Chapter 15

15

Billy received another text from Rogers as the train departed Florence.

I’m on board. Where are you?

Billy replied:

Last car, through the door that says no entry. Cabin 6.

Several minutes later, Billy heard someone sprinting down the hallway.

Instinctively, he grabbed his silencer-equipped pistol and reached for the door. Before he could pull it open, he heard the soft metallic spit of a sound-suppressed gunshot followed by the thud of something hitting the floor.

He shoved the cabin door open. Sprawled on the floor just outside was Rogers, his body unmoving.

Billy leaned out. Running down the hallway toward him was man in a suit.

As soon as he saw Billy, he skidded to a stop and raised his pistol.

Before either he or Billy could pull their triggers, Tessa’s cabin door slid open, and Stacy leaned out.

“Go back!” Billy yelled.

The assassin grabbed Stacy’s arm before she could do anything and yanked her toward him. At the same moment, Vesna appeared at the other end of the hall.

In the split second before Stacy would have become the assassin’s human shield, both Billy and Vesna fired their guns.

Billy’s bullet punched through the assassin’s forehead, and Vesna’s caught him in the back, heart high. The man was dead before he hit the floor.

Billy motioned for Vesna to make sure no one else could enter the car, then rushed to Stacy, who had stumbled into the outside wall, where he positioned himself to block the bodies from view.

“W-w-what’s going on?” she asked, her voice shaky.

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Close your eyes.”

“O-okay.”

Tessa stuck her head out of her cabin. “What’s all the—” She gasped as she caught sight of the assassin’s body. “Is he…?”

Billy walked Stacy to her. “He is. Please, take Stacy inside. She’s going into shock.” He passed Stacy to her.

“She’s not the only one.”

“I’ll explain everything in a bit. For now, keep her and—” He looked into the cabin. “Where’s Adriene and Lizzie?”

“Lizzie went to get something to eat, and Adriene was sleepy, so she went to one of the other cabins to take a nap.”

“Do you know which one?”

“Next door, I think,” Tessa said. “Go, I’ll take care of Stacy.”

Billy peeked into the neighboring cabin and was relieved to see Adriene stretched out across the seats, sound asleep. He hurried back to Rogers and checked for a pulse, but as he feared, the man was dead.

He could hear music and what sounded like the roar of a jet coming from inside Peter and Hattie’s cabin. As much as he was loathed to involve anyone else in this, he had little choice.

He tapped on their door. The noise inside cut off, and Peter slid the door open.

“Hey, Billy. What’s up?”

“I could use your assistance.”

“Sure, what do you need?” He caught sight of Rogers’s body. “Is he dead?”

“Yes.”

“Did you kill him?”

“Not him.” Billy nodded his head toward the assassin.

Peter gaped at the second body, then said, “Well, this isn’t great.”

“What’s not great?” Hattie asked, then peeked into the hall from behind Peter.

“We had an uninvited guest,” Billy said.

Hattie leaned forward enough to see Rogers. “Is that a body?”

“Yes, but he was invited.”

She noticed the assassin. “Oh.”

“I need both of your help,” Billy said.

“Just tell us what to do.”

“Hattie, Lizzie went to the restaurant car. If you could find her and keep her away until I give you the all-clear, that would be great.”

“No problem.” She hurried down the hallway.

“You’re not going to ask me to help you move them, are you?” Peter said.

“I think I’ve scarred you enough as it is. What I need you to do is go to the entrance of our car. You’ll find a friend of mine there. Dark hair, looks like the kind of person you don’t want to mess with. Send her to me, then you stay there and make sure no one else comes in.”

“Got it.”

Peter followed his wife’s route out of the car. A few seconds later, Vesna returned.

“Dead?” she asked, eyeing Rogers’s body.

Billy nodded.

She pointed at the assassin. “Who is this asshole?”

“Never seen him before.”

“Sorry I couldn’t stop him before he got here. Some idiot thought I was going to get to the toilet before him and got in my way.”

“You arrived in time to stop him from killing one of my friends. For that, I’ll be forever grateful.”

“What do we do with them?”

“That’s a question for someone else. Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

He walked to the end of the car and called Lance.

As soon as the director was on the line, Billy explained what had just gone down.

“That’s four dead now,” Lance said.

“Not my biggest concern at the moment.”

“I apologize. Of course not. That would be the body.”

“The bod ies .”

“Right. One moment.” Lance returned half a minute later. “I have your position as approximately twenty minutes outside Bologna, still in the mountains.”

Billy looked out the window. “That sounds right.”

“I have a cleanup team that can meet you en route. Bologna is too soon, so probably in Ferrara. They’ll take Rogers and clean up the mess.”

“What about the assassin?”

“Do you have anything you can grab fingerprints with?”

“I do.”

“Get prints and take pictures, then give those to the cleaners. The area you’re currently in is rural, correct?”

“Very.”

“Then it seems to me it’s the perfect location for the assassin to get off the train. I’ll have my watchers deal with that.”

“You mean the watchers who have yet to notice that anything happened?”

“They aren’t with you now?”

“No. As far as I know, they’re still in their seats, oblivious.”

“I see,” Lance said, not sounding pleased. “I’ll have them there in a few moments.”

“Don’t,” Teddy said. “I have someone I trust who can help me. We’ll take care of it.”

“That wasn’t an offer. Their job is to—”

“Lance, let me make this perfectly clear. Not only was one of your agents killed, but my friends were put in danger because your team was not doing their job. My colleague was in the same car as they, and realized something was up, so they have no excuse. Per our agreement, I’m in charge, and I make the calls. My call is that I never want to see any of them again.”

“I can’t say I wouldn’t feel the same in your shoes. Very well. I’ll have them replaced as soon as you arrive in Venice.”

“Only if the replacements are competent. Otherwise, don’t bother. Even then, I’m not sure I would trust them.”

“I’ll make sure it’s a team of our very best.”

“Why weren’t they your very best from the start?”

“I don’t know the answer to that question, but I promise you will not have similar issues with the new team.”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with your mole, does it?”

“No. I can guarantee you that.”

“Fine. If you’ll excuse me there are a few things that need my attention.”

Billy hung up and rejoined Vesna.

They wrapped Rogers in a blanket and moved him into an empty cabin. Billy then took photos of the assassin and used the fingerprint kit he kept in his makeup box to take a full set of prints.

A check of the man’s pocket turned up a couple hundred euros, a mobile phone, and a business card that had the Trust’s logo printed on it.

Billy grabbed the man’s arms and Vesna the legs, and they carried the assassin out the door at the back end of the car. The remainder of the walkway was capped off by three metal chains meant to prevent anyone from walking off.

They lifted the assassin over the chains and dumped him off the back. The body fell onto the tracks, bounced over one of the rails, and rolled to the side.

“Still a lot to clean up,” Vesna said.

“Being handled by others. I’d like you to take over for Peter and keep any train personnel away until the car’s been sanitized, if you don’t mind.”

She nodded and turned to leave.

“Vesna?”

She glanced back.

“Thank you.”

“This is why I am here, is it not?”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it.”

“Don’t worry. You will pay me back someday.”

“Count on it.”