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Alina stood on the deck and watched Stephanie turn the Mustang around in the driveway. As she stood in the shadows, a large, black bird glided down from the trees. Looking up, she held out her arm. Her pet hawk glided across the lawn, his claws outstretched, and landed gently on her forearm. His deadly talons rested harmlessly on her jacket sleeve and she lifted her other hand to stroke him under his chin.
Raven had been an injured and mangled mess when she found him in the mountains of South America. She’d nursed him back to health and, in return, the black hawk adopted her. When she tried to leave him in his home, he was having none of it. He followed her down the mountains and into her SUV, traveling with her back to the States. Now he came and went through the skylight in her bedroom, sleeping on a perch inside and hunting for his food in the Pine Barrens. He was her pet, her friend, and her protector.
The sliding door opened behind her and Raven stiffened on her arm, looking over her shoulder as Michael stepped onto the deck. Alina smiled and walked over to the railing, lowering her arm so that Raven could step onto the wooden banister. Michael closed the door behind him, and they watched as Stephanie finished straightening out her car, waving as she pulled away. He lifted his hand, frowning when Alina did not.
“What's wrong?” he asked, watching as she turned to move into the shadows at the far end of the deck.
She glanced over her shoulder.
“What do you mean?”
He followed her as she reached the two Adirondack chairs, seating herself in the far one.
“You weren't yourself with Stephanie,” he said bluntly, sitting next to her. “Everything ok?”
Alina shrugged and watched as Raven turned his back on them to peer out into the night, hunkering down on the railing.
“Fine.”
Michael shook his head.
“Liar.”
She glanced at him. “Suit yourself.”
They were silent for a long moment; then he spoke.
“Is it because she didn't tell you about John's safe deposit box and the hard drive?”
“Why so interested?” she demanded, looking at him.
He raised his eyebrows and held his hands up.
“Why so defensive?” he shot back. “I'm just wondering what happened to make you treat her like the enemy all of a sudden.”
“Oh please, I wasn't treating her like the enemy. I just wasn't humoring her tonight.”
“Is that what you do? Humor us?”
A quick smile passed her lips, and Michael didn't need to see in the dark to know that it didn't reach her eyes. She didn't answer and he turned his attention back over the dark yard.
“What do you think about Trent?” he asked after a few minutes.
“I think he got what he had coming to him,” she said coldly. “If someone else hadn't done it, I would have.”
“Not in an FBI interrogation room, you wouldn't. That takes a special kind of balls.”
Alina nodded.
“Yes, it does.”
He shot her a look. It wasn't what she said as much as the way she said it that made him narrow his eyes.
“What are you thinking?”
“Nothing I can tell you,” she replied honestly. “Not yet, anyway.”
“I'm really starting to hate it when you say things like that,” he muttered. “At least promise me you won't go off half-cocked before your other half gets back.”
Alina was surprised into a short laugh.
“My other half?” she repeated. “He's hardly that.”
“He's the only other person on this planet who can keep pace with you,” he retorted. “That makes him your other half whether you like it or not.”
She made a face, but let it pass.
“I won't make you promises I don't know I can keep,” she said instead. “But I will promise to be careful.”
“I guess I'll have to take it. I can't be in two places at once, so you're on your own until I'm finished in Brooklyn.” He stretched. “I'll call Chris and tell him I'll be working from home, and I'll work here when I’m done at my dad’s.”
“You're not babysitting me,” Alina said flatly. “You can go back to DC. If you get something on Mr. X, then you can contact me.”
Michael scowled.
“You just told me the person who killed Dave twelve years ago also killed John, Jordan, and Jordan's sister. As far as we know, this is the same person gunning for you. I'm not going anywhere until the SEAL comes back, and even then it's debatable if I'll leave.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I'm well aware of that, but there's bad mojo going around, and it will make me feel better. Especially with Asad on the loose.”
Alina's head snapped around.
“What did you just say?” she asked sharply.
Michael gaped at her. “What?”
“What do you mean with Asad on the loose? Asad’s dead. I killed him.”
“Well, that's what I thought, but then I saw him,” he said. “I told you this!”
“You most certainly did not!”
Michael frowned.
“Are you sure? I swear I called you the night I interrogated Trent.”
“Trust me. I would remember.” Alina got up and turned to face him, leaning against the railing and crossing her arms over her chest. “Why do you think you saw him?”
Michael looked up at her.
“I don't think, I know. It was the day I came back from DC. The same day Trent came back here and I took him into custody. I was coming up the escalator at 30th Street Station in the city and there he was, walking through the crowds. He turned and I got a full, good look at him. It was Asad Jamal.”
Alina studied him, her lips pressed together and her face impassive.
“Where did he go?”
“I followed him through the city for a-ways, then lost him in Reading Terminal Market.” Michael was frowning again. “He didn't seem in any rush and even stopped to look up at City Hall. In fact, he seemed pretty damned relaxed for a dead terrorist.”
“Did he actually go into the market?”
He nodded.
“I was only a few steps behind him, but when I got in there, he'd disappeared.” He shrugged. “Sorry.”
Alina raised an eyebrow.
“For losing him?”
“No, for being the one to tell you that you missed.”
Alina's lips curved coldly.
“Trust me, I didn't miss. Asad Jamal is dead.”
“I beg to differ. I saw him!”
“You didn’t see Asad.”
Michael scowled in irritation.
“I know you're a hotshot assassin and the golden child of some super-secret organization, but you're human, and you missed.”
“No, I didn't.”
“Lina, face it. I saw him walking around the city, alive and well. You missed!”
Alina actually chuckled, and Michael stared at her.
“I didn't shoot him,” she said, “so there was no miss. I ripped his throat out with my combat knife and watched him bleed out. Asad Jamal is dead. My organization disposed of his remains.”
Michael's mouth dropped open.
“You ripped his throat out?” he repeated, bemused. “You really didn't need to tell me that. What the hell, Lina?! You couldn't just shoot the guy??”
“For a Marine, you sure are squeamish,” she said thoughtfully. “Is Washington making you soft?”
Michael sputtered and she laughed outright.
“You're lucky you're Dave's kid sister,” he exclaimed. He was quiet for a moment, then, “If it wasn't Asad, who the hell did I follow?”
“His twin, Kasim,” Alina said, uncrossing her arms and sitting in the chair again. “He came with him from Cancun. There weren't three terrorists, there were four. I didn't find out until the night before the attacks.”
Michael got up restlessly.
“His twin? Did we even know he had a twin?” he demanded, taking her place against the banister.
Alina shook her head.
“No. Damon found out. He was in that part of the world, and I asked him to dig out Asad's past before he came onto the extremist scene. That's when we learned there were twins.” She sat back and looked up at him. “Asad was the brains, and his brother Kasim was the tech. Kasim makes the bombs.”
“You mean to tell me there's an extremist bomb-maker wandering around loose on the East Coast?” he asked, his voice deceptively calm.
“Not only that, but I killed his twin brother, and he knows it.”
Michael threw up his hands.
“Of course he does!” he exclaimed. “Do you try to make everything as difficult as possible?”
Alina couldn't stop the grin that stretched across her face.
“I know it seems like it, but I really don't.”
“Just, please...just bear with me here for a minute,” he muttered, rubbing his face with both hands. “I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything. So, in a nutshell, there's a leak in Washington who killed your brother, killed your ex-fiancé, killed my old interpreter and his sister, probably killed Trent, and wants to kill you. In addition to that, you seriously pissed off a Syrian terrorist bomb-maker by cutting his twin brother's throat, and his whereabouts are unknown. Is that right?”
“Actually, he's Turkish, not Syrian.”
The look she encountered from Michael showed clearly that he was not amused.
“And after all this, you seriously expect me to just go on my merry way tomorrow and leave you to it?”
Alina shrugged.
“Worrying about it isn't going to help anything,” she pointed out. “And now that you've told me where you saw Kasim, I know where to look.”
“How do you mean?”
“I've been looking for him since I killed Asad, but he hasn't surface anywhere. I'm monitoring everything: bus stations, train stations, airports, even rental car agencies. I've got eyes and ears everywhere, but I haven't been able to pin down an area to focus on. You just gave me one.” She smiled coldly. “I know where to look now.”
“How? He might not even be in Philly anymore. That was a week ago.”
“Oh, if he was there then, he's still there now,” she said calmly. “If he was going to move, he would have moved before then. No, he's still there. The question is, why?”
Michael pursed his lips thoughtfully.
“He might be waiting for a ticket out,” he said slowly. “We know someone in Washington brought them in. It only makes sense they would get them out again. With Asad dead, Kasim would rely on the person who got him here in the first place.”
“Perhaps.”
He sighed and sank back down into the chair next to her.
“Is this how it always is with you?” he asked tiredly. “Is this how you've spent the last eleven years?”
“No. This is a new trend.” Alina sighed. “Actually, my life before I came back to New Jersey was very calm. I had a nice house in —” She broke off abruptly, and Michael didn't need to look to know that Viper's mask had slid into place.
They fell silent for a few moments, then Michael reached out and closed his hand over hers. She looked at him in surprise.
“Dave wouldn't have wanted this for you,” he said in a low voice. “He wanted you to have a life and a family.”
Alina looked down at his hand covering hers and then out into the darkness of the night: the darkness where she was most comfortable now.
“It may not be what he had in mind, but I have a life and a family,” she said after a long moment, turning her hand to close her fingers around his. “And I'll die protecting it.”
He squeezed her hand gently, then released it.
“Let's hope it doesn't come to that.”
Kasim Jamal looked up as the door opened and a dark man entered carrying a large take-out bag. The heavy aroma of Indian spices followed him in, and Kasim stretched and got up, meeting him halfway across the room.
“That smells good,” he said, taking the bag and carrying it through to the kitchen. “What took so long?”
“They made you chicken curry instead of vegetarian,” the man answered, shrugging out of his jacket as he followed him. “I had to wait while they re-made it.”
“I was getting worried.” Kasim pulled out a large, round container and set it on the table before reaching into the bag again. “Next time, call to let me know.”
Tarek Masood pulled the lid off the container and glanced inside.
“This one is yours,” he decided. “I didn't think it was a problem. You were busy when I left, and I didn't think you'd notice.”
Kasim handed him another round container.
“Of course I noticed. We must be careful. It's bad enough that we had to move here.”
Tarek looked around.
“It's better than the rooms we were in before,” he pointed out. “We have a kitchen here, and no one wonders why we stay so long.”
Kasim pulled out two aluminum foil-wrapped packages and handed one to Tarek.
“That is true,” he admitted, pushing the empty bag to the side and pulling a chair out to sit down. “Have you made any progress on the Viper?”
Tarek sat across from him and opened his foil packet to reveal garlic naan bread.
“No. I did as you suggested and made a false profile to go into the chat rooms. I haven't been able to find any evidence that the Viper is active in them.” He tore off a piece of bread and shoved it into his mouth before opening his container of kadai paneer. “I'm beginning to think the whole thing is a myth.”
Kasim pulled a plastic fork from an assorted collection in a paper cup on the table.
“Our friend in Washington is adamant that she monitors all the chat rooms,” he said, digging into his curry with the woefully inadequate plastic utensil. “She must be there.”
“I'll keep looking, but it isn't as if everyone uses their name,” Tarek muttered. “It is very time consuming.”
They fell silent as Tarek began to eat, and Kasim unwrapped his garlic naan. After a few minutes, he looked up from his curry.
“If we cannot find her, we will have to let her find us,” he said, breaking the silence.
Tarek glanced up. “But you said to stay hidden. We cannot do both.”
Kasim nodded and dipped his naan into the curry before taking a bite. He chewed, then swallowed.
“I’m almost finished with the work. It is time. If you have not found her by morning, we bring her to us.”
Tarek set down his fork and looked at him.
“We are ready?”
Kasim looked across the table and his dark eyes shone with the gleam they only got when he had finished one of his masterpieces.
“We are.”
Tarek nodded and picked up his last piece of garlic bread.
“What is the next step?”
“We go tomorrow to the first target and we study and see what the best approach will be.”
“That will put us in public,” Tarek said slowly. “If the man in Washington is correct, Viper may see us on the cameras.”
Kasim nodded. “Precisely. She will come to us.”
“What if I find her tonight?”
“Then we will re-evaluate. Right now, we assume that tomorrow is reconnaissance.” Kasim picked up his fork again. “If we have to postpone our plans for a few days in order to get the Viper, so be it.”
Tarek nodded, looking down at his food.
“If we do make her come to us, how will we manage it?” he asked after a moment. “She will kill us before we even see her.”
Kasim looked up.
“I have a plan,” he said. “Asad was not the only one who could plan. She is only one person, yes?”
“Yes.”
“We will give her two separate targets. Even the Viper cannot be in two places at once.”
Tarek's brow cleared.
“You made two!” he exclaimed.
Kasim nodded.
“Asad's last gift to us,” he said. “He had extra materials moved up the coast; materials that no one knew about. Our friend in Washington has no idea. My brother, he had vision. He always planned ahead.”
Tarek bowed his head in respect for the dead and they were both silent for a moment, then he looked up again.
“What are the targets?”
Kasim got up and went out of the kitchen, returning a moment later with a tourist map of old Center City.
“The first you know about,” he said, seating himself again and spreading the map between them on the table. “Independence Hall is here.” He pointed to a spot on the map. “Liberty Bell is here.”
“Both symbols of their beloved freedom and independence,” Tarek said approvingly, studying the map.
“And their tyranny and arrogance. We will strike at both. Viper can only be at one.”
Tarek sat back and looked across the table at Kasim steadily.
“And the timing?”
“To make the most impact, it must be when they are most crowded.” Kasim leaned forward. “I have been researching. There are a few possibilities, most on the weekends, but there is one possibility during the week. There will be multiple school visits in one day. Both locations will be packed with students. We will visit each location and see what can be done logistically. That will help me decide when will be best.”
Tarek nodded slowly.
“Only one of us will make it out alive. Whoever it is will have to announce to the world what we did, and what is coming.”
Kasim met his gaze steadily.
“It will be done.”