Next Exit, No Outlet Read online

  Michael turned to face her. “I saw them. They weren’t interested in keeping a low profile.”

  Stephanie frowned in consternation.

  “I don’t understand. Why would someone follow you?”

  “Why would someone try to kill you?” Michael retorted.

  “I have no idea. That’s what Blake’s trying to find out.” Stephanie paused and looked around at the sudden silence in the room. After looking at Damon and Alina’s impassive faces, she gasped in sudden understanding. “You all know already! You know who’s trying to kill me!”

  Michael glanced behind him at Alina, then turned and carried his coffee out of the kitchen.

  “I’m not getting in the middle of this,” he said, heading back to his laptop at the dining room table.

  “Chicken,” Damon murmured as he passed.

  “Nope. Just know better than to get in the middle of two women.”

  “Lina?” Stephanie prompted, an edge to her voice. “Do you know who’s trying to kill me?”

  Alina pressed the button on the coffee machine and turned to face her. With one glance, Damon knew she was finished playing games.

  “Yes.”

  The word was said shortly and matter-of-factly, without an ounce of apology.

  Stephanie stared at her, storm clouds gathering on her face when nothing more was forthcoming.

  “That’s it?!” she exclaimed. “Just yes?”

  Alina’s expression never changed.

  “What more would you like?” she asked, her voice dangerously soft.

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe the name of the bastard?”

  Before Alina could answer, the door to the deck slid open and Buddy bounded inside ahead of his master. He stopped and shook himself vigorously, then galloped joyfully past the bar and into the kitchen. Rearing up on his back legs, the pit bull planted his front paws on Alina’s shoulders and tried to get her face with his tongue.

  “Buddy! Have some manners!” Blake exclaimed in exasperation. “She doesn’t want your tongue all over her face.”

  Alina rubbed Buddy’s neck and behind his ears, dodging his tongue, then dropped him back onto the floor.

  “It’s fine,” she said, turning to pull the mug from the coffee machine. She carried it over to the bar and set it in front of Damon. “Coffee?”

  “Sure,” Blake agreed, glancing at the two seated at the bar. “Thanks.”

  He took the last stool and Buddy padded over to sit on the floor next to him. Reaching down, Blake petted his head while his eyes went from Stephanie’s stony face to Alina’s emotionless one.

  “What’s going on?” he asked after a moment.

  “Alina was just going to tell me who the hell is trying to kill me,” Stephanie said tightly.

  Blake’s eyebrows soared into his forehead and he looked at Alina.

  “Come again?”

  “It seems we’re the only two in the room who don’t know. Considering I’m the one who’s been through hell the past two days, I think that’s pretty crappy.”

  “Ok, clearly I missed something. Let’s start at the beginning.”

  Alina turned to put another mug under the coffee spout, pressing the button to start it. Stephanie glowered at her back, then turned to look at Blake.

  “I don’t know much more than you do,” she said. “Michael was followed up from DC this morning. He lost them, but Alina knows who it was. Just like she apparently knows who’s trying to kill me.”

  Blake frowned and glanced at Damon’s impassive face.

  “I’m sure there’s more to it than that.” He turned to look at Michael. “Mike? If you knew something about the people following you, why didn’t you tell me?”

  Michael glanced up from his laptop.

  “I’m not sure we do know,” he said. “Until I have proof, I’m not saying one way or the other.”

  “Then how about you just tell me what you know?” Blake suggested, an edge to his voice.

  Michael shrugged and sat back in his chair, reaching for his coffee.

  “All I can tell you is that last night I was doing some research and came across some financial information. This morning I had a tail. Alina thinks the two are connected, but I’m willing to wait for proof of that before jumping to conclusions.”

  Blake turned his attention back to the blonde woman in the kitchen.

  “Why do you think these financials are connected to Mike getting followed out of DC?”

  Alina’s lips curved into a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “Let’s just say I was waiting for Michael to find something,” she replied, “and now he has. The rest is about what I was expecting.”

  “And you think this same person is the one trying to kill me?” Stephanie demanded. “I don’t even know what Michael’s working on! What do I have to do with anything?”

  “Apparently, you have a lot more to do with all of this than any of us knew,” Damon said in a low voice.

  Blake looked at him sharply. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Just what I said.”

  The coffee maker chose that moment to finish grinding beans, making the resulting silence seem much more ominous. Damon was completely unconcerned with the hard looks he was receiving from both Stephanie and Blake. He sipped his coffee calmly, his eyes watching Alina over the rim of the mug. She pulled the cup of fresh brewed coffee out of the machine and carried it over to set it before Blake.

  “Do you need milk or sugar?”

  He shook his head and reached for the mug.

  “I’m good, thanks. So what are we looking at, and why is Stephanie in the hot seat?”

  Alina went back to the cabinet to pull down one last mug, turning to place it under the coffee spout. She pressed the brew button and turned to face the others once again.

  “I’m sure there are a couple of different reasons,” she said. “However, I’d say the main ones are probably because: A, she was John’s partner; and B, they think she knows something she doesn’t.”

  Stephanie and Blake looked at her for a moment, then at each other.

  “What do they think I know?”

  “What does John have to do with it?”

  They both spoke at the same time.

  Michael sighed from the dining room and closed his laptop.

  “John knew something that was way above his pay grade,” he said, standing and carrying his coffee back over to the bar. He set it down and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the granite top next to Blake. “That’s what you’re referring to, right?”

  Alina met his gaze from across the kitchen. “Yes.”

  “Wait a minute,” Stephanie exclaimed, waving her hands. “Hold on. What do you mean, John knew something? I thought John was killed because of the Casa Reinos Cartel and the bombs being moved up the East coast?”

  “‘Oh, what a web we weave...’” Damon murmured under his breath.

  Alina shot him an exasperated look, her lips tightening ever so slightly.

  “That was simply a means to an end. They used the street racers as a decoy, and John played right into their hands. But this is much larger than Asad, and it goes way back to long before that terrorist attack.”

  The coffee finished brewing behind her, and she turned back to the coffee machine, pulling the mug out from under the spout. She sipped it appreciatively and moved over to lean against the kitchen island.

  “Why do you think John knew something that went above and beyond the cartel?” Blake asked.

  “Because he left something behind.”

  Stephanie and Blake frowned at her in consternation.

  “What?” Stephanie asked, sitting very still.

  Alina never took her eyes off Stephanie’s face. “You already know about it. He left an external hard drive in his safe deposit box.”

  Stephanie gasped, her eyes widening.

  “Oh my God! I completely forgot about that,” she exclaimed. “It was stolen out of m
y car.”

  “You found it?” Blake asked, watching Alina’s face.

  “Let’s just say someone arranged for me to find it.”

  “You have it?” Stephanie asked. “What’s on it?”

  “Something worth killing over, obviously,” Blake said, “and I’m guessing it’s something to do with those financials you found,” he added, glancing at Michael.

  He shrugged.

  “I wouldn’t have thought so,” he said. “At least, not if you’d asked me yesterday. After being followed all the way here, though, it’s seeming more and more plausible.”

  Stephanie ran her hand through her hair and shook her head before getting off her stool and hobbling into the kitchen.

  “The man in my apartment,” she said, heading for the refrigerator. “That’s what he was looking for?”

  “I think so.” Alina watched as she opened the door and pulled out a bottle of water. “When he didn’t find it, he copied your laptop in the hope that the information was there.”

  “Well, that explains one thing at least,” Stephanie muttered, opening the bottle and taking a long drink. “It still doesn’t explain why they decided to kill me two days later.”

  “You’re now a liability,” Damon said, and finished his coffee. “They can’t find the hard drive and, as far as they know, you were the last one to have it. That means you must know what’s on it.”

  “What is on it?” Blake asked.

  Damon and Michael looked at Alina and were silent. Stephanie followed their gaze and her eyes narrowed.

  “Lina?”

  Alina met Damon’s eyes and read the warning there. She was quiet for a moment, then she looked at Stephanie.

  “Why don’t you move into the living room and sit on the recliner?” she suggested.

  Stephanie frowned. “Why won’t you answer the question?”

  Alina shrugged, her lips curving faintly.

  “When I went through John’s laptop, I found a hidden, partitioned hard drive.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Damon lower his gaze into his empty coffee mug, his lips tightening. Ignoring him, she continued, “Turns out John wasn’t the technophobe everyone thought he was. He partitioned off information he didn’t want anyone to see.”

  “What was it?” Stephanie asked apprehensively.

  “Letters from Dave.”

  Whatever Stephanie had been expecting to hear, it clearly wasn’t that. Her mouth dropped open and she stared at Alina, flabbergasted.

  “Letters from Dave? Your Dave?”

  Alina nodded and calmly sipped her coffee.

  “He sent them before he died. It turns out his death wasn’t quite as straight-forward as it seemed.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The color drained out of Stephanie’s face and she leaned heavily against the kitchen island.

  “What do you mean?” she whispered. “How was his death not what it seemed?”

  Blake got up from his seat and came into the kitchen swiftly, taking hold of Stephanie’s arm.

  “You’d better come sit down before you fall down,” he said, leading her out of the kitchen and into the living room.

  Alina watched in some amusement.

  “I did try,” she said. She shifted her gaze to Michael and Damon. “I told her to go sit down.”

  Michael shook his head a reluctant grin pulling at his lips.

  “Maybe you should’ve led with the fact that she would need to sit down,” he said.

  Alina shrugged.

  “I thought that was implied,” she said, following Blake and Stephanie into the living room.

  Michael looked at Damon and Damon shrugged, as much as to say ‘women.’ Shaking his head again, Michael turned to go into the living room as Damon stood and picked up the stool, carrying it with him as he followed the others. Stephanie settled herself back in the recliner while Blake leaned on the mantle next to her. Michael dropped onto the couch as Alina settled herself in the opposite corner.

  “Okay. I’m sitting down now. Tell me what the hell you mean about Dave’s death,” Stephanie said.

  “Before he died, Dave sent John six emails from Iraq. Someone was selling weapons and ammunition to the insurgents, and Dave was trying to figure out what was going on. When he was killed, it wasn’t just a normal shot from an insurgent.”

  “You think he was killed because of what was going on?” Stephanie asked slowly, a puzzled frown on her face. “Why? Who would do that?”

  “Someone who had a lot to lose if they were caught.”

  “But he was shot by the enemy in hostile territory. Why would you think he wasn’t?”

  Alina sipped her coffee. “Because the shot that killed him was fired from over 500 meters away.”

  Blake whistled softly. “That’s not your average insurgent.”

  Alina glanced up at him with a faint nod.

  “No, it’s not. After reading Dave’s letters, it’s very clear what happened. He was able to gather some pretty damning evidence about the person or persons selling artillery to the enemy. In doing so, he managed to throw up quite a few red flags. In the last letter he sent, he said he met with someone who he thought could help him. He told him everything. The next day, he was killed with a shot that very few people can make.”

  Stephanie exhaled and leaned her head back, staring at the ceiling, stunned.

  “I can barely wrap my head around this,” she said. “My God, we all thought...well, I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

  Alina’s lips thinned into a line and the look on her face was decidedly unpleasant.

  “Oh, it matters.”

  “If these emails were on John’s laptop, what was on the hard drive?” Blake asked.

  “Dave sent attachments with the emails,” Alina explained. “The attachments weren’t on the laptop.”

  He nodded slowly.

  “John kept them separate,” he said. “Smart man. What was in them?”

  “Enough evidence to build a chain,” Alina said shortly, “a chain that Michael is adding links to.”

  Stephanie looked at Michael. “That’s why you were followed!”

  He shrugged. “That certainly seems to be the popular theory.”

  “And that’s why Stephanie’s become a target,” Blake said. “And you think this is all connected? Something that happened how many years ago?”

  “I don’t think, I know.”

  Alina drained her mug and leaned forward to set the mug on the coffee table. She glanced at Damon, sitting on a barstool a few feet away. His face looked as if it had been chiseled from rock and he was watching her steadily, the look in his eyes unfathomable.

  “And you didn’t tell me any of this?” Stephanie’s voice was sharp. “You should have told me all of this before now. Hell, I could’ve been ready for this!”

  Alina crooked one eyebrow. “Steph, you would never have been ready for this.”

  Stephanie looked at her, affronted.

  “How do you know? You don’t know that. You insist on keeping everything secret and trying to handle it all yourself, and you won’t trust anyone else.”

  “I didn’t keep it secret. I just didn’t tell you.”

  Michael winced and Blake lowered his head in pained resignation.

  “Obviously! Why not?!”

  “You don’t want to have this conversation right now.”

  Stephanie scowled.

  “Oh yes I do! I’ve known you since we were six, Alina Renee Maschik, and there has never been a day that I didn’t trust you. Why do you suddenly not trust me?”

  Damon crossed his arms over his chest and watched Alina’s face. She felt not only his eyes, but the eyes of everyone else in the room on her. Well, she’d tried to warn her, Alina thought dispassionately. If she wanted to have this discussion now, so be it.

  “Let’s start with the fact that you never told me John had a safe deposit box, or that there was a hard drive in it.”

  Stephanie waved her hand in the
air, brushing the comment away.

  “I forgot all about it,” she said. “John was dead and someone was trying to launch a massive Ebola attack on the East coast. I didn’t think it was a priority. If you had told me about Dave’s emails, I would have told you about the hard drive.”

  Alina’s lips tightened imperceptibly.

  “Then let’s discuss the tracking devices you put on both my cars,” she said, her voice even.

  Stephanie stared at her speechlessly, her eyes wide, and the color once again drained out of her face. Blake looked at her sharply and Michael sucked in his breath.

  “Did you just say tracking devices?” he demanded.

  Alina didn’t answer, her gaze steady on Stephanie’s face. Stephanie gulped.

  “I can explain,” she said, her voice strained.

  Alina raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I know you can.”

  Her voice was soft and deadly and Stephanie visibly shivered.

  “There’s no need to sound like that,” Blake said with a frown. “You’ve known her all your life. I’m sure she had a good reason for...what did she do, exactly?”

  Viper’s dark eyes flicked to his face briefly.

  “Remember those tracking devices the two of you used to follow Tito and Ricardo the day all the bombs were set to go off up the coast?”

  He nodded.

  “She got them from me. I loaned her the devices and the software to track them. They’re virtually unhackable and completely untraceable. She returned the favor by installing them on both my vehicles and monitoring my movements.”

  Blake glanced down at Stephanie. “Is that true?”

  “Well yes, but it’s not what it sounds like.”

  Michael stared across the room at her, his face darkening.

  “Really? Because it sounds suspiciously like you’re spying on your best friend,” he pointed out tightly, “and there’s only reason I can think of to do that.”

  Damon’s lips trembled and he shifted his gaze from Michael’s outraged face to Stephanie’s pale one. His amusement faded as he looked at the woman responsible for leaking Viper’s whereabouts to teams of assassins with orders to kill.