by Debra
With his hand resting on her waist, Evan felt Juliet’s tension growing, but none of it showed in her expression. A smooth, alert-but-somewhat-bored look remained planted on her face. It was damn near perfect.
“There you are!” Vince Cady came at them from across the room. “I wondered if you were going to make it at all, after our last...encounter.”
Evan shook the older man’s hand. “Lisa convinced me this wasn’t something we’d want to miss out on.”
“Well, the lovely Mrs. Sinclair has good taste.” Cady gestured to Juliet’s outfit. “As always.” When he bent forward to kiss her cheek, she stiffened slightly, but didn’t withdraw. Cady didn’t seem to notice her discomfort.
“Thank you for having us in your home, Mr. Cady,” she said, her tone a nice mixture of friendly and cold. “We much prefer this to an empty warehouse or other dirty building with weapons pointed at us.”
Cady’s laughter was booming. “Yes, this is much more comfortable for everyone. And it’s only going to get better, you’ll see.”
More comfortable than an entire staff providing for their every whim? Evan found that hard to believe.
“But let me introduce you to my family. This is my wife, Maria, and our son, Christopher.”
Maria Cady had hard, small eyes. Her smile seemed forced, although she politely murmured, “Pleased to meet you,” as she shook Evan’s hand.
Definitely not the friendly type, or at all personable or charming like her husband.
Evan turned to Vince’s son, only to find the younger man staring at Juliet with unadulterated lust. Juliet didn’t see it, because she was shaking hands with Maria. Evan wrapped his arm tightly around Juliet’s waist and pulled her up against him.
Christopher Cady turned to Evan, his face smoothing out into a blank mask, friendly even. Had Evan imagined what he’d just seen in the younger man’s face?
With a smile, Christopher offered his hand to shake. “Pleasure,” he said.
“Same,” Evan lied. He’d definitely be keeping an eye on Christopher.
“Maria, Christopher and I must go say hello to some other guests,” Vince told them. “We have over twenty coming in all. The drone codes have brought out interest from quite a few buyers.”
Cady was so excited Evan was surprised he didn’t rub his hands together in glee. The man obviously loved being in a position of power.
“I’m not surprised,” Juliet told him. “Your reputation for having quality items and not wasting buyers’ time is well known, Mr. Cady.”
“Please, both of you call me Vince. We should be informal, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely.” Evan and Juliet spoke at the same time, then looked at each other and grinned.
“Such a lovely couple.” Maria smiled at them, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“Please enjoy yourselves,” Vince said. “Eat. Drink. We’ll provide further instructions once everyone has arrived.”
Vince took his scary family and began wandering toward other guests.
“So far, so good,” Juliet whispered to Evan. “What do we do now?”
“Like the man said, let’s eat and drink. Mingle.”
“Get as much information as possible.”
“Exactly.” Evan winked down at her. They began working their way toward a table that held different hors d’oeuvres: the scallops wrapped in bacon looked particularly delicious. “Who should be our first targets?”
Juliet placed some food on a plate as she looked around casually. Then Evan saw all the color drain from her face. The plate in her hand fell from lifeless fingers and crashed onto the hardwood floor, shattering.
Evan rushed immediately to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“That man over by the door.” Juliet couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away. “He’s Heath Morel, close friend of the Avilo brothers, who attacked me. He could be the one sending me the emails.”
Chapter Sixteen
Nausea roiled in Juliet’s stomach. What was Heath Morel doing here? Although he hadn’t been there the night the Avilo brothers had attacked her, everyone knew he and the Avilos not only worked together, but were close friends.
Suddenly, the sweetheart emails made sense to Juliet. Before he died, Marco Avilo could’ve provided details about the attack to Morel, or Robert could have, before he’d gone to prison.
Evan led her to one side of the room as concerned staff members began cleaning up the mess she had made when she’d dropped her plate. All talking had stopped at Juliet’s social faux pas, but now was slowly resuming its previous volume. Eyes that had been glued to her and Evan were now starting to look away, having found nothing of interest to hold their stares.
Except for those of Cady and his son. Juliet glanced their way again and found them still gazing at her. At first she thought it was because of their duty as hosts—was Juliet okay? Had something happened to her to make her disrupt the party? But then she saw Cady look over at Heath Morel, a small smile on his face.
Juliet turned her back to them, so she was facing Evan. Had Cady planned this? Had he invited Morel, to get some sort of rise out of her?
“Hey,” Evan said and bent down so they were eye to eye. “Are you okay?”
She nodded tightly, unable to say anything right at this second.
“We knew there would be people from our past here,” he continued. “You’re still okay. We can do this.”
Juliet took a couple long breaths. Evan was right; Heath Morel was here, but nothing had changed. She could still do this. The emails didn’t have anything to do with the drone override codes.
“You’re right,” she whispered. “I’m okay. I can do this.”
Evan drew her in for a hug. “Good girl. No more throwing plates, okay?”
“Got it.” Juliet turned so she was standing beside him and facing everyone in the room again. “I think Cady might have invited Heath Morel on purpose, just to see my reaction. He was looking at Morel with a weird smile a minute ago.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me at all. That’s the kind of sick stuff Cady is known for. Even more reason not to let it get to you.”
“And if Morel is the one sending me the emails? It has to be him.”
Evan pulled her closer and kissed the side of her forehead. “Then we’re one step closer to catching him, aren’t we?”
Evan was exactly right. That was how Juliet needed to look at it. She didn’t need to hide from Morel; she could use this time to draw him out.
“Thank you.” The words were inadequate to describe how grateful Juliet felt toward Evan. He was helping her remember how to stand and fight, rather than run and hide. She couldn’t have done it by herself.
“For what?”
“For being here. For knowing what to say. For just being you.”
Evan winked at her. “No problem.”
The two of them began making their way around the room, talking to different people. Most of it was just chitchat. No one wanted to give up very much information. After all, they were competitors vying for the same prize. But Juliet made mental notes of every person there, absorbing as much detail as possible to report later. She knew Evan was doing the same.
They avoided Morel, and Juliet noticed he seemed to be avoiding them also. He didn’t have anything to do with her attack—he’d been in a different part of the country at the time—but that didn’t mean he hadn’t known about the plan. And it made complete sense that he was the one sending her the emails.
Juliet wasn’t sure if she wanted to confront the bastard or just stay away from him altogether. But putting a face to the emails somehow made her feel better. Confronting the demon she did know rather than fighting the ones she made up in her head.
And speaking of demons, Juliet always felt as if someone was watching her. It didn’t seem to be Morel. He was studiously trying not to look at her, as far as she could tell. Juliet never could pinpoint who it might be, but she seemed to always feel eyes on her. Maybe her imaginat
ion was running away with her. It wouldn’t be the first time.
And maybe it was that she was in a room full of criminals and everyone was eyeing everybody else, while trying not to make it obvious.
Vince Cady certainly seemed to enjoy playing lord of the manor, talking to everyone, holding court. Everyone was doing what they could to get in his favor, in case that would help when the bidding began.
Juliet knew the auction probably wouldn’t be until tonight, possibly tomorrow morning. Until then they had to play nice. Evan certainly seemed to have no problem with that. Bob Sinclair was charming with everyone. Of course, that wasn’t a stretch for Evan; almost everyone liked him. But his Bob Sinclair persona hid his fierce intelligence. People tended to underestimate him, and he used it to his advantage.
Lisa Sinclair was more silent and snooty. Juliet didn’t mind not talking. It gave her a chance to study people. And not have them touch her. Although she was doing better in general, she still did not like people casually touching her. She slid a little closer to Evan.
After an appropriate time to mingle, Cady held up his hand to get everyone’s attention from where he stood in the doorway. “Thank you all for coming. I know we have important business to attend to. And we will soon, I promise.
“I would like to give you a tour of my house, and show you where you will be staying,” he continued. He looked at his son, who was grinning slightly and nodding. “But Christopher had a much better idea, and perfect for security reasons.”
Cady waited until he had everyone’s undivided attention. “I will have my staff get all of your belongings. We will be going to my yacht for the next few days and conducting all business there.”
Silence reigned for a few moments before murmuring broke out. Juliet looked up at Evan, concerned. He slipped an arm around her waist and drew her closer, putting his lips against her hair as if kissing her.
“It’s a test. Don’t show any emotion.”
The words were so soft, Juliet almost couldn’t hear them. She schooled her expression into a blank mask. Lisa Sinclair would not care if they were going on a yacht. She would just want to get to business.
Christopher joined his father and held up a small metal box. He didn’t explain what it was, but Juliet knew.
The transmitter/detonator she and Evan had planted yesterday. She felt Evan’s arm tighten around her waist.
“Here on land there can be security compromises, but on the yacht we can assure everyone’s comfort, safety and privacy.”
Both Christopher and Vince were looking around the room carefully. They couldn’t know for sure it was someone here who had planted the device, and even if they did, it wasn’t an item that particularly screamed police.
Lawmen didn’t tend to plant detonation devices. Of course, Omega Sector wasn’t your everyday law enforcement.
“Anyone not interested in joining us on the yacht may leave now. Your association with the Cady family will be finished for good,” Vince proclaimed.
That certainly upped the stakes for everyone. Silence fell over the room once more.
“Well, we’re in! Just point us to the boat and we’re ready. It’ll be like a second honeymoon, won’t it, honey?” Evan broke the silence with his enthusiastic response, moving toward the doorway where Cady stood, bringing Juliet along with him.
She just plastered a smile on her face, although it was the last thing she felt like doing.
Moving to a yacht changed everything. All their plans, the information they’d gleaned from their surveillance work about Cady’s security forces, all wasted. The transmitting device her brothers had given her would be worthless out in the Chesapeake Bay with no amplifier.
They’d be going in blind, with no way to contact Omega for support. They’d be totally on their own.
And Evan, instead of trying to figure a way of gracefully bowing out, had just enthusiastically agreed to be the first ones on the ship.
Things had just gone from iffy to downright impossible.
* * *
EVAN DIDN’T LIKE the yacht idea, but there wasn’t any way around it, so he decided to at least make it look as if he embraced the concept.
Cady was smart. This abrupt change put everyone on edge and changed all the game plans. Including Juliet and Evan’s. On the yacht Cady would have all the advantages.
They’d found the transmitter where Evan and Juliet had left it, but hadn’t identified it as law enforcement equipment. It could just as easily belong to someone who had more nefarious purposes in mind.
Juliet hadn’t reacted to the transmitter’s appearance, thank goodness. Vince and Christopher had both been watching everyone, looking for a reaction. Evan knew Juliet couldn’t be happy about this change of plans. The safety net, feeble as it was, had just been yanked right out from under them.
But there was no time to talk about it, no time to get a new game plan together. They just had to go with it and watch each other’s backs.
“When do we head out?” Evan asked Cady. Hopefully, keeping up the bravado would remove all suspicion from them.
“If you will just provide your luggage to my staff, we have cars ready to take you all to the ship.”
Evan nodded and led the way out of the room, arm wrapped around Juliet’s waist. Others followed, while a few stayed behind to press for further details from Cady, or maybe even to bow out altogether. Good. Anyone leaving now would be one less problem for him and Juliet to deal with, while also strengthening their cover.
Evan walked with her out to the Jeep. Her pinched expression tugged at his heart, but he couldn’t stop to reassure her. Too many ears around.
He got their luggage out of the trunk. Immediately, one of Cady’s staff members appeared to assist. Evan freely handed them over, but knew the contents would be thoroughly searched before he and Juliet saw them again.
It was all part of Cady’s plan, and it was a good one. He would now control what went onto the vessel, including weapons. This would eliminate anybody planning to double-cross him. Also, once they were out in the Chesapeake Bay, cell phone reception might be sketchy, and most certainly monitored by Cady’s people.
Calling in the cavalry wasn’t going to be an option.
They needed to get a message about the change in situation to Omega now, but Evan couldn’t figure out how to do it without being obvious. Any call they made would be heard; texts would be monitored.
“I’m going to text Aunt Mildred and let her know that we may need her to watch the dogs a couple extra days. I don’t want to take a chance on being out at sea and not being able to get a message to her. You know how she would worry,” Juliet said to him, already getting out her phone.
Evan could’ve kissed her. As usual, Juliet was one step ahead of everybody with the plan-making. Thank goodness for the Branson family and all their crazy codes with each other.
“She’ll like that we’re going on a boat. You know she just went on a cruise last fall.” Juliet spoke as she typed. “I need to mention to her how to turn the satellite television on, too. Just in case she wants to watch while she’s there, you know, since the transmitter isn’t working anymore.”
It looked as if Juliet would be able to get the important info out to her brothers. They would be on a ship, Omega needed to use the satellite to locate them, and the transmitter was no longer an option.
This was a perfect example of what made Juliet such a great agent. She thought out of the box and acted quickly.
She slipped her phone back into her purse. “Okay, sent. I hope it makes it through.”
“Everything will be okay, either way.” Evan took her hand and she slid closer to him.
Three black limousines pulled up to take the guests to the yacht. Evan helped Juliet into the closest one.
There was no going back now.
Chapter Seventeen
The yacht was everything Evan would expect of a criminal of Vince Cady’s caliber. Large, able to easily sleep the twenty guests he had
invited, plus the staff and security Cady had on board.
The limos had taken them to a private boatyard near Annapolis Harbor. Everyone had been shown on board and soon they were on their way into the Chesapeake Bay, with champagne served as they sailed away.
As if they were going on some sort of pleasure cruise rather than an auction of items that could potentially cost the lives of thousands of people.
Evan had to admit he was impressed by the ship’s luxury. He and Juliet had been shown to their plush stateroom. A bed filled the space, surrounded by tasteful mahogany woodwork and trim. Under any other circumstance, he would be delighted to be here with Juliet.
But the fact that the room was most definitely bugged, that all their belongings had been searched and they were in the middle of a dangerous situation with little or no backup tended to kill the romance.
Evan still hadn’t been able to talk to Juliet about this new change in situation. He was sure that was part of Cady’s plan: keeping everyone on edge and giving them very little privacy.
“Hey, baby, we’re on a cruise. Just like we always wanted to be.” Evan walked over, hooked an arm around Juliet’s waist and began kissing her neck, working his way up to her ear. Her shivers delighted him, but this embrace was business.
“Room is bugged. Audio, maybe visual,” he whispered.
She tensed, but then nodded and kissed him. “Well, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. I was thinking more along the lines of the Bahamas,” she said out loud.
“If we secure this deal with Cady, I promise to take you there. The commission on the drone override codes will be outrageous.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve heard all that before, Bob.”
“Aw, don’t say that, baby.” He pulled her in for another hug. “Let’s take a shower together so we can get ready for tonight.”
Juliet nodded. “I definitely feel like I need one, especially with some of the people Cady invited. Go turn the water on.”
The bathroom was just as opulent as the bedroom. Evan switched on the shower, knowing it would be their only chance to talk privately.
