Carried Away (2010) (10 page)

and the bedspread more closely. Was it in their bed? He didnt care. Wouldnt wait to find out more. He had to move them out of here. Fast. She stood next to him now, clutching his arm, mesmerized by the handkerchief on the floor. What is that? she mouthed. He took her arm and nodded toward the door. You know, Im suddenly hungry. How about we have some dinner now? He glared at her, willing her to respond nonchalantly. Bugs could be anywhere. 101 Cerise DeLand She caught on that she shouldnt say anything about noticing the powder. Yes. Dinner. Im starved. He took two steps toward the door. Wait! Wait! She dug in her heels and pointed at her camera bag. I need to freshen up a minute. You mean you need the jump suit? He shook his head at her. You look just fine, he proclaimed. No need for that. But I do! She tore away from him, ran to the bathroom and returned with a hand towel to drape over the handle of the bag. See! I look better already! He growled in frustration. Now, babe! Im gonna eat a bear. God knows, Im loaded to kill one! Downstairs he didnt bother to stop to check out, but walked to the portico and hailed a taxi. Tel Aviv, he ordered the driver as they got in the backseat. It was the way theyd come in from the airport an hour away, and it was the way theyd leave. Your things? she asked him. Mine? Grant had his phone on pronto, exhaling in disgust as the taxi driver sped them toward the highway west. Ill call the hotel and tell them well check out tomorrow. Thatll be enough time to get Todd out here to talk to the locals, bring a forensics guy and see what that substance was. He eyed the driver and with a wary look, warned her against saying anything too explicit. We can do without our belongings. Especially if we can learn something from that event. She crossed her arms, beginning to shake with the tension. Crazy people. Wanting to scare us. Put us in the emergency room. Grant didnt want to think about what else. The powder was on their bedding, maybe in the sheets. If we had gotten into bed, we would have been eaten to the bone! 102 Carried Away She shook her head, horrified. Mark? Hes at that hotel, too. If theyve done the same thing to him... Grant nodded, already calling his friend and pilot on his cell. Hey, Mark, problem. Where are you? Sightseeing? Good for you. Listen. Do not go into your hotel room.... Grant explained only briefly, a wary eye on the cabdriver. By any chance, did you have a conversation with anyone and mention where we were staying? Hmm. No? Okay. Thanks. Ive got Todd flying over here and hell get your luggage and check us out and pay the tab. Just leave. Catch a taxi for Tel Aviv and rev up the engines. Weve got a change of destination. Right. Tell you when we see you. It was half an hour later as they approached an airport security checkpoint for all cars entering the Israeli airport before he could speak freely. As the driver got out of the car to show his identification to the guards, Grant urged her to stretch her legs, too. He took her out the other side of the taxi. I began checking in Venice the first night we were together and I tell you weve had no tail. But someone knew where we were, he told her. My control knew we were in Jerusalem. Nick Chekov, too. And Jason, she added, but he has no reason to do anything like that. I am not sure of anyone or anything at this point, Coco. He jammed his hands on his hips and watched a 747 overhead dip low for a landing at Ben Gurion. Did you tell Jamal, too? I did, he replied. And Todd. But none of them knew we were at that hotel, she added. True? Grant nodded, wild to figure this madness out. True. Or was it? 103 Cerise DeLand Chapter Ten Coco bit her lower lip as she saw the late summer sun begin to set behind the villa shed been watching for two days now. This was the one owned by the export-import guy. Picking up her camera and looking through the zoom lens, she saw no activity in the house that sprawled over the mountainside. A multi-story home, it sat nestled into the hill. Easy to get in the windows with a grappling hook in the light of the moon. Her heartbeat picked up a notch at the idea she could get in and out easily. But not if Grant throws a fit. No one was home in the other suspects house, either. I get the impression everyone has gone south for the summer except you and me and Mark, she speculated to Grant. And she was getting antsy. Grant had posted Mark on a detail to guard her at a distance. This was while Grant waited for a team of three to arrive in Naples and take shifts guarding Coco as she finished this job. Doubt it. This is June. August is beach month. Refresh my memory, how many people live in the house? Grant asked, changing the tone and the subject. Three years ago, there were four. Two women, a young boy, and the one man whom I suspected was the fifth one the shorter, fatter one at the meeting in the desert. A candidate for Mr. Chubby. But here, I could never get a good look at him or a decent photograph. She sighed and focused on a very testy Grant. Surveillance was not his favorite activity. Not mine, either. And I know what to do about that. But damn if Grant is going to agree to let me put on the cat suit. Hed have a stroke at the very idea. But its what I do well. Ballet and yoga are such good training for breaking and entering. Lets get dinner, he offered. 104 Carried Away Yes, and Im tired. We had no lunch and we need a decent meal. Gnocchi with shrimp and calamari caught in the bay this morning, smothered in tons of fresh parmesan. He chuckled, turned the key in the ignition of their rental car and took them into the village. The restaurant we went to yesterday was good. Lets go again. No, well go down the street by town hall. We dont want the same people to see us and wonder why were back. Good point. She tucked her camera back into her duffle and her fingers brushed against the cat suit. Time to bring it out, Coco. Get inside that villa. Maybe we eat and call it a day. What do you think? Sure. In the tiny caf, they sat by the floor-length window drinking water and waiting for their order. The two of them were the only patrons, and opera music played over the stereo system. Grants cell phone rang. Hey, Todd, how are you? he greeted his assistant and fixed on Cocos eyes as he listened. Yeah, were good. We chose a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of Naples. Coco smiled. Grant was not telling anyone where they were staying. Not until he learned where the leak was in their network. You got our luggage? Wonderful. No powder on it. Interesting, that they would have just done the bed, I agree. Hm. A neurotoxin. I figured. Enough to be corrosive. All right. Any word from the Paris investigation? I see. Nothing new? No mention of fingerprints on the cable connector? He frowned and looked up at Coco. What do you mean? No, I was certain there was a computer in the room. 105 Cerise DeLand Coco felt her heart pick up tempo. Nick certainly should have called Grant by now to share any further developments about the computerand he hadnt. But from Grants expression... She watched him close his phone up as if he were in a dream. Tell me. Todd says he talked to a friend in the Paris police and the investigation into Ahmed Suleiman s murder is nearing an end. And no one has said anything about a computer or a laptop missing from the crime scene. She leaned over the table and lowered her voice because new patrons sat down at the next table. Nick said he would tell them. She folded her arms, stymied at this turn of events. Unless they have another suspect. Grants features grew tight with strain. But they dont. Maybe they didnt take Nick seriously. Is that grasping at straws? Four more people entered and sat on the other side of the room. Beneath his breath, Grant said, A chance of that, yes. From the look on your face, you dont believe it. I dont, he affirmed and sat back to let the waitress serve them. His eyes narrowed out on to the street in concentration, then he placed his napkin on the table and rose. Eat your dinner. Wait here for me, okay? She watched him exit to the sidewalk and press a few buttons on his phone, then proceed to pace before the restaurant. She glanced down at her lovely, large shrimp, took a bite of one and closed her eyes at the succulent taste of fresh seafood. Oh, to die and go to Italian heaven. She tried her gnocchi covered in ripe tomato and basil sauce. She was probably going to gain so much weight that when she tried to put the damn cat suit on, shed rip the seams. And then she gulped on her last bite. Across the street, entering the town hall was the fat man shed been looking for. His gait, his posture all spoke of the man in the desert. No doubt about it. 106 Carried Away She started to rise from the table, but remembered where she was. She sat down. Raised her chin to catch the waitresss eye. Asked for the check. Searching for Grant, she cursed that she couldnt see him. The waitress was slow, but Coco got up, took out fifty Euro, knowing it was too damn much to pay the bill, but she had to follow the man. Now! She apologized profusely in Italian to the young server proclaiming the food to be excellent, but she had to go. The woman stared at her, accepting the overpayment but clearly thinking the Americano had rocks in her head to leave without finishing her dinner. Coco repeated her praise, left the caf and pushed on her sunglasses as she dodged cars to cross the street. On the curb, she whirled to check for Grant. He had his head down, deep in conversation, as he stood at the end of the block. Coco knew she couldnt wait. She spun and ran up the steps. Inside, the town hall was a marvel of medieval Italian architecture. Wood so dark it was almost black, mold so pungent it made her cough, gilt so bright it assaulted her eyes, even with sunglasses on. But she couldntdare nottake them off. She scurried along the corridors, right and left, looking into tiny offices, trying to look fairly normal in her haste, excusing herself when she entered and found no one who resembled the man she sought. She sprinted up the main stairs to the second floor. Here the smell of mold was replaced by the aromas of stale coffee and lemons. She repeated her pattern of ducking into all the offices. Where had he gone? She ran for the stairs again and nearly collided with Grant. What the hell are you doing, honey? He grabbed her by her upper arms. He was in there! I had to follow him! But I cant find him. Unless hes hiding in a damn closet, how did he get out? 107 Cerise DeLand No clue. Come on, well go outside. You at the front door. Ill see if there is a back entrance, okay? An hour later, Grant walked toward her as she sat on one of the elaborately carved stone benches in front of the hall. Night had fallen and the streetlights showed his weary concern for her. No luck. Me, neither. She scanned the town hall. Time to hang it up for today. Grant took her hand. Mark needs a rest as much as we do. Grant raised a hand to his ear and pulled on his lobe, a sign to Mark, wherever he was, that they were going off duty for a while. But desperation gnawed at her as Grant drove them back to their pensione. Someone knew what she was doing. Someone wanted to stop her. But that was not going to happen until she finished this job, identified the last men who had been in the meeting in the desert. The sooner she completed this, the better off she would be. Grant, too. But would he ever agree to let her go alone into the mans villa? Hell, she doubted she wanted to. But shed done this kind of thing before. Well, to be honest, twice before. Once in San a to take a photo of a man Langley thought might have been in the desert that day. An Al-Qaeda suspect whom no one in the world had been able to find in more than three years. The second time shed hunted in the suit was in Cairo, when Langley thought another radical who hid in the attic of a politicians house might be one of the men she sought. Both times shed gotten up to the rooftops, slid into an open window, crept along the halls and found what shed needed. In each case, one man. Alone. Startled by her presence. Her camera. Stunned by her precision and timing. Her quick actions. A picture. A portrait. Clear. Crisp enough for her to see that neither one had attended the meeting in the desert. But this man shed seen this afternoon was someone she needed to see up close. Very close. 108 Carried Away Because she wasnt going to leave Langleys service without IDing these men. She had made a promise to herself. To her father. Finding the men who mattered most to him. The men who had ruined his last mission. Inside their rooms, she tossed her purse on the desk and decided she needed to clear her head. Grant watched her silently as she gave him a sad look and warded him away with an open palm and a shake of her head. She went toward the bathroom. Dropping her clothes to the cool tiles, she walked into the huge shower and let the three jets train hot water on her face, her breasts and her back. Hands to the wall, she closed her eyes and flexed her muscles. Soon, she felt the supple cover of Grants sleek flesh to her own. His fingers teased one nipple and she sighed. His other hand delved into her pussy and she undulated. He pressed her back against him, teasing her clit with dexterous strokes that made her cry out for more. Burying his fingers in her hair, he inserted his cock between her thighs and slid his length along her swollen lips. All of you is mine, he told her gruffly, his mouth near her ear. I know, she said and wiggled her ass back against him. Have every part of me. He nipped her earlobe as he traced his thumb around her rosy hole. Wont hurt you. I trust you, she murmured as he took cream from her cunt and spread it around her dark entrance. Talk to me, babe, he urged her as he prepared her with soft intrusions of one finger into her ass. You want this? He invaded her with a swift caress. I do. She gasped as he sank deeper inside her virgin hole. I want all of you all the time. He surged inside her more firmly. Then tell me everything. His other hand caressed her clit and he had her panting, her pussy flooding with cream and expectation. No hiding. No secrets. He pulled her around to face him and press her to the tiles. I can feel you thinking, churning. He lifted her chin. I love you, babe. Badly. Deeply. And I want you forever. 109 Cerise DeLand Overjoyed at the declaration she had wanted for years, she tried to kiss him. But he caught her, his hand caressing her throat. You let me inside your sweet pussy and you can let me take you in your luscious ass, but you and I arent gonna make it through this or have any future at all unless you also let me inside your big clever mind. She smiled at him with trembling lips. Grant Warwick. I am amazed how well you know me. He clamped her to his side and turned off the jets. Then he led her outside the shower to stand on the