Art and Murder (28 page)

“Do you suspect her of —”

“No.”

“Then you're thinking more for security reasons,” Laura said. “The Russian talking about having collateral bothered me, too.” She waited a beat, then said, “It's not like they would need to drag Carina kicking and screaming off the street. We might not be in a position to know if she's about to be harmed.”

“If something goes sideways with me, scoop her up,” Jack said sombrely.

“Right … and how will we know if something goes sideways with you?”

“I'll call you.”

“Oh, I see,” Laura scoffed. “You would say, excuse me, bad guys, don't shoot me yet. I need to make a phone call first. Yeah, I'm sure they would go along with that.”

“Damn it, Laura!” Jack couldn't contain his annoyance. “What am I supposed to do? The next two days are crucial. We need her to convince the Russian … but if something goes wrong I don't want her being harmed because of it. Come Saturday I'll break up with her one way or the other.”

“Yes, but how will I know if things do go sideways?” Laura persisted.

“Like I said, I'll call you if the situation turns ugly,” Jack replied.

“And if you can't?”

“Then I'm probably already dead and they won't have any reason to go after Carina.”

Jack entered the restaurant and had barely taken a couple of steps when a man shouted, “Hey, Canada!” He saw Wolfgang wave at him from the far side of a table where he was sitting with Roche and Anton.

Jack approached and Wolfgang rose and gave him a warm handshake. On the near side of the table sat Carina and a man whom Wolfgang introduced as Giuseppe. Jack shook his hand and noticed that there was very little hair on it.
Strike you off the list.

Jack looked across the table. “Hello, Anton. Nice to see you again.”

Anton nodded, but Jack saw by his eyes that he was not pleased to have Jack there.
Perhaps something to do with me taping his eyes shut or putting a gun to his head and threatening to blow his brains out. Or was it the threat of cutting him up in a band saw that makes him dislike me?

Jack took the free seat beside Carina and felt her briefly squeeze his leg. She gave him a reassuring smile.

“Carina has been speaking highly of you,” Roche said.

Jack smiled and nodded to indicate he heard, but wondered how cognizant Roche was of Carina's feelings for him.

“Perhaps she even thinks as highly of you as Wolfgang does,” Roche added, giving Wolfgang a jab with his elbow.

Wolfgang grinned, then raised a glass of red wine in Jack's direction and said, “You may have impressed me a little with the, uh, consulting work you did for us in Canada.”

“A little?” Giuseppe said. “What about you, Anton? Were you impressed … a little?”

“What does he know?” Wolfgang chuckled. “I think he had his eyes closed half the time Jack was around.”

“This is not the place or the time to be discussing work,” Roche said. “We are here to have fun tonight. Everyone drink, and let's order. I'm hungry.”

A waiter was summoned, and Jack and Wolfgang each ordered pasta, while the others ordered swordfish. The wine continued to arrive at the table and Jack was pretty sure that they wanted to get him drunk. Of course, that meant they'd get drunk, too.

Anton, in particular, as time went on, appeared to have difficulty locating his mouth. The front of his shirt had collected a growing number of food and wine stains.

Giuseppe talked about the hunting lodge he owned and laughed about the times hunters were chased by the wild boar. “Happens especially if the boar is wounded,” he said. “They can be dangerous.”

“I'm sure Jack could handle them,” Wolfgang slurred. “Couldn't you, Jack? Probably smack 'em in the teeth with the butt of —”

“I'd prefer to shoot them,” Jack interrupted him. He glared at Wolfgang.

Wolfgang took the hint and quit talking. Jack watched as he chased the last morsel of pasta around his plate with a fork, then captured it and popped it into his mouth.

Carina was quiet during the meal and stopped drinking after her second glass. Once the plates were cleared, Jack felt her squeeze his leg one more time, then she announced that she was tired, but would see them off in the morning. The men concurred that everyone would meet at nine o'clock for breakfast.

“We will leave the hotel around ten tomorrow morning,” said Giuseppe as Carina walked away. “Also, it is cold in the mountains, might even snow. We will shop for some warm clothes along the way. I have some winter coats at the lodge, but you might like to buy your own warm shirts, pants, boots, and heavy socks.”

Jack nodded. “Thank you. I'll need to shop. Leaving at ten doesn't give us much time once we have breakfast.”

“We go through a town on the way called Bianco,” Giuseppe said. “My cousin has a store there. Don't worry. It is already paid for. Whatever you want.”

“Oh, that's very nice of —”

“I am looking forward to hunting boar with you,” Anton said in a voice that sounded menacing.

“And I with you,” Jack replied cheerily. “I've never hunted pigs before, but I presume by your appearance that you're to be the decoy?”

There was a burst of laughter from Roche, Wolfgang, and Giuseppe, but Jack knew by the look of hatred on Anton's face that he had made a blunder. Undercover work is about befriending people, not making enemies.

Jack cleared his throat, then looked around the table. “So that you don't get the wrong idea,” he said, “I should tell the rest of you that Anton is one of the bravest men I've ever met. I had a gun to his head and threatened to cut him up with a band saw, yet he refused to tell me where the stash was hidden. Even when I fired a gun beside his head, he didn't flinch.”
Actually, he was too terrified to move.

Anton glanced at the sombre faces of his colleagues as they reflected on what Jack had said.

Jack raised his wineglass toward Anton. “I salute you. You've got
balls.
”

The hatred vanished from Anton's eyes and he shrugged modestly. He met Jack's gaze, giving a slight nod and smile to show his appreciation.

Jack nodded in return.
Good. Just reeled you in, dumb-ass.

It was midnight when Jack returned to his room and called Laura. After she told him that one of Paolo's men had obtained a room on the second floor overlooking the front entrance to the hotel, Jack updated her. When he told her they would be stopping in Bianco to shop at Giuseppe's cousin's store, she relayed the information to Paolo.

“Okay,” she said, when she came back on the phone. “Bianco is about an hour-and-fifteen-minute drive from here. Paolo says the only place he thinks there would be boar-hunting is in the Aspromonte mountains. Translated, it means ‘rough mountains.' On days when the roads are good, you can go from the sunshine of the coast and be skiing an hour later.”

“Good,” replied Jack. “Sounds like you'll have a rough idea where I'm headed. Maybe suggest to Paolo he send a couple of his guys to Bianco to see where I go from there.”

“He's already said he would, but now the bad news. From Bianco, once you get into the mountains, there are myriad back roads, rivers, and mountains with little traffic this time of year. It's been a popular region for the Mafia to hide people they kidnapped or took prisoner. He's not sure if they still use that area, but he knows there's no way they could follow you without being seen. If the roads are bad, which they often are, you could be looking at a three- or four-hour drive once you leave Bianco, depending on where they take you.”

“Lovely,” Jack said.

“I hate these situations,” said Laura.

“Well,
my
good news is I think I impressed everyone at the table tonight. I don't feel any bad vibes at all. Not even from Anton, who started off with a bit of a grudge.”

“Just a bit? After what you —”

“I think I smoothed it out. Just had to stroke his ego.”

Jack heard Paolo talking to Laura in the background, then Laura muttered, “Crap.”

“What now?” Jack asked.

“Once you're in the mountains, you can't use a cellphone in a lot of the areas — at least, not without driving for up to an hour to find a spot that works.”

“Like I said, I feel pretty good about the situation. I'll tell the bad guys that I have to take care of business in Canada and will need to make a few calls. Eight in the morning in Vancouver is five in the afternoon here. So I'll try to touch base around five.”

“And if we don't hear from you, what then? We won't have a clue where you are. Damn it, Jack, they could even shoot you and say it was a hunting accident. With Giuseppe's connections he wouldn't even be charged with —”

“I know. I thought of that, too.”

“Well?”

“Well what? It's not like I have any choice. Same as Kerin when he tried to save me. He had no choice, either.”

* * *

At eight-thirty the next morning, Jack went into the restaurant for breakfast, hoping to catch Carina alone and remind her not to disclose the feelings she had for him until after he was hired. She was in the restaurant, but so was Roche.

Jack saw Carina smile at him, then grimace and discreetly nod toward Roche. It was evident she was hoping the two of them could be alone, too. It made him feel better that she did not display any obvious signs of affection toward him.

Shortly after Jack sat down, Wolfgang, Anton, and Giuseppe arrived. When breakfast was over, Jack, Roche, Anton, and Wolfgang checked out of the hotel. They said goodbye to Carina in the lobby and then Giuseppe drove them to Bianco.

It was two in the afternoon by the time they bought clothes at the store owned by Giuseppe's cousin and groceries at another store. Then, just as Paolo had predicted, they headed into the Aspromonte mountains. Traffic on the mountain roads became scarce.

Forty-five minutes out of Bianco, they came to a small town called Sant'Agata del Bianco. On the outskirts of the town, Giuseppe pulled into a driveway of a home set amongst a grove of trees.

“My brother-in-law's place,” he explained. “Wait here. I won't be long. If you need to make any calls, do it now because once we get to my lodge, the phones won't work.”

“I'll have to make a call tomorrow night around five o'clock,” said Jack. “How far do we have to go yet?”

Giuseppe glanced up at the sky, then said, “If it doesn't snow, we'll be at my lodge in another hour. Sometimes you can get a signal about halfway there, but not always.”

Jack and Wolfgang both got out of the vehicle to use their phones, and Giuseppe went to the house, where he was greeted by a bearded man dressed in a wool lumberjack shirt, cargo pants, and green boots. He had two dogs with him, one a pit bull and the other a hound. The man eyed Jack briefly, then grabbed the dogs by their collars and disappeared back inside with Giuseppe.

A real hillbilly,
Jack thought as he wandered back up the driveway to call Laura. Wolfgang was within listening range, but was busy talking on his own phone.

Jack decided not to chance whether or not Wolfgang could hear him, so he chose his words carefully. “Sorry to wake you,” he said when Laura answered. “Guess it's early where you are.” He paused, then said, “Where am I? Passing through some little town in Italy called Sant'Agata del Bianco. It's cold and windy. Feels like it's gonna snow.”

“Okay for me to chat?” she asked.

“You bet.”

“Paolo says the team saw you heading out of Bianco but decided not to follow.”

“That's great. I mean that.” Jack glanced at Wolfgang and saw him hang up and get back inside the truck.

“They also did a loose surveillance on Carina,” continued Laura. “She went to a jewellery store and bought a man's ring. Gold with a blue sapphire. She ordered it engraved and went back a few minutes ago and picked it up.”

“I'm clear to talk now,” said Jack. “Any idea what was engraved on the ring?”

“Yes. It was in English and said
New Beginnings.
”

“Christ,” Jack muttered.

“I thought that might mean something to you.” When Jack didn't respond, she said, “At least you know she'll give a good assessment about you to the Russian.”

“Yes, but I hope to hell she doesn't show him the ring. If she does, I may as well buy her one and have it engraved with the word
collateral
.”

“She's going to be upset when you dump her.”

“I'll use the ring as an excuse and say I feel like I'm being rushed into something.”

“Guess that's nicer than telling her you're married with two kids.”

“Anything on the Russian yet?” Jack asked to change the subject.

“Paolo looked into some flight manifests, but there are several Russians listed. I told him not to risk making inquiries as we'll likely identify him when he arrives.”

“I agree. It's not as though it'd make a difference at this point.” He glanced at the house and saw Giuseppe emerge with four rifle scabbards. “Gotta go. I'll call you tomorrow around five o'clock. Hopefully by then I'll have met him.”

“Don't make any pig noises in the bush,” Laura said, then hung up.

Jack approached Giuseppe as he was putting the rifles into his vehicle. “There are five of us and only four rifles,” he noted.

“I have killed enough boar,” Giuseppe explained. “If someone wounds one and it comes at me, I've got this.” He flashed open his jacket to reveal a pistol stuck in his belt.

A minute later they drove out of Sant'Agata del Bianco, and fifteen minutes after that Giuseppe turned down a road consisting of two ruts that meandered in and around the mountainous slopes. Forty-five minutes later they came to a long, barren stretch where the road cut through a meadow. At the end of the meadow were some small, wooden buildings backing onto a densely forested area.

“Welcome to my lodge,” Giuseppe said as he drove up and parked in front of a larger building that had a wall of sheer rock on one side and a steep gully on the other that plummeted down to a raging river.

“I own 144 acres,” he added as they got out of the truck. He pointed toward the forest and said, “The boars are in there. If you go to the end of my property, the river on one side meets up with the mountain on the other. There's no place for the boar to go at that point and they know it.”

“Sounds easy,” Roche said. “Chase them to the end where they can't escape and shoot them.”

Giuseppe smiled. “You will find it's not that easy. About eighty acres is forest. There is plenty of room for them to sneak past you.”

“So we may not be eating roast pork,” Wolfgang said. “Hope you brought enough food.”

Giuseppe shook his head. “If we are not successful by noon, I will return to my brother-in-law's place. He has two dogs. One is what they call the bay dog. It tracks the scent and howls when it finds the boar. The other dog is known as the catch dog, and once the boar is found, it will clamp its jaws onto the boar's face or ear and hold it until we arrive and kill it. I don't like to use the dogs unless it is necessary. With them we could kill a boar within an hour, but using the dogs is …” He looked at Jack and asked, “What is the expression? Fishing in a barrel?”

“Shooting fish in a barrel,” Jack replied.

“Yes, thank you, that's it. However, either way, we will not go hungry.” He then pointed to a building on the left and said, “That's the bunkhouse. The other is the kitchen. There's a shed behind the kitchen where I have two all-terrain quad bikes. When we do get our boar, you will appreciate not having to carry it out.”

“Looks like quite the setup,” Jack said.

Giuseppe nodded. “I have generators on the porch behind the kitchen with a line to the bunkhouse. They are good for ten hours of running time at fifty percent power. You will have light, heat, and water from a well for a hot shower. There are sleeping bags in the closets between the bunks. The bunkhouse isn't locked, so everyone go make yourselves at home while I start the generators.”

“Not locked?” questioned Jack. “Don't you worry about stuff being stolen? Especially your quads or your generators.”

Giuseppe looked taken back. “This is my land and my property. Everyone knows that. If anyone did such a thing … well, let me say they would not dare.” He slid his index finger across his throat.

In other words, you're king in this neck of the woods.
Jack went with the others to the bunkhouse while Giuseppe took a jerry can of gas out of his truck for the generators.

The bunkhouse had a door at the front with a small window adjacent to it. Inside were three double bunk beds down each side separated by a double closet between each bunk. At the far end of the bunkhouse, Jack noted, were shelves on one side and a bathroom on the other.

Jack laid claim to one of the beds nearest the bathroom, then decided to use the facility, which had a sink on the left, and toilet and shower stall on the right. A window above the toilet faced the kitchen, Jack discovered, and he could see Giuseppe pouring gas into a generator. Between the bunkhouse and the kitchen were benches placed around a firepit.

When Jack returned to his bunk, they suddenly heard the hum of the generator, and Wolfgang flicked on the lights.

It was five o'clock by the time everyone had stowed their clothes, put sleeping bags on the bunks, and gone next door. Jack entered the kitchen through the front door and saw that it was spacious, with windows on both sides and two picnic tables standing end to end down the middle of the room. In the back a counter extended partway out to separate the cooking area from the seating area. A rear door led onto a back porch.

“Welcome,” said Giuseppe as they entered. “Don't worry about taking off your boots. It's too cold for the ground to be muddy, so you're not likely to track anything in. I have a vacuum in the shed if I need it.” He glanced out a window at the darkening sky. “Is there anyone here who has not fired a rifle before?”

“I was a sharpshooter in the military,” Wolfgang said.

All eyes turned to Jack. “I can handle a rifle,” he said, then looked at Roche and Anton.

Both admitted they'd never used one. “Only pistols,” Anton said.

Giuseppe nodded. “I was going to take you out and do some target practice, but it is getting dark. We will do it in the morning. It is light by eight o'clock, so if we have breakfast around seven, it will work out.”

Everyone took a seat at one of the tables. Giuseppe poured them each a glass of wine and set out a plate of black olives before making spaghetti. After they'd eaten, Giuseppe looked at Jack and said, “I have a chore for you. Being from Canada, I think you will know how to do it.”

“I'm listening,” said Jack.

“While I clean up, I would like you to go outside and start a fire in the pit. There is firewood on the back porch and matches on the counter.”

Jack nodded and Wolfgang went with him, while Roche and Anton remained to assist Giuseppe clean up in the kitchen. Jack found a hatchet and Wolfgang hauled several armloads of firewood over to the pit, where Jack used a chopping block to make kindling. The fire was well underway when the rest of the men joined them.

The evening went without incident. The men sat around the fire sipping wine until ten o'clock, when a light snow began falling.

“It is good,” said Giuseppe, holding his hand out to the snow. “We will not need the dogs tomorrow.”

* * *

Surveillance at the E' Hotel indicated that Carina had gone to her room. Maurice, Yves, Otto, and Laura then snuck into the room on the second floor that one of Paolo's men had booked, which overlooked the front entrance of the hotel.

At ten-forty-five Paolo received a call saying that a man with a Russian accent had deplaned from the ten-thirty flight and was renting a Jeep. He was described as clean-shaven with short black hair touched with grey at the temples. He was wearing a three-quarter-length fur coat.