The cherry wood clock on the wall behind his desk ticked away the long seconds that he made us wait.
“I suppose Agent Turelli will be following you out?” Lyon looked back up from the papers.
I merely shrugged, feigning ignorance. We had spoken to Isaiah the night before and told him… well, everything. I had told him about myself, my personal preferences and why I had always seemed so cold to him. And I had apologized for it. It didn’t feel right walking away from my partner without full closure. He had been quick to forgive and said he was glad I had finally lightened up.
He was also part of the discussion around Van and I leaving the agency. Isaiah agreed I needed to make a change, and taking charge of my professional life was a good start. We asked him to come with us, join our new team as we were planning to start an intelligence consulting agency of our own, and he would be an invaluable member of that kind of team. He was interested, I could tell, but he said he’d need time to think it over.
I didn’t mention what I had seen between him and the young man in the Intel room the other night. There was no need to drag his secrets out. He never let them rule his life with an iron fist like I had.
“Agent Turelli hasn’t said anything to me about leaving the agency.” Truth, as far as I could stretch it.
“Nothing more to it then, eh?” Colonel Lyon rummaged in the bottom drawer of his desk, pulling out a large rubber stamp and ink pad. He signed his name in a quick flourish on both sheets and turned them to us to add ours.
After we had all signed, he inked the rubber and forcefully stamped DISMISSED across the signatures. My stomach dropped, and I hastened to remind myself why we were doing this again. For Sarah. For myself, for us. When I looked at Vaneesa, the world righted itself again, and we walked out of the base following behind our escorts without looking back.
~
The plane trip to Canada felt like forever. We had decided not to drink since we would be landing in the morning and heading straight to the hospital where Sarah was staying. So we spent a few hours drawing up plans for our new venture and the rest of the time sleeping in cramped, uncomfortable coach class positions.
The weather was nice when we landed in Vancouver, and the air was crisp and clear, even with the heavy scent of salt coming from the waterfront. It was only a few miles to the hospital from the airport, and we were in front of administration in less than thirty minutes. No news had made it to the hospital of Philip’s situation, thankfully. As Van and I signed in as guests, the nurses and attendants expressed worry over Phil not having been here the last few weeks. It was evident, under normal circumstances, he was there much more often than not.
We expressed to the ladies at the administration counter that Mr. Townsend was being held up by business and wished to make sure his daughter was well taken care of. Their suspicions were allayed by a quick phone call to the appropriate government agency to validate the legality of the documents we held, and by paying Sarah Townsend's account up to current. I also requested to schedule Sarah’s surgical procedure as soon as possible and to visit her before we left.
We were escorted into a large, windowed room, with blush pink walls that held pictures of bunnies and puppies. We were introduced to Sarah by the hospital's case worker, a petite older woman with tightly coifed hair, bright red horn rimmed glasses and a calf length skirt the same color. She stayed for about thirty minutes to make sure everyone was comfortable with the new adjustment. Sarah herself was a bright and sunny young girl, intelligent and tough. I loved her from the first moment.
“My daddy called me last night,” she informed us after the case worker had left the room.
“Oh, did he? It must have been nice to hear from him.” I was surprised; I hadn’t figured he would be allowed to call anyone. Colonel King must have been behind it.
“Yes, it was nice. I miss him a lot. But he’s gone a lot for work,” Sarah spoke as she fidgeted with her teddy bear’s little corduroy vest.
“Is this Brenda Bear?” I asked, touching the bear on its button nose.
Sarah smiled “Yes, I had a friend here named Brenda. I named the bear after her after she was gone.” Her smile faded. “My dad said it was a good name. He said last night that you were a good person and that you would look after me for a while.”
“We both are going to take great care of you. Even help you to walk again, hopefully. The doctors here are sure they can make that happen,” Vaneesa chimed in, as emotionally moved by this poor girl’s circumstances as I was.
“I don’t have to wait anymore? Daddy said the doctors were waiting for the right time.” Sarah’s eyes grew wide.
The doctors had been waiting for the money to perform the surgery. They had it now, and it would happen soon.
“Yes, now is the right time. And we will be here when they do it, okay?” Come hell or high water, Vaneesa and I would both be here.
We stayed with Sarah through lunch, impressed enough by the quality of the food that Van and I each ordered some for ourselves. We then played board games with her on her bed, laying out the board and pieces on her dark purple comforter. I had left while Vaneesa read a book to use the restroom, and came back to see them hugging. Vaneesa kissed Sarah on the head and looked at me with tears rolling down her face. I passed her a tissue from the rolling bedside table, and she dabbed her eyes as she sat back.
I reached over and gave Sarah a hug, promising we would return tomorrow morning. We needed to talk to the doctors again about her procedure, and push to get it scheduled right away. After Sarah stabilized from the surgery, she would need a ton of therapy, and would still need to be hospitalized for some time. I hoped to transfer her to a children’s hospital in Dallas, close to home so that we could see her every day.
We walked slowly down the stark white hallways of the hospital, toward the exit. As we neared the automatic doors, I thought to ask, “What happened when I came back in, why were you crying?”
“She asked me if I could come closer so she could hug me because her legs didn’t work so well. It took everything I had not to lose it.” Vaneesa stopped and sat on a stone bench outside the hospital entrance.
I sat next to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.
“I am so glad we did this, Tess. Every bit of the risk was one hundred percent worth it.”
“Me, too, Van. Me too.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Vaneesa had been busy in the last few days. As I stood in the doorway that led down to the basement, I was in awe of how quickly she had set things up. At the moment Vaneesa had her head down, concentrating on something on the large monitor in the middle of the table she was in front of. I could tell she knew I was here by the small smile that dimpled the corners of her mouth, but she hadn’t looked up yet.
I made my way down the wood staircase and into the spacious room beneath our house, walking around the edges to admire the weapons lockers now attached to the brick walls. Amongst the weapons, there were hangers and hooks for gear; vests, jumpers, boots, belts, bags… and much more. My table and monitors were set up nearer this wall, and Vaneesa’s table was near the wall holding shelves full of comms units, microchips and a ton of other tech stuff. I had no clue what most of it was.
She did, though. She was a genius, and I couldn’t be happier about how things had turned out. Vaneesa finally looked up at me and caught me staring at her and her adorable smile.
“Come see,” she said, waving for me to get over there.
I walked around behind her desk and felt a grin spread across my face. There was our logo on the screen; she had just put the finishing touches on it, and it now displayed brightly across the top of our new website. Vaneesa had built that, too. Colt Information Agency it read. I had insisted she put her name in it, but she had declined on the grounds that since we would be consultants for government agencies, we would keep the name familiar to them. I hoped we wouldn’t get sued for the acronym of CIA underneath the Title, but figured we would sor
t that out later.
Against the bold font of the name, leaned a small rainbow-colored mouse, arms crossed and smiling under its tiny sunglasses.
“I love it,” I told her. I meant it, too. It was the perfect combination to show our relationship, both working and personal. She was totally my support. I couldn’t do this without her.
“YAY! I am so glad. I wasn’t sure, but I thought you would…” Vaneesa was so excited and would have kept rambling, but I grabbed her face between my hands and leaned down to kiss her, hard.
She relaxed into me, and her arms slipped up around my shoulders. Releasing her cheeks, I grabbed her by the rump and pulled her up onto the steel frame desk, being careful not to break any equipment. I had just run my fingers up under her black and white striped shirt, teasing and exploring, when the office phone rang.
“Our first caller! Answer it,” Vaneesa squirmed off the table and watched me with wide eyes and a huge grin.
“Colt Information Agency,” I said with the receiver to my ear. Vaneesa clapped and giggled. The voice on the other end stopped me mid-eye-roll.
“Miss Colt,” came Colonel Lyon’s voice. I quickly pressed the speaker phone button and hung up the receiver.
“Colonel Lyon, sir. I am surprised to hear from you.” I was, too. I thought he would be the last to make any use of our agency, and sincerely hoped it was just a business call.
By the roundness of Vaneesa’s eyes, she must have thought the same.
“I have a particular case in need of your skills and intuition. We have recently come across an illegal arms manufacturer here in the Venice countryside that has been supplying several crime syndicates. I’d like to cut it off at the head, then go after the cartel bosses and shut them down as well. Are you interested in helping?”
“Well, Sir, we have just barely gotten set up, and I’m not sure we are fully geared for an international mission yet.” We had all only been back from Italy for two months, now.
“We have intel showing that this manufacturer has ties to Roberto Cavalierri.” His voice came crisply across the speaker.
Damn. He knew I couldn’t say no to this. And the glint in Vaneesa’s eye told me she would have words for me if I did.
I drummed my fingertips against the desktop. “Well then, Sir, I guess we will start packing up what we have. But you must know my terms. My job, my team.”
“Yes, yes, I do know. You will be allowed full access to the equipment here in the Venice base. I also plan on contacting Agent Turelli after we speak and I expect your erm, communications agent will be accompanying you.”
“Thank you, sir. And Agent Turelli is part of my team now. He will be with us.” Isaiah had sent me a message the week before, stating his interest in our new venture and that he was signing resignation papers with Colonel King that morning. “But there is one more thing,” I added.
“I have a suite of rooms set up for you at the same hotel, under the same cover as before. With the addition of your little sister and a specialized caretaker to be with her around the clock and to assist in her therapy,” Colonel Lyon said before I could finish.
Vaneesa beamed a smile at me, and I let go a huge breath of relief. There was no way I would leave Sarah behind. She had recovered from the surgery quickly and was well into her daily physical therapy routines. She had stayed the night with us a couple of times, sleeping in the oversized queen bed we had setup in a bedroom just for her. I was excited for her to see Italy.
“That is acceptable, Sir. Thank you.” I concurred in a flat tone.
“Good. You all leave for Venice first thing in the morning. Here are your flight confirmation numbers…”
Epilogue
“Do you remember when we first found Tess?” The older woman asked me in her Russian accent.
Her question caught me off guard. We were currently relaxing on the beach, toes in the sand, umbrella flapping overhead, and a drink for each hand. It was a ritual for me, after a case I would head to the closest warm beach and soak up the sun; and the attention.
“Yeah, I do. She sure was a sight, all dolled up in that bright red dress and platform heels. It took me weeks to be convinced she wasn’t actually a stripper,” I replied, grinning.
“Dahling, sure, she vas gorgeous, but I mean, how fierce she vas. I just could not wait to make her an agent.”
I glanced over the table at Kat, trying to figure out what her point was.
“The CIA just lost an amazing Agent, Isaiah love. I left and Shelley retired, and there vas no one left to appreciate her ferocity.” She paused catching my narrowed gaze, “Yes, yes, there vas you, always. But you couldn’t penetrate her shell, no more than I could. Besides, she vas too young for me.” Kat winked.
“Cradle robber Agent Koslov, saying Tess was too young?” I was surprised. Kat was never one to be inhibited by social standards. I had learned that quite soon after I started with the CIA; she had taught me well.
“Isaiah, I worked my tail off to get her accepted to the agency. She had no training, no education, but her sheer will power was something to behold. And not to mention her orphan status made it easy to wipe her slate clean.” Kat waved to the waiter to bring her another fruity concoction.
“That’s true. You know, I never did find out. Why was Tess at that Podunk strip club to begin with?” Either I couldn’t remember, or had never been told.
“She had gotten wind of a reward for information on a sex trafficker. Wicked man, the one we brought in that night.” She sipped thoughtfully on her cocktail.
“Oh yeah, Bridges or something like that.”
“Da, Kane Bridges. He had a dozen girls rotating through the back room of that club, doing anything for some pocket change. Tess had dressed up to gain access to him and had him hogtied before we broke in. She had figured if there vas a reward for information, there may be me more for his capture.”
“Smart girl.”
“Da, but instead of a reward I gave her a job. Will you join her new venture, lapochka?” lapochka was Russian for sweetie pie, something she had called me since the beginning.
“I’ve always had her back, no reason not to now.” I fiddled with my drink, thinking about it. Sure, Tess had her new girlfriend, but she’d never find someone who knew her like I did. She and I had been together too long, worked too well together, to go our separate ways now.
“Good. Lyon will be calling her tomorrow to ask for help. It involves Cavalierri, and I vant you there with her. That thug has gotten a taste of power, and he will only become more dangerous. You keep my kotyonik safe, Isaiah.”
“Kotyonik… kitten?” I knew a little Russian, but I had heard her say this a few times before in reference to Tess. “You think Tess is a kitten?”
Kat laughed, “She vas a kitten when I found her. But I taught her to always show her fangs; never her neck. And now, she is a tiger.”
Look for other titles by A L Wright:
Blood Price – Noble of Blood Trilogy Book 1
Blood Ties – Noble of Blood Trilogy Book 2
Hartman House – A Novel of Urban Magic
Marigold – Short Romance Mystery
Lillian – Short Military Romance
Continue reading for a preview of Hartman House…
Prologue
And they were running. Again. They had thought this new location would be more private; it was definitely more secluded being on the other side of a long lake and back inside the dense trees and scrub of the forest. They had planned it carefully. So how did they know?
Maybe they had taken too long to decide on the location. They'd visited the place a couple of times before they performed any rituals there. Too many times. They usually chose places at random. Maybe someone had tracked them. Someone had to have tracked them!
All these thoughts ran through Rodelle's head as they ran. She and her best friend had been hiding from these hunters for months now, and this was the closest they had gotten. It was way too close.
“Wait, stop!” Laren whispered harshly at her, as she came to a halt and hunched forward, hands on knees, to catch her breath. “I don't have a good feeling about going that way.”
“Well we don't have much of a choice, they are closing in on us from behind and I can feel them off to the sides. If we go straight up this way we will eventually hit a mountain trail and we can find one of our caves to stay in for the night.” Rodelle grabbed Laren's hand and got her moving again.
A howl from behind them had the girls exchanging very surprised glances. Laren had calmed all the hunting animals in town. Horses refused to be ridden after them, and dogs and hounds refused to hunt them. For them to have tracking hounds meant they had called on some outside help.
Rodelle paused, turned and crouched down to place her hand just above the ground.
“Obscura” She whispered, and flung her hand towards the way they had come. Any prints they had left vanished and a small fog rose to obscure any other signs of their passing in the dark.
“Come on.” She rose and the two of them began running again.
As the sounds behind them became confused the girls smiled at each other and slowed to a walk to catch their breaths.
Rodelle stopped suddenly as she patted at her pockets to make sure she hadn't lost anything.
“Why are you stopping? We need to keep going!” Laren whisper-yelled to her.
“I think I lost my scrying crystal, the quartz. That's the oldest one I have!” Rodelle turned back a few steps looking towards the ground, searching for the crystal.
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