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But he’d never said them.
Then, when she’d been in the worst trouble of her career, she’d called her father and Corbett had sent Sean back to her. As if she wanted him back.
A horrible thought struck her. Had her father known, too? Had he withheld the truth, even as he comforted his grieving daughter?
The depths of such a betrayal would be impossible to fathom. Such a thing would rank right up there with her mother abandoning her when Natalie was six.
“I sent the best, per Phillip’s instructions.” Corbett’s clipped voice told her the subject wasn’t open for discussion. “Sean got you out, didn’t he?”
Clenching her teeth to keep from saying things she might regret later, she took a deep breath. “Is that all you wanted?”
Silence. Stalemate.
“I need your help,” Corbett finally said. “I’ve got a code for you to crack.” Since the Lazlo Group had their own team of code specialists, this request meant the situation was tense.
As if he sensed this, Sean made a restless movement, dragging his hand through his thick, dark hair.
Damn, she wanted him.
Tearing her gaze away from Sean, Natalie swallowed.
“Hello?” Corbett’s tone grew even grimmer. “Are you there?”
“Yes. Sorry.” Taking a deep breath, Natalie forced herself to loosen her death grip on the phone.
“Will you take a look at the code?”
She sighed. “I’ll try. But, I’ve got another code to figure out as well.”
“Another code?”
“Yes. My team and I were working on it when …” She choked, unable to finish the sentence. Clearing her throat, she continued. “I’m sure my father told you.”
“He did, but not that you still have any of it.”
“I do.”
“Excellent.” He sounded impressed. “I have a feeling you’ll see similarities with the one I’m sending.”
That got her attention. “Seriously? Where’d you get it and where was it going?”
“One of my operatives intercepted it from a dead man. We think the missive was headed to the Hungarian.”
What remained unspoken resonated over the line. This code might be the key to unlocking the secret of the Hungarian’s identity and location. She and her team had been so close. Too close. Instead of them bringing their enemy down, he’d attacked and eliminated them.
“How quickly can you get it to me?”
“I’m working on that as we speak. Once you have it, how quickly can you crack it?”
She eyed Sean, who’d crossed his arms and appeared to be trying to follow the one-sided conversation. “I don’t even have a computer.”
“I’ll get you a laptop.”
“Fantastic. But make it ultralight. The last thing I need to be dragging around is a seven-pound computer.”
“Of course. The Lazlo Group always uses the latest technology.” Corbett sounded distant. “I didn’t plan on sending you a dinosaur.”
“Good.” Distracted now, her fingers itched to get started. “It will be interesting to see if your code and the one I have are the same.”
“We have a short time frame.”
“You’re telling me. It’s difficult enough trying to stay alive and keep Sean from getting killed. Trying to crack a code takes intense concentration. I don’t have that luxury now.”
“Sean can help you with that. You can rely on him to get you the space and quiet you need.”
Rely on him? She almost laughed at the irony. “I’ll figure out something.”
There was a muffled sound, then her father’s voice came on the line. “Are you all right, baby girl?”
“Papa?” She rubbed her now-aching temple. “Corbett didn’t tell me you were in Paris.” Paris was the home base of the Lazlo Group.
His deep chuckle didn’t mask the concern in his voice. “I was worried.”
She had to ask, had to know the truth. “Did you know Sean wasn’t—”
“Not now.” The stern tone of her father’s voice was tempered by love. “We’ll talk about this later, once you and Sean have worked everything out.”
She bit her lip. “We won’t—”
“Natalie, you have no choice. Not now. Maybe once all this is over, but not until then.”
He was right, damn it. She sucked in her breath. “All right, I’ll do my best.”
“That’s my girl.” Her father chuckled again, making her wish she could hug him. “Now, here’s Corbett.”
“How soon can you be ready to do a pickup?”
“Of the code?”
“Of course.” Corbett didn’t even pause, and she realized he’d known immediately that she wouldn’t be able to resist such a challenge. Though he had his own code specialist, Natalie had gained a reputation as the best. For good reason. She used to brag there wasn’t a code she couldn’t crack.
Super-spy, Sean had called her. When it came to breaking tough codes, he hadn’t been too far off the mark.
“Where and how?”
“You’ll need to meet one of my agents.” Corbett named a location, an old abbey on the other side of Glasgow, maybe an hour away at the most. “Can you be there at 1600 hours?”
Auggie came back into the room, looking at Natalie for permission. She nodded and, returning her gaze to Sean, glanced at her watch. “That gives us two and a half hours. We have to rent a car and … yes. We’ll meet your man at 1600 hours.”
With that, she handed the phone back to Sean. She had nothing further to say to the man she’d once trusted. She’d decipher his code, because more than anything she wanted the Hungarian taken down. After that, they were through. As through as she was with her once-dead husband.
Understanding without her telling him anything, Auggie moved closer and squeezed her shoulder with his big hand. Grateful, she reached up and covered his hand with hers. Over the past year, they’d become good friends. Auggie, like Dr. Pachla, had hinted he was willing to become more, though she’d been careful not to encourage any closer relationship.
Sean had been the love of her life. Her marriage to him had ruined her for any other man.
As she closed his cell phone, Sean met her gaze, his own sable eyes clear. Though she knew he’d heard her tell Corbett about the stolen CD, he didn’t mention it. “We’ll need a car.”
Auggie removed his hand from Natalie’s shoulder. “There’s a car-rental agency a few miles from here. I can drive you,” Auggie offered.
“Excellent.” Sean nodded. “I have a new identity.” He gave Natalie another long look. “Corbett created it for me after I ‘died.’”
She kept her face expressionless. “What name?”
“Roark McKee.”
Another pang stabbed her heart. Roark had been the name they’d planned to call their son, whenever she conceived.
“Can you drive?” Natalie regarded his walking cast with skepticism.
“It’s my other foot, luv.” The familiar endearment seemed to slip casually from his lips. She stiffened, unwilling to comment, to let him know how much he had hurt her.
“Fine. You rent the car. No one is looking for you.”
When they reached the car-rental agency, Natalie waited in the car with Auggie while Sean went in.
“Take it easy, lass.” Auggie spoke in a soft voice, his burr becoming more pronounced. “You still love him, don’t you?”
Miserable, Natalie stared at the spot where Sean had disappeared inside the doors. “I don’t know how I feel anymore. Aug, I should just hate him for what he put me through.”
“But you can’t?”
Her halfhearted shrug was the best she could do. Her throat was too clogged with emotion to allow her to speak.
“You’re a damn fine operative, Natalie Major. You’ve moved on with your life. Don’t let this get you down.”
“You talk as if his returning from the dead is a small thing.”
“I’d say that depends on your perspective.”
She crossed her arms. “There’s no excuse for what he did.”
Auggie shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. You won’t know for sure until you talk to him and find out why.”
“I’d rather forget him.” Even as she said the words, she knew she was lying. Already, even when separated from Sean by a matter of minutes, she craved him.
A horn honked. “There he is.” Auggie pointed. “He’s gotten a nice Mini, now hasn’t he?”
Though she’d seen the tiny cars out and about, Natalie had never wanted to ride in one. They were too small, for one thing, and Natalie was a tall woman. She couldn’t imagine her six-foot-three inch husband crammed into one.
This would make the term close quarters no exaggeration.
Both Auggie and she exited his car at the same time, walking over to the Mini. Auggie circled the blue vehicle, a gleam of admiration in his eyes.
Sean rolled down the driver’s-side window. “Best I could do,” he said, before she could even comment. “We didn’t have reservations and they’re a bit low on cars.”
Auggie chuckled as he walked up beside her. “One thing about it, no one will suspect you’re a spy in this tin can.”
Natalie glared at him.
“You’d better get in,” Sean said, not smiling. “Before someone recognizes you.”
He was right, damn it. She gave Auggie a quick hug, then yanked open the passenger door and wedged herself into the seat.
“See, it’s not so bad.” Reassuring? Sean? She wondered what else had changed about him in the two years he’d been dead.
He handed her a well-creased map, then started to pull away from the curb. “I’ve marked the location of the abbey where we’re to meet Corbett’s man.”
Not sure how she felt about his automatic assumption that he would be leader, she opened her mouth to dispute him.
The back window shattered.
“What the—?”
“Get down,” Sean yanked the wheel to the right, heading into a narrow alley between buildings. “Someone’s shooting at us.”
She was already down, head on her knees, or as best as she could in the tiny car. “They must have identified me.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
He took another sharp turn and they shot out into the street. Horns blared and a lorry narrowly missed smashing into their side.
“We’re going to have to ditch this car.”
“Not now. We’ve got to meet our contact in—” she glanced at her watch “—forty-five minutes.”
“I don’t care. If they keep shooting, we’ll have no choice.”
“Yes, we will.” Natalie sat up straight, smoothing down her hair. “You’re not in charge here, you know.”
The narrow-eyed look he shot her would have lit a cigarette. “Don’t start this. Not now.”
After a moment of surprise, Natalie threw back her head and laughed. “We already sound like an old married couple, bickering.”
“We are an old married couple.” His expression softened. “Last month was our sixth anniversary.”
“Would have been,” she corrected, her chest aching. “If you hadn’t died.”
The tightening of his jaw was his only response.
As they entered downtown Glasgow, traffic increased.
They were sitting ducks at a complete stop, especially if a shooter had a high-powered rifle.
But no gunshots shattered any windows, and they reached the other side of town without incident.
“Too weird,” Natalie said.
“I agree. There’s no reason why they’d simply give up. Unless …”
“They knew where we’re going.”
“Impossible.”
Natalie shook her head. “Is it? You and I both know better.”
“So we’ll be extra careful.” The tight set of his mouth told her he wasn’t happy with the situation. “Get in, meet Corbett’s man, grab the code, and get out.”
When they arrived at the abbey, the parking lot was curiously devoid of the normal crowd of tourists’ vehicles. Only one other car had been parked in one of the marked spaces.
“They’re closed on Thursday,” Sean told her. He chose a spot on the other side of the lot, as far from the lone car as he could get.
Natalie understood his reasoning. One never knew where a car bomb might be planted.
Silent, they got out of the car.
The weather had changed and a light mist still fell, shrouding the air in a blanket of damp. The slate-colored sky exactly matched the weathered stone of the ancient building. As abbeys went, this particular one wasn’t much to look at. Part of the exterior had crumbled, and it was more of a ruin now than an actual building.
But the sense of age …
Natalie wasn’t a mystical-minded person, not in the slightest. But the energy of this place, the eerie invocation of timeless power, made her hesitate. She felt as though she were actually intruding, as though her very practical feet should not tread on this hallowed ground.
If Sean sensed the same, he gave no sign.
Keeping close to the crumbling wall, they moved toward the old cemetery on the hill. They were to meet their contact near an ancient crypt hidden behind several immense oaks.
A tingle on her left hand had her glancing down. The wedding ring Sean had given her—the woven band of silver she’d never taken off or switched to her right hand as widows were supposed to do—had grown hot. The ring was old; it had once belonged to Sean’s grandmother. Sean had always called the Celtic design “fairy metal.” He’d teased Natalie, telling her his grandmother claimed to have found the ring in an enchanted circle, left for her by her fey lover.
The way it responded to this place, Natalie could actually believe the story.
“You never took it off.” Sean’s quiet voice, raspy with pain, broke into her musings.
“No.” For a sharp instant, she was glad the sight of her wedding ring had hurt him. He had no idea how much she’d suffered, believing him dead. Or how much she continued to suffer, now that she knew the truth.
But then, he apparently had never realized how much she’d loved him.
He’d stopped moving forward. Though he still hugged the wall, he watched her, waiting for her to tell him more.
Instead of answering, she brushed past him, taking the lead.
The open space between the end of the building and the beginning of the cemetery would be where they were most exposed. Crouching low, Natalie ran. After a muffled curse, Sean followed, awkward in his heavy cast.
Several large trees by the wrought-iron gate provided a shelter of sorts. Natalie slipped behind one and Sean took another. Though there was no breeze, the gate was open, as if their contact had left it so when he’d passed there before them.
“Ready?” Low-voiced, Sean stood poised to move.
With a jerky nod, Natalie answered. She’d let him take the lead again—for now. At least this way she could cover his back if need be.
The old stone crypt was in the farthest corner of the ancient graveyard. They kept as close as they could to the larger monuments and statues, using them as granite shields.
When they were halfway across the cemetery, the crypt exploded.
Chapter 4
Natalie jumped on Sean, pushing him to the ground.
“Stay down,” she growled.
Though he narrowed his eyes, he did as she asked. In the past, he’d led and she’d always followed. No more. Still, with his muscular body pinned beneath her, she was suddenly hyperconscious of their positions.
Thoughts like that in times like this would get them both killed.
“Come on.” She yanked his arm. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Get off me so I can move.” His voice sounded strangled. Whether from arousal or from annoyance that she’d taken the lead, she couldn’t tell.
She scooted down the length of him, purely for revenge, then got to her knees. “We’d better stay low. Come on.”
Making sure he was following her, she crawled to the nearest section of iron fence. “Corbett’s man is dead.”
“We’ll mourn him later.” He paused, catching his breath. “I’m thinking he took the code with him.”
“Lost in the explosion, no doubt. But they’ll check to make sure.” She glanced over her shoulder. “We’re going to make a run for the car.”
“Right.” His tone was dry.
Too late, she remembered his walking cast. “Can you do it with that thing on?”
“Yes.” Again, her assuming the leadership position seemed to bother him. But, unlike the Sean she’d once known, this Sean clenched his jaw and said nothing else.
She didn’t have time to reflect on what that meant.
“You go first.”
He shot her a go-to-hell look. “Why?”
“In case you can’t get over the fence on your own. I can help you.”
Without another word he got to his feet and hobbled to the next statue. At this rate, they’d be there all day.
Somehow, Sean managed to climb over the fence unassisted and without getting shot. Natalie could only hope their luck would hold.
In the meantime, she needed to take steps to make sure she wasn’t recognized again.
When they reached the car, she went to the passenger side. She’d let him drive. She’d learned a long time ago how to pick her battles.
Natalie kept a sharp lookout for any hint they might be being followed, but not a single car made the same turns.
“Are they playing with us?” she wondered out loud.
“Could be. They have to know their rigged explosion was a failure. We’re not dead. Maybe they want us alive.”
“For what reason?”
“The code. Could it be possible that damn code is more important than any of us realizes?” Intent on the road, his expression gave away none of his thoughts.
“Surely they know their own code.” She heaved a sigh, wishing she could still rest her head on his shoulder as she’d done in the old days.
“Unless it’s not theirs.”
Natalie stared. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it. Why would the Hungarian be so eager to get some old, coded message away from you? Whatever information it contained, he could simply change.”
“But if it belonged to someone else—”
“Like one of his enemies.”
“Who would be foolish enough to go up against someone so powerful?”
Sean smiled wryly. “The Hungarian has a lot of enemies. Maybe a bunch of them got together to plan something.”
“Wouldn’t we know? I mean, both SIS and the Lazlo Group have undercover operatives in place. We would have heard something by now.”
But they both knew that wasn’t necessarily true. Huge secrets had been kept before, men killed, wars fought, with no one in the intelligence community the wiser until it was all over.
This time, when their gazes met, for the space of a heartbeat, she couldn’t look away.
Taking a deep breath, she bit back questions she didn’t want answers to and instead pointed out a sign on the corner ahead, advertising a discount drugstore.
“I need to stop at that store.”
Sean shot her a look that plainly said he thought she’d lost it. “I know you like to shop, but your timing sucks.”
She nearly smiled. Nearly. “Trust me, this is a necessity. But it doesn’t have to be that one,” she said as they drove past. “Any chemist’s shop will be fine.”
A quick stop at the first druggist on the way out of town, and she had what she needed. Climbing back into the midget-size car, she buckled up and dropped her small bag on the floor. “I’m good.”
The stark expression on Sean’s face made her catch her breath. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“I just got off the phone with Corbett. He already knew he’d lost a man.”
Natalie bowed her head. In the undercover community, the death of a fellow operative was treated the same way it was by firefighters and policemen when one of their own died—with respect and sorrow.
“Did you convey to him my condolences?”
“Yes. He was on his way to talk to the family.”
She winced. “That’s one duty I wouldn’t want.”
“No one would. But as head of the agency, Corbett takes his responsibilities seriously.”
As if she didn’t know. Her own father couldn’t speak highly enough of the man. When her father had lost his legs in an explosion while working undercover, Corbett had helped him find the best surgeons, paid for a wheelchair and paid to renovate his home, even knowing he’d have to retire. The two men still talked regularly. Their stories about the life of a secret agent were why she’d gotten into the business in the first place, though in her bid for some sort of independence, she’d chosen to work for the government rather than the Lazlo Group.
“I’m assuming Corbett had his own copy of the code.”
“Of course. He’s working on another way to get it to us, along with a computer.”
She nodded. “Perfect.”
“Yeah. But still, we need some help. What about your resources? Can you access any of them?”
She stared. “Resources? You mean like SIS?”
“Exactly.”
“No.” She hoped the single word would shut him down. “I’m on leave. Administrative, due to the trauma of losing my entire team. As far as they know, I’m recuperating on the French Riviera.”
She waited for his questions, but apparently he had none. The sky had grown darker and it wouldn’t be long before the inky night became complete. Suddenly exhausted, she yawned.
Noticing that in the dim light from the dashboard, Sean smiled. Again, she felt the beauty of that smile like a punch in the stomach. “Stop it,” she said crossly. “It’s been a long day.”
“We’ll find a place to stop for the night.”
“Great.”
Parking in the back drive of the first B and B they came to, Sean went inside and secured them a room. When he emerged, he looked grim.
“I rented one room.”
“Why?”
“Security reasons.”
Too tired to argue, Natalie simply nodded.
Opening her door for her, he helped her out. Natalie allowed this, telling herself his touch didn’t feel good, not at all. The shiver that ran down her spine was due to the chilly air, nothing more.
“Wait.” She dug into her knapsack and retrieved the bandana Auggie had given her. This she placed over her head, tying it under her chin. “Camouflage,” she said. “Best I can do at the moment.”
Sean raised a brow but didn’t comment.
They walked into the brightly lit sitting room, neither of them speaking, staring straight ahead. The tension between them seemed palpable—almost unbearable, like the electricity in the air right before a thunderstorm. Natalie had to grit her teeth to keep herself pleasantly smiling.
Their hostess, a plump, bespectacled woman with a shock of bright orange hair, led them to the rear of the house. “You two even have your own bath,” she exclaimed. “All of the rooms upstairs have to share the big one at the end of the hall.”
Once they reached the room, she handed them a folded paper listing breakfast options and left them alone.
Natalie eyed the double bed with dismay. “I’m guessing she didn’t have a room with a king? Or even a queen-size bed?”
“I’m sorry,” Sean said, sounding anything but. “I can sleep in the chair if you’d like.”
Eyeing his walking cast, Natalie tried not to think about how badly she wanted to touch him, to run her hands over his once-beloved skin while breathing in his never-forgotten scent, to feel him move inside her again. “I’ll sleep in the chair. Since you’re driving, you’ll need your rest more than I.”
He narrowed his eyes. Once, he’d been able to read her thoughts, her desires. Or at least it had seemed that way to her. Once. No longer.
They’d been so happy. Or, she amended, she had. Obviously, Sean had felt differently. She’d never understand how he could do such a thing to the woman he supposedly loved.
“I’ll sleep in the chair,” she repeated, in case he wanted to argue. “But first, I need your help with this.” Opening the paper bag from the drugstore, she removed her purchases. “I’m going to cut and color my hair.”
For a moment, he froze, reminding her how he loved her hair, short or long. After lovemaking he’d always run his fingers through it.
Ruthlessly, she shut down the memories. “I know it’s short, but I’ve got to make it shorter. I can’t be recognized again. It’s compromising our mission.”
A trained spy, Sean understood. She could tell from the set of his chin that he didn’t like it, but he knew the reasons why changing her appearance was necessary.