Guarding Faith
Page 12
Gerald looked over at Eddy then back at Faith. “If I’m to understand this correctly, you’re saying if I go the committee they will confirm what you’ve told me.”
“Yes, they will.” Eddy said. “As Faith said, we have the cooperation of the necessary people on the rodeo committee. Smokey’s performance last night was legitimate. There were no enhancements given to her.”
“Do you want to tell him about what happened in your hotel room?” interjected Greg. “I think he needs to know.”
“What is he talking about?” Gerald looked between them all.
Faith sighed, she hadn’t planned on saying anything but Greg had a point, he did need to know. “Last night I had a visitor to my hotel room. He was very drunk. Greg managed to get information out of him.” She looked at him. “Maybe you should continue this explanation.”
Greg squeezed her shoulder and nodded. “The guy was drunk, he could hardly stand. Once he’d finishing throwing up we questioned him. He got into Faith’s room using a key; a key she didn’t give him. He said that she did though.”
“What do you mean, I’m not following,” Gerald interrupted.
“Someone in the bar posed as Faith, found this guy and flirted with him. I’m guessing whoever this woman was, she plied him with alcohol until he was going to do anything she wanted. He figured he was going to get lucky when she handed him the room key. She also handed him a plastic bag filled with vials of liquid. He was told to put them in the top drawer of the bedside table.”
“Hmm, well that does put things in a different light, if your story is true.”
Beside her Greg stiffened and she slipped her own arm around his waist and squeezed. “We have no reason to lie to you, Mr. Dougherty, regardless of what you may think of us.”
She’d had enough.
Breaking away from Greg’s hold, she closed the distance between her and Dougherty. “Look, you would be aware that horses have gone missing. Horses that are important to their owners and horses that are worth a lot of money. Including my horse. We’re here to stop that and find the perps. Now someone is accusing me of something I would never do. Someone wants me out of the picture and I’m not going to let that happen.”
After she’d finished speaking, Dougherty took a step back, looking a little worried that she might actually harm him. The way she was feeling he probably should be concerned.
“Do you happen to have this piece of evidence you’re talking about? Because even though you say you’re working for the FBI, we still have to take this matter seriously and will have to test your horse. If we find that there are traces of the drug in her bloodstream, and you have the vials of the same substance in your possession, I have to say it won’t look good.”
What had seemed like a good idea at the time, now seemed it could implicate her even further.
She knew she hadn’t done anything to Smokey and neither had Eddy, but what if someone had given the horse an injection without them knowing? Everything they’d worked for over the last couple of months could be destroyed with a blood test.
Regardless of the fact that they had permission to be there, the rodeo committee would disqualify her, and she’d have to leave the event. Maybe the horse smuggling ring was behind this after all.
Lost in her thoughts, she had no idea Greg had moved them away from the others. He hooked a finger under her chin, encouraging her to look at him. “Talk to me, Princess. What’s going on?”
“Everything I’ve worked for could be all for nothing if Smokey’s blood results come back positive. We have vials of a banned substance in our possession. It doesn’t matter that we know how we got our hands on them. The WPRA won’t care, all they’ll see is that I broke the rules. I’ll be disqualified and that will be the end of the case. I know we threw around the idea that Brad breaking into my room and the horse smuggling ring weren’t connected, but what if they are?”
She pulled away from him and walked back to Eddy. “Can I leave you to deal with this?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah I’ll handle it. Don’t worry, everything will be okay.” Eddy patted her arm in reassurance.
If only she had Eddy’s confidence. “You do know if it’s not, we’re fucked?”
Eddy looked shocked, she never swore like that, even when undercover, but the word fitted their situation so perfectly. “I know, but we won’t be. The tests will come back negative, you’ll see.”
“I hope so. In the meantime, I’m going to talk to the hotel management about how they gave out my key, as well as ask for security footage to see if I can make out who requested the key. I’ll also try and get the footage from the bar. Plus need to speak about upping security around Smokey and the other horses. No way am I going to let whoever is trying to set me up get away with this.”
She walked away, more determined than ever to solve this case.
Chapter 12
“Are you going to go after her?” Eddy asked, and Greg pulled his gaze from Faith’s retreating figure.
“Yeah, I’ll go after her. One of my teammates is coming in. Should be at the hotel in about another hour. I’ve also got a contact who can help out. He should be able to get the footage she’s after fairly easily.”
“Well go then. I’ll sort this out.” Eddy canted his head in the direction where Gerald stood on his phone, Smokey’s reins in his hands.
Greg nodded and jogged after Faith. It didn’t take him long before he caught up with her. When she noticed him beside her, she rolled her eyes at him, he bit back a smile.
“I should’ve known you wouldn’t leave me alone.”
He shrugged. “Yep. I can get Tex to look for that footage you want. It will only take one call and he’ll help.”
“Thank you, but I don’t need your help on this. I believe I’ve already told you we have our own resources and can get the information we need.”
He should’ve known she would be stubborn about this, and he supposed he couldn’t blame her. It was her case after all, and he was coming and attempting to take over. He just knew that Tex would be able to get access to footage and cameras she wouldn’t be able to. The guy was an absolute whiz. What T-Rex had told them about how Tex’d been able to find Brielle in a clothing store when she had a panic attack had impressed the hell out of him. No wonder he was an automatic go to for the guys on the team. Not to mention the other SEALs and Delta’s they’d worked with in the past.
“Okay, well the offer is there if you need it.” He’d ask Tex to investigate himself.
Faith stopped and grabbed his arm, halting his own progress. “I know what you’re thinking,” she grumbled.
“What?”
“You’re going to get this guy to look into it anyway. Please, Greg, I’m asking you not to interfere. We’ve solved a lot of cases using our own resources. I don’t need to have this guy’s help. Okay?”
Greg studied her for a moment, taking in the tension lines around her eyes and mouth, lines that hadn’t been there before. Had he caused them or had the altercation with the guy from the WPRA caused them?
He hated to think it was anything he’d done. What would have happened to her if he hadn’t been here? Would she be in this predicament?
A saying from a comedy came to mind... if wishes were coconuts we’d all have a Merry Christmas. He was here and until he left he’d help her.
“Okay, I won’t speak to Tex. I’ll let you deal with it.”
Because he was watching her so closely, he saw the moment her eyes widened when he mentioned the name Tex. Did she know him? Was he one of her resources? It wouldn’t surprise him if Tex was. The guy probably worked for just about every agency of the United States Government.
“Good. Now if you don’t mind. I need to get back to the hotel. I’ll see you later, Greg.”
As he watched her striding away, he was struck with the thought—she was always walking away from him. How many times had she done it?
When she stopped, he waited to see what she was going to
do next. He stood his ground as she walked back to him. Her hat hid her face so he couldn’t make out her facial features from the distance, but as she got closer he could see that the lines had softened around her eyes and mouth.
She stopped in front of him.
“What’s wrong? What do you need, Princess?”
“This,” she whispered and closed the small gap between them. His breath whooshed out when her hands slid around his waist and she rose up on tiptoe. The second her lips connected with him he wrapped his own around her, pulling her tight against him.
The fact she’d come back to him spoke volumes, he didn’t want to let her go. Her mouth opened beneath his and he slipped his tongue inside. His body reacted immediately, his dick hardening against his zipper.
Fuck, he wanted to take her back to his hotel room and make her moan out his name. He wanted to make her forget all about the stress of the case. He wanted her to love him like he loved her.
Loved?
He wrenched his mouth away as the thought pounded his mind. Since he’d first seen her in the stables in Virginia he’d been fighting a losing battle. All the feelings he’d had for her from their time together as teenagers roared to the surface and he couldn’t deny it any longer.
“Faith,” he whispered and traced a finger down her cheek. “I—” He couldn’t say it. Not yet. It wasn’t the right time.
“Greg, I—uh—I need to go.”
He nodded, knowing it was true but wishing it wasn’t. His phone buzzed in his back pocket, probably a text from Red to say he was at the hotel.
What would Faith say when she saw him?
Would she recognize his teammate or not?
Why was he worried about those things? Red was here and that’s all that mattered. His instincts were screaming that things were going to heat up and he was glad he would have his teammate at his back if it did. Leaning forward he placed a soft kiss against her lips, her sigh of contentment piercing him in the gut. “If you need my help let me know.”
She smiled briefly then turned and headed toward the parking lot. He followed behind, making sure she got into her car and waving when she noticed him standing nearby.
His heart swelled when she blew him a kiss before driving off. As the car disappeared out of the lot, he tried to quell the uneasy feeling that he may never see her again.
He shook off the thought and pulled his phone out. Sure enough there was a text from Red advising him that he was at the hotel waiting for him in the lobby.
Right, it was time to formulate a plan. It would’ve been good to have the rest of the guys at his back, and without a doubt if he called them for help they would’ve dropped everything and come to his aid. But Greg had no plans on interrupting anyone’s vacation time, or worse, honeymoons with their significant others.
Faith’s mind whirled as she drove back to the hotel. Everything was so up in the air now with the case. It all hinged on getting a negative result on Smokey’s bloodwork. If it was positive, then they’d have to come up with another plan.
The last thing she wanted to do was call her superior officers and tell them what was happening, but they needed to know. Together they could get the information they needed and prove that she and Eddy weren’t responsible for any wrongdoing when it came to Smokey and her performance.
Stop it, you’re acting like it’s a forgone conclusion that Smokey’s test will come back positive.
Well it was better to think of the worst case scenario and coming up with a plan to combat that, than thinking everything was going to be hunky dory.
Getting her hands on as much security footage as possible would go a long way. She couldn’t believe it when Greg had mentioned Tex. She’d heard that name bandied around the offices in hushed whispers. She’d never had to work with him before, but she’d heard plenty of people who said he was a computer whiz and had helped them out when they’d exhausted all other resources.
What were the chances it was the same guy Greg knew? Tex was a common enough nickname, but the way Greg mentioned he could help out suggested it was probably the same person.
As she pulled into the hotel parking lot, she pushed thoughts of Tex and Greg from her mind. She needed to compose herself for when she made the call to notify her office of recent events. Hopefully they wouldn’t tell her they were pulling her from the case, since that would mean her chances of getting the promotion was over.
Switching off the engine, she closed her eyes and sat for a few seconds. The desire to get out of the car was slim because of the task before her.
“Faith?” Someone tapped on her window calling her name and scaring the life out of her.
She opened her eyes to find Tiffany standing by her window, a big smile on her face. Grabbing up her stuff she opened the door. “Hey Tiffany, you scared me.”
The other girl giggled. “Sorry didn’t mean to. Have you been out to the practice arena?”
Faith closed the door and depressed the button to activate the lock. She could have a bit of meaningless conversation before she tackled her task. “Yeah, I took Smokey for a quick run. How about you? You headed out there now?”
Tiffany shook her head, her blonde hair swirling around her head while her earring jingled. “Nope, I’m going shopping. Wanna come?”
Oh, how she’d like to go shopping. She could do with some retail therapy. If only she could. Maybe when this case was solved, she’d take a couple of weeks off and just relax.
Or go spend time with Greg in Virginia.
Yeah, she pushed that thought away. Not happening, even though her heart skipped a beat at the thought of spending more time with Greg on a permanent basis.
Okay, she needed sleep. These thoughts weren’t the best ones to be having right at this moment.
“Faith? Do you want to go shopping or not?”
She mentally shook her mind out of the clouds and back to the present. “I’d love to, but I need to watch some video of my run last night and see where I can improve.”
Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Really? You won last night and your ride was flawless. You don’t need to do anything. I wish I had your horse. I can’t believe your replacement horse was better than Ginger.”
Was there an edge to Tiffany’s voice or was Faith imagining it? Hearing things that weren’t there because she was suspicious of everyone? She had no good reason to be suspicious of Tiffany. The woman had been her friend all those years ago and had welcomed her back on the circuit with big smiles.
“Smokey was pretty awesome last night. I think she was excited to be on a big stage.”
“I think it was more than that.” Tiffany linked her arm through Faith’s and started walking away from the hotel and toward the back of the parking lot. “You’re an excellent rider, Faith. I’m sure you’re the reason Smokey performed so well.”
“Thanks, but I really need to get back to the hotel. I can’t go shopping with you no matter how much I want to.” Faith tried to extract her arm from Tiffany’s, but the other girl placed her other hand over Faith’s forearm, her fingernails digging in deeper.
“Come on, Faith. You need to have some fun and I know just where to take you.”
Apprehension built inside of Faith. She banked it down, now was not the time to panic, she had to keep a clear mind. Again she tried to pull away from Tiffany, but her grip tightened even more.
Glancing around the area Faith couldn’t make out any danger, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t lurking somewhere.
Right, she could get out of this. She could call on her training and have Tiffany subdued without too much effort.
She transferred her weight on the right side of her body, arching away a fraction from Tiffany.
“Don’t even think about, bitch.” Another voice joined the conversation.
Randy.
Where had he come from?
His hand gripped her right upper arm, effectively jamming her between him and Tiffany.
Oh fuck, shit just got real.
What she needed to do—
Before she could move, a sharp sting of pain erupted in her neck. Her vision swam and her knees buckled.
“You got her?” Randy’s voice seemed to come from a tunnel. It echoed around her mind.
“Yeah. Let’s get her in the car. I’m sure the boss will want to talk to her.”
Tiffany’s hard voice was the last thing she heard before she descended into a black abyss.
Chapter 13
Greg strode into the foyer and came to an abrupt halt when he spied the five men lounging on the couches.
“What the fuck?” he said when he reached them. His whole team was there, Italy, Robot, T-Rex, Joker and Red. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Red told us something was going down here, so we thought we’d come and see if we could help out.” Robot said, his team lead smiling at him.
“And your wives are all happy with you cutting short your vacation with them to come here on hearsay that something was happening?”
“Of course, they were,” scoffed Italy. “Once they found out you were here with Faith, they were more than happy for us to leave them behind. They want to know why you’re here with her when you didn’t bring her to Joker’s wedding. Have to admit we’re curious too.”
Greg shook his head in a mixture of disgust and humor. “I swear since you guys got married you gossip like high school girls. I didn’t know Faith was going to be here when I came to Houston. It’s just a coincidence.”
“A happy one I’d say,” Robot commented with a wry smile.