Breakaway

by Rochelle Alers

  A smile replaced Gavin’s frown. He couldn’t tell his supervisor that it was too late. He was already involved with Celia. “So, she is my witness?”

  “Don’t expect me to put that in writing.”

  “Thanks, Mac.”

  “I also want you to know that I’ve been working on you getting reassigned to a field office. Any place in particular?”

  “I’d like to stay close to home.” He liked living in northern Virginia.

  “I’ll see what I can do. Bring in Prentice and keep the lady safe so she can testify, and you can have your pick of any desk between D.C. and Miami.”

  “Thanks, Mac.”

  “Be careful.”

  Gavin closed his eyes as a chill raced over his body. It was the first time in all the years he’d known Bradley MacArthur that he had warned him to be careful. Was something going on that his supervisor hadn’t apprised him of? And why had Mac given in so easily when he’d asked to provide protection for Celia?

  “I will.” That said, he ended the call and turned off the television.

  Witness protection meant everywhere Celia went, he’d go. He also had to tell her about the prosecutor’s abduction—that is, if she didn’t already know. The thought had just entered his mind when the object of his musings walked into the bedroom. Her eyes appeared unusually large and haunted. The expression on her face said she did know.

  Gavin forced a smile he didn’t feel. What he didn’t want to acknowledge was the thread of fear weaving its way into his consciousness. He wasn’t afraid for himself; he was afraid for Celia.

  “I just turned off the television.”

  Celia walked into the bedroom, closing the distance between her and the man who’d promised to protect her. While setting up the board for a game of Scrabble with Gavin, she’d turned on the television to an all-news station. When she’d heard the announcement that the Miami-Dade prosecutor had been kidnapped at gunpoint in the driveway to his home, she’d felt faint.

  “Do you think this is a random abduction, Gavin?”

  Gavin pulled her close, feeling the warmth of her body through a cotton tee and shorts. “I don’t know, baby. Not only is Alton Fitch a high-profile prosecutor, but he also comes from a very wealthy family. It could be either a crime of revenge or greed.” Cradling her face in his hands, he kissed the end of her nose. “Whatever it is, I don’t want you to worry about anything. I’m going to take care of you. And that means everywhere you go, I go.” Nodding, Celia closed her eyes. “Who knows you’re staying here?”

  She opened her eyes. The hardened expression on Gavin’s face frightened her, and it was the first time she viewed him as a protection specialist. “I’ve only told my family.”

  “Do you mean immediate family, or uncles, aunts and cousins?”

  She gave him an incredulous look. “When I say family it means everyone.”

  “Are most of your family in Florida?”

  Celia shook her head. “They live all over.”

  “Where is all over?” Gavin was firing questions at her like an interrogator.

  “They live in Virginia, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Mississippi and Brazil. Why do you want to know?”

  “If and when anyone contacts you—and that includes family members—do not tell them where you are if they don’t already know. How about friends? Do any of them know you have a place here?”

  “I have a sorority sister who has visited me here a few times.”

  “What’s her name?” Gavin asked, continuing his questioning.

  “What does she have to do with anything, Gavin?”

  “Just answer the question.”

  Celia bit her lip until she felt it throbbing between her teeth. “Her name is Rania Norris. She’s married, but she never changed her name.”

  “Where does she live?”

  “Why?”

  Gavin’s fingers tightened on her jaw. “Answer me, Celia.” The three words were ground out between clenched teeth.

  “She lives in a suburb outside Detroit.”

  “When was the last time you saw or talked to her?”

  “We haven’t seen each other for almost two years, but we talk every couple of months.”

  “I don’t want you to call her, and if she calls I don’t want you to take her call.”

  “What about my family?”

  “The same goes for them.”

  Celia stared at Gavin as if he’d lost his mind. “No. You can’t cut me off from my family.”

  A slow smile eased the lines of tension ringing Gavin’s generous mouth. “I’m not going to cut you off from them. Give me the number to your brother’s farm. He will be your sole connection to the rest of your family until the trial.”

  “Does this mean we’re not going to see him next week?”

  Nicholas had reassured Gavin that his property was guarded around the clock. It was Celia who’d told him that her brother had invested millions to make his horse farm viable and profitable.

  “We’re going as planned. You’re not going to alter your regular activities. What you’re going to do is limit your telephone contacts. There are computer experts that can hack a cell phone as easily as taking a drink of water. We don’t know if Fitch’s abduction is random, or if his abductors have a particular motive for snatching him.”

  “Do you think I’m that motive?”

  Gavin gave her a reassuring smile. “I doubt it. I just want to tie up some loose ends.”

  The loose ends were people who knew Dr. Celia Cole-Thomas was the state of Florida’s key witness in a capital murder trial. Vera had given him minute details of the hospital shootout. Although the names of the doctors killed in the rampage were printed in the newspapers, their photographs did not appear at the request of their respective families. Dr. Celia Cole-Thomas’s name was never mentioned, and Gavin knew it was because of her family’s clout in the state that kept that information out of the press.

  “I need you to answer one more question for me.”

  Celia rolled her eyes. “What is it?”

  “This cookout we’re going to Saturday.”

  “What about it, Gavin?”

  “Do they know about your late fiancé?”

  She nodded. “I told Hannah everything, except that I’m going to be the only witness at a murder trial. The other people in the waiting room were either too frightened or things happened so quickly they weren’t sure what they saw.”

  “Did you tell her anything about me?”

  “No, Gavin.” There was a hint of laughter in Celia’s voice. “What’s up?”

  “I want you to introduce me as your husband.”

  Celia chuckled as she replayed his suggestion in her head. “Have you gone and lost your mind?”

  “No. And, it’s not funny.”

  “I think it is, Gavin. In fact, I think it’s hilarious.”

  Gavin dropped his hands. “Pretending we’re married will be the perfect cover for why I’m living with you. If I hadn’t given up my time-share, then I would’ve remained your boyfriend.”

  “Can’t you get it back?”

  “No. And I don’t want it back.”

  Exhaling audibly, Celia tunneled her fingers through her hair. “I’ve lied more since I’ve met you than at any other time in my life.”

  “Don’t lay that blame on me, m’ija. You were the one who told Nicholas that you’d hired me as your bodyguard.”

  “That’s so he wouldn’t get in my face about you. He made my life a living hell when he found out I’d moved in with Yale. There are times when my brother forgets that not only am I older than he is, but that I’m quite capable of living my life without his interference.”

  “Don’t knock it, Celia. There are brothers who could care less not only about their sister but also the woman who gave birth to them.”

  She waved a hand. “Let’s get back to this marriage of convenience, Gavin. It is only for this weekend?”

  “Let’s play it by ear.”r />
  “Marriages of convenience only happen in romance novels.”

  It was Gavin’s turn to roll his eyes upward. “Please don’t tell me you read those.”

  “Reading those kept me sane while I was convalescing. I had my sister-in-law bring me dozens every week. I read them because I knew they were going to end with a happily ever after and at that time I needed as many ups as I could muster.”

  Gavin felt as if he’d come down with a case of foot-in-mouth. How easy it was for him to forget how close Celia had come to dying.

  He took a step and swept her up in his arms. “Will you forgive me for being so insensitive?”

  Wrapping her arms around his neck, Celia kissed Gavin’s forehead. “I’ll think about it.”

  “Don’t think too long, wifey.”

  “Call me that again and you’ll find yourself sleeping on the sofa.”

  “I can’t fit on the sofa.”

  “That’s the idea, hubby.” Celia’s gaze met and fused with Gavin’s. Her teasing fled quickly. “Do you think we can pull it off?”

  “Of course we can, baby.”

  “Are you willing to wear a wedding band?”

  “Of course,” Gavin confirmed.

  Celia, her mind in tumult, buried her face on Gavin’s solid shoulder. They were to pretend they were married while the prosecutor who depended upon her testimony to get a guilty plea had been abducted steps from his front door. She closed her eyes, whispering a silent prayer for his quick and safe return.

  “We’ll go shopping for rings tomorrow,” she whispered in his ear.

  Gavin tightened his hold under her legs. “I remember seeing a nice jewelry store in Asheville.”

  Her head popped up. “There’s no need to go all the way to Asheville for rings.”

  “What if someone in Waynesville recognizes you? How will you explain buying rings when we’re supposed to be married?”

  “You’re right, Gavin.”

  “Spoken like an obedient, dutiful wife. No! Please stop!” Celia had caught his earlobe between her teeth. “I’m sorry, baby.”

  She released his lobe. “Obey or any derivative of that offensive word will never ever be uttered in my wedding vows. The exception will be if my husband agrees to obey me.”

  Gavin carried her to the bed, sitting and settling her on his lap. “I was the obedient, dutiful husband-in-training when you asked me to make love to you.”

  Celia covered her face with her hands. “Don’t remind me of that. I’ve never been that brazen.”

  Reaching for her hands, he eased her down to the mattress. “I’m not complaining, Celia. In fact, I was honored you asked me and not some other man.”

  “I like making love with you, Gavin.”

  He ran a finger down the length of her delicate nose, his mouth replacing his finger as he caressed her lips. “And I love making love to you.”

  Gavin loved making love to Celia and he’d discovered that he liked her—a little too much for it to be a game. The charade of his being her bodyguard had escalated to a pretend marriage, and none of it had anything to do with why he’d come to the Great Smoky Mountains.

  He was a special agent for the Bureau, yet, with his supervisor’s approval, was operating more like a wet boy doing whatever needed to be done to fulfill his mission. His request to provide witness protection for Celia wasn’t unreasonable because he was already living with her and she trusted him. Bradley MacArthur hadn’t confirmed or denied—or didn’t know—whether Fitch’s abduction was connected to the E.R. shootout. Gavin suspected OPERATION: Top Gun had many more layers than what he’d read in the classified file. While ATF, DEA and FBI agents were chasing drug traffickers and gun smugglers, his focus was to bring his brother in alive and protect a witness in a high-profile murder trial.

  Celia held her breath when she felt Gavin’s hand moving under the hem of her T-shirt, his finger making tiny circles around her belly button. “I thought we were going to play Scrabble.”

  Lowering his head, Gavin pressed a kiss to her flat belly. “Do you really want to play?”

  She tried sitting up, but he pushed her back down. “Of course I want to play. After all, you were the one talking about your undefeated record.”

  “I don’t want to brag, but I should alert you that I was a finalist for my school district for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.”

  Celia’s jaw dropped. “You were a nerd?”

  “What’s wrong with being a nerd?”

  “I just thought you would’ve been super jock,” she countered.

  Gavin leaned closer, their mouths inches apart. “I was a nerd and a jock. By the time I was fifteen I stood several inches above six feet. High school coaches wanted me to join the basketball team, but I preferred football. I played defense because it gave me the opportunity to pound the hell out of guys that teased me because I wore glasses and made the honor roll. I worked out as hard as I studied and by the time I graduated, I was six-four and a solid two hundred pounds.”

  “What happened to the glasses?”

  “I had surgery to correct my vision.”

  Celia forgot about playing Scrabble when Gavin lay beside her. She listened intently when he told her he’d graduated valedictorian and enrolled in Howard University on full academic scholarship. He’d majored in pre-law, but wasn’t certain whether he’d wanted to practice law.

  Gavin stared at the crown molding over the bed. “I was twenty-one with a college degree and I didn’t know what I wanted to do next. Instead of going to law school I joined the army. I’d disappointed my mother because she was bragging to everyone at the social services agency where she worked that her son was going to be a lawyer. What she didn’t understand was that I was close to burnout. I didn’t want to sit in another lecture hall or open one more textbook.”

  “So, you became a soldier instead.” Celia’s voice was soft, soothing.

  Smiling, Gavin closed his eyes. “I loved everything they threw at me—the rigorous training and the sleep deprivation. I’d applied to and was accepted into Ranger School. It’s an extremely intense sixty-one-day combat leadership course conducted over three separate three-week-long phases.

  “That was only the beginning.” Gavin opened his eyes to find Celia staring at him. “We had combat water survival and a water confidence test. What I found most difficult was the three-mile terrain run followed by what is called the Malvesti Field Obstacle Course. We had to go into a worm pit, which was a shallow, muddy twenty-five-meter obstacle covered by knee-high barbed wire.”

  “Did you make it on the first try?”

  “No, and I have the scars to prove it. It’s not a onetime exercise. The obstacle is usually negotiated several times on one’s belly and back. The Mountain phase tests the limits of mental and physical strength when we were subjected to severe weather and rugged terrain. I almost lost what little food I had in my stomach when I had to climb, then rappel down a fifty-foot sheer cliff.”

  Celia rested her palm alongside Gavin’s face. “Did you ever think of quitting?”

  Gavin placed his hand on hers. “Quitting is not in my psychological makeup. I learned to parachute out of a plane and developed the skills to survive in a rain forest or swamp by learning how to deal with reptiles and how to tell the difference between venomous and non-venomous snakes. There were trained reptile experts that taught us how not to be afraid of them. We were put through mock combat raids and missions where we applied everything we’d learned.

  “Once we’d earned enough points to graduate, we spent several days cleaning our weapons and equipment. After we got back to the fort we were given PX privileges. We were allowed to use a telephone, eat civilian food and watch television. During this time we were fed three meals a day. I’d weighed two hundred ten pounds when I enrolled in Ranger School and by the time I graduated, I was down to one-seventy.”

  Celia gave him a look mirroring disbelief. “You lost forty pounds in two months?”

  G
avin nodded as he brushed her hair back over her ear to expose a brilliant diamond stud. “My mother couldn’t stop crying when she pinned the black-and-gold Ranger Tab on my left shoulder, and I thought it was because she was happy that I’d made it through. I learned later that she was upset because she thought I was dying. I had to explain that it wasn’t uncommon for soldiers to lose twenty to forty pounds.”

  “How long did it take you to put back on the weight?”

  “It took about six months. Some Ranger School graduates had weight problems after they returned to their units. They packed on the pounds because they couldn’t stop eating. We’d been deprived of food during training to ensure a survivalist mentality.”

  Celia realized Gavin had mentioned his mother but not his father. “Did your dad approve of you going into the military?”

  “I’m certain he would’ve if he’d been alive. My father was a Green Beret during the Vietnam War. He went into law enforcement after he was discharged. I was ten when he was killed while on duty.”

  She went completely still, feeling Gavin’s pain as surely as if it were her own. “I’m so sorry.”

  Gavin shuttered his gaze, concealing the pain he’d never permitted anyone to see. He’d loved and respected his father, but it wasn’t until he’d entered adolescence that he felt the void when he couldn’t go to his namesake for advice about sex and interpersonal relationships.

  Ever since he’d joined the Bureau, Gavin’s fear was not for himself but for Malvina Faulkner. What were the odds that she would lose not only her husband but both her sons because of their undercover work with the FBI? And not wanting to test the odds, he knew he had to convince his brother to get out before someone discovered his true identity.

  Bradley MacArthur had promised to get him a desk assignment, and if his brother wasn’t willing to leave the Bureau, then Gavin would try to get Ray Prentice to apply for a position as an instructor at the Academy.

  “What did you do after you left the army?”

  He opened his eyes. “I went back to college and got a graduate degree in criminal justice, then went to work for my uncle. After he retired, he turned the company over to his sons.”