by Debra Webb
He drained his lukewarm coffee from his cup and stood. “Let’s go.”
He guided Sue through traffic on the sidewalk, as her phone engrossed her and she barely looked up.
When they got to the car, he opened the passenger’s door for her. “I hope you don’t walk around the city with your nose in your phone like that all the time.”
She held up her cell as she slid onto the seat. “Just when I’m watching surveillance video.”
“Do you know what you’re watching for?”
“Not really. I’ll know it when I see it.”
“And then you’ll let me know, right?” He caught the door before slamming it. “Right?”
Sue answered without looking up. “Of course.”
Hunter scuffed back around to the driver’s side. Why did he feel like he just got used in that barbershop? He didn’t even need a haircut.
As he got behind the wheel, his phone buzzed. He checked the display. “Perfect timing. My contact has some info on Jeffrey.”
“Did he send it through?” Sue finally glanced up from her phone, her eyes shining.
“No. He doesn’t want to expose the information by emailing or texting it. He’s going to leave it for me in a mailbox.”
A laugh bubbled from her lips. “You’re joking.”
“Why would I be joking? He sent me the address of a vacant house in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and he’s leaving the information in the mailbox.” He tapped his phone to bring up his GPS and then tossed it to Sue. “Can you enter the address for me?”
“Fredericksburg? That’s at least an hour away.” She held his phone in front of her face.
“You don’t expect him to leave it outside the gates of Langley, do you?”
“No.” She turned down the news on the radio. “I take it back. It’s an ingenious method of communication. I’ll have to remember that ploy for my next covert operation.”
“This is your next covert operation.” He gave her the address of the house and then headed out of town, following the GPS directions south.
The landscape rolled out the green carpet as they hit the highway to Virginia. The recent rains had created a verdant emerald border along either side of the highway that rushed by in a blur.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” Sue had slumped in her seat, resting the side of her head against the window.
“I was just thinking that, myself.” Hunter glanced at his rearview mirror and furrowed his brow. “That truck’s coming up fast on my tail.”
“We have two lanes. He can go around.” Hunching forward, Sue peered into the side mirror. “Idiot.”
“He must’ve heard you.”
Hunter tracked the truck as it veered into the left lane and started gaining on them. He eased off the gas to give the behemoth plenty of room to pass and move over.
As the truck drew abreast of his car, it slowed down.
“Jerk. What does he want? I’m not getting into a road rage situation with him.”
Gripping the steering wheel, Hunter glanced to his left and swore. “He has a gun!”
Chapter 5
Sue threw out a hand and wedged it against the dashboard as Hunter slammed on the brakes and the car fishtailed on the road. Her gaze flew to the side mirror and an oncoming car blowing its horn and swerving toward the shoulder.
She hunched her shoulders and braced for the impact. Instead, the car lurched forward as Hunter punched the gas pedal. Her head snapped forward and back, hitting the headrest.
The truck to their left had slowed down when they had, and as the little rental leaped ahead eating the asphalt beneath it, the truck roared back to life.
Hunter shouted, “My gun! Get my gun under the seat.”
Sue bent forward, her hand scrabbling beneath the driver’s seat between Hunter’s legs. Her fingers curled around the cold metal and she yanked it free.
When she popped up, she screamed as Hunter zoomed toward the car in front of them.
He pumped the brake pedal, and their tires squealed in protest. The truck had pulled up next to the car in front of them, veering to the right, almost clipping the left bumper and then jerking back, probably realizing he had the wrong target.
“He’s gonna hang back and wait for us again.” Hunter’s gun nestled in her hand and she slipped her finger onto the trigger.
“You know what to do.” Hunter held his body stiffly, pressing it against his seat back.
Sue released her seat belt with a click and leaned into the driver’s seat, practically resting her chest against Hunter’s.
As the truck drew level with them, she thrust the barrel of Hunter’s gun out the open window.
She caught a glimpse of the face in the window, eyes and mouth wide open, before the driver of the truck suddenly dropped back, tires screeching.
The car behind the truck honked long and hard, and Sue retreated to her seat, the gun still clutched in her hand, finger on the trigger. “Someone’s gonna call 911 and report this, report our license plates.”
“Then it’s a good thing that sap Roberts is renting this car and not me.”
“Unless the cops respond to the scene and pull you over.”
“Not. Gonna. Happen.” Hunter cut in front of the car ahead of them and accelerated onto the off-ramp, checking his rearview mirror.
“Is the truck following us?”
“If he can see what we’re doing, he will.”
They curved to the left, and Hunter blew through the stop sign at the T in the road, making the turn. He pointed at the windshield. “Shopping mall ahead. We’re going into that parking structure.”
Sue twisted her head over her left shoulder, scanning the road and the off-ramp behind them.
“Is he coming?”
“I can’t see around the bend in the road. It’s no longer a straight shot.”
“Good.” Hunter wheeled into the structure and climbed a few levels. He parked between two SUVs, pulling the car all the way in to the parking slot.
He left the engine idling and closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath. “Should we stay here or go inside?”
“I don’t like the idea of being a sitting duck.” Her gaze darted to the side mirror for the hundredth time since they’d parked, and they’d been here just about thirty seconds.
“If we head into the mall and they locate the car, they can stake it out. Wait for us.”
“We don’t know what kind of firepower they have.” She licked her dry lips. “They could come up behind us and blast the car. We can’t hold them off with one gun.”
“Where’s yours?”
“It’s in my bag in the trunk.”
“Bad place for it, Chandler.”
She smacked her hand against the dashboard. “I have an idea. I have another camera in my bag of tricks. I can stick it on the back window of the car. That way, we can see if anyone approaches the car while we’re inside. If not, and we give it enough time, we’ll make our escape.”
“I can live with that.” He peeled her fingers from his gun still in her grip and wedged by the side of her hip. “I’m packing this and you’d better take yours. We still need to get to Fredericksburg and that mailbox.”
She flicked the door handle and Hunter raised his hand. “Hang on. Let me check the area first.”
When he finished his surveillance, he tapped on her window. “All clear...for now.”
She got out of the car and immediately grabbed Hunter’s forearm as her knees gave out.
Curling an arm around her, he asked, “Are you all right?”
“Didn’t realize that wild ride had shaken me up so much.” She stomped her feet on the ground. “Just need to get my bearings.”
“Take all the time you need.” His fingers pressed the side of her hip through her jeans.
“Thanks,
and thanks for getting us out of that mess...whatever that mess was.”
“I’m not convinced they were going to shoot us.”
“Really?” She shifted away from him and tilted her head. “He had a gun.”
“So did the guy in the hotel room. He could’ve shot both of us the minute he walked in with the laundry—had a silencer and everything. He didn’t.” Hunter tugged on his earlobe. “What do you think they want? An interrogation?”
Sue lifted her shoulders up and down in a quick movement. “I’m not sure, but let’s not stand around here any longer than we have to.”
He popped the trunk for her and stood guard as she rummaged inside her duffel bag and pulled out her weapon and a small plastic bag containing the same type of camera she’d stuck in the barbershop. Was that where they’d been picked up? Had asking about Walid marked them as hostile intruders?
When she finished, Hunter slammed the trunk closed and said, “I know what I want to do in that mall while we’re killing time.”
“See a movie?”
“Not a bad idea as long as we get hot dogs and popcorn. I’m starving.” He patted his flat stomach. “Evasive driving always works up my appetite.”
“I’m glad someone can eat. I feel like I’m gonna throw up.” Sue zipped her gun into the side pocket of her purse and strapped the purse across her body.
They took the elevator to the third floor and a pedestrian bridge that crossed to the mall.
The normalcy of people shopping, having coffee and eating made Sue blink. The world still revolved and people still lived their lives while others, like her and Hunter, had to protect them from the harsh truths. She’d been aware of those truths for far too long, thanks to her father.
Hunter tipped back his head and sniffed. “Ahh, mall food—cinnamon, grease, cookies and pizza—what more could you ask?”
“Some real food.” She tugged on his sleeve. “There are a couple of restaurants upstairs. We need some privacy.”
They rode up the escalator together, which gave her a better view of the indoor mall—and the people in it. Hunter couldn’t fool her. Beneath his joking manner—and hers—the tension simmered like a live wire.
She dragged him into a chain restaurant with a five-page plastic menu, and they both ordered ice tea after they sat down.
Sue sucked down some tea, and when she came up for air, she asked, “Do you think they were trying to run us off the road by shooting out our window or tire?”
“Or they were trying to warn you. Maybe someone saw us at the barbershop or the guys at the barbershop placed a call and set someone on us. Where’d you get the barbershop tip?”
She ran a finger across the seam of her lips. “That’s top secret stuff. You have your sources and I have mine.”
“Yeah, but my source is one of your fellow agents. Who’s your source?” Hunter picked up a couple of menus and tapped them on the table before sliding one across to her.
“Can’t tell you that.” If she started down that road with Hunter, there’s no telling where it might end—probably with Drake.
“Then only you know if the intel about the barbershop is legit—seems that it was, if five minutes after my haircut we’re being chased down the highway.”
Why would The Falcon tell her the barbershop hadn’t panned out? Had someone there recognized her, realizing she probably knew all about the barbershop, anyway?
Hunter pinged her menu and she glanced up.
“Are you feeling better? You’re going to order something?”
She ran her fingertip down the page of items. “Probably just some soup.”
When the waitress came over, Sue ordered some cream of broccoli soup and Hunter went all out with a burger and fries.
“You haven’t checked the barbershop.” He prodded her phone with his knuckle. “Maybe we’ll see someone making a call or coming inside.”
“And let’s not forget your rental car.” She picked up her phone and tapped the display to toggle between the two camera views. “I’m not going back to that parking lot if there’s any suspicious activity going on.”
She turned the time back on the barbershop video and hunched forward on the table to share the view with Hunter. “There’s you getting your haircut.”
“Don’t remind me.” He huffed out a breath. “You can skip that part because, I can tell you, one other guy came in after me and spent the entire time complaining about his prostate.”
“Sounds fascinating.” She flicked her fingers at the images. “Did you give him a good tip? Maybe that’s why they were chasing us in that truck.”
“That’s a good sign.”
“What?” She stopped the video.
“You can sort of laugh about it after you nearly collapsed getting out of the car.”
She smacked the back of his hand. “I didn’t almost collapse. My knees were a little wobbly. That’s all.”
“That’s right. You’re the badass agent who escaped from a gaggle of terrorists in Istanbul. You never told me about that whole incident, and that’s what I should’ve been asking you about all this time because that’s really the connection to Denver.”
“Well, we did get sidetracked.” And with any luck she’d sidetrack him again. Her so-called abduction was the last thing she wanted to discuss with Hunter...second to the last thing.
Sue clapped her hands together. “Our food’s here.”
“I thought you weren’t hungry.” Hunter thanked the waitress and asked for ketchup.
“I recovered.” She dipped her spoon into the soup and blew on the liquid.
As they ate lunch, they kept checking back and forth between the two videos on her phone and nobody went near Hunter’s rental in the parking lot.
“I guess we lost them.” Sue broke up a cracker between her fingers. “I just wish I knew who they were and what they wanted.”
“Maybe they just wanted to warn you away from the barbershop.”
“How’d they know we were there?”
“They could have their own surveillance devices there if it’s a hotbed meeting place for terrorists. They made you when you went into the shop, and someone came out to track you...warn you.”
“That’s some warning—a gun out the car window.”
“No shots fired when they could’ve easily taken one at the window.” He dragged a fry through the puddle of ketchup on his plate. “Same with the guy in the hotel room this morning. They don’t seem very eager to kill you. They want something else from you.”
“I can’t imagine what.” She picked up her phone and studied the display. “I’m okay with heading back to the car now. We want to get to that mailbox before someone beats us to it.”
On the ride to Fredericksburg, Sue sat forward in her seat, her spine stiff, her gaze darting between the side-view mirror and out the window.
“I think we’re in the clear.” Hunter adjusted the rearview mirror, anyway. “However they got onto us, it wasn’t through GPS or we’d have a tail right now.”
“If it’s GPS, they can afford to keep their distance and ambush us at the mailbox.” Her fingers curled around the edge of the seat. “Do you think they put something on your car?”
“When could they have done that? They wouldn’t have been able to identify this car at the hotel.”
“Unless Jeffrey watched you pick me up from the gutter and load me into your car.”
“Didn’t happen, and even if they did ID you in the barbershop, which seems likely, they couldn’t have known which car was mine or where we parked before we got there.”
“So, you think they caught me on surveillance at the barbershop and followed us to our car from there and then tailed us and made their move on the highway?”
“That seems the most probable to me. What they wanted?” He scratched his chin. “I still don’t h
ave a clue, but then you haven’t been completely open with me, have you?”
Sue’s stomach flip-flopped. “What do you mean?”
“Why that barbershop? What do you know about it? Who’s there? What are they doing there? Who gave you the tip?”
She released a slow breath through parted lips. “I just can’t tell you some of that, Hunter, and some I don’t know. Can you be patient?”
“I’ve waited this long.”
He mumbled the words under his breath and she gave him a sharp glance. Did he mean he’d waited long enough for the information or for her?
She felt like she’d been waiting for him, too, but she’d had her orders.
She pinched the bridge of her tingling nose. Hunter was here under an assumed name on unofficial duty. The Falcon didn’t have to know, did he?
“Are you okay?” Hunter brushed a hand against her thigh.
Sue blinked. “I’m good. We’re almost there.”
Hunter followed the voice on his phone’s GPS to a leafy neighborhood in an upscale suburb. He spotted the house for sale on the left and drove to the end of the block to make a U-turn.
As he rolled to a stop at the curb, he said, “Sit tight. I’ll run around and get it.”
“You’re driving. I’ll hop out and grab it.”
“I don’t want you to.” He put a hand on her shoulder.
Goosebumps raced down her arms. “You just got through assuring me we weren’t followed from the mall.”
“I don’t think we were, but why expose yourself?” He grabbed the handle and popped the door. “This is my contact, my setup.”
“Knock yourself out, Mancini.” She slumped down in her seat just in case his concerns came to fruition.
He bolted from the car and strode to the curb. He flipped open the mailbox and reached inside. Waving a cardboard tube in the air, he hustled back to the car and tossed the package into her lap. “Got it.”
As Hunter peeled away from the curb and punched the accelerator, Sue stuck her eye to one hole in the tube. “There’s stuff rolled up in here.”
“Can you get it out?”
