He hesitated in the open doorway, that fierce gaze latching on to hers once more. “Do you have plans for tonight?”
His voice, more so than the words, made her heart do a little somersault. It was totally irrational. But the deep, soft tones played over her skin, making her shiver, teasing her auditory senses.
Regret lined her face. “I’m sorry. A friend asked me to cover for her on a walking tour at Lafayette tonight.” Sudden inspiration struck. “You’re new in town, maybe you’d like to come along. We meet at the cemetery gate at nine.”
“Sounds interesting,” he said noncommittally. “Perhaps I can make it.”
“I’ll look for you.”
Darby closed the door behind him and leaned against it. Very strange. Connecting with him so intensely left her feeling a little out of sorts.
She pushed off the door and banished the unsettling sensations that lingered. She had to figure out what kind of camouflage she would wear tonight. Mary Ellen, her neighbor at her apartment, had taken on an extra flight to Hawaii last weekend and had decided to stay the week. Darby had agreed, before all hell had broken loose, to cover tonight’s tour for her. With all that had happened, she’d completely forgotten that it was tonight. It was definitely too late to try to get someone else. She’d just have to figure out a way to prevent being recognized.
If she were really lucky, maybe her handsome new neighbor would show. She could definitely use some more of his attention to boost her waning self-confidence right now. He might be just the distraction she needed to put serial killers and psychic visions out of her mind.
All she wanted was a normal life back.
A good-looking guy was a perfectly normal distraction for an unattached woman her age.
It might as well be Aidan…the mystery man.
Chapter Five
Unspecified Location
“Sir, we have reason to believe there is a connection. According to my intelligence, Center has sent an Enforcer to New Orleans.”
Waylon Galen shook his head. “That’s impossible. She was eliminated. A failure.” Center’s only failure, but a failure nonetheless. He refused to believe that Marsh had misled him. Joseph Marsh had worked at Center, been involved at the deepest level. He would have known this. Hell, even Archer’s own files had indicated the elimination. This had to be a mistake.
“Sir,” the only human being Galen trusted at the moment continued, “I believe the situation merits further investigation.”
Galen had lost everything. His covert position within the Colombian government’s realm. His lab. His only reliable contacts within the U.S. government. And none of that was nearly so important as his connection to Center. Winslow had been his last contact with the work that was his.
He created the Enforcers!
Galen pushed to his feet, sending his chair banging against the credenza.
He was the one who started it all. And they took that away from him. Forced him out. Then left him to languish on his own. But he’d come back. Determination surged through him. He’d almost reached that pinnacle of mastery yet again. Only to be thwarted by the likes of O’Riley.
Now, just maybe, he had one last chance.
If Eve still existed, if the woman in New Orleans was really the seer he himself had created, he still had a foot in the door.
“I’ll need to look into this personally,” he said to his intelligence analyst.
“Sir, are you sure that’s a good idea? They’ll be on the lookout for you.” He shoved the thick glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It could be a trap. Perhaps they want us to believe it’s her so they can lure you there.”
Perhaps. That was a chance he’d simply have to take.
“Make the arrangements,” Galen ordered. “I’m leaving immediately.”
His analyst nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Oh, and Brewer.”
Tad Brewer, his confidant and senior analyst, hesitated at the door. “Sir?”
“I’m very impressed with your work. I won’t forget how reliable you’ve been.”
Brewer nodded and rushed off to do his superior’s bidding.
Galen laughed softly. O’Riley thought he had everything under control. He just didn’t know how far a desperate man could go. When he realized his miscalculation, it would be far too late.
New Orleans
City of the Dead
SOMEONE WAS following her.
She’d felt it all through the tour.
Had felt someone watching her too closely. Not like the tourists who’d paid for the opportunity to traipse through one of New Orleans’ most famous cemeteries.
This had been different and wholly focused on her.
Darby watched the last of the tourists disappear through the massive, yawning gates. One more tour was scheduled later tonight, and then the cemetery would be closed and locked up tight. Thankfully, she wasn’t the guide for that midnight tour.
Shivering she rubbed her arms. October was the second-largest tourist season in New Orleans. All month long, special “terrorizing” tours were offered. Costume parties went on at local bars and clubs every weekend, sometimes even on weeknights.
The distant sounds of laughter and jazz floated on the autumn night’s breeze. New Orleans never slept. There was always a party, always music, always people. Some streets never completely cleared.
Time to get out of here, she reminded herself as another shudder rippled through her. She wasn’t really afraid of her hometown in the dark. She’d grown up here, knew the streets that were safe and the ones to avoid. Her bicycle was parked on the grounds. She’d be home in no time.
The moon hung low and big tonight. Something else to be thankful for, she mused, as she moved through the cemetery toward the Shriner’s Tomb where she’d parked her bike. She’d played near that big old tomb as a child. Whenever she came here, that was always where she ended up.
A frown tugged the corners of her mouth downward as the fog seemed to thicken and swirl around her feet. Had Benny, the guy in charge of special effects, forgotten to turn off the machine that produced that eerie stuff whenever nature didn’t comply? She didn’t remember it being
