Defensive Action

by Jenna Kernan

  He returned his attention to Haley staring up at him, trembling as she clung to the building. He pantomimed slipping the loop of his sleeve over her wrist. She followed his silent instructions and clasped the other hand around the first. He hauled her up, gratified that she folded at the waist and used her legs to help push herself along. Finally, he grasped her wrist and dragged her the rest of the way onto the roof.

  She rolled to her back on the gravel-and-tar covering, panting, one arm over her eyes.

  “Bouldering,” she said at last.

  “What?”

  “One of the things at adventure camp that I swore I would never do. It’s scrambling up rocks, climbing with no equipment except your helmet, some tiny shoes and the chalk on your fingers.”

  “Well, you did it without the chalk,” he said, squatting beside her, untying the knots in his shirt and slipping it back on.

  She lifted her arm from her pretty blue eyes. Her pupils had constricted against the sunlight and her eyes seemed to reflect the blue sky above.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “We stay put. They’ll be searching for you, gradually extending their perimeter. The men chasing me will know soon that you were spotted. They’ll redirect to this area.”

  She pushed to her seat. “Then shouldn’t we leave?”

  He shook his head. “There are two ways to elude capture. One is to run. The other is to hide.”

  “Hide? Here?” she squeaked.

  “Good vantage point. Highest structure in town so no one can spot us except by helicopter. So we wait for dark.”

  He glanced up, knowing that eight or more hours on this roof in the summer heat would be rough. At least they had a breeze off the lake.

  “Why did you leave the truck?” he asked, not looking at her as he studied their surroundings and made a plan. He assumed she saw now how dangerous that decision had been. The net was now tightening about them.

  “I told you I had to call my dad. I needed to hear his voice.”

  “You could have been killed.”

  She didn’t answer. Haley sniffed. A glance confirmed his suspicions. She was crying. She used a hand to swipe at the tears, brushing them away and leaving dirt and roofing tar streaked across her cheek.

  He couldn’t stop himself from pulling her into his arms. He made all the sounds that his mom used to make when he was crying. Her shoulders shook as she choked on sobs.

  “You came back for me,” she said at last.

  He stroked her hair, using his fingers to comb out the tangles.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked, lifting her face up to look at him.

  The earnest expression and the trembling lower lip were his undoing.

  “You needed help.”

  “But you said that nothing can interfere.”

  He wrapped his arms about her and rested his chin on the top of her head. She did interfere. Before meeting Haley he was more than ready to take risks, calculated risks to achieve his mission. Now he only wanted to see her safe.

  When had that happened? When had his plans included seeing her through this? He thought it was the instant he saw her running for her life and knew that it was his fault.

  “You remember when you asked me why I do this and I said it was for my country?”

  “Yes.”

  “That wasn’t the complete truth.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Haley blinked at him.

  He’d told her he’d joined the Agency because he wanted to protect this country, or something of the like. It was how he always answered, a knee-jerk response as if she’d asked a police officer why he’d joined the force and was told, To protect and serve.

  But there were as many reasons to join a law enforcement agency as there were to join an organization whose main purpose was to protect the sovereignty of the United States of America. He did want to serve his country, but if that was an answer, it was not the complete answer.

  “Then what was the reason you became an agent?” she asked.

  “Did I tell you anything about my dad?”

  “You said he was older when you were born and that he died of liver cancer when you were twelve.”

  Thinking of his parents always made him sad. “He also worked a job he hated, paid his bills on time and did exactly what was expected of him at work, at home, in life. But he had all these plans, you know? My dad had plans for retirement. Plans for a big anniversary trip with my mom. Plans to fix the kitchen up and plans to buy a little fishing cabin in the Catskills. He never did any of them.”

  “Maybe they were just dreams or a way for him to get through what was ahead of him,” she said. “An incentive to get up every morning.”

  “Trouble was, he moved from one thing to the next until he was diagnosed with the cancer.” Ryan slapped his hand on the roof. “Even then he wouldn’t take my mom to Quebec City like she wanted or himself on that fishing trip while he was still able. He was saving, not for his dreams anymore but to take care of my mom after he was gone. He never went anywhere or did anything that he said he wanted to do. And then he was gone. He only ever took his one-week vacation in Maine every year.”

  “Seashore?”

  “Camping. It’s cheaper. We stayed on public lands in a canvas tent that was older than he was. We’d paddle around in a battered old aluminum canoe. He’d fish and I’d swat mosquitoes.”

  “Did you like it?” she asked.

  “He liked it there and that was plenty for me. Heading out he always looked so happy. But coming back he looked like someone had drained all the air out of him.”

  Ryan didn’t know when he had wrapped his arms around his knees or when she had curled up beside him to rub his back.

  She made a humming sound in her throat.

  “My father worked all his life for the city of Albany. He drove a plow in Albany in the winter and supervised road repair the rest of the year. Do you have any idea how many potholes come up after the frost heave? He used to tease that there were only two seasons, winter and road construction. Anyway, he never took my mom on that trip to Quebec City that she wanted. Never took me on that fishing trip in Alaska that he wanted. He just drove that plow in circles until he was too sick to drive. Then they put him on disability, then he died. No pension because he never put in the paperwork to retire. Kept thinking he’d get back to work. Never did.”

  “So you take risks because he never did?” she asked.

  That was part of it, he thought.

  “Taking risks isn’t as dangerous as reaching the end of your life and realizing you never lived.”

  “See, my plan is to reach the end of my life as far from today as possible.”

  He laughed. “Worse things than dying.”

  “If you say so. But did you ever consider that it wasn’t your dad’s death that was meaningful? It was his life.”

  “Working a job he hated?”

  “Taking care of his family. Loving your mother. Raising a boy who made him proud.”

  Ryan flushed. “I’d rather die on a mission than in a hospital bed.”

  “Those aren’t the only two options. And I’m sure he wouldn’t want this for you. Though I know that what you are doing would make him proud.”

  “How could you know that?”

  “Because I know his son and because I’m proud of you.”

  He glanced away, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

  “And your father’s life was full of meaning and of joys. Loving is important. More important than how you die.”

  He narrowed his eyes on her. She was dangerously close to judging him and finding him lacking. He was here to protect the lives of men and women he’d never meet. Maybe thousands of them. He shouldn’t have come back for her. He should leave her at the first chance. His stomach clenched. How would he let
her go?

  “You telling me that loving a woman is more important than delivering the intelligence that could stop our enemies from domestic terrorism?”

  “I think what you are doing is brave and admirable. But living a life, a full life that is rich with birthdays and one-week vacations and teaching your boy to ride a bike, it’s just as admirable.”

  Ryan rubbed his neck. “How did you know he taught me to ride a bike?”

  She smiled. “Just what fathers do, if you’re lucky. Seems you were.”

  It was then he recalled that she still had both her parents, but her family had broken apart over a loss.

  “How is your father?” he asked.

  “He’s all right.”

  “Anything unusual happening?”

  “He didn’t mention anything.”

  Ryan made a note to try to get word to his contacts and get her father and mother some protection. The trouble was that his communications could be compromised. Somehow their enemies had known where to find him and his courier.

  Haley wasn’t an operative, but her parents would make excellent pawns. His pursuers would by now know that she had been located. Would they guess that he had not abandoned her as expected?

  “Why are the police after me?” she asked.

  “Might be your accident and that you abandoned the scene. Could be the men posing as DEA put in a fake BOLO for you.”

  “BOLO?” she asked.

  “Be On The Lookout. It’s almost like an arrest warrant. I need to get us out of Lake George Village before our company shows up.” He glanced toward the roof’s edge. “Wait here.”

  She sat up straight, eyes going wide, but did as he asked. He moved to the edge, dropping to give the least visible target possible. A quick glance showed all the police officers still in the lot. But there were also two black vans with men dressed in plain clothes and carrying weapons on their hips.

  He returned to her, weighing the risks of holding this position against moving higher on the roof.

  He glanced around, realizing that this was the museum building, the one he had stood beside when retrieving Takashi’s note. In the center of the roof lay three air-conditioning handlers with rusty housings and water puddling beneath the units. Water, he thought, ticking off one of the four things most needed for survival. The others were food and fire, not necessary here, and shelter. The center of the roof slanted upward from all four sides. Atop the highest point sat a rudely constructed turret, to add a certain character to the exterior of the building and made it look more gothic, he supposed. He turned his head sideways.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Looks more like something from a Zorro movie than Frankenstein. More hacienda than castle. But it will give us cover from the sun.” Two out of three, he thought.

  “First, I’m not climbing up that inclined roof. Second, anyone can see us once we leave this part.”

  “We’ll wait here until the police move off. Then I’ll pick up some supplies.”

  “Where from?”

  “There was a window open down the fire escape and plants left out on the landing.” She was right that they might be spotted from the street while climbing up the incline to the structure at the peak. But Haley’s skin was already pink and he knew she’d burn to a crisp if they had to spend the entire day with no cover.

  Indecision weighed on him. If not for her, he’d remain here. Her needs were interfering with his decision-making. Adding risk.

  The sound of a helicopter made the decision easier. The minute he could see it, those aboard could see him.

  “Up!” he shouted. “Move.”

  He clasped her hand and tugged her toward the inclined roof, scrambling along on the street side, opposite the police presence. He gripped her tight as she used her feet and free hand to propel herself to the turret. Once on the top, he lifted her into the structure that he now thought might have been intended to resemble a bell tower. He rolled in behind her. His landing shook the structure.

  Haley huddled against one of the sides of the six-square-foot box that was shingled on the outside with large scalloped cutouts to mimic the arched openings of the second-floor balcony below and a peaked roof above.

  He crouched beside her as the helicopter moved closer, hovering over the lot. He moved them to the opposite wall. If he couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see him or Haley.

  “Is that them?” she asked.

  He nodded and wrapped an arm around her. She huddled against him as the chopper hovered for a long while. Then it began to circle their position.

  “How can they expect to spot us amid all the tourists?”

  “It’s just one prong of the search.”

  It was well into the afternoon before the helicopter finally moved off. He assumed the police had left as well, but there was no reason for them to move until dark.

  Haley’s face was flushed and she was sweating in the heat. She needed water, but that would have to wait.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked.

  He patted the zipped pocket. “Yes. Takashi used the drop. But it’s not the flash drive.” He unzipped the pocket and removed the envelope. Then he slit open the seal with his index finger.

  Inside was a single page, which read:

  Travel Around the World

  to Mexico’s man-made shade.

  Ryan turned over the page.

  He cursed under his breath. This wasn’t some scavenger hunt.

  “Why would he leave something so cryptic?” he asked.

  She looked up at him and he handed over the note. “Perhaps he wanted to be sure his pursuers couldn’t find the package, even if they found this.”

  “Well, I can’t find it, either.”

  “Didn’t you say that you and your parents vacationed here?”

  “No, but you have. Right?” he asked.

  “Many times.”

  “Well, he didn’t have time to get to Mexico. So what do you think this means?” he asked and handed her the page.

  “There’s a Mexico, New York,” she offered.

  Ryan shook his head as he dismissed the idea. “Too broad and too far away. This has to point to a specific place. Somewhere nearby. He planted the package and then we met. He told me where to find this note. I thought it would be the intel. During our meeting, we were spotted and forced to flee.”

  “And they got him?”

  “According to those women. It might be a lie. I hope it’s a lie.” He accepted the note back and checked the back and held it up to see if there might be something he had missed. “Well, Mexico, huh? Man-made shade. Like a house or a veranda?”

  He thought about the cryptic note but could make nothing of it.

  Haley yawned. “Why not just tell you where to find it? If you can’t figure it out, we can’t recover the data. And if you could figure it out, couldn’t your pursuers?”

  He shook his head. “I just have to...”

  Haley nestled against him and closed her eyes. The exhaustion of the day had caught her. He’d cornered them in this hiding spot. For better or worse, they could not move now, so he followed her example, stowing away the clue and closing his eyes.

  Rest when you can, move when you must.

  When he opened his eyes, he had a crick in his neck and was stretched out on his back with his neck and knees bent at an odd angle. Haley lay tucked in the crook of his arm as if she belonged there. Maybe she did.

  She’d disobeyed an order and she’d given away their position. He should be furious with her. Instead he felt a warm glow just looking at her sleeping features.

  He lifted a strand of hair that fell across his chest and rubbed it between his finger and thumb. He’d spent more time with Haley than he had any woman in years. He’d never wanted to get attached before. Now he di
scovered that he already was.

  She sighed and made a sound like purring in the back of her throat. Then she stretched her legs, which thumped against the confines of their hideaway. The purr became a groan as one hand moved to her neck. She blinked her eyes open and looked at him.

  “Oh, man, what a neck ache.”

  “Hmm,” he said, both relieved and bereft when she pushed herself to a seated position.

  “What time is it?” she asked, glancing about.

  The streetlights below them cast enough light to prevent him from seeing the stars.

  “I’m not sure. Time to move.”

  He stood and looked out at the lake, glimmering brighter than anything else around them.

  She stood beside him. “I wanted to ask you, how did those men find you?”

  He had spent a good deal of time puzzling over that.

  “I’m not sure. As soon as I made contact, the drop, it all went sideways. I don’t know if the breach was on our end or Takashi’s. I hope it’s his end. I prefer that to the alternative.”

  “Which is?”

  “My supervisor is dirty.”

  He stepped out onto the roof and turned to her. She accepted his hand but climbed out without any other assistance. Together they crept back down to the flat section of roof and then to the fire escape.

  “How do we even do this?” she asked.

  Haley had not spent the last eight years on obstacle courses and training in various scenarios. He walked her through it.

  “You lie flat. Slide one leg over, then the other. Hang from the ledge and drop onto the fire escape.”

  “Is that all?” She pressed a hand to her hip.

  “That’s all.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  He smiled at her. “Yes, you can.”

  She knew she had no choice. It was the only option. Haley lay on the roof as he instructed. She even slid a leg over on her own. He gripped her wrists as she slipped off the safety of the roof and then he lowered her to within a foot of the landing.

  “Bend your knees to absorb your landing. Ready?”

  She stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes and then nodded. He let go.

  Haley landed in a crouch like a superhero. He smiled. Whether she believed it or not, she was a natural. He dropped beside her a moment later. Before them was the dark window and beside him was the waterlogged plant.