The Discarded (3 page)

“Actually, I need an assist,” he told her.

Her tone turned serious. “Problems?”

“No, just…well, I had to destroy my phone and haven’t had time to redownload my address book. Hoping you can connect a call for me.”

“Consider me your personal switchboard,” she said. “Who are we calling?”

“Langley.”

“You doing a job for the Agency?”

“There’s someone there I need to talk to.”

“I’ll need a name.”

“Actually hoping you can get me in the back door. I can find my way from there.”

“You do realize that it’s two a.m. in DC, right?”

“I do.”

“Okay. Hold on.”

The line sounded like it went dead but he knew better than to hang up. After several seconds of silence, there was a series of beeps. These were followed by another moment of dead air, and then a long tone.

As soon as the tone ended, Abraham punched in the number for the office he was trying to reach. The line rang three times, then—

“Becker,” a male voice said.

“Good morning, Eli. It’s Abraham.”

“You’re up late.”

“Where I am, the sun’s been up for some time.”

“And where would that be?”

Though Abraham had no doubt one of the CIA’s computers had already determined his location, Eli probably didn’t have access to that info yet.

“Asia,” Abraham said, not feeling the need to get too specific.

“You on something for us?”

“Not at the moment,” Abraham replied, though he had no idea who had hired 525.

“Then why—”

“I’m hoping you can do a little digging for me.”

“Depends, I guess.”

Abraham had met Eli a few years earlier during a briefing for an Agency job. Eli was one of those intelligence wonks who balanced a superior analytical ability with substandard social skills. In other words, a smart guy with few friends. Somehow he had developed the idea that one of those friends would be Abraham. Having an analyst contact inside the CIA was something Abraham could not pass up on, but as it turned out, he really liked Eli, and would get together with him whenever Abraham was in the DC area, whether or not he needed a favor.

“Looking for some information on a job.”

“So you
are
working for us.”

Abraham hesitated the appropriate amount of time before saying, “For 525.” Most of the work 525 did was subbed out from the Agency, though Abraham had no idea if this was one of those.

“Operation title?”

“Overtake.”

“What exactly am I looking for?”

“There was a termination—a woman, I believe. In Japan. Probably in or near Osaka. Three, maybe four days ago. I want to know who she was and, if possible, why she was taken out.”

“If you were meant to know that, don’t you think you would have been told?” Leave it to Eli not to beat around the bush.

“Which is why I’m calling you and not my contact.”

“What are you going to use the information for?”

“Not important.”

“Yes, it is. I can’t give you something that you might use to cause problems.”

“I’m not going to cause any problems. I just…I just need to know.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

The line was delivered so close to monotone that Abraham nearly laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “Can you help me?”

“Maybe. This number you’re using, is it the correct number for calling you back?”

“Will be for another few hours.”

The line clicked dead.

Abraham was tempted to figure out if there was anyone else he could ask for help, but decided it was probably best to limit his inquiries. If Eli came up empty, then Abraham could try a different route.

He slipped the phone back into his pocket and returned to his seat.

“Whatcha you got there?” he asked Tessa.

“Candy!” she said excitedly, holding out a wrapper-covered treat. “For you.”

“For me? I don’t want to take your candy.”

“For you.” The look she gave him made him feel like her whole world would dissolve if he didn’t take it. He was fairly sure her world already had, though she wasn’t aware of it yet.

He lifted the candy out of her hand. “Thank you.”

In a way only kids seemed to do, she jumped up next to him and gave him a tight hug. Then, just as quickly, she returned to the old woman.

“Can I have another?” she asked, holding out her hand.

__________

E
LI CALLED BACK
as Abraham and Tessa were waiting at Incheon International Airport for a flight to Shanghai.

“There’s not much I can tell you,” he said. “Access to information on Overtake is tightly controlled. I assumed you wouldn’t want me setting off any red flags.”

Abraham couldn’t help but feel disappointed. “No. Of course not. It was worth a try, I guess.”

“I said there’s not much I can tell you. I didn’t say there was nothing.”

“I’ll happily take whatever you have.”

“There was indeed a termination in Osaka three days ago.”

“And it was part of Overtake?”

“Yes.”

Abraham’s shoulders sagged. While Eli’s news did not definitively mean it was Tessa’s mother who had been killed, who else could it be?

“Do you know the target’s name?”

“I do not. But the subject
was
a woman, apparently in her twenties.”

“Anything else?”

“The initial order was apparently for two targets, but was changed to one at the last minute.”

“Who was the other target?” he asked, knowing full well the answer was sitting next to him.

“No information on that.”

“Is that it?”

“That’s all I’ve found,” Eli said. “I could keep looking, I guess, but I do have other things I need to do.”

“No, it’s fine. You’ve done more than enough. Thanks, Eli. I’ll call you next time I’m in town.” This time, Abraham was the first to hang up.

He looked over at Tessa. She was curled up in a ball on the seat next to him, asleep. If her name had been on the termination list, why had it been removed?

The overhead speaker came to life, Korean first, then: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to begin pre-boarding for Korean Air Flight 895 to Shanghai. Please remain seated until your row is called. We now ask that those passengers needing extra time and those traveling with infants and small children to approach the gate. Thank you.”

__________

F
ROM SHANGHAI THEY
flew to Dubai, and then Dubai to Nairobi, and Nairobi north to Europe. By the time Abraham and Tessa arrived in Nice, France, they had missed the preferred package delivery time by over twenty-four hours, no doubt sending Carter into a panic.

 There was, however, a safety built into the schedule, an additional forty-eight-hour window that Abraham was to use if he felt it necessary. When this was explained to him at the beginning of the project, he had laughed. Having a delivery window of a few hours was not unusual, but one that was two days long definitely was. Now he understood why.

The handoff to the pickup team was to take place in Amsterdam, so Abraham and Tessa took a train to Paris, where they caught another to Brussels, Belgium. There, Abraham arranged for a car and drove the rest of the way, entering Amsterdam a mere ninety minutes before the final deadline.

He ditched the car not far inside the city limits and took Tessa onto a tram. The particular line they were using passed very near the transfer point. Abraham, however, had them exit four stops early and walk the remaining distance.

The air was brisk but not unpleasant, so the coats he’d purchased for them in France were more than up to the task of keeping them warm. And while he had also picked up some gloves, he wasn’t wearing his, preferring to hold Tessa’s hand without them.

“Abe,” the girl said.

“Yes?”

“I’m thirsty.”

“It won’t be long now.”

She looked at him, confused. “What won’t be long now?”

He had yet to figure out how to tell her he would be giving her to someone else, so he said nothing, knowing from their all-too-short time together that her attention would soon move on to something else.

She began to slow. He looked back at her and saw she was looking across the street at a coffee shop.

“Hot chocolate?” she asked, her eyes wide in hope.

He checked his watch. Twenty minutes to go. “Sure,” he said. If they were late, so be it.

He led her over to the shop. As they entered, they were engulfed by a cloud of warmth that smelled of coffee and chocolate and cinnamon. After they got their drinks, they found a quiet table in the back.

“Careful,” he said as Tessa’s mouth approached the rim of her overly filled cup. “It’s hot.”

She took a tentative sip and pulled back, her lips pursed.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She patted her lips with the tips of her fingers. “Hot,” she said.

“I told you. Here.” He handed her a spoon. “Stir it with this. That’ll cool it down. But slowly. You don’t want to spill any.”

Like she was a surgeon performing a very delicate task, she gently lowered the spoon into her cup and began to stir, releasing wafts of steam into the air.

“I can see it,” she exclaimed, smiling broadly.

Seeing the wonder in her eyes and hearing the excitement in her voice, Abraham couldn’t help but smile, too.

Reluctantly, he looked at his watch again. No way they’d make it on time.

From his wallet he removed a piece of paper with the emergency number Carter had given him, written in a code only Abraham could read. Not wanting to do it but knowing he had no choice, he entered it into his phone.

“Quiet now,” he told Tessa. “I have to make a call, okay?”

Without looking away from her spoon, she nodded.

His call was answered by an artificially modified voice. “Identify.”

“W7NJ8,” Abraham said, using his call sign for the job.

The next voice that came on was not modified.

“Abraham?” Carter said, his tone strained.

“I’m here.”

“Here where?”

“Transfer.”

“Bullshit. I’ve got my team on the other line, and you most definitely are
not
at the transfer point!”

Abraham looked at Tessa. She was attempting another sip. Though she didn’t jump back this time, she did start stirring again.

“Thirty minutes out,” he said into the phone. “That’s why I called.”

“We’ll pick you up. Where are you?”

“Thirty minutes out,” Abraham repeated. “Tell your people to wait. We’ll be there.”

“I’ve been trying to reach you for days. What the hell?”

A beat. “My phone was damaged, had to ditch it.”

“You could have called this number.”

“One-time use. You told me yourself. In my book, that meant saving it for when I would really need it.”

A tense moment of silence before Carter growled, “Get her here. Fast!”

“Hold on,” Abraham said. “I didn’t just call to tell you we were going to be late. I also have a question.”

“A question?”

“Your answer will determine how smoothly things go from here.”

“Is this some kind of joke?”

“No joke.”

“Bring the girl
in
. That’s what you were hired for. Not to ask any questions, remember?”

Abraham turned his back to Tessa and said in a low voice, “What are you going to do with her?”

“None of your fucking business.”

“You made it my business when you decided it was okay for me to transport human cargo without checking with me first. I need to know I’m not delivering her into something bad, and that she’s going to be fine. So what are you going to do with her?”

“She’ll be fine, okay? She’s going to live the life of a princess. That satisfy you?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Bring her in!”

“I don’t think you want word to get around that you’ve been dealing in child trafficking, now do you?”

“Oh, you bastard. You are
never
going to work again, for
anyone
.”

Abraham said nothing. Carter was right. He was never going to work in the business again. But it was his choice. He knew no matter what the plans were for Tessa, this job was going to eat away at him every damn day. Better that happened when he didn’t have another mission requiring his attention.

This was it. He was done.

Carter finally broke the silence, his voice calmer than it was before. “I get it. You’re concerned. But believe me, we are not trafficking children. Hell, we
saved
the girl. The initial plan had been to kill both her and her mother.”

So Tessa
had
been a target.

“But none of us wanted that,” Carter went on. “Because of certain circumstances, though, it has to seem like the girl is dead.”

“Jesus,” Abraham said.

Tessa had her cup in her hands now and was taking a nice, big gulp.

“We’ve arranged for her to be taken care of. That’s all I can tell you. No one can know any of this, understand?”

Carter could have easily been feeding him a story, but Abraham sensed the man was telling the truth.

“I get it.”

“Will you bring her in now?”

“Thirty minutes,” Abraham said and disconnected the call.

Like he’d done back in Japan, he removed the battery and SIM card, snapping the latter in half.

“Why’d you do that?” Tessa asked.

“Wasn’t working right,” he said. “How’s your chocolate?”

“Good,” she said, a bit of foam on the tip of her nose.

He saw that her mug was almost empty. “You want another?”

“I can have more?”

“We have time.”

“Yes, please!”

__________

A
BRAHAM CARRIED TESSA
into Rembrandtplein—Rembrandt Square—and headed toward the café where the transfer was to take place.

His original instructions had been to take a seat inside and he would be contacted, but before he was even close to the café, three men and a woman broke from a crowd of tourists and started walking toward him. He had seen them all before on other jobs but knew only the name of the woman—Desirae Rosette.