But there was something about the shape of the other mans head, the slight wave of his silver-flecked black hair, that tugged at Connors memory.
How did he know the man? Was it from those years hed spent in Kaziristan? Or was the acquaintance more recent?
He sensed more than saw Risas approach and turned his gaze toward her, watching her walk to his table. She carried a small tray with a glass of iced mint tea, even though he hadnt indicated whether he wanted it hot or cold. She placed the glass of tea on the table in front of him and started to turn away.
I didnt ask for my tea to be iced, he murmured. But of course, shed given him ice because she knew thats how he liked it.
She froze in place for a second before she turned and lowered her gaze. I am sorry. I will bring you another cup.
He closed his hand over hers as she reached for the glass. Washington Park. Are you familiar with it?
For a moment, her fingers flexed beneath his grip. But she gave a tiny nod.
He dropped his hand away before they drew unwanted attention. I will be on a bench near the bandstand by the water park. Tomorrow morning at ten. If you want to talk. He handed her the menu. Tea will be all. Thank you.
She lifted her gaze to meet his. The table will be needed once the dinner crowd picks up.
Understood. He took a couple of drinks of the cold mint tea and realized shed added a packet of sweetener, the way he liked it. Thank you for the tea. Its perfect.
She averted her gaze but didnt move right away. He thought he saw a hint of moisture glimmering in her eyes before she finally walked back to the kitchen area.
He released his pent-up breath and glanced at the table nearby where the two Kaziri men continued flirting with the young waitress. It was at that exact moment that the second man turned his head, giving Connor a good look at his profile.
A ripple of unease darted through him. He didnt recognize the man, but something was ringing alarm bells in his head. He felt as if he should recognize him somehow. But why?
He looked at the phone lying on the table in front of him. Unhurriedly, he picked it up and swiped the screen to unlock it. Glancing toward the other table, he pushed the camera application button, bringing up the viewing screen, and slowly angled it toward the men at the other table.
Pretending to send a text, he snapped a quick shot of the man facing him. He waited for the other man to turn again, but he was looking up at the flirtatious waitress, who seemed to be regaling them with a story in rapid-fire Kaziri.
The clatter of silverware nearby drew his attention away for a moment, until he spotted the toddler at a table near the door who had thrown his spoon on the floor. As the mother shot a look of apology toward the approaching server, Connor looked back at the table where the two Kaziri men sat. The second man had turned in his chair to watch the young mother and child, his expression harsh with disapproval.
He was perfectly framed in the phones viewer screen.
Connor snapped a couple of photos before the man turned his back again. While he was at it, he took a few other shots, one of the dark-haired man who seemed to be the restaurant manager, another of the pretty young waitress attending to the table where the Kaziri men sat, and finally, carefully, a shot of Risa as she served a nearby table, her roosari sliding backward to reveal her dusky hair and delicate profile.
After one more shot, he pocketed his phone and retrieved his wallet. He put a twenty on the table next to the half-empty tea glass before he walked out the door, careful to keep his face averted from the two Kaziri men.
Outside the restaurant, the night had turned bitterly cold, the last fluttering of snow drifting silently from the winter sky. Tugging up his collar to guard his neck from the icy wind, he hurried down the block to a coffee shop angled across the street from The Jewel of Tablis.
A blast of heat welcomed him as he entered. A freckled waitress with straw-blond hair and bright red lipstick greeted him from the counter. Take a seat, sir. Ill be with you in just a sec.
Connor sat at one of the tables by the window, not entirely happy with the view through the plate glass. The bright interior of the diner reflected back at him, making it difficult to see much of the street outside, though the colorful lights of The Jewel of Tablis were just visible through the reflection.
He pulled out his phone and opened the photo gallery, studying the images hed snapped at the other restaurant. Hed gotten a good shot of the younger man who had sat facing Connors table. He texted Maddox Heller a quick message and attached the photo. Then he picked out the best shot he had of the older man and sent the image to Heller as well. Does this man look familiar?
As the waitress arrived with a pot of coffee and a menu, his phone hummed. He took the menu and checked his messages. There was a text from Heller.
Not sure, Heller had written. The image isnt clear. Can you track? Get a better shot?
Will try, he texted back and set his phone on the table in front of him, peering through his reflection at the door of the restaurant down the street.
* * *
PANIC BURNED IN her chest, stealing her breath. She forced herself to slow her breathing, to concentrate on staying calm. Thanks to the pregnancy, her blood pressure was a little higher than normal, so she had to deal with the stress for the babys sake as well as her own.
Dont think about Connor. Dont think about anything but the job.
Are you okay? Daryas voice startled her, setting her nerves rattling. Darya had been born in Cincinnati and spoke Kaziri with an American accent.
Im feeling a little tired, Yasmin answered, her own Kaziri as authentic as a natives, thanks to her mother and those years spent in Kaziristan, first with her mothers brother and his family, and then undercover with the agency.
Her gaze drifted toward the VIP table. Maybe thats why shed thought one of those men looked familiar? Had she seen him before in Kaziristan?
Darya followed her gaze and lowered her voice to a soft hiss. Pigs, she said with a viciousness that caught Yasmin by surprise.
The younger womans parents put great stock in tradition and they had raised their daughter to observe their customs, but perhaps Darya had a rebellious side. Despite her flirtations with the VIPs earlier, Yasmin now noticed a pinched look around the girls eyes and mouth that suggested she had found her role vexing.
Not worth the tips they would leave when they departed?
I think that handsome customer you served earlier liked you, Darya added, her voice back to its normal, teasing tone. The one with the leather jacket? Very manly.
I am pregnant and hardly looking my best, she countered, trying to forget the look of betrayal in Connors eyes. A pain began to throb behind her forehead. You were right. I am not feeling well.
She had to get out of here. Go somewhere to think. Figure out what to do next. Try to reach Dal again.
Go. Your shift is nearly over. I will tell Farid you became ill and left.
Yasmin glanced at her watch. It was eight forty-five. The restaurant closed at nine. Ill tell him, she said, already heading toward the kitchen. Farid would probably dock her the final hour of her pay, but money was the least of her problems at the moment.
How had Connor located her? What kind of game was he playing?
How had Connor located her? What kind of game was he playing?
She found Farid in his cluttered office behind the kitchen and told him she was feeling unwell.
Youll get an hour less in your paycheck this week, he warned her. Unless you can pick up an hour later this week.
I will do that, she said, not at all certain shed be back to the restaurant at all.
Instead of going out the back door into the darkened alley behind the restaurant, she chose the relative safety of the well-lit front exit. As she left, she spared another glance at the two men sitting at the VIP table. They leaned toward each other over the table, deep in conversation. The older mans demeanor seemed angry, while the younger man looked tense and worried. From her vantage point, she couldnt see the older mans face, but there was something vaguely familiar about the way he held himself erect, about the shape of his head and his slim but masculine build.
Flicking her gaze toward the front exit, she realized she could see the older mans reflection quite clearly in the window. Clearly enough that she was now certain shed seen him before. But not in person.
Where had she seen him?
It might have been on Dalrymples office wall, she realized a few moments later. There had been several surveillance shots tacked up on a corkboard behind Dals desk in his Washington office. Shed asked about the photos once, but Dal had brushed her questions aside. Theyre wins, hed said with grim satisfaction. Shed assumed that Dal meant they were bad actors whod been killed or captured by the agency.
One of the photos on the wall had looked a little bit like one of the two men Darya had been serving earlier, hadnt it?
But those men on Dals wall of wins were dead or locked up somewhere theyd never escape.
So how could one of them be sitting at table six in The Jewel of Tablis?
And was it a coincidence that Connor had shown up at this restaurant at the same time as the mystery man? Maybe he hadnt come to Cincinnati looking for her at all.
Maybe he was here looking for the mystery man.
She exited the warmth of the restaurant, the shock of frigid air sucking the breath from her lungs. Pulling her coat more tightly around her, she started walking down the street toward the bus stop on the corner. The restaurant was close enough to her apartment to walk there most days, but she was cold, tired and feeling hunted. She could splurge on the bus fare after the evening shed just had.
Light from the storefronts across the street illuminated her way between the circles of light sporadically shed by streetlamps. On a Wednesday night, the crowd of pedestrians was lighter than it would be on the weekends, but there were enough people to make her feel safer as she walked to the corner. A few of them gave her curious glances, their gazes directed either at her head scarf or her swollen belly. A couple of the women flashed her sympathetic smiles. One of the people sitting on the bus stop bench rose to let her take his place.
She took the seat gratefully and sat to wait for the bus, letting her gaze take in the people walking past. Finally, the bus appeared amid the light traffic moving toward the corner, and she reached into her purse to make sure she had exact change. As she gathered the coins in her hand, she heard a deep voice speaking Kaziri.
The serving girl was beautiful, no?
Looking up, Yasmin spotted the two VIPs from the restaurant, walking together alone. She looked away as they neared her, covering her surprise so that no one around her would notice and remember. Then, as the men passed by, the bus arrived, and the people waiting with her at the bus stop moved at once to board.
Yasmin remained where she was until everyone else had started toward the bus. She rose, too, but turned to follow the men instead.
She was far enough away that they werent likely to hear her footsteps following them. They were certainly showing no signs of stealth themselves, the older of them walking with a confident swagger, his colorful payraan tumbaan rippling in the cold breeze with each step.
The men walked two more blocks before turning onto a cross street. The lights here were fewer and spaced farther apart. While shed been on the main drag, she had been accompanied by a scattering of fellow pedestrians, but once she took the turn to follow the Kaziri men, she was alone, and her sense of vulnerability increased.
In her prime, the prospect of following a couple of men down a dark side street wouldnt have given her much pause. But in her prime, she had never been over eight months pregnant and unarmed.
She slowed her gait, let them move a little farther ahead of her but still close enough that she wasnt likely to lose them unless they tried to shake her tail. Her clothing was dark, and her olive skin and dark hair wouldnt be easily visible as long as she stayed in the shadows.
Cincinnati was still a relatively new place to her, but shed taken care to study the street maps and familiarize herself with the area for just such a situation as this. When shed come to town seven months ago, shortly after her previous life had all but ended, she hadnt known she was pregnant. She had intended to be much more useful to Dal than shed turned out to be.
But the job was still the job, and one of the two Kaziri men shed spotted at The Jewel of Tablis had pinged her radar, big-time. Maybe she was wrong about seeing him before. Maybe his reason for being in Cincinnati was completely innocent.
Or maybe they were planning to bring al Adar terror attacks to the United States, hiding themselves among the poor immigrants whod fled Kaziristan to escape unrest and persecution back home.
Near the next cross street, the two men slowed their pace as they reached the side door of a four-story brick building. It was hard to tell much about the place until the door opened, spilling light into the darkened street and revealing a quick glimpse of the dingy redbrick facade. Then the door closed, plunging the street into darkness again.
Yasmin peered at the darkened streetlamp overhead. Was it dark from normal wear and tear, or had someone deliberately disabled the bulb? And if so, was it to hide what was inside the building the two men had entered?
The longer she stayed here in the open, the more danger she put herself in, she realized. Shed wandered away from the safety of foot traffic on the main thoroughfare, leaving her vulnerable. And maybe if she had only herself to worry about, it would have been a risk worth taking.
But the gentle kicks of the baby in her womb reminded her that she wasnt the only person in danger if she lingered here much longer.
She reversed course, walking as briskly as a heavily pregnant woman could, keeping her eye on the bright strip of lights just two blocks ahead. Not much farther to go now.
You! a deep, accented voice called out from behind her.
She couldnt keep herself from taking a look.
The door at the end of the block was open, and three men stood in the doorway, staring toward her.
She turned around and started to run.
* * *
THE SOUND OF a mans voice calling out, followed by the thud of running footfalls, drew Connors attention as he paused in the middle of the narrow alley hed used as a shortcut in hopes of catching up to his quarry.
The footsteps seemed to be coming closer, spurring him into a sprint, his rubber-soled boots quiet on the uneven concrete breezeway. As he neared the opening into the street, he heard the sound of hard breathing. A womans breathing, he thought. The sound was harsh with fear and desperation.