I squeezed harder, aware that my only hope at this point was breaking his hyoid bone. But there was insanity in his eyes, a clear understanding that he was too far gone to lose. I’d known I was walking into a fight I probably wouldn’t win, but this was not the way I saw myself going out.
My vision was beginning to darken around the edges.
I’m sorry, Malik…
Chapter 1
Joss
“Why were you at Carrington Matthews’ house?”
James Conway looked straight at the one-way mirror behind which I was standing. It almost felt as though he was looking right at me even though I knew it was impossible for him to even know I was there. But the heat of that stare was unnerving.
“Were you there to kill him?”
Conway didn’t respond to any of the questions. He might have crossed his arms over his chest to block himself off from what was happening to him if he wasn’t shackled to the table. I had my arms wrapped around my body, not to close myself off, but in a vain attempt to comfort myself. It was my home this man had been sneaking around, my husband he’d been attempting to kill. Not only was he there to kill my husband, but it appeared he had every intention to do it in front of my daughters. They were all there together, washing the dishes in the kitchen. What if he’d fired his silencer equipped gun and hit my seven-year-old daughter, Aidan? Or McKelty, our fourteen-year-old?
A shiver of fear raced up my spine now that I was actually allowing myself to think about it, now that the reality of it all was settling in.
“Did Jack Mahoney order you to kill Carrington Matthews so that he couldn’t testify against him?”
Conway actually laughed at that, sending another chill down my spine.
“Do you really think Mahoney would sit back and let someone like Matthews take him down?”
His laughter grew until I had to turn away and walk out of the room. Special Agent Mike Spencer followed, taking my arm and leading the way into an empty, dark office down the hall. When the door was closed and we were alone, he touched my shoulder, but nothing more. He just stood close and waited for me to either regain control of myself or fall apart, whichever I chose to do.
It was nice to know he was there for me no matter what I did.
“I can’t imagine how hard this is for you.”
I looked up at him, at the compassion on his face. “Are you married?”
“Divorced.”
“Kids?”
“Three. All boys.”
That cut through me a little. When people asked me how many kids I had, I was never sure if I should say two or three. It felt wrong to leave out my little boy, but it was awkward when I was forced to tell people he’d died. Isaac would be thirteen now, just six months younger than McKelty. She would have loved him.
I turned away from Spencer, pacing the length of the small office.
“I should go home.”
“Let me drive you. You shouldn’t be alone tonight.”
I snorted, a light, indelicate sound. “Why? Just because someone tried to murder my husband and my operative all on the same night?”
“How is your operative?”
“Out of surgery. They say she’ll make a full recovery.”
“That’s good news.”
“The good news would have been if I hadn’t put her in the situation that got her kidnapped in the first place. They went to her home. They identified her and followed her to her private home—"
“It happens, Joss.”
“Not to me.”
“I lost an agent once.” He tilted his head slightly, a dark light coming into his handsome face. “She was working a case not unlike this one, undercover in a massage parlor in Seattle. I was supposed to be keeping her safe, watching every moment, but my wife and I were having issues at the time. I went home for five minutes, just long enough to drop off some things my wife needed. In that time, some asshole snatched my agent out of the parlor. By the time we found her, she was in pieces, scattered in a landfill.”
I paled at the image. He saw that and waved a finger at me.
“Nothing you can say can take away the guilt and the anger and the…” He sighed. “I’ve been beating myself up over it for nearly ten years. Next month will be the anniversary of the day she was taken.” He dragged his hands over his skull, his eyes never leaving mine. “So I get it. But your agent is going to make it home safe. And you get to fight another day with the lessons you’ve learned from this.”
“You’re right. I just…I keep telling myself it could have been so much worse, but a part of me keeps asserting the fact that this is about as bad as it can possibly get. You know?”
“I do.” He came to me, his hands outstretched, but he never actually touched me. He buried his fingers in the pockets of his slacks as he studied my face. “This job we’re doing…it can be so terrible sometimes that you want to quit. But then we have victories like we did today. We stopped Mahoney in his tracks. Again. And we’ll keep doing it until he’s convicted and serving a life sentence in federal prison somewhere.”
“And if he doesn’t stop, even then?”
“Then we’ll keep fighting him.” He touched my arm then, a kind, comforting gesture. “Let me drive you home.”
I inclined my head, smiling gratefully.
***
Carrington was in the master bedroom. I was a little surprised since he’d been sleeping in the spare room a lot lately. He wasn’t in bed, but sitting on the little love seat we had in front of the French doors to the balcony, a stack of paperwork in his lap. He didn’t look up when I walked in, but I hadn’t really expected a warm welcome.
“Long day.”
I sighed heavily.
You have no idea.
I pulled a t-shirt and pair of shorts from my drawers in the closet, shedding my clothing as I moved around the room and headed toward the bathroom. I could feel him watching me. I wondered what he was thinking, if he still felt the sort of overwhelming attraction he’d felt when we were first together. Sometimes I wondered if all that had died when we failed to conceive a year and a half ago after months and months of infertility treatments. There was something about having sex on a schedule that tends to kill passion and attraction.
“McKelty thinks you’re the one cheating now.”
I paused in the bathroom doorway, holding my blouse against my chest to cover my nudity. “Why would she think that?”
“You’ve been coming home awfully late recently.”
“I’ve been on a case.”
“The one about Mahoney and his goons?”
I studied his familiar face for a moment with an ache burning in my chest. I missed him, I really did. But there was this chasm between us that I couldn’t find a way to breach.
“It’s over now, if that’s what you’re asking. The case broke this afternoon.”
“Then why are you only now getting home?”
It crossed my mind to tell him of the danger that had lurked right outside the back door, but I decided that would probably be a mistake. We’d already fought about this case. I didn’t want to fight any more.
“One of my operatives was shot. I was at the hospital, waiting to find out how she was doing.”
That was the truth. Sort of. I hadn’t gone to the hospital yet, but I’d been in constant contact with Jules, my assistant, who was there. We now had three operatives in the hospital: Audra, who’d been shot, and the two men who’d been tasked with watching over her during her undercover assignment. They were both well on the road to recovery now, thank goodness. They were all supposed to be out of the hospital by the end of the week.
Carrington put down his papers and stood, coming toward me as though he wanted to comfort me. My heart swelled as I watched him, my flesh already anticipating his touch. But he wasn’t walking to me. He was headed to the closet to grab a change of clothes of his own.
“We should get to bed, then. McKelty has an early cheerleading practice in the morn
ing and I have meetings scheduled all day tomorrow.”
I turned away, trying to hide my disappointment. I quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face, crawling into bed where he was already lying on his side, ready to sleep. Facing away from me.
“Good night, Carrington,” I said almost breathlessly.
He grunted.
After seven years of marriage, that was all I got.
Chapter 2
Joss
A week later, I was at the office, standing at the reception desk to pick up my mail, when Audra walked through the door. From the look of her fit, strong form, I would never have known she’d been shot. There was a glow about her that I could guess had more to do with her relationship with Xavier Damico than it did with her glee at being back at work.
“Look at you! When I had surgery a while back, I was in the hospital for nearly two weeks. Here you are, less than a week later, looking better than when you went in!”
She smiled brightly. “What can I say? The last few days have been…really good.”
I laughed, remembering when my days had been that kind of good.
I missed those days.
“I’m glad I ran into you, actually,” she said, touching my arm lightly. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
My eyebrows rose. “You’re not quitting on me, are you?”
“Of course not.”
“In that case…”
I gestured for her to follow me into my office. I dropped the mail on my desk and settled in a chair close to the one Audra chose to take. She really was glowing, though I did see a twinge of pain on her face when she moved her shoulder a certain way. I remembered what it was like to recover from a gunshot wound. I’d been shot twice in the stretch of just a week or so. It hadn’t been fun.
But that was nearly eight years ago.
She ran her hands over her thighs, wiping away excess moisture on her jeans. Then she looked me in the eye and forced a little smile.
“I think I have a case for Gray Wolf.”
“Yeah? Is this about you?”
“No.” She tilted her head slightly. “But it’s related to the case we just finished working together.”
She watched my face like she was worried I’d outright refuse or get angry, but I was just curious.
“I heard about what happened at your house, how that man went to kill your husband. I had no idea!”
“It’s fine.” I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, a little annoyed that she’d found out at all. I’d thought we’d kept that little bit of drama under wraps. Apparently not.
“If you don’t want to take this case, I understand.”
“Tell me what it is and I’ll let you know.”
She chuckled a little self-depreciatively. “I suppose that would help.” She wiped her hands on her jeans again. “Xavier got to know the people at the club pretty well, including women who were a part of his…” She paused, searching for a word. “The men who worked for him, they had girlfriends and wives, you know?”
I nodded. “I was aware.”
“Well, he got to know some of them, too. Including this one woman, Alison Michaels. She was married to Case Michaels.”
I knew the name. It was in the case files Ash had given me.
“Ali came to see Xavier last night. She’s left Case and she’s afraid he’ll come after her when he gets out of jail.”
That was probably a good possibility. And I hated to break it to her, but Case Michaels had gotten out of jail just two days ago. The FBI, the Attorney General’s office, and everyone else involved had tried to delay the release of those men—there were almost a dozen of them, all members of a small faction of the Mahoney Cartel, caught in a raid run off of information Audra got to us that stopped them from shipping innocent women from Santa Monica to Asia in a shipping container. I wanted to shudder every time I imagined what those women had almost endured. Those men deserved to die in prison. However, if we were lucky, they’d serve fifteen years.
If we were lucky…
“She wants protection?”
Audra nodded. “She wanted Xavier to provide it, but he’s out. And he doesn’t want to get involved in any of that anymore. I told her that I’d ask you, see if you could put an operative on the case.” She tilted her head slightly. “I’d even be willing to do it, if you wanted.”
I immediately shook my head. “You’re still healing. I wouldn’t want to put you in a position where you might reinjure yourself.”
“It wouldn’t be that strenuous a job. She’s actually staying at a ritzy hotel in Pacific Palisades.”
I bit my lip to keep from saying something inappropriate. “Don’t they have security there?”
“That’s what I said. But she insists he’s gotten past security like that before.”
I thought about it for a moment. I knew what kind of a man Case Michaels was. Ash gave me files on these people when he asked me to put Audra in the club Xavier Damico owned, but I’d also had my own investigators do more research. Case might have never been arrested for anything more than minor assault, but he was the primary suspect in a dozen murders. He was a very dangerous man.
“We could put an operative in the hotel, I suppose. Wire up her room with our own cameras.”
“She’s in a suite on the top floor.” Audra smiled, this time with a cross between envy and admiration. “She’s spending as much of his money as she can while she’s waiting for the divorce to be worked out.”
I would have smiled, but the word divorce was a little too close to home right now.
“Then we’ll put someone in a room across the hall, set up surveillance. Maybe put someone on the staff, too.” I reached over to grab a pad of paper off my desk. “Give me the name of the hotel and I’ll see what I can work out. And I’ll need to speak to Mrs. Michaels, too.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Xavier’s at the hotel with her right now.”
“Then why don’t we go over there and check things out?”
***
The hotel was a beautiful place. The lobby was huge, all marble and steel, a massive water fountain set in the very center. There were crystal chandeliers and plush couches, a four star restaurant and an executive’s bar. It made me feel underdressed as I walked through the door even though this was the kind of place Carrington had been bringing me to for business dinners and drinks since we got married.
I’d called ahead and the manager agreed to meet with us, eager to do all he could to assure the safety of one of his most prominent customers.
“Mrs. Michaels has been staying here for two weeks and the staff loves her! We’ll do all we can to help.”
“The thing is, no one else on staff can know about our operative. If everyone knew, her husband would figure it out and it would spoil the whole point of the operation. The more people know, the more dangerous it will be for everyone involved.”
The manager nodded eagerly. “Of course, of course.”
After a little negotiation, he took us upstairs and showed us an empty suite directly across from Alison Michaels’ room. It was opulent, to say the least. There was a large sitting room with windows that overlooked the coast, expensive furniture, a full service bar, and a bedroom that rivaled the one I had at home—one I’d always considered much too luxurious for comfort.
“We could set up the monitoring equipment here,” I said, gesturing to the full-size dining table in a little nook on one side of the sitting room. “It would perfect.”
Audra agreed. “Three monitors, maybe four. And all the wires. It would fit perfectly.”
I nodded. “Thank you,” I said, turning to the manager. “I’ll have people here this afternoon to set it up. If you could keep your people off this floor during that time…”
“Of course.”
“And we’ll have to ask that housekeeping not disturb the room while we’re here.”
The manager tilted his head slightly. “That could be a problem. Our housekeeping s
upervisor is very particular about when these suites are cleaned and by who. But I’ll speak to him.”
“Don’t give anything away. If necessary, the operative who will be staying here will have to deal with it.”
The manager executed something like a bow and took his leave, placing the key cards on the small table by the door. I walked around once he was gone, a heavy sigh slipping from my lips.
“I almost wish I was still an operative. A cushy assignment like this…”
“Yeah,” Audra agreed.
I sighed heavily. “Let’s go talk to the client.”
Chapter 3
Shaw
Wyoming was a beautiful place, but I was happy to be back in Santa Monica. Wyoming reminded me too much of the flat plains of the Permian Basin where I was born and raised. After five years in the Marines and too much time in the desert, I was happy to walk on the beach every morning and watch the sun set from the back deck of my little house every night.
I walked slowly along the beach, the water just barely touching my toes where they sank into the wet sand. I’d anticipated some period of training when I was offered a job with Gray Wolf Security, but never imagined I’d be sent to a ranch in Wyoming. I had to admit, though, it was an illuminating experience. Sutherland Archer was a woman to be admired, even emulated. Running two businesses and maintaining a marriage to one of the hottest men in Hollywood? She was pretty impressive.
I wasn’t sure I’d aspire to such a marriage, but an affair with a man who looked like that…hell, most of the men up there were hot! If they hadn’t all been married or otherwise involved, it would have made the trip almost perfect!
My mother would be outraged if she could hear my train of thought.
A proper woman saves herself for marriage and never lies with a man outside of marriage.
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