Matt—The Callahan Brothers (Brazos Bend Book 2) (3 page)

“Probably not,” Torie agreed, rather reluctantly. A part of her—okay, more than one part of her—wouldn’t mind taking him up on his blatant invitation. She’d always dreamed of being a Bond girl. Honey Ryder. Mary Goodnight. Not Pussy Galore, though. That name had always struck her as way too crass.

In order to withstand temptation, she turned to business. “What I have to offer are photographs of Collin Marlow going at it with another woman as another boat pulls up and a man shoots him and dumps him into the lagoon.”

“Marlow is dead?”

She closed her eyes. The image of Marlow’s bloody body going over the side of the boat was burned into her brain. “I don’t know how he could have survived.”

“And you have photos of the murder.”

“Yes.”

“Who was the shooter?”

“I haven’t a clue. All I know is that one minute I’m watching Collin Marlow make love to another woman and the next minute there are bullets spitting the sand at my feet.”

Matt took a Hershey’s bar from a backpack and handed it over. “Maybe you’d best start at the beginning. How did you get tangled up with Marlow in the first place?”

“Does it really matter? Do we have to talk about it?”

“It could help me save your life.”

Okay, that was a good reason. Torie took a seat and tore into the candy bar. She needed chocolate. “You probably know that Marlow Pharmaceuticals has been trying to purchase Applied Genetics Research.

He nodded. “Your father said that AGR is your baby and that you don’t want to sell.”

“It’d be a stupid move,” Torie said, a touch of bitterness in her voice as she recalled the argument she’d had with Helen. “AGR is doing fine financially and the scientists have total autonomy. When we turned down their offers, Collin came to negotiate personally and that’s when ... well ...”

“He turned on the charm.”

Poor naive Helen hadn’t stood a chance. “I was a sucker. He romanced me and I fell for it.”

“Did you tell him about the mutation thing?”

Mutation thing? What mutation thing? The biological weapon thing he’d mentioned?

Judging by the look on Matt Callahan’s face, whatever it was wasn’t good.
Oh, Helen. What have you gotten messed up in?

Knowing her sister, Torie made an educated guess. “I might have mentioned it.”

“We need to see what else or who else shows up in those pictures.” Callahan stretched out beside her, angling his long legs away so that they didn’t dangle over the ledge.

“Why would Gleaming Way kill Collin?”

“Terrorists never need an excuse to kill, but the photos might give us a clue.”

Torie nodded, grateful she’d taken some close-up shots of the faces on board that boat. She’d been right about Marlow. He’d left her unsettled the one time she’d met him. When Helen had called with news of her engagement, Torie’s instincts had gone on high alert. She’d accepted her sister’s invitation to visit for the weekend, to get to know Collin better and see for herself that he was the Mr. Wonderful Helen believed him to be. Wanting time to talk to her twin before Lover Boy’s scheduled visit, she’d shown up two days early only to find that Helen had done the unimaginable and taken a few days away from her research to go to Rio to buy a wedding gown.

“Go through it again,” Callahan instructed. “Tell me everything that happened. Your father understood that Marlow intended to visit you this weekend, arriving this afternoon.”

Torie let out a long, heavy sigh. “That was the plan. Collin said he’d be here shortly before suppertime. So I decided to take an R & R day. I hiked over to the lagoon and swam a bit, and I was lying on the beach reading when I heard the boat enter the lagoon. I was alone and I thought I should be cautious, so I gathered up my stuff and stepped into the trees. When I recognized Collin’s yacht,
Windseeker,
I was surprised.”

“You didn’t show yourself? And you hung around and watched?”

“I was surprised to see the boat so early and on the wrong side of the island.”

“Then what happened?”

“A man and woman walked out on deck. I thought they intended to swim, but then they got distracted with each other. When I realized just who was burying his face in that woman’s breasts, I got angry. I was careless. I didn’t pay any attention to the other boat when it approached, not until I saw Collin get shot.”

“Did he kill the woman, too?”

“I don’t know. I remember her screaming, but then the shooting started at me... .”

“So the gunmen came from the second boat?”

“I think so, yes. But honestly, I can’t be certain.”

“And you didn’t recognize the man who shot your fiancé?”

“Please don’t call him that.” Torie winced. “No, I’ve never seen that man before in my life. That much I do know.”

“Well, the pictures will tell the tale.” Matt stared up at the hole in the rocks. “Here’s the problem, Helen. Marlow’s been suspected of having dealings Gleaming Way. If they’re responsible for his murder, and if the photos you took can in any way betray information about that group, they won’t stop looking for you. They’ll call in reinforcements from the mainland, and they’ll have this island covered by dark.”

“That’s not good.”

“No, it’s not.” He frowned and rubbed the back of his neck. “You know, I could be home working in my vineyard right now. We’ll have our first harvest in August. It’s gonna chap my ass if I die before I get to pick my grapes. We need the camera. Tell me where it is and I’ll—”

“We don’t need the camera,” she interrupted. “I have the memory card. I tossed it into the brush just before we jumped into the water.”

“Good girl. It’s out of sight?”

“I think so. I barely had time to toss it before you had us in the water. I aimed for that bush with red flowers and lots of foliage on it, so unless someone saw me throw it, it should be safe enough. But if someone saw me, well, then we wouldn’t be safe.” She paused a moment, then said, “We are safe, right?”

“Yeah. I think so. For now, anyway.” Agent Callahan grabbed a handful of pebbles from the ledge and began tossing them one by one into the pool.

Torie watched circles of ripples expand across the water and reflected on the events of the day and her companion’s observation. She feared he was right. Even if the gunman had to send to the mainland for reinforcements, a fast boat could get them here in two hours. Or they could helicopter in like most visitors. “Maybe we shouldn’t wait for dark.”

“It’s a risk either way.”

“Can’t you send for reinforcements?”

“This was a favor for your father, not an operation. I’m flying solo here.”

She eyed his stash in the corner. “No goodies from Q to help us out of this bind?”

He stared at her for a long moment, then replied in a dry tone, “I’m afraid I didn’t have time to run by Q Branch before I left.”

So, touchy about JB, was he? She gave a little smile and said, “Too bad. What’s the plan to get us off the island?”

“That’s a really good question, Dr. Bradshaw. I have a Zodiac stashed on the other side of the island. The problem with that is if they spot us, we’ll be sitting ducks on the water. You have some high-powered craft in your little marina. We couldn’t outrun them in the Zodiac.”

“So the trick would be to escape without being noticed. Definitely better chances for that after dark.”

They both took a moment to think the process through, then Matt shook his head. “I don’t like it. It gives them too much time to prepare. If I’m right about who and what these men are, they’ll have a lot of resources within easy reach. This is a small island. They can turn it into a fortress in hours.” He turned his head and pinned her with a laser gaze. “How many of your people are on the island today? I saw a crowd leave yesterday.”

She nodded. “There’s a symposium in San Francisco that all of the scientists are attending.” Helen had been scheduled to speak, but she canceled when Collin said he was coming to visit. “The housekeeper and her husband live in a cottage at the compound. The rest of the help is day help who come over from the mainland.”

“That’s what ... three miles away?”

“About.”

“Think you could swim that distance?”

Torie shuddered. “Not in those waters. Sharks. Lots and lots of sharks. I’ll take my chances with the Zodiac.”

Callahan bent one leg and clasped his arms around his knee, drawing Torie’s gaze to his muscular legs. Being little herself, she’d never cared for big, muscular men. They intimidated her. Made her feel less than safe.

This man was different. Once she’d gotten past those first terrifying moments when he’d grabbed her, she’d felt safe in his arms. Felt safe even when he carried her with his hand on her butt. Even when he’d kissed her. And Callahan was a big man. Six two at least, maybe taller. Lean, but not lanky, he moved with strength and speed, and he was gorgeous to look at. Candy for the eyes. Maybe when they left the cenote he’d want to carry her again. She wouldn’t mind his putting his hands on her ... putting his mouth on her ... putting his—

Whoa. What was the matter with her? This was not the time to be thinking about sex.

Yeah, well. The way things are shaping up, you might not have another chance to think about it, much less do it.

It was the thought of sharks that turned her mind in this direction. She really, really hated sharks, so she’d shied away from thinking about them, but that took her naturally to other predators, which made her think of men, which led to thinking about one man. Looking at this man. And looking at this man, she naturally thought of sex. Any woman would.

“I think we’d better go for it,” he declared.

“What?” Torie choked. Had she said it out loud?

“The numbers are on our side now. If we wait much longer, it could be us against an army. I don’t think we can wait for dark.”

“To escape.”

“Yeah.”

Okay. All right. Not sex. Possible suicide. Oh, she really didn’t want to die. “So, what, we’re going to take one of the boats? The Donzi is the fastest.”

“They’ll surely have a guard on the boats.”

“So we’ll hike across the island to your Zodiac?”

“That’ll take too much time.”

No boat. No inflatable craft. What, then? “I’m not swimming!”

“No.” He flashed a daredevil’s smile and said, “I think we should fly.”

She blinked twice. “The helicopter? You’re gonna steal the helicopter?”

“That depends. Can you fly it?”

“Me? No!”

“Good. Then they won’t be expecting you to head for the copter. I think it’s our best bet.” He rolled to his feet, then extended a hand down to her. “You game?”

“Now? You want to go right now?”

“Sooner the better. I imagine they’re still pushing inland looking for you. Better make our move before they double back.”

Torie’s stomach took a nervous roll. She put her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. But when she looked at the placid pool before her, the idea of getting wet again, of swimming through the tunnel and surfacing out in the open, weighted her feet like cement boots. “Maybe we could just stay here,” she babbled. “It’s a great hiding place. I don’t have a problem waiting them out. You won’t believe the patience I have when I need it. When they don’t find me, maybe they’ll think I tried to swim out and sharks got me.”

“If they were run-of-the-mill drug runners, I’d agree with you, Doc. But with these men ... the stakes here are too high. They’ll keep looking until they find you—unless you bring them down first.”

Torie closed her eyes. “You know, all I wanted to do today was to relax. Work on my tan. Read about Lizzy and Mr. Darcy again.”

He flashed a sizzling smile. “Jane Austen and James Bond. I have to admit, Ms. Bradshaw, you’re not at all what I expected to find in a molecular geneticist and biochemist.”

She gave her head a toss. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It’s meant as one.” He gave her a slow once-over, and the light in his eyes warmed. “Intelligent women appeal to me. Beautiful intelligent women are difficult to resist. Beautiful intelligent women who are also down-to-earth truly float my boat. If we get out of this situation alive, maybe we could make your daddy happy and have a drink, go to dinner.”

“You mean, like a date?”

“Yeah. Like a date. Unless you need time to mourn your—”

“Don’t! The fact that he’s dead doesn’t mean I can’t despise him.”

“True.”

Torie’s pulse sped up. “What do you think our chances are of getting off this island alive?”

“Oh, fifty-fifty. That’s if we leave this cenote in the next few minutes.”

Fifty-fifty. She’d have preferred better odds, she decided as she watched Matt begin gathering up his kit, but she guessed she could live with these. Guessed she’d have to.

A date. She wouldn’t mind going out to dinner with a spy. This spy. In a way, their jobs had something in common. They’d have something to talk about. Except he thought she was Helen. He was an acquaintance of her father’s. No way would he keep a date with her if the odds fell in their favor.