Not This Time

by Vicki Hinze

  “I’m gonna look around outside before dark falls.” As bad as snakes and mosquitoes were out there, what was in here was worse. “See if they dumped a body anywhere close.”

  Bill watched Ken go. When he disappeared outside, Bill tapped the transmit button on the radio attached to his collar. “Millie, get Sheriff Dobson for me, will you?”

  “Roger that, Deacon.”

  A short minute later, the sheriff’s voice sounded through the radio. “Yeah, Bill. What’d you find up there?”

  “Ain’t sure yet, but you better get us some forensics help.” Even breathing shallow, the stench rattled his stomach and set off his gag reflex. He fought it and kept fighting it.

  “What do you see?”

  “Blood.” Bill rubbed his thumb over his .45’s soft rubber Hogue grip. “Could be movie props, but it don’t smell like it.” He hesitated. “Sheriff, I got a bad feeling about this one. Might want to call Jeff Meyers to come take a look.” He and his friends had experience. There hadn’t been a murder in Oakton County in ten years. “Who owns this place now?” That might prove important.

  “SaBe bought it from Race.”

  Everyone in the tricounty area knew about SaBe. Beth Dawson and Sara Jones-Tayton started out with nothing and made a fortune. They were a real hometown success story, and neither of them forgot where they came from. Both did a lot to help out locals. “I can’t see them mixed up in something like this.”

  “Me either. I’ll call Jeff.” The sheriff’s respect for those instincts came through loud and clear. “Protect the scene.”

  “Yes sir.” Something glinted on the mattress like a glass shard and Bill took a closer look. It disappeared before his eyes. Must’ve been a trick of the light.

  “Fatalities?”

  “None located yet.” Bill blocked the overwhelming stench with a finger to his nose. “But if the blood I’m seeing is human, yeah. At least, one.” Sweet mercy, outside of car accidents—bad ones—he’d never seen so much blood. “Maybe more …”

  3

  Seagrove Village, Florida

  Clyde Parker was dead.

  Nora sat in the grass weeping, holding his hand, her free arm wrapped around an also weeping Kelly Walker, who’d become like his adopted daughter. Dr. Lisa Harper had tried everything, but there was no reviving him. Clyde Parker had gone home.

  Beth Dawson’s heart ached. She loved Nora like a second mother and seeing her in pain had Beth’s eyes stinging. Nora’s twin, Nathara, on the other hand, woke up complaining and had hardly paused to draw breath. Beth had to restrain herself not to gag the woman.

  “Come on, Nora. Let them do their work and get Clyde out of this heat.” Nathara tried to forcibly lift her sister.

  Mark Taylor didn’t take it kindly. Lisa shot out an arm to keep him from interceding.

  “Leave me be.” Nora slapped at her sister’s hand, her eyes as red as her lipstick.

  Nathara tried again. Beth stepped forward before Mark could. “Nathara, Kyle, that officer near the arch, needs to take your statement.”

  Frowning, she straightened her askew hat and then followed Beth. “What’s wrong with her? My sister’s acting like an emotional fool.” Nathara cast a reprimanding look back at Nora. “The man’s had a good life. It’s done now, and that’s that.”

  Beth bit her lip to keep quiet and delivered Nathara and her attitude to Kyle. Once, when Lisa’s mom, Annie, was in the hospital, Nora had warned everyone that her twin sister was there in a pinch but as mean as a snake. She was, bless her heart.

  Hazmat set up a safe area, and everyone had to step behind makeshift screens, remove their clothing and put it in special biohazard bags, then get showered down head to toe in small, shallow swimming pools where the water was retained for safe disposal. They were given scrubs to put on—all blue ones—and paper socks.

  When everyone else was done, Beth signaled Kelly, who nodded.

  “Nora, we have to go shower now. They need our clothes.”

  “For what?” Nora looked up at her, her eyes red rimmed and weepy.

  “To run some tests to find out what was done to us. It can help them figure this out.” Kelly stood and offered Nora her hand.

  “Jeff’ll find ’em.” Nora sniffed, took Kelly’s hand, and tried to lift herself but couldn’t. Ben and Mark stepped in and got her to her feet. “My knees are mushy, my boy,” she told Mark. “Can you help me over to the kiddie pool? Annie? Where’s Annie?”

  “I’m right here, Nora.” Lisa’s mother rushed to get to her roommate.

  Nora clasped her arm. “You tell Hank we’ll be planning Clyde’s funeral for Tuesday. I know what he wants and I won’t have it not done right.”

  “I’ll tell him, hon.” Annie patted Nora’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry. We’ll do exactly what Clyde wanted.”

  Jeff Meyers walked past. Nora snagged him. “You were late. I’d blister your ears, but considering somebody gassed us, I’m thinking it’s a blessing you weren’t here.”

  “There was a problem down at Ruby’s—”

  She cut him off. “Beth told me.” Nora leaned hard on Mark, wagged a warning finger. “I don’t care if the whole village erupts in a war, you’d best not be late for Clyde’s funeral.”

  “No ma’am. I won’t.”

  Her clouded eyes burned bright and her voice cracked. “You find ’em, Jeff. They took my Clyde.” She shuddered, stiffened, and hiked her chin. “I’ll have your word on it.”

  “Yes ma’am. I promise.” Jeff slid Beth a help-me look.

  “He’ll be on time and he’ll find them, Nora. Mark and Ben will help.” That should ease Nora’s mind. “They’ve stopped NINA twice.” First with Kelly Walker and then with Dr. Lisa Harper. “They surely can get whoever did this.”

  “Could be them. That Karl Masson is still on the loose,” Nora said. “Kelly and Lisa can identify him.”

  Masson was the latest NINA operative they’d battled and he’d escaped. His boss, Raven, had been tagged as existing, but despite enormous efforts by all resources, she remained a mystery. Nora’s observation about Masson had Jeff frowning. He’d spent many a night awake in a cold sweat.

  Mark dipped his dark head, his expression stern. “We’ll handle it, Nora.”

  “I know you will.” She reached up and patted his angular face.

  “Definitely.” Beth said it, and prayed it proved true. “You get cleaned up now, Nora. We’ve got things to do.”

  Mark and Ben walked Nora over. She tottered, still unsteady on her feet.

  Annie scanned the clusters of people in the courtyard. “I need to find Hank.”

  “He’s over with Clyde,” Beth said. Now why was Sara staring at the cake, as still as a statue? That “boom” message and the strings being tied to their fingers had scared her socks off. Beth’s too, but Sara seemed … worse. Why? Beth walked over. “You okay?”

  “Robert still has his phone turned off.” Tall and svelte, Sara lifted her blond head, her voice as vacant as her blue eyes. Her chignon had half fallen; strands of long blond hair brushed her shoulders.

  Right now, Beth couldn’t care less about Robert Tayton. “He’ll turn up.” Bad pennies always do. “I asked about you.” Sara didn’t look unreasonably anxious, but her reassurance would be welcome. Anxiety really complicated her lifelong medical challenges. “You okay?”

  “No, I’m not.” Sara craned her neck and looked Beth straight in the eye. “I doubt I’ll ever be okay again.”

  Sara wasn’t being melodramatic. She always had been fragile. “You can’t fall apart right now. Honest, Sara, you’re going to have to cope like the rest of us. Nora’s a wreck, Nathara’s grating on everyone’s last nerve, and there isn’t a soul who doesn’t think NINA’s behind this attack. We do not need you getting wound up and triggering an attack that lands you in the hospital, so just don’t go there.”

  “NINA is involved.” Sara blinked hard, her eyes full of fear.

  Beth stilled. The way S
ara said that … she wasn’t speculating, she knew. But how could she? “What aren’t you telling me?”

  For a second, Sara looked as if she might say, but then a shield slid down over her face and she disappeared behind it. “Nothing. Everyone says NINA’s involved.”

  Her general remark sure felt specific—and it probably was, but Sara could be bullheaded. She always did things in her own time. Apparently whatever she might share she wasn’t going to—yet. “For me, the question isn’t if but why. They didn’t take anything or hurt anyone except Clyde, but I doubt they expected to kill him. So why attack this at all? What did NINA want to prove?”

  Sara stiffened. “That they’re in control. That they can kill us all, or specific ones of us, any time they choose.”

  Knocking them all out and tying fishing line to those women with NINA connections proved that. “Granted, but why the warning? We knew they could get to us. They’ve done it. Kidnapping Lisa, hunting down Kelly Walker. So why attack here now?”

  A tear leaked out of Sara’s eye. “Because they can.”

  “No.” Beth frowned. “There’s a specific reason. NINA’s disciplined and always specific. It never makes general statements. There’s more to this.”

  Sara looked away. Her phone rang. “Maybe that’s Robert.”

  Bad pennies. Giving Sara privacy, Beth joined Mark, Jeff, Ben, Harvey, and Roxy, huddling with Hank. First break in the conversation, she asked, “What did they do to us?”

  “Anesthetic.” Hank looked at Beth. “Used for surgery all the time. Not harmful.”

  “Not harmful?” She lifted a hand. “So Clyde is dead because …?”

  “Typically not harmful,” Hank said. “Clyde had complications due to other medical issues.”

  Nora wouldn’t take comfort in that. As soon as the initial shock wore off, she’d be spittin’ mad—and poor Roxy looked equally devastated. She had looked forward to this day for months and now attackers had ruined it. Forfeiting three years of her marriage in a divorce she didn’t want but needed to keep her husband alive and safe … Hadn’t she sacrificed enough? Beth’s chest went tight. It just wasn’t right. “How can I help?”

  “Anything you can run down on similar attacks would be great,” Mark said.

  “Wait,” Jeff objected. “I’m not authorized to ask you to do that, Beth.”

  “They knocked us all out.” She slid Jeff a loaded look. “I don’t need to be asked.”

  Relief flashed across his face. He wanted to ask her to share what she found; she saw it in his eyes, but he wouldn’t. Tight budget.

  And she wouldn’t make him. “I’ll courtesy copy you and Mark on everything—in case somebody catches me digging and takes exception.” Bending, she hugged Roxy and then Harvey Talbot. “I’m sorry these jerks messed up your special day.”

  “Me too.” Roxy blinked hard. “But everyone else is okay, we have tomorrow, and that’s what most matters—except for Clyde.”

  And Nora. Beth’s heart wrenched. Clyde had been Nora’s companion for a lot of years, ever since he’d been widowed. She’d feel his loss most, and that she had to infuriated Beth. She owed Nora more than anyone knew and was determined to find out who had done this.

  Sara came over. “We can go now, right?”

  Jeff nodded. “All the cars in the lot have been swept and everything’s fine.”

  Sara’s expression said it all. Her jerk husband, Robert Tayton III, was still missing.

  Head down and shoulders slumped, Sara departed.

  “Is she okay?” Roxy asked. “She looks ready to jump out of her skin.”

  She did. Something was definitely amiss. They were all upset, but Sara carried some extra burden. For some reason, she seemed to be blaming herself for this incident. Why?

  Hank answered Roxy. “Sara’s always been high strung. But if she made it through this without an attack, she’ll be fine.”

  He was right about that.

  “You calling in your old team?” Jeff asked Mark.

  Mark had been in Special Operations. His team had all been in the village to help when Lisa had been abducted. Beth liked them all, but one team member was special. Joe. Her breath hitched. She’d love to see him—he’d planned to be here today for the ceremony—but something he wasn’t free to discuss had come up.

  That was often the case for the former Shadow Watchers. Spies who once spied on spies had a lot of things they weren’t free to discuss, even after they left the intelligence community and just consulted on special assignments. Having consulted often with Quantico, Beth fully understood. It’s impossible to take out of a person’s head what you’ve put into it. Once in, to some extent, you were in for life.

  “The team’s tied up right now,” Mark told Jeff.

  Disappointment bit Beth hard. She tucked her chin-length hair behind her ear. This ordeal rattled her in a way she’d rarely been rattled. Joe had a soothing effect on her and others. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a calm and confident air that made him serene even in crises. With eyes somewhere between blue and green and thick blond hair that curled low on his neck, the man was a woman magnet and just plain cool too, which is why she’d had coffee and dinner with him dozens of times but hadn’t allowed herself to fall for him.

  He’d break her heart just like Max had, no doubt about it.

  Max had been cool too—and he’d humiliated her, ditching her very publicly for a glamour girl. The same kind of glamour girl that gravitated to Joe and clung.

  “Sorry, Beth. You’re too … ordinary.”

  Even now, Max’s words stung. Everyday average couldn’t hold up to glamour. Never did, never would—which is why Joe, no matter how sincere he seemed or how charming, had to be kept at arm’s length.

  Still, his skills would be helpful. He’d been on the front line and instrumental in resolving Lisa’s abduction. If this was about NINA, the villagers needed Joe. Beth did too. He subtly invited her to lean on him, and she could … but only just a little. Another broken heart she did not need.

  Not that she was the same woman now she’d been with Max. Now, she was a successful businesswoman, rich, and confident in her skin—and that skin was slimmer now due to her daily beach runs, but it was still ordinary and everyday average. Once burned, twice shy.

  Annie stood near Nora’s shower screen, waiting patiently. Beth looked at Lisa. “You’ll get your mom and Nora home, right?” They shared an apartment at the Towers, next door to Beth’s beach house.

  “Mark and I will handle it.” Lisa nodded. “Don’t worry, Beth. Mom’s good at comforting the grieving. She’ll take care of Nora.”

  Annie would. Beth started walking away, stopped, and looked at Mark. “If you hear from Joe, have him call me when he can.” Her insides twisted. She needed a little of Joe’s calm, even if it was from a distance.

  Knowing glinted in Mark’s gray eyes. “He’ll like that.”

  Unable to miss Jeff’s disappointment, Beth walked out toward her car. Jeff was a good man. He was also still half in love with her. If she had half a brain, she’d jump at him, but her heart wouldn’t let her. He deserved someone to love him back, and she just didn’t. So every day of her life, she prayed he’d find a woman who would. So far, it hadn’t happened, but like Nora always said: “In God’s own sweet time.”

  Ironic that Beth felt the same way about Joe. And even more ironic was, despite Mark’s comment, Joe was about as apt to be genuinely interested in her as she was in Jeff. Oh, Joe said he wanted a home and a family, one day—and he said it in a way that made her think he’d never really had either one—but she wasn’t a fool. She was fine for coffee and conversation, but Joe would build that life with an extraordinary woman.

  Beth sighed. Love’s fickle. That’s that.

  Fire trucks lined the front of the parking lot. Every patrol car in the tricounty area seemed to be on site. From the cameras and lights, a ton of reporters had gathered just outside the police blockade. Their shouted questions garbled bu
t one snagged her ear. “Was it NINA?”

  The media all thought NINA was responsible too. Why?

  Beth didn’t know—yet.

  4

  We’ve got a problem.”

  Joe recognized his former Shadow Watcher teammate’s voice in his Bluetooth. After taking down NINA’s human-trafficking operation and rescuing Mark’s Lisa, the team decided it best to keep their distance for a while. Broader target. Fortunately they had secure phones to stay in touch.

  “What’s up, bro?” Joe slid on his stomach through the grass and held up his night-vision goggles.

  Nearly nine thirty, long past dark, and still no sign of Karl Masson. Joe’s sources had been adamant that the escaped NINA operative was in this state park. His RV and the car he towed behind it hadn’t moved in two days, but the man was a no-show.

  Mark filled Joe in on the club attack.

  Joe’s stomach clutched. “Are Beth and Lisa okay?”

  “Lisa’s safe. Beth’s rattled but fine. She’s why I’m calling.”

  She’s safe. She’s safe. Breathe, Joe. Breathe. “Oh?”

  “Yeah. She’s looking into the incident, Joe.”

  “Dangerous work.” If NINA was behind it, deadly.

  “And then some. She wants you to call her.” Mark sighed. “She’s like you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Always the strong one holding up everybody else.”

  “You’re subtle as mud, bro.” Mark had overhead one too many calls from Joe’s wayward brothers, hitting him up for bail money. “It’s different. She’s different.”

  “I don’t think it’s different.”

  “Taking care of everybody is her nature.” Joe loved that about her. As a kid, he’d longed for someone to take care of him and his brothers. But with his parents, that was a pipe dream. They’d rather drink than feed their kids. With Beth, caring was just there. As natural to her as breathing. Was it encoded in her DNA or something? He wondered. Often. The woman was gorgeous—slim, brown shiny hair with gold streaks and bright brown eyes—and got Joe’s attention, but her nurturing everyone—even him … That snagged his heart and reeled him in like a fish. Where she stood toward him was anyone’s guess.