by Zara Chase
But still…
“I don’t want to make you nervous, darlin’,” Riley said softly, “but I think it’s very necessary for us to camp out with you, and deep down you probably do, too. Why else did you call Raoul?”
“We’re professionals,” Axel added. “You don’t need to have any worries about us behaving inappropriately.”
It’s not your inappropriateness that worries me.
“I guess you’re right.” Maddie grabbed her purse. “Come on then. Let’s go.”
If they could remain detached and businesslike then so could she.
“Where would you recommend we eat?” Axel asked as they made their way downstairs.
“There’s a decent place on North Washington Street called the Beach Shack,” she replied. “The food’s pretty consistent.”
“Okay, I get to ride with you this time.” Axel grinned as he opened the driver’s door for her. “Riley can follow on in the truck.”
“I live to serve,” Riley said with a wry smile.
For the first time since she’d received the devastating news about her father, over two weeks beforehand, Maddie found herself thinking about something other than her family life. She would defy any woman who found herself in her situation not to be distracted. At a table that ought to seat six, Maddie felt crowded by the sheer physicality of the two men flanking her. It was early, but the restaurant was already buzzing, and once again Maddie was conscious of other women checking out Riley and Axel.
Hands off, ladies.
They placed their orders. The guys both drank light beers, as though they were on duty, which she supposed they were. Maddie, now happy to cede responsibility for her problems to them, decided she deserved a large glass of chardonnay. They ordered steaks, she went for fish stew. The guys traded insults with one another and plied her with casual questions. All the time she noticed them constantly checking the place out, watching the door whenever it opened, always on the lookout for trouble.
“You an only child, then?” Riley leaned back in his chair and fixed her with a deep, penetrating gaze that affected her all the way to her pussy. Geez, she needed to get laid! “Didn’t you ever feel lonely?”
“Yes to both questions. Mom spent her life supporting Dad’s career and being a good military wife. I came along late in their marriage, and I don’t think I was part of the master plan.” She shrugged. “A bit of an inconvenience, really. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t neglected or anything like that. It’s just that they were such a compact unit, always on the same page, and didn’t seem to need anyone else. I sometimes felt like an outsider.”
“But your mom passed some years ago?” Axel asked.
“Yes, nearly ten years. The big C. I was eighteen, but Dad wouldn’t hear of me dropping my plans to go to college so I could be there for him.”
“No responsible father would ask his child to make that sort of sacrifice,” Riley replied.
She shook her head, unable to look at them. “No, I guess he didn’t need me.”
“I’m guessing your dad fell back on military discipline to keep his life on course,” Axel said.
“The army had always been his other family,” she said, more acerbically than she’d intended. “Mom used to joke that she’d stand a chance if it was another woman she had to compete with.”
“People who forge a career in the military often become…well, institutionalized, I guess,” Riley said.
“Only other military types truly understand what it takes to live the life,” Axel added.
“That’s certainly true in Dad’s case. We became a lot closer after Mom passed, but I never felt that he needed me, not really.”
“How long since he retired?” Riley asked.
“Two years. I made a point of coming home more regularly after that, just in case he was lonely, but he never seemed to be.” She grinned. “In fact, he had a lady friend.”
Riley’s head jerked up. “A local woman?”
“Yes, an army widow.” Maddie frowned. “Why? Is it important?”
“Perhaps she knows something about what your father was working on.” Axel shrugged. “Pillow talk. It needs to be checked out.”
“Oh shit!” Maddie hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Talk about an idiot. That idea didn’t even occur to me.”
“Well, we can soon fix that.” Riley smiled at the waitress when she placed his steak in front of him. “Do you get along with her?”
“Oh yes, we’re good.”
“Come on then,” Axel said. “Let’s enjoy the food, then we’ll set to work at your place. You can help by calling your dad’s lady and setting up a meeting for tomorrow.”
“Sure, I can do that.”
“This steak’s good,” Riley said, eating quickly.
“Were you guys regular army?” Maddie asked.
“Nah, we’re just bog standard retired SEALs.” Axel grinned. “There’s a lot of us about.”
“Ah, that would explain it.”
“Explain what?” Riley asked.
“Never mind.” She wasn’t about to tell them that being part of such a tough, elite force accounted for the way they projected themselves. She suspected that their egos needed no help from her. “Is Raoul an ex-SEAL, too?”
“No, he and his buddy Zeke started Clandestine Investigations together when they left the service. They’re both former Green Berets.”
“Wow, I really am getting the very best for the dollars your services aren’t costing me. I’m flattered.” She paused, a forkful of delicious fish halfway to her mouth. “How come two ex-Green Berets finish up ranching horses in Wyoming?”
“There are worse things to do in retirement,” Axel said. “We’ve all seen more than our fair share of wars and atrocities. Besides, that’s not all they do.”
“Clandestine activities still keep them in touch with their old life?”
“Something like that,” Axel replied.
“How did you all get to know my dad?” Maddie asked. “You weren’t in the same branch of the service.”
“SEALs get to be all over the place. So do Green Berets. We all crossed paths with your dad at various times and were impressed by his leadership qualities,” Axel said. “The same can’t be said for a lot of top brass in the military, unfortunately. We’ve seen far too many who get to be where they are for all the wrong reasons.”
“Just ask Raoul if you doubt that,” Riley said, almost to himself.
“What do you mean by that?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. It’s not important.”
“Then why mention it?” There was something they weren’t telling her, and Maddie’s interest was piqued. “And why is Clandestine so…well, clandestine?”
The guys shared a glance. Something passed between them, and it was Riley who eventually answered her. “Raoul was married once.”
“Oh, I had no idea.”
“Not many people did. His wife was Palestinian. He met her when she worked undercover for the Americans in an effort to broker a peace plan with the Israelis.” There was a distant look on Riley’s face, implying that he’d digressed mentally. “A certain senior officer who shall remain nameless wanted to use her on a covert operation that Raoul was also involved with. Raoul was firmly against her being part of the setup. He was against the entire plan, come to that. He said it was ill conceived and suspected it had been compromised before it even got off the ground. But the brass pushed ahead, and Raoul’s wife was killed in an ambush set by her own people.”
“Oh no!” Maddie clapped a hand over her mouth. “That’s so sad.”
“She was four months pregnant with their first child,” Axel added.
“Raoul and Zeke were captured in the same operation when they tried to rescue her and were badly tortured. They managed to escape, not sure how, but I do know Raoul had to be physically restrained when he came face-to-face with the officer who approved the dumb operation.” Riley sighed. “Left to his own devices he’
d have pulled the bastard’s head from his shoulders with his bare hands.”
“No one would have blamed him if he had.”
“Yeah well, after that Raoul went off the rails for a while.”
“How do you mean?” Maddie asked.
“He volunteered for every madcap operation on the books,” Axel replied. “It was like he had a death wish. He became a totally focused killing machine, and the army channeled all that anger for its own purposes.”
“Typical,” Maddie said, rolling her eyes.
“He’s a lot better now,” Axel said. “He worked through the worst of his anger, but when he came out the other end he decided he’d had enough of the military. He and Zeke got out and bought the horse farm.”
“And started Clandestine Investigations?”
“And that,” Riley agreed, sighing. “All I can tell you is that there’s still a lot of anger bubbling away inside my buddy. I wouldn’t like to be that officer if Raoul ever happens to bump into him.”
“What happened to him?”
“The officer?” Riley sneered. “He got promoted, of course. He’s now a colonel.”
“That sucks.”
“It’s life,” Axel replied. “Come on, honey, you’re not eating.”
Maddie applied herself to her food, thinking about what she’d just been told. “How do you ever get over something like that?” she asked, her heart overflowing with compassion for Raoul. “What Raoul went through, I mean.”
“You don’t,” Riley replied. “You learn to live with it, is all.”
The server came to clear their empty plates, sending both men flirtatious glances and ignoring Maddie. They all declined the offer of dessert.
“Guess we should make a move,” Axel said.
Riley’s phone rang. He checked the display and grinned. “Raoul always know when we’re talking about him.” He took the call. “Hey, buddy, what’s occurring?”
Riley listened, made a few curt comments, and gave Raoul a brief rundown of their progress to date, such as it was.
“Okay, we’re heading out to Maddie’s house now, and we’ll base ourselves there for the duration. We’ll let you know if we come up with anything interesting, and you do the same.”
Riley pocketed his phone and turned to Maddie. “That car that was following you isn’t registered with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.”
“Surprise, surprise.” Axel chuckled.
“Perhaps they weren’t Virginia plates,” she said.
“They were,” Axel said.
Maddie was confused. “So, what does that mean?”
“Most likely one of the spook organizations based around these parts is keeping tabs on you,” Riley said casually. “Anyway, we’ll know soon enough.”
“How, if the vehicle isn’t registered?”
“It had false plates,” Axel replied, helping her from her chair. “I’ll bet you ten bucks that whoever sent that car will be informed if anyone asks questions about it. Raoul made it easy for them by using a phone line that can be traced right back to him.”
Maddie was impressed. “You guys don’t miss a trick.”
Riley winked at her. “Sometimes it pays to be proactive.”
Chapter Four
Riley kept his truck close on the tail of Maddie’s Lexus, Axel at its wheel. That was a good move on his buddy’s part. The shadows beneath Maddie’s eyes suggested that she hadn’t been sleeping well. Wiped out emotionally, she was likely still grieving for her father and worried about all the weird stuff that had happened to her over the past few days. Riley didn’t blame her for having taken a couple of large glasses of wine with her dinner, but she definitely wasn’t safe to drive.
Riley thought about the case as he waited for a signal to change. He’d made light of the information Raoul had come up with, not wanting to freak Maddie out completely, but it had bothered him. Something big was going on here. Houses weren’t broken into by professionals, nor were civilians put under surveillance, unless there was a good reason for it. Stuff like that cost big bucks to arrange. If the military had finally decided that Maddie’s dad’s death was suspicious, they would have told her, wouldn’t they?
“Yeah, right,” he said aloud, rolling his eyes.
Riley was no longer a naïve recruit and was well aware that the Army CID Command was a law unto itself. If they thought Maddie could be used as bait to get them whatever evidence they needed, they wouldn’t hesitate to use her without bothering to ask her permission.
Sorry, guys, that ain’t gonna happen.
Riley had only just met Maddie but would be fooling himself if he tried to pretend his interest in her didn’t transcend the purely professional. She wasn’t the first attractive woman he’d been asked to help since leaving the military, but he’d never even thought about crossing the line with any of them. The possibility had flashed through his mind several times over dinner. There was something about Maddie that broke through his defenses and made him want to go that extra mile for her.
But then what? Riley didn’t do relationships—not anymore—and Maddie wasn’t the type who’d settle for a one-night stand.
“Don’t think about that now,” he muttered aloud. “Just concentrate on keeping her safe and getting to the bottom of this mess.”
Nothing would happen to Maddie on their watch, Riley would make damned sure of that, but they couldn’t hang about indefinitely, waiting for action. Being passive wasn’t an option, so Riley figured they’d have to rattle a few cages and see what fell loose.
He started to pay more attention to his surroundings as they drove into a better part of town. The houses became larger, with wider gaps separating them from their neighbors. There didn’t seem to be any foot traffic, which helped. Anyone walking around would be easier to spot. The same went for out-of-place vehicles.
Axel pulled the Lexus into the driveway of a house that probably sat on a lot of over an acre. The electronic doors to the garage opened, presumably because Maddie had pressed a button, and Axel pulled the Lexus inside. Riley parked their truck alongside it. There was no sense in advertising their presence here.
The garage door closed noiselessly as they exited their vehicles and Maddie led them into the house through an internal door from the garage.
“Nice place,” Riley said, taking a good look around.
They continued to make general conversation as Maddie gave them the guided tour of the five-bedroom home. She’d been warned not to say anything about their suspicions until they’d checked the place out for bugs. Axel extracted his magic wand and found two listening devices—one in her father’s home study, the other in the eat-in kitchen. They took it for granted that the phone line was tapped, but since they would only communicate through Riley’s and Axel’s secure cell phones they didn’t bother to remove that one.
Riley and Axel threw their overnight bags into the rooms Maddie assigned to them and got right down to business.
“Okay, babe,” Axel said. “The place is clean now. We can talk freely, but don’t answer the phone if it rings.”
“Oh, but it might be important.”
“Are you expecting any calls?” Riley asked.
“Well no, but what if someone wants to talk to me about Dad?”
“We can remove the bug from the phone, but there are other ways that determined people can listen in to landlines,” Axel said. “Better not to use it for now. Use our cell phones, and you can give the numbers to anyone you need to keep in touch with.”
“Thanks. There’s no one right now but I’ll bear that in mind.”
The fact that she didn’t have some man tucked away in New York, anxious to hear from her, made Riley smile with vicarious possessiveness.
“We now know for sure your visitor was here to bug the place,” Axel said. “He probably exceeded his orders and couldn’t resist having a quick look around, which is why you knew he’d been.”
“Whoever sent him will know we found the bugs,�
�� Maddie said.
“That’s the general idea,” Riley replied. “Hopefully it will flush him out. Okay, let’s set to work in your daddy’s office.”
They all moved into the spacious room that had bookshelves lining three walls. There were at least four file cabinets and several separate credenzas full of drawers.
“I see what you mean about neatness,” Axel said, opening a drawer to the first file cabinet and gulping when he saw the row of neatly labeled files crammed into the space.
“Precisely, and unfortunately there are no files labeled ‘dodgy findings’ in any of the drawers.”
“That would be too much to ask.” Riley chuckled, settling down on his haunches in front of another file cabinet. “What you need to do, Maddie, is to focus your mind. Get inside your dad’s head. If he wanted to hide something where only someone who knows him real well would find it, what place would he choose?”
“Well, I—”
“What mattered to him most in his life?” Axel asked, looking up from a pile of papers he was flipping through.
“My mother and his career,” she said without hesitation.
“Too obvious,” Riley replied.
“Well, I guess that leaves me. I’ve already been through all the stuff he kept to do with my school and college work, and there’s nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Family photographs?” Axel asked. “Have you been through them?”
“No, but wouldn’t that be a little too obscure? He didn’t know he was going to die, remember.”
“Don’t forget to call your dad’s lady friend,” Axel said.
“Oh yes, I’ll do it now.”
Riley handed her his cell, listening to her end of the conversation with a woman whom she called Claudia.
“She’s invited us round tomorrow morning,” Maddie said, returning Riley’s phone to him.
“Yes, I got that part. Give me her full name, sweetheart.”
“Claudia Greenway. Her husband was a major in Dad’s old regiment. He died in a roadside ambush in Afghanistan three years ago.” She sent him a worried glance. “Why did you need to know all that?”
Without responding, Riley phoned that information through to Raoul and asked for a background check on the woman.