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Alina pulled off the road into the entrance of the long driveway leading through the trees to the house. Damon was quiet beside her. They hadn't spoken much on the rest of the ride back into Jersey, and Damon had even dozed off at one point. Alina glanced at him now. He was staring out the window and seemed pensive. She wondered, for probably the thousandth time, what he was really doing here. Every day she had more questions and no corresponding answers where he was concerned. Why was having a high profile in his interest? It was never in their interest to have large exposure to people, and most especially to people in governmental positions. The people in those offices didn't like to think about the existence of people like Viper and Hawk. They were bad for politics. So why had Washington agreed to put Hawk in place as an DHS agent, of all things? And why had he done it? He had thrust himself into the spotlight with the Feds and with anyone connected with the investigation they were conducting. Why? It was almost as if he wanted as many people as possible to see him and see what he was doing. But what was he doing? And why was he seemingly content to sit by and watch as Alina went about her business? He seemed much more interested in Alina's work than in whatever it was that he was supposed to be doing. Why?
Alina broke through the trees and the house came into view ahead of them. If it was anyone other than Damon, she admitted that she would probably think that they were there to take her out of the equation as soon as she had taken care of Johann. But Alina trusted Damon. She knew that whatever he was doing, he wouldn't harm her. She might not trust the boys in Washington as far as she could throw them, but she trusted Hawk.
“Stop when you pull around the side of the house.” Hawk broke the silence, undoing his seatbelt and putting his hand on the door handle. Alina looked at him. “Someone followed us into the woods.”
Alina obligingly stopped at the side of the house and watched as Damon jumped out and disappeared into the woods. She continued on to the garage and pulled her car inside, parking next to the black SUV. Viper calmly got out of the car and reached under the seat to extract her modified .45, slipping it into the holster at the back of her pants. She pulled her lightweight jacket on over top and headed out the side door of the garage, hitting the automatic door button on her way to close the garage door. Alina went straight into the trees behind the garage and then picked up the pace, doubling back in a wide arc to approach the house from the road again. She moved silently and quickly, her ears tuned to any sound out of the ordinary. She had known she was being followed all day, and she had a pretty good idea who it was. The fact that Damon had caught it was interesting.
Viper paused in the trees halfway between the road and the house. A chill snaked down her spine and she turned her head quickly, sinking to her knees silently. She scanned the trees toward the road, her breathing steady, her ears straining for any unusual sound. Something was wrong. She could feel it. All her instincts were screaming. Glancing toward the house, she detected faint movement and knew that Hawk was there. Viper turned her attention back toward the road. Hawk and their visitor were in front of her. But something, or someone, else was behind her.
Alina slowed her breathing down and crept to her left to take cover behind a tree. Closing her eyes, she drew her attention inward, until she could hear her own heartbeat. She took note of the sounds in the trees above her. The rustling of the wind through the upper branches mixed with the scratching of scurrying little furry feet, leaping from tree to tree. Wings suddenly came alive as a bird launched out of its nest. Underbrush creaked to her right as a small predator foraged under a tree. Vipers eyes slowly opened.
To her right, there was no sound.
She started moving stealthily to her right, reaching down to unstrap the guard on the knife at her ankle. Her eyes darted around the area, scanning the trees above and the ground below. Afternoon sun was filtering through the trees and she looked for tell-tale shadows as she moved silently forward, foot by foot, her senses alert for movement and sound.
Alina was moving on instinct now. Her heart was pounding, but her breathing was steady and her eyes were clear and alert. She paused to listen, taking note of where all animal movement ended and where the silence began. It was a few yards ahead and to the right.
Viper began moving again silently.
Suddenly, from the left, came the sound of two motorized dirt bikes. They were coming through the woods quickly, the distinctive high-pitched whir getting louder by the second. Alina straightened up quickly, and then she saw it! A tall shadow flickered ahead and to her right, moving quickly toward the road.
Alina darted forward, jumping over an old, uprooted tree trunk and running parallel with what she imagined was the route the shadow had taken. The dirt bikes came into view behind her and she glanced back. Two teen-aged boys were tearing through the woods joyfully at top speed, oblivious of her existence. Viper looked forward again, running swiftly. She had lost the shadow, but she knew it wouldn't have stopped.
Viper reached the end of the trees just in time to see a tall man dressed in hunting fatigues disappear into the trees on the other side of the road. She stopped behind a pine tree and leaned on it, breathing hard. A few seconds later, an engine caught and revved. A black Bronco pulled out of the woods a few yards away and sped away down the road. Alina stayed concealed behind the tree, watching it disappear. She was able to get a partial plate as it fish-tailed slightly coming out of the trees. SKD-4. It was enough to run a trace.
Alina bent down and secured the knife at her ankle before turning and jogging back through the woods. Whoever he was, he hadn't been following her.
He had been waiting for her.
Alina emerged into the front yard from the trees and grinned. Angela and Damon were seated on the front steps, side by side. Damon looked amused and Angela looked disgruntled. She was dressed in black jeans and a black stretch tee-shirt. Four-inch stiletto black leather boots, which were now generously coated with dirt and grass, graced her feet. Alina bit back a laugh. A black baseball cap with a rhinestone P glittering on the front completed the outfit. Angela was trying to be incognito. Alina wasn't sure which was worse: the four inch stilettos or the rhinestone Phillies cap.
Her eyes met Damon's as she crossed the lawn towards them. He raised his eyebrows questioningly and Alina gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. He frowned, his eyes darting past her to the woods, then back to her face. Alina flicked her eyes to Angela warningly and turned her attention to her friend.
“Angela, what on earth are you doing?” she demanded as she walked up to them.
Angela pouted as much as a grown woman could pout.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” she retorted. “I just came to see you.”
Alina glanced around.
“I don't see your car,” she commented.
Angela shrugged.
“I left it by the road. I thought the walk would be good for me,” she said.
Alina stared at her, doing her best not to laugh outright. While Alina stared at Angela, Damon stared at her. His frown deepened. Her flushed skin told him that she had been moving rapidly, and there was an errant sprig of moss in her hair. She wasn't breathing heavily, but her tank top was damp. She had been running. His eyes went back to the trees. He hadn't missed her silent warning to keep quiet. Someone else had been out there.
“You loathe walking,” Alina was saying to Angela. “Unless it's in a mall,” she qualified.
Angela stood up.
“Your monkey here snuck up behind me and scared the Bejeebus out of me!” she exclaimed in a hurt voice. “And now you think I was trying to spy on you.”
“That's exactly what I think,” Alina agreed with a laugh. “You've been following me all day. Come on inside. I'll make tea,” she added, stepping past them and unlocking the front door.
Angela hesitated, as if trying to decide what to do. She finally picked up her black Coach bag from the step and turned to follow Alina into the house. Damon waited until they had cleared the door frame before standing up. He took one last look at the trees before turning to follow them, closing the front door and locking it behind him.
“I wasn't following you all day,” Angela murmured, following Alina down the hall to the back of the house.
She was absolutely mortified over getting caught. She had been creeping up to the front lawn when someone grabbed her from behind and clamped their hand over her mouth. She couldn't even move in their grip, let alone take a breath to scream. Angela didn't think she had ever been so scared in all her life. She had felt like she was being held in a solid vise. They had stayed like that for what seemed like forever until a familiar voice had asked her if she was lost. Damon had released her then, laughing when she swung around and tried to punch him. He had caught her wrist easily and the attempt had only made him laugh harder.
“You're right,” Alina agreed soothingly, going into the kitchen.
She started to take off her jacket, then thought better of it. She left it on as she went to the cabinets above the counters. Damon noticed the movement and his eyes dropped to her back as he settled himself on one of the stools at the bar. He could just make out the bulge of her .45. He felt a little better about the episode in the woods knowing now that she was armed.
“You didn't follow me to the coffee shop this morning.” Alina turned from the cabinet with a box of tea in either hand. “Jasmine green or Orange Blossom White?” she asked them cheerfully.
Damon couldn't stop himself from chuckling. Angela shot him a fuming glare before turning to Alina.
“Green, please,” she said. “Can I use your bathroom?”
“In the hall, on the left.”
Alina motioned to the hallway and then looked at Damon questioningly.
“Coffee,” he said.
She nodded and turned to put the white tea back in the cupboard. As soon as she heard the bathroom door close in the hall and the fan switch on, Alina reached behind her and pulled the gun from her back. She flipped on the safety and opened a drawer, dropping it inside.
“Who was in the woods?” Damon demanded in a low voice.
Alina took off her jacket and tossed it on the bar.
“I don't know,” she answered just quietly. “Tall male in hunting fatigues. He knew enough to stay just outside my security perimeter,” Alina added. Damon looked grim and she looked at him thoughtfully. “He drove a black bronco. I got a partial plate. I'll find him.”
Alina turned back to the counter and Damon watched as she hit the button to brew his coffee. The grinder ground the beans loudly and he waited for it to finish before speaking.
“You have moss in your hair,” he told her, smiling when she reached up and smoothed her fingers over her hair until she found the greenery and plucked it out.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
The bathroom door opened and Angela came down the hall. She looked much calmer now, and not so disheveled. Her hair was perfect again under the cap, and she looked back in control. Alina switched on the kettle and turned to get Damon's coffee.
“Ok. So I was following you.” Angela seated herself at the bar next to Damon.
“I know,” Alina retorted with a laugh, coming over to hand Damon his coffee. “Why?”
“Because no one will tell me what's going on!” Angela exclaimed. Damon glanced at her, his eyebrows raising. She looked at him. “Don't look at me like that, Mr. Hunk-O-Mysterious. I have my own issues with you. Do Stephanie and John know you're working with Alina?”
“There's nothing to know,” Damon answered calmly. “We're not working together. We're old friends.”
“From the military,” Angela stated.
Alina looked at Angela.
“Angie!” she said warningly.
Damon grinned.
“It's ok,” he said, holding his hand up to stop Alina. “Yes. I was in the military with Alina. We trained together before I went into Special Forces and she went into Intelligence.” His blue eyes were sparkling as they met Angie's. “I was happy to see her again. We lost touch for a few years.”
Alina caught the sparkle in Damon's eyes and her own eyes narrowed suspiciously. What was he up to? He had something cooking in that head of his and she was pretty sure that this whole ridiculous charade was about to become even more absurd. The electric kettle switched off behind her and Alina turned to start making the tea.
“So you just happened to show up the same time as Alina,” Angela said, watching him. He stared back.
“Coincidences do happen occasionally,” he replied with an easy smile. “In this case, it was a happy one. One day hasn't passed when Alina hasn't been on my mind,” he added with a grin.
Alina dropped the kettle loudly back onto its base. Angela's mouth dropped open.
“You mean....you two...” her voice trailed off as she turned her attention to Alina's back. “Lina?”
Alina finished counting to ten before picking up the two mugs of green tea and swinging around to face them. Damon looked like the Cheshire cat sitting next to Angela.
“He's still trying to convince me,” Alina said calmly, moving forward and handing Angie one of the mugs. Her eyes met Damon's dancing ones and she smiled sweetly. “We'll see how well he does,” she added.
“Well, that explains that, at any rate.” Angela looked from one to the other, sipping her tea.
“Explains what?” Damon asked, drinking his coffee before he started laughing at the murderous look in Vipers eyes.
“The tension between the two of you,” Angie said, waving her hands. “I felt it at the restaurant, and I feel it now. You guys have some serious sexual tension between you.”
“Angie, don't be an ass,” Alina snapped as Damon choked on his coffee.
“No, you do!” Angie insisted. “I took a class in Chi last summer. I learned all kinds of interesting things, and I definitely feel some serious tension coming off both of you.”
“Well, I won't argue with that,” Damon murmured with a cough.
Alina shot him a glare.
“Don't encourage her,” she retorted. She drank some tea, then set the mug down. “Seriously, Angie, why were you following me?”
“I told you the other day,” Angela replied calmly. “I feel left out. I think you and Steph and Damon are working together, and no one is asking me for any help.”
“Stephanie gave me a whole report on money-laundering from you,” Damon pointed out.
Angela shrugged and waved her hand.
“So what?” she asked. “You guys are doing all this exciting stuff.”
Alina couldn't hold back her snort.
“What exciting stuff?” she demanded.
“That's what I was trying to find out,” Angie retorted patiently. She sounded as if she was explaining something to a child. Alina blinked. She felt a little like she was on a tilt-a-whirl.
“Let me get this straight.” Alina looked at Angela. “You're following me because you think you might miss something exciting?”
Damon buried his face in his coffee mug again.
“Well, essentially, yes, I suppose so,” Angela agreed. “Although, it was more of an attempt to find out what you're doing back and why you came back when you did.”
There was a short silence as Alina stared at her old friend.
“And did you discover anything?” she finally asked after she got her voice back.
“Only that you drive really far too fast for safety,” Angela replied. She set her mug down and pointed to Alina. “Really, I have no idea what you're thinking. If anything happened, you could never control that man's car of yours.”
Alina couldn't bring herself to look at Damon. She could tell by the way that he had his head buried in his coffee mug that he was enjoying this conversation way too much.
“I drive too fast?” Alina repeated, her eye twitching.
Damon got up suddenly and carried his cup over to the espresso machine. A minute later, beans started grinding loudly.
“Yes.” Angela glanced past Alina at Damon. “And you don't get out much. You really need to get out more.”
“I'll take that under advisement.” Alina drained her tea cup and suddenly wished it was something stronger. “Anything else?”
“Nope, that's about all I discovered so far,” Angela announced cheerfully. “But I'm optimistic.”
“NO!”
The word shot out in unison from both Damon and Alina. Alina glanced at him and he turned back to watch the coffee stream into his mug. Angela raised her eyebrow, looking from one to the other again.
“Excuse me?” she repeated.
“No,” Alina repeated. “You're going to stop following me.”
Angela looked at her.
“Why?” she asked. Alina stared at her silently. “Lina, you have to give me a reason. I want to know what's going on. If following you and Stephanie is the only way I'll find out, then I'm prepared to do it.”
Alina pursed her lips, then sighed.
“It's not safe,” she said quietly.
Damon turned from the coffeemaker with his full mug of coffee and leaned back against the counter. He sipped the coffee and watched the two women facing off over the bar.
“Because of the investigation?” Angie asked.
“No. Because of...because of what I do,” Alina said slowly.
“Your consulting,” Angie stated, pushing her mug away.
“Yes.” Alina raised her eyes to Angie's and, in that instant, Angela peaked past the mask and glimpsed the old Lina that she had always known. “Just...trust me.”
“Ok,” Angela agreed instantly.
The mask slid back into place and Alina nodded.
“Ok?” she repeated.
Angela laughed.
“Ok.” She glanced past Alina to Damon. He looked confused. “I'll leave you two to work out your tensions in peace, then. I strongly suggest sandalwood candles,” Angie added, standing up and picking up her purse.
Alina repressed the sudden urge to scream.
“Oh, we will,” Damon assured Angela cheerfully. “Alina is just being stubborn.”
“You know, over-confidence is never a good thing,” Alina shot over her shoulder.
Angela laughed.
“I have a good feeling about you two,” she said, waving to Damon as she turned away to head down the hall.
Alina followed her, gritting her teeth at the chuckle she heard coming from the vicinity of the coffeemaker.
“I'm glad one of us does,” she muttered.
Angela stopped at the front door and shook her head at Alina.
“I don't know what you're waiting for,” she said bluntly. “Men like that don't grow on trees.”
Alina just looked at her, then reached over to open the door. She stood to the side expectantly and Angela laughed.
“Ok, ok. I'll drop it.” She stepped outside into the afternoon sun. Alina followed her out the door and closed it behind her. Angela looked at her in surprise. “Where are you going?”
“I'm walking you to your car,” Alina answered. She grinned when Angela stared at her. “I'm curious to see where you hid it,” she lied smoothly.
Angela laughed and they stepped off the front step together.
“It is a good hiding place,” she said, blissfully unaware of any reason for ulterior motives on her old friend's part.
When Alina returned to the house, Damon was standing on the deck, staring out over the back lawn. She stepped through the sliding doors and joined him at the banister. She had traded her tea mug for a water bottle and she handed a second one to Damon. They stood in silence for a moment, her shoulder brushing his arm. She lifted her water bottle to her lips, her eyes moving over the back yard while her mind raced.
There was another player. The question was whose team was he on? Was he one of Johann's men? Was he from Washington? Was he one of Solitto's goons? And why had Damon almost seemed like he was expecting it?
Alina rested the water bottle on the banister. The late afternoon sun had shifted to the front of the house, casting long shadows over the back. The light flickered over the lawn, and she lifted her gaze to stare farther into the trees. Pieces of the puzzle were starting to emerge in her mind but she wasn't sure where to put them. One thing was clear: everything kept coming back to Johann. Now that she had found him, she just had to finish the job and then everything else would fall into place.
“When are you going to Johann's?” Damon asked, uncannily addressing her thoughts.
“Tonight.” Alina picked up her water bottle and moved away to sit on one of the Adirondack chairs.
Damon turned and leaned on the banister, watching her with hooded eyes.
“And our visitor?” he asked.
“One thing at a time,” Alina answered, smiling faintly.
Damon seemed to be on the verge of saying something when a beep came from his jeans pocket and he reached into it to pull out a blackberry. Alina looked back over the lawn as he turned away to answer the phone. She caught sight of movement in the trees and watched as a doe came into view. The head turned and big brown eyes seemed to stare straight at Alina across the distance. Alina stared back, allowing the peace of the evening to fill her mind. After a moment, the doe turned and continued steadily on her way. Alina raised up her legs to sit crossed-legged on the chair, setting the water bottle on the wide arm. She rested her hands on her knees, cleared her mind of thought, and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Tonight she would finish what she had started two years ago.
She had failed then.
She wouldn't fail tonight.
––––––––
Cairo had been crowded two years ago when she arrived. It was always crowded in the smelly, over-populated city, but it had seemed to Alina to be even more so then. She followed Johann there, ignoring all the intel of his so-called Mossavid connection and ignoring her own conclusions regarding the cell. She had ignored the duplicity of her government and focused on her job. They never asked questions. They just did their job. That was what they were paid to do, and that was what Alina had done. Johann was no different.
At least, she hadn't thought he was any different at the time. As it turned out, he had ended up changing the course of her life that morning.
She found him in the city easily enough. He had been in a hotel and hadn't seemed overly concerned with keeping his movements secret. His security detail was extensive and they had been efficient. She was unable to attempt a sniper shot, which is what she would have preferred. Viper was forced to enter the hotel and improvise.
Now, in her minds eyes, she saw it as clearly as if it had just happened.
The lobby only had a few people scattered about, mainly tourists waiting for their bus and the occasional guest shuffling out of the dining room. It was mid-morning and the sun filtered through the windows in the lobby, casting bright long triangles of light over the worn tile floor. Alina was in the shadows, beneath a wide marble staircase leading to the upper levels, dressed in the long flowing burka of a local woman. The bottom half of her face was covered and the head-covering cast enough shadow over her upper-face as to make identification impossible. The elevator was nearby, and it dinged open just as Johann exited the meeting room where he had been closeted for almost half an hour. Three children rushed past Viper as she moved forward, out of the shadows.
It was the children who had saved Johann's life that day.
He had been coming out the meeting room, his head turned, speaking to someone right behind him. In her mind's eye, Viper clearly saw the Carotid artery, her target, in his neck as he turned his head. She moved with speed which threw his security detail off-guard. Her hand came up, the .45 ready to fire mid-stride. She knew exactly how many men she had to get through to make it to the side door that would be her exit. She had already averaged her likely success and injury rate. She knew how many clips she would use and how quickly she would have to empty them.
Viper was striking.
And then the children had swarmed around Johann's legs instead of continuing through the lobby.
Everything happened very quickly after that. Alina immediately lowered her firing arm, but it was too late. One of the guards and one of the children had already seen it. Chaos ensued instantly. An alarm was shouted, Johann was thrown to the floor and covered by the man closest to him, and Alina spun away as multiple members of his entourage drew weapons.
But not before recognizing the western face of the man Johann had been speaking to as he exited the room.
Within seconds, the children had been herded into the room with him and the door closed. The soft click of the latch as the door closed heralded the deafening eruption of gunfire. The lobby cleared out instantly and Viper was forced toward the back of the hotel. The following few minutes were nothing but a blur to her. She had taken one bullet through her outer thigh on her retreat, but managed to stop the damage there. By the time she had vaulted out the back of the hotel and into the alleyway, four out of seven of Johann's security detail were dead.
But the man she had come for was left very much alive.
Damon pressed the end button on his phone and turned back to Alina. She was sitting in her chair crossed-legged, eyes closed, hands facing upward on her knees. Her breathing was deep and Damon saw with one glance that she was far away. He leaned on the banister and watched her for a moment. Her dark hair rested on her straight shoulders and her long eyelashes were dark against her cheeks. Damon knew that Viper's whole body was a weapon. Yet, to look at her now, no one would ever guess it. She appeared relaxed and supple, at peace with the world. He thought back to when they first met in boot camp. She had been almost bewildered back then. But she had a belly full of anger and their drill sergeant had seen that right off. He pushed Alina harder than the rest of the women in the unit, and she excelled beyond even the men. By the end of the three-month period, she had broken almost every record in the camp. The two that she had not been able to beat were the two that Damon broke himself.
Damon smiled to himself now. They had clicked as soon as they met in the mess hall and their friendship very quickly blossomed into a friendly rivalry. It hadn't taken that same drill sergeant two blinks of an eye to catch on to that, and he did everything he could to work them against each other. The result had been that Damon had never physically worked harder in his life. By the time they were getting ready to graduate, they had developed such a close relationship that, he remembered, everyone was fully expecting them to request the same orders so that they could continue their friendship. Their relationship had been built on respect and friendly rivalry from the very beginning. There had never been anything more, although many of their fellow sailors always thought differently. At graduation, they stood together simply as friends and sailors.
After graduation, they headed out to begin their military careers. After a year, he went into the SEALs and he heard that she had migrated into Military Intelligence. He lost track of her then, and it was a few years before he saw her again. They had both been in the classified training facility of the CIA for over two weeks before they finally saw each other in the hallway. Damon still remembered the look on her face. She stared at him, nonplussed, for a very brief minute before cursing loudly and hugging him at the same time. She informed him that she was done competing with him. The last time had nearly killed her. Damon had agreed whole-heartedly.
And so their friendship had continued, grown, and trust was added to the mix. Through the years, as they had run into each other unexpectedly in random parts of the world, it had always been as if no time had passed, and Damon learned not to question it. If he ever wondered why they kept running into each other, he had learned not to question that as well.
“What are you thinking?” Alina's voice cut into his thoughts.
He grinned. Her eyes were still closed, but the tension of awareness was back in her body.
“Just thinking back over the years,” Damon answered.
Alina opened her eyes and looked at him. They were laughing.
“You make it sound as if we're eighty,” she said, lifting her arms above her head and stretching.
Damon laughed.
“We may as well be, with everything that has happened,” he retorted, straightening away from the banister and moving toward her.
She shrugged and lowered her arms, disentangling her legs and lowering them to the deck.
“That's true,” Alina admitted, looking up at him. She reached out and took the hand he held out to her, allowing herself to be pulled up out of the chair. The touch of his hand was warm and comfortable, sending a shiver of awareness up her arm. But when her eyes met his, she saw that the laugh had gone out of them. “What's wrong?” she asked.
“That was Stephanie on the phone,” Damon told her after the briefest of hesitations. He released her hand. “They have another body.”
Alina felt her stomach lurch in an unfamiliar, sinking feeling. She knew what he was going to say before he even said it.
“They think it's Johann,” Damon told her.