Moving Target (9 page)

He jerked his cell phone out of its holster with his free hand, flipped it open, and pressed the speed-dial number for the Phoenix main office. He talked to Bob, the operations supervisor on duty, and apprised him of the situation.

"I'm going to head out on U.S. 180." Daniel stopped at a red light, checked for traffic, and hung a right. "Have a helicopter from Bliss pick us up. Call me back with an exit number and we'll meet them there."

"Watch your asses," Bob said in a tight voice.

"Damn straight." Daniel shut the phone and reholstered it as he drove through El Paso, taking the necessary roads to hit 180.

"A helicopter?" Ani said, and he glanced at her to see her color had returned, but she had a troubled expression. "I've never been on one."

He did his best to give her a smile to set her at ease. "You'll like it."

When he cut his gaze to her again, she had an eyebrow raised. "Uh-huh. Sure."

This time his smile was genuine. He heard the familiar feistiness in her voice. "Just hang on for the ride," he said as he took another turn to get them out of town.

Fifteen minutes later, Daniel's cell vibrated. Bob gave him the exit number and instructions on what they needed to do. A soldier would be sent along who would drive the Explorer to the military outpost.

It was another good twenty minutes before they reached the exit. The rain had stopped, but there were large puddles and potholes on the road.

Daniel followed the instructions they'd been given, parked behind an isolated gas station, and told Ani they needed to stay in the Explorer for protection until the helicopter showed up.

A few minutes later the whir of chopper blades cut through the air, followed by a Black Hawk that took only moments to settle a fair distance from the Explorer. The whoosh of the blades caused grass to stir and flatten and the sound was deafening.

Daniel motioned Ani to get out of the SUV. The ground was damp from the rain and the air smelled of wet dirt and rain-washed sky. When Ani walked around the Explorer to stand beside him, he noticed her bare feet were a little muddy.

Ani's heart pounded. After everything that had happened she felt like she was in a spy movie. It all seemed surreal.

Everything was a blur.

After Daniel grabbed his duffel, he took her hand and they ducked as they ran toward the helicopter. Her damp hair whipped across her face and her clothing pressed and flapped against her skin. She could hear nothing but the whir of the helicopter's blades.

A soldier climbed down, held his hand out, and Daniel handed him the keys to the Explorer. The soldier gave a thumbs-up and headed for the SUV.

Two other soldiers helped her into the helicopter. She could feel the vibrations through her bare feet and was almost deafened by the noise.

Daniel helped strap her in and then placed a set of earphones over her head that a soldier handed him.

As soon as they were buckled in, the helicopter rose off the ground.

Ani's belly dropped as it climbed higher, then set off in a smooth path. Still, it caused her to feel a little lightheaded and gave her motion sickness.

With the headphones on, she couldn't hear the roar of the air, but she could feel the
whump-whump-whump
of the rotors in every joint in her body.

At the same time she was amazed at how responsive the helicopter was to the controls. In some ways she was scared out of her mind, and in others she was fascinated. She hoped the fascination would outweigh the fear and soon.

Over the headset came Daniel's deep, soothing drawl. Whenever he spoke, it made her blood stir. "How are you?" he asked.

She looked at him and spoke into the microphone attached to the headset. "Scared out of my mind."

"You're doing great."

Ani's chest rose and fell as she took a deep breath, but she looked at Daniel and smiled. He gave her a smile in return. He glanced around the interior of the helicopter, back to her, and said, "We're in a US-60L Black Hawk. I made a model of this helicopter."

Daniel proceeded to tell her some details about the copter that helped to get her mind off the flight itself. There wasn't much to see outside and it made her dizzy to look out of the helicopter.

It didn't take long before they landed and disembarked. Daniel and another soldier helped Ani step out of the Black Hawk. She wasn't sure that was an experience she wanted to try again very soon. She'd never been a good flyer to begin with.

Daniel spoke with someone and relayed to her that the private jet that would take them to New Jersey hadn't arrived yet.

Regardless, he said he'd take her to the PX, post exchange, so that she could get new clothing and whatever else she might need. Like underwear.

She gave a relieved sigh. She couldn't wait to get out of these sticky, dirty clothes.

After thanking the soldiers and pilot of the Black Hawk, Daniel checked in with his operations supervisor as he and Ani were escorted to the PX.

At the PX, Daniel purchased clothing and other items for her. Ani was able to change out of her old clothing into the new.

She felt so much better once she was in jeans, two T-shirts—one under and a larger one over the body armor. Having underwear on felt almost strange after spending the last couple of days without.

When she'd finished putting her hair into a pony-tail, she crammed her hair beneath a NY Mets baseball cap that Daniel had picked out for her. He'd also chosen a pair of aviator glasses and a black leather blazer. Once she was dressed all the way to the sunglasses, she had to admit she looked a lot different. She stuffed her dirty clothing into a backpack that he'd also bought her, along with the other essentials.

When she left the dressing room, she almost didn't recognize Daniel. He'd purchased a plain black ball cap for himself, along with aviator glasses, a black leather bomber jacket, Levi's, and jogging shoes, changing his appearance, too.

She was going to miss that Stetson, those Wranglers, and his boots. He was one sexy cowboy. But then he was sexy wearing anything. Or nothing.

That thought caused heat to rush to her cheeks. She hadn't actually seen him naked. She'd seen him wearing only a towel, and her imagination had filled in the rest.

"Plane's waiting," Daniel said when she reached him, and he led her out of the PX.

She slung the backpack over her shoulder and kept her gaze focused ahead as her cheeks cooled. "Do you think we're in the clear now?"

He was quiet for a moment and she looked up at him. She couldn't see his eyes because of the glasses. "We can't take any chances. They've anticipated our moves so far. No doubt they're going to be expecting us in New York or New Jersey at one airport or another, and the Russians will be sure to know we wouldn't take a commercial flight. So they'll be watching all the smaller hangars."

She took a deep breath. "Man, I really know how to screw things up."

"All we can do is go forward." He stared ahead as they drew closer to a small white jet like those she'd seen in the movies. He glanced down at her. "The goal is to keep you safe, Ani, and that's exactly what we're going to do."

Ani was keenly aware of Daniel on the flight to Newark. He was seated beside her and she could feel heat emanating from him. His musky scent and the smell of the leather seats and their jackets filled her senses.

He looked down and gave her one of his smiles that made her heart beat faster. She shifted in her seat, trying to squelch the ache he caused within her.

She was actually getting used to wearing the Kevlar vest. The body armor wasn't too heavy, just different, and sometimes it chafed.

Two other Deputy Marshals were on the plane, a woman and a man. They talked with Daniel, mostly about football, a subject she had no desire to discuss. She never could quite get the point of men chasing a ball down a field and beating each other up to keep the other team from getting it.

Now basketball,
that
was a sport. Pure athleticism.

Ani liked watching Daniel laugh and joke with the other Deputies. She enjoyed his quick grin and even quicker wit. He acted so relaxed as they chatted. The tenseness from all they'd been through seemed to slip away from him as he enjoyed the easy camaraderie with his colleagues.

Ani turned to look out the window at the squares of fields and oval lakes so far below. She'd never been on a small jet before, and she felt a little more vulnerable than in a commercial airliner. But it was definitely better than the ride on the helicopter. This was a piece of cake in comparison.

After a while, the captain announced over the intercom to prepare for landing in Newark. Ani took a deep breath as the plane began to descend. She clenched the armrests tight, wondering how smooth a private jet was when it landed. This was always the hard part—the sensations of the plane dropping in altitude and then landing.

Actually, the hardest part would be stepping out of the plane and wondering whether a bullet would hit her right between the eyes. The vest wouldn't do much good in that scenario.

The thought caused her stomach to take a nosedive and a light sweat to break out on her skin. An image of being shot dead like her father came to her mind, but she shoved it away as hard as she could. No, she couldn't think about that right now.

A few minutes later she discovered that touching down in a small jet wasn't too bad. The captain guided the plane to a smooth landing and approached an empty hangar. The huge, empty hangar looked like it was made of corrugated metal and was open on one side, large enough to house several private jets.

It wasn't long until they came to an easy stop within the hangar and deplaned inside the building rather than outside. She slung her backpack over one shoulder and Daniel carried his duffel. It was nearing dusk, but still light enough to see around them.

When they reached the foot of the metal staircase that they'd used to climb down from the plane, she was surprised to find two couples waiting for them. The women were about her height, dressed very similarly, and the men were close to Daniel's size, each with black jackets and jeans. The men and women had aviator glasses and caps, too, despite the fact it was dusk.

Ani looked up at Daniel. "Decoys," he said. "I called ahead and arranged it. When we leave the terminal, we'll all go in separate directions to confuse anyone who might be watching."

Would she ever get used to all this covert stuff? She rubbed her arms, trying to warm away the chill that had overcome her from feeling so vulnerable . . . and scared.

"Don't glance around," Daniel said as they walked away from their plane, toward a door that obviously led into another part of the hangar. "Just look straight at the cars. Stay close."

The sheer professionalism and caution in his voice made her pulse jump. The look on Daniel's face increased her panic. It was like watching a suspense movie, only she was the star. Or more accurately, the victim all the bad guys wanted to slaughter. Once again, that sense of unreality descended on her, and she started to shake.

Ani swallowed down more rising panic that caused her chest to ache. Her breath strangled in her throat and she had to stop walking.

I don't want to die. I don't want to die
.

Images filled her mind.

Men were talking to her father in his den, their voices raised. She slowed her approach and came in line directly with his open door. It smelled of cherry pipe tobacco, like it always did, but this time mixed with the scents of cologne from the three men in the den with her father. Two stood, one to either side of a man casually seated in a chair in front of the desk.

Ani had been headed to the den to confront her father about the damning evidence she'd discovered on his computer.

Anger had been simmering inside her all day the more she'd gone over it in her mind.

But all thoughts of confronting him at that moment fled her mind when she saw him and the other men.

Her father was standing, his face red and flushed. "I want out, Dmitry," he said to the seated man.

The voice of the man called Dmitry was too calm. Deadly calm. "Our family doesn't tolerate deserters, Henry," he said in a thick Russian accent.

Her father's face went from red to purple. "Killing the mayor wasn't part of the bargain."

Dmitry shrugged. "We do what we must."

"I'm out." Her father thumped his hand on the mahogany desk. "Tell Yegor Borenko I'm retiring. Zoning the Blue Meadow project as commercial to build your money-laundering businesses was enough. I'm done, I'm out, and that's
final
."

"Then this discussion has ended." Dmitry adjusted his suit jacket as he stood. He casually drew a handgun from an inside pocket. He aimed it at her father. The sound of a gun discharging blasted through the room.

A small, round hole appeared on her father's forehead and a single drop of blood rolled from the wound.

"Problem eliminated," Dmitry said with a smirk.

Ani screamed as her father's body collapsed into his overstuffed chair.

Dmitry turned, and with cold calculation in his eyes, he shot her.

She cried out as pain exploded on her left side. In her shoulder, just above her heart. Her body crumpled and she landed in a heap on her back, her legs curled under her. She couldn't breathe, couldn't scream. Dmitry pointed the gun at her again, but her mother came rushing into the room, followed by Jenn. Dmitry turned his gun on her mother and sister and with two shots dropped them.

Horror flooded Ani in waves as her mother landed near her. Jenn just behind.

OhGodohGodohGod
.

Dmitry spoke to the two men. "Torch it," he said before casually walking out the door.

Ani tried to move but couldn't make her muscles work as one of the men followed Dmitry outside. Her breath rasped in her throat when the man came back with a can. The smell of gasoline filtered through her shrieking senses. The man yanked down the drapes, flung them on her mother, and started soaking the heavy cloth with the gasoline.

Ani's breathing came in short, harsh gasps and she coughed from the stench of the gasoline. The pain racking her body was outweighed by the horror of her family being shot. Her father dead.