Chapter 5
They were going in the right direction, but something still felt all wrong to Drew. “Hackett owes me an explanation for this mess,” he muttered.
“What makes you so special?” Dark Glasses replied.
That was all the confirmation Drew needed. He had a reply regardless of the response, but this was ideal. “Well, for a start, I didn’t die when he tried to kill me the first time.”
Dark Glasses looked at him through the rearview mirror. “Who the hell are you?”
“Andrew Garner.” Drew smiled as the driver’s face turned red. Beside him, he felt Laura go stiff, braced for the worst. “Pleasure to meet you.”
The driver stomped on the accelerator as he hurled violent promises at Drew.
“Ease up, man.” Drew leaned forward, pressing the revolver he’d snatched from Laura’s ankle holster to the man’s temple. “The last thing you want is a speeding ticket.”
“Screw you.”
“Thanks, but I’ve had my share of getting screwed over by Hackett. Pull over. Slowly.”
Dark Glasses didn’t obey, but he jumped when Drew pulled the trigger, putting a bullet into the man’s right knee. The car lurched around in the lane as the driver struggled with pain, anger, and the inevitable result.
“Don’t make me repeat myself.” When the car rolled to a stop, Drew escorted the man to the trunk while Laura moved to the driver’s seat.
“You have a plan,” he said as she punched it and merged with traffic heading toward Charleston. “I can tell.”
“First we’re driving by my hotel.”
“You realize they’re expecting our friend in the trunk to show up with you? As a prisoner?”
“Yeah, I caught that part. Don’t you want to know what they’re doing in my room?”
“Not if it means you’re in the same room as Hackett or anyone working for him. Have you forgotten they tried to kill you at the airport?”
“Haven’t forgotten, but they were more likely trying to kidnap me.” She shot him a look. “Seems you beat them to it.”
“I didn’t kidnap you.”
She flicked a hand, blowing that off. “We’ll argue semantics later. To save you the trouble of asking the next obvious question, yes I realize all of this means he wants some specific classified detail he thinks I have.”
“And Hackett’s told them my name, who I was.”
She settled in behind a minivan and tapped her fingertips against the steering wheel. “That puts a twist in it?”
“It has to,” he said, but he wasn’t sure where or how that twist would bite him in the ass. “Hackett wouldn’t trust local thugs with that kind of information, so the guy in the trunk is part of the inner circle.”
“So?”
“I’m thinking. Give me a minute.” Drew resisted the idea that he’d made a critical mistake. He didn’t have to know all the players. Hackett was the one who mattered, the man with the power in this equation. “They’re trying to crack your system, bring you in. The driver knew my name, but none of them knew my face.”
“Nice recap. What’s it mean?”
“I’ve watched Hackett for a couple of days and none of the men who’ve chased us today have been anywhere around.”
“You just said the guy in the trunk is in the inner circle.”
“I know.”
“Crap.” She rubbed her hand across her forehead. “Not Hackett’s inner circle.”
“It’s a possible explanation.”
“Doesn’t explain the focus on me.”
It did in Drew’s mind. “You’re a connection to what I believe was the first deal. Based on your position, you’re either a potential threat or asset. He’s got a long reach and deep pockets. Someone alerted him that the old file had been accessed. Think about it. He can’t afford a misstep with this deal, so he’s got people all over keeping tabs on things.”
“But you’ve managed to elude him all these years.”
“Mostly.” She wouldn’t look at him. He didn’t consider that a good sign. He felt like a tightrope walker on a fraying line. A smart woman, dedicated to her career and country…he knew her brain was working overtime. But for or against him? “Laura?”
“I’m driving.”
He knew beyond any doubt if he left her alone, she was dead. She knew too much and Hackett’s network was too vast. Hell, even if he parked her somewhere as safe as Fort Knox, his original plan was doomed. He couldn’t finish the job alone and she was the closest thing he had to an ally.
Neither charm nor bargaining would work on her, not now. “I can prove Hackett’s been acting against US interests. Consistently.” There it was, the ace up his sleeve, out in the open.
She snorted, clearly unimpressed. “How? Because you’re alive?”
“No.” As much as he’d tried, he’d yet to come up with anything that proved beyond any doubt that Hackett had given the order that ended so many innocent lives at that meeting years ago. “I’m sorry, for Carpenter’s sake, that Hackett won’t ever suffer the way he should for that crime. But I have solid intel about specific acts of treason, including an assassination carried out and another planned for this week.”
“You said he was trading secrets this week.”
He held up, barely, under the hard look she aimed at him. “It’s all one and the same.”
“Hardly. You have to turn over that intel to the authorities!”
“How was I supposed to manage that? Who would believe me?”
“There are ways.” She shook her head, her disappointment rolling off of her in waves as she passed another string of slower vehicles. “I have to turn over that intel.”
“No. I can’t let you do that.”
“No?” She drew out the single syllable, filled it with threats and promises. “You may have my gun, but I have the obligation as well as the credentials. I suggest you reconsider your answer.”
He wasn’t changing his mind. Not on this. Handing over the intel, even knowing they’d take the threats seriously with her backing? He couldn’t do it.
Because it wouldn’t be good enough. He wanted to make Hackett pay. After suffering the loss of every freedom, every ounce of respect, he wouldn’t let the real criminal get away with any less. “My plan was to have him confess to everything.” He’d discuss the rest of his plan later. Preferably when it was done.
“Hold that thought,” she said, taking an exit and presumably aiming toward her hotel. “I want to see what’s going on here.”
“You’re asking for trouble.”
“What’s a little more trouble on a day like today?”
Oh, yeah. He liked her grit. More than that, but this wasn’t the right time to dwell on it. “If we’re spotted, you’ll learn firsthand what Hackett is like.”
“We won’t be. Like you said, every other car down here is white, remember?”
Admirable grit or no, her anger-fueled bravado was starting to worry him. He’d never seen her in action, but he was starting to understand how she’d earned her reputation. “Laura,” he began. “You wanted to turn over the intel.”
“And I know you don’t. You’ll have to come up with a better distraction. I’m not going to let them get away with invading my hotel room and tearing through my things.”
“They’re waiting to do worse than that.” Dark Glasses had been sure Laura would tell them whatever they wanted to know. Drew didn’t want to think about the likely tactics.
Kicking started in the trunk as she slowed down to cruise through the parking lot. “See anything?”
“Nothing as helpful as a sign or neon arrow. What do you want to do?”
“Confront this head on.” Her fingers gripped the wheel, her knuckles going white. “I want to take back my property and reclaim control.”
“Take a minute.” He understood those urges, but they’d fail if they tried to meet Hackett without a plan that included more than one escape route. “You didn’t bring anything sensitive here.”
“No, but—”
“So what if they have access to your work email or even your schedule,” he said as she did another lap through the lot. “I’m sure they already have eyes on us. If you don’t park, they’ll know something is up with the driver.”
She huffed out a breath. “I can be patient.”
“You’re mad. Hurt. This isn’t the time to charge in. Not when a bastard like Hackett is holding the advantage.”
“Fine.” She pulled into a parking space at the far corner of the lot and slammed the car into park. “What do you suggest?”
He peered through the car windows, more than a little surprised no one was closing in on them. Maybe they were understaffed at the moment with two men in police custody. Or maybe the thugs had left the hotel and were waiting to interrogate Laura at a new location.
“Strategic retreat. We stay together,” he added quickly when she glared at him. “But we retreat, just long enough to regroup. You cost me the element of surprise this morning and ruined my best chance at Hackett. He was obviously watching you and by now he knows I’m alive. If we advance right now and lose, which is likely at this point, he’ll not only win, he’ll disappear.”
“You’re right,” she said through gritted teeth. “You’re right,” she repeated, calmer. “Pull the guy out of the trunk and let’s do it your way.”
Already, Drew recognized that look in her eye that said she had something more going on behind those enigmatic eyes. “If I get out of the car, you’ll let me back in it, right?”
“As if I’d let you wander the streets and then hog all the glory with a dramatic, heroic take-down.”
“Fair enough.” He smothered the laugh, trying to imagine what those headlines would look like in the papers, across the television networks. But he left his door open while he dealt with Dark Glasses. Drew didn’t want glory or public accolades. He wanted to live quietly without regrets or resentment, without looking over his shoulder while Hackett walked free.
When their prisoner was following orders and marching for the hotel lobby, Drew returned to the car. Laura backed out of the parking space and drove off as if people were removed from trunks as a matter of course every day.
“Too easy,” she muttered as Drew kept an eye out for a tail or more aggressive response.
“Agreed. Let’s head into the city,” he said.
“That doesn’t sound like an effective retreat.”
“There’s no good way to make a move on Hackett today, but I have a clean car stashed downtown that we can pick up.”
“Will you let me drive?”
“Sure,” he said with a shrug. “You know the area better than I do.” His unperturbed and cavalier reply confused her, he could see it in the little furrow between her eyebrows. One more mystery for her to chew on.
She slid him a long look, but did as he asked, her long silence challenging him to talk.
He didn’t. Not yet. She thought she was obligated now, but when she heard how he’d been spending his time, how he’d tracked down Hackett, she’d definitely take action.
He wasn’t ready to let go of the last shred of hope that he could accomplish what he set out to do: bring Hackett to justice and reclaim his freedom.
***
Laura hadn’t expected Drew to hand her the keys when they changed cars. She’d expected him to protest or try and ditch her. Which would’ve been embarrassingly easy considering her throbbing ankle and his possession of her gun. There probably wasn’t room for the revolver in the holster anyway if the ankle was half as swollen as it felt.
She could shift around and drive with her left foot, but that would reveal a weakness to Garner and he’d take advantage. At least she thought he would.
When she turned off of the interstate and used the state roads, aiming north, she thought he’d hassle her. But he didn’t say a word. He’d simply reclined the seat and closed his eyes. He might be faking it, and real or not he was far from a deep sleep, but she appreciated the quiet.
Grateful they weren’t arguing about the situation or how she was changing his plan for revenge, she struggled with the constant distraction he created. As the miles ticked by, she told herself it was professional curiosity. Primarily.
Yeah, professional curiosity accounted for at least ninety percent of her distraction. Maybe more. She glanced at her mysterious passenger. Even quiet, his lean body gave off a lethal vibe. Maybe less.
If she was honest with herself, she’d say eighty-five, no honestly, seventy-five percent professional curiosity. The man redefined sexy—and she spent time with plenty of men day-in and day-out. In the routine of her work, she didn’t meet new, eligible men frequently. So her distraction was admittedly partly personal, though Drew was in no way eligible. He made her question things, piqued her interest. The reasoning behind the massacre had always been a mystery. Now, there was the new wrinkle of how he’d managed to escape while the witnesses and survivors believed he was the root of it.
Rarely had anyone made a fool of her or her work and she felt like he’d done both. True, no one beyond the two of them knew that yet, but it stung her pride.
They needed help. She needed answers, but they needed serious, capable support. Hell, they needed something as basic as a phone and a few secure hours to make some calls. Her stomach clenched at the thought of mercenaries like the driver they’d dumped in the hotel parking lot pawing through her things, hacking into her work, past and present.
It was a relief that her present work was only simulations and training. Hackett wouldn’t find any secrets to exploit there. Still, she knew she should notify her boss that she’d been compromised. An update from her, a full admission about what had prompted her sudden request for personal leave, would go over much better than if he heard it from another source first.
Reluctantly, Laura discarded the idea. Hackett knew too much about her and her prior brush with Garner. Contacting her boss could backfire if, as Drew said, Hackett learned about the call. Giving a traitor more ammunition wasn’t a good idea.
She glanced at Garner again only to realize his eyelids were cracked and he was staring at her with that deep blue gaze. Caught, she quickly jerked her gaze back to the road.
“You’re thinking too loudly,” he said.
“Please. We both know that’s impossible,” she countered, regretting the abrupt end to what had been a nice, if not entirely productive, silence.
He sat up, adjusting the seat as he looked around. “You’re taking me to Carpenter?”
“No.” Her fingertips danced lightly at the top of the steering wheel. “Not yet anyway. I haven’t decided,” she admitted.
“You can’t be thinking of Bragg.”
“I could make it work. Hypothetically.” She let the rest go unsaid. She could hardly take this car onto the post, not knowing where or how he’d acquired it. He’d sworn it wasn’t stolen, but the sales receipt in the glove box written to a Thomas Ketterly and the forty-five day temporary tag on the back didn’t instill much confidence.
“Why don’t we skip hypothesis testing?” He tapped the clock on the dash. “What should I expect from Carpenter?”
“If we go there, it won’t be friendly.”
“If.” He turned his gaze out the window. “Okay, I’ll bite. What else are you contemplating?”
She had to make a concerted effort to stretch and relax her clenched jaw. “I came up with a wish list more than a plan. A clean car, a phone, cash,” she rolled her hand, “you know how it goes.”
“I told you the car is mine. A rose by any other name.”
“Please, not Shakespeare,” she said.
He chuckled. “An ID is an ID is an ID. Better?”
“Sure.” It wasn’t, but she didn’t want to get caught up in a silly looping conversation when they had severe problems. She smoothed her hair back from her face.
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”
She slid him a look. “Sorry because I interrupted your plans?”
“In part.” His grin flashed as bright and quick as a switchblade. “I’m not too proud to admit it.”
“Pride and admissions won’t give us what we need,” she muttered. “Tell me more about Hackett. How were you planning to make him confess?”
“Let’s give that a little more time.”
“Garner,” she said, letting her irritation loose, “Don’t make me stop this car.”
“Call me Drew. Let’s find a place to lay low for tonight. I have cash to cover a few expenses.”
It was the best option and she needed to elevate her stupid ankle. “Beach or mountains?”
“Beach.”
She smiled a little at his quick response. “All right. Sand and surf, here we come.”
“Huh.”
Feeling his stare, she kept her eyes on the road. “What now?”
“You’ll really do what I want? Without an argument?”
“Were you playing some reverse psychology game?”
“No. The beach sounds easy. Mountains sound like work.”
“And the beach is closer from here.” Closer to Carpenter too, potentially.
“Good. You need to elevate that ankle.”
She hadn’t complained once and had only favored it when it helped them sell the act back at the truck stop. She wasn’t about to admit that it bothered her now. “It’s fine.”
“It isn’t, but I understand where you’re coming from. Driving, doing anything, helps keep your mind off it.”
“Talking to me would help even more.”
“In good time.”
“Afraid Mr. Ketterly’s car is bugged?”
“You know,” he leaned across the seat, his voice a low rumble, “I think you’ll come to like Mr. Ketterly. He’s going to keep you out of Hackett’s snare.”
“You’re awfully sure of yourself.”
He leaned across the small space between the front bucket seats. “Confidence is a byproduct of practice and success.”
It sounded far too close to an Army motivational poster in the training halls. She didn’t like the little burst of heat or the flutter of a butterfly doing barrel rolls in her belly when he crowded her. “Where should I send the thank you note?”
“Smart ass.” Smiling, he leaned back. “I like that about you.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Pretend we’re friends.”
“We need to be,” he replied with a raw intensity that charged the air in the car. “You don’t want to take on Hackett without a friend.”
She powered down her window, let the air blow across her face. “You’re supposed to trust a friend.”
“No problem. You’ve proven yourself and I’m sure you feel the same about me by now.”
Arrogance personified, she thought as the butterfly crash-landed. “Oh, sure I do.”
“Well, maybe that was a stretch.”
“Ya think?” He just laughed as if today was some grand amusement for him. “I should take you to Carpenter.”
“I figure you will just as soon as you’re sure it won’t make things worse.”
His easy self-assurance scraped at her nerves. She bit back a sharp retort, wondering why she was picking a fight with the man. He’d saved her life—probably—and the why of it shouldn’t be her primary focus at this point.
“As long as Carpenter doesn’t try to kill me,” he added.
“If he believed you were alive, he’d think he had fair cause.”
“Any chance he’d take out Hackett with enough evidence?”
“Not if it came from you, uncorroborated.”
“Sadly, that makes sense. For the record, I’ll say again, that incident was not my fault. I was supposed to die there.”
“That’d be easier to believe if you’d come forward when it happened.”
“If I’d come forward then, Hackett would’ve finished me off. That’s who you should worry about having free rein in Charleston. That man’s the real monster.”
“So you say. Why not tell me what you know about him?”
“First off, he’s absolutely ruthless. And somehow he keeps his hands clean. He was a JAG officer and he’s a professor at the Citadel now. I’m sure he’s making friends and racking up favors to call in later.”
“You’ve had him in your sights for a while now.”
“I told you.” He propped his elbow against the door and tipped his head against his fist. “But that’s a soft way of saying you think I’m obsessed.”
“Possibly. Obsession, under the circumstances, is a reasonable conclusion,” she pointed out.
“Reasonable conclusion.” Drew swore. “He ordered men to kidnap you. As a start.”
“You held a knife to my throat,” she said. He’d also forced a good gun out of her hands and dragged her along for this roller coaster. The nightmare ride wasn’t anywhere close to done if she had to guess.
She turned on the radio and set it scanning for stations. Drew took the hint and kept quiet. Until he shared some real details, she should remember it was merely his word against Hackett’s.
Military personnel didn’t just go out and about as they pleased in combat zones. If Hackett had been in that part of Afghanistan at the time, his orders would reflect it. With a clean phone, she could call in a favor of her own and check it out. She’d been through the file on Drew’s incident front to back, and there was no mention of a JAG officer named Hackett in there. No mention of anyone by that name in there.
At this point, she had to believe Drew that Hackett, or someone in his employ, had breached her work records in the secure Ft. Bragg office. Damn, what she wouldn’t do for a phone and a friend with similar computer skills. She needed answers. Answers verified by a third party with nothing to lose in this dicey situation.
Traffic slowed as they wound their way down two-lane roads and through various small communities toward the beach. She considered what she’d tell Ross when she had the chance.
She stopped the radio station scan when it landed on a news station. A breaking news alert sounded and she turned up the volume. “Two men were found dead in a Summerville hotel room an hour ago. Police are still looking for the woman who booked the room under the name of Laura Talbot. She’s wanted for questioning. You can find a picture of her on our website…”
Drew turned down the volume. “You booked the room in your real name?”
“Of course.” She gulped in a lungful of air. There wasn’t an excuse, no better reply to his blatant accusation. “I was on a personal holiday.” Lame. True, but lame.
“You’re Army Counterintel. You know better.”
“In town on a personal holiday,” she repeated. In an automatic reflex, Laura sank back in her seat, praying no one in the surrounding cars would recognize her. This close to the resorts and oceans, there wasn’t a way out of the dense traffic.
“I told you Hackett was good.”
“He set me up.” Shock consumed her. There was no way she’d go unseen in Charleston. Not even if she’d been prepared for an undercover operation. They should go their separate ways. Drew could hide at the beach and regroup. It was the only chance to stop Hackett. But there’d be hell to pay if she reached Bragg safely and admitted she’d let Drew pull off his personal revenge against a known traitor.
“Of course he did.” Drew pounded his open palm against the door panel. “Damn it. I should’ve seen that coming.”
“I’m a liability,” she whispered, checking her mirrors. Part of her expected the police to drop out of the sky. “We have to split up.”
“No way. I’m your only chance to survive. If you try to run and you’re caught, Hackett will have you killed and waltz on air for the rest of his damned life.”
“Not if you go back and stop him.” She couldn’t believe she was supporting that option, but there weren’t any others.
Drew shook his head. “I can’t get to him on my own. Not now.”
Because she’d gone into this with less than her best effort. She’d left Bragg with the preconceived notion that this was no more than a wild goose chase, a quick trip to ease the mind of an old friend. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited out another red light.
“We’ll call Ross,” she said. “You give me your evidence against Hackett, and Ross will give you the backup you need to take him down.”
“Please, don’t do me any more favors.”
She couldn’t blame him for snapping at her. Why wouldn’t he seize on her failures and resume his original agenda? Why in the hell did she feel such immense relief when he said he’d stick with her? She was a big girl, she had connections. “A couple of phone calls will clear this up. I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Two men.” Drew’s muttering echoed her thoughts. “Has to be the pair from the airport.”
“They were in police custody,” she said, turning left and managing to get two blocks before another prolonged wait.
“I told you he has a long reach. We need to get somewhere private, and fast. There,” he pointed to one of the beach store chains that decorated every block between here and the ocean. “Let me grab some clothes for you.”
“No way.” She drove right on by. “I don’t need a beach blanket or the free hermit crab that comes with it.”
“Field skills, Talbot. You’ve got to start thinking survival.”
“I am.” Now that the shock was wearing off. “Since I didn’t actually kill anyone, I can contact the local police and straighten this out.”
“And how do you explain me?”
She hadn’t decided that yet. “Who says I have to?” Sticking together didn’t mean attached at the hip twenty-four, seven.
“Two men in a hotel room booked with your legal name. The media will be all over this when they learn you’re in the Army. Face it, you need to get off the radar.” He pointed to another beachwear shop. “Give me five minutes and I can turn us invisible.”
She wanted to handle this the right way, like an honest, upstanding citizen and military officer. But she was human and spending the night in a motel room on the beach sounded much better than spending the night in jail, wondering who would reach her first, attorney or assassin.
“Disappearing is what I do best,” he said with a groan as she drove on. “If you turn yourself in, Hackett will know exactly where to find you.”
Hearing him echo her thoughts didn’t help. She’d reached the point where doing the right thing would likely be the last thing she did. Hackett’s reach was long and invasive. Her search history. The cemetery. The airport. The police who’d chased the rental car. The driver who’d been so sure she’d talk.
Drew was right. Her odds of survival were better with the ghost in the passenger seat.
She hit the turn signal and pulled to a stop in front of the next beach store. “Wait for me here,” she said as he pushed open the car door.
“That’s a mistake.” He reached over and patted her knee. “Better cover for you if we’re together.”
“I’ll manage,” she said, watching him fiddle with the glove box. “What are you doing?”
He popped apart the plastic layers and removed a thin envelope tucked inside. “You can use cash, but assuming they’ve already broadcast your picture, even cash is a risk. You’ll be invisible if you take me. And use this.” He handed her a credit card.
She read the name and shook her head. “Julie A. Ketterly?” She flipped it over, saw it was signed. “What if they ask for ID?”
“See.” He held out a driver’s license and credit card that matched the Thomas Ketterly car registration information. “That’s why it’s better if I come along as an adoring husband spoiling his wife.”
“Fine.” Laura rolled her eyes, but she knew he’d presented a valid argument.
“Going in together means you have to pretend you like me.”
“Fine.”
“All right.” He rubbed his palms together. “The Ketterlys are playing hooky from work in Charlotte this weekend and—”
“That’s plenty.” She didn’t need a full backstory for a five-minute shopping spree. “We’re not heading into interrogation.”
He looked her up and down. “Pull your hair down, toss the jacket into the back seat, and pop open the next button on your blouse. From this point on you’re Mrs. Ketterly, eager to get to the beach and cut loose for a few days.”
She didn’t waste her breath arguing names or pointing out that she would’ve made similar alterations to her appearance without his instructions. “Give me my gun,” she said when she’d taken care of the other details. She wouldn’t be a defenseless Mrs. Ketterly. “You have the knife,” she added when he hesitated.
With a nod, he handed her the small revolver. She ignored the discomfort as she returned it to the holster. “All right, honey, I’m ready,” she said with a sweetness that made her teeth ache.
He grinned. “Glad to hear it, darling. Five minutes to fresh ocean breezes.”
At the front of the car, he slid his arm around her waist, much as he’d done at the truck stop. It felt like a spike driving into her ankle with every step and she appreciated the support as much as his dedication to their disguise.
A quick circuit of the store and they were set for an impromptu weekend with swimsuits, beach towels, oversized sunglasses, casual wear, and the requisite sunscreen and aloe vera. She smiled at the right points, chiming in as needed when he charmed the clerk at the register with happy and forgettable chatter. If the young woman remembered them as anything but a blurry pair of standard tourists they deserved to be caught, by Hackett or anyone else.
“I’ll drive from here,” he announced, his arm around her once more as they returned to the car.
“You already decided where we’re staying?” she asked, gifting him with her brightest smile.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out, darling.” Drew tossed the bags into the back seat and pulled her in for a quick kiss before taking the key.
The move surprised her and, to her great annoyance, left her lips tingling.