“Anything you can tell me about?”
“Not really.”
“You’re no fun.”
Teren grinned.
“So, where are we staying?”
Teren glanced into the rear view mirror and switched lanes. “The Hilton Airport. It’s close by, and has an excellent restaurant.”
Alex’s stomach chose that moment to growl. She turned red and covered her face. Teren laughed.
“I knew airline food wasn’t going to keep you satisfied.”
Alex dropped her hand from her face. “You should talk, Miss I’d-like-another-bag-of-peanuts-please.”
“Oh, come on, those things are so tiny you could inhale them.”
“You should know, you inhaled yours, mine, the one that woman in the strange purple shirt gave you, and you even thought of asking for a fourth.”
“Yeah, well, at least I didn’t fall asleep in the restroom.”
Alex turned bright red, and glared. “You said you wouldn’t bring that up.”
“I won’t. When there’re other people around.”
Alex continued to glare. “You are such a brat.”
“Yep. Be happy, at least I didn’t ask that nice stewardess in London for a set of pilot’s wings.”
Alex rolled her eyes. Teren turned into the hotel parking lot.
“Don’t they have valet parking?”
“Nope. Not many places in Europe do. Doesn’t matter, really. I wouldn’t use it even if they did.”
“Why not?”
Teren shook her head. “Rule number one: Never use valet parking. If you need to make a quick exit, you won’t have time to wait for your car.”
Alex nodded. “That makes sense. What’s rule number two?”
“Make sure chatty blondes get their own rooms.”
“Oh, hah.”
Teren had actually gotten them a suite, with two bedrooms. They were on the third floor, with a view of the parking lot.
Alex spent a few minutes unpacking, then joined Teren in the front room.
“What’s the plan for the rest of today?”
Teren was thumbing through a phone book.
“First, lunch. Then a nap. I’m not over the jet lag, and I know you’re not. We won’t be much good if we’re so tired we can’t think straight.”
Teren didn’t look up at first, but the silence made her glance around for Alex. The blonde woman was at the window looking down, and Teren could tell there was a sadness, and a guilty look in her eyes.
The dark woman sighed and put the directory down. She moved to stand behind Alex, placing her hands on her friend’s shoulders. “Still feeling guilty, Alex?”
Alex took a deep breath, holding it for several seconds before letting it out. “I was so tired that night. David and I didn’t get in ‘til past one in the morning, and we had an early meeting. I was about to crash when Rick called to say Brogan wanted to talk. I tried to wake up, but I —” she stopped. “Maybe if I had insisted on waiting —”
Teren turned Alex around, keeping a firm hold on her upper arms. “You listen to me, Alex. You were not, and are not, to blame for David’s injury. It wouldn’t have mattered if you had waited, or if you had been more awake, or if you had insisted on a different location. Whatever you decided to do, the ambush would have happened, regardless.”
“But — but I should-”
“No, Alex. You couldn’t have changed a thing. Not one thing. And you want to know why?”
Alex nodded.
“Because it was a set up from start to finish. Someone who was in on your plan tipped off the shooters, and no matter what you did, that wasn’t going to change.” Teren sighed and let go of Alex. She ran a hand through her shortened hair. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. There are just too many coincidences for it to be anything else.”
Alex dropped her chin to her chest. “I don’t want to believe you.”
“You want to keep blaming yourself?”
“No. I don’t want to believe that a cop, or a fellow agent switched sides.”
Teren nodded and turned away. “I know the feeling.”
The pain in Teren’s voice brought Alex out of her daze. “Teren?”
“Hm?”
“You offered to listen if I needed to talk, right?”
“Yes,” Teren said as she turned back to her friend.
“That goes both ways, you know.”
The two of them stared at each other for a moment, then both nodded.
Teren sat back down on the couch and waved a hand at her blonde companion. “Come on. I need to find a number, and you need to decide what to order for lunch.”
“I thought you were ordering because I can’t read the menu?” Alex folded a leg beneath her as she joined Teren on the sofa.
“That’s tonight. But the hotel is used to having foreign, especially American, guests, so they have pictures on the menu, and they all correspond to a number. Usually, whoever’s taking room service orders knows at least a little English, so if you just give them the number you want, you shouldn’t have a problem.”
“Cool. Why can’t I do that tonight?”
“Because I’d like to eat at a real restaurant. And their menu won’t have pictures.” Teren grinned at her. “Which means I could order anything for you, and you wouldn’t know what it was.”
“You wouldn’t.”
The grin got wider.
Alex frowned. “Suddenly I don’t feel like going out tonight.”
Teren laughed.
Chapter Twenty-four
Alex woke from her nap to the sound of Teren’s voice in the next room. She couldn’t undersand the conversation, but she could tell from the strident tones that her friend was having an argument with someone.
She shook her head to clear the last of the sleep images from her mind. Once again she had been plagued with dreams of death and blood, and David’s bleeding body. Alex rubbed her eyes, wondering just how long it would be before the dreams left her alone.
“If this keeps up, I’ll never get any rest,” she mumbled aloud. “Wonder if I can talk Teren into letting me sleep with her?”
Alex had to laugh at herself.
After pulling on her jeans and a fresh t-shirt, she joined Teren in the common room. The tall agent was pacing back and forth in front of the couch, her cell phone in one hand, and a ball point pen in the other. The pen made an irritating clicking noise as Teren pressed its button again and again.
“Nein, es kann nicht noch ein bi?chen warten. Ich mu? jetzt sofort mit ihm sprechen. Ja, ich bestehe darauf.” Teren hesitated a moment in her pacing, noticing Alex watching her from the bedroom door. “Es ist mir egal, ob er in einer Besprechung ist oder nicht. Sagen Sie ihm, es sei dringend.” She gave a nod to Alex and turned to pace again. “Ja, mein Name ist Olind. Vielen Dank.”
Teren turned back to Alex, moving the mouthpiece of the phone away from her. “Hey, you’re awake.”
“Yeah. Who are you yelling at?”
“The bank. Get dressed. It’s past four and we have an appointment at five-fifteen.”
“Where?”
“The Altbusser Galerie.”
“Jeans aren’t a good idea I take it?”
“Well, I don’t think a dress is necessary, but —” she brought the phone back to its original position.
” Herr Meinhard? Frau Olind am Apparat. Mir wurde gesagt, Sie konnten mir helfen. Ich habe mit der Kontonummer 13-C-13 zu tun.” She waited, the pen still clicking in her hand “Herr Meinhard? This is Ms. Olind. I believe you can help me. I’m involved with account number 13-C-13.” She waited, the pen still clicking in her hand.
The man on the other end of the line cleared his throat. She could hear him telling his secretary to wait outside.
” Frau Ohlind. Es ist schon einige Zeit her, da? mich jemand mit dieser Kontonummer angerufen hat.” “Ms. Olind. It has been a long time since someone with that account called me.”
” Das habe ich mir schon gedacht. Ich wurde Sie nicht bemuhen, wenn es nicht so wichtig ware.” “I realize that. I wouldn’t involve you if it wasn’t important.”
“Ich wei? nicht…” “I’m not really sure —”