Shelby spoke softly, but meaningfully. "I know you would, but you can't and I'm doing just fine. So don't worry about it, okay? We've got too many other things to do right now."
Kris nodded. "You up to hanging out here for a little while? Maybe an hour or so, just to see if she has any visitors? It's okay if you don't want to."
"I want to." She held her arm up until her watch was visible in the dim light. "Besides it's still early – only nine-thirty." Shelby decided it really felt like midnight and she was exhausted, but she wasn't about to let Kris know that.
Still visualizing the earlier strain she'd witnessed on her partner's face, and feeling guilty for asking her to stay, Kris asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure!" Her stomach tightened when she saw the fleeting look of hurt cross her partner's face. She laid a hand on Kris' thigh, and smiled. "Thanks for caring. Now will you quit being such a worry wart?"
Kris knew she was being overprotective, and chuckled at Shelby's description. "Worry wart?"
Shelby teased, "If the shoe fits..."
Kris muttered, "Paybacks are a bitch," grinning when she heard Shelby's answering chuckle.
The time passed slowly, both women tired, but still hopeful of learning something new. Shelby caught herself dozing off, and broke the lengthy silence. "Do you think anyone will show up?"
Kris considered the question a moment. "Not really. But we might get lucky."
Shelby's expression turned pensive as she turned to face Kris. "Have you figured out why Michael is after me?"
"I think it's to discredit me. He blames me for him getting pulled from the field and reassigned as a technical advisor. It was his actions that got him pulled, not my testimony. But if he's tied in with the Russians, that incident makes a lot more sense in hindsight. He may have had an entirely different agenda. I never bought his excuses or the board's findings that he had just used poor judgment. Michael was too controlled for that."
The analyst mulled that over for a few moments. "Why did he wait so long? You said that happened almost three years ago. Why didn't he do something before now?"
Kris shrugged, speculating. "We're pretty inaccessible in the field. He'd have had no way of finding me. Even those with top access don't necessarily know where we are all the time." She glanced in the side view mirror tracking a tenant's progress to their vehicle. "Someone told him I was here. Probably Maggie. We don't know what her relationship with Michael is, but she was totally focused on him that day in the canteen. I suspect they're more than casual friends."
Shelby searched her memory for what seemed liked the hundredth time for any clue she might have overlooked about Maggie. "I wonder how long she's been providing the Russians with information?"
"I don't know, but probably for a while now." Kris shifted, trying to get comfortable in the cramped confines of the car. "She seemed perfectly comfortable making that drop. It would also explain how the Russians found out so quickly that I was in town."
"Yeah, that makes sense." A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she asked, "Do you think she knows you're a mole?"
The operative's eyes never stopped perusing their surroundings, her senses fully extended, as she considered Shelby's question. "No. But her handlers would want to know of any field agents at headquarters. It probably made Dimitri's day when he found out I was here."
Shelby nodded in agreement, watching a car drive past on a side street. "He'll get what he has coming to him once we get your mother out of there. It's only a matter of time."
Kris smiled at her partner's steadfast belief they would be successful and knew Shelby's optimism was helping to fuel her own hope for her mother's safe rescue. "Have I told you lately that I love you?"
The blonde looked up at the ceiling of the car. "Lemme think...not more than twice today. Personally, I think at least once an hour would be much more appropriate."
Shelby smiled, loving the sound of Kris' laughter as it quietly surrounded her.
"Is that right? I'll be sure and keep that in mind."
"I'm gonna hold you to that." Shelby's smile faded, a serious expression replacing it. "I love you, too, Kris. Every second, every minute, every hour of every day, I wonder how I got so lucky."
Overwhelmed by the intensity of Shelby's declaration, Kris swallowed, her words trapped in her throat. Every time she looked into her partner's eyes, she was again reminded that love really did exist. It wasn't just an illusion, as she'd always believed. "I'm the one who's lucky."
They each sat at their respective posts, across from each other in the car watching their surroundings in comfortable silence, their bond drawing them inexorably closer.
Kris was first to spot the tall, dark man walking up the sidewalk. "Here comes some guy. I never saw any headlights, so I doubt he lives here. He probably parked on a side street around here."
As the figure drew near, Shelby asked, "Is that Michael?" and glanced over at Kris, only to find her partner's eyes were riveted on the tall man.
Kris words were laden with tension. "That's him. Now let's see if he goes to Maggie's apartment."
They followed his progress down the sidewalk and up the steps until he stopped in front of Maggie's apartment and knocked. The door immediately opened and he disappeared.
Kris could see little point in remaining in the parking lot. While it would be interesting to follow Michael when he left, it would be difficult to do so without alerting him to their presence given the growing lateness of the evening. She also knew it was possible he might not leave the apartment until morning.
She glanced over at Shelby. "You ready?"
"Yeah, if you are."
The operative started the car and left the headlights off until they were out of sight of the apartment building. "I want to see if we can find his car."
"Good idea. It'd be nice to have proof it was Michael." Shelby began scanning the cars parked along the street, searching for a black Lincoln with a license plate matching the one Jonathan had given her earlier.
Her effort was rewarded minutes later when they located the car on a neighboring side street. Kris drove past the car, not wanting to appear suspicious in the residential neighborhood, and headed for Shelby's apartment. "Guess that answers that."
"So what do we do, now that we know it's him?" Shelby raised her hand to her mouth, trying to hide a yawn that wouldn't be denied.
Kris knew just how she felt and was glad they were finally heading for the apartment. "Right now, nothing. If he knew of my connection to the Russians, he'd have already used it against me. It helps that we know who is behind the attacks and where he's been getting his information."
Shelby glanced at Kris curiously. "Aren't you going to turn them in?"
"Yeah, after we set them up so the Company can move in." Barely audibly, she added, "But not yet."
Shelby barely heard the whispered words, immediately understanding Kris' trepidation. If the Russians suspected the operative of setting up two of their agents, her mother would never survive long enough for them to locate her. Unable to think of anything to ease Kris' worry, she remained silent.
Gregor headed through the hallways of the embassy toward Dimitri's office. He had to find a way back into his superior's good graces and was willing to do anything, including grovel, to accomplish his goal. He'd never expected Dimitri to learn of Shelby's value on his own and then flaunt his knowledge.
The Russian knew he was treading a thin line, and he considered himself very lucky not to have been sent back to the motherland in disgrace. He'd intended to best his superior and had failed. Now he had to convince Dimitri that he was still valuable.