LITMIR.BIZ

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Sean that Natalie’s plan would work. The informant didn’t want to be blown to bits either.

      “I’m guessing you don’t want to die either,” he said. “Come on, Natalie. Let’s get out of here.”

      Together, they walked toward the exit. At the door, Natalie turned and faced the still-stunned man. “Tell whoever sent you that I won’t be bullied.”

      The stranger followed them outside to the back alley, muttering under his breath. “Come on, man, they’re going to kill me.”

      Sean shrugged. “Better than killing yourself. Go crawl back into whatever hole you came from.”

      “Wait.” Natalie stepped forward. “Are those even real explosives?”

      The man shrugged. “I don’t know. They gave me six hundred pounds to put this thing on. Promised me another grand if I brought them the info.”

      “Where?” Sean demanded. “When and where were you supposed to meet them?”

      Sweat rolling down his face, the man blurted out an address.

      “I know the area,” Natalie said. “Bad part of town.”

      “Of course.”

      “I don’t get it,” Natalie continued. “They only ask for the coded message. What good will it do them?”

      “Maybe the Hungarian has his own code specialists.”

      Her eyes went wide. “Of course,” she breathed. “That’s why he doesn’t need me. He must have already broken the code.”

       Chapter 11

      Stone-faced, the informant said nothing.

      “Tell them this. I know they need whatever part of the message I’ve got. I haven’t cracked the code yet, but I will. And when I do, I’m going after whatever it reveals. If they want it, they’ve got to negotiate a hell of a lot better.”

      The man nodded and took off running.

      Once back in the car, Natalie began to shiver. She didn’t know why—she hadn’t been that cold. But the steady rain had soaked through her coat, granting the chill easy access to her skin.

      “I’ll crank up the heater as soon as the motor warms,” Sean promised. “When we get back to the inn, you need to jump into the shower.”

      “And make it hot.” She shivered again. “As hot as I can stand it.”

      His gaze darkened, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he turned his attention back to the road.

      Once back in their room, she took the first shower, careful to lock the door behind her. Only when she was dressed did she open the door.

      “Your turn,” she told him, toweling her hair. “All that warmth feels wonderful.”

      He nodded. When he entered the lavatory, he left the door ajar. As soon as she heard the shower start up, she gently tugged it closed. She hated that she had to force herself not to glance inside, knowing that the sight of Sean’s naked, water-slicked body would be more than she could resist.

      While Sean was in the shower, she called Auggie. He answered on the first ring, sounding unsurprised to hear from her. “I just got off the phone with Corbett,” he told her.

      “He arranged a meeting for Sean and I with an informant who turned out be working for the other side,” she said to him, relaying the man’s supposed bomb and his demand for the code. “I don’t understand it, Aug. If they were going to go that far, why didn’t they just take me hostage?”

      “Or take you out, entirely.”

      “Exactly. All they would have needed was one man with a high-powered rifle.”

      “Have you told Corbett?”

      “Not yet. Sean will probably call him when he gets out of the shower.”

      “Corbett’s worried.” Auggie coughed. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. Lass, you’re in grave danger.”

      She laughed, she couldn’t help it. “No lie. Tell me something I don’t know, Aug. That’s part of the job. You know that.”

      “But this is different,” he insisted. “It’s personal. You need to get out.”

      “I can’t. They have my father. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t back down now.”

      The silence on the other end of the phone stretched on so long she wondered if he’d hung up. “Are you still there?”

      “Yes.” He cleared his throat. “I need to talk to you, then. Privately.”

      “So talk.”

      “Not on the phone. Not about this.”

      It wasn’t like Auggie to be mysterious and secretive. “The line is secure.”

      “Maybe. Maybe not. We need to talk in person,” he insisted. “Our old meeting place.”

      Auggie had helped her keep her sanity after she’d lost Sean. They’d met weekly in an obscure little beer garden frequented mostly by students. As her sorrow grew unmanageable and SIS refused to let her return to work, Auggie had been the recipient of numerous late-night phone calls. He’d also been the shoulder she’d cried on during red-eyed coffee-shop meetings at the crack of dawn.

      Literally, Auggie had become her best friend. She trusted him with her life. They’d continued their meetings, less frequently as time went on, but their beer garden had continued to be their favorite meeting place.

      Until she’d quit drinking. Meeting in a beer garden wasn’t conducive to staying sober.

      If he said they had to meet in person, then they had to meet in person. But the beer garden?

      “Auggie, you know I don’t drink anymore.”

      “You drink hot cider, right?”

      Breathing a sigh of relief, she nodded. Then, realizing he couldn’t see her, she said yes.

      “They serve that. No one knows about this place but us—no one. So we can’t be followed or overheard. Please, meet me there. This is important.”

      “When?”

      “Tonight. And come alone.”

      “What time?”

      “Normal time.”

      He was being careful. Normal time for them had been ten o’clock at night, which might work to her advantage. If she was lucky, Sean would fall asleep early. If not, ditching Sean before then would be damn near impossible.

      “How about an hour later?” she asked, to be on the safe side. “I’m not sure I can make it before then.”

      After he agreed, she disconnected the call. Whatever Auggie had to tell her must be huge.

      That night, after a big meal, Sean reclined in the overstuffed chair and turned on the television. “I don’t want to talk strategy or even think about anything pertaining to the mission tonight,” he warned her. “I need to relax if I’m to be on my game tomorrow.”

      Since that fitted perfectly with her strategy, Natalie agreed.

      He fell asleep before the early news. Watching him, she suppressed the urge to brush a wayward lock of hair from his forehead.

      Praying he didn’t wake for a few hours, she slipped out the door to meet Auggie. Luckily, the inn was only a few blocks from the agreed-upon meeting place.

      Once she reached the beer garden, she saw the proprietors had enclosed the garden for the winter, using clear plastic tarps over a huge, metal frame. Six-foot-tall patio heaters were situated all around the seating area, and several of the college students had removed

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