Diamonds Are Truly Forever: An Agent Ex Novel 2 (6 page)

Jack was joking about killing people, of course he was. He was always joking.

Staci sighed.
Jack. It’s so hard to believe you’re gone.

After Jack’s death, his widow, Willow, moved from Seattle, across Washington State, to a small town. Willow said she wanted to go somewhere safe, somewhere that nothing sinister or adventurous ever happened.

Staci swallowed a lump. She and Willow weren’t as close as they used to be. Staci felt too guilty about what had happened to Jack.

Whether it was tortured out of her or not, she’d told Beto the area where Jack and Drew were headed that fateful night. Why hadn’t she lied? Made something up?

Beto had called head drug lord Jose Carlos Meano and told him where to find them. One of Meano’s men tossed a bomb into the room. Drew escaped and was hospitalized. Jack was blown up.

Staci’s hands trembled. She put her head in her hand, forcing her thoughts back to mundane matters at hand. Anything to forget.

She wondered whether Drew expected her to call her lawyer and temporarily put a stop to the divorce proceedings. She glanced at a James Bond calendar on the wall and checked the date.

James Bond calendar. Nice, Drew. Very tongue-in-cheek.

Less than two weeks until the court appointment when they were supposed to finalize things.

She drummed her fingers on the table. What were the odds this would all be wrapped up by then so they could still get their divorce as scheduled? The thought of more legal fees made her cringe. Emmett and the US government better be ready to pony them up.

In the meantime, she was stuck in this dump. She looked around the room. She wasn’t his maid, but she couldn’t live in this disaster zone. Drew wasn’t usually this messy. Messy, yes. This messy, no. What had gotten into him? She hardly dared to think he was distraught over her. Then again, he had shown up wearing her favorite shirt.

She frowned and shook her head.
No way.

She stood, ready to go upstairs and change into something more comfortable before tackling the heavy picking up and cleaning. Her feet were killing her and her belt was beginning to constrict like a corset. She pulled the belt off and slung it over her shoulder. She’d just slipped her shoes off and bent to pick them up when a knock on the door nearly gave her a heart attack.

Bevilacqua!

She froze and looked around for a weapon.

Oh, fine, Drew hasn’t shown me where any of his real spy gizmos are. It’s probably too much to hope he really does have a bulletproof invisible wall.

The belt in her hand was high quality and had a nice buckle. Not quite heavy enough to do much damage. Someone with more muscles than she had could probably use it to strangle another person with. She didn’t plan on getting that close to one of the Bevil’s henchmen. Not ever again. She’d defy Drew and jump out a window rather than let that happen.

Before she could develop a fully formed self-defense-and-escape plan, the doorbell chimed. And chimed. And chimed.

Wait a minute—Bevilacqua wouldn’t ring the doorbell. Come to think of it, he wouldn’t knock, either. He’d just shoot his way in.

Relieved, Staci inhaled deeply. New plan—ignore whoever it was and they’d go away. Staci started toward the stairs just as her uninvited doorbell ringer began an all-out assault, adding a series of door-shaking knocks to his unmusical repertoire. She froze.

Burglars!

What a crappy day. First being shot at and now this. Daytime burglars used this tactic to make sure no one was home before they broke in. She had to defend her territory and herself. Besides, she wanted her half of that monster TV in the living room. Between the pounding and her panic, she couldn’t think straight. How to stop them?

Yell at them to go away? Throw her sharp, heeled shoes at the door? Bash them with her belt buckle if they broke through? How many was she up against?

Drew would know what to do. Why wasn’t he here!

She tiptoed to the door, and peeked out the peephole while deciding her next course of action just as the urban assault on her door stopped.

Her stepdad stood on the stoop, holding a box of some kind. He was just turning to leave.

Staci let out a heavy breath and frowned, trying to calm her nerves. It was only Sam. Without thinking, she threw open the door to stop him. “Sam?”

He froze, looking confused, going pale as recognition crossed his face. “Staci? What are
you
doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you!” She was stunned to see him. He’d never just dropped by before. “What are you doing here, hammering our doorbell like a madman?” She studied him. “I must’ve really startled you. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“Just embarrassed by my bad behavior.” Sam grinned sheepishly. “
Your
doorbell? I thought this was Drew’s place and you were at the house?”

She didn’t reply.

He held the box out toward her. “Sorry to scare you. I thought Drew was ignoring me on purpose to get me to go away.”

He cleared his throat and looked apologetic. “Your mom’s been at me to return this stuff to him. Says I’ve had it way too long. Now that Drew’s no longer going to be part of the family…”

Staci stared at the box. She recognized some of Drew’s tools and a couple of movies and video games.

Sam was a notorious borrower. And totally irresponsible about returning things.

Her next awful thought stopped her cold. Was she the last to know about Drew’s condo? She frowned. “How did you know he’s moved back and lives here?”

“I just found out.” Sam looked sheepish. “Mind if I come in and set this down?”

She moved out of the way to let him in and pointed to the kitchen table. “Go ahead and set it there.”

He nodded. “I stopped by Drew’s parents’ house first. I thought that’s where you said he was staying. His mom pointed me this way.

“She barely had time to talk to me, too busy packing. His folks are heading out on a Caribbean cruise tomorrow. Nothing stops those two from their vacations. They’ll be gone several weeks.”

That sounded exactly like Drew’s parents. Staci nodded, looking at her silver-haired stepfather. She guessed you could call Sam good looking for an older man, or maybe distinguished. Tall, slender, and well groomed, he’d stayed in decent shape. But Staci always found him a bit too slick for her tastes, and way too much of an engineer. He was dressed casually in dark jeans, a polo shirt, and black tennis shoes.

“Shouldn’t you be at work?” she asked.

“Taking a long, late lunch today to run some errands. Been putting in a lot of extra hours lately.” Sam set the box down and surveyed the surroundings.

She felt her face go warm. “Excuse the mess! I just got here and was about to change and start cleaning up. Drew isn’t much of a bachelor.”

Sam cocked his head and studied her. “Just got here? Cleaning up after him? What’s this all about? Do you mean to say you’re back with him?”

She froze. “Yes. Just.”

Her face became so warm she was sure she was blushing for real now. Lying always did that to her.

“But why aren’t you at the house?” He looked rightfully confused.

She gulped. “We … we…” She bit her lip. Her mind went blank. Why hadn’t Drew told her what to say rather than joking around?

“We thought we’d stay here for a while before we move Drew back. A change of scenery. Neutral territory. No bad memories. That sort of thing.” She nodded, feeling her face grow warmer.

“Drew’s already paid the rent this month. We may as well get some use out of the place.” She forced a smile. The lie hadn’t exactly rolled off her tongue. Nor did the condo look like the ideal spot for a romantic reunion.

Sam gave her a pitying look and came over and gave her a hug. She accepted it stiffly. Sam’s hugs always felt a bit more like a feeling-up than strictly platonic comfort. What did her mother see in the man? Staci pulled away.

Sam frowned down at her. “Don’t take this wrong.” He looked as if he was measuring his words for a fatherly lecture.

Staci hated it when he tried to go parental on her. Sam was not her father. Never would be, never mind how he’d swooped in and assumed her late father’s wife and life.

Sam had been her father’s best friend, his confirmed-bachelor buddy who often went on family camping and fishing trips with them when Staci was young. After her father died, he married her mother, which gave Staci the creeps. Had Sam been waiting for his opportunity all that time? Had something more been going on between those two behind her father’s back all those years?

Her mother claimed it was their mutual love of her father and sense of loss that brought her and Sam together. Staci wasn’t so sure she believed her.

She clenched her teeth to keep from saying something she shouldn’t.

“You know your mom and I want you to be happy,” Sam continued. “But leopards don’t change their spots, honey.”

Now he has to go patronizing on me, too?
She worked at not frowning.

“Whatever Drew’s promised you about changing may sound sincere now, but—”

“He is sincere!”
About reconciling until he catches the sniper.
But at this point Staci would have contradicted anything Sam said. She lifted her chin. “He quit the job he loved just to prove it to me. He’s promised to be home more so we can work out our issues.”

There! She sounded darn convincing and defensive on Drew’s behalf. It wasn’t hard to get her hackles up around Sam. “How could I not give him another chance?”

As if Drew would ever
really
quit the Agency.
Still, even playacting as if he had, her voice went involuntarily soft and her eyes got misty.

Sam raised a brow. “So he’s unemployed now?”

Sam
would
think the worst. Everything was money with him.

Staci stood up straighter. “Of course not! He has a new job.”

“Really?” Sam still sounded as if he was trying to play concerned father looking out for her welfare. “Where? Doing what?”

Staci tried hard not to look wild-eyed and as panicked as she felt. What was up with Sam’s sudden inquisitive nature? Sir Walter Scott had it right about tangled webs and deception. No wonder she hated the spying life. She had absolutely no idea what Drew’s cover job was. She punted. “I’ll let him tell you all about it himself later.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed as if he was suspicious of something. “Does your mother know about this sudden reconciliation of yours?”

“No!” Staci said a little too loudly. Her heart pounded. “No,” she said more quietly. “I haven’t had a chance to tell her yet. As I said, it only just happened. You have to promise me you won’t tell her first. She’ll never forgive me if she isn’t the first to know.”

Sam sighed. “I’m with you there. We don’t want Linda going postal.”

“So you promise?”

“It won’t be easy—”

“Sam!”

He laughed and nodded. “Okay, you have my word.” He looked around again. “Where
is
Drew? Already working this mystery job?”

“Getting our kitchen window at the house fixed.” The words just slipped out. She could have kicked herself.

“Broken window?” Sam frowned. “What happened?”

Darn, now she was going to have to make something up. She shrugged, noncommittally, thinking frantically. She remembered the bullet buzzing by her head and the sound of the lawn mower next door.

“We’re not sure. The neighbor was mowing.” She hesitated. “We
think
he threw a rock. I was standing by the pantry when the window shattered. I heard a buzz as something whizzed past me. It hit the pantry door so hard it put a bullet-size hole in it.” She shuddered.

Just then her cell phone rang. Saved by the bell, or in this case, the theme from
Get Smart.
Her phone was in her purse on the counter. She cut Sam off before he could ask another question. “That’s probably him now.”

She raced to her purse to get it. When she pulled it out and looked, the caller ID registered it was from a restricted number, which might very well be Drew. “Excuse me,” she said to Sam as she answered the call.

“Hey, stranger! You’re a tough one to track down.”

“Mandy?” Staci held up a finger to Sam and pointed toward the stairs, mouthing she’d be right back. “What are you doing calling from a blocked number?”

“I’m at Kelly’s. My cell died. I had to use her landline. She has a blocked number. Some phobia about calling stores and people knowing who she is.”

Staci crossed the room and went to the top of the stairs where she could speak in private.

“I wondered if you want to do dinner and a movie tonight?”

“I’d love to, believe me. But my life got suddenly complicated.” And she was under temporary house arrest. Staci paused. “I have too much going on.” Which was the absolute truth.