kept watch on the road, while Amelia sat at the other window, alternately keeping eye out for any unwelcome activity in the overgrown fields behind the house and piecing together the data she’d compiled on Renata Vaccaro.
For two people who were supposed to be dead, him courtesy of an Unknown Identities sniper and her by way of a car accident, they were doing pretty well. He’d been concerned about both of them during this transition, for different reasons, but each day only reinforced what she kept telling him: they could manage anything as long as they were together.
“ Good work arranging this location,” John said to Amelia.
The car they ’d bought with cash a couple of days ago was hidden about a half mile away. Thanks to a little insider intel from UI, provided by Ben, an active UI agent who was inexplicably more loyal to John, they’d been covertly preparing for the possibility of a rescue mission. Selena’s call for assistance simply confirmed Messenger’s lack of interest in rescuing Renata alive. So far, they’d only been observers. He hoped it stayed that way.
“ Just a matter of knowing how to work the public records,” she said.
“ Right.” He marveled at her ability to limit Sandman’s options for the exchange. “You picked up some skills during your Larimore investigation.”
She gave him a non-committal hum. “If I weren’t here, what would you have done?”
He di dn’t take his eyes off the dirt driveway, but he was grinning. He found himself doing more of that since crossing paths with the feisty, passionate reporter who’d joined him for this next stage of his life.
It was the first stage of a real life, he admitted. The years of training and impossible assignments had simply been a grueling holding pattern. When he looked at Amelia, when he held her in his arms, he knew it had all been worth it.
“ I would have thought of something. I’m not entirely without imagination.”
“ Obviously.”
She was quiet so long he thought she m ight have given up the subject.
“ I’m asking,” she said, “because the dynamic has changed. Not just the way you operate now that you have help like Ben and me, but how your new decisions might change how your enemies respond.”
T hat was Amelia, always thinking and analyzing. Often along the same line as his thoughts, but this was an angle he hadn’t considered. This was new territory for both of them, the op as well as the relationship, but he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of the way her mind worked.
“ By now,” he said quietly, “my enemies all boil down to one lethal instrument: Gabriel. As Messenger for the UI agency, he has unlimited resources and intel. As long as he believes we’re dead, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“ Fair point.”
He knew from her pensive tone she wasn’t done with the topic. “Find anything in her employment history?”
“ No.”
“ But you’re still thinking about it.”
“ Yes,” she admitted. “I understand Galloway was trying to make a buck off the data hidden in the watch. But how did he rate the use of a UI assassin if Messenger wasn’t in on it?”
“ Hard to say. There’s always a strategy where Messenger is concerned. He prevented the data from changing hands and now he has Galloway in custody too.”
“ Win-win?”
“ Depends on the agenda,” John said. Messenger might well have designs on using Galloway. Preventing the sale screwed the spy’s reputation in both the CIA and criminal networks around the world, making him a prime candidate for Messenger’s standard life or death offer.
John continued to scan the area with his binoculars. He’d taken this window so Amelia wouldn’t have to keep looking at the burned out remains of the car and driver that had delivered Renata. Even in the thick blue shadows of pre-dawn it was a bleak sight. “I’m sure Sandman knows Renata and Galloway were connected, if only briefly. Is she just a wrong place-wrong time
For two people who were supposed to be dead, him courtesy of an Unknown Identities sniper and her by way of a car accident, they were doing pretty well. He’d been concerned about both of them during this transition, for different reasons, but each day only reinforced what she kept telling him: they could manage anything as long as they were together.
“ Good work arranging this location,” John said to Amelia.
The car they ’d bought with cash a couple of days ago was hidden about a half mile away. Thanks to a little insider intel from UI, provided by Ben, an active UI agent who was inexplicably more loyal to John, they’d been covertly preparing for the possibility of a rescue mission. Selena’s call for assistance simply confirmed Messenger’s lack of interest in rescuing Renata alive. So far, they’d only been observers. He hoped it stayed that way.
“ Just a matter of knowing how to work the public records,” she said.
“ Right.” He marveled at her ability to limit Sandman’s options for the exchange. “You picked up some skills during your Larimore investigation.”
She gave him a non-committal hum. “If I weren’t here, what would you have done?”
He di dn’t take his eyes off the dirt driveway, but he was grinning. He found himself doing more of that since crossing paths with the feisty, passionate reporter who’d joined him for this next stage of his life.
It was the first stage of a real life, he admitted. The years of training and impossible assignments had simply been a grueling holding pattern. When he looked at Amelia, when he held her in his arms, he knew it had all been worth it.
“ I would have thought of something. I’m not entirely without imagination.”
“ Obviously.”
She was quiet so long he thought she m ight have given up the subject.
“ I’m asking,” she said, “because the dynamic has changed. Not just the way you operate now that you have help like Ben and me, but how your new decisions might change how your enemies respond.”
T hat was Amelia, always thinking and analyzing. Often along the same line as his thoughts, but this was an angle he hadn’t considered. This was new territory for both of them, the op as well as the relationship, but he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of the way her mind worked.
“ By now,” he said quietly, “my enemies all boil down to one lethal instrument: Gabriel. As Messenger for the UI agency, he has unlimited resources and intel. As long as he believes we’re dead, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“ Fair point.”
He knew from her pensive tone she wasn’t done with the topic. “Find anything in her employment history?”
“ No.”
“ But you’re still thinking about it.”
“ Yes,” she admitted. “I understand Galloway was trying to make a buck off the data hidden in the watch. But how did he rate the use of a UI assassin if Messenger wasn’t in on it?”
“ Hard to say. There’s always a strategy where Messenger is concerned. He prevented the data from changing hands and now he has Galloway in custody too.”
“ Win-win?”
“ Depends on the agenda,” John said. Messenger might well have designs on using Galloway. Preventing the sale screwed the spy’s reputation in both the CIA and criminal networks around the world, making him a prime candidate for Messenger’s standard life or death offer.
John continued to scan the area with his binoculars. He’d taken this window so Amelia wouldn’t have to keep looking at the burned out remains of the car and driver that had delivered Renata. Even in the thick blue shadows of pre-dawn it was a bleak sight. “I’m sure Sandman knows Renata and Galloway were connected, if only briefly. Is she just a wrong place-wrong time
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