Next Exit, Three Miles

by CW Browning

  Alina had changed into black cargo pants and a black windbreaker with multiple pockets, and a long, slender black bag was slung over her shoulder. She waited patiently, ensuring that the beach really was deserted before she moved over to the sliding door at the back of the house. Turning her attention from the crashing waves to the door, Alina pulled a long, paper-thin steel tool out of one of the side pockets on the bag. She didn't need light. She had done this so many times that it was second nature to her.

  Viper silently slid the door closed behind herself a few seconds later, slipping the tool back into the pocket. She paused in the still house, waiting for her eyes to become accustomed to the darkness inside. The electric was turned off and the resulting silence was almost eerie, but she welcomed it. Silence was only unnerving when it shouldn't be silent.

  As soon as she could make out the shapes of the furniture, Viper started to move. She had checked out the glass house before coming here. The sedan was still in the same spot, and there was a light at the back of the house and more light on the second floor. She hadn't seen the shadow again, but she knew he was in there.

  Viper moved through the bottom floor to the stairs and climbed them silently, feeling her way with one hand on the wall. Her rifle bounced lightly against her back. Her old friend was comforting as it shifted gently while she moved. It had been with her for years and it never failed her.

  Better than most men I know, she thought to herself as she reached the top of the stairs. She immediately turned left and headed down the hallway, staying against the wall and moving silently.

  Viper went into the last room at the back of the house. There were three windows, one of which faced the glass house next door. She went straight to that window and knelt on the floor, swinging the rifle bag off her back fluidly and setting it noiselessly on the floor beside her. She unzipped one of the side pockets in her jacket and pulled out a pair of binoculars, studying the house next door as she took off the caps. The second floor had a light on and she caught sight of movement through one of the large windows. Upstairs, as downstairs, there were no curtains in the windows. The occupant clearly knew the houses on either side of them were empty and they weren't concerned about privacy. Viper doubted whether either Johann or The Engineer had ever given a single thought to window treatments.

  She lifted the binoculars to her eyes and adjusted them, bringing the hallway of the second floor into sharp focus. It was empty, but a light was burning at the top of the stairs. She scanned the roof and lower floor briefly before returning to the second floor. The master bedroom was facing her. It had two large windows on the side facing her and Viper took full advantage of them, examining the bedroom. Regardless of which target was in the house, both of them would have chosen that room to sleep in.

  Viper patiently waited for any sign of movement. She could see most of the bedroom from her vantage point, but the bathroom was out of her range of vision. She moved her focus back into the hallway. Aside from the light at the top of the stairs, the hallway was dark as it stretched to the opposite side of the house. Moving her attention back to the bedroom, she waited.

  While part of her was hoping for the chance to end the run of the clever assassin, Viper wanted to finish what she had come here to do. The whole situation had gotten out of control. Stephanie, John and Angela were far too involved, and now Damon had disappeared as well. While he could be doing anything, Alina knew that it was tied up with this debacle and that added him as a liability on her conscience as well. Four people that she cared about, all involved in one big mess. That was four people too many, especially when it was supposed to be such a straight-forward mission. Go to Jersey, finish what she started two years ago, and move on. Quick and easy.

  Ha!

  Alina frowned as she waited patiently for movement in the house next door. If she had known that the lives of her old friends, and the life of Hawk, would be thrown so unceremoniously into the path of a killer like The Engineer, would she still have allowed herself to be pulled from her mountain retreat and back into the game? The lure of Johann had been strong enough to get her here, even knowing that she would have to face her past. But she could never have foreseen the mess that this had turned into overnight. If she could do it all again, Alina admitted to herself that she would not have contacted Stephanie. She would have found another way to get the information she needed. She had involved her old friends as an expedient way of obtaining information, and now they were in as much danger as she was herself.

  Do you trust them with your life?

  Hawk's question taunted her and Alina pressed her lips together. She trusted Stephanie and Angela, but could they trust her?

  Movement brought Viper's attention sharply back to the bedroom next door. She pushed her personal dilemma to the side as a tall man walked out of the master bathroom. Viper exhaled silently as she zoomed in on the lean face of Johann Topamari.

  A heady mix of relief and satisfaction washed over her as she watched him go to the closet and pull something out, tossing it onto the bed. It was a large duffel bag. Johann unzipped the bag and started putting clothing inside. He was leaving.

  Viper set the binoculars down and rapidly unzipped the bag at her side. Her movements were quick and sure as she lifted out the rifle and assembled it quickly. She was glad that she had brought her smaller one. Johann was only about 100 meters from her. Viper attached the scope and the silencer last and cracked the window in front of her, inserting the barrel into the opening with one fluid motion. She lowered her eye to the scope and adjusted the sight, watching as Johann went to the closet again. He returned to the open duffel bag with a jacket, which he was rolling up to tuck inside the bag. Viper exhaled slowly and calmly adjusted the sight, switching target from his head to the center of his body. He was moving around too much to make a head shot viable. There could be no mistakes this time. She slipped her finger over the trigger.

  Creeeak.

  Vipers head shot up and her finger slid off the trigger immediately as a jolt of shock shot through her. Someone was on the stairs!

  Alina pressed her lips together and pulled the rifle out of the window, her hands immediately disengaging the silencer and the scope.

  Creeeak.

  Another set of feet crossed the same step on the stairs. Two people were coming upstairs!

  Viper disassembled the gun swiftly and zipped up the bag, working as fast and as silently as she could. She glanced through the window and into the bedroom next door. Johann was still at the bed, packing clothes into the bag. Viper grabbed her binoculars and held them up again in time to watch him zip the bag up and pick it up off the bed. She cursed silently.

  That's twice now, she thought furiously. There will NOT be a third time! Viper watched as Johann strode out of the room, switching the light off as he went.

  Her chance was gone.

  “Can you make any more noise? Seriously?” a voice she knew well demanded from the top of the stairs.

  Alina lowered the binoculars and put them in her pocket, frustration and anger making her hands shake slightly.

  “There's no one here!” the second person retorted. “What does it matter?”

  They were in the hallway now, moving toward the bedroom. Alina shook her head, clamping her teeth, and got noiselessly to her feet. She couldn't believe it. Two more minutes: One for her to take the shot, and one for her drop out of the window and get away.

  Two more minutes were all that had stood between her and the end of this whole thing.

  Two people appeared in the doorway behind her and Alina didn't bother to turn her head. She continued to watch the house next door. The light in the hallway went out and then, a minute later, the one at the top of the stairs followed suit. Johann was moving downstairs with his bag.

  “It looks like there is someone here after all,” Stephanie said, her voice loud in the silent room.

  Viper ignored her, staring out the window and trying to get a handle on the fury that was coursi
ng through her.

  Two more minutes!

  “What a surprise.” John sounded anything but surprised. “I told you she knew more than she was saying.”

  They walked across the room to join her at the window.

  “How long have you been here?” Stephanie demanded, looking across to the house next door.

  Alina didn't trust herself to answer calmly, and so she remained silent. Stephanie glanced at her, trying to see her face in the dark.

  “There's movement on the bottom floor!” John exclaimed, turning around again and heading for the door quickly. “I'll see what I can see from downstairs!” he threw over his shoulder as he disappeared again, leaving the two women next to the window.

  Stephanie turned her attention outside again and they both watched silently as a light came on on the first floor. The light flicked out a moment later and the house went dark.

  “Who is it?” Stephanie asked.

  “You'll see for yourself in a minute,” Alina finally spoke. She was surprised at the calmness of her voice, considering that she was still trembling with anger. She looked at her old friend. “He's getting ready to leave.”

  Alina turned away from the window and walked toward the doorway. She didn't need to watch Johann walk out of the house and drive away.

  “Wait!” Stephanie's voice stopped her at the door. Alina looked back and watched as Stephanie stared out the window. “How do you know he's leaving?”

  “He just finished packing everything up.” Alina turned to leave the room. “He won't be going back there.”

  “It's Johann, isn't it?” Stephanie asked, still watching through the window.

  Alina continued out the door without answering.

  Alina took a deep, calming breath and closed the back of the SUV. Her bag was locked back up in the special metal box next to the spare tire and the floor was replaced. She knew that both Stephanie and John had seen it, but neither had mentioned it. In fact, none of them had said much at all to each other. Johann had exited the glass house as Alina was going downstairs, and the black sedan pulled out of the driveway a few minutes later. John had taken a slew of pictures from the windows and Stephanie joined him in the front of the house to watch the car disappear down the road. By the time Stephanie realized Alina was leaving, she had been out the back door and headed down the beach.

  Stephanie caught up with her on the dark beach a few houses down. Instead of demanding answers right then and there, she suggested Chinese for dinner. Alina agreed to meet at the house in Medford before heading off into the night, back to her car a few blocks away.

  Getting behind the wheel, Alina closed the door and sat for a minute in thoughtful silence. She wasn't concerned with where Johann was headed. The tracking device she attached to the sedan earlier would tell her everything she needed to know. Now that her anger had faded, she wasn't even so concerned with the fact that she had been unable to take a perfect shot. Alina leaned her head back and closed her eyes with a sigh. What she was concerned about now was what she was going to tell Stephanie and John.

  Do you trust them with your life?

  They had both seen the rifle bag. They both already knew that she had been military intelligence, and Stephanie would have definitely already surmised that she worked for a government agency. Alina's lips twitched. They probably both thought she was NSA or DHS. That would explain the bag and why she was following Johann. Alina opened her eyes with a slight frown. She wondered how close they were to the truth.

  Damon seemed to think that it was only a matter of time, and he thought she had already told them too much. She knew that the odds were extremely high for them figuring it out, but Alina paused thoughtfully. Even if they had figured out that she was connected to CIA, and were over-looking the fact that she was working on US soil, what were the odds that they would really figure out the whole truth? Even if they suspected it, and Alina knew that they suspected a lot right now, they were Federal Agents. They needed proof before they could convict, even in their own minds. Had she given them any? Her presence there tonight could have been attributed any number of plausible reasons.

  Alina grinned to herself. Knowing John as well as she did, he was surely going over all of those possibilities with Stephanie right this minute.

  Alina straightened up and reached for the small backpack on the passenger side floor, her concern put to rest for the time being. While having them both show up this evening was more than inconvenient, she didn't think it would turn out to be catastrophic. There were still too many other possibilities for them to hone in on the right one.

  Alina opened the outside flap of the backpack and reached in to pull out a square gauze bandage and a roll of tape. The tinted windows concealed her nicely in the darkness and, after a quick scan of the deserted street, she shrugged out of her jacket and eased her shirt up. She carefully removed the bandage from her side, setting it on the console between the seats, and ripped open the package of the new one. It was awkward working in the dark, but she managed to get the new bandage on and taped down fairly quickly. Alina shrugged back into her jacket, ignoring the discomfort in her side, and clicked on the overhead light to look at the bandage she had removed. She was still seeping.

  Clicking the light off with a slight frown, Alina folded the old bandage, tucking it into the empty package from the new one. She put it into her bag, to be burned later with the trash, and started the engine. She wasn't healing as fast as she would like, and as Alina pulled away from the curb, she acknowledged that she should probably have stitched the wound. The run on the beach earlier had strained it and now she had to be careful about infection.

  Just one more thing to worry about.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Alina pulled off her shirt and sank onto her bed tiredly. Her side was throbbing, making her irritable, and the last thing she wanted was for Stephanie and John to interrogate her. What she really wanted to do was take some ibuprofen with a shot of vodka and go to sleep. However, that was not an option. It wouldn't be until this was all over. Viper had to stay sharp. She didn't have time to pamper herself.

  A scraping sound, followed by the rustling of wings, drew her attention up to the corner of the skylight. Raven settled onto his perch and looked at her with his shiny black eyes. He bobbed his head once and then walked to the edge of the perch, watching her. Alina smiled, comforted by her hawk's presence. She stood up and went to the closet to find a more comfortable shirt and, as she did so, Raven squawked. Alina glanced back at him.

  “What's wrong, love?” she asked.

  Raven bobbed his head again and squawked again. Alina frowned and grabbed the first shirt that her fingers touched. She pulled the loose red top over her head and headed back into the bedroom quickly. Raven bobbed his head again and then lifted up and disappeared through his access door to the side of the skylight.

  Alina switched off the bedroom light and headed downstairs as a car pulled around the house and stopped in the driveway. Taking a deep breath, she walked to the back door to watch as Stephanie and John got out of the car. Raven had settled on the deck and Alina grinned. He was watching John with his sharp eyes. She opened the back door and stepped out onto the deck.

  “Easy, Raven,” she murmured, stopping at the banister where he was perched. “I'm not a fan either, but he's a necessary evil right now.”

  Stephanie and John came up to the deck, both carrying brown bags

  “I'm starving,” Stephanie said by way of greeting, one eye on the large hawk.

  “Come on in.” Alina motioned toward the door.

  John followed her, watching Raven.

  “If you stare at him, it only makes it worse,” Stephanie told him, opening the sliding door and stepping into the house.

  “You know, my place is free of animals, birds, fish, and assorted bad guys,” John told Alina as he stepped past her. “I'm just throwing it out there.”

  “I'm more comfortable here,” she retorted.

  She tu
rned to follow him into the house, but at the door, she glanced back at Raven. He had turned his attention to the trees and she paused, her eyes scanning the darkness. Raven was unsettled, but she didn't know if it was just from the visitors or from something else. After a moment, Alina stepped into the house and slid the door closed.

  “We got General Tso's, chicken and mixed vegetables, beef lo mein, and kung pow shrimp,” Stephanie informed her from the bar where she was already opening the bags. “And we got spring rolls and egg rolls.”

  “Good.” Alina moved into the kitchen. “I haven't eaten all day,” she said, getting plates from the cabinet above the counter.

  She handed the plates to John before turning to the other counter where her laptop was sitting. Alina flipped it open and pressed some keys, switching on part of her security system. Raven's unease had spread to her. If the Engineer was out there tonight, she wasn't going to make it easy for him.

  “Do you want to eat at the table?” Stephanie asked.

  Alina closed the laptop and turned around.

  “Sure. Let me pull the blinds,” she said. John carried the plates to the table and Stephanie started handing him the white quart containers. “John, the knives and forks are in the drawer near the coffee maker,” Alina told him, moving around the bar and toward the windows.