Chapter 38 Alice #3
It was indeed more comfortable in the back of an FBI SUV, sipping on bottled water supplied by an agent as he drove them into the city.
Though Alice didn’t technically need Carter holding her up, she was grateful when he slid up beside her and gently held her.
She snuggled right in and took the hug, pain be damned.
He pushed her hair back from her eyes. His fingers snagged on something, and he pulled it out.
The tie clip. “We’d better switch this off before we say anything inappropriate for a court of law. ”
“Don’t make me laugh—it hurts!”
A phone rang. Carter’s. He pulled it from a pocket and answered.
“It’s Randolph Jeffson,” said a tinny version of Randolph’s voice. “Can we talk?”
“Randolph!” Carter said. “How did you get this number?”
“From Silvia Maldonado. She just called me. She said they got Tania Garrett.”
“Yeah, they did.”
“Good.”
“Good? But she was financing your campaign.” Carter sent a quizzical look at Alice, who shrugged. He put Randolph on speaker.
“Turned out she might have had an agenda,” Randolph said dryly. The connection wasn’t great—Alice struggled to make out the words. “So they’re looking at her for the murder?”
“Among other things. And it’s not just her. Gonna be a game of dominoes in the next few months, from the White House on down.”
“Makes sense. You know, back in Moscow we were ordered to stop looking into the COS’s death.”
“Who by?”
“Came from the higher-ups, same as any order. We were the guys with our ears to the ground, and we were told to stop listening. That’s why I took early retirement. If it was my body found decomposing in Moscow I’d want someone to find the asshole who did it.”
“I take it you’re gonna drop the charges against Alice now?”
“Already instructed my lawyers. Anyway, all this wasn’t why I called. Silvia says it’s time you knew the truth. At fucking last.”
“What about?”
There was a slight pause, and then Randolph said, “Vanessa.”
Alice felt Carter’s body tense. She rested a hand on his leg.
“Silvia’s given me the green light to talk to you, but it didn’t come from me and if anyone asks, I’ll deny I told you.
I can tell you broad brushstrokes, but I can’t tell you where it happened or who the other participants were.
It can’t ever be known that the CIA was involved, that we were there. ”
“You were involved?”
“Hear me out. I don’t have a lot of time—gotta sort out where this all leaves the campaign. I literally have people banging on my door right now. Thing is, it was my mistake that got Vanessa killed.”
“What the hell—”
“Carter, this is going to be hard to hear but just … let me get the story out, okay? Then you can lay into me, whatever.”
“Okay, go ahead.”
Alice wondered if she should give Carter space—as much as she could in the confines of the car—but with the phone on speaker it wasn’t like she could pretend not to hear. As if to settle the question, Carter put the phone on the seat beside him, covered her hand with his and held on.
“Like I say,” Randolph began, “I can’t give you the where and the who, but we were on a covert op and I made a bad call—got us involved with something we shouldn’t have been involved with.
She wasn’t comfortable with it, but she answered to me, and I told her she had to trust me.
We ended up in a gunfight in a jungle area at night—remote as it gets—bullets flying everywhere.
I got shot in the leg and the arm, and I lost track of her.
I managed to crawl out, but she… Look, I didn’t see what happened to her, and by the time we could get back in there, a flood had swept through and there was nothing to be found.
If it helps, I’m certain she died that night.
So many bullets flying around and she was stuck in the middle of it all.
It was a miracle I only got hit twice. And nothing showed up in any of our intel afterward to suggest she’d been taken or anything.
If she’d survived, she would have found a way back to you—you know what she was like.
Maybe I should have reported it as a death rather than a disappearance, but I guess I was still hopeful she’d turn up somewhere.
I waited a long time for that to happen—something you’ll know all about. ”
“Ah shit, Randolph,” Carter said, pinching the top of his nose and shutting his eyes tight, like he had a headache. When his fingers released, his eyes were red. “I always knew there was something you weren’t telling me.”
“I wanted to. I hated that you didn’t know.
I could see in your eyes how heavily it weighed on you, every damn time I looked at you.
But I broke the rules that day, and I vowed I’d never do that again.
I think about it every day of my life—and I know that’s nothing compared with you, but…
Shit, I gotta go. Look, the whole reason I want to get into politics is to fix some of the bullshit from on high that made our jobs so damn frustrating, that left me and Vanessa on a limb, that shut down the Moscow investigation—and then my own goddamn campaign gets infiltrated… Call me later if you want.”
He ended the call. Carter and Alice sat in silence for a minute, Carter still staring at the phone on the seat beside him. Alice interlaced her fingers with his and gently squeezed.
“How do you feel about that?” she asked quietly.
“Totally empty.”
“It’ll come. I’m here if you want to talk. Anytime.”
“And I am so damn grateful for that,” he said, pulling their entwined fingers up and kissing her knuckles. “And I’m grateful that Mom’s okay. When I thought something might have…” He took a deep breath and huffed it out.
“Me too. When Tania told us she was going to kill you… Oh God, waiting there, waiting to find out. And then hearing your voice! That was the best thing ever.”
“When I saw you lying on the ground, completely still…”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe any of that just happened.”
“It’ll take a long time for the dust to settle on all of this. But Silvia is not going to rest until that happens. She’s already kicked quite a bit of ass. As have you.”
“I don’t know about that—it’s just lucky I didn’t have time to think any of it through.”
“Well, I have thought it through, and I think you’re incredible. I mean, I kind of knew you were special when I first met you and you pulled those schoolteacher scissors on me.”
“Please don’t remind me. And stop making me laugh!”
“But I keep finding new things to appreciate,” he said, cupping her face.
“Like, every single time I look at you, every conversation we have. The fact you took Nika in and sat with her while she died—a woman you’d only known a matter of months.
The way I can talk to you about shit that matters, and you get me.
And you’re just so funny. And listening to the tape of you goading Tania, when she thought she was the one with the power…
” He leaned closer to whisper in her ear.
“Not to mention how unleashed you are in bed.”
Alice’s whole body warmed. She inhaled deeply, and then winced. That wasn’t really her in bed, though she had thoroughly enjoyed it. But she’d demonstrated that it could be her…
“You having trouble breathing?” he said, pulling back, concern etched into his face.
“I’ve been having trouble breathing around you since day one. You know, there’s so much happening that I can’t believe is happening. But mostly I just can’t believe that a guy like you is saying things like this to a woman like me.”
“Thought you were done underestimating yourself.” He stroked her jaw and angled her face towards him.
Oh God, those eyes. They were so different from the eyes of the man she’d met only a few days ago.
Still deep, but just looking at them made her melt like she was …
well, obviously not in love with him, not after just a few days, but she could very easily find herself heading there, given permission.
And there he was, looking at her like she was a marvel. Men didn’t look at her like that.
He brought his lips to hers, and it was hands-down the most deliciously romantic moment of her life, sitting in the back of an FBI car, broken, bruised, and filthy.
“You know,” he said as they broke off, “this is where you get your wish—tell your story to the authorities and get back to your regular life.”
“Yeah. Wow,” she said, though she couldn’t help feeling a little deflated. Regular life? Book boyfriends didn’t exist in regular life. “And I’m sure you’ll get your job back at the CIA.”
“Nah, I think my cover is well and truly blown. And you know what? I don’t feel the urge to run to some backwater posting anymore.” He lowered volume. “You know what I do have the urge to do?”
“Wait, did I switch off the pendant cam? Shit!”
He laughed as she grappled with it. It seemed to have switched itself off—when she dove onto the gun?
“Well, sure, but I wasn’t gonna say anything X-rated. I was just gonna say I have the urge to stick around Montrose for a bit.”
“Montrose?”
“It is my hometown, after all. I know this has all been crazy but…” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple sliding up and down. “It seems like you and me could be something real, if we give it a shot. I feel like coming home, Alice. And I haven’t felt that in, well, forever.”
She smiled so hard her cheeks hurt. “I’d like that. I’d really like that.”
“Besides,” he said, slinging his arm around her again and settling into the seat, “you’re gonna need some help freeing your car. How did they get it in there?”
“And you owe me a phone.”
“I’m gonna buy you the best fucking phone. And then, you know what? We should write a book about all this.”
“I’m never writing anything again in my life.”
“Oh, I dunno—this story is turning out pretty well. Maybe you could just switch to nonfiction.”
“At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about it coming true.”