Carlos stopped brushing his hand over her hair and seemed intensely focused on her story. She appreciated his interest and that he didn't give her a standard "Just leave this to the authorities," as so many others had said years ago.
"Mama's friend lived in the Venezuelan town where the teachers were going to set up a school," Gabrielle continued. "On the way there, the bus passed through a small town near Caracas. Reports said a big black sedan ahead of them was stopped by goats in the road. Just as the bus caught up to the car, bystanders said grenades were launched at the vehicle from a rooftop. The explosion lifted the car into the air and ripped the bus apart." She'd kept this inside for so long she could hardly share it now without strangling on the pain.
"All the teachers were killed," she continued, reciting the events she'd played over and over in her mind from memory. "Mama had left a letter for the maid to give Papa two days after she left so he wouldn't panic when he returned home from a trip and found her missing. Papa sent a highly skilled tracker immediately to find Mama and bring her home. This man did catch up to her, but not until just after the bombing. Papa was devastated when he got the news." Gabrielle hesitated. "We all were. The man Papa sent to Venezuela was much like your people, with many resources. He arranged for documents that proved the body was his wife, which wasn't hard to do since Mama was...unrecognizable."
Carlos rubbed her arm, but remained silent.
Now that she'd started she wanted to get it all out.
"Papa wouldn't let me tell anyone what really happened since Mama had entered the country illegally. He said the media would focus on that and not the fact that Durand had killed innocent women when he attacked a competitor trying to move into his territory. Papa said Durand would be punished for killing Mama and the teachers. We told everyone Mama had been in a bad car crash while traveling and buried her along with the secret."
That had been a lifetime ago. Gabrielle still remembered standing in the rain at the cemetery, soaked to the bone, while she waited for everything to go back to normal.
As if it had all just been a bad dream.
"So you went after the Anguis?" Carlos said softly.
"Not exactly. I just got frustrated when as years passed it became clear Durand was not going to be held accountable. No one could prove he'd been behind the bombing even though eyewitnesses swore his men were on-site. The world forgot a month after the bombings, but I didn't. I didn't get serious about trying to do something until after I'd graduated, married Roberto, then divorced him and went into hiding, where I spent so much time on the computer."
"Because of being afraid of Roberto," Carlos muttered.
"Oui. So I turned to what gave me comfort, researching things. I used my skills to find out everything I could on Durand and the bombings."
"What exactly did you find?"
"That Durand Anguis was definitely behind the bombing. He'd wanted to make a statement so others wouldn't try to enter his area. He's killed many innocents, not just my mother."
Carlos turned rigid as a statue at that, which she understood because of his protective nature around a woman. Considering his line of work, Carlos was probably more aware of Durand's atrocities than her.
"Over time, I established a reliable contact," Gabrielle continued. "Thanks to this person, I have the name of the son who Durand credits with many of the murders."
The room was so quiet for a moment, Gabrielle could hear the air circulating.
"Who?" Carlos asked so softly it raised the fine hairs along her neck. When she shivered, he lifted the sheet up to cover her and drew her back closer against his chest.
She could feel Carlos's heart beating powerfully. The heart of a warrior who fought to protect the world.
"Alejandro Anguis, the man I hope to see one day die for his crimes."
TWENTY-THREE
WHY DON'T YOU give Babette a call?" Carlos tossed his cell phone on the bed for Gabrielle, who stood on the other side buttoning her blouse. In hindsight, he should have had her try to reach her sister last night, but hoped he'd have received word on Babette by now.
Gabrielle looked up, eyes wary. "Why? It's not even five in the morning yet. Did she text you?"
"No. Just give her a call and see if she's okay." He wasn't ready to tell Gabrielle her sister was missing. After last night, anything he said or did was a land mine waiting to be tripped.
She knew the name Alejandro, but didn't know that the Anguis tattoo was a snake and dagger. If BAD or Interpol freed her, she'd eventually find out about the tattoo and...
What had he thought? That the day would come where he'd really be free of his past? That there was a chance of ever having more of a life than a box of memories tucked away in a safe house?
Face it, hombre. The only hope you have to stay alive is to remain unencumbered to run and hide...and kill when necessary.
His best-case outcome scenario was to secure her freedom, then to disappear himself into the bottomless recess of BAD's network, become a deep-undercover operative only.
Family was everything and he had to stay alive to assure his was safe, so that one day he could free Maria and Eduardo.
Gabrielle gave him a curious glance, then finally lifted the phone and keyed in a number. She held the phone to her ear, amused by something she listened to before she spoke.
"Cute recording, Babette. This is Gabrielle. Just wanted to say hello. Call me." She hung up and tossed the phone back.
"Why don't you text her, too?" Carlos suggested.
The humor drained from Gabrielle's eyes. "What's this all about?"
Well, hell, subtle wasn't working. "Don't get upset until Gotthard gets us an update, but Babette's security card was not scanned through the school system last night."
"Oh, mon Dieu!" Gabrielle grabbed the phone, frantically texting, then looked at him. "I said it was an emergency. To call immediately. What are we going to do?"
The panic growing in her eyes was the reason he'd waited as long as possible to tell her about her sister. He walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. "We don't know that anything has happened. She might have lost her card."
Gabrielle studied his face, then narrowed her eyes. "Rae knew this last night. Didn't she?"
This was where things would go from bad to shit bad. "Yes, but she's probably been up half the night working on this."
"Which means you knew, too," Gabrielle accused, ignoring the rest of what he'd told her.
"Yes, but-"
"But you didn't think I needed to know last night?"
"No. There was nothing any of us could do until we determined Babette was definitely missing."
Fury burned away the panic. "News flash. She's missing! So what are you going to do?"
He wanted to snap right back at her over his frustration at another teenage girl being in danger, but couldn't when worry for her sister was behind Gabrielle's acidic tone.
Someone knocked at the door. Carlos walked away, glad for the short reprieve from how her shoulders sagged next. He could handle anger, but his insides clenched at the disappointment in her voice. That he'd let her down.
When he opened the door, Rae stalked into the room with a weary-looking Korbin right behind.
"Long night?" Carlos asked him.
Korbin shoved a droll look his way. "Yes, and not due to anything physically draining. Rae is a maniac when it comes to something she can't solve."
"Why didn't you tell me about Babette?" Gabrielle yelled at Rae.
Rae gave Carlos a pointed look. "Leash her until I have coffee or I may have to kill her."
Gabrielle launched at Rae, but Carlos caught her around the waist before she committed suicide.
Rae didn't move a muscle as Gabrielle flailed her arms and kicked, yelling, "Let me go. I'm flying back to the school."
"Calm down and I'll take you." Carlos struggled to hold her without causing a bruise.
When she settled down at that offer, he set her on her feet. "Get packed and w
e'll go."
"Bad idea." Korbin scratched the beard shadow on his face.
"Why?" Gabrielle demanded.
"Could be a trap. Someone could have figured out what Gabrielle did in the computers and be waiting for both of you."
"No one could have followed what I did in the IT center," Gabrielle argued.
"Someone tracked you to Peachtree City and let your ex know you were going to be in Milano," Rae reminded her.
"I don't care. I'm going to get my sister."
Carlos's phone dinged with a new text message. Gabrielle rushed into the bedroom and dove for the phone, punching the keys and reading. When Carlos caught up to her, relief burst with her next exhale.
"Babette sent me a text message."
"Call her." Carlos wasn't so quick to accept a text message as being from her sister.
Worry swept across Gabrielle's gaze when she caught his insinuation the text could be from anyone. She punched the keys and waited, then her eyes lit with happiness.
"Babette, are you okay?" Gabrielle's face ran the gamut from relief to concerned to annoyed. "You cut class? No! Do not cut class or leave without permission again." Pause. "Well, you deserve the penalty. You scared me. I didn't know where you were." Pause. "I was cross-checking something in the computer for their security and saw you listed as missing."
Gabrielle glanced at Carlos during that lie.
He wanted to say, See, sometimes a small lie is better than a complicated truth. Instead, he walked out to the living room while she finished talking to her sister.
"Now that the drama is over, let's get back to the mission." Rae poured a mug of coffee from the carafe that had been delivered earlier. She must be pretty spent. Drinking anything other than her standard tea was a sign of the strain she was functioning under.
"Gabrielle's just worried about her sister and she's not trained to do this," Carlos defended.
"She's a risk to you and this mission." Laptop open and typing, Rae sipped on the coffee, twisting her mouth at the taste.
"I'll worry about both of those." Carlos added that to the list of everything else, including not putting his team at risk.
When Gabrielle walked into the room, Carlos gave Rae a let's-drop-it look the female operative considered briefly, then shrugged.
"Babette's fine and I made sure she would not break any rules or disappear for the next month."
From where he stood at the window, gazing down, Korbin asked, "What did you have to promise to get that?"
"I said I'd visit soon," Gabrielle murmured, then glanced at Carlos, who couldn't give her the assurance she wanted.
"Okay, I've got Gotthard on-screen," Rae muttered, then told everyone in a clear voice, "Line up behind me if you want to talk to Gotthard."
Korbin stayed at the window. Carlos and Gabrielle stepped behind Rae within the range of the mounted video cam. Gotthard's face appeared on the monitor.
"Retter says security has been filing into Columbia since late last night. Someone from the U.S. is definitely meeting with the oil minister on neutral grounds to assure him our government is not behind the attacks on his life and possibly offer assistance in hunting down the assassins. We may at least have a date, if not a time frame for whatever is going down."
"How?" Rae and Carlos asked together.
Gotthard said, "We picked up Gabrielle's mail from the satellite box she used in Peachtree City."
"What?" Gabrielle shot eye-daggers at Carlos.
"I didn't do it," Carlos said out of reflex, though he wasn't the least surprised. BAD would miss nothing.
"Your people did," she countered.
"Gabrielle," Gotthard interrupted.
"What?" She glared at the monitor now.
"It's protocol, and you of all people should understand," Gotthard went on, not the least apologetic.
"Why?" She had her arms crossed.
"If we hadn't picked up your mail, we wouldn't have known that you got another card from Linette."
Her face lost color. "Another one? What did it say?"
Carlos lifted an arm to put around Gabrielle, then dropped it back to his side. Not knowing her friend's situation was killing her, but comforting her in front of team members would not help him when it came time to plead her case to Joe.
"Linette indicated that at least one of the teens is key to something that will happen by the end of this week, and the only place she's heard mentioned in separate conversations is Venezuela, but she's not sure that's related. She's worried about the teens. She doesn't know what will happen or how this fits into the plan, but a clinic in Zurich is involved. She apologized for not having more information but hoped you would pass it along to someone who could help since she believes the Fratelli are focused on the United States."
"Did she say anything else?" Gabrielle asked.
Carlos cringed at the hope in her voice.
Gotthard looked down, then back up. "Only that...well, at the end she said not to look for another card from her. It was too dangerous. She wouldn't put you at risk of the Fratelli finding out she'd contacted you."
"No more cards?" Gabrielle's voice broke.
Screw it. Carlos slipped an arm around her waist and hugged her. He figured Gabrielle had put some stock into this ending up with her locating Linette.
No more postcards shot that possibility to pieces.
"I'm working on finding Linette," Gotthard consoled.
"How?" Gabrielle asked, hope rising again in her voice.
"I've been sending out posts to community boards with a few key words thrown into my signature from your code."
"Oh." Gabrielle slumped. "I've tried for ten years, thinking she'd be online somewhere, and never got a hit."
"Did you try Web sites you thought would interest her?" Gotthard spoke to Gabrielle with a calm understanding Carlos rarely saw. The big guy was usually more abrupt.
"Oui," Gabrielle answered.
Gotthard's eyes twinkled. "I'm not. And I have access to computers that can do fifty times the load your system could do. I have over three hundred signatures being sent to a wide cross section of community boards and blogs every six hours. My chances of getting a hit are much better, and I have programs that will catch it if she responds in code."
Gabrielle didn't appear sold on his plan. "But even in this era that is like finding one fish in the sea."
"True, but it's more than we had to start with." Gotthard's face returned to its usual gruff expression when he said, "The school has three different groups leaving today on trips, over sixty kids."
"That's what Babette was complaining about when she called," Gabrielle interjected. "She said Amelia and some others were part of a peaceful international rally, so Amelia must be traveling with Joshua and Evelyn."
Gotthard's eyes flicked in Rae's direction. "Joe wants Rae and Korbin to go to Zurich and see what they can find out once I give you the name of the clinic."
"Got it." Rae scratched notes on a piece of paper she'd produced. "If Friday is still our target date, what do we think is going on tomorrow?"
Gotthard answered, "Retter's contacts have learned that the Fuentes compound just doubled its security. The staff is being prepared for a very important visitor, but they haven't been told who yet. Joe and Retter think that must be where the meeting will be in Columbia, and probably this Friday."
"Who do they think the U.S. is sending?" Rae tapped a finger against the desk, but Carlos could almost hear the gears in her mind turning with the puzzle.
"We're, uh, working on that." Not a muscle in Gotthard's face revealed his thoughts.
Carlos caught his hesitation to share something and figured his reticence had to do with a non-BAD agent being present. "Would you go get my phone," Carlos asked Gabrielle.
"Sure." She gave him an odd glance, then backed away. The minute she walked into the bedroom, Carlos turned back to the computer screen, "Who do we think is going to South America?"
"Maybe someone in the president's c
abinet."
Gabrielle hurried back to stand behind Rae and handed Carlos his phone. He took it, punched a couple numbers, then stuck it in his pocket as if he'd found what he was looking for and hadn't been pretending.
"Rae filled me in on the busted trip to Bergamo yesterday," Gotthard continued. "I'm searching for Linette's parents, but based on what Gabrielle shared, I wouldn't bet on finding them. There's a woman listed as having the power of attorney to manage the household expenses from a local account that is funded from an untraceable Swiss account."
"How long has that been going on?" Gabrielle asked.
Gotthard gave her a date from ten years ago.
"That was a week after I stopped by to ask them about Linette and they told me she was dead," Gabrielle whispered with the shock of that news.
"I'm still working on it," Gotthard said, reading something in front of him. "Joe wants to know if"-he glanced up-"Gabrielle still has electronic contact with her people in South America. Retter could use more local intel."
Gabrielle stood upright, then turned to Carlos. "Reaching them by Internet is a problem, because I included a poison pill in the last post I made about needing information on Mandy. I told them to close the IP server as soon as they posted and lie low since we were taking a big risk to communicate."
"How were you going to hook up again?" Carlos asked.
"They would watch for me to post an IT article under a specific pseudonym on a board, and the first letter of each sentence would spell the new site for them to post on again in code. It takes a week normally to set that up."
"Bloody hell," Rae muttered. "So that's a dead end."
"Not necessarily," Gabrielle corrected, frowning at the top of Rae's head.
Carlos touched Gabrielle's chin, drawing her gaze. "What are you saying?"
Gabrielle hesitated. "I know the identities and addresses of my contacts, but I'm not telling Retter."
TWENTY-FOUR
VESTAVIA LIFTED A file from his desk for the first phase of the Renaissance.
No one country could be a superpower. Not forever.