“Thank you for your help, December fourteen years ago,” he said.
She didn’t acknowledge the comment, but he thought he saw a little twinkle in her eye.
“You two know each other?” Jake asked.
“No,” Isiah answered.
Shah responded at the same time, “We just met today.”
Alexis shot him a look that told him he’d need to explain later. He wouldn’t, of course—he couldn’t—but he could tell her it was classified. Technically, he shouldn’t have said anything at all, but for two reasons he had. First, the intel he and his team had received that had come from her had helped save lives. He owed her his thanks now that he had the opportunity. And his second reason was because he liked this quirky team of FBI agents Shah had put together. As meaningless as it may be, he wanted them to know he had some history with their boss and that he respected her as much as they did. Would it make him one of them? No. But it might make them think of him as something other than an outsider.
“Alexis?” Shah gestured to the folder sitting on the table, prompting her.
Alexis threw him one last look then briefed everyone on what they’d found the night before. It didn’t take long, but her delivery of the succinct summary definitely packed a punch and by the time she’d finished, both Jake and Beni were sitting up straight and looking ready to batter her with questions.
“She’s told you everything,” Isiah cut in before Jake and Beni could begin. “But have a look yourself.” He gestured to the file and Beni quickly snatched it up, leaving Jake grumbling beside her.
“So what are you thinking, Alexis?” Shah asked.
“I think we need to go to Honduras. We need to warn the asset—whoever he is—that his identity is at risk and we need to find out what he knows about any plans being made that involve the Summit.”
“I agree, but I can’t get you clearance to go into the country for at least a few days,” Shah said.
“But do you even want to get that clearance? I don’t know how much of this Huck shared before sending it to me.” Isiah gestured to the papers Beni was now poring over. “His superiors may already know, or suspect, that The Gentleman is in Honduras and suddenly having a team of FBI agents request extra-jurisdictional authority might raise some red flags.”
“That is an issue,” Shah conceded. “I can get around it but it might add a day or two.”
“Or we could just go,” Alexis said. “It potentially has to do with the Summit, which is our jurisdiction. I say we go and ask forgiveness later.”
“Or we could go as regular people,” Jake suggested. Everyone turned to stare at him. “What?” he demanded at the sudden scrutiny. “All I’m saying is that with the exception of Damian, who took that vacation in February before Charlotte came to the island, none of us has taken a vacation since we moved here last November. What if we take a vacation? To Honduras,” he added, no doubt for the dramatic effect.
“Even if we did do that, we can’t all go and leave the island without any of us,” Beni countered.
“No, but Alexis and Jake could go. And I assume you’d want to go as well, Lieutenant?” Shah asked. “If you did, it would lend credence to the vacation story…a couple of friends taking a few days off.”
“Call me Isiah, please, and yes, I’d like to go. I understand that your priority is the Summit, and I support that, but mine is finishing what Huck asked me to do.”
“We can take my plane,” Alexis offered.
Isiah swung his head to look at her. “Your plane? You have a plane?”
She arched a brow at him. “I told you my family has money. We have a couple of planes. One of which is at my disposal and parked at the airport. Mostly because my parents think if it’s here, I’ll visit them more often. But I hardly ever use it,” she added, apropos of nothing.
Isiah scanned the room to see if anyone else thought it a little surreal to have an FBI agent casually talking about using her private plane. But Beni’s attention was still on the papers, Shah was staring into the middle space—no doubt calculating their next twelve moves—and Jake looked ready to hop up, head home, and start packing.
“Okay,” he drew out the word. “So, as weird as all that sounded, is it a go?” he asked, directing his question to Shah.
“Alexis and Jake, are you both okay with that plan? You won’t be completely on your own if something goes sideways, but it will take us longer to coordinate any extractions or assistance, if needed.” Shah looked from one agent to the other as she spoke.
To their credit, neither answered immediately. Instead, they looked to each other and did something Isiah had seen—and experienced—a hundred times before. They held an entire conversation without saying a word. After a minute, Jake nodded.
Alexis turned to Shah. “Yes, we’re okay with that plan. We understand the risks and if I call my pilot now, we can be wheels up as soon as we can get a runway time.”
An hour after setting the plan in motion, he and Alexis were back in her jeep headed toward The Shack. They’d spent some time at Beni’s looking at maps and comparing them to the information from Huck’s files. They had a pretty good idea of the general location The Gentleman was last in but, as everyone was quick to point out, the information they had was now four days old. They might be able to locate the elusive spy, but it was just as likely that he’d already moved on.
“You going to be able to find someone to cover the bar for you?” Alexis asked as they climbed their way to Center Road, the road that ran down the center of the island.
“I already texted Marty and he’s fine to cover the front of the house and bar. He has a lady friend who sometimes comes in to help cook. He’s going to stop by her place this afternoon and see if she can cover the kitchen for a few days. She’s a damn good cook, but she won’t cook everything on the menu, so we’ll have to make some adjustments.”
“Why won’t she cook everything?”
Isiah gave a rueful chuckle. “If it’s not specific to these Caribbean islands, she says it shouldn’t be served in a Caribbean food restaurant on this island.”
“But you’re from the Bahamas, surely that means you can legitimately serve Bahamian food?”
“How did you know I was from the Bahamas?”
Her pinky twitched on the steering wheel. She remained silent through a hairpin turn. Then finally, she let out a quiet breath. “Personal security, remember?”
“I remember, but what does that have to do with me?”
She glanced out her side window, more to avoid looking at him than for any other reasons, he’d wager. “When I first moved here, I visited The Shack a few times.”
“Five times,” he interjected. That got her attention and she cast him a look of surprise before quickly shifting her attention back to the road.
She nodded. “Anywhere that I go regularly, Yael runs a security check on the place, including background checks of the owners and employees.”
He had so many questions—“Why” being the most obvious—but he opted to not go with the obvious.
“How the hell does that even work with your job? I can’t imagine the FBI would be happy with your personal security inserting themselves everywhere.”
He saw the edge of a smile. “They don’t know. Shah knows, of course. She pretty much knows everything, but not the rest of them. I made a deal with my parents that when I’m at work, there is to be no interference. But when it’s personal, like going to The Shack, or the spa where I get my hair and nails done, or where I shop for groceries, then Yael has free rein. And speaking of Yael, can I ask you a favor?”
“Seriously?”
She shot a worried look at him. “I can’t tell if that’s a ‘seriously, you have to ask if you can ask a favor?’ or a ‘seriously, you have no right to ask a favor’?”
He chuckled at that. Still a little fascinated by how her personal security intertwined with the professional life she’d chosen to lead, he opted to let her drop the subject for
now and go with the flow. “The former. I know your priorities, but as I said, you’re also helping me help Huck. That means something to me.”
“Is it possible Huck would have gone after The Gentleman, himself?” Alexis asked.
It was a question Isiah had pondered as he’d stared at the ceiling in his bed the night before. “Yes, it is. If he realized that the intel he’d gathered was being used for the reasons we think it was being used, then yeah, I wouldn’t put it past Huck to try and right those wrongs and warn him.”
“So it’s possible we might find him in Honduras.”
Isiah looked out the window to the verdant hillsides. “It’s possible, but I’m not counting on it. Now what’s this favor?” he asked, not wanting to talk more about Huck.
Alexis paused as if she wasn’t quite ready to drop the topic, but then she answered. “My teammates don’t know about Yael. She’ll have to travel with us if we’re on the pretense of being on vacation and she’ll co-pilot the plane, as well. But I would appreciate it if you would pretend you’ve never met. Otherwise, it will raise questions with Jake, and then he will needle us both until we want to throw him out of the plane without a parachute.”
Isiah couldn’t help but smile at that. He’d only caught a glimpse of the agent’s personality but, yeah, he could see Jake McMullen doing exactly what Alexis didn’t want him to do.
“Will there be anyone else on the plane that I should pretend I don’t know?”
She shook her head. “No, Teddy will fly us, Yael will co-pilot, and Oscar will be the cabin attendant.”
“How many people does your family employ?” he asked, staring at her.
She lifted a shoulder. “A lot. But several do more than one thing. Teddy is also part of the security team. He lives onsite in the guesthouse and works for Yael. Oscar is the assistant house manager. Rachel manages all the bills, schedules, that sort of thing, but Oscar does all the running around and getting things done.”
“You really are loaded, aren’t you?” he said more than asked. Of course, he’d known she was, but the way she casually spoke of having staff spoke volumes.
“My parents are,” she corrected. “And yes, I know I have massive privilege because of the wealth they’ve built, but at the end of the day, it’s their money.” As she spoke, they pulled into the parking lot of The Shack. “Is that going to be a problem for you?” she asked.
He nearly threw out an automatic “no,” when something in her eye caught his. She wasn’t issuing a challenge in the guise of a question, she looked to be genuinely curious if the fact that she had money—or her family did—was going to be an issue for him.
He’d met a lot of wealthy people on the island, some he even considered friends, but in her question, there was a little something more—something that maybe hinted at the attraction that simmered between them. Almost as if she was trying to sort out whether or not she should squash the fledgling interest.
Biting back his initial response, he shifted in his seat to face her. “I’m not going to lie and pretend it’s commonplace for me to be hanging out with someone who has private planes and staff. But those things are only a part of who you are. I already know you must be one hell of an agent to be working with Director Shah, and I also know you have the loyalty of Yael and Eric—yes, they work for you, but they also care about you. Those things tell me more about you than the plane your parents gave you. So no, it’s not going to be an issue. It might be a little awkward for me at first, but it’s not going to be an issue.”
She studied him for a moment, then gave him a soft smile. “I’m glad.”
And suddenly, he was, too. More than her simple statement warranted. But he sensed he’d passed some sort of test—no, not a test, she hadn’t asked him the question to test him, but maybe he’d—they’d—passed some sort of hurdle?
“I didn’t even ask if you wanted to be dropped at home.” Alexis leaned forward to look at the bar through the windshield as she spoke. “I just assumed I would drop you here, but do you need a ride home so you can pack? We’ll be wheels-up in just over two hours.”
Their scheduled take-off time was later than they’d originally planned, but apparently, commercial air traffic took precedence over private planes—a fact he hadn’t known before a few hours ago. In the scheme of things, it had been for the best, though, as it gave him and the team more time to plan.
“I live here,” he said, answering her question. He wasn’t at all ashamed of where he lived, but he did wonder what Alexis would think of it.
“Here?” She leaned forward even more. “Don’t get me wrong, the view must be amazing. But where?”
He chuckled. He loved the ingenious design. The angle of the roof and strategically placed eaves all but hid his private quarters from prying eyes. “There’s a room on the second floor that runs the entire length of the bar. My closet and the bathroom are the only closed off spaces, and the rest is all open. There is a long balcony that runs most of the length of the building, and there is a massive plantation glass door that opens onto it.”
Alexis continued to stare at the building, and he could see her trying to imagine it. He’d take her up there one day, but not today.
“You’d never know there was anything like that over the building,” she said.
“I did that intentionally. From the sides of the building, you can’t see the balcony. You could if you were down the hill looking up, but it’s pretty private.”
“And you must have the same view from your home as you do from the verandah of the bar, don’t you?”
“I do. Maybe even better since it’s not screened in.”
“God, I bet that’s gorgeous,” she all but whispered. A little something inside him shifted at the sound of awe in her voice. His home wasn’t luxurious, as he assumed hers was, but that she seemed so taken with the idea of the beauty he woke up to every day told him a lot about her, it told him much more than the fact that she had a plane and staff.
As if realizing he’d seen something in her that she hadn’t intended to show, she cleared her throat and sat back. “Pick you up in an hour? Or do you need more time than that? We don’t need to show up any more than twenty minutes before our runway time.”
But he didn’t want her to shy away from being herself—at least not with him. Picking up her hand, he brushed his thumb over her palm. “It is gorgeous,” he said. “And maybe, when we’re back from Honduras, I can show you.”
Her blue eyes held his and slowly, a smile teased her lips. “I’d like that.”
He held her hand for a moment longer, absorbing the softness of her skin against his. Then allowing reality to intrude, he released her and reached for the door. “An hour’s fine,” he said, opening it and sliding out. “And I haven’t said it before, but thank you. I know this is all wrapped up in your task force and the Summit and the whole reason you’re down here to begin with. But it didn’t start out that way. You didn’t know what you’d find when offered to help me, and so thank you.”
She didn’t look away from him and, after a beat, she answered. “You’re welcome. See you in an hour?”
He nodded, shut the door, and took three steps back. Then standing in the parking lot of his business, he watched her drive away.
Chapter Seven
Alexis sat back and contemplated the cards on the table.
“You can’t win. Admit it,” Jake said.
They were airborne, flying at twenty-four thousand feet somewhere over the Caribbean. Yael, Oscar, and Teddy had introduced themselves to Jake and Isiah then promptly set about doing their jobs. Of course, Yael knew the real reason for the trip and Alexis was pretty sure the woman was secretly relishing being part of an op, but for the others, it was business as usual when working for the Wrights.
“Look!” Dramatically, Alexis pointed out the window. “A cloud shaped like a penis,”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Isiah look up from where he sat on a couch on the other side of the
plane. But to her dismay, Jake didn’t take the bait.
“Are you trying to cheat, Alexis Alexandra Wright?” he asked.
She might have thought she could snag a glimpse of his cards while he looked out the window. “Alexandra isn’t my middle name.”
Jake smirked. “I know. I just like the idea of calling you Alex Alex Wright.”
Alexis rolled her eyes and folded her hand.
“Her middle name is Emelia, with an ‘E’,” Jake said to Isiah. “I figured if you’re going to be her boyfriend, you should know that.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. I only said that because Sarah Webster is a parasite and I didn’t want her to start wondering why I was bringing a retired Navy SEAL into the office.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wondered why she’d bothered. Jake knew full well her comment had been nothing but a ruse, but that wouldn’t stop him from tormenting her.
“Right,” Jake drawled. “It’s all because of Sarah Webster.” He winked at Isiah.
“For the love of god, Jake,” Alexis muttered, then reached for the cards and started shuffling.
“What do you think Shah is going to do about her?” Isiah asked. Alexis glanced up as she bridged the deck. Shah had been suspiciously silent on the topic of Sarah Webster.
“Dominic is still following her. But I know nothing more than that,” Jake said.
“Did you ever meet her?” Isiah asked. “I know you worked in LA, and Alexis said Webster was based on DC then New York, but did your paths ever cross?”
Jake shook his head. “Not once, but that’s not surprising. So what’s the story when we get there?” he asked.
Alexis was used to Jake’s abrupt changes of topic, but she saw the momentary blank look on Isiah’s face as his mind shifted to the same train.
“I guess I’ll be Alexis’s boyfriend,” Isiah said.
She glanced at him, then dealt the cards. “No, because then that’s weird that Jake is there. Jake can be my boyfriend, you can be my brother.”
She looked at her cards, not bad, a ten and an eight. When no one spoke, she raised her head. Both men stared at her. “What?”
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