She jerked back and he snorted. “Don’t give me that look. There are plenty of things about you that could make someone fall in love with you. But you’re not one of us. I can’t put you in the middle of an operation that could change direction at any second and be able to trust that everyone will get out in one piece. As much as I can control what will happen, I am able to say that about my team.”
Sabine looked down, understanding what he was saying but not liking it one bit. It wasn’t like she was going to jump in the middle and mess up everything. If they laid out a plan, she would stick to it.
“Sabine.” He lifted her chin with his fist. “I need you to be safe.”
The shame in his eyes melted her heart. She could see the guilt he felt over her brother’s death and his promise to Ben that he’d take care of her. She had no desire to put the team in danger but couldn’t help how she felt.
“And if you’re talking about my mom?”
“The woman tried to kill you. You want to kill her before she gets the chance to finish what she started all those years ago? You want revenge for Ben?”
“I want justice.”
“I’ll get it for you.”
Sabine sighed. “This isn’t right.”
“Maybe not, but it’s the way it’s going to be.”
Her stomach churned. “So that’s it? Your way or no way at all? I can’t live like that, Doug. I need give and take. I need a partner, not a dictator always telling me what to do. I need someone who’ll stick beside me through everything. Not someone who’s one step ahead pointing the way he thinks I should go. I can find my own way.”
Doug’s hand moved until his palm warmed the side of her neck. She felt herself being tugged toward him, into the shelter of his embrace, and pulled back. “Don’t.”
He didn’t listen. “I don’t know if I can be anything other than who I am.”
Her heart sank. “So I have to be the one to change? Because I don’t believe the same things you do, I’m not good enough?”
“I never said that.”
“Well, it’s coming across loud and clear.” She pulled away.
“Don’t do this, Sabine. I’m just trying to keep you safe.” Disappointment was plain on his face, but she ignored it.
“What chance is there for us? We can’t agree on anything, so what’s the point?” She swiped away the wetness on her cheek and walked away.
FOURTEEN
S
abine hoofed it through the airport terminal. While she walked, she pulled out her phone and turned it back on as she weaved in and out of people meandering. It immediately buzzed with a new message from Neil.
Terminal B. Gate 32 at 2:35 p.m.
Neil was dead. Who was sending text messages from his phone? Apparently that person knew exactly where she was. She glanced around to find the walkway that would take her to Terminal B and looked for anyone who might be watching her.
She hadn’t told Doug about her connection to the dead major general. She probably should have told him she knew his death was tied to what was happening with them—between them.
Doug was determined to protect her. Even now he followed a few paces behind with a heartbroken look on his face that she refused to think about. There was no way she wasn’t going to be part of what was about to happen. If it had been her who had died, Ben would have done everything possible to bring her murderer to justice. And her own mother?
Ben loved her and he was dead because of it. Her mom tried to kill her. Maxwell cheated on her and declared he never loved her in the first place. She’d been a convenient wife for him, present in his life but not enough to be a nuisance. Doug had said he was falling for her, but showed it by taking away the only power she had left. If he thought she would stay out of it, he didn’t understand the first thing about her. She would have to figure out on her own how to get in on this mission.
Now she had a meeting to attend and less than ten minutes to make it there. She clasped her flower necklace she wore—a peace offering from Ben—and tried to draw some strength from his memory.
Task number one: ditch the protection detail.
* * *
Doug folded his arms across his chest and stared at the door to the ladies’ bathroom. He couldn’t fault Sabine for hiding in there. She didn’t like the way he had pushed her out of this op. He didn’t, either. But, if the unthinkable happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
Hanning strolled by and raised his wrist, indicating his watch. Doug gave him an
I know
nod. There was no time to hang around. They needed to get moving if they were going to drop off Sabine and get to the meeting they had scheduled with Colonel Hiller.
A plan had already begun to formulate in Doug’s mind. Using the photos and the information Ben had gathered, the team would draw the Raven out. Once they had a location, they’d be able to move in and detain him—or her, if it really was Sabine’s mom.
Major General Taylor’s death was connected. If it wasn’t, then the timing was entirely too coincidental for Doug’s liking. In his experience, there were no such things as coincidences.
Something hovered just outside his consciousness, as if he were trying to grasp a cloud between his fingers. There was some detail about this whole thing that he was missing—something that connected Sabine’s handler with CIA agent Steve Adams and the dead major general.
God, help us find the Raven. Let Taylor’s death mean something.
Doug kicked away from the wall and tried to look nonchalant instead of on alert. He strolled to the door of the restroom, his mind flashing back to the Dominican Republic. That time he’d been the one in the bathroom, and Sabine had made an effective getaway.
And she was really good at disguises.
He announced his frustration out loud, turning several heads. The cell phone in his hand rang. “Richardson.”
“What is it?” It was Barker.
Doug sighed. “Sabine ditched us.”
“Girls take a long time in there, doing whatever they do. What makes you think she split?”
He gripped the phone. “Who knows? But I intend to find out. When I get my hands on her, I’ll—”
“You were going to leave her anyway. Weren’t you?”
“That’s not the point.” Doug was done arguing about it. “You and Perkins find security and get a look at the recording. She’ll be in a disguise. I want to know when she left and where she went.”
A young woman with pink streaks in her blond hair exited the bathroom pulling Sabine’s suitcase. “I’m out.” He ended the call. He jogged over to the girl and swung around so he could cut her off. “Excuse me, ma’am?”
She jerked to a stop, her eyes wide.
“Where’d you get the suitcase?”
The ring in her lip jutted out. “What’re you talkin’ about?”
Doug folded his arms. “My friend went into the bathroom pulling that suitcase, and you came out with it. I know it’s hers. It has her name tag on it.”
A. Surleski.
She sighed like Doug was imposing on her. “Fine, some chick gave it to me. What’s it to you, anyway?”
“It’s important that I find her.”
“I get it.” She nodded. “You’re the stalker boyfriend.”
“What? No, she’s in danger. She’s freaked out, but if I don’t find her, she could get really hurt.”
The young woman with the pink hair narrowed her eyes. Doug tried not to let his impatience show. Finally the girl found him worthy. “She paid me a hundred bucks to trade bags, but I ain’t givin’ you the money.”
“Which way did she go?”
“I was in the bathroom. How should I know?” She walked away, shaking her head.
Doug called out. “Hey!” The girl looked back. “What color was your bag?”
“Pink tote.”
Doug moved. The nearest exit was off the food court that connected the string of gates that branched off from it. He passed the kids’ play center and was almost to the gathering of restaurants when his phone rang.
“Richardson.”
“Security tapes came up dry.”
“Look for a pink tote bag.”
Barker sighed. “The image is black and white.”
“Assume she’s in disguise.”
“I thought you were kidding. Fine, we’ll check for totes, and a woman with her build.”
“Let me know what you find. I’m heading for the exit. Maybe she’s leaving the airport and not planning on getting a ticket on another flight.”
“Benny’s sister really got to you, didn’t she?”
Doug hung up. She’d been in black slacks and a red sweater before, hadn’t had much time to change, maybe added a jacket and pulled up her hair. She could be wearing a hat.
A woman with Sabine’s build and a wide-brimmed hat strode by on high-heeled black boots. Doug grabbed her arm and succeeded in freaking her out, but didn’t find Sabine.
God, help me find her. Keep her safe.
Worry churned the remnants of the sandwich in his stomach. It was hard to believe that God might choose to keep her safe by keeping her away from Doug, but he would accept it. He scanned the crowd again.
His phone rang. “Tell me you found her.”
“Dark jacket. Hair tied back with what looks like a bandanna, but it’s definitely her. She went west, looked like she was with two guys in suits. Tracked her all the way to the exit. She looked in a hurry, but you might be able to catch her on the curb.”
“I’m right there.”
Doug ducked out the doors and through the crowd that waited for arriving passengers. Now that he knew she’d left the terminal, he could head out there. If he’d risked it, he might have had to come back through the security line when they found her still inside.
He weaved through families, skidded so as to not collide with an old man and had to wait a second for the automatic doors to let him out. The curb was lined with vehicles being loaded. A cop leaned against his squad car with a paper coffee cup.
The fact that she thought she would be better off alone instead of with him freaked him out big-time. There was no way he’d be able to concentrate on apprehending the Raven if he didn’t know she was safe.
A hotel shuttle bus pulled away from the curb where they made pickups. Doug scanned the windows for a woman with a cloth over her hair. Beyond where the bus had been was a black Escalade in the far lane. Two men in suits—Christophe Parelli’s bodyguards—had their hands on Sabine.
Doug was halfway across the street when shouts erupted and a car horn screamed by behind him. A truck sped into the edge of his vision, and he sidestepped as fast as he could. It screeched to a halt inches from his hip. The cop yelled for him to stop running.
Sabine was almost in the car, being shoved with a hand on her back. Her head hit the door frame. She cried out and turned, and her eyes flew open.
“Doug!” She swung the pink tote at the two men. One of the men grabbed the bag, threw it aside and punched her in the head.
Sabine slumped into the man’s arms. Doug was spurred on, narrowly missing another car. He barreled at full speed while they loaded her into the car. The last man climbed in, and the car pulled away before he got the door closed.
Doug braced, prayed and leapt for the open door. His momentum pushed the guy in, creating a tangle of limbs. The car swerved, and Doug gripped the doorframe to keep from falling out. Something pressed into his side and crackled. Just before everything went dark, a heavy accent spoke.
“Maybe we’ll get paid double for two of them.”
FIFTEEN
T
he road twisted and turned as it climbed the mountain. Trees lined the edge of the gravel, at least the side that Sabine could see. Her forehead was pressed against the window. Her head pounded from the slam of that fist, and she was about ready to throw up. The press of a large body smashed her against the door. How many people were in the back of this car anyway?
She kept her eyelashes low and hoped they didn’t realize she had regained consciousness. She had no idea how long they’d been driving, or where they were headed.
All she could do was watch as her mind replayed the image of Doug running toward her in high definition. That was followed by violent images of them killing her and dumping her body. She tried to remember him in her kitchen, instead. The way his lips moved into a smile and the light of it shone in his eyes.
How would he find her? Did he even want to? She’d hardly been nice to him. The last words spoken between them had been full of frustration over the life she wanted with him, but could never have.
The car slowed and finally pulled to a stop. The landscape was still all trees and the orange glow of sunset. If they’d been driving all afternoon while she was passed out, they could be hundreds of miles from the airport by now. Way out here there was little hope for escape and no one to call for help.
Deep breaths.
She scoured her memory for a time when she’d been in a worse situation, but the pain in her head was too much. Still she hadn’t survived being a covert agent for this long without developing some skills.
Think.
A door slammed. Footsteps on gravel rounded the car to her door. When it opened, she started to slide, but football-size hands hoisted her up and out of the car. She was flipped over him fireman-style and her stomach hit his shoulder with every step. She swallowed hard against the nausea as he carried her across the clearing up the wooden steps of a structure.
She couldn’t let him get her in the house.
Sabine locked on to his torso with her legs, levered herself up and dove sideways to pull him off balance. They slammed down on the hard wood of the porch. His weight knocked the breath from her lungs. She flipped over as soon as she could move and found herself face-to-face with a .357 Magnum, silver with a black grip.
She swallowed. “Nice gun.”
Beyond the barrel of the pistol, the big Italian smirked. “’Tis my favorite.”
Sabine stretched out her muscles as she clambered to her feet. Her head still thumped, but a brisk five-mile run through wooded terrain would take care of that. Sadly she didn’t get her wish just then, because he poked her in the back with his weapon. She stepped ahead into a small hunting cabin, and the two men crowded in behind her. She turned to glare at them...and froze.
The other Italian hefted a body from his shoulder, flipped it over and dumped the unconscious man on the floor.
“Doug.”
She tried to run to him but thick arms banded around her like a vise. Sabine kicked and squirmed. “I’ll kill you. If you hurt him, I’ll kill you.”
A woman walked up the cabin steps. The urge to fight dissipated from Sabine, and her knees gave out.
The woman’s snug black dress outlined a figure that was the blueprint for Sabine’s own body. Chocolate-colored hair fell past her shoulders, and her eyes were dark and hard, heavy with smoky eye makeup.
There was no trace of the mother Sabine had known. All that was left now was a woman who had killed her own son.
“Hello, darling. Long time no see.”
The Italian bodyguard set Sabine down. She stumbled but forced her shoes to stay planted on the bare wood. She couldn’t look at Doug. She couldn’t react at all, so she kept any sign of emotion from her face, determined not to let weakness show. The daughter couldn’t do anything but react emotionally to what was happening. The covert agent could fight...and win.
“Nothing to say?”
Sabine shrugged, as if reuniting with the long-lost mother who had once tried to kill her was no big deal. She reached up and sought solace from the necklace Ben had given her.
Her mother raised an eyebrow at the sight of Doug unconscious on the floor. “What is that?”
The bodyguard by the door replied in Italian. “He decided to join us.”
Her mother huffed and replied in English. “Interesting, since I was under the impression he was recently rendered out of commission in a nasty accident. He looks relatively uninjured to me. I’ll have to note that tactic for the future.”
Sabine cleared her throat. “Can we get on with...whatever this is?”
A perfectly shaped eyebrow rose. “You have somewhere to be?”
Sabine could name a hundred places she’d rather be. Somehow she’d known this day was coming. The day she would finally face her mother again and have to try to survive when neither her stepdad nor her brother had been able to. Now that it had arrived she felt seriously unprepared to handle what was happening. She had to get herself and Doug out of there.
She swallowed, giving herself a moment to tamp down her emotions. “What’s it to you? I doubt you suddenly started to care about my life just now.”
Her mom sighed. “I had hoped for the chance to explain a few things to you.”
“At gunpoint?” Sabine held back the laugh that wanted to spill out. “Wow, that’s one warped sense of atonement you have. You want to make amends so you can have a clear conscience when you kill me?”
“Why on earth would I want to kill you? You’re my best agent.”
Sabine took a step back. She’d known it, but it was still a shock to hear it confirmed.
Her mother’s smile emerged, like a feral tiger. “You’ve been working for me for years now. You’re really very good at your job, Elena.”
“It’s Sabine.”
Her mom waved away the correction. “Details. Anyway, your handler, Neil—”
“The dead major general.”
“Very good, and yes, he’s dead. Pity, really. He had his uses.”
Sabine felt sick. “And my team, six years ago when they were all killed?”
Her mother shrugged. “It was necessary—to make your transition easier.”
“It was necessary to ruin my career? The CIA thinks I killed them and went rogue. They’re looking for me. I’ve been under the impression I was an American agent all these years, and now I find out I’m a criminal? How dare you.”
Her mom sat on the couch and crossed one leg over the other knee. She motioned to the armchair. “Have a seat, darling, before you blow a gasket.”
“I don’t want to sit down.”
First they had her in the car, now the cabin. If she sat down it would be like taking another step on the plank toward the murky water of her death. The bodyguards both took a step closer, each of their guns pointed at her. Sabine wasn’t ready to get shot so she sat and folded her arms. “You expect me to be happy that you did what you wanted with my life?”
Arrogance shone in the older woman’s eyes. “You love your job, don’t you?”
“I’m supposed to be grateful?” Sabine shook her head, unable to comprehend this woman’s audacity. “I’ll probably end up in jail for the rest of my life because of what you’ve done. It was you, wasn’t it? You killed Christophe Parelli and made it look like I did it.”
Her mother’s eyes narrowed. “I hardly think you’ll end up in jail.”
“How can you be so sure about that? I can’t just pick up where I left off and start running missions again. Am I supposed to be some kind of covert agent for hire, doing jobs for whoever will pay the most and living my life with cash and no identity? You may think you have power over me, but you don’t.” Something clicked in her mind. “I won’t turn into you.”
Her mother jerked as though Sabine had slapped her.
A tempting thought.
The older woman studied Sabine. “Who said anything about your future?”
“So you
are
going to kill me.”
“You said it yourself—the CIA is after you. If you’re not going to join me, I can’t really afford to let you go. There’s no way I can leave loose ends like that.” Her surgically perfect nose wrinkled. “Bad for business.”
It wasn’t a surprise that her mom wanted to kill her. She’d tried it once before. Her mother had no conscience whatsoever. The thought skittered over Sabine like a thousand ants. Once she’d dreamed of home and a family, and while Sabine hadn’t been born into the life she wanted, it now looked like she wouldn’t be able to make that life for herself, either.
“Is that what Major General Robert Taylor was? A loose end?”
“Your Neil’s death was an unfortunate accident. The old man had his charms. I’ll miss him.”
Sabine saw the first glimpse of humanity then, in her mother’s eyes. Would her mom really miss Neil? That would mean she actually had a heart. While Neil might have been lying to her, he had also supported her for years. The man had been both a sounding board and a mentor to her.
Sabine leaned toward her mom. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
The woman glared at Sabine. “I don’t need your sympathy.”
“Good, because I was just being polite. That man betrayed his country because of you.”
“Pshaw.” Her mom waved her hand. “People will do a lot of things for the right amount of money...and a little added pressure.”
Sabine was nearly sick. “Why?” The word was a whisper.
Her mother blinked, and all trace of emotion vanished from her face.
“Why did you kill Ben...and Dad?” Sabine had to know, since she figured she was as good as dead. Her mom had won, and Sabine didn’t care what was going to happen to her, so long as Doug got out of there alive. She just wanted to know why the woman—who was supposed to have kept her and Ben safe, and to have loved their father—could have turned on her own family.
“Life rarely gives a satisfactory answer. You should get used to being disappointed.” Her mom stood, then strutted on her spike heels to the door.
“I’m well acquainted with disappointment. I had you as a mother.”
The older woman actually laughed. The sound cut off when the front door slammed behind her.
Sabine studied the room. It was a typical cabin, one room with one door at the front. Yellowed single-pane windows, high and small, dotted the walls, but not so tiny she wouldn’t be able to dive through one if she got enough of a head start. First she had to get past the two goons with guns.
Not getting shot would be the hard part. After that, her mother would be easy pickings given the rage that burned inside Sabine. All the deaths her mom was responsible for—it was so senseless.
Doug lay motionless on the floor. If he was still unconscious, he must be really hurt. She’d already shown them how much she cared for him by exploding when they had dumped him on the floor. This was going to be even more difficult if she had to protect him, fight two big Italian thugs and drag Doug’s prone body out of the cabin.
Sabine refused to admit defeat when she was perfectly able-bodied, in full possession of her faculties and had the skill that was borne of her training plus the brain God had given her. She refused to be just another statistic on her mom’s vast résumé of crimes.
God, I want to live.
She wasn’t even sure how it would help. Not to mention that a sudden conversion when the end loomed near seemed a little too cliché. She always mulled things over—to death, if you’d asked Ben. She wasn’t one to make rash decisions on something as important as devoting her life to a religion.
Then again, the track record of her decision making so far wasn’t all that great. Her marriage to Maxwell had been an unmitigated disaster, and she’d held him off for months before she had agreed to get engaged. Weeks later they’d been married. He had probably sped up the timetable so she didn’t have time to change her mind.
If she prayed to God to get her out of this, she’d have to keep her end of the bargain when He did. Was she ready to change her whole life just on the off chance that Doug was right? Would everything really be better if she gave it to God?
She looked at the two bodyguards. Any idiot could pull a trigger and kill someone. It didn’t matter if they had good aim or not, these guys could end her life. How could God make this situation any different? Her mom would either kill her now or make her suffer first. Either way she was still dead. Doug had to get out alive. That was a promise she made to herself.
God, I don’t care what I have to do. I believe in You. That’s not the problem. Doug says You love me, but I don’t understand how You could or why. I don’t expect You to get me out of this, but help me save Doug.
Maybe it was even more of a cliché to give her life to a God she didn’t know and didn’t understand only because she needed help, but she would have done anything just then. Although if she could have a minute when he was conscious to say sorry for walking away and trying to ditch him again, she’d take it.
Doug probably thought she was a horrible person, duping him for a second time. If it had been her, she would have left him after being given the slip twice. She wasn’t one for taking chances and trusting people. Hopefully Doug was more forgiving than she was.
Sabine reached up once again and gripped her flower necklace. The petals were warm from her body heat, and she felt a surge of reassurance. She felt Ben’s presence in her memories like the phantom pain of a limb that had been amputated.
God, help me.
Footsteps crunched the gravel outside as her mom moved around the exterior of the cabin doing...something. The guard by the door let his attention flick to the window.
Sabine seized the opportunity. She kicked him and grabbed his gun as he fell. The other gun fired as she spun. The bullet sliced through the muscle of her left shoulder, and she gritted her teeth but held on. Two shots from her gun and he dropped to the floor, groaning.
The first guy’s arms wrapped around her from behind. “You’ll pay for that.”
He squeezed the breath from her lungs and lifted her off her feet. The pain in her shoulder brought black spots to the edge of her vision. He should be permanently down, but Sabine didn’t have time to figure out how her aim had been off.