“It’s me, baby,” he said, his hands out so she could see he wasn’t armed. “It’s just me.”
For a few seconds, she looked at him as if she didn’t recognize him, the gun shaking in her hand, and her resolve crumbling before his eyes. He had no idea what she would do. Color drained from her face and confusion showed in her gaze. He hated to see her in so much pain, but until she lowered the gun, he couldn’t help her. There was a time he knew she’d never do anything to harm him, but it had been years since they’d seen each other and he had no idea what she was capable of or what she was thinking. Seconds passed, he maintained his position and she slowly lowered her gun.
“I can’t take this anymore,” she cried.
“Come on, baby, let’s get you out of here.” He reached down and grabbed her gun, then helped her stand. “We can call the police once we’re in the truck.”
“Nooo, I can’t leave,” Alandra sobbed. Her body trembled against him, her words full of torment. “She knows. She knows what happened to me!”
Quinn’s eyebrows drew together. “What?”
Alandra scurried away from him and the body, anxiously looking around the room, helplessly wiping her tears. “She told me she knows who framed me and tried to kill me. She told me she had answers to my questions, and proof.”
Quinn reached out and grabbed Alandra from behind, pulling her close against his body. “Baby, I don’t know what this is all about, but we need to get out of here.”
She slumped against him and sobbed. “She was my only lead. It took me over a year to track her down.” She shook her head and swiped at tears that traveled down her cheeks. “I can’t live like this anymore. I need an…answers,” she cried harder.
“Okay, okay, calm down.” Quinn’s arms knit tightly around her. He placed a kiss against her temple and whispered calming words into her ear. He didn’t know who this woman was to Alandra. His main concern was to get her out of there. “I promise you. We’ll get answers, but right now we have to go. Whoever trashed her house might come back.”
Sucking in a deep breath, she nodded and wiped her remaining tears with her shoulder. Not used to seeing her so vulnerable, Quinn grasped her hand, kissed the back of it, and headed toward the bedroom door. They made it a couple of feet before Alandra stopped.
“Wait.”
She backed up and moved to the nightstand staring at a pile of books scattered on the floor near the bed. Quinn had no idea what she was looking for, but she shuffled them with her foot before bending down and picking one up.
An uncomfortable sensation Quinn couldn’t explain settled around him. He stepped to the doorway of the bedroom and listened. Hearing and seeing nothing still didn’t satisfy the nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. His gaze went to Alandra.
“Let’s go. Now!”
She looked at him and he wasn’t sure if it was the tone in his voice or something she saw on his face, but she moved quickly toward him, shoving the items she’d collected into her bag.
Quinn practically dragged her down the stairs, knocking pictures off the wall and even skipping a couple of steps. The prickling feeling of unease grew stronger when they made it to the main level and a sense of urgency clawed at his peace of mind. He glanced out of the living room window. Seeing that the streets out front were clear except for his vehicle, they bolted out of the front door and sprinted to his truck. They were barely in before Quinn peeled away from the house.
Less than a block away an explosion lit up the sky behind them and the earth shifted, propelling his truck forward. What the hell? He looked back over his shoulder and then in his rearview mirror, not believing his eyes. Flames and debris clouded the block they were just on, and he saw people filtering out into the street. Seconds. They had only escaped by seconds.
****
Alandra hadn’t said a word since leaving Isabella’s house, still shocked they had escaped before the explosion and she couldn’t believe Isabella was dead. All the time she’d spent searching and she didn’t know much more than she had before finding her.
Quinn focused on the road. She was so glad he hadn’t forced her to talk during this ride. With all that had happened tonight, she didn’t want to think, let alone talk.
She glanced at him again in time to see him looking at her.
“Are you okay?”
All she could do was nod. Her stomach fluttered. The intensity in his eyes ripped her of all verbal ability. There was still something about this man that drew her like bees to honey.
Quinn pulled up in front of her apartment building and cut the engine. She reached for the door handle certain he would follow her. Knowing him, he wanted answers. Hell, she wanted some too and right now, she had more questions than answers.
“You don’t seem too surprised that I knew where you lived,” Quinn said, as they walked up the three concrete steps leading into her building. The brick structure housed sixteen one and two bedroom units on four floors.
“These days, you probably know more about me than I know about myself.” Tired, hungry, and frustrated, she longed for the pulsating pressure of a long hot shower and the comfort of her bed. She wasn’t in the mood to pitch a fit about him doing a background check on her, because she knew he had. She would tell him everything she knew about the time leading up to that deadly night in Tzbekystan and then send him on his way.
Alandra dragged herself up two flights of stairs to her tiny one-bedroom apartment with Quinn close behind. It was a good thing she didn’t need a lot of light to see. The hallway was lit by one dangling bulb. Even after living there for four months, she still hadn’t gotten used to the semi-dark hallways, thin walls, and loud neighbors, but it was home.
****
Quinn followed her into her apartment, but he pulled up short when he stepped further into her modest living quarters. The place, so unlike Alandra, didn’t encompass her vibrant, adventurous, and outgoing personality. Instead, it was downright depressing and definitely unsafe with the raggedy lock and paint-chipped ceiling. She tried to make it a home with sheer window coverings and throw rugs over the stained carpet, but it fell short. Despite the neatness of the space, the dingy walls, a boarded up window and a hole in the wall that was partially covered by a hideous painting, the apartment was inhabitable as far as he was concerned.
He turned to her. “Why are you living here?”
She shrugged out of her jacket and hung it with her bag on a wall hook near the door. “When I first moved to Chicago, I stayed with my sister. But I didn’t want to bring any trouble to her doorstep, so I moved here a few months ago. Not a lot of choices when you don’t have much money and you’re trying to keep a low profile.”
As fine as she was, it would be hard not to bring attention to herself. Even the makeshift disguise of red straight hair and green contacts didn’t deter her allure. In perfect physical condition at five-four, a slim but curvaceous body, beautiful smooth skin, and large expressive eyes, there was no way she wasn’t bringing attention to herself. If nothing else, people probably wondered about her ethnic makeup, knowing she was African American, but mixed with something else.
Alandra rinsed her hands in the kitchen sink, and then opened the refrigerator. “Would you like a beer or some water? Or pizza?” She pulled out a bottle of water for herself and a slice of cold pizza.
“No, I’m good, but I do want to know what the hell happened tonight.”
She took a bite of her pizza and carried the plate over to a small table in the living room. As slow as she was moving, she was either very tired or the drama they just experienced had totally freaked her out. She dropped down in a tattered chair that had seen better days, and curled her legs up under her. Quinn settled on the nearby floral sofa that creaked under his weight.
“I don’t know where to start.”
“Why don’t we start from the beginning, and Alandra,” he said leaning forward, “I need the truth.” Knowing she was a professional liar will make it hard for him
to believe anything she’d say, but he was willing to try.
Alandra squeezed her eyes shut and blew out a ragged breath. “Despite what you might think of me, I have never lied to you.”
She stared him down as if daring him to disagree. He couldn’t. When they were together, he never had reason to believe she would lie to him, but now, he wasn’t so sure.
“Okay. Why don’t you start from when we parted in Vegas, where I was leaving the country on a mission and you were supposed to be heading back to D.C.? No, better yet, let’s start with why I almost got my ass killed a little while ago.”
She took a slow drink of her water, not making eye contact. Her chest rose as she sucked in a deep breath, then she released it slowly. Quinn knew she wasn’t trying to turn him on, but the way her turtleneck hugged her enticing breasts with that simple move, he wanted nothing more than to relieve her of the restrictive shirt, as well as anything else she had underneath it.
He discreetly adjusted his pants, sat back on the sofa and remembered the first time he’d ever seen her. They had both been invited to a black-tie event at the White House and were summoned for a private meeting with the President of the United States. Quinn was the first to arrive and participated in small talk with the President, but then Alandra walked in. She was so breathtakingly stunning in a long black, off the shoulder number that Quinn had to keep himself from releasing a whistle. The conversation with the President was all but forgotten as Quinn took in the most amazing woman he’d ever laid eyes on. And he could still say the same today.
She glanced at him and he wasn’t sure what he saw in her eyes. Fear? Anxiety? Regret? Whatever it was did not reflect the self-assured woman he once knew. Tonight she looked tired and defeated. Dark circles below her beautiful eyes, worry lines etched across her forehead and she kept rubbing the back of her neck, sure signs of exhaustion. He fought the urge to stand behind her and grace her with one of his famous neck massages. No. She had walked away from that luxury when she disappeared. He shook his head, trying to free his mind from those thoughts. Something was going on and the least he could do was hear her out.
“Tell me what happened.”
****
Alandra forced herself to look at Quinn. For the longest time, she said nothing. She had spent the last hour in his presence, and it still felt like a dream being near him again. He would never know how hard it was to sit across from him. He had occupied her nightly dreams and made her long for his touch. The last three years had been difficult. She couldn’t help but wonder how different her life would’ve been had she not run away the day she was accused of selling secrets to North Korea.
“I’ll start at the beginning. A couple of weeks after I returned from Vegas, I was at home and standing at the kitchen sink when I saw a couple of men going through my trash. Not homeless people, neighbors, or kids, but the Feds.”
“At the time, did you know what they were looking for?”
She shook her head and took a swig from her water, anxious to get it all out in the open. She missed being able to talk to him about anything and know it would remain between the two of them.
“I hadn’t checked emails, watched TV or talked to anyone from the agency in days. But everyone knows the Feds going through your trash is not a good sign. I called Vance Anderson. I figured if something was going down he would know. We had worked on several ops together months prior to this, and he always seemed to know something about everything. After getting his voicemail, I called my boss, Harry. That’s when I knew something was up.”
Quinn crossed one ankle over his knee. Alandra didn’t miss the tightening in his jaw. He never liked Harry – said he seemed a little slippery, untrustworthy. He thought Harry was a little “too friendly” toward her, despite the twenty-five year age difference. He was like a father to her and she owed him her life.
“Go on.”
“Harry seemed surprised to hear from me and did everything he could to get me off the telephone. He told me he needed to get to a meeting and that the next time I requested five weeks off, he wasn’t sure he would give it to me because they were short handed.”
Quinn leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, and his eyes narrowed. “I thought you only had a couple of weeks off.”
“I did,” was all she had to say. She knew Quinn would figure it out. “Within ten minutes I had a bag packed, grabbed my alias passports, and was prepared to sneak out the back.”
“But?”
“But when I opened the back door, Vance Anderson was there with keys to Harry’s cabin and a cell phone.”
Quinn stood and walked around the room in deep thought. “So I guess once you were out of the house, Harry told you about allegations of you being a double agent and selling secrets.”
“You know about that?” She shook her head. “Of course you know. What else do you know?”
Quinn walked back over and stood near her chair. “Not much. That’s why I’m here.”
Alandra rubbed the back of her neck, uncomfortable with the way he stood over her. Heat rippled under her skin and a dizzying current raced through her body as she recognized the pulse of sexual desire she hadn’t felt in years. The sexual magnetism seeping through his pores drew her like a magnet and she had to fight hard to stay focused on the conversation.
She tugged the top of her shirt several times for air and concentrated on her breathing before she continued.
“Harry told me he had hoped I would go to his cabin near Shenandoah National Park. There was a tracker on the phone he had given me, and from what I’ve recently learned, at some point he put an agent on me - Sarah Olson.”
“Sarah Olson?”
“Isabella.”
Quinn’s eyebrows shot up. “The lady at the house?”
Alandra nodded. She absently fingered a loose thread hanging from the arm of the chair, disappointed she didn’t get to talk to Isabella.
“Did Harry ever tell you why he had an agent on you?”
Of all the questions Alandra had asked Harry after the incident, that wasn’t one of them. Part of her wanted to know everything about those dark days, but on the other hand, if she could forget it ever happened, she would. “No, he didn’t.”
“Did you know this Sarah or Isabella woman during your CIA days?”
“No, but that was one reason I came to Chicago – following a lead. She’s the one who got me out of Tzbekystan when I…when you…” Bile seared her throat and her voice hitched. She stood prepared to walk across the room, but he stopped her.
“Alandra, what were you doing there? And how in the hell did you find me?”
Her pulse quickened when he gripped her forearm. The electric charge that swept through her body and his nearness wreaked havoc on her nerves.
“You had to know how dangerous it was to be there.”
“I did, but I wasn’t thinking.” She touched her palm to his strong jaw, and stared into his eyes. “I just had to get to you.” She would love him until the day she died, but knew he would never feel the same about her especially since she hadn’t let him know she was alive. She turned away before he saw the tears, struggling to keep them at bay.
“Why? Why did you have to get to me? In the past you’ve been able to get messages to me and not be in the same country.” Quinn wrapped a long arm around her waist and pulled her close, her back against his chest. “Baby, why was this different?”
“I…I don’t know.” She tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn’t let go.
Quinn turned her, his hands on her shoulders forcing her to look at him. “How do you not know why you were in another country? A dangerous country at that? And I want the truth! I can’t help you if you don’t trust me.”
She yanked free of him and backed away. “How can I trust you, when it’s clear you don’t trust me?” He thought because she spent a large part of her life as a spy, that all she did was lie, which was far from the truth, especially when it came to him.
“Da
mmit, Alandra,” he pounded his fist against the chair she had vacated. “I want to know why you were in Tzbekystan.”
“I don’t know, Quinn, all right!” She stomped her feet. “I don’t know. They said you needed me,” she bit out, “but I never found out why! I was almost killed that night and I don’t know why!”
Despite the confusion she saw on his face, she turned and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. She couldn’t do this anymore. Reliving a time in her life that almost got her killed was like reliving a nightmare.
Chapter Six
Alandra stripped out of her clothes, took off the wig and stepped into the shower. Tears she fought back blended with the tepid water and all she wanted to do was wash tonight, and the last three years of her life away. Quinn probably thought she was crazy running out of the room and leaving him standing there, but she couldn’t deal with him right now.
Deep sobs racked her body as defeat and frustration mingled at the thought of all that she’d lost: a job she enjoyed, freedom of not looking over her shoulder at every turn, and most of all, Quinn. She would never love a man the way she loved him and someone took that away from her. Instinctively, she touched the five-inch scar on her chest near her right breast, the result of the gunshot wound she had obtained that night in Tzbekystan. Looking back, there were so many things she should’ve done different, but when she heard Quinn needed her, she reacted before thinking.
Too exhausted to do much else, she closed her eyes and stood under the powerful spray, praying for relief from the pain in her heart. She placed her palms on the wet ceramic tile, her head bowed, and water rolled down the back of her neck and over her spine. Her shoulders shook violently and she gulped hard trying to stop the tears. She couldn’t do this anymore. No more chasing leads, no more looking over her shoulder and no more yearning for a man who may no longer love her. It was time to leave Chicago, and head back to California where she could start new. But would she be able to leave Quinn now that she had found him?
Rendezvous with Danger (Reunited Series) Page 6
