An Aria for Nick (Christian Romantic Suspense) (Song of Suspense)

by Bridgeman, Hallee

  Nick closed the door behind him and went back down via the maintenance elevator, out the back door, and around to the front of the building. He walked in the direction of the main entrance where he let himself blend in with a group piling out of an airport shuttle and heading into the hotel. The men were still standing next to the awning pole where they had first spotted them. Nick couldn't get a clear view of either face at first. When the man with the lighter complexion pulled out his cell phone and turned his head slightly to read a text, Nick saw his entire face clearly.

  He reentered the hotel without being seen, and rather than wait for an elevator, he went up the four flights using the stairs. Anger coursed through his veins, and he was too close to losing control of it. He slammed into the hotel room, where Aria stood by the window looking out.

  "Are you absolutely positive that man with Roj Singh is the same man who met with Harrington?" he demanded.

  Aria nodded and Nick felt the control he held onto by a very thin thread snap. He punched the wall next to him, sending his fist through the drywall. "Who is he, Nick?"

  "Jerry Simmons." He ran his hand through his hair and paced the hotel room with harsh movements. Finally, he stopped and stared out the window next to Aria, though his eyes looked far away. "Supervisory Special Agent Jerry Simmons, Assistant Director of NISA."

  ¯¯¯¯

  Chapter 23

  JEN was holding them off, but there were just too many of them. Five against one was a hard battle to wage. If things got any further out of hand, he was going to have to blow his cover. She already had two bodies at her feet, and her shirt was nearly ripped in half.

  "What's going on here?" Nick questioned, his voice heavy with an Irish brogue

  "Petie found her inside looking through our things," Daniel O'Reilly said, "Looks like she was here trying to find a good time." The men standing around all laughed.

  "Let her be, O'Reilly," Nick said, "the lass obviously isn't in the mood."

  "Stay out of this, Callahan. We've been hiding up here too long, and it's time we had a bit of fun," O'Reilly declared, and his companions grunted their agreement.

  They'd quit trying to take Jen down one on one, and were circling her. Jen tried to keep everyone in her line of sight, but it was becoming impossible.

  "That's the whiskey talking, O'Reilly. Our cause doesn't have room for filthy rapists. Are you a buncha' Limeys now is it?" Nick taunted, referring to allegations that British soldiers had raped many Irish girls when they had occupied Belfast during "the Troubles."

  O'Reilly turned on Nick, his eyes blazing, and not for the first time Nick reminded himself that this man wasn't sane. "Don't you be preachin' to me about what my cause is, Callahan. My men and me have worked hard for tomorrow. Everything's in place, and there isn't a t'ing that can be done to stop it. The world will finally pay attention to us when that American Embassy goes up, and all the credit will be ours for the takin'. So if it's a bit of drink and a wee spot o' sport with a lass we want, then it's a bit of drink and a spot o' sport we'll have."

  Nick heard a grunt and looked back at Jen, where another man was lying at her feet, his knife in her hands. O'Reilly roared with fury and pulled a small pistol out of his pocket, aiming it at Jen. The men stopped circling, and a couple of them started to smile. O'Reilly nodded to one of them, who went behind Jen and grabbed her, forced the knife from her hands and pulled her hands behind her back. She eyed the gun warily, but didn't look particularly concerned yet.

  Nick sighed and pulled his own pistol from the small of his back, stepping up behind O'Reilly and placing the barrel behind his ear. "Drop the gun," Nick said, ridding himself of his accent. He'd really wanted to wait a couple more hours before dropping his cover. There were more bombs out there and he still needed their locations. Now he would have to interview a crazy man to get the information.

  O'Reilly slowly lowered the gun to the ground then put his hands up over his head. "What's this, Callahan?"

  "This, O'Reilly, is what happens when you try to pull the Americans into your little conflict," Nick said. He lifted his gun and brought it crashing down on the back of O'Reilly's head, then, as O'Reilly slid to the ground, pointed it at the three remaining men, who stood in shock, forgetting that Jen still stood behind them.

  They lifted their hands at the sight of his gun, and Jen pulled a phone out of her pocket and dialed, while she bent down to pick up the forgotten knife. She spoke quickly and quietly, then hung up and walked to stand beside Nick, where she casually picked up O'Reilly's pistol.

  "What are you doing here, Thorne?" Nick asked, keeping his weapon trained on the men.

  "We found the bomb at the embassy. It goes off in ten hours, but it's so full of booby traps I thought if I could find the specs, maybe I could diffuse it without an accident. That guy Petie, or whatever his name is, came back ahead of the rest of the group. Where've you been?"

  "Calling my London contact to let them know the locations of the other devices." He could hear the sound of approaching vehicles. "The specs for all twenty of the bombs set to go off tomorrow are under O'Reilly's bed."

  "Do you know where all twenty are?" One of the men started to step to the side, but Jen lifted the gun and pointed it at him.

  "All but four."

  "You know, Nick, I had it under control. You didn't have to blow your cover."

  "At what point did you have it under control, Jen?"

  She laughed as six British MI-5 officers suddenly filled the clearing in front of the small house set ten miles outside of London. They went to work taking the terrorists into custody, while Nick and Jen looked through the stack of bomb specifications that were hidden in the house. They found what they needed and headed back to London to diffuse the bomb at the American Embassy.

  NICK jerked awake and fought the dream back. The room was dark and quiet, and he could see the form of Aria's body on the other bed, lying still. Exhaustion had finally overcome her from the exertions of the day before, and she'd fallen asleep about midnight. Nick had followed not long after, giving in at long last to his body's demand for sleep. He looked at his watch and saw that he'd managed to get about three hours of down time.

  He was still angry, though now the anger burned deep inside him, no longer trying to push its way to the surface. He could control it because he had to. If he lost control of it again, he could lose control of the situation, which meant he would be putting Aria in jeopardy. It was time for him to get some answers.

  If Simmons was there for Aria, he wouldn't have been out in the open like that. Nick felt comfortable with the theory that Simmons was there for the drop, and that meant he could leave Aria alone. He wanted to wake her and let her know he would be right back, but she had been so tired when she finally fell asleep that he figured he wouldn't be able to wake her up enough to understand him without throwing her in the shower. So he left her a note and weighted it down on the night stand with his pistol.

  He grabbed a few supplies from his bag and left the hotel room quietly. As he made his way out through the back door, he noticed how quiet the night was compared to a few hours before. The revelers had apparently succumbed to too much sun during the day followed by too much drink during the night. He walked about three blocks before he came to another hotel, and stepped into the large lobby, heading straight for the phone booths in the darkened corner.

  Keeping an eye out for the desk clerk, Nick quickly disassembled the phone, attaching two scramblers just to be on the safe side. Then he dialed the long series of numbers to connect him to Charlie, who answered on the first ring.

  "This is Krait," said Zimmerman.

  "Nighthawk." Nick replied as he looked all around the hotel lobby, checking his perimeter.

  "It's about time. You have a lot of explaining to do, son. You are so far off the reservation I'm not even sure you were ever a tribesman."

  "I can explain. But understand that you get nothing from me until you give me your word the girl stays safe."<
br />
  "I never thought you'd fall for some little girl's story, Nick. I always thought you were smarter than that." Nick could hear Charlie's chair squeak, and could picture him as he leaned back and put his feet on the desk.

  "I know her."

  "You think that's news? You think I don't know that by now? Listen, just because you two were high school sweethearts, I'm supposed to turn my back on a truck load of evidence that links her to years of nuclear espionage? Nuclear, Nick! We're talking everyone's worst nightmare, here."

  "You're supposed to trust the judgment of someone you've worked closely with for over ten years and who has saved your life on more than one occasion. You're not supposed to send in Balder before you even know for sure what's going on." Nick was really close to losing his temper, and he struggled to get it back.

  "I'm glad you brought that up, Williams. Where do you get off killing one of my best field agents then leaving his body there like a birthday gift?"

  "He was going to kill me then kill the girl. Better him than me."

  "Easy for you to say. I guess we'll never hear Balder's side of it will we." It wasn't a question.

  "You sent that bloodthirsty maniac in when, five days before, you didn't even know her name. To me, Charlie, that stinks of something. Something really bad."

  Nick heard Charlie breathe a heavy sigh. "Look, Nick, bring the girl in and we'll take it from there. You're obviously too close to this situation."

  "Bring her in? Why? So you can eliminate her before you even hear what she has to say?"

  "She doesn't have anything to say I don't already know."

  "She's been on the inside gathering evidence for over two months."

  "You mean she's been planting evidence for over two months. Is that what you meant to say?"

  Nick clenched the receiver tighter, wishing he could crawl through the telephone lines and beat some sense into the man on the other end. "If that's the way we have to play this game, so be it," he said in a quiet voice. He struggled, and finally felt the control slip back into place.

  "You're good, Nick, but I think you're forgetting who trained you. You're not going to be able to stay hidden forever. Sixty thousand only goes so far. What's your burn rate? And, Nick? Kate will find you. It's what she does best and you killed her partner. She's, ah, motivated."

  "I won't need to hide forever, Charlie. I just need to hide long enough."

  There was a long pause on the other end. Nick began to wonder if Charlie had hung up on him. "You're on the wrong side of this one, son. Tell me something. Is this girl worth it? You'll end up destroying your life and everything you've worked for up until now. "

  "My life ended over ten years ago, Charlie. You took it from me."

  "Wrong. I gave you a life. And now I'm giving you a chance, son. Maybe your last chance. You bring that girl in. Wherever you are, you find the nearest field office and you bring her in. Get it done by tomorrow and all is forgiven. And I'll give you that time off you've been whining about."

  Nick bristled, "Don't make me do this, Charlie. A lot of good people will get hurt. Not like Balder. People I actually respect will be in the way if you make me go toe to toe with you."

  He could hear Charlie taking a deep breath and letting it out. "Son, you and I have some history. Here's my final offer. You sleep on it. If you don't turn the girl in by noon tomorrow, don't bother to call back in."

  Nick ran a hand through his hair and saw the desk clerk come back into the lobby. "I'll be in touch, Charlie. Count on it. And don't forget to check your six from time to time. You understand?" In other words, look behind you every once in a while, Charlie.

  He hung up the phone, then carefully put it back together. Because the desk clerk was back at his post, Nick nodded to him, then went to the bank of elevators as if he were a hotel guest. He went to the third floor, then back down again using the staircase, and exited the building through the back.

  He walked back toward his own hotel, staying in the shadows. The Sandpiper next door to his hotel, where Peter Harrington had a reservation, was closer. When Nick reached the Sandpiper he stopped at the front entrance and ran his hands through his hair to muss it, then entered, walking with an unsteady, drunken lumber. He saluted the desk clerk, who looked like she was going to fall asleep at her post and pushed the button for the elevator every few seconds until the doors opened, leaning against the wall for support the entire time. He took the elevator to the fourth floor. When the doors opened, he checked left and right locating the security cameras, then made his way down the hallway to the room located across the alley from his. He checked the ceilings and corners and, adjusting his stance for the cameras, he pulled a small tool kit out of his pocket and quickly gained access to the room.

  It was empty, the people who had been there had left just hours before, and Nick headed straight for the telephone. It took him seconds to take the phone apart, place his device in it, and put it back together. On his way out of the room, he installed a small sensor just above the door frame.

  He took the stairs then exited directly to the parking lot from the side door in the stairwell so the desk clerk wouldn't see him leaving again. He crossed the two parking lots, then using his access key, he reentered his hotel through the back door. Rather than wait for the elevator, he took the stairs back up to the room. He rubbed the back of his neck while he pulled his key out of his pocket.

  ¯¯¯¯

  ARIA wanted to sleep, but her mind ran in so many circles that rest eluded her. She had made a living out of solving puzzles and the one she had stumbled upon required her to solve more mysteries than any she'd ever encountered. She must have dozed, because when she opened her eyes, Nick was asleep in his bed. Then when she opened her eyes again, he was moving around their hotel room. She rolled over and sat up, but he was already gone.

  Aria turned on the lamp next to the bed and saw Nick's note beneath the pistol. It was to the point, if nothing else, and she hoped it meant he would be back.

  Stay here.

  Roused, she sat in the middle of the bed with her head in her hands, imagining the impact a nuclear device that size would have on any city in the United States.

  Unable to just sit there any longer, she got out of the bed and pulled out the copies of the data from Peter's office. Her laptop was already on the table, along with the evidence collected from Peter's house. She dug through the stack, and found her glasses at the bottom of the pile. As she put them on, she powered up the computer.

  She accessed the file she'd had open and picked up where she left off, writing out every detail she could remember about Peter and her suspicions of him. She'd been using her date book to go back and remember specific outings, specific meetings, specific conversations.

  It was important to her that she be as detailed as possible. Right now, she worked on identifying all the files he'd accessed on her computer and what that meant to someone looking at it from the outside. While doing this, she tried to see if there was a way to determine if someone else had also accessed her computer.

  She sat back and pulled her reading glasses off, rubbing her eyes. When she lowered her hand, Nick was back in the room.

  "How do you do that?" she insisted.

  "Do what?"

  "Never mind." She put her glasses back on and turned back to the computer. "Where did you go?"

  "Had to make a phone call. I thought you were sleeping." Nick lay down on his bed and put his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.

  "My mind's too busy. I keep thinking there's something I'm not seeing, something important." She checked the time. It was just after three o'clock.

  "Last night was a full moon. There's still good light outside." Nick sat up. "I need to burn off some energy. Want to join me?"

  Aria took her glasses off and sat back in the chair, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Doing what?" she asked him with a small smile.

  ¯¯¯¯

  THE only sounds in the early morning were the waves cr
ashing against the shore and their shoes as they hit the wet sand. Even the birds were asleep. They kept a steady, smooth pace down the beach, and after about four miles, turned and headed back.

  Neither spoke, knowing the effort would take the energy they would need to finish the eight-mile run, but both appreciated the beauty of the moonlight on the ocean, and the peace around them. In a few hours, the place would slowly fill with people in one continuous stream of humanity until someone would be lucky to find a spot to lay their towel. The peace would be interrupted by the sound of ten thousand conversations and high powered stereos competing with each other. For now, though, for this time in this place, it was just the two of them and the surf and the moonlight.

  An hour later, lethargic from the long run and lack of sleep, their bodies relaxed after hot showers, and as the sun battled the darkness away, they gave in to their tired bodies' demands, and lay down on their separate beds and slept.

  ¯¯¯¯

  Chapter 24

  "IT would probably be a good idea for you to leave, Mr. Ambassador. You never know how unstable these homemade things can be," Jen said, putting on her body armor.

  "Agent Thorne, this package was addressed to my wife. I would like to wait here and see if it actually contains explosives or not," the Ambassador to Great Britain said.

  "Sir, one of the ways we'll find out is if it goes off. Agent Williams heard them reference this package, and after the five devices we diffused yesterday, the chances are really good that it does contain explosives."

  "I don't think …"

  "These people were serious, sir. Please leave with Mr. Reynolds over there, and as soon as Agent Thorne is done, we'll let you know," Nick said.