Deep Cover

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “You’ll see soon enough.” He jerked the door open and pulled her out into the light. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 35

  Noah turned onto his street and passed the sedan heading toward him. He looked past the car, more concerned with the middle-school crossing guard who was preventing him from getting to his destination.

  The moment the guard waved him through, Noah turned his focus to Kelsey’s house halfway down the block and the car in the driveway. Her car was there, so why wasn’t she answering her phone?

  He pulled up behind Kelsey’s car and raced to her front door. He knocked twice and then pushed open the door without waiting for a response.

  Staring back at him was the realization of every nightmare that had played through his mind on the short drive home. His gut clenched. A knife lay on the floor, blood still bright red on the blade. Seeing Kelsey’s gun and cane beside it immediately invoked images of a struggle.

  He couldn’t let himself think about whose blood was on the knife. Not yet. Instinctively, he pulled his weapon free of his holster and checked the house. A minute later, his fears hiked up a notch. He hadn’t found anything. No one was home.

  Panic bubbled up inside of him. He had to find her. He raced back out of the house and jumped into his car. He had pulled out of the driveway and started forward before he noticed Patty Henderson in the front yard with her dog.

  He rolled down the car window, and urgency filled his voice. “Patty, did you see Kelsey leave her house?”

  “I don’t think so,” she said, but her voice was ripe with suspicion when she added, “but there was some guy in her driveway a minute ago with a girl all done up in one of those robe and veil getups.”

  “Do you know who the guy was?”

  “I couldn’t tell, but it sure looked like Kelsey’s old boyfriend.” Her face scrunched up as she recalled the memory. “What was his name? Johnny? Jimmy? Something like that.”

  “James?”

  Her face wrinkled in concentration. “Yeah, I think that’s it.”

  “What did the car look like?”

  Noah waited for her to give him a vague description, quickly realizing he might very well have passed the car on his way in. He didn’t wait for her to finish. He pressed on the gas, and the tires squealed.

  The sedan he had passed was no longer in sight, and once again, the crossing guard held up a hand to stop him. Noah nearly ignored him until three middle schoolers stepped into the crosswalk in front of him.

  Frustrated and panicked, Noah slammed his car to a stop and jumped out of the car. He rushed toward the crossing guard, ignoring the trepidation on the older man’s face.

  “There was a silver sedan that came through here a few minutes ago. Which way did it go?”

  “Why?”

  Noah reached into his pocket and flashed his badge. “Which way did it go?”

  He pointed to the left. “That way.”

  “Great,” Noah muttered. The car was moving toward town, where it would be all too easy to blend into traffic. The moment he was back behind the wheel, the crossing guard waved him through.

  As soon as he was clear of the school, he grabbed his cell phone and hit speed dial for Burt.

  “Burt, I need a favor.”

  “What is it?”

  “I need you to see if you can locate the GPS signal on either the car or cell phone for James Duckett.”

  “Okay, but why?”

  “I think he has one of my coworkers. I just stopped by her house. There was a knife with blood on it on the floor, along with her gun.”

  “And you think Duckett is responsible?”

  “Yeah.” He pulled up to the top of a hill, annoyed when there wasn’t any sign of the car he was chasing. “A neighbor ID’d him, and I think I saw his car pass me on my way to her house.”

  “Okay. I’ve got it,” Burt told him. “We don’t have a signal on his phone. It’s probably turned off, but his car is traveling east on Garrisonville Road.”

  “Where?”

  “About two miles from the freeway.”

  “I’m only a few minutes from there.”

  “I’ll talk you to him,” Burt assured him.

  As Noah closed the distance between them, his boss continued to give him updates until James’s car finally came to a stop.

  Burt rattled off an address. “According to what I’ve got here, it’s a shopping center.”

  “I’m almost there,” Noah told him.

  “I’m sending backup.” They discussed the support he was sending and the methods they would use to follow James so they wouldn’t be spotted. Noah barely heard his words. All he could think was that Kelsey had to be okay. She just had to. The words repeated through his mind in a silent prayer.

  He pulled into the shopping center parking lot, his eyes searching for James’s car. Silver sedans littered the parking lot. He started toward the one nearest him and found it empty. He scanned the lot again. That’s when he saw the woman in a full robe and veil. He was too far away to identify anything except that the woman was about the same height as Kelsey.

  Then he noticed the way the man with her was gripping her arm. He had his back to Noah, but Noah’s heart fluttered with hope. It had to be them.

  Burt’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Noah, what’s going on?”

  “I think I found them.” As he spoke, he watched the man open the door of the car parked beside a silver sedan. “If I’m right, they’re switching cars.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth when he noticed another woman wearing a robe and veil coming out of a small restaurant in the strip mall. Noah’s heart sank when he saw the Middle Eastern restaurant, complete with Arabic writing on the window. “There’s a Muslim restaurant here. I can’t be sure if that’s her.”

  “Your backup is five minutes away. Give me the license plate number of the car, and we’ll have someone intercept it.”

  Noah thought about the way Kelsey had acted that morning, as though she knew she wasn’t going to be there when he got home. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Have them sweep the area to make sure everything is okay here. I’ll follow the car.”

  “Give me the license plate anyway. I’ll help you track it,” Burt said. “I’ll have one team search the area, and the other can help you follow if necessary.”

  Noah hesitated briefly, and then he circled through the lot so he could see the license plate. He rattled off the number as well as the make and model of the car just as the woman stumbled. The man beside her grabbed her arm, but Noah couldn’t tell if it was to help her into the car or force her to get in.

  Hope and trepidation warred within him. He prayed that he had found her, that the blood on the knife wasn’t hers, but the possibility of her being injured—or worse—paralyzed him.

  There was no body. That thought popped into his mind with sudden clarity. If she had been killed, the killer wouldn’t have taken her with him. Not to mention that Patty Henderson definitely would have noticed an old boyfriend toting a body out to his car.

  Letting hope dominate, he circled through the near side of the parking lot and then backed into a space to wait for the car in question to drive by.

  “Um, Noah?’

  “Yeah.”

  “We’ve got phony plates. The number you gave me is to a 1979 Chevy truck. That’s not what you described.”

  “This guy took precautions to make sure he couldn’t be tracked.”

  “Don’t lose him,” Burt said, stating the obvious.

  “I won’t.” When the car drove past him, he tried to identify the woman, but her veil covered not only her hair but also her face. He fought against instinct, forcing himself to wait several long seconds before pulling out and turning onto Jefferson Davis Highway a couple of cars behind them.

  He hung back, letting a delivery truck shield him from view as he and Burt coordinated where his backup would move in to keep vis
ual contact. Nerves clawed at him as he forced himself to follow his training. He was going to find her. Somehow, he had to make sure Kelsey stayed in his life.

  * * *

  “I still don’t understand what you want with me.”

  “The reward for Taja Al-Kazaz is considerable. I intend to collect.”

  Kelsey felt her stomach curl. “How did you know?”

  “Cullen must have had his suspicions because he asked me to run your aliases as a favor for him.” James shrugged. “The agency database might have been set up to protect your identity, but when Salman sent me your picture, I put two and two together.”

  “You’re going to tell them that I’m CIA.”

  “Eventually,” he said calmly. “After all, I can’t have you telling our friends at the Agency that I had any involvement. I’m about to be a hero.”

  “You? A hero?” She sputtered with disbelief. “You’re betraying our country.”

  “Nonsense. I’m about to save our country,” James corrected her. “I’m about to stop four out of five terrorist attacks in this country.”

  “What about the fifth?”

  “If I stopped them all, the public would never know what I did for them, now would they?”

  “That’s crazy.”

  He looked at her as though he was talking to a small child. “I’ve spent a lot of time planning this out. And I’m going to make sure you don’t interfere.”

  “Is that why you came after me? You were afraid I would steal your limelight?” Kelsey asked incredulously.

  “You’ve done it before,” James reminded her. “Besides, by now, the Agency driver will have shown up at your house and realized you’re missing. That means everyone will be worried about finding you, so they won’t get in my way.”

  “So you’re using me to create some wild goose chase and then you’re going to ransom me off to Salman?”

  “Exactly,” James said smoothly as though this were a common business proposition. “And as soon as Salman pays me the reward money for you, I’ll tell him who you really are. That way no one will ever know how I really got my information about the attacks. I’ll be just a minute too late to stop the last one and just close enough to see it happen.”

  “How are you going to say you got this information? You work in liaison, not in the field.”

  “In my job, I have contact with a lot of foreign nationals. I simply have to say that one of them found out about the attacks and trusted me enough to share the information.” Arrogance radiated from him. “It’s really quite simple.”

  “You realize you left your calling card at my house,” she reminded him. When he looked confused, she said, “Remember, your blood on my knife?”

  “I’m sure I can come up with some explanation for that,” he said, but she could tell his confidence wavered slightly. “I’ll say that I saw someone at your house, that I tried to come to your rescue. In fact, I might even say that I was captured too. Only I was the only one to escape. I wanted to save you, but after all, I had to try to stop the terrorist attack.”

  Evil dripped eerily from his voice, sending a chill through her. Two things were certain: She had to escape. And she had to stop him.

  Chapter 36

  Noah gripped the steering wheel tighter, his nerves jangling. Following someone in rush hour without being noticed was difficult enough, but turning over Kelsey’s safety to another was killing him. He was on a parallel route right now as fellow agent Enrique Gomez kept James in sight. For nearly an hour, they had switched off, inching forward on the freeway to within a vehicle or two behind them before falling back in traffic.

  “They’re turning. It looks like they’re headed to Annandale,” Enrique said over the radio. “Shoot. I think we’ve been made.”

  “What happened?”

  “As soon as I signaled, he turned his signal off and changed lanes. It looks like he was checking to see if we were following him.”

  “Take the next exit. I’ll pick them up from here.”

  Noah caught a glimpse of the car that was now a lane over and a dozen cars in front of him. Traffic was snarled and moving at a snail’s pace. He couldn’t do anything to help close the distance between them, but at least James couldn’t pull away either. The next exit approached, and Noah’s heart sank once more. At the last minute, James pulled onto the ramp, increased his speed, and disappeared out of sight.

  “I lost him. He took the Little River Turnpike exit.”

  “We’re heading your way. We’ll be coming from the east, so you go west,” Enrique told Noah. “One of us will find them.”

  Noah uttered a silent prayer, asking for guidance, and then whipped across the right lane and onto the shoulder. He increased his speed, ignoring the honking horns as he passed. One car weaved in front of him, cutting him off, and Noah blared his own horn before edging past it. Finally, he made it down the ramp and looked to the right and then the left. There was no sign of them.

  A new wave of desperation swamped him. He turned west, constantly scanning for any sign of the little blue sedan. With each intersection, his despair heightened, and he cursed himself for not having Enrique continue his pursuit. At least that way they would know where Kelsey was. Assuming the woman in the car really was Kelsey.

  At the third light, Noah’s prayers were answered. He noticed a strip of four businesses in one long building, and walking out of a Mexican food restaurant was James Duckett. By himself. Noah turned into the parking lot and parked a few spaces down from where James was getting into his car. After seeing that he was apparently alone, Noah radioed in.

  “I found James, but he’s alone now.” Noah gave the address and the description of the restaurant he had come out of.

  “We’re three minutes away. Do you want me to call in the local police and have them pick up Duckett?”

  Noah considered the intricacies of the CIA’s operations and forced himself to say, “Not yet. For now, just get over here. I’m going to see if I can figure out what’s going on inside.”

  Noah turned off the car and surveyed the sparsely populated parking lot. Only a couple dozen cars littered the lot, undoubtedly because it was barely nine o’clock in the morning. He briefly considered walking into the Mexican restaurant. Then he saw the man sitting on a bench out front, his eyes scanning the area. Instantly suspicious, Noah focused his attention on the small music store two doors down and the open sign in the window.

  He walked inside the store, grateful to see that the man at the counter was occupied helping a customer. Noah gave a passing glance at the guitars hanging on the wall before continuing to the back of the store. He stopped briefly at a display of drums near what appeared to be the stockroom entrance. Then he glanced back at the store clerk.

  The moment the man looked down to bag his customer’s purchase, Noah pushed through the door and found himself in a narrow storage room, various instruments lined up on shelves against both walls. Several empty boxes were stacked by the back door.

  Not sure what to expect at the restaurant’s back entrance, Noah picked up the empty boxes and made his way into the alley behind the strip mall.

  He spotted the guard behind the restaurant immediately. The tall man saw Noah emerge outside and rested his hand near his waist. Assuming there was a weapon holstered there, Noah tried to act casual as he headed toward the dumpster between them. He deposited the boxes beside the dumpster and looked up at the man with a casual wave. “How’s it going?”

  The man’s expression remained stern.

  “Hey, can you tell me the easiest way to get to Crystal City from here?” Noah asked, moving closer. “My boss wants me to make a delivery over there, but I normally take the subway.”

  He shook his head, taking a half step back when Noah got too close.

  “Oh well. Thanks anyway.” Noah shrugged and started to turn. Then he kicked his right leg out and connected with the man’s arm.

  The man groaned and stumbled backward, his shirt shifting
enough for Noah to see the weapon in the front of his waistband. Immediately, Noah pounced, striking him with his fist. The man’s head jerked back when Noah’s fist connected with his jaw, and the guard immediately counterpunched Noah in the stomach.

  Then the man made the mistake of fumbling for his weapon. Noah struck out again, a left-handed punch to the stomach followed by a right elbow to the side of the head. The man dropped to the ground with a muffled thud. Quickly, Noah disarmed the man and pulled him behind the dumpster so he wouldn’t be visible if anyone walked out of the restaurant. Then he edged closer to the back door.

  He put his ear against the door, listening for any signs of life inside. Hearing none, he slowly pushed open the door. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room. He could hear the clatter of the kitchen to his left and subdued voices to his right. He followed the voices.

  Pressing himself up against the wall, he drew his weapon and edged closer to the door. He expected to hear the people inside speaking in Arabic or maybe English, but when he heard them talking in Spanish, he started translating their words.

  “What time is the plane supposed to leave?”

  “Four hours. Medrano will call when the plane is ready.”

  “Come on. We need to get the rest of the shipment ready. We’ll lock her in here. She won’t be able to go anywhere.”

  Noah heard the steps coming toward him and quickly jumped back from the door. His eyes darted around the room, searching for a place to hide. His elbow bumped into the handle for the freezer. He opened the door and slipped inside before the two men emerged from the room the woman was being held in.

  Shivering from the cold, Noah counted off the seconds that it should have taken the men to lock the door and then leave the room. His heart pounded when he pushed open the freezer door, praying that he would once more find the room empty. His prayers were answered.

  Quickly, he studied the door, relieved to see that the lock was a simple deadbolt. He flipped it open and stepped inside. A woman in a full burqa and veil looked up at him. He jolted when he saw her eyes. Kelsey’s eyes.