Seducing the Accomplice (5 page)

“Did you fly here because you could do so without anyone knowing?”

She could tell he was surprised she’d thought to ask such a question, which only confirmed she was on the right track. “How much did it cost you?”

“It’s just a small, private airport.”

He drove into a parking area in front of the main building and found a place to park. Beyond the main building, four planes were parked on the other side of a high fence. In the distance, two helicopters rested near a helipad. Movement caught her eyes. A group of men gathered around the last plane, and they were all armed.

“Is that your plane?”

“Yes.” He sounded tense.

Nervous, she first glanced at Calan, then all around them. The airport wasn’t a flurry of activity, but there were people outside the building. One car drove toward the exit and a taxi pulled to a stop, where passengers were dropped off. A woman and a man walked across the parking lot. The woman saw the armed men and then her partner did, too. His steps slowed and they conversed back and forth.

“They’re looking for me,” Calan said.

Sadie turned to the plane again. “Do you think that guard knew who you were? What did he say to you?”

“He said my plane was ready.”

“He might have been told to let you through.”

“Yeah.”

“Word sure got around fast. Someone saw you at the embassy and now this.”

He studied her face a while, as if she’d surprised him again.

“We’re not flying home today, are we.” She wasn’t asking.

Calan grimly turned back to the plane. So did she. One of the men approached a man in front of the plane and the two began talking. The man he’d approached waved his hands as if explaining something.

“Is that your pilot?”

“Yes.”

“What are they doing?”

“Searching the plane.”

And questioning his pilot. Calan didn’t say it, but she knew that wasn’t a good thing.

The pilot held up his hands as if in protest. Sadie couldn’t see his facial features from here, but the way his head and hands moved told her plenty. He was afraid of the man confronting him. Another man emerged from the plane and spoke to the one talking to the pilot.

This was all happening right now, unfolding before her eyes. The pilot was in danger. Those men must know it was Calan’s plane. Her pulse quickened. She wanted to leave. Now.

“We should get out of here.”

“My pilot…” She heard how torn he felt. His pilot could be in serious trouble and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He was one man against too many. And yet, he couldn’t leave the man helpless.

The pilot’s interrogator removed a gun from his hip holster. Sadie inhaled and covered her mouth with her hand. The pilot took a few steps backward, holding his hands out as if to ward off the other man.

Calan got out of the car, reaching under his shirt and pulling out a gun.

A gunshot went off in the distance, and Sadie turned in time to see the pilot drop. She screamed. That man was just shot! His unmoving body lay sprawled unnaturally on the ground and his shooter just stood there looking down at him. Was the pilot dead? The horror of it—the suddenness of it—numbed her with shock.

The couple who’d also noticed the commotion ran toward the building as if to seek help. Calan still stood outside the car, gun at his side. He’d been too late.

The men at the plane seemed unconcerned they’d be caught. The very idea of that opened Sadie’s mind to the magnitude of danger they were in. Whoever they were up against had nothing to fear. Calan had involved himself in something much bigger than she doubted he’d even realized until now.

Getting back into the car, he backed away from the building and sped toward the entrance. Sadie craned her neck to see the shooter put his gun away and turn to the man who’d emerged from the plane. That one pointed toward the main terminal. The shooter looked there and saw them.

Her whole body trembled with fear. “Get us out of here!”

Calan’s face remained set with determination. He raced down the road, flying past the guard shack, who also held a radio to his ear. Dropping that, the guard ran out into the road and aimed a gun at them. Two bullets banged somewhere on the rear of their rental car. Sadie ducked and looked back in time to see the guard go back into the shack. Calan reached the main road and swerved, racing into the turn. The sound of a helicopter gave her nerves a panicked jolt. Oh, God. Peering out the window, she caught a glimpse of it overhead.

“They found us. Oh, my God. They found us.”

The helicopter passed overhead and lowered when it was in front of them, turning to face them, scattering three other cars traveling the country road. One slid off to the side of the road and came to a stop. Another drove into the oncoming traffic lane to get past the helicopter, and the third veered out of the way to avoid a collision. Calan drove fast but it wasn’t fast enough. The helicopter hovered just above the ground. There were no wires along the sides of the road. Calan skidded the car to a stop, then lifted the gun from his lap.

A gunner in the helicopter fired. Bullets sent pieces of asphalt flying. Sadie didn’t think the man meant to hit them. It was a warning. Don’t move.

Calan fired and the gunner fell back into the pod of the helicopter. The pilot lifted the bird and Calan began driving again. The helicopter tailed them and then passed overhead, avoiding trees and lowering once again in an attempt to block passage. Calan stuck his gun out the window and fired another silenced shot. The pilot maneuvered the helicopter so that Calan’s shot hit metal. The pilot fired at them, hitting the front of the rental, still not trying to shoot them inside the car.

Calan fired a second and third time and struck the front window of the helicopter. The pilot jerked and the helicopter swayed, lifted and lowered before lifting again and flying back toward the airport.

“Is he giving up?”

“They would have put someone on the ground, too.” He checked the rearview mirror. “We can’t let them catch up to us.” Calan put his pistol down on his lap and drove fast toward Tirana.

Sadie watched the helicopter until it vanished from view and then checked the road behind them. No cars appeared.

Facing forward, she gripped the armrest and her breathing eased. Her trembling limbs began to relax.

She eyed Calan’s weapon. She hadn’t seen him with it before now, but she supposed she wasn’t surprised he carried one. “What’s going on, Calan?”

“I wish I knew.” His grave, intense eyes didn’t waver from the road and rearview mirror, but he took out his cell and entered a number.

He had to know something. People wouldn’t chase him with out a reason. And he’d done something to instigate all of this.

“Why did you really come here?” she demanded.

Passing another car on the road, he ignored her, still wearing that unnerving look. He was worried, and she didn’t like that.

Into the cell he said,
“Armend Murati, per favore.”
And then after a brief silence,
“Grazie.”
He disconnected.

“Who is Armend Murati?” she asked.

“He helped to arrange my flight into Albania.”

“Your secret flight that isn’t so secret anymore?”

He glanced over at her and nothing more.

She was getting tired of his secrecy. “You need to tell me what the hell is going on.”

Chapter 4

“Y
ou already know as much as I can tell you,” Calan said, turning onto the highway that would take them back to Tirana.

“That you came here on a mission and it had something to do with a
target?
” she challenged. “Does that mean you came here to kill someone?” He’d said he met his target but that was for her benefit. Meeting Dharr wasn’t the same as killing him, but calling him a target was enough to reveal his true meaning.

He moved his head to get a look at her, wondering if she was smarter than she appeared. He should have never used that word on the phone with Odie.

“I came here to stop a man from hurting any more innocent people.”

“In other words, yes.” She stared at him, stunned yet indecisive. “And now his friends are after you.”

He didn’t respond. She knew too much but not enough to harm TES. He’d leave it at that.

Over in the passenger seat, Sadie was quiet all the way back into the city. Calan drove through downtown and then into another rural area. When he found the poorly maintained dirt road he was looking for, he turned. They passed a run-down building and a moderately sized home in somewhat better condition. Around a few more bends and over several bumps and holes, Murati’s much larger, much more maintained residence came into view.

“Wow. Is this where Murati lives?” Sadie asked.

“Yes.” He parked along the side of the road.

“What are we doing here? Are we going to talk to him?”

“He isn’t home.”

“How do you know?” She got out of the car with him. “Oh. The phone call. How could I forget? Where is he?”

“On a business trip.”

Murati’s secretary had told him he’d gone to Kosovo on business and wouldn’t be back for three more days. Convenient. More likely he’d talked to whomever was after Calan and fled in the hopes that the problem would be gone by the time he returned. Meaning, Calan would be dead.

Sadie came around to his side.

He’d ask her to wait in the car but he didn’t want her out of his sight. Leaning into the backseat, he dug into his duffel bag for a lead wire and stuffed it into his front pocket.

“Why are we here? Are we going to break in?” she asked.

“This will only take a few minutes. Stay by me and don’t say anything.”

“I don’t want to break into anyone’s house.”

He began the climb up the slope to the house. Sadie climbed with him and didn’t fight him further. She was too busy navigating the terrain in her shoes.

At the side of the house, he found the phone box and opened it. Two wires went to the main phone line, and two more went to something else. Calan clipped the lead wire to those. Now if there was an alarm system, no call would go out.

Straightening, he caught Sadie’s curiously wary look. “Be quiet.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” she whispered.

That made him smile. Unpracticed in covert activities, she was tougher than she seemed. He led her to the back of the house and checked for an open window or door. Finding none, he stepped past shrubs and over rock landscaping to reach a bedroom window. The rocks were a little bigger than his fist, so he used one to break the glass. Unlocking the window, he raised it and climbed inside, helping Sadie in after him.

The house was two stories and most of the lower level was a rec room with a wine cellar. Upstairs, Calan took Sadie’s hand and led her into Murati’s home office, which doubled as a bedroom. Letting go of her, he booted the computer on the huge mahogany desk. No password. He searched Murati’s email and file folders. Nothing unusual came up. He kept his computer clean.

He searched the rest of the office and other rooms but found nothing. Frustrated, he led Sadie out of the house through the back door. Now he’d have to wait until Murati returned.

When Sadie saw the Durres marina ahead, hope lifted her spirits. “Are we going to Italy now?” He hadn’t said much about where they were going. Even with a fake passport she wouldn’t mind getting out of this country, and she knew there were ferries that would take them to Italy.

“No.”

Those brief hopes deflated like a beach ball with a hole. “Why are we here, then?”

He parked and got out, taking his duffel bag with him. She followed, watching him open the trunk, unzip the suitcase and reach inside. Sadie moved around the side and caught sight of wads of cash inside the suitcase. A lot of cash. A suitcase full of euros. He took a bundle out and stuffed it into his duffel bag.

Sadie gaped at him. Was it stolen?

He fleetingly met her look and then zipped the suitcase shut.

“Is this why you’ve been evading my questions?”

Lifting the suitcase out of the trunk, he slammed the trunk shut and started toward the marina with the luggage in tow. Still recovering from her shock, Sadie hurried to catch up to him. Walking briskly, she studied his hard profile.

“How much money is in there?” she asked.

“Stop asking questions.”

Like hell she would. “Where are we going? That’s a question you shouldn’t have any trouble answering.”

“You said you wanted to go to Montenegro. We’re going to Montenegro.”

What? She looked at the row of boats docked along the pier. “We’re sailing there?”

“No.”

“What are we doing here then? Why won’t you tell me?”

They walked to a not-so-bad-looking yacht, where he stopped. Stepping aboard, he turned to offer his hand. She took it, but only because she didn’t want to trip in her shoes and fall into the sea.

“Whose yacht is this?” It looked to be close to a hundred feet. Nice. Expensive.

“Ours.”

“Do you own it or did you charter it?”

“Chartered it in Orikum.”

Still, it had to cost a fortune. “Why? You had the plane in—”

“Contingency,” he cut her off.

On deck, she followed him to a sliding door, where he inserted a key into the lock and opened it. Pulling the suitcase with him, he stopped just inside and looked around.

There was a white sofa and chair and a brown leather ottoman next to a dining table with four chairs. He passed that and the galley to reach some stairs that led to the lower deck. He was carrying the suitcase. It had to be heavy with all that money inside, yet he made it seem feather light. Below deck, he found a small cabin with two twin beds and wood paneling. Guest quarters. Opening a closet, he put the suitcase inside and shut it again.

“Let’s go.”

She followed him up the stairs and outside on the aft deck, where he locked the door and helped her off the boat.

“What if someone finds that money?”

“They won’t.”

She noticed him look around, constantly vigilant. Anything suspicious he’d have noticed, or more aptly, anyone.

They reached the car and he opened the passenger door for her. She looked longingly toward the marina.

“Get in.”

She sent him a sullen look and didn’t move. “Why can’t we take the boat to Italy and fly home from there?”

“It isn’t that simple anymore. Whoever’s behind all this knows I flew into Andoni.”

In secret.

“I knew I should have taken my chances at the hotel.”

“Then I would have stayed with you.”

Really? He wouldn’t have left her alone? “You mean, if I hadn’t have gone with you, you’d have stayed?”

“Of course, I would have. Do you think I would have left the country knowing you had to wait for a passport and couldn’t get away if someone came after you?”

That was so sweet. Did she matter that much to him? Or would he have treated anyone the same? Yes. It wasn’t she who mattered, it was the principle. He had involved her in his problem and now he felt responsible for her safety.

His fingers under her chin made her realize she’d lowered her head with disappointment. She’d rather he cared for her, not his principles. And that desire was precisely why she’d gone with him. Meeting him had confused her judgment.

“Will you get in now?” he asked in a low, deep voice, wooing her, even though he wasn’t trying to.

Fighting off her warming response, she forced her concentration to the matter at hand. “Who knew you flew into Andoni International Airport?”

“Someone with a lot of power.”

“Someone like Armend Murati? Is that why you searched his house?” She was not going to stop asking until he gave up and told her what she needed to know.

“Yes.”

“Who is he?”

“The Minister of the Interior,” he said.

It took her a moment to absorb that. If someone like Murati was friendly with whomever was after them, they were in far more danger than she could imagine.

“You can’t fight them, Calan. Clearly this is way over your head.”

“If I don’t do something now, it will only follow me wherever I go.” He looked at her. “And now you, too.”

Yes, and wasn’t that just her luck? “What kind of organization bribes a government official like that?”

He cocked his head and lifted his brow.

“Stop telling me not to ask questions.” She folded her arms and jutted a foot out.

“I didn’t.”

“You were thinking it.”

He grinned. “Get in, Sadie.”

Fighting a responding smile, she averted her attention from his handsome face. “You’re impossible.” But she got in the car, wondering if she was losing her mind altogether. Was this crazy attraction keeping her at his side?

There was a suitcase stuffed with enough money to get them killed. She had a fake passport and they were going to cross the border to get into Montenegro. Would she be arrested before someone started shooting at them again? She was afraid none of that mattered as long as she was with him.

Much later, Calan turned off the road they’d been following just before reaching Shkoder. It wouldn’t be long now before they reached the border. The closer they got, the more nervous Sadie became. Once she was there, she couldn’t turn back. She’d have to use her fake passport and cross—hopefully—into Montenegro.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked. “Can’t we stay in Albania? Won’t that make it easier to find out who’s after you?”

“Murati won’t be back for a few days. We need a safe place to stay until I can talk to him. You’ll be comfortable in Montenegro.”

She highly doubted that. Not with him around. As long as she kept having these sparks of attraction, she wouldn’t be comfortable. He was too secretive. She could hear her father coaching her on her inability to make wise choices when it came to men. No man she’d ever found had measured up to his standards. Men with money, men without money, even business executives. And every man she’d thought would gain his approval had dumped her. In retrospect, they’d been all wrong for her anyway.

She looked over at Calan. He was much different than any other man she’d met or considered dating. His profession was shadowy. How had he gotten to this point of his life? What had led him down such a dark path?

“Have you ever gone to college?” she asked.

“Yeah. I have a degree in business.”

“Business.” That explained why he chose “business analyst” for his fake title.

“I was in the Army, too.”

“Is that where you got your training to work for a black market bounty-hunting outfit?”

“I’m not a bounty hunter. I joined a cause, that’s all. A good one.”

“What is the cause?” she dared to ask.

After his lengthy hesitation, during which he glanced at her twice, she could see he’d contemplated telling her. But for whatever reason, he decided not to.

Knowing better than to ask any more about the organization where he worked, she refrained from the topic. Maybe there was another way to get him to reveal something. “What did you do in the Army?”

“I was a major at Fort Bragg. Retired now.”

“You retired early.” Did his new job have anything to do with that? Had he really retired, or had there been a scandal involved? His secretiveness suggested as much.

“I wanted to move on to other things.”

He said it so somberly. Had something happened to make him deviate from the military? “What things?”

He kept his profile to her, but she could see the subject tore at him.

“Did you retire because you wanted to?” she pressed.

“Yes,” he said adamantly. He’d definitely wanted to get away from the Army. Had he been pushed into a corner? Wrongfully blamed? He saw her studying him and said, “Let’s just say I lost faith in our military.”

That only made her more curious. “Why?”

With a stony set to his mouth, he adjusted his grip on the steering wheel and said no more.

“Are you some kind of anti-government activist?” That would explain his secrecy, but why had he come all the way to Albania?

“No. Nothing like that. Following their rules didn’t get me very far, that’s all.”

Judging by the stiffness of his face, they’d cost him, too. Whatever his reason, it had to be personal.

“Are you married?”

“No.”

“Were you ever?”

“Why do you keep choosing the wrong men?” he asked, a deliberate steerage of their conversation. He knew what she was trying to dig up, and clearly her question was off limits, but he may as well have said yes. He’d been married before, and from the looks of it, he’d loved the woman very much and something had happened to jade him, something that had driven him away from the Army. She wanted to ask more questions but held back, sensing it wasn’t the time to push.

“Because there is always something wrong with them,” she answered. “Look at this situation. I need to stop getting tangled with men like you. I keep making bad decisions.”

“I’m not the one who abandoned you.”

“No, this is much worse.” As soon as she said it, she wished she hadn’t. Yes, she was in danger because of him, but he hadn’t meant to cause any of this. And this wasn’t worse than Adam leaving her in Albania. Strange, how her life could be in danger with Calan and she’d rather be with him than Adam.

Calan caught her looking at him before she realized she was doing that. The tightness above his brow eased and a small smile teased her.

A bump in the road jarred her and a car whizzed past them as Calan drove into a turn. Around the bend, the car had to swerve to miss another approaching from the other direction. That was the third time a driver had done that on their way here. And she thought drivers in the States were bad…