Ana Leigh - Face Of Deception

“I can’t believe with all your apparent…connections, Mr. Waterman, that you can’t cut through the red tape and let Brandon remain with me. He’s so young. This will be frightening and confusing to him. Hasn’t he suffered enough?”

Waterman’s expression softened with understanding, while Baker’s remained inscrutable. “We tried, Miss Hamilton,” Waterman said.

“May I visit him at the Embassy?”

“Every day, if you wish. I shall make the arrangements myself.”

She glanced down at Brandon’s upturned face. The young boy knew he was being discussed, but he couldn’t follow the conversation. “May I have a moment alone with him?”

“Of course.”

After the two men left the room, Ann knelt down and smiled as she straightened his collar. “Sweetheart, I guess we’ve got to split up for a few days.”

“No. I don’t want to,” he declared.

“Neither do I, honey, but since I’m not your real mother, we have to do what these men say.”

“We don’t have to listen to these dumb guys, Ann. We can run away from them.” He started to sob and flung his arms around her neck. “Let’s go back to Grandfather’s house. I bet Mr. Bishop would help if we asked him.”

She hugged him for several moments. “Sweetheart, I promise that we’ll be together again as soon as Mr. Waterman can arrange it.”

She kissed his cheek and pulled back, smiling at him through her tears. “Now, you’re going to have a real good time while you’re staying at the British Embassy. I’ll come and visit you every day until you can leave with me.”

His little chin quivered. “You promise?”

Her heart felt as if it was being ripped from her chest. “Promise.”

As Brandon wiped away his tears, Ann rose to her feet and opened the door. She nodded. “He’s ready.”

Agents Bledsoe and Williams followed the security heads into the room.

“Come on, lad, we’ll stop on the way and get us some ice-cream cones,” Williams announced.

Brandon’s eyes brightened. “Bye, Ann.” He grinned up at Bledsoe. “Can I have a chocolate one, Pete?”

“You bet, lad. A two-scooper.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetheart,” Ann called out as the two Englishmen took the small boy in hand and led him away.

“We’ll notify you as soon as the legalities are finalized, Miss Hamilton,” Waterman said. “Will you be remaining at the Watergate?”

Ann nodded. “I’ll expect to hear from you.”

Bishop followed her to the elevator and pushed the down button. “I’ll flag you a cab.”

“That won’t be necessary. I think I’d like to walk for a while.”

A bell chimed, the door swung open and Ann stepped into the elevator. She looked up into his troubled gaze. “I want to thank you for everything, Bishop. I’m sorry I snapped at you this morning.”

Before he could reply, the door closed and the hazel eyes were gone from sight. She’d miss them.

Ann had never felt so lonely in her life.

After the relatively arcadian existence she had been living for the past four years, the sights and sounds of metropolitan Washington were a new experience for Ann. She dodged people and traffic for an hour and then entered a mall. To her surprise the shops were not open, but she saw people using the hallways to do their morning walking and jogging. Ann joined them, perusing the shop windows as she passed.

By the time she finished, she had mentally noted several outfits to try on, and sat down to wait for the shops to open. As she listened to the pleasant music in the mall, her thoughts wandered to Brandon and how he was faring. Remembering the earlier conversation, Ann grinned and shook her head. Good heavens! I wonder if they actually did stop for ice cream at this hour of the morning.

Suddenly she felt an uneasy twinge at the nape of her neck—someone was watching her. She looked around. Several of the nearby benches were filled with the joggers and walkers whom she remembered seeing previously. None of them appeared to be paying any attention to her.

Ann turned back, but the uneasy feeling continued to nag her. So much so, she decided to leave and return later. Just as she rose to her feet, the mall began to echo with the rattle and clang of iron grills as the shop owners began to unlock and open their stores. So instead of departing, she went to the ATM machine and got some cash, then headed for a small boutique to make her first purchase. However, she couldn’t lose the feeling of being followed.

Once engrossed in shopping, her anxiety was forgotten with the pleasure of picking out several outfits, hosiery, shoes and nightgowns. She even stopped and selected a few pieces of lingerie. “Without your assistance, Bishop,” she mumbled in satisfaction.

Ann immediately chastised herself for allowing her thoughts to stray to that overbearing agent when she should have been thinking about Brandon.

To ease her conscience, Ann hurried to the children’s department and bought him several pairs of sweatpants and shirts. As she continued to browse through the store, a gold silk blouse caught her fancy.

“Isn’t it lovely? It just came in yesterday,” the gray-haired saleswoman remarked.

“Yes, I think I’ll try it on.”

“The dressing room is right back here.” The clerk led her to an alcove at the rear of the store and pushed aside the curtain of one of the stalls. “My name is Janice. Just call out if you need any help.”

Ann had just removed the blouse and put her shirt back on when the room was plunged into darkness except for a red exit sign over the door. She quickly buttoned her shirt-front and then groped for her packages in the dark.

Suddenly she had an uneasy feeling that she no longer was alone. Someone had entered the darkened room, and she doubted it was Janice, or the clerk would have identified herself.

Ann felt a sense of peril. Her heart hammered and her senses attuned sharply to every noise around her. She heard a soft shuffle of footsteps at the same instant the distant drone of Janice’s voice carried from somewhere farther out in the store. Whoever was there in the darkness with her definitely wasn’t the sales clerk.

Her nerve ends tingled as footsteps moved stealthily across the floor. Ann held her breath, but the sound of her heartbeat pounding in her ears was so loud she felt the mysterious intruder could hear it as well. Frozen with fear, she was fearful of moving lest she reveal her whereabouts.

No, I’m not going to surrender to fear again. Whoever’s following me is in for a surprise. I’m not going down without a fight.

She groped for her purse in the dark. It was the only weapon she had, and as soon as those curtains parted, she’d swing it at the person’s head.

She heard the faint slide of the curtains. He was checking the stalls. If only he wasn’t between her and the door she’d make a run for it. But not knowing his exact whereabouts, she might run right into his arms.

And where the hell was that clerk? She should have come back to check on her customer. If I get out of here alive, I’ll be damned if I buy that blouse!

She heard a footstep, this time nearer. Now he couldn’t be more than a few stalls away. She raised her purse in readiness.

Suddenly a flashlight beam pierced the darkness. “Ann. Ann, where are you?”

She recognized Bishop’s voice at once. “Here. Over here,” she shouted in relief. The light swung in her direction.

She heard his running footsteps, and the drapes before her parted. With a sob of relief she collapsed against the hard wall of his chest, and his arms closed protectively around her. For several seconds she savored the comfort and strength she felt from the arms enfolding her.