Catch a Shadow (32 page)

He called one of the men waiting in his suite. He gave him the name of the bank, as well as the photo his hacker had found on the Internet. “I want someone there. Make sure they have a photo. I want them to look at whoever goes in and out. If the woman does, then I want her followed.”

That would take too long, and he knew it. Maybe she never went into the bank. Wasn't necessary these days with checks automatically deposited and ATMs everywhere.

She probably lived in the neighborhood around the bank. Most people did. He gave orders to three other men to circulate in the immediate neighborhood, particularly in neighborhood restaurants and shops, to see if anyone could identify the person. They should say they were looking for the sister of a dying sibling. People were very sentimental about things like that.

Six men. That's all he had with him now. One at the bank, three in the neighborhood, and two with him. Too bad they didn't get more from the woman in Williamsburg. All she knew was Texas.

Ames took out an expensive cigar and lit it. He'd acquired the habit in Argentina and couldn't give it up.

He had to get to this Dallas person before Kelly did. Preferably he could take them all out together.

They'd proved wilier than he'd expected. The woman was a civilian. Jake was military. And so far they'd run rings around him. No more. He'd taken his time in the beginning. He wanted to be sure nothing came back to him, but now he couldn't risk finesse.

He wanted them dead, and he wanted them dead now.

Jake's plans had gone awry again. Dallas would be looking for a woman. He couldn't send Kirke away as he planned.

He and Cole had planned to drug her drink. Something that would put her out of action for a few hours. Nothing strong or destructive or addictive. Only a small headache the next day.

He'd listened as she spoke into the phone and couldn't grab it from her. He should have done it himself. Yet he realized that she was striking pay dirt where he—

Then she'd announced where they would go and what the woman had said. Whether she planned it or not—and he suspected she did—she had become indispensable.

She'd done well. Better than well. She'd been superb. He knew she didn't like to lie, and mostly she'd told the truth, but she'd lied about being alone. In that one transgression, she'd also placed herself in even more danger. He hoped to hell she didn't regret it.

He didn't like it. Yet he had no choice. From what she said, Dallas might run if she didn't see an auburn-haired woman wearing a Tennessee T-shirt. He had the disquieting feeling that maybe Kirke had planned it that way.

“Let's take a look at the park,” he said after they left the convenience store.

He found it within minutes. It appeared to be a sprawling facility with picnic areas, walking trails, lakes and athletic fields. He drove around until he found the concession area.

He parked at the restrooms and opened the trunk. He'd packed their belongings before leaving the hotel. He opened her bag and tossed her the T-shirt. “I'll wait out here,” he said.

When she disappeared inside, he used his cell phone. He hated to use it again, but he had no choice. He didn't see a pay phone.

In minutes, he told Cole what had happened. “We need her, but I want her safe. Can you and Mac be here?”

Silence. Then, “Did you think we wouldn't?”

It was a rebuke.

“No,” he said. “I'm just not used to—”

“Where do you want us?” Cole interrupted.

“Can you meet us out in the park in, say, two hours?”

“We can and will.”

“At the concession stand,” he added. His voice was a little rough. There was a lump in it. Three months ago, three weeks ago, he didn't think anyone gave a damn about him. He'd told himself he didn't care, that a man was far better off to rely only on himself. One wasn't disappointed then.

It was hard to admit he was wrong. Had been wrong.

If only Dallas appeared now. Maybe then the mystery of the numbers would be solved. Maybe he would know everything that happened that day in the jungle.

Maybe he would even have his name back. His life back. The one sorrow would be that his father would never know it.

Or was he leading his makeshift team into another ambush?

CHAPTER 29

Two hours. They had two hours to wait.

The number of people in the park had thinned out. Friday afternoon, Kirke thought. Mothers taking their kids home for supper. And in a few hours? She recalled the softball fields. Were games scheduled tonight?

“Can we get some pepper spray?” she asked.

“You have a gun,” Jake replied. “Better than pepper spray.”

“It's a park,” she said. “There are kids.” She was having second thoughts about Dallas's suggestion. But the woman must have had a reason. She kept remembering what Jake had said about her. Tough as nails. She would have to be, to control a bar full of testosterone.

He didn't argue. “We should be able to get several small canisters at a gun shop.”

“A florist, too.”

He raised an eyebrow but didn't question her, and she didn't feel like enlightening him. Not yet.

In the meantime, she had to do something. She'd never been good at waiting. She was scared on so many levels, terrified on some. What if Dallas didn't show up? What if she did but didn't have what Jake needed to clear himself? What would happen to him then? And what if they had led Adams to Dallas? And ultimately to themselves?

But maybe what she feared most of all was losing Jake once this was over. To either prison or to the life he was meant to have. She wouldn't even think of the third alternative. That Adams would win.

And if Jake found what he needed to clear himself, he would be free to get on with his life. Back to his career. Back to the army. The sun would disappear. The warmth would leave her.

She could return home, the only real home she'd ever known.

To her job. To Merlin.

It should be enough. She should be giddy with anticipation.

She dreaded the very thought.

How could someone make such an impact on a life in such few days? She'd never believed in love at first sight, or second, or third. That's what happened to her mother, and it lasted three seconds, or as long as it took Kirke to be born.

She'd come to believe time, friendship, and like interests would ensure a happy marriage. She'd been wrong about that, too.

She stole a look at him, saw the worry lines around his eyes as they drove out of the park.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“To a bank where I can cash out the credit cards,” he said. “I want you to have some cash. If anything goes wrong, get the hell out of there and call your friend Robin. Don't try to help. You'll just be in the way. I'll be more concerned with protecting you than anything else. That's dangerous for all of us.”

She froze. “You think it might be a trap?”

“I don't know what to expect,” he said, “but I want your promise. No promise, we don't go.” He gave her a crooked grin. “I know how you feel about promises.”

“You think Adams has found Dallas?”

“I think he's close.”

“How many people do you think he has with him?”

“Enough to do what he wants to do.”

She was silent.

He glanced at her. “We have our backup, too. Cole and Mac will be at the park. I still want your promise, though. At the first hint of trouble, you take off. Otherwise we don't go tonight.”

She nodded.

“Say it!

“I promise.” She crossed her fingers at her side.

She concentrated instead on the cars around them. Adams seemed to prefer dark sedans. To match his soul, no doubt. Denton had a population of more than a hundred thousand people, and the chance of glimpsing a bad guy was nonexistent. Still, she hoped to see the bad guys before they saw her.

Ames flipped open the cell phone on the second ring. “What do you have?”

“An address,” his employee said. “You were right. Found the bank. It's in a suburban area. I asked around at restaurants, telling them about the sick sister. A waitress remembered her. She found a credit card slip. Jeffers was able to find the card holder.

“Good,” Ames said.

“You want us to take her?”

“No. I want her to lead us to Kelly. I want several people on her. I do
not
want her to know she's being followed.”

He hung up. The phone rang again.

“I found your woman,” said the voice on the other end. “I was able to get into survivor records. Her married name is Crew. Her husband is Dennis Crew. He's a cop.”

Another goddamn complication. One he didn't need.

He knew what happened if a cop's wife was killed. Just like when a Special Forces mate was killed. They didn't stop coming after you.

It didn't matter now. The woman obviously knew something, or Kelly wouldn't be here. He had to eliminate all three of them. That was the only way the trail to him would be erased.

“Ames?” the guy on the line said. “Get out of the country while you can. People are asking questions now.”

“Who?”

“A reporter in Atlanta, for one. It's not contained.”

Ames swore to himself. His contact was shaky. That was very bad news. Scared people made mistakes. Maybe it was time to eliminate him as well.

“I'll be gone in the morning,” he lied.

Jake stopped at a bank first. They both went inside while he cashed out the prepaid credit cards. He used his David Cable identification to do so, and when they reached the car, he gave Kirke $3,000 in fifties and hundreds.

He watched as she carefully distributed it in several pockets of her purse. He was reminded that he should have done this in the beginning. She'd been little more than a prisoner without resources of her own. But he'd been so focused on his own objective.

He'd treated her dismally. He had drawn her into a web of danger, then taken advantage when she was vulnerable. He had convinced her that her life depended on him, when she might well be safer in the hands of the FBI or, better yet, in some faraway place.

He cursed himself. He'd lost any niceties he'd learned as an officer and gentleman at West Point. A combination of years in Afghanistan and other hot spots followed by seven years in prison had made him mistrustful, wary, and bitter. Not especially qualities any woman would want in a man.

He turned his attention to finding a gun shop. He accompanied her inside one, and they found both Mace and pepper spray. He chose several canisters of pepper spray, and the clerk instructed Kirke on how to use it most effectively. She gave one cannister to him and put the other in her purse.

He accepted it, knowing he would never use it. He preferred a more lethal type of defense. Especially for someone like Adams.

“Now the flower shop,” she said.

He'd seen one earlier. He didn't question her reasons for stopping but stayed in the car while she ran in. She reappeared a moment later with a corsage in hand. Carnations. Two of them. The type you buy for a prom date or Mother's Day or for some award ceremony. She plopped it down on the seat beside them as he drove away.

She offered no explanation about the corsage. Some feminine whim. Except that wasn't like her.

Finally he had to ask. “What's with the corsage?”

“You've never pinned one on a girl?”

“No.” He'd usually been on the move as a kid. He'd been in Japan his junior and senior year. There had been no proms in the traditional sense.

“It comes with a very big pin,” she said. “I could probably have talked her into giving me just a pin, but that would take explanations and—”

“A weapon,” he said flatly. “A pin?”

She sat taller. An indignant—and stubborn—expression crossed her face. “I took a self-defense class. They said it could be very handy.”

“Where do you keep it?”

“A place that provides the least chance to get stuck.”

He couldn't help but grin at that. “I hate to tell you, but it wouldn't deflect a determined mercenary.”

“You never know.”

“You already have pepper spray and a gun.”

“And now I have pepper spray, a gun, and a pin.”

Dammit, she made him smile. Her combination of determination, guts, and naïveté continued to astonish him. At the same time, his earlier reservations about her willingness to actually shoot returned.
She wouldn't
. He had to recognize that.

He drove back toward the park. They had an hour before the meeting.

He saw Mac immediately. He was sitting on a picnic table not far from the softball field. He looked relaxed, with a paper plate of French fries in front of him.

Someone parked next to him. He stiffened as the occupants got out and started toward a softball field. Three of them wore baseball shirts with the words Police printed across the back. Two more people left a car on the other side of him and walked toward the field. Their shirts proclaimed them firefighters.

It didn't take a genius to realize a game between the police and fire departments was about to begin.
Great
.

Now he knew why Dallas had designated this place. She couldn't have picked a safer one.

But it was dangerous as hell for him. Every moment he stood there placed him in more peril.

He turned toward Kirke and saw the question in her eyes.

He nodded. They had little choice. If Kirke didn't show for Dallas, no telling how long it would take to find her again.

“I don't want you involved in this,” Jake said. “You're helping a fugitive,” he said. “That could mean prison time. Stay in the car. I'll meet her. Drive away if you see anyone approaching.”

“There's no way I could possibly know you're a fugitive,” she said, “and she won't recognize you.”