Deep Allegiance
Page 22
Noah turned toward Sokolov, ready to take the shot if Jenny hadn’t gotten close enough, but he focused his eyes just in time to see her grabbing the man by his hair and snatching head back as she dragged her curved karambit dagger across his throat. Sitting directly across from him, his daughter Yvonne began to scream, and Jenny looked at her.
The bloodlust in Jenny’s face was obvious, but she jerked her eyes up to Noah. He shook his head once to tell her to leave the girl alone, and Jenny turned and ran through the curtain over the doorway that led out onto the deck. Noah pocketed his pistol and then followed Jenny through the doorway just in time to see her dive over the rail and into the water. He hit the water just behind her, and the two of them swam up under the restaurant. They surfaced between the floats and held onto the structure for a moment.
“Well,” Jenny said softly. “That was fun. Do you think we have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting out of this alive?”
“I think we are almost home free,” Noah said. “Fill your lungs up good, because we need to stay under the surface for as long as we can. Just keep swimming toward the bridge, that’s where Sarah will be waiting for us.”
Jenny took several deep breaths, then nodded her head as she sank under the water. Noah did likewise, then the two of them swam under the surface for nearly a hundred yards. By the time they came out, sirens were screaming on the street beside the river and nobody was paying much attention to what was happening in the water.
Both of them were strong swimmers, and they made good time. Fifteen minutes later, they were able to climb out of the water and dive through the side door of the van. Sarah put it into gear as they closed the door and turned to cross the bridge.
“Noah to Marco,” Noah said. “Where are you?”
“About two miles away,” Marco replied. “I don’t know who it was, but somebody tried to chase us down. I lost them, everything’s okay. How did it go on your end?”
“Mission has been accomplished,” Noah said. “Let’s get back to the hotel. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m ready to go home and take a break.”
“You won’t get any arguments out of me,” Neil said. “I just want to get back to my trailer. We haven’t spent enough time around home lately, anyway.”
On the floor of the van beside Noah, Jenny giggled. “You just want to get me alone again,” she said. “I like it at the manor, but there’s something nice about having the trailer all to ourselves.”
Sarah, a grin spreading across her face, glanced back at Noah. “I think it might be nice to spend some time at the house, myself,” she said. “Maybe we can get some time off, and just pretend to be normal for a little while.”
Noah looked up at her and began to speak, but then a voice from memory made itself known in his mind.
“Now might be a good time to ask for a vacation,” it said. “Maybe Allison will agree.”
“Yeah,” Noah thought. “I think she just might.”
* * *
They flew home the following day and Allison met them at the airfield. She waited until they were all off the plane and were piling luggage into the Hummer and Marco’s car, then motioned for Noah to step off to the side with her.
“Debriefing can wait until tomorrow,” she said. “I just wanted to catch up with you now to say thank you. By exposing the real depth of Spear’s operations and taking out Sokolov, you have at least given Donald’s death some meaning. If he were alive, he would approve.”
“Just doing my duty, ma’am,” Noah said. “This is what you pay me for, right?”
Allison grinned. “Yeah, right,” she said. “Like we could ever pay you enough for what you do. Noah, I don’t know how to express what this really means to me, but I think you might be able to understand. Donald was more than a friend to me, I think you knew that. We could have been lovers, but neither of us was willing to let it go that far. Besides, he had a wife and a daughter. I may be a murderous bitch, but I’m no homewrecker.”
Noah nodded. “I know,” he said. “And I’m quite certain that Donald loved you, as well. I’m going to miss seeing him in the conference room.”
“Yes, I’m sure you will. And, just so you know, there might be some other changes coming up. While you were gone on this last mission, I received a message from the president. He’s asked me to consider another position, but only if I can find someone qualified to take my place at E & E.”
Noah raised an eyebrow. “I hope it’s some kind of promotion,” he said. “Is it?”
“You could say that,” she replied. “He’s asked me to take over as Director of the CIA. The only problem is, who in the world could I put in charge of this organization that could run it properly?”
Noah shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know anyone else who could be trusted with that much power.”
Allison looked him in the eye. “Don’t you?”
Noah returned her gaze. “Me?” he asked.
“Well, who else could I trust? At least, in your hands, I would know that any sanction you authorized would have been carefully considered. Anybody else might just decide to use the position for political gain. God knows I was tempted enough times, but you wouldn’t be. It wouldn’t be logical, so you’re the obvious best choice.”
Noah looked at her for a moment, then slowly nodded. “If you want me to take the job, I will,” he said. “The only problem is, that would leave me stuck here all the time.”
“So? Jenny is capable, and you can let her have Neil and Marco and Renée. They would be a good team for her, don’t you think?”
Noah glanced over at where the rest of them were waiting beside the vehicles. “I think they would be, yes. And it would mean Sarah wouldn’t be going out on more missions, which definitely works in my favor.” He turned his eyes back to Allison. “But what do I do about the missions that you always sent my team to handle? Who would I send?”
Allison grinned and bumped his elbow with her own. “You’re not fooling me, Noah,” she said. “You’re just trying to make sure you could still take an occasional mission of your own. You’re still the best, you know. At least, now, you’ll be able to make your own decision on when you need to send Camelot out to save the world.”
“Yes, I suppose so,” Noah said, and then he cocked his head to the side and looked at her. “Would you like to be the one to tell Sarah?”
Allison’s grin turned into a smile. “You bet,” she said, and turned and started walking back toward the rest of them, leaving Noah to catch up.
* * *
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ALSO BY DAVID ARCHER
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