Next Exit, Three Miles

by CW Browning

  Alina grinned.

  “I'm not sure that's a good thing,” she replied.

  Frankie chuckled and waved his hand.

  “I've been in this business a long time,” he told her. “I've learned a lot. A lot about people. I've learned who you can trust, who you can't trust, and who you want on your side no matter what. You and your boyfriend fall into that category. I don't know if I trust you, but I sure as hell don't want you against me.”

  “That shows some wisdom,” Alina answered, her eyes meeting his frankly. “I respect you, but I wouldn't lay odds against us. It's been done before, and they lost.”

  Frankie chuckled.

  “I'm not surprised,” he retorted. “Well, I'll tell you the same thing as I told your friend. You ever want a job, you come see me.”

  Alina bowed her head in acknowledgment, and then raised her eyes to his.

  “The names?” she prompted.

  The glass hit the wall with a crash, shattering the morning silence. The tall man reclining on the sofa sat perfectly still after his momentary loss of control. His laptop was open on the cushion beside him and the last message was still blinking on the screen, taunting him. Dimitrius rested his arm on his upraised knee, staring broodingly at the screen.

  He should have known better than to take this job, but the challenge had been too much to resist. His old nemesis, Johann, and the mysterious Viper, had proved too tempting. The amount of money that he was being paid was obscene, but Dimitrius had never really cared much for the money. It was like the cherry on a sundae. It was nice to have, and made it a finished product, but wasn't really necessary to the enjoyment of the dessert. The satisfaction, the challenge, and the ultimate prospect of success against these two people had made the deal worth it.

  He should have taken into account who was paying him.

  Dimitrius scowled, lifting his eyes from the blinking secure message on the screen and staring unseeingly at the wall where a large blotch of amber liquid dripped down the off-white wall. He was so tired! That momentary lapse of control should have never happened.

  He got up from the couch and walked over to stare down at the broken fragments of glass. He hadn't slept now for three nights and his nerves were showing the strain. Not only had he missed a perfectly straight shot yesterday, but now his control on his temper was slipping, something he never allowed to happen.

  Dimitrius turned impatiently and went back to the couch, putting the shattered glass out of his mind. The latest demand was even more ridiculous than the last. That was the problem with the Americans. They thought that they could buy everything...even their freedom. The original contract was simple enough. It was a straight-forward contract for a kill. Nothing fancy, and how Dimitrius chose to proceed was up to him. But three days ago, they wanted to change that contract. Add another target. Add more money for the inconvenience.

  The Engineer clamped one hand into a fist. They had no idea what amount of planning and preparation went into his games. They thought he was just another gun for hire, like their old Westerns, slinking around dressed in black and firing a six-shooter from dark alleyways. They had no appreciation at all for his genius, for his artistry. Did they think he became this successful just through luck?

  He slammed the laptop closed impatiently. First they added the additional target. He hadn't been happy about their demand on timing, but he agreed. He could meet their demands without disrupting his game too much. He always allowed for some unexpected events in his plans. It would have worked out without too much inconvenience, if he hadn't missed his shot. He was furious with himself. It was a straight-forward, clean shot. There was no excuse for missing. None.

  But miss he had. And not only had he missed, but the bullet was still missing! A visit to the hospital ER elicited the information that the bullet had gone straight through the woman’s shoulder. Dimitrius returned to the city block only to watch helplessly as the Feds had, literally, torn up the pavement outside their building. After about an hour of observation, he realized they hadn't found the bullet either. Normally, this wouldn't concern him overly much. It could have ricocheted off the pavement and into the gutter, never to be heard from again and no one ever the wiser to its origin. But this wasn't a normal game, and Viper wasn't a normal spectator.

  If she had gotten hold of that bullet, then Dimitrius wasn't so sure of his anonymity any longer.

  The Engineer clenched his fist and jumped off the couch again, striding around the room impatiently. The fact that the Feds were still looking for it implied that she didn't have it either and he was probably making too much of the whole incident. He got irrational when he was tired. He had to rest.

  But now the pigs in Washington had gone and taken matters into their own hands with some woman down there who was asking questions. Dimitrius paused in his pacing as a fresh wave of anger washed over him. Instead of consulting him, they just jumped into the fray and pulled at a string. Now, his carefully laid plan was going to unravel faster than he could blink. Didn't they realize what they were dealing with? Didn't they realize how dangerous both Johann and Viper were?

  He had to find some way to contain the damage within the next few hours or all the days of careful planning would be wasted.

  Dimitrius clenched his fists again and turned abruptly to go back to the couch. First, he had to answer the message. He had to make it clear that they not do anything else to upset his plans. And then he was going to have to move up his timetable.

  Time was no longer on his side.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Stephanie frowned as she pressed 'end' on her cell phone. She had been trying to reach Shannon all morning, with no success. Her cell phone was going straight to voice mail and Stephanie was starting to get impatient. She hesitated to try her at the office, since Shannon seemed to think that she was being watched, but Stephanie was starting to wonder if perhaps she should.

  “Still no luck?” John asked, joining her at the door of the hospital.

  They were on their way to check on Angela, John sticking to her like glue. Rob stopped them both this morning and made it clear that he wanted John with Stephanie at all times. Stephanie thought it was ridiculous and, while she acknowledged that it was for her own safety, the constant company was starting to annoy her.

  “No.” Stephanie turned to stride into the hospital. “I think I'll try her office when we're done here.”

  “Have you heard from Alina?” John asked.

  Stephanie shook her head and stopped in front of the elevators.

  “No.” She pushed the button and they both stared at the red up-arrow light above the doors. “Let's head to Avalon this afternoon. I want to look at that house.” The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. They stepped inside and Stephanie pressed the button for Angela's floor. “It's amazing Matt was able to catch that reflection in the picture.”

  “I'm telling you, the man's a wizard,” John agreed as the doors slid shut. “Do you think we'll find anything down there?”

  “Possibly.” Stephanie shrugged. “It depends how many people are left,” she added thoughtfully. “They have to be hiding somewhere. If you think about it, the shore is the perfect place. No one is down there this time of year and the rent is cheap. That makes it an attractive base of operations.”

  “Do you think Johann is really up to something?” John asked, turning to face her.

  Stephanie pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side.

  “I think so,” she said slowly. “Otherwise, why would he be here? The question is what? And where? And how can we find out?”

  “I think Alina knows,” John answered. “I think she knows more than she's telling you.”

  “I do too,” Stephanie agreed. “But I can't make her tell me.”

  “Well, technically, we can,” John murmured.

  Stephanie glanced at him.

  “Right. You can be the one to pull the badge and try to bring her in,” she said with a grin. “You let me know ho
w that works out for you.”

  John grinned back.

  “Just saying it's an option,” he retorted with a laugh.

  “She's probably protected by some secrecy act that we've never heard of,” Stephanie said as the elevator doors slid open.

  They stepped into the hallway to see the object of their frustration coming out of Angela's room.

  “Speak of the devil,” John murmured.

  Alina moved toward them with that formidable mix of assurance and fearlessness that she had acquired in her years away from them. She was dressed in loose, dark linen pants and a casual shirt. Her sunglasses were on top of her head and, aside from that air of danger, she looked like any other woman found on the city streets on a spring day. Stephanie suddenly wondered what she looked like in fatigues. They never received any pictures, not even when she graduated, and she realized suddenly that they had never actually seen her in uniform.

  “Why the frown?” Alina asked, meeting them halfway. She was looking at Stephanie.

  “I just realized that I never saw any pictures of you in uniform,” Stephanie answered truthfully.

  John shot her a quick look before watching Alina's reaction. She looked amused.

  “I'm sure I could dig some up if you would like,” she told Stephanie with a very faint smile. “I didn't look all that different. Just the same, in fact,” she added with a grin.

  Stephanie laughed.

  “I don't know what made me think of it,” she said apologetically.

  “Sometimes we think of the damnedest things out of the blue,” Alina replied smoothly, still with that faint smile.

  John frowned. He didn't think he would ever get used to this new stranger that was Alina. The faint smile and the air of aloofness was the complete opposite of the open and friendly woman he had lived with years ago.

  “I, for instance, was just thinking what a good couple the two of you make,” Alina continued with a smile.

  Stephanie burst out laughing and John grinned.

  “Oh please, don't even think it!” Stephanie exclaimed. “I would kill him in less than 24 hours.”

  “The idea has merit,” Alina murmured, looking at John. “Definite merit.”

  “How is she?” Stephanie nodded toward Angela's room, changing the subject as John made a face at Alina.

  “In a lot of pain,” Alina answered. “They increased her morphine drip. There's no fever, though, so that's a good sign.”

  Stephanie nodded.

  “How are you? You look pale,” she said, looking at Alina.

  John suddenly noticed what Stephanie had already seen. While Alina's hair and clothes were perfect, her face was very pale and there were dark rings under her eyes. John's eyes narrowed and he frowned.

  “I'm just a little tired,” Alina answered with a smile. “I didn't get much sleep last night,” she added.

  “Where are you headed now?” John finally spoke.

  Alina shrugged slightly.

  “Out and about,” she answered evasively. “I'll touch base with you guys later today.”

  Stephanie was already nodding.

  “Dinner?” she suggested.

  Alina nodded and then continued on her way. Stephanie and John continued on toward Angela's room.

  “Dinner?” John demanded under his breath.

  Stephanie grinned.

  “We all have to eat,” she retorted.

  She glanced back, expecting to see Alina at the elevators, but there was no sign of her in the hall. She had vanished. Stephanie looked around with a frown before following John into the hospital room.

  Alina stood on the beach and took a deep breath. The salt air was fresh and the brisk spring wind whipped her ponytail around her head. She had changed her linen pants for long running pants, the casual shirt for a long-sleeved, designer sports shirt, and her city boots for soft-soled, all-terrain running shoes. Staring out over the expanse of blue-gray waves crashing onto the shore, she listened to the roar of the ocean and the screech of the seagulls overhead. The sun had disappeared behind a thick layer of clouds and rain was threatening. Still, Alina stood on the beach, breathing in the afternoon air with eyes closed, feeling her first sight of the Jersey Shore in over ten years.

  She had missed it.

  Alina didn't realize how much she missed it until she crossed the causeway from the mainland to the barrier islands, smelling her first scent of salt air as the trees fell away behind her. The same anticipation that she remembered from the past welled up inside her as she drove over the last bridge and saw the lines of shore homes ahead. Beyond those lines, beyond the blocks of tightly knit neighborhoods, once you had traversed the streets, were the dunes. Once the sand dunes were sighted, the sound of the ocean drowned out everything. Then, and only then, were you there. You had arrived, and all the anticipation and excitement of going “down the shore” culminated in one deep breath of release. Everything was left behind. All that was in front of you was water, beach, sun and relaxation.

  Alina took a deep breath now and stared out over the crashing waves. The ocean always demanded her attention and respect. No matter what country, no matter what shore, she was drawn to the water. It was untamed, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. And yet, it followed a natural sense of order, according to the seasons. Even in the chaos, there was order. Even in the violence, there was control. Even in the seeming endlessness, there was an end.

  The stormy vastness of the Atlantic captured her imagination. There was a whole other world under there and the glimpse that they saw, crashing onto the beach, was just a drop. It was nothing at all. It always reminded her that she, in essence, was nothing compared to the massiveness and might of nature.

  Alina took another deep breath, lifting one leg up behind her and grabbing her ankle. She glanced around as she stretched. The beach was deserted. She lowered her leg and lifted the other one, looking down the beach to her right. One of the addresses she dug up from the names that Frankie had given her was about two blocks down, the back of the house directly on the beach. Alina dropped her leg and jumped up and down a few times. If anyone was watching, she looked like just another jogger, warming up before starting her beach run. She had left her gun in the car and had only her knife, strapped to her ankle under the running pants. She just wanted to take a look around. If she saw anything interesting, she would come back later, under the cover of darkness.

  After a few more warm-ups, Alina started off down the beach at a steady jog. The sand was clean and free from debris. There was money here. The properties were privately owned and taken care of by contractors. The fronts of the houses were gated and set back from the road, while the backs opened directly onto the sand. Alina kept her face forward as she ran, but her eyes were scanning the beach and the back of the homes that she passed. A dog barked at the back sliding door of the first one, stopping as she passed by. The next one was dark and silent. Many of these properties were only occupied during the summer season. The rest of the year, the owners typically rented them out or left them empty. Alina ran by a third one, also dark and silent, and wondered what it would be like to have a beach house. Perhaps she would invest in one someday.

  The next house was the address she wanted. There was a small deck on the right as she looked at the back, and sliding doors in the center. Her attention, however, was drawn to the left side of the sliding doors. The left-side, bottom back wall was made entirely of glass.

  Alina glanced in as she ran by without slowing her pace. No curtains were hung inside and she had a clear view into the room. There was a couch, a coffee table, and what looked like matching arm chairs. As Alina ran by, there was movement toward the back of the room, a shadow crossing through a doorway.

  Someone was there.

  Alina felt a surge of excitement as she passed the house and continued on down the beach. Someone was there and she got the distinct impression that the shadow was a taller man. Was it him? Was it the Engineer? Or was it Johann? Had she run him to gro
und at last?

  Alina's mind was spinning with possibilities by the time she exited the beach three houses farther down. She ran up the path through the dunes and paused when she reached the sidewalk. Her breath was coming fast and hard and her side felt like it had been swiped by fire. Bent over at the waist to catch her breath, Alina gingerly touched the bandage at her side. It was moist, but whether from sweat or because the wound had ripped open again, she couldn't tell. After her breathing slowed, Alina straightened up and put the pain out of her mind. She breathed deeply and started running again, this time along the pavement, back toward the glass house.

  Alina slowed as she approached the waist-high, wrought-iron gate surrounding the front of the property. The house was set back a bit from the road and the postage-stamp front yard was cold and bleak. A black sedan was parked in the driveway that ran along the side of the house. There didn't appear to be any movement or life in the house and, apart from the sedan, it looked like any other house in the neighborhood, empty for the season. But Alina had seen a shadow.

  One of her targets was in there.

  She continued past the house and jogged back to where her SUV was parked a few blocks away. Alina opened the back and pulled out a bottle of water and a towel. Sipping the water, she mopped her face while she leaned against the open back. Her eyes scanned the street thoughtfully. She had to find out who was in the house.

  Alina sipped the water again, her eyes drifting down the street to the empty house next to the glass house. They dwelled briefly on the realtor sign in the front yard. Capping the bottle decisively, Alina stretched her legs for a few moments before going around to get behind the wheel. She started the engine and pulled a U-turn, cruising down the street. She glanced at the sign, memorizing the phone number as she drove by, and continued on to the end of the street before turning away from the beach.

  Two hours later, the sun was going down and deep shadows cloaked the quiet, deserted street. In the summer, the street would still be flooded with light and the sound of children playing and adults laughing. The smells of barbecue would fill the air. This time of year, it was eerily quiet as the night descended, reminiscent of a ghost town. If anyone chanced to look out a window and examine the shadows, they might have glimpsed a shifting of light that may, or then again may not, have been a figure disappearing into the shrubbery surrounding one of the empty homes. However, the odds of anyone doing so were so remote that Viper felt absolutely no qualms as she slipped around the side of the house to the back facing the beach. She paused and listened to the sound of the waves crashing against the sand. It was dark back here, away from the street lights, and the beach was silent and deserted.