TWENTY

Allison had several ideas where Will might be hiding. She remembered the names of a few of the low-life degenerates he had hung out with in high school. Three in particular stuck in her mind. They were always in trouble with the law. When they had been around, she had hidden in her room. She wasn’t sure if Will still kept in touch with any of them, but finding out was worth a try. They were all long shots. Getting Liam to cooperate without calling in the troops was going to be tricky.

Liam was carrying his gym bag to the door when she walked out of the bedroom. “Going somewhere?”

She was dressed for the day in a short skirt and a T-shirt with an image of Tweety Bird on the front. Liam had to take the time to appreciate her long legs and promptly lost his train of thought.

“What did you say?” He quickly recovered. “Yes, I have to leave. However, there will be—”

She interrupted. “How about you take me out to breakfast first?”

“I just ate breakfast.”

“Okay, then how about taking a drive before you leave? It’s a beautiful day.”

He studied her. “Want to tell me what you’re up to?”

“Nothing.” She made the lie blacker by adding, “Honest.”

Allison could see in his eyes that he knew she was lying. She smiled sweetly and said, “I’ll be happy to drive.”

“Does this drive have anything to do with your search on your laptop last night?”

She was shocked. “You looked at my screen? That’s private . . . That’s . . .” She stopped when she realized she was sputtering.

“Yes, I did look. The screen was open.”

“Oh . . . okay, then. Should I drive or do you want to?”

“I’ll drive. Will I need my gun on this scenic drive?”

“You always wear a gun. I’m assuming you’ll do so today.”

“Allison?”

“Yes?”

“Am I gonna have to shoot someone?”

“I hope not.” She walked past him and reached for the door. “Are you coming with me?”

“Sure. I’ve got a little time before my replacement arrives.”

“What replacement?”

“Another agent.”

“Why do I need an agent?”

“To go over the rules,” he explained patiently.

“What rules?”

He reached around her, pulled the door open, and waited for her to move. “Are we going or not?”

Frustrated, she put her hands on her hips and said, “What rules?”

“The rules in place until we catch Will and know that Bale has come to his senses.”

“Do you really think I’m in danger from either one of them?”

“Just follow the rules,” he reiterated.

Allison figured she could go to Phillips for answers, but then realized that wouldn’t get her anywhere. He liked to lecture and wasn’t one to share information. Ever.

She followed Liam to the elevator. He was putting her in a mood, she decided. It was odd that he hadn’t asked her where she wanted to go on their drive. She didn’t think Liam liked surprises in his line of work.

She was right. Liam didn’t like surprises, and he would have forced Allison to tell him exactly what her destination was if he didn’t already know. She’d had three names on her computer screen, and he ran all of them. One had joined the army and was overseas—he’d obviously turned his life around before it spun out of control. The second was doing hard time for an armed robbery. And the third was living in LA with his sister and her husband. He was currently trying to get disability for a bogus back injury.

Allison used the map on her phone and gave directions. They stopped in front of a single-story dilapidated house with a battered and faded FOR SALE sign in the front yard. It was partially obscured by trash and weeds. The place looked deserted. Liam put the car in park and Allison stared past him, trying to see if there was movement in one of the windows.

“Liam, I have something to tell you, and I’d like you to try to be reasonable.”

“Reasonable about what?”

She took a breath and, knowing he was about to be extremely unreasonable, said, “This is a house where one of Will’s friends lived. Will could be inside.”

Before she could explain her plan, he said, “He isn’t. Agents checked for me. Went through the house, room by room. It’s empty, and no one’s been there for a long time. See? I can be reasonable.” He smiled after making the statement of fact.

“How did you . . . ?”

“The names were on your screen, and I checked them out.”

She shrugged. “It was a long shot. Will knew them years ago when he was in high school. I remembered them because they were really mean, and they scared me. They were the kind of guys who would easily become violent.”

“What were you hoping to accomplish here?”

“I thought one of them might be hiding Will. If I can find him and get him to surrender peacefully, Phillips assured me the court would take that into consideration.”

His patience was quickly vanishing. “Are you still hell-bent on helping him?”

“I don’t want him to die in a hail of bullets.”

“A hail of bullets? You watch too much television.”

“If he has the opportunity to surrender, then that’s what I’m hoping he’ll want to do.”

He looked at her for a long, silent moment and then said, “Do you know anywhere else he could be?”

“No,” she said. She was emphatic. “And if I did know, I would tell you.”

Convinced, he nodded. “Okay, then. Is our scenic drive over?”

“Yes.” She thought he looked relieved. “I’m beginning to get the feeling you can’t wait to get rid of me.”

He laughed, but she noticed he didn’t contradict her. They didn’t talk much on the way back to her apartment, each lost in thought. She was dying to ask him where he was going or if he would be back, and her determination not to was making her crazy.

His farewell didn’t warm her heart. He grabbed her, gave her a quick kiss, and said, “See you later.”

She wanted to hit something. She finally understood what Liam had meant when he said frustration and pressure built up. Hitting was a good release, he’d told her. She was about to find out for herself.

She called Dan. An hour later she was being destroyed on a racquetball court at the gym. The only time she hit the ball was during practice before they started a game. Dan was proud—and loud—announcing to anyone who would listen that he had wiped the floor with her. He couldn’t just say he’d won?

Even though she had been humiliated on the court with at least twenty men watching, after all was said and done, she did feel better. Liam had been right. Hitting something—or in her case, trying to hit something—helped get rid of tension and stress.

Dan, still gloating from his victory, walked her to her car. “Have you been aware of your surroundings?” he asked, now reverting to his brother mode.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Then you know you’re being followed?”

“Yes, I do know. He’s an agent temporarily assigned to watch over me.”

“Why?” he asked, his concern obvious.

She didn’t want to go into a lengthy explanation about Will or even the trouble over Bale’s resentment, so she simply said, “I’m an asset as long as I work at the cyber unit.”

He nodded, accepting her half-given explanation. “Where’s the guy you’re usually with?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Are you going to see him again?”

“I don’t know.” She sounded disheartened and knew he noticed.

Dan opened her car door for her. “You fell for him, didn’t you?” Her silence told him everything he needed to know. As pragmatic as ever, he said, “Maybe it’s a good thing you’re going to California pretty soon. A new start,” he suggested. “I personally wish you weren’t going, but I—”

She interrupted. “I’m not going. I want to start my company here in Boston. I can take on the Silicon boys from here.” She smiled as she added, “And annihilate them.”

Dan couldn’t have been happier and wanted to celebrate. “What are you doing tonight?”

“I have absolutely nothing planned.”

That wasn’t exactly true. If she followed past Saturday and Sunday night rituals, she would have eaten a salad and worked on her laptop until the early hours of the morning. Six months ago that routine would have sounded pleasant to her, almost fun, but now she realized how dismal her life had been . . . and maybe still was. Everything had changed, she realized, when she met Liam. He had opened her eyes to the world around her. He’d also opened her heart, and she wasn’t at all happy about that.

“I’ll pick you up at seven, and we’ll get a beer. Mark will probably come, too. Our womenfolk are out of town this weekend.”

“‘Womenfolk’?” she repeated, laughing.

“I’ve got a stack of mail for you. Mostly catalogs. I’ll bring it all tonight.”

She didn’t want to go out. She wanted to stay home and wallow in misery. As soon as she realized that sad fact, she told Dan she was looking forward to going out.

“It’ll be fun,” she said cheerfully.

Her statement turned out to be true. She ended up spending the evening at the Dead End Bar and Grille with Dan and Mark and two other seniors she’d helped out a couple of times in their computer classes. She drank a little and laughed a lot.

Dan was the designated driver. He drove Allison home, handed her the mail he’d collected, and cuffed her shoulder as a sign of affection before she got out of the car. If she had any doubt that he considered her one of the guys, his good-bye clinched it.