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Viper moved through the trees quickly and silently, completely at ease in the darkness. The camera was on the back perimeter, at the edge where her property met the protected nature reserve. She noticed the camera angle change last night when they had their unexpected visitor. The most likely explanation was that a bird or squirrel knocked it. She pushed a low-hanging branch out of her way. At least, she hoped that was the cause of the camera shift. The alternative was much more unpleasant.
An owl hooted nearby as she passed and something moved in the underbrush, darting across her path and disappearing into a rotten, uprooted tree trunk. Alina smiled faintly, moving easily through the woods. The night creatures paid no attention to her as she passed through their midst, ignoring her as if she were one of them. She didn’t bother them, and they disregarded her. It was a mutual appreciation.
Viper approached the camera a few minutes later and pulled out a Maglite, shining it up into the pine tree where the camera was mounted. Painted to blend perfectly with the tree, it was practically invisible until the bright light illuminated it. Alina pursed her lips. It had shifted slightly to the left and was hanging crookedly.
She pulled two metal loops with pointed ends out of her jacket pocket and switched off the light, tucking it into the outside pocket on her thigh. Using the loops as handles, she quickly scaled the immense tree until she reached the camera, some twenty feet above the ground. Once she was level with it, Viper pulled out the Maglite and switched it on. Examining the casing, she grinned suddenly and put the thin flashlight between her teeth, holding the light steady on the camera. She reached out and plucked a long black feather out of the corner of the camera. Definitely a bird, and her first bet was on Raven himself.
Alina straightened the camera, glancing down to estimate the angle she needed. She straightened it, adjusted it once more, and pulled the Maglite from her mouth, switching it off. Tucking it back into her cargo pocket, she reached into another pocket and pulled out her phone. Swiping the screen, she opened her security app and pulled up the camera. A moment later her phone was back in her pocket and she was backing down out of the tree.
She had just dropped onto the ground again, and was slipping the loops back into her pocket, when a shiver of awareness streaked down her spine. Her breath caught silently in her throat as her heart thumped in warning.
Viper spun around, swinging her right hand in a sharp arc. The side of her palm made hard contact with a wrist, raised defensively against her attack. Her brain registered the defensive block even as she turned her hand to grip the wrist, forcing it down by gripping two pressure points. As she pushed the wrist down with her right hand, her left fist drove into the assailant’s kidney, eliciting a low grunt of pain.
Before she could follow up with another hit, strong fingers clamped down between her shoulder blade and her neck. Blinding pain shot down her arm and up her neck into her head. The pressure increased and she was spun around, her right arm pulled back and up behind her.
“Are you going to stop, or do we keep going?” Hawk demanded in her ear, his voice washing over her like molten lava.
Relief rushed through her, and Viper stilled. As soon as she did, Hawk released her arm and neck. Spinning around, she stared up at him, her heart skipping a beat.
“Hawk! What are you doing here?”
He looked down at her, a slow smile pulling at his lips.
“I was getting bored,” he said with a wink. Then he grimaced and rubbed his back. “Did you have to go for the kidney?”
“That’s what you get for sneaking up on me. You should know better.”
“To be fair, I wasn’t expecting to find you all the way out here,” Hawk said. “What are you doing?”
“Adjusting a camera. I think Raven shifted it. He left damning evidence in the slats.”
Hawk glanced up into the tree.
“Damning evidence?”
“A feather. Did you come on a bike?”
He nodded and motioned to his left.
“It’s over there. I was going to walk to the house.”
She tilted her head and studied him.
“How are you feeling?”
“The incision is sore from riding a motorcycle for four hours,” he answered. “Otherwise, I’m fine.”
“You shouldn’t have come,” she said in a low voice.
Damon stepped closer and looked down at her, settling his hands on her waist.
“You knew I would,” he murmured, his eyes meeting hers. “I’m not sitting this out, especially after what happened this morning.”
Alina felt lost in the shadows in his eyes, his musk surrounding her with comfortable warmth. She raised one hand to his shoulder and the other to his jaw, feeling his five o’clock shadow beneath her fingers, and all the tension of the past few days suddenly ebbed out of her.
“I know,” she whispered.
Damon lowered his lips to touch hers softly, lingering for a long moment before he raised his head again. He raised a hand to trail his fingers along her jaw gently. His eyebrow raised slightly suddenly in question and he moved his hand to her neck. Sliding his fingers under a thin chain resting against her skin, he lifted a necklace out from under her jacket. As he did so, a slow smile curved his lips. The chain was fed through a silver eyelet, welded onto a twisted lump of metal. The bullet that nearly killed them both rested in the palm of his hand. Damon raised his eyes to hers.
“You’re wearing it.”
She nodded slowly.
“I’m going to put it on a bracelet when I have time. I’m not comfortable wearing necklaces, but it will do for now.”
“Thank God he missed today,” he breathed, pulling her close to him in a tight hug.
“Another lucky break,” Alina said, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “Someone dropped a kneeler as he was taking the shot. It went through the lectern and into Stephanie's leg.”
Damon rested his chin on the top of her head, absorbing that news.
“How is she?” he finally asked.
“Fine. They’re keeping her in the hospital for a few days as a precaution.” Alina raised her head and looked up at him. “This luck won’t hold. This is twice now they’ve tried, and each time someone else takes the bullet. This has to stop.”
Damon cupped her face in his palms, his eyes boring into hers.
“Then we’ll stop it.”
His lips settled on hers and she sighed into him. This was what she needed: Hawk’s calm assurance and strength to lean on. The past couple of days had been wearing on her and tonight, on the way back from the hospital, Alina had finally admitted to herself that she was getting tired. She needed the support only Hawk could offer and, for the first time in her life, Alina wasn’t afraid to admit it, or afraid of what it meant.
Michael looked up as the door to the deck slid open. His eyebrows soared into his forehead when Damon followed Alina into the living room. He stood up as Damon closed the door behind them.
“I was wondering if you would show up,” he said, meeting him in the living room and holding out his hand. “Good to see you up and around.”
“Someone had to come keep an eye on the circus,” Damon retorted, a smile softening his words. He grasped Michael’s hand firmly. “How are you?”
“Can’t complain. How are you feeling?”
“Sore.” Damon moved into the dining room, glancing at the laptop open in front of Michael. “I’ve had worse. How’s it coming?” He nodded to the computer.
“Slow. I haven’t had much time to focus on it,” said Michael, sipping his beer. “I’m making progress, though.”
Alina came out of the kitchen and handed Damon a bottle of water.
“Today wasn’t exactly an easy day,” she said. “He spent most of it at the hospital with Angie and Steph.”
“Angie?” Damon asked, opening the water and taking a long sip. “What happened to her?”
“She got hit with shrapnel from a statue.” Alina picked up the tablet she’d left on the bar and swiped it to examine the camera angles. “She got a few stitches, but she’ll be fine.”
Damon watched her for a beat.
“What happened, exactly?” he asked, pulling out a chair at the dining table and sitting. He turned to face her. “All I know is someone opened fire at the funeral.”
Alina glanced at him, her lips twitching. She set down the tablet, satisfied the camera position was perfect.
“Oh, I’m sure you know more than that,” she murmured, amused. “He was in the organ loft. His first shot went high through the lectern, where Stephanie was giving the first reading. His second shot hit a statue of the Virgin Mary as I passed it. Angie was behind me and took the brunt of the pieces in her neck and shoulder.”
“Blake and I went straight to the organ loft,” said Michael, leaning back in his chair. “He was already gone when we got there. I went to the front of the church and Blake went out the side. We thought we could catch him before he disappeared.”
Damon glanced at him, his expression grim.
“How did he even get in the church?” he demanded. “I thought I made it clear–”
He stopped abruptly, but it was too late. Alina’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“So that’s why you showed up when you did,” she said, looking at Michael. “He sent you.”
Michael had the grace to look sheepish, but Damon looked at her squarely.
“Someone had to watch your back, and I wasn’t in a position to do it.”
Alina’s lips tightened.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” she said coldly. “I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. All you did was send another target into the line of fire.”
“I’m hardly just another target,” Michael objected. “I’m trained to protect the President.”
“Yet a shooter made his way into the organ loft,” Damon said, turning his blue gaze back to Michael. “Care to offer an explanation?”
“Oh, for God’s sake!” Alina exclaimed. “Don’t be ridiculous. He couldn’t lock down a church the size of St. Pete’s without a full advance team, which he didn’t have. Besides, the shooter was dressed as a priest. Even if he had been able to inspect every person who came into the church, a priest wouldn’t have raised any red flags.”
Damon’s head snapped around.
“A priest?” he repeated. “You saw him?”
She nodded, getting up to go into the kitchen.
“He came out the back while I was in the alley between the church and the school,” she said, opening the fridge. She returned a moment later with another beer for Michael, and one for herself. “He saw me. I managed to hit his car as he was leaving the parking lot. He dumped it on the other side of town.”
Damon watched as she handed Michael the beer and seated herself across the table from him.
“Why do you get a beer and I get water?”
“Because I didn’t just drive four hours on a motorcycle when I should still be in the hospital,” she retorted. “And I’m mad at you right now. So no beer for you.”
Michael choked back a laugh at the look on Damon’s face.
“That’s not a good reason,” Damon muttered, but he sipped his water. “Did you find anything in the car?”
Michael looked at Alina, waiting for her answer.
“No,” she said smoothly, opening her beer. “It was clean.”
Damon raised an eyebrow doubtfully but let it go.
“The funeral was his best chance of you coming to him,” he said. “Now he has to find you.”
“Wait, you said he was dressed as a priest?” Michael asked suddenly.
Alina nodded, sipping her beer.
“Yes, why?”
“When I went with Angie to the church on Monday, I passed a priest coming out of the side door. He looked surprised to see me.”
“What did he look like?”
“Dark hair, about five-ten, maybe a buck eighty,” said Michael slowly. “He had dark eyes, maybe brown.”
“That was him,” Alina said decidedly.
“Son of a...” Michael glowered. “I was less than a foot away from him!”
Damon looked at him, a flicker of sympathy in his blue eyes.
“There’s no way you could have known. Professionals aren’t easy to spot.”
“He was there the day before setting everything up,” Alina said thoughtfully. “He likes to plan ahead.”
“That will work to our advantage,” Damon said, looking at her. “He’ll have to improvise now.”
Alina nodded, lost in thought.
Michael looked from one to the other and shook his head.
“I don’t see how that’s a good thing. He’ll be unpredictable now.”
A brief smile passed over Alina’s lips and Damon chuckled.
“Trust me, there are only so many options left to him,” he assured Michael. “He’ll be far from unpredictable. If anything, he’ll be easier to pin down.”
Alina looked up.
“And I’ll be waiting.”
Alina looked up as the opening to her command center slid open. Her eyes moved to the security monitor and she watched as Damon stepped into the opening. She returned her gaze to the screen before her and quickly minimized the window. When Damon entered the long room a moment later, she had a generic website open.
His hair was still damp from the shower, and he had changed into a pair of black sweatpants and an old US Navy tee-shirt. The fresh smell of shower gel entered the room with him, and Alina glanced at him with a smile.
“Feel better?”
“Much.” Damon pulled out a chair next to her. “The gunny finally called it a night?”
She nodded, stretching her arms over her head with a yawn.
“Not long after you went up to shower. He took his laptop up with him. He said he didn’t want to keep me up while he worked.”
Damon grinned.
“Clearly he doesn’t know you very well.”
Alina shrugged.
“No rest for the wicked. We’re all busy tonight.”
Damon leaned back in his chair and swiveled to face her, growing serious.
“So tell me what really happened today.”
Alina raised an eyebrow.
“You know what happened. He took a shot at the funeral and missed.”
Damon studied her for a moment, his blue eyes sharp and probing.
“What about the car?”
“It was clean.”
“Bullshit. You might be able to sell that to the gunny, but not me. What did you find?”
Viper stared back at him, her mask impenetrable.
“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”
Damon grinned and winked.
“So I’ve been told. Were you able to trace the car?”
“No. It was rented through the airport, paid in cash. The name on the paperwork was a dead end,” Alina said, turning to pick up a half-empty bottle of water.
“GPS?”
Alina glanced at him, her lips curving faintly.
“I’m running it now,” she replied, sipping her water.
Damon frowned.
“You didn’t run it earlier?” he asked, his brows coming together. “Why? You could have caught him.”
“I didn’t need to.” Alina set the water down and turned to face him. “I found a receipt for a parking garage in the car under the seat. It was easy enough to track him down.”
Damon nodded, his brow clearing.
“What happened?”
“He’s staying at a hotel in Center City, not far from Chinatown. He’s been using a parking garage for the car, and he goes to the same coffee shop every day for his morning pick-me-up.”
“That’s sloppy. Did you get a name?”
“I got the name he’s using, yes.” Alina turned back to her computer and pulled up a database. “He’s not completely careless. The only place he’s used the name is at the hotel and the parking garage.”
Damon shrugged.
“That just means he hasn’t been anywhere else. He’s been looking for you, not sight-seeing. What hotel?”
Alina glanced at him.
“Oh no.” She shook her head. “You’re not getting involved. You’re going to relax and finish healing.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Damon said, frowning. “I’m fine.”
“No you’re not. You’d still be in the hospital if it weren’t for the fiasco this morning. I can’t do anything about you checking yourself out, but I can make sure you don’t throw yourself right back into the line of fire.”
Damon snorted.
“I’m already in the line of fire just by being here. So tell me what you know.”
“Hawk, this isn’t your problem,” said Alina, turning to face him again.
“This most definitely is my problem,” he shot back. “I took a bullet for all this. That makes it my problem.”
“No, that makes you collateral damage.”
Damon’s eyes narrowed and turned icy, his lips pressing together briefly.
“Did you really just say that?” he demanded softly.
Viper shrugged.
“Perhaps it was a bit harsh,” she admitted.
“Oh, you think?!”
“My point is that you’ve already been shot over this. You’ve paid your dues. This wasn’t your fight to begin with; you got caught in the crossfire, and now it’s time to let me take care of it.”
Hawk leaned forward, his eyes never leaving her face.
“This became my fight the second they came after you,” he growled. “Now I’m only going to say this once. You don’t have a monopoly on this one. Our Organization is under attack. They’re not just coming after you, they’re coming after all of us. One by one, our assets are being exposed and eliminated. We’re all involved now. Either you loop me in, and we work together, or I walk out tonight and do it alone. Either way, I will be hunting this bastard down, and then I’ll be going after the one in charge of it all.”
Alina met him glare for glare.
“I won’t have you on my conscience too. John already died over this. I don’t need another death on my tab.”
Hawk stared at her for a beat, his face impassive.
“That’s what this is about?” he demanded. “You think John was your responsibility? You think I’m your responsibility?”
Her mask slid into place abruptly, and Viper stared back at him silently. Hawk ran a hand through his hair and got up impatiently. He paced to the end of the narrow room, then turned back.
“You know as well as I do, the odds of us making it out of this alive are getting lower and lower every day we wake up.” He gripped the back of the chair he’d vacated. “We’ve never had much expectation of making it to a grand old age. Hell, we’re lucky we’ve made it this far. I’m not your responsibility, just as you’re not mine. But if we don’t figure out a way to work together, we’ll check out a hell of a lot sooner than if we stick together. Think about it! We’ve both dodged the reaper how many times now? If we’re together, those odds only get better.”
“If we weren’t together in Singapore, you wouldn’t have been shot.”
“And you would be dead.”
They glared at each other for a long moment, neither giving way until, finally, Viper’s gaze wavered.
“We’re stronger together,” said Hawk softly. “We always have been. They knew it in boot camp, and Harry knew it in the training facility. That’s why they all pitted us against each other.”
“To control us,” she murmured.
“Exactly.”
Viper was silent for a long moment before she finally lifted dark eyes to his.
“He’s staying at the Hampton Inn, near the Convention Center, in the city. He checked in Friday night.”
Hawk stared at her.
“That was before you were here. No one knew you were back stateside!”
Viper nodded grimly.
“Exactly. So how did he?”