Pirate

Forty-three

The moment Remi and Sam had seen the blond woman confront Nigel, and then Jak draw a gun on him, they had very little time to put a plan into action.

Remi, armed with a Sig P938, tucked her hair beneath the hood of her jacket, put on her oversized sunglasses, then took Sam’s cell phone and hurried down the stairs after them, passed them, and then doubled back until she reached the walkway to the car park. Ivan, Jak, the woman, and Nigel were just a few yards in front of her when she caught up with them.

The four were walking toward her, keeping tight, Ivan on one side of Nigel, the blond woman on the other side. Jak and the dog brought up the rear. Suddenly, the dog pulled to one side and started growling at her. Remi gripped the handgun, ready to draw it from her pocket, when she heard the woman order, “Get that dog under control. That thing’s a nuisance. We don’t have time for this.”

Remi heard the snap of the chain on the dog’s collar as Jak yanked the leash, forcing the dog to heel. As they continued on toward the car park, she hung back, waiting until there was enough distance before she followed. She stood behind a tour bus, peering around it to where the blue BMW was parked. They were looking around to see if anyone was watching before forcing Nigel into the trunk of their car. Ivan closed the trunk lid, and they piled into the car with the dog, then took off down the same road they’d driven in on.

Remi hurried toward the street, looking for Sam. A moment later, he pulled up. “Which way?” he asked.

She pointed as she got in. “They just turned left. Nigel’s in the trunk.”

“And?”

“Worked like a charm.”

Sam took off in the same direction. “See if we have a cell signal yet.”

She picked up her phone. “Faint,” she said, scrolling through the apps until she found the Find My iPhone icon. She opened it. At first, it showed Sam’s phone as off-line, and she worried that somehow they’d discovered the phone in Nigel’s pocket, then turned it off. But about a mile from the castle, it popped up on her screen. “Got it.”

“I have to admit, Remi, your pickpocket skills are a little scary. You sure you weren’t some mastermind criminal in a previous life?”

She laughed. “Dropping a phone in someone’s pocket is a lot easier than stealing one.”

“What about that woman’s badge in the museum?”

“It was hanging from a clip on her jacket. Hardly master skills.” She eyed the screen on her phone. “They’re heading northeast.”

“Guess we settle in for the ride and see where they’re taking him. Keep an eye out for Fisk in case he shows up again.”

They drove north for about forty minutes, finally stopping in a sparsely populated area in the country at a white, half-timbered inn, where a sign out front named it the Pig & Lantern.

Sam stopped down the road, pulling to the side, as the three got out of the blue sedan parked in the small lot in front of the inn. Ivan popped the trunk, then dragged Nigel out by the arm. The poor guy looked scared witless.

“Maybe we should call the police,” Remi said.

“If we were in the States? I’d say yes, bring on the SWAT team. Way out here? Who knows how long it would take. Besides,” he said, nodding toward the men in the BMW, “you think those two would hesitate before killing an unarmed cop? I don’t want that on my conscience.”

“We can’t just leave Nigel with them.”

“We won’t. They want him alive. He can’t translate if he’s dead.”

“If only we hadn’t let him go back.”

There was little he or Remi could do about it now, watching as they escorted Nigel through a side door. Once they were inside, Jak walked around back with the dog. A few minutes later, he returned without the animal, then entered through the same door.

“Sam?”

“I’m thinking.” He watched another car pull up, this one with the words Just Married spray-painted on the back window. A young couple got out, then pulled two overnight bags from the trunk, before walking inside the front door.

Which gave him an idea…

He took Remi’s phone from the center console, glad to see that they had a strong signal. “What do you say to a little countryside getaway?”

“Does it include countryside prisoner extraction?”

“I’m not sure it’s on the menu,” he said, looking up the name of the inn. “But if we’re lucky, they take special requests.”

The phone rang a few times before it was picked up by a woman. “Pig and Lantern.”

“Do you have any rooms available for tonight?”

“One moment…” He heard the tapping of computer keys. “Name?”

He then glanced over at Remi, saying, “Longstreet, Mr. and Mrs.”

“Longstreet…” More typing, then, “How many nights?”

“Just one. It’ll be for a late arrival. Sometime after dark.”

“And which credit card would you like to hold it under?”

“American Express.” He signaled Remi for the card since she still carried one under her maiden name, then read the number to the woman.

“Very good, Mr. Longstreet. We have you booked for one night’s stay, checking out tomorrow.”

He thanked her, then disconnected. “Now we wait.”

Remi’s phone buzzed. “It’s Selma…” She opened the text. “Didn’t see that one coming. That woman with them? Charles Avery’s wife Alexandra.”

“Seriously? Isn’t she a socialite? Parties, fund-raisers—”

Remi made a scoffing noise. “Men are so quick to dismiss women as threats.”

“A trait that’s definitely come in handy when you’ve been dismissed as a threat.”

“Exactly my point. Remember that if you run into her.”

“I don’t plan to. Which is why we’re waiting for dark.”

An hour later, Sam was glad to see that the lighting around the inn was almost nonexistent. That would allow him to get close enough without being seen. “Wait here,” he said to Remi. “I want to have a look at the place.”

Besides the main entrance at the front, there appeared to be two more exits, one on the north side, the other on the south, where they’d seen Ivan and Jak enter.

Two windows were lit in the downstairs rooms — all the others were dark — at least one belonged to the bad guys.

Sam needed to narrow those odds. He edged his way around the corner, moving close to the building, working his way to the first lit window. The curtains were closed, but light seeped out of a narrow slit in the center, allowing him to see in. The room appeared empty. Alexandra’s white parka was tossed over the back of a chair. He moved to the next room. There was a gap in that curtain as well. Just as Sam approached, Ivan walked up and pulled the curtains tight.

But not before Sam caught a glimpse of Nigel seated in a chair, his back to the window, his hands zip-tied behind him.

He knew what he was dealing with, he thought as a third window lit up on the other side of Ivan and Jak’s room. The newlyweds. Sam returned to the car. “Ready?”

“So what grand scheme have you planned?”

“Right now, only a half-grand scheme, which we’ll be playing by ear.”