by Debra Webb
“Too early to tell.” She glanced at her watch. “Let’s go. We’ll need to make sure we don’t have any tails before we meet Landry.”
This whole thing could turn out to be a bust. Director Woods appeared to have no idea what she was talking about. If he hadn’t been in on the plan, then that left Hamilton on the CIA side of things. Had the president sanctioned that final assignment or had he simply looked the other way? There was Paul Echols, the president’s top adviser at the time. And of course, Andrew Page, the Interpol counterpart. The operation couldn’t have gone down the way it did without one or more of them knowing the facts.
It didn’t matter as much who knew as who made the final decision. That was the real answer she needed. Then she would know why her life expectancy continued to be far too short.
Since an emergency egress didn’t seem necessary, she and Jeffrey moved into the mall’s main thoroughfare and headed toward the food-court entrance. Just another part of all this that didn’t make sense. Why let her walk away? Now or three years ago? And what about last night? Hamilton hadn’t made any move to stop her. He’d known she was alive all this time. Why let her sit idle for three years? Why not act before now? What had changed?
There had to be more to this than Landry was telling her. Maybe more than he knew.
If she found out he’d left her in the dark and let her walk into this tête-à-tête blind, she would kick his…
As they passed the carousel loaded with delighted children, an electrical charge zapped along her nerve endings, making the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
“Jeffrey.”
He stopped, only then realizing that she was no longer beside him. “Is something wrong?”
Olivia prodded herself forward—she didn’t dare turn around. “We’re going to take a little detour.”
He looked at his watch. “We only have three minutes until we’re supposed to meet Landry. We really should be on our way.”
A long-ago deeply ingrained instinct sent adrenaline charging through her veins. She grabbed Jeffrey by the arm and started forward again.
“Listen to me, I won’t have time to say this twice.”
“I’m listening.” He leaned his head closer to hers as they continued to weave quickly through the meandering Sunday-afternoon shopping crowd.
“What’s going on, Nessa?”
Shit. She’d forgotten about Landry and the wire.
“I think we have a tail.”
“You think or you know?”
Damn him. Didn’t he get it? She’d been out of this business for three years. She wasn’t sure.
Frustrated, she stopped and turned around. The abrupt moves of no less than three shoppers some four or five yards behind her gave her the answer she sought.
“I fucking know, Landry.”
He swore the way Brits will do when annoyed. Politely, with arrogant dignity.
“Get the hell out of there,” he ordered. “I’ll be waiting for you at the curb.”
Nothing polite or dignified about that.
If they made a dead run for it the chase would begin.
She scanned the upcoming shops. The food-court entrance was near one of the anchor stores…Macy’s. They still had a ways to go to get there.
They needed to lose this tail.
She looped her arm through Jeffrey’s. “We have to move quickly, Jeffrey. Just stay with me, okay?”
His arm tightened around hers. “I’m right beside you.”
She would owe him big-time when this was over…assuming they survived.
She cut into the candy store on the right. The shop was packed with patrons, which helped. She tugged Jeffrey through the crowd and exited on the opposite side of the store. This time she wasn’t walking, she was running.
“Talk to me, Nessa.”
Why the hell didn’t he stop calling her that?
Hanging on to Jeffrey’s hand, she rushed into Macy’s. The only way to stay ahead of the man behind her was to move through a crush of shoppers. The guys on her tail would have the same training as her. Losing them in an open area would be next to impossible.
“Answer me, Nessa, or I’m coming in.”
“We’re on our way, Landry.”
She cut through the men’s department. Wished like hell she knew where the employee exits were located.
The guy in the jeans, T-shirt and sneakers was gaining on them. They had to move faster. Yet attracting unnecessary attention wouldn’t be a good thing.
Dammit.
She headed for the women’s department. Her heart rocketed into her throat. She couldn’t let them catch her. Not now, with Jeffrey stuck in the middle.
The sign for the dressing room captured her attention. She dashed in that direction. Was immensely grateful no clerks were close by as she pushed through the stylish curtain providing privacy as well as elegance to the entrance.
Thankfully Jeffrey didn’t put up any resistance as she urged him deeper into what he would consider forbidden territory.
She pushed him into one of the larger, handicapped-accessible dressing rooms and latched the door. She pressed her finger to her lips to signal silence to him, then pointed to the bench. He nodded and scooted onto the bench, his knees pulled up to his chest to prevent his feet from being seen beneath the door.
Olivia shucked her boots and jeans, tossed both onto the bench with Jeffrey. Fortunately for her, the previous occupant had left a dress and a pair of slacks in the room. She jumped into the slacks that were two sizes too large but she didn’t care. The dress she hung over the door so that anyone who approached on the other side would think she was a customer trying on clothes.
She fiddled with the skirt of the dress, making just enough noise to sound as if she was preparing to try on another outfit.
Holding her breath, she listened for the enemy’s approach. She knew better than to hope he’d give up so easily. Or that her maneuver had been so brilliant.
A rap on the door directly in front of her sent her pulse into Mach speed.
Her body went rigid in preparation to fight.
“Did the dress work, ma’am?”
Relief made her sway on her feet.
Salesclerk.
Olivia moistened her lips and summoned her voice. “Could you bring me a size smaller, please?”
“Certainly. I’ll be right back.”
Olivia pressed her forehead against the door and tried to catch her breath. Damn, that had been close. But they weren’t out of here yet. She glanced at Jeffrey, who looked just a little nervous.
She needed to know if her tail was close by.
“Nessa, where are you now?”
Landry. He was supposed to back her up. He wasn’t doing her a damn bit of good with him out there and her in here. But then, if he were in here he’d only be trapped the same as she was.
She exhaled a long blast of air.
Before she could answer him, the salesclerk reappeared and rapped on the door again. “Here you go, ma’am.”
Uncertain if this was the right risk to take, Olivia opened the door just far enough to reach out. The salesclerk smiled and passed the dress to her.
“Excuse me.” Olivia’s voice cracked in spite of her best efforts to keep it level.
The salesclerk turned back to her, a questioning look on her face.
“There’s a man—” Olivia wet her lips again “—my ex-boyfriend. He’s been following me around the mall. I think he’s out there waiting for me.” Landry would hear the conversation and understand that she had a plan. She hoped.
The clerk looked distressed. “Would you like me to call security?”
Olivia shook her head, summoned her deepest, darkest fear for motivation. “That’ll only make him more angry. He knows where I live.”
“What does he look like?” The clerk looked ticked off now. Clearly she had no tolerance for men who stalked their ex-girlfriends.
“Tall, brown hair, jeans, blue T-shirt.
”
She nodded, her expression knowing. “Oh, yes, he’s out there. He tried to come in here but I stopped him. And there’s another man with him.”
Olivia rounded her eyes. “What will I do? I need to get to my car and get away from him.”
The clerk thought about that for a moment. “Where is your car parked?”
“Near the food-court entrance.”
She pursed her lips, then nodded resolutely. “I can take you out the back entrance.” She gestured behind her. “There’s a storeroom back there where incoming shipments are received and checked in.”
Olivia marshaled a look of desperate hope. “That would be great.”
The clerk hesitated, making Olivia’s heart ram against her breastbone.
“Do you want the dress?” she asked.
Damn. “Of course. How much is it?”
The clerk looked at the sales ticket. “Two-fifty plus tax.”
“Just a moment.” Olivia drew back from the door and looked to Jeffrey.
Momentarily bewildered, understanding kicked in before Olivia had a chance to panic. He wrenched his wallet from his back pocket and dragged out a platinum Visa. She shook her head adamantly. Comprehension dawned and this time he drew out three one-hundred-dollar bills. His hand shook as he passed the cash to Olivia.
She would make this up to him. Somehow.
After giving the money to the clerk, she urged, “Please hurry.”
The clerk smiled and folded the dress over her arm. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right back. The door’s just over there.” She pointed to the storeroom access. “I’ll have you out of here before he knows what hit him.”
Olivia nodded, managing a faint smile of her own.
When the clerk had disappeared beyond the curtain that blocked anyone outside from looking in, Olivia stripped off the slacks. She jerked on her jeans and shoved her feet into her boots, arranged the knife to a comfortable position and decided to forgo lacing the ties.
She put her mouth to Jeffrey’s ear. “I’m going to check that door to see if it’s locked. If it’s not, we’re out of here.”
He frowned. “What if the clerk comes back?”
“I’ll tell her we got spooked and decided to leave without the dress.”
He nodded, didn’t bring up the three hundred bucks she’d just thrown away.
Olivia checked the corridor outside the dressing rooms. Clear. Leaving the door open, she moved to the end of the corridor as quickly and silently as she could.
Her fingers closed around the cool metal knob of the door the clerk had indicated. Olivia gave the knob a twist, her heart beating so loudly she could scarcely hear herself think.
The knob didn’t resist and the latch released. She pushed the door inward and found the storeroom the clerk had told her about.
Jeffrey watched from the dressing-room door. She motioned for him to come. He hurried toward her, while she watched the curtain at the other end of the corridor.
Once he was inside the storeroom she closed the door, careful not to make any unnecessary noise.
A lit exit sign reigned over the door that would provide their escape. Relief made her light-headed.
“This way.” She grabbed Jeffrey’s hand and hurried toward the rear exit.
She pushed the door open and a shadow blocked the sun that should have greeted her.
Her gaze collided with triumphant brown eyes.
The third man who’d been following her.
Damn.
Chapter 11
The first thing Olivia noticed about the man blocking her escape was that he hadn’t drawn his weapon.
The second thing was that he hadn’t expected Jeffrey.
The precious seconds it cost him to analyze the other man’s threat level was the opportunity Olivia needed.
Her right knee rushed toward his family jewels, but he wasn’t that distracted. He twisted. Grabbed her by the shoulders in an attempt to pin her to the door.
She jerked free, landed an uppercut to his chin. He grabbed a handful of hair and shoved her back into the storeroom.
Before she regained her balance, he was filling the doorway and reaching for his weapon.
An arm came down hard on the guy’s head. Olivia had to look twice to make sure she’d seen what she thought she saw. Jeffrey had ripped an arm from a mannequin and slammed the guy with it.
Though rattled, the guy still lunged for Jeffrey. Olivia’s left elbow collided with his temple as the two went down.
Jeffrey shoved the motionless body off him and scrambled to his feet. Olivia grabbed his arm and ran like hell.
The Land Rover skidded to a stop at the curb two seconds before she reached it.
Landry shoved the passenger-side door open. “Get in!”
Like she needed an invitation. She flung herself into the front seat. Jeffrey dived into the back. Landry was barreling across the parking lot before their doors were fully closed.
Olivia didn’t have to look back to know they were being followed. Landry’s risky maneuvers around pedestrians and parked vehicles screamed trouble on his heels.
“Try not to get us or anyone else killed, Landry,” Jeffrey shouted above the alternating sounds of squealing tires and screeching brakes. The click of his seat belt punctuated his anxious statement.
“We need to get to the street.” Olivia watched for a break in the lines of traffic bottlenecked at both the exits within visual range. The thoroughfares around the mall didn’t give them the freedom they needed to get off mall property. But maneuvering around the throng of waiting vehicles would be no easy feat.
“Keep an eye out for cops.” Landry’s determined expression told her he had a plan.
She craned her neck right then left, didn’t see any official cruisers. Landry didn’t wait for her assessment. He bumped over the curb where the thoroughfare circling the mall met the landscape. If there were any cops around they would soon know.
Olivia braced herself.
Landry veered around the Springfield Mall sign and cut into the street right in front of merging traffic.
Horns blared. Tires squealed as brakes were slammed.
A black SUV carrying at least one member of her original tail followed, bouncing onto the pavement and cutting off more outraged drivers.
Landry swooped between cars and roared along turning lanes, leaving furious drivers and the occasional fender bender in his wake, in an effort to put some distance between them and the vehicle determined to keep theirs in sight.
He didn’t slow. Not for a second. Not for anything.
Olivia found herself holding her breath more than once. Each time the crash didn’t come she sucked in a thankful breath. It had been a while since she’d taken a ride anything like this, even on L.A.’s infamous freeways. Distracting the driver with unnecessary questions or comments wouldn’t help.
Landry did what he had to do.
The exit for I-95 didn’t come soon enough for Olivia. She exhaled a fraction of her tension as he zoomed up the ramp. The tail was still hanging on, but it would be a hell of a lot easier to lose him once they could pick up some real speed.
Weaving and darting between and around vehicles, Landry managed to get in the right position to whip off onto an exit before his tail could react to the abrupt move. He missed the turn, would have no choice but to go to the next exit and double back.
Landry slowed marginally but didn’t let up on his evasive maneuvers. By the time he stopped taking unexpected turns, even Olivia was lost. She’d spent her share of time in the D.C. area and popular surrounding locales, but she was pretty sure she’d never been here before.
“Where to now?” she asked when it was safe to distract Landry. She had more questions and conclusions. The sooner they were off the road the sooner they could assess what just went down.
“Anywhere,” Jeffrey pleaded. “I just want to get out of this vehicle.”
Olivia couldn’t bring herself to look at him. She’d put
him in this position. He wanted to go home. He wanted his life back.
She hated herself right now.
Her gaze shifted to the man behind the wheel.
Maybe she still hated him, too. But not nearly enough to protect herself.
More than an hour and a half later Landry stopped at a hotel off the Capital Beltway. As distance went, they hadn’t actually gone that far from their rendezvous point with Director Woods, but they’d been driving hard the entire time.
Olivia understood the tactic. Ensure the enemy couldn’t pick up your trail. The dude who’d been hoping to catch them would need a crystal ball to do so now.
Landry had doubled back so many times he’d driven twenty miles for every five he wanted to cover. There had been no sign of the black SUV since they’d left I-95.
That was definitely a good thing.
Landry parked the Land Rover near the entrance to the hotel lobby. He looked exhausted. Somehow she didn’t feel sorry for him though. After all, he’d started this.
“How about getting us a couple of rooms with a connecting door.” He handed her a credit card.
He looked away before she could read his eyes, but she’d noticed something there…that distant look of remorse or something along those lines. Couldn’t be. That would indicate he had a heart and she knew from experience he didn’t. Not one any human could hope to reach anyway.
She had to stop trying to read between the lines. What he thought or how he felt was of no consequence to her any longer. Not on that level. They were partners in an op, that was all.
Not bothering to answer him, she got out of the SUV and went to do his bidding. Her legs felt a little wobbly. She’d lived the calm, safe life too long to go through a high-speed chase without feeling it.
Inside, the desk clerk greeted her and in less than three minutes had taken care of her request. Two rooms, connecting door, third floor. Nothing on the ground floor was available. She used the credit card he’d given her. Samuel Borders, one of his many aliases.
“Three seventy and seventy-one,” she informed Landry as she climbed back into the Land Rover.
He drove around to the end of the hotel and parked out of sight of the main entrance. He didn’t bother to back into the slot as she’d done in Memphis.
