life zipped along in a way she hadn’t experienced before.
She chalked the feeling up to her current place in the world. Nothing stayed certain. She didn’t even know what she could do now and where she should start. She ruled out Montana as her new home base thanks to the snow, but that left a lot of options. Every time she tried to run through them in her head she thought about Gabe and Virginia.
Now she thought about his strong arms and all the things he could do with those fingers. She had to say something or risk dragging him back to bed, and that sure was a tempting idea. “What’s happening today?”
“A plane crash.”
The words sank in and she spun around to face him. “What?”
He rested his hands on her hips and stared down at her. “Not a real one.”
“Okay.” He sounded so serious, as if she thought he might really bring a plane down with them on it. Though there was a tiny part of her that did wonder if he could actually pull that off and have them all walk away safely—not that she intended to find out today. “Well, I guess that’s good news.”
“Andy and I set it up.”
“When?” And why hadn’t they filled her in?
“It was in our list of potential plans. We decided to set it in motion because of the Rick piece and the obvious fact someone you used to work with wants you, at the very least, followed and your movements analyzed.”
“Aren’t you enterprising.” If she’d had more people like Gabe working for her she might not be in this mess. She’d only landed on everyone’s radar this time because of a rogue agent under her watch. She’d raised concerns but no one listened. Then when everyone overreacted by trying to neutralize the rest of her team, she stepped in. Thanks to that she didn’t have a career or a clue as to how to lead the rest of her life.
“He’ll have footage and reports. Photos of a plane and, I’m afraid, your body. Well, one he produces.”
“But not a real person.” She sure hoped that was true.
“That’s up to him.” Gabe shrugged. “Either way, it will look legitimate to most people and provide cover.”
“This is to throw the CIA off?” Because she couldn’t imagine that. A good forensics team would see through the ruse, and it would take weeks of planning and a whole host of trustworthy staff to really pull something like this off. They didn’t have the time or the resources.
“They’ll figure out it’s fake. The point is to show them you have every intention of disappearing. Of not being Natalie, one of their star agents, anymore. Apparently Bast has been doing a lot of yelling. This venture will support his claims about you.”
It was the right answer, but it chilled her insides. The idea of pretending to plunge to her death and doing it so she could walk away into . . . what? That’s where she kept getting tripped up. All of this, the hiding, the bodyguard, the players, the negotiation, all of it led to a place where she could have a new life.
The amount of work that went into the setup and execution awed and humbled her. She couldn’t even figure out a way to express her gratitude now that she’d stopped feeling so sorry for herself for being thrust into this situation. But what now? No one seemed to be able to answer that question. Not even her.
Gabe rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “What are you thinking about?”
“The future.” Which wasn’t a lie, except for the fact that she didn’t really have one.
He gave her forearms a squeeze before dropping his hands to his sides. “Let’s concentrate on today.”
An idea popped into her head. A view of the bigger picture and the consequences he kept ignoring. “Some of the people who hired Rick are going to be ticked off that you’re doing this.”
“I’ve decided that crowd is never happy. They don’t want you at your desk. Don’t want you away from it. Want you dead then alive. No, dead.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s exhausting.”
She couldn’t miss the humor in his voice, and it helped. He wasn’t making fun of her, but he tried to take some of the pressure off the situation. That she understood. The faking of her death she liked a little less. She’d lost her family long ago and didn’t collect friends, but there were other people