Page 19 of Out of Sight

I was curious what Carlo Morelli found interesting enough to put in some secret report. How much did he know about me? About Kaylie? I mean, obviously the Morellis knew about my time in prison, but did they know what I did to earn my conviction?

“Why do you want to know?”

If the Morellis found out I was a rat, would Kaylie be safe? I always tried to keep any mention of my personal life away from them. No one knew about her; I never talked about what I saw when I walked into the living room, never even wanted tothinkabout Kaylie’s body lying on the floor covered in blood and bruises. Claire didn’t need to know either.

“I was just curious if what it said made you hot for me, you know? Charismatic bad-boy. Tall, dark, and handsome. Strong,silent type. Anything like that?” I waggled my eyebrows at her for emphasis.

She made a disgusted sound. “If only you were the silent type.”

I hid a snicker. I could appreciate a good line, even if it was at my expense. Jim didn’t bother to hide his snort.

“I do not find criminals hot or sexy or handsome,” she glared, sharing a look with Agent Blake. Funny, I didn’t mention anything aboutsexy.“God, I hope we don’t have to stay with him for long.”

“Me too,” I stage whispered to her. “Blake sure is a mood killer!” Then I added a saucy wink just for the hell of it.

Oh, man, if looks could slap…

But then her fury turned into a look of concern. “Is it just me, or is that fake-tan, leather-jacket-wearing guy over there the same guy who was at the police precinct earlier?”

I froze, my amusement falling from my face as I grabbed Claire’s wrist and pulled her back several feet behind a pillar. I could see Jim Marshall and Blake both straighten to attention as well, only half a second behind me as they retreated back with us.

Marshall slipped a hand into his back waistband as he leaned around the column. Did he have a gun on him? How the hell had he gotten through airport security like that? Marshall slowly leaned out to look, just the barest peek. He gestured me forward so I copied him, nodding in confirmation after a quick look.

“That’s him. That’s Antonio Conti. Shit. You think he saw us?”

“He was looking at his phone when I saw him, so not unless he saw you two looking around the corner,” Claire said. Thank god he was still inexperienced in some of these things.

“Good,” Marshall said. “Now let’s go.” He put his hand on my shoulder while Blake and I both grabbed one of Claire’s hands to quickly lead us back out of the airport. We almost made it to baggage claim when I saw Leo.

“Stop. Leo Lombardi is out there.”

“Leo the enforcer?” Blake asked, so I nodded. He was the one who normally would have taken care of Mario Costa if he wasn’t busy sitting in lockup from an unrelated traffic stop violation. “I thought he was in custody. Damn,”

Marshal Marshall swore, pulling us back again to hide behind a coffee cart.

“He was,” Blake said, frowning. “I saw the paperwork myself. Probable cause to search his vehicle. Drug possession. Resisting arrest. Possession of counterfeit money and IDs. I have no idea how or why he’s out right now.”

“Who’s Leo Lombardi?” Claire asked. “I know his name and I know he was on the books as a consultant but I don’t know what he actually does for the Morellis.”

“He’s their Big Messes guy. He does all their wet work. They wanted me to take over for him while he was locked up and that’s how I got into this jam in the first place.”

“Is there a chance he didn’t spot us? Like Antonio?”

“None,” Jim responded matter-of-factly. “Lucky for us, he’s on the wrong side of the security checkpoint, but we’re not getting out of here this way.”

“Let’s go,” Blake said, ignoring the smug wave Leo Lombardi sent his way. “We only have a moment before he calls Antonio to pin us down in here.”

He and Jim turned our group back around, heading in a seemingly random direction. They exchanged a look, Blake nodding at Jim to take the lead. It made sense; he was the US Marshal after all, the one who specialized in getting people like Claire and I safely out of tight corners.

“Here’s the plan, okay? Do you see that door up ahead on the left?”

“Yes,” Claire said, following Marshall’s gaze. It was just a basic door in the wall; maybe storage or a maintenance closet. Blake and I nodded.

“We’re going to hide out there and book a new flight.” He made it sound so simple.

“Well, where’s Antonio?” Claire asked. “How do we know if he followed us or if that Leo guy called him over yet. He would notice a group of people walk into what should be a lockedroom.”

I snorted. “Don’t get me wrong, Antonio Conti is ambitious. But he’s a bit of an idiot with this kind of stuff. I bet he wouldn’t put two and two together to recognize anything suspicious unless he looked me in the face. We just gotta act confident, walk like normal, don’t let him get a good look at us, and we’ll be good.” I reached over and pulled the hoodie back up over Claire’s head as I said it. She hurried to tuck all that beautiful hair inside.

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