In Sheep's Clothing (17 page)

Noah was nodding as he looked into her eyes. “So, you’re saying that’s what he wants to do to me, take away everything that’s important to me.”

“Yep. You thought he was planning to kidnap me to use as bait, the way he used Sarah the last time, but that wouldn’t make sense. If he really got your files, he knows that you won’t be tricked into sacrificing yourself over some emotional attachment to your old friend Molly. That wouldn’t work, and he’d know it. What did work, though, is that he made you think that’s what he wants so that you’ll turn those tables again, and it worked: you didn’t come here to protect me as much as to use me to help you get to him.”

“That isn’t fair,” Sarah said suddenly. “As soon as I pointed out that Nicolaich was more likely to come after you than anybody else, Noah was all about getting here to make sure you were safe, even had surveillance put on you until we could arrive.”

Molly turned to face her. “Oh, my God, you’re in love with him,” she said. “Look, Sarah, I’m not pissed at him for wanting to use me as bait, but you need to understand that I know how he works. I psychoanalyzed him when we were kids, I’m the one who taught him to mimic the way other people act so that he wouldn’t end up in an institution somewhere. I’m not saying there isn’t some part of him that’s willing to do what it takes to keep me alive, but I know him. His mission—whether it’s a government mission or one that he sets for himself—is always going to be more important to him than I am, and right now, that mission is to kill Nicolaich Andropov. If I happen to be in the way, if Nicolaich threatened to kill me if Noah didn’t back down or surrender, Noah would simply consider my death to be collateral damage to the mission. You might as well wrap your head around that, because the same would be true for each of you. If he’s put in the position of having to choose between saving you or accomplishing his mission, the mission is going to win. He might feel some kind of regret that he lost you, but that Vulcan brain of his is hardwired to do whatever has to be done.”

“They know that,” Noah said. “You’re absolutely right, my original plan was to simply tail you until Nicolaich made his move, then try to take the bastard out. I would have done what I could to keep you out of the line of fire, for whatever that’s worth.”

“Of course you would've, because that would be logical. Avoid collateral damage if possible, right? Noah, I understand. The thing is, I get paid a ridiculously high salary because some of my professors figured out that I have an extremely analytical mind. I seem to have developed the ability to combine lots of random bits of information and come up with a pretty good prediction of what’s going to happen. Looking back, I probably owe a lot of that to you. Trying to keep you out of trouble meant always being one step ahead of everybody else. I had to watch everything so that I could predict where the next problem would come from.”

Noah nodded. “I remember,” he said. “You kept everybody else from figuring out what a mess I really was.”

Molly made a sad smile and looked at Sarah. “See what I mean? He acknowledged what I said, but it never even occurred to him to feel any gratitude. He just doesn’t have that part of the normal human programming.” She turned back to Noah. “The thing is, when I apply that analytical mind of mine to the things you’ve told me, I get a picture of what is likely to happen. You showed up here, just like Nicolaich thought you would. His people have reported back to him that you have arrived, so he’ll be looking at putting his next phase into operation. The first thing he’ll want to do is make sure you understand that he isn’t playing any games, this time.”

Noah cocked his head to the side and looked at her. “Then he’s going to try to kill you. You weren’t in any actual danger until I got here, but now that I am, he’ll try to kill you as a way of sending me that message.”

“No doubt about it,” Molly said. “He’s probably already got it in motion, and it’s not likely I’ll be able to spot it in time to duck.”

Noah looked at her for a moment. “I’ve got four DEA agents on loan, so I’m going to put them on you as personal security, two at a time.” He took out his phone and called two of the agents immediately, telling them to come directly to the Dexter Reedy office building. “First shift will be a man and a woman, Bill Lassiter and Carmen Sanchez. Both of them will be armed and Ms. Sanchez will be staying with you even if you go to the bathroom. Combined with your own security, they should be able to keep you alive. We’ll be taking another tack on this, to see if we can get to Nicolaich before he gets to you.”

Molly grinned. “Well, I certainly hope you can,” she said. “You owe me, Noah, for all the crap I had to put up with when we were kids. You keep this guy from killing me and I’ll be happy to call it even.” She turned her eyes to Sarah. “As for you, I don’t know whether to cheer you on or warn you off. Knowing Noah and his habit of being ridiculously honest, I’m sure you’re fully aware that I was the first girlfriend he ever had, so I know exactly what you go through.”

Sarah looked startled. “He told me, but the way he said it was that it wasn’t a real relationship, just a way to keep people from wondering about the two of you.”

Still grinning, Molly said, “Of course that’s what he told you, because that’s what I told him at the time. We were in our early teens, if I had told him that I was in love with him he would’ve wanted me to explain those feelings, and I didn’t have a clue how to do that. It was easier just to tell him it was all a pretense. I got what I wanted, which was him doing everything he could to act like my boyfriend, and he didn’t have to worry about trying to fit into the teenage romance scene. I was crazy about him, of course, but I don’t think he ever knew that.”

Sarah was looking from Molly to Noah and back. “Are you still...”

The grin spread even wider and suddenly burst into laughter. “Am I still in love with him? Good Lord, no! We kept up that relationship for close to four years, and by the time it was over I was having to force myself to keep up the act. It wasn’t that I didn’t like him anymore, it was just a matter of being tired of keeping up a pretense for so long. Two weeks after I moved away I had a brand-new boyfriend, one who thought I was the dream girl he’d been looking for all his life. There’s a big difference between someone kissing you because it’s ‘appropriate,’ and someone kissing you because he wants to so badly he can’t see straight. Sooner or later, you’re going to realize that Noah can’t give you what you really want and need. It isn’t his fault, he just doesn’t have it in him.”

Sarah stared into her eyes for a moment, her own face showing that she was controlling her anger. “Let me tell you something,” she said. “A couple of months back, Nicolaich Andropov managed to infiltrate our group and kidnap me. I’m the one he used as bait that time, to draw Noah into a trap where he planned to kill him. Noah knew that, knew good and well that coming to get me would probably get him killed, but he came anyway. Maybe he doesn’t have feelings the way the rest of us do, but when we were all being debriefed and he got asked why he came after me even though it violated protocol, do you know what he said? He said he came after me because he didn’t like the thought of a world that existed without me in it. Just because he never had those feelings for you, don’t you sit there and try to tell me he can’t have them for me. I know I’m expendable, I know that if it came down to me or the mission, the mission would probably win, you’re right about that. But at least I know that up to that point, he’ll do anything it takes to protect me.” She leaned forward until her face was only inches from Molly’s. “Now, if that isn’t some kind of love, then you tell me what it is.”

Molly’s grin was gone, replaced by the sad smile she had used earlier. “In his case, Honey, it’s simply selfishness. He obviously enjoys you, and he doesn’t want that enjoyment to come to an end, so he’ll do his best not to let you get away. But if you do—if he loses you, no matter how it happens, he’ll move on without ever suffering any grief or remorse. As long as you can handle that, then maybe you can survive being in love with Pinocchio.”

L
assiter and Sanchez showed up a half hour later and were introduced to Molly. They were informed about Andropov and the likelihood that he was planning to kill Molly, and Noah made it clear that he expected them to do everything possible to keep that from happening. Both of them seemed quite dedicated to their duties, and to have the skills necessary to accomplish their goals.

“Okay,” Noah said, “it’s time for us to go do a little tree shaking. Molly, we’ll be in touch later. You stick with your bodyguards while we do everything we can to take Nicolaich down.”

“And what are you gonna be doing?” Molly asked.

“I think it’s time we turn the tables a bit. He’s got people watching you, now watching us whenever they can; they think they got the easy job, so I think it’s time we engage them.”

The team left the building and walked to the car. Moose and Noah spotted a Ford sedan parked at the end of the block at the same time.

“Three men in that Ford,” Moose said. “They’re eyeballing us pretty intently.”

“I see them. Let’s take them for a cruise in the countryside.” They slid into the car and Noah turned to Sarah. “Just head toward Clifton. We’re looking for somewhere isolated.”

Sarah looked at him and swallowed hard, then punched “Clifton, Virginia,” into the GPS and put the car in gear. Noah pulled down the sun visor and used the vanity mirror to watch the Ford pull out behind them.

Sarah pulled the car onto Interstate 66 a few moments later and the Ford followed them up the ramp. The driver was carefully keeping them in sight, while trying to keep one or two cars between them. Sarah made it slightly difficult, weaving in and out of traffic and keeping her speed close to eighty-five miles per hour. The Ford’s driver had to work a bit to stay close enough, but that was what Noah wanted.

Following the directions on the GPS, she took the I-495 loop south to North Springfield and then peeled off onto State Route 620. A couple of minutes later she bore left onto 645 for the eight-mile drive into Clifton. The Ford stayed with them.

“Up there,” Noah said as he pointed through the windshield. “Looks like some kind of burned-out old building. Turn in there, but make it sudden. I want it to look like we’re trying to dig them. As soon as you get off the highway, floor it and try to get around behind the building. I need a few seconds where they can’t see us. As soon as we’re out of their sight, stop long enough for me and Moose to bail out, then go on a hundred yards and stop again. Turn the car so that you and Neil can get your own guns out the windows. Keep them aimed at the Ford, but do not fire unless you absolutely have to.”

In the back seat, Moose lightly backhanded Neil on his shoulder. “Got that? Don’t shoot unless you have to!”

“No, really? I couldn’t hear the boss just now, thank you for interpreting.” Neil withdrew the machine pistol from the computer bag lying on the seat beside him and quickly checked to make sure it was locked and loaded.

Sarah reached into her purse for her Beretta and laid it in her lap. “Okay, hold tight and keep fingers off triggers,” she said. “Sharp turn.”

She had been cruising the two-lane highway at about sixty, but she had backed off the gas a bit so that her speed had dropped to fifty-five. She hit the brakes suddenly and whipped the wheel to the right, then floored the car once again to take the turn into the parking lot of the abandoned building at almost 50 miles per hour. The car skidded on some loose gravel, but then the all-wheel drive dug in and shot them forward again. A service road seemed to run around the building, so she took it.

Moose, watching through the back window, called out that the Ford had spun out while trying to make the same turn. Sarah had them around the back of the building while the Ford’s driver was trying to get the car turned around in the right direction. She slammed on the brakes and skidded to a halt, and Moose and Noah leaped out. As soon as they slammed their doors, she hit the gas again, drove a couple hundred feet more and then slid the car to a stop with the driver’s side facing the way they had come. Neil already had his machine pistol out the window and aimed toward where the Ford would appear, and she quickly followed suit with her own pistol.

Moose and Noah had their Glocks in hand, and when the Ford came fishtailing around the corner they both opened fire. Noah’s first shot hit the driver in his throat, while Moose took out the left front tire. The car veered left, coming straight toward them, and they had to run to get out of its way before it crashed into the steel pylons of an old water tower.

The two other men in the car were dazed by the impact, but they quickly moved to get out. Both of them came out the passenger side, and the man from the front seat—Pasquale Morabito—fell to the ground. The other stayed on his feet, pistol in hand as he tried to swing around to face Noah and Moose.

“Drop the gun and you might live through this,” Noah said, his own gun obviously aimed directly at the man’s face. The two of them froze in that position for about five seconds, and then the man carefully stooped down to lay his pistol on the ground. Noah kicked it away.

The man who had fallen was trying to get up while digging for his own gun in its holster. Moose skirted around the first man and put the barrel of his Glock against the fellow’s forehead. He had made it to his knees, and carefully raised both hands above his head. Moose took his gun from him and stepped back, motioning for him to stand.

“Where is Nicolaich Andropov?” Noah asked.

The two men glanced at each other, but then both of them shrugged. “Don’t know who you mean,” Morabito said.

“Are we gonna do this the hard way? Look, gentlemen, let me explain how this is going to work. You are working for Nicolaich Andropov. Your job at the moment, I’m sure, is to keep tabs on me and where I’m at. I want to find Mr. Andropov. You can either tell me where he is, in which case I will let you live, or I can kill one of you right now and leave the other one alive to give Nicolaich a message for me. Which way you wanna do it? Doesn’t matter to me.”