Next Exit, Quarter Mile Page 19

  “If we're caught, Charlie will disown us. Personally, I'd prefer Harry’s acid tongue,” Viper muttered.

  It was just past midnight and she was in a pitch black, unlit stairwell, deep inside the FBI building in Center City while Hawk was camped out on the roof hacking into the security cameras.

  “If you get caught, I'll disavow any knowledge,” he promised her.

  Viper let out a short laugh.

  “You're just annoyed you didn't think of this first,” she replied, shifting her weight from one leg to another. “Am I clear yet?”

  “Not yet.”

  Viper pressed her lips together and glanced down into the dark void that ended in the basement. The stairwell was much like any other built in the last century. The steps ran the outside loop of the well, merging onto a small platform outside a door at each floor level, leaving the center a dead drop down. Viper was balanced on an iron railing, holding onto the wall with one hand for balance.

  “You realize I'm balancing five stories above the cement basement on a two-inch railing that’s seen better days?” she asked mildly.

  “You're the one who said this would be fun,” Hawk reminded her, a tremor in his voice.

  Viper glanced up at the floors above her, then down into that black void again.

  “I didn't anticipate my counterpart taking the better part of a year to hack into a couple of cameras.”

  “It's not quite as simple as all that,” he replied. “I'm almost there. Get ready to drop. You'll have about ten seconds to get to the bottom and into the hallway outside the lab before the cameras come back online.”

  “I only need eight,” Viper said, attaching a mechanized D ring to the railing she was standing on. “Don't make the outage any longer than we need. I don't want some over-zealous rent-a-cop coming to investigate.”

  “Will you please just let me do my job?” Hawk demanded, a laugh in his voice. “This isn't my first rodeo.”

  “Still waiting, cowboy,” Viper said after another minute of radio silence.

  “I'm starting to appreciate why we work alone.”

  Viper grinned in the darkness.

  “Then stop coming to visit me,” she retorted.

  “Stop getting involved in inter-agency debacles,” Hawk shot back.

  “I really can't be blamed for this one,” Viper said thoughtfully. “It's not my fault John got himself caught in the middle of a smuggling operation.”

  “Go,” Hawk interrupted.

  With one fluid motion, Viper launched herself off the relative safety of the railing and into the black void. The black repel line attached to the D ring pulled taut as she dropped and Viper reached up with her gloved left hand to hold the line as she fell. The heavy clip at her waist fed out line as she dropped through the darkness, hurtling toward the basement floor. Viper looked down as she dropped, waiting for the first sight of the ground so that she could brace herself for the landing. It emerged rapidly out the shadows and her boots hit the cement hard.

  “Oof.”

  Viper pressed a button on the side of the clip at her waist and there was a very faint click far above her. A second later, the line and D ring landed at her feet with a clank that echoed up the stairwell. She pressed another button and the line retracted, the D link hitting the clip.

  “Hallway's clear,” Hawk spoke in her ear. “You have twenty seconds.”

  Viper opened the door before her and stepped into the hallway that ran in front of the forensics lab. The corridor was lit dimly by the light of the exit sign above her, but it was enough to see the door to the lab and the electronic lock next to it. She went straight to the lock, pulling an oblong box from her cargo pocket as she went. She placed it over the lock and pressed a button, waiting. Ten seconds later, there was a click and she pushed open the door, stepping into the lab. The door closed silently behind her and another click told her the lock had armed itself again.

  “I'm in,” she said, tucking the box back into her pocket.

  “Copy,” Hawk replied. “I'll be your eyes.”

  Viper smiled faintly, glancing around the sprawling lab. The forensics floor was ruled by someone Stephanie and John called the Basement Gnome. She had never met the mysterious genius named Matt, but looking around his lab now, Viper could tell what kind of scientist he was. Computers and monitors lined one side of the large room, while mysterious-looking machines and big refrigerators lined the other. The space between contained two long tables that held just about every device used for testing known to man. Old-fashioned chemistry equipment jostled for space with state-of-the-art technology and, through it all, a kind of organized chaos reigned. Pursing her lips, she dismissed any of the equipment on the tables and went straight for the large machine on the left wall. She only had a few hours. She would leave it up to technology to tell her what she needed to know.

  Hawk stretched and glanced at his watch in the darkness. Viper had been in there for almost two hours now. Aside from a few cryptic mutters and one impatient exclamation, she maintained radio silence. He looked at the monitor of his laptop and watched in the upper quadrant as security wandered down a hallway and into the men’s room. Raising his eyes, Hawk leaned his head back against the massive air conditioning unit on the roof and took a deep breath. The sky was actually somewhat clear tonight and a few stars winked through the smog hanging over the city. A cold wind swirled around the roof, and he let it hit his face, willing it to perk him up. He was beginning to get stiff and tired. Hopefully Viper would find what she was looking for and finish up soon.

  Damon watched the stars absently, wondering again what he was doing here. It was a question he'd asked himself a few times since walking into that brothel in Amsterdam. Harry wanted him back here, but Hawk still had no clear idea why. Charlie hadn't made contact since he left Georgia to make his way through the Ukraine, following leads to a Chechnyan leader. Not for the first time, Hawk wondered if Charlie knew Harry contacted him, if Charlie even knew he was stateside. There had been a time when he would have been sure of it, but that had changed. If Charlie had a leak in the Organization, there was nothing Hawk could be sure of anymore.

  He scowled and lowered his eyes to the monitor, watching as Viper moved around the lab quickly, her movements sure and precise. How the hell had Charlie allowed her to become compromised? And what wasn't she telling him? Viper knew more about the person or persons who recognized her than she was telling, and Hawk admitted he was irritated by that fact. It didn't matter that their missions were classified, a part of him wanted to know everything there was to know about Viper, especially what happened over the past month to land her benched in New Jersey. While the rational side of him knew she was limited to what she could tell him for his own safety, the other part wondered why she still wouldn't trust him.

  “I'm done.”

  Viper's voice drew him from his tangled thoughts.

  Hawk realized she was looking straight at the camera. The equipment had been powered down and her jacket was zipped up, the results of the nights’ work tucked inside the small bag slung across her body.

  “Good hunting?” he asked.

  “I got what I needed,” she answered shortly.

  “Security just left the bathroom and is headed back to his desk,” Hawk told her, typing on the keyboard rapidly. “Hallway is clear. Working on the stairwell now.”

  He watched out of the corner of his eye as she slipped out of the lab and into the hallway. She moved to the door and waited in the shadows for him to give the all clear. Getting out was going to be decidedly trickier than getting in. Security would notice a lapse in the cameras more than ten seconds, and the motion sensors on the steps in the stairwell made over-riding the cameras a moot point. Even if he replaced the image on the cameras, the sensors would alert security to movement in the stairwell. There was only one way for her get out.

  “OK. Breaker box is on the wall just outside the door,” Hawk told her. “I'll give you 8 seconds to set the charge.”r />
  “Got it,” Viper answered, pulling something out of her bag.

  “Go.”

  Hawk watched as she opened the door to the stairwell and turned to the breaker boxes outside the door. She rapidly molded a small explosive around the tube running from one of the boxes and set a charge into the clay-like substance. The door was just closing behind her again when the cameras came back up. He watched as she pulled a detonator the size of a lipstick out of her bag and pressed it. His monitors went black.

  “You're a go,” he said, closing down his systems. “I'll see you back at the Jeep.”

  “Copy that,” Viper agreed breathlessly, already running up the stairwell in the darkness.

  They didn't speak until they were over the bridge and back in Jersey. Damon kept glancing at her as she drove, but her pensive frown made him hesitate to ask what she discovered from the shrapnel fragments. Viper would tell him when she was ready. He glanced at his watch as they came off the bridge. It was just coming on three in the morning.

  “Are you hungry?” he broke the silence.

  Viper started and glanced at him, dragged from her thoughts abruptly.

  “Hungry?” she asked vaguely.

  Hawk grinned.

  “Yes. Hungry.”

  “I hadn't thought about it,” she admitted. “Now that I do, I don't know when I last ate.”

  “Is anywhere open?” Damon asked, looking out the window at the darkness.

  “This is Jersey. Of course there is,” Alina retorted. “We're home to twenty-four hour diners.”

  “Should I be afraid?”

  Alina grinned and shook her head.

  “Your life is about to be changed,” she promised with a short laugh. “Trust me.”

  “Hm.”

  Damon fell silent again, the most pressing issue in his mind settled.

  “Do you still have any contacts you trust in the country of Georgia?” Viper asked suddenly a few minutes later.

  Hawk glanced at her, surprised.

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Would you be willing to ask them to take a trip for me? I'll pay them well.”

  “Possibly, if you tell me why,” Hawk said slowly.

  “I need some information,” she answered, pulling off the highway and into a diner parking lot in Cherry Hill. “From Turkey. The kind you can't get over the internet or a phone.”

  She pulled the Jeep into a spot near the door of the diner and shut off the engine. Viper glanced at Hawk to find him studying her silently.

  “What kind of information?” he finally asked.

  They stared at each other in silence for another moment before she reached for the door handle.

  “We'll talk inside.”

  Hawk got out of the Jeep thoughtfully. It wasn't like Viper to ask for help, and it most certainly was out of character for her to ask to utilize a contact not her own. He followed her up the steps to the diner and reached around her to open the door.

  Even at close to three in the morning, the restaurant wasn't deserted. A heavyset man sat at the counter, a half-eaten hamburger and pile of fries before him. An older woman wearing a gray waitress uniform was setting down a glass filled with ice and soda in front of him, laughing at something he said. A line of booths ran along the front of the building, one at each window. Halfway down, a party of four twenty-somethings were feasting on pancakes, eggs and hash-browns as they laughed and talked a little too loudly. Hawk recognized the slightly slower movements and louder tones for what they were, results of too much alcohol. Two booths along from them was a couple, nursing cups of coffee and sharing a big plate of cheese fries, their heads together as they laughed softly and existed together in their own world of happiness.

  “Seat yourselves, folks,” the waitress behind the counter called to them. “I'll be over in a few minutes.”

  “Thanks,” Alina responded, heading down the aisle past the booths.

  The late night partiers glanced up as they passed their booth, then promptly turned their attention back to themselves and their teasing conversation. The couple didn't even look up as they passed their table, completely engrossed in each other. Viper led Hawk to a booth in the back corner, partially hidden from the front door of the diner and near the back entrance to the restrooms. She slid into the booth, her back to the wall, facing the diner. Hawk's lips twitched and he reluctantly took the seat the across from her.

  “You always get the good seat,” he murmured.

  “I got here first,” she retorted with the flash of a grin. “You're not missing much. Drunk twenty-somethings refueling after closing the bar and a couple that's been dating maybe a month. Not much to see.”

  “Lucky for me, there's a mirror behind you,” Damon said. “Otherwise, I might not be able to stand the suspense.”

  Alina laughed shortly and looked past his shoulder at the waitress approaching with two large menus under her arm and two glasses of water in her hands.

  “How're you two doing?” she greeted them, setting down the water and handing them the menus. “What can I get you to drink?”

  “Coffee,” Damon and Alina spoke in unison and the waitress laughed.

  “Copy that,” she said. “My names Donna. Take all the time you need over the menus and I'll be right back with your coffee.”

  She left and Alina met Damon's eyes across the table, smiling despite herself. Damon winked and flipped open the menu.

  “So, is there anything I should avoid?” he asked, scanning the inside of the cover.

  “Unless you're feeling adventurous, I'd steer clear of the scrapple,” Alina answered, opening her own menu. “While it's a local favorite, you don't want to know what's in it. Pork roll is always a safe bet, and the Monte Cristo here is legit.”

  “Pork roll?”

  “Mmm.” Alina didn't even look up. “It's not what it sounds like. It's like a salty, thick-cut pressed ham, only much, much better.”

  “Well, when you put it that way...” Damon said doubtfully, flipping to the next page. “They have everything, don't they?”

  “Yep.” Alina snapped her menu closed and set it down. “And your eggs will come with your cancer in a loaf.”

  Damon grinned, still looking over the menu.

  “I haven't had bad blood work since before I joined the Navy,” he informed her. “It's all a myth.”

  “Hm.” Alina grunted. “Come see me in twenty years and we'll see how you are.”

  Donna came around the corner then, carrying a tray with a tall silver pot of coffee and two thick ceramic mugs in saucers.

  “I brought you a pot,” she said, setting it on the table. “You both look like you need it.”

  She set the cups down in front of them and Damon smiled at her.

  “Donna, you're an angel,” he told her.

  “I try,” Donna answered with an answering grin. “You ready to order? Or do you need a few?”

  “Ladies first,” Damon said, looking at Alina.

  “I'll have the garden vegetable omelet with a side of turkey bacon instead of the hash browns,” Alina said.

  “White, Rye or whole wheat toast?” Donna asked, writing on her pad.

  “Whole wheat,” Alina answered.

  “And for you?” Donna finished writing and turned to Damon.

  “I was told the Monte Cristo was the way to go,” he said with a grin.

  “You were told right,” Donna approved, tucking her pad away. “It's one of my favorites.”

  She gathered up the menus and headed back towards the front. Alina watched her go, then turned her gaze to Damon. He was watching her, his blue eyes inscrutable.

  “What did you find out at the lab?” he asked.

  Alina reached for the coffee pot and poured black coffee into her cup. She handed the pot over to him and took the creamers off the saucer, pushing them to the side.

  “Nothing good,” she said, watching as his filled his cup.

  Hawk finished pouring his coffee and set the pot d
own, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he looked up.

  “Did you expect it to be?” he asked, his eyebrows raised slightly. “They were shrapnel bomb fragments. They're never good.”

  “There's no way Tito made that bomb,” Alina said, lifting her cup and sipping the coffee. It burned a path of hot caffeine down her throat and she took another sip before setting the cup down in the saucer. “He may have planted it, and detonated it, but he didn't make it.”

  “You recognized the bomb signature?” Damon asked incredulously, his voice low.

  “Yes.” Alina's glance flicked to the front of the diner at a sudden burst of laughter from the front booth. She returned her dark gaze to Damon's when the noise subsided. “I've been studying it a lot lately.”

  Damon drank his coffee, watching her over the rim of his cup. Finally, he set the mug down decisively.

  “You're going to have to tell me more than that,” he told her.

  Viper toyed with her coffee cup, never taking her gaze off his face as she turned thought after thought over in her head rapidly. They never discussed their assignments with anyone except Charlie. They were classified and need-to-know. She had never broken that cardinal rule, and was positive neither had Hawk. Yet, he had a right to know what she discovered. If she didn't tell him, his safety and ability to react would be impaired from lack of situational awareness. However, if she did tell him, Charlie could have them both terminated.

  “OK.” Hawk finished his coffee and reached for the pot again. “Let's try it this way. I'll tell you what I've pieced together so far and you make a noise if I go wrong.”

  Viper's lips twitched despite herself.

  “What kind of noise?” she asked.

  “I don't care,” Hawk retorted, setting the coffee pot down. “Quack like a duck.”

  Viper made a choking noise in her throat and picked up her coffee.

  “Duck,” she murmured. “Got it.”

  “You were sent to Syria to terminate Hassim Al-Jibad a few weeks ago,” Damon said in a low voice. “You were en route somewhere else when you were redirected. That means you didn't have much time to do your surveillance and homework. So, you did it there.” He glanced up to find Viper's mask in place and her eyes dark and unreadable. “All games of cat and mouse aside, you had ample time to examine materials on him. His network was credited with quite a few bombings over the past two years, one of which took out England's Prime Minister's body double last year during an official visit to the Ukraine. The real Prime Minister was three blocks away, behind the advance team.”