Touch of Betrayal, A (22 page)

“When?”

“Don’t know, but Chad the Demon is the murderer. You have to go away, Mitch. Between Pierce, Adam, and Annie, I’m sure they can get you a new identity, move you completely off the grid and away from that monster.” He wasn’t listening to me, and his eyes had glazed over with a sheen of stubbornness.

“Not an option. I’m the only thing standing between you and… you’re sure it’s Burr that’s going to kill me?” His tone was so matter-of-fact, he could have been asking me if I’d done the laundry.

My anxiety spiked another notch. “As sure as my fingertips ever are. I got three images and they all—”

Adam slammed into the kitchen, two strides brought him in front of Mitch, and he leaned in. “What the hell happened? You blocked me from getting Everly out of there.”

Mitch didn’t blink. “My handler crashed the party. I protected Everly. If he’d suspected anything, she’d be with
him
right now instead of here. Safe. No way could I let him know you were our backup, or that we even had backup.”

Adam snarled deep in his throat. I’d never heard a sound like that come from my surrogate brother, and a shot of fear cascaded down my back. “You sound like Pierce on a bad day.”

 
Adam caught my chin in his hand and tipped my face up. “You okay? Scared the shit out of me watching that scene at the airport.”

Annie popped open a fresh can of soda and set it on the table in front of me, then planted her hands on her hips. “Start at the beginning, and make it fast because I have to get Maddie in fifteen minutes. Adam, help yourself to a drink.”

Mitch scraped his chair back and stood. “I’ll get the drinks. Whiskey or soda, Adam?”

“Whiskey. And where the hell is Pierce, Annie?” Adam’s voice vibrated with barely checked anger.

I focused on emptying a second can of soda into my glass. Not that I wasn’t wondering about Pierce’s activities myself, but nothing I had to say would improve the silence.

“Here.” Pierce barked the single word, and everyone swiveled to stare. He stood in the archway between the kitchen and family room. Wet. A towel was slung around his neck, and a pair of black swim trunks rode low on his hips.

My vision started to cloud. No man should be allowed to give a woman an orgasm by simply strolling into a room.

Mitch sputtered, smacking the bottle of Jameson’s on the counter. “
Now
you show up? Had a nice swim, did you?”

“Yeah. Cleared my head.” Pierce leveled his gaze on Mitch, yanked out a chair, sat, and then took a long swallow of my Diet Coke.

I jerked the glass out of his hand. “Mine.” No way was I gonna let him start a pissing contest with Mitch.

His eyes sparkled with mischief. It’s damn hard to stay ticked off with a big, sexy leprechaun.

Adam aimed his finger at Pierce. “Stay on topic.”

Pierce rocked back in his chair. “Got ’em.”

I whirled to face him. “Exactly what does that mean?” Excitement and apprehension chased through me, leaving behind a trail of hope liberally mixed with fear. Had he killed a former member of his team? More than one?

Pierce scanned the room, his gaze resting for a nanosecond on everyone, and then he studied me.

A chill whisked along my neck.

“Two names. Two locations. One is local and will be eliminated by morning. The other will be more challenging.” Cool calm emanated from Pierce, and the chill grazing my nape slipped down my spine.

Adam downed his whiskey. “You want me to take this? I can hand the local bastard’s name to HPD.”

“I’ve got it.” Steel threaded Pierce’s words. “But I need to know what else is on the table.”

Mitch sat next to me, scooting his chair close. “Everly and I have to be at dinner with my handler tomorrow night. Seven-thirty.”

“When did he give you a time?” I asked, my mind pulling a blank.

Mitch glanced at me. “Texted me while you were asleep.”

“Whoa,” Adam said. “Back up on that one and start at the beginning.”

Annie shot a look at the wall clock. “You have five minutes, Mitch. Start talking.”

He rattled off the details of our experience at the airport with succinct accuracy, like a detailed police report. Probably learned the skill in spy training class. Banked anger flared in my gut.

Save your anger for later, Everly. Ask questions now.

I knew most of what Mitch shared, but wanted clarification on one point. “So you caught me before I hit the floor?”

“Yeah. The railing on the staircase slowed your fall, and gave me a split second to grab you. Turned out we were lucky and didn’t catch the attention of the passengers swarming around the baggage carousal or any security personnel.”

So why were my spidey senses tingling? “But Chad Burr noticed.”

Mitch looked down, threaded his hands together. “Yeah. He was standing right there. I slipped you away when a woman with a stroller passed between Chad and us, and then moved you to the corner seating area. Raised some questions, and that’s why we can’t cancel dinner with him tomorrow. Doesn’t give us much time to work up a plan.”

“Where’s dinner?” Adam asked. “I’ll see if Whitney can help me cover the restaurant since Pierce is going to be…busy.”

“Close by, so we won’t have to make the trip into Honolulu. Burr ordered us to meet him at the Chinese restaurant on Kamehameha Highway.”

TWENTY-TWO

For the second time in two hours
my head swam with images. They weren’t fresh this time, but flew out of the storage cabinets in my brain, filling my video monitor with the scenes I’d picked up from Whitney Boulay. The one in the Chinese restaurant. And the one with the knives.

I cased the inhabitants of Annie’s kitchen with a surreptitious glance. Didn’t look like anyone noticed that my mind had taken a short break.

Annie’d gone to collect Madigan from her play date with the neighbor, Mitch and Adam were chatting about surveillance strategy for our dinner with Chad Burr. No one would notice. I scooted out of my chair and headed for the back door. Mitch had dropped my handbag in the corner when we got back from the airport, and there were things I had to do.

Pierce barred my way, the scent of chlorine and damp skin invading my space. “Going somewhere?”

“No.” I snagged the strap of my handbag, rummaged around, and dug out my cell. “Making a call to Whitney Boulay.”

He waited.

A Tynan Pierce stare never failed to make me talk. The man knew how to work with silence. “Two images came when I shook hands with Detective Boulay. One looked like she was giving me a knife-handling lesson, the other was at the Chinese restaurant. Both were future scenes.” I held his gaze. “You know how rare future images are for me, Pierce?”

He leaned around me to nab an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter. “Only that you don’t mention them often. Anything I have to worry about?”

I shook my head, punching in Whitney’s number. “I don’t think so. I’m going to see if she can meet me early tomorrow to do the knife thing. Seems like the images should play out in the order they appeared, and since we have dinner scheduled with Chad the Demon tomorrow night...”

I lifted my cell to my ear, my gaze trailing up Pierce’s body to his face. How could eating an apple possibly be that sexy? I stifled a hormone surge, and grinned. “You know, you and Whitney would make an amazing couple.”

“I’m not touching that one, Belisama. Gonna shower. Text me with the details of your plans.”

I watched him stroll out of Annie’s kitchen, drawn back to my cell only when I heard Whitney answer. She agreed to meet me at Annie’s at ten the next morning, barring any traffic complications.

“Hey. Guys.” I used my outside voice, and both Adam and Mitch gave me their full attention. “I’m going to shower, and I’ve scheduled some time with Whitney Boulay for knife work. She’ll be here tomorrow morning. Give us some space, huh? This is a woman thing.”

Adam frowned. “You called Boulay?”

“Yeah.”

“Good choice. She grew up at Scotland Yard. There’s no guns in the UK, but there are knives, and Boulay is an expert. Can’t believe you called her, though.”

I gave him my best impish grin. “While you guys were kibitzing over what to do, I took care of it. You can give her the specifics about dinner after we’re done with my practice session.” I focused on Adam. “Is there anything that needs to happen in Annie’s security room before Whitney gets here?”

“Who’s Whitney?” Annie asked, nudging the screen door open with her foot while balancing a diaper bag in the crook of her elbow, and a drowsy Maddie in her arms.

Adam lifted his niece from Annie’s grasp. “Detective. Works with me and is helping with surveillance on Everly.”

Annie gave me a baby powder hug. “You okay?”

“I’ve been better, but yeah. I’m okay. You just change Maddie’s diaper?” I grinned.

“Um-hmm. Guess I smell like baby powder.”

“Yep. I’m chilling for the rest of the night, people. Looks like we’re scheduled to share Chinese with Mitch’s handler, Chad the Demon, tomorrow, so feed me anything except Asian food tonight. And just FYI, since Mitch isn’t telling you, C the D is planning to kill him. The images I got were future, so could be way off, but I think we should all be on alert. Maybe keep Mitch in protective custody.”

With those words clinging to the space in front of me, whatever energy I had left seeped through my toes and into the ground, leaving behind a mess of panic and sadness. But it was worth it to stake my claim as a key member of the team, not just someone to watch over and protect.

 
Annie frowned. “Future images aren’t your best, but I still better have a chat with Mitch. And I’ll take care of switching up the security stuff tomorrow so Detective Boulay doesn’t set off the alarms. ETA?” Annie asked, heading for the stairs.

“Ten o’clock, give or take.” I hustled past the foot of the staircase, and made my way to the promise of a hot shower.

It was cleansing, and I’d drenched myself in the Pikake shower gel and lotion. Smell is supposed to be the most powerful sense, and if it could help me drown out all the negative images from Chad the Demon, I was all for it. I gave up on style, left my hair to dry naturally, and pulled on some ratty lounge pants and a tank top I’d left in the dresser on a previous visit. They felt like home.

I’d made a life-changing decision when I talked with Whitney at the airport, and it nudged my heart with a sad ache. I slid my hands into the side pockets of the frayed lounge pants, and opened to the soft, safe images from Mitch’s home in North Carolina.

And those were the key words: Mitch’s home. Not mine.

He breezed through the bedroom door right on cue. Without knocking. Yeah, I knew that C the D was watching every move both of us made, still… “Annie checked for bugs in the house, and I’m not much on sharing this room with anyone, but if we have to share, you could at least knock.”

Red stained his cheeks. Then they blanched to white. “We’re still married, Sunshine.”

Instead of the thrill that used to zip along my nerves when Mitch called me Sunshine, now it just hollowed my stomach out, leaving a whole lot of empty behind. “Yes, we are. I don’t want to change that. Not yet, but I have decided to relocate here. I’m meeting with a real estate agent tomorrow to look at houses.”

There. I’d said it.

Mitch dropped into one of the club chairs and rubbed his face. Tired shadowed his eyes, and two days of stubble darkened his cheeks. He was usually a clean-shaven kind of guy. “I want us to try and get past this. It’s a lot to ask, I know, but will you hold off on making any final decisions until you’re safe, and have had time to think everything through?”

I sat on the bed, sinking into the security of the down comforter. “I’m not planning to make any rash decisions. Marriage is sacred to me, and I don’t want to ours to end unless I’m sure it’s the only solution. But, Mitch, it won’t ever be the same between us. I’m not going back to North Carolina.”

His forehead creased into deep lines. “Ever? What about your things?”

Things? The man had fallen so far into his covert work that he’d missed a few facts. “I don’t have any things in your house except my clothes, jewelry, and bathroom stuff. I’ll phone Jayne tomorrow and ask her to pack everything up and ship it here.”

He gave me a wide-eyed stare, wire rims slipping down his nose. “What are you going to tell her? She’d shoot me if anything happened to you.”

I didn’t try to stop my smile. “Yep. She would. And she’d shoot
me
if anything happens to
you
. I’m going to tell her we’re relocating here. Until we decide what’s going to happen between us, there’s no reason to upset the rest of your family.”

Mitch stood, blowing out a relieved exhalation. “Okay. Thanks for that. You know she and Parker have been looking for a house in the country since they found out they’re expecting twins? I’ll tell ’em they can move in. Won’t even have to worry about furnishing the place.”

Panic clawed at my throat. “Just because I’m telling Jayne that
we’re
relocating, doesn’t mean we’re going to live together. You’ll still need your own place, Mitch. I want time alone, to think, and to work with my grandfather and hone my Huna skills. And I want to spend more time with Annie, Maddie, and Sean. I’ve missed them since they moved. More than I realized until now.”