Page 9 of King

I shake my head and stroke his hand.“Just keep thinking that this will all soon be over.O’Connor Enterprises will be clean, and you can make it whatever you want it to be.We’ll both be free,period.”

He pulls me into his arms and kisses me.“I keep that in my head.What about you?”he asks, his expression still serious.“How was your day?

I take in a deep breath.I’m not sure whether I want to tell him about the pregnancy test just yet.He doesn’t need even more stress on top of the stress he already has.

Instead, I climb onto his lap and kiss him again, hoping to distract him and myself from all the craziness in our lives.

I hope it works.

ChapterFive

Harrison

I get the call around eleven in the morning, and it changes everything.

Fillmore.

We haven’t spoken for a while, and when I hear his voice over the phone, a sense of dread fills me.He wouldn’t just call me to chat.

“What’s up?”I rub my forehead while I wait for him to speak.“Everything okay?”

“We need to talk.Now.”

“That doesn’t sound good.Talk away.”

“Not over the phone.”

I sigh.That must mean it’s really not good news.I glance at my watch.

“At the dock,” I say.“I’ll be there in fifteen.”

Fillmore responds, his tone short.“Give me thirty.”

“See you then.”I end the call with the sense that he has some bad news I don’t particularly want to hear at the moment.I have enough on my plate without something from Fillmore, but he wouldn’t call and ask to meet if it wasn’t really important.

I put away a few files and close my computer.Before I leave the building, I speak with the security guard at the front to let him know I’ll be gone for an hour or so but can be reached on my cell if anyone needs me.

Then I go down to the parking garage in the basement and pick up my vehicle.I don’t want to tell Bill or Fogarty about Fillmore.He has to remain secret.Everything else about my current life is tracked, measured and monitored.Fillmore is the only person who isn’t known to the FBI or the O’Connor family.I aim to keep it that way.

He’d be the kind of emergency backup I can rely on if things start falling apart.

I drive to the docks and pull into the usual spot where we’re to meet and wait, reading news headlines on my cell.The location is distant from O’Connor territory and that of Andropov.I hope it’s safe and picked it when I met with Fillmore previously.

My mind keeps going back to Natalia and our evening of pleasure the previous night.

My wife.

It’s hard to believe that the role the FBI assigned us has become real.

I love her.My only concern is to protect her and to take my family’s business out of the underworld, where it’s been for decades, so we can have a safe and peaceful life together.

When we’re alone is the only time I feel truly at peace.I know we are meant to be together, and I’ll do anything and everything I can to make her happy and to ensure we can remain together.

Finally, a white Jeep drives along the dock towards me, and I recognize the driver as Fillmore.He’s wearing a Mets baseball cap and dark sunglasses, but it’s him.When he sees me, he nods and parks his vehicle beside mine.He gets out and comes over to my door, to my open window.

“Let’s walk.I need some air.”

“Okay,” I say and turn off the ignition.I leave the car and walk beside him, my hands in my pockets.“What’s so important that you needed to meet?”