Piet’s hand clapped me on the shoulder. “You’re right, a break helped. I got new life. Let’s get going.”
We walked out into the darkness, the laughter and music of Taverne Chevalier fading as we headed down the avenue.
He kept his hand on my shoulder. In my pocket, I worked the key back onto the ring.
“So. Back to Amsterdam?” His phone call had to have been to Edward, now that we had the cigarette shipment to camouflage his military gear.
“Yes. We’re meeting Edward and his people. We’ll get the shipment ready with their goods and on its way to Rotterdam and then we’ll get paid and you and I will go celebrate.”
“How long do we have until the meet?”
“Three hours.”
“All right,” I said.
The parking lot was in sight; I could see the truck, the van parked next to it. Nearly there. Within three hours, I would either be dead or I’d have killed Piet and the kidnappers and found Yasmin. And have Edward talking to me about where my wife and child were.
“You know, Sam,” he said, “you’re right. You have proved yourself, more than once. Here. You drive the truck.”
I stopped. No. Not what I wanted.
“No, that’s fine. You drive it,” I said.
“No. You drive the shipment. As a sign of trust in our partnership.”
I felt a chill settle into my bones. Either he was being sincere or he’d seen the key passed from Eliane to me.
Trust or suspicion. I still needed him; I didn’t know where the rendezvous was, and if I showed up without him I’d never get inside. “Fine, whatever, let me have the truck keys.”
He dug them out of his pocket, and traded them for the van keys.
“Just follow me,” he said.
“What if we get separated in traffic?”
“We won’t,” he said.
I got into the truck. Maybe that was all this was: he was tired of driving the truck. Maybe that was all it was. But the phone, and the weapons, were now out of my reach. And once we got to the rendezvous point, there was no need for me to go near the van.
I was still heading, defenseless and alone, into the snake pit.
68
AMSTERDAM, WELL PAST MIDNIGHT. The night was a mirror of the city, the lights of Amsterdam reflected in the sky by a sprinkling of stars peering through the tracery of clouds. It was not a city that ever slept deeply or soundly. Too much business in Amsterdam needed the night.
I followed Piet. There would be ten of them, including Edward, if the count in the group in the video held true. We’d have to meet at a place with privacy for the weapons to be repackaged with the cigarettes. Some of the gang would be dispatched to unload the cigs. Another group would probably be inside the facility, guarding whatever Edward’s prize was. That division of targets might make it easier for me, but not for long.
Yasmin would be held separately, I guessed. I should be able to make a sweep and not worry about her in the cross fire.
Don’t you need a gun? a little voice chimed in. That was, I told myself, only a temporary problem.
Piet drove to the southern edge of Amsterdam and stopped at what appeared to be an old brewery. An unweathered sign announced in Dutch that the brewery was closed for renovations. Another truck was there, unmarked. Next to it was an Audi sedan, and I felt my heart jump.
The silver Audi I’d chased through the streets of London, with Edward and Lucy inside. Different license plate, but I recognized the scuff on the back bumper where he’d scraped through the jammed street to get away.
He had taken my wife. And I was close to him now. I felt a primal rage rise in me, the raw anger we like to think was banished with cave fires and wall paintings. But I couldn’t be angry. I had to be cold.
Thin lights flickered in the windows. They were here. This was it.
Time to live or die.
Piet had already walked back to the truck as I got out. “Van keys, please,” I said.
“Why?”
“I left my smokes in there.”
“I didn’t know you smoked.”
“Well, I do,” I said.
“Well, hell, you got a whole truck of cigs right there.”
“I don’t feel like opening crates.”
“Fine. Go get them.” And he pressed the van keys into my hand.
I turned and went back to the van. He went around the back of the truck, presumably to open up so the unloading could start.