The Courbet Connection (Book 5) (Genevieve Lenard) (38 page)

Vinnie turned enough for the camera to show Dukwicz looking down, his weapon trained on Vinnie. It was a powerful handgun, not a weapon for shooting tranquilising darts or rubber bullets. The darkness came closer and I focussed on Dukwicz’s body language.

From this angle, Dukwicz looked taller, even more vicious than I remembered. He rested his boot heavily on Vinnie’s hand and bent down to take Vinnie’s weapon. “Is that delightful doctor also here?”

“Fuck you.” Vinnie sounded weak. In pain.

Dukwicz kicked Vinnie again, aiming for his stomach. Vinnie grunted loudly, the camera shaking. “Why do you people always have to fuck everything up for me?”

Vinnie didn’t say anything. I wasn’t breathing, moving, not even blinking. I could not watch my friend die. We were supposed to save the students. We were supposed to capture Dukwicz, the hunter,
Gasquet, Breton and Hugo.
This
was not supposed to happen. I couldn’t take my eyes off the monitors to see if Michael was safe, or if someone was going to come to Vinnie’s aid.

I couldn’t imagine why Vinnie wasn’t fighting back. Was he that badly injured? His breathing sounded even. Harsh, but even. Dukwicz lifted his rifle to his shoulder and aimed above the camera at Vinnie’s head. “Killing you might be the highlight of my career. It will also make you number three hundred and fifty. Such a nice round number.”

The camera shook and a violent flurry of movement ensued. It was impossible to see what was happening. My chest ached and I hardly breathed as I searched the footage for a clue to Vinnie’s safety. There was too much movement and Vinnie’s arm obscured the view a few times. When the movement and camera stilled, Vinnie was sitting on top of Dukwicz’s chest.

The camera moved with Vinnie’s body as he punched Dukwicz, breaking his nose. Already, Dukwicz had a bright red bruise on his jaw and his eyebrow was split. Vinnie didn’t stop. The camera moved again as he raised his fist, but the image jerked to a halt.

“Enough, Vinnie. You’ve got him. He’s secure.” Daniel came into sight, holding out his hand. Vinnie took it and stood up. Three of Daniel’s team members had their weapons aimed at Dukwicz. One of them holstered his gun and took out zip ties to cuff Dukwicz.

“No, wait.” Vinnie moved closer to Dukwicz. He grabbed Dukwicz’s left hand and twisted it until the man under him yelled out. Only then did Vinnie take Colin’s watch from Dukwicz’s wrist. “Motherfucking bastard.”

Vinnie straightened and the GIPM team member fastened the zip ties around Dukwicz’s wrists. They looked a bit tight.

“Where’s Michael?” Vinnie turned to the direction Michael had run. Only trees filled the monitor. He turned back to Daniel.

“Pink has him. He’s secure.” Daniel slapped Vinnie on the shoulder, but frowned when Vinnie groaned. “What happened?”

“Nothing. A bruise.” He paused. “What about the other kids?”

“The Beta team found the hideout. We have the three students. The one male is very traumatised, but they all seem to be physically unharmed.” The smile lifting Daniel’s mouth wasn’t friendly. “We got Breton, Hugo and two others.”

“Gasquet?”

“Not there.”

“Fuck!”

“Don’t worry. He’s on every law enforcement’s radar. He won’t be able to move around freely in Europe.”

Vinnie’s eyes widened suddenly. He looked into Daniel’s camera. “You guys still there?”

“Yes.” Colin cleared his throat when the word came out hoarse. “Yes, Vin. We’re here.”

“Come home, Vinnie.” Francine’s voice was thick with tears.

“Be there are soon as I can.” He blinked a few times. Concern contracted the muscles around his eyes and mouth. “Jen-girl?”

Irrationally, I nodded at the monitors.

“She’s here, Vin.”

“Is she okay?”

Colin looked at me and said softly, “She will be.”

I stepped out of my bedroom and was met with a loud argument.

“I’m not putting lemon garlic on a steak. Get out of my kitchen, you evil woman.”

“I tell you, it will bring out the steak-ey flavour if you add a few spoons of this to your marinade.” Francine held out a small shaker. Vinnie took it and put it on the highest shelf. Francine stretched to reach it, but he blocked her. Still reaching up, she turned to Vinnie and put her arms around his neck. After a second, he pulled her close and gave her a tight hug. She slapped him lightly on his shoulder. “You scared me, you big lug.”

“You scared everyone, Vin.” Colin got up from the sofa and walked to me, studying me. “Feeling better?”

“Much. Thank you.” I had just spent an hour lying in my bathtub, mentally writing Mozart’s Fugue in G minor. The two hours after Dukwicz’s capture had been spent first calming Caelan and getting him to allow Tim, Nikki and Rebecca to take him home. Eventually Phillip had joined them to make sure Caelan had enough food and that everyone was safe.

Francine and I had searched for alternative locations where Gasquet could have gone, but had found nothing. Manny had been the one to order us all to go home and rest. The students had been taken to hospital for evaluation and there had been nothing more we could do.

Nikki had looked at me once and had gone to Colin for a hug. As soon as we’d arrived at my apartment, I’d locked the reinforced door of my bathroom and surrendered to the harmony of Mozart’s composition to restore calm and control in my mind. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so drained. Paradoxically, Vinnie and Francine’s argument energised me.

He let her go and turned to me. “Thank you for finding those kids, Jen-girl.”

“We all did our part.” I walked closer and stopped in front of him. I studied the scarred face of a man who had seen much violence in his life. Yet he argued with Francine about spices and gave her comforting hugs. I lifted my hand until it was two centimetres from his sternum. He just stood there silently, giving me the time to find the right words, the right gesture. I slowly rested my hand on his chest, over his heart. “I am so proud to call you my friend.”

“Aw, Jen-girl.” Vinnie took my hand in his and pressed it hard against his chest.

I pulled my hand out of his and took a step away from him. “Does your back hurt?”

“Like a son of a bitch.” He turned around and pulled his shirt up. A bruise larger than my hand covered the upper left side of his muscular back.

Colin whistled softly. “That looks painful. Is anything broken?”

“Don’t think so.” Vinnie dropped his shirt and faced us again. “It doesn’t feel like any ribs are broken.”

“Did you have a doctor or someone check you out?” Francine asked.

“For what?” Vinnie lifted one shoulder. “To tell me not to sleep on my back for a few days? Nah. This isn’t my first rodeo, girl. I know what a broken rib feels like, so I’m pretty sure I don’t have any of those.”

I looked around my apartment. “Where’s Nikki?”

“She’s with Rebecca in her room. They’re listening to music.” Colin’s smile was relaxed. “Nikki was a real trouper—really strong.”

“I know she’s strong.” Stronger than me. I had barely held on to my control until we came home. Even now I was fighting the blackness that still hovered around the periphery of my vision. The toll this case had taken on each of us was higher than ever before.

The doorbell rang, immediately followed by impatient knocking. Colin shook his head and walked to the front door. “That will be Millard. He said he’d be around.”

“He’s just coming for the dinner.” Vinnie turned to the stove. “He’d better be hungry. I’m making enough food to feed an army.”

Colin checked first before opening the door. Manny walked in and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. “Look who I brought with.”

Michael walked in behind Manny, still pale, but with his head held high. He stepped past Manny and walked straight to Vinnie, stopping in front of him. It took him three tries before he could speak. When he did his voice shook. “Thank you. No. Thank you is not enough. I don’t know what to say. I don’t have the words.”

Vinnie looked down at the young man, his face soft. “I know. And you’re welcome.”

Michael turned to me. “Thanks for finding me.”

I nodded, uncomfortable with the strong emotions overwhelming me. A happy shout from the other side of the apartment saved me.

“Michael! You’re here.” Nikki ran towards us and threw her arms around Michael. He groaned loudly and she lifted her arms. “Did I hurt you? Oh, my God. Did they hurt you? Are you okay? Do you need to go to the doctor? Doc G, we need to take him to the hospital.”

“I’m okay, Nikkidee.”

“I just brought him from the hospital.” Manny sat down at the dining room table. The dark circles under his eyes were not the only indication of his exhaustion. “Apart from a few bruises, he’s okay.”

“Are you?” Nikki leaned in and looked deep into Michael’s eyes. “Are you really okay?”

He put his hands on her shoulders and nodded slowly. “I’m alive. I’ll be okay. Actually, I’m… um… I’m hungry.”

He looked so embarrassed about it that Nikki burst out laughing and gave him another hug, which made him groan again and made her apologise again. Rebecca joined us and gave Michael a quick hug. Vinnie organised the young people to help him prepare two different kinds of salads. When Francine offered her assistance, he bared his teeth and banned her from the kitchen. She joined us at the dining room table. Colin had pulled his chair close to mine, his arm around the back of my chair.

“Where is Judith?” I asked.

“She went back to Lyon. This is a huge cluster—” Manny looked towards the kitchen and the young people laughing with Vinnie. “It’s a big mess. The other two members of her team are gone and she needs to be debriefed.”

“What’s going to happen to Breton and Hugo?” Francine asked.

Manny snorted. “Hugo is such a big sissy. He’s already started spilling all the secrets. Apparently, he and Breton went to visit Gasquet on the farm after Emile Rimbaud died. Even though Adam had given Gasquet the farm, he had left the house the same way Adam and Rimbaud had decorated it for those times Rimbaud went there.

“Breton and Hugo were going to help Gasquet clear out the house and make it a weekend getaway. That was when they discovered all Adam’s paintings. Gasquet hadn’t known about any of it. But once he knew, he fought so hard to get Rimbaud’s case closed and forgotten. He refused to believe that Rimbaud and Adam could be guilty of anything illegal. By the sounds of it, he really idolised them.”

“Discovering that Adam had painted so many forgeries and that Monsieur Rimbaud had tried to sell one of those to pay for his medical bills had to be disillusioning.” And very difficult for a man who’d had such a hard childhood.

“I reckon that was the trigger that turned him into such a psycho.” Manny slouched deeper into the chair.

“He didn’t turn into something. It was already there. This was only a catalyst that brought his dark behaviour to the fore.” It happened more often than we knew.

“Okay, so what was the deal with Breton and Hugo?” Colin asked.

“Oh, Hugo wanted to report those paintings immediately. He said that Gasquet really put the squeeze on him to keep quiet. That was when he received the first payment. From there it just went south. Gasquet got them to open an account on SSS.” Manny lifted his index finger. “Ah, he said the three of them worked together as Zana-whatever-D.”

“Zana22Dactor3178,” Francine said.

“Yeah. That. It was the handle they used for all their illegal activities. And when Hugo started spilling… It seems like there have been quite a lot of illegal activities. He said that he just got in deeper and deeper and eventually didn’t know how to get out of it.”

“That’s a bullshit excuse,” Colin said through his teeth.

“I fully agree, Frey. He wouldn’t have been selling students for spare parts if he wasn’t already crooked in some way.”

“Huh. So ZD was actually three men.” Francine nodded slowly. “Makes sense. They had enough expertise to pool together. No wonder it worked well for such a long time.”

“How did they go from selling forged Courbet paintings to kidnapping students and selling them in auctions?” That was a leap in behaviour I didn’t understand.

“Hugo blamed it on Gasquet. He said one of Gasquet’s legit clients had a kid who needed a kidney, but the waiting list was too long. He came to Gasquet in confidence, asking if he knew a way to find a kidney for his child. At first Gasquet refused, but the client offered a quarter of a million dollars.”

“That’s a huge temptation,” Colin said. “And a bigger payday than trying to sell a forged Courbet painting.”

“Which makes it no surprise that the bastard agreed. Hugo said that was how Gasquet came up with the idea.”

“How does Dukwicz fit into all of this?” I asked.

“Ah.” Manny’s smile was not friendly. “Apparently Gasquet has many friends in low places. Not only did his clients request him to find organs, but someone requested this kind of hunting. His lower than low contacts gave him Dukwicz and the rest we know.”

I thought about this for a few seconds. The realisation of our carelessness made me feel cold. “Did Dukwicz get CCTV footage from the police station
of the day Colin, or to be more correct Edward Taylor, was arrested? He could have seen me with Colin and would have drawn a very logical conclusion.”