Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
JT hugged his mother on the porch. “Thanks for the party, Mom. I think it went a long way toward selling our cover.”
His mother looked toward his truck where Nina sat in the passenger’s seat.
It was past midnight and tomorrow would be a long day, but he found himself reluctant to leave. He wished they could stay here for a day or two and let his parents get to know Nina, let Nina get to know him and where he’d come from.
They were about to be thrown into the crucible, and he wasn’t sure they were ready. By this time tomorrow they would be settling in at the retreat, getting ready for the welcome party. Nina would be working, and he was going to have to give her some space.
Until they went to bed at night. Then they’d agreed he could be in charge.
“Is it really a cover?” his mother asked. “I know you told me you’re interested in her and we teased you a bit, but I watched you at dinner. You’re half in love with that woman.”
He might be more than half. “I like her a lot. This is more than some job for me, and I think she feels the same. We had a connection even before she knew we were going to work together. Now I just have to convince her that connection is real.”
“Your cousin seems to think she’s wonderful. Simon sang her praises to me. Even Chelsea likes her, and that’s saying something. Chelsea doesn’t like anyone. They were so sorry they couldn’t be here tonight, but little Sophy has an ear infection.”
He’d missed his cousin, but worried Si might have been in Mike’s camp. Simon and his wife Chelsea no longer worked for McKay-Taggart, though their new company often worked with them. Simon’s new job meant he hadn’t had a chance to weigh in on whether JT was screwing up the world. “I’ll check in on them when we get back. I should go since we’ve got a flight in the morning. I’ll see you when we get back. Call me if anything changes with Dad.”
Michael stepped up and held out a hand. “Hey, I’ll be here. I’m taking a couple of days off from work. I’ll stay out here with the old man, so you don’t have to worry.”
It would be a relief. Not that he didn’t trust his mother. He simply didn’t want her to be alone. That had been his place in the family for so long—the dutiful son, the one who always thought of the family and the business before himself. The one who hadn’t had a real relationship in years because he hadn’t found anyone he thought was perfect for the family and the business.
Fuck it. He didn’t care if Nina fit in, though she likely would. He’d realized he’d looked for the “perfect” wife because he hadn’t found the right one before. When the connection was right, perfection didn’t mean a thing. All that mattered was being with her.
He shook his brother’s hand. “Thank you. I’ll concentrate on the mission.”
Michael shook his hand and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure you will.”
He stepped away. “You say that because you think I’m talking about the spy mission. I’m talking about my mission, brother, and I assure you I’m dedicated to that one.”
He jogged down the steps where the truck and Nina were waiting for him.
His mission would be making her never want to leave him. Nina was his mission and he didn’t intend to fail.
He slid into the cab and buckled his belt. The valet had the cab nice and toasty, though the weather was a bit chilly outside. “You ready? I called the hotel and they said everything’s been delivered, including your new luggage. All you should have to do is pack.”
“And go over a few things for the mission. The rest of the team is there, and I’ve got a call scheduled with them in the morning to ensure everything is running smoothly. I need to prepare for that, so I think I should stay in the guest room tonight.”
She’d given up her room when they’d decided to spend time together. The suite had a second bedroom, but every night this week she’d slept in the master with him. He sighed and pulled the truck away from the house he’d called home all of his life. “So they scared you off?”
“No,” Nina replied. “Your family is perfectly lovely, but the whole time I should have been watching our suspects, I was thinking about you. I was talking to your mother instead, or asking your father about you. It wasn’t very professional of me.”
“The mission hasn’t started yet. I don’t think it would have done much good to try to question Deanna, Patrick, and Jordy at a party where you’re supposed to be getting to know everyone. I’m not especially close to them, so it made sense you would talk to my family.” He could salvage this. “You looked like a woman getting to know her fiancé’s family. That’s a good thing.”
“It would be if I’d meant to do it, but I didn’t. I found myself falling into conversation and forgetting all about what I was actually there to do.” She kept her eyes on the road ahead of them. “This mission is more important than our relationship.”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
“This is my job and it’s all I have. It has to be more important.”
He could argue with her, but now wasn’t the time. They had five days on the island ahead of them, and despite what she was obviously planning, she would spend most of that time with him. “So you’ve decided we shouldn’t sleep together.”
She turned in her seat. “I’ve decided we need to understand that this is a sexual relationship and it can’t last. I have to go back to London, and you’ll do your thing. Maybe we could see each other when we can, but you need a different type of woman.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I saw your life tonight and I don’t see where I would fit. Your mother is a very traditional wife.”
That showed what she knew. “My mother once shot up a CIA team with tranquilizers so my cousin and his future wife could sneak away from them.”
Nina finally looked his way, and the smile that slid across her face was so brilliant it lit up the night. “She did what?”
He was glad he had a few stories to tell her, too. “It was back when my brother had first joined the CIA unit. They all came out here and they were trying their damnedest to recruit Chelsea. Simon didn’t want her to join the Agency.”
“Shouldn’t it have been her choice?” Nina asked in that way that let him know there was only one answer.
Except he knew the truth. He’d been there. “Ten was blackmailing her.”
“Ah, that sounds like the Agency. So your mother decided to shoot everyone?”
It was so good to hear the amusement in her voice. “That was actually my plan. See, we have lots of tranq darts because this is a ranch and we don’t always want to kill an animal that’s gone a little rogue. But I couldn’t do it on my own, and my dad has an all-American respect for government employees. I do not. Oh, I respect the ones who deserve it, but Ten Smith was wrong. So I didn’t have a problem teaming up with my surprisingly-accurate-when-she-shoots momma. It gave Si a chance to make his case to the woman of his dreams. Now the woman of his dreams was Chelsea Denisovitch.”
Nina laughed at that. “He’s got some interesting dreams. She was The Broker. Interpol had eyes on them. I know everyone wanted us to believe it was Charlotte, but I knew the truth.”
“That’s what I’ve figured out, too. But at the time all that mattered was Simon was in love with her and Ten had convinced her she needed to give it all up and work for him. I believe he’d promised he would solve all of Simon’s problems if she would come work for him. I knew my cousin was in trouble and I wanted to give him a shot at talking to her. So Momma and I very quietly took out a CIA special ops team.”
He made it to the end of the long drive to the farm road that would take them to the highway. From there they would pass Fort Worth and the suburbs and make their way back into Dallas.
Where apparently he would sleep alone tonight.
“That was quite brave of you. Do you know what Ten could have done?” Nina asked.
He hadn’t really thought about it at the time. “It was important. I had to gamble that he needed my help more than he wanted revenge. Like I’ve mentioned before, the Agency has used Malone Oil more than once. International companies can give an operative excellent cover.”
“And it didn’t hurt that he wanted Michael on the team.” She sat back and seemed to relax as they started down the long highway.
“No, it didn’t.”
“Is it odd to be a twin?”
He took it as a good sign. She was asking him something personal. “Not to me, but then I’ve had a twin since I was conceived. He’s always been there.”
“And then he wasn’t.”
“And then he wasn’t.” He didn’t talk about this much because no one ever asked him. “He didn’t even tell me he was going into the Navy. We graduated and I thought we would take a month off and travel some, but he was on his way to Great Lakes the day after.”
“He didn’t tell you?” The question was quiet but conveyed a sense of shock.
“He left me a note,” JT admitted. “I suppose he didn’t want me to try to talk him out of it. Or he didn’t want to talk about it at all. He’d made his decision.”
She was silent for a moment before she asked her next question. “Are you the one who always compromises?”
“I don’t think Mike would put it that way. I think he believes the first twenty years of his life were a compromise. I don’t know. I was happy.”
“Because of Dana?”
She’d learned a lot about him. She obviously hadn’t been lying when she’d said she’d spent her time thinking of him. Still, he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about this.
“It’s all right,” she said as though she’d read his mind. “You don’t have to say anything.”
But shouldn’t he want to have someone to talk to? He’d made a friend a while back. Jared Johns. They’d gotten pretty close. He and his new wife Sarah had moved to California, and they were waiting on their first baby, so they talked less now. He didn’t blame the guy, but for a moment it had been good to have a friend. He was friendly with guys on the rigs, but he never stayed long enough, and he was the boss. He had some guys he’d hung out with in college, but they were all getting married and having kids.
“Dana was the daughter of my father’s best friend. We grew up together. Our parents always joked that she would marry one of us—either me or Mike, but everyone knew it would be me.” His heart hurt whenever he thought of Dana. “I don’t know. She was always there, too.”
“And then she wasn’t,” Nina said gravelly.
“And then she wasn’t.”
“A lot of people have left you.”
“Only the most important ones.” He’d never thought about it this way. “Don’t think I’m feeling sorry for myself. I’ve had a good life. But I miss them. I didn’t love her. Not the way I was supposed to. Maybe I would have if she’d chosen me. I would have married her. I would have gotten out of college and married Dana and taken my place in the company. Is that wrong? That I’m the one who accepted the place my parents made for me?”
“It’s not wrong to want something. It’s wrong to reject something simply because your parents wanted it for you. The same way it’s not wrong to reject something you truly don’t want. From what I learned about you and your brother this evening I don’t think either of you fall into those categories.”
They didn’t. When he looked back on it, he realized the signs of his brother’s unhappiness had been there. He’d simply ignored them. “I loved this business for as long as I’m able to remember. I wanted to do this. I wanted to own Malone Oil. As I got older I wanted to learn all the ways I can take us from Malone Oil to Malone Energy. I’ve got my fingers in a lot of sustainable pies right now. This is my dream. But Mike never wanted what I wanted, and we’ve never recovered from him walking away. I forgave him a long time ago, but we’re still out of synch. He still seems closer to his friends. That’s the sad thing. I never found a person who could replace him, but he’s replaced me several times over.”
“He hasn’t replaced you. He can’t do that.” Her voice had gone warm and sympathetic. “But he hasn’t forgiven himself, and you can’t make him. I assure you that forgiveness is harder than you think. I should know.”
“What haven’t you forgiven yourself for? The guy who tricked you?” He’d talked to a couple of her coworkers tonight and he’d come to realize so much of her reluctance came from that asshole.
“His name was Roger,” she began slowly. “We were partners for two years before I ever agreed to go out with him. I thought I was being careful. I think he knew how to play me. I wasn’t attracted to him at first. But it’s a lonely job. It’s hard because you can’t talk about it.”
“I can imagine. He was the only one who understood what it is to do what you do. Or what you did. You don’t have the same boundaries with this job, right?”
“No. I can talk about this job for the most part. Not the particular one we’re about to do since we’re technically working with the Agency,” she allowed. “But the day-to-day stuff isn’t confidential. Also, we’re one big team. It’s like a big family, and that has to do with the unique culture of the job.”
He thought he knew what she was talking about. He kept his eyes on the road, but his mind was entirely on her. His brother had talked about The Garden and how different it was from Sanctum. It had been the home to all of the Lost Boys until recently when they’d been able to finally get their lives back. “You all live in the same building, right? And the club you play at is there, too.”
“Most of us live there and yes, the ground floor of the building is the club. It’s truly beautiful. It should be weird to work and live and play in the same place, but Damon’s done an excellent job of making the spaces very separate. I think in the beginning Damon had this huge building and he didn’t want to be all alone in it. When he transitioned from MI6 to working with Tag, it made sense to let some of his employees live in the flats.”
“I know a little about that. When you work on a rig, you sleep, work, eat all in the same spaces for months at a time. It can build a strong team. It can also make you want to murder some of the fuckers.” At first those rigs had given him an odd sense of freedom. He still felt it a bit, though the older he got the more stability he wanted.
“It’s not so bad where we are. There’s more room, I suspect, and the accommodations are more luxurious,” she said with a chuckle. “My flat is far larger than my place in Lyon was. It’s also nice to have someone to eat dinner with. Someone’s always on their own and looking for company. At least they used to be.”
“Things are changing?” He knew how that felt. When everyone else was getting their lives in order and pairing off and starting families, it could make a man feel like he was getting left behind.
“Aren’t they always?” she asked with a wistful air. “Damon and Penny split their time between The Garden and their home in the countryside. They’re about to have another baby. I suspect Penny will start staying out there quite a bit. My friend Hayley and her husband Nick recently had a little girl. They’re looking for a place close to The Garden. Last week Owen and Rebecca announced they’re pregnant, too. There aren’t many singletons left in our group. Certainly not since the lads got their freedom back. Is it odd to be surrounded by these lovely people who treat you like family and still feel so outside? Like they’ve all invited me in, but I can’t quite make it through the door.”
“Why do you think that is? You said you weren’t close to your sister. How about your parents?” He was going to keep her talking. He hated the wistfulness in her tone, like she wanted something so badly but couldn’t reach out and grab it. He understood that, too.
She thought about it for a moment before answering. “My family wasn’t like yours. My dad was pretty distant, and I don’t think my mum ever really understood me. She was closer to my sister, who definitely never understood me.”
“My brother…I thought he did,” he admitted. “And maybe he did, but I didn’t try enough to understand him. I’m fully aware there’s blame in here for me. I thought because I was happy that he was, too. The whole twin psychic connection thing might be true for some, but not me and Mike. Did you only have the one sister?”
She nodded. “Yes. She’s five years younger than I am. It should have made us close, but we never were. We never had that sibling relationship for some reason. I think we were just far enough apart that we didn’t spend much time together.”
“You wouldn’t have been in the same schools. Mike and I were obviously always in the same class.”
“Yes, we just missed each other, though I don’t know if it would have mattered. We’re quite different personality-wise and in what we want out of life,” she said. “It was like we lived in the same house but completely different lives. And then we didn’t live in the same house at all. After university I lived in France for a long time, and it was a demanding job. At least that’s what I told myself. My parents divorced while I was in my teens, and my father got remarried very quickly. His new wife didn’t want to have anything to do with us, so he didn’t. I haven’t seen my father in ten years. When I moved back to London I spent a bit of time with my mum, but I found I couldn’t take the comparisons to my sister’s perfect life.”
“I doubt it’s perfect.”
“It looks that way on social media, and that’s all that matters to my mum and sister.” She was quiet for a moment. “I’m surprised you’re not on social media more often.”
“I can’t stand it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a page to keep up with people I was friendly with in high school and college, but I almost never post. Half the time I don’t have Internet access. I don’t think anyone wants to see pics of me sweaty and covered in grease. That’s pretty much my existence when I’m on a rig.” He realized he wasn’t even doing the speed limit, which here was seventy-five. He was trying to drag out their time together. It wasn’t fair to her since they had to be up and on a plane in the morning, and she would likely stay up doing her prep work. He forced himself to ramp up the speed.
Nina snorted, an oddly sweet sound. “Sure. The Internet would hate pictures of your sweaty muscles. Everyone would be disgusted. I bet we could make a calendar of you on oil rigs and it would sell like crazy.”
“Then I could give the profits to green causes and make my dad insane.” He wouldn’t mind as long as she was his photographer.
“You really are exploring sustainable energy?”
“Absolutely,” he replied, though he needed to be completely honest with her. He wasn’t some vegan, spare-the-earth type. He had practical reasons for what he was doing. “I’m working with the king of Loa Mali. Don’t think I’m doing it to save the earth or anything, though. I’m doing it because if I don’t someone else will, and they’ll be the ones making money off it. Though a cleaner earth wouldn’t be so bad. I like clean air as much as the next guy. Maybe more since I grew up with so much of it.”
She relaxed back. “I liked your family quite a bit. They’re oddly down to earth for a group of billionaires.”
“That’s my mom and dad. I think it’s because the ranch has always been so important. The ranch is how the Malones originally made our money, so even though it isn’t important to us financially now, it is the bedrock of who we are. And if it means anything, they liked you, too. My mother in particular, and she’s the one who can be hard to convince.” He stared out at the twin lights illuminating the road in front of him. This was a lonely two-lane road that led to the wider highway. He glanced in the rearview out of habit. There wasn’t a moon to illuminate the fields around him, but he would have sworn he could see a shadow behind him, just on the edge of the light from the back of the truck.
Was someone following them? He felt every muscle tense. Something was about to happen. Something wasn’t right.
“What’s going on?” Nina had sat right back up and she was looking his way now, a concerned expression on her face.
“I don’t know.” He looked in the rearview mirror, trying to catch that glimpse again. Something lurked right outside his vision. He was almost sure of it. “I’m probably being paranoid.”
He didn’t think so, but he didn’t trust his own instincts when it came to this. He’d spent the whole evening thinking someone was watching him. He’d sat at dinner and talked to people he’d known for years, wondering the whole time if he or she was the one intent on betraying the company.
Nina turned in her seat. “You think someone’s following us?”
He didn’t want to scare her. Damn it. Maybe his brother was right about a few things. She needed to know what he’d seen. Or not seen. “I thought I caught sight of a shadow. I don’t know. It’s really dark, and this kind of darkness can play tricks on a person.”
They were far enough from the ranch that there was zero light that didn’t come from his headlights or the stars above them. The Malones owned all this land and it wasn’t developed. He could remember all the times he and his brother and their friends would camp out and stare up at the stars.
It was a new moon, and now all he could see were shadows.
“I don’t see anything,” Nina said, looking in her passenger-side mirror. “No. There it is. JT, I need you to stay calm.”
That was the moment he felt the whole truck jolt forward as something hit them hard from behind. It took everything he had to go against his instinct, which was to slow down and pull over. He couldn’t do that. This wasn’t some drunk asshole who’d forgotten to turn on his lights.
His heart rate jumped because there was zero way that hit had been an accident. Someone had followed them and was purposefully trying to run them off the road.
Whoever was in that vehicle would likely then make sure he or she finished them off.
Someone was trying to kill him.
He put the pedal to the metal. “We’re not far from the main highway. We won’t be alone there.”
He had to keep them on the road. He hadn’t asked Nina if she was carrying. He wasn’t sure if it would matter at all if he lost control. They could be sitting ducks.
“Can you see a license plate?” Nina’s voice was perfectly calm. She twisted in her seat again, trying to look behind them.
He could barely see the road in front of him. He looked in the rearview, but the shark that was following them had gone underwater again. He knew the predator was there, waiting to take another bite. But he couldn’t see past the darkness. “It’s too dark.”
The truck was hit again, jerking him forward. He was already pushing eighty. The road on either side sloped off here. He had to be very careful or they would roll and end up like a turtle on its back.
He had to be careful or he could kill Nina. Someone was trying to kill him, and they could get Nina instead.
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. Could he outrun the asshole? Or would more speed make things worse? He didn’t see a way to ditch the other truck until they made it to the main highway. There were no side roads to disappear down. There were no handy cops working the night shift who might see them go by and join in the chase.
They were alone, and Nina’s life was in his hands.
“Try to keep things steady,” Nina was saying, and she had something in her hand. “I’m going to see if I can get a picture of the car.”
“What?” He took his eyes off the road for a moment and watched in horror as she unbuckled her belt and lowered the back of her seat so she could twist around fully.
“I want to see if I can get a picture.” She sounded like nothing was wrong at all. “This phone has an excellent camera and it’s got a flash. It’s dark enough out here that the light might surprise the bugger. Get ready. He’s closing in again.”
JT braced as the truck was bumped again. “You need to be in your damn seatbelt.”
If he lost control, she could get thrown out the front windshield, and at these speeds she wouldn’t survive it. His heart threatened to pound out of his chest at the thought of what could happen to her.
“Just a sec.” She cursed under her breath as she was jostled again. Her shoulder hit him hard. “Sorry.”
He managed to stay in his lane. “I think you need to get back in your seat.”
She was still moving, her back now somehow to him. “How far did you say we are from the highway? I bet he’ll break off there. He won’t want to get caught on traffic cameras.”
“Two miles.” The way he was going it wouldn’t take more than a minute or two to get there. “This road flows into that one. It’s a yield. No hard stop.”
“Excellent. Just keep her on the road for me. I don’t know how he’s going to react to this.”
There was a flash of light and then he heard brakes squealing.
“Got him.” Nina was smiling as she popped back into her seat and brought it to its original position.
“Put the belt on,” he managed to bite out.
She did as he asked. “Fine, but I think we’re all right now. Even if he only stops for a moment, we’ll lose him from here. Now we see if I got a face. Or a plate.”
In his rearview, he saw red lights come on and then race away. “He made a U-turn. He’s driving away.”
“Excellent,” she said, looking down at her phone. “Tech might be able to get something off this.”
“That was dangerous as hell,” he said, starting to breathe again.
“It was fine,” she replied, not looking up from her phone. She’d started typing. “I’m in my belt now and the bad guy’s going the other way. You did a great job. You kept us on the road, and I might be able to figure out who that was.”
“We nearly died.”
“But we didn’t and now everything’s fine.” She finally looked up. “Ian’s still awake. He’s going to meet us at the hotel and hopefully he’ll have some news for us.”
Excellent. His night was far from over.