Hot Intent

“Do? Nothing. It’s over. You’re safe. I’ll investigate who shot at you. When I know the source of the threat, I’ll eliminate it.”

God, not even a bump of emotion entered his voice as he casually talked about killing someone. A chill rattled across her skin. Who was this man? What had they turned him into? She stared at him in dismay. “But I thought we were done with all of that. The people who came after us before are all dead or in custody. It’s finished. They told me it was all over. And no one’s tried to kill me and Dawn since you left. Why now? If someone wants to kill me, why wait until the person who can best protect me comes home?”

He exhaled hard. “I kicked a hornet’s nest yesterday. This is my fault.”

She stared at him, wide-eyed. He hadn’t been the only one kicking at hornets. Yesterday, she’d asked for information on his mother from the CIA. Had that provoked someone to take a potshot at her? If so, who? And why? What was the big deal about his mother?

“What kind of hornets did you kick?” she asked him.

“Can’t say,” he bit out.

Dammit. She’d forgotten how fiercely he guarded his secrets. She should have known he’d be worse than ever about not sharing when he got home.

“I’m sorry, Katie,” he murmured, gathering her and Dawn close in a protective hug. “I swear, I won’t let anything bad happen to either one of you.”

She ought to tell him about the hornet’s nest of her own that she’d kicked. Let him off the guilt hook. But she’d really been hoping to surprise him with the information on his mother. The moment passed when it wouldn’t have been awkward to say anything. Great. Now she was keeping secrets from him, too. The guy’s bad habit of not sharing was contagious apparently.

“The windows are all bullet resistant and coated so heat-seeking equipment can’t see through them. The walls are treated the same way. Stay in here while I close the blinds throughout the house. And then you should be safe to move around inside the condo.”

As if that solved everything! Who’d just shot at her? And why?

Alex came back to report that the blinds were closed, and then he retreated to his office and closed the door. How could he go in there and poke at his laptop like someone hadn’t just narrowly missed killing her? She was completely freaked out! Were it not for Dawn already being upset, she would march in there and give him a piece of her mind.

Was he napping on the sofa or maybe doing something with Cold Intent and all those numbers on his computer? Curiosity would be the death of her yet.

Speaking of which, she called Uncle Charlie’s cell phone number and left a message in his voice mail asking if there’d been any progress on her request. She added that there had been some interest shown in her query this afternoon.

Trapped in the house by possible snipers outside, she plopped down in front of the television. She was intrigued that Alex hadn’t attempted to give chase to the shooter or in some way report the guy to the police. Were such occurrences so commonplace in his world they didn’t even register as worthy of response?

Although now that she thought about it, if she’d just taken a shot at someone, she would leave the area quickly so she didn’t get caught. Alex must have figured the shooter had too big a head start in fleeing to make a chase worthwhile. Still. What a lousy way to live. Was this what she had to look forward to for the next fifty years or so?

Despair washed over her. She’d thought they’d left all this stuff behind last year. How in the world were they supposed to raise a child in this insanity?

She vaguely heard Alex’s cell phone ring.

Maybe ten seconds passed before his office door burst open. “Turn on the news, Katie. Now.”

He sounded strange. Tense. She turned on the TV and asked him quickly, “Local, national or international?”

“Local.”

He moved to stand behind the sofa, and she swiveled around to stare at him. “What’s happened?”

“Someone has been murdered.”

“Who?”

“Hacker. I don’t know her real name. She was young, late twenties. It would likely be associated with something innocuous, like the theft of computer equipment. Have you seen anything like that today?” he asked urgently.

“No. Nothing,” she replied, alarmed. “They haven’t reported on any women being murdered or dying in some sort of accident. They’re talking mostly about the hurricane heading into the Caribbean.”

He swore under his breath.

“What’s going on? Who was she? You’re scaring me.”

“They’re covering up her death. Which speaks volumes about who killed her.”

They who? What wasn’t he telling her? “Volumes about who?” she demanded.

“They’re powerful. Connected. Probably government.”

“Our government? You’re saying an American citizen was killed right here in Washington by our government and it’s being covered up?” Holy crap.

“You really have to get over the whole Mom and apple pie thing when it comes to the United States, Katie. All governments work for their own best interest by whatever means they have at their disposal. None of them are nice about it.”

Sometimes she forgot what a cynic he was. The uncomfortable thing was that he might be right. Still, her patriotic upbringing ran deep. “Hey. You work for the U.S., too.”

He scowled and muttered, “Don’t remind me.”

True alarm speared through her. He was having second thoughts about hitching his fate to the CIA and not to his father’s FSB? She shuddered to think what hell would be unleashed at them if he changed his mind about working for Uncle Sam at this late date. No way was she raising Dawn in Moscow.

Alex was speaking again. “...need to leave town before whoever shot at you tries again. Stay inside for now.” He continued. “I have a few things to take care of before I can go. They’ll take me about an hour. Can you and Dawn be ready to leave in that amount of time?”

“Of course.”

The threat to Dawn’s safety rubbed at her psyche until she felt raw and exposed. If they were back in the crosshairs, the baby needed to get away from her and Alex. Again.

Failure burned in her gut like acid as she packed. What kind of mother was she if she couldn’t even keep their baby out of mortal danger? Where were they taking Dawn, anyway? She needed to know so she could pack the right kinds of clothes for them both. She headed for Alex’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

He swiveled in his desk to face her. A glance over his shoulder revealed his right hand closing his laptop screen. He was hiding whatever he was working on from her. Why? The question exploded across her brain, rife with suspicion.

“If you don’t have any better idea, I was thinking we could take Dawn to stay with my folks until we figure out who’s shooting at us.”

Alex’s eyes clouded with what looked like genuine regret. It was genuine, right? God, it sucked not knowing if she could trust him or not. If only she could shake the feeling he was up to no good.

Although, truth be told, she was working behind his back, too.

He nodded once, grimly. “Sure. We can drive up to Pittsburgh tonight.” He looked impatient, and she took the hint, merely nodding and backing out of his office.

Anxiety prodded her. In the past, when he got all secretive like this, his father had had something to do with it. What was Peter Koronov up to now? The man just couldn’t leave his only son alone. It was an obsession between the two of them. They were locked in some sort of mortal struggle that neither one would let go of. So unlike her big, happy-go-lucky family.

She made a call to her mother, who was delighted to take Dawn for a few days while she and Alex took care of a few things. Not that she thought her mother was fooled for a second that there wasn’t some sort of problem. The woman had raised five soldiers and cops. She could smell trouble from a mile away. She just knew not to ask about it. Her kids would tell her what was going on in their own time. Strong woman, her mother.

Katie busied herself packing the copious gear a well-spoiled baby required for any self-respecting road trip. It took the full hour Alex had given her to make trips to the underground parking garage and cram the BMW’s trunk to the gills.

Just as she finished, he emerged from his office, grabbed a prepacked bag, for which she hated him a little, and was ready to go.