Snow Falls Read online

  He tapped a spot on his tablet to reveal the floor plan of an upscale hotel that appeared on the wall-mounted seventy-inch flatscreen.

  “You got all the angles covered, I take it?” Archer asked, walking closer to the screen for a better look.

  Despite himself, Snow did the same.

  “It’s handled,” Dominic answered without looking up from his tablet. “I’ll be heading out in a few minutes to give everything the once over.”

  “You need any help?” Archer inquired.

  “It’s handled.”

  “Okay,” Archer told his oldest son. “I’ll see you there.”

  Dominic looked up from the screen. “Is there any particular reason you’re joining us?”

  “You mean beside the fact that I own the company?”

  “Yes. Besides that,” Dominic said. “You know I didn’t mean any disrespect, Dad. It’s just that I see you’ve got company. I thought you might have other things to do than watch me handle a simple security check.”

  “At ease, son,” Archer said. “You know I have the utmost faith in you. I wouldn’t have put you in charge if I didn’t. I’m not checking up on you. That’s a promise. I’ve got a meeting with one of the trade delegates to set up the possibility of us handling security for them on a more permanent basis. Once this new initiative passes, they will have a delegation living in the U.S. on an almost permanent basis. Hopefully, I can get a tentative deal in the books now. It could be a lucrative contract.”

  “Are you that certain the initiative will pass?” Dominic said.

  “You know me, the eternal optimist,” Archer said.

  “Why don’t you let me handle it?” Dominic said. “Spend some time with your grandson. You and Abraham can grab some lunch. I’m sure the last thing he wants to do is tag along on some corporate wine and dine.”

  “I’ve got it covered,” Archer said, signaling that there would be no debating his decision. Once he made up his mind, it was all but impossible to change it. “Besides, you know I can’t pass up an opportunity to see my one and only granddaughter, now can I?”

  Snow had been uncomfortable from the moment he stepped into his father’s office. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when their relationship had fallen apart, but it had been strained long before he took off for parts unknown on a deep cover assignment. Somehow, he suspected that their relationship, such as it was, was beyond repair. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to try and patch things up. From the cool reception he had received, he could tell that Dominic Snow felt much the same way. He had all but tuned out the conversation until mention of his sister was made.

  “Sammy’s in town?” Snow asked.

  “Oh, didn’t I mention that?” Archer said, feigning befuddlement. It was a game he played to keep others off balance. In business deals, the bumbling old man act had worked to his advantage on more than one occasion. Snow hated when he used the tactic against him, however. Especially considering that the old man act was just that, an act. Archer Snow was usually the sharpest man in the room, including this one.

  “Must have slipped your mind,” Snow said.

  “Yeah. Must be getting senile in my old age.”

  “Right,” Snow said, drawing out the word.

  Dominic stood. “I really need to get going, gentlemen,” he said matter of fact. “I guess I will see you there.”

  “We’ll be right behind you,” Archer said.

  “It was good to see you, Abraham,” Dominic said before heading out the door.

  “See? I told you he didn’t hate you,” Archer announced once they were alone.

  Snow shook his head slowly as he followed his grandfather to the exit.

  “It’s going to be a long day,” he muttered.

  3.

  “This place is amazing.”

  Abraham Snow followed his father and grandpa into the lobby of the hotel and felt like he had been transported onto the set of a sci-fi movie. The hotel’s interior could have passed for a futuristic city, which it had, on a couple of occasions, in movies. Crosswalks crisscrossed over one another in different layouts on multiple levels. The hotel room floors stretched up as high as he could see, ending in a point far in the distance. The floors were oddly shaped, not like any other standard square or round hotel he had ever stayed in before. The hotel had changed little in the years since he’d last been there to attend a science fiction convention with some friends the year he graduated from high school. His love of all things geeky had come from his mother, who also loved attending conventions dressed as her favorite characters. With her freewheeling spirit and his father’s lack of a creative side, the divorce was all but inevitable. Snow was twelve at the time, and it hit him hard.

  Snow and his grandfather fell back while Dominic and the rest of the team went on ahead to go over the last minute preparations. He was happy to give his father some distance. It had been a long time since they had spent any time together, and it had not ended well.

  “You like?” Archer Snow asked, drawing him back to the present.

  “Yeah. This place is gorgeous,” Snow said. “Especially compared to some of the rat-holes I’ve stayed in the past few years. Must be a bitch to secure though. Look at all this…” he gestured, pointing out the obvious security nightmares. “You’ve got wide open space and plenty of blind spots. Not an ideal place for security of any kind.”

  “I don’t disagree, but the people we’ve been hired to protect aren’t really the type to think about things like that,” Archer whispered. “Given the choice, they tend to choose aesthetics over security every time. Doesn’t make our job any easier, but then, if it was easy…”

  “Everybody would do it,” the said in unison.

  “Sounds like every diplomat I’ve ever met. Spoiled, pampered, and too self-important for their own good,” Snow added.

  “I hope that doesn’t include me,” a familiar voice called out from behind him.

  “Sammy!” Snow all but shouted as he turned to see the last person he had expected. A big smile firmly in place, he ran to her, and, in spite of being surrounded by her coworkers, Snow scooped up his baby sister in a big bear hug, lifting her feet off the marble floor and spinning her about. He laughed, and she did as well. He hadn’t realized exactly how much he had missed her until that moment.

  “Hey,” he finally said once he set her back on solid ground.

  “Hey yourself, Snowball,” she said softly before regaining her composure. She turned back to her companions. “Why don’t you go on ahead. I’ll join you shortly,” she told them.

  “See you inside, Samantha,” the head diplomat said with a polite nod. “Gentlemen.”

  “I was hoping to run into you before the meeting started,” Samantha Dean said.

  “Really? You must have some good intel. An hour ago, I didn’t even know I’d be here, much less that you were in town,” he said, his smile still firmly in place.

  “Well, I do have an inside source,” she said playfully and nodded to the approaching Archer Snow.

  “That would be me,” he said, all smiles as he hugged his granddaughter.

  “And when did you have time to do that?” Snow asked.

  “He texted me,” she explained.

  Snow snorted. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Are Dad and Doug here?”

  “They’re inside,” Archer said. “Your boss has not been making things easy for him, you know.”

  “Don’t start, Grandpa,” Samantha said. “I’m just the mediator here. My client is responsible for making his own security arrangements. I simply suggested that Snow Security might be a good way to go. You could have said no.”

  “That’s my girl,” Archer said. “You know I can never back down from a good challenge.”

  “I better get in there,” she said. “I expect you to take me out to dinner tonight, buster,” she told her brother. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

  “It’s a date,” Snow said. “Tell Doug to join u
s when you see him. It’s high time the Archer Kids went out for a night on the town together.”

  “Done and done,” she said. “See you two in a bit.”

  Once she walked inside to join her coworkers, Snow turned to his grandfather. “You’re just full of surprises today, aren’t you, old man?”

  “Cluck all you want, kiddo,” Archer joked. “My son and grandkids are all in the same building for the first time in God only knows how long. I plan to enjoy every minute of it.”

  “I can see that. Any other surprises I should be expecting?”

  As if on cue, a boisterous voice cut through the air, bouncing off the walls. Snow turned, a big smile spreading across his face when he saw the tall slender man approaching. He wore a dark suit that complimented his brown skin tone. There was a FBI badge wallet tucked in the pocket and a Bureau issued sidearm holstered on his hip. His black-as-night hair was cut short, and he wore a thin goatee and beard. Although he had changed much since they were kids, Snow recognized the man immediately. He couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Hambone!” the newcomer said, his arms spread wide. The two men embraced one another in a big bear hug and clapped one another on the back, which drew stares from the assembled dignitaries and their aides.

  “How the hell you been, Mac?” Snow said when they parted.

  “Better now that I’ve seen your sorry ass,” Tom McClellan joked. “I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to pop your head up from whatever hole you’ve been hiding in. You in town long?”

  “For a bit,” Snow said.

  “Then you, me, and Big John are on for dinner and beers.” He handed over a business card. “I’ve got to get back to work here, but give me a call and we’ll make a plan. Talk soon.”

  Snow took the card. “You bet, pal.”

  “Mr. Snow,” Mac said to Archer Snow.

  “Mr. McClellan,” Archer replied as FBI Special Agent Tom McClellan jogged to catch up with the group he had split off from to say hello. He sidled up next to his grandson. “What did I tell you?”

  “This may be the first time I’ve seen Mac in a suit,” Snow said.

  “A lot can change in a decade, kiddo.”

  “Yeah. I’m starting to realize that. I missed a lot while I was gone.”

  “But now, you’re home,” Archer said.

  “Yeah,” Snow said. “Now, I’m home.”

  • • •

  From a perch high above the ballroom level of the hotel, the sniper waited.

  The contract was fairly straightforward. A photo of the target had been attached to an encrypted email sent along a secure server and routed through several different countries before being read through a temporary dummy account set up for this one assignment only and retrieved at a public computer in a library. The photo of the target, his name, a timeframe, and a place were all set up by the client. This was pretty standard SOP for a hit, but the client was not looking for collateral damage. In fact, the contract specifically forbade civilian casualties.

  That ruled out explosives and poisons.

  The hotel was also a problem. The place was a maze of crisscrossing corridors, bridges, and people, all within a building with wide-open spaces making up its interior. While such a place was perfectly suited to conferences and conventions, it was not so easy for someone to lie in wait with a high-powered rifle until the target appeared. There were simply too many individuals coming and going to camp out and wait for the target.

  This job required stealth.

  And stealth cost extra.

  Fortunately, the client was willing to pay the higher fee so long as the target was eliminated. The assassin assured the client, a fussy man who was used to brokering deals with those who feared him. When faced with a professional, one that did not cower under his lofty position, he became demure. It was a common trait in men with supposed power. Take away their superiority, and they became as malleable as clay.

  The room in the corner, closest to optimum firing position, had been reserved under a false identity, courtesy of the client, who provided special documentation. All was ready.

  All the sniper had to do was wait.

  • • •

  Abraham Snow was bored.

  The first session of the day went off without a hitch, but he was already tired of listening to the delegates droning on and on before the first hour had passed. Quietly excusing himself by pretending he was getting a phone call, he slipped out of the ballroom that had been converted into a large conference room for the talks. He had never been good at sitting still for very long. He had amazing patience when it came to working undercover. Some of his cases had taken years to set up and work. That he could handle. Spending hours sitting around listening to people talk was akin to torture.

  Once outside the room, he slipped the cell phone back into his pocket. There really weren’t any people he could call. Most everyone he knew outside of work circles, except Big John, was in the room he had just escaped from, so he was on his own.

  Since he was just an unintended guest and didn’t really have a stake in the trade talks, he decided to get out a stretch his legs with a quick walk around the lobby. He wanted a cigarette but had sworn off the wretched things after waking up in the intensive care unit. Smoking had been part of his James Shepperd persona. Now that he had put that alias away, hopefully for good, the cigs went with it. The doctor had given him a shot that was supposed to help, but it only helped stave off the cravings a little bit. There were also his hands. He wasn’t used to them being empty, so he’d started carrying around an ink pen he could hold when the urge to smoke hit. It helped, but only a little.

  The hotel was a sight, like something out of a sci-fi movie. Glass elevators moved up and down at the hotel’s center, open to the surroundings. He watched as several guests zoomed skyward. With forty-three floors, he couldn’t see them all the way to the top. From the elevators, you had to walk across one of four bridges to the lobby. The area surrounding the bridges was open so you could see into the lower levels.

  The architect must have driven the builders mad with this layout, he thought. He’d never seen anything like it.

  Snow had been worried about coming back to Atlanta. There were a lot of good memories here, but there were plenty of bad ones too. He missed his family, though, especially his sister, brother, and grandfather. Far more than he thought was possible. He looked forward to spending time with Sammy and Doug. They had been close growing up, but it had been a long time since he’d spoken to either of them. Granted, that was on him, and he knew it. They weren’t the ones who ran off to work undercover in the most remote places.

  “You lost?”

  Snow smiled. “More often than I should be,” he said with a grin as his brother approached him. They hugged. “How have you been, Dougie?”

  “I’m good, baby brother. I saw you duck out and thought this might be a good time to say hey.”

  “Yeah. I saw you earlier, but you were working, so I didn’t want to interrupt,” Snow said. “How you been?”

  “Good, man. It’s great to see you.”

  The brothers embraced in a big bear hug.

  “You planning to stick around awhile?” Doug asked.

  Snow shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’m thinking about it.”

  “Well, as long as you’ve made up your mind,” Doug said with a laugh. “You staying at grandpa’s place?”

  “Yeah. You know hard it is to tell him no.”

  “You’ve seen where I work right?” Doug joked.

  Snow looked back toward the conference room doors. “Yeah. I noticed that you took to the family business. Looks like the old man roped you in, huh?”

  “Yeah. Grandpa can be very hard to say no to,” Doug said as they started walking the perimeter of the lobby.

  “You don’t have to tell me. I’ve been home less than a day, and he’s already working on me.”

  “You interested?”

  Snow coughed a laugh. “N
ot even a little bit.”

  “Why not?” Doug asked. “I might not have the details, but your non-classified resume shows you’ve got the stuff. I can only imagine what you’ve picked up since you went under.”

  “Let’s just say, I’m ready to live a slightly less chaotic life,” Snow said.

  “Who knows, you might like it.”

  “I don’t know. I’m not really sure I could work for Dad.”

  “You two were always like oil and water.”

  “More like nitro and TNT,” Snow joked.

  “I remember.”

  “Sammy mentioned the three of us getting together while she’s in town,” Snow said, changing the subject. “You in?”

  “Hell, yeah,” Doug said. “You tell me when and where, and I’m there.” His phone vibrated, and he plucked it from his pocket and read the message. His smile faded. “Duty calls,” he said.

  “Go get ’em,” Snow said. “We’ll talk later.”

  “You bet. It’s great to see you, bro.”

  “You too, man.”

  Snow watched his brother head back toward the negotiations. Doug had always been more like their father while Abraham was more like their mom. Sammy was somewhere in the middle, which was probably why she was the most levelheaded one of the bunch. Once Doug stepped back inside and the door closed behind him, Snow resumed his route.

  The walk helped clear his head.

  Sitting around listening to delegates discussing trade negotiations had passed boring five minutes into it. He had tried to pay attention as much as he could, but that didn’t last long. He wasn’t cut out for that type of inaction. Snow was a man of action, but he would soon come to regret missing his old life.

  4.

  Vanessa Nerys waited patiently.

  That wasn’t her real name, of course. It was one of several aliases she used while on the job, which was always. As a professional assassin, she was always on call and ready to go at a moment’s notice. She carried very little of value with her in her travels. No matter where she was or what she was doing, Vanessa could be on the job in less than five minutes.