Twelve Shades of Midnight:

by Liliana Hart

  Relief washed over me before I realized that didn’t change the fact that they were about to kill that man. “They’re going to kill him,” I repeated.

  Sebastian sheathed the knife, rolled off me, then helped me into a squatting position. “There’s nothing I can do without compromising our primary goal.”

  He was right. I knew he was right, but it didn’t make it any easier. “Isn’t there anything? Can’t you call in your team or something?” When he didn’t answer, I asked, “What if that were you? What would you do?”

  The hard gaze he leveled on me knocked my breath away. “I’d die, just like he is about to. Too many lives are at stake, Andrea. We can’t interfere.” He started back down through the forest. “Did you get the information?”

  We stayed low until well out of site. My entire backside was soaking wet now and covered with mud. So much for the clean clothes. “I did, but there’s a catch.”

  He paused and turned back to me. Even in the moonlight filtering through the trees I could see the deep blue sparkle of his eyes. My stomach flip-flopped and for the first time in a very long time I wished I were pretty. “What kind of catch?”

  “I have to draw it.”

  “You have to draw the location?”

  “That’s not the catch. The catch is that there are two possible locations.”

  With a nod, he continued through the forest and I thanked God he had a good sense of direction. Photographic memory or not, we could have been headed to China for all I knew.

  While I sat drawing the statue with one of those eraser-less short pencils and hotel stationary, Sebastian paced the room. He’d called Gill and told him about the meet they’d originally set up, then told him to hold for more intel. And that intel involved the speed and accuracy of both my memory and my artistic skill.

  “So, he changed the plan?” he asked me for the tenth time as I drew the statue’s lovely wings.

  “Yes. I’m certain of it, but I don’t know why.”

  He nodded in understanding. “I do. That’s the reason I was invited in the first place. Vince doesn’t trust Corte or me. Well, he doesn’t trust anyone, but he’s having both of us watched.”

  “That explains why we had to crawl out the back window to get out of the cabin.”

  “Exactly. Even though Corte’s been with him for years, this was a test. If feds show up at the exchange tomorrow, he’s going to think Corte is either undercover or a snitch and no amount of pleading will change his mind. Corte will die. Probably quite painfully.” He looked down at me, his expression full of gratitude. “I would have died. He would’ve killed both of us and the feds would have come away with nothing to show for their loss. You’ve saved countless lives today, Andrea, including mine.”

  A smile I couldn’t have suppressed if my life had depended on it spread across my face. “All in a day’s work, yes?”

  “No. It’s time for you to go home.” He turned and started stuffing my old clothes into a duffle bag. My new clothes were still attached to my body, literally, wet and muddy as they were.

  Disappointment bit hard into my stomach. For the first time in years, no, for the first time in my whole life, I felt like I was doing some good. Using my ability to really help people in a proactive way, not just after the fact. Not just after the murder or rape or robbery had occurred. My mother had been wrong. I’d heeded her words so long that I’d become hollow inside. It was our duty, our responsibility, to use our gift to help others. With great power came great responsibility. I totally felt like Spiderman.

  “But I’m not finished with the drawing.” I argued.

  “As soon as you are, I’ll have a car come get you.”

  “What if something else happens and you need—”

  “No,” he said, turning back. “I won’t put you at risk any longer.”

  “You dragged me into this!” I said, standing to face him. A fury washed over me as I did. I poked his chest with an index finger to express it. “You did this. You…you…made me care. And now you’re kicking me to the curb?” I set my jaw and rolled onto my toes to look him in the eye. I missed by a few inches, but I was close. . “I don’t think so. I am in this to the end, and you can take your misguided and rather belated sense of honor and shove it up your ass.”

  He’d let me rant and rave for a few minutes, and I felt much better, and a little vindicated, for it.

  “I’m going to finish this drawing,” I continued, sitting at the table again. “And then I’m going to take a shower. I’m covered in mud, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  I didn’t look up when I heard him say softly, “I noticed.”

  Chapter Six

  The day that I thought could not get any longer had indeed gotten longer. It was now midnight, and the exhaustion that should have overcome me was being held at bay by the adrenaline pumping through my veins and the exhilaration of finding out if anyone on Sebastian’s team would know what this meant.

  He was on the phone when I finished the drawing. I held it up to him and he stilled. After taking it from me, he told the person on the other end he’d call right back.

  “This is what Vince handed Yousefi?”

  I nodded. “She’s marble.”

  “I’ve seen her. My father lives in Boston. This is from a church there.”

  A spark of excitement spiked inside me. “Do you know which one?”

  “No, but I know it’s on Clarendon.”

  I nodded and stepped closer to look at the picture with him. “And it explains the writing.”

  “It does?”

  “Yes. Midday Eucharist, or a midday service where they do a holy communion. Wait,” I said with a gasp. “You don’t think they’re going to release the chemicals in the church do you?”

  “No. I think they are saving their big finish for the White House, like you said. The Secret Service has already been alerted, by the way. They’ll be ready if we fail.”

  “I vote we don’t fail. Just for good measure.”

  That tug reappeared at the corner of his mouth. “I’ll second that. So, a midday service—”

  “Three days,” I said, interrupting. “They should only have a midday service this time of the year on a Sunday, right? And that’s not for another three days, since it’s officially Thursday.” I tapped my naked wrist, suddenly wondering about my watch that they never returned.

  Sebastian checked his. At least he had one. “You’re probably right.”

  “As per my usual state,” I said, heading for the bathroom again. I was beginning to like that shower.

  I stripped and washed all the mud off my body first, then went for the shampoo. I loved the woodsy scent of it, and the freshness of the soap he used. But I’d officially run out of conditioner. I peeked around the shower curtain just in case there was another bottle somewhere when Sebastian walked in, pretty as you please.

  “Excuse me,” I said, making certain he couldn’t see anything pertinent.

  But he was on the phone. He lifted a T-shirt and placed it on the closed toilet lid just like before. He’d stripped down to his own T-shirt and jeans again, both now covered in splotches of mud, and had ditched the duster, leather vest, and all the weaponry.

  “Okay, hold on,” he said, right before he put a hand over the phone. “Did they mention anyone else while they were talking, anyone they might suspect of being a CI?”

  “No,” I answered, shrugging so he’d get the hint and leave. I was quite naked behind the curtain.

  “What was Yousefi driving again?”

  “An older model Buick.” I thought back. “A blue LeSabre. Illinois license plate DDL-431. It had a broken taillight on the passenger side and a dent in the front fender.”

  He relayed that information, strolled out of the bathroom, then right as I reached for the towel, walked back in again. “License plate is registered to a college kid in Chicago. She drives a Chevy Cruise. The LeSabre was light blue?”

  “Just blue.” Like your eyes, I w
anted to say, but didn’t dare. “Normal blue with metallic.”

  He nodded and walked out again. I gave it a minute to make sure he didn’t come back, turned off the water and reached for the towel. I’d definitely have to braid my hair again, or walk around with a red powder puff on my head. My hair did not do well without product, and it was probably asking too much to hope Special Agent Strand would have a little hair gel on hand. I wondered if he always wore his hair that long or if he did it only for this gig.

  I toweled off, raced to put on my bra, which was still mud-free, thankfully, and hurried to throw on the T-shirt he’d lent me for the evening. It fit me like an oversized dress, but it smelled like him. I gathered up a handful and buried my face, reveling in the scent. He’d also left a pair of boxer shorts. Thoughtful of him. They didn’t exactly fit, but they were the kind that tied, so I tightened the strings, threw on the clean socks he’d left, and walked out to give him the room.

  He was still on the phone, going over the plan for the next day. Someone would pick me up in five hours while it was still dark out, then Sebastian would head to Boston. He couldn’t leave until Vince did or it would look suspicious, but they had men watching Vince’s house and he was apparently packing to leave. Still, they had to be careful. They didn’t want to spook anyone by moving in too soon. Homeland Security had one shot at grabbing the device, and since no one but Vince knew where it was, they’d have to wait it out. In the meantime, they were hoping to get a hit on the car Yousefi was driving so they could at least keep an eye on him until the meet, as well, but he could’ve already ditched the car. There was simply no way to know at the moment.

  Sebastian turned as I walked out of the bathroom. “I’ll call you back,” he said, hanging up before the other person had a chance to respond. “It’s a little big.” He pointed to his T-shirt, the one with the Harley Davidson logo on it.

  “It’ll do.” Suddenly self-conscious, I walked to the bed, climbed in, and pulled the covers up to my ears.

  My braid hung wet down my back, making me cold even in the well-heated cabin. Sebastian had started a fire to dry out his duster and the scent of burning pine permeated the air around me. It smelled heavenly.

  “I guess I’m next.” He grabbed some clothes out of a satchel and a towel off a hook by the fire. “Did you leave any hot water?”

  “No,” I teased. “But if you hadn’t kept barging in, it wouldn’t have taken me so long to finish up. Good thing the shower curtain is opaque.”

  He allowed the barest hint of a rather sad smile to cross his features. “I just want you to know, I’m truly grateful for all your help.”

  “Thank you,” I said, surprised.

  He nodded and started for the bathroom again. Just before he closed the door behind him, he said, “And, just for the record, it’s not completely opaque.” He closed the door against the sound of my gasp.

  I couldn’t decide if I should be flattered or appalled. I did stare at him for a solid ten minutes while I’d paused time not one hour ago. Was this any different?

  Yes!

  Yes it was. At least he wasn’t naked.

  Suddenly, I had nothing to do. I wanted to read but had no book. No magazine. Not even a cereal box. And since Chicago PD had never given me back my phone, an oversight that would be addressed very soon, I couldn’t even check my email. Then again, who was I kidding? The only person who emailed me was my neighbor and that was only to tell me about the latest UFO sightings around the globe. That crap was like crack to her, mostly because, according to her, she’d been abducted when she was a child. She told me once her abduction had given her powers of observation and that was how she knew I was special. She added air quotes around the “special.”

  But as much of an annoyance as she was, I missed her. She’d be worried, too. She kept telling me the government would come for me. They’d want to open me up and dissect my brian. A morbid thought. I’d never told her what I could do, but she still knew I could manipulate time. She said it was in my eyes. I had the eyes of an old traveler who could never rest in one place for very long.

  She was stark-raving nuts, but I liked her, and I missed not knowing the latest on UFO sightings. I’d be so behind when I got back.

  Since I had absolutely nothing else to do, and the thought of Sebastian all naked only a few feet away from me was making me lightheaded, I decided to drop, if for no other reason than to see what a special agent does while undercover.

  I bent my head and jumped into the warm water of time as it reversed around me. After reaching the limit I stopped, and it didn’t take long for something very interesting to happen.

  Sebastian was shirtless, for one thing, standing at the door, the lean muscle of his back flexing with every move. He wore leather chaps over his jeans and leather armbands around his wrists. That took me a moment to get over. The next thing was the fact that a rather trashy-looking brunette was standing on the other side of the threshold, trying to talk her way into Sebastian’s room.

  “What are you doing here, Jenny?” he asked her.

  “I saw you at the clubhouse.” She offered him a pretty shrug. “Can you believe we both ended up in the same place after all these years? Thought I’d say hello for old times’ sake. See if you wanted to catch up.”

  “Aren’t you exclusively Corte’s?”

  Corte, the club member that Vince, along with Sebastian, didn’t trust.

  “Please,” she said. “That pig passed out hours ago. This is between you—” She ran her index finger in a circle on his chest, just in case her intentions weren’t quite clear enough. “—and me.”

  “Corte’s a friend.”

  “Corte’s an ass.”

  He took a swig from the beer he was holding, and I realized there were several bottles on the ground around the trashcan, as though he missed but didn’t care enough to rectify the situation.

  “So, what happened to you?” she purred as she let her fingers walk up his chest playfully. “You had so much promise in high school. Quarterback. Captain of the football team. Everyone thought you’d go pro after Notre Dame.”

  “I blew out my knee senior year.”

  “Oh, right,” she said, nodding in remembrance. “Too bad. You had a killer handoff. Wait.” She stopped her flirtations and straightened. “Didn’t you go to Langley or something?”

  Sebastian took the last swig of the beer he was holding, tossed it in—or very near—the trashcan, then crossed his arms over his chest to lean against the doorframe.

  “Yeah. Yeah, you did. I remember your mom bragging about it to my grandma, like you were going to be somebody and the rest of us were dog excrement.”

  “Langley didn’t really work out, either.”

  “You’re just full of great intentions, aren’t you, love? Either way, Vince won’t look kindly upon your chosen profession, dropout or not. I could tell him everything I know about you. Might even score Corte some brownie points with the boss.”

  “What do you want?”

  “What I’ve always wanted.” She closed the distance between them. “You.”

  Sadly, I was right there with her.

  “You’re drunk, Jenny. Go home.”

  “She threw her arms around his neck. “I just want you once, Sebastian. Or is it Sam?”

  Sam must’ve been Sebastian’s undercover name. While I could understand her desire, no means no. And she was threatening a very good friend of mine, no matter that I’d only known him a little over 17 hours. And we’d gotten off to a rocky start.

  “I’ve wanted you since I was in the second grade.”

  A tad longer than I’d wanted him, but still.

  He disentangled her limbs, even her lower ones, but she fought him. She pulled his hair then slapped him with a powerful force, the sound echoing against the quiet backdrop of night.

  “Fine,” she said, her feelings hurt. “I just hope Vince doesn’t mind that you were going to be a fed.” She glared up at him, spitting out every
word. “Hell, who knows? Maybe you still are.”

  He grabbed her from behind when she started to walk away, dragged her into his room, and shoved her against the wall. The Cheshire smile she wore confirmed Sebastian’s actions were exactly what she wanted from him.

  He crushed her with his body, his rough kisses making her moan and grind against him. He pushed open the leather vest she wore and her bare breasts bounced out to meet his palms. He cupped one with one hand while pushing her jeans down with the other.

  There was something primal about his movements. Something raw. When his phone pinged, I looked over at the message that came up on the screen.

  Yes, it has been confirmed. Special Agent Mark Cham died this afternoon in a chemical event. Investigation underway. Will be in touch. TG

  Had he just found out about his partner? My hands flew to my mouth as I watched him. That would explain his harsh treatment of Jenny, not that she didn’t give as good as she got. For every punishment he doled out, she retaliated with a sharp scratch of her nails or a stinging nip with her teeth.

  I glanced down. I shouldn’t be watching something so private. Something so personal for Sebastian. He was clearly in pain. Maybe a tryst with Jenny was exactly what he needed. And yet, I couldn’t leave. Knowing he was in pain, he was hurting and in turn trying to hurt Jenny, I just couldn’t leave him.

  He finally got her jeans off and pushed his own pants, along with the chaps, halfway to his knees. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I turned my back to them, but I could still see everything reflecting in the window. I watched as he drove into her, as her head flew back, as she moaned in ecstasy, begging him to go harder. He obeyed. He grabbed hold of a window frame beside him for leverage with one hand and her hair with the other and thrust into her with all the pain and anger he had.

  I dipped my head and closed my eyes, realizing I should not be there on a thousand levels, but I wanted to make sure Jenny had been appeased. I wanted to make sure she wouldn’t tell her boyfriend or her boyfriend’s boss about Sebastian. I wanted to make sure he was safe.