Danger Close (10 page)

“You likely could. But this is my destiny.” By this time tomorrow he’d be in Karachi, ready to board the plane that would take him to Malaysia and then on to his final destination. “Besides, it’s been far too long since I visited North America. I’m ready to go back.”

And when he arrived, he had one hell of a homecoming gift planned for the land of his birth.

Wade hesitated in front of the coffee bar outside the CIA director’s office. They had one of those fancy new coffee machines that made everything from plain coffee to cappuccinos, and they also had a huge variety of tea boxes to choose from. He’d gone through the whole readjustment thing multiple times back in his Army days when he’d come home from deployments, but he’d never experienced anything like this before. Having just come out of a long-term, deep undercover op, this was a whole new level of culture shock. The weirdest things seemed to jar him and he hated it.

This morning he’d been halfway through dawn prayers before he’d suddenly remembered he didn’t have to pray five times a day anymore—or pray at all, for that matter. That was going to take some getting used to. And there were other little things. He’d once been a coffee addict, yet he was so used to drinking tea now that he preferred it to coffee—unless Erin made it, apparently. Except the spicy chai he craved apparently wasn’t one of the dozen choices in front of him. Figured.

Chalking his mental baggage up to sleep deprivation and jetlag, he went with the Earl Grey and stuck the teabag into a mug before studying the space age coffee machine, trying to figure out how to get it to pour hot water. If he could successfully maintain a cover identity on one of the most dangerous assignments on the planet for over three years, he could operate a damn coffee maker.

“You just press and hold those two red buttons at the same time.”

He looked over his shoulder at Erin, standing in the doorway. The gentle smile she aimed at him told him she wasn’t making fun of him, and he relaxed. He noted there were shadows under her eyes and she looked worn out. He didn’t like the idea that what he’d told her last night had worried her enough to make her lose sleep. “You want some?”

“Tea?” She scrunched up her nose as she considered the idea, then shrugged. “Sure, I’ll try some. Thanks.”

He filled the cup and let it steep. “Anything in it?”

“Maybe some milk, please.”

He took the teabag out, added the milk and handed it to her, acknowledging her thanks with a nod as he turned back to make his own.

“Guess you’ve been drinking your fair share of tea the past few years, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah.” He tossed his wet teabag in the organic recycling bin set beneath the sink and caught the face she made as she sipped at the tea.

“God, it’s like hot, weird-tasting dishwater or something,” she muttered, but took another sip anyway.

He hid a smile. “It grows on you after a while.”

She gave him a doubtful look and stepped up next to him to lean her lower back against the counter. The thin black sweater she wore hugged the pert curves of her breasts in a damn distracting way, and her sweet, clean scent went to his head. “I’m not sure I want to try it enough times to let it grow on me.” She met his eyes. “How did that pizza sit last night, by the way?”

He wasn’t sure if she was asking out of curiosity or out of concern as a medical professional. “Not the greatest.” He was convinced his body thought he’d tried to poison it. He’d been nauseated for hours after eating just those one and a half slices, and had wound up making repeated trips to the bathroom during the night. It had totally been worth it to have the excuse to sit and talk with her during the meal though.

She nodded, took another small sip and managed to keep from scrunching her nose up this time. “Too rich, and too processed. We’ll have to make sure we eat clean from now on.”

Surprised by the
we
in that sentence, he just nodded. Damn, she looked really exhausted. He didn’t like seeing her that way, wished he could make this all go away for her. “Go okay with Bill?” Wade’s handler was one of the best in the biz, but could be a bit of an asshole. People skills weren’t his strong suit and he was notoriously heavy-handed when he wanted something. Wade hadn’t had much contact with him since going undercover, just the occasional check-in via satellite phone when he could manage it—until the Sec Def had been captured.

Erin shrugged. “I guess. I just feel like I’m caught in a whirlwind right now, you know?”

Yeah, he did know. He’d been in meeting after meeting since seven this morning, including several with the director, while Erin had been in a few debriefings and security clearance meetings, the last one with Bill. “Should quiet down for you after today. The big concern was your security clearance, so once that’s all taken care of the only thing left for you to do is lie low.”

She nodded. “What about you?”

“More of the same.” So far they were trying to keep him out of the loop about the investigation on Rahim, but Wade knew they needed him. Sooner or later, they’d have to let him back in the game again. With his intimate knowledge of how the man thought and operated, he was still the best shot they had at finding Rahim.

She opened her mouth to say something else but stilled as Bill came around the corner. “I need to talk to you again for a few minutes,” he said to Erin without preamble.

Erin had stiffened when Bill first appeared, and she was watching him now like she was about to be dragged away into a full-on interrogation. Wade moved closer to her, until their shoulders touched, instinctively putting his body between her and Bill. He had to stay the impulse to wrap a protective arm around her.

Bill’s hazel gaze flicked from Erin to Wade, not missing the gesture. “Alone,” he clarified, but made no further comment about Wade’s reaction.

“What’s up?” Wade asked, though he already knew. Bill wanted to talk to her about
him
. Find out what he’d told her about himself and Rahim, the investigation. Wade clenched his jaw. Erin had been through more than enough already, she was mentally exhausted, and surely to Christ she’d already been asked everything Bill had in mind by someone else. Likely more than once, repeating the questions in various ways to ensure her story never wavered and that she was telling the truth.

“Just some more questions.” He gestured impatiently at her. “Come on. Won’t take long.”

Erin set her mug down on the counter and straightened, flicking him a quick glance and the dread he saw in her eyes made him want to pull her into her arms.

“It’s okay, he’s one of the good guys,” he said, putting his hands into his pockets so he wouldn’t be tempted to reach for her as she passed by. After she left the room felt too quiet, too empty.

Shrugging off the strange thoughts, he turned his mind back to Rahim. Even with his substantial network overseas it still wouldn’t be easy for him to move around, especially while wounded. The Company didn’t know shit about his location at the moment. Wade had already told them he was convinced Rahim had crossed the border into Pakistan. The question was, where? Up to the tribal region to withdraw and heal up? To Peshawar? Karachi?

It all depended on how severe the wound was and how brave Rahim’s contacts were feeling now that the heat had been turned way up. With the amount of money the U.S. government was offering through various back channels, it was likely some of Rahim’s biggest supporters over there would be tempted to give a tip regarding his whereabouts.

He was still going over various scenarios in his head when Bill appeared around the corner and summoned Wade with a jerk of his head toward the hallway he’d just come down. Wade followed him to his office. Erin was seated opposite the wide desk, and the look of relief that flashed over her face when she saw him filled him with gratitude. He glanced at Bill.

“She can stay,” he replied in a gruff tone as he seated himself behind the desk. “Close the door behind you.”

Wade did and lowered himself into the chair next to Erin’s. He was close enough that he could smell her clean, sweet scent, but more than anything he was glad his presence seemed to comfort her. “So? What’s up?”

Bill opened a drawer and pulled out a file, placing it on the desk and pushing it toward Wade. “New intel just came in a while ago from Kabul.”

Wishing he would just say whatever the hell it was he wanted to say, Wade reached forward and took the file. He opened it to find a report about the checkpoint incident. He looked up at Bill. They’d been over all this twice already. “And?”

“
And
, take a look at the name on the bottom of the second to last page.”

Wade flipped to the correct page and looked at the bottom. The name jumped out at him like a neon sign.

Brayden Schafer.

He snapped his gaze to Bill, aware of a sudden tension gripping his muscles. “What the hell is this? You think he had something to do with it?”

Bill’s stare never wavered. “That’s what it looks like to us. All the signs point to him. He was in Kabul before and during the attack. He had contacts at Bagram who could easily have given him your travel itinerary. He had the means, the motive and opportunity. So yeah, at this point I’d say he had something to do with it.”

Wade was already shaking his head. “No way. I know why you’d think that, but…no way.” Bad blood and worse history between them, yeah. Schafer trying to have him killed? And using Rahim’s network to do it? No fucking way.

“I figured you’d feel that way.” Bill leaned back in his seat, dividing his gaze between him and Erin. Wade glanced over to find Erin watching him with a worried expression. “He can fill you in on the details later,” Bill said to her, “since he’s already told you so much about everything else.”

Erin’s face flushed and she flicked an apologetic, almost guilty glance at him. There was nothing for her to feel bad about. Wade wasn’t angry with her for telling Bill what he’d said to her last night. He’d never tell her anything classified or something that would put her in further danger anyway, and Bill had to know that.

“He’s being transported here for questioning,” Bill added. “Flight arrives tonight at twenty-one hundred.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Wade said.

“No, you won’t. Until we’ve questioned him and found out who set you up, you’re staying at that safe house and you’ll only be involved in the investigation on a consultant basis.”

Wade set his jaw. “You need me on this one. You know it, and I know it.”

Bill inclined his head in acknowledgement. “Not yet. We’ll bring you in when necessary. It’s for your own protection, Wade.”

Yeah? Well it fucking sucked. He’d rather take his chances with Rahim and his network than stay stuck in one spot, waiting there like a sitting duck out in the country while the most important manhunt since the search for bin Laden took place without him.

****

Erin wasn’t sure what the story between Wade and Bill was, but their relationship wasn’t what she’d expected. When Wade had told her that Bill was his handler, she’d assumed they’d be on much friendlier terms than they actually were. Not outright hostility, perhaps, but an undercurrent of friction was there. Maybe it had something to do with Wade being off the grid for so long and having all kinds of rough edges, she wasn’t sure. What she
did
know was that he’d been quietly seething all the way back during the drive from Langley. Now that it was just the two of them alone in the farmhouse again, he still hadn’t relaxed. He was prowling around the lower floor like a caged lion and she’d been very careful not to say anything as she did her best to keep out of his way.

He stood at the window with his back to her, hands braced above him on the window casing, every muscle in his back stretched taut beneath the light gray T-shirt he wore. While she loved the view, she knew he was upset about the investigation and this latest development he’d seen in that file.

She took a few steps into the room and cleared her throat. “I was going to make something for dinner. You up to eating?”

He turned slightly to look back at her, and the anger in his eyes faded. “Not really hungry right now.”

“You need to eat,” she answered, the nurse in her taking over. The man already had no body fat on him. This wasn’t the tribal region of Afghanistan. With a full refrigerator in the kitchen, he shouldn’t be starving himself and making his body start metabolizing his muscle tissue.

He let out a deep sigh, visibly pushed his frustration aside, and nodded. “I’ll help you.”

Not about to argue, she turned back to the kitchen. “What do you feel like?”

“Whatever you want is fine.”

She wasn’t so sure about that. She could think of a
great
way for them both to burn off their excess frustration, but she doubted he was thinking along the same lines, or that he’d let his guard down that far. And it probably wouldn’t be smart for them to cross that line while they lived here together anyhow. Just made things messier when it was all over.

From the fridge she pulled out a bunch of greens and veggies, some berries and goat cheese for a salad. “You want chicken or anything to go on the salad?”

“Sure.” He stood there in the middle of the kitchen, looking awkward as hell, and Erin took pity on him.

“Can you grab a cutting board for me from the cupboard next to the stove?”

He found one and put it on the counter, then pulled a knife from the butcher block beside the stove and started to cut up a red pepper she’d just washed. She watched him work. His knife skills were good, but she knew he hadn’t gained them by slicing up salad ingredients. To stop herself from thinking about him using that knife on human flesh, she turned back to washing the baby spinach leaves she’d placed in a colander. “So, whose name was on the bottom of that piece of paper?”

Wade paused for a fraction of a second before he resumed slicing the pepper into neat strips. “Brayden Schafer.” He practically growled the name.

She turned off the tap and stole a sideways glance at him, noting the scowl on his face. “You know him?”