Her First Vacation

by Leigh, Jennie

  “Get your hands off her.”

  She saw Garret lift his gaze from her to the door. She saw his eyes widen in obvious surprise. Then he took a step back and pulled her around so that she was standing with her back to him while he had one hand tangled in her hair and the other wrapped around her waist. Claire’s eyes locked on Colin, and for that first instant, the only thing she thought or felt was the flood of relief that brought fresh tears to her eyes. Then her gaze shifted to the large gun Colin had aimed directly at her. She felt her heart do a hard stutter in her chest. Garret spoke softly.

  “You’re not really thinking of shooting me over a piece of ass, are you?”

  Claire’s eyes jumped from the gun to Colin’s face. He wasn’t looking at her, though. His hard gaze was locked on Garret. So, she realized, was his aim.

  “There are all sorts of reasons why I would love to put a bullet in you, Palmer. What you’ve done to Claire is just one of them.”

  Colin saw Garret’s gaze narrow. He could see him making connections, putting pieces together until he finally came up with the truth, or at least part of it. His gaze turned hard and flat as he glared at Colin.

  “So what are you? DEA, FBI, ATF?”

  Colin shrugged. “Does it really matter?”

  Garret shook his head. “No, I don’t suppose it does. You’re dead no matter who you are.”

  Colin shot him a grim smile. “I think you’ve got that backwards. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the one with the gun.”

  “Yeah, but I’m holding all the cards.” Garret tightened his grip on Claire’s hair, tugging hard enough to force her head to tilt backwards as she gasped in pain.

  Colin felt his finger tighten against the trigger. He damn near kept squeezing until the bullet left the chamber. He was certain he could hit Garret without hurting Claire. There was a risk that he might miss, though, that the ship might suddenly shift and throw off his aim. So he kept his finger snug against the trigger, but didn’t tighten it any further, even when Garret smiled at him.

  “That’s right. Think about poor, defenseless Claire. You take the shot at me, and you might just get her too. We wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we? Then again, if you don’t drop that gun, she’ll be dead anyway because I’ll snap her lovely little neck.”

  Colin could only watch as Garret lifted a hand to grip Claire’s chin. He could feel her terror, and it ate at his gut like molten fire. This was his fault. He’d let his guard down and now, just like before, an innocent was caught in the middle. Only this time he was in love with the woman, and he knew that if she got hurt in any way, it would destroy him. He shook his head slightly.

  “How stupid do you think I am? I give up the weapon, and Claire and I are both dead.”

  Garret shook his head. “I’d be willing to let you live. I’ll just make other arrangements to get off the ship, especially since I’m positive there will be a crowd waiting for me once we dock. I’ll make a couple of phone calls, then leave you two tied up while I make my escape.”

  “Let me guess. You’re thinking you can call your good friend, Azerado.” When Garret’s gaze narrowed a bit, Colin nodded. “Oh, yeah, we know all about him and the package you delivered last night. Of course, that’s not all we know. There is that whole business about you screwing his wife while she’s plotting to kill him. And just in case you’re thinking that you might be able to use him and get gone before he figures out what’s really going on, let me inform you that he and his wife are already in custody. He knows you’re the one who led us to him, and you can bet that he’ll make sure all his friends know where to lay the blame as well.”

  Garret spat out a curse. “Do you have any idea what they’ll do to me?”

  Colin smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

  His eyes were wild as he struggled to come up with a way out. Colin gave him a few seconds to dwell on it, then pushed him a little further. “You have no choices. Either you let her go and come with me, or you hurt her, I shoot your balls off and you come with me or, by some miracle, you actually manage to get the drop on me and take us both out and you run, but the cartels will track you down and make you wish like hell that you’d never been born. No matter what happens, you’re going down. It’s just up to you to decide how you want it to happen.”

  Claire could feel Garret’s heart racing. She didn’t understand everything about the exchange between him and Colin, but she knew enough to guess the high points. Colin was some kind of undercover agent, and Garret was guilty of more than just the murder he’d admitted to her. Whatever he’d done, it was clear that Colin intended to arrest him. And she was standing in his way. As long as Garret was using her as a shield, Colin’s hands were tied. She kept her gaze locked on Colin as she bided her time, waiting for the slightest chance to catch Garret off guard.

  Finally, Garret reached a decision. Colin saw the acceptance come into his eyes. It was mingled with raw fury, though, and even before Garret spoke, Colin knew he wasn’t going to like what he said.

  “You’re right about me having no way out, but you’re wrong about my options. I may be screwed, but I have absolutely no intention of going down alone. If I’m going to die, then so be it. I’ll make sure you don’t get to enjoy it, though.” He shifted Claire so that she was completely in front of him, blocking any shot that Colin might try to take. For the first time, Colin’s eyes settled on her instead of on Garret. He saw the tears, the redness on her face that he knew must have come from a slap. Her beautiful eyes were wide with fear, but she was holding herself together. Then Garret took a step back, dragging her with him, and Colin saw the horror that came into her eyes. She began to struggle as Garret lunged backwards onto the balcony. Colin shouted for him to stop, even as his gut clenched painfully when he finally realized what Garret planned. He was going over the side, and he meant to take Claire with him.

  Garret was stronger than she was. He was bigger. But he was no match for the sheer terror that overtook her as she realized that he meant to throw them both over the railing. She screamed as she fought him, kicking backwards with her legs even as her hands clawed at his arm. He let go of her chin, but kept his hand tangled in her hair. She felt him stop suddenly as he came up against the railing, and she kicked back again, this time managing to connect with his shin. He howled, and she felt the hand in her hair loosen its hold. She knew it was the only chance she’d get. She spun around, diving toward the balcony floor. She saw Garret reaching for her at the same time that the gunshot sounded. She felt the blood spray across her, saw the wide-eyed shock on Garret’s face. Then she screamed again when he collapsed on top of her. Her head slammed against the balcony floor, and she felt nothing at all after that.

  Colin jerked Garret off Claire, not caring that the man screamed in pain as Colin wrenched his wounded arm around behind his back. He snapped the handcuffs in place, then shoved him face down onto the ground and put his foot squarely in his back.

  “If you so much as move an inch, I’ll put another bullet in you, only this one will go through your knee, understand?”

  Garret whined, “I’m bleeding to death!”

  “Not yet, you aren’t. But I’ll make sure you do if she isn’t perfectly fine.”

  Colin turned away from Garret and sank to his knees beside Claire. She was splattered with Garret’s blood, which only made the paleness of her skin more apparent. He carefully checked her pulse, breathing only a small sigh of relief when he found it strong and steady. She was alive, but unconscious. He’d seen her head hit the floor. The impact had been pretty hard because Garret hadn’t made the slightest effort to keep all his weight from landing on top of her. Colin was nearly overwhelmed with the sense of guilt that assailed him. This was his fault. He’d been too cocky, too proud of the fact that he’d succeeded where so many others had failed. And now Claire was paying for his conceit. He wanted to pull her into his arms and cradle her there. He didn’t move her, though, because there was always a chance that her injuries wen
t beyond a mere concussion. Garret might have broken her neck when he fell on her. Or anything else might be broken. So Colin just left her lying there as he forced himself to get to his feet and turn away.

  Half an hour later, Garret’s arm had been tended to and Claire had been assessed and stabilized for transportation to the upper deck where a helicopter was going to land to pick her up and take her to the mainland. The ship would be docking in a few hours, but she still hadn’t regained consciousness, and the ship’s doctor was doing what he thought was best. Colin had contacted his superiors to let them know what had happened, and they assured him that Claire would be taken care of. Colin didn’t doubt it. She was a witness. They’d give her anything she wanted just to secure her testimony against Garret. Colin could barely believe that his eyes misted as he watched the helicopter lift off the deck of the ship. It banked, heading off to the north, and with each second that passed as the distance between it and the ship grew, Colin felt another piece of himself ripped away. By the time it had faded completely from view, he was aching so much that he could feel his hands trembling. She was gone. Whatever the extent of her injuries, even if she made a complete recovery, he knew she was gone from his life forever. They’d never meet again, unless it was at some point in the future when she was called to testify at Garret’s trial. That wouldn’t happen, though. Colin had no doubt that Garret would start screaming for a deal. He’d sell out everyone he’d ever known if he thought it would keep him off death row and out of the reach of the various drug lords and gunrunners that were going to want his head. It would never make it anywhere near an actual trial. Which meant that for the rest of his life, Colin’s last memories of Claire were going to be the terror in her eyes as Garret tried to kill her and the ghostly pale cast of her skin as she was loaded onto that helicopter. He’d never forget it because he was the one who’d put her there.

  A few hours later Colin, handed Garret off to the army of federal officers that were waiting for them when the ship docked. He hadn’t heard a word about Claire and knew better than to ask. The last thing either of them needed was for him to make it public knowledge that they’d had an affair that had led to him falling head over heels in love with her. His superiors would pick at it until they were certain it couldn’t possibly jeopardize their case in any way. Then they’d give him a long-winded speech about the foolishness of getting emotionally attached to the assets he was working. Of course he’d cut that speech short when he told them to go to hell and take their job with them. But still, he didn’t want to put Claire in that position. She deserved more than to be thought of as some gullible woman who’d been taken in not just by Garret, but by the man she’d thought she was in love with. So when the time came to file his report, Colin gave the barest of facts. He didn’t omit the fact that he and Claire had become intimate. No doubt Garret would gleefully spill that bit of information himself. Colin simply stated it in the most basic terms, making sure it was an almost off-handed bit of info so no one would think anything of it. He implied that it had been nothing more than two consenting adults working off a little steam and left it at that. Claire, if asked, wouldn’t dispute it. It was amazing how easily he could turn the most profound event in his life into something apparently trivial. More proof, if he’d needed it, of how ingrained his ability to lie had become.

  It was late that afternoon when someone finally mentioned Claire’s condition. They did so in passing, mostly showing relief that their witness wasn’t going to drop dead rather than with any real relief that a beautiful, intelligent, vibrant woman would survive to share herself with the world a little longer. Of course, Claire was just a witness to them. They didn’t know her. Didn’t understand how unique she was. They’d never looked into her magnificent gray eyes and seen the depth of her love for the children she taught or the fire of uncontrolled passion that she did such a good job of hiding. They couldn’t know that being anywhere near Claire was like a gift from God. She was just a witness, nothing more. It ate at Colin to see her relegated to the station of a tool to be used, then discarded once its purpose had been served. But there wasn’t anything he could do to change that. She wasn’t his concern any longer, no matter how much he wished she were.

  Claire stared up at the generic white ceiling in the typically bland hospital room. There was a guard stationed outside her door, as if she was something too precious to be left unprotected. Over the past ten hours, there had been countless federal agents and officials in and out of her hospital room. All of them had bowed and scraped and flattered until she was ready to throw the pitcher of ice water sitting beside her bed at them. They were so grateful for her willingness to testify against Garret Palmer. They practically drooled all over her when she gave her statement and informed them that Garret had actually confessed to having killed someone by throwing them off the ship. She caught enough of the snippets of conversation between the agents themselves to figure out that the man he’d killed had been another federal agent. Like Colin. Colin who, according to more than one of the agents she’d met, was the best undercover man they’d ever known.

  They talked amongst themselves a lot, apparently not realizing or not caring that she might overhear them. They talked about how many others had tried to get close to Garret and failed. They laughed as they imagined the expression on Garret’s face when he realized he’d been had. They discussed how proficient Colin was at becoming whoever or whatever he needed to be to get close to his mark. And through all of it, not one of them so much as guessed that she was falling apart inside. Maybe, if they’d had the slightest inkling of what was going on inside her, they’d have been just as impressed with her ability to lie as they were with Colin’s.

  She closed her eyes as a fresh wave of pain ripped through her. Tears began to gather in her eyes, but she resolutely shoved them away. She wouldn’t cry. Not here, not now. There was too much a chance that another agent might walk in the door suddenly and catch her off guard. They’d been nothing but sympathetic and considerate, but she was smart enough to know it was nothing more than an act. They wanted something from her and meant to keep her happy until they got it. Tomorrow, she would give a formal statement. Then, she’d go back to her life, and if they needed her to testify, she’d be contacted. She imagined that once they had her statement to use as leverage against Garret, he’d give them whatever they wanted from him, and she would cease to be of importance. And as quickly as it had begun, the circus she was now immersed in would dissipate, leaving just her in its wake. Alone. Just as she’d always been.

  Of course, now she wasn’t simply alone. Now she was alone with a broken heart and shattered trust. She’d been willing to accept that Colin was a womanizer who was incapable of loving her or any other woman. She’d been certain she could live with the fact that he’d wanted her body and nothing more. But now she was forced to face the truth. He hadn’t wanted anything from her. She was simply another part of his cover. An easy mark for him to manipulate and use however it suited him. Oh, he’d saved her life in the end. There’d been no emotion involved in it, though. He was doing his job, protecting his witness. That’s all she would ever be to him. Within a few weeks he’d be on another assignment, and she wouldn’t even be a memory.

  The grief and humiliation wouldn’t have been so bad if she wasn’t furious as well. Furious with Colin and with herself. He’d lied to her and manipulated her, but she was the one who’d allowed it. She could barely believe she’d been so naïve. She’d spent her life with two of the most manipulative people in the world. Her mother and sister could get anything they wanted from anyone. They knew exactly what buttons to push and how to do it so that their prey didn’t even realize they were being controlled. Claire had long since learned to see it and not be taken in. But she hadn’t seen the truth about Colin. And now she was left with nothing. Not even the memory of the passion she’d thought was real. Because if he’d lied about everything else, he’d surely lied about that as well.

  She forced h
erself to release the breath she was unconsciously holding. What was done, was done. There was no going back, no changing her mistakes. She’d become Colin’s lover because she wanted to and ultimately, she couldn’t blame him for taking advantage of her gullibility. She could always have said no. Which meant that there was no point in dwelling on what might have been. He was gone. She’d never see him again. There was no way she could tell him what she thought about him, even if she got the chance. The humiliation of what she’d done, what he’d encouraged her to do, would make facing him almost impossible anyway. So she told herself to just let it go. She had other things to worry about, anyway. Like the fact that she wasn’t simply going home to face her mother and sister tomorrow, but she was going to have to explain at least some of what had happened on the ship. She’d had to call them and let them know she wouldn’t be home tonight. She gave them only the briefest of explanations. She told them she’d hit her head and been put in the hospital for observation. Her mother had bemoaned her lack of grace while Diane laughed in the background. Neither of them had even mentioned coming to the hospital to be with her. Not that she wanted them to. She could just imagine the commotion her mother and sister would stir. They’d have every man in the hospital genuflecting at their feet within an hour. Claire knew she wasn’t in any mood to witness that. So she just told them she’d see them tomorrow evening. If they saw anything on the news about Garret’s arrest, she doubted that they’d connect it with her. If Garret’s arrest had even been on the news. She had her doubts that it was any sort of common knowledge. That, she suspected, was the real reason for the guard at her door. They didn’t want her talking about what had happened. That was fine with her. As soon as she was released, she intended to put the whole thing behind her and never think about it again.