The Chase (21 page)

“Where’s your car?”

“It’s in the garage. It’s a company car. I don’t have my own car.”

“Bummer.”

“Can I have my company car?”

“No. What about your sister?”

Kate closed her eyes and slid down in her seat. She loved her sister, but living with her would be hell. Megan would have her fixed up with a new man every night. Accountants and produce managers and dentists. Kate gave an involuntary shudder.

Two hours later Kate pulled into her sister’s drive court in a rental car.

“They’re fumigating my building,” Kate said to Megan. “I was hoping I could stay with you for a couple days.”

“Of course,” Megan said. “The girls will love it. You’re their favorite aunt.”

“I’m their only aunt.”

“Just throw your stuff in the guest room. If you have any guns, you have to give them to Dad. We don’t allow guns in the house.”

“How about rocket launchers?”

“Not them either.”

The guest room was pretty, with peach walls and white curtains and bed linens. Kate had stayed there before, and it always made her feel girly. Her own apartment had a brown leather couch and a punching bag. The apartment’s previous resident had been a boxer, and she’d taken over his furniture.

Kate had a couple hours before dinner, so she left the house and walked across the driveway to her father’s
casita
.

“They ran a piece on the news about the rooster going back to China,” Jake said, opening the door to her. “It sounded like everything went as planned.”

“More or less.”

“You’re in time for dinner. I think Roger’s making smoked buffalo burgers. Ever since Megan gave him that smoker for his birthday, we’ve had smoked everything. Last night he smoked broccoli.”

“Something to look forward to,” Kate said. “I moved into Megan’s guest room for a couple days. They’re fumigating my apartment building.”

“Your nieces will love that. You’re their favorite aunt.”

“So I’ve been told. And I can spend quality time with you, too. You can teach me how to make improvised explosives out of household cleaning supplies.”

“I’d love to,” Jake said. “We can include the grandkids and make it a family affair. We’ll just have to wait until Megan and Roger aren’t around. They’re very uptight about making explosives in the house.”

Three days later, Kate was lying on a chaise in the backyard in shorts and a bikini top, reading
Star
magazine, while Megan patrolled the lawn, looking for dog droppings to pick up with her poop bags.

“What’s Roger got in the smoker today?” Kate asked.

“Nothing. He’s off the smoker. His doctor said all that smoked meat was eating a hole in his intestines. He’s on the white diet now. He can only eat things that are white. So we’re having cream of wheat for dinner. And wear something nice. I invited this wonderful man I met over for dinner.”

“No!”

“He’s perfect for you. Okay, maybe he’s a little short, but you know what they say about short men.”

“What do they say about short men?”

“They try harder.”

“Criminy, Megan.”

Kate’s cell phone rang, and she glanced at the caller ID:
UNKNOWN CALLER
.

“Kate O’Hare.”

“Hello, Agent O’Hare.” It was a woman with a British accent. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar. “Mr. Grove would like to speak with you.”

Now Kate knew the voice. It was Veronica Dell, Carter Grove’s assistant.

“Mr. Grove is in a limo in the parking lot at the Commons. He’ll be expecting you in ten minutes. I urge you not to keep him waiting. He has a tight schedule.”

Veronica hung up, and Kate stared at her phone, stunned.

Megan looked over at her. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, fine, something came up at work.”

“But you’ve been suspended.”

“Another agent needs me to brief him on a case. I’m going to run out and meet him for coffee.” Kate went to the guest room, changed into a T-shirt and jeans, and called her father.

“It’s Jake,” he answered.

“Where are you?”

“Eighth hole, Calabasas Country Club, and I’m two swings ahead of the proctologist I’m playing with. Why?”

“Carter Grove is waiting for me in a limo at the Commons,” she said. “I could use some backup.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes. I’ve got a gun, a garrote, and a hand grenade in the nightstand beside my bed. Take them.”

“I’m going unarmed.”

“Do you think that’s wise?”

“If he wanted to kidnap me or kill me, he wouldn’t announce himself ahead of time and meet me in a public place.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“So do I,” she said. “But in case I’m not, I’ve got you.”

“You certainly do,” he said.

The Commons was designed to resemble a quaint European village. The developers wanted to give the shopping center some class so that celebrity Calabasas residents like Justin Bieber and the Kardashians would have a pleasant experience buying groceries at Ralphs.

Carter Grove’s limo was parked at the far end of the parking lot, away from the trophy wives loading groceries into their BMWs and Mercedes. Rocco Randisi leaned against the limo, eating a Menchie’s frozen yogurt. Kate parked her rented Taurus in front of the limo, got out, and acknowledged Randisi with a glance. She remembered him from the pool in Palm Beach.

“You carrying?” he asked.

“Nope.”

“Wearing a wire?”

“Nope.”

“What if I insist on patting you down?”

She shrugged. “I’m sure BlackRhino has a pretty good health plan.”

“I bet you’re not half as tough as you think you are.”

“Some dumb blonde recently made the same bet. She lost.”

He regarded her for a long moment, then walked to the back of the car, opened the door, and beckoned her in with a nod.

She got in and took the seat across from Carter Grove, who was also eating a frozen yogurt.

“You want a yogurt? I can have Rocco run over and get you one.”

“No, thanks,” Kate said.

“Okay, then let’s get right to it, shall we?” He nodded at Randisi, who closed the door, leaving Carter and Kate alone. “I know that you and Nicolas Fox are working together. But I’m going to let you off the hook. You’re just a loyal government employee recruited for a covert operation run out of the FBI, or the CIA, or maybe the NSA. I really don’t care. God knows I ran plenty of off-the-books operations like that myself when I was in the White House.”

“So what am I doing here?”

He picked at his yogurt with his little spoon, digging out the cookie dough chunks and eating them. “I want you to bring me Nicolas Fox.”

“Why?”

“He’s probably the best con man and thief in the world. I want to know the secrets behind every crime he’s ever committed. I want his complete list of contacts and all of his resources. And then I am going to kill him.”

“What if he won’t talk?”

“He will. I’ve got the top interrogators in the business working for me. Every single one of them has been convicted in absentia in The Hague for crimes against humanity.”

“That’s a real laurel for any résumé,” Kate said. “Look, the rooster wasn’t yours to begin with. Nobody profited from this. You’re giving me a pass, why not let Fox walk?”

“Because he made a fool out of me and he’s probably the one person capable of stealing everything else that I have.”

“He wasn’t alone. I was there.”

“But you don’t worry me,” Carter said. “You can’t do what
he does. That’s why you and your masters needed him to begin with.”

“Forget it. I’m not going to get Fox for you. You’ll just have to man up and accept the loss. You can’t win them all, Carter.”

Carter finished his yogurt, dropped the spoon into the empty cup, and set it on the seat beside him. “BlackRhino is often hired to assassinate people and make it look like natural causes or an accident. We’re very good at it. I could arrange for your father to get hit by a runaway UPS truck. It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s brakes have failed on that steep hill your sister and her children live on. It could happen to one of them too.”

Kate leaned forward and spoke softly. “I could kill you with that little yogurt spoon and end this right now.”

“I’m sure you could,” Carter said. “But you won’t. You have a conscience, ethics, and morals. You’d be a total failure in politics. Me? I pulled the strings in the Oval Office for eight years. I won’t hesitate to go after your family. You have two weeks to deliver Fox to me.”

Kate got out of the limo and immediately spotted her father sitting at a table in front of the Corner Bakery Cafe. He was hard to miss. He was facing her wearing sunglasses, a Calabasas Country Club cap, a bright blue Greg Norman polo shirt, blazing white slacks, and Callaway reptile golf shoes. His right hand was inside a Nike gym bag on his lap.

She walked over and sat down in a chair beside him. Randisi got into the limo and drove away, waving to them both as he passed.

“You can take your hand out of the bag now,” she said.

Jake slid his hand out and zipped up the bag. “How’d it go?”

“He’s on to us.”

“That much I figured out.”

She gestured to the bag. “What have you got in there?”

“Nothing much. Some golfballs, a handful of tees, a Glock, extra ammo, two hand grenades, a tear gas canister, a knife, Tums, clean socks, flares, and some Ensure chocolate shakes.”

“You took all of that with you to play golf?”

“When I first moved here, I saw a report on the news that urged everybody to keep an earthquake kit in each of their vehicles. This is my earthquake kit. You never know when the Big One might hit.”

“I didn’t know hand grenades were recommended for earthquake kits.”

“Carter wants you to give him Nick, doesn’t he?” Jake asked.

She nodded.

“Did Carter threaten our family?”

“Don’t worry, it won’t come to that.”

“I’m sure it won’t,” Jake said. “Because I’m going to solve this problem for you.”

She shook her head and spoke to him in a firm but low voice so no one could overhear them. “Forget it. You’re not killing Carter.”

“I don’t mind. I only have a few years left anyway. There isn’t much difference between prison and a retirement home. At least in prison I’d be around people with similar interests. I have very little in common with proctologists.”

“We’ll find another way to deal with Carter.”

“The easy way would be to give him Nick Fox.”

Kate’s phone vibrated. She took it out of her pocket and glanced at the screen. It was a text from Nick.

Nick’s timing, as usual, was uncanny. It was as if he knew they were talking about him. She glanced around, half expecting to see him watching them from another table.

Her gaze returned to Jake. “Do you have any gizmos that we can use to scan my car for bugs and tracking devices?”

“Of course I do,” he said. “I sweep my
casita
twice a day.”

“Who do you think might be listening to you?”

“Nobody in particular. Old habits are hard to break.”

“Is that why you have hand grenades and a garrote in your nightstand?”

“They’re sleep aids.”

Camarillo is a farming community northwest of Los Angeles with vast fields of artichokes, strawberries, and tract houses, but the town’s most lucrative crop by far was the cut-rate clothing sold at the 650,000-square-foot outlet center alongside the freeway.

The Hampton Inn was one of half a dozen budget hotels located near the Camarillo Premium Outlets. The hotels served the busloads of tourists who couldn’t possibly get all their shopping done in a single day.

Kate knocked on the door to room 216 and the door to room 215 opened behind her.

“Over here,” Nick said, beckoning her in.

Giving out the wrong room number to people was a simple, age-old security measure, but it still worked. She turned and went into his room. He closed the door behind her and bolted it.

Nick wore a new Ralph Lauren polo shirt, new Levi’s jeans, and
new Nike running shoes. He looked like every other outlet shopper staying in the hotel.

Bags of clothes from several of the outlet stores were spread out on top of one of the double beds. The bags were set dressing to impress the maids. There were maps, blueprints, and photos of moving-company trucks scattered on the table near the window, which offered a breathtaking view of a McDonald’s and a Carl’s Jr. across the street.

Kate gestured to the papers on the table. “You’re on the run, and I’m suspended, and you’re planning something even though we don’t have an assignment. That can’t be good. What are you up to?”

“I saw Duff MacTaggert in the hospital. Carter’s thugs blew up Duff’s pub and broke his arms and legs to get my name out of him. I’m going to make Carter pay for that.”

“You can’t,” Kate said. “Our covers are blown. Carter came to see me today in Calabasas. He knows who I really am and that we’re secretly working together for the government.”

“Of course he does. One more reason why we have to take him down now.”

“We can’t. Didn’t you hear what I just said? He knows who we are. He’ll see us coming.”