And why, right now, I’m standing in front of an abandoned warehouse under a flickering streetlight with a bloody machete in my hand.
Blood drips from a cut on my forehead. I blink, then wipe it away from my eyes so I can see the lights from the incoming law enforcement, whose sirens I already hear. They’re coming for me. Now I must decide if I’ll stay or run.
Although I run daily, I’m not arunner.
Perhaps I’ll stay.
FORTY-SEVEN
I WATCH HER
Alessio
Two weeks later
“I’minterested in the part of your story where you say the assassin barged into the hotel room,” Special Agent Koriski says to Lake, who sits across from him in the interrogation room. Today, she wears her hair down, her curls still partially wet from the shower she took a few hours ago before she came in for the interview.
It’s her third one this week now that she’s home in Louisville. And doing well without me. Clearly, she doesn’t need me, but I can’t stop looking after her. Her feelings for me are hers to bear. I have my own feelings I’m dealing with, and they’re different. I love her, and I’ll leave her alone as soon as I’m able to deal with the fact that she wants nothing to do with me.
For now, I obsess. I watch. I help.
After the extraction, Niksha and his team took Lake to a safe location, where agents debriefed her before allowing her to clean up and board the plane home. Her uncle recovered from when he “stumbled” down the stairs. The man might recall that someone pushed him, but for now, he’s obliviously happy he’s better. He thinks he’s getting too old for the townhome and is selling it now.
I think he wants an excuse to move closer to his ex-wife, who’s been doting on him since he got out of the hospital. He’s taking advantage of the attention. Good for him.
Lake’s been resting a lot. Sleeping, mainly. I don’t blame her. She’s gone through a lot.
“I already told you everything yesterday.”
Niksha and his team trained Lake on what she could and couldn’t say to local law enforcement or the feds. Although the agencies play on the same team, US intelligence operates differently from law enforcement. The intelligence agents don’t enforce laws. They enforce the interests of their country.
“I have it on good authority that you were rescued by a foreign operative. Perhaps more than one. We’re concerned they’re working in the country.”
“A Delta team rescued me,” she says.
From the other side of the interrogation room’s glass window, I smile at her tone. She’s annoyed.
“But you don’t deny you met with a foreign operative?” the agent asks.
“If I met one, I wouldn’t know since I’m pretty sure such a person would hide their identity. Unless you can offer a definition of foreign operative that’s different from mine.”
Koriski narrows his eyes. “Is that a no?”
“It’s a request for a definition of an operative so that I can answer your question.”
“Did you meet and have a love affair with a foreigner during your stay overseas?”
“Respectfully, that’s none of your business. I worked as a journalist and a governess.”
“You worked as a governess for a private citizen, yes? One Alessio Angelini?”
Lake looks away. “Yes.”
“Uh-oh,” Niksha murmurs from where he’s standing beside me.
“Can you tell me about him?”
She sighs. “What do you want to know?”
