“I’m going to need my car.”
About her car. Ryan figured it was safe to go back now. It was shit luck that Miller and Kaiser had shown up to exchange what he knew to be cash in the briefcase. He couldn’t make out the third party, and if Mia wasn’t with him he’d have followed him and the money. It was a breakthrough in his case and a perfect lead.
If he didn’t have Mia with him.
If she hadn’t been so scared for her life, he would have discreetly followed the guy. But when she called Ty in a panic, he knew her safety was more important than cracking the case.
Wow. This was new.
“Okay.” By the time they got back to the train station, there was no sign of Kaiser’s red Mustang or the other guy’s black sedan. Ryan hadn’t been able to see the make or model with the sun in his eyes and his hat drawn low, and he only got the first two numbers of his plate.
He’d been too worried about blowing his cover or worse, them noticing Mia with him and putting her on their watch list. He already had his hands full keeping an eye on her and Lily, while also watching his back with his two cases.
None of them were high risk, but he didn’t need to test those waters.
Thankfully, Mia didn’t pester him with questions on the way back to the lot. He parked next to her car and turned off the engine.
“So, do I call you Ryan or James?”
“You don’t call me at all.”
Mia clamped her mouth shut and gave him a curt nod before jumping out of his truck.
Shit. He clambered out and tapped on her window. Hell, she made it to the safety of her car pretty damn quick.
“Mia.”
She cranked up the stereo, gave him the finger, and peeled out. He’d have his hands full with this one. She was a distraction to his cases.
And for once in his life, he didn’t mind a distraction.
He watched her drive away until the red glow of her taillights disappeared around a corner.
With a long night of work ahead of him, he climbed into his truck and circled around town and down a few extra back roads to be sure he didn’t have a tail. He turned down the dirt road to his camp on Emerald Pond and parked next to his Lexus.
If his camp wasn’t so hidden from the road, he wouldn’t have risked parking his car in the driveway. But the only way anyone could see his place was if they were looking for it. When he bought the camp from his grandparents, he kept their name on all the paperwork, not wanting to leave any type of paper trail that could lead to him.
For three months he’d been working undercover at the fishery, not suspecting anyone there of illegal activity, but Homeland security had caught wind that terrorists were looking for any possible way into the country, including passing through the fishing industry.
With the oceans the hardest to monitor, they’d beefed up their intel and security, and had passed on some jobs to the FBI. When the job crossed his path, Ryan pounced on it, using it as an opportunity to monitor Lily.
Or, at least, that was what he told his boss.
Ryan could get away with a lot, but not when it came to the director of intelligence. Markus Heath’s eye was sharper than a sniper’s.
“Gervais has been quiet as a dead mouse. Prison life is rough for those born with a silver spoon shoved up their ass. So why the urgency to poke around a sleepy town in Maine?” Heath had eyed him speculatively when Ryan had asked for the Maine job.
“It’s convenient to my witness, and I have a minor in marine biology. I see it as a win-win.”
Heath had closed the door to his office and crossed his arms, taking a seat at the edge of his desk. “She’s a married woman, Thorne.”
“Sir.” Ryan had stepped back, insulted Heath would think he’d seek out a married woman. “That is not my intention.”
“Another woman then.”
Ryan hadn’t responded. He wouldn’t lie to Heath. He respected him too much, but admitting it was because of a woman—Mia—would have been a lie as well. Sort of. She didn’t even know he existed. His interest in her was purely ... interest.
She was the excitement to his extremely dull life. Sure, he had excitement from the job, but his personal life was as boring as a documentary on watching paint dry.
“If you want the job in the middle of nowhere Maine, I’ve got another one for you as well. The FBI unit in Maine is small, and they’ve been backed up with random shit the state can’t handle.” Heath had tossed another file at him. “This one’ll take a while. You’ll need to get close. Friendly. Buy yourself a car and work their circuit.”
Ryan had gone back to his empty condo that night and read both case files. The one at the fishery would require him to be a quiet pair of eyes and ears. A lookout with no suspects, no leads, and possibly no case. A case that should be assigned to a rookie, not a veteran agent with ten years under his belt.
The second case would require more experience. The team in Maine had started the initial investigation, and he’d called to schedule a briefing.
He’d done well in the past months, staying out of everyone’s radar. Until Lily and Mia spotted him at the casino. Now he had to rethink his strategy. He slammed the door to his truck and did a quick scan of the area, looking for signs of trespassers.
There were no indentations in the mulch around the windows that he raked up fresh every few days. The kayak and canoe from his childhood still lay upside down and leaned up against an aging pine tree by the water.
Unlocking the front door, he let himself in and stilled, listening for anything that may be out of order. His previous partner used to make fun of him when he’d do that. Listen to the silence.
Wentworth had his own share of idiosyncrasies as well. Together, they’d made a good team. Unfortunately, bureaucracies had them going separate ways, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Ryan hadn’t minded transferring field offices. New York suited him much better than Virginia. It may have had something to do with Sharon and his best friend, or maybe the change in scenery.
Once again, he appreciated the change, only this time it was for oceans, lakes, and trees instead of unique architecture. The skyscrapers were impressive, but at the end of the day, coming home to a cottage on the water did wonders to ease the stress from his shoulders.
And his head. Ryan rubbed his temples as he headed to the kitchen. He popped the top of the bottle of Advil he kept on the counter and tossed back two pills, chasing them with cold water from the tap.
Two low-profile cases and one high profile that had been dormant for three years shouldn’t be causing so much pressure behind his eyes.
He dragged himself to the shower and ran a razor through his shaving cream. He wasn’t up for a night at the Blackjack tables, but Miller and Kaiser would be itchy after making a deal.
His business casual attire of slacks and button-down shirt would continue to draw their attention. Nothing too flashy that made him look out of their league, but interested enough in making a few good investments.
Striking while the iron was hot, Ryan locked up the house and got into his truck. The truck he bought from their used car business outside of town where they funneled their money.
It wasn’t anything fancy. Five years old and just enough bells and whistles to make it a decent Chevy. Paying for it in cash was what he hoped caught their eye. The money was being tracked by the FBI and so far, hadn’t left the vault they kept in the office of the dealership.
It could have been in the case he saw tonight. Connecting his Bluetooth, he called Heath.
“Franklin still at home?” Even with the technological advances and highly protected accounts of the government, anything could be cracked. It was why they still wrote and talked in code.
“He and his friends have been busy. Looks like they went out for a joy ride.”
“And now?”
“Most of his friends are resting at home. Franklin, though, is back at work.”
Code for the casino.
“I would have thought you’d been there an hour ago when I left you a message.”
Damn. He hadn’t checked his private line while he was with Mia.
“I was out fishing.” Code for his James persona.
“Good. Hope you caught some big ones. Give Franklin my best, and give me a full report in the morning.”
“Ten-four.”
He tossed his phone on the passenger seat. “Shit.” He should have called Heath the second he saw the transfer of money. If he was lucky, the recipient was still at the casino making an investment.
There was at least one dealer involved, if not more. The only way to find out was to get up close and comfortable.
It was going to be a long night. Especially with Mia’s cute face getting in the way of every other thought.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Right away she knew the banging on her door was from her brother. Mia rolled to her side and blinked away the sleepy seeds until her clock came into focus.
“Seriously?” Just because Ty got up at the ass crack of dawn didn’t mean the rest of the world did.
Rubbing her eyes on the way to her door, she opened it with a snarl. “It’s not even seven in the morning.”
“I brought blueberry lemon scones. Grace tried her hand at them yesterday and went on a baking spree.” Lily held up a bag that smelled delicious, even a day old.
“Sorry my pain in the ass brother made you come out here this early. It really wasn’t necessary.”
“Wasn’t necessary?” Ty pushed his way into the apartment and grabbed onto her upper arms. “You called me last night scared for your life! I thought you were being abducted. Do you know how many years you took off my life?”
“Sorry.”
“Sorry?” He smacked his forehead in frustration before yanking her in for a hard hug. “Promise you won’t ever do that to me again.”
“I promise not to ever get abducted and call you when I think I might have been abducted by a serial killer.”
“You thought Thorne was a serial killer?” Lily asked, amusement in her voice as she opened the bag and placed the scones on a plate she found in the cabinet.
“I didn’t know he was Thorne.”
“You saw him at the casino during Jenna’s bachelorette party.”
“He was at the casino?” Ty’s voice dropped, and Lily froze, scone halfway to her mouth.
“I may have forgotten to mention that to you.”
“Lily.”
“Honey.” She stood and wrapped her arms around Ty, looking up at him in a way Mia knew had her brother tightly wound around Lily’s finger. “He assured me his business in town was not about me or any of you.”
“So why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because she didn’t want you to have that ugly ass look on your face. The same one she had when she saw him at the casino.”
“Stay out of it, sis,” he barked at Mia without taking his eyes off Lily.
“No way. Don’t get pissed at Lily because of what happened to me.” Mia would take the blame for it all. No need to put a rift between their marriage.
“This has nothing to do with you.”
“Then why did you wake me up so damn early?” Hell, what was she doing? She didn’t want the wrath of Ty on her. Wasn’t it better to have him pissed off at Lily instead?
She looked at the too-cute-for-words couple and held up the bag of scones.
“Let’s eat and be merry, and then you two can go make out and make more babies or something.” She shivered in pretend disgust. The gross factor of thinking about Ty having sex was legit, but she was so happy her brother found Lily. They were honestly perfect for each other.
“Fine. Let’s get back to you. What the hell were you doing getting into a stranger’s car?”
“I do it all the time.” She tore off a chunk of the scone and popped it in her mouth.
“Mia.”
“You didn’t know? I go online, find the closest stranger, then hop in his car.”
Ty closed his eyes and rubbed his hand across his face. “When will you ever grow up?”
“I’m talking about Uber, jackass. Getting in strangers’ cars is the new fad.”
“Can you be serious for a minute?” He swiped the scone from her and tossed it on the counter. “Tell me how you got caught up with Thorne.”
“I didn’t. I got caught up with James. James Langlois.”
The way his eyes pinched together told her he wasn’t going to last much longer. Putting the smart-aleck away, she picked up a scone. For comfort.
“I was down at the beach a few weeks ago, before Jenna’s bachelorette weekend. I was ... reading by the water, and he showed up. We sort of ... hit it off.” She couldn’t bring up the fishery without explaining why she was there, which she wasn’t ready to do yet. “When we ran into each other at the diner yesterday morning, I mentioned I was going to Boston to—”
“You went to Boston?” Lily asked, completely surprised.
Maybe she should have kept that to herself as well. “It was an impromptu trip. He offered to tag along. We met at the train station, spent the day there, then came back last night. I had no idea he was your FBI agent. The guy I hung out with was in ... disguise.”
“Why do you think he kept that secret? Oh.” Realization set in. Lily continued, “He’s working undercover or something like that, which is why he didn’t want to see me at the casino.”
“I’m sure there’s more reason than his current case to keep his distance from you,” Ty added.
“It’s not well-known that Agent Thorne is part of my case. He wasn’t the lead investigator or anything. I met with him when I returned to New York, and he gave me my new identity, including setting up my cosmetology training and the spa. He’s the go-between. To make as few connections as possible, he’d said.”
“Or maybe James is the name he made up on the fly so I wouldn’t know who he was.”
“Then why would he spend the day with you if he was trying to distance himself from Lily and her friends and family?”
Good question. When she thought about all the secrets, it was only Thorne’s that mattered. He was working for the government, trying to catch bad guys, and she was embarrassed her friends and family would think her aspirations were foolish.
With a heavy sigh, she dragged herself to her couch and fell on it in a dramatic manner.
“This doesn’t look good. You okay?” Lily took the seat next to her and patted her leg. “What’s going on?”
“You promise not to laugh?”
“Of course.”
“Or to tell me it’s a stupid idea?” She pointed this question at Ty who leaned menacingly against the living room wall.
“What did you do now, Mia? And if this involves the FBI agent, then no, I don’t promise. It’s a stupid idea.”
“You say that like I’m always getting into trouble or doing something stupid.”
“He’s just being the overprotective big brother.” Lily shot Ty a stern glare, and Mia loved her for it. “You said you have an idea?”
“Yeah.” Mia straightened, tucking her feet under her in crisscross style. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Since before my accident.”
“You’re not moving away, are you? Is that why you went to Boston?” Lily clasped her hands over her mouth like it would be the worst idea ever.
Mia’s heart grew warm from their friendship.
“I have no plans to move anywhere, but an upgrade from this apartment wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
Ty remained quiet, stewing most likely. The more he stewed the more nervous she got.
“Well,”—she twisted her hands together in her lap—“you may not know this, but I like to draw. Doodle, really, but they’ve been turning into drawings. Nothing like Jenna. She’s the artist; I just like to ... I don’t know.” She shrugged.
“Not seeing the connection
to Thorne here.”
Mia shot Ty a dirty look.
“Ignore him,” Lily said to her. “Be nice,” she said to Ty.
“Anyway.” Mia stuck her tongue out at Ty and turned her attention to Lily. “Being laid up in bed gave me a lot of time to ... doodle. And then I started volunteering at Mom’s during children’s hour, and then the library. And then I thought, why not write a children’s book?”
“You wrote a book?” Lily clapped in excitement.
Oh, how she loved her sister-in-law. “Sort of.” She wasn’t ready to admit she actually sent a crappy draft off to a handful of agents. “I’ve filled up three sketchpads with drawings. Mostly sea creatures and marine life. I’ve had little pieces of stories figured out but wanted some inspiration, so I went down to the beach.”
“This is when you saw Thorne? James?” Ty pushed off the wall and joined the conversation.
“Yes. We started talking. Did you know his father is a marine biology professor in Delaware?”
“No.” Lily shook her head.
“And his mother is an elementary teacher. They spent their summers cleaning up after oil spills and protecting endangered species. Anyway, we got to talking, or rather he got to talking and gave me an idea for a children’s book series about protecting our marine life.”
“Thorne told you about his childhood?”
“Yeah.” Maybe she shouldn’t have revealed so much to them. Thorne seemed like the private kind of guy.
Lily looked at Ty and then back to Mia, a huge grin growing on her face. “He doesn’t even talk in complete sentences to us. He’s practically a mute who grunts from time to time.”
“I saw that side of him too. Ask him about the ocean, or about the Madrid shrimp, and he’ll go on forever. He told me a story about the octopus—”
Lily laughed. “This is crazy.”
Mia slumped against the cushions. “I know. It’s stupid. I don’t know why I thought I could do this. Be a writer. I don’t know anything about it. I’ve been doing some research and even joined a few online writer groups for support, but who’s gonna buy my books anyway?”
“That’s not what I meant. I think it’s fabulous that you want to write a book. Books. And for children. Your niece is going to grow up reading stories written by her auntie.”
Something More (A Well Paired Novel) Page 8