Page 4 of The Hijack

“Can I use your phone?” I asked.

Molly and Russel exchanged a look that was as easy to read as the front page of a newspaper. They were concerned about caller ID. Depending on who I attempted to contact, it might lead sinister forces directly to their home.

“I’m not going to contact the home office,” I said, hoping to placate them. “Just a friend.”

“And who does your friend work for?” Russel asked.

“He’s self-employed,” I answered, giving away nothing but the most important fact. I wouldn’t be alerting any known agency to my location. I would limit the conversation to a single person that I trusted.

“All right,” Russel agreed reluctantly.

I finished my egg and moved to the phone. It was a land line, hardwired into the hills. Picking up the receiver, I glanced at Russel. He accompanied me to listen in on my conversation. I couldn’t blame him; he didn’t know me from Adam. Though I seemed to be agreeable, he was still on guard.

“I lost the woman I love,” I told him.

“Dangerous thing, love,” he replied.

“That it is,” I said. “I’m hoping that someday, me and my lady might end up like you and Molly. Is that what happened? You fell in love and got out of the game?”

“Something like that,” Russel allowed.

I dialed the only number I could think of, the only person who knew both Clark and me and had enough respect for both of us to help. Clark’s long-time friend and foster brother Lukas had established an underground organization called Dark Sparrow to champion environmental issues. While he didn’t operate within the law, his heart was in the right place. He wanted to stop people who were profiting from climate destruction and protect the world for the next generation. Yet his tactics included violence at times, which put him squarely in the crosshairs of MI6.

At Regg’s behest, I’d spent several weeks tracking Dark Sparrow across Europe only to learn that Lukas wasn’t my enemy. He had as much to lose as I did, maybe more. And regardless of my involvement, he would want to make sure Clark was safe. He had given Clark his personal number, and I’d memorized it out of habit. I had more than five dozen numbers swimming around in my head, but only his was viable.

“Who is this?” Lukas asked as soon as the call went through.

“Theo Wells,” I announced myself.

“Theo?” Lukas responded, relieved that he was speaking to a friend. “Where is Clark?”

“We were ambushed at a safehouse,” I explained. “I was shot, and Clark was taken.”

“Taken where?”

“I don’t know,” I said on the exhale. “I was hoping you could help.”

“They’re saying that you and Clark were responsible for the deaths of three MI6 agents and one CIA agent,” Lukas reported.

“What?!” I demanded.

“They found the bodies in a remote cabin in the Alps.”

I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling, fuming with rage. It had been my fervent desire to rescue those men before they turned up dead. Now to have the bad guys drag their corpses up to my own home to dispose of them seemed almost too offensive to be real. What had their last moments been like? Did Regg kidnap them and force them to my home only to shoot them there? Or had he kept their bodies on ice and merely delivered them to my doorstep like so many Amazon packages?

“I didn’t do it,” I said numbly.

Russel raised an eyebrow, stroking his gun unconsciously.

“I know,” Lukas responded. “You must be trustworthy if Clark is so interested in you.”

“We have to find her,” I pleaded.

“I’m on my way,” Lukas promised.

I glanced up at Russel. “I’ll meet you on the road.”

“Give me about an hour,” Lukas said. I knew he was checking his navigational software and comparing my coordinates to his.