Traitor Games

by Sidney Bristol

  He pushed to his feet and walked the three steps to the two-seater table covered in bags. “I picked up some Chinese. I made a few guesses based on your freezer.”

  “Noah.” She wasn’t going to be ignored.

  “I’m going to pull the table away from the windows. There’s chicken and beef.” He lifted two containers out of a plastic bag.

  “Noah, what do you mean, until this thing is done?”

  “Turn the radio on, then come here and eat. Please?” His smile was tight this time, conveying a message she got loud and clear.

  Some things couldn’t be discussed.

  “Okay.” Lillian powered on the radio then twisted the dial until she found a station playing music she recognized. Even the sound of a familiar tune was comforting. Her purse was gone, her shoes and clothes trashed, and the coat she’d bought last week in some dumpster. She shouldn’t complain. She was alive, after all.

  Noah arranged the table and chairs in front of the door. She couldn’t fathom why and right now she didn’t want to ask

  He pulled out a chair for her and she sat.

  “Chicken or beef?” He gestured to the two containers sitting on the table.

  “Chicken. Thanks.”

  He pulled the container toward her then sat down in the other chair, his knees brushing her thigh as he faced her.

  “I want the radio on so it’s harder for people to hear us.” He spoke softly, leaning toward her. “Donovan didn’t just mean for me to get you out of the city. What he really meant was that…we’re partners now. It’s you and me, Lily, against the world.” He lifted his chopsticks in a mock salute.

  She chuckled at his use of the song lyric. Right now it did feel like there was a lot stacked against them. That part of her that was growing to like this version of Noah cheered. She tamped down on the relief and focused on the facts. “You didn’t want to be involved.”

  “I am now.”

  “Why?”

  “We all have to make a choice sometime. This was mine.”

  “Why join us now? Why not before?”

  Noah blew out a breath and placed his chopsticks on the lid of his container.

  “Because it was easier to keep my head down, focus on what I was doing, and not pay attention. Because I kept trying to tell myself it wasn’t that bad. But it is. And this is the right thing to do. I made a mistake before. I hope you can forgive me for being an ass.”

  How could she not? Minute by minute he was winning her over, and she didn’t know how to feel about that.

  “I’ll forgive you on a probationary period.” Liar. She’d mostly forgiven him already. For everything except breaking into her house. And kissing her.

  “How kind of you.” He picked up his chopsticks.

  “Have you heard from Andy? Do we know what happens next?”

  “Not yet, and our next move is still the same—get you out of the country.”

  “And then what?”

  “That’s where you start telling me what we’re doing. You spent the whole time in the car writing stuff down. I assumed you were planning. The woman who knows all. Food’s getting cold.” He nodded at the container.

  “The problem is that I’m no help to anyone right now. It’s frustrating. For me to do my part I need to be able to talk to people, coordinate, put pieces together.” Her whole value was as the point of contact in D.C. If she was on the run like everyone else, she found it hard to see what use she was to the team.

  “I think you are.”

  “How would you know?”

  “The Director of the CIA told me to keep you safe. That means you’re important.” Noah stared at her in that odd way of his, completely still. Predatory. And yet she didn’t feel as though she were the one at risk.

  “We’re going to wait here for word from Andy, then get on a plane?”

  “We’ll use this time to rest up. Once we hear from him, we’ll head north and work on our exit strategy. Now, your turn. What am I getting involved with?”

  Lillian picked at the food, not sure where to start. It had gotten fairly complicated over time, their end goal changing as they discovered just how large SICA was, how deep it ran.

  “I guess, if I had to label it, we’re trying to get out of our research phase. We’ve got a reasonable idea as to the history and scope of the organization. Now, we need to figure out how to stop them.”

  “Is it just the eight of us?”

  He was including himself in the number.

  Lillian chewed and considered her answer. “There’s more than eight, but how many? I can’t tell you that.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Can’t. Each team has built resources of their own they don’t share. The idea is, if something happens to the rest of us, each team can take what they’ve created and run with it.”

  “You mean, if you can’t stop them?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, I’m glad everyone has contingency plans.” He gestured at her food. “You almost done?”

  “Yeah.” Lillian wanted to believe him, but if she’d learned anything over the last few months it was that plans rarely worked out how they hoped.

  “What else do we have to do tonight?” she asked.

  “Sleep. If you don’t mind sharing the bed, I mean. I’ll keep my hands to myself.” As if it proved anything, Noah lifted his left hand.

  It didn’t make sense to refuse him. There was only one bed and so many hours to rest. Besides, now that she’d scarfed down some food her eyelids were beginning to droop.

  “I hope you don’t snore.”

  Noah merely grinned.

  Not long after finishing dinner she crawled onto her side of the bed, furthest from the door. Despite being tired she lay awake, listening to Noah move about the room until he, too, climbed into the bed. On the other side.

  “Good night, Lily,” he whispered and flipped the lights off.

  She couldn’t decide if she was disappointed or glad that he didn’t reach for her.

  …

  Monday. CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia.

  Assistant Director Dave Campbell reread the off-the-books report from Hector via the mirror SICA network embedded within the CIA’s systems. Judging by the time stamp of the report and the time logs, Dave was willing to bet that Hector was only now leaving the building. Dave sent a note to the SICA tech team to review what Hector had done, every click of the mouse, keystroke, and window opened. Dave didn’t yet trust the man.

  They’d gone through the motions to recruit Hector, but both sides had known the questions were a formality. They had enough dirt on Hector to own him. He’d been the weak link Dave had exploited in his new opponent’s armor, and now he had a way in.

  As the sole remaining power behind SICA, Dave had many resources at his disposal. He was the puppet master. The shadow man. Or whatever other names his underlings chose to call him. In all his years of working both for his own gain and the CIA, they’d only come close to being exposed three times, including now. They’d weather this. He’d see to it.

  The girl was gone, but Dave had known that moving to capture her might only send her running.

  It had been easy enough to identify her once Dave’s team realized the rogue CIA agents still had someone in D.C. working with them. The thing Dave’s people hadn’t known was, who else? The pretty lawyer with a failed CIA career working as a fixer was resourceful, but she wasn’t alone.

  So, who else?

  That was the question. They’d spent valuable time trying to determine the who without much progress. Now they knew.

  Someone tapped on Dave’s office door. Dave had been expecting this and had set up in one of the lower level offices used for agents there on a temporary basis. Less chance of being observed down here. He pulled the hat down lower and adjusted the lamplight so the room was properly dim. The fewer people who saw his face, the fewer who could identify him.

  “Yes?” he called out.

  The door
cracked open.

  “We brought you Demetrius,” the man on the other side of the door said.

  Dave shuffled papers off his desk and closed the laptop. “Bring him in.”

  The door opened and two men entered, dragging a third between them. Dave folded his hands on the desk and waited while the two SICA agents sat facing away from him in the folding chair. They didn’t give the bound man any space. If he was as good as his reputation, they were all still in danger.

  He leaned back and studied the man’s shoulders, how he sat. The South African assassin was a big man with dark skin, close cropped hair, and soulless black eyes. Not the type Dave would have pegged for the covert work, but he hadn’t yet seen the man in action.

  Demetrius was a killer. Someone who knew how to make people hurt. The man had come onto Dave’s radar almost a decade ago by way of his freelance work in the southern regions of Africa. His skills in the field were notable, especially for someone with no affiliation. He was a self-made man, down to his core. That was a rarity. And now Dave would make the man work for him.

  Dave smiled. “Hello, Demetrius. I’ve got a job vacancy you are uniquely qualified to fill. Interested?”

  “Fuck you,” Demetrius said.

  Dave nodded at the file folder of photographs on the edge of the desk. The closest agent picked it up and held it so Demetrius could see the contents.

  “What the—?” Demetrius leaned forward. Children always did make excellent leverage. The other agent shoved him back in his seat. “Hell no. No…”

  “Interested now?”

  Dave took perverse pleasure in these moments. He wasn’t young and he’d never been physically imposing, which was his gift. No one saw him coming until he had them where it hurt. And everyone had a weak spot. Especially Demetrius. The South African had thought to escape his reputation by moving to America with his young daughters. All it did was make him more available to Dave.

  “What’s the job?” Demetrius’s voice hit that flat tone, the one of a man resigned to his fate.

  Dave didn’t buy that at all, but he could work with Demetrius’s compliance.

  “It’s more of a partnership, really. I’ve got plans for us.”

  This was going to be fun.

  …

  Tuesday. Denville, New Jersey.

  Noah strained to hear the tiniest sound in the darkness. An A/C unit switched on next door, blanketing out any sound, even Lillian’s deep breathing.

  He couldn’t sleep.

  This was all too easy. He’d been at this work for too long to take easy at face value.

  He stared at the lump an arm’s length away.

  Lillian Matthews.

  She’d been in his head for months. If she were anyone else he’d have tried to bed her and get her out of his system. But she wasn’t just anyone, so he’d kept his hands to himself. And now here they were, sharing a bed, on the run together.

  Fucking hell.

  Noah’s restlessness chased him from bed. He padded across the room to the windows and peered out into the parking lot. No cars had moved. The guy smoking a few doors down was nowhere to be seen. There was no suspicious activity in the early morning hours, and yet…something wasn’t right. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he could sense it.

  Was this deep cover, long-op paranoia? He’d been at one gig for over two years. It was bound to make him a little crazy.

  Why hadn’t they heard from the others?

  Andy had indicated it shouldn’t take him long to get the ball rolling on their paperwork. That was before they left D.C. He should have made contact by now. Noah would have liked to be on the road by now. Hell, he’d have preferred to have never stopped.

  Lillian groaned in her sleep and tossed onto her other side.

  He glanced over his shoulder at her, the thin beam of light catching on the blond streaks in her hair.

  What if he got her killed?

  He’d never been good at teamwork. Never been good at saving lives. He was better at ending them. He understood how killing one could save many. Now his job was the opposite. He had to keep one woman alive so others would live. This op was all wrong for him.

  He sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes.

  Unbidden memories of blood and bits came to the forefront of his mind.

  He’d been part of the Military Police back then, stationed in yet another town with the aim to train the locals to police themselves. Good theory, bad practice.

  The second posting Noah had worked at had been a disaster. The appointed chief of police for the town had been a crooked cop, and he’d used the American forces to do his dirty work. By the time Noah’s superiors found out there was no fixing it. If they came forward, they were the murderers. If they kept things as they were, peace would never be achieved.

  So Noah had made the problem go away. It hadn’t been a direct order. His commanding officer had implied, and Noah had listened.

  The chief of police appeared to have died due to an accident. Everything should have been fine. But that wasn’t how things worked. When everything appeared to be fine—that was when they were going wrong.

  Noah pushed to his feet and crossed to the bed. He gripped Lillian’s arm, squeezing it a bit too tight.

  “Lillian? Lily? I need you to wake up.” He clicked on the bedside lamp. Her beautiful features were soft in sleep.

  “Huh?” She rolled toward him, lashes working double time.

  “We need to go.”

  “What? Why?” She sat up and swung her legs off the side of the bed.

  “We should have heard from Andy by now. Something’s happened.”

  Either he was right or paranoid. Probably both.

  She crammed her feet into the drugstore slippers they’d bought her and stood. She swayed a bit, but was otherwise good to go.

  Noah grabbed the small bag he’d brought in from the car and slung it over his shoulder. He pulled the gun from his holster and gripped the keys in his other hand.

  “What’s going on?” Her hands were in her hair, tying it up and out of the way.

  “We need to go.” Noah lifted the curtain and, once more, he checked the parking lot.

  It was too still out there. The calm before the storm, and all that shit.

  He looked back at Lillian. “I’ll go first. I’ll start the car. When I turn the headlights on, come out, okay?”

  “Got it. I’m good.” She blew out a breath, hands at her side and nodded.

  This could be nothing but him jumping at shadows, or he could be saving their lives. He couldn’t tell the difference anymore. Did it matter so long as they remained among the living?

  “Let me know if I need to do anything?” Lillian’s face was hard to make out in the darkness, but her tone rang with trust.

  He might be off his rocker, but she was willing to follow him. He’d get her through this. He’d do whatever it took.

  Noah crossed the floor in two strides. He didn’t know what he was going to do until he was there, toe to toe with her. Lillian tipped her chin up. A bit of light caught in her eye. He reached up and cupped the back of her head, a bit of loose hair brushing his fingers, and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. Her body jolted, but she didn’t pull away.

  Noah groaned and broke the kiss. He let go and whirled toward the door, slipping out into the chilly night.

  So much for keeping his hands to himself.

  The darkness was held back by only a few lights in the lot. Not much opportunity to see people like them coming and going.

  He got into the car, then twisted around to see if he spied movement.

  Still, nothing.

  Maybe they were ahead of the threat? He hoped so.

  He twisted the key in the ignition and the car chugged to life. They needed to get out of here and find a new ride. He unlocked the doors and flipped the headlights on.

  A dark shape darted out from the room. He shifted into reverse and waited just long enough for Lillian’
s bottom to hit the seat before accelerating out of the spot.

  “Did you see anything?” Lillian shut the door and twisted around to look.

  “No. Seat belt.”

  She buckled in, still staring at him. “What did you mean about Andy?”

  “It shouldn’t have taken him this long to get us a lead on a passport. It’s been almost twelve hours.” Noah merged onto the empty road and headed north at his first opportunity.

  “Can we contact him?”

  “That’s not a good idea.”

  “Noah, you’re scaring me. Please, tell me what’s going on?”

  He reached over and placed his hand on her knee. “Andy might have walked into a trap trying to help us. I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling.”

  “Do you trust your gut often?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. What do we do now?”

  No protest or second guessing, just acceptance.

  He blew out a breath. The tightness between his shoulders eased the more distance he put between them and that hotel.

  “Andy had us heading north. I don’t know his people, but I’ve got a guy in Montreal that can do the job for us.” Noah would get them to Europe one way or another.

  “Then what?” she asked.

  “Then, like I said, you’re in charge.”

  Lillian’s lips curved down into a frown. He didn’t doubt that she had plans rolling in that pretty head of hers.

  “We’re trying to create a plan, something we can execute.” Her voice began soft, but grew stronger. “Rand and Sarah are mostly out of commission for now.”

  “Because of the baby?”

  “Yes. Before you offer your opinion, they didn’t mean to get pregnant.”

  “I’d hope not. Being a team already makes them weaker, a baby only creates more dead weight.”

  “That’s pretty brutal.”

  “It is, but I’m being honest. The truth isn’t always nice.”

  Lillian stared out of the window. “They do seem to have been at risk more than everyone else.”

  Noah reached over and took her hand. “They’re both CIA trained. They know what they’re doing.”

  Lillian also had CIA training. This was her first time in the field. Working for the Matthews Company as a fixer was one thing, but what they were into now was some first-rate scary shit. Based on how she’d handled herself up until now, Noah was pretty damn proud.