Past Sins (14 page)
It would be so easy to believe him. So simple to fall into his arms and take up right where they left off three years ago.
But things were too complicated right now…and even if they weren’t, how could she trust her heart to him again? Nothing he said, no amount of scorching kisses, would change the facts. He’d damaged her too badly.
“I need the truth, Landry. The whole truth.”
His hands fell away and she hoped the resignation in his eyes was real. There could be no more secrets between them…not about this.
“You’re right.” Landry shoved his hands into his pockets, emphasizing the part of him that had once given Olivia great pleasure. “I haven’t told you everything.”
She felt weak with relief. “Tell me.” She inhaled a shaky breath. “Tell me everything. I have to know all of it.”
“Somehow someone found out you were still alive. We don’t know who it is yet, but whoever it is, he wants you dead.”
Frustration furrowed its way across her brow. “Why? What is it they think I know?”
“You’re the only one left who knows what really happened. Even I wasn’t there when the assassination went down. No matter the threats we toss around, alone, anything I say will only be chalked up to hearsay or conjecture. But you were there. You carried out the hit. Your testimony combined with my statement would nail someone’s ass to the wall.”
“That administration is over,” she protested. “Mistakes that were made three years ago will only be seen as a nuisance and swept under the rug. I’m betting our new president wouldn’t be that worried about what I did then. Regardless of what’s going on in the Middle East.” Though the media’s ability to twist ancient history into current events could make a person deeply regret an action, past or present. There was that, she supposed.
“Under normal circumstances you would be right,” he assented.
He rested his hands at his waist, the muscles of his arms flexing and contracting with the move, disrupting her focus as well as her respiration. She needed him to get to the point. Spending any more time with him in this suggestive setting was asking for trouble.
“Remember I told you that old enemies were now allies.”
“Of course.” She watched the news. Anywhere you looked there was trouble brewing. Great care was required to keep the delicate balance even among those political venues this government had once snubbed.
“If word gets out that someone in the American government had such an important man killed for no other reason than to influence an election, that someone will be done in this business. No one knows, outside the handful of suspects we’ve talked about and the two of us, that the CIA was responsible for that assassination, Vanessa. If the man who gave that order is exposed, he’ll be lucky to walk away with his life. But worst of all, relations with the Middle East will be shattered, regardless of whether the current administration is innocent or not.”
The scariest part of his ongoing monologue was that he was absolutely right. She had sensed that he’d known more than he was tellingnow she knew for certain.
“Perception is everything these days,” he persisted. “All it takes is one black mark to push a player out of the game. Our president doesn’t want any additional trouble in the Middle East. Particularly considering the country whose leader you took out of action has now formed an alliance not only with the U.S. but with former ruthless enemies. Enemies with whom the U.S. has waited decades to negotiate. A historical alliance will soon be under way. The administration can’t afford any ripples. My guess is that your old mission was brought up within the context of possible stumbling blocks and someone has decided that he needs to tie up any remaining loose ends to ensure he isn’t sorry later.”
In other words, despite being dead as far as the Agency was concerned, she had become a liability.
“Why didn’t you just give me a call and tell me this in the first place?” Frustration and fury overtook the suspicion and surprise, making her madder than hell. “Why the game?”
“I received word that you’d been targeted for elimination. I was afraid you wouldn’t listen to me and I was right. You wouldn’t have. I had to do something drastic to get your attention so you’d act quickly.”
She went toe-to-toe with him, no longer concerned with keeping her distance or how he looked or how he smelled. “And just how did you come to have access to this information, Mr. Landry, ex–Interpol agent?” He’d told her he’d quit. How could he be this deeply involved with this operationand that was exactly what this wasand be retired, so to speak?
He looked away. A concession to guilt?
“Who is your source, Landry?” She couldn’t be here if he didn’t tell her everything. He was in this up to his eyeballs, dammit.
“My former superior.”
Andrew Page had set this whole thing in motion. Why? She moved in closer still. “Look at me when you speak to me, Landry. I want to see the lie in your eyes.”
As if in slow motion his face turned back to hers; their gazes connected and she wasn’t prepared for what she saw.
Pain…fear.
Impossible.
She blinked.
Landry had never been afraid of anything.
He had no heart. He couldn’t feel pain or fear.
“I watched you all that time. Wanted you.” He licked his lips, the lingering taste of their kiss no doubt still there. His voice weaving a spell even now she couldn’t resist. “But I stayed away,” he confessed softly, “to protect you. I wouldn’t risk endangering you. Alone you were invisible, but the two of us would have been too risky.”
The spell he cast so easily shattered as she reminded herself that he hadn’t been there to back her up when she’d needed him three years ago. Fury ate a path through her chest. “To protect me? How the hell were you protecting me? You were the reason I had to agree to faking my own death, you son of a bitch!”
She clamped her mouth shut. Forced herself to take a breath. If she started yelling again, Jeffrey would come to check on her. He didn’t need to hear any of this.
“I took on the CIA, Nessa,” Landry admitted, his tone still quiet and calm, frustratingly so.
She let her glare speak for itself. “What does that mean?”
“I raised hell. Let them know that I knew what they’d done. Andrew was the only reason I was able to walk away from the confrontation. He took immediate action. Got me out of the country. Probably saved my life.”
Her stomach dropped to her toes. “You were targeted for elimination because of what you knew.”
He nodded. “I was just like you. I had to disappear to stay alive.”
A whole load of emotions dumped on her at once. He’d lost his life as well because of that operation. He’d gone through the same thing she had.
Her breath caught. “What about your mother?”
He shook his head. “I couldn’t risk seeing her or even calling her.”
Olivia’s hand when to her throat. That was the one part of Landry that had always grounded him in the human race, the way he doted about his mother. “She must miss you terribly.”
His gaze shifted away from her again. “She died last year.”
Olivia closed her eyes and forced back the emotions pounding at her brain. She had to think. Had to process all this information.
Damn whoever had done this to them.
“I’m working as a go-between. Andrew trusts me. He’ll listen to me. We have to know who is responsible. It’s the only way we’ll ever make this right,” he said, his gaze leveling on hers once more. “Hamilton fits near the top of that category.”
“I’m not willing to lay this on him just yet.” She rubbed her right temple, a headache beginning there. She needed to eat. As if she’d only just awoken from a long sleep, the smell of the pizza Jeffrey had ordered wafted beneath the door and tugged at her senses.
“But…” When she set aside personal feelings and really considered Hamilton as a suspect, she just couldn’t get past the idea that he would have let her live for three years only to suddenly want her dead. “If it’s Hamilton, why didn’t he eliminate me before?”
“My understanding is that this new political arrangement only recently became a priority, making this dirty little secret suddenly a far more volatile issue.”
She shook her head. “Then why didn’t he kill me the other night when he had the chance? I walked right into his weekend home. He had the perfect opportunity.”
“That one’s simple.”
She waited expectantly for him to explain what was so damn simple about it.
“He needs both of us dead. He was waiting for me to show up. You know, kill two birds with one stone. If he had eliminated you too quickly he would have risked any chance of reeling me in. He wouldn’t have found me in a million years.”
Jesus. That part could definitely be true. That still didn’t convince her that Hamilton was dirty.
“But why have me tell Woods that you were going to back me up if you were already on his hit list?”
“Our goal is to find the truth. To ferret out just how high up the chain of command the betrayal goes. The only way to do that is to use the element of surprise. Shock value. Make them think we know more than we do. That’s what you accomplished with Woods today. Now we’ll see what Woods does with this new information. He knows we’re together and that we’ve formed a plan of action. He didn’t want us to get away but we did. Now he has no choice but to react.”
“We’re giving each suspect the rope he needs to hang himself,” she surmised aloud.
“Precisely.”
And they were both targets.
If there was one thing she had learned, when the CIA wanted a target dead…
…that target usually got dead.
O
livia couldn’t sleep that night.
Jeffrey had finally given up his own battle and started to snore softly. They had talked and he had convinced her to allow him to call his lab tomorrow morning to let the senior scientist know that an emergency had come up. He’d suggested she call her part-time assistant, as well. He was right. She should have thought of that. The last thing she needed right now was someone going to the authorities and reporting them missing.
There was no way either of them was going to be back in L.A. anytime soon.
It was doubtful that, assuming she survived the coming storm, she would be able to return to her life in L.A., period. Jeffrey had a chance, but his odds weren’t that much better than hers.
She closed her eyes and fought the need to start grieving her newest life already. She didn’t want to think about how upset her patients would be. Sadness welled inside her at the prospect that she probably wouldn’t ever see any of them again. She’d grown unexpectedly attached to a couple of them over the past couple of years.
Olivia squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block her thoughts, but that wasn’t happening.
She didn’t deserve to be betrayed by anyone she’d worked for at the CIA. She’d been extremely dedicated, loyal to a fault. Hamilton, Woods, Echols…the former president himself, not to mention Andrew Page and who knows who else at Interpol.
Why were the men in her life always letting her down?
She turned her head toward the man sleeping next to her. He hadn’t actually done anything to hurt her in any way, but then she hadn’t let herself get emotionally tangled up with Jeffrey. She liked him a lot. She enjoyed his company. But she wasn’t in love with him and if he walked away from the relationship tomorrow, she’d be okay with it. She hadn’t been able to let him deep enough inside to have that kind of power.
Landry had done that to her. He’d damaged her to the point that she didn’t have the guts to give her heart away again. She couldn’t trust on that level.
That kiss earlier tonight zoomed into vivid focus. Need ached through her. It had been so long since she’d wanted anything that badly. The idea that he could still bring her to that place startled her. It wasn’t fair. She didn’t want to feel that way about him anymore. Or maybe she did and just didn’t want to admit as much.
It would be so much easier to continue hating him.
But that wasn’t going to happen, no use pretending.
Jeffrey rolled onto his side and the snoring stopped. Thankfully.
Having him next to her like this felt soothing from a standpoint she recognized was fueled by familiarity and safety and nothing more. He was no threat to her physically or emotionally. Was that fair to him? To allow him to continue to care about her, perhaps even fall in love with her, when she couldn’t possibly ever fall in love with him? And all that was assuming he could forgive her for lying to him or that he could get past her former profession.
Where did that leave her?
Alone again.
She turned onto her side, away from him, and stared at the connecting door that separated her room from Landry’s. To deny she still cared about him would be a flat-out lie. There were aspects of her emotions over which she had no control. There, far beyond the borders of her reach, she wanted him desperately. Cared for him every bit as much as she had before. They’d been a perfect match, like the final two pieces of a puzzle. His dark, enigmatic traits had drawn her to him in ways she still couldn’t explain. Everything about him had completed her, made her whole.
Letting him in on the idea that she still had feelings for him would be another mistake. She might not be able to salvage her heart but at least she could save face.
The sound of Landry moving around in his room drew her attention toward the door once more. Her foolish heart skipped a beat.
Why couldn’t she keep hating him?
She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. With the bathroom light on and the door only partially open, the room wasn’t completely dark. She never had liked sleeping in the dark.
She almost laughed at herself. A killer who was afraid of the dark.
Was that ridiculous or what?
A soft rap on the connecting door sent her into a sitting position.
Landry rested one foot on her side of the doorway. Judging by the half of him she could see, he appeared to be fully dressed. That was good since she’d seen more than enough of his body already tonight.
“I’m going to take a look around outside,” he let her know. “I’m feeling restless.”
She threw the covers back and got up, belatedly realizing she’d opted to sleep in her T-shirt only. Damn.
“Any particular reason you can’t sleep?” She wished the tee was a couple of inches longer, but it was too late now. He’d already taken a head-to-toe visual. Her skin felt on fire everywhere his gaze had lingered.
His shoulders moved up and down in a noncommittal gesture. “Feels like something is wrong.”
She resisted the urge to say something irreverent like
duh.
“Well, it’s not like we have any reason to feel anxious. Someone from our past wants us dead, but that’s really no big deal. We should both be sleeping like babies.”
Those dark eyebrows drew together in a curious manner. “Funny that you mention
that.
Do you ever wish you’d had a couple?”
Okay, he’d lost her completely. “A couple of what?”
“Babies.”
A choked laugh burst out of her before she could close her gaping mouth. “Are you kidding?”
Another of those careless shrugs. “Just wondered. You’re at that age when most women claim they can hear their biological clocks ticking.”
She was thirty-seven. Big deal. Call her old-fashioned, but she hadn’t thought about kids, considering she didn’t have a husband.
“I guess you and Jeffrey don’t want children.”
Oh, now she knew where he was going with this. He wanted to know how serious things were between her and Jeffrey.
She shrugged dramatically, uncaring that the T-shirt had just lifted high enough to give him a sneak peek at her black panties. “I don’t know. We’re busy people. Maybe sometime. If I live through this, that is.”
“Fine.” He readied to return to his side of the door. “I’ll be back in five.”
Well, well. She might not be a mind reader and Landry certainly worked at keeping his thoughts hidden, but she was relatively sure she’d just heard jealousy in his voice.
Then again, the way he’d kissed her pretty much gave away his position on the matter. He still had feelings for her. She definitely wasn’t in this fix alone.
Five minutes had come and gone.
Olivia had paced the room about a thousand times in those excruciatingly long seconds.
She was going out there.
Pulling on her jeans, she stuck first one foot then the other into her hiking boots. She snapped her fly then laced her boots and tucked the knife into place just in case. Grabbing her Beretta, she jammed it into her waistband. She silenced her cell phone and slid it into her back pocket. On second thought, she pulled it back out and called Landry’s cell. Four rings later it went to voice mail. Where the hell was he?
After shoving her phone back into her pocket, she roused Jeffrey. She’d considered leaving him asleep in the room since this very well could be nothing, but she wasn’t willing to take the risk. Protecting him was her responsibility.
“Hey,” she murmured. “Something may be wrong. We need to take a walk outside. Get dressed, okay?”
He got up without any fuss and pulled himself together. “What’s up?” he asked as they eased into the corridor and headed for the stairwell. No covert-operations agent would ever let himself get trapped in an elevator. To this day Olivia always took the stairs wherever she went.
Inside the stairwell she listened for several seconds to ensure she and Jeffrey were alone.
At 1:00 a.m. she didn’t anticipate running into any other guests. Most of the folks who popped into this hotel would be long-distance travelers and sleep would be the only thing on their minds.
When she reached for the railing to start down the stairs, an uneasy feeling swept over her.
She wasn’t sure she could trust her instincts enough to assume they had kicked back into gear with any accuracy, but she wasn’t imprudent enough to ignore the sensation.
Reaching beneath her T, she wrapped the fingers of her right hand around the butt of her Beretta and withdrew the weapon.
“Is that necessary?” Jeffrey eased up close behind her. “Have they found us?”
“I don’t know, but we’re not taking any chances. Let’s just move down the stairs as quietly as we can.”
If she got outside and there was trouble, keeping Jeffrey out of the line of fire wouldn’t be an easy thing, considering there wasn’t that much cover in the parking lot. About her only option would be the parked vehicles. Better to stash him away, she decided.
They descended one level as quickly and soundlessly as possible. She tucked her weapon back into her waistband and moved into the corridor. She surveyed the rows of closed doors on either side. The vending-machine area was about the only place readily available. Not optimal but it would do.
“This way.”
She hurried in that direction. Jeffrey stayed right behind her. Just before she reached the vending-machine area, she passed a door marked Linens. She hesitated, checked the door. Locked. She sized up the situation and decided that wouldn’t present a problem.
“Give me your credit card, Jeffrey.”
Looking totally confused, he dug out his wallet and produced his platinum Visa. A few jiggles of the knob along with just the right pressure with the credit card and she had the door open.
Jeffrey looked from her to the open door and back. “That’s scary.”
Olivia smiled. “I know all kinds of tricks like that.” She turned on the light and peeked inside. “I want you to hide in here and keep the door locked until I come back for you.”
“I’d rather stay with you.” Concern cluttered his expression. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”
This sweet man would be far better off without her.
“Remember, I’ve got a gun. Just stay in here and don’t come out until I come back for you, okay?”
Reluctantly he did as she urged. When the door had closed and she’d heard the lock click, she headed for the stairwell once more.
On ground level, she pressed against the door that would take her outside and listened. She wasn’t worried about anyone coming in through this doorit was an exit only. They’d had to walk back to the lobby to reach their room after parking a few hours ago. If trouble had arrived, it would have to come through the lobby to reach her.
A moment’s uncertainty trickled through her. Jeffrey should be safe as long as he stayed put. Any scouts that had been sent would be searching rooms, not locked linen closets.
And, bearing in mind what she knew now, this could turn ugly. Ushering Jeffrey outside in the middle of the night only to get shot at wasn’t at all appealing.
She steeled herself and slowly pulled the door inward just enough to peek outside. Nothing moved in and around the vehicles she could see beyond the sidewalk at this end of the hotel.
Not wanting to have to go through the lobby in the event she needed to reach the room in a hurry, she bent down and felt around for a large enough nugget of landscaping bark to prevent the door from closing fully once she slipped out.
The night was warm. Humid. And deathly still.
Her pulse skittered, reacting to the faster rhythm of her heart’s response to the rising adrenaline.
She edged to the corner of the building and surveyed the front parking area and hotel entrance. Nothing.
Where the hell was Landry?
Moving swiftly, she checked the rear of the building. She almost turned away, assuming the back of the building was as clear as the front. But then she looked again.
The vehicle’s engine ran smoothly, quietly. She might not have heard it at all if she hadn’t hesitated that extra second. No interior lights, no exterior lights, just an engine running in a beefy black SUV. One very much like the vehicle that had given pursuit at the mall. But she couldn’t say for sure it was the same one.
The windows were tinted to the extent that she couldn’t see inside.
She needed to be closer.
A lot closer.
Olivia crouched next to the shrubbery line that flanked the building and reviewed her options for getting from point A to point B across the parking lot.
If she stayed close to the building, behind the shrubs that softened the landscape between it and the sidewalk, she would be concealed until she reached the other side of the parking lot. Cars sat in every available space on that end, all the way to the sidewalk.
She could move through the cars until she reached the SUV.
Attempting to maneuver with any speed in a crouched position resulted in a couple of spills, but she made it to the other end of the building. Damn, she was out of practice. A running crouch was not a part of her regular workout these days.
A distance of about ten feet separated the shrub she was currently using as camouflage from the first vehicle she needed to reach. Since she couldn’t tell if anyone was in the SUV, she’d just have to risk being seen.
Hunkering as low to the pavement as possible, she scrambled to the first parked vehicle.
She sat very still, trying to hear above her ragged breathing. No door slamming. No running footsteps.
Okay.
Move.
Staying low, she wove through the vehicles. A steadying calm had lapsed over her, allowing her to focus fully on her target.
The SUV sat on the access way between two rows of parked vehicles, facilitating a fast getaway if necessary. The engine was still running. A puddle of water beneath it indicated the air-conditioning was in use.
She had two options here. She could move around the end of the vehicle, stand up and peer through the glass and hope she’d be able to make out anyone inside. Or she could create a distraction.