Operation Nanny

by Paula Graves

  On the downside, there were plenty of places for wrongdoers to lie in wait.

  Jim caught her hand and helped her up the rest of the way, practically lifting her off her feet to set her on the ground beside him. He put his arm around her, lending her his warmth. His eyes never stopped moving, scanning the woods around them as they waited for Cade Beckett to finish climbing the stone stairs.

  “Where do you think we are?” Cade asked when he pulled himself out of the tunnel mouth.

  “I’m not sure,” Lacey confessed. “I think we’re still on farm property, since the historical society didn’t tell Marianne and Toby that they shared the tunnel with anyone else. If so, we’re probably in the woods on the southern edge of the property. The town is about a mile east of here. If you can figure out what direction east would be.”

  “Any cell signal?” Jim asked Cade.

  “No,” he answered with a frown. “Those signal jammers don’t have that large a range...”

  “Which means they’re still close,” Lacey said, hair rising on the back of her neck.

  “Very close,” Jim said in a strangled tone, his gaze fixed somewhere behind her.

  Lacey turned and saw three figures dressed in arctic camouflage moving toward them at a wary pace. Each was armed with a hunting rifle, though none of them, Lacey noticed, seemed at ease with the weapons.

  Burning people in their beds more your style, cowards?

  Jim and Cade had their weapons up before Lacey could blink, but at best, it was a standoff. And since rifles were far more accurate at a distance, they weren’t looking at a best-case scenario.

  She pulled the borrowed SD40 from the holster at her side and aimed it at the slowly approaching figures.

  Suddenly, the woods lit up as bright as daylight. The approaching men froze in confusion as the woods erupted with a dozen men, similarly clad in arctic camo, emerging from their hiding places with weapons raised.

  “What the hell?” Lacey asked, staring as the newcomers surrounded the other three men, shouting orders in Kaziri to lay down their weapons.

  “That,” Cade Beckett said with a spreading smile, “is why it pays to have Alexander Quinn for a boss.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “That’s the problem with recruiting westernized kids,” Alexander Quinn said with a grim smile, turning away from the monitor showing the occupants of interview room four at the Virginia State Police barracks a county over from Cherry Grove. “They never can keep their traps shut.”

  “So, Ghal Rehani is the one who put a hit on Lacey?” Jim asked. “Because she insulted him on air by calling him a self-proclaimed warlord?”

  “I think it was the ‘self-proclaimed’ part that pissed him off,” Quinn said. “I just got a call from an old friend in the Federal Police. They picked up Rehani about an hour ago.”

  Jim was still shaking his head. “I don’t want to be the one to tell Lacey her sister and brother-in-law were killed because some Osama bin Laden wannabe got his little feelings hurt.”

  “It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if it took a lot more than a schoolyard put-down to push a man to murderous rage?” Quinn put his hand on Jim’s shoulder. “You did a good job, Mercer. I think you’re going to be a real asset at Campbell Cove Academy.” He paused as he reached the door of the office. “That is, if you want to keep working with us.”

  “I have a lot of decisions to make,” Jim said. It wasn’t exactly an answer to Quinn’s implied question, but it was as much as he could offer until he had a chance to talk to Lacey and find out what her plans were for her and Katie.

  He found her in the barracks commander’s office, curled up asleep on one end of a small sofa, with Katie napping in her arms. Grimy and rumpled, with soot staining her hair and dark circles of exhaustion under her eyes, she was a mess. But he’d never seen anything more beautiful than the steady rise and fall of her breathing, a potent reminder of what he almost lost tonight.

  At his desk, the barracks commander, who’d introduced himself as Ethan Tolliver when the county sheriff had delivered Jim, Lacey, Katie and the Becketts to the state police division headquarters, looked up from the paperwork spread across his desk. He put one finger to his lips and waved Jim over to the chair in front of his desk.

  “Long night,” Tolliver said quietly.

  “You have no idea.”

  “Where are you folks going to go now? You have a place to stay?”

  Jim rubbed his gritty eyes. “My boss has reserved some rooms for us in a local hotel. We’re good for now.”

  “Reckon you all lost about everything in the fire.”

  Jim looked at Lacey and Katie curled around each other in slumber. “Not everything.”

  Tolliver followed Jim’s gaze. “No, not everything.”

  “Any idea when you’re cutting us loose from here? I could use a shower and about a week of sleep.”

  “I’m signing the papers now. I’ll deliver them up to the front desk myself, and then you’ll be free to go, though I’d appreciate it if you stick around the area for a few more days until we finish up the investigation.”

  Jim’s gaze trailed back to Lacey. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  A knock on the door made Lacey stir. She sat up, her sleepy gaze locking with Jim’s. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” he said with a smile.

  At Tolliver’s bidding, a young uniformed state police officer entered the room, sparing a quick glance at Jim and Lacey before he looked back at the division commander. “There’s an FBI agent here to see you.”

  Tolliver sighed. “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help,” he muttered as he headed out the door.

  Jim didn’t bother reminding him he was also part of the government. He supposed every layer of bureaucracy probably resented the layers above.

  Lacey nuzzled Katie’s curls and stifled a yawn. “What’s happening?”

  “The state police are about to spring us.”

  “Yay.” She made a face. “Where do we go now?”

  “Quinn got us some hotel rooms. I guess we go shower and try to catch up on a little sleep.”

  “What about the guys they captured?”

  “Quinn thinks they got them all, based on the numbers we saw outside. We can’t be sure how many were on the southern side of the house, since the eaves blocked my view, but we figure at most there were four on that side, and we saw twelve others. They picked up sixteen men, so that fits.”

  “Have any of them said anything yet?”

  “One of them told everything he knows. His story’s being checked out, of course, but it rings true.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Why did they target me? Was it the story I did on Tahir Mahmood, speculating that he wasn’t dead?”

  Jim shook his head. “It was a report you did a couple of months ago on the rise of strongmen in the Kaziri countryside, the ones who were aligning themselves with al Adar in hopes of improving their standing in their villages.”

  Her frown deepened. “Why on earth would someone target me for that?”

  Damn, he didn’t want to tell her what he’d learned. But better from him than from someone who didn’t care about her and how much she’d lost. “You called Ghal Rehani a self-proclaimed warlord.”

  She stared at him for a moment, looking puzzled. Then, suddenly, the realization dawned, and her mouth dropped open. “Oh, my God. You cannot be serious.”

  “I know it sounds crazy...”

  “It is crazy. He’s crazy. He put a hit on me for that? Because, what? I hurt his little feelings?” She got up suddenly, jostling Katie, who began to cry. Shoving Katie into Jim’s arms, Lacey hurried out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

  Jim wanted to follow, but he knew she needed time to process the truth about her si
ster’s death. A small man’s outsize vanity had cost Lacey her sister and brother-in-law. It had stolen Katie’s parents from her life. It had left the world a smaller, meaner place, and nothing Jim could say or do would change that reality.

  He pressed soft kisses against Katie’s cheek, murmuring words of comfort. Eventually, she curled her hands in the collar of his jacket and snuggled close as he rocked her from side to side.

  * * *

  LACEY STOOD OUTSIDE in the frigid predawn, gazing up at the stars overhead and wanting to scream at the universe. Her voice seemed trapped in her throat, tears beating frantically at the backs of her eyes but unable to escape and give her any sort of release.

  The world was insane. The people inhabiting it were petty and cruel, venal and ridiculous. Deaths were meaningless and lives cut short for no good reason at all.

  It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.

  It was all her fault.

  She heard the door behind her open and footsteps move toward her. She steeled herself for Jim’s voice, but it was Julie Beckett who came to stand beside her. She lifted her face to the sky as well, gazing up at the stars.

  “This world sucks,” Julie said.

  “Yeah, it does.”

  “Except when it doesn’t.” Julie looked away from the stars, focusing her gaze on Lacey. “It’s so easy to get drawn into the evil and insanity we come across every day in this business. You as a reporter. Me as a cop, of sorts.”

  “I used to think I was making a difference, you know?” Lacey pushed her hair back from her face, feeling as if all the grief in the world was bottled up inside her. “I thought what I did mattered.”

  “It does. You tell the truth, however harsh and unwanted it may be. That matters a lot.”

  She shook her head. “A careless choice of words got my sister and brother-in-law killed.”

  “No.” Julie caught Lacey’s arm and pulled her around until they were face-to-face. Julie’s eyes blazed with anger. “A stupid, evil man sent other stupid, evil men to kill you. That’s what happened. I’m terribly sorry about your sister and brother-in-law. I am. But if you give in to that man’s evil, if you accept the blame instead of putting it square where it belongs, who wins? Not you. Not Katie. Not Marianne or Toby. Ghal Rehani wins, because you’ve validated his world view. Don’t do that, Lacey. Do not do that.”

  “She’s right.” Jim’s voice rumbled from the darkness. He came out of the shadows near the door, his arms wrapped around Katie. “You can’t give up. Not on any of it.”

  Lacey closed her burning eyes. “Are we free to go yet?”

  “Yeah. Quinn’s already given me the keys to our hotel room.” He looked at Julie. “Somehow, our vehicles survived without damage. He’s had them delivered to the visitor parking area here. Cade has the keys. He and Samantha will meet you there.”

  “Wait,” Lacey said as Julie started toward visitor parking. “Can you guys take Katie with you? There’s somewhere I want to go first, before I head for the hotel.”

  Jim frowned. “You’re ready to drop, Lacey. You need a shower and sleep. Whatever it is you want to do, can’t it wait?”

  She shook her head. “I need you to take me somewhere. Please.”

  Whatever he saw in her face seemed to melt his opposition. He handed Katie to Julie. “Katiebug, Julie’s going to take you to play with Samantha for a little while. Wouldn’t you like that?”

  Katie looked up at him with bleary eyes, but she gave only a token protest when Julie pulled her from Jim’s arms. She quickly settled into a snuggle against Julie’s shoulder.

  Julie smiled at them. “I love them when they’re this age. Makes me want to have another one.”

  Lacey watched until Julie disappeared around the corner of the building. Then she turned to look at Jim. “Thank you for doing this. I know you must be exhausted.”

  “We all are. But I’m never going to be able to sleep until I know you’re safe at the hotel.”

  She touched his arm, her fingers trailing down across his before she dropped her hand to her side. “It might be easier if I drive.”

  He handed over the keys to the Jeep and followed her to the visitor parking lot. “Are you sure you’re awake enough to drive?”

  “Believe me, I won’t be able to sleep at all until I do this.”

  * * *

  THE CEMETERY WAS small and secluded, tucked away behind an old stone church about five miles from where the farmhouse had stood in Cherry Grove. Lacey parked the Jeep haphazardly just outside the ornate iron gate that guarded the graveyard’s entrance.

  Jim wasn’t sure he should follow, but Lacey motioned for him to join her. She caught his hand as they stepped into the graveyard and picked their way among the engraved headstones.

  The stone straight ahead was new, gleaming brightly among the other weathered stones. Lacey’s grip on Jim’s hand tightened, and he locked his fingers with hers, offering her all the strength he had.

  “I wanted to come here one day and tell her we found the people who killed her,” Lacey murmured, her voice almost as hushed as the cemetery surrounding them. “I didn’t think it would end this way. It was all so incredibly senseless.”

  “Most murders are,” Jim said.

  She looked up at him. “It’s not fair.”

  “No. It’s not.”

  “All Ken Calvert wanted was to see his kids more, and now he’s dead. It’s so stupid.”

  “It is,” Jim agreed.

  “I think he wanted to see me that night because he found out about Ghal Rehani’s vendetta. Central Asia is his beat. He’d have wanted to give me a heads-up, even though it was probably considered classified information.” She looked down at her sister’s grave. “I wonder if he’d still be alive if he hadn’t tried to meet me that night.”

  The moon had finally broken through the clouds just as it was ready to leave the sky and give way to morning, lending just enough light for Jim to see the tears welling in Lacey’s eyes before they spilled in silver tracks down her cheeks.

  A hard sob escaped her lips, followed by another. Then another. Jim reached for her, pulling her into the shelter of his arms, letting her spill her grief on his strong shoulders.

  When she was spent, she melted into his embrace, her breathing slowly subsiding to normal. The cold began to seep through their clothing, and Jim gave her a gentle nudge. “We’re going to freeze to death out here.”

  She nodded, rubbing her face against his damp shirt. “Can you drive back?”

  “Of course.”

  They didn’t talk on the way to the hotel. Lacey seemed completely drained, and Jim didn’t know what to say to her that would make her feel any better. He just hoped it was enough to be there with her, ready if she needed him. He hoped when she found her feet again, she’d want him at her side.

  He parked the Jeep in the hotel parking lot and cut the engine. “We’re here.”

  She stirred, lifting her head from where it had rested against the window for most of the trip back. “Oh.”

  When she made no move to get out of the vehicle, he walked around the Jeep and opened the door for her, giving her his hand to help her out. She twined her fingers with his, huddling close as if for warmth while they checked in at the front desk. His room was next to Lacey’s, he saw with relief. He didn’t think he could bear being far from her tonight.

  He wasn’t sure he could bear it any night, ever again.

  She unlocked her hotel door and pushed it open, revealing a clean, spacious room with two double beds. She shrugged off her jacket and tossed it on one bed, her nose wrinkling. “Definitely need a shower.”

  “You sure you’ll be okay? You want me to find the Becketts and get Katie for you?”

  She turned to look at him. “I’ll be okay. Let Katie sleep.” />
  Reluctantly, he backed out of the room, letting her close the door and shut him out. He trudged the few feet between their rooms and let himself into his own hotel room.

  The hot shower felt like heaven, sluicing away the grime and soot from their ordeal. He could still smell the smoke and knew he probably would for a few days to come, but at least none of them had experienced any smoke-inhalation problems. The paramedics on the scene had checked them all, paying extra attention to the children. Everyone was fine.

  Thank God for abolitionists, he thought, still protecting the pursued even now.

  Somehow, Alexander Quinn had provided clean clothing that actually fit Jim’s lean-muscled build. He pulled on a clean pair of boxer shorts and was contemplating whether to put on a T-shirt as well when there was a knock on the door. He crossed to open it, expecting to find his boss on the other side.

  But it was Lacey who stood on the other side of the door.

  She’d showered and dressed in a clean pair of shorts and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Her hair hung in damp strings around her shoulders and her face was scrubbed clean.

  “I love you,” she said.

  He stood in stunned silence, certain he’d misunderstood.

  “I don’t expect you to say it back, or even feel the same way. It’s okay if you don’t. I just couldn’t let any more time go by without saying it. There are so many things I wish I’d said to Marianne and Toby, things I won’t get to say to them, not in this life. I didn’t want to make the same mistake with you.”

  She turned as if to go, but he caught her hand, tugging her back around to face him. “I love you, too. And it’s okay if you don’t know what to do with that, or what to do with how you feel. I don’t need any promises or plans right now. I just need you to know I feel the same way.”

  She closed the distance between them in one swift step, throwing her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. He held her close, pressing soft, fervent kisses in her damp hair. “I love you, Lacey. I love Katie, too. And whatever happens next, nothing is gonna change that. You hear me?”