Kid. The standard nametag for any jarhead with less military time under his belt. It had nothing to do with age, but Gabe caught the drift. Zack was the old dog in the room. He meant to protect Kelsey, even from the good news.
“You bet. Let’s not tell her about the blood evidence yet, either. Not until we know for sure.” Gabe doffed the blanket, but rising to his feet brought a moment of dizziness. He paused with his hand on the back of his chair to let his head settle down.
Man. What was in that river water? Oh, wait. Two dead guys. Yuck.
He latched onto his gear bag and joined Zack on the floor in front of the television set, another indication of the kind of man Alex had been. The set was cheap and small. “You’re kidding me, right? How am I going to hook up a camcorder to this? What is it? Co-axle?” he asked as he pulled the mini-cam out of his bag.
“You’ll manage.” Zack turned the set sideways on its matching small wooden stand while Gabe pulled his mini-cam and cables from his bag. “The thing is, Alex used to have a nicer television. Used to have me over for football games and dinner with him and his girls way back when. Guess he purged all his good memories after they died.”
“They what? He’s been married before? His girls died?”
“Shh. Keep it quiet, but yes. Car crash took them both. The video line goes here. See?” Zack tapped the video input. “Yeah, Alex hooked up his old TV when my little LiLi wanted to know why she couldn’t watch Big Bird and Barney at her grandpa’s house. She’s a pistol. Always called him Grandpa. Funny thing, I think he liked it.”
Gabe’s gaze drifted to the mantle. He’d only given the family pictures lined up there a cursory glance, but the younger guy in the family portrait was his boss? Gabe thought maybe a brother, because that smiling guy resembled Alex, but it really was him? Wow. He was a lot happier then. Carefree.
Two other photographs displayed two smiling brown-haired boys not included in the family shot. “Who are they?”
“Joey and Tommy,” Kelsey said from the front room entry.
Gabe snapped his neck, ashamed she’d caught them discussing what had to be another damned painful time in her life.
“It’s okay, Gabe. You can ask. They’re my sons. I lost them before Alex and I ever met. The picture on the left is Alex with Sara and Abby. They were his first family. I’m his second.”
Embarrassment flamed Gabe’s cheeks. He wished he’d kept his big mouth shut. “I’m sure sorry, ma’am.”
“Don’t be. I’m glad you asked. It helps to talk about them. It keeps them alive in my heart. And this guy.” She adjusted the portrait of another man who had to be unrelated. The guy had a serious unibrow on a forehead that hung out over two light-blue eyes like a cliff, resembling Frankenstein. “This is Raymond. I met him last summer when I was kidnapped. He helped me get away, but he died in the process. We adopted him after the fact. Kind of. I had an artist do this pencil rendering. I don’t want to forget him, either.”
“Popcorn’s ready.” Shelby smoothed a hand over Kelsey’s shoulder. “How was your nap?”
Gabe was thankful for the distraction. More than ever, Kelsey needed the proof in his camcorder. “Ready to watch what me and the dogs found?” he asked, his cold and flu symptoms insignificant compared to what she’d survived and overcome.
Her eyes lit up. “Him?”
Chapter Eighteen
Gabe and Zack were very smooth operators. They’d both brightened when Kelsey appeared, not telling her anything she didn’t already know, but honestly. Gabe’s version of events on the day of the shooting was either inaccurate or Mr. Stewart wasn’t dead. No way. It couldn’t be. That handsome man in the pictures wouldn’t pretend to get killed. Not Alex. He wouldn’t hurt Kelsey. Heck, he had everything most guys wanted—well except for a decent house.
But darn. Kelsey had lost her first husband and sons, too? A shiver skated up Shelby’s spine, raising a rash of goose bumps across her shoulders at what she’d overheard. She brushed her hands over them, trying to dispel the chill.
Here she’d thought she’d be bored spending a few quiet days with a grieving widow, but the simple job had changed. She was up to her ears in more intrigue than she’d ever known. And now they were going to sit down and watch a movie with dead bodies? She rubbed her biceps, unable to chase the goose bumps away. Brrr.
“Hey, Shelby,” Zack called from the front room. “While you’re up, would you grab a couple beers?”
She complied, which was really weird. Her? Taking orders? Even her family knew better than to ask her to ‘get something while you’re up.’ She wasn’t staff or anyone’s gopher. But Zack wasn’t so bad. A drink might do everyone some good.
She snagged four bottles and stepped over Whisper and Smoke on her way into the front room. Another weird thing. She did not approve of animals in the house. Ever. Until now. Kelsey’s dogs made her happy, and that, Shelby discovered, made her happy, too.
She took her place alongside Kelsey on the couch and doled out the icy cold bottles. Gabe and Zack twisted the tops and Zack took a long pull on his. She twisted her bottle cap and took a sip. Here she was, surrounded by a definite military lifestyle complete with two soldiers. Her world was changing in a lot of weird ways.
Gabe and Zack sat cross-legged on the floor, Gabe near Kelsey, his arms on his knees. He twisted the top off Kelsey’s beer for her, but she placed it on the end table instead of taking a drink. When everyone was seated, Gabe started the video. He’d managed to get fairly smooth footage following the dogs while they did their thing. He’d done good making them track Alex twice. But watching him stroll into the river as if it were no big deal? Scary.
Shelby looked closer. The guy was lean, but well-muscled. Those green and black plaid boxers were kind of sexy. A smile tweaked her lips. She’d seen what was beneath them. Glancing at the guy in question, her heart set to fluttering. He’d caught her looking. He winked a sly wink. The flirt.
She looked away, but couldn’t resist. One quick glance back and there he was again, still smiling. Still winking. She rolled her eyes back to the screen in time to see him dive into the river, and hopefully before Kelsey or Zack noticed their innocent exchange.
“Not smart, Cartwright.” Zack chuckled. “Only an idiot would’ve done that.”
“We’re lucky he’s still here,” Shelby murmured, her heart in her throat. “Ah, I mean, yeah. What were you thinking, Agent Cartwright?”
Zack gave her a look. She offered a glare in return but he’d either heard the emotion in her voice or the foolish attempt to disguise it. His left brow arched giving him a truly devilish look.
She focused on the television screen and took another sip of that icy cold beer. At this rate, her bottle would be dry in no time.
Bubbles surfaced. Minutes stretched. But no Gabe. The camcorder silently recorded the ever-widening ripples. Only Whisper and Smoke’s panting from the riverbank broke the silence.
“I’m actually impressed the kid could hold his breath this long,” Zack teased.
At last, Gabe splashed to the surface, but only long enough for a gulp of air before he dived again. Then again. Shelby cringed and clenched Kelsey’s hand. Darn, he was seriously one crazy guy.
At last, he erupted out of the water with a splash and a sputtering, “Jesus Christ!”
Kelsey pointed to the screen. “What’s that floating thing? Right beside you. It looks like a log.”
“That, my dear, is a body,” Zack announced as a corpse bobbed alongside his very frantic junior agent. “Gabe found one of the SUVs that ran you off the road. This guy was in it.”
Shelby couldn’t look away. Every powerful stroke Gabe took seemed to compel the corpse to follow. It looked like a scene from a living dead horror flick. She took another drink, her lips dry and her heart pounding despite the fact that he sat less than six feet from her. Darn him. Hearing about it was one thing, but seeing it? He’d taken too much of a risk. He could have died out there.
�
�There were actually two bodies. Their buddies must’ve ditched them and their ride when they got shot,” Gabe explained. “This guy couldn’t wait to get out.”
“But who shot them?” Kelsey asked.
“That’s right. You haven’t heard the whole story yet, have you?” Zack asked.
Shelby cringed, needing another swallow of beer. Kelsey was fragile right now. Should they be telling her all this?
“The same guy who saved your life shot these two jerks,” Gabe muttered. “Actually, there were four jerks to begin with. They shot your car after they ran you off the road and into the river. Connor and Rory found some security footage that shows a guy in black shooting back at them. Once he chased them off, he jumped in after you.”
Kelsey sat in a daze—just what Shelby was afraid of. The video showed too much and too fast, and this new information was more than the poor thing could absorb.
“Can I watch my boys find him again?” Kelsey asked quietly.
“You bet.” Gabe dropped to the front of the TV and set the video to replay.
Kelsey leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. First Whisper sat, his sign that he’d located the scent he’d been told to find. Then Smoke. Then Gabe made them do it again.
“You took such a risk jumping into the river,” she said. “You were all alone. What if something happened?”
Gabe pushed off the floor. He set his beer on the end table and sat beside her. “Something did happen. You saw the dogs track Alex, didn’t you? They found him. Twice. That’s good enough for me. He is alive. You were right.”
Shelby downed the last of her drink. Kelsey seemed to have stopped breathing. She stared at the paused image on the screen. Gabe had caught both of the dogs’ faces when he’d paused the replay. They smiled with black licorice lips. At Kelsey.
“It was him,” she whispered. “I knew it. Thank God. He’s alive.”
Gabe tugged her into his side. The man looked as if he needed a long rest, but Shelby couldn’t stop looking at him.
“Come on, Kelsey,” he murmured, squeezing her tight. Tears brimmed those gorgeous green eyes of his. “This was supposed to make you happy.”
She leaned into her hands, covering her face. “I am. I’m really... so happy.”
“But happy isn’t supposed to leak out of your face like this,” he teased, a tear tracking down his cheek. He brushed his face against his shoulder.
Shelby couldn’t pull her eyes away from the tender scene. The man loved Kelsey. There was no other way to put it. They really were family.
Zack had taken up position in front of his computer screen instead of watching the replay. Both brows descended into a V. His forehead crinkled with worry lines and his cell phone tucked against his shoulder and cheek. “Yeah, Kels. You’re supposed to be dancing off the ceiling right now and drinking a beer.”
“I’m happy.” She wiped her eyes and glanced up at her ceiling. “Believe me, my heart’s up there. It really is. I’m just afraid to believe it.”
“Yeah. Me, too,” Gabe said. “We were with you at the hospital, remember?”
Shelby reached for the box of tissues on the end table beside her. She offered it to Kelsey, then Gabe, before she snagged one for herself. Nothing about this job was easy.
“Wow,” Kelsey whispered. “I haven’t cried like this in years, huh?” She turned to Gabe, cupping his jaw in the palm of her slender hand. “You poor thing. You could’ve drowned out there.”
Shelby turned away. It really was true. He would die for Kelsey.
Eagle Two became top priority and Mark was glad. For once, everyone focused on something besides proving Alex was alive. Steven had located Sam Becker. Izza, Taylor, and he were staked out at a warehouse next to the Gangplank Marina off Water Street in D.C.
Becker had gone inside with another male. Izza had already forwarded a couple of photos of them when they’d entered the warehouse. His takedown appeared imminent, but for now, it was a game of wait and see.
“Hey, Boss,” Rory said. “We’re running some traffic cam footage through Ember’s facial rec program to see if we can spot our suspects, but check this out. Connor’s been busy.”
Connor turned on the overhead screen in the Sit Room. “These are kinda choppy because I had to piece a few downloads together, but watch.”
The Sit Room was filled with the remaining agents and Mother. Connor’s satellite footage tracked the man in black after he’d driven Kelsey to the vacant summer home. Once there, he picked the front door lock and carried her inside.
“He’s got a lot of nerve.” Mother summed it up for the group. “Who was that guy?”
Connor keyed in another command. “You tell me. This guy must have disabled the security system, too. It sure went off when Gabe picked the lock to get to Kelsey.”
The overhead screen now showed three enhanced close-up shots of the man when he arrived on the scene, when he dove into the river, and again as he worked to resuscitate Kelsey. Dressed entirely in black, he’d kept his face concealed with a balaclava. All except for when he’d dived into the river.
“That’s not much help,” Mother exclaimed petulantly.
“No?” Rory asked. “Look closer.”
Connor zoomed in again until it became obvious this person was indeed a Caucasian male, around six feet tall, give or take an inch or two, and whose body shape looked as if it weighed around two hundred pounds. He moved like a man who knew exactly what to do, but what cinched the deal was the tender way he handled Kelsey as he carried her from the water and administered first aid on the riverbank. He stroked her cheek once she started breathing. He knelt over her on hands and knees, so close that it looked as if he’d kissed her forehead. Only then did he replace the black mask over his head.
Mark sat back with a gasp of denial. “It can’t be. I saw him die.”
Rory stared at Mark across the room. “Then who else is it?”
“Wait. Not done here,” Connor spoke up. “You all know the airbag and seatbelt in Kelsey’s were sliced. Who always carries a blade with him? I mean, besides Taylor and Izza?”
Maverick and David answered at the same time. “Alex.”
“Anything else?” Mark asked evenly, his logic card overloaded by this additional evidence. Until now, Connor and Rory hadn’t been able to bring this portion of the video into sharp enough focus. They’d all seen this stranger place Kelsey inside his sedan. It had looked as if he’d kissed her then, but as David had pointed out, he’d been wearing his balaclava. He could’ve simply been checking to make sure she was still breathing. But now?
Mark gulped. Could this guy be Alex?
“One more thing. Watch this.” Rory signaled Connor. The video came to life again, showing an aerial shot of the Olsens’ home on the day of the anonymous tip.
Exactly two hours before Zack and Gabe roared up to Olsens’, another black sedan rolled slowly into the driveway. Two men exited the vehicle and entered the house. Moments later they reappeared, escorting another guy to their vehicle, this one with his head covered again.
One of the men drove Kelsey’s rescuer’s sedan away from the home, while the other drove their vehicle, leaving her completely alone. It appeared her rescuer had been apprehended, but by whom?
Dead silence met the end of the video. Even Mother had nothing to say.
Rory pointed to the overhead. “I’m telling you. He’s alive. I don’t know how, but this guy has got to be Alex.”
Mark bolted. He had to get the hell out of there. The man he used to respect as much as God, couldn’t—wouldn’t!—hurt his wife, not like that. It couldn’t be him, despite all the evidence. It. Can. Not. Be. Alex!
“Mark,” Mother snapped behind him. “Izza’s on the line. You want me to take a message or what?”
God, she’d gotten nastier with every passing day. Mark returned to her counter, surprised she’d left the Sit Room when no one else had. He lifted the receiver out of her hand striving for courtesy and wondering if she
’d followed him. “Thanks. Houston.”
“Mark!” Izza shouted. “Becker’s headed toward Kelsey’s. Get over there right now.”
“Where are you?”
“Fixing two flat tires,” she hissed. “The ass is good. We never even saw him.”
Mark dropped the phone and ran, but even that didn’t let him escape the tangled mess of leadership.
“Hey,” Mother called behind him. “Where are you going?”
“Becker’s on his way to Kelsey’s,” he answered over his shoulder, his cell phone chirping away in his belt holster. “Tell David to follow me. Hell, tell everyone! Do it. Now!”
He stabbed the elevator call button while he lifted his cell to his ear, needing to be at Kelsey’s instead of answering another damned phone call. “Houston.”
“Hey, Mark.” Zack’s quiet voice rumbled over the line. “Gabe’s back. He’s got proof you need to—”
“Gear up. Becker’s on his way to you.”
The elevator doors slid open. About damned time.
“Let him come,” Zack purred. “Me and Gabe will be waiting.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Hey, Gabe. You want to come over and check something for me?”
“Sure.” He eased away from Kelsey to join his Senior Agent. “What’s up, old man?”
“Not much. Might have a low battery in camera seventeen is all.” Zack pointed to the laptop screen that showed a black sedan rolling past Kelsey’s home, its windows too dark to determine how many people might be inside. The car slowed at the curb.
“No problem,” he said to keep this new development from the ladies. No sense ruining their evening. “I can do batteries. It’s time for a perimeter check anyway.”
“Keep your ears on,” Zack warned quietly enough that the women couldn’t hear him.
“Copy that. Be right back.” Despite feeling like crap, Gabe headed for the back door. Might be Alex out there. Might not. Didn’t matter. Whoever was in that car, they were in for a surprise.
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