Assassin (29 page)

Plus, the adventure games didn't require intensive use of the keyboard the way the first-person shooter games did, which would bother her hands, but Case didn't mention that part.

"Let's try one of those then," Rain suggested, as she held out the CD holder to Case.

Case took it and flipped through the disks until she came to one she thought might entertain them both.

"Well, we could do Riddle of the Sphinx, but it's a really long game. It took me fourteen hours the first time I played it. The graphics kind of suck during the three-sixty-degree parts, but the rest of it's incredible. They actually recreated the chambers inside the Great Pyramid. They added on a bunch of new stuff for the game of course, but the beginning part is like taking a tour of the real thing."

"We could just do that part. It sounds interesting," Rain allowed.

"Okay," Case agreed easily, and inserted the disk into her CD-ROM drive.

The game loaded quickly and Rain sat next to Case at the table, as she watched the intro movie. It didn't take long for Rain to get caught up in the game and they were well into the fictional chambers of the pyramid before Case mentioned food again. Rain was surprised when she looked at the clock and then noticed the artificial light of the streetlamps had replaced the natural light from the windows.

"Let me get the lights," Case said, after saving the game.

She stood up and stretched a little before walking to the switch and turning on the lights.

"Ow," Rain said, as her eyes started to ache from the suddenly bright surroundings.

"Sorry," Case apologized, and returned to her seat. "So, dinner?"

"Chinese?" Rain replied in the same tone.

"Sounds good. You wanna call? I need to use the bathroom."

"Sure. What do you want?"

"Chicken chow mein, egg roll, pork fried rice, and some sweet and sour chicken," Case rattled off.

"Got it," Rain said, and went to the phone.

Case returned quickly and then it was Rain's turn to relieve herself. A few minutes later, they were back in front of the computer and playing the game. The arrival of their food was only a minor interruption and then it was back to the game again.

"You know, this is addictive," Rain commented, as she scooped up her low mein noodles with the wooden chopsticks that had come with their meals. "It's just one puzzle after another, but they keep adding on top of each other."

"Yeah, Riven and Exile are like that, too. Though, they've got better graphics," Case said, and Rain didn't miss the note of hopefulness in her voice.

"You want to play one of those instead?" Rain asked innocently.

"You don't mind? The graphics are just unbelievable. It's like you're really there, but none of it's real," Case said, even as she closed out the game and removed the CD from the drive to replace it with a new one. "You have to see the plesiosaurs. They're not really plesiosaurs, but they look like them. You even have to sneak up on them to keep them from running away before you get too close. It's neat."

Rain smiled at the enthusiasm she heard in Case's voice. It gave her a glimpse of the person Case might have been if she'd grown up under different circumstances. She could just see Case working with a team of programmers to create a new adventure game. She thought Case would really enjoy something like that.

As the game's intro movie began playing, Rain could see why Case was so hyped up about the 'graphics.' Live actors were placed into computer-generated environments and those environments were as realistic as anything Rain had ever seen.

"Myst was the first one. This is the second one, and Exile's the third one," Case explained. "Let me show you the plesiosaurs," she continued, and took Rain through the game as though they were on a virtual nature hike.

As the evening progressed, Case had to admit that she enjoyed showing off her favorite computer worlds to Rain. They were like her secret places and getting to share them with another person felt good.

Case also admitted it was a way to feel close to Rain without actually sharing any personal information. Case was still worried that Rain intended to have them talk about last night, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. So, she made sure to keep Rain occupied until it was obvious that Rain was ready to go to sleep.

As Rain curled around Case underneath the covers, Case pushed back into Rain's body to increase the contact. There was something that felt so right when Rain was wrapped around her body. The warmth that spread over her back from Rain's front did more than just heat her skin. It made her feel safe. It wasn't in the physical sense. Not even Case's own martial arts training ever made Case feel physically safe. But Case could feel a kind of protection around her heart. Rain loved her and cared about her and even though there were weaknesses in that for Case, she wasn't blind to the strengths that could be gained from it as well.

Case closed her eyes. She pulled Rain's arms around her a little tighter. Tomorrow, it would all be over. One way or another.

CHAPTER 26

RAIN LOOKED UP at the ceiling and listened to Case's deep, even breathing. She'd been awake for a while now and had been watching the room get brighter as the sun rose higher in the sky.

As she turned her head to study Case's sleeping face, her eyes scanned across Case's body, and she noticed the woman's hands lying on top of the covers. Rain paused and looked a little closer. She almost gasped, as she realized there wasn't a single mark on Case's fingers. They had been blue and purple the day before, but Rain couldn't even see a hint of green or brown now, which usually characterized the last stages of a bruise.

Rain shook her head in disbelief and returned her gaze to the peaceful features of her lover. Sometimes, Rain found it difficult to believe that Case could possibly be the cold-blooded killer that she was.

Probably because she's not really a cold-blooded killer, she only pretends to be, Rain thought.

Or maybe she was just trying to rationalize Case's actions into something more palatable in order to reconcile her love for someone who had done the kinds of things she knew Case had.

Rain let her head drop and went back to looking at the ceiling.

In only one week, she'd gone from knowing exactly what she had to do, to not having the slightest clue. As an FBI agent, she had a duty to uphold the law and stop the bad guys. As an undercover agent, that duty included a little leeway to break the law as long as the ultimate result was stopping the bad guys. But as a woman, she was finding life to be a lot less clear-cut than that.

Falling in love with an assassin for the mob had never been part of the plan. It certainly had never entered her mind as a possibility when she'd requested the assignment three years ago. But wasn't that the great mystery about love? You never got to choose when and where, or even who, it just happened and then you had to deal with the consequences.

Rain sighed again and sat up, doing her best not to jostle the bed as she climbed out from under the blanket. She should have felt well rested since they'd gone to bed somewhat early the night before, but she seemed to be stuck in an annoying haze. She decided a shower would probably wake her up, so she headed for the bathroom.

Case listened to the sounds of Rain moving around in the other room. When she heard Rain turn on the water, Case knew it was time, but she continued to lie there for another minute. She wanted the world to stop. If everything just stopped, then she and Rain would be okay.

"Don't think about it. Just do it," Case whispered harshly to herself.

The spoken order seemed to work and she quickly swung out of bed and went for her cell phone. First, she checked for new messages. She found none, so she immediately dialed another number from memory. Besides falling apart herself, the only thing that could go wrong at this point was if Antonio had already booked the place.

"Hey, Alonso, it's Case," she said as soon as the phone was answered.

"Hey, Case, how's it goin'?" Alonso asked cheerily.

"I'm good. Listen, the boss is havin' a get together tonight. That warehouse of yours available for it?"

"For him? Of course."

"Good. I'm his go between for this one, so I wanna make sure the setup's clean."

"Oh, it is," Alonso said quickly. "I remembered what he said, so it's still out there by itself. I haven't built anything else near it, even though I could really use the extra storage facilities," Alonso said and Case knew he was fishing for a pay increase.

"I'm sure he'll take that into consideration," Case told him. "I'll be out there later today to check it over myself. The meeting's at seven tonight, so I don't wanna see anyone else around until then."

"Right," Alonso said.

"And remember, he's got ears everywhere, so don't even think about telling anyone else about this meeting, or I'll be meeting with you instead," Case threatened.

"Hey, you know I can keep my mouth shut," Alonso sounded offended.

"Right. Later," Case said and hung up.

She quickly dialed up the next number on her mental list.

"Joe, here. You got the word?"

"Babycakes."

"Hey, Case, that you?"

"Yeah, you got my charges?"

"Sitting right in front of me. You ready for pick up?"

"Yeah, how's eleven?"

"We'll be ready. The code's three, two, five," he said, referring to the pattern of knocks that would get his front door open.

"See ya then."

Case hung up again and punched in the last number.

"Sweet cheeks," Case said after the woman greeted her.

"I hate that man," the woman muttered. "What do you want?"

"I ordered some detonators the other day. Are they ready?"

"Yeah, you got the money?"

"How much do you want?"

The woman gave her a price and Case immediately gave a counter offer of a few hundred less, though she could have easily afforded to pay what the woman was asking. It was just the principle of the thing. After a few more rounds, they settled on an amount they were both mostly happy with. Then the woman rattled off an address, which Case quickly visualized to help her remember it. Once Case confirmed the location and the time of pick up, they hung up.

Case checked the time and figured she had another ten minutes before Rain would be finished with her shower, and at least another ten after that before Rain would come out of the bathroom.

Case turned on her laptop, which was still sitting out on the table from their game playing the night before. Case smiled a little as she remembered how much fun she'd had just being with Rain.

Case shook her head and let the smile fall away.

"I don't have time for this shit," she muttered to herself, as she hooked up her satellite phone.

As soon as the computer was ready, Case logged on to one of her Internet accounts and then signed in to the first of her many different bank accounts. With a few confirmations of her passwords, she set the time for her banks to begin the chain of transactions that would carry her money out of the country and beyond US jurisdiction.

She considered just moving all of the money now, but with Antonio watching her, she figured it was better to leave the accounts alone until after she'd put her plan into motion. There was no way of knowing whether he'd be alerted if the balances on her main accounts suddenly dropped to zero. And even though she was sure he had no knowledge of her other accounts, she didn't feel a need to test that confidence. So, the money wouldn't be sent until late that afternoon.

Case heard the water shut off just as she signed out of the last bank account. She quickly brought up her favorite travel site and started making single reservations on half a dozen different flights. Depending on how things turned out, she wanted more than one escape route. The identity she used was completely new and unlikely to be on Antonio's alert list, so she didn't think setting up her potential exit plans now would cause any problems. As soon as her credit card was confirmed, Case exited out of the site and moved on to the final and most difficult part of her plan.

At least, she'd thought it would be the most difficult, but it turned out to be rather easy, since she'd been there before. A little hacking and a little swapping of information completed the last segment of her preliminary goals. As soon as she was done, Case cut the connection. Since Rain still wasn't out of the bathroom, Case logged on again, using a different ISP and checked her e-mail.

She was just shutting down when Rain walked back into the room.

"Hey, you're up," Rain said.

"Yeah, we've got a job. It's a local Target. The place is heavily guarded, but I know the guy, so we should be able to get in pretty easily," Case told her, while she continued to watch her laptop to make sure it shut down properly.

"Who is it?"

"It's not important," Case dismissed the question and quickly stood up. "I'm going to go take a shower. Get your stuff together. We won't be coming back here after we're done."

Rain watched Case enter the bathroom and close the door behind her. Their vacation was apparently over. But Rain couldn't help feeling there was something more going on than just another job. Case had refused to make eye contact, and that wasn't like her.

Rain picked up her phone from the nightstand and checked her voicemail. Maybe Doc could shed some light on the subject.

However, there were no new messages. Rain glanced at the bathroom door and frowned. She'd thought for sure that Doc would leave a message for her too, since he'd said she would be getting new assignments directly from him. Which meant Case might not be telling the whole truth. But why?

Rain set the phone down and began gathering up their things. Sooner or later, Case would have to tell her what was going on. Then again... Rain debated, as she looked down at Case's laptop. It was a good bet that the information was somewhere in Case's computer, if Rain could just find it.

But even as Rain was contemplating sitting down and booting up, she heard Case's shower end. There was no way she could get in and out in the few minutes it would take for Case to dry off and get dressed, so she slid the laptop into its case and finished checking the room.