by Tee O'Fallon
Dirty piles of snow lined the thruway’s shoulders. Buildings gave way to farmland dotted with red and white barns and an occasional cow. Here and there, budding trees shivered in the wind, ready to leaf out at the first sign of spring.
Inside the car, warm air blew from the ventilation system, carrying with it Alex’s subtle perfume or whatever she washed her hair with.
Gray drew in a deep breath. He knew there was strong physical chemistry between them, but the more he got to know her, the more he admired her. Alex possessed a quiet, inner strength that he hadn’t seen coming.
He’d mistakenly equated her subdued demeanor with someone who would be helpless, and he was learning she was anything but. Not only had she stood up to the NYPD and the FBI, but she’d told those kidnappers to fuck off. He was certain that was what they’d been trying to pull off—a kidnapping.
But grabbing Alex would only undermine their mission. Without her they couldn’t obtain the documents they sought. Given that she worked with the NYPD every day, the Pyramid most likely wanted an insurance policy that she wouldn’t renege on the deal. Kidnapping Nicky would ensure she’d do anything they demanded.
A small chink of the wall Gray had erected between himself and Alex crumbled to the ground. He was beginning to understand the lengths to which a mother would go to protect her own, but using him was something he could never forgive.
If she’d really done that.
His cell phone vibrated with the call he’d been expecting. He answered it and held the phone to his ear. “Whattya got?”
“You all okay?” Dom asked.
“We’re fine. We heard shots. Did the Durango survive?”
“Barely,” Dom said. “Half a dozen rounds to the windshield, but the real damage is on the driver’s side from when I broadsided them off the highway. Both shitbags are dead. One of Middle Eastern descent, no ID. I got someone running his prints. The other guy is white. Burned beyond recognition, but his ID wasn’t. Sam McAllister. He’s American.”
“No shit.” Gray hadn’t expected that. “So the Pyramid is recruiting Americans.”
“So it seems,” Dom all but growled. “I had a guy run him through military personnel databases. Get this…” He paused. “The fucker was former Delta.”
Sonofabitch.
Gray gritted his teeth. He had no sympathy for former military—especially Special Forces—aligning themselves with the dark side. When American soldiers used their specialized skills for criminal gain, it was a personal betrayal to all those who died in battle protecting the United States of America. He truly believed that with everything he was, and in everything he did. If he wasn’t already dead, Gray would be first in line to crack that Delta guy’s face wide open.
Freedom isn’t free.
Everything good in life had a price tag and anyone who thought otherwise was an unrealistic moron.
“Smart of the Pyramid,” Gray said. “Recruiting outside their inner circle will open up an unlimited number of doors. With resources from every culture and every race, they could infiltrate anything.”
“Including military bases, government agencies, and police departments,” Dom added.
“We need to dig deeper.” Gray changed lanes to pass a semi. “Get inside their inner circle and stomp those assholes into the ground. For good.”
Silence greeted Gray’s ear, and he thought the call might have been disconnected. “You there, partner?”
“Yeah,” Dom said. “You know, you may be onto something.”
Gray could practically hear the gears in Dom’s head grinding away, and he knew instinctively what his partner was contemplating. “No, buddy. Way too dangerous, don’t even think it. You’d be out there without a lifeline.”
“My problem, not yours,” Dom answered.
“The hell it isn’t,” Gray shouted then lowered his voice so he didn’t wake Nicky. “We’re partners. Where you go, I go. Fuck you, if you think otherwise.”
Dom chuckled. “I love you, too, sweetheart.”
Gray would have kicked back an appropriately lewd response, but he’d used enough foul language in front of Alex as it was. The last thing he wanted was for Nicky to wake up and hear a police detective talking trash.
“I have a theory.” Gray glanced at Alex, knowing she wouldn’t like it. “I think these guys were trying to kidnap Nicky and use him to ensure Alex wouldn’t change her mind about getting the documents.” Beside him, she stiffened.
“Makes sense,” Dom agreed. “After the fire was put out, we found burned toys and melted syringes in the back of the van.”
“With that in mind, we can’t risk the Pyramid finding out their plan was thwarted and that their goons were intentionally taken out by the NYPD NASCAR team. We need a cover story.”
“Lieutenant’s already on it,” Dom said. “The incident is being officially reported as a speeding van that lost control and went over the guardrail.”
“Good deal.” They couldn’t afford for the Pyramid to discover that not only was Alex cooperating with them, but that she was working hand in hand with the police to take them down.
“Meet still on for tomorrow?” Dom asked.
“Ten-four. We’ll put together a package of phony documents for Alex to give them.”
“Who’s working on that?” Dom asked.
“Lt. Frye and the FBI.”
Gray wished HSI was the lead agency investigating the Pyramid from the federal end. His younger brother, Jess, was an HSI agent in Newark, New Jersey, assigned to the Joint Terrorist Task Force. One of Jess’s unusual traits was that he picked up on foreign languages as easily as he took to undercover work, sniper skills, and everything else law enforcement. His brother spoke Farsi like a native and was out of the country more than he was in it, working one UC gig after another in the Middle East.
“About time the FBI started contributing something to this op besides blowing us up. Speaking of which,” Dom continued, “that agent’s funeral is today. Some of the squad is going, and the commissioner’s office is sending over flowers.”
“Thanks for the update. Keep me posted if anything else develops.”
“Will do.” Dom ended the call.
“What did he say?” Alex asked. “Is he all right?”
“He’s fine.” Gray glanced in the rearview mirror then to Alex.
“Were those really gunshots I heard when they were chasing us?” Her eyes were wide with fear.
“Yeah.” Gray debated how much to tell her, ultimately deciding she was taking enough risk as it was and had a right not to be kept in the dark. “There were syringes in the back of the van, along with toys.”
“So they really were going to kidnap Nicky.” Alex clenched her fists on her lap.
“All the more reason to hide him somewhere far outside the city. We have a cover story for the van so the Pyramid won’t get suspicious that you’re working with the police, but we can’t know for sure.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that until this is over, Nicky is staying with Cassie and Mike.”
What he didn’t mention was that he would be sleeping in Alex’s apartment every night until this was over. Just as he wouldn’t trust Nicky’s safety to anyone besides Cassie and Mike, he wouldn’t trust Alex’s safety to anyone other than himself.
Even if the department changed their mind and assigned a skilled policewoman trained in protective service, he still wouldn’t turn this assignment over. Soon Alex would be out of his life forever, but for now he would be the one protecting her. She just didn’t know it yet.
Gray drove in silence, watching the farmland give way to thick forest. There was still a solid two hours before they reached Hopewell Springs. His mind wandered to the damage the Pyramid could inflict on a person’s life. They had murdered an FBI agent. How many others had they killed in the decades since their inception?
“What?” Alex interrupted his thoughts. “You had a look on your face just now. The same look
you always get when you’re annoyed with someone.”
Gray glanced at her. “You know me so well?”
“Well enough.” She laughed, a melodic sound he’d come to love. “You get that look when someone is sitting at your desk and won’t talk.”
“You’ve been watching me?” Gray was pleased at the thought. He watched Alex constantly. Then again, all the detectives did. Hard not to.
“Well, I—I notice you from time to time.” A becoming shade of rosy pink tinted her cheeks, making her face even lovelier. “So tell me what you were thinking just now.”
“I was thinking about how the Pyramid will always be able to find someone they can exploit. There will always be someone out there who, whether it’s due to financial need or just plain greed, will betray anyone or anything.”
“You mean the way you think I betrayed the department…and you personally?” Alex’s voice was hard.
Gray glimpsed anger in her eyes. Anger directed at him for not believing her.
They were at an impasse, he realized.
He didn’t trust her. He honestly didn’t know whether she’d used him or not, but he was certain she was still hiding something. Problem was, she didn’t trust him with whatever she was hiding.
He returned his eyes to the road, but not before seeing her lean her head back against the headrest and shut her eyes tightly. She inhaled deeply and let it out on a long sigh. If Gray hadn’t been driving, he’d have done the same.
Fate had thrown them together with the tantalizing possibility of a life together.
Circumstances had irrevocably torn them apart.
…
Alex still couldn’t believe the two men actually tried to kidnap her baby.
She took a breath to steady her nerves. It didn’t work, far from it. All it did was make her even more aware of the man sitting a foot away. Every inhalation brought with it his wonderful aftershave. Woodsy, yet fresh and clean.
“I have to call Nicky’s school.” Anything to get her mind off thinking about last night. Despite her words to the contrary, she’d wanted Gray to finish what they’d started. But that was a bad idea, one she had to let go of.
Easier said than done.
Since giving birth to Nicky and having to take care of a child alone, sex wasn’t something she thought of very much these days. But she was thinking a lot about it now. The truth of the matter was, she began thinking about it the day she started working for the NYPD.
The day she met Detective Gray Yates.
Alex hadn’t stayed with Nicky’s father long after the physical violence started. She wasn’t the kind of woman to stay in a bad situation. But after what she’d endured, she hadn’t wanted another man to make love to her. Now the only one she wanted to touch her was the last man who ever would. And the last man she should ever let touch her. There was too much between them. She may have hurt him, but he’d been fully capable of inflicting the same level of pain. And he did.
She turned to watch Gray’s handsome profile. Part of her understood his viewpoint. He was one of the most principled cops in the department. Even she’d picked up on that trait right away—and it was one of the things she admired about him. It didn’t matter what her reasons were. The bottom line was that she had spent money received from a Pyramid assassin, and he thought she’d been paid to sleep with him and get confidential police intel.
Now she was nothing more to Gray than someone he and the NYPD would use to take down a band of ruthless criminals. What happened between them in her bedroom was nothing more than a mistake, a latent reminder of feelings they may have had for each other. Feelings she still had. Ones he didn’t.
“Tell the school—” Gray stopped, obviously realizing Alex had been staring at him for some time. “What’s wrong?”
Aside from the obvious?
“Nothing.” She pulled her cell phone from her coat pocket. There was no sense telling him the truth. He might be sitting right next to her, but as far as anything personal went they were a thousand miles apart.
“Wait.” Gray tipped his head toward the phone in her hand. “Tell them you’re taking Nicky out of school for a couple of weeks, but don’t tell them why. The Pyramid has resources sophisticated enough to tap into your personal bank account, so we have to assume they can break into any database. If you tell the school Nicky is sick, they’ll check all the hospitals. When they don’t find him, they’ll come after him again at your apartment.”
“Then isn’t the best story to tell them he’s home sick?” Alex shifted in her seat to face him. “He won’t be there, so what does it matter if I say that?”
“Nicky won’t be there, but you and I will.” Gray paused to look at her. “The last thing I want is for them to break into your place again.”
Alex widened her eyes. “What do you mean, you and I will be at my apartment?”
Gray’s gaze flicked to the side-view mirror before answering. “Until this is over, you have a roommate.”
“No.” She crossed her arms and shook her head. “That isn’t possible. I won’t allow it.”
Because I don’t trust myself to be alone with you ever again.
Gray chuckled. “You don’t have a say in the matter, babe.”
She turned to face him. “The hell I don’t. And don’t you dare babe me.” Last night was sheer torture. There was no way she could live in her tiny apartment with a man she wanted more desperately than she wanted to breathe.
“Too late,” Gray said in a cold voice. “It’s done.”
She grabbed his shoulder. “I do so have a say in this. I’ll talk to Lt. Frye.”
“Negative.”
“Negative?” Alex shouted. She lowered her voice so she didn’t wake Nicky, who was still sleeping comfortably in the car seat. “And don’t speak to me like I’m one of your cop cronies. Why does it have to be you?”
“Because not only won’t the department pay for your protection, but I don’t trust anyone else to keep you safe.” He briefly met her gaze, and there was anger there, but Alex couldn’t decipher the source of it. He shouldn’t care about her, and he shouldn’t care about protecting her.
Ah, she thought. He’s not protecting me, he’s protecting his cooperator.
That actually made sense.
“Fine.” She crossed her arms tighter, realizing the last thing she should do was decline the only available police protection. “But my bedroom is still off-limits. You got that, Mr. High and Mighty Detective?”
“Ten-four, ma’am. Now make the goddamn call.” His voice was low and calm, but his jaw muscles flexed. “Just don’t tell anyone why you’re taking Nicky out of school.”
Alex cued up the school’s main office, and when Mrs. Adams, the school’s administrative assistant answered, she told her she was taking Nicky out for a few weeks. Luckily, the woman was discreet and didn’t pry. The school knew Nicky had a medical condition, so Alex could only assume Mrs. Adams surmised that was the reason.
Next, Alex called Daisy. If she didn’t make good on her promise to touch base, Daisy would only hound her until she did. Daisy was one of the few solid people Alex could count on, and with no remaining family of her own save Nicky, she considered Daisy part of her family.
“Alex!” Daisy all but cried, answering the phone on the first ring. “It’s about time you called, I was getting worried. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” she lied. As close as they were, she wasn’t about to discuss the drama of the day. Daisy would throw a conniption and demand to know everything.
“How is Nicky handling things?” Daisy asked.
“He’s fine, too.” And he was, she realized, despite nearly being kidnapped. Small children were resilient in ways older children and adults were not. She could only pray the deep sleep he’d fallen into would assist him in forgetting most of what had happened that morning. “So tell me,” she continued, “did you get home okay last night with Detective Carew?”
Beside her, Gr
ay cleared his throat.
“Yeah.” Daisy’s voice sounded odd. “I guess so.”
Alex narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, you guess so?” She sensed Daisy wasn’t telling all.
There was a pause, then, “I slept with him.”
“You what?” Alex couldn’t contain the shock in her voice. She’d seen sparks fly between Daisy and Dom, but having sex with a virtual stranger was not in Daisy’s repertoire. People assumed that because her friend was bubbly and outgoing that she was easy. Reality was, Daisy was extremely selective when it came to her sexual partners.
“I know it was stupid, but I couldn’t help myself.” Daisy groaned. “He was so kind, thoughtful, and holy crap, what a body. The man doesn’t have an ounce of fat anywhere. The guy is so ripped it’s unreal.”
Despite the shock at hearing her best friend had sex with Gray’s partner, Alex laughed. Daisy hadn’t been this attracted to any man in quite a while. She truly hoped Dom wasn’t using her for a one-night stand.
“When I woke up this morning to open the shop, he was gone. No note, no phone call, nothing. I can’t believe I let this happen. I feel like the proverbial coyote ugly girlfriend.”
Exasperation and regret were evident in Daisy’s voice, and Alex wished she could throw her arms around her friend and tell her she would get over it. Then again, Alex didn’t think she’d ever get over Gray, so who was she to give advice?
“I really thought there was something different about him.” Daisy sounded wistful. “Before we jumped into bed, we talked for hours. I know it sounds corny, but it was like we had a connection. He’s a big strong, hunky guy, but there’s something hiding deep inside that drew me to him like a bumble bee to a tea rose.”
They both laughed at the floral analogy.
“After we made love, or should I say, had sex, we held each other. I got the distinct feeling he needed that. There’s something tormenting Dom that he doesn’t talk about and doesn’t let show, but I can sense it’s there.”
“You got all that from knowing a guy for a few hours?” Alex asked.