Assignment: Marriage

by Jackie Merritt

  “Let me call you back. Shouldn’t be more than a half hour.”

  “I can’t guarantee we’ll still be here, but do what you want. Incidentally, there’s been nothing ‘cushy’ about this job,” Tuck added with heavy sarcasm.

  “There should have been.”

  Joe’s voice sounded normal. He was probably doing a hell of an acting job for whomever was in his office for that meeting, maintaining an impassive expression and speaking into the phone as though the subject matter was of small import. But Tuck knew Joe well enough to hear the tension behind the normalcy.

  Tuck’s own tension relented a little. Maybe he’d been blaming Joe for this mess, he thought, which wasn’t fair to the older man. “Go ahead and call, Joe. We’ll still be here in a half hour. Talk to you later.” He hung up.

  His thoughts immediately returned to that cruiser in the middle of the lake. Rising, he went to peek through the draperies and wasn’t a bit surprised that it was still there. The sixty-four-dollar question was, did the dirtbags watching the cabin have the kind of sophisticated infrared equipment that would enable them to see so far away after dark? Even if they did, darkness was still a good cover. So were the trees between the water’s edge and the cabin.

  Tuck had the uneasy feeling that everyone involved in this mess was waiting for dark. After today’s aborted attempts on Nicole’s life, the thugs had to move in quickly. Tonight would be it, Tuck was positive.

  Strangely, he was mentally prepared for a sudden attack, though he really didn’t expect any trouble until nightfall. He checked his gun, which was standard issue for Metro officers, a Smith & Wesson, containing fifteen rounds. It was loaded and ready for action.

  The phone rang. Tuck quickly left the window to answer it. “Hello?”

  “I cut the meeting short, Tuck. What in hell’s going on?”

  Tuck sat down. “There had to be a leak in Vegas, either deliberate or unintentional, Joe. From where I stand it doesn’t matter how the information got out, but it sure as hell means something on your end. And I’ll tell you something else. I feel pretty damned certain that it occurred before Nicole and I ever left Vegas. Lowicki’s people have known every move we’ve made. Right now there’s a cabin cruiser anchored offshore. I don’t know how wide the lake is in miles, but the ship looks to be about half to three-quarters of a mile away. I’ve noticed it before without suspecting its purpose.”

  “You said there were two attempts on Nicole’s life.”

  “There were. One with a speedboat while she was swimming just offshore and the other in town when a black van tried to run her down at a shopping center.”

  Joe mumbled a curse. “Tuck, listen to me. I think you’re wrong about a leak in the department. I don’t doubt that Lowicki’s got some people there, but I’m positive he’s unaware of the case we’re building against him and Spencer. He’s out in the open, showing himself all over town, acting as though he doesn’t have a care in the world.

  “We’ve learned some startling information about Lowicki and Spencer, Tuck. For one, they’re part of a widespread organization that includes attorneys, bankers and people you’d never think of as criminals. It’s big, Tuck, and has apparently been going on for some time right under our noses. The organization is in the drug market up to its eyeballs, and then laundering the money to clean up its act. We’re gathering the evidence to make a major bust.”

  Tuck frowned thoughtfully. “There’s an organization, all right, with plenty of dough to spread around. That cruiser out there on the lake is worth a good quarter of a mil.” His mind was racing. If there wasn’t a leak, then Lowicki and his pals had unearthed Nicole’s identity through her car, which meant someone had followed them to Idaho.

  “Joe, what about the Buckley murders? If Lowicki’s such a big wheel in that organization, why would he risk his neck by killing two people in their own home?”

  “The Buckleys were pushers, Tuck, not the ordinary citizens we initially believed. We think Lowicki and Spencer were at the Buckleys’ apartment—not their real name, incidentally—to consummate a drug deal. Something went wrong and the shooting began. Forensics found evidence of a third person’s blood. Either Lowicki or Spencer was hit, and we’re pretty sure it wasn’t Lowicki. It had to have been a superficial wound, as Spencer didn’t show up at any of the hospitals. But he’s got to have a wound someplace on his body, and if his blood matches what was found at the Buckleys’ apartment, we’ve got him nailed.”

  “Sounds like you have enough evidence to pick them up right now.”

  “We do, but Spencer’s underground somewhere, and besides, we want the whole organization. We’re working as fast as possible, but we need a little more time. My concern now is for Nicole’s safety. Can you move her to another location without discovery?”

  “I’m sure as hell going to try,” Tuck said grimly. “They tipped their hand today, Joe, and I’ve got a gut feeling they’re going to come after us tonight. We’ve got to be gone before they get here. They won’t move in until it’s dark and they’ll try to keep it quiet. We’ve got neighbors within yelling distance, so I think they’ll try to sneak up on us in the middle of the night. As soon as it’s dark, Nicole and I will leave, hopefully hours before they make their move.”

  “Tuck, maybe you should contact the Coeur d’Alene police for some backup help. What do you think?”

  “That could end up bad, Joe. Any gunplay would be splashed all over the newspapers. We should keep this as low-key as possible.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Good luck, Tuck. Call when you can.”

  “I will.”

  Tuck put down the phone with a sober, brooding expression. At least they weren’t sitting on their thumbs in Vegas. But was he as convinced as Joe that there hadn’t been a leak of information? Some small mention of a witness who could place Lowicki and Spencer at the scene of the murders? Maybe those two felt that the police weren’t aware of their “organization,” and without Nicole’s testimony, the D.A. wouldn’t have a case against Lowicki. As for Spencer, maybe the third person’s blood wasn’t his. There could have been another party present at that fateful meeting, someone who left the building by another door. Or maybe lived in another apartment.

  The possibilities were endless, which Tuck, after eleven years of law enforcement, knew wasn’t abnormal. But however much evidence was being gathered about that organization’s criminal activities, it was obvious that Nicole was still the prosecutor’s strongest suit in the case against Lowicki and Spencer. Lowicki knew it, too, which was why he would stop at nothing to eliminate her.

  Tuck’s stomach muscles tensed. No one was going to “eliminate” Nicole, by God. He’d get her away from here and to a place of safety, and that was a vow.

  He got up and strode down the hall to her bedroom door. Rapping on it, he called, “Nicole?”

  “Come in.”

  Tuck opened the door. Nicole was sitting on the edge of her bed, looking emotionally ravaged. Her suitcases were on the floor near the closet, partially filled. There were clothes on a chair, as though her packing had suddenly lost steam and she’d just dropped them.

  Her misery burrowed into his own system and became his to share. He knew how she felt—lost, helpless and frightened—and he didn’t want her feeling that way. Automatically, so it seemed, he crossed the room and sat down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

  “Everything’s going to be all right,” he said, sounding confident for her sake. It didn’t surprise him when Nicole laid her head on his shoulder and leaned into him. It was only natural for a deeply troubled person to seek comfort from another human being. He brought his free hand up to her head and stroked her hair. “We’re going to get out of this, Nicole, I promise you. We’ll be leaving right after dark.”

  He could feel the trembling of her body. She whispered tremulously, “Hold me, Tuck. Please hold me.”

  He turned slightly to bring her closer, and when he did her hands slid up his c
hest to the back of his neck. She pressed tightly against him, as though she’d like to crawl under his skin.

  His heart started hammering. He’d intended only to offer comfort and their embrace was becoming sexual. Even knowing he should stop it here and now, he didn’t. The woman in his arms felt like none other he’d ever held. Her scent was unique, as was the texture of her hair and skin.

  She lifted her chin to look at him, and he saw the glaze of emotions gone wild in her beautiful blue eyes. In the back of his mind was a suspicion that she was in shock and not fully cognizant of what she was doing. But her upturned lips and beseeching expression weren’t ignorable. Nor could he be so cruel as to turn his back on her when she needed him most. If that need had evolved into desire, so be it.

  Besides, he wanted her. He couldn’t remember when he’d wanted a woman more. Maybe the circumstances were wreaking havoc with his own emotions, as they were with Nicole’s, but he suddenly knew he wasn’t strong enough to get off this bed. Removing his gun from where he’d tucked it into his pants, he laid it on the nightstand.

  Then he lowered his head until their lips met. The low moan in her throat threatened Tuck’s sanity. He pushed her back on the bed and leaned over her, kissing her almost savagely. She responded in kind, with wild thrusts of her tongue and her body arching into his.

  They began undoing buttons. Twisting and turning, kissing all the while, she pushed his shirt from his shoulders while he did the same with her blouse. He unzipped his fly and wriggled out of his jeans and underwear, kicking off his boots at the same time. Reaching down, he yanked off his socks. She had unbuttoned the waistband of her shorts, and he completed the job by pulling them down. Next went her bra and panties. Breathing hard, they turned on the bed so their heads were on the pillows.

  Naked, their caresses were equal in intensity. Hungrily, her hands slid up and down his body. He left her lips to kiss and suck on her breasts. His mouth traveled downward, to the smooth, firm skin of her belly. They didn’t speak. Their only sounds were groans and gasps of pleasure.

  The pressure was building unbearably fast in Tuck, and he knew Nicole was feeling the same urgency when she moaned his name. “Tuck…Tuck…”

  Without a word he reached down to the floor for the wallet in his jeans. In mere seconds he’d taken care of protection and was back in Nicole’s arms.

  Their kisses became frenzied. “Do it,” she whispered raggedly. “Do it.”

  He slid into her feverish heat and had to grit his teeth to keep himself from an immediate climax. It had been too long since he’d been with a woman. Until now it hadn’t mattered. But he was going to give Nicole the release she needed so desperately, even if the superhuman restraint necessary to do so killed him.

  Restraint wasn’t what Nicole wanted, however. She was writhing under him, demanding all he had to give. Her face was flushed and dewy. “Tuck…” It was a groan, a plea.

  Her passion was destroying Tuck’s good intentions. “Honey…” He tried to keep his desire in control by moving very slowly. But he was sweating and every nerve in his body was screaming for release.

  She began moving with unmistakable impatience, squeezing him to herself, raising and lowering her hips at a faster tempo than he was attempting to maintain. Nicole was controlling this, he realized, not him, and she wasn’t satisfied with slow and easy.

  Well, neither was he. He let go then and rode her hard and fast. Her cries corresponded with the thrusts of his body. “Tuck…Tuck…Tuck!” He felt the spasms of her release begin a mere second before his own, and he continued to feel her pleasure after he had all but collapsed upon her, utterly drained.

  Dazed, he could only think in bits and pieces. She was the most passionate woman he had ever made love with, the most exciting, the most beautiful.

  But they shouldn’t have done this. Not now, for God’s sake, not when Lowicki’s hired killers were just waiting for an opportunity to catch them off guard. Catch them with their pants down, he thought wryly, in this case, literally.

  He lifted his head. Nicole’s eyes met his. Reality was returning to her system, he realized. There was surprise in her eyes, along with bedazzlement and a strange sort of confusion.

  “I…don’t know what came over me,” she whispered huskily. She had never spoken truer words. Her few sexual experiences hadn’t even come close to what had just occurred between Tuck Hannigan and her. From a frightened, despairing woman, she had turned, in the blink of an eye, into a demanding, aggressive creature with only one thing on her mind. That she had succeeded so well was astounding. Almost as astonishing was Hannigan’s participation. He, too, had done an incredible about-face.

  But did he regret his loss of control now? She searched the depths of his eyes. What was she seeing, other than sheer masculinity and sexual satisfaction?

  She laughed nervously, a brief sound without humor. “Say something.”

  Tuck wasn’t eager to impart his thoughts. He’d stepped way over the line with Nicole, and in a dangerous situation, to boot. An army could have come crashing into the cabin a few minutes ago and he probably wouldn’t have heard it. And he also knew what had “come over her,” which she had questioned a minute ago. He had enough psychology in his background to understand that people narrowly escaping death and suffering the traumatic aftermath often sought affirmation that they were still alive and breathing. That was the reason she was under him now, the reason why she had turned to him with passion-crazed eyes and groping hands. If he explained that to her, though, she might not like it. She might not like him.

  He wanted her to think well of him, which was a startling departure from his usual behavior with anyone, man or woman. Normally he didn’t give a damn if someone liked him or not. With Nicole, it mattered.

  Supporting his weight on one elbow, he tenderly touched her cheek. “I think something important just happened,” he said quietly, hoping it was true. He’d been alone too long, and Nicole was making him feel like part of the human race again.

  Her heart skipped a beat. It had been important to her, but him feeling the same was the last thing she’d expected to hear. She was ready to expand the topic, to tell him things about herself that she had discussed with no one else. For one, that she had never reached such heights with another man.

  An inner, self-deprecating smile formed. Talking about other men wouldn’t be wise right now, but she could probably get the message across without explicit details.

  “Tuck…” Her expression was both dreamy and excited. But whatever words had been lined up to spill from her mouth were smothered by his kiss. It was a kiss of gentleness and warmth, and she forgot everything else and basked in it. His lips shaped hers, molded hers, and the gentleness gradually gave way to deeper emotions.

  “I want to make love to you again,” he whispered thickly.

  “Yes,” she murmured in a husky voice, willing to do anything he should suggest. Never could she have imagined the two of them together like this, but nothing in her life had ever been so phenomenal.

  Then, stunning her, he abruptly turned back into a cop. “But not now.”

  Her eyes had become wide and startled, but he didn’t notice as he’d left her and was getting off the bed, gathering his clothes.

  “Finish your packing,” he said. “It’ll be dark in a few hours.” He strode from the room.

  Thunderstruck, Nicole stared after him. He was right, of course. They couldn’t pretend they were a normal couple when they were about as abnormal as two strangers thrown together could be.

  She attempted to revise that opinion almost immediately, wanting desperately to believe that it wasn’t the two of them who were abnormal, but rather the situation.

  Dear God, the crowning blow to this whole awful episode would be for her to fall in love with a man who really was abnormal.

  What scared her was that she was already half in love with him. Great sex could do that to a woman, she thought while biting her lip to the point of pain. He h
ad said he wanted to make love to her again, and she believed him because once was not enough for her, either.

  But wasn’t this a foolishly dangerous game for her be playing with a man of Hannigan’s nature?

  Nine

  Tuck permitted himself the luxury of thinking about Nicole while he packed his things. She was strikingly pretty, intelligent, and incredibly exciting in bed. Those facts were strong and uppermost in his mind, but there were other things to remember, as well. The erotic shape of her hands and feet, for instance, the delicate swirl of her ears and the smooth, silky perfection of her skin. She was a very special lady, and it had been ages since he’d met one.

  There were opposing factions in his brain over that knowledge: one was thrilled, the other wary. He’d been satisfied with bachelorhood since his divorce. Living alone was sometimes lonely, but for the most part he liked coming and going as he pleased. Those thoughts represented the wary side of the argument. The other side, the thrilled and expectant side, wasn’t quite so cut-and-dried. Maybe his work wasn’t enough anymore. Maybe the single life-style was beginning to wear thin.

  When his suitcases were filled and latched, he determinedly turned his mind to the fix they were in and the risks they would be taking to get out of it.

  His plan was to leave as soon as it was dark enough, and there were details he didn’t dare overlook. Going outside, he sat in the driver’s seat of the car with the door hanging open and turned on the radio loud enough for the sound to carry beyond the vehicle, flipping stations with one hand as though earnestly searching for one certain kind of music while unobtrusively unscrewing light bulbs with the other. When he and Nicole finally got in the car to leave, he didn’t want any interior lights popping on and giving an onlooker a view he or she shouldn’t have.

  The possibility of state-of-the-art infrared equipment on that cruiser bothered him, but that was one of the risks they’d be taking. There was also the possibility of someone secreted on the mountain behind the cabin, another risk. What he had to bank on was their biggest threat coming from the front of the cabin, from the water, and then pray to God the scum watching them had only minimal equipment to rely on.