"Nick, I hate waking up." She closed her eyes like she was going to fall asleep just sitting there.
Briefly, Nick fantasized about wrapping his arms around her and the two of them sleeping side by side until they woke. The real world and life or death priorities impatiently but insistently intruded on his flight of fancy. Nick laughed and turned to leave the bedroom. "We leave in thirty minutes, Suarez." He didn't hear her whole response, but the tail end didn't seem like she'd said anything flattering.
¯¯¯¯
"WHERE are we going?" Aria asked from the passenger's seat of the Jeep. They had left the cabin and Nick had driven in near silence for twenty-five minutes. He had pulled off the dirt road and turned onto the highway heading to Portland but then stayed on Interstate 5 headed south toward Salem.
Nick didn't even glance in her direction when she asked the question. "Does your brother Adam have his own equipment?"
"You didn't answer my question," she observed, unconsciously crossing her arms. She wasn't in the mood for him to start evading her questions this morning.
After a few seconds he nodded, just once, a bit sharply, then said, "My answer is dependent upon your answer."
Aria sighed and asked, "What do you need to do?"
"Enhance some videos. I can't risk sending them to our labs."
"Yeah. He has his own equipment." When he didn't speak again, she cleared her throat rather pointedly. When that didn't prompt a response she insisted, "Well?"
Finally, he glanced at her, taking his eyes from the road and the mirrors for the first time since they left the cabin. She wondered if he were constantly checking to see if they were being followed. "We'll dump this car at a train station, either in Salem or maybe in Eugene. Eugene is better. The more ground we can cover by car, the better. Trains move fast but they make a lot of stops so driving on the interstate is actually faster on the West Coast. Either way, we'll hop a train south."
His eyes immediately went back to scanning the road and each of his mirrors. Aria leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes, then opened them with a start and sat up straight again. She'd gotten so distracted last night that she hadn't thought to ask the obvious questions. "How did it go last night?"
Nick's mind flashed back to the sound of the knife as it entered Balder's chest. "I found a lot of stuff we can use. I didn't take anything with me, just got it all on video."
"Did you have any problems at NWT?"
Nick passed a caravan of recreational vehicles bound for the coast. He refused to let his mind review the events of the previous evening. "Nothing I couldn't handle."
Her patience was at an end. She could take all the information he'd given her over the last three days and put it on the back of a postcard. "What does that mean? 'Nothing I couldn't handle.' What were you able to handle?"
Nick's eyes flashed to hers, ice blue clashing with dark brown. She was able to see impatience reflected in their depths before he pulled the shutter back down. "Balder was waiting for me. I had to take care of him."
Aria knew what he meant. She didn't have to have the details, but it scared her that NISA had been able to predict Nick's plans. "What about the other agent? Hecate?"
"She wasn't there." By the tiny change in his expression, Aria knew Nick was grateful Hecate hadn't been there. He said, "We can't stay anywhere for very long. She'll be right on our tail if she isn't already one step ahead of us. If she finds us, we'll never see it coming."
Aria felt her mouth suddenly go dry. She asked, "So you have contacts further south?"
Nick answered, "The less fake ID we generate, the lower under NISA's radar we'll stay. I need to see a contact in L.A. He might be able to get us to Florida without having to dig up a birth certificate to create a whole new identity for you. And I need to see what I filmed last night."
Aria realized what he meant and the reason for his earlier questions about Adam's equipment. "Are we really going to L. A.?" Nick only nodded. "I thought we had to stay away from my family."
"While I'm certain Adam is being watched, we'll just have to be careful. You need a safe place to stay while I talk to my contact. I'd prefer he not see you because he might just sell us out."
"Will this put my brother in danger?" Aria asked, her voice oddly steady.
Annoyed, Nick said, "What? No. He's not in danger. He's just a means to an end."
Aria realized she may never have been described as an end before. The end Nick referred to was the end of her life yet he said it so clinically. Was he really so detached? She pulled her laptop from the back-seat and opened it, accessing Peter's mail files that she'd saved the night before. "I found Peter's hotel confirmation, so we know where he's staying."
"I've been thinking about that. I left Balder in Harrington's office. But I didn't remove anything and left no indication that I'd found Harrington's stash of information, so I'm going to hope that whoever's running this operation will assume Balder stopped me before I found anything."
"Are we going to try to apprehend Roj Singh?"
"No. We need to gather intel. We need to know who's building a nuclear device and what their target is. Apprehending Singh will only make anyone else more cautious."
Aria nodded. "It's scary to think about someone planning something like this."
"Planning happens all the time. What's scary is how they successfully infiltrated NWT and gathered so much information. This thing goes deep and the people behind it are totally committed."
She felt her lips thin. "Either way. The devastation from what I assume they're building cannot be worth all the political power in the world."
"You only say that because you don't desire all the political power in the world. You'd be surprised what people are capable of doing when money or power is their primary motivation." He gestured at her laptop. "Take Harrington. He's doing this for nothing more than money. The Bible's clear in telling us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. I think Harrington could be a poster child for that, if you consider what he's done and what he's planning."
Feeling cold from the inside out, Aria rubbed her arms. "I just pray we're able to stop them."
¯¯¯¯
KATE Royce slid out of the car and drew her weapon from her shoulder holster. The cabin appeared deserted. It didn't feel like anyone was within a few hundred yards, but she kept the comfortable weight of the pistol in her grip just in case. No need for a silencer way out here. To her never-ending frustration, the weight of a suppresser always messed with her aim anyway.
The shock at discovering Balder's death had worn off. From the stolen glances of his body she had managed to obtain while pretending to be a member of the CSI team, the fight had been a match of skill. She couldn't fathom how Nighthawk had done it. Despite his sociopathic tendencies, Balder had truly been one of the best agents among the rank and file of NISA. Then again, so was Nighthawk.
Nighthawk never liked working with anyone else, not even Jen Thorne who was so obviously and disgustingly in love with the man. Kate didn't mind working alone, either. Off and on during the course of her career she'd been a solitary agent. Over the course of her partnership with Balder, she recognized that it was often helpful to have someone else with whom to bounce ideas around. For now, though, it was just her. She, alone, had to find Nighthawk and the principal.
She cautiously stepped around the perimeter of the cabin and the garage. Seeing no visible signs of human life, she went to the back door of the cabin. She pulled a small kit out of her jacket pocket and quickly picked the lock. Entering through the kitchen, she could smell the remnants of a meal, of coffee, of dishwashing detergent. She found the garbage, but the bag had been removed.
As she moved through the cabin, she found little tidbits here and there. Someone slept on the couch and someone on the bed. The shower had recently been used. She observed no evidence of blood in any of the sinks or basins. Two towels tumbled in the dryer.
She moved outside and found the issued rent
al car in the garage. When she inspected the tire tracks leading out of the garage, she determined that they'd left in a utility vehicle, likely a Jeep. Looking at the clear morning sky, she dialed the Washington number, entered a 10-digit code, and accessed the information line. "I need specifics on all DMV records for the owners of the cabin at this location," she said after identifying herself. "Be prepared to issue a BOLO to state and local as well as federal agencies with a 'notify but do not approach' order. Suspects considered armed and very dangerous."
¯¯¯¯
Chapter 19
THE fugitives drove two hours south of Portland into Eugene. Nick parked the Jeep in the parking lot of a 24-hour grocery store knowing it would be just a matter of time before Hecate found it. In the strip mall by the grocery store, they went into a wig shop next to a beauty supply store and fitted Aria for a long, straight, black wig. She left the store wearing it, and he led her to a cheap discount clothing store. She bought a tight button-up turquoise shirt she tied up under her breasts, tight yellow jeans, and three-inch wedge shoes. Dressed like that, with the wig and big sunglasses covering her face she was absolutely unrecognizable.
Nick dressed in a white linen suit with a coral colored silk shirt. When he came out of the dressing room, she didn't realize it was him at first. He'd put in dark brown contacts, added a black mustache and thin goatee, and wore a dark wig. He had a thick gold necklace on his neck and a matching bracelet.
"How fluent is your Spanish?" he asked quietly.
"Hablo español con fluidez y Puerto Rico el acento de mi abuela." She assured him that she spoke Spanish fluently with her grandmother's Puerto Rican accent.
"Brillante," brilliant, he said in Spanish with a wink, tapping her on her temple. Then, louder, he said with a Castilian Spanish accent, "Vamose a salir de aquí." Let's get out of here.
Aria gathered her bags and the two of them walked the three blocks to the train station. Nick moved and talked differently, and it took her a while to reconcile him with the man she knew.
"Dónde está Harvey Castle?" Where's Harvey Castle, she asked in Spanish while they waited at a traffic light to cross a four-lane highway.
In perfect Spanish, Nick replied, "Harrington met Harvey. He has to die for now. Meet Carlos García. Not as nice of a guy as Harvey. You probably don't want to know what he does for a living."
Aria raised an eyebrow and nodded. "And where did you learn to speak Spanish so fluently?"
"Columbia. Well, and Nicaragua too, I guess." He tapped her on the chin. "And you are Annalisse Rivera."
"Annalisse," she said, testing it on her tongue. "Good name."
When they got to the train station, they went to separate windows and bought tickets for Oakland, California. As they boarded the overnight train, Nick nodded to two rows of seats that both had free window seats. He sat behind her and reached up and squeezed her shoulder after she sat down. Not long after the train began the long journey, Aria put a pillow between her head and the window and closed her eyes.
Thirteen hours later, they left the train and Nick used a different ID to rent a car. "I secured the Blankenship identity on my own. NISA doesn't know about it," he said quietly as they walked to the rental counter. "Go to the rest room and dally a bit. I'll meet you out front."
She fretted that he separated her from him because there was going to be an issue with his ID or renting the car. After spending fifteen minutes in the rest room, reapplying the heavy makeup, brushing the wig, brushing her teeth, and freshening up, she left the rest room and walked through the busy lobby out into the bright California sunshine.
As she stepped toward the curb, a dark blue sedan pulled up. She glanced inside the open passenger window and saw Nick at the wheel. She smoothly slipped into the car and buckled her seat belt.
"I want you to know that I hope one day to burn these shoes," she announced, peeling the wedge sandals from her feet. She wondered if her arches would ever be the same again.
Nick smiled. "I remember the high heels you used to wear to your piano recitals."
Aria leaned back against the seat and said, "Recitals? Plural?"
He stole a quick glance at her before looking back at the heavy traffic. "I, uh, went to a few of them."
A rush of warm love shot through her, spreading from her heart and rapidly moving through her whole body. "Did you, really?"
"Do me a favor. Get me a bottle of water out of my bag?"
"Changing the subject isn't going to save you, Carlos," Aria said with a smile. She turned and got on her knees in her seat and reached into the back. She opened a side pocket of his duffle bag and reached in, but didn't find his water.
Instead, she found the Soldier's Bible and handkerchief she'd given him at their high school graduation. She'd seen them in his lap the night before last, but she hadn't looked at them closely enough to realize they were the same ones. Overwhelmed, her breath caught in her throat. Why did he deny them a future together when he so clearly had feelings for her, too?
Shoving them back into the pocket, she opened the one next to it and pulled out the bottle of water he'd asked for. She handed it to him as she straightened in the seat and rebuckled her seat belt.
"How long is the drive?"
"Maybe five hours."
"Okay." She looked out at the city as they worked their way out of town. After a few quiet minutes, she asked, "Nick?"
"Carlos," he corrected.
Unperturbed, she asked, "Why did you write to me when you were first gone? You wrote me so many letters."
She turned her head to look at his profile and could see his hands clench on the steering wheel before he relaxed them again. He finally admitted, "I couldn't stop thinking about you."
"Then why die? Why not just come home and be with me?"
"I didn't want to hurt you." He said it with such a deep voice that she almost felt the words inside her chest instead of hearing them with her ears. "I still don't."
It took her a minute to process his meaning behind them. "Well, you did. You hurt me by rejecting me, then you crushed me by dying. I've been in pain for more than ten years. It felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest." She pressed the heel of her hand against her temple and willed herself not to cry.
"That isn't what I meant. I didn't know what kind of person I'd become. They talk about cycles of abuse, and how the abused becomes the abuser. What kind of husband would I be? What kind of father? Like him? The thought of any part of Raymond Williams concealed inside me that may one day come to life terrified me like nothing else, and made me incapable of loving you or being with you. I left you to live your life without me to protect you from me, from the worst part of me. The part of me that scares me. The violent man that I really am by nature."
Aria nearly whispered, "I know that's a lie. I know you aren't a violent man by nature, only by choice. You're lying to yourself if you think otherwise."
He glanced at her quickly then put his eyes back on the road, as if to ascertain that she actually believed her own words. "Do you remember Deller? Big. Dumb. Mean. Racist. Harold Deller from the football team?"
"He owns a hot tub business in Phoenix City now."
"No kidding? Huh." Nick tried to reconcile that information for a few seconds then continued, "Did you know that I nearly killed him because he called you a name one time?"
Aria searched her memory then gasped. "Is that what happened to him? I thought he was in a car wreck!"
Nick cut a glance at her, but with the contacts changing the color of his eyes, she found it hard to read his face. "And now," he said, looking back at the road, "with all the other things I've done …"
Aria snorted. "I would put money on the fact that you've never done a dishonorable thing in your entire life."
Nick startled her by holding up one finger. His jaw clenched several times and he finally nodded and said, "I don't know if that's true. The truth is that I've done … questionable things."
"But you quest
ion them. You are not a man without a conscience. Without remorse."
There was a long silence. Then, instead of answering, he just nodded, slowly, once.
"So now that you know that you're capable of controlling yourself and your reactions, you find another excuse? That's wrong, Nick." She took the water bottle from him, opened the lid, and took a long pull. "You're just making excuses now. I don't know why you think you can't have a future and be happy, but you can. I've watched you these last few days, and I've seen you praying, reading a Bible that's so worn out you have it taped together, and making good decisions for me and for this nation. If that doesn't make you a good, honest man, then I don't know what does."
Nick's jaw clenched and unclenched before he said, "You realize that since I came back into your life just a few short days ago, I have already killed a man."
She didn't know what to say about that. She could tell that he regretted the necessity of taking that man's life. She knew without the subject having to be discussed any further that Nick had killed the man who had been assigned to take her life. Balder would have hunted her to ground like a helpless animal then killed her without remorse. Nick had taken a jaded life to save an innocent life. Did he think that was questionable? Aria had no questions.
His reaction led her to silently wonder about the darkness in his eyes, and the darkness that continually haunted Nick Williams in his sleep. How much remorse could one man with a conscience handle? Was there any way she could help him cope?
He finally finished maneuvering through the city and pulled onto the interstate. Nick gradually accelerated up to one mile per hour below the posted speed limit then set the cruise control. "I don't know what you want from me, Aria. Right now isn't a good time."
An Aria for Nick (Christian Romantic Suspense) (Song of Suspense) Page 16
