Killing Time

20

Thin wisps of daylight peeked beneath a closed blind when Eva woke up after not nearly enough sleep. She hadn’t expected to find Mike in her bed come morning and wasn’t surprised that he was gone. She had expected to feel exactly the way she did: weighed down by a mix of satiation, stupidity, and second thoughts.

Brown knew his way around a woman’s body; she’d have been shocked if he didn’t. What had shocked her was his attention to her needs. Men who looked like him leaned more toward selfish than selfless, in her experience.

Guilt stopped her cold when she realized she’d been comparing him to Ramon. Don’t go there, she warned herself as she rose and got dressed. Thoughts of Ramon did not belong in a bed she’d shared with a man he had despised. And second thoughts about last night were pointless. There was no taking it back, and she wouldn’t if she could. But a replay wasn’t going to happen for too many reasons to count, starting and ending with the fact that they both had too much baggage to make any kind of a relationship work.

Relationship? Okay. That soaked it. They’d had great sex, and yes, maybe they’d even tapped into something deeper. They’d both needed an emotional outlet, had given and taken mutual comfort, but that’s where it ended.

Her head back on straight, she stepped out of the bedroom. When she saw that the light was on in Gabe’s windowless office, she stopped in the open doorway. Both men were already hard at it. Neither saw her there, and she took advantage of the moment to look, really look, at the stunningly beautiful man who was so much more than she’d expected him to be. If he’d lived down to her expectations, this would be much easier.

She could tell by the fatigue etched on Mike’s face that he hadn’t slept much. Still, he was clearly revved and chomping at the bit to get things moving. Just like it was clear that he was as determined as she was to avoid revisiting last night. Because when he sensed her standing there, he looked up, then directly away.

A classic case of buyer’s remorse. Well, take it times two, buddy.

She moved on to the kitchen in search of coffee, glad they were on the same wavelength. They had bigger fish to fry. Armed with caffeine and her own determination to let that sleeping dog lie, she walked back to the office and joined them at the small conference table.

“What’s happening?”

Without looking up, Mike handed her several sheets of paper.

“And this would be?”

“A roster of known members of United We Denounce.”

She scanned the pages of names, then glanced at Mike, who was still practicing zero eye contact. “Who’s Barry Hill?” His name was highlighted in yellow on page three.

“Big dog in UWD. And it so happens that I know him—sort of. He was in the Navy around the time I was in boot camp in San Diego. I didn’t cross paths with him all that much but I knew who he was. Everyone did. He was a radical even back then. Made a habit of pissing off the wrong people. Wasn’t much on respect for authority. Was already spouting an antigovernment doctrine.”

“While in uniform? Interesting.”

“He pulled a lot of other stunts, too. Ended up with a big chicken dinner.”

Big chicken dinner, military slang for a bad-conduct discharge, was a step above a less than honorable discharge and generally didn’t result in a court-martial.

“Until three months ago,” Mike went on, “Hill was Lawson’s second in command at UWD. Ran the Idaho operation when Lawson wasn’t around.”

“So what happened three months ago?” She handed him back the list of names.

“Hill got busted on a weapons charge,” Gabe said. “Rather than have his trial draw unwanted attention to UWD, he took one for the team. Pled guilty, did not pass go, did not collect two hundred dollars, and went directly to jail. He’s currently doing eight to ten in California State Prison.”

“Okay. I get the connection and the story. But how’s any of it going to get us what we need from Lawson?”

“Maybe Lawson’s still looking to replace Hill,” Mike said. “Maybe with a rec from Hill, I could be that man—going in under the name of Dan Walker.”

A rush of apprehension hit her broadside. She glanced from Mike to Gabe then back to Mike again. “You’re going to try to infiltrate the Idaho compound?”

“Unless you can think of a better way to access Lawson. If I can get close to him, I might find out what he was up to in Afghanistan.”

She had to talk him out of this. He could get killed if he went in there. She didn’t know which terrified her more: the fact that he could die or the fact that she cared so much about what happened to him.

“Okay, wait. This is a horrible idea. If Lawson and UWD are on the FBI or ATF watch list, how do you know the feds haven’t got a team inside already? You could muck up their operation.”

“They’re not inside. Not yet,” Gabe assured her. “But my contacts tell me that’s about to change, possibly within a few weeks. As soon as they can assemble a team, they’re planting some agents and setting a sting in place. They want to nip in the bud any possibility of Lawson brokering a weapons deal with La Linea.”

“That’s why I need to do this now,” Mike added. “If they get in before I do, it’s bad news.”

“How could that be bad news? They’d be doing our work for us.”

“Get real. They either arrest Lawson and he lawyers up and makes like a clam, or they spook him and he flushes like a quail and goes to ground.”

“Either way, there’s wildlife involved,” Gabe dead-panned, making her grin in spite of everything.

“Either way,” Mike restated with a glare, “we’ll never get to him if they get in before I do. Nothing changes for either of us.”

“You seriously want to interfere with a government operation?” She was determined to find a way to keep him from this crazy scheme.

“You weren’t listening. So far there is no government operation. I’m not interfering with a damn thing. If anything, I’m helping them out… launching a preemptive strike. They’ll probably want to give me a medal,” he added, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

“Look.” He finally met her eyes, and the emotions she saw there made her heart weak. “If going in gives me an opportunity to clear my name, I’m going to do it. That’s what this is about, right? Wasn’t that your selling point when you goaded me into coming back?”

Yeah. And right now she’d give anything to not have been so convincing. “There’s got to be another way. This is too risky.”

“What’s risky is doing nothing when there’s someone out there wanting both of us dead. Or were you planning on hiding out the rest of your life?”

She didn’t have an argument for that.

“It’s the only way, Eva. UWD is Larson’s home base. Everything he is, everything he has, will be in that compound. Personal papers. Photos. Mementos. Spoils of war. Hell, one photo of him on the ground in Afghanistan, shoulder to shoulder with a Taliban operative or in that Mi-8, and I’ve got proof he was there. Best case scenario, he spills the beans. Worst case, I find enough evidence to get the Joint Spec Ops Command at Bragg to reopen the Operation Slam Dunk file and investigate, and we flush out the top dog.”

She still didn’t like it. “But if Lawson knows you—”

“He only knows my name. I never saw him face-to-face. And even if he saw photos of me, it was eight years ago. I’m betting he won’t remember.”

“I’d take that bet.” She couldn’t believe he’d bank on a memory lapse.

“I’ve changed since then. I’ve ma—”

“Do not say matured,” Gabe put in without looking up from a report, breaking another small chip off the iceberg of tension.

“Physically I’ve matured,” Mike clarified without missing a beat. “Probably put on a few pounds. No military buzz cut. No uniform. So I look different. And I’ll be going in as Dan Walker, so he won’t have any reason to connect the dots.”

“The team’s already reaching out to Hill.” Gabe glanced up and the look on his face told Eva that he understood her concern. “We figure he’s going to like the promise of a few perks, possibly a good word at his next parole hearing, in exchange for vouching for ‘Dan’ if someone from UWD makes the call to verify his story.”

Eva knew all about the maneuvering that sometimes took place behind the scenes to get someone to step up and tell the truth—or in this case a bald-faced lie. No harm no foul, as long as no case was affected. No doubt they’d offer Hill better conditions—a single cell, some extra rec time, conjugal visits, help with his family—to get him to play ball.

She still wasn’t ready to jump on board. “Even if Hill vouches for you, an organization as secretive and paranoid as UWD won’t accept just anyone into their ranks. Lawson will run his own check.”

“And he’ll find exactly what we want him to. By the time we get done with him, not only will Dan here be besties with Hill, he’ll have a documented vendetta against Uncle for all the reasons UWD loves. He’ll be a poster child for the cause.”

“I still don’t like it.”

Mike lifted a hand in frustration. “You don’t have to like it. I just have to do it.”

That pissed her off. “You’re right. I don’t have to like it.” She looked at Mike, who was busy avoiding eye contact again. “But I can do something about it. I’m going in with you.”

That got his full attention. “The hell you are.”

“Seriously?” His Lord of the Manor look was so not going to work on her. “You’re going to dictate what I do? I don’t think so. I’ve got as much at stake in this as you do. Someone’s trying to kill me, remember?”

He lifted his chin and shifted gears. “Exactly. And it could be Lawson.”

“I’ve thought about that. It doesn’t make any sense that he’d be after me. I wasn’t in Afghanistan. My husband was, and he’s dead.”

A shadow darkened Mike’s eyes, but she pressed on. “But you’re alive, so if Lawson was behind this he should have come after you first. You, Taggart, and Cooper. You’re the loose ends.”

“You made yourself one when you started digging in the OSD file, Eva.”

“Agreed, but I’m not Lawson’s loose end. I’m a problem to whoever’s calling the shots, and they’re above him on the food chain. Possibly on the top. Lawson’s tied to him in some way, no doubt about that, but the only reason that shooter aimed at you is because you were with me.”

“We’ve come to the same conclusion.” Gabe’s admission earned a scowl from Mike. “Haven’t pinned down the specifics yet but we agree. The intel we’ve turned up says Lawson’s not top dog in this pack. The money, the calls… it’s all coming from higher up. Lawson is definitely high on the pecking order, maybe even an equal partner, but he’s not making the calls by himself.”

“So… what are you thinking? An Al Qaeda splinter group? Russian mafia? Chinese Triad?”

“Could be,” Mike put in grudgingly, “but our money’s on a smaller-scale ‘for-profit’ organization or someone cutting a deal with one. These guys are in it for the money. That’s their bottom line. And while we figure they have business ties to any number of international organized crime syndicates, we see this threat as much smaller potatoes—or it would have been on everyone’s radar from Interpol to Langley long before now.”

“Agreed,” Gabe said. “They’re suppliers and their puppet master has hidden himself behind layers of front men and smoke screens. Lawson’s still our best lead to get to him. We figured he’s had his fingers in illegal weapons and international drug trade for years. Most likely he was into both in Afghanistan, and hasn’t changed his MO since. This tie with Lawson and the Juarez cartel? It’s just another link in the chain. We’re thinking that they might have been locked out of the cartel until Hernandez was caught and convicted. New leadership equals new openings, and they didn’t waste any time getting their foot in the door.”

“Do you think that whoever leaked the OSD file to me is tied up with them?” She and Mike had talked about this on the flight and they had agreed that it was most likely someone on the ground in Afghanistan at the time OSD had gone down.

“Like someone in the organization with a vendetta?” Gabe shook his head. “That doesn’t wash for me. In the first place, disgruntled lieutenants generally turn up dead. End of problem. In the second, even if there was some infighting going on, why would someone in the organization give it to you? Yeah, you’re CIA, but there are other channels they could have taken with much more impact if they want to bring someone down.

“I agree with Mike. Your Deep Throat has a personal connection to either you or Ramon. Possibly to the One-Eyed Jacks. We think we’re looking at a bid for restitution here, setting wrongs right. Something this person couldn’t do before.”

“So he waited for the right time to give me the file,” she concluded.

“Or waited for the courage,” Gabe agreed.

She and Gabe exchanged a look that told her he was with her in thinking Brewster might be their man.

Mike grunted. “Takes a real hero to feed info anonymously, then lay low while someone else takes the flack.”

Gabe stood and stretched. “We’re running records on any name that turns up that’s even remotely connected to Lawson, United We Denounce, and Operation Slam Dunk. That’s a lot of names. So far, nothing, but we’ll get there.” He headed for the office door with his coffee mug. “Anyone need a refill?”

Mike held out his mug.

Gabe took it and headed for the kitchen but stopped at the door. “Eva, Mike said you mentioned having access to staffing records for DOD. We can backdoor access them eventually, but if you have more direct access, we might be able to find your mystery source a lot faster.”

“Absolutely. How secure is your computer?”

He grinned.

“Got it. I’ll write it all out. Once your people get in, they won’t have any trouble running a search.”

Gabe left for the kitchen, and suddenly she and Mike were alone in the office with a silence as big as the bed they’d made love in.

He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. “Let’s get this settled right now. You’re not coming with me.”

“Look. If it’s about what happened last night—”

“It’s not,” he said quickly. Too quickly. “It’s about you slowing me down.”

She laughed. “Try again. Or have you already forgotten who got the drop on whom in Lima?”

“I was drunk.”

“You were stupid. And you weren’t drunk when I clipped your cheek.” Though the swelling had gone down a little, he had the beginnings of a shiner this morning.

And oh, he was looking at her now. He suddenly stood, did the old rooster strut, puffed out his chest, and stuck his face right in hers. “You’re not going, Eva. End of discussion.”

“Said the king of the world.” She decided she didn’t feel bad about the bruise on his cheek after all. “You are such a piece of work.”

“Children,” Gabe cut in as he stepped back into the office. “Do I need to put you both on time-out?”

They stood for several long moments, noses almost touching, gazes locked and blazing… until something other than irritation fired through Eva’s blood and warned her to stand down. A vivid, visceral image of last night, two bodies moving together in the dark, so close no air moved between them, so hot the touch of skin on skin set them on fire.

She backed away, crossed her arms over her chest, and settled herself down. Judging by the sudden weight of his breaths, Mike had experienced a little midnight flashback, too.

“She could be an asset, Mike.” Gabe broke the uncomfortable silence.

Mike whipped his gaze to Gabe.

“It’s true.” Gabe held the line in the face of Mike’s glare. “Lawson knows he needs to keep the ranks content. Content men equals malleable disciples. Going in as a couple enhances your cover,” he added, building on his point. “Not to mention it gives you twice the eyes, twice the ears. And it’s pretty clear to me that Eva can handle herself.”

Mike clenched his jaw. “Traitor.”

Gabe arched a brow. “Sticks and stones, bro? That’s all you’ve got?”

The look on Mike’s face said, yeah, it was. He knew as well as Eva did, as well as Gabe did, that there wasn’t one good reason she shouldn’t go with him and a dozen reasons why she should.

“Fine.” His tone said it was not fine. “But let it be known I’m agreeing under protest.”

“I’ll make sure to write that down,” Gabe said with an eye roll. “Now quit pouting and let’s hammer out a plan of action.”