"I'm afraid I have some bad news," began Sophia five minutes later. She had grabbed the phone and called Raymond and Roger as soon as she had heard the conversation between Richard's accomplices.
"Did you lose the gang? Are they on their way to the vineyard already?" asked Raymond.
"It's worse than that. They're on to Holly, or at least they think they are."
"What do you mean?" Raymond exclaimed, while Sophia heard Roger curse loudly in the background.
Sophia quickly related to them what had happened in the afternoon as well as the conversation she had just overheard. "My bet is that Richard only thinks that Roger is working with Holly to con him out of his money," she concluded.
"You're right, I don't think he suspects that the CIA is on to them."
"So that's not so bad," Sophia said. She regretted her choice of words almost immediately, but it was too late.
"Oh, really?" Roger's enraged voice boomed in her ear. "My ex-wife has been taken hostage by a terrorist and you think that it's "not so bad"?
Sophia sighed. "I'm sorry, I meant that at least the operation is not a total –"
"- I don't care about the stupid mission! I need to get Holly back to safety, now!" Roger bellowed. He turned to Raymond and wagged a finger under his nose. "I told you something like this would happen, but you wouldn't listen to me."
He walked briskly to a desk at the other side of the room and took a gun from the top drawer, then loaded it before putting it in his holster. "Where is she now?", he yelled to Sophia from across the room.
Sophia looked at a dot on one of her computer screens. She had of course equipped Holly with a small microphone and tracking device before she let her go on her "date" with Richard. "She's at a restaurant called "The Grape Vine" about a mile north of the hotel. She just got there."
"So Richard hasn't made his move yet," said Raymond.
"Nope. So what's the plan? Do I stay here to monitor everyone's position or do I go after Holly, or what?", she inquired to Raymond.
"I'll take care of Holly, thank you very much," Roger snarled into the phone.
"Roger," Raymond started calmly, "I think we need to stay put and let the situation unfold for now. Holly knew what she was getting into when she agreed to go after Richard."
Sophia cringed at the other end of the line, waiting for Roger to explode in response to Raymond's last comment. Instead, Roger laughed mirthlessly. "You know what the funny thing is Raymond? I actually agree with you that the best thing for the mission would be to wait it out. The problem is, I don't care anymore." He put on a jacket as he spoke and grabbed a second gun which he hid in an inside pocket.
"Listen to me for a minute. Richard needs to use Holly as a hostage and to bring her here if he wants to get the guns for free. He has no idea that there will be more than a dozen trained agents ready to intervene. It will be way easier to get her back this way, trust me."
"What if he doesn't bring her back here? What if he wants to use her as an incentive for me to change the pick-up point?"
"We'll deal with the situation if it arises. Roger, this is standard procedure, you know this!" Raymond said with just a hint of exasperation in his voice.
Roger walked up to his boss and put a hand on his shoulder. "Raymond, I'll say this with a lot of love, but screw procedures. I'm going to get Holly back and that's all there is to it. No waiting, no staying put. You knew that I would lose it if something happened to her, so now you'll have to deal with the consequences."
He was about to walk out when Raymond grabbed him by the arm. "You're not going anywhere. Don't you know that you could be putting the lives of other agents in danger by your reckless behavior?"
Roger shook him off. "Again, you should have thought about that when you hired Holly. But don't worry, I can very well rescue her without blowing your cover."
"You would be the one to do it, but it's still too risky. You're not going, it's an order."
Roger shrugged his shoulders. "You can't tell me what to do, because I quit."
Sophia heard him walk out and waited a few seconds before speaking again. "So, that went well."
"Sophia," Raymond said warningly, while trying to think.
"Okay, sorry. What do we do now?"
"You need to stay where you are and keep me posted as soon as any of them is on the move, okay?"
"Got it."
"I'll be in charge of the operations here. We'll proceed as if nothing has changed for now and get ready for them to pick up the merchandise. The others agents are on their way, so we'll be ready some time tonight. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to call my superiors about this."
"Ok, let's keep in touch."
"And hope for the best."
The main course had been taken care of and they were now waiting for dessert. Richard was talking about his latest vacations to St. Martin and hinting that he would like to bring Holly there someday, while she let her thoughts wander as she sipped a glass of house wine. The restaurant was full, but Richard had secured a quiet table on the terrace. The moon was full and hanging low in the sky, and the air was balmy.
This is easier than I thought, she mused while pretending to listen to her companion. All she had to do was to entertain this creep long enough for the CIA crew to get ready, and then her work would be done. She had even found a way to keep him away from his gang until the next morning, but that part of the plan would require more sleight of hand. She would lure him back into her hotel room and lace his night cap with a strong sleeping pill, and voilà! She would undress him so that he would believe they had slept together and check out before he had time to wake up.
Her mind then turned to Roger. She couldn't wait for this mission to be over so that they could talk some more. In the cellar, he had told her that they were over, but would he have kissed her afterward if he really had meant it? And what about his reaction when she had admitted that she had tried to stop him from marrying Amanda in the first place? Did it change something for him, the fact that she had finally been the one to pursue him?
"Holly, are you listening to me? You seem elsewhere tonight", Richard teased with a charming smile.
Holly quickly shook her head and reddened. "I'm sorry. This wine is so delicious that I'm afraid that I've been indulging too much. What were you saying?"
"I was asking about your daughter. I'd like to know more about her. I'd like to know all about you, actually."
"Believe me, explaining my daughter alone would take the whole night," Holly quipped.
"I have all the time in the world!" Richard replied with another suave smile.
"Okay, don't say I didn't warn you." Remembering Sophia's advice when it came to lying, she decided to stick to the truth as much as possible. "Where to start? My daughter is all grown up now and she is happily married with a good man and mother of two precious boys."
"Wait, are you telling me that you're a grand-mother?"
Holly laughed despite her nervousness. "It appears so."
"Are you two very close?"
"We are now, but it wasn't always that way."
"How come?"
"My, you are certainly in a reporter's mode tonight! Many things have happened between us, but let's say that the root of the problem was the fact that her father and I never got along."
Richard leaned over the table and took her hand. "Did you two have a rocky relationship while you were married?"
Holly chuckled. "Rocky? Yes, to put it mildly."
"Do you still see him from time to time?"
She hesitated for the slightest moment. "No, I haven't seen him in a long time." She looked away to hide her embarrassment, and doing so missed Richard's change of expression. His eyes hardened and his jaws clenched highly together. He got up and extended a hand to Holly. "I think we have time to stroll in the vineyard before dessert, don't you think?"
Holly did her best to look enthusiast and took his hand. They crossed the terrace and entered the vineyard. Fairy lights hanged from the trees scattered through the endless rows of vines. Not letting go of her hand, Richard led Holly further and further away from the restaurant, but at such a leisurely pace that it took her several minutes to realize how far they had walked.
She turned and gazed at the restaurant, suddenly feeling uneasy. "Shouldn't we go back now? Surely dessert is waiting for us by now." She looked back at Richard and immediately knew that something was wrong. The besotted look had disappeared, and two cold black eyes were now staring at her.
"How could you lie to me like this, Holly? I thought that you and I had something special!"
He grabbed her wrist and started walking away from the restaurant. She tripped and fell; he roughly pulled her up and forced her to walk in front of him. Trying to remain calm, she felt the front of her dress to where the tracking device and microphone were secured. They were gone, as well as a piece of fabric. She looked back and saw them lying on the dirt where she had fallen.
"I don't understand, Richard", she said, trying to gain some time. What did he know? What would he do to her?
"Oh, I think you do. We're going to go find your ex-husband, you know, the one that you're supposedly not seeing anymore, and have a nice little chat."
Roger was speeding toward the restaurant when he dialled Sophia's number from the phone car. "Where is she now?" he asked as soon as the agent picked up.
"Roger, I'm not allowed to give you any information about the mission anymore."
Roger shook his head although he was not surprised. If he had been in Raymond's shoes, this was the first order he would have given himself. "Come on, Sophia, you owe me one. I'm the one who gave you this job, remember?"
He heard her sigh at the other end of the line. "I remember, but if I disobey, I won't be keeping the job for long, now will I? Nothing is changed, it's all I can tell you."
"Okay, I'll take that. I'm on my way to the restaurant right now and –"
Sophia interrupted him, suddenly sounding on edge. "- Hang on a sec." He heard her put the receiver on the bed and walk away from the voices. There were a few voices in the distance, maybe in the corridor from what he could make out, and then Sophia was back again.
"You need to get your ass here right now," she said curtly.
"What, is Holly back?"
"No, but you have visitors, and you should be the one dealing with them."
Roger sighed loudly. "I have no clue what you're talking about, and I don't have time for this anyway – ".
He was interrupted again, this time by a loud banging on Sophia's hotel door and someone shouting for her to open up the door. His mouth dropped opened. It was his daughter's voice.
