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“Why don’t you lean that seat back and shut your eyes for a while?”
“I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I can’t believe I actually slept at all last night.” It hadn’t been a deep, restful sleep, but she’d definitely dozed.
“You were tired and you’ve had a huge shock, mentally and physically. Sometimes our bodies have to override our brains.”
“I guess.”
“I asked Jase to go ahead of us and check out the house.”
Her nerves stood on end. “First the hotel, now this. I told you Mario didn’t trust his unit.”
“I know, but like I said, Jase isn’t part of that unit anymore, and the only way we’re going to figure out what Mario was involved in is to talk to the guys who were the last ones to see him alive.”
Biting her lip, Gina looked away, wondering how to say what she was thinking.
“What?” his tone sharpened as he caught the look on her face. “What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“You don’t lie well, Gina. What is it?”
“I just…” She blew out a sigh.
“I think I know what you’re trying to say.”
“You do?”
He squeezed the steering wheel again. “Yeah. You don’t think any of the guys in the unit will talk to me about Mario because they consider me something akin to a traitor, right?”
Gina blinked against the resurgence of tears and whispered, “Something like that. Although Jase seemed okay with you.”
Another moment of silence passed as he concentrated on his driving. Then he said, “I never betrayed anyone by leaving, Gina. Contrary to popular belief, my leaving probably saved the unit.”
“How?”
His jaw tightened. “It’s not important. What’s important is that we figure out what Mario was involved in and what led someone to come after you six months after his death. If the guys won’t talk to me, maybe they’ll eventually open up and talk to Jase. I’m going to have to trust him until he proves otherwise.”
“So, what are we going to do?”
He shot her a look. “Bait the trap.”
Ian made several phone calls on the way back to the beach house; however, he made sure no one knew where they were going. Using the encrypted phone Jase had supplied, Ian didn’t worry about anyone tracing his calls.
At first, Gina listened in; then Ian watched her lids grow heavier and heavier, the restless night taking its toll. Finally, they shut for good and he could see her even breathing indicating sleep had won.
He glanced at the clock: 5:30 in the morning on what would be a cold but bright, sunny day. Right now the temperature hovered in the low thirties. Gina’s questions still pounded at him. When he’d said his leaving probably saved the unit, he hadn’t been exaggerating. Mario knew how Ian felt about Gina simply because Mario had a reputation for playing the women. And Ian called him on it.
After a mission several years ago, they’d all been out celebrating, and Mario had started responding to a woman’s flirtatious advances. Ian walked up and asked him, “Is Gina so easy to forget?”
Mario took a swing, which Ian dodged, then hauled his friend out of the restaurant. Out on the sidewalk, Mario narrowed his eyes. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”
Stunned, Ian hadn’t responded at first. Mario had taunted him. “I see the way you look at her. How your eyes follow her every move. Admit it.”
In silence and without responding, Ian had clenched his jaw and his fist—and walked away. For good. His transfer request went through without a problem, and within two weeks he was part of another unit.
Forcing his thoughts from the past, he dialed Jase’s number once more. His buddy answered on the first ring. “Where are you?”
“About ten minutes out. What’s it look like?” Ian kept his voice low, not wanting to disturb Gina.
“Clear for now. Because of Gina’s worries, I came to check it out myself instead of finding someone from the unit. The house is a mess, though. They’re looking for something.”
“Has anyone noticed and reported it to the police yet?”
“Not that I can tell. It’s pretty isolated out here. Mario liked it that way.”
Ian hesitated. “Are you willing to keep helping me out a little more on this, Jase?”
Silence on the line.
“Jase?”
“Whatever it takes to keep Gina safe. She didn’t deserve to lose Mario the way she did. She’s still one of our own.” A pause, then, “So, yeah. I’ll do whatever I can to help her.”
“What about me? Do you think I betrayed the unit by leaving?”
More silence. “You could have told us why you were leaving. Maybe we could have worked something out.”
“Mario knew.”
Jase grunted. “He didn’t share.”
Ian didn’t think he had. “Yeah.”
“Right. See you in a few.”
Ian put his own phone away, thinking. He trusted Jase, but it was quite possible Mario hadn’t. Or was it that he hadn’t trusted the unit as a whole? Or maybe he had suspicions about one particular person, but no proof, so he had to isolate himself from everyone until he figured it out?
That was probably it. He knew someone was bad but didn’t know which someone. What information had he come across to make him suspicious of one of his team members? What had he seen or been told?
And now Mario was dead. Blown away on a routine training exercise. Not that accidents didn’t happen on occasion, but…
Hands down, Ian was willing to bet Mario had trusted the wrong person. None of his paranoia about whom he could trust had paid off. He’d died anyway. Possibly killed by one of his own.
The question was—who?
The possibilities were endless.
And Jase had been a member of that unit.
Now Ian second-guessed himself. Had he made a mistake in trusting Jase? Surely not. The man had saved his life on more than one occasion. Had saved Mario’s, too. Although he could be a prankster upon occasion, he was definitely a dedicated professional when the situation called for it.
And then there was no more time to dwell on it. The turnoff for the beach house came into view, and Ian swung onto the little side road.
The driveway needed repaving. Gina jerked awake just as Ian decided to cut a path around to the back of the house and park right at the back door. Jase had assured him the area was clear, but it never hurt to be prepared to leave fast.
“We’re here.”
She blinked up at him, sleep fading and reality returning—along with remembered fear. His heart thudded as he resisted the urge to grab her up in his arms right that very minute and promise nothing would ever hurt her again.
Not a promise he could make. Waves crashing against the shore pounded his ears. That special Christmastime ocean smell filled his nose, and he breathed deeply while his eyes probed the dark shadows. Uneasiness trembled through him.
Too many places to hide.
Too many possible dangers could be lurking nearby.
Keeping an eye on the surrounding area, he walked around to the other side of the vehicle and opened Gina’s door for her.
From the corner of his eye he registered movement at the left side of the house.
He shoved Gina back against the seat, ignoring her startled gasp of protest. He slammed the door and grabbed for his gun in one smooth movement.
FOUR
Heart pounding, Gina froze. What should she do? What had Ian seen? From her scrunched position, which had her halfway over in the driver’s seat, she could see the top of Ian’s head through the window. He’d pushed her back into the car and left himself open. Had her attackers returned to wait for her?
Scooting fully into the driver’s seat, she cranked the car and hit the headlights, illuminating the area in front of her. If they had to leave fast, she wanted Ian to be able to jump into the car immediately. She could see a figure on the fringes of the light. He waved a hand and looked like he said something.
Ian holstered his gun as the man came toward him.
Now she recognized him.
Jase.
Relief sucked the breath from her. She pushed the door open, gave a shiver as cold wind buffeted the car and climbed out in time to hear Ian say, “Man, you should give a guy some warning before coming out of the shadows like that. I could’ve shot you.”
Jase barked a short laugh. “Not you.”
“I thought you were gone, and when I saw someone moving around out here…”
The man shrugged. “Thought I’d make sure there wasn’t anything that was going to jump out and scare you when you got here.”
“Yeah, right.”
A ghost of a smile crossed Jase’s face. “From what I can tell, it’s clean. I went inside and looked around a bit, but didn’t want to disturb too much in case you wanted a forensics team to come out here and see what they could find. The rest of the time I’ve been watching. There’s been no movement, nothing. There’s no one here.”
“Great. Thanks. What else?”
“I made some phone calls.”
“To whom?” Gina blurted as she rounded the car to stand near the two men.
Ian took her arm and said, “Let’s get inside. I don’t like you being out in the open like this.”
She knew Ian just meant to guide her inside; he had no idea that the warmth of his hand through her flimsy sweater sleeve burned like a branding iron. Fire zinged along her nerve endings, and the initial attraction she’d felt for him earlier returned full force.
Shivering at another gust of freezing wind, she pulled away and headed for the door of the house. “I don’t have a key.” She’d left the ring on the end table along with her purse, having had no time to grab them before her flight from the house. Nor her coat. She reminded herself to get that before they left.
She reached for the knob just to see.
It twisted under her palm, and alarm zipped through her.
She stepped back—right into Ian’s chest. His hands came up to rest on her goose-pimpled shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s unlocked.”
She looked at Jase, who nodded. “Just to be on the cautious side, I climbed in the window you left open when you ran. There really wasn’t any need, though. The guys were gone and didn’t bother to lock the door when they left.”
Gina wilted with relief as Ian grunted, “I’m surprised they closed it.”
They entered the small foyer and Jase shut the door behind them. Destruction greeted her weary eyes. From the left to the right, debris had been strewn. Her purse had been dumped, but nothing appeared to be missing.
She walked into the den and felt despair sweep through her. Sighing, she said, “I had the door locked last night.” She turned and looked at Ian. “I thought you would be here any minute but couldn’t bring myself to leave it unlocked. Not after what happened the week before.” She shuddered at the remembered terror of walking into her house and being threatened. She nodded to the door they’d just entered. “I heard the door squeak and for a brief moment, I thought it was you, then remembered I’d locked it.” She gave a self-deprecating smile as she took in the chaos once more. “Guess a flimsy little lock like that wasn’t going to keep them out, huh?” Her fingers worried the golden locket, still securely fastened around her neck.
Ian’s hand came up and snagged hers, stilling the nervous habit. “Don’t worry about it now. In the future we’ll take more precautions.”
We. She liked the sound of that. Perhaps too much.
Gina pulled her hand from his and laced her fingers together in front of her. “All right.” She sighed. “I suppose the next step is to go through the house and figure out what they were looking for.”
Jase gave her a look. “What about the police?”
“No, thanks. There’s nothing they can do. These guys go higher than the police. And Mario specifically said not to go to them.” She rubbed her weary eyes. “I just want to go through everything and see if anything looks—” she spread her hands, palms up, and shrugged “—whatever…suspicious? I don’t know. I’m just praying I’ll know it when I see it. I’m going to change into some warmer clothes, then get started.”
Jase and Ian exchanged a look, then split up to help search.
Two hours later Ian slid another book on the shelf as Jason entered the study. “I need to talk to you about something.”
Turning, fatigue gripping him, Ian dusted his hands against his jeans and looked at the man he’d once called friend. “What?”
Gina slipped into the room and sat behind the desk. Jase shot a pointed look in her direction and raised a brow at Ian. Ian looked at her and sighed. “You can talk in front of her. Whatever you know, she needs to know, too. These guys aren’t playing around. Tell us what you found out.”
Gina’s appreciative glance warmed him even as he worried about what Jase had to say and how it might affect her.
Jason hesitated, then said, “I talked to several guys in the unit. Everyone is still together except you, me, Mario, Bandit and Les.” Les Carson had been one of the team, a Ranger who’d taken a liking to Mario and had been one of Mario’s best buds. As had Bandit McGuire.
“Where’s Les?”
Jase rubbed his face and shut his eyes for a brief moment. “Dead. The official report says he was killed on a mission.”
