by Amelia Autin
Including a fake kidnapping attempt on the princess led by none other than King Andre Alexei IV in order to test Trace McKinnon, he thought to himself. Including really kidnapping McKinnon and taking him by force to Zakhar.
But that was all water under the bridge. Only a very few people in the government knew what had happened. Officially deniable across the board.
Cate was silent for a minute, then said, “So what about Alec and Keira? I’ve met your sister—she was very sweet to me. And I’ve known your brother for almost a year—not to mention everything Angelina has told me about him. But she’s in love with him, so of course...”
Liam wanted to ask Cate—really wanted to ask Cate—about her own feelings for Alec. But he couldn’t figure out a way to ask that wouldn’t come across wrong. Instead he examined his conscience and said honestly, “Alec is...special. You probably already know that. I grew up both admiring him and competing with him. Sounds kind of strange, I know, but...anyway, I followed him into the Diplomatic Security Service not because I wanted to outdo him, but because I knew if it was right for him, it was right for me. Does that make sense?”
He glanced at Cate and caught her nod. “Working with Alec for six months guarding Princess Mara—that was a real privilege. I learned a lot from him—from McKinnon too, of course, but—”
“I’ve met Mr. McKinnon.”
“Yes, you said that this morning.”
“He was once your sister’s partner, isn’t that what Mr. D’Arcy said?”
“Yeah, funny how these things work out sometimes. McKinnon got tapped to guard Princess Mara because he’d once been a US marshal and because he spoke Zakharan like a native.”
“So tell me about Keira. I only met her the one time, but...as I said, she was very sweet to me. And I met her husband, too. He came to the safe house with Alec and Angelina last year.”
“Keira’s special, too. I didn’t realize just how much she meant to me until we almost lost her a few years back. That Edward Everett Hale quotation—the ‘I am one’ quote you said Alec told you? It applies to all of us, but in slightly different ways. Keira’s interpretation of what it means led her to take a bullet meant for another man, and she almost died as a result. As a matter of fact, the man whose life she saved was Ryan Callahan—the man D’Arcy is sending you to.”
“No,” Cate said, shaking her head. “That’s too much of a coincidence to be true.”
“I kid you not. I don’t know the whole story—Keira and her husband would never say exactly what all was involved, and trying to get anything out of McKinnon is like pulling teeth. But it’s true.”
“You must be very proud of your sister.” The wistfulness was back in her voice, and she suddenly turned away, staring out the window. “I could never be that brave,” she said under her breath.
“Are you kidding?” The words came out rougher than Liam had intended. “You were walking into a courthouse ready to testify against one of the most depraved, most vicious criminals in this country. A man who has never hesitated to kill witnesses against him. A man who tried to kill you to keep you silent. And you’re still willing to testify. Do you know what kind of guts that takes?”‘
“But I’m afraid,” she explained, as if that made all the difference. “To do what your sister did, to do what Angelina did when she killed the man who would have killed your brother—I’m not brave that way. I’m not brave at all—I’m a coward. Without Angelina, without Alec, I could never face Vishenko.”
Liam cursed under his breath at how she was putting herself down, how she was minimizing her own valor. “You think Keira wasn’t afraid? You think your cousin wasn’t afraid?” He wanted to shake some sense into Cate, but knew he couldn’t touch her. Not when anger was spilling through him. “Yesterday morning when we heard the Uzis, you think Alec and I weren’t afraid? Hell yes, we were afraid. What do you think bravery is, Cate? It’s conquering your fear and doing what you have to do in the instant you have to do it. Anyone who says they’re never afraid is a liar, or a fool.”
The fingers of Cate’s right hand touched her left wrist, and Liam suddenly realized she had a habit of doing that. A habit that betrayed her inner turmoil. He hesitated, then reached over across the aisle and placed his hand on hers. “You’re not a coward, Cate. A coward wouldn’t have these scars.” She averted her face, as if embarrassed, but he wouldn’t let her look away. He caught her chin with his hand and turned her to face him.
“Do you know how much it tears me up inside to see these scars?” he told her, his voice rasping like sandpaper, but so low he knew he couldn’t be overheard by the men in the front of the plane. “But I’m awed by your courage at the same time. Knowing what these scars mean, knowing what Vishenko did to you, and you’re still willing to face him in spite of everything. That’s courage, Cate. Courage far beyond anything I can claim.”
The color drained out of her face. “Alec told you?” she whispered.
He shook his head. “No. He only told me who you were running from when you went underground. He said anything else had to come from you. But I’m not blind, and I’m not stupid. It didn’t take much for me to figure out what caused these scars.”
He lifted the hand he held and kissed the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist, where he could feel her pulse racing. “They’re nothing to be ashamed of,” he told her. “They’re badges of honor.”
She tried to pull her hand away, but he wouldn’t let her. “You don’t know,” she said in a shamed little voice. “You don’t understand. You think you do, but you don’t.”
“Can’t you tell me?” he asked, his voice as gentle as he could make it given his anger at Vishenko. “I want to understand, Cate. I really do.”
“No.” Her voice wobbled at first, then she repeated the word, more firmly this time. “No. Please don’t make me tell you.”
Another dagger to his heart. Liam let Cate’s hand go, but not until he’d kissed the palm. “No,” he said, and it was as fervent a promise as he could give. “I’ll never make you do anything you don’t want to do, Cate. Never.”
Chapter 8
Aleksandrov Vishenko bent his cold, hard gaze on one of his brigadiers. “Where is she?” he demanded. He didn’t have to specify a name. There was only one woman on Vishenko’s mind now, and all of his men knew it.
“Vanished.”
“That answer is not acceptable.”
The brigadier shrugged. He had been with Vishenko for many years, almost since the beginning, and his loyalty was unquestioned—as far as anyone in Vishenko’s position could count on loyalty. Which meant the brigadier could be brutally honest, instead of telling Vishenko what he wanted to hear. “It is what it is, Pakhan. She is not to be found. It is as if she crawled into a hole and pulled it in behind her.”
He waited for that to sink in, then added, “The usual methods will not work. Not this time. Especially since time is so critical. Our sources say they do not know where she is.” He named no names, but Vishenko knew who those sources were, knew just how highly placed they were in the various branches of law enforcement. If they didn’t know where Caterina Mateja was, then there could only be one agency guarding her.
Which meant Vishenko had no options left—except one. He would have to bet his last chip on one roll of the dice. A chip he’d never gambled with before. A chip so valuable it could only be used once.
* * *
After Cate and Liam’s military plane had landed and they’d been met by one of the agency’s agents with the promised SUV, they drove to a hotel not that far from the base. Cate wanted to wait in the SUV while Liam checked in, but he refused. “I need to keep you in sight at all times,” he explained. “I don’t think there’s much of a risk here, but I can’t take that chance.” He smiled at her in fading daylight. “It won’t take long.”
Ten m
inutes later Liam had the keys to a two-bedroom suite. The clerk had wanted to swipe Liam’s credit card for incidentals, even though he’d paid cash for the suite, but a two-hundred-dollar cash deposit took care of that. There wouldn’t be any incidental charges—no long-distance phone calls from the room, no movies rented, nothing taken from the honor bar. But the clerk couldn’t know that. He probably thinks Cate and I are having an affair, Liam thought with a touch of amusement, since I don’t want to give him my credit card.
Fifteen minutes after that they were in the room, luggage stowed away. “I know it’s not that late here, but my body is still on East Coast time,” Liam said, “and I’m starved. What do you say to having dinner in the restaurant downstairs? It’s not a four-star restaurant, but it’s convenient.”
One corner of Cate’s mouth turned up in a little smile. “Anything is fine. I’m not in the habit of eating out at all, much less four-star cuisine. I doubt I’ll be able to tell the difference.”
* * *
Cate was touched by how Liam put himself out to keep her entertained over dinner—and to keep everything light. After this afternoon’s conversation, she’d been afraid he would try to question her again, but he didn’t. He kept her laughing with the misadventures of Alec and Liam in their tween years. “All I can say is, your poor mother,” Cate gurgled.
“She’s forgiven us.” Liam crossed his heart and held his hand up. “Honest.”
“What’s she like, your mother? The way you talk about her, she sounds wonderful.”
“She is. We’re lucky to have her. She wants a few more grandchildren—and don’t think she hasn’t thrown out hints! But so far Alyssa—Keira and Cody’s little girl—is it. Although Alec says he and Angelina are trying.”
Cate beamed. “Yes, I know. Angelina told me. I would be so happy for them if it happened.”
“So it wouldn’t bother you?” Liam put his fork down. “Forget I said that.”
Cate put her own fork down, her smile fading, and wiped her mouth on her napkin. “Why would you ask me that question?” In the back of her mind was a suspicion, one she’d had ever since this morning.
“Forget it.”
“No, I want to know why you think it would bother me if Alec and Angelina had a baby.”
Liam stared at her for a minute, his mouth tightening. Then he said, “Because of the way you feel about Alec.”
She started trembling. She couldn’t help it. She clasped her hands in her lap so he wouldn’t see them shake. “Because of the way I feel about Alec?” she asked. “What way is that?”
“You...care about him,” Liam said roughly. “I’m sorry, Cate, but it’s obvious whenever you say his name. He’s something special to you. He’s my brother, and I love him—I know he’s a hell of a guy. But he’s married. And he loves his wife very much. So...”
Cate went hot and cold with embarrassment and something more. Hurt. Hurt that Liam would think badly of her when she wanted so much for him to... She quashed that thought, as ruthless with herself as she could be.
Although she was embarrassed, she wasn’t ashamed. Not about this. “I care about Alec, yes,” she said very quietly. “Meeting him changed me for the better. But I’m not in love with him. I never was. I never will be.” Her breath caught in her throat. “And you have no right to question me about this. About him. About what I feel for him. I have never done or said anything that gives you the right.” She placed her napkin on the table and stood. “Even if he is your brother.”
With her head held high, she walked out.
* * *
Liam started to go after her, then realized he needed to pay the check first. He frantically signaled for the waiter, and curtly asked for the check when he arrived. He peeled off a couple of bills, saying, “No change.” Then he headed for the exit Cate had taken, and rushed into the hotel lobby.
He was too late. The elevator was already on its way up, and Liam hoped like hell Cate was on it. That she was heading for their suite. And that his stupidity hadn’t put her in danger. He cursed himself under his breath as he stabbed at the elevator button, waiting impatiently until the bell dinged and the doors opened.
As the elevator ascended to the eleventh floor, he tried to think of the best way to apologize. He’d put his foot in his mouth. No, both feet, he told himself with brutal honesty. Cate had every right to be angry, and he didn’t blame her. He’d be angry at himself, too, if the situation was reversed. His only excuse was that he cared about her. Too much. And that he was jealous of what she felt for Alec. But Cate was absolutely correct—she’d never said or done anything that gave him the right to criticize her actions. To condemn what she felt for Alec. To act as if she belonged to him.
Shame crawled under his collar as he exited the elevator and headed for their suite, only to be brought up short at the sight of Cate standing by their door, her face a mask that revealed nothing. “I don’t have a key,” she said when he got closer.
“I’m sorry. Not about the key, but for what I said downstairs. I was out of line, and I know it.” The apology made him feel a little better.
But Cate didn’t acknowledge his apology, and that made him feel even more of a heel than he’d felt before. She waited for him to insert the keycard and open the door for her, then slipped past him without a word. She went into her bedroom and closed the door. Firmly. Then he heard the unmistakable click of the lock.
He sighed and bolted the door to their suite before heading to his own bedroom. Great going, Jones, he told himself as he got ready for bed and brushed his teeth. You’re a prince of a guy, you know that?
He placed his SIG SAUER on the nightstand, hesitated, then picked up the cell phone the agency had given him and dialed a number. “Hey,” he said when his brother-in-law answered the phone. “It’s Liam.”
“You and Cate made it in safely, I take it?”
“Yeah. No trouble with our flight.”
“SUV okay?”
“What? Oh yeah, it’s fine,” he reassured Cody. The SUV the agency had delivered was just like the one the agency had supplied before. Not new. Nothing that would draw attention. Though he’d known the minute he’d stepped on the gas that under the hood—where it counted—the SUV was top quality. But he wasn’t thinking about that.
“So tell me about Callahan,” he demanded now.
“What’s to tell? Didn’t D’Arcy fill you in?”
“Yes and no.” Liam wasn’t really sure what he was asking, except that tomorrow he’d turn Cate over to a stranger for safekeeping. And despite what he’d told her this morning—that he trusted Nick D’Arcy’s judgment—he wanted to know a little more about Callahan before he did that.
Cody seemed to read between the lines. “Callahan’s the best,” he said quietly. “He saved my life a few years back, when he had every reason to hate my guts. Officially he’s the sheriff of Black Rock now—a position I held way back when—but he’s also done some jobs for D’Arcy and the agency. All hush-hush. If I told you I’d have to kill you,” Cody joked, forcing a laugh out of Liam. “Seriously, though, I’d trust him with my life. Even more, I’d trust him with Keira’s life.”
Liam knew the sun rose and set with his sister as far as Cody was concerned, so that statement said a lot. He breathed deeply and let go of the tension that had dug its tentacles into him. Cate would be safe with Callahan. That was the bottom line. He needed to know she’d be safe.
“After you turn Cate over to Callahan, why don’t you come down and spend a few days with us? We’ve got the room, and you know you’re always welcome. Seems a shame not to, since you’re already in the area, and technically you’re on vacation. Your mom would like to see you, I know. Not to mention Keira and Alyssa.”
Despite feeling a little more reassured about Callahan, Liam wasn’t ready to commit to anything. He’d promised Cate
he wouldn’t leave her until he knew she was safe, and he had no intention of going back on his word.
But that’s not the only reason you don’t want to leave her, his conscience taunted him. You don’t want to leave her because you’re fall—
“I’ll let you know,” he told Cody quickly, trying to quiet the voice in his head that refused to be silenced.
* * *
Cate slept restlessly, then woke a little after midnight. She watched the minutes click by on the digital clock on the nightstand next to her bed, desperate to get back to sleep but unable to do so. She tucked her hand beneath her cheek and realized she couldn’t sleep because she couldn’t stop thinking of Liam. Couldn’t forget his accusation in the restaurant that she cared too much for Alec. That somehow she wanted to come between Alec and Angelina. As if that was possible even if I wanted to, she thought angrily. Which I don’t.
Then her anger turned to sadness. Not sadness that she couldn’t have Alec. But that Liam would think she was the kind of woman who would try to break up a marriage. “That tells you exactly what Liam thinks of you,” she whispered in the darkness. Despite all his encouraging words this afternoon. Despite the gentle kiss he’d placed on her wrist that had made her catch her breath at the wondrous sensation, realizing—miracle of miracles—she didn’t cringe from his touch, she actually enjoyed it. Heat had bloomed inside her, and she’d longed to have him hold her in his strong arms. Wanted to know what his lips would feel like on hers.
But all that meant nothing. Because in his heart of hearts Liam believed the worst of her. Maybe he even believed she’d voluntarily stayed with Vishenko from the start, despite what he’d said on the plane about how the scars on her wrists affected him. How could she know what he really thought? And that was the most hurtful thing she could imagine. That Liam—Liam—would think she’d chosen a life of shame.