“No way.”
Her shoulders relaxed.
“I’ve got autopilot for when I need to grab some shut-eye.”
“What?” She stabbed that question at Carlos.
“Much as I hate to admit it in front of him since we barely have room for his ego in the cockpit as it is, he’s the one pilot you want flying in any situation.”
Jake gave her a Southern-fried grin. “Yes, ma’am. Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll be landing in Milano in time for lunch.”
Carlos led her into the cabin, considering how Interpol’s international APB had thrown a new kink into the plans. BAD played by their own rules, and Interpol had no idea whom they were dealing with.
He sent a silent thanks to Joe for the quick plan he’d created to shield Gabrielle’s identity for now, but that wouldn’t last.
VESTAVIA PACED THE marble floor of the hallway between the kitchen and living room of his Miami condominium. At four in the morning this was a damn lonely place without Josie.
His cell phone rang. Vestavia glared at the sound, anticipating a call from that arrogant prick in South America. He had to find Mirage before Durand did. But when he checked the caller ID, it was his contact at the Ecole d’Ascension, telling him that Saxe woman had finished converting their computer programs to the new system.
“She finished the software conversion this quickly?” Vestavia was both glad and suspicious.
“Oui. She and her bodyguard just left.”
“Where are they headed?”
“To Carcassonne airport, but they aren’t taking a commercial flight as we’d assumed since she arrived that way. We received a call that her private jet had just been released from repairs and was waiting on them at the airport.”
“I want their destination,” Vestavia demanded.
“Not a problem. I have a cousin who is an air traffic controller. They are going to Milano, but I have no idea what their final destination will be.”
“That’s good enough,” Vestavia assured him, then considered the next move. “Your IT team is satisfied they understand the program and don’t need her again?”
“Absolutely. She left them an online instructional guide to troubleshoot anything that came up and default plans for if they had to reinstall any part.”
“Okay, I can live with that.”
A sound of relief hushed through the lines. “I’m so glad. I was worried her access to the computers presented a problem.”
“No. Carry on and keep me informed, Pierre.”
“Of course, Fra.”
Vestavia closed his cell phone on the way to the silver leather sofa in his living room. He sat down heavily and flipped open the file on his glass coffee table. Everything on Gabrielle Saxe anyone wanted to know was in there, including the one person who could tidy up for him.
He hadn’t survived this long by being careless. Allowing someone with her level of computer expertise access to the school records could be harmless, or not. He had too much depending on the successful movement of those teens to risk allowing one computer geek to walk around free who might have access to those files.
The school was only one ripe hunting ground in hundreds they’d found for D-ange-ruese connections, but Vestavia hated to lose a valuable resource.
If the Saxe woman could program all that, she could infiltrate the program for someone else, voluntarily or involuntarily. He couldn’t risk that.
Sifting through the file on the Saxe woman, he stopped at the page with a list of every significant person she’d associated with since entering and leaving the school. Saxe had become a recluse after she’d almost died from two suspicious accidents. The authorities would have figured out who was behind the accidents if she’d reported them, but she’d never said a word in complaint or about the life insurance policies.
Given a chance, her ex-husband would finish the job.
Vestavia smiled. He was all about giving a person a chance.
“SO DOES LINETTE’S family own much property?” Carlos split his attention between Gabrielle’s nervousness and guiding their rental car along the winding roads that had started to climb once they left Bergamo. She’d been so silent, speaking only to give directions.
“They have a hilltop home and land that covers probably a thousand acres.” Gabrielle stared out the window where the scenery had changed over the past couple miles from a lush valley to rocky outcroppings. “Most people do not own so much land, but this estate has been in her father’s family since the sixteenth century.”
Gabrielle fiddled with the small gold locket that appeared as old as her friend’s family home. She had laughed off her worry about being recognized by anyone as some misplaced vanity.
He thought she’d brought up a valid concern, one he’d passed on to Rae by cell phone while Gabrielle had freshened up in a restaurant ladies’ room after landing. Now he had more to worry about than Gabrielle trying to take flight.
Carlos had kept a close eye on her the whole trip, but he felt pretty certain she wouldn’t stray far from him now that he knew her sister Babette was at the school. Otherwise, Gabrielle would try to escape the first chance she had. He’d do the same in her shoes, but she wouldn’t risk BAD using her sister as leverage.
What Gabrielle didn’t know was that Carlos hadn’t said a word about Babette to anyone at BAD.
“Sure you remember how to get there?” he joked. “We haven’t seen another car since that last turn twenty minutes ago.”
“That’s because we’ve been on Tassone property most of that time.” Gabrielle studied the landscape for a moment, then said, “Linette used to tell me how isolated she felt up there. She was fairly athletic, good at running and climbing since that was the only way she could meet other children to play games with.”
“She must have been lonely to make the trek up and down these hills,” Carlos muttered. “What about the Tynte home? Has it been owned by one family just as long?”
The smile left Gabrielle’s eyes first. “Yes, my mother was the last Tynte heir before me.”
Was. He let her ride quietly for a few minutes, then asked, “What happened to your mother?”
“She was killed…in an accident. I was eleven.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to open a wound.” He’d lost his biological mother the day he was born even though she really didn’t die for another ten years, so Carlos couldn’t relate to Gabrielle’s loss of a mother.
If anything happened to his aunt Maria, yes.
“No, it’s fine,” Gabrielle said. “I just don’t think on it often.”
When she didn’t say more, he went for a change in subject to something he felt she could expound on. “You seem to have solid resources in South America.” He glanced over when her fingers curled tight. “I’m not asking for your contacts, Gabrielle. I’d just like to hear what else you know about the Anguis. Anything you could tell me about Durand and his men could be helpful on this mission.”
Her hand relaxed and she chewed on one corner of her lip. “I hate to say this in a way that sounds flattering, but Durand’s really good at what he does. He expects one hundred percent loyalty from his people.”
“You know what any of his men look like?” The road he followed climbed through stunning vistas. Wide blue sky backdropped each outer curve of switchbacks up the mountain.
“Durand marks his men.”
“How?” Carlos gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“With a tattoo…on their chest.”
His heartbeat thumped faster. “What kind of tattoo?”
“I don’t know, just that it’s on their chest. My contacts either don’t know or are afraid to tell me that much.”
He exhaled slowly, relieved to finally have that answer. “Lots of men have tattoos on their chest…even me.”
“Really? What does yours look like?”
