Actual Stop (Agent O’Connor #1)(78)
“Rough day, Kyle?” I asked softly as he neared. The rest of the delegation was about fifteen steps behind him. I did a quick check up and down the block, looking for trouble. People gawked a little—they always did when we went anywhere with anyone, as we aren’t exactly a discreet bunch—but no one seemed particularly interested in approaching the gaggle, which made me happy. One of the many perks of working in New York.
“Dude, this sucks,” Kyle muttered as he strode past.
I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my grin and turned slightly so I was facing north looking up Lexington Avenue and had my back to the procession and my eyes on the opposite side of the street. Keeping my eyes off the front door to The W was a Herculean feat, and I’m afraid I didn’t manage it as well as I’d have liked. But after a long moment, the din of activity and motion behind me subsided, and a glance over my shoulder confirmed what I suspected; everyone was inside. Now the waiting game began anew until departure.
My BlackBerry vibrated on my belt, and I gritted my teeth. I almost never got good news on that thing. I doubted that now, smack-dab in the middle of the Iran visit, the trend would suddenly change. It was much more likely that whoever was on the other end was about to throw my world into bedlam, and I wasn’t in the mood for the complete destruction of my already crumbling world.
“O’Connor.”
“Hey,” a low voice murmured in my ear, sending shivers up my spine.
My heart raced, and my stomach flailed around like a cartoon character walking across hot pavement. I eyed the motorcade cars as they rolled slowly by, so they could position for the departure. “Hey.”
“Are you working right now?” Allison wanted to know.
“Yeah, but the delegation just went into a meeting, so I have a few minutes.” I hesitated as I cast around for something to say, my eyes drawn back to The W completely against my will. “How are you?”
“I’m good. You?”
“Good.”
“Good.”
I was alternating between hot and cold and was light-headed. She’d called. I couldn’t believe she’d actually called. I was thrilled. I was terrified. I also had no idea what I wanted to tell her.
“So,” Allison said after a long pause. “Are you still mad at me?”
“What? I was never mad at you.” I shifted my attention back to the cars. There’d been ample room for the limo in front of my car, but the Follow-Up was double-stacked next to me. I sighed and ambled over slowly.
“Really?” She sounded skeptical. “So you never answered my text because you’ve been too busy?”
“You texted me?” I rapped forcefully on the driver’s side window to the Follow-Up. “Hang on a second, Allison.” I rested the phone against my chest to muffle the sounds of my conversation.
Bill Steelman, an agent in our office who I didn’t want to deal with on a good day, looked surprised. He cracked the door a little so he’d be able to hear me. “Yeah?”
“Do you need me to back up so you can stack behind the limo?”
He shook his head. “Nah. We’re okay here.”
“You sure? I don’t mind.”
“No, you’re fine.”
“Okay.” I turned my back on him and returned the phone to my ear. “I’m sorry, Allison. You were saying something about texting me?”
“Yeah. I did. The day I flew back to D.C.”
“I didn’t get a text from you. Oh, shit!” My intestines performed a few spectacular backflips as it finally dawned on me what’d happened. “You texted my personal phone, didn’t you?”
“Of course. I wasn’t going to email you on your work phone.”
I closed my eyes and scrubbed the middle of my forehead with the palm of my hand. “I don’t have my personal phone.”
“Did you lose it?”
“Not exactly. Someone else has it. I’m sorry. I didn’t get your text. I would’ve answered if I had.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, now I feel like an idiot.”
“Don’t. I’ve been spending the past few days wondering if you were upset with me, too.”
“No, Ryan. I’m not upset with you.”
“Good.”
“But I do think we need to talk.”
My heart tried to climb into my lungs. Not that I didn’t agree with her. I did. We had a lot to work out. But in my experience, those words never preceded anything good. “Okay. Now?”
“No. Not right now. We need to have this talk face-to-face.”
“Ah.” That didn’t make me feel any better.
“Do you think maybe we could try to set something up for when I get back?”
“Sure. Where are you?”
“I’m doing an advance in Hong Kong.”
“Nice. I’ve never been. How is it?”
“It’s okay. Busy.” Allison paused. “I’m ready to come home.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Another beat. “I—I’m here for two weeks.”
“Well, I’m pretty wrapped up with this visit for the next week or so, anyway. So that works out.”
“It does.”
“So…uh…what time is it there?” I closed my eyes and smacked myself on the thigh with the side of my fist. I couldn’t believe I’d just said that. I was such an idiot.