Close Pursuit

by Cindy Dees

  No wonder Alex was a head case if a man who operated from this perspective had raised him. Trying, but probably failing, to keep the cynicism out of her voice, she asked her uncle, “So, if I try to recruit Alex for you, what are you willing to do for me?”

  “By God, you’re a quick study,” he muttered. “I suppose I’ll owe you a favor.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Bringing in the brilliant son of a high-ranking FSB operative? You’ll owe me more than a lousy favor. You’ll owe me something huge.”

  “Agreed.”

  “What if I merely prevent Alex from working for the Russians? Would that be enough for you?”

  “It would not be my ideal outcome, but it would admittedly be better than nothing.”

  She thought quickly. This might be her only chance ever to ask the question that had brought her there in the first place. If she could ask it in the context of having leverage over her uncle, he couldn’t turn the answer against her.... She hoped. Before she chickened out and gave in to the warnings screaming in her gut, she spoke. “There is something you can do for me now, Uncle Charlie. Consider it a down payment on that future massive thing you’ll owe me.”

  “You’ll help with Alex then?” her uncle asked quickly.

  “I need to know who the father of the infant we brought out with us is. And I need to find out quietly. Discreetly. Secretly, even.”

  Charles pursed his lips. He hadn’t missed the fact that she hadn’t agreed to work on Alex, yet. “Secretly is how we operate around here, Katie. I’m sure the baby’s father is dead. Karshan was wiped out as completely as Ghun. What little satellite imagery we have of the area that night shows only two survivors successfully egressing the area into the Ghun Valley.”

  The CIA had been watching her and Alex’s escape over that god-awful mountain that night? The idea made her feel exposed, even now, well after the fact. Was anything anyone did private anymore?

  She wasn’t at all sure she could trust her uncle, but he clearly was desperate to get her to recruit Alex. And how else would she ever get the information she needed about Dawn? Reluctantly she admitted, “Dawn’s father was not Zaghastani. He was Caucasian.”

  Her uncle stared at her, his jaw slightly open for several long seconds. Score one for her...she’d actually managed to shock him. He leaned forward and pushed a button on his phone. “I need a list of every male Caucasian observed entering the Karshan region from April to July of last year.”

  “Won’t that weird request cause a lot of questions?” she blurted.

  “Weird requests are normal around here. And our people know not to ask too many questions if they want to keep their jobs.”

  Good point. “How long will it take to get that list?”

  “A day. Maybe two. Depends on how long it takes to make IDs of anyone we haven’t already tagged. I’ll let you know as soon as I have it.”

  She nodded her thanks.

  “And you’ll try to bring Alex around?”

  That was a nice way of describing blatant coercion. “I’ll test the waters,” she said warily.

  “And report back to me?”

  “Sure.” She got the message: obtaining that list of names would hinge on a positive progress report with Alex.

  Charles stood up. “I’d see you out myself, but I have a meeting in a few minutes.”

  “Of course. Thanks for your help, Uncle Charlie,” she said brightly.

  His eyes narrowed. Crud. He’d caught that she was poking at him a little. “If you ever want a job here at the agency, young lady, you let me know.”

  She laughed softly as she stepped out of his office. Not a chance. But it was nice to know that someone in her family finally got that she wasn’t a totally brainless bimbo.

  As another bright, handsome young man showed her out of the building, she let herself consider for a minute what it would be like to work here. Could she function in the cutthroat, survival-of-the-fittest environment of the CIA? Could she live with the secrets and half-truths and evasions? What would it be like to have an entire side of your life that nobody else knew about?

  The mental exercise of imagining it was certainly enlightening when thinking about Alex. No wonder he didn’t like to talk about himself or his feelings. It went a long way toward explaining his reluctance to engage in actual relationships, too. How could anyone let themselves feel something as vulnerable as love if their own identity, and everything and everyone around them, was a sham?

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  ALEX BURST OUT of the law firm into bright sunshine and took a half-dozen deep, calming breaths. Christ. What was that bout of claustrophobia all about? Even four years in prison had never made him feel that trapped.

  No way was he getting married. The very idea flipped him out. Home. He needed to go home. Surround himself with safe and familiar things.

  Right. And his eagerness to get back to his place had nothing to do with an emotional attachment to the baby or Katie. It was about lust. Pure and simple. He wanted to get Katie naked and blow her mind—

  Dammit, this wasn’t about making her happy! He merely wanted pleasure. Gratification. Yeah, that was all. He was just in lust with a girl. He’d screw her brains out and get this...infatuation...out of his system. He mentally spat on the word but allowed that he was, in fact, a little infatuated with Katie. Or at least with having sex with her.

  Marginally calmer, he slid into his BMW and headed for home. But lurking in the back of his mind was the worrisome suspicion that he was lying to himself.

  He barged into the condo and was irritated beyond all reason to discover that Katie was out. It didn’t help that Sister Mary Harris smirked at his irritation. “I’ll drive you back to the school,” he snapped.

  “Let me make you lunch first,” she said firmly, moving into the kitchen.

  He never had figured out how to successfully say no to a nun. They were nuns, after all. He huffed and followed her into the kitchen.

  “Here. Feed the baby a bottle while I make us a bite to eat.”

  He took the bottle she thrust into his hands and scooped up Dawn from her baby seat. “Hey, cutie,” he murmured. “How’s my girl today?”

  The nun glanced over at him and commented casually, “She likes you. Is really comfortable with you.” He frowned at the nun, and she added, “The two of you look good together.”

  His frown deepened to an outright scowl. “You can get that idea right out of your head. Katie can raise her. I’m just putting the two of them up for a few days until Katie goes back to Pennsylvania.” And making legal arrangements to make Dawn independently wealthy and name Katie and myself Dawn’s legal guardians.

  The nun’s mouth twitched skeptically, but, thankfully, she let the subject drop. Which was good. He didn’t feel like splitting semantic hairs with her. He was naming himself a guardian because of the resources he could offer Dawn throughout her life. And if she ever got in trouble, being her guardian would give him a legal right to dive in and fix everything.

  Dawn lost the nipple of the bottle and squawked, and he turned his full attention to feeding the baby.

  The condo’s front door burst open, and he jerked in alarm before he remembered that Katie had a key to the place. This business of sharing his home, even temporarily, was unsettling.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed. “You’re back.”

  He frowned. She sounded evasive. Where had she been and what had she been doing? Reporting in to her superiors, perhaps? Eyes narrowed, he asked smoothly, “Where were you?” He couldn’t wait to see how she answered that salvo.

  “Langley. Uncle Charlie wanted to talk to me.”

  Holy shit. She freely admitted she’d gone to the mother ship for a debrief? Was she that confident she owned him after their epic sex last night? He mentally snorted. It would take a hell of a lot more than that to control him.

  His mental antennae on full alert, he leaned back in the kitchen chair. “Do tell.”

  She set down her purse on th
e counter and turned around a little too fast to face him. Her face was hectic. “He tried to convince me to recruit you for the CIA.”

  Alex stared at her, dumbfounded. She admitted it? Just like that? What game was this she was playing with him? Although, on reflection, it was a brilliant ploy. The CIA had to know he would make her as one of theirs the moment he found out who her uncle was. They might as well have her make a direct approach to him. He would smell a lie a mile away, and lying to him would only piss him off.

  “What are they offering?” he asked grimly.

  Dawn started to fuss in his arms as if sensing his building temper. He tried to pass the baby off to Sister Mary Harris, but the nun was inexplicably too occupied making grilled cheese sandwiches all of a sudden to take her. He tamped down hard on his fury lest he disturb Dawn. The sister was forcing him to keep his cool on purpose.

  Katie was speaking. “I personally have no idea what they could offer you that would entice you. It’s not like you need money. And you’ve already declared yourself blackmail-proof. I have no reason not to believe you’re being straightforward about that.”

  Unwilling humor tickled his gut. Completely unpredictable, she was. Truly refreshing. She had all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop when it came to espionage. Hell, that was part of her charm.

  She continued speaking, a note of irritation entering her voice. “I suppose they’ll have to find a way to twist your arm since they have no faith in your patriotism or loyalty to Uncle Sam. You should be careful.”

  She was warning him that her own agency was going to make a run at him? His mouth quirked with outright humor. “As recruiting speeches go, this is by far the worst one I’ve ever heard. You’re not being the slightest bit convincing.”

  She snorted. “I’m not trying to convince you of anything. I’m just playing my uncle to get information on who Dawn’s father is.”

  He leaned back hard in his chair. “Are you now? Any leads?” His mind raced with the implications of that little nugget. She was such a confident operative that she would play head games with one of the CIA’s top spymasters? Damn. Kindergarten teacher, his ass. Just how long had she been training with the agency?

  “Charlie’s getting me a list of all the Caucasian males sighted in the Karshan Valley around nine months ago.”

  “What will dear Uncle Charlie do when he finds out you’re not actually going to try to hand me to him on a silver platter?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t care. I don’t work for him.”

  She said that with such casual conviction he could almost believe she was telling the truth. Almost. God she was fantastic. Pure, unadulterated admiration for her skill rolled over him. If he’d had to fall for a spy, at least he’d fallen for the very best.

  * * *

  KATIE WAS TOO agitated to sit and let Alex stare at her like a bug under a microscope. She knew he’d be unhappy that Uncle Charlie had approached her. But just because her uncle was in the business of keeping secrets didn’t mean that she had to be, too. Lies and evasions were foreign things to her. Distasteful things. Better to have been up front with Alex and make him mad than try to play games with him. Still, his amused reaction was unsettling. Didn’t he believe her?

  She set the table and puttered around, pretending to help Sister Mary Harris get lunch on the table. They ate mostly in silence, and as soon as they finished, she leaped up to clear the dishes.

  Alex announced without warning, “Katie, I’d like you and Dawn to go with us when I take Sister Mary Harris back to the convent school.”

  She looked up quickly. “Why?”

  He replied sardonically, “I have something to talk with you about, and it may make you unhappy. I thought I’d borrow a page out of the good sister’s playbook and do it with Dawn present so you can’t yell at me.”

  She glanced over at the elderly nun, who abruptly busied herself washing out a skillet with undue vigor.

  What did Alex think would make her shouting mad? “I’m pretty hard to make yell,” she said. “I’ve been a kindergarten teacher for a while, and you get good at keeping your cool around a bunch of little kids and their antics.”

  “Amen,” the nun piped up fervently.

  “Will you come?” Alex asked tersely.

  It almost sounded like he was nervous at the idea of her turning him down. As if she could deny him anything. “Sure, if it’s that important to you.”

  She went to Dawn’s room to fetch the baby bag. When she returned, Alex was gone. “Where’d he go?” she asked Sister Mary Harris.

  The nun smiled broadly. “He’s outside installing Dawn’s car seat in his BMW. And he’s none too happy about having such a thing in his fancy sports car.”

  Katie smiled back, amused. She picked up the dozing baby and followed the nun to the parking lot behind the building. Alex was just emerging from the backseat of the powerful German sports coupe, looking more than a little hot and annoyed.

  She commented drily, “This is the beginning of the end for you.”

  “How’s that?” he retorted.

  Katie tsked. “Baby seats. Bottles. Diapers. Before long, you’ll be coaching Little League soccer and going to PTA meetings. Another bachelor playboy bites the dust.”

  The nun cackled, and Alex scowled. As he held the door for her, he muttered, “I’m not going down without a fight.”

  “We’ll see about that, big guy,” she replied breezily.

  His gaze snapped to hers, and myriad emotions played across his face for a moment. Alarm. Amusement. Challenge accepted. What was that about?

  “Oh my, you’re good for him, Katie, dear,” Sister Mary Harris declared gleefully. As Alex helped her into the front passenger seat, the nun added, “I think you might just have met your match, young man.”

  Alex looked as though he might actually be sulking as he slid into the driver’s seat and guided the car to the street. He drove them onto the curving, tree-lined Rock Creek Parkway, and traffic was light in the middle of the day like this. But it wasn’t long before Katie noticed Alex watching the rearview mirror an inordinate amount.

  “Problem?” she murmured.

  “Yes, in fact.”

  She swiveled around in her seat to see if she could spot the tail. A forest-green SUV with blacked-out windows was maneuvering in and around cars behind them a little too aggressively. Dismayed, she demanded, “Are you followed everywhere you go, Alex?”

  “This is worse than usual.”

  “Did I lead them to you?” she asked painfully.

  “Nah. The CIA has known for years where I live. I bought the penthouse when I graduated from college.”

  “Were you old enough to own property?” she blurted.

  He didn’t answer and appeared to be focusing entirely on his driving at the moment. Sister Mary Harris answered for him, “You’re correct, Katie. He was too young to enter into such a contract. His trust fund had to buy it for him, as I recall. I also recall it being quite frustrating to him at the time.”

  “Overachiever,” she teased him.

  Alex spared her an annoyed look in the rearview mirror as he sped up smoothly. Before long, the BMW was weaving in and out of traffic like a stunt vehicle. Sister Mary Harris started to pray under her breath in the front seat. Katie kept a close eye on Dawn, who, so far, was sleeping through the increasingly violent ride.

  They accelerated onto the Beltway—a major highway circling Washington, D.C.—briefly. The green SUV flew onto the Beltway behind them. Alex dived off an exit at the last second and swerved onto surface streets once more. He ran red lights and screeched around corners, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t seem to shake the big vehicle behind him.

  “What do they want?” Katie demanded in exasperation.

  Alex bit out, “Maybe just to harass us, maybe to catch us, maybe kill us. A high-speed auto crash would likely do the trick.”

  She didn’t bother to tell him to be careful. He was an outstanding driver, much better
than she was, and he knew full well he had a baby on board.

  A screech of locked tires and a cacophony of blaring horns, followed by a car-on-car crunch behind them, ended the chase as quickly as it had begun. The big SUV had rammed into a pickup truck in an intersection, broadsiding the truck and spinning it around; its front end was mangled.

  Alex decelerated, and Katie started to breathe again. Enough to ask, “Who was that?”

  “Good question. I doubt Uncle Charlie sent his goons after us today. He thinks he’s got me in the bag for now.”

  “What about the FSB?” she ventured to ask.

  She caught his thoughtful frown in the rearview mirror. He replied slowly, “I don’t think so. Peter just did me a big favor and expect to collect on it soon. Why would he kill me when he can use me instead?”

  She said soberly, “I happen to think getting us that flight was worth it. I don’t think Dawn would have stayed healthy too much longer without real food, and who knows what rebels or bandits we might have run into out there.”

  Alex just shrugged.

  “That’s me saying thank you,” Katie added.

  “You’re welcome,” he replied reluctantly.

  Sister Mary Harris piped up, “I see I’ll need to add you to my special prayer list, Alex.”

  “The one you keep for really bad sinners?” he asked wryly.

  “No, young man. The one I keep for heroes in danger,” she replied tartly.

  Katie picked up the thread of the conversation once more. “So, if it wasn’t the CIA and it wasn’t the FSB, who was that?”

  “Good question,” Alex ground out. He threw her a warning look, as if he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Probably didn’t want to air his dirty laundry in front of the nun and end up on her really bad sinners list.

  She slumped in her seat, worried. How much danger were she and Dawn in as long as they stayed with him? No way was she dumping the infant on the foster care system if she could help it, although she didn’t know squat about how to prevent that. Honestly, she didn’t understand Dawn’s legal status at all. She was afraid to ask questions about it for fear of the answers she’d get. But sooner or later, she would have to face all of it.