Chapter 30 - Paisley
I woke up with a start, unaware I had fallen asleep. The bed was cold, Dan was gone. Of course he couldn’t spend the whole night with me and risk being seen, but I still felt a twinge in my chest as I buried my face in the blankets, trying to capture his scent.
It was all over my body as I hurriedly threw my clothes on and then sat on the edge of the rumpled bed to send a message to Agent Pierce.
He had to be freaking out since I told him about the explosion and then went silent.
Once I told him I was ready to leave Aspen, he messaged me back, strongly advising me to get to LA.
I took a deep breath, ready to retreat back under the covers and hide.
His next message told me he’d meet me at the airport.
I wouldn’t have to be alone for long, and his promise that I’d be under federal protection got me standing and heading for the door.
It was time to go. As much as it hurt to have the Fokins think I was running out on them, it was better than staying and continuing to make them a target. I packed my things and with my bag slung over my shoulder, I snuck quietly out of the still, sleeping lodge.
Conflict raged in me as I grabbed the keys to the small car off the table in the hall.
Taking one last look at the half decorated tree, my heart clenched.
I had really grown attached to those rowdy, wonderful kids.
Alina was certain to be a talented snowboarder if she continued with the sport, and little Artie would be a born leader one day with his confident, watchful attitude.
The littlest ones’ trusting hugs and big smiles were the highlight of my days.
I’d only been working for the family for a little more than two weeks, but they made me feel like I was one of them.
Now I was stealing their car, but it was better than bringing down Axon’s rage on them.
At the outskirts of town, I pulled into the first resort and parked the car in the lot, going inside to order a taxi to the airport.
As I waited, my eyes darted everywhere in the nearly deserted lobby, seeing enemies everywhere.
Should I have confided in Dan? I kept looking around for him, too, wishing in the deepest part of my terrified heart that he would have noticed me leaving and followed me.
Then I remembered the cuts he got from shielding me from the explosion, how it might have easily been so much worse.
I craved the safety he promised, but he didn’t really know what I was up against. There was no way I could drag him into it.
On the way to the airport, I tried hard to remember what it felt like to hate him.
It would have been easier, but it was impossible now.
I had gotten to know him better, and he had been different ever since we got stuck in the cabin during the snow storm.
It seemed like the moment I opened up about my bad experience at Axon, he dialed down his teasing. He wasn’t a jerk or a pig, not at all.
I missed his jokes now and could have used some of them, even the raunchiest ones, to keep my mind off the fact I was being hunted.
Anyone who passed me, or sat down beside me while I waited for the late night flight back to LA, could be the person who was sent to end my life.
All to keep me from talking about something I didn’t know a thing about.
The list itself, and the fact I knew those employees were dead, was enough to seal my fate.
I obviously hadn’t been careful enough about keeping my new location a secret, so anyone could be following me now.
I searched the crowd, still hopeful to see Dan, even if he was pissed off at me for leaving.
He had somehow sensed I was in danger, seconds before the bomb went off, pushing me to the floor and saving my life.
I needed more of that, if it was real. Another perfect, amazing, romp in bed had made me forget every little thing he’d ever done to annoy me, that was all this was.
Time would solve it, though it seemed impossible to stop thinking about him now.
I wouldn’t have minded staying around longer so he could start bugging me again and then I could get over him.
That would be better than this fruitless yearning I couldn’t push aside even in the face of danger.
Even the flight attendants on the short flight had a sinister air about them.
Everyone was an enemy. Axon was a huge, multinational corporation.
They were obviously hiding something big, working to silence anyone they thought would stand in their way.
Why wouldn’t they try to slip poison in my soda can on the plane?
I could no longer laugh at myself for being paranoid. I hadn’t been paranoid enough and led them to the lodge, endangering an innocent family.
It was worse in LA. The grumpy, late night travelers all seemed to give me dirty looks as I stood in the area Agent Pierce had told me he’d find me.
I scanned the crowd, looking for the man I saw on our first video chat, hardly able to stand still, but not wanting to look manic and attract the attention of the wary security guards.
My heart beat as if I had been on a treadmill after a hard workout even though I leaned as unobtrusively as possible against a pillar.
The half an hour or so that I waited in the airport felt more like half the night, and the longer it took, the more scared I got. Should I just ditch him? Then what? There was no safe place to go. I already learned that the hard way.
When I finally saw Agent Pierce’s buzz cut above the heads of everyone else in a crowd of people jostling to get to baggage claim, I breathed a sigh of relief. Hoisting my bag over my shoulder, I hurried toward him. He held out his arms like he was a long lost relative, and I went along with it.
“Just act natural,” he said as he briefly hugged me.
A chill went down my spine, but he took my bag and looped my hand around his outstretched arm and we walked briskly toward the short term parking lot.
“I would have thought the FBI could rock up to the curb,” I said.
He shook his head. “That’s not exactly acting natural, is it?”
He had a point, and I already felt safer in his presence. His car was a standard sedan, dark with tinted windows, just like in every TV show with undercover cops.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we headed away from the airport.
“I’ve arranged a safe place for you to stay,” he said, eyes on the road, all business. His hands were tight on the steering wheel, pale scars across his knuckles. “We can go over everything you know about Axon once you’re settled in.”
I didn’t bother telling him now that there wasn’t anything to tell besides my knowledge of the list. They already knew about that, and once they realized I wasn’t going to be useful to them, I might be out on my own.
At least I could get a good night’s sleep in this safe place and maybe I could convince them to put me in a protective program until they caught the people who were after me.
“How did you end up staying with the Fokin family?” he asked after we drove for several miles in silence.
As I started to tell him about Marlowe’s agency and her needing an emergency replacement at the last minute, I got a shiver.
Cold fingers seemed to trail down my back as I shut my mouth in a hurry.
When did I ever mention the Fokins? I had told him I was in Aspen, but not exactly where or why.
I was positive I never once mentioned I was staying with the Fokins by name.
“Just a lucky opportunity to have a place to stay once I got out of Los Angeles,” I said, not wanting to drag Marlowe’s name into an FBI investigation.
He continued asking me questions that had nothing to do with Axon or the list. “Had they been there long before you arrived?” he asked.
It seemed like he was making conversation, but also like he was fishing for information.
I had been on high alert for hours, weeks, really.
He was a damn FBI agent for goodness’ sake.
I didn’t know anything about how they operated, but it stood to reason they could easily deduce things like the people I had been staying with from the information I had already given him.
“I really don’t know,” I said honestly. “I don’t think so, though.”
“Did anyone from Moscow arrive while you were there?”
What the hell? The cold fingers of fear rose up my spine to grip the back of my neck. Fokin may have been a Russian name, but how could he know any of them were from Moscow without an in depth background check? And if he ran one, why was that necessary?
I shook my head slowly, thinking about Dan and his brothers, as well as his cousins Lilia and Masha, all from Moscow. “No,” I said firmly. It wasn’t a lie, they were already there when I arrived.
All except Dan, who’d turned up a little bit late, and I had already met him at the hotel in town. I felt my cheeks turning red despite the chill of fear that Agent Pierce’s odd questions raised in me.
“What’s going on?” I asked, meaning what was really going on? “Is any of that important to your investigation into Axon?”
He shrugged, glancing at me. “Any and all information could be important, especially since you were targeted at the lodge with that gift.”
I blinked rapidly. My thoughts flying back to our message exchange after the explosion. I was certain I had only said package, never once telling him it was wrapped like a present. He was probably assuming it was a gift. He had to be.
It was then I realized we were heading out of the city and toward the port. The highway was desolate at this time of night and it felt like we were barreling faster and faster away from safety, instead of toward it.
“Where are we going again?” I asked, dodging his question about the package.
“The FBI has safe houses all over the city,” he replied, also not answering my question.
It took everything I had to remain calm as we continued further in silence.
Instead of ending up at a hotel or house, or even an office building, Agent Pierce pulled into a warehouse park.
My heart was back to hammering like I was running instead of sitting quietly in a car.
My fingers twitched as I looked at the door handle.
Was I actually thinking about jumping out of a moving car? My nerves were shredded and I was tired, making up wild scenarios that had nothing to do with reality. What did I know about the FBI’s process? If they thought the safest place for me to hide was in a warehouse, who was I to question it?
“I’ve read about people transforming these old buildings into amazing living spaces,” I said nervously.
He only grunted, finally pulling into a spot in front of a particularly dilapidated building, in almost complete darkness. Once he turned off the car’s headlights, there was nothing but the faint glow from the moon. He got out, rushing around to open my side and helping me out.
He didn’t have my bag, but I was too busy trying not to trip over the cracked concrete underfoot as he led me toward the rickety staircase leading to the front door.
A dull light streamed out from a single window and the door at the top of the stairs swung inward on creaky hinges before we reached the top.
“My partner,” Agent Pierce said reassuringly.
Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t reassured. Once inside, things got even worse.
This was no lux apartment, but a completely empty space, vast and echoing.
An overhead light illuminated swirling dust motes and dirty drywall riddled with graffiti and holes.
There were a few doors so I hadn’t completely lost hope that this wasn’t as safe a place as Agent Pierce made it out to be.
Until another man stepped out of the shadows and peered through the gloom at me with a keen eye. My mouth dropped open and I took a step back, running into the FBI agent, who steadied me with a firm grip on my arms.
Why the hell was Gavril Bocharov here? I didn’t exactly know him but I recognized him well from his many visits to Axon.
He wasn’t a regular employee, but someone much higher up on the food chain, only visiting to receive reports.
Everyone had to be on their best behavior, warned well in advance when he’d be coming.
If he showed up unannounced, there was scurrying and swearing as the management team used the time it took him to travel up the elevator to whip everything into shape.
He was impeccably dressed, as usual. In fact, he might have easily come straight from one of his many inspections at Axon.
His dark hair was smoothed back off his strong brow, his chiseled jaw immaculately clean shaven despite the late hour.
The designer suit fit him perfectly, and even in the dim light, his heavy gold watch glinted on his wrist.
As usual, he didn’t look happy. In fact, he looked extremely pissed off as he stepped closer to me, his leather soles tapping on the concrete floor. I tried to take another step back, suddenly realizing that Agent Pierce wasn’t holding onto my arms to steady me.
He was keeping me from moving.