Shot in the Dark

by Tracy Solheim

  “Oh good, you’re still here.”

  Adam spun around to find Terrie, the head housekeeper, crossing the Center Hall.

  “Did you lose something?” She held out a cell phone. “I found it by Fergus’s bed. It must have fallen out of your pocket while you were petting him.”

  He patted the pockets of his jacket, but his phone wasn’t there. “That would have been a problem later.” He took the phone from the housekeeper’s outstretched hand.

  “Yes,” she replied, eyeing him critically. “And you don’t need any more problems right now.”

  Ignoring her cryptic remark, he nodded and headed for the main staircase.

  “Agent Lockett,” Terrie called after him.

  This time it was his grandmother’s voice playing out in his head. Her lessons on respect were ingrained. Adam halted and turned to face the housekeeper.

  She inclined her head ever so slightly toward the Queens’ Bedroom. “You take care, you hear?”

  Message received. He nodded again before finally making his escape. Trotting down the stairs, he punched in the code to unlock his phone. Adam was surprised to see several messages from both Ben and Griffin. Not to mention four missed calls from an unknown number. He was just getting ready to call Ben back when his phone rang with the unidentified number again.

  “Agent Lockett,” he snapped.

  There was a pause before he heard the words he’d been dreading for nearly two decades.

  “Hello, Son.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Eight fifty-one.

  Adam was late. Josslyn tapped a finger against the granite countertop in exasperation. Her eyes were still gritty from lying awake all night thinking of ways to torture the loathsome man.

  This was me worshiping you.

  What an arrogant line. She wondered how many other women he’d shoveled that bull crap to. Josslyn didn’t want to be worshiped. She was an independent woman who didn’t need a man to complete her. The worst part was, the damn arrogant jerk thought he’d been doing her a favor.

  “Are you okay?” Marin asked from across the small kitchen on the residence floor used by the First Family.

  “Yeah, sure,” Josslyn lied. The fact of the matter was, Adam hadn’t done her any favors. All he’d accomplished last night was to stoke her desire for more.

  More with him.

  I can’t give you what you need.

  What in the heck did he think she needed? A flashy engagement ring like the one blinding her every time Marin flicked her wrist? No way! But another toe-curling orgasm wouldn’t be out of order. Particularly if Adam was fully involved in the process. She must have sighed again because Marin was now scrutinizing her carefully.

  “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said,” the chef complained.

  If Marin was still talking about the merits of pumpkin spice, Josslyn hadn’t missed much. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little distracted.”

  Marin went back to rinsing a mixing bowl in the sink. “It’s okay. I remember how aggravating it was when I couldn’t move without a pair of Secret Service agents following me. I’d like to say you get used to it, but I doubt you ever do.”

  Director Worcester informed her earlier that last night’s tattooed man was undocumented and would be deported. The man with the blade was being held on a weapons charge. Agent Shaw and his team were investigating further, but the consensus was she could venture out to the zoo today. Nevertheless, an additional layer of security had been added for her safety, not to mention her annoyance.

  “I don’t plan on getting used to it,” Josslyn replied. “This is only temporary.”

  Marin’s face broke out in a nauseatingly dreamy smile. “Of course, there’s something to be said about having an alpha man keeping you safe.”

  I need you to understand why it’s so important for me to keep you safe.

  Adam’s softly murmured words reverberated throughout her body. Josslyn didn’t want to be kept safe. Or worshipped. She just wanted Adam—who was now five minutes late.

  “Have you and Griffin set a date?” Josslyn decided a subject change was in order.

  “New Year’s Eve,” Marin replied. “At my family’s flagship hotel in New Orleans. We’d love to have you join us.”

  Josslyn toyed with the medallion she wore as she paced the small kitchen. Her sister, the First Lady, and Marin’s mother were sorority sisters. Despite always being included in the two families’ celebrations, Josslyn often felt she was on the outside looking in. As kind as Marin was, Josslyn knew a pity invite when she heard one.

  “I’m sure it will be lovely,” she told the chef. “But I have no idea where I’ll be at New Year’s.”

  She glanced over at the clock on the oven. Adam had two minutes or she was leaving without him. That would certainly show him that his little lesson from the night before was wasted on her.

  Agent Groesch appeared at the doorway. “Are you ready, Dr. Benoit?”

  Josslyn looked past the other woman, but there was no sign of Adam. “Where is he?” she demanded.

  Marin and the agent exchanged a look.

  “Agent Lockett is taking a personal day,” Agent Groesch explained.

  “He’s what?”

  Josslyn had spent a sleepless night, formulating arguments in her head. She had a laundry list of reasons his logic was faulty. He couldn’t protect her from everything. And he couldn’t hurt her if her heart wasn’t engaged. They could have an adult relationship based on sex alone. She wasn’t one of those clingy, demanding women looking for an MRS in front of her name. Far from it. The last thing she’d expected was him to chicken out and not make this a fair fight. But then another thought hit her. Maybe he didn’t want a fight. Maybe he thought she wasn’t worth the fight.

  “I guess he isn’t cut out for the rigors of a protective detail. He probably should just stick to shooting a gun,” she choked out around the painful lump in her throat.

  “Adam had a family issue come up suddenly.” Marin’s tone had grown decidedly chilly.

  He’s getting out.

  She recalled the pain etched on Adam’s face the evening before. Could his absence have something to do with his father? Her heart lurched in her chest. He was so obsessed with keeping her safe, but who was keeping Adam safe? Safe from the pain of coming face-to-face with a man he was supposed to love, but likely despised.

  “You know, I think Agent Lockett has the right idea,” she told Agent Groesch as a plan began to percolate in her head. “I think I’ll take a personal day, myself. I’ve been meaning to catch up on some journal articles and I can do it here just as easily as I can at the zoo without having to tie up multiple teams of Secret Service agents.”

  Marin looked a bit suspicious while Agent Groesch looked disappointed.

  “Don’t worry.” Josslyn patted the agent’s arm. “I made sure you have tickets for your niece and nephews for Boo at the Zoo this weekend. We can send someone over to get them. Or you could go yourself. They’re in the top drawer of my desk.”

  “I’ll tell the director you’re staying in for the day,” Agent Groesch said, her sunny demeanor restored. “Once I dismiss the team, I can swing over and pick up the tickets and anything else you need.”

  Trying not to grin like a loon at how easily the agent took the bait, Josslyn replied, “Just the tickets. I’ve got everything else I need on my laptop.”

  When Agent Groesch left the kitchen, Josslyn turned to Marin. The pastry chef’s fiancé was one of Adam’s best friends. Surely, she knew where to find Adam.

  “No,” Marin proclaimed before Josslyn could open her mouth.

  Josslyn’s opinion of the other woman shot up several notches. Obviously, she was more intuitive than Agent Groesch. Her opinion would go up even higher if Marin would just give her the information she needed. “I haven’t even asked you anything.”

  Marin made a very unladylike noise in the back of her throat. “The look on your face says it all. Ben already told u
s there was something going on between you and Adam.”

  “We’re friends,” Josslyn argued. “He’s gotten me out of more than one tough situation.”

  The pastry chef scoffed again.

  Josslyn persisted. “I know about his father.”

  Marin’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “We didn’t even know about his father until recently.”

  “Like I said, we’re friends.”

  The other woman wrung a dish towel between her hands. “I don’t know,” Marin whispered. “Griff and Ben are really worried about him, though. And Adam hates to be in close spaces so I imagine he’s miserable on the sailboat.”

  “He’s on a sailboat?”

  “It belongs to Ben.” Marin sighed heavily. “Adam’s father was able to track down the address to the townhouse and he’s been camped out there since yesterday.”

  Adam had to be desperate to avoid the man if he was willing to confine himself to a night spent in the cabin of a sailboat.

  “Please, Marin,” she pleaded. “Take me to him.”

  “Adam would kill me if you showed up with half the Secret Service in tow,” Marin argued. “Clearly there’s a reason he’s kept this part of his life private.”

  “I had planned to show up alone.”

  “Ditch your detail?” Marin glanced past Josslyn into the West Sitting Room before lowering her voice even more. “Are you crazy? What about the guys with tattoos and the knives who are after you?”

  Josslyn rolled her eyes. “If they actually meant me any harm, they’ve had plenty of opportunities to do me in. I’m sure all of this can be explained away as one big coincidence.”

  “Yeah, well Griffin and his friends don’t believe in coincidences,” Marin argued. “It’s one of the reasons the three of them are such good agents.”

  “If you don’t take me, I’ll sneak out on my own and search every marina in Washington until I find him,” Josslyn declared.

  Marin blinked several times rapidly. “Coming from you, that’s probably not an idle threat.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “The fact that Adam told you about his father has to mean something.”

  Josslyn held her breath.

  The other woman heaved a resigned sigh. “Griffin will be very angry with me.”

  “Something tells me you might have a way to smooth things over with him.”

  A blush broke out on Marin’s cheeks. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

  “Then you’ll take me?”

  “Can you get to the chocolate shop in the basement without being noticed?”

  Josslyn nodded.

  “Meet me there in ten minutes,” Marin instructed. “And, Josslyn, leave your phone in your room.”

  The meaning of her words dawned on Josslyn. “Damn. No wonder he didn’t take me up on it when I suggested an ankle monitor.”

  *

  The autumn weather was a bit brisker at the marina. But Adam preferred the chill of the breeze over the close confines of the Seize the Day. Even though Ben’s boat was luxuriously equipped with enough gadgets to survive a sail around the world, Adam always went a little stir-crazy after an hour or so belowdecks. Had the temperature not dipped into the thirties last night, he might have slept outside. But Adam wouldn’t give his father the satisfaction of freezing to death. He was made of sterner stuff. Ironically, that was the only thing he could credit his old man for passing on to him.

  Adam’s phone buzzed in his pocket. “Tell me he took the check and left,” he demanded of Ben.

  “If only it were that easy. Dude, I think he has some twelve-step forgiveness thing he needs to get off his chest.”

  Swearing violently, Adam carefully picked his way toward the bow of the boat. Maybe he’d just jump in and swim to freaking Bermuda.

  “I just gave him a hundred thousand reasons that he doesn’t need my forgiveness,” he roared.

  “Do you think it was wise to just give away your inheritance like that?” Ben asked. “I’m pretty sure your grandparents didn’t want the money from their natural gas well going to him.”

  “If it keeps him way out of my life, it’s worth every damn penny.”

  “Well, at least he’s out of our place. Griffin got him a room at The Chevalier. One of the perks of marrying into a family of hoteliers.”

  “Still too close. I’m staying put here until he leaves town. That money will be burning a hole in his pocket by nightfall. He’ll forget all about needing my forgiveness once he cashes that check.”

  Ben blew out a breath. “Something tells me he isn’t going to give up that easily.”

  “Then Griff should have gotten me the damn suite at the hotel!”

  “Okay, okay. Let’s talk about something else. According to the arrest records, last night’s guy with the tattoo lists an address in Bailey’s Crossroads. His visa is expired, so ICE is holding him. But here’s the kicker. The FBI already has that home staked out.”

  “Which means that’s likely where the boy is.” Adam took a swallow from his coffee as he tucked away that piece of information.

  “Not only that,” Ben went on. “But the guy works at the Zimbabwe embassy, which would give him access to a certain Mercedes van that tried to gun Doolittle down the other day.”

  “Yet another piece of intel Shaw didn’t think to share with us.”

  “The guy with the blade isn’t talking. He’s also in the country illegally, which means someone with money and connections hired him.” He could hear Ben furiously tapping on his keyboard. “Josslyn’s friend Tseng would have the money. But the wife of the undersecretary for Africa has both the means and the influence. I want to spend some time digging into her background this morning.”

  “Do that. But keep whatever you find under your hat for now. I don’t want Shaw or his team in on this yet. I certainly don’t want Josslyn thinking she can do any more amateur detective work.” He gazed at the Jefferson Memorial in the distance. “I want her kept safe and sound at the zoo.”

  “She’s not at the zoo.”

  Adam froze in the middle of taking another sip of coffee. “What?”

  “She stayed at the Crown today. Christine said she wanted to catch up on some journals or something. Josslyn didn’t feel the need to dispatch a detail to the zoo to do something she could do at home.”

  Since when did the She-Devil do anything so mundane as reading journal articles? The muscles at the back of his neck began to constrict.

  “And we know she’s actually there?” he demanded.

  More clicks of the keyboard. “The locator on her phone has her in her bedroom. She’s on her computer as we speak.”

  He relaxed and finally took that swallow of his coffee.

  “That’s weird.”

  Only to nearly spit it back out. “What’s weird?”

  “Her phone and her computer are in her room, but according to the sensors, she’s not.”

  Adam fired off a string of obscenities as he scrambled back to the stern of the sailboat. “Alert Christine. I’m on my way.”

  “Dude, she could just be visiting her father or walking the dog.”

  Except she wasn’t.

  Instead, she was standing on the dock getting ready to climb aboard Ben’s boat.

  His best friend’s fiancée shot him a pitying look from behind Josslyn. “She was sneaking out either way.” Marin shrugged. “I figured this was safer. But if you want her to leave, say the word. I’m pretty sure I can take her.”

  “Hey!” Josslyn quickly jumped on board, just out of Marin’s reach.

  Adam shook his head at Marin before locking gazes with Josslyn’s smoky eyes.

  “Call off Christine, Ben. Doolittle is safe and sound.”

  “She’s there? Um, should I send reinforcements?”

  “No. I’ve got this,” he lied and clicked off his phone.

  The fact of the matter was, he didn’t “get” anything anymore. One knock to the head and it seemed his entire routine had been upset. Hell, his enti
re life. And at the heart of his disrupted existence was this woman.

  “Well, I’ll just leave you two alone.” Marin’s voice trailed off with the breeze.

  It was a long moment before either one of them spoke.

  “What are you doing here, Josslyn?”

  The corners of her sassy mouth kicked up and she sashayed over to where he stood like a damn deer in the headlights. Inhaling a deep breath, she gripped the lapels of his jacket with her fingers and tugged his body against hers.

  “I’m here to worship you.” She breathed against the stubble lining his jaw.

  Adam’s breath stilled in his lungs at her declaration. All the blood rushed from his brain to his crotch when she nuzzled his chin. He needed to tell her to stop. That he wasn’t worth anyone’s worship, much less hers. He needed to tell her to go. That he wasn’t one of her precious wild animals to be saved. He needed to tell her what scared him the most. That she of all people had the power to destroy him.

  Instead, his hands fisted in her long silky hair and he tipped her face up. “You shouldn’t be out here with me. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Then, by all means, let’s go inside,” she murmured against his lips.

  It was as if his body was moving in slow motion because she slipped out of his arms and into the cabin before he could manage to stop her.

  “Joss,” he uttered in vain. She was already stripping out of her coat by the time he reached the galley.

  “You know, my mother was the only other person to call me that. I could never abide anyone else using that name for me.” A soft bemused smile formed on her lips. “Except for you.”

  There was another one of those sucker punches to his lungs, robbing him of his breath.

  “You shouldn’t have come,” he managed to choke out.

  “You shouldn’t be alone,” she countered, slipping out of her shoes. “And you’re overdressed. Again.”

  He hated the way his heart skipped a beat at her defiance. And her understanding. He couldn’t shake the trance she held him in because he was shrugging out of his jacket instead of insisting she return to the Crown.