by Zara Chase
“Here we are.”
Hunter pulled into the driveway of their waterside townhouse and pushed the button on the truck’s visor to open the garage door. Lewis drove her Jeep into the garage, too, and Hunter closed the door again.
“Come on, babe, let’s get you inside.”
“Oh, this is nice.” She glanced through the full-length windows in the living area that looked out directly onto the intracoastal waterway. Sunshine dappled the water a dozen different shades of turquoise. A small motor boat was moored on their private dock, a pelican sitting in stately splendor on its guard rail. “Do you both live here?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking,” Lewis replied. “But yeah, we live and work together.”
“You’re ex-military?”
“Yep.” It was Hunter who answered her. “We’re ex-SOCOM, like your husband, so that’s probably why Raoul thought we were the right people to help you.”
“I really appreciate it. I must have inconvenienced you.”
“We live to serve.” Lewis winked at her as he led her to a settee. “Okay, let’s get our priorities straight. It’s almost the cocktail hour.” He grinned. “Well, it has to be somewhere in the world. Anyway, this is an emergency and you look like you could use a drink. What can I get you?”
“Got any gin?”
It was Hunter’s turn to grin. “We have tonic, too.”
“Yes, please.”
Lewis poured her a generous measure of gin, but was stinting with the tonic. He opened beers for himself and Hunter and the guys took up seats of the settee directly opposite hers. They watched her as she took a healthy sip of her drink, and savored it. Almost immediately Hunter sensed some of the tension drain out of her.
“Okay, babe,” he said, crossing one ankle over his opposite thigh. “Start at the beginning. Tell us everything you know about your husband’s disappearance. Then we need to know about all the odd stuff that’s happened to you since you started asking questions.”
* * * *
Anais took a moment to marshal her thoughts. That was no easy task when surrounded by two such virile males oozing machismo and excess testosterone. Just looking at them did weird things to her head. Or perhaps that was just the gin. Somehow she doubted it. It wasn’t every day a girl got such a treat. These guys weren’t just tough and capable, they were every woman’s fantasy, and then some. Anais excused her wayward thoughts by reminding herself she had been a man-free zone since Gary went AWOL. That didn’t mean she was dead, or blind, which also meant it was impossible for her not to appreciate the view.
All taut muscle, tightly controlled strength and lithe coordination, Anais was finding it increasingly difficult not to gawp at them like a love-struck teen. Less than an hour ago she was frightened half out of her wits, now she was getting hot under the collar, and all points south of it, for very different reasons. Jeez!
Hunter kept his long brown hair held back in a ponytail. His strong jaw was covered in a day’s worth of stubble and his compelling deep brown eyes that appeared to miss little. Just being in the same room with him made her feel safe—and other emotions that had no place in their relationship. Lewis, with lighter brown hair and sea blue eyes, was all wide shoulders and possessed a lazy, mercurial charm that immediately reassured. But there was a downside to every situation, and being confronted by decadent Greek gods with hard unyielding bodies and intoxicating animal magnetism definitely didn’t do much for her cognitive powers.
“Gary was regular army,” she said, resorting to another quick slug of gin to keep her mind where it was supposed to be. “A tactical shooter, he could hit anything from two hundred paces with the wind in the wrong direction. We met as kids in Tennessee, he had been hunting almost as long as he could walk, and guns were second nature to him.”
“He was recommended for SOCOM because of his skills with a gun?” Hunter asked.
“Yes, and he loved it. Loved being part of the elite. Took to it like a kiddie to a sandpit.”
“So you moved to Florida,” Lewis said. “Did you live on base?”
“Yes.”
“And,” Hunter prompted when she said nothing more.
She shrugged. “There’s not much more to say about it. Some wives take to military life, some don’t. I’m one that didn’t. I would have preferred to live off base. I had no kids, and not much in common with the other wives, but Gary was away a lot of missions and said he felt happier knowing I had people around me.”
“Do you work?” Lewis asked.
“Yes, I’m a freelance editor. I do some work for a publishing house, and a lot more for authors who want to self-publish.”
“So there was no getting away to the office for you,” Hunter said.
“No, that was part of the problem.”
“How were things with you and Gary?” Hunter asked. “I’m sorry if that sounds personal, but I need to build up a picture of your background. You implied you were childhood sweethearts—”
“Yes, he’s the only man I’ve ever known.”
She noticed the guys share a glance, telling herself she had no reason to feel defensive just because she had stuck to her wedding vows. They probably thought she was hopelessly naïve, but she couldn’t help the way she was.
“So you were happy, I take it.” She nodded in response to Hunter’s assumption. “Why no kids, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I wanted them, but Gary only had another couple of years to go in the army. He wasn’t going to sign on for more. He wanted to wait until he was out and we could be together all the time. He said he wanted to be a hands-on father, but I also think he was worried something might happen to him and didn’t want to leave me alone literally holding the baby.” She blinked back tears. “As it happens, he was right.”
“Tell us what happened.” Lewis sent her a smile that melted her insides. She had only known them for half an hour but already felt she could say absolutely anything to them. “All we know is that he’s been classified missing in action. We don’t want to upset you, darlin’, but if we’re going to help you, we need to know everything.”
“It’s okay. It’s been two years, and I’ve spoken about it a lot.”
“I assume he was on a mission,” Hunter said.
His question barely registered with Anais. He still had one ankle hitched over his opposite thigh, giving her a clear view of the worn denim covering his groin and the impressive bulge pressing against his zipper. She moistened her lips, finding it hard to drag her eyes away. Only when she noticed both guys looking at her with knowing glances did she blush and reapply her attention to her drink.
“No, about six months before he went missing, he was taken off active service.”
“What!” Both guys sat upright, which meant both of Hunter’s feet hit the floor and she lost the view she had been fixating on. “Why was that?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Gary didn’t know, or wouldn’t tell me, but he was furious about it. I’d never seen him in such a mood before. I couldn’t get through to him. He told me he thought it might have been because he’d made it clear he wasn’t signing on again.”
“They put him on training duties?” Lewis asked. “If he was such a good shot, I’m guessing that’s what happened.”
“Right, and he hated it. I was glad because, stupidly, I thought now he wasn’t being assigned overseas, he would be safe. Besides, we would be together all the time, and I looked forward to that, but it was difficult. Gary was permanently angry, and our relationship suffered. Like I said before, I couldn’t get through to him. He always used to talk to me about anything and everything. Once he came off active duties, he withdrew into himself, started to drink more, and…well, he wasn’t the man I’d married.”
“How did he go missing if he was on instructor duties?” Lewis asked.
“That’s what I’ve wanted to know for the past two years.” She shrugged. “But if anyone knows, they’re not telling. All I do know is that he was an instruc
tor on a two-day survival course for a bunch of recruits. You know the sort of stuff. They’re left in one location, and have to make their way back to wherever the instructors are in a given amount of time. They live off the land, and all that. Gary saw them off, and checked on them unannounced at various points on the course, but never appeared at the final rendezvous. A massive search was launched for him, but he was never found.” Fresh tears threatened, but Anais blinked them away. “His pack was found, so too was his precious rifle, with blood of the stock. His blood group. But Gary disappeared without trace.”
“I don’t mean to upset you, babe,” Hunter said. “But could he not just have done a runner?”
“Deserted, you mean?” Hunter and Lewis both nodded. “No, he would never do that. Despite hating being sidelined, Gary still loved everything about the military. Anyway, he would never have left me. Our relationship was going through a bad patch, but it was still solid.”
“Then why wasn’t his body found? Where did this exercise take place?”
“The Everglades,” she said bleakly.
“Ah.”
“Precisely. There are a thousand places a man could disappear in that hostile territory and never be found. Even someone as experienced as Gary, or that’s what the Department of Defense kept telling me every time I asked what they were doing to find him.”
“Did all the recruits make the rendezvous unscathed?”
“Yes, that’s what is so odd about it.” Anais frowned as she shifted her position and rested her elbow on the back cushion of the couch. She kicked off her sandals and tucked one foot beneath her butt. “At the time I was too upset to ask questions. I simply moved off the base, and took a rented apartment here on the beach. But I couldn’t seem to move on with my life. As I got over my initial grief, I started to ask myself questions. I mean, how would you feel if you didn’t even know whether the love or your life was dead or alive? Well, obviously I know he’s dead, otherwise he would have found his way out of the Everglades long before now. Surviving off the land is what Gary does…did. But I need to know what happened. I couldn’t bury him, all I could do was have a memorial service. No, make that the military kinda forced me into having one, and I went along with it because I thought it might give me closure.” She shook her head. “It didn’t.”
“They do like everything neat and tidy,” Lewis said with a sympathetic smile. “You shouldn’t have let them bully you, but I understand why you did. You were hurting and vulnerable.”
“I felt like it wasn’t happening to me. I was numb. I mean, I always knew Gary might not come back from one of his assignments abroad. All military wives are programmed that way. But he was a frigging instructor stateside, for God’s sake. I thought he was safe.” She impatiently brushed away tears with the back of her hand. “I absolutely didn’t see that one coming, and still need that elusive closure.” He steady gaze encompassed them both. “I need answers, gentlemen. Something isn’t right about all this. I’ve been thinking that for a while, and after what happened today, I’m absolutely sure of it.”
“Sounds as though you have reason to be.” Hunter stood up, took her empty glass from her hand and refilled it. “Raoul said you were pretty shaken up when you rang him. Presumably you started asking awkward questions about Gary and were warned off. What happened?”
“I applied to the Department of Defense. I wanted to see their files into the investigation. They said it was classified.”
“They would.” Lewis rolled his eyes. “So what did you do next?”
“I went to his CO, but got stonewalled there, too. It was infuriating. He almost patted me on the head and told me not to worry my pretty little head about it. Damned dinosaur! I thought that sort of patronizing attitude went out years ago. Seems I was wrong.”
“And I’m betting the more you got told no the more suspicious you became and the more determined you were to get answers,” Hunter said, passing a fresh beer to Lewis.
“Right. There’s a chat room military wives hang out in. Nothing classified, of course. Just women in the same situation giving one another support. I got on there, talking about Gary’s disappearance, asking if any of their husbands had served with him, stuff like that. That earned me a visit from military police, telling me politely but firmly to leave it alone.”
“Who came to see you?” Hunter asked.
“A Major Dixon. He actually listened to me and told me the military were still looking into Gary’s disappearance. He actually made me feel better. It was like he took my concerns seriously, but he told me I had to leave it be and let them do their job. He’d get back to me if he found anything solid. Needless to say, I’ve not heard from him again.”
“The wheels of military justice turn slowly,” Lewis said.
“Yeah, but someone like Dixon taking the time to talk to me solidified my belief that something was off. I started out just wanting to know what they knew. I didn’t really think there was anything sinister. The Everglades are dangerous. Even someone as experienced as Gary might have gotten careless, which is all it would have taken. Only when they refused to tell me anything did I think there might be a cover-up, and I was more determined than ever to get to the truth.” She flashed a mischievous smile. “So, I started blogging about my suspicions. I mean, the military can stop me talking to other wives, and I did stop because I didn’t want to drop them in it, but there’s diddly-squat they can do about my personal blog.”
“But they did?” Lewis suggested.
“Someone did. I started getting threatening phone calls. Some creep saying he knew where I lived, and knew where my aged mother lives, too. He even quoted her address. It made my skin crawl, but I was damned if I’d give in to bullies. I contacted the local paper, tried to get them interested, recorded all my phone calls, stuff like that. But the paper wouldn’t do much. They said if I found anything out they would look at it, but couldn’t print unsubstantiated theories from a grieving widow for fear of coming across as unpatriotic.”
“Wusses,” Lewis said, scowling.
“Just after that my car was vandalized. Then, today, I got back to my apartment. The front door was off its hinges, like someone had kicked it in and wanted me to know it. They certainly weren’t subtle about it.” She shrugged, trying to appear casual, even though that was the last way she felt. “Well, that’s when I got the message. There’s a cover-up of some sort going on, and they don’t want me poking about in it. If they planted a tracking device on my car, then it proves it.” She glanced at Lewis. “What did you do with it, by the way?”
Lewis grinned. “Right now, the people who planted it will be tracking the Lexus that was parked next to you in that lot.”
“So they will think I found it and am fighting back.”
“Probably,” Hunter agreed. “But they can’t get to you, babe, not here.”
“I can’t stay here indefinitely.”
“We’ll get to that in a minute.”
“Okay.” She sipped at her new drink. “I’ll admit that going home right now is a scary prospect. They intended to frighten me and did a damned good job of it by invading my personal space.”
She shuddered, and Hunter reached across to touch her hand. “Were they still inside?”
“I don’t know,” Anais replied, surprised that the mere touch of Hunter’s hand should have such a profound, albeit reassuring, effect on her. “I hightailed it out of there, found that payphone and called Raoul. Thank God Eloise had given me his number and I had it in my purse.”
“So, what do you need from us, babe?” Hunter asked.
She fixed them both with a determined gaze. “I want you to help me find out what happened to my husband.”
Chapter Three
“We can help you with that.” Hunter sent their client a reassuring smile, reminding himself for the tenth time at least that she was a client, and therefore off limits. “But like I said earlier, you can’t go back to your apartment. Someone’s got it in for you.”
“I need some things. My laptop, some clothes.”
“Lewis will go back there, fix your door and pick up anything you need.”
“I’ll come, too. I—”
“No, I don’t want you going, just in case the place is being watched.”
Her eyes widened. “You think someone will be watching by apartment?”
“Until we know who’s behind all this, I’ve no way of knowing, but I don’t plan on taking any chances. Lewis can go in looking like a locksmith.”
“You can do the door yourself?”
“Sure.” Lewis winked at her. “You have no idea how many talents I possess.”
“Modesty not being one of them,” Hunter added, smirking.
“Unlike you, buddy, I have nothing to be modest about.”
She looked bewildered by their banter. “Do you think the military broke into my apartment?” she asked. “Am I stirring things up that much?”
“The military don’t want you poking about, but that might just be because they’re being their usual paranoid selves,” Hunter replied.
“And it doesn’t look good on the recruiting posters if they lose an experienced instructor in the Everglades,” Lewis added, a cynical twist to his lips.
“So, who…my apartment, my vandalized car, the tracker—”
Hunter shrugged. “That, darlin’, is what we aim to find out.”
“But I still don’t understand.” Hunter was surprised by the strength of his desire to wipe the bewildered frown from her adorable brow. “Why would anyone other than the military care?”
“Another good question.” Lewis sent her one of his killer smiles, causing her to blush. “Do you have access to his e-mail account?”