“I can leave the country and join you guys in Colombia. If they’re hunting me, they won’t be able to find me there.”
“You’re talking about hiding.” Luke made a huffing sound. “We both know you won’t do that. You’re going to go after her.”
“I’m going to track her. Whatever she’s involved in is big. Bigger than she can handle. She’s in way over her head.”
“You want to help this woman?”
“No. I don’t want anything to do with this shit. But I need to know. Fuck.” He scrubbed a hand over his head, on edge and needing sleep. “I need to know who she is and what she’s trying to achieve.”
He would stay in the shadows and remain unseen. No contact with her. No exceptions. Whoever she betrayed today wasn’t going to let her live. That hard drive held something valuable. Valuable enough to orchestrate an elaborate plan that involved a fifteen-man team, a Russian swallow, and the capture of a retired operative from the activity.
A shit storm was brewing. He felt it in his bones.
“How can we help?” Luke asked.
“I need to follow her every movement without being seen by her or whoever might be hunting her.”
“You need Romero.”
“Yep.”
Romero was the computer whiz kid who had been instrumental in helping Luke and Vera escape La Rocha Cartel earlier this year. The kid had designed and maintained the proprietary technology that secured the cartel compound, but his range of tech skills went far beyond that.
“I’m heading through the halls to look for him now.” Luke’s breathing picked up, confirming he was on the move. “He can hack into security systems and run facial recognition software on the camera footage, but he’ll need information. Names, aliases, physical descriptions, whatever you have.”
“I can give him hair color, eye color, height, weight, a detailed description of every tattoo on her body, what she was wearing when she left the desert, how she dresses, which direction she headed, and so on.”
“Okay, cool. I’ll call you back in a bit. In the meantime, you need to get out of that house.”
“On it.”
It took him ten minutes to pack all the clothes, weapons, tech gear, and travel documents he would need for an extended mission. More time was doled to showering and shaving off his beard, as well as all the hair on his head. He grabbed Danni’s engagement ring and secured the chain around his neck. Then he devoured a can of chili.
When Luke called back, he put Romero on the phone, and Cole gave the kid every detail he had on Lydia and Mike. It was probably more information than Romero would need. The tattoos alone would make Lydia stand out like a beacon.
“Give me a few hours,” Romero said. “Should I contact you at this number?”
“Yeah, it’s a secure phone. Thanks, Romero.”
“You bet.”
Six hours later, Cole was sitting on a bench outside Dallas Fort Worth International Airport when his phone buzzed.
Concealed behind sunglasses and the bill of a baseball hat, he lifted the device to his ear. “What do you have for me?”
“Two hours ago,” Romero said, “a woman and man matching your description bought airline tickets at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. They’re traveling under the names Lydia and Micheál Johnson.”
His pulse kicked up. “Excellent work, kid.”
He’d gone to the airport in Dallas on a hunch that they would fly somewhere. But he didn’t need to be in the same airport to follow them to their destination.
“Their flight leaves in three hours,” Romero said. “Headed to London. You want the flight info?”
“Nah. I just need to know where they go after they land. Can you track them overseas?”
“Now that I have the names they’re using and digital images of their faces, I can track them anywhere.”
“They probably travel under multiple aliases.”
“I won’t lose them,” Romero said with excitement in his voice.
“I know you won’t.” He stood and grabbed his bag. “I’ll call you when I land.”
“I’ll be here.”
As he strode into the airport to buy a ticket to London, a voice in the back of his head told him to forget this quest. He had no stakes in it. Nothing to offset the risks he would be taking.
Except the woman.
In seven years, no one had come close to capturing his interest. He was officially, certifiably enthralled, and until he understood why, he wasn’t walking away from this.
Rome, Italy
Six months later
Lydia’s hand grew hot and sticky in Mike’s unbending grip as he led her through the exclusive nightclub. Prolonged exhaustion and stress lived in her bones, the weeks blurring into months until she’d lost track of where she was and how much time she had left.
But she didn’t lose track of faces. She memorized every detail of every person she passed, knowing any one of them could be connected to her.
Her shoulder blades twitched, her spine tingling with the feeling of exposure. Not just from the backless dress, but from the constant sensation of being watched.