Promises in the Dark (23 page)

Zane was about to say something—or better yet, throw something at the man who’d annoyed the hell out of him for the past several hours—when he caught Doc J out of the corner of his eye; he was staring toward the road, but there was no sign of approaching visitors.

Then, about a minute later, a car pulled off the road and into the compound, carrying two soldiers. Or locals dressed as soldiers. Wouldn’t matter, as both groups tended to use assault rifles, and to use them with an alarming regularity.

“I’ll handle it,” Doc J said, to both Zane and Tristan, then walked to the car. Zane glanced quickly over his shoulder, assuring himself that Olivia was still out of sight.

“They’ve been sniffing around more than usual lately, looking for the missionaries.” Tristan’s lips barely moved as he spoke, his expression unconcerned. It was all for show, of course, and Zane took the same stance. “They know we’re more than likely to help a family like that.”

“Will they search?”

“They know they’ll have to come in with guns and a show of force before Doc J would even think about it. They respect the man—as much as they respect anyone. But holding them off for much longer isn’t going to happen.”

Zane took a sip of the beer Tristan had handed him as the time stretched endlessly. In Zane’s book, patience had never been a virtue.

Finally, Doc J walked away from the soldiers, who hesitated a little too long before getting in their car and driving off.

“What’s up?” Tristan asked.

Doc J looked grim. “There’s talk of a reward offered for the capture of an American doctor. What better place to look for her than a clinic?”

“I didn’t think anything traveled that fast around here,” Zane muttered.

“You’d be surprised how fast when it involves money. And from what I’m hearing, this is serious money,” Doc J said with a shake of his head. “And since there’s also money involved for catching Julia and her family, they’re not leaving many stones unturned.”

“And we’ve got all the elements for the perfect storm headed our way,” Tristan finished, then took a slug of his beer. “Clear enough for you, squid?”

“Yeah, I’m clear.” Since both of his brothers were Army, Zane was more than used to hearing insults that were really more a show of competitive camaraderie than anything negative. “Did they mention DMH?”

Doc J shook his head no, but DMH had the kind of money to throw behind a bounty like this one. Zane wondered if he and Liv been tracked here. DMH tended to send in their men individually. One could easily be lurking near—he needed to make sure Liv stayed the hell out of sight.

Needed to get her the hell out of this place. “They didn’t mention me, but DMH knows she’s traveling with an American military man. I have to get Olivia to Freetown now.”

Tristan looked at Doc J, who shook his head.

“No car available until Tristan gets back from his scheduled visit to the nearest village. The supplies he’s going to carry today are lifesaving. The village is on the verge of a typhoid epidemic—saving them saves us as well. Besides they’re watching. Leaving now is like sending a beacon.”

Zane fought the urge to pace. He didn’t like being trapped here but he’d been just as complicit as Olivia in that happening.

Doc J put a hand on his shoulder. “Taking you all out now is asking for trouble. Those soldiers will be hanging around for a bit. Waiting a couple of hours, letting them think we’re doing business as usual will be to all our benefit. Besides, you fit right in—they think you’re another one of my recruits.”

“That’s actually the best goddamned news I’ve heard today,” Zane said, and Tristan clinked the neck of his bottle with Zane’s before they both drained their beers in a small show of solidarity.

Seemed like a long time ago. She kept forgetting she barely knew him.

She put her hands up to hold the towel in place but he was right there, hands on her shoulders, his big body hovering over hers.

He could easily overpower her—this was more of a power play, she knew; what she didn’t understand was, why.

His look was predatory, reeked of distrust, and she forced herself to remain calm. She’d done nothing wrong. “What’s going on, Cael?”

He won’t hurt you. He will not hurt you
…

There was steel in his bearing, and his words were ground out. “Tell me about your involvement with DMH.”

“What are you talking about?”

Instead of answering, he took her by the upper arm and walked with her out to the living room and into the small kitchen. Grabbed a chair and shoved it at her. “Sit.”

She did. He reached into his pocket and pulled out handcuffs, used them to bind her hands behind her, around the back of the chair.

This was humiliating. Scary.

There was no way out. The one man who she thought believed her, replaced by the man who now looked at her with complete distrust.

Would he question her for hours, forcing her to try to remember anything and everything about Dale, a man she now realized she’d barely known?

He pulled her head back with a hand twisted in her hair, his face so close to hers. “Now’s your chance, Vivi; tell me the truth.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been telling you the truth.”

“We dusted your house for fingerprints. We found yours, of course, and your dad’s. And more.”

“Of course—my house was broken into,” she said. “You were the one who told me that.”

“Those men didn’t go into your refrigerator. Or your bathroom,” he said. “The fingerprints we found belonged to a man named Ace. One of DMH’s major players. His fingerprints were also on your headboard.”

Her cheeks heated with shame and anger. “If I’d literally been in bed with a member of DMH, I think I would’ve known.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed her a picture on the screen. “Who’s this, Vivi?”

“That’s Dale.”

He smiled, but it was not a friendly smile at all. “This is Ace—that DMH major player I mentioned. So I guess you were in bed with a terrorist after all. The only thing left to find out is whether or not you knew it.”

She stared at the picture of Dale as everything came together in her mind. No way, no way, no
freakin
’ way. The man shunned cell phones and never checked his e-mails.

Dale Robbins noted technology. But this other man …

Dale, or Ace, or whoever the hell he was, had been the only other person inside her house since her father had died, till yesterday. The only one. Unless she’d been hacked, but she would’ve been able to detect that. What she wouldn’t have known was if someone had simply copied the program off her computer. “Dale—Ace—stole the program from me.”

“So, your boyfriend works for the group who’s rumored to have stolen your software. Or maybe
stolen
isn’t the right word? Maybe you offered it to them after your father died.”

“I didn’t.”

“Suppose I told you that we’ve got him in custody and he says you’re part of DMH.”

“He’s lying,” she said flatly. “If you’ve got him, that means you’re close to stopping DMH, and maybe this nightmare will end.”

“Unless DMH rescues you.”

She swallowed hard, tried to read him and failed. “I was just trying to do the right thing—I couldn’t pay InLine back, so I needed to fix my father’s program. I had no idea it was copied.”

Caleb leaned in predatorily, lowered his voice to a growl. “Your story about poor, little, innocent Vivienne is wearing thin.”

“Why would I sell a program to terrorists?”

“Because, in the end, maybe your father’s distrust of his own country made you vulnerable to DMH’s reach. Maybe Ace whispered things in your ear, convinced you to help him. Maybe the sex wasn’t really bad at all … maybe you liked it. Begged for it.”

“I didn’t.” Tears rose in her eyes; her throat was so tight it felt as though it was scalded. “I didn’t know who Dale was. I thought he was an archeology professor. We never talked about my father’s jobs, or mine. I never saw him near my computers. I never saw him do more with technology than check his phone messages.”

“I’m supposed to believe that story? No one’s that innocent.”

“I was. And I was lonely. You’re the first man I’ve been more than remotely interested in.”

He jerked back, his breath coming out in a hiss. “Don’t.”

“It’s true.” It was. And if she couldn’t convince him, what would happen to her?

What would happen to her anyway? And the joke was still on her, because there would be no one around who would care about that either.

He wanted to hear something that would confirm his suspicions about her. Wanted to get everything out of her, wring her dry, until she was slack and weeping. She would not give him what he wanted. He was looking for a confession—a weakness.

She would give him nothing. If he wanted to break the fragile strands of trust between them, he could do it with one harsh word. And he did—with too many for her to count. He knew her entire life story, in far more detail than she cared to remember, which reminded her that the government had indeed been following her family since her father’s firing.

“Please, I don’t want to do this,” she said, but Caleb didn’t let up for a long while. Questioned her about her early years, repeated facts about her life back to her to wear her down, trip her up, exhaust her mentally—about her in fifth grade, still wearing pigtails, and again when she was ten, and then twelve, when her father lost his job and her mother left … the memories rushing back to her with a startling clarity, as if her heart was ripping open.

She was so exposed, in more ways than one.

“In ninth grade, you had a chance to leave your father. To find something better, but you didn’t. Maybe you’ve got more conspiracy theorist in you than you care to admit.”

Ninth grade. She’d dyed her hair for the first time that year—pink stripes—and she’d gotten an immediate suspension and an order to dye it back to her blond color. Her mom was long gone, and her father remained at home working on the next big thing. He’d isolated himself, his unemployment had run out and he’d applied for welfare for them, which wasn’t nearly enough to cover expenses, but he refused to move.

Her face was wet. Despite her refusal to break down, her body had turned traitor, emotions overflowed, and when she opened her mouth, to her horror a sob escaped.

What was she guilty of? Would they go through all of this if she was innocent?

But she was. “You can’t blame me for my father’s choices. You can’t blame me for something Dad did—for who he was. You have to believe I had nothing to do with this. You have to believe me, Cael. You just have to. Please. I’m so tired of trying to go it alone, you have no idea.”

“And so you found a group to take you under their wing, to make you a part of their family.” He spat the last word, and she shook her head.

“No!”

“You’ve turned the FBI down twice—once right after your father died. The second time, two months ago.”

“Yes, because—”

“You don’t trust the government. Makes you a perfect fit for DMH.”

It did, for sure. Her skin crawled at the thought that she’d literally been in bed with a terrorist. “I am not part of DMH. Give me a lie detector test. Throw me in jail. My story won’t change.”

“Because you’re loyal.”

She laughed then, a sharp, biting sound. “I was once. I won’t make that mistake again—at least not easily. When I was fourteen, a social worker came by the house. The school had given her reports that my father refused to come in for parent-teacher conferences. I was failing out of school because my father was retreating deeper into his theories, his paranoia, leaving me to fend for myself. I was working a paper route until I was able to work in a small shop near our house, where the owner was willing to pay me under the table. I didn’t have time for school—I only knew that Dad was fading and I needed to take care of myself, and help him. That woman came into our house and acted like she knew exactly what I was feeling, said to me,
Honey, I can make sure you get put in a good home—a neat, clean house where you have someone who cares about you
.” She paused. “You asked why I stayed. It was because I was too loyal to leave him. Stupidly loyal. I risked everything for someone who would never have done the same for me. And I won’t make that mistake again. Ever.”

It came out more fiercely than she intended, and it hurt to say it, to utter those words, to admit that the isolation that had taken hold of her father still had her in its grips. Her breathing was harsh and tears ran down her cheeks, but she was no longer sad. The anger had taken hold and if she’d been free from the handcuffs, she’d be kicking and punching and fighting for her life right now.

Caleb stared at her, his expression still unreadable. “If you’re fucking with me …”

“I know who I am, what I’ve done. There’s nothing you can do to me that’s going to make me tell you anything but the truth. And you’ve heard that already. I’m done proving myself to you. I don’t owe you anything.”

He was on her in seconds. “You damned right you owe me if you’re involved with DMH. They’re after my brother.”

“I have nothing to do with that. I would never …” Her voice broke. She didn’t want it to, wanted to stay strong, not weep like some shrinking violet. “If you don’t believe me, that would be the worst. I don’t care what everyone else thinks. I know how it looks. But I thought you were different. I thought …”

I thought you cared
.

She closed her eyes to stop the tears, and when she opened them again, Cael was half kneeling in front of her.

“You’re here without authorization—my career is on the line for you, Vivi. Do you get that?”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

He dropped to his knees, stayed there for a long moment in which she felt as if her life as she knew it hung in the balance.

She didn’t want the old life back—and if the new one included jail, or worse …

Finally, he leaned forward, rested his face against her thighs, his breath warm.

His hands came up to cup her hips. And then he looked at her, his voice sounding as raw as hers when he said, “Goddammit, I believe you. I shouldn’t, but I do.”

Relief coursed through her body, replaced quickly by confusion when Cael didn’t release her.

Instead, his hand traced her breast—and she was aware of pushing against his hand, wanting more, not caring that she was still handcuffed, completely at his mercy.

It didn’t matter, especially not when his mouth captured hers and then pulled back a long moment later.

“Vivi.” His voice was thick, husky, unrecognizable from the man who’d been so in control before this. He was unraveling, taking her along for the ride. “I’m risking everything here.”

His hand trailed the enticing curve of a breast—she wasn’t big at all, but he looked at her breasts like they were perfect. Her nipples were taut through the thin towel and his hand sought the tender flesh inside the barrier.

When his fingers closed around a nipple, she started. She wasn’t used to this kind of attention, the slow savor of her body, and he’d be the one to make it all better for her, at least for tonight. And then he was pulling the towel open, exposing her. Her face flushed, but there was a swell of confidence upon seeing the desire, plain and clear, in his eyes.

His mouth sought a nipple, tugged it between his teeth, rasped it with his tongue, and she arched toward him, the handcuffs jangling as she did so.

The sound appeared to bring him back to earth. He pulled his face away and cursed roughly. Pulled the towel back around her even as she told him, “No. Don’t stop. Don’t you dare stop now. I’m risking everything too, Cael.
Everything
.”

He didn’t react, looked like he was made of stone, except she heard him suck in a harsh breath when she said, “I want you to take me. Right now.”

“Don’t you say that unless you mean it. I already warned you not to fuck with me.”

“I want to take it as far as we can go. Make me not scared.”

“I’m the one who made you scared in the first place. Christ, I just handcuffed you to a chair and accused you of horrible things.”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“I noticed. Why is that? Because most people are.”

“How can I be scared of someone who saved my life, twice. Someone who looks at me the way you are right now.” She glanced down, and saw the erection straining his pants.

“Once we start …”

“I’m not going to want to stop,” she finished. “Please.”

Dale had stripped her of her virginity—of everything, she realized now. And after that, she shouldn’t want to trust anyone—ever. But Caleb, she felt safe with him now … and hot, and more than a little bit wicked. “There’s been no one for so long … there’s been no one ever like you.”