by AK Leigh
Excellent! That would give him the perfect excuse to make his apology.
Smiling, he said, ‘No problem. What is it?’
Chapter 8
Her second time, at training on Monday afternoon, came too fast. She wasn’t prepared to see him again. He appeared anyway. His light-brown, just-past-shaggy hair was perfectly coiffed; his blue-grey eyes sparkled as bright as ever; the familiar snowsuit was annoyingly snug.
She frowned. Three months had passed with them never running into each other. Now it seemed like she couldn’t get rid of him. How was she supposed to stick to her survival plan if he was never out of her sight?
He aimed a tentative smile at her before approaching. ‘Hello.’
She looked away and muttered, ‘Hi.’
He cleared his throat. Then came the words she’d never expected to hear from him, ‘I’m sorry I was such an arsehole.’
She whipped her head around and blurted, ‘Excuse me?’
‘I hurt you and you didn’t deserve that. You’re a good person, Nina … and even though I know I’m not a good man, if I could go back, I would do things differently.’
A lump wadded up her throat. She felt her own eyes moisten and blinked to stop herself from crying. All this time, she’d assumed he’d felt no regret over what he’d done. Which had fuelled her anger towards him. She hadn’t realised how much she’d needed him to acknowledge what he’d done, how much she needed to know that he was sorry.
She looked to the floor and nodded. It was the only way she could manage to show she’d accepted his apology.
After a moment of silence, he asked, ‘Are you okay?’
The genuine concern in his tone made her look up. His eyes glistened with the same unshed tears that remained in her eyes. He really was sorry. She felt the ice she’d wrapped around her heart to protect herself crack. Maybe they could get to a place where they were friends … well, probably not friends … but friendly acquaintances perhaps?
She nodded, but this time she also managed to croak, ‘I am. Thank you.’
He smiled.
They stood in silence for a moment. Then she noticed something in his hands.
She indicated with a bob of her head at it, ‘What’s that?’
‘Oh.’ He glanced down then back up as he stretched his arms out to her. ‘That’s what I came to give you. Your team uniforms. Coach asked me to give them to you. He’s going to be late this morning.’
‘Again?’
He’d been late on her first day of training too.
‘Mm. Personal issues apparently.’
She nodded then refocused on the uniforms. That was always the best part; that was when you knew it was official.
She didn’t stifle her excitement when she took them from him with a wide smile and gushed, ‘My uniforms.’
He grinned, clearly amused at her reaction.
There was always something magical about receiving team uniforms.
She held one up for a closer inspection. It was similar to the one he wore. Green and gold with white stars across the midriff area.
She looked over at him. ‘Thank you.’
His eyes locked hers in a way that showed he knew she wasn’t only referring to the uniforms. ‘You’re welcome.’
She saw him hesitate. There was something else he wanted to say but wasn’t sure whether he should.
‘What is it?’
‘I’ve been watching you, Lizzie, and Carrie on the news. You did an amazing job on the Baronie case, you should be proud of yourself.’
The mysterious murder of the rich Perth socialite, Maryann Baronie, had been the last cold case they’d cracked.
‘Thank you. I am. We are.’
Silence ensued and started to feel awkward.
She indicated with her eyes to her uniforms. ‘I should try these on.’
‘Of course. Bye, Nina.’
‘Bye, Andrei.’
As she walked away, she replayed his apology in her mind. One part stuck in her mind. I’m not a good man. What did that mean? Intuition told her those words hinted at something besides the way he’d treated her. She wasn’t sure what, but it was a hell of a lot more information than he’d given her before. The apology too. That was something she’d never expected from him.
Maybe he had changed? Eight years was a long time after all …
She frowned and pushed the thought away.
She’d been fooled by him before. There was no way in hell’s hottest depths that she would allow the same thing to happen. It had taken her too long to gain control over her emotions … and heart. He wasn’t going to take that from her again. She was stronger than that now. Her guard had to remain up.
* * *
She’d been there. The tears that had welled up in her eyes after his apology, her gracious acceptance of it, and the excitement at seeing her uniforms were signs that the woman he’d known all those years ago was still there.
He smiled, grateful for that. His actions hadn’t completely changed her.
Now that she’d forgiven him, he’d be able to move beyond the guilt he felt at hurting her. His smile widened at the thought … but faltered when he realised the snag of guilt still sitting at the bottom of his stomach.
What was going on?
He’d apologised, she’d forgiven him. He was free of the past. Right?
He frowned as a new understanding came. She may have forgiven him for what he’d done, but she still didn’t know why he’d done it. She didn’t know the truth, she only knew lies.
He shook his head.
You’ve gone over this already.
It was better this way. She could never know the truth. She would just have to continue to believe the lies and he would have to stay away from her as much as possible. None of it mattered anyway.
Only the weapons, the terrorist, and the medal.
His heart ached, and he knew what it meant. As far as Nina Farris was concerned, it did matter to him. Others could think what they liked, they’d never bothered to get to know him. They’d never claimed to see anything in him besides bad.
Nina had not only seen the good in him, she’d made him see it too. If only for a couple of weeks.
And that is precisely why she can never know the truth.
He needed her to believe the lies.
Freedom from the inside of a damned prison cell was another thing he needed. He had to remain emotionally disconnected from her, stay away from her unless it was unavoidable, and keep himself one hundred per cent focused on the real reason he was here.
Chapter 9
Sitting on the lounge in her living room the following night, Lizzie hadn’t realised she was staring straight ahead until Carrie’s thumb and index fingers appeared in her line of sight.
Her little sister snapped the fingers together. ‘Wakey, wakey, eggs and vegetarian-bakey.’
Nina chuckled, ‘Sorry. I’m here.’
Lizzie gave her a compassionate look, ‘We can do this another time if you’re not up to it?’
‘No, it’s a good distraction and we need to be as prepared as possible before we leave.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m sure. The AFP needs the top suspects before the opening ceremony. We have to work on this.’
Carrie said, ‘All right. What do we know for sure?’
‘We know that a competitor is threatening the Western competitors at the Winter Olympics with a bomb. Well, multiple bombs actually.’
Deep concern etched into both her sisters’ brows, though neither of them voiced what was obviously on their minds: they were worried about her being involved in such a life-threatening situation.
Lizzie asked, ‘Do we know their motivation?’
Carrie added, ‘And why only the Westerners?’
‘They said they disagree with the Western world’s involvement in the Olympics, considering the Westerners who have been, and are being, detained in Chinese prisons. They’ve demanded that China release them
before the Olympics or …’ She held up her hands and made quotation marks with her fingers as she continued, ‘There will be consequences.’
Carrie said, ‘It’s an emotional motivation then? The feeling of a lack of justice where human-rights abuse has occurred fits into that category, right?’
‘Yes. And, I’d add another emotional point: political differences.’
Lizzie scribbled something on the notepad she always carried with her. Nina grinned at the habit. As for herself, she already had this written down. Carrie just nodded. Little sister preferred to keep all but the most important details—those that related to her specialty of forensic science and forensic anthropology—in mental notes. She also tended to pop sticky notes on things when she was going over the case in private.
Lizzie looked up. ‘Okay, so our suspects are likely to be Westerners then: Australian, American, Kiwi, Canadian, British, Irish et cetera.’
Carrie added, ‘Could be Chinese too. Using the influence of the West for their cause?’
‘Yes. Good point.’
‘Well that will narrow it down considerably, won’t it?’
Nina nodded at Lizzie. ‘Definitely, but maybe we need to think outside the box here too. What other nationalities have issues with China? Or could use their friendly status as cover?’
She glanced between her two sisters. Carrie flashed her a weird look.
‘What is it?’
‘Well … don’t get mad … but … Russia.’
As her sisters had obviously concluded already, the image of Andrei flashed into her mind. His sudden change to the Australian team was suspicious. None of what she’d known about him—how proudly Russian he was, how he’d told her he didn’t want to compete for Australia when she’d suggested it, how he’d explained with great passion about the outdoor training slopes the Russian athletes were given exclusive use over—seemed to make the explanation of a minutely possible ban plausible. There was something else going on, she just wasn’t sure what.
She tried to respond, but a croak came out instead. She cleared her throat and tried again, ‘They are really friendly.’
‘Which makes them the perfect suspects. It’s always the one you least expect, right?’
‘Maybe …’
‘And both countries have an arguably dubious history with human rights. Could be someone taking the opportunity to make a point by proxy?’
‘Mm. Could be, but highly unlikely.’
What she’d meant was there was no way Andrei could be involved. Something inside of her told her he couldn’t. He might have told her he wasn’t a good man, and it was true that he’d behaved like a jerk towards her, but being a terrorist was a big leap from that. It didn’t sit right with her cop instincts.
Lizzie threw her a sympathetic smile, seeming to have picked up her unspoken thought, then said, ‘I’ll note it down. Just in case. Keep all options open at this stage.’
Carrie asked, ‘Where’s the list of competitors?’
‘Here.’
From her lamp table, Nina removed the reams of paper she’d printed out and stapled together at work the day before.
Carrie raised an eyebrow, ‘Geez. How many pages is that?’
‘Around fifty.’
‘Oh great. This is going to be fun.’
‘At least we have a few countries we can remove from the list already. Speaking of …’ She rifled through and tore out the unnecessary pages. About half remained. She looked up, and said to both her sisters, ‘Who do you want?’
‘I’ll take the Chinese.’ Lizzie held out her hand for the relevant sheets of paper.
Nina sorted them then handed her over a few pages. Lizzie took them.
‘I’ll take the Westerners.’
Fantastic. That left her with the Russians. Had her sisters done that on purpose? She didn’t comment as she passed over the sheets with the other suspects on them.
‘Everyone set?’
Carrie and Lizzie answered together, ‘Yep.’
‘Okay. Have a look. See if you can narrow your lists down before we meet up again. I want as few people to keep an eye on as possible while I’m over there.’
Carrie asked, ‘What are the AFP doing?’
‘Extra surveillance, baggage checks, and us three going in undercover. I assume the Kiwis, Yanks, and Brits will do much the same. Plus the Chinese security services are doing their thing.’
‘Of course we won’t be privy to any of that information?’
‘Of course.’
‘How much time do we have?’
‘I travel to Beijing on the sixth of February, which makes it …’ She paused to count the days in her head. ‘Two weeks exactly. Then we have three days before the opening ceremony starts on the ninth.’
‘That’s not a lot of time!’
‘I know we’re used to being at leisure with our time frames, but we can come up with a basic plan and narrow down our top suspects in two weeks, can’t we?’
Carrie frowned, ‘I guess so.’
Lizzie nodded her agreement, then said, ‘Hang on. How do we know the suspect will even be on one of these lists? It could be some random person in the street.’
‘The intel I have is pretty solid that it’s a competitor.’
‘So definitely not a coach or trainer or family member?’
‘Well, I don’t think anything is ever definite when it comes to crime, is it?’
Lizzie nodded. ‘True. I’ll do a profile and see if it can help.’
‘Thank you. In the meantime, let’s have a quick scan of these lists.’ She focused on Carrie, ‘How many Aussies?’
Their little sister counted the names on her sheets, then looked up, and said, ‘Thirty-six.’
They went through the rest of the Western countries, then China. Nina knew what was coming next and instinctively held her breath.
Carrie asked what she was waiting to hear, ‘How many Russians?’
‘Ah.’ She counted. ‘Sixty-seven.’
‘Does that include Andrei?’
She gulped, ‘Why would it include Andrei? Wasn’t he included with the Aussies?’
She was sure she already knew both answers.
‘No. He’s Russian.’
‘Technically he’s Russian-Australian, and he’s competing for our team.’
‘Which is more than a little suspicious, don’t you think? Why now? At the same time as a terrorist threat. He’s never shown any interest in competing for us before. Bit coincidental, don’t you think?’
‘I …’
She trailed off. Hadn’t she thought the exact thing herself? Even though he held dual citizenship, and his mother had been born in Australia, he’d always considered himself to be more Russian than Australian.
Why is he competing for Australia? Did the terrorist attack have anything to do with it? Was he involved somehow? What was his motivation for being here? Was he working with other people?
She made a mental note to apply her top five motives to his unexpected switch to the Australian team later. If he wasn’t going to tell her, she was going to figure it out.
Even though she had her apprehension about the official answer, she blurted, ‘It was due to the possibility of being banned.’
Carrie’s eyebrows lifted. ‘He told you that himself?’
‘Well, no. That’s what the media said.’
Carrie waved her hand in a dismissive action, ‘Pfft. What would they know?’
‘But it is possible.’
Lizzie offered a lifeline, with a nod of agreement, ‘It is possible.’
Carrie gave her an unconvinced look, but made no further comment.
Lizzie pressed, ‘So he hasn’t told you why?’
She recalled their previous encounters, including the most recent, which she had yet to tell her sisters about. ‘He hasn’t … but he did apologise for being an arsehole to me back then.’
She received the reaction she’d anticipated: stunned expressions and deathl
y silence.
Carrie was the first to break it. ‘How?’
Lizzie added, ‘When?’
‘He came up to give me my team uniforms yesterday and apologised.’
‘What did he say?’ Lizzie again.
‘He said he was sorry and that I was a good person who hadn’t deserved what he’d done. He also said he wasn’t a good man.’
Carrie snorted. ‘Got that right.’
Lizzie frowned, ‘But that doesn’t make sense. Why wasn’t he a good man? He treated you well, except for the way he …’
She let the words ‘broke up with you’ trail away, for which kindness Nina smiled then replied, ‘I’ve been wondering the same thing.’
‘Maybe you should ask him?’
Nina looked over at Carrie, keeping the incredulousness in her tone when she said, ‘We are talking about the same Andrei Strasinski, aren’t we? Because, in case you’ve forgotten, he’s not exactly forthcoming about his past.’
‘So it won’t hurt to ask what he means about not being a good man. While you’re at it, ask him his real motives for being in our team.’
‘I don’t—’
Lizzie butted in, ‘I agree with Carrie’s premise, but you can’t be as blunt as that.’
Nina exhaled. ‘You two have lost the plot.’
Carrie puffed out a laugh. ‘Look. All I’m saying is ask him, subtly, as Lizzie says, and see how he reacts. You’re a brilliant cop, you’ll be able to tell if he’s hiding something.’
Nina shook her head, ‘I’m too close.’
‘Which makes you the perfect one to do the asking. He’ll trust you more than he’ll trust one of us.’
‘It’s just …’ She shook her head and looked down at the fingers she hadn’t realised she was fidgeting with.
Lizzie finished her thought, ‘You don’t want to spend any more time with him than you have to?’
Nina peered up, ‘Yes.’
In a soft tone, Carrie said, ‘I understand...’
‘But?’
‘But you wouldn’t say no if it was any other investigation.’
She hated to admit it, but little sister was right. Dammit.
She released a loud, long exhale, and relented, ‘Okay. I’ll do it.’
Lizzie flashed her a compassionate smile.