Thirty-Six

“We can’t use our phone,” Hollis said as Eduardo drove too fast and too recklessly to be legal. “Carlos might be able to trace it.”

“He will,” Eduardo told her. “Same with mine and Teresa’s. I had a burner, but I could not find it this morning. Carlos must have taken it.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you may have to kill Bryan,” Finn told Eduardo. “If we run out of options …”

“I’ve never killed anyone! Carlos knew my uncle, and he gave me a job. I am supposed to run errands and stand behind him when he talks to people. Carlos said that his reputation was so bad that no one in Argentina would dare try to kill him. He was training me to be a criminal, but the more I saw, the less I wanted this life.”

“A car full of hitmen who wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Hollis said. “What now?”

“We need Peter,” Finn said. “If we actually have to kill Bryan, at least he can do it.”

“Is San Telmo far from here?”

“It’s on the way to your hotel. But do we have time to wander the stalls if your friends are in danger?”

“Will Bryan kill them once he sees they’re not us?” Finn asked.

“I don’t know. He can be very ruthless. He thinks it’s impressive. Last night Carlos was saying how understated you both were. Ordinary. The kind of people no one would suspect. I think it annoyed Bryan. The last thing he wants to do is fit in.” He turned a corner sharply.

Finn tilted toward him in the front seat, and in the back Hollis and Teresa held on to each other.

“Finn and I will run through the market,” Hollis said. “We’ll spot Peter and bring him to your car. Just keep it running.”

Eduardo stopped suddenly, and they all fell forward. “It’s there,” he said. “Be quick. Even with no traffic we are still twenty minutes from your hotel.”

Finn and Hollis jumped out. “You go left,” Finn said. “I’ll go right.”

Hollis wanted to run but it wasn’t possible with so many people milling about, looking at the tables of antiques and art. Another day, she thought, and she’d be in heaven. But instead of browsing the booths, she looked for Peter’s tall, dark frame, his bald head, and his general no-nonsense attitude. He would stick out in this crowd, if for no other reason than Peter would never relax enough to enjoy a Sunday afternoon in the park.

Luckily it wasn’t a large fair, and by the third row she spotted him. She also spotted Finn. Together they flanked Peter.

“Come with us now,” Finn said.

“You need to be a bit more subtle,” Peter mumbled as he pretended to be interested in a glass seltzer jar, one of dozens at the booth.

“Spy school later. Come with us now.”

Peter looked at Hollis. “Bad?”

“Deadly.”

He gestured for them to go first and he followed to Eduardo’s car. He took the front seat and Finn crowded into the back with Hollis and Teresa. Eduardo drove away without anyone bothering to make introductions.

“You realize that if someone was watching, you just blew my cover. And yours,” Peter chastised them. “Somebody better be dying.”

“I am dying,” Eduardo said, a bit cheerfully. “But Señor and Señora McCabe are saving my life and helping me and Teresa get away from Carlos.”

“How romantic. You could have called me.”

“We smashed the phones you gave us,” Finn said.

“And I suppose you lost the gun. Or someone took it from you.”

“Of course not. We’re not complete idiots.” She glanced at Finn.

“That’s something at least,” Peter said.

Eduardo abandoned his car in a no-parking zone outside the hotel. Everyone jumped out. Finn grabbed his map and the guidebook. Hollis could have asked why those items would save an innocent couple from an ambitious thug, but she didn’t. She felt proud of her restraint.

The five of them rushed into the hotel and ran toward the elevators. Peter barked, “Everyone stands behind me.” Only Teresa obeyed.

Matias looked up from the reception desk and smiled, then frowned as he saw everyone. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, perfect,” Finn said. “Just some friends stopping by.”

“Bien.” He did not seem convinced.

The elevator ride seemed to take forever, and when the doors finally opened it was Finn leading the way toward the honeymoon suite. Hollis took out her gun. They looked at Eduardo. He shook his head. “I don’t bring my gun on my day off,” he whispered.

“We go on three,” Peter said.

“We could just knock,” Finn suggested. “He might not have gotten here yet.”

“We’ll do this my way,” Peter said. He put up one finger, then two, and just as he was about to put up three, Finn knocked. Peter curled his fingers into a fist but said nothing.

“Un momento, por favor,” a woman’s voice from inside.

The door opened and the pretty blond from the restaurant smiled, then looked confused. “Is something wrong?”

Peter pushed passed her into the room. Eduardo and Teresa followed so Hollis and Finn did too. Inside the suite, which was far more luxurious than Hollis had imagined, the woman’s husband was sitting on a chair in his bathrobe.

Peter walked up to the man and put him in a head lock, his hand over the man’s mouth. Eduardo did the same for the woman.

“You need to get dressed,” Peter whispered. “Now.”

The two frightened people just nodded. The husband moved to the wife and started to speak. Finn shook his head and put a finger to his mouth.

The man whispered something in Dutch to his wife but otherwise they remained quiet, dressing quickly.

They were ready to go in less than two minutes. Peter moved to the door.

There was a knock. Followed quickly by another, louder knock. Peter waved for everyone to move back, and this time everyone listened. He swung the door opened, grabbed Bryan by the neck. Bryan elbowed Peter and got a few steps away from him before Finn rushed forward, punching the left side of his face, then following it with a punch to his chin. The boxing teacher was right, Hollis saw, Finn really did have an amazing cross-uppercut combo.

Bryan fell to the floor, his gun tumbling out of his hand. Hollis picked that up and took the knife from a holster around his ankle. Peter and Finn grabbed one arm each and dragged him from the room. Hollis gestured for the others to follow. The woman started to cry.

As soon as they were all in the hallway with the door closed behind them, Hollis put her arm around the woman.

“We didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “You gave us the room.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Hollis said. “It’s just that he’s trying to kill us, and we knew that he would come to this room looking for us. He was probably going to kill you out of spite. He’s like that apparently. I wish I could sugarcoat it, but there isn’t time.”

“Where to now?” Teresa asked.

“We can’t go far,” Finn said. “Let’s get everyone to our room. Then we’ll figure it out from there.”

Eight people crammed into the elevator. Peter kept Bryan’s neck locked in the crook of his arm, the honeymoon couple clung to each other, Eduardo and Teresa kissed, Finn held onto his map and the guidebook, and Hollis, against all common sense, worried that the room would be a mess. She hated having people over when things were disorganized.