by Zara Chase
Major Dixon took them to a standard ground floor room and ushered them inside.
“Perhaps you’d tell me who you are?” he said to Hunter once they were all inside.
Hunter took stock of his surroundings, and didn’t respond immediately. Dixon had two other MPs with him, one of them a tough-looking woman. He was angry but not surprised they’d held out on Anais, and wanted to tell them to go fuck themselves. But if they did that, Dixon would be within his rights to detain them. They obviously had something going on here and could argue that Hunter was impeding their investigation. Best to cooperate, then they might get to something approximating the truth.
“We’re Griffin and Kyler, SOCOM vets,” he replied, reeling off their ranks and dates when they got out.
“I’ve heard of you guys,” one of the MPs said, sounding suitably awed. “You’re legendary.”
“Thanks, I think.” Hunter pulled a wry smile. “Mrs. Harrison asked us for help when she got nowhere with you guys.”
“We didn’t know that,” Dixon replied. “It must have taken you a while to get this far.”
Lewis shrugged. “All of two days.”
“Two days!” Dixon shared a glance with his subordinates. “I’m impressed.”
Hunter wedged a buttock on the window ledge. “Perhaps you’d care to tell us what you’re doing here, why you haven’t arrested Harrison, and what the fuck’s going on?” he suggested in a pleasant tone that implied he was fast running out of patience. Anais leaned against the window beside him and Lewis took up a position of solidarity on her opposite side. “Start with telling us how long you’ve known Harrison was alive.”
“We suspected something was off about his disappearance right away.”
“No shit.” Hunter sent him a scathing glance. “Let’s cut to the chase here, because Mrs. Harrison is keen for an interview with her husband, and time’s a-wasting.”
“I’m afraid we can’t allow that.”
“The hell you can’t!” Anais pulled herself up to her full height and glowered at the major. “You’ve been jerking me around for quite long enough, and don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“How much do you know about Harrison’s situation?” Dixon asked, addressing the question to Hunter.
“We suspect he got turned by the Hondurans and is helping them to get drugs into the US. We think that’s why he was taken off active duty, because you suspected him but couldn’t prove it,” Lewis said.
“And by removing him from active duty, you forced him to show his hand,” Hunter added. “You wanted him to lead you to whoever in administrative command got him into this, because someone on the inside has to be pulling his strings. Problem is, you didn’t expect him to go AWOL and it’s taken you a while to find him.”
“Whereas Hunter and Lewis managed it in two days,” Anais reminded the major with a sarcastic smile.
Dixon sent her a sheepish look. “He’s good at covering his tracks.”
“You haven’t told us why you’re so keen to keep us away from him,” Lewis said.
“We don’t want them spooked.”
“Them?” Anais’s head jerked up. “Who’s them?”
“Err, well, this is awkward. Sorry, Mrs. Harrison, there’s no easy way to tell you this. The fact is your husband hooked up with Maria Sanchez, the daughter of the lynchpin of this smuggling racket, about four years ago, during his first tour of Honduras. We think someone here had already picked up on his dissatisfaction with the service after he’d been disciplined twice for incidents he didn’t think were his fault. He had been given Maria’s name and was supposed to link up with her in a bar. Sanchez’s people would check him out and if he passed muster, then a deal would be struck.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“You’d be surprised. Our people on the ground in Honduras tell us Maria routinely acted as her father’s go-between. What her father didn’t know was that she was tired of her life there, and the violence and killings, and needed someone to help her to get away into the States.” He paused and sent Anais another sympathetic smile. “They tell us that Maria and your husband lit one another’s fires from the word go and he fell in with her suggestion.”
“Right place, right time,” Lewis muttered.
“So he’s had someone else all these years?” Anais said. “I never even suspected.”
“Another woman and two children.”
Oh, shit. Hunter should have seen that one coming. Anais looked ready to expire from shock. All color drained from her face, her mouth fell open in a startled ‘Oh’ and her entire body trembled.
“Is that who’s in that house with him now?”
“Yes. Maria is pregnant again. Their third child is due in three months’ time.”
Hunter tried to throw a comforting arm around Anais’s shoulders, but she shook him off and paced the room, fighting tears. He could sense a dozen questions bubbling beneath the surface of her shock, anger and betrayal, but she didn’t voice any of them.
“Let’s see if I’ve got this straight,” Hunter said. “Maria had the power to turn a dissatisfied SOCOM sergeant and get him to smuggle her into the States, which is what she wanted all along, and yet she still agrees to be part of the drugs trade she wanted to get away from.”
Dixon shrugged. “Both existing children were born here. They are technically US citizens. Tonight a final shipment of drugs is coming in to a local airfield. It’s Harrison’s swan song. The operation has been compromised mainly because of the interest in Harrison that you’ve stirred up with your questions, Mrs. Harrison. Everyone knew he wasn’t dead, but resources being what they are, the search for him had ground to a halt, the case put on the back burner. Your questions just happened to coincide with intelligence from Honduras about this latest big shipment, so the machine clicked into action and led us to Harrison, by luck rather than intelligent reasoning, I’m sad to admit.”
“No wonder they tried to warn you off,” Hunter said to Anais.
“Our people tell us this will be the biggest shipment of all tonight. Harrison’s contact in admin will be here to get paid off, and we’ll get all of them in one hit. That’s why you can’t go charging in there now, ma’am. You can talk to your husband as much as you like once he’s in custody.”
“That’s incredibly decent of you.”
“We want to be there when you take them down,” Hunter said.
“I can’t allow that.”
“You don’t have any choice. You have no authority to hold us, and Anais wants to know what this is all about before her husband lawyers up and doesn’t say a word.”
Dixon thought for a moment, then reluctantly nodded. “Okay, I guess you’ve earned the right. But you need to stay back until the arrests have gone down.”
“Agreed.”
Anais slipped her hands into the front pockets of Hunter’s jeans and leaned her head against his shoulder. He closed his arms around her and held her close, conscious of her hands burrowing closer and closer to his groin. “This is all too much for me to take in. I need to be alone for a while. Is there somewhere I can lay down?”
“Of course. Sergeant Rourke has a room next door.” Dixon snapped his fingers at the female officer. “Rourke, take Mrs. Harrison to your room and stay with her.”
“You sure you’re all right, babe?” Hunter asked.
She nodded, tears swamping her eyes. “Not really, but I will be. I just need some time.”
“Sure. We’ll be right here when you’re ready to rejoin us.” He kissed the top of her head and passed her over to Sergeant Rourke. “Take good care of her now. She’s had a shock.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Are you all right, Mrs. Harrison?”
Sergeant Rourke placed a hand on Anais’s back as she led her next door. It was all Anais could do not to shake it off. Of all the damned fool questions. Of course she wasn’t all right. Of all the things she had steeled herself to learn, discovering that Gary was a doti
ng father had certainly not featured, and the knowledge cut into her heart like a dagger.
“Fine.”
Anais’s shock and anger gradually gave way to a slow fulminating anger, causing her limbs to tremble and tears to gather in her eyes. She was damned if she would let them fall. She was done shedding tears over the two-timing traitor she had married with such optimism in a previous life. Of all the two-faced, double-dealing, disloyal bastards! She had put up with all Gary’s moods, making excuses for him, delaying what she wanted more than anything, which was a baby of her own, because she put his welfare ahead of her own needs. Argh! How could she have been such an idiot?
And as for Major Dixon. He had been keeping her in the dark the entire time, not caring about her feelings. He hadn’t even bothered to warn her about the raid tonight and give her a chance to prepare. Well, two could play at that game, and she didn’t care if she messed up his damned drug capture. She needed to speak to Gary, to make him explain what she had done to deserve such a cruel betrayal, and that conversation was long overdue. He knew…they had talked about her desperate need to have a family so often, and she thought he understood how incomplete she felt as her biological clock kept ticking but her womb remained empty.
Not only had he left her hanging, but he was the one who raided her apartment, trying to scare the shit out of her. Well, Anais had news for her ex-nearest-and-dearest. She was no longer the wilting violet who did everything he asked of her, and it would take more than a scrawled message on a mirror to scare her off. She was going right back to that house to have it out with him, but in order to do that she needed to get rid of Sergeant Rourke. She had assumed she would let her into this room, then leave her be. Instead she had settled into an armchair with a magazine, and didn’t look like she planned to move any time soon.
“Have you got everything you need, Mrs. Harrison?” she asked politely.
A gun so I can blast the spineless bastard’s head off would be useful.
“Actually, I know this sounds crazy, but whenever I get this wound up, I need chocolate.”
“Not crazy at all.” Rourke smiled at her. “Ask me, chocolate is every woman’s fundamental right in times of crisis.”
“I saw a bakery across the road. Can we go over there so I can choose a cake?”
“Why don’t you tell me what you need, and I’ll go get it for you?”
Thank you! Anais had been counting on the good sergeant wanting to keep her out of sight, just in case Gary should happen to come into town.
“Okay, if you don’t mind. Something with lots of chocolate and lashings of cream would hit the spot. I didn’t get any breakfast this morning.”
Sergeant Rourke grabbed her purse. “I’ll be right back.”
The door slammed locked behind her. Anais was almost tempted to smile. They were on the ground floor for goodness sake, with a perfectly serviceable opening window. Anais waited until she saw Rourke disappear around the corner. The only bakery was at the other end of Main Street, at least a couple of minutes’ walk away. Hopefully there would be a line.
When the coast was clear she pushed open the window and nimbly climbed through it. Not bothering to close it again, she jogged across to where Hunter had parked his truck, pulled the keys she’d swiped from the front pocket of his jeans from her own pocket and unlocked the vehicle. Thirty seconds later she gunned the engine and burned rubber as she tore out of the lot and sped off in the direction of Gary’s love nest. She reckoned she had five minutes tops before she was missed, and intended to make every one of them count.
* * * *
Hunter was worried about Anais, aware that she’d just received a major body blow. Knowing just how anxious she was to have children, and how she had only delayed getting pregnant out of deference to Gary’s needs, made his heart break for her. No wonder she needed time to get her head around developments. Hunter wished he could have stayed with her, and comforted her. He glanced at Lewis, restlessly pacing the room, and knew his thoughts were similarly occupied.
“How did you know we were there, just as a matter of interest?” he asked Dixon.
“We have several people posted around the area. You were seen parking up, Mrs. Harrison was recognized, so we had to rush in and stop you trampling all over our sting.”
Hunter refrained from using the words that sprang to his lips. “Who do you like as Harrison’s inside man?” he asked instead.
“It can only be one of two people, both on the CO’s admin staff.” Dixon curled his upper lip. “We’ll know in a few hours’ time. The guy must realize the net’s closing in. In fact, we made sure both suspects got to hear about it unofficially. He will be here to collect his cut tonight, and then plans to disappear, just like Harrison did. Unfortunately for him, we’ll be here to spoil the party.”
“Quite a feather in your cap, Dixon,” Lewis remarked.
“That’s not what this is about. People like Harrison give the majority of dedicated, hard-working military personnel who risk their lives for their country a bad name.”
Hunter couldn’t argue with that.
“Even so, I—”
They all turned toward the door when it burst open. Sergeant Rourke stood there, looking flustered and embarrassed.
“What is it, Rourke?” Dixon asked.
“It’s Mrs. Harrison, sir.”
“What about her?” Hunter and Lewis asked together.
“She’s gone.”
“Gone?” Hunter thundered. “You were there to keep watch on her.”
“She asked if she could go out for chocolate.” The sergeant looked sheepish. “I said I’d run the errand for her.”
Hunter and Lewis exchanged a protracted glance.
“She can’t have gone far,” Dixon said. “She will want to head for Harrison’s, but doesn’t have a vehicle.”
Hunter had a nasty feeling that she very well might have. He had liked it when, in her moment of torment, she’d put her hands in his pockets. He’d been too intent upon consoling her to read anything into it. Now he had a horrible feeling he knew what she had done. He patted his pockets and his fears were realized.
“Shit, she took the keys to our truck.”
“We’ll go after her,” Dixon said.
“How long did you leave her for?” Lewis asked.
“It must have been seven or eight minutes. There was a line at the bakery.”
“Then you’ll never catch her,” Hunter replied. “I should have read more into her need to rest, damn it!” He thumped his clenched fist against the window sill. “She’s put herself in danger.”
“To say nothing of our operation,” Dixon added.
“Fuck your operation,” Hunter and Lewis said together.
“Can’t we call one of the men stationed there to cut her off?” Rourke asked.
“She’ll be almost there by now.”
Sure enough, Dixon’s cell phone rang. It was one of his command reporting sight of the truck entering the road at speed.
“Lewis and I will go get her,” Hunter said. “If you go then your operation will be compromised.”
“It will be anyway if she tells Harrison we’re here,” Dixon replied.
“I doubt she will. She just needs to talk to him, and try to understand why he did what he did.”
“She could have done that after we arrested him.”
“We don’t have time to argue this now.” Hunter held out his hand. “Give me the keys to one of your vehicles and tell you men to let us pass.”
Dixon hesitated for a second or two, then handed the keys over. “The black SUV,” he said.
“Wise move.” Lewis scowled at him. “But you do realize that if you’d leveled with Mrs. Harrison when you first knew her husband was alive, this situation wouldn’t have arisen.”
And with that the two of them left the room at a run.
* * * *
Anais had absolutely no idea what she planned to say to Gary. All she knew was that she had to co
nfront him. The rational part of her brain told her she was being reckless, but reckless seemed like the right way to go. Despite the promises Dixon had made, she would never get to talk to Gary properly once he’d been arrested. If he was arrested. She had a feeling they were underestimating him, and he probably knew he was being watched. He’d outfoxed them all for this long, and it sounded like he had good motivation to carry on doing so. A motivation that came in the form of a fully-fledged family.
Renewed anger surged through her as she took the turn toward Gary’s house on two wheels, not caring if she was giving him advance notice of her arrival. Sure that she would be. She stood on the brakes, sending a shower of gravel into the air when she stopped outside the front stoop. She climbed from the truck, leaving the door hanging open, and ascended the stairs.
“You never did learn to leave well alone, did you, sugar?” said her husband’s voice.
She looked up at him, and at the rifle held in rock-steady hands, and sent him a look of pure vitriol that appeared to take him aback. He had probably expected tears, demands for an explanation, histrionics even. Instead she was holding him in a death glare.
“I need to know why,” she replied simply. “Oh, don’t worry, I don’t want you back. In fact I wouldn’t touch you with a barge pole.”
“How did you find me?”
“I asked first.”
“And I’m the one with the rifle.”
“Which you won’t use on me.”
“You sound pretty damned sure of yourself, so let me guess. You got some private dicks to go asking all sorts of questions, and managed to piece it all together. That jag in your apartment with Regan was a setup.” He chuckled. “Looks like I underestimated you.”
“Don’t feel bad. It’s not the first time.”
He abruptly stopped chuckling and frowned instead. “There’s something different about you.”
“You pull a clumsy disappearing act on me, leave me hanging, and wonder why I’ve changed.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t plan to bail quite so soon, but the bloodhounds were getting suspicious, asking awkward questions, so I had no choice. Given more time I could have made a much better job of it.”