“Have they caught the bastards?” he asked smoothly.
Smitty took another puff of his cigar. “Not yet. Fortunately, Dane Jessup was able to give the ATF folks a description of the shooter. Let’s hope they catch him before I do, because I’d blast his ass and ask questions later.”
Slouching lower in his chair, Daniel Walsh crossed his feet at the ankles. “I read an article yesterday that’d been printed in the Houston Chronicle about high-powered gun purchases at a Houston-area store by a Gulf drug cartel cell. They were smuggled across the border by the syndicate and were tied to fifty-five killings in Mexico, including the deaths of police officers, civilians and gangsters.”
Gavin forced himself to relax as all of his senses came into focus. The reason he’d been ordered to hang out in Waynesville while waiting for Ray to contact him was to gather as much information as he could about the gun thieves, and it was more than luck that Celia’s friend’s husband was in law enforcement.
He shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense, Daniel. The drugs flow north into our communities, contributing to more violence and compromising public health and safety, but we know weapons from the U.S. flow south and are used in violent attacks.”
Smitty sat up straighter. “But, why steal guns when you can buy them legally?”
“Why buy the cow when you can get the milk free?” Daniel asked.
“Robbing gun dealers bypasses legal paperwork and background checks, which many wouldn’t pass,” Gavin interjected.
Daniel ran a hand over his hair. “That’s true for some.” Everyone stared at him.
“What aren’t you telling us, Danny?” the sergeant asked.
“I have a cousin who works for the ATF Houston division, which also includes the Rio Grande Valley and the Del Rio, and he said agents inspected gun dealer records and knocked on doors of people who purchased guns that wound up in Mexico. Many said they were stolen, but there was one case that involved a small-town Texas policeman. He’d bought a few military-style rifles, left them in his car and on the same night forgot to lock the door. He’s in a lot of hot water because he couldn’t explain why he hadn’t filed a police report or why he’d visited Mexico the next day.”
Jimmy smothered a belch with his hand. “I guess you can say that that good ole boy can say bye-bye to his pension. The local police may look the other way, but not the feds.”
Gavin nodded without commenting. The veteran police officer was right. The federal police had prioritized illegal gun sales. The file on Raymond Prentice included a report on the results of the Gun Runner Impact Team operation, which brought in one hundred agents from around the country for temporary duty. Two hundred seventy-six full-scale investigations were opened against weapons purchasers as well as a handful of firearms dealers.
Since it was illegal to own firearms in Mexico, and the U.S. had top-quality guns readily available, the cartels organized cells that recruited U.S. citizens with clean criminal backgrounds to purchase the weapons without raising red flags. ATF inspectors, who’d gone through the records of more than one thousand dealers, issued warning letters about compliance to more than seventy and revoked the license of one. Many problems were attributed to sloppy record keeping.
“It’s not going to stop until our people stop buying the shit,” Daniel sneered.
Smitty blew out a series of smoke rings. “I doubt if that’s ever going to happen. As long as there are illegal drugs you’re going to have people selling their souls to buy it, and those on the other end who will annihilate anything and anyone who get in their way of making a profit.”
Jimmy Lee raised his longneck. “Preach, Brother Smitty.” The other four raised their glasses in acknowledgment.
Gavin drained his glass, and then pushed off the chair. He extended his hand to each of the men. “Gentlemen, it’s been good.”
Daniel stood up. “How long are you and Celia hanging around?”
“We plan to spend the summer.”
He slapped Gavin’s back. “If you’re not doing anything next weekend, then we’d like you to come on by.”
“It can’t be next weekend, but if the invitation’s open for the following one, then why don’t you bring your family to our place?”
“That’s a bet, providing Hannah doesn’t go into labor before then.”
Gavin gave the men a snappy salute before walking off the porch and down to where Celia sat. Her head popped up when she saw him. Reaching down, he helped her to her feet, waiting until she said her goodbyes.
“What’s the matter?” he asked when she wrinkled her nose.
“You’ve been smoking.”
“The boys and I had a cigar to go along with our bourbon.”
Celia wrinkled her nose again. “Well, if that’s the case then you can sleep with the boys tonight.”
Holding her arm in a firm grip, Gavin led her around to where he’d parked his truck. “I had my fill of sleeping with the boys when I was in the army.”
“Well, I’m not going to share a bed with someone willing to risk their health because of an addiction.”
Gavin helped Celia up, and then came around to sit next to her. “I didn’t know you cared that much,” he teased.
“Yes, I care, Gavin. The problem is I care a little too much about you.”
“You care too much as a doctor or as my wife?”
“That’s something we’re going to have to talk about.”
He pondered her cryptic retort, starting up the vehicle. “What’s on your mind, Celia?”
“There you go again.”
A frown found its way onto Gavin’s face. “What are you talking about?”
“Why do you have to come off so condescending?”
“You think?”
“I know,” she shot back. “I want to talk to you about something and you make it appear as if I’m annoying you.”
He wanted to tell Celia something was bothering him, but it wasn’t her. It was Isaac Smith’s reference to the group of gun thieves kidnapping the gun dealer. Dane Jessup was carjacked on the way to work, taken across the border into Tennessee then returned to North Carolina where the thieves cleaned out his store with the intent of leaving him for dead. The case would’ve fallen under the jurisdiction of the ATF if it hadn’t been for the kidnapping, which was why the Bureau had become involved. Gavin had wanted to believe Jessup’s abduction was Raymond Prentice’s idea because he was apprehensive about his cover being blown. If not, then it was something new in the gang’s repertoire of brazen holdups.
“I’m sorry, baby, if I came off sounding so insensitive. What do you want to talk about?”
Celia turned, staring at Gavin’s strong profile. “I can’t do this.”
“Are you talking about our marriage?”
She nodded. “I can’t keep lying, Gavin, only because I’ve never been adept at it. I’m flubbing the script, and whenever someone asks about our dating and how you proposed I have to mentally backtrack and try to recall what I’d said before.”
Gavin’s hands tightened on the leather steering wheel. He could understand Celia’s exasperation because subterfuge wasn’t a part of her psyche. “What else is bothering you, sweetheart?” His voice was soft, as if he were comforting a child.
“I can’t stop thinking that Alton Fitch’s abduction is somehow connected to the hospital shooting.”
“And what if it isn’t?” he asked.
Celia managed to force a smile through an expression of uncertainty. “Then I have one less thing to worry about.”
“I don’t want you to worry about anything, Celia.”
“That’s easy enough for you to say, Gavin. You’re not the one who has to testify against a member of one of the most ruthless gangs in south Florida.”
“Are you having second thoughts about testifying?”
Celia shook her head. “No. The only way I don’t testify is if I’m dead, and I don’t plan on dying in the very near future. I was spared for a re
ason, Gavin, and I believe it’s to make certain the people who were murdered in that E.R. did not die in vain.”
“That’s my girl. For a minute, I thought you were going soft on me.”
A pregnant silence filled the vehicle as she stared through the windshield. “I’m not afraid for myself.”
“Even if you were, I’d still take care of you.” Gavin knew his pledge to protect Celia hadn’t come from his promise to Nicholas Cole-Thomas, but from some place that was totally foreign to him. Celia had admitted that she cared a little too much for him. Well if he was going to be truthful with her, then he would have to admit that his feelings were more intense than just caring about her well-being.
He didn’t want to think about or believe that a woman he’d known a week had changed him completely—inside and out. Solitary by nature, he was used to living and working alone. Even when he’d had relationships of what he’d considered long duration he’d never asked a woman to live with him, and when they’d made the offer he hadn’t hesitated to reject their offer.
Celia was different, though. It could be her independence and inner strength that drew him to her. She had her music, needlework, garden and cooking to keep her busy during the day, and when they shared a bed it’d become more than his making love to her. It’d become a time to heal, to love. Gavin wasn’t certain if he was falling in love with Celia because he believed he’d never been in love. He’d known lust, but not love for a woman who wasn’t a family member.
“Will it make you feel more relaxed if we make our marriage legal?”
“What?” The single word exploded from Celia.
“We can go to Virginia, where there’s no waiting period, and we don’t have to be a resident of the Commonwealth. We can get married the same day we procure the license.”
“We can’t, Gavin.”
“We can do anything we want to do, Celia. I shouldn’t have to remind you that we’re consenting adults.”
“But I’m not in love with you.”
“You weren’t in love with Yale, yet you’d agreed to marry him.”
Celia wished she could’ve retracted her words when she admitted loving Yale, yet not being in love with him. There were times when she’d questioned her decision to accept his marriage proposal, but when she’d analyzed why she had it’d come down to doing what was the norm. She had a career and the next phase of her life was to get married and have children.
“It was different with me and Yale.”
Gavin made his way slowly down the steep hill, stopping and looking both ways before driving onto the paved road leading back to Celia’s house. “And it’s going to be different for us.”
“How different, Gavin?”
“The decision will be yours whether to annul the marriage or see if we can make a go of it.”
Celia stared at Gavin, tongue-tied. She couldn’t believe he could come up with such an absurd proposition. “You want to dump the responsibility in my lap.” The query was a statement. “No, thank you, Gavin. I’m not that desperate to be married.”
“What if I accept the decision as to our future together?”
“It still doesn’t solve anything,” she protested.
“Yes, it does, Celia. You can stop lying.”
Somehow he’d turned the tables, and as they say, the ball was in her court. She was the one who had little or no skill when it came to telling lies. “Answer one question for me, Gavin.”
“What is it?”
“Did any of the guys question you about me?”
“Nope. Why?”
“I got the third degree from the ladies about you. The only thing they didn’t ask is whether you wear boxers or briefs.”
“Would you have told them if they’d asked?”
“Hell, no. That’s none of their business.”
Gavin laughed as he drove into the driveway of the house. He pushed the button on the remote device and maneuvered into the two-car garage. It was a tight fit with the two SUVs but he didn’t want to leave either vehicle out overnight. “The only thing guys want to know is how long did it take me to get the drawers.”
Celia smiled and landed a punch on his shoulder. “That is so low-down.”
“Whoa, baby. Hitting your husband can be interpreted as domestic abuse.”
“No, it’s not because legally you’re not my husband.”
Gavin shut off the engine and pressed the remote again. The door lowered automatically. A ceiling light illuminated the interior of the garage. “What’s it going to be, baby girl? Do you want to stop lying, or continue the farce?”
“Okay. We’ll do it. But when it comes time for us to split up, I don’t want to have to deal with any histrionics from you.”
“I guess you’re going to want me to sign a prenuptial agreement.”
Celia smothered an expletive. How could she have forgotten she was worth millions? “I’ll call my attorney on Monday and ask him to draw up one. He can overnight it to Nicky’s farm. We can sign it and send it back before we exchange vows.”
“That sounds good. Remember, Monday we pick up Terry.”
I’ve truly lost my mind, Celia thought as Gavin got out and came around to assist her.
Celia waited for Gavin to disarm the alarm. “I’m going to call my brother to let him know our plans have changed, and then I’m going to take a bath and go to bed. I’ll try and wait up for you.”
Gavin closed the door and reset the alarm. Reaching for Celia, he pulled her to his length. “We’re going to do okay.”
Curving her arms under his shoulders, she buried her face between his neck and shoulder. The lingering scent of his cologne was barely discernible. He smelled of burning wood and cigar smoke. Celia didn’t know why, but she wanted what she’d shared with Gavin to be real, that when they did marry, it would be for all the right reasons.
But, then she had to ask herself if she’d agreed to marry Yale for all the right reasons when the only thing they had in common was medicine. Other than that, there wasn’t much that they did together. Much to her surprise Gavin helped her inside and outside the house. He was not opposed to doing loads of wash or folding the clothes once they came out of the dryer, and he cooked and cleaned up afterwards, which left her time to clean the house.
Traditionally, when Coles married it was for life. The exception was her cousin Nathaniel. He’d married Kendra Reeves, agreed to a divorce after their daughter drowned in the family pool, but convinced her to give him a second try. They were now expecting another baby.
“Is that wishful thinking, darling?”
Easing back, Gavin stared at her upturned face. “Yes, it is.” He smiled. “I’m going to hang out down here and watch the news and then I’ll be up.”
He’d said yes when he’d wanted to say it was a prayer. There was something about Celia that tugged at his heart the way no other woman had been able to do. He had no inkling what it was about her and hoped he would discover what it was before it came time for her to testify.
Going on tiptoe, Celia kissed his ear. “I’ll see you later.”
Gavin waited for Celia to climb the staircase and disappear from view before he reached for his cell phone. Walking to the back porch, he flipped a wall switch. Soft light from a table lamp and floor lamp illuminated the space. He reached for the remote and tuned the television to CNN, hoping for an update about the Florida prosecutor’s abduction.
But, first things first. Gavin wanted to know how Isaac Smith came by the information about Dane Jessup’s kidnapping. Was there a leak in the North Carolina field office? Had the loquacious state trooper overheard something he shouldn’t have repeated? Or was he a dirty cop?
The questions nagged at Gavin until he punched the buttons on his BlackBerry that connected him to the Bureau. He identified himself to the analyst that answered the phone. Vera was either off or she was away from her desk. He gave the man Isaac Smith’s name, asking him to get back to him as quickly as possible.
“D
o you want to hold, Agent Faulkner, or should I call you back?”
“I’ll hold.”
Gavin stared at the television screen, reading the closed captions while he waited. He didn’t have to wait long. Smitty, as he was known to the locals, had been under surveillance for more than a year.
The man was more than a dirty cop. Isaac Smith was a traitor.
He flicked off the television, plugged his cell into the charger and checked all of the doors and windows. Gavin’s footfalls echoed dully on the staircase. He’d come to the Great Smoky Mountains to provide safe passage for an undercover agent, but had found himself involved with a woman that made him feel things he didn’t want to feel; she’d gotten under his skin when he’d agreed to legalize a charade of a marriage.
Gavin could not have imagined that when he’d walked into FBI headquarters to meet with a Department of Justice task force he would become a player in a plot that was becoming more and more complex. He was protecting a witness, when it should’ve been someone from the U.S. Marshal Service; the prosecutor in the case where Celia was the key witness had been kidnapped in front of his home and unknowingly he’d made contact with a traitor masquerading as a North Carolina state trooper.
Fitch’s abduction and Isaac Smith’s clandestine activities were on the Bureau’s priority list. Raymond Prentice and Celia Cole-Thomas topped his.
Chapter 16
Gavin walked into the bathroom, stripping off his clothes and leaving them in a large wicker hamper. Even though he’d begun sleeping in Celia’s bedroom he hadn’t used her bathroom. Natural flooring materials lent character and subtle coloration to the overall design of the space. The colors of taupe, tan and beige were dominant. There was a vintage-style sink, plank-wood walls and slate floors.
There was the requisite garden tub with a Jacuzzi, but what Gavin had found shocking was the sunken hot tub in a corner of the large room. French doors leading to the second-story wraparound deck provided an unobstructed view of the Great Smoky Mountains. The vistas from the second story were not only spectacular but awe-inspiring.
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