Bare Facts (17 page)

But he couldn’t.

He kissed her again. Slowly and lingeringly, because he hated knowing he was going to have to treat her like she was nothing to him. And that was going to be harder than he’d thought it would be.

“I want you to stay where I put you when we go back in there.”

“That’s not happening. What did you have in mind?”

“I’m going to case the room and see if I can find the person working for Sekijima.”

“Will you know them on sight?”

“No, but I will know who he’s sent by the way they move.”

“I can help.”

He leaned over and kissed her. She sounded confident and just a little bloodthirsty. He loved that about her. “Help me by sitting at the table and looking like you are interested in me for my money.”

Charity narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her ample breasts. “I hate that. I’m supposed to be guarding you.”

“You will be. I’ll stay in sight the entire time. And you’ll be a nice distraction for anyone who’s watching the room.”

“A distraction?” she said.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t used your looks as a weapon before.”

She shrugged, tipped her head to the side, and gave him a really flirty look. She licked her full lips and subtly shifted her shoulders, somehow making her breasts seem more prominent. She opened her mouth and he was enthralled.

“Like this?”

“Hell, yes.”

She shook her head. “I hate doing it.”

“You did it the first moment we met.”

She wasn’t surprised that he’d called her on it. She knew that most men didn’t realize what she was doing, but Daniel caught on quicker than most.

“Okay. I’ll do it but you have to take Justine with you. You can’t go out like that without backup. And if I’m putting on a show, I won’t be able to get to you quickly.”

Daniel struggled not to grimace. Justine didn’t like him and had made no bones about it. “Fine.”

He stood behind Charity, breathing in the scent of her, hoping he’d always be able to recall it, while she contacted Justine. A few minutes later the other woman appeared.

Tall, though not as tall as Charity, Justine was a brunette, and dressed up didn’t look nearly as tough as she did in her normal jeans and leather jacket.

“You’re staring,” she said, all tough-nosed attitude.

“You look like a woman.”

Charity laughed but Justine just gave him an aggrieved look. “Enough with the small talk—let’s go.”

Daniel walked away without looking back at Charity, something he’d always been able to do, but this time he was aware of her there, waiting.

And he knew that no matter how much he tried to pretend otherwise, she was important to him.

W
alking through the shadows, Daniel felt the absurdity of what he was doing. Skulking in darkness wasn’t the way to draw Sekijima out, and he knew it, but as Voltaire had said, doubt was a much more realistic way of dealing with life. And he doubted very much that Sekijima was ready to end the game.

Finding his minions was the only thing that Daniel could do, and he was damned tired of being a pawn.

“What are we looking for?” Justine asked.

Daniel spared a glance for the woman following behind him. “I’m guessing a single hit man. It doesn’t have to be a man. They’ll be very hard to spot because they are trained to blend in. My money’s on someone of Japanese descent because Sekijima doesn’t trust Americans.”

“Why doesn’t he?”

“Because he was once betrayed by one.”

“You?”

Daniel shrugged. “Have you ever seen a sniper before?”

“Golly, gee, no. This is my first day on the job.”

“Does being a smart-ass make you feel better?” he asked, unable to help himself.

“Yes, it does. Especially when I’m around arrogant men who refuse to listen.”

Daniel didn’t rise to the bait. Instead he sank back into the shadows of the room. He could see Charity from where he stood. She was a golden goddess. Everyone around her leaned in, listening to what she was saying, the men enthralled by her beauty, the woman enticed by the openness of her smile.

Suddenly he was very certain of one thing. It was like a moment of clarity in a world he no longer was sure of: he knew that Charity was the one woman he’d never forget.

He could only hope that Sekijima hadn’t been watching him too carefully or his old friend was going to know that Charity was way more than arm candy.

“Stop staring and get to work.”

“I’m not staring. I’m scanning the room. What do you think of the woman at the table to the left of the podium in the second row?”

“She’s talking to her tablemates but…there is something in her eyes. She’s watching the room when she thinks no one is looking.”

“Yes,” Daniel said. “Can Anna run a check on her?”

“Yeah, one second,” Justine said. She spoke into her wireless microphone and then brought up her BlackBerry, taking a quick photo of the woman. “Anna will run a check on her photo.”

“How long until we know?”

“Five minutes, maybe longer. I’ve got my eye on her. Keep casing the room.”

Daniel did, leaving Justine behind and searching all the people there. He tried to let go of the man he’d become and get back to the Yakuza he’d once been. He needed those instincts that had been honed in blood and betrayal.

He stopped keeping an eye on Charity because he trusted her to take care of herself. And he couldn’t really sink into the past and those instincts he needed while he looked at her.

The years and the layers fell away and he moved more easily in the darkened shadows at the edge of the ballroom. The sounds even became sharper and he could hear the minute changes in conversations. The whispered confessions of two women at a table in front of him. The booming cadence of the oil baron from Texas. And the German accent of the art dealers sitting at the corner table.

Finally he heard the sound he was waiting for. The choppy, long vowels of Japanese, the rhythm and lilt in the speech pattern that couldn’t be hidden in colloquial American.

He moved closer to the sounds, stopping when he realized it was an elderly couple. He doubted Sekijima would send an elderly couple to kill him, but he remembered what Voltaire said. Doubt wasn’t absurd, certainty was.

He moved up behind him and the man turned as he approached. Daniel knew his instincts were right. The man had Yakuza connections, but he wasn’t the hit man sent to take him out tonight.

The man tensed as he glanced down at Daniel’s right hand and saw the missing fingertip. He saw the fear in the older man’s eyes and realized that he might not be the only target in the room tonight.

That would play perfectly into Sekijima’s plans. Kill this man in retaliation and leave Daniel thinking he might be the target. A part of him wanted to introduce himself and then somehow try to get the couple to safety but he couldn’t.

If he did, he might jeopardize Charity and her team. And for once he was loyal to a woman. Was that right? How the hell had that happened?

He didn’t know, just kept moving past the table where the Japanese couple sat. He hoped the older man was savvy enough to protect himself and his woman. But that wasn’t Daniel’s concern.

He kept moving until he realized that he’d checked out all of the tables and the hit man wasn’t at any of them. He knew a second before he felt the touch of a feminine hand against his neck that he’d made a mistake.

“Come with me, Mr. Williams, or the woman dies.”

He glanced over his shoulder, knowing he could shoot her before she had a chance to stop him, but that if he made a move to harm Sekijima’s messenger, Charity would die. A quick glance to the table where he’d left her confirmed that she was no longer there.

Inane conversation was exhausting, and Charity was tense. She tried to keep up the pretense of liking being the center of attention but after twenty minutes of watching Daniel and Justine case the room she couldn’t sit still any longer.

“I need a drink,” she said.

“I’ll get you one,” Wolfgang offered. Considering he’d been staring at her chest all evening, she wasn’t surprised.

“That’s okay. I need to stretch my legs.”

She left the table and made her way through the crowd.

“Charity Keone?”

“Yes?”

“Hi, I’m Amanda Markell. We were models together back in Paris.”

The Eurasian woman was simply beautiful but Charity couldn’t recall having met her before, and usually she had a photographic memory for faces. She was running through those early modeling days in her mind. Amanda leaned forward to embrace her and Charity did the same.

“Don’t,” Anna said in her ear.

That minute warning from Anna wasn’t enough, as she felt the sharp point of a knife in her side. The woman wielding the knife wrapped her arm around Charity’s shoulders.

“Smile and excuse yourself if you want to live.”

Charity smiled at the woman and started to grab her wrist to change their positions so she’d have power. “Not so fast or Daniel dies. You don’t want to lose your client, do you?”

“I haven’t lost one yet.”

“Then you’re due, aren’t you?”

“Due? It’s going to take more than a knife to take Mr. Williams out of the game.”

“Move toward the back of the room,” Amanda said.

Charity ran through all her options as she moved slowly toward the back. She was wearing a pair of specially made stilettos with blades embedded into them. Her dress, however, didn’t have a slit to the thigh. Only to the knee, and that would hamper her getting off a good roundhouse kick.

And her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders. Damn vanity. She’d worn it down because Daniel had asked her to before they’d left. A ponytail would be more practical in a fight. With her hair loose, there was a very good chance it could be used against her.

The pressure of the knife against her side never let up. She could feel it cutting into her skin through the thin fabric of her dress. She also felt the warmth of her own blood as it started to drip from the wound.

As soon as they stepped out of the room, Charity grabbed the wrist holding the knife to her ribs and jerked out of Amanda’s grasp. She squeezed Amanda’s wrist, slamming her hand against the brick wall until it opened and the knife fell to the ground with a clatter.

Charity kicked it out of Amanda’s reach and spun away to grab the weapon. She was drawn up short when Amanda grasped Charity’s hair and yanked back hard. Tears burned in Charity’s eyes but she ignored the pain. Her gun was in a thigh holster so she wouldn’t ruin the line of her dress.

What a stupid place for the gun, she thought She spun on her heel to face Amanda, then balled up her fist and hit Amanda in the jaw. The other woman’s head snapped back, but she didn’t let go of Charity’s hair. Instead she twisted the strands around her fist, drawing Charity even closer to her.

Dammit. She hit Amanda again, holding her body loose and torquing her hips to keep her rhythm. Her head ached with each move but she felt the other woman weakening.

“I’m on my way,” Anna said. “Justine’s on Daniel.”

“I’ve got this.”

“Bloody hell,” Anna said. “I don’t—”

“Go, Anna. I’m not in over my head,” Charity said.

But Amanda yanked hard on her hair. “I think you are.”

She flicked the earpiece out of Charity’s ear and onto the floor. “I don’t think you need that.”

Charity wasn’t interested in talking to Amanda. She wanted to get free and turn the tables. She had to concentrate. She grabbed Amanda’s free hand and pulled the arm over her own left shoulder and toward her waist, then bent and flipped Amanda onto the floor.

Amanda didn’t let go of Charity’s hair and she felt a few strands ripping out by their roots. Charity grunted in pain and brought the sharp edge of her stiletto down on Amanda’s arm, pinning her to the floor.

Amanda drew her nails down Charity’s leg, digging deep until blood welled from the scratches. Charity drew back and hit the woman again.

She hated this kind of fight. She wanted to get Amanda up off the floor and subdue her. Amanda kicked hard at the back of Charity’s knee, knocking her off balance for a second.

Charity dropped to the floor next to her. She grabbed Amanda’s arm and twisted it hard behind her, forcing the other woman to roll over, and then Charity drew her to her feet. She had flex cuffs in her purse which she’d stupidly left at the table, so she had nothing with which to bind the other woman’s wrists. So she found the carotid artery and applied pressure until she felt Amanda go limp and lowered her to the ground. She picked up the knife and the earpiece.

“I need cuffs. My attacker is subdued.”

“On my way,” Anna said. “Daniel just got into a black Mercedes without plates.”

“Is Justine following?”

“Yes, but I think we’re going to be needed,” Anna said. She stepped into the hallway a second later.

Charity cuffed Amanda and between her and Anna they were able to heft her down the hall and out of the hotel.

“I’ll take her back to our headquarters and question her,” Anna said. “Once I have her secured I can join up with you and Justine.”

“Sounds good. Find out where they are taking Daniel if you can.”

“Justine won’t lose them.”

“I know, but we can call for backup if we know where we are going.”

Anna nodded. Charity pulled a duffel bag from the trunk of the car and changed out of the evening gown into her leather pants, T-shirt, and jacket. She moved her gun from the thigh holster to her shoulder, added another Sig Sauer at the small of her back, and pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

No more doing things to please Daniel—she’d almost gotten them both killed. Which was a lesson she’d thought she’d learned a long time ago.

Daniel knew that anyone who took Charity was getting more than they bargained for. But he did feel a clench of fear deep in his stomach at the thought of her somehow falling into Sekijima’s hands.

He went quietly with the woman who held the gun steady in the small of his back. He knew that the Liberty Investigations team was watching him and the hotel and felt fairly certain they’d put a tail on him and his captor. But the last thing he wanted to do was lead them into a trap.

He was led to a black Mercedes. “Get inside.”

“Thanks, but I have my own ride.”

The woman tightened her grip on his arm. “Don’t make this harder on yourself.”

Daniel knew he could take the woman. He jerked to the side to lead her off balance, then hit her with a quick upper jab to the sternum. Her breath rushed out of her lungs and she fell back on the ground. He brought his foot down hard on her wrist and bent to take the gun.

As soon as he stood up, he was hit from behind by a man. His own wrist was grabbed and he was jerked around, his hands brought together behind his back and cuffed.

The man who’d hit him offered his hand to the girl. She wobbled a little as he helped her to her feet.

The man punched him in the gut twice and then hit him in the face, snapping his head back. Daniel tasted blood on his lip. He licked at the blood as the man drew back to hit him again. He went with the punch, stepping back, then delivered a vertical kick to his opponent’s throat, trying to crush his esophagus, but the man fell backward and then rolled to his feet.

He hit Daniel again with a kick aimed for the groin. Daniel turned and deflected the kick but took a hard hit in the thigh. He stumbled backward for a second, then kicked the man again with a solid roundhouse to the other man’s jaw. He stumbled backward and Daniel kept coming, hitting him with a front snap kick and then another roundhouse kick, this time to the solar plexus. The man doubled over, and as he started to stand, Daniel straightened his spine and ran forward, head-butting him.

He used the high section of his forehead to deliver the blow to his opponent’s nose. Blood splurted from his face and Daniel stayed where he was, hitting the man one more time. He heard the man groan as he stumbled toward the ground. Dammit, he’d hoped the blow would knock his opponent unconscious—instead, he seemed to have just bloodied his nose. Daniel rammed him hard with his shoulder and the man bit down on Daniel’s arm. Daniel jerked free, his entire body in pain.

“Enough,” Sekijima said from the car. “Gumi, you drive. Suki, escort Mr. Williams to the car.”

Suki reached for his bound arms, pulling him toward the car with more strength than he’d suspected she had. He jerked off balance.

The barrel of a Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun emerged from the car. A bullet hit him in the thigh and he moaned, struggling to stay on his feet and not react to the pain.

“Daniel, get in the car or I’ll kill you and your girl right now.”

“Isn’t that the plan?” he asked, refusing to give in to the fear that the thought of Charity in Sekijima’s hands evoked.