Griff's blood chilled. In a week of watching, no one had picked Winters up. She took the Metro. Rain or shine, she walked the three blocks to the station. Every. Day.
Her apartment door opened, and she emerged dragging a rolling suitcase. Even in the dim morning light, he could see what surveillance had burned into his memory—delicate features framed by thick shoulder-length curls that she usually kept pulled back for work but now hung loose around her face. Her glasses caught the streetlight as she looked up and down the street. The oversized cardigan she'd thrown over her sweatshirt made her slight frame look even smaller, more vulnerable.
The driver—broad shoulders, military bearing—got out to help load her luggage into the trunk. Winters stood barely to his shoulder, having to tilt her head back to speak to him. Even from across the street, Griff could see her body language. Stiff. Uncomfortable. The way she kept adjusting her glasses, pushing those curls behind her ear—all her tells screaming that wherever she was headed, she wasn't thrilled about it.
The SUV pulled away from the curb. Another stiff shot of adrenaline spiked through his chest. Tank's last message echoed in his mind:They're cleaning house, brother. Watch your six.
He started his bike and fell in behind the SUV, keepingtwo cars between them. Not toward the Hoover Building. Or Quantico. East. Toward Joint Base Andrews.
Thankful for his military-grade headset, he voice-dialed a familiar number.
His phone buzzed in his helmet. “Seriously? It’s barely even light out, Hawkins.”
"Need a favor. No questions."
Needles' gravelly voice carried equal parts annoyance and concern. "You know I'm retired, right?"
"Your Gulfstream isn't. I need a ride. ASAP."
A heavy sigh. "Where’s the target headed?”
“Andrews.”
“I’ve still got friends working the tower. Meet me there at 0700. This better be worth it."
He wanted it to be sooner, but Needles would have to get to his plane and then arrange to land at the military base. Griff would have to trust that his buddy could get a line on her flight’s destination.
By the time Griff reached the base, the sky had lightened to a dim gray. Winters was already being escorted from the SUV toward a C-130 hulking on the tarmac. Military transport. Someone had pulled serious strings to get a desk jockey on that huge bird.
Through his binoculars, he watched her climb the stairs slowly, one hand gripping the rail, the other clutching her laptop bag. The wind from the props whipped her curls across her face, and she paused to push them back with that same nervous gesture he'd catalogued over three weeks—middle finger sliding her glasses up, palm smoothing the unruly hair behind her ear. That oversized sweater she wore flapped in the prop wash, making her look like a kid playing dress-up in adult clothes. Even from here, he could see her looking back toward the terminal. Second thoughts written all over her face.
Too late for those, lady.
A call came through over his earbuds. “I touched down on the east runway. Taxiing to your position now.”
“Roger that, bro.”
"Needles" Patel was already talking to flight control when Griff jogged up the stairs, the whine of engines filling the early morning air. Former Air Force, best pilot Griff had ever known besides Ronan Quinn, and the only person who'd never asked why he'd gone ghost three months ago.
"Chasing C-130s now?" Needles called from the cockpit. "That's a new low, even for you."
Griff dropped into the cabin, securing his gear.
His friend grimace. "You look like something the cat dragged in, buried, and dug up again. When's the last time you slept? Or ate something that wasn't from a vending machine?"
The Gulfstream's engines spooled up, drowning out Griff's non-answer. Ten minutes later they were airborne, chasing a military transport across American airspace as the sun broke the horizon.
"So," Needles said over the intercom, "who are we following?”
“A hunch.”
“At least tell me she’s a pretty one.”
“How do you know it’s a woman?”
“Dude.” Needles snorted. “I know that look.”
“What look? I don’t have a look.”
