Trigger Page 22

  “I guess that makes sense.” I remained apprehensive. “It just seems like whenever we’re at a train station, something bad happens.”

  “We aren’t crossing any borders, which means less security.”

  “Your buddy Niko is pretty interesting,” I said, changing the subject. “He wasn’t quite what I’d expected.”

  Chase frowned. “How so?”

  “I guess I was thinking he would be some sort of mad scientist or a wizard rather than someone so sophisticated.”

  He snorted in mild amusement. “What did I say that made you picture that?”

  “You were describing this eccentric, brilliant man with white hair, so I was picturing someone along the lines of Gandalf or Albert Einstein rather than Sean Connery,” I muttered.

  Chase laughed out loud this time. “Jordan, you really do have the wildest imagination of anyone I have ever met.”

  I shrugged.

  “So, was that another IED on the motorcycle?”

  “No, it was not an IED.” He gave me that measuring look again.

  “What was it then?” I was bothered by that look. Whenever he looked at me that way, it made me feel like he was unsure about me; that he had questions for me that he wasn’t ready to ask.

  “Niko always has contingencies for any possible scenario. The bike was rigged so it could be set to explode if necessary.”

  I was more than a little alarmed. “Why on earth would he give us a bike-bomb to drive around?”

  “It was perfectly safe until I triggered the device he installed on it. Niko wouldn’t want the motorcycle to fall into the wrong hands. It would have our fingerprints and there were other things, let’s call them enhancements, which he wouldn’t want anyone to have. As a precaution, he had it set up so it could be blown up to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. It also came in rather handy as a distraction.”

  “I’m not sure if that’s completely amazing or totally disturbing,” I said truthfully. It seemed the dashing and elegant man in the linen suit was as deadly in his own right as Chase was in his.

  “Niko always has the most wonderful toys,” Chase said admiringly.

  “Is it a big train station in Lleida?” I asked.

  “It is small with virtually no security or surveillance. As an extra precaution, I will go in and get the tickets while you wait in the car. The high-speed train to Madrid will be coming from Barcelona Sants. It will only stop for a few minutes so we need to be on the ball to make it. It should take about two hours to get to Madrid from Lleida. Madrid Atocha is the main station in the city. It’s huge, so we shouldn’t have any trouble blending. Trains leave for Sevilla frequently. If we’re lucky, we may not even have to wait.”

  On a major freeway now, the VW easily cruised by other vehicles.

  “How long from Lleida to Madrid?”

  “About an hour and a half.”

  “Then from Madrid to Sevilla?”

  “Another two and a half hours, so we will be arriving in the early evening. It would take much longer if we tried to drive the whole way.”

  “I’m not exactly clear on what we are looking for in Sevilla. What’s the plan when we get there?”

  “I know a quiet family-run hotel where it will be safe to stay. There won’t be any questions. Once we’re settled, we can stake out the café Niko told us about.”

  More time passed in silent contemplation.

  “I almost can’t believe that Marcello was in Barcelona. The way he was chasing us was nuts.” I voiced what I had been stewing on for a while.

  Chase paused before answering. “I think that he was coming after you, not us. He wants to rescue you. I’m merely the obstacle keeping him from you.”

  Not sure what to say, I shook my head.

  He frowned thoughtfully. “I’m not quite sure what to think about Marcello’s involvement. He’s obviously very determined to get to you. I think he believes you are either being held captive by me or that you’re being manipulated by me. I’m not sure what he knows about the bounty out on you. I would think that now he has at least a suspicion that there is much more to this whole thing than he had first assumed.”

  “Do you think he will continue to look for us?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Does that bother you?” I fumbled the question out.

  “Yes, it bothers me.” His words were quiet. “It’s as if he thinks he has some sort of ownership of you. That he has to rescue you. In reality, he has no idea what he is dealing with.”

  I wasn’t sure if he meant that Marcello didn’t know the danger he was in from Chase or the thugs. Was is possible he was jealous? I had picked Chase more than once already. Could he really be afraid that I would change my mind and choose Marcello?

  “You don’t have to worry about me trying to get him to help us or anything,” I said awkwardly.

  His gaze skewered me before returning to the road. “What exactly are you trying to say, Jordan?”

  “You don’t have to worry about Marcello. I’m not interested in his help or in him, like that.” I emphasized the last part to make sure my meaning was clear.

  Turning in his seat Chase gave me a long, considering look.

  “Don’t you think you should keep at least one eye on the road?” I pointed out.

  “Why didn’t you shoot the tires on his car?”

  I wasn’t prepared for that question. “What?”

  “If you’re not interested in his help, or in him personally, then why didn’t you take out his car like you took out the others?”

  Anger flared up hot and thick. “Are you crazy? He is a freaking Italian cop! Not to mention the fact that the other people in the car were undoubtedly cops as well. You want every law enforcement agency in Europe after us?” I practically spat the words out. “Besides, I’m not even sure I know how I was able to take out those other cars, or if I could’ve done it a third time!” Furious, I turned to look out the window.

  Chase let me settle down before he spoke again. “Shooting the tires out doesn’t mean you would have hurt anybody in the vehicle.”

  I ignored him and his male ego.

  Not to be deterred, he continued. “With the shots you were making, you could’ve put a bullet anywhere. You could’ve hit them on a straightaway where it would’ve been easier for them to control the vehicle. You also could have shot the engine block. There was any number of things you could have done.”

  “Did you not hear me say two very important things? Car full of law enforcement, and I have no idea how I was able to make the first two shots.” My words were caustic. “If you’re jealous, fine, but don’t be ridiculous!”

  That riled him up. “Jealous? Now who is being ridiculous? What do you mean you don’t know how you made those shots? You took those like a damned professional!”

  “I mean exactly what I said. I didn’t know what I was doing! It’s not like I have practiced shooting out tires on moving vehicles while racing around on the back of a motorcycle. I knew what needed to be done when you handed me the gun. Somehow it all came together and I made it happen.”

  “Are you talking about that synchronicity business again?” he asked, a little less harshly

  “Yes!” I shot back.

  “Explain it to me.”

  “Explain what?”

  “How it all came together into this synchronicity.”

  Calming down, I took a deep breath. “I don’t know exactly. The whole scenario broke down in my head instantaneously. I knew how everything needed to happen. I could see how it all fit together.”

  “Keep going,” Chase encouraged me.

  “When I could see it all laid out in front of me, something clicked and suddenly everything just flowed together. I felt perfectly balanced. I felt solid. I couldn’t do the wrong thing. When I was holding the gun in the exact place it needed to be, I knew, so I pulled the trigger.”

  “Synchronicity,” he said firmly, as if he understood the meaning even better t
han I did. “Was it the same with the second car?”

  “Yes, once I had that feeling, it didn’t go away.”

  Anticipating his next questions, I answered before he could ask.

  “I could have done it again with Marcello’s car. I didn’t want to shoot at a bunch of cops if I didn’t have to.”

  Chase didn’t look angry or upset, he looked thoughtful.

  “What do you think all of that means?”

  “It’s all very interesting.” It seemed like he was holding something back.

  “Do you think I’m weird or something?”

  “There are so many little things, and some not-so-little things, about you that have taken me completely by surprise. To be honest, I’m not quite sure what to make of you.”

  “Haven’t we had this conversation before?”

  “You need to look at this from my perspective. At times you say and do things most people don’t know, or can’t do. Other times, you seem almost too normal. It is very hard to reconcile.” His brow was furrowed.

  “Do you think I’m faking it or something?” I was stunned by what he was implying.

  “I am saying that it would be difficult for most people to believe that you’re able to know and do things solely from reading books and acting on your instincts,” he said quietly.

  I was too flabbergasted to respond.

  “Fortunately, I’m not most people. I believe you when you tell me that you don’t know how you know, or do, some of the things you have done. I also believe that you want to find the answers just as much as I do.”

  Relief coursed through me. “I really would like to know,” I admitted.

  “It does seem like you have had some sort of training. When you told me that you haven’t taken any self-defense classes or anything like that, I was really surprised. I even considered the possibility that you were an operative from another company that was playing me.” He was almost too calm as he dropped that last bombshell.

  My face reflected my astonishment. “How could you even think that? I am the one being chased by psychos!”

  “It would explain a lot of things if it were true.” He was matter-of-fact. “The bounty on you could have been part of the charade. Or it could have been real, depending on who you were working for. As far as your mission, it could have been any number of things from getting to me, to interfering with Marcello and the investigation by the Guardia.”

  “How long have you been thinking about this?”

  “Since early on, but I doubted it was the case. I never dismissed it completely because as soon as I was ready to let it go, you would do something that made it a possibility again.”

  Bothered by this disclosure, I fidgeted in my seat. “So, even when you were helping save my life, you thought that at some point I may go all double agent and turn on you?”

  “I never really thought that you were an operative, but it was something I had to consider carefully before ruling it out entirely. I couldn’t just assume it was what I wanted it to be.”

  I could see his point. After all, I had questioned his motives. In fact, wasn’t I still questioning them just a little?

  “What finally convinced you that I wasn’t some undercover traitor trying to trap you?”

  He shot a look at me out of the corner of his eye before answering. “My gut finally won out when you came with me instead of staying with Marcello back there.”

  My jaw dropped.

  “I can’t believe that all this time you’ve had doubts.”

  “Have you been 100 percent about me this entire time?” He arched an eyebrow at me.

  Because he was right, I remained silent.

  “We’re not so different,” he said softly.

  We rode in silence for a while. When we reached the outskirts of a city, Chase started slowing down. It was decent-sized with an interesting mix of modern structures and older stone architecture. There was even a rather medieval-looking tower rising above the buildings. My guess that this was Lleida was confirmed by a sign we passed.

  It didn’t take long to reach the train station. When we got there, Chase parked the car close to the entrance. The lot was fairly full. I was willing to bet a lot of people commuted into Barcelona from here for work.

  “Wait here.” He got out of the car and disappeared into the station.

  Chase was gone for a few minutes. When he returned, he motioned for me to get out of the car.

  “Is that our ride?” I asked, hearing a train whistle.

  “Yes, we need to hurry.” He led the way into the terminal.

  The few people in the station were making their way to board the train pulling up to the platform. Almost everyone getting on or off the train was doing so from one of the first few carriages. Chase headed straight toward the cars at the rear of the train. Near the very end, he boarded an empty car with me right behind him.

  I flopped down by the window after dropping my pack onto the seat by the door. It was only minutes before the train started pulling out of the station, picking up speed quickly.

  “There were bad guys all over the park. Do you think any of them went after Niko?” I asked.

  Chase chuckled. “Even if they did, Niko has an aptitude for evasion. He wouldn’t have met us without several escape routes planned. I’m sure he’s fine.”

  “Do you think that Max and Anna will meet us in Sevilla?”

  Concern over Anna’s whereabouts had always lurked in the back of my mind. I tried to not dwell on it because that on top of everything else might push me over the edge.

  “I’ll get a message to Max about Sevilla. Until he knows where to meet us, he’ll lay low. They aren’t a priority target, so as long as they stay off the grid they should be okay.”

  “The way you talk really freaks me out sometimes.” I shivered involuntarily.

  “What do you mean?”

  “’Priority target’, ‘off the grid’,” I recited back to him in the same clipped tones he used.

  “My terminology bothers you?” He seemed a little thrown off.

  “I guess it just shocks me how casual you are with a lot of this. This is serious stuff and you are completely unmoved by it.”

  Chase gave me a patronizing look. “Don’t you realize that at times you act almost as familiar with all of this as I do? I find it very amusing that you think I’m strange because I’m comfortable with all of this when I’ve been in this line of work for a long time. Meanwhile, you, who have never been closer to something like this than the page of a book or a movie screen, can be completely casual about it as well.”

  I shot him a confused look.

  “If you think about it, you have to admit I’m right.”

  “One minute I know what I’m doing, then I’ve no idea what is going on. I feel inside- out sometimes.” I was exasperated.

  “I have been wondering something about you.” His brow was wrinkled in thought.

  “What?”

  “I’ve been thinking that you may be talented.”

  I could not breathe.

  “Wha-what?” I stammered.

  “I believe that you may be talented.” He spoke slowly and deliberately like I was hard of hearing.

  “You can’t be serious.” I emphasized each word.

  “In fact, the more I think about it, the more I am sure I am right.”

  With a few choice words, Chase had just turned my already crazy world the rest of the way upside down. Wasn’t it enough that I was running for my life from dangerous criminals across three countries with law enforcement hot on my trail? Now I had special talents, which I wasn’t sure I understood or even wanted. Not to mention, having these talents may make me more valuable, or more dangerous, to the very people who were after me. I already had to deal with the awkwardness and frustration my dirty little secret caused, now I would have to deal with this?

  A new concern flashed into my mind. What if my memory was a part of it all? It made sense, but only if someone knew about it,
and no one did other than Anna and maybe Carter. Did they?

  I was desperate for him to be wrong. Yet I found myself fearing that he may be right. What if I was talented? What did that mean? My mind was spinning so fast, I was actually dizzy.

  “Jordan, calm down. I didn’t tell you that you have some terrible disease or that you’re a horrible criminal.” His soothing tone made my whirling mind start to tune in to him. “All I’m saying is that I believe that you have certain inherent skills that help set you apart from everyone else. Being talented isn’t a bad thing. It’s a wonderful thing. It means you are special.”

  “So what if I am talented? What then?” I asked when I could finally form the words.

  “If you are, then that explains how you’re able to do a lot of the things you’ve done since we met. It also means you could be helpful.”

  “Helpful?” I repeated, puzzled.

  “If you are talented, then together we could face anything, including the people who are after you.”

  What he was saying wasn’t quite registering with me. “You think I’m going to be able to do the things you do?” Maybe I wasn’t the only one dangerously close to the brink of insanity. Maybe he was already there.

  “Is it so hard for you to believe you’re talented? What you did on the motorcycle is something only a few people in the world would be able to do with training. You did it with no training and made it look effortless.”

  It was hard to accept that I had the sort of abilities he had described. I wasn’t anything special. I was just me.

  “You’re remarkable.” Chase spoke as if he had heard my thoughts. “I knew that the moment I first saw you.”

  “I just don’t see how it’s possible.”

  “I wasn’t sure either until you talked about synchronicity.”

  “What about it?”

  “I know exactly what you were describing, because I’ve felt it too. In situations where a person is under great mental duress, often during physical exertion, there is a point where their mental and physical abilities, their instincts, their training, come together in perfect cohesion. Synchronicity. At that point of convergence, you experience an almost euphoric suspension. This suspension carries you past normal boundaries on both the mental and physical plane. It allows you to perform feats a normal person would not be able to do. World champion athletes, elite soldiers, extreme sports competitors, have all described experiencing something similar when they are performing. They reach a point where their minds and bodies should give up, but they push through to this state of euphoric suspension. In that state, everything comes together to work toward the objective. Once they reach that point of suspension, they almost invariably succeed.”