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Leo smiled, stood up straight, and left them sitting terrified in the booth as he walked outside. For more than a year he’d watched the American girl for Garrett Lancaster. He’d delivered a gun to her doorstep a week after she’d arrived in Cambridge, and kept weekly tabs on her. Nothing too intrusive. Just enough to keep track of her and report back to his boss in the States. He’d earned a handsome stipend for his efforts and had cleared a nice payday for this final job. He was sorry to see the girl go. Keeping tabs on her had been a source of easy and steady income. But, eventually, all good things come to an end.
CHAPTER 18
Thursday, October 8, 2015 London, England 5:15 p.m.
ALEX WAITED IN LEO’S APARTMENT. THE PLACE WAS BECOMING claustrophobic after so many days without leaving. But Leo’s instructions had been clear: Alex wasn’t to leave his flat until the situation with Drew Estes and Laverne Parker was settled. Leo had left a couple hours earlier, promising that things would be over soon. It felt like an eternity before Alex heard keys rattle in the door.
She clicked off the television. “Did you get it?” Alex asked as soon as Leo walked in.
From his breast pocket Leo produced the three folded pages Drew Estes had brought back from Zürich. He handed them to Alex, who read through them. The pages contained everything she had foolishly hoped to procure from Samuel McEwen in exchange for moving a million dollars into his bank: the date the account was opened, the running balance, the transfers in and out of the account, and on the last page the name of the man who had opened the numbered account her parents had chaperoned. She wanted to sit and read and analyze every detail, open her laptop and start investigating this man and following the trail this information would lead her down.
“You can look at that later,” Leo said. “Right now, it’s time to go.”
Alex looked up from the pages. “Right now?”
Leo checked his watch. “Right now, mate.”
Alex stuffed the pages into her rucksack and pulled it over her shoulders. She followed Leo into the hallway and down a flight of stairs in the back of the building. He opened the door to the alleyway and stood to the side so Alex could walk past him.
“It’s been an adventure,” he said. “A boring year or so, but the last week was a blast.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Alex said.
She paused in the doorway.
“Thanks . . . for everything.”
“Good luck to you, young lady. You’re a survivor. That’s a quality that will take you far in life.”
“Will I see you again?”
Leo smiled. “Unless you need a private investigator in England, probably not, mate.”
“Good-bye, Leo the Brit.”
“So long, Alex the gunslinger.”
Alex stood on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on the cheek before walking out of the building and into the alleyway. The door closed and Alex was alone. A Volkswagen pulled to a stop in the street to her right. After a second, its horn sounded. Alex stared at the vehicle but did not move until the back window rolled down and she saw Garrett Lancaster. Alex walked down the alleyway. She considered for an instant that this might be an extension of one of the strange dreams she had experienced over the last week since discharging the Smith and Wesson. But as she walked toward the waiting car, it was all too real. The sunlight casting shadows at perfect angles, the cracks in the concrete beneath her feet, the creases in Garrett’s face as she approached the car, the deep gravel in his voice when he spoke.
“Let’s go,” he said. “Get in.”
Alex walked around the Volkswagen, opened the door, and sat in the backseat next to him. The car drove off as soon as she closed the door.
“I don’t . . . ,” Alex said, unable to find the words. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to collect you,” Garrett said.
“To collect me?”
“It’s time to come home.”
“But . . . school,” Alex said.
She’d been telling the lie for so long it was ingrained in her.
Garrett shook his head. “Maybe school was a bad idea. At least, school here was a bad idea. That’s no longer an option.”
“I’m being kicked out of school?”
