by CW Browning
“I couldn't have told you,” she retorted. “You wouldn't have let me out of your sight.”
“Damn straight,” John shot back.
“How do they know about you?” Stephanie asked, turning her attention back to Alina.
Alina looked at her for a beat, her lips tightening.
“It was never intended for me to walk away from Three Mile Island,” she finally said.
Stephanie's mouth dropped open and John let out a low whistle.
“Oh my God.” Stephanie's mind was spinning as everything fell into place. All the unanswered questions from the past three months suddenly had answers. “That's why you just disappeared!”
“The blood in the barn?” John demanded grimly.
The look he got from Alina was the only answer he needed, and he nodded slightly in approval.
“Who do you work for?” Stephanie demanded. “You told me it was our government.”
“It is.”
Alina's eyes were cold and emotionless as she made the statement. Stephanie's heart plummeted to her toes and John groaned.
“I was afraid of that,” he muttered and Alina chuckled humorlessly.
“So, now you understand why you both have to stay here until I...sort things out,” she said, turning to the case beside her. She unlocked it and flipped it open. “Here's a secure laptop and iPad.” She took them out and set them on the table. “I'll have to ask you both for your phones, iPods, and any other electrical devices you have with you,” Alina added, glancing at them. “I have secure phones here too. You know the drill. No calls to anyone except me. No contact whatsoever with anyone except me.”
John sighed and pulled his smartphone out of his pocket, handing it to Alina. Stephanie was frowning.
“Wait,” she said, reaching over and grabbing her purse. She fished her phone out. “There are pictures on the SD card.”
Alina took the phone and looked at Stephanie, eyebrow raised.
“Of?”
“When I went to Shannon's grave, there was a book. People who visit the dead are encouraged to sign it,” Stephanie said slowly.
“That's creepy.” John remarked. Alina was inclined to agree.
“Shannon's had a lot of visitors.” Stephanie ignored him. “I got a picture of two of the most recent entries. You have a starting point,” she told Alina.
Alina raised her eyes slowly to Stephanie's face. Her green eyes met Stephanie's brown ones and Alina felt a surge of excitement run through her.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
Stephanie nodded and looked around.
“At least this is a comfortable safe house,” she said, forcing cheerfulness she didn't feel.
Alina grinned and stood up.
“My safe houses are a lot more comfortable than the rat-infested, hygiene-deficient, federally-approved huts that you're used to,” she informed them. “But you can't step foot outside that door.”
“I won't,” Stephanie agreed. Alina looked at John.
“That goes for you too,” she told him. “When they can't find her, they'll come after you.”
He nodded.
“I got it,” he assured her. He stood and his pale blue eyes met hers. “I'm more worried about you,” he said quietly. “This is not a healthy situation that you've gotten yourself into, Lina. When I came looking for you, I didn't really expect to find you. You should be on the other side of the world.”
“If I start running now, I'll never be able to stop,” Alina said quietly, her eyes meeting his. “That's not acceptable to me.”
She turned toward the door, pulling her jacket on as she went.
“Don't worry about food,” she said over shoulder. “On the iPad is a grocery app. It links into a private provider. Just enter what you want and it'll be delivered same day. It will always be the same delivery person and they're trustworthy.”
Stephanie stood up.
“What about you? Will we hear from you at all?” she asked.
“Either me or Damon will check in.”
“He's not really DHS, is he?” John asked.
Alina's lips twitched and she shook her head slightly. John nodded.
“What about my car?” Stephanie asked suddenly.
“I'll take care of it,” Alina answered, smiling slightly. “Don't worry. I'll take care of everything. You even have clothes in the bedroom.”
“How long are we looking at being here?” John demanded.
Alina glanced at them both, her hand on the door handle.
“Not long,” she replied shortly.
Her voice had a chilling edge to it that made Stephanie shiver involuntarily. The dangerous stranger was back and Stephanie almost felt sorry for the person or people responsible for all this. Alina opened the door and then paused, turning to look at them.
“Just relax and let Damon and I do our jobs,” she said softly. “We're very good at this.”
John nodded and Alina disappeared out the door. He went to lock the door after her before turning to look at Stephanie. She was frowning.
“It won't be too bad,” John said, misinterpreting the frown. “We have cable and a game system. We can make this work.”
Stephanie rolled her eyes.
“John, sometimes I wonder if you have any brain at all,” she muttered, turning around and picking up her purse. “I'm not worried about camping out here with you for a couple of days.”
“What then?” John followed her down the short hall and watched as she looked into one bedroom and then the other. Deciding on the master bedroom, she disappeared into it. “Are you worried about Lina?”
He leaned on the door jam and watched as she dropped her purse on the bed.
“Yes!” Stephanie swung around in exasperation and John blinked at the shimmer of tears in her eyes. “She already saved my life once, and now she's probably saved it again. Do you realize what all this means?” Stephanie demanded, her voice rising. “This means someone in the government, our government, is trying to kill her. Then, here I come, bumbling around and put myself right in the middle of it. Again! You realize that I was probably impromptu bait, right? Kill me and they know damn well Viper will surface. And she did! For all we know, they could be out there right now, waiting to put a bullet in her head the way she did to Johann.”
John moved into the bedroom and grasped Stephanie's hands tightly. He shook them gently.
“Calm down, Steph,” he murmured soothingly. “Damon was outside, making sure that didn't happen, and we made it out of DC without a tail. They don't know where we are and therefore, they don't know where she is.”
“You were right. She should be on the other side of the world,” Stephanie moaned. “Not here. Not right in their backyard.”
“Ssshhh.” John put his arms around her and rested his chin on her head. His expression, however, was grim. “She knows what she's doing,” he said soothingly. “We need to let her do it and worry about keeping you safe.”
Even as he tried to calm his partner down, John was frowning at the opposite wall. With a sinking heart, he realized that the odds of Alina succeeding were slim to non-existent.
And there wasn't a damn thing he could do to help her.
Chapter Nine
Alina glanced at her watch as Damon pulled into the parking garage of Stephanie's hotel. Damon caught the motion and glanced at her.
“What time is dinner?” he asked.
“Seven,” Alina answered, scanning the first level for Stephanie's car.
Damon did a loop around the first level and she shook her head. He turned onto the ramp for the next level.
“At his house?”
Alina glanced at him, her lips twitching.
“Yes.”
Damon looped around the second level and she shook her head again.
“You could have asked her what level she was on,” he muttered, heading up to the next level.
Alina looked at him under her lashes. Hawk was decidedly cranky.
“I'm sorry. Is this boring you?” she asked politely. Damon glanced at her and was silent. Alina's lips twitched again and she turned her gaze back to the cars in the parking lot. She caught sight of a silver Maxima on the other side of the garage. “That's it,” she said, pointing.
Damon nodded and continued on to the ramp going up to the next level. Once he topped the ramp, he slowed down and Alina opened the door, rolling out of the Jeep. She closed the door quietly and he continued on to loop around the parking level.
Pulling the hood to her jacket over her baseball cap, Alina turned to move in the opposite direction. She pulled out her gun and reached into her cargo pocket, pulling out a suppressor and attaching it to the barrel as she moved. While Hawk swept the parking level, making sure it was safe from hidden assassins, she moved swiftly. Raising her arm, she fired at the camera that was angled toward the ramp before moving around a cement pillar to shoot out a second camera angled along the aisle. Once she had cleared the side of the parking level of video, she moved to the wall and looked over to the parking level below. Viper aimed and took out the camera angled along the aisle where Stephanie's car was parked and then she turned and took out the camera on the other end. She unscrewed the suppressor and dropped it back into her cargo pocket, tucking her gun back into its holster and glancing back as Hawk rolled around the corner. He gave her a slight nod.
Alina jogged down the ramp quickly, slipping around the barrier and onto Stephanie's parking level. Glancing at her watch, she sighed. She was going to be late for dinner. They had caught traffic on the way back into the city and it was already five-thirty. There was no way she was going to be able to stash Stephanie's car away and still make it to Michael's for seven.
Alina glanced behind her and slid between two cars when she heard the sound of a car pulling onto the ramp, coming up from the lower level. She ducked in front of one of the cars, concealed between the front grate of a Cadillac and the cement wall of the parking garage. Peering around the Cadillac, she watched as a black Toyota parked near the elevators and a couple got out. They went to the elevators and disappeared into the glass alcove. Silence fell again and Alina slid out from her hiding place and started moving through the garage towards Stephanie's car. She frowned as she walked and scanned the few cars that were dotted around the garage.
Something was wrong. She couldn't see anything amiss, but the closer she got to Stephanie's car, the more convinced she was that something was very wrong. All the hair on the back of her neck and across her shoulders was standing on end and her spine was tingling. She shot a look up to the level above her and scanned the top of the cement wall. It was clear. She couldn't see anyone.
Damon rolled down the ramp on the other side of the level as Alina moved across the parking garage. He stopped at the bottom of the ramp and watched as she reached behind her to pull her gun out of its holster. He frowned, scanning the parking level quickly. He didn't see anything out of place, but Viper was definitely bothered by something. Having learned in the past not to discount her instincts, Hawk turned the Jeep onto the parking level and stepped on the gas, looping around to come up behind her. His eyes never stopped moving, looking for the threat that Viper sensed was there.
Alina glanced behind her and saw Hawk pull around the curve behind her. Stephanie's car was ahead of her at the end of the aisle and she scanned the area again. All her instincts were screaming now and Viper knew better than to ignore them. She didn't know why, but Alina knew she had to get out of there. Fast. Pulling Stephanie's keys out of her pocket, she clicked the remote-start button on the key fob.
The explosion was deafening, rocking the building to its very foundations. Alina threw herself to the ground as glass and metal shot out around her in every direction and alarms on the cars nearby started going off, triggered by the vibration from the explosion. She grunted as she hit the cement hard. Rolling over, she half sat up, her heart pounding so hard she could barely breathe as she stared at the inferno raging a few yards away.
The Maxima was toasted. Flames consumed the frame, reaching up to the cement ceiling of the garage. The heat from the fire made Alina inch back on the ground, her face scorching. A smoldering tire streaked toward her and she kicked it away quickly, watching as it rolled a few feet before flopping onto its side and coming to a stop.
Damon screeched to a stop next to her and Alina scrambled to her feet. She dove into the Jeep and he threw it into reverse.
“Stay down!” he barked as he hit the gas and the Jeep flew backwards.
Alina folded herself into the minuscule space under the glove box and ripped off her baseball cap.
“Here!”
She shoved the cap at him and Damon grabbed it, setting it on his head. He grabbed his sunglasses and put them on, then flipped the sun visor down as he flew down the ramps to the exit of the parking garage. Slowing down as he approached the street entrance, he carefully kept his head turned slightly away from the entrance cameras as he rolled up to the stop sign. Alarms were going off around the building and LED lights were flashing at the entrances warningly as Damon pulled out into traffic. A few seconds later, he turned the corner and headed away from the hotel. Weaving through the traffic, he quickly put distance between them and the hotel.
“Well, I guess I don't need to worry about stashing her car somewhere safe.”
Alina finally broke the silence after about five minutes. Her pulse was returning to normal and her mind was starting to grasp what had just happened.
“Nope,” Damon agreed grimly.
He shifted gears and turned down a street heading out of the city. They drove in silence until he got onto the beltway. Glancing at Alina, settled on the passenger seat floor, he shook his head slightly. Alina met his glance and their eyes locked as she rubbed her forehead, breathing deeply.
“Thank God for remote starters,” she muttered.
Damon realized he had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel and forced himself to relax his hands. His heart was still pounding and at Alina's words, he scowled.
“Thank God you thought to use it,” he muttered.
He rolled over a pothole and Alina smacked her head on the glove box.
“Oof,” she grunted. “Can I get up yet?” she demanded. Damon nodded.
“We're out of the city now.”
Alina pulled herself into the seat next to him, rubbing the top of her head.
“I hope Stephanie wasn't emotionally attached to the car,” she commented, pulling out her ponytail and running her fingers through her hair. It smelled like burnt rubber.
“I don't give a crap about Stephanie's feelings for her car right now,” Damon informed her bluntly, glancing at her. “I'm more concerned about the fact that it would've been you toasted in that car!”
“I'm feeling a little concerned about that myself,” Alina murmured. She glanced at Hawk's profile. “But all's well that ends well. Well, not so much for the car...”
“Not funny,” Damon snapped.
Alina leaned her head against the seat and studied him thoughtfully. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were concealed behind the sunglasses. He had lost his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel and, if it weren't for the clenched jaw, she wouldn't have known anything was wrong. But she could feel the tension coming off him. Hawk was far from happy.
“You've been off all day,” she said softly. “What's going on?”
Damon was silent and Alina waited patiently. It was a few moments before he answered.
“The more we get into this, the less I like it,” Hawk finally said. “Why don't you leave the country?” He held up a hand as she opened her mouth. “Just listen,” he said, the faint hint of a smile tugging at his lips as he glanced at her. Alina closed her mouth and nodded. “Why don't you go somewhere safe? Go to Tahiti. Or the Greek Isles. Let Harry and I take care of this. They're expecting you, not me. Let me do this.”
“Leave you to clean up my mess?” Alina demanded. “Like hell I will.�
�
“It's not just your mess,” Hawk retorted calmly. “It's mine now. And the Fearless Feds. And Harry's. We're all involved now.” He looked at her. “And you're too valuable to be flapping around exposed like this,” he added, his voice softening.
“I can't just walk away,” Alina said slowly. “What if you can't finish this? You would be dead, and I would be running forever. You're asking me to sign off on something that's my fight. You know I can't do that.”
“I get that that's how you feel, but I don't see how this can possibly end well.” Damon shook his head. “You're practically daring the Secret Service to figure out who you are. You've made yourself responsible for two federal agents and, God forbid this psycho finds them, you will be the one held accountable for them. The Organization is waiting for you to prove that you're not a psychotic national security risk and you have nothing so far to convince them otherwise. Now, you almost got yourself blown up.” Damon ticked it all off on his fingers. “Do you see where my unease is coming from?”
“I wouldn't say I have nothing so far.” Alina latched onto the only thing she could argue with. “We know that whoever killed Shannon Gleason is the same person who just blew up Stephanie's car. That's one count against them right there, attacking a Federal agent, and that's something concrete that I can hand Charlie. I know that someone in Frankie Solitto's camp is providing information which is making its way to the Secret Service, indicating that they're most likely also on our traitor's payroll. Trust me, when Frankie finds them, our target will know and get spooked. All I need is for them to make one mistake. Just one. You know that. One mistake and everything will start falling into place.”
Damon glanced at her and sighed.
“They may have already made it. Two years ago,” he told her. He dug into his cargo pocket and pulled out his phone. “I got an email from a source of mine in London. Two years ago, he was hired as extra security for a diplomatic visit,” he said, handing her the phone. Alina raised an eyebrow and swiped the screen. Damon told her the code to unlock it and she pulled up the email. “He's going to dig out the file and send it along later tonight.”
