With Honor (22 page)

“I booked two tickets. Meaning, where I go, you go, at least until I have some answers.”

Oh hell! Anger raced through her. She sat up and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yesterday you were all high and mighty about staying here. Now you want to go back home. What’s the hurry?” she grumbled.

“My friend, Pete, has been helping me with the case. He called and said he had some important information about Shane. He wants me to meet him later at the hangar.”

“Okay, I get that you’re investigating your brother’s death, but why do I have to come along? And, didn’t he tell you what it is? Couldn’t he text the information to you like everyone else does?”

“I don’t know. He isn’t answering any of my calls or texts.” Grabbing his phone from the nightstand and checking the screen, he shook his head. “My battery is going dead.”

Shawn clearly had his mind set on heading back to Lackland. Without any more discussion, she slid from bed and dug through her suitcase for clothes. She chose the simplest thing she had. Black dress pants and a blue top. She changed and applied a small amount of makeup, pulled her hair into a ponytail and finished in less than twenty minutes. She was surprised that she could function before the sun came up.

Thirty-minutes later they were in the back of a cab and on their way to the airport. By the time their flight was called to seating and in the air, Jasmine was exhausted, surely due to stress more than being tired. She allowed herself a quick glance at Shawn’s profile. He’d been quiet since he woke her that morning, consumed in his thoughts. Although forgiving him for what he’d done wasn’t her priority, she couldn’t deny that she had compassion for his desire to solve Shane’s mystery. If she’d had a sibling, she could only imagine what she’d do to protect them–or unfortunately, to protect their reputation.

With the bit of empathy she had for Shawn and Shane, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the dishonesty. Why did Shane find
her
? From the moment she’d walked into the downtown cafe where they’d met, he’d utilized his charming smile like a tool. How had she allowed herself to be drawn in? In her own defense, she hadn’t known at the time he had deeper intentions. She’d been lonely and he used that against her.

And then oddly, before the story could run, he recanted his interview. Her boss then disappeared with a load of cash. Now he was dead.

Everything became stranger the more she thought about it.

Charging into Shawn’s life that night at the bar, she hadn’t left him much option, she guessed. She’d been hell bent on telling him about the baby.

In fact, Shawn was sucked into this case blindly, just like she’d been.

“I imagine if you could, you’d use those eyes as weapons to slaughter me.” Shawn’s husky voice broke through her thoughts.

She’d been staring at him.

“What did Shane want with me? What am I missing?” she asked.

He turned slightly sideways to face her. “It wasn’t a one-night stand.”

“Shane seduced me into bed.” Her chest tightened.

Glancing past her shoulder, he settled his gaze on the window. “I think in all of this, that part was the only unplanned thing, though.” When he looked back at her, his eyes were distant. “Sleeping with you may have thwarted his plan.”

“He certainly used his charm.” She laughed, but without humor.

“Shane learned early on that he could use his manly tactics to get about anything he wanted.”

“Ouch.” That was a dig. “I’m not easy.”

“Never once thought you were. He did get what he wanted, right?”

His words buried inside her chest like an invisible knife. “No, he didn’t. Like you said, you don’t think ending up in bed together was part of his ‘plan.’ And he certainly didn’t walk away with anything else that night. So, what did he want from me?”

“I’ve racked my brain and all that I came up with is that he wanted information. You’ve said he didn’t ask you anything out of turn. You didn’t suspect him of anything cunning. Nothing was missing.” His brows snapped together. “Or was there?”

He must have sensed her thoughts. “Not important or related. Trust me.”

“Let me be the judge of that,” he said.

“Okay,” she answered. “A box of old photographs from my childhood. See, not connected.” She shrugged.

“What? Old photographs? Are you sure they came up missing after that night?”

“Specifically that night? No, I can’t be positive, but the timeframe does fit. I had just moved into that apartment and I had the box of pictures stored in my closet. I hadn’t looked through them since the move. The only reason I noticed was I searched for my suitcase for a business trip and I saw that the box had been tampered with.”

“And you didn’t find that suspicious?”

“Sorry, Shawn, but usually when you have a one-night stand, if they’re going to steal something it’s going to be things of value, not pictures of me and my parents when I was a child.”

“The only thing missing, or upturned, was the box of pictures?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes. Nothing was ransacked or looked like someone had gone through it.”

“Did you keep these pictures in your bedroom?”

“Yes, in my closet. I slept ten feet away.” The more she talked about that night, the more confused she felt.

“The box you kept the pictures in, was it worth anything? Have any value?”

“No. A simple wooden box my father brought back from a trip he took overseas. The sentimental things he’d brought me sat on my closet floor. The items of value, like jewelry, were untouched.”

He leaned closer. “Sentimental things?”

“My father was gone a lot, on far away trips. Each time he came back he brought me a gift to ease his guilt. Bracelets, statues, boxes, scarves, sarongs…lots of knickknacks. None of these items could be worth anything monetarily, only sentimentally. How can this be related to your brother?”

“In the letter, he specifically names you. He wanted me to find you because he was looking for something.”

She laughed at the insanity of that claim. “I’m nothing but average, Shawn. I assure you. I am hiding nothing.”

“Maybe you’re hiding something that you don’t even realize you’re hiding.”

“You can’t be serious. What would I possibly hide?” She rolled her eyes at his ridiculous statement.

“Apparently my brother believed you are important.”

Laying her head back onto the cushioned seat, she closed her eyes. Could she block him out? How the hell had she gotten into this craziness? She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Trust me, I’d know if I had something that was a red flag.”

“What did your dad do for a living?”

“He was an investment banker. I’m not sure where this is leading–” The buzzing of the intercom blared. A flight attendant announced their arrival at the San Antonio Airport. Jasmine buckled her seatbelt.

“You have these items at Lackland?”

She nodded.

“I don’t know what the connection is, or if there is one, but I’ve got to stop over at the hangar and find out what Pete knows. Then, we’ll need to do some research into what my brother wanted to get his hands on besides your ass.”

Her gasp snapped the air. “Excuse me?”

“I knew my brother well. You were the best thing that ever came his way.”

Chapter 18

Shawn glanced back at the parked Jeep, where Jasmine still had her head leaning against the window, sound asleep. She’d dozed off on the ride from the airport to the hangar. He didn’t want to wake her. Scanning the almost-empty parking lot for anything suspicious, he found nothing. He slid open the door to the building and entered.

Holbert was at the back of the building and Shawn waved. “Has Pete showed up?”

The other man shook his head. “No sign of him around. Although, I just got here myself. This girl is due up in the air and I’ve got to get her working.”

Shawn checked his watch. Six-ten. Pete was never late. Where the hell was he? He didn’t want to leave Jasmine alone too long.

He headed toward his office, sat down at the desk and stared at the blank computer screen. His mind was a mess. Time for the investigation to come to an end. The answers he needed to his brother’s accident were getting closer, and then he could concentrate on getting things in order in his personal life.

Jasmine and the baby.

Would she ever forgive him for lying? Even if he could rewind time and change what he’d done, he wouldn’t do anything differently. At the time Jasmine waylaid him at the bar, he’d had no clue who she was or whether what she said was actually factual. The investigation into his brother’s disappearance was fairly new and everyone had been a suspect then.

Regrettably, she might never see his reasons as acceptable.

He’d lied about his identity, that’s all. He’d made love to her not because he’d felt obligated. Sure, he was a man with a raging libido, but he wasn’t a pig. If he didn’t find a woman attractive, he definitely wouldn’t sleep with her, no matter who she was or what she looked like.

The baby may have started with a sliver of obligation on his part. Once again, he wasn’t a jerk. There’d be no way in hell he’d ever allow a child of his blood to be alone if he could help it. Jasmine carried his brother’s baby. The child deserved the best possible life.

A part of him hoped he and Jasmine could raise the child together. If anything, he’d be a role model for him or her.

He checked the time. Six-thirty. He started to get up, but the door opened. He expected to see Pete, but instead it was Holbert.

“Still no sign of Pete, Conner?”

“No.” Shawn scratched his chin. “You plan on being here a while?”

Holbert shrugged. “You know me. I’m here until the plane is fixed.”

“You still working on the fuel line?”

Holbert nodded as he scrubbed his hands with an old greasy cloth. “She’s a stubborn one, for sure. Damn thing.”

Shawn shook his head. “If anyone can figure out what the sputtering is, you will. I know I said I’d help on getting her up in the air but–”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. You have a beautiful woman keeping you busy. Well, boss, I’m going to head back to my girl and see if I can persuade her to show me some action.”

“Good luck, brother.” Shawn bid him farewell. His patience grew thin, waiting on Pete. He’d wait until he finished using the restroom. Shawn had closed himself in the bathroom when a loud blast screeched through the silence. The metal door popped and bowed in the middle. A long moment passed before he gained his bearings and realized what he’d heard. An explosion.

Bursting out of the door, almost swinging it off the hinges, he tore through the opening. The inside of the building was ablaze. Smoke billowed like heavy gray clouds. Shawn couldn’t see three feet in front of him as he slowly moved forward.

He took in a deep breath, then covered his mouth with his shirt. “Holbert?” he yelled through the thin material. No answer.

Shawn’s breathing became labored as the fog and fumes grew thick. He stumbled across the cement floor. On his hands and knees, feeling the wall, he moved until he found the emergency alarm. With a hard hit on the button, loud sirens squealed through the haze. Water splashed him as the overhead sprinklers came alive.

Holbert was somewhere in the building. He had to find him before it was too late. Standing on wobbly legs, Shawn grabbed the fire extinguisher from the glass cage, then rushed toward the fire. The intense heat became stronger, but he moved into the depths of hell. The flames licked at him before he was even close. Shawn closed his eyes and followed his instincts as he took baby steps across the smoke-engulfed room. Once he came to the plane, he saw Holbert through the blur of fog and flames. His friend was lying still under the plane’s nose, surrounded by flames. Without hesitation, Shawn released the safety button on the extinguisher and the foam oozed onto the blaze, with no luck.

The popping and cracking, the smell of fuel, the thick smoke, all overwhelmed his senses. He could barely see, couldn’t hear and he could no longer breathe. The yellow flames licked at the metal of the plane. Holbert didn’t have long before he would be submerged inside the inferno.

Shawn looked for something, anything…and spotted Holbert’s jacket hanging on the hook two feet away. Reaching for it, he wrapped it as securely as he could around his hands as he moved in. He felt the stinging sensation of his hands burning through the material. Finally making it to Holbert, Shawn did all he could do as his body grew weak from smoke inhalation. Tugging the man’s feet, he managed to slide him out from the plane’s belly and into safety outside.