I point to the exit and she follows. I stay behind her, my hand on her shoulder, leading her out of the bar and to my vehicle.
Charlie stays silent, having learned from the incident in Copenhagen. I want to ask her so many questions.What she was thinking talking to Blaed? Is this the first time she saw him? Have they met before? How did she suspect she was in danger?
But I save all of it. Because there is no way Blaed Johannson just stumbled on Charlie Ross at a random tiki bar. That I can conclude on my own.
I drive down the road, the Gulf of Mexico to our right. The sun is setting and the water, while beautiful, is blinding. About a mile later, I pull over into a public lot.
I get out of the car and Charlie follows me. I grab a spare towel from the back, one I usually use after a training ride, and march over to the beach. My shoes will be full of sand. I’m not dressed for this location, but it’s our best bet right now.
The sound of the waves and the gulls is loud enough to distract me from all I want to say to Charlie. First things first, I need to check for any planted devices.
The thought of Blaed touching her and planting a tracker on her body makes my own skin crawl. I decide to check her bag first.
I lay out the towel and gesture for her purse. Charlie gives me a confused look. I’m too angry to do anything but scowl at her until she hands it to me.
I turn the enormous bag over and the contents spill out. Her wallet. Cell phone. A pack of gum. Receipts. Loose change. A tampon. And then, unmissable: a tracking dot. Small but powerful.
I hold it up to show Charlie. She takes a half-step back. I’m not sure if she is scared of me and the ire I know I must be showing or the device itself.
I turn sharply and fling the device as hard as I can, throwing it into the Gulf of Mexico. Where I wish I could throw Blaed, the still unknown mole, and whoever else is involved in their schemes.
I need to calm down. The anger coursing through me is akin to what I contended with before I completed basic training. It’s what I felt immediately after I was burned on that botched mission in Osaka. It’s a dangerous feeling and I need to keep my wits about me right now.
I turn back and Charlie is kneeling over the towel and putting everything back into her purse. I should help her. But I still need a moment.
How can she not understand why I am so mad?Blaed is as well trained as I am but has no moral qualms whatsoever about kidnapping, murder, or anything else.How can she not understand that I care about her and seeing her next to such a dangerous person scares me?I want to scream at her and hold her in equal measure.
I stride over to her and she looks up. “Do we still have to be quiet now?” Her voice is low, soft.
“No, but I’d appreciate it.”
“Declan,” Charlie stands, leaving her purse on the towel, “I reached out to you because I was terrified. He knew things about me that I had never told him. I went through my mind for everything I’d said to him over the past month, but I never told him.”
Charlie’s words hit me like a lead pipe. All the trust I’d invested in her threatens to crumble. They’ve interacted before, which means he could have planted that device at their first encounter. “When did you two meet?”
“Ana and I met him after my first week and then I ran into him again a week ago.” It’s a punch to the gut. All this time I’d been falling for Charlie and Blaed was already moving in on her. “Are you mad at me about this? That someone planted a device on me?”
“You should have been smarter about this!” I yell at her.
Charlie takes a step back. I immediately regret my tone, but I am so angry. That Blaed was so close to her. That she looked happy with him.No, that was a ruse, I remind myself.
“This guy used to be in the same unit as me, and he was not one of the honorable ones.”
Charlie doesn’t respond. I can see the implications settling in. She didn’t know. How could she have suspected that first week when she was in the dark about our clandestine operations? Still, I look away from her, down at the sand. I put my hands on my hips and shake my head. Because I don’t want to know the answer to this next question, but I have to ask it. My stomach turns at the thought of what a “yes” might mean.
“Has he been to your apartment?” I try not to yell at her again, but I know my tone is harsh.
“No!” Charlie answers instantly. Realization dawns across her face. “Wait, do you think he followed me to my house before? Do you think he broke in?”
I did extra training when I began working at FIRE to be able to tell if someone is lying. Charlie is telling the truth. I’m still too mad to try to help quell her rising panic. I exhale and glare at her again.
“Dammit, Ross! I cannot believe you didn’t catch this sooner!” I run my hand through my hair. I want to throw something else. To break something. It doesn’t matter that I trusted Charlie, because she was unknowingly passing information.
“Sorry I’m not an expert in evasive spy techniques or whatever you’d call it.” Charlie crosses her arms, defensive. The sea breeze is whipping her hair about, the dark strands swirl around her face.
“A strange guy pops up multiple times and you don’t think it’s weird?” I ask.
“It’s not exactly a stretch to think a guy is genuinely interested in me.” Her mood has shifted; I’ve hit a nerve. Charlie’s face grows red as she speaks. “I thought at worst he was hitting on me, at best maybe I could make a new friend in a new city.”
