“Can you hear me?” The big man’s shoulders filled the TV screen as he sat down, allowing Jeff to see his wide-set face. That blond buzz cut. A nose his mom would have referred to as “strong.”
“Zander, hey.” Jeff felt a lump rise in his throat. “Good to see you.” He even choked over the words.
Zander grinned. “I can see my face in the corner of the screen. I get how this beautiful mug might make you emotional. It is pretty amazing.”
“Barf,” Jeff said. “Don’t make me throw something at the screen.”
“Don’t you dare. That’s expensive equipment.”
Jeff said, “What happens in the secret bunker stays in the secret bunker.”
Zander laughed. “It’s good to see you.”
“Conroy said it was weird to see me, but you’re right. It’s good for me to be out in public again, even if it’s kind of overwhelming having been alone for so long.”
Since even before finding Toni at the lake with no memory, Tate had been his main point of contact. Then the killer got a good look when he shot at him. They’d found Greg Simmons tortured, and the nurse dead—both didn’t exactly count as seeing him. But then there was Ruby. Conroy. Savannah. That was already more people who knew he was alive than he was comfortable with. And more people than he’d spent time with in two whole years.
“And now you’re locked down again.”
Jeff leaned back against the corner of the couch, feet up on the ottoman. “Toni is here, so I’m not alone.” He looked over the back of the couch but she hadn’t come out yet. “She’s getting cleaned up.”
“And the two of you? Do I need to worry about that?”
“Nothing’s going to happen.” Eventually she would know how he felt. After that, they could decide what they were and where it was going. But they were nowhere near it right now.
“The DVR is full of movies. Take a few days to rest. You’ve both earned it, that’s for sure.”
“Meanwhile, you clean up the mess I made in sending you her photo.” In his defense, he hadn’t known it was her.
“Wasn’t you, far as I can tell. At least not completely.” Zander looked off screen. “Someone searched for Chautona Havig online, digging deeper than Google’s first suggestion. An author. My aunt loves her books.”
Jeff felt his eyebrows rise.
“Anyway, coupled with the photo you sent me…” He pulled a breath through clenched teeth. “I’m thinking that’s what tripped it. Someone had asked too many questions about the name. I have my guy checking to see if the photo you sent me could’ve been leaked.” He shrugged. “It’s worth being cautious.”
“Given I found Toni in the woods with a man on top of her and about to kill her, I’m going to agree with you.”
Zander’s jaw hardened. “You make sure she’s safe.”
“It’s nice that you care about me, too.”
Zander didn’t respond to that, except to say, “I’m on secure chat with you, aren’t I?”
“I thought that was just to ream me about messing up.”
“This isn’t your fault. Movement is happening, so you should be locked down right now. I’d have you there even if Toni hadn’t shown up.”
“She’s here because you sent her. You’re the one who gave her my address, right?”
Zander said, “Is that the point?”
“Why was she looking for my sister?”
“She was?”
Jeff waited for a better answer.
“I’m sure she’ll tell you her reasoning.”
Zander was a master of carefully selected words. Enough for Jeff to know that his response didn’t mean Toni neglected to share the information with Zander. He just had no intention of telling Jeff the reason why. “Tell me more about this movement.”
Zander said, “Soon as the ripple was strong enough online, someone at MI-6 picked up on it. Her name was mentioned. Questions were asked. What would you do?”
Before Jeff could answer, Toni leaned over the back of the couch. “Did you just say MI-6?”
Zander blinked.
Jeff tried to breathe through the cloud of her scent, fresh from the shower. Sure, he’d used the same soap, but it certainly didn’t make him smell like that. “Hey.”
She handed him a fresh bandage, her burned palm covered with some kind of gel. It didn’t look so good. “One of you had better talk.”
“Maybe the MI-6 thing is the reason we can’t,” Zander said on screen. “Did you think about that?”
She came around the couch and sat close beside him, the outside of their legs touching. She held the end of the bandage with her good hand while he wrapped it around the gauze over her burn. “I want answers. You’re Zander, right?”
“Maybe.”
She didn’t buy it. “Start talking.”
Jeff felt his lips twitch. There was a solidarity in sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, facing what came together. If only she’d come to him for solidarity when she remembered moving Kristine’s body. But he sincerely understood why she’d kept that to herself. Until it put her in danger. Then he didn’t understand at all.
“MI-6? Like James Bond?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t slipped into the accent yet.”
Jeff had his own ideas about that. “She’ll remember. I’m not worried about that. Given time, Toni’s mind will heal, and it will all come back.”
She might’ve been right when she brought up the possibility that it might not be for the best to remember. There were things he’d rather forget from his past but couldn’t. No matter what he did to get distance or even numb the pain.
“Good. It would be a shame for you to not recall all your training.”
Jeff figured his friend was skirting a line even saying that.
“You are the Zander person everyone talks about.”
Zander nodded.
“Is that her?” The voice was male and came from off the screen.
Zander lifted a hand. “We agreed you can’t be in here. Not until she remembers.”
Jeff heard muttering on the other end, then a door slammed. He looked at Toni and saw tears streaming down her face. “Whoa,” he said. “Hey, it’s okay.”
“Toni? You all right?”
She shook her head but looked at Jeff. “Who was that?” She pulled in a shuddering breath. “Why do I feel like this?”
He touched her cheek and swiped away a tear with his thumb. “It’s going to be okay. You will remember.”
“You keep saying that, but you don’t know. I might not.”
“I’m trusting that you will.”
“I am as well,” Zander said from the TV screen. “And I’m doing what I can on my end to make it safe for the two of you going forward.”
“Even you can’t fix this.” Jeff had to say it. “The situation is too complex for you to simply shoot someone dead and, with it, all the danger.”
If it was possible for things to have been resolved, he wouldn’t have lived this solitary life for two years.
Zander winced. “It might look difficult, but nothing is impossible. Right?”
“Depends on who’s asking.”
Jeff shot Toni a smile. “Agreed.”
Was Zander trusting God to do the impossible in this situation?
“So, what is the problem?” Toni asked. “Why does the idea of getting my photo taken freak me out, and why did I need to live off the grid?” Tears gathered in her eyes again. He wanted to wrap an arm around her shoulder, but he’d have to move to her other side to do that.
“You have a healthy sense of self-preservation?” Zander tried to play it off. When it was clear she didn’t believe him, he said, “Fine. I have an update for both of you guys that can, in no way, be construed as me telling Toni anything that could compromise her mind’s ability to heal. I’m not telling you things you already know, though I’ll be curious if anything sounds familiar.”
“Fine. But for the record, I think you should just get on with it and tell me what you know.”
Jeff shifted beside her. She squeezed his knee.
“Wouldn’t you just be demanding everyone tell you who you are?”
Zander said, “Yeah, I probably would. Doesn’t mean it would be right.”
Toni pressed her lips together.
“What’s the update?” Jeff wanted this over with so he could talk to Toni in private. If they didn’t get things out in the open between them, it didn’t matter what she remembered and what she didn’t; there would always be a wedge.
“You should turn on a news report. Something that covers international stories, not those talking heads who think America is the only place where things worth discussing happen. You’d know about a recent failed assassination attempt on an old friend of ours.”
“Was the US behind the attack?”
“He’s pointing fingers at everyone.” Zander shrugged. “He’s locked down, making videos from his bunker, telling the world he’s the victim here. Demanding he be reinstated to power in his country.”
“That’s what he wants?” Jeff figured everyone who knew anything about General Wambuso knew he couldn’t be trusted in control of anything. Or anyone. “And now if anyone tries to take him out before he can force his way back in, it’s proof of what he’s been saying. That it’s all a conspiracy.”
Zander nodded. “Which is why I think he had one of his guys contract someone professional. To miss.”
Toni said, “This guy faked an assassination on himself?”
“Gets his voice back in the media,” Jeff said. “Everyone reports his whole history again. How he was the one wrongly removed from office. No one could ever prove he did the things the international community accused him of. Then his daughter is kidnapped. Does he still think she’s dead?”
Toni leaned over. “The high-value target?”
Was she remembering, or was she simply showing all that training she’d had that gave her skills as sharp as ever—and she’d put it together? Jeff nodded.
Zander said, “Far as he knows, and that’s how it’s going to stay. Which is why I need the two of you to stay put until I figure this out.”
Jeff wanted to ask how long that would be but knew Zander had no clue. “What makes you so sure you can figure it out? This isn’t going to end. If I thought that, I’d have been working on it so I can see my family. Not hiding out with no name for two years.”
“I’ve been working on a solution for two years. I’ll owe you for the rest of my life for the heat you took,” Zander said. “Not to mention the fact that my team is alive because of you. That’s why I’m not resting. I’m going to make it so you can come home.”
“Don’t do that.” Jeff shook his head. People had still been killed. Zander didn’t owe him anything. “I don’t need that.”
“Why do you think I bought the accountant’s office? I need all the resources I can get to make it so you can live your life.”
Jeff had heard about that from Tate, though it had been nothing but a rumor. “Doesn’t matter. This is my choice to live like this.” He looked at her then. “It was Toni’s choice too, though I didn’t know it at the time.” Both of them had been declared dead.
“So what you’re saying is I should leave you to your nobility so you can stand on your moral high ground and believe you have no other option than being the martyr in this situation?” Zander shook his head. “Not happening. I’d rather offer you a job as manager of the accountant’s office.”
A business that helped burned spies and people who needed a clean identity—people like him—start fresh? As much as he wanted a mission like that, there were too many problems.
“How would that work? I can’t be seen on surveillance anywhere, and if my photo hits the internet, everything breaks loose and it’d be a matter of hours before I’m shot in the head. Why would you suggest something like that?”
“I’m not purposely trying to make this more difficult for you. I’m doing what I do to try and fix it.”
Jeff clenched his jaw. “I don’t need false hope.”
“I’m not into that either, so I won’t give it to you. I just wanted to let you know I’m on this.” Zander reached for the keyboard. “Gotta go.” He ended the secure meeting, and Toni pressed the power button on the TV.
He turned to Toni so they could talk things through. Before he realized what was happening, she’d touched her lips to his. When she pulled back, he blinked. “What was that for?”
“I can’t help but think you and I are in the same boat. I just wanted to say thank you for being here with me. I didn’t want to be alone.”
“You’re welcome. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Nope.” She smiled. “I want to eat all the ice cream in the freezer. Are you in?”
“Definitely.”