We sit at the table, me sandwiched between the men.
“I’m good, Thomas.Spasibofor meeting us. You learn something,da?”
Thomas nods, sucks again on the hookah, gestures at it with his phone in offering, but Alexei shakes his head. “I learn something you like, I think.” He sets the mouthpiece on the table, and his phone face-down as well, leaning back in the chair until the front legs tip up off the ground, thick arms crossing over his chest. “Very risky, what you ask me. You know?”
Alexei reaches into his back pocket and withdraws a manila envelope, slides it onto the table. “Is extra, for the risk. I think after this, maybe you go on a holiday,da? Somewhere temperate. And far from here.”
Thomas shrugs, opens the envelope, thumbs riffling the bills within, doing a quick count. “You are good friend, Alexei.” He lifts the envelope. “Even for cash, I would not do this for just anyone. But, after that day in Cairo…” he trails off, shrugging again. “For you, anything.” He shoves the envelope in one of the cargo pockets and buttons it closed, then tips the seat down and leans forward. “In southern Tunisia, several hours’ drive from here, is an old fort. Abandoned, or most people would assume so. Very old. Changed hands for centuries, then no one wanted it anymore. But now? I have heard that it was purchased very quietly only just one year ago.”
His voice is rhythmic, lilting, and he gestures with a pointer finger as he speaks.
“Until you ask me to find your friend, I do not care who owns it—it is no business of mine. But you ask me, where could someone take a famous billionaire so he disappears and no one would ask very many questions? And I think to myself, Thomas, that old fort, it’s just the place, yes? So I take a little trip. Just to look around, of course. It is a very pretty place, down there. The ocean, have you ever seen water look so green? I do not think you have, until you have been there. This old fort, it’s not much to look at. The walls, they are breaking down. Much of the roof has fallen in. Still abandoned, I would think, to look at it. But I look closer, and what do I see? Tire tracks!” He pokes the table with his gesturing finger. “Deep tracks. From a heavy truck. They go up to the fort, through the gate, and stop. And you know what I realize? These old forts…they have jails, yes? Deep under the ground. And such a place? Who could ever see if you have someone hidden down there? Only the rats and the scorpions. And me, because I am crazy, and I will do just about anything for money.”
“You went inside?” Alexei asks.
Thomas shakes his head. “Inside? No, no. There were guards. But that is enough for me to know that someone is keeping someone or something down there, if they need to post guards underground in a fortress which has been abandoned for more centuries than your American friend’s country has existed.”
Duke speaks for the first time. “How many guards, do you know?”
Thomas eyes him. “Guards are like rat—the one or two which you see means many more you do not see. I see five or six here, five or six there. They are not especially vigilant, because they are very far from anywhere and it is a fortress, hmmm? Who would be crazy enough to try anything?”
“Which is why I’d have the element of surprise, right?” Duke says.
Thomas shrugs. “Maybe yes, you would surprise them. If you are a very, very good fighter, you maybe could get some of them. If you are Rambo from the Hollywood movie, you might even find your friends. But to get out again, alive?” A dismissive wave of his hand. “Not so easy.”
Duke crosses his arms over his chest—as muscular as Thomas is, Duke makes him seem scrawny. “I make Rambo look like a pussy.”
Thomas laughs good-naturedly. “I know who you are, Duke Silver, and I believe you!” He goes serious, shaking his head. “But even for you, this is impossible. If you have an army, maybe you will win. But then, your friends are dead by the time you get to them.”
Duke frowns. “You know who I am?”
Thomas laughs uproariously. “You are a legend, my friend! I am a mercenary, and I cut my teeth hearing stories of your exploits, you and your friends. And then, a giant of a man with a red ponytail shows up in Tunis, with my good friend Alexei, and they are asking about someone whose name people around here dare not even whisper? Who could it be, but the legend himself, Duke Silver?”
“I thought I was going incognito.”
Thomas snorts. “Bah. You could not. But no worries, around here, people also know whoIam. And I tell them, you have seen no one. You have heard no questions being asked.” His eyes go to me. “Most especially, no one has seen any beautiful blond American girls.”
“So what do we do, if an assault isn’t an option?” I ask. “Wehaveto get them out of there.Haveto.”
He regards me seriously, thoughtfully. “From the inside, maybe.” He eyes Alexei again. “But this idea, it is truly crazy. I would be a fool to even suggest it, let alone help you pull it off.”
Duke growls. “If you know who I am, then you must know the kind of resources I can pull down.”
Thomas nods. “Of course. And I know whosheis,” he says, flicking a finger at me. “Who her father is. What is your point?”
“The point is, Thomas,” Duke says, his voice low, growling, and razor-sharp. “You’re with us, or you’re against us. And that’s not a threat, it’s a promise. Meaning, if you help us, I’ll fuckin’ drown you in money. Okay?”
Thomas chuckles. “Like the angry Scottish duck from the cartoons, yes? Scrooge? He wears the swimming suit and dives into a sea of gold coins.”
Duke leans back with a huff. “If that’s your kink, sure.”
Thomas just snickers again. “It would not be comfortable in reality, so I think maybe I will take the suitcases full of cash like in your wonderful action movies.” He looks at me. “You, in particular, will not like what I am going to suggest.”
I hold his gaze. “I love him. There’s nothing I won’t do.”
Thomas’s humor is mercurial, coming and going as quickly as a tropical midday squall. He’s serious again, now. “So you say. But the only way in there is to be a guard, or to be…merchandise.”
Duke rumbles in warning. “Fuck no.”
