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Everything was going to be okay. Within ten minutes it would be over. Soon after that, she would be back in her condo, waiting for Connor to finish up his job.
Easy peasy.
She pulled the hood over her head. “All right. I’m going in.”
Everly locked the car and fell into step beside her. “I’ve got binoculars. I’ll be watching the whole time. What’s the signal if you get into trouble?”
“Besides screaming my head off and running away?” Lara had decided Everly was really into the spy stuff.
“Yes, besides that.” Everly also didn’t give in to sarcasm.
“I stretch my left arm twice and you come running.”
Everly took a turn to her left. “Be careful.”
Lara walked on alone, deeply aware of the night around her. Up ahead, the amber glow of the lights from the Lincoln Memorial beckoned. She jogged up the path, wanting more than anything to get this over with so she could get home to Connor.
She’d lived in that condo for two years, ever since her breakup with Tom. It had been her refuge, and now she couldn’t think of the place without seeing Connor in it. She would never be able to walk into her bedroom without picturing him asleep in her bed, his big masculine body so incongruous against her dainty pink and yellow comforter. She wouldn’t be able to walk into the kitchen without envisioning him there, a mug of coffee in his hands.
She was in love with Spencer Connor. She had to get him to come around on the name thing. She couldn’t go the rest of her life calling him by his last name, though Spencer didn’t seem to fit him.
Lara hiked up the stairs that led to the memorial. She appreciated not being completely alone, though the homeless man sitting on the steps with the hood of his jacket covering his face didn’t really give her a warm and fuzzy feeling. She usually stopped and tried to talk to people so obviously down on their luck, but something about this one made her hurry along. She swore she could feel his eyes on her despite the fact that she couldn’t see his face.
A couple holding hands strode down the steps beside her, and she convinced herself to look away from the man in the hood and continue on. After all, Everly was out there. Even though she’d only just met the woman, they’d connected. Lara’s gut told her she and Everly would be good friends.
Hopefully their closeness would come from shared adventures and not because Everly had to shoot people to save her.
She reached the top of the steps, only slightly out of breath. At this time of night, the rangers who conducted tours were gone. She looked up the length of the Doric columns of the memorial and then behind her. The reflecting pool stretched between the Lincoln and Washington Memorials. Somewhere out there Everly was watching.
“You made it. I wondered if you would.”
Thank god. She was worried he’d draw her inside the monument where Everly likely wouldn’t be able to see her. She turned to find her confidential informant standing near the entrance. He looked thoroughly unremarkable—average height and weight, hair a nondescript brown, probably in his midthirties. As he had the last time they’d met, he wore a tweed blazer, button-down white shirt, and khaki slacks. An old-school fedora perched on his head, as if he’d stepped out of a forties-era film. It struck her as a little costume-like, but then she suspected one had to be a bit dramatic to schedule midnight meetings at national monuments.
“Of course I came. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I noticed you’ve been keeping some interesting company.”
“Oh, you’re talking about Connor. He has nothing to do with this. Don’t worry. I can handle him.”
“Do you think so?” He gave her a faint smile that suggested she was delusional and it sent a little tremor of unease up her spine. “Have you continued looking into Joy Hayes’s death?”
She hadn’t mentioned that to him before. “How did you know about that research?”
“I know a lot of things. I hadn’t planned on sharing this with you. I had selected one of your neighbors to be my point person for that. Fredrick Gallagher is a very curious character. He’s a big player in the ancient alien world and he sure does like his conspiracy theories.”
“He’s not a crackpot.” Her mind was reeling with the thought that this guy also had his eye on Freddy, who had obviously been his first choice. Why? How did he know Freddy? Nothing made sense.
“Oh, he is, but unfortunately, he’s a highly intelligent one and he’s onto something. I started tracking his movements. After he visited three television stations in the Midwest and shared some of his findings with you, I knew you were the perfect partner to bring into this, especially since Freddy can’t function in the real world.”
“I thought you wanted to use Capitol Scandals.”
“Not at all, but once I realized you were already involved, I decided you and your platform were the better choice. You can eventually be my go-between with many people. If you haven’t yet, there’s another woman I want you to meet.”
“Everly Parker.”
A hint of a smile lit his face. “Very good. I like to see my girls getting along. You understand that this goes far beyond her brother’s death.”
“I understand that Natalia Kuilikov is very important. I don’t understand what she has to do with Maddox Crawford’s death, and I definitely have no idea how she’s tied into Joy Hayes’s assassination.”
His smile widened. “I’m glad to hear you using the right words. The papers all called her death a tragic accident. But we both know Zack Hayes was never the target.”
The evidence haunted her nightly. “No. He wasn’t. Did the president kill his wife?”
“Now if I told you that, we wouldn’t need to have these charming meetings.”
“I’m almost out of time. Is Natalia Kuilikov alive?”
“Yes. Does Connor Sparks have you on a tight leash?”
“He doesn’t know I’m gone and I would like to keep it that way.” The question replayed in her mind, and Lara realized what he’d asked. “Sparks? His name is Spencer. Spencer Connor.”
The informant scoffed. “That one doesn’t have much of an imagination. I assume he showed up just as the Russians started tracking you.”
“Russians? It’s a Russian who’s trying to kill me?”
“Kill you? They certainly wouldn’t want to kill you. They want to track you.”
“You’re wrong. Someone already tried to shoot me in broad daylight at a bus stop.”
“Maybe someone’s gone rogue.” He shrugged. “But the Russians know I’ve been in touch so you have to be smarter than their organization. They want exactly what you want—Natalia Kuilikov’s location. You need to beat
the Russians to her and find out where she hid Sergei. She’s the only one who knows. Without that information, you’ll never find the truth.”
“Who is Sergei?”
“Isn’t that the million-dollar question? All I can say is Sergei is the man who will destroy the president someday. He will take down everything Zack Hayes holds dear. If you want to know why, you’ll have to find him.” He held out a slip of paper. “These are five known aliases used by Natalia. She’s likely using something else now, but we’re all creatures of habit. Find her. She can lead you to Sergei. And be careful with Connor Sparks. He isn’t what he seems.”
