Page 16 of Covert Past

As the shower turned on, Boone walked over to the kitchen window and looked out at a new day dawning. He frowned. A man and woman walked down the beach. Awfully early for a walk. They passed along the back of the house, and he kept out of sight. Boone didn’t recognize them, but he was newto the island himself. Besides, there were a few visitors left on the island. It could be nothing. He thought about Dottie. She’d been held at one of the houses. Maybe the people staying there hadn’t even realized a pig was in the garage.

His gut told him there was more to Dottie’s escape than a simple fly-by-night petting zoo.

The desire to move Ellie someplace safe wouldn’t let him go. He’d make an excuse to stick close to her during the day while he worked on finding a safe house for her to stay at until they figured out if danger had followed her here to Hope Island.

Boone got a message from Declan, who told him a severe thunderstorm warning had been issued for later in the day. The conditions were favorable for massive storms to hit Hope Island. The Weather Channel predicted the worst storm would hit between sunset and early morning. This time of year, the weather could be volatile. Though they hadn’t had any significant hurricanes this season, these oceanic storms that were being created because of the cold fronts coming in early were definitely doing some damage.

The shower shut off. A few minutes later, Ellie emerged wearing the green polo shirt displaying the logo of the Hopeful Coffeehouse. Hank told her she’d picked the color herself because it was her favorite.

“Ready?” he asked while he tried not to notice the scent of her soap or the way her jeans fit just right.

“Yes, I’m ready.” She stopped near the door. “What about Dottie? We can’t leave her here alone.”

Boone had considered what to do with the piglet. “I’m sure Eli’s wife won’t mind watching her today until we can figure something else out.” Boone told her about Sashi. “She’s a good person. I’ll tell her Dottie belongs to a friend.”

She smiled and lifted Dottie into her arms. The pig snorted and snuggled her neck.

Boone didn’t want to alarm her without cause by mentioning the walkers he’d spotted earlier. He’d do some checking to see who was around the area and if any of the placeswere being rented for the winter.

She got in his truck and placed Dottie between them.

Boone backed up and headed down the coastal road while trying to ease his fears. What if the men both he and Eli had spotted in town weren’t after Sashi at all but were coming for Ellie? It made sense. She obviously knew something that was important enough for her enemies to want to silence her. The only question was what?

Chapter Seven

“We have her new location pinned down.” He stared at the house where his target had been staying and waited for the boss to speak.

“Are you certain? We can’t afford to be wrong this time. Now that everything is in motion, she has to disappear. No more near misses.”

“I understand.” He watched as Ayla and a man he hadn’t identified got into the man’s truck and left.

“Where is she hiding out?”

It surprised him that his boss cared. The instructions had always been to find her and eliminate the threat.

“A small house along the beach on an island town in Maine. Hope Island,” he told the boss.

“Hope Island. Leave it to her to search for something that will never be available to her.”

He laughed at the boss’s joke even though he didn’t find it particularly funny. “True. After all these years . . . You would have thought she’d given up long ago, especially after Oregon. For those like her there is no hope.”

The boss grunted an answer. “We’re stationed close. She isn’t going anywhere. The island is small. Once she’s alone, I’ll handle it myself.”

The boss didn’t trust him to handle the job. That stung. Sure, he understood the importance of their mission, but he’d been the one on the ground during all the hunts to bring Ayla down, nothis boss. All the other attempts to kill her had ended in failure for good reason. At one time, she was the best Mossad ever produced. Since being on the run, he had no doubt she’d perfected her skills. She knew how to stay hidden.

“What about the storm?” He wasn’t sure why he brought it up. Perhaps because he wanted to be the one to take her out. “It’s all over the news. It’s heading straight toward the island.”

“That should work in our favor, in my opinion. People will be more concerned with protecting themselves and their property than a few strangers on the island.”

He held onto his anger with difficulty. “Look, I understand your concerns, but I have this. She’s not getting away this time. There’s no need for you to risk blowing your cover.”

A very noisy harrumph followed.“You’d better be right because this is your last chance to prove yourself.”

The call ended in the abruptness he’d come to expect from his boss. Failure wasn’t an option. If he and his team couldn’t eliminate her threat, they’d suffer her fate, no question about it.

But he knew how to find her, and things were not critical . . . yet.

That stupid pig. No one on his team realized the animal was in the garage until it was too late. The thing had followed them over to her house the night before and tried to go inside when they’d searched it. He’d shooed the animal off afraid the filthy beast would blow their cover. He wasn’t sure it hadn’t.

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