“Oh.” Audrey’s voice dropped. “It is a stressful situation. What do you think I should do with this email?”
Joe spun on his heel. “If he wants to set a trap, we set a trap first. Then we’ll know who we’re really dealing with. Kendra, pick a location that has a flight coming in late tonight. Audrey, I want you to reply via email. Tell him, in your own words, that he was freaking you out with talks of a look-alike. Let him know that you just received word about your laboratory blowing up—”
“My what?” Audrey’s voice raised an octave. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
Joe’s stricken face almost made Kendra laugh.
“It was a minor diversion to get everyone out of the lab.” Kendra bit her lip. This also wasn’t the time to reveal that two people had been murdered in her apartment.
Joe nodded. “Yes, we’ll explain all of that later. Anyway, let him know you’re ending your trip early, include whatever flight Kendra chooses for you—so he won’t really know your current location—and ask Wyatt if he would mind picking you up from the airport. Except it’ll be Kendra waiting for him, not you.” Joe sat down on the bed, leaned back and closed his eyes. “Now if you’ll excuse me I just need a few minutes of sleep before we go on the offensive and end this or die trying.”
FIFTEEN
Joe woke with a start. He rushed to the adjoining door between their rooms and knocked.
“Good morning.” Kendra opened the door wide. Everything had been removed from her backpack and she appeared to be sorting it in heaps, including a pile of cash.
“Morning? I slept that long?”
“No, I meant it figuratively. It’s five o’clock in the afternoon.” She had changed, and judging by her damp, wavy hair, she’d cleaned up. “How do you feel? If you didn’t wake up in the next twenty minutes, I would’ve insisted. You have enough time to shower and get dressed before we go over the plan. I need an analyst’s take on it before I can call it good.”
Joe didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed his bag, showered and then returned to her room fully awake and, more important, clean and ready to go. A knock sounded at her front door.
Kendra pulled out her gun and moved to the open closet area. “I ordered us food.” She handed Joe cash. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
Kendra remained hidden, gun at the ready, as he opened the door. The pizza guy shoved the box and a large bottle of Dr Pepper into Joe’s hands. In exchange, Joe handed him the cash. “Keep the change.”
The smell of food made him weak with hunger. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d eaten. Kendra put away her gun and grabbed the box from his hands. “I hope you like soda. I’m desperate for caffeine, but there’s no coffee maker in these rooms.”
“You have to pay extra for that,” Joe commented. Something so small served as a reminder that if they didn’t take down this Masked organization soon, he could say goodbye to all the nice amenities in his life.
She placed the box down on an empty spot on the tall dresser and flipped open the lid. Normally, he hated olives but he didn’t take the time to pick anything off the supreme pizza before shoving the piece in his mouth. They ate standing up, since there was only one chair in the corner without a table.
“I thought we needed sustenance in case it’s our last meal.” Kendra spoke in between bites. Her eyebrows rose. “Besides inhaling food—” Joe was already on his second piece “—what’s the first thing you’re going to do when we’re free to choose?”
He picked up a third piece. “I like your optimism.” The sentiment seemed premature, though, as they hadn’t gone over the plan yet.
“Don’t get used to it. It’s not normal. I think I’ve been around you too long.” She grinned and finally started on her second piece.
Joe picked up his fourth piece and forced himself to slow down. “After this experience, I think I’m going to focus more on relationships than my career. Not that I won’t always try my best, but I think I’d like to trust Him more to guide my direction.”
She studied him for a moment and nodded. “Think you’ll settle down? Married? Two kids?” She filled two plastic cups with soda.
He accepted the drink from her. “That is still the American dream, right?”
She shrugged. “How would I know? I’ve been living among thieves for the past few years.” She took a gulp then set the cup on the dresser. “But I could see the dream come true for you. You would make someone a good husband.” She shook her head. “Whereas I could never marry a pastor.”
He forced a laugh at the new information. “Okay. Thanks for the heads-up, I guess?” He tried to play it off as humorous but something about her statement wounded him for no logical reason. As if it would be so horrible for a woman to marry him simply because of his occupation? But that wasn’t what she said. She said she could never marry a pastor. It didn’t bother him any less.
She flushed. “Sorry, that came out of left field. I’m not implying that you asked or ever...you know, intended. I mean, in general, I don’t think I could handle life as a pastor’s wife.”
He struggled to know what to answer in reply. Maybe it would be best to joke that he would return the diamond promptly and cancel the proposal. He couldn’t bring himself to make light of her declaration, though. “Okay. I’ll bite. Why?”
“Joe...” She kept her eyes averted and twisted her hands, something she never did. “I’ve taken down criminals.” She glanced up. “With force.”
“If you’re trying to say you’ve had to kill someone before, I know, Kendra.”
“I took down a shooter at Stanford before his brother shot me back, and it wasn’t the first time I had to use force.” She held her hands out as if in surrender. “Pastors’ wives are expected to be gentle—”
“If you’re referring to a certain passage about women, ‘gentle and quiet spirit’ is what the verse says. It doesn’t mean—”
“Okay, fine, but even if I put that aside. Pastors’ wives are supposed to be able to make conversation with the other women in the church. Imagine me at the annual ladies tea or luncheon.” She turned sideways as if talking to an imaginary person. “Oh, you want me to pray about Billy being bullied at school? Tell me more. Details.” She turned to Joe with wide eyes. “See? I wouldn’t be able to just stand by. I’d get names and take care of it. And that’s just a mild example.”
Joe fought not to laugh. “That might not be a bad thing. I’m sure you’d handle the matter tactfully.”
She held up her hand and leaned forward. “That’s not the point and you know it.”
“So, what about a pastor? Does the standard remain the same?” He set down his own cup. His gut heated even thinking about it. “Do you think a soldier who has killed in the line of duty should never become one?”
Her eyes widened. “No, that’s not—”
“Or what about someone who previously worked in law enforcement? Should they be disqualified?”
She stepped closer and put her hand over his. “Joe, that’s not what I was trying to say. This week...you saved my life when you shot—”
He frowned, fighting the sudden tension in his neck and back. “I would do it again if it meant saving your life, Kendra.” He cleared his throat. This was about her, not him. “But if it’s okay for a pastor with a past to serve, why wouldn’t it be okay for you to marry one? Or,” he hastily added, “serve in a church or attend a ladies tea.”
“I guess I have a mental image of what a pastor’s wife should be, and I’m nothing like it. I mean I could never be like a normal wife...or a normal mother.” Her face dropped. “I’m sure if I was more like Audrey, then maybe...”
As if layers were being removed one at a time, Joe was starting to suspect the unexpected discussion wasn’t about being a pastor’s wife at all. Whatever was bothering her went deeper. The thought relieved him ever so slightly—no
t that he was actually thinking about her as his... Well, now he was, and it didn’t seem like a horrible thing at all. But, he needed to focus on her, without any underlying feelings attached.
“I hate to break it to you, Kendra, but there is no such thing as normal. Your parents, your siblings, love you for you. That’s not going to change when they meet Audrey. There might be comparisons, but there’ll only be joy from them, celebrating the differences of what makes you unique.”
Her eyes shone. He’d hit the real issue right on the head. She blinked rapidly, as she looked up at the ceiling, clearly trying to rein in emotions. “I know. I’m being stupid.”
He placed his arm around her shoulder and patted her arm. Her spine stiffened and he let go, as he assumed she didn’t want to be comforted, but she turned into him. He quickly adjusted and wrapped his arms around her for a hug. She didn’t hesitate and laid her cheek against his beating heart. Her arms wrapped around his waist.
“I have no doubt in my mind that when you fall in love—” his voice grew husky and he decided he’d said enough, but his mouth kept running “—that blessed guy is going to love you for you. You will be their ideal of a wife, and maybe someday a mom.” Even if that guy isn’t me. The thought hit him from left field.
She pulled back just enough to look up at him. Her eyes dilated but the green with brown edges still captivated him. She glanced quickly at his lips and back at his eyes again. “Thank you.”
* * *
Kendra was in his arms. She didn’t even understand how she’d gotten there; the hug felt natural a minute ago, but somehow it meant more now. Her stomach heated as she fought back nervousness. The truth was she wanted to kiss him. Her gaze drifted back to his lips.
He tilted his head and leaned down to—
Her muscles tensed. “What are you doing?” She took a giant step out of his arms.
He blinked. “I, uh...”
The level of awkwardness was off the charts, and Kendra wasn’t sure how to switch gears. She could’ve handled the moment more tactfully, but she’d panicked.
Joe cleared his throat. “I think I need more caffeine.” He refilled his cup and moved like a tortoise, sipping the soda in unusually small amounts. Maybe she should apologize if she’d led him to believe she wanted him to kiss her.
For a split second, though, she had wanted to lean in. They were both exhausted and stressed, that was all. Things like that happened. Though, it had never happened once in all the stressful situations she’d been in with her partner, Lee. So that excuse wasn’t worth mentioning.
Well, it didn’t matter. The moment was gone and they needed to get past it. “You know, we should probably focus on the plan. We’re starting to get down to the wire.”
He nodded but avoided eye contact. “Your hair looks more like Audrey’s when it’s wavy like that, but what about her clothes? I’ve only seen her in Christmas attire.”
“True. But I’m hoping the color will pass.” She fingered the edge of the long red pullover. The black soft pants resembled dress pants in form, but the fabric appeared to be more of an activewear texture. “My sister and I might choose completely different clothes for work and dates, but we do have the same taste in loungewear. I feel pretty confident she’d want to dress comfortably for air travel.” She picked up her phone and opened the browser to the airport schematics. “Um, so back to the plan.”
Joe leaned over to look and their shoulders touched. “There will be security cameras everywhere, so that helps the safety factor. He’s not going to pull a gun on you at the airport. Masked can’t have bought out the entire TSA.”
“So I had Audrey email a rough pickup time to Wyatt without any airline or flight number. She asked him to meet her at this pickup, near the baggage claim.” She pointed at the section of the airport map. “I find him, ask some questions as he leads me back to his car. If we reach his car before I get an inkling of whether he’s after Audrey as a girlfriend or for research, I’ll stall and say I forgot luggage or something. If I get any indication it’s all about the research, that’s good enough confirmation for me that he’s the Pirate or working in close proximity. I go back in the airport, meet you at the counter and we fly back to that hospital and use the same drop spot you used for Beverly. Hopefully the NCS director gets the information. I don’t know who else to trust without a way to contact her.”
“There’s a lot of problems with this plan. What if he forces you into the car?”
She handed him the phone so he could study the airport without standing so close. “You know what LAX airport pickup is like. There will be cars everywhere.”
“But if you get near and he’s pointing a gun at you, then what?”
“You follow me.”
“I can’t park a rental car at an airport pickup. I’ll be told to move on within sixty seconds. The honking would be deafening.”
“So you take a cab. Not ideal, but I’m sure you can manage the worst-case scenario. I don’t think he’s going to risk pulling a gun on me at the airport parking lot.”
He shook his head. “What if he does want the research, but it turns out he’s only another hired hand, like those scientists?”
Kendra threw up her hands. “This was your suggested plan!”
“Right before I passed out from exhaustion.” He paced. “We can still make this viable. The only way this works is if he arrives and you ask him to come into the airport to wait with you for your luggage.”
Her eyes lit up. “Brilliant. That way I don’t need to buy any luggage beforehand.”
“Once inside the airport, I show up and sit down with him and have a nice little chat until we conclude whether he’s the Pirate or not.”
“But Beverly said not to take him down, only to ID him. How do we make an arrest without knowing whom to trust? And then there’s the little problem of evidence.”
“Beverly has loads of that.”
Kendra nodded. “Which we don’t have access to. If we tip him off that we know he’s the one, even if we manage to get out of town, he’ll most definitely have Masked looking and ready to take us down.”
“That’s it.” Joe’s eyes lit up. “We admit fully who we are and why.”
“Have you completely lost it? You didn’t get enough sleep.”
“No, think about it. How did Masked get started and grow? A federal employee, or in this case a contractor, managed to recruit other employees to sell information, starting small, to the highest bidder. We want in.”
Kendra froze, replaying his words. “We want in,” she said slowly. “We do have the research. I’m absolutely not Audrey, and this was all a plan to make a big payday.”
“We’re both rogue FBI agents on leave. We’ve been trying to track down how to get in on the Masked payroll for years but didn’t have anything valuable to give until now.”
Kendra nodded—the ideas for her new cover were coming rapidly now. “And if he already knows our identities, you claim that you were trying to get close enough to Beverly to find out what the next target was for Masked so you could get in on it.”
“And you arrived to join me because we’re partners.”
“After I’d had a little plastic surgery work done. I already looked like Audrey but I made it look convincing. I took over her email and she had no idea what was going on. It’s important we make that clear to him. We want money in exchange for the research.” She nodded. “So we’ve got our plan and a backup plan.”
“The escape plan is to stay in the airport, fly back to the hospital drop zone, give the info we gathered and go off the grid.”
“This is good. I feel good about this.” Her heart wouldn’t slow down, though, perhaps from the surge of adrenaline. Without Joe thinking through all the possibilities, she would’ve ruined their chances. It was as if a well-lit billboard had been placed in front of her that read Your Pride Has
Definitely Been Holding You Back. Maybe she’d have had more results in the past if she’d treated Lee more like a partner than a fellow employee. For some reason, it was easier with Joe. She didn’t feel like she always needed to take the lead with him.
Joe threw his bag over his shoulder. “Now, all that’s left is prayer that all goes according to plan.”
“Or that if He has a better plan, He makes it known to us.”
He hesitated at the door. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
SIXTEEN
Waking up just before the sun went down messed with Joe’s sense of time. They picked up a shuttle and were on their way to the airport within the hour. For the most part, they remained silent during the trip. Though they sat in the back seat, the couple in the middle row kept the driver busy with conversation.
Traffic seemed lighter than usual. They passed by an exit sign for Caltech. “If we do end up needing a permanent change of plans,” Joe began, careful of his wording in the presence of others, “I would hope to spend it on a university or college campus somewhere.”
Kendra’s soft smile changed her entire face, as if it lit up from the inside. “That sounds like you. Spend the rest of your time collecting every degree imaginable.” She frowned. “What surprises me is why you didn’t choose campus ministry from the start.”
“What?”
“You know, college ministry. Some national organizations and churches invest in that. It’s for undergraduates primarily.”
He blinked. He’d never been to a campus ministry before. “That wasn’t an available emphasis in my seminary. My bachelor’s was also online so I can’t say I have personal experience in that area.”
She faced forward. “Well, I did. It was a national organization, but a lot of the local churches supported it. It’s probably where my family’s faith finally became personal. The meetings weren’t set up like a formal church, though. There was lots of Bible study, but it was more interactive than any church service. We spent a lot of time discussing our beliefs and what they meant for our lives.” She smiled. “It’s the only time I could fathom what the type of community described in Acts could look like in real life. It’s too bad you didn’t have that, I think you would’ve liked it.”
Covert Christmas Twin Page 15
