Justified Means (Book One) (The Agency Files) (17 page)

“
I think Servane David recognized you.”

“
Who?” Keith stared at Mark as if he’d spoken another language. What was with the French and their “Dah-VEED” for David anyway?

“
The woman in the salon. I know you did your best, but she could have seen you through the window before you came in.”

“
Oh.” He felt deflated. Every part of him felt like a failure and it showed.

“
Keith, stop beating yourself up. You got Claire out of there and safe. You did the right thing.”

“
I guess.”

“
Erika demanded to talk to me today.”

He couldn
’t resist laughing. “Oh?”

“
She informed me that if I didn’t want the biggest lawsuit since Tailhook, I’d better get Corey out of there.”

“
Great. Who’s going?”

“
Well, we don’t have the manpower to send someone to stay, so Karen is going to go take over until Corey gets back here, and then you’ll go in. Meanwhile, we have some tapes for you to review, and Justin in forensics wants to talk to you. He thinks he figured out how you were traced, but he needs to interview you first.”

“
Interview me? Really? I’m sorry about the phone. I don’t see how we could have avoided it, but man…”

“
I’m just glad Justin put that program on it. The minute they ran their dump, we knew it. He’s amazing.” Mark swung his monitor around. “Look here. Watch Claire.”

Keith
’s stomach dropped. Did they seriously think Claire could be a threat? There was absolutely no way. He’d seen her. The stunned expression on her face, the way she hadn’t really wanted to go to the salon—if she was trying to get information from him, she would have wanted to go in, wouldn’t she? It didn’t make sense.

Second by second, frozen frame by frozen frame, they rewatched
the scene at security. A hard cold fury washed over Keith as he saw the woman behind them shove the child with a force that was unmistakable. “What the—”

“
It was about your phone. There’s no doubt.”

“
You said to watch Claire. You don’t think—”

“
No, I don’t. But after you saw that, you’d have questioned. Watch.”

The child
’s hand brushed her ankle. In incredibly slow motion, Claire whirled and blinked, looking stunned and uncertain. When the mother didn’t grab the child, she went into action, grabbing Kleenex from her purse. The focus and attention she paid to the child and the way she tossed dirty looks at the inattentive mother made it impossible to believe she’d been in on it.

“
What was with that woman?”

“
I can only assume the child isn’t really hers. Look—right there. See it? Does that man look familiar?”

“
No way, the TSA guy? How did they know?”

“
It’s just a cover. He disappears before the regular—see, there.”

Sure enough, just as the man turned to hurry the line through the checkpoint, the impostor turned and walked out of the camera
’s view. “Did you catch him anywhere else?”

“
He comes back. Watch”

Sure enough, seconds later, a hand slipped the phone back into the plastic crate that held
Keith’s things. “I just—how did—wow.”

“
He’s good. If he wasn’t a crook, I’d want him. He’s not as good as Larry, but then few people are.” Mark snapped off the screen and watched as Keith processed the information. “You were adamant that Claire couldn’t have done it, and I think the tapes prove that, but I have to ask. Did you doubt her at any time while you were gone—even for a moment.”

“
I think for a second, after it was over, I remember thinking, ‘That was fast. If Claire hadn’t been so shocked…”

“
Natural reaction. You’re just going through the processing. That’s good. I’d be more concerned if you said no.”

Keith nodded.
“Denial is powerful stuff. You’re right. If I hadn’t questioned, it’d be bad.”

“
You’ve been feeling guilty.” It wasn’t a question.

“
Yeah. She’s family. You don’t doubt family.”

“
Don’t make me lose all faith in you, Keith. You doubt everyone. To keep the client alive, you doubt everyone. Me, Karen, Corey, even Justin, Jill, Anthony, and Larry. You doubt anyone and everyone. It keeps people alive.”

“
Yeah. I don’t have to like that part.”

“
No, but you do it because it’s instinctive. I bet you doubted me the minute that second call came through.” Keith didn’t have to answer. The truth of it was written across every feature. “That’s good. I can sleep at night because I know you’ll do your job. That’s why you’re going back in. Saturday.”

“
Two week anniversary. Should I bring flowers and chocolate?”

“
Take a chick flick. I’ll find out from Karen what Erika wants to see.”

“
There’s no electricity, Mark.”

“
Take a portable DVD.” At the disgusted face Keith made, Mark howled. “Yeah, you’ll have to sit a little closer than you like, but watch the stupid movie with her. She’ll relax with you again.”

“
Whatever.”

“
How are you going to win back her trust? We can’t afford to be exposed. I swear, the directors of every agency in Washington would be down on us so fast…”

“
I’ll be honest, but show loyalty to the agency. I won’t trash Corey but I won’t condone her garbage either. I think it’s the best way to ensure she knows I’m still me. I think that’s a big part of the big picture. She trusted Karen and she trusted me. When we brought in Corey, we violated her trust by bringing in someone who, in her mind, she couldn’t trust.”

“
Makes sense. I don’t know, though. Corey did some serious damage.”

“
I’m just going in and being who I was and treating her the way I did before—like none of this happened. I think it’s the best way to put it all behind us.”

“
I’m trusting you, Auger. Get out there and do some damage control—even if it means you have to watch Kiss and Make Up until that stupid battery dies. Take spares, just fix this.”

“
I want another bonus—one I can keep.”

Mark laughed and rose to shake his best agent
’s hand. “You keep us out of the papers and the courts, and I’ll see that one happens.”

“
Don’t tell Erika about that.”

Mark never would have and both men knew it, but Mark had to ask.
“Why not?”

“
She’d insist on taking half.”

Erika paced the living room despite her exhaustion. She’d discovered, about eighteen hours after Keith left, that pacing irritated Corey. So when she was up and awake, she paced. The rattle of the chain, the occasional thud as she turned the corner, and the shuffle of her shoes across the floor would normally have driven her to the brink of insanity and back, but the stress visible on her “guard’s” face made every irritating noise worth it.

Corey had tried everything, but Erika couldn’t help gloating at failure after failure. A shortened chain meant more frequent thumps as she did an about-face. The woman demanded that Erika clean the bathroom, but she refused. If the person “the Agency” sent to guard their abductee wanted a clean toilet seat upon which to dole out the rest of her excrement, then she could clean it herself.

Erika ate her meals walking, her snacks walking, and even paced in the shower just to keep the chain rattling. Corey retaliated by making her wear the infernal thing twenty-four
seven. Once it became a battle of wills, Erika determined that she would win—at any cost.

When Corey
had blasted her once again, pulling her gun and demanding that she sit, Erika had held out her hand for the phone. It became an instant, utterly satisfying, memory. Corey blanched, but dialed. Erika hadn’t actually expected to speak to anyone, but Keith’s “Mark” had come on the line and listened courteously as she’d bawled him out. Instant catharsis. And now, in just an hour or two, Corey would be gone and Erika planned to collapse on the couch without moving for any reason—aside from sleep and using the bathroom—for days if necessary. If they didn’t want her having blood sugar issues, they could bring her food. She wasn’t going to budge.

“
Your calves are going to be bigger than an elephant’s.”

“But they’ll be strong.” Erika refused to take the bait.

“Strong and huge.”

“And your problem is?”

“Look, if you want to look like a freak, that’s your business.” Corey’s voice sounded childishly peevish.

The satisfaction in realizing she’d caused it nearly sent Erika into visible ecstasies. “Sure is.”

“Look, when Karen gets here and practically shoves you out there to get shot, just remember that the stupid things you do puts more than you in danger. These people are working hard to keep your sorry backside alive. Show them the courtesy of not doing anything that’ll force them to take a bullet or twenty for you.”

“You’ve told me half a dozen times that I had the best man in America protecting me. Well, you sent him away, so does that make you the stupidest woman in America or just the most arrogant?”

“Listen, you—”

“No, listen both of you! I could hear you for the past quarter mile! How on earth do you expect to protect her if you’re shouting like a crazy woman? Get your stuff together. It’s almost dark. You gotta get out of here the minute that sun is down.”

Both cabin-bound women stared at Karen in the doorway. Then, as if relief hadn’t arrived, Erika kept pacing. Karen took one look at her and asked, “Has she tried to escape or something?”

“Um, she’s here under duress. She’s supposed to be chained.”

“You don’t have a gun?” Karen seemed to deliberately tack patience onto each word.

“I have one.” There was that peevish tone again.

“Then get that shackle off her. Man, Corey, where’re your brains?” Before the disgruntled woman could answer, Karen added, “Nah, don’t bother. I really don’t want to know.”

As much as she didn’t want to do it, Erika kept pacing. The second she saw Corey’s furious expression, she sighed in relief. It wasn’t worth the exertion if she didn’t irritate Corey in the process. “Do you see this? She’s just trying to annoy me!”

“If you ignored her, she’d quit. I bet she stops the minute you step out that door.”

“Probably,” the woman muttered, giving Erika even more personal satisfaction. It was worth every minute of self-inflicted torture. Every second, really.

As predicted, the minute Corey passed through the door Erika plopped onto the couch and put her feet up. Glancing at Karen, she stretched. “What took you so long?”

“I got here the minute it was safe. Oh, and we’re leaving.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’re going to park your car in the garage at Helen Franklin’s and then we’re taking off again.”

“Where to?”

“What matters,” Karen continued with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, “is that you’ll be away from here. They don’t expect us to move you, there’s been no threat, so it’s perfect.” After downing a glass of water, Karen crossed the room and sank into “Keith’s” chair. “We’re close,
Erika. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was less than a week.”

Keith felt ridiculous. Why should he be nervous? The helicopter was less than an hour out. The only disadvantage to the move was that it meant they now had electricity, which meant she could torture him with the movie for days if she wanted to—and she’d want to. That thought made him smile. No one could say protecting Erika Polowski was dull. Nope. No one.

The cottage—you really couldn’t call it a cabin—had been left spotless by the last occupants—a great relief after the previous cabin. In fact, it looked as if they’d stepped into someone’s home rather than a safe house stuck in the coastal woods of Oregon. The décor, style, everything seemed to indicate that Martha Stewart planned to stop in and critique or something. Comfortable furniture filled the living spaces; personal touches to bedrooms such as school awards and posters hinted at a real family home. Either it truly belonged to someone in the Agency, or the house was a masterpiece of diversionary proportions. Regardless, it impressed Keith.