by Cynthia Eden
She wasn’t convinced that Edward was behind the attack on her. He could have just been the fall guy. The one who would have gone down for her death.
On the island, she was trapped. Prey.
She had to get the hell out of there so she could be the hunter.
He strode past her.
“Look out for Linc, would you?” Crap. Had those words just burst out of her mouth?
Cole swung his head toward her, all suspicious-like. “Why?”
Her shoulders straightened. “Because everyone close to me could be a target. Watch your ass. Watch out for him. We need to be protecting each other.”
“Always.”
She hurried away.
But she swore that she could feel Cole’s stare boring into her. Dammit, she needed to get on that seaplane now.
And fly the hell away.
From Linc.
***
“Interrogate the art thief again? Damn straight, I will,” Linc replied as he gripped the phone. “I feel like Edward Sharpe is holding back something else. Plus, the guy is way too interested in Blair.”
“She did apparently steal a priceless painting from him.”
“He’s hung up on her,” Linc retorted bluntly to Eric as Cole strode inside. “I don’t like it.”
“That’s because you’re a jealous bastard,” Cole noted.
Linc used his free hand to respond to that particular insult.
“Go question him now,” Eric ordered. “Call me when you’re done.”
“Blair should be with me. She knows the guy and will be able to pick up on his tells. I’ll get her to go in with me and—”
“No,” Eric interrupted quickly. “She’s to sit this one out. Blair has other orders.”
And there it was. The little prickle at the back of his neck. The same prickle that had been there a few moments ago when Blair had told him that he was ‘such a good partner’ in that soft, husky voice.
The woman didn’t give out compliments, not normally. Sure, it wasn’t a typical day but…
“What the hell is going on?” Linc demanded to know. His voice had gone low and hard.
“Uh, you’re going to interrogate Edward Sharpe,” Eric replied.
Like he was about to be fooled. “Where did you just send Blair?”
“To do recon work on the island.” A smooth and instant reply. “Now I need you to get moving with Edward Sharpe. Like I told you a few moments ago, Carthright is dead, and we have to get usable intel fast.”
“On it.” He tossed the phone to Cole.
Cole caught it and raised his brows. “What do I need to know?”
“That Eric just lied to me.” That recon work bit had been far too smooth. He knew his boss well, and Eric’s voice always got extra smooth when he lied.
“Huh.” Cole stared down at the sat phone. “Blair wants me to look out for you.”
“Fuck.” He ran for the door.
“Exactly what I thought.” Cole’s words followed him out.
Chapter Fifteen
He’d missed the seaplane by minutes. Minutes.
Linc stood on the beach, hands at his side. Fear and fury twisted through him as the seaplane flew away. Still low now, deceptively low, as if he could run up and grab it.
He could hear the engine. Could almost imagine that he saw Blair glancing back at him through the small windows.
As she left his ass behind.
“Not cool,” Linc growled. And also…not gonna happen. You think I won’t be right behind you?
“Hate to say it…” An annoying voice announced from way too close. Mostly because Ghost—aka James the jerk—had sidled in while Linc glared at the departing plane. “But you look like you just lost your best friend.”
He didn’t look away from the plane. “I didn’t lose her.”
“Temporarily misplaced her?”
“That shit isn’t funny.” The plane had risen higher. He turned his head. Focused on James. “Were you in on this?”
“Eric called me. Told me to make sure the plane was ready to go—that was about two minutes before Blair rushed up and hopped on board.” A pause. “Without her trusty partner at her side.”
“Why the hell did she leave without me?” Linc shook his head. “I want to talk to Eric. That bastard had better give me a damn good reason why he separated—”
“I don’t think it was Eric.”
Bullshit. He was the boss. “No? Then who the hell was it? Eric is Wilde.”
James rubbed the back of his neck. “It could have been Blair.”
He ignored the sinking sensation in his stomach. “You’re saying my partner—who is under attack—ran off on her own, without me? No way. She knows that I would put down my life for her in an—” He stopped before he said instant because…hell. Now he understood.
“Exactly.” James rocked back on his heels. “I think you just got the picture.”
“Consider my picture blurry and fill in the details for me, will you? It seems like you might be seeing more than I am.” Actually, he suspected James knew more. There had been a few times in the past when James had said a few things about Blair that had made Linc suspicious. "You knew her before Wilde.”
James held up his hand. “Technically, I’m freelance, remember? Not an agent. So I’m not full-on Wilde.”
“That’s not an answer to my question.” He couldn’t hear the plane any longer.
“It’s not.”
“Dammit, what do you know?” He rubbed his chest. A dull ache had formed there. “Blair just flew out, and I’m scared as hell that she’s heading straight into some kind of trap. She’s my partner, and I want to be there for her.”
“But she doesn’t want you there. Not you. Not Cole. Not me.” James laughed. “I did try to get on the plane, just as an FYI. I happen to rather like Blair. She’s gutsy. Built with steel inside. But she kicked me off. Literally.” His hand dropped to his stomach as if he were rubbing a sore spot. “She kicked me off the plane. Wherever she’s going, she didn’t want us following.”
“She’s going into danger, and you still haven’t answered me. Did you know Blair before Wilde? It’s a yes or no question.”
“Why does it matter so much?”
“Because it’s her past that caused all this. Someone who knew Blair before she became a Wilde agent. I think that someone knew both Blair and Edward Sharpe, and that person is behind this mess.”
“I hope you’re wrong.”
“And I hope there’s another damn transport method waiting for me down the beach.” He glanced around. “I mean, shit, there’s a damn mini-army of Wilde agents roaming this island. Unless they did some kind of clown car routine out of that seaplane, I figure there has to be another transport method here.”
“Clown car?” A sharp bark of laughter came from James. “That why she puts up with you? You make her laugh?”
His stare hardened as it returned to James. “I’m about to make you cry if you don’t answer my question.”
“Really?” James nodded. “You think you can take me on? Knowing exactly who I really am?”
“Former assassin? Wanna-be criminal? Oohh. I’m shaking in my shoes.”
“Detective, you don’t think you’re playing out of your league?”
Blair had always been out of his league. That never stopped him. “What do you know about her? If it’s something that can help me, tell me. Stop wasting my time because I have to start swimming in the next two minutes.”
“Gonna swim after her, huh?”
“Gonna do anything necessary to go after her. Because I’m not letting Blair face danger on her own. You don’t ditch partners.”
James quirked one eyebrow. “She didn’t get that memo.”
“You are fucking pissing me off—”
“I knew her before Wilde. She didn’t know me.”
Wait. Was James actually answering the question now?
“I saw her on a few missions. She impressed me. Did
n’t matter how much gunfire was flying. Didn’t matter who came at her. She always stuck to the mission and did her job.”
Linc’s heart wanted to jump right out of his chest. “What was her job?” But Blair had said…
James crept closer. “You know some, don’t you?” His stare turned assessing. “Hell, did you just play me? And I thought I was good at interrogation. But you tossed out your BS lines and you made me think you were walking in the dark.”
No. I see just fine, but thanks for asking.
“She told you.” James nodded. “Blair told you what she was. You’re just getting confirmation from me.”
Linc didn’t so much as blink.
“Fine. I think she was a spy. Each time I saw her, she was a different woman. Different hair. Different style. Different posture. She would’ve started young, though, and I did hear rumors about a covert group that was pulling in recruits just as they turned eighteen.” James’s voice roughened. “Kids who grew up without options. On the streets. No families. People who were desperate for more.”
Linc had once asked Blair about her family. Sadness had slipped through her voice when she’d told him, “I have none.”
Yes, she did. He was her family. Wilde was her family.
James was still watching him with that assessing gaze. “Did you know all that, too?”
No, he hadn’t.
“Not gonna say, huh? Well, let me tell you a little something from personal experience.”
Because, obviously, Linc had nothing better to do than to stand on that beach while Blair flew farther and farther away from him.
“When you grow up with no one, you think you don’t need ties. Then one day,” James continued in his slow, taking-my-time drawl, “you look up, and you realize someone got too close. You got tied to a person when you didn’t plan for it.”
Linc knew where this story was going. “That’s what happened to you and your pretty doc.”
James grunted. “I didn’t get just tied to her. I got obsessed. Fell head flipping over heels. And I would have killed anyone who tried to hurt her.”
Linc had been there to witness the guy’s fall with his doc.
James’s voice roughened. “When you have those connections—after going a lifetime without them—you’ll fight to keep the precious few who matter safe. The people close to you? The ones who slipped past your guard? You won’t let them be hurt.”
He got the moral of the story. “This is your long-ass way of saying Blair left to protect me.”
“I’m saying she left because she thinks this is her battle. She intends to fight it without pulling anyone else into the crossfire. Once off this island, she gets to hunt.”
“She can hunt all day long. She can kick the ass of those who threaten her. But she won’t do it alone.” Linc could hear the grim determination in his own voice. “Now, give me the friggin’ sat phone that I know you have tucked behind your back.”
James lifted the sat phone and extended it toward him. “She has a head start on you. She’ll vanish once she gets back to the mainland.”
“Oh, ye of little faith. I know Blair. In some ways, better than she knows herself. I’ll find her.” He shoved the phone to his ear. Waited for Eric to pick up—
“James, is he losing his shit?” Eric asked cautiously.
“Not James. And yes, I am losing my shit. Thanks for asking.” Each word dropped hard from him. “You’d better tell me that another seaplane is close by.”
“Uh…”
“Make that sound like a yes.”
Silence. Silence did not sound like a yes, so Linc pushed, “Eric…”
“Dammit, I didn’t want things going down this way! Blair called in a favor I owe, and I didn’t have a choice. She doesn’t want you hurt. Does that make you feel better? She was leaving to protect you.”
“Hell, no, it doesn’t make me feel better. Makes me feel a thousand times worse. Now where in the hell is the second seaplane?”
“What makes you think there’s a second seaplane?”
“Because you knew she’d try to leave alone.”
“She didn’t try. She did—”
“And you knew I’d go right after her. The other agents can contain the situation here. They can grill the staff and guests over and over again, but I am going after Blair. She won’t be alone.” No way would he let her face danger alone. If he did that, just what kind of partner would he be?
“I tried to get Blair to switch partners, you know,” Eric revealed as if Linc didn’t already know that crap. “Thought she and Cole would be a better fit…”
“You don’t want to push me right now—”
“But she told me no. Said that she trusted you completely. Said she’d always want you to have her back.”
“Then where is the freaking—”
“Go to the other side of the island. And you’re welcome.”
***
Blair opened the door to her home. She’d been traveling non-stop, and she wanted to collapse. Her body ached, her mind was numb, and with every step she took, she just wished that—
She turned on the lights.
And, of course, he was sitting on her couch.
Blair froze.
Linc smiled. “What took you so long? Flight delay?”
Blair shook her head.
“I mean…” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve been here for at least an hour waiting on you to arrive. Someone took her sweet time.”
She kicked the door shut. Locked it. Realized her mouth was hanging open. She snapped it closed.
“Hungry?” He motioned to the boxes in front of him. “I ordered Chinese take-out. Got the Orange Chicken you like so much. It’s still warm. It only arrived a few minutes before you. Good thing they do late night delivery.”
“How?”
“Well, I just asked for the delivery, so it was no big deal. Thought you might be hungry after the long trip home.”
She dropped her bag and stormed toward him. Blair stopped at the edge of the couch and glared down at him. “How did you get here before me?”
“Eric had a second seaplane.”
“That jerk!”
“Um.”
“How did you get in my home?”
He tipped back his head a bit more as he gazed up at her. “You gave me a key.”
“I did not.” She would have remembered that.
“You meant to give me a key.” A wink. “You know, back when I gave you a key to my place. You just forgot.”
“You broke in.” Her mind wasn’t numb any longer. It was spinning.
“Perhaps I played with the lock,” Linc allowed. “A bit.”
“How did you know I was coming back here? How did you know I wasn’t going to vanish?” That was what Eric had thought. “Or how did you know I wasn’t going on the run or—”
He caught her hand in his. “Because it’s you, Blair.”
“What does that mean?” His touch jolted through her.
“It means…you don’t go on the run. You don’t vanish. You face your problems head on.”
She licked her lower lip. His thumb slid down and rubbed along her palm.
“You wanted to hunt the perp after you, so you went back to where you were comfortable. Your turf. You wanted him to know you were here, so you probably didn’t even cover your tracks when you arrived in Atlanta. You pulled one of those come-and-get-me scenarios, huh? I like those. They tend to make me feel all bad-assy.” He brought her hand to his lips. Pressed a seemingly careless kiss on her knuckles. “Is that why it took you an extra hour to get home? Did you make some pit stops? Put out some obvious signs or calls to let any potential bad guys know where to find you?”
“I left you.”
Now he rose.
She backed up.
Linc shook his head. “No.”
But she had. “I left.” And it had hurt. More than anything had hurt her in a very long time. She’d gotten on the seaplane, and she’d kept lookin
g back. She’d even sworn that she saw him standing on the beach as she flew away.
Watching her.
As she’d strained to watch him.
“You didn’t leave me,” Linc corrected. “You just went ahead of me. There’s a difference.”
“Sometimes, I think you’re crazy.”
He shrugged. “That’s one of the things that you like about me.”
It…actually was. He was still holding her hand. Blair tugged it from his grasp. “You need to leave.”
“Why?”
Blair didn’t respond.
“Is it because you did as I suspect—you made some calls and pit stops and let the bad guys know where you are?”
“I don’t know which bad guy is after me. I have more enemies than you might suspect.”
“Um.”
She waited. He didn’t say more. So with her free hand, she pointed toward the door. “You know the exit is that way.”
“I do.”
“But you’re not heading toward it.”
A slow shake of his head. “You think I’m going to leave my partner when she needs me?”
“I don’t…” God, this was hard. This was the kind of hard that hurt a woman and ripped out her soul. She pulled her hand from his, then turned away from him because she couldn’t look in his eyes when she said this part. She was good at lying. Back in the day, she’d been world class. But Linc could usually see right through her. “I don’t need you on this case. It’s personal, and I have it covered.”
The floor squeaked behind her. “Why are you really cutting me out?”
“Because I don’t need you.” Her hands flexed at her sides. Her fingers curled into fists. Then released. “We overstepped back on the island. It was a major mistake, and I want to stop us before we make more mistakes.” Her voice was flat. Brittle. “I’m taking some time off from Wilde, and when I go back, I will be requesting a new partner.”
Silence.
Please, go. Please, don’t make me say more. I need you to go.
“What do you expect me to do right now?” Linc’s voice was just as flat as hers had been.
She swallowed. When she pulled in a breath, it seemed to chill her lungs. “I expect you to walk out of the door and not come back.” Because you’ll be safe then. Until I can figure out who is coming after me, I need you safe.