A Deadly Business. Desiree Holt
Читать онлайн книгу.
just some questions I had.”
She had a weird feeling Avery’s call had to do with her. The same impression that she’d had during her last meeting with Craig Joffrey. She sipped at her cooling drink while she tried to keep herself together. When Avery opened the door and beckoned her back into the office, she had a hard time not yelling for Avery to tell her what it was all about this second. When Avery asked Justin to join them, Marissa knew there was trouble.
“First of all, Marissa,” Avery began when they were seated, “I need your permission to fill Justin in on your background.”
Marissa clutched the arms of the chair. She was right. Maes had found her. Otherwise why involve Justin? Why tell him her secrets?
“Is it— Do you—”
“Justin knows you. Plus, he would never give up secrets even under torture. And we’re going to need him.”
She swallowed hard, then nodded. “Yes. All right. If you think it’s necessary.”
“It’s necessary.”
“Then go ahead.”
Marissa sat there, tense, hands fisted in her lap, while Avery filled Justin in on her CIA stint, the way it had ended, and the fact that Maes had put a price on her head. Justin absorbed it all and when Avery finished he turned to her, his lips curved in a warm, reassuring smile.
“Whatever this is,” he told her, “I’ve got your back. We’ll keep you safe.”
“Thank you.” She looked at Avery. “Okay, let’s have it. What was that call about?”
Avery leaned forward. “That was Brian Gould. Talk about a coincidence of timing.”
Cold dread landed in Marissa’s stomach like a lead fist. She hated that her instincts had been right.
“It’s bad, right?”
“I won’t lie to you. It’s not good. Brian said ever since Stefan Maes learned you were the one who blew the whistle on him, he’s had people poking into every corner of the world, looking for you. He’s as sneaky as the CIA. Brian assured me they’ve been keeping an eye on Maes, knowing he has a vendetta against you. This is the first time, however, they’ve heard one of his people actually sighted you. This couple must have called Maes as soon as they left the gallery.”
“So, I was right about them.” Cold dread knotted itself in Marissa’s stomach. This was no time to fall apart. Besides, she was better than that. Now she needed her training to kick in.
“Yes, you were. The people they were lunching with had to be part of a team in the area in order for them all to connect so quickly.”
She did her best to swallow back the sick feeling gripping her. “But how did they know to come here?”
“Sometimes it just happens by accident,” Justin told her. “No matter how careful you are. Someone who knew you as Lauren might have come through here and spotted you. You’ve probably changed your appearance a lot, but it’s not impossible. It could be any number of things. Bad luck is a constant companion in this business.”
“Adrian McCormack could have spotted you, too,” Avery pointed out. “Brian and I thought this would be a great place for you to create a new life, because Vigilance is here, and we can protect you, and Sheri does a great job as police chief. The down side is so many people come through here on their boats it’s not as controlled as we’d like.”
“Please tell me exactly what Brian said.” Marissa was doing her best not to panic. That never helped the situation.
“Word is out now that Stefan Maes is gathering a crew again.” Avery shook her head. “He’s been doing it so far under the radar that none of Brian’s sources got a sniff of it. He learned about that in the same phone call that said you’d been made. He called me right away.”
“Maes has enough connections he could put an army together if he works it right.” Marissa twisted her hands together to still the sudden tremors. Her trail had been wiped clean. The CIA had wiped her identity from every electronic file. Nothing to do with her current existence was written anywhere and Brian Gould was the only person who knew where she was, or so he’d assured her. But three years in the game had taught her nothing was absolute.
The one thing she couldn’t control was chance.
Someone with a sharp eye could see through her current appearance, if they were looking for her. Or maybe Maes had gone to the trouble of having her photo manipulated so, despite any changes, people could spot her.
Just then the message app on Avery’s tablet pinged. She read the screen and frowned.
Marissa swallowed back the anxiety that surged. “What?”
“Well, your instincts are still as sharp as ever, and it goes along with what I just heard. There’s no record of these people except for credit cards with a post office box for mail. No real estate, no voting records, no navigation information, nothing.”
“Color me surprised.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice. “I knew when Adrian McCormack blew the whistle on me I’d have a target on my back for life. Maes is not the type of person to forget. You can bet tracking me down has been high on his list.”
“I’m well aware of that.” Avery frowned. “Let me think a minute. The first thing we have to do is get you out of his line of sight.”
Yes, please. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought that Maes had tracked her here. Killing her would be the most merciful thing he could do if he got his hands on her.
“Maes has had two years to stew over his situation and nurture his hatred for me,” Marissa pointed out. “I still don’t know why he’s not in prison.”
“Because he has a team of very expensive, very good attorneys,” Avery reminded her. “They have been making the case that everything was done by people who worked for him and that he had no knowledge of any of it. And truly, I think the CIA was just as happy to put him out of business rather than go through a very long, very expensive trial.”
“Poor man.” Marissa snorted. “He’s had to live off his legitimate enterprises, which aren’t quite as lucrative.”
“He’s also had all this time to plot and plan. I’m sure, knowing about him and knowing his type, he’s working on some method to fill those coffers again.”
“You can bet the farm on that.” Marissa shook her head. “I have this weird feeling that he’s cooking up some disaster.” She stopped breathing for a moment. “I thought he was pretty much neutralized.”
“‘Pretty much’ being the operative words,” Avery pointed out. “He’s persona non grata in several countries and of course he lost billions when the CIA froze his accounts. It seems none of those banks want to do business with him anymore, even for legitimate reasons. He must be a nasty piece of work. He even had to pull his legitimate accounts from Switzerland and they’ll take just about anyone.”
“Those accounts are just a drop in the bucket compared to what he made from his illegal activities.” She locked her fingers together in her lap. “So where is he getting money to replace what he’s lost? He can’t exactly fund his revenge from his legal accounts.”
Avery nodded. “According to Brian, he’s been pulling strings wherever he can, tapping every crooked, evil source to line up some cash. Word is he thinks he can mount some kind of operation to reclaim what he says was stolen from him.”
Marissa swallowed back the nausea creeping up in her throat.
“He can do it, too,” she told Avery. “He’s got all those unstable third world governments beholden to him. If he can gather his core team of monsters he has a good shot. Except…”
“Except what?”
“Except,