by Desiree Holt
“Mia. You’re dreaming. It’s okay.”
Warm hands stroked her, soothed her. Eased her. The same voice coaxed her out of the nightmare. She forced her eyes open, consciousness coming slowly.
“What is it, Mia?” He smoothed his hand down her arm and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She realized he had pulled her against the hard wall of his chest, protecting her from whatever demon was chasing her.
“Someone’s been shot.” She wiped her forehead with the sheet. “I don’t know who but it’s someone connected with the explosion. Oh, Dan. God!” She leaned into him, shivering.
“All right.” He continued to stroke her as one might a wild animal. And truly, that was almost what she felt like. “Tell me exactly what you saw.”
He pulled her upright and plumped the pillows behind them, leaning her back with him against the headboard. His arms circled protectively around her. “Would you like a cold drink? Some hot tea?”
“No.” She shook her head vehemently. The after-image was still burned into her brain and she needed to get the details out. “Okay.” She pulled in a deep breath, let it out slowly. “Here’s what I saw, everything I can remember.” She described it all to him—the water, the feeling of drowning, the explosion and the gun.
“Could you get any sense of who was doing the shooting?” he prodded gently. “Or who was being shot?”
She shook her head again. “No. I didn’t even see a hand to tell if it was male or female. But I know it’s somehow connected to the bomb in my car. Whoever planted it is going to try a gun next. On me or someone connected to the project.” She smacked a hand against her forehead in frustration. “Or maybe that person will be shot.”
“Okay, honey.” Dan’s voice was low and soothing. “Let’s first make sure all our principles are covered. We need to find out where they are right now and check if anyone’s in trouble.”
He reached over for his cell phone and flipped it open. In rapid succession he called Chase’s penthouse, Lucas’ home, Paul Harrison’s townhouse, Ladd Tolbert’s condo and Stan Forbush’s bungalow. From Dan’s end of the conversation she guessed they all bitched and cursed at being awakened but at least she knew they were all alive and well.
Next Dan began contacting his team and making assignments, still keeping one arm around her, holding her firmly against him.
“No one,” he kept repeating as he connected on each call, “is to be left unguarded. “They can raise as much stink as they want to but that’s an order. If anyone gives you too much of a problem, call me. And I want everyone in the Carpenter Techtronics conference room at nine o’clock.”
His last call was to Rick Latrobe, back in the Phoenix office after some downtime following his high security mission in Morocco. He held the phone so Mia could hear both sides of the conversation.
“You were going to get with Andy and do some research on Carpenter Techtronics and the key players,” he reminded him. “Get anything I need to know?”
“This and that,” Rick told him. “If I’d known you were going to call me in the middle of the night about it I’d have brought the stuff home with me.”
“Never mind. Pack it all up and bring it with you to Texas. I need you here. This case is taking some unusual twists. Mark’s on board for several reasons, and I need you here too. How’s everything at the office?”
“Surprisingly quiet for the moment. Nothing going on that requires any senior attention. God must be smiling on us.”
“No,” Dan contradicted, “he saved all his wrath for this gig. Just get your ass here five minutes ago.”
“No problem. I’ll wake Ed and tell him to get the plane ready. It’s a good thing you sent it back.”
“I’ll call Mark and ask him to pick you up at the private hangar,” Dan told him. “We’ll worry about getting you a vehicle later. I want him to bring you directly to the meeting at Carpenter Techtronics. It’s set for nine this morning, so get Ed’s rear end moving. You need wheels up ASAP. Oh and have Mike bring the chopper and sit on it at the hangar.”
“That’s a lot of air power,” Rick pointed out.
“Yeah, I know. I just have a funny feeling we may need it.” He snapped the phone shut and dropped it onto the small table.
“Now,” he said to Mia, giving her a brief kiss, “everything’s in place so you don’t have to worry. So let’s go over this in detail once more, okay?”
* * * * *
The cell phone lot of the airport had been roped off with crime scene tape. The head of the night security shift had taken a look in the car and put in another call to the San Antonio Police Department. This would require more than a cruiser and two patrol cops. Shortly the patrol car that had originally been dispatched arrived along with two detectives in an unmarked car and the crime scene unit. Now the driver’s door of the Toyota had been popped open, pictures taken from every angle and the body removed.
Detective Steve Aragon took a good look at the man with the two bullet holes in his head. “I know this guy.” He turned to his partner. “So do you.”
His partner walked around the body that was being zipped into a body bag and stopped the zipper as it reached the man’s neck. “Hold it a minute.” He had them pull the zipper back down and reached for one of the man’s hands. “You’re right.”
“It’s Nate Wilson, isn’t it?” Aragon asked.
“Sure is. Who the hell shot him? And why here?”
“You got me. But he must have really pissed someone off. This is an execution-style hit.” He nodded to the men from the medical examiner’s officer. “Okay. You can take him away now.”
He turned around as a van pulled up with the call letters of one of the television stations on it. “Mud suckers,” he commented under his breath.
“They must sit on a police scanner,” Aragon muttered.
“So who gets to talk to them, you or me?”
“I’ll do it. How much do you think they’d want to know about an asshole like Wilson?”
“Enough to give them a hot sound byte. Go on.” He nodded at the reporter holding a microphone and talking to her cameraman. “Miss Twinkletoes is waiting.”
* * * * *
Dan watched Mia choke down part of the breakfast he’d ordered for her before finally moving her plate away. She’d have stuck with coffee and dry toast if he’d let her but she already looked as if she’d pass out any minute. The strain was taking a heavy physical toll on her body and he wanted to get as much sustenance into her as possible.
“Okay, I think we’ve stoked the furnace.” He refilled her coffee cup. “I just wanted to get enough protein into you before we start out today. We’ve got a full schedule and you need your strength. How’s your hand?” He’d rebandaged it as soon as she got out of the shower.
“Much better. You saw that it’s healing nicely. As long as the aspirin doesn’t run out I’ll be fine.”
“You probably should take one of the pills the doc gave you.” Dan reached for the little vial he’d set on his nightstand.
“No, please. I have a high tolerance for pain and I don’t want to be fuzzyheaded today.”
Dan frowned. “I wonder if we should have the doctor take another look at it.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “Really. This is the last thing you need to worry about.”
He reached across the table and took her good hand in one of his. “Honey, put this in your memory bank. You’ve gone from being an interesting addition to this case to someone very special to me in a tiny amount of time. I worry about the people I…care about. So deal with it, all right?”
She gave him a tiny smile. “All right.”
He took a long look at her. Since she wasn’t going into work, she was dressed more casually in navy slacks and a light green cotton sweater. A matching scarf held her hair in a ponytail and diamond studs winked at her ears. In the early morning light and without her professional camouflage Dan thought she looked very young and vulnerable.
Da
mn it. For a man who could maintain rigid discipline in the most horrific and tense situations, he hadn’t done very well at keeping a lid on his feelings for the intriguing Dr. Fleming. In less than twenty-four hours he was in water up to his neck. He couldn’t help wondering if she’d been visited by some image the night before they met, also. Maybe tonight he’d get up the guts to ask her.
After he made slow, erotic love to her again, of course. He didn’t intend to neglect what was a case with escalating danger but he also was firm in his decision to give his full attention to Dr. Mia Fleming and whatever this was that had exploded between them.
They were finishing their coffee when Dan flicked on the television and turned to a local news channel. Before they left the hotel he wanted to know what kind of media feeding frenzy they might run into. It was highly unlikely that anyone had ferreted out where he was staying and that Mia was with him but he wanted to be prepared if he had to sneak her out some way.
The car bombing was a major story, as much because it had happened at the museum as because of whose car it was. Just as they feared, someone had dug up Mia’s history and plastered it all over the screen for everyone to hear.
“The newspapers probably have it too,” Mia told him, looking even paler if possible. “I don’t care how much magic you think your partner can work, Dr. Hunter and the board will have a cow over this. I can probably kiss my job goodbye.”
“A sizable contribution can make a lot of things go away, you know,” Dan reminded her.
Mia shook her head. “I wouldn’t let you spend the kind of money that would take.” She sighed. “Who knows. Maybe this is a sign for me that it’s time to make a change.”
“I’d say when this all blows over, Hunter won’t want to part with you. You have a very impressive history.”
“You checked me out.” She grinned at him.
“Of course. Would you have expected less?” He filled his water glass. “At least the vultures have no idea where you’re staying. I’ve got a man staking out your house. He’ll get rid of everyone who shows up there.”
Dan had picked up his cell phone again and was getting ready to call Faith about the arrangements to pick up Mia when something the television reporter was saying caught his ear.
“Story is a sad case of a man who took a wrong turn with his life. A former demolitions expert with the Army and at one time a member of the SAPD bomb squad, in recent years Nate Wilson had become a bomber for hire. Last night one of his customers paid him off, not in cash but with two bullets to the brain. Police report…”
Dan had his cell phone open and hit the speed dial for the Hallorans.
“Have you got your television on?” he asked when Mark answered.
“Yeah, we just saw the report too,” Mark told him. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That it’s too much of a coincidence to have a bomber for hire knocked off the day after Mia’s car is blown up?”
Dan was watching Mia as he spoke. The dream, she mouthed at him and he nodded his head.
“The kill looked professional,” Mark went on, “according to the news report. But I’d say it was idiotic to leave the body where it could be found so easily.”
“Maybe their plans were interrupted.”
“I’ll call my contact at the SAPD,” Mark told him, “and find out what I can before I have to leave to fetch Rick.”
“When I see you I’ll tell you about Mia’s latest vision. I’m damn sure that’s what it was about. That means everything’s tied together, because I don’t think she’d be having unrelated episodes, do you?”
“Doesn’t sound like it but that’s not really my territory. Aunt Vivi could give you a better answer.”
“What about getting Mia over there? I sure don’t want the media on her tail.” He was watching Mia as he spoke. Her hand still worried him. She sat quietly but had the injured hand cradled unconsciously in the other one. If she wouldn’t take the pain pills, he’d at least keep a supply of aspirin handy. And make sure she kept taking the antibiotics.
“Faith’s leaving here in a few minutes to pick Mia up,” Mark told him. “I checked with all our guys and as far as we can tell, no one knows she’s staying there with you. Let’s not take any chances, though.”
They mapped out a brief plan for the handoff and Dan clicked the phone shut and turned back to Mia.
“I saw it,” she told him.
He nodded. “You heard me mention it to Mark. The image was too coincidental with what happened not to be some kind of clue. When you meet with Faith’s aunt and whoever else she has at her house this morning, I want you to give them every single detail and see if they can help you define it more. Also, ask them if precogs ever have unrelated episodes. Let’s make sure we’re only dealing with one disaster here.”
“All right.” She gave him a tiny smile. “I’m all right, Dan. Truly. The flashes take something out of me physically and it’s been an exhausting twenty-four hours but I’m really fine.”
“You’ve got a lot of guts,” he said, admiring her strength.
“Sometimes that’s the only choice we have,” she told him.
“All right, Faith’s on her way over to the hotel. Mark says we’re still under the radar but here’s what we’ll do anyway.”
* * * * *
“Well, you certainly disposed of him. But don’t you think it was pretty stupid to leave him like that to be found?”
“I see. Did you want me to call a cab at that hour? And leave a record of it? You were supposed to meet me, remember?”
“I told you I got tied up. Why didn’t you pick a better place to meet him, where the body could be concealed? Jesus. Can’t you do anything right?”
“Next time you can do the deed and I can do the bitching. How does that sound?”
“No matter. It had to be done. He was collateral damage. We couldn’t allow him to go to the police. What did you do with the gun?”
“Ditched it where no one will ever find it. Don’t worry.”
“I am worried. You left a body in plain sight. You know Romeo has to be as pissed as hell that his man got killed. Now security around Oscar will be tighter than ever.” There was a sound of disgust. “And God, what a stupid name that is for a sophisticated piece of equipment.”
“Well, there’s nothing for it now but to move forward with Plan B. And we do have one, remember?”
“All right. Let’s put it in motion. And still find a way to get rid of that interfering bitch.”
“Trust me. It’ll happen.”
“The police are probably going to link the murder to the car bomb.”
“So what? There’s nothing that leads back to us. Relax. By the weekend it will all be over.”
“I think this morning would be the most feasible time to put our plan in action.”
“Someone will see you go in.”
“Maybe. But they won’t know it’s me.”
“They’ll panic and reprogram the security around the robot right away.”
“Yes but by that time it won’t matter. We’ll have what we want.”
* * * * *
Rick Latrobe shook hands with Mark and climbed into the big SUV. He tossed his duffle bag in the backseat but kept his briefcase with him. As Mark wheeled out of the airport, Rick unzipped the leather case and pulled out a file.
“Profiles of the key players in this little drama,” he said.
“Why are we just now checking out our clients?” Mark asked. “I thought that was always a requirement before taking on a case.”
Rick shuffled the papers, putting them in the order he wanted. “Dan was initially only coming here as an observer because he and Chase are friends. Then the call came about the threat and he just hot-footed it over here.” He shook his head. “But you’re right. Protocol always demands a full background check so we don’t get into something we can’t get out of. Even if it’s someone’s mother. So. Let’s start with the star of the show.”
“Just because he’s a client and a friend of Dan’s doesn’t mean he gets a pass. Okay, here’s what we got. He started the company in a business incubator. You know, one of those things where they provide office space, secretarial help, shared equipment, etc. Until you get the business off the ground.”
“So how did he do that?” Mark wanted to know. “He had to be among hordes of people doing the same thing.”
“Designed some kind of revolutionary GPS unit, got lucky when someone introduced him to the right government people and that first contract was his springboard. He met Lucas, the man with the smooth mouth, at a seminar and after that it was a fast ride on a roller coaster.”
“Lucky. Otherwise he’d still be sitting at his workbench tinkering on his next project, I guess. How about a rundown on his sweet little fiancée. She sure looks like an angel but I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.”
They were out of the airport now and heading west on Interstate 10.
“My, my.” Rick chuckled. “Feeling a little edgy about her?”
Mark shrugged. “My wife says I have a natural antagonism toward all women except her. Maybe she’s right.”
Rick slid him a curious glance. “Does that include our little psychic?”
“No, strangely enough. But maybe because Faith gets good vibes from her.”
“Well, okay.” Rick pulled out a sheet of paper. “You’ve got good instincts so let’s see what’s what with her.”
Joy Rivers’ background gave them little to work with. Born in Colorado. Went to George Washington University where she majored in political science. Good grades, no blemishes on her record, academic or personal.
“How did Chase meet her?” Mark wanted to know.
“She was a senator’s aide. Lucas introduced them at a party in DC. He’d just joined Carpenter Techtronics as a partner and it was his job to hustle government and corporate contracts. He insisted Chase had to make a few appearances in the capital.”
“You said she was a senator’s aide. What’s she doing now?”
“Living off Chase, as far as we can tell.” Rick’s voice had a slightly disapproving tone. “According to Dan, where women are concerned, Chase knows more about engineering but I guess it’s his choice. She’s supposed to be looking into opportunities in Texas since she and Chase got engaged and she moved here.” He shrugged. “Who knows. The rap on her in Washington is she’s as tough as nails and can be a real bitch but knows her job. I think she’s helped a lot with the contacts on this project. Getting the right people to Friday’s festivities.”
