Edge Of Midnight (The Mccloud Series Book 4)

by Shannon McKenna

  “It already is,” she snapped. “I can barely walk.”

  “Sorry,” he said meekly. “Bullshit aside, though. I don’t need two hundred bucks an hour. I’ll just do it because you’re the princess. You deserve to be protected. You don’t have to put out. And you don’t have to pay me. All you have to do is exist. That’s more than enough for me.”

  Her eyes gleamed at him, luminous with tears. She wiped her eyes, looked away. The silence got very thick for a moment.

  “That’s a very sweet thing to say,” she said demurely. “But it’s not very economically practical. We need a nuts and bolts plan.”

  “I’m working on it, babe. Now if you’ll excuse me, this is where I have to start concentrating if I’m going to find Tam’s place.”

  He had memorized the exact point on the fourth curve after the old stonework bridge where he had to stop, and slew to the left, bumping down into a narrow ditch and up again, straight into what seemed like a blank thicket of scrubby bushes. They scraped and brushed against the body of the car. He pushed on through the wall.

  Once through it, they found themselves in a blind clearing blocked by the wall of a barn. The tumbledown roof was green with moss and full of gaping holes. The fogeymobile bumped over something metallic. Sean saw a flash of movement ahead and jerked to a halt right before the low, jagged metal spikes rising up at an angle out of the ground could puncture the front tires.

  “Oh, God,” Liv squeaked.

  “Damn you, Tam,” he snapped. “Snotty bitch. She did that to rattle me. I don’t want to have to replace the tires on this heap of junk.”

  The row of spikes slowly, majestically retracted back into the ground. Sean grunted. “Gee, thanks. So generous of you.”

  A narrow beam of red light flipped on, swiveling until it focused first on him, then on Liv’s face. It flicked back to him, lingered. Sean thumbed his nose, waggled his fingers, stuck out his tongue. “Yes, it’s me, Tam,” he said. “What do you want, a fucking DNA sample?”

  There was a muted hum, and the wall of the barn divided into four parts and retracted, showing a road that led into the forest beyond.

  “Good heavens,” Liv said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

  Sean grunted. “Yeah, it’s like Disneyland. But she’s got money to burn.” He acccelerated through the barn. The road wove through the thick woods, climbing and switching back, until it topped a crest.

  “Look down, to your right,” Sean said.

  She did, and gasped. The road was on the crest of a hill that sloped down to the beach. The vast immensity of the Pacific Ocean spread out before them, illuminated with moonlight that cast the shadows of the stunted, wind-contorted trees. Wind-combed shreds of cloud moved across the sky. Surf washed over the broad, shining beach, in long swathes of white, bubbly foam, crashing against spires of black rock. It was beautiful, in a cold, aching, melancholy way.

  “Tam’s fortress is up top,” he explained. “Architectural camou-flage. You really can’t see it until you’re in it.”

  “It’s like a James Bond movie.” Liv’s voice sounded nervous.

  “Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” he assured her. “Tam is like a bad Bond girl herself. The kind that’ll do a backflip onto your head and break your neck with her perfect thighs if you don’t look sharp.”

  She turned a worried gaze on him. “That sounds alarming.”

  “Oh, no. She’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys. It’s just that you can’t ever relax with her. She’s…well, you’ll see.”

  “Who is this woman?” Liv demanded. “What does she do? You’re driving me nuts with this ‘you’ll see, you’ll see’ crap. Tell me, already!”

  “She’s a mystery,” Sean said helplessly. “I’m not being coy. We don’t know much, and we’re kind of afraid to ask. Nobody knows what all she’s done, but it was against the law, that’s for sure. And when you look around her place, you’ll see that it was profitable.”

  “How do you know her? You don’t mean to tell me that you…?”

  “Hell, no,” he said hastily. “I’m squeaky clean, sweetheart. I don’t need to go looking for trouble. I’m plenty busy enough with the trouble that comes looking for me.”

  “So how did you meet her?” Liv persisted.

  “My brother Con met her a couple years ago. She was the mistress of this psychotic billionaire who was trying to rub out my brother’s girlfriend. Who is now his wife, Erin. Anyhow, turns out Tam was trying to assassinate the guy herself, but he was a real tough bastard. She and Connor saved each other’s asses.”

  “It does sound a tad stressful,” Liv murmured. “So? Did she?”

  “Did she what?”

  “Kill the billionaire,” Liv said impatiently.

  “Ah, no, actually. It was Erin who killed him.”

  She shot him a wide-eyed glance. “You mean, Erin is a commando chick who breaks men’s necks with her perfect thighs, too?”

  “Nah. Erin is a sweet, demure antiquities nerd who wouldn’t hurt a fly. But she stabbed that evil fucker right in the throat with a Bronze Age Celtic dagger.” Sean’s voice was proud. “Blood squirting everywhere. You should have seen the walls of the place. It was unreal.”

  “Thank God I didn’t,” Liv said faintly.

  “Well, he was trying to strangle her to death,” he added, defensive. “And then Con and Tam shot up all his evil henchmen. It was intense.”

  Liv shook her head. “I’m getting an inferiority complex.”

  “Why? It’s no different from what you did to T-Rex this morning.”

  Liv let out a bark of laughter. “There’s the difference that Erin killed the billionaire. Whereas T-Rex is still running around out there.”

  “Don’t feel bad about it, babe. Practice makes perfect,” Sean encouraged her. “I’m sure you’ll get another whack at him.”

  “Whoopee,” she muttered.

  Sean pushed on. “So that was our bonding experience with Tam. She was maid of honor at Con and Erin’s wedding, when she gave Margot, Davy’s wife, this hairclip that sprays soporific gas. Which saved Margot’s life when they were being hunted by this wacko scientist who was selling a lethal flu vaccine…” His voice trailed off. He gave Liv’s averted face an uneasy glance. “Maybe now’s not the time to share.”

  “It’s OK.” Liv’s voice was hollow. “I’d rather know that the woman I’m staying with is a hard-core career criminal.”

  “Not now,” Sean said quickly. “Retired career criminal would be more accurate. She just lurks in her fortress. Designs crazy jewelry.”

  “Yeah. She’s as harmless as a patchwork granny, I’m sure.”

  “She’s special, our Tam. Try not to let her get under your skin,” he advised. “Check out this space age cloaking device over the garage.”

  “What garage?”

  She gasped as the mountainside split, bushes and moss and rocks gliding smoothly aside to reveal a garage carved right into the mountainside. “My God,” she whispered. “This is surreal.”

  “Yeah,” he said, switching off the headlights. “Don’t worry. Tam likes us, for some reason. I imagine that’s why she hasn’t killed us yet.”

  Liv stared, transfixed, at the rectangle of red-tinged light at the end of the dark garage. Light spilled out, reflecting in a long, ruddy streak on the gleaming stonework of the floor. A slender form appeared in silhouette, dramatically backlit. Hip cocked, leaning against the door frame. A gun dangled negligently from one hand. The other brought a cigarette to her lips. The tip glowed red. She tilted her chin up, blew out a stream of smoke. It looked like the opening of a dance piece.

  Liv took a deep breath, and shoved the car door open. All she needed. Another challenge. Chatting up the beautiful bad Bond girl.

  Sean slid his arm around her waist. “Relax,” he whispered. “What’s with the gun, Tam?” he demanded. “Lighten up.”

  “The day I lighten up is the day I get killed.” Tam’s voice was low and hus
ky. “I know your face, but I don’t know hers. She could have been holding a gun to your ribs, for all I knew.”

  “I don’t do things like that,” Liv announced.

  “I can see that.” Tam took another deep drag on her cigarette and sauntered towards them, hips swaying langorously, keeping Liv’s face in the light and her own in the shadow. “Oh, God, look at you. Looks like I’ll be doing some emergency shopping in the morning.” She grabbed the flapping T-shirt Liv wore and twisted it, to reveal the shape of her body. “Nice tits. Thirty-six double D, size…twelve?”

  Liv jerked away, hackles rising. “On a good day. But please don’t bother. I’ll manage.”

  Tam took another drag. “I can’t let a sister with a figure like yours dress like that. It’s a crime. Follow me. And take off those shoes.”

  Liv stopped on the threshhold, stepping out of her ruined sandals. “Do you have a no-shoes rule in your house?”

  “I have a no-ugly-shoes rule in my house,” Tam said coolly.

  Sean made a smothered laughing sound, and turned his face away. Liv privately vowed to make him pay for that lapse. In blood.

  “Look, lady, I’ve been on the run for my life,” Liv told her, through set teeth. “I’ve had way more important things to think about than—”

  “On the run for your life is all the more reason to look your best, cupcake.” Tamara tucked her gun into the back of her jeans, and waved them on ahead of her. “Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.”

  Liv stared as Tam tapped in codes to reset the alarms.

  “I’ve never seen you with brown hair and yellow eyes,” Sean said.

  “Enjoy it while you can,” Tam said. “You may never see it again.”

  Tam was slim, muscular, and curvy, a triple combination which Liv took as a personal affront, it being so unfair. Her brown hair was braided, long wisps dangling around the sharp line of her jaw. She had the most astonishingly beautiful face Liv had ever seen. Everything was perfect; high cheekbones, full lips, straight, perfect nose. Her eyes were huge; golden brown, with curling lashes and winged brows. There were smudgy circles beneath them, but what would make another woman look tired and frazzled made Tam look dramatic and mysterious.

  She was dressed in faded, low-slung Levis and a tank top that showed off several inches of taut belly. No makeup. Barefoot. Her only jewelry was a gold horn stuck through one ear that tapered to a point, like a fang. Anyone hugging her would probably bleed to death, stuck through the carotic artery. Maybe that was the idea.

  Liv felt fat, frumpy and outclassed. She couldn’t stop staring.

  Tam ignored her, evidently used to it. She shooed them into a huge kitchen, and turned on a bright overhead light. Liv blinked as the light refracted off an uncountable number of gleaming reflective surfaces. Tam gave Sean a brilliant smile. “Your brothers will be here to kick you around, first thing in the morning.”

  Sean groaned. “Shit. Tam, I told you not to—”

  “I didn’t have to. Any idiot would guess that you would go to ground here. Let’s just hope that no other idiots know about me.”

  Sean gave her a smile that was equally toothy. “Just us idiots.”

  “And no one followed you?”

  “No.” They eyed each other, like alpha wolves circling.

  “Hmm,” she murmured. “Come on, come on.” She grabbed Liv by the arm, and shoved her on one of the stools in front of a big bar.

  Her kitchen was amazing. Acres of black gleaming marble counter space, endless expanses of shining silver toned appliances, an enormous double-sized silver refrigerator. A knife block that would be the envy of a professional chef, racks of hanging copper bottomed pans. The place looked like a showroom. It had clearly never been used.

  Tam opened the refrigerator, and took out a clear plastic box with several hypodermic needles. “Always prepared.”

  Liv blinked at them. “What—hey!” She squawked, struggled, but Tam had already yanked her T-shirt over her head and tossed it. Liv tried to slide off the stool, but Tam’s hand clamped onto her shoulder.

  “What the hell? Do you mind?” Liv hissed. “Give me my shirt!”

  Tam’s perfect brow tilted. “Sean said you had cuts, and a bite wound. I want to take a look. Allergic to any antibiotics?”

  “No!” Liv glared at Sean, who gave her an apologetic shrug. Ineffectual twit. “And I’ve had enough of people ripping my clothes off today to last a lifetime. It is rude!”

  Tam examined the bite mark, which was sore and red. “But you have great tits. Sit up straight and show them off.” Tam swabbed Liv’s arm with disinfectant, and stabbed the needle in without warning.

  “Ouch!” She jerked, but Tam held her arm firmly in place. “What are you doing to me, anyway? What the hell is that?”

  “Broad-spectrum stuff,” Tam said. “Human bites can go bad.” She spun the twirling stool around, swabbed the other arm.

  “Hey. Wait. What’s—”

  “Tetanus booster. Had one lately?”

  “Uh…” Liv hesitated, trying to remember.

  “Then you need one.” Stab.

  Liv tried not to shriek as the stuff burned into her arm like a massive, awful bee sting. But it seemed ignoble to bitch about it.

  Tam held up a third hypodermic. “Were you raped?” Her voice as matter-of-fact as if she were asking if Liv took milk in her coffee.

  Liv caught her breath as an image of T-Rex squatting on top of her, flashed through her mind. “No,” she said. “Close, but no.”

  Tam flashed Sean a quick, approving glance. “Good.”

  “What’s in that one?” Liv asked, with some trepidation.

  “A dose of morning-after juice,” Tam said. “Do you need it? You did spend the day wrangling an oversexed gorilla who was hopped up on adrenaline. I doubt he exercised much restraint. Just say the word.”

  “God, Tam,” Sean complained. “Would you back off?”

  “Never,” Tam said sweetly.

  “Isn’t that stuff available by prescription only?” Liv asked.

  Tam’s grin lit up her face, showing off blindingly white teeth. “Aw. Is she for real? She’s cute, Sean. Where did you find her?”

  Sean shrugged. “In Endicott Falls. Of all places.”

  Tam snapped her fingers in Liv’s face. “So? You want this shot?”

  Sean lifted his shoulders in a shrug that said “your call.” She thought about it for a second and a half. “No,” she said quietly. If it came to that, she and Sean could have The Talk.

  Tam’s eyes widened. She rummaged in the chest, and pulled out a string of condoms. “You hardly need these, but take them as a reminder not to take advantage of a girl’s romantic feelings.” She flung them.

  He caught them one-handed. “I am tired of everyone throwing condoms at me,” he growled. “I’m perfectly capable of getting my own.”

  “But not using them, hmm?” Tam’s voice was sugary.

  “Mind your goddamn business, Tam.”

  “Oh, but I was. Until I got your phone call. If you want my help, you’ll just have to tolerate my character defects. Now get your own shirt off, big boy. It’s your turn.”

  “Me?” he sounded aggrieved. “Why? Nobody bit me. And nothing’s infected. I would know by now if it was. So don’t worry about—”

  “Shut up.” Tam’s voice was adamant. “If she gets it, you get it.”

  Sean let out a liquid string of words as he yanked his shirt off.

  “Insult me any way you like,” Tam said. “But if you ever talk trash about my mother and grandmother again, I will rip your guts out and tie them around your neck in a big, festive bow. Is that understood?”

  Sean’s eyes widened with shock. “You speak Croatian?”

  Tam’s face was an icy mask as she squeezed the air out of the syringe. “Assumptions get you killed. Filthy, shit-mouthed idiot dog.”

  “Uh, sorry,” he said, chastened. “I didn’t mean it personally.”

 
She swabbed, and stuck him in the arm.

  Sean hissed. “Fuck! I take it back. I’m not sorry. Not sorry at all.”

  “Crybaby.” She swabbed the other arm, jabbed.

  “Hell witch,” he snarled.

  She responded with something incomprehensible. Sean shot something back. The insults flew, picking up speed and volume and vicious energy, each in a new language she had never heard.

  “Stop it!” Liv yelled.

  They stared at her, startled into silence. Liv retrieved her shirt and tugged it on. “Stop showing off,” she snapped. “It’s really irritating.”

  “Sorry.” Sean turned to Tam. “You have to teach me the one about the goat-fucking son of a lazy camel, though. What is that, Turkish?”

  “Yeah. I liked the Corsican one about the sheep in the bushes,” she said, faint admiration in her tone. “Very obscure. Very dirty.”

  Sean gazed at her for a long, thoughtful moment, his smile fading. “Where the fuck are you from, anyway, Tam?”

  Her smile was brilliant and empty. “Nowhere,” she said.

  Tam opened the door of the vast refrigerator, which had nothing in it other than mineral water and a big box. “Here’s your dinner. Take it up to your suite to eat it. I can’t handle the smell of food tonight.”

  Sean frowned. “Not eating, huh? You don’t look so good.”

  Her eyes flashed. “Your usual cheap gallantry has deserted you.”

  “You’ve lost weight,” Sean persisted. “More than you can afford to lose. And you’ve got circles under your eyes. Have you been sick?”

  “How about you mind your own goddamn business, hmm?” Sean grabbed the box. “Whatever,” he said. “Thanks for dinner.”

  Tam jerked her chin at him, with ill grace. “Take it and go. You’re bothering me tonight. Take the north tower. You know the way.”

  Liv scurried to follow him. If that was how Tam looked when she wasn’t looking good, Liv would be afraid to to see her looking fabulous.

  Chapter 16

  Something was wrong with Tam. She wasn’t any pricklier than usual, but she had a strange vibe. Stranger than usual, that was.

  He would almost describe it as vulnerable. Though he’d probably die a slow, horrible death if he ever said as much to her. A guy stepped careful around that chick if he wanted to keep his balls attached.