you okay?
Yes.
Need a place to stay?
No.
If you do, I have room. So does Charlie.
Thanks.
Let me help more.
You are. Dig into Carpenter.
Will do. Be careful out there. I’m here whenever you need me.
Good to know.
Got a burner phone. Need to stop using this number in case it’s being monitored. Call me for the number.
Cole waited, hoping she’d call. For several minutes, he didn’t hear anything, text or voice. Then his personal cell phone chirped.
Unknown Caller.
“It’s me,” he answered.
“Number?” a female voice said.
He gave her the number and waited for more.
The call ended.
Disappointment piled onto frustration made Cole clench his fist. How could he do the job of protecting CJ if she wouldn’t let him get close?
His burner phone vibrated. His pulse leaped and he lifted it to his ear. “It’s me.”
“It’s me,” she echoed.
Cole smiled. CJ’s husky voice flowed over him like warm chocolate, oozing into every one of his pores.
“Better,” he said. “Now, tell me...did you find a place to stay?”
“For now.”
“Did you have any trouble getting away from the Trinity guy after you?”
“No.”
She wasn’t very forthcoming with information. Cole sighed. “What are my chances of actually seeing you so that I can protect you?”
She laughed, the sound like music in his ears. She almost sounded like a different person. “Slim to none. I don’t need protection.”
“Would you have made it out of the library without my help?”
“Yes.”
“Did my assistance help you make it out without an altercation?”
She hesitated. “Yes. Thank you for the heads-up.”
“It can’t be easy searching the web on public computers. Charlie has a room full of computers in a secure location.”
“Thanks, but I’ll manage.”
He felt her pulling away. “CJ?”
She didn’t answer, but the line didn’t go dead.
Cole continued. “I really want to help you.”
“Find the Director.”
“We’re working on it,” he said, wanting to reach through the airwaves and grab her hand.
“I’ll be in touch.”
And the call ended.
Cole sighed. At least he’d heard from her and gotten her onto a more secure line. He wanted her to be more tangible, to see her, touch her and know she was close so that he could protect her. At the same time, the woman was still alive after living a year outside of Trinity. She knew what she was doing and having someone else hanging around might slow her down.
Patience was never something Cole had in abundant supply.
He lifted his personal cell phone, not the burner phone he’d used with CJ, and dialed Charlie Halverson’s estate.
Declan O’Neill answered. “Hey, Cole. Got anything new?”
“Heard from CJ.”
“Good to know,” Declan said. “Was wondering when she’d make contact.”
“Dig into the Homeland Security Advisor, Chris Carpenter, since he’d texted Terrence Tully prior to the NSC incident.”
“I’ll get Jonah on it.” Declan paused. “Did she say anything else?”
“No.” Cole explained what had gone down with messages on the dark web and Trinity finding her at the library in Arlington.
“Does she need a place to stay? Charlie would happily put her up for as long as necessary.”
Cole shook his head, though Declan couldn’t see it. “She said she has a place for now. I gotta tell you, this assignment is killing me. How do I protect a woman I can’t see?”
Declan chuckled. “It’s like she’s a ghost. Most likely she’s gun-shy.”
Cole snorted. “I know I would be if I had a target painted on my back. Trinity doesn’t like to lose one of their own.”
“To Trinity she’s a loose end that needs to be tied up.”
“With a bullet.” Cole’s jaw tightened.
“That’s why you need to get closer to her and keep that from happening.”
“Tell me about it.” Declan was preaching to the choir. If only Cole could get close enough. Then he might be able to do his job.
In the meantime, all he could do was continue to sift through clues and data to find the Director.
Until CJ came out of the shadows, she was on her own.
Contrary to what she’d told Cole, CJ didn’t have a place to stay that first night after abandoning her apartment. She’d slept behind some bushes in a quiet neighborhood, leaving just before sunup to sneak into the twenty-four-hour gym she’d joined, paying for her annual membership in cash. After weight lifting and a run on the treadmill, she hit the shower and changed into clean clothes. She didn’t think she’d be able to come back to the gym. Trinity had come too close the day before. If she was smart, she’d leave the DC area and start a new life in a different state. Hell, a different country wouldn’t be far enough.
After a breakfast of a protein bar she had stashed in her backpack, she went in search of a new place to live. She’d done her own homework about the man assigned to protect her. Cole McCastlain lived in a town house in Arlington.
Last night, CJ learned that a town house a few doors down from the one Cole lived in was being sublet. The owners had just left on a world cruise and wouldn’t be back for six months. She
