Fifty

There was a private plane waiting for them. They sat together on the couch and let a movie play on the TV, Barefoot in the Park with Spanish subtitles. Hollis silently wondered how she was going to feel going back to commercial flights after the luxury of private jets, but Finn wasn’t cheered by the offer of food and wine.

“We helped Teresa and Eduardo,” he said, after nearly an hour of silence. “We did some good.”

“We also found out another member of TCT, someone closer to the man who doesn’t exist.”

“And we paid Declan back for saving your life. So we’re even now.”

“And life can go back to normal.”

Finn shook his head. “What’s normal anymore?”

“Me nagging you about the garbage. You not listening when I nag you about the garbage.”

He stretched his body across the couch, laying his head on her lap. She stroked his hair with one hand and rested the other across his arm. He reached up and took that hand. His breathing steadied, and hers did too. Just being together, sitting close, lowered her blood pressure and made her feel like whatever craziness there was in the world, she was safe as long as Finn was with her. She’d picked the right dance partner.

Back at the hotel, they went to the suite. No one was listening anymore and their clothes were there, so it seemed the sensible choice. They ordered room service and lay on the bed watching television. There was no word from Peter on when they should be able to go home, but the flight was twelve hours, and if they flew commercial it was extremely unlikely they’d get a direct flight anywhere near close to home.

“I don’t think we’ll get back in time for class tomorrow,” she said.

“I can get my teaching assistant to sub for me, and if Angela is still around maybe she can teach for you.”

“That seems unlikely.” But worth a shot, she thought. Everything that happened in her life lately seemed unlikely.

“I have a meeting with the head of my department Friday,” Finn said. “I meant to tell you but with everything that happened …”

“What’s the meeting about?”

“I was going to propose teaching a class about forgeries in the world of art and literature. I’d been researching it …”

“I remember. You said you were going to write a paper.”

“I didn’t know how you’d feel about me taking on a new class. It’s going to be a lot of work.”

She laughed. “Not really. You can draw on real-world experience.”

“I thought it would be fun. Not so sure I feel that way anymore.”

She put her head on his shoulder. “We helped people. Let’s focus on that, and not on Silva or Carlos.”

“Or Bryan. As long as he’s out there somewhere, we’re not really done with this.”

“Peter must have him in custody. He would have had to walk right past him when he left the men’s room. I’m not worried.”

But she was worried. Declan got by Peter. What if Bryan had too?

An hour later, there was a knock on the door. Peter was there. Behind him was a room service waiter with a pot of tea and three cups. “I would have asked for champagne to be brought up, but we’re not celebrating.”

“Why not?” Finn asked as the waiter left, closing the door behind him.

“When did you last see Declan?”

“In the men’s room. What happened to him?

“Your guess is as good as mine. He went by me. You all came out. We got into position to get Carlos, but I had a man at the door. He waited, went in, no Declan. There’s a window in that bathroom but to get to it, he’d have to climb something and there’s nothing to climb.”

“He obviously found something,” Finn pointed out.

“What’s the big deal if he got away?” Hollis asked. “He did what he promised. He made a copy of the book. You have the real one back. You have a lead on another thread of TCT. And you pulled down Carlos, their main guy in Argentina. Silva is dead. Eduardo seems like he’s going straight, and you have Bryan in custody. After all that were you really going to put Declan in prison?”

“Here’s why there’s no champagne. Bryan was arrested, but in the commotion of the sniper shooting, he got away. He was cuffed and in the back of a locked SUV. He’s more of a Houdini than Declan,” Peter said. “And speaking of the Irishman, he didn’t give me back the book. Remember that almost perfect forgery he said wasn’t good enough?”

“He threw it in the trash,” Finn said. “I saw him do it.”

“He must have retrieved it. I sent the book back to DC as soon as we were done with it. It’s just arrived. It’s a fake. Declan has the real thing.”

Hollis couldn’t help herself, she laughed. Finn laughed with her, and much to her surprise, so did Peter.

“You do realize this is my career,” he said, and the laughing came to an end. “And when I get the guy, I’m going to kill him.”

“You guys were getting along so well. I’m surprised he would do that to you,” Hollis said.

Finn shook his head at her. “Unbelievable. You keep trusting him.”

“I thought he was growing on you.”

“Yeah, like mold.”

Peter got up. “I’ll come back in the morning to get you and make sure you get out okay. You did good, both of you. Handled yourselves well. You should know we traced the final call Carlos made. It was to a man named Evans, a Scotsman who does business throughout South America.”

“What kind of business?”

“The same business as Janet and Tim. I recorded the call. He told Evans that he was followed to the meeting and the man needs to be dead. I assume he meant Bryan, or maybe Declan. Either way. He didn’t mean you two or he would have said they.”

“That makes me feel better,” Hollis said. “Not just that he didn’t order a hit on us. But that he knew it was his last chance to reach out to someone, and rather than talk to his daughter like he said, or even try to talk to Teresa, he focused on revenge. Says everything about who he was.”

“Where are the real Janet and Tim McCabe?” Finn asked.

Peter smiled. “At the house of your teaching assistant, Angela. Behind one of the doors that looked like a college student’s bedroom, she had the two of them locked up. She put a call into the FBI and was gone before they arrived. They’ve got a dozen different identities, so I’d say they’ll be in custody for quite a while.”

“Eduardo and Teresa and her father?” Hollis asked.

“They’re all safe, far from Argentina. We’ll send word to Teresa that she’s a widow. I suppose she could come back now if she wants to. It doesn’t appear Carlos had many friends. Certainly no one to have an issue with what Teresa or Eduardo do now.”

“Bryan might kill them. Or us. He knows where we live.”

“We’ll get him. And we’ll keep you safe. Blue owes you that much,” Peter said. “I owe you that much.”

She wasn’t surprised by what Declan had done, it’s what he had said, over and over, was his plan. It’s just that she’d stuck up for him. She’d believed him. She knew he was a con man, she just didn’t realize he was conning her and Finn.

After Peter left, Hollis packed the clothes Teresa had brought for them. She added her leather jacket, the wallet, and the guidebook, zipped them up and put them by the door. She rested Finn’s poster-sized map next to them. He was just going to have to carry it separately, she decided.

She crawled into bed but didn’t sleep well. By morning she was just anxious to be in her own bed. And hopeful that when they got there, there would be no angry Argentinian hitman hoping for revenge.