Dominic glanced at Amy who was standing against the counter, her hands wrapped around a cup of coffee. She was watching him, watching us, curiosity and concern and a little fear written clearly in her eyes.
“We stopped at a diner in Ada so that we could freshen up a little. A couple of guys in an SUV started shooting at us with a gun equipped with a silencer. They clipped Amy before I realized what was happening.”
“Where are they now?”
Dominic shrugged. “Probably in the local hospital.”
“Ada?” Sam asked. “That’s where Amber’s from.”
I nodded, growing more and more curious by the minute.
“So what aren’t you telling me?”
Dominic’s eyes moved to Amy again. I turned and gestured for Sam to take her out of the room. As polite as always, Sam offered to show her a collection of snow globes she oddly kept in her study along with an impressive—and very expensive—array of computer equipment.
Amy hesitated, reaching for Dominic’s hand as she left the room. The way he looked at her…it made me ache deep inside because it reminded me of the way Luke once looked at me.
Dominic lifted his cup of tea and sipped at it, using it as an excuse to put off what came next. But then there was nothing left to hesitate over.
“Emily’s been back for eighteen months. I’ve been going up to Arlington every couple of weeks, going over evidence with her, helping her reason out her theories. She was working with a couple of other guys, including one of her former handlers, a guy named Edgar Olsen. He was still with the CIA until six months ago when they forced him out. He wouldn’t say what caused his dismissal, but I think it had something to do with information he was slipping to Emily.”
“He was slipping her CIA materials? Do you realize that’s considered treason?”
He nodded. “The thing was, Emily was convinced that someone at the CIA was involved in all this. What caused our investigation to end, for her to be reassigned, and me to be pushed out of the Army wasn’t just the fact that our cover was blown. Emily believed that someone was trying to hide something. So she kept investigating, determined to learn the truth.”
“And did she?”
Dominic sat back, glancing toward the archway where Amy and Sam had disappeared.
“Do you remember the CIA team that was watching the guy…Kurt Sanchez?”
“I remember.”
“I gave you that file folder with the pictures of Sanchez in it?”
“Yeah?”
“There was more. Things on their computers that I downloaded onto a thumb drive and took to Emily. Dates. Places. Names. She said it was a list of operations that the CIA ran in France. She said it was helping her pinpoint the agents involved and the people they interacted with.”
“You got that from our investigation?”
“And she said that it had information on those guys, Sanchez and John Fuller, the ones arrested for terrorist acts back seven or eight months ago. She thought that they were just minor players, people arrested to take the focus off of what was happening with their companies.”
“Which was?”
“They were using the stolen Bradford Telecommunications software to pass on information to someone, probably members of the terrorist cell. Maybe even the CIA. But Sanchez had gotten out almost a year before, and that was likely why he told Peter about it. And Fuller…it was happening at his company, but his knowledge was limited.”
I sat back, struggling to wrap my mind around what he was saying. We’d gone over all this, searching everything we could find to get more information on these people. Peter had gone repeatedly to Huntsville to visit Fuller, convinced that he knew more about the stolen software than he was letting on. That’s how he met Amber—the waitress who would have his son and was now engaged to my little brother, Cole—at that diner in Ada. And it’s probably what led to his death.
“You knew this all along?”
“Emily was doing all the research. She was putting out feelers everywhere, trying to connect the dots. She had notes…” Dominic pulled a thumb drive out of his pocket. “This is all her work. I think this probably identifies the hierarchy of the terrorist cell and that’s why she was killed.”
I stared at the thumb drive. “You think my brother accidentally stumbled across a terrorist cell working here in the States?”
“I think he might have also come across a CIA agent working both sides of the fence.”
I got up, crossed to the counter to pour more coffee in my half-full mug.
“Why do you think that?”
“Someone’s trying to cover their tracks. Someone’s making minor arrests when they should be going after bigger fish. And isn’t it suspicious that the CIA didn’t really take much interest in Sanchez and Fuller until we started investigating Peter’s death?”
“We don’t know that.”
“We do. The files I downloaded? They’d only been watching Sanchez for a week when I caught them that afternoon when you were meeting with Sanchez.”
“But how would someone know what we were up to?”
“They knew about Amber. Fuller approached her. Maybe the CIA did, too? We just never asked her.”
“But how would the CIA have known about Amber?”
“Did Peter ever mention talking to anyone in the CIA?”
“Luke.”
Comprehension filled Dominic’s face. He stood slowly, approaching me across the kitchen.
“Luke disappeared not long before Peter’s accident, right?”
“Three months.”
“And you never heard from him again?”
I thought about the small slip of paper that I kept tucked into a book upstairs in my night table. It was with the rose he’d given me prom night and the engagement ring that I kept in its box. And the note he sent to me the morning of our wedding, the morning he disappeared.
“I heard from him. Once.”
Dominic’s brows knitted as he studied me closely. “When?”
I looked away, but that didn’t take away the burn of his gaze. I took a deep breath.
“Look, it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just a note left behind for me. Just to let me know he was okay.”
“Where, Megan?”
“The empty house where Amber was taken when she was kidnapped.”
If I’d thought his gaze was heavy before, it became almost unbearable then. “And you didn’t tell anyone?”
“It was just a note. Meant only for me.”
“But it proves that he’s involved in all this. It proves that he was there that night, holding the mother of your nephew captive! Did you really think that it was inconsequential?”
“What about you hiding the information you took from the CIA? Or the fact that you knew about all this and you never said anything to anyone?”
“But I didn’t kidnap anyone.”
Touché.
“I don’t know what he was doing there. I don’t know why he’s involved in all this. I don’t know why he left, for that matter. I get that it looks all connected—”
“Looks?”
“Okay, so maybe he’s connected to all this. But that’s because Peter went to him when he first started investigating the software and asked for his advice. Maybe Luke went to his supervisors and they pulled him back into service. That’s as far as I can figure it all out. But that doesn’t mean that Luke’s on the wrong side.”
“I never said that.”
“And it doesn’t mean that he means anyone any harm.”
“I didn’t say that either.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“That we don’t have enough information to figure all this out, yet. But this thumb drive”—he held it up where I could see it—“just might have what we need on it. At the very least, it could tell us who killed Emily and why.”
“Do you think it has answers about Peter?”
“Possible.”
I snatched it from his hand. �
��I want Sam to take a look at it.”
“Okay.”
“And you and Amy should go to the safe house, get some rest. We’ll figure out what to do about the warrant for your arrest tomorrow.”
He shrugged. “Not my biggest concern. I’m more concerned for the apparent hitmen who thought it was okay to take me out in the middle of a diner parking lot.”
“I’ll have Hayden look into it.”
Dominic stepped back and leaned against the counter, watching me for a long minute. “There’s one other thing.”
“Do I want to hear it?”
“Edgar told me that Emily was convinced someone was watching me. Someone close to someone I knew here.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. I sort of dismissed it because Edgar is a little paranoid. But…”
I knew what he was trying not to say to me. He thought she was talking about Luke.
“Luke’s gone, Dominic.”
“I know.”
“He’s not coming back.”
I’d never really said it out loud before. It sounded so strange on my lips, words that I never wanted to believe, let alone speak aloud. It tore through my soul like a rip in gossamer wings.
He must have seen the pain on my face. He came to me, wrapping me in his arms. I pressed my face against his chest, taking a deep breath of his familiarity. There’d been a flirtation when he first came to work for me, but we’d somehow deposited each other into the friend zone without ever really talking about it. But there’d been lots of hugs, and it felt good to be held by someone. I never really realized how deeply I missed being touched these last two years until someone held me like this.
“We have to be honest with each other. And we have to trust.”
“I agree,” I said, pulling back to look up at him. “We have your back on this. And when it’s all over, I’d appreciate if you would do what you can to have my back on the investigation into Peter’s accident.”
“Definitely.”
I pulled away, almost reluctantly, and grabbed a set of keys out of my bag where it’d been sitting on the counter. “Do you have transportation?”
“A stolen car. We left it about a half mile away.”
I shook my head, giving him a look that a mother might give a recalcitrant child. “We’ll take care of that, too.” I tossed him the keys. “There’s an SUV in the garage. You know the safe house near Highlands?”
“Yeah.”
I just nodded. He came over, kissed my cheek lightly.
“Thanks, boss.”
He was gone as quickly as he’d come, slipping out of the room with that duffle bag over his shoulder. I heard Amy say a polite thank you to Sam.
I wondered what had separated them. And I wondered if she knew how lucky she was. The way he looked at her, the way he carried that engagement ring around for so long. Did she even know? Did she know that, despite Dominic’s cowboy behavior, that he was always at home in bed the moment a case was over, that he rarely indulged in the same behavior Hayden did, going to the bars and picking up the first pretty girl who looked his way? That, despite lots of offers, he was alone every night?
I was almost jealous.
I wondered if Luke was as loyal, wherever he was.
Chapter 14
Dominic
“She’s really pretty.”
I glanced over at Amy. “Who?”
“Megan.”
She was. I remembered how struck I was by her sophistication, the way she dressed, and the way she kept her blond hair pulled back from her face. She seemed delicate upon first impression, but that was before one realized that she was a member of the Marine Corps, part of a division that saw more hostility, more one on one fighting in Afghanistan than almost any other. And then, of course, she’d open her mouth and put anyone that even began to suggest that she was a delicate flower right in their place.
Not only beautiful, but also fiercely independent and strong.
“Did you and she…?”
I glanced at her. “You’re seriously asking if I slept with my boss? Do you really think I’m that kind of guy?”
“You don’t seem to have a boss-employee relationship.”
“We’re friends. But, at the end of the day, she’s still my boss.”
Amy wouldn’t look at me. She was staring straight ahead, almost as if she was completely fascinated with what was flying past as the SUV made its way down the highway. Or like she couldn’t bear to look at me and see something on my face that she didn’t want to see.
“Why don’t you just ask?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve danced around the subject since Saturday afternoon. Even came out and asked if I had a girlfriend. So why don’t you just ask what you really want to know?”
“And what’s that?”
“Whether or not I’ve been with anyone since we broke up.”
She slunk down in the seat a little, wiping her palms on the top of her thighs.
“It’s not my business.”
“Sure it is.”
“Is it?” She looked over at me. Finally. “Do I have a right to ask?”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“You haven’t asked me anything like that. Don’t you want to know what I’ve been doing since we broke up?”
“You aren’t hard to figure out, Ames.” I reached over to touch her knee, but she brushed my hand away. “Okay…”
“I could have been with half a dozen men since you’ve been gone. There was Ronnie Black.”
“Ronnie?” I laughed. “You couldn’t stand him!”
“But he always had a thing for me.”
“Yeah. So did Justin Foster. Did you do him, too?”
“Don’t be vulgar.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring out the window now.
“What about those boys at the gym? Or that guy who teaches meth at your school? You went to dinner with him once.”
Her eyes were wide when she looked at me this time. “How do you know that?”
“I was special ops, Amy. And I work for a security firm. If I want to know what someone’s doing, it’s not that hard to find out.”
“You were watching me?”
“I don’t think I was the only one.”
Tension came into her shoulders. She reached up and brushed a strand of hair from her face.
“You think Emily was watching me?”
“I do.”
“Why didn’t she ever come talk to me? Why didn’t you?”
“You made it pretty clear that you didn’t want to talk to either of us.”
“I was hurt.”
She chewed her bottom lip, her thoughts clearly roiling around in that pretty head of hers. I reached over to touch her again and, this time, she didn’t seem to mind. I slid my hand over her knee and up along her thigh, wishing she was wearing a skirt.
“So much wasted time,” she said softly. “If I’d gotten over myself, maybe I would have had a relationship with my sister in the final days of her life.”
“We all have regrets.”
“Not you. You were there for her, working with her on this terrorist thing.”
“Yeah, well, maybe if I hadn’t helped her work on it, she wouldn’t have found out whatever it was she did and she would still be alive.”
“My sister would never have let it go. She was like a dog with a bone, you know. She never would have let anything go.”
“But I didn’t need to encourage her so much.”
She laid her hand on top of mine. “I guess you’re right. We all have regrets.”
We pulled into the garage of the safe house a short time later. It was a small ranch-style house set on the end of a cul-de-sac, not far from the San Jacinto River. The refrigerator was stocked, the cupboards full of everything we could possibly want. But I think we were both exhausted from being on the run for so long. I took her hand
and led the way to the back of the house where the master bedroom was situated.
“Shower?”
She nodded. I ducked into the bathroom and turned on the water, adjusting it until it was at a good temperature. I turned to find Amy standing behind me, nothing but her t-shirt held in front of her to hide her nudity. Heat rushed through my body as if I was a teenager who’d never been in the same room with a naked woman. I wanted to throw her over the sink, fill her until neither of us could catch our breath. But then her eyes came up to mine, and I could see how exhausted she was.
“Take your time,” I said, brushing a hand over the side of her face.
“Where are you going to be?”
“Close.”
She reached up and kissed me lightly, then dropped the t-shirt as she moved around me to climb into the shower. I watched, a slice of pain rushing up my back in sympathy as she ripped away the bandage Sam had put on her arm. The flesh was still raw underneath, red and a little puffy around the edges. I hated that that had happened to her. I wanted to take her far from all this and protect her, but I felt like I wasn’t doing a very good job of that.
I went into the bedroom and sat on the side of the bed, staring at the burner phone. I called Elizabeth, left a message on her voice mail to let her know we were still alive. Then I hesitated, thinking about Emily and her family, about the way her parents had welcomed me into their family when I first began dating Amy. I owed them more.
“Mr. Greene?”
There was silence. Then… “You have a lot of nerve!”
“I’m sorry, sir, for what happened back in Denton. I didn’t want to do that, but Amy was in danger.”
“From you.”
“No, sir. From the people who killed Emily.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Emily was killed because she was investigating some very bad people. And those people came after Amy to pull me out into the open. And, maybe, because they thought Emily gave her something. I don’t know. But I know that Emily knew they would go after Amy, and she asked me to protect her.”
“There must have been a better way than taking her away from her family in this time of grief.”
“I wish there was, sir. I am deeply sorry for your loss.”
“Is Amy okay?”
DOMINIC (Dragon Security Book 3) Page 10
