“I want the names of everyone who knew I was working for you.”
“It’s a short list. Five of us made the decision to bring you in on the Green case.” Jack spouted off four names. None were familiar to Hawke, though that was about to change.
“Are you investigating any of them?”
“We’ve investigated everyone in the Chiang Mai office over the past year. There’s nothing that indicates anyone has been taking payoffs. They’re all living within their means, none have extra money in their bank accounts.”
“That doesn’t mean much.”
“It means we don’t have just cause to pull anyone in for questioning. It also means you’re the perfect scapegoat. You’ve skirted the law too many times, Hawke. It finally caught up with you. Our man knew he could warn Green of the sting we’d set up and throw you to the wolves afterward. He probably assumed there’d be no one willing to believe your story.”
“He assumed I’d be too dead to tell it. I’ll need names, addresses and work schedules for all four of those men.”
“Breaking and entering is against the law.”
“That’s never stopped me before.”
“You know that if you get caught I had nothing to do with this.”
“And if I find the leak and the evidence we need to prove it?”
“Then we’ll pretend the breaking and entering didn’t happen and you can either go back to your life here or return to the States a free man.” He flashed a cold, hard smile. “The way I see it, if someone in my office is leaking information to Green, it’s a good possibility that person is in the Wa’s pocket. Breaking a few laws is a small price to pay for finding out who it is.”
“Maybe you and I are more alike than I thought.”
“We’re more alike than you could ever know.” The words were grim, belying Jack’s bland expression. He pulled a folded paper from his jacket pocket, handed it to Hawke. “I’ve written down names and addresses. All four men are working today.”
“You’re very prepared considering you didn’t know I was coming.”
“Who said I didn’t know?” Jack drummed his fingers against his arms, his gaze conveying what Hawke had only begun to suspect.
“You had this all planned before I went to the States. This was your real goal.” Anger reared up, hot and searing, but Hawke tamped it down. There would be time later to discuss McKenzie’s methods.
“My goal was to take Green down. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping we’d also find our leak.”
“Didn’t you care that you put Hawke in a dangerous situation? That he could have been killed?” Miranda spoke quietly, her eyes the color of mountains in the mist, jungle foliage, lush fields.
The color of home.
Hawke’s heart clenched, closing against the thought and the longing that went with it. He’d given up the dream long ago, had accepted well before he’d met Miranda that there would never be soft arms and warm smiles to go home to.
“I’ve known Hawke for years, Ms. Sheldon. I had every confidence he could take care of himself.” Jack’s smooth baritone and ingratiating smile grated on Hawke’s nerves, but it was the way the man’s gaze traveled Miranda’s body, touching on her face, lingering on her lips, that made him want to knock his head off.
He bit back the urge. Barely.
“Jack believes the end justifies the means.”
“And you don’t, Morran?”
Did he? A year ago, he would have readily agreed. But not anymore. He’d changed. Softened. Become more aware of something much deeper and truer than himself. Though if he were honest, he’d admit that the change had been taking place for much longer than a year. He’d been changing since the day Noah Stone had carried him half-dead from the jungle. Hawke wasn’t sure he was happy about it and was even less sure there was anything he could do about it.
“One more thing.” Jack spoke quietly, his gaze hard. “There’s already a cell in the Bangkok Hilton with your name on it. I’m the only reason you’re not in it yet. If I so much as think I made a mistake in trusting you, I’ll pull you in so fast your head will spin. You’ll spend the rest of your life rotting in Bangkwang prison and I won’t feel one bit of guilt over it.”
“And if I find out you really are the leak, you won’t have to worry about spending time in Bangkwang.”
“As long as we understand each other.” Jack’s shoulder’s relaxed. “I think you should leave the woman with me.”
“The woman isn’t being left anywhere.” Miranda stiffened, her gaze jumping from Jack to Hawke and back again.
“You’ve been through a lot this past week, Ms. Sheldon. Having all this happen on the heels of your nephew’s death must have exhausted you.” His words were warm as melted butter.
Hawke gritted his teeth to keep from saying something rude. It was no business of his if Jack wanted to play nice to a beautiful woman. Except that Miranda wasn’t just any woman. She was Miranda. Hawke had to resist the desire to smash his fist into Jack’s smiling face.
“I’m fine, Mr. McKenzie.” Miranda didn’t return Jack’s smile. Her gaze was solemn. The new hollows beneath her cheekbones and the sprinkling of freckles against her ashen skin made Hawke want to pull her toward him, wrap an arm around her waist and stake a claim he had no right to.
“And I want you to stay that way.” Jack pressed his point. “If you stay here, I can guarantee your safety.”
“Like you guaranteed my brother’s?” Hawke couldn’t stop the sarcasm that seeped into his words anymore than he could have stopped the tide from rolling in.
“Everything that happened to your brother was outside my jurisdiction.”
“That’s bull. You sent men to question him. Your agency handed him over to the police.”
“And that’s where our responsibility for him ended. Beside, Ms. Sheldon is in a different situation. She’s not going to be taken anywhere. She can stay here.”
“While you’re at work? Anything could happen.”
“Why would it? No one knows she’s here. Even if someone found out, there are guards stationed at the gate. They won’t let anyone get in.”
“They let us in.” Miranda interrupted the argument, her words quiet, but firm.
“Ms. Sheldon, I don’t think you understand how much danger Hawke will be in once he steps outside this complex.”
“I don’t think you understand how much danger we’ve already been in. Partly because of you.” She sounded weary and Hawke decided it was time to end the argument.
“She’s coming with me.” He took Miranda’s hand and started moving toward the steps, but Jack grabbed his arm.
“You can’t do your job if you’re worrying about her.”
“Which is why I’m not leaving her here. I’ll be in touch as soon as I know something.” He turned his back on the other man, shrugging away from his hold.
Though Hawke knew he wanted to, Jack didn’t argue any further, just followed them down the stairs and to the back door. “I’m the second pickup of the day. The van starts at Laurence’s apartment. You’ll want to go there first.”
“You going to tell anyone I was here?”
“The news will get out one way or another.” Jack cut a look toward his maid who’d been listening wide-eyed for much too long. “It’s best if it comes from me.”
“What are you going to tell them?”
“That you came in with a gun, looking for information about your brother and claiming you were set up.”
“The truth is always the best cover.”
“You and I really are alike, Morran.” Jack pulled the back door open. “Good luck and Godspeed.”
“I’ll need both.”
“You’ll find your quarry. You al
ways do.”
He was right and this time would be no different. Not with the stakes so high. Simon’s life and Miranda’s hung in the balance. Failing the mission would mean failing them. “If you hear any news of my brother, call my compound in Mai Hong Son. I’ll check in there periodically.”
“Will do.”
Hawke felt Jack’s hard stare as he and Miranda moved away from the house, but he didn’t look back. There was a lot of ground to cover before this journey ended. Looking back would only slow things down.
“Where to now?” The weariness in Miranda’s voice remained, the deep circles beneath her eyes speaking of sleepless nights and fear.
“I’m heading to an apartment complex a few miles from here. I’m thinking that maybe you should stay here.” A few hours alone in Jack’s house might be preferable to dragging an obviously exhausted woman through the streets of Chiang Mai.
She blinked, shook her head. “I don’t agree.”
“When have you ever?” He smiled, caressed the smooth skin of her hand. “You’ll be safe here for a few hours and that’s all the time this will take me. You can rest, get ready for whatever happens next.”
“While you’re off fighting bad guys? I don’t think so.” The worry in her voice, in her eyes would have been humorous if Hawke hadn’t been so touched by it.
He’d learned to take care of himself early. The death of his biological father, a marine who’d served in Vietnam, forced his mother to take on long hours of work to support Hawke. By the time Patrick Morran came into the picture, Hawke was ten years old going on twenty—responsible, hardworking and determined. No one had felt the need to worry about him. Since his parents’ death, few had bothered.
And now he was staring into the eyes of a woman who had every right to be worried about herself, every reason to be moaning at her fate.
Instead all her energy, all her worry seemed to be for him.
“You don’t need to worry about me, babe.” He held her chin in his hand, her skin soft and smooth beneath his palm. “I’ve been doing this sort of thing for a long time. I’ll be fine.”
“And I’ll be with you to make sure you are.”
“Miranda—”
“I’m safer with you than alone. You know it. So do I. If you leave me behind, I’ll just come looking for you. Now, come on. We’re wasting time. I want to get this done.”
“If you come with me, you do what I say.”
“I always do.”
“I can name at least two times when you didn’t. Both could have gotten you killed.”
“I thought you needed my help.”
“I didn’t. And even if I did, I wouldn’t want you getting in the middle of things. No more running to my rescue, Miranda. Agreed?”
She frowned, but nodded. “Agreed.”
“Then let’s get out of here.”
“I don’t suppose we can walk out the front gate?”
“Sorry. We don’t know who might be out there waiting for us to make an appearance.” He hurried her toward the fence where his jacket still hung. “Ready for a leg up?”
“Ready.”
“Try to drop fast this time. There will be people up and moving around by now.”
“I’ll do my best, boss.”
Hawke smiled, brushing strands of Miranda’s curly hair away from her cheeks. “I’m glad you finally understand how things work.”
With that he hooked his hands around her foot and boosted her up to the top of the fence. As she disappeared over the other side, he did something he hadn’t done in years. He prayed. Not for himself, but for Miranda. Surely a God like the one his parents had trusted in would be willing to listen to a selfless plea.
And maybe, just maybe, that same God would be willing to give second chances. If so, Hawke figured he needed one. The past few years had taught him how fleeting life was, speeding by so quickly that a man could be at the end of it before he ever realized he’d left the beginning.
After a decade spent chasing justice and revenge, Hawke had chosen not to kill the man who’d ordered his parents’ death. He didn’t regret letting Sang Lao live. Sometimes, though, he regretted the years he’d devoted to bringing the drug kingpin down. While his high school and college friends had wives and children and had settled into the routine of family life, Hawke had settled into nothing but the knowledge of his own mortality; had gained nothing but scars and the memories that haunted him in the darkest hours of the night.
Sometimes he thought it was too late to change that. Other times, he knew he had to try. As he scaled the wall, he prayed that maybe, just maybe, God would grant him what he knew he desperately needed—peace.
Chapter Fourteen
Miranda landed on the pavement with a thud, stumbled backward and fell in a heap on the ground. Again.
“You okay?” Hawke dropped down beside her, offering a hand and pulling her to her feet.
“Sure, and though I think I’ve got the fall down pat, next time, I’d prefer landing on my feet.”
“Let’s hope there isn’t a next time.” Hawke put his hand on her elbow, hurrying her along the sidewalk and back the way they’d come. Chiang Mai had come to life in the time that they’d been in Jack McKenzie’s house. People filled the sidewalk, some rushing to their destination, some sauntering along. Cars, motorcycles and taxis sped by. As did the strange three-wheeled vehicles Miranda had noticed in Bangkok. Three wheels. Justin would have loved it. His entire life had revolved around threes. Three sips of every drink. Three bites of every food. Three of every shirt, every pair of pants he’d owned. The thought brought hot tears and Miranda blinked them away, sure that if she let them fall, they’d never stop.
“What do you call that?” She pointed to the vehicle, forcing her mind to something other than her nephew.
“A tuk-tuk.”
“It looks like a giant motorized tricycle.”
“It is.” He sounded distracted, his gaze scanning the growing crowd. “When this is over, we’ll ride in one. I’ll take you to the floating market, show you some of the tourist sights and some that aren’t so touristy.”
“If this is ever over.” She was beginning to doubt it would be.
“It will be. Jack didn’t give me those names because one of them might be the leak we’re looking for. He gave them to me because he knows one is.”
“Maybe, but I don’t trust him. He used you.”
“Yeah. And he and I are going to have a long talk about it. After I find the leak. But my gut says he’s telling the truth.”
“What if it’s wrong?”
“It hasn’t failed me yet.” He frowned, glancing over his shoulder. “You did a pretty good job keeping up on our run yesterday. You ever run in the morning?”
“For exercise? Do I look like I do?”
“You look just like a woman should.” His eyes met hers and Miranda’s pulsed leaped at the admiration she saw there. “But I’m thinking now is as good a time as any to start a morning routine.”
He yanked her in front of him, released his hold and gave her a gentle shove. “Go.”
She ran, her feet pounding the pavement, Hawke right on her heels issuing directions in a calm, tight voice that worried her more than loud shouts would have. Someone was following them. That much was clear. Who or why remained to be seen.
Miranda fought the urge to look back over her shoulder, sure that if she saw someone coming up behind them, she’d freeze and get Hawke and herself killed.
“Come on, babe. You can move faster than this.” Hawke urged her on and Miranda took off in a full-out sprint.
“Left.”
She followed Hawke’s command, turning left into a narrow alley and almost running headlong into a fence.
“You’re looking at it from the wrong perspective. We’re not the ones trapped. They are.”
They?
A shout sounded from somewhere close, the sound skittering along Miranda’s nerves.
“Come here.” Hawke grabbed her hand, pulling her to several trash cans overflowing with garbage. “Get behind these and don’t come out.”
She hurried to do as he said, squatting down behind the garbage, nearly gagging as the smell hit her nose. Rotted food littered the ground near her feet and a dead rat stared at her through flat, black eyes, maggots crawling through its fur in white wiggling masses. She looked away, her stomach rebelling at the sight, the stench and her fear.
Another shout followed the first, this time accompanied by pounding feet and muttered words. It sounded like an army was entering the alley. Miranda’s pulse raced, adrenaline pouring through her so that she wanted to leap from her hiding place and run for safety.
Please, get us out of this in one piece, Lord.
The prayer had barely formed when silence descended. Thick and filled with malice, it surrounded Miranda, taunting her, daring her to peek out from behind her hiding place. She bit her lip, her muscles rigid, her breath stalling in her throat. A soft sound drifted on the rank air, a shuffling footstep that made the hair on the back of Miranda’s neck stand on end.
Her hands fisted, her fingernails digging into her palm. The sound came again, this time closer, and Miranda was sure someone was standing on the other side of the trash cans. She didn’t dare move. Didn’t dare breathe. Just slowly lifted her gaze, prepared for whatever she might see. Whoever she might see. No one was there. Not even a hint of a shadow drifted across her vision.
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