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“Sir, it’s Agent Tête,” said one of the agents handling communications in the operations room. “He says they’ve lost Agent Dubois.”
For several long seconds Lejour simply stared at the agent, not able to believe what he had just heard, then he stalked over and snatched the radio from him. “What the hell happened?” he demanded. Nothing was going the way it should have, and he was far from happy.
“We lost Dubois,” Tête admitted. “He must have realised he was being watched. I don’t know how, we were very careful,” he said almost defensively. “Anyway, he sat around the airport until a bunch of passengers went through from a flight and followed some of them into the toilets. I realised he might be trying to evade us, but I couldn’t be certain, and I didn’t want to tip him off, so I didn’t send anyone in after him. When he didn’t reappear after a quarter of an hour I sent my men in. There was no way he could have escaped through any of the windows, they’re too high, too small, and all the catches were secure. And there’s no other way out of the toilets except the way he went in.” Tête wasn’t happy with the ease with which Dubois had eluded his team. It suggested that they, and by extension he, had messed up somehow.
“And your men didn’t see Dubois leave the toilets?” Lejour asked, fighting to keep his voice level.
“I suspect he put on a disguise. His car is still here, and no-one’s approached it, so we’re investigating the other ways he could have left the airport. I’ve got my people checking all the flights that have left or are due to leave, the car rental agencies, taxi ranks, and every other way he could possibly have left. No luck so far.”
Lejour grunted. “It’s doubtful he’ll go back there but send someone to his place. Have it searched thoroughly for anything that might suggest where he’s going, and while you’re at it, see if you can find anything that links Dubois to a Special Agent Marie Hapsburg.” He signed off then before Tête could say anything. He was too annoyed by events to want to deal with any unnecessary questions.
**
THE RINGING OF ONE phone, amidst the cacophony of phone calls, radio messages, and discussions went unnoticed by Lejour. He had no idea of the importance of that one call until the excited voice of a communications officer cut through the noise.
“Sir, we’ve got an intercept of a phone call from a monitored number. It’s Noir, he’s on his mobile, talking to his lawyer.”
“Can we hear the call?” Lejour asked eagerly, hoping the intercept was going to be the breakthrough they had been waiting for.
“Yes, sir.”
Everyone fell silent as Noir’s voice filled the room.
**
“WHERE THE HELL HAVE you been?” Noir demanded of Olivier when his call was finally answered. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you for an hour.”
“I’ve been taking care of a few things,” Olivier said. “What’s wrong?”
“We’re in big trouble, that’s what’s wrong. Caldwell was an undercover agent. A bloody plant,” he all but yelled. “He never killed those people in Barcelona, they’re still alive, which means they can still testify against me. Worse than that, the bastard has us on tape talking about everything, from me killing that bastard, Abrantes, to everything that happened after. He almost certainly has Jean-Paul on tape hiring him to kill the witness as well. We’re screwed. All of us. Especially since Jean-Paul decided to shoot the lying son-of-a-bitch while he was wearing a wire. Interpol has us committing murder on tape.”
“Jesus!” Olivier breathed, unable to think of anything more to say for a few moments. “How did you find out?” he asked finally.
“Jean-Paul’s contact turned up to warn us that Caldwell was working for Interpol. Too late as it turned out. By the time she warned Jean-Paul, Caldwell already had everything he needed from me.” Noir wasn’t sure what he was most angry about: that Caldwell had turned out to be working for Interpol, that his cousin had hired someone who worked for Interpol, or that he had been stupid enough to let himself be recorded talking about his criminal activities after years of being so careful to avoid it happening.
It took Olivier only a fraction of a second to appreciate how serious the situation was for Noir and Jean-Paul. It was as serious as things could be.
“Are you in custody?” Olivier’s mind raced as he tried to think of a way to get Philippe out of the trouble he was in. He suspected it was an all but impossible task, but he was paid well to at least make the attempt.
“No, we left the estate as soon as we knew what was going on. Interpol probably isn’t far behind us, though, with local help, but Jean-Paul’s confident he can lose them once we reach the city.”
“Especially since we haven’t seen any sign of them since we left the estate,” Jean-Paul spoke up, loud enough to be heard by Olivier.
“Where are you planning on going?” Olivier asked. “You realise neither of you can go home, not if Interpol has as much on you as you say. Neither can you go any place that Interpol or the locals might be able to connect to you. They’ll be searching for you everywhere. Family, friends, businesses, Interpol will have people checking all of those places on the off chance you’ll go there.” As he said that he realised that his house was probably one of the first places that would be checked, which meant he had to get home before the authorities arrived and scared his family. “You need a plan, a very good plan.”
“We have one,” Noir assured him. “We’ve arranged for a private jet to take us out of the country, it’s waiting for us at Charles de Gaulle under the name Briand. We should be safe once we reach South America. Then we can find somewhere quiet where we can make long term plans.”
Olivier had to admit the plan had merit. There were still plenty of countries in South America that provided a safe harbour for criminals, especially criminals with the kind of money that Noir had stashed away.
“I’m sure you’re right. South America will be safe for you as long as you pick the right country. How far from the airport are you?” The lawyer in him tried to work out the legalities of the situation. He couldn’t be certain, since he had never dealt with such a situation before, but he believed Noir and Jean-Paul would be safe once they were in the air and over the Atlantic.
Noir looked around. “An hour, maybe an hour and a half,” he said. “It depends on the traffic when we get closer. That gives you an hour and a half to get you and your family to the airport. The jet we’ve chartered is with Eagle Aviation, you’ll find us there. I wouldn’t advise wasting any time packing, you’ll have to leave your stuff behind. If you’re not there when I get to the jet, you’re too late. I won’t be waiting for you.” He had known Olivier a long time, and considered him a good friend, as well as a valued associate, but he wasn’t about to risk his freedom waiting for him.
**
“WE’VE GOT THE BREAK we’ve been waiting for, ladies and gentlemen,” Lejour announced once it was clear the phone call between Noir and Olivier Boucher was finished. “We need to act quickly if we’re going to stop Noir getting away, though. Ney, I want you to get a group of agents to the airport so they can arrest Noir and Renault when they show up. I want you there to take charge personally. If possible, you’re to wait until they’re away from any crowds before making the arrests. I don’t want to have to worry about a hostage situation. Inspector Joubert, I’d like you to provide some officers to assist, and to take charge of Noir and Renault once they’re in custody.” Since Interpol was primarily an investigative force, they had no choice but to work with local law enforcement agencies when the time came to make an arrest, no matter what country they were operating in. “I would advise extreme caution,” he said unnecessarily.
“I’ll make sure there are plenty of officers around,” Joubert said. “They won’t be able to try anything. And they’ll be put in the most secure location I can find. What about Boucher? Do you want him brought in as well? That phone call makes him an accessory to multiple crimes.”
“I think we should bring him in,” Ney offered his opinion. “He’s a good lawyer, and will probably be able to get himself off most, if not all, of what he might be charged with from that phone call, but if we apply the right amount of pressure, and maybe offer him immunity, he might agree to testify against Noir. Even if that doesn’t work, bringing him in will make it impossible for him to represent Noir, which means Noir will have to get himself a new lawyer, who is unlikely to be as willing to take chances as Boucher has been in the past.”
“Doesn’t Boucher have a wife and two kids?” Lejour asked. When Ney nodded, he said, “Good, we can use that. He won’t want to be away from them, and I’m sure he’s smart enough to know that he’s going to have a very hard time fighting the amount of conspiracy charges he’s going to be looking at. I think you’re right. He may well agree to testify in return for immunity, especially if we sweeten the deal and offer to put him and his family in witness protection. Bring him in.”