Covered in Darkness

by Heather Sunseri

  “It is. Aidan brought him by.”

  I glanced at Declan’s profile. “He did?”

  “Does that surprise you?”

  I bit my lower lip, thinking about it. “I suppose not.” The gray colt continued to prance in the open field.

  “When Aidan and I looked to buy this colt, we spoke with the owners and determined that he was born to shine on the racetrack.”

  “The owner knew what kind of horse he had,” I said.

  “Yes. Hence the nice price the auction brought.”

  “So, Aidan thought it was time to put a saddle on him?”

  “Yes. It’s loose. But he’s taking to it nicely.”

  “I can see that.” My colt ran and leapt around the field. “We need to name him.”

  “Yes, you do. He’s your horse; you get to name him.”

  I smiled. “Why did you buy him for me?”

  “You know why I bought him.”

  “I know what you told me. That he was a sound investment, and that you knew he would mean something to me.”

  “Yes. And because I love you, Brooke. Why is that so hard for you to accept?”

  I turned back to watch the colt. “Today could have gone differently.”

  “Every day that you work in law enforcement or intelligence can go… differently.”

  “True.” A few beats passed before I turned to him and spoke again. “You didn’t sign up for this. You didn’t move to Kentucky and establish this life,” I gestured toward the expansive field and beyond, “only to meet me and get dragged back into a life of intelligence and crime.”

  Declan signaled to a farmhand waiting at a gate on the far side of the field. The man nodded, then led the colt toward the barn, to be put away for the night.

  Declan stepped down from the fence and moved closer to me. He lifted a hand and brushed errant strands of hair off of my face. “How many different ways do I need to show you that I love you?” He took in a breath and let it out in the form of a heavy sigh. “Did you ever stop and think that maybe the fact that you work in intelligence and law enforcement is the universe’s way of telling me that I need to use those talents again? Maybe I was attracted to the qualities in you that I miss in myself.”

  I examined the dark look in his eyes. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying what I’ve been saying for months: I want to help you. Why do you think I brought Dimitri here?”

  “To follow me around and make sure nothing happens to me?”

  “My dear Brooke. I certainly don’t want anything to happen to you, but you are fully capable of handling yourself. I might not like some of your reckless decisions, but… I’m not trying to change you.”

  “You weren’t mad at me today?”

  “I didn’t say that,” he said, scowling. “Going into that club alone, knowing those Russians were there, was foolish.”

  “I didn’t know they were there. Not for sure.”

  He angled his head, but said nothing.

  “Fine. I had a pretty strong hunch.”

  “Of course you did. And now you’ve angered this goon Yury.”

  “It’s not the first time I’ve pissed someone off.”

  “Don’t downplay the seriousness of this.” There was warning in his tone.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry.” I stared at his chest. “I thought maybe you were avoiding me. I was hoping you would be here when I got to Shaughnessy.”

  “Actually, I had a hunch of my own.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Meaning?”

  “I’ve located the flight Sergei Charkov is coming in on.”

  “You did?”

  Declan looked proud of himself. “To be fair, Dimitri helped.”

  “And?”

  “Sergei chartered a Gulfstream and is landing at Bowman Field”—he glanced at his watch—“in exactly two hours.”

  “What? Why didn’t you start with that?” I pulled on his arm. “I have to go.”

  Declan grabbed my hand and stopped me. Pulled me back. “I didn’t tell you that initially, because I knew you’d want to rush right back to doing the job the minute you got the information. I knew we had time before you needed to know. And I wanted you to see your new horse.”

  I searched Declan’s eyes, studying the intense look he was giving me.

  “I’m head over heels in love with you, Brooke Fairfax. And I know you’re in love with me. Your job isn’t going to scare me away. I’ll even help you with it when I can… like tonight.”

  “Okay. I’m going to try to let that sink in.”

  “You’re also not going to Bowman Field without additional backup.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “Dimitri is waiting for us out front. And Ty is on his way to Frankfort to track our movements in case something goes wrong.”

  “You called Ty first?”

  “Of course. He’s your partner. And I told him you would call him after I’d had a moment to show you that you can work this job and enjoy a personal life with me.”

  I smiled. “Message delivered.” I wrung my hands, incapable of relaxing now that I knew the man responsible for everything happening to my state this week was nearing Kentucky. “Can we go now?”

  He leaned in, kissed my forehead, then framed my face. “Yes, we can go now.”

  Chapter 31

  Declan

  It had been a long time since I’d been on a stakeout. Especially one with Dimitri Tobias.

  Dimitri paced in front of the vehicle. He had been a smoker once upon a time, and I imagined it was times like these when he missed the buzz he got from the nicotine and the comfort of having something to do with his hands.

  Brooke sat in the passenger seat beside me. She stared at the runway, lit up with lights. She checked her phone, glanced at her watch. Ty had texted her no less than ten times, asking for updates.

  Since shortly after meeting Brooke, I’d imagined spending nights with her—but not like this. Not until I realized just how often she found herself in dangerous situations. Or maybe it was when I realized she had a ghost who followed her around. Maybe I would back off once we took Romeo out of the equation.

  “The plane’s late,” she said. “Something’s wrong.”

  I had also grown concerned. My resources had told me that a private plane was due to land from Chicago, carrying six passengers, including Sergei Charkov, who’d arrived from Moldova earlier that evening.

  “Is there someone we can call?” she asked.

  I stretched my arm across the armrest and scooped up her hand. I brought it to my lips and kissed her knuckles. I was about to tell her to be patient when we heard the sound of an approaching plane.

  We both got out of the car and stood at the fence separating us from the airfield. Dimitri joined us. Brooke pulled a set of night-vision binoculars from her surveillance pack and watched the plane land.

  “No identifying markings on the side.”

  “Wouldn’t expect there to be,” I said. “It’s a chartered G5 out of Chicago.”

  The plane taxied toward the hangar.

  “We have company,” Brooke announced.

  I grabbed the binoculars from her and peered through. A line of three limos was driving along the access road behind the runways. “It must be them.” I handed the binoculars back to Brooke. “You ready?” I asked Dimitri.

  “I’m always ready.” He walked to the back door of the SUV, reached in, and came back out with a uniform hat for a TSA officer. “I’ll be back.” He took off at a jog toward the access gate that checked all traffic going in and out of the airport.

  Bowman Field was a small public airport that mostly housed privately owned airplanes. Though security wasn’t as tight as it would be at a commercial airport, the FAA mandated that it keep records of all incoming and outgoing flights, including who was on the planes—which is how I had discovered the Russians were traveling to the area. Though Charkov’s name wasn’t on the passenger manifest, my res
ources were positive he was on the plane.

  “They’re exiting the plane. Four so far. Make that six. Including one woman.” Brooke lowered the binoculars. “That’s surprising, right? Call me sexist, but I suspected this would be an all-male operation.”

  “Does it really matter?”

  “No, you’re right.”

  Her phone rang, and she handed the binoculars to me as she answered it. “Fairfax,” she said in her professional voice—a voice that was very different from the one she used when she spoke casually with me.

  “Really? What does that mean?” She mouthed “Erica Marshall” at me. “No, I understand. Okay. No, I have nothing new to report.” She hung up. “There was suspicious activity on LP’s network just before the storms hit last Thursday. The FBI traced the source of the activity to a house out in Glenview.”

  “I’ve been there. A Christmas party last year.”

  “It’s a wealthy area. Of course you’ve been there.”

  Dimitri returned. He was breathing hard, as if he’d run the whole way. “All three cars have two tracers on them.”

  “In case one ends up in a glass of water?” Brooke said.

  Dimitri laughed. “Exactly. You still owe me for that.”

  “Do I?” She said with snark, making me smile, then looked at me. “What now?”

  “We go home, watch where the trackers take us. We see where we are tomorrow. If the FBI hasn’t made significant progress by midday tomorrow, we discuss ways to get Sam and Jewel out with other resources.”

  Brooke looked like she might argue. I could tell she wanted to go in right now, guns blazing. “You’re right,” she said, defeated. “That does sound best. I’ll call Ty on our way back to Shaughnessy and order him to get some down time.”

  She returned to the SUV and climbed into the passenger seat. I couldn’t help but wonder if I would ever convince her to take a break from this life of chasing down criminals and terrorists.

  Dimitri clapped me on the back as if reading my mind, then he, too, climbed in the car. Did the two people now sitting in my car know that I would give my own life for either of them? I so badly wanted them both to see that there was so much more to life than this.

  Brooke waved for me to come on, and I smiled at her. It was time to take things up a notch with her, and she was just going to have to get used to it.

  As soon as these Russian mobsters were stopped.

  As I climbed the spiral staircase to my office, I could hear Dimitri typing. He knew his way around my computer system better than I did—which made sense, since he was the one who had set it up. I had quite a few skills, including my own set of hacking abilities, but Dimitri was much more practiced.

  “Is she okay?” he asked when he saw me.

  “She won’t admit it, but I’m pretty sure her head was aching and her shoulder is still sore. She finally fell asleep.”

  Dimitri shook his head. “I know you told me she was tough when you tracked me down in Chicago, but I never imagined…”

  “I know. She’s difficult to imagine without seeing her in action.”

  “Well,” he said, turning back to the computer. “These guys know what they’re doing. They stopped outside Louisville and swept the cars. They found four of the six trackers. Two of the cars are clean now—we’re only tracking one car.”

  “I wish they’d found one on each car.”

  “Yeah, me, too. I’d say they’re nervous they’ve missed something on that third car now.” He pointed to the screen—a spot on a map. “This is Glenview, which a quick internet search tells me is the wealthiest neighborhood in Louisville.”

  “That area was the source of activity on LP’s servers the night of the blackout.”

  “Well, that appears to be where they’ve landed.” Dimitri clicked a few items, then pushed away from the desk. “I’ve set it to record the activity. We’ll know by morning if that’s where they stayed.” He stood and stared at the screen.

  “What is it?”

  “It makes sense that they rented a big house somewhere. Easier to hide in a residential area than a downtown hotel. But this…” He gestured to the blinking dots on the screen. “This was too easy.” He shrugged. “I’ll monitor further from my laptop. By the way, thanks for not fucking up this beautiful system while I was away.”

  “No faith,” I said.

  “Well, it has been a while.” He started for the stairs.

  “Try to be quiet on your way out.”

  “Why did you locate your office above your bedroom?”

  “I have another office for regular guests. This room is for trusted eyes only.”

  He nodded. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Chapter 32

  “Brooke! Brooke! Don’t leave me here. They’ll kill me!”

  I bolted upright in bed, panting, clutching the damp fabric of my T-shirt over my racing heart. I closed my eyes and tried to squash the sounds of Sam’s pleas for help. We had been back inside the warehouse. Her face and arms were bruised. Her hair was matted to her head, and I wasn’t sure in the nightmare whether it was from blood or sweat.

  My phone buzzed with a text. It was Ty: You up? I can’t sleep.

  I grabbed it quickly and silenced it.

  “Hey,” Declan said beside me. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Just a nightmare. It’s nothing. Go back to sleep.” I moved to get out of bed in the middle of the night for the second time this week.

  “Want me to get you something?”

  “No.” I leaned over and kissed him. “I just need a minute. I’m going to walk around. I need some fresh air. Please go back to sleep. I’ll feel guilty if I keep you up, too.”

  “’Kay. Don’t take long, though.”

  I slipped into a pair of running shorts and a sports bra, then grabbed a pair of socks and my running shoes and padded through the house. I was living on a highly secured horse farm, so I had decided to take advantage of it and go for a jog.

  The farm was dark. A few birds chirped in the early morning. Above me, the sky was clear, giving me clear vision of billions of stars and a half moon. I ran faster than usual, hoping to outrun the images left over from the nightmare. What I was really trying to outrun was the guilt I felt for not having saved Sam yet. I worked up quite a sweat; at four in the morning, it was cooler than in the heat of the day, but it was still at least seventy-five degrees with high humidity.

  As I neared the cottage on the back of the farm, I noticed a light burning in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Dimitri could have fallen asleep with it on, or maybe he was one of those people who didn’t need much sleep. Declan was like that, too; I was sure he hadn’t even come to bed until after three.

  I thought about knocking lightly on the cottage door, but that was sure to get a gun pointed in my face. And why bother Dimitri anyway? I just needed to try to run out this stress-fueled energy and get a couple more hours of sleep.

  I jerked at the sound of a thump and footsteps. I quickly darted behind the cover of a tree and peered around the trunk. Seeing nothing, I darted to the next tree. And the next. Until I could see the back gate of the farm. Though it was shadowed, I could see something—or someone—moving in the darkness.

  I pulled out my phone and clicked on Shaughnessy’s security app. Obviously no one had breached the farm security, or my phone would have alerted me—and Declan. I scrolled through the farm’s cameras until I got to Gate Three, less than a hundred feet from where I stood.

  There was something draped over the gate, but I couldn’t make it out. I lowered my phone and squinted into the darkness. I angled my head, as if that would help me to make out the dark image.

  I darted to the next tree. This time when I looked closer, there was no mistaking the form suspended across the wrought iron gate.

  It was a body. I couldn’t tell if they were still alive, but they weren’t moving.

  Without thinking, I stepped out of cover and sprinted toward the gate, accidentally droppin
g my phone in the process.

  It was the body of a woman. Her head was upside down on my side of the fence, and her dark brown hair hung down. A red wig was pooled on the ground below her.

  It was Jewel, and the wig she’d taken from me.

  She was dead.

  As my senses returned, I backed up. I was about to turn and run for cover when I saw a red dot settle on my chest. A targeting dot.

  “Come closer,” said a voice, its Russian accent thick and gravelly. A man emerged from the shadows on the other side of the gate.

  I wondered if I could dart behind one of the trees and yell for Dimitri. I berated myself for dropping my phone, and I hoped like hell that the Russian had set off the perimeter alarm when he threw Jewel over the gate.

  “Walk toward me and open the gate, or I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

  “I can’t,” I said calmly.

  “What do you mean? You can, and you will. You live here, no?”

  “I’m a guest. I don’t have access codes,” I lied. If I could get to the fence to my right or left, I could climb up and trip the alarm that lined the top plank.

  The man’s phone rang, and he answered it with one hand while never taking his eyes—or his gun—off me. “We have a problem. There’s a girl here. She was here when I dropped off the redhead.” He paused, then held the phone through the bars of the wrought-iron gate. “My boss wants to talk to you.”

  I walked forward, took the phone, and placed it to my ear. “Who is this?”

  “Who is this?” It was Yury’s voice on the other end of the phone.

  “This is the woman who is going to make every last one of you pay for messing with the people of Kentucky.”

  “Ah, Brooke Fairfax, no?” Yury asked. “How did I get so lucky? Listen to me, Brooke.” His voice turned demanding. “You are going to go quietly with Igor.”

  “Igor? Your name is Igor?” I laughed. I knew I shouldn’t mock him, but one of my natural talents was masking my fear by acting like a smartass.

  Igor moved the red dot to my face. “I will shoot you where you stand.”