“I’ll do it,” Cameron grumbled.
He was tired of sitting around. There was a big part of him that just wished they had done things the old-fashioned way, gotten that password out of her by putting a gun to her head. That was always an effective motivator. That or threaten her family. They didn’t need people like Laird. Though Zabójca and Asher were in agreement that he could be flipped to their side, Cameron wasn’t so sure. People like Laird were selfish. He was like Diana Weick. They only cared about protecting themselves and their families, even if that meant sacrificing the greater cause.
Two days. Cameron could wait two days to send his message. That meant two days with Asher, trying to not go crazy between the silences. If Asher thought the quietness made him mysterious, he was dead wrong. It made him suspicious. It made him doubt his loyalties. And there were few mercies that Cameron had left in him.
Chapter 21
Diana Weick
Seattle, Washington
On the way to Anchorage, on the plane to Seattle, weaving through the suburban streets—there wasn’t much to say. Diana and Amber couldn’t discuss what they wanted to because Axtell was escorting them, keeping a close eye and ear on every movement and every word, waiting for the slightest indication that they had turned or were working for someone that the US military didn’t agree with.
There was a moment, though, when Axtell asked Amber to pull over. They were almost to the Weick house and they pulled over near a park. It wasn’t until Diana took a hard look out the window that she realized this was the park she and Rex had used to jog through. Huffing next to one another, Rex giving her advice that she didn’t ask for but usually right about everything.
“You okay?” Amber asked from the driver’s seat, looking at her in the rearview mirror.
“Yeah,” Diana said. “Have you talked to the Voss boss recently?”
She pushed the memories from her, not allowing herself to grieve right now. Her mourning had been pushed off for weeks and there was no use in starting it all now.
“No, actually…” Amber said, looking out ahead at Axtell, who was pacing on the sidewalk with the phone to her ear.
“You sure she still wants you following me around?”
“Oh yeah.” Amber nodded. “Absolutely.”
“Do you know why she’s so interested in me?”
With a hum, Amber thought, switching the car off so they weren’t idling. He scratched at his facial hair, still so perfectly manicured even after days of being in the northern boonies.
“I think it’s because she wants you to be what she couldn’t,” Amber said. “Do you know anything about her?”
“Not really.”
“Well…” Amber turned his body so he could look at her properly through the seats. “She used to be a field agent for the MI6, a good one. Like really good. She was awarded several times… I actually think she’s received damehood? But unsure on that. Zabójca was her prize, and she was bloody pissed when the Americans came in on it. She had been working Zabójca’s case for years and suddenly, Ratanake was all over him too. They did not get along. I think without chasing around Zabójca, she lost a bit of her drive… realizing that she didn’t have any power or control over her missions as an agent. So she got into office politics and worked her way up real fast. She’s got that control now, but I think the way she left the field had her feeling… How do I describe it? Unfulfilled, I guess.”
“So she’s getting her fulfillment through me? She wants me to kill Zabójca?”
“Oh. I’m sure she’d be chuffed to bits if you did. You’re the only American soldier she’s ever spoken highly of. But I’ll tell ya, she can be kinda mad. She’s got… boundary issues.”
“Boundary issues?”
Wrapped up in Voss’s story, neither of them noticed Axtell returning to the passenger’s side and opening the door. Amber tucked his top lip in and turned back to the wheel of the SUV.
“Ready?” Axtell asked.
“Are you?” Diana replied.
“Yes, ma’am,” she said.
They made the final trek back home, through the winding suburban roads back to the Weick’s three-bedroom bungalow. Going back meant Diana would have to deal with the emptiness that Wesley had left behind. And she couldn’t. She couldn’t do that now. The emotions were too heavy and too distracting from what she needed to do first.
“Who was that?” Amber asked innocently.
Axtell looked at him, her profile sharp with a sloped nose against the clear background of the windshield.
“VBA?” Diana asked.
Axtell moved her gaze over her shoulder and said, “Yes.”
“Congratulations?” The upturn in Diana’s statement forced a small smile across Axtell’s face.
“Thank you,” she replied.
When they got back to the house, Diana immediately went to the garage. The confirmation that the drone was here would mean two things. First, that Taras hadn’t been lying. And second, that Christina and Rob hadn’t been doing a very good job watching the house.
As the garage door began to open, Kennedy came running out of the front door. She crossed the lawn in socked feet and almost tackled Diana to the ground with the force of her hug.
“Mom!” Kennedy exclaimed.
“You were watching,” Diana said, laughing a little.
“Always,” Kennedy murmured into her chest.
The garage door clicked at the top.
“Your aunt and uncle here?” Diana asked.
Kennedy shook her head.
“Well, good to know that you’re keeping an eye out, sweetie,” Diana said, kissing Kennedy on the top of her head. Her light brown roots were growing back underneath the dark hair dye that she’d been given by that jackass Jeremy Messer. It felt so distant now, those moments without Kennedy when Kushkin had been the one true public enemy. But the maps in the garage of Wenatchee National Park reminded Diana that it really wasn’t that long ago, scouring the country for her daughter.
She
