Deny Tomorrow Read online

  “Uh, I don’t mean to get personal, but uh, well, had you been raped or anything?”

  “Yes, I understand and no, I hadn’t been raped or harmed in any way.”

  “Oh, glad to hear that. And now, excuse me for being a little dense, but don’t you think waiting a month to call the police is a little long?”

  “Probably, but I never figured they could do much to help me. No one at the hotel where I woke up saw anything. No one at the airport saw anything. I can’t find a single witness who had any information about this situation, and of course, there’s no way to question anyone in Kervistan. There’s really nothing to go on.”

  “Hmm, very interesting,” Paul said, sitting back in the booth, sipping his coffee as he mulled the situation over. “You’re probably right about the police. We have a good group of men at the station, but the biggest thing they’ve handled this year was a drunken brawl on the beach. I don’t think they’re equipped to investigate an international incident. So what do you need me for then?”

  Arianna hesitated. Can I trust this guy? He seems like an honest, decent person, but how can I be sure? She looked at Lisa who nodded her approval, so she continued.

  “Well, you see, Paul, I believe I might have my abductor’s finger prints.”

  “Well, now. That would change everything, assuming the guy is in a data base somewhere, otherwise you don’t have jackshit.”

  “That’s true so I need someone to run the prints and see if anything shows up. If there’s a match, then I promise I’ll let the police take the whole case and run with it. Until I have something definitive, I’d rather keep the police out of it. Are you willing to help me?”

  “Okay,” Paul said slowly. “Seems harmless enough. I think I can run these without getting my department involved. I have some connections in the States who will help me. Do you have the prints with you?”

  Arianna pulled out the two baggies that contained the money and the room key and laid them on the table.

  Paul’s mouth dropped open. “Money? This guy gave you money?”

  Arianna could hear the skepticism in his voice. “Yes. He left money on the nightstand. Twenty one-hundred dollar bills. I think he thought I would take the money and go home. I obviously didn’t. This is the top and bottom bill. I’m hoping there’s a thumb print on the top bill and maybe one of the other four digits on the bottom. And this is the hotel room key. Maybe there is a print on that, too.”

  “Ahem,” the detective said, clearing his throat. “Are you sure there isn’t something you’re not telling me about this money and this entire situation?”

  Arianna let out a small groan. “Your reaction is just what I expected and another reason I haven’t called the police before now. You think maybe I was just turning tricks and got dumped in some hotel and that now, I want to find the john that jilted me or something fishy like that. Maybe I’ve made a mistake coming to you.” Arianna started to gather her things to leave.

  “No. No. Wait!” Paul put his hand on her arm to stop her. “I’m sorry, but I had to ask. Please. Have a seat.” Looking her straight in the eye, he continued, “Arianna, listen. I’m willing to help you with this, but do you promise you’ve told me everything? My career could be on the line if you get me involved in some shady deal.”

  Arianna met his gaze. “Paul, I swear. I know it sounds crazy, but what I told you is the absolute truth.”

  “Okay, then. Give me your evidence, and I’ll see what I can do.”

  Arianna hesitated once again. I want the truth, so why am I afraid to let go of the money and key?

  “Go ahead, Ari,” Lisa urged. “Let Paul take them. It’s your last chance to find this guy. You’ve got to trust him.”

  Arianna exhaled deeply, and then, handed the baggies over. “Please take good care of this evidence. I’m really banking on these to solve my case.”

  Paul patted her hand. “I’ll guard them with my life. You know, of course, that just because we ID this guy, doesn’t mean he’s not or ever was on this island. He could be anywhere in the world. Then, what will you do?”

  It’s something that hadn’t occurred to her until now. How naïve to have assumed my abductor was on this island, just sitting there waiting to be discovered?

  “I don’t know. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Right now I’d be happy to just get a name.”

  “Well, then sit tight, sweetheart, and I’ll see what I can do.” He grabbed the check and got up to leave. Winking at Lisa, he said, “Take care. I’m looking forward to seeing you around the club.”

  “Sure,” Lisa said weakly, a half-smile on her face. “See you around the club.”

  After he was out of sight, Lisa turned to Arianna and slugged her on the arm. “Did you see him wink at me? I knew it was a mistake for you to drag me along. Now, I’ll never get rid of this guy.”

  “I hope not,” Arianna replied. “Not until he gets me the information I need anyway. So until then, keep smiling. He’s our new best friend.”

  “Great,” Lisa murmured. “Just great.”

  Veritas wants to meet,” Zach said staring at the message on the computer screen. Veritas was the code name for his contact in the CIA. The only time the two of them met was to discuss a new assignment.

  “Damn!” Tony moaned. “We just got home. I’m not ready to go back to work yet. Hope they don’t send us back to Kervistan.”

  Zach silently agreed. Kervistan was one of their worst assignments to date. With any luck at all, maybe they’d send them to Central America. Fighting drug cartels in a warm climate was much more to his liking. He knew what he preferred, but he also knew he’d go wherever they sent him if the mission was in American’s best interest and the price was right.

  On the agreed upon day, he and Tony watched the helicopter land on a deserted beach on the leeward side of the island. Stepping out of the chopper, Veritas walked briskly toward them.

  “Gentlemen, let’s walk and talk, shall we?” It was more a demand than a question. “First of all, I’d like to tell you the president sends his thanks to you and your men for the excellent job you did for us in Kervistan.”

  Zach nodded his acknowledgement but was sure the president had no idea who he and his men were. The president’s advisors had probably informed him one of their operatives had completed the mission in Kervistan and that would be the extent of his knowledge. Still, it felt good to get at least a modicum of recognition from so high up.

  “So, what’s next?” Zach asked.

  “Actually, I didn’t come to give you an assignment,” he said.

  Zach stopped. A look of surprise crossed his face. Something was up. Veritas wouldn’t come all this way just to chit chat.

  “I’ve come to tell you someone’s been running your fingerprints.”

  “What do you mean?” Zach asked.

  “Well, I was hoping you might tell me what that’s all about. We know her name. We just don’t know why she’s running your prints.”

  “Her? Some woman is running my prints? Is she with a law enforcement agency?”

  “No. As near as we know she’s just an ordinary citizen. We thought maybe she might be one of your ex’s or something. Maybe a jilted lover?” he asked, knowing Zach’s reputation as a wealthy, playboy bachelor.

  It was true. Most people, if they knew anything about him at all, thought he was simply a wealthy, bachelor who held fabulous parties at his seaside estate here on the island. That was fine with him. It provided a good cover. As far as jilted lovers? Probably not too many of those. Most of his ex-girlfriends were probably still in love with him and anxious to get back in his good graces.

  “So, who is this woman who tried to run my prints?” Zach asked.

  “Her name is Arianna Garrett, and she actually lives here on the island? Do you know her?”

  Zach shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of.”

  “Well, the prints came through a local policeman, Paul Vega. He had a contact at the
Bureau who agreed to run them for him. Our agent thought it was just a routine check, but when your prints came up marked classified, alarms suddenly went off. One of our agents questioned the guy and found out the name of the person who had submitted the evidence.”

  “So, how’d this girl happen to have my prints?”

  “Well, I understand they were lifted off a hotel room key and a couple hundred dollar bills, so maybe you could tell me. Have you had any romantic trysts in a hotel lately?” the agent asked, amused at the thought.

  Zach did a double take. He instantly knew where the prints had come from…the girl from Kervistan. He’d always assumed she was long gone, which he now knew was a careless assumption on his part. Thinking to lift the prints off the key and the money was quite clever, though not clever enough to lead her to him. He knew his fingerprints were classified.

  In fact, practically all of his identity had been scrubbed. The only thing a background check would reveal is that he was born thirty-one years ago to wealthy parents in Puerto Rico. His father, Rafael Acevedo was Puerto Rican, and his mother, Muriel was American. Existing school records would show that he had dropped out of high school at sixteen but nothing beyond that.

  A background check would not show he had dropped out of school because he was bored with the lack of academic challenge, nor that he had immediately gotten his GED so he could enroll in the local community college. He tested out of freshman comp, math, and chemistry, and at eighteen, he transferred to Texas A & M in the States where he graduated cum laude three years later. Following his graduation, he joined the Navy and became a Navy SEAL. After spending five years as a SEAL he was recruited as an undercover agent in the CIA.

  Working as a Black Op, he had amassed a considerable fortune by charging substantial fees for the services of himself and his team. He had invested his money wisely, compounding his wealth. All this information scrubbed. No other personal information existed, and his current reputation as a supposed high school drop-out, wealthy, playboy bachelor living here on the island, was fine with him.

  “I don’t think I even want to know what your connection to this girl is,” Veritas lamented.

  Zach had never mentioned the girl in his Kervistan report. No need to discuss it now.

  “So is there something else?” Zach asked. “You didn’t come all this way just to tell me this, did you?”

  The agent shook his head. “There’s potentially another problem. Possibly serious. The hit on your fingerprints has piqued the interest of someone else.”

  Zach arched an eyebrow and looked at him. “And who might that be?”

  “That’s just it. We don’t know for sure. We’ve always known we have a mole in the agency, but we don’t know who. Whoever it is has also been showing a strong interest in your fingerprints. Evidently, they’d like to know who you are too.”

  “Meaning....”

  “If I had to make a guess,” Veritas continued, “I’d say he’ll try to find out who this girl is and see what she knows. He probably feels she can lead him to you. If so, then she’ll be a very important piece of property to him. I wouldn’t want to be her though. Since this mole is one of the bad guys, once he gets the information he needs from her, she’ll become expendable to him.”

  “She can’t ID me,” Zach said. “She has absolutely no idea who I am.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Zach just stared at him. He didn’t like being questioned about what he said.

  “Then, I guess there are no worries as far as you’re concerned. It could get really ugly if you’re wrong.”

  “She can’t ID me,” he repeated, irritation just under the surface.

  “Well, you and I know that, but our mole doesn’t. I think he’s going to come after her. Might be a chance to catch him. I’ll let you handle this locally. Let me know if you need any Agency resources.”

  Zach nodded slightly. “Yes, sir. I’ll handle it.”

  “Very good, then. Please keep me posted.” He approached the helicopter to leave. “You’ll be hearing from me soon with a new assignment.”

  “Something in a warm climate would be nice, sir,” Tony interjected.

  The agent chuckled as he buckled himself in. “Can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll see what I can do, boys.”

  They watched until the chopper was but a fluttering black speck in the distance. Then, Zach turned to Tony. “I want our own people to snoop around and see what they can find out about this girl. I’m not worried about her identifying me, but I am concerned about the mole in the CIA.” He hopped over the side of the car and slid into the seat of his Porsche 911 Carrera convertible. “In a way, it’s ironic that I hauled her ass out of Kervistan to save her, only to plunk her right back into danger.”

  “Yeah,” Tony said, hopping in beside him, “but who knew she’d try to play private eye. She was supposed to wake up and catch the next flight home. Instead, she’s put herself right in the middle of something that’s probably going to get her whacked.”

  Zach slammed the car in gear and peeled out. He knew it was true, but couldn’t do anything about it now except to wait and watch.

  “I’M GETTING close,” Karl Reichter said to his contact in the KBG. “Someone has run the fingerprints of the Phantom.” The Phantom was the name given to the leader of the group of Spec Ops who had been connected to assassinations of several of their key operatives, but no one had a clue as to his true identity.

  Karl Reichter worked as a double agent in the CIA and had been funneling information to Russia for almost a decade now. The modern world assumed the Cold War was over, but in truth, the espionage battle between the US and Russia still raged on into the twenty-first century.

  In the last couple of years, this mole had become obsessed with finding the leader of this illusive spec op group, meaning Zach and his team. They were deemed to be the best of the best in the CIA, which made them so hard to ever find. To make matters worse, Zach was considered a rogue SOG which was generally considered the most secretive special operations force in the United States. He’d been known to sell his services to the highest bidder…always one of the good guys, but still his clients had varied from time to time. He was as good as they came, and Reichter wanted him… badly. Getting him would be a real coup.

  “I’m going to find the person who ran the prints and see if they can lead me to this guy,” Reichter declared. “This person was close enough to get his fingerprints. We’ve never had such a good lead. I believe they can be persuaded to supply additional information like a description or better yet, his name. I will find out everything they know and then, eliminate them.”

  Paul had delivered the bad news to Arianna and Lisa. There was no match on the fingerprints. What was supposed to be her ace in the hole had turned out to be yet another dead-end street. Only problem was, there were no more clues. No more avenues to pursue. Like a wave crashing on the shore, frustration and anger rushed in only to recede, leaving sadness and depression in its place. Arianna retreated within herself, trying to weather the storm of emotions that consumed her. She was finding it difficult to come to grips with the fact that her abduction might forever be a mystery.

  There had been one piece of good news, however. Kevin had contacted his parents. He was alive and well and trying to make his way to Pakistan where he hoped to catch a flight home. Fighting was everywhere and moving about in the country was still dangerous. He estimated it could take him as much as a month before he could arrange transportation out of the country.

  Arianna hadn’t spoken to him personally but was told he was relieved to know she was safe and couldn’t wait to talk to her. Also, from what she understood, he had most of the B roll they’d shot. She took some solace in knowing they might still be able to get their documentary together.

  “Lisa,” Arianna announced, as they sun bathed at the beach one day, “I’ve decided I’m going to stay until Kevin gets home, then, I plan on going back to the States and work on my documentary.
” Her new passport had arrived a week ago, and she’d obtained a credit card and picture ID. She now had the necessary credentials for getting a flight home.

  “Before I leave however, I want Kevin to come here and see if he can uncover something I’ve missed. I just can’t leave without making one more effort to solve this mystery. The answer must be here on the island. Besides, he probably could use a little R & R after the ordeal he’s been through. Of course, all of this depends on if Kevin agrees. If he does, you don’t have any problem with him staying at our place, do you?”

  Lisa turned over to get sun on her back. “He’ll have to sleep on the couch, but otherwise, he’s quite welcome.” She brushed some sand off her towel, then added,” You know, Arianna. I don’t want to get all mushy, but I’m really going to miss you when you go home.”

  The two of them had grown quite close. Lisa had turned out to be a true friend, and Arianna would miss her as well. “We need to stay in touch,” she said, “and, of course, you’ll have to come visit me in the States.”

  She had also found friends at the club. She felt particularly close to Andre, the lead singer and manager of the club’s band. He’d become like a big brother to her… a gay big brother, but nonetheless, someone she felt like she could lean on when she was down. She didn’t know if it was because of her talent or if he was trying to cheer her up, but he had invited her to sing with the band, having learned of her singing background in college. Nothing big. Just a couple songs in the last set, but she was looking forward to her debut performance. For this reason and others, she would miss the new life she’d begun to forge here on the Isle of Costa Luna, but at some point she knew she had to put a period and move on.

  “Ari, sweetie,” Andre said, sun bathing nearby, “if you want my advice, you’ll give up your quest to find this phantom abductor. I know you want Kevin to come here and give this one more shot, but after that, you need to get on with your life. It’s like you’re obsessed with this, and it’s making you a very dull girl.”