Undercover Avenger

by Rita Herron

  Eric let that fact sink in. What would Melissa think? How would she react if she learned her father was a monster? He had to protect her from the truth. “So, Robert Latone lied about his daughter having a child?”

  “He not only lied, he personally dropped the baby at the church.”

  The door squeaked open, and Melissa stepped into the entryway. Eric’s pulse clamored at the yellowish tint to her pallor. Apparently, she’d been listening to their conversation.

  Just how much had she heard?

  Chapter Fourteen

  A cold numbness enveloped Melissa as she stared at the man who had taken her in his arms and joined his body with hers, the man she had proclaimed that she loved.

  He obviously wasn’t the man she believed him to be. And his heart had not been in the joining.

  Who was he?

  “What’s going on?” she asked in a surprisingly calm voice. Her body was trembling from the inside out, still adjusting from lying sated in Eric’s arms to the shock of betrayal.

  His dark eyes flickered downward in avoidance. Regret. Guilt.

  The suited man with dark blond hair started to speak, but Eric threw up a hand. “Let me explain.”

  Melissa folded her arms across her waist, wishing she’d had the good sense to dress instead of slipping on her robe. She felt raw, exposed. Vulnerable. And she hated it.

  “This is Special Agent Luke Devlin, Melissa, he’s with the FBI.”

  She swallowed hard. “And you are?”

  His gaze met hers. “Eric Caldwell.”

  A knot of pain clogged her throat. “So you lied about your name?”

  He gave a clipped nod. “But there are reasons.”

  She cut a sharp gaze toward the federal agent, then back at Eric, a sickening thought emerging. “You’re an FBI agent?”

  Eric shook his head. “Not exactly.” He scrubbed his hand through his hair, eliciting memories of when he’d run his hands through her own. Nausea climbed to her throat. “I…I have been working with them. So have Detectives Black and Fox.”

  “I don’t understand. To find Candace’s murderer?” Had Eric suspected her as the killer? Had he cozied up to her to find out?

  “Yes, and to investigate CIRP.”

  “We have reason to believe Arnold Hughes has resurfaced,” Agent Devlin interjected.

  Melissa pieced together the remnants of the conversation she’d overheard, the truth dawning in all its ugly details. “And you think he’s my father?” She pierced Eric with a cold look. “That’s the reason you warmed up to me, to find him?”

  Eric’s silence said it all. The closeness she’d felt earlier disintegrated, the pain of his lie engulfing her.

  “Why do you want him so badly?” she asked, her voice a mere whisper.

  “You’ve heard about the things he did,” Devlin answered. “He’s responsible for the loss of several people’s lives, unethical experiments, using prisoners as human guinea pigs. He ordered memory transplant experiments to be performed on Detective Fox. Who knows what other twisted games he has in the works.”

  “And he might have killed Candace Latone,” Eric added in a gruff voice.

  She met Eric’s haunted gaze, her breath locked in her chest as she read between the lines. There was something he wasn’t telling her, something more personal. His hand brushed his hair back, revealing the scar on his forehead, and she realized the truth. “Your accident?”

  “It wasn’t an accident.” He closed his eyes, the bleakness she’d seen before returning when he opened them. “I was trying to help one of his nurses escape from Nighthawk Island. She was rescuing a baby his scientists had involved in an experiment.”

  “A baby? Oh my God.” Her legs collapsed. Eric reached for her, but she pushed his hands away and staggered to the couch. Her head spinning, she dropped it forward into her hands and sucked in air, ordering herself not to pass out.

  Hughes, a madman with no scruples, was her father? He had killed countless people, played with their lives, tried to kill Eric. And he might have murdered Candace?

  Why? Because he thought Candace might reveal that Hughes was Melissa’s father?

  Had her own father tried to kill her?

  A chill engulfed her. Eric had known the truth about Hughes all along.

  Worse, he had never cared for her. He’d only used her to find Hughes for his own vengeful purposes.

  And being the lost desperate-for-love soul she’d been, she’d played right into his hands like a puppet on a string.

  She’d not only offered him her love, she’d given him her virginity.

  ERIC DESPISED THE LOOK of anguish and betrayal in Melissa’s eyes. If only he’d told her he loved her, confided the truth earlier, maybe she’d understand. He could have cushioned the blow.

  He wanted to take her in his arms and make her understand, but Devlin’s condemning look halted his confession.

  He knew Eric had crossed the line, had slept with her.

  And Eric could not let his personal feelings compromise the mission.

  “We have reason to believe Robert Latone is working with Hughes,” Devlin said, breaking into his confused thoughts. “And we think Hughes is overseeing brainwashing experiments on psychiatric patients without their knowledge. He’s not only training them as spies and hit men for the government, but also for his own purposes.”

  “You think one of them was the shooter who fired at me from the cliff?”

  Devlin nodded. “We also have reason to believe he might be planning to leave the country soon.”

  “How do you know all this?” Eric asked.

  “I can’t reveal my source’s name, it’s too dangerous, but the information is reliable.”

  Melissa toyed with her robe belt. “How…was my mother involved with Hughes?”

  “There were experiments with infertility drugs in place at the time, as well as various birth control pills and in vitro fertilization,” Devlin explained. “We believe Candace had an affair with Hughes, and that she took an experimental form of birth control pill. We also believe she experienced an adverse reaction to the drug.”

  “It caused her mental problems,” Melissa filled in.

  Devlin shrugged. “It’s possible.”

  “Do you think it was passed to me, that the drug might have caused my seizures?”

  “It might have been a side effect, yes.”

  Melissa rubbed her forehead, a headache pinching. “You think Hughes and Robert Latone conspired to kill me because they were afraid I’d figure out what they’d done to Candace?”

  Eric stared at her, seeing the horror in her eyes. Not only had her father and grandfather abandoned her, now they’d killed her mother and tried to murder her. The depth of their evil was almost impossible to comprehend, even for a jaded man like himself who’d seen terrible things parents inflicted on their children.

  “Our theory is that Hughes and Latone have been working together.”

  “But why would Robert Latone want to keep the drug’s problems quiet if the drug affected his daughter adversely?” Melissa asked.

  Eric cleared his throat. “Money. If he’d funded the experimental project, he’d want to keep it quiet.”

  “Even at the expense of his daughter’s health?”

  “We’re talking millions. We think they’d already sold the pill to some foreign countries, and if word had leaked that the drug had adverse reactions, the deal would have been killed,” Devlin continued.

  “It’s also possible that Hughes doesn’t know you are his daughter,” Eric said quietly. “Latone could have forced Candace to give you up without telling the father.”

  “That would be another reason Latone would want you dead. If he kept your identity from Hughes all these years, chances are Hughes would retaliate against him. Of all people, Latone knows how ruthless Hughes can be.”

  Melissa knotted her hands together, her mind reeling. Her father, her grandfather, both despicable men. Poor Candace… “How do
you plan to catch Hughes?”

  Devlin telegraphed his silent suggestion to Eric, but Eric shook his head.

  “What?” Melissa asked, confused. “Can’t you drag Robert Latone in and force him to talk?”

  “We’ve questioned him, but he lawyered up.”

  Melissa saw the awkward look pass between the men again and put two and two together. She wanted this to end so she could return to Atlanta. And Hughes and Latone should pay for what they had done to her mother. “I could help trap Hughes.”

  Eric stalked toward her, arms crossed. “Absolutely not.”

  Melissa squared her shoulders, refusing to back down. “You have nothing to say about it.”

  “It’s too dangerous, Melissa. We’ll find another way.”

  “You lied to me, Eric, why should I listen to you now?”

  His mask slipped slightly, raw emotion darkening his eyes. “Because I refuse to let you act as bait for a madman.” He curled his fingers around her wrist, then lowered his voice. “I care about you, Melissa. I don’t want you in danger.”

  “It’s too late for that.” She hesitated, hating the crack in her voice. “Besides, if you cared so much, you would have been honest.”

  “Damn it, Melissa, you can’t do this.”

  “I don’t need your permission.” She turned to the federal agent, her resolve in place. If these men thought she’d crumble, they were wrong. She’d been on her own, survived foster care and her teenage years alone. She would survive this, too.

  “Agent Devlin, tell me what to do.”

  A STEELY RAGE BLAZED through Eric as Devlin detailed the plan. Melissa hadn’t looked at him once. She’d drawn a curtain over her emotions and shut him out.

  He recognized the signs because he’d used the same coping skill countless times in his own life.

  The fact that he had hurt her badly enough to send her back into that isolated darkness made him feel lower than he’d ever felt.

  “I’ll leak the story to the press,” Devlin explained. “Say the police questioned you regarding Candace Latone’s murder, and you admitted that you were searching for your parents, Candace Latone and Arnold Hughes. With all the publicity about CIRP in the past, the story should make front page.”

  “And how will we arrange for him to meet me?”

  “Oh, he’ll come looking,” Devlin said. “And we’ll be ready.”

  “You never make a mistake, do you?” Eric glared at the agent, remembering other missions gone awry, the reason he’d taken the law into his own hands a few times. The reason he’d been protecting that witness in the Bronsky case.

  He wanted to protect Melissa now.

  Because he’d fallen in love.

  Unfortunately, she was barreling forward, putting her own life on the line because he’d hurt her.

  God, what a mess.

  “We’ll have plenty of backup,” Devlin said. “In fact, I’ll guard you personally, Miss Fagan.”

  Melissa exhaled. “Then let’s do it.”

  Devlin nodded.

  “I’ll be with her at all times,” Eric said.

  “No.” Melissa’s condemning look cut him to the quick. “One agent will be enough.”

  “I’m not leaving you alone,” Eric said. He directed his next comment to Devlin. “And if you don’t agree with that, she’s out of this completely.”

  Devlin frowned. “Are you sure you’re up to it, Caldwell?”

  Anger flared inside Eric. Another agent would be stronger, more agile. “Yes,” he said anyway. “I started this investigation and I’m seeing it through.”

  “The story should run tomorrow,” Devlin said.

  Melissa nodded.

  Devlin yanked Eric’s arm, pulling him outside. “You need to let us handle things from here on out.”

  Eric pried the agent’s fingers from his arm. “You think I can’t take care of myself if it gets rough?”

  “I think you’re too damn involved with the woman.” Devlin scraped his hair back from his forehead. “It’s obvious you slept with her.”

  Eric gritted his teeth, ready to deny it.

  “You’re not objective, man, and she sure as hell isn’t objective where you’re concerned.” He lowered his voice, his tone lethal. “Her safety is my priority.”

  “It had better be.” For a brief second, Eric vacillated, though, wondered if Devlin was right about his ability to protect Melissa. What if someone attacked her, and he failed to fight them off? What if he let her down and he lost her forever?

  His mother’s bloody body flashed into his mind.

  No, Melissa was nothing like his mother. She was a fighter, she was tough and strong, and he would give his life to protect her.

  He didn’t trust anyone else to keep her safe.

  ROBERT LATONE ACCEPTED coffee from his maid, claimed his usual chair on the veranda and unfolded the morning paper. His gaze landed on the headlines, and his chest spasmed. Dear God in heaven, he couldn’t believe the Fagan woman had talked to the press. And to publicly claim Candace her mother and Hughes her father—was she on a suicide mission?

  Fury rattling his movements, he jerked up and stalked inside. Moor marched through the front door, his face livid, before Robert could even call him.

  “Have you seen the paper?” Moor asked.

  “Hell, yes.” Robert slapped it on the cherry table-top. “I thought you were handling the Fagan woman.”

  “I tried.” Moor wiped sweat from his graying eyebrow.

  “What are we going to do now?” Robert shrieked. “If Hughes reads this, he’ll be all over my ass.”

  Moor’s fingers trembled as he spread his palms on top of the article. “I’ll think of something, Robert. Don’t worry. No one will ever find out the truth.”

  “Talk to Hopkins.”

  Moor’s pallor had turned a chalky gray. “I’m on it.”

  “Right away,” Latone hissed. “And don’t screw up this time. We can’t let this go any further.”

  Moor unpocketed his cell phone and began to punch in numbers. “Hopkins, meet me at the marina in half an hour. I have a job for you.”

  Latone jabbed in numbers on his own phone. He had to make arrangements to leave the country. It was bad enough the police suspected him of killing his own daughter. When Hughes read the article, he would think Robert had betrayed him.

  And he didn’t intend to take the repercussions of Hughes’s wrath.

  “MELISSA FAGAN, PLEASE.”

  Melissa’s fingers tightened around the handset. Eric lifted his head from where he’d been reading notes on Hughes from Devlin’s ongoing file. “This is she.”

  “Do you really want to meet your father?”

  She swallowed hard, motioning at Eric to trace the call.

  “Then come to the marina. Tonight. Midnight.” His heavy breathing wheezed over the line. “And come alone, Melissa.”

  “Who—” Melissa’s voice broke at the sound of the dial tone.

  Devlin shook his head. “Not enough time to get a trace.”

  Eric muttered a curse. Melissa ignored him. He didn’t like the setup, had tried to persuade her to back out, but Melissa refused to be a quitter.

  Besides, she wanted this quest for her parents to be over. Every second in proximity with Eric made his deception even more painful.

  “What did the caller want?” Eric asked.

  “He said if I wanted to meet my father to come to the marina tonight at midnight.”

  Devlin nodded. “This could be the break we’ve been waiting for.”

  And the day she’d anticipated forever—meeting her father.

  Only, instead of walking into his loving arms, she might be walking into a trap.

  And instead of finding a loving father, she would be looking at the face of the man who’d killed her mother, and wanted her buried in the ground beside Candace.

  TREPIDATION FILLED ERIC as they drove to the marina. He had worked out all morning, strengthening his arms and legs, and
channeling his energy so he would be able to help tonight. He couldn’t fail Melissa, not any more than he already had.

  When they caught Hughes, he’d rectify his past mistakes with Melissa. He had no idea how, but he’d find some way to convince her that he loved her.

  She looked frail and strong at the same time as she braced herself for the confrontation he knew would follow. If the meeting turned out to be a trap, they were prepared. Devlin had stationed two other agents around the marina, patrolling the area in advance, one disguised as a fisherman, another a local tourist.

  A spring thunderstorm loomed on the horizon, thunderclouds obliterating the stars and adding an even more ominous feel to the gloomy atmosphere. The sound of docked boats rocking in the increasingly turbulent water mingled with the occasional whine of a motor. Eric hung back, hidden in the shadows of a cruiser, his senses charged.

  Melissa’s shoes clicked on the boardwalk as she paced to the end of the dock and stared out at the water. A ten-foot cruiser coasted by. Odd for it to be out this time of night.

  It had to be the caller.

  Eric stepped forward to warn Melissa, but the boat coasted to a stop, and Devlin waved him to hold off. Eric was too far away, Devlin even farther. Where were the two other agents?

  Suddenly gunfire rang out, and all hell broke loose behind him. He pivoted and saw the first agent go down in a bloody heap. The fisherman/agent was nowhere to be seen. Devlin fired his gun, warding off the shooter, while Eric hobbled down the dock as fast as his cane would allow him.

  A man grabbed Melissa, but she swung her fists at him. Another appeared out of nowhere and assaulted Eric, bringing him down with a whack on the back of the head. More gunfire pinged behind him. He clawed at the wooden slats to right himself, but a karate punch to his lower back and a blow to his ribs knocked the air from his lungs. Then something hard connected with his head. The blunt end of a gun.

  Melissa screamed, her voice fading into the darkness as Eric lost consciousness.