Page 19 of The Hijack

“He was on assignment to follow up on some operatives who might have been involved in infiltrating MI6,” Lukas said. “My suspicion is that he might have been on to your handler.”

I stroked my chin. Regg was definitely behind what had happened to Clark. He would know where she was and what had befallen her. Short of talking to Regg, I supposed that finding someone who was also on his trail might be helpful. I didn’t want to cross the world looking for another missing Dark Sparrow operative, though. It felt like a red herring, like Lukas was grasping at straws.

“How do we get to him?” I sighed.

No matter how much I wanted a definitive clue as to Clark’s whereabouts, doing anything was better than doing nothing. I couldn’t sit on my thumbs any more than I could force Clark to materialize out of thin air. Maybe Lukas’s man would know something. Maybe he wouldn’t. But what did I have to lose?

“You’ll need a boat,” Lukas said.

“Do you have one?” I did, but unfortunately it was moored off the coast of Spain and currently out of reach.

“We can get you a flight to Hawaii, and someone will meet you in Honolulu Harbor,” Lukas said.

“You’re not coming?” I asked.

Lukas shook his head. “I’ll be of more use to you from command.”

I grinned, feeling like I’d just lucked into another company job. Instead of working for the British government, I was working on my own, but I would have the support of both Z and Lukas from New York. They could stay on top of the tips and intel that might come in from agents around the globe.

I always felt better knowing I had someone in my corner. Though people often thought that spies were solitary creatures, the truth was that we needed a backup team to be effective. Everything I’d seen so far led me to believe that the two of them truly cared about Clark. At least they weren’t holding up governmental ideals while undermining them behind my back. After trusting Regg for years, I was finally learning to branch out.

“When do I leave?” I asked.

“As soon as you’re ready,” Lukas said.

I wasn’t a religious man by any stretch of the imagination, but I took the time to send a quick prayer skyward. I wasn’t above accepting help from the divine if it would bring me closer to a resolution. I needed all the ammunition I could get to help me close the deal and bring Clark home.

Chapter 10

Theo

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THE PLANE RIDE TO HAWAII was commercial. After all I’d been through, I’d forgotten about the hassles that ordinary people had to face when they moved around the country. Lukas dropped me off at JFK, and when I asked about the pilot and the plane, he gave me a guilty look.

“I booked you on Delta,” he said, handing me a ticket.

I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t so far out of the loop that I didn’t know commercial flights were exercises in patience. There was the baggage check, but thank goodness I didn’t have to sit in that line. The security check-in was laborious. The line snaked through the lobby and out the doors onto the street. I saw it and groaned. No wonder they made you arrive three hours earlier than your flight was scheduled. It would take me that long just to get to the gate.

The woman in front of me was talking on the phone, ignoring a six-year-old who tugged at her shirt periodically. I tried to make myself invisible by looking up and around, anywhere but the child’s eyes. That tactic didn’t work, however. Each time I glanced over, I found the little girl staring at me as if I was some kind of zoo animal. I nearly touched the woman on the shoulder to gently remind her to pay attention to her daughter.

Thankfully, the line started moving, and I was able to reach the desk in a record hour and a half. Since I had been stripped of my weapons by Regg at the cabin, I didn’t need to worry about sneaking anything on board. Besides, Lukas’s connection would have all the firepower I needed when he met me in Honolulu.

I wanted to purchase some earbuds so that I could watch movies and listen to music inflight. But they were ten dollars, and I didn’t have the cash. Of all the stupid oversights, not having spending money was the finest. I kicked myself internally for that mistake. Not being attached to a government office meant I had to consider all these things I usually took for granted. I had no handler to deliver a suitcase full of greenbacks and fake passports. So I was winging it, quite literally.

Free food onboard was limited to pretzels and half a can of soda. I glanced longingly at first class, wondering what kind of luxuries they were receiving. Though it wasn’t a charter plane by any means, I guessed they had bigger seats and a more exclusive menu. What I wouldn’t have given for a Honda jet right about then.

We touched down on the tarmac twelve hours later. I got up to stretch my legs and had to wait while dozens of fellow passengers struggled to get their luggage out of the overhead bins. Then I made my way down the aisle, out of the plane and into the terminal, as if I had all the time in the world.

Once outside, Lukas’s contact met me at the gate. He was holding a sign as if I was a regular businessman, the name one of my aliases. He seemed to catch on that I was in a hurry, and we clapped through the airport as quickly as possible. Luckily, there were an equal number of people also in a rush, probably to get to mergers and acquisitions. I blended in with the rest, dressed the part in a suit and tie.

“Did Lukas tell you what we’re looking for?” I asked, sliding into the shotgun seat of the man’s car.

“All he told me to do was get you on a boat. You’re on your own from there,” the man said.

“Fair enough,” I agreed. I didn’t need to know his name or anything about him. Just the fact that he was playing one simple part in my journey was enough.

We rode in silence through the streets of Honolulu to the port. There, he had a smallish yacht ready to take me to my destination. As expected, he offered me a weapon, as well as a backpack full of food and supplies.