August lingered for a moment in the aisle, shaken, and doing his best not to show it. When he walked out of the store he brushed his hand twice through his thick, blond hair. It was a signal: the meeting was off. The trackers would retreat back to the Special Projects office. He had not anticipated his shadows being spotted, not by a kid. He stood outside the store, hailed a cab and got inside.
The phone rang before he had the door shut.
‘Go to Brooklyn. The flea market in Williamsburg. Don’t be followed.’
August figured it out en route to Brooklyn. The clever little punk had hacked his way into the traffic camera system. And into the private security cameras at the toy store. Any place he sent August had an active, multiple- camera presence – all were very public spaces. That’s how he was watching August. He would have an entrance into the flea market’s camera system as well.
He called the Special Projects office.
‘He’s tracking us via traffic and store security cameras. See if you can trace him off the FAO Schwartz or Williamsburg Brooklyn Flea Market camera feeds, he’s hacking into them right now. Get a team to Brooklyn now, we need to scoop him up immediately when he gives me a final destination.’
‘Will do.’
August leaned back in the cab. The phone rang.
‘Yes.’
‘I changed my mind. Here’s where I want you to go.’
45
Ming building, Brooklyn
Leonie stared down at Beth and Lizzie. Her mouth trembled.
‘I know them,’ she said, in a hushed tone.
I sat on the floor, inspecting my injuries. I was sore and exhausted but I didn’t have time to hurt. Nothing was broken, as far as I could tell. I unknotted my slashed tie, threw it on the floor. ‘How do you know them?’
Her mouth worked. ‘I made new identities for them.’
‘As Lizzie and’ – I remembered the name Lizzie had screamed – ‘Meggie?’
‘No. Those were their real names. Lizzie and Meggie Pearson. They were from Oregon. Their father… he killed their mother in front of them and then told everyone his wife and kids had left him, but he kept the sisters in a cage in his basement for three years when they were little. The father finally got too close to the cage and the girls strangled him against the bars. They were maybe ten and nine. Didn’t you hear about that? One of those stories where they were all the news for five minutes then the world forgot about them.’
‘I grew up overseas, no, I never heard of them.’
‘They got put into foster care but… I don’t think they ever recovered. No family would keep them for long. Meggie was cold and calculating, Lizzie was crazy and vicious. They were in trouble with the law a lot; there was talk that they had killed a college student who knew Lizzie slightly, nothing was proven, but he was found dead in a cage in an abandoned cabin.’
Cage. Playpen.
‘They had to vanish.’ Leonie’s voice broke. ‘Oh God, oh God, we have to get out of here.’
‘Why?’
Leonie stepped away from Lizzie’s body. Shuddering. ‘Because… someone I knew once wanted them to come work for him, and he needed them to have new identities. Not be the least bit notorious. New names. New histories. So they could work for him… unimpeded.’
‘As hired killers.’
‘Yes, and as interrogators. Lizzie is supposed to be good at getting information out of people.’
‘And you hid them.’
‘Yes. That’s what I did, for three years, hid people for him. Before I hid myself.’
‘Who?’
‘The man I’m hiding from, Sam.’
‘Who, Leonie?’
‘His name is Ray Brewster. He must be behind all this. He must be.’
‘Who is he?’
She stared out the window, through the slats. Her fist pressed against her mouth. ‘They’re here.’
46
Ming building, Brooklyn
I stepped next to Leonie and I watched through the slats. August Holdwine approached the building from the sidewalk, via the back entrance along the alleyway. Alone. He was in jeans, a dark, untucked shirt, a summer- weight jacket, probably to conceal his weapon.
So if August was here, where was Jack Ming?
August moved along the alleyway, hand tucked under blazer, being careful. Maybe if I stood and waved he’d wave back. Could invite him up to hang out with Leonie and me and the dead sisters. After all, we’re all looking for the same guy.
‘Stay here,’ I said to Leonie. She’d heard my shocked intake of breath, come closer to the window.
‘What is it? Is it Ming?’
‘No. Someone else has shown up here.’
‘Who the hell is that?’
‘The CIA.’
She sucked in breath. ‘Has he tracked him here?’
‘Either that or he’s meeting him, which means Anna’s source is dead-on right.’ Anna had someone inside Special Projects. Was it this Ray Brewster? I wasn’t sure if that theory made sense.
I had thought I could grab and deal with Ming before the meeting, before August or anyone else showed up. Now I was literally out of time. Where was Ming? He had to be close, probably watching August to ensure that he showed, and perhaps that he showed alone. Conditions for the meeting would have been set.
‘Stay here. Don’t let him see you. Let me handle this,’ I said. ‘If this goes wrong and we get separated or I’m captured, go to a bar called The Last Minute. It’s right by Bryant Park in Manhattan. Ask for Bertrand, tell him you’re a friend of mine. He’ll protect you.’
She nodded. ‘You know this man,’ she said, pointing down toward August.
‘Yes.’
Leonie clutched my arm. ‘You are not negotiating with this man, Sam. You have to kill Jack Ming. End of story. You must.’
‘I-’
‘Will your friend there walk away without a fight?’
‘His name is August. No. I know him too well. No.’
‘Then are you going to kill August? Who matters more, your friend or your kid?’
No, never, I thought. How far would you go to save your son? Leonie’s words ricocheted around my brain.
‘Quit being so bloodthirsty. It’s not your friend and your finger on the trigger. It’s not your conscience.’
She flinched. ‘I’m not bloodthirsty. I just want my child back. Don’t you?’ Then, before I could answer, she made her voice a knife. ‘Maybe not. It’s not like you’ve seen him. It’s not like you could really love him.’
I yanked my arm from her hand.
The shock on my face must have been reflected on her own. ‘Oh, my God, Sam, I am so sorry – I don’t know why I said that… Please… ’
