Rachel growled, evoking laughter in the front. Grace’s continual banter from their first meeting had put Rachel at ease in a horrid situation. Although professional in all aspects relating to her client, Grace used her jokingly blunt persona to make a connection with people she handled in the program, and to extract bits of information vital to doing her job. Having witnessed the many verbal sparring matches between Grace and Tim, Rachel could tell Grace’s manner was no affectation.
“You know I hate that name.”
“Yeah… What’s your point?” Grace needled her a little more. “You’ve been in the program nearly a year and this is the first social meeting we’ve seen you have.”
“Being afraid for my life has that effect on me,” Rachel retorted. “For the first six months I thought any guy who looked at me was a potential killer. When Nick looked at me…I…it seemed like he knew me.”
“Writers are like that,” Grace stated as if she were an expert. “Did you initiate the interest?”
“A woman came up and asked for his autograph when I brought him an iced tea. I guess I did come on kind of strong after that.”
“I don’t blame you,” Grace said. “Spill it. Are you going on a date or what?”
“I’m meeting him at the Marriott bar at seven and then we’re going to dinner if things work out.”
“We’ll have to check him out, right Tim? I think a double date is in order. Besides, Tim here’s been trying to get into my pants for the last two years.”
Tim started choking comically.
“No way!” Rachel gasped, pushing Grace in the back of her head. “I’m not going on a first date with you two.”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to insist,” Grace began; but one look at Rachel’s face, and she turned to pleading. “Please…please…please…”
Rachel tried to keep from laughing but failed. Grace added hands clasped in prayer over the seat back to her mantra.
“Okay…okay…” Rachel relented. “One look at you two and my romance with Nick will be over before it begins. But what the hell? I came on to him like a cheap hooker. Maybe he’ll think I’m more reserved if you two show up.”
“No, he’ll tell you to take a hike,” Tim warned. “Don’t listen to the Black Widow here. She wants to meet the famous author at any cost and throw our low profile presence to the wind. Take my advice, and tell Grace to get a life. The moment Grace walks into the bar she’ll throw herself all over this McCarty guy like the attack of the Gorgon. She’ll turn him to stone before you get to first base.”
“I have a gun, pencil-neck,” Grace threatened, while Rachel laughed at Tim’s send up of his partner. “One more word out of you and you’ll be on life support.”
“You two can come for a drink,” Rachel relented. “After that I want you both gone.”
“Good enough. Now get out of the car,” Grace ordered. “I have to find a book store and buy Nick’s latest novel. I’m getting his autograph tonight.”
Rachel opened the car door, gritting her teeth at the blast of heat. “You two better be on your best behavior.”
“See ya at seven, Kimmy.” Grace waved while Tim mouthed, ‘I told you so,’ through the passenger side window.
Rachel let Grace back the Lincoln out and leave before opening the driver’s side door of her white Honda Civic. She pulled the reflectors from the front and rear windows and threw them on the backseat. They were the only reason she could enter the car after it had baked all day in the sun. Rachel smiled as she started the car and put the air conditioning on full blast, wondering what Nick would say when he met Grace and Tim.
Nick, parked a block up from where the meeting between Rachel and the US Marshalls had taken place, put away his earpiece. He had picked the two agents out earlier and bugged their car while they went inside the restaurant.
“Grace, could you come here for a second?” Tim called out from the kitchen of Grace’s apartment in Dublin, California.
Tim had his notebook computer open on the kitchen table searching databases while waiting for Grace to get ready.
“What?” Grace walked into the kitchen still brushing her hair.
“Check out Mr. McCarty’s file, Princess,” Tim urged, getting up and gesturing at the screen.
“He’s a New York Times best-selling author, for God’s sake, what…shit…!” Grace had started out scanning the screen, but ended up throwing her brush aside and sitting down in Tim’s seat. “Special Forces…Delta…and then… Jesus…file transferred to DOJ in 1998. What the hell does all this mean?”
“It shows him still in the reserves and the rest of his file after 1998 is blocked. That’s when his writing career took off and he bought the house in Pacific Grove. I pulled up his passport activity. He’s a traveler.”
“His novels are about an assassin who kills people all over the world. He’d say it was research,” Grace muttered, standing up. “I don’t like this. I’ll finish getting ready, and you call it in. Maybe Richards has more pull and can find out about McCarty.”
“I figured they’d hit the databases next,” Nick mumbled to himself after deciphering the scrambled message he received by logging on to the anonymous bulletin board online. He took out the satellite phone from his bag, fingered a number in, waited five seconds, and hung up. It beeped thirty seconds later.
“Hello, Romeo.” The gruff voice on the other end of the line greeted Nick. “What the hell do you think you’re doin’? I told you your damned involvement ended with that rogue sanction on Tanus.”
“They put out another hit on her this morning. Apparently, the leak at DOJ is still bleeding information. There’s no way Tanus would have shared his knowledge of Rachel’s location or my involvement. Even with my cover, I can’t…”
“No contact, Nick! You’re the deepest we’ve ever been into this network. You’ve been a ghost, thanks to that goofy writing career you managed to pull off. In one day you pissed it all away. We have US Marshalls hacking into the DOJ databases trying to access your record, and now you’re romancing the mark?”
“You wanted the leak found out. When Tanus bought the hit on Rachel, you ordered me to stall the deal. I stalled it. What happened to ‘we don’t work domestic’? As long as I keep Rachel alive, you have time to nail the leak at DOJ. Who was it that told me the entire Witness Protection Program is for sale to the highest bidder, Frank?”
“Who the hell gave you permission to write your own ticket, genius?”
“Some folks just need killin’.”
“You son of a…okay, listen up cowboy, drop off the radar immediately. Let’s salvage what we still have. Get the hell out of Pleasanton.”
“That’s a negative, good buddy. It was all okay when Tanus ordered hits on scumbags overseas. What were you thinking – sacrifice a witness to keep Tanus in business and find the leak at DOJ as a bonus? You keep hunting for the leak, and I’ll do whatever the hell I want to do.”
“You’ve watched ‘Bourne Identity’ too many times, Nick. Get your head out of your ass. You have too much to lose. We can take it all away.”
“Don’t threaten me, Frank. I don’t like it. Tanus threatened me once.”
“Why you arrogant… Did you just -”
“I didn’t just anything. I’ve played this game by your rules for ten years. I’ll play this one a little different. Take some time to think it over. Call me tomorrow morning. I have a date tonight.”
