Dangerous Lies (Shades of Leverage)

by Claudia Shelton

  “Looks like I’ll have a lot of people to thank for that. Who was that guy by you?”

  “Mitch Gr—”

  Mitch held up his hand, motioning her not to say names.

  Her dad looked as if he had all the time in the world, but finally he smiled. “Oh, Drake’s telling me I shouldn’t…we shouldn’t say names over the system. His OPAQUE stuff is good, but just in case, I guess.”

  Part of her was ecstatic over her dad being safe. Another part realized that meant her time with OPAQUE protection would be coming to an end. Surely, once CT realized their game hadn’t worked, they’d drop targeting her.

  “Will I see you any time soon, Dad?” she asked.

  “Drake said as soon as we get close, we’ll let you all know where to meet us. He’s already programmed in the GPS coordinates.” Her dad smiled. “Well, Drake’s motioning me to wrap this conversation up. See you soon, punkin’.”

  “Sounds good.” Her day might have started out iffy, but she couldn’t ask for anything better. Her dad was safe. She handed Mitch the panel.

  Reese scrubbed his hand in her hair. “Look at that, Short Stuff. You’re going to be rid of us soon. What do you think? You gonna be glad to see us gone?”

  How could she tell him how much this time with Mitch had meant to her? And not only Mitch. It had been great to be part of a group that had cared about her. “I’ll never forget you crazy guys. Thank you all.”

  Clearing his throat, Mitch stepped to the end of the counter. “There’s one more surprise.”

  “I don’t know if I can take many more this morning,” she said.

  “Since Drake sent the photo, and we talked to him earlier today, that means we can step back from such intense security.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “The messages and phone conversations with Drake and Russ indicate the situation is under control,” Reese said. “And earlier, Drake even sent a text saying all the CT chatter OPAQUE had picked up last night intimated they were gloating that they’d sent OPAQUE on a wild-goose chase. CT even sent out orders to its operatives to shut down the game.”

  She still didn’t understand what that meant. CT had played a game? The past days had been nothing but a game between adversaries? “So everything is over? We’re all good to go back to our business-as-usual lives?”

  The men turned toward Mitch.

  “What do you say, leader?” Josh asked. “Are we good to go?”

  Mitch glanced at the ceiling, the counter, the phone, the men and finally, her. His brow tensed then gradually eased the longer he seemed to evaluate the info.

  “Don’t overthink things.” Stealth said in an even, emotionless tone. “Go with your gut.”

  “Okay. OPAQUE has verified that all lines of communication regarding Liz have been nullified. This morning’s CT Leverage List didn’t show Liz’s name. Or mine. Plus, the contact with Drake and Russ.” Mitch fist-punched his hand out in front of him. “Hooyah! We’re good to go.”

  Each of the men fist-bumped his in return.

  “What does that”—she knocked her fists together—“mean?”

  Reese tousled her hair. “We’re all in agreement, Short Stuff. Mission accomplished.”

  What agreement? She was more confused than she’d been when she walked down the stairs. “In words even I can understand, guys. What’s the bottom line?”

  Mitch picked up the house remote. “You can go for a walk on the beach.”

  Her insides somersaulted with happiness. “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. The beach and the water are yours.” Mitch pushed the button to open the doors to the deck. “Enjoy your day, E-liz-a-beth.”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She felt her smile spread from one side of her face to the other. She hugged Josh, then Reese, then turned to Stealth, who stepped back from the hug but at least gave her a high-five.

  She didn’t hug Mitch, but instead she looked him in the eye. The past twenty-four hours had been so intense between them, she wasn’t sure where they stood. “Thank you. Thank you very much.”

  Mitch shrugged. “Glad it’s worked out for you. I told you we’d talk about it this morning.”

  Stealth leaned toward Reese. “What’s going on with those two?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “You mean…” Stealth shot a sideways glance toward Reese. “They…”

  Reese nodded.

  “You know, I can hear you guys,” Liz said.

  Stealth leaned back against the wall. “Hell, the entire world must have frozen over while I was gone.”

  She heard the banter. Saw the friendship. The men were here to protect her, but at the same time they were a family. One that fought together. One that, sometimes, died together. And, even though she could enjoy the beach today, there was the undercurrent they were still there for her until they were relieved.

  “There are a few rules, though,” Mitch said. “Three of us will set up a perimeter.”

  Shaking his head, Stealth exhaled loud and to the point. “I knew his gut would throw in a detour.”

  Mitch shot him an I’m-still-in-charge stare and exhaled right back at him. “One will walk the beach with you.”

  Reese grinned then winked in her direction. “So, Short Stuff, who’s going to walk with you? Your choice. Out of all us guys, which one do you want by your side?”

  There was no question who she wanted next to her on the beach. No question who she wanted by her for a lot more than a walk. Last night was gone. The words spoken had had time to settle, and this was a new day. “Mitch? Would you like to go for a walk on the beach…with me?”

  …

  Thirty minutes later, Mitch motioned the other guys into place—Reese and Stealth on opposite ends of the beach, Josh stationed on deck back at the house—as Liz and he dug their toes into the white sand. The warmth felt inviting, and when they walked at the edge of the water, the waves lapping at their ankles settled everything in his life that was wrong. Last night’s clearing of his soul had been exactly what he needed. Maybe what he’d needed for a good long time.

  He folded his hand over hers, and she intertwined her fingers with his. She looked cute in her bikini, her hair shiny and soft as it fluttered in the breeze. Darting around him she pulled away and raced farther out in the water, then turned and splashed him.

  “I told you yesterday at the pool, that kind of mischief will get you in trouble.” Without thinking, he raised his eyebrows and smiled.

  Laughing, she wiggled her hips from side to side as the waves gently rushed against the back of her thighs. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Slowly, she walked toward him, leaning forward, dragging her hand across the water, splashing him again and again and again. Closer and closer and…

  She looped her arms around his neck and kissed his chin. “Are the guys specifically watching us?”

  “No. They’re watching the perimeter. And if they happen to turn in this direction, they’ll turn away.” That’s what they’d learned to do when protecting people.

  As she slid down the front of him, she trailed her kisses to his neck, to his chest, to the edge of his swim trunks. Then, she stepped farther and farther out in the water, leaning backward until she floated face up toward the sky. Suddenly, a rogue wave crashed over her, tumbling her to the bottom. She came up sputtering at the same time Mitch wrapped his arms around her.

  From there, they fell into laughter and caresses, tickles, and splashes. He tossed her upward and outward into the waves, but he always made sure to get to her before she splashed down. Neck-deep in the water, she evaded his reach before she settled in front of him, bouncing slightly with the Gulf’s steady ripple.

  “Don’t go too far out.” He glanced skyward. Farther out into the Gulf. What had he heard? Seen? A hum? A speck? He searched for any sign of a drone. None. And nobody else on the team had turned in question. Like the guys said, he was just being paranoid.

  “I won�
��t.” She bounced a couple more times, higher and higher out of the water, then she popped beneath the waves. Seconds later, she stood back up, holding her bikini bottom in her fingers. She held them out to him. “Could you hold these for me?”

  His core jumped into overdrive as he shucked out of his swim trunks, grabbed her bikini bottoms, and looped both of them up his arm and onto his shoulder. “You’re playing with fire, little nymph. Playing with fire.”

  She shrugged along with the pout of her lower lip. “So, maybe you should put the fire out.”

  Brushing against his chest, she wrapped her legs around him, and his insides yelled for release. He shouldn’t…he truly, damn well shouldn’t…but his hands seemed to have a mind of their own. He cupped her in his palms, grazing his lips and fingers over her body as he walked farther out into the water. More than his hands had a mind of its own, and he wasn’t going to fight that, either. Arms and legs and body, they came together in the waves, and she gripped her fingernails into his shoulders, deeper and deeper, until she lost all control seconds before him.

  After regaining their composure and their clothes, they walked back to the beach. He, watching the gulls fly overhead. She, gathering a few random shells that peeked out of the sand. Finally, they spread out the beach towel they’d brought down and sat, staring out at the Gulf.

  They talked. Talked about their pasts. Talked about things they liked. Talked about music and art and places they’d like to visit. They never talked about the future, though. Then they were quiet. Their shoulders touched as they sat side by side, closer and closer to each other, closer and closer to the end of the day.

  “Don’t just leave,” she said.

  He glanced in her direction. “What do you mean? I’ll sit here as long as you want.”

  “You know what I mean.” She met his gaze with her own.

  Yeah, he knew what she meant. This conversation had no place in his world, just like she had no place in his world. All he could ever offer her was a life filled with worry, or danger. Sooner or later that would shatter her self being. She’d lose all sense of who she was and what she wanted. And, if they had children… What then?

  He swallowed hard. End it now. End it clean. That’s what was best for her. Didn’t matter what was best for him.

  “We both knew I’d have to leave some day,” he said.

  “I know.” She nodded weakly. “But I don’t want you to go forever. I read Drake’s note again this morning. Thought about how my mother couldn’t face his life of danger. How she’d been honest enough to tell him she couldn’t.” She kissed Mitch’s cheek. “I’m not my mother. I’m me. And I can face whatever life throws at me. Even love with a dangerous man with a dangerous past and the promise of a dangerous future.”

  “I know you can, but…” A shadow of what-if crossed his expression, but he rolled his shoulders and shook it off. “I don’t know what you want me to do, Liz. We—”

  “You don’t have to do anything.” She covered his hand with hers. “Just promise me you’ll at least say goodbye. Please promise.”

  He sighed long and longer. She’d mentioned love…love with a dangerous man…and that’s what he was. The love he felt for her needed to be tempered, because she didn’t deserve the danger and unknown of an OPAQUE agent’s life. But she did deserve everything he could give her to make leaving easier.

  Fingering her hand in his, he pulled it to his lips for a single kiss. “I promise, Elizabeth. I promise to say goodbye.”

  “My name is Liz,” she whispered, then sat perfectly still. Slowly, she laid her head against his shoulder. “I love you, Agent Granger. I love you.”

  The words shook him, but he kept staring at the water.

  During the next hour, life slowed, along with their energy. They still laughed, but not quite as much. Their mood had dimmed. The sun got hotter. Finally, one of the guys brought down a beach umbrella and jabbed it in the sand then walked back to the house. She lay back and closed her eyes.

  Mitch went for a swim. Felt good. Rejuvenated him. He figured that’s what she had needed when they’d talked about going outside last night. When he saw her sit back up and franticly look around, he started in to shore.

  “Delivery!” Reese plopped a bag of food and a couple of drinks beneath the umbrella. “Us guys got hungry, so I grabbed some wings and fries from the place down the way. Figured you all might want some, too.”

  “Thanks.” Mitch toweled off. “We’ll eat and then head back inside.”

  Reese nodded and walked away.

  “Sound okay to you?” Mitch looked in her direction as he lowered to the beach towel.

  She smiled. “Sounds good. Thank you for today. This was nice.”

  “I have to admit, it felt good to be outside and—”

  “Mitch! Mitch!” Josh yelled from the deck, tossing a secure phone in his direction.

  Mitch dug his feet in the sand, sprinting toward the house. He caught the phone on the run halfway to the house and shoved it against his ear. “Yeah?”

  “Joey here. Just landed Panama City. Should be there less than hour.”

  “Why?”

  “You sent an urgent text. Get there STAT. The OPAQUE pilot diverted from the Ft. Myers flight plan and flew us straight here.” Joey talked in the fast-paced clipped manner he always did when time was of the essence. “Plus there are two OPAQUE agents in a PT boat running flat-out across the Gulf from Galveston. Another taking a chopper from New Orleans.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Mitch shouted back.

  “How did you find out about the CT boat?” Joey questioned without answering. “OPAQUE sonar and radar didn’t even pick it up.”

  “What boat? How do you know where we’re at?”

  “You sent the coordinate.” Joey rattled off the physical address also. “Text said you hoped we got there before the CT boat got in range.”

  Mitch’s gut clenched. Chills raced across his shoulders. “I didn’t text anyone. Don’t come. Contact St. Louis headquarters to lock down. Notify the other agents to stay at a safe distance until further notice. Tell them to stay off any messages that say they’re from me.”

  “The boat sounds like a threat. Want me to track it?” Joey was the tech guru of OPAQUE.

  Keith had been the sonar expert on the Shades of Leverage team. His background had included sonar and radar during his time in the Navy. Anytime there’d been a question in OPAQUE’s tech tracking department that couldn’t be solved, they’d contact Keith for an outside-the-box idea. Made sense there might be a glitch in the system without his input.

  “Yeah. Track it and get back to me. I’ll check on this end.” Mitch ran back toward Liz. “Have you picked up Cat from Ft. Myers yet?”

  “Not yet. We’ll contact her to be waiting at the airfield for quick pick up and head straight to headquarters.”

  “Sounds good,” Mitch said. “Sign off.”

  The phone went quiet a second before he whistled loud and shrill. Circling his arm above his head, he glanced up the beach then down. As if from nowhere, Reese and Stealth ran in his direction. Josh had disappeared from the deck, and the folding windows leading inside were slowly closing.

  Standing next to the beach umbrella, Liz looked puzzled.

  Mitch dashed to her, grabbing her hand as he pulled his gun from the waterproof holster he’d brought to the beach. “Come on. Come on.”

  “What’s wrong?” She yelled as she ran, her feet sinking in the silky white sand.

  “Get in the house.” He shielded her from the Gulf side.

  As Reese and Stealth closed in on them, Mitch wrapped his arm around her waist and half carried, half dragged her the rest of the way up the dune. There was no time to lose. Coercion Ten knew where they were hiding. They were luring agent after agent to this place. What the hell was going on?

  Good he’d called in the reinforcement arsenal, along with Stealth last night. Things were going to get dicey and what they didn’t have,
they’d improvise.

  Could contacting Joey have been the start of another game? Or was the Liz game still in play? Or had Mitch been right all along that the elite of OPAQUE were the target?

  Only one way to find out for sure—find the CT rat in OPAQUE.

  Nobody was above suspicion. Nobody.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Liz could do nothing but let herself be manhandled as Mitch tucked her against his side and carried her toward the house. Her feet barely touched the ground, and the tightness of his arm pinched her side. Gasping for breath, she fought the onslaught of fear bombarding her. Ignored the pinpoint prickles from the back of her neck.

  She could feel the danger ratcheting up with each passing second. But she focused on the fact that Mitch had her. He would never let go. Never leave her. Never let anything happen to her as long as he was alive. Never—

  “Grab the umbrella! Towels! Everything!” He never slowed a step, and the tone in his voice told her he was thinking on the run. Giving orders without second thoughts. “Clear the beach.”

  Reese and Stealth grabbed the items and closed in rapidly, providing protection from the rear. She knew the house was right there, only steps away, but for some reason it seemed a million miles. Maybe farther. Fear tried to grab a foothold around her mind, but even though she was afraid, she would not be panicked this time.

  Mitch…these men…they were confident and ready to fight in order to save her life. She’d be damned if she didn’t do the same for them in return.

  At the top of the dune, Mitch released his hold, and she ran for the door, not stopping till she was inside the house. The men followed her, dumping the gathered beach items into the entry closet.

  “Why did you bring everything in?” she asked, panting to get her breath from the run.

  Stealth glanced in her direction. “Umbrellas can be a weapon. Towels can be a weapon. Trash can be a weapon.”

  Mitch had gone straight to the sighting scope tripod and moved it in front of the closed wall of windows leading onto the deck. “That was Joey on the phone. He and some other agents received a text purportedly from me saying get here ASAP. Joey’s checking OPAQUE sonar for a boat CT put into the message.”