She told me we would meet again, and I believed her.As for whether our meeting would happen on this loop of the gyre or in the future, I had no clue.At this point, all I cared about was hoping that our current missions wouldn’t intersect.
“The job tomorrow,” Vaughn said, interrupting my thoughts.
“Right.When are the couple expected back?”
“Midafternoon.”
“The husband?”
“He’ll be with her.But knowing how you like to work, I can devise a situation where he is called away and leaves Nadine at home alone.”
“Do that.”
If I could help it, I didn’t like involving anyone connected to the target.No collateral damage.As for Nadine herself, every agent knew the rules.They voluntarily signed away their lives and pledged to abide by those rules.When someone from my sector arrived to confront them, they were well aware of their options.Thoughts of Volpe crossed my mind.As much as I would have liked to mete out justice to his sidekick madam, I had to let her walk away, at least for the moment.
“Let’s aim at 8:00 pm,” Vaughn suggested.“The husband should be out of the house by then.”
“What’s your distraction?”
“Seriously?”He shot me an annoyed look.“Look.You focus on your job.I’ll handle mine.”
“I’ll do that.”
“And maybe, between now and then, you can work on your managerial skills.As it stands, they’re not impressive.”
It was all I could do to hold myself back.I was tempted,sotempted, to give him a close-up look at my managerial skills...with a hard left to the middle of his snarling puss.
ChapterEighteen
Avalie
It feltawkward thinking ofthisXander as my grandfather, given that he was only seven years older than me at this moment in time.The grandparents that I knew so well were quite old.But their personalities were the same as this couple.
With Xander, I had the advantage of knowing both his past and future.He was recognized as a genius within the tech industry of the early 21stcentury, and I always thought that much of my aptitude in that field had to be genetically tied to him.But even in his old age, he had an innate sense of protectiveness.So it came as no surprise that he already had a backup plan in place—anda contingency plan for the backup plan—for the scenario we were facing now.
If there was a threat to Nadine, and the family had to vanish, no one would find them.Nobody.
I had told them of the imminent danger.Someone else had been sent to force her to go back.If she didn’t comply, the agent assassin would eliminate her.
Xander was ready.Staying at the Avenida Victoria house was impossible.They had access to enough cash that they could leave the country and live off the grid comfortably almost anywhere in the world.They had a house in Colorado and another in New York City.But escaping to a faraway place wouldn’t work, either.I had to remind them that security systems and bodyguards and distance wouldn’t end the threat, even though he had burner cell phones to replace the ones they had, new identification papers, and everything else they might need.
Assassins were trained to pursue.They were hunters, experts at locating their prey.
My strategy hinged on confronting Reed directly and putting an end to the chase.Otherwise, Nadine’s name would remain on the kill list, and one assassin or another would eventually catch up to her.
But we needed to be safe right now.
Xander had that covered.The safe house was a secure location in San Clemente, bought specifically and arranged for situations like the one we were currently facing.There was no link between that property and either Nadine or Xander.Even the car he bought for that location and kept in the garage was a low-mileage, 1978 Subaru wagon with no electronic instrumentation and no possibility of GPS tracking.
When the time was right, we slipped away.
The safe house—a two-story, four-bedroom structure perched on a hill in a neighborhood overlooking the north end of San Clemente—had a breathtaking vista of the Pacific.In the back of the house, an inground spa nestled in the privately fenced yard and faced the ocean.The impeccably landscaped surroundings ensured absolute privacy.It came as a surprise to learn that a property this beautiful had been sitting empty since its purchase at the end of last year.Xander was keeping the place ready for situations exactly like this one.
In a conversation my grandmother and I had in the future, she’d mentioned their time at the Avenida Victoria property but made no mention of this place.I learned now that Xander bought it as an investment as well as a secure place to escape to.Their other stays in San Clemente were in the other property.They’d never had to use this one.Until now.
The two knew my plan for tomorrow.Now, all we could do was wait.
The three of us sat on the patio and ate a light dinner, even though no one was too hungry.Layla was sleeping peacefully in a portable crib, positioned just inside the sliding screen door.Xander lit a fire in the fireplace pit, and we cozied up around it.The sun had already dipped behind Catalina Island, but its lingering rays continued to set the scattered clouds ablaze in the evening sky.
