Chapter 34
K ane’s leg jittered in the passenger seat as he adjusted his bulletproof vest. “So glad we’re not headed to Mexico.”
“Five minutes out,” Linc said from the driver’s seat of a VIPER-issued SUV.
Five minutes out was good, and they were only fifteen minutes from where Beth would attend the evening Christmas mass. He’d blocked the everlasting high of last night’s life-changing experience while they’d examined the intel and devised a plan to extract Dr. Sable. That had taken several hours. Now, they were underway. If they did their job quickly, and Edgar kept the debrief even quicker, he could have his sugarplum naked under her Christmas tree before midnight. And then he’d spend all Christmas Day convincing her the curse wasn’t real, but his love was.
How he’d fallen so hard for Dr. Beth Parker in such a short time wasn’t even a mystery. He didn’t believe in curses any more than he believed in flying reindeer, but he finally believed in Gran’s sixth sense. Dr. Beth Parker was the woman for him. The whole time he’d been denying his attraction, he hadn’t been fighting her or even himself. He’d been fighting against fate, and he certainly had no control over that.
That fight ended today.
While he couldn’t control Beth, nor did he ever want to, he’d do his damn hardest to convince her they should be together. He wouldn’t allow curses and fears to keep him from spending every night wrapped around her sweet body, but he couldn’t shake the uneasiness in his gut. Apprehending Chavez had been too simple, and they still didn’t have any clues as to why.
Kane glanced at his comms unit. The little red dot representing Dr. Sable’s location was exactly where it had been since they’d begun tracking her via a minuscule device under the skin of her wrist.
Chris shook his head from the back seat. “I can’t believe a grandma implanted an untraceable tracker in her body.”
“Me neither.” But her daughter, who thought her mother’s suspicions about nefarious people stopping at nothing to obtain the information inside her head was over-the-top radical, was plenty grateful for the extreme caution.
“I can’t wait to implant a device like that in Scarlett.”
“You plan on chipping your woman?”
“Damn straight I am. If she’ll let me. This rash of terrorists kidnapping beautiful scientists is going to send me to an early grave.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” He’d like to put one in Beth too. Oh, she’d put up a fight, but he’d welcome her fiery resistance.
“I’d say you’re both loco .” Nic opened his eyes from where he’d sat quietly next to Chris. “Crazy, like in the batshit kind. But I see Scarlett agreeing to that, if only for research purposes.” He looked at Kane. “Not sure about your woman, though. ”
“Me neither.” First, he had to get her to agree to officially be his.
Beth paused on the stone stairs of the old church and inhaled the crisp scent of impending snow. Sure enough, fat flakes fell from the clouds, blanketing the night sky. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled at the Washington Monument and wished upon the tall, graceful monolith that Kane would return to her soon.
She turned her gaze back to the entrance. Welcoming organ music filtered through the doors flanked by two-story high pine trees. Smiling, she linked her arm through Scarlett’s. Gage and Hudson lingered closely behind, their heads on a swivel. She didn’t see any of the other security detail Scarlett mentioned but didn’t doubt their presence.
As she and Scarlett entered the vestibule, a precocious eight-year-old from her science class bounded toward them.
“Hi Miss Beth. I like your shirt. I wish my mom would have let me wear something comfy instead of this stupid thing.” She tugged at the sleeve of her deep-red velvet dress.
“You look beautiful, Madalynn.” Beth smoothed her hands over her black pants and bent down to look the child in the eye. “But I get not wanting to be uncomfortable. My favorite coat got dirty last night.” Burned to a crisp probably. “I’m so bummed I couldn’t bring myself to wear another one.”
“Oh no. Not the purple sparkly thing.” She touched Beth’s shoulder. “But this shirt is so pretty, and it’s the same color as my outfit. We can be pretty and uncomfortable together.” Madalynn leaned close to Beth’s ear. “Bummer we can’t play hide-and-seek in the basement, though. Mom says I’ll get dirty and it’s not appropriate on Christmas Eve anyway.”
“She’s right.” Madalynn would ruin her dress playing in the dusty basement. Worse, she’d hurt herself trying to bust the boarded-up entrance to the underground tunnel that led to the pastor’s old residence across the street. The kid had a betting pool about who would be the first to break through.
Madalynn rolled her eyes. “Okay. Mom and Dad saved seats for you and your friends up front.”
“Thanks, sweetie. Be there in a—” Her secure phone buzzed in her purse. She pulled it out and frowned at the unknown number. She sucked in a hopeful breath. Maybe it was Kane. “Hello.”
“Beth, this is Gran. I hope you don’t mind me calling you.”
Beth’s shoulder slumped. “No, not at all.”
“Kane gave me your number. I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas.”
“Thanks. Merry Christmas to you too. Please hold on a minute.” She turned to Scarlett as she put the call on mute and pointed to a door off the vestibule. “I’m going to go in the office and talk to Kane’s grandmother, where it’s quiet. Go find Madalynn and her parents and I’ll meet you up there.”
Scarlett nodded. Gage followed her down the aisle.
Hudson entered the office and scanned the area. Crossing the small space, he checked to make sure the door that led to the basement was locked. “We secured down there earlier, but don’t leave this room. I’ll wait for you outside.”
“Thanks.” Beth ducked into the tiny office that housed a rickety desk, a rack of white choir robes, and a bookshelf with coloring books and crayons to occupy the younger kids during the service. “I’m back, Mrs. Darren.”
“No worries, dear, and call me Gran. ”
“Okay, Gran. Are you looking for Kane?”
“No. I know he’s working. How are you holding up with him gone?”
Beth opened her mouth to say she had no right to worry about him, but he’d been inside of her just a few hours ago. She had every right, and she had a feeling that Gran would see through her facade. “I’m worried sick.”
“I’d like to tell you it gets easier, but it doesn’t. Do you love my grandson?”
“Yes.” The answer rolled off Beth’s tongue before she had time to think about it. “But?—”
Gran huffed. “I know you think you’re cursed. Kane has his ungrounded fears as well, but the two of you are so worried about death that you aren’t living. Do you regret loving those boys?”
“No. They were wonderful human beings, but Gran…” Calling her Gran felt natural as if she’d known and trusted the woman her whole life. “I don’t understand why they were taken from me. I didn’t do anything wrong to deserve it.”
“Did those nasty women in your town say you did? Kane told me all about them. They sound like a bunch of unhappy hags who have nothing better to do with their lives but make up malarkey about others. Am I right?”
“Yes, and yes.”
“Well, there’s two ways you can think of it. First, curses aren’t real and it’s just coincidence those three boys died, but it doesn’t seem like you believe that.”
“I’m getting there, but there’s more to my madness than being afraid my next boyfriend will die.”
“You’re afraid to lose someone again, and it’s hard to separate your fears.”
“Yes,” Beth whispered. The truth she’d realized last night burned in her mind like gospel instead of a fluttering hope. “ Why can’t I just accept that curses aren’t real, bad things happen for no good reason, and life moves on?”
“Because you have deep, powerful emotions, and you know how I know that? Because I saw the way you looked at my grandson and I hear the worry in your voice now.”
The truth squeezed at her heart. “What’s the second way to think of my bad luck?”
“Maybe the universe sent those boys to you because you’re special. Maybe they were angels sent down for a reason, on a mission, and you gave them what they needed to complete their work here on earth. Maybe you were their blessing.”
A shiver ran through Beth that had nothing to do with God or the Holy Ghost but the realization of what dwelled within her heart. “I never thought of it that way. There’s always been a piece of me, the emotional, or maybe the spiritual side or whatever, that thinks I’m part of something I can’t explain. And I never thought to look for a positive explanation.” A sense of peace hummed like a choir within her. “Who knows. Maybe there is one.”
“I knew you were a smart girl.”
“Smart enough to know it’s about damn time the universe rewarded me for putting up with its bullshit.” She slapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, Gran.”
“If you’re going to be hanging around with my grandson and his VIPER buddies, you’d better up your profanity game. God knows I have. And I do think the universe is repaying you for being part of something bigger than yourself. That is, if you’re ready to take a leap of faith and claim your reward.”
“And Kane is my reward.” Her heart swelled to the size of the gigantic wreath on the church door.
“Yes. You know how I know that? ’Cause my Kane is special, and fate wouldn’t just match him with anyone ordinary. And Beth, I don’t think you have to worry about Kane being an angel called back to heaven and leaving you alone here on earth. Trust me, that boy ain’t no saint.”
No, he wasn’t, and that’s what she liked about him.
A noise, like metal scraping metal, sounded from the basement. As she spun toward the sound, the first notes of a Christmas carol permeated the walls of the room. The door seemed to shake with the vibrations from the powerful organ on the balcony above her as her phone vibrated with an incoming call.
Kane?
Hope rose in her chest.
“Gran, I have to go. Merry Christmas.”
As she lowered the phone, the door to the basement opened. Beth gasped as a familiar face appeared in the shadows.