by Harper Steen
And then there was the episode with the kitchen. Harold still preferred not to think about the damage that had been done. In an attempt to create an icy surface for skating, his children had flooded the newly remodeled kitchen in the middle of the night, opening the doors of the freezer and turning it to its coldest setting. Damages ran into the thousands of dollars. Harold felt driven to his parental limits by this kind of fun. He had felt the urge to give them a good hiding. “Take it out of our inheritance,” Liz had said with a shrug when he confronted her at the time.
Thankfully, such nonsense was a thing of the past. Over time, John had matured into a serious and responsible young man, and two years ago had met and fallen in love with Annie. Harold wasn’t worried about him at all. His son was grown up and capable of making his own way in the world.
Liz’s development, on the other hand, had gone much differently than expected. She had cut herself off from everyone and vehemently rejected the emotional support and affection he and John offered her. Harold could do whatever he wanted, he just couldn’t relate to his daughter anymore. And that worried him. It worried him a lot. He hoped that when she finally found the right man—and with that man, love—Liz would figure out what mattered most in life and find her way back to her family. But her fondness for playing childish pranks on others had driven away all potential love interests in the past. It wasn’t exactly that he had is heart set on marriage for Liz. But he figured she wouldn’t get into trouble as frequently once the right man was around to positively influence her. And she was often in trouble; he knew this in the way that fathers know such things, even though Liz tried to keep it from him.
Liz’s problems weren’t illegal in nature; his daughter loved justice too much for that. But he could tell there was something in her life that no one was allowed to know about, not even her own family. He had no choice but to accept the fact that she kept a secret. But what was significant about the secret was that keeping it was eating her up inside and crippling her emotionally. This knowledge only intensified his concern for her.
In those moments when Liz felt like she wasn’t being watched, Harold saw in her eyes a yearning to be close with her family. More than once he had noticed regret reflected on his daughter’s face when she encountered John. What surprised him was that every attempt that John—and later, even Annie—made to try to get closer was rebuffed. Liz obviously ached to be close to them, and yet kept herself apart.
She always acted counter to expectations in a deliberate attempt to cause trouble, which inevitably led to arguments. She hid herself behind walls of scathing ridicule and provoked endless discussions, as if this added layer of protection could help shield her from an unwanted surge of suppressed feelings.
Harold would do anything to keep Liz from remaining alone and without love, and he knew that at some point, her relentless rebellious behavior would run its course. She hadn’t made any progress on her own. She took an occasional lover, but in his opinion, that didn’t count since she was still alone. If neither he nor John could reach her, then he needed to find someone else who could succeed in breaking through the protective wall Liz hid behind.
Liz had been building up that barrier every year since Isabelle’s death, and even more so recently. Liz needed a man who would take care of her, Harold thought. One who would love her and win her trust. Love and trust: the very things that, for some reason, she would no longer accept from her family, and which she withheld from them. Maybe if Liz finally found happiness in her own life, she would also let herself get closer to her family. At least, that’s what Harold hoped.
With a satisfied smile Harold watched the way Gray kept Liz in his sight, unfazed by her obvious rejection of him. Even when he was engrossed in a conversation with Annie, his eyes followed Liz or searched for her. She had plainly piqued his interest. And, without having anticipated such a solution, Harold suddenly felt absolutely certain that Gray was the right man for his daughter.
***
John gave his sister a reproachful look. “Why can’t you ever behave yourself?” But she only gave him her infamous mocking smile, turned her back to him, and leaned her arms on the wide, stone railing that encircled the terrace as she looked out into the rambling garden.
The light, provided by the intermittently placed lanterns, made only the outline of the area discernible. Long dark shadows crept across the grass and the garden in which she had once spent countless hours playing with her brother. What trouble they had gotten into here!
Liz had come out on the terrace looking for peace and quiet, but since John was there, that wasn’t going to happen now.
“Why don’t you just go back in and take care of Annie? What I do or don’t do isn’t anyone’s business. Leave me in peace!”
“Liz, Dad only wants what’s best for you.” John spoke in the beseeching manner of an older brother trying to help his younger sister. “He’s worried about you and wants to make sure you’re taken care of.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“With those temp jobs of yours?” John’s expression betrayed the displeasure he felt over the way she made her living. Pursuing any odd job was, in his opinion, undignified, completely inappropriate, and—given Liz’s level of education—illogical. “Sometimes you work, sometimes you don’t. For days, even weeks, you disappear without anyone knowing where you are and what you’re doing. That’s no life! You graduated from a top college—something you should be proud of—and you speak several languages fluently. Why don’t you live up to your potential?”
“Maybe because I don’t want to. Did you ever consider that possibility? I only went to college because Dad wanted me to. He made me feel guilty and talked me into it by saying that Mom would be disappointed if I didn’t go, because she had expected so much from me.”
“I’m sure you misunderstood him. He would never force us to do anything,” John said.
“Maybe he wouldn’t force you, because you’re the beloved and obedient son.” She gave a soft laugh. “At least you are nowadays. I, on the other hand, don’t inspire love, and I’m not agreeable. I never was and never will be. But you figured that out long ago.”
“If you would just try to act better, you would be a lot easier to take.”
She gave another soft laugh and nodded. “I get your point. But maybe I don’t want to be tolerated. I like how I am.”
“Well, it’s out of my control,” John said. “But it would be nice if you didn’t constantly offend Dad. It bothers him, even if he doesn’t always show it.”
“He is tougher than you think. If he wasn’t, how could he have become so successful and been able to save and rebuild a company on the verge of ruin?”
John shook his head as if admitting that Liz was beyond help and then walked through the double glass doors into the hall to some of the remaining guests.
Liz felt sad as she watched him go. It wasn’t easy for her to keep her distance from John. There had always been a special bond between them. They had been able to understand each other almost without talking and had gotten into more trouble together than did many other teenagers her age. At the thought of their adventures, a wistful smile flitted across her face.
Liz remembered very well the crazy bet that had earned her two months of grounding. She had been twelve years old at the time and John fourteen. Whenever they raced against one another, her brother beat her badly. After losing to him over and over again, she had finally had enough. The next time she challenged him to a race, he laughed and announced confidently that she would lose. But he didn’t mind winning and so he accepted her challenge. The bet stipulated that the loser would have to fulfill any ridiculous wish the winner came up with, for a week.
The meandering driveway in front of the house served as both the starting and ending point for their race, which consisted of one lap around the enormous family estate. John had suspected none of what Liz had planned to assure her victory. She had deliberately let herself fall behind during the
race and when John turned the first corner, she ran back to the driveway. There, she jumped into her father’s black limousine and drove it straight through the garden, over the freshly mowed grass, until she was just behind her brother.
Distracted by the noise behind him, he turned as he ran and then abruptly stopped as he watched Liz plow through the grounds surrounding the house. Among the things she rammed was the fountain, which she demolished in an attempt to avoid the rose beds her mother loved above all else. Once Liz finally got the car under control, she shot past her horrified brother to the appointed goal. She would never in her life forget the dumbfounded expression on his face that day.
She won the race that day and the bet, too, although the satisfaction of winning was short-lived. When her parents saw what she had done, she got a scathing lecture from her father first, and then her mother read her the riot act. As a reward for her crowning achievement, she was grounded for two months. That was the worst punishment possible for Liz: being grounded. She hated nothing more than being forced to stay in her room. It really didn’t help that John modified his own activities, keeping his outdoor ones to a minimum so he could share the punishment of staying indoors. As often as was possible, he hung out with her. A better proof of sibling love didn’t exist.
But that was in the past. The close relationship she’d had with her brother didn’t exist anymore, and Liz had no doubt that this was her fault. It appeared that there was no way back for her.
She had kept her distance from John and her father in recent years for good reason, and she’d limited her contact with them to only that which was most necessary. They were all she had left. She would never let anyone hurt them because of her; she loved her family too much for that.
Liz smiled. Temporary jobs? That was a delusion, but she didn’t plan to ever enlighten them.
For the third time that evening, Liz’s thoughts wandered involuntarily to the past. It felt like an eternity had passed since she was a high school graduate visiting a college with an emphasis on international economics. Just like she’d told John, she’d gone to college because her father had stressed again and again how much her mother had wanted that for her. His recurring statement had hit a sore spot, and Liz capitulated.
She hated spending all that time in college. Studying wasn’t hard for her, just the opposite. She even graduated with distinction. But right up until graduation, Liz wasn’t sure whether she stayed in college because of her guilty conscience or because she actually wanted to be there.
The year after she graduated from college, Liz earned her living from assorted odd jobs, a move that was extremely unpopular with her father and her brother. A daughter from a good family with a distinguished college career couldn’t possibly work as a waitress or barmaid, they said. They thought that was beneath her. But at that point in her life, Liz was completely indifferent to their opinions. She wanted once and for all to be rid of the guilty conscience that made her do things she didn’t want to do. And she figured that would only happen once she chose a totally new path. And so it was that, at twenty-two, Liz began a rather unusual—and also unplanned—career.
Ever since, she’d felt it would be better if none of her family knew what she did for a living. How did that saying go? Oh yeah, “ignorance is bliss” or something like that. Because for the last three years, she had been more than just Harold Gibson’s daughter and John Gibson’s sister.
Since she didn’t want to take the chance that one of them could be put in danger, she had to set herself apart and keep contact with them to a minimum. The career that she had embarked on years ago now stood between her and her family, making a loving union impossible.
Liz turned and leaned back against the railing as she looked into the brightly lit hall. Her gaze rested on her father for a while and then flickered to Annie, the kind-hearted young woman whom she liked, despite not wanting to. After one last regretful glance in John’s direction, she walked down the stairs, out into the garden, and around the house. She had to get out. The pain she felt at not being able to be close to them—something she had brought on herself—was simply too great. And the longer she stayed close to the ones she loved, the harder it would be when she eventually had to leave. Liz had to be alone now. Hopefully, she would soon get a new assignment that would distract her and help her push down these feelings, which could be so destructive.
When Liz reached the large driveway, she headed straight for the large, black motorcycle she’d ridden there a few hours earlier. She reached for the helmet hanging on the handlebar, pulled it over her head and impatiently tugged her jacket’s zipper upward. Then she sat on the machine, turned the key in the ignition and pressed the start button. Immediately the engine caught with a deep, muffled hum. Gravel flew behind the spinning back tire as she drove down the driveway at full throttle, literally fleeing the family estate.
***
Gray watched Liz thoughtfully; she had suddenly been in a huge hurry to get away. He had never come across a woman quite like her before. Usually he preferred much softer representatives of her gender, but Elizabeth Gibson had piqued his interest for some reason. It wasn’t just her splendid body, her ample breasts which he briefly felt against his chest, or her narrow waist and attractive derrière. There was much more to Liz Gibson. Much, much more.
She was hiding something, and whatever that something was, he wanted to flush it out. Gray had noticed the look on her face when John left her alone on the terrace; she had gazed after him almost sadly, as if something was burdening her conscience. In that moment something inexplicable stirred in him and he felt a pressing need to get to know her better. He felt almost like a teenager who—for the first time and at very first glance—had fallen in love. Of course, Gray was no teenager and he couldn’t fall in love like one, but he couldn’t completely shake the feeling, that that was exactly what had happened.
A soft ringing pulled him from his thoughts and he automatically reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out his cellphone.
“Yes?”
“We have a new job for you, Blackwood. You’ll receive further details as soon as you get here with Robbins.”
“Understood.”
It looked as if he wouldn’t be dealing with Elizabeth Gibson’s problem until some time in the future; right now, he had to devote himself to his real job. Gray put the phone back in his pocket and went to look for his host. After he had thanked Harold again for the invitation and had said goodbye, he climbed into his brand new, bronze Mercedes SUV.
As he drove, his thoughts kept circling back around to Liz. What was it about this woman that had enabled her to cast such a spell over him? Gray didn’t know the answer to that question, but he was sure that sooner or later he would find out.
Chapter 3
From the corner of his eye, Gray watched his longtime colleague and friend Chris Robbins tear his hair out. He was clearly preoccupied with the new assignment. Without lifting his gaze from the satellite pictures and maps spread out in front of him on the table, he told Gray: “Townsend just called. He’s only sending us two.”
“Just two? For an assignment like this?” Doubt was clearly written on Gray’s face. No wonder Chris was so quiet and seemed worried. That was very unlike him.
“Do we know them?”
“No. Townsend said we’ve never worked with them before. Unfortunately, I don’t have their documents yet, either. Not only that, he sounded pretty strange over the phone.”
“Really? Sounds mysterious. I guess we’ll just have to be surprised. Hopefully they’re worth their salt. The last Special Forces Team wasn’t exactly brilliant.”
Gray shuddered as he thought about the last assignment he and Chris had monitored, which had almost failed because the six soldiers hadn’t followed his express orders to a T. Two of them had been injured, something that wouldn’t have happened if they had pulled back the minute Gray had ordered them to. Instead they’d gotten mixed up in a dispute with the bodyguards
for the drug baron, Manuel Gomez, and had been far outnumbered by Gomez’s bodyguards during a worldwide manhunt. All that, even after they had already completed their assignment! Gomez was already in their custody and had only to be transferred to the United States so that he could be put on trial for multiple murders of police officers and two judges. Only by the skin of their teeth had the team, plagued by wounds, managed to avoid capture and cross the border with a securely restrained Gomez hidden in their luggage.
Gray and Chris belonged to a Special Forces Team which was strictly an intelligence task force whose purpose was to evaluate satellite images, examine maps and develop plans of attack. And they were former members of a Special Forces Strike Force. Strictly speaking, it was the only outfit whose members had the SFSU-IV security classification. Since then, they had also gotten SFSU-V security classification. They reported to Lt. General Townsend, who was their direct commander and the only one who could issue them orders.
Gray could only hope that this time they were being sent decent men and not greenhorns who had just finished their training and were determined to prove themselves, come hell or high water.
“They’re approaching now, Gray.”
“Well then, let’s go meet them. Are you coming, or will I be the only member of the welcoming committee?”
“Of course I’m coming. The first impression is crucial.” Together they walked out of the small, square room that would serve as the command center for this assignment. Outsiders might have called it a cubbyhole, as it was barely large enough to hold the large map table, computers and monitors necessary to their work.
The two men ran out of the building by way of a long corridor that was illuminated by a cool neon light. Outside, a US Army Light Observation- and Combat Helicopter, an OH-58 KIOWA, hovered overhead. A moment later it landed some distance away on an area marked by numerous floodlights. The helicopter door was opened from inside.
