The Pursuit (8 page)

“I admit I wasn't thrilled about being kidnapped, but I have too much pride in my work to sabotage a chance to pull off the biggest heist in Belgian history,” Nick said. “By breaking into that vault, I did something everybody thought was impossible. Having that feather in my cap is worth more to me than a pocket full of diamonds. More important, I would never double-cross my crew, even one that kidnapped me. I have my reputation to consider.”

Dragan glanced at Zarko. “He makes a good point.”

“Of course he does, he's a con man,” Zarko said. “He'll turn any situation to his advantage with fast talk. Look how he went from being your hostage to being a partner in the heist.”

Litija laughed and stretched out on a chaise lounge. “He's got you there, Nick. That was slick.”

“There's a lot to think about,” Dragan said. “But we'll sort it out to everyone's satisfaction before the day is done, I promise you. In the meantime, I hope you'll make yourselves at home here at Villa Spintria.”

“Is this a brothel?” Nick asked.

Dragan cocked his head, clearly amused. “Why would you say a thing like that?”

“Because
spintriae
were ancient Roman coins that depicted an astonishing variety of sex acts and were used to pay prostitutes.”

“I'm impressed, though I suppose when it comes to money, even coinage as rare as
spintriae,
you would know about it,” Dragan said. “This place has been many things, including a monastery and a fortress. During the restoration of the property, barn, and orchards, we unearthed some
spintriae.
Perhaps they spilled from the pocket of a soldier or were a prized possession of a lecherous monk. We'll never know.”

“They're adorable,” Litija said, pulling a necklace from under her collar. There was a spintria coin dangling from the gold chain.

Adorable
was not the adjective Kate would have used to describe the position, or the sex act, that the woman and two men were demonstrating on the coin.

Nick leaned down to Litija's chest for a closer look at the coin. “If the U.S. Treasury put that on coins instead of dead presidents, coin collecting would become every boy's favorite hobby.”

“What you may not know is that
spintriae
is also what Roman emperor Tiberius called the men and women he brought to his villa on Capri to pleasure him,” Dragan said. “Those who didn't please him got tossed off a three-hundred-meter cliff to the sea. That spot became known as the Salto di Tiberio, the Tiberius Drop. You can see it from here. Come take a look.”

He patted the telescope, which was beside a squared opening in the low wall where a cannon once stood. The opening made Kate nervous, given the topic of Dragan's little speech. But if Nick was concerned, he didn't act that way. He walked up to the telescope and peered through it. Kate kept her hand on her gun, ready to shoot Dragan if he made a move on Nick.

“There's not much to see,” Nick said. “Just some crumbling walls.”

“It was magnificent in its day,” Dragan said. “I wanted to re-create the splendor of his villa and his pursuit of pleasure, without the debauchery.”

Zarko snorted. “Where's the fun in that?”

Dragan shoved Zarko over the wall.

The sudden, violent action took them all by surprise. One second Zarko was standing there, and the next he was gone. Litija bolted up from her chaise lounge in shock. Kate drew her gun out of reflex. Nick took a slight step back from the wall, but otherwise kept his calm.

No one was more surprised than Zarko, who was so astonished to be plunging to certain death that he didn't start screaming until an instant before hitting the rocks below.

“But I did like the Tiberius Drop,” Dragan said in a matter-of-fact way. “So all of that considered, Villa Spintria seemed like a fitting name for this place. I hope that answers your question, Nick, and resolves some of our issues.”

Nick peeked over the edge at the rocks below. “It's a step in the right direction.”

“I'm glad to hear it,” Dragan said. He walked over to Litija, took her trembling hand in his own, then turned to Nick and Kate with a gracious smile. “Come with us. I'll show you around.”

Dragan ignored Kate's gun and strolled toward the flower-draped colonnade. Nick joined Kate and tapped her right arm.

“I think you can put that away now,” he whispered. “It's impolite.”

Kate holstered the gun but kept her hand near it. “He just murdered a man in cold blood.”

“It's a good sign,” Nick said.

“Because it wasn't you?”

“It means he needs me more than he needed Zarko.”

“So we're in,” Kate said. “But in for what?”

D
ragan led them around to the east side of the villa to show them the view of his acres of lemon trees. A centuries-old stone farmhouse, serving as his processing plant, was located in the middle of the orchard.

“Villa Spintria is not just my vacation getaway,” Dragan said. “It's a business. We make
limoncello
here that's sold throughout Italy. It has a unique flavor that comes only from our lemons thanks to the enchanted spot where they are grown.”

There wasn't anything enchanting about the spot where Zarko had stood, Kate thought, or where he'd landed.

“The business is a legitimate front for laundering your money,” Nick said.

“It's more than that. I like to see the trees on the hillside, to smell the lemony scent sweetening the sea breeze, and to enjoy a
limoncello
after my meals. It makes Italy a totally immersive experience for me. But the business also explains what we're doing out here if anyone is curious.”

“And it explains why you have armed guards walking the property,” Kate said. She couldn't see the boundaries of his land, but she did notice the sentries in the turrets atop the villa.

“We don't want anyone stealing our lemons,” Dragan said.

“You can't be too careful,” Nick said. “There are thieves everywhere.”

Dragan led them to the villa, and they entered a large room with a barrel dome ceiling painted in gold leaf. Kate thought the room might have been the refectory of the former monastery. There were open windows facing the hills to the east and the sea to the west. It created a pleasant cross breeze that carried the sweet, salty scent that Dragan liked so much. Kate liked it, too. There was something naturally relaxing about it, offsetting the fact that a man had just died.

Dragan motioned for them to sit on one of the two couches on either side of a table where a pitcher of chilled lemonade and several glasses had been set out on a silver platter.

“I assume you didn't just come here to settle a dispute,” Dragan said. “You would like to collect your share of the Antwerp heist, which I'm glad to give you. But what if I could offer you that and so much more?”

“I'm listening,” Nick said, taking a seat on a couch facing the sea.

Kate sat beside Nick, and Litija poured lemonade into the glasses. Kate noticed Litija's hand was still trembling. Obviously the lemony sea breeze wasn't doing much for her.

“You can let your money ride, so to speak, and add it to your share of the biggest robbery we've ever attempted,” Dragan said, sitting on the couch facing them and the lemon groves beyond. “Perhaps the biggest ever attempted by anyone.”

“That's quite a boast,” Nick said, taking a sip of lemonade. “But you'll have to be more specific.”

Dragan glanced at Kate, then back at Nick. “I'd like to be, but first I have to know that I can trust you, that I have your complete loyalty.”

“Shouldn't I be the one concerned about that after what happened to me in Hawaii and Belgium?”

“That's what I mean,” Dragan said. “I need to know if that lingering resentment is something I should be worried about before I bring you into the big caper.”

“And before I get involved with you again,” Nick said, “I need to know that I won't be double-crossed.”

“I have a solution that should reassure both of us,” Dragan said. “I have a diamond heist planned for tomorrow afternoon in Paris. It's a modest job that has been in the works for months. Zarko was going to be the lead man. But now that he's unexpectedly dropped out, I find myself a man short. I'd like you to take his place. If the job goes well, then I'll bring you into the big caper.”

“And if I'm not interested in either one?” Nick asked.

“I'll give you your share of the Antwerp heist now, and you'll go on your merry way,” Dragan said.

Nick took another sip of lemonade while he pretended to contemplate his options. But Kate knew there was nothing to think about. He had to say yes if they were going to infiltrate Dragan's organization and find out what had happened to the smallpox vial.

“You wouldn't be offering me ‘the big caper' unless you desperately needed my unique expertise to pull it off. So I'll do this job tomorrow on two conditions,” Nick said. “First, I get Zarko's share of the Paris heist on top of what you already owe me, regardless of whether I decide to stick around afterward.”

“Agreed,” Dragan said.

“Second, Kate comes along, too,” Nick said. “I need someone in the crew I can trust to watch my back.”

Dragan studied Kate. “How do I know she's up to the task?”

“I broke Nick out of police custody,” Kate said. “I planned it and executed it within forty-eight hours of his arrest. I think that speaks for itself about my capabilities and experience.”

“I only work with the best,” Nick said to Dragan. “In fact, as far as I'm concerned, this job tomorrow is
your
audition. I expect to see precision and professionalism at every level, or I'm out.”

“There he goes,” Litija said. “Turning it around on you again, Dragan. I've never met anyone so slick.”

“Neither have I,” Dragan said. “Nick is one of a kind, and he continues to prove it, which is as irritating as it is impressive.” He shifted his gaze to Kate. “You're in, but your share will come out of Nick's pocket.”

“I don't care whose pocket it comes from as long as it ends up in mine,” Kate said.

“Then it's settled. You'll both be staying here tonight and traveling with us to Paris by private plane tomorrow morning,” Dragan said. “I've already taken the liberty of checking you out of the hotel and having your things brought here.”

“You were pretty sure of yourself,” Nick said.

“I'm a hard man to say no to,” Dragan said.

Kate was hoping that if Dragan had checked them out he also took care of the bill. God knows what the champagne and
sfogliatelle
cost.

Dragan left Litija behind in the refectory and took Nick and Kate into a windowless room decorated with framed antique maps on the walls and an antique floor globe in one corner.

“This is a remnant of the old fortress and served as the commander's map room. It's where he planned tactics and strategy,” Dragan said. “I use it for the same purpose. I stare at the ceiling and hope for inspiration.”

Kate looked up. The ceiling was covered with a fresco of the heavens and the Greek gods that commanded them. She was about to look away when something caught her eye, and she did a double take. The illustration of Zeus, the god of gods, had Dragan's face, pockmarks and all. What a lunatic, she thought.

He walked over to an architect's model of a building that was displayed on a table in the center of the room. “Do you recognize this?”

It was an octagonal building with an open square in the middle. A street ran through the middle of the square, and there was a tall, slender box standing upright in the center. The box had a drawing of a column that had a statue of a Roman Caesar on top. There was another box that had been cut to fit over a portion of the building on one corner of the model.

Nick bent down and studied the model. “Place Vendôme.”

“You know Paris,” Dragan said.

“I know where the best jewelry stores in the world are,” Nick said. “You aren't seriously considering hitting them?”

“Why not? It's a great score, and the location is perfect. There's only one way in and out.” Dragan pointed to the street that ran through the middle of the octagon. “Rue de la Paix. The buildings on either side of the square are continuous and essentially form two walls. That makes it easy for us to control the flow of traffic.”

“It also makes it easy for the police to box you in,” Kate said.

“That's not going to happen,” Dragan said in a dismissive tone that did not invite argument.

“Is this going to be another smash-and-grab?” Nick asked.

“You make it sound so crude,” Dragan said. “But yes, it is.”

“I see two problems. The biggest one is right here, next door to the Ritz hotel.” Nick pointed to the building next to the one covered with the box. “That's the Ministry of Justice, which runs the nation's courts and prison system. There are police officers armed with automatic weapons inside and outside the building at all times. They can show up at any of the jewelry stores within the plaza in seconds.”

“Set that quibble aside for now,” Dragan said. “What's the other problem?”

“After your smash-and-grab on the Champs-Élysées, the city installed solid steel pillars a couple feet apart to prevent cars from leaving the street and smashing through the storefronts. They run all along the inner circumference of the octagon.”

“Ordinarily, those pillars would be an impediment, but not now. We have a once-in-a-lifetime window of opportunity. The Colonne Vendôme and the Ritz are currently being renovated. They are entirely covered in scaffolding and hidden behind decorative shrouds.” Dragan tapped the slender box in the center of the square and then the one covering the building in the corner. “Usually, it's an open square, but now there are plywood fencing and trucks around the base of the
colonne
and construction workers everywhere.”

Nick smiled. “And you've had your men working among the construction crew for months.”

“Indeed I have. At four o'clock tomorrow, several of our construction workers will place the ends of two parallel scaffold platforms on two of the steel pillars in front of Boucheron jewelers at the northeast corner of place Vendôme and rue de la Paix.”

Nick nodded, getting the picture. “Transforming the pillars from obstacles into an inclined ramp for a speeding Audi.”

“
Your
speeding Audi,” Dragan said. “You and Kate will go airborne and crash through the front window of the store. You will get out, smash the display cases with hammers, steal the jewels, and exit on foot to rue de la Paix, where two motorcycles will be waiting for you both to make your escape. While you are doing all of that, the same sequence of events will be happening at the opposite end of the square, at the Bulgari store on the western corner of place Vendôme and rue de la Paix, with another set of thieves.”

“Two robberies at once?” Nick said. “Isn't that pushing your luck?”

“We'll never get an opportunity like this again to strike place Vendôme,” Dragan said. “We'd be fools not to take full advantage of it.”

Nick tapped the Ministry of Justice building. “And what about this building full of police? You haven't explained how you are going to deal with that quibble.”

“No, I haven't. It's not necessary for you to know those details. It's a separate operation. But let me give you some peace of mind. There are construction office trailers, stacked on top of each other, that have created a temporary four-story building in front of the Ritz that significantly blocks the view of Boucheron from the police officers stationed at the front door of the Ministry of Justice,” Dragan said. “The scaffolding, scrim, and plywood fencing around the Colonne Vendôme blocks their view of Bulgari, too, not that you should be concerned about what is happening there, either.”

“The police may not see the robberies go down, but they are certainly going to hear them,” Kate said. “They can get across the square while we're still smashing display cases and seal up the two ends of the street, boxing us in. It will be like shooting fish in a barrel. How are you going to stop that?”

“All you need to know is that we will,” Dragan said. His voice was sharp. It was clear he didn't like the questioning. “There is no point in cluttering your head with irrelevant information. I want you concentrating on your jobs. I don't want you distracted thinking about what someone else is supposed to do. That would jeopardize the entire operation. You have enough to think about as it is and a strict timetable to follow.”