Cal didn’t recognize Marlise when Mina had finished with her makeup. Her facial scars had been covered, and she wore a disheveled wig along with clothes that hung on her slight frame. An old, threadbare flannel shirt covered the burn scars on her arm, and fingerless gloves kept the scars hidden on her hand. The weather in Arizona had cooled now that it was fall, so pants and a long-sleeved shirt wouldn’t raise suspicion on the street.
Mina had done much of the same to hide her identity. A pair of men’s cargo pants made her prosthesis disappear inside the material and would raise no suspicion. She had traded out her everyday leg for her running blade inside a tennis shoe, just in case they needed to abort the mission and run. Mina ran around the compound every morning and was confident she could escape any situation. He was confident she could too. Regardless of how things went down a few years ago, she was still a trained FBI agent, and she kept her skills sharp. Marlise, on the other hand, didn’t have the skills or instinct that Mina did. He hoped she would default to Mina if she told her to run.
He groaned and rubbed his chest with his palm. He’d had heartburn since he woke up yesterday. Marlise’s lips on his skin were the only thing that soothed it, but it was back in full force when she stopped. The women had spent the day yesterday pounding the pavement and trying to get noticed, but no one approached them. Once the sun went down, they walked back to a rent-by-the-hour motel. Cal and Roman did the same thing. Cal refused to allow them to sleep on the streets, but he also knew they couldn’t all be seen together. He had traded off watching their room with Roman last night. This morning they’d given them a head start and followed in the van. They were down to eight days to find The Miss, and Cal had doubts this would work.
“How’d you sleep?” Roman asked from the seat next to him in the van. They were waiting in a park at the moment. They’d move around throughout the day, so they didn’t attract suspicion, but they had to stay close to where the women were.
“Didn’t get much sleep. Don’t tell me you did knowing you had to send Mina back out to the wolves today.”
“Mina has been my partner for years. Yes, she’s my wife now, but I still trust her skills as an agent. She’s going to take care of Marlise. No offense, but you’re jumpier than a cat on a hot tin roof, and that’s not the Cal Newfellow I know. What gives?”
“You realize that when someone says ‘no offense,’ it’s obvious that whatever they’re going to say is offensive, right?”
Roman’s whistle was long and low as he shook his head at his brother. “Wow, your deflection game is strong this morning. What are you trying to hide?”
Cal refused to participate in his nonsense. He’d do his job and focus on keeping Marlise and Mina safe from a madwoman. The last thing he would do was tell his brother he’d slept with their witness. He would remember that night for the rest of his life. The power that little thing held over him was unyielding, and he didn’t know what he was going to do about it. How was he going to let her go when this was over? He had to though. She deserved a chance to go out and live her life, but watching her walk out of his was going to gut him.
He kept his gaze trained on the empty grass in front of him, hoping for a glimpse of the woman he’d made love to three times the night before last. No. It wasn’t making love. That was dangerous thinking. Seeing it as anything other than a one-night stand was a fast way to lose objectivity when it came to this case. He checked his earpiece, listening to Mina and Marlise talking with other women. They’d been asking questions about where to get a hot meal and a shower, but none of the other women were forthcoming.
“Come on, Mary,” Mina said. “We’ll go find the YMCA.”
Cal and Roman knew that was her cue that they were moving. Within seconds their GPS device popped up with a route to the nearest YMCA. Mack was back at Secure One, blazing a path to save them time. Cal started the vehicle and followed the GPS to an abandoned house near the Y. He parked on the street, knowing the women would eventually walk past the van and they could get a glimpse of them.
“Have you told Marlise about Hannah?” Roman asked as he leaned against the door of the van.
“Why on earth would I tell her about Hannah?” Cal growled the question more than he spoke it. The last thing he wanted to do was engage in a conversation with his brother about his dead girlfriend. Roman had been there that day, and he knew too much.
“Fair is fair.” Cal glanced at him with an eyebrow down, not understanding what he meant. His brother shrugged. “If she’s going to compete with a ghost, you should at least have the decency to tell her.”
“She’s not competing against anyone, Roman.”
His snicker made Cal want to punch him in the nose. He wasn’t a violent man, but Roman never eased up on him about Hannah. It had been this way for years. Every time they saw each other, Roman was bugging him about letting Hannah go and forgiving himself for what had happened. Cal didn’t know how. Every job he did, every person he saved, was a way to find redemption from the one time he had failed.
“Marlise is more astute than you give her credit for, Cal,” Roman said, shaking his head. “If you think she doesn’t have your number, you’re dumber than you look.”
“Roman?”
“Yeah, Cal?”
“Shut up.”
“Not this time,” Roman said with a shake of his head. Cal was worried their ongoing pact of telling each other to shut up when they didn’t want to talk had ended. “Everyone on this team can see how you’ve looked at Marlise since we picked her up in St. Paul. When will you be honest with her? The moment before she walks out the doors of Secure One, or never?”
“She knows about Hannah,” Cal said between clenched teeth. His gaze was pinned to the rearview mirror as he waited for them to approach. It took several minutes to realize Roman was silent. He had his mouth open when he glanced at him, staring out the windshield. “Don’t be so dramatic.”
“You have to forgive me for being dumbfounded. I never expected you to tell her.”
“I tried to use Hannah as an excuse—”
“And our little Marlise called you on your crap, right?”
Cal’s shrug said everything. It brought a grin to Roman’s face. “They’re approaching.”
Roman turned his head to watch the side mirror while Cal kept his attention on the rearview mirror. He wanted to catch a glimpse of Marlise to make sure she was okay.
“It’s unbelievable how brave she is to go back into this life,” Cal said as the women walked by the van without taking notice. He knew they had, but they didn’t let on.
“There’s one thing I’ve learned about women, Cal, and it’s simple. As men, we always underestimate them. We underestimate their strength, stamina, grit and how their moral compass guides them. After finding Mina a year after her injury, still trying to solve the case, I was never more aware of how much strength it took her to keep fighting when she had every right to give up. Marlise has all that strength and then some. At least she does now that you’ve taken care of her, built up her health and acknowledged her contributions to the company. You allowed her to lead, a job she’s never had before, and that’s why she’s out there right now. She wants to contribute to solving this case and freeing herself from her past.”
“We’re on the same page there,” Cal said as he watched them walk toward the doors of the YMCA. “I want her to be free of The Miss.”
“But you’re afraid that means she will walk away from you.”
“From Secure One? Absolutely. She’s an asset to our team, Roman.”
His brother’s snort was loud inside the van. “Sure, you’re afraid you’ll lose her as a team member of Secure One. I almost buy that, Cal. If you think we can’t see something has changed between you two, you underestimate my skills as a special agent of the FBI.”
“Leave it alone, Roman. We have one focus, and that’s keeping our girls safe.”
The goofy smile his brother wore on his face told Cal that he already suspected what had happened between him and Marlise, but he wasn’t going to confirm it. His time with Marlise was too special to sully by acting like it meant nothing to him. He hadn’t had time to process it all, but he knew it meant something to both of them. Cal regretted his decision not to be honest with her, and he hoped he could be before it was too late.
“Don’t ask about showers here,” Marlise said to Mina as they approached the doors. Roman glanced at Cal with a questioning look, and he shrugged. “If they say they’re available, they’ll expect us to use them. A shower is going to blow my cover.”
“Good point,” Mina agreed. “I should have thought of that.”
Cal couldn’t help it. He was grinning like the Cheshire cat. “That’s my girl.”
Roman punched him playfully, but all playfulness disappeared when another woman approached them. Cal flipped the record button on and shifted the audio from their ears to the computer. They both held their breath and hoped they weren’t going to blow their cover this early in the game by having to rescue them before they found The Miss.
“YO,” MARLISE SAID to the girl as she approached. “Is the Y open?”
The girl looked her up and down and then did the same with Mina. “Sure ain’t.”
“Damn,” Mina huffed. “I guess there’s no point in staying then, Mary. Let’s hit it.”
Both women turned back the way they came when the other girl spoke. “What ya looking for there?”
Marlise turned back slowly and took a moment to assess the woman in front of them. She wasn’t a street girl. Her good hygiene and clean clothing made her stick out like a sore thumb in a place like the YMCA. She was a scout. She was also Latina. Marlise reminded herself she could be a scout for any sex trafficking ring and forced herself to remain calm. She slid her eyes to Mina, who had a brow raised in the air. She was going to leave it to her to feel out.
“We’re tired of the street, you know? Looking for a place to get a meal and sleep for the night where we don’t need to keep one eye open.”
“I could find work again if I could get a shower and some clean clothes,” Mina added. “We both could. She cooks, and I clean. We were hoping to find a hotel that was hiring.”
“I might know a place,” the girl said. Marlise noticed she was trying too hard to be casual. She was excited and nervous, two emotions Marlise knew well.
“You saving it for yourself?” Mina asked. “Respect, if you are. We’re all out here scrapping.”
“No, but I know the owners, and I don’t recommend just anyone to them. I gotta trust them, you know.”
Marlise held up her hands in the don’t shoot position. “Understood, sister. No harm, no foul. We’ll be on our way.”
“Wait! I could take you over there, and you could maybe show them your skills?” the girl asked before they could turn away. “They might even give you a room for the night as payment.”
“How far is the place?” Mina asked. “We’ve already walked five miles today.”
“It’s about forty-five minutes from here, but my car is just up the block. I’m Jen, by the way.”
“I’m Mary, and she’s Amy,” Marlise said, hooking a thumb at Mina as she eyed Jen with suspicion. “What are you doing here if the hotel is forty-five minutes away?” She took a step back and widened her eyes, hoping she looked nervous and agitated. Mina did the same thing, and the girl took a step forward but waved her hands innocently in front of her.
“I was supposed to meet some other girl here who was looking for a job, but she’s a no-show. I already told the owners I’d found them some help, and now I hate to go back and tell them otherwise. I saw you two coming and thought you’d be interested. If you’re not, that’s fine, but I gotta get on my way.”
Mina held up her finger and pulled Marlise aside. She put on a show of bending her head to whisper as though they had to weigh their options. Their only option was to find out if this girl was one of The Miss’s scouts. “Do we go with her?” Mina whispered near Marlise’s ear. “No way to know if she’s with The Miss or someone else.”
Marlise held her gaze and raised her voice to a stage whisper so the other girl could hear. “We have to take any chance that gets us off the street, Amy. I’ll do anything to sleep in a real bed again. Imagine not having to worry about men following us or sleeping in shifts. I know you want it just as much.”
With a feigned eye roll, Mina finally nodded once. “I do, but we gotta be careful, you know. And we stick together. No matter what.”
“No matter what,” Marlise agreed, doing some goofy handshake thing they’d come up with as a way to tell Cal and Roman that they should follow at a distance. The guys could hear them, but Marlise didn’t want to take any chances that the mic wasn’t working. They needed the backup where they were going. She could feel it in her bones.