by Matt Lincoln
“You have my number.” Davis stood. “Practice your cover story. I don’t want to find out the hard way if you blow it.”
“We won’t blow it,” I promised. “Neither of us will.”
There was no option but to succeed because there was too much line.
CHAPTER 23
Sadie’s shift had been one of the most difficult in her career. She felt like she was a part of some macabre death watch. Two fatalities occurred at a grisly scene she was going to remember for a long time. Less than an hour after she and Wayne were back in service, they responded to a helicopter down.
The pilot was conscious when they arrived, but he knew he wasn’t going to survive. She recorded his raspy farewell to his spouse. They’d just adopted a toddler, and now that child’s new dad was gone.
It didn’t help that everyone at the station asked questions about the shooting the evening before at the old firehouse. Her presence at the MBLIS office during a shooting was fun to explain to her bosses, not to mention to members of the local press who dogged her throughout the day.
The only potential highlight to a rough twelve hours was the idea of dinner with Ethan. His initial response to her text, however, was underwhelming.
Stand by.
She didn’t bother to wait. Whatever Ethan’s team was working on, it was important. Her needs didn’t figure in because she wasn’t a part of the team.
Once her shift was over, she went to change into her street clothes while waiting for someone to finish at the computer that she needed. When her phone dinged at last, she was struck by a happy vibe.
At Davis’s house soon to protect supercar. Whatever that meant. Will explain later. Pick me up?
The next text was an address, presumably that of Agent Davis.
Sadie leaned back in her seat. If Ethan and his coworkers hadn’t been feds, she wouldn’t necessarily be ready to meet at someone else’s house. Years on the job plus horrifying stories from her friends had taught her to take time, get to know a person, and then meet in private. Not that Ethan’s text suggested anything more than for her to pick him up.
She shook her head at herself. Anxiety did that sometimes. If only people understood why she needed space at times, despite her carefree personality, she might be less anxious. Oh, the irony.
I’ll be there in twenty, she answered.
To soothe Anxiety Brain, she also texted Erika. Going to pick up Ethan Marston for dinner. Will tell you about it later! :)
“At least they’ll know who killed me if I disappear,” she muttered.
“What?”
Sadie startled forward and cracked her knee on the side of the desk where she’d been typing the last of a report.
“Wayne! Don’t sneak up me like that,” she complained. “I was thinking aloud. Don’t worry about it.”
“You sure?” Wayne sat on the edge of the desk and regarded her from his perch. “I’d hate to find out who killed you because that’d mean you’ve been killed. You’re not about to do something stupid, are you?”
“I don’t do stupid,” she retorted. “I’m going to go have fun, and you don’t need to worry about it.”
Wayne shrugged. “No need to get huffy. I’m just looking out for my partner.”
“I wasn’t being huffy.” She folded her arms across her chest as he got off the desk. “Don’t be late to work tomorrow.”
“If anyone ever hurt you, I’d hunt them down,” Wayne told her. “Just so you know.”
A shiver ran down her spine. Wayne was often quiet around other people, and he was well-liked for his steadiness and way with patients when supervisors and peers were on scene with them. Their immediate supervisor didn’t believe when Sadie told him Wayne creeped her out. He’d said that Wayne was being a loyal partner and looking out for her wellbeing. Unless she had a specific accusation, she was stuck with him.
“I can take care of myself, Wayne.” She stood and picked up the small bag that passed for a purse. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She felt his eyes on her as she walked out to her Prius. There was no way she was going to let his creepiness ruin what would hopefully be a fun night out, even if it was only a good dinner. Still, as she drove out to the other agent’s house, Sadie hoped for a little more adventure than dinner.
The address Ethan had sent to her led a little out of town. Real estate was at a premium on Oahu. When she arrived, Sadie was surprised to see that Agent Davis, a government investigator, had a home on a good-sized lot. His garage sat open with the tail of a yellow car showing. A Corvette was parked under the adjoining carport. The house itself was a small stucco ranch with a Mediterranean tile roof.
Ethan walked out of the garage and waved Sadie up the drive. She parked in the shade of a koa tree and got out. The yellow car turned out to be a Ferrari, which she loved. Those cars were pure adrenaline. She couldn’t fathom why Ethan wanted her to give him a ride when he could’ve driven that monster.
“Hi, Sadie,” he called.
She went up to the Ferrari and grinned with appreciation. “It’s not like I never see expensive cars,” she told Ethan. “I just don’t get to play with them.” She checked out the lines. “It’s a four eighty-eight Spider. Cool. Where did you get it?”
Davis laughed as he appeared from inside the garage. “I thought you said a Ferrari would be a turn-off for her, Marston. Guess you don’t know her that well yet.”
Ethan shook his head and smiled. “Maybe when this thing is over, I’ll be able to take you for a ride in this car. Or another. Right now, though, it stays here.” He pointed to the tarp Davis was now putting over the Corvette.
Sadie widened her eyes. “Wait, you meant that literally? You guys are working undercover, aren’t you?” She pointed to each of the cars. “You’re hiding them, so you don’t get outed by accident.”
“Something like that,” Davis confirmed. “We don’t need to be seen together by the wrong people, either.”
Ethan snagged a ballcap from the back of the Ferrari and put it on. He added a pair of aviator glasses from his cargo shorts pocket right under that hat, and Sadie didn’t think she would’ve recognized him during a random encounter.
“After that luxury ride, my old Prius is going to be a letdown,” she warned. “It’s all I have to offer.”
“I don’t care about the car so much as the company,” he told her. “I have a curfew tonight, so we better get a move on.”
Davis half waved on the way into his house. He slapped a button, and the door rolled down to hide the car. Sadie and Ethan got into her car. His knees almost touched the dash even with the seat all the way back. He leaned into his seat and smiled as Sadie drove. For once, she couldn’t think of much to say.
The most direct route to the beachside restaurant went through the intersection where the double fatality occurred earlier that day. Without explaining, she made two turns to get onto a side street that went parallel to that stretch of the road.
“Is this the historic district?” Ethan asked. He pointed at the various deco, Spanish, and Meditteranean mission relief styles. “A lot of these look like places you’d see in history books.”
That was as good a reason as any for her detour.
“There were a number of pineapple plantation types who wanted city homes. Or so I hear.” She signaled and turned back to the main road a street too early. There was no evidence of the crash other than skid marks and a pile of shattered safety glass. “We’re almost there.”
The place Sadie had chosen was her favorite tiki bar and grill. Barbeque pork was the big thing, and she smelled it from a block away as they navigated tourist traffic. A brisk, warm breeze kept mosquitoes at bay as she and Ethan walked in from the parking lot.
Ethan chuckled as they entered the restaurant. “My friend Mike could use a few pointers from this place.” He grinned at her. “His bar is called ‘Mike’s Tropical Tango Hut,’ and he has the most cliché tiki crap you can imagine. But damn, he mixes a mean drink an
d has the best liquor around.”
“Yeah, the tiki style is everywhere now,” Sadie conceded as the aromas of barbeque and fresh fruit tickled her nostrils. “You won’t find more authentic than this, though. For one thing, how many of those places use koa wood and local artisans?”
She smiled as Ethan took a closer look. The tables and ceiling were made from koa, the same wood the original inhabitants of the islands used to create the catamarans that flew over the waves. Hand-carved tikis overlooked the diners and staff. They embodied beloved Hawaiian deities, of which Lilinoe was Sadie’s favorite. The goddess of the freezing mist and desolation seemed apt for the day. Lilinoe was also known for her part in the constant struggle between the snow goddesses and their sister Pele, the volcano goddess, kind of like Sadie’s family.
The hostess of the evening appeared to show Sadie and Ethan to their seats next to a stone wall with an opening reinforced by hand-carved beams.
“Thank God there isn’t a tango floor,” Ethan joked. At least, Sadie thought he was joking.
The hostess hesitated as she handed out the menus. “Tango? I’m sorry, we don’t do tango here.” She gestured toward one end of the restaurant where a string trio was setting up. “We do have live music starting soon.”
“Sorry, I was thinking of my friend’s bar,” Ethan told her. “This place looks great, and I can’t wait for the music.”
“I’m sure you’ll love it,” the hostess said. She got their drink orders, left the menus, and went back up front.
“Mediocre recovery,” Sadie said with more humor than she felt. The events of the day, from the first call to her last minutes at the station with Wayne being his creepy self, had added up. “Tango, huh?”
Ethan cocked his head. “Are you okay?”
“What do you mean?” she asked. She’d been trying to hide it.
“You seem less, I don’t know… bubbly,” Ethan pointed out in a gentle tone. “Are you sure you should’ve gone to work today?”
He reached for her hand and hesitated. He almost pulled his hand back, but she grabbed it. Electric tingles played against her skin, and she didn’t want it to stop. It felt nice after the day she had.
“I don’t like to miss shifts,” she explained without going into too much detail. He didn’t need to hear about Wayne. “People tend to get bent out of shape if you ask for a swap last minute.”
“You could’ve had a sick day,” he suggested. He ran his thumbs along the line between her thumbs and forefingers on both hands. “They had to know about the attack last night. It only made all the news.”
Sadie shook her head once. “You’re thinking about last night. Believe it or not, that’s not what’s gotten to me. I didn’t like what happened, but that wasn’t nearly as bad as the accident I saw today. We lost two victims today. One was a kid.” She wasn’t up to telling him about the private helicopter as well. It was too much, and she needed to get it out of her head.
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry to hear that.”
She thought about how Ethan actually killed two men the night before. He didn’t act any different now than he had before, but killing violent criminals had to take a toll on a good person like Ethan. Her instincts told her he was a good man, and her instincts were rarely wrong.
“It comes with the job,” she said. “Some days are better than others. Today wasn’t one of them.”
He looked away. “I hear that,” he said in a quiet tone. “Last night was not good.”
“No, it wasn’t.” She looked him in the eye. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” His thumbs stopped moving for a few seconds. “What happened last night comes with the territory, other than the part where they go after our office. We need to get that building secured better, but the permits for all that will be tricky. Historic structures need lots of approvals before you so much as paint the front door.”
His deflection spoke more to Sadie than he probably expected.
“I’ll help them navigate it as much as I can,” she promised. “You have to know the right people to get anything done.” She grinned. “I know most of them, and they’re good folks. Some aren’t thrilled about the purchase because they wanted to turn it into a community center, but they’ll come around.”
A young man with Polynesian tattoo sleeves walked up to deliver their drinks and take their orders. Sadie hadn’t scanned the menu, but she knew what she wanted.
“Kālua pig with a bowl of saimin,” she said with a nod. The noodle dish was one of her favorite comfort foods. “I’ll share some malasada with my friend here.”
The corners of Ethan’s mouth turned up. “I’ll take you up on that.” He took a last look at the menu. “The huli-huli chicken dinner looks great. I’ll go with that tonight.”
When their server left, Sadie found she couldn’t think of anything lighthearted to talk about. Everything was death, guns, and fire. She slouched with her shoulders forward and gulped in some air.
“Hey, hey.” Ethan gave her hands a gentle squeeze. “Breathe.” He matched her breathing rate, and she realized she was on the edge of hyperventilating. “Does this happen a lot?”
She shook her head and swallowed. “No, not really. Maybe last night did get to me, and then today.” A surge of anger helped her even out her breathing. “Reporters hounded me at work today, even while I was at those two calls. I mean, how freaking disrespectful do you gotta be to go in and ask about a shooting when you’re in the middle of trying to save a life?”
“Seriously?” His brow creased. “The journalists I’ve known have never been that crass. They can be obnoxious and overbearing, but they can also be your best allies.”
“These were the new kind who only want to get clickbait headlines.” She snorted. “We had to have them pushed back by the police. They shouldn’t have gotten to where I was working, but a couple were persistent.”
“Does your department offer critical incident counseling?”
“Yeah, after the day I’ve had, they’ll make me go see a shrink. It’ll be tomorrow or the day after.” She swallowed. “There was another patient today. A small copter went down, and the pilot was awake.”
She told Ethan about the recording for his family and holding his hand through the end. The permission she got for morphine to take the edge off of his pain while firefighters tried to free him from the wreckage. As she spoke, tears she’d held off for hours suddenly rushed her. Ethan released her hands, and for a tiny moment, she thought she’d scared him away, but then his arm wrapped around her shoulders, and he was talking to the server about boxing their meals.
“Sadie.” He spoke in a soft voice in her ear. “You shouldn’t drive like this. Do you mind if I drive you to your house? I can get a Lyft back to the hotel. Whatever you need.”
At that moment, an icy sliver in her otherwise carefree heart melted away. Ethan barely knew her, and yet he was there to hold her. She found his hand and squeezed. Maybe everything wouldn’t be okay for a long time, but a few minutes of being cared about was okay enough for now.
CHAPTER 24
My phone alarm woke me three hours before the meet. I had a serious neck crick from sleeping in a sitting position. It was worth it, though. Sadie was curled up next to me on the couch, and my lap was her pillow. There had been no kissing or anything like that. I’d brought her home, made sure she was okay, and then stayed when she fell asleep on me.
I brushed the hair from her face as she stirred and drifted off again. As I recalled, her shift started in an hour, but they had no business putting her on any calls that day. I was torn because I wanted to call her bosses and give them my professional opinion, but that would’ve been unprofessional and not what Sadie needed.
“Hey,” I whispered. “Wake up.”
She murmured a profanity, and I chuckled. That woke her, and she sat up with a look of horror. “Oh my God, you’re still here? You need to go do your undercover thing.”
I nodded. “I have time, but yeah, I need to go
soon.”
A phone call interrupted what I was going to say. It was from Warner.
“He’s probably freaked that I never got back to the hotel last night,” I admitted. “I forgot to text him where I am.”
Sadie tucked her feet under her very cute rear end and put her hands on her knees. Her eyes weren’t as red as when I got her home, and the puffiness was gone. I was glad that she didn’t have to be alone when her emotions caught up with her.
“I’m not usually weak like this,” she told me as I swiped to answer my call. “It was a long twenty-four hours.”
I nodded as I put the phone to my ear. “What’s up, TJ?”
“Did you and Holm get a different room?” he asked in a breathless rush.
“No. I’m at Sadie’s house. She needed some help with something, and it got late.” I frowned. “Wait, Robbie didn’t get in either?”
“No, sir,” Warner answered. By the acoustics on his end, it sounded like he was walking down a hall. “I called his phone like four or five times. I’m just getting back from checking the breakfast thing downstairs, and he’s not there. That’s why I’m calling you. I thought maybe you guys got annoyed with my snoring and checked out another room or something.”
“We wouldn’t abandon you, TJ,” I said as my mind spun. Come on, Robbie, tell me you didn’t get stupid. “Call around, see if he’s at the office already. I’m going over to Davis’s now. We have to keep that meet with our Russian guy if we want to find Ronnie.”
“Do you think Agent Holm is—”
“I hope to hell not, but he could’ve.” I laced my shoes as I spoke. “Call if you hear anything.”
“Yes, sir,” he said as I ended the call.
“What’s going on?” Sadie asked with a raised brow and wide eyes.
“My partner’s gone AWOL, and it’s bad news. Sadie, can I borrow your car? I don’t have time to call for a ride share.”
“I’ll drive,” she informed me. “I know every road and the fastest way to get where you need to be.”
