I think that’s confirmation enough that it was indeed him who was watching me with Isabella the other night.
We stare at each other. I won’t deny anything if I’m asked. I’m not a man like that. Clearly he’s seen me and right now he’s waiting for me to challenge him and be some kind of fucker who lies through his teeth.
I know I’m in the wrong. What I feel though isn’t wrong.
I’m about to say something when a beeping sound steals my thoughts. Dominic’s eyes snap wide and he practically trips over himself to get to his computer.
There’s a red light beeping on a device he has attached to the monitor.
“Jesus Christ,” he hisses when his screen comes to life. “I found Mortimer. Oh my God.”
I rush over too and watch as his hands fly across the keyboard tapping in all manner of letters and numbers lightning fast, until he pauses and a map comes on the screen. There’s one red dot beeping at a location in Rhode island; Nickoli’s house, and there’s a blue dot beeping in Mongolia.
“He’s actually talking to Nickoli now,” Dominic says hurriedly. “I’m hoping to get to see and hear him. I’ll know if the sequence works in a few seconds.”
My God, then tension is gripping. It’s fucking gripping and I swear I could die right here from the suspense.
The blue dot flashes and then the screen goes black. There’s a crackle of static for a second and then and image of the devil I’ve been looking for the last six years appears.
He comes on screen, unknowing he’s been watched, and fuck, I realize I’ve seen the fucker before. I saw him at Allyssa’s father’s house.
He’s sitting in a arm chair looking like he’s some kind of king. His hair is silver now and his eyes have the look of evil.
“There’s no sign of Isabella,” Nikoli says to him. “No sign of Sacha either.”
“I cannot believe this. How is it possible that we can’t find either of them. you make me look bad, like shit.” Mortimer growls at Nickoli, his Russian accent is thick and demeaning.
“I don’t know where to look next. It’s clear she escaped, we have the image of her in the car. There was no sign of a struggle so I don’t think she was taken.”
Good, I’m glad they still think that. I’m glad it all played out in this way because it still buys us time. The element of surprise is always best.
Sun Tzu couldn’t have said it better in the Art of War – the whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.
That’s exactly what we’re doing. Confusing this fucker. This motherfucker thinks he’s so powerful and so untouchable he can’t even guess that his precious daughter has been taken. It’s been weeks. This is going into the third week since I’ve had her and they still think she’s escaped, Sacha too.
“I’m coming over to Rhode Island Saturday. I’ll be at your place there by six. I’ll find Isabella myself if you haven’t found her by then and deal with her accordingly for pulling a stunt like this. Kill Sacha if you find him.”
The extent in his fury is evident when the call disconnects and the image cuts.
Dominic and I look at each other.
We have him, we got him, we know where he is and what he looks like.
“We found him Tristan,” Dominic rasps.
“Yeah.”
“Can I suggest we wait for him to get to Rhode Island. That gives us five days to plan and it’s going to be quicker. Looks like where he’s in Mongolia is difficult to get to. And we’re gonna need bigger wings. It’s doable but not efficient because it would take us about three days to get to him and by then he might be on his way out.”
“Absolutely. I agree. I think we use the time wisely, head back to LA and gather forces then go to Rhode Island on Thursday.”
“Sounds like we have a plan. We should leave tomorrow.”
“We should.”
So this is it.
It’s goodbye Isabella. It doesn’t need to be me who makes contact to identify our elusive Italian friend. In fact I think I’ll just let Massimo know and he can liaise with her on that.
When I leave tomorrow I think that should be it, a clean break. It’s best not to prolong things, not in our case.