The Marked Bride (Shadow Watchers Book 1)

by Vicki Hinze

  “Forget it. He’s gone underground,” Joe said. “We won’t find him until he wants to find him.”

  “And he’s crooked, too.” Mandy couldn’t keep the disappointment out of her voice. “Figures.” Not one but two and her mother. “The whole bunch are bad.”

  “Yep, Joe’s right. Olsson’s gone.” Sam predicted.

  “Why would he run?” Lisa asked. “Mandy gave him no reason to doubt his cover was intact.” Lisa lifted a hand. “She even threatened him, which he probably found reassuring that she believed he was Travest.”

  Inwardly, Mandy groaned. She was going to have to live with having made that threat for a long time.

  “He knew we had his prints,” Tim said. “He had to at least consider that we might run them.”

  “So where is Charles Travest?” Mandy asked.

  “You were right about him. He was close,” Nick said. “Jeff Meyer and his team has had him under constant observation. He left after your first dance and is currently well on his way toward St. Augustine.”

  “Does this mean we’re done with him and his family?” she asked.

  Mark not Nick answered. “If he wanted you dead, you’d have been dead a long time ago.”

  “Would I?” she asked, trusting nothing from any of them anymore. “He thought he’d killed my mother, didn’t he?”

  “Yes.” Tim didn’t flinch or insult her by stating he had killed her mother, extending the charade.

  “Oh-oh.”

  Mandy stilled. When a Shadow Watcher says oh-oh, you know it means trouble. She dared to look at Nick.

  He frowned. “Travest has dropped off our radar.”

  Mandy closed her eyes a long second.

  Mark hit his throat mic. “You’re telling me you lost Travest and Olsson.” He paused, listened and his face burned red. “And Paul Johnson.” The veins in his neck stood out like thumbs.

  “Don't worry,” Tim told her. “They’ll be back. They always come back.”

  “So what happens now?” Mandy asked.

  Mark jammed his phone into his pocket and elevated his voice. “Well, it seems there was a hole in our associate’s net and all three fish have escaped. We’re done for now.”

  Done? How could they be done? Mandy looked at the guys. They seemed to accept this news with no fanfare.

  “It happens,” Lisa told her. “The good guys don't always catch the bad guys. Not right away.”

  “But—“

  “It’s hard to stomach, but do it, Mandy. For your own sake.”

  Mandy let her outrage slow to a simmer. Letting go, when all this hit so close to home, would take a while. But Lisa was right. At least now they knew who Jackal was, and that Chase Olsson, who she believed with all her heart had to be her father, was NINA. The organization had done a double jeopardy type of sting on Charles Travest. Only it knew why.

  Tim joined Nick for a private chat.

  “It’s over. Just like that?” Mandy asked. “I understand but it’s so strange.”

  Lisa stepped over to Mandy. “Get used to strange. NINA’s slick and slithery like the snake it is. Unfortunately, it’s always strange and it never stays away. But for now, it’s gone, and we’re safe.”

  Mandy didn’t feel safe. She was a bundle of nerves. “How do you switch gears like this? I don’t understand.”

  “The serenity prayer helps,” Lisa offered her the tip. “Change what you can, accept what you can’t. Welcome the wisdom to know the difference. Today, the news is good. You and Tim are married, and we all live to fight another day.”

  “Except instead of one lousy father, I appear to be the daughter of another lousy father.”

  “There is that.” Lisa sighed. “But he can’t be worse than my stepfather. The human trafficking NINA operative, remember?”

  “Will the guys ever really trust me, Lisa?”

  “They already do or you wouldn’t be here.”

  Mandy wouldn’t. She really wouldn’t. And she wasn’t going to do anything to mess that up. “Tim,” she said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “I told you I needed to tell you something and you needed a moment so I had to wait. I can’t wait anymore. You—all of you—need to know this now.”

  They took to their seats and waited.

  She began with her walking down the aisle, and hearing the note. Shared why it was significant. Then she told them about her conversation with her mother in the restroom. “I’m not sure, but I fear she might be Phoenix.”

  Tim started to say something, but Mark signaled him to stand down. Mark told her, “That was quite a shock to you, I’m sure.”

  “Yes, and not a good one. But I’m glad she’s alive.”

  “Of course.” He shifted on his seat. “Why do you think she’s Phoenix?”

  Mandy couldn’t sit another second. She paced the length of the table beside it. “I could give you thirty million reasons why.” She stopped. “I have to tell you, I never suspected a thing. She had me totally fooled. I still can’t wrap my mind around it.”

  “Yet you didn’t tell me.” Tim looked her in the eye.

  Her face heated. “I started to tell you in the limo, but you got Nick’s message and I had to wait. I had every intention of telling you. Not once did I consider not telling you. When we got to the reception, I—I wanted a moment, Tim. Just a moment that was ours. Then we danced and I tried to tell you then, but you needed a moment.”

  “She’s right. I heard it all through her transmitter.”

  She spared Nick a “thank you” glance, then focused again on Tim. “When we came in here, I intended to tell you all. And I am telling you all.”

  “You should have told me right away, Mandy.” Tim was hurt.

  Well, so was she. “I’m sorry. But nothing lately has been easy, okay? I bury my mother by myself, then at the wedding, I hurt because she’s not there. I hear the note and realize she’s alive and present but masquerading as someone else. I threaten to shoot my father to keep anyone from getting hurt at the wedding and I realize he’s someone else pretending to be my father. And when I come in here to tell you that my mother and father are corrupt, I discover that the stranger who walked me down the aisle well may be my real father and Travest no relation to me at all.” She paused and drew in a sharp breath.

  “The most upsetting part about the men is that neither of them—both of them together—make a patch on a decent man’s . . . jeans.” She’d almost slipped and gotten herself into jalapeño tea territory. “So, yes. I found out my mother’s alive and I didn’t tell you immediately. I got interrupted, fell to temptation and stole a moment for us—two, actually. One, I needed. One, you needed. Selfish of me, but I figured because of the money, Mom had to be Phoenix and that could, and probably would, get her killed.” Mandy flung her arms upward. “I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t take having to bury her again on our wedding day, Tim. I just couldn’t do it.”

  Tim parked a hand in his pocket. “You were worried about my reaction.”

  “Well of course, I was worried about your reaction. I still am. My father Jackal, now my mother maybe Phoenix—wouldn’t you worry?”

  Mark not Tim responded. “Will you see her again?”

  “She said no. I’m married to a Shadow Watcher now. NINA likes distance between sides. That comment too makes me think she’s Phoenix.”

  Tim stood up. “Maybe she’s not Phoenix. Maybe she’s afraid of NINA and running.”

  “No.” Mandy shook her head. “They faked her death. They didn’t stage all that for nothing. I know you’re trying to spare my feelings, but don’t. These people do really bad things. She has to be one of them.” Mandy’s voice cracked with that painful admission. Her disappointment ran deep, to cellular level.

  “Tell her, Mark.” Nick urged him. “She’s one of us, and she’s lost too much already.”

  “Tell her what?” Tim asked.

  Mark worried his lip, debating.

  Joe stood up. “If you can shed light, do it, Mark
.”

  “Dang straight.” Sam crossed his arms over his chest.

  Mark glanced at Lisa, who nodded. “Okay.” He let his gaze slide to Mandy. “Your mother is Phoenix, Mandy.”

  Tears filled her eyes. She fought but failed to prevent them from falling. “I’m so sorry.” She swallowed hard, looked at them all. “Really, so sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” Mark said. “She’s not a threat to us.”

  Mandy stilled. Sniffed. “What? Have you arrested her, then?”

  “No,” Mark said. “There’s no need for that.”

  Tim groused, “You’re not making much sense, Mark.”

  “We were just informed,” Mark said. “Mandy, your mother hasn’t been arrested because she’s broken no crime, and she’s far too valuable to us in the field.”

  “I—I don’t understand.” Mandy thought a second. “You got her to turn against NINA?”

  “She’s with NINA but she’s never been a part of NINA.”

  Mandy didn’t understand. “What?”

  Tim touched her arm. “She’s one of us. I’m guessing, under DHS or Omega One?” He directed that to Mark, who nodded confirmation.

  “So she’s on the right side of this.” Relief washed through Mandy. “She doesn’t work for a criminal terrorist organization.” Mandy gasped. “That is what you’re saying, right?”

  “It is.”

  Relief, swift and intense, rushed through her. “Oh, thank you.” Mandy wept. “Thank you so much for telling me. She told me she was a good person—she promised, but I didn’t dare to believe her. I couldn’t with all that money.”

  “She’s a good person, Mandy.” Mark nodded, serious and thoughtful. “Providing vital services to her country. You can be proud of her—even if you can’t tell anyone anything about her.”

  Her mother had infiltrated NINA. Apparently, a long time ago. “Thank you for trusting me, Mark,” Mandy said. “Knowing helps more than I can say.”

  “No more jolts today,” Tim said. “That’s it.”

  “Tim?”

  He turned to her. “Yes, Mandy.”

  “I have a question.” When he nodded, she dared to ask. “This is real, right? This marriage? It wasn’t just about NINA, I mean.”

  “It’s real for me. Is it real for you?”

  “Totally.” At the altar, he’d promised to love her to his last breath, but had that been real or mission-essential?

  Let it go, fool. Never ask a question when you might not want the answer.

  She paused, discovered she did want the answer. Either way, she needed to know the truth. Summoning a courage she didn’t feel, she forced herself to be bold. “Why did you marry me?”

  “Because I love you. I’ve always loved you, Mandy.” He studied her, then frowned. “Wait. Oh, no. You weren’t sure of that, were you?”

  “What kind of moron don’t tell a woman he loves her after their kind of breakup?” Sam asked, reaching for his baseball cap, which wasn’t there.

  “Dead from the neck up,” Nick muttered.

  “What’s wrong with you, bro?” Joe stared gape-jawed at Tim. “You didn’t tell her you still love her?”

  “I—I . . .” Tim looked bewildered. “It never occurred to me she wouldn’t know.”

  Mandy muttered, comforted by the guys’ indignation. “I didn’t know.”

  “Wait a second.” Tim’s expression turned tender. “You didn’t know, and you married me anyway.”

  “I told you, I don’t work without you.” Tears burned her eyes. The back of her nose. “I didn’t know, but I hoped. Oh, how I hoped.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.” Tim clasped her shoulders. “I’ve always loved you, Mandy, and I always will. That’s a promise.”

  “I didn’t think you’d make vows in church if you didn’t.” She looked up at him. “But I really needed the words.”

  Joe let out an exasperated sigh. “You need serious work on this, bro.”

  “Definitely.” Nick guffawed.

  “Dang right.”

  Once again, no one fussed at Sam, though Mandy did see Lisa ease behind him and squirt something into his glass of tea. She must have agreed with the guys because it was just a little squirt.

  Tim touched her face. “You’ll never doubt it again. That’s a promise.”

  Joy flooded Mandy, washed away any doubt, and she smiled. “Oh, we’re definitely going to have an extraordinary life.”

  He drew her to him. “Definitely.”

  “A little more work on your dang communication skills wouldn’t hurt none.”

  “Shut up, Sam.” Nick and Joe said simultaneously.

  Lisa frowned. “That’s it. I’m telling Nora.”

  “Aw, come on, Lisa. She’ll never make me hot tamales again.” Sam whined. “Man. You know I love her hot tamales.”

  “Oh, she’ll make them, and they’ll be hot all right.”

  “Don’t, Lisa.”

  She crossed her chest with her arms. “Convince me you’re going to work hard, too. You’ve got to clean up your potty mouth, Sam. It’s a sign of a weak mind, you know, and your mind is anything but weak.”

  “You sound just like Nora.”

  “Great. Knock it off, then.”

  Smiling Tim bent low and kissed Mandy.

  Definitely, an extraordinary life. Mandy had finally found her place, here with Tim in this world they’d shape themselves. Whoever her father turned out to be, Travest or Olsson, it didn’t really matter. Both men fell far short of the men in this room. They had valued and protected her, and they always would. No longer did she stand alone. She’d found her family—and her mother would be somewhere watching.

  This was a future she believed in. It was honest and good and, like her, flawed to the core and totally human. But faith in herself, in Tim, in the rest of the Shadow Watchers and the women in their lives, melted her fears. She embraced her role as the welcome newcomer. The beloved wife and respected woman who belonged with them in this tight inner circle. Here she’d find peace. A home without secrets and lies and shame. Everything she’d longed for in life now lay before her like a bountiful feast. She had only to embrace it.

  In her husband’s arms, she mentally stepped into the circle of her husband’s world, embraced the feast . . . and shed forever the tarnished image of the marked bride.

  Author’s Note

  I introduced the Shadow Watcher team in the Crossroad Crisis Center series. Forget Me Not is first story featuring Benjamin Brandt, the owner of the center. Lisa and Mark’s story is Deadly Ties. And Joe and Beth’s story is Not This Time.

  The Shadow Watchers play significant roles in Not This Time. Readers requested more of their stories, so I wrote The Marked Bride. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading more about Tim and Mandy.

  There are two more Shadow Watcher books planned. I can’t leave out Nick or Sam! At the time of this writing, I don’t yet have the publication dates on either of those books, but I wanted to invite you to subscribe to my author newsletter so when they’re released, you’ll be the first to know.

  Nick is definitely out of his element when he’s asked to help find the grown daughter of a man he’s worked with before—the CEO of a weaponry firm. NINA wants the weapons, and they’ve taken his daughter, a famous singer, hostage. It’s an unlikely match, but those are often the most fun. The working title is The Marked Star.

  Sam has plans to send me on a merry chase in The Marked Gentlewoman. Of all the Shadow Watchers, he seems the least likely to hook up with a congresswoman, and yet there’s something about the Gentlewoman from Georgia that fascinates him. Together, they fascinate me, and I hope you’ll be fascinated by them also.

  Thank you for your emails and letters and reviews. Without them, I might not have written these Shadow Watcher books, and I’m so very glad I’ve started them. I enjoy the team very much and I can’t wait to learn more about Nick and about Sam’s stories!

  I thought that these three would wind up the Shad
ow Watcher series, but now I’m not sure it will. The idea of not visiting Seagrove Village again makes me sad—and there is Omega One and his team to consider . . . They’ve been very much in the shadows and we might just have to bring them into the light and dip into their lives.

  I’m game, but before deciding for certain, I’ll wait to see what you think, so do share your thoughts. And, as always, thank you for reading!

  Blessings,

  Vicki

  About the Author

  Vicki Hinze is a USA Today bestselling author who has written nearly forty books, fiction and nonfiction, and hundreds of articles, published in as many as 63 countries. She’s won a wide array of awards, including novels of the year in multiple genres. All of her novels, general market (secular) or inspirational, include suspense, mystery and romance. The focus determines genre. Her works have been classified in nearly every genre except horror, with the majority being suspense, thriller, mystery and romance.

  As well as a Vice President for International Thriller Writers, Vicki has served as a consultant to the Board of Directors for Romance Writers of America and several other notable organizations. She is the former host of radio talk show, Everyday Woman, and a current columnist for Social In, a global network.

  Vicki was the first RWA PRO Mentor of the Year, and the recipient of the National Service Award. She’s also recognized as an author and an educator by Who’s Who in the World.

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  For more information visit:

  www.vickihinze.com

  Email: vickihinze@vickihinze.com

  Also by Vicki Hinze

  Down and Dead, Inc. Series

  Down and Dead in Dixie

  Down and Dead in Even

  Down and Dead in Dallas

  Shadow Watchers (Crossroads Crisis Center related)