The Export by J.K. Kelly (read along books txt) 📕

would also know that a mistake had been made, and the Americans, especially this export, would now be on the hunt.

Matt first went around apologizing to the staff at the ranch for how quickly they had come and gone when he first arrived, but now he wanted to sit down with all of them, over dinner in the massive dining room Coleman had entertained in for so many years, and celebrate her life. He wouldn’t let any of them lift a finger and had a hastily arranged caterer prepare, serve, and clean up after everyone. He let what was now his staff know of his intentions to keep things just as they were, everyone employed, the ranch flourishing, for years to come. He took Travis aside, thanked him for his service, told him he had a job for life if he wanted it, and that if he ever needed anything he just had to ask.

Sam declined the offer to stay for dinner. “I’ve got to sit down with my wife and have a long talk now. It’s time.”

Dale, who knew the ranch and its staff well, was happy to sit opposite Matt at the other end of the oak dining table. She knew Matt would take the night to focus on the Coleman Ranch and its people, but the next morning he’d be up early, yelling for coffee, and then dragging her back east to get her to the NSA and him back to his next mission – Anika.

They didn’t share a bed that night. Matt was back in his boyhood room, and Dale took one of the spacious guest rooms adorned with Western-style wood furniture, images of grizzlies, elk, moose, and mule deer on the walls and fixtures. They both needed to focus on the missions that were waiting for them. Lois was safe, and the Annapolis property would be there when the time was right for her to decide on a sleepover.

With the sun’s faint glow on the horizon, Dale heard Matt bugging the early morning cook for coffee and a hearty breakfast. “Got some hunting to do,” he joked with her. “Need to get moving!”

Soon, back in the air, the couple flew east aboard a six-passenger jet streaking at 42,000 feet as fast as the captain could go.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

“So, where do you think she’s gone?” Dale asked.

“If she was still using the flight attendant gig as a cover, and was able to move freely around the globe, she could be anywhere,” Matt responded, looking back at Dale from the view he was admiring as the two flew high over Kansas.

He sat forward and handed the flight attendant his coffee mug, gesturing for a refill. “Soon,” he said and sat back in his chair.

The jet landed at Baltimore-Washington International just past four in the afternoon, and the trip had allowed Dale and Matt the time to discuss every possible contingency in the hunt for the Russian chameleon. As they stepped off the plane and headed for the lobby of the private jet arrival center, they slowed their walk and then turned toward each other. They’d thought of everything but this.

“So where to now?” Matt asked.

She thought for a moment and then smiled. “I thought I had it all figured out, but on the way here, I changed my mind. The way I see it, Lois has been through a lot these last few weeks. First, she lost Charlie, and then some knucklehead put her on a private plane and flew her to Maryland of all places.” Matt smiled. “I know you. You’ll be back out here in the morning, flying off to wherever the hell you think Anika might be, and poor Lois will be without you again. I think it’s best that I stay at the new place while you’re gone to show her some love and take the house for a test drive.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Matt replied, still grinning, and began moving again toward the lobby.

That night, they laughed into the night after destroying a bucket of fried chicken and a few beers out on the porch while Lois continued her relentless patrol of the property. Once she’d tired of chasing whatever small intruder made the mistake of sneaking under or over the fence to invade her domain, she joined the couple and collapsed on the deck between them. The sun had set, and Dale returned to the table, clutching two more beers and a few tall, white candles she had discovered in one of the kitchen drawers. She sat down, gave Lois a reassuring pat on the head that it was okay and time to sleep, and then looked across to Matt.

“Okay, tell me, where is she, and what time’s your flight?”

“If I were Anika and learned the intelligence services of the free world were now looking for me, I’d have already found a beach and would be hiding in clear view under a big hat and sunglasses until the coast is clear.” Matt took a long draw of his beer and leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. “Somewhere where her natural accent would blend right in. Where her beautiful wolf eyes would blend in with the rest of her kind,” he added.

“You don’t think she’s just back in Moscow, surrounded by the Russians who sent her here?”

Matt shook his head.

Dale watched his expression. She knew him so well. He was already envisioning the chase he was running through his head.

“So that’s it, that’s where I’ll bring that bitch to justice, on the beaches of Ko Samui, Thailand.”

Dale shook her head slowly. This was what made Matt so special. Of the thousands of places on the planet a killer might select to hide, she was ready to put her money on his bet, too.

“Do you want me to push surveillance to there and maybe Phuket as well?” she asked.

Matt sat forward so quickly that he startled the dog, and Lois half sat up, looking