Page 56 of The Perfect Stranger

Chapter Nineteen

It was a warm summer’s day, and New York smelled like the pits. I’d had my target in sight for three days. Now, with the weekend in full swing, she navigated through the streets with ease, her dress moving with her hips. Her long silky hair tied in a ponytail swayed side to side with each step. She was unaware of my presence. None-the-wiser that my apartment was directly opposite hers with a window view of her living and bedroom.

She had habits. Daily rituals which she followed to a tee. Her quirks made me smile, and her clumsiness has me shaking my head. Nina spent most of her time digging and investigating into criminal activities, which meant she wasn’t as coordinated and stealthily as other agents on the frontline.

I kept my trail that had become routine, following only yards behind, her perfume catching in the breeze. She’d stop at the Starbucks on W 34th Street at seven in the morning. She would buy two ice-teas and hand one to the same homeless man who opened the doors to customers every day. His efforts of making a buck go largely unnoticed by the masses, except for Nina. He knows her by name, and his eyes light up when he sees her warm smile. When she hits the streets with Garcia to and from meetings with other investigating specialists, she laughs hysterically at his jokes. He looks at her with soft eyes and her in turn. They have a bond, and she has no idea of his cartel connections. When she returns home with a bag full of groceries, she balances it precariously on one knee while attempting to unlock the foyer door. I shake my head, amused that the bench chair by the door goes unused during this effort.

On the sixth night, like every other night, I watch from my window. All the lights in my apartment off, a soft glow emanating from hers. I had a chair positioned in the best vantage point, and I watched as she moved from room to room. I didn’t consider it a perverted act. After following her for so long, it almost felt like I knew her. That in some way, knowing Baja cartel and Los Santos foot soldiers were prowling the area, I needed to protect her.

I bit into my apple and watched as she turned off her television and placed an empty wine glass on the counter. She pulled her dress over her head, shimmying free of it until only in her underwear. Momentarily, she disappeared passing the wall between her living and bedroom.

I exhaled heavily in the darkness of my empty room. She was gorgeous in the most natural way God could create a woman.

Gabriel would definitely make a sport of her.

He wouldn’t be able to resist, not even for a day.

Nina reached behind her back and removed her lace bra. I knew I should look away. I had to be the better man. A gentleman.

But I couldn’t.

I wouldn’t.

The sheer curtain blowing in the breeze blurred her figure, and without knowing, I became mesmerized by her movements.

After a few moments, she disappeared into the bathroom. Twenty minutes after that she walked out in a colored negligee, turning the lights off for the night.

Emptying my beer, I took another from the fridge before returning to my post. Even while she slept, I needed to play sentry. This was happy hour for criminals to come out and play, and she was one target I wouldn’t allow to become a victim.

The next week continued much the same. Each day it was a stop at Starbucks to buy two iced teas where Nina greeted her homeless acquaintance. She would engage in friendly humorous banter with Garcia sometimes stopping at the corner diner for lunch. On Wednesdays, she would stop by a bakery for a mid-week splurge and arrive home with groceries on her hip every other day.

And every night I would watch her.

Everything was in build up to this particular night. The charity ball with guests including selected FBI specialists dealing with criminal fraud.

This would be the night.

The night when I strategically placed myself in her life. The night she would no longer be my target but my reason for the last two years.

Garcia’s eyes lit up when he saw Nina walking the staircase in her floor length gown. By all admittance, she looked exquisite. The silky material clung to her hips and accentuated her slender waist. I maintained my distance, waiting for the right time to show myself. Relinquishing my invitation to the doorman, I entered the great hall and accepted a glass of champagne.

A blonde woman with big hair and a dress molded around her oversized breasts greeted me. Her smile revealed snow-white teeth. She was an older lady with an air of wealth—a bored housewife of an inattentive congressman.

“Do you know…” she began in a thick Jersey accent, “…you look awfully familiar. Tell me where I may have seen you before, and how do I see more of you now.”

Her ringed fingers gently caressed her plunging neckline, an attempt to draw my eyes into her seductive play.

“Just one of those faces,” I replied and frowned a little when her cheeks flushed.

“My, my, you do have a gravelly voice. Almost better than the face.”

It was an innocent yet tedious flirt. If she was, in fact, the wife of someone high on the ladder, it wasn’t in my best interest to be seen with her. Being conspicuous would only lead to a positive ID.

“You know, my husband…” she continued while I scanned the room feigning interest. The more she sipped from her glass, the more she talked. I had tuned out long ago, my eye trained on Nina. More specifically, who she was talking to.

Delacroix.

I knew he would be here.

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