by D. L. O'Neal
A stab of jealously hit Gabriel in the solar plexus. He wanted to toss his friends, men he had known for years, out the door. Kalesia turned and the robe gaped, showing a generous amount of cleavage.
"Kalesia, go get dressed," he ordered curtly.
She swung around, her eyes warm with memories of last night Scraping the last of the eggs onto a plate, she put the pan in the sink before sauntering over. Resting one hand on his chest, the other went behind his head to hold him still as she leaned up and kissed him. Her mouth, as it covered his, deliberately evoked memories of last evening. It was clearly the action of a woman stamping her claim after a satisfying night in bed.
Still in his arms, Kalesia looked at the three men and winked. "You'll have to forgive him. He tends to be a tad grumpy in the morning." She slipped gracefully out of reach and out of the room before he could respond to the gentle taunt.
"You got it bad, man," the dark haired man sitting nearest the back door, commented thoughtfully.
Gabriel rubbed a hand behind his neck, working the tight muscles. "That woman has turned my life so upside down that I don't know if I'm coming or going." He made a beeline for the coffee pot. He needed a strong dose of caffeine this morning. A snarling hiss and the swipe of a seven-clawed paw marked his passage. He glared at the black cat.
"Damn cat." Hannibal jumped up onto Samuel Woods' lap, his purr mocking Gabriel's scowl.
Taking a long gulp of coffee, Gabriel studied three of the four men he could call friend and mean it.
Samuel Woods, whose blond hair and hazel eyes had caught the fancy of more than one woman, believed in paying his debts. He felt that he owed Gabriel for getting him out of some forgotten mid-eastern hot spot. Sam blamed himself for the bullet Gabriel took in the thigh during the raid that freed him. Now Gabriel desperately needed Sam's skill in electronic communications. There were, Gabriel knew, very few systems that Sam couldn't--and hadn't--hacked into.
Barry Williams, known to his friends as `Badger' for his nasty and tenacious disposition, had a knack for gathering tidbits of information. His looks were deceiving. With light brown hair and a slight build, Barry Williams looked like he wouldn't know how to duck a punch. He was a counterterrorism specialist, and expert in several forms of hand-to-hand combat. Gabriel scowled darkly. This morning was the first time he'd ever seen Badger laughing and joking with a woman, while managing to keep his mouth out of the sewer.
He and Wolf Devlin went back a long way. They'd been in Special Forces at the same time. Dark, lean and deadly, Wolf was a man who didn't trust easily. There was an aura about him that made the more perceptive take care to avoid him. He owned an electronic engineering firm. He was also one of the Agency's best troubleshooters.
Gabriel trusted these men, but it was easy to anticipate their reactions to being informed of Kalesia's psychic visions. Especially Badger's blunt comments. Gabriel hoped to defuse most of their skepticism before Kalesia returned.
"I need your help." The three men waited. "Someone is going to try to kill Kalesia. I will not allow that to happen."
"Any leads on whom?" Sam asked, cradling his mug of coffee.
"No. That's why I called." Gabriel pulled out a chair, turning it around and straddling it. By the time Kalesia returned, they were deeply engrossed in outlining strategy.
"Is this a private conversation, or can anyone join?" Kalesia went to stand behind Gabriel. He noticed with amusement the amazed blink of eyes at her attire. She was dressed in skin-tight jeans a vivid shade of yellow. Her shirt was a wild pattern of turquoise and yellow. He noted with satisfaction that she'd once again wound her hair in a neat braid on top of her head.
The surge of possessiveness he felt about that silky length of fire surprised him. He didn't want other men admiring it. Not even his friends. Gabriel scowled. Especially his friends.
"We were just discussing how to go about tracing John Crump movements." He put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer.
"I need access to a computer with a modem until I can get my stuff here," Sam interjected, his eyes lightening with amusement at Gabriel's unsubtle show of possession.
"My computer has a modem."
Sam focused on Kalesia.
"It's a brand new system I bought for my business. Actually," she confided engagingly, "I couldn't resist the sleek black styling of the thing." She grinned at Sam's barely stifled groan. "It's upstairs, second room on the right."
Sam stood. "I'll get started immediately." He left the room with a swift, silent glide. A frown creased Kalesia's creamy brow.
"Why, do I get the feeling I'm going to seem as graceful as a flounder on a waxed floor compared to everyone else in this group?"
KALESIA WAS holding her sides. "Stop," she gasped. Wiping the tears streaming down her cheeks, she confronted him. "Gabriel, did you really," she paused to regain control. "Did you really pose as a eunuch in a sheik's harem? Besides, I thought eunuchs went the way of top hats and dodos. You know, extinct."
"So did I until the sheik found me in his third, and youngest, wife's bedchamber."
Sam started chuckling.
A dull heat stained his cheeks as Gabriel realized how that sounded. "It wasn't like that, dammit," he growled, a reluctant smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I was trying to hide hotshot here." He leveled a ferocious frown at the unrepentant Sam. "I should have left you there. See how amusing you'd have found it when the sheik discovered you under his bed! Tell her the rest. Tell her how you were weak as a kitten when we ducked into the sheltered courtyard to escape a patrol." Sam had been beaten half to death, and starved. He'd had to carry him from the prison after breaking him out.
Sam held his hand up. "Honest to God's truth. Gabriel only went into her room to save me. Why, you should have seen his face when he came across the lovely lady in her bath. Didn't even peek once."
"Shut up."
"I was just telling her the full story."
"Well, don't"
"Don't listen to him. I want to hear the story." In his arms, Kalesia turned her head and shot him a significant look. "The full story."
Gabriel gave in to the inevitable. No one was going to listen to his protests anyway. He settled her more firmly against his side and leaned back in the chair. Kalesia's eyes grew larger. Her eager and enthusiastic mien egged the other men on to other, more outlandish tales. He sighed, a long drawn out affair. To think he'd been worried his friends might embarrass or insult Kalesia. The little witch was busy captivating and enchanting three of the hardest, most cynical men he knew. Gabriel found he had a new worry--keeping Kalesia from corrupting his friends beyond recovery.
Gabriel's attention snapped back when he heard Badger saying, "...and then this REMF told Gabriel...."
"What's a REMF?" Kalesia asked innocently.
Gabriel slapped his palms over her ears before Badger could answer. He shot his friend a quelling glance that shut the man's mouth with a snap. "Don't. Don't even think about it," he advised.
Kalesia pulled free. She looked from one man to the other. "I want to know what a REMF is," she demanded. Badger held his hands in the air.
"Hey, don't look at me. I want to live to see morning." He grinned, obviously enjoying her frustration.
Kalesia looked expectantly from one man to the other. A chorus of "Uh-uh, not me," met her. Standing up, she surveyed the group of men, hands on her hips. "Are you really going to let Gabriel intimidate you like this?" They nodded as one, not bothering to hide their grins.
"Men," she sniffed. "Tia has more backbone than any one of you. You," she pointed at Gabriel as he gained his feet, disturbing the Siamese curled on his leg in the process. "You can stay here with your buddies. Male bonding and all that. I," she informed him grandly, "am going to bed."
They watched the sway of Kalesia's hips until she was out of sight. Wolf let out a long, low whistle. The disgruntled Siamese cat jumped up into his lap, nails out just enough to make it clear she was not going to tolerate
her bed getting up and walking away again.
"A temper to go with that red hair. Got your hands full with that one."
"A witch with an attitude. She'd run me ragged if I let her." Gabriel smiled. "Fortunately, I'm finding that I have an aptitude for witch-taming." For the first time, Gabriel didn't linger on the veranda before going to bed. He had more important things on his mind; like being engulfed in a certain witch's unique fire.
He was in bed, his mouth on her breast when Kalesia said, "Rear Echelon Mother..." Gabriel sealed her mouth with his own, smothering her delighted laughter.
Later, after propping a pillow behind his head and pulling Kalesia against his chest, he asked, "All right, spill it. How did you learn what REMF meant?"
She daintily touched the tip of her tongue to his nipple. He refused to be distracted. She lifted her head, looking utterly satisfied.
"I," she announced, "have connections."
He tightened his arms. "Don't keep me in suspense," he murmured dryly.
"I called Tom Harley."
"You what? At one-thirty in the morning?"
"I called Tom Harley. By the way, you better go see Tom and apologize. I told him you suggested I ask him." Leaning her head back, she met his look with one of impish innocence.
"I am not going to be on his favorite person list. After years of working the graveyard shift, Tom likes his sleep."
"Oh, before I forget. Is he married?"
"No, not anymore. Why?" he asked distrustfully, wary of the mischievous gleam in her eye.
"Oh, dear. In that case, it might be safer if you called instead of seeing him in person. Tom wasn't asleep. Nor was he alone."
Gabriel began chuckling helplessly.
"I PAY YOU to keep me informed. You begin to disappoint me. I dislike being disappointed." The voice was harsh, arrogant.
"I'm keeping tabs on the woman. Remember, I alerted you to the fact she's a potential problem." The man speaking lowered his voice as someone walked by. He waited until they were out of ear shot. "I want more money. Keeping you informed is becoming dangerous."
"Don't jerk me around. You're not worth the money I'm paying you now."
"No," he drawled. "Not even if I could tell you they found a hit man by the name of Crump?"
A long silence filled the air. "Ten thousand more, and the information best warrant it. If it doesn't, remember you're not invulnerable." There was a click as the receiver was replaced.
Glancing down the hallway to be certain no one was around, the second man allowed himself a small smile. With luck, he'd wrangle another ten thousand. He just had to handle the flow of information properly.
SAM WAS bleary-eyed when Kalesia walked into the kitchen the next morning. "You look like something even Hannibal would have the good taste not to drag in. A hard night?" she asked sympathetically shoving a cup of steaming coffee in his hand.
"Thanks," he mumbled. "I'm not as young as I used to be. Be an angel and rub my neck. It's killing me." He took a reviving sip of the hot brew. "By the way, where's Gabe?"
"Right behind you. And you won't have to worry about growing any older if she touches you."
"Ouch. I thought you'd be in a better mood this morning."
Straddling a chair, Gabriel shot him a hard look. "I'm never in that good a mood. Get me a cup of coffee, honey."
Kalesia snapped the coffee on the table in front of Gabriel, a wave of anger heating her cheeks. A river of the dark brew slopped over the rim. Gabriel eyed the waste mournfully.
"Came on too strong, huh? If I ask real nice, could I have a full cup?" He looked boyishly hopeful, a neat trick for a battle-scarred tom.
She leaned down and brushed a kiss over Gabriel's lips. "See, Sam, he's able to learn."
"Well, I'll be--"
"You will be if you don't put a cork in it. Got anything?" Gabriel, a tinge of red on his high cheekbones, became all business.
"Quite a bit, actually. It's surprising what you can learn from a good database." He waited while Kalesia passed out coffee to Badger as he trooped in the door. "It seems our Mr. Crump is not the only unsolved murder right before and during that period. With a little digging, and the use of your phone--by the way your phone bill will rival the national debt, hope you don't mind--I discovered that wherever our Mr. Crump happened to be, a body just naturally seemed to turn up. A real curious set of circumstances."
"He was a hit man. Bodies usually turn up if someone is paying. Anything to connect the victims?"
"That's the real curious set of circumstances. The victims all seem diverse, with nothing on the surface to connect them. It would have taken me weeks, if not months to come up with anything on Crump if the Feds hadn't already been keeping an eye on his movements." Sam hesitated discreetly. Kalesia got the distinct impression he had pulled some pretty impressive strings for the information. "We were, so I'm given to understand, hoping to catch his boss. As it is, we're left with hundreds of man hours and no results. Crump was good. I'll give him that."
"Somewhere down the line, someone will remember something. It's simply a matter of asking the right people the right questions," Wolf offered quietly as he came into the kitchen. Kalesia shivered at the quiet menace in the deep tones. She was abruptly glad he was on her side.
"Let me snatch a few hours of sleep, and I'll see what else I can come up with on the computer," Sam concluded, already getting to his feet.
Breakfast was finished quickly. She looked at Gabriel. "It really is real, isn't it? I mean, it wasn't a mistake, a nightmare instead of a vision?" She crossed her arms over her breasts. For the first time Kalesia recognized that she had been hoping, down in some hidden place, that she was overreacting. That they would find nothing.
"No, it wasn't a mistake." Gabriel moved to stand behind her chair, wrapping his arms around her.
She leaned against him gratefully. "Gabriel, is it going to be dangerous? Are Wolf and the other men putting themselves in jeopardy to help me?"
"Maybe. But they're trained to handle danger. They're the best at what they do."
"You, Gabriel, what about you? You didn't want your serenity disturbed. Now I may cost you your life?" She squeezed her eyes shut.
"I could have walked away." He rubbed her arms. "I can take care of myself. I, also, was the best at what I did."
Turning, she wrapped her arms around the lean waist and hugged tightly. "I believe in you, and no matter what happens, I'll be there for you." It was a fierce promise.
Cupping her chin, he tilted her face. "Remember what you said, because I'll hold you to it."
Chapter 8
"SO? WHAT do we do now?" Kalesia asked Gabriel.
He leaned a shoulder against the wall right inside the door of the living room. "We backtrack your unsolved visions and see if they have any ties to Crump's murder."
"But, Gabriel, we don't have any guarantee that my vision of his death has any bearing on the threat to my life. They could be two entirely separate issues."
"True. They could be. But it's a start, a place to begin. Do you have any other suggestions?"
"No. I don't. Does this mean you no longer believe my clients are involved?"
"Not necessarily. It means I'm suspicious of the timing of your visions. In any case, I have Badger and Sam running a check on your records."
Kalesia was horrified. "Gabriel! What in the world am I going to tell my clients when they find out they're under investigation?" She rose to her feet and began to pace.
"Calm down."
She swung around on him. "Don't tell me to calm down. Don't you understand? They'll never trust me again. My business will be ruined!"
"Kalesia, stop it. Your business won't be ruined because your clients will never know we investigated them."
"Hah! That's what you say now," she muttered, envisioning having to start over, to build trust all over again.
"He's right, Kalesia," Badger said. "Hey, remember, we're pros."
"Professional snoops, you m
ean."
"At least, lady, we're your professional snoops," Gabriel grated, an edge to his dark voice.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh, talk about touchy. It's not as if I called you a thief or anything." She jammed her hands in her pockets. The man had a knack for making her feel guilty. "What do you want to know?"
"Tell me about the vision from two years ago."
"I already told you." She held up one hand to forestall any pithy comments. "All right, all right. I'll tell you again."
Kalesia rubbed her palms over her jeans and drew a deep breath after she finished relating everything she could recall. "That's it. But, outside of being shot, I still don't see a connection between that old murder, John Crump's and mine."
"Where was he shot?" Gabriel asked.
"In the..." Kalesia swallowed. "He was shot in the head." She sank slowly onto the sofa and looked from one hard, closed face to another. "But in my vision I wasn't shot in the head. Surely that means something," she protested feeling helpless and hating it.
"We can't chance it. Two of the victims in your visions were shot in the head."
"He's right, Kalesia," Badger said, moving to stand behind her and patting her shoulder. "We have to follow every angle." He looked at the other men for confirmation.
Sam concurred. He sat beside Kalesia on the sofa. "At this point, we can't favor one scenario over another."
Wolf was already sitting on the padded arm of the black and white sofa. He picked up her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "We have to be thorough."
Gabriel was being suspiciously quiet. Kalesia looked over at him, only to find he was looking at the three men, his gaze faintly sardonic. At last he spoke.
"Check if there is a connection between Crump and Kalesia's clients."
"Gabriel, there is no way you can keep an investigation like that quiet." Kalesia objected. "And, besides, it could take weeks!" This was getting out of hand. Before they were done, no one in the state of Florida would touch her services again.
"Then the quicker they get started the quicker we can get some answers," Gabriel said, causing her to want to kick him in the shins. He shoved away from the wall where he'd been leaning.