by Grady, D. R.
Janine showed him into the house and he accepted her offer to seat himself at the small wooden table by the window in her kitchen. Maybe someday he would have a house like this with a table like the one they sat at. She slid an aromatic mug of coffee toward him and he recognized the blend as coming from the islands.
“I haven’t tasted this coffee in years,” he said and took a sip, savoring the rich flavor.
“Do you like it?”
“I do.”
“It comes from my island. One of the few things I’ve missed.”
Greg stared at her. He couldn’t remember a time when he had ever wanted to visit home. The thought of his parent’s huge, cold, empty house loomed before him. He thought of all the nights he and KC lay side by side and dreamed of escaping here.
KC never had. After graduating from medical school, he handed Ryan over to her. Their father had taken yet another turn for the worse business-wise, and KC had fought to save the company. That couldn’t have been fun, when she was young and single, but as usual, she rolled with the punches and came up the better for it.
Now his sister seemed content and at peace with herself and the world. Max had probably accomplished a good bit of that. Max, Ryan, Macy, and the rest of the Morrisons. KC loved all of them, that was obvious. Was love a strong enough bond to keep a person from their own nature?
That reminded him. He needed to go visit his parents. In a moment of weakness, he blurted, “You want to go with me to visit my parents?”
Janine’s eyes widened but he still caught no emotions. “Sure.”
“Thanks.” Whew, he had been dreading going, but maybe with Janine by his side...
Greg surreptitiously peered around the room, and waited for the walls to close in on him. Never during a mission had he ever experienced claustrophobia, not even when the walls had actually closed in on him. He always managed to keep his head then. But this notion of family in his personal space – and love. Greg suppressed a shudder. What in the world was love?
“Do you want to take a look at this tree branch?”
It was a good thing Janine couldn’t read his mind. “Yes.”
He followed her to the door and waited while she opened it and slid through. Her smooth swinging hips caught his attention and he reminded himself of his earlier pep talk. No watching and enjoying the magnificent scenery. And definitely no exploring this scenery. He was here to complete this final mission. It had better be the final mission. Or he would die trying.
He was not here to have unclean thoughts about Janine Morris. The woman had saved his life. A nice way of repaying her was to keep her safe. Not lust after her. Delectable though she was.
She stopped in front of the porch banister and with a grace and agility that spoke of her years in the military, vaulted onto the banister.
“It’ll hold both of us. Max spent time with me up here this morning.”
“So I’m not even the first,” he mock grumbled as he joined her on the sturdy banister.
She laughed. Like Macy’s perusal of him the other day, the sound heated him in an area where he hadn’t felt much warmth. He liked Janine’s tinkling laugh and the resulting warmth.
“Sorry, pal, but yes, Max has been here and assessed the situation.”
“And?”
“Someone too big for the limb broke it. He thought kids. I nixed that idea.”
Greg frowned. “You didn’t tell him...”
“Of course not. But he is married to your sister, so he knows military people have secrets. Fortunately, he’s not nosy and he doesn’t pepper us with questions.”
“He suspects you suspect there’s a problem.”
“Yes.” She grinned and he nearly lost his balance. “He said if there’s a problem he’ll send KC over.”
Greg processed what she said, and realized he had to at least grin. That sounded like Max. But he couldn’t seem to focus on Max like he should. Instead, with the sun brightening her eyes to liquid gold, he felt like someone had landed an excellent shot to his solar plexus.
He must have managed a genuine enough smile, because she turned to the tree and pointed. Out of sheer willpower and discipline, he yanked his attention to the branch and away from her. Swallowing helped to alleviate some of the tension and Greg struggled to remember why they were balanced on a porch railing.
The jagged splinters from a broken tree limb snagged his attention and he stared. He ran a finger along the edge and saw no indication of insects or nature at work.
Secret operatives learned to spend time in whatever cover was available, so he had an intimate knowledge of trees. Of all types. Greg knew the best hiding spots, climbing methods, and foliage cover. This tree would offer none of those in its present condition.
Spring was still heavy in the air, and the tree had budded, but there wasn’t much foliage. The immaturity of the oak was evident in the small trunk and weak branches. Why would anyone in their right mind try to climb this tree?
A glance around the yard revealed at least four other trees that would be more suitable for climbing. None would be good for concealment or hiding, but for climbing this one looked like the worst option.
Unless...someone wished to break into an upstairs room. Or at least peek inside the window, this one was the only one that would allow that. It didn’t mitigate the fact that this immature oak was still a poor option.
He stared at her window, and she turned to follow his gaze. Her indrawn gasp proved she had just jumped on his train of thought. She must have noticed the same marks on the wooden frame he saw. Someone had used her tree because they wanted to enter her house.
Greg wanted to break this unknown man’s head. This wasn’t exactly a new sensation for him. Except emotion fueled this fire, and that was new. Before, the need to complete the job had been his motivation.
Let’s cover all bases, he reminded himself. “What about access to a ladder?”
“There’s one in the garage. But I keep the garage locked and it’s on the security system.”
“Good.” He nodded in approval. Her system looked top notch. “Did Ben install it?”
“Him and his cousin, Ed. They’re both into military stuff, and Ed’s a military securities expert.”
“I’ve used some of his stuff in the field. It’s good.” The fact Ed Morrison and her brother, the SEAL, had installed the system comforted him like nothing else could have. She was as safe as the house could be with those measures.
“The system has held very well.”
He turned to stare her in the eyes. “You have a weapon?”
She raised an imperious eyebrow. The woman could have been a queen. “Of course.”
He nodded. Better to keep things equal. No need to insult the woman and her abilities. She had training and she was definitely smart. Greg wondered if it was his social skills that were in need of an overhaul. Evidently.
Janine jumped from the banister and he admired the smooth play of muscles as she landed with the agility and grace of a cat. This woman spelled as much trouble as a cat. He still followed her.
She piqued his curiosity and made him want to pet her. That would get him scratched, hissed at, or bitten. Of course, she might invite more caresses, too. He was warming toward that one.
Stop. Right now, he cautioned himself.
He was going to get them killed. Someone she hadn’t invited tried to forcibly enter her home. This was not a good situation. And all he could think of was tangling with the dainty lady cat.
But the scratches and bites might be worth it. To hear this woman purr ratcheted up every fantasy he had ever entertained.
Chapter 14
If Greg didn’t stop staring at her like that, she was jumping his bones right here and now. And to Hades or the bottom of the ocean or somewhere else that wasn’t here, with the consequences. She wasn’t a tasty little bunny to his jaguar. But that’s how she felt. This senseless attraction was driving her insane.
She had a job to do. A job tha
t could prove deadly for her and him, and possibly their family. If her thoughts kept revolving to racy images with him as the star, they would land in trouble not even her Uncle Rich could spring them from.
Speaking of O’Riley...
“We need to call Admiral O’Riley,” she said. And hoped her voice didn’t reveal her lustful thoughts. What was wrong with her?
She never had trouble reining in her hormones. She was a medical and military professional. Discipline was something she was deeply intimate with. Oh, don’t think intimate, a smart voice chided her. Point taken, even if it didn’t help much. Her hormones still raged out of control and she had no idea what to do about the problem or the man padding silent as a stalking big cat behind her.
Janine reentered her house and headed for her special phone.
“Is your line secure?”
“Yes.” She punched in the code and hit the speaker button. Janine laid the device on the kitchen table and reached for the coffee pot.
Hoping the admiral would answer, but also half wishing he was in a meeting and they would have to call back. This was ridiculous. She was ridiculous. Maybe hearing her former boss’s voice would hurtle her back to reality.
“O’Riley?” His voice snapped along the phone line.
“Good morning,” Janine said and Greg echoed.
“What trouble have you two caused today?”
Greg grinned. “I don’t think we caused it, but we did notice it.”
“What gives?”
Janine explained about the branch outside her porch and their conclusions as to how it ended up broken. There was silence on O’Riley’s end except for the minor sound of keyboard taps. Likely he was busy making notes about the conversation.
“No one was hurt?”
“No one was here,” Janine said dryly.
“I’ll get someone on it. How’s your security system?”
She repeated the same information she had already told Greg. O’Riley grunted in acknowledgement of the effectiveness of her system, she hoped.
“The Temites seem to have gone to ground in the past few months. We haven’t seen any activity on them since the night Lamont blew that warehouse to the heavens.”
“Why would they have made the first move then?” Janine frowned at the phone. This made no sense. Why wouldn’t they have stayed quiet rather than call attention to themselves like this?
“Because they could be gearing up for a major deal, and want all the loose strings tied up nice and tight.”
“Or cut off,” Greg commented. She noticed he sat in the shadows cast by the window casing. A man who wouldn’t leave his old ways behind. Maybe he couldn’t. Wincing, she hoped that wasn’t true. Michael Lamont was cremated and gone. He couldn’t spring back to life now. Of course, that didn’t prevent Greg from choosing another name, another alias to function under. It wasn’t unheard of.
Her heart clenched then beat a painful tattoo, and she squelched the urge to press her palm to her chest. The action would serve only to draw his attention to her reaction, and she didn’t want that. Why would he want to return to secret operative work anyway? It was dangerous and lonely.
No family connections.
But she had seen him with Ryan and Macy. This was not a man who was a complete loner. While he might enjoy solitary endeavors some of the time, he didn’t appear to be the type who needed to be alone all the time.
Humans weren’t made for extreme loneliness. Look at those in solitary confinement in prisons. They usually went crazy. Few survived with their nerves intact. Wanting to blow out a frustrated breath with her stupid, rambling thoughts, Janine instead urged herself into a calmer state.
Greg’s training would hone in on her unease. Even though she was adept at hiding her own emotions, he was trained to ferret them out. That was his job, even though he was retired.
“What do you suggest, Admiral?” Greg asked the question she should have been thinking.
Their former boss sighed and she heard his chair creak. “I think we need to increase our information gathering, although how I’m not sure yet.
“You both need to stay on guard. What worries me is that nothing so far, other than my house being broken into and some questions asked about a dead agent, has happened. Now someone, and we don’t know who, tried to break into Janine’s house.”
Greg nodded. Janine cocked a glance at him. “The lack of activity kept me awake last night,” he said.
“The Temites aren’t known for remaining quiet,” O’Riley said.
Greg snorted. “No.”
A shiver chased the unease down her spine. “So you have cause to believe they’re trying to bring in the mother lode?”
“That’s what I suspect,” O’Riley said.
“Makes sense. Lamont would be a definite problem for them if he was still alive.”
Janine shifted before glancing at Greg. “Did you hear something about this shipment that night? Is that why they want to make sure you’re out of the picture?”
“Maybe they’re testing the waters, making sure. They could be trying to go from obscure to huge with one deal,” Greg said. His words shouldn’t have, but they increased the chill that now spread to her arms.
“A good reason to make sure a dead operative stays dead.”
“You think they’re planning on launching their career?” Janine wanted clarification. That theory would explain why someone was after Greg, even after all evidence lead to his death. At least as Michael Lamont. Greg Gilmore, technically should not be a target. Janine’s eyes wondered over to him. So was he?
O’Riley answered her question. “It’s happened before. All they need is really good contacts, and I’m guessing there aren’t a lot of people in the arms business.”
“It’s risky,” Greg said, a dry note to his tone.
“You must know something you can’t remember.” She stared at Greg.
“Did you actually see the faces of the men there?” O’Riley asked.
“I killed everyone in the building with me. No one else escaped, but I wonder,” Greg frowned and stared at the phone like he could make it emit answers.
“Wonder what?” Their former boss’s voice held much patience. Janine didn’t feel quite so complacent. She wanted to leap up and yank the answers from Greg.
“What if those guys were late to the meeting that night?”
More cold howled across Janine’s cheeks and around her neck.
She tested that scenario by playing it through her mind. They would have seen exactly what happened, and a lone man escape the ravages. Not a sight someone would forget quickly.
“They witnessed the bomb, which killed everyone, and saw the man who set it.” O’Riley’s conclusions were made with a contemplative air. Janine wrapped her arms around her torso. Her gesture did little to thwart the swirling chill.
“We don’t know if they know I set the bomb.”
Janine raised her eyes and met Greg’s brilliant blue ones. She knew what he was thinking. “You could have been a traitor to the cause.”
“Right. They might not know I was a secret operative.”
“No, they know. They asked for that secret operative the night their man broke into my house.”
“There goes that theory,” Janine said.
Greg sank further into the shadows. He didn’t move. If moving drew fire he apparently didn’t intend to be an accessible target.
“I think it’s safe to conclude that,” O’Riley stated.
“That increases the probability that the Temites’ intention to blow into the big time theory is feasible.” Janine rubbed her arms harder, hoping to generate a little heat.
The admiral’s chair squeaked again “I think it’s more than feasible. My belief is you’re absolutely right. They’ve got a skilled hacker and probably a large client they’re supplying.”
“Who could be anyone.” Frustration welled in her stomach, burning like acid. Even if they could figure out who the client was, they
still might not be able to stop the shipment. And Greg would still be at the top of their Tie-Up-All-The-Loose-Ends list.
“We do have a good lead with the Temites. They’re our most likely source of trouble. Even if they aren’t the problem, we still need to shut down this operation.”
“You got a team assembled?” Greg’s question made her jump. He was doing such a good impression of a shadow she almost forgot he was there.
“I’m working on it. I have the computer people in place and they’re flagging things as they go. Can’t send in a team yet, but I’m laying the groundwork.”
Greg grunted, and Janine wondered what that meant.
“Include me,” Greg said.
“No. You’re dead. You need to stay out of this. If you go in there, at least one team is going to know Michael Lamont isn’t dead.”
Fear shivered down her spine again, and acid roiled in her stomach. Janine stared at Greg. “You couldn’t be Greg Gilmore then.” The thought of that caused a pain in her heart so intense she wanted to press a hand to her breast. This was a worst case scenario, but not one she wanted to live with.
“So what should we do?” No emotion clouded his voice, but Janine thought Greg was frustrated too.
“You need to be Greg Gilmore. Live his life. Continue to work with Janine, but both of you keep a low profile. We don’t need this to blow up in our faces.” O’Riley’s crack of power reminded her that he was still in charge. While she and Greg were both retired from active duty.
“Yes, sir,” she said smartly, but resisted the urge to click her heels.
He laughed, which came through the speaker phone easily. “Good, you understand. Honestly, both of you, it’ll be safer if you act innocent and ignorant of what’s happening. Be careful of who you call or visit on the web and in person and why you’re visiting. You know all that stuff leaves traces.”
Janine nodded, but she couldn’t tell what Greg thought. He had retreated so far into the shadows he was nearly undetectable. Or maybe it was that he didn’t move. It was daylight, so she could see him, but his actions left nothing to see. How did he manage to exude such coldness? Lonely winds shrieked from him. Like brushing against him would result in frost bite. More shivers chased each other. How did he do that?