Viper's Kiss (7 page)

Maggie pushed the door to Room 621 open and slid inside, quickly closing it behind her. The sound of the alarm was muted through the door.

Her mother lay on a bed. Nasal tubes had been inserted to help increase her oxygen intake.

Maggie approached the bed. Her mother looked so tiny, so thin and forlorn in the standard bed that looked so large in comparison to the fragile patient lying in it. She gulped. She looked around the bed. There were no reassuring dings or beeps measuring her mother’s tenuous hold on life. The silence was punctuated by the rattling breaths slowly dragging into her mother’s lungs. The sound shocked her. Then the sound stopped.

Maggie’s mouth opened in horror.
Oh, please no, not so—
The rattle sounded again as another breath was drawn, and Maggie’s shoulders sagged in relief. For a moment there…

She sat on the edge and reached for the frail hand lying atop the bed covers. The skin was cool and dry, like tissue paper. She placed her other hand over the top, trying to imbue it with some warmth.

“Mom,” she whispered.

No response.

Rattle. Pause. Rasp. Pause. Rattle.

Maggie tried again, a little louder. “Mom, wake up. It’s me, Maggie.”

Lillian Kincaid’s brow furrowed, and her eyelids fluttered. She stared blankly out at the room.

“What—?”

Maggie leaned forward, into her line of vision. “Hi, Mom. It’s me, Maggie.”

Lillian’s face collapsed with horrified concern. “Och, child, what’s happened to you?” Her Scottish accent was still strong, despite her barely audible voice.

Maggie’s eyes widened in comprehension.
The bandages
. She must look like a beat up mummy. “Oh, hush, it’s okay, Mom. It’s pretend.” She touched the cloth, then tapped it with a knuckle. “See, I’m not really hurt.”

“Are ye sure, Maggie?”

“I’m positive, Mom. Fighting fit,” Maggie lied, a tremulous smile on her lips.

“What they’re saying about ye, did ye…?” Her mother’s voice trailed off as she tried to draw another rasping breath.

“No, Mom, it’s not true. There’s been a mistake, but I’m fixing it.”

“Och, thank the lord fer that. Sweet Mary, but it threw me when the police turned up at our door.”

Maggie rubbed her hand over the palm she held. “I’m sorry, Mom.” Try as she might, Maggie couldn’t prevent the rogue tear from trailing down her cheek. “I’m so sorry.” For the pain her mother was in, for the worry she’d caused her. For wishing her dead.

Lillian moved her head slightly. “No, darlin’, it’s me that’s dreadful sorry. I put ye into this sad position.”

“No,” Maggie cried. “You’ve got nothing to apologize for.” She watched as her mother struggled to take another breath. She heard the door open behind her, and she ducked her head. She wanted to cry out, to rage at the intrusion. She’d run out of time. She was about to be arrested. Her mother would die thinking her guilty of the crimes she was accused of.

“No, if I hadn’t taken up with that Andy,” her mother began. “And then the number eight business…”

Maggie shook her head. “Shhh.” She placed her finger on her mother’s lips.

She looked over her shoulder. Luke stood just inside the door, flanked by his associates. They all wore identical expressions of furious determination. Luke recovered first and stepped closer.

Maggie shook her head, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. The man was…
relentless
.

“Please,” she whispered hoarsely.

He slowly approached the bed and looked down at the ill woman lying there.

“Mrs. Kincaid,” he said.

Lillian looked up at him, confusion wrinkling her brow. “Do I know ye?”

Luke shook his head. “No, my name is Luke Fletcher. I’m here for your daughter.” He looked at Maggie, and she felt pinned by his cobalt eyes. There was anger there, but also a hint of a softer emotion she couldn’t name.

“She didn’t do it,” Lillian rasped. Maggie felt her mother’s hand grip hers, before loosening almost immediately, as though the effort cost her greatly.

Luke nodded. “It’s okay.” His tone was soothing.

Lillian coughed. “No, she wouldna steal. Not after Andy.”

Luke cocked an eyebrow, and Maggie felt the weight of his gaze. She refused to meet his eyes, staring instead at her mother.

“Andy?” Luke asked quietly, with interest.

“Shh, Mom, you need to rest,” Maggie said softly. She didn’t want to revisit the pain Andy McTavish had wrought on her family, didn’t want her mother to revisit that pain on her deathbed.

“No, darlin’, I’m sorry fer what that man did,” Lillian whispered.

Maggie brushed at her wet cheeks. “It wasn’t your fault, Mom,” she whispered back.

Her mother’s throat worked as she tried to swallow, and she nodded. “Aye, it was. Forgive me?”

Maggie choked back a sob and nodded. “Only if you forgive me, Mom.”

“Och, ye’re a wonderful daughter, and there be nothing needin’ forgiveness.” Lillian sighed, as her eyes fluttered again. “I worry about ye, darlin’, with this nasty business ye be involved in.”

Maggie licked her wet lips, tasting the salt of her tears. Nothing to forgive. Her mother didn’t know about her secret shame. She also didn’t know she was innocent of murder and spying. Lillian’s breaths were coming farther and farther apart.

Luke placed a comforting hand on Lillian’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Kincaid. You’re daughter is merely helping us with our enquiries,” he said.

Maggie’s eyes shot to meet his.
What?
The man was lying to her mother. She looked at her mother, and a smile of relief crossed the woman’s face.

“Och, really now?”

Luke nodded. “Yes, she’s a very important consultant on the case.”

“Ach, that’s good. She’s a good gel,” Lillian rasped again. Her grasp on Maggie’s hand relaxed, and her head rolled to the side as she stared vacantly into space. Her jaw slackened. No more rattling breaths sounded, no matter how long Maggie waited for them.

She stared at her mother. She was gone. Her mother’s image blurred, and she felt the touch of a warm hand on her shoulder. She brushed at her tears and looked up at the man beside her.

His normally clear eyes were shadowed with sadness, a suspicious glint of moisture, before he blinked. His features fell into a remote mask as nurses hurried into the room.

“We’re here to move you, Mrs.—” One began. “Oh.”

Luke pulled Maggie toward the door as the nurses checked her mother. Maggie couldn’t turn away, didn’t want to abandon her mother in death.

A tall man with dark hair and the darkest brown eyes stepped in her line of vision. She snapped her attention up to his face. It was set in grim lines as he nodded to the door.

“Come on.”

She allowed herself to be pulled through the doorway. Luke and his men flanked her either side and to the rear, and she fell into step with them.

Mom’s gone
.

She looked down at her bare feet. Sadness weighed heavily on her, and her knees buckled briefly. Luke’s hand grabbed her elbow and pulled her along. His touch gave her support, although she wasn’t sure that was his intention.

Hot tears rolled down her face, and she wiped the sleeve of her gown across her runny nose.
It’s over. She’s gone
. The speckled linoleum clouded to an indistinct white mass as she trudged along with the men.

She was caught, but she didn’t care. Her mother was dead. They could do whatever they wanted. They could lock her up and throw away the key, for all she cared. She sniffled. At least her mother had died believing she was innocent and free. She died believing a lie.

There was small comfort in that.

Luke sat in the back seat of the Ford with Maggie. Noah drove, Drew beside him in the front passenger seat. He glanced at Maggie huddled in the corner. Her gaze was fixed on the night time traffic of Seattle.

A damn smoke bomb. She’d rigged it with what? A newspaper, some first aid supplies and a match?
Brilliant
. He met Noah’s eyes in the rear-view mirror. Noah hadn’t questioned Luke’s decision to return to the safe house, but Luke sensed his doubts. The normal course of action would be to return the prisoner to custody, but his instincts screamed against it. Something wasn’t quite right. Maggie Kincaid wasn’t anything like he’d expected. She’d made a harmless smoke bomb, which resulted in no injury or property damage, when her file suggested that Viper would have no qualms building a real bomb and using it. She was intelligent, resourceful, like any good spy worth their salt. But she made dangerous mistakes. Like visiting her dying mother in the hospital. That had been an obvious choice. Or like leaving her identity marker on the hack into Tek-Intel’s network. Like leaving her braid down during the theft…

She had been right to scoff. Not only was her hair instantly identifiable, but in a physical confrontation her hair could’ve been used as a weapon against her. He knew if push came to shove, he’d have no compunction using that kind of weapon with an opponent. Then there was her overdrawn bank account. Viper had an eight-year income history of theft and espionage that would make Nigerian scam artist drool with envy.

So why is she living crammed in a one-bedder walk-up with an ill mother, looking like she’s a soup kitchen away from abject poverty?

His gaze roamed over the silent woman sitting next to him. She’d said nothing since leaving her mother’s hospital room. Shown no interest in her surroundings or actions. He’d fought on the front line long enough to recognize the signs of shock. He’d seen it many times, comrades of the killed so overwhelmed with grief they operated on auto-pilot. That was Maggie’s situation now.

He wanted to reach over and wrap a comforting arm around her, offer a shoulder to cry on. He clenched his fist on his thigh. Noah and Drew would never let him hear the end of it, and Reese…Well, Luke didn’t want to think of what his boss might make of it.

Damn it, why did she have this effect on him? He watched as she folded her arms over her chest and hunched over, a slight shiver racking her frame.

He sighed and shrugged out of his jacket. Drew turned and watched as he draped it over her shoulders, an eyebrow rising. Maggie didn’t notice the gesture.

“So, where’s the prototype?” Drew asked, twisting further in his seat.

Maggie flicked him a glance before turning away from him, her features set in a stony mask.

Her silence didn’t seem to bother Drew. Luke relaxed back in his seat. Drew was the charming one. With a quick wit and easy smile, he had a knack for making those around him relax. And give up information. Or resources. Or sex. Luke chewed the inside of his cheek as he waited.

“You know we have to get the prototype before it falls into the wrong hands,” Drew said, his tone light, as though he was discussing nothing of further import than toppings on a pizza.

“I think it’s already in the wrong hands,” Noah said in an aside. “We want to get it out of her hands, remember?”

Drew nodded. “Ah, yes, thanks for the clarification.” He turned back to Maggie. “Look, why don’t we help you? You give us the prototype, and we’ll see what we can do with your prison term.”

Luke cocked an eyebrow. He’d missed the charm in that, somewhere. Apparently Maggie was equally unimpressed. She remained in her position, ignoring them.

Luke decided to give it a try. “Who’s Andy?” Ever since her mother had mentioned it, he’d been turning the name over in his mind, trying to figure out who and what he was to Maggie.

She fixed him with a steely gray stare. Her brow wrinkled, then she turned back to the window.

“Nobody.” Her voice was quiet, strained.

“Your mother seemed to think he was somebody.” Luke watched the muscle in her jaw tick. He clenched his fist to stop himself reaching out to her.

“He was. Now he’s nobody.”

Luke glanced at Drew, who shrugged and lifted his chin, as though urging him on.

“What did Andy do, Maggie?” Luke asked. He had a bad feeling about the guy. If he’d done anything to her…He forced himself to relax. He shouldn’t be feeling this protective instinct toward Viper. She was dangerous. She made him doubt the intel, and as a former soldier, intel was vital for survival. He’d already dropped his guard once with her and she’d escaped. Yet his determination to do his duty warred with an overwhelming desire to comfort and protect the woman beside him.

Her shoulders shook as silent sobs wracked her body.

“He killed my mom,” she whispered.

Luke stiffened with shock as he met Noah’s gaze in the rear view mirror. He knew his own face wore the same confused expression.

Noah pulled into the garage of the safe house and parked next to the bike Luke had used earlier. All the men waited until the garage door was again closed before getting out of the car. Luke opened Maggie’s door and waited for her to alight before closing it behind her.

Noah entered the access code into the keypad, and they all trooped into the kitchen. Luke ensured everything was secured behind them before following. They’d spoken to the nurse. Lillian Kincaid had suffered from ovarian cancer that had spread throughout her system. That’s what had ultimately killed her. So who was this Andy, and what had he done to the Kincaids? Was he the reason Maggie had turned to espionage? His brow furrowed as he tried to decipher Maggie’s words.

He trailed behind the group, watching as Maggie’s bare feet shuffled across the tiled floor onto the timber floorboards of the living room. Her feet must be freezing, he realized, yet she gave no indication of discomfort. She paused. She looked lost, as though she didn’t know what to do next.

Noah gestured to the bandage she still wore. “I think you can get rid of your disguise now.”

All three men had the grace to look sheepish. They’d all stepped into the elevator with her, had travelled several floors and exited it, without realizing the woman they were hunting stood right behind them. Hell, she’d even rigged a smoke bomb and mass evacuation mere meters from where they’d been talking to the nurse. Luke sighed. Viper may not be a good thief, but she was damned inventive, and good with disguises. They’d had no clue as to her true identity.

Maggie shrugged out of Luke’s jacket and handed it back to him. He clasped the leather and resisted the impulse to bury his nose in it. The leather was still warm from her body, and the faint scent of soap wafted up to him.

She peeled off the hospital gowns and threw them casually on the sofa, revealing the clothes she wore beneath. She pulled out the elastic clasp and unwound the bandages on her head. It took her a few moments, but finally her hair shook loose and fell in waves down her back.

Noah gaped, and Luke heard Drew suck in his breath. Luke frowned. So he wasn’t the only man susceptible to Maggie’s beauty. Noah’s jaw snapped closed.

“Do I know you? You look familiar,” he blurted, shooting Luke a questioning glance.

Maggie sighed. “There’s a lot of that going around.”

She turned but halted at the sight of the bank details Luke had left on one of the monitors. He realized she could also see the screen shots of her various ID’s and records. She glanced at the table and noticed her laptop hooked up to a computer. Her lips firmed as she turned and faced them.

“Is nothing sacred to you? Must you invade every facet of my life?”

Luke stopped himself from shifting under her accusatory gaze. Damn it, he had a job to do. He was
supposed
to poke around in her life. He had nothing to feel guilty about, but he couldn’t deny it—his interest was more than professional.

“You’ve stolen top secret military research,” he ground out, each word punctuated by a step in her direction.

“No, I haven’t,” she argued, standing her ground. Luke ignored the spurt of admiration that fluttered to life at her courage. Or her obstinacy. He wasn’t sure, but either way, she was determined.

“You were filmed, damn it. All the evidence is against you.”

“Is it? Tell me exactly what you’ve got. A grainy photo of someone who looks a little like me? I can show you another one of those, we both know that. What else?”

She rested a hand on her hip, her eyebrows raised as she waited for his response.

“We know it was you who broke into the TI network,” he shot back.

She waved a hand. “Oh, yeah, the hacker-tracker thingamabob. I’m sure I’ll be able to provide doubt on that.” Her tone was dismissive, but Luke saw the line on her forehead crease for a moment in worry.

His eyes shifted to her laptop. “Yeah, well, I know you planted the Trojan, but it’s not going to clear you.”

Maggie’s head jerked back. “The Trojan? What Trojan?”

“Um, that’s probably not the Trojan I’m thinking of, right?” Drew raised an eyebrow.

Noah rolled his eyes and slapped his colleague across the shoulder. “Can you forget about sex for one minute?”

Drew slapped him back with a crude answer.

Luke ignored his companions’ sideline banter as he crossed to the laptop. “Trojan horse. She’s got a Trojan horse on her laptop.”

Maggie frowned. “I do?”

“What’s a Trojan horse?” Drew asked patiently.

“It’s a form of malware, or spyware, but not quite a computer virus.” Maggie approached the laptop, her frown deepening. “A malicious software program.”

“Which is?” Noah asked dryly from his position leaning against the kitchen bench top separating the kitchen area from the living room.

“Like in Troy, a Trojan horse allows someone unauthorized access,” Luke explained. “It’s a hacker program that allows an intruder to access a computer remotely and perform operations. In this case, it’s a program that lets someone enter a secure cyber environment without detection.”

“I don’t understand. I use the latest in anti-viral software on this laptop. I do a scan each time I use it,” said Maggie.

“This spyware can avoid the usual scans. It hides in a program, and dodges the scan by jumping from one file to the next and back again, to avoid detection. Most viruses and Trojans alter the program files in some way. This one just lurks most of the time. It’s quite sophisticated,” Luke admitted. “I almost missed it.”

“But that means someone else can use my computer,” Maggie said, her eyes flashing to Luke. “It means someone else can
control
my computer.” She put her hands on both her hips as she met his look. “It means that someone can use my computer to access the TI network.”

“Is that true?” Drew looked at Luke for confirmation.

Luke nodded. “It’s also a good way to throw the blame onto somebody else for a crime you’ve committed.”

Maggie closed her eyes briefly, as though trying to hold on to her patience. “I. Did. Not. Steal. Anything. From TI,” she said through gritted teeth. “And I certainly wouldn’t use my computer to hack into a secure network, then leave a blazingly obvious clue to claim to all and sundry that I did the dirty work.”

Drew touched Luke on the sleeve. “She does have a point.”

Luke nodded. “There is evidence of spyware on her laptop.”

“Can you prove, one way or the other, if she owns the Trojan horse?”

Luke hesitated. “There might be a way. I can check TI’s network logs at the time of the break in and compare them to her user logs. If what she says is true, then the TI logs will show her access at their end, but we’ll see an unauthorized user’s details for the same time on her personal laptop.”

Drew nodded. “Let’s check.” He turned away from Maggie and faced Luke squarely. “But don’t get too excited. Everything points to her as being Viper.” Drew’s voice was low, and Luke had to lean closer to hear him.

Luke nodded. He wasn’t going to fall for any more of her ruses. Luke shoved his doubts to the back of his mind. As far as he was concerned, she was still the woman responsible for at least three deaths and the mastermind behind the theft of top secret research.

He approached his computer and flicked a quick glance at Maggie. He wanted to kick himself. He’d begun to soften toward her, almost believed there was a chance she could be innocent. The film from the CCTV footage sprung to his mind. The intruder had shot the security guard in the head, without compunction. He thought of her code name. Viper. The poisonous snake that could strike without warning. It would be wise to bear that in mind from now on.

His lips firmed as he typed in several commands, and his software program booted into action. She’d almost convinced him that it was another person in the film. He waited for the program to pull up a result, and idly glanced at one of the TV news monitors on mute.

Maggie’s face was on the screen. Smoky green eyes and a face glamorous in full color make-up stared back at him. He picked up the remote and increased the volume, frowning. Every time he saw Maggie’s face with green eyes, it threw him.
Must be contacts
. He thought her natural gray color suited her much better.

Drew, Noah and Maggie all turned to the screen, and he heard Maggie’s swift intake of breath.

“…Kelly Collins, also known as Kandy Karamel, was found in her apartment this evening, her neck broken. The coroner estimates she was murdered late this afternoon. Police are investigating. She was only twenty-three. Tomorrow’s weather will be a cool—”

Luke switched off the volume, stunned, and looked at Maggie. Her face was ashen, her eyes large and dark. When he’d brought the woman’s image up on screen before, she’d told him it was Kandy Karamel and not her. He could have sworn it was Maggie, though. If he’d been wrong about that, he could also be wrong about Maggie’s involvement with the TI espionage.
Hell
.

Noah snapped his fingers. “I knew I’d seen you somewhere before. There were some differences, but you’re Miss April Hotrod.” He nodded triumphantly, then frowned and looked back at the screen. “Or not.”

Maggie shook her head. “I’m not Miss April Hotrod. But we look alike.” Her hands twisted in front of her, and Luke focused on the anxious gesture. He watched the muscles in her throat work as she tried to swallow. “You don’t think she was killed because of me, do you? Because someone thought she was me?” she asked hoarsely. He could see the horror on her face.

Drew folded his arms and cocked his head to the side. “It’s an interesting concept.”

Luke’s jaw tightened. If he trusted the wrong source, he may never recover the stolen TI project. He had to think with his brain and not any other part of his body when it came to Maggie. The report had said the woman was killed in the late afternoon. His mind quickly calculated the timeline. It was after Maggie escaped from the bathroom and before they discovered her at the hospital. She may have had enough time to murder the woman to try and throw doubt on her case before meeting her mother.

And he’d tried to soften the blow to the ill woman by lying to her, to try and relieve her obvious worry. He didn’t know what to think. He was supposed to rely on his intel, but as a former Green Beret he knew sometimes that intel could be flawed, and that a soldier had to assess the situation and make quick decisions on the ground. What if someone had mistaken Ms. Karamel for Maggie? What if the image on the CCTV footage was somebody else, as Maggie insisted?

His brow furrowed. What if Ms. Karamel had been mistaken for Maggie, and the murderer was in fact after the woman standing in front of him? It could have been Maggie lying on a cold slab in a morgue somewhere instead of this Kandy Karamel.
What if there is another player in the game?

He checked his monitor, and the program had the results. He quickly compared the time logs. Tek-Intel showed Maggie’s access. Maggie’s logs showed an unauthorized user. He shook his head slightly, staring at the screen.
Okay
. So not quite the closed case they’d thought it was. It still didn’t explain what the hell was going on.

Drew was scanning the financial records, and frowning at the screen when Luke met his gaze. Drew left the computer and approached him.

“Have you got a result?”

Luke nodded. “Yep. Someone hacked into her laptop and used it to access the TI server.”

Drew leaned back against the counter. “What are you thinking?”

Luke sighed. “Something’s not quite right here. There is obvious evidence someone has tampered with her computer and used it to break into the TI system.” He gestured to the laptop. “And cracking her password login was child’s play. Anyone could have done it.” He glanced at Maggie, who had taken a seat on the sofa while Noah had pulled out the deck of cards he always carried and shuffled them.

“You saw her apartment,” Luke commented quietly, finally voicing his doubts to his friend and colleague. “She and her mother didn’t have two pennies to rub together. I don’t care how deep undercover you are, or how careful you are with a disguise. If you can afford it, you still try to be comfortable. That apartment wasn’t comfortable.”

“Maybe money is the motivator for the crime,” Drew pointed out.

Luke shook his head. “I don’t think so. Viper’s history goes back eight years. Thefts from the British, the Germans, the French, the Iranians, you name it. You saw her concern for her mother. If she could afford it, she would have paid for better care, rather than house her in that apartment.”

Drew moved his head, obviously still not convinced.

“And then there’s the comics,” Luke added.

Drew arched an eyebrow. “What about the comics?”

“Wonder Woman? C’mon. It’s pure fantasy. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, I just think it’s weird that our spy reads Wonder Woman comics.”

“I’ve seen weirder things. Besides, what about the evidence? The CCTV footage?”

Luke shrugged. “I know, everything else says she did it, but, well, I have my doubts.” He rolled his eyes at the look Drew gave him. “And no, it’s not because I’m attracted to her.”

“But you are,” Drew stated.

Luke looked over his shoulder. Her slender jean clad legs were crossed, the white top clung to breasts made to fill a man’s hands, and her blond curls framed a heart-shaped face that, despite bruises and cuts, screamed natural beauty. No wonder she’d been mistaken for a model, she was the stuff randy men dreamed of.

“Who wouldn’t be?”

Drew sighed. “True.”

Luke’s head whipped around and he frowned at his friend, who immediately held up a hand. “Not that I’m attracted to her.” Drew shrugged. “She’s a spy, for Pete’s sake.”

And there was the problem. Luke looked gloomily at the computer. He was supposed to bring her in, hand her over to the Feds, not drool over her as he hid her in the safe house.

“I’ll admit, you’ve got some good points, but we’re hired to bring her in and find the prototype. It’s up to the Feds to prove or disprove her innocence.”

Luke sighed. “You’re right. There are too many dead bodies lying around to be a coincidence. We don’t have all the facts.” He jerked his head toward her. “And she’s not talking.”