“—has less leeway than we do,” Quinn said. “Trust me, when we catch him, he will be convinced of the wisdom of leaving you alone.”
Something in the way he said it made Alyssa almost pity Baird.
Almost.
She reached down to scratch Cutter’s ear, thankful that he’d found them and brought them to Foxworth.
“What do we do now?” she asked Quinn.
“Take Luke to school every day, personally. Hand him off to someone you know, pick him up the same way. Let them know there’s reason to be sure he’s not released to either you or Drew or one of us. Keep him with you every moment he’s not in school.”
Alyssa nodded. Quinn continued.
“One of us will always be with you until this is over. The rest of us will keep hunting for Oliver.”
Drew grimaced. “So I just stay out of the way, huh?”
Quinn smiled in understanding. “I know it goes against the grain. But we’re trained for this. Let us do it.”
“I’d rather be out there hunting for him,” Drew said.
“Perhaps,” Hayley said quietly, “you should ask Alyssa which she would prefer.”
Drew looked at her then, and she answered instantly. “Stay safe, with us.” Something flashed in his eyes and she quickly added, “For Luke.”
Drew gave a wry look at Hayley. “You knew I couldn’t say no to that, didn’t you?”
“Think of yourself as another line of defense,” Quinn said.
“At least you didn’t say ‘last’ line of defense,” Drew said with a grimace.
“Best, maybe,” Quinn said. “You’d lay down your life for them, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” Drew said, without a second’s hesitation.
Alyssa’s breath caught in her throat. There could be no doubting the sincerity of his answer. And the very thought rattled her to the core.
It was Luke he really meant, she told herself. Luke he really loved enough to die for. Not her. And she would do well to remember that.
Chapter 15
Hayley woke up quickly when Quinn’s phone rang just before dawn. The days of waking up slowly were behind her for good, it seemed. Quinn always seemed to be instantly alert; for her it was a longer process.
As usual, Quinn sounded as if he’d been awake all along when he answered. He listened for a moment before saying. “No. That’s enough. Come on home.” Then, after an even briefer moment, “Yes, I still want his ass. In fact, I want it personally. And now that you’ve found this out, we’ll get it. Head on back. A month is more than enough in that cesspool.”
He ended the call and set the phone back down on the nightstand.
“Rafe?” she asked.
Quinn turned to look at her in the shadowy room. “How’d you guess?”
“Shortest phone call ever with someone you haven’t seen in a month.”
She saw him smile, even in the darkness. “That’s Rafe, all right.”
“Besides,” she added, “he’s the only one who’s gone, therefore the only one who can head back.”
“Ah, my brilliant soon-to-be-wife,” Quinn said, lying back and pulling her down beside him.
“He found something, didn’t he.”
It wasn’t a question. Again, it was Rafe. He might not be as comfortable in the big city anymore as he’d once been, but he was just as efficient. And she’d learned early that he had a reputation that got things done in certain quarters, in ways no one else could match, not even Quinn.
“Yes,” Quinn said.
“Do we have a name? Is he still alive?” She wasn’t sure joking about it was wise, but Quinn wasn’t reacting as she’d thought he would once they got a lead on the mole who had almost gotten them killed on the mission where they’d first met.
“No name yet, just an agency. Lucky for him. Rafe doesn’t have much tolerance for traitors.”
“Was the leak where you suspected?”
Quinn’s expression darkened. “Yes.”
Hayley drew in a deep breath. That meant they were dealing with a federal agency. A very powerful one. “What will you do?”
“Keep going until we have that name. And then I’ll take him down,” Quinn said matter-of-factly.
“But if he covered his tracks so well that it took this long to just find out where he works, will you be able to prove it?”
“There will be a way. And if not, we’ll make one. Or we’ll prove something else. This wasn’t his first rodeo.”
“What if now he knows we’re looking for him and runs before we can get him?”
Quinn gave her a sideways look. She realized her mistake and laughed. “Sorry. Rafe. I should have realized. No way he knows.”
He laughed with her, a sound she never tired of hearing. A warmth she’d never known before him welled up and she reached for him, still amazed at how quickly it came over her, this unrelenting need for this one man.
It was much later, with the gray light of a winter morning lightening, if not brightening, the room, that Hayley brought up the current situation.
“Those two,” she said in a lazily sated voice, need to take off the masks.”
“Meaning?”
“It’s obvious Drew loves her. And I think she loves him. But they’re so locked into their ‘arrangement’ that neither one of them is willing to let down and risk saying so.”
“You sure about that? Seems like it’s the kid who’s holding them together.”
“I think that’s what they tell themselves. She thinks he’s only with her for Luke’s sake, and he thinks she’s only staying married to him for Luke’s sake. He feels guilty because what seemed like the best solution at the time, when she was so sick and weak, is unacceptable now. Because now he loves her. And she feels she owes him everything for saving him, but indebtedness isn’t love. And she can’t see past that to how she really feels. But she won’t leave, because of that debt, as well as for Luke. He’s the only father Luke has really known. Which is another sore spot, because of how Drew feels about Doug. Alyssa wants Luke to know and love his father, but that’s hard to do when the guy who’s stepped into that job feels that way. And neither of them really knows who’s right, they only know what they think is right.”
Quinn was staring at her. “I think my head’s going to explode. How do you do that? We’ve known them for a little over a week, and you’ve got every facet of their situation figured out.”
“But it’s obvious, once you talk to them.”
“I think,” Quinn said wryly, “that Cutter chose to show up on your doorstep because you’re kindred spirits. Mind readers. Something.”
“I miss him. House seems so quiet without him.”
“He’ll be back.”
“I know.” She smiled. “He is a working dog, after all.”
“He gives the phrase a whole new meaning,” Quinn said with a chuckle. He pulled her close. “I miss him, too.”
Hayley sighed contentedly. “I love you, Quinn Foxworth. And I love how you’ve changed my life.”
And I hope, she added to herself, that we can help Drew and Alyssa find this for themselves.
* * *
“If the place is still standing when this is over, it will be amazing,” Drew said, watching Luke and Cutter, trapped inside by heavy rain today, tear through the house in some crazed kind of race that changed direction at whim. They’d been at it for at least ten minutes now, ever since Teague Johnson, who had arrived to relieve Liam, had gone outside to have a look around his new assignment. He’d arrived after dark, which came early this time of year, and come in through the back, by stealth.
Drew understood why once he’d seen the man; Liam could be anybody’s kid brother or visiting cousin, but the first thing you thought when you saw Teague was military or l
aw enforcement. And if Baird Oliver ever managed to find them here, if he was watching, he would assume they’d called for help, against his instructions.
Luke and Cutter made another circuit, this time careening off the living room couch. Drew winced.
“I just look at it as a very tired boy in the making,” Alyssa answered. “And that’s a good thing come bedtime.”
“You’re an optimist,” he said. What he didn’t say was how he admired that quality in her. Along with many others.
That he’d slipped from admiration into much deeper waters was something he tried not to dwell on. Things were tense enough between them now, even without her knowing he’d committed the unforgivably stupid act of falling in love with her.
“If I’m an optimist, I learned it from Doug.”
And there it was. Digging at him again. “Doug wasn’t an optimist. He just never accepted reality.”
“And you can’t accept that he ever did anything good.” She let out an audible sigh. “You just can’t help yourself, can you? You have to diss him at every opportunity.”
“No more than you can help throwing out the bait,” Drew retorted.
She went still. Thoughtful. Then, with a small nod, she said, “I suppose I had that coming. I do have the need to test the water, see if anything’s changed.”
Drew studied her for a moment. “Did you expect it to?”
“Not really.”
“What Foxworth has found so far only confirms what I always thought. You know now how much he lied to you.”
She flushed slightly, and it bit deep that he took that tiny reaction as a sign of progress. Pitiful.
“That’s mine to deal with. But I also know your mind is made up, and always has been. And if you won’t change it for Luke, you surely won’t change it for me.”
He only wished he could. But he’d grown up with Doug, he knew how he manipulated, how he put up a front, showed people what they wanted to see. And if you resisted, he became the walking definition of “charm offensive.” And people fell for it. They always had.
Except for him.
“The truth is,” he stated flatly.
“Which is your version, of course.”
“I—”
He broke off as Cutter peeled away from the chase and skidded to a halt in front of them. He looked at them, from one to the other, and let out what for all the world sounded like a disgusted sigh.
Luke quickly noticed the loss of his racing partner, and trotted over.
“Are we in trouble?” he asked warily.
“No, of course you’re not.”
The boy looked at them doubtfully. “You look mad. Are you fighting?”
Drew heard the note of fear in Alyssa’s voice as she answered quickly, “No!” He knew she was thinking that the last time Luke had heard them talking like that, he’d run away.
He put his arm around her, pulling her close. He had to take a deep breath to steady himself against the electric charge that ran through him before he spoke. This was impossible, he thought. He couldn’t keep doing this. He wanted her too much.
But for Luke, he did it.
“We were just disagreeing,” Drew said, earning him a panicked glance from Alyssa, who had avoided looking at him from the moment he’d touched her. “About what kind of dog we should get,” he finished.
Alyssa’s expression shifted instantly to one of relief and thanks as Luke lit up. “Really? I mean, I’d rather have Cutter, but he already belongs to someone.”
“Yes, he does.” And I think I’m thankful for that, Drew thought.
Cutter’s head came up sharply, and for an instant Drew thought the dog had somehow read his thought. But then his head snapped around toward the back of the house. Drew tensed, but Cutter’s tail came up and wagged slightly as he woofed a welcome and trotted that way. Drew followed him, reassured by the dog’s reaction but still cautious.
And he felt a jab of anger, that they were reduced to this, living with armed guards—he’d noticed the weapons both Liam and Teague discreetly carried—all because of Doug.
But then, if it wasn’t for Doug there would be no Luke, and that didn’t bear thinking about.
As for Lyss, he thought, and the idiocy he’d committed by falling for her when he never, ever intended to...sometimes he couldn’t bear thinking about that, either.
Chapter 16
Cutter sat expectantly at the door that went from the mudroom into the backyard. A moment later the door clicked, opened.
“Eagle feather.” Teague called out the password they—or rather Luke—had picked out. Not that Cutter’s reaction hadn’t been enough. The man stepped into the mudroom, water streaming off him as Cutter greeted him with a welcoming sniff.
Drew studied the man for a moment. He was about his own height, and looked lean and fit. His sandy-brown hair was clipped military short, and the quiet confidence in the clear blue eyes was reassuring. Although it was Drew’s job to keep Luke safe, it was good to have backup you had faith in. He was starting to feel that way about all of Foxworth.
“Hey, buddy,” Teague said, ruffling the dog’s fur. “What’s up?”
“I think he was chewing us out,” Drew said wryly as Teague carefully shed his dripping jacket and hung it on the rack beside the door.
“Oh, he’s good at that,” Teague said with a grin.
Now that he’d properly greeted his colleague, Cutter went back to Luke. The boy wasn’t quite as comfortable with Teague yet, as he had become with Liam, but he still smiled at him.
“As you were,” Teague said to the boy.
“What does that mean?” Luke asked as Alyssa joined them, grabbing a towel from the shelf next to the kitchen door and tossing it to Teague.
“It means go back to what you were doing,” Drew said while Teague dried himself off. “Then again,” he added, looking at the tossed throw rugs and one askew chair, “maybe not.”
“We’ll go watch TV, then,” Luke said. “Come on, Cutter.”
For a moment the dog hesitated, looking at Teague. The man nodded and made a gesture with his hand, then Cutter trotted off after Luke.
“What was that, he was waiting for the okay?” Alyssa asked with a laugh.
“He takes his job very seriously,” Teague said, and Drew wasn’t sure how much of it was a joke. “Normally, I’d take him with me to check the perimeter, but I thought I’d save you wet dog.”
Drew laughed at that. “Something to remember,” he said.
“So what was he chewing you out about?” Teague asked.
Alyssa gave Drew a sideways glance. “I think he thought we were fighting.”
“Oh.” Teague looked suddenly uncomfortable.
“It was more of a difference of opinion,” Drew said wearily. “A very old one.”
“Okay, he was chewing you out, then. He’s big on people getting along,” Teague said. “Just ask Laney.”
“Your girlfriend?” Alyssa asked.
Teague nodded. “Thanks to Cutter.”
Drew lifted a brow. “She’s your girlfriend because of a dog?”
Teague laughed. “Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But it’s true. We were having...a failure to communicate, I guess you’d call it. And Cutter finally got tired of it. So one day he wouldn’t let me leave her shop until we talked it out.”
“That’s...sweet, really,” Alyssa said.
“Ended up pretty darn sweet,” Teague said with a grin that made Drew feel an odd sort of pang. Then Teague turned to pull his cell phone out of an inside jacket pocket. “Excuse me, I need to check in with the boss.”
“I made hot chocolate,” Alyssa said, gesturing to a pan on the stove. “Have some, it will warm you up.”
“Sounds great,” Teague said.
/>
“Mugs are in the cupboard by the oven.”
They left him to make his call. Drew followed Alyssa back out into the living room. She walked over and began to straighten the rugs out, so Drew lifted the chair back into its normal spot. It took only a few seconds to have everything back to rights.
“Small price to pay,” Drew said, “for as much fun as he was having.”
“Yes,” Alyssa agreed.
For a moment an oddly charged silence spun out. Then, simultaneously, they spoke.
“I’m sor—”
“I apol—”
They both stopped. Looked at each other a bit awkwardly.
“You’re right,” Alyssa said then. “I do bait you. I’m sorry.”
“And I always snap at it,” Drew said. “I apologize for that.”
“Maybe we need a Cutter to chew us out.”
“I’d settle for just stopping it.”
Alyssa sighed. “You’d think we’d learn.”
Drew studied her for a moment. “Can I ask you something? Peacefully?”
She hesitated a moment, as if bracing herself, before she said, “Go ahead.”
“You’re a smart woman, Lyss. Very smart. You know stuff instinctively about people that I can only figure out if I sit and think about it for an hour. And even then I might not hit the right answer. Not the way you do.”
She looked so startled he paused. Then, at her expression, he realized his compliments had thrown her. He wondered if it was because he said them too rarely, or simply because this wasn’t what she’d expected.
“Oh, there’s got to be once heck of a however after that,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I don’t say things like that often enough, do I?”
“You don’t say them,” she said drily, “at all.”
“I guess I didn’t think you’d want it. From me, I mean.”
“Oddly, I find it means more coming from you,” she said. “Maybe because you don’t throw out praise easily. At me, I mean.”
He couldn’t tell if she was using his words back at him as a jab, or if she was teasing. Somewhere along the line she’d gotten a lot better at hiding her thoughts. She was no longer the girl whose every emotion showed in her innocent face. Which no doubt had made it easier for Doug. He would have been able to tell instantly if he’d gone too far.
Operation Unleashed Page 13