Chapter Eleven

Tessa watched as the bartender set a glass of wine in front of her. She looked at it for a long moment as if expecting the glass to fly off in a rush before she could grasp it with her hand.

Alice gave the teenager a smile and gestured to the glass. "I promised that we would do something since everyone missed your birthday. Enjoy."

The look on Tessa's face clearly signified that she was not buying it. "What's the catch?"

"No catch. The minimum age for drinking in Italy is sixteen." Alice stretched over and slid the wine closer. "Here you can have one glass."

Tessa's eyes narrowed to slits as she stared at Alice. Finally she sighed and reached for the long stemmed glass. "Thank you," she said.

"As long as we have an understanding that this isn't going to be a habit back home." Alice pulled her wine glass closer to her. "So don't even."

Tessa said nothing as she took a perfunctory sip. She closed her eyes as she savored the taste against her palette. "Not too tart."

The two women sat outside of a restaurant at a small table. A cobblestone walkway separated the seating area from the Grand Canal. Gondolas traveled seamlessly up and down the expansive waterway.

Alice set her glass down. "We haven't had much of a chance to talk since we started on this world tour. What's the deal with Tilda?"

Tessa regarded the older woman for several seconds. "She was there with my grandmother when my mother and I arrived in … one of her many hideaways. Mum barely talked to her, but we clicked almost instantly."

She smiled as her voice took an almost melancholic tone. "She told me about the first time she and Grandmama worked together. Some mission on a train to London where they had to distract Interpol agents looking for information into a break-in at their Lyon headquarters. How she was able to get through it was amazing, but it was a testament of my grandmother's training."

Alice regarded the young woman from behind her glass. "Most young girls your age get a sweet sixteen birthday party."

"Yes, I attended one such party with my mother." Tessa leaned back in her plush chair in reminiscent thought. "The first time I saw my mother and father at work."

"Is this the party at Raymond Taggert's house I heard about? When it comes to your mother's exploits, your father's usually not very forthcoming with information."

"Yes." Tessa brightened. "We were there to gather intel on Taggert's organization to use in the hopes of consolidating them into the firm. It … it didn't go all to plan at first."

"With your mother? Shocker," murmured Alice.

"But then Dad showed up and I had a chance to watch them come together with a plan so quickly and efficiently." Tessa swelled with pride. "Within five minutes, eighty percent of Taggert's staff chose to side with the Kensington Firm."

Alice watched the girl as she took another sip of her wine. "Doesn't it bother you that you're a fugitive of justice instead of doing things normal teenagers do your age?"

Tessa gave Alice a puzzled look. "What is it that girls my age do?"

"Like concerts, going to movies, the mall, choosing colleges. Boys. Cheerleading practice. Maybe, just maybe raid their parents' liquor cabinet once in a while." Alice set her glass down and leaned forward. "Not set up a master plan to blow up their school or hire hitmen or have their family kidnapped."

A corner of Tessa's mouth turned up slightly, a trademark expression Alice had seen on Margot and Rhys' faces numerous times. "And how did your teenage years turn out, Alice? Were you the cute little school girl tutoring boys in their homework after school?"

The vibrating cell phone on the table stopped Alice from answering. She picked it up and saw it was Ben calling. "Your father," she announced as she pressed the video conference button.

Ben's face appeared on the small screen. Alice noted the interior of her bedroom in the background. "Hi."

"Hi yourself." Alice glanced up at the time display on her phone. "It must be late there."

"Coming up on ten right now. I just thought I'd give you a call before I start my night. You okay?"

"Yes. Sophie and I found another apartment Oliver Griffiths owned and she's recording a wall of crazy left behind. Whatever he has planned, he's been at it at least since you cut your original C.I. deal with Agent Diaz."

Ben raised his eyebrows in concern. "Is Tessa on it? You?"

"No, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know about any of us." Alice glanced over at Tessa as she eased around the table. "Someone wants to say hello."

Tessa held her wine glass up in a toast. "Cheers, Daddy."

Ben's eyes narrowed. Instead of admonishing his daughter, he rubbed his head wearily. "I assume Alice is allowing you to take advantage of the drinking age limit in Venice."

"It's only one glass," Alice said quickly as she turned the phone out of view of Tessa. "Starting your night? Anything new and exciting happened?"

Ben took a deep breath. "I went and talked to Rhys."

Alice frowned. "And what possessed you to do a crazy thing like that?"

"Rhys can be calculating but turns blind when the bigger picture is right in front of him. He didn't take to the fact that he has long-lost relatives out there, but after one of his cousins shot and killed the concierge and manager of the Weatherby and nearly him as well, he does now."

"Wait, one of the girls is in town?"

"The middle child." Ben held up a picture of Katherine Griffiths for Alice to see. "Within two hours he showed up here at AVI looking for me as a true believer."

Alice glanced over at Tessa who sat beside her listening intently. "I can't promise that when I see him, I won't knock him on his ass."

"Line forms behind me." Ben grinned. "I might allow cutsies, though."

"You're sweet."

The grin remained on Ben's face. "Speaking of sweet, Ethan called me earlier."

"You need to stop."

"I told him that you'll probably be returning within the next few days so he asked if his pilot can hitch a ride back."

Alice giggled. "Of course. We have to stop in New York to refuel anyway. I'll text Ethan to have him send me the pilot's information."

Ben nodded. "So, besides drinking wine with my teenage daughter, what else have you guys found?"

"Nothing besides what Sophie and I found in Uncle Ollie's room. Why?"

"Rhys said the cousin was looking for a ledger of some sort. A record of every illicit, unauthorized and illegitimate action by hundreds of groups all across the world."

Alice absorbed the news as she took a sip of her wine. Tessa leaned in close. "What kind of groups?"

"From crime families like the firm, the Shives, to government agencies. FBI, KGB, Bratva, MI6."

Tessa looked up at Alice. "When Felicity approached me over a year ago to take my rightful place as heir of the firm, she told me that she was in search of a record of such dealings."

"Did she ever find it?"

Tessa shook her head. "She said she had only learned about it weeks prior from one of the firm's rivals who was in search of it himself."

"And what happened to this rival?"

Tessa sipped her wine. "This is Felicity we're talking about."

Alice nodded. "We have to assume whatever information she possessed, if any, it would be very limited. No need to question her. Plus it would alert the FBI on what we're doing."

She drummed the table with her fingers from her free hand. "Is there a chance Sybil would know anything about it?"

"Possibly. Though it would be hard to ask her now with her fleeing. I have no idea where she could have gone."

Alice gave Tessa a searching look. "Like you didn't know we were flying to the Maldives?"

"I didn't know where we were going until I saw Tilda. That is the truth, I swear. Tilda does business there all the time so I made an assumption, but it easily could have been the wrong one."

An electronic cough issued from the phone in Alice's hand, startling both of them. They looked down at Ben's face on the screen. "What?" asked Alice.

"Just watching my two ladies go back and forth, that's all." Ben looked off to the side for a second. "I have to go tuck Rhys in somewhere. I expect you should be back sometime tomorrow?"

"We're leaving once Sophie finishes processing the room."

Ben nodded. "I can't wait. It feels like you have been gone for two months."

"Not funny, Ben." Alice still grinned. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Ben returned the smile just before he disconnected the call. Alice placed the phone on the table and picked up her wine glass. "The ledger. What, instead of a grisly monologue into what has or is about to happen, criminals now notate their exploits for prosperity?"

Tessa grinned. "Mum said something somewhat similar." She sat her empty glass down and glanced up the pathway along the canal at Sophie and the Hammer strolling casually towards them.

"Looks like your employees are done with … whatever." Her eyes twinkled as her familial smirk reappeared. "I hope they had enough time to actually do some work."

"You need to stop," said Alice as she rose to her feet. "Call the hotel and tell Tilda to get ready."

She slipped her phone into her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"It's time to go home."

#

Oliver Griffiths observed the men and women gathered at the table before him. He smiled at the sight as he mentally tabulated the guest list.

A female body guard stood behind Bianca Shive who sat to his immediate right. A close cousin to Mickey and Aldrick and former military, her sudden ascension to Aldrick's position enabled Oliver to easily consolidate her organization under his command.

The others gathered there were not so lucky. A few sat with scratches on their faces or bruises on the visible parts of their bodies. The corner of his mouth turned up in a barely hiddened smirk.

My girls were busy, he thought.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," he said. "I'm so happy that you all graciously accepted my daughters' kind invitation to come here tonight."

One of the men seated at the far end of the table coughed into his hand, a portly fellow with a cast around his left wrist.

"I asked you here to assist me in a matter of utmost importance. Something that affects each and every one of you sitting at this table."

Oliver locked eyes with all gathered. Even Bianca's bodyguard wilted a little under his brief glare. "Something that could either put each one of you either in the ground, or on a pedestal to lord over all."

At the mention of a pending threat against their freedom versus riches to be had, the individuals at the table slowly leaned toward him.

Now I have their attention.

#

Margot flung the magazine she had flipped through on the coffee table. "This is pointless," she said, adjusting herself on the leather couch where she sat. "I still have men under my employ who cannot be turned. They can protect me."

Danny stood by the sliding glass door as he worked the slide of his pistol several times. "You haven't been able to raise any of them all day so we have to assume that everyone has been turned, Margot. The major crime families in the city, they already have been. You of all people should know that loyalty goes as far as your pockets are deep and unless you have a hidden account I don't know about, I bet your guys are more than likely gone."

Margot fumed and crossed her arms in a huff. Danny slammed a magazine into his pistol and chambered a round before engaging the safety. "Lucky for you my services are free of charge."

Margot scoffed. "So Valerie and Alice aren't billing me for the use of this safehouse?"

Danny looked around the spacious living room. "This is Ethan Hunt's old house. He was in the process of selling it but gave it AVI at below market value. Our security team is roving the perimeter, there is a panic room hidden in the master bedroom closet, and a secret path from the back leads out to the street, which is a block from the local police sublet and fire station."

Margot's eyes appeared to glass over as Danny gave his summary. "Whatever," she said, getting up from the couch with her purse hanging from her arm. "I'm going to the restroom to freshen up."

Danny's eyes followed Margot as she headed down the hallway to the master bedroom. He slid his pistol into his jacket and activated his earwig. "Agent Shawn, perimeter check."

"Roger. All clear on the perimeter." Shawn Sullivan's voice filtered through clearly. "Wait one. Jones plus one approaching premises. I'm putting them into the garage."

"Copy that." Danny walked through the expansive kitchen and opened the side door, shielding his eyes from the headlights of the black SUV pulling into the empty three-car garage.

The lamps turned off as Ben exited the car. "Hey, Danny. Thanks again for waiting up for me. And for putting him up for the night."

Rhys slammed his door shut after exiting the passenger side. He slung a overnight bag over his shoulder. "Right, is this the poor chap who has been snogging my sister on the regular?"

Danny ignored him as he led them into the kitchen. Rhys stopped at the refrigerator and opened the door. "Ben, are you going to whip up one of your famous dishes?" he asked as he bent down to survey its contents.

An image of Danny slamming the door repeatedly against Rhys' skull almost made him smile.

Almost

The sound of Ben's voice interrupted his thoughts. "I am crashing hard so we can do this all over again tomorrow. You?"

Before Danny could answer, the clicking of heels against hardwood floor echoed from the hallway. "I hope there is some liquor in this house," said Margot, rounding the corner into the kitchen as she scrolled through the contents of her phone.

She finally looked up and noted Ben standing beside Danny. "What are you doing here? Did something happen to Tessa?"

Her eyes widened when Rhys straightened from the refrigerator. "Sister!"

Margot's brow creased with fury at the sight of her brother. A shaking hand reached into her purse and pulled out a small pistol. Before anyone could react, she pulled the trigger.

#

"Detective Nick Turner, my name is FBI Special Agent Jules Dao. I'm leaving you a message in regards to a double murder investigation at the Weatherby Hotel. An associate from Anderson and Vaughan Investigations stated that you may be taking the case."

Dao paced outside AVI's main lobby as he left the voicemail for Valerie's former partner. It was half past ten at night but the mass of pedestrian traffic only lessened with a slight difference from earlier in the day. A barista cart on the sidewalk held court for nearly a dozen customers.

"I'm not calling to impede on your process as the case is not a FBI matter, but I've had several dealings involving occupants of that very same hotel in the recent past. I would greatly appreciate it if you could touch base with me if your findings look to stray … out of your jurisdiction. If you don't mind. Thank you very much."

He disconnected the call just as he felt a tap on his shoulder. Dao slid his phone into his jacket as he turned to face Valerie. "Why hello," he murmured, taking in the sight of her.

Valerie smiled, sliding a lock of her hair out of her face. "Hello yourself. Are you ready to eat? I am starving."

With a flourish, Dao gestured down the street to his sedan.

"Your chariot awaits."

#

Ben flinched at the first click of the trigger but remained still for a split second before he sprinted into action.

Margot looked at her pistol in astonishment. She aimed it again at Rhys who stared back at her completely motionless, in total shock.

Ben grabbed Margot's wrist and pushed it in the air with his left hand. It took two agonizing seconds before he managed to pull the gun from her hand. "Margot, stop! Danny!"

Danny rushed to Ben's side and secured Margot as Ben stepped back. Margot screamed at him, "You have the nerve to show your face here, you pompous backstabber!"

Ben popped the magazine out of her pistol. "Empty," he said as he looked at Danny. "Thanks."

Margot stopped struggling in Danny's grasp to look over her shoulder at him. "You took the bullets out of my gun?"

Danny gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry," he said. "You two have a common enemy now, Margot," he said. He slowly released her. "And I know that you have a loose trigger finger."

"She grew up like that, you know." Rhys finally regained some of his swagger in light of the hatred in Margot's eyes. "You've had that gun for years. You couldn't tell you were missing a little … something?"

Margot rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I saved your life with that three million dollar loan that night."

"Three million?" Rhys' eyes darted over to Ben. "Wait, was she your mysterious benefactor who helped you pay off that midget Chinese diamond smuggling wanker?"

"Yes, I helped pay him off, you dolt." Margot snatched her arm from Danny's grasp but made no further threatening moves towards her brother. "But don't you worry your little head about it. I've been promptly compensated. With interest."

"With interest?" Rhys laughed scornfully as he reached back into the refrigerator and pulled out several beer bottles. "What was the interest? Blood from a stone?"

"How about diamonds from a fish?" Ben replied dryly.

The surprise was clearly evident on Rhys' face at the revelation. He menacingly at Margot. "That was you? Do you know we were accused of stealing those diamonds?!"

Margot scoffed. "Please, brother, you were probably thinking about stealing some yourself, wasn't he, Ben?"

Ben chuckled. "She knows you well, Rhys."

Rhys rubbed his forehead. "Does sounds like something I would do. Though guess what? I wouldn't shoot you!"

"Oh I wasn't going to kill you." Before Danny or Ben could react, Margot walked over to Rhys and took one of the beers. "Just wing you in the shoulder where Felicity shot you, that's all. You're used to it."

"All right, all right." Ben interjected. "As much as I'm enjoying this wonderful reunion of Kensington Firm employees, we have other things to worry about."

Once beers were past out and everyone were seated in the living room, Ben looked over at Margot. "Alice and Tessa found out a lot of information during their trip. They're on their way back right now."

"Trip?" Rhys slid forward in his chair. "Where did you have them go?"

"To see your mother."

A smile appeared in Rhys' face. "Mum made it out after all. And with her head attached."

"Focus, Rhys," said Ben. "Sybil said that Oliver Griffiths is indeed your long lost uncle. And wanting you and Margot out of the picture isn't the only thing he's after."

Margot looked from Rhys to Ben. "What is it?"

"A ledger of some sort. Rhys said it holds a record of everything every crime faction and government intelligence agency has ever done. He wants it. Wants it so bad that he sent his daughter over to the Weatherby to find Rhys to see if he had it and kill him."

Margot's breath quickened. "The ledger," she whispered. "I thought it was a myth."

"Your uncle and cousins don't think so," said Danny. "Three people that we know of are dead because of it. It would have been four with Rhys."

"One less card to write out for Tessa's graduation." Margot's blue eyes searched Rhys' with a piercing glare. "You have it, don't you?"

Rhys finished his beer and walked to the kitchen."If I did, and this is not an admission of possession at all, but if I did, do you honestly think I would tell you?"

Margot was not buying it. She followed her brother into the kitchen with Danny and Ben not far behind. "As much as I would like to believe the very same man who plotted for months to snatch the firm from under me, I don't because of the simple fact that I know you. All this is trademark Rhys right here."

Rhys popped another beer open and down a healthy pull. "If Jameson was alive, I would have definitely snatched him from under you in addition to the firm. Poor chap, God bless him."

Margot shook her head in frustration. "Danny! Where are the bullets to my gun?!"

#

Tilda stepped out of the cockpit into a nearly darkened cabin and closed the door silently behind her. Sitting alone with a reading lamp shining down on her, Alice looked up from the tablet in her lap. "Did the pilot accept your apology?"

Tilda chuckled as she sat down in the empty seat facing Alice. "Oh, he was fine before we even came back to New York. A fully comped stay in the penthouse suite at a five-star hotel and theater tickets to "Hamilton" can always erase any issues."

"I heard Ethan practically rolled out the red carpet for him." Alice smiled at Tilda. "I wish you would have simply came to us, but in the end everything worked out."

"That it did, sweetheart."

"I still need to ask you something."

Tilda nodded. "I thought you might."

Alice held up the tablet. "Sophie recorded every picture, every note, every page copied from case files, every scrap of paper no matter how insignificant, then inputted everything into an established selectable algorithm to create a flowchart of what Oliver Griffiths had on his apartment wall. I went over everything several times since we left. A lot of the items were nothing new. They only solidified what we already know: he has been working this for months."

Alice swiped her finger across the tablet screen. "One page Soph found from an Interpol file caught my eye. I took a look at where it was located on the wall and it was buried under old family photos and a napkin. Oliver might had thought it was worth a look at first but dismissed it. Here it is."

Alice held out the tablet to Tilda for her to see the picture of a faded yellow document. "It had to have been a part of a very old file. Typewritten. I'm willing to bet if a copy is still out there, it only exists on microfiche."

Tilda shrugged as she zoomed in on the picture. "Hmm. According to this, two agents were chasing down documents that led to a huge cover-up within the organization. According to this, the agents found leads that pointed them to a train heading from Lyon, France to London in ,,, 1971." Tilda gave the tablet back to Alice. "The agents returned empty-handed."

"Oh, I don't think they did." Alice placed the tablet in her lap. "They didn't recover the loss information, but I think those agents were treated to a very good time on that train ride by two women who told them they were simply touring Europe but in all actuality, they were just getting a certain crime family that has been a pain in my ass for the better part of two years now up and running. What better way to do that than commit account numbers and documents to memory and establish a sustainable cash flow for the Kensington Firm for the first three years of its existence?"

Alice tapped her forefinger on the tablet. "It worked with Interpol, so why stop there? Scotland Yard. MI6. KGB. Bratva. Yakuza. The Triad. The FBI. CIA. Access to their darkest secrets, all stored in the head of one Margot Tilda Gable. Aka The Ledger."

Tilda did not immediately respond. She simply smiled and nodded her head. "Dear Sybil was spot on when she said that you were very intelligent. What tipped you off?"

Alice jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Tessa when we were flying to the Maldives, and then earlier when we were by ourselves. She mentioned you and Sybil getting involved with Interpol agents. Everything else, I guessed."

Tilda chuckled. "I haven't been called "The Ledger" since I held little Margot in my arms when she was a tiny thing," she said. "A lifetime ago."

She sighed and rose to walk over to the bar, stealing a glance at the rearmost seating section in the cabin. Tessa slept in the rear row of seats with wireless earbuds implanted in her ears. The Hammer sat across the aisle from her, his pistol taken apart on the table before him. Sophie sat in the row in front of him, her head propped up by a pillow against the cabin wall.

"I first realized I had a photographic memory when I was ten," she said as she poured bourbon into two tumblers. "Sunday school. The teacher asked me to read from the fourth book of Moses. Numbers. I got up and instead of opening my Bible, I recited all fifty-four verses of Chapter One word for word in accordance with the King James version. And this was no ordinary chapter. This was correctly naming the head of each tribe of the House of Israel. Neat?"

Alice nodded. Tilda walked back to her seat and sat down, passing a glass over. "It started with simple homework. By the time I graduated high school, I was getting paid a hundred a pop to take other people's SATs. I then branched out into other tests, tripling, quadrupling my fees in the process."

Intrigued, Alice sat her drink in the armrest's cup holder. "How did Sybil find you?"

"Would you believe it when I tell you it was two days before the train from France to London? While I was on vacation?"

Alice gasped. "You're kidding."

"One thing I do not kid about is my work." Tilda grinned. "Settle in, sweetheart. I got a story for you right here."

#