She shook her head and looked away. “Like pulling teeth.”
“What is?”
“Getting you to talk about yourself. You have an entire file on me, and I know almost nothing about you, except what’s readily available online.”
He frowned. “Which is what?”
“Past addresses, criminal history, marriages, bankruptcies. Oh, and the occasional mention in Stars and Stripes.”
“I’ve never been arrested or married or filed for bankruptcy.”
“I know.” She smiled. “But this conversation makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s kind of weird realizing someone you just met knows a bunch of personal stuff about you.” She nibbled her apple, watching him.
Jeremy lifted the binoculars. She was making a point.
And he didn’t blame her, really. A lot of clients weren’t thrilled about the scrutiny that occurred when they hired a top-notch firm like Wolfe Sec. They weren’t rent-a-cops, not like the guys who worked graveyard shifts at some of these shipping terminals. Most of those guys were hired because some insurance company required it, and although they carried sidearms, their training was a joke.
Kira tucked the apple into the cupholder and picked up her camera again. “You still haven’t answered my question. How’d you get into protection work?”
So much for stonewalling.
He looked at her. “You really want to hear this?”
“Yes.”
“I was in an elite MARSOC unit in Afghanistan. That’s special operations. Liam was there, too, and we provided security to VIPs visiting the area. Military brass, visiting politicians, people like that.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“Not usually. They showed up for photo ops, and we made sure they didn’t get blown up or picked off by a sniper.”
“Whoa. I can’t even imagine living in a war zone like that. What was it like?”
He thought for a beat. “Dusty.”
She just looked at him.
“Dust was everywhere. In your eyes, in your socks, in your weapon. I got to where I could’ve cleaned my gun in my sleep.”
He remembered the colors, too. A million shades of brown. Coming home after his first tour, the world had seemed like a Disney cartoon. He’d gotten a headache just looking at it.
“What was the work like?”
Jeremy turned to look at her. Interest flashed in her eyes, and she sounded genuinely curious, not like she was making small talk. He felt compelled to be honest with her.
“Sometimes it was hell.”
Her brow furrowed.
“Other times . . . it was a lot like this.”
“This?”
“Yeah, a lot of waiting. Sitting around watching a place and waiting for shit to go down. Then, in the blink of an eye, everything could go sideways.”
Sometimes he still dreamed he was back there in a firefight, with mortars shrieking overhead. Even more unnerving were the roadside IEDs. Even when you were vigilant and knew what to look for, sometimes it all came down to shitty luck.
“I can’t imagine being in a place with bullets flying around,” she said.
“You get used to it. You’d be surprised.” He gazed through the windshield, surveying the area, as he thought back to all those long, dusty days. He looked at Kira, and something about her openness made him want to keep talking.
“When you’re over there, it’s different. You’re not afraid of death so much as failing. Not being there when your brothers need you.” He shook his head. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s like a family. Tighter than a family.”
“Do you have any real brothers?”
“Two,” he said. “But I’m closer to the guys I served with, when it comes down to it. Something about being over there together. Everyone depends on each other for everything. I miss that sometimes.”
He looked at her, and she was watching him closely. “So why’d you leave?” she asked.
She didn’t say “quit,” and he felt strangely grateful.
“Things were winding down. And there was an incident. Liam took a bullet.” Jeremy didn’t mention that the bullet was nearly fatal or that he personally took out the man who fired it. “Liam decided he wanted to get out and get something else going, and he asked me to be part of it.”
Kira’s gaze narrowed, as if she knew he was omitting a lot. But he didn’t want to get into it now. Maybe someday. Or maybe not.
He lifted the binoculars. “Heads up. We’ve got action.”
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
KIRA ZOOMED in on the car. It was a blue Mini Cooper, tinted windows, and she couldn’t see how many people were inside.
The car veered around a row of oil drums and pulled to a stop beside a double-wide trailer that looked to be some sort of operations center.
She shifted her focus to the other side of the lot.
The gatehouse was empty.
“Hey, the guard’s gone,” she said.
“He opened the gate three minutes ago and left his post,” Jeremy reported.
“How did I miss that?”
“You were talking instead of looking.”
She ignored the jab. “Think his being gone was intentional?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Damn it. I should have snapped a picture of him.” She lowered her camera and scanned the broader area. No more cars on the road. So was the driver of the Mini meeting someone? Picking someone up?
“Here, let me see those,” she said.
Jeremy handed over the binoculars.
She sighed. “I didn’t get a good angle on the license plate. Did you?”
“No.”
She lowered the binoculars and spotted another vehicle speeding down the road. It was a pickup truck, and its lights went off as it neared the gate.
Kira’s nerves fluttered as the truck turned into Xavier Shipping, where the gate was still open.
“This feels sketchy,” she said.
“Yep.”
The truck veered around the same line of oil drums and parked alongside the Mini. No one got out, and again, Kira didn’t have a good angle on the license plate.
“I want those tags.”
Jeremy looked at her.
“They could be important,” she added.
“Why?”
“A clandestine meeting exactly one week after Ollie was here running surveillance right before his murder? This has to be related.”
“You’re assuming a lot. This may not be a ‘clandestine’ anything. You don’t know for sure that Ollie was ever here. And this may not be a regular meeting.”
“What if it is? Look at them.” She nodded toward the property. “The guard disappears. Two cars show up. They’re sitting there waiting for someone. I need to know who they are and what they’re doing there.”
Jeremy rubbed his chin as he stared out the window. The beard was gone, but he had some major five o’clock shadow going tonight, and she was not going to think about how good he looked. She loved his sharp cheekbones and the intense expression in his eyes when he was on a job. There was nothing sexier to her than a man on a mission.
His overprotectiveness was starting to get under her skin, though. He’d trained in an elite military unit, and she didn’t have a shred of doubt that if it weren’t for her, he would be halfway across that field by now, stealthily approaching the action, so he could figure out what was going down.
“We need intel,” she said. “Let’s get closer and take a look at those tags.”
Even in the dimness, she could see his jaw tighten.
“Jeremy, come on. Otherwise, what are we here for? We’re wasting our time.”
He looked at her, and she saw the conflict in his eyes. She considered batting her lashes and flirting, but she had a feeling he wouldn’t go for that.
“You want to leave me here and you can go?” she asked.
“No.”
She’d known he wouldn’t agree to that. She
simply looked at him and waited.
“We’ll get closer,” he said finally. “But we do this my way. Understood?”
“Roger that.”
“Don’t be glib.”
“I’m not.” She looped the camera strap over her head. “I’ll follow your lead.”
He waited another moment, maybe second-guessing his decision. Then he reached up and switched off the interior light before quietly opening the door of the truck. Kira followed suit. She walked around the front of the pickup and waited for instructions.
The August air was thick and humid, and the low hum of cicadas surrounded them.
“We’ll hug the trees to the west,” he said.
“Sounds good.” She had no idea which direction was west.
“Stay low, and don’t create a silhouette. Don’t talk. And keep close to me. Got it?”
“Yes.”
He set off into the knee-high grass and aimed for the nearest clump of trees. Kira followed, staying as close as she could without bumping into him. Cool water seeped into her sneakers, and it soon became clear that this “field” was more of a marsh. The air smelled faintly of fish and rot, and she hoped they weren’t traversing a septic field.
Jeremy moved briskly, staying low and close to the trees. He reached back and caught her arm as the ground sank abruptly and she nearly tripped. She eased closer and focused on keeping her footing while he navigated the way. Her ankles were underwater now, and bog seemed to suck at her feet. Her socks squished with every step, but Jeremy’s footsteps were silent, and she made a note to ask him how the hell he did that.
It was dark with only a half-moon to guide them, which should have been a good thing, but she was feeling a little freaked out as they moved deeper and deeper into the marsh. There had to be snakes in here. Moccasins or maybe copperheads. Stifling a shudder, she tried not to picture them slithering up her jeans.
Jeremy reached back, catching her again as she stumbled into him. Somehow he was able to predict her movements without watching her. She tucked her fingers into the waist of his jeans. His body felt warm against her knuckles, and he either didn’t notice or didn’t want to acknowledge her hand there.
Glancing around, she saw that they’d almost reached the other side of the field, which meant the highway was just ahead. The ground became firmer. Jeremy moved closer to the trees as the grade increased.
He suddenly reached back and clamped her wrist, pulling her down.
A pair of headlights appeared in the distance. Kira crouched low beside him as the vehicle drew closer. It was a sleek silver gas rig. The truck roared past, sending dust swirling. Kira blinked and turned away, trying not to cough.
Jeremy leaned close, and she felt the heat of his body. “We’ll cross the highway. There’s a clump of bushes east of the guardhouse. We should be able to see the cars from there.”
She nodded.
“On my count.” He craned his neck, looking for traffic. “Three . . . two . . .” He clasped her hand in his, and they darted across the street. When their feet touched grass again, he went straight for the trees and ducked behind them.
Kira immediately saw the advantage of this location. In addition to the mesquite bushes, the guardhouse provided a nice dark shadow for them to hide in, with an unobstructed view of the two cars parked beside the trailer.
Both cars were still waiting, engines running, and she heard a thump of bass coming from the stereo inside the pickup.
“Get your shots quick,” Jeremy ordered.
She was already zooming in and adjusting the focus. Click. Click.
She cringed at the noise, which may as well have been cymbals clanging. But she was being paranoid. No way someone could hear a camera shutter from inside a vehicle probably fifty yards away. She took several more shots, just in case something turned out blurry.
Jeremy touched her arm. Time to go, his look said, and she nodded.
Suddenly, the trailer door opened, and a tall man stood in the rectangle of light. He trekked down the steps and went for the pickup. Without a word to the driver, he heaved a long black duffel bag into the truck bed.
Click.
Kira waited until he turned and tried to catch his face. Click. Click.
He walked to the Mini and passed something through the driver’s-side window, then turned and trekked back up the stairs and into the trailer.
Both sets of taillights glowed red. The pickup backed out first, cutting in front of the Mini as it veered around the oil drums. Kira’s nerves skittered. She crouched low as headlights swept over the bushes between their hiding spot and the fence. The truck zoomed through the gate and barely slowed as it skidded onto the highway. The Mini followed but turned in the opposite direction and sped away.
Kira crouched there, heart thudding. Jeremy peeled her fingers from his arm, and she realized she’d had it in a death grip.
He gave her a nod, then signaled with his fingers this time. Three . . . two . . . He took her hand, and they dashed across the road. They ran back to the cover of the trees, and this time, she welcomed the cool water in her sneakers, because it meant they’d almost made it. She tucked her fingers into his jeans again.
Jeremy jerked her down beside him and pressed her head against the grass.
“What—”
“Shh.”
Kira waited, her knees sinking into the cold mud.
The light shifted, and she turned her head slightly. Jeremy crouched low, shoulders hunched forward as he looked and listened intently.
Light skimmed over the tops of the reeds, and Jeremy pressed her head down. She was on her hands and knees now, mud oozing between her fingers as she ducked as low as she could without putting her face in the muck.
Had someone seen them? Did they have a flashlight trained on them? A spotlight?
Seconds ticked by. Jeremy was as still as a stone, a big warm rock beside her, and his hand on the back of her head kept her from looking around. She tried not to move a muscle or even blink, but her heart felt like it would pound right out of her chest.
A minute ticked by. Two. Three. Kira’s mouth felt dry.
Finally, his hand disappeared, and she turned her head to look at him. His eyes were dark and serious.
He pointed toward the trees and nodded. She nodded back. He eased close, and she felt his hot breath on her ear.
“Stay low.”
She nodded again, and he took her arm, helping her off her knees. He laced her hand through his and moved toward the trees, ducking as low as his tall frame would allow. She didn’t dare look around. She focused on the pockets of his jeans and on trying to keep her footing as he towed her behind him. The marsh gave way to firm ground, and they had to be nearing the truck.
Pop!
Jeremy yanked her to the ground and shoved her head down. His body pressed against her back, compressing the air from her lungs.
Panic surged through her, and she bucked against the weight. Someone was shooting. Shooting. It was happening all over again, and she wanted to sprint for the trees—not wait here until she was riddled with bullets. She tried to wiggle free, but Jeremy was heavy. Immovable.
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Stay still. Stay still. Stay still.
She could hear the words, but he wasn’t moving or making a sound, so maybe it was all in her head. Opening her eyes, she saw his big forearm beside her hand. The muscles were taut, and she realized he was holding himself up, supporting his weight to keep from crushing her completely, but she could still feel the pressure against her hips and the solid heat of his chest against her shoulder blades.
Her lungs felt tight. She was going to suffocate here in this stinky swamp. Or else someone was going to hunt them down right here and spray them with bullets. Panic zinged through her as she pictured it. Her fight-or-flight instinct kicked in, and her brain was screaming Go! as loud as it could. She pushed against Jeremy, but his body didn
’t budge except for the curl of his big fingers on the back of her head.
“Shhhh . . .”
The word was a low whisper in her ear, barely a word at all. More like a warm breath.
Kira closed her eyes, fighting the tears. She didn’t want to die tonight. Not here in this vile swamp.
Jeremy’s body was warm, and she tried to focus on that instead of the icy fear pulsing through her veins. He could get them out of this. He was armed and trained and loaded with quiet confidence. She just needed to trust him.
Suddenly, the weight shifted and disappeared. She turned her head to see Jeremy crouched low beside her. She searched his face and then noticed the black gun gripped in his hand. She didn’t remember him pulling it out.
With his free hand, he helped her up and nodded toward the trees, and this time, she hunched so low she was practically duckwalking as she hurried for cover. She didn’t look back, didn’t even dare look over her shoulder, for fear of seeing some man standing on the road and pointing a gun at her.
Jeremy’s grip was firm as he dragged her alongside him, and she realized he’d positioned her closest to the trees, putting his body between hers and any bullets.
Kira’s shoes squished despite her efforts to keep quiet, but finally, they reached the far edge of the field. Jeremy pulled her behind a mesquite tree and stopped, standing upright. He released her hand and dug his keys from his pocket, and only then did she realize they were standing right beside the gravel road. She glanced behind him, and there was his truck, a dark shadow within a shadow. He steered her toward it, still surrounding her with his bulk as he guided her to the passenger door and opened it.
The light didn’t come on, and she felt a rush of relief that he’d thought of that detail ahead of time. She scrambled into the cab, and he pressed her head against the console and motioned for her to keep it there. Then he closed her door with a quiet snick.
Kira closed her eyes, waiting and listening with dread for any more gunshots.
It had been a gunshot. Distant, maybe, but it had been a gunshot. Otherwise, why would he have yanked her to the ground like that? She unlooped the camera from her neck and stowed it on the floor.
Jeremy slid behind the wheel and stayed low in his seat as he shoved the key into the ignition and started up the truck.
Her Deadly Secrets Page 14
