Chapter Eighteen
Adam
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ADRENALINE FLOODED my system, making it difficult to remain still as Akari directed the remote control toward the flat screen.
“Have you seen this yet?” I asked, hoping my voice conveyed more authority than I was feeling.
All those hours we’d waited for any kind of response from Ian, and then, all at once, the communication had landed, and I’d been ushered into a private viewing.
The impromptu broadcast had been arranged in the same room I’d originally met Akari and the other two judges in, the space even more oppressive than before, with the blinds shutting out the daylight.
“Not yet,” she answered at the moment a picture of Ian appeared on the screen. Akari paused the video, leaving his image staring in my direction.
From the seat beside me, Caroline reached for my leg and stroked my thigh. I captured her hand, wishing it was as easy to calm my racing heart.
“Let’s see it then,” Laurent urged, seemingly every bit as impatient as me.
Settling back in her chair, Akari pressed play, and the attention of every single person in the room focused on the man in charge of ensuring Britain was a little less great than it had once been.
“Adam.” Ian smiled, revealing the impressive white teeth he’d paid so much money for in recent years.
Fleetingly, I recalled how much his old smile used to embarrass him, but that had been a long time ago, when he was only ‘irritating Ian’ and I had been infallible.
“I was so happy to receive your message and hear your opinion on this sorry situation.”
“Jesus,” Caroline muttered under her breath, her fingers tightening at my leg as she closed her eyes. “I’d forgotten how awful he is.”
“You didn’t mention your current whereabouts, but our tech guys tell me the message was sent from Switzerland.” His brow rose as though he couldn’t believe I’d got so far. “You’re a long way from home, Adam. No wonder you want back into the fold.”
My jaw clenched at his taunting tone. I’d known he was going to be intolerable after my apology, loving every moment of my concession, but having to witness every lurid detail of the response was uglier than I’d imagined.
“I thank you for your apology. That means a lot.” Ian’s lips twitched, another tell that he didn’t mean a word that he was saying.
I wondered if I had had similar facial reactions that had given away my true intentions.
I certainly fucking hoped not. “But it would mean even more if you showed me regret in person.”
Cradling Caroline’s hand in mine, I exhaled, knowing he was finally drawing closer to the actual point he was there to make.
“And you intimated a desire to see me, too, to ask for my mercy.” His lips twisted, his piggy eyes shining with prospective excitement.
“I am willing to give you that opportunity—to allow you to come back to Britain and, as it were, bend the knee to your president, and in return, I will grant you the fanfare you mentioned. I agree. Let’s make your homecoming a reason for celebration.
We can blow the budget on twenty-one-gun salutes and fireworks. ”
I closed my eyes briefly, all too able to conceive the money he’d waste on blowing smoke up his own ass. As far as Ian was concerned, the treasury was his own personal pot of money, there for him to use as he saw fit.
“I have also done you the courtesy of not making this reply public.” He shifted in his seat, having seemingly put on at least another thirty pounds since the last time I saw him.
“Instead, I am asking that it’s returned to your server’s IP address, along with the details of how to reach out to me going forward.
We have a lot to organize, Adam, but I believe we can make this happen. ”
He rose from his chair, tugging down his lapels as an anonymous hand thrust a glass of what looked like an ageing bourbon toward him. Reaching for the glass, he raised the drink in a gesture of a toast while the camera followed the action.
“I am ready for my commander general to come home.”
The screen went black after that before returning to a message headed with the official insignia of Ian’s office. Listed below it were his official email address and a phone number I didn’t recognize.
“And that’s it?” Caroline’s voice filled the shadows as I waited for Meyer to flick on the overhead lights. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was more than that.”
“He seems warm to the idea of you going back,” Laurent observed as the illumination flashed on around us.
“Yes, he’ll want the opportunity to gloat and rub my return in my face.
” I grimaced at the appalling thought. “But I can play along, so long as you guys can arrange for him and me to meet as we previously discussed—on the water, and with the French military on standby. I don’t want to be on British waters for too long. ”
“Our I.T. people can reply to him and set that up,” Laurent replied.
“And what if he doesn’t go for it?” Caroline probed. “What if he insists on Adam flying back and waiting for French air traffic control to stop striking?”
That was a good point I hadn’t considered. “Ian can be a belligerent prick when he chooses to be,” I reiterated. “It’s probably worth us having a contingency plan, just in case he digs his heels in.”
“We should upsell the idea of the water, ja?” Meyer interjected. “Describe the sumptuous display of fireworks and international media so that he craves it. We will make him feel like the most superior leader of the century.”
“Definitely,” I replied. “The more over the top we are, the more likely he is to bite.”
“But is that what we want?” Caroline demanded, releasing my leg as she glanced around at the judges. “It just seems as though we’re plowing all of our energy into getting Adam there, and there’s no talk about what happens then, let alone how to extract him.”
“Extraction should be easy,” Laurent countered. “Once the French military has control of the vessel, Mr. Harper will be brought back to European soil.”
“To freedom,” I added, reiterating the terms of the deal. “If I get him into your custody, then I’m free to go. Right?” I glanced around at the judges.
“Yes,” Akari confirmed.
“And do we actually have that in writing?” Caroline asked. “You mentioned it before, but does Adam have it in black and white?”
“I will have it for him,” Akari vowed. “Before he leaves.”
I smiled in Caroline’s direction, hoping my eyes revealed my gratitude. After years working alone at Fortorus, it was good to have somebody on my side, watching my back. I just never would have believed that somebody would have been one of my prisoners.
“When will you suggest this meeting take place?” My attention rose to Akari. “I’ll need time to get back to the Netherlands, and then we’ll want the weather to be as calm as possible.”
“We will accompany you to the Netherlands,” Meyer replied without actually answering my question. “We can fly there, but if need be, tell Jackson that you’re traveling by road to avoid the air traffic control strike.”
“I’m coming along, too.” Caroline straightened at my side, her breaths coming faster than before.
“The Dutch part of this plan does not concern you, Miss Craness,” Akari started. “We hope you understand.”
“I do not understand!” Her gaze seared into Akari. “What happens to Adam absolutely concerns me. I am the reason he’s here in the first place, and I believe, at least in part, the reason he’s trying to do the right thing.”
“She’s right.” Pride reverberated from me as I glanced her way.
Caroline’s sassy interjection had assuaged some of the uneasy waves rising in my chest, reminding me who I was fighting for.
It had been a while since I’d seen the feisty and impudent side of my little girl, but watching her spring to life, first in my defense, and then for herself, was a revelation.
After months of subjugation, I was more used to seeing her suppressed and obedient, but that only highlighted the contrast, ensuring her defiance was nothing short of exhilarating.
“Caroline should come along with us to the Netherlands,” I added. “She should have somewhere safe to stay while I go on with the officials from there.”
Akari glanced left and right at her colleagues. “This approach is most unorthodox. Miss Craness is applying for asylum in Switzerland, not the Netherlands.”
Caroline snorted. “I think we could all use a little anarchy right now. We are, after all, trying to overthrow a despot dictator.”
“It is not the ICC’s intention to overthrow governments.” Akari’s attention flitted between Caroline and me. “Especially those that were democratically elected.”
“The election was a long time ago,” I reminded her. “And Ian has ripped up just about every norm and convention in British history since then, including committing the war crimes you would like to see him held accountable for.”
“It is your last point that counts,” Akari replied. “We would like to see Mr. Jackson at The Hague to answer for his crimes.”
“Yes, but thus destabilizing the British government,” I concluded, unsure why it was so difficult for the legal experts to say that part aloud.
I accepted that bringing down the British government might not have been their core objective, but I didn’t need to be a genius to realize it would be a likely ultimate consequence of removing the country’s autocratic leadership.
At the very least, there would be a power vacuum waiting to be filled, and knowing the morons left orbiting Ian, none of them would be up to the job.
“We can only hope,” Caroline mumbled. “So, we all travel to The Hague together, yes?” She scanned the line of legal experts, as though daring any of them to defy her. “I’ll stay wherever you put me while I wait for Adam.”
She turned to meet my no doubt wry expression.
The idea that she’d finally do as she was told without making a nuisance of herself was far from lost on me, but in that moment, I’d rarely been prouder of the woman I loved.
Showing her teeth on occasion only made her choice to submit to me all the more powerful.
“It can be arranged,” Meyer finally said. “But first, we have to organize the other, more important logistics for Mr. Harper’s voyage.”
“And to my question,” I guided them back to the matter of timing. “When are we aiming for this to take place?”
Caroline held her breath as she waited for a response, gripping my hand when Meyer spoke again.
“We will reply to Jackson today, and, with Officer Kaspar’s approval, we’ll leave for the Netherlands tomorrow. The rest will be negotiated for as soon as possible.”
Stroking Caroline’s hand, I watched as she exhaled, unclear if that was the answer she sought, or even if she knew which reply would have made her happier.
The next chapter of our lives was about to unfold, and even if everything went according to plan—which it so rarely did—there was still the small matter of Ian Jackson standing between us and our happily ever after.