Liaising Kai

Chapter 2

Kai’s cell phone chimed,and it sounded like a siren in her head. She jerked awake, then groaned, clutching her skull, and the huge, wracking, throbbing, aching pain in her head pounded on as the crash of the usually benign tone reverberated like hot needles were being pushed through her eyes.

She reached for the offensive, cursed technology to make it stop, fumbled and swore and flailed in the tangle of her sheets. Finally, mercifully, she managed through dry, bleary eyes to push the required button to silence the loud demon.

“Talbot,” she rasp-growled into the phone like an old woman.

“Boss?” Austin Beck said. His more-than-usual morning peppiness made her want to punch something.

“Yes, what is it?” She quickly calculated the odds of her telling him to take care of it while she went back into oblivion and discovered that she just couldn’t shirk her responsibility…certainly not for a freaking hangover from hell.

“Ah, we caught a case, and…ah…we expected you about fifteen minutes ago.”

“Oh, shit,” she said, low and vicious. With effort, she focused on the time and groaned. “I’m on my way. What is the case?”

“A petty officer’s been murdered, and it’s not the run-of-the-mill murder, ma’am.”

“Okay, text me the address.” When her phone chimed right in her ear, she gritted her teeth at the fresh wave of pain. She looked down at her text and discovered, luckily, the crime scene wasn’t more than ten minutes away. “Get started and I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

Something tried to break through the fog of pain and remorse in her brain. Through the grief and the loss, she’d gone to Halloran’s dressed to entice a man into her bed. Alcohol and sex had been her choice to get through Alissa’s birthday. She would have turned twenty years old, but there wasn’t going to ever be any presents, or cake, or celebration for her daughter.

Fresh grief and agonizing pain rushed through her, settling in the pit of her stomach, lodging in her chest and her throat. Kai groaned, levering herself up on her elbow. Her hair was obscuring her face as she gently rose, pushing back the heavy strands and the covers. Standing, she wavered a moment, reaching for her equilibrium. She had a job to do, and she needed to get her butt in the shower.

She shuffled across the bedroom and into the bathroom, wishing she could infuse a cup of black coffee right into her veins.

She grabbed a glass and turned on the tap, then opened her medicine cabinet for painkillers. Drink plenty of fluids and take some aspirin before you go to bed.

What the hell? She blinked at the good advice that she had neglected to take. Who had told her that? The night was nothing but a jumbled-up puzzle.

When she closed the medicine cabinet, she groaned at her reflection. She looked like death warmed over with her ashen skin, black tracks of mascara on her cheeks. She didn’t question why she’d been crying. She turned the water on blessedly hot to revive her. She needed her wits for this investigation. Her crack team was always on top of things, but she was their leader, and she didn’t want them to think she was…ah, human? No, fallible.

She washed and scrubbed until she was clean, then got out and was much more pleased with the reflection in the mirror. She looked better, not quite there, but ready to take on a case, especially when she had a cup of coffee in her.

She dried her long fall of hair, applied some makeup, and that helped to hide her ravaging pain and hangover from the night before. Damned scotch.

She froze. The night was quickly coming back to her in bits and pieces like broken glass. There was a reason she hadn’t woken up in a stranger’s bed. It’s because…oh, so help her God…Davis Nishida had brought her home and they had kissed. No, she had kissed him.

She lowered her face into her hands. Her heart was breaking, breaking into a thousand jagged pieces. She hurt so badly, but she couldn’t deny that deep inside her blood was rushing faster and a small spark of hope had flamed to life, because Davis Nishida had cared.

She should have shut him down last night like she had in the past, but she was so tired and so alone, and she wanted the warmth of a man who at least knew her a little. She’d just wanted to breathe without it hurting in her chest but kissing him had worked and she’d let another barrier fall away, opened herself up a little more, just to take him in, just to get closer to his heat.

Everything about him turned her on, which was such a relief. She hadn’t been sure she would still function. Then he’d gone all noble on her and everything had gotten so screwed up.

Everything.

So damned screwed up.

Another surge of panic sizzled into her veins when she thought about how he had kissed her back, and every fantasy she’d ever had about him paled in comparison to the flesh and blood man. His words still echoed in her throbbing head. I’m just not that guy. I’m never going to be that guy for you.

He had been locked onto her like a heat-seeking missile, and so help her God, all she wanted was more…of him. He soothed something deep inside her. She hadn’t wanted him to back off, and it crossed her mind that if she just kept at it, just kept pushing, he would loosen up, just give in and do what she needed him to do. Make her forget.

She let the memories fall through her mind and fall into place, revealing to her turbulent snapshots of brief memories. Kissing him, mauling him, and just plain throwing herself at him. Slapping him when he wouldn’t comply.

Oh, crap. She froze, pretty much horrified by her last train of thought. She’d slapped him and he’d taken it without protest, almost as if he thought he deserved it. Now she had a full-blown panic attack jacking her heart rate up into the danger zone. She had slid off the deep end last night right into nowhere, and she remembered she’d felt that if he let her go, something terrible was going to happen. She didn’t know what. She just knew it would be terrible. Talk about being freaking irrational, she was afraid it was already too late for her. Undeniably, she owed him one hell of an apology.

The truth was, it had been a long time since she’d even felt she wanted a man, and what she’d done hadn’t seemed at all stupid or crude at the time. It was wonderful. Touching him had made her feel warm all over and hot inside, and so very alive—which she realized was why she’d always run in the opposite direction. She hadn’t been sure she wanted to return to being alive.

Gathering her still-damp hair back into a ponytail, she pushed all of that to the back of her mind, and rushed out of the bathroom, throwing on some clothes, and snatching her cell phone from the bedside table. Thank God she had enough presence of mind to charge it.

She stopped in her office to unlock the safe where she kept her weapon and clipped on the holster. In the foyer, she grabbed her keys, and her badge, shoving money, her driver’s license, and a tube of lipstick into her pants pockets.

She took a hard breath as she froze for a minute, the memory of standing there galvanized her. She’d kissed him deeply, hungrily, desperately, striving for mindless pleasure to chase away all the hollow loss from her daughter’s death. Sliding her hand down his belly, cupping his erection in her palm and stroking him through the denim of his jeans. He was already so hard and ready, and she needed him in ways she couldn’t define. Physical release was what she thought he would give her, but she’d been wrong, and he’d been more man than she’d expected, stirring up more emotional chaos swirling within her and making her feel as though her carefully guarded life was spinning out of control.

In the car minutes later, driving carefully, she decided she didn’t have a choice but to endure from one minute to the next. Marines…devil dogs didn’t give up, and she was a devil dog to the core. She’d found that out the hard way, learned it at the young age of eighteen. But that wasn’t all the wisdom she’d accumulated in her young life right up until she’d enlisted in the Marines. No, she’d lived a lifetime before becoming one of the few, one of the proud.

Pulling up in front of the petty officer’s home, she saw that Austin, Amber, and Derrick were all there along with the local cops. Kelly pulled up behind her. The moment Kai stepped out of her car, Austin was there with a white bag and a cup of coffee.

“You get a raise,” she said quickly, taking the cup and greedily downing a hot mouthful of the cream-leaden nectar of the gods.

“I suspected you wouldn’t have time to pick up anything, and if I know you, you also skipped breakfast.”

“Kiss ass,” Derrick said affectionately as he, Lucy, and Amber came up to them, Amber’s eyes sparkling. Noting the camera in her hands, Kai took another fortifying gulp.

“Have you gone inside yet?” Kai asked. She pulled out the breakfast sandwich, juggling the coffee and wolfing down the delicious still-warm eggs, cheese, and ham.

“No, we actually just got here. It’s more of a trip from Pendleton.”

“Right. Okay, let’s do this.” She finished off the sandwich and stuffed the wrapping back in the bag, tossing it into the open window of her car.

“A neighbor walking her dog called it in to the locals when she saw the door ajar, the jamb broken,” Derrick said as he consulted his pad. “Dawn Weston. She’s over there.” Derrick pointed to a woman with curly brown hair, a pretty oval face that was quite distressed. She was dressed in a sweater and blue jeans with a little white dog on a leash.

Kai walked over to the woman and smiled. Dawn smiled back with a nod. “Hi, Dawn. I’m Supervisory Special Agent Kai Talbot with NCIS.” Kai pulled out her badge and flipped through her credentials. “Agents Gunn, Michaels, Montgomery, and Beck. We’re sorry we have to meet under these circumstances.”

Dawn brushed at her cheek and nodded to each one of them, her voice hitching. “I want to help any way I can.”

“Did you go into the house?” Amber asked.

“No, I was way too scared after I saw the way the door looked. I just called the police.” She glanced toward the open door, a police officer guarding it. “I have to say. I’m glad I didn’t. I wouldn’t have wanted to remember Mayta like that.”

“Mayta?”

“Mosquera,” Derrick filled in. “Petty Officer second class.”

“Did you hear anything strange last night? Any sounds that were out of the ordinary?” Austin asked.

“No. I was working on a graphics project. I work from home, and I had headphones on.” She smiled sadly. “The music makes it more fun.”

“Was there anyone you know of who wanted to hurt your neighbor?”

“No, everyone loved her. She was so sweet.” The dog started to bark, and she bent down to pick him up, snugging him against her. “Shush, Roscoe.” He quieted.

“Thank you for your time, and if you think of anything else. Anything at all, call me.” Kai pulled out a card and Dawn took it. She threw one more glance at the house and turned back toward her own, then stopped walking.

“Mayta was seeing someone. There was a man who came by the last couple of months. Tall, handsome, blond hair, always impeccably put together. I think he was her boyfriend.”

“That’s very helpful. Would you be able to recognize him from a photo?”

Dawn nodded. “Absolutely. Like I said, he was good-looking.”

Kai turned and started for the house. When she got inside, she saw the whole place had been trashed. Blood was everywhere, looking like the woman had put up one hell of a fight.

She kept Lucy in her peripheral and noted the horror on her face. She was just out of FLETC, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, a newly minted Special Agent probie with a college degree and a couple years of the sheriff’s department under her belt.

They found her still bound to a chair in the living room, her chin on her chest, her thick, dark hair saturated in blood. Kelly was crouched next to her.

She looked up at Kai. “This was brutal. She was bound, beaten severely, then shot in the back of the head.” Kelly lifted the woman’s face. “Executed.”

Kai noted the mottled bruises on her face, the swollen flesh around her eyes, and cheeks. Her nose was broken, blood all over her face with lacerations on her body. Probably from the fight. “Time of death?”

“According to liver temp, between nine-thirty and ten o’clock last night.”

“Okay, thanks, Kelly.” She turned to the team. “Finish up the photos and gather evidence. I’ll see you back at Pendleton.”

When she got to the base and her office, her boss wanted her to speak to the director. She entered her boss’s office and the face of the director popped onto the screen. “I want a sitrep on this petty officer you found dead. She was executed?”

“Yes, sir. Brutally tortured, then executed.”

The man’s face pinched tight. “I understand she has a sensitive job.”

“I don’t have the full information just yet. Let me consult with my team, and I will get back to you a-sap.”

“Do that, Agent Talbot. I want answers on who just waged war on the Navy.”

As his image flickered off, she turned back to her boss. “So do I,” she growled.

The first thoughtDavis had the moment he woke up centered directly on Kai. He expected she was having a rough morning. His was less about a hangover and more about the residual he felt about Kai. He didn’t regret any moment of their encounter, even the slap. It showed that their budding relationship wasn’t superficial and gave him something to build on. She’d cared enough to react so emotionally when he’d turned her down. It wasn’t about the sex. It was about comfort, and even though he ached to give her that, he wasn’t a complete saint.

She needed someone last night, someone who didn’t have designs on her body. Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. He wanted her. He couldn’t deny that, but not like that, not when she was out of her mind with grief.

Despite the intimacy they shared, he had no idea who she really was. He’d indulged himself in looking up her record and found things that surprised him. Like she’d been a Marine, part of their military police, her record exemplary. She’d finished her bachelor’s in criminal justice at Purdue through their online program while serving. When she left the Marines, she’d already had an acceptance into the master’s program and went to West Lafayette, Indiana where she worked as a paralegal for two years until she graduated. Then she applied to NCIS. She’d obviously excelled there, working for special activities along the way to her current role as a supervisory agent.

It was difficult not to be impressed with Kai Talbot.

He’d had some interviews to clear up before he wrote his final reports and put the gambling case to bed. It was mid-morning before he showed up at the office. When he walked in, he noticed that Carter wasn’t at his desk. There was something strange about the empty desk, a stillness that lingered. It looked the same as the day before, neat, clean, organized, but the hair on the back of his neck stirred.

“Davis?” Jason called and he turned to look at him. “What’s up?”

“Where’s Carter?” he asked, getting the same unsettling vibe. “He’s never late.”

Jason looked over to the desk and frowned. “Right. I don’t know. He hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Did he call in?”

“If he did, I didn’t get the information, and we should have. Davis checked his cell, but there were no messages. He went back to Carter’s last text that had showed up around a quarter to seven last night.”

He picked up the phone and checked with the person who handled the call-out line, confirming that Carter hadn’t called in sick. Jason rose and came over. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, some feeling that I can’t shake. You can set your watch to Carter.” He contacted the person responsible for handling absent agents. Carter hadn’t called in.

Jason nodded, looking over at his desk again, his eyes now worried. “I’m going to the commander.” Davis walked to his boss’s office and the receptionist nodded to him. When he got inside, Commander Jim Phillips looked up.

“Nishida?”

“Carter isn’t here. Do you have him on a specific assignment Jason and I don’t know about?”

“No,” Jim said, leaning back in his chair. “Did he call in?”

“No, I already checked.” Davis shifted, the tension in him tightening. “He’s never late. If he was going to be out or late, he would have called. I don’t like it.”

“Take Hollow and go check out his residence. Keep me posted.”

When they got there, Carter’s car was in the driveway. Davis and Jason approached the front door, and the second he saw the door ajar, Davis pulled his weapon. Jason froze and pulled his own sidearm. When they entered, Davis called out, “Federal agents.”

There was no answer, no movement at all. They went through the house, each calling out “Clear,” in grim tones. The place was ransacked, and Carter wasn’t there.

“Dammit,” Jason said. “What the fuck happened here?” He looked at Davis. “Weren’t you supposed to have dinner with him last night?”

“He texted me that he wasn’t going to make it,” he said flatly.

Hard and sharp, his gaze cut to Davis. “Why did he leave early? Do you know?”

“Roof problem is what he told me, but I got a feeling it was more than that.” That gut feeling he’d had yesterday was spot on. Carter was concealing why he had left early, and Davis was sure it didn’t have anything to do with his roof. But that did little to help them now.

Carter Lennon was missing.

When she got backto her workspace, her team was busy at their desks. “Tell me things,” she said. “The director wants answers, and we won’t keep him waiting.”

Amber stood up and caught the remote Austin tossed to her. She fired up the large screen in the office.

“Mayta Mosquera is the only daughter of Lena and Eduardo Mosquera. She and her mother immigrated from Ecuador to New York when Mayta was five, then when Mayta was stationed here in San Diego, her mom moved to California. Eduardo and Lena are divorced; Lena married a banker after she moved to California. Mayta’s father stayed behind in Ecuador, and he’s a fisherman by trade. Her mom is a looker, and her daughter reaped those benefits. Mayta was stunning. There are several sexual harassment complaints on her record, but all seemed to have been resolved.”

“Lucy, track down who the men were who were harassing her. Find out where they were at the time of the crime.”

“Will do, boss,” she said.

Amber tossed the remote to Austin. “Mayta works in intelligence out of the Information Dominance Corps. She graduated at the top of her class, speaks five languages, and holds a master’s in information analysis. She was scheduled to report to the USS Troy Godfrey, Carrier Group Five’s aircraft carrier based out of Yokosuka, Japan for duty in a week. She was heading into the South China Sea, but the information regarding her assignment is classified.”

“Could have been why she was targeted,” Lucy piped up.

“You think the Chinese tortured and killed an American over naval secrets?” Derrick scoffed. “Damned unlikely, and if they had, then we better make sure we have the evidence to back it up.”

“Ironclad evidence,” Kai said, her gut tightening. Was there something that was important enough to murder a naval petty officer on American soil? “You and Amber get over to her office and see what you can find out.”

After they left, Austin turned to her. “I’m waiting for her phone records. As soon as I have them, I’ll let you know.”

Kai nodded and settled down at her desk.

She didn’t want to be idle right now. Didn’t want to go back to thinking about Davis and how she should go about apologizing to him. She knew where his office was, and had his work telephone number, but calling him seemed cowardly. Maybe she could duck out of work an hour early to slip over to his office and request some time with him.

“Boss?” Austin said.

She looked up. “I pinged her phone and found it. It’s still on.”

“Where?”

“The crime scene.”

When she and Austin got back to the house, they searched everywhere for the phone but came up empty. “It’s got to be here,” he said, consulting his cell again. Kai looked at the first evidence of blood. It was near the TV stand. She knelt and peered under the cabinet. Maybe Mayta had hidden it there to keep it out of the hands of her attackers.

“Got it,” she said, reaching under and snagging the phone. Coming to her feet, she swiped the screen. “It’s fingerprint protected. Let’s get back to NCIS and get it open.”

In the morgue, she and Austin waited while Kelly picked up Mayta’s limp hand and pressed her thumb to the icon on the phone’s lock screen. It opened. “Calls to her mom, dad, doctor, and many calls to My Man.”

Austin said, “That’s got to be her boyfriend.”

Kai pressed the button for her text messages and looked at the log. “A text from her dad two days ago and her response is confusion as to the meaning, but her dad didn’t respond.”

“What’s the message?”

“A bunch of numbers and a word: 2501, 3865707 7785 Freedom.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“That’s what Mayta asks. She seems just as confused.” Kai pressed the number for My Man, and it started to ring and went to voicemail via the basic message. She pressed until she got to the man’s information under Mayta’s contacts. There was a work phone number, and it looked familiar. She pressed that number.

It rang for several seconds then a man’s voice came over the line. “You’ve reached Special Agent Carter Lennon at the Coast Guard Investigative Service. I’m not at my desk right now. Please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

She looked at Austin, realizing that she wasn’t going to have to take off early to see Davis Nishida as Austin asked, “Who is it?”

“CGIS,” she said. “Mayta’s boyfriend is a CGIS special agent.”

“Seriously?”

As serious as it got. She was going to have to tell Davis she was sorry for slapping him. That she was so very sorry that she had struck him when he was trying to be such a gentleman. And that is what he had been, foregoing his pleasure to allow her to keep her dignity in the wake of her grief and pain.

But she wasn’t going to apologize for kissing him, or for wrapping her fingers around the heavy length of his erection. She wasn’t sorry at all. Not one bit.

“Kai, are you all right?” Austin asked, peering at her from under his fall of blond hair, his expression concerned. “Your cheeks are flushed.”

She touched the warm skin of her face and, with as much of a casual tone as she could muster, said, “No, I’m fine. It’s just a bit warm in here.”

“In the morgue?” Austin said, but she ignored him and headed for the elevator.

“Let’s go to CGIS, Austin, and see what Special Agent Lennon has to say.”