phone and slid it into his pocket. He smiled. “Sounds lovely.”
She closed the door behind him. “Hope you don’t mind coming up here?”
She walked across the room. Max’s eyes followed her closely.
“Before I forget, here’s the thumb drive. The flight is tomorrow, so you’ll need to do this tonight.”
“Sure thing,” Max said, taking it from her hand and placing it in his other pocket.
She approached him, looking into his eyes, and kissed him. Her chest pressed up against his polo shirt. Then she pulled away and said, “I’m excited. I hope you will forgive me being forward. I always get this way near the end of an assignment.”
Max didn’t react. He hadn’t kissed her back. He just stood there like a stone, his heart pounding in his chest. Thinking about what to do next.
Charlotte gripped his arm, her bright red fingernails digging in ever so slightly. “How rude of me. Let me get you a drink.”
She walked over to the minibar.
“What’s your poison?”
Did she have to use that choice of words?
“Scotch if you’ve got it.”
He cursed himself for not bringing his gun. He hadn’t expected to be up here with her, alone.
“So where did you tell our friend you were today?” Max asked.
“Morozov? He lets me do my own thing when we’re ashore. For the most part. Do you want ice?”
“Neat, please.”
She ducked down into the minibar and brought up a few tiny bottles of scotch whiskey, pouring them into a hotel glass, which she handed to him. “To finishing the job.”
They clinked glasses and she took a sip. He refrained. She placed her glass on the table.
“Anything wrong?” she asked.
“Yes, actually. Hopefully you can help me understand something. Morozov tried to kill me in Georgia. But in Key West, he decided to let me live.”
“He did?” A change of tone. The first crack in her mask.
“I know that you’re not MI-6. So you must be working for him, right? Which means that he had me located in Key West. You could have easily killed me that night when we first met, but you didn’t. Why?”
She kept staring into his eyes. Her face lacked expression, even as she pulled a small pistol from the purse next to her and aimed it at Max.
“Who was that on the phone?”
“Are you going to answer my question? Why did Morozov let me live? You work for him. You must have killed the real Charlotte at some point when I was in Key West.”
“I didn’t kill her. That was all Pavel. He stabbed her and threw her off the yacht.”
Max saw a flicker of distaste as she said it. Maybe he had an opening.
“Why work for a man that would do that?”
She smiled. “Max. Come now. Don’t bother trying to drive a wedge between Pavel and me. The bitch deserved it. Pretending to be one of his whores was a stupid idea. Sunbathing with the others all day. Did MI-6 really think that was the best cover? My issue with it was the matter of the location of the body. If I had known he was going to throw her over there, I wouldn’t have let him do it. That area was much too close to all the touristy spots. But the girl had to be killed.”
The door behind her opened. Two large men, whom Max assumed were part of Morozov’s team, entered the hotel room. One of them made a comment to Charlotte in Russian. She said something back in Russian and the man grunted.
The two security men both pointed silenced pistols at Max.
“Max, if you would please come with us,” she said. “Mr. Morozov would like a word.”
They took the freight elevator down to the ground floor and then walked in an unusually tight grouping out to the parking lot. Max was shoved into the back of the SUV, sandwiched between Charlotte and one of the thugs.
Max had flashbacks to the similar situation he’d been in with the FBI, only a few days ago. Ah, to be in the custody of the FBI again. The good old days.
“Charlotte — I’ve got to ask you, just to be clear — I take it that you really weren’t interested in me?”
She rubbed his stubbled cheek with her soft hand. “Oh, Max. Maybe in another life, darling.”
The thug in the driver’s seat eyed him in the rearview mirror.
Max winked back. The man gave him the finger.
“So what’s Pavel want to discuss?”
“You’ll see when you get there,” Charlotte said.
Max watched as the vehicle turned right on Mayport Road, and then veered left onto A1A. He knew the area well, having spent many summers down here in his youth. He used to go surfing near the Naval Station at Mayport. The waves fell just right, and there was a nice point break.
To his right he could see Navy helicopters taking off and landing at the runway on the base. Their car drove past the area where they could view the runway and turned left into a short line of cars. They waited in line for a moment and then drove right up onto the ferry.
“You stay here.”
Thug One got out and headed to pay for the ferry across the St. John’s River.
Max turned back to Charlotte. “So why the ruse about the thumb drive? And why let me live?”
Charlotte turned to him. “The thumb drive idea wasn’t a ruse. It was real. MI-6’s idea.”
Max frowned. “But why…?”
She petted his knee. “Just be patient, my dear. If Pavel wants to tell you, he will.”