[The Exit 01.0] Next Exit, Three Miles

by CW Browning

  And that was a problem.

  Alina threw off the covers and got out of bed impatiently. Raven watched as she stalked into the adjoining master bathroom to have a shower. He seemed totally unimpressed with her display of irritation as he stretched his wings out before hunkering down for his morning nap.

  Alina got into the shower and stood under a hot stream of water, letting the water ease the tension in her shoulders. She stared at the slate colored tiles of the wall and sighed. Who was she trying to fool? She had always had a soft spot for Damon. When they had been in training together, she had feelings for him. The few times that she had run into him over the years, she had always still felt a little electricity. Alina could always count on him to make her laugh when she needed to laugh, be serious when levity was out of place, and he always seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. He understood her. He always had. How many people could truly understand her?

  Alina brushed the water out of her eyes and reached for her shampoo. She hunted down bad people and killed them. Plain and simple. This was not something an average man could know or relate to. Not only could Damon do both, but he understood the unique challenges that she faced with her own conscience and her own morality. He faced them too.

  Alina had known coming back to Jersey was going to be complicated. Who would have thought it would be this ridiculous though? In addition to her ex and assorted friends from her past, she now had the added complication of an increasing attraction for the associate who had been sent by their respective bosses, essentially to babysit her. Alina's lips twitched. She could certainly appreciate the irony of the situation. If everything was happening on time and according to plan, Viper might even find it all amusing. But she had yet to locate Johann and the clock was ticking. There really wasn't time for these kinds of distractions.

  Not that she had much of a choice, Alina reflected as she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around her head and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Life was certainly not predictable. She had learned a long time ago that even the best plans went hinky sometimes. Her eyes dropped to the jagged scar that ran at an angle from her right hip bone toward her belly button. It had been made by a knife three years ago when an unforeseen complication caused her to get a little closer than she would have liked to the security of one of her marks. Alina touched the scar absently. It was a constant reminder that not everything went according to plan.

  She lifted her eyes back to her face and stared at herself thoughtfully. If everything did go according to plan all the time, life would certainly have the potential to be very boring. Granted, when it came to her job and Johann, she wished everything would just fall into place. But Alina was honest with herself and admitted that the challenge of the hunt was what made her work interesting. She sighed and shook her head.

  She was thinking too much and working too little. She had to focus on what needed to get done, and let everything else take care of itself. The sooner she got the job done, the better for everyone involved. Especially herself.

  Angela got out of her car and looked around. She had stopped the car at the front door of Alina's house. She didn't want to just go waltzing up to the back door, even though at one point in time that would have been expected. She took in the large and flat front lawn and the surrounding trees. It had taken over forty-five minutes to get out here in traffic, and that was just too long. And the house was too far out in the woods. Didn't Alina get scared out here all on her own? Angela shook her head and turned to look at the house.

  The house seemed nice enough. It was a sprawling two story structure with lots of potential...if it were closer to civilization. Angela wrinkled her nose and swatted away a bug that flitted near her face. She let out a gasp and jumped back when she saw that it was a huge bumblebee. The bee buzzed forward, sensing movement, and Angela ran around to the other side of her car, flailing her arms as she ran, trying to get away from the buzzing monster. The bee gave up and buzzed toward the daffodils that were growing a few feet away and Angela let out a long and relieved sigh. One of the many reasons she didn't do nature...bugs! She looked around a little self-consciously and then straightened her hair and went to the front door, ringing the bell defiantly.

  Alina had already come up from the command center, where she had seen Angela on the security monitor. She had burst out laughing as Angela ran away from the bee, swinging her arms at her sides like a mad woman. Poor Angie. She was probably wearing some expensive perfume that smelled like flowers. The kitchen island was sliding back over the stairwell when the doorbell rang. Alina went to answer, wiping the laughter off her face as she opened the door.

  “Angie!” she exclaimed, stepping back so Angela could step into the hall. “What a surprise!”

  “I hope I'm not bothering you,” Angela said, looking around curiously while Alina closed the door behind her. “I had a doctor’s appointment, so I took the day from work. I thought I'd drive out here and see where you set up camp. You do realize you are miles away from civilization, right?”

  “Hardly miles,” Alina retorted with a laugh. “Come back to the kitchen. I was just about to make some tea.”

  “It took me over forty-five minutes to get out here!” Angela protested, following her down the hall and into the kitchen.

  Alina thought about her South American mountain retreat that was a full day away from civilization and smiled slightly. She wondered briefly what Angela would say to that.

  “I like it out here,” she said instead as they walked into the kitchen.

  Alina closed the lid to a laptop sitting on the counter as she passed it, hiding the security camera footage. Angela placed her designer bag on the counter and wandered into the sitting area curiously.

  “This is a nice room,” she said, looking around. “It will be nice to have fires in the fireplace in the winter.”

  Alina glanced over her shoulder. She paused, her eyes resting on the fireplace thoughtfully. She had a sudden mental image of snow falling silently outside and a fire raging in the hearth with Damon in the recliner next to it. Alina allowed her mind to explore the image briefly. She supposed she would be on the couch reading. The resulting feeling of longing that suddenly washed over her at the thought made Alina frown.

  “Hey!” Angela snapped her out of her reverie, exclaiming from the sliding doors. “There is the biggest black bird I have ever seen hanging out on your deck!”

  Alina blinked and went back to making the tea.

  “Raven actually isn't that big compared to other birds of prey,” she remarked, clearing her throat slightly. “As hawks go, he's actually one of the smaller ones.”

  “You named it?”

  Angela couldn't drag her eyes away from the hawk. He was perched on the top of the banister that surrounded the deck. He had been staring into the trees, but almost as if he sensed Angela's gaze, he turned his head and stared back at her with his black hawk eyes. Angela had the absurd feeling that he was evaluating her.

  “Of course. He's my pet.” Alina switched on the electric kettle and joined Angela at the door. “He came with me.” The trace of fondness in her voice wasn't hard to miss. Angela looked at her.

  “Then why isn't he in a cage?” she asked logically. Alina shook her head.

  “He would die in a cage. He's a wild bird,” she answered.

  The thought flitted through Angela's mind that they were not just speaking about the bird anymore.

  “You always did have a way with animals,” she said, looking back at the hawk. “Is he dangerous?”

  “Only if someone tries to attack me.”

  Alina turned to go back into the kitchen.

  “Do you feed him?” Angela seemed fascinated by the thought of a wild hawk as a pet. “Where does he sleep?”

  “He hunts for himself and he usually naps on the deck or on the perch in my bedroom,” Alina answered readily. “I altered the skylight so that he can get in and out. It didn't take him long
at all to figure it out,” she added with a laugh.

  Angela finally moved away from the door and seated herself at the bar counter.

  “Doesn't the rain come in?” she asked. Alina shook her head.

  “Not yet.” She set a steaming china mug down in front of Angela. “But there hasn't been a real storm since I've been here, so we'll see what happens then.”

  Alina got her own cup of tea and seated herself next to Angela.

  “Mmmm.” Angela sipped the tea appreciatively. “This is good.”

  “It is.”

  Alina sipped the tea and welcomed the break from work. She had spent the whole morning tracing the known movements of Johann and reconstructing the most likely actions in between, based on what she knew of him and how he worked. It was a tedious and stressful exercise.

  “So what kind of consulting does an ex-military intelligence person do in the civilian world?” Angela asked, her eyes resting on the closed laptop. Alina's lips twitched.

  “Security,” she answered vaguely.

  Angela raised an eyebrow.

  “For private companies?” she prompted. Alina was silent. “Fine. Don't tell me. I don't need to know.” Angela huffed. Alina laughed.

  “No, you don't,” she agreed.

  “Does Stephanie know?” Angela asked after a moment.

  Alina glanced at Angela.

  “Not really,” she answered. “Although, I think she's made some guesses.”

  Alina sipped her tea again, waiting for Angela to get to what was bothering her. Clearly something was. The usually chatty woman was suddenly being very quiet.

  “Are you working with the FBI?” Angela finally asked.

  Alina laughed.

  “Hardly,” she replied. “What makes you think that?”

  “I don't know,” Angela shrugged. “You just seem to be paying a lot of attention to whatever this case is that Stephanie's working on. And then this Damon guy appears, and you guys clearly know each other.” Alina looked at Angela, surprised. Angela saw the look and laughed. “Oh please, Lina,” she exclaimed. “Stephanie may be too preoccupied to notice, but I certainly wasn't. And, shockingly, I think John figured out that something was up as well. He was watching both of you very closely last night.”

  “I noticed,” Alina agreed. She had noticed John's interest, but totally missed Angela's.

  “Well, I'm not an idiot,” Angela announced. “And it certainly doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you and Damon are somehow connected to Stephanie's case. So is that why you came back when you did? Are you working with Homeland Security? And does Stephanie know?”

  Alina was quiet for a moment, drinking her tea. She hadn't anticipated Angela as a complication, which was a miscalculation on her part. She knew that Angie was a quick study and she should have been prepared for this.

  “No,” Alina finally spoke. “I'm not working with DHS and no, Stephanie's case is not why I came back when I did.”

  “How do you know this Damon character?” Angela asked.

  “We met in the service,” Alina answered. “We were in boot camp together.”

  “Was he military intelligence too?” Angela asked.

  Alina sighed and set her cup down.

  “No. He was a Navy SEAL,” she answered. “However, I don't believe he thinks that his former occupation is relevant to his current one, so I don't see why anyone should know.”

  “Just like you don't see why anyone should know that you guys know each other?” Angela shot back. Alina looked at her sharply and Angela winked. “Hey, I don't judge. If I knew someone that gorgeous, I wouldn't want to share him either,” she said with a grin.

  Alina forced a laugh.

  “I had no idea he was Stephanie's mystery man until they walked through the door at the restaurant,” she lied blithely. “That's all there is to it.”

  “Sure.” Angela finished her tea and stood up. “Well, if you need any help with whatever you guys are working on, just let me know.” She picked up her bag. “I feel kind of left out.”

  “For heaven's sake, don't.” Alina stood up and pasted a carefree grin that she was far from feeling on her face. “It may all seem like a great big mystery, but there's really nothing to it at all. I'm doing security consulting now and Damon is working for Homeland Security. That's it.”

  “Well, you have to admit that the whole thing looks a little shady.” Angela headed for the front door. “And I think you will find that John thinks so too.”

  “John is welcome to think whatever he would like to think.” Alina allowed a note of impatience to creep into her voice.

  “Oh and he will!” Angela said, opening the front door. “But don't underestimate him, Lina. As much as I hate to admit it, he's turned into one hell of an investigator.” Angela warned as she stepped outside. “Thanks for the tea!”

  “Anytime. You know that.”

  Alina stood in the doorway and watched Angela get into her car. She waved and watched the car disappear toward the road. Once the car was out of sight, the smile left her face and she closed the door thoughtfully.

  Angela hadn't bought a word of what she had said. That much was obvious in her parting warning about John. Alina walked back to the kitchen slowly. Was Angela going to be a problem? She was smart, but Alina didn't think that she would do anything rash. Perhaps she did just feel left out as she had said. If that was the case, then maybe just thinking that she knew a secret would be enough to keep her happy.

  Alina picked up the empty mugs and carried them over to the dishwasher. As much as she wanted to believe that, she knew that it was highly unlikely that Angela wasn't going to try to do some poking around herself. She had worked out that something “shady” was going on, and Alina knew Angela. She would poke around until she figured out exactly what that something shady was. This was going to cause another complication that Alina just could not afford.

  “For the love of God, what next?” Alina muttered to herself, turning to go back downstairs into her command center.

  Angela drove away from Alina's house irritated. While she hadn't exactly expected her to spill the whole story, she really hadn't expected Alina to flat out lie. But that was exactly what she had done. Angela may not know how to run an investigation or hunt criminals down, or know the first thing about handling a gun or about military intelligence (whatever that was), but one thing she did know was people. And she had known from watching Alina and Damon last night that, not only did they know each other well, there was no surprise on either side at seeing each other at the restaurant. She watched them through the whole dinner. Alina appeared very uncomfortable a number of times when some part of her past came up and, conversely, Damon had been unduly interested. Although they knew each other, Damon clearly knew absolutely nothing about her past. Angela thought that was interesting. She had also found it interesting that Damon seemed to be watching John just as much as John had been watching him. In fact, Angela had found the whole dinner fascinating. It was like watching an elaborate charade being played out over steak and wine.

  However, this morning she woke up curious. She had driven all the way out to the sticks for answers, and was coming away empty. Angela winced as she bounced over a rough mound in the gravel driveway leading back to the road. Alina clearly didn't want her to know what was going on. Angela didn't think that it was necessarily that Alina didn't trust her. She thought it was more of a case of need to know, and Alina had decided that she didn't need to know. Angela slowed down as the main road came into sight ahead.

  Well, Angela wanted to know. She had always hated the rare occasions when they were younger and Stephanie and Alina kept secrets from her. They usually involved some sort of birthday surprise, and Angela had always quietly gone about uncovering the surprise before the event. Angela loathed surprises, and she hated not knowing what was going on even more.

  “I'll just have to find out myself.” Angela decided out loud, stopping at the tarmac of the main road.
>
  She checked to make sure that no cars were coming before pulling out onto the road. She would just have to follow both Stephanie and Alina until she figured out what they were up to.

  Angela turned on the radio, happier now that she resolved on a plan of action. And if she could figure out where he was staying, she just might follow up on the mysterious and gorgeous Damon character as well! If they didn't want to tell her what was going on, Angela would just find out for herself!

  Angela pressed the gas down and sped down the road. She never noticed the tall shadow that had moved quickly into the trees at the edge of road as she pulled out. And she missed the flash of sunlight glinting off the lenses of a pair of binoculars, watching her speed down the road.

  A few minutes after she had gone, a lone figure dressed in olive hunting fatigues moved across the road and disappeared into the trees opposite. A minute later, an engine came to life and a black Bronco pulled out onto the road, heading in the opposite direction.

  Chapter Seven

  Damon watched from the darkness as Alina moved past the sliding doors again on her way to the kitchen. She had been pacing for the better part of an hour, occasionally going over to her laptop and checking the screen before resuming her loop around the living room and dining room. The night was silent around him and Damon felt comfortable in the darkness, watching. Raven was on the roof of the house, watching as well. Every once in a while, he disappeared into the skylight, only to reappear a few minutes later. Damon concluded that Alina had rigged some kind of entry through the skylight into the house. He glanced up at the dark bird ruefully.