Free Fall (Elite Force #4)(62)
Author: Catherine Mann

How much more could she be hurt anyway?

“Every child I saw, I thought of mine at the same age and wondered what they were doing. I hoped they were thinking of me, remembering memories we’d made. When my daughter was eight, I rented the movie Out of Africa to give her a sense of where I went when I left home. She would draw pictures and mail them to me—pictures of me passing out mosquito nets to children. And she always drew herself as well, standing beside me. I was supposed to get rid of everything from my prior life, but I kept one of those pictures.”

With that last confession she ran out of words. She was emptied out, exhausted. This time in the CV-22 with Sam was all the indulgence she could allow herself. She didn’t know what would come next for her or if she would even see Sam again. If this relocation was anything like the last, the coming couple of days would move quickly and radically. She needed to get her head together, because all too soon they would be on the ground and things would be out of her control.

In fact, the aircraft was starting to slow. The CV-22’s loud rotors cranked into motion, shifting the blades to an upward helicopter position for landing. Still, Sam held onto her hand. Why hadn’t she thought to ask more about him?

Because she didn’t trust yet that he would tell her the truth. She didn’t want something to be said, more lies told, that she couldn’t overlook. After living through some of the worst experiences life could dole out, somehow knowing that Sam hid his identity to protect her didn’t feel like an unforgivable sin…

The CV-22 settled on the ground with a light thump that echoed in her stomach. Her hand clenched around Sam’s. This was it. When the hatch lowered, life as she’d known it for the past fourteen years would be officially over. Could Annie Johnson handle the upcoming intelligence meetings? The reorganization of her life?

She couldn’t screw up much worse than Melanie Carson had.

And she was older now, stronger. Tougher. She let go of Sam’s hand and tried not to think about how much she wanted to hold on and drag him into her next incarnation.

Shoulders squared, she walked down the load ramp, dry wind funneling around tan military buildings and whipping her loose pant suit around her. She was ready, damn it. Prepared for anything…

Except the sight of her daughter standing only twenty yards away.

***

Stella’s gasp sent Jose’s protective radar on high alert.

He scanned the troops off-loading from the CV-22 at the airport in Mogadishu, wondering which one was Smith’s new contact and why Stella was so upset. She staggered back a step and he caught her, steadying her with a palm to her spine. Smith had brought them all out here for the arrival of some new intel contacts, but beyond that, the lead agent on this had been damn tight-lipped about where he thought the list of operatives was about to be exposed.

Or why the coded cloth had been draped on the VP’s wife.

Irritation was running high. He’d always been able to stay detached during an operation, but with Stella involved, the stakes for him became all the more personal. Her moods fed his and that was a scary thought.

He wanted to pin Smith and demand answers for Stella. Now. No more jerking her around. If the guy didn’t want to talk, why the hell had he dragged them out of bed?

Jose ducked his head to her ear. “Are you okay?”

Eyes wide and stunned, she shook her head, pointing. “The woman there, one of the last off the load ramp… That’s my mother.”

“Your what?” Squinting into the late morning sun, he scanned the stream of people pouring off the CV-22, a mix of soldiers and civilians.

He followed the line of Stella’s attention to a couple trailing the rest. A dark-skinned man dressed in local garb stood beside a fair-skinned woman in a loose linen suit and a scarf that almost managed to hide her brownish-red hair. “You mean that lady looks like your mother?”

“No. That woman is my mother.”

Stella’s mother was alive? This was Smith’s special contact they’d been brought out here to meet? The implications of this woman’s name being on the list of operatives in the area took on a whole new complexity now.

She pivoted hard and fast toward Smith, anger vibrating from her. “You knew. Why the hell didn’t you warn me?”

Smith didn’t even wince, his craggy face unapologetic. “I was curious to see if you already knew she was alive, if she’d broken the terms of her agreement and contacted her family after all. That information could have provided a lead to how this list leaked out.”

“Well, trust me. Even I’m not that good of an actress.” Stella’s mouth tightened into a grim line.

Across the stretch of asphalt, the woman in question had her eyes locked on their small group as well. She’d gone white as a sheet. Her feet moved forward in something close to slow motion. The man at her side adjusted his pace to stay right by her until the couple stopped.

No one spoke. The aircraft engines rumbled and other base noises echoed—trucks, loudspeakers, people going about the business of parking and servicing planes.

The two women continued to stare at each other. Now that they were closer, the resemblance was unmistakable, right down to the freckles on the nose.

There were minor differences—Melanie Carson had more of a brownish tint to her hair and time had brushed some lines on her face. What did Stella see when she looked at the mother she thought she’d lost, a mother who’d walked away? He wanted to scoop Stella up and hold her, insulate her against the pain.

Stella stepped nearly nose to nose with the woman without reaching out. Her arms stayed stiff and straight at her sides. “I hope to God you’ve had amnesia for the past fourteen years, otherwise I’m going to have a tough time getting past this.”

Melanie Carson shrugged wryly. “No amnesia. Sorry, Stella.”

Smith interjected, “Touching as this is, the rest of this reunion will have to wait.” He gestured to Agent Jones. “If you’ll show Mrs. Carson and Mr. Al-Shennawi to the briefing room, I need a few moments with… Stella.”

Interesting. Melanie didn’t know about her daughter’s job, because otherwise why would Smith purposefully avoid calling her Agent Carson?

Smith charged ahead, orders given.

Apparently now that he’d gotten his shock value test to read mother and daughter he was ready to move this little party inside the hangar. Jose kept his hand on Stella’s back and to hell what anyone else thought. Rage and pain damn near radiated off her in waves, stirring every protective impulse in his body. He was staying by her side until he received a direct order to the contrary.