On the brighter side, Cyrah Jafari seemed equally dedicated to making herself the undisputed heavyweight champion of the assassination game. He was looking forward to hearing what crazy scheme she dreamed up almost as much as he was looking forward to seeing Anthony Cook dead.
Until that magnificent day, though, he needed to get lost. A little educational trip for Anna to the far corners of the world. Maybe check out the lemurs in Madagascar. Then to the Seychelles for some diving. Ulaanbaatar. Istanbul. Machu Picchu.
The chopper swung around Ward’s compound and set down. Claudia—the real one, finally—was waiting near a stand of trees, using both hands to keep her hat from being swept away.
He jogged clear of the aircraft, wrapped his arms around her, and lifted her off the ground. She laughed and kissed him, keeping one hand on her hat.
“Wow! Look who’s in a good mood! Can I assume that Legion’s dead? Was it just one person or was it a team like we thought?”
“It was a team,” he said, starting toward their cabin. “Three people. And not dead exactly. But no longer a threat.”
Her brow furrowed, but she sensed that she should let the story evolve at its own pace. “And no one was hurt? Bebe?”
“Not a scratch. She’s on her way home. Maybe even there by now.”
“Sadie?”
“Safely back in New York.”
“And how did that go? I mean working with her.”
Rapp decided to have a little fun. “I have to admit that I was wrong about her. She’s not just stunningly beautiful, she’s got serious game.”
Claudia’s jaw clenched despite the fact that he hadn’t yet delivered the coup de grace. “And the amazing thing? She’s an incredible cook. I’m trying to get her to send you some recipes.”
Predictably, Claudia looked like she wanted to carve his heart out with whatever blunt instrument was at hand. Before she could get a hold of one, he laughed.
“She’s a complete psycho, Claudia. Bebe and I had to wind her in duct tape to get her on the plane. I told the pilots to dump her on the tarmac in New York with a box cutter.”
Her expression softened. “We owe her, though. For what she did for us.”
“Yeah. And that terrifies me. My hope is to never lay eyes on Sadie Hansen again. Now what’s our situation here? Have you arranged our exit?”
“Of course.”
“How soon can we go?”
“Not tomorrow morning. Maybe afternoon if we push.”
“Then push. I want to be miles away from here before the Cooks can get a cruise missile teed up.”
“Okay. I’ll get on it. Why don’t you tell Anna? She dying to see you and I think she’ll be excited to be moving on. It’s getting a little slow here for her.”
“No problem.”
“Before that, though, you should probably go see Irene. She’ll want a full report on what’s happened.”
“She’s here?”
Claudia nodded. “Waiting on Nick. He’s due tomorrow.”
Not a conversation he was looking forward to. In light of that, a little procrastination was in order.
Rapp swept his toe under the soccer ball and sent it arcing gently into the air. “Use your head!”
Anna sprinted across the patch of grass in front of Nicholas Ward’s house, but wasn’t quite fast enough.
“Scott’s better than you!” she pointed out. “He can get it all the way to me. But he had to leave. He said he had to work. I don’t know where. He has lots of jobs. I wonder if he went to see Joe? Do you think he’s going to come back soon?”
“I dunno,” Rapp said, trapping the ball when she kicked it back to him. “But we’re leaving, too.”
Her eyes widened. “Are we going home? Is the house all fixed? ’Cause—”
“Not home,” Claudia called from her position near the pool. “We’re going to go have some fun.”
“Where? Are we going to get to fly on the helicopter? Because—”
“Not the helicopter,” Rapp said. “We’re going out by ground.”
He tapped the ball back toward the girl, but she let it go right by. “We can’t go out on the ground. There aren’t any roads that come here.”
“We don’t need roads. We’re not driving.”
Anna thought about that for a moment, seeming to seize on the most incredible possibility of her short life. “Are we going to ride horses?”
He frowned dramatically. “Why ride a horse when you can ride an elephant?”