Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
“Oh my God,” Callie said as she walked into the kitchen and encountered a wall of stench. Seth and Nikki stood by the counter, calmly drinking from coffee cups. They turned to look at her as one.
“Sorry,” Nikki said. “Since Seth was helping me, I decided we needed to dig out the stall instead of just pick it out.”
Callie knew from experience that digging stalls was a backbreaking, sweaty, smelly job. And these two had tracked some of it in on their clothes, though at least their shoes were outside on the back porch. That was one of her rules, and Nikki was good about following it.
Callie frowned at the man who’d arched an eyebrow at her as if it was somehow her fault he’d had to participate. “Did she drag you into it or did you volunteer?”
“Rude,” Nikki chimed in.
“I stupidly volunteered,” Seth added.
Callie narrowed her eyes as she slotted them back and forth between the two figures, smelling a rat in addition to the horse crap. “Did you really?”
“Yes, I really did. Not my brightest moment.”
Nikki grinned. “He made the mistake of asking if I needed help. So I let him help me.”
“Curse my gentlemanly soul,” Seth muttered before taking another sip of coffee.
Seth’s T-shirt had sweat stains around the armpits, down his abdomen, and over his chest. Nikki’s clothes were better but not by much. She set the cup on the counter and straightened.
“Welp, gotta get ready for school. Thanks, Seth. You can come over to the riding stable and dig stalls with me there if you like.”
He shook his head. “Sorry, brat, but I’m only falling for that one once.”
Nikki snorted. “Ha, we’ll see. Charlie’s stall needs it about once a week. If you’re still here then…”
“Go shower. You stink.”
All Callie could do was bounce her gaze between them. Was her typically reserved little sister really laughing and joking with Seth? And was the gorgeous grump really teasing her right back? Maybe she was still asleep and this was a dream.
“So do you.” Nikki wrinkled her nose. “Worse than I do, actually.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Nikki left with a chortle that echoed back to them. Callie waited until she heard Nikki’s door close. Then she whirled on Seth.
“Are you okay?”
He stared at her for a moment. Then he burst out laughing. “Sorry,” he said after a moment. “Are you worried that I can’t shovel out a stall? How old do you think I am anyway?”
Callie colored. Well, clearly that had been a dumb question. “I meant being around her,” she grumbled. “Not physically.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Nikki’s a badass kid. And you and I are definitely dating because she grilled me about my intentions toward you this morning. Damn near choked to death on my own spit.”
“Oh.”
“She’s not stupid. She figured there had to be more to the story than lead paint.”
Callie closed her eyes and sighed. “I should have known. What was I thinking?”
“Dunno, but it’s fixed now. She also told me that if all I wanted was a romp in the hay, then I needed to get the hell out. Not in those precise words, but I understood loud and clear.”
Callie couldn’t help but laugh. And blush, because really? “Okay, I’m really sorry about that, but also kind of flattered. I think.”
Seth eyed her. “You should be. She’s protective of you. She might be a kid, but she’s definitely not oblivious or stupid. Did she ever meet Mikhail?”
Callie shuddered. “No. She knows about him because I used to talk to him on the phone a lot. I told her he was a friend from Poland because that’s what I thought he was. But he never met her. The last time he was here, he was waiting for me when I got home from work. But Nikki was at the barn, and he was gone before she got home. Why do you ask?”
It had not been a pleasant meeting, and she’d been shaken by the things he’d said. She’d thought about pulling up stakes then and getting the hell out of town, but he would have found her. He’d said as much, as if he’d known what she was thinking.
“If you’re thinking about running away, you need to know it’ll be much worse if you do. Right now you’re useful. Leave your job and you won’t be. You understand me, Callie?”
“Callie?” Seth said.
She jumped, her attention snapping back to him. “Sorry, I was thinking about something.”
He frowned. “You asked why I wanted to know if Nikki and Mikhail had met. I was wondering how she responded to him. If she liked him or not. If she thought he was shady. That kind of thing. She’s kinda savvy for a teenager.”
Was she? Callie hadn’t realized. She’d been so busy worrying about her sister, looking for cracks, that she hadn’t examined her strengths.
“Mikhail had the ability to be charming to everyone he met. She probably would have liked him, but we’ll never know.”
Thank God.
“Nope, guess not.” He finished the coffee. “Gotta hit the shower and wash off this horse piss.”
“Please do. Hey, I usually fix breakfast for Nikki,” she called as he walked away. “Today is egg sandwich day. Do you want me to make one for you?”
He’d paused in the entrance to the hallway. “I feel like I should say no because it’s not your job to take care of me, but I’m not gonna. I’m a sucker for home cooking.”
“It’s just an egg sandwich. Bread, mayo, cheese, and egg. Nothing fancy, so don’t get your hopes up.”
“Still homemade. Thanks for asking.”
“You’re welcome.”
When he’d gone, Callie got the pan from the cabinet, retrieved the butter, eggs, and bread, and got to work. Nikki was first to stroll in, ready for school in a pair of Capri pants and an equestrian shirt. She took her egg sandwich and poured another coffee, then stood at the counter to eat it while Callie assembled the others.
“I like Seth,” she said between bites. “You did good, Cal.”
And there was the heat of embarrassment. Or maybe it was the heat of knowing the whole thing was a lie.
“I’m glad you like him. But it’s early days, Nik. I don’t know what’s going to happen or if we’ll last beyond a couple of dates.”
“You’ll last. I believe. He’s not the kind of guy who pretends to feel things he doesn’t.”
Oh, Lord.
“How do you know that?”
“Just a feeling. I mean, he wants to date you, but he didn’t try to suck up to me. I like that about him. So I think it’s going to last for a while. Maybe not forever, but longer than two dates.”
“Maybe.”
Nikki rolled her eyes. “Way to be positive, sis.”
“Just being realistic.”
“No, you’re being pessimistic. You weren’t always like this.”
Callie didn’t want to examine who she used to be when she was too worried about survival. She didn’t have it in her to have this conversation right now.
“How’s Jack these days? Do you feel ready for the show?”
“Way to change the subject, Cal,” Nikki said with another eye roll. “I think we’re ready. Lisa says we are. We’ve been taking our fences consistently, and our timing is good. Jack is in peak form. I think Lisa is a better trainer than he had back home. Mary was good, but she was too focused on performance over building a foundation to get to the next level.”
“I’m glad you’re happy with Lisa. I know moving wasn’t easy for you.”
Her eyes flashed with emotion. “I didn’t want to stay there. I’m glad we left.”
Callie reeled. All this time, she’d thought that Nikki missed home. The house she’d grown up in. Her friends. The life she’d had. She’d thought Nikki was homesick, and she’d felt guilty for not being able to find a job to keep her there with everything she knew. Not the house, because Callie couldn’t have afforded it, but everything else.
“I didn’t know.”
“It hurt too much. Being there and knowing nothing was ever going to be the same again.”
Callie reached for her sister’s hand. Squeezed. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry.”
Nikki squeezed back. “I know. But you lost them too. And your life changed because you had to take me.”
“No,” Callie said fiercely. “I didn’t have to. I wanted to. Did you want to go to your ciocia in Poland instead?”
Nikki shuddered visibly. “No way. Aunt Beata is fun for a few days, but there’s a reason she never settled down and had a family.”
“You aren’t wrong. She’s a charming narcissist, but not in the least bit nurturing.”
“So true. Plus she resembles Mom too much. That would hurt.”
“I think you’re right about that.”
Nikki took the last bite of her sandwich and set the half-full cup of coffee on the counter. “I better get going. We’ve got so much to do in school today.” She smacked her forehead. “Uh, wait a minute, no we don’t. You sure I can’t stay here? I won’t get in the way of your romantic moments with Seth. Promise.”
“No, sorry. You’ve still got to go, plus there aren’t going to be any romantic moments. You’ve got today and tomorrow, and then you’re free for the summer, so don’t complain.”
“Okay,” she said, dragging the word out into a hint of a whine. “But use protection if you get horizontal, you hear me?”
Callie’s skin was on fire. “Nobody’s getting horizontal. I’ve got projects to do, and Seth has a job, which I’m sure he will be going to when he’s done showering.”
He wasn’t going anywhere, but Callie wasn’t admitting that to her sister.
Nikki snatched up her keys, backpack, and riding gear before heading for the door. “See ya tonight! Bye, Seth!”
“Bye, kid,” Seth said from behind her. Callie’s skin prickled at the sound of his voice. How long had he been there?
The door banged shut, and Nikki’s CR-V soon started up. Callie turned and went into the kitchen to find Seth looking at the two egg sandwiches she’d made.
“Pick whichever one you want. They’re the same.”
“Thanks,” he said, taking one and biting into it.
Callie grabbed her own and went to the table with her coffee and phone, deliberately not asking how much of the conversation he’d heard.
Seth walked over and pulled out a chair to join her. “Ethan—he’s the one with the New York accent—will pick up your sister’s tail as soon as she’s on the road. He’ll follow her to school, make sure she’s safe inside. When it’s time for school to end, he’ll be there and tail her to the stable. Then he’ll follow her back here when she’s done. She won’t know he’s there.”
The tension in her body ebbed a fraction. “Thank you. I almost think I’m being paranoid, but then I remember Mikhail is dead—murdered—and whoever he worked for is still out there.”
Still wanting her to give them access to a top-secret government project.
“So, does Nikki always tell you to use protection if you get horizontal?”
Of course he’d heard that. Callie wanted to sink into the chair and disappear. “Actually, no. This would be the first time since we started living together that she thinks I might have a boyfriend.”
“You haven’t been on a date?”
“Not a single one.” She managed a smile. “I’ve been a bit busy with moving, working hard, and making sure my sister is coping with our parents’ deaths.”
“Gotcha.”
“What about you? You date anybody since moving to town? Will I need to keep an eye over my shoulder for a jealous ex?”
“Nope. Now if Kane was here like you originally wanted, you might need to watch yourself. He tends to leave a trail of broken hearts in his wake.”
Kane was hot, but not as hot as Seth in her opinion. Still, he was nicer. Easier to talk to.
“It wasn’t that I wanted him specifically. It’s just that he was the nicest to me and I wanted a friendly face.”
“And now?”
His iron-gray eyes glittered as they studied her. She didn’t think it mattered to him what she said, not really, but she told the truth anyway. “I’m happy it’s you. Even if you didn’t remember me at first.”
“Why?”
He seemed genuinely curious.
“What you see is what you get. You aren’t flirting with me or pretending to be nice.” She thought of what Nikki had said. He’s not the kind of guy to pretend he feels things he doesn’t.
Other than when they had to pretend to be dating for Nikki’s sake, of course.
“Don’t see the point in being fake. It’s a waste of time. But I am capable of deception, Callie. Everyone is.”
She swallowed. “I suppose they are.”
“For the sake of full disclosure, I’ll admit I didn’t forget you. I thought I needed to pretend like I did so I could seem nice and trustworthy since I probably didn’t make the best impression the first time. It was a calculated reset.”
She gaped at him a moment. Then she laughed. “Damn, Seth, you are not a typical guy, are you?”
He shrugged. “Depends on what you mean by typical.”
“I mean that we’ve known each other about twenty-four hours and you’re already dropping truth bombs on me. Most guys wouldn’t admit what you just did.”
“I’m not most guys.”
“Clearly not.” She shook her head. “Mikhail pretended from the moment he met me until, I don’t know, probably the past couple of months when I kept making excuses not to reveal more information. He pretended a personal interest at first, and we even dated in Poland. When I left, he pretended to have a long-distance relationship with me, but every bit of it was aimed at getting me to take the job at Griffin Research. I can’t figure out why, not really. There are a lot of companies in this country working on secret projects for the government. Why this one? What is it about this company and this project he wanted? I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that, and I still don’t know.”
“Think about what you do know. What could interest a foreign state or organization about that?”
She stared at him, wanting so badly to say more. It was only a defense satellite project. There were hundreds of satellites deployed already, with no doubt hundreds more in development. And if Mikhail had known about the project, why not send someone he knew would do his bidding? Why her?
She repeated some of what she’d been thinking to Seth. Not all of it, but the parts that weren’t potentially revealing. Seth didn’t seem surprised by any of it.
“He knew enough about the project to know he wanted someone on the inside,” Seth said. “A programmer, specifically. Maybe he didn’t know anyone else who could qualify for the job. Just because he had an informant at the company didn’t mean they knew how to analyze code.”
“I still don’t understand why me specifically. It’s not like programmers are rare beings.”
“No. I hope you’ll forgive me for saying this, but you’re also young and female. To some men, that spells weakness. You’re potentially more malleable than a senior programmer who’s been in the profession for decades.”
She ground her jaw. “You’re probably right. Still pisses me off though.”
She’d spent years proving herself as a talented programmer, both in college and since, and even now she worked on mundane tasks more often than she’d like because she wasn’t senior—or male—enough. There were two women on the team. Her and Dr. Robbins, who was in charge. The other six were men, and while most of them were okay, a couple were openly hostile when Dr. Robbins wasn’t in earshot.
“The other thing you haven’t thought about,” he continued, “is that just because Mikhail got you into place doesn’t mean he knew what he was after. Spying is like a fishing expedition. You drop a line in the water and hope something bites. You’ve maybe been told this is a good spot to fish, but you don’t really know. So you’re casting again and again, trying for that bite. Trying to reel the fish in. Doesn’t mean you will, though.”
“How do you know so much about spies?”
“Part of my job in the military involved intelligence work. Plus, I like to read about intelligence gathering and cybercrime. It’s my jam.”
She was thinking about what he’d said. “So you think, potentially, that Mikhail and his employer didn’t actually know what they were looking for. They just wanted to put someone in place—someone they believed they could manipulate—so they could gather the information and see if it was worth anything.”
“Bingo.” He’d finished the sandwich and pushed the plate away. “They probably had enough intel to make them believe they needed to know more, and they had the contacts to make it happen. That’s where you came in.”
“He began recruiting me long before I had to leave Poland. A couple of months at least.” Her blood suddenly froze in her veins. “Oh my God, my parents. It was only after they died that I had to come back to the States and take care of Nikki. I wasn’t planning to leave Poland for another year, maybe two. You don’t think…”
She couldn’t finish the thought. It was horrible. Upsetting. If her parents had died because of her—because somebody wanted her to go to work for Griffin Research in Huntsville—how could she live with that? She’d never considered it before but now that someone had murdered Mikhail….
“Callie.” She focused on the handsome face that was suddenly a lot nearer than before. He’d moved his chair until his knees were touching hers. His hand was on hers, holding firmly. She squeezed back, needing the pressure of his grip to ground her.
“Babe,” he said, his voice soft and soothing. “I’m not going to tell you it’s not possible, that it didn’t happen that way, but I will tell you that thinking it doesn’t make it true. Mikhail told you about the job and then your parents died, leaving you open to take it. Doesn’t mean he made that happen. Just means it made it a lot easier for him to get you here.”
She nodded, thinking. “There was an avalanche that day. They were skiing the back country, possibly not paying attention to the markers… Somebody could have tricked them.” She dragged in a breath. “But that’s a lot of effort to go through just to get me to take a job where I might not have learned anything useful.”
“It is.”
“But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have gone that far.”
His expression didn’t soften. “Also true. It’s a lot of effort to get one woman where you want her to be. But not impossible if you want it badly enough.”
Callie closed her eyes, her heart pounding. “I hate this. I hate thinking these things. I hate Mikhail and I hate whoever he worked for.”
“I know. But I need you to look at me.”
She did. His eyes were hard, determined.
“Now listen to me good, sweetheart. You doing that?”
She nodded. She couldn’t speak as he leaned toward her, close enough she could see the dark flecks in his silvery eyes.
“I’m going to find who did this to you, who put you in this situation and tried to hurt you. I’m going to find them. And then I’m going to end them.”