Isn't that what the Department taught us? That selfless defence of others at the risk of ourselves.
I knew why I was doing it, but why were they?
"Ready?" Amber asked, hitching her handbag up onto her shoulder, her car keys already in her palm.
I wanted to ask. Hell, I wanted to demand. Why? Why do you do this?
"Charlie?" Amber pressed, concern briefly flashing in her big chocolate coloured eyes.
"Hmm?" I managed, too distracted to hear her. Too distracted to realise the assignment was about to blow-up in my face.
"Is everything all right?" she asked.
I stared at her for a second longer and then nodded my head. It didn't matter if everything was all right or not, I had a job to do and I'd fucking well do it.
"Fine, Amber," I offered with a practiced smile. "Just got a text about my place. The alarm's gone off; I think I better go check it."
"Oh," she whispered. "That's bad." Yeah, I was thinking it was. Amber's instructions wouldn't have extended to a visit to my home. Just what would the big bad imposter do there?
This should be interesting.
"It's just in Sandringham. Not too far out of the way," I said. "I can drive, if you like."
My cheeks hurt from fucking smiling too much.
"No, that's OK," she said, biting on her bottom lip and flicking a glance up at the cameras.
Game on. Now we'd see how far that hand of friendship actually extended.
Amber recovered admirably. Or she knew about the two shadows we had already and was putting all her faith in Abi and Ben coming to her rescue. It almost made me laugh.
But then I realised they were there not just because Nick had no doubt told them to, but because they'd want to protect Amber with their lives.
I was questioning everything I knew. Everything I had been taught to rely on. Not a colleague, another specialist like me; we were taught to trust our contemporaries with reticence. Ava had been a calculated risk; a chance to shine some light on the chess pieces. I was fairly certain now she wasn’t involved in my “test.” But this? What ASI had? No. If an agent couldn't get their assignment completed on their own, then they needed retraining. I had been taught to go things alone. To turn to my handler for incidentals and improvise everything else. Trusting anyone would come save me was foreign in nature. Seeing Amber do it so convincingly threw me for a loop.
Who were these people to upset my world so completely?
Who was I now that they had?
"Tell me about this hunt tonight?" I asked. The familiar call to complete my assignment settled me. "Who exactly is the mark?"
"Wayne Aaron Pascoe, a known associate of Mitchell Wallis," she advised, taking a deep breath to fortify herself at saying Wallis' name aloud.
He'd been Jaxon Harding to her. Someone she’d trusted. Someone she’d thought she'd loved. Being involved in anything to do with his former lifestyle must have taken a hell of a lot of courage or a fuckload of pent up rage.
I was going with both, Amber was appearing more and more than what she had at first seemed.
"He was a nobody in Wallis' hierarchy," she went on. "Overlooked by the Police at the time of Wallis' fall. Nick had a hunch about him, so we started paying attention to his moves and behaviour patterns. We didn't have much historic data to compare; even I didn't know him very well."
She turned to look across the car at me briefly, biting her lip and flushing pink from her neck to her nose.
"Um," she started. "Did you know Mitchell Wallis was, well, I knew him as Jax…Jaxon Harding," she stuttered.
Something gripped me; held me too tightly around the throat. I don't know what it was, but I found myself saying, "Yeah, I knew. You don't have to explain."
Fuck. I shouldn't have known. Charlie Downes, the lieutenant, shouldn't have known. But I couldn't let her go on. I couldn't watch that type of torment. Big brown eyes filling with tears, smooth skin blotching with emotion.
I just couldn't.
"Oh, OK," she said, adjusting herself in her seat and taking a moment to find her equilibrium. "Anyway, his name kept popping up in amongst another drug dealer's case. Have you heard of Roan McLaren?"
Now this was getting interesting and also not public knowledge; not known to those departments within the Government who should be aware. Roan McLaren was known to us, of course. As was his connection to his half-brother Mitchell Wallis. But not this Wayne Aaron Pascoe.
"Arrested in Wellington last year," I offered, recalling more of the dossier's breakdown of events. Abi Monaghan had lived in the drug lord's compound until she ran at age eighteen. ASI had been involved in bringing the Wellington drug boss down, too.
Like they had been involved in finishing off Declan King at the Court House last year, as well.
And Mitchell Wallis earlier this year.
And the merry-go-round brought us back to this again. Wrong place wrong time? Or wrong place right time?
Too many coincidences not to come to the attention of the Director. They were a perfect foil and I was beginning to suspect one chosen with the utmost care.
But the Director had forgotten me in this little convenient equation. Or maybe he hadn't, and that's why I was here; to go down with them.
But why?
"Yeah," Amber agreed sombrely. "Well, this Wayne Pascoe had corresponded with both Declan King and Roan McLaren, while he was in the employ of Mitchell Wallis."
She waited for me to get it. Strangely, I didn't.
I shook my head at her. "What am I missing?"
"Mitchell had nothing to do with his half-brother. Only found out about him when Roan was arrested back last year."
Yeah, as we'd already ascertained brought down by ASI. Jesus, these guys had made it easy for the Department.
"Even the Police weren't aware of that," Amber said softly. "But I was."
I looked at her profile, saw how hard it was for her to talk about this. Saw how strong she was to do so. To act as though this was all part of her job and she'd done it a million times before. She was tougher than she looked.
I brought my attention back to the facts, back to what Amber was trying to get me to see. Wayne Pascoe knew all three main players in New Zealand's narcotics game. McLaren, Wallis and King.
Pascoe was setting himself up to take over.
"The new kingpin?" I asked, checking my usual visual cues as we entered my suburb.
"That's what we suspect."
"So why the small time locations around Auckland City?" Tonight's hunt was to start in Papatoetoe, of all places, according to Nick.
"How better to stay out of the sights of powerful people?" Amber replied, pulling the car over behind the warehouse where I indicated.
"The Police are all over that mall," I pointed out.
She turned to look at me, a strange expression on her face.
"You were in the military, Charlie. You know the Police aren't the most powerful people around."
Ah, fuck. He wasn't avoiding the local authortities, he was avoiding The Authority. The Government.
Me.
"How big do you think this guy actually is?" I asked, taking in my little corner of Sandringham outside the windscreen.
Amber shrugged in my peripheral, but the move was forced. She knew, but obviously I hadn't been cleared for that intel. I started laughing; shit just didn't get more ironic than that.
I wasn't cleared for what the Director was after either. Nick Anscombe's fears were minuscule in light of that fact.
What the hell was going on?
I turned in my seat toward her, flicking my eyes over the dashboard in the car. The Bluetooth was off. A tiny camera lens sat expertly hidden on the dashboard; filming at a guess. Mic switched on at the side.
These guys weren't the enemy, but I wasn't sure who the enemy was yet. The Director? Or the entire Department? Or just Mal?
I needed to talk to Caleb, even if I wasn't sure I'd come out alive on the other side.
&nb
sp; "Amber," I said.
"Yes, Charlie?" She didn't look at me. She knew I knew.
"Don't be scared," I said softly.
She made a sound. It broke my heart. I didn't know my heart still beat enough to be broken.
"Forget the apartment," I added. "Take me back to Nick."
Her hand shook as she reached for the ignition. She didn't make it. The back door opened and a big, dark shadow slipped in.
My gun was aimed at his face before the door had closed.
Amber, God bless her, had her gun aimed at me.
Chapter 16
Why Should We Trust You?
Adam
I watched on the biggest screen in control as Ben moved closer to the car in the alley behind Charlie's quasi-home. If she'd seen him - which I could only assume she would have, someone with her elite training didn't miss a thing - she wasn't showing it.
She was trying to calm Amber. Soothe her, like some frightened animal cornered by a jungle cat.
As much as my heart was in my throat for Amber, my eyes were glued to the woman in the passenger seat of the SUV. I'd watched as emotion, albeit contained and barely there, swept over her face as she digested what Amber had been saying.
It meant something to her. It was filling in some blanks she'd obviously been missing. But it was also just as obvious that she knew more than she should have done.
"Not Navy," Koki said to my side.
"Or Army," Jase added, as if he knew every single army grunt out there.
"Well, she sure as shit won't be Air Force then, either, if we're going to generalise," Nick snapped.
"Shut up!" Eric shouted. "That's my wife in there with that woman, whoever the fuck she is."
"I'm scared, all right. Shit scared." What would scare a woman like Charlie?
“SIS," I said quietly. Several pairs of eyes swung toward me. No one said a word for a good thirty seconds.
Then Ben slipped into the car and all hell broke loose.
"Easy," Charlie said over the speakers. "Not gonna shoot you, big man. See? Safety on."
She made a show of flicking her safety, and then she lowered the gun to the console. All the while Amber held her pistol at Charlie's head like she'd been born to hold one.
"That's my woman," Eric whispered with pride.
"Amber, baby," Ben said in a low, soothing voice. "'S'all good, yeah? Lower the gun."
There was a slight shake in Amber's fingers as she moved her hands enough for us to see the safety had been on all along.
Koki snorted. Eric threw him a dirty look. Brook outright punched him on the shoulder. Hard.
"Well," Ben said over the speakers. "What's next, hotshot?"
We watched as Charlie looked out the window. She let a long breath of air out and then turned back to Ben.
"Where's Adam?" Huh. That was unexpected.
Again several pairs of eyes turned towards me. I shrugged. Not like I'd slept with the woman or nothing.
Oh, yeah. There was that blow-job.
I felt myself heating up.
I forced the fucking blush back down.
"Adam's not here," Ben replied steadily. The inference was that he - Ben - was and that was damn well good enough.
"Did he take my laptop from the apartment?" she asked, surprising us all, I think.
Ben sat silently, and then looked at the camera on the dash, one eyebrow raised.
Nick leaned forward and hit the mic on Eric's desk, connecting him to Ben's earpiece.
"Didn't take a thing," he said, and disconnected.
"Nah," Ben said, turning back to Charlie.
"Good," she replied. Full of fucking surprises this one.
"We done here?" Ben asked.
She looked out the window again and shook her head.
"Yeah, we're done." It sounded final. It sounded weighty.
I wasn't the only one to notice.
"What the fuck just happened?" Jase asked.
"If she's a spy, she's got Government assets up the wazoo," Brook offered. "Why does it sound like she's giving up?"
Everyone stared at the screen as the scenery outside the car flashed past and Charlie watched it all with a distant look of longing. As though it wasn't her suburb at all. Wasn't her Auckland. Wasn't her life.
"Who the fuck is she?" I whispered, and this time it was Nick's eyes who pierced me.
"I want you to do the interview."
"Me?" I exclaimed. Ah, fuck it. "I may not be the best choice," I felt compelled to point out.
"Out of all of us, she connected with you the most. The fastest," he argued.
"She connected with Amber," I countered.
He shook his head. "Right now. Right at the end when it was all about to fall apart around her ears. I saw something then, but not before.
"This woman is more contained than a maximum security prison. Every word out of her mouth is measured and weighed before it’s given voice. Every move planned, executed with precision. I've never seen anything like it. Not even with you two," he added, nodding towards Eric and Jase.
"That's because she's a step up from us," Eric said softly, watching the screen, and his wife, like a hawk.
"Who the fuck is a step up from you two?" Brook asked with genuine awe.
"NZSIS," Jase said, looking toward me. "Or a branch of it."
"They're that good?" Koki queried.
"The best," Jase replied. "If she's rogue, she'll also be unpredictable."
"And if she's not rogue we can predict her moves OK?" Brook asked.
Eric laughed. It didn't sound amused. It was too strained to be considered anything close to mirth.
"If she's not rogue then she may not be on her own."
Oh, fuck yeah. That's just what we didn't need to hear.
"OK," Nick said as the car on the screen turned onto Broadway. "Adam, you're in Interview Room One. Jase is your wingman. She'll be expecting me. Let's throw her off her game.
"Meantime, Eric and Amber are going to hack the NZSIS database and find out what they can about which department she might be part of."
Silence met his words.
He sighed. "The rest of you stay on alert. This is not a drill," he added, with a small smile.
Nick's attempt at levity missed its target, but I appreciated the effort anyway.
The SUV turned into the garage, the door rolling down at its back. Abi stepped out of the shadows and followed to where it was parked. Charlie was flanked. She didn't even bat an eyelash on the screen.
God, she was remarkable. Truly she was. I couldn't stop being drawn back to her. No matter what we'd discovered, my body had other ideas, at least.
Amber turned the engine off and Ben climbed out, opening Charlie's door. She moved to alight the vehicle and then stopped. Turning back to Amber she said, "Whatever you do, do not attempt to hack the Department."
"The Department?" Nick said, eyes darting all over the screen, as if the answer was hidden there. "Anyone heard of them?"
"On it," Eric announced, tapping away on a keyboard.
"Why would I do that?" Amber asked over the speakers.
"Because Nick will order it and I'm telling you their security is beyond anything you have faced before."
"You don't know me," Amber said, not without a little measure of defiance and silent pride.
"No. I don't," Charlie agreed. "But I know them."
She turned and got out of the car while Amber let out a slow breath of air.
"Fuck me," Koki said quietly at the back of the room. "Did that sound fucking scary to you guys as well?"
"Who the fuck is the Department?" Nick asked, hands fisting. "And why the fuck are they after us?"
Good question. He turned back toward me.
"Do whatever you have to do to find out. Break her, for all I care."
"Nick," I started, not liking where this was going at all.
"No," he snapped, swiping his hand though the air as if to silence me. It worked. I'd never seen Nick
as riled up as he was right then. "After everything we've done. Everything we do for this fucking city. They come after us with her!" His hand swung out and a solitary finger pointed at the screen where moments before Charlie had been.
"I will not let it all be taken away," he said, a little more levelly.
He spun on his heel and left the room without a backward glance; Eric unlocking the door to control as soon as Nick reached out to grasp it. As eager as the rest of us to be out of blasting range.
"I'll keep an eye on you," Eric said carefully. I flicked my eyes across the room to his; vibrant green stared back.
"Come on," Jase said, clapping me on the back. "Let's get in there and find out who this lady actually is."
"She won't tell us, you know," I said to his back as I followed him out of the room.
"Oh, what makes you think we'll give her a choice?"
"You're wingman, right? I'm the one doing the asking."
"Of course," he said too quickly. "I'm there to keep you safe."
I shook my head, wondering what fucking planet he was on.
"Naturally," he added, as we approached the main interview room, "if that means keeping you safe from yourself, then I'll do whatever needs to be done."
"Do whatever you have to do to find out. Break her, for all I care."
I had a very bad feeling about all of this.
Jase was the one to open the door, so Charlie saw him first. I have no idea what look passed over her face, but when she saw me behind him, she smiled. It was stunning.
I frowned, uncertain how to take the way the curve of her lips felt seductive or how the glint in her grey eyes made them look like sparkling diamonds. She lit up when she smiled. Really smiled. And she'd just smiled like that at me.
How the fucking hell was I meant to take that?
Jase moved into a corner and leaned back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, scowl in place. I stood in the doorway like a bloody prat, and then forced my feet forward until I loomed over the table.
Charlie watched our every move, seeming to take in everything with just one apparently casual glance. She wasn't at ease, but she wasn't agitated either.
Sweet Seduction Secrets (Sweet Seduction, Book 8): A Love At First Sight Romantic Suspense Series Page 14
