Exit Strategy (Nadia Stafford 1)

REDRUM: Piss off.

He turned away from the monitor. His colleagues coming after him? There was something vaguely cannibalistic in that, something unfair, even treacherous. Yes, he had to admit, something hurtful. Why come after him? He hadn't trodden on any toes, hadn't stolen a job or offed a colleague. His attitude and behavior toward his fellow pros had

always been respectful.

And yet...

True or not true, he'd have to take it into account. Maybe it was time to change gears. Consider the possibilities. Savor the power of choice.

One choice niggled at the back of his brain. The most intriguing of the lot.

In this game he'd created, he'd allotted himself a number of special moves. His trump cards. Perhaps it was time to play one of them, an ace he'd been saving in case things went wrong. The game had changed now, though, and it made no sense to play the card. And yet...

His father had been a gambler. Lost everything they owned. Yet his father always swore that Fortune had deserted him when he'd stopped trusting her, when he'd become nervous and started holding his cards too long. A smart gambler, he'd said, knows how to make a surprise play pay off.

A surprise play. He chuckled, then surreptitiously wiped down the keyboard with his sleeve, put on his coat, picked up his disposable coffee cup and left.

* * *

TWENTY-ONE

Jack left early that morning. Evelyn and I ate breakfast, then headed out. I'd threatened to burn my Mafia-bait outfit. Now I wished I'd followed through. I was indeed dressed again as a big-haired tight-jeaned boob-plumped Jersey girl. Evelyn swore that what had worked with Little Joe would work with Nicky Volkv, but I suspected she just liked forcing me to do things I didn't want to do.

After dropping Evelyn off on the way to talk to a nearby source, I stopped to call Emma at the lodge. It was Thursday now, the weekend coming and no sign that I'd be home in time.

Emma assured me that wasn't a problem--we were only half booked, and they were all fall foliage tourists, most of them seniors, none of whom had booked my extreme sports "extras" or access to the shooting range. She'd just tell any drop-ins that these services were unavailable this weekend, and offer a discounted rate if anyone complained. Everything else--supervising hikes, doling out bikes and canoes, hosting the bonfires--she and Owen could handle. I should just relax and enjoy my time away...and whomever I was sharing it with.

I arrived at the penitentiary just after morning visiting hours began. I parked the car, grabbed my new pleather purse and set out. Between the lot and the building was a postage-stamp bit of green space filled with staff on their smoking breaks and visitors psyching themselves up to enter the prison.

As I walked through the parking lot, my gaze swept across those faces, counting and memorizing. As both a hitman and a cop, you learn to take note of your surroundings. So, although I was still a hundred feet from that green space, I noticed when nine people became ten, and I knew that the tenth had not come out of the prison or stepped from the parking lot, but had simply appeared. That blip made me pay attention.

I sized him up. Burly with a trim light-brown beard and a forgettable face. Midforties. He lifted a half-smoked cigarette to his lips, but the way he held it marked him as someone unfamiliar with the vice. Something told me very few people took up smoking in their forties, and no casual smoker would brave today's bitter wind for a cigarette.

I saw his gaze slant toward me. His face was still in profile, his eyes cast to the ground, but shifting in my direction. Measuring the distance.

I forced myself to take three more steps. His left leg turned, toe pivoting to point my way, knee following, hips starting to swivel. I stopped sharp and winced, delivering the best "oh, shit, I forgot something" face I could manage without slapping my forehead. Then I wheeled and quick-marched back to the car.

I glanced into the side mirror of each vehicle I passed on the way. The first three times, the angle was wrong and I saw nothing. On the fourth try, I caught a glimpse of the man, following as casually as he could manage.

I reached into my purse and pulled out my prepaid cell phone.

"Hey, Larry, it's me," I said, voice raised, as if to compensate for a poor connection. "You won't believe what I forgot."

Pause.

"Okay, you guessed. I am such a ditz."

Pause.

"Well, you don't have to fucking agree with me!"

As I talked, I kept glancing in the mirrors. The man started dropping back, then disappeared, unwilling to attack while I was talking to someone. I scanned the parking lot, making sure he wasn't doing an end-run around me.

I recognized his intentions as clearly as if they'd been screen-printed across his jacket. If I hadn't turned around, he would have headed into the lot, his path intersecting mine as I walked between the cars. A tight passage, a quiet shot to the heart and I'd fall, too far from the building to attract attention.

Once inside the car, I locked the doors and took a deep breath, calming that part of me that was screaming "what the hell are you doing?" Escaping, taking refuge, turning down a fight--not things I was accustomed to. I had to clasp my hands around the steering wheel to keep from throwing open the door and going after him.

But in this case, the instinctive choice wasn't the wise one. So I glued my butt to the car seat, eyes on the mirrors, making sure no one snuck up on me, and concentrated on planning my next move.