She shook her head.
He clenched his jaw. “Reality check, Ms. Miller. No one simply vanishes, not without a hell of a lot of careful planning, and not without help.”
She looked up at him and blinked as the implications sank in. “You think someone in the house is responsible? But who?” Her face paled. “You don’t think I had anything to do with this mess, do you?”
Virginia stared at him, awaiting an answer. When he said nothing, she inhaled, lifting her chin and sitting taller in her seat. “I see.”
She hadn’t touched him, yet it felt like a slap across the face. “Ms. Miller, for what it’s worth, no, I don’t think you’re involved, but the cold, hard truth is, no one has been categorically eliminated.”
“Fair enough,” she whispered, keeping her eyes on the door. The way she swallowed and blinked rapidly did nothing to alleviate the heavy weight on his chest. He wanted to say or do something, but offering comfort wasn’t in his wheelhouse, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to lie just to make her feel better.
They sat in a tense, awkward silence until the young technician came out and told them the vet wanted to speak with them. They followed her back to one of the rooms, the smell of antiseptic hanging heavy in the air.
Fred was lying on his side, his face partially shaved, revealing stitches. Another technician remained close to the table; the male vet was at the sink, washing his hands.
Fred’s eyes focused on Gabe first, then went to Virginia; his tail thumped sluggishly.
“He was a very good patient,” the technician reported, moving aside to make room for Virginia, who went directly over to Fred and began to stroke him gently. Fred’s eyes closed and he visibly relaxed beneath her touch.
“Is he going to be okay?” Gabe asked.
The vet turned to them, drying his hands. “He’s got a cracked rib and severe bruising along the left shoulder. We stitched up the cut over his eye. He’ll need to take it easy for a few days, but he’ll make a full recovery. Can you tell me what happened?”
“Someone came into the house,” Virginia answered. “He was trying to protect us. He’s such a brave boy.”
“Then I’d say he’s earned a rest. We’d like to keep him overnight for observation.”
Fred picked up his head and whimpered as if in protest.
“No,” Gabe said immediately.
The doc looked at Virginia, as if appealing to her. She glanced at Gabe and must have seen the determination in his eyes, because she offered a weak smile. “I think he’d be more comfortable with us. We’ll take good care of him.”
The doc nodded. “All right. Bring him back in a week for a follow-up. Until then, no excitement, no running, no jumping, and plenty of extra treats.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
The vet accepted the hand Virginia held out to him. “You’re welcome, Mrs. Michaels.”
The address incited a riot of panic in Gabe’s chest, making his adrenaline surge and his heart beat faster. Gabe had been the one to fill out the paperwork while Virginia mothered over Fred. It was perfectly reasonable on the vet’s part to assume that he and Virginia were a couple.
Gabe’s eyes sought out Virginia’s, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at the vet, a rosy blush painting her cheeks, features soft with gratitude.
“Ms.,” she corrected. “Commander Michaels is staying with us temporarily,” she hastened to explain.
“I see.” The guy held on to Virginia’s hand—a little too long, in Gabe’s opinion. He didn’t much care for the interest in his eyes or the way his lips turned up at the corners, either.
The vet pulled a card out of his white pocket and wrote on the back. “This is my private number. Please don’t hesitate to call with questions or if something seems off.”
“I will, Doctor. Thank you.”
Gabe had seen enough. “Can we go now?”
“Yes, of course.”
Gabe carefully picked up Fred and carried him out to the car, laying him gently across the backseat. Instead of sitting up front as he’d hoped, Virginia sat with Fred.
They didn’t speak during the ride back to the estate. Gabe checked the rearview mirror often, but each time, Virginia was either looking down at Fred or out the window.
Dawn was still several hours away when they got back. Virginia looked worn out. Fred was sleeping peacefully. Gabe wanted answers, and the sooner, the better.
“Ms. Miller.”
“Yes?” Her voice was chilly. Detached. So different from the warmth he’d come to expect.
“Fred really should have someone looking after him today. Would you mind?”
She turned surprised eyes his way, possibly waiting for him to bring up the package deal thing again. He wouldn’t. He had things he needed to do, and he would feel much better knowing Virginia and Fred were looking out for one another. It would also give him the perfect excuse to pop in occasionally.
“Of course, he can stay with me. I doubt I’ll get much accomplished today anyway.”
Gabe carried Fred to her room, where she proceeded to use a multitude of pillows and blankets to create a comfy nest on the floor. She didn’t say much to him, but she did maintain a running monologue with Fred. She told him what she was doing, how they would get to spend the day together, even explained apologetically that while she would love to have him on her bed, she didn’t want him to exacerbate his injuries by jumping up or down.
Gabe’s heart squeezed when Virginia made up a little nest for herself on the floor right next to Fred’s.
“Get some rest,” he commanded roughly.
She nodded wearily. “We will. You probably should, too.”
He would. Eventually. “I’ll check in later. Make sure you lock the door behind me.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Gabriel
Satisfied Virginia and Fred were safe for the time being, Gabe returned to his guest room. Outwardly, there were no obvious signs that anyone had been in there, but Gabe would have known even if he hadn’t planted and activated the motion sensors. Low-tech classics, like using strands of hair, clear tape, and shoes behind doors worked, too.
His laptop, the one he’d locked in the desk, was gone. His real laptop, the one he’d secured to the underside of a dresser drawer, was untouched. He quickly fired that up and accessed the feed from the tiny closed-circuit webcam he’d planted above the door.
He rewound back to the point when Virginia had come to his room. Through his earpiece, he clearly heard a soft knock and her calling his name. That was followed by Fred jumping off the bed and crying at the door. The door opened slowly, and Virginia tentatively crossed the threshold, bending down to pet Fred and quiet him.
Only then did he remember the reason she had come to his room in the first place. He extracted the paper from his pocket. It was small, the size of a notepad someone might keep beside a phone to jot things down. It held a name, a date, and a series of letters and numbers.
Gabe recognized them instantly. The name was the code name of one of Darius’s minions. The date was from several days earlier. And the series of letters and numbers identified flight information and arrival time.
Someone had known they were coming, but who? The handwriting looked bold and male. Where had Virginia found this? Among Christos’s things or somewhere else?
He would ask her about it later, after she’d had a chance to grab a few hours of sleep. In the meantime, he continued with the video.
The footage picked up at the point when he came out of the bathroom. The look on her face was something he would remember for a long time, a mixture of surprise and straight-up lust. It lasted for several long seconds, until she shook her head and started sputtering excuses.
His cock responded again, just as it had then. Gabe shut those thoughts down and continued. The video showed him getting dressed, activating the sensors, and then leaving the room shortly thereafter.
Within minutes, the door opened again and reveal
ed the hooded figure. There was nothing easily identifiable about him. Average height, average build. He moved quietly around the room, quickly and efficiently checking drawers, the closet, and under the bed before zeroing in on the locked desk. The intruder pulled something from his pocket, inserted it into the lock, and had the laptop in his hands moments later.
Dim light spilled in from the corridor as the dark figure opened the door to leave. Gabe froze the video at that moment. The top of the man’s face was shrouded in shadow, but the camera had captured a clear picture of the bottom half, including the jawline.
Gabe copied the video and cropped it to just the few minutes from when the intruder had entered his room until the time he left, then saved it to a thumb drive. First thing in the morning, he was going to deliver the drive to Pixie. With luck, she’d be able to enhance the image and run it through the facial recognition software.
In the meantime, Gabe was going to use the remaining pre-dawn hours to figure out how the intruder had managed to get out of the house without using any windows or doors.
~ * ~
Virginia
Virginia watched the steady rise and fall of Fred’s chest as he gave in to the powerful pain meds. Every now and then, he’d open his eyes, then close them again once assured she was still there.
Despite the weariness of her body, her mind remained active, replaying the events of the evening over and over. She wanted to be angry at Gabe, but she really couldn’t be, because he was right.
Chris had tried to shield her from that part of his life, but she was smart enough to know that her boss was no choir boy. It was impossible to be around for as long as she had and not pick up on that. The secrets. The security. The mysterious guests at all hours of the day and night coming for private meetings.
Virginia also understood—in theory—why Gabe might believe she was somehow involved, or at the very least, knew more than she was admitting.
He was right about that, too.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Gabriel
The intruder had moved quickly through the house and seemed to know exactly where to go, suggesting familiarity with the interior layout. Gabe carefully retraced the path they’d taken, eyes alert for clues in the unlikely event he’d dropped something in his hasty departure.
Unsurprisingly, Gabe arrived at Virginia’s office without finding anything. The windows and doors leading outside were still locked and secured from the inside, which meant there had to be another way out. He continued his search, moving through the room to where Fred had been struck down and concentrated his search efforts there.
Tiny drop-sized smudges of dark brownish-red were visible in the beam of his flashlight, but whether they were from the assailant or Fred was unclear. He’d need a CSI kit and a DNA analysis to know for sure.
Convinced the intruder had made his escape through yet another hidden passage, he continued his methodical search. He put his nose to the wall and moved inch by inch over the paneling and shelves until he found what he was looking for. Unlike the trigger in Christos’s office, this one wasn’t located on a bookshelf, but rather in a nearly-invisible indentation between the stones of the hearth.
He pressed on it and a panel next to the stone slid noiselessly to the side, revealing a narrow space about the size of a large closet. Gabe pulled his weapon and slipped into the darkness, senses alert.
He held his breath, giving his fifty-year-old eyes a moment to adjust to the lower-level lighting, listening for any indication he wasn’t alone. Hearing none, he swept the flashlight beam around the space. To the left, a set of stairs ascended to an upper floor. To the right, another set led downward.
He went upward first, reaching another closet-sized landing and a similar panel. Gabe put his ear to the wall and heard movement on the other side. The deep, low murmur of a male voice was followed by the sound of a light smack and a feminine giggle that sounded a lot like Althia Calligaris. Then he picked up more footsteps, the opening and closing of a door, and the sound of running water.
Was the room Althia’s or an unknown guest’s? Were either one aware of the hidden passageway?
He’d return to investigate later, when the room wasn’t occupied.
He moved swiftly and silently back down the stairs, continuing past where he’d entered. The air grew damper and colder as he went until the stairs ended, revealing another, wider passageway. Gabe continued on, mentally noting other openings and intersections along the way and creating a map in his mind. He soon realized that not just one passageway existed below the estate, but a labyrinth of them, spanning a much larger area than the mansion itself.
Eventually, the ground sloped upward and Gabe emerged behind a heavy thicket of brush in a wooded area on the far side of the estate. Only a few hundred yards away was the access road Mancini had pointed out.
Dawn had broken. The skies were gray and the air was heavy with the promise of rain, but there was enough light to see by. He moved outward in a circular pattern, searching methodically, but found nothing of value.
It was progress. Gabe had confirmed what they’d suspected—that there was a network of passages allowing unseen access to the estate, and now that he’d found at least one of the entrances, they could use that to their advantage.
He didn’t like the fact that one of those secret passages was accessible directly from Virginia’s office. Virginia’s strategically placed office, away from the main areas of the house, with outside access to the grounds and the interior and minimal security compared to the main sections.
Did she know about the passageway? About the underground network? He wanted to believe she didn’t. That if she had, she would have told him, like she had with the hidden panels in Christos’s private space. But this wasn’t about how he wanted things to shake out. This was about discovering the truth, achieving his objective, and getting the hell out.
Right?
The answer wasn’t as clear and resoundingly emphatic as it had been only a few days earlier.
It was all her doing. Somehow, Virginia Miller had gotten under his skin and muddied the waters. Had him thinking crazy things, like wanting to take this unexpected connection between them and seeing how far they could go with it when this was all over.
Yep. Crazy. Yet, like Fred with a hambone, it had taken a stubborn hold and refused to let go.
You’re going soft, Michaels.
Maybe he was. Admittedly, the woman was complicating things for him, making it increasingly difficult for him to remain objective where she was concerned. The way her eyes lit up whenever she saw him. The way she doted on Fred. The way her ass looked in those damn stretchy pants. Those kinds of things played havoc with a man’s logic. Especially a man who hadn’t known the softness of a woman’s touch in far too long and was batting oh-for-two in the this-could-be-something-more department. Three strikes and you’re out, Michaels.
Or, third time’s the charm.
He shut that shit down, pronto. It didn’t matter how sexy or nice or helpful she was, he was here to do a mission, not to do her. And, when this was all over and he returned to his stress-free existence, he’d realize he’d made the right decision. This strong attraction was based solely on impulse and opportunity and would quickly fade once there was some distance between them.
Glad he’d worked that out, Gabe set a course back to the mansion. Rather than return the way he’d come, he crossed the grounds. At one point, he paused and looked up into one of the security cameras, knowing Dawson or Pixie would see him. Maybe Sander Argyros would, too, and wonder what he was up to.
Things were heating up. They were rattling the right cages and pulling the right chains; last night’s break-in proved that. The tide was turning. Now they just had to ensure they kept the momentum going in the right direction.
First order of business: get that thumb drive back to base and see what Pixie could do with it. While he was there, he’d update Mancini on the location of the hidden entrance and let h
im run with that. Then he’d check the voice recordings to see if Daskalakis and Argyros had anything interesting to say after he’d left Daskalakis’s office the night before.
Then, later, he’d return to check in on Fred and talk to Virginia about a few things, such as where she’d come across that paper with the names and flight info, if she had any knowledge of the secret passage in her office, and who occupied the room directly above her.
Those thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind when he reached the mansion and found Daskalakis waiting for him.
“Commander, may we speak privately?”
“Yes. Let’s do that,” Gabe agreed somberly.
Gabe followed him to his office. Daskalakis moved with the same stiff grace he always did, confirming that he hadn’t been the one who’d taken a shot in the leg. Not that Gabe thought he had. Daskalakis wasn’t the type to get his own hands dirty. Any involvement on his part would have been delegating the task to someone else.
That was another thing Gabe would be on the lookout for: anyone walking with a limp.
Once inside, Gabe again noted the quiet extravagance of the furnishings. Daskalakis liked being in charge and wanted everyone who walked through the doors to know it.
The estate manager sat behind his desk and brought his hands together. “I’ve been informed by security that you and Ms. Miller left the premises rather hastily last night.”
“We did,” Gabe confirmed. There was no use in denying it. Virginia had nearly blown through the front gate in an effort to get to the vet as quickly as possible, barking commands over the phone for the guard to either open them or replace them.
She cared about his dog. That spark in his chest flickered again.
“Is there something I should know, Commander?” Daskalakis prompted when Gabe said nothing more.
Gabe had a feeling Daskalakis knew a lot more than he let on, but decided to play the game and see what happened. “I interrupted an intruder in my room last night. I don’t suppose you know anything about that?”
SEAL Out of Water (Silver SEALs, #7) Page 14
