3 The Braque Connection (11 page)

“Fuck.” Vinnie hit the steering wheel hard with his fist. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Chapter NINE

The wooden doors to my viewing room whooshed open, drawing my attention away from the monitors. Before anyone stepped into my room and saw what I was doing, I switched screens. On the monitors now were the list of products bought with Colin’s credit card and photos of my tattoo.

Phillip stepped into the room, pulled a chair next to mine and sat down without saying a word. He looked at me for a few seconds. “Genevieve, what is the point of having a cell phone if you never answer it?”

“It didn’t ring.”

“Is it switched on?”

“Oh. No.” I cringed. In the pickup truck, Vinnie had asked me to turn off my phone and I had. It was still in its designated pocket in my handbag, not functional. “I will switch it on now. Did you phone me?”

“Manny did.” Phillip seldom smiled. The closest expression was a slight tightening of the corner of his mouth. Like now. “He was highly put out that you didn’t answer your phone.”

“Was it an emergency? Should I phone him?” I hated talking over the phone.

“No, please don’t phone him.” Phillip’s mouth twitched again. “He’s in a meeting with Interpol and I don’t think he will survive the aggravation.”

I quietened. “I don’t mean to be aggravating, Phillip.”

“I know. Manny is more on edge when he’s meeting with what he calls the pen-pushers. Despite a direct order from the president, these guys still try to get as much information about what we do here from Manny as they can.”

“Why? Shouldn’t the president’s order be enough?”

“Yes, and Manny takes great pleasure in telling them that.” Phillip glanced at the monitors. “What are you working on?”

“The credit card purchases.”

“Oh, Genevieve.” His head tilted to the side and his eyes narrowed. “You are such a terrible liar.”

“Not always.” I had been quite adept this morning in Hawk’s warehouse. Phillip waited and I knew from experience that I would have to answer him. Honestly. “I can’t tell you. Not yet.”

“Because it is a huge government secret or because Manny is going to be angry?”

I bit down on the insides of my lips to prevent the full truth of what had transpired this morning spilling from my tongue.

Phillip sighed. “Manny will find out, you know.”

I nodded.

He got up and looked down at me, making sure I saw the severity of his concern. “Be careful, Genevieve. Rather face Manny’s anger and be safe than do something you will not come back from.”

Without waiting for my response, he left. I sat for a few minutes debating whether I should phone Manny and tell him about my visit to Hawk. It didn’t take long to reach the conclusion that it would indeed be an unwise decision. If a mere phone call would irritate him during his meeting, revealing this information to him would surely cause rage. I would tell Manny as soon as I saw him.

But first I would have to tell Colin. I was not looking forward to that conversation. On our way back, Vinnie had phoned Colin a few more times with no results. I was now waiting for him to return our calls or come to the office. I hated that, for a moment, I wondered if he was avoiding me.

With all the events taking place around us, I still hadn’t had time to ask him about his expression of envy I had seen in his safe house. I was also scared to ask him. Despite not seeing any nonverbal hints of him growing weary of me, that flash on his face had been very disturbing. Had I not been paying attention? Had he been losing patience with me?

I shook my head at this unproductive speculation. Colin knew better than anyone that I needed full verbal and nonverbal truth. Hints and metaphors didn’t work with me. I trusted him enough to relax in the knowledge that he would address an issue if there was one. Satisfied with that thought, I switched monitors to return to the warehouse footage and pressed the play button. I had gone through the whole video once before at normal speed. I was noticing more things this time around. I knew what to be looking for.

Vinnie and I had just stepped into the warehouse with Rhonda. I changed the settings on the player software to play at a slower speed. My focus with this viewing was everything in the background. I wanted to see what I hadn’t seen before. I paused the shaky image before we turned into the first row of crates. To the left were three men offloading a large delivery truck. I zoomed in on the boxes being carefully loaded onto a forklift. Three large boxes were stacked on the forks with room for only one more.

It was easy to identify the content of these boxes. There was a huge picture of a television on each box. It looked different from the large-screen television I had in my apartment and I wondered if it was one of the newer-generation sets. Or did those boxes indeed contain televisions? Since that was not my concern at this moment, I clicked on the play button again and watched as the image turned to the right. We were following Rhonda to meet Hawk.

I paused every few steps to zoom in on the stickers identifying the content of each crate. They were mostly electronic devices. The stock in the warehouse had to be worth a few million Euro if all those crates were filled with what was on the stickers. Vinnie was right. Hawk was a good businessman. Nothing on the stickers stood out or made me suspicious. I ignored the conversation with Hawk to focus on the background.

For a few moments Vinnie’s back filled most of the monitors when he had moved in front of me in an unconscious gesture of protection. He didn’t trust Hawk. Not with me. I moved out from behind his back and the image showed more of the warehouse. The room with the large glass windows caught my attention and I waited until we were walking to Hawk’s den to get a better image. I paused and zoomed in.

I was astounded that I had not noticed this before. What had attracted my attention before were the large barrels, some with identifying stickers, others without. Not anymore. I stared at the back of the room, perplexed. Why would a businessman, who mainly dealt in electronics, and an arms trader need carpentry equipment? I zoomed in even further, allowing the software to clear up the image.

I wasn’t looking at just any kind of carpentry equipment. These were the kind of tools an artisan would use. I only recognised a few of the tools, all of which looked of the highest quality and new. They had been used, but there wasn’t much evidence of long-term use. The large, foot-operated joiner was still shiny. There was a clamp and other equipment I could not name. On a large workbench, I saw hammers, tape measures, craft knives and more common tools, most of which were used for woodwork.

Was Hawk a master carpenter at heart? An artisan? Was it someone else in his organisation? I made a note to ask Vinnie if any of these tools and equipment could be used in building bombs.

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by a commotion loud enough in the team room to filter into my room through doors that had not been closed completely. The glass doors slid open and loud voices preceded the two angry men into my room.

I quickly switched off the monitor and swallowed my panic when Vinnie and Colin stopped in front of me, Vinnie preventing Colin from coming too close.

“Get out of my fucking way, Vin.”

“It’s not her fault, dude. I made her do this.”

Adrenaline shot through my system, making my heart race and my mouth dry. Dark edges entered my vision. I knew there were times Colin found me trying. Not once had he lost his temper with me. His patience and understanding had at first been a surprise, but later became expected. I had seen him annoyed, frustrated, in physical pain, but never enraged. His body had gained an uncommon rigidity, his feet planted wide apart, the corners of his mouth turned down and his lips in thin lines.

“Did he?” Colin looked around Vinnie to catch my eye. “Jenny, I’m asking you a question. Did Vinnie force you to go with him?”

“Don’t do this, dude. Don’t take this out on her.”

“Get out of my way, Vin. You’ve done enough damage as it is.”

I couldn’t speak. My mouth felt frozen, the muscles in my body not responding to any signal from my brain. I had never been in a situation like this. The worst confrontations I had ever experienced were with my parents and theirs were silent acts of disapproval. I had no frame of reference for such aggression between friends.

“Dude, calm down and let’s talk about this.” Vinnie was talking fast, his hands at his sides, but slightly lifted in an unconscious stop gesture. “Our trip wasn’t wasted. We found some interesting information. We even have video. Jen-girl recorded the whole thing.”

Colin pulled his arm back and punched Vinnie full and hard in the face. He had reacted so fast, I hadn’t seen it coming. Not while trying to slow down my breathing. The attack had taken Vinnie by surprise too. His head snapped back and he stumbled a few steps back, into my chair. He stepped forward, lifting his hand to his cheek. It came away bloody.

“You put a fucking camera on her?” Colin’s voice was distorted and loud from his irrational anger. A glance at his face told me he was fast losing perspective, losing his ability to stop. “Do you want her to die? Or do you have a fucking death wish?”

Vinnie’s expression went from contrite to irate in a second. “How dare you? I’ve done everything to keep her safe. You’re fucked up, dude.”

Just like that, the last of Colin’s rationality fled. It might have been interesting to observe such behaviour had it not been almost on top of me. And had it not been two people I had come to care for.

Colin attacked Vinnie with the fervour of one of the wrestlers they liked to watch on my large-screen television. They fell over the chair at the end of my desk and landed on the floor, fists thudding into flesh. Despite the size disadvantage Colin had to Vinnie, he managed to do a lot of damage. There was blood splatter on my desk and on my carpet. I looked down and saw a tiny drop of blood on my foot, just above my shoe.

“Do something!” Francine rushed into the room. Her accusing look brought the dark edges closer into my sight. “Genevieve, say something! Don’t just sit there. Make them stop!”

I couldn’t. In front of me were the three people who had made an exceptional effort to become my friends and to teach me about friendship. Yet I was immobile in my chair. It was too much for me. There was nothing I could do to stop the blackness taking over my body. At least the blackness was safe and without friends hitting each other.

It was a cramp in my lumbar muscle that pulled me back into my body and into the present. I was curled up in my office chair, a soft groan leaving my throat. I had been told that sometimes I keened, sometimes I groaned and sometimes I was so completely still it was worrying. Momentum kept my body rocking and it took a few seconds of concentration to stop.

“You’re back.” Colin was sitting next to me, presumably in the chair he and Vinnie had knocked over in their scuffle. I was reminded why I had disappeared into my head and I inspected Colin’s face.

“You’re hurt.”

“It’s nothing.” His tone and body language belied this. “Just a few scrapes.”

“You’re holding an icepack to your eye and your hand is wrapped in another icepack. That doesn’t qualify as nothing.” I lowered my legs to the floor and shifted closer. When Colin leaned away from me, I blinked, dumbfounded. That had never happened before.

“Yeah, well. Vinnie’s face is as hard as a frigging rock.”

“Did you break something? Maybe you should go to the hospital.” My voice faltered on the last part of my suggestion. His glare was filled with fury. My throat was dry, the muscles tense. “Colin. I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried to phone you the whole time before we went.” My tone was filled with a plea for understanding. “You can check your voicemail. I phoned you at least twelve times. Vinnie also phoned you.”

“That’s it?” He lowered the ice pack to his lap. “That is your reason for making such a stupid decision? For not waiting to speak to me before you went to a criminal internationally notorious for torture?”

Anger was understandable, but it was his other micro-expressions that pressed into my chest until it felt as if my heart was hurting.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m so angry right now, Jenny. No, it’s not anger I feel, it’s fury. Fury that you could’ve been killed by a stupid, stupid decision. I try. God, I really try. It’s not always easy, but I try. You want to know why?” He waited until I nodded. “Because I trust you, Jenny. Not only to keep your word or to not reveal my confidences. I trust you with my psyche. I know you will never use anything against me. I trust you with my life. I also trusted you with you. I thought you were much smarter than going into a situation like this.”

His anger towards me was a horrid experience. But it was the thought that I was responsible for a rift in Vinnie and Colin’s friendship that burned at the back of my eyes. I blinked at the tears which had filled my eyes, obscuring my vision. “I don’t know what to say.”

“What? No arguments of logic and indisputable rationale? What a surprise.” He leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling.

The depth of my emotional connection to this man became clear to me when it proved to be extremely hard to remove my feelings from this situation and look at it objectively. I had thought agreeing to accompany Vinnie would help Colin. This was proof of my inexperience with interpersonal relationships. Colin had said he was furious, but what I saw on his face was something else. Something I would never have predicted. “I’ve hurt you.”