Moth(65)

When we finally part we’re both smitten. I kiss her gently in between pulling up my pants and fastening them. “Okay, we need to stay focused from now on.”

She laughs against my mouth. “Okay. I promise. No more distractions.”

I slap her ass as we head to the truck, all while trying to come up with a way to protect her from whatever she’ll face when this is over.





Chapter 21


We’re standing in the parking lot of the little country store, leaning against the truck while I turn on my phone and begin the process of explaining the plan to my team. Meanwhile Nina has already sent the text along with the picture to the person who ordered her to kill me. We both know they’ll still be coming for her, so she shuts off her phone, breaks it in half, and discards the sim so we can’t be traced.

My phone is vibrating with a ton of messages as soon as it’s able to power on. I wait for them to finish and decided to read them before making the call.



Moth, that bitch is FBI. That’s why we couldn’t trace her. Her files are locked. We had to make calls. She’s playing you. Get out of there. We think you’re the target. – House



Answer us. Let us know you’re alive. – Renner



When you get this message call headquarters immediately – Director John



There are several more messages from House and Renner, but I ignore them and make the call. The director can wait.



I put it on speaker so I don’t have to explain everything to Nina when the call is over. Renner answers on the first ring. “Holy shit, you’re alive. Man, we were thinking the worst. Where the f*ck are you? Are you injured? Did that bitch hurt you?”

“The bitch is right here,” she says before I can respond.

Renner immediately counters. “What the f*ck have you done to Moth?”

“She hasn’t done anything,” I reply. The line goes silent. “We’re working together. I have a new plan.”

House responds letting me know they’re both listening. “You have some explaining to do, Lucy.” His rendition of Ricky Ricardo is terrible, but it brings another smile to my face.

“Look, I’m not going to get into details. There’s a hit out on both of us. We came up with a plan, but I’m going to need your help to make it happen.”

“Anything, boss. Tell us what we can do.”

“First and foremost, don’t call the director. If we have a mole in the department we’ll flush them out. Nina and I staged my murder. She’s already sent photographs of my dead corpse to the people she’s been trying to infiltrate. Since my death will be a celebration for Alizar, we’ll be able to sneak under the radar to get to him. Nina knows where he’ll be next week. I need you both to hop on a plane to Guatemala in the next three days. Stay put and act as if nothing is wrong until then. We want to make them think you’re sticking around to solve my murder. Don’t make any calls into the director. Wait for him to call you. If he confirms that I’m dead then we know someone is leaking the information. Don’t tell anyone you’re going to Guatemala.”

“Two of us won’t be able to infiltrate his security.”

“We’ll call in reinforcements at the last minute that way we’re sure to take him by surprise. Get Cowboy on board. He’s an *, but I know he’s not the leak. He was too torn up over what happened the last time.”



“Sounds good. Can you tell us why we can’t call the director?” House questions.

“After convincing him I needed to go home to bury my brother, he all of a sudden decided I needed to stick around. He was adamant. The switch was too drastic. Something is up. I don’t want it to be him, but I have one of those feelings. He claims it was because we f*cked up, but now I’m not so sure. Someone is in Alizar’s pocket, so we’ll need to weed through the suspects to figure it out.”

“Okay, boss. We’ll wait to hear from you. We’re glad you’re all right. We thought that bitch took you out.” Renner’s comic relief hour needs to go somewhere else.

Nina replies. “I can still hear you.”

“We know,” House says with confidence. I can already imagine them snickering about the situation, because they know we’re a lot more comfortable with each other than we should be.

When the call ends I know we’ve taken the steps necessary to make this happen.

“Now what?” Nina asks.

“Now we wait a couple days. Do you have a passport?”

“I have two. One for Windy and one for me.”

“I have two as well. One for Monty and one for myself. I’m just wondering which will be flagged first. We need to keep our whereabouts a secret for as long as we can.”

“Maybe we should drive most of the way. It might take us the whole week. I have an SUV parked outside of D.C. We can take it and not worry about breaking down.”

“You don’t like the amenities at the cabin.”

She reaches over and takes my hand. “I like being hidden, but I’m tired of running from this. I want it over with.”

I nod. I couldn’t agree more. “Yeah. Maybe we should take it on the road.”

“I have money put away, cash actually. It’s in the safe. It’s a couple grand. That should be enough to get us across the border into Mexico and then to Guatemala.”