Granny was waiting outside the Liberty Belle Hotel for McCall. They took a cab to Cleopatra’s Nightclub on Broadway and 92nd Street. The club was packed with jazz patrons. McCall and Granny found a table at the back. McCall did not have to look for Hayden Vallance. He was jamming with a Jazz Trad Band called The Midnight Follies in the front of the raised stage. Vallance played a pretty hot piano. The rest of the band consisted of a cornet, a clarinet, trombone, guitar, banjo, ukulele, bass sax and drums. McCall had never known Hayden Vallance to be anything except a mercenary, but in Cleopatra’s Needle he saw another side of the man. He was in high spirits, enjoying the camaraderie of his fellow musicians. They were right at the end of a set. The trad jazz tunes were unfamiliar to McCall, with names like Vo Do Do De O Blues, Louisiana, Singing the Blues and You’re Driving Me Crazy. They finished off the set with an old jazz tune called: “That’s A Plenty”, including vocals by Vallance. There was a rousing cheer from the boisterous crowd and the band moved to other tables before their next set.
Hayden Valance had seen McCall and Granny at their corner table and slid in beside them. One of the waitresses brought them menus. Vallance looked at Granny.
“You like trad jazz?”
“When it’s played sweet and hot.”
McCall said: “The Trombone player, Keith Nichols, who also doubles on piano and banjo, is the foremost stride pianist in Europe. He is here in New York City for some gigs. I usually sit in with him when he’s here at Cleopatra’s Needle.”
“But you’re not here to talk with me about great trad jazz bands,” Valance said. “So I figure you’re here because of Granny.”
“Liz Montgomery was one of the western prisoners in that North Korean prison camp,” Granny said. “She is a renowned photojournalist. Myang-Sook-Jang allowed her to carry a cell phone to take pictures of the camp. It was his private little joke. The phone would be taken away from her when Jang decided to abandon the camp, but that never happened. “
“Yeah, because McCall and those two young mercenaries he was with…” Hayden looked over at McCall. “What were their names again?”
“Kyu-Chal and Yo-Han, but everyone calls him Harry,” McCall said.
“Yeah, that’s right. They came in with guns blazing and blew the crap out of the place. Not many inmates ever escape a prison camp in North Korea like that. You were lucky.”
A waitress arrived at that moment to take their orders. Granny ordered hummus and stuffed grape leaves and a chocolate martini which was served with vodka and Dark Crème de Cacao. Vallance ordered stuffed mushrooms and a Cleopatra’s Martini, which was made with vodka, Banana Liqueur, Frangelico with a splash of Vanilla Schnapps. McCall ordered some garlic bread and a Sam Adams beer. The waitress went off and Granny leaned forward.
“Myang-Sook-Jang was joined on that last night by a Korean thug who obviously knew him well. Liz Montgomery took a picture of him.”
Granny turned his cell around to show Vallance. He nodded. “I know him. Ji-Yeon. Like I told McCall, he is a nasty piece of work. He is a mercenary who works with various terrorist organizations including the Taliban in Afghanistan. He has been known to work with NATO countries on their security measures. He had no alliances to anyone. No one knows where he lives. He comes into a country to do a job and then he disappears. The man is a phantom.”
“But you do know him?” Granny said.
“Our paths have crossed a couple of times,” Vallance said. “I was in the Southern Cameroons after Amazonia declared its independence and Paul Biya and Idriss Deby of Chad had declared war on the Boko Haram. Ji-Yeon was brought in to negotiate with the local separatists. I ran into him again in the South Sudan where a truce is holding between Salva Kiik and the rebel leader Riek Machan until 2022. Ji-Yeon was offering the olive branch, which was ironic to me because he is no more than a glorified hoodlum.”
“Ji-Yeon liked the look of Liz’s sister Deva,” Granny said. “She had been brought to the prison camp only a few days before. Ji-Yeon dragged her into Myang-Sook-Jang’s quarters. I don’t know what happened, but he may have assaulted her.”
Vallance shook his head. “That wouldn’t be Ji-Yeon’s style. But he would have enjoyed watching her being beaten by Jang’s guards.”
“There was another western prisoner being held in the compound named Daniel Blake,” Granny said. “A journalist who worked for Associated Press. When all hell broke loose, Ji-Yeon dragged Deva Montgomery and Daniel Blake to his helicopter and had his pilot take off. The State Department and the United States Government has no idea where Ji-Yeon took them.”
“Presumably out of North Korea,” McCall said.
Vallance nodded. “So they could be anywhere right now.”
Their appetizers arrived and their exotic drinks were served. The waitress smiled at Vallance. “Enjoy.”
Vallance watched her sashay away. “Great ass. Eat some food, Granny. I figure the cuisine in the prison camp left something to be desired. And the chocolate martini is like nothing you have ever tasted.”
Granny took a swallow of the chocolate martini. “Not bad.” He leaned over again to Vallance. “I need to locate Deva Montgomery and Daniel Blake.”
“That won’t be easy.”
“I have to try.”
“They could both be dead,” Vallance said.
“They’re not.”
“You can’t be sure of that.”
“I’m sure,” Granny said with some passion. “It was the way that Ji-Yeon looked at Deva Montgomery. Like he had special plans for her.”
McCall handed Vallance some photos that Granny had given him of Deva Montgomery and Daniel Blake. The mercenary put them away as if they were afterthoughts.
“I don’t make personal commitments, McCall. I don’t get involved in other’s people’s lives.”
“I made a promise to Liz Montgomery to find her sister,” Granny said. “And to locate Daniel Blake. I aim to keep that promise. But I can’t do it without your help.”
Vallance sighed and glanced over at McCall. “Only for you would I do this, McCall.” He put the photographs of Deva Montgomery and Daniel Blake into the pocket of his suit jacket and handed the cell phone back to Granny. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Any idea where Ji-Yeon could be now?” McCall asked him.
“Not in North Korea, that’s for sure.” Vallance sat back, glancing critically at Granny. “I guess you had a pretty rough time in that North Korea prison camp. Good thing for you that you’ve got a friend like Robert McCall to come to your rescue.”
Granny flashed his signature Steve McQueen smile. “A very good thing.”
“I’ll have some kind of answer for you tomorrow,” Vallance said. “Right now I need to play another set. We start off with Exactly Like You, Blue Room and then swing into Back In Your Own Backyard.”
He slid out of the booth. The trad jazz band was forming around the piano again. After a cue from Vallance they started in on Exactly Like You.
Granny looked at McCall. “How far can you trust him?”
“Vallance got me out of Syria with that American US Army Captain Josh Coleman,” McCall said, quietly. “He came back for us when all hell was breaking loose. He didn’t have to do that.”
“If there is a chance of finding Deva Montgomery and Daniel Blake, I need to take it.” Granny said. “This means a lot to me.”
McCall nodded. “If anyone can locate a phantom like Ji-Yeon, it’s Hayden Vallance.”
McCall met Emma Marshall for breakfast before she flew back in the afternoon to Washington D.C. Her thoughts were suitably chaotic, as always. She had been up half the night fielding calls for Control and getting to know a cool guy who looked like Matt Smith from Dr. Who. She was hoping he would call her before she left. She was dressed in a chic suit and high-heels and her white shirt was unbuttoned as far as decorum would permit. She knew from experience that if McCall had sought her out, there was a reason for it. She was on high alert because Control had called for a meeting to take place on that Friday morning. Emma knew that McCall was invited because the name Samantha Gregson had come up in the briefing. She had been Malcolm Goddard’s assistant and was, in Emma’s words, a slut and a viper. McCall told her that her instincts were probably correct, but that was not the reason he had wanted to see her. He had a job for her. It had to be discreet and be accomplished before the end of the day.
“Now I am really intrigued,” Emma said.
“This has nothing to do with Control,” McCall told her. “This has to do with a rookie cop in the NYPD whose life is in danger.”
“So, this is kind of an ‘Equalizer’ thing?”
“You can call it that. You have the day to organize what I need. Can you do that?”
Emma looked at him over her bacon-n-eggs and shook her head. “Are you actually asking me that? You saved my life in that pub in London. I would run over hot coals for you. What do you need?”
McCall told her. She listened carefully, wolfing down her breakfast. McCall paused and took a swallow of coffee. Emma said: “I’ll have to make a few calls. Find the right place. It won’t take me long. Consider it done.”
That afternoon Granny met Liz Montgomery in Central Park. She had walked down from the CNN building where she worked. They hugged briefly, then strolled together over the magnificent Bow Street Bridge.
Granny asked: “How are you doing?”
“I’m back at work with photo deadlines to meet as if nothing ever happened. All my follow co-workers are very excited that I’m back and in one piece, but they whisper behind my back as if I’m some fragile doll that is going to break.”
“Those are the kinds of scars that do not heal. Not for a long time. What Myang-Sook-Jang did to you in that prison camp was vile and an act of terrorism.”
“I’m dealing with it,” Liz said, shortly.
“No, you’re not,” Granny said. “But you will.”
“You never told me what happened to the Commandant.”
“He’s dead,” Granny said, somewhat tersely. “Leave it at that.”
“You said you would come for him,” Liz said. “You did that for me. I know that. But that doesn’t get me closer to finding my sister.”
“Robert McCall has a client,” Granny said. “She’s a rookie, about twenty-two years of age, just started out at the NYPD. She was assaulted by her fellow cops, although there is no proof of that yet. McCall is going to find some justice for her. He will do the same for you. Tell me what happened at the State Department.”
“I besieged them with demands about my sister Deva and that photojournalist Daniel Blake,” Liz said. “They told me they were investigating the entire North Korea incident. I spent four sessions with the CIA being questioned. They were concerned and sympathetic, but it was so much bullshit. Basically they have no idea where Ji-Yeon took my sister and Daniel Blake. That Korean thug just walked away from that prison camp, took off in his helicopter and disappeared into thin air. Tell me you have found out something.”
“The pilot who flew us out of South Korea is a mercenary named Hayden Vallance,” Granny told her. “McCall knows him. Says he is an honorable man. Vallance knows Ji-Yeon and his reputation with terrorist organizations. He has also worked for NATO countries and brokered several deals with other terrorists when it suited him. Vallance got a one-time location for Ji-Yeon.”
Liz stopped on the bridge. Her voice was suddenly filled with hope. “What else did this mercenary tell you?”
Granny glanced out at the tranquil lake. “It’s not much to go on, but last night Vallance made some phone calls. He found out that Ji-Yeon lives somewhere in Finland in a town called Lappeenranta on the tip of Lake Saimaa. It is thirty kilometers from the Russian border. Ji-Yeon had been a student at the Saimaa University of Applied Sciences at Lappeenranta at one time. Maybe someone from the town or the University will remember him. It’s a long shot, but I have to start somewhere.”
Liz looked into his face, then kissed him. When they broke the embrace, Liz stood back. Granny was surprised by the kiss, but it had felt good to him.
“This intel could all come to nothing,” he told her.
Liz shook her head. “It won’t. I know it won’t.”
They moved on down the Bow Bridge which gleamed in the morning sun. Liz took Granny’s arm. “When will you leave?”
“Tonight.”
“Will Hayden Vallance fly to Finland with you?”
Granny shook his head. “Solo mission. If I find out anything, I will call McCall. Hayden Vallance doesn’t believe in getting involved with other people’s crusades, but I think he made an exception for McCall’s sake.”
“Thank God he did.”
Granny shrugged. “McCall has that effect on people.”
Liz held onto his arm. “This the first time I have truly believed that Deva will be found alive and safe.”
Granny did not want to tell her that the chances of that happening were slim to none.