Delta Force Die Hard

by Carol Ericson

  A stream of adrenaline rushed through her body so fast it made her head hurt, and she pressed two fingers against her temple. “Oh my God. I didn’t even think about that.”

  “Are you okay?” He encircled her wrist with his fingers. “Do you need to sit down for a minute?”

  “I’d rather get out of here.” She jerked her thumb at the mess on the bed. “We can leave that.”

  “Wait.” He strode across the room, shoveled Marten’s things back into the suitcase, zipped it up and placed it in the corner. “Let’s go.” When they got to the elevator, Joe looked over his shoulder. “Too bad we didn’t notice that camera before you literally looked into its lens. We could’ve pretended we didn’t see it and I could’ve waited for the person who planted it.”

  Hailey punched the elevator button three times. “Too late for that now?”

  “They know we saw the camera. They lost their element of surprise—and so did we.” When the elevator opened onto the lobby, Joe dropped the device into a trash can. “Hope they like looking at garbage.”

  * * *

  TWENTY MINUTES LATER, Hailey let the Jag idle at a stoplight. She flexed her fingers on the steering wheel. “Joe, would you mind spending the night at my place tonight? I—This isn’t a come-on or anything. It’s just after what happened to Ayala and finding that camera... I don’t want to be in that big house by myself—security system or not.”

  “Do you have an extra toothbrush?”

  “Tons.”

  “Then I’m your man.”

  Oh, she was beginning to believe that.

  “Great.” She punched the accelerator and the car leaped forward—pretty accurately mimicking her heart.

  On the way to Pacific Heights, Joe theorized about the hidden camera and what Marten’s key unlocked, but all Hailey could hear was I’m your man.

  If only Joe meant it the way she felt it. She could be confusing Joe’s natural protectiveness for genuine tenderness, but the way he touched her went above and beyond. Then he’d catch himself and draw back—except for tonight.

  For all she knew, they could get to her place and he’d take up his post across the street again...after brushing his teeth with one of her many toothbrushes.

  She drove into the driveway and opened the garage door. She pulled into the three-car garage that housed her father’s ’66 Thunderbird and her stepmother’s Range Rover.

  Joe whistled. “Now, that’s a car.”

  “You can take it for a spin if you like.” Hailey cut the engine and pressed her lips together. Did that sound like she was trying to bribe him?

  “That would be the type of car I’d like to take on Highway 1 down to Big Sur.”

  “You’ve taken that drive before?”

  “Not in a classic T-Bird.”

  Hailey stepped from the car and waved toward the open garage door. “We have to go back outside and through the front door. There’s no connection from the garage to the house.”

  “I’m disappointed. I would’ve expected a car elevator.”

  She snapped and pointed her finger at him. “I’ll have my dad get right on that.”

  She entered the code on the side of the garage door frame and turned away.

  Joe caught her arm. “Don’t you stay to make sure nobody sneaks into the garage while the door is closing?”

  “If someone did that, it would trigger the garage door to go up again.”

  “You—” he touched a finger to her nose “—need to be more careful and aware of your surroundings. You think you’re safe just because you’re in San Francisco instead of Syria?”

  “I know I’m not safe here anymore.” She waited until the garage door settled and spun around again. “And maybe if I’d been more alert in Syria, I would’ve suspected that the people who kidnapped us wouldn’t have been willing to just let us go. We should’ve known they weren’t done with us.”

  “If anyone should’ve been suspicious, it was Siddiqi. He’s a guide in the area, for God’s sake. He should’ve known the drill.”

  Hailey stopped on the bottom step and twirled around to face Joe, almost meeting him eye to eye. “Get off that idea. Naraj didn’t set us up. In fact, maybe he’s in danger, too. I should ask Agent Porter to request a check on him.”

  “That might not be a bad idea. Did you ask Ayala about him? If she’d seen him?” He joined her on the next step, and his clean, masculine scent invaded her senses.

  She bobbed her head up and down. “As a matter of fact, I did. She hasn’t seen him around.”

  “Put it on your list for Porter.” He nudged her up the stairs.

  She opened the door, stepped aside to let Joe through and then immediately armed the alarm system.

  The peephole in the center of the door caught her eye, and she peered through it. “It’s just a peephole.”

  “That’s good news.” Pinching his shoulder, he rolled it back. “I could use a beer, if you’re offering.”

  “You and me both.” She pointed to the kitchen. “You know the way. I’m going to call the hospital again to check on Ayala.”

  While Joe strolled into the kitchen, looking more at home than she felt here, Hailey placed a call to the hospital. She got a different nurse this time, but the word must’ve gotten around, because this one reported Ayala’s progress without hesitation.

  Hailey unzipped her boots and padded into the kitchen, where Joe had parked himself at the center island, sipping his beer.

  “Ayala’s doing fine, resting and will be able to check out tomorrow. I tried calling her cell, but it’s dead or she turned it off.”

  Joe slid a beer toward her on the granite counter. “Did they confirm the poisoning?”

  “The nurse was willing to tell me how Ayala was doing, but she didn’t give me any details like that. We’ll have to ask her tomorrow when we pick her up.”

  “You’re bringing her back here?”

  Was that disappointment in Joe’s voice?

  “Of course. I’m not sending her to a hotel after what she just went through.”

  “Yeah, yeah, of course not.” Joe took a gulp of beer. “What did she just go through? What was all that about? Someone followed us to the restaurant? Knew we were going to be there? Slipped something into that martini?”

  “I don’t know.” She tilted her head and wrapped her hair around one hand. “What are you saying?”

  “Why was Ayala so quick to yell poison? Didn’t she just get through telling us she couldn’t hold her booze? I imagine a martini in San Francisco is a powerful thing.”

  “You saw her.” Hailey ran a fingernail down the damp label on her bottle. “She was passed out on the bathroom floor. Did that look like a woman who’d imbibed two appletinis to you?”

  Joe lifted his shoulders. “I don’t understand how someone could’ve poisoned her at that restaurant.”

  “The same way someone replaced a peephole in a hotel door with a mini camera.”

  “But they knew Marten was staying at that hotel. Who knew we were going to that restaurant, and why hit Ayala only? Why not spike your wine or even my beer?”

  “For someone who’s spent the better part of two days telling me my life was in danger because of that kidnapping, you’re doing an about-face.”

  “Not at all. Your life is in danger...and so is Ayala’s. I’m just not sure how this all went down.”

  “Maybe we’ll have a better idea after talking to Ayala tomorrow.”

  Hailey took a sip of her beer and rolled her shoulders back, loosening up a few muscles...and a few inhibitions. “So, do you still live in Boston when you’re not deployed?”

  He put his beer on the counter and caught a bead of moisture with his thumb on the outside of the bottle.

  The pause lasted so long, Hailey had a chance to gulp down another mouthful of beer
.

  “I don’t live in Boston anymore. I have a place in Colorado—fresh air and a view ringed by mountains.”

  Warming to the subject, Hailey asked, “Is your family still there? Your mother?”

  “My mom will never leave South Boston, but at least we got her settled in a nicer place.”

  Hailey’s heart skipped a beat. “We?”

  “My siblings and I—my two brothers and one of my sisters.”

  “One of your sisters? How many do you have? How many in your family?”

  “Five of us—I have two younger brothers and two younger sisters. My youngest sister is still living with Mom, and she...has issues.”

  “I’m sorry.” She let the words hang in the air between them. She didn’t want to overstep the boundaries here and have Joe clam up.

  He lifted and dropped his shoulders. “Nothing to be sorry about—she chose drugs and alcohol, following in our father’s unsteady footsteps.”

  “I know what that’s like. My brother was the same—never met an altered state he didn’t want to try.”

  “He cleaned himself up?”

  “Who knows? He must’ve cut back being around my father, because my father wouldn’t tolerate that behavior, but I find it hard to believe Win doesn’t indulge when he parties with the beautiful people in Manhattan.”

  “Win?”

  “Winslow Chandler Duvall.”

  Joe snorted. “I’m sure Win and Jenny are going to very different parties to get their drink on.”

  “Different parties, same outcome.”

  He clinked the neck of his bottle with hers. “You seem to feel guilty about everything and everyone else—why not Win?”

  “Why would I feel guilty about him? My brother has had every opportunity in the world and chose to squander those privileges.” She put her elbows on the counter and cupped her chin in one hand. “Do you feel guilty about Jenny?”

  “Oh, yeah, and not just her.”

  “Not the rest of your family? If they’re all helping out your mom, it sounds like they’re doing okay.”

  “They’re doing great. One of my brothers is a software engineer, the other’s in law school, and my sister is a buyer for a big department store.”

  As he listed the accomplishments of his siblings, Joe’s face almost glowed.

  “You did that for them, didn’t you?”

  “Me? Hell, no. They’re successful because they worked hard and stayed out of trouble.”

  “And because they had a big brother setting an example for them. Keeping three out of four on the right path is something to be proud of. What happened to Jenny?”

  Joe’s jaw tightened, and his eyes took on a dangerous glitter. “Fell in with the wrong crowd. People determined to see her fail.”

  “Boyfriend?” Hailey swirled the liquid in her bottle and took another swig.

  “My ex-wife.”

  Hailey choked and the beer fizzed up her nose. She covered her mouth with her hand. “What?”

  “My ex, Deirdre.”

  “I—I didn’t know—didn’t realize you’d been married.”

  “It was a long time ago. We dated in high school, and then before my first deployment, she got pregnant, so we got married.”

  As Hailey’s world tilted sideways, she blinked. “You have a child?”

  “Deirdre miscarried—and I wasn’t even there.”

  “I’m sorry.” She stroked the back of his hand with her fingers.

  “When I got home, she blamed me for not being there, but I heard from other people, including my sister, that she’d been drinking and partying.”

  “Oh.” Hailey pressed a hand to her heart. “Is that what led to the divorce?”

  “It didn’t help. It also didn’t help that she’d tricked me into the marriage by getting pregnant on purpose. Told me she was on the pill, but that was a lie.”

  Hailey rubbed the back of her hand across her nose. Despite Deirdre’s misdeeds, Hailey couldn’t help but have a little pity for her. Once you had Joe McVie, how could you ever let him go?

  “Wait—so is that why she targeted your sister? To get back at you?”

  “I think so, not that Jenny needed much encouragement.” Joe finished off his beer and clicked the bottle onto the counter decisively. “I failed both of them.”

  “You can’t seriously blame yourself for Jenny’s behavior.”

  “I ended the marriage, and it led to a downward spiral for Deirdre.”

  “Who wouldn’t end it? Her reckless actions probably caused the miscarriage, and it sounds like that spiral started before the marriage ended.”

  “You take vows, you should make it work. I could’ve given it a try. She would’ve changed.”

  “Ha!” Hailey tipped her head back and laughed at the ceiling. “That never happens. Ever.”

  “I had other reasons for ending that marriage.”

  “You mean besides being tricked into it, losing your baby and being stuck with a hard-partying wife?”

  “I’d met someone else.”

  Hailey’s world tilted again, and she narrowed her eyes. “You cheated?”

  “No, I’d just met this woman. There was nothing between us—then—but she and Deirdre couldn’t have been more different. Deirdre represented everything I wanted to escape...and Lisette represented everything I wanted to run toward.”

  “Sounds like you wanted to escape from Deirdre before you ever met Lisette, and you would’ve ended the marriage even if Lisette hadn’t made an appearance.” She traced her fingertip around the lip of the bottle. “What happened to Lisette?”

  “We dated briefly and then she dumped me.”

  “Uh-huh.” As if any woman would dump this man.

  “What does that mean?” He cocked his head.

  “My guess—” she held up her finger “—is that you felt guilty about Deirdre and made a relationship with Lisette impossible.”

  “Wow.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Not only did you get me to spill my guts, you psychoanalyzed me in the process.”

  She grabbed both of their bottles with one hand, dumped her beer out in the sink and placed the bottles in the recycling bin. “I figured it was about time. You came in knowing so much about me and my family.”

  “Because it’s common knowledge, or at least there for the mildly curious.”

  “Is that what you are? Mildly curious?”

  He encircled her wrist with his fingers. “There’s nothing mild about how I’m feeling right now.”

  Hailey swallowed, wishing she had the rest of that beer she’d just dumped down the drain.

  He dropped her wrist and stepped back. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize.” She pushed some hair from her overheated face. “I’m guessing all the personal questions I threw at you gave our conversation an intimate quality even though we’re...strangers.”

  “Is that what you think we are? Strangers?”

  “I—I mean we barely know each other. We’ve been chasing after phantoms and keys to nowhere, and when we finally have a minute to catch our breaths and the conversation turns personal, we slipped into an easy familiarity.”

  “That’s a lot of words.” Joe raised his eyes to the ceiling and then focused on her like a laser, his blue gaze smoldering. “I like you, Hailey, a lot.”

  “I like you, too.” She ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth. “And I appreciate...”

  He sliced a hand through the air. “I don’t want you to appreciate me or be grateful or want me to be your bodyguard or your driver or your security guy.”

  “Is that how you think I see you?” She plopped back down on the stool, because her knees were in danger of giving out.

  “Not sure.” He brushed his knuckles against the stubble on
his chin. “When you’re not thanking me, you’re outfitting me so I can be presentable for your fund-raiser.”

  Hailey’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding. I guess I’ve been successful at keeping you at arm’s length, then, because I’ve been trying like hell to keep my hands and my dirty thoughts to myself.”

  A slow smile spread across Joe’s face, the kind of smile that made her heart do jumping jacks.

  “Dirty thoughts, huh? Like what?”

  She reached across the counter and grabbed a handful of his shirt, pulling him toward her. When they were nose to nose and she could see the faint freckles on his forehead, she said, “These thoughts are better expressed across a pillow.”

  Joe’s nostrils flared right before he plowed his fingers through her hair, drew her close and planted his lips against hers.

  The edge of the counter dug into her ribs and her toes cramped as she curled them against the tile floor, but she never wanted this kiss to end.

  He broke it off way too soon and coughed. “You’re strangling me.”

  She blinked. “Sorry.” She loosened her hold on his shirt and flexed her fingers.

  “Are you going to lead the way to that pillow?” He folded his arms, tucking his hands under his arms. “Or have you changed your mind?”

  “Because that kiss you laid on me was supposed to deter me?”

  “It wasn’t meant to deter or persuade. It just...was. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been trying to keep you at arm’s length, too. I’m not sure I’m capable of that anymore, unless you want me to. Then I’ll try like hell just to keep you close.”

  “That’s a lot of words.” She moved around the corner of the counter and cupped his jaw with one hand. “Why are we pretending? Why are we fighting against what’s been clear from the minute we met on Fisherman’s Wharf?”

  “Because you have baggage and I have baggage. Because we don’t know if this is real or we’re feeling it because we have a shared threat hanging over us.”

  “Right now—” her hand slipped from his face to his neck, where she wedged her fingers beneath his shirt and caressed his warm skin “—I don’t care about any of that.”