“You could do that in the Witness Protection Program.”
“With someone on the inside on Kane’s payroll? I don’t think so. You know as well as I do he’d find a way to get to me. I’d never live long enough to testify.”
He was silent for a long time, and then Grace felt his hand close over hers. “I’m going to help you out of this mess, Grace. You and your mother both. Trust me.”
“I do.”
She did trust Brady, with her very life. But unfortunately, he wasn’t the one calling the shots. Kane was.
A NIGHTMARE awakened Grace. She and her mother were running through Dealey Plaza. Kane was pursuing them with a pitchfork. Her mother fell, and Grace helped her to her feet, but her mother couldn’t walk, and Grace couldn’t carry her. Kane was closing in on them, and there was nothing she could do. She could hear Brady calling to her, but he was too far away to reach them in time. He couldn’t help her. Grace was on her own—
She sat up, trying to clear the remnants of the dream from her head. It was getting cold inside the cabin. The fire had died down, and she started to get up to put on another log. A low moan from Brady halted her. She thought at first he was in pain, but then she realized he was in the throes of his own nightmare.
“Don’t die!”
He was dreaming about his father again. Grace knelt beside him. She lifted her hand to touch his chest, to gently awaken him, but she froze when he said a name.
“Rachel! Oh, God, Rachel!”
The desperation and fear in his voice almost stopped Grace’s heart. Who was Rachel?
Someone Brady had been involved with after he’d left Grace? Someone he’d been in love with?
It was agonizing to think of him in another woman’s arms, although Grace knew she had no right to think of him as hers. Not after what she’d done. If Brady had found someone else after her, then it only served her right.
But it still hurt. The thought of it still killed her, because in five years, there had been no one else for her.
He groaned again, and Grace gently shook him awake. “Brady?”
He bolted upright, grabbing her, his gaze frantically searching her face.
He thinks I’m Rachel, she thought.
His gaze seemed to clear then, and his grip slackened. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. You were having a nightmare. Calling out in your sleep.”
He looked disturbed by her words. “Sorry if I woke you up,” he muttered, getting up to throw another log onto the fire. He busied himself at the fireplace for a few moments before coming back to lie down beside her.
Grace propped herself on her elbow, staring at his profile. His skin had been hot to touch. She wondered if he had a fever, or if the pain in his arm had provoked the nightmare.
“Brady?”
When he didn’t say anything, Grace lay back and gazed at the ceiling. “Who’s Rachel?”
He still didn’t say anything. She turned her head to stare at him. His eyes were closed, but she knew he hadn’t gone back to sleep. In the light from the fire, she could see the telltale tightening of his features, the tiny frown that played between his brows. Obviously, Rachel was a subject he didn’t care to discuss.
When she’d given up on him answering her, he said almost brusquely, “She was a witness I was assigned to protect.”
“What happened?”
“She died.”
“How?”
He glanced at her then, his gaze almost angry. “It’s not something I like to talk about, okay?”
Grace nodded. “I understand. But you still dream about her. Whatever happened obviously still bothers you a great deal. Maybe it would help to talk about it.”
“You’re not a shrink, Grace.”
She flinched at his harsh words. “No. But I am someone who cares about you.”
His gaze softened slightly before he turned away. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. After a moment, he said, “She was Stephen Rialto’s mistress. Last year she decided to turn state’s evidence, and I was assigned to protect her until she could testify.”
“Like me.”
“But unlike you, Rachel was cooperating,” he said. “Security was breached. The safe house where we were staying came under attack one night.”
“Déjà vu,” Grace whispered.
His voice grew even more grim. “Except Rachel was killed. That’s not going to happen to you.”
“Were you wounded?”
He shrugged, but didn’t answer.
“Is that what happened to your leg?” Grace persisted. “I’ve noticed you limping from time to time.”
“It tore up my knee pretty badly,” he said. “I had several months of physical therapy. There was a time when I wasn’t certain I’d ever walk again.”
“But you did.” She had an image of Brady in a rehab center, fighting for each step. Fighting to regain his life, his independence, his dignity. Brady, who had always seemed so invincible to her. Grace blinked back tears as she glanced at him tenderly. “You’ve been through a lot.”
“I’m alive. That’s more than I can say for Rachel.”
There was pain and guilt in his voice, but also something else. Grief?
“Were you in love with her?” She asked the question so softly, she wasn’t certain he’d heard her, but he turned his head and met her gaze. His eyes were shadowed by an emotion Grace thought was regret.
“Witness protection is a tricky thing,” he said. “You’re confined to close quarters night and day. You get to know a person in ways you wouldn’t under ordinary circumstances. You come to rely on one another, and sometimes a bond forms. An intimacy—”
Grace turned away. “I don’t need to hear the details.”
She felt his hand on her arm. His touch was soft, gentle. Reassuring. “It wasn’t what you’re thinking. We didn’t sleep together. But there was…something.”
Grace closed her eyes. “I guess I always knew you’d find someone else. I just never thought…I never knew it would hurt this much.”
“The bond that Rachel and I had…” He paused, as if unsure what to say to her. How to explain his feelings. “It was nothing compared to what you and I had, Grace.”
Had was the key word, as he’d once told her. She opened her eyes and gazed up at him. He was sitting up, propped on one elbow as he watched the fire. Grace thought that she had never loved him more than she did at that moment, even knowing about Rachel. Even knowing that come tomorrow, they might never see each other again. Or maybe it was because of all those things. Maybe everything they’d both been through in the last five years had made her appreciate the man Brady was more than she ever had before.
“Was Rachel going into the Witness Protection Program after she testified?”
Brady seemed surprised by the question. “It was already set up. Why?”
“You would have let her go like that? You would never have seen her again?”
“That’s the way it works, Grace. I wouldn’t have had a choice.”
“With me, either.”
He realized what she was getting at then, and he turned back to the fire, his expression stark. “If you testify against Kane, then you’ll be given a new identify. A new life. I won’t know your new name or where you’ve been sent.”
“And if I don’t testify, if I make the exchange with Kane and take my mother out of the country, we’ll still never see each other again, will we?”
His gaze met hers. “Probably not.”
She turned to stare at the fire for a moment. “There’s something I want to say to you then.”
“Grace—”
“No, don’t stop me. I need to say this.” She rose to kneel beside him. “I’ve never stopped caring about you, Brady. For the last five years, all I ever wanted was your forgiveness.” When he tried to protest, she said quickly, “I’m not saying this to try and con you. I don’t have any ulterior motives. I love you and think I always will.”
She touche
d his cheek with her fingertips. “I just wanted you to know. After tomorrow, we may never see each other again.”
He caught her hand and drew her fingers to his lips. The way he looked at her made her pulse race. He said very softly, “We still have tonight.”
THE YEARS melted away as rapidly as their clothing. They lay naked on top of the sleeping bags, kissing and touching as the passion built to a fevered pitch. It was different now, though. Where once Brady would have succumbed to the urgency of the moment, he held back, savoring the feel and the taste and the beauty of Grace’s lean body.
Her legs were long and slender, like a dancer’s, and her strength only complemented her femininity. She was strong and capable, a warrior woman at times, but she could be submissive when he wanted her to be. Demanding, when he needed her to be. She stroked him knowingly, and Brady lay back, his body on fire, as Grace rose over him, an Amazon queen ready to conquer.
But it wasn’t going to be quite that easy, he decided. He reached up, cupping the back of her neck to pull her toward him, kissing her until she collapsed against him, her strength waning with desire.
“Brady…” she whispered weakly.
They were lying side by side now, and Brady knew that she was being careful not to hurt his arm. But the whiskey had dulled the pain, and with Grace naked against him, there were more pressing aches. More urgent needs.
He rose over her now, kissing her again, whispering in her ear, making her tell him what she wanted. And she complied. Wrapping her long legs around him, she left no doubt.
As their bodies melded, Brady thought his heart might pound its way right out of his chest.
GRACE LAY back against the sleeping bag and sighed. Her heart was still racing. She put her hand to her chest, measuring the beat, as she watched shadows dance across the ceiling.
Beside her, Brady stirred, settling himself on the sleeping bag. She could feel his gaze on her, and she smiled lazily. “That was incredible.”
“It always was.”
“Yes, but this time…” She turned to face him. “It was different this time.”
“I know.”
“Brady—” She took his hand, drawing it to her face. “I’ll never forget this night. I’ll dream about it.”
He gazed down at their linked hands, a shadow passing over his features. “Tomorrow…today,” he amended, glancing at his watch. “After the exchange, if you still want to leave the country with your mother, I’ll help you.”
“What about the Witness Protection Program?” she asked in surprise.
“You were right. Unless we find the leak, it’s too dangerous. Kane found you once. I won’t take a chance on him finding you again.”
“You think one of your colleagues is on the take?”
He rubbed a hand across his tired eyes. “I don’t know. The men I work with…I’d trust any one of them with my life. They’re good men, Grace. Dedicated. I have a hard time believing any of them would have turned.”
“You know them all that well?”
“They’re like my family.” He got up and stirred the fire, then came back to lay down beside her, pulling one of the sleeping bags over them. Grace snuggled against him, drawing warmth from his body and strength from his presence.
“What you said before…about tomorrow.” She turned to glance at him. “You said, ‘from here on out, it’s just you and me’. I’m glad you’re with me, Brady. You have no idea how much.”
Grace felt his lips skim her hair. “I’m glad, too.”
“Things have changed between us, haven’t they?” she murmured. “Or is it just me?”
“No. Things are different. We’re different.”
“But it’s too late.”
“That’s the hell of it, isn’t it?” His voice was heavy with regret.
Grace turned in his arms. His gaze was so tender she felt everything still inside her. “We still have tonight,” she whispered, fighting back tears.
Chapter Fourteen
They woke up early, quickly showered and dressed, and were on the road by dawn. They took Highway 17 all the way to Pecos, and from there Interstate 80 to Odessa. The trip took nearly four hours, including a stop for gas, food, and a change of clothing for Grace. The flight to Dallas took less than half that time. At Love Field, they rented a car, and by one o’clock had checked into a downtown hotel, in a room overlooking Dealey Plaza.
By three o’clock, Brady was already watching the area through binoculars he’d picked up at a camera store a few blocks away, and the tape had been retrieved from a locker at the bus station. The only thing missing was Grace and her mother’s passports, which were in a safety-deposit box at the bank. No way to get to them until Monday, when the bank opened, but they wouldn’t wait that long. She and her mother would head for New York immediately, hide out until she could contact her father, and then, with his contacts, he would help them get the necessary papers.
She paced the room nervously, realizing the plan was not without fault. Her father might refuse to cooperate. And even if he did, he might not be as powerful and well-connected as she’d always thought. A million things could go wrong, but the most dangerous element was the exchange itself. As soon as he had his hands on the tape, Kane would want them dead. Somehow Grace had to make sure she and her mother were out of the line of fire before Kane got the tape.
Brady glanced at her over his shoulder. “You’re as nervous as a cat. Why don’t you go take a hot bath, try to relax. I’ve got this covered.”
Grace started to protest, but he was right. She had to calm herself down before the meeting.
Going into the bathroom, she stripped as the tub filled. Settling herself into the steamy water, she closed her eyes, willing away the tension as she ran over the coming scenario in her mind. She and Brady already had a car waiting in a lot near Dealey Plaza for the escape. Brady would provide cover. On that point he had been insistent. He would never let her go to that meeting alone, but Grace was worried about that. He’d already been watching the area for signs of Kane and his men for the better part of an hour. Kane would probably be doing the same. If he caught a glimpse of Brady, or any cop, then Angeline would be killed.
Somehow, Grace would have to find a way to get rid of Brady. She’d have to go to that meeting alone, but that meant she might never see him again. Once she and her mother left for New York, there would be no turning back. Brady would be gone from her life forever.
Feeling depressed and scared, Grace climbed out of the tub, quickly dried off, and pulled on her clothes. Suddenly, she couldn’t wait to see Brady again, but when she opened the bathroom door and stepped out, the hotel room was empty.
She glanced around, dismayed. Then her gaze lit on the bed. The tape was missing. Brady had taken it, but…why? He couldn’t go to that meeting in Grace’s place. Kane would never show. So why had he taken the tape?
To turn over to the DPS? Did putting Kane away mean so much to him that he was willing risk Angeline’s life?
Grace didn’t want to believe it, but the fact remained that the tape was gone. She’d never felt so betrayed.
ALL THE WHILE he and Grace had made the arrangements for the meeting with Kane, Brady had known in the back of his mind that there was no way he’d let her go to Dealey Plaza. Kane would never allow her and her mother to walk away alive, and if he had the place surrounded, which was likely, a dozen getaway cars wouldn’t make a difference. The meeting was an ambush, pure and simple, but Grace was so desperate to rescue her mother, she was willing to put her own life on the line. Brady couldn’t let her do it.
But as he’d watched the street from their hotel window, he’d gone over and over in his mind everything he’d ever known about Lester Kane. Five years ago, he’d gone undercover to expose Kane’s operation, and he’d managed to get on the inside. He’d learned of drop-off points, warehouses Kane had used for distribution, even most of the small-time street dealers who had worked for Kane. But none of it had mattered once Grac
e’s story had run prematurely because everything had disappeared. Evidence. Witnesses. Everything. They hadn’t been able to touch Kane, and Brady had thought the information he’d learned was useless, the hours he’d spent on the case wasted.
But as he’d gazed at the street below their hotel window, something had come back to him. Kane had a sister named Delia. Five years ago she’d worked as a registered nurse at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Brady had even staked out her house one night, watching for Kane.
He thought about that now as he parked the car down the block, and stared at the same house. He had no idea whether or not Delia Kane still lived at the same address, but who better to take care of a hostage with Alzheimer’s than a registered nurse?
He got out of the car and crossed the street, walking the half block or so to the house. The sky was overcast. Even though it was only four-thirty or so, darkness was already falling. But no light shone from any of the windows. He wondered if Delia was still at work.
Glancing over his shoulder, he rounded the house and let himself in through the back gate. A dog barked next door, and he quickly moved into the shadows on the concrete patio.
The door was secured, but the lock was flimsy. Brady was inside in less than a minute. Drawing his weapon, he moved silently from room to room, thinking fleetingly that with all the money Kane made from drugs, his sister’s home was pretty modest, a tract house with the same floor plan he’d seen hundreds of times.
Maybe Delia Kane wouldn’t take drug money. Maybe she wouldn’t be involved in a kidnapping, either.
In the living room, he moved to the window and checked the street. Then he turned and headed down a narrow hallway toward the bedrooms. All the doors were open except for the one at the end of the hallway. As Brady’s hand closed around the knob, he heard something stir within, a rustling sound that spiked his adrenaline.
He shoved open the door and planted himself, weapon raised. The woman sitting in the gloom stared at him in confusion. Her blue eyes looked familiar, but her hair had gone completely white. Grace’s mother was only in her mid-fifties, but she’d aged since Brady had last seen her. So much so, he almost didn’t recognize her.
The Bodyguard's Assignment Page 16