The Crypt (7 page)

“Wrong thing to say. Stand up. Last chance.”

To his credit he took her seriously.

“Now step away from me.”

She didn’t even need to show him her weapon. He complied without protest.

Once he was over ten feet away Sarah stood and folded the newspaper and its concealed weapon under her left arm giving it easy access for her right hand.

“You are making a mistake. It will be much harder for us to talk when you’re in a jail cell. I also would find it difficult to get you back to the States once incarcerated.”

“Wow, you’ve got big plans for me. Remind me again, who put you in charge?”

“Sarah, this is your last chance. Listen to me. Come with me. Your life will get a lot easier. Defy me, and your life will not only become more difficult, it will become unbearable in a short while.”

She dropped the newspaper and pulled the gun out, flicking the safety off in less than a second. It was so fast that Fedora Man stepped back.

“You want to threaten me? Threats only anger me. Is that your goal? To anger me? Don’t make me angry Mr. Howley, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

He slowly raised both hands, keeping his eyes on the weapon.

“Sarah, you will have no choice soon. I’m a recruiter. It’s what I do. I’m here to recruit you with or without your consent. I thought we could be civil about it.”

Her peripheral vision told her the lobby just filled up. She took a step to the right and angled herself to be able to see the front desk without taking her eyes off him.

Seven men, all dressed in suits had emerged from numerous parts of the lobby of the Best Western. They looked the same like cops in uniforms except these men all wore suits, stood with their arms crossed in front of them and they all had slicked back hair.

“What the fuck is this? A Brylcreem convention or are you all just fuck buddies?”

Everything made sense now. These men were the reason no one had entered the lobby. Mr. Rod Howley had come with backup.

Without waiting for a response, Sarah stepped toward Rod.

“I should shoot you in the foot to see how well you follow me after that.”

“Do it and more like me will come. Eventually you will have to come with us. You can’t continue this way. It’s too dangerous.”

She got close enough to place the tip of the weapon under his chin.

“Tell that to the people I’ve saved over the years. Tell them it’s too dangerous that I’m out there helping people. Bullshit. Who are you to tell me I’m too dangerous?”

“Examine your current behavior.”

She dropped the weapon and leaned in with her elbow all in one easy motion. Her elbow slammed into his left ear with enough power to double him over. As she righted her arm, she brought the weapon up to aim in the general direction of all the men standing twenty feet away near the main desk of the lobby.

“Please, someone pull out a weapon. Do it! Let’s all show Mr. Howley here how dangerous people can be when they’re cornered. When the odds are overwhelmingly against them and they’re told that they must succumb to the wishes of a complete stranger who happens to know too much about them.” Her teeth were clenched and she felt spittle shoot through them.

All seven men stood statue still. Anyone could see how angry she was and no one felt sure enough to challenge her.

Rod was standing straight again, holding his ear. “Okay Sarah, you win. Today you get a free pass.”

She edged around him and started for the front. As she neared the men, they moved away from her, their backs to the elevator hallway. When she got to the front exit door she scanned the outside. Another man in a suit stood with his arms crossed holding back six people with luggage.

These men had successfully cordoned off the entire lobby of the Best Western hotel, downtown Budapest, so that Rod could talk to her. How powerful were these men? Better yet,
who
were they?

She looked back at Rod and lowered her weapon to ease it into the back of her pants.

“This doesn’t end here,” she said. “I will find out who you are and what you’re up to. I’m not the hunted, I’m the hunter.”

“You’re wrong Sarah.”

She touched the door handle and cracked the door a little.

“How’s that?” she asked.

“We are coming for you. You cannot hide from us. I was supposed to try to convince you to come willingly but now I can see that that will never happen. Our next directive was to take you by force. But not now. We’ll wait. We’ll watch. And when you’re not expecting it, we’ll be there. And we will take you Sarah Roberts. There is nothing you can do about it. You are now property of the United States government.”

She almost pulled her gun out and shot him in the face for that last bit. Instead she lowered her head and said, loud enough for all the hired gorillas to hear:

“I will bury you first.”

She eased the door open, slipped through and walked past the man holding people back. To make sure she wasn’t being followed, she kept looking over her shoulder.

Rod stepped out onto the pavement and watched her go.

She turned a corner and walked out of sight.

A small park came up on the right. She walked to the open gates, stepped in and sat on one of the benches where she put her face in her palms and wept.

Fear motivated her. Threats inspired her to action. But this was different. Those men meant what they said. She was in real danger.

Real danger scared her.

For one of the first times in her life, Sarah was seriously afraid.

She wept as if her emotional side opened a dam and released all the pent up sadness at what her life had become.

She needed to be held. Her mother would be good, but maybe it was time for a man. Someone strong who could take care of her in her weaker moments.

Sarah hugged herself and shuddered under the pressure of her tears.

Chapter 6

At nine in the morning Sarah entered a pharmacy that was just opening its doors. In less than ten minutes she’d accumulated everything she needed.

By nine-thirty she had found a hostel-like hotel that would allow her to rent a room for the night. The room was ready so she settled in right away. In the bathroom she applied the brown hair color she’d bought and began the grueling task of dying her blond hair.

After rinsing it all out in the shower she tied her hair into two braids that hung over each shoulder.

She studied her new look in the mirror. With the hair so vastly changed from the old layered blond that fell past her shoulders to two brown braids that resembled a young Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie, Sarah was confident that no one would recognize her. At least not at first look.

She applied eyeliner and eyeshadow to her eyes, adding a small black line on the outside of each eye to make them appear longer and thinner. After the mascara she stood back and stared again.

Perfect. No one will recognize me.

She stepped back into the room and checked the time. Just after twelve noon. She grabbed her passport and the gun, checked that its safety was on and left the room. A few doors down from her room she stopped at the fire extinguisher that sat embedded in a recess in the wall. With a glance both ways to make sure no one was watching, Sarah reached in behind the extinguisher and set her passport completely out of sight. Unless there was a fire in the building in the next twenty four hours no one would find her passport.

After a lunch of french fries and a Coke, (they’d offered mayonnaise for the fries but she declined), Sarah started for the Great Market Hall to meet Armond Stuart by “the red Ape”.

She’d been there before. In the first four weeks of living in downtown Budapest with no contact from Vivian and nothing to do, she had explored the area. She’d been to the castle district, the Citadel, rode their buses and shopped in some of the walking streets. She’d learned that Saint Stephen founded Hungary in the year 1000 AD and that the Parliament buildings were some of the prettiest structures made by mankind.

In that time she had ridden the tram to the Great Market Hall a couple of times. The market held over two hundred stalls - she had ambled through and had lunch there, enjoying goulash the way it was supposed to be prepared.

But today was different.

Today she was armed. Armond Stuart would be there. She would find him by “the red Ape”, whatever that meant. No doubt Parkman would show as he’d read the note too. He’d asked what the hell a “red Ape” was but she had no idea. He’d be pissed that she didn’t tell him where she was going this morning. She knew it wasn’t fair. After all he’d done she should have at least left him a note.

Would the Sophia Project guys be there? Is that where they’d try to apprehend her? Could they really exercise that kind of power? Even in a foreign country?

She shook the thought off, as it only served to unsettle her. She needed to concentrate. She needed to stay focused and not worry about men in business suits, fedora hats and globs of gel in their hair. They’d come when they came and she would deal with it then.

The sun beat down on her as she walked. Another cloudless day in lovely Budapest, Hungary. And another body murdered.

Armond Stuart, I’m coming for you.

But could she do it? Would she do it? Back to that debate. Was it murder when he was just standing there? How about when he was just standing there in the Mormon Temple a few months back? Would it have been murder then? His female victims were being held captive. Armond was waiting for the right price before he’d sell those innocent teenage girls into sex slavery. He shot Sarah that day. Why can’t she just shoot him back? Make it even. She’d be the better shot. Once Armond was dead no more little girls could be kidnapped, shipped overseas and sold to horny old men.

Once Armond was dead the world would be a better place.

Besides, it was her duty. If she wasn’t supposed to do it then why would Vivian send her to the Great Market Hall? Why tell her where Armond would be in the first place? Why not abandon this and start saving people’s lives again? If she wasn’t supposed to kill Armond, then why was she here?

She got close to the front doors, looked in the reflection of a large window, saw nothing of interest and then entered the Hall.

For a Thursday the market was busy. She edged to the side of the hall and began walking the length of the tables. People shouted back and forth in Hungarian. Young and old bustled about carrying their items and searching for more, always looking for a better deal. The smell of food assailed her nose.

What a place to hold a murder. There would be too many witnesses. Sarah knew she would have to follow Armond outside and wait for the right opportunity.

In the meantime she had to stay on the lookout for too many things. First she had to find a gorilla. The note said that Armond would be by “the red Ape” at 2:12pm. She also had to watch for Parkman. If he saw her first, he would be the only one who could easily see through her new look. He’d studied her for years. He would know the curve of her face, her gait as she walked. Although he was the only cop she trusted, he was also the one who would try to stop her if she got the chance to execute the vermin. Keeping him at a distance around 2:12pm today was better for the both of them.

The only other people to watch for would be the American government men and the Hungarian police, although no one could predict where she’d be this afternoon. It was unlikely anyone other than Parkman would show.

Unless he woke up, saw she was gone and called in the police to help find her. Or told them where she’d be at 2:12pm today?

He wouldn’t do that,
she assured herself.
Not Parkman. Not after all they’d been through? Never.

Sarah had walked to the middle of the Market Hall and seen no Ape of any kind, let alone a red one.

She continued on. Maybe it was at a booth? Or along another section.

Wherever it was, Sarah knew that “the red Ape” was here. Vivian wouldn’t send her on a wild goose chase.

A clock on the wall said it was getting close to 2:00pm. She was running out of time.

Another check behind her. No one seemed to be following or monitoring her in any way. Everything was going perfectly. She just had to find the Ape.

In five minutes she’d reached the end of the hall. There had been no ape. She turned around and began half-running up and down the side aisles looking at all the signs on the various shops, searching for anything resembling an ape.

Nothing.

Maybe it was upstairs?

She took the closest staircase and ran up. A quick three minute scan revealed no apes.

She was out of time and out of luck.

She ran back downstairs and looked for a clock. She found one by the exit to Pipa utca.

2:14pm.

He was gone.

I fucked up. Somehow I missed the fucking red Ape.

Nothing pissed her off more than getting a message from Vivian and then not executing it properly. She’d done it before. Four years ago when she started getting the dark visions she’d screwed up a message about the
north face
. It ended up getting her kidnapped and almost killed. Last year she’d gotten a message of exactly where Armond Stuart was. When she nabbed him he identified himself as a retired police officer named Jack Tate. It was true. He used to be a cop. His name was Jack Tate then. She believed him and he led her into his trap and almost killed her again.