Holiday Illusion. Lynette Eason

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СКАЧАТЬ it out to stare at the tract the teen from the airport had given him. The title caught his eye. God has a plan for your life. Hmm. Well, so far the plan wasn’t exactly working out, in his opinion.

      Maybe that’s because you haven’t given God a chance to direct it.

      Whoa. Where had that thought come from? But then he realized it was true. He’d been pushing God away for so long, was it any wonder his life was upside down? Oh, it wasn’t terrible. Brazil had been a definite improvement over what he’d left behind, he just felt…incomplete, like something was missing.

      Like a relationship with Anna?

      Or, more likely, a relationship with God?

      “Hey Lucas!”

      The shout brought his head around to see Mark coming toward him and he felt a huge sense of relief at the distraction from his thoughts. The smile on the man’s face eased his instant worry that something had gone wrong with Paulo again. Mark reached him, saying, “I thought that was you.”

      “I’m waiting on Anna. What’s up?”

      “Do you think you’ll have any free time in the next couple days?”

      Lucas thought. His main purpose for coming home was to be there for Paulo. And to reconcile with his father. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, no matter how much he tried to forget the reason he’d taken off for Brazil three years ago, the past still hurt and he wanted to somehow make it right. He’d be here a while. “Sure, I probably can arrange it, why?”

      Mark gave a shrug. “Just thought we could get together for lunch or something, you know, catch up with each other.” He gave Lucas a playful punch in the arm. “Hey, man, I’ve missed you.”

      And Lucas had missed his best friend. Much more than he’d realized. “Lunch it is. Just name the place and the time.”

      “Well, it might end up being hospital fare, but at least the company will be interesting.”

      Offering Mark a grin, he agreed. Then he looked up to see Anna coming his way, beautiful as always…and pale, shaken, like something was wrong. He frowned, reaching for her hand as she approached him. The smile she pushed to her lips for Mark was forced and Lucas squeezed her fingers. She looked up at him. “Are you ready?”

      “Ready when you are.” He got the message. Questions could wait until later. He nodded to Mark. “Give me a call.”

      “You got it.”

      

      Since their meal at the hospital had been interrupted, Anna and Lucas drove through the nearest Starbucks for bagels and a coffee.

      She had called Justin from the hospital to tell him she was running late but on her way. Then she’d told Lucas what happened in the restroom, and he wanted to call the cops. But she convinced him it wouldn’t do any good; she wanted to talk to Justin first. Lucas didn’t like it, but decided to go along with it—for now. Justin was waiting for her as they walked in the door. He was a tall man, around Lucas’s height with a military crew cut and a firm no-nonsense jaw that had felt more than one fist. The large bump in the middle of his nose said it had been broken once upon a time. Green eyes took in Anna’s appearance in one sweep, then flared with recognition. “Anna Freeman? You don’t look like the Anna I knew four years ago.”

      “It’s me.”

      “The voice is the same, but…wow. You’ve changed.” He turned to Lucas, sizing him up and seeming to approve of whatever it was he saw. “Is he coming with you? We can talk in front of him?” At Anna’s nod, he gestured them into his office, saying, “I would’ve picked you up at the hospital, you know. In fact, if you hadn’t said you were leaving that very minute, I would’ve insisted.”

      Lucas clenched his jaw at the man’s tone, but he kept quiet. Better to watch and observe first, and act later.

      Anna shook her head. “No need.” She’d tell him about the restroom incident later.

      “So, who’s this guy?”

      “This is Lucas Bennett. Lucas, meet Justin Michaels.”

      The men nodded at each other. Lucas and Anna took seats on the ugly green sofa from the nineteen sixties, and Justin sat in the faux-leather chair behind his desk. He looked pointedly at Anna. “You’ve been gone a long time.”

      “I’ve been hiding.” In more ways than one. Not just physically, but emotionally, too.

      “And you’ve done it well.”

      Ignoring every unasked question behind those words, she decided to cut to the chase and said, “I think he knows I’m back.” She explained the restroom incident.

      Justin frowned. “Not good, my dear. Not good at all. How would he know?”

      “I don’t know, Justin. You tell me. Did you have a trace on my passport?”

      Her former boss flushed, and she said, “That’s what I thought. Well, who’s to say he doesn’t have the same capabilities and has been waiting for me to come back? He knew I came from Brazil. He mentioned it specifically.”

      Blowing out a breath, Justin shook his head. “It’s unlikely, but not impossible.”

      Anna fisted her hands on her thighs and looked Justin in the eye. “He’s going to get away with it, isn’t he?”

      Justin rubbed his jaw, leaned back and crossed his legs. “Yeah, unfortunately, it looks like he will.”

      “I want to find the evidence you need to nail this guy. I saw him standing over the body holding the knife. The man was bleeding on the floor begging for his life. Then he quit talking. Then they started moving the body, and I hid.”

      “We searched for it, Anna. The office, the desk, everything. Nada. No secret drawer, no hidden BlackBerry, nothing in the umbrella stand…and no dead body.”

      “I don’t get it. I know I shoved it in there.”

      “Well, our guys didn’t find it. We even confiscated his computer based on the tax stuff and altered books you gave us. Our specialists still came up with nothing.”

      Anna stood. “No, he wouldn’t put anything on his computers. Not even e-mails. I told you that.” She sighed. “Then I guess it’s over. If you can’t find that memory card, I have no way of proving anything. You can’t even figure out who the body might have been.” She closed her eyes, rubbed her forehead with thumb and forefinger. “Maybe I dreamed it all.”

      Justin spread his hand in a beseeching manner. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you—in fact, just the opposite. The fact that the security camera in that room had been turned off tells me something happened there and de Chastelain planned ahead of time to make sure it wouldn’t be caught on tape. The attempt on your life made it obvious someone was out to get you. The deaths of two good agents mean that I believe you saw what you say you saw. I’m saying I just can’t prove it. Somehow, I need to get new evidence on this guy and I need it soon.”

      Anna couldn’t pin down the main emotion raging through her right now. She felt fear, anger and disbelief СКАЧАТЬ