Operation Blind Date

by Justine Davis

When he got close enough to see her clearly, one look at her face told him he’d been right, he wasn’t going to have to tell her about this new and unexpected development.

  “Teague, you copy?”

  Ty’s voice crackled in his earpiece. “Go ahead.”

  “Boat’s registered to a Carl Reed.”

  Teague frowned. “Reed? Like Nancy Reed, the rich aunt?”

  “Exactly. Same address. Maybe the late husband. Registration’s expired now.”

  Teague’s brow furrowed. So there was still some kind of connection between this guy and Edward Page. But what was it?

  He edged the kayak to the dock. She was there, waiting. She waited until he was safely back on solid decking before she spoke. Even now, alert, aware and thoughtful. She was something.

  “Did you see her?”

  “No. He kept it closed up the whole time.”

  “My God. How could I have been so wrong?”

  “We all were. We all assumed it was Edward.”

  “Because I told you it was.”

  He brushed that off. He wasn’t about to let her take the sole blame for that. It had been a natural assumption, Amber starts dating a new guy and then vanishes; anyone would have connected the two.

  “Not your fault. And it’s Page’s late uncle’s boat, according to the registration.”

  “But Edward’s not there?”

  “Not unless he’s hiding below. Puts us back a bit, it turning out to be a stranger.”

  “But he’s not a stranger,” she exclaimed.

  Teague set down the kayak he’d just picked up. Stared at her. “Tell me.”

  “I know him,” she said, sounding as wound up as if she’d like to start pacing again. “I mean, I don’t know him, but I’ve seen him.”

  “Where? When?”

  “He’s the guy who was with Edward that day I introduced them.”

  Chapter 30

  Laney tried, fiercely, but she couldn’t remember anything more about the man. Edward hadn’t even bothered to introduce him to them, so focused had he been on Amber. While she herself had been noticing how quickly he had switched his intentions. Which hadn’t been fair. She had turned him down, more than once. It was completely illogical, really, since she would have said no again anyway.

  But she had to admit now that seeing how quickly he switched had actually made her feel better about saying no.

  But not enough to warn Amber off.

  Guilt stabbed through her again. It wasn’t as biting, now that she knew Amber was alive, but it was still there.

  “Amber never even spoke to him that day, and Edward never introduced him. And she never mentioned him after, that she even knew his name let alone that she was seeing him. She would have. I swear, she would have. She would have made a joke out of it. ‘My life could be a corny movie, girl meets guy, falls for his best friend’ or something.”

  He didn’t look at her for a moment as he dug out his phone. Probably thinking what an idiot she was for jumping to wrong conclusions.

  “Teague, there’s still something wrong,” she said.

  “I know,” he said as he hit a button on the phone, but still held her gaze. “Maybe even more than we thought.”

  Before she could ask what he meant, he spoke into the phone. “Hayley?” A pause, then, “Good. Tell him there’s been an unexpected development.”

  He went on to relay what they’d learned. He listened for a moment, then said, “No, don’t know if he stole the boat or just borrowed it from Page.” Another pause. “All right. We will.”

  “Will what?” she asked when he disconnected.

  “Watch and wait. Quinn’s on his way with Rafe.”

  “Rafe?”

  “You haven’t met him yet. He’s a little intimidating, but he’s a good guy.”

  “Intimidating? Next to Quinn? Hard to believe.”

  That crooked grin flashed for a moment. “Rafe’s a whole different kind of scary. You’ll see. But he’s the best there is at what he does.”

  “Which is?”

  “Lots of things. He’s got the best instincts I’ve ever seen. Better even than Quinn, on some things. I swear he can sniff out a bad guy practically as well as Cutter.”

  She smiled at that, but it had a rueful edge. “And no doubt better than I.”

  “You had no way of knowing.”

  He said it so definitely it eased her guilt a bit.

  The kayak secured for the moment, he headed back to the car. She followed, although she was torn between going with him and watching the boat. She compromised and took the scope with her so she could watch while he was doing whatever he was going to do.

  “And when you already know who the bad guy is, what does your Rafe do?” she asked as they went up the gangway.

  Teague seemed to hesitate for a moment, then said, “Among many other things, he’s our sniper.”

  She blinked. Somehow just the use of that word instantly took this to an entirely new level. “Foxworth needs a sniper?”

  He glanced at her. “Occasionally.”

  “Oh.” She wasn’t sure what was showing on her face, but when Teague spoke again, it was gently.

  “If it comes down to it, Rafe will take the guy out if he has to, to keep Amber from getting hurt.”

  Laney suppressed a shudder. “And who decides he has to?”

  “Quinn.”

  “Only Quinn?”

  He opened the back of the SUV, reached for the bigger bag the scope had come out of and pulled it toward him. She lifted the scope to her eyes to check the boat; all quiet, no sign of Amber or the new part of the equation.

  “If it’s optimal,” Teague answered.

  She lowered the scope, looked at him. “What’s optimal about shooting someone?”

  “I meant, if the circumstances allow, he’s the one who makes the decision.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “He trusts us to make the best decision for the situation. But if it comes to deadly force, he wants to be the one, in case there are repercussions. If there’s any heat, he takes it.”

  It was all she could do not to gape at the things he was taking out of the pack. More ammunition. What looked for all the world like a small explosive device. These he put in the pockets of the vest he pulled out next. A knife went into a small slot at the top of his right boot. And here she’d thought he just wore the combat-style footwear because he liked them, or they were comfortable.

  He must have sensed her unease.

  “I have to go in prepared for anything, Laney.”

  “I know. I just... I never thought... The police are coming, right?”

  He nodded. “But we’re in a remote area here. Their response time could be as much as an hour, maybe more.”

  And by then Amber could be dead. She thought of how she’d feel if that happened, if she was reduced to just sitting here safely onshore while her best friend was murdered just a hundred yards away. It didn’t bear thinking about. She would paddle out there alone and unarmed before she could let that happen.

  But Teague would make sure that didn’t happen. And these were his tools. Only as good, as effective as the man who wielded them.

  She was feeling more foolish by the moment. And yet thankful, too. She lifted the scope once more. Still quiet.

  “Have there been repercussions? When Quinn has made that decision?”

  “A couple of times.”

  “Did he get in trouble?”

  “Quinn has a lot of friends, and even more goodwill to spend, in a lot of different places.”

  She pondered that answer. Thought of how she would feel when this was over, and Amber was safe.

  She’d do anything she could to help
Foxworth, if they asked. She didn’t expect there was much she could do, but if they asked, she wouldn’t hesitate. And she guessed everyone they helped probably felt the same way. That was, as Teague had said, a lot of goodwill.

  She also knew he was talking more to distract her than anything. And she was letting him, in fact was glad of it, because it felt so wrong to just sit here safely while Amber was...

  Was what?

  She lowered the scope once more to look at him. “What did you mean, when you said maybe more was wrong than we thought?”

  For the first time he looked away. Dodging her gaze? “I just meant this guy is a whole new element, and we don’t know how that changes the picture.”

  That made sense. What didn’t was why he was avoiding looking at her.

  “You mean because we don’t know anything about him?”

  “Yes. With what we knew about Edward we could make a reasonable guess on how he might react. With this guy in the mix now, the whole dynamic could change.”

  “And I’m no help. I can’t even give you a name.” Frustrated with herself, it came out sharply.

  “Stop, Laney. None of us expected this. And that,” he said ruefully, “will teach us.”

  His words, and especially his tone, eased the knot in her stomach a little. But then something he’d said spun back to the front of her mind. “You said with him in the mix now,” she said, the implication only now registering. “Do you mean you think both of them might be involved? Edward and this guy?”

  “We can’t discard the possibility. We’ve already made one wrong assumption about this case. We can’t—”

  He stopped, tilting his head as if listening. Before she could absorb the ramifications of what he’d said, she heard what he’d heard, in the distance, the sound of a helicopter nearing. Quinn. The cavalry had arrived. At least, she thought so, but just when it got so loud she couldn’t believe it wasn’t within view, the sound changed, lessened, and seemed to stop moving. For a couple of minutes it stayed the same, puzzlingly growing neither louder nor fainter.

  Maybe it wasn’t Quinn yet after all, she thought. Lots of helicopters, including navy and Coast Guard, flew around here.

  She looked at Teague. He straightened up, closed the back lift gate. Looked back at her. And again, read her expression.

  “It’s Quinn.”

  “But it stopped, how can you be sure?”

  “He’s dropping off Rafe. He’ll be here momentarily.”

  Even as he said it the sound changed again, roaring as if the craft were taking off again. “Dropping off?”

  “I’m guessing that rise just across the road. High ground, and best angle on the marina.”

  She glanced that way. “But it’s covered with trees, where could he land?”

  “He probably didn’t.”

  She blinked. And stared as the small black helicopter indeed came into view over the trees she’d just been speaking of. “You meant literally dropping him off.”

  “Like a hot rock,” Teague said cheerfully. “Fast rope insertion. Piece of cake when no one’s shooting at you so you can keep both hands on the rope.”

  Feeling ever more out of her depth, Laney watched both the approaching chopper and Teague as he pulled out his unusual phone, pressed a series of buttons, fiddled with a small device in his hand that he then put in his ear.

  “Hey, boss,” he said.

  He must have gotten an acknowledgment, because he spoke again. “Rafe? You copy?”

  A pause, then he said, “No, no change. Laney’s been watching while I gear up. They’re holed up on board.”

  He listened for a moment. “Copy,” he said then. “I’m not thrilled with the kayak, it’s not exactly stable for boarding, but it’s the best shot. He’s seen it, and has me pegged as a henpecked husband. Harmless.”

  Laney wondered how he’d managed that. She couldn’t imagine Teague Johnson as a henpecked anything.

  “It’s a small boat, close quarters. I’m going in armed, but it’ll be last resort, too easy for Amber to be hurt in a crossfire.”

  Laney suppressed a shudder. The helicopter seemed to go past them, then turned beyond the cove and headed back over the water. It slowed, not quite a hover but certainly not moving quickly, near the entrance to the cove.

  “Copy that,” Teague said to whatever he’d just heard in his ear. A little bothered that she had no idea what was actually happening, Laney watched the chopper a moment longer. But when Teague moved toward the kayak again, she’d had enough.

  “I’m coming this time,” she said, reaching for the second kayak.

  His head snapped around. “Laney, no, you need to—”

  “What I need is to be there.”

  He abandoned the kayak, came back to her. He put his arms around her, held her close. She let him; they’d certainly not had the slow, pleasant morning she’d hoped for, so she would take what she could get.

  “We’ll handle it.... We’ll get Amber out of there.”

  “I know you will.” And she did, that wasn’t the issue. “Amber’s terrified, I told you that.”

  “I know. But it will be over soon.”

  Laney knew he meant to be soothing, calming, and it would work under probably any other circumstances, but now it didn’t even dent her determination. Reluctantly she pulled free, took a step back. Looked at him steadily.

  “Amber’s terrified,” she repeated, “and terrified people sometimes do crazy things. She’ll have no way of knowing you’re the good guys. Unless she sees me.”

  She knew she was right. And she saw from the way Teague’s eyes narrowed, followed by his jaw clenching, that he knew it, too.

  “Damn,” he muttered, and something about his tone made the curse irrelevant. It made her feel valued, protected. She’d been on her own so long it took her a moment to recognize the feeling.

  That it was this man making her feel that way gave her a whole new feeling. And she realized it hadn’t been just those feelings she’d longed for. It was those feelings from the right person.

  Teague was that right person.

  And she didn’t have a single minute right now to deal with that discovery. He’d told her, when he’d tried to do the noble thing and not give in to the attraction between them. He’d told her she could, and likely would, feel differently once Amber was back safe and sound. She didn’t think so, but she couldn’t deny he was only in her life because of what they would be facing in the next few minutes.

  Whether he would be in her life after this, she would soon find out. The most important thing right now was Amber. It had to be.

  She supposed it was selfish, but she couldn’t help but wish she’d met him some other way.

  Chapter 31

  And this, Teague thought with grim realization, was why Quinn warned them not to get too emotionally involved. It messed up your thinking, had you worrying about something other than the goal. Not that he didn’t want them to care, that was the cornerstone of Foxworth’s philosophy: they cared when no one else did. But Teague knew if he’d been thinking straight, he would have seen the logic of Laney’s proposal from the get-go.

  But instead he’d been focused on keeping her out of harm’s way, keeping her safe, when in fact she was right. In fact, he’d almost set it up himself, albeit inadvertently, with his nagging wife jokes. If she appeared with him, the guy would think that’s who she was, that the text had been to order him back to get her. It would fit.

  She was right about Amber, too. She could well be so traumatized now that she’d see another, strange man as just another threat. She might even decide a drowning death was better, and go for the water.

  And Laney had the right to be there. Because the bottom line was that no matter how dedicated he and Foxworth were, no one had more at st
ake here than Laney. Except maybe Amber herself.

  So he was just going to have to deal.

  “You will stay back,” he ordered. “And whatever happens, you don’t get between me and him, or between the boat and where Rafe is.”

  It only took her a second to process that. Still quick, he thought, as she went a little pale. “I—”

  He cut her off. “No argument, or you stay here.”

  “I was just going to suggest I stay on the other side of the boat from you. That fulfills your requirements, right? And it might distract him a little, divide his attention.”

  The way the boat was positioned now, she was right. Again. She was thinking tactically, in a way that both surprised him and didn’t. This was Laney, after all. She might never have been in a situation like this before, but she was quick and she was smart, and she learned fast.

  “All right. Just pay attention to the angle of the boat so you don’t end up in the wrong place for Rafe.”

  “In his line of fire, you mean.”

  She said it steadily enough. Admiration flooded through him, not for the first time since he’d met this woman. She’d do to ride the river with, as Texas-born-and-bred Liam sometimes said, a saying he’d picked up from his Texan grandfather. Oh, yes, she’d do.

  “Yes. And if that happens, if shooting starts, you are to get the hell out of there as fast as you can. Head sideways. Toward the sailboat for cover, or the rocks if you have to, just not back toward the docks or toward the entrance of the cove. Is that understood?”

  “Yes. I’m not stupid, Teague. I know when to rely on the pros.”

  “I never thought you were stupid. Ever. Far from it.”

  He didn’t have time to react to what flashed in those warm eyes then. Quinn was in position, so was Rafe, it was time to move.

  And he couldn’t let himself be the one distracted, by wondering what would happen after this was resolved. Wondering if she would indeed come to her senses and realize what had happened between them had been born out of the situation, out of circumstances, and not real.

  Never mind that it had been the most real thing he’d ever felt in his life.