“I’ll also notify my department of the fire in case someone reports the smoke,” he called out as Sam dragged him off.
When they were out of earshot, Clay turned his attention to Toni. “You really doing okay, or was that just for everyone else’s benefit?”
“A little more fresh air, and I’ll be fine, but I’m totally embarrassed.” She kept her gaze downward.
“Because of the snake?”
She nodded and looked at him, her eyes tortured.
“I’m guessing you had a bad experience with a rattler once.”
“I…when I was a kid. I almost died.” Her tone was low and raspy from the fire. Sexy as could be.
Gave Clay far too many things to imagine when he needed to remain focused.
Concentrate, man. “From a snake bite?”
“A rattler spooked my mom’s horse. He threw her.” Toni clutched her hands together. “She landed right next to me at the corral fence. Broke her neck and died.”
Not only had she seen her father die in front of her, but her mother too. How horrible was that?
He reached for her hand. Stopped. He didn’t know if she would like it if he touched her. “I’m so sorry.”
She took a deep breath, her chin trembling. “I was paying attention to my mom. Didn’t even notice the snake. It struck me too. And if that wasn’t enough, her horse ran off. Crashed into a fence. Broke his leg. Had to be put down. So I lost my mom and our horse the same day. And if my dad hadn’t found me when he did and got me to the hospital, I would’ve died.” Tears formed in her eyes, but she swiped them away. “I was only ten, and I’ve probably never dealt with that day the way I should’ve.”
“No wonder the snake threw you for a loop.”
She sucked in another breath. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. You can’t stop how your body reacts to something like that.”
A wavering smile crossed her mouth. “I see you’re still Mr. Diplomacy.”
“I mean it, Toni,” he said emphatically. “It’s not your fault.”
“I haven’t been near a snake since then.” She shuddered, and a coughing fit hit her as she stared at the building. “I never imagined I’d experience that kind of paralyzing response. I mean, I’ve seen some horrific things on the job without losing it. I never imagined a snake could freeze me in place.”
“Did you get counseling after that day?”
“They didn’t really do things like that back then. Or maybe my dad thought I should tough it out.”
“I can relate.” As a former deputy, his father could be a taskmaster at times. “Law enforcement dads can be tough.”
She arched a brow and tucked her hair behind her ears. It was a deep rich brunette with feathery edges that barely touched her shoulders. She usually wore it up in a clip when working and left tendrils on the side free. He’d always wanted to tuck it behind her ear as she’d just done. He hadn’t seen her with it down very often, but the style softened her face and made her seem much more approachable than the straight-laced FBI agent normally appeared.
She took another long breath, and the terror in her eyes seemed to lessen. “What are you doing here?”
“Someone left a note on my Jeep saying to show up at that janitor’s closet at five-fifteen if I wanted to find Hibbard.” The prime suspect, Rich Hibbard, had remained elusive and the task force had never been able to arrest him.
“Yeah, me too. Except my time was five.” She bit her lip. “I should’ve figured it was a trap and brought someone with me.”
“You’ve been accused of being a lone wolf.”
“Where you’re Mister Personality, making friends left and right.”
She was right, and he didn’t argue. She’d told him she was an only child and that her dad had kept her busy most of her free time. Where he had an older sister and was the middle child of five boys and had to learn to get along with people. He’d often taken heat from the older pair of brothers and the younger pair, which meant he looked for friends outside the family. He’d frequently ended up being the peacemaker between his brothers.
His birth order also made him more independent. Which was why he would’ve been okay to come here alone even if his brothers hadn’t been on a job when he’d had to leave Portland to get here on time.
“The note said this was about my dad, so I get why someone tried to lure me here,” she said. “But why do you think they targeted you too?”
“I’ve continued to investigate Hibbard. Seems like they wanted to stop us both from looking into him.”
She arched an eyebrow above those amazing eyes he always had trouble looking away from. “Did you find anything?”
“Nothing that panned out. I’m assuming you’ve kept working the case too.”
She nodded. “But like you, I struck out.”
“With this attempt on our lives, I figure at least one of us is getting close.”
“Makes sense.” She looked back at the school. “We might be able to persuade our agencies to reopen the investigation.”
Her comment stopped his thoughts. “You wouldn’t have heard. I’m no longer an ICE agent.”
“What?” She locked onto his face. “You bled ICE from your veins. I figured you’d die before leaving the agency.”
“Things change.”
“What happened?”
He didn’t like talking about the change. Too personal, and he had to be careful with her or it could lead somewhere he didn’t want to go. But they’d shared enough about their past when working together that she knew his family and deserved a response. “My dad needed a kidney transplant. My—”
“Is he okay?” She gripped his arm, her concern evident in her tone.
“Yes, thank God. My oldest brother, Aiden, donated one of his. But that put Aiden at risk in his ATF job. Too many dangerous weapons raids that could take out his remaining kidney. So we all quit our jobs and formed an investigation and protection agency.”
“Oh, wow.” She pulled her hand back and ran it over her hair, releasing flecks of ash residue. “I’m glad everything turned out okay, but what a change for you. When did this happen?”
“About six months ago.”
“I still can’t believe you’re not an agent anymore.” She shook her head. “It’s hard to wrap my mind around.”
She didn’t know the half of it. “Me too, some days. But it’s good. I’m surprised by how much I like working with my brothers. It can be frustrating not to have access to official reports, but it’s freeing not to have all the rules and regulations of law enforcement.”
She tilted her head, her feathery hair crossing her face, and she pushed it aside. “The rules are there to keep us safe and to bring people to justice.”
“Yeah, I know. Still easier to work without them.” He grinned at her.
Her full lips quirked up in a smile, taking him back a year to a time when he’d wondered if she could be the one. They hadn’t even dated, but he’d just felt complete when he was in her company. Like a peace descended over him that he’d never experienced with another woman.
Especially not during his latest dating fiasco with Grace. With her, he’d been trying to find that feeling again and failed. Foolishly, he’d continued to date her. He should’ve asked Toni out when they were on the task force, but he didn’t mix work and his personal life. So he’d decided to wait until they’d brought Hibbard to justice and the task force disbanded, at which point they would no longer work together. But it didn’t happen that way. Her father was murdered and Hibbard skated. Then the investigation they’d named Operation Safe Harbor went cold, and the case was closed. Not like Clay would’ve asked her out when she was grieving, and he blamed himself for letting her dad die on his watch.
“Clay,” she said. “What’s wrong? You’re a million miles away.”
“It’s nothing.” He swallowed and forced his attention back to their current situation.
“So, what do you want to do here?” she asked. “Ca
ll in the locals?”
“No!”
She eyed him. “Why not?”
“This is our investigation. I’m not handing it over to anyone else. Besides, the locals can’t do anything we can’t do except make an arrest, and we can arrange that when we find our guy.”
“Still, we need to process this place for evidence.”
Clay noticed Riley still walking the perimeter. Once Clay recovered from the smoke, he needed to thank the guy. “Sam can do that. Plus, Nighthawk just finished an investigation. We’re free to work this one.”
She held his gaze. “Not without me.”
“I’m glad to keep you updated, but you’re not here in any official capacity, right? And even if you were, your supervisor will likely refuse to partner with a private agency.”
She sat up straighter, her back stiff. “I work it with you. No matter how we have to do it. If Adair doesn’t approve, I’ll take leave.”
“I don’t know.” Clay watched the face he’d dreamed about for the past year. The woman who’d just been stuck in a room filling with smoke. Could’ve died.
The thought stilled his heart. She needed protection. Sure it wasn’t a good idea to work together again. Not good at all. But if they did, he could keep an eye on her. After all, the person who put the snake in the closet could pull the same trick again. Or do something worse. Then where would she be? Helpless and ripe for a lethal attack.
“I know that look,” she said. “You’re plotting something and not planning to share it with me.”
“I was thinking that it might be a good idea if we did pair up on the investigation. Since someone just tried to take both of us out, my team can provide protection.”
She crossed her arms, her pit-bull look darkening. “I don’t need protecting.”
“You do if someone tosses another snake in your path.” Maybe a low blow to mention her phobia, but he told the truth, and she had to recognize it.
She tightened her arms. “Please don’t tell me my fear of snakes is going to make the rounds in law enforcement circles.”
Not the response he’d expected at all. He mimicked zipping his lips. “Won’t get beyond me and my brothers.”
“Your brothers? Why do they need to know?”
“If they’re going to provide a protection detail, they need to know the areas of vulnerability.”
She sighed. “Just make sure it doesn’t get beyond them, or I’ll be a laughingstock. And you know how hard it is for a woman in law enforcement without added baggage like this.”
She spoke the truth. He’d seen enough proof of that on the job.
Sam and Griff got out of his truck and started across the lot.
Clay owed Sam a lot. Likely his life. Toni’s life. He would hate to put Sam in a difficult situation, and maybe he’d been too hasty in calling her and shouldn’t involve her in this investigation.
Griff kept going, and she stopped by Clay. “Griff’ll check the place out.”
Clay thanked her for her help. “But I’ve been thinking. Having you do the forensics could be a problem for you with the sheriff.”
“How’s that?” Sam asked.
“A crime was committed here, and we should report it to him, but we’re not going to. If you do the forensics and he finds out, he might not use your agency in the future.”
“True, but—”
“I don’t want to do that to you or Gage. Not when my sister will be glad to do it and not worry about offending the sheriff.”
She looked disappointed. “If you didn’t have anyone else, I’d do it no questions asked, but I don’t want to cause an issue between Gage and Trent. So it’s probably the right thing to do. Thanks for thinking of that.”
“Besides,” he said. “You can go home and have a nice night with Griff instead of digging around in a dirty closet.”
“Don’t tell him this, but I live for dirty closets.” She laughed. “I’ll go tell him we’ll be going home earlier than we’d planned.”
She strode off, her long legs carrying her quickly across the parking lot.
Clay looked at Toni. “I’ll call Sierra. She’ll head right out, as will my other brothers. My family has a beach house in the area, and we can stay there and set up our command center.”
He waited for her to argue about staying under the same roof with him, but she gave a firm nod.
Maybe being with him wasn’t an issue for her. Maybe she’d forgotten all about her interest in him that had been obvious from the first day they’d met.
Good. It would make things easier.
Right, like he believed that.
3
Toni held a notepad and sketched the school layout as she circled the exterior with Clay, looking into windows to get a feel for the place. They would divide up the structure into quadrants so that, after his family arrived in a few minutes and Sierra took interior photos, they could thoroughly search the building.
Toni was already cold and damp and a bit cranky from waiting the past few hours for the Byrd family, but even if they didn’t involve law enforcement in their incident, a crime had occurred here, and they needed to treat this place as a crime scene.
Lights from oncoming vehicles flashed down the driveway. Clay took her arm and pulled in behind a stand of maple trees.
She glanced at him.
“Can’t be too careful,” he said, but his attention was on the drive.
Two SUVs, and a van entered the lot and parked near her car.
“It’s them.” Clay sounded proud even though they hadn’t done anything yet but get there. “Let’s go.”
Toni had heard a lot about his family, but she’d never expected to meet them. Especially in a situation like this. Clay had told them that she’d frozen in the closet. What would they think about an FBI agent who should be strong and resilient, freezing like a little girl at the sight of a snake?
The guys got out and stretched. All of them were dressed like Clay in tactical pants and polo shirts covered with dark windbreakers. The only woman had to be Sierra. Wearing jeans and a green turtleneck, she moved to the back of her van and slipped into a white Tyvek suit.
Toni blinked a few times then strained to get a better look at Sierra. A baby bump. She had a baby bump. A small one, but it was obvious. Her husband, Reed Rice, was an agent in Toni’s office, and he worked in violent crimes just like she did. She hadn’t heard him mention the pregnancy, but he was a very private guy.
“Sierra’s expecting,” she said to Clay as they strode across the lot.
“Due in June. It’s a boy. I’m gonna be an uncle. I can’t wait to teach him all kinds of things Sierra won’t be happy he learned.” He grinned.
Toni caught his mood and wondered what it would be like to be part of a big family like the Byrds. As an only child and having just her dad after her mom died, she had no idea, but Clay had spoken fondly of his siblings. She just figured having them all together would be loud and messy and likely overwhelming for her.
“I hate to call her out at night when she needs extra rest,” Clay continued. “But she keeps telling us not to let the pregnancy affect how we depend on her, so we all try not to.”
“I get that,” Toni said. “I’d be the same way. If I ever got pregnant, that is.”
He fired her a questioning look. “You don’t want kids?”
“It’s not that I don’t want them. I just never thought much about having any. Guess I need to find the right guy first.” She chuckled, but for some reason her words made Clay frown.
Sierra hung a camera around her neck and stepped out to peer at her brothers. “Can I get some help with lights and a generator?”
The guys started lifting bins and a small generator from the van. At the building, they put on booties, and one of them fired up a generator. Another carried in big Klieg lights. The others stacked bins by the door. While they worked, Sierra joined Toni and Clay.
“You must be Toni,” she said loudly, her voice carrying above the
generator. “Reed says you’re a great agent.”
Just what Toni didn’t need. “Checking up on me?”
“I just mentioned you to him when I was heading out. But don’t worry.” Sierra waved a hand. “I didn’t tell him anything about this scene or your involvement.”
“Thanks for that.” And for not mentioning my behavior with the snake.
Sierra slipped her fingers into disposable gloves with the ease that only someone who wore them frequently could manage. “Clay told us a lot about you when you worked Safe Harbor together.”
Toni shifted to face Clay.
A sheepish look flashed on his face. “I might’ve mentioned that you were a great agent.”
“It was a lot more than that.” Sierra wrinkled her nose at him.
Toni thought she saw Clay’s face color, though it was too dark to be sure.
Sierra looked at Toni. “I need to get to work to please my taskmaster here, but we should get together for lunch or coffee sometime.”
“Sierra,” Clay warned.
“What? Can’t two women have lunch together?” Sierra sounded innocent, but her eyes held a playful gleam. “Okay, gotta get the photos taken. Let me know if you want me to process any other rooms after your building search.”
Toni doubted his sister would need further directions. He’d already given her detailed instructions on the phone, and as a competent professional, she could handle this scene. Clay’s brothers flooded out of the building, and the only guy with light hair in the group trailed an extension cord, which he plugged into the generator.
“There,” he said. “Sierra’s up and running.”
Toni had never met the brothers either, but she knew their names. Aiden, Brendan, Drake, and Erik. Clay mentioned that his parents had named them in alphabetical order by birthdate. He said it got tiring when they were growing up, but she appreciated it. Would make it easier to remember their names. She just didn’t know who was who yet.
All but one had dark hair and resembled each other. The odd guy out’s hair was dishwater blond, very much like Sierra’s. They all clearly worked out and exuded confidence.
Toni stepped closer, and they cast a judging look her way as they fired off their names. As expected. An agent couldn’t freeze like she’d done and still be effective. None of them would want to rely on her to have their backs. She didn’t think they meant anything personal by their looks, but the judgment was there just the same.
Night Hawk Page 3