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It only existed because two massive buildings no longer stood here.
I knew where we were. And my stomach lurched because, suddenly, I knew what Maravic was planning.
I got to my feet, hauling Tanya up with me, and pointed through the rain to the parapets inscribed with thousands of names.
“When 9/11 happened,” I said, “the stock market lost one point four trillion.”
Her jaw went slack and she turned sheet-white.
We’d been missing the obvious. What would give the economy that sudden, sharp plunge that the algorithm would turn into a tailspin? What would require someone like Maravic? What would need guns?
A terrorist attack on American soil.
41
TANYA
We withdrew to an alley and stood shivering in the darkness, trying to stay out of the thousand little waterfalls of rainwater spilling down from the buildings around us. Between the sewer and the rain, our clothes were soaked through and there was enough of a breeze blowing that we were freezing. It was a low point. “What now?” grumbled Colton.
I thought hard. “Maravic said that your CIA boss, Steward, was meeting the person in charge tomorrow at two, in Washington DC. If we go to DC, find Steward and follow him, we can find out which country’s behind this.”
Colton stared at me, incredulous. “This guy’s trying to catch us and you want to go right to his home?”
I shrugged. “It’s the one place he won’t think to look.”
He cursed under his breath and scowled at the ground. “It’s a dumb-ass idea,” he said. Then, after a while. “I’m only saying yes because I ain’t got a better one.”
We stole a car and headed out of the city. At a truck stop, we stripped out of our stinking, wet clothes and had hot showers. Finally, I was able to wash my hair and feel clean again. The only problem came when it was time to put on new clothes. I’d put Colton in charge of buying us something to wear and he showed up wearing gray sweatpants and a red sweatshirt that said ‘Bad Truckin’ Attitude.’ But the wad of clothes he held out to me was pink. And why did my sweatshirt have a cartoon rabbit on it? Wait, that’s not a sweatshirt.
“Pajamas?!” I moaned in horror.
“It’s a truck stop,” he said apologetically. “There’s not a whole lot of choice in women’s clothes.”
I held them up and stared at the lettering on the front. “Sleepy Bunny,” I read, deadpan.
Colton gave a snort of laughter, but wisely turned away and pretended to be coughing. I glared at him, but it was either the pajamas or travel to DC in a towel. Chyort! I went back into the shower stall and pulled on the pajamas, then winced when I saw myself in the mirror. If the rest of the GRU could see me now…
I stomped out to the parking lot, feeling Colton smiling as he fell in beside me. It was a long drive to DC and he took the first shift driving while I curled up in the passenger seat. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep but it had been a long day. And the pajamas were soft and cozy. I was used to sleeping naked, or in lingerie. I hadn’t worn pajamas since I was a child and I’d forgotten how comforting they were…
I jerked awake. I could feel I was in a moving car and immediately assumed I’d been kidnapped. I grabbed my gun and pointed it at—
I blinked at Colton and slowly lowered my gun, remembering. I was safe, or as safe as life ever got for me. And—my stomach flipped with the strangeness of it—I wasn’t alone. Even though I’d pushed him away, Colton was still helping me, protecting me. I trusted him enough that I’d fallen fast asleep right next to him. And now he was glancing across at me like—
I frowned at him. What? I looked down at myself. I certainly didn’t look sexy. After the fire and the rain, my make up had been a ruined mess and I’d scrubbed the remains of it from my face in the truck stop shower. My hair was still damp and I was wearing pink Sleepy Bunny pajamas. I frowned. I was used to wearing either black military gear and sturdy boots to sneak into an airbase, or plunging necklines and lots of lip gloss to seduce an ambassador. I never looked like this, like some woman lounging on the couch watching Netflix. And yet Colton kept glancing my way, smiling, as if I was—
I narrowed my eyes. As if I was adorable.
“Watch the road,” I told him gruffly. And tried to ignore the unfamiliar warmth that was spreading through my chest.
Around three in the morning, we pulled over and I got behind the wheel. Since the passenger seat really wasn’t big enough for him to sleep in, Colton stretched out on the back seat. After a few miles, I realized that he was lying down but wasn’t closing his eyes. He’d pulled out a metal…something and was gazing at it. “What are you looking at?” I asked.
