A low hum reached her ears and Sam walked from the kitchen to the window. “Plane.”
Amber rushed to him. “Yes, it’s a plane, Sam, come away from the window, okay? Want to play chess?”
Sam walked into the den and sat on the sofa in front of the chess set Lance had left set up. “Seven, six, two, five,” he said.
Amber blinked. Trent stepped forward. “What does that mean? Seven, six, two, five,” he said.
Amber shook her head. “I don’t know.” She pulled the piece of paper and the small pen from her pocket and wrote the numbers down next to the notes she’d already taken about what he’d said before. “I don’t know, but it means something.” She walked over and smoothed the boy’s hair. She smiled when he didn’t pull away from her. “We’re trying to figure it out, Sam. Don’t give up on us.”
“There. It’s on,” Lance said. He picked up the remote and turned up the volume on the television. A reporter spoke into her microphone and Amber recognized the house behind her. “We’re here at the Sacramento home of Yousef Pirhadi, a millionaire businessman who travels frequently between his home country of Ibirizstan and the United States on business. This trip he brought his family and their nanny with him. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a deadly trip for the thirty-two-year-old, Nadia Pirhadi. She was found shot to death in her car in the driveway.” Amber saw the police activity going on in the background and assumed it was filmed the day of the murder. What was that? Three days ago? Four? Time had ceased to mean anything to her anymore. The reporter continued. “The interesting thing is, we have an update in the case. The police have just revealed that Mrs. Pirhadi was shot twice, once in the car and once in another location. They’ve acquired a search warrant and are in the process of searching Pirhadi’s home as we speak. Amber Starke, the young woman Pirhadi accused of killing his wife is still at large. Yousef Pirhadi is also nowhere to be found at this time. Stay tuned as we will be updating as we receive information.”
Amber groaned and put her face in her hands. “Mom and Dad are going to be fit to be tied.”
“More like worried to death,” Lance murmured. “Clay will fill them in, though. He’ll cover for you.”
“I know, but he shouldn’t have to.”
Sam picked up the pawn and moved it forward two spaces. He looked up at her even though his eyes didn’t make contact with hers. “Your move, Number Two Mom. Please.”
With a glance at Kat, Trent and Lance, Amber moved to sit on the floor opposite Sam and the chessboard. “Seven, six, two, five,” she said and moved her pawn, as well.
“Seven, six, two, five,” Sam said.
“Right. So what does that mean?”
Sam knocked her pawn over with his queen. “You die.”
* * *
Lance hadn’t planned on having a full house, but thanks to his prepping for the snow, he had a full freezer and refrigerator. A thought occurred to him. He turned to Kat. “How did you get here?”
Kat had shed her heavy white coat and gloves and now sat in her white ski pants and pink turtleneck. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders and Lance noticed that Trent had a hard time keeping his eyes off the woman. “I walked in.”
“Where’s your vehicle?”
“Parked up on a side road. The snow was melted enough for now that I could drive it. Don’t worry, it’s hidden.”
“You didn’t think we’d notice your footprints in the front yard?”
She frowned. “What footprints? I didn’t go into the front yard. I came through the woods into the back and around the side of the house.”
Lance froze. Amber’s gaze swung to his. “But that’s how we knew you were out there,” Amber said.
“Number Two Mom. Your turn, your move, your turn.”
Amber looked back at the board and moved then focused back on her handler. Lance’s brain was already spinning with not good possibilities even as Kat shook her head. “Not my footprints, I came through the back through the trees from the road.”
Trent went to the front door. “So whose prints did I see? And who was sneaking around out there if it wasn’t you?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone else. Doesn’t mean there’s not someone out there, though.”
“How did I miss them?” Trent asked. “I mean I got out and walked the perimeter of the house a few times, but I didn’t walk up through the front yard and look around. Whoever it was should have been in plain sight.”
“They were watching you,” Kat said. “Waiting for you to do a round then came up through the yard. And maybe even caught sight of me.”
“I didn’t hear any automobiles or snowmobiles,” Trent said.
Lance shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything from in here either.” He looked at Kat. “He must have come in the way you did. Maybe even followed you.”
Kat looked like she wanted to argue. Amber simply sighed. “We need to be ready to leave just in case.”
“I’ll pack a bag,” Lance said. “Trent, keep watch on the windows. Kat, do...whatever it is you do best as long as it involves keeping everyone safe.”
Kat nodded and Amber moved another piece. Lance thought she might be closing in on Sam’s king. The boy tilted his head and studied the board. Amber looked up. “We might be going at this all wrong.”
“What do you mean?” Her question halted his trek to the kitchen. He had camping supplies in his police vehicle but not a lot of food.
She glanced at Sam then Kat. “Meaning I’ve been trying so hard to understand what Sam is trying to tell me that I’ve taken my eyes off one important question.”
“What’s that?”
“What is Yousef’s goal? What is it that he thinks Sam can interfere with? And yes, I want to know what Sam saw in his father’s office, but maybe there’s another way to find out.”
Kat crossed her arms and leaned forward. “We need to know what he’s involved with, who he’s doing business with. Whom he’s been talking to.”
“Exactly. Nadia was giving me some of that information, but now I’m not sure how accurate it was. If Yousef suspected she was spying on him, he may have fed her false information.”
“Did he suspect?” Lance asked.
Amber ran a hand over her eyes. “I don’t want to think so. Of course, I want to believe we were so careful he had no reason to be suspicious until he walked in on Nadia going through his files and the information she shared with us was accurate, but now... I don’t know what to believe. Nadia’s dead and her husband wants to—” She broke off and looked at Sam who still studied the chessboard.
“Yeah,” Lance said quietly.
Kat nodded to the laptop on Lance’s desk in the corner of the den. “Do you mind? I can log in to a secure server and do some research on Mr. Pirhadi.”
“Sure.” He walked over and tapped the password into the machine. She slid into the chair and immediately started typing, her fingers flying over the keys. Amber still kept Sam occupied and Trent kept a watchful eye on the windows, moving from one to the next, his shoulders tense, his hand on his weapon, ready to defend. Lance went into the kitchen to get the food he wanted and set the bag by the back door. He walked into his bedroom and checked the window. Locked, but still breakable. He glanced out into the backyard and didn’t see anything that disturbed him. For now.
“You believe her?”
He jerked and turned to find Trent standing in the doorway. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s all right. Believe who?”
“Kat.”
Lance frowned. Did he? “Amber does.” He grabbed a large duffel and stuffed a few things in it, leaving room for some food.
“She wants to,” Trent said.
“Maybe. But Kat was pretty convincing and I trust Amber’s judgment.”
&
nbsp; “What if she’s wrong?”
Lance stopped his packing and stood still. He met Trent’s concerned gaze. “Then we might be in for a whole new kind of trouble.”
* * *
Amber glanced at the clock. Clay had been gone for two hours now. Where was he? Sam was getting antsy, bored with the chess game, and she was ready to give in and give him the electronic device. She had it charging in the kitchen, but didn’t think Sam knew it was on the counter.
She walked over to check it and found it fully charged. Then she moved to the edge of the window, opened the plantation shutters a crack and looked out. She saw nothing to disturb her, but somehow she knew that the people after her and Sam were out there. Waiting and watching. She closed the shutters when she heard footsteps behind her. Kat. “Hi,” her friend said.
Amber nodded. “Hi.”
Kat looked uneasy. As uneasy as it was for her to look. She had always been proficient at hiding her feelings, even from Amber. “Do you ever wish you hadn’t chosen this career?”
Amber blinked. “Why?”
Her handler’s shoulder lifted in a slight shrug. “I...just wondered.”
Amber stared. “You didn’t just wonder. What is it?”
Kat sighed.
“It’s Vincent.”
Amber lifted a brow. “Okay. What about him?”
“He came back knocking on my door about a week and a half ago.”
“Really? What did he want?”
“He said he wants to try again.” Even while she was talking about her personal life, her alert stance never wavered.
“What did you say?”
She shrugged. “That I’d think about it.”
“Seriously?”
“But something just doesn’t feel right about it all, I’ll admit it.”
“What feels wrong?”
Kat sighed then tightened her jaw. “I don’t know. Now’s not the time to talk about it anyway. I just wanted to know if you ever thought about walking away from it.”
Amber hesitated then nodded. “Every day.”
Sam walked up to her. “Game, please.”
She sighed and handed it to him. “Okay, but just for a little while, all right?”
“Thank you.”
He turned and went back to the couch where he curled up in the corner on one end, his attention already fully engrossed in the action on the screen. Lance walked in carrying a duffel bag and Kat slipped out to check the windows once again. Her friend’s words echoed in her mind—and she’d probably revisit them later—but for now she watched the little boy who had her heart firmly clasped in his little hands. “I’m a terrible mother,” she told Lance. “I caved.”
“You’re not a terrible mother. You’re a great one.” He set the bag on the floor and added several items to it then zipped it up.
“I’ve only been one for four days now.”
He glanced up. “And look how far you’ve come.” She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. His eyes turned serious, and he straightened to take her elbows in a gentle grasp. “He’s alive thanks to you. That’s got to count for something.”
His touch warmed her, made her long for things she didn’t think she’d ever have. Grief surged. Nadia had wanted those things, too, but she’d never had them. Things like a man’s love and respect, a husband who put his faith in God not in the things of evil. “But his mother’s dead because of me,” she said softly. “I think that cancels everything out.”
“She made the choice,” Lance said. “From what you’ve told me, she wanted to do what she did. You told her the risks, didn’t you?”
“Of course, but I didn’t have to, she already knew them.”
“And she still did it.”
Amber nodded. “She hated the things he was doing, the innocent people he murdered, the pain he took pleasure in inflicting on others. She wanted to stop him. So she and Sam could be free of him. But then she got sick and she became obsessed with getting Sam away from Pirhadi.” She sighed. “And we almost had him.”
He dropped his hands and she missed his touch. “Why can’t they just arrest him now?” he asked. “What were you waiting on?”
“Evidence. We could have taken him down with some little stuff that his high-priced lawyers would have laughed at us about. We could have even shut down his business and frozen his accounts for a while. But he never would have spent one night in prison.” She shrugged. “I was willing to do it to buy time to get Nadia and Sam away from him, but Nadia refused.”
“Why?”
“She didn’t want to spend her life running from the man. She wanted him taken care of forever. So she could rest easy and build a life with her son. At least until she found out about the cancer. Then she just wanted to take down her husband as quickly as possible. I think it made her act too hasty—and he caught her.”
“And he killed her before she had the chance to do anything else.”
“Yes.” She felt the surge of emotion welling up and forced it down. “So now it’s up to me to make sure Sam has the kind of life his mother died trying to give him.”
“Someone’s outside,” Trent said.
Kat rose from her seat and pulled her weapon. Lance went to the door while Amber stayed near Sam, ready to sweep him into her arms and cover him if bullets started flying.
“It’s Clay,” Lance said.
The tension in the room deflated, and Amber wanted to wilt. Her adrenaline had been fired way too many times over the last few days. In her line of work, she stayed on guard and tense most of the time, but at least there had been times she’d been able to get away and be alone. Just her and the beach or her and the gym. She’d found ways to combat the stress of the job. But now it was all built up inside her and she was afraid she might explode if the situation didn’t end soon.
She heard Clay’s heavy footsteps on the porch and then Lance was opening the door to let him in. Clay stepped inside and shut the door behind him. Her gaze snagged his. “Did you bring it? The stuff I hid in the barn?”
“Couldn’t find it.”
Her heart fell. “What?”
He shook his head. “I couldn’t find that little hiding place you were talking about. It’s not there.”
Amber wanted to hit something. A wall, her brother... She drew in a deep breath. “All right. I’ll just have to go get it myself.”
Sam walked over to Amber and put his face in her stomach. Just like he used to do to his mother on a pretty regular basis. But he’d never done it to her. Even when she’d been with him day in and day out, he’d reserved that affection for his mother. She swallowed the tightness that gathered in her throat and put her arms around the child. Just like his mother used to do. He sighed and stood still. He might not be able to show it like other six-year-olds, but he needed comfort. He needed to know it was going to be okay. “Don’t worry, Sam, it’s going to be fine. You’ll see.”
“One thirteen dark,” he mumbled against her stomach. “Number One Dad. Afghanistan, Akrotiri, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra. One, two, three, four, five, six. Seven, six, two, five.”
Amber went to her knees and tried to look into his eyes. He was trying so hard to tell her what he knew. “Afghanistan,” she whispered. “Akrotiri, Albania, Algeria, Amer—” She looked up at Lance. “Countries of the world. All As. He’s naming them in alphabetical order. What’s one thirteen?” Excitement zipped through her. Had she finally figured out what Sam was telling her? “Come on, someone. Look it up, please?”
Lance pulled out his phone and gave a grunt. “No signal but my Wi-Fi is still connected.” He tapped the screen. Amber waited. Lance finally looked up. “One thirteen is Ibirizstan.”
“And what’s two forty-four? He mentioned that number, too. Back at the Landers cabin.”
<
br /> “The United States,” Clay said. She shot him a look and her brother shrugged. “Just a guess.”
Lance nodded. “Great guess. Two forty-four is the United States. What are seven, six, two, five?” He looked at his phone again. “Angola, Andorra, Akrotiri, American Samoa.” He sighed. “It makes no sense. Now they’re out of order.”
Amber turned back to Sam. “What does it mean, sweetheart?” she whispered. “What does it mean?”
A loud crack then the explosion of glass filled the air.
ELEVEN
“Get down!” Lance hollered and tried to get to Amber who had Sam already on the floor, shielding him with her body. The boy screamed and struggled against her.
Amber held tight and maneuvered Sam under the coffee table. She bumped it and the chess game flew off. Ignoring it, she pushed the table up against the couch with a protesting Sam under it. She stayed at the opening so Sam was effectively trapped under the table and up against the couch. He screamed and kicked and added his displeasure to the chaos. Lance saw that she had him safe, if not under control. She was talking to him in a low voice that wasn’t having any impact at all. At least not that he could tell, but at least the child was safe from the flying bullets.
Clay was already at the window, weapon aimed. He fired. Two more shots and more breaking glass.
Lance stayed low and went to the other window. He glanced out and saw two snowmobiles and two long-range rifles resting on their seats and pointed at his house. The attackers were using the snowmobiles as cover. “You see them, Clay?”
“I see ’em.”
“I’ve got the back of the house,” Kat said. Kat raced toward the back of the house, her weapon drawn.
“I’ll get the other windows in the kitchen,” Trent said.
The bullets stopped for a moment and silence reigned. Lance took a peek out the window and saw the two shooters aiming their weapons behind them. Movement behind the large barn alerted him. “There’s someone else out there.”
Classified Christmas Mission Page 10
