Love Another Day

by Lexi Blake

Yes, and that had grated on Brody when he was in Sierra Leone with her. He’d been her constant companion, her guard, and her cover, and yet he hadn’t been in charge. Not really. Every move he made had to be reported back to O’Donnell, who acted like her dad or something. He’d never truly been in command. “I need to talk to her.”

  “Here she is.” Damon turned the phone his way.

  He wasn’t wasting a bit of time. He simply took the phone from Damon and pushed the button to connect.

  It wasn’t more than one ring before a masculine voice answered. “Hello?”

  That accent was fairly thick. Definitely European.

  Brody froze for the second time. “I’m looking for Stephanie Gibson.”

  A chilly chuckle came over the line. “Yes, well, aren’t we all? Are you a friend of hers? Because we would really like to know where the bitch is.”

  “Who is this?”

  “Let her know she can run, but she can’t hide. I know what she has and I’m going to get it back one way or another. I’m going to give her everything I promised her. Tell her if she turns herself over I might go easy on that boy of hers. What did she call him? Nate. Yes, Nate. If she makes me come after her, all bets are off. I’ll kill him, too. Real slow like. She’s got twenty-four hours.”

  The line went dead.

  Brody immediately tried to call it back. It went straight to voice mail.

  What the hell had she gotten herself into? And who was the “boy” that man had mentioned? Had she taken a lover? Someone named Nate? Of course she had. She’d talked that night about how she was sick of being alone and she needed someone in her bed. It had been him for one night and now she’d found someone else and they were both in trouble.

  His insides ached at the thought of another man’s hands on her, but he’d made that bed and he had to lie in it. He owed it to her. She’d given him everything she had that night and he’d taken her like a rowdy sailor.

  “What’s going on?” Damon asked. “I take it that wasn’t the doctor.”

  “Not sure yet, but I need to get someone to ping her cell phone and find out where it is. O’Donnell said she’s in Dallas, but she didn’t answer. It was some arsehole with a German accent. Maybe Dutch. I can’t tell. Give me a minute.”

  He handed Damon his phone and shuffled through his own, looking for Alfi’s number.

  Damon was already on his line. “O’Donnell, give me the rundown on what’s happening with Stephanie Gibson. Yes, I know it’s midnight there. I’m aware of the time difference.”

  O’Donnell wasn’t going to be helpful, but Alfi might. The phone rang once and then again and again before the line picked up.

  “This is Dauterre. I’m partying right now. This better be good.”

  Brody could hear loud, thumping industrial music. “Where the hell are you? You’re supposed to be in Africa.”

  “Brody, my mate!” Dauterre’s Aussie accent was thick over the line. That’s what happened when he drank heavily. “Brody, I was thinking about you. Gosh, mate, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to talk to you.”

  “Are you in a pub? Where the hell are you? You’re supposed to be watching over the doctor. You remember her? I’m paying you to check in on her.” He was going to kill Alfi. “Where is Steph? What happened?”

  Alfi went silent for a moment. When he spoke again, he seemed a bit more sober. “No idea, mate. I suspect she’s at her clinic. Ain’t seen her in a while. I got things to do with my time, too, you know.”

  “She’s not there. She had to leave in a hurry because someone’s trying to kill her. I believe that’s a fact you might have mentioned to me.”

  “Well, then I’m sure she’s probably on her way to see that Irishman she always talks about.” Alfi sounded tired, his words slurring. “Nice lady, she is. I’ll check in on her next time I’m in Freetown. It’s probably a misunderstanding or something. Don’t be so high strung. The girl is fine. Everything is normal. You know you only told me to call you if something outside the norm happened.”

  He hung up. Alfi was drunk somewhere and he would be useless until someone sobered him up.

  “Bastard.” Damon was staring down at his phone. “Told me to mind my own business and then hung up on me. This is my business. That’s my name on the bloody door. Arrogant Irishman.”

  Brody looked at his boss. O’Donnell might have done him a favor. “There’s only one way we’re getting answers.”

  “Go there and demand them. Well, you’ll be useless until you do. Though you’re not using the jet for what will be personal business. You’ll have to fly commercial.” Damon shuddered as though that was the worst punishment he could hand out.

  Brody had only flown private since he’d come to work for McKay-Taggart and Knight. Before then almost all his flights had been in the back of an SASR transport aircraft. “No problem.”

  “Take one of the lads as backup,” Damon ordered. “If the good doctor is in trouble, I have no doubt you’ll convince Big Tag to let you work the case. Owen’s working with Nick and Robert’s acting as Ariel’s bodyguard while she’s working a case for MI5. I need Kay here in case anything comes up, so it’s got to be one of the others.”

  “I’ll take Tucker.” He’d said he wouldn’t mind turning a blind eye to any random violence that might occur.

  “I’ll let him know to be ready. I would call Big Tag, but he’ll back his man. You’ll have to make your case in person.” Damon strode into the gym.

  Brody walked past the lift. It would take too long. He jogged up the stairs.

  He would get to the bottom of this. Even if it killed him.

  Chapter Two

  Stephanie looked at the laptop screen, slowly scrolling through a rogue’s gallery of mercenaries.

  “The trouble is we mostly have pictures of these men when they were younger,” Adam Miles explained. “Once they join the ranks of soldier of fortune, the dirty ones tend to not let themselves get lined up for portraits we can use to ID them.”

  “Wouldn’t that make the world a simpler place?” Charlotte Taggart set a cup of coffee in front of her before sinking into her seat.

  “So says the woman once wanted by every intelligence agency in the world,” Liam quipped. “You’re a lucky one we didn’t have that kind of database a few years back.”

  Charlotte shrugged. “Yes, well, now I play for the good guys and I totally want a database.”

  Stephanie enjoyed the easy banter between the employees of McKay-Taggart. Liam had driven her to the office, both babies in the back of his big SUV because Avery was working that day. Nate had gurgled and kicked his fat baby legs and laughed at everything Aidan did. She’d freaked out a little when it had come time to leave him in the nursery. He hadn’t been more than a room away from her since he was born, but the women in the nursery had started cooing and ahhing over him and he’d seemed to revel in the attention. When she’d left, Charlotte’s twin daughters had been standing over Nate’s crib, making him giggle.

  She wished she was in there with him rather than looking through the military equivalent of mug shots.

  It hit her hard that she was tired. Tired of working endlessly, tired of never taking a real break. She’d watched Avery and Liam this morning and she’d loved their easy manner with each other. Li had made sure Avery had coffee and Avery had stopped him and redone his tie, ensuring it was perfect. They’d passed Aidan between them, effortlessly tackling all the morning tasks, and then there had been that moment when she and the boys were in the car and Liam had stayed at the front door, kissing his wife like they would be apart for weeks instead of hours.

  She’d sighed and longed and was starting to wonder if maybe Avery was right and she could be a good partner to a man. Maybe a man could want her if she let him in.

  She forced her mind back to the task ahead of her.

  The men in front of her were all hard looking, but mostly clean and neatly kept, wearing various uniforms. “This man was definitely older and
he had longer hair and a beard. I don’t know. It could be that one. Maybe, but I’m not sure. I was pretty terrified the whole time. I could better ID the man I worked on.”

  She could ID that dude’s liver in a heartbeat. He definitely ate too much fat and drank a bit much since there had been scarring on the liver that hadn’t come from the bullet he’d taken.

  She sat back. It wasn’t going to help. The man was dead and that was precisely why she was on the run. She hadn’t been able to save him. The bullet had done its job.

  “Do you remember anything else about him or any of his men?” Liam asked.

  She’d already told them everything that had happened. She’d gone over it in a dull monotone, keeping all emotion at bay. Ian Taggart had sat in on that portion of the meeting along with his partner Alex McKay. The big guy had sat back, his hands steepled in front of him as though he was already working through the problem. She’d told them what she remembered, which was mostly being terrified for her son and herself and the people around her.

  Big bad dudes had come in, brought her a patient, and then told her if he died they would murder her.

  The patient had survived the initial operation, but coded shortly after and died.

  Her part-time security guy had gotten her out of there before the boss had found out his man was dead.

  Thank god Alfi had been there. It was the only piece of good luck she’d had that day. Alfi often was gone for weeks at a time, but he’d been in Freetown the night before and had come to check in on her.

  She couldn’t think about what would have happened if Alfi hadn’t been there.

  Steph wracked her brain for anything she could think of. “At first I thought the man he’d brought in was one of his soldiers. I don’t see many of those kinds of men where I am. It’s actually somewhat peaceful since I’m close to Freetown. Still, there are plenty of Western corporations who basically hire their own armies to provide security for businesses in Africa. They don’t exactly have HR departments, and I’m pretty sure they don’t care about civil rights.”

  “You’re talking about resource development?” Adam asked. “Mining and oil?”

  “Yes, especially the diamond mines are known to violate locals’ rights, but that’s mostly to the south. Like I said, I’m not used to a bunch of armed men coming in unless it’s local police bringing me a patient. They’re quite friendly. I’ve worked in much worse places.”

  “And they didn’t give you the name of the man they wanted you to work on?” Charlotte asked.

  “No. They were rough with him. I suspected that the boss himself had shot the man and he was trying to fix the situation.” Not that anyone had explained it to her. She flipped through another row of military men on the screen. Nothing.

  “All right, I can buy that. Where was he shot?” Liam asked.

  “He had a GSW to the abdomen. It’s the kind of wound that can certainly kill a man, but it takes a while and it hurts like hell.” She felt better talking about the medical stuff. “The bullet lodged in his liver. I had to bisect it, but I thought I might have saved enough of it that he could survive. I suspect he had a massive stroke following the surgery.” She thought about what she’d seen while she was operating. “I would say he was in his mid- to late-forties. He was either American or European. Could have been Aussie, but he was Caucasian and First World. Now that I think about it, he was far smaller than the other men. He didn’t have their muscle. He was a bit on the soft side.”

  “Well, soldiers of fortune tend to keep up their fitness routine,” Charlotte remarked. “They have to in case they need to run. So, we’re thinking this guy might have run afoul of this boss person, and then the boss worried he might get in trouble for killing him.”

  Liam sighed and leaned against the table. “Have you thought about the fact that perhaps the boss made that threat and didn’t mean to follow through? What I mean is that he was trying to use the threat because he was scared of what would happen if the man died. That doesn’t necessarily mean he would compound the mistake by also killing you. Sometimes men like that don’t handle failure well and can say things they don’t mean.”

  She prayed that was true. There was nothing in the world that would make her happier than finding out she’d completely overblown the situation. It would make for a good laugh if “the boss” was somewhere wondering where the hell the doc had gone and trying to explain to the police why the doctor had run away. “I hope so. Has anyone called the clinic? I had to leave my phone behind. Obviously. Even I know I can be tracked by my phone. I know he can track my credit cards, but that will only tell him where I’ve been. He might be able to find out where I’m going.”

  “But the cell will tell him exactly where you are,” Charlotte agreed. “Yes, it was good to get rid of that. You’re playing this smart. If he’s actually after you. If he’s not, you’re going to have to buy a new cell, and that can get expensive.”

  “All right, you keep looking at the pictures. I’m going to do some more research,” Adam said. “And I’ll see what I can find out about your clinic.”

  “I’ve been afraid to call.” She was worried about her nurses and patients, but she had to protect her son. The boss had only threatened her, and she’d told the nurses to leave. Anya had stayed but she’d had her second nurse flee out the back with the small group of patients that had been waiting on treatment.

  She hoped Alfi was safe. He’d left her in Guinea, his flight taking him in a different direction. She hadn’t called him either. He’d warned her that they needed to stay far apart until everything shook out, as he put it.

  “I can ensure that no one can trace the call,” Adam assured her. “Don’t worry about anything but taking care of your baby. We’ll handle things now. Though you know I’m surprised you didn’t go to the London office. It would have been a shorter trip.”

  “Why would she go to London?” Liam asked, his voice taking on that forbidding tone Steph was sure would one day scare the crap out of his son’s teenaged friends.

  Adam didn’t seem fazed. “Well, like I said, it would have shaved eight hours off her flight. She might have been able to get a direct flight, and Brody’s there. I thought she had a… Oh, holy shit. How old is your kid again?”

  She felt her skin flush. She should have known she wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret.

  Liam stepped in front of Adam. “Brody’s got nothing to do with any of this, and if I catch you gossiping about Steph and her kid, I’ll end you, and not in a pretty way. I know Ian’s always jokingly threatening you, but I don’t joke around. Not about me family. Am I understood?”

  “It’s okay.” Brody already knew. There wasn’t a big worry about him stomping in and demanding to see his kid. He didn’t want his kid.

  Adam frowned, stepping back from Li and straightening out his dress shirt. “I seriously doubt Brody had nothing to do with that kid, and I wasn’t gossiping. I was sleuthing, something we’re encouraged to do around here. And now I’ve solved the mystery of why our client didn’t head for London. You know, Li, the older you get, the more you sound like Ian, and that is not a compliment.”

  He turned and walked out.

  “Yeah, well the older I get, the more I understand Big Tag.” Liam looked back to Steph. “Are you all right here? I’ve got work to do and I want to make a couple of calls and see if I can hear anything about a German mercenary who calls himself ‘boss.’ Can’t be too many of those out there, right?”

  “I’ll stay with Steph. I know Ian is looking into some stuff, too, and I asked Chelsea to monitor the Dark Web to see if there are any rumblings out there,” Charlotte said.

  “Dark Web?” She’d known that was what the team had used when setting her up as a smuggler during the mission that had saved Theo Taggart. She herself hadn’t used the underbelly of the Internet. Chelsea Weston had done that, pretending to be Stephanie and making those connections that had led them to Hope McDonald. Still, she wasn’t sure why they needed
the Dark Web now.

  “Oh, the Dark Web is where they would put a bounty on your head,” Charlotte explained with a sunny smile. “Chelsea’s going to see if anyone’s out there looking to assassinate you.”

  “Charlotte!” Liam frowned her way.

  “Adam’s right. You do sound a lot like Ian,” Charlotte replied before turning back to Steph. “And it happens way more often than you would think. I’ve had many bounties on my head and I’m still kicking. It’s nothing to worry about.”

  “Don’t use Charlotte as your role model. She’s a terrible one.” Liam opened the big glass door. “If you need anything at all, I’ll be in my office. We’ll head for home in an hour or so.”

  “Thanks for lunch,” she said with a smile. Liam had gotten her the most delicious BLT from the deli on the first floor and then he’d sat with her and had his own lunch, talking mostly about their children and all the fun things Avery was doing with Serena as her personal assistant and all-around gal Friday. He’d taken her mind off all the awful things surrounding her and she was grateful.

  She’d also thought a lot about what Avery had said the night before. She did need to think about coming home, and Dallas was the best place for her.

  “You’re welcome. I was happy to have the company.” Liam winked her way and walked out.

  Charlotte immediately turned in her seat, her face going from serious to excited in a heartbeat. “Wanna have some fun?”

  She opened her mouth to thank Charlotte, but to explain that she had to keep searching through the pictures and then she should…what? For the first time in ten years she didn’t have a clinic to manage, didn’t have patients to oversee. No paperwork to do or grant requests to submit.

  “Yes. Yes, I do.” Baby steps. She was going to take baby steps in this new life she found herself in.

  Charlotte grinned and started for the door. “Awesome! Let’s go pick you out a couple of pieces of candy.”

  She stood up, surprised. “Candy? I’m a little full.”

  “Oh, you can never be too full of this candy,” Charlotte assured her. “We need man candy. It’s time to pick your bodyguard. Or guards. Why pick one when you can have several?”