Ryker moved quickly away from the office block and hid in an alley a hundred yards down the road, away from the swarming police presence. The officers had rolled out police tape, blocking the street in both directions across a thirty-yard square. Ever so slowly the guests from Aziz’s private gathering were released, one or two at a time. No sign of the man himself, though Ryker had no view of the private entrance from his lookout point. He presumed the police had captured Aziz – and any of his crew who remained alive – but had they in fact killed the kingpin?
No sign of Henrik either. Ryker sent a couple of texts to Henrik’s phone but received no response. Once the crowds had died down, and the police vehicles started to filter away, Ryker decided to move. He slinked through the dark and quiet streets, hiding in alleys, behind cars and vans every time he heard a siren or sensed people approaching. After a mile or so he relaxed a little more, deciding no one was on his tail, and sped up his pace as he retraced the route from earlier in the night to take him back to the street where Valerie Lenglet lived.
The Jeep was still there. No sign of Henrik.
His worry growing, Ryker sent another text as he stood by the Jeep, then looked up the street, up at the Lenglets’ building, to the window of their apartment. No lights on. Ryker thought about going up there. With Jaws and his crew all dead or in police custody, Valerie likely wouldn’t have any more tricks up her sleeve, but would she really have any useful information for Ryker either? Certainly, she wouldn’t know where Henrik was, which was Ryker’s most immediate concern.
Did the police have him? Or some remnant of Aziz’s crew?
But why had the police showed up at all?
Ryker sighed and unlocked the Jeep and sat down in the driver’s seat, brain still on overdrive. His phone weighed heavy in his hand as he stared at the screen, at the three unread text messages he’d sent. His options were limited. He could wait a little longer, then head back to Aziz’s tower block to search for Henrik there. But even if the police had fully cleared out, what would he find? There was no reason why Henrik would have stuck around if he had a chance to leave, was there? Alternatively, he could rest up in the Jeep, catch some sleep, hope Henrik turned up, safe and sound. Or he could—
The phone buzzed in his hand with an incoming message. Henrik.
Ryker typed out a couple of words in response, then deleted them and hit the call button instead. No answer. Another message came through.
Ryker waited for more. Nothing came. So he sent a message back.
He stared at the screen, awaiting the response.
Ryker typed the address into the Jeep’s GPS. A couple of miles away. The opposite direction from Aziz’s place to where he was. With a sigh, Ryker turned the engine on and set off. He took a circuitous route, never getting too close to Aziz’s building, just to be safe, and arrived on Rue de Ville some twenty minutes later. The fire station looked dead. Obviously a quiet night for them. Either side of the fire station, and all along the street opposite, were apartment blocks, similar in style and age to the street where Valerie Lenglet lived, though judging by the cars parked here, the homes were a little more upmarket.
He found a spot to park the Jeep then stepped out to surveil the street. No sign of anyone. A couple of alleys, or at least narrow roads leading between apartment blocks. Decent enough hiding spots.
Ryker called Henrik. No answer. Sent a text.
No response.
So Ryker tentatively walked toward the nearest of the alleys. He was a couple of yards from it when the lights on an Audi A8, a couple of cars in front of him, blinked on. Ryker squinted from the glare. He hesitantly stepped toward the car. The rear window wound down. A familiar face peered out.
Monique Thibaud.
‘Busy night?’ she asked Ryker.
‘I’d say I’m surprised to see you, but I’m really not.’
The whole text message thing had stank from the start.
‘Where’s Henrik?’ Ryker asked.
Monique held up the phone.
‘Sorry. I don’t have him. Only his phone.’
Ryker closed his eyes and sighed.
‘Why don’t you get in so we can talk?’ she added.
The front passenger window wound down. Anna was there. She tapped a handgun on the dashboard. Not with an intent to use it, simply showing Ryker she was armed. Bruno was in the driver’s seat. Jules was most likely in the hospital still having his shot foot tended to.
‘You’re running low on muscle,’ Ryker said to Monique. ‘At least, ones without injuries.’
‘I think tonight there are a lot of people down on numbers.’
Ryker didn’t flinch as Anna stepped out of the car. She glared at Ryker. Real hatred. She opened the back door and Monique slid across to the other side.
‘Please?’ Monique said.
Ryker winked at Anna, then sank into the plush leather seat. The interior of the top-of-the-range Audi carried an equally luxurious odor. Anna climbed back into the front. The engine remained off.
‘So let me guess,’ Ryker said, fixing his stare on Monique, whose face showed satisfaction – with what? ‘You followed me and Henrik here to Lyon. Or, at least, you figured we’d come here because we didn’t have a tail.’
He paused, waiting for a response, but Monique said nothing as she smiled at him.
‘You also organized that police raid.’
She still didn’t respond. Was that confirmation? The events surely couldn’t just be a coincidence.
‘You’ve got control of the Gendarmerie in St Ricard, but the police here too? I have to say, I’m surprised at your reach.’
‘Surprised or impressed?’
‘I don’t find corruption impressive at all.’
That took away some of her satisfied look.
‘Do you know who Aziz is?’ Ryker asked.
She shook her head. ‘No. Not really. I’ve never met him. And I’m not like him. You must realize that. I’m not a gangster. I have no involvement in organized crime.’
‘You’re just a very rich woman who pulls the strings of various authorities.’
She didn’t say anything to that, but he did get her point. She was not like Aziz. Not at all. He didn’t trust her, he didn’t believe she acted wholly above board. For one, she had the questionable characters in the front of the car working for her. But her activities were on a different level to the madman Aziz, and her hired muscle was all the less intimidating for it. And he felt comfortable sitting in the car with her, on her own terms, because of it.
‘How did you get Henrik’s phone?’ Ryker asked.
‘Luck, mostly.’
‘Is he in police custody?’
‘Not that I’m aware of.’
‘But you knew that was his phone?’
She shrugged. He didn’t like her nonchalance.
‘What—’
‘Let me explain it for you,’ Monique said. ‘Because I sense your tired little brain is struggling.’
Ryker bit his tongue.
‘My Sophie has gone. I don’t know where to, but believe me when I say I am very protective of her. I want to find her. I’ll do pretty much anything to achieve that.’
She paused and looked away from Ryker as though deep in thought.
‘I’m suspicious of anyone coming to our town asking questions about my family,’ she continued, still looking out of her window. ‘We’ve already been through so much. When you and your son arrived… How could I possibly trust that your interests were aligned with mine? You’re so… You’re not exactly normal, are you?’
Ryker really didn’t know how to take that, so he said nothing. He caught sight of Bruno in the rearview mirror. The big man smirked, obviously having taken Monique’s words as an insult to Ryker. When he looked back at Monique she had her gaze on him once more.
‘So naturally I was suspicious of you, your motives. And yes, I made sure we followed your movements. Both when you went for that strange hike in the mountains, and when you came here. I realized who you were meeting, first with Didier Lenglet’s family, and then Aziz Doukha. And, the more I thought about it, the more I realized perhaps… our interests are more aligned than I first thought.’
Ryker still said nothing when Monique once again paused.
‘Was Aziz involved in the attack on my family?’ Monique asked.
He’d considered asking her the same thing.
‘I honestly don’t know,’ Ryker said. ‘But he was definitely connected to the two dead men. Didier Lenglet and Ramiz Touba.’
‘You didn’t ask him about what happened in St Ricard?’
‘Of course I did.’
‘And?’
‘He said Didier Lenglet didn’t work for him. Not directly, anyway. Lenglet was too lowly, in Aziz’s eyes.’
‘What about Touba?’
‘Ramiz Touba wasn’t in St Ricard that night.’
A flicker of surprise on Monique’s face.
‘He said that?’
Ryker nodded. ‘Touba, by all accounts, was a hitman for Aziz. But Aziz claims Touba was working a different job that night. That’s all I know. I have no information on where he really was. And I don’t even know if Aziz was really telling me the truth.’
She looked disappointed. Or perhaps worried about something.
‘I still don’t understand you,’ she said after a drawn-out silence. ‘I don’t understand why you came to our village at all. But I am starting to think that perhaps you’re more ally than enemy to me. And you’ve shown that you’re very… resourceful.’
‘What are you saying?’
She held Ryker’s eye then sighed, as though building up for a difficult announcement.
‘I’ll get the police in St Ricard to back off from you. You’ll have no problem in the town as long as you don’t cause me any problems.’
‘No more breaking into your house?’
‘Please don’t.’
‘And no more tussles with your friends?’
He looked at Bruno and Anna.
‘No. I don’t think any of us need that. But I’m not doing this because I like you. I’m doing it because I think, with your unorthodox techniques, you might actually help me to find Sophie, one way or another.’
‘Why have you kept it a secret that she’s missing?’
She shook her head, making it clear that she wasn’t going to reveal anything more.
‘When we first met,’ she said, ‘you mentioned the work Corinne was involved in, related to the Villeneuve dam project.’
‘I did.’
‘If you want to find out more, I suggest you begin with a man named Julian Hofman.’
‘Who’s he?’
‘I’m sure you’ll figure it out. And… if you do find that Aziz is involved, in either that dam project, or in the attacks on my family, you’ll let me know straightaway.’
Ryker nodded. ‘Aziz is still alive?’ he asked.
‘He is.’
‘Be careful,’ Ryker said.
Monique stared, eyebrow slightly raised in question.
‘I’m just saying. You may have had enough sway to organize that raid tonight, and to have Aziz arrested, and I’m sure in a normal situation the police would have enough evidence purely on what they find up in that tower to keep Aziz behind bars for good. But… Aziz is not normal. What I’m saying is, don’t underestimate him.’
‘Thanks for the advice,’ Monique said, sounding anything but thankful.
‘And if you—’
‘Yes. If I find any information about your son, I’ll let you know.’ She waved the phone in the air. ‘I have your number.’
The inside of the car fell silent. The conversation was over. Ryker opened his door and stepped out. The engine roared into life, and moments later the Audi swung out and took off down the street.
Ryker took his phone out and looked at the messages again. He’d suspected not all was as it seemed with the texts, apparently from Henrik. Following that bizarre conversation he certainly didn’t fully trust Monique Thibaud, but he did trust that she didn’t have Henrik.
The big question then, was where on earth was he?