15

Charlie drove them to the municipal airport in silence. He dropped off the rental and tossed Julio’s backpack into the rear hold of Gabriella’s Range Rover, which was still parked in the private aviation lot. Julio slid into the passenger seat and gave the side window his best sullen glare. Charlie knew Julio’s life had been filled with adults who did things he couldn’t understand. Sullen was probably his best defense.

Charlie told him, “That phone call I received was from the colonel I served under after I did my stint with the Rangers.”

Slowly, gradually, the kid emerged from his funk. “You were one of them?”

“Four years, but less than four weeks of that was frontline duty. We were stationed in Anbar Province. The first two weeks, we had a couple of close calls but nothing serious. A few night firefights . . .” Charlie stopped.

“What is it, bro?”

“I’ve never talked about this before.” Not even when the nightmares woke him screaming and Sylvie was so spooked she made him sleep in the living room. He shook off that batch of bad times and went on, “I was wounded before my first month was up. I spent about a thousand years in rehab. Then I was assigned as a trainer at the Ranger school. Three years later, I moved over to serve the colonel in charge of a place called FLETC. It trains field agents.”

“You mean, like, Homeland Security?”

Charlie nodded. “My call sign was Eltee, a tag my NCO gave me. The colonel was Foxtrot. That’s what I just heard on the phone. ‘Foxtrot to Eltee.’ Nobody has spoken those words to me in years.”

Julio was clearly lost. “So what did the dude say?”

“That we’re about to meet incoming fire. And we’ve got to hurry. Or we die.”

Charlie stayed in the car, the motor running, the nose pointed toward the world. He watched in the rearview mirror as Irma Steeg emerged from her apartment building. The kid walked alongside her, talking a mile a minute. Irma opened the Range Rover’s passenger door and Julio slipped into the rear seat, saying, “I’m telling you, Charlie’s place is a trip.”

She asked, “This for real, you’re giving Julio an apartment?”

“That was the plan. But it looks like that may not be an option, at least in the short term.” Charlie had the car moving before Irma shut her door. “I need you to take a ride. I don’t have time to sit here and explain.”

“All I’ve got holding me here is a cup of coffee that went cold an hour ago.” Irma turned and said to Julio, “Only reason I haven’t offered you a room is, I’ve got a tiny one-bedroom condo.”

Julio said, “I’ve been to your place, Irma. I’ve seen bigger closets.”

Charlie headed south on A1A and related the colonel’s call. “Zenith is field comm for ‘our perimeter is breached.’ It means we’ve got enemy combatants coming at us and we’re cut off from base.”

Irma said, “You think this retired guy is going to tell you something that will put you back on the road?”

“No idea. But Donovan Field is a man who never spooks.”

“So you’re concerned that if somebody’s after you and the colonel, and they can’t find you, they might ask Julio.”

“It’s probably crazy.”

“No, no. If they put your place under surveillance and see the kid hanging around, it’s only natural.” She said to Julio, “We’ll work something out.”

“I knew Charlie’s place was too good to be true.”

“The place is still yours. Soon as things cool down,” Charlie said.He asked Irma, “You don’t mind me bringing you in?”

Irma patted Julio’s shoulder. “It’s what friends do, right? We watch each other’s backs.”

The barrier island that began at the Canaveral Space Center and ended at Sebastian Inlet was connected to the mainland by five causeways. Each causeway was the natural extension of a major east-west highway. Highway 192 was the farthest south and joined the beachfront highway at the Indiatlantic Boardwalk. The juncture was marked by a square containing six shops. Four were aimed at the tourist trade—a Starbucks, a taco hut, a restaurant selling pizza by the slice, and a frozen yogurt shop. Tucked around the back was another coffeehouse, a locals-only establishment and easily missed. As Charlie circled the lot, he worried that Donovan would not think to ask a local, or if he did, the locals might not tell him where Java Surf was located.

Then he spotted the young man he had last seen on the hospital’s top floor. Charlie rolled down his window. “Brett?”

Irma said, “I thought you said his name was Donovan.”

Julio asked, “This dude was a Ranger?”

Brett was as handsome as ever, only far more worried. He slipped into the rear seat beside Julio and said, “Drive.”

“I’m waiting for somebody.”

“Not anymore.” He jerked as Irma swiveled and pulled the pistol from her pocket. “What are you doing?”

Irma said, “I’m introducing you to my friend, Mr. Beretta.”

“Put that away.”

“He’s not the problem, Irma.”

“You sure? He looks like trouble to me.”

Charlie drove the Range Rover slowly down the length of the boardwalk. “What are you doing here, Brett?”

“Delivering this.”

When his hand went toward his pocket, Irma aimed her gun again. “Hold it right there.”

“Are you insane?”

“I’m a cop who’s stayed alive on the job for twenty-five years. Drop your hand.” Irma reached into his jacket and came out with an envelope. “This what you were after?”

“I’m a scientist.”

“We’re all just so impressed. Really.”

“Brett,” Charlie said. “I asked—”

“Gabriella said to meet you here. She said there would be three of you.” Brett made a swatting motion in the air between him and Irma. “She didn’t say anything about guns.”

Charlie parked by the curb but kept the motor running. “Put away the weapon, Irma.” He said to Julio, “Keep a tight watch.”

The kid’s eyes were globular. “No problem, bro.”

Brett wiped his face with a shaky hand. “This whole thing is nuts.”

“Where is Gabriella, Brett?”

“She’s gone.”

“What’s happened?”

“First I need to know if you’re with us.”

This time Charlie did not need to think it over. “Absolutely. I’m in. Now tell me what I’ve signed up for.”

Brett chewed on his cheek for a second, then said to Irma, “Go ahead. Open the envelope.”

As she did so, her eyes grew to match Julio’s. “This is a travel agent’s confirmation for three tickets to Zurich, Charlie. No names. They’re good as cash.”

Julio leaned over. “Zurich, like in Europe?”

Brett said, “There’s a number at the bottom of the page. When you get to the airport, call it. You’ll be given further instructions.”

Irma looked from one to the other. “These are for us?”

“Gabriella said there would be three people traveling. Hazard, you’re not one of them. She said your team must be drawn from outside standard security parameters. Does that make any sense to you?”

“Yes.” Charlie knew she meant that anyone brought in from the security industry could be compromised. “So one of these tickets isn’t for me?”

“No, you’re going to meet her in New York.” Brett clearly hated this duty. He asked the pair, “Can I assume you two have passports?”

“Backpack,” Julio said. “I’ve just moved house.”

Irma said, “I’ll need to run by my condo.”

Brett looked at his watch. “We’ve got to hurry. The plane leaves Melbourne in less than three hours.”

Charlie said to Irma, “I didn’t mean to drag you guys into this. You can turn this down, it’s fine.”

“I wouldn’t mind knowing a little more about what we’re signing up for here,” she said.

“I have no idea,” he replied.

Brett said, “All your questions will have to wait.”

“Works for me.” To Charlie’s surprise, Irma actually grinned. “I’ve got to tell you, retirement is so totally the pits. I’ve applied for a job answering the phone for the local cops.”

“All I’ve got on the books is a history exam,” Julio said. “You think maybe I could get a note for my teacher?”

Charlie rose from the car and opened Irma’s door. “Soon as I see Donovan I’ll meet you at the airport.”

As Irma slipped behind the wheel, Brett rolled down his window and said, “Gabriella has a very specific message for you.”

Charlie said, “Looks to me like she’s got you spooked.”

“A woman I thought I knew tells me to stand in this parking lot, in a specific spot she described down to a stain on the pavement. She tells me you will be driving her Range Rover, and you’d be with two passengers, both of whom are to become part of this.” Brett handed Charlie the third ticket voucher. “This is for your flight to New York. You have precisely forty-one minutes.”

Along with the ticket was an envelope addressed to him in a woman’s flowery script. “To do what?”

“How should I know? But Gabriella said to tell you that if you are anywhere you know or are known forty-one minutes from now, you are a dead man.”