Chapter 14
14
Alex burst out of the law firm into bright sunshine and took a half-dozen deep, calming breaths. Christ. What was that bout of claustrophobia all about? Even four years in prison had never made him feel that trapped.
No fucking way was he getting married. The very idea freaked him out.
His eagerness to get home had nothing to do with emotional attachment to the baby or Katie, either. It was lust. Pure and simple. He wanted to get Katie naked and blow her mind?—
Dammit! He was just in lust with a girl. He would screw her brains out and get this… infatuation… out of his system.
A little calmer, he slid into his BMW and headed for home.
He was irritated beyond all reason to discover that Katie was out. It didn’t help that Sister Mary Harris smirked at his irritation.
“I’ll drive you back to the school,” he snapped.
“Let me make you lunch, first,” she said firmly, moving into the kitchen.
He never had figured out how to successfully say no to a nun. He huffed and followed her into the kitchen.
“Here. Feed the baby while I make us a bite to eat.”
He took the bottle she thrust into his hands and scooped up Dawn from her baby seat. “Hey, cutie,” he murmured. “How’s my girl today?”
The nun glanced over at him and commented casually, “She likes you. And you seem comfortable with her.” He frowned, and she added, “The two of you look good together.”
His frown deepened to an outright scowl. “You can get that idea right out of your head. Katie can raise her. I’m just putting the two of them up for a few days until Katie goes back to Pennsylvania.” And making legal arrangements to name Katie and himself Dawn’s legal guardians .
Sister Mary Harris looked skeptical, but thankfully, she let the subject drop.
He was only naming himself a guardian because of the resources he could offer Dawn throughout her life. And if she ever got in trouble, being her guardian gave him the right to fix it.
Dawn lost the nipple of the bottle and squawked, and he turned his full attention to feeding the baby.
The condo’s front door burst open and he jerked in alarm before he remembered Katie had a key. This business of sharing his home, even temporarily, was unsettling.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You’re back.”
“Where were you?” he asked more mildly than he was feeling. But with the baby in his arms, he couldn’t very well vent his irritation at her absence.
“Uncle Charlie wanted to talk to me.”
His mental antennae shot up to full alert. “Do tell.”
“He tried to convince me to recruit you for the CIA.”
Alex stared at her, dumbfounded. She admitted it? Just like that? What game was this she was playing with him?
Although, on reflection, it was a brilliant ploy. The CIA had to know he would suspect her the moment he found out who her uncle was. They might as well have her make a direct approach. Lying to him would only piss him off.
“What are they offering?” he asked grimly.
Dawn started to fuss in his arms as if sensing his building temper. He tried to pass the baby off to Sister Mary Harris, but the nun was inexplicably too occupied making grilled cheese sandwiches all of a sudden to take her. He tamped down hard on his fury lest he disturb Dawn—damn the nun, anyway. She was forcing him to keep his cool on purpose.
Katie was speaking. “… personally have no idea what they could offer you. It’s not like you need money. And you’ve already said you’re blackmail proof. I suppose they’ll have to find a way to twist your arm since they have no faith in patriotism to motivate anyone.”
His mouth quirked with unwilling humor. “As recruiting speeches go, this one’s not very convincing.”
She snorted. “I’m not trying to convince you of anything. I’m playing my uncle to get information on who Dawn’s father is.”
He leaned back hard in his chair. “Are you, now? Any leads?”
“Charlie’s getting me a list of all the Caucasian males sighted in the Karshan Valley around nine months ago.”
“What will dear Uncle Charlie do when he finds out you’re not actually going to hand me to him on a silver platter?”
She shrugged. “I don’t care. I don’t work for him.”
She said that with such casual conviction he could almost believe she was telling the truth. Almost .
Katie was too agitated to sit still and let Alex stare at her like a bug under a microscope. She knew he would be unhappy that Uncle Charlie had approached her. But just because her uncle was in the business of keeping secrets didn’t mean that she was, too. Lies and evasions were completely foreign to her. Better to be front with Alex and made him mad than try to play games with him. Still, his irritation was unsettling.
She set the table and helped Sister Mary Harris put lunch on the table. They ate in silence, and as soon as they finished, she leaped up to clear the dishes.
Alex announced without warning, “Katie, I’d like you and Dawn to go with us when I take Sister Mary Harris back to the convent.”
She looked up quickly. “Why?”
He replied sardonically, “I have something to talk with you about, and it may make you unhappy. I thought I’d borrow a page out of the good sister’s play book and do it with Dawn present so you can’t yell at me.”
What did he think would make her shouting mad?
“Will you come with us?” he asked tersely.
Was he nervous at the idea of her turning him down? As if she could deny him anything. “Sure, if it’s that important to you.”
She went to Dawn’s room to fetch the baby bag, but when she returned, Alex was gone. “Where’d he go?” she asked Sister Mary Harris.
The elderly woman smiled broadly. “He’s installing Dawn’s car seat in his BMW. And he’s none too happy about having such a thing in his fancy sports car.”
Katie smiled back, amused. She picked up the dozing baby and followed the nun to the parking garage beneath the building. Alex was just emerging from the back seat his car when they strolled up.
She commented lightly, “This is the beginning of the end for you.”
“How’s that?” he retorted.
“Baby seats. Bottles. Diapers. Before long, you’ll be coaching Little League soccer and going to PTA meetings. Another bachelor playboy bites the dust.”
The nun cackled and Alex scowled. As he held the door for her, he muttered, “I’m not going down without a fight.”
“We’ll see about that, big guy,” she replied breezily.
As Alex helped Sister Mary Harris into the front passenger seat, she said, “I believe you’ve met your match, young man.”
Tight-jawed, Alex slid into the driver’s seat and guided the car to the street. Very quickly, Katie noticed Alex watching the rear view mirror an inordinate amount.
“Problem?” she asked.
“Yes, in fact.”
She swiveled in her seat to face Dawn’s car seat which allowed her to peek out the back window surreptitiously. An SUV with blacked out windows was maneuvering in and around cars behind them a little too aggressively to be innocent.
“Are you followed everywhere you go?” she asked him.
“This is worse than usual.”
“Did I lead them to you?”
“Nah. The CIA has always known where I live.”
Alex sped up smoothly, and before long, the BMW was weaving in and out of traffic like a stunt vehicle. Clutching the wooden cross hanging around her neck, Sister Mary Harris started to pray quietly. Katie kept an eye on Dawn who, so far, was sleeping through the increasingly aggressive ride.
They accelerated onto the Beltway—a major highway circling Washington, D.C.—and the SUV flew onto the Beltway behind them. Alex dived off an exit at the last second and swerved onto surface streets once more. He ran red lights and screeched around corners, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t seem to shake the big vehicle behind him.
“What do they want?” Katie demanded in exasperation.
Alex bit out, “Maybe just to harass us, Maybe to kill us. A high-speed auto crash would look like an accident.”
She didn’t bother to tell him to be careful. He was an outstanding driver, much better than her, and he knew full well he had a baby on board.
A screech of locked tires and a cacophony of blaring horns followed by a car-on-car crunch behind them ended the chase as quickly as it began. The SUV had broadsided a truck in an intersection, mangling its front end.
Alex decelerated and Katie started to breathe again.
“Who was that?” she asked.
“Good question. I doubt Uncle Charlie sent his goons after us. He thinks he’s got me in the bag for now.”
“What about the FSB?” she ventured to ask.
He replied thoughtfully, “I don’t think so. They just did me a big favor and likely expect to collect on it, soon. Why would they kill me when they can use me, instead?”
She said soberly, “I happen to think getting us that flight was worth it. Who knows what rebels or bandits we would’ve run into and how much longer we would’ve survived.”
Alex just shrugged.
Sister Mary Harris piped up, “I will add you to my special prayer list, Alex.”
“The one you keep for really bad sinners?” he asked wryly.
“No, young man. The one I keep for heroes in danger,” she replied tartly.
Katie picked up the thread of the conversation once more. “So, if it wasn’t the CIA and it wasn’t the FSB, who was that?”
“Good question,” Alex ground out. He threw her a warning look indicating he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Probably didn’t want to air his dirty laundry in front of the nun and end up on her really bad sinner’s list.
She subsided, worried. How much danger were she and Dawn in as long as they stayed with him? No way was she dumping the infant on the foster care system. Although, she didn’t understand Dawn’s legal status at all. She was afraid to ask questions about it for fear of the answers she’d get. But sooner or later, she would have to face all of that.
If Alex’s enemies were this aggressive, she probably ought to get Dawn away from him. Problem was, he seemed so capable of protecting her and the baby. Was it better—safer—for them to stay or go? Her head said to go, but her heart shouted at her to stay.
The BMW pulled up in front of a pretty stone church with a big, walled compound beside it.
They escorted the nun inside, Alex carrying her overnight bag and Katie cradling Dawn, who’d blissfully slept through the car chase. They reached the cloistered portion of the convent and Sister Mary Harris took her bag from Alex.
“Sister, could you wait for a moment while Katie and I have a private word?”
“Of course, Alex.”
He took Dawn out of her arms and passed her to the nun, then took Katie’s arm and led her off a little ways down the stone hallway.
“Is this the part where you make me mad?” she murmured.
“In light of that SUV, this will be a different conversation than I was planning.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Katie, what do you think of leaving Dawn with Sister Mary Harris, just for a day or two, while we figure out who was chasing us?”
“We need to hide Dawn?” she squeaked. Crap! Just how dangerous were his enemies, anyway? “Why don’t I just take her home to Pennsylvania right now?”
He exhaled hard. “You and Dawn have been seen with me. You’ll be perceived as soft spots in my armor and exploited as such. I don’t think either of you will be safe if you go home.”
“I don’t think I’ve mentioned my dad became a cop after he retired from the Green Berets. I’ll stay with him and my mom.”
“Even he won’t cut it against these guys. They’ll come at you with a team of thugs or military operatives.”
“ Who will?”
“Not here. Not now. Besides, we’re talking about Dawn.”
“After you send her away, will you do the same to me?”
Chagrin passed across his face. He was planning to get rid of her!
“I wish I could. But the truth is you’re probably safer with me than anywhere else. I know my enemy’s tactics and have been thwarting them for a long time.”
He wished he could send her away? What the hell was last night, then?
Oh, wait. He didn’t get emotionally involved with anyone, did he? Not even if he had mind-blowing sex with them. He might as well have sunk a dagger in her heart in that moment. She did her best to hide her devastation, but probably failed miserably.
“Will this convent be any safer for Dawn than your place? It’s not like they have armed guards.”
“It’s also an orphanage. Where better to hide a baby than among a bunch of other babies? And the convent actually does have pretty decent security. When I was a boarding student here, my father arranged from prison to have a state-of the art security system installed. Another wealthy parent updated it a few years ago. She should be fine, here.”
Katie hesitated. The idea of being separated from Dawn felt like having her right arm cut off and her heart torn out of her chest.
“I’ll miss her, too,” Alex said quietly. “But it’s for her safety. And I swear it’ll only be for a little while.”
His phone beeped an incoming text just then and he fished it out of his pocket, mumbling, “I’m expecting some important news. This may be it.” He glanced at his phone and a look of relief crossed his face.
“I had my lawyer file an emergency custody request for Dawn this morning. The judged agreed to make you and me Dawn’s temporary legal guardians.”
Katie’s jaw dropped in both relief and shock. “You made us her guardians without asking me?”
“Why?” he asked sharply. “Don’t you want to be her guardian?”
“I’d adopt her today if I knew how to do it!”
“Well, there you go. Dawn doesn’t have to go into the foster care system, and we’ll continue to care for her.”
“Until we have to hide her in a convent so she doesn’t get kidnapped or killed.”
Alex argued, “She’d be at much more risk of being kidnapped or killed in a foster home. She has already been linked to me, remember? As her guardians, you and I can take direct action to keep her safe, up to and including hiding her somewhere safe.”
“You don’t have to talk me into the benefits of being her legal guardian,” Katie snapped. “I’m delighted and relieved that you took this step. I’m just unhappy you didn’t talk to me about it and that our first act as her guardians is to leave her in a convent all by herself.”
“She’ll hardly be by herself. Sister Mary Harris will look after her day and night if I ask her to.”
“By all means,” Katie replied. “If Dawn has to stay in this place, I want her to be with someone she knows and who cares about her.”
“The nuns care about all the babies they look after.”
“You know what I mean,” Katie snapped.
“I do.” Alex strode down the hall to the nun while Katie followed in his wake, supremely unhappy. She kissed sleeping baby Dawn goodbye on the forehead and took one last, long breath of her sweet baby smell before passing her off to the nun. Despondently, she followed Alex back out to the car.
She hated this. But what choice did they have? Responsible parents didn’t endanger their children. Period.
Not that it had stopped Alex’s father. She blurted, “Do you blame your father for engaging in something as dangerous as spying at the same time he was your only caregiver?”
He was silent for a while before replying, “I never thought of it in those terms before. But I supposed I did.”
Past tense? “You don’t blame him anymore? Have you forgiven him, then?”
“Not at all,” Alex answered coldly. “I simply choose not to think about him anymore.”
“Never?” she asked, surprised.
“Not as a parent. He’s simply the irritating bastard who harasses me from time to time.”
Wow. The thought of cutting all ties with her family, physically and emotionally, was almost as painful as leaving Dawn behind. The mere idea of how lonely a child Alex must have been made her heart weep. Surprised at how upset the idea made her, she wiped a stray tear off her cheek.
“Don’t cry for me,” Alex said sharply. “Don’t ever do that.”
“Why not?”
“I prefer it if no one cares for me. Saves a world of hassles to avoid emotional ties of any kind.”
She stared across the interior of the car at him. “Are you serious? You don’t ever want any kind of emotional ties to another human being?”
“Correct.”
“Then why on God’s green earth did you make yourself one of Dawn’s legal guardians?”
“Being a guardian has nothing to do with being a parent. It merely means I will provide support and resources to whoever raises her.”
“Bullshit,” she exploded. “You promised you’d never lie to me, Alex.”
He all but drove off the road, he was scowling so angrily. But then it hit her. To be honest with her, he first had to be honest with himself. He was already emotionally invested in Dawn whether he’d admitted it to himself or not.
“It’s hard, isn’t it?” she asked sympathetically.
“What is?”
“Giving up your grand isolation and stepping up to being an adult?—“
Something big and fast-moving slammed into her side of the car and the BMW swerved violently. A black SUV had just side-swiped them, hard. Alex stomped on the accelerator. If she thought he’d driven fast before, that was nothing compared to the way he flung the BMW around now. She braced herself grimly held on to the bent door for dear life as he tore across the city like a madman.
It took five of the most nerve-wracking minutes of her life for him to lose the big vehicle, but the superior speed and agility of the German sports car finally prevailed over the clumsier SUV.
Eventually, the SUV disappeared behind them and Alex decelerated once more.
“We’ve got to ditch my car,” he bit out.
“Because the damage is obvious?”
“No. Because whoever’s after us is tracking this vehicle somehow. I checked for bugs, but they’re doing something else. Watching it on satellite or tracking the on-board computers, somehow.”
He pulled into a long-term parking lot next to a Metro stop. And then he did a strange thing. He took the key fob off its chain and left it prominently on the dashboard in the front windshield. “Leave your door unlocked,” he muttered as he jumped out of the car. He did the same.
“Are you trying to get it stolen?” she asked, confused.
“Yes. Then our thugs can follow around the thief for a while instead of us.”
Ahh. A clever misdirection. “You’re good at this spy game stuff,” she puffed as they ran for the Metro entrance.
They slowed down once they were underground. He answered belatedly, “I bloody well ought to be good at it after the way I was raised.”
“I wish I could go back in time and hug that little boy. He must have been so lost and lonely.”
“You don’t miss what you never had,” Alex retorted.
Her resolve to show him love strengthened once more.
“Now what?” she asked as they stepped onto a Metro train. They fell into seats and accelerated into a dark tunnel.
“We go to ground.”
We, huh? Guess she wasn’t going home to Pennsylvania just yet. Not until people quit trying to kill Alex or get to him through her. Good. It would give her time to teach him what love was. Whether he liked it or not…