The Darkest Day

THIRTY-FIVE

The parking garage was well lit and quiet apart from the sound of nearing footsteps. He could see neither the approaching men nor any visitors. There were parked vehicles everywhere in neat rows interspaced with pillars and shining under fluorescent lights.

Victor said, ‘How many of them are there?’

‘Four,’ Raven said. ‘Including blue suit.’

‘Assessment?’

‘They’re a clean-up crew. And they’re not amateurs. Someone must have seen us together in the roof garden. They think we’re working together, or you know what I know.’

‘They’ve spotted us?’

She nodded, still smiling and looking carefree. ‘Not yet. But they will. They’re spreading out and they’re coming this way. They know we came down in the elevator. It’s only a matter of time.’

Victor resisted the urge to turn and look. Whatever Raven said, he wasn’t prepared to turn his back to her. Besides, he still needed more information.

‘Who do these guys work for?’

‘I don’t have time to explain everything. All that matters for now is that they want me dead. And though they’re after me and not you, you’re here. That means you’re a witness or a threat. They won’t take any chances.’

‘I know how these things work.’

‘How do you want to do this?’

A line appeared between his eyebrows. ‘What are you talking about? We’re not on the same team here.’

‘They don’t know that. We need to work together.’

‘There is no “we”, Constance. We’re not allies.’

‘But they don’t know that, so either we work together or they’ll take us down one by one.’

‘No,’ Victor said. ‘I operate alone.’

‘Then we’re both dead. These guys are serious operators.’

‘I’m harder to kill than I look.’

Her face softened, but this time he saw it was real. ‘I’m not.’

She looked at him as though he were the most important person in the world, because right then that’s what she needed him to be. And she was right: two guns were better than one, especially if these guys were as good as she made out.

‘Weapon?’ Victor said.

She shook her head. ‘I don’t carry one, usually. Too much of a risk.’

‘I’m the same. What about them?’

He saw her peering over his shoulder. ‘I can’t see any bulging on their suit jackets, so only handguns in the worst-case scenario.’

‘Is there a best-case scenario? They’re not going to be unarmed like we are.’

She cocked her head to one side. ‘Who said we’re unarmed?’

Raven reached into her bag.

Victor said, ‘Careful, Constance.’

She withdrew a small handgun and Victor couldn’t help but tense. She held the grip out to him. He looked at it, surprised and suspicious.

‘Take it,’ she said.

He did, expecting a trap or trick or for the gun to explode in his hand. But it was genuine. He could tell just by the weight of it.

‘You really don’t want to kill me,’ he found himself saying.

‘I’ve been trying to tell you that.’

Victor turned to see the four men, including the man he had seen earlier, as Raven had noted. They were all wearing suits. None young. None old. Raven was correct to say they didn’t look like amateurs. They were not here for surveillance. They had spread out and were approaching as they swept the area. All four of the men had their suit jackets unbuttoned.

‘But what about Prague?’ he asked.

She said, ‘That was then. This is now.’

‘I need a lot more information than that.’

‘And you can have it,’ she said. ‘But we don’t have time now. Meet me at the apartment in the Bronx in two hours. Don’t be a second late.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘These four won’t be the only ones here for me. There’ll be others nearby. If we stay together they’ll box us in. We need to split up.’

Victor said, ‘You can’t run from me.’

She looked at him like he was an idiot. ‘I gave you my gun.’ And for a moment he felt like one.

One by one the strip lights flickered and went out.

The parking garage was enveloped in a blanket of utter blackness. It lasted only a second because the lights came back on, albeit dimmer — backup power from the museum’s own generator, necessary to protect the priceless exhibits. Which meant this wasn’t someone taking out the lights but shutting down the primary power to the entire building.

‘It’s started,’ Raven said, but to herself. ‘Damn it, I’m too late.’

Victor pointed the gun at her face.

‘It wasn’t me,’ she was quick to say. ‘Not this time.’

‘What’s started?’ he asked.

‘There’s no time to explain. Later.’

He said, ‘We can’t go back to the apartment. It’s blown.’

‘Good,’ she said, nodding. ‘That’s what we need. We need to draw them out into the open.’

‘Who are they? What are you talking about?’

She said, ‘Later.’

He shook his head. ‘I’m not going back there. I was there earlier. Homeland Security know about you. They’re watching your safe house.’

‘Homeland Security isn’t after me.’

‘Two agents kicked the door down. I saw their IDs. They were genuine.’

‘Their bona fides might be legit, but they’re not. Whoever you met may have had real Homeland Security badges, but they weren’t there on legitimate business. Trust me on that.’

‘I don’t trust anything you’ve said.’

‘Thirty seconds until they see us,’ she said, looking over his shoulder. ‘Here we go.’

He ignored her. ‘Why?’ he asked, staring into her eyes. ‘Why are you certain the two I met weren’t really Homeland Security agents?’

‘Because,’ she answered, ‘I didn’t leave any book there. That isn’t my safe house.’