Chapter 36 #2
Enzo seemed to steady himself for a moment. His guilt flashed across his face.
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Let’s get this done, and then we’ll go rescue Bianca.” His grin was quick, but grim.
Kathleen nodded once. She’d let all this get the better of her. It had been an adventure, fun in a weird sort of way. And how messed up was her life that getting shot at while chasing a treasure was fun? She’d lost sight of the bigger picture. There were lives at stake.
But her experience had led her here, and she just had to acknowledge that.
She craved adventure and maybe the darker side of life.
Kind of like the way she was drawn to bad boys.
She was going to have to confront that and get herself right.
When this was done, she should go back, hug Connor, and then start finding something to do with her life. Something worthwhile. Meaningful.
“All right,” she said. “I’m ready.”
They descended the stairs to the main part of the garden and then took a pathway to the right. They were moving along when Logan Callahan fell into step beside them.
“Oh, I’m so glad to see you,” Kathleen said. Truthfully, that was a major understatement. She wanted to jump up and give him a hug.
Logan smiled. “Likewise, Kathleen. I’m not alone. We’re all here in strategic spots. You didn’t tell us exactly where you thought the treasure was, but Alex assumed from the map that it was at the Obelisk grove.”
“Yes,” Enzo agreed. “That’s what I’m thinking too.”
“Okay, well, we’re spread out around there. The tall walls of hedges will help block everything out. There are several pathways leading into it, and we have most of them covered.”
Suddenly, he touched his ear. “Alex says to remind you to keep your eyes peeled for somebody who looks like Gage. She thinks that Carlotta will have said that the treasure is here, at least somewhere in the gardens, and so the original thief, the man who mugged you in Switzerland, and his crew will be here.”
Kathleen nodded, then frowned. “He looked more like Mitch.”
“What?” Logan asked.
“He didn’t look like Gage. He looked like Mitch.”
Logan’s eyebrows went up, but he relayed the message. Then he said, “Sorry, I don’t have earbuds for the two of you. We left in a hurry, and I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s okay,” Kathleen said.
Enzo just grunted.
They made their way down the path. Kathleen tried to take in a little bit of what was around her. The gardens were gorgeous, but these huge hedges had to be ancient. Some stood as much as fifty feet tall, and all were immaculately groomed. Everything was just stunning.
“Do you recognize anyone?” Logan asked Kathleen.
Kathleen blinked. She’d been so interested in the garden that she hadn’t really been watching the people. They’d passed quite a few tourists when they’d started, but the crowds had thinned out. She was surprised. She’d thought that it would be much busier than it was.
“It’s a quieter area that we’re heading to. Not as many tourists,” Enzo said as if he’d read her mind.
Kathleen tried to focus on the people. She scanned the faces around them. Nothing jumped out at her until a woman emerged from a pathway on her left.
“She’s familiar,” Kathleen murmured and then squinted in the morning sunlight. The woman disappeared into a small group of what looked like students.
“She’s with that group.” Kathleen indicated with her chin so she didn’t draw attention to the fact that she was pointing out the woman.
“Okay,” Logan said. Then he mumbled something else.
Kathleen was about to ask him to repeat it and realized he was speaking into his earbud.
They veered off the main path and continued at a moderately slow pace, trying to blend in with the rest of the tourists.
“So do we have anything else? Any more news?” she asked.
Logan shook his head. “No. We do know that Vitale is in Mallorca. We think Bianca and Rocco are there with him.”
“Good,” Enzo growled. “We’ll deal with them later. Let’s just take this one step at a time.”
Kathleen glanced down the path. Was that the woman again? Had she switched paths? She looked again. “That’s her,” she said.
“She probably came across. There are a few spots where you can do that.” Logan had confirmed her thought.
Again, Logan spoke into his earpiece, and they kept going.
Kathleen’s anxiety grew more insistent the closer they got to their destination.
The pathway narrowed as they approached the grove, the tall hedges rising higher and tighter around them until the world felt reduced to green walls and shadow.
Gravel crunched softly beneath their feet; every sound suddenly seemed too loud in the enclosed space.
Kathleen walked between Enzo and Logan; Logan on her left, Enzo just ahead and slightly to her right. Both men had gone quiet. Not relaxed quiet…alert quiet. The kind that prickled along her skin.
The air felt different here. Still. Heavy. Like the gardens themselves were holding their breath.
Ahead, the path stretched straight and deliberate, drawing the eye toward the open circle at the center.
Kathleen could just glimpse the obelisk, surprised it was not stone but water.
An immense plume surged skyward above the top of the hedges, surrounded by water that tumbled over stairs leading up to it. This was it.
Her stomach tightened as the truth of it settled in.
The map hadn’t prepared her for how exposed this felt.
The path led them straight toward the center, with nowhere to duck aside.
Nowhere to disappear once they stepped fully into the open.
Every instinct she had screamed that this was the moment things went wrong.
She slowed without realizing it, just half a step.
Enzo noticed immediately. His hand brushed her back, light and steady, a silent reassurance. She drew in a breath and forced herself forward.
The path opened onto the Bosquet de l’Obélisque. At its heart was the fountain, an elevated basin with a broad rectangular pool where dozens of jets surged upward at once, merging into a single, towering column of water that created rainbows in the morning sun.
Four wide staircases climbed toward it, one on each side, built directly into the fountain itself.
Water spilled over them in controlled sheets, cascading from step to step in glittering rivulets before crashing into the lower pool.
The constant rush and tumble of it filled the grove completely.
In any other place, the sound might have been soothing.
Here, it scraped against her nerves, setting her teeth on edge and tightening the knot of anxiety in her chest. The volume was loud enough to mask the sound of anyone approaching.
A narrow ring of manicured grass surrounded the fountain, too perfect to feel real. Beyond that lay a broad circle of pale gravel, crunching softly underfoot. From there, pathways radiated outward, vanishing almost immediately into the towering hedges that enclosed the grove.
The hedges were dense and deliberate, trimmed into towering green walls that fractured sightlines and swallowed sound. A maze disguised as symmetry. Too many places to enter.
Too many places to hide.
The hairs on the back of Kathleen’s neck lifted as they moved inexorably forward. A distinct, unsettling certainty overshadowed everything else. Once they stepped fully into the circle, there would be no way to tell who was watching, or from where. Kathleen’s pulse kicked harder.
That was when she saw her. A woman stood near the far edge of the circle, partially obscured by a hedge, pretending to study the landscaping like an idle tourist. She was slim, dark-haired, dressed simply in tailored black pants and a white blouse that looked deliberately unremarkable.
But Kathleen knew her. The recognition hit, sharp and sudden.
It was definitely her. Kathleen’s breath caught.
The woman had been at the wedding. Not as a guest, but as a server.
One of the catering staff who had moved silently between tables, head down, efficient, forgettable by design.
Kathleen remembered thinking at the time how striking she’d been up close, bright blue eyes, angular cheekbones, a faint scar near her jawline that disappeared when she smiled politely and stepped away.
Now the woman lifted her head. Their eyes met. And the woman looked away too quickly.
Kathleen’s heart slammed. “Logan,” she said under her breath, not breaking stride. “See that woman, near the hedge on the far side? Black pants. White blouse.”
Logan’s posture didn’t change, but his gaze sharpened. “I see her.”
“She was at the wedding,” Kathleen continued quietly. “One of the servers.”
Enzo’s jaw tightened. “You’re certain?”
“I’m sure of it.” Her voice didn’t waver, even though her hands had gone cold. “She was there all night. Blended in perfectly.”
Logan nodded once, already touching his ear. “Copy that.” He smiled at Kathleen to hide his words. “Well, that’s not good. It means our security failed. I have work to do when we get back to New York. I have to see how she managed to slip under our radar.”
The woman shifted position, drifting casually toward one of the intersecting paths, but Kathleen caught the way her attention stayed fixed on the obelisk, and on them.
“She’s not sightseeing,” Kathleen said.
“No,” Enzo agreed softly. “She’s waiting.”
Logan had said his brothers were there, in the area around the obelisk, but she didn’t see anyone. “Where is everyone else?” Kathleen wondered aloud.
Just then, on the path across from them, she spotted another woman. The only reason Kathleen knew it was Alex was because the woman gave her a small two-finger wave. When Kathleen looked more closely, it became obvious how good the disguise was.
Alex wore a dark, chin-length wig, cut in a bob. That and the simple summer dress with ballet flats created the overall effect of making her look French. She certainly didn’t look American. It was a great disguise.
Kathleen exhaled slowly, her stomach tightening and then easing just a little. Maybe, just maybe, they could get through this without anyone getting hurt. Without drawing attention. Without trouble.
She glanced at Enzo, then back at Alex as she moved easily through the small knots of people, blending in as if she belonged there.
Kathleen, Enzo, and Logan stepped closer to the center of the fountain. The water danced and cast rainbows in front of them. Kathleen’s trepidation deepened and settled into her bones.
Whatever the treasure was, if indeed there was a treasure here, they weren’t the only ones ready to claim it.