Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
We’ll not have to wait long to find out. We pull up to the place from which we departed just over an hour ago, and I marvel over what can happen in an hour.
Danny pulls out his phone, presses a number, holds the phone to his ear.
“We’re here,” he says.
He hangs up and the large, metal warehouse door grinds open. We drive in, Charlie or Brenden closes the door behind us and we exit the truck. Eliza approaches us.
“What’s all this? What happened? Are you shot? Where the fuck’s Andra?”
I assume she wants those questions answered in reverse order.
“I have news about Andra—she’s fine,” I say, trying to get to the heart of the matter as swiftly as I can.
“How—” Eliza starts. I keep talking.
“Brasil did not have her.”
“Did not?” Russell queries.
“He’s, uh…” I lower my voice. The laaities, his cousins, they’ll find out soon enough, but there’s no need for them to overhear now and get all lathered up about it. “He’s no longer with us,” I say.
“What. Happened?” Eliza repeats.
Before I have a chance to answer her in detail or, indeed, at all…
The phone rings. The one taken off the oke Christine inexplicably knows was called Cillian.
“What’s that?” Eliza asks, tension rising in her voice once more.
I take a breath and, with a calming hand gesture…
I answer the call.
“Yes?”
“Mr. van den Berg?” the polite Austrian asks.
“Yes, man. It’s me.”
“We have a proposal.”
Eliza starts to say something. It looks like she’s about to ask yet more questions for which I don’t currently have answers, so I put the phone on mute and say, preemptively, “We’re all learning together in real time, luv. Remain.”
She clearly doesn’t like being told to stay calm—or, I imagine, being called ‘luv’ for that matter—but I don’t have the bandwidth for ceremony.
Unmuting the call, I say, “Go on.”
“We wish to arrange an exchange.”
I knew it.
“Of course you do. What would you like to exchange, precisely?”
“You, Mr. Fortnight, and Ms. Keene will deliver yourselves to Vienna at our expense and, in return, we will release to you both Alexandria and Theo Watson.”
The collective snap to attention at hearing that rivals the most rigid military precision anyone has ever seen.
“I see,” I offer, trying not to sound alarmed or curious in the least. “You’ll be handing over Andra and Theo—both of whom are in tip-top shape, I trust? Because if they’ve been handled with anything other than pristine care—”
“They are being cared for as well as you were at the Berkshire estate.”
I press mute on the phone again because the chill that sends down my spine creates an actual, audible reaction from me, Christine, and Eliza at the same time.
“Alec…” Christine starts.
“I know.”
“How does—?”
“I don’t know.” I take a breath and once again unmute the phone. “So, you were the one responsible for retrieving me from the fall I took?”
“Not me, personally, but we were, yes. You and your brother.”
“Were you also the ones responsible for what happened to Lars? After?”
There’s a long pause. Then, “No. We made the grave mistake of assuming that Mr. Lynch was capable of completing the task we set him to. He behaved in a manner that was unacceptable. We regret it. But he has, as you are aware, been admonished.”
Admonished. There’s a fokken euphemism if ever I’ve heard one. So these okes, whoever they are, are the ones responsible for the shot that killed Brasil.
“Why did the Cillian oke grab Christine and why all the—?” I start to ask.
“All your questions will be answered, I promise you,” he interrupts, “but the shortest version at the moment is: We hoped to avoid having to make direct contact. But here we are. So, may I continue advising on next steps?”
I look around the room at all the faces staring at me as if I have any clue about what’s happening right now. “Sure,” I say, “advise away, man.”
“Thank you. We have arranged safe passage for you from London to Vienna.”
“All right…”
“We have also arranged for a car at your hotel—”
“How do you know what hotel we’re—?”
“—that has diplomatic plates and will allow you to safely travel from Belfast to London without fear of encountering any obstacles in the form of local law enforcement. However, if you do come upon any impediments, we will remove them.”
Heilige fokken kak, man. I don’t know who these okes are, but they clearly are not here to fuck spiders, as my Australian mates might say.
I’ll not lie: I’m simultaneously anxious and impressed. Whoever they are, they go about their business the same way I would. Grandmaster versus grandmaster. Excellent. Let’s see who can topple whose king first.
“Are there any questions, Mr. van den Berg?” he asks.
I put the phone on mute once more. “Anyone?” I ask.
“They’re giving us Theo and Andra. What do they want?” Danny says.
I nod and start to take the phone off mute—