Alpha Bravo Seal. Carol Ericson
those people dead eighteen months later, one missing and...her. Was this just some bizarre twist of fate, claiming the lives of people who should’ve died a year and a half ago? That sort of stuff only happened in horror movies.
The man across the street made a move, and she peered into the darkness as he emerged from beneath the awning and loped down the sidewalk. Her eyes followed him until the night swallowed him whole at the end of the block.
She huffed out a breath and drew the drapes. She’d planned an extended stay in New York while her mother hit Europe for the fashion shows—starting with Paris in March and winding up with Rome in July. Maybe she should get a bodyguard.
Nicole turned and surveyed the office of the lavishly furnished Upper East Side apartment where her mother had lived for years. It wasn’t like she couldn’t afford a 24/7 bodyguard.
A bodyguard for what? Who could possibly have it in for a documentary film crew that hadn’t even managed to release the movie about the underground feminist movement in Somalia? The women they’d met had reason to fear for their lives, but after the kidnapping their translator had gone into hiding and the rest of them had scattered, abandoning the project.
Nicole hadn’t even seen the footage Lars had shot—and it must’ve been good if he’d mentioned it to his brother. As talented as he was, Lars wasn’t one to puff out his chest.
She planted herself in front of her computer again, and her fingers flew across the keyboard in a desperate search for Dahir Musse. She’d lobbied to get Dahir out of Somalia after the kidnapping incident, but even her mother’s political connections hadn’t been able to get the job done.
If they had, would Dahir be alive today instead of missing in action? Or would he be just as dead as Giles and Lars? Just as dead as she might be?
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING, heavy eyed and yawning, Nicole sucked down the rest of her smoothie and tossed the cup in the trash can on her way back to the counter.
Skye raised her eyebrows. “Ready for another?”
“Just a shot of wheatgrass. If I hope to get in even two miles today, I need a little energy.”
“You look tired. Late night at the clubs?”
“I wish.” She swept up the little paper cup Skye had placed before her and downed the foul-tasting liquid in one gulp. Then she crushed the cup in her hand. “See ya.”
Skye waved as Nicole pushed out the door of the shop. Leaning forward, she braced her foot on the side of the building to tie the loose laces of her running shoe. She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye—a man walking on the sidewalk across the street.
She bent over farther but slid her gaze sideways to watch the tall, lean guy lope down the block—lope. He had a distinctive rangy, loose-limbed gait, one she’d seen in the wee hours of the morning across the street from her building.
Narrowing her eyes, she watched his back, the sun gleaming off his blond hair. Now that she’d confirmed Lars’s death, her paranoia was going into overdrive. The man hadn’t looked at her once, and he certainly wasn’t following her.
She straightened up and rolled back her shoulders. She needed that run more than ever, and the fresh greenery of the park beckoned. She launched forward with one last glance over her shoulder, then tripped to a stop.
He wasn’t following her because he was heading for her apartment. To lie in wait? To break in?
She abandoned her run and made a U-turn in the street. She didn’t want to confront the man, but two could play the stalking game. Veering to the left, she cut in one street ahead of her own. If she came into the building’s lobby through the back way, she might catch him trying to get through the front door. Leo, the doorman, might have something to say about that.
Nicole tightened her ponytail and turned down the alley that led to the back of her building. She might be way off here, but something about that man had seemed familiar. If he wasn’t hanging around trying to get into the building, she’d go for her run with a clear mind—at least as clear as it could be while worrying about the mysterious deaths of her colleagues.
When she got to the apartment, she pulled her key ring from the little pocket in the back of her running shirt and plucked out the building key.
She slid it into the lock and eased open the door. Flattening herself against the wall, she sidled along toward the mailboxes. If she peered around the corner of the hallway where the mailboxes stretched out in three rows, she’d have a clear view of the lobby and the front door.
She crept around the corner and jerked back, dropping her keys with a clatter.
The tall stranger, his gleaming hair covered with the hood of his sweatshirt, glanced up, the mail from her box clutched in his hands.
She should’ve turned and run away, but a whip of fury lashed her body and she lunged forward.
“What the hell are you doing going through my mail?”
Then her stalker did the most amazing thing.
A smile broke across his tanned face, and he lifted a pair of broad shoulders. “Guess you caught me red-handed, Nicole.”
The color drained from her face as fast as it had flared red in her cheeks. “Do I know you? And even if I do, I’m about two seconds from screaming bloody murder for the doorman and getting the cops out here.”
He believed her. A woman who would risk sailing the dangerous Gulf of Aden just to get a story wouldn’t fear some creeper in New York City—not that he was a creeper.
“Sorry about the mail.” He fanned out some bills and a few ads. “I’m not very good at this.”
“Good at what?” She inched past him and the row of mailboxes until she had one foot in the lobby.
“Skulking, I guess.”
“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing, or am I going to call the NYPD?” She jabbed her cell phone into the space between them.
“You see? I suck at this.” He bundled her mail, which he hadn’t had a chance to look at, and held it out to her. “I’m Slade Gallagher, the US Navy SEAL sniper who saved your life eighteen months ago off the coast of Somalia.”
She blinked, licked her lips and edged closer to him. “Is this some kind of trick?”
Trick? What kind of trick would that be? He stuffed his free hand into the pocket of his sweatshirt and withdrew his wallet. He flipped it open with one hand, his other still gripping the mail she’d refused to take from him.
“Take it and look at the card behind my driver’s license. It’s my military ID. Hell, look at my driver’s license, too.”
She reached forward to take the wallet from him between two fingers, as if stealing something from a snake ready to strike.
“And if my ID isn’t good enough for you, I can tell you what you were wearing that day.” He closed his eyes as if picturing the scene all over again through his scope. “You had on army-green cargo pants, a loose red shirt and a khaki jacket, with a red scarf wrapped around your neck.”
His lids flew open, and Nicole was staring at him through wide green eyes. She might be surprised, but he’d pictured the woman on the boat—Nicole Hastings—many times over the past year and a half. Some nights he couldn’t get the picture of her out of his head.
“We never knew your names. The Navy wouldn’t tell us.” She traced a finger over his driver’s license picture behind the plastic, and his face tingled as if she’d brushed it. “But while we were in the infirmary getting checked out, we saw you walking toward the helicopter before you boarded it and left the boat. I do recognize you.”