A Silent Pursuit

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“Right. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll keep digging into what Mario was doing before he died.”

“Yeah, I’m going to do the same. Hey, what is it you wanted to tell me, but…couldn’t earlier?” He let the question hang, hoping Jase would pick up on what he meant.

A pause. Then a sigh. “I think Mario was cheating on Gina.”

Shock and anger punched him, but Ian kept his voice steady. After all, he’d seen the possibility with his own eyes. He’d just wanted to chalk it up to the alcohol fogging Mario’s brain at the time. “Why do you think that?”

“After a mission in Colombia, I saw him with a woman. They were looking pretty cozy.”

“Probably just some undercover thing,” he said, trying to justify it.

“No, we were done with the mission, coming down off the high that follows success.”

“Huh. Then maybe…” He couldn’t think of another excuse for Mario.

“I took some pictures of them.”

That sparked some interest. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Gina was such a great girl and it really bugged me that he would do something like that to her. I’ve been looking for a girl like her all my—” he cut himself off, but Ian felt a pang of sympathy for the man. “Anyway, I walked up and confronted him.”

“In front of—”

“Yeah, in front of the girl.”

Ian winced. “How’d that work out?”

“She got up and left. If her words had been a sword, Mario’s head would have been rolling at her feet.”

“Ouch.”

“Aw, he deserved it. Anyway, I told him I had the pictures and if he ever did anything like that again, I’d give them to Gina.”

“Whoa, Jase. Man, that was kind of…”

“I know, I know. Anyway, as you can imagine, Mario was furious. Threatened to kill me if I did anything to jeopardize his relationship with Gina. Told me to get rid of the pictures.”

“Did you?”

Another pause. “No.”

“See if you can figure out who the woman was.”

“Will do.”

“Great. Talk to you later.” Ian hung up.

“So, what was that all about? Is Jase all right? And where are we going?” Gina’s voice jerked his attention back to her.

He turned left, then a quick right. Ignoring the first question, he pointed. “There.” Then he pulled to a stop in front of a gated home. “Jase is fine and handling the authorities beautifully. If he needs any more help, he’ll call Mac.” Then he nodded toward the house. “The guy that lives here is one of the best friends a guy could have, but best of all—he’s got a top-notch security system.”

SIX

Ian pulled up to the gated entrance and buzzed the house.

“Who lives here?” Gina asked.

“Nicholas Floyd. I can’t believe he’s actually home. He’s a family court judge who made quite a bit of money in college when he designed a video game that shot to the bestseller chart and stayed there for years.”

“A judge who designs video games?”

“Game. One.”

“Seriously?”

“His passion is the law and helping others. He just happened to have an idea and the skills to implement it. Now he lives like this—and has an awesome security system.”

“And he’s your friend. Must be a God thing.”

He smiled at her. “Must be.” She was still as strong in her faith as she’d ever been. It was only one of the things he admired about her. “He had a death threat about a year and a half ago. Carly was the U.S. Marshal assigned to Nicholas and his family. Surprisingly enough they never met when Nick and I were roommates. Carly went to school out of state and Nick had his own family issues going on.”

“Oh, wow. And he doesn’t mind us just crashing his place?”

“Not at all. You’ll understand once you meet him.”

The twin gates separated at the middle and swung inward. Ian pressed the gas and drove through. The gates closed silently behind him. As he followed the winding drive up to the main house, he told Gina, “Nicholas and I roomed together in college for a couple of years. He’s always loved the beach and swore he’d have an oceanfront home one day.”

Gina gasped as the house came into view. It sprawled over the sloping hill, the picturesque ocean beating against the sand beyond. “It’s beautiful.”

Ian nodded. “He designed the house himself.” The two-story brick structure sported white columned posts on the welcoming front porch. Four rockers surrounded a wrought-iron table, and a two-seater swing hung from the ceiling. Christmas lights were strung in massive amounts.

“I bet it’s gorgeous at night, all lit up and just glowing.”

A drawbridge began its smooth slow-motion descent until it gently touched the ground in front of the car.

Ian drove across. A quick glance behind her showed nothing there. No cars bearing men with guns, no popping sound of bullets connecting with metal and glass…

He parked in a small area to the right that had been designed to accommodate three cars. The other two slots sat empty.

Once out of the vehicle, Ian took her hand. “Nicholas is a great guy, but he’s had a rather tragic life. I’ll warn you, he’s pretty much an extrovert personality, but he can be intense.”

Okay, she could deal with intense. Intense had been her middle name lately.

But even Ian’s warning didn’t prepare her for the sight of the huge man who burst from the arched, double wooden front doors. At least six feet five inches tall, he was pure muscle, a tower of rock-solid strength. Before Gina could blink, he ran to Ian to embrace him in a bear hug, lifting Ian’s feet off the ground. “Ian, my friend! How are you?”

Ian grunted, laughed and pulled out of the man’s massive arms, protesting, “Nicholas, I told you not to do that. I’m fragile, man.”

Nicholas punched Ian on the arm and turned to Gina. He’d turned so fast he hadn’t seen Ian wince. But Gina did and she prepared to run should this mammoth decide to offer her the same type of embrace. Golden-green eyes stared down at her, studying her.

Then he gave a small bow and held out his hand.

Gina grinned at the knowing glint in his eyes and willingly shook his hand. Her fingers disappeared within his paw, and she felt like a toddler trying to play grown-up, shaking hands with the adult she’d just been introduced to.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Floyd.”

Shaking his head, he groaned. “I’m not that much older than you. Please, I’m Nicholas.”

“Right. I’m Gina.”

Those cat-green eyes narrowed, “And you’re in trouble.”

She immediately sobered. “Yes, but I don’t want our coming here to place you in any danger.”

For a brief moment a hard look flashed across his face. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t say this place is impenetrable, but no one will get in here without me knowing about it well beforehand. Long enough for us to either get out or get help. Okay?”

Ian stepped forward. “Don’t worry, Gina. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I thought it would endanger Nicholas or his family.”

“Family?” she arched a brow.

“My mother, a niece and a nephew. And we don’t have to worry about them. They’re in Switzerland right now. I have a live-in cook and housekeeper, and they’re specially trained in taking care of themselves, so…” An emotion glinted in his eyes but Gina couldn’t put a name to it. Then he looked away from her and over at Ian. “How’s that sister of yours?”

“Carly’s great. I saw her just this morning. She offered to come stay with Gina last night to make sure the goons that are after her didn’t get anywhere close. Thankfully, it was a peaceful night.”

“Well, come on inside. Let’s get you two settled. Do you have any luggage?”

Ian opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a small carry-on-size suitcase. “I have this, but Gina doesn’t have a thing. Maybe your housekeeper could run out to the store to grab some things for us.”

Those golden eyes tinged with green flecks turned back to her. “She’s about Miriam’s size. There’s probably something inside she can use.”

The three passed through the door and stepped into a large foyer. Antiques adorned the area and Gina sucked in an appreciative breath. “Your home is beautiful.”

Nicholas swung his gaze back to her. “Thanks. I built it for my wife.”

“Miriam?”

“Yes.”

“Is she here?”