Covert Alliance

by Linda O. Johnston

  For an event like that, security would be needed, so Kelly felt confident Alan would be too busy to interfere with what she was up to.

  And now, it was still fairly early in the morning on Wednesday, the crucial day. Breakfast time. Would Alan come today, too?

  The Haven was filling up. “You can handle all the tables from here to the wall, right?” Ella had come up behind Kelly as she’d turned to hurry to the kitchen with an order from the nearest customers. Startled, Kelly turned to look first at Ella, and then at all the tables she was referring to.

  There were, in fact, more than she generally had charge of. But she had handled this many before, and she knew she would have no trouble with them.

  “Sure,” she said, and her boss’s tense face softened.

  “Good job.” Ella turned and walked away through the quickly filling tables.

  This time, Kelly allowed herself to enjoy the compliment. She actually was a pretty good server these days—even if she had no intention of remaining a server here in Blue Haven for the long term. In fact, she was nearly ready to be done.

  That was one more reason to hope her plan yielded something useful that finally, at a minimum, would help Eli...

  “Hi, Kelly,” said a familiar deep voice from behind her.

  She turned, smiling tentatively as she saw Alan’s handsome face looking down at her. If she read his expression correctly, he appeared happy to see her. But was that just part of the cover?

  “Hi, Alan. Are you here for breakfast?” She managed to glance around him to see if any of the government group he protected had arrived with him, but she saw no one else.

  “A quick one. Do you have any tables available?” Like, one where you’d be serving, she could tell he was thinking.

  “Definitely.” She led him through the maze of filled chairs around busy tables to the far wall, where a couple of tables were still unoccupied.

  “Thanks,” he said warmly. “I’ll have some wheat toast and coffee when you get a chance.”

  “I’ll put the order in for you right away.”

  She headed for the kitchen, where she left the appropriate note for the chefs, then picked up an order she needed to deliver to a table not far from where Alan sat.

  She didn’t try to fool herself. She was glad he was here, even though it was part of the same old undercover role he was playing—demonstrating some interest in her so it wouldn’t arouse anyone’s suspicions if they were seen talking to each other.

  But was anyone even paying attention to them? She hoped not. Yet she didn’t mind playing this game, in case it helped. And also because she felt both pleasure and relief in Alan’s presence, though she couldn’t tell him what was now at the forefront of her mind.

  She headed back into the dining area, her arms loaded with a tray containing omelets and other egg dishes.

  “Here you are,” she said to the woman who had ordered the Western omelet, then went about setting the rest of the food from the tray in front of the others at the same table.

  When she had finally placed all the items down for the customers, she allowed the tray to go a little slack in her hands and turned to head back to the kitchen. Her eyes lit on Alan’s for an instant first—but he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he was gazing over her shoulder. She had gotten to know him well enough to be able to interpret his expressions, for the most part, and this one looked blank—the kind of expression he got when he was hiding what he was really feeling. An expression that meant he wasn’t happy.

  Kelly turned slowly in the direction he was staring and felt her own face grow blank.

  Stan Grodon and Paul Tirths had entered the Haven, and with them was Dora Shallner. Ella was showing them to a table at the edge of those where Kelly was serving. They were talking animatedly among themselves. That was probably a good thing. They were unlikely to pay much attention to Kelly, and she would hopefully be able to listen to them.

  She gave Alan a glance as she moved past his table toward the kitchen, giving Stan and his group time to look at their menus while she picked up the orders for another table. Alan looked up at her as well, his expression blank enough to tell her he had some concerns. She just shot him a half smile and continued on.

  A short while later, after bringing out several pancake orders for another table, Kelly took a deep breath, steadied herself and headed for the table that was now the subject of her concerns.

  “Good morning,” she said, careful to take her place standing across from Stan, not wanting to be too close to his grasping hands in case Dora’s presence wasn’t enough to keep him from touching Kelly if he decided he was in the mood to flirt.

  “Hi, gorgeous.” But after a quick ogle of her, Stan looked quickly toward Dora and gave her a wink.

  Dora just shook her head briefly, then turned toward Kelly. “Well, hi, Kelly. I’d just like a single egg, over easy, with rye toast, plus a coffee with cream. It’s so good to see you here, and you can consider our visit today a test.” The smile she aimed toward Kelly was friendly, yet a bit cool. Kelly figured she was serious—that she considered this visit a test of her capability both as a server, and as a woman who recognized that one of her customers wanted the man who pretended to flirt with her to back off.

  Kelly was happy to do both well. She hoped the smile she returned to Dora, and her efficiency after that in asking for their orders, conveyed that.

  She felt more than a little uncomfortable, though, when she took Paul’s order. She had seen him here before, and had even waited on him. This time, he appeared to actually look at her. But as far as she could tell, he didn’t see her as anything but the persona she had adopted here, which was definitely a good thing.

  She rushed their orders to the kitchen, then spent what time she could with her back toward the group as she hovered over nearby tables and their occupants, listening, but learning nothing more about the gala planned for that afternoon—other than that all three of them intended to be there.

  She couldn’t have been happier to see any other customers leave than when this group had eaten and departed. Alan left around the same time, too, after trading further glances with her. They didn’t take the time to get together to talk, though.

  Kelly wasn’t exactly happy about how the day had gone so far—but she had at least learned enough to hope that it would turn out as well as she wished.

  * * *

  Alan wasn’t happy. He hadn’t had a chance to do more than treat Kelly as a server that morning, enjoying no further conversation. In fact, that was the way things had been between them for the past few days. He wanted to spend more time with her—even time when he was not touching her. They were supposed to be working together, at least as long as she remained here. He had to be sure not to push her back to her other life.

  Right now, he was hurrying back toward Government Plaza, where he would spend the next couple of hours on his security detail there, then follow the city council members up to the Blue View.

  The streets were busy, the usual midmorning traffic jam in this area well under way. The sidewalk and steps into the plaza were also quite crowded. There seemed to be more people than usual coming and going, including some Alan recognized as secretaries and assistants to the council members. They were most likely preparing for the afternoon’s festivities.

  Alan, too, hurried up the steps—or at least he hurried as much as he could with the crowds around him. After going through security, he headed down the hall to his office as quickly as he could.

  Dodd was there, as were two of their coworkers, Prentice and Jorge. “Did I miss anything important while I was gone?” Alan asked.

  “Not much,” Dodd said. “Unless you think that the resignation of our fearless leader, Nevil, is important.”

  “What!” Alan hadn’t given much thought to Nevil Hancock, but he’d apparently run the private security company forever. Alan had heard some criticism of him now and then from the council members, but only when he had been eavesdropping
, and none of it had sounded like a big deal.

  “Yeah.” Jorge shook his shaved bald head back and forth. “Rumors are circulating, with more information to come, we’ve been told.”

  “Is he around today?”

  “Not that I’ve seen,” Prentice said, straightening his tie, which stretched along his large belly, over his shirt.

  “But we’re under orders to do exactly what we had been planning,” Dodd said. The senior security guy shook his head. “That big party our illustrious council is throwing at the Blue View this afternoon? We’re in charge of making sure it goes smoothly, at least from the security standpoint. Police Chief Sangler stopped in to confirm it.”

  Their involvement was, in fact, what Alan had anticipated. He wanted to talk more to Kelly about what he would attempt to do there, but she was working today, and so was he.

  He’d get in touch with her after the council shindig, though. Maybe they could grab dinner together. And perhaps more? That sounded good, but mostly he wanted to catch up with her, discuss more concrete ideas at last that they could implement together for getting to the bottom of the Stan situation and protecting Eli.

  Yes, he would be in Stan’s presence that afternoon, but at a big public to-do like this where he most likely wouldn’t get any useful information. But he had developed some good ideas that were workable and quick.

  “So who’s doing what at the Blue View this afternoon?” Dodd pressed. “Looks like we won’t be getting specific orders from our boss.”

  Not that they really ever did, Alan thought. Maybe it would be better for this group to get a new leader anyway.

  For right now, he plunged into the discussion of who would watch the doors, who would take charge of the parking lot and who would unobtrusively patrol the restaurant facility. He hoped for the latter and made that clear, though not the reason for it: wanting to listen to people as much as possible.

  In any event, it sounded like he had a boring afternoon ahead of him.

  * * *

  The closer she got to her destination, the more Kelly became excited about the possibilities that could come of her plan. It was her first opportunity since arriving here to give it a try. It had to work.

  She was nearly there! At the moment, she was just walking nonchalantly yet carefully along the pavement on this narrow, hedge-lined alleyway behind the homes on the street where Stan and Eli lived now—and where Andi also used to live. Was it wise? Maybe not, but at the moment she didn’t care.

  She was carrying a bag of sandwiches from the Haven, so if anyone spotted or stopped her she could claim she was trying to deliver some food but had gotten lost.

  She’d parked a couple of blocks away, too, so no one would be able to determine where her destination was.

  But for now, she could hardly breathe, and that wasn’t just because of the rank alley smell of trash and car exhaust trapped here. She was determined, yes—but also nervous. At least she had gotten over her initial fear of even coming by here.

  She moved along quietly, walking right up against the bushes to make herself a tiny bit less obvious.

  What would be Alan’s opinion of what she was up to? She shouldn’t even think about his reaction, since she knew he’d be more than a little peeved. After all, his partner here, his fake love interest, was preparing to break into a house—his target’s house—to discover something that might or might not exist. Plus, it was not legal for her, an apparent stranger, to enter a councilman’s house uninvited, even though she had once, in her real persona, been related to him. And Alan was all about doing things correctly. And Alan also—

  No. Don’t think about him at all, she told herself.

  Especially not now. She was nearing the break in the hedge that led to the back gate of the Grodon property.

  Surely Stan would have changed the lock by now. It had been more than a year since his wife “disappeared”—or, more likely, was murdered by him. If Kelly couldn’t get in the easy way, she was prepared to climb over the hedges, since the nearest homes that also backed onto this alley were far enough away that, even if someone was home, the occupants wouldn’t be able to see her.

  But fortunately, the set of keys she had been given by her sister a few years ago still worked, or at least this one did. She heaved a sigh of relief as she unlocked the gate, then closed it behind her.

  She looked up at the rear of the tall, beige stone mansion Andi had once called home. No one would be there now. It was the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday. Eli would be in school.

  And Stan would be at that huge event he’d planned, intending to bring him—and others—lots of prestige...and money.

  Despite her fears, this was something Kelly had hoped to do since returning here, but had never felt comfortable that the house would be empty. Till now.

  She glanced around. There were houses on either side, over the tall fence surrounding the place, but they were far enough away that even if someone happened to look out a window, she was unlikely to be seen. That was one good thing about Andi having lived in such an elite neighborhood.

  Not that Kelly—Shereen—had ever been jealous of her sister, even when her marriage hadn’t looked too awful.

  For now, Kelly hurried toward the back of the house. Was she going to be lucky enough that the key she had for that door would work, too?

  Kelly had an alternate plan, just in case. Long ago, Andi had shown her younger sister another way to get into the house in an emergency. It involved a window along the right side that led to the basement. The window had no lock, but even if it did now, it was low and easily breakable.

  Or so Kelly hoped.

  But no need for that! The key she had fit into this lock, too. Was Stan really that confident in his invulnerability? But then, Andi had made it clear, way back when, that Shereen should never even hint to Stan that she had a way into their precious home, not even in an emergency. And no one else would ever have been provided with keys, except perhaps Eli now that he was older. They used to have, and possibly still had, a cleaning service, but its employees had only ever come before Stan left for work, and he had always returned home at lunchtime on those days to make sure everything was locked up.

  In moments, Kelly was through the back door and inside the amazing kitchen, with its steel appliances, that was much nicer than the one at the Haven. And she knew where to head to search for anything Andi might have left that expressed her concerns about Stan.

  The plan she’d barely dared to consider once she’d come to Blue Haven just might be coming to fruition after all.

  Yes, Shereen had told the authorities about the locations she would now check out. But there’d been some lack of communication—possibly because of who Stan was. As far as Shereen had ever known, Stan and his lawyer had been around the house when it had been the subject of an official search, and nothing had been found.

  But maybe everything had already been destroyed by Stan by that time.

  But just in case, Kelly was going to head for the area beneath the staircase to the second floor, then she would look—

  Wait! She heard a noise toward the front of the house. Stan had never been one to have pets, so it wasn’t likely to be a dog or cat that had heard her.

  And now she heard footsteps. She wasn’t alone. Surely Stan hadn’t come back here now, instead of attending his party. But who—

  Kelly wasn’t about to hurry that way to find out. Instead, she planted herself between the tall refrigerator and the door to the basement. If she’d had time, she would have hurried down the basement steps, but for now she just waited.

  For whom?

  And what was going to happen next?

  Chapter 20

  Whoever it was had headed in her direction. Kelly could hear the footsteps coming down the hall toward the kitchen.

  Had she been seen after all? She still held the bag with food in it, but that would have really only worked if she was outside. She could hardly claim she had broken into the hous
e to leave sandwiches in the kitchen.

  She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of that excuse, at the same time as she felt an urge to cry.

  What if it was Stan here after all? He would have no scruples at all about killing her the way he had undoubtedly done to Andi, and no one knew she was here.

  She should have told Alan what she was up to. She—

  The person entered the kitchen. The footsteps sounded different on the tile floor here from how they’d sounded on the wood outside.

  Maybe whoever it was wouldn’t come this far. Maybe she could—

  “Hey!” It was Eli’s voice. Kelly almost breathed a sigh of relief. Almost. She was a stranger to him, not his aunt. And whoever she was, she shouldn’t be here. “Is someone here?”

  How would he know? She’d closed the door behind her. But he must have heard her come in.

  Then she saw that a dish towel hung limply from the indoor sill of the window right by the door, nearly ready to fall. It was fairly large. Had it been hooked partly over the doorknob?

  If so, why?

  Maybe young Eli played this trick so he would know if he was alone when he played hooky from school. Because that was apparently what he was doing.

  What should she do?

  He would most likely come this way soon. She didn’t want to scare him, but simply staying still was just as likely to frighten him as waiting till he spotted her here. So she took a step out from behind the fridge. “Hello, Eli,” she said in a tone that had once been natural to her, before she’d had her identity changed. Or she hoped it sounded natural. It had been a while since she had spoken in that voice.

  Her nephew was dressed in a black T-shirt over jeans. He looked so much like his mother, with straight brown hair, deep brown eyes that glowered even as his mouth edged open in apparent fear, soft yet attractive facial features and a lean body.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here?” As Kelly opened her mouth, hoping that a great way to tell him who she was would suddenly come to her, he started looking her up and down. “You...you don’t look like my aunt Shereen, but you just sounded like her. And there’s something... Who are you?” he repeated. He looked both terrified and intrigued.