The Dark Hour by Robin Burcell Page A

off.
    Syd slipped her hand from her pistol, smiling in greeting as Tina asked, “Where you off to this time?”
    “Business trip,” Sydney replied, taking the moment to pat Storm.
    “Must be fun doing what you do. All that travel and stuff.”
    “Trust me, Tina,” she said, moving past her onto the elevator. “A little downtime would be welcome right now.” She put her foot in front of the door to keep it from sliding shut. “Do me a favor? If you see anyone lurking around my place, call the cops? I phoned the utility company and they didn’t send anyone.”
    “You think they were there to rip you off?”
    An understatement to say the least. Even so, she felt it in Tina’s best interest to instill a good dose of self-awareness, in hopes the girl didn’t stumble into anything she shouldn’t. “Burglars are pretty sophisticated nowadays,” she said, nodding at the dog. “I’d pay attention to Storm’s instincts.”
    Tina, looking slightly alarmed, pulled Storm next to her leg. “I will,” she said, patting the Labrador’s flank.
    Sydney moved her foot, allowing the elevator door to slide closed. Tex awaited her downstairs. Apparently so did two men dressed in the utility company’s uniforms, probably sent there to kill her. She only hoped she could get into the car and out of the parking lot before they succeeded.
    T he van followed them out of the apartment complex. “Definitely not one of ours,” Tex said, eyeing it in his rearview mirror. “We’d at least come up with a real utility truck.”
    “That’s comforting to know. How are you going to lose them?”
    Tex hit the gas, made a quick right, doubling back around the complex. “I may not lose them. As long as I keep them at bay long enough to get you to where you’re going.”
    “And where am I going?”
    He glanced over at her, but said nothing as he returned his attention to the road. Not that he needed to say a word. She’d already come to the realization that there was nowhere she could go that wouldn’t bring danger to those she loved. Back home to San Francisco was out of the question. They’d have no problem following a simple trail to her mother’s home, thereby endangering everyone there, including her young sister and her stepfather. Scotty’s was out for the same reason, even though he, technically, could fend for himself. Until she found out what was going on, who was after her, and why, she wouldn’t be able to rest. She gave an exaggerated sigh of exasperation, because she knew that Tex would realize her primary goal would be to keep her family safe, which meant the farther she was from them, the better. “Which airport did you have in mind?”
    “Dulles. There’s a packet for you in the glove box. Your ticket, documents, money, and a credit card. And while you’re at it,” he said, as Sydney opened the glove compartment, pulling out a thick manila envelope, “you might want to leave your gun with me. Avoid some of the headaches if you take it into the airport.”
    “And if they follow me in?”
    “I’m hoping to lose them before they realize that’s where we’re going. But that’s the beauty of our pain-in-the-butt post–9/11 security measures. They’re gonna have a hard time getting past the security checkpoint without a ticket.”
    “Last I heard, those checkpoints weren’t exactly bulletproof.”
    She opened the envelope, looked at her ticket and the passport, both in the name of Cindy Kirkpatrick, an AKA she’d used on a previous ATLAS operation, then eyed the thick stack of euros, all hundreds, as well as a credit card. “That’s a lot of money.”
    “The spy business doesn’t come cheap. Especially when you don’t want to be using your own credit card. That one’s cold and prepaid. There’s about ten thousand euros on it. I’ll refill it if needed.”
    “Who’s funding this venture?”
    “ATLAS has a rainy day fund, you could say,” he replied, whipping the wheel over and switching