My Spy

by Christina Skye

  Annie sat up stiffly. “What's wrong? Has someone been hurt?”

  “Not exactly. I think you'd better have a look. Bring Taylor and that big fellow named Izzy.”

  “I don't understand, Buzz.”

  “You will.”

  THE ENTRANCE TO THE MAIN COURTYARD WAS FILLED WITH light, most of it focused on one of the second-floor guestrooms.

  “I don't like the look of this.” Annie tried to walk faster.

  “No need to rush. Whatever is up there doesn't seem to be going anywhere.”

  Annie squinted through the shadows. “Why would Buzz call me if it wasn't important?”

  “Beats me,” Taylor said calmly.

  Annie saw two police cruisers in the front parking lot. Buzz was talking on a cellular phone and a uniformed officer was striding toward the outside stairs.

  Quiet as always, Izzy moved ahead of Annie and Taylor. In protective mode, Annie realized, his jacket open so he could reach his weapon.

  Goose bumps rose over her neck. “What's going on?”

  “I'll find out,” Izzy said.

  Not without her, he wouldn't. Annie pushed on doggedly, ignoring a throb in her ribs where Marsh had flung her against the door.

  Several guests were gathered on the lawn, dressed in bathrobes or sweat suits. They were pointing up at the balcony, too.

  Suddenly Izzy went still.

  “What is it?” Annie demanded. “What's wrong? Has there been a crime?”

  “I'd say it's a crime all right.” Izzy stepped out of the way. “Have a look.”

  Annie stared up at the brightly lit balcony. She took a breath and then looked again. “Dear Lord,” she whispered.

  “I doubt He's involved in this,” Taylor murmured.

  Annie rubbed her eyes. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Taylor nodded slowly. “A naked man. Singularly unattractive, too.” She crossed her arms and rocked back on her heels. “I could just swear the naked butt in question belongs to Tucker Marsh.”

  “Why is he standing up there?”

  “I do believe our boy's handcuffed to the balcony railing,” Taylor murmured. “Looks like he's blindfolded and gagged, too.”

  Annie suddenly felt faint. “Oh, no.” She looked around wildly. “If Sam did this, I'll—”

  “Sam was asleep when we left. I checked on him myself,” Izzy said. “And he didn't leave the casita tonight.” He glanced at Taylor. “It appears you have some other secret friend.”

  Annie stared at him suspiciously.

  He raised his palms. “Don't look at me.”

  Annie turned, staring at Taylor.

  The excuse about the popcorn. Her sister had left for at least twenty minutes. “Taylor, do you know anything about this?”

  Taylor didn't answer, too busy studying the man handcuffed to the balcony. “He's got to be breaking some sort of law, being that ugly and naked in a public place.”

  The branches of an oleander rattled in the darkness behind Annie. “I'd say he deserves a prize for being dog ugly.”

  Annie sighed and turned around. “Sam, what are you doing in there?”

  “Just enjoying the view, like everyone else.”

  The uniformed officer was on the balcony now, speaking to Marsh, who thrashed and made muffled noises. Two more cars pulled up.

  Buzz walked over, his face unreadable. “We had an anonymous phone call saying a police presence was required out here.” He shook his head. “Damnedest thing I've seen in twenty-five years of police work. With any luck we'll find some drugs up there.” He looked at Izzy. “Don't suppose you might have any idea where his clothes are?”

  “Not me.” Izzy met his look squarely. “I only heard about it when you called Annie. How did he get out on bail?”

  “Powerful friends,” Buzz said tightly. “I told him not to come back here before the trial or I'd pick him up personally. Apparently he didn't listen.” He turned, staring behind Annie. “Is someone hiding in those trees?”

  “Must be the wind.” Annie fought an urge to look back at Sam.

  “Right.” Buzz sounded resigned. “The wind. Why didn't I think of that?”

  He walked across the lawn, passing Coco and Nikki Jerome, along with Mr. Harkowitz. All were wearing bathrobes.

  “Someone said a naked man was chained to the balcony,” Coco panted.

  Taylor pointed upward. “Dead ahead at twelve o'clock high.”

  “Ewwwww,” the two women said in unison.

  “I didn't know men could get cellulite.” Coco sounded thoughtful. “Maybe we're witnessing a medical marvel.” Her brow furrowed. “Or maybe it's not a man.”

  Marsh turned sharply, jerking as Buzz's officer removed his blindfold, gag, and handcuffs.

  “Definitely a man,” Nikki Jerome murmured. “Even if he is pretty unimpressive. What's that thing on his head?”

  “It looks like a woman's wig.” Taylor shifted to get a better view. “And he appears to have a California state flag draped over one shoulder. Isn't that illegal, some kind of desecration of the flag?”

  Annie took her arm and pulled her aside. “Taylor, did you do this?”

  “Me?” Taylor's face was all innocence.

  “He could sue us for millions. He could ruin Summerwind.”

  Gravel churned in the parking lot. A mobile news TV van raced into the lot, followed closely by a red truck sporting the logo of a major San Francisco channel. People jumped out, shouldering big cameras and racing over the lawn.

  Up on the balcony, Buzz was covering Marsh with a sheet while reading him his rights.

  Annie closed her eyes. Marsh deserved to be punished, but not this way. Now Taylor was in serious trouble and so was the resort.

  “You could be arrested for this, Taylor.”

  “He was smashed. He doesn't know it was me up there.”

  “Then he'll go after me.”

  “How?”

  Annie watched another news van pull up.

  “How? The man's a legal shark and he's bound to sue. He may even get off for what he did to me if he shows there was a prior effort to harass him here.”

  Taylor's voice faltered. “But there wasn't. He was doing all the harassment. Your staff can testify to that.”

  “It might not be enough.” Annie had a sudden, horrifying realization as more gravel churned in the parking lot. The Navy had gone to immense effort to shield Sam from scrutiny while he recovered, knowing that reporters all over the country would be trying to track him down. Now thanks to Taylor, he was standing right in the path of a media tidal wave, and that was the very last place he should be.

  There was no other choice, Annie realized. Everything had changed. Sam would have to leave.

  And she'd have to let him go.

  Again.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  “TELL ME THIS IS A BAD DREAM. ” ANNIE SAT STIFFLY IN TAYLOR'S high-tech kitchen.

  “Afraid I can't.”

  Annie closed her eyes. “Are those news teams still out there?”

  Taylor checked the window and nodded.

  Annie had spoken to her lawyer, who was now doing damage control. What next? She shuddered at a vision of the cover of Spa Monthly with Tucker Marsh, naked and dead center. “What's happening?”

  Taylor passed over a cup of steaming ginger chamomile tea. “When Buzz's officers checked out the parking lot to run off the camera crews, they found a cement truck parked on the service road. Two goons were running a video camera, getting shots of Marsh. They admitted Marsh had hired them to trash the resort.”

  “Trash?”

  “You know, pour cement in the new whirlpool, tar the sauna, rip out your irrigation system. They were also supposed to set fire to your office.”

  Annie felt a spasm in her chest.

  “Don't worry, Marsh paid them less than he promised, so they didn't do much harm.”

  “How much?”

  “Only a little tar near the new whirlpool.” Taylor frowned. �
��It's going to take some scrubbing and you might have to replace one or two boulders and some landscaping, but that's it.”

  “Where's Marsh now?”

  “In custody with Buzz. This time, no bail.” Taylor smiled smugly. “Turns out the Doofus Twins are more than happy to testify. Buzz says Marsh will be living courtesy of the state of California for a while.”

  “I still don't understand how he got up to the balcony.”

  Taylor gave a tight smile. “I saw him on the grounds, looking pretty smashed, and I decided to give him what he'd been asking for. I told him if he'd come up to one of the empty rooms with me, I'd make sure he had the experience of a lifetime.”

  “He believed you?”

  “I flashed a pair of handcuffs.” Taylor smiled smugly. “I hinted that some kinky sex might be involved.”

  “You didn't!”

  “Hey, the man couldn't keep his hands off me after that. When we got upstairs, I told him to undress and get comfortable. Then I said I needed a little help with my zipper. While he was trying to find the zipper, I maneuvered him out onto the balcony and used the cuffs. The rest is history.”

  Annie shook her head. “Your trick could ruin us.”

  “Why? It was consensual. It's not my fault he got so excited that he handcuffed himself to the balcony. And after what he did to you, the man deserved to be punished.”

  Annie felt a stab of anger. Taylor had never really cared about Summerwind. She still didn't understand how much harm her thoughtless prank had caused. “This time you did yourself proud, Taylor.”

  “What? I planned it just right.”

  “You never plan ahead,” Annie said stiffly.

  “I didn't mean for things to backfire like this. I didn't think you would be hurt, only Marsh.”

  “That's right, you never think.” Annie regretted the words the instant they were out, when she saw Taylor's face go pale. “No, that's not what I meant to say. It's just that there's so much at stake, Taylor. It's not about Marsh now. This affects all of us.”

  Her sister turned away. “You're absolutely right, as usual. There is a lot at stake and I don't think things through. Obviously I've screwed up yet again.” She took a long breath. “I think it would be best for both of us if I leave now, before I cause any more damage.”

  BY AFTERNOON THE ROAD TO SUMMERWIND WAS CRAWLING WITH reporters. Annie had called her office twice for updates, but Megan had told her to stay out of sight or the media people would go berserk. Buzz had sent down a few more deputies to keep order, but his available personnel was limited. He was counting on things being quieter in the morning.

  Annie wasn't so sure. The reporters looked prepared for a long-term siege. Meanwhile, she had hurt her sister with her angry comments, and Annie was determined to talk things through as soon as Taylor started answering her phone. Until then, she had responsibilities to Sam. She couldn't let her own problems overshadow his rehab.

  She found him with Izzy hunched over Izzy's laptop. The two men appeared to be looking at a map of Washington, D.C., but Izzy cleared the screen when Annie bent for a closer look.

  “More secret documents?”

  Neither man spoke, and their silence was an eloquent reminder that Annie's world would never be Sam's world. There were secrets she could never know. But she had accepted that already, hadn't she?

  She crooked her finger at Sam. “Come on, ace. Let's go see how good you really are.”

  AFTER AN HOUR OF EXERCISE, SAM WAS COVERED WITH SWEAT, his muscles pumped and zinging. He could have gone on for another hour, but Annie called a halt when she saw him wince after a sudden move.

  “So what's your diagnosis?”

  She ticked off words on her fingers. “Arrogant. Pushy. Manipulative—”

  His brow rose. “Medically speaking.”

  “I'm pretty sure you'll live.” She shifted a barbell back and forth between her hands. “In another week I probably won't be able to do much more for you. You know the drills and the proper form. The rest of the work will be up to you.”

  “So you'll be glad to get rid of me?”

  Annie stacked the barbell neatly in its holder, avoiding his eyes. “Did I say that?”

  “Not quite, but it feels pretty close.”

  She took a step away, feeling a sudden need for distance. With Sam solidly on his way to recovery, it was time for her to make some decisions about their future. For that, Annie needed a clear head. “I'm going outside.”

  “Not alone, you aren't.”

  “Don't growl, McKade. I'm only going to my patio.”

  Sam started to stand up, but Annie stopped him. “I'd rather you didn't come with me. I—I need to be alone.”

  “Taylor told me you could be like this. She said you shut people out and refused to ask for help. It makes her furious, and I'm starting to understand how she feels.”

  “Let's leave Taylor out of this,” Annie said stiffly.

  “Granted, what she did was crazy and thoughtless, but she did it out of raw instinct to get back at someone who hurt you, and I know exactly how she feels.”

  Because his words chipped at her thin veneer of control, Annie turned away. She was exhausted from the emotional storms of the last two days and she had no strength for an argument. “Don't, Sam. I can't talk about this now.”

  “When?” He touched her shoulder.

  “I don't know.” She stiffened.

  “Why do you pull away like that? Why are you so afraid to ask for help? Let me in, Annie. Is that so hard?”

  Annie's fingers locked. Hard? No, it was far too easy.

  She was white-knuckle terrified of how easy it would be to rely on this strong, decent man for support. In a matter of days or weeks, he would be gone without an explanation, exactly like last time. It came with the job he did, and nothing Annie said could change that.

  He's the one, she thought. Exactly the kind of man she'd never hoped to find.

  And he was the one man with no future to offer any woman, not as long as the job came first.

  For Sam it always would, macho idiot hero that he was. There would always be another busload of children to rescue or a kidnapped American to free. Sam was too highly trained to be wasted on average, everyday Navy duties, that much was clear.

  Real-life heroes didn't work eight to five, then head home to the wife and kids for a quiet night of touch football and barbecuing on the patio. For Sam, risking his life in dangerous places was standard operating procedure.

  Annie had no place in that dangerous, unpredictable life. The sooner she accepted that, the less she would be hurt. She had bled inside when he'd left. Day after day she had hoped for a call or a fax or a letter, even though he'd made no promises.

  She couldn't go through that again.

  “You've already helped me,” she said, cool and distant in the face of his anger. “I thought I'd thanked you.”

  “Thanked me? You mean shake hands and exchange air kisses?”

  “Sam, don't.”

  “Don't what? Don't be furious that your face is white and you act like I'm a damned stranger? Maybe I should introduce myself, Annie. I'm the man you bit and clawed through sweaty, moaning sex. Want to see your nail marks?” He yanked up his gray T-shirt. “They're right here where you put them.”

  Annie saw the pale red marks, just as he'd said. But now she saw that they framed darker wounds, along with the faint silver traces of much older scars from bullets, knives, and ropes.

  Because Sam McKade was a warrior. Fighting was his life, just as healing was hers. How could she have forgotten something so important and so irrevocable?

  Annie closed her eyes. She hadn't expected him to fight dirty, which was almost funny, considering that fighting dirty was what he was trained to do best. She'd seen his performance aboard that skidding bus. He was tough and focused, and he'd been taught to survey hostile terrain, assess the enemy precisely, then fight hard, using every dirty trick and tool at his disposal.

  Annie
didn't have a hope of standing up to that.

  So she wouldn't try.

  She stared at his chest. “I'm sorry I hurt you like that.”

  “It's not the marks that hurt, Annie.” His jaw moved once. “It's being shut out this way like a stranger.”

  “It was just sex, Sam.”

  “Like hell it was.” He pulled a towel from the table and tossed it over her shoulder. “It was a whole lot more. We both know that.”

  “No.” Somehow Annie kept her voice very calm. “What we did changed nothing.”

  “You're wrong. You don't just walk away from an experience like that.”

  “Why? Men do it all the time.” She was tired and frightened and confused, and she needed to get away before she unraveled. It was too easy to lean, too easy to hide from making hard choices. “I'm going outside.”

  “Fine. Just remember this isn't finished between us.”

  “I'm tired, Sam.”

  “Of course you are.” He looked as if he would touch her, but his hand fell. “You've been through hell. Maybe we both have.” He smoothed the towel over her shoulder, then took a step back. “I'm not running away from this. I'm not letting you run either.”

  “Maybe the decision has already been made.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Annie straightened her shoulders. If he wanted to fight dirty, she'd match him now. It was actually a relief to stop pretending she didn't know what was coming. “I know you'll have to leave soon, Sam. When the orders come, you'll vanish. You probably won't even be able to say good-bye.”

  He didn't move, didn't speak.

  “That's what I thought you'd have to say.”

  “Annie, I—”

  “You are leaving soon, right?”

  His jaw worked hard. Then he nodded.

  “And you won't be able to tell me when or where, because that's standard operating procedure. One day I'll wake up and you'll be gone.”

  He took a hard breath. “I can't apologize for doing my job.”

  “And I can't apologize for doing mine. Which brings us to good-bye, no matter how you look at it.”

  Annie closed her eyes. When they opened, she was more tired than before. Maybe some part of her had hoped she was wrong. “That leaves us right back where we ended last time. But I'm tired, Sam. I'm tired of painting pretty pictures and pretending I don't care. Since it's going to be over, I'd rather we start now.” She gripped the towel tightly before her chest, almost like a shield. “Now I'm going outside. I'd appreciate it if you didn't follow me.”