“Alaina,” he smoothed one big hand over her shoulder. “We’re going to be okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” Saints and Sinners 132
She was more worried about him right now. He had too much to live for to go getting killed because of her.
“I promise I’ll give you information on a need to know basis.” She glared at him. “I hate when people say that. It usually means they can get away with not telling you things because they don’t think you need to know.” She sighed. “Fine,” she shook her head. “Clearly I’m not going to get anywhere with you right now. But we have at least a little bit of time. I’m sure I can find a way to convince you while we’re driving.” He laughed. “Not likely, honey.”
She would have countered his response, but she knew the man. He was determined, stubborn, tough. If she thought she could get one over on him then she was the one who was mistaking.
“Would you at least tell me who she is?”
“She’s a nurse,” he stated as if that should be enough.
“Sully, please? Maybe I can help.”
He shook his head. “All I know is that Troy tried to contact her before he died. I don’t one hundred percent know if he had a chance to speak with her or not, and that’s what I need to find out.” She worked the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth while she pondered Sully’s words. “What was he working on?” Troy liked to keep his stories secret until he was ready to share them. She respected that decision and she never pushed for more information. Now she wished she had. Now she wished she knew what he was working on and why. Sully had said he wasn’t sure Troy’s death was an accident, which would mean Capri Montgomery 133
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one of his stories had gotten him killed. She didn’t know if that had anything to do with her at all, but given the fact that he had wanted to talk to her about the story before submitting it…well she was starting to think maybe it did.
“When I find out, you’ll find out.” Sully assured her. “I just don’t want to take you when I talk to her just in case it’s not safe for you.”
“What if it’s not safe for you either?”
“I already told you, Alaina.” His voice took on a serious and authoritative tone. “You don’t protect me. I protect you. Do you understand?”
She didn’t understand. Yes, it was his job to keep her safe, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t try to keep him alive and safe as well. She wouldn’t lose him.
“Do you understand?” He asked more firmly, as if trying to pull a promise from a mule.
“No.” She shook her head as tears filled her eyes. “I won’t lose you, Sully. I can’t lose you. I want you to stop. I want you to just go home where you’re safe, where nobody can hurt you. Just leave me.” She started crying and she couldn’t stop.
He pulled her into his arms, holding her as tears flowed from her.
She shook, near violently, in his arms. “I don’t want you to die,” she sobbed.
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“I’m not going anywhere.” He pressed his hand to her head, holding her close, gently, as he tried to soothe her. “You’re not going to lose me.”
“I’ve lost everybody else,” she whispered. “I’ve lost them all.”
“But you’re not going to lose me,” he assured her. He pushed her back just enough to look into her eyes. He used his thumb to gently brush tears off her cheek. “We’re going to survive this—together. Understand?” She nodded slowly. “But know this,” she looked at him as seriously as she could. “If you get yourself killed I’m going to ask God to resurrect you so I can kill you myself.” He threw his head back and laughed so hard she thought he might come undone. She loved the sound of his laugh—all powerful and sexy and honest. His deep voice sent vibrations through her, ones she didn’t want to stop. She started laughing herself. “You’re impossible.” She shook her head. Would she ever win an argument with this man? “Just be careful. Promise me that much.”
“I’m always careful. But I promise I’ll be extra careful. Thomas will be with me too, so I’ll have backup. I hope that makes you feel at least a little better.”
She smiled. “It does. Not that I don’t think you could take care of anything on your own. I saw you down in Central America and you’re like a one man Army—”
“Navy,” he winked.
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“Whatever. My point is that I trust you. I just feel better knowing that you’ll have somebody with you in case…well…you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” He kissed her forehead. “Grab what you need for a few days. She can’t see us right away, but she’s promised to answer my questions if we can meet with her on her day off.” He shrugged. “Two days,” he snapped. “I’m not very good at waiting when I need answers.”
“Patience is a virtue,” she smiled.
“Not right now it isn’t.”
She laughed. “I’m sure I can find something to do to help you pass those two days.”
“I bet you can,” he winked.
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Chapter Twelve
“What you’re saying to me is you think he was murdered.” Sully sat down in the office chair, watching Thomas intently as he divulged information to him. He had left Alaina sitting in the waiting room with a very friendly redhead who seemed determined to make Alaina her new friend and confidant. He hadn’t wanted to leave Alaina out of his sight for even a second, but he also knew the conversation he and Thomas needed to have wasn’t something Alaina should hear—not like this, not with this brutal honesty that couldn’t be concealed.
He had a feeling Troy had been murdered, but it was just a feeling—until now. He couldn’t then, and he couldn’t now, figure out what, if anything, that had to do with Alaina. She was supposed to be in the car with him at the time. She had admitted that much to him herself.
Had somebody been trying to kill her to get to her mother? Had they missed their mark and got Troy instead? Or was he the intended victim from the start?
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“Looks that way,” Thomas slid a file over to him. “The cops, of course, are still ruling it an accident, but how many accidents have you seen where the break line ends up perfectly cut? Not to mention the fact that the car burned pretty quickly.”
Sully nodded. Apparently the entire case looked suspicious, yet the cops hadn’t seen it that way. “Idiots,” he pushed the file back across Thomas’ mahogany desk. “Who do they have training these people now days?”
Thomas shrugged. “Ready for more bad news?”
“Do I have a choice?” He sat forward in his chair.
“She’s dead,” he paused. “The nurse…her house burned down last night. Body was found this morning,” he tossed the newspaper over to Sully. “Apparently she fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand.”
“But you don’t believe that?”
Thomas shook his head no. “I made a few phone calls after I saw the paper. She had a friend, a young nurse she mentored, who swears she didn’t smoke.”
“Damn,” Sully stood and started pacing the room.
“Exactly.” Thomas exhaled slowly, as if he were preparing for more bad news. What else could possibly go wrong?
“Sully, you’re going to want to be sitting for the next part.
It’s…it’s about Kathryn.”
Sully came to a dead stop. What did Kathryn have to do with anything? She was dead, buried, gone, and he was trying desperately to Saints and Sinners 138
exorcise her betrayal from his mind. He didn’t want to hear anything about her.
“You need to hear this,” Thomas said as if he had been reading his silent thoughts. Sully sat down, his hands gripping the arm rest on the plush leather chair.
“What do I need to hear?” His voice was low and angry. He felt the tight knot forming in his stomach, a knot that he knew would stick with him for the rest of the
day. He didn’t want to take it out on Alaina, but just thinking about Kathryn reminded him why he shouldn’t trust any woman with his heart.
“I think there was more to her death than what we saw, and I think it’s my fault.”
“Your fault? That she ran off with some guy and decided to do drugs while leaving my daughter in some stinking motel in the middle of the desert?”
“I know your marriage was on the rocks. I’m sure she went with this guy willingly, but I’m not so sure the guy didn’t know who she was.” He pulled a photograph from a file folder. “I came across this while trying to get some work done on my own case.” He slid the picture across the desk. “I thought finding a certain group of people might lead me to Sabian. What I found was a picture of Ranger Garrison getting into the elevator with Kathryn. The photo you have in your hand is from hotel security…I have friends in Vegas and it wasn’t hard to get. Clearly she’s with him.”
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Sully knew what Thomas was trying not to say. The fact that the man had his hand in the waistband of her pants and another hand groping her breast was a clear indication that they were on their way to a room somewhere.
“I don’t get how this is your fault.”
“I think maybe they killed her to send a message to you. You were asking some questions that certain people wouldn’t want to be asked, and you were asking them for me.”
Sully ran his hand along his jaw line. He had been trying to help Thomas get information on who might be helping Sabian stay in the shadows. He had asked a few people to keep him apprised of any news on Sabian’s whereabouts. Maybe he had asked the wrong people.
“I don’t think the overdose was a complete accident, Sully. And for that I’m sorry. If I hadn’t have asked for your help—”
“I still would have given it to you. You worked with some good men. Your C.O. was a good friend of mine. It’s as personal for me as it is for you. I would have helped you.” He tossed the picture back onto Thomas’ desk. “And this wasn’t your fault.” Ranger was dead now. Gavin had killed him on their last assignment together. Had he known Ranger was part of his wife’s death he would have just shot him instead of letting Gavin beat the snot out of him.
Sully hadn’t been blind to Kathryn’s affairs. He had suspected a couple over the years. He also knew it had been hard on her with him gone on missions all the time. But she knew who he was and what he was when Saints and Sinners 140
she married him. She knew he might get called up for duty. He expected that when she decided to say “I do,” that she understood that meant waiting—faithfully—for him to return home.
Their marriage had been on the rocks for years. He had almost left her, but then he found out she was pregnant and he decided to stay. After Teagan was born he made sure the doctors did a DNA test for him. He was listed as the father on the birth certificate, but still he needed to know for sure. She was his, the test confirmed that. He was thankful for that, and he stayed with Kathryn. He stayed because he wanted Teagan to have both of them in her life. He had stayed for all the wrong reasons, but he couldn’t bring himself to settle for seeing his child only when Kathryn deemed it okay with her schedule.
Kathryn was in his past. There was nothing he could do about her betrayal, but there was something he could do about keeping Alaina alive and safe. God willing, she would completely forgive him for the way he had acted, and she would learn to trust him with her heart. He could feel she was holding back, she was trying to protect herself from somebody else who might cause her pain. He had broken down some of the walls he helped build between them, but fragments still existed—tiny fragments that kept tripping them up along the way, and he wanted those fragments gone forever. He also wanted to help Thomas. He meant every word he said. His C.O. Colonel James Jackson-Jones was a friend of his, and his murder would not go without justice.
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“I’m still going to help you get closure, Thomas. Have you had any word on Sabian?”
“Not yet. And I don’t mind telling you I’m getting tired of hunting this bastard when every new lead hits a brick wall.”
“We’ll get him.”
“Yeah, and when we do you better believe I’m going to make him pay for his sins.”
At some point everybody had to pay for the injustices they dealt out without even a hint of remorse. Some people actually got around to paying that price in this lifetime while others took their sins to their grave without justice—of the human kind anyway. Sully wasn’t a man who believed in God, but if there were one, he figured everybody got their due, even in death.
“Let’s get back on Alaina’s case,” he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “I need to know what’s going on. Something’s not adding up here and I can’t quite put my finger on what. That’s where I need your help. I’m a warrior, plain and simple; I’m not an investigator to the point that I like putting pieces together. I think you can figure this out faster than I can.” He had worked undercover himself with the Ransom Global case. His work had helped bring down a major treason for money ring, but that had taken two years just to get the pieces to add up. He didn’t have two years now. He needed answers fast, and the right answers, not just speculation.
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“From what I have found out during my investigation thus far, there are a lot of things that don’t make sense. If you and I are being honest with each other I think we both know it goes back to her father’s death. Something isn’t right there. Who benefited?”
“Ms. James.”
“Do you think she could have her own daughter kidnapped? Do you think she would put a hit out on her?”
“After what I saw at the cabin—yeah, I think she’s capable of doing anything.” Perhaps that’s what scared him. He had seen something in Elizabeth James that he had seen before, a person so hell bent on getting to the top that they’d take anybody and everybody down to do it. Alaina had said her father was planning to leave her mother, perhaps she knew his death would look better for her career than a divorce would. Maybe her succeed at all cost mentality would explain her husband’s death, but it still didn’t explain Alaina.
“I feel like there’s something more going on here,” he stood abruptly and started to pace the room again. He needed to work faster if he planned to save Alaina. The attempt on her life was vastly different than Central America. “By Alaina’s own accounts they had ample opportunity to kill her, yet they didn’t. She said they treated her relatively nice considering what they could have done. There was no torture, no threat to her life, nothing. Yet they killed the other woman without hesitation.”
“Okay, let’s brainstorm this, Sully. Between the two of us we have to come up with something.” He leaned back in his chair. “We have Capri Montgomery 143
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Central America, which maybe, maybe not, but let’s just say that it was orchestrated by her mother then maybe the idea was to get Alaina in a tough situation and be the hero by sending a top notch government man in to get her. On one level it looks good for her. She saves her daughter, minimum cost to the tax payers. Most people would probably admire her ability to keep a level head in that position. Others might think it’s a conspiracy to keep her from running for president. Then there are those who would say she shouldn’t have sent anybody in just to get her daughter since it cost the tax payers money. I think those people are few and far between enough to make it a good calculated risk for her.”
“True,” Sully nodded. “But then why hire somebody to kill her once she’s home safe?”
Thomas shrugged. “Maybe she’s going for the sympathy card.
Could you imagine if a presidential candidate’s spouse died while they were running…that would garner some votes. Now just think of how people would respond if the candidate’s child was murdered. Alaina’s an adult, but there isn’t a parent in this country who wouldn’t feel the he
artbreak thinking that it could have been their child.
“Maybe,” he mumbled. “But it still feels off. I mean, what is she going to do; meet in a dark ally with a hit man and send him after Alaina?
That could come back to bite her in the behind down the road.”
“Or maybe somebody close to her campaign is handling things for her. She keeps her hands clean, so to speak.” Saints and Sinners 144
Sully sighed. He was sick of this. He liked the missions where he knew who the enemy was, where he could just go in shooting and be done with it. But this was crazy. He was tired, not of trying to keep Alaina safe, but of not knowing who he was trying to keep her safe from. He felt helpless, and he didn’t like feeling like that.
“She saw him die,” he uttered those words without really thinking about them. “Her father,” he turned to Thomas. “She saw his car blow up.”
“I read that in the report. I can’t imagine what she went through.”
“He meant the world to her and she had to watch him die. First that, then Troy and now this…I swear if her mother is behind this I will kill her myself.”
“We’re going to need some hard evidence—” The knock on the door interrupted his words. “Come in,” he frowned. He made it a rule not to be disturbed while in with a client.
“I’m sorry,” Alaina hovered at the door and he waved her in. “It’s quiet out there, your secretary left for lunch. It reminded me that I’m hungry,” she said sheepishly while looking at Sully. We didn’t stop for breakfast.”
He knew they hadn’t. He had wanted to get to Thomas’ office as soon as possible and he thought he would pick up something and then tuck her away at the townhouse Thomas had rented for them for the week. It was now nearly one o’clock and she still hadn’t had a chance to eat.
“Sorry,” he nodded.
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“It’s okay. I could just run down to the deli or something.”
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