Deadly Sins (23 page)

“I told everyone I saw this sorta pirate guy at the hospital, but that he walked with a cane and not a wooden leg and we rode in his really cool car. But no one believed me, not even Michael. They said pirates don’t drive cars.” His tone was scoffing. “Like they think they still sail ships or something.”

She grinned at her son’s nonsense. Although she’d mentally used the same description, she was sure Adam’s self-proclaimed humor would be absent if he heard it.

“So I was thinking, maybe you could take a picture of him on your phone, and then I could show people at school.”

“Sorry, buddy. Mr. Raiker is not a topic for show-andtell.” She cut the imminent wheedling short. “Final answer. Tell you what though, if I have to work late tomorrow night, I’ll have Stacy come over for a few hours.”

“Cool! She hasn’t seen my cast yet.”

They were entering the Palisades neighborhood, which paralleled the Potomac. Lights glinted off the water. The street was lined with apartments, town houses, and singlefamily brick homes. She slowed as the cab ahead stopped. After a minute Harandi exited and hurried up the steps of one of the darkened brick homes. “Okay, Champ, I have to go. Don’t give Grandmother any grief about bedtime, okay?”

“Okay. Love you, Mom.”

The words always made her heart go tight in a combination of guilt and love. “I love you, too, sweetie.”

She cruised past the Iranian man’s house and saw Adam shoehorn his BMW into an open parking space on the street. Her phone rang again. “Maybe he was sick.” She glanced at the man she was talking to as she drove slowly past his car. “If so, we need to talk to him right away, before he turns in for the night.” The evening had turned a little anticlimactic. She’d expected to see Harandi meet with someone. Hopefully, someone with a link to the case. But that would have been too easy. And so far this case had been anything but.

“It’s early yet. Why don’t you park and join me back here.”

That feat was easier said than done. It took Jaid a full fifteen minutes to find a spot. And that much again to make her way back to the darkened vehicle where Adam waited. Just to prove that Mother Nature was a bitch, the sky started spitting tiny frigid needle pricks of ice. When she finally slid into the cushy leather seat of his car, she was thoroughly regretting wearing her hair back that day.

Without asking he leaned forward and turned up the heater. She clasped her gloved hands over her ears. “How is it possible that the temperature has dropped forty degrees in just a few short days?”

“November in DC.” His voice was wry. “Give it a few days, though. The weather is likely to change again.” She turned in her seat to peer at the house three doors down from where they were parked. A couple lights blazing. A good sign. Facing Adam again she said, “Are you ready?”

He hesitated. “It occurs to me that if he’s meeting someone, they may come to his home. Or that he stopped here before heading somewhere else. We can always talk to him tomorrow.”

Frowning, she lowered her hands, pulled the gloves off one finger at a time. “Or we can talk to him now and then see what he does.”

“We lose nothing by waiting.”

“My least favorite word,” she muttered.

A note of humor threaded his voice. “Yes, I remember. I don’t expect you to stay here all night. Go home. Be with your son.”

“All night? You’re staking out Harandi’s house? Why?”

His shrug was negligible in the darkness. “Call it a hunch. Most likely he’s going to snap those lights off in the next few minutes and go to bed with a bad case of the stomach flu. I’ll just hang out here to make sure he stays tucked in for the evening.”

Torn, she stared at him. There was little less appealing than spending the long hours of the evening in a dark car with Adam Raiker. The shadows in the vehicle could too quickly begin to feel intimate, eliciting memories of other times. Other nights.

Shaken, she looked out the window. No, she definitely didn’t want to go down that road. “I don’t think it’s necessary.”

“I agree. It may well turn out to be a miserable waste of time, and there’s no reason for both of us to lose sleep.” When she didn’t move, his voice hardened. “You’re covered, Jaid. You know what I’m doing and why. You can alert Hedgelin and, having done your duty, go home and enjoy what’s left of your evening.”

Insulted she said, “This isn’t about Hedgelin.” With a start she realized that since they started out tonight, she hadn’t once considered the man or his order to keep him informed of all things regarding Adam. “We can accomplish the same thing by talking to Harandi now.”

“Not quite.” His tone was getting a little testy. She was reminded that Adam Raiker wasn’t used to people questioning his orders. It was unfortunate for him that she had no qualms about doing just that. “If he does have something planned, he may cancel it because of our visit. Patience pays off in the long run.”

And that, too, was a familiar line from him. Jaid hadn’t liked it any better all those years ago. When she took a moment to consider his logic, it was even more annoying to discover it made sense. “You know one of your most irritating habits is always being right.”

His teeth flashed in the darkness. “And one of yours is your tendency to rush in too fast without fully considering the consequences.”

She stilled. That so neatly summed up what had happened with them. She’d fallen, hard and fast, spilling her emotions for a man who kept a tight guard on his own. It had been devastating to discover that her judgment had been so flawed. “Yes,” she said shakily as she twisted around to take another look at Harandi’s house. The lights still glowed. “I learned quickly enough what you thought of that trait.”

He was silent for a moment. Then, “Jaid.” The gravelly tone lit sparks in her veins that she wished she could will away. “I found it engaging. Like everything about you. Your passion for your work reminded me of the reasons I had for joining the bureau. You were quick and stubborn, and had a thirst for knowledge that made conversations with you exhilarating.”

She faced forward in the seat again. Couldn’t quite bring herself to turn toward him. “I was green as grass.”

He didn’t deny it. “Which is why I never should have touched you. The age difference—”

That argument had incensed her then. Made no more sense now. “Was eight years. Hardly enough for you to suspect I had a daddy complex.”

“God, I hope not,” he said feelingly. “I’m not that old.”

“Exactly.”

“I was talking world experience rather than years at any rate.” A pair of approaching headlights sliced through the night, throwing his face into sharp relief. His expression was brooding. “But it cut deeply, knowing I hurt you. The last thing I wanted was for you to feel . . . rejected again.”

Again.
She froze. Because, of course, he knew about her father. There was nothing she’d held back from Adam during their time together. Not even the details of her father’s abandonment.

He’d left when she was eleven. No warning. No good-byes. Her mother had been dry-eyed and short-tempered in the face of Jaid’s confusion. Her heartache. And as the years stretched, she’d almost lost hope of ever seeing him again. Hearing from him.

But nothing in her yearning daydreams had prepared for her for the reality of their eventual meeting.

“Did you ever . . .” Adam’s probe was as delicate as a surgeon’s cut. Left the same pain in its aftermath.

“He’s dead.”

There was a moment of shocked silence. She didn’t know which of them was more surprised when he reached out a hand. Cupped her jaw. “I’m sorry.”

She willed away the tears that threatened, and stared at him, the emotions churning and crashing inside her. “I wish he didn’t matter anymore. And I wish
you
didn’t matter.”

The result of her words was unexpected. Adam’s fingers on her jaw tightened reflexively. And then his mouth covered hers with a completeness that rocked her.

His taste was achingly familiar. It summoned a response that she couldn’t have withheld if she tried. She didn’t want to. But there was something different in the kiss, too. If her response was fueled by years of longing, his matched it. Surpassed it.

She turned more fully toward him, slipped an arm around his neck. He pulled her closer. And the interior of the car went steamy.

He’d always had a way of kissing her that shattered logic. Left her senses reeling.

His lips were demanding and coaxing by turn. Thrilling at one moment. Enticing at the next. She couldn’t say which she responded to. But her mouth opened under his. His tongue swept in, and sensation swamped her.

Her hand shifted, so she could thread her fingers through his thick dark hair. She used to tease him that it was silky as a girl’s and would laugh at the mock scowl she’d get in response. But humor was far from her mind right now. Bittersweet memories warred with the present, and a hint of desperation flickered. Knowing this wouldn’t last, couldn’t, just made the hunger sharper.

Her tongue mated with his, their breathing tangled until a dark fist of need clenched in her belly. She tore her mouth away and scored his bottom lip with her teeth. Felt him jerk against her, the arm around her back tightening. And the evidence of his response was heady.

His lips cruised to her jaw. Her throat. Her head lolled, and the blood in her veins went molten.

There was danger in the interlude. A danger that desire so long denied would return with the raging fire she used to feel. A fire that had once driven her to the heights of ecstasy. And when denied, plunged her to the pit of despair.

The memory had caution rearing. With difficulty she arched away from Adam. Opened her eyes. Struggled to focus. When she did, she caught peripheral movement across the street. It took a moment for comprehension to filter in. Excitement quickly followed.

“Adam. Look.”

The urgency in her voice had him turning. He stared out the window in silence for a moment. “Well, well. Dr. Harandi appears to be in a hurry.”

A taxi had rolled to a stop before the apartment. The professor was hurrying down the walk with two large suitcases in his hands. A pile of more bags waited on the steps, spotlighted by the security light. While they watched, a cabdriver got out, reached for the suitcases, and carried them to the back of the vehicle while Harandi retrieved more luggage. It took several minutes for all of it to be stored in the taxi’s trunk and backseat. Adam had already started the car when Harandi got in the front of the cab. Adam let it pull away from the curb and get to the corner. Timing the traffic shrewdly, he made a U-turn and followed.

“He didn’t mention an upcoming trip, but I’m guessing the good professor has an international flight in mind,” Jaid said. Adrenaline was firing through her veins. She reached for her cell. Dialed a familiar number. “Guilty conscience, you think?”

“It would appear so. I’m still trying to figure out what his motivation for the killings would be.” He drove with expertise, keeping a couple cars between them and the cab.

“Hopefully, we’re going to get the chance to ask him. Assistant Director Hedgelin,” she broke off the conversation when the other man’s voice came on the line. “We’ve got a development regarding Dr. Harandi.” She filled him in on the details as they turned off MacArthur Boulevard onto Arizona.

“And you think he’s headed toward an airport?” The assistant director’s words were sharp with interest.

“With all that baggage it seems a natural assumption.”

“All right. Maintain the tail. Is Shepherd with you?”

At the question, she sent a sidelong look at the silent man beside her. “No. Adam is.”

The long silence that stretched then had her wondering at the other man’s thoughts. Finally, he said, “I need to make some phone calls. I don’t have to tell you how delicate a situation this is. Take no action until I get back to you.” He disconnected.

“Did he order you to hang back and lay low?”

“Pretty much.” Traffic was moving more easily now after making a couple turns along the way. “He said he needed to make some phone calls.”

“To DHS most likely. They seem to be calling the shots as far as Harandi is concerned.” Conversation lagged for a time then. They followed the car onto George Washington Memorial Parkway. She spent the intervening time using her phone to check flights that might connect through to Iran from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles, although from the route Harandi was taking, National appeared to be his destination. It was another ten minutes before he spoke again. “Who watches your son when you’re working?”

“My mother.” She was too engrossed in what she was doing to feel the usual flare of caution when her son’s name was brought up. “I can’t say she’s changed over the years, but Royce has mellowed her edges a bit. I still spend a lot of time running interference. Literally. She’s always had interesting ideas on child rearing.” She fell silent again for several minutes while she read the search results on her phone. “National has the first flight out tonight with a connection to Iran. Eleven fifty-nine P.M. Here’s betting the good professor is getting a one-way ticket.”

“A safe bet,” he murmured.

Traffic to Reagan National was always impossibly congested. They drove until they could see its lights winking in the distance. Jaid looked at her phone, trepidation rearing. She had no idea how long the assistant director would take before getting back to her. If she hadn’t heard from him by the time they hit the airport, she was going to keep the professor in her sights. But without a go-ahead from her superior, she didn’t dare do more than that.

Adam took the turn to the airport. The heavy rumble of a jet was heard overhead, sounding frighteningly close. She hated using this airport herself. Its approach followed the Potomac, and she always felt like they were going to end up in the river when they landed. But she wasn’t an easy flier in any circumstances. Luckily, she wasn’t called on to do it often.