by Desiree Holt
They were ready, guns locked and loaded, when they heard running footsteps on the pier and voices arguing, coming through the ear buds.
“But I’m telling you, I saw a black helicopter over there with the other two.” Joy, edgy and angry. “Just like the one Phoenix has.”
“You think that’s the only black helicopter in the world? Honest to Christ, Joy. People fly out here in choppers all the time. We’ve done it ourselves.”
“But what if they know?”
“About us? The boat? Oscar? Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way they could possibly know anything.” Lucas, abrupt and just as angry. “If they did, they’d have been all over us today.”
“So where’s Jesus? And where did they get the real Oscar?”
“We’re about to find out.” He clambered up the ladder, Joy behind him and slammed open the glass door to the salon. “Well, the crate’s still there. Come on, let’s open it.”
But as he moved down into the room, Dan and Rick moved from where they’d been hidden, guns in hand, tight smiles on their faces.
“I think you’ll find that crate a little empty, Lucas,” Dan told him. “Uh-uh-uh,” he admonished, when Lucas reached for his gun at the small of his back. “Nice and easy, please. If you just sit down over there we’ll all be very happy. You too, Miss Rivers.”
Joy had paused at the open door. Now she turned to back away, only to find Mike at her back holding his own gun. He reached under her jacket and pulled the gun from the small of her back, then patted all her pockets. Then he nudged her with his gun.
“Nice to finally meet you, Miss Rivers. How about joining our little party?”
She stopped, looked down into the salon, back at Mike and started down the stairs. At the bottom she looked as if she’d tripped and bent to catch herself but when she straightened up she had a small gun in her hand. Quickly she backed herself against a corner and her eyes moved from one man to another.
“Ankle holster.” Her smile was evil. Her gun was leveled at Mike’s crotch.
“Well, shame on me,” Mike said in his slow drawl. “To think a nice lady like you would want to shoot me.”
“Put the gun down, Joy.” Dan’s voice was like steel. “You won’t be going anywhere. You can’t shoot all of us at the same time.”
“But Lucas can get his gun and then we’ll be a little more even. So all of you put your weapons down before this gentleman here has permanent birth control.”
But Dan was quicker than Joy Rivers ever thought of being. As he dropped his hand to lower the gun he fired upward, shattering her hand that held the gun. She screamed in pain and began swearing in three different languages.
“You bastards,” she spat out. “How about some help here?”
“Let me go to her.” Lucas tried to get up from the couch.
“She’ll live.” Rick had his gun pressed against Lucas’ temple. “Don’t move or both of you will need help.”
Mike grabbed dish towels from the galley and wrapped them around Joy’s hand.
Dan pulled out his cell phone and punched a number. “Holcomb? Tell the guys here to come on in and pick up the trash. And we need a medic.”
“What’s in that crate if it’s not Oscar?” Lucas demanded.
“Nothing,” Dan told him. “We emptied it last night. Oscar’s been at a different location since then waiting for his big performance.”
“And where the hell is Obregon?”
“Sitting very comfortably in a motel with one of our men, ready to sing whatever sweet song we ask him to.”
Joy was sitting in a chair now, cradling her hand, her face pale but rage flashing in her eyes.
“How did you figure it out?” she asked. “We thought we covered all our bases.”
Dan shrugged. “A lot of hard work and a great computer expert. You were smart but we were smarter. We know everything now. And I mean everything.”
“Lucas?” Joy’s voice was little more than a whisper now.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“The buyer. He’ll kill us.”
“He’ll have to get to you first,” Mike told them. “And here comes the cavalry to save you. You might want to decide which of your choices is the lesser of two evils.”
Six men flashing Department of Homeland Security badges boarded the boat, the team leader introducing them as he shook hands with Dan.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” he said with a wry grin.
“No kidding. Well, they’re all yours. My guess is someone wants them badly enough that they’d prefer your company. Pump them for all you can. Give me your email and we’ll send you everything we’ve dug up on them.”
The man, who introduced himself to the others as Jack Henry, handed Dan a small card. “This will come directly to me.” He nodded at everyone else. “Nice meeting you, gentlemen.”
They escorted Lucas, in handcuffs and Joy, still moaning in pain, up the steps and off the boat. Dan climbed up to the deck with Rick and Mike and watched three black SUVs pull out of the parking lot.
“I think we’d better go back and let Chase know what’s happening,” Dan said. “He’s probably ready for a nervous breakdown right about now.”
Chapter Nineteen
They found Chase in his office, mountains of paperwork on his desk, staring out the window with a beaten look on his face.
“It’s as if I lost part of myself,” he told Dan, as the story came out. “Every member of the team is either dead or in jail. Except Paul, who’s gleefully calculating revenue in his office. Thank God for him, I guess.”
“It’s not a pretty story but it could have been a lot worse. They could have actually gotten away with it.”
“I feel like ten kinds of a fool, you know.” Chase just stared at them, the bewildered look on his face laced with pain. “You think you know people, you make them part of your life and then something like this happens… Maybe I should just shut down the company.”
“And let them win after all?” Dan asked. He stood in front of him, forcing him to make eye contact. “Chase, listen to me. I think we’ve all been there before. And you were victimized by some highly sophisticated crooks and killers. But that’s no reason to throw in the towel. Not with what you’ve got going for you here.”
“You still have a terrific staff,” Mark pointed out. “And if their actions today are any indication, they’re still very loyal to you.”
“Mark’s been checking regularly to make sure each department is functioning,” Dan pointed out, “and every single person asks the same question—what can they do to help?”
Chase had a dazed look in his eyes. “I can hardly believe it, either. I hardly know most of them except by name and they’re going out of their way to show me their support.”
“And by the way,” Rick added, “when we left them, your erstwhile partner and fiancée couldn’t talk to the guys from DHS fast enough to buy protection from the Middle Eastern arms dealer who most likely has them in his sights.”
“Pardon my sense of practicality,” Dan continued, “but aside from the company’s reputation, you are about to get a mega-million contracts for Oscar and they know that. But still, if they didn’t trust you, they’d be out the door.”
“I guess you’re right. It’s myself I’m having trouble with.” He flapped his hands at the air. “I still don’t understand why they killed Stan.”
“They had no intention of using his biometrics. But they knew the system would be down while we reprogrammed it and that you’d insist on checking Oscar’s authenticity. If you remember, Lucas was the one who offered to get him and take him to the lab. That’s when he made the switch.”
“So they sacrificed poor Stan for that?”
“Not just for that,” Dan told him. “His death also meant he couldn’t then design something that would even surpass Oscar.”
“So which one of them did it?” Rick asked.
Dan sighed. “You won’t like this but Joy was re
sponsible for all the killings, one way or another. Even the sniper who shot at Mia was an old boyfriend of hers. Except for Ladd. She couldn‘t leave you long enough to get it done so she got Lucas to do it, using her gun. The idiot still had it when he was arrested. They’d planned to dump it when they got out in the Gulf tomorrow.”
“And Ladd? I still don’t know what his role in this was.”
“My guess is he found them out and wanted a piece of the action. Chase, there’s something else I have to tell you that you’ll like even less.”
“Less than being engaged to a cold-blooded killer bitch and having a thief with no conscience for a partner?”
“You and Joy never would have been married.” Dan hated to give him this piece of news but he figured faster was better. Kind of like ripping off an adhesive bandage. “She was already married to Lucas. Has been for a long time. This whole thing was a setup from the start.”
The three men watched as what little color was left drained from Chase’s face. He turned to stare at the photo of Joy on his desk, then picked it up and hurled it against the wall. The glass splintered and the wood shattered. No one said a word but every man there felt exactly the same way.
“Talk about being unbelievably stupid.” He scrubbed his hands across his face. “Jesus. She sure played me for a sucker. And what kind of man lets his wife sleep with someone else? Have sex with them? My God, it’s enough to make me throw up.”
“Chase, these people have neither morals nor scruples. They don’t even operate on the same plane as you and I do.”
His face was pinched and pain filled his eyes. He dropped his head into his hands. “Just look at the situation. My engineer murdered. My attorney a blackmailer and killed for his efforts. And the woman I thought I was going to marry was married all the time to the man I thought was my partner.” He pounded a fist on the desk. “Shit. How much worse could things get? And what a monumental task I’m looking at now, not just with the actual engineering work. I’ll have bids to prepare, contracts to review and all the stuff Lucas used to do…”
Dan knew the man would be a long time recovering from this but he also knew how to help him. “Right now,” Dan interrupted, “what you need is a good attorney who can help you wade through all the contracts for Oscar and make sure the company’s on solid footing. He’ll bring in a good forensic accountant too, just to make sure all the change is in the right place.”
“You know someone like that?” Chase’s skepticism was obvious but he couldn’t keep the note of hope from his voice.
Dan nodded. “Phoenix uses him a lot. I called him on our way back from Galveston. My brother Ed is picking him up in DC in the morning and flying him here to meet with you. He’s cleared his calendar and can spend at least two weeks with you. He’ll be here about noon.”
Chase was stunned. “How the hell did you get him to do that?”
“Let’s just say he owes me a favor or two. And he’ll be able to help you rebuild your executive team. Listen to him. He knows what he’s talking about.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“This is where you man up, tiger,” Dan told him. “You’ve got a great reputation and a valuable new commodity. Don’t let that go to waste.”
“I guess you’re right,” Chase admitted. Then one corner of his mouth turned up in a hesitant smile. “But listen. Tell Mia thanks for everything. She’s the one who started this or I’d never have known anything was going to happen. I’m sorry I gave her such a hard time but she’s made a real believer out of me now.”
“I’ll do that. She’ll be happy to hear it.”
“And thank you, all of you, for what you did. For what you’re doing. I just… I can’t…” He couldn’t finish.
Dan cleared his throat. “All right. Here’s what I think. You need to call everyone into that big hall and give them a pep talk. We’ll be right with you. Assure them the company is stronger than ever, especially with all those requests I see in that pile to discuss Oscar. Then go back to the hotel with Rick. Have a good dinner and a bunch of drinks. We’ll send someone to clean out Joy’s stuff so you won’t have to take care of it. And tomorrow, we’ll start a new day. I’ll make my calls to get everyone here as soon as we’re done.”
After the general meeting, which went very well, Dan watched as Rick led an unresisting Chase to his vehicle. Mike had flown back to the airport. He’d hang around another day to see if he was needed, then head back to Baltimore.
Finally Dan looked at Mark. “You, my friend, can go pick up your wife because I plan to spend the night at the hospital again. And as soon as Mia can be moved, I’m taking her to the cabin in Maine. You might think of bringing Faith up there after a while. I have a proposal for the two women.”
“Care to give me a hint?”
“Nope. I want to firm it up in my mind first. Meanwhile I need to go show Mia I’m in one piece.”
* * * * *
Although it was June, the weather in Maine still had a chill cutting through it. That didn’t deter the Phoenix partners from using the cabin that was their retreat. Perched on the edge of a bluff, isolated from everything except by air and a long, serpentine road, it was a place where they recharged their batteries and planned the most secret of their missions. This was the place where Rick Latrobe’s brother, a sniper in Mark Halloran’s former Special Ops unit, had been hidden away to recover from a blown mission.
Mia’s recovery had been long and painful. Dan took himself out of the agency loop completely while she was still in the hospital, staying there day and night. A happily married friend had once told him when he finally lost his heart he’d lose it completely and never want it back. That friend was right.
When she was released from the hospital, he moved into her house with her and oversaw every minute of her physical rehab. She’d always have scars to remind them of the disaster but Dan paid careful homage to them with his lips when at last they were able to make love again.
A week ago the doctors and therapists had signed off on her final papers. Now, with the Carpenter Techtronics disaster well behind them and Mia mending beautifully, Dan had commandeered the cabin for a week of rest and relaxation. Mark and Faith would arrive later that afternoon.
At the moment the two of them were laying in bed, naked, a condition that Mia had finally had to tease him into.
“I still think it’s too soon for any kind of physical activity,” Dan said for the tenth time.
Mia grinned at him. “The doctor said mild activity. And it’s certainly been mild so far.”
“I don’t want to do anything to hurt you,” he protested.
“It will hurt me a lot more if I have to lie here like this much longer without something happening.”
For two days Dan had treated her as if she was made of spun glass, hardly daring to kiss her, much less touch her anyplace else. By this afternoon she’d decided if she didn’t take matters into her own hands, nothing was going to happen anytime soon. When he sent her into the bedroom to take a nap, she’d waited ten minutes then called out that she needed help.
If only she’d had a camera to capture the look on his face when he walked in and she was lying on the sheets stark naked.
“Mia.” He swallowed visibly and clenched his fists. “You need to cover yourself up before you take a cold.”
“What I need,” she told him in a voice as sultry as she could make it, “is for you to come over here and reassure me that I’m still a living breathing woman and not an invalid.” She patted the bed next to her. “And right now.”
“Sweetheart, I don’t—”
“Dante Romeo, if you don’t get over here right now you may never get in this bed again. I’m tired of being treated like I’ll break any minute. I may not be up to any swinging chandelier calisthenics but some slow, quiet sex would do us both a lot of good.”
She’d amazed herself at her boldness, but she knew they had to get past this. She’d managed to coax him out of his clothes
, salivating at the golden sight of him, and entice him onto the bed with her. But she could tell he was still holding back.
Mia maneuvered herself onto her side and trailed her fingers along one muscular thigh, fingertips dancing over the skin until she reached his cock. His mind might be holding him back, but his body was in a state of total readiness. His cock was rock-hard, the vein that wrapped around it pulsing with the heavy beat of his heart. The bead of fluid that sat on the slit told her just how close to orgasm he really was.
Teasingly she spread the viscous fluid across the velvet-smooth head with her thumb, watching his face darken with passion as she did so.
His big, warm hand stroked her back, fingers tracing her spine before dropping to the curve of her buttocks and then gently into the warm crevice.
“Just as soon as you’re in fighting shape,” he said in a voice like warm honey, “I’m going to fuck you here. Something tells me I’ll be the first.”
His words sent shivers skittering over her skin and something dark rising from deep within her. She squeezed her thighs together against the increased throbbing and the fresh spate of her liquid.
He rolled toward her. “I’m right, aren’t I?” His other hand moved up to cup her cheeks, his warm breath like a soft breeze.
“Y-Yes.”
“Would you like that?” His thumb brushed over her bottom lip, stroking it lightly. “Answer me, Mia. I can see it in your eyes.”
She ducked her head. “Yes.” She could barely get the word out. “I’d like that.”
His probing fingers touched the tiny, tight brown hole and pressed lightly. Just once. “Soon, sweetheart.” His grin was hungry. “Keep that in mind.”
“I can tell what thinking about it’s doing to you,” she said with a throaty laugh. His cock had hardened and flexed in her grip.