Elite Operatives: Demons Are Forever Part 14

Although Chase had deliberately been keeping her distance and didn't hesitate to criticize Jack's decisions, she didn't like seeing her hurt. In another life, they'd been very close and would have done anything for each other. Chase was still having a hard time letting go of Jack's dismissal of her, but she felt for what Jack was going through. "We will find her."

"Yeah."

* 114 *

They reached the van and Chase fired up the monitor and audio while Jack stood outside and had a cigarette. The apartment was still dark and quiet at five thirty.

"Won't be long till she gets up," Chase told Jack as she got in.

"I suppose." Jack took a sip of coffee.

"What did you do all night?"

"Nothing."

"I see. I bet you spent it drinking."

"None of your business."

"Must you always get self-destructive when you can't cope?"

"Look, you hara.s.s me about smoking, you call me a criminal, you think I'm a deserter, and I take it all. But you will not tell me if and how much I can drink. It's none of your d.a.m.n business." Chase glared at her. "It is if it impairs your ability to function."

"Who the f.u.c.k said I can't function?"

"You look like death."

"Again, none of your business," Jack said.

"It doesn't solve anything is all I'm saying."

"And what exactly do tofu and prost.i.tutes solve?"

"Nothing," Chase replied. "But they won't shorten my life span.""Your life span was severely compromised when the EOO circus adopted you."

"Perhaps, but at least it'll be a short, sudden death instead of a long, painful one."

"Like the one I'm experiencing with you, you mean." Frustrated, Chase turned her attention to the monitor. "Suit yourself. It's your death."

"And don't you forget it. Let me know when the call girl's ready to leave." Jack pulled something out of her small daypack and sat back to read it with her penlight.

Chase was surprised to discover it was the last issue of Landor the Demon. "You still read graphic novels?"

"That bug you, too?"

"Why that one?"

"You know it?"

* 115 *

"Yes."

"Then you shouldn't have to ask why," Jack replied. "For the longest time, Landor was me. Trapped in a world where he didn't belong. Destined to do what he didn't believe in and forbidden to approach the woman he loved. Landor needs to grow a pair and stand up against Satan-who loosely translates into Pierce, of course-and take charge of his own life. Go after Emily."

"Is that what you did? Go after Ca.s.sady?" Jack hesitated. "No. Ca.s.sady came after me. Even after she found out who I was."

Chase looked back at the monitor. "Maybe Landor doesn't trust his instincts."

"Could be, but I don't get that vibe from him. I think he's just a coward."

"No, he's not." Chase almost dropped her coffee. "He's merely terrified of getting Emily killed."

"So you think he should wander forever alone, jump into bed with women who don't matter, because of what might happen?"

"There's nothing uncertain about it. Satan told him he'd kill Emily with his own hands."

"Landor's a smart guy," Jack said. "He could think of a way to keep her alive. Then again, I can see how you'd like the fact that he subst.i.tutes Emily with countless s.e.xperiences." The alarm clock in Heather's apartment went off.

Jack rolled up the novel. "About time." The nightstand light came on, and they watched Heather switch off the alarm and get out of bed wearing panties and her short T-s.h.i.+rt.

Chase stared at the monitor, mesmerized.

Heather was perfection, so provocatively proportioned her legs went on forever. After a long, lazy stretch, like a cat in the sun, she pulled on a pair of sweats and got on the exercise bike in the corner of her bedroom.

"I don't know why you're staring with such interest." Jack unrolled the novel again. "It's not like she'll pedal away." Fifteen minutes of intense workout later, Heather started to strip as she walked out of view of the bedroom camera. The angle from * 116 *

the living room cam picked up her naked back in the split-screen view as she went into the bathroom wearing only her baby-blue lace panties. She closed the door before Chase could glimpse more.

"d.a.m.n." Chase sighed.

"What?" Jack asked, without looking up.

"Nothing."

Chase stared at the bathroom door until it opened ten minutes later. Jack evidently caught the movement on the monitor because she leaned forward to watch.

Heather was wrapped in a towel so small it barely reached her thighs. She made her way into the bedroom where the other camera picked her up.

"I have to admit, she is a beautiful woman," Jack said, just as Heather turned away from the camera and dropped the towel.

"d.a.m.n," Chase said again.

Heather started to dress, keeping her back to the camera. First came burgundy panties, then a matching satin bra.

"You just can't catch a break, huh?" Jack asked.

"What? Don't be ridiculous. It's not like I haven't seen a beautiful naked woman before."

"I'm sure. Need a tissue before your drool hits the control panel?"

Heather turned back around, finally, but not before she had put on a blouse. The color nearly matched her underwear and went well with the light-charcoal skirt and blazer that followed.

"You can start breathing again. She's dressed," Jack said. "Jeez, you'd think with all the action you get you'd be used to some skin."

"Stop talking and go back to Landor."

Jack sighed and opened the novel.

Heather disappeared into the bathroom for a couple of minutes to put on her makeup, then went to the kitchen to make coffee. She carried her mug back into the bedroom and sipped from it while she dried her hair in front of the big mirror over the dresser. She even combed her fingers through her hair in a slow, s.e.xy way. Once again, Chase regretted never having happened upon her through an agency. G.o.d, the things I would have done to that woman.

* 117 *

After she finished, Heather carried her mug to the kitchen sink.

She had her purse in hand and was about to put her coat on when the phone rang.

Chase and Jack stared at the monitor as Chase cranked up the audio."Good morning. Getting ready to leave?" a male voice asked.

"Hi, handsome. And yes."

"Will I see you tonight?"

"How badly do you want to?" Heather laughed.

"Bad," the man said. "I was wondering if you have something special for me?"

Heather sighed. "Not yet. I'm still waiting."

"Too bad."

"How about one of your other favorites?" Heather asked.

"No. It's okay. I'll see you later."

"Be good."

"Not like I have a choice," he replied.

"Later, then."

"Later."

Heather disconnected, took another quick sip of coffee, and grabbed her coat.

"It wasn't Rozsa," Jack said.

"Maybe the guy who made the transaction?" Chase mused.

"Maybe. Looks like we'll be on her heels all day."

"Get ready to move," Chase said. "She's coming out." Jack rolled the comic book up and put it in her back pocket.

"I'll keep you posted." She got out and tailed Heather as she walked toward the subway.

Chase waited until they were out of sight before she left to pick up the rental. Jack phoned to say they were headed to the Garment District as expected, so Chase parked the vehicle in the same nearby lot and met Jack in the restaurant across from Heather's building.

They ate a leisurely breakfast and sat back to begin the long wait, Chase focused on the front entrance and Jack became engrossed in Landor the Demon.

* 118 *

Twenty minutes before Heather was due to leave work, Jack took up her position in the rear corner of the building while Chase remained watching the front, in case Heather decided to alter her routine because of the mysterious phone call.

"Got her," Jack informed Chase by cell just a few minutes past five. "She's coming your way."

"Roger that." Chase picked Heather up a minute later when she rounded the corner and pa.s.sed by across the street. Jack followed a half-block behind, careful not to lose her amid the crush of rush-hour pedestrians.

Chase headed back to the rental. Traffic was gridlocked, and it didn't look like she'd be able to get out of the area any time soon.

As she sat in a long line waiting to exit the lot, Jack called with an update. "She's headed into the subway at Times Square. Where are you?""Stuck in traffic at the lot. Keep on her. Update me when you can." She gripped the wheel in frustration. Jack was headed into a dead zone for cell phones, and Chase had no idea in which direction they were headed. To proceed without further information could just put more distance between them. She pulled off to the side to wait and checked her watch.

By the time Jack reported in again, more than a half hour later, Chase had uncharacteristically chewed off half her stubby fingernails.

"Exiting at the East 241st Street station in the Bronx." Jack paused and Chase heard the click of a lighter, followed by a long exhale. "She's on foot, headed east on Sagamore Street." Chase pulled out of the lot and headed north. Traffic had only marginally improved-it would still take her forty minutes or better to travel the fourteen or so miles. "Headed your way." Jack reported in again when Chase was about halfway to the Bronx. "She just went into the Saint Barnabas Acute Care Center."

"Visiting her sick brother?" Chase asked as she punched in the location on her GPS.

"That's my guess. I'll see what I can find out."

* 119 *

"Should be there in fifteen or so," Chase said, and disconnected.

She thought back to Heather's telephone exchange. The man had asked if she had something special for him, and Heather had replied, Not yet. I'm still waiting. Then she'd offered to get him one of his other favorites.

He was a nut about graphic novels, Landor the Demon in particular. Were they referring to her promise to autograph a copy of her next installment for him? It seemed a reasonable possibility.

Heather had clearly sounded disappointed. Surely because her brother was looking forward to it, right?

Or could it possibly be that Heather was disappointed just because she wanted to see Chase again?

* 120 *

ChaPter thirteen.