Noble Intentions: Season Three (36 page)

She turned and walked toward Mia.
The girl had pulled herself into a ball and now occupied the better part of two
seats. Hannah settled near Mia’s head. She stroked the girl’s hair, letting the
ends pass through the folds of her fingers and cascade down around Mia’s head.

“Mummy,” Mia whispered.

“Shh, get your rest, sweetie.”

Mia pushed herself up, looked at Hannah,
smiled. She scooted closer, then laid her head down on Hannah’s lap. The girl
fell asleep a few moments later.

Hannah eased back in her chair. Her
gaze settled on the eastern skyline. It grew lighter and lighter. Pale blue had
been replaced with tinges of pink and orange. The city, as she could see it,
looked fresh and new.

This will be a great day,
she thought.

The feeling in her stomach told her
that was wishful thinking.

She turned her head to the left. A
man stood in the hallway. He stared at them through the window. Hannah flinched
at the sight of the guy. He stood tall, over six foot. Even in the dim light,
his blue eyes stood out. He kept his hands in the pockets of his khaki pants.
His gaze switched between her and Mia.

Hannah sat up straight, pulled Mia
closer. She had no escape route should the guy come inside the room. One door
that led to the hall. One window that led to a ten meter drop. She glanced
toward the door, saw no way of locking it from the inside. She looked back
toward the man. He remained in place, his gaze fixed on her.

The urge to cry had come over her
again. She fought it back. Her mind raced to place the man. Had he been at the
house? Perhaps he’d been sent to watch over them. Wasn’t that the point of
Leon’s team, anyway? To keep her and Mia safe?

The guy’s head jerked to the right,
then snapped back into place. He pulled out his right hand, tapped on the
glass, then pointed at Hannah. He mouthed something, but she couldn’t make out
what he said. Should she get up? Go to the door? Scream?

She hugged Mia tighter. By this
point, the girl had awoken and taken note of the man.

“Who’s that?”

“I don’t know, baby.”

“What’s he want?”

Hannah didn’t answer.

The guy looked to his right again,
then turned to his left and walked away. He dragged the tips of his fingers
along the glass as he went.

Hannah took a deep breath. Her
shaky exhale did not go unnoticed by Mia.

“What’s wrong? Who was that man?”

She let go of Mia and rose. “I
don’t know.” She pressed her face against the window and looked down the hall
in the direction the guy had gone. Fluorescent light fixtures lined the
ceiling. Their yellow-white glow reflected off of the linoleum floor. The man
was not out there, though. Had he ducked into another room? Made it to the end
and already rounded the corner? Would he come back?

She decided they had to leave the
room and find someplace where others would see if something happened to them.

“Mia, I think we should go.”

Mia said nothing. The girl’s
breathing had become loud and fast.

Hannah took a step to the left and
placed her hand on the door handle. It turned on its own.

The door didn’t immediately open.
It felt stuck, or blocked perhaps. Clarissa pushed her shoulder into it once,
twice. Finally, on the third attempt, she managed to get it open and wedge her
left leg inside.

“Go away,” Hannah said.

“It’s Clarissa,” she said.

The door jerked open and Hannah
threw her arms around Clarissa’s neck. The woman began sobbing. Her tears
coated Clarissa’s cheek.

“Are you OK?” Clarissa said.

Hannah didn’t reply. She continued
to cry.

Clarissa hugged her tight and
repositioned so she could see the entire room. She smiled at Mia, who looked as
frightened as Hannah sounded.

“Did you recognize that man?”
Clarissa said.

“No,” Hannah said in between ragged
breaths.

“I was coming down to check on you
two and saw him standing at the window. He didn’t look like he belonged. I
yelled at him, asked who he was. He didn’t say anything. I started running,
that’s when he took off. He turned the corner before I got to the door.”

“So he’s not one of Leon’s guys?”

“Him? No.”

“What did he want with us?”

“I don’t know.”

“What if he comes back?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not leaving you
two.”

The words seemed to settle Hannah.
After all, she’d seen what Clarissa was capable of.

“How’s my mummy?” Mia asked.

Clarissa moved Hannah to the side
and went to the girl. She seated herself next to Mia. Took the child’s hand in
hers.

“Is she OK?” Mia asked.

“Your mom is a fighter,” Clarissa
said. “She’s very tough. The doctor in that small village made a little
mistake.” She held her thumb and forefinger close together to emphasize the
point. “But these doctors here, they took care of it. She had a quick surgery
to repair her leg. She got through it fine and has been resting ever since. She
should be able to leave in a day or two.”

“So she’s OK?” Mia said.

“She’s OK,” Clarissa said.

Hannah collapsed into the seat next
to Mia and brought both hands to her face. Clarissa realized the woman had
never been through anything like the past few days.

“When can I see her?” Mia said.

“As soon as she wakes up. You’ll
get to visit with her for a bit, then I’m taking you two away for a while.”

“I don’t want to go anywhere. I
want to stay with my mum.”

Clarissa stroked the child’s hair.
“You will. She’s going to join us soon, along with Leon. We’ll be safe and
we’ll wait this craziness out. Once everything is back to normal, you’ll go
home with your mom.”

Mia eased into her seat, closed her
eyes. Hannah did the same.

Clarissa watched the hall for a
while. No one passed by. She shifted her gaze to the window and watched the sun
rise and the sky fade from blue to pink to red to faint orange. Would this day
be better than the past few? She knew she had to check in with Sinclair soon.
She planned to tell him everything that had occurred. He’d find out eventually,
so there was no point in hiding any of it. It’d be better that he heard it from
her. Nothing that had happened could be pinned on her, either. If her cover had
been blown, so be it. He could fire her for all she cared.

She wasn’t sure how long she had
been asleep when the door opened. Before she opened her eyes, she had her
pistol in hand and aimed at the man who stood in the open doorway.

“Relax,” he said.

She blinked a few times and then smiled
at Leon. “Sorry. There had been a man watching the room when I arrived.”

“A man? What did he look like?”

“Kinda tall. Blond hair, blue eyes.
Maybe in his forties.”

Leon shrugged. “That’s probably ten
percent of London.”

“At least.”

“He never came back?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Erin’s up and would like to see
Mia.”

Clarissa reached over and shook the
girl by the shoulder. Mia sat up, smiled at Leon. Hannah woke, too. They all
rose and left the room. Leon led them through the maze of halls, into an elevator,
through another maze of halls. Ten minutes later, they stood outside of Erin’s
room.

“Just one at a time,” Leon said.

Mia stepped into the room. The
little girl cried and was comforted by her mother.

Clarissa moved away from the
doorway. She leaned against the wall, pulled out her cell phone. She stared at
the screen, as if she expected someone to call at that moment. No one did. It
wouldn’t be long, though. She was sure of that.

Mia came out of the room. Tear
tracks stained her cheeks, but the smile plastered across her face told a
different story. She reached out and hugged Hannah, who then went in to visit
with Erin.

Clarissa went to Mia and took the
girl’s hand in hers. They waited in silence with Leon a few feet away.

Hannah stepped into the hallway and
said, “She’d like to see you.”

“Me?” Clarissa walked past Hannah
and into the room.

Erin righted herself in the
hospital bed. She nodded, smiled and patted the mattress. Clarissa went to her,
leaned with her hip against the bed.

“You’ll take good care of my baby,
won’t you?”

“The best care,” Clarissa said.

“I trust you, Clarissa. And I’m
sorry about the things I said about Jack. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Clarissa shook her head. “No
offense taken. In the end, I believe you’re right. I think that’s the reason I
ran from him.”

Erin reached out and placed her
hand on Clarissa’s. “You shouldn’t.”

“Shouldn’t what?”

“Run.”

“Too late.”

“It’s only too late when it’s too
late. And it’s not for you two. Not yet. He’s close by. When all this is over,
you need to go to him. He’s ready now, I can see that. He wasn’t when the two
of us were together. Too many demons to expel, I suppose. I can tell that he
wants something, someone. A new life. He didn’t want that when I was around.
You, Clarissa, are the game changer. I’m certain of that. Promise me that you
won’t run again. I care for Jack, but there is nothing for me and him. There
can be for you and him, though.”

Clarissa smiled. The woman had read
her thoughts and feelings and made sense of them and reported them back to
Clarissa in a way that clarified them for her. Erin was right. Clarissa wanted
to be with Jack. She was ready. Jack was ready. Together, they could start the
life she dreamed they could have together.

“I should get moving,” Clarissa
said as she rose and turned toward the doorway.

“Clarissa,” Erin said.

She turned, said nothing.

“Take care of my baby.”

Clarissa nodded, then left the
room.

Leon handed her a piece of paper.
“Don’t open it until you get to the bus station. If something happens, or if
someone appears, tear it up, get rid of it. Understand?”

“OK.” Clarissa tucked the paper
into her pocket without looking at it.

“Everything you need is written
there. The bus to take, the stop you’ll get off at, and directions from there.”

“OK, I got it.” She pushed past him
and took Mia’s hand.

“I’ll be along as soon as they
discharge Erin,” he said. “Hopefully today, but maybe tomorrow. We’ll likely be
without Dottie for a few days. I don’t know yet. But once we’re all together,
we’ll start the next leg of the journey.”

“To where?”

Leon shook his head. “Not yet.”

They exchanged phone numbers and
said goodbye. Leon lifted Mia and hugged her. Then he sent the girl and Hannah
down the hall to wait.

“Take this,” he said as he handed
Clarissa a small backpack.

The bag was heavy, yet not bulky.
“What is it?”

“My spare Browning. You need it
more than I do right now. It’s a great backup piece, or if worst comes to
worst, Hannah can use it.”

“Think she knows what to do with
it?”

“She grew up in the woods with a crazy
survivalist for a father. She knows.”

Clarissa slung the bag over her
shoulder, then reached out and hugged Leon. She kissed his cheek. The stubble
on his face bit into her lips like tiny shards of glass.

“Go on, get out of here,” he said.
“We’ll see each other no later than tomorrow night.”

Clarissa turned and caught up to
Mia and Hannah. She continued on with caution, investigated every hall they
passed, looked into every room with an uncovered window. The man hadn’t
returned, but that didn’t mean he’d left. For all she knew, he could be close
by watching, waiting.

They exited the hospital. The
morning air was warm and fragranced with exhaust. She knew where they had to
go, but had no idea how to get there.

“Where to?” Hannah asked. Perhaps
she sensed Clarissa’s indecisiveness.

“Bus station.”

“I’m hungry,” Mia said.

“I’m sure there’ll be something to
eat there,” Clarissa said.

“But I want to eat now,” Mia said.

Hannah knelt down. “Mia, we have to
get going now. There’s no time to stop. OK? We’ll eat as soon as we can.”

The girl nodded and reached for
Hannah’s hand.

“Follow me,” Hannah said. “I know
how to get there.”

So they started toward the bus
station. Clarissa searched for a taxi, didn’t see one. She didn’t know the city
bus routes in this part of London. Even if she did, it would take longer to use
public transportation than to walk.

When the car screeched to a stop
twenty feet in front of them, Clarissa’s first reaction was to turn and run.
The second car that stopped behind them negated that thought.

Ahead, a man stepped out of the
gray sedan. He was tall, blond, in his forties.

“That’s him,” Hannah said.

Clarissa slid the bag off her
shoulder, unzipped it, reached inside with her left hand. She wrapped her palm
around the handle of the Browning and let the bag fall to the ground. She then
reached her right hand around her back and under her shirt and pulled her Sig
from its holster. She committed the position of the man in front of her to
memory. Then she glanced over her shoulder. No one had stepped out of the
second car, but they watched her. She noticed a black van that approached at
too fast a speed. Tires squealed as the vehicle decelerated. Clarissa looked
forward, saw the blond man retreat a few steps. She whipped her head around and
saw the black van careen into the second car. The impact drove the parked car
toward the women.

Hannah grabbed Mia and dove toward
the street. The woman managed to turn mid-air and land on her back with Mia
pulled tight to her chest.

Clarissa had no choice but to dive
in the other direction, toward the building. The tan car hit the curb and rose
a few feet into the air. It headed straight for her. The front wheels hit the
sidewalk, bounced up, forward. The man behind the wheel had wide eyes, an open
mouth. He clutched the steering wheel, leaned over it. The wheels touched down
again. Clarissa scooted backward into the wall. She managed to hop to her feet
while in a crouched position. The car was close to the point of impact, an
impact that would possibly end Clarissa’s life, or likely result in a severed
spine.