Assassin by Day

by Tessa Robertson

  Taking a step away, he nods to the door. “We need to go. Eddie is FBI and clearly not trustworthy. We need to get out of here before they haul us both in.” His voice grows serious. “Believe me, Nickolas won’t be happy if that happens.”

  I glance to the door then back to him. I want to have faith in him. I want to believe every kiss he gave me was genuine. The rustling of gear at the front door catches my attention.

  “I don’t have much of a choice, now do I?” I mutter, pulling the door open.

  We slip undetected to the alley. “This way.” Dylan points to the trees nearby.

  “I don’t think hiding in a pine tree is the best plan,” I state sardonically.

  “Behind the tree.”

  I reluctantly follow, suspicious of his motive. The trio of trees is covered in heavy snow, and I can’t imagine what would be useful behind them.

  We trudge through the deep snow the pines clear. Had I known we’d be spelunking in drifts, I would’ve grabbed warm boots. A snowmobile meets my perusal, causing a relieved sigh to escape my lips.

  “Get on,” he instructs. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

  It isn’t anything special, but I don’t have time to argue the safety features. I swing behind him as he turns the key. The beast of a machine comes to life with a loud roar. Before I can get a grip around Dylan’s waist, the vehicle lurches forward. Surely, the agents heard the colossal sound. We pick up speed, dodging trees as we zip.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I spot Verde fade into the distance. Five FBI agents, guns blazing, discover our escape path. I can’t tell, but I’m sure Eddie is among them. No doubt, the lout is irate too. The handsome motherfucker tricked me. He deserves no less in return.

  I face forward, glad Dylan’s wide shoulders are acting as a windbreaker. It’s the best use for him right now.

  We swiftly reach the refuge of the dense forest, but a little tree cover isn’t going to thwart Eddie or the FBI. Out of all the emotions jumbling in me, the only one sticking out is how content I am riding with Dylan. Despite harboring righteous hatred for Eddie, I don’t expect to experience relief in being with a skhodka member.

  We drive another fifteen minutes after we make the tree cover before Dylan slows the snowmobile. “What are you doing? They’re in the chopper right now ready to gun us down!” I cry when he comes to a complete stop.

  My driver twists to face me and tosses me an annoyed look. “Calm down, will you? They can’t see us through the trees.” He points to the snow canopy overhead.

  If I wasn’t so exasperated, it’d be beautiful to gape at for a while. The blanket of snow creates a private tent over the trees. I doubt anyone can see through, but I’m restless nevertheless.

  “Your plan is to keep going up the mountain until we run out of gas? Sounds like a fucking disaster.”

  I rub my hands together at the cold. “They want to drag me back to face charges Nickolas was supposed to bury. I’m not going to freeze up the mountain only to have them find us stranded.”

  I swing off the back of the neutralized snow vehicle. “I’ll leave now to save myself the time and agony.” I jump down and find my feet cemented in the snow. Fuck.

  “And what is your plan?” Dylan asks, not caring to help. He simply sits there, watching as I struggle to move through the white drift.

  I huff at the snow covering my knees. “I’ll make it up as I go. Anything is better than being strapped to you,” I offer and manage to successfully take a step.

  “Yeah, because making it up on the fly goes well so often,” he scoffs.

  I shoot him a hateful look. “It would’ve if you hadn’t screwed it up. I could’ve been in Mexico on some beach drinking margaritas, but no, you had to be in Nickolas’s pocket.”

  He brushes snow from his triceps and raises his eyebrows. “As lovely as it is to imagine you in a bikini soaking up the sun, you would’ve been lucky to make Texas before they caught up to you.”

  “Screw you! I would’ve made it!” I spit back, increasingly annoyed with him. Slugging him is too tempting an idea if I wasn’t midway through the white heap.

  He stands and hops down like a cougar. The snow may as well split like the Red Sea as he effortlessly catches up to me, though being five feet away didn’t hurt either.

  “Sorry, but no. Eddie was closing in. Now I know why his FBI bosses want you so bad.” His eyes grace my face. “I covered your path as much as I could, but your priorities seemed to change.”

  I remain mute. He doesn’t deserve any explanation. I can’t offer one anyhow. When I meet his eyes, I find I’m clearly mistaken. So I go with an excuse to ruffle his feathers.

  “Nickolas and I have an arrangement. I have an addiction and after Nick’s effects wore off on me, I needed a release. He told me to find someone to roll around with.” I peruse his body recklessly. “And you fit the bill.”

  “Ouch!” He mocks being hit in the heart. “Then your sole interest in me was to keep your idle hands busy?”

  He has me there. I could answer with honesty and be left open to ridicule or I could lie. I’m sick of being deceitful all the time. It wears on one.

  “Well, yes, until we—” My voice trails off.

  “Until we what, Mishka?” he asks, stepping to my side. How did he get there so fast?

  I can’t finish the sentence. It brings all the sentiments to the surface and leaves me vulnerable. This man brings it all out, and I abhor it. I shrug my shoulders, hoping to put him off my case.

  “Until we started sleeping together?”

  I’m surprised he keeps it innocent. I expected the vulgar term. I kind of wanted the naughty term to slip through his teeth one last time.

  “I don’t know,” I snarl, determined to keep my sentiments at bay.

  He smirks at my coy response. “I didn’t plan on what happened between us.” He exhales a puff of air. “I watched you every day, Mishka. The cameras were a necessity for your protection.”

  “Of course, they were.” I squint my eyes at his confession. Why did I put it beyond Nickolas to hook up the apartment with cameras? Because I trusted him. Another notch in being a fool.

  “Since it was my job, I watched your every move. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it, because I did. You did yoga or what I assume was supposed to be yoga.” I open my mouth to offer a snippy retort, but he continues. “You’re quite agile.”

  I huff in frustration, but he doesn’t allow me to cut in. “Then something happened. You didn’t act like the knife wielding assassin. I saw you with the customers. You were sweet and yes, very sarcastic, but you cared about them.”

  Damn him! I let my guard down for a moment while in this shitty town and he snuck right into me.

  Dylan’s eyes skim my face. “You danced when you put the books away.” He smiles at the memory, and I fight the desire to join him. “From what I heard, I didn’t think you’d be so likeable. Human not machine. Nickolas was wrong.” He chuckles. “Or maybe that’s what he wanted me to think so I didn’t become attached to your captivating smile.”

  I can’t compete with his serene appearance of me. That’s not who I am. It’s not who the skhodka expects me to be.

  “Great, you were not only invading my privacy, but also stalking me,” I state heatedly. This is the best way to protect myself. I won’t let him through my defenses.

  “I wouldn’t put it that way, but yeah.”

  I chew my bottom lip. As much as I want to detest him, I can’t. “Then why cross the line? Nickolas and I have an understanding, but you,” I wave to his body. “You are his employee.”

  He offers me a sheepish grin. “I grew to like you. Interacting with you on a daily basis made it difficult not to. You’re sassy. Sassier than any woman I’ve met or will ever meet in two lifetimes.”

  A smirk crosses my face. I can agree with him on the obvious fact. The irony is he knows a mere facet of me. Despite knowing my birth name, he doesn’t know me.

  “It’s part of w
hy I was drawn to you.” He pulls out a pair of gloves from his pocket and hands them to me. His hands linger on mine, and I feel a spark when our fingers touch.

  “Then, one day, I decided I couldn’t sit back and watch you from a distance. Well, a distance mere friends shared.” He leans closer, his breath instantly warms me. “I needed to run my hands through your ridiculously long hair.”

  My other hand slips into the glove with his assistance. “I needed to taste those full lips of yours that put me on edge whenever you speak.”

  His arms are suddenly around me, trapping me from escape. The snow also helps his cause since I can’t move if I tried. And I have. Numerous times. God, he feels good against me.

  “I guess you could say it was a fatal attraction from the night I set eyes on you.” He offers me a grin. “It didn’t help you at all when you were a complete bitch either. That quirky attitude of yours is refreshing.”

  I let out a chuckle. He isn’t wrong. I tried my damnedest to be as big of a pain in the ass since the moment I was stranded in Colorado. How the hell did he chip away my hatred for men and slither into my emotions?

  I meet his blue-gray eyes. Oh, right. That’s how. All he has to do is look at me like I’m his sole purpose in life. Evidentially, I am too. Until he’s recalled to Nickolas’s side.

  “I should’ve seen this coming,” I chatter back through the cold. “Men are always the problem in my life.” I jerk my arms, but can’t free them from his iron-like grip. “You’re no different.”

  “They don’t have to be. We had fun. Let’s keep having fun.”

  I study his handsome features clearly chiseled from the gods themselves. Fuck, his face is haunting me.

  “As enticing as that sounds, I’m going to end up with someone who wasn’t hired to spy on me, and who screws me in more than one way.” I shove at him, but it’s like hitting a brick wall.

  Standing my ground, I seethe at our exchange. He’s the closest thing I’ve had to a friend since Eddie. It’d be irresponsible to accept him as such after what I know.

  “You know I hate you, right?” I ask, peering up at him.

  A sunny smile spreads over his face. “I know.” He brushes snow from my hair. “I kinda hate you too.” I crinkle my nose, and his lips overwhelm mine before I can offer a retort.

  Other than the snow falling on my eyelashes, I don’t feel the cold. All I can sense is the slow fire he stirs within me. The eruption of his passionate kiss and the satisfying hunger in my soul is all thanks to him.

  Even though Dylan tricked me in every possible way, I covet his embrace. It’s a primal and devastating force that washes over me whenever his lips chance mine. I can’t get enough, but I don’t want to try. Each time we kiss, I tell myself it’s the last, and each time he sways me to abandon my ridiculous notion.

  I moan into Dylan’s mouth and he pulls me out of the snow. I wrap my legs around his torso as he trudges out of the open and to a cove of mature trees. He roughly shoves me against the bark of a tall pine. I don’t sense the pain. How can I with him kissing every notion of it from my memory?

  It may be the fact our lives are on the line that intensifies each time he kisses me, but I know better. I like him, and it’s a problem. I always manage to screw it up when I have feelings for a guy. We never had a chance in hell.

  Eddie screwed himself when he went behind my back, so I can’t take responsibility for him, but all the rest I can. Nickolas is my future. Dylan is a mere roller coaster ride to the final destination.

  His lips cease their ministrations, and I whimper my dislike. Brushing my hair free from my face, his eyes slide over my face.

  “As much as I want to fuck you in the forest for all the woodland creatures to see, I’d much rather have you safe first.”

  And there it is. My slip, fall, trip, and lunge moment finally arrived. I feel my heart pound to a thundering halt. It shouldn’t be this easy. Damn, I’m an idiot. The little I know about Dylan is a hoax, but how can I give a shit at a moment like this? He cares enough about me to screw me in a forest. Okay, maybe not that part, but the bit where I’m safe.

  Locking my eyes to him, I scan his spellbinding eyes. He doesn’t just want me safe. He wants me safe with him.

  Thinking back, I don’t think I’ve heard a guy use those words and mean them. Huh, I guess Dylan does know me. He knows my essence more than who I am underneath my sardonically murderous wit. No other man bothered to tear away the extensive layers to my façade. A layer or two perhaps, but this man ripped it to shreds, and I stand before him completely exposed in every element available. It doesn’t terrify me as I thought it would. Instead, it’s rather refreshing; no, liberating.

  “You’re right. We should go.”

  “Good. My guy should be here anytime. Let’s get to the clearing.” He takes a step toward the north.

  My eyes bug out at the directive. “The clearing? As in, a place everyone can spot us?”

  He turns a devious yet playful grin in my direction. “Afraid of being seen in public with me?”

  “Doubtful.” I shoot him a haughty glare and take quick steps in the deep snow until I catch up with him. “You sure you want to be seen with a wanted woman?”

  Holding his hand to me for balance, he replies, “I don’t want to be seen without one.” He tucks my arm under his and we tromp to the open space in silence.

  He’s probably a wanted felon since Nickolas only hires the best. Other than feelings I regretfully possess, I depend on Dylan. For a man with deep ties to Russia, I should run the other way. It’s an odd sensation. New territory, to say the least.

  The purr of a helicopter heads our way. My mind screams for me to run, but my feet don’t register the request. The thudding of my heart echoes in my ears, and I panic when I notice the familiar U.S. government emblem on the side of the bird.

  “They found me!” I spew a string of curses.

  Dylan yanks me to his body. “Calm down! It’s my comrade.” He tugs me closer still, and I attempt to quiet my demons. The trees wave as the helicopter swivels in the small opening. I bury my head in his chest as the snow bites my face.

  “Come on.” I hear above the chopper’s roar.

  I follow, hoping it’s the right decision. The deafening roar of the bird overwhelms my thoughts. Dylan hoists me into the helicopter then slams the door shut behind him.

  I’m frozen in my spot; afraid the pilot is one of the FBI’s goons. That’d be a warranted fluke. Having a double cross and wind up in prison for life.

  “You all right?” Dylan asks, placing his hand on my arm.

  I can’t respond when I look out the window and see the trees skimming beneath us. I never thought I dreaded heights, but it seems I do. Hanging onto the seat straps until my fingers tire, I relive the day. I’ve cheated arrest, but I doubt I can cheat death if this bucket of bolts goes down. I am not saying anything until this hunk of metal is grounded.

  Somehow, I fall asleep amid the noisy engine of the helicopter and Dylan yelling at the pilot in Russian. Dreams escape my mind, though. For the moment, I’m safe. My only hope is that it doesn’t change the instant we land.

  Chapter Fourteen

  An obnoxious horn wakes me; God knows how much later. I crack my eyes open to see a small room void of Dylan. Sitting up hurriedly, I realize the room is moving. The slight sway feels like the ocean, but I don’t hear sounds of crashing waves.

  Swinging my feet to the floor, I pad to the window. My heartbeat resounds in my ears as I hug the window pane. Pulling the shade open, I gasp when I take in the scenic mountains as they rapidly pass before my eyes. I focus on the sounds around me and conclude I’m on a train. First a chopper, now a train. What next? A ship?

  This isn’t my idea of proper travel. Especially, when there’s an open warrant for my arrest. The agency won’t be thrilled with this turn of events. I failed to check-in yet again. By now, they suspect I’m either dead or defected. The first one sounds a lot better.

/>   I fumble my way around the cracker box of a room, searching for my phone. I find it along with one of my knives stashed in my bag. I slip the blade under my shirt and pat it with assurance. Getting caught off guard again won’t end well for me.

  Dialing in to the agency, I wait for the humdrum security procedure. I breathe a sigh of relief when I punch in my code and it’s accepted. They won’t blow me up. I rub my hip at the GPS injection site. My task done, I pull on some warmer clothes.

  Wondering what to do next, I opt for the obvious. I need to figure out where the hell this train is going, and why I’m on it. Cautiously, I poke my head out the door and look both directions. I don’t spy anyone, so I step out and head to the left.

  “I thought you might wake up soon.” Dylan appears from the other end of the hall.

  “I wasn’t sure if you left me stranded,” I spit, folding my arms over my chest.

  I don’t like to wake up alone anymore. Now I’m so used to seeing Dylan’s overgrown beard beside me, I loathe sleeping by myself. He should shave the damn forest, though. I’m curious at what he looks like without it.

  “It crossed my mind,” he teases, reaching me. “Here, I found a bagel and cream cheese. If you want something else, you’ll have to come with me to the dining car.”

  He hands me the blueberry bagel and strawberry cream cheese. It’s not my favorite combination, but I can’t fault him for trying.

  “Thanks. This is fine.” The train takes a slight curve, and I catch my balance with the door. “Where exactly are we going? Last I knew, we were flying somewhere.” Dylan doesn’t answer, so I keep peppering. “Why didn’t we go somewhere safe? A non-extraditable perhaps?”

  He peers out the window. “I mean, we’re on a train in Colorado, I take it. We should hide in the mountains if we’re staying.”

  I start pacing when he doesn’t respond, much less move a muscle. “What’s the plan here? Be hobos the rest of our lives? I’m not okay with that. I want this over with as soon as possible. Like yesterday. While I was sleeping would’ve been preferable.”