Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
A blur of colorful buildings filled Roman’s line of sight as Finn drove the SUV to Cape Town International Airport early Sunday evening.
Roman had insisted on sitting in the back seat with Harper because he was too on edge to be separated from her, even within their rental.
That sinking feeling that had begun yesterday had quadrupled despite making love to Harper last night and shortly before leaving the hotel.
“I’m going to miss this place,” Harper said softly, drawing Roman’s eyes from the window to their linked hands. She had on a baby blue wrap dress with beachy sandals. Had the stylists felt the need to emphasize her breasts in every outfit they’d selected for her?
“Really?” Finn asked in surprise, adjusting the rearview mirror to put eyes on them for a second. “You don’t have shit memories?”
“No. Mostly good memories for me,” she answered as Roman smoothed the pad of his thumb on top of their clasped palms.
So much had happened since they arrived Friday morning, but Roman only wanted to remember the fact he and Harper had said I love you, and now he was free of the shackles of his last name.
When he’d called his father last night to tell him he no longer had to worry about his brother’s shadow haunting him and their family, it was the first time he’d heard his old man cry since the day he had told Roman Thiago died in the accident.
Finn focused back on the road. “I gotta say, I’m concerned about Luke and Jessica going to the black site to confront Will. I understand why they need to do it, to wrap this all up, but I don’t like it.”
Luke and Jess were currently outside the city of Kaunas in Lithuania on their way to the prison. They wanted to personally tell the son of a bitch his contact with the outside world was now in CIA custody, and his plan had failed.
The teams appeared to be ahead of Will for a change. Well, Roman hoped that was the case. Damn the nagging feeling in his gut.
But the fucker had co-written the handbook for the teams, so if anyone could outmaneuver them, it’d be Will Hobbs.
One positive note—the CIA had detained all of Fox Security’s employees and determined none were involved, so that left just Will and Talon.
Talon’s confession indicated Will had reached out in December of last year to set things in motion, and just as Roman suspected, Will’s plan had seemed airtight.
He’d hired Talon with money he’d stored electronically before imprisonment and had communicated with Talon via email every week between December and now.
Talon’s first assignment: spy on everyone on Bravo and Echo.
Once he’d begun following the teams, Talon had relayed intel to Will that Harper was now working with the crew, and Will used that to his advantage, especially since he had all of Brandon’s stories to help him out.
Talon also admitted to cutting a deal with Luciano.
In Talon’s creepy stalker activities, he’d detected Roman had strong feelings for Harper.
Even though they weren’t together during that time, it wouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist to know Roman would die for that woman every day of the week and then some.
It’d have been a win-win for both Luciano and Talon if Harper were eliminated.
Thinking about it all made Roman physically ill, but he had to focus on the positives. It was over. Will hadn’t won. Talon was going to wind up in prison forever for shooting the President’s son, and the fact Talon claimed he’d intentionally missed wouldn’t help him out either.
He just wants to fuck with you all. Split you up.
That’s what I was hired to do. The only person I was supposed to kill was Harper, and her death wasn’t part of the original plan.
I asked for a lot extra to do that. CIA Director Spenser had relayed that part of the recording from their interrogation Sunday morning.
Roman had nearly put his fist through the wall as he listened to the bastard talk as if Harper’s life could ever have a monetary value on it.
My job was to divide you, break you down, then get Jessica and Luke Scott to show in Monaco.
I have no idea how he plans to escape prison.
Just that they were his ultimate targets, the ones he seems to hate the most, Talon had also said, confirming he’d had the gift card delivered to their Barcelona hotel room per Will’s instructions.
Sadly, Mauricio’s sister didn’t know her brother was dead.
He’d put her on a plane to D.C. as instructed by Talon, telling her he was being blackmailed into killing someone, and he wanted her safe and out of range.
And the labs finally managed to confirm the remains in the car as Ezra’s, which had been tough on Harper.
“I’m sorry about Ezra,” Finn said softly a moment later as if reading Roman’s thoughts.
“I didn’t know he had a wife and child,” Harper returned in a sad voice. “That explains how Talon forced him to reach out to the CIA and then go to Spain. The things people will do for their loved ones.”
Yeah, that was the line of the century for them lately.
“We’ll make sure they’re taken care of,” Finn replied before his phone mounted on the dashboard rang.
“Hey,” Natasha started straight away after Finn placed the call on speakerphone. “Something is bothering me. I have Wyatt here with me on the line.”
“We got word that one of the guards assigned to Will Hobbs’s cell block didn’t show up for work yesterday or today.
He didn’t call in. He just disappeared,” Natasha explained in a rush.
“Why would the warden reach out to let us know that? Something feels off, don’t you think?
Then before he ended the call, he mumbled, shit of shit.
I assume there was something lost in the translation even though he spoke in English. ”
Shit of shit? Roman dropped his eyes to his lap, trying to think. To come up with something to dispel the worry ratcheting higher and higher with every passing second.
“I have that, uh, bad feeling in the pit of my bloody stomach,” Wyatt added, on the same page as Roman.
“I asked my father to talk to POTUS. Tell him to pull Jessica and Luke back until we can look into a few things. Better to be safe, right?” Natasha told them.
Roman leaned forward, his heartbeat picking up as far too many thoughts began flying.
All bad. “Since Will had a chance to talk with Brandon at a higher security prison prior to Lithuania, I’m betting he made friends inside this new place as well.
Do we know who else is on the same prison block as him? ”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Natasha answered. “I was already checking before we called. They’re all terrorists on his row aside from Will and a Lithuanian accountant.”
“What kind of accountant?” Roman asked, and Harper gently squeezed his hand as if trying to soothe him, or maybe she was growing worried, too.
“The kind that cooks the books and hides money transfers between terrorist cells,” Wyatt explained.
“The man was brought in last December, but according to Agency files, he still refuses to give up any intel on the terrorists he worked with. The Agency isn’t allowed to use enhanced interrogation right now, so . . .”
Roman took a moment to process the words. “So, the same month this guy shows up in prison, Will reaches out to Talon?” Not a coincidence.
“You think Will’s planning something with the accountant?” Harper asked.
“And if Will was working with this guy, then what if Talon wasn’t the only one Will had working for him on the outside?” Roman’s pulse quickened. “This guy might be Will’s backup plan. The money guys are always worth a lot. Terrorists on the outside would want him out of that prison.”
“Contingency for his contingencies,” Finn said under his breath, “that’s what Will always taught us.”
Roman hung his head with regret at the possibility that Will had played them yet again. It was still a theory, but he had a feeling his instincts were spot on, and this was part of the something they’d missed.
“Trying to patch Jess on our call now. The cell connection is shit where they’re at,” Wyatt said between curses.
“Shit of shit,” Roman sputtered a second later. “SOS. The warden was trying to let us know there’s a problem, and if he’s not outright saying it—”
“He’s under duress and afraid to talk.” Harper gripped Roman’s hand tighter. “What if we have it wrong? Will’s not planning a prison break. He’s already out.”
“This is a trap,” Wyatt hissed. “He’s after Luke and Jessica.”
“Hello?” Jessica asked around static, joining the call after Wyatt was finally able to add her. “Bad reception. Is something wrong? We’re one klick out from the prison.”
“Abort,” Wyatt ordered. “Do not charlie mike. It’s a trap. Get the hell out—”
The line went dead.
“Call back,” Roman rushed out at the same time as Harper, sitting taller. Also, feeling a little sick. That menacing cloud that had appeared yesterday was now drenching them in a fucking downpour.
“Hold on, I’m getting an incoming call from my dad,” Natasha spoke up, her tone strained. “What?” she whispered, and Roman’s heart dropped at the ominous sound of her voice. “I, um . . .”
“What is it?” Harper cried, squeezing Roman’s hand tight enough to break bones.
“We had drone surveillance following them, but there was some type of blast, and the visual was temporarily lost,” Natasha said in a shaky voice. “We have eyes on the scene again, but um.”
Blast?
“Wyatt, get Asher on the phone,” Natasha softly ordered. “He needs to know. He needs to know there’s been an attack on Luke and Jess’s vehicle. It looks like there was an explosion, and . . . and we can’t confirm if they survived.”