Page 26 of Fourth Point Of Contact

“There she is!”

I grabbed my bag and took off after the girl I would now think of as Celia. I didn’t know where she was going, but I followed and prayed for the best. Except, I got lost in the crowd after being shoved one too many times, and suddenly, she was nowhere to be seen.

I looked around frantically, but all I saw were the men in the distance, shoving past people and causing a commotion. “Oh shit.”

“In here,” a woman said, tugging me by the arm toward a bathroom.

I didn’t know who she was, but she came to my rescue big time. It wasn’t until she started undressing that I realized she was a stewardess. Catching on, I started stripping out of my things, switching places with her.

As I watched her take the dress, I sighed heavily. Jeanie was going to kill me.

I snatched her hand and caught her eyes. “Just…take care of the dress for me.”

“I will,” she answered sympathetically.

I hurried through getting dressed and winced at the itchy material of the stewardess’s outfit. “Thank you so much. You don’t know what this means to me.”

“You go first.”

I nodded and slipped back into the crowd, and this time, no one followed me.

8

PATRICK

“Closing in on the target,”I whispered into comms.

“Nick, your move,” Chase responded.

I slid my glasses in place and strolled through the airport with my left hand in my pants pocket and my right hand holding the briefcase I was about to hand off. I eyed Masterson as he walked through the crowd, his expensive suit making him stand out against a sea of young adults dressed like they were ready for bed. Very few people were dressed in everyday clothes right now, which was why Lock had chosen this persona for me.

Nick strode right into Masterson, spilling his coffee against the man. He immediately pulled out a cloth and started wiping it down, but Masterson had to set down his briefcase to get cleaned up. I barely listened to him berate Nick as he snatched the cloth and wiped off his suit. The switch was easy, going off without a hitch, and I kept striding along, ignoring everyone else in the airport. The first part was done. Now all I needed was to find a stewardess or two to flirt with as I made my way through the airport.

I strode ahead, eyes wandering behind my shades for the perfect target, when one came stumbling out of the bathroom, looking around frantically. I knew this was the woman for mein an instant. She looked like she needed rescuing as much as I needed someone to fill in for me.

“Hey, there,” I grinned, sidling up to her. “Ready to go?”

With a glance behind me, she hooked her arm in mine and strode right on ahead without batting an eye. “How did you know?”

“That you needed a rescue?” I asked, my eyes never veering from the walk in front of us. “The look of desperation said it all.”

“Oh.”

“Just keep moving. Eyes forward and put a damn smile on your face. You’re about to give it all away.”

“Sorry. Just a little out of breath.”

She shot me a grin, but this time when I looked, she didn’t appear frantic. In fact, she almost looked a little cocky. Maybe I’d gotten that wrong.

“You have a tail,” Nick said in my ear. “Get moving.”

“Let’s pick up the pace, shall we?”

She didn’t argue as my strides lengthened, and despite her insanely high heels, she kept stride with me perfectly.

“Mind telling me what you’re running from?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” she said, her breaths coming just a tad faster.

---