“I think so.” He smiled despite the sensation of teetering on an edge. It had been easy to keep her at arm’s length when he didn’t care for her. Now he was seeing just how brave and courageous she was. And damn if he didn’t like her a lot more now.
“Okay. Good.” She sat up a little straighter. “Tomorrow. I want to get to the airport early.”
“Zain’s working on our best flight out of the country. He’ll either tell us which to get or book it for us.”
Ekko frowned.
“This is what we do,” he said before she could argue. “We save people, Ekko. I don’t think tomorrow’s going to go how you want it to, but if you’re set ongoing to the airport, at least let us do our part, okay?”
“We have passports. That’s the biggest hurdle.”
Silas wasn’t going to argue with her. Not everything from the last few days was an act and he knew she could dig her heels in and argue. The way he saw it, a passport was great and all if the Daurian government wasn’t after them. But Ekko had both ensured their safety and made them a target by putting it all on camera. Silas didn’t think they’d be able to simply board a plane and head into the sunset.
“Best if we all get some rest,” Silas said after a moment of silence. He got up and nodded at the door. “I’ll keep Chayan company.”
It would be better that way. Silas wouldn’t be tempted to try that kiss again. Besides, he wasn’t lying when he said they needed rest. He had a bad feeling that they were going to get a curveball.
THURSDAY. DAURAN SAFE House, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Pasley sat on the narrow bed. He could hear Igney and the others going back and forth still. Pasley had excused himself from that conversation when it was clear Igney intended to talk in circles, only becoming angrier each time.
They’d followed orders and hadn’t shot the woman.
Then they’d followed orders again by tracking the targets as best they could.
No one could reason with Igney in this mood. The man was going to blindly argue about why he should have killed the woman before trouble started.
Pasley would never say it, but he was glad she’d survived. There was too much blood on their hands already.
He tapped the screen of the phone the handlers had given him.
So much information.
His personal phone sitting in the locker back across the border wasn’t anything like this. Oh, he had browsers and the functionality to join the state approved social media sites, but nothing like this device.
The world was open to him.
He glanced at the door before turning to his side so he could shield the screen.
Before his first job beyond their borders, he’d believed the stories. How the rest of the world was evil, how they had to preserve life the way it was in Dauria, that the one true leader was their president. He’d believed all of it back then.
Pasley brought up a news site and scanned the headlines.
Yes, there was strife in the world, but these conflicts weren’t destroying the planet. There was beauty out here beyond their borders. Freedom.
His mind shied away from that word. Even thinking it was dangerous. If Igney or another found out he was enamored with the outside world, they’d either kill him or send him to one of the indoctrination camps to be corrected.
Pasley wondered what life would be like if he were born somewhere else. Even Mongolia.
He wouldn’t have been forced into the DSS, for one. He could have had that quiet, peaceful life he wanted. Or maybe he’d go to school and do something else. It was wild to him that people had so many options outside Daria.
The door banged open.
Pasley’s fingers slid along the side of the device, powering the screen off. He rolled to his back and blinked at Igney pacing the room.
“We have no idea where they’re at,” he raged.
“The hotel didn’t tell us anything?” Pasley asked.
“No,” Igney snapped. “They sent someone in, looked through what was there and left. They didn’t even leave anyone there to watch.”
“What?” Pasley frowned.
“They wouldn’t really go back to the hotel, would they?” Igney scoffed.
“What are we going to do then?” Pasley clutched the phone. They’d just given it to him. they couldn’t take it away now.
“I don’t know,” Igney said. “But we’ll be ready. Word is the Mongolians are cooperating.”
Pasley nodded. He had to. No matter how much he hoped this woman got away, Pasley would be the one to pay the price if she did.
6.
Friday. Chinggis Khaan International Airport, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Ekko’s insides were bubbling, be it from nerves or excitement she wasn’t sure.
Things were going to go exactly as planned, and Silas could suck it. The only thing they had to worry about now that Chayan was on this side of the border was running into DSS agents. So long as they were in public she held tight to the belief that they were fine. No DSS agent would do anything to endanger the UN visit, further protecting them.
Besides, this was real life and not some action movie. She knew firsthand the kind of underhanded shit the DSS could pull to upend people’s lives once they’d fled, but even they had limits.
“Everyone stay close,” Silas said as their taxi pulled up to the curb.
“Stop freaking out.” She darted a glare at the man. His caution was making Chayan sick with fear. If Silas didn’t lay off soon Chayan might run home, and then he’d for sure end up dead.
“I’m being careful,” Silas countered.
She swallowed and stared straight ahead.
Damn the man had a scary stare, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of shrinking under his gaze.
The taxi stopped and Silas shoved a wad of cash at the man before getting out and taking the duffle bag containing everything they’d salvaged with him. He didn’t move or make way for her or Chayan, just stood there looking around.
“Oh, move already.” She planted a hand on Silas’ ass and shoved.
Damn, but he was firm.
He got out of the way then, never once glancing at her. He was like a guard dog, alert, focused, hackles up. Now if only he’d obey. Too bad he was a man. In her experience they didn’t often follow the orders they should.
Chayan got out after her. Silas had found him jeans and a hoodie to wear that didn’t hang off his slight frame. It was clear to her Chayan hadn’t been eating well and was wasting away. At least with the hood up it disguised the older man as much as they were going to be able to in the airport.
“There’s hardly anyone here,” she grumbled at Silas. “Who are you glaring at?”
“I don’t care. Come on.” He pressed his hand against her back briefly.
Ekko stalked ahead leaving Silas and Chayan to bring up the rear, as they’d discussed.
It was early enough there wasn’t a line at any of the ticket counters.
She said a silent prayer that they’d been able to book seats on the first flight out and approached the friendliest looking person at the line of counters.
“Good morning,” the woman said in a sing-song voice. Her English had to be good and her eye even better if she’d already nailed them as Americans.
One point for her.
This was going to work.
“Hello.” Ekko flashed a smile then began speaking in Mongolian. “We’re looking to get on the first flight to London.”
“I can help you with that. Do you have your passports?”
“Yes.” Ekko handed over the three leather booklets.
They’d decided ahead of time that Silas and Chayan would say nothing. Their different accents would make them stand out even more than they already were. Which worked well for Ekko. This was her plan. She had faith in it. It would work.
The woman began merrily tapping away at the keys. Her ruby red lipstick gleamed.
“That’s a fantastic color,”
Ekko said.
“Oh?” The woman glanced up.
“Your lipstick.”
“Ah, it was a gift from my sister-in-law.”
“Well she has good taste.”
“Thank you so much.” She glanced down at the screen and her smile faded.
Ekko drummed her fingers on the counter.
“That’s...strange...”
“What?” Ekko asked.
“It’s not letting me print your tickets, but I have you right here.” The woman smiled apologetically. “One moment, please?”
“Sure.” Ekko waited to frown until the woman’s back was turned.
Silas could not be right. He just couldn’t.
“What’s going on?” Silas whispered in English.
“She’s having problems with her computer,” Ekko said. “She can’t print anything.”
Silas’ grip on her arm tightened. “We need to go.”
“Settle down.” She brushed his hand away. “It’s a technical problem. These things happen. When do you think these machines were last updated, hm? Relax.”
Silas didn’t look at her. He was too busy watching the woman, the elderly couple that had just come in and a sketchy looking plant. Or at least that’s what Ekko thought he might be looking at. What else was there?
They stood together, not talking, for several moments.
What was taking so long?
They’d booked the seats just fine. All they needed were the boarding passes.
The woman returned clutching their passports to her chest. She glanced from Ekko to the two men and back before speaking. The lines on her brow and around her mouth made Ekko uneasy.
“There’s been a problem,” she said.
“What kind of a problem?” Ekko couldn’t muster a smile. This had to work.
“I don’t understand it, but the code, it won’t let me put you on the flight,” she said.
“Well, can we switch to another flight? Later in the day?”
“No, you don’t understand. I can’t book you on any flight. Your passports have been flagged.”
Ekko’s body went cold.
Flagged.
As in, they weren’t allowed to leave? Why?
But this was Mongolia. They didn’t deport to Dauria. They were neutral ground. Everyone knew that. All the expatriates and those who had escaped illegally all said the same thing. Mongolia was safe.
But apparently not for them. The rules had just changed.
“What is it?” Silas demanded, his voice a low growl.
Ekko’s throat was almost too tight to get words out, but she managed to whisper, “We need to leave.”
Silas didn’t have her hesitation. He went into action immediately. He leaned over the counter and plucked the three passports from the woman’s hands.
The woman made a wild grab for the passports. “Ma’am? I need you to—”
“Come on.” Silas ignored the woman and gave both Ekko and Chayan a shove toward the door.
Ekko needed that push. Her feet were cemented to the ground. Even now, with Silas prodding her along, she moved as if in a daze.
How could this be happening? She’d been so certain it would be easy once Chayan was on this side of the border. How was she going to get him to New York now? She’d promised him things would be different, that he’d get a chance to be happy and stop watching over his shoulder.
“What’s going on?” Chayan asked. Mongolian wasn’t a language he spoke well, so there was a chance he hadn’t followed any of that.
“Keep moving. Stay close,” Silas said.
They stepped out on the sidewalk. The morning sun was rising higher, chasing the fog away. In the few short minutes they’d been inside already there was more traffic out here. More people arriving. Granted, there was one entrance to the small airport. What was a lot of traffic here would be nothing in a major American city. Hell, people could still park across the street at little to no cost.
Those people though...
Were they Daurian CSS? Or the Mongolian equivalent? Had they come to take them away?
Ekko glanced right, at what looked like some sort of Foo Dog statue standing guard over a line of luggage carts. She needed to find hope. She had to see a way out of this.
“We need to get out of sight,” Silas said.
“What are we going to do? Where are we going to go?” Ekko asked. She didn’t have the answers.
“Hey?” Silas stopped and grabbed her by the shoulders. “I planned for this, okay? Just do what I tell you to do and you’ll be fine. Both of you. Come on.”
He led her and Chayan to a taxi that had just pulled up.
“Get in. Ekko, I need this man to take you to the back of the parking lot and wait for me, okay? Do you understand?” He pressed some cash into her hand.
She stared up at him. He was leaving them? “Where are you going?”
“I need to know who gave that order and who shows up to look for us. I’ll be fine. Here. If anything happens to me, call the last number I dialed.” Silas shoved one of the prepaid phones into her hands then shut the door.
Shaken, she gripped the phone while the driver looked at her. He still had that puzzled, sleepy look to him and he didn’t appear to understand English.
“Circle the parking lot, please? Our friend forgot something,” she said in Mongolian to the man in as even a voice as possible.
“Sure,” the man said and steered the car off the curb. “I always make sure to check my pockets so I don’t forget things.”
Ekko groped on the seat until she found Chayan’s hand. They didn’t dare speak to one another, not with an audience. Not now. So she sat there, trapped in the unknowing hell as they circled the parking lot in front of the airport.
In the US, parking would be a nightmare with tall garages and security. Here it was just a single lot bordered by neatly manicured stretches of grass and benches.
“Nice time for a visit,” the driver said as he reached the farthest point of the loop around the lot.
“It is,” Ekko replied. Her sluggish mind started to work again. This man thought they were arriving. “I’m looking forward to all the good food I’m going to eat.”
The driver perked up talking about food and began regaling her with all the best places to eat. Not the fancy restaurants, but the authentic hole-in-the-wall places where the same family had passed down recipes for generations. If she wasn’t so afraid for Silas, she might have laughed about how he insisted the best barbeque flavor was because of the hot stones put into the pot to help the meat cook. Stones that had been passed down for a hundred years were the key to the best flavor.
They’d made three circuits of the parking lot when Chayan’s grip on her hand tightened painfully. He sank down and let the hood drop a bit more, hiding his face.
Ekko followed his gaze to where two stocky young men were walking toward the front doors of the airport.
Who were they? Did Chayan recognize them?
She shivered as she thought about the two men from the park. She’d never gotten a look at them. If Silas was right and her contact was the person who’d died in the park, could those two men be connected?
Where was Silas?
She wanted to be gone. To get out of here.
Chayan took the phone from her and began typing out a text. She peered over his shoulder as the words appeared on the screen.
DSS enforcers.
Ekko’s stomach dropped.
Silas had been right all along. She’d walked them into a trap. Now Silas was out there flirting with danger.
Did they stay? Had Silas been caught?
She wanted to flee, but not without him. He knew what to do. She didn’t. The rules had all changed.
They circled away from the airport again.
“Your friend, you want to call him?” the driver suggested.
“Yeah, I should.” She looked down at the phone.
Silas hadn’t said how long to wait to call. Was she ov
erreacting? With two DSS agents out there? What could the person Zain called do for them?
A dark shape moved in the corner of her eye right before something thumped against the window. Ekko jumped and let out a short scream as the taxi stopped, the driver shaking with a deep belly laugh as he unlocked the doors.
Ekko stared up into Silas’ face. He was wearing a hoodie she hadn’t seen before with a hat and the hood shading his face.
He was there. He’d made it.
Waves of relief and annoyance swept through her.
“Where do you get away running off like that?” She thumped his shoulder as he got into the taxi.
He grabbed her hand and held it in his. “We need to go.”
She squeezed his hand and gave into the warm, safe feelings his nearness stirred up in her.
He was there. That was what mattered.
FRIDAY. CHINGGIS KHAAN International Airport, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Igney paused inside the doors and scanned the people at the ticketing counters.
None of them was the girl or the man.
A uniformed security officer approached him. The older man’s eyes were wary.
“Sir?” He gestured toward doors that led into the airport.
Igney jerked his head in a nod and followed. Pasley kept pace with him. He didn’t speak, but he didn’t have to utter a word to get on Igney’s nerves. Just the way Pasley walked, plodding along, annoyed Igney.
He eyed patrons as they approached the desks or hauled their luggage along with them.
How many of them never thought past their selfish desires? What was good for them?
Igney had been scooped up out of the gutters and a life spent working the most menial jobs and given this opportunity to serve his country. Serve something greater than himself.
He’d never forget that, or that he was good at his job.
Some people were simply made for death.
He was. It was his job to protect people and sometimes that meant he had to kill them.
The security guard swiped his badge and let them into the inner workings of the airport down past several offices to one with a wall full of monitors.
“The two people you were interested in.” The man gestured at a monitor off to the side. “Here.”
Dangerous Connections (Aegis Group Book 9) Page 8
