Fiancé by Friday

by Catherine Bybee

  Carter headed around the corner and into Neil’s room. “What are we looking for exactly?”

  “Anything personal. Pictures. Addresses to a friend, family.”

  “Aren’t his parents dead?”

  Blake sat in Neil’s chair and opened the top drawer of his desk. “Yeah…but I remember him talking about a grandmother.” The drawer held the usual suspects. Pens, notepads, old bills, and receipts for miscellaneous items.

  “If Neil thought someone was after him, I don’t think he’d lead whoever that is to his family.”

  “True, but the grandmother might know where Neil would go to keep Gwen safe and capture the bad guy.”

  “You think that’s what he’s done?”

  “He sure as hell wouldn’t run forever.” The next drawer held files of equipment purchase dates and software updates. There were employee files in print, which Blake wondered about. Why print out any of these things? Why not keep them on a computer hard drive?

  As his mind moved in that direction, he turned on the computer monitors and waited for them to power up. The wall of monitors lit the room with images throughout the Malibu house and Tarzana. Blake clicked on the main screen and shifted between images. Each one that he highlighted opened the audio of the room it was in. Inside the Malibu house, Mary was in the kitchen humming.

  The phone on Neil’s desk rang, and Blake reached to pick it up. “Hello?”

  “It’s Dillon, Mr. Harrison. I noticed someone on Neil’s channel watching. Is he back?”

  “No. It’s just me.”

  “Oh. Any word yet?”

  “None. Nothing from your end?”

  “Nothing. Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Harrison.”

  Before Dillon hung up, Blake stopped him. “Wait, Dillon. Before Neil left…was there anything going on that struck you as odd? Something unlike him?”

  “He…he was a little more edgy. Not sure that isn’t his normal, though. He always worked long days and didn’t ask me to take over much while you and Mrs. Harrison were away.”

  None of that sounded out of character for Neil. “Any luck on finding the bugs he talked about?”

  “I wish I did. There was definite interference at the Tarzana house. It didn’t feel right to me.”

  “Like it was planted.”

  “I wish I could say that for certain. It just wasn’t right.”

  Everything felt odd. “Thank you, Dillon.”

  “No problem.”

  Blake hung up the phone and continued to search the desk. There wasn’t anything personal there. Just piles of work-related invoices and bills.

  Carter walked into the room with a picture in his hand. “Found this.”

  It was an 8½ by 10 photograph of what looked like Neil and some of his marine friends.

  “Neil looks thicker. I didn’t think that was possible.”

  Carter laughed. “You ever see this before?”

  “No. He doesn’t share that part of his past. Except that one time in the bar.”

  “You think these are the guys that died?”

  Blake took the photograph and looked at each face. His gaze popped over to Neil’s and another one that looked familiar but he couldn’t place. “Could be. Not all of them died. Just a few.” But which ones? “Have you thought of calling in a favor and finding out what the Raven thing is all about?”

  Carter leaned against the desk. “There are plenty of secret missions done every year overseas. The military doesn’t take it kindly to have their top-secret missions blabbed about to just anyone. Although I’m the governor, I’m one of those ‘just anyones’ at this point. If we’ve exhausted all our resources, and haven’t heard from Neil or Gwen, then I’ll make the call. I don’t want to stir up more trouble and have Neil on the tail end of a court martial because he’s overly paranoid. We owe him that much.”

  Blake agreed.

  “Knock, knock?” Dean let himself into Neil’s house.

  “We’re in here.”

  Dean fanned himself. “Damn tired of the heat,” he said. “You guys find anything yet?”

  Blake handed the picture to Dean and shrugged. “A picture and a bunch of bills.”

  “I keep forgetting how big Neil is,” Dean said.

  “Not a lot riles him.”

  Dean dropped the picture on the desk. “Well, we got a break.”

  Blake sat taller. “What?”

  “Looks like Neil broke down and used a credit card.”

  “Where?”

  “Colorado Springs.”

  “I thought Karen said something about Canada,” Carter said in obvious confusion.

  “Well unless they flew to Colorado, in which case we would have known about before now, they weren’t anywhere near the border.” Dean’s smug smile didn’t sit well with Blake.

  “What are you not saying?”

  “Wanna guess what Neil used his credit card on?”

  “Hotel?” Carter asked.

  “Car rental?” Blake suggested.

  Dean shook his head.

  “Ammunition?”

  Dean smiled and stared at Blake. “A very large, very expensive, diamond ring.”

  The blood in Blake’s head dropped once again. “What?”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Before Neil left the base he confiscated, stocked, purchased, or otherwise pilfered anything he and Rick would need to catch Raven and hold out while waiting for him. The marines taught him everything he needed to know about surviving on his own and capturing a criminal. The only difference was not knowing with whom he was dealing.

  Maybe Rick could shed light on that. Between the two of them, they’d work it out.

  Still, as Neil made his way up the mountain, he kept an eye on his rearview mirror and worried about what he’d left behind. Chuck would take care of her. Gwen was safe. His wife was safe.

  The smile on his face spread. His wife.

  He made it to his camp long before the sky darkened. He parked his car far from the campsite to set up his second base, and to map out his fallback location. A knoll overlooked his planned spot of execution, the perfect watch point for either him or Rick.

  Neil sat there now with a pair of binoculars and scouted. Within an hour, he noticed a figure working his way slowly toward camp. In less than a minute, Neil knew it was Rick. He waited until Rick walked the perimeter of the camp and doubled back to his car. As Rick returned to the site, Neil worked his way down the hill, keeping himself hidden.

  Neil moved behind his friend and didn’t make a sound.

  “I was wondering when you’d join me. Thought you’d stay up there all night,” Rick said without turning around.

  Rick had always been good at detecting the enemy, or in this case a friend sneaking up from behind.

  “How did you see me?” Neil moved in front of his colleague and extended his hand.

  “I showed up an hour before you did. Moved from the knoll to the fallback by the creek and waited.”

  Neil laughed. Rick had executed the same moves he had.

  “Good to see you.”

  Neil agreed. They spoke for a few minutes about the drive, the weather…any damn thing but why they were there.

  “We have work to do if we’re going to get this guy,” Neil finally said.

  “Any idea who we’re dealing with yet?”

  Neil shook his head, frustrated. “Wish I did. Think he’s military.”

  “And knows about Raven.”

  “Or maybe he was told about Raven.”

  Neil didn’t like that scenario. “Which suggests a second party is on to this.”

  “They’re either a party to it by calling the shots from somewhere else, or we have two guys on our tail,” Rick said and nodded toward the tent. “We setting up here for the night?”

  “Part of it anyway. No use getting comfortable.”

  “Don’t think comfortable is possible until we catch this guy.”

  Neil set his pack aside and shrugged off his co
at.

  “You really think there are two people involved here?”

  “I think we need to consider the possibility. It would have taken some work to make the drop on Billy. Even if a woman was involved. Not a lot shook him.”

  “We need to get inside this guy’s head if we’re going to win this,” Rick concluded.

  “I survived the Middle East. I’m not dying in my backyard.” Not when he suddenly had so much to live for.

  “What about your girl?”

  “She’s safe.” And for reasons he couldn’t, or didn’t want to identify, he didn’t elaborate as to where she was to Rick.

  “I still can’t get over the fact you have one.” Rick’s signature smile spread on his lips.

  “Me either.”

  Rick snorted and swatted Neil on the back. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t sleep without a woman at my side.”

  Neil hesitated. “I know the feeling.”

  “It’s gotten better. But the memories never really leave me. I think it hit us all like that, which is why we all left.”

  “Mickey stayed in,” Neil reminded him.

  “Mickey was just a kid. Wasn’t it his first time out?”

  “Second. With special ops anyway. He’d done a tour in Afghanistan before meeting up with us.”

  Rick rolled out his pack and laid it on the fabric covering the dirt. He bundled the bulk of the material under his head and he stretched out. “Mickey was moldable. Just what the major wanted on his team. He took his purple heart, shoved it in a box, and moved to the next mission.”

  He’d forgotten about Mickey’s injury. Damn unfortunate that was.

  Neil took a space by the burned-out campfire he’d shared with Gwen only a couple of nights before. “We were moldable, too.”

  “Until we saw our guys get blown to bits. Tends to shake the mold.”

  “And for what? Didn’t stop the war…didn’t even calm the fighting for a day.” For that, Neil left. He and his team were given base assignments for a short time and then were allowed to disappear.

  Unheard of. “Ever wonder why Major Blayney let us all go?”

  “I didn’t question it. Figured he knew we weren’t functioning the way we needed to. He was like family to most of us.” To Neil anyway.

  “I wonder if he knows who could be behind this? He knows those above him that called the order.”

  Neil already knew Chuck didn’t have a clue. “You think the higher brass is behind offing us now?”

  “Never know.”

  “Why would they bother leaving a token? Why go after women to get to us then?”

  Rick shook his head. “You’re right. It’s personal. Someone’s need to get back at us for surviving.”

  “If I believed in ghosts, I’d think Boomer, Robb, or Linden was behind this.”

  Neil ran his fingers over the hair on his face. “That’s the problem with us. We have a hard time believing in anything we can’t see. Rules out ghosts.” Yet the ghosts of his past were catching up to them…to all of them.

  “So what’s the plan?” Rick asked.

  “First we see if Raven takes the bait and comes after us here.”

  Rick glanced around. “A sharpshooter would make quick work of us right here.”

  Neil agreed. “But our guy needs to make it look like an accident. A bullet to the head isn’t how this will play out. If we end up dead, or disappear, questions will be asked. If there’s someone calling this execution, they aren’t going to want that. It’s not like we’re on enemy soil, or that we’re even on the inside any longer. We can’t be classified as collateral damage.”

  “So if Raven doesn’t show up here? Or if he does and he’s not alone?”

  “We’ll spot him first. I’ve already set up sensors on the road leading up here. We’ll know anytime something bigger than a dog rolls by. If he doesn’t show up here then we’ll fall back and search him out.”

  Rick’s brow rose. “Snagged some of our old toys, did you?”

  “Old and new.”

  “I brought some toys, too.” And he did. Rick removed a set of night vision goggles, multiple weapons, explosives with fuses, and even diversionary tools…smoke bombs, flash bombs.

  Neil removed two wireless headsets and switched the channels to line them up. “Here,” he said, handing one to Rick. “So I can whisper in your ear.”

  Rick blew him a kiss. “I never knew you cared.”

  This felt good. More like the hunter than the hunted. Now all they needed was their prey.

  “We need to find you a pastime,” Ruth told Gwen after her first dinner without Neil in the house. “Waiting for your husband to return to base is difficult in the best of situations.”

  “What I need is an occupation.” If she were home, she’d plan a proper wedding for her and Neil. Maybe work with Eliza and Samantha on a double vow ceremony. Anything to keep her mind off the fact that Neil was chasing a murderer.

  “I can always use help in my flower garden. Perhaps tomorrow—”

  “Oh, yes…please. Anything.”

  Ruth patted her hand. “I’ve some bulbs we can plant, and there are always weeds to pull.”

  “Physical work is better than mental at this point.”

  “We have a collection of movies to choose from, most are war-related documentaries the major watches repeatedly.”

  “I doubt those would ease my mind.”

  “I have a small library.”

  Gwen’s eyes lit up.

  In the den, hidden behind a closed bookshelf, Ruth encouraged Gwen to pick whatever she wanted to read during her stay.

  “I read everything from mysteries to romance. There has to be something of interest in here for you.”

  There had to be over three hundred books. “You’ve quite a collection.”

  “I’ve packed away boxes. I’m hoping to have a small library in our next home. Charles likes things tidy and he doesn’t see books on a shelf as neat. If we had a library designed for books, he couldn’t complain.”

  The more Gwen heard Ruth talk, the more controlling her husband seemed.

  “A proper library is a fine addition to any home. Not everyone watches television, after all.”

  “I completely agree.”

  Gwen pulled a couple of books from the shelf and glanced at the covers before turning them over to read the descriptions on the back. One was definitely a romance, which she did enjoy, but reading of someone else’s love while hers wasn’t near wasn’t something she wanted to do. She placed the purple covered book back on the shelf and decided on what looked like a medical mystery. She removed a couple more titles from the shelf and noticed something hiding behind the books.

  It was a framed photograph of a young couple. They were smiling and looked to be standing on the porch of the Blayneys’ home.

  “Oh, where did you find that?” Ruth asked as she came up behind her.

  “Behind the books.”

  Ruth took the picture from her fingers and sighed. “This is our daughter…and an old boyfriend. I thought I’d thrown this away.”

  Gwen glanced at the photo again. She could see the resemblance between Ruth and her daughter. The man had a military haircut but instead of wearing a uniform, he had on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

  “They look happy,” Gwen said.

  “They were. Charles and I thought they would marry eventually.”

  “What happened?”

  Ruth blinked a couple of times. “He’d changed after returning from overseas. Annie broke it off with him. Charles was unbearably upset for months. He tried to change Annie’s mind, but she wouldn’t have it.”

  “What did you think of the breakup?”

  “I wanted my baby happy. I understood why she wanted something else for her life other than a moody military man. They aren’t always the easiest men to live with.” Ruth glanced over and covered her mouth. “Oh…I’m sorry. I’m sure Neil is nothing like that.”

  Gwen grin
ned. “Of course he is. It’s something I find endearing and vulnerable about him. I’m not offended.”

  “Well, Annie wanted something different.” Ruth replaced the picture on the shelf and tucked books in front of it. “Perhaps Charles is keeping this. I’ll just pretend I didn’t see it.”

  What else did Ruth pretend not to see?

  Dead birds weren’t going to keep her away from the kids any longer. Besides, if she didn’t explain why the police were poking into their private lives, she would lose all the ground she’d gained with them.

  Karen ignored her virtual shadow that Michael and Dean insisted on. He drove her around like a child during the day and left only if Michael was home in the evenings. Otherwise, he or one of his colleagues slept in the guest room.

  The man wasn’t as big as Neil, but he had the same sunny disposition. Complete with a scowl and a hooded gaze that followed her everywhere. What Gwen found appealing about having a man follow her around all the time, Karen would never understand.

  Although Karen knew it wasn’t the man’s occupation that attracted Gwen, but the man himself. She sure as hell hoped the sex was spectacular for her friend. Maybe when they forced their heads out of the sheets they’d realize no one was following them and come home. Karen couldn’t wait for a heart-to-heart with her prim and proper friend.

  “Try not to freak the kids out,” Karen told her bodyguard.

  He looked around them and followed her into the club.

  Her gaze roamed the room, searching for Juan. When her search came up empty, she tried to hide her disappointment.

  “Miss Jones!” Amy ran up and threw her arms around her.

  Karen hugged her back and smiled. She loved these kids. Missed them.

  “How are you, hon?”

  “I aced my algebra test.”

  Karen slapped Amy’s palm in the air. “Good news.”

  A couple of the other kids joined them, hugging and telling her how much they missed her. She dropped her purse at her math table and looked at the work spread out for the kids. Each one was at a different level but it appeared that they had all moved ahead in their studies while she’d been away.

  “Are you back for good?”

  “I am.” Unless birdman arrived again. But she’d keep that to herself.