Chapter 2:
"would someone care to explain?" Dalton asked as soon as the team established a connection with D.C. The team drove to their safe house like maniacs, anxious to receive new directions.
"Who was that? How do you know her?" Amir asked from his place behind Dalton, looking closely at Hannah, who he had become good friends and cared deeply for.
"That's Inês Arkwright, daughter of former Arizona senator William Arkwright." Hannah explained, running her hands through her long brown hair. "We went to summer camp together for around 13 years, but we grew apart after that."
"What's the daughter of a US senator doing in an illegal white supremacist auction?" Jaz wondered. "Do you think she's in on this?"
"Inês? Never." Hannah said, shaking her head. "Inês mother's family is of Jewish descend. They survived the holocaust, she lived knowing the stories… she would never participate in any of that…." Hannah sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than the others.
"There's nothing that can indicate that she's in with them. "Noah said as he checked records. "Private education in the US until she was 10, then boarding school in Portugal till high school. University in Oxford and NYU, she has 3 master's degrees in history and History of art, Psychology and social and cultural studies. Uau Volunteers at the children Hospital and is a lecturer at both George Washington's University and Trinity Washington University." Noah's eyes scanned the info he was reading. "Is active in multiple social apps…there's a crime report from 2012 but file is confidential for victim's safety, her safety. Except from that squeaky clean"
"So, what? She's just a bystander in all of this? "Adam asked, running his hands through his hair. "The wife of that Swedish something dude said Bourke had a liking for her…. Is there any possibility she doesn't know who he is?"
"Possible…. but still how did she end in that crowd?" Patricia asked.
"Look, I don't know who this girl is anymore." Hannah said looking at Patricia. "But I spend many summers with that family and they are not supremacists much less Nazi's. If she is meeting with him is because he has something she needs, or she knows nothing about him. That I would bet my life on."
Adam extended looks with Preach, his longest friend, who was thoroughly analysing a Facebook picture of Inês in his laptop. "What are you thinking?"
"Uhmm…That this is all very strange but that somehow I agree with Hannah…"
"Great. And now what…we just let that bastard walk away and we throw all of this at the wind?" Jaz asked clearly pissed with the situation.
"No…" Preach said looking at Jaz with his 'stop interrupting me' look. "But Hannah if you say she would never, voluntarily, do business or mingle with someone like that? Would she be willing to help us get to him?"
"No, that's to risky." Patricia said, shaking her head. "If she, for some reason, is helping him it could be a trap and if she refuses we can't exactly allow her to leave with that information."
"How long does it take to fly to Viena?" Asked Hannah, pulling on her jacket and looking at Noah.
"9 hours in a commercial flight…. 6 If you take the jet." Noah looked between Patricia and Hannah who looked to be in a stare off.
"Look, if there's anyone she will trust it's me." Hannah said. "I can be in Viena at 5 A.M., find some excuse to talk to her and see what she knows. If I find it suspicious I back off if not we might gain an access away to Bourke. Sounds worth to me!"
Noah and Patricia shared a tight look. "It can work, Bourke makes business calls at breakfast, which gives us enough time to plan for the meeting…if everyone agrees."
"Alright." Patricia looked and Dalton and nodded. "If your team agrees, let's do this." Everyone nodded, and Patricia clapped her hands. "Team meet Hannah in Vienna's international Airport at 0600 hours and we'll find where the girl is staying."
"Copy." Top hung up and looked at the rest of his team. "Easy peasy right?"
-….-
Hannah arrived in Austria 2 minutes after 6 A.M, the cold winter breeze hitting her face making her think that she should have brought something warmer than her aviator jacket.
"Hannah, great to see you again." Adam greeted as she stepped of the jet. "How was the journey?"
"Long but at least gave me time to think somethings over." She smiled. "Maybe we can catch up afterwards."
"Well, I know Amir hopes you can." Adam joked getting elbowed by Hannah. "I'm joking..."
"I'll joke next time I see you looking at Jaz in a dress." Dalton started speaking but Hannah stopped him. "Come on, I'm joking."
"You guys gonna talk or walk? Noah knows the hotel." McG yelled from the SUV. "She is in guest suite 321, third floor."
"Are you ready?"
"Better be." Hannah answered taking a seat in the back.
-..-
Hannah walked through the kitchen back door and managed to get to the staff elevator without getting noticed. She felt the nervous tingle she used to fell in every mission, but she couldn't tell is it's because of the assignment or because she's about to see one of her oldest friends.
"Alright Hannah get it together." Hannah straighten her jacket and whipped her hand in her jeans before knocking confidently on the door to room 321.
She took a good two minutes to answer the door but the look in Inês Arkwright face when she recognized her old friend , was priceless and clear indication that she had been caught of guard. "Hannah Rivera? Oh my, what are you doing here?" She laughed happily and hugged her. "Come in, it's Hella could out here." Inês stepped aside to let Hannah into her suite.
"Sorry, I heard the cleaning ladies speaking about a Inês Arkwright in 321 that I had to check to see if it was you. I was so excited I forgot to look at the clock." Hannah said glancing around the room. Everything was neatly placed.
"It's ok. I was going to get up soon enough. Girl, the years have been nice hum!?"Inês said as she took a seat on the couch. "Come on seat down. Why are you here?"
"Visiting, you know getting cultural." Hannah said laughing. "A walk to remember is still your favourite movie?"
"ahahah, there are better fish in the pond but it's still up there." Inês laughed and Hannah stood there thinking how nothing seemed to have changed. "still like to watch Bring it on. Do you want some tea?"
"Man that movie was contagious." Hannah laughed as Inês got up to fix some tea. " Yes thanks. How's the family?"
"Oh, everyone is great." Inês laughed, looking over her shoulder. "Max got married in the summer and Didi is still rocking."
"Your great gramma is still alive? Uau Didi for the win." Both girls laughed, and Hannah took the opportunity to dig a little deeper. "And what brought you to Vienna?"
"Family business you could say it is." Hannah stifled and Inês immediately noticed placing her hand on her friend's knee. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Inês what are you doing with Bourke Herzog?" Hannah watched as she swallowed dry and opened her mouth to counter. "I know you went to his auction tonight and you bought somethings and that it's not the first time. Are you in any trouble?"
"Hannah…" Inês looked around trying to avoid answering. " I swear it's not what it looks like… I…"
"Then explain it to me…. I don't want you to get into any trouble."
"uhh… 3 years ago in our family vacation to brazil my grandpa met this man on a coffee shop and they got talking, you know about his life and what his family went through with the war because they were Jewish and how much it would mean to them to get some things from that life back. Turns out that man was Giovanni, the auction handler." She whipped some tears away. "Giovanni's parents worked for Bourke's family and so he worked for them too and when Bourke's mother died she asked him to take care of him, so he sticks around. He's such a nice guy and he told my grandpa he wanted to help. So, we set everything up."
"Set what up?" Hannah asked, shaking her head with confusion.
"My grandpa asked me to help him with this, you know Bourke would never do business with a Jew." Hannah nodded." So Giovanni send me to the Vatican museum, knowing he was going to be there that day. Let's say Bourke finds me exhilarating and every time there's an auction with things that matter to me Bourke invites me.
"I wanted this one so bad because…" Inês sopped to take a breath and hold her tears in. "Giovanni called a couple of days ago…to tell me… that some things that belong to my family, to Didi. It was what we wanted all along, of course we tried to find the owners of the other things or we donated to museums…but this one, this are things my Greatgrama had to give up, besides everything else. I know it won't ease the pain but maybe it can give her some peace."
"I didn't know."
"She never speaks about it, but she feels guilty, you know?" She sobbed. "She survived and she was only able to save my grandpa. She lost everything, her home, her things, her dignity, her name, her faith and her family… I just want her to have a little peace, of herself back. Even if I have to mingle with the devil." Inês took a deep breath. "I'm not an evil person Hannah."
"I never thought you were." Hannah touched her friend in the shoulder and Patricia command echoed in her com. "We can trust her." To which the rest of the team agreed.
"Yeah…. Wait, how do you know about Bourke…?" Inês asked looking at her friend, as she smiled. "Are you CIA?"
"Former CIA, actually." Hannah laughed as she closed her friends gapping mouth. "I'm with DIA now. My team is outside, I can explain much better with them by my side. Do you mind if they come up?"
"Hum…I….. I guess I don't." She said completely confused, pulling her fluffy robe tighter around her . "What is the DIA?"
"Defence Intelligence Agency." Hannah got up to answer the door before anyone even knocked. "Come in guys."
Inês watched gobsmacked as 4 men and a woman came into her suite carrying a bunch of bags. "Alright. Hi!" Everyone laughed at her awkward laugh. "I guess introduction first and explanations latter."
"Hy Inês. I'm Dalton." Inês accepted his hand and gave it a strong handshake that made Dalton smile. "This is Preach, Amir, Jaz and McG." Inês smiled at each of them and made a gesture for them to seat in the available chairs and couches.
"You're … ohhh." She said recognizing Dalton from the auction earlier. "Ohhhhh…. Shit, I'm sorry, I was such a bitch. I'm usually not like that but those people rub me the wrong way…"
"I can tell." Dalton laughed as he and Jaz took a seat on the loveseat furthest away. "Glad to see you're no psycho."
"Most of the days, I'm not." She joked. "So, explanations please."
"Well our mission was to get a wire on Bourke and we could only do that if we won the auction…" Dalton stopped as he saw the look of realisation in her face.
"But I ruined it. I'm sorry." Inês said, hugging her body. "If there is anything I could do to help, just let me know." Everyone exchanged glances. "Look, I only did business with him because it was important to Didi, in this sale there's her engagement ring. My great grandpa gave it to her when he finished med school… they took it off her finger when she boarded the train to Auswitch… she never though she could get it back. I don't have anymore business with that people, neither do I want to." She looked at Hannah that nodded her head in agreement. "I know that he traffics people, weapons and god know what."
"Well our only option of planting the bug on him his during your meeting." Dalton told her. "We have a forgery of his family ring…"
"You want to switch his ring?" Inês asked shocked. "He never takes that thing off, It's impossible…"
"We have our ways." Dalton smiled. "Unfortunately, I cannot do it any longer…"
" Do you have to bug him?" Inês asked as she had an idea.
"Well our goal is to listen in to his conversations." Hannah explained, looking at her friend. "Why?"
"Well…. Bourke never meets with anyone, never takes a step without Giovanni by his side." Inês explained leaning forward. "It would be much easier to plant a bug on him."
"Putting a bug on someone else makes it unreliable." Amir explained. "Besides we would need to find something else to bug."
"Not exactly. Look, I can't tell you how to do your job neither do I want to but besides always being around Bourke, Giovanni meets and speaks with a lot of people." Inês paused. "He was the one who called and told me to meet them at 11h at the last table of Kaffee Alt Wien. Bourke will make the formal contact at breakfast but Giovanni likes to warn me sooner"
"Do you really think this could work?" Inês nodded looking at Dalton. "Director Campbell what do you think?"
"Considering our options, I think this is our best option." Dalton nodded.
"Ok. So what do we use to implant the bug?" Jaz asked looking at preach but it was Inês that jumped out of her chair and ran straight to her vault to get something.
"I think this might work." She said, leaning over McG chair to hand a gold necklace to preach. "My grandpa gave me this Saint Stanislaus Kostka medallion a couple of years back, for protection. I can give him this as a thank you for everything he has done for us."
"We can't accept your medallion." Preach refused, being the religious person that he was.
"Please do… My grandpa would want it to do something good, I want to do something good." She smiled. "I can give it to him at the end of our meeting, it's pretty easy."
"No, no way you are going in alone." Jaz said, shaking her head. "We need to make sure you get out if something goes south."
"I always meet him alone, it would rise is suspicion if I suddenly appear with someone."
"We'll make something up. Your dad decided you needed extra protection with the current threats out there." Dalton explained, and he looked at McG who nodded. "McG will go with you and act like a bodyguard."
Inês looked at McG, analysing the hulk of a man, well at least he looked like a bodyguard. "McG, is that your nickname?"
"Yes, the name is Joseph mam." He said rapidly under her deep blue stare.
"Mam, oh God. Do I look 60 to you?" She asked making everyone laugh, even him. "Let me guess, you're from Tennessee where everything comes with a mam afterwards."
"Close." He laughed. "I'm actually from Montana."
"Uhmmm. What's your favourite movie Joseph from Montana?"
"Armageddon." He answered not understanding where she was going with the questionnaires.
"Well I guess you are acceptable." She laughed. "I'm joking with you. You wear a suit and keep your mouth shut no matter what and we should be fine."
"It won't be a problem." Joseph assured her, while Amir made everyone laugh by coughing loudly.
"Well you clearly haven't met Bourke Herzog, that man can make the pope swear." She said getting up. "How about I order us breakfast and we talk things through, hum? I'm famish."
Well here it is guys, chapter 2. Hope you like it 😊 Would you like to also get a little Amir/Hannah interaction (I was thinking about it 😉)!?
Next chapter will have more interaction from the couple and things will pick up from there.
XoXo, Nocas!
P.S.: I'm trying to update twice a week , no promises though.
