Free Fall (17 page)

“Sorry Doren, but if that’s supposed to impress me, it’s not working. I’m not flattered. So tell me how you ended up following me in Washington, D.C.”

“As much as I’d like to say I’d planned it so that I could meet you, that’s not the case. I was undercover.”

“Undercover? Where?”

“Rainie…”

“You were following my brother? How did you get that close to him?” I persisted.

“Rainie, I know you want to believe the man you met in Washington is the same person you knew as a child, but you’re wrong. Justin is a cold-blooded killer.”

“Kind of like you and Roc. And me.”

“No, he’s nothing like us. You’ve seen the reports. Don’t try to deny it. I know you read Roc’s files. Justin is dangerous. He’s not the person you thought he was.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true. He’s responsible for all those things and quite possibly many more things we don’t even know about yet. He’s not the person you want him to be.”

I got to my feet and headed for the door, but Doren came after me, reaching for my arm.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going for a walk. I need to be alone.”

“Don’t be foolish. Justin is probably having the house watched right now. He knows by now that Roc isn’t dead. He’ll come after you to get to Roc.”

Of course, he was right. After all, Doren was the only one who had been completely honest with me thus far. But for the moment, I needed to forget about Roc, Doren, my brother, and everything connected to The Agency.

I stepped outside into the crisp mountain morning. Out here on the side of the mountain, you could hear noises from miles away. I stood silently listening, then walked the perimeter of the house, looking for some visible signs that someone might be watching us, but saw nothing. Not even a footprint or a broken plant. Nothing to indicate anyone had been here.

As I started farther up the mountain, something to my far right caught my attention. A reflection that looked like glass on the far range. Maybe binoculars.

That prickle at the base of my spine warned me something wasn’t right here.

I headed toward the glint. If indeed someone was watching me, and they were not frightened by my approach, what did that mean?

I took an angled approach to the spot, coming upon it from above instead of from either side.

When I was a few yards away, I couldn’t see any sign of movement. Whoever had been there was gone now. Had it simply been a hiker off course?

I crept down to the opening in what appeared to be a small cave, only a few feet in depth and searched around the area. Someone had taken a tree branch and brushed away their footsteps in an attempt to cover up their presence there. My heart beat faster.

This was no hiker off course. Only someone with the right skills would know how to cover up their tracks in such a way. I shaded my eyes and scanned the horizon. There was no sign of anyone approaching the area so I took a few minutes to take in my surroundings. Whoever had gone to such lengths to disguise their presence wasn’t FLA. They were one of my own.

When I returned to the cabin, it was growing dark. Doren waited for me on the porch.

“You should eat something.”

“I’m not hungry.” When I would have walked past him without another word, he reached for my hand.

“Rainie, don’t do this to yourself. He will return.”

“You don’t know that without a doubt, do you?” I couldn’t make out his expression in the darkness but his silence was answer enough. I sat down next to him. “I’m pregnant, Doren.”

“I know.”

“Roc told you?” I asked in shock and he nodded. “At first, Roc believed the baby was yours.” I could feel him watching me in the darkness.

“I’m sorry. I guess that’s my fault.”

“No, I’d say its Roc’s—and mine. He always trusted me before. But then I guess I’ve given him plenty of reasons not to trust me anymore.”

“You know he loves you. Just give him time. You two will work things out. You’ll see. A lot has happened. I’ve never seen him become jealous over any other woman but you.”

I got to my feet. I just wanted to be alone. “That’s not really very comforting, Doren.”

“There are things you don’t know.”

“And whose fault is that? Roc won’t share those things with me.” I turned away from the pity in his eyes. “I’m sick of it all. I just want to be left alone.”

“Rainie.” At any other time, the urgency in his tone would have forced me to listen. But all I could think about was Roc.

“It’s late and I’m tired. We’ll talk in the morning, okay?”

I left Doren and went up to the room I’d shared briefly with Roc. It was hard being there and remembering both the anger and the love we’d expressed here. Sleep would not be possible for me. Sometimes I wondered if the normal life I’d once craved would ever be within my reach.

That night I searched Roc’s e-mails once more, looking for some hint as to where he might be headed. I prayed that Ed hadn’t sent him into one of the tourist locations designated for attack. Surely, Ed of all people had to realize Roc was unfit for such a grueling assignment. But then, the expression on Ed’s face had told me the gravity of the situation. In all the years I’d known Ed Peyton, I’d never seen him show any emotion until then.

Amongst the files Roc obviously thought he’d deleted were more details concerning the mole, and several notes that seem to indicate Roc might be close to figuring out the person’s identity. Roc’s notes clearly indicated a link to my brother. He believed Justin had deliberately chosen a person within The Agency’s ranks to monitor our activity. It wasn’t clear if the person cooperated willingly or through blackmail. Not that it mattered. Someone in our small task force had become a traitor.

Several of the correspondences between Roc and Ed took on a heated tone. It was clear that Ed believed my connection was obvious. The only question was whether I’d unknowingly given away classified information to my brother or deliberately. Roc, of course, disagreed. The last correspondence on the subject had been a few days before Roc showed up on my doorstep.

I wished more than ever that Roc would come back and reassure me everything was going to be okay.

The atmosphere that settled over the cabin during those days became one of waiting. Doren and I were both waiting for something to happen.

Doren spent most of his time locked away in his room. I could hear him talking on the phone. From his tone, I could tell the situation had turned grim. We would need to leave the cabin soon.

“Who’s sitting on the house?” I asked late one evening, on one of the rare occasions Doren emerged long enough to eat.

“So, you figured that out.” He sat across from me staring at his plate for so long that I didn’t believe he would answer.

“Who’s watching us, Doren?”

“Stevie’s team,” he said at last.

“Why?” None of this made any sense. Why was my own team watching me?

“Rainie…”

“Tell me!” When he didn’t answer, I took a wild guess. “Justin.” Doren’s silence was the only answer I needed. “Why is my brother coming here? For me or for you?”

“Neither,” he admitted. “But there’s a very real chance we’re both in danger the longer we stay here, which is why I’ll need your cooperation. We’ll need to get out of here soon. I’m just waiting for the word.”

“If he’s watching the place, won’t he know Roc’s gone?”

Doren took a moment before answering. “The thing is, Rainie, we’ve lost Justin.”

“What do you mean, you’ve lost him?” I remembered the call I’d placed to Justin and Roc’s warning about my brother’s ability to find me.

“We were tracking his movements until a few days ago when several FLA members ambushed the team and killed them. Someone tipped Justin off to their exact location. Since then, well, he’s simply vanished into thin air.”

“Then you do think he’s coming here?” I could see the truth in his eyes even before Doren answered.

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe I’m hearing this. Is that why Roc left?” I got to my feet but Doren reached for my hand, holding me there.

“No, that’s not it at all. The reason Roc left is Lissa’s gone missing for days.”

“Lissa’s missing? When?” I sank back down into my chair, searching Doren’s expression.

“A few days ago, around the same time as the attack, we believe. Her father went to her apartment after trying to reach her for hours. There were definite signs of a struggle. Things turned over. Broken.”

“Oh, my God. You think Justin is the one who took her?”

“Possibly. Maybe to get to Ed, or even Roc. Maybe he thinks having one of Roc’s team go missing will help flush him out. Who knows? Roc’s the only one Ed trusts to lead the search for her and needless to say we can’t let this get out.”

“Why is Justin so determined to get to Roc?”

“Roc has been tracking Justin’s activity for years. He’s been responsible for diverting many of Justin’s planned attacks before they could ever get off the ground. It’s become a personal vendetta for Justin.”

“There’s more to it than that. There has to be. What aren’t you telling me?”

“Rainie…”

“When I met you in Washington, you knew about my brother—who he really was, don’t deny it.”

Then it clicked. What I should have seen all along. “You were working undercover in the FLA.”

He confirmed the truth with a simple nod. “I’ve been undercover for years.”

I stared at him in disbelief. The FLA was virtually impenetrable. Obviously, this was another Bureau lie.

“I’ve been watching Justin’s comings and goings for years—in and out of that training camp in North Carolina near where your parents died. For a long time, we believed Justin was just a small fish. It was some time later that we learned the man we believed was the real person in charge was little more than a decoy. One of Justin’s cronies set up to deceive any intelligence that might be looking in.

“I managed to work my way up the ranks, getting close to Justin after a while. He trusted me. I was his second-in-command. We had no idea until then how far-reaching the FLA’s power really was.”

The grave expression in Doren’s eyes frightened me. “What do you mean?”

“They have people working for them you can’t imagine. High-up people in critical government roles. The mole in The Agency ranks is only one small part of it. This is a serious threat. You remember the document that you decoded?”

“You mean the one you sent Mark?”

Doren met my challenging gaze with a grin. “Yes. I should have guessed you’d figure it out. In the beginning, I believed it might simply be a fake planted by Justin. I thought he was trying to flush out the person responsible for feeding Roc confidential information, which allowed him to know Justin’s every move. I guess in a way it worked, because after you told Justin about the document being in Agency possession, he became suspicious of everyone, including me.”

“Oh, Doren, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“I know. At that point, we knew it was only a matter of time before he figured it out. After you had the run-in with some of his team at the abandoned apartment building, I knew I was on shaky ground.”

“So you followed me there that night to protect me from Justin?”

“Yes. By that time, we’d orchestrated Roc’s death, but there was still a chance Justin might believe it was all a trick and come after you to try to learn the truth. Rainie, it was Justin who called you pretending to be Roc. I believe the original plan was to kidnap you but obviously, that didn’t work out so well. I couldn’t let anything happen to you.” A smile touched his lips as he spoke. I didn’t doubt Doren’s feelings for me. At times, I wished Roc could be as open about his feelings as Doren.

“After that, well, my cover was blown and I was brought in. Rainie, the stuff written in that second document is true. The part about the major terrorist cells uniting. It’s happening right now under Justin’s leadership.”

I remembered the more recent document written in the same obscure language. Something about the whole thing didn’t add up.

“What is it?” Doren asked when he spotted my expression.

“Doren, if the information in those documents is so critical that Justin would use an obscure language to communicate, then why use Aramaic? He had to know I would understand the language.”

“Maybe, he just didn’t think you’d remember or he simply slipped up. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility, is it? After all, he knew we were getting close. I think he simply panicked. It’s hard to consider every little detail when you’re looking over your shoulder.”

“Maybe, but you don’t really believe that.”

“No, you’re right. I know the guy. He’s meticulous and thorough. He wouldn’t make that type of mistake.”

“Which means, it has to be a setup. Doren, we have to get word to Roc. He’s being set up.”

Doren picked up the phone and punched in a number. After a moment of waiting, he looked at me. “He’s not answering. I’ll try reaching Mark and Ed. They’re with him.”

When the calls went unanswered, Doren was ready to try Roc’s number again when the push-to-talk portion of Doren’s cell phone signaled a caller close by.

“What is it, Stevie?” Doren said as I got to my feet and stood close to him.

“There’s activity heading your way,” Stevie said. “And it’s not ours.”

“How far away?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes tops. Get out of there now. We’re on our way.”

Doren disconnected without answering. “Shit. We’ll have to go out on foot. Do you feel up to it?”

“I’ll be fine. What do you need me to do?”

“Go out through the basement. Get as far away from the house as possible. Take your cell phone but only use it as an emergency. You have your weapon?”

I nodded and started for the door, but Doren didn’t follow.

“What is it? Doren, there isn’t any time.”

“I’m not going with you. I’ll stay here and try to divert their attention. Stevie’s on the way. He’ll be here soon. Go.”

“No. I’m not leaving without you.” I didn’t move.

“I’ll be fine, but I need you to do as I say this time. Please.”

“All right,” I said. Doren was trying to protect my baby and me.