Heartbreak Hero

by Frances Housden

  “I can’t lock her away for carrying a piece of paper. She doesn’t have the actual drug per se, but she’s carrying the formula. You’ve heard of kiss-and-tell? My job is to see which cartel it’s delivered to, take it from there and try to get rid of her contact and it, before he has a chance to pass it on.”

  Jo turned to Rowan. A look of complete understanding passed from one to the other as if they’d known each other for aeons and had no need of words as they offered, “What can we do for you?”

  “There is something you can do. I don’t think I’m the only one following the formula. Ngaire’s suitcase was almost stolen by a guy in Tahiti, but I fixed that. Also, there’s a German guy who’s been on her tail for as long as I have. Schmidt. He’s in this hotel, as well a woman with him who’s supposed to be his wife. They’re on the same damn tour, so there’s no escaping him. Can you check him out?”

  “No problem.”

  Standing, Rowan went over to his wife and pulled her up beside him. With his arm around Jo’s shoulders he assured Kel, “Don’t worry, she means it. From your mouth to God’s ear.”

  “And with a name like Ngaire the girl must be a New Zealander. Do you want me to see if we have anything on the books?”

  “No point, she’s only part Maori, comes from San Francisco.”

  “She must have come through Customs though.”

  “No problems there, though they did take extra-long processing her.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. In return, you can keep in touch more often. You know, we worry about you. Kurt is the only one you’re in contact with, but being a twin his methods aren’t available to the rest of your family.”

  He could tell Rowan was making a move to leave and almost wished they’d stay longer. For the first time in years he wished he could give all of it away, all the undercover work and sleazy dives. When was the last time he’d stayed anyplace as classy as the Hilton? Hell, the Y was upmarket compared to his lifestyle. “I promise I’ll keep in touch when I’m able. As for the rest, thanks sis, you’re a lifesaver.”

  “No I’m not. In this family that’s Rowan’s title. He saved my life twice, you know.”

  The tawny-haired giant just shrugged, a wry twist to his mouth. “I thought we’d agreed to stop keeping count of who saved who?”

  Kel grabbed Rowan’s hand and shook it. “Thanks, mate. I owe you. Welcome to the family.”

  Chapter 8

  A ll Ngaire could think was, thank heavens she didn’t suffer from claustrophobia. The second day of the tour had taken them deep underground. They didn’t even have the comfort of a light on the boat, just a cool blindness that turned her skin goosey from whispers of cold air stirred up by its passage on the water, smooth and gleaming darkly like oil in the bowels of the earth.

  It was as if everything around her, the cave, the boat, the other passengers, held their breath, waiting.

  She edged closer to Kel on the narrow wooden seat, extra warmth being as good as any incentive to abandon the aloof attitude she’d wrapped around herself. Brought about by her own perversity, her mood carried overtones of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

  Had Kel even noticed? She didn’t think so.

  If anything, his foul disposition left hers for dead. His mouth had a bitter twist she found hard to ignore, though she’d tried. Was it to do with the woman in his room last night? All her instincts told her she’d heard an angry female.

  TV? No way!

  Although she hadn’t been able to make out the words, there was too much real passion vibrating through the walls to put down to acting. She’d almost finished her bedtime routine, letting down her hair, removing the mere from her day pack to slip under her pillow, when the harsh sounds began.

  The subtle difference in the jade sent small shocks rippling up her arm. Then her hair, as yet to feel the stroke of her brush, lifted in the air crackling with static energy.

  Moments such as that reminded her that the mere was an instrument of death as well as a prophet of doom for its owner. An ancient killing machine, not merely the exquisite piece of craftsmanship it appeared at first glance.

  She was well aware that those attributes had kindled Paul Savage’s obsession. For a guy supposed to be connected, she’d imagined the constant presence of bodyguards watching his back canceled the need to know the time of his death. Or like her ancestor, Te Ruahiki, did he intend taking his enemies with him to the grave?

  Yet who was she to cast aspersions?

  Didn’t her nightly routine have its roots in her own fears? To what end? No bloodred flecks had surfaced on the jade before her fall. Yet that knowledge had been forgotten the instant she’d dropped off the edge of the cliff.

  As Kel’s body heat seeped through her clothes, she shivered at the contrast between flesh and air.

  The hurt as he edged away was every bit as real as if he’d slapped her. And the weight of her pain pushed her neck down into her chest as she turned her shoulder toward him, only to feel his jacket cover her in the warmth he’d radiated.

  She felt his breath caress her cheek and the unforgettable taste of him swamped her senses, making her shudder as one kind of tension replaced another.

  “I should have warned you to bring a jacket. It has to be twelve degrees cooler on the water than outside.”

  The darkness was no hindrance to him finding her hand. His fingers plucked it off her knee and transferred it, palm down, onto his hard thigh. His quad tensed as her fingertips lightly scraped the tightly packed flesh, until the weight of his palm halted her instinctive pursuit. Instead, his fingers wrapped around hers and held on as if he’d never let go.

  Dark and moldering, the cave reflected Kel’s mood. Today Gordie would be cremated and his ashes scattered who knows where, as if he had never existed. It wasn’t until Ngaire’s shivers caught his attention that he snapped out of the self-indulgent pall of gloom. He’d been flagellating himself, seeing Gordie’s death as his own failure. And he couldn’t afford another one or Chaly would toss him out of GDE on his ass.

  As if Gordie’s funeral wasn’t enough, Jo had set the tone for today by resurrecting old business concerning his father. If he’d needed anything to confirm Ngaire’s place in his life—and he had—that realization hit the nail on the head with a whopping great hammer.

  She belonged on the same team as his father.

  A chorus of in-drawn breaths alerted him to their arrival in the glowworm cave, the small ripple of surprise enough for a few of the tiny creatures to withdraw their light.

  His heart jolted as Ngaire touched his neck, pulling him toward her. No use to say “Get over it!” His body was on a mission of its own and had gone deaf to his protests.

  “Holy cannoli! You didn’t tell me what a wonderful experience this would be. It’s like floating in the Milky Way.”

  What could he say? Talking turned the stars out, but experiencing the withdrawal of her lips from his jaw, just south of his ear, felt as big a loss.

  Hell, he was in a bad way. Up to his neck in hormones, when he needed to concentrate on the whereabouts of her connection to the drug cartel. Some people recited logarithms at times like this, but he turned his thoughts back to Gordie.

  If there had been a mirror handy, Ngaire was certain she’d see stars in her eyes. She was sure nothing could cap the experience of being bathed in starlight, but if the rest of her visit to New Zealand was only half as good, she would still agree with George Two Feathers’s definition of paradise.

  Her earlier eagerness to reach the boats meant they were first on and last off. Kel’s footsteps rang on the metal stairs just two treads below hers. Reaching the top, she twisted round to catch him eyeing her butt. The knowledge sparked a silent hope that matters were back to progressing nicely in the romance stakes. She’d been worried about going home to report to Leena that she’d blown her only interesting chance for a holiday fling. If Ngaire arrived in San Francisco carrying the same sealed box of condoms her frie
nd had pushed into her hand at the airport, Leena would shake her head in despair.

  So far the only thing missing from the box was part of the blue ribbon she’d tied round the package.

  “Let’s take one last look in the cathedral chamber before we leave. I want some snapshots that aren’t filled with the rest of the passengers.”

  “We’ll miss the bus.”

  “Don’t worry, they won’t leave without us, and in the few seconds it will take to click the shutter the others won’t be anywhere near the exit. Come on, you can pose for me.”

  “I’ve a better idea.” Kel held out his hand for the camera. “You pose and I’ll snap.”

  She was in luck; most of the stragglers from their tour had gone on and the next lot hadn’t reached the cathedral chamber. Awesome hardly described the sight of the earth’s strata, shimmering in blends of light ochre through to deep rusty reds.

  She’d been told some places close to the cave wall acted as a whispering gallery, though not when too many bodies dampen the sounds. “Get some shots of the stalactites on the ceiling, then I’ll stand beside the formation they call the pipe organ.”

  A few moments later Kel called out from the far side, “Say cheese…cheese…cheese.”

  “That was great, do it again.”

  He frowned, “Do what?” Again the last word repeated, but Kel couldn’t seem to hear from where he stood.

  She flagged the answer away, embarrassed, as she caught a glimpse of movement, a shadow passing behind the stalagmites, close to the door. They were no longer alone.

  “What did you do with your camera?” Ready to leave, she flung the question at him as she slid her own back in its case.

  Kel slapped his hip pocket, then froze as if someone had stopped the film at one frame for a second then let it roll on. “Oops, I left it at home.”

  Her ears pricked. He’d been very cagey with details of home and family, even more so than her. “Where is home?”

  “How does that line go? Wherever I hang my hat?”

  “You don’t wear a h-hat…” she stuttered as the light disappeared. “My God! I’ve gone blind.”

  “Don’t panic, there’s been a power cut. They’re bound to have an emergency backup generator in a place like this. The lights should be on again in a few seconds.”

  “I thought it was dark in the glowworm grotto, but this sure beats all.”

  “That’s because when we first went in the boat there was some light behind us and our eyes became accustomed before we’d reached the grotto.”

  Was her imagination playing tricks? Did Kel sound farther away? She swallowed hard, but the fear stuck in her throat. “I’m too scared to move.”

  “Look, I was facing you and away from the exit when the lights went out. If neither of us have moved and you stretch your arm out while I stretch out mine, they should meet.”

  “Okay, I’m doing it.” Fingers spread wide, she reached out ready to grab the first solid object. Make that a warm solid object.

  But when she found one, she gasped, “Is that you, Kel?” And her heart didn’t stop pounding until he answered.

  “Who else would it be? We’re the only ones in the cathedral.”

  She wasn’t so sure, but circumspectly, refused to mention it.

  Kel reeled her in by the wrist, then steadied her by placing his hands on her shoulders, protecting himself from the need to draw her closer. He hoped someone was working on that generator. “Are your eyes beginning to adjust?”

  “No, they are not. This isn’t the best moment to discover I suffer from night blindness.” There was an edge to her voice; he imagined she wore a sulky, little-girl pout.

  A brisk command to snap out of it wouldn’t work here. This was a far cry from night maneuvers with the SAS. “Not enough carrots, that’s your problem. A double order for you tonight to make sure this never happens again.”

  His fooling earned him a giggle. “That’s better. Now, take a look over to your left. Can you see a slight phosphorescence gleaming on the wall?”

  “Like a pale rendition of the glowworm cave, yes, thank heavens I see it. That means I haven’t gone blind.”

  A chuckle bubbled up out of nowhere and took him by surprise. He hadn’t thought he could find anything to laugh at today of all days. “Don’t blame the wall, it hasn’t got the same need to attract food the way the worms do.”

  “Or a mate, unless that’s the way caves reproduce.”

  Trust Ngaire to drag his mind back to sex and the fact that one little pull would send her spinning into his arms. “I suggest we move over next to the wall, then if the worst comes to worst we can follow it round to the cave exit.”

  “I won’t mind if the lights come on before we get there, so don’t rush. I noticed a few baby stalagmites that could do a lot of damage if we fell on them.”

  Time dragged, when all he could do was lean against a wall and check the luminous numbers on his watch about five times a minute. He could think of more productive ways to use the time.

  The more Ngaire fidgeted, shifting from one foot to the other, bringing her closer to his side, the more fruitful his ideas became. He was holding his libido on a tight leash and chances were if she touched him, it might snap.

  That had been his less-than-altruistic reason for handing over his jacket for her to wear again.

  “Do some of that stretching like you did outside the bus in Tahiti. It will smooth the kinks out and make you feel better.”

  “Oh. You remembered.”

  “Doll, there’s nothing about you I can forget.” Particularly the notion that in her bag at that very moment was the formula for the nastiest designer drug ever designed.

  Just keep reminding yourself of that, Kel boy, and tell your urges to back off.

  A rattle that sounded as if someone had rolled small stones underfoot had him pushing upright from the wall. He checked his watch once more. “It’s been more than ten minutes. You stay here and don’t move. I’m going looking for help.”

  “Take me with you, please, Kel.”

  Her pleading almost got through to him, but he’d learned how to harden his heart against women’s wiles battling with his ex-wife’s demands that he give up the SAS for her.

  “You’re better off here where there’s a faint glimmer of light. I don’t want you taking any more chances of getting hurt.” Dim as the light was, her eyes flashed in it. “Hey, doll.” He reached out, took her chin in his hand and rubbed his thumb across the velvety pout of her bottom lip. “I’d never forgive myself if you got hurt.”

  “Oh, all right. But if you take too long I’m coming after you.” He bet she would and all.

  “I’ll be back before you know it. I’m only going to the cave entrance. From there I’ll be able to see if someone’s searching for us. Maybe they’ll have a flashlight.”

  Left alone and blind in the dark, Ngaire felt each minute lasted a lifetime.

  Ten lonely lifetimes passed without Kel. As the vague glow of phosphorescence dimmed, Ngaire couldn’t remember ever feeling so isolated. Kel’s company was sorely missed.

  A faintly tinny rumble of gravel rolling underfoot sounded again. And again, yet the noise appeared to come from the rock wall behind her. Hadn’t she read somewhere in her research of New Zealand about cave wetas? Critters that grew upward of twelve inches in length? The thought scared her. Now, that was a little piece of trivia she wished she could forget.

  Next she thought she heard a whisper, a thread of a voice saying, “Alone…alone…alone,” repeated so softly it might simply have been Kel’s jacket brushing against the rock wall. The only problem with that, she was the one wearing it. She pulled the edges tight, wrapping them around both her and her day pack. She’d worn the pack back to front, so leaning against the wall wouldn’t damage the mere. She got the idea after the carved handle dug into her back. Te Ruahiki felt toasty compared to her, so she snuggled round him to keep warm.

  “Ke-e-el,” she whispere
d as if she’d only to mention his name to spirit him up. It hadn’t worked before and it didn’t work then. Missing him badly, she counted off the seconds inside her head. A thousand more, then she was moving on out.

  Light skimmed past the cave entrance, shifting, dancing, taking the fixed silhouettes of stalagmites on an impossible march like clay Chinese soldiers in an emperor’s tomb. Relief shuddered through her like an icy chill rattling her bones.

  Kel had come back.

  “Over here!” she yelled, but no one answered. Instead the cold maw of darkness, pressing down from the cavern’s vaulted ceiling, swallowed her shout. Yet, she knew in her heart her wait was almost over.

  At last, Kel was coming to get her.

  Pushing off the wall, she opened her day pack, searching with her fingers, making sure she wasn’t leaving anything behind, relying on her senses since eyesight was redundant in this situation.

  “Brilliant!” Her hand closed round her camera. If she set off the flash, Kel would know at once where to find her.

  No sooner thought than done, the blue flash lit up her area of the cavern for a microsecond, giving a fleeting image of someone moving. This was great. She didn’t know how long it would take to run the battery flat, but until then…

  A beam of light danced across the floor of the cave toward her, skirting the bases of tapering limestone pillars, yet unless her sense of direction had gone awry, it was coming from the back of the cave. “About time, too. Did you get lost?”

  No answer.

  The small pool of light was almost on her, held by an invisible hand. Her heart wrenched itself free and dropped into her stomach. “Not funny, Kel. Not in the least funny, I know it’s you, answer me, darn it!”

  The dazzling beam caught her square in the eyes. Not the answer she’d expected. Ngaire threw up a hand to protect her sight as her night-widened pupils fractured in a million shards of color, blinded by the sudden contrast.