Читать книгу Undercover Warrior - Aimee Thurlo - Страница 14

Chapter Five

As Preston gave him the news, Bruce, now standing, swayed slightly then caught himself. “Murdered? That can’t be...” he said, shaking his head.

Preston gave him the details.

Bruce clamped his mouth shut so tightly, his lips turned pale. “This has something to do with you, doesn’t it,” he said, glaring at Erin. “My brother trusted you, but you’re still alive and he’s dead?” He stared at her, as if trying to process the unthinkable. “What kind of trouble did you get him into?”

“I had nothing to do with what happened to your brother,” she snapped.

He gave her a disgusted look, then glanced at Preston and Kyle. “Look at her, she’s beautiful. Erin had my brother under her thumb. Hank was a good man. Nobody would want to hurt him,” he argued. “Not so much with Erin. She’s the one who decides who gets a raise and who doesn’t, she hires and fires. If anyone has enemies, it’s her.”

Kyle watched them with interest. As the two of them finally lapsed into an uneasy silence, he spoke. “You had that much influence at the company, Erin?”

“There’s no way my job had anything to do with what happened!” she said, glaring at Bruce. “This was never about me,” she added, appealing to Kyle, then Preston. “I told you, their attention was on Hank this morning. I just...got in the way.”

“And made things worse, no doubt,” Bruce said. “What’d you do, piss them off even more?”

“You think Ms. Barrett was involved?” Preston asked. “If so, what’s your explanation for the second kidnapping attempt, the one where your brother’s ambulance was ambushed on the way to the hospital?”

Bruce tried to sit, but his legs suddenly buckled and he fell down onto the sofa cushions with a dull whomp. “I don’t know. Finish the job they started?

“You’re a federal cop,” Bruce continued after a beat, looking at Kyle. “My brother just came home after spending two months in Spain. What are you really, CIA?”

“No, I’m not CIA,” Kyle answered. “That agency has no directive to work within the U.S.”

“So then you’re FBI or Homeland Security.”

“I’m a federal agent investigating some business irregularities that track back to your brother, among other things,” Kyle said. Bruce seemed to accept his answer, but as he glanced at Erin, he could see the open skepticism on her face.

“Agent Goodluck is currently coordinating his investigation with the Hartley Police Department,” Preston added.

“So now what?” Bruce said. “Am I under arrest?”

“You’re free to leave—after you give your statement,” Kyle said. “In addition to explaining what you were doing here, we’ll need you to account for your whereabouts during the past twenty-four hours.”

“What about me?” Erin said. “Am I free to go?”

“No, sorry. I’ll need you to stick with me a while longer,” Kyle said.

As Bruce left the room with the uniformed officer, Erin shook her head. “Hank was nothing like his brother,” she said, “but in all fairness, I seem to bring out the worst in Bruce.”

“Why’s that?” Kyle asked.

“Hank set it up so Bruce had to go through me to get to him. Bruce couldn’t con me, so my job was to screen his visits and keep him at bay unless it was absolutely necessary that Hank speak to him.”

“Okay, have a seat. I’ll be right back.” Kyle went to the back room where Preston was looking around. Standing in the hall so he could keep his eye on Erin, he spoke softly. “NCIS obtained a warrant and placed some listening devices in this house. A team took care of that a few days before I arrived in town.”

“Have you listened to the audio?”

“No, not yet, but others in the agency have,” he said, “I’m going to check with my bosses right now, so I’d like you to keep an eye on Erin for me.”

Kyle went outside and pulled out his satellite phone from his jacket pocket. A few moments later, he got the answer he expected, but before he could end the call, his supervisor, Martin Hamilton, got on. He wasn’t happy.

“All I’ve heard is bad news. What have you got so far, Agent Goodluck?”

He gave his boss the short version. “I’m on the trail, sir, but I’ve been back less than twenty-four hours.”

“Yet you’ve already got three bodies stacked up, including a naval reserve officer who was clearly in trouble up to his ass,” he said. “We need answers.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll be in touch.” Kyle muttered a curse as he went back into the house.

As he entered, Preston was shaking his head. “There’s nothing of interest here, except an expensive strand of pearls, a present meant for Frieda Martinez, based on the attached card.”

“Frieda mentioned wanting a strand and he decided to buy it for her, though personally I thought it was much too soon for that kind of gift,” Erin said, coming over.

“I’m getting the idea you didn’t like Frieda,” Kyle observed.

“No, it’s not that. Like Hank, I barely knew her.” She paused, then continued. “There’s something you should know about Hank. Business was good, and for the first time in years, Hank was bored and restless. Then he met Frieda and his whole attitude changed. He was crazy about her, but as I said, they’d only known each other for a few weeks.”

Kyle listened carefully. To him, Hank was beginning to sound like a man going through a midlife crisis and looking for excitement. Maybe that’s how he’d been recruited. Money wasn’t always the motivator.

“Did you ever meet Frieda face-to-face?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah, a few times when she came to the office to meet Hank for lunch,” Erin answered.

“And?” Kyle pressed.

“She was polite to me, but not friendly.”

“Any chance she’s from Spain?”

“I don’t know. She has a faint accent, something I associate with English as a second language, but that’s all I can say for sure.”

“Preston, get an address on her, then let’s go talk to her,” Kyle said and saw his brother nod. “Erin, I’d like you to come in with us, too. Seeing a familiar face, one Hank trusted, might help.”

“Okay.”

Kyle led her toward the door, sticking close to her side. Until he knew for sure whether Erin was his best asset, or an enemy, he should keep her under guard; he wouldn’t let her out of his sight.

* * *

THEY WERE ON their way moments later. “Nice, safe speed,” she said. “I was beginning to think that driving under eighty miles per hour wasn’t part of your M.O.”

“Cop speak?” he asked, grinning.

“Hey, I watch TV,” she said. She was silent for several long moments, then finally spoke again in a heavy voice. “There’s something I still don’t get. You pulled into Secure Construction just as those men were attempting to kidnap us. That wasn’t a coincidence. I think you were expecting trouble, but if that’s true, why didn’t you come sooner, before it could go that far?”

“I went over as soon as I got the call to interview Hank. I had no way of knowing what was going to happen. I think the only person that wasn’t taken by surprise was Hank.”

“Maybe so,” she answered in a quiet voice. “I thought I knew Hank, but this.... Maybe nobody ever knows anyone,” she added, looking directly at him. Despite the steadiness of his gaze, there was a barrier there, a point where the proverbial shutters came down and she wasn’t allowed to see past. He was ostensibly one of the good guys, but it was hard to trust someone who clearly didn’t trust her.

“Do we have a problem?” he asked, as if he’d read her mind.

“Maybe. I want to trust you, Kyle, but you’re not who you say you are, and you’re keeping things from me. When someone else decides what I should and shouldn’t know, that makes me nervous.”

“It shouldn’t. I’m on your side. You’ve seen that already.”

“You say you’re keeping me with you so you can protect me, but if I’m in danger, why aren’t we holed up in some safe place?”

“Your best bet is to stay on the move with me. I’m not in a position to trust anyone else with your safety, except my brothers, and they have their own work to do right now. If you’re with me, you might also see something that jogs your memory, a detail that could be important. You’ve been working with Hank for quite a while.”

“I’m not connected to whatever mess Hank was in. I work hard, and my long-term goals have nothing to do with violence, control, or whatever these killers are after. I want to make a living farming the land. Check my background, and you’ll see I’m exactly who I say I am.”

“Whether you like it or not, you’re involved, and you can’t reason with these people, or fight them alone. You need me. I’m good at what I do, and I’ll keep you safe.”

“What happens tonight? Once you drop me off at home, I’ll be on my own anyway.”

“You can’t go home. Not yet. I can’t just put an officer near your door and hope for the best.”

“You think that the men who killed Hank have someone inside the police department?” she asked, reading between the lines.

“I don’t know, so I’d be gambling with your life. As far as my not being completely open with you,” he added, “in my job, everything is on a need-to-know basis.”

“I suppose that explains why you took something from the box on Hank’s desk and put it in your pocket without telling anyone, including the police.” Although she knew what it was, for now, she’d say nothing.

“I gave it to Preston when he and I were alone. He’ll sign it over to my brother Daniel who has the security clearance needed to find out what we need to know. I also sent a photo of it to my boss.”

“There’s a whole lot more to that story, but okay—for now.”

“Take me at face value.” Kyle gave her a disarming smile. “I’m your bodyguard.”

Her skin prickled with awareness. Kyle was high voltage excitement, a force of nature, adventure waiting to happen. Danger clung to him like an unholy aura. Considering that she was in a life-or-death fight, staying with Kyle was her best option.

“I’m really not bad company,” he said, his eyes dancing.

Her heart began beating overtime. “I’m sure you’ve got a long list of women who love spending time with you. Things are always happening when you’re near. It’s like a wild roller coaster ride, periods of calm are just the prelude to the next spiraling downturn.”

“That’s quite a compliment.”

“I don’t like roller coasters, I like paddle boats.”

“Up to now,” he said with a playful grin, then pulled to the side of the road and parked just to the right of a small cottage. “Okay, this is it. We’re here.”

“What a beautiful little casita. Frieda’s got good taste,” she said.

Freshly watered red and yellow miniature roses, covered in their last big blooms of the season, bordered the path to the door and glistened in the late afternoon light. As she walked up the narrow sidewalk, Erin relaxed, more concerned now about keeping her shoes dry and avoiding the small puddles on the concrete.

As she glanced at Kyle, she could see the tension in his body. He kept looking from window to window, his hand on the butt of his pistol. His reaction seemed out of place. “Frieda’s already met me, so why don’t you let me introduce you?”

“Fine,” he said, in a clipped tone.

“Frieda, it’s me, Erin,” she called out as they reached the front porch. Erin knocked on the front door, and as she did, it creaked open about an inch.

Kyle suddenly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her away. “Stay back. Don’t touch anything!”