Second Chances(34)

He hated the picture. It was proof, solid proof that what he'd believed was wrong. Though exactly what he had believed, he wasn't entirely sure. He hadn't decided on a theory that explained how all this had been possible. The damn picture forced him to face the reality that this woman wasn't who he thought and hoped she was. She wasn't his wife, his Paige, only an amazing lookalike. A woman who had recently graduated from the same college that his wife had claimed to have attended and had been flying out to hook up with an old friend and start a new job. A new life. Coming out to the west coast to take a job that had been arranged by her friend who worked for the blood sucking lawyers of the firm of Johnson, Barnes and...

He swung around, banging his knee against the table and startling Paige. His eyes wide, he scanned the street.

"No way," he said to himself.

"Nathan?"

"You have got to be kidding me."

He focused again on the picture. His eyes searching, scanning every inch. There had to be something, anything. Then it hit him.

"Jesus! How the hell could I miss it? So damn obvious. It's right in front of my face."

"Nathan?" There was a slight tremor in her voice and Nathan knew his actions were scaring her. Hell, he was scaring himself.

He looked at her over the table and reached out his hand.

"Paige, we've got to get out of here. Now."





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR



Linda leaned against the end of the bar, sighing audibly. There was a fat woman in an obnoxious flower print moo-moo who turned and shot her a dirty look. Linda briefly considered explaining that the sigh wasn't meant for her, but decided to hell with it. Let the fat bitch think what she wanted. It wasn't the woman in the moo-moo who was the target of her disgust, it was Kassar. Him and his stupid insistence on the use of landlines for all communications. Her cell phone was encrypted, but apparently that wasn't good enough. While she didn't know the details, she did know that Kassar had been burned in the past over intercepted communications.

"Not like I am going to tell you anything interesting anyway," she muttered to herself. And that was the truth. The only thing she would be able to tell Kassar was that she had made contact. She did not know anything about this Nathan person. She hadn't been able to really ask anything yet. She had more or less been on defense since their arrival, which irritated her to no end.

What the heck was that all about? Was this guy angry at her? If so, why? He certainly seemed to be pushing. Was it possible he knew something?

No, of course not. How could he?

No it didn't seem logical that he could know anything, but then it didn't make sense that he should show up to have dinner with what he believed was an old friend of Paige's and then proceed to give her a thinly veiled third degree.

Paige hadn't seemed to notice or if she had, Linda hadn't been able to tell. But then she shouldn't have noticed anything, should she? Wasn't that part of the reason Linda had recorded so many sessions? Paige had definitely seemed to be oblivious to the little power struggle, though how could she not have noticed? Was he stressed? If so, it had come across as barely contained hostility to Linda. Had he maybe been nervous about meeting Paige's friend? Did that make any sense? He could only have met Paige a day or so ago, right?

So if he had only met her a day ago and was comfortable being around her and she obviously comfortable enough around him to blow off what she believed to be a very important job opportunity, then why the instant dislike?

"This whole thing is fucked up if you ask me."

She opened her purse and reached for her cigarettes, but then stopped.

Can't do that. Not here. Secondhand smoke. Bunch of whining bastards. Secondhand smoke my ass. Everyone is going to bite it sooner or later. Let me poison my lungs if I want.

She shook her head and noticed the fat woman was gone.

How the hell did I miss that ship pulling out of dock?

She motioned for the bartender and asked if she could use the phone. The man behind the bar nodded, smiled and produced a wired phone from under the bar, placing it before her.

Linda dialed a number and waited as it connected.

"Yes?"

"I need a secure line," she said quietly into the phone.

"One moment."

She could hear the man on the other end try and fail to stifle a yawn and wondered how often the guy actually fielded calls these days.

"Your line is clear, you may proceed."

"Thank you," she said, even though she heard the click as the man switched off and she again heard a dial tone.

She dialed Kassar's office number. She did not know if he would be there or not, but that didn't matter as he always had his calls routed to his current location.

"Kassar here."