As they continued to look at each other, the same spark that had ignited over breakfast returned. Whatever had started between them was too strong, and he’d use it to his advantage if it made her go with him. Better that than find out she’d been tortured and killed after he’d left.
Pushing off the wall, he moved back. “Get your things. We don’t have much time.”
After another brief hesitation, she assembled what little she had and followed him to the door.
“I must be crazy,” she said when they were out in the hall. “I’m glad my dad isn’t going to find out about this.”
Chapter 3
Calan pressed the End key on his cell phone, finishing a call to the pilot of Tactical Executive Security’s plane to let him know they were on their way. He would have called first thing this morning, but after running into Sadie in the bar last night, his plans had changed.
Next, he dialed Odie’s secure line. Odelia Frank was TES’s lead intel officer, and she’d been instrumental in helping him hunt for Dharr. The counter-terror organization would not be the same without her.
Lifting the duffel over his shoulder, he hauled the suitcase that was still against the wall of his room and headed for the door, lifting his cell to his ear.
Sadie followed. “You lied to me. You told me you were a business analyst.”
He glanced over at her as he opened the door. “You’re right. I’m not a business analyst, but that’s the only thing I lied about.” Blunt honesty was the best course with her, he was discovering. When he could be that honest…
The cell rang in his ear.
“I should have known you were too good to be true.”
Pulling the suitcase out into the hall, Calan thought it best to ignore her.
“Dad’s,” Odie finally answered.
Her partner, who was now her fiancé, had opened a bakery in Washington D.C. that doubled as TES’s first satellite office. It was a perfect disguise, just like TES’s headquarters in Roaring Creek, Colorado—a mountaineering store to anyone outside its walls.
“It’s Calan.” He checked on Sadie. She walked beside him, listening to his call, no doubt.
“Calan,” Odie greeted in a friendly tone. “Did you find him?”
“Yes. It’s done. But now I have a different problem.”
Odie sighed. “Why am I not surprised?”
Some missions didn’t go according to plan and this was one of them. “Someone’s tailing me. My target met some people just before I made contact. They didn’t see me, but they caught up to me afterward. And quick. Less than a day.”
“Hmm…if they can move that fast they must have a sizable network, at least locally. An established organization. Who are they?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
“Where are you now?”
“Albania.”
A brief silence passed. “Why haven’t you left yet?”
He looked at Sadie and answered cynically, “I was delayed.”
Sadie’s eyes rolled toward him. Yep, she was listening.
“What delayed you?”
“I’ll brief you later. There’s more to this that I can’t discuss right now. I need a passport. A good one. Can you help me with that?”
“Why do you need another passport?”
He stopped before the elevators and Sadie pressed the Down button. “It isn’t for me.”
“Who is it for?”
“A woman.”
The pause over the phone convinced him that Odie was adding everything up in her head. “Anyone else I’d have to tease, but I know what this mission means to you.”
The elevator doors opened. “We need to get out of here fast, Odie.” He entered the elevator. Sadie followed.
He could hear Odie tapping away on her keyboard.
“I need a few minutes to work this. Going to have to call you right back.”
“Hurry.”
“I will.” She disconnected and so did he.
“Who was that?” Sadie asked.
“Someone who can help us.”
Sadie glowered at him as the elevator doors opened to the lobby. He stepped out with her, rolling the suitcase.
“What about the rental?” she asked when he led her toward the front entrance.
“They know what we were driving. We’ll take a taxi.”
In front of the hotel, a doorman flagged one over, an unmarked car likely owned by the driver, a local man trying to make a living. Sadie got into the backseat while the driver hefted the suitcase into the trunk and Calan negotiated a fare. She scooted to the far side of the backseat when he got in beside her and propped her elbow on the window frame, pressing her curled fingers against her lips.
Speaking in Italian, Calan told the driver to take them to a restaurant across town. That would buy them some time. They weren’t going to get out and go to the restaurant, it would just keep the driver busy for a while. Odie only needed a few minutes.
“You should have left me sitting on that bar stool all by myself,” Sadie said.
“I wish I would have.”
Dropping her hand, she turned, looking insulted.
“That doesn’t mean I could have,” he added.
“Why? Because you found me irresistible?” she challenged.
“No. I wanted to make sure you were all right. You were a woman alone in Albania. I couldn’t ignore that.”
“So if I were a ninety-year-old woman you’d have done the same?”
Was she insulted again? “Yes. And I didn’t see any harm in spending the evening with an attractive woman. We were both alone, so why not? How could I have predicted that you would turn out to be something different than I expected?”
After a moment of contemplation, she said, “You turned out to be the same as all the others.”
She was wrong, but he didn’t see a point in correcting her. He was a lot different than anyone she’d met. He was a lot more dangerous. Too dangerous for her sheltered world. He just hoped she never had to discover that. He also hoped he could get her home before he gave in to the urge to kiss her.
His cell rang.
“Yeah.”
Odie gave him an address and Calan told the taxi driver he changed his mind and to take him there. The driver glanced at him in the mirror and nodded.
“Thanks,” he said to Odie, careful not to say her name.
“Hurry home.”
“Believe me, I will.” With that, Calan disconnected.
“Everything all set?”
Without acknowledging her bristly tone, he answered, “Yes. Let’s get you home.”
Tirana had the look and feel of a big city, but there were signs of a suppressed past. The taxi driver stopped in front of a white, stone-trimmed building with chipping, peeling exterior walls. The first floor was grasshopper green and housed a row of businesses. The upper floors were yellow and an awful salmon color. Clothes hung over dirty windowsills, and a huge sign on the roof advertised beer.
Sadie waited while Calan paid the driver and then slid out of the taxi behind him. The driver opened the trunk and Calan lifted the suitcase out along with his duffel, pulling it toward a sidewalk clogged with pedestrians. They stopped to wait for it to clear.
“Why do you have so much luggage?” she asked. Weird for a man. Men usually didn’t pack so much. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Was he a fashion hound or something?
He just glanced at her without comment.
Hanging her overnight bag over her shoulder, she walked with him along the busy sidewalk. At a shop with the name Kaleshi Boutique printed on a sign overhead, he entered.
Sadie couldn’t absorb all the merchandise. There was so much. Pottery, woodcrafts, Albanian flags, T-shirts and more stuffed the small shop from floor to ceiling. There was a layer of dust and it smelled musty, too.
A small man with dark hair and eyes stood behind the counter. Calan said something in Italian she didn’t understand. The man looked at Sadie
and waved them to follow.
Beyond the counter and in the back of the shop was a door leading to an office. The man pointed to a chair in front of a screen.
“Sit down,” Calan said, putting down his duffel and letting go of the suitcase handle.
Sadie sat, putting her bag on her lap and eyeing the shop owner warily. He took her picture with a digital camera and said something to Calan.
Calan answered. The man wrote down some notes and then disappeared through another door leading even farther back into the bowels of the shop.
“It shouldn’t take long. He’s one of the best in the region and has the right technology. Up-to-date and cutting edge.”
“How comforting. He must service the best criminals. I wonder how many tourists have had their passports stolen because of him.”
He went to lean against the wall beside his suitcase, unaffected by her sarcastic, if not accurate, observation. The change in him was astonishing. Her impression of him when he had her giddy with infatuation to this…a shadowy man who obeyed no laws to get what he needed.
“Maybe we should ask him if he has my real passport,” she couldn’t resist saying.
“I thought you said your boyfriend took it with him when he left you on his yacht.”
“He did, but I wouldn’t put it past him to hock everything of mine.”
“I doubt he would have taken the time.”
Although she didn’t think he meant it as an insult, he was right. “Yeah, he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
He made no other comment, nor did he try to make her feel better. What could he say, anyway? Adam wouldn’t have taken the time to hock her passport. That was the truth. She wondered if she was headed for the same outcome. Calan had been kind so far, but once she was safe, would he leave her like so many before him? Her gaze traveled over his muscular chest to his narrow hips and lean thighs. What a waste of a perfectly yummy man. Was that the reason she was incapable of pinpointing when a man was bad for her? Maybe Calan’s attractiveness blinded her. Last night and this morning, at no time did she remotely suspect he was anything other than who he portrayed. Was that her handicap or was this an exception? Maybe no one would have been able to see the signs in this case. Maybe it wasn’t just her and her weakness for trusting people she shouldn’t.
A few minutes later, a woman emerged and went to stand at the front counter. Time ticked slowly by.
Periodically, Calan went to the front of the store and checked outside. The shop was silent except when shoppers entered, a steady stream but not overly busy for a Saturday, especially considering how busy the sidewalk was. But, of course, paraphernalia wasn’t the owners’ main line of business. Most of his wares in the front were dusty and old. Maybe only uninformed tourists wandered in for a look. A look was all she needed to know there was nothing here she wanted.
She didn’t even want the fake passport.
The man emerged from the back holding the object of her disdain. He handed it to Calan, who opened it and inspected it carefully. Then he closed it and said something in Italian to the man while he opened his wallet and handed over a wad of cash.
Sadie thought the man thanked him.
She stood up and went to Calan. He handed her the counterfeit passport. She opened it and was amazed at how genuine it looked. There were even stamps on some of the pages.
But something wasn’t right.
“This isn’t my name.”
“Of course it isn’t.” Lifting his duffel and taking the suitcase handle, he left the back of the shop and headed toward the front.
“Calan…”
He stopped but only so she’d open the front door. When she did, he pulled the suitcase through.
“What if I get caught with this?” She showed him the passport. She’d never done anything illegal in her life.
“You won’t. Odie knows what she’s doing.”
“Who’s Odie?”
He glanced at her as he flagged down a driver. “A coworker.”
What kind of coworker? “Is she as corrupt as you?”
“Neither of us is corrupt.”
“That’s debatable. We just left a gift shop that doubles as a counterfeit passport dealer.”
He grinned down at her profile and she wanted to know what put that look on his face. Something about her banter appealed to him. Or was it something about her? As she continued to meet his look, infatuation threatened to take over, which made her uneasy because she didn’t want to be infatuated anymore. Not with him.
A car stopped in front of them. Calan opened the back door for her. She hesitated. Once she got in, they’d go to an airport and she’d have to use this vile document.
“You don’t have to worry,” he reassured her. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you. I’m going to get you home.”
That damnable attraction, a silly infatuation tickled her soul. She could not keep making these mistakes. With her run of luck, she’d end up stranded somewhere else. But she got into the car anyway.
After negotiating with the taxi driver, Calan leaned against the seat next to her. When she saw that they were going back to the hotel, she asked, “Why are we back here?”
“We need a rental.”
“Why didn’t we get it before we left?”
He looked at her as if she should know. And that’s when it dawned on her. He was being careful. “Oh.”
“I didn’t want to risk being seen in a rental before we get to the airport.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”
Sadie went with him to the car rental desk, where they rented a blue Chevy Evanda. From there, they headed out of the city.
For the umpteenth time she questioned her decision in going with him. She didn’t want to risk dangerous men doing God only knew to her because she’d been seen with him, but would they have left her alone if she hadn’t gone with him? She would have had to wait days for her passport. What if the people chasing him discovered that? Would they assume she knew Calan? His purpose here? Who he worked for? How to find him?
Her gut told her she was better off sticking with Calan. For now, anyway. She just hoped it wasn’t her heart wishing for the wrong thing again. Last night had been nice, but upon reflection, there’d been times when he seemed to withdraw. Was it due to his profession? He seemed honest and good but did she want to involve herself with someone like him? No, she could almost hear her father saying. Calan operated outside the law. That made him a bad choice. She had to learn to avoid bad choices. Isn’t that the crux of the lesson her father intended for her to learn?
Yes. And she was going to follow through.
Once she was on the plane, it wouldn’t be long before she was home. They’d go their separate ways and that would be that. It was better that way.
Calan turned off the highway onto another road. They passed some houses and came to a small airport. A sign at the entrance said Andoni International Airport.
“It looks legitimate,” she commented aloud. But there had to be something else to this place. It was too strange that he hadn’t flown into Tirana, the capital city of Albania, one that had an international airport. A bigger one. A real one.
“Did you fly here because you could do so without anyone knowing?”
She could tell he was surprised she’d thought to ask such a question, which only confirmed she was on the right track. “How much did it cost you?”
“It’s just a small, private airport.”
He drove into a parking area in front of the main building and found a place to park. Beyond the main building, four planes were parked on the other side of a high fence. In the distance, two helicopters rested near a helipad. Movement caught her eyes. A group of men gathered around the last plane, and they were all armed.
“Is that your plane?”
“Yes.” He sounded tense.
Nervous, she first glanced at
Calan, then all around them. The airport wasn’t a flurry of activity, but there were people outside the building. One car drove toward the exit and a taxi pulled to a stop, where passengers were dropped off. A woman and a man walked across the parking lot. The woman saw the armed men and then her partner did, too. His steps slowed and they conversed back and forth.
“They’re looking for me,” Calan said.
Sadie turned to the plane again. “Do you think that guard knew who you were? What did he say to you?”
“He said my plane was ready.”
“He might have been told to let you through.”
“Yeah.”
“Word sure got around fast. Someone saw you at the embassy and now this.”
He studied her face a while, as if she’d surprised him again.
“We’re not flying home today, are we.” She wasn’t asking.
Calan grimly turned back to the plane. So did she. One of the men approached a man in front of the plane and the two began talking. The man he’d approached waved his hands as if explaining something.
“Is that your pilot?”
“Yes.”
“What are they doing?”
“Searching the plane.”
And questioning his pilot. Calan didn’t say it, but she knew that wasn’t a good thing.
The pilot held up his hands as if in protest. Sadie couldn’t see his facial features from here, but the way his head and hands moved told her plenty. He was afraid of the man confronting him. Another man emerged from the plane and spoke to the one talking to the pilot.
This was all happening right now, unfolding before her eyes. The pilot was in danger. Those men must know it was Calan’s plane. Her pulse quickened. She wanted to leave. Now.
“We should get out of here.”
“My pilot…” She heard how torn he felt. His pilot could be in serious trouble and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He was one man against too many. And yet, he couldn’t leave the man helpless.
The pilot’s interrogator removed a gun from his hip holster. Sadie inhaled and covered her mouth with her hand. The pilot took a few steps backward, holding his hands out as if to ward off the other man.
Seducing the Accomplice Page 4