Jonas Saul - The Kill

“Where?”

“The less people know, the better.”

“No, you’re going to tell me where my wife is. There’s no other option here for you.”

“Calm down. If I do and Fuccini gets his hands on you, you’ll be able to tell him.”

Darwin sat back. The logic worked, but how could he trust the man? How could he trust anybody?

“What we want you to do shouldn’t be too dangerous. But we have to ask you if you’re willing first.”

“What is it?”

Car headlights on the 427 Highway raced by behind them. The lights caught his eye as he tried to focus on what the agent was saying.

“We’re going to explain to Greg that we’re moving you and your wife to a new location. That we feel there has been a leak. Your wife will be safe the whole time. She won’t be anywhere near the area we tell him. We’re going to ask Greg to deliver you to this location. He’s the natural pick as he was the one who brought you from Rome. We will stay close the whole time. If he veers from the route, we’ll know. If someone tails you, we’ll know. At any time, if he contacts a third party, we’ll intercept and take him out.”

“For this risk I take, what’s the payoff?”

“When he makes contact with anybody, we’ll be able to trace it. His cell phone is tapped now. Everything he does is being watched, but he won’t do anything stupid. Without this, if he’s already told them about Quality Suites, he won’t make contact again. We have to force his hand. We need to get him to make contact again. He won’t risk his career, or his life, to do anything to you personally. He will have to make contact and we’ll be there to handle it.”

Darwin looked out at the lights of the cars going by in the night. If he was going to stare out at darkness, he had to set his eyes on lights.

What they were saying was too much to handle. Could Greg, his pal, a man he considered a friend, be selling him out? Something was off. Yet, what these guys were selling seemed to make sense.

The agent thought his zoning out might mean he was ready to say he wouldn’t help as he started in on his spiel with renewed vigor.

“Darwin, listen. I know how tough this is. I heard what went down in Rome and, believe me, not many agents could’ve pulled off what you did. The Harvester of Sorrow has an international reputation. Word on the street, and when I say on the street, I mean every street hoodlum from New York, Montreal and Toronto all the way to Via Roma, have heard that a Canadian white boy, under the nickname, Natural Selection, crushed Harvester’s skull. You are one serious fucker out there. I know what Rosina went through. You should be at home having a beer and watching a ball game. I get it.” He patted Darwin on the shoulder. “But I need you here. Four of my men, guys I went to the academy with, were slaughtered tonight and two of my men are missing. They took Rosina’s parents. Someone blabbed the location to the Fuccini family. We are pretty fucking sure it was Greg. We need you, man. Anything, at this late hour, that we do out of routine, Greg will suspect. The only thing he won’t suspect is moving you and your wife, in separate cars, to a new, secret location as soon as possible, after what happened at Rosina’s parents’ place. This he would consider normal, routine. So, that’s why you’re here. We’re begging you to help. We need you. You’re our only guy. What do you say?”

“Consider me in. When do we do this?”

“Right now. Greg is meeting us here in,” the agent looked at his watch. “Less than five minutes.”

Right on time.

Darwin got out of the FBI vehicle and into the next one. He wasn’t wired and they hadn’t given him a gun. He had no means of protection except for the agents following them.

Darwin had posed a great question. Since Greg was a seasoned agent, wouldn’t he suspect a tail?

They had explained that they too were seasoned agents, and that the tail would be a rotating one, where an agent followed for two to three blocks and turned off as another agent fell in behind the suspect vehicle, which was seriously hard to spot by even the best agents.

Darwin sat in the backseat of Greg’s cruiser. Greg had already turned on the interior light for him.

“How are you feeling?” Greg asked.

“I’m worried about Rosina. When she heard her parents had been taken, it was seriously hard on her.”

“I can imagine. I’m sorry Darwin, I really am.”

Yeah, right.

“But how could they have found out?” Darwin asked.

The agents had warned him about asking leading questions. Ones where he let the cat out of the bag. Greg was a pro. He would catch on. But Darwin sat behind him and it took everything he had in him not to reach up and strangle the man as he drove.

“We’re still trying to piece it together. We have no idea.”

Greg looked at him in the rearview mirror.

“With those two agents that are missing, could it be possible that one or both of them could be rogue?” Darwin asked.

“You watch too much TV. They’re missing because the kidnappers needed hostages they could hurt or kill. If the kidnappers get boxed in, they wouldn’t want to hurt the parents because they need them for whatever negotiation they’re planning to get to you. Taking two agents gives them an expendable body count. When they get where they’re going, the two agents will be disposed of. That’s the nature of this business.”

“Sounds dangerous. Why would anyone sign up for this?”

“I know. I keep asking myself that question every day. For the pay we get, it really is too dangerous.”

So you work for the other side and get paid a hell of a lot more? Is that it, you motherfucker?

“Where are we headed?” Darwin asked.

“Can’t tell you.”

“What? They didn’t say anything about me not knowing.”

Greg looked at him in the mirror again. “Sure. What if I told you right now the exact location? Then, in three minutes, I’m T-boned in this car and killed on the spot. They grab you, pull you out and force you to tell them where Rosina is. That wouldn’t work. In this situation, need to know basis is followed to the letter.”

Darwin was done meeting Greg’s eyes in the mirror. If he looked at him one more time, he was liable to attack and deal with the questions later.

“I think they think someone’s on the take,” Greg said.

Darwin looked up. Is he baiting me?

“And you think they’d tell me something like that?” Darwin asked. “Come on, they won’t even tell me where I’m going or where my wife is.”

“True. But I still feel they have a few suspects in their sights.”

Greg looked in his mirror again.

Is he looking at me or watching the road behind us? Could a Fuccini clan member be coming or is it a tail he suspects? Shit, what the fuck is going on?

“I’m sure they do suspect someone.” It was out before he could bottle it. The anger inside rose too fast. After all he had been through. All that Greg had done for him. To be betrayed like this. His own father and his mother- and father-in-law, kidnapped because of him. It was Darwin’s family. Not the FBI’s. Not the Fuccini family. Darwin’s. He wasn’t about to take that lying down.

“Did they say something while you waited for me?”

“Who is following us?” Darwin asked, avoiding Greg’s question.

No more games, asshole. Lay your cards on the table. The wheels on the bus go round and round.

“I have no idea, Darwin. I’m only checking my mirror out of habit. Why, do you feel someone is following us?”

Darwin stared straight ahead. It had been years since he’d spent this much time outside at night. Months ago, if he knew that he’d be out in the dark this much, it would’ve caused him to go back into therapy. He would have asked to be committed for a few days to avoid the dark at all costs.