On Thin Ice (29 page)

“You’ll like the farmhouse,” he said. “It’s a safe place – no one ever comes there.”

“Why are we heading there?”

“I need to figure out what I’m going to do now that I’m back in civilization. There were people who shouldn’t have left me to rot in the jungle, and they’re going to answer for it. And there’s the future. The man who was responsible has taken over. If I kill him I’ll probably lose my job.”

“You think?”

He laughed. “Then again, I’ve got enough money to last me a good long time, maybe forever, stashed away. Plus they owe me for the three years in captivity.”

“Again, that might be hard to collect if you kill your boss.”

“Not my boss,” he said swiftly, instinctively. He controlled his anger with an effort. “No, maybe he is. The woman I answered to retired, leaving Madsen in charge. So yes, I think it’s time I found another line of work, even if I don’t gut him.”

“Aren’t you tired of killing people?”

The words hung in the air, a slap in the face, and he responded instinctively.

“Oh, hell, no, I get a real kick out of it. Didn’t have nearly enough scope for my genius while my ass was being held hostage in the Andes.”

“I’m sorry …”

“Tell you what, Sister Beth.” His words were like knives. “Next time someone holds a machete to your throat I’ll just let him cut. Or rape. Or do whatever the hell he wants to. I’d hate to upset your tender sensibilities.”

“I didn’t mean …”

“Sure you did. I get the job done, as quickly and efficiently as I can, and I don’t worry about niceties or whether someone is a very bad man or just a slightly bad man. If he’s a threat I kill him. It’s that simple.”

She wasn’t going to say anything else, he knew it. He’d offended her, pissed her off, hurt her fucking feelings, and she was going to retreat into a huffy silence. He leaned forward to switch on the radio when he heard her voice, so soft he couldn’t believe what she was saying.

“What?”

“I said thank you.” Her voice was still low. “Thank you for saving my life, again and again. Thank you for killing for me. I’m just sorry I made it necessary.”

He took a deep breath. “It had nothing to do with you. Anyone who’s dead because of me had it coming a long time over. I don’t feel guilty and neither should you.” Each man’s death diminishes me, he thought, cursing his memory for useless poetry. He did what he had to do. He needed to remember that.

“Are we going to get there soon?”

MacGowan glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “No. I figure another five hours, maybe a little more.”

“But you’ve been driving for hours already.”

“Don’t worry – I don’t need much sleep.”

“Do you want me to drive?”

This time his laugh was genuine. “I don’t think so. There are some twisty mountain roads up ahead, not to mention the fact that I have control issues. I don’t like being a passenger. People in my life have to learn to get used to it.” Now why the hell had he said that? What business was it of hers? It wasn’t as if he was wanting her to be part of his life.

She said nothing for a moment. “I think there’s another can of Red Bull back here if you need it.”

“Hell, no.” He was about to say he was shaky enough from all the ones he’d been drinking, but thought better of it. She didn’t need more to worry about.

The night was dark and still as the Audi shot through the countryside, and he stared at the winding road ahead of him. He wanted to tell her he was sorry. Hell, he wanted to tell her she was best lay of his life, but he didn’t think that would go over too well.

“What’s funny?”

He must have laughed out loud. “Me,” he said. “And you. Go back to sleep, baby.” The endearment slipped out, an accident, but there was nothing else he could say.

He heard her sigh. “Okay.”

Yeah, now she decided to be obedient, he thought grimly, as he heard her slide down on the leather seat. He could picture her, her long legs curled up, her hands tucked under her chin. He’d watched over her often enough to know that’s how she slept. Not just the night he spent in her bed, but all the other nights, climbing down that fucking mountain, ducking the Guiding Light and anyone else who seemed to want to take a shot at him.

At least they were out of reach of La Luz. They were too badly funded to have overseas operations, and the entire
revolucion
was falling apart.

The CIA, however, was a different matter, and they seemed to want his ass something fierce.

He just needed a few days’ respite at the farmhouse, to figure out exactly how he was going to deal with Vincent Barringer and his crazy-ass scheme, and how the hell he was going to kill him.

But first, whenever the hell they got there, he was going to rest. And not have to kill anyone at all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Vincent Barringer enjoyed the comforts that money brought him, without a trace of guilt from his Puritan ancestry. After all, he worked hard in the service of his country, he’d devoted his entire life to his work, eschewing the distractions of family and friends. He deserved every penny he had amassed over the years.

He wasn’t enjoying flying first class. After years of hitching a ride on military jets, the almost lavish comforts of first class travel seemed almost obscenely indulgent, and he had to remind himself that he more than earned it.

He still couldn’t believe that the Gargonne brothers had failed. They were notoriously brutal, with a higher kill-rate than anyone else in Europe, with the possible exception of the Committee under Harry Thomason’s heyday. The Committee had never had to deal with Congressional oversight and budget cuts. Barringer could pride himself on the spectacular success of his sub-branch, given his handicaps. It was a legacy to be proud of. Too bad that legacy was buried in secrecy. Few people would know the hard decisions Vincent Barringer had made for the good of the Western World.

He folded the damask napkin, having made an excellent dinner of braised lamb and tiny peas. He’d refused the wine, of course. He never touched spirits – too many mistakes were made under the influence of alcohol. They would arrive at DeGaulle airport in another three hours, and he planned to sleep until then. He had enough of delegating the business of MacGowan. If he wanted the job done right he’d do it himself.

In fact, he’d lost his patience. It was a rare thing. He was used to unexpected glitches getting in the way of his plans, but he was steady, determined, and in the end had always triumphed. But the house on Chesapeake Bay was calling to him, and by now he no longer cared about getting Thomas Killian back. Finn MacGowan had become the enemy, with his cocky disregard of anything Barringer had sent his way. He wanted MacGowan dead, even if it put paid to the idea of finally returning Killian. It had become an obsession.

LeFevre would meet him at the airport, with a comfortable car and the weapons he’d requested. Once, long ago Barringer had been a sniper, one of the best in the business. He’d always been vigilant about keeping his skills, and he had no doubt he’d be able to blow MacGowan’s head apart from a distance of fifteen hundred feet if necessary. It was unfortunate that he needed to take out his companions as well, but the Pennington woman and the movie star’s son had been on borrowed time the moment they set foot in South America.

He would get the job done and be back in Washington in forty-eight hours. And that very day he would announce his retirement. Enough was enough.

His pulse was racing, just slightly, and he frowned. There was nothing wrong with looking forward to being in the field again, but he frowned on emotional reactions. He needed to get himself back under control.

According to LeFevre’s intel, once MacGowan landed at the Committee safe house, the one they thought no one knew about, he intended to stay put for a few days. There would be no hurry. In fact a day or two of downtime would be useful to lower his defenses. He thought he was safe at Merrais-sur-le-Pont. Big mistake. No one was safe from the reach of the CIA. At least, not from Barringer’s small, secret branch of it.

Someone always had to do the ugly work. The wet work, ridding the world of evil. And there were times when it wasn’t just evil that had to go. Complicity, whether innocent or deliberate, had to be rooted out as well.

The Committee understood that. His replacement wouldn’t have too much trouble with the Committee – even without Thomason the organization understood and accepted the needs of its allies. There would be a few heated conversations but in the end this would all settle like dust. Peter Madsen was too much of a pragmatist to do anything about it, and besides, MacGowan was gunning for Madsen. He was doing the man a favor.

The stewardess took his tray, offered him an aperitif, and moved away. No, they didn’t call them stewardesses anymore, did they? He preferred the no-nonsense care of the enlisted men who looked after VIPs on the transatlantic military flights. Clean young men who understood the value of discipline.

He moved his seat back. It turned into a pod-like bed, but he decided that was ridiculous. Perhaps he’d try out that configuration on his way home. For now, like a child on Christmas morning, he was too excited to sleep.

In ten years the farmhouse hadn’t changed much. The greenery was a little taller, a little more tangled, and they’d installed a sensor device hidden under the dirt road that led to it. If MacGowan hadn’t been driving a car equipped with the right piece of technology the road would have blown up beneath them, sending them all to hell.

Good thing he’d been in touch with Bastien instead of trying to make it here on his own. Then again, on his own he wouldn’t have driven up even the well-hidden driveway, he would have approached on foot, and he doubted they’d mined the place. It was too easy for a stray animal to wander by, and once an explosion marred the stillness of the area there’d be no using it again.

It was almost light when he finally pulled up to the remote old farmhouse, staring up at the shuttered windows. He hadn’t had time to have more than a brief conversation with Taka, so he had no idea what kind of shape the place was in. In the past they had someone on payroll who kept it ready at all times, but for all he knew Isobel might have changed it. Now it was up to that sodding bastard Peter Madsen. Hell, he might even be walking into a trap. It was something he’d be capable of doing to a man who wanted to kill him. Madsen was just as ruthless as he’d ever been. Maybe more so. He would never have left someone to rot in the jungle of South America, no matter what the cost.

But Taka wouldn’t stand by and let him walk into a trap. No, he could be relatively sure they were safe for at least a few days, long enough for him to figure out what to do next. Whether he needed to kill Peter Madsen or Vincent Barringer first.

He pulled the car up in front of the stone house and put it in park. He could hide it in the cul-de-sac later – right now he just needed to get his charges indoors. Funny, that he’d kept them with him. Funny, that Beth had chosen to come. That was something he could think about in the next few days, after he’d managed to get some sleep. Assuming he even could sleep. She was right – he’d killed too many men. There were some things you couldn’t walk away from, and that was one of them.

He opened the back door and scooped Beth up. She was too thin – she’d lost weight in the last week, which was no surprise, and despite her height she was an easy burden. She woke for a moment, and he half expected her to start fighting him, but she simply looked at him, closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder.

The farmhouse even smelled the same. Lemon polish and centuries-old French cooking. Nothing had changed, though he saw they’d put a new cover on the sofa. A good thing – Bastien had bled all over that sofa while MacGowan had removed a bullet from his leg. Good times.

In the end he didn’t really think about it. He carried her up to the pretty room on the second floor, holding her as he tried to pull down the covers. That was when she reacted. “No,” she mumbled. “Too dirty. Just put me on top of the covers.”

He didn’t bother arguing. She was covered with dust and dirt, and he could see the streaks her tears had left on her face. She’d faced death before without crying. Had she finally reached overload, or had she been crying for something else? “You’re not dead,” she’d said dazedly when he’d hauled her back out into the sunshine. Had she been crying for him?

He found a throw and tossed it over her. She was sound asleep again, and he stood over her in the stillness of the morning air. The closed shutters let in only a trace of sunlight, but he could see her quite clearly, and he reached out and pushed a strand of her silver-blond hair away from her grubby face.

He wanted to climb into bed with her, hold her in his arms. He wanted her arms around him, he wanted to press his face against her breasts and god help him, he wanted to weep. He really had reached the end of his tether. Time to give it up. He hadn’t cried since his bastard of a father had starved himself to death. Why would he want to cry now?

He closed the door quietly behind him and went back down to find Dylan stumbling sleepily through the kitchen. “Hey, dude, there’s a bedroom down here. Mind if I take it?”

It was what he wanted, wasn’t it? Privacy with Beth? Or the last thing he needed, temptation? It didn’t matter. “You can stay in any room you want, though Beth is already asleep in one on the first floor.”

“First floor? Or second floor? I can never get used to that,” Dylan said sleepily, opening the refrigerator and peering inside. From his vantage point MacGowan could see that it was well-stocked, including his favorite Guinness.

“Your second floor, my first,” he clarified. “You’re on the ground floor now, brat.”

“No, man, I’m in bed,” Dylan said sleepily, grabbing a Coke and heading back in the direction of the room he’d chosen.

MacGowan hid the car, then slipped back into the house, making sure all the doors were unlocked. A lock wouldn’t slow anyone down, but it could make the difference between life and death if they needed a quick escape. He grabbed a Guinness, pried it open, and then headed up the narrow stone steps to temptation.