by Nikki Duncan
She wanted to accept the apology. To go into his arms and pretend he hadn’t hurt her. She couldn’t do either. “Because you believe it.”
She sidestepped, moving out from beneath his hands that rested on her shoulders with implied intimacy. As much as she wanted the closeness, the right to enjoy his comfortable touch, her unwillingness to ignore his opinion of her made it impossible. “Let’s focus on the case and worry about the rest later.”
“You won’t let there be a later.” Resignation more than acceptance darkened his voice, or so it seemed, but it made no sense.
He didn’t want a relationship, especially with a journalist he thought was driven only by a need to hit the top. Why would her pulling back be anything but a good thing in his world? Unless…
No. Damn it. No.
Believing for even a moment that she was his exception was not a smart move. She had always been the rule in the best circumstances. Even with her father, whom she knew loved her, she had never been more important than the job. When he had moved into the more political side of things it had been all about appearances. Aidan was no different. She shrugged off the idea of him actually wanting a later, even if it was limited to a later with great sex and no complications.
“Do you have an update on the case? On Maria?”
Aidan turned with his head slightly slanted to the right. It occurred to her that he did the same thing when he was thinking something through on the job. When he was taking the time to form his thoughts and words instead of letting the first ones fly.
He parted his lips, closed them. Parted them, closed them. Whatever had him hesitating wasn’t working itself out quickly. Seconds droned into what felt like minutes as he stood before her, somehow guarded and unsure. The impressions conflicted with each other as much as with the man. Confident in his thoughts and actions, he always appeared sure of himself. That certainty drove his life, motivated him.
“Dr. Grayson and Maria are together and well guarded. Maria was doing better but is slipping in and out of consciousness. They think it’s her body fighting off the toxins.”
“Then we need to catch Jayleen before she hurts anyone else. Or finds out Maria isn’t dead.”
“We just need the right…approach.”
He didn’t need to tell her that he wanted her nowhere close to Jayleen. He never wanted her around their cases. This one had gotten personal. Lana would not sit on the sidelines and hope for a victory.
Chapter Thirteen
“I’m here to see Dr. Grayson.” Kieralyn’s inherent sass sang through the coms they all wore. It was endearing until she went overboard to get her way. It was how she had gotten past the watchdog to score a meeting with the expert listener for the NSA, now her fiancé. It was how she had gotten Aidan to meet with Lana about this story.
“We’re in position.” From the vacant office down the hall where Breck, Aidan and Lana waited, Breck responded. “Aidan and I will move in after they take you back.”
Ava, Liam and Tyler were patched in from their positions covering the exits. Tyler had wired cameras in the elevators so if Jayleen ran and got into one they would know. Liam was in the nearest stairwell. Ava waited in the break room directly across the hall from the employee entrance of Grayson’s office. That entrance had also been wired with a camera that Ava monitored from a tablet Tyler had created. Having Kieralyn in the offices was a protective measure to keep Dr. Grayson safe if things went bad.
They always hoped for a smooth op, but they never forgot the adage that if something could go wrong it would. And more often than not, criminals didn’t enjoy being arrested.
Like every other op, Breck took point with Aidan working as his backup in calling the shots on the scene. They had been through enough cases and arrests together that they all took cues from each other fluidly. Ava was the newcomer to the team, but her instincts and unique abilities helped her slip in as if she had always been a part of them.
Using the coms, even without direct orders, they knew when to move, where and how just as they knew they could count on backup being in the right spot at the right moment. Having a standard practice and always using everyone to their strengths kept their team working smoothly.
The non-standard aspect to the current op was Lana. They rarely allowed civilians to be involved in a case, and despite the lead on this one being hers to start, she was a civilian. One who required babysitting because if she saw a chance to intervene in a way she thought would be helpful, she wouldn’t hesitate. With this case, her involvement during the take down could too easily lead to heightened danger.
Aidan had no doubt Lana would weigh the risks before moving, but she had a reputation for putting herself in the crosshairs. She was too invested in this story to sit idly by while the team did the heavy lifting. Aidan was too set in his training to allow her much rein.
“I don’t get it. You have a warrant for the office. Why not just go in with it?” Lana asked from where she leaned against a wall.
Aidan didn’t have to look her way to know she had her arms crossed beneath her breasts. He didn’t have to hear the subdued snap in her tone to know she still had the guard up that she had erected in her apartment earlier. He looked anyway, because damn if the sight of her, complete with anger-shrouded eyes didn’t give him a thrill. She was working to keep her emotions locked down, but they were leaking free. And her animosity toward him sparked arousal.
“Because it gives us a kick,” he snarked. She brought out the perversity in him.
“I’ll give you a kick,” she flung back without moving.
“Cute kids,” Kieralyn said. Maybe she was speaking to the receptionist in Grayson’s office. More likely she was addressing him and Lana. “I just love how generous and forgiving their hearts are. How easily they can let go of grudges with a simple thank you or I’m sorry. So unlike adults.”
The receptionist responded with something he didn’t care enough about to hear. Tyler, Liam and Ava all laughed through their coms. Breck chuckled as he glanced between Aidan and Lana. Aidan narrowed his eyes at Breck, half warning and half begging him to say nothing.
He wasn’t going to apologize for not wanting a journalist in on another case, even Lana, even with her promise to hold the story until everything had been neatly tied up. He guessed he could try to be more civil, though, since she was being cooperative.
“We prefer having all the players in one place, where we can see them, before moving in, especially when dealing with someone like our current killer.”
“But you know who it is. We all know who it is. What do you want, a confession? To catch her in the act?”
“Something like that.” The team had discussed the option of taking Jayleen from her home. When they approached a judge for a warrant he had been hesitant, but had processed their request with the understanding that anyone in Dr. Grayson’s office could access the plant in question. He agreed Maria wasn’t a likely suspect, but she could have faked her own accident to throw suspicion elsewhere. And it was still possible that Dr. Grayson was involved.
Until they knew more, their best hope was to surprise the killer into making a mistake. To orchestrate that, they needed all suspects accounted for.
“Wait.” Lana pushed off the wall and dropped her hands to her hips. “You suspect Dr. Grayson of being involved. That’s why you sent Kieralyn in first. You want to see if she can charm him into making a mistake.” Once, slowly, as if he sickened her, Lana shook her head. “You don’t trust anyone. And here I thought your prejudice was limited to people like me.”
Her words were whip cracks across his face, so real he found himself reaching up to rub a heated patch of flesh. The accusations she flung out didn’t surprise him. The surprise lay in how much they hurt. She was only partially wrong, which was an uncomfortable truth.
He only blindly trusted his family—blood and team forged. Lana had always kept her promises. She showed time and again how dedicated she was to the truth. Thanks to her father’
s background she understood the importance of not running with a story that could jeopardize a case.
She was loyal, patient and forgiving.
He was the ass she accused him of being. Now wasn’t the moment to worry about changing any more than it was the moment to thank her for her help on their past cases. It wasn’t the time to apologize for never looking past her job long enough to see the real woman or for never admitting how much he cared for her. How damn much he respected her.
He stepped forward, determined to make her see the truth. To ensure that not another moment passed before she knew how he was beginning to feel. It was something he might have done long ago, especially when he had stayed with her in the hospital. He hadn’t realized how scared he could be. How intensely terrified.
Only the presence of her dad had kept him from saying anything. When he had tried to tell her in her apartment, he had only managed to screw things up with his ill-timed remark he had known he didn’t mean as soon as the first word hit the back of his lips.
“Lana.”
“I—”
“Kieralyn Beckett.” A nurse’s voice came through their coms.
“Yes.”
“I’m Jayleen. I’ll take you to see Dr. Grayson now.”
Shit. Anything he said to Lana would be shared with their audience of eager ears, and that was a little deeper than he wanted them in his personal life. Especially if he admitted how personal he wanted things to get with Lana.
Aidan had forgotten for a moment that they weren’t alone. He never got distracted on a case. The unthinkable repercussions battled his prevailing desire to somehow pacify Lana’s resentment. The woman was driving him to a precarious ledge and all he could think of was how to keep her happy. There was nothing he could say, though, that wouldn’t be misconstrued and screw things up even more.
He settled on, “We’ll talk later.”
A feminine—Ava’s or Kieralyn’s—sigh reverberated through his com that echoed the disappointment in Lana’s eyes. The yearning to set work aside, to focus on her, was as foreign and new as it was strong. It wasn’t quite strong enough to override duty.
Breck spoke, saving Aidan from trenching himself in deeper. “As soon as Dr. Grayson goes in with Kieralyn, we move.”
“Watch your backs,” Liam warned.
“Is that advice for the job or Aidan?” Ava quipped with a chuckle.
“Aidan will only listen if you limit it to work.” Tyler laughed the semi-distracted laugh of a man sequestered in a corner with his fingers tapping rapidly away on a tablet. Everyone knew he was anything but distracted. Tyler processed things as fast if not faster than most of his computers.
“My baby bro knows how to handle women.”
“His smile and sexy accent won’t work on Lana.”
“Sweet Ava,” Liam humored with a heavier tilt to his accent, “they work on all women.”
Aidan looked at Lana while listening to his brother—older only by three minutes. She watched him, armed and ready with her female weaponry, silently daring him to say something more. To respond to anything anyone said.
They never should have given her a com.
Dr. Grayson’s richly modulated tone reached them through Kieralyn’s com and vanished their wait time. With the warrant in hand, Breck led the way to the doctor’s office. Much to Aidan’s relief, Lana remained behind when he followed his team leader.
Breck pulled open the double glass doors and he and Aidan entered the waiting room. Wooden armchairs with stiff-looking padded seats, tile floors, two tables holding utilitarian lamps and one wall-mounted magazine rack were the only decorations. Nowhere in sight, even beyond the glass window blocking off the reception area, were the potted plants he’d seen on an earlier visit. The place was so impersonal to the point of cold that no self-respecting germ or allergen would want to stay in the office.
“Someone moved the plants,” Aidan said quietly. “They could be expecting us.”
“Stay sharp,” Ava added.
Breck headed to the receptionist’s window and tapped the glass twice, firm and with only a brief pause between, with the knuckle of his index finger.
Looking a little put out, but only for an instant before she took in Breck’s pretty face and slick suit, the woman smiled. He always got that response from women. “Do you have an appointment?”
“No.” Breck raised the hand he held the warrant in and handed her the paper. “But I have a warrant.”
“I’m sorry?”
Aidan hung back for the moment, allowing Breck his moment of fun. Since hitching his heart to Kami, a woman he’d thought to be an escort, their team leader had relaxed enough to have some fun on the job. He was never less than professional, but he seemed to have developed a knack for slowly doling out information on his terms. He enjoyed work more now that he had someone to go home to each night.
“I’m Agent Breck Lawson.” He pulled his badge out to show the woman before pointing a thumb over his shoulder. “This is Agent Burgess.”
Aidan held his badge up for her inspection. “Is Dr. Grayson in?”
She studied his ID for a moment before writing both their badge numbers down and responding crisply. “He’s with a patient.”
“When he’s finished—” Aidan adopted the role of easy-going cop. Neither of them played nice when it mattered most, “—let him know we’re here.”
“In the meantime, we’ll begin our search.” Breck moved to the door that would lead to the back rooms.
“You can’t do that.”
“We can, and we are,” Breck said as he opened the door without another glance at the receptionist.
“You have to let me get Dr. Grayson.”
“No. We don’t. But feel free to interrupt him.”
Breck had moved into the seriousness that kept his calculating mind focused. Lives were at stake and nothing would stop Breck, or anyone else on the team, from finding the truth when they were so close. Only when the truth was aired and the killer stopped could Lana write her coveted story. Only when her story was written could she and Aidan go back to a relationship he understood. Or at least one he knew how to handle.
With his agenda clear, Aidan split off from Breck. Breck searched the exam rooms with open doors. Aidan took the other end of the hall with the offices.
The sparse decorations from the waiting room contrasted vastly with the warmth of the private office space. Dark reds and muted greens accented dark and heavy furniture. Palms and ivies sat in large and small pots throughout. They were nothing special, like the plant that would’ve come from Maria’s. That plant had been on the front desk a few days earlier.
He’d expected to find it in Jayleen’s office. Instead it sat on the corner of Dr. Grayson’s desk.
Weighing the intel they had on Jayleen, it surprised him to find the plant out of her immediate domain even while it struck him as smart. If she was their killer, if she’d taken the plant from Dr. Grayson’s home, why keep it in the office? If it somehow led back to the murders she had to know Dr. Grayson would figure it out. And she had to know he’d talked to them after Maria’s death.
Then he found a contract centered in the middle of the desk blotter beside a bottle of lotion with Maria’s label. It had to be the lotion she’d told Lana about. Jagged edges and all, the pieces fell into a seamless puzzle.
“Found it,” he said for the benefit of the coms. “This is more complicated than we thought.”
Lana watched Aidan step from the room and close the door behind him and wondered at the sadness that swooped in. She missed him even before the door latched with a kick of reality. Somewhere between the animosity when she’d asked for help and the wounded feelings in her apartment, he’d slipped beneath her skin like a blonde splinter. She couldn’t see it, only felt it when she bumped the sore spot, and wouldn’t be free of it until she dug it out or it worked itself much deeper.
Judging by how desperately she’d wanted him to remove his com and pull her in
to a quiet corner while his team worked, she knew which would happen first. He’d splinter more deeply into her soul until she found herself starving for the privilege of being his number one. And with that privilege would come the constant worry that tailed a man in his work.
“Found it.” Aidan’s accented tone slipped like a whisper through the com she wore. Certainty and conviction coated his words. “This is more complicated than we thought.”
“How?” Lana asked the question without thinking of their need to keep the coms quiet, but if they’d missed something that could put more people in danger… If she hadn’t been thorough enough in her research… “Did I miss something?”
“Greed,” came his terse response. Then to her complete surprise he tacked on, “And we missed it.”
Propelled by his thoughtful inclusion of himself in the statement, of the suggestion that he neither blamed nor resented her, she moved forward. It wasn’t the time or place to force a showdown of emotions they weren’t ready for, and she wasn’t aiming for that. She was, however, curious to know what they had missed.
She heard a lot through the com… Kieralyn and the doctor went through the steps of a new patient consultation. Breck deflected questions from the receptionist, who seemed to be following him on his search. Aidan remained silent after his last announcement. She didn’t hear Jayleen, and given that she was the primary suspect, they needed to know where she was.
Hesitating, not wanting to be in the way, Lana stopped just outside the double doors of Dr. Grayson’s office. Whatever had made her think she needed to race in, or that her appearance would go over smoothly, vanished. Backing up a step she admitted to herself that though Aidan had included her in a statement he wouldn’t welcome her in the middle of their search. He would accuse her of interfering for the sake of her story.
The truth, though she’d likely never convince him of it, was that her story mattered less the more time she worked with him. Sure, the killing needed to stop. And someone would cover it in the news. But the need for an exclusive had slipped away. Winning Aidan’s respect was exponentially more important.