Christmas Witness Protection (Protected Identities Book 1)

by Maggie K. Black

  Sudden bright and glaring light flooded the room, with the snap and pop of dozens of fluorescent bulbs springing to life at once. She leaped back, raising her hands instinctively into a fighting stance.

  Noah had said the building had no power. Why was there light?

  “Okay, I’ve got to admit I did not see this coming.” A voice came from the balcony above. She blinked and looked up. Seth was leaning over the railing of what looked like an exercise studio. “So, is it true that you two are getting married?”

  TEN

  “What are you talking about?” Noah felt the words flying from his mouth like bullets as he turned and strode to the staircase that led up to the second floor. Before he could run up the steps, he saw Seth coming down them. “How are you alive? And what are you doing here?”

  Seth stopped a few steps from him and raised his hands defensively. “Hey! Whoa! I thought you’d be a lot happier to see me alive!”

  “I’m ecstatic to see you alive!” Noah shouted. He strode back to the boxing ring where he’d left Holly, leaving Seth hurrying after him. “I’m thrilled. I’m doing a veritable happy dance inside. Really I am. But I’m also really, really frustrated. Maybe even a little bit angry.”

  He turned back, then paused, so Seth wouldn’t feel crowded or hemmed in. Noah couldn’t remember the last time he’d admitted he was angry or let words like that slip from his lips. But something about admitting his fears to Holly, kissing her and holding her in his arms, had jarred something lose in him.

  “Go ahead.” Noah crossed his arms. “Tell me what happened. Why was there blood all over the safe house? Why was everything smashed? Why are you here? Why are the lights working?”

  “They found me!” Seth’s voice rose. “The Imposters traced me. I found a lead online to locating Snitch5751 and they used it to find me.”

  “What’s the lead?” Holly asked.

  “A Wi-Fi network name,” Seth said. “Now all we have to do is figure out whose Wi-Fi network that is and we’ll know where Snitch5751 was when he contacted the Imposters. But that’s like finding an electronic needle in a global haystack. I’m doing an online search for it and the algorithm hasn’t come up with a solution yet. But once we find it, it’ll show us where exactly Snitch5751 was located when he messaged the Imposters about Holly. But apparently it was enough for them to find me. Gotta tell you there’s nothing scarier than spying on your enemy’s online traffic and seeing a GPS route to your current location. So I destroyed what I could, trashed the place and ran.”

  “And the blood?” Noah’s arms crossed tighter.

  “I had some on me,” Seth said. “It was in my emergency pack in case I ever needed to fake my death in a pinch and disappear off the grid. And really, considering some of the other stuff I’ve dropped so far in this conversation, I’m surprised you’re focusing on that.”

  Did he mean the wisecrack about Noah and Holly getting married? Yeah, he was going to ignore that.

  “Seth,” Noah said. “I put my life on the line, multiple times, to save yours and keep you alive. And you don’t trust me. You keep things from me. You make my job harder. I get where you’re coming from, I really do. I get that trust is near impossible for you, considering everything you’ve gone through, and I don’t blame you for that. But...”

  His voice sputtered. He couldn’t find the words. Why couldn’t he find the words?

  “But it hurts,” Holly said. Her voice came from behind him, gentle but strong, and he felt a warmth move through him. He heard her cross the floor. “Maybe that’s not the word Noah would’ve chosen, and I’m not going to put words in his mouth, but not being respected and trusted hurts.”

  Then he felt her hand brush his arm and close over his biceps.

  “And I think Seth does respect you, Noah,” she said. “Even if he doesn’t say it and is lousy at showing it. He faked his death. He could’ve dropped off the grid and gone his own way. But instead, he came here.” Then he felt her pull her hand away. “Also, apparently he turned the power back on. Care to explain that?”

  Noah turned back to Seth and didn’t think he’d ever seen him look so chagrined.

  “I found this place doing a search of you online,” Seth said. “I emailed the utility companies and got the electricity and water turned back on when I realized we might need to hide. And Holly’s right. I could’ve gone anywhere. But I didn’t, I came here, because I really am thankful for everything you’ve done to help me. I really am.”

  Noah noticed he hadn’t mentioned whose email address he’d spoofed to get the utilities turned back on. Seth stretched his hand out, and for a moment Noah thought he was actually going to try to hug him. Instead, his hand hovered in the air between them awkwardly, like he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.

  Noah clasped it in an athlete’s grip handshake. “Forgiven,” he said.

  “Now, why the wisecrack about us getting married? I know it’s one of several false rumors you started about me online, but people don’t actually believe I’m eloping with anyone, do they?” Holly asked, and for the first time Noah heard a twinge of worry in her voice. Surely it had been a stupid joke, right? But judging by the look on Holly’s face, she was worried Seth’s planting of fake bread crumbs online might’ve gotten out of hand.

  “Apparently I’m not the only one spreading wedding rumors,” Seth said. He held up his phone, showing a beautiful bright picture of two stick figures getting married beside a Christmas tree. “Little girl named Lizzy Reed drew a picture in her preschool class of her uncle getting married at Christmas.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of,” Holly said. “Drew said Lizzy’s been telling everyone you’re getting married.”

  Yeah, but that was nothing but childish prattle. Noah’s heart stopped. “How did you get a copy of this?”

  “A preschool volunteer posted it online,” Seth said. “I’ve had a continual search running for anything related to Anne or either of you. It had a handful of likes and comments before I got to it, but nothing more than ‘Aww’ and ‘Squeal!’ I took it down instantly and crashed their server.”

  Noah ran his hand over his head. Taking Holly to Anne had seemed like the least bad option they’d had at the time. But this was too close a call. Maybe it was time they moved on.

  “Do you think the Imposters saw it?” Holly asked.

  “Very unlikely,” Seth said. “They’re probably looking for you under your legal name and have no idea you’re anywhere near Keswick or linked to Noah.”

  “What do we know about the Wi-Fi address?” Holly asked.

  “Nothing yet,” Seth said. “It’s just a string of letters and numbers.”

  He held it up on his phone. Holly whistled.

  “I can tell you exactly whose Wi-Fi server that is.” She glanced at Noah. “It’s General Bertie’s manor house. The one in the country where he holds his Christmas charity event. Whoever Snitch5751 is, he was on Bertie’s property when he messaged the Imposters.”

  Noah felt his spine stiffen. “So this means that General Bertie is Snitch5715?”

  But even if he wanted to stop Holly from testifying, why would he work with cyber terrorists? Why would he get them to kill Elias and steal the witness protection files?

  “No,” Seth said. “All it means is that someone was on Bertie’s property and had access to his Wi-Fi network when he sent the message. He might have been framing the general for all we know. Now what we’ve got to do is find a way to access his network.”

  “What if you do the same thing the Imposters did?” Holly asked. “What if you steal one of his devices? Could you use his cell phone or laptop to access his network?”

  “Yeah.” Seth’s eyes grew wide. “But we do that how?”

  Holly glanced at Noah. “The Christmas charity gala. It’s in two days and less than half an hour from here. I was in on the organizi
ng of it. If you pull me a layout of the building I can strategize entrances, exits and security. All of it. I can get us in to grab to his device.”

  * * *

  “Out of the question.” Noah turned toward her. “You’re not sneaking into General Bertie’s party! I won’t—”

  As she watched he caught himself and stopped midsentence, his hand rising as if catching the words out of thin air. He swallowed hard and tried again.

  “I don’t like the idea,” he said. “I think you sneaking into a place where everyone knows you, even looking different, is too risky. Even as strong and smart as you are. I know it’s not my place to tell you what you can and can’t do. I’m not pretending it is. I just think it’s a foolish plan, and I don’t like it.”

  She let out a long breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding.

  Well, that was a step up. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had listened to her, taken her seriously and changed his or her mind without her having to fight tooth and nail for it. Something about it touched her heart in a way she couldn’t put into words. It wasn’t like the confusing, conflicting feeling of being wanted or desired. Or the warm soft feeling of being held in his arms. No, this was a stronger and more solid feeling. She felt respected.

  “You’re not wrong,” she said. “It would be a huge risk.”

  The memory of the attack by the three masked men that originally pushed her to get into witness protection flickered across her mind. At the time she’d had the strength and the ability to fight them off. Would she now?

  Okay, if he could grow, so could she.

  “If I’m completely honest, I’ll admit I don’t know if I’m up to it,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong. I have no desire to be left behind. I’m the best asset you’ve got for this and I know if Seth gets ahold of the schematics I could at least give you some good intel on getting in and out of the building.”

  She looked at Noah and something seemed to flow between them, deeper than anything she could put into words.

  “Okay,” Seth said. “So, we dress up like the catering crew. Noah and I go in with trays of food while Holly stays in the van and coordinates with us through headsets.”

  “We’re not dressing up as caterers,” Noah said.

  “Members of a private security firm they’re using, then? Or would it be military?” Seth’s forehead wrinkled. “Yeah, sorry, I’m strictly a behind-the-screen kind of guy. I’ve hit the limit of my movie heist clichés. Although I vaguely remember some movie where they hid behind a giant bunch of balloons?”

  Holly chuckled and rolled her eyes. She turned back to Seth.

  “None of the above,” she said. “General Bertie gives away hundreds of turkeys and Christmas hampers to members of law enforcement. It’s part of his community outreach and what makes him so beloved. There will be hundreds of people, in normal everyday clothes, lining up for food in the greeting line. I’m guessing you can get Noah’s name on a list?”

  Seth nodded. “Absolutely. Child’s play. But I’m suggesting we go with a fake name. Maybe Mr. Smith?”

  Noah chuckled. “Fine.”

  She felt her gaze narrow slightly. “You can pick a pocket, too, right?”

  “I might be able to.” Seth chuckled. “But I probably won’t need to. I can stay in the car and hack into his local network, if I’m close enough. Although getting his laptop or phone would be amazing because it would help me get a data dump. Just grab it, I’ll copy it and we’ll put it back. We don’t even have to steal it.”

  Holly glanced at Noah and once again it was like his gaze grabbed on to her and held on tight.

  “So, we do that?” she asked. “You’d have probably been invited to the event anyway, right? And nobody knows you’ve been helping me. Yeah, taking Seth with us will be a pretty big risk. I’m sure Drew can help tweak his appearance. What do you think?”

  “I like it,” Noah said. “Okay, we do that.”

  She smiled. “Deal.”

  Could it really be so simple? She thought of all the fights she’d witnessed between her parents, and awkward, long-drawn-out pauses in conversation when they’d start arguing, not resolve the topic and then come back to it hours, days or even weeks later. They’d slowly pick at their arguments over time instead of just getting it out and over with.

  Was it possible settling disagreements between two equally strong-willed people didn’t have to be that way?

  * * *

  Two days later, it took over an hour for Drew to complete Seth’s transformation. His signature shaggy, dirty-blond locks were shorn into a military, boy-next-door crew cut that Drew then dyed a light brown. Wearing a suit jacket borrowed from Noah, the hacker looked like any number of the police officers and military personnel who’d be at the gathering. A fact he was still complaining about bitterly from the back seat of the SUV as it wove its way through the dazzling, unbelievable array of lights surrounding Bertie’s home. Elaborate Christmas displays of animals, soldiers and cascading fountains lined the long driveway to the manor house.

  “You wanted a disguise,” Noah said. He glanced over his shoulder from the driver’s seat. “And it’ll grow back.”

  Then Noah glanced sideways at Holly, his laughter fading but his smile deepening. He reached over and squeezed her hand. “You doing okay?”

  Was she? She wasn’t sure. Her fingers brushed slowly over his. Her eyes rose to her reflection in the sun visor mirror and the stranger looking back at her. Drew had fluffed her hair out even more, and done something with different colors of makeup and some kind of putty that made her cheeks look more angular and changed the entire shape of her face. Her fake turquoise eyes shone unnaturally. She looked nothing like herself. She’d been behaving nothing like herself recently, either. Or at least a lot less like herself than she’d have wanted to. She missed her short hair and clean face. She missed the comforting feel of her uniform. She missed waking up at the crack of dawn to serve her country.

  She missed being herself more than she’d ever missed anyone.

  Holly pulled her hand slowly from Noah’s, turned her eyes toward the window and watched the beautiful, dazzling light displays as they inched by. Yet somehow, all she could see was Noah’s reflection behind her, mingling with hers in the darkened window.

  She’d started falling for a man who in turn was attracted to a Holly who wasn’t fully her.

  “So, does Noah know what Christmas is, Holly?” Seth asked.

  She blinked at her reflection in the mirror. “My birthday? Yeah.”

  “You should do something to celebrate it,” Seth said. “Get a cake.”

  “When all this is done,” she said. “When life is back to normal.”

  When she was herself again, when she had her life back and when she no longer had to pray that hundreds of people weren’t going to wake up on her birthday knowing the person from their past who’d caused them the most pain had bought their new identity online and was coming for them.

  “Now people are going to park their cars,” she said, “and walk over to the gatehouse for apple cider and cookies.” She’d stay in the SUV with Seth, keep the engine running and stay connected to Noah through the tiny walkie-talkie earpiece Drew had hidden in her hair. “Keep me posted, okay?”

  “Will do.” Noah backed the vehicle into a spot near the end of the lot, with its nose pointing toward the exit. “If you see any sign of trouble, you get out of here. Okay? Don’t wait. Just do whatever you need to do to get yourselves somewhere safe.”

  She nodded and didn’t answer. Anne may have given her permission to drive again, but that didn’t mean she was about to run away from danger and leave Noah behind.

  He cut the engine and reached for her. His fingers brushed against her cheek. “Stay safe, okay? I don’t want anything happening to you.”

  “I’m not planning on doing something
stupid,” she said. “I promise. Don’t worry. I have a walkie-talkie in my ear and Seth will be tracking your location GPS. And yes, before you ask again, my head is fine. Now, go.”

  Noah hesitated another moment, like he was debating if he should try to hug her or give her a quick kiss goodbye. But no, she couldn’t risk it. Knowing there was no place for him in her world and for her in his was hard enough.

  Noah pulled back and swallowed hard, as if readjusting the words in his mouth before speaking them. “I’ve got something for you,” he said. He reached into his ankle holster and pulled out a gun. It was a Glock 43 nine millimeter, and smaller than her normal service weapon, but as she took it from his grasp there was something comfortable about how it sat in her hand. “It’s Anne’s. She’s a licensed gun owner and wanted you to have it, when I thought you were ready. But I’m really hoping you won’t have to use it.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said, “I won’t drop it.”

  A grin turned up his lips. “I never suggested you would.”

  He strode toward the reception. She waited a few seconds, then got out of the vehicle, intending to just to walk around to the driver’s seat. But instead, somehow, she found herself standing alone in the parking lot, watching Noah’s back as he walked toward the event, followed the path of glowing lights to the building and then disappeared inside. Dark trees festooned in glowing red and green bulbs surrounded the area. The building ahead shone with golden lights. Men and women got out of vehicles from the other side of the lot and started toward the building. She recognized a few of them, even at a distance, and imagined there were probably several more she’d know if only they turned her direction. She wondered how many would recognize her. None, she imagined.