“You want answers then you need to give some too!” She poked him in the chest accentuating her every word. “How would you even know about the flash if you had not been in here, delivering this?” She whipped it out and into his face. His face reddened and lines of anger drew his mouth taut.
“Because I saw two men break into your house. I saw this brief flash and then they blasted out of the house as if shot out of a canon.” He stepped away from her, tunneled fingers through his hair then stopped. His green eyes bore into her.
“Satisfied?”
Her eyes shut in shame. She knew Jake did nothing wrong. He was not her enemy, but he held back and that blurred the lines. Hands pressed to her temples, Charley turned to her closet, opened the doors wide and showed Jake what she had perched on the shelf.
She pulled out a camera. Not just any camera, but one attached to a motion sensor. “I set it before I leave on a trip. It works similar to a home security system and motion detection device. When it senses movement at certain levels in the room, the camera takes a picture.”
“No alarm system goes off?”
She shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t do much good since I do spend quite a bit of time away from the house.”
“Did it take a picture? Did it work?”
“I don’t know. I focused on that darn card which you witnessed scared the pants off me.”
One corner of Jake’s mouth tugged upward. “I noticed.”
She slugged him on the shoulder, not hard but in a tender gesture. He also noticed that she calmed down. Her mind had shifted from fear and panic to investigating and problem solving.
“Take the camera. It’s digital so we can hook it up to my laptop and see what we see.”
“Good plan.”
“While we make coffee,” she told him heading out of the bedroom.
Jake picked up her bags and Sig-Sauer, and went to set them on the table next to the Queen of Spades along with the camera he brought down from her bedroom. Charley busied herself getting the making for coffee.
“Do you even know how to shoot?” He teased her, holding the gun in his hand dangling between two fingers. “I mean, that’s the second time you’ve pulled it on me but haven’t shot. Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to aim a weapon at someone unless you were willing to shoot?”
Whoa. She spun on him as if to say ‘bite me’. “We’ll do some target shooting sometime and I will be happy to show you.”
“Did Waldo get the motion sensing camera for you?”
She nodded as she filled the old-fashioned coffee pot with tap water then scooped Green Mountain coffee into the filter and set it on the stove. Turning the gas knob to the light position, nothing happened. She blew out a breath and turned it back.
“Here.” He walked up behind her. “Let me do it.”
“I can do it.”
“I know you can,” he soothed, “but I’ve had more practice with the old contraption.”
With ease, he lifted Charley off the floor and moved her bodily behind him so he could have at the knob. “You see it takes a certain …” Jake sniffed the air.
“Get out! Get out now!”
He didn’t wait for Charley to understand his order, to move, he slung her over his shoulder, grabbing the table’s contents in the other hand and hauled ass out the back door.
“I can run, Jake. Put me down.”
“Later!”
He just made it past the side of the barn when the ground shook and an explosion lit the night sky, sending him and Charley stumbling to the ground.
On his knees, he looked up into her face. She was gasping for air. What was wrong? “Charley! What is it?”
“Wi–win–d—knocked out.”
His head bent over hers, Jake kissed her cheek and hugged her to him. “Thank you.”
“F–for burning?”
He grinned. “No. Just breathe slow shallow breaths until you get your lungs back.”
Sitting next to her, he stared in utter disbelief as Charley’s house burned. Jake held onto her, offering as much comfort as he could. Then it struck him.
“The barn!”
He ran to the building, located the hose and flipped the nozzle. Water gushed out and he aimed it at the wall of the barn, dousing it. Flames could easily jump from the house to the barn and then Charley would lose everything.
She must have caught on to what he was doing because in the next instant Charley appeared next to him. “Is there another hose? We need to douse my car and the yard and trees between our properties.”
Holy shit! His place. He hadn’t even thought of that. “Take this.” He handed her the hose and took off. “I’ll call 911!” he yelled over his shoulder.
THIRTY-FOUR
Several hours later after firefighters extinguished the flames of her home, they had dealt with the arson investigator, and police, she and Jake showered and cleaned, sat on his living room floor. Her bags and equipment between them, Charley stared dazedly at the remains of her personal belongings. No clothes. No underwear. No memories.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing what?” Jake asked as he stroked a hand down her back.
“I’ve got nothing.”
His warm hands cupped her face and tilted it up to meet his gaze. “That is not true and you know it. You have your barn. We managed to save the SUV and we can rebuild the house.”
She blinked back tears.
“More importantly, you have me. I’m right here and going nowhere.”
Charley shook her head, releasing his grasp. “Can’t you see how hazardous it is to be near me?” She threw off the afghan he had placed around her shoulders and got to her feet. Why could he not get it through his thick head?
“I’ve tried telling you and now, you think you would see for yourself that it is too dangerous. You could get burned!” She turned from him, faced the front window, hugging her arms tight across her chest, and watched smoke swirl past in the evening sky.
She hadn’t heard him move but felt Jake’s presence behind her before he even touched her shoulder, kissed the back of her head and wrapped his arms around hers.
“I like danger and maybe I think you are worth the risk, worth a little singe.”
He turned her around, her face meeting his hard chest. She buried her face in it, wound her arms around his waist, and squeezed, afraid to let go. Tilting her head back, she peered up into moss green eyes glittering in the soft glow of lamp light.
“I do not want to be responsible for you getting hurt. I can’t. Not again.”
Jake pushed strands of her hair back and with the pad of his thumb stroked her cheek. “First, you can’t help who you fall in love with. Second, you are not responsible for me. We’re responsible for ourselves first, and each other second.”
Love? “I…uh…I…” With the touch of his finger to her lips, he stopped her stuttering.
“Yes, Shugar. I love you.”
“But, you can’t. I don’t want you to.” She shoved at him but he would not let go. “Darn it, Jake.”
“Shh. I know.” He hugged her tighter. “Hits you like a ton of bricks but what can you do. Go ahead.”
Jake was right. Love hit with a direct arrow to her heart in spite of trying to dodge it. “I love you, too.”
“Good.” He kissed her firmly on the lips and released her. “Now that we have that resolved. We need to get to the bottom of who is trying to kill you and why.”
That was it? Charley narrowed her gaze on his retreating butt. Then grinned. Maybe there were a few advantages to being homeless and in love. It would not be a hardship to wake up and see that ass every morning. The sound of a zipper rasping jerked her from her errant thoughts. She rushed over to her laptop case and tugged.
“What do you think you are doing?” she demanded.
Jake let loose and papers flew out scattering all over the floor. “Just because you say you love me does not give you any right to snoop through my stuff, especially my wor
k!”
On her knees, she scooped up the papers and righted them. When she looked up, she saw Jake leaning back against the sofa, arms crossed over his expansive chest, and staring at her.
“What?”
His upper lip curled in a snarl.
* * * *
“I had no intention of snooping.” Okay, a small lie, but a necessary one. Great way to start out a permanent relationship, he thought, then gave a mental shrug. She would never know.
“I was only going to set up the laptop and the camera so we could do what we had planned on doing before everything went up in flames.”
Her lips moved like a fish in water without sound. Oh.
“Yeah, oh.” He held out his hands for the laptop expecting her to hand it over. “Can we please see who broke into your house?” Jake patted the floor next to him.
After setting the computer down between them, Charley pulled up a piece of carpet and leaned her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
He kissed the tip of her nose as he hit the power button on the machine. “No problem. Just try to remember that I’m on your side.” He kissed her lips. “Better yet, consider me your own personal bodyguard. You know what they say about a woman and her bodyguard?”
“No,” she answered in a low whisper.
“There are no secrets.”
Charley sat up and looked at him with a serious look on her face. “Is that really what they say?”
“Yup.”
“Exactly how many women’s bodies have you guarded.”
“Two.”
“And were there secrets between you?”
The cool tone of her voice had him raising a brow and peering at her over his shoulder. “Jealous?”
She shrugged.
He struck like a coiled snake, knocking Charley onto her back, pinned beneath him. “Jealous?”
“Maybe.”
“Only maybe?”
“Okay, yes. I am jealous. Do you get intimate with all women whose bodies you guard?”
“No. None. Never.”
“Not even Ruby?”
“Ow!” He must not have answered quickly enough because the next thing he knew, Charley twisted his ear. He chuckled and grinned.
“No, not even Ruby.” Wait until they met. Two Lady Derringers in one room, petite, sleek, sexy, but packing a wallop. Irresistible and hazardous.
“I love you, Charley Tango Duston.”
“How—”
Oops. He kissed her, his tongue sweeping against her mouth then flicking against hers. Heat soared through him as his hand roamed down her arms, over her hips, then back up to cup one perfect breast. Panting, he pulled back, pressed his forehead to Charley’s.
“If we don’t stop, the firefighters will be back to put out another type of fire.”
Helping her to sit, Jake kissed her one more time then turned to the computer. “You log in and I’ll turn on the camera.”
When they had them both powered up and connected, Jake took the back seat. He watched in amazement at the speed in which her fingers danced over the keyboard. In a matter of seconds, Charley had some kind of photo display program up followed by a dark image.
“Can you lighten it?” He asked with the excitement of a child, leaning in closer to the monitor.
Charley shoved at his forehead. “Yes, if you get out of my way.”
A couple of mouse clicks later, an image of a man dressed in all black, including the hood over his head, centered on the screen.
“Shit!”
“No face,” she murmured beside him. “You can’t even see a face.”
“Can you zoom in on his arms, his neck? Maybe he has a scar, tattoo, anything distinct.”
“Yes.”
With another keystroke and click of the mouse, Charley zoomed in on the guy’s bicep. Nothing. Then with the help of the mouse, she slowly panned down to his forearm. No scars. No tattoos. Then she moved lower. Sure enough, gripped in the guy’s hand, he held the Queen of Spades card.
“Well, we know one thing for certain.”
Charley looked up at him, hope in her eyes.
“The B and E man was definitely a man.”
“Yeah,” she answered, her gaze returning to the monitor.
No. She knew more than that. She knew his name.
THIRTY-FIVE
As Jake reached to close the lid, a stray piece of plastic hiding under the nylon case caught his attention. When he pulled it out, he recognized the photo paper. He turned it over in his hand, stiffened at the image and heard Charley gasp.
She tried to yank it out of his hands but this time he did not give. “What is this?” he asked between clenched teeth. When she did not answer, Jake turned and pinned her in his gaze.
“What and who is this?” Then it struck him and he looked back at the photo.
“Kyle,” she told him.
“How did you get this? Why?”
He glanced up to see Charley worrying her lower lip. Denying his instincts to demand answers, he held her cold hands in his free one, offered comfort, and waited.
After a deep inhalation and blowing it out, she spoke. “It was in my freezer.”
“Another calling card?”
She did not answer but bobbed her head.
“When did you get this?”
“The night I moved in next door.”
“It was in the freezer at Old Mr. Green’s?” he asked incredulous.
Charley shook her head once. “No. My condominium. It was the reason I moved.”
Releasing her hands, Jake sat back, his shoulder blades resting against the leather sofa, and raked fingers through his hair. No wonder Charley kept secrets.
“Why?”
“I…I don’t know. We had a relationship once but it ended months ago. We still worked for the same company.”
“The CIA.”
It was not a question.
He dropped the photo on top of the laptop and cupped her face in his hands. “No secrets, Charley.”
She gulped then without any hesitation, nodded. “Yes, the CIA.”
His hands left her face along with the warmth of his touch.
“What section?”
“Geopolitical Covert.”
If her heart did not want to leap out of her chest, Charley would have laughed at the stunned look on Jake’s face. “Not me. Kyle.”
His hand to his chest, relief washed across his features, and she smiled at him. “Thank you for caring.”
He blinked. “Caring. Hun, what I feel goes way beyond caring. I love you. Plain and simple.”
“Love is never plain and simple.”
“Don’t I know it,” he drawled. Lifting her hands in his, he kissed her palm and went back to studying the photo.
“Do you know where this is?”
“No clue.”
Jake held the picture even closer to his face. “Is that a Purple Heart?”
“Yes. My father’s.”
His head whirled in her direction and the astonished look on his face had her leaning away.
“That’s it. I want all of it now.”
“Jake.”
He held up a hand to halt her protest. “Tell me what you know, all of it, including what you do for the CIA.”
Did she dare? With the exception of Kyle, she had never told anyone everything and look where that got him. Dead. Because of her? Because of their whistleblower document? How much could she tell Jake without putting his life at risk?
“All of it,” he demanded as if reading her mind and tugged her down to his lap.
“I’m a CIA Human Intelligence Collector.” Charley looked to him for confirmation.
He nodded. “Keep going.”
“The Human Intelligence Collector supervises and conducts tactical HUMINT collection operations that include, but are not limited to, debriefings, interrogations and elicitations in English and foreign languages for positive intelligence and force protection information. I screen Human Intelligence
sources and documents to establish priorities for exploitation. Under counter-intelligence supervision, I plan and participate in counter-intelligence and Force Protection Operations. If possible, I translate and exploit captured enemy documents, foreign language and open source publications. After conducting additional analysis and data mining, the boring part of the job kicks in where I prepare and edit appropriate intelligence and administrative reports, and when necessary conduct briefings to higher-rank officials.”
“Nice recitation. Did you memorize that from some CIA manual?” He nuzzled her ear.
Charley chuckled and wrinkled her nose. “Kind of sounds like it, huh?”
“Who do you interrogate?”
“I only interrogate uncooperative detainees. Mostly, I debrief cooperative detainees. The detainees could be business people, US military personnel, foreign military personnel, and yes, suspected terrorists and dissidents.”
His arms tightened around Charley. He already knew that based on the files he had seen and read on her computer in the barn but hearing the words come from her own mouth made it real.
“How does your job tie in with Kyle?”
“It doesn’t necessarily. I mean other than he was involved from the perspective of gathering intelligence about a foreign political environment.”
“That could be a dumpster full of information right there if you ask me. Damn diplomats.”
“Kyle would have agreed with you. He liked what he did, but sometimes he thought the US diplomats were more corrupt than the foreign dictatorships.”
“So how did you two work together? On what?”
“We met because he needed some data mining help in order to verify some information he had received and I happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
“In other words, something and someplace classified.”
“You learn quick.”
“What exactly were you and Kyle working on that would get him dead?”
Charley pushed up from his lap and walked away. “It wasn’t classified. So I don’t see how it could have been because of it.”
“Tell me what it is,” Jake suggested from his seat on the floor.
“A document that outlined cruel and inhumane treatment, torture AKA enhanced interrogation techniques, of some of the detainees held in overseas detention centers. It gives specific instances that I have personally witnessed.”
Connect the Dots Page 16
