Charity's Passion (20 page)

We laid there for a while watching the water and enjoying the breeze, and then it was time for him to call Garrett.

The burner we're using for this was waiting in his pocket. Justin takes it out and turns it on before he dials. I can't fathom the technology happening right now, the number of secure bounces happening in milliseconds to hide not just the number, but even where we're calling from, what towers we hit.

Garrett answers and I can hear him clearly in the quiet night even though Justin has the phone to his ear. Garrett sounds drained.

"How are you two?" He asks. "Are you both safe?"

Justin's lips don't move, but it's like he's smiled just hearing his brother's voice. I'm suddenly jealous.

"We're good," Justin tells him. "How's everyone there? How's Trisha so I can tell Charity?"

I hear him laugh lightly. "Trisha's fine; tell her I'm taking good care of her friend. Shea is out of the hospital and healing well. We're keeping him safe. Most everyone is fine." His voice changed as he said that last part.

"
Most
everyone?" Justin asks. I think I can feel his heart stopping.

Garrett doesn't answer quickly.

"Garrett—what is it?"

He clears his throat. "Franco is really flipping out; he's demanding you come back from wherever you are. He says it's because you left, blames it on you, and feels they're all at risk. He wants you to come back and find him."

"Find who?" Justin asks.

There's a pause.

"John Roberts," Garrett finally answers. "He's missing."

The air here just changed. It suddenly feels exactly like it does in the instant after a clap of lightening.

"When?" Justin asks at last.

"Last night was the last time anyone had eyes on him," he answers. "Just over twenty-four hours now."

My heart has fallen into my stomach.

Justin works to keep his emotions in check. "The rest of the team, what about them?"

"Everyone else is fine," Garrett answers.

Justin doesn't say anything else now. The line is black and dismal. Even the ocean sounds dim now.

Part of me wants to speak up, but I know I need to let Justin find his way on this one.

"Justin?" Garrett asks at last.

"Yeah," he says. "Tell the team I'll call for the next check in."

Garrett seems concerned. "Any changes?" He asks.

"No—no changes."

TWO MORE DAYS WERE
spent traveling. Instead of staying south, went back up to the states using one of our other identities, leaving the Sanders in Mexico as we traveled to the east coast and flew out to Portugal.

The flights bother Justin the most. Traveling by ground you can go anywhere and be anyone, but in the air you have to prove who you are everyone knows exactly where you were—and where you went.

Shea should have cut off all of Marker's connections that he could, the ones that he had provided to him, but Marker would have kept his own connections over the years. In the air is when we are the most vulnerable to any connections Marker held onto, but it can't be avoided, not when we need to move around as much as we need to.

We left Portugal this morning heading to Spain and even though we're traveling by car again, Justin's mood hasn't recovered.

Our anxiety is extremely high waiting for the next check in with the team. Marker is being strangled out and that has to be pissing him off, which is exactly what we wanted.

Be careful what you ask for because sometimes you get it.

We're worried about everyone at home and we don't have any real way to know what's going on or if they're okay. All we have are our instincts, and they say, as dangerous as this is, we're doing the right thing.

The hours pass and I'm curious where in Spain we will end up. Justin hasn't so much as hinted, but the little bit I've been able to figure out is that we've been traveling mostly south through some interesting and beautiful places.

Six hours of driving later and we are in Tarifa, Spain by the early afternoon. We check into the Hotel Koala Tarifa in the middle of the small busy, chaos. It looks amazing and I'm excited to see more of the town, but we need relax and let Justin unwind from the drive.

He didn't need long.

Justin is laying across the bed with his pretty eyes staring up at the ceiling looking more like someone that is hoping to be tired rather than someone that is. I feel bad for him, but I don't want to do anything to disturb him.

"You up for a walk?" He asks out of the blue. "There's a few interesting things to check out while we're here and I'm too wired from the drive to relax."

"Absolutely," I answer, eager to see whatever he wants to show me.

The research he's put into this is impressive. On unfamiliar roads, Justin leads us on foot a few blocks down to a beautiful building that he tells me is the Castle of Tarifa, one of the oldest buildings in the area.

There's a sign for tours of the building. Justin sees me reading it. "Are you up for it?"

"Are you? You drove so much today," I answer.

He laughs lightly. "I've been on my ass too much; I'm glad to be on my feet for a while."

After some further convincing, we take the tour, soaking in all of the history and ambiance the handsome building has to offer. It's stunning and after the castle tour we head further south through the streets down to the ports.

"It's beautiful here, Justin," I tell him, leaning against him comfortably as we look out over the water and watch the boats. The view lulls both of us into the exhaustion we were expecting hours ago.

"We're looking out over the Strait of Gibraltar right now. We're just under twenty miles from Africa." Justin tells me. Then he says something that shocks me, "Tomorrow will be taking a ferry over to Morocco."

Holy fuck!

I'm beyond thrilled that he's trusting me with a small piece of his plan. This is the first time he's let me know where we're going next. I wrap my arms around him and kiss the side of his face which makes him smile.

And we're going to Morocco.

He's starting to look tired finally; his eyelids are heavy and slow now. "You look worn out," I tell him. It was a lot of travel for days, and a long drive today where I was able to doze off a few times when he couldn't. "Let’s get you back to the room and in bed before you fall down."

He laughs a little but concedes, and we start the walk back.

"When is the next check-in with the team?" I ask as we walk, curious.

"Not until tomorrow," Justin replies. He doesn't say it, always being the tough guy, but just under the surface he's freaking the hell out. It's a long time to wait to hear about the people you love.

THE FERRY OVER TO
Tangier, Morocco takes about two hours. We spend most of the time watching the water go by and enjoying the slow rocking of the boat. Two hours of freedom; there's nowhere to go, nothing to do. Most of all it’s another moment that Marker cannot get to us.

It's not us we're concerned about though.

Justin sees the worry on my face and he steps behind me with his elegant body touching me in just the right places. His hands cup my neck and shoulders and he uses their strength for a deep massage of my tension.

Immediately, there is a pop under one of his thumbs. "Wow," he says sympathetically,

"Oh my God," I breathe, "don't stop that feels so good. Your hands are amazing; if I wasn't so jealous and selfish I would rent you out."

Justin laughs, his first honest one in days.

I can almost fall asleep between him rubbing my neck and the rolling of the boat. I hear his soft voice behind me. "Let it all go away, hon. There's nothing we can do, so do absolutely nothing; just be here in the moment with the man that loves and adores you so damn much."

The smile on my lips cannot be stopped. All the muscles in my neck relax.

We find a long chair to sit in together and we do
nothing
together for the rest of the sunny ride. We don't mind the wait in the line of cars getting off the boat. We're not in a hurry to get anywhere.

Justin drives us around Tangier, and we have lunch in a Moroccan restaurant that could not be more authentic. We had flatbread and lentil soup before sharing a dish called Ferakh Maamer. Thank God we did because we would never have finished separate orders, but it was fantastic.

After lunch we are back on the road. I'm back to not knowing where we are going, but this time Justin has a smile about it. This time it's much less about safety and much more about the surprise, and I'm very surprised when we end up at another airport.

Justin gets the tickets himself at the counter, insisting I wait until the last minute to see them. His smile is ridiculous when he comes back to me, like a kid that just bought a gift for his classroom sweetheart.

We're earlier than he'd expected we would be, and we have a few hours. I wait all the way to security before he hands me my ticket, and holy shit—we're going to Italy.

Naples Italy!

"That's just the first stop," he tells me proudly.

"Justin, oh my God—this is amazing!"

I want to freak out, but not at airport security. He knows just how utterly excited I am; my body is on vibrate.

After security, I practically attack him, throwing my body around him in front of everyone, kissing him over and over as people smile and pass around us.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," I squeal excitedly. "You know how much I've always wanted to see Italy. I can't believe we're going."

I check my ticket again just to make sure I haven't gone insane.

It still says Italy, and he laughs at me.

"It's not a tease. In about nine hours we'll be checked in an Italian hotel," Justin reassures.

I hope I have time to actually enjoy it and take it in through every one of my senses. I want to taste and drink Italy, breathe in its smells.

"We'll have time," he says, knowing exactly what in thinking. "We have the next two days before we head up north. I'm going to show you Rome and Florence, and we will have a gondola ride in Venice that will make the one we had in Central Park seem like a cheap, pathetic gesture."

"Never," I defend, even though it's obvious this will be so much bigger, it will not top the first time he said that he loved me. That moment is etched into my memory forever.

We find a bar and have a couple drinks to pass the time the best way possible considering my gigantic impatience oozing from every pore. On the plane we have a couple more. Justin is fine, but I've got the giggles and my lips have gone numb.

Somewhere along the way I fell asleep. I was having a dream that I was alone on the plane with Marker. Justin had gone ahead to Italy for some reason, forgetting how much danger we're in, and now I have to kill Marker before he can get to Italy, to Justin. Marker has no idea I'm there—I'm hunting him through endless isles of airplane seats.

When I jerk from my dream, my lips have their feeling back but I'm still a little dizzy. Justin is asleep too, his head against the window.

I let him rest, he needs it more than I do. From what I can see, most of the people around us have fallen asleep. There's not much else to do. I drop my head back to Justin's shoulder where it was before and enjoy the slow rocking that his breathing makes, lifting his chest and shoulders.

Justin wakes up before we descend, yawning and stretching as he glances around at everyone and smiles when he finds my face. "I'm supposed to be watching you sleep," he says.

"It was my turn," I laugh, keeping my voice down so our conversation is as private as it can be.

He pulls me closer, as if that were possible. "Are we descending yet? How much longer do we have?"

"They just announced the final service. It shouldn't be too much longer."

I was right, twenty minutes later we are descending into Naples. I know it's getting late, but I'm wide awake in an adrenalin fueled high. I mean—it's fucking Italy!

Quite literally, I drag Justin off the plane, pulling him along when I don't even know where we're going. I assume we need to rent a car but Justin directs me away when I head toward the sign. I slow myself down and let him retake the lead, and that brings us right to ground transportation and a taxi.

"Romeo Hotel," Justin tells the driver. He turns to me and says, "You're going to die when you see this place, you can see Mount Vesuvius and Capri right from the hotel."

The tears are falling and I don't think Justin was expecting that so quickly—I certainly wasn't. Suddenly my face feels wet and my eyes are hazy. He doesn't have any words. Instead, his arms consume me.

"I love it, Justin. Thank you so much. I can't believe we're really here; I really never expected this, not on this trip."

He smooth’s out my hair, pushing it behind my ear, and gives me comfort until we arrive at the hotel and check in.

The shiny, modern, luxury of the place is phenomenal, truly off the charts. I cannot wait to see it after the sun goes down and it's lit up in all its glory. From our window we are looking over the water of the gulf to Mount Vesuvius and it just couldn't be prettier. Justin comes over to enjoy it with me, standing at my side.