Chapter 5
5
MILA
Reaching into the bag beside my feet, I grabbed a water for myself and lifted one in Ethan’s direction.
“I’m good,” he replied.
I shoved the extra bottle back into my bag before I settled back against the seat and stared at the house we’d been watching for the last half hour in near silence.
I opened the cap on the bottle and lifted it to my mouth but spoke before taking a drink. “You know, surveillance is really boring if you don’t talk.”
He glanced at me. “What do you want to talk about?”
Taking another drink, I put the cap back on. “How about this case? There’s a lot I don’t know.”
“Probably know as much as I do.”
“I doubt that, considering how long you’ve been here.”
“Fair enough,” he agreed. “What do you want to know?”
“How did this all start?” I asked. “I mean, I know that Beth Sullivan’s brother was Danny Sullivan and he was killed during an FBI raid.”
“That’s true.” Ethan nodded.
“So how was Elite involved in that?”
“Cam Dimarco,” he replied, continuing when I gestured to tell me more. “Cam used to be in the FBI and worked on the Daniel Sullivan case with Nick. After two years, the FBI shut down the investigation because they weren’t making any headway, but Cam wasn’t ready to give up. He left the FBI and came to Elite, asking them to take on the case.”
“And they did? Just like that?”
Ethan grinned. “You don’t know the Dimarcos very well yet, but you’ll soon find out they’ll do just about anything for each other. They’ll fight with each other the whole fucking time, but they’ll do it in the end.”
I laughed. “I’ve seen some of that since I started.” I rolled the water bottle between my hands. “Here’s what I don’t get, though. How were they able to get close to Beth? From everything I’ve heard, she was isolated in Daniel Sullivan’s house. She didn’t go out and didn’t have friends. She’s told me that much herself.”
“Ahh, that’s a long-ass story.”
“Try to shorten it to fifty words or less.”
He chuckled. “Okay, here goes. Cam had a lead in the FBI that Danny’s ex-girlfriend, Sydney, knew a ton of shit about his operations, so he got close to her.”
“How close?”
“Close enough that she found out who he was. Somehow, and no before you ask, I don’t know all the details”—I grinned, wondering how Ethan knew me well enough to know what I was about to ask—“but Sydney ended up back in Daniel’s house and had a chance to talk to Beth alone. She promised her safety if she could email them any information to help take Daniel down, and eventually, Beth did.”
“How did Daniel die?”
Ethan’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Sniper. They never found out who did it, but while Cam and Nick led him out of his house, someone shot him in the head from behind.”
“Wow. I’d heard he was shot, but I figured it was some kind of standoff with the FBI.” I wasn’t surprised Nick and Cam hadn’t been able to drop the case when the FBI shut it down. I knew from experience that after years of hard work, walking away without a real ending was hard to do. “I’m a little surprised Elite wanted to get involved, considering they’d have to deal with the government when they found new information.”
“That new information forced the FBI to open the case again which led to the raid. It’s a good thing Elite was willing to take the case. Otherwise, I’m not sure Beth would’ve gotten away from Sullivan, at least according to Brody.”
“How did Striker get assigned to Beth? He doesn’t seem like the bodyguard type.”
“They didn’t have a lot of guys back then. They were still starting out, so I think it was more out of necessity. Plus, Brody said it was obvious that Beth felt safe with him. From what I heard, she barely left her apartment until a few months ago.”
“That’s true. I hate that she found her strength just in time for Daniel’s right-hand man, Max Skinner, to be released from prison.”
“Yeah.” Ethan frowned.
“And attempt to poison her.”
“You really think it was him?” Ethan asked.
“I think it’s too much of a coincidence that nothing happened while he was in prison, and within a month of his release, she had a pizza delivered to her apartment with arsenic on it.”
“I agree. Brody said almost the same thing to me, but they don’t want Striker to react more than he already has, so they’re downplaying it.”
“It won’t work. You should’ve seen Striker at the hospital. He’s confident Max Skinner is involved, and I agree, but I think he has a partner.”
“Brody said that too.”
“It’s obvious, considering Striker’s been tailing him, and we have eyes all over this damn town, but we rarely see him.”
“That’s true.”
Reaching into my bag again, I pulled out a small bag of candy, tore it open, and held it out to offer him some. “Want some?”
He snorted. “Can’t you just sit there? Do you have to be doing something?”
I laughed. “I have a really hard time sitting still. If I can’t do anything else, I end up snacking.”
“Brody said you did surveillance when you first started at the FBI.”
“That’s true.” I popped a piece of candy in my mouth. “I didn’t do it very long before a case was opened, and they needed a female.”
“Do you keep in touch with anyone you used to work with?”
“Nah, not really. I mean, Nick and I have some contacts left and can call in favors here and there, but for the most part, we both left that life behind.”
He nodded and looked out the windshield again. “How was your trip? You went back to DC to see your dad, right?”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “It was okay. I think it was good for Beth to get away. Can you believe she’s never traveled outside of North Carolina?”
Ethan huffed. “Actually, after everything I’ve learned about Daniel Sullivan, I can believe that.”
I looked toward Ethan, only to see he was still staring straight ahead. “How was Striker while we were gone?”
He snorted and met my stare. “You took Beth out of town for six days. What do you think?”
I laughed. “Good point.”
“I don’t think she’s been out of his sight for more than a day since we started providing her protection, and then you came along...”
“I came along and shook up his life.”
“You shook up a lot more than that,” he said under his breath.
Grinning, I pretended I hadn’t heard him and glanced out the side window. That comment shouldn’t make me feel good, but it did. The notion that I could shake up the men of Elite, who were all too often described as unflappable, gave the woman in me a surge of confidence I hadn’t felt in a long time.
Facing the windshield, I cleared my expression. “You think he’ll ever admit he has feelings for her?”
He seemed to consider that for a moment before responding. “Depends. He has a lot to lose if it doesn’t go the way he wants it to.”
“I doubt he’d let it fail if he decided he wanted a relationship,”?I pointed out.
“Might not be up to him,” Ethan replied.
“That’s true,” I agreed.
He paused for a moment. “Did you grow up in DC?”
My shoulders tensed when he asked me about my past. He didn’t know he was stirring up a million emotions.
“Yeah,” I answered, memories flashing through my mind of a childhood filled with laughter and experiences I wouldn’t trade for anything. “It was just me and my dad. My mom died when I was young.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said quietly.
“How about you?” I decided to turn the conversation back on him. “Where did you grow up?”
“Miami,”?he replied. “My aunt raised my sister and me after my mom died.”
“Losing your mom isn’t something you hope to have in common with someone,” I muttered sadly.
“No, not really.”
“Is your sister still in Miami?”
“Actually, she’s moving here with my niece, Riley. She got a job as a nurse for Dr. Campbell.”
“Are you happy to have her close?” I asked, but I could tell by his tone that he was happy she was moving.
“Considering I’ve been trying to get her to move here for two years, yeah, I’m happy she finally agreed.”
“What about your aunt?”
“She died last year, which is why I think Everly finally agreed. Everly moved home after Riley was born, which my aunt loved. We knew she was sick, but she never wanted to say the words to us, so Everly decided she would stay with her and give her time with Riley before she passed.”
“How did she die?”
“Ovarian cancer.” He shook his head. “Same damn thing that took our mom.”
“Jesus,” I whispered in utter disbelief. “You watched two women you love die from the same thing.”
“They were sisters, and just like our mom, it happened fast and took her life quickly.”
“What brought you here, to New Hope, if your family was in Florida?”
“College.” I snorted. “I did one damn year of engineering at UNC and knew it wasn’t for me. Decided to take the long way home and found myself in New Hope. I loved this little town the minute I drove into it and thought it might give me what I was looking for and couldn’t find.”
“Which was?” I prompted.
He chuckled. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
I laughed. “I can understand that. I have no idea what made me apply for the job at Elite. All I knew was that I was leaving the FBI, and this little town felt right.”
“Do you miss DC? Your family?”
The tension that had melted from my shoulders was back instantly. I hated talking about my father. Only Jax, Brody, and Beth knew some, and honestly, it wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg. “I don’t miss DC. I thought I might, but when I went back, I realized nothing was left there for me.”
“What about your father?”
“My father and I don’t see eye to eye, putting a strain on our relationship. The best thing I did for that relationship was leave the FBI.”
“I would think he’d be proud that you wanted to work with him.”
“You’d be wrong.” I snorted. “My father doesn’t believe women have a place in his department. He’s still of the mindset that only men should be out in the field, and when I worked my way up the ladder, proving that I could do fieldwork, our relationship completely changed.”
“How?”
How could I explain something I hadn’t come to terms with yet? My history with my father was so complicated. I couldn’t find the words to describe how we went from a loving family to two people filled with anger and resentment.
I decided to be honest. “I don’t know how to explain it. We just lost what we had while I was growing up.”
“Maybe you can find your way back to it,” he suggested.
“It’s too late for that, Ethan. Too much has happened that can’t be fixed or forgotten.”
“He’s your father.”
“He was,” I agreed. “Until he became my boss. I don’t trust him anymore, and what do we have without trust?”
“Guess we’re both in the same boat as far as parents are concerned. Maybe that’s why Brody paired us.”
“Maybe.” I grinned, but when I saw movement by the front door, I sat up taller. “Do you see that?”
Ethan lifted the binoculars to his eyes. “Looks like the Skinner boys are going out.”
We watched them get into a car, start it, and back out of the driveway.
“You want me to follow them?”?he asked.
Smiling out the windshield, I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Why not?”
Glancing at him, I widened my smile. “They’re going out, so we’re going in.”
“Thought we were just doing surveillance.”
I waited until their taillights disappeared around the corner before throwing open my door. “We were. Now we’re going in.”
“Dammit.” Ethan pushed open his door, and we quietly ran across the road toward the dark house. “I hope you know what you’re doing because I’ve never done any breaking and entering.”
Hunching down, I moved slowly around the side of the house, watching carefully for any cameras. “Guess we’ll find out. You see any cameras?”
He pulled out his phone, and after a few seconds, he said, “Looks like a few laptops and a couple of TVs are connected.”
Glancing over my shoulder, I gestured toward his phone. “What the hell is that?”
“An app Kyle developed to let us know what devices use Wi-Fi in and around the home.”
I studied him in disbelief before shaking my head. “We need to clone him.”
Ethan chuckled softly but looked down at his phone. “Bingo. Camera. Looks like there’s one in the front and back. I’ll bet both face the doors.”
“Then we’ll use a window.” I moved along the house, checking every window and hoping like hell that someone forgot to lock one, but I had no luck. “We need to try the other side of the house.”
We jogged to the wood line to make sure we stayed out of the range of the camera on the back of the house. We got to the other side, and I began trying the windows, smiling huge when the last one I tried finally gave us the needed access.
I shoved the window open, grabbed the windowsill, and pulled myself through. I heard Ethan coming in behind me just as I stood and turned on my flashlight.
“What are we looking for?” Ethan asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Anything that tells us more about Max and Rick Skinner. It could be as small as a receipt for something they bought.”
“Got it,” Ethan replied.
We worked side by side, completely in sync, almost as if we’d done this before. His efficiency impressed me, but I wasn’t surprised. Jax and Brody were serious about training, and I had no doubt Ethan wouldn’t be on surveillance with me if they didn’t think he was ready.
Disappointed, I stopped and faced Ethan when we finally made it back to where we started. “There’s nothing here.”
“Maybe on the computers?” he suggested.
“We’d need Kyle to access those. I’m good, but I’m not nearly as fast as Kyle, and we don’t have much time.” I put my hands on my hips and looked around the bedroom before sighing and gesturing to the window. “Dammit. I really hoped we’d find something.”
“Think they have another location?”
“Maybe.” I considered that for a moment. “Actually, that would make sense. Skinner’s smart enough to know the police would search this house first if they were suspicious of him.” Reaching out, I tapped his arm and smiled. “You’re pretty good at this, you know.”
He smirked. “You can’t spend the amount of time I have with Brody and not pick up on a few things.”
“That’s true.” I moved toward the window and climbed out, waited for him to follow, and together, we jogged back across the street toward the car.
We were just inside when he spoke. “What now?”
“Now we go home,” I said, a little disappointed. “And we start all over again tomorrow night.”
Ethan started the engine and pulled out before he said more. “You know most of Max Skinner’s job for Danny Sullivan was hiding shit. I have a bad feeling we may never find what he doesn’t want us to know about.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” I admitted. “I think Rick should be our new target. He’s not trained, as far as we know, and he didn’t work for Sullivan, so he might be the only person who can lead us to what we need without even knowing he is.”
“I don’t have a good feeling about this case,” he stated, and I could hear the worry in his tone.
“Me either,” I acknowledged, hoping we were both wrong.