An Aria for Nick (Christian Romantic Suspense) (Song of Suspense)

by Bridgeman, Hallee

  "You're right," she whispered, reaching into the back and pulling out her laptop. "It's a very bad time. But eventually, this will be over. And, I'll be right here waiting for you. So, you think on that and be prepared to make some decisions."

  Surprising her, he reached over and took her hand. He brought it to his lips and brushed his lips over her fingers then lowered their joined hands but did not let her go. "Tell me about what happened to your wrist."

  Aria started the story with the morning she found out about his supposed death. She admitted to always leaving a ticket for him for her recitals. He interrupted her and said, "I never missed a performance in high school."

  A pleased glow flushed her cheeks and she smiled as she told him the story. "After my dad tackled him, they arrested him. Two days later, Daddy and John went to visit him in the jail."

  Nick had so many impressions as Aria spoke, as she referred to her father as her daddy, a term of both adoration and respect. He had never felt either for his own father.

  Aria continued, "Raymond was utterly broken, going through horrible DT's, really needing a drink, but refusing treatment because he'd hurt me. Daddy and John went every day after that, praying for him and with him. He accepted Christ, started reading his Bible, and has never had another drink."

  He raised his eyebrows. "You still keep in contact with my father?"

  With a shrug, Aria answered, "Yes. He is a dear friend and I pray for him every night."

  She prayed for the man who broke her wrist and stole her future. He let go of her hand and ran his fingers over his fake goatee. "I'm having a hard time figuring out how to feel about that."

  "He works in a boys' home south of Columbus now, teaching the boys how to work on cars and whatever. He's so good with them. He said every boy he helps, he hopes will make up for the way he treated you, but it never resolves for him. It's like he's trying to fill the Grand Canyon with a water dropper, he says, and he'll never be able to do enough."

  Nick's lips thinned. "I can see that."

  "In a way, what happened to me is good. It took me a long while to see it. I felt so sorry for myself and how my dreams were completely crushed. But if you could see the boys his life touches, and how much he helps them, then I guess it's okay that there's one less concert pianist in the world. And as for me, I never would have had the challenges I faced getting my degrees or working with so many brilliant men and women every day."

  "I'm glad you can see it that way, because to be honest, my initial instinct was to go hurt him back."

  Aria reached out and put a hand on his thigh. "I know. That's because you have feelings for me that you deny and suppress."

  His head whipped around and he looked at her with such shock that she laughed. "I was just teasing. Trying to lighten the mood." She ran her tongue over her teeth. "Still, it's true."

  A hesitant smile formed on his face. "You're probably right." With a gesture at a blue highway sign advertising amenities, he said, "Hungry, Annalisse?"

  "Sí. Sambriento." Starving, she admitted.

  After a late lunch at a fast food chicken place, they hit Los Angeles just at rush hour and the traffic was stop and go. She leaned her head back on the seat, closing her eyes.

  Aria was grateful for the last few minutes of alone time with Nick before they included her brother, Adam. She felt Nick's fingertips as he gently squeezed and massaged the back of her neck, and was surprised at how much comfort passed into her through his touch. She semi-relaxed for the rest of the ride.

  ¯¯¯¯

  ARIA ran through Adam's back yard to the kitchen door. Adam had a large sprawling house just outside of Beverly Hills that he bought after directing his third blockbuster. The back yard was fenced with eight-foot tall hedges. No one from the street could see her approach his back door. The only staff he had was a housekeeper who came three times a week, so if her brother wasn't home, they would at least have the house to themselves.

  She reached the door and knocked just as Nick appeared at her side. He had already taken off his wig and facial hair and removed the contacts. Aria slipped her wig off and nervously waited for Adam to open the door.

  She lifted her hand to knock one more time but stopped when Adam opened the door, wearing a swimsuit and rubbing his thick black hair with a towel. His years in the southern California sun had darkened his already tan skin to a deep cocoa color. He stood nearly the same height as Nick. His eyes widened when he saw Aria, but Nick put a hand to the small of her back and propelled her forward and into the house before Adam could say anything.

  As soon as the door shut, Aria put her bags down and threw herself into her older brother's arms. "I cannot tell you how happy I am to see you," she announced.

  "Aria, what is going on?" Adam demanded. "John called me not two minutes ago and said an APB had been put out on you by the FBI."

  Aria pulled away from Adam and put her hands on her cheeks. "Good heavens," she whispered. "What a mess." She felt her eyes fill with tears, and picked up her backpack and laptop, deciding that they couldn't have this conversation in the kitchen doorway. "We need your help for a little while. Can we go sit down to talk about this?"

  Adam looked at Nick. Aria felt something she couldn't define traveling the space between the two of them and took a step closer to Nick. "Adam, this is Nick Williams."

  Adam raised an eyebrow in question, "Last time I saw you, you looked considerably more ashy."

  His tone even and low, Nick explained, "Well, I died. But I got better."

  Aria's youngest older brother held his hand out and took a step forward. "I see. Well, nice to finally meet you in the flesh, Nick Williams."

  Nick shook Adam's hand. "You probably won't feel that way in about ten minutes," he said, then followed Aria through the house to a large sunken room. She threw her stuff on the floor by the couch and sat down.

  "I'm going to go get dressed," Adam said, and left the room.

  Nick said, "Hey, Adam? Don't make any calls until we've talked, okay? Not even to family."

  Adam nodded and left the two of them alone in the room. Nick took the chair across from the couch, so Aria got up from where she was sitting, and climbed into Nick's lap, putting her head on his shoulder. He froze for a moment before finally putting his arms around her.

  "Why am I suddenly so scared?" she asked. "I wasn't really scared before."

  Nick kissed the top of her head and started rubbing her back. "Contact with the outside world tends to make it more real," he said, and watched Adam come back into the room, "coupled with the fact that someone you love and trust may not believe you."

  "I have no reason to doubt anything she says," Adam said. He'd changed into a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Aria jumped at his voice, and slid down off Nick's lap to pace the room. "Why don't you start at the beginning, sis?"

  Nervously, she picked up a carved onyx figurine of a film director sitting in a director's chair that she'd bought Adam for Christmas the year before and put it back down. Sticking her hands in the pockets of the ridiculous yellow jeans, she walked to the window and looked out at the manicured lawn. "This would probably make a good movie for you, Adam. Maybe I'll sell you the rights." She wandered back to the couch and sat down. "By coming here, we're probably putting your life in danger, so I'll begin by apologizing for that." She stopped for a minute and played with the fabric on the knee of her pants.

  "Oh for Pete's sake, Aria, get on with it."

  ¯¯¯¯

  ARIA took a deep breath and told as much of the story as she could without going too deeply into the technical details. When she was done, Adam stared at her for a long time. "Is there anything John can do to help?"

  "He's probably already under surveillance. My superiors know how much I hate working with anyone, and they probably think I'm getting ready to dump Aria with someone."

  Adam lifted his head to stare at him. Nick noticed that the brother and sister had the same eyes. "Is that your plan?"

&n
bsp; "No." Nick looked at his watch and decided not to tell Adam that if he left Aria here, odds were good that he and his sister would just enjoy an inconvenient yet fatal accident within a few days. "Look, we can only be here about three more hours. Aria said you have your own equipment here. I'd like to use your equipment to enhance some night vision film I took. The second they trace us to L. A., they'll know we're here with you."

  Adam stood. "Come this way. I'll show you where my equipment room is." The two men started to leave the room, when Adam turned back to look at Aria. "Aren't you coming, Aria?"

  She shook her head and kicked off her shoes. "No. I'm going to relax." She walked to the piano at the end of the room and ran her fingers along the keys. As the two men left the room, Nick heard the sound of Aria playing the James Bond theme song which segued nicely into Mission Impossible.

  ¯¯¯¯

  Chapter 20

  NICK whistled in appreciation as he stood in the entrance of the equipment room. It was all state-of-the-art, wall-to-wall electronics, with monitors, consoles, computers, and screens. Other pieces of equipment were set up in the middle of the room, and on the walls above it all were shelves filled with everything from old videotapes to microscopes.

  "Quite a setup," Nick observed, running his hand over the console of an editing machine. Nick had always loved the equipment he occasionally used on his job. Machines were easy for him to understand; much more so than people.

  "My brother John has a good connection with the M and L electronics firm. I just get a lot of this stuff below cost. What do you need to do?"

  Nick handed over two flash drives. "I recorded some paperwork. I need to enhance the images on these so I can print a good enough hard copy of each that I can read what's on them."

  Adam walked over to the far corner of the room and turned on a large computer. He inserted one of the flash drives into it, and held the chair out for Nick. "Do you know how to work this?"

  Nick walked over and sat down, immediately turning to the keyboard where he began typing. He looked up at Adam for a second, offering in a quiet voice, "I got this from here. Thank you."

  Adam nodded, clearly taking the hint. "Let me know if you need anything else. I'll be in the kitchen."

  "One other thing," Nick said, turning to look at him. "I need to borrow a car. Preferably one with tinted windows, maybe with garage access. I have a dark wig I can use to pass as you."

  With a nod, Adam gestured toward the door. "I'll get you the keys."

  Nick turned and nodded. "I appreciate it. If it has any kind of GPS system, go ahead and remove it if you can."

  ¯¯¯¯

  NICK didn't take the time he wanted to read what he had collected. He got a few brief snatches at the beginning, and decided to make a hard copy of everything for Aria to look over later. The longer they stood still, the closer Hecate got. Then he saved the enhanced images on a flash drive, and made a copy. When he was done he checked the time and realized that two hours had passed. He rolled his head on his shoulders and stretched neck muscles that had cramped from being in the same position for so long.

  Back in the living room Nick secured the hard copies and the original micro-SD cards in one of his bags, then followed the smell of spices and meat until he found the kitchen. Adam was at the stove, flipping a tortilla in a pan, and Aria was sitting at the table, sipping on a cup of coffee, reading from a stack of papers.

  Nick watched them from the doorway, and another unexpected wave of longing went through him. He suddenly longed for the scene in front of him, for the closeness of a family, and for normal.

  "The changes really work, Adam. When are you supposed to start filming?" Aria asked, taking a sip from her cup and turning to look at her brother, putting her back to Nick. She hadn't seen him yet.

  "We already have. It's just chance that you caught me home today. We had a tie-up with the permits to shoot a scene at the beach, or I wouldn't have been."

  "We would have been in and out of here, and you never would have known it," Aria said in a teasing tone.

  "I know. I'm worried about you, Aria. What's going to happen now? Where are you going to go?" He still stood at the stove, with his back to Aria and Nick. Nick stepped back from the doorway into the shadows of the hall and waited, and listened.

  Aria got up from the table and went to the refrigerator, rummaging around. "Not sure. We have to have enough evidence so we can prove I had nothing to do with any of this. Then, somehow, we have to take it to someone who'll believe us who also has the authority to do something about it and put a stop to whatever nefarious plan I've stumbled upon."

  She stepped back from the refrigerator and shut the door with her foot, her arms filled with vegetables and cheese. She set everything down on the table where she had been sitting, then began to rummage through drawers.

  Adam stopped what he was doing and grabbed Aria by her upper arms. "Wouldn't it be better to put you somewhere safe and let him do all the work?"

  "Where do I go, Adam? What's safe?" She had a large knife in one hand, so she set it on the counter and framed Adam's face with her hands. "Do I stay here and let them come kill you, too? Do I go to Johnny or Henry and let them do the same? The safest place I can be is by Nick's side, and it's the only place I want to be."

  "I'm worried about you, Aria."

  "You probably should be," she said, "but you should also trust Nick to keep me safe." She gave her brother a quick kiss, then stepped back from him. "I can't reach your cutting board."

  Adam reached above her head and grabbed the cutting board off its hook, then handed it to her. She picked the knife back up and went back to the table, where she sat down and began to slice vegetables.

  Nick waited several minutes before he walked into the kitchen. Aria looked up from her vegetables and gave him a quick smile, then went back to what she was doing.

  Adam glanced at him as he set a steaming platter of meat and tortillas on the table, but didn't grab him by the shirtfront and start beating on him like his expression clearly indicated that he wanted to. Nick knew it wasn't anything personal, just some protective primal instinct Adam fought — and won, as he merely handed Nick a plate, and calmly asked, "Did I have everything you needed?"

  Nick began to fill his plate and nodded affirmatively. He put the copies of the discs on the counter. "Lose those wherever you store your data," he said, then handed Adam another disc. "You need to mail that to your brother John and tell him to keep it on him. Tell him if we disappear, this is evidence that can be used against Harrington."

  Fear sliced through Adam's gut. "What else needs to happen if you disappear?" he asked Nick.

  Nick shrugged. "Nothing can really be done. We'll either be dead, or I'll have us in deep cover somewhere out of country."

  "She hasn't done anything. Why would you have to take her out of the country and hide her like some criminal?" Adam set his plate down and began to pace the kitchen.

  "If it comes down to it, that's exactly what I'll do. It may be that's the only option to keep her alive." On the surface, Nick seemed extremely calm and unattached, but deep within, he felt the same fear Adam was showing with his clenched fists and angry movements.

  Adam whirled around. "So I'm supposed to sit back and wait to see what happens? Then if you two disappear, I'm supposed to hope that your bodies aren't in the bottom of some lake?" He kicked a chair that was in his path. "Whose fault is this?"

  "That's what we're trying to find out," Nick said.

  "You're the trained professional. Why can't you put her somewhere safe while you go do that?" Adam demanded.

  Nick sat down and folded his hands, giving a quick prayer of thanksgiving for the food, then began to eat. "She's safe wherever I am," he said.

  Nick watched Adam's temper snap. He grabbed Nick's plate and threw it across the room, where it hit a wall and shattered. Before the pieces even hit the ground, Nick had Adam pushed up against the wall in an arm bar hold and started applying very moderat
e pressure to the slightly shorter man's Adam's apple. The two men stood nearly eye to eye.

  "She's my sister," Adam hissed, visibly struggling to regain the control he'd lost a moment before.

  "I can predict their moves. I know all the cards up their sleeves. They have to get through me," Nick calmly explained. Something in his eyes told Adam that they would never get through him as long as he had breath in his body. "Understand?"

  An unspoken understanding passed between the two men, an acknowledgment, before Adam said, "Okay." Nick let go of him slowly and Adam turned and got another plate down, refilled it, set it in front of Nick, and sat back down, clearly embarrassed that he had lost his temper.

  "We leave in thirty minutes," Nick said to Aria after glancing at his watch, then he started to eat again. Between bites he said, "I have a — friend — who runs a low-key charter company from a private air strip just the other side of the Nevada border. Aria, get ten thousand dollars out of the money and band it together for me."

  ¯¯¯¯

  KATE stood next to the Jeep and turned in a full circle, scanning the name of every business she could see. When she spotted the wig store, she walked directly to it with an economy of motion born of instinct and experience.

  She pushed opened the door with her hip and walked inside. "Hello," Kate said with a smile for the clerk. "I was wondering if you've seen this woman in the last couple of days."

  The twenty-something woman with the blonde Marilyn Monroe wig looked at the photo of Aria Suarez. "Maybe. I think she might have been in here yesterday."

  "Yesterday? Wow, that's great. Can you tell me what she bought?"

  The woman lifted a heavily lined eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"