by J. K. Kelly
On the ride home, despite Dale’s request that they wait until they get back to the ranch, Matt couldn’t contain himself any longer. After laying out everything Dale had shared with him back in Annapolis, Sam abruptly pulled the vehicle over and got out. Matt followed.
“You know I would never have done anything to put her at risk, Matt, you know that,” Sam said, almost in a state of shock at what he had heard.
Dale watched quietly from the car, checking emails and hoping the two wouldn’t wind up wrestling around in the dirt.
“It’s none of my business why you were seeing this woman, Sam,” Matt assured him. “I just want to locate her and find out who she worked for.” But then he continued. “Dude, this girl – Susannah – or whatever her real name is, she must be something special to have lured you away from Liz.”
Sam shook his head in dismay.
Dale looked up from her phone and watched as Sam pulled his wallet from his back pocket then took something out of it. Suddenly, Matt and Sam began running as fast as they could toward her. Matt was yelling something, but she couldn’t hear. She opened the rear car door and stepped out just as the men arrived.
“Claire, Claire!” Matt was yelling. “She’s not Susannah. This is Anika Ivanov – the Russian flight attendant who was banging Wilkerson! This is Anika! Call Wilson and Adams in Russian affairs at Langley. They can send us what they have on her.”
“She’s a damn good chameleon,” Sam stated. “Best New York accent I’ve ever heard.”
*
Sam was ashamed and embarrassed but also very angry and drove as quickly as he could back to the ranch while Dale and Matt both made calls to alert their contacts within the intelligence service and with others in Russia. Now that they knew for sure who had killed the DNI, every asset available to the United States and its allies would be turned loose to capture this woman and bring her to justice.
Within an hour of Matt’s identification of the murderer, her image was on every police and intelligence service communication around the world. With facial recognition technology, fingerprints obtained from Aeroflot, verified as the same ones the NSA screeners had taken from her, and a large reward posted by the United States, it wouldn’t take long to find her. Matt just wanted to be the one to bring her to justice. He hoped she resisted him.
If the person or entity she was working with were in the intelligence loop, they would also know that a mistake had been made, and the Americans, especially this export, would now be on the hunt.
Matt first went around apologizing to the staff at the ranch for how quickly they had come and gone when he first arrived, but now he wanted to sit down with all of them, over dinner in the massive dining room Coleman had entertained in for so many years, and celebrate her life. He wouldn’t let any of them lift a finger and had a hastily arranged caterer prepare, serve, and clean up after everyone. He let what was now his staff know of his intentions to keep things just as they were, everyone employed, the ranch flourishing, for years to come. He took Travis aside, thanked him for his service, told him he had a job for life if he wanted it, and that if he ever needed anything he just had to ask.
Sam declined the offer to stay for dinner. “I’ve got to sit down with my wife and have a long talk now. It’s time.”
Dale, who knew the ranch and its staff well, was happy to sit opposite Matt at the other end of the oak dining table. She knew Matt would take the night to focus on the Coleman Ranch and its people, but the next morning he’d be up early, yelling for coffee, and then dragging her back east to get her to the NSA and him back to his next mission – Anika.
They didn’t share a bed that night. Matt was back in his boyhood room, and Dale took one of the spacious guest rooms adorned with Western-style wood furniture, images of grizzlies, elk, moose, and mule deer on the walls and fixtures. They both needed to focus on the missions that were waiting for them. Lois was safe, and the Annapolis property would be there when the time was right for her to decide on a sleepover.
With the sun’s faint glow on the horizon, Dale heard Matt bugging the early morning cook for coffee and a hearty breakfast. “Got some hunting to do,” he joked with her. “Need to get moving!”
Soon, back in the air, the couple flew east aboard a six-passenger jet streaking at 42,000 feet as fast as the captain could go.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
“So, where do you think she’s gone?” Dale asked.
“If she was still using the flight attendant gig as a cover, and was able to move freely around the globe, she could be anywhere,” Matt responded, looking back at Dale from the view he was admiring as the two flew high over Kansas.
He sat forward and handed the flight attendant his coffee mug, gesturing for a refill. “Soon,” he said and sat back in his chair.
The jet landed at Baltimore-Washington International just past four in the afternoon, and the trip had allowed Dale and Matt the time to discuss every possible contingency in the hunt for the Russian chameleon. As they stepped off the plane and headed for the lobby of the private jet arrival center, they slowed their walk and then turned toward each other. They’d thought of everything but this.
“So where to now?” Matt asked.
She thought for a moment and then smiled. “I thought I had it all figured out, but on the way here, I changed my mind. The way I see it, Lois has been through a lot these last few weeks. First, she lost Charlie, and then some knucklehead put her on a private plane and flew her to Maryland of all places.” Matt smiled. “I know you. You’ll be back out here in the morning, flying off to wherever the hell you think Anika might be, and poor Lois will be without you again. I think it’s best that I stay at the new place while you’re gone to show her some love and take the house for a test drive.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Matt replied, still grinning, and began moving again toward the lobby.
That night, they laughed into the night after destroying a bucket of fried chicken and a few beers out on the porch while Lois continued her relentless patrol of the property. Once she’d tired of chasing whatever small intruder made the mistake of sneaking under or over the fence to invade her domain, she joined the couple and collapsed on the deck between them. The sun had set, and Dale returned to the table, clutching two more beers and a few tall, white candles she had discovered in one of the kitchen drawers. She sat down, gave Lois a reassuring pat on the head that it was okay and time to sleep, and then looked across to Matt.
“Okay, tell me, where is she, and what time’s your flight?”
“If I were Anika and learned the intelligence services of the free world were now looking for me, I’d have already found a beach and would be hiding in clear view under a big hat and sunglasses until the coast is clear.” Matt took a long draw of his beer and leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. “Somewhere where her natural accent would blend right in. Where her beautiful wolf eyes would blend in with the rest of her kind,” he added.
“You don’t think she’s just back in Moscow, surrounded by the Russians who sent her here?”
Matt shook his head.
Dale watched his expression. She knew him so well. He was already envisioning the chase he was running through his head.
“So that’s it, that’s where I’ll bring that bitch to justice, on the beaches of Ko Samui, Thailand.”
Dale shook her head slowly. This was what made Matt so special. Of the thousands of places on the planet a killer might select to hide, she was ready to put her money on his bet, too.
“Do you want me to push surveillance to there and maybe Phuket as well?” she asked.
Matt sat forward so quickly that he startled the dog, and Lois half sat up, looking around for the cause of the rude awakening.
“Absolutely not!” he responded. “I don’t want her run off by some local police or bounty hunters to someplace where we’ll never find her. Let me do my thing and just roll through there. I’ll see if I can pick up her scent. What I do need you
to do, por favor, is find out who the hell directed Helene’s death. When I get done in Thailand, I want to head wherever that trail leads me next.”
Matt read concern in her face. “What scares me is if Anika knows what you look like, either beforehand or now that she knows she’s been identified and is being pursued. If she sees you coming, you might get bit by a wolf. You do know they run in packs.”
“She knows what I look like. Helene had my photos all over the damn ranch house.”
The night air brought a quick coolness to the deck, and it wasn’t long before Dale picked up her half of the dinner debris and headed into the kitchen to warm up and discover what the house had to offer. Matt walked Lois down into the yard for one last potty break and then let her into the house to follow Dale and make some discoveries of her own. Sitting down on the porch step to think about everything that was now going on in his life, Matt smiled. Dale was here, hopefully for good, and he was doing what he did and enjoyed more than anything else – chasing down a predator. It wasn’t long before the peaceful setting was interrupted. Matt’s phone was dancing in his pocket, and he wasn’t expecting any calls. It was Sam.
“Miss me already, bud?” Matt exclaimed as he answered the call.
“Well,” Sam delayed, “I always have, Matt, but I have to tell you a few things before it gets too late back east.”
“Go for it.”
Sam spent the next few minutes giving Matt the rundown on his conversation with his wife. It hadn’t gone well. He then suggested that if they had not yet found Anika, he wanted to help.
“It’s my fault she got close enough to Helene to kill her. I owe it to Helene, and to you, to do everything I can do catch the woman and bring her to justice for what she did.”
Dale must have seen from the kitchen window that Matt had taken a call. Hoping it was a lead in the case, she joined him on the top step.
It’s Sam, Matt’s lips silently said.
“Plus, I think I know where she’s headed,” Sam continued. “She mentioned more than once how she always wanted to visit Thailand and Vietnam, and I’m embarrassed to say we actually talked about going there together. She said that there was something that drew her to those two countries. I know a lot of Russians vacation on the beaches in Thailand, so it makes sense that she might just have headed there.” Matt looked at Dale, and a broad smile grew across his face.
“My brother from another mother!” he exclaimed. “I think you’ve hit it right. That’s exactly where Claire and I think she’s headed if she’s not there already. I’m flying out tomorrow to the most popular spot there, but you need to stay in Jackson and take care of things.”
Sam protested. He told Matt that he and his wife had agreed to separate, and he had already taken a 30-day leave of absence from the department. He was a free man now, at least for the next month, and he was going to go after Anika in Thailand with or without Matt’s permission.
“Have you considered how she might react if she spots you before you see her? She’s a killer, Sam. A type you’ve never faced before, not in Jackson Hole. I’ve seen this sort of animal, they come in all shapes and sizes, but they all operate on an extraordinary level. They are cunning, smart, wicked-fast on their feet, and capable of killing with little effort and zero hesitation.”
“Shit, Matt,” Sam replied. “Sounds like we’re after a mama grizzly. I’ve done that before.” Matt looked at Dale. He muted the call and shook his head.
“He thinks she’s headed to Thailand, too, and intends to go after her. Can you block his passport so he can’t leave the country? I don’t need a sidekick, and I don’t want him to run her off or get his throat cut trying to catch her.”
Dale shook her head no. “Can’t stop him, but if he’s going, perhaps you can use him as bait.”
“No way. He’s not a goat to be tied up for a lion. I won’t do that to him!”
“Well, who let her get to Helene’s bedroom with poison? You sure he’s not just joining the hunt, using this as a cover – maybe even to trap you? Think about it. Helene’s gone – your guardian angel is gone. Are you next?”
Matt’s expression changed. He unmuted the phone and told Sam that he was catching an 8:25 p.m. flight the next night from Reagan in Washington to Thailand.
“You can get out here and fly over with me or just meet me at 8:25 a.m. the next morning in Ko Samui. But you have to agree to follow my lead on this one, or I’ll have the Thai police pick you up for soliciting young girls.”
“Hunting trip to Thailand? Yes, Matt, I agree to your terms. I’ll get online now and set it up,” Sam assured him.
“No, let me do it. Just text me a photo of your passport ID page, and I’ll send you the itinerary. Pack light. It’s going to be hot as hell there, this time of year.”
Within an hour of the call, Matt had booked two business-class seats on Qatar Airways for their excursion. The flight would take Matt all the way across the Atlantic and then Europe, to a stop in the Gulf, Doha. That was where he and Charlie had rendezvoused not too long ago. From there, he’d be off to Phuket, eventually landing on the island where the hunt would take place. Twenty-five hours of long-haul travel with no assurances that their prey would even be there.
After the call, the two spent another hour together in the living room. There was something on Netflix they had heard was good, but they ignored the program and sat quietly in their thoughts. Lois had found a spot at their feet and fell fast asleep. The next morning, as Dale’s driver pulled up in a white SUV, she stared at Matt for a moment. He knew the look.
“No, with everything falling into place, this will not be the last time you see me, young lady,” he assured her.
She smiled and came close, kissing him on the cheek. “Come home in one piece, and I’ll put my condo in D.C. on the market,” she whispered in his ear.
“Do it now. I’ll be home soon. Now off to work, dear,” he joked.
As she walked to her ride, she turned and looked at him, but he was already gone.
Matt stood at the window, playing with Lois, who wouldn’t let go of a tennis ball she’d found, but also watching the only woman he cared for in the world, the only person he could now trust, drive away.
*
A day and a half later, Sam and Matt walked off the plane and into the heat and humidity of a beautiful Thai island. They cruised through passport control, thanks to Matt flashing his diplomatic credentials, and hopped in the first cab they could find. Not long after, they were in their adjoining rooms at a quaint beachfront hotel property. The plan they had forged on the last leg of the flight was to shower, breakfast, and then hide under sunglasses, hats, and beach umbrellas and take the day to acclimate to the time zone and Thai weather. Matt quickly changed that up the minute they walked into the hotel lobby.
“Coffee! Where’s the coffee?” he pleaded jokingly with the front desk staff. Within one minute, a waiter from the restaurant arrived at the desk with a pot, two cups, sweeteners, and cream.
“I love it here already,” he said as he waited for his credit card and passport to be processed.
An hour later, Matt was in the open-air restaurant enjoying a huge serving of pastries, donuts, and fresh fruit. Sam was nowhere in sight. After texting Dale that they were AOK MSU, the letters for Ko Samui Airport only in reverse, he finished eating and then headed back to his room. Knocking on the door that separated their rooms, he was happy to hear Sam was up but surprised at what he saw when Sam finally opened the door.
“What’s the matter?” Matt asked his longtime friend. “What’s wrong?”
Sam motioned for Matt to come into his room and then for him to take a seat. After a minute of staring out the sliding glass doors that opened onto a spectacular beach, Sam walked to the chair across from where Matt was seated and spilled his guts.
“I haven’t been entirely honest with you, Matt,” he began.
Matt was watching everything. He watched every breath, every wink from Sam and, from time
to time, looked about Sam’s room watching, listening for anything out of the ordinary. What the hell is this? he wondered.
“Anika, my Susannah, and I were more involved than just an affair,” Sam began.
Matt continued to listen and waited for what was sure to be a huge shoe drop.
“I lied about her saying she wanted to visit Thailand sometime. We had planned to see it together.” Matt’s senses went into high alert, and he regretted not having one of the handguns he had brought with him in a diplomatic pouch closer.
“So, what now? Is she going to walk out of the bedroom?” Sam’s face suddenly felt tired and worn from the trip and the emotional struggle being waged within.
“No, but I know where she is, and we can intercept her tonight.”
Sam spent the next half-hour describing how their relationship had started, how once he had gotten to know her and fell for her, he helped her get the job at the Coleman Ranch. He swore to Matt that he never knew she wasn’t who she said she was or that she had intended to kill Coleman. He had planned to leave his wife. They still had fun together when it involved a night at the bar, but other than that, they had gone in different directions, and the split was inevitable.
When Susannah came along and things developed, he fell hard for her, and she, at least for appearances’ sake, for him. When she had told everyone she had to leave for New York to tend to her ailing mother, everyone believed her. The truth was that she was leaving so she could continue on her way to Thailand and wait for her new love to join her there. When Coleman turned up dead, it delayed his departure. She wasn’t after money; he hadn’t wired her any. There was no reason for him to think that she wouldn’t be on the beach waiting for him here in Ko Samui.
“You’re fucking good,” Sam said, applauding Matt for figuring out where she would be. “You didn’t know any of this, and you pegged it on the dot. You’re fucking amazing.” Instead of smiling at the compliment, Matt was destroyed. He trusted so few people in the world, and this guy had been one of them.