but once the light shone on your green eyes, I knew.” He grinned as he held the door for her to leave the bar and step out onto the sidewalk.
“We’ve met only once before. How did you remember I had green eyes?”
He shook his head. “They reminded me of the color of the live oak leaves on the trees back home in Texas, but that would be a lie. They are actually the color of the paint job on my Hummer, a kind of gray-olive color.”
CJ glanced left then right, not seeing their quarry immediately. “I’m not quite sure if that’s an insult or a compliment, and I really don’t care. Do you see him?”
Cole had been looking. “There. Looks like he’s headed for the metro.”
“Let’s catch him before he gets away.”
Cole had replaced his ball cap on his head. Taking her hand, he walked at a quick pace.
Though several inches shorter than Cole, CJ kept up with him and they made it to the station at the same time Chris Carpenter climbed aboard the train with the same woman who’d been sitting in the booth beside his.
COLE SPOTTED CHRIS and a woman stepping onto the train. He hurried CJ along and entered a different car before the doors shut and the train slid out of the station.
“Any idea who the woman is?” CJ asked beside him. Like him, she was staring through the windows separating their car from the next one.
Carpenter and the woman sat side by side, facing them. Cole didn’t recognize her, but based on her business suit, she probably worked somewhere on Capitol Hill or in one of the business offices nearby.
What her relationship with Carpenter was, Cole could only guess. They didn’t hold hands, touch or even talk to each other. But they sat together.
Cole glanced at the train map on the inside of the car. They were headed toward Arlington, Virginia. He noted that the train had several stops to make as it moved through the city toward the countryside.
Carpenter and his lady friend weren’t on for long. At the second stop, they got off.
Cole and CJ stood at the exit to their car until Carpenter passed. Once they were well past them, Cole and CJ left the train and followed Carpenter and the woman to a hotel.
“I guess that explains why he’s seeing a marriage counselor,” CJ said.
“I’d bet my last dollar that woman he was with wasn’t his wife,” Cole said.
“Is it worth hanging out to find out for sure?”
“You can if you want,” Cole said. “But I’m thinking it might be a good idea to plot our next move. With Carpenter being a creature of habit and going to the bar every day after work and getting a little frisky afterward, we might use that time to get into his home computer.”
“You think, like I do, that he’d keep any information of value on his computer at home?”
Cole shrugged. “It would be safer at home than in the West Wing. We just need to ascertain Mrs. Carpenter’s schedule and work around it.”
“Tomorrow night, maybe?” CJ confirmed. “That would give us time to figure out the best plan.”
“Tomorrow, as long as Mrs. C is also out of the house.”
CJ held out her hand to Cole. “We’re on for tomorrow night.”
“Partners?” Cole took her hand in his, an electric awareness zipping up his arm and spreading throughout his body.
Her eyes narrowed. “I like to work alone. But I guess it would be better to have someone looking out for me.”
“Then it’s a date.” Cole grinned.
“If breaking and entering someone’s home is what you consider a date,” CJ said, “then I guess it is.”
Cole grinned all the way back to the metro. When they got on the same train heading farther into Arlington, he leaned close to her and asked. “So that was you yesterday with the black hair, walking the white dog, wasn’t it?”
CJ’s chin lifted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Cole’s grin broadened. “Right.” He’d bet his favorite semiautomatic rifle that he was right.
Working with CJ would be a challenge. The first part of which would be getting her to trust him enough to stick around.
For a late-evening ride, the train was still crowded with people trying to get home from the city.
Aware of the fact Trinity wanted CJ dead, Cole kept a vigilant watch on the passengers, considering each and every one of them a potential Trinity agent.
A couple passengers, in particular, captured his attention. Every time he looked over at them, they were staring at CJ. Granted, in the little black dress and the blond wig, she was a knockout. But there was something else. A furtiveness about them. When they thought someone was watching them, they looked away quickly.
One was a young man wearing jeans and a brown leather jacket, his hands in the pockets.
Cole moved to place his body between the young man and CJ in case one of those pockets contained a handgun.
The other potential Trinity operative was a woman with long black hair and dark eyes. Tall, slim and athletic, she looked like she could take down a linebacker with a few well-placed side kicks to the knees.
“Is it getting warm in here to you?” CJ murmured in a low tone.
He understood what she was talking about. “Could be.”
The train rolled into a station three stops from the one closest to his town house. A few people got off, but not the two Cole had his eye on.
A second before the train doors were due to close, CJ slipped out.
Cole didn’t have time to react before the doors closed and the train jerked into motion.
The two people he’d been watching turned toward the platform as the train left the station.
Already, CJ had disappeared from sight.
Cole worried for her safety. Trinity agents didn’t give up easily. But then CJ had survived for a year on her own. She knew how to escape and evade.
Having been a part of a combat team, Cole knew a little about stealth and camouflage. CJ brought it to an entirely different level. He hoped that by teaming with her, he didn’t put her at more of a risk than she already was. If Trinity thought he could be an asset they could hold over her to force her out into the open, they wouldn’t hesitate to use him. With that in mind, he pulled the same stunt as CJ at the next stop. He waited until the last moment.
As the doors started to slide closed, he stepped out onto the platform. The doors closed with the two people he’d been watching staring at him through narrowed eyes.
Cole didn’t wait around for anyone else to catch up with him. He took off on foot and jogged the rest of the way to his town house, taking a twisting, turning route, checking behind him as he went to make certain no one was following. Not that it would make a big difference. If someone wanted to find him, they could. His whereabouts weren’t a secret like CJ’s.
When he arrived at his place, he entered, locked the door and checked all the other locks to ensure they were secure.
Once he was certain he was alone and fairly safe, he texted CJ. Make it back?
No response.
Cole waited for the next hour, giving her time to return. When she still didn’t respond, he called Declan and reported on the night. Declan promised to swing into action if needed but urged him to hang tight a while longer in case CJ came home.
He