LuAnn reflected briefly on Anthony Romanello. Jackson had hired him to kill her. “So Jackson could know about your meeting with the FBI? He could know where we are right now?”
“And if we go running off to see Lisa, then we lead him right to her as well.”
LuAnn slumped down on the bed. “We can’t do that, Matthew,” she said wearily.
He rubbed her shoulders. “I know.”
“But I want to see my little girl. Can’t I do that?”
Riggs thought for a few minutes and then sat on the bed beside her and held her hands with his. “Okay, we’ll stay here for the night. It would be a lot easier for someone to follow us at night and remain unseen. Tomorrow, we’ll get an early start and head down to Danville. I’ll keep an eagle eye out for anyone remotely suspicious. As an undercover agent, I got pretty good at that. We’ll take secondary roads, make frequent stops, and occasionally take the interstate. It’ll be impossible for anyone to tail us. We’ll meet Charlie and Lisa at the motel and then we’ll have Charlie take her directly to the local FBI office in Charlottesville. We’ll follow in our car but we won’t go in. I don’t want them getting hold of you just yet. But since we struck a deal with the Feds, we might as well avail ourselves of some of their protection resources. How’s that sound?”
She smiled. “So I’ll see Lisa tomorrow?”
He cupped her chin in his hand. “Tomorrow.”
LuAnn called Charlie back, setting the meeting time at one o’clock the following day at the motel in Danville. With Charlie, Riggs, and herself around her little girl, Jackson could just come on and try something, because she liked their odds of survival under those circumstances.
They slid into bed and Riggs wrapped his good arm around her slim waist and snuggled against her. His 9- mm was under his pillow, a chair wedged tightly under the door lock. He had unscrewed a light bulb, broken it, and sprinkled the remains in front of the door. Although he didn’t expect anything to happen, he wanted as much advance warning as he could get if it did.
As he lay next to her he was both confident and uneasy. She apparently sensed this and turned to face him, her hand gently stroking his face.
“Got something on your mind?”
“Anticipation, I guess. When I was with the FBI I had to work hard to keep my patience. I seem to have a natural aversion to delayed gratification.”
“That all?” Riggs slowly nodded. “You sure you’re not sorry you got involved in all this?”
He pulled her closer to him. “Why in the world would I be?”
“Well, let me list some things for you. You’ve been stabbed, and came within an inch of dying. A madman is probably going to try his best to kill us. You stuck your neck out with the FBI for me and your cover is blown, with the result that the people who tried to kill you before may try again. You’re running around the country with me trying to stay one step ahead of everybody and your business is going to hell and it doesn’t look like I’ll have two dimes to rub together to even begin to repay you for everything you’ve done. That cover it?”
Riggs stroked her hair and figured he might as well say it now. Who knew how things were going to go. He might not get another chance.
“You left out the part about me falling in love with you.”
Her breath caught as her eyes drifted over him, taking in every subtle quiver, trying to give them all simultaneous meaning. All the while his words echoed in her head. She tried to say something but couldn’t.
He filled in the silence. “I know it’s probably the world’s worst timing, but I just wanted you to know.”
“Oh, Matthew,” she finally managed to say. Her voice was trembling, everything about her was.
“I’m sure you’ve heard those words before. Lots of times, from guys probably a lot better suited—”
She covered his mouth with her hand but she didn’t say anything for a long minute. He gently kissed her fingers.
Her voice was husky as though she were reaching down deep in order to utter the words. “Other men have said them. But this is the first time I’ve really been listening.”
She stroked his hair and then her lips searched out and found his in the darkness and sunk in, slowly and deeply. They blindly undressed each other, their fingers probing and gently caressing. LuAnn began to softly cry as the unlikely twins of nervous fear and intense happiness fought for dominance. Finally, she just stopped thinking and gave herself over to what she had been looking for for so many years, across so many countries; from precious dreams that rudely dissolved into nightmares, which viciously framed realities that never came close to inspiring in her any more than an extreme ambivalence about her life. She clutched Matthew Riggs hard, as if realizing that this might be her last chance. Their bodies gripped each other for a long time before relaxing. They fell into an exhausted sleep safely in each other’s arms.
Chapter fifty-five
Charlie rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stared over at the phone. It had been a couple of hours since LuAnn had filled him in on all the recent developments and he still couldn’t get to sleep. So Jackson was really Peter Crane. That information personally did him no good, but Charlie figured it would help immeasurably the authorities’ efforts to track the man down. On the downside, if Jackson knew his identity had been discovered, Charlie figured he would be one pissed-off person. And Charlie wouldn’t want anyone he cared for to be in the vicinity of the gentleman if that was the case.
He pulled himself up from the couch. His knees were aching more than usual. All the driving was getting to him. He was very much looking forward to seeing LuAnn. And Riggs too, he supposed. Sounded like the guy had really come through for LuAnn. If he could pull all this off, well, it would be a miracle.
He went into the adjoining room and checked on Lisa. She was still sleeping soundly. He looked at her delicate features, seeing so much of her mother in them. She was going to be tall too. The last ten years had gone by so fast. Where would they all be next week? Where would he be? Maybe with Riggs in the equation, his run was coming to an end. He had no doubt that LuAnn would take care of him financially, but it would never be the same. But what the hell, the whirlwind that represented the last ten years with her and Lisa had been far more than he deserved anyway.
The ringing phone startled him. He checked his watch. Almost two A.M. He snatched up the receiver.
“Charlie?”
Charlie didn’t recognize the voice at first. “Who’s this?”
“Matt Riggs.”
“Riggs? Where’s LuAnn? Is she okay?”
“She’s more than okay. They caught him. They caught Jackson.” His tone was one of unbridled joy.
“Christ Almighty. Hallelujah! Where?”
“In Charlottesville. The FBI had put a team of agents together at the airport and he and his brother walked right into it. I guess he was coming to pay LuAnn back.”
“His brother?”
“Roger. The FBI doesn’t know if he’s involved in all this, but I don’t think they care. They’ve got Peter Crane. They want LuAnn to come to Washington in the morning to give a deposition.”
“Tomorrow? What about meeting us down here?”
“That’s why I called. I want you and Lisa to get packed up right now and meet us in Washington. At the Hoover Building. Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. They’ll be expecting you. I set it all up. If you leave now, you can meet us for breakfast. I personally want to celebrate.”
“And the FBI? The murder charge?”
“All taken care of, Charlie. LuAnn’s home free.”