A Little Harmless Secret

by Melissa Schroeder

  He said nothing for a moment, then he reached out with his hand and cupped her face.

  “You’re tough, you know that?”

  She tried to shake his hand away by moving her face, but he refused.

  “No. I want you to know that in any fight, I’d want you at my back. I trust you, but know that you don’t have to do this alone anymore. I’m here and there are people who want to help.”

  Tears stung the backs of her eyes. She blinked trying to keep them from falling, but she failed. He wiped them away with the backs of his fingers, then leaned over to kiss her. It was more sweet than carnal, but it affected her more than any kiss he’d offered her before. In this, she felt his dedication and trust. He pulled back and rested his forehead on hers.

  “I owe my sister a big gift.”

  She smiled. “Why is that?”

  “She’s the one who talked Micah and me into going to Seattle. As soon as the dust settles, she’ll remember and won’t shut up about it.”

  She chuckled and was about to suggest they go back upstairs, but his mobile rang.

  “Hey, Conner.”

  She moved away from him, but he grabbed her hand and kept her standing beside him.

  “Shit. Yeah, I know that name.”

  He was quiet for a few seconds, and took the opportunity to kiss her knuckles.

  “When?” Another silence. “I’ll see when you get here.”

  He hung up and looked at her. She knew there was something pretty bloody important if Conner was coming over right away at this time of night.

  “Do you know anything about the Spencer File?”

  She cocked her head to the side and thought. Then the stories came flooding back to her and she smiled. “Oh, that. It’s an urban fantasy.”

  He didn’t smile. “Tell me.”

  “There was a rumor about a spy who had sold information to some of our enemies. The problem was that it seemed to pop up whenever we had a mission go bad without explanation. I remember early on in my career, we had one big bloody fuck up, but sometimes it is just a coincidence or someone slipped somewhere. So many of us are guarded all the time, but it just takes one little slip—a drunken confession, something like that. So, in the end it isn’t true. It’s used to scare agents I think.”

  Devon shook his head. “No. The Spencer File was pretty damned real, because I was the one who discovered it and brought it to the attention of the CIA and MI-6.”

  “Wait. This went back too many years to be one person. That’s why it was always dismissed.”

  “I had come up with some information, or at least a theory that it was a network of double agents who were recruited by the others already working as a mole.”

  “But what does that have to do with my father?” she asked. “You’re not suggesting that my father was a traitor are you?”

  He shook his head. “No. Conner uncovered your father’s files. I don’t even want to know what laws Maura broke, but they found references to it. That’s why he was looking for me. He needed help working on what he wanted to find out.”

  “Are you telling me my father read your file and wanted to connect with you about that?”

  He nodded. “I think so. I also think it’s what might have gotten him killed.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  By the time Conner got to the house, they had dressed. Alicia tried to calm her heart rate, but it was hard to do. Devon showed Conner into the office. Alicia could tell from his expression that it wasn’t good news.

  He shook his head and gave her an apologetic glance. “I hate to bother y’all this late at night, but we also got a hit right before I came over. Rory called with the information. Right now, I don’t want to do any more talking over the phone.”

  She knew Rory was one of the head security specialists they employed and one of the few people who had known who she was.

  “No problem. And I have to agree. Using the phone, no matter how secure, is always a security issue. Truth is, the sooner we figure all of this out, the sooner I can feel safe again.”

  The idea that she would finally be able to just live her life was a fantasy she’d never thought would come true. She’d been looking over her shoulder for so many years…and she wanted to be a regular mom to Bridget.

  Conner pulled out his tablet, tapped on the screen a few times and brought up the files.

  “So, what’s this about the Spencer file?” she asked. “What did you find?”

  “The Spencer File. Yes, well, I had always thought it one of those rumors that were never going to be proven.” He looked at Alicia with a hint of understanding in his eyes. “All spooks have that weird story of a spy selling secrets. The big one here was of a Soviet being raised as an American.”

  “But it isn’t a myth,” Devon said. “Not from what I found.”

  “Exactly,” Conner said grimly. “I didn’t expect you to react like you did.”

  Devon nodded. “I remember that. I got a few laughs at the office when I went after it.”

  “Are you sure this was real? It had always been considered a boogie man kind of story for agents. Like to scare us into being good little spies,” Alicia said. “I know my father dismissed it for years. But apparently something changed his mind when he started to research old cases.”

  “I know it is. I had too many reliable sources not to believe them. Plus, when I presented the information, the higher ups got very quiet,” Devon said. “It was a little eerie the way all contact was broken off from them.”

  “Oh, that’s not good,” she said. “When a spook goes silent, that is usually a very bad thing.”

  “Why did you latch onto it?” Conner asked.

  Devon shrugged. “Not entirely sure. I’ve always been a geek and there were a lot of little places on the internet that chatted about it. The complexity of it intrigued me. Like a puzzle. The prevailing opinion was that they resurrected the name over and over to use. That it was a family kind of thing.”

  That made sense to her. In fact, it was a bit brilliant. “So, like Menudo?”

  “What?” Conner asked. Devon was looking at her like she were insane.

  “Like the boy band from Mexico. When the members got too old, they just replaced them with another boy. That way they kept it young and maintained teenager interest.”

  Devon smiled. “Odd, but yes, that’s what they did. Or what I could discern. Maybe it was that fact that made it seem unbelievable. Since the rumors had been around more than twenty years, it seemed implausible. But what if the same people—or in this case country—used the name over and over, then that would make sense.”

  “Yes, and apparently, it was sent to England. It was their issue after all. And, that’s where your father comes in, Alicia.”

  “I’m seeing where this is going. The CIA handed it over and nothing was done right away. They let it sit there for a few years, but my father was semi-retired. His mind was as sharp as ever, and he had the right security clearance. He’d been going over old information, looking at missions that went right, those that went wrong, and writing up reports. I think he said something about using them for training. Father was one of the few agents around who could remember some of those days and he still held his security clearance. So, this must have hit his desk.”

  Conner hit a few things on his tablet then handed it to them. “This is apparently where he got, and Devon’s name came up.”

  He handed it to Devon and he shared the screen with her. The file was American in origin and Devon’s name was blacked out.

  “How did he find out it was you?” She rolled her eyes. “He called someone. Dad knew someone in every bloody spook agency around the world.”

  He nodded. “That’s the report I made up on it. It was right before my life went to complete shit, so I completely forgot about it.”

  Conner’s mobile rang. He answered.

  “I told you I wanted to stay off the phone for security.” He rolled his eyes and listened to whoever was on t
he phone.

  “Okay.” He handed the phone to Devon. “It’s Rory. He wants to talk to you about this report. He can only find what I have there and he wants to know if you remember anything.”

  Devon took the phone and moved away from them to talk.

  Alicia looked at the clock and realized it was probably before sunrise in Florida. “I hate that Rory is up this early working, but I really appreciate it.”

  Conner gave her a sardonic smile. “First, I always like bugging Rory. He’s involved with my sister and well, I like screwing with him. Plus, he’s on Miami time so it’s not that early.”

  She continued to look through the report, noting some of the sources. Then, there was a name that stood out amongst the notes.

  Xan Winslow.

  A chill ran down her spine, seeping into her soul. All the moisture seemed to evaporate in her mouth and she found it hard to swallow.

  What a bloody, bloody mess. All the sounds around her seemed to fade away and she felt the room spin. She gathered up enough strength to draw in a deep breath. She realized then that Conner was still talking.

  “And, someone has a huge hard-on for you, Alicia. They’ve been looking for you the last few weeks; I pinpointed their traveling IP. They were on the west coast, but the latest is Honolulu.”

  “Here?”

  Her heart almost stopped right then and there.

  “Yes. In fact, they’re staying down in Waikiki, although we haven’t been able to pinpoint it exactly. They are within three blocks. But my bet is whoever they are, they are staying at one of the hotels.”

  She would be able to contact the traitor. It was a number she’d avoided using in the past, but now, she would.

  “Do you have any backup tonight?” Conner asked.

  “Devon’s here,” she said, trying to come up with a way to get out of the house undetected.

  “I mean for both of you. If you want, I can stay.”

  “When Devon gets done with Rory, we’ll see what he says. Can you excuse me for a moment?”

  He nodded and she slipped out of the room. As she walked up the stairs, her mind started racing. She should have known something was going on. Every turn in the case had been reported by one person. The one person she thought she had been protecting.

  Other people would never catch on to who it was. In fact, she might be the only person alive who could connect all the dots. The name was the giveaway. She dressed as fast as she could. She grabbed her Glock and strapped her knife holder to her ankle. After grabbing her knife, she slipped it into the holder. She turned toward the door, but she stopped. There was only one person on her mind for so long, now she had two.

  Both of them were in her heart and he needed to know how she felt. And she needed to provide for her daughter.

  She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a few words, explaining what she was doing and where she was going. And she did the one thing she thought she would never do before ending the note. She placed it on the dresser in plain sight, and this time, she slipped out down the stairs and out of the house.

  * * * *

  After getting off the phone, Devon and Conner discussed the possibilities of who it could be. It would have to be someone her father knew and someone who was still around. That really narrowed the field, but not enough. After a while Devon realized it had been close to thirty minutes since Ali left the room.

  Devon stepped out of the office.

  “What’s wrong?” Conner said as he followed him out.

  Devon shook his head and walked up the stairs. The sense of urgency growing with each step he took. He made it to the top of the stairs and ran down to her room.

  “Ali!” No answer. And no one in the room. He ran through the bathroom to the other bedroom and found it empty too.

  He knew there had been something wrong, but he’d thought it was something else. She had been tired and all the information was a little too much for even him to take.

  “Dev,” Conner yelled. Devon ran back in and found Conner holding a piece of stationary.

  He handed it over and pulled out his phone.

  Devon,

  Well, it’s my turn to run. This is my fight not yours. It was never yours. I know that now. My father had only looked at your research to know the person responsible for this problem.

  I am leaving this note for you. And, there is information in my safe deposit box and in my bag. It names you as the father of my child. Please, if I don’t return from this, love her like I do. You are the only person I trust her to. Protect her. She is the most precious thing to me on this earth and beyond.

  Love,

  Ali

  He looked up and found Conner hanging up this phone. “I talked to Sean since he knew them. There is one person that came to mind. Her cousin.”

  He shook his head trying to piece it all together.

  “How did Sean know?”

  “The first job he ever worked with MI-6 on a joint task force had one grating person, and that was Millicent Hughes. Her name on the job was Xan Winslow.”

  The name clicked. “Fuck.”

  “Exactly.”

  “At least I know she’s not flying back to England.”

  Conner shook his head. His frown turned darker.

  “No, Millicent is here. There was a hit from here on the island. I mentioned the hotel and I know Alicia. She’s going to go after her.”

  She left him, left to go die. “And now we are. Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Alicia had to fight the guilt that swamped her as she sped down H-3 on her way to Waikiki. She’d found it ridiculously easy to roll Devon’s car down the driveway before turning it on and taking off. She waited until she knew Devon didn’t follow her right away to call her cousin. She dialed the number, Millicent answered before the first ring finished.

  “Alicia.”

  Her voice was warm but it chilled Alicia to the bone. Millicent had been waiting for her…lying in wait for her call.

  “Where are you?” she asked.

  “No greeting? I thought you’d want to catch up.”

  Oh, she could see the sarcastic smile on her cousin’s face. She always liked to think she was smarter than everyone else. Alicia had always ignored it, thinking it came from her need to belong to the family. Now, it was annoying the bloody hell out of her.

  “Cut the shit, Millicent. I don’t have time for it.”

  “So crass.” She sighed dramatically over the phone. “I’m staying at a resort in Waikiki, but it is a bit too busy to meet.”

  She knew what that meant. “What you mean is that you don’t want witnesses.”

  “Tsk, tsk, Ali. Don’t you trust me?” The sickly sweet tone made Alicia sick.

  “Don’t call me that.” It made her ill to think of Millicent using the nickname Devon and her father had used for her. “And of course I don’t trust you. You killed my father.”

  “Be nice or I will have to dig deeper on why you had a little girl’s room at your house in Seattle.”

  Her blood iced over. The first thing that came to her mind was to tell her cousin to go bugger herself, but she refused to lose it. With what Millicent had done so far, she probably wouldn’t think twice about killing Bridget.

  “Just tell me where to meet you.”

  Her cousin sighed again, but she finally rattled off an address.

  “I’ll be there. Not sure how long.”

  “You’ve got half an hour.”

  She clicked the phone off then turned on the GPS. She didn’t need it until she got closer, but she knew that Devon would be looking for her by now. This way he could find her.

  She stepped on the gas as she came through the mountain to the other side of the island.

  * * * *

  Devon cursed when he found his car missing.

  “Damned spook,” he growled, making his way to Conner’s car. He dialed his sister’s number. Micah answered.

  “What’s up?”


  “Is everything okay there?” he asked.

  He heard the sheets rustling and Micah moving around. “I haven’t heard a thing.”

  Then a slight pause and Devon had to pray for patience. He knew Micah was walking down the hall to Alana’s room to check on Bridget.

  “Girls are both asleep in bed,” he whispered.

  Devon released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

  “What’s going on?” Micah asked.

  “Ali found out who put this all in motion and then decided to run off to Waikiki to confront her.”

  “Well, you know how to pick them. Need me?”

  He knew his brother-in-law would come without a second thought. Devon would trust Micah with his life, but he needed his brother-in-law to protect something much more important.

  “I’ve got Conner with me. I’d rather you be there to protect Bridget. I’m not sure what they know about her.”

  “You got it.”

  He hung up the phone as Conner took off down H-3.

  “Do you know where you’re going?”

  “I know that her cousin doesn’t know the area and she was somewhere in Waikiki. It’s late, but she isn’t going to meet her at the hotel. At least this way we can keep an eye out for your car.”

  He nodded. The fact that she had stolen his car while he’d been sitting in the office discussing what they should do still pissed him off. She’d turned the tracker on his car and now she was speeding off to meet the woman who had killed her father.

  “What about her phone? It’s a long shot, but you never know.”

  He had gotten her a new phone when they left Seattle and it was on his plan. He punched in the number and it didn’t come up right away. Then…it beeped. It showed her already on H-1 nearing Honolulu.

  “You were right,” he said. “Go into Waikiki.”

  Conner listened to his directions and said nothing else for a few minutes.

  “You need to keep your temper so you don’t cause any problems,” he said finally.