He continued, “A year or so back, I’d caughtof whiff of a very power-hungry terrorist group in the market forgame-changing weapons. I couldn’t dig up much more than chatter,but I had a bad feeling, so I put everything else on the backburner. From the chatter, I found that a mercenary named PeterYoung had been in contact with the terrorists and had bartered adeal. Evidence was thin, and Young was not usually in the weaponsbusiness, but I went with my gut. I didn’t let Young out of mysight… even when I was supposed to be on a vacation.” He chuckled,lost in distant memories.
“Trusting my instincts paid off. Young hadgotten ahold of some truly awful biological weapons. I saw theaftermath of their demonstration; the memories of that day drivemost of my flashbacks. I uh… I won’t burden you with thespecifics.”
His respirations increased as he battled theimages threatening to take over his vision. Fighting the rememberedsmell that was just under the surface. Seeing his panic setting in,Payson put a hand on his cheek and gently traced her thumb acrosshis jaw. Softly, she reassured him, “It’s ok. Can you tell us therest?”
Swallowing the lump forming in his throat, hemanaged to continue. “To this day I don’t know why, but the dealwent sour; terrorists didn’t get their weapons. Worse, I don’t knowwhere the weapons came from to begin with or where they ended up.Young was just the middleman, but he went into hiding shortly afterthe demonstration. I managed to track him to London and arrestedhim.
“As soon as I returned to my flat that nightI was shot. Sniper was waiting in the building across the street.Presumably Connor Young, Peter’s brother. Three bullets, hours ofsurgery, and inpatient rehab. CIA faked my death and sent me home.Disabled. Retired. Call it what you like.”
Nicolas’ eyes drifted out the window,watching, waiting. Alain was in an equally dark place, reliving hisown memories.
Mirthlessly, Ronan laughed. “It’s crazy. Iwas so angry to be kicked out, but so grateful to leave. Cominghome, spending time with my family… falling for Payson, was thebest adventure I’ve had. I was so lonely, had isolated myself soseverely, and I hadn’t even realized how it was destroying me.”
Slowly, long shadows contrasted thebrightening fields as the sun rose in the sky and broke through theclouds. Scanning the rows of vineyards and outbuildings while hepaused, Ronan wished he could have told Payson all of this sooner.He hated putting her through all of this.
When he had dropped the L-word again lastnight, she had cringed. Desperate to see some sign of her feelings,he glanced her way, only to find she was lost in thought herself,staring at the impressionist painting that took up most of the farwall of the room. Her eyes were glassy, but she held her expressionotherwise neutral.
Nicolas pulled his attention back to themoment, “What pulled you back out into the field?”
He shook his head, jaw clenching. “More intohiding than into the field. Peter Young negotiated a deal tolighten his sentence. He pinned the blame on me for the missingweapons. Says I hid them to stop the deal. Consequently, now theCIA is looking for me, as is Connor, and the mole.”
“Mole?” Payson demanded. She turned abruptlyin her chair, worry flickering in her gaze.
“One of our own working both sides. I don’tknow who it is for sure, but I have a pretty good idea. Wesuspected there was a mole before I was shot; Peter Young hadobtained confidential information and my covers were blown. My realidentity, however, has been buried thick since the day I signed on.No way an outsider, or anyone without damn good security clearance,could have tracked me to Seaview. I realized I was being watchedwhen I found the latest model CIA bug in my house in Seaview. Notofficially sanctioned, or so I hear.”
Scowling, Payson didn’t look quite so distantand the glare didn’t seem to be at him this time. “I can see whyyou left so suddenly. An intruder, a bug, a mole, and an accusationagainst you.”
Thrilled with her understanding, Ronancouldn’t hide his relief. “Exactly. Even stopping to leave you anote was dangerous, but I couldn’t leave without at least tellingyou.” Her restlessness was increasing as she processed everythinghe had said.
Nicolas watched Ronan scanning the fields ashe had every few minutes since he’d awoken this morning, lookingfor something, someone. “Who is the mole working with on theoutside?”
Ronan shook his head, “I’m not positive howeverything connects just yet. The mole must be working with ConnorYoung. One of them killed another agent that helped me capturePeter. Killed around the same time I found the bug, actually.”
“I understand why you ran, why you couldn’ttell me anything before. I’m glad I know now… but you’ll be tracedback to me. You need to run. Go far away and hide.” Payson wasabout to flip her lid in panic. She stood from her chair and walkedup to the windows, studying the fields as he had. He was glad sheunderstood why he had left, but she needed to understand the dangershe was in.
“About that… After I left Seaview, my contactat CIA heard some rumors. She, uh, broke into your apartment andyour shop and found several bugs. You were followed.” He stood fromthe table and walked to her. “Looks to be Connor.”
She still looked away, her expressiondetermined, angry, plotting. “They were waiting for you to contactme. When I left, they assumed I was coming to you, weren’tthey?”
“Yes. I would have thought they were planningto use you to get to me, but they could have nabbed you anytime,”he replied plainly. “I don’t know what they’re waiting for.”
“They’re waiting for you to let somethingslip about the weapons. How could you be so stupid as to come here?Fall right into their trap?” She turned to him and put her hands onher hips. She may as well shake her finger at him, admonish himlike a foolish schoolboy.
His mouth turned up in that devilish halfsmile, loving her more with every passing moment. “I couldn’t riskthem grabbing you, holding you hostage, or harming you in any way.So, I got here as soon as I could.” He turned and looked to hishosts, deeply apologetic, “I cannot say how truly sorry I am tobring this danger into your lives.”
Alain shook his head, speaking more firmlythan he had so far, “You came to keep Payson safe, and we do notfear for ourselves. As you are here now, perhaps we can help.”
“I have no doubt Connor, or someone, iswatching us at this moment. As we’re all in this now, again, mysincerest apologies, perhaps we can use this to our advantage,”Ronan grinned, grateful things were finally coming together.
Payson glared at Ronan, “I don’t think youcan walk into an obvious trap, turn around, and hope to trap thetrapper.”
Smug, he was in full badass mode. “Ican.”
She rolled her eyes at him. He’d find outsoon if Payson still wanted him around after she got to witnessprofessional Ronan. After seeing he was nothing like the spies shewas fascinated by in the movies. And a bit different from Ronan thehandyman.
28
Payson was furious at his conceited plan. She had nodoubt he was as good as he claimed, but this was foolish. “What’syour plan? How are you going to turn this around?”
