by CW Browning
Somewhere inside the cold machine that she had become, something had melted when she returned to Jersey. The warmth and love of true friendships that had been long forgotten thawed deep inside her, and Viper was reminded of the way of life that she was trained to protect. She may have failed according to the rules of the world she worked in, but Alina knew she had not failed herself. She had won. She had won part of her soul back, and she could not regret that, even as she was drawing closer to the barn.
They passed the darkly silent house to their left and Alina glanced at it curiously. That was where Johann had finalized his plans and, just hours before, he left with the intent of destroying thousands of lives. That intention was destined never to be realized. Viper recognized the irony in her own fate as they passed the house, her lips twisting slightly.
Perhaps her pride had brought her to this inevitable place, but she truly could not regret a single thing that she had done to get here. With that realization, Alina felt the fear gripping her in its paralyzing vise fade away. She had always known that the odds of her dying comfortably in her sleep at an old age were slim to non-existent. If she had to pick a time in her life, this was as good as any.
At least she had been given the opportunity to feel again.
The barn rose up before them and, before Alina knew it, they were inside. Once they were through the doorway, Dimitrius stopped and allowed her to distance herself from him. He flipped a switch and a single, naked light bulb flickered on, hanging from a rafter above them. Stalls in various states of disrepair lined the back wall, some empty and some holding an assortment of old rusted buckets and tools. The loft above them was dark where the light didn't reach, and Viper saw that the ladder to the loft was broken, laying on the floor in one of the stalls. Nothing in the barn looked as if it had been touched in years. The musty smell of old wood and forgotten dreams surrounded her and Alina turned to face her captor resolutely.
His dark face was cast into shadows from the light, but she had the impression that it would have been attractive if his eyes weren't so cold.
“Take off the hat and jacket,” Dimitrius said, moving out of the doorway.
Alina pulled the knit cap off her head and felt her braid fall to rest on her shoulder. She tossed the hat away before shrugging out of the light jacket. Dimitrius nodded once she had discarded that as well.
“Good. Now your back-up.”
“I don't have my back-up,” Alina informed him.
A dark eyebrow soared into his forehead in disbelief.
“Of course you do,” he replied.
Alina shook her head slowly.
“I don't,” She said.
Dimitrius frowned and moved toward her.
“You'll excuse me if I don't believe you,” he said, reaching out and turning her around by her shoulder.
His hand slid down her back, then around her hips and down each leg, looking for the back-up weapon they always carried. He pulled her knife out of her ankle strap and threw it away before straightening up, turning her to face him again.
“You're wounded,” he stated, stepping back and motioning to the bandage under her tank.
Viper's lips curved into a cold smile.
“Courtesy of a wide shot.”
Dimitrius threw his head back and let out a bark of laughter.
“So that's where the bullet ended up!” he exclaimed.
“Not quite where you intended,” Alina said coldly.
Dimitrius looked at her in some surprise.
“Oh, but it was,” he said softly.
The words hung heavily in the silence as if they had been shouted, and Alina felt hot and cold all at once. She stared at him in shock, reading the simple truth in his cold eyes. She heard herself suck in air in a soft gasp as her gut tightened and her vision seemed to blur for an instant.
She had been the target all along!
“You look stunned.” Dimitrius' voice cut through the haze of swirling shock and Alina forced herself to focus on his smiling face. “Perhaps you should sit down.”
“I'll stand.”
Alina was surprised when her voice came out evenly, sounding almost calm. Dimitrius shrugged.
“Have it your way,” he said agreeably. “You really had no idea? What a relief! I thought I might be losing my touch. You're the most challenging target I have ever faced. It took quite a lot of planning.”
“Johann?” Alina asked, her mind racing.
Dimitrius smiled.
“The contract was for both of you,” he told her, lowering his gun to his side and relaxing slightly. “But I knew that you would succeed with Johann this time, saving me the trouble. And, believe it or not, I wanted you to succeed. You had such a distinguished career until you unaccountably failed in Cairo. I know how difficult it is to be flawless in this business. I wanted you to have the opportunity to redeem yourself.”
“Well, that was very thoughtful of you,” Alina remarked.
Dimitrius ignored the sarcasm and shook his head slightly.
“You know, we can never choose when our time is up,” he said slowly. “But I wanted to show you some respect in your last hours. I think you're fascinating. Such a brilliant killer, and yet you seem to have a sense of justice. I wish we could get to know each other better, but of course, there isn't time for that.”
“Why did you change your plans the other day in the city?” Alina asked, watching him from beneath her lashes. “You must have had this planned to end here, tonight. So why take the shot there?”
Irritation flashed across his face and Dimitrius spun impatiently to start stalking back and forth.
“He changed the contract on me,” he exclaimed. “All of a sudden, you had them spooked. They didn't want to wait for me to take care of it the way I had planned. They wanted you done first and then Johann, after he set off the bombs.” Dimitrius glanced at her. “I think they were afraid of you. Then some DHS agent started asking questions and they got careless.”
“Who hired you?” Alina demanded, raising her head and looking at him squarely.
Dimitrius stopped and looked at her.
“You know I can't tell you that,” he replied.
Alina raised an eyebrow.
“I think I've earned the right to know who my murderer is,” she retorted.
Dimitrius studied her for a moment, and then smiled slowly.
“I think you already know who he is,” he said softly.
His dark eyes met hers and Alina felt as though she was being sucked into their very depths. He was right, of course, she did know. And he knew that she knew. And the understanding and empathy that was in his dark eyes was the first sign of emotion that she had glimpsed inside him.
They stared at each other for a long moment, the silence enveloping them, and Alina had the strangest sense that he was reluctant to end the moment.
“Such a waste,” he murmured softly.
Alina didn't blink or look away, but her lips curved slightly in acknowledgment of the compliment. She didn't hold out any hope of a reprieve. They were both professionals.
“Would you like to turn around?” Dimitrius asked, raising the gun again.
Alina shook her head, facing him. She held her chin up and her shoulders squared.
“I would rather face it, thank you,” she answered calmly and Dimitrius smiled slightly.
“Of course,” he agreed, taking aim. “I am sorry,” he apologized.
Viper nodded slightly before lowering her eyes to a random spot on the floor. While she wanted to face her executioner, she didn't want his cold face to be the last thing she saw. Alina focused on a large crack in the floorboard near his foot. She wondered what would happen to Raven. She supposed Hawk would take him. They seemed to have formed a bond of sorts and she thought he might enjoy the novelty of a namesake.
Alina was suddenly very sorry that she hadn't kissed him first this afternoon in the bedroom. She should have let him see how much he had come to mean to her. There was so
much she suddenly wished that she had said and done, and the sheer panic of never getting the chance now threatened to disrupt her composure. Damon's deep blue eyes took the place of the cracked floorboard and Alina inhaled slowly.
The shot was deafening, reverberating through the barn and shaking the old rafters. The noise rang in her ears and Alina flinched, her heart jumping into her throat. It took a second for her mind to register the fact that she was still standing.
And still breathing.
Her eyes flew up and she watched as Dimitrius fell backwards. He was dead before he hit the old wooden floor of the barn, the high caliber round passing directly through his heart. Alina stared at the gaping wound in the center of his chest, her mind clamoring to grasp what had happened. When the blood started to flow across his chest, she realized that she wasn't breathing.
Sucking in a sudden gasp of air, she spun around and looked up. There, in the shadows at the edge of the loft, Hawk lowered his rifle slowly. His blue eyes met hers and Alina simply stared at him numbly, her mind empty of all thought.
Damon sat up from his stomach and swung his legs over the edge of the loft, dropping down into the barn. Alina watched him land on his feet and move toward her with that jungle cat grace that was so uniquely his own. She heard something that sounded very suspiciously like a cross between a gasp and a sob, and then her legs buckled right out from under her.
“Easy.” Damon caught her in his arms and pulled her close, holding her up against himself. “Easy now.”
He wrapped his arms around her and the numbness in her legs gave way to an uncontrollable trembling. Alina realized with a shock that her whole body was shaking violently, and that the sob had come from deep inside her. She didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry or scream, and she couldn't seem to catch her breath. After holding all her emotion so tightly in check for the past hour, it was as if some invisible gate had been raised and she couldn't control the shaking. She couldn't control anything anymore. She barely heard the words that Damon was murmuring, but the soothing pitch of his voice washed over her and Alina could only rest her head on his chest and wait for the violent tremors to pass.
Damon closed his eyes, resting his chin on the top of Alina's head. She was shaking uncontrollably and all he could do was hold her tightly and try to absorb as much of the trembling as he could into his own body. He inhaled deeply, moving one hand up to the back of her head. Relief was coursing through him, pure elation that she was alive and in his arms. He had come so close, so very close, to losing her. Damon had never seen anything so brave in his life as the way she had faced her own death, with her back straight and her head high. Not once had she allowed any tremor of emotion to break through and show the Engineer that he had won. Dimitrius had paused in appreciation when confronted with her silent fearlessness, giving Hawk the clear shot that ended his life.
Damon opened his eyes and looked at the body of the The Engineer, laying in a growing pool of blood on the barn floor, the gun that would have ended Vipers' life on the floor next to his lifeless hand.
The hunter had fallen prey to a Hawk.
Alina didn't even realize that Damon had moved them outside until the cool night air touched her face. He had picked up her discarded jacket, hat and knife as they passed them in the barn, and Alina watched them swing from his free hand. She didn't look back at the barn, but allowed herself to be led across the dark yard to the edge of the property.
Damon led her to a hollowed out, uprooted tree trunk and she sank onto it gratefully. Crouching in front of her, he took both her cold hands in his warm ones, rubbing them briskly.
“Look at me,” he said. When Alina obeyed, he smiled slightly. “It's over.”
Alina nodded, breathing fresh air deeply. The flood of uncontrollable emotion had ended and the violent shaking had subsided to a slight trembling in her hands. She felt drained and exhausted.
“How did you get in the loft?”
Alina broke her silence, her fingers stirring in his large hands. Damon squeezed them gently and moved to sit beside her on the tree. Clouds still covered the moon and the wind had picked up. She shivered, rubbing her arms, and Damon draped her jacket around her shoulders. Alina smiled in thanks, slipping her arms into the sleeves. She reached out and took the knife from his hand and bent to slip it back into its holder on her ankle.
“When I came to secure the perimeter, Dimitrius was at the rock. He was testing the rifle with the remote,” Damon told her. “Once I realized that the rifle was mounted on the barn, I had some idea of what he was planning. I got into the barn and I was going to disarm the rifle altogether, but he came to make an adjustment to it.” Damon shrugged. “All I could do was wait, stuck in the loft. There are holes in the walls up there and I had a clear view of what was happening, but I didn't have any kind of shot without going through you.”
Alina nodded, silent as she stared into the night, all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.
“Harry sent you to protect me, didn't he?” she said suddenly. “He knew the Engineer was being hired for me.”
“Yes.” Damon nodded, playing with the black knit hat in his hands. “He contacted me a month ago in Scotland. He didn't know how to protect you. He knew you would go after Johann again and there was no way to stop you. It was the perfect set up.”
“So he gave you the DHS alibi and you shadowed me, waiting for Dimitrius to show up,” Alina said slowly. “That's why you were in such a high profile position. You wanted them to see that you were here too.”
“I wanted to make it clear that you weren't alone. I wanted to force them to act,” Damon said. “And it worked. They panicked and forced Dimitrius to change his plans and move everything up. Unfortunately, an innocent agent in Washington DC started asking questions about me around the same time that they realized who I really was.”
Alina nodded, staring at the dark house in front of them.
“And they were afraid she would alert the FBI,” she murmured. “Stephanie could have put it all together and they couldn't risk that much exposure.”
Damon was silent and Alina buried her hands in her jacket pockets. She stared unseeingly at the house, listening to the sounds of the night around them, her mind spinning. All this time, she had been at the center of the whole thing. All the questions, all the manipulations, all the planning...it had all been to silence her.
Damon glanced at Viper. She had her hands buried in her pockets and was staring straight ahead with that unreadable look on her face. He sighed inwardly and waited.
“Harry is in danger now,” Alina said after a few moments of silence.
Damon nodded and the cool night air brushed against his face. An owl hooted nearby, the sound echoing in the quiet yard.
“Yes.”
“And you just saved my life,” she added after a moment.
Damon glanced at her, his lips twitching.
“Yes.”
Alina was silent again, lapsing deep into her own thoughts. Damon stretched, looking up into the black sky. He knew what she was thinking, knew what she was turning over in that head of hers. If he had an ounce of sense, he would cut bait and walk away now. He could disappear forever on what he had accumulated over the years and they would never even know where to start looking. Hawk knew she could as well, but she wouldn't run. Ever. And, he thought with a deep sigh, neither would he. Not while she was still out there.
“You're going after him, aren't you?” Hawk asked softly.
The night sang around them, but neither of them were listening now. Viper looked at him, her eyes dark and her lips drawn together in a grim line.
“You know I have to,” she answered just as softly. “This has gone too far. Targeting their own agents and their own citizens? This has to stop.”
“You know it's impossible,” Damon told her.
They stared at each other in the darkness, and Alina's lips curved into a grin.
“The only reason you say that is because it's
never been done before,” she retorted.
Damon chuckled quietly.
“Well, then we had better find your rifle and side arm,” he said finally. Alina grinned. “By the way, where is your backup?” Damon demanded, standing up and turning to reach out his hand to her.
Alina placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet.
“I gave it to Stephanie. She didn't have one, if you can believe that,” she answered. “It turned out to be a good thing, too. She needed it.”
“That was a good gun. You've had it since the beginning,” Hawk said as they started toward the line of trees where Dimitrius had caught her. It seemed like an eternity ago now.
“I'll miss it,” Alina agreed with a sigh. “But maybe one day I can get it back.”
Damon glanced down at the note of sadness in her voice. Viper was looking ahead, but he knew it was with a view of the past. And that past had irrevocably changed now, becoming entwined with the future. Damon was still pondering this new development when Alina slid her hand into his. He looked at her with a smile, his fingers closing around hers warmly.
“I'm glad you're with me,” Alina told him softly.
Damon smiled slowly and stopped, pulling her into his arms.
“There's nowhere else I would rather be,” he answered truthfully.
Alina smiled slowly as his lips touched hers. Maybe it hadn't been everything that she wanted to say, and maybe it wasn't everything that had gone through her mind in the seconds before she thought she was about to die, but it was more than she had ever told him. She had him in her arms, and it was a start.
And Viper had always been partial to Hawks.
Other Titles in the Exit Series by CW Browning:
Next Exit, Pay Toll
Next Exit, Dead Ahead
Next Exit, Quarter Mile
Available on Amazon
About the Author
CW Browning was writing before she could spell. Making up stories with her childhood best friend in the backyard in Olathe, Kansas, imagination ran wild from the very beginning. At the age of eight, she printed out her first full-length novel on a dot-matrix printer. All eighteen chapters of it. Through the years, the writing took a backseat to the mechanics of life. Those mechanics, however, have a great way of underlining what genuinely lifts a spirit and makes the soul sing. After attending Rutgers University and studying History, her love for writing was rekindled. It became apparent where her heart truly lay. Picking up an old manuscript, she dusted it off and went back to what made her whole. CW still makes up stories in her backyard, but now she crafts them for her readers to enjoy. She makes her home in Southern New Jersey, where she loves to grill steak and sip red wine on the patio.