Okay, But Try Not To Murder Anyone 7, page 14
“Uh-oh,” I muttered. “What is it?”
“Based on the report, the toe ring only worked on Berber people,” Elaine explained. “Specifically, the powers are stronger for Berber women. It’s never worked for Bannister.”
“But that means he killed multiple Berber people, including women, to come to this conclusion,” I said as my jaw tightened.
“Correct,” Laura said in a quiet voice.
“Monster,” Sloan hissed again.
“Yeahh, we need to take this guy out.” I scowled and felt my nostrils flare in anger.
“And maybe give the toe ring back to the Berber people…” Sloan said pointedly.
“That’s the ultimate goal,” I said in a reassuring tone. “Even if it needs to be brought in for testing first.”
“Good,” she said with a satisfied nod.
“So, ultimately the goal is to get into cahoots with Bannister.” I glanced around at everyone. “If we can get him to take me to Morocco with him, then I can recover it from there.”
“What do you think the chances of that are?” Sloan asked with a crease between her eyebrows. “He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who takes on newcomers so quickly.”
“Agreed,” Laura said with a nod.
“Well, I’m hoping the extra artifact sways him,” I said. “But if it doesn’t, we still have all of this information at our disposal, and we can get to it ourselves, if needed. I would rather not have to fight through his layers and layers of security, but if that’s what we need to do, then so be it.”
“Of course, we would accept a trip to the Nepalese residence as well,” Mary pointed out.
“Ah, yes, what’s the deal with Nepal?” I asked.
Sammy click clack clicked into the Nepal folder, where he pulled up another PowerPoint with an enlarged photo of an artifact. It was a beautiful two pronged hair piece that had a crystal encrusted cow head at the base. The cow’s horns were decorated with sparkling flowers, and the eyes of the cow looked so realistic, I felt like they were following my every movement.
“Isn’t it so pretty?” Mary sighed as she wistfully looked up at the photo of the artifact.
“It is,” I agreed. “What does it do? Where is it from?”
“It’s from the ancient Tamang civilization,” Mary began. “They’re mountain people, essentially. Tribal, unorganized, ‘poor’ by our modern definition of the word. Another hunter-gatherer type of people.”
“Which is where the hair pin comes in,” Elaine continued as she gestured to the elaborate artifact on the screen. “It gives super climbing abilities and cold resistance.”
“And let me guess,” I said. “It only works on Tamang people.”
“Ding ding ding,” Sloan replied flatly.
“How many of them had to die before Bannister came to that conclusion?” I seethed.
“You don’t want to know,” Laura said in a grave voice.
“I wonder if that’s why Clancy pointed us to these two locations in particular,” I mused out loud. “They must be significant to Bannister. Maybe it’s because he can’t use these artifacts.”
“Could be,” Laura said as she drummed her fingers on the table.
“Well, in case I can’t charm Bannister,” I said as I plastered on my most charming smile. “Let’s start focusing on how to break into his maximum security lairs in both of these locations.”
“I refuse to believe you can’t charm everyone on the planet if you wanted to,” Mary teased.
“Any woman, I’m sure of it,” Elaine added. “Bannister might be a tougher nut to crack.”
“Hence why we need a plan B,” I said as I gestured to the screen.
So, the team put our heads down and worked. We spent the rest of the day, and well into the night, combing over every inch of information we had on Bannister’s residences in Paris, Morocco, and Nepal. Since Paris was most imminent, we focused on that location first, but since this was a meeting and not a raid, there wasn’t much we could do until we got boots on the ground. We eventually moved onto Morocco, where we studied the blueprint and any weakness we could find for an entry point.
We took a quick dinner break and munched on Chinese from the PX, and then we finished the evening looking into the Nepalese residence as well, which was a lair dug into the side of a mountain. Very much evil mastermind vibes.
Finally, we broke away for the night. Elaine, Laura, Mary, and I headed back to the condo for a quick sleep, while Sloan returned to her bunk room. Then we reconvened in the conference room the next morning to continue our planning and research.
About mid-day, we all started getting antsy, so I called it.
“Alright, I think that will do for now,” I sighed as I pushed the notebook filled with sketches of Bannister’s residences away from me. “We’ve got a few hours until I need to pick up the artifacts, so let’s spend that time getting ready for the trip.”
“I could use a quick jaunt back to the condo,” Mary said as she stretched her arms up and groaned. “I have a go bag here, but if we have time, I wouldn’t mind packing some more.”
“Same,” Elaine said as she cracked her knuckles.
“I can take us,” I offered as I pushed back from my chair and glanced at Laura. “You want to join us?”
“I’ll stay here.” Laura shook her head. “Just in case the Director pops his head in. But can you guys pack a bag for me?”
“Of course,” I said, and then I turned to Sloan. “Want to join us?”
“Sure, why not?” she said with a shrug. “I wouldn’t mind getting out of here for a bit.”
“Cool,” I said as I stood up and turned to Sammy. “We’ll be back soon. You need anything brought in?”
“I’m all good, thanks.” Sammy waved us off. “See you soon.”
The women, minus Laura, and I all headed out to the Blackwing, and I drove us the short distance to the condo.
“Nice place,” Sloan said as Mary unlocked the door, and we stepped inside.
“Oh, yeah, you’ve only seen the outside of it, you stalker,” Mary teased as we pushed into the foyer.
“Hey, that was for a good cause,” Sloan countered.
“It was,” Elaine said with a nod. “We’d be lost without that flash drive, seriously. We can’t thank you enough.”
“Hey, I get to fly on a private jet all the way to Paris,” Sloan laughed. “That’s plenty thanks enough for me.”
“I think we could do more, what do you think, Jonah?” Elaine asked as she glanced at me.
“What are you thinking?” I grinned. “Fancy dinner in Paris?”
“Maybe even at the Eiffel Tower,” Elaine suggested.
“Ohh, I like the sound of that,” I said, and I wiggled my eyebrows.
“Me, too, but I don’t think I have anything to wear to that.” Sloan chuckled.
“That’s an easy fix, I’ll buy you something,” I said with a wave of my hand.
“Oh, no, you don’t have to--”
“Please.” I held up my hand. “Like Elaine said, we owe you. The least I can do is buy you a dress and take you to dinner.”
“Well… if you insist,” Sloan replied with a shy smile.
“I do,” I said, and then I gestured to the living room. “Anyway, make yourself at home while we go pack real quick. There’s a stocked bar cart there, so help yourself to a drink if you’d like.”
“Thanks.” Sloan made her way toward the bar cart while Elaine, Mary, and I headed into the bedroom.
There was about twenty minutes of chaos while the women flung clothes all over the room in the search for the perfect outfits for Paris, and I had to remind them a couple of times that we were there for work. Then, together, we pulled together a bag for Laura, including her preferred toiletries and her sexy lingerie, before we were ready to head out.
In the living room, Sloan was lounging on the couch with her feet up on the table and a martini in her hand. She stood up when we entered and glanced at the bags in our hands.
“We all ready?” she asked before she tipped the remaining drink to her mouth, drained the rest of the clear liquid, and held up the empty glass. “I’ll just wash this out, then we can go.”
“It’s okay, the cleaning lady will be here later, just leave it on the table,” Mary said with a wave of her hand.
“Ohh, a cleaning lady? Fancy pants.” Sloan smirked and put the glass down.
“I’m telling you, that’s what you get when you hang around this one,” Mary said as she jerked her head in my direction.
“I’ll just have to hang around him more, then,” Sloan replied, and her eyes were a little glassy as they slid up and down on my body and came to rest for a moment on my crotch.
“We’ve got plenty of time to hang out on the plane to Paris,” I said as I headed for the door. “Let’s head back to the Clubhouse and get everything ready for the plane. Then I’ll pick up the artifacts, and we can head to the hangar.”
The women followed me out the door and down to the Blackwing. We stopped and let the doorman know we’d be out of town for a while and that we weren’t expecting any visitors or packages other than the cleaning lady, so not to let anyone up to our floor. I didn’t expect anything to happen since my bounty had been rescinded, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.
Soon, we were back at the Clubhouse, and we unloaded our bags in Sloan’s bunk room and went off to search for Laura and Sammy. They weren’t in the conference room, so we checked the control room, but that was empty, too.
“Either armory or tech sign out, which do you think?” Mary asked while we stood in the middle of the empty control room.
“How about you and Elaine take the tech sign out, and Sloan and I will check the armory?” I suggested. “And if they haven’t been there yet, we’ll sign out the weapons for the trip.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Elaine said.
We split up, and Sloan and I headed to the armory. The agent on duty informed me that Laura and Sammy hadn’t been here yet, so I got to show Sloan how fun it was to sign out an arsenal of weapons for an international mission. The olive-skinned woman was grinning from ear to ear as we checked out numerous weapons and ammunition.
“I’m not really a gun gal, but this is pretty cool,” Sloan said as she grabbed several weapon cases.
“And we don’t even have to go through customs,” I chuckled as we headed back to the Clubhouse.
“Even better,” Sloan said.
As we stepped off the elevator, we ran into Mary and the others, and each of them were carrying a shoulder bag full of stuff, except theirs was mostly surveillance equipment.
“Good timing.” I grinned as I looked around at all the bags. “Let’s just start loading these into the Blackwing.”
It took us a few trips to get all of the bags into the car, including the bags we’d stored in Sloan’s room, but by the time we did, it was about time to head across town to retrieve the replicas, anyway.
“You don’t need all of us to go, do you?” Mary asked as she eyed the full trunk of the Blackwing, and some of the bags overflowed into the backseat. “Cuz I’m not sure we’ll all fit.”
“Nope, I can go by myself and meet you all at the jet,” I said.
“That would be easier,” Laura said with a relieved sigh.
“I’ll come with you,” Elaine offered.
“And I’ll drive the rest of us over in a van,” Sammy added.
“Alright, we’ll see you there in about an hour and a half, two hours max,” I said as I calculated the driving distance in my head.
“I’ll make sure the plane is fueled up and ready to go,” Laura said.
“Perfect, see you all soon.” I nodded.
We all waved, and then Elaine and I hopped into the Blackwing and headed across town.
Elaine deejayed while we drove, and it was nice to switch off for a while. The last couple of days had been intense, and there were only more intense days to come, so I had to savor these brief peaceful moments.
We made it to Miles’ workshop, and Elaine waited in the car while I headed to the building. I knocked on the door loudly, and it swung open to reveal an impatient Miles tapping his foot on the concrete floor.
“You’re late,” the old, bearded man huffed.
“What?” I asked in surprise as I checked my Rolex. “No, I’m not, I’m fifteen minutes early.”
“I know,” Miles said, and his bearded face cracked into a smile. “Just testing you.”
“Jeez,” I laughed and shook my head.
What a weird dude. But he had rushed our artifacts to be ready in time, so I wasn’t going to complain or insult the guy.
“Come on, then,” Miles said, and he turned and started to hurry down the dark hallway toward the workshop at the back of the building.
I followed him to the table in the center of the workshop, where the three replicas were laid out, and my eyes fell on the cuffs instantly.
“Wow,” I breathed as I reached out to pick one up and inspect it. “It looks exactly the same.”
“Obviously,” Miles said in a bored voice. Clearly, he was too used to his own work to be impressed, but it was fucking impressive that he made such an exact replica with only my descriptions. Then the old man pulled a thick bag out of his pocket and handed it to me. “And the genuine artifacts.”
“Brilliant, thanks so much.” I carefully placed the real ones in my pocket, and then I helped Miles bag up the replicas.
“I’ve already invoiced Barry,” Miles said as he handed me the last bag. “I expect that to be paid by tomorrow.”
“I’ll remind him,” I said with a nod.
“Good, now shoo,” Miles said as he made a shooing gesture toward the hallway. “I am very tired from working so hard on your replicas.”
“I bet,” I said. “Listen, thanks again--”
“Just pay me, I don’t need your thanks,” Miles said gruffly. Then he looked me dead in the eye again as he made the shooing motion toward the hallway again.
“Alright, alright.” I chuckled.
Such a weird guy. I waved at him, which he ignored, and then I headed back out the Blackwing.
“How did it go?” Elaine asked once I sat in the driver’s seat.
“Got em.” I grinned and held up the bags to show her. “Now, are you ready to go to Paris?”
Chapter 10
“Um, hell yeah,” Elaine said with a smirk.
“Let’s gooo,” I said and handed her the bags. Then I drummed the steering wheel before I pushed the Blackwing into drive and headed toward the FBI’s private air terminal, with the replicas and the originals.
I’d considered leaving the artifacts behind for safekeeping, but then I realized they could come in handy. I wasn’t above using other artifacts against Bannister if it came to it. I figured I was already using the power of my cuffs anyway, so what’s a couple more in the field?
Elaine chatted about all the things she wanted to do in Paris. I reminded her we wouldn’t have time to do many things while we were there, and she assured me she knew that, she was just fantasizing. But now that I knew how much my exotic lover wanted to explore the city, I would definitely be planning a trip for us in the future. She also mentioned how she wanted to eat at a restaurant called Le Jules Verne, so I stored this information away in my mind. I was already planning on taking all the women out for a nice dinner anyway, it might as well be at the restaurant Elaine was dying to go to.
About forty-five minutes later, we made the familiar turn onto the long road that led to a private airport, in the loosest definition of the word. There were several hangars and a single runway for the planes to take off and land, but that was about it. I navigated the Blackwing to the one hangar with its lights on. As I pulled right into the hangar, we spotted the others piling up our bags by the boarding stairs. They waved at us as we pulled the Blackwing up next to the van and hopped out of the car, and everyone came to help us unload.
“How did it go with Miles?” Sammy asked as he grabbed a duffel bag in each hand.
“Weird as ever, but I got the replicas,” I said as I grabbed my bags. “How do you know that guy, anyway? You said you were the one who introduced the Director to him?”
“Yeah, he’s my uncle,” Sammy said with a wide grin.
“Shit, he is?” I asked, and my heart sank. I’d just insulted the dude. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--”
“Oh, please,” Sammy chuckled as he shook his head. “He is weird as hell. And he’s like a great uncle, twice removed anyway.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” I sighed before I glanced at Laura. “Did you know that was his uncle?”
“Nope, but I’m not too surprised,” Laura said as she shouldered a bag. “You keep talking about how weird he is. I mean… have you met Sammy?”
“Total weirdo,” Mary agreed, and I watched her eyes skim over the bags until they found the smallest one, which she picked up with both hands.
“At least I can carry more than one bag at a time,” Sammy scoffed with a pointed look at Mary’s singular bag.
“Yes, well, we all have our strengths,” Mary said, and she lifted her chin in the air as she started toward the jet again.
We all chuckled and followed with the rest of our bags, and it was the first time I took a moment to look at the jumbo private jet. My face cracked into a smile at the sight. We’d been on private jets before, but none were big enough to take on the international flight ahead of us. This was the big leagues.
“Oh, my god, this is going to be sooo fun!” Mary squealed, and she did a little jig as we approached the attached staircase.
“Is this really for us?” Sloan asked as she gaped up at the jumbo jet.
“What did I tell you?” Mary said with a wink. “Jonah gets all the perks. Just hang around him long enough, and you get them, too.”
“This jet is on loan from the Bureau, it’s not mine,” I pointed out.
“Yes, but you’re delusional if you think the Director would have approved this jet without you on the team,” Laura said in an amused tone.
“We are carrying valuable cargo.” I shrugged.
