by Zara Chase
“Hear the major out, Maddie,” Axel said softly.
“I didn’t tell you any of this, Ms. McGuire, because I didn’t want to endanger you.” He held up a hand to prevent Maddie’s interruption. “I don’t expect you to believe that, but it’s true.”
“Tell us what you can, Copeland,” Riley said, fed up with his pussyfooting around the subject. “Then we just might share what we know with you.”
“Fair enough.” He sat ramrod straight, presumably formulating what he intended to say, which almost certainly wouldn’t be all he knew. “Vets are disappearing off our streets here in Virginia. We believe they’re being used for illegal drugs tests and that Ms. McGuire’s father found out about it, which is why he was killed.”
“Okay, that jibes with our information,” Riley said.
Copeland’s head jerked backward. “You found that much out already?”
“We’re good at what we do,” Axel replied.
“You must be. I’m impressed.”
“We know vets are being scoped out at the Friday meetings at the center,” Riley said, deciding to level with the major but still not completely trusting him. “What we don’t know is who’s doing the scoping.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out ever since I found out about the scam.” Copeland’s frustration appeared genuine. “But I’ve gotta tell you that so far I’ve got zilch to show for my efforts.”
“But you think it’s someone who’s still serving?” Axel asked. “Someone based around here.”
“Yes, but unfortunately that doesn’t narrow it down much.”
“Any suspects?” Riley asked.
“Not a one.” Copeland glanced at Riley. “How did you discover all this? Did she talk to anyone at the center or did you find papers here?”
“Papers,” Riley replied. “He kept notes.”
“Ah, can I see them?”
“They won’t tell you anything you don’t already know, and I’m not prepared to name his informant at this stage.”
“Ah, so there is someone.”
“Apparently.”
“We’re on the same side here,” Copeland said impatiently. “I could get a warrant.”
Riley fixed him with a steady gaze. “But you won’t.”
Copeland backed down first. “Probably not at this stage.”
Riley said nothing but knew he’d won that particular skirmish. Copeland was well aware that the papers in question would disappear long before he could execute a warrant and that he’d only get to see them if Riley decided to let him.
“We’ve been here for just one day and seem to have found out as much as you and your entire team have uncovered in how long?” Axel asked. “Your answer seemed to be to bug this house and let Maddie do all the work for you.”
“That’s not why we did that. We were worried in case anyone tried to get to Ms. McGuire.”
Maddie had been sitting the entire time with one foot tucked beneath her butt, as though the pins and needles she must now have in her foot had distracted her from blowing her top. She straightened up, placed both feet on the ground, and shared a determined glance between the three of them.
“We were discussing ways of finding out who’s behind this before you arrived, Major.” From her manner it would seem she agreed with the conclusion Riley had just reached regarding Copeland. He might be a jerk who did things by the book, but he wasn’t involved with the bad guys. His frustration at his lack of progress was too genuine to be contrived. “I think I ought to go to tomorrow night’s gathering at the center and see what shakes loose.”
“And we think that’s a lousy idea,” Axel countered.
“Actually it could work,” Riley replied thoughtfully. “There’s nothing to stop all three of us being there to protect Maddie. We can keep her in our sights at all times while she schmoozes. ”
“There’ll be more than three of us, if she’s willing to do it,” Copeland said eagerly. “I can have a few more of my people there.”
“People you can trust absolutely?” Riley asked skeptically.
“There’s no such thing as absolute trust,” Copeland countered. “But they’re good people who’ve been with me for a long time.”
“I’ll do it,” Maddie said, looking at Riley as she spoke, as though defying him to override her decision.
“We’ll discuss it and get back to you,” Riley replied.
“Use my private cell,” Copeland said, standing up and handing Riley a card. “Don’t talk to anyone else about this except me.”
Chapter Twelve
Maddie remained at the kitchen table while Riley and Axel saw the major out. She’d been proven right about her father’s death, but that didn’t bring much satisfaction. She now urgently needed to know who was behind it all, and absolutely nothing would stop her from going to the center tomorrow night to see what shook loose.
She pulled her father’s notebook from the drawer where Riley had hidden it and flipped through it, trying to keep the emotion at bay as she scanned pages covered with her father’s familiar writing. It was all neat and precise. Unfortunately it was also in some sort of code—dates, initials, places—but thin on content. Presumably the initials related to missing people. She turned another page. Yes, this section was like a diary.
“Spoke to PL today,” she read. “He hasn’t seen JB for two weeks. He was excited about something, thought his fortunes were about to change, but wouldn’t say what had happened to shake him out of his depression.”
There were a dozen more entries of a similar nature. A dozen? Had that many people really disappeared without anyone noticing? Well, anyone apart from her father and Pearson, that was? Copeland only seemed to have gotten involved as a result of her father’s death. Or had he? Maddie wondered about that. Now that she thought about it, he hadn’t actually said very much about the length of time he’d been investigating. She’d just assumed…They should have asked him more about that. He probably wouldn’t have told them much, but still, it made Maddie sad to think that men who’d given so much of themselves for their country could be so easily forgotten. She owed it to them to do something. If she couldn’t help them then at least she could stop other men falling victim to this cruel scam.
“You okay, darlin’?” Axel asked as the two guys rejoined her.
She shot him a look. “What do you think?”
“I’m guessing you’re just the tiniest bit pissed. No one can blame you for that, but you need to stay calm and try to see the broader picture.”
“How can Copeland’s lot do something like that? They’re supposed to uphold the law, but instead they just ignore a murder, like it never happened. One of their own, too. Worse, they knew I could be next on the murderer’s list, but they didn’t think it worth mentioning. The odd car passing the house occasionally was supposed to keep me safe.” Maddie ran a distracted hand through her hair and blew air through her lips. “Pleeaaassseee!”
Riley poured her a glass of wine and opened beers for him and Axel.
“Here, have a drink.” Riley sat beside her and passed her a glass of chilled chardonnay. “It’ll help.”
She sent him a disbelieving glare. “You think?”
“I know you’re mad, and heaven knows you have every right to be,” Riley said mildly. “But have you stopped to consider how your father would want to play this situation if he was here now?”
“My father’s not in a position to do anything.”
“No, but if he was.”
Maddie scowled. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, if he had to choose between having Copeland chasing his tail, trying to find the car that ran him down when we all know it’s probably at the bottom of some damned lake by now—”
“Or,” Axel added, tag teaming his buddy, “have him use his resources to carry on with the investigation that got your dad killed in the first place? Which would the major have opted for?”
“Well, I…” Maddie twisted a strand
of hair repeatedly around her forefinger, aware what the reasonable answer ought to be but not feeling in a reasonable mood. “Since you put it like that, I guess he’d want to find out who’s recruiting the vets.”
“Damned straight he would.” Riley rubbed the back of her neck with his strong, capable fingers. It felt soooo good. How did he know she was rigid with tension and a massage was just what she needed? “You might not like Copeland, but he seems determined to get to the bottom of this mess. That has to count for something.”
Maddie relaxed as Riley’s fingers dug deeper. “When did you get to be so wise?” she asked, rotating her shoulders and sighing as the knots started to untangle.
“It’s a gift,” Riley quipped.
“Do you trust Copeland?” Maddie asked. “He’s known a lot more about what’s going on than he chose to share with us before now. Don’t you think that’s kinda odd?”
“He thought he was protecting you.”
“Or he could be the one doing the recruiting.”
“It’s possible,” Axel said, “but unlikely. He checked us out, but Raoul returned the favor and ran a check on our buddy Copeland. His record is pretty impressive. He doesn’t mind making unpopular decisions if that’s what it takes to crack a case, and he has a high success rate.”
“Besides,” Riley added in a lazy drawl, “we have to trust someone. That doesn’t mean I won’t be watching him closely, though, darlin’. As far as I’m concerned, the only people who are definitely innocent are the three of us in this room.”
“Innocent of anything to do with this business anyway,” Axel said, waggling his brows.
Maddie caught his eye, and her treacherous pussy actually started to leak as she recalled their earlier activities. Damn it, she wanted to stay mad at them for riding roughshod over her feelings, for making decisions without consulting her first. But it was hard to maintain the moral high ground when she thought about how Axel had tied her to that rafter and…well, everything that happened after that. Besides, if she was being absolutely fair, they hadn’t actually taken any unilateral decisions. All they’d tried to do was keep her safe and, unlike Copeland, hadn’t hidden anything from her.
As far as she knew.
“Don’t you ever think about anything else?” she asked Axel, biting her lower lip to suppress a smile.
“I do my humble best.” But Axel looked anything but humble. Her looked more like a golden Greek God and stole a little more of Maddie’s breath away each time she looked at him. “My problem is that you blew my mind earlier, babe, and that’ll take some forgetting. Still, if you don’t want me to think about it, I suppose I could—”
“I know what you’re doing. I’m on to you, Cameron. You’re trying to distract me with thoughts of your feeble body.”
Axel clutched both of his hands over his heart. “She knows how to wound.”
“I’m not playing!” she said.
Maddie bit her lip harder to stop herself from really laughing or, worse yet, drooling. Axel was such a hunk, they both were, and if she allowed herself to think about the way her body had melted beneath Riley’s skilled fingers, or the way in which Axel went after what he wanted without neglecting her needs, she’d lose focus and they’d all finish up in bed together. Appealing as that prospect might be, right now she needed to keep her mind on her father’s murder.
“What did you mean, we’d discuss my going to the center?” she asked. “There’s nothing to discuss. I’m going and that’s all there is to it.”
“Sure you are,” Riley replied, remaining annoyingly calm.
“Then why didn’t you say so straight out?” She frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“The way I see it, anyone looking for guinea pigs ain’t gonna feel safe plying his trade with all of us there.”
“They don’t know who you two are?”
“If the bad guy is based around here, then we have to assume that he does. Especially if he has any connection to Copeland.”
“This is a slick operation, Maddie,” Axel said, suddenly serious. “And the recruiter has the might of a big drugs company behind him. Money’s no object, and hacking into just about anything is possible nowadays.”
“If I was the recruiter I’d give this week’s gathering a miss, wait for us to leave town, and then get back to business as normal.”
“Ah, so we need to give him a reason to show himself.” Maddie shook her head. “What reason?”
“The guy knows your dad was on to him, or at least getting close, which is why he’s dead. If he also knew the major kept a written record of his findings,” Riley said, picking the notebook up and waving it in the air, “he’d be damned keen to find out what’s in it.”
“Ah, now I see.” Maddie grinned. “You told Copeland we’d found Dad’s notes but didn’t let him see them, so they could be even more incriminating than they actually are. They might even name names.”
“Right. If you’re agreeable, I’ll ask Pearson to spread the word that you’ll be there tomorrow night. Your dad had something going on, you’ve found some documents and need to talk to some people about them.”
“Why would I go there with them? Why not straight to Copeland?”
“Because you need to be sure of your facts first,” Axel said. “Copeland doesn’t believe your dad was murdered and you need to find some proof to the contrary.”
Maddie flung her arms around Riley’s neck and kissed his lips. “That’s inspired! Why did I ever doubt you?”
“Dangerous is what it is,” Riley replied, briefly returning her kiss and disengaging her arms. “You need to be aware of that before you go charging in.”
She bridled. “You think I’ve forgotten what happened to Dad?”
“I know you haven’t.” Riley ran his fingers softly across her shoulders. “But this is the big league, babe. You have to promise me not to ever leave the main room where the action is with any of the guys for any reason. Not even Copeland.”
“Especially not Copeland,” Axel said, scowling. “I still think his people have something to do with this.”
“Of course I won’t leave. I’m not completely without a brain.”
“Just talk to anyone who comes up to you and see if you get any vibes. They might say something to give themselves away, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. These guys are cautious. What’s more likely to happen is that someone will say they have something to tell you but need to talk in private.” Riley fixed her with a stern gaze. “Don’t fall for it.”
“They aren’t just slick and cautious, they’re damned ruthless,” Axel added. “Never lose sight of that.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
“Okay,” Riley said. “I’ll call Pearson and ask him to set the rumor mill in motion. I already discussed it with him, and he’s awaiting my call. Then I’ll call Copeland and let him know it’s a go.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Axel said, stretching his arms above his head and winking at Maddie. “You do that and I’ll call out for something to eat. I’m starved. Are we all good with Mexican?”
“Works for me,” Maddie said.
* * * *
A short time later Riley watched Maddie tucking into fajitas, laughing and flirting with Axel as he wiped sauce from her chin with a paper napkin. He and Maddie had obviously enjoyed themselves. That was good. Axel was an outrageous flirt but, just like Riley, a total commitment-phobe. That was hardly surprising given that he’d had to be mother and father to his three siblings when he was still just a child himself. Before he was even old enough to vote he’d had enough of domesticity to last him a lifetime.
They’d only been here with Maddie for five minutes, but already Riley could see a big change in his buddy. He was hot for their client and didn’t seem to care who knew it. That wasn’t like the Axel he knew. Love ’em and leave ’em had always been his mantra. Could he have found someone with the fire and passion to change that situation? If so then Riley wished him well.
&nbs
p; He’d miss their closeness if it happened, of course, but things would never be quite the same between him and Axel again. Making it a permanent cozy threesome was out of the question. Riley had played that game once before, and the pain when it went wrong—when the person he loved more than life itself was snatched from him and there was fuck all he could do to prevent it from happening—was too searing to be borne twice in one lifetime.
No, sir. Riley had the hots for Maddie, too. It was kinda hard not to feel that way about her given her looks, her feisty determination to right the world’s wrongs, her enthusiasm between the sheets, the way she did that cute thing with her lower lip—but once this assignment was over he’d still walk away from her. He felt more than momentary disappointment at the thought, but there was no other way.
Still, on the positive side, the assignment wasn’t over yet. Since he’d broken his golden rule and played with a client, he might as well compound the felony.
“How did the two of you get along this afternoon?” he asked.
“Funny you should mention that,” Axel replied, grinning across the table at Maddie. “But it just so happens our client here still has a lot to learn.”
“I’m ready for my next lesson,” she said with a smile that sent the heat level in the room skyrocketing.
Both men choked back laughs.
“Her obedience isn’t too bad,” Axel said conversationally, “but she lacks patience and needs to learn a lot more about the benefits of pain.”
“We don’t offer pain killers by way of relief,” Riley warned her. “The drugs companies make way too much profit as it is.”
Maddie giggled. “I’ll take my chances.”
“You’ll take whatever we decide to give you,” Riley said sternly.
“Her main issue is impatience,” Axel said. “She just can’t wait to get it.”
“You noticed that, too, did you?” Riley grinned. “Okay, I have a plan.”
“Thought you might.”
“Have you had enough to eat, Maddie?” Riley asked.
“Yes thanks, that was great.”