by S A Monk
Nick grinned, recalling the incident. She’d been thirteen, and he’d had no idea she had known how to shoot the rifle they’d made her carry as a joke. But she was right. She had literally saved their hides when they had come upon that bear suddenly.
“I know you’re capable of a lot of things, Hanna,” he said, stepping close enough to gently take her by both arms. “But these guys in the drug trade, in the Triad, are much more dangerous than any bear. They’re cold-blooded killers. They wouldn’t care that you were a woman, either.”
“Are you going to find out where Yancy is meeting Li Chen tomorrow and follow him?”
“Yes. I’m going to stick like glue to Yancy tomorrow, only invisible glue.”
“I can be invisible, too. I want to see what this Li Chen looks like.”
“No, you don’t,” he argued. “You won’t be going.”
His tone was as uncompromising and adamant as his handsome face. Hanna wanted to hit him, she was so angry that he was now excluding her. But she also knew she wasn’t going to win this argument, not with words anyway. In the past, when the boys had tried to prevent her from participating, she had learned other ways to get around their obstinacy. She hadn’t taken two weeks off of work to sit home uselessly, while Nick took all the risks to find his brother. Lance had tried to help her clear Dylan’s name and find his murderer, and he’d spent four weeks in captivity paying for that assistance. She owed him her help. And, damn Nick, she would not be a distraction! She could take care of herself.
Angry energy coursed through her. She turned to Nick and challenged him to a race home, then tore off before he could reply. Down the beach and up the narrow trail, she ran full speed through the tall sand grass, jumping over some of the rocks, dodging others, then doing the same through her grandmother’s fruit trees. Taking a short-cut she knew he didn’t know, she beat him to the house.
At her grandmother’s back porch, she turned to taunt him as he ran up the steps half a minute behind her. “You’re out of shape, old man!” she called out to him. “I beat you!”
“The hell if I am! You cheated.”
“What a complainer, big tough Marine. Face it, you got beat!” Laughing at him, she swung back around, pulled open the door, and slammed it on him just as he stepped up onto the porch.
“Damn it, Hanna! You’re being unreasonable!” His voice growled with anger at the closed door, but he didn’t try to pursue her inside.
Petulantly, from her second floor bedroom window, Hanna watched him as he headed to his mother’s house through the trees. When she emerged from a shower twenty minutes later, Christine was waiting for her, sitting in the center of her bed, holding up a bag from a local lingerie store in Port George.
“I see you went shopping,” Hanna commented. “What did you buy?”
Christine smiled mischievously. “Nothing for myself. I got a couple of things for you, though.”
Hanna laughed. “For me? I don’t need any lingerie.”
“You most certainly do,” the petite dark haired woman responded. “You have the most utilitarian underwear I have ever seen.” Hanna raised an eyebrow at Christine, and the woman shrugged. “I’m sorry. I went through your drawers to see what you had and needed.”
“It’s not my birthday.”
“No, but you can’t catch a husband and convince him you have more to offer him than the Marine Corps, if you don’t have some sexy lingerie.”
Christine pulled the first item out of her bag. It was a black lace demi bra that looked as if it would push up her breasts and make them look larger. Then she held up the matching black silk and lace panties, which were equally as sinful.
Hanna rolled her eyes, and yet it was a beautiful set. It wasn’t too hard to imagine Nick’s or any man’s reaction to such provocative underclothes.
Next, Christine took out a sleep set. The camisole was sheer ivory silk, edged in baby pink roses and delicate lace. The bottoms were short lace-edged boxer shorts. She’d never worn anything like it to bed. Her attire usually consisted of pajamas or a long tee. Nothing too sexy about either one, just utilitarian, like her sister-in-law had said.
“So, do you like them?” Christine asked hopefully.
“Yes. They’re beautiful,” Hanna had to admit. “But at least let me pay you back for them.”
Christine shook her head. “No. They’re my gift. Call them early birthday presents. You need them more now than you will when your birthday rolls around next year. By then, you’ll be married and living in San Diego with a handsome colonel.”
“Yeah, right.”
“You’ve slept with him, haven’t you?”
Hanna fidgeted, then nodded. “Yes,” she admitted quietly. “Three years ago, then over the weekend again.” She dropped her eyes and felt the need to tell Christine how important the man was to her. “Nick was my first and only lover.”
“Wow! That’s romantic.” Christine looked dreamy-eyed. “I just knew the two of you must have gotten together physically this past weekend. You both seemed... well... different today.”
“Yeah, we’ve been irritating the heck out of each other.”
“Well, of course,” Christine said, waving that away as if it was unimportant. “The two of you are just so right for one another. I can see that you’re soul mates.”
Hanna wasn’t so sure about that. “Nick Kelly’s soul mate is the Marine Corps.”
“No way,” Christine argued happily. “He looks at you like he wants you as close as he can get you.”
“Ha!” Hanna countered. “He just told me I couldn’t go with him anymore to look for Lance. He said I was a distraction.”
“Well, of course you are. That’s great!” Christine gave her a sly smile. “But then you’re going anyway, right?”
“I sure am!”
“Well, be sure you pack these things the next time you go anywhere overnight,” her sister-in-law advised her, giving her the handful of black lace and ivory silk. “That way, if he does get mad at you, you can distract him out of it.”
Hanna shook her head skeptically, but silently thought Christine’s suggestion just might work, especially if he caught her following him tomorrow.
CHAPTER 18
THE NOON FERRY TO VICTORIA, CANADA from Port Angeles, Washington was nearly ready to depart by the time Hanna parked her car and rushed up to the ticket booth. She had no intention of taking her car onboard the ferry. Once she got to Victoria, she’d follow Nick in a taxi. She had failed at following him earlier. Her surveillance skills had been no match for his. She’d lost him early this morning.
If it hadn’t been for him calling his mother to tell her that he was taking his motorcycle on the noon ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, she wouldn’t have known where he was. But she’d gotten a lucky break when Jessie had told Colleen and Christine had overheard them, and then told her.
Now that she’d found him, she didn’t intend to lose him again. Luckily it was a weekday. On a weekend, during the busy summer tourist season, getting a ticket so close to departure would have been impossible.
She entered the ferry from below, where the vehicles were parked. She spotted Nick’s heavily chromed Harley much farther back from Yancy’s flashy Cadillac. Luckily, neither man was anywhere in sight.
This ferry had three levels. Hanna wasn’t sure how wise it was to go up on deck, but she figured she’d be okay as long as she was careful.
On the second level, she looked around carefully, took a deep breath of the salty ocean air, and flipped up the hood to her hunter-green, GoreTex sailing jacket. It was a cloudy day, threatening to rain. It was also cold and windy for mid-June. She was wearing pale blue jeans, boots, and a navy blue turtleneck under her jacket. All in all, dressing warmly provided something of a disguise. She was sure Nick hadn’t seen her hooded jacket before, so hopefully he wouldn’t recognize her. She’d also brought her backpack, with a few overnight things, just in case, and her cell phone, which was turned off for the mom
ent, in case it rang and gave her away.
She decided to brave getting an espresso from the second level lounge, but before she entered, she made sure Nick and Yancy weren’t inside. Once she was outside on deck again, she made a careful circuit of the second level to assure herself that the two men weren’t ahead of her or behind her, or inside, looking out through one of the big dark tinted viewing windows.
Feeling braver and more confident, she decided to go upstairs, to deck three. It was the highest point passengers were allowed. She traveled one side of the deck slowly, sipping her coffee as she went, searching the promenade and peering into the uppermost lounge windows as she proceeded.
At the end of the walkway, she finally spotted Yancy, standing at the railing of the foredeck, staring out across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Immediately, she wondered where Nick was. He had to have Yancy in his sight.
Oh boy, she must have missed something!
She spun around, intending to get out of such a visible vulnerable spot, and bumped right into Nick. She hadn’t even heard him approach!
Her eyes traveled up his tall imposing figure. He was dressed like she was, in faded blue jeans, a black knit shirt, and his brown leather bomber jacket. When her gaze reached his darkly tanned face, she winced at the glint of anger she saw in his heavily lashed, hooded, gray eyes. There wasn’t much she could say. She’d been caught. She had proved to be a lousy spy, after all.
“We better get the hell out of the open, before Yancy spots you,” he said with disgust as he took her by her elbow and steered her inside, to the third level lounge, causing her coffee to slosh over the top.
There was an alcove under an inner stairway where he had apparently been standing. The concealed location gave him an excellent position from which to observe everyone all around him without being detectable.
After guiding her to his hiding spot, he cornered her under the stairwell with his big body. She’d never felt their difference in size as much as she did at that moment.
“So, are you going to send me back on the next ferry when we get to Victoria?”
Nick laughed derisively, not particularly surprised to see her. He’d guessed she’d follow him. He just hadn’t expected her to find him. “You wouldn’t go if I did try to put you on the next ferry back to Port Angeles,” he stated. “Did you bring your car?”
She shook her head no. “I left it in Port Angeles. Do you have an extra helmet for me?”
“Of course.” She smiled. He didn’t. He still had her trapped into the corner. He wasn’t ready to let her move away from him yet. “How did you find out where I was?”
“Christine overheard your mother tell Colleen.”
Nick ran five fingers through his hair and cursed under his breath. “Good thing I’m not up against you women when I really want to keep something secret. I don’t think my mother knows the meaning of the word.”
“Well, did you tell her to keep your whereabouts a secret?”
“No, I didn’t. I just wanted to let her know where I was going, so she wouldn’t worry. With Lance missing, she does that a lot.”
“I can’t blame her.” Hanna tried another smile. “I’m not a very good spy, am I?”
“Actually, you’re not bad. Yancy hasn’t spotted you yet. I just expected you because I know you.”
He stared down at her. She was a big distraction, but becoming a necessary one he was discovering. He had actually been hoping she’d follow him. The soldier in him knew it wasn’t smart to let her come along now that he knew Li Chen was involved. The whole matter could get very dangerous very fast. But the man in him really wanted her with him.
It had been two nights since he’d lain with her, and he ached for her— a hell of a lot! She looked so damn beautiful, hooded and cloaked in her dark green jacket, her cheeks flushed from the cold wind, her big green eyes locked with his, shining with fierce determination, her wonderfully kissable mouth so stubbornly set.
She looked just like he remembered she had a hundred times in the past when she’d wanted to tag along with the boys, and they hadn’t wanted her to. But she’d always won the battle. He suspected— no he knew now— it was because they had all loved her and had never really wanted to hurt her feelings.
Reluctantly, he turned away from her to return his attention to Yancy Masters. Hanna peered around him, and in the process, brushed the back of his hand with hers. He grabbed it and held it firmly in his.
“So, with my hood up, how did you know it was me?” she asked from behind him.
“Hanna, I could find you in the dark.”
“You could? How?”
He heard the incredulity in her voice, and grinned. “The way you walk. The way you tilt your head. The way you move your hands. The way you smell.”
“Gee....”
He turned his head to glance down at her. Her expression reflected her astonishment. He chuckled and pointed to the backpack over her shoulders. “What’s that for?”
She tried to look nonchalant. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to spend the night, so I brought a… few little things… just in case.”
His half-cocked grin was wickedly sexual. “That’s not a bad idea… about spending the night.”
HANNA HAD BEEN TO THE VERY ENGLISH CITY OF VICTORIA many times. It was a beautiful, quaint city that had thrived since the mid-nineteenth century, when Hudson’s Bay Company had built Fort Victoria at the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Great Britain, not wanting to lose the territory to the land hungry United States, had settled the region with British settlers. Esquimalt Harbor became a major port for British ships. The gold strikes on the mainland had brought thousands of miners through the harbor and the city.
It was now the capitol of British Columbia, and a major, major tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest. During spring, summer, and early fall, the daffodil decorated streets of downtown Victoria were crowded with tourists from around the world. Many visitors came over on the numerous ferries that sailed from Port Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver, plus a few spots in between.
After docking at the ferry terminal, along the waterfront at the southern edge of downtown Victoria, passengers exited to awaiting taxis, horse-drawn carriages, double-decker buses, their own vehicles brought over on the ferry, or on foot to the many sights of the charming city.
The weather hadn’t changed since boarding. It was still overcast, windy and cold, although the whole of Vancouver actually had fairly mild temperatures for such a northern body of land because of the warm Japanese current and the stabilizing Pacific Ocean.
Nick and Hanna drove off the ferry on Nick’s Harley. Yancy was a block ahead of them in his Cadillac. They could see him, but with their black motorcycle helmets on and their dark tinted visors pulled down, they were well disguised. Beneath their helmets, each had a two-way radio for communication with one another.
Nick also had packed a GPS system on his bike, and in his saddlebags, he had brought along his infrared video camera, his SATCOM phone, a small pair of powerful infrared binoculars, and his laptop computer.
His toys. Hanna knew he had lots of them, and if he needed something, he didn’t seem to have any trouble getting it from somewhere. Sitting behind him, clinging to him for dear life as usual, Hanna could also feel the rather large handgun he had tucked into the back of his Levis. She dearly hoped he wouldn’t have a reason to use it.
Staying several cars behind Yancy, they followed him north along the wharf, next to the picturesque Victoria marina. Big expensive pleasure yachts and tall-masted sleek sailboats bobbed on the tide. Traffic was heavy enough to keep both the Harley and the Cadillac at a slower pace. This pleased Hanna, but irritated Nick. She heard him curse the congestion several times.
When they came to the entrance of Victoria’s Chinatown, Yancy drove under the pagoda archway, continued for a block, then pulled over and parked. Nick quickly followed suit, parking his Harley well enough behind Yancy to avoid detection. With his video camera slung o
ver his shoulder, Nick grabbed Hanna’s hand and hurried after Yancy’s departing figure.
Victoria’s Chinatown was one of Canada’s oldest enclaves. It was small, but colorful, and had been the center of a thriving opium trade in the 1800's. The aroma of Chinese restaurants wafted on the air. Little shops that sold fragile paper lanterns, intricately carved chests, silks, exotic spices, and fresh vegetables and meats lined the narrow twisting street and side alleys. Hanna had been here before, but this particular time, it seemed a little more exciting and mysterious, even a bit forbidding and dangerous.
The adrenalin pumping through her blood made it easier to keep up with Nick’s longer legged stride. Finally, off the main street of Chinatown, Yancy turned down a narrow alley, towards the water. At the end, he turned the corner and entered a two-story building that housed a restaurant and teahouse. Hanna walked in beside Nick.
The young Chinese woman who met them at the door was going to seat them, but Nick asked her if they could choose their table. She hesitated a moment. He handed her a bill, and she nodded her assent.
Nick surveyed the room, spotted Yancy, then directed Hanna to a table in a far corner of the dining area. Potted plants decorated the room, placed to provide a semblance of privacy and partition between the tables and booths. Latticed archways and Oriental screens also separated sections of the room.
Though partially concealed behind two big leafy palms, Hanna and Nick had a narrow, but direct view of Yancy’s table. The low lighting in the room also aided their concealment. Nick set up his camera. It looked like any a tourist would carry while sightseeing. Set casually on the table, it was inconspicuous. So was the small directional mike, he set down and covered with a cloth napkin. He had told Hanna that it was strong enough, despite its size, to record whatever was said, even amid background noise.
