“I knew he wasn’t going to stop with the smack. I couldn’t question him, but he could hit me? It was the end of it for me. I had already been pushed to my limits. I had already been thinking of quietly leaving him, but that night, I grabbed my kids and I just fucking booked it. Down a back road, into Binghamton and down into Pennsylvania. I kept driving all the way to Chicago.
“And from there we would have to move every two or three months because Gerry would threaten me or show up somewhere. So, we just kept moving until now.”
“When he called, he wanted the money. That’s it. He didn’t beg me to come back or even try to manipulate me. He just wants the money. Maybe at one time he really believed that he was some sort of good man, a man of God, but he’s nothing now. Even his racism and homophobia are a show, I think.
“He just wants the money and power. He’d…” She swallowed hard. “I think he’d kill anyone who got in his way.”
Noah’s voice drifted to us. “Uriah?”
“And the kids. He never wanted them. They were a way of showing everyone he was vital and young. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.”
I shoved Smoke over on the seat. I sat down next to my sister and pulled her into a hug. “You weren’t, Brey. You were enchanted by a man who had nothing to give but made it look like the world.”
She cried quietly into my shirt.
Smoke had produced a cell phone from inside his jacket and was tapping away on it. He easily slipped his fingers over the front, and after nodding about something, actually used the phone function.
“He can’t call from the plane,” Nelson whispered.
“Major Zvalova, good evening,” Storm said, raising an eyebrow at Nelson.
Nelson shrugged. “He can call from the plane.”
“Colonel Gillam. Yes, sir. That’s right. I need some assistance from you and your counter terrorism office. A man named Gerry—” He paused and his eyes went wide. “Ah. I see. So I need to go up the ladder here?” There was another pause. “Mmm. Okay. Yes. I’ll call Director Whitstone. Ha, you think I don’t know him. That’s adorable, Sasha. Nope. Thank you.”
He ended the call and tipped his head at us. “Well, that’s very interesting. It seems that your soon-to-be ex-husband is on several interesting lists and the New York State Troopers were told to back off and let the CIA handle it. I’m going to call my contact there, and see what I can find.”
“How are you calling from the plane?” Nelson asked.
Smoke shook his head and dialed the phone, walking to the back of the plane.
“Who is this dude?” I asked.
Vincent leaned forward from where he had been listening. “He and I met in Sudan, in the Marines. I did my four years and bailed. He didn’t. His rank is…was? Colonel. I don’t know if he’s still in but knows people.”
“Shadow agent,” Chase said. “He got drunk one night at an art show that Parker was hosting and he got stuck having to play agent because someone on some list somewhere showed up and I wound up helping him tail the guy.”
“You never told me that story,” Marcus said.
“Dude, classified information,” Chase said. “I probably shouldn’t have even told you now.”
“You shouldn’t,” Smoke said, walking back in, “but since I just had to talk to the director for Five Eyes, I guess I won’t kill you. This time.”
“Five Eyes?” I asked.
“It’s an alliance of the five major English-speaking agencies, including the CIA and MI6. Interestingly, they are working on behalf ofBundesnachrichtendienst.”
“Gesundheit,” Marcus said.
Smoke shook his finger at him. “You’re not far off. The Germans want him, for gun smuggling.”
“What?” Aubrey looked horrified, and then in the next second a look of complete comprehension slid over her face.
Smoke gave her a deadly look as she covered her mouth with her hands. He held up a finger. “Don’t. Don’t say it. If you just figured it all out, don’t say anything until we have the kids and Uriah back.”
Dropping her hands, she nodded.
Smoke leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, staring at her. “Do you know where the cache is?”
