Tess Gerritsen - Last to Die

“How did you know?” Carole finally said.

“Sixteen years ago, they were all there in Rome. Erskine, working as a foreign service officer. Olivia, working as a so-called sales rep.” Jane paused, made an educated guess. “And Nicholas, traveling as a consultant for Jarvis and McCrane. A company that exists only on paper.”

She saw confirmation in Carole’s face. The woman stared out the window and sighed. “They were so cocky. So goddamn sure of themselves. We’d pulled it off before, so what could possibly go wrong?”

We . “You were there, too,” said Jane. “In Rome.”

Carole paced away from the window, her boots clicking across the wood. “It was a straightforward operation. Only Olivia was new to the team. The rest of us had worked together before. We knew Rome well, especially Erskine. That was his home base, and he had all the local assets lined up. People in place. All we had to do was swoop in, snatch our target, and get him out of the country.”

“You mean … a kidnapping ?”

“You sound so judgmental.”

“About kidnapping? Yeah, I tend to be.”

“You wouldn’t be, if you knew the subject in question.”

“You mean your victim.”

“A criminal who’s responsible, both directly and indirectly, for the deaths of hundreds of people. We’re talking Americans, Detective. Our fellow citizens, killed in multiple countries. Not just military personnel, but also innocents abroad. Tourists, businessmen, families. Some monsters simply need to be exterminated, for the good of society. Surely you both understand that, considering your jobs. It is, after all, what you do. Hunt down monsters.”

“But we do it within the law,” said Frost.

“The law has no teeth.”

“The law tells us when we’re over the line.”

Carole snorted. “Let me guess, Detective Frost. You were a Boy Scout.”

Jane glanced at her partner. “Well, that was right on the money.”

“We do what needs to be done,” said Carole. “Everyone knows that extreme measures are sometimes necessary, but no one wants to admit it. No one wants to own it.” She moved toward Jane, close enough to be intimidating. “If you want a safer world, you need someone to do your dirty work. That someone would be us. We were there to take a monster out of circulation.”

“You’re talking about extraordinary rendition,” said Frost.

“That makes it sound so clinical. But yes, that’s what it’s called. Sixteen years ago, our mission was to scoop him up, whisk him to a private airstrip, and fly him to a detention facility in a cooperative country.”

“For interrogation? Torture?” said Jane.

“It’s a lot less than what he did to his victims. This man wasn’t driven by politics or religious convictions. He was in it for the money, and he’d made a fortune at it. Wire him enough cash, and he’d arrange to bomb a nightclub in Bali. Or take down a jumbo jet from Heathrow. His fortune made him untouchable—at least, through normal channels. We knew he’d never face justice in Italy. So we had to deliver justice another way. We had one chance, and only one chance, to snatch him. If we fucked up, if Icarus slipped away, he’d go underground. With his resources, we’d never get another shot at him.”

“Icarus?”

“Only a code name. His real name isn’t important.”

“I’m guessing it didn’t go well,” said Jane.

Carole went back to the window and peered out through cracked panes. “Oh, we accomplished the mission. Waited outside his favorite restaurant, where he dined with his wife and children and two bodyguards. When they came out, we were ready for them. One team boxed in the bodyguards’ vehicle. The other team pursued the car with Icarus and his family.” She turned to look at them. “Have you ever driven a mountain road there?”

“I’ve never been to Italy,” said Jane.

“And I’ll never be able to go back. Not after what happened.”

“You said you accomplished your mission.”

“Yes. In spectacularly bloody fashion. We were in pursuit. Four of us, in two cars, winding up killer curves. We almost had him when the truck came around the bend. Icarus hit the guardrail and skidded. The truck hit him broadside.” Carole shook her head. “It was a fucking mess. His wife and the older son crushed on impact. The younger son taking his last breaths.”

“And Icarus?” said Frost.

“Oh, he was alive. Not just alive but fighting us. Nicholas and Erskine got him restrained and threw him in one of our vehicles. Six hours later he was on a plane, handcuffed and sedated. He woke up behind bars. You know the first thing he said, when he saw me? You’re dead. All of you .”

“You did kill his family,” pointed out Jane.

“That was unfortunate. Collateral damage. But we accomplished our mission. The truck driver was too shaken up to give the Italian police any useful details about us. Erskine continued in his post at the embassy. Nicholas went back to his cover story as a financial consultant.”

“And Olivia went back to selling nonexistent bedpans.”

Carole laughed. “At least Olivia went home with a souvenir. She stayed on in Italy for a few weeks. Met a dorky tourist named Neil Yablonski. By candlelight, in a Rome restaurant, I guess even a dork looks good. A year later, she married him.”

“And you all went on with your lives.”

“That’s how it should have been.”

“What went wrong?”

“Icarus escaped.”

In the silence that followed, Jane put it all together. The reason why three families were massacred. “Vengeance,” she said.

Carole nodded. “For what we did to him, and to his family. Those thirteen years he spent in prison made him even more of a monster. It gave him time to nurse his hatred, to feed it, grow it, until it consumed him. The escape was an inside job, that’s the only way it could have happened. I’m sure he offered a king’s ransom to whoever helped him. After he slipped out of sight, we had no idea where he went, or even what he looked like. We never did locate all his secret accounts, so he still controlled a fortune. I’m sure he bought a new face. And new friends in high places.”

“You said he spent thirteen years in prison,” said Frost.

“Yes.”

“So he escaped three years ago.” He looked at Jane. “That must be why Nicholas Clock and his family packed up and left on the sailboat.”

Carole nodded. “After Icarus escaped, Nicholas got nervous. We all did, but he was the only one worried enough to pull up roots and actually ditch the Company. I didn’t think it would be easy for Icarus to track us down. Until the Italian government got involved.”

“Why?” said Jane.

“Blame it on politics, on WikiLeaks, whatever. Word got out to the press that the CIA had committed an act of extraordinary rendition on Italian soil. Suddenly the Italians were pissed. Violation of sovereignty. A CIA operation that killed three innocent civilians. Our names were redacted from all the reports, but money opens doors. Especially if it’s a lot of money.” She went back to the window and looked out, a lean silhouette framed in gray light. “Erskine and his wife were killed first. Shot, in a London alley. Days later Olivia and her husband were dead, too, after their plane went down. I tried to get word to Nicholas, but the message didn’t reach him in time. In the span of one week, all three of my colleagues were dead.”

“How were you lucky enough to stay alive?” said Jane.

“Lucky?” Carole’s laugh was bitter. “That’s hardly the word I’d choose to describe my life. More like doomed . To keep looking over my shoulder. To always sleep with one eye open. For two years I’ve been living this way, and even though the Company does what it can to keep me safe, it will never feel like enough. And it won’t be enough to keep those three children alive.”