“Sam, I’m still the man who abducted you. I held a goddamn gun to your head,” he said, his voice cracking. “And I’m so, so sorry for that.”
“Why, Angel? Why are you sorry? Isn’t that who you are?”
Their gazes locked together for a long instance. He nodded. “Yes. Yes, that’s who I am, Sam. Don’t forget it. But you…you were…you were different.”
“Different?”
“You cared.”
She nodded. “Maybe that’s what has got me so shaken,” she said.
“Because I’m a killer?”
“Yes. And now, there’s absolutely nothing I can do for you.”
“Believe it or not, I’ve been in worse jams than this,” he said, holding his cuffed hands up.
Sam turned when she heard the far cell door open to the corridor. “Looks like…my time is up,” she said quietly. She heard footsteps approaching.
“Yeah, I guess.” He brought his hands up, wrapping his fingers around the bars. “You take care of yourself, Sam.”
She reached out and touched one of his hands gently, her gaze locked with his. “I will.” She took a deep breath. She had no words of comfort for him. He would spend the rest of his life in prison. “Goodbye, Angel.”
She turned and was surprised to find Cameron waiting for her. She looked at her questioningly.
“I wanted a quick word with him,” Cameron explained.
Sam nodded then walked past her, turning once, seeing Angel’s hands still clutching the bars.
* * *
Cameron stopped in front of Angel, seeing shock and recognition on his bruised face.
“Damn. Cameron Ross. Now there’s a name from the past.” He looked her over. “What the hell are you doing here?”
She tilted her head a bit. “FBI,” she said easily.
He laughed. “FBI? Figures.” He met her gaze. “Let me guess. You were the one tracking me?”
She nodded. “You did a pretty good job. The rain on that last night set me back a bit.”
“I’m sure it did.” He glanced away, then back to her. “So Sam…you know her?”
“No. Just met.”
“You met her partner? Tori?”
“Yeah. She was on the mission with me.”
“What’s she like?”
Cameron frowned, wondering at his question. She hadn’t seen Angel in a number of years, but she remembered him as cold, impersonal. But his question seemed genuine.
“Arrogant,” she said. “Kinda bossy. Thinks she knows everything.”
He smiled. “Hell, sounds like you’re describing yourself there, Ross.”
Cameron smiled, then slowly shook her head. “Angel, what the hell happened to you? You were a good soldier once. Why all this?”
“Why not? The military taught me to kill. I was good at it.” He paused. “So were you.”
“I simply did my job, nothing more,” she said.
“Yeah? Well, when I got out, there was no cushy FBI job waiting for me,” he said. “But there were other governments willing to pay for my talents. Governments and opposition leaders, both.”
“Using your talents in a war zone is one thing. Coming over here, killing innocent people is quite another. Killing that family…”
“Yeah, well, that was unfortunate.”
She shoved her hands into her pockets. “That’s it? Unfortunate?” She shook her head. “Angel, you’re damn lucky New Mexico repealed their death penalty.”
“Am I?”
She recognized the indifference in his voice and knew he had no remorse whatsoever. She turned to go, then stopped. “Why a hostage, Angel? Doesn’t really seem your style.”
He shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time. I was working on Plan C, since A and B were fucked,” he said.
“And after all of that, you get sloppy and drive into a checkpoint?”
He moved away from the bars, into the shadows. “Yeah, well, it had been a really long week.”
She had not worked with Angel in several years, but the man who was on her team was always meticulous, never sloppy. She was about to question him further, but the loud clanging of the cell doors down the corridor stopped her. She heard several footsteps approaching and she stepped back. She doubted he would have anything else to say.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The drive back to the campground was made in relative silence. Andrea glanced out of the corner of her eye, seeing Tori and Sam holding hands in the backseat. She looked at Cameron, who appeared deep in thought. Cameron had said little since they’d left. Sam had said even less. She turned around in her seat, meeting Tori’s gaze. It was as questioning as her own.
“So, are we just not going to talk about it?” she finally asked, looking first at Cameron, then Sam.
“What’s to talk about?” Cameron asked.
“Oh, how about the fact that we’ve been chasing this bastard through the goddamn woods for days,” Tori said, “and neither of you are saying a thing about it.”
“I told you, he wanted to see if I’d made it out okay,” Sam said.
“That’s it?”
“Yes, Tori, that’s it.”
Andrea glanced at Cameron. “And you?”
“Me? I told him he was getting sloppy in his old age,” Cameron said. Cameron glanced in the rearview mirror. “Did he say anything about the checkpoint?”
Sam shook her head. “I asked him why he got caught,” she said. “He said it wasn’t intentional, but I think it was.”
Cameron nodded. “So do I.”
“What do you mean?” Tori asked.
“The Angel I know could spot a checkpoint a mile away. Hell, we had to avoid checkpoints all the damn time,” Cameron said. “Nothing about this feels right.”
“Maybe he was tired of running,” Andrea suggested. “Maybe he knew there would be no way out.”
“So he turns himself in?” Cameron shook her head. “He’d just gone on a killing rampage because he didn’t want to get caught. We’re trained not to get caught,” she said.
“So what are you thinking?” Tori asked.
“I don’t know. It makes no damn sense. So they take him back to Santa Fe and he tells them where the money is. Makes no difference. He’s still going to rot in prison. There’s nothing in it for him,” Cameron said. “And that’s what the problem is. It’s all too easy. There’s got to be something more to it.”
“Maybe he’s genuinely sorry for what he did,” Sam said.
“No,” Cameron said. “That’s not his style.”
“People change.”
“Not Angel.”
Sam didn’t say anything else, and neither did Cameron. Andrea glanced again at Tori, who only let out a heavy sigh. The silence was again loud in the truck, and Andrea searched for a topic to break it.
“You two are heading back to Texas in the morning?”
Sam didn’t acknowledge the question, but Tori nodded. “Yeah. Renting a car. What about you?”
“I guess we’ll head back to Colorado until our next assignment,” she said.
Cameron simply nodded but said nothing. Andrea sighed, giving up on conversation. She turned her attention to the road as Cameron made the drive from Taos back to their campground.
* * *
Tori dug through the bag that Casey had left them for some clean jeans. The sun was shining brightly, but it was a cool afternoon. And for the rest of the day, they were going to pretend they were still on vacation. Andrea had offered to cook an early dinner for the four of them, and Cameron had let them have her truck. She glanced to where Sam stood, her back to her. Sam had spoken to Leslie earlier. She’d been extremely quiet ever since.
“You okay?” she asked for the fourth time. Sam had already changed and was standing at the window looking out.
Sam turned to her, offering a quick smile. “Yes, Tori. I’m fine.”
It was the same answer she’d given the other three times. She tossed the jeans down and walked over to her. “Why won’t you talk to me?”