seem older can be a good thing.” He hadn’t crossed thirty-five yet, but he couldn’t deny he felt his aging accelerate over the past few years of high stress.
A knock at the door prompted Audrey’s wide eyes. Lee rushed forward into her room and peeked through the hole to see a bellhop with rolling luggage. He exhaled. “I think your missing luggage is here.”
He stepped aside for Audrey to retrieve it. She closed the door and beamed. “Oh, I’m so glad. I worried it’d arrive after we left.”
“You won’t be able to take it with us. I’ll have to leave it in a bus station locker along with the FBI badges and anything identifying you as Audrey Clark. You don’t have any medication or anything, do you?”
She blushed. “No, nothing like that. It’s just I would prefer my own clothes for some of the time.”
“Of course. Just nothing with your name on it.” He tried not to laugh as he turned back to his own room to get ready. To be fair, he wouldn’t want to wear his brother’s clothes all the time, either.
Fourteen minutes and thirty seconds later he grabbed his gear. Today was the day he’d fulfill the reason he became an FBI agent in the first place. Energy coursed through his veins at the thought of taking down the Network. He strode with Audrey through the hallway.
“What if the gunman from last night was wanting to lure us out? Watching and waiting for us to get into the van?”
Thankfully, he’d already taken precautions before the gunman entered the picture. They stepped into the elevator as he pressed the button for the lobby. “Then we’ll be one step ahead of him. While you were getting your blood drawn at the hospital, I arranged for a rental car to be delivered at the hotel this morning. We should have a silver Lexus waiting underneath the portico. Mr. and Mrs. Kimmet would never be caught dead arriving in a van.”
“See? That’s exactly why I said I wouldn’t do this unless you shared all the details.”
Lee tried to keep his frustration from showing. “I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you. When have we had any time to discuss anything?” He wasn’t used to sharing details, even with Kendra. They may have been partners, but in many ways they did their own thing, like two coworkers with their own priorities on a project.
“I understand that, but I’d like to be let in on the plan from here on out so I don’t feel like I’m playing the part of a poor, helpless spy.”
“Again, special agent, not spy.” Lee doubted anyone would categorize Audrey as helpless. He caught his reflection in the elevator doors and immediately remedied his grin.
“Will your operation involve any secret collecting, any gathering of information covertly?”
In other words, she wanted to know if there would be any spying. She had him there, but he wasn’t about to admit it. “I’ll tell you everything, as promised, in the car. I’m afraid we have a long journey ahead so breakfast will be drive-through.”
“Any word on Kendra?” She asked so softly he almost didn’t hear her.
His back tensed. “I’m afraid not.” Her head dipped and he reached out to give her arm a squeeze. “She’s a fighter. She’s going to come through.”
Audrey squared her shoulders and looked forward. “Of course.”
It was the first time he questioned whether she meant what she’d said. “They did identify the shooter Kendra took out. As suspected, it was the missing man due for initiation. We’re still waiting on your DNA test, but your blood type is the same. So we’re headed for the meet as planned.”
Audrey bit her lip and nodded, her eyes taking on a glossy sheen. “Wow. Okay.”
The car sat waiting just as he’d expected. The officer stationed at the front entrance took a step forward, keeping watch, as Lee hustled Audrey to the passenger side of the vehicle.
A man in a navy ski mask rounded the corner, pointing a gun straight at Audrey.
Audrey jumped, arms flailing upward as a scream escaped. In her peripheral, the cop dropped to a modified lunge, weapon pointed. A shot sounded. She tensed as Lee yanked open the passenger door with his right hand and gently pushed her so she dropped below the line of the window. He yelled, but Audrey wasn’t sure what he’d said.
The smell of leather conditioning and car wax assaulted her senses as she came nose to nose with the electronic seat lever. She clenched her jaw, trying to control the involuntary quaking of her limbs. Shouts and shuffling feet approached, but Audrey didn’t dare look up. She closed her eyes, praying for the second time in twenty-four hours.
A professor once told her she was too verbose and yet the only word that could come to mind was help. And finally, Keep Lee safe...and heal Kendra. She exhaled and breathed deeply, counting to five. Her knees pressed into the concrete, guaranteeing that the white linen pants wouldn’t pass muster at a resort later.
“Audrey.” Lee said her name so softly she almost didn’t hear him. “Audrey,” he said again.
She looked up, not allowing herself the luxury of enjoying the way he said her name, drawing out the last syllable just a split second longer than most. Lee reached his hand out and helped her to a standing position.
He glanced at her hand before a quick once-over from head to toe. “Let’s get you inside for a minute. Are you okay? No injuries?”
“I’m fine.” Although, not really. Her heart pounded so fast and furiously that she still had to think through her breaths. Inhale for two seconds now, breathe out for two seconds. Hopefully, it would come naturally again, soon. “Did they catch him? Did the bullet hit someone?”
Lee led her inside the lobby. “The police took over. I’m sure they’ll catch him.”
An officer approached. Lee led Audrey to a nearby chair next to the complimentary coffee carafe. “Can you wait here a second while I talk to them?”
“Of course.”
Lee and the officer stepped just far enough away that Audrey couldn’t hear them. The deep breaths began to irritate her throat.
“Do you want a water?” A woman in her late twenties, with long dark hair, approached. She held out the bottle, glistening with condensation.
Audrey nodded and accepted, eagerly taking off the cap and gulping a few swallows. The cold soothed her throat. Lee returned, the cop at his elbow.
“Let’s try this again. Shall we?” Lee reached for her hand, and Audrey let him lead her outside, this time with the cop directly on her left as Lee took the right. Once inside the car, with the door closed and the seat belt on, she breathed a sigh of relief. Although, she didn’t know why. Last night shots were fired near her. Today shots were fired at her. Who was to say tomorrow wouldn’t bring the same thing on the fact-finding mission they were about to do? What made her think she could ever take her sister’s place?
Lee sat in the driver’s seat and shook his head. “What a morning.” He glanced at her. “Sure you’re okay?”
“No.”
He blinked and hesitated.
She exhaled, her heart rate finally slowing slightly. “Was that man trying to kill me? Is he related to those shooters last night?”
Lee’s eyes softened. “I have confirmation there was only one shooter last night on the campus, and Kendra really did take him out, despite having been shot herself. As far as today’s shooter, I don’t have all the facts. What I do know is the guy was nervous in a way I wouldn’t expect for a hitman.”
“Why?”
The