Takedown

CHAPTER 21

Alex couldn’t get out of their suite fast enough.

Running toward the elevator, she heard Cooper calling to her, but ignored him and kept moving, her heart pounding so hard against her chest it felt as if it might break her ribs.

She pressed the down button and now Deuce was calling her, too, both men coming her way. She tapped the button again and again until the elevator doors finally slid open and she boarded the empty car.

She didn’t remember the doors closing behind her or the ride down. Images of her mother and father and Uncle Eric and that fucking wedding video tumbled though her mind, over and over, and the next thing she knew she was exiting the rear of the hotel, heading toward a beach crowded with gold-plated tourists.

Even outside, she still couldn’t breathe and she needed air.

Was desperate for air.

She knew she was having some kind of panic attack, all the thoughts and feelings that had been swirling inside her these past few days now threatening to strangle her.

Eric Hopcroft was alive and he was here, on this island, working for the kind of man she detested, the kind of man who brought nothing but misery to the world, the kind of man she wanted to crush from existence.

Eric Hopcroft had once been her father’s best friend, had attended a wedding Alex had known nothing about—

— So, what did this mean?

What did any of it mean?

Was her father working for Reinhard Beck as well?

And what about her mother? How did she fit into all of this?

Her head throbbing, Alex crossed to the dock where she and Deuce had arrived the day before, and looked out at the still water of Latham Cove as she tried to calm herself and catch her breath. She closed her eyes and told herself to take it slow, try not to breathe too quickly or deeply.

And then she heard Cooper and Deuce calling her again and she wanted to run, wanted to keep them from seeing her like this. Like her father, she had never been the kind to share her vulnerabilities, her anxieties, even though she knew this sometimes cut her off from the people she cared about.

But she didn’t run. Instead, she opened her eyes and moved up to the wooden rail that bordered this part of the dock and once again looked out at the still water, drawing strength from it, willing herself to be calm as Cooper and Deuce approached her, out of breath and undoubtedly full of questions.

“Alex, are you all right?” Cooper asked. “What’s going on?”

She put out a hand. “Give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“Just give it to me.”

“Is Warlock right?” Deuce asked. “Is this guy Hopcroft a friend of your father’s?”

“Not just my father. Danny and I used to call him Uncle Eric.”

“I knew I’d seen him somewhere before,” Deuce said. “He was in that video you were watching on the plane. The guy with the funky hair.”

“What video?” Cooper asked.

“Will somebody give me a goddamn phone?”

Cooper pulled his cell phone from his pocket and handed it to her. She turned away from them and faced the water again, searching through the menu until she found the number she wanted.

“Who are you calling?” he asked.

“Who else?” she said. “McElroy. That son of a bitch is up to something and I want to know what it is.”

“You’d better give me a straight answer, you little twerp, or I’ll fly to DC right now and beat it out of you.”

It had taken McElroy a full ten minutes to come to the phone, his secretary claiming he was in a meeting. But Alex didn’t buy it. He had probably been expecting this call for a while.

“Calm down, Alex, take it easy.”

She had stepped away from Cooper and Deuce, and was now standing at the end of the dock. She exhaled her fury. “I don’t want to take it easy. I knew you were up to something. Why do I let you do this to me?”

“Do what to you? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She tensed her jaw. “Eric. Hopcroft.”

“Who?”

“Don’t. Just don’t.”

“I swear to God, Alex, I don’t know who that is.”

“Just like you aren’t interested in my father anymore? That’s what this is about, isn’t it? Grabbing Valac and those codes is a sideshow. A bonus. What you’re really after is information about Raven, and you think Hopcroft can give it to you. He’s the real reason I’m here.”

She heard the sound of a computer keyboard. “Look,” McElroy said, “I don’t know what kind of fantasy you’ve built up in your head about me, but give me a sec here and I’ll try to—”

“Don’t pretend you’re only looking him up now. You’ve seen my father’s file how many times? Hopcroft’s name is bound to be right there in his list of known associates.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I see it here. But the reason I don’t remember him is because I never gave any thought to it. He’s of no interest to me. It says here he’s deceased.”

“You know very well he’s alive and here in St. Cajetan.”

“What? Do you have proof of this?”

“Yes. He met with Favreau at a strip club yesterday afternoon and it looks like he might be Valac’s right-hand man. I’m sure Cooper told you about it. And if he’s in on this, I’m gonna beat his ass, too.”

“Will you calm down and listen to me? Nobody’s in on anything. This is all news to me.”

“I don’t believe you.”

McElroy sighed. “I swear to you, Alex, I’m completely in the dark about this. And believe me, I don’t like it any more than you do. I don’t need this guy throwing a monkey wrench into my op.”

“This op is a joke,” she said. “We’re running around like a bunch of fools trying to find a set of codes that probably don’t even exist and—”

“They exist. I promise you. If they don’t, then I was the one who was lied to, and the joke’s on me.”

“Except you aren’t the one standing here half-dressed, trying to cozy up to some Neanderthal in a Polo shirt. You remember what you said about me being a condition of this deal?”

“Of course I do. My contact requested you personally.”

“Then if you’re telling me the truth, you’d better find out why. Because if I don’t hear back from you by the end of the day, I’m gone, and you can kiss Valac and Favreau and those codes and Eric Hopcroft or whoever the hell you’re really after goodbye.”

McElroy started to say something but she clicked off. In a well-worn pattern, fury had now replaced her anxiety. And at some point, when the fury passed, she’d be back to her old self — more or less — but she wasn’t even close yet.

“Alex? Are you okay?”

It was Cooper, coming toward her down the dock.

“You’d better not be part of this, Shane.”

“Part of what? Tell me what’s going on.”

She handed him his phone. “If you don’t already know, I’m sure you’ll hear about it from McElroy soon enough.” She held out her hand. “I need the keys to the rental car.”

“Alex, for the last time, what’s going on?”

“Give me the keys and wait for McElroy’s call.”

“At least tell me where you’re going.”

“No,” she said. “If I do, you’ll try to stop me.”

“Alex…”

“The keys. Please.”

He reluctantly pulled them from his pocket and handed them to her. “Whatever you do, I’m begging you, don’t blow this op.”

She stepped past him and started back toward the hotel. “I’m sorry, Shane, but right now that’s the least of my worries.”