Alex was surprised by her own hesitation. Now that she was potentially this close to contacting her dad, was she actually scared?
“All right,” Alex said. “I’ll do it. If I decide to use your information.”
“That doesn’t concern me. It would be very difficult to never try and reach him, I think.”
Alex didn’t respond.
“How’s your memory?” El-Hashim asked.
“Excellent.”
“Like your father’s, then.”
Again, there didn’t seem to be the need for a reply.
El-Hashim leaned over and whispered an e-mail address — a seemingly random mix of letters and numbers — in Alex’s ear.
“Would you like to repeat that back to me?”
Alex shook her head. “I’ve got it. Is that all?”
“You want more?”
“Do you have more?”
“Unfortunately, no,” El-Hashim said.
Alex stood up.
“You’ll remember the message, yes?”
“I’ll remember,” Alex told her, then headed back to her seat.
McElroy was waiting for them at the airport when they landed. With him was a squad of black-suited men who screamed government agency. Which one, Alex wasn’t sure.
He smiled and shook each of their hands as they exited the aircraft.
“Excellent work,” he told Alex. “Well done.”
She said thanks, then stood to the side as El-Hashim was escorted off the plane.
“It’s certainly a pleasure to meet you,” McElroy said.
El-Hashim frowned. “Am I supposed to know who you are?”
“I’m the one who sent the team to pick you up. But that’s not important. We won’t be spending any time together, so no need to become buddy-buddy. These men, however…” He gestured to the group of suits. “I have a feeling you’ll be getting to know them quite well.” He turned to the oldest-looking one in the group. “I remand El-Hashim to your custody.”
“Transfer accepted,” the man said. “Ms. El-Hashim, you will come with us.”
As the woman was led away, Cooper walked over to Alex. “Nice working with you again. It’s…been too long.”
She gave him a quick smile. The truth was, being around him again had been better than she expected. Nice, even. The residual anger she’d felt over the last several years had receded. Maybe disappeared completely.
“It has,” she said. “Thanks. You know, for saving my life and all.”
“If you’d died back there, I’d be buried in paperwork. Nothing I hate more than that. I should be thanking you for staying alive.”
“Glad I could keep the writer’s cramp away.”
“Hey,” Deuce said, walking up and dangling Alex’s car keys in the air. “They moved your car here, so we can go. I mean, you know—now?”
“Good working with you, too, Deuce,” Cooper said, holding out his hand. “I’d trust you to have my back anytime.”
Deuce looked surprised by the compliment. He shook Cooper’s hand. “Thanks, man. You take it easy, huh?”
“You, too.”
Cooper turned to Alex. She thought he was about to hug her, but after an awkward moment, he held out his hand again.
“Keep in touch, Alex. I mean it.”
“I will,” she said.
Deuce took hold of her arm. “Come on, already. I want to get home.”
As they walked toward the parking lot, they heard footsteps running up behind them. Alex looked back to find McElroy heading their way.
“Hold on,” he said.
“Do we have to?” Deuce whispered.
“Do you want to get paid?” Alex whispered back.
“Fine.”
They stopped and turned to wait.
When McElroy reached them, he was slightly out of breath. “I meant what I told you when I first saw you back there. Great job. I know it wasn’t easy.”
“It’s what you paid us to do,” Deuce said. “Speaking of which, when can we expect the check?”
McElroy cocked his head. “The money is already transferred to each of your accounts.”
“Crap,” Deuce said under his breath. “You mean we didn’t have to stop?”
Alex felt the urge to elbow him in the side, but refrained and said to McElroy, “You’re welcome. Now, if you don’t mind, we’re pretty tired, so we’re—”
“Can I ask you something?” McElroy said.
“What?”
“Were you able to find out anything about your father?”
Alex frowned and shrugged. “No. She didn’t have anything beyond what you already told me.” Her father was personal business.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I took a chance. It didn’t pay off. But we got her for you. So…” Another shrug.
“Listen. About that. I might have some other projects coming up that you might be great for. Can I call you?”
“Sure. You can always call.”
“But what? That doesn’t mean you’ll answer?”
The corner of her mouth tilted up. “Hey, Deuce, didn’t you say something about going home?”
“Once or twice.”
“Mr. McElroy,” Alex said. “Thank you for the opportunity. We’ll show ourselves out.”
Epilogue
“Zeta Five, clear.”
“Zeta Six, clear.”
After the last watcher reported in, the surveillance van fell silent.
“I don’t think he’s coming,” Duncan said.
McElroy stared at the main monitor. “He’s close.”
“If you say so, sir.”
McElroy looked over at Duncan, his eyes narrowing. “I know he is. He’s gotta be. This is too tempting for him.”
He looked back at the monitor.
Alexandra Poe was center screen, still sitting at the table outside the Weary Horseman Pub in west London, as she had been for nearly two hours.
Once McElroy had listened to the taped conversation Poe had had with El-Hashim on the plane, he knew this chance would come. It would have been nice if the mic had picked up whatever El-Hashim had whispered in Alex’s ear, but it wasn’t the end of the world. At some point, Alex would use the information to contact Raven, so all McElroy had to do was keep an eye on her, and monitor her electronic communications.
The last part was actually easier than the first. Stonewell’s connection with the government gave McElroy access to eavesdropping methods ninety-nine percent of the population didn’t even know about. Following her every day was a bit more difficult. More than once she had lost her tail for hours on end.
Cooper would have been the best person for the job, but McElroy was worried about Cooper’s personal history with Alex, and thought it best not to test the man’s allegiances at this point. He had told him nothing about the hunt for Raven.
It was the electronic surveillance that finally paid off when, the day before, Alex suddenly booked a round-trip flight to the UK, leaving at midnight that night and returning the next afternoon. They already knew she had yet to take on another job, so the trip couldn’t have been tied to work. Which, in McElroy’s mind, meant she was making the journey for one reason only.
This was what McElroy had been waiting for, and he was more than ready. He and his team were in the air a full two hours before Alex even stepped into Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
While in flight, his techs back in the States pored through the data on Alex’s phone. Though they could find nothing pointing to a time and place for a meeting, they did uncover a Google Map search for the Weary Horseman. It wasn’t a guarantee of where the meeting would occur, but McElroy was confident enough to send most of his team to the pub to set up while tasking two of his men to follow Alex when she arrived in London.