Kam handed his phone to Taylor. "Pull up the tracking app and see where our trackers are headed."
"One is headed towards downtown and the other is still at the airport." Taylor reported.
"Be my eyes and let me know where that first tracker is headed." Kam headed away from the airport and towards downtown Anchorage. To many visitors, Anchorage didn’t seem like that big of a city, but for Alaska standards, it was big enough. Taller buildings gave way to houses, shops, and smaller hotels. There wasn't an impressive skyline or enormous skyscrapers, but Anchorage blended the wildness of Alaska with modern city conveniences.
"Looks like he is stopping at Moose Hotel," Taylor announced.
Kam made another right and went past the hotel so that they could park where they wouldn't be easily spotted. "Are you hungry?"
"How can you possibly want to eat at a time like this? My one shot at clearing my name just died and we are chasing a Russian spy who'll never talk."
Kam put his hand on Taylor's knee. "Hey. We'll figure this out. Even if it's the last thing I do. Okay?" He waited for her to nod. "Now, we should eat something. How do you like reindeer dogs?"
She looked towards the hotel and understanding dawned on her face. "I haven't had one in months, but one is sounding really good right now."
"Here." Kam handed her the cap she had thrown on the floor. "You'll want to keep your head down and resist looking higher than you need to. This is the big city and traffic cameras are a thing here."
Taylor snorted. "You know, when I got transferred to Alaska, I thought Anchorage wasn't all that much of a city. Then I got placed in Seward and I learned that Anchorage indeed was the Alaskan version of the big city."
Taylor met Kam on the sidewalk and slipped her hand into his. The move sent a jolt through him. They had shared a fewkisses, but that was in the heat of the moment and then to protect a cover. This felt like more. He squeezed her hand three times then she squeezed twice in return. This was a move they did many times before that last deployment when their worlds literally blew apart. He was going to hold on to her until they were both out of this whirlwind.
The smells from the International House of Hot Dogs made his stomach rumble. Food was definitely the right choice. Taylor tilted her head towards him, still having the bill of her hat cover most of her face.
She smirked. "You always could eat."
Kam laughed. "Always. And some things will never change."
The smirk slipped from her lips and Kam gave himself a mental slap on the back of the head. Time for a subject change. "As a kid, I'd always get the Mac n' Cheese Dog."
"Sounds intriguing." She slipped her hand from his as they approached the order window.
They sat at the picnic tables next to the food truck as they waited for their food to finish. Kam kept an eye on the hotel doors at the other end of the narrow parking lot. The windows and doors to the lobby were slightly tinted, which made it difficult to see inside too far. Who exactly were they following? Was this an FSB agent? Or someone from Spartak like they suspected?
"Got eyes on our target?" Taylor's question brought him out of the spiral of questions in his head.
Kam lifted his chin to the phone Taylor held. "Has the tracker moved?"
"The one inside is still there, but the other one is moving towards the parking garage at the airport now."
Great. Soon they'd have to deal with the Russians, too. Kam tapped his fingers on the table. "Do you want to know what your handler had to say?" His fingers stilled at Taylor's question.
He gave her a curt nod. Taylor cleared her throat. "Bring in the mole and I'll try to stop the ghost protocol. What exactly does that mean?"
Kam fisted his hand on the table. "They want me to trade your freedom to prevent them from burning me."
"To be clear, what will they do to you?"
Kam reached across the table and took her hand in his. "I'm a ghost. Even though they will deny my existence, they still offer protections to keep me invisible. They want me to turn you in so that I can keep those protections."
"And without those protections?" Taylor swallowed hard.
"Let's just say that the FSB would love to eliminate me. Not to mention that Spartak blames me for Ian's capture."
She squeezed his fingers, "Then turn me in. You can't possibly live a life without those protections."
Kam sat forward and leaned toward her. "I will never turn you in. I would rather live my life on the run than know that you will never see the outside of a prison cell again." He touched her cheek. "I just got you back, I'm not going to let you go."
Taylor closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. He stayed there a moment and pulled strength from her contact.
