“I’d start talking if I were you. That woman is madder than an old wet hen and is prone to fly off the handle at any moment.” Cy rocked back on his heels and gave Pinnelli a silly little grin.
He looked at Gemma and decided that maybe Cy was right. “Fine. You’re going to die anyway. Your sister found his . . .” Pinnelli’s head slammed back and a tiny round trickle of blood fell from between his eyes.
Cy leaped forward and grabbed the gun from Gemma’s still outstretched hand.
“What?” she stammered as he pulled her away and returned fire in the direction of the gunshot.
“Looks like Sergei got here early. Get in the truck.” Cy pushed Gemma and laid down cover fire while she ran the short distance to the truck. When she dove into the cab, Cy took off at a run as he dodged the bullets now flying past him.
“Come on,” Gemma yelled as she scooted over to the passenger seat. He dove behind the wheel and slammed his foot on the gas.
As Cy tore through the field heading for the tree line, a black SUV came to a stop on the road in front of him. “Well, shit. I never liked this truck that much anyway. Hang on.”
Cy drove through the tree line and bounced up onto the road as the men with guns jumped out of the way. Cy plowed his driver’s side headlights right above the front wheel of the SUV. The SUV spun as the men had to leap again to avoid being hit. He threw the truck into reverse and ran over one of the men as he drove backward into the field. Slamming on the brakes, he did a controlled spin and then drove off through the field and away from the road.
“Where are you going?”
“Home court advantage. I know every farm around here. I cut through this field and go around the cornfield where I can come out onto a road I can take back to Keeneston.”
“But we know the boss is here. Why aren’t we calling the police and storming our way into that house?”
“Do you know how many guns they have there? If they pick up anything on the police lines, he’ll be in the wind so fast you’ll never have a chance to find him again. It’s personal now and he knows it. No cops. No CIA. Just him and me, and only one of us will make it.”
Gemma finally stopped shaking by the time Cy drove into Keeneston. As soon as he had bounced his way out of the fields, he had placed his hand over hers and was still holding it. He absently brushed his thumb over the soft skin of her wrist during the short trip into town. The small action had her pulse slowing and the shaking anger fading away.
“Thank you. That was sweet of you.” Gemma looked out at the sleepy town and wondered when she’d hear sirens or bullets. “It really helped calmed me down.”
“I know how the adrenaline dump can affect you. I’m glad I could help some.” Cy paused as if searching for the right words to say. “Gemma, you were excellent tonight. With the emotions he was triggering, you kept your cool and really helped get as much information as possible from him.”
“But, what do we do now? Mr. X is here and he’s coming after us.”
“Not tonight he won’t. Tonight was our first run-in. He’s going to evaluate us. It takes time to gather that intelligence. But it will be soon.” Cy parked the car and helped her from her seat. She felt total relief when he put his arm around her, and she leaned into him as they made their way up the path.
“What’s that?” Gemma asked quietly as they both stopped and listened to the night. Whispers were coming from the darkened porch. “They found us already.”
Then she felt Cy shake with laughter, “I don’t think so.” He laced his fingers with hers and pulled her toward the porch.
She heard a giggle then and a deep chuckle. She smelled brownies. “Miss Lily,” Gemma gasped at the sight of the sweet woman on the swing with her white hair messed and her lips puffy from kissing.
“John, how are you tonight?” Cy asked with barely controlled laughter ready to explode.
“Um, fine. Fine. Just replacing some light bulbs for Lily Rae here.” John stood and Gemma snickered at his shirt pulled from his suspenders and the way a piece of his thinning hair was sticking straight out.
“Well, that was so sweet of you. We’ll let you get back to it. Good night.” Gemma didn’t have a chance to say anything else as Cy pulled her inside and slammed the door before he lost control of the laughter. One look at him bent over had Gemma losing it. She started laughing so hard tears streamed down her face.
“Did you see his hair?” she gasped.
“Or the way her red lipstick was smeared and her eyes were so wide at being busted? Oh God, I don’t know if I can stand this—it hurts.” Cy grabbed his side as he tried to stop laughing. “Oh, I know.” Cy turned and ran back to the front door and flipped the switch beside it. Light poured through the windows as the porch was bathed in light.
“Cyland Davies,” Miss Lily shouted from outside.
“Uh-oh.” Cy grabbed her hand and raced upstairs as the front door opened and a large hand slid through the crack of the door and flipped off the light.
Cy didn’t stop laughing all the way upstairs. They stopped in the sitting area between rooms and he tried to figure out what to do. Let her go to bed? Alone? He’d been getting mixed signals. At the dance it had seemed they were of the same mind. That made up his mind: thinking of the way she fit in his arms, the way her legs brushed against his, the way her breasts pressed against his chest.
“Well, um. I guess . . .” Gemma stammered as she looked from Cy to the door. He held his breath as he waited to see what she was going to do. When she didn’t move, he took it as a sign.
“Come here,” Cy said with a gravelly voice. He stood still as Gemma looked up at him and took a step forward. He pulled her to him and closed his mouth over hers. He felt her grasp at his tuxedo as he deepened the kiss, pushing her against his door and leaning into her.
She moaned as he released her mouth to bury his head in the crook of her neck. Her hand raked his hair and she grabbed a fistful when he worked his lips over her delicate collarbone.
“I’ve wanted to do this all night,” Cy murmured as he shoved the strap of the gown off one shoulder, exposing a breast. He looked into her eyes, dark with excitement. With one hand he grabbed her ass and squeezed. With the other, he raised her breast to his lips and with a flick of his tongue had her squirming.
Gemma’s head fell back as he pulled the other strap down. He pushed the dress down, baring her to him. “Cy, don’t stop,” Gemma panted.
“I was planning on a lot of things, but stopping anytime soon is not one of them.” Cy kissed his way up to capture her lips again. He turned the doorknob as he ravished her mouth with his tongue. He picked her up and carried her through the door, kicking it shut.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gemma took a sip of the sweet tea Miss Lily had brought up and looked at the pictures and notes spread out across her desk. She had scoured the news this morning, but there was no report of a man found dead in a field, so she had turned back to her notes to find out what her sister had discovered that had gotten her killed.
“Knock, knock. Am I interrupting anything?” Cade asked as he came into the room.
“Only your brother’s pacing,” Gemma quipped as she pulled out a picture of a striking blonde. “What’s going on?”
“You were right yesterday. Those words that seemed out of place were the key. I got the flash drive open.” Cade dropped a huge stack of papers in front of her and Gemma felt like groaning. “And I can’t read a single one of them. They’re all in that language of yours. However, there were a couple of photographs and you’re holding one of them. I may not know what’s on these pages, but I’m guessing that woman is important. Do you know who she is?”
Cade and Cy came to stand beside her as they looked at the woman with the blonde hair and oversized sunglasses. “She looks familiar, but I just can’t place her,” Cy said as he examined the photograph.
“Me too. It’s nagging at me. Hopefully, my sister will have her name somewhere in this pile.”
>
“If you work with me, I may be able to build a program to translate it. It'll take a couple of hours up front but could save you a lot of time,” Cade suggested.
“You could do that?” Cy asked. Cade just gave him a look and Cy nodded. “I shouldn’t have asked. But I need a favor. I want to think over some things and I do that better moving around. I don’t want to be in Gemma’s hair, but I don’t want to leave her alone either.”
“I got it. It’ll take us a while to get this program written and then I can help her go through it.”
“Thanks, Cade. Is that okay with you, sweetheart?”
“Sure. You were about to drive me crazy with your pacing, so it works out perfectly. We’ll just meet up for lunch.”
Gemma raised her lips for Cy as he gave her a quick kiss before heading out. She turned to see Cade grinning like an idiot and just shook her head. “You ready to get started?”
“Sure am. Let’s see that alphabet you have.”
* * *
Cy found his brother at a peewee football game. Marshall stood by the sidelines between two tables filled with sweets. The Bearcats’ mothers had pies in hand while Pam Gilbert and some other mothers from the Keeneston Cougars team held stacks of cookies as if they intended to toss them like throwing stars at the opposing mothers.
“Arrest them, Sheriff!”
“For what, Pam? Selling baked goods?”
“This is our fund-raiser for our team. They’ve been doing this all through the league and we’ve had enough. It’s in the league rules that the home team is allowed to have a bake sale to raise funds for equipment and uniforms. Not away teams. They’ve been purposely bringing in baking ringers to have better goods so they make all the money and the other teams suffer for it.”
“And why would they do that?” Marshall asked as he held up his arm to keep the opposing mother from cutting in.
“Because, bless their little hearts, they suck. They’re the worst team in the league. But by outselling us, they’ll have all new equipment and we’ll have nothing. They’re baking us out of competition.”
“Is this true, Ginny?” Marshall asked the huffing mother.
“It’s not my fault we’re better bakers. I hope you choke on that overly dry cookie, Pam.”
“Enough. Where are these league rules you were talking about?” Marshall asked as he intercepted a cookie that was launched at Ginny.
“Here.” Pam thrust a book at him. “Page thirty-six, paragraph B, section two.” Marshall opened the book and read the cited area.
“Sorry, Ginny, but Pam’s right. Now while it’s not illegal and I can’t arrest you for violating league rules, they could kick you out of the league if I were to turn this incident in. So let’s pack up those tasty pies and sell them only at your home games. Got it?”
“This isn’t over, Pam,” Ginny snarled before turning to Marshall. “Thank you for your discretion, Sheriff. Have a pie as our thank-you.” Ginny handed Marshall a pie and the women grudgingly packed up their table.
“Yes, thank you. Have some cookies, Sheriff. Maybe your brother would want some, too,” Shelly Duffy, Katelyn’s secretary, said as she batted her eyes at Cy.
“You do know your husband is ten feet away on the field coaching, right?” Marshall asked as Cy sent her a dazzling smile.
“It would be rude not to acknowledge him standing right there and if southern women are one thing, it’s not rude,” Shelly said she handed Cy some cookies.
“That’s right. Try my cookies, Cy.”
“Mine are double chocolate, Cy.”
“Mine won first place at the county fair."
“Ladies,” Cy smiled as he held up his hands. “I’ll try them all as I'm sure each will be perfect, just like their bakers.” Cy gave them a wink and saw Marshall roll his eyes. He pulled out his wallet and tossed down a fifty before holding out his arms for the pile of cookies he had just bought.
“Way to make me look bad,” Marshall mumbled to Cy as he took out his wallet too. “Good luck at the game, ladies.”
Cy walked with his brother back to where he parked his now slightly banged-up truck next to Marshall’s cruiser.
“So, what’s up?” Marshall asked as he took a bite of one of the cookies.
“Something happened last night that I need to talk over. But I’m antsy. I was hoping we could get a little training in while I bounce some ideas off you.”
“Sure. Let’s go to my place.”
Cy threw a punch and Marshall blocked it with his forearm. Sweat poured off Cy as he and Marshall lobbed punches and kicks at each other on the soft grass in front of the house. Bob, Marshall’s Vizsla, sat perched on a low-hanging limb of a tree watching them. Marshall had shed his uniform and put on a pair of athletic shorts similar to the ones Cy wore. Shirts had long ago been tossed to the side as they battled each other.
“So the body just disappeared?” Marshall asked as he delivered a strong kick to Cy’s midsection.
“It makes me think they went back and cleaned it up. When they didn’t follow us into Keeneston and now this, I’m sure they’re waiting for their moment. I just don’t know why.”
“Seems to me they don’t want attention drawn to it. It’s going to be man-to-man. And, by not calling the cops, you’ve accepted those terms.”
“Honor among thieves,” Cy swept Marshall’s legs and shot him a smug look as Marshall landed on the grass.
“Exactly,” Marshall said before tackling Cy to the ground. “Now, while you’ve recounted what happened last night, you said Gemma’s name no less than thirty times. Want to talk about it?” Marshall asked as they stood up and faced off once again.
“When we’re together, it’s amazing. We click and the chemistry . . . but I feel sometimes she’s hiding who she is. She won’t just let go.”
“You’re one to be talking,” Marshall said and he ducked a punch.
“What do you mean by that?” Cy asked as he dropped his arms and stared at his brother. It cost him as his brother landed a punch to the jaw.
“It means you’re hiding who you are, too. You’re still Mr. Hollywood and that’s not you. Well, not all you. You’ve always been a little cocky,” Marshall grinned as he rested his hands on his hips.
“True. But, when I’m with her, I’m me again.”
“You've got it bad. Why don’t you invite her to Dani and Mo’s going away/baby shower tomorrow? Katelyn says we’re going. It’s some picnic thingy.”
“I don’t think I’m invited,” Cy said. It was a good idea, though. Try to bring some normalcy to his life. Give him a chance to unwind and try to forget about Mr. Hollywood, as his brother called him.
“I think you’re about to be.” Marshall pointed to the black Mercedes making its way up the drive.
“Who’s that?” Cy asked. “He looks like a small version of Ahmed.”
“Ah, that’s mini-Ahmed. His real name is Nabi . . . well, Nabi is good enough.”
“Mr. Cy Davies?” Mini-Ahmed asked.
“Yep, that’s me.” Cy held out his hand and accepted an envelope. “So you’re Nabi.”
“Nabi Ulmalhamsh Mosteghanemi,” he said with a slight bow of his head.
“Right.” Cy knew his limits on language and that was it. “So you’re working for Ahmed.”
“Yes. I’m very privileged,” Nabi said while looking back and forth between the brothers. “Were you training?”
“Yes, we were. Would you like to go a round?” Cy asked as Nabi looked around as if to see if he was being watched. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that you took some time off. I’m good at keeping secrets after all.”
Gemma held her breath as she read the last page Cade had printed from the translated flash drive. She was having trouble seeing through the tears rolling silently down her cheeks as she read the letter her sister had left for her. Gia had known she was in danger and had left this note the morning she was killed, just in case. She said she had a feeling something was wrong.
“I never told you how proud I am of you,” her sister wrote among the meaningful stories, the special moments, and the hopes for the future. Gemma sucked in a ragged breath as she finished the letter. “Live life to the fullest for us both. I’ll be checking in on you to make sure you do. I’m your big sister, after all.”
The heartbreak was complete. The feeling of being ripped in two was so overwhelming that Gemma curled into a ball and sobbed.
“Gemma? What is it?” Cade asked quietly as he put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“My sister left me a note. I should be with her now. It should've been me. I was running in circles, but she was going places. She was making a difference in the world with her reporting.”
“Gemma, you can’t do this to yourself," Cade reassured her. "Your sister loved you and there is no way she would want you to blame yourself. I’ve only known you a short time, but it’s clear to me that you have great things ahead. Your sister would be very proud of you. I know my brother is.”
Fresh tears started and Gemma couldn’t stop them. She knew she looked a mess. She was an ugly crier, but right now she didn’t care. Although Cade’s slightly nervous look caused her some comic relief.
“What the hell did you do to her?” Cy yelled. She looked up and found him shooting daggers at his brother.
“Oh, Cy.” Gemma jumped up, pushing Cade out of the way, and leaped onto Cy. Gemma pressed herself against him as she hugged him tight.
“I’ll come back,” Cade said as he started for the door.
“No. I’m okay. Tell him what we found.” Gemma laughed as she dried her tears. Cy’s confused expression was just as funny as Cade’s had been.
“We read through all the notes on the flash drive and there was this one phrase toward the end that read Sarah is the key. Gemma thinks this blonde woman is Sarah. The question remains—who is she?”
“Wait,” Gemma said, “that club in the background. I know that club. It’s in L.A. and I happen to know the bouncer.”
“Do you think he’ll know her?” Cy asked as he looked at the picture again.
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