making a mess of noodles and sauce. A husky voice shouted her name. “Abbey Laurent! Police!”
She stifled a scream. When she ran back to the window and looked down at the alley, she saw two police vehicles with flashing lights parked beside her building.
“Ms. Laurent!” the same voice called again impatiently, pounding on her door for a second time.
Abbey checked the peephole. Through the fish-eye lens, she could see three uniformed police officers outside her door, but they weren’t alone. A man in a dark raincoat and a fedora stood behind them. She opened the door, and when she did, the police officers separated. The other man came forward, assisted by a cane as he limped to her doorway.
It was the American intelligence officer she’d seen on the boardwalk.
“Ms. Laurent? My name is Nash Rollins. I’m with the American government. I want to talk to you.”
Abbey studied the expressionless faces of the police officers who were with him. “If I don’t want to talk, will I be arrested?”
“Not at all,” Rollins replied. “Actually, I brought the police along to make sure you felt safe. I heard about the attempt on your life, so I wasn’t sure you’d open the door to a stranger.”
“You’re right.”
“May I come in?” he asked.
Abbey hesitated, then waved her hand to usher him inside. The man limped into her apartment and shot a glance around the messy, impersonal studio. He didn’t look like a man who missed much. She didn’t invite him to sit down.
“What do you want?”
“First, would you mind closing the door?”
She eyed the open door and the policemen, and then she shut the door quietly. She also noticed her laptop on the table and went and closed the lid.
Rollins was a compact man, with a tough, weathered body coiled tightly like a rope. His knuckles were white where he gripped the head of his cane, and his torso bent like a question mark. With his other hand, he removed his hat, revealing unruly gray hair. He had bushy pale eyebrows, with blue eyes that squinted as if he were being assaulted by a frigid wind. The skin on his face was etched with tight, narrow wrinkles.
“I’ll cut to the chase, Ms. Laurent. I know who you are and what you do, and I know you were supposed to meet a man on the boardwalk last night. I’d like you to tell me if he’s been in touch with you since then.”
“If you know what I do, then you know I’m a journalist,” Abbey replied. “I’m not in the habit of sharing information with someone from the government. Particularly someone who’s not even from my government.”
“This man is dangerous, Ms. Laurent. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“I don’t know who I’m dealing with right now, Mr. Rollins. You say you’re with the American government, but you haven’t shown me any identification. I assume you’re a spook, so what are you? CIA?”
Rollins’s hooded eyes assessed her with a grudging respect, but he made no move to produce any identification. He tapped the head of his cane on the floor. “You don’t trust me. Fine. You shouldn’t trust him, either.”
“No?”
“No. Let me ask you a question. Are you under the impression that this man didn’t show up for your meeting last night?”
Abbey frowned. “That’s right.”
“Wrong,” Rollins snarled. “He was there. He killed four of my agents. He shot me in the leg. He was following you when we intercepted him, Ms. Laurent. Do I need to tell you what would have happened if he’d caught up with you? You’d be dead with a bullet in your throat.”
The information hit Abbey hard. She paled and sat heavily in one of her chairs. “Is that really true?”
“It is.”
“Someone came after me later, but it wasn’t him.”
“Do you think he operates alone? He doesn’t. He’s part of a very dangerous network. Until we catch him, you’re at serious risk. You may not trust me, but I’m trying to help you, Ms. Laurent. Now, you need to answer my question. Has he been in touch with you since last night?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Well, watch your back. He’s heading your way.”
Her dark eyes widened. “What?”
“He escaped from us last night and took refuge in a town a couple hours north of here. But we think he’s on his way back to the city. He may already be here now. I can think of only one reason why he’d take that kind of risk. He’s coming after you. My question