Mission: Undercover

Chapter 37

Vanessa couldn't sleep. It was five in the morning—an hour and a half was left for her flight. She felt every minute like an eternity. So many thoughts were racing through her head. Just when she felt like she had lost every last bit of herself, she began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope for a way out of the maze she was in.

Vanessa took one of her fake passports and put it in the backpack she had prepared. She left a note on her bed that read: I'll be back soon. Don't worry.

On the way to the airport, she turned off her phone.

After the eleven-hour flight, Vanessa landed in Zurich. She first went to rent a car, then drove to her location, several hours away.

But the person she was looking for was not at home. After a quick search, she got back into the car she had parked off the road across from Paul Ward's little house and waited, hoping he would be home soon.

The night passed, and then the next day, but still, there was no sign of him.

As dusk fell again, Vanessa noticed a man walking toward the house in the distance. She got out of the car, and when he turned down to his home, she ran after him.

"Paul Ward! Not so fast, you fucking bastard!"

The man looked like he saw a ghost. But the woman in front of him, holding a gun in her hand, was worse.

"How do you know my name? He told me no one would find me here!"

Vanessa went very close to him. "Who told you? Cole?"

"I don't know names, I swear!"

Vanessa took her phone and showed the screen to him. "Is this the man you were talking to?"

"No. He was quite older. Please let me go."

Vanessa punched him in the face without any warning. "Why did you do this? Talk immediately, or I'll break every bone in your body!"

"Don't, please! I will tell you everything! He paid me. He said I should play the role of my life. He offered to pay me $1 million. After playing the role, I had to disappear, change my name, and live peacefully for the rest of my life."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"About the role. Don't you ask me about that?"

Vanessa punched him again. Blood flew from his nose.

The man pressed his hand across it. "What was that for? I told you everything!"

"What role are you talking about?"

"Please, leave me alone! I am telling you the truth. I swear! He gave me clothes to wear and told me to put on the hood. Afterward, go to a house, pretend to talk on the phone, and say, 'Tell the boss that 2-f-m is cleaned.' That was everything, I swear!"

"You didn't shoot them?"

"Shoot? Who? What are you talking about? Are you crazy? I haven't harmed even a fly in my whole life.

Vanessa turned aside and hit the nearby tree.

"I've been played! Damn it!" She hit the tree again. "Someone is playing with me! Everything has been planned."

"What are you talking about?"

Vanessa turned to Paul again. "Get out! Run!"

Paul didn't hesitate even for a moment and ran off in a flash.

Vanessa dialed Karevsky. "I need to get back to LA as soon as possible."

"What happened, Blake?"

"I'll tell you later. When is the earliest flight?"