Page 26 of His Sweet Torment
“Can I ask your name?”
The driver hesitated and then nodded. “Lisa.”
Padme touched her shoulder. “Thank you, Lisa, for everything. Without you calling Dale…”
“Just doing my job.”
“What is your job, exactly?”
Lisa’s eyes were guarded. “I’m Mr. Toscano’s…associate. I fix things.”
Padme nodded. “I get it.”
“In the case under your seat, you’ll find a .22. Keep it with you at all times.”
Padme dug around for a small case and pulled out the .22. “You’ll find it’s been legally registered in your name,” Lisa continued, “and spare ammo in the bag. Also, a burner phone with my number coded in. Only use it to callme, Miss Lemon.”
“Call me Padme.”
“Padme. It’s important that we do everything according to the plan. If successful, we could have you out of the country by the end of the week without Ingles’ knowing. After your call tonight, I will drive you back to your apartment, where you will pack a bag. Then you will go to stay with your mother. From there we will body swap you with another young Indian woman working for us, and you will be taken out of the country.”
“To Enver?”
“Not directly. The Ingles’ influence is everywhere. So, you will fly to the first location with your own passport. That will lead Ingles men there, with any luck. While they are trying to find you, we will send out more decoys so that they catch your scent, as it were. In the meantime, you will be traveling to the next location under a different name and passport and so on and so on until we feel it’s safe to reunite you with Mr. Toscano. Understood?”
Padme couldn’t help feeling excited. “And you’re sure the people I love will be protected?”
Lisa smiled grimly. “Oh, Iamsure.”
She drove them to a house outside the city. Inside, Lisa set up the phone call. “We’re having to reroute it a lot,” she explained to Padme, “If Ingles’ people even caught a whiff, they’d find him.”
The second she heard Enver’s voice on the telephone, Padme felt like bursting into tears. “Pad?”
“Oh, god, Enver, Enver…” Her legs gave way and Lisa steered her into a chair. “Enver, I love you so much, god, I love you.”
His voice was full of emotion. “As I love you, my darling one, I have missed you more than I can say. Are you okay, are you alright? That terrible day…I thought I’d lost you, but they wouldn’t let me see you.”
“I’m fine, totally fine, I just…god, Enver, it’s been hell without you, not knowing if you were dead. I finally got what you were trying to tell me.”
“I’m sorry we had to go through all that subterfuge – I apologize for having to drug you to get you to the hospital so we could get the last set of co-ordinates to you, but I was getting desperate. I knew Ingles was honing in on you. He’s reading your mail, he’s bugging your calls. I’m so scared he’ll try to kill…” his voice choked off, and he couldn’t finish what he said.
“Fifty seconds,” Lisa said firmly. Padme started to panic. “We don’t have long, just know I love you and I’m coming to be with you and we’ll figure this out together.”
“Yes, we will, when we do, I’m going to marry you, Padme Kaur. What you have done for me…god, I love you.”
Lisa was making a wind-up motion with her hand. “I have to go now, but I’ll see you very soon. I love you, baby, so much.”
“Ti amo,Padme Kaur,ti amo. Trust Lisa, she will do everything you need.”
“Soon, darling.”
“Soon.”
The connection was broken, and Padme felt bereft but happy. She handed Lisa the phone back. Lisa immediately took out the SIM card and snapped it in two, then used her high heel to smash the phone. She bent over the laptop and typed in some code Padme couldn’t understand. Padme studied her. Everything about the other woman said efficiency and cool ruthlessness.
“Are you military?”
Lisa smiled at her. “Ex. I’m a freelancer now – well, I say that, I’ve been working for Enver for about five years exclusively.”
