Fatal Thrill

by Misty Evans

  She then looked at Jon. “I sent you and Shelby the photos I took of both men discreetly while we were in there. Miles and I can stay here and follow them when they emerge. They might lead us to Sean or Finn. Meantime, Shelby’s running facial recognition on both men using Emit’s tracking system, thanks to Beatrice, so you guys can head back to the castle and keep an eye on Jaya.”

  “I have to find Finn,” Jon said. “That’s the reason I’m here.”

  Charlotte pocketed her phone and hooked her arm through one of Miles’s. “Beatrice said she wants you sticking close to Jaya for now.”

  “Oh, she does, does she?” Like he didn’t want to be with Jaya too, but it was his job to follow the men inside when they emerged since they had reason to suspect the two were involved with Sean’s disappearance and possibly Finn’s kidnapping.

  He was about to call Beatrice when her heard the crack of gunfire and Charlotte went down.

  10

  Jaya sat on a stool in the castle’s kitchen, arms wrapped around herself as she rocked back and forth.

  She didn’t even know Charlotte and Miles but she felt awful all the way to her bones. Poor Charlotte had been shot in the shoulder, the bullet passing through it and nearly ending up in Miles from what Jon had told her.

  Now Charlotte was in the hospital twenty miles west, apparently okay, with Miles by her side. It had been a long night for all of them—another night of no sleep and too much frustration.

  They were running out of time.

  Colton had taken Shelby to meet with a Garda detective and an Interpol agent at Blackrock. Fitzpatrick’s body had already been taken away and the murder scene analyzed but the detective and his Interpol counterpart wanted to talk to Colton and Shelby in more detail about how they’d “discovered” the body and why they were here.

  Jaya’s stomach cramped. She jetted off the stool and just made it to the sink. Once the worst passed, she wiped off her face and propped herself against the worn cabinet, staring out the window at the creeping fog. It never seemed to completely clear up and the gloom wasn’t helping her mood.

  “That was Miles.” Jon blew into the kitchen, pocketing his cell. The shadows under his eyes had deepened, but he didn’t seem the least bit tired. “Doctors released Charlotte fifteen minutes ago and they’re on their way. The police say it was a trio of boys out joyriding. Alcohol was involved. They claim they were shooting at cars, not people, and didn’t see us.”

  His voice sounded tired, but more than that, a little odd. “You don’t believe that, do you?”

  “They have the boys in custody. It really doesn’t appear it was anything more than what the police are claiming.” He ran a hand through his hair. “As soon as Miles and Charlotte get here, the three of us will track down the old O’Sullivan castle and make sure Finn isn’t being held there. Or your dad isn’t holed up there.”

  “What do you mean, the three of you? Charlotte was shot last night. The last thing she needs is to go on a hunting expedition.”

  He filled the kettle and set it on the stove. “She’s fine and we might need her if we run into the Gypsies.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  His hand stopped in midair as he reached for a clean mug. “What?”

  “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me and my family, and also…”—scooting off the stool, she turned off the burner, lowered his arm, and closed the cabinet—“I don’t want any more tea.”

  A deep breath made his chest expand and then he slowly let the air out, facing her. “Actually, I was going to make myself some coffee.”

  “Oh.” Kieran didn’t have a coffeemaker, not even a French press. All he had was some kind of contraption where you poured hot water over grounds and let it steep. Jaya reached over and turned the stove burner back on. “Sorry.”

  Jon took her by the shoulders and stared into her eyes, all the way down to her soul like he always seemed to do. “What do you want, Jaya?”

  Damn this man. Why couldn’t he be like the other people in her life and get mad at her once in a while? The pressure inside her kept building and she was going to blow. She didn’t want it to be at him, especially over something as unbelievably nice as his endless patience and caring. Something she’d never had in her life up to this point. “I honestly don’t have an answer to that, outside of ending this nightmare with everyone intact and safe.”

  His gaze dropped to her belly. “Charlotte is former MI6. This isn’t the first time she’s been shot. It comes with the territory, and luckily, our shooter was drunk, lucky, and ridiculously unskilled.”

  “This wasn’t a random drive-by by a couple of drunk kids. Someone put those boys up to it, I know it.”

  His gaze returned hers, patient. “You have every reason to believe the shooting is connected to our mission, but sometimes a shooting is, in fact, accidental.”

  “Like my van?” She shook her head. “It wasn’t an accident. Someone is trying to scare us off by terrorizing me, but not actually killing anyone. I don’t know whether to be relieved that Charlotte is okay or pissed off that it happened, but they are not chasing me off. I’m not scared.”

  That was sort of a lie, but she was going with it anyway, like one of those positive affirmations Shelby was always writing on sticky notes and hanging on her bathroom mirror.

  Jon grinned. “I can see that, but trust me, Charlotte is okay and Beatrice is already looking into the three kids’ backgrounds, just in case. If there’s anything remotely suspicious, she’ll find it. And Charlotte was laughing about her latest GSW when I was on the phone with Miles. Said that once it healed, she was getting a new tattoo around the scar. She’s kind of crazy like that.”

  Crazy fit right in with this bunch. Jon had filled her in about the Gypsies and the outcasts at the bar that Charlotte and Miles had seen exchanging money. “I want to go to the O’Sullivan castle with you.”

  Jon’s dark brows dipped ever. “I hate to say no, but that’s out of the question.”

  “I’m not hanging back any longer and asking everyone else to put their lives on the line for me.”

  “You’re carrying our child. That trumps everything.”

  “But…” How could she argue with that?

  It still sucked.

  “Here’s the thing. My grandmother was Gypsy.”

  “I know. You told me when you brought me that charm bag when I was in the hospital last fall. Your dad’s mom, right?”

  She’d brought Jon a combo putsi and shaman’s healing pouch. The spirits probably didn’t like her crossing up cultures and traditions, but tough shit. In her world, it never hurt to err on the side of caution. “My grandmother was a Fleming and some of them might be part of the group traveling in these parts. Dad didn’t talk about her much. He liked talking about his father’s side of the family more, with all the castles and hidden treasures. Gypsies didn’t interest him and his mother was outcast because she married a non-Gypsy, so from what he always said, she never talked about that life. She died right after I was born and Grandpa O’Sullivan was long gone before then.”

  “There’s no guarantee they would talk to you, J.” Jon stared at her as if he could will her into understanding and accepting his need to protect her. “And when we start asking questions, we might scare up whoever tried to run us off the cliffs the other night.”

  Fun times. Fisting her hands, she swallowed the fear tightening her throat. “I’m done sitting back and doing nothing, so save your breath. My entire life has been full of risk and taking chances. I promise I will do everything possible to keep our baby safe, but I also have to do whatever I can to find my baby brother. He’s my responsibility too.”

  Jon leaned against the counter, his fingers picking at a piece of peeling trim. “The only way you’re going is if you’re willing to follow my orders to the letter, just like Colton and the others on this team.”

  “Are you pulling the boss card on me?”

  “You’re da
mn right I am.”

  She knew he still suspected the B&B owners had a hand in this somehow. “I want to see the Gypsies, the ones who are in this area. They might be family and this is probably the only chance I’ll ever have. If Charlotte is going, so am I. I’ll hang back and do what you want, but I’m not staying here with Kieran.”

  Yes, it was a risk, but it was also an opportunity, and she wasn’t passing it up. All she’d ever wanted was to feel connected to her family, and one by one, they were disappearing on her faster than she could keep up.

  “I’ll bring you back to Ireland,” Jon said. “Once the baby comes and you’ve got your business expansion taken care of, we can come back, Jaya.”

  “This is me we’re talking about, Jon. My plans tend to go awry, so while I appreciate the offer, I can’t let this opportunity go by. I want to see the castle where my ancestors lived, and if we run across the Gypsies, I want to see them, meet them if possible. You said Charlotte knows how to talk to them and get them to open up. She can help me. Us.”

  She saw the war going on behind his eyes. He sighed deeply. “I love you, you know.”

  She nodded, sliding closer. His arms went around her. “I do know, and I realize I’m asking the world of you to let me do this.”

  The tea kettle whistled and they broke apart, Jon prepping the grounds and pouring the hot water over them while Jaya grabbed two mugs. As the coffee steeped, she found crackers and a tea bag from their supply. Jon quirked a brow at her and she shrugged. “Changed my mind about the tea.”

  “Good.” He poured hot water into her mug. “You need to keep your strength up.”

  A few minutes later, from somewhere inside the castle, Eamon barked. Jon swiveled to look out the window. “They’re here.”

  Jaya moved so she stood next to him, watching Miles and Charlotte drive up the lane in Kieran’s pickup truck. Jon slipped an arm around her waist and nuzzled her ear. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

  For the first time that day, she smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I’m batshit crazy, but amazing sounds nicer.”

  They shared a chuckle and Jon kissed her temple. “You sure your stomach can handle the bumpy roads?”

  “I’ll bring a bucket.”

  “If you’re going with us, you need more than that.”

  “Oh, yeah? Like what?”

  Outside, in the early morning light, Miles parked the truck, then hustled to Charlotte’s side to help her out. She was beaming, her arm in a sling. She caught Miles with her good hand and kissed him square on the lips.

  Jaya liked her instantly.

  Jon pulled her away from the window and pushed her toward the stairs. “If you’re going with us, you, Miss Jaya Hotti O’Sullivan, need a disguise.”

  11

  There were no Gypsies at the abandoned castle outside of the two women Jon had in the backseat of Miles’ rental car. They’d decided not to use Kieran’s truck as it was possibly too well known in these parts and Colton and Jon had used it several times to go into town.

  Charlotte, even one-handed, was a force of nature, taking over Jon’s attempts to disguise Jaya. Between Jaya’s colorful leggings and a gauzy dress Charlotte had pulled from her magic carpet bag, along with a long, dark purple cape and crocheted scarf Kieran had loaned them, Jaya had morphed into a hippy witch. Shelby had returned in time to braid Jaya’s hair and wrap it up on top of her head where it was easy to cover with the hood of the cape.

  They’d taken a back road from Kieran’s property through a tangle of overgrown bushes, vines, and low-hanging, mossy trees covered in frost. If anyone had been watching Kieran’s, they would never know the group had slipped out.

  The drive to the abandoned O’Sullivan castle had lasted nearly an hour, the icy roads slowing them down. Snow had begun to fall, lightly at first and then harder, but they’d driven out of it. The thick, gray clouds overhead continued to look threatening, while the local forecast claimed no snow until evening. Jon hoped that was accurate.

  From the moment they’d gotten in the car and Charlotte had asked Jaya about her relatives, it had been nonstop talk about Gypsies, the Irish, and ancestors.

  While Charlotte was a dark blond with a sprinkling of freckles and dark brown eyes, the two were kin of a different sort—soul sisters, Charlotte had claimed right off the bat. Not only did they share Gypsy blood, regardless of the fact Charlotte’s ancestors were Romanian and Jaya’s Irish, they both shared crappy families with questionable pasts. Seemed to be the norm with SFI guys and their girlfriends.

  The rise and fall of voices floated to Jon where he stood on security point outside the vehicle. Colton and Shelby had met them at the castle, Colton and Miles now doing a perimeter check of the abandoned buildings while Shelby sat inside Miles’ rental with the other two women.

  If they hadn’t had Beatrice’s directions, complete with longitude and latitude, they would have driven right past the place. From the road, it was impossible to see. They’d passed the ruins of a gatehouse and followed a long, narrow, winding road nearly to the cliffs before they discovered the castle grounds.

  The main castle itself was not as huge and sprawling as Blackrock, but it was still a mansion with a turret and courtyard surrounded by dilapidated stone walls.

  Between Jaya’s memories of her father’s stories and what Shelby had found out about the place while doing research, they knew the fortress had been built by a Gaelic chieftain back in the 1300s. Through the years of wars, deaths, and other conflicts, the castle had been shot at by cannons, burned out by enemies, restored multiple times, and finally the last O’Sullivan had fled after his wife and child had died from the plague.

  The place had fallen into disrepair, bills were unpaid, and eventually, it had ended up being sold to a land development company. Because it was said the castle was cursed, no one was surprised when the company went bankrupt and all rehab stopped before it could ever become a tourist hotspot.

  Ghosts, curses, lost treasure…what was next?

  The entire place encompassed nearly forty acres, much of it hidden to their eyes, thanks to Mother Nature taking back what was hers. The sketch Connor had done back at SFI for them, based on Shelby’s research accounts, placed a small church and graveyard to the southeast, another building believed to be housing for soldiers near it. An assortment of barns for horses and livestock dotted the outlying area. Erosion from the sea, the winds, and time had caused one section along the cliffs to crumble and fall into a ravine below. Part of a wooden footbridge to what had once been an inlet for ships had been washed away. Even now, Jon could hear the waves crashing against the rocky shoreline a good fifty meters below and imagine the battles that had been fought here.

  Jaya’s voice came through the half-open window. “One of the first gifts my father ever gave me was a book on castles. I would stare at them for hours, imagining I lived in one instead of the rundown place I grew up in on the reservation.”

  “They are breathtaking,” Charlotte agreed. “But I think the thing that makes them most appealing to me is their histories. The families that lived and died in them always seem so mysterious and tragic.”

  A gust of wind blew against Jon’s face. He remembered the first gift his father had given him—a pocket knife. It had been for his sixth birthday and his mother had vehemently argued against it.

  He still had it, although the blades were rusty now and the miniature scissors had busted off when he’d tried to use them for leverage on a pond stone he couldn’t quite dig out of the riverbed.

  Colton emerged from an archway and hailed him with a wave. “Clear!” he shouted across the windy expanse.

  So no Finn or Sean here either. It was like they’d simply disappeared into thin air. Rory had been checking CCTV footage from around the town and found no matches to either man’s face since the day of the kidnapping. Sean’s phone had been disabled, Finn’s was in his kidnappers’ hands. No credit card charges, no ATM withdrawals. Jon was considering
going door to door with their pictures when they got back to town.

  With one final scan of the area, he opened the passenger door to help Jaya out. She emerged, studying the castle. Her hand reached inside the pocket of the cape and brought out her phone. “Sorry to be a tourist, but this has been on my ATTD list since I was five.”

  “ATTD?” Charlotte asked, coming up behind her.

  Shelby was there too. “Awesome Things To Do. Jaya doesn’t like the term Bucket List, since it’s a reference to dying.”

  “Shelby says to focus on the positive stuff,” Jaya explained, turning the camera to landscape mode and taking another picture. The wind picked up a strand of her hair and blew it across her face. “I agree. I respect the spirit world, and I’m sure it’s pretty rockin’ cool with all my ancestors there, but I don’t want to receive an invitation to it any sooner than absolutely necessary.” Her gaze turned to Jon. “I have a lot to live for.”

  She was so damn beautiful in her purple coat, wool scarf, and fingerless gloves, he wanted to grab her up and carry her into the castle like a bride on her wedding night. “You’re my bucket list,” he murmured softly, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

  She caught his hand and held it against her cheek. “No bucket lists. No one is dying anytime soon.”

  He felt a smile tug at his lips. He had no fear of the spirit world either and had come close to meeting his ancestors many times. A few of those times, he’d actually wanted to die, wanted the pain in his heart to end. But now… “Then spending the rest of my life with you is my ATTD.”

  Her smile was in complete contrast to the overcast day and the frosty monochrome landscape around them. “Now you’re talking.”

  Colton walked up to them. “Are you guys gonna stand here all day?”