She slipped into the posh driver’s seat and started the motor. They glided onto the curved path meant for carts and rose over a hill. As they crested, the sun’s rays bathed the lush, green grounds in light, reflecting off the scattered ponds and leaves of the trees. Audrey sucked in a sharp breath at the beauty. At their backs, the waves of the ocean could still be heard. For the briefest of moments, with the wind in her hair and the bodyguard out of sight, she deluded herself into thinking she was on vacation.
Until the chipmunk ran right across their path. She whipped the wheel to the left and slammed on the brake. Lee grabbed the side bar and tipped precariously out of the cart as several clubs vaulted out of the bag. He righted himself, his cheeks flushed. “Andrea—” he enunciated each syllable “—someone is already trying to kill us. Let’s not make it easy on them.” He winked and sank against the bench.
Calling her by the cover name after almost tumbling out of a vehicle impressed her. She hopped out of the cart and grabbed the escaped clubs before starting it up again. A quick look over her shoulder revealed the guard was behind them. He had his hand over his mouth. If he thought she was amusing now, wait until she started swinging.
They reached the tee-off point a minute later. She placed the pointy thing in the ground and rested the ball on top of it. Coordination didn’t come easily, but if she focused, she felt certain she could at least stop embarrassing herself. Once she figured out the game of billiards revolved around physics, she was able to win a few games despite her shaky hands. Surely, golf involved the same transferring of energy with a little aerodynamics thrown in for good measure.
She adjusted her stance and aimed the club. “Is our potential meeting here yet?”
“No one but the bodyguard in the line of sight. For all we know they plan to meet us at dinner. I say let’s get through the course as fast as we can to rule it out.”
“Fair enough.” She pulled the club back and swung hard, expecting to hear the smack of the golf ball. Instead, she met air, until the momentum of her move sent the swing backward. Only then did the club hit the ball. “Fore!” She cringed as she spun, fearing the worst.
Lee darted out of the way as the ball bounced past him, with little force. Apparently, her swing didn’t have as much power as she thought. It rolled past the tee-off sign and right underneath the golf cart where it decided to stay put. Audrey groaned, shaking her head. She refused to even check on the bodyguard’s reaction.
“That was so impressively bad, I’ll be happy to get it.” Lee strode to the cart and from standing dropped into a one-handed push-up, most likely to keep his clothes from getting dirty, while the other arm strained to reach the ball. He retracted his reach just as fast and dropped fully to the ground. He strained his neck to look underneath the cart.
“What is it? Did the ball hit something it shouldn’t have?” Audrey approached.
“Be glad it didn’t.” He held up a hand as his head twisted to see her approach. “Don’t come any closer.”
“Lee? What’s going on?”
He lifted himself off the ground. “Any chance you know anything about bombs?”
Her mouth went dry and her mind went blank as her eyes refused to stare at anything but the golf cart. “They’re bad,” she whispered.
“If you don’t know enough to disable it within a few seconds, there’s only one other option.” He grabbed her hand. “We need to run.”
* * *
He knew Audrey well enough by this point to recognize that, while brilliant, she froze when scared. At least initially. Audrey dropped the golf club and clung to Lee’s hand as they pumped their arms, running diagonally across the grass, up the sloping hill, as far away from the golf cart as possible. “Could you tell how big the bomb—”
“No.”
“Timer?” she huffed.
Any second an explosion could overtake them. He wasn’t going to take time describing what he’d seen duct-taped to the underside of the cart. He released her hand as he waved his arms at the bodyguard.
“Come on, you can run faster than that.”
She pumped her arms harder but wasn’t keeping up with him. “I’m not Kendra.”
He spun on a heel and swept her knees and back into his arms. She let out a tiny squeal, reminding him of the first time they’d met, but this time Audrey slipped her trusting arms around his neck as Lee pushed his legs to their top speed. “So professors don’t train like FBI agents? Weird.”
She barked a laugh that sounded like half a cry. Her head rested on his chest as if she belonged there. They reached the bodyguard. Lee let Audrey down into the back row of the golf cart. “Go the opposite way. Bomb.”
The bodyguard didn’t need to be asked twice. He steered the cart in the opposite direction of their cart while one hand clicked a radio. “I need the sprinklers on now, the course evacuated and—”
A wall of sound overtook them. Lee threw an arm over Audrey’s back and he hunched over her, instinctively trying to protect her. When heat didn’t reach them, he tentatively sat up, the bodyguard and Audrey following suit. They looked over their shoulders. The cart was a flaming pile of plastic and aluminum and the ground—a fifty-foot radius—was now scorched earth. The sprinklers rose out of the ground and sprayed water, not only on the flames, but also over the path their cart sat, effectively drenching their outfits.
“Whoever is trying to kill you must be very upset that you were bad at golf,” the guard said, no trace of amusement in his voice. He drove straight to their cottage and parked. “Stay inside until I come for you. Ms. Morillo will want a word.” Lee may have imagined it, but the tan linebacker seemed to go pale as he spoke.
Lee held the cottage door open for her, but a shadow drifted across the living area. Audrey stiffened, and Lee lunged ahead of her, reaching behind his back as if habitually going for a weapon that wasn’t there. He really missed his weapon. “Who is it?”
The shadow held two hands up before the petite woman stepped in front of them. A few streams of light coming through the blinds reflected off shiny blond hair. Dressed in the same uniform of the employees, Felicity flipped on the light switch.
“I don’t have much time and neither do you.” Felicity pointed to the clock on the entertainment center. “We both know who each other is working for and why, so let’s skip the preamble.”
Lee tapped his ear to indicate potential bugs. “Maybe we should take this outside.”
Felicity shook her head. “The room isn’t bugged. You can relax. My mission got pushed up. A deal is happening sooner than anticipated and the moment my key players leave the resort, I hand over the evidence I’ve been building for an arrest.”
“I was told you had to wait for our all-clear.”
Felicity held up a hand. “Our bosses are playing a game about who is more important to take down. I’m here to tell you the cooperation is short-lived. The moment my marks get to their private airfield, an arrest is happening one way or another. And if word gets back to anyone here that the arrest happened—”
“The resort will clear out faster than I can say FBI. We’ll have lost our chance to take down the Masked Network. Not to mention our covers we’ve spent years developing will be cooked.” Lee raked a hand through his hair, frustration building. “Surely, you can see this is a one-time shot. We mess this up, they’ll go so far underground it’ll be years before they even consider adding anyone else to the Network. Do you have any idea how much crime is facilitated through this Network? The guy who runs it is like a phantom. We don’t have a face or name. At least you know who you’re taking down. Your takedown can wait.”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss who exactly I’m talking about but rest assured it’s in the best interests of national security.”
“Since when is CIA—”
“When there is a joint task force of Homeland Security—”
“I’m guessing neither of you have plans to back down.” Audrey pointed at both of them. “The arguing is getting tedious, and quite frankly, I’m not in the best of moods since someone tried to kill us with an exploding golf cart.”
Felicity’s mouth dropped. “Is that what that noise was?”
“Yes.”
Felicity held up a finger in Lee’s face. “You better hope that didn’t scare off my arms deal.”
Audrey groaned. “Obviously both cases are important. Do either of you have a solution?”
Felicity and Lee exchanged a quick glance that made it clear neither of them had any ideas, but Felicity was the first to speak. “I’m here to let you know that time is running out. My team plans to make a move within the next thirty hours, as long as the bomb attempt didn’t speed things up. We’ll do our best to keep the takedown quiet, but I don’t know how long that will last.”
And with that, Felicity headed for the door.
Lee paced the room like a trapped animal. “You heard her. We don’t have much time and whoever is trying to kill us is delaying the schedule. The mission is on its last legs. We need to identify the other shooter. If we have that, we can give Octavia a photo and enlist the security guards to do their jobs.”
“But...” Her words trailed off.
Lee raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Audrey hesitated. “It’s just—I mean if the guards do catch the other shooter, won’t he tell them why he wanted to kill us? Won’t the explanation have to do with the organization you took down, the one that the Masked Network thinks recommended us to join?”
Lee’s face paled. “You’re right. We’re running out of options.”
* * *
Audrey may not be agent material, but she was good at observing, looking at facts from different angles. There had to be a best way to go forward. “If we just had a little more time to sit back and look at the bigger picture.”
“Time is the last thing we have. You heard Felicity. And even if that wasn’t a concern, the arrest of Adam’s drug trafficking organization won’t be quiet for much longer. Each one of the members has friends and family. Someone is going to put two and two together why everyone is missing and off the grid.”
Audrey held up a finger. “If our attempted murderer knows why we’re here, he would’ve already alerted the Masked Network. Right? We would’ve been swarmed by gunmen by now. So maybe the more likely scenario is that whoever is trying to kill us is someone trying to seek revenge for taking down the rest of Adam’s organization.”
“Even if that is true, you were right the first time. If caught by security here, he could still give us away and then we’d have a highly trained team trying to kill us.”
She brightened. “But you said yourself the bodyguard felt some sort of new loyalty to me. Maybe if you just make him an asset...” The look of pity in Lee’s eyes made her words falter.
“The type of organization that runs this club isn’t one you can just walk away from, especially at his level. If I were the only one here, I might be more willing to try but it’d still be considered a suicide mission.” He sank down in the couch cushions. “I need to take down whoever is trying to kill us. Quietly.”
“You mean kill him?”
Lee turned his head sharply to look at her. “I’m not an assassin, Audrey.”
“How will you arrest someone and get them out of here without the cameras, without the other guards, seeing?”
Lee stood and resumed his pacing. “Very carefully.”
Audrey knew when she’d been dismissed. She slipped outside on the patio and leaned on the balcony railing. It was all too much. And how could Felicity take the time to meet them in secret without apologizing to her for lying all those years? Lee’s description of life undercover sparked empathy, but she would still like to hear it from Felicity. Unless they were no longer friends now that she knew who Felicity really was.
The sound of waves crashing against the cliffs below slowed her racing heart. The sight of ocean waters wasn’t new to her. She’d visited the Carolina coast at least a couple times a year while at Duke, but for some reason the Atlantic and Pacific seemed entirely different. Maybe it was because of the cooler temperatures or viewing the waves from atop the cliffs. The ocean seemed more powerful, wilder, even, from the vantage point.
Life in the Carolinas was calmer and simpler, as well. Did the state of her life reflect how she viewed the sea? Could the same be said for how she viewed God?
She’d prayed more in the past week than she had in the past few years. She never heard anything in reply, but maybe the silence was okay. If she believed in God, which despite her doubts throughout her time in academia, she did, maybe she should accept the silence. She’d heard all the arguments against believing from many of her peers over late-night study sessions and yet, when she sat still she couldn’t deny that her heart and mind were in agreement. “I choose to believe,” she whispered into the wind.
And since she didn’t understand the mysteries of the world—so many discoveries to unearth—it stood to reason she couldn’t understand everything about God and how He worked, either. What she did know, if her grandma was correct, was Jesus loved her. That, she supposed, was enough. From now on she’d start praying again whether she was in danger or not. She hated feeling fractured—believing, but not acting like she did. She could consent to the silence.
I disregard my feelings in favor of the facts most of the time, Lord. And since I’m exhausted and scared within an inch of my life, You should know that the big reason I don’t talk to You is I get the feeling You’re not listening. But You’re the God of the universe so from a logical standpoint perhaps I just don’t recognize how You’re answering. I want to start talking to You again. If silence is the answer, so be it.
The sliding door behind her opened. Lee hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “The guard has come to fetch us. It’s time to go.”
ELEVEN
The itinerary for dinner had allowed them to eat, mercifully, alone unless he counted the bodyguard twenty paces away. There were fewer guests at dinner than the previous night. He wondered if the poisoning and bomb had prompted speedy departures.
Lee would be lying if he said he was able to enjoy the food. He chewed, swallowed and barely said a word to Audrey as he kept his eyes peeled for any signs of danger. He even faked dropping a napkin to look underneath the chairs and table for any explosives. The golf cart had felt like the last straw even before their visit from Felicity Lewis.
He replayed the moments leading up to the bomb’s discovery on repeat. He hadn’t noticed anything that would’ve alerted him to the presence of a bomb. He couldn’t have known. Whoever was after them didn’t want to be discovered and—Lee had to admit—was better than him.
He was out of his league and there was no way to simply leave and abandon the mission without putting Audrey, Kendra and himself in more danger than before. For Audrey’s part, she didn’t seem keen on talking during dinner, either. She kept her eyes on the view, but it didn’t seem like she was mad at him. He appreciated she gave him the space to think. She turned toward him as if aware he was thinking about her. He offered a smile and she returned it, blushing slightly, before turning her attention back to the ocean.
“What are you thinking about?”
“A million things at the same time. I’m wondering if there’s some chance my parents knew I had a twin, but I don’t really think it’s possible. They told me if I ever wanted to initiate a search to find my birth parents they would understand.”
“Did you ever try?”
She shook her head. “I figured they provided for me so I didn’t want to ask them for the funds to do a search. I was saving up. Lab work doesn’t pay very much. In many ways it’s a system of servitude—students are cheap labor and willing to work ridiculous hours with no holidays, but now that I’m going
to be principal investigator at Caltech, I thought maybe.” She shook her head. “Then I’m also thinking about the—” her eyes darted to see who was nearby “—bomb,” she whispered. “Did you notice anything special about it? Anything that would give us a clue?”
He shook his head. “It’s not an area of expertise for me. I saw explosives and a blinking light. It looked pretty crude in the wiring, but the duct tape might’ve been hiding something from my sight. No LED time clock if that’s what you’re asking. I figured if it wasn’t a timer, it could be remote-detonated.”
“I never understood why anyone would put a ticking clock on a bomb to let you know how many minutes or seconds you had left anyway. It’s not necessary. A blinking light like you’re describing sounds like a built-in timer to me, and the most likely scenario if someone is scavenging parts around the resort.” She shrugged. “It wouldn’t take much to put together.”
“I hadn’t thought of it before, but the fact he used a timer hopefully indicates he doesn’t want to kill anyone else but us.”
“Setting up remote detonation would be a lot more technical, though.”
“Are you saying you do know more about bombs than ‘they’re bad’?” He held up air quotes.
She put her hands up to hide her face then pulled them down slowly, her eyes twinkling with hints of a smile. “I’m sorry. I know most people either do fight or flight, but when I’m terrified I freeze. It takes me a bit to think straight.”
He leaned forward and grabbed her hand. “I know. If I had any idea it was going to be like this—” Regret laced his words.
She held up a hand. “Even if I had known the full extent of the stakes before agreeing to come, I still would’ve said yes. If it means getting to eventually be with my sister without a target on our backs it’ll be worth it.”
Undercover Twin Page 12