AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So, so, so, it is a fresco?” she said, nearly in a whimper. “Did I, did I—was I right?”
“Yes,” Hargrave said. “You were right.” He shook his head. “I’m very sorry.”
Professor Sabharwal just barely had time to think, Oh, good, I was right. And then she felt his hands on her neck and the world went dark.
* * *
—
It was just luck that Special Agent Frank Delgado was on duty when it happened. Afterward, he was never sure if it was good luck or bad. But one way or the other, Delgado was there for the whole thing, start to finish.
They’d been watching Gentle Rest Extended Care for five weeks, around the clock. For once, Delgado was glad to be part of a large and well-funded task force. He never could have covered the place for five weeks, 24/7, by himself. Three teams of two agents took turns, with a mobile squad standing ready nearby. There were cameras covering all angles of the building, the room was bugged, and everything that happened, audio and video, was recorded. It was a huge expenditure, and it would never have been authorized for any target who wasn’t a top priority like Bailey Stone.
And for five weeks, three teams of agents, a mobile squad, and a team of tech support agents had seen and heard nothing except nurses’ gossip and routine medical chat.
And then.
There had been a bustle of staff in and out of the room, changing sheets on the bed, fluffing up pillows, bringing in fresh flowers—all kinds of signs that company was expected. And then, at long last, Delgado heard a new voice, one he had not heard before in the five weeks of waiting. And with a burst of adrenaline that was so intense it was close to nausea, Delgado realized whom he was hearing.
Riley Wolfe.
Delgado heard a nurse chatting, then her footsteps receding, and then the scrape of a chair moving across the floor. And then—
“Hello, Mom, it’s me. How they treating you?” the voice said, and there was no longer any doubt. It was him.
Delgado clicked on his radio and spoke the prearranged signal to the rest of the team. “Alpha team, this is team leader. Red, Red, we have Red. He’s here,” he said. Then he put down the radio and leaned forward, listening intently.
“Well, I do hope you like it here,” the voice went on. “It seems like a good place—those flowers, they’re fresh—are those gardenias? That’s your favorite, isn’t it? Well, that surely is nice.”
Delgado was fascinated. This was Wolfe’s voice, at last. He’d never heard it before, and although he was not surprised to hear the distinctly Southern lilt to the words, the tenderness in those words was unexpected.
“Well, so, I do hope you like it here, Mom,” Riley went on. “You just may have to stay here a little while. I might be gone for a while, and, uh—I don’t want you to worry or anything, it’s just business. But . . .” He was quiet for a moment before he continued. “It’s kinda funny, Mom. Remember you used to talk about ‘the far side of the world’ like it was, you know, all romantic and interesting? Well, that’s just exactly where I’m going. The far side of the world. To the most isolated spot on earth. I got to do a favor for a man who lives there. And you should see this place, Mom! This man who lives there has tunneled out a big old solid rock island in the middle of absolutely nowhere! He’s got all kinds of things to keep people away—exploding mines in the water, missiles on top, mercenary soldiers patrolling— But inside? Down in this great big cave he’s made? He’s got some of the most amazing art I ever saw! Great stuff, Mom, truly great! And I got to go through it, and, uh . . .” There was a rustling on the audio as Wolfe adjusted his position in the chair. “I won’t lie to you ’bout this, Mom. This is a very dangerous man. Now, he likes me, so I should be okay, but . . .”
Another, smaller, rustling, and Wolfe lowered his voice. “There’s this other man, Mom. Just as dangerous. And he, uh—he got me in a kind of bind? And he’s using me to get at this other man, so . . . I think there’s gonna be a big fight. But I don’t want you to fret about that, because I’m not gonna get in on that, Mom, don’t you worry. I’ll get out of there before the shooting starts, I promise.”
There was silence for a while, and Delgado was afraid that somehow Riley Wolfe had slipped away. But finally, the voice came back. “Anyway,” he said at last, “I guess you’ll be okay here? And I’ll come see you the moment I get back, I promise.” The sound of a light kiss, then: “I got to go now, Mom, but like I said, I’ll come see you and tell you all about it just as soon as I get back. Love you, Mom.”
A final chair scrape. Delgado picked up the radio, ready to order the team to move in and take Riley Wolfe. This was it, the payoff to an obsession of many years. And as his finger closed on the microphone, he paused.
He thought over what he had heard Wolfe tell his mother. He was not sure what all of it meant. But he was certain it was important. He was also sure that, if it was true, Wolfe would never give up Bailey Stone. It would mean his certain death. That led to a conclusion he couldn’t refute.
If he took Riley Wolfe now, they would never get Bailey Stone. The whole operation would be a huge waste of time and resources.
Frank Delgado was willing to make that sacrifice. But Special Agent Delgado could not. Stone was the whole focus of the task force, their number one target. Riley Wolfe was certainly a wanted man, but he was not in the same league. And taking him now meant losing Stone. It was one or the other. He was in position to make the call. The choice was all his. One or the other. Stone or Wolfe.
The decision was incredibly painful, but it was not difficult. Delgado was a good agent, and he knew his duty.
So when he spoke into the microphone, it was only to say, “This is team leader. Stand down. Let him go.”
There was a pause, and then a disbelieving voice came back over the radio, “Say again, team leader?”
Delgado sighed. It was bad enough to have to say it once. Nonetheless, he repeated it. “Let him go, repeat, let. Him. Go.”
Delgado put the microphone down. No one looking at his face would have guessed it, but he was churning inside with a maelstrom of bleak thoughts and emotions. The moment he’d waited so many years for had come and gone. As if to rub his nose in it, he had been the one forced to let it go.
He waited patiently for the tide of misery to ebb. He had some small hope that he might see Wolfe exit the building and get a glimpse—perhaps even a photograph. But although he watched for half an hour, the only people who came out—three old women, a young female nurse, and a white-haired couple—couldn’t possibly have been Riley Wolfe.
Delgado just sat there for a while longer anyway; he told himself that Wolfe would be back, that he always came back to his mother. They would be waiting for him when he did. The thought did nothing to cheer him. It was driven out of his head by another thought repeating on an endless loop.
