| |
Stephanie frowned as she pressed 'end' on her cell phone. She had been trying to reach Shannon all morning, with no success. Her cell phone was going straight to voice mail and Stephanie was starting to get impatient. She hesitated to try her at the office, since Shannon seemed to think that she was being watched, but Stephanie was starting to wonder if perhaps she should.
“Still no luck?” John asked, joining her at the door of the hospital.
They were on their way to check on Angela, John sticking to her like glue. Rob stopped them both this morning and made it clear that he wanted John with Stephanie at all times. Stephanie thought it was ridiculous and, while she acknowledged that it was for her own safety, the constant company was starting to annoy her.
“No.” Stephanie turned to stride into the hospital. “I think I'll try her office when we're done here.”
“Have you heard from Alina?” John asked.
Stephanie shook her head and stopped in front of the elevators.
“No.” She pushed the button and they both stared at the red up-arrow light above the doors. “Let's head to Avalon this afternoon. I want to look at that house.” The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. They stepped inside and Stephanie pressed the button for Angela's floor. “It's amazing Matt was able to catch that reflection in the picture.”
“I'm telling you, the man's a wizard,” John agreed as the doors slid shut. “Do you think we'll find anything down there?”
“Possibly.” Stephanie shrugged. “It depends how many people are left,” she added thoughtfully. “They have to be hiding somewhere. If you think about it, the shore is the perfect place. No one is down there this time of year and the rent is cheap. That makes it an attractive base of operations.”
“Do you think Johann is really up to something?” John asked, turning to face her.
Stephanie pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side.
“I think so,” she said slowly. “Otherwise, why would he be here? The question is what? And where? And how can we find out?”
“I think Alina knows,” John answered. “I think she knows more than she's telling you.”
“I do too,” Stephanie agreed. “But I can't make her tell me.”
“Well, technically, we can,” John murmured.
Stephanie glanced at him.
“Right. You can be the one to pull the badge and try to bring her in,” she said with a grin. “You let me know how that works out for you.”
John grinned back.
“Just saying it's an option,” he retorted with a laugh.
“She's probably protected by some secrecy act that we've never heard of,” Stephanie said as the elevator doors slid open.
They stepped into the hallway to see the object of their frustration coming out of Angela's room.
“Speak of the devil,” John murmured.
Alina moved toward them with that formidable mix of assurance and fearlessness that she had acquired in her years away from them. She was dressed in loose, dark linen pants and a casual shirt. Her sunglasses were on top of her head and, aside from that air of danger, she looked like any other woman found on the city streets on a spring day. Stephanie suddenly wondered what she looked like in fatigues. They never received any pictures, not even when she graduated, and she realized suddenly that they had never actually seen her in uniform.
“Why the frown?” Alina asked, meeting them halfway. She was looking at Stephanie.
“I just realized that I never saw any pictures of you in uniform,” Stephanie answered truthfully.
John shot her a quick look before watching Alina's reaction. She looked amused.
“I'm sure I could dig some up if you would like,” she told Stephanie with a very faint smile. “I didn't look all that different. Just the same, in fact,” she added with a grin.
Stephanie laughed.
“I don't know what made me think of it,” she said apologetically.
“Sometimes we think of the damnedest things out of the blue,” Alina replied smoothly, still with that faint smile.
John frowned. He didn't think he would ever get used to this new stranger that was Alina. The faint smile and the air of aloofness was the complete opposite of the open and friendly woman he had lived with years ago.
“I, for instance, was just thinking what a good couple the two of you make,” Alina continued with a smile.
Stephanie burst out laughing and John grinned.
“Oh please, don't even think it!” Stephanie exclaimed. “I would kill him in less than 24 hours.”
“The idea has merit,” Alina murmured, looking at John. “Definite merit.”
“How is she?” Stephanie nodded toward Angela's room, changing the subject as John made a face at Alina.
“In a lot of pain,” Alina answered. “They increased her morphine drip. There's no fever, though, so that's a good sign.”
Stephanie nodded.
“How are you? You look pale,” she said, looking at Alina.
John suddenly noticed what Stephanie had already seen. While Alina's hair and clothes were perfect, her face was very pale and there were dark rings under her eyes. John's eyes narrowed and he frowned.
“I'm just a little tired,” Alina answered with a smile. “I didn't get much sleep last night,” she added.
“Where are you headed now?” John finally spoke.
Alina shrugged slightly.
“Out and about,” she answered evasively. “I'll touch base with you guys later today.”
Stephanie was already nodding.
“Dinner?” she suggested.
Alina nodded and then continued on her way. Stephanie and John continued on toward Angela's room.
“Dinner?” John demanded under his breath.
Stephanie grinned.
“We all have to eat,” she retorted.
She glanced back, expecting to see Alina at the elevators, but there was no sign of her in the hall. She had vanished. Stephanie looked around with a frown before following John into the hospital room.
Alina stood on the beach and took a deep breath. The salt air was fresh and the brisk spring wind whipped her ponytail around her head. She had changed her linen pants for long running pants, the casual shirt for a long-sleeved, designer sports shirt, and her city boots for soft-soled, all-terrain running shoes. Staring out over the expanse of blue-gray waves crashing onto the shore, she listened to the roar of the ocean and the screech of the seagulls overhead. The sun had disappeared behind a thick layer of clouds and rain was threatening. Still, Alina stood on the beach, breathing in the afternoon air with eyes closed, feeling her first sight of the Jersey Shore in over ten years.
She had missed it.
Alina didn't realize how much she missed it until she crossed the causeway from the mainland to the barrier islands, smelling her first scent of salt air as the trees fell away behind her. The same anticipation that she remembered from the past welled up inside her as she drove over the last bridge and saw the lines of shore homes ahead. Beyond those lines, beyond the blocks of tightly knit neighborhoods, once you had traversed the streets, were the dunes. Once the sand dunes were sighted, the sound of the ocean drowned out everything. Then, and only then, were you there. You had arrived, and all the anticipation and excitement of going “down the shore” culminated in one deep breath of release. Everything was left behind. All that was in front of you was water, beach, sun and relaxation.
Alina took a deep breath now and stared out over the crashing waves. The ocean always demanded her attention and respect. No matter what country, no matter what shore, she was drawn to the water. It was untamed, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. And yet, it followed a natural sense of order, according to the seasons. Even in the chaos, there was order. Even in the violence, there was control. Even in the seeming endlessness, there was an end.
The stormy vastness of the Atlantic captured her imagination. There was a whole other world under there and the glimpse that they saw, crashing onto the beach, was just a drop. It was nothing at all. It always reminded her that she, in essence, was nothing compared to the massiveness and might of nature.
Alina took another deep breath, lifting one leg up behind her and grabbing her ankle. She glanced around as she stretched. The beach was deserted. She lowered her leg and lifted the other one, looking down the beach to her right. One of the addresses she dug up from the names that Frankie had given her was about two blocks down, the back of the house directly on the beach. Alina dropped her leg and jumped up and down a few times. If anyone was watching, she looked like just another jogger, warming up before starting her beach run. She had left her gun in the car and had only her knife, strapped to her ankle under the running pants. She just wanted to take a look around. If she saw anything interesting, she would come back later, under the cover of darkness.
After a few more warm-ups, Alina started off down the beach at a steady jog. The sand was clean and free from debris. There was money here. The properties were privately owned and taken care of by contractors. The fronts of the houses were gated and set back from the road, while the backs opened directly onto the sand. Alina kept her face forward as she ran, but her eyes were scanning the beach and the back of the homes that she passed. A dog barked at the back sliding door of the first one, stopping as she passed by. The next one was dark and silent. Many of these properties were only occupied during the summer season. The rest of the year, the owners typically rented them out or left them empty. Alina ran by a third one, also dark and silent, and wondered what it would be like to have a beach house. Perhaps she would invest in one someday.
The next house was the address she wanted. There was a small deck on the right as she looked at the back, and sliding doors in the center. Her attention, however, was drawn to the left side of the sliding doors. The left-side, bottom back wall was made entirely of glass.
Alina glanced in as she ran by without slowing her pace. No curtains were hung inside and she had a clear view into the room. There was a couch, a coffee table, and what looked like matching arm chairs. As Alina ran by, there was movement toward the back of the room, a shadow crossing through a doorway.
Someone was there.
Alina felt a surge of excitement as she passed the house and continued on down the beach. Someone was there and she got the distinct impression that the shadow was a taller man. Was it him? Was it the Engineer? Or was it Johann? Had she run him to ground at last?
Alina's mind was spinning with possibilities by the time she exited the beach three houses farther down. She ran up the path through the dunes and paused when she reached the sidewalk. Her breath was coming fast and hard and her side felt like it had been swiped by fire. Bent over at the waist to catch her breath, Alina gingerly touched the bandage at her side. It was moist, but whether from sweat or because the wound had ripped open again, she couldn't tell. After her breathing slowed, Alina straightened up and put the pain out of her mind. She breathed deeply and started running again, this time along the pavement, back toward the glass house.
Alina slowed as she approached the waist-high, wrought-iron gate surrounding the front of the property. The house was set back a bit from the road and the postage-stamp front yard was cold and bleak. A black sedan was parked in the driveway that ran along the side of the house. There didn't appear to be any movement or life in the house and, apart from the sedan, it looked like any other house in the neighborhood, empty for the season. But Alina had seen a shadow.
One of her targets was in there.
She continued past the house and jogged back to where her SUV was parked a few blocks away. Alina opened the back and pulled out a bottle of water and a towel. Sipping the water, she mopped her face while she leaned against the open back. Her eyes scanned the street thoughtfully. She had to find out who was in the house.
Alina sipped the water again, her eyes drifting down the street to the empty house next to the glass house. They dwelled briefly on the realtor sign in the front yard. Capping the bottle decisively, Alina stretched her legs for a few moments before going around to get behind the wheel. She started the engine and pulled a U-turn, cruising down the street. She glanced at the sign, memorizing the phone number as she drove by, and continued on to the end of the street before turning away from the beach.
Two hours later, the sun was going down and deep shadows cloaked the quiet, deserted street. In the summer, the street would still be flooded with light and the sound of children playing and adults laughing. The smells of barbecue would fill the air. This time of year, it was eerily quiet as the night descended, reminiscent of a ghost town. If anyone chanced to look out a window and examine the shadows, they might have glimpsed a shifting of light that may, or then again may not, have been a figure disappearing into the shrubbery surrounding one of the empty homes. However, the odds of anyone doing so were so remote that Viper felt absolutely no qualms as she slipped around the side of the house to the back facing the beach. She paused and listened to the sound of the waves crashing against the sand. It was dark back here, away from the street lights, and the beach was silent and deserted.
Alina had changed into black cargo pants and a black windbreaker with multiple pockets, and a long, slender black bag was slung over her shoulder. She waited patiently, ensuring that the beach really was deserted before she moved over to the sliding door at the back of the house. Turning her attention from the crashing waves to the door, Alina pulled a long, paper-thin steel tool out of one of the side pockets on the bag. She didn't need light. She had done this so many times that it was second nature to her.
Viper silently slid the door closed behind herself a few seconds later, slipping the tool back into the pocket. She paused in the still house, waiting for her eyes to become accustomed to the darkness inside. The electric was turned off and the resulting silence was almost eerie, but she welcomed it. Silence was only unnerving when it shouldn't be silent.
As soon as she could make out the shapes of the furniture, Viper started to move. She had checked out the glass house before coming here. The sedan was still in the same spot, and there was a light at the back of the house and more light on the second floor. She hadn't seen the shadow again, but she knew he was in there.
Viper moved through the bottom floor to the stairs and climbed them silently, feeling her way with one hand on the wall. Her rifle bounced lightly against her back. Her old friend was comforting as it shifted gently while she moved. It had been with her for years and it never failed her.
Better than most men I know, she thought to herself as she reached the top of the stairs. She immediately turned left and headed down the hallway, staying against the wall and moving silently.
Viper went into the last room at the back of the house. There were three windows, one of which faced the glass house next door. She went straight to that window and knelt on the floor, swinging the rifle bag off her back fluidly and setting it noiselessly on the floor beside her. She unzipped one of the side pockets in her jacket and pulled out a pair of binoculars, studying the house next door as she took off the caps. The second floor had a light on and she caught sight of movement through one of the large windows. Upstairs, as downstairs, there were no curtains in the windows. The occupant clearly knew the houses on either side of them were empty and they weren't concerned about privacy. Viper doubted whether either Johann or The Engineer had ever given a single thought to window treatments.
She lifted the binoculars to her eyes and adjusted them, bringing the hallway of the second floor into sharp focus. It was empty, but a light was burning at the top of the stairs. She scanned the roof and lower floor briefly before returning to the second floor. The master bedroom was facing her. It had two large windows on the side facing her and Viper took full advantage of them, examining the bedroom. Regardless of which target was in the house, both of them would have chosen that room to sleep in.
Viper patiently waited for any sign of movement. She could see most of the bedroom from her vantage point, but the bathroom was out of her range of vision. She moved her focus back into the hallway. Aside from the light at the top of the stairs, the hallway was dark as it stretched to the opposite side of the house. Moving her attention back to the bedroom, she waited.
While part of her was hoping for the chance to end the run of the clever assassin, Viper wanted to finish what she had come here to do. The whole situation had gotten out of control. Stephanie, John and Angela were far too involved, and now Damon had disappeared as well. While he could be doing anything, Alina knew that it was tied up with this debacle and that added him as a liability on her conscience as well. Four people that she cared about, all involved in one big mess. That was four people too many, especially when it was supposed to be such a straight-forward mission. Go to Jersey, finish what she started two years ago, and move on. Quick and easy.
Ha!
Alina frowned as she waited patiently for movement in the house next door. If she had known that the lives of her old friends, and the life of Hawk, would be thrown so unceremoniously into the path of a killer like The Engineer, would she still have allowed herself to be pulled from her mountain retreat and back into the game? The lure of Johann had been strong enough to get her here, even knowing that she would have to face her past. But she could never have foreseen the mess that this had turned into overnight. If she could do it all again, Alina admitted to herself that she would not have contacted Stephanie. She would have found another way to get the information she needed. She had involved her old friends as an expedient way of obtaining information, and now they were in as much danger as she was herself.
Do you trust them with your life?
Hawk's question taunted her and Alina pressed her lips together. She trusted Stephanie and Angela, but could they trust her?
Movement brought Viper's attention sharply back to the bedroom next door. She pushed her personal dilemma to the side as a tall man walked out of the master bathroom. Viper exhaled silently as she zoomed in on the lean face of Johann Topamari.
A heady mix of relief and satisfaction washed over her as she watched him go to the closet and pull something out, tossing it onto the bed. It was a large duffel bag. Johann unzipped the bag and started putting clothing inside. He was leaving.
Viper set the binoculars down and rapidly unzipped the bag at her side. Her movements were quick and sure as she lifted out the rifle and assembled it quickly. She was glad that she had brought her smaller one. Johann was only about 100 meters from her. Viper attached the scope and the silencer last and cracked the window in front of her, inserting the barrel into the opening with one fluid motion. She lowered her eye to the scope and adjusted the sight, watching as Johann went to the closet again. He returned to the open duffel bag with a jacket, which he was rolling up to tuck inside the bag. Viper exhaled slowly and calmly adjusted the sight, switching target from his head to the center of his body. He was moving around too much to make a head shot viable. There could be no mistakes this time. She slipped her finger over the trigger.
Creeeak.
Vipers head shot up and her finger slid off the trigger immediately as a jolt of shock shot through her. Someone was on the stairs!
Alina pressed her lips together and pulled the rifle out of the window, her hands immediately disengaging the silencer and the scope.
Creeeak.
Another set of feet crossed the same step on the stairs. Two people were coming upstairs!
Viper disassembled the gun swiftly and zipped up the bag, working as fast and as silently as she could. She glanced through the window and into the bedroom next door. Johann was still at the bed, packing clothes into the bag. Viper grabbed her binoculars and held them up again in time to watch him zip the bag up and pick it up off the bed. She cursed silently.
That's twice now, she thought furiously. There will NOT be a third time! Viper watched as Johann strode out of the room, switching the light off as he went.
Her chance was gone.
“Can you make any more noise? Seriously?” a voice she knew well demanded from the top of the stairs.
Alina lowered the binoculars and put them in her pocket, frustration and anger making her hands shake slightly.
“There's no one here!” the second person retorted. “What does it matter?”
They were in the hallway now, moving toward the bedroom. Alina shook her head, clamping her teeth, and got noiselessly to her feet. She couldn't believe it. Two more minutes: One for her to take the shot, and one for her drop out of the window and get away.
Two more minutes were all that had stood between her and the end of this whole thing.
Two people appeared in the doorway behind her and Alina didn't bother to turn her head. She continued to watch the house next door. The light in the hallway went out and then, a minute later, the one at the top of the stairs followed suit. Johann was moving downstairs with his bag.
“It looks like there is someone here after all,” Stephanie said, her voice loud in the silent room.
Viper ignored her, staring out the window and trying to get a handle on the fury that was coursing through her.
Two more minutes!
“What a surprise.” John sounded anything but surprised. “I told you she knew more than she was saying.”
They walked across the room to join her at the window.
“How long have you been here?” Stephanie demanded, looking across to the house next door.
Alina didn't trust herself to answer calmly, and so she remained silent. Stephanie glanced at her, trying to see her face in the dark.
“There's movement on the bottom floor!” John exclaimed, turning around again and heading for the door quickly. “I'll see what I can see from downstairs!” he threw over his shoulder as he disappeared again, leaving the two women next to the window.
Stephanie turned her attention outside again and they both watched silently as a light came on on the first floor. The light flicked out a moment later and the house went dark.
“Who is it?” Stephanie asked.
“You'll see for yourself in a minute,” Alina finally spoke. She was surprised at the calmness of her voice, considering that she was still trembling with anger. She looked at her old friend. “He's getting ready to leave.”
Alina turned away from the window and walked toward the doorway. She didn't need to watch Johann walk out of the house and drive away.
“Wait!” Stephanie's voice stopped her at the door. Alina looked back and watched as Stephanie stared out the window. “How do you know he's leaving?”
“He just finished packing everything up.” Alina turned to leave the room. “He won't be going back there.”
“It's Johann, isn't it?” Stephanie asked, still watching through the window.
Alina continued out the door without answering.
Alina took a deep, calming breath and closed the back of the SUV. Her bag was locked back up in the special metal box next to the spare tire and the floor was replaced. She knew that both Stephanie and John had seen it, but neither had mentioned it. In fact, none of them had said much at all to each other. Johann had exited the glass house as Alina was going downstairs, and the black sedan pulled out of the driveway a few minutes later. John had taken a slew of pictures from the windows and Stephanie joined him in the front of the house to watch the car disappear down the road. By the time Stephanie realized Alina was leaving, she had been out the back door and headed down the beach.
Stephanie caught up with her on the dark beach a few houses down. Instead of demanding answers right then and there, she suggested Chinese for dinner. Alina agreed to meet at the house in Medford before heading off into the night, back to her car a few blocks away.
Getting behind the wheel, Alina closed the door and sat for a minute in thoughtful silence. She wasn't concerned with where Johann was headed. The tracking device she attached to the sedan earlier would tell her everything she needed to know. Now that her anger had faded, she wasn't even so concerned with the fact that she had been unable to take a perfect shot. Alina leaned her head back and closed her eyes with a sigh. What she was concerned about now was what she was going to tell Stephanie and John.
Do you trust them with your life?
They had both seen the rifle bag. They both already knew that she had been military intelligence, and Stephanie would have definitely already surmised that she worked for a government agency. Alina's lips twitched. They probably both thought she was NSA or DHS. That would explain the bag and why she was following Johann. Alina opened her eyes with a slight frown. She wondered how close they were to the truth.
Damon seemed to think that it was only a matter of time, and he thought she had already told them too much. She knew that the odds were extremely high for them figuring it out, but Alina paused thoughtfully. Even if they had figured out that she was connected to CIA, and were over-looking the fact that she was working on US soil, what were the odds that they would really figure out the whole truth? Even if they suspected it, and Alina knew that they suspected a lot right now, they were Federal Agents. They needed proof before they could convict, even in their own minds. Had she given them any? Her presence there tonight could have been attributed any number of plausible reasons.
Alina grinned to herself. Knowing John as well as she did, he was surely going over all of those possibilities with Stephanie right this minute.
Alina straightened up and reached for the small backpack on the passenger side floor, her concern put to rest for the time being. While having them both show up this evening was more than inconvenient, she didn't think it would turn out to be catastrophic. There were still too many other possibilities for them to hone in on the right one.
Alina opened the outside flap of the backpack and reached in to pull out a square gauze bandage and a roll of tape. The tinted windows concealed her nicely in the darkness and, after a quick scan of the deserted street, she shrugged out of her jacket and eased her shirt up. She carefully removed the bandage from her side, setting it on the console between the seats, and ripped open the package of the new one. It was awkward working in the dark, but she managed to get the new bandage on and taped down fairly quickly. Alina shrugged back into her jacket, ignoring the discomfort in her side, and clicked on the overhead light to look at the bandage she had removed. She was still seeping.
Clicking the light off with a slight frown, Alina folded the old bandage, tucking it into the empty package from the new one. She put it into her bag, to be burned later with the trash, and started the engine. She wasn't healing as fast as she would like, and as Alina pulled away from the curb, she acknowledged that she should probably have stitched the wound. The run on the beach earlier had strained it and now she had to be careful about infection.
Just one more thing to worry about.