“Sofia and I often had differing opinions about things. Maybe if we hadn’t worked together, we could’ve overcome some of them, but I doubt it.”
“She was headstrong.”
“Damn straight.”
He was thoughtful again, but I didn’t push. Whatever he was about to say, I sensed was difficult for him.
“A few months before she died, your sister was taken hostage on an op that took a bad turn. In the end, she was rescued, but more and more, I wonder if what happened affected her more than she ever let on.”
“Was she hurt?”
Montano nodded. “She was beaten up pretty bad. Suffered a concussion, but that was the worst of it—physically anyway. She was bruised and sore, ended up spending a night in the hospital. The next day, I took her back to South Carolina. I figured she’d want to see your dad, but when we arrived, she said she wanted to go straight to her condo. At the time, I just assumed she wouldn’t want him to see her that way. Wouldn’t want to worry him.”
“Makes sense.”
“She didn’t want me to stay with her.”
“Did you anyway?”
“Nope.” He took a bite of the salad, giving me time to think about what he’d said.
My sister—the pilot—was taken hostage? It was the first time it hit home that Sofia and Montano working together, or maybe who they worked for, was a lot more involved than I’d originally thought.
“Why’d you ask if I stayed with her anyway?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess that if it were me, you wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“You’re right. You’re very different than your sister.” He reached over and stroked the back of my hand with his fingertip. “I mean, are any twins really that much alike? My mom and her sister have lived next door to each other most of their lives, and they’re nothing alike. Except they’re equally competitive.”
“I don’t know any other twins to say one way or another. I’m honestly struggling with this very question as it relates to Sofia and me.”
“Just because two people look identical doesn’t mean what’s inside is. A couple of guys I work with are married to twins. I don’t know either of the women that well, but they seem very different. One is outgoing and the other is shy.”
“It used to frustrate me when people compared me to Sofia. It probably frustrated her too.”
“Not hungry?” he asked, perhaps noticing I hadn’t taken more than a couple of bites.
“I don’t know. I just have so many unanswered questions, and at the same time, I’m not sure I want to know a lot of it.”
23
Onyx
This was it. Blanca was giving me an easy lead-in to tell her what had really happened with her sister and that I knew more than anyone did about how Sofia died. Yes, it had been in a plane crash, but from what I’d been told, Halo’s shot killed her instantly.
Your sister was a double agent. We don’t know for how long, we don’t know for who, and we definitely don’t know why. On top of that, her intention the day she died had been to kill me. Only, I survived and she didn’t.
Which part of that would hurt Blanca the most? That her twin was a traitor who’d betrayed her country? Or that I had kept this information as long as I had?
It would be easy to tell myself I was hesitating to give her more information until we learned what Sofia had been involved in and how deep her betrayal went. That was a lie. I wasn’t telling her, because I was afraid that once I did, she’d never forgive me.
Even how much I’d left out of the story about the op when Sofia was kidnapped would probably infuriate her. But how much of that could I really divulge?
The night Sofia was taken hostage was a culmination of a years-long mission during which Special Agent Malin Kilbourne, the very same agent who’d told Blanca how to find me, took down one of the dirtiest directors in the history of the Central Intelligence Service. It wasn’t just him. Several members of the then-executive administration were either arrested or, in the president’s case, impeached and forced to resign from office.
That Sofia ended up a pawn in the end game was my fault. We were on the Central Coast of California, not far from my parents’ place, for a meeting of the K19 Security Solutions partners. Since Sofia hadn’t yet been extended a partnership offer, she wasn’t invited. I suggested she spend some time at the beach, and once the meetings—and the mission, which I was not permitted to read her in on—concluded, I would join her.
She didn’t understand why she couldn’t just stay on the ranch where this was all taking place and simply not attend. When I hemmed and hawed, she flew into a rage, accusing me of lying to her. She hadn’t been wrong.
The short helicopter ride from the ranch to Cambria, where I’d stayed in the days following Thanksgiving, was short but tension filled. There was nothing I could say or do that would make her less angry. My hands were tied—metaphorically.
The next time I saw her, Sofia’s hands were literally tied. As I’d told Blanca, she’d been severely beaten by the very man who Malin ended up taking down, the one who knew she’d never give in, never tell him what she knew in order to protect her own life. She would, however, feed him every bit of information he wanted in order to spare Sofia’s.
It hadn’t mattered. Doc Butler’s father, a man known in the intelligence world as Burns, had surveillance in the wine caves on the estate where Malin and Sofia were being held. It allowed us to find and rescue them as well as get everything needed to prove the director and his accomplices were dirty.
Until I told Blanca the short version of what happened to her sister during that mission, I don’t think I’d realized the kind of lasting impact it had on her. Had that been the turning point? Had my betrayal, at least in her eyes, and the torture she’d suffered because of it, made her turn against not only me, but her country? I’d never know for certain.
“I’m sorry.”
I raised my head and looked into Blanca’s eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I’ve ruined what was an amazing afternoon. Not to mention, you aren’t eating much more than I am.”
“You know what I’d really like to do?”
Blanca raised a brow. “Do tell?”
“I want to go back into that bedroom and fall asleep with you in my arms.”
“I’d like that too.”
We cleaned up the kitchen, took turns with our nighttime routines, and got into bed, saying very little else.
“Are we heading back today?” Blanca asked the following morning when I brought a latte to her in bed.
“Yes.”
“Both of us?”
“Yes, angel. Both of us.”
Less than an hour later, we were on the road.
“Can we change the subject?” Blanca asked thirty minutes into our silent drive.
I smiled. “What would you like to talk about?”
“Pleasant memories.”
“I’m all for that.” I only hoped she didn’t ask me to share very many about my relationship with her sister. “What are your favorites from your time at Canada Lake?”
Blanca rested her head against the back of the seat, and a look I could only call serene came over her face.
“So many things. Playing cards, like I told you before. Sherman’s, though, is definitely up there.”
“The amusement park?”
She nodded. “It felt like we spent every night there during the summer. Either my parents would give us a ride or one of the other kids’ parents would.”
“Jimmy Messick’s?” I snarled.
“Oh my God. Yes. Jimmy Messick’s. Anyway, Sofia and I had our favorite rides, very different ones as you might imagine.”
“What was yours?”
She looked at me like I should know the answer. I shrugged.
“The carousel. Duh.”
“And Sofia’s?”
“The Whip-it.”
I couldn’t stop myself from
laughing out loud. “What in the world is a Whip-it?”
“It’s a ride that went around in an oval, kind of like a roller rink. We sat in cars attached to metal beams. On the straightaway, the cars would pick up speed and then whip around the end.”
“Doesn’t sound like that much fun.”
“I wonder how many kids ended up with arthritis later in life because of that ride.” She tapped her lower lip. “Anyway, as soon as we got there, Sofia would run to the end of the midway to the Whip-it and I’d dash off in the direction of the carousel.”
“Leaving Jimmy in the dust? I’m liking this story better.”
“Ha, ha. No, I didn’t leave Jimmy in the dust. He’d come along, not that he was with us every night, and hang out until he got bored. Then he’d make me go on the Ferris wheel with him.” She shuddered.
“Not a fan?”
“I didn’t mind it so much. When it would stop at the top, there was a view of all of the lake. The camps would be lit up, and the water shone with the reflection of the colorful lights.”
“Why’d you squirm?”
“Jimmy used to like to rock the seat. It made me so nervous.”
“See? He was a jerk.”
Blanca laughed and looked away. She was quiet for a while, and I let her get lost in her thoughts.
“It’s where I started writing,” she murmured.
“Really? At the amusement park?”
“At the carousel. I’d sit on one of the horses and go around a few times, and then I’d sit on one of the seats that didn’t move, pull out my notebook, and write.”
“What would you write about?”
“Remember that movie, um, Julie Andrews was in it, and so was Dick Van Dyke?”
“Vaguely.”
“There was a scene in it where they were at a park, riding the carousel with the kids Julie Andrews nannied. In the movie, the horses turned into animation and rode away with Julie, Dick, and the kids on their backs. I don’t think they went far, but in my stories, I did.”
“Like where?”
“Everywhere. Paris, London, Madrid, St. Louis.”
“Wait. St. Louis?”
“‘Meet Me in St Louis’ was my mother’s favorite movie. At Christmas, we’d watch it over and over again. I remember wishing I could surprise her and take her there one day.”
“On horseback?”
“You’re hysterical,” she deadpanned. She looked to her side as we approached the Canada Lake store. “We’re back already? Wow. Can we stop and get sandwiches? I’m starving.”
I was too, but even if I weren’t, I’d grant every wish of the charming, beguiling, gorgeous, intelligent, creative woman sitting next to me. Even if it was to take her to the moon.
Like we did the first time, we ordered different types of sandwiches, promising to share once we got to the camp.
“Since the electricity wasn’t really out, can I stay in my own camp tonight?”
“There are a couple stipulations.”
“Oh yeah?”
I nodded. “First, remember your camp is not winterized. If my feet get too cold, we’re moving over to Ranger’s camp.”
“Your feet?”
“That’s the other stipulation. You have to let me stay there with you.”
“Done.”
We ended up sleeping at Ranger’s camp because, as I’d predicted, her camp was too cold. Even the team that had been searching the place, along with Wasp and Cowboy who’d returned with us, took turns sleeping at another cabin that had been winterized.
The next morning dawned sunny and warm, so after a hearty breakfast prepared by Ranger, we went next door to start our version of the search.
“Are you sure your people actually looked?” Blanca asked after I’d lit the wood stove and it warmed enough that we didn’t have to stand right in front of it. “Nothing is out of place.”
“Training,” I mumbled when a feeling of impending doom settled on me. I wondered if it was the same as what Blanca had experienced our first day here. I wanted to clear the rooms of the cabin, but I didn’t want Blanca coming with me, nor did I want to leave her here by the stove.
“Come with me,” I said, motioning to the front door.
“Where am I going?”
“Back to Ranger’s.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it.
“Trust me, okay?”
“Of course.”
Once there, I texted Diesel and asked him to have the team meet me at Blanca’s camp.
When he arrived with Swan, Trap, Wasp, and Cowboy, I had them do a full sweep of the entire camp, the outside perimeter, and run a check for surveillance. They didn’t find anything, but that didn’t make my feeling go away.
All clear to bring Blanca over, I texted Ranger.
“Everything okay?” she asked, coming in the door.
“If it weren’t, you wouldn’t be here,” I said with a wink. “I’d like to formally introduce you to the team. This is Diesel Jacks, Swan Lee, and Trap Flannery.” I pointed to each one. “You already know Wasp and Cowboy.” I turned to Diesel. “You can decide who stays and who goes. We don’t need all of you here.”
“Roger that,” he responded, motioning them out to the porch.
“Be right back,” I told her, joining them. There was something I wanted set up, and Diesel would need Ranger’s help making it happen.
“Where are you?” I hollered when I came inside and didn’t see or hear Blanca.
“In the loft.”
I took the stairs two at a time and found her on the floor near an old trunk. “Find anything?” I asked, noticing she’d pulled several things out and was looking through them.
“Not anything significant. Just memories.”
I sat on the floor beside her. “That is the reason you’re here.”
She looked at me and cocked her head.
“That was your original plan, right? Come here and see if you could ‘connect’ with your sister over happy memories?”
“You’re right. I guess I lost sight of that.”
For the next hour, Blanca went through the contents of the trunk. Some things she commented on, others she didn’t. Every once in a while, I’d catch a tear roll down her cheek. Once she was done looking at whatever it was, I’d do my own check. I wasn’t looking at memories, though. I was looking for something Sofia might have left for her—or us—to find.
“Time for a break,” I said when we finished combing over everything in the loft and didn’t find anything. I’d also received a text from Ranger saying what I’d asked him to take care of was done.
“Where are we going?” Blanca asked, following me outside and over to the rental SUV.
“I’m in the mood for ice cream.”
“If you’re thinking about Sherman’s, I doubt it will be open. I’m sure it was a fluke when we found it open the day we went. Given that bus full of kids showed up, maybe the school made arrangements for a field trip.”
“Let’s go look anyway.”
She rolled her eyes but got in the car without further argument.
“You were right,” I said, pulling into the parking lot and trying to sound disappointed, even though I’d already known it was closed.
“Hey, look! The doors of the dance hall are open.”
While that wasn’t part of my plan, anything that made Blanca that excited brought a smile to my face. “Wanna go check it out?”
“Are you kidding? Of course I do.” She was out of the car and racing toward the building before I’d even cut the engine, much in the same way she had the day we got ice cream. Watching her, it was easy to imagine her as a kid or teenager when her parents would drop her off. Her reaction was that of unbridled joy, and I loved seeing and experiencing it firsthand.
“Wow,” I gasped, walking into the building that looked like it had been frozen in time.
On the first floor, there was an old-fashioned-looking counter and soda fountain, several rows of Skee-Ball
machines, and other arcade-type games that looked as though someone had been playing them just yesterday.
As we ventured farther inside, there was an area filled with picnic tables. While the windows were boarded up, it was easy to imagine them all open and the breeze coming off the lake, keeping the now-freezing room cool.
Regardless of where we went, the floor we walked on was made of creaky wooden planks that any home remodel company would likely have paid a fortune for.
“I’m going to take a peek upstairs.”
Blanca hadn’t seen him yet, but the man I’d made arrangements to meet there was standing just outside and gave me a head nod.
While she ran, I walked up the staircase made of the same wooden planks as the floor, hoping no one else ventured in here and saw the same dollar signs I did. It would be a shame to have this place dismantled and sold off for the restoration hardware inside.
One side of the second floor was empty but for a stage, a bar, and high-top tables situated near more of the boarded-up windows. On the other side, there was additional table-seating, fancier than what was below.
“My parents and their friends loved coming here on Saturday nights. In the summer, bands played Friday nights and Sunday afternoons too, but Saturday was when everyone showed up.” She stood in the middle of the floor and spun in a circle. “Sofia and I would check in with them every couple of hours, and our dad would order us Shirley Temples.”
I walked over to where she was and held out my hand. When she put hers in it, I pulled her close, hummed what I knew would be familiar to her, and we danced.
Soon, she sang the words to my melody and I joined her. There was no more appropriate tune to consider “our song,” at least for me. Blanca Descanso was under my skin and would remain there for the rest of my life. I had no doubt about it.
Whether she would want to remain a part of it once she learned the truth of what I’d been keeping from her, remained to be seen. Still, I knew I’d never forget her or the way being with her made me feel.
“Watching my mom and dad is what made me want to write romance books.” She bit her bottom lip, and her cheeks flushed. “I took it a bit further than that, but back then, I couldn’t imagine two people being more in love.”
Onyx (K19 Security Solutions Book 10) Page 13
