The woman took a seat across from her and pointed to the empty chair in between them. “Dining alone?”
“I’m sure he’ll be right back. Forgot something he needs before our tennis lesson.”
The woman fanned her mauve nails dotted with diamonds—possibly real judging by the size and sparkle—over the tablecloth. “I promised him one personal bodyguard, not two. I would think after last night he would take it seriously and stay by your side.”
She wasn’t the only one. A man in a suit materialized seemingly out of thin air from one of the shadows near a pillar supporting the portico. If the woman promised the bodyguard, did that mean she was the head of security or, more likely, the owner of the resort?
The woman nodded approvingly at the man in recognition. “Brilliant, isn’t he? You’d never know he used to be Secret Service.” The woman laughed at Audrey’s surprised reaction. “Well, not for our country. Anyway, he chose wisely staying with you, seeing as you’re the one with the target on your back.”
“Excuse me?” Audrey leaned forward. “Is that confirmed?”
“Your drink last night was definitely poisoned. In fact, it was the only one. I’m told Sylvia took the liberty of enjoying the drink meant for you. Any ideas why she would do that?” Her eyes narrowed. This was no friendly chat.
Audrey fought the impulse to ask what the police thought. Lee was right. This wasn’t the type of place that called in law enforcement. She forced herself to pick up the last strawberry on her plate with the knowledge that every movement, every expression, was under scrutiny. “Sylvia was more thirsty than I was. She helped herself. You should know she always gets what she wants—wanted, that is.” She popped the berry in her mouth and looked away, as if bored.
“She certainly did. Anything you need to tell me, Mrs. Kimmet?”
The jig was up. The lady knew. She had to. She was onto Audrey the same way Sylvia had been. The small of Audrey’s back grew damp with sweat despite the gentle breeze tickling her neck. “Is there...anything else you want to know?”
* * *
Lee tucked the phone into the pocket of the ridiculous white tennis shorts. The resort itself was a bit of a maze with buildings and cottages dotting the grounds, but he found success. Not only was he able to follow the Masked Network CEO back to his cottage, he was also able to snap a photo—albeit far away. He’d return when the man was sure to be away and search his cottage for evidence.
He rounded the corner to find the bodyguard had moved from his previous position and was behind the shoulder of Octavia Morillo, the director of the resort. How’d Audrey land herself in danger already? He’d left her alone for all of four minutes, and trouble had already descended.
He quickly crossed to the table. “Sorry about that, love.” Lee leaned over and bent to kiss Audrey’s cheek but actually whispered, “You okay?”
She smiled and blinked rapidly. He didn’t find the reaction comforting. Lee turned to address Octavia. “Any news?”
The woman’s lips formed a straight line as she nodded. “I was just telling your wife we believe she’s the target. I need to nip this in the bud. Inconveniences like this can’t become habit. I guarantee such things don’t get in the way of business...and pleasure here. I can’t afford to have that reputation tainted so I’m hoping there’s something you can tell me before I need to take drastic actions.”
Lee didn’t like the implied threat. He leaned back. “I’m pretty sure every guest here has enemies, Octavia. If my wife is in danger, I expect you’d have a better chance of figuring out which one of our competitors is targeting her. You also pride yourself on knowing everything there is to know about your guests, am I right? And I thought there was only one way in and out of this resort so surely no one could’ve sneaked in underneath your radar. I’d hate to see that reputation get hurt, as well.”
Octavia pursed her lips and met his stare. She inhaled and smiled at both of them. “Of course. I’ll leave you to your itinerary, but should your business here finish early, please know I’ll be happy to prorate your week.” She flashed a tight smile and left, prompting the bodyguard back into the shadows.
“What’d I miss?”
“I think she suspected I’m not Kendra just like Sylvia did.” Her voice shook.
“I shouldn’t have left you alone, but—”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” She exhaled. “I needed you. Did you really forget something?”
Her words hit him at the core. She needed him? His hackles rose, but he knew enough not to act on the irritated feeling until he could sort things out logically. “I followed our contact back to his room. If I’m able to get in there and gather enough evidence to take him down, maybe he’d work out a plea deal and take down the Network himself.”
Her eyebrows drew close together. “I thought the plan was to get the phones with actual access granted to us. Isn’t that the best real shot at taking the Network down?”
“Yes. But given the events of the past twenty-four hours, I don’t think we should risk staying here any longer than necessary. We might still be able to call the mission a success. In fact, I think we should skip the tennis lesson. You feign illness and we go back to our place. I can stake out the guy. You don’t need to be involved.”
She clasped her hands together, fidgeting, as if her thumbs were in a war. “That doesn’t sit right with me.”
“I can get around the bodyguard. I’m sure of it.”
“That’s not my concern. Though he seems a bit of a magician to me. It’s just...” She inhaled. “When your friend... Before he died—”
“You mean Adam?”
Audrey worried her lip. “He specifically told me ‘not the first one.’ I’ve been running that over and over in my mind. What if he was trying to warn you that the first one isn’t the CEO?” She twisted in her chair and gestured all around her. “Think about how many hoops the Network makes their prospective clients go through to get here. You had to make sure you developed a relationship with a high-level criminal—”
“Shh. Don’t use that word around here.”
She winced and lowered her voice. “My point is you had to have established yourself in the right circles both with the type of clientele that goes to places like this and with the type of organizations who use the Network. It’s all a preventative to keep law enforcement—”
“Shh—”
She held up a hand. “It’d probably save time if you just listed all the words I’m not allowed to say.” She tapped her index finger forcefully onto the table. “My entire career revolves around searching for patterns and problems and solutions. I spend all day, every day, gathering data and analyzing it. I’m good at it. So when I tell you—”
“Gathering and analyzing are worth nothing if they don’t lead to decisions and action,” Lee said. He didn’t need her telling him how to do his job.
“But what if they’re waiting for you? You’d be failing a test if you try to take him down now. Maybe it’s one of those lieutenants. Isn’t that what you called Adam? Are all higher-ups in those types of organizations called that?”
He sank back in his chair and looked around. It’d taken years to get to this point. Years of being stuck in a deep cover that he hated. Sure, there were perks like the most amazing plate of eggs he’d ever tasted, but as much as he hated to admit it, she was probably right. The Network had never been infiltrated because of all their precautionary measures. “I don’t want to leave you in the position to get grilled by Octavia or any other guest.”
“So don’t. Stick by my side until it’s obvious we’re in.”
“The thing is Kendra and I never stayed side by side. We always went separate ways, had our own goals and agendas. It’ll seem a bit odd.”
She put a hand over her eyes like a sun visor. “I’m sorry I’m not as good at this as Kendra. The way I see it, we convince the
m we’re either celebrating our business future, or we convince them we’re on a second honeymoon of sorts.” Her cheeks flushed ever so slightly.
Lee grabbed her hand and gave a light squeeze. “I think I can do that.”
The slight blush flamed. His phone vibrated with the preset alarm. “Let’s start with our tennis lesson.” He grabbed both rackets with his other hand and they strode down a long paved pathway until they reached the freshly painted courts. At each corner of the chain-link fence a tree provided shade while rose bushes lined the four sides.
A man in white shorts waited at the side bench. Audrey offered him a grin that would be out of character for Kendra. “You must be our instructor. We’re a few minutes early, I think. The Kimmets.”
Lee fought a groan. He really needed her to stop being so...nice, especially since the instructor seemed to think this gave him permission to lavish his attention on Audrey. Lee supposed it never bothered him if a man paid attention to Kendra, but for reasons he couldn’t really explain, when the instructor moved to physically “correct” Audrey’s serve, Lee held up a hand. “Maybe you could instruct us from the sidelines while we play?”
Wrong move. His apparent jealousy only made the instructor smile more. “Of course.” The man strode to Lee’s side. “I suppose now is the time to tell you I’m not really an instructor.” He shrugged as he held up a smartphone enclosed in a hard-shelled case. “I do enjoy helping a beautiful woman, though.”
Lee fought the urge to punch the smug man in the chin. Instead, he clenched his jaw for a moment and smiled. “So why are you here?”
“You need to decide on your three-word distress code. This code will erase all data if needed.”
“Oh.” He’d assumed that the three-word thing was the same for everyone on the Network. Three words. That was easy, but being on the spot his mind blanked. “Um...”
The man turned to Audrey. “How about you, sweetheart?”
Her eyes widened. “I don’t know.”
The man flung his head back and laughed.
“No, that’s not our three words,” Lee said. He could just imagine someone on the tech team accidentally saying that and the evidence being wiped.
“I’ll give you one more shot.” The man jutted his chin forward. “Well?”
Lee opened his mouth.
“Need three words,” Audrey mumbled, her forehead wrinkled in thought.
The man winked at her. “And we’re settled here.”
Lee groaned. “Need three words?”
“I didn’t mean for that to be it.” She cringed. “Look at the bright side. We won’t accidentally say it,” she whispered.
Unless someone on the team was doing a crossword puzzle. “Are we officially on the Network?” Lee asked. “We haven’t discussed expense.”
The man raised an eyebrow in response. “Everyone who gets on the Network can afford to pay.” He tossed the ball to Audrey. “We’ll be in touch.”
The guy strode out of the open gate and kicked the door closed on his way out. The fencing made a loud clang as the latch slipped down the pole upon impact. Lee thought he heard a soft electronic hum, but it must’ve been his imagination.
Audrey bounced the ball against her racket and caught it. “One step closer?”
“Maybe you should pray this is the last step.”
She tilted her head and studied him. “Do you pray?”
“I can honestly say I’ve never really felt like I needed to, but you led us in the hospital and it seemed to work.”
“I’m not a spiritual expert by any means but I know it’s not a formula guaranteed to work. Maybe you’ve been in the exclusive luxury circles too long because I’m pretty sure you can’t mutter a prayer and expect God to act like a butler carrying it out.” Her eyes widened. “Wait. Why did you think it worked? Have you heard something?”
“Yes. After our incident last night, I sent a coded email to my supervisor. He said he had good news for us.”
Her eyes bulged. “Kendra’s fine? She’s awake?” Her smile managed to be brighter than the sun.
He laughed and looked over her shoulder to make sure the bodyguard was still out of earshot. “I assume that’s what he meant. We have an encrypted call this afternoon. You’ll get a couple minutes to talk to her yourself.”
Audrey flung her arms open and enveloped him in a hug that took him off guard. “Thank you.” She kissed his cheek and backed away.
Lee fought to keep from touching his cheek. He didn’t do it to make her happy; he needed answers about Kendra’s side gig as Sylvia’s money launderer, and he thought Kendra could give Audrey tips on how best to act like Andrea Kimmet.
What was even more worrisome, the short reply in the email from his supervisor indicated that Lee was the only one left out of the loop in regard to the separate mission with Sylvia.
Audrey stared at him as if waiting for more. “And,” he said, “I’m starting to think you were right. The Network is doing this in stages.”
“To see if you take the bait and bring in law enforcement too soon?”
He nodded, but Audrey’s smile proved contagious. “Don’t you see?” She dropped the tennis ball from her hand and bounced it between the racket and the court rapidly. “This is good news. Things are finally starting to go as planned. For all we know, Sylvia ordered to have me killed and didn’t realize her orders included poisoning my drink. Poetic justice.”
Lee wanted to match her energy and optimism, but in his experience, nothing in covert operations was ever easier than expected. The good food, the clean air and the promise of finally getting to speak with Kendra, seemed to have pulsed pure energy in Audrey’s veins. She practically bounced in rhythm with the tennis ball. She caught it in mid-bounce and pulled her racket behind her back. “I’m glad that guy admitted he wasn’t an instructor. I actually think my serve is pretty decent.” And in one smooth motion, she threw the ball upward as her arm swooshed diagonally across her body.
The racket’s speed made a whistle through the air and made contact. The ball soared right past the entire court and straight into the hole in between one of the chain links. Audrey’s crestfallen face shifted rapidly into a giant laugh, and Lee, despite his frustration, couldn’t help but join her.
“Maybe you’d be better at golf.”
Her eyes were as wide as her smile. “I know, right? That’s a hole in one.”
A sizzling sound interrupted their banter followed by a giant pop as the tennis ball exploded and the green fabric, flaming, wafted down to the court floor. The bodyguard sprung into action, rushing toward the gate.
“Stop!” Audrey shouted, holding a hand out to him. “Don’t touch that fence. I think it’s electrified.”
EIGHT
Audrey dropped the racket at her feet and walked around the court to the other side.
“Are you sure?” Lee followed her. “It’s odd, I’ll give you that.”
She held up a finger. It wasn’t that she was trying to be rude, but she needed to focus to be able to answer him accurately. She stomped on one of the flaming pieces of tennis ball. “It’s actually hard to electrify a fence in a way that would kill someone. The current needs to be steady. Too much and it’ll throw a person backward—harming them, yes, but with medical attention, there is a possibility they won’t die. Too little and it won’t do anything, but the right current will hold you, paralyzing you ever so briefly until—”
“You explode?”
She turned over her shoulder and scrunched her face. “We’re not tennis balls, Lee. Until we die.”
“The rest of the security team is on the way,” the bodyguard called out.
Audrey waved him to the opposite side of the court. “You could help by walking around and seeing if you find a bare wire touching the fence. Don’t touch anything, though.”
Lee reached
her side and pointed. “Look. Closest to the light pole.”
She squinted. Sure enough, the lights intended for evening tennis sessions were on and she hadn’t noticed given the bright sunshine. She gingerly took a closer step to the fence. They needed to see, but if she accidentally tripped or leaned too far... Audrey had more experience with being klutzy than sure-footed.
“Found one. The top part of the wire seems insulated. I think I can pull it off the fence.” Before Audrey could object, the guard jumped backward. “I got it off.”
Audrey picked up a tennis ball and threw it against the fence. It bounced against it and hit the courts, singed with flames. “There’s more than one, then. It’s still live.”
The guard pointed to the light pole on the opposite corner of the courts. “I’ll get maintenance to shut power to the lights off.” He lifted a radio to his head and spoke in rapid terms as a team of four other guards rushed down the walkway. It wasn’t until they found another bare wire and a new tennis ball could happily reside in the chain fence that Audrey sighed a breath of relief.
Their assigned bodyguard insisted they needed to wait until maintenance confirmed that all electricity was off before allowing them to exit.
“Are you okay?” Lee watched her closely and hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder.
“I honestly don’t know.” Physically, she was fine, but she didn’t understand the pull Lee’s gaze had on her. Did he treat Kendra this special? Did Kendra also feel the spark of attraction every moment she worked with Lee? They’d had more than three years undercover together, pretending to be married. A close relationship like that couldn’t be without consequences, good or bad. So which was it?
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