A Silent Pursuit

Shivering at another gust of freezing wind, she pulled away and headed for the door of the house. “I don’t have a key.” She’d left the ring on the end table along with her purse, having had no time to grab them before her flight from the house. Nor her coat. She reminded herself to get that before they left.

She reached for the knob just to see.

It twisted under her palm, and alarm zipped through her.

She stepped back—right into Ian’s chest. His hands came up to rest on her goose-pimpled shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s unlocked.”

She looked at Jase, who nodded. “Just to be on the cautious side, I climbed in the window you left open when you ran. There really wasn’t any need, though. The guys were gone and didn’t bother to lock the door when they left.”

Gina wilted with relief as Ian grunted, “I’m surprised they closed it.”

They entered the small foyer and Jase shut the door behind them. Destruction greeted her weary eyes. From the left to the right, debris had been strewn. Her purse had been dumped, but nothing appeared to be missing.

She walked into the den and felt despair sweep through her. Sighing, she said, “I had the door locked last night.” She turned and looked at Ian. “I thought you would be here any minute but couldn’t bring myself to leave it unlocked. Not after what happened the week before.” She shuddered at the remembered terror of walking into her house and being threatened. She nodded to the door they’d just entered. “I heard the door squeak and for a brief moment, I thought it was you, then remembered I’d locked it.” She gave a self-deprecating smile as she took in the chaos once more. “Guess a flimsy little lock like that wasn’t going to keep them out, huh?” Her fingers worried the golden locket, still securely fastened around her neck.

Ian’s hand came up and snagged hers, stilling the nervous habit. “Don’t worry about it now. In the future we’ll take more precautions.”

We. She liked the sound of that. Perhaps too much.

Gina pulled her hand from his and laced her fingers together in front of her. “All right.” She sighed. “I suppose the next step is to go through the house and figure out what they were looking for.”

Jase gave her a look. “What about the police?”

“No, thanks. There’s nothing they can do. These guys go higher than the police. And Mario specifically said not to go to them.” She rubbed her weary eyes. “I just want to go through everything and see if anything looks—” she spread her hands, palms up, and shrugged “—whatever…suspicious? I don’t know. I’m just praying I’ll know it when I see it. I’m going to change into some warmer clothes, then get started.”

Jase and Ian exchanged a look, then split up to help search.

Two hours later Ian slid another book on the shelf as Jason entered the study. “I need to talk to you about something.”

Turning, fatigue gripping him, Ian dusted his hands against his jeans and looked at the man he’d once called friend. “What?”

Gina slipped into the room and sat behind the desk. Jase shot a pointed look in her direction and raised a brow at Ian. Ian looked at her and sighed. “You can talk in front of her. Whatever you know, she needs to know, too. These guys aren’t playing around. Tell us what you found out.”

Gina’s appreciative glance warmed him even as he worried about what Jase had to say and how it might affect her.

Jason hesitated, then said, “I talked to several guys in the unit. Everyone is still together except you, me, Mario, Bandit and Les.” Les Carson had been one of the team, a Ranger who’d taken a liking to Mario and had been one of Mario’s best buds. As had Bandit McGuire.

“Where’s Les?”

Jase rubbed his face and shut his eyes for a brief moment. “Dead. The official report says he was killed on a mission.”

“The unofficial report?”

“He was arrested for treason and managed to hang himself in his cell.”

Ian flinched. He hadn’t heard this. How had he not known this? He looked back at Jase. Of course, the team would have covered for him to save his family from both the humiliation of having a traitor in the family and possible retaliation from those with a grudge against a man who would betray not just his country but also his team.

“What about Bandit?”

A shrug. “No one seems to know. He dropped off the edge of the earth about a year ago. If anyone knows where he is, no one’s talking. Not even to me. He’s either so deep undercover he’ll never surface or he’s dead and no one’s talking about that either. I asked Mac about him and got shut up fast.”

“And is Robbie Stillman still with Mac?”

“Yes. He took your place.”

“That’s what I heard.”

“He’s all right, I guess. Not the friendliest guy around but does a good job. I’d trust him with my back. Seems like he’s got a lot of personal problems, though.”

“Why are you helping us?” Ian stared hard at Jase, demanding a truthful answer, remembering his worry that he was trusting the wrong person.

Gina watched them from her seat behind the desk, quiet, almost invisible. Ian hadn’t forgotten her presence, though.

Jason paced from one end of the den to the next. “When you called me, I wasn’t sure if I should get involved.”

“Again—why?”

“Because you and Mario were close, like brothers. Then you disappeared. And then Mario’s behavior right before he died…It was so off.”

“That’s what you said. Can you think of anything more?”

“After one of our missions in South America, he seemed to withdraw from the rest of us. He would have surges of anger and would disappear for long periods of time…and other stuff. He even requested a leave of absence from the unit, but no one seems to know why.”

“Was the leave granted?”

“No.”

Ian frowned. “Why not?”

Jase shrugged. “I have no idea—he never said—but it was right before he died.”

Gina intervened. “His grandmother died about a year ago. Maybe he was upset about that. He never really had time to process the loss. The day after her funeral he was deployed to a mission in Venezuela, I think.”

“Could be—” Jase paced over to the bookshelf “—but like I said, the guys aren’t talking much. There’s something else going on and they’re covering for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the fact they all basically clammed up when I started asking questions about him. Makes me think it was possible he was into something he shouldn’t have been and no one wants to be the guy to say anything about it.”

The bad feeling in Ian’s gut grew to mammoth proportions. “And you’ve no idea what it could have been?”

Jase hesitated once more, shot Gina another look then shook his head. “Not a clue.”

Narrowing his eyes, Ian studied the man. Was he hiding something or did he just not want to say something in front of Gina? He’d get Gina out of the room in a minute and find out, but for now he followed Jase’s line of thought. “Or, they could honestly not know anything to tell, especially if Mario was keeping his mouth shut because he didn’t know who to trust.”

“Yeah, that’s possible, too.”

“Hey, look at this,” Gina exclaimed.

“What?” Ian strode to her side to look over shoulder. She had a Bible open on the desk. It was the piece of paper in her hand that had her attention.

“It’s a letter from Mario.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when the window shattered, glass flying. Gina screamed as Ian tackled her to the floor.

FIVE

A whimper escaped Gina and she bit her lip. Heart pounding, adrenaline rushing, she prayed as she shoved the letter into her pocket with a trembling hand. God, what’s going on?

More gunshots sounded from outside, and she flinched at each report. Raising her head above the desk, she saw Ian crouched in front of the broken window, his gun pointed toward the darkness. He clipped off two more rounds. “Jase! Are you all right?”

Gina grabbed the phone from the desk and punched in 911.

Then realized she had no dial tone.

Throwing the thing down, she scrambled across the floor and saw Jason on his back, blood flowing from a wound to his head.

“Oh, no,” she whispered and worked her way to his side. She felt for a pulse. Strong enough to reassure her. “Okay, okay, Jase, you’re going to be all right.”

Ian fired another shot through the window, then turned to her. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“We can’t just leave him!”

“Wouldn’t think of it.” He held up his cell. “I’ve already called for backup and an ambulance.”

“What do we do until they get here?”

“Hold these guys off. Did Mario keep any guns around here?”

“I don’t know. If he did, he never told me where they were.”

A groan brought her attention back to the man on the floor. “Jase, Jase, can you get up?”

“My head,” he moaned. “What happened?”

Another bullet pinged against the old fireplace. Gina ducked, although the bullet wasn’t anywhere near her.

“You were shot, but I think it’s just a graze,” Gina whispered.

“Hey, buddy, you okay?” Ian asked as he kept his eyes on the action outside.

“Yeah. Yeah.” He blinked and Gina watched his eyes slowly focus, although they stayed narrowed against the pain. “Where’s my gun?”

Gina scanned the floor. “Over there.”

With a wince, he shifted his weight and rolled to go into a position where he could reach the weapon. Then he weaved his way over to the window.

“You got a concussion?” Ian asked.

“Probably.”

“I’ve got help up on the way, but I don’t want to have to take the time to answer the questions I know they’ll have. I hate to leave you but need to get Gina out of here.”

“I’m all right. I’ve been hurt worse. Get Gina somewhere safe and let me know you’re okay.” He swiped at the blood trickling down the side of his face and turned back to the window.

Ian grabbed Gina’s hand and pulled. She dug her feet in and repeated herself. “We can’t just leave him!”

“Jase is a Ranger. He can take care of himself. It’s up to me to take care of you. Plus, the cops will be here any minute. Once whoever’s shooting at us hears those sirens, they’ll disappear and Jase will have some help. He can hang on that long.” A quick glance at his friend resulted in a nod of confirmation. “Now, please, let’s move.”

Gina caved and hurried after him with one last glance over her shoulder at Jase, who motioned for them to get out. Sirens sounded in the distance and relief flooded her. Hopefully the sound would scare off the attackers and Jase could get some help. “Go, go!”

Ian kept a tight grip on her hand as he led her toward the back of the house.

“What are we doing?” she gasped.

“Jase will handle the police. You and I are going to find someplace safe.”

With a steady hand, Ian cracked the door leading to the outside and peered around it. The gunshots had ceased with the sound of the approaching sirens, but that didn’t mean the bad guys were gone—it just meant they weren’t shooting right now.

He scanned the area. All looked quiet. The car sat right where he’d left it. Untouched? Or a trap?

They’d have to chance it. Staying here meant talking to the police and having this take forever, trying to answer questions no one had the answers for and not knowing if they could be trusted anyway.

Hauling in a deep breath, he said, “Get in on this side. Duck low so you can’t be seen from the other side of the car.” He’d deliberately parked with the driver’s side two feet from the bottom step of the small porch. On the opposite side of the car, at the end of the pier, the sounds of the ocean registered on a subconscious level.

Gina obeyed, crouching low, moving fast. Ian crawled in right after her. Finally behind the wheel, he cranked the car and backed up the way he came in. “Stay down, Gina.”

“I’m down. Won’t the police stop us?”

“Nope.”

Five seconds later, he was in front of the house. No gunshots split the air. A police car wheeled past him, then did a one-eighty to give chase.

“He’s following us, Ian.”

Her voice held a breathless, fearful quality that gripped his emotions. “I’ll either lose him or Jase will radio the guy when he gets a chance and tell him to back off.”

For ten minutes, the red and blue lights followed his every move; then they backed off and disappeared from view.

Ian relaxed a fraction and drove without a specific destination in mind. Gina straightened in her seat, groaning at protesting muscles.

“I have an idea,” Ian offered.

“What?”

“I think I know a place we can hole up for a few hours to rest.” He glanced at the clock.

“Where? I’m almost afraid wherever we go, they’ll find us. How did they know to come back to the beach house?”

“Common sense. You didn’t find what you were looking for the first time you were there, so it figures that you’d be back.”

“So they were just waiting for us to show up? But why didn’t Jase spot them?”

He shrugged. “Maybe they got there after Jase, spotted him and laid low to see how things would go down. Who knows?”

“Or maybe Jase called them,” she whispered.

Indignation for the man welled up in him, and yet he couldn’t deny a little niggling of doubt tickled his mind. “Jase wouldn’t do that.”

“Mario…”

“Mario should have let someone know what was going on and that he needed help.”

“Maybe he did.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the letter she’d found in the Bible.

Gina stared at the single sheet of paper containing Mario’s slanting scrawl. She read aloud, “Dear Gina, if you’re reading this, I’ve failed. It wasn’t my plan to die on you, darling, but as you well know, some plans are doomed from the get-go. I guess this was one of them.’”

“What plan?” Ian interrupted.

“Who knows?” She went back to reading. “‘I’ve got some people after me. Really nasty guys. I’ve got something they want. If they haven’t come after you yet, get ready. I’m sorry, Gina, I didn’t want to do it this way but don’t have time to come up with something better. Something that doesn’t involve you. If I’m dead, they’ll be looking for the next person who might know something, and whoever it is probably knows about you. I promise I did my best to hide your identity, but these guys are good; they’ll find you, simply because I don’t know who’s involved. So, if they’re going to come after you, I’m going to do my best to give you a fighting chance. I don’t want to say what I’ve hidden, because if you know, you have no protection. If they catch you and you tell them, they’ll kill you immediately. If you don’t know, you can’t tell them. That might buy you some time. I hope you’ve called Ian. If you haven’t, do it. You’re going to need him. I love you, Gina….” Her throat clogged on the last part, and she stopped to take in a shuddering breath.

Ian clasped her hand, the warmth of his palm searing her, giving her strength to finish the letter. “I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to show you how much. Ian’s a good man. He’ll know what to do. Grandmother thought the world of you. You’re the only woman in her life who didn’t disappoint her. Thank you for honoring her and keeping her memory close to your heart. All my love, Mario.”

Silence filled the small rental. Tears dripped down Gina’s chin as she scanned the letter through one more time.

Ian cleared his throat. Gina sighed.

“You…um…didn’t have to read that out loud.”

“I know, but if there’s anything in there that can help us, you need to have the information.”

“You were close to his grandmother. Did he have any other family?”

“No, just the sister who died. I suppose his mother is still out there somewhere, but…” She trailed off with a shrug and stared out the window. Time for a change of subject. “So, are you going to check on Jase?”

“Yeah.” He dialed the number. Jase answered on the second ring. Ian asked, “Are you all right? What’s the situation?”

“I’ve got it under control. I’ve also got a slight concussion but was lucky. I’m still alive.”

Relieved, Ian said, “Good. Stay that way, will you? Listen, I’m going to take Gina someplace safe. I’ll be in touch.”

“Right. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll keep digging into what Mario was doing before he died.”

“Yeah, I’m going to do the same. Hey, what is it you wanted to tell me, but…couldn’t earlier?” He let the question hang, hoping Jase would pick up on what he meant.

A pause. Then a sigh. “I think Mario was cheating on Gina.”

Shock and anger punched him, but Ian kept his voice steady. After all, he’d seen the possibility with his own eyes. He’d just wanted to chalk it up to the alcohol fogging Mario’s brain at the time. “Why do you think that?”

“After a mission in Colombia, I saw him with a woman. They were looking pretty cozy.”

“Probably just some undercover thing,” he said, trying to justify it.

“No, we were done with the mission, coming down off the high that follows success.”

“Huh. Then maybe…” He couldn’t think of another excuse for Mario.

“I took some pictures of them.”

That sparked some interest. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Gina was such a great girl and it really bugged me that he would do something like that to her. I’ve been looking for a girl like her all my—” he cut himself off, but Ian felt a pang of sympathy for the man. “Anyway, I walked up and confronted him.”

“In front of—”

“Yeah, in front of the girl.”

Ian winced. “How’d that work out?”

“She got up and left. If her words had been a sword, Mario’s head would have been rolling at her feet.”

“Ouch.”

“Aw, he deserved it. Anyway, I told him I had the pictures and if he ever did anything like that again, I’d give them to Gina.”

“Whoa, Jase. Man, that was kind of…”

“I know, I know. Anyway, as you can imagine, Mario was furious. Threatened to kill me if I did anything to jeopardize his relationship with Gina. Told me to get rid of the pictures.”

“Did you?”

Another pause. “No.”

“See if you can figure out who the woman was.”

“Will do.”

“Great. Talk to you later.” Ian hung up.

“So, what was that all about? Is Jase all right? And where are we going?” Gina’s voice jerked his attention back to her.

He turned left, then a quick right. Ignoring the first question, he pointed. “There.” Then he pulled to a stop in front of a gated home. “Jase is fine and handling the authorities beautifully. If he needs any more help, he’ll call Mac.” Then he nodded toward the house. “The guy that lives here is one of the best friends a guy could have, but best of all—he’s got a top-notch security system.”

SIX

Ian pulled up to the gated entrance and buzzed the house.

“Who lives here?” Gina asked.

“Nicholas Floyd. I can’t believe he’s actually home. He’s a family court judge who made quite a bit of money in college when he designed a video game that shot to the bestseller chart and stayed there for years.”

“A judge who designs video games?”

“Game. One.”

“Seriously?”

“His passion is the law and helping others. He just happened to have an idea and the skills to implement it. Now he lives like this—and has an awesome security system.”

“And he’s your friend. Must be a God thing.”

He smiled at her. “Must be.” She was still as strong in her faith as she’d ever been. It was only one of the things he admired about her. “He had a death threat about a year and a half ago. Carly was the U.S. Marshal assigned to Nicholas and his family. Surprisingly enough they never met when Nick and I were roommates. Carly went to school out of state and Nick had his own family issues going on.”

“Oh, wow. And he doesn’t mind us just crashing his place?”

“Not at all. You’ll understand once you meet him.”

The twin gates separated at the middle and swung inward. Ian pressed the gas and drove through. The gates closed silently behind him. As he followed the winding drive up to the main house, he told Gina, “Nicholas and I roomed together in college for a couple of years. He’s always loved the beach and swore he’d have an oceanfront home one day.”

Gina gasped as the house came into view. It sprawled over the sloping hill, the picturesque ocean beating against the sand beyond. “It’s beautiful.”

Ian nodded. “He designed the house himself.” The two-story brick structure sported white columned posts on the welcoming front porch. Four rockers surrounded a wrought-iron table, and a two-seater swing hung from the ceiling. Christmas lights were strung in massive amounts.

“I bet it’s gorgeous at night, all lit up and just glowing.”

A drawbridge began its smooth slow-motion descent until it gently touched the ground in front of the car.

Ian drove across. A quick glance behind her showed nothing there. No cars bearing men with guns, no popping sound of bullets connecting with metal and glass…

He parked in a small area to the right that had been designed to accommodate three cars. The other two slots sat empty.

Once out of the vehicle, Ian took her hand. “Nicholas is a great guy, but he’s had a rather tragic life. I’ll warn you, he’s pretty much an extrovert personality, but he can be intense.”

Okay, she could deal with intense. Intense had been her middle name lately.

But even Ian’s warning didn’t prepare her for the sight of the huge man who burst from the arched, double wooden front doors. At least six feet five inches tall, he was pure muscle, a tower of rock-solid strength. Before Gina could blink, he ran to Ian to embrace him in a bear hug, lifting Ian’s feet off the ground. “Ian, my friend! How are you?”

Ian grunted, laughed and pulled out of the man’s massive arms, protesting, “Nicholas, I told you not to do that. I’m fragile, man.”

Nicholas punched Ian on the arm and turned to Gina. He’d turned so fast he hadn’t seen Ian wince. But Gina did and she prepared to run should this mammoth decide to offer her the same type of embrace. Golden-green eyes stared down at her, studying her.

Then he gave a small bow and held out his hand.

Gina grinned at the knowing glint in his eyes and willingly shook his hand. Her fingers disappeared within his paw, and she felt like a toddler trying to play grown-up, shaking hands with the adult she’d just been introduced to.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Floyd.”

Shaking his head, he groaned. “I’m not that much older than you. Please, I’m Nicholas.”

“Right. I’m Gina.”

Those cat-green eyes narrowed, “And you’re in trouble.”

She immediately sobered. “Yes, but I don’t want our coming here to place you in any danger.”

For a brief moment a hard look flashed across his face. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t say this place is impenetrable, but no one will get in here without me knowing about it well beforehand. Long enough for us to either get out or get help. Okay?”

Ian stepped forward. “Don’t worry, Gina. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I thought it would endanger Nicholas or his family.”

“Family?” she arched a brow.

“My mother, a niece and a nephew. And we don’t have to worry about them. They’re in Switzerland right now. I have a live-in cook and housekeeper, and they’re specially trained in taking care of themselves, so…” An emotion glinted in his eyes but Gina couldn’t put a name to it. Then he looked away from her and over at Ian. “How’s that sister of yours?”

“Carly’s great. I saw her just this morning. She offered to come stay with Gina last night to make sure the goons that are after her didn’t get anywhere close. Thankfully, it was a peaceful night.”

“Well, come on inside. Let’s get you two settled. Do you have any luggage?”

Ian opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a small carry-on-size suitcase. “I have this, but Gina doesn’t have a thing. Maybe your housekeeper could run out to the store to grab some things for us.”