by Jane Godman
“The last message he sent from this phone was to you. Bliss 2713. Your reply asking him what he meant is here, but he never read it.” He held up the screen to show Steffi. “It looks like he sent you that message and then immediately hid the phone in Bliss’s apartment.”
Steffi wrapped her arms around herself as if she was cold. “Are there any messages to Walter?”
Bryce continued scrolling. “Greg made a number of phone calls to Walter in the days prior to their meeting. That must have been to set the meeting up. Then there is a message the day after the meeting sending Walter a copy of the recording. Ah, here we have it. Just before Greg messaged you, he sent Walter a message.” Bryce read the words on the screen. “‘Tell your goons to leave Bliss Burton alone.’ There was an attachment.”
He opened the photograph that had been attached to the message. Although it was grainy, it showed two men standing in the shade of a large tree. Erik’s bulk and Alexei’s bald head were unmistakable. Bryce also recognized the tree. He had climbed it earlier that day. Greg had taken the picture from the balcony of Bliss’s apartment.
“Walter replied to that message.”
“What did he say?” Steffi looked like she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“‘Hand over the cell phone or you are both dead.’”
Bryce could see it all. Greg must have done exactly what Bryce would have done. He had called Steffi telling her to meet him the next day, then sent her a cryptic message telling her where the cell phone was. He didn’t need to be too specific; he would be seeing her the next morning...or so he thought. He had hidden the phone in Bliss’s apartment and taken his girlfriend to his own apartment building where the security was better. With their bags packed, ready to leave for Nigeria the next day, Greg must have believed he’d outwitted Walter.
Did anyone ever outwit Walter?
* * *
“We do this my way or not at all.” From that stubborn expression on his face, Steffi could tell Bryce wasn’t planning on backing down.
Although her initial instinct was to rebel against his high-handedness, she kept it in check. She really didn’t want to do this alone. In a flash of searing honesty, she realized she didn’t ever again want to do anything without him at her side. This was turning out to be a day of life-changing revelations.
Keeping her turbulent emotions under wraps, she sat on the edge of the bed. “What are your terms?”
Bryce leaned a shoulder against the wall and grinned down at her appreciatively. “You are not fooling anybody with that passive act, Steffi. We both know you want to kick my ass up and down this room for daring to tell you this is going my way from now on.”
“You’re the boss.” She kept her jaw clenched.
He laughed. “How come I never heard those words from you when you worked for me? I could get used to this new, docile Steffi...although I think the other drivers at Delaney Transportation may be wondering what I’ve done with their coworker.”
“Oh, just get on with it.” She huffed out an impatient breath.
His expression became serious again. “First, I’m sending a copy of that recording to Vincente right now.”
Steffi considered the suggestion. Vincente knew about their plight, and he knew of the existence of the recording. He was already their insurance policy if anything went wrong. It made sense to include him as backup. The hoops they’d had to jump through to track down the cell phone highlighted the issue of having only one copy in existence. And Vincente was someone they could trust. He would follow Bryce’s instructions when it came to how to use the recording.
“Okay.” As soon as she said the word, Bryce got to work sending a message containing the recording to Vincente’s cell phone.
“I’ve told him not to do anything with it until he hears from me,” he said as he pressed Send. “Second, when we meet with your parents, we won’t go to their home.”
“Why not?” Steffi was surprised at the request.
“Because there’s a possibility that either Walter or the police will be watching their place. You’ll call them in advance and arrange to meet them somewhere very public. A fast-food joint or a coffee shop,” Bryce said.
“But if I’m right about them, they’ll alert Walter. He’ll know where we’ll be.” Steffi pointed out the flaw in the plan.
“Exactly. But if we’re in a crowded, public place, he won’t be able to make a move on you. He might try—” Bryce’s face tightened “—but he won’t succeed.”
“Okay. Do you have any more conditions?” Maybe a little advance planning wasn’t such a bad thing. Whereas Steffi would have gone storming out into the night, Bryce had thought this through.
“Plenty. But I’ll keep those on hold until the time comes to confront Walter.” He stretched his arms above his head. “Right now it’s after midnight and I don’t have a single muscle that isn’t aching. If we’re going to travel to Wyoming tomorrow, I need some rest.”
“Rest?” Steffi quirked an eyebrow at him as she got to her feet and moved closer.
He gave her one of his stomach-flipping smiles. “Did you have other plans?”
“One or two, but if you need to sleep...”
“Sleep can wait.” He caught her up in his arms and, with his lips on hers, walked her backward until her knees hit the bed.
Steffi’s whole body was instantly electrified by his touch. As he raised his head, the look in his eyes melted her. Anticipation thrilled through her at the unspoken message she read in their depths. Her hands gripped his shoulders, moving over the fabric of his shirt before pulling frantically at the buttons. Obediently, Bryce removed the offending garment. The rest of their clothing quickly followed and he tipped her back onto the bed.
He kissed her again, his tongue twining with hers, one hand tilting her head so he could deepen the kiss. Steffi wound her fingers into his hair, gripping the thick strands tightly as she fought to get even closer to him. Too close would never be close enough.
His roughened hands roamed over her body, his fingers rasping deliciously against the sensitive flesh of her breasts. One finger moved down her body, sliding into her depths, stretching her, opening her tight muscles. The sensation made her gasp and she clawed at the taut muscles of Bryce’s back, already so aroused that a muffled scream escaped her lips. She slammed her hips up and down in response to the quick-fire movements of his finger, taking a brief instant to marvel at the way her body instantly responded to his touch. Then thought was no longer possible as she was lost in a swirling vortex of sensation.
“I can’t wait to be inside you.”
Steffi shivered as his touch was withdrawn, but the welcome sound of foil ripping tipped her senses into overdrive. Immediately, the mattress shifted as Bryce moved his weight over her and her thighs were pressed apart by his hips. His breathing was harsh as one hand moved beneath her, lifting her to him. Desperate to feel him inside her, Steffi tilted her hips, gasping at the whiplash of pleasure that streaked through her at the fiery heat of his intrusion into her body.
Bryce pushed into her, caressing her sensitized nerve endings with his steel-hard flesh. Hunger, raw and pulsing, clawed at her. Bryce commenced a rhythm of slow, even strokes, teasing her, keeping her at the peak of torment, taking her to the point of cataclysmic explosion and retreating. Over and over.
“More, Bryce. Please, I can’t wait.” Her hands beat at his shoulders. Slow and steady was a delicious torture, reducing her to pleading, near sobbing, desperation.
In response, he began to pump his pelvis harder and faster. Steffi’s hips slammed up from the bed, meeting his thrusts, matching his speed and passion. Her body was dissolving around him, becoming liquid fire; heat bubbled up from her core and spread through her veins, touching every part of her. As her climax hit, she shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. Helpless, she cl
ung to Bryce, her body becoming part of his, merging with him, connecting to him on a level that took her to new heights of ecstasy. She was dimly aware of Bryce gasping her name as she felt him jerk out his own release, before he collapsed onto her.
After a moment or two Bryce shifted his weight to her side before going to the bathroom to take care of the condom. When he returned, Steffi curled into his arms. The action felt right. Scarily so. This was her favorite place to be. She didn’t want to stop and examine that thought, because if she did, she would have to start unpicking her feelings. She wasn’t sure where they were going to lead her.
“Have you always been so resolute?” she asked.
“Pardon?” Bryce tilted his head to look at her face by the light of the bedside lamp. She got the feeling her question had shocked him, but she didn’t understand why.
“You always know what to do, and you have real belief in your decisions,” Steffi explained. “I wondered if it came naturally to you. Or was it something they taught you in the military?”
To her surprise, Bryce started to laugh. There was some genuine humor in the sound, but there was also a trace of bitterness. “You think I’m decisive? Oh, Steffi. You have no idea.”
His self-mocking tone intrigued her and she leaned on her elbow, looking down at him. “Tell me.”
He was lying on his back with his hands behind his head and his eyes half closed. He remained silent for several minutes and she thought he wasn’t going to respond at all. When he did speak, his voice was low and husky. “Maybe I was sure of myself once. Possibly it was one of the qualities that got me into a leadership position in the army. I certainly wouldn’t have considered myself weak. Not until the day I led my unit out on patrol in Afghanistan.” He sat up abruptly, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. I’ve never talked about it. I thought perhaps I could do it now...to you. But I can’t.”
Steffi sat up next to him, drawing him into her arms and pressing her lips against his temple. His whole body shook as though racked by some terrible fever. Acting on instinct, she held him until the shivers finally subsided. “You don’t have to talk about it.”
Bryce lifted his head, and she was shocked at what she saw in his eyes. Twin pools of torment stared back at her. “I do. I’ve fought it for too long. And I can do it.” He clasped her hand. “With you here with me.”
“I’m here.” She returned the grip of his fingers.
“I was an explosive ordnance disposal expert. My unit worked in the badlands of Helmand province. On this occasion we were on patrol near the airport, working alongside Special Forces on a major operation. We discovered a number of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. They are commonly used as roadside bombs and they’re difficult to disarm because each one is different. The insurgents don’t leave a step-by-step guide.” The words were coming out fast now, as though, having decided to talk, he wanted to get it done in case fear overcame him again. “I gave the order and we set to work on them. All my men were highly qualified, but some had more experience than others. It was my job to assess the situation and allocate the task of disarming the IEDs to the most suitable person. This time—when it mattered more than ever—I got it wrong.”
Watching him, Steffi realized he was barely there in that hotel room with her. His expression was intent, his eyes fixed on the distant desert horizon in his memory. “It must have been incredibly hard to face those sort of challenges every day.”
Bryce nodded. “We faced death every day. Mentally, physically, emotionally...it drained us. But we had to keep going for the sake of our colleagues. They were running out of superlatives for my team. Legends. Best of the best. Phenomenal. We’d heard every accolade, been given every award. It all ended that day in the dust.” He gripped her hand tighter. “I’d disarmed two IEDs and was moving onto a third when it happened. I’d allocated the most innocuous-looking mine to the most junior officer—still a highly skilled bomb disposal expert—but it was booby-trapped. It blew sky-high. Out of a team of eight, three of my men were killed, and the other five, including me, were injured.”
“Bryce, you didn’t do anything wrong. You made your decision based on the information you had available at the time.” On the surface he was so strong, yet underneath he was harboring a secret of such magnitude. It explained a lot about the enigma that was Bryce Delaney. She could see how the guilt he lived with every day was eating him up. She wanted to find a way to convince him it was misplaced. But how could she show him that? How could she judge what he’d been through? She hadn’t been there.
“I try to tell myself that. Then I remember the torn-apart bodies of my friends. Guys I worked alongside every day. Men I laughed with, drank with, trusted with my life. Men who trusted me with their lives.” He shook his head. “It was my call. You ask if I’ve always been resolute? Since that day, most mornings I can’t make up my mind which side of bed to get out of.”
“The operational side of Delaney Transportation runs like clockwork because of you,” she reminded him.
“You have no idea how hard it is some days to make the easy decisions.” His smile was lopsided and Steffi reached up to kiss the corner of his mouth.
“None of the decisions you’ve made since you found me on the floor of my cabin have been easy.” She took his face between her hands. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be in a prison cell awaiting trial for murder, or dead in a ditch in Stillwater. You are a hero, Bryce Delaney. You were then and you are now.”
Chapter 16
They left the hotel early the next morning. Bryce asked the desk clerk to recommend a cyber café nearby. He had to cut short what looked likely to be a lengthy conversation, and possibly a promising friendship, centering on the latest combat and car chase video games.
“Coffee and a Byte?” Steffi, who was still suffering the effects of what they had learned the previous day, viewed the glowing neon sign glumly. “Do I want to eat breakfast in this place?”
“Stop being a Beverly Hills diva.” Bryce propelled her over the doorstep with a hand in the small of her back. “Welcome to the real world.”
She made a rude gesture at him as they took their seats in a corner booth that was dominated by a huge computer screen. Bryce ordered coffee and pancakes and paid for an hour’s internet access.
“Okay.” He slid the mouse to Steffi. “Let’s stalk Walter Sullivan.”
When Vincente had bought a cheap, prepaid cell phone for Bryce, he had purchased a call and messaging deal. He hadn’t included a data package. Bryce would have done the same. Why would anyone who was on a wild hunt for a dead man’s cell phone have time to stop and check email or the internet? Only it turned out he and Steffi wanted to do just that. They needed to know where Walter had been when Todd Grantham asked Steffi to meet him the day after Greg was murdered. And, since Steffi had left her cell phone in her cabin in Stillwater, and Bryce had no data, Coffee and a Byte was the solution to their problems. Even if the lurid decor made Steffi wrinkle her nose.
While Steffi clicked her way through Walter’s social media accounts, Bryce watched her profile. Although she had woken in a dejected mood, she was dealing well with what was going on. He had no doubt that her fighting spirit would soon kick in again. He felt fiercely proud of her and alongside that pride came a pang of sadness. I don’t have the right to feel that way.
“You’ve done this before.” He nodded at the screen.
The lighting in the café was gloomy and the other customers were focused on their own screens. Steffi risked removing her glasses. “More times than I can count. The smartphone I left in my cabin had these pages bookmarked.” She pointed at the screen. “This is the day Greg met with Walter.” There was a picture of a smiling, tuxedo-clad Walter standing on a red carpet. On his arm was a famous actress, and behind him the facade of a well-known Los Angeles movie theater could be glimpsed. Walter had shar
ed the information with his followers that he was attending a long-awaited premiere. A few hours later he had posted pictures from the after-party. “From the timing of the recording, we know he met with Greg after the movie and before the party.”
As Steffi scrolled down, Bryce gave a soft whistle. “You were right. Walter likes to let the world know what he’s doing.”
“He’s a narcissist.” Steffi’s jaw was tight as she looked at the pictures. Walter smiling at the camera. Walter meeting and greeting lunch guests. Walter stepping into a limousine. Walter out jogging. “He loves the attention.”
Bryce followed the information on the screen. “He stuck around. He was in Los Angeles the night before Greg died.” Walter had shared a picture of himself attending a party on a friend’s yacht.
“But the next day he’d moved on.” Steffi tapped a finger on the screen. “He had a meeting at the headquarters of one of his retail groups.” She slumped back in her seat. “He flew in his private jet. He says here it was a beautiful day and he wasn’t traveling too far up the coast. Only as far as San Francisco.”
Bryce shook his head in an attempt to clear it of the sudden fog that had descended upon it. What had appeared to be a wild hunch on Steffi’s part now looked to be true. Todd Grantham had been trying to lure his daughter into Walter’s clutches.
“My whole life has been a lie.” There was a catch in Steffi’s voice that felt like rusty wire ripping into his heart. “But I thought there was one part that was real.” She raised a shaking hand and dashed it across her eyes, brushing away tears in its wake. “I thought June and Todd were real. We might not have subscribed to the ideal of the perfect family, but we did okay.”
“Steffi—” Bryce caught hold of her, drawing her to him with an arm around her shoulders “—you don’t know yet that they weren’t real. There could be a dozen explanations for this.” But however hard he tried, right at that moment Bryce couldn’t come up with one.