Constant Craving (Task Force Hawaii #3)

by Melissa Schroeder

  “I know. I’m working on it.”

  “She’s in five.”

  Adam nodded and made his way down the corridor to her cell. He found her laying on the cot. This was not the Jin Phillips he had met two years ago. She had been bright and flirty, so full of life. A week in hell had transformed her into a woman he didn’t even recognize.

  He sighed. She looked so peaceful, but he knew better. He knew the memories that haunted her, that drinking was her way to forget.

  The guard unlocked the door, and Adam approached her quietly.

  He watched her sleep for a few moments. He hated to wake her up, but he had to get her out of there. The monsters she had worked with in the news industry would love to find out about this. They would relish exposing her fall from disgrace, the bastards.

  He squatted down. “Jin.”

  She frowned and he smiled. It was the sweetest little frown.

  “Hey, Jin, wake up, baby,” he said raising his voice a bit.

  Her eyes opened slowly, a small smile replacing the frown. Then, she screamed. He jerked back and almost fell over.

  She blinked as she sat up. “Adam? What are you doing here?”

  Then, she looked around. Her shoulders sagged. “Damn.”

  “Yeah,” Adam said, rising back up. “They found you in your car.”

  She rubbed her face with one hand. “I don’t remember.”

  “Yeah, I get that. What the hell were you thinking?”

  He hadn’t meant to question her. He knew that never ended well.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t think it’s any of your damned business.”

  He wanted to argue, but he didn’t. He pushed the irritation and anger aside and held out his hand. She looked at it, then stood up on her own.

  “I’ll take you back to Aiea.”

  She shook her head. “Just take me to my car.”

  “Jin.”

  “No, Adam. Just take me to my car.”

  He wanted to yell, to scream at her for being this way, but he couldn’t. He had no right, especially since he still felt responsible for the ordeal she had been through. Instead, he nodded and followed her out of the cell. He knew if something didn’t happen soon, she was going to hurt herself or someone else. Each time he got a message about her, he had thought it would be that they found her body.

  But right now, all he did was follow her onto the elevator.

  By the time TJ made it back to the office, he had, thankfully, missed the Monday meeting. The traffic had been a bitch, especially since it wasn’t rush hour, but that was Oahu. Still, he couldn’t complain since he hated meetings. Before joining the FBI, he had spent a lot of his time alone. Being the geek of his family, he had often fought for alone time in a big family like his. With three brothers, he rarely got his wish, but his mother had understood. She had made sure he had some privacy.

  Damn, he had meant to call her this weekend and forgot. Working on the rehab of his house was taking up all his free time. Throw in a bitch of an assignment and he had forgotten. There would be hell to pay, that was for sure.

  He stepped into his office, shutting the door behind him just as his cell rang. Damn. Remington.

  TJ knew better than to ignore him, and answered the call.

  “So, how did today go?”

  Of course he knew TJ had gone in. There wasn’t much Remington didn’t know when he was working a job.

  “Yeah. Just got back.”

  “So, thoughts?”

  As he made his way over to his desk, he answered. “Definitely a close knit group.”

  “They’ve been operating less than two years, correct?”

  “Yeah, but you can see the camaraderie within the group. A lot of them are transplants too with no family here.”

  “And that makes it easier to build a strong office relationship. I can see that. So what about Charity Edwards?”

  What about her? She knocked his socks off when she smiled at him and he wanted to see her naked was all he could think of.

  “Seems sweet, with all that Southern charm. But, she’s tough.”

  “She’d have to be to deal with the CIA. What I want to know is if you think she could be the hacker?”

  No. It was a gut instinct that had served him well, but he suppressed it. Remington didn’t want to hear that. He wanted facts.

  “I’m leaning on the side of no, but I’ll find out more tonight.”

  “Oh?”

  “She asked me out to dinner tonight. I figured it would be a good idea. Being away from the office might loosen her up a bit.”

  “Good. Though, I want you to remember this is a job. Don’t get too involved with her.”

  Of course Remington would say that. The last job they had worked on had left one woman dead and TJ near death because he’d thought she might be innocent or, at the very least, ready to turn on Foley.

  “Right. You got it.”

  “Check in tomorrow and let me know how it goes tonight.”

  “Sure.”

  Remington hung up without saying goodbye. TJ stood and went to the window. He could barely see the ocean from his office on the third floor, but he knew it was there. He had wanted to live closer to work, but when he had found his way to Waimanalo one weekend, he had fallen in love. Then, he’d found a rundown former crack house and fell in love once again. He liked how quiet it was, how there were more locals than tourists, and he couldn’t beat the view from the hill he lived on.

  With a sigh, he stepped away from the window. He needed to do a little more background work on Charity before their date. He still felt a little guilty about it, but reminded himself she had been the one to ask. It was a copout and he knew it, but the sooner he got to the bottom of this mess, the sooner he could clear his conscious. And if there was a tiny part of him that wanted it to be more than just part of the investigation, then he pushed it away. He couldn’t take a chance and lose to Foley again.

  Chapter Four

  Charity made it back to TFH headquarters well after lunch. With no lunch and waited time, she had moved from hungry to hangry in the last half hour. She didn’t mind meetings with the DA. She saw them as tests, and one of the many things Charity was good at was tests. Not only did she excel at them, she truly enjoyed the preparation. But this ADA hadn’t been prepared and had expected her to just sit there while he worked on getting prepared. It was annoying.

  She set her purse down just as Elle came through her door.

  “Hey, you’re finally back.”

  “Yeah. Have you dealt with ADA Deason yet?” she asked, grabbing an apple and some water out of her little fridge.

  Elle nodded and frowned. “Yes. He’s never ready and always blames it on me.”

  “Great. I wish I had known about that.”

  “He did make the mistake of not being ready for Emma one time.”

  Charity rolled her eyes, as she bit into her apple. Emma was sweet, but she was not patient. She also believed everyone else worked on her schedule. Charity could only imagine what Emma had done to the ADA.

  “Do you need something?”

  Elle shook her head. “Just...I hate to admit, I’m bored. Without Drew here and no cases, I’m stuck in the morgue all by myself.”

  “I thought Graeme was keeping you company down there.”

  The TFH team member and the doctor had been living together for a few months. With Drew out of commission, Graeme had been working from his desk when he wasn’t needed elsewhere.

  Elle nodded. “But he had a meeting to attend. And he’s not happy with me right now.”

  “Oh, no. No trouble in paradise, I hope,” she said as she opened an email from her mentor at the CIA.

  Elle shook her head. “He’s just being pigheaded.”

  Charity laughed. “Darlin’, you knew that before you got together with him.”

  “Yeah, and I find it cute sometimes.”

  “But not now.”

  Elle shook her head, but Chari
ty’s attention locked on the message.

  Charity,

  Just wanted to give you a heads up. There is chatter about Foley in your region of the world. Be extra careful.

  Dr. Summers

  “What?” Elle asked.

  Charity looked at her friend. “Sorry. Just a report from an old boss. Dr. Summers says there is chatter about a nasty hacker.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. He’s what you and Graeme would call a wanker of the first order.”

  “That bad?”

  “The FBI almost caught him once. See, the dude uses other people to hack. Mostly women, romances them, then leaves them to take the rap while he runs away with money.”

  “What a wanker.”

  “See?”

  Elle smiled. “You don’t know him?”

  Charity shook her head. “Let’s just say, I’m not someone who would fit his profile hit. I have a close family. Most of these women were on their own. They have few family or friends and they rarely date.”

  “Sad.”

  “Yeah, and the last incident involved a woman who got killed. Not fun for anyone. And Foley just danced away with the cash again. Worse, no one knows what he looks like, and we don’t even know if Foley is his real name.”

  “Even with all our surveillance video around the world, we haven’t caught him?”

  Charity shook her head. “I always thought he had some kind of connection to law enforcement, or had hacked into their computers. There are all kinds of rumors that he is in the government, high up. He has access to information that the normal layperson doesn’t have available. Well, a non-hacker, at least, wouldn’t know.”

  “Like what?”

  Charity shrugged as she closed out her email. “He always seems to know how to avoid cameras. He also knows inside info about agencies that is hard to know unless you work for them.”

  “That’s fun to know.”

  Charity smiled. “I could ask our new FBI Liaison about it.”

  Elle settled into the chair in front of Charity’s desk. “Whenever we see him again.”

  “I’m seeing him tonight.”

  Charity saw that it took more than a second or two for what she said to sink in. “Wait, what?”

  “I asked him out on a date. Well, first he asked me to coffee, but I had to go deal with that idiot Deason. So, I asked him to dinner. I couldn’t pass up a man like that.”

  Elle shook her head. “You rarely do when you are attracted.”

  She knew it wasn’t a slam. Elle had never been judgmental. “Lately, it has been tough. Drew is not conducive to dating.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Charity. Do you need me to start bugging him?”

  She watched the doctor lean back in her seat and close her eyes. She was pale and looked under the weather. Then, Charity remembered she wasn’t feeling well last week either.

  “No. I can handle the boy. And that’s what I’m calling him now. He is acting like a boy.”

  Elle’s mouth curved, but she said nothing.

  “Hey, woman, are you sick?”

  Elle opened one eye. “No, just old. Remember, I have ten years on you.”

  “You are not old.”

  “Maybe not, but the long days are harder on me than they are on you.”

  Charity chuckled. “I don’t have a giant Scotsman keeping me up at night either.”

  “There is that.”

  “Well, I am going to go through the rest of my emails and then I am shutting down.”

  “Dinner you say?” Elle asked.

  “Yeah. You know when a strong strapping Texan walks into my life, and he is seemingly unconnected, I’m going to have a try at him.”

  “So, that’s what gets to you?”

  Charity shrugged. “That and he seems to be a geek. Plus, with the computer background, I think we would have a lot in common. It will be nice to have dinner conversation that doesn’t involve grunts from a grumpy little boy.”

  Elle nodded. “Let me know how it goes.”

  When she was alone, Charity did just as she’d said. She wanted enough time to shower and get ready for her date.

  TJ’s phone rang as he was about to walk out the door. Damn, his mother.

  “Hey, Mom. Kind of busy at the moment.”

  “You’re always busy at work. You can at least stop and chat with your mother for a moment.”

  His mother had not taken him moving to Hawaii very well. Hell, she had been pissed when he had left Texas for DC. And she had one other thing she liked to complain to him about.

  “So, you called to complain that I don’t have a social life?”

  “And to make sure you’re still alive.”

  “Aww, you really don’t have to do that.”

  “I do because I am your mother.”

  “I just meant that the FBI would contact you if I were dead.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  “I’ll make it up to you then.”

  “How? Are you coming out for a visit?”

  “No, but I’m actually on my way out to pick up a date.”

  There was a beat of silence. “That’s good.”

  “Is there anything else?”

  “Well, you could tell me about this date.”

  “Her name is Charity and I met her today. That’s all I am saying. So, unless there is an emergency with y’all, I have to get back to Honolulu.”

  “Call me this weekend.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You don’t fool me, young man. I know that there’s something else going on there.”

  Of course she did. His mother always knew when he and his brothers were shaving the truth. Being married to a Texas Ranger for over thirty-five years had taught her well.

  “I’ll call.”

  “Love you.”

  “Love you back.”

  He clicked off his phone and slipped into his jeep with a bigger smile than at first. The evening air was thick with the heavy perfume of flowers. In the year he had lived in Hawaii, he still wasn’t used to the beauty he experienced on a daily basis.

  He started down the hill that led to Kam Highway. He lived in Waimanalo, just a short drive to Honolulu. Hell, everywhere was a short drive to Honolulu on the island. But he liked living in an area that was filled with more locals than transplants.

  Wind whipped through his hair as he turned onto Kam Highway. The traffic was moderate, considering it was high tourist season. It wouldn’t take him that long to make it to Charity’s.

  He should have called the date off. Normally, he wouldn’t have a problem with it, but the fact that he didn’t told him two things. One, he was definitely interested in her outside of work. Two, he had doubts that she was their hacker. After reading through her file, TJ had serious misgivings that Charity was stupid enough to fall for Foley’s schemes. She definitely didn’t fit the profile for Foley. She had friends, an active social life that made even his brother Luke look like a monk, and a very close family. Foley tended to find loners, people who had dysfunctional relationships and needed support. TJ was also sure that the FBI would never have traced it back to her if it had been her. She was just that damned smart.

  Still, he needed information from her, but taking her on a date, that was different. And while he knew he should have canceled, he couldn’t seem to bring himself to. He would see where it would go, and maybe he could definitely make sure she was protected no matter what.

  Charity looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. She did not have time to change again. She’d tried for casual with jeans, but it hadn’t felt right. The sundress she had on was one of her favorites. Bright yellow with a v-cut neckline that showed off her cleavage just enough. It was A-line in design, and fell to just below her knees. She wore a matching belt and a pair of peekaboo shoes in white. Her hair was down.

  Her phone buzzed, breaking her out of her study. It was Emma.

  “So, whatcha doing?” Emma asked as she munched on something.


  “Getting ready for a date.”

  “Ohhh, who are you going out with?”

  “That cute FBI agent. He asked me out.”

  There was a pause. “Callahan?”

  “Yeah. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had any prospects, because you know who doesn’t help.”

  Emma grunted. The sound was rude and funny at the same time. “Del told me the guys are springing him this weekend.”

  “That will be good.”

  “Now, back to the fed.”

  Charity put away the last outfit she had tried on. “You say that as if he is the enemy.”

  “I don’t trust feds.”

  “You trust me.”

  “You aren’t a fed.”

  “But I was.”

  “Not anymore. Now you’re ours.”

  The common sense tone in Emma’s voice made Charity smile. Emma had lost most of her family a decade earlier to the tsunami in Thailand. Charity knew that Emma counted everyone on the team as her family. In fact, she was practically territorial about it.

  “Still. And it’s just a date.”

  “Be careful. There is something off about him that bothers me.”

  She stopped. “What do you mean?”

  “Not sure, but I don’t like him.”

  That was odd. Emma didn’t like most people at first. She had issues dealing with people, especially one-on-one. Daily interaction with the team had helped her come out of her shell in recent months, but she rarely said things like that.

  “Maybe it’s the hormones.”

  Emma snorted. “Could be. I had a bad day, and I cried in front of Del. He didn’t know what to do.”

  Charity couldn’t help it. She laughed out loud. The man had been through the ringer during the pregnancy. It started off with sympathy morning sickness, and now he was dealing with an increasingly emotional Emma. Thinking of big, bad Martin Delano bewildered by tears made her heart happy, for both of them.

  “Sure, laugh all you want. You can deal with him tomorrow when he’s grumpy about it.”

  “I’ll hide in my lab.”

  “There is that.”

  The doorbell rang and Charity’s heart jumped into her throat. Damn. She hadn’t been this nervous about a date in years.