A Silent Pursuit

THREE

Ian paced in the tiny area between the two beds and the small bathroom, glancing at his watch again. Carly had just knocked on the door to let him know Gina was still asleep and she had to get going to report in to her day job. He regretted her lack of rest, but it couldn’t be helped.

As for himself, he’d slept a little, dozing until Jase called to say he was on his way. Night had passed without incident. He could only hope the day would go as smoothly. Something told him not to hold his breath.

He pushed the curtain aside just enough to see out.

Where was Jase?

Jason Sutton and Ian had served together under Commander Mac Gold. Jase was a dedicated man and in love with patriotism; Ian couldn’t remember the guy ever making a mistake on his watch.

Three short raps swiveled his attention to the door. Crossing the room in three long strides, he knuckled back two short knocks.

One tap answered.

Ian opened the door.

Jase, tall and dark as midnight, slipped into the room, silent as mist. “I made it as fast I could.”

“Thanks, buddy.”

“Haven’t heard from you in a long time.” Ian picked up on a coolness in the man’s voice that hadn’t been there before he’d left the unit.

“I know. I’m sorry.” He left it at that.

Jase grunted. “Whatever.”

A rap on the door brought both of the men’s attention to it. Ian walked over, peeped out and then opened the door, pulling Gina inside. “Gina, what are doing? You don’t need to be out in the open like that.”

Spying Jase, she drew up short, her eyes taking on a wary look. “I heard the door shut and it woke me up. I thought…” She shuddered. “Anyway, Carly left me a note saying she had to leave and that you would be over shortly.”

“Yeah, you should have waited on me.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just ready to get back to work on this.” She looked away and over at Jase. “Hi.”

Ian saw what she didn’t offer. She was scared to be alone. He didn’t blame her. Laying a hand on her shoulder, he said, “You said you knew Jase. We were all in the same unit once upon a time. Jase transferred out right before Mario was killed to be closer to his extended family. I asked him to bring me some things. I also told him what was going on with you. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know much more than we do at this point.”

“But I told you…!” Panic glistened in her dark eyes even though she’d known he was going to make the call.

“I know, Gina, but Jason’s okay. He’s not part of that unit anymore. He was gone before Mario died.”

She wilted back onto the bed. “I didn’t mean any offense by my reaction, Jase. It’s nice to see you again.”

His lips quirked as he nodded his bald head in Gina’s direction. “Don’t worry about it. It’s nice to see some things don’t change,” he teased softly. Gina never had been very good at hiding her feelings, and Jase had gotten to know her pretty well. She flushed and looked away only to appreciate it when Jase said, “Mario was a good guy. I’ve got some contacts I can ask to put out some feelers about him, if you like.”

“Thanks.” She bit her lip, then seemed to make up her mind. “Do you know anything he might have been involved in? Anything that he might have had that someone would be after?”

Jase shrugged. “No. There’s no telling. We go undercover all the time. Sometimes as a whole unit, sometimes as a partial. And we don’t always get filled in on what the others are doing unless there’s a need. There’s just no way to know. I saw him several times over a period of a few weeks before he died and thought he was acting strange. But when I asked him about it, he shrugged it off and never let on he was having a problem.”

“Strange how?”

Jase shook his head. “Nothing I can really put my finger on. Withdrawn, moody, quick to anger—and late to a lot of meetings. Just—stuff that was unlike Mario.”

She nodded, and Ian wanted to put his arms around her; then he caught the sheen of tears in her eyes and decided he might need to offer her his shoulder to cry on.

Instead of doing either one, he held a hand out to Jason. The man looked at it for a moment, then slowly reached out to shake it. Ian couldn’t read Jase’s expression but thought he saw something soften in the other man’s eyes. Jase offered, “Call me if you need anything else. I’ll keep after the other guys in the unit to talk to me and see if any of them know what Mario was doing right before he died.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

Jase’s eyes flicked to Gina, then back to Ian. “Take care of her.”

Then he was gone like smoke on a breeze.

“He’s a little different than I remember,” Gina murmured.

Ian turned to Gina, who sat on the bed. “What do you mean? Different how?”

She shrugged. “Of course I never saw him in the field, just when we would all get together and have cookouts or eat out or whatever. But I seem to remember that he was always the life of the party, the prankster.”

“Yeah. I remember that. But you’re right. In the field, he’s like a different person, rarely cracking a smile unless the situation calls for it. Total professional.”

“So, what did he bring?” She gestured to the backpack.

Ian looked inside. “A high-security laptop, night-vision goggles, an assortment of weapons, a GPS and—” he reached in and pulled out a device “—an encrypted cell phone.”

“We’re going to need all of that?”

“I sure hope not.”

“Huh.”

She seemed to lose interest in the topic. He lowered himself into the chair across from her. “Are you okay?”

She blinked. “No, but that doesn’t matter. I want to go back to the beach house and search it. I got interrupted before I had a chance to do anything. I…didn’t exactly start searching the minute I got there.”

“Was that the first time you’d been there since Mario died?”

Lips tight, she nodded. “Yes. I just walked on the beach for a long time, remembering the good times, the fun we’d had. By the time I got back to the house, I was hungry. I fixed a sandwich and went back into Mario’s little home office. I’d just opened the desk drawer to start searching when I heard the front door squeak. It only took a moment to realize it wasn’t you.” She closed her eyes at the memory, and Ian clenched a fist, wanting to pound those responsible for her fear.

Opening her eyes, she said, “So, I climbed out the window and took off down the beach. I must have made some kind of noise—I think I knocked something over—and they were after me pretty quick. Luckily, it was dark. I think that’s the only thing that slowed them down. That and the fact that I knew the beach and where to cut through to get to the diner.”

Regret filled him. “I’m sorry I was so late. I should have been there to…”

“It’s all right.” She stood. “But now, I’m going back to the house to see what I missed—and what damage those goons no doubt did to it. Mario willed it to me, you know. I was his beneficiary for his estate. Everything.”

“He didn’t have any other family?”

“Just a mother out there somewhere. He hadn’t seen or talked to her in years. He finally decided she was dead.”

“That’s a shame.”

“I know.”

Ian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You know, they may have found what they wanted back at the house. If they found it, you may be safe and they won’t have any reason to come after you again.”

She looked up at him, then said slowly, “Or they found it, think I know about it and will want to make sure I don’t live to tell anyone about it.”

Ian blew out a breath. He’d thought about that but hadn’t wanted to mention it.

But Gina had already analyzed this from every possible angle and come up with some of her own answers.

He stood and pulled a pair of shoes from the bag Jase had brought. Handing them to her, he said, “They look a little big, but I guess they’re better than nothing. Come on—let’s go see what we can find out.”

Going back to the beach house was fine, but Ian wasn’t going back blind. Grabbing his phone, he punched in Jase’s number. “Hey, you offered to help, so I’m going to take you up on it. I need you to do one more thing for me.”

They drove in silence, Gina keeping her eyes on the rearview mirror and the road behind them, although she couldn’t see much in the early morning darkness. “Do you think this is a good idea?”

“Probably not, but I think it’s our only option right now. As much as Mario loved that house, it’s probably where he’d stash something important.”

“You knew him so well. He loved you like a brother. How could you…” She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence that had his fingers curling around the steering wheel and turning his knuckles white.

“Gina…”

“Why’d you leave, Ian? I mean, I know people transfer to other units for reasons like Jase’s, but what was your reason? No one understood why you requested the transfer. And Robbie Stillman.” She grimaced. “No one liked him. He was always such a jerk. If you just could have given them a reason…” she blurted out. There. She’d finally asked the question that had been burning in her mind for the past two years. The question not even Mario had been able to answer.

Silence greeted her. Just when she thought he wasn’t going to answer, he sighed. “It was a really personal issue I was struggling with, Gina. Maybe one day I’ll share it with you, all right?”

She stared at him, catching the inner agony of his blue eyes before he turned them back to the road. “All right. I guess I have to accept that…for now.”

“Thanks.” And he said no more. The silence in the car draped as heavy as the flag over Mario’s coffin. Gina shifted in her seat, uncomfortable, worried about what they’d find back at the beach house, yet she couldn’t deny the relief she felt at having Ian at her side.

“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.”