by Rula Sinara
He ran from his landing site around the back way, through the courtyard where Nick had been cornered by monkeys, and made a beeline for his office. He opened the front door and went in...then froze. The door to his quarters was slightly ajar, which made no sense since he’d just unlocked the front and he distinctly recalled locking both when he left. Sue was still at Busara. Anna and Jack had promised to keep her there until Mac could be sure things were safe at Hodari. He shifted to the side, pushed the knob and found himself staring up the barrel of a gun.
“What the hell is—”
Ben held up a hand to silence him and pulled Mac into his quarters then shut the door. Two KWS men decked out with semiautomatics stood against the wall and another guy dressed in camo sat in front of Ben at a laptop connected to an array of surveillance equipment. Mac could only see his profile, but he looked oddly familiar. What did register was Tessa on screen. Tessa in her hotel room with Brice.
Ben held a finger to his earpiece, then cursed.
“Word just in from a contact in SA. No police record of any break-in at the Henning residence,” Ben said.
“Break-in? What’s going on here? I want Tessa out of there—now,” Mac said, pointing at the video feed on the laptop screen. Brice was wrapping his arms around her and stroking her hair. Mac’s gut burned as he started for the door, but the armed men blocked him.
“Mac, stay out of this. Interfere and you could put her in more danger. We have this.”
“You don’t get to give me orders, Ben. I made it clear using her as bait was out of the question.”
Ben stood up and came face-to-face with him.
“She baited herself. She called Brice. If it weren’t for him—” he pointed at the familiar guy “—we wouldn’t have had the chance to intercept her when she got here and set this all up.”
The familiar guy gave Mac a quick salute, then turned back to his work. Mr. Johnson? As in, the guest at Camp Jamba? Mac looked at Ben, who went back to his earpiece and the monitor without a word. Mac scrubbed a hand across his mouth. Adrenaline burned through him and anger singed his skin. She’d baited herself? Why? What exactly had Brice told her to lure her in?
“What break-in?” he repeated. “Why would you let her do this before getting your intel?” Mac hissed.
“We had no time because she’d already agreed to meet him.”
“So abort. Go in now,” Mac told the KWS soldiers. He’d worked with plenty of KWS teams, but these two he didn’t recognize. Neither one of them moved.
“I give that order,” Ben warned. “These men are part of a team I helped train. We’ve worked together before. We know what we’re doing.”
Mac stood back. As angry, frustrated and afraid for Tessa as he was, he knew Ben was right. Any interference now could blow their plans and endanger her further. He glanced at Mr. Johnson and the others. How Ben had pulled all this off, not to mention how they all fit in Mac’s quarters, defied the laws of physics, but what really threw him off balance was watching his Tessa kissing Brice on the laptop screen...and hearing her tell him how much she loved him.
* * *
TESSA FROZE AS Brice ran his hands all over her back while he kissed her, but she quickly regained control. Ben had almost clipped a microphone to her bra, but had decided against it at the last moment. Was Brice checking for one? He gently pushed her further into the room and shut the door behind him. Tessa deliberately pulled him a few steps closer to the end of the bed.
“Where’s Nick?” Brice asked, kissing the side of her neck.
She stroked his chest through his Armani shirt. Brice didn’t do casual.
“I left him with his uncle.”
Brice stopped kissing her.
“I told you not to take your eyes off him. He needs to be with us. I need to take you both somewhere safe. Out of Africa. At least for now.”
He wanted them to leave Africa? Move to another continent? Tessa swallowed as her fingers flirted with his collar.
“Brice, I think it’s time he lived with Mac. I know he’ll be safe with him. Whoever is after me...after us...won’t bother with them. If we do get in trouble, it’s better that Nick’s not with us. Besides, I want this to be a fresh start for you and me. There’s only so much attitude I can take and it’s not fair to you, Brice. It’s not fair to our marriage. I know the past six months have been hard. I’m sorry it took me so long to get over my sister’s death and to realize Nick needs to be with his uncle.”
Brice nodded.
“Maybe he’ll be safe enough here. Perhaps not being near you is a better option. And I like the idea of it being just the two of us again, but I can’t come with you. I have to head back to Cape Town to sort things out and make sure nothing else happens.” He tucked her hair behind her ear and rubbed the back of her neck. Her skin prickled. He was too close to her comb. If he noticed the microphone embedded among the gemstones, disguised as one, it would all be over too soon. She stopped herself from glancing toward the micro camera hidden in the carved headboard. She drew his hand away from her hair and pressed her lips against his manicured fingertips. Mac and the touch of his strong, calloused hands filled her head. She wished Mac’s arms were around her now. Brice brushed his lips against hers. “We have a little time before the private flight I arranged...”
He kissed her again and it took everything in her not to shove him away. How had she ever kissed him before? How had she ever slept with him? He rested his forehead against hers for a second.
“You’re tense,” he said.
“Of course I am. Katia’s dead. Our home was invaded. You said these people went after Maria and Allan and now they’ll come after me. I’m scared, Brice.” Genuine tears formed at the thought of her loved ones being gone forever. Brice wiped them away.
“I’m here now. You don’t have to worry. I’ve got everything under control.”
That’s what really worried her. She crinkled her brow and took a step back.
“But I’m afraid for you, too,” she said. “Where are you sending me? I want you to stay with me. If you go back to our house, won’t someone come after you?”
“I can take care of myself, Tessa.”
...men with money who know how to keep their hands clean.
She needed to irritate him. Challenge his authority and his plan to get her out of the way. No one crossed Brice. Thanks to Mac and all those year of teasing, she knew all about how to push buttons. She was done with being careful. It was time to push a few of Brice’s.
“What if there’s a way for me to stay with you? I don’t want to leave home, let alone Africa. I want to go back with you. I’m tougher and smarter than you give me credit for. I can make up for the trouble I’ve caused you. I can help you.”
Brice’s eyes got all stormy and he let go of her. He pulled up to his full height before walking over to the window. He glanced outside, then came back to her.
“Help me? You’re the one who put everyone in danger. Smart? I built Henning Enterprises from scratch. You write a fashion column, Tessa. I’m one of the most influential and experienced businessmen in South Africa. On the continent for that matter. I offer to take you somewhere safe and you claim you can help me. I find that almost funny.”
Tessa flinched at his words. Brice was an arrogant man by nature. She knew he had a softer side because she was his wife, but whenever they had an argument, his ego took over.
And when it did, his true feelings came out. She was nobody without him. He defined her as his wife. He’d forever be smarter than she was. In the past, that had always chipped at her confidence, but right now, after all she’d been through, what he thought of her didn’t matter anymore. If he had ever really loved her, he’d never have seen her as less than he was. He’d never have spoken to her that way. Mac would never say something like that to her. She swallowed h
ard.
God, she wished she were back with Mac and Nick at Jamba right now. Safe...feeling at home and like part of a family...happy the way the women at Busara were with their children and...
Stay focused. Stay calm. No one knows Brice like you do. You know how his mind works. Use that to your advantage.
She stood in front of him and took the comb out of her hair.
“Brice, let me prove to you I can help. Do you see this?”
She saw his eyes flick toward the comb as she angled the gems in the light. As his wife, she always wore the latest styles. It went with her persona as the fashion columnist. She’d hoped he would pass it off as something she’d added to her jewelry collection, but now she had a better idea.
“Is that real ivory?” he asked.
“No,” she said, arranging her hair over her shoulders on both sides and slipping the comb back in. Please don’t touch it. She straightened her dress, then smoothed her hair. “But when I saw it at a flea market in Nairobi, it made me think of that ivory-and-diamond fountain pen you gave me. I couldn’t resist because it reminded me of you and what we had. I know the rubies aren’t high quality, and I really doubt it’s real ivory, but I don’t care. I still think it’s beautiful. I liked the design and figured you could have a more valuable duplicate made for me if I ever wanted.
“But that’s not the point. The point is why should I run? You said yourself that people in illegal trade are dangerous. That it’s such a strong web it’s hard to cut loose. Wouldn’t it be safer to simply regain trust? To just keep doing what you’re doing instead of trying to extricate yourself from it? I may love animals, but I love you more and it’s not worth getting separated or killed. We can be together, safe and comfortable. Brice, I can include photographs of fashion pieces like this in my column. That could help create a demand for the same look. Do you see where I’m going with this? It would show whose side I’m on. And it would feed the market demand for authentic pieces, even if I wrote the article about imitation ones.”
He studied her face intensely and it took every ounce of courage Tessa had to not buckle under his inspection.
“It’s not a terrible idea, though I’m not sure how much of a difference it’d make at this point.”
“Brice, together we can make Henning Enterprises even bigger and more powerful than it is. I can help you. I have been, haven’t I? All the parties I’ve thrown for you? Now that I know about your involvement in this ivory...mafia—from what you described it to be like when I called—I could work in a more controlling capacity at the paper. Use it to your advantage. I could keep an ear out in the social circle. Plant seeds.
“And it’s good that Nick won’t be with us. Do you remember being a teenager, Brice? They’re naturally snoopy and too curious for their own good. And we both want him safe, right? Plus, this way, I’ll have an excuse to come up here to visit him.”
“And why would you need a reason to visit your nephew?”
She bit her lower lip and laced her fingers into his, then lowered her voice, as if to make sure no one in the hallway would overhear them. This was promising. At least he was asking questions instead of turning her down.
“I could be tapping into my connections, Brice. Nick’s uncle Mac is a well-known volunteer with Kenyan Wildlife Service and he’s worked in the area for years, helping them and other organizations track down illegal ivory. When I visit Nick, I can either plant information that keeps the Henning business trail covered or find information and bring it back to you. Information you can use to bribe these dangerous people and keep them at bay...ensure our safety. Look at this.”
She let go of him, went to her purse and pulled out some papers.
“I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I wanted so much to prove to you that I could make things right. This is what I’ve managed to get so far.”
Brice took the papers and read the first two pages, then began flipping through faster.
“Do you realize what you have here?” he asked.
Tessa nodded. “Can you use what’s in there as bribery to keep people from harming us?”
Brice sat on the edge of the bed, flipping pages. Pages of falsified information given to her by Ben. Information that looked like official plans for anti-poaching crackdowns. Falsified tracking research and data on herd activity. Information that would increase poaching efficiency if his contacts got their hands on it.
“This is incredible,” he said.
She kicked off her sandals and climbed onto the bed. She kneeled behind him and put an arm around his chest, leaning in as he studied the documents.
“I stole it from Mac’s office files. See, Brice? As a team, we’d be unbreakable.”
If he did suspect her of stealing the USB drives, then he’d believe she stole these documents, too. It’s always the quiet ones. He reached up and covered her hand with his.
“This may work,” he said.
Yes. Keep talking.
“I just want to stay alive and be with you, but if it helps Henning Enterprises make money, then that’s a bonus,” she said.
“That and then some. Information like this would keep a lot of people happy and quiet. It won’t just make us unbreakable, it will put us in a powerful negotiating position. The business world can be ruthless, Tessa. Money and control are the only way to keep people from taking what’s yours and kicking you out the back door. And those power plays often put you in deals you never would have anticipated. But the rewards are so immense you can’t walk away.” He set the papers aside, then pulled her into his lap.
She gasped, not expecting the move on his part and not realizing she’d been holding her breath, praying for him to say more even though a part of her didn’t want to hear it. How much did they need him to say before this could be over?
The scent of the same cologne he’d always worn made her nauseous. His touch made her skin crawl and his breath made her lungs feel like she was being held underwater. It didn’t matter that she already knew the truth about him...about the man she’d given the past seven years of her life to. Hearing him confess made her feel like she was free-falling into a bottomless pit.
He kissed her, then reached up, running both hands through her hair. He pulled the comb out and tossed it onto the bed. An icy cold washed through Tessa. She wanted to scream and kick and run, but her gut told her to wait in case they needed more proof. If she blew her cover, he could get away. And he might hurt her...or worse. She listened to Mac’s voice in her head, telling her to trust him and that she could trust Ben.
“You’re shaking and your pulse is racing. Why is that, Tessa?”
Her eyes fluttered shut and she forced them open.
“Because I want you. You and I, we’re meant to be together. I’ll do whatever you want and whatever it takes to save our marriage.”
He held her closer and Tessa could sense his energy had shifted. It wasn’t sensual, it was threatening. Dominating.
“You did well with these,” he said, referring to the papers. “But whose side are you really on? Mine? Or whoever makes you feel safe? I know you, Tessa. Isn’t that all you want? Comfort. Safety. Security. I’m the only one who can give that to you.”
Tessa’s head began to pound. Everything was going south. She needed to think, but her thoughts scrambled in her head. She peeled herself off his lap and paced before him.
“You’re right. I need you. But I’m also on your side, Brice. I realize now that I’ve taken everything you’ve given me for granted. I won’t anymore. I know you can keep me safe,” she said, holding his face in her hands the way she had on their wedding night, after promising him forever. She hated that her voice sounded pleading. She hated him. She’d loved him once, or thought she did. She knew now that she deserved so much more.
He placed his hands on her hips and stood.
&nb
sp; “Someone I trust was able to get into your email accounts and erase any trails to you in terms of the article you sent to the paper,” he said.
Tessa stared at him. He had her emails hacked? Married or not, she’d never shared her password. She’d had the same email account since before she met Brice. She’d wanted to retain some inkling of privacy and independence after marrying him. A sense of control, even if it was small. She didn’t need him reading conversations between her and her sister or mother. Email was the one place she felt he wasn’t looking over her shoulder. Was this payback for her stealing his files or had he really been trying to protect her? Or had he been searching for anything else she might know or any other actions she might have taken against him? And how possible was it to thoroughly erase trails? What about her system back-ups? What about computer forensics specialists?
“I did it for your safety. I didn’t have a choice,” he said.
“Of course. I understand. But when I spoke to Kat, I heard someone in the background. Someone overheard her talking to me. If they were the mole you mentioned before, it doesn’t matter if you covered the path leading back to me. Whoever they were, they already know what I’ve done.”
His eyes fell and he rubbed her arms.
“Exactly, Tessa. That’s why you can’t stay here or return home, just in case. I think Katia was killed not only to cover tracks, but also as a warning for you to back off.”
Who was playing whom here? What was he saying? That her life was a trade-off for Kat’s? She was guilty of her friend’s death. She closed her eyes and tried to find strength. She struggled to recall everything else he’d told her in their phone call. He’d said he was the one who had checked Kat’s files and found her article. He’d gone to the newspaper’s headquarters. He’d said that he’d checked Katia’s computer before it was taken by authorities. Could Brice have really gotten to the computer before the police, if they wanted to find clues to verify her accident wasn’t a suicide or homicide? Would he have had time if he’d only found out about her death after the fact? Especially given that he’d been on a trip. Unless someone had tipped him off. What if he’d checked Tessa’s emails or logged into Kat’s computer prior to her death? Could forensics reveal login and deletion times? Had he tampered with Katia’s car? Or paid someone, so to keep his hands clean? That was more likely.
