Chapter 20

20

Before leaving the hotel for his meeting with Rick La Rose, Teddy altered his appearance to look as unmemorable as possible. He then donned a pair of jeans, a black hoodie, and a black New York Yankees baseball cap that he wore low over his eyes.

He sent Vesna a picture of what he looked like with a text that read:

Heading out

She replied with a thumbs-up.

As he walked through the hotel lobby, he passed right by a pair of his new CIA protection agents. Neither realized who he was.

He took a train across the lagoon to the mainland, then grabbed a rideshare that dropped him off in the industrial area surrounding the port, a couple of blocks from the building that Rick had chosen for the meet. Teddy slipped his right-side ear pod in as the car drove away and activated the radio app.

“Check, check,” he whispered.

“Read you,” Vesna said. “Route clear.”

“Copy.”

Keeping to the shadows, he made his way to the unoccupied manufacturing facility where Rick had directed him.

“Any backup?” he whispered.

“If there is, it’s not close by,” Vesna said.

“Copy.”

Teddy found the unlocked side door through which he’d been told to enter. “Going in and putting myself on mute.”

“Copy,” Vesna replied.

He stepped into a dim, cavernous space that was all but empty.

Per instructions, he climbed a metal staircase anchored to the wall to a mezzanine walkway. On one side was a half wall overlooking the open space, and on the other were several office doors.

Light leaked out around the partially opened door to the first office. Inside, Rick La Rose leaned against a desk, his phone lying next to him, its flashlight on. He was not holding a weapon.

After the recognition code was dealt with, Rick said, “I heard Lance didn’t tell you I was coming. I’m sorry about that.”

“Lance’s faults are neither yours nor mine,” Teddy said. “No apologies necessary.”

“Agreed.” Rick held out his hand and they shook. “Rick La Rose.”

“John,” Teddy said.

“There is one thing I really do need to apologize for. I heard about trouble on the train this morning, and that the team sent to protect your colleague and his friends was—”

“Oblivious? Useless?”

Rick winced. “Both of those. The new people are all top-notch. If there are any problems, contact me directly. I’ll fix it right away.” He pulled out a business card and handed it to Teddy.

“You’re asking me to bypass Lance?”

“Technically, but the response will be quicker because he’d likely just call me anyway.”

“Noted.” Teddy slid the card into his pocket. “I understand you’ve been dealing with Owen Pace’s murder.”

Rick’s expression darkened. “I have.”

“Any leads on who did it?”

“Sadly, no. We have security footage that shows Pace entering the Latin Quarter that evening, but none of him leaving, mainly because the CCTV system in the area experienced an outage.”

“How convenient.”

“Very,” he said.

“Hacked?”

“That’s the leading theory, but it’s still under investigation.” Rick paused, then asked, “Were you present when Rogers was killed today?”

“I may have been in the vicinity.”

“He was one of my mentors when I started out. We lost a good man.”

“I’m sorry.”

Rick nodded grimly, then removed a picture from his pocket and handed it to Teddy.

“What’s this?” Teddy asked.

“I don’t know if you know this or not, but Rogers was almost killed in Prague before he came to Italy.”

“He told me.”

Rick jutted his chin at the picture. “That’s a still from security footage of the man who was following him.”

Teddy looked at the photo. The man was standing on a sidewalk, his face in three-quarter profile.

“I know where you can find his body,” Teddy said.

“Let me guess, he’s the guy who killed Rogers on the train.”

“One and the same. Have you ID’ed him?”

“Check the back.”

Teddy flipped over the picture. Written there was the name Oscar Schmidt , followed by a list of aliases.

“What else do you know about him?”

“Born outside Vienna,” Rick said. “Spent a couple years in the Austrian armed forces and has been bouncing between mercenary outfits ever since. His last known employer was a Bulgarian group. I made some inquiries and found out he left there for eighteen months ago. I haven’t found anyone who knows where he went next.”

“Too bad. If you had, then my mission would be finished.”

“Sorry to disappoint. My people are still looking into it, but don’t hold your breath.”

Teddy glanced at the picture again, then said, “May I keep this?”

“It’s for you.”

Teddy slipped it into his pocket. “Any guesses as to who might—”

Vesna’s voice popped into Teddy’s ear. “You have company.”

He unmuted the radio. “Explain.”

“Two men. One is at a door on the north side and appears to be picking the lock. The other man is positioned at the east corner, near the street. He’s the lookout.”

“Copy.”

Before Teddy could say anything else, Rick asked, “Who are you talking to?”

“A friend.”

“You didn’t come alone?”

“It’s been that kind of day,” Teddy said. “You did?”

“I have two agents on standby a mile away, though they don’t know who they’re backing up. No one knows I left Paris.”

“You might want to recheck your definition of ‘no one.’?”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone’s trying to sneak into the building. We should get out of—”

“He got the door open,” Vesna said. “He’s coming in armed.”

Teddy pulled out his pistol and began attaching his silencer to the barrel. “Too late to leave. One’s entering right now with a weapon.”

Rick retrieved his gun while Teddy crept to the office door.

“Would you like me to deal with his lookout?” Vesna asked.

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” Teddy said.

“No trouble at all.”