But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token…
Again with the Edgar Allan Poe. Penni was going to have to send a strongly worded letter…er…email—who writes letters anymore?—to that teacher when she got home. Young, impressionable minds should not be exposed to such nightmarish prose, the kind that stuck with a person even years later. Because who knew when it would pop up to haunt them? You know, like on a dark Peruvian night in the middle of a stakeout to catch one of the world’s most fiendish men.
Okay, in Mrs. Pogue’s defense, when she’d been teaching “The Raven,” she probably hadn’t envisioned any of her students finding themselves in this precise scenario. So maybe the old gal deserves a pass.
“We got company coming in from the east.” Dan’s voice sounded low and deliciously gravelly in Penni’s earpiece. “Could be Winterfield. Right build. Right height. Everyone hold their positions until I verify his identity.”
Edgar Allan Poe and his eerie poem were instantly forgotten. Because who has time for rhythm and rhyme when it’s officially go-time? Even though no one could see her or hear her thoughts, she made a face when she realized what she’d just done.
“He’s wearing a hoodie,” Dan continued. “I can’t get a clear view of his face. Gimme a coupla seconds. I’m moving closer.”
Penni lifted her wrist, squinting down through the darkness. Twenty-two hundred on the dot read the hands on her watch. This is it, the soft breeze that ruffled the leaves on the trees seemed to whisper. This has to be it!
Her idiotic heart, which hadn’t really settled after that encounter with Kozlov—and talk about the stuff of nightmares—became a fist hammering against her breastbone. Worry and dread took up all the remaining dead space inside her. And for a moment, just a blip of time, she struggled against the instinctive desire to turn tail and beat feet for the nearest room with thick walls and a locked door.
She had so much to lose. And Dan…
Yeah, Dan. The warp and weft of her entire reason for being here. He had faith in her ability to watch his back. Trusted her to do what needed to be done if things with Winterfield and his AQAP contact looked like they might be headed toward a very un-Disney-like ending. Which meant that backing out now was not so much a case of that ship having sailed, but more like a case of that ship having sunk.
She couldn’t let him down. She wouldn’t let him down. Not when the thought of anything happening to him hurt like heartbreak. And for the millionth time since Malaysia, she wondered how it was possible to come to care so much for someone so quickly.
“I have another player approaching from the west.” Zoelner’s whispered tone held equal parts anticipation and excitement. “Blue coat. Black beard. Twitchy as fuck. He could be al-Rahma.”
Penni slipped deeper into the shadows under the awning of the souvenir shop Dan and Zoelner had designated her OP—observation position. They’d chosen the spot for two reasons. It had an unencumbered view of the square. And if need be, she could aim and fire from behind the cover of the big masonry posts that flanked both sides of the front door.
“I don’t want you to put yourself in any danger,” Dan had said. “If it comes down to a choice between our hides or yours, I—”
“Forget about it,” she’d told him, pressing a finger to his lips. When his hot breath tickled her skin, she threw caution to the wind and went up on tiptoe to kiss him. Just a quick peck. Just a sweet promise. His mouth was so warm, wonderfully firm yet incredibly soft in the way of men.
“Brooklyn,” he’d whispered against her lips, his strong arms coming around her to hold her tight when she would have stepped away. She closed her eyes and took a moment to exult in his embrace. The roadway beneath them dissolved into a blur. The cold became something more understood than actually felt. The beep of a car horn off in the distance sounded like it was a million miles away.
Basically the whole world turned into a hazy, lazy kaleidoscope of nothingness. And in the center of that nothingness was Dan. Big, bold, brave Dan. “Brooklyn…” He whispered the pet name again, thrilling her with the intimacy of it. “You have no idea how much I—”
“Save it for later, Romeo,” Zoelner had interrupted, and Penni wondered if the man practiced bad timing or if it just came naturally to him. Either way, it had her feeling smacky again. “We need to get set up…”
“Suspect moving toward the fountain,” Dan said now, and Penni saw the hooded man emerge from a side street. He walked quickly toward the center of the square, hands shoved deep in his pockets, not looking this way or that, his strides short yet unhesitating.