Leah Braemel - Deliberate Deceptions

“We should have come up with a better cover.”

“There wasn’t time.” He ignored her scowl. “Anyway, once they do figure it out, you and Miller will both be somewhere safe. Who I am won’t matter after that. Besides, McPherson knows who you are. If you explain to him about Chad being in danger, he’ll help.”

He’d help keep Chad safe. She wasn’t as sure she wouldn’t find herself thrown to the wolves.

“While they’re not looking…” Ed tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. To anyone watching, it would appear to be a familiar gesture of a friend, perhaps even a lover. With luck they wouldn’t see the transponder he’d tucked into her French braid so she could contact him in an emergency. “It’s the only way to keep you both safe, Lauren. Cooper said Harris cracked whatever code they had on the psych files. If he could get in there, who knows if he accessed the rest-you know we can’t use any of our own resources.”

“I know. There are just so many things that can go wrong. On so many levels.”

McPherson said something to one of the men before he and Andy headed their way. His scowl deepened with each step. Troy’s gaze flickered between her and Ed, then dropped to her suitcase. His eyes narrowed when he realized she was the only one with luggage.

“You?” He faced Weir. “This is not a good idea.”

Ed pulled out his cell phone. “Shall I phone your boss and tell him you’re refusing the assignment?”

“So call him. Tell him.” His Irish accent was thick today, where last time they’d spoken she’d not heard a trace. Did he affect it for show or did it only slip out when he was upset? “Sam won’t agree to this either. Standard procedure is the lead op, or anyone else on the detail for that matter, has no personal involvement with the subject. She’s his ex-wife for Christ’s sake.”

Ed tucked his cell phone in his pocket, letting Troy get a look at the Sig Sauer under his jacket. He took off his glasses, pulled off his beard. Without the props, the hardness of his personality was reflected in the sharp planes of his face. “You do it our way or…our way. You don’t have a choice.”

“Yeah. I do. We put Walters in charge of the op the way Chad originally suggested.”

“We can’t accept that, Troy.” Lauren exchanged a look with her partner. They’d worked together long enough that he knew what she intended. After a moment, Weir nodded his agreement. “Whoever is after me may try to get to me through Chad. That’s the reason we manipulated things the way we did today. We had to keep Chad safe as well.”

“Chad’s an effin’ target?” Troy tossed in a few more epithets, though they weren’t in any language she understood. “Might have been nice if you’d let me in on that beforehand. Or Sam.”

“We were afraid you’d tell Miller.”

Lauren jumped in. “If Chad realized he was the target, you know he’d demand to stay in Washington and fight the threat head on. This way we can both keep him safe.”

“By putting you both in the same place? Don’t you think that’s making it a little too easy for Harris? It would be better if you’re kept in separate safe houses.” He was right of course. She’d made the same point to Cooper.

Ed must have realized she was about to relent. He folded his arms and glared at Troy. “You don’t do things the way we ask, we’ll take Miller into protective custody and hold him where you can’t reach him. We can also arrest you for interfering with government agents. That wouldn’t look so good for Hauberk now, would it Mr. McPherson?”

He’d do it too. Ed would call in the cavalry, who would hustle Troy away and convince him to play ball-by fair means or foul-but if it came down to it, they couldn’t press charges. After all, the Brigade didn’t officially exist, according to the government.

Maybe it was the way Ed emphasized his name, telling him they knew he wasn’t who he claimed that had Troy giving a short nod.

Troy held out his hand to her, palm up. “Give me your bloody cell phone.”

Damn it. It wasn’t unexpected; she would have made the same demand. She’d just hoped they’d trust her. Good thing Ed had tucked the back-up device into her hair. “I’ll need to stay in contact with Ed. Otherwise, how will I know when the assignment’s over?”

“Oh, we’ll let you use our phones once we’ve verified everything. In the meantime, I want to make sure you don’t text the location of where I’m about to take you to James Bond here. Or that he won’t use the GPS chip to track you.” No trace remained of the broad Irish accent he’d used earlier. “Then there’s the added bonus that it’ll bug the shit out of you.”

He gestured to one of his companions and tossed the phone to him before turning back to her, his hand outstretched again. “Now your purse, if you don’t mind, Ms. Patrick.”

She handed it over without a word. Other than her lipstick, and her fake ID there wasn’t anything of worth in it. That was a lesson she’d learned long ago.

Instead of him rummaging through it the way she’d expected, he tossed it to the same man who had her phone.

“If this goes wrong, if Chad gets hurt, then I’m taking you out.” Aiming his finger as if it were a gun, Troy pointed to them each in turn. “Both of you.”

His hand firm on her elbow, Troy marched her to the van where he told her to “assume the position”. He did a thorough pat-down, including a sweep with an electronic wand. She held her breath. The Brigade techs had assured them the device didn’t transmit any signal while it was turned off. Andy’s sweep after they’d met him hadn’t picked up the transponder in Ed’s pocket. But she wasn’t sure if Troy’s equipment was the same type or if it was more efficient at sniffing out electronics. To her relief, Troy didn’t run the wand over her hair.

Even so she didn’t release her breath until he handed the wand back to the other agent and gestured to the van. “Get in.”

She climbed in and took a seat on one of the benches lining the side. Troy jumped in and sat across from her, his expression hard. “Lauren Miller-excuse me, Ms. Patrick-” he gestured to the young agent beside him, “-meet Kris Campbell. He and Walters will be part of your primary team.” He narrowed his eyes. “I was supposed to leave you here, but I’m thinking I’ll stick around a while.”

The unspoken “To make sure you don’t fuck up” hung heavy in the air.

The third man, the one who had taken her cell phone and purse, closed the back door from outside. He tapped it twice and the driver set the van in motion.

“Isn’t he coming with us?”

“Nope. He’s taking your stuff on a little ride all their own. Just to make sure there’s no hidden tracking devices in them.” Troy glanced out the side of his eyes at her. “You’ll get your purse back whenever the hell this assignment’s done.”

They drove for several hours before stopping at yet another municipal airport. In the cover of a private hanger, Troy loaded her onto a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter where a second pair of agents waited. One she didn’t recognize, though she guessed from his posture he was either a cop or military. The second she did recognize though: Scott Phillips, the single hostage who had managed to escape the guerillas in Colombia before the Brigade had rescued the remainder. Scott gave her a cool look before turning his attention to pulling out a well-worn paperback. She might have thought him engrossed if she hadn’t realized he’d turned the page only twice in the next hour.

From the buffeting that had her clutching the armrests, she guessed they were flying over mountains but were they the Guadalupes of Texas, or had they’d flown north and were over the foothills of North Dakota’s Black Mountains? Then again, thanks to the nap she’d taken who knows how many hours ago, perhaps they’d doubled back and they were over the Appalachians or even the Laurentians.