Page 29 of Dark Angel
“I must go.” Natasha shoved out of her chair. “Take yourself on tour. Lounge with break room down hall, cafeteria in lower floor. There’s apartment building block or two away. Many employees live there.”
After grabbing her worn leather handbag, Natasha ran out.
Halston didn’t care about the lounge or the cafeteria. It was quarter to seven. She was meeting her new handler in fifteen minutes.
She left the embassy. After walking a block, she extracted her burner and checked the whereabouts of Hotel Dillinger. It was located at Dupont Circle, so she called for an Uber. En route, she unearthed some of the dollars she’d hidden in the false bottom of her crossbody.
Inside the upscale hotel lobby, she admired the twenty-foot Christmas tree with thousands of soft white lights and oversized white and maroon ornaments.
Love that.
She made her way to the elevator bank and waited with several others until she spied an express elevator to the penthouse. She pressed the up button, the doors slid open. She stepped into the cab, entered 1224. The doors closed and she ascended to the top floor. From there, she followed signs for Suite 1119.
For reasons she couldnotfathom, her heart was racing like a hummingbird’s.
Get it together, woman.
She’d lived in Russia for nine long months. Had anyone learned of her true identity and her actual career, she would have been imprisoned for life… and probably tortured to death. She’d carried on like a soldier. Brave and steady she went.
With butterflies zooming in her belly, she knocked twice, then heaved in a calming breath.
The door opened. A pretty brunette asked, “What brings you by?”
“I’m following the white rabbit.”
3
WELCOME HOME
GABRIEL
Wincing, Gabriel pushed himself out of the recovery bed nestled in the medical ward at the Black Site. To his surprise, he had a hard-on.
I still got it.
Into the bathroom he padded. After what took too many minutes, Mr. Johnson relaxed and he did his business. As he exited, Teddy walked in.
“Whoa, my man, what’re you doing outta bed?”
“I’m coming out of the bathroom. You get three guesses.”
“Is there a woman in there?”
Gabriel chuffed out a laugh. “Nice. If there was a woman, I’d still be in bed.”
“You slept good. The last twenty-four you were in and out.”
“What day it is?”
“Monday. Monday afternoon, actually,” Teddy replied.
“What happened to Sunday?”
“You slept through it.”
Nurse Baker hurried into the room. “Gabriel, where are you going?”
“To get something to eat.”
