The Pregnancy Plot (Brothers In Arms: Retribution Book 2)

by Carol Ericson

  His stomach dropped. “Good God, Nina. Do you really think I’d lie about that?”

  “I think you’d lie about anything to do your job, which was get close to me and find out what I knew about Tempest.”

  “Tempest?” He ran a hand along his jaw. “We didn’t think you knew anything about Tempest. It was always just about protecting you, making sure Tempest didn’t come after you.”

  “I know. I got that part and now that I know all about Tempest and...and Simon, you can just do your job. You don’t have to fake affection for me or my baby.”

  “Nina...”

  The office door slammed and then shook for good measure.

  He shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked at the leg of a chair. If it had been up to him, he would’ve told her when Lou died and she found that piece of paper in her stepsister’s pocket, but Coburn had just given him the okay to tell her. The tremor in her voice and her glistening eyes told him she felt more hurt than angry.

  Maybe he should’ve never gotten personal. Would she be this upset if he’d remained the handyman? Now she believed he’d held her and kissed her just to fake her out and let him in.

  She couldn’t be more wrong.

  The wind howled outside and he felt like howling along with it.

  He hunched over the counter, surveying the kitchen and weighing his options. Cereal. Instant oatmeal if she had it.

  He glanced at the office door, firmly closed in his face. He’d look for it himself.

  He grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and almost dropped it when someone started banging on the front door.

  He shoved his weapon in the back of his waistband and put his eye to the peephole. Mr. Kleinschmidt, the single piece of gray hair on his head standing straight up, swayed on the porch.

  Jase inched open the door so that it wouldn’t be snatched from his grasp. “Mr. Kleinschmidt, what are you doing out here? You look ready to blow away.”

  He braced a gnarled hand on the post. “Like my boat?”

  “Your boat?” The wind blew the rain sideways and soaked Mr. Kleinschmidt’s jacket. Jase grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. “What about your boat?”

  Nina had wandered in from the sealed fortress of her office, her eyes wide. “What’s going on? The storm has really picked up, hasn’t it?”

  “It snatched my boat right from the dock.” Mr. Kleinschmidt ran a hand over his wet face.

  “How did that happen? It was tied up.” Jase stalked to the window to peek outside. The Kleinschmidts’ boat had, indeed, vacated the dock.

  “That’s what I was going to ask you. We haven’t taken it out since you brought it back early this morning. Did you secure it?”

  “Of course.”

  “Did you see the boat out on the water, Carl?”

  “It’s gone, Nina.”

  She shot a gaze toward Jase. “Maybe someone stole it, maybe someone desperate to get to the mainland.”

  “We may have been desperate to get to the mainland. I think we just lost our last chance.”

  “Is the Harbor Patrol still letting boats cross?”

  “I think this morning would’ve been our last opportunity.”

  Jase spread his hands. “I’m sorry, Mr. Kleinschmidt. I don’t know what could’ve happened.”

  But he had a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had no doubt someone from Tempest was on the island and could even be responsible for the theft of the Kleinschmidts’ boat. This agent had made contact with both Lou and Chris somehow. What he couldn’t quite grasp is what he and Tempest wanted with Nina.

  If the agency wanted her dead, she’d be dead. They could’ve targeted her in LA before Prospero even had her in its sights, before he’d taken up the job of protecting her.

  And if they’d taken the trouble of punching a hole in Nina’s boat, they could’ve just as easily packed it with explosives. He clenched his teeth and took a shuddering breath.

  “Were you and Mrs. Kleinschmidt planning on evacuating the island?”

  “Not now.” Mr. Kleinschmidt tugged his damp jacket around him. “You know, Nina, the water’s getting pretty high out there. The Harbor Patrol just might tell us coastal folks to move to higher ground.”

  “Would they do that?” Jase turned to Nina, whose pale face caused knots to form in his gut. Had the missing boat raised her suspicions, too?

  Maybe he should’ve kept his secrets. He could’ve explained away the Book file, made a joke of it. He had enough legitimate reasons to protect her that had nothing to do with Tempest. She’d been buying his story up until this point. Now she was needlessly worried about something out of her control...but not out of his.

  She twisted a lock of hair around her finger. “It happened once when I was a teenager. Am I remembering that right, Carl?”

  “It was about ten years ago, and I think this monster storm has that one beat.”

  An evacuation would definitely complicate things. Jase asked, “How does the Harbor Patrol notify you if there’s an evacuation?”

  Mr. Kleinschmidt scratched his chin. “If they can’t get out on the water, they’ll come door-to-door and you’d better obey or they’ll come down on you with fines. Maybe Dora and I can ride with you in the truck if it comes to that, Nina.”

  “Of course we’ll give you and Dora a lift, Carl, and I’m sorry about the boat. I don’t understand what could’ve happened. Do you think the wind was strong enough to snap the rope?”

  “It might be in an hour or two, but it wasn’t that bad this morning.”

  “Maybe the Harbor Patrol will find it on the bay.”

  “Maybe. You two take care now. Dora’s going to want to help you out with the baby, Nina. She’s been after me to move to California to be closer to the grandkids, so she can use yours as a substitute in the meantime.”

  So, she hadn’t been fooling the Kleinschmidts at all. “That would be lovely. Do you need Jase to help you get back home?”

  He waved them off. “Naw.”

  “I wanna have a look at the bay anyway. I’ll walk back with you.” Jase grabbed the mackinaw from last night and winked at Nina.

  As soon as he stepped onto the porch, the rain lashed his face. He grabbed on to Mr. Kleinschmidt’s arm, and the older man listed to the side.

  He kept a firm grip on Mr. Kleinschmidt all the way to his front door, where his wife was hovering.

  Then he turned toward their boat dock. The water churned and gurgled. Waves formed and crashed against the beach, the wind carrying the salty spray inland.

  Even the current force of the water and wind weren’t enough to rip a boat from its moorings. Either someone had untied it with the intent of letting it get carried away, or someone had stolen it.

  And he hadn’t noticed a thing. There was a lot he hadn’t noticed since falling under the spell of Nina Moore.

  He crouched and studied the area around the dock. Indentations from footprints crisscrossed the dirt and sand. They could belong to anyone.

  He returned to Moonstones, and the closed office door. What was she doing in there? Her computer didn’t even work.

  He sat at his own computer and stared out the window at the darkening sky, which made the afternoon look like midnight.

  He brought up his email and clicked on one from Jack. He’d sent a minidossier on Chris Kitchens and the guy was legit—dead but legit. So how had he run afoul of Tempest?

  If Break Island had truly been a small town, without all the tourists and the mainlanders coming and going, it would’ve been a hell of a lot easier to zero in on a stranger. As it was, Nina didn’t know half of the people she ran into on a daily basis.

  A few hours later, after no communication from Nina, no food and an increasing deluge outside, the table lamp flickered and di
ed. His laptop made a buzzing noise and went black.

  Nina flew out of the office. “We lost power.”

  “Flashlights? Candles? You already mentioned you didn’t have a generator.”

  “I’m not even sure about candles.”

  They both jumped when a voice boomed from a loudspeaker outside.

  “This is the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department calling for an evacuation. Leave your homes on the coast and head over the dunes into town.”

  “The Kleinschmidts.” Nina made for the front door and barreled down the porch.

  By the time Jase joined her, she was already hanging on the door of the sheriff’s truck and turned at his approach. “There’s an evacuation center in the school gym. The school sits on a hill behind the main street.”

  “I’ve seen it.”

  The sheriff jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “You folks need to get going. The water’s rising and churning and we’re expecting some big waves and flooding. The road’s going to be washed out for sure by the end of the day, and then you’ll be completely cut off.”

  “Maybe the storm will level this place and I can start from scratch.” Nina tossed her head back toward Moonstones.

  “You might get your wish, but you don’t want to be inside when it happens.”

  “We need to pick up the neighbors.” Jase gestured to the Kleinschmidts’ house.

  “Yeah, the old guy opened the front door and waved. They heard us.”

  “We’ll get going, then.” Jase smacked the roof of the vehicle. “Thanks.”

  As Nina picked her way over the soggy ground to the Kleinschmidts’ house, Jase held her arm whether she liked it or not.

  Mr. Kleinschmidt swung open the door before they took their first step onto the porch.

  “I heard, I heard. This storm’s coming in like a son of a bitch.”

  “Carl?”

  “It’s Nina and her friend.”

  “Her fiancé?” Dora Kleinschmidt joined her husband at the door, carrying enough jackets to outfit a small army.

  The fiancé and pregnancy story must’ve spread far and wide, because Mrs. Kleinschmidt studied him from behind a pair of thick glasses that magnified her eyes to scary proportions.

  “Dora, this is Jason...Buckley—my fiancé.”

  Jase returned Mrs. Kleinschmidt’s surprisingly strong grip. “Call me Jase. Everyone calls me Jase.”

  “Okay, enough with the introductions. You’ll have hours to grill him at the school gym, Dora.” Mr. Kleinschmidt took an armful of jackets from his wife.

  Nina held up her finger. “Wait here. We’ll get the rest of our stuff and drive the truck up to your gate.”

  They returned to the B and B and Nina collected a few items while Jase packed up his laptop and his weapon and stuffed them into a backpack.

  Before she locked up, Nina paused on the threshold and gazed into the sitting room. “I almost do hope the place is destroyed. I need a fresh start.”

  He took the keys from her hand. “I’ll drive.”

  They picked up Carl and Dora and crawled along the road to town with the rain falling so fast and furious the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up.

  They hit a little traffic jam winding onto the main street as other coastal residents had gotten the same directive from the sheriff’s department.

  As Jase pulled into a packed parking lot, he said, “I’ll drop you all off at the entrance to the gym and then park the truck.”

  By the time he parked and slogged his way back through the school parking lot to the gym, Nina and the Kleinschmidts had claimed one corner of a few low bleacher rows.

  Jase shed his jacket and hung it over a bleacher railing. “At least they keep it warm in here.”

  Mr. Kleinschmidt snorted. “With all these bodies in here it’s going to get plenty warm.”

  “The Emersons are over by the coffee.” Mrs. Kleinschmidt placed a hand on Nina’s arm. “Do you mind if we leave you to say hello, Nina? I’m sure you two would like some time alone anyway.”

  “Of course not. It looks like they’re getting a card game going, too. You might as well enjoy yourself.”

  Mrs. Kleinschmidt patted her arm. “You have this big, strong man to look out for you now.”

  Nina managed a tight smile.

  When the Kleinschmidts crossed the room to join the card game, Jase puffed out a breath. “Thanks for not blowing my cover.”

  “What am I supposed to say? ‘Jason Bennett is actually a spy for some black ops agency. Oh, and my ex-fiancé was one, too.’”

  “I told you a lot more than you needed to know, Nina.”

  She rounded on him, her nostrils flaring. “You didn’t tell me nearly enough, Jase—you or Simon. I sensed the two of you were alike from the minute I met you.”

  “What do you want to know, Nina?”

  “I want to know what that agency did to Simon. What kinds of things did they make him do? What happened to him at the end? Are they just drugging agents or are they up to something else?”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. “Definitely something else.”

  She straddled the bleacher bench and dug her fingernails into his thigh. “Tell me, Jase. I’m having Simon’s baby. We deserve to know.”

  He blew out a long breath. Jack Coburn didn’t have to know everything. “I told you there was drugging and mind control going on. What Tempest hoped to accomplish, what we’ve heard anyway, is that Tempest has created a sort of superagent—strong, fearless, impervious to pain and impervious to their consciences. They sent them on assignments and then erased all memory of those assignments from their minds.”

  She covered her mouth, her blue eyes swimming with tears. “That’s what they did to Simon?”

  He took her hands and smoothed his thumb across her knuckles. “I’m sorry.”

  She disengaged one hand and clutched her belly. “The baby. Simon must’ve been on these drugs when I conceived.”

  “Yeah, it had been going on for over a year.” He drew his brows over his nose, an unnamed dread forming in his gut. “What are you getting at, Nina?”

  “What if those drugs had some effect on Will? What if my baby is in danger?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “No.” He placed both hands on her stomach, as if he could prevent any harm to Will. “Everything’s fine, isn’t it? I mean, you’ve had ultrasounds and an amniocentesis and all that?”

  “I’ve had a few ultrasounds. I’m not old enough to warrant an amnio, but I need one now.”

  She needed to stop this line of thought. He couldn’t handle another lost baby. Will had to be okay.

  He took her face between his hands. “Will’s fine. Everything’s going to be fine. When this storm is over, I’m going to take you away from here, someplace safe. We’ll get the best doctors in the world to look after you.”

  “So, you do think something might be wrong.”

  “Not at all.”

  She blinked. Then her eyes widened and she whispered, “You’ll never guess who’s coming up behind you.”

  He dropped his hands and craned his head over his shoulder.

  Kip Chandler, as scruffy as ever, stopped a few feet away and raised his hand in a peace sign. “Okay to approach, man?”

  Jase swung his leg over the bench and turned to face him. “You have a lot of people looking for you.”

  Kip scooped his dishwater-blond hair back from his forehead. “I figured that. I’ve already checked in with the cops. Told them I couldn’t handle the heat after...after.” He dipped his head, cupping a hand over his eyes.

  Hunching forward, Jase asked, “So, you knew what had happened to Lou before you took off?”

  “I told her to
slow down, and then I left. I heard later that she probably OD’d.”

  Nina crooked her finger at him. “Tell us what happened that night. Do you know about Chris, the redhead we were with?”

  He plopped on the floor beside them, crossing his legs. “I heard. Even more reason for me to lay low.”

  “Why are you still on the island?” Jase narrowed his eyes. He’d have to check with the chief to make sure he knew Kip was back. He didn’t trust the guy. “We figured you’d taken off.”

  “I wanted to. I didn’t have the dough. I’ve been hiding out. There are a lot of places to hide out on this island.”

  “Did you have anything to do with Lou’s death?” Nina crossed her arms, and Jase was almost grateful to Kip for getting Nina’s mind off the baby.

  “No way. We’d had a few and we smoked a blunt, shared it with Red. I didn’t know Lou had any of the hard stuff. Red left and Lou and I crashed at the motel. I woke up alone, heard what happened and went underground. I can’t afford to have cops sniffing around me.”

  “Do you know where Lou got the hard stuff? The EMTs thought it might be heroin.”

  Nina was like a dog with a bone.

  Kip held up a pair of dirty hands. “I have no clue. Maybe Red had it. He didn’t seem to be any stranger to the drug culture.”

  One of the volunteers came by with some bottles of water. “Anyone thirsty? It’s going to be a long night. We’re putting out sandwiches in a few minutes, too.”

  “Thanks. We’ll have two waters.” Jase picked up two bottles with one hand.

  “Make that three.” Kip snatched one from the tray.

  Jase rolled his eyes at Nina. He sure as hell hoped Kip didn’t plan to camp out with them all night. To discourage him, Jase reached for his backpack and pulled out his laptop.

  Kip leveled a finger at the computer. “You working on your book?”

  Who told him about the book? Jase slid a glance at Nina, who ignored him while she twisted off the cap from her bottle of water. “Yeah.”

  “I got some stories for you, man.”

  “I’m sure you do, Kip, but this one’s about my experiences in Afghanistan.” Jase lowered himself to the floor, stretched his legs in front of him and leaned against the bottom of the bleachers.