Redemption (22 page)

Her question caught him off guard, and it took him a few moments to summon up his answer. ‘I suppose so.’

‘I did. Once.’ She sighed and leaned back in her seat, holding up her cuffs once more. ‘And this was my reward.’

Their jet touched down at Andrews with the smooth, easy efficiency of a commercial airliner, taxiing to a halt inside one of the big hangars on the west side of the airfield. A couple of black Grand Cherokee 4x4s were waiting for them, along with four agents from the CIA’s Office of Security – three men and one woman. Typical of the Agency, they were all dressed in dark business suits.

‘Looks like the welcoming committee’s here,’ Drake observed.

Dietrich, Frost and Keegan went out ahead of him. They had accompanied him on the flight from Alaska, delaying their own return by a couple of hours. Drake suspected their decision had as much to do with the allure of travelling by executive jet as their sense of professional obligation, but he was grateful for their company all the same.

He glanced out the window and saw Keegan stretch and arch his back, then run a hand through his shaggy mane of blond hair. Nearby, Dietrich lit up a cigarette.

‘Come on, let’s get this over with,’ he said, taking Anya’s arm and helping her up. She shrugged out of his grip, determined to do it herself.

With Anya in front where he could keep an eye on her, they descended the stairs at the front of the aircraft to the concrete hangar floor. No sooner had they emerged from the plane than two of the security agents
came
forward to meet them – one of the men and the woman.

Approaching with sure, easy strides, the woman flashed her ID card. ‘Good morning, sir. My name’s Watts. I’m the officer in charge here.’

Drake shook hands, surprised by the strength of her grip. She was a good-looking woman. Smaller than Anya, with a neat, compact physique and short brown hair.

‘Drake,’ he replied. ‘Good to meet you.’

‘And you, sir. We’re here to escort you to Langley.’

Drake glanced at the small group of agents. ‘Only four operatives?’

‘Believe me, there’s not much we can’t handle,’ Watts assured him, her dark eyes flashing with a touch of professional pride as she steered them toward the Grand Cherokees. ‘Anyway, Director Cain suggested we keep things low-key. Local PD have been notified, and we have an armed tactical team on standby. If anything happens, they can be on site within minutes. Plus, we have other security protocols.’ She turned her attention to Anya. ‘Can I see your left forearm, ma’am?’

She was being polite, but it wasn’t a request.

Hesitating, Anya reluctantly held out her arms, cuffed together as they were. Watts rolled up the sleeve of her jumpsuit, while a second operative approached with what looked like a large hypodermic syringe.

‘This may hurt a little,’ Watts explained.

Pressing the device tight against her arm to form a seal, he pulled a trigger on the underside. There was a dull hiss, and for a moment the woman’s face tightened in pain. A trickle of blood ran down her arm as the syringe was pulled away.

‘What was that?’ Drake asked.

‘Satellite tracking device, implanted in the muscle
layer
beneath the skin. Very hard to remove by force,’ Watts explained. ‘It transmits her location via secure satellite uplink to our monitoring station at Langley. With it, we can follow her anywhere on the face of the earth.’

Drake raised an eyebrow and glanced at Anya. She didn’t look happy at being bugged in such an invasive way, but she said nothing. That seemed to be her standard tactic when dealing with authority.

‘One more thing, sir. I’ll take her handcuff keys,’ Watts said, holding out her hand.

Drake frowned. ‘She’s my prisoner.’

The security agent gave an apologetic shrug. ‘It’s protocol, sir. I’m sorry. For the duration of the transfer, we’re responsible for the prisoner.’

She was still holding out her hand. Realising she wouldn’t take no for an answer, Drake gave her the keys. What harm could it do, anyway?

His thoughts were interrupted when his cellphone started ringing. He glanced at the number and frowned. It was Jessica.

His sister never called without warning, especially not on his work phone. It must be important.

‘Secure her for transport. I need to take this call,’ he said, then leaned a little closer and lowered his voice. ‘Go easy on her.’

Watts nodded.

Turning away, Drake retreated a short distance and hit the receive button. ‘I’m a little busy right now, Jess. Can I call you back?’

But his sister didn’t reply. The voice that spoke was male, American, low pitched and gravelly. It was a voice that sounded ominously familiar.

‘Don’t talk. Just listen. If you ever want to see your
sister
again, you’ll listen very carefully to what I’m about to say.’

Those words froze him on the spot.

‘There are three rules to this conversation. Rule One, if you don’t cooperate fully, if you try to alert anyone, if you make any attempt to stall or lie to me, I will kill your sister in such a way that even you won’t recognise her body. Rule Two, I’m going to give you a series of instructions in a few moments. If you fail to comply with them, see Rule One. Rule Three, you speak only when asked a direct question. Do you understand?’

The phone was shaking in his hand. ‘Who are you?’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’

Drake exhaled, unable to suppress the shudder of fear that swept through him. Now he knew why the voice sounded familiar. It was Munro.

‘You’re bluffing,’ he said, trying desperately to keep his voice under control.

‘Am I?’

The line crackled for a few moments, and he heard muffled words in the background.

Then, just like that, another voice came on the line.

‘Ryan?’

His heart leapt, the blood pounded in his ears, and a horrible tightening, sickening feeling twisted his guts.

It was her. No doubt about it. She was shaken, terrified, distraught, but her voice was unmistakable. It was his sister.

‘Jess, where are you?’

‘They told me to tell you they’re listening in. Two men, they … took me when I was walking to my car last night.’ Her voice was trembling. She was having to fight to stay in control. ‘They’re going to kill me if you don’t do what they say …’

‘Oh, Christ,’ he said under his breath. ‘Jess, listen to me. I’m going to fix this. I’m going to get you out of this. I promise …’

Suddenly there was a commotion on the other end, and Munro’s voice came back on. ‘You get the picture, Drake. Do what I tell you or bad things will happen to young Jessica. And believe me, they’ll be real bad.’

Drake felt as if a knife had been driven into his stomach. ‘You fucking—’

‘Careful, Ryan! Let’s not get off on the wrong foot here.’

It took a great effort of will to calm his voice. Shouting and screaming wasn’t going to resolve this. Somehow, he had to stay calm and logical.

‘What do you want?’

‘You’ve been running plenty of errands for Cain lately. Well, now you can run one for me. You’re transporting Anya back to Langley. I want you to break her free.’

This was insane. ‘We were going to hand her over to you.’

‘You actually believe Cain would give her up?’ Munro chuckled with amusement. ‘No, he’ll use her to hunt me down. My old mentor, taught me everything I know, and all that bullshit … He’s trying to make me play his game. The only way to beat him is to change the rules.’

Drake couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

‘Are you out of your fucking mind?’ he hissed. Luckily for him, the roar of a departing jet masked his angry words from Watts and the others. ‘She’s in an armoured car, surrounded by agents with guns. It’s impossible.’

‘Just like it was impossible to get her out of prison?’ Munro prompted. ‘Come on, Ryan. You can do better than that.
Find a way
. If you don’t … see Rules One and Two.’

It took every ounce of self-control in his body not to scream his next words at the top of his voice. ‘If you hurt her, I swear to God—’

‘I’m not a monster, Ryan, despite what you might have heard about me,’ Munro cut in, a hard edge of anger in his voice. ‘When the time comes, you have to act fast. I can help you, but only if you listen to me. Take out the agents in your car, secure Anya, and I’ll give you further instructions.’

‘How will I know when it’s time?’

‘I’ll call you. As soon as your phone starts ringing, you have to act. If you try to warn anyone, your sister dies. If you fail and get caught, she dies. If I think you’re not giving it your best, she dies. In fact, you’re gonna have to work hard to keep her alive, so I suggest you don’t fuck up. Good luck.’

The line went dead.

For several seconds, Drake didn’t move. He just stood there in the cavernous hangar, rooted to the spot, his mind racing. Could he warn someone? But how?

The phone! Munro had called using Jessica’s phone.

Tracking it would be a piece of piss for the Agency. Phones were like homing beacons for satellite tracking. If they could find it, they could send in assault teams …

But even if they did, Munro could easily execute her as a final act of revenge, or she could be killed in the crossfire. Or Munro might have destroyed her phone now that he’d made his point.

Confused and frightening thoughts whirled through his mind. He imagined Jessica being grabbed from behind by powerful men in black bomber jackets and bundled into the back of a waiting van. She wouldn’t be able to fight them off. They’d be ready for anything.

Then he saw her being driven out to some cold,
deserted
building, where they would have everything set up and ready for her arrival. Then they could go about their work without worrying about being disturbed …

‘Ryan! Are you finished?’ Dietrich called out from the second vehicle. ‘We’re leaving with or without you.’

Drake took a breath, clenched his jaw and flipped the phone closed.

‘Yeah,’ he replied, trying to mask his fear as he turned around. ‘Yeah, I’m finished.’

Chapter 31

SOMETHING WAS WRONG
. Anya could tell the moment Drake slid into the back seat. The tension in his shoulders, the tight set of his jaw, the worry lines on his forehead, and most of all the haunted, almost desperate look in his eyes.

Her handcuffs were secured to a restraining point in the footwell, preventing her from moving far, but she leaned a little closer to him and spoke quietly. ‘Is something wrong?’

He shook his head.

He was lying. Even if she hadn’t been good at reading body language, she could tell he was lying.

‘You look nervous.’

Anger flared in his eyes, but he quickly masked it. ‘If I want your opinions, I’ll ask for them.’

Anya leaned back in her seat as they rolled out of the hangar. Bright sunlight streamed in through the tinted windows, hurting her eyes, but she didn’t care. It was worth any discomfort to see the sun again, to feel its warmth on her skin.

She had missed it desperately during her imprisonment, though she hadn’t allowed herself to think about it too much. Like a diet of the mind, she only indulged that particular appetite on rare occasions, fearing she would drive herself to despair otherwise.

She ached to be outside, to feel the breeze in her hair and grass beneath her feet, to smell the scent of wild flowers, to lie on her back and stare up at the endless sky …

No. She pushed those thoughts away through great effort. Those were things she couldn’t allow to intrude into her mind, weaknesses she couldn’t expose. Not yet. Not when her freedom still hung in the balance.

Perhaps, when this was over, when she’d won true freedom for herself, perhaps then she could allow her guard to drop. Perhaps then she could open up that part of her mind that she had carefully shut away, studiously protected against the ravages of the world around her.

Her thoughts turned to their destination, and what would happen when they got there. It had been a long time since she had been to Langley. Even before her imprisonment she had disliked the place, avoiding it as much as possible.

It made her uneasy, as did most large buildings packed full of people. She hated the corporate suits, the clean pristine office environments, the computers and the constantly ringing phones. It was all noise, all chaos, all confusion.

At her insistence, she had received most of her orders and briefings in the field, moving from one operation to the next almost without pause.

There had even been a time, long ago, when Cain had ventured out into the field with her, briefing her in person on her objectives. They had both been younger then. Both adventurous, both optimistic about the future, both sharing a vision of what they were working to create.

A lot of things had changed.

Passing through the base’s main security gate, they joined the Capital Beltway and headed west, making a
wide
loop around the city before heading north on Anacostia Freeway. It was a roundabout route, but she understood why. They were staying on the main drags where they could keep their speed up.

It wasn’t long before they found themselves gliding past a world of leafy suburbs, comfortable detached houses and trendy coffee shops. Everywhere Anya looked she saw men in sunglasses and polo shirts, women in fashionable trouser suits chatting on their cellphones, big shiny SUVs and luxury sedans.

The whole place reeked of affluence and excess, of comfort and safety and air conditioning. It was so radically different from the world she had known for the past four years that for some time she just stared out her window, spellbound by the incongruity of it all.

Drake said nothing. He didn’t seem verbose at the best of times, which pleased her immensely. She hated people who talked for the sake of it, particularly men. For her it betrayed a lack of confidence, as if they couldn’t stand to share a silence and felt they had to fill it with pointless banter.

But in this case there was another reason. Whatever he’d heard on the phone earlier had left him deeply shaken.

She wasn’t sure whether to feel worried or not. She didn’t care about his personal happiness, but she wondered if his unease related to her in some way. Did he know something about what was to happen to her that was making him worried?