The Puppeteer (21 page)

“Any reason she was in a bad mood?” he asked, mulling over Marmie's curious change of approach toward him. He liked the older woman, but he'd always sensed a sort of protectiveness in her when it came to Dani. She sort of circled him like a mother lion trying to figure out if he was a threat to her cub.

“The cold. She hates it. She took a two-hour hot shower when they all got back. She claimed she was feeling human again a little bit ago when she came down for some coffee.”

The information dump on Dani in those few sentences was more than he'd ever gotten from Marmie in all their previous interactions. Maybe she'd decided he wasn't a threat—at least not the kind she was looking out for. Dani, on the other hand, well, there was no doubt that she still saw him as a threat. But he'd wear her down.

But not right this minute. Right now he had something to discuss with Drew.

He excused himself from Marmie and made his way through the cavernous house toward the library, smiling all the way. He couldn't help it, something about the house always amused him. It was such a lavish place, filled with beautiful expensive things. But not filled the way a designer would fill a house. It was chock-full of stuff that looked like it was purchased merely because the purchaser liked it. There was no rhyme or reason, no matching pieces, no theme rooms, no continuous style. It was stuff that, though mismatched, seemed to
go together. Probably because the person buying it, and Ty assumed it was Dani's sister Sam, had a strong personality and it came through in the things she surrounded herself with. Dani might think she and her sister weren't alike, but he suspected they were more alike than Dani would ever imagine.

“Come in,” Drew called from behind the closed library door after Ty knocked. He walked in and closed the door behind him. If Drew was surprised to see him, he didn't show it. He gestured to a leather wingback chair and Ty took a seat—debating how to bring up the subject he wanted to address.

“It didn't go well this morning,” Ty spoke, deciding on the abrupt, straightforward approach. Drew raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything, so Ty continued. “You know what I'm talking about. Your team is good and they dive better than ninety-five percent of the divers I know. I bet most have even trained underwater. But even so, they succeeded in getting past both machines only nine out of ten times.” And the thought of Dani being in the water that one time it didn't work was the single thought driving this conversation.

“It was their first time out. They're still out there,” Drew pointed out. Based on what Marmie had said, Ty figured Cotter and some of his team were still in the water, trying to rectify the numbers.

“And how are they doing?” Ty asked, knowing Drew would be receiving dive-by-dive reports—that he wouldn't wait for an end of the day recap. And, judging by the look on Drew's face, Ty guessed they weren't doing much better than this morning.

“Shit, Drew,” Ty shook his head, forgetting for a minute he was talking to the team director. “It's not good enough and you know it,” he looked the other man in the eye and held his gaze.

Drew's blue eyes studied him, unwavering for a long moment. His mind was sharp and intense, in stark contrast to his calm demeanor. Drew was taking his measure. Ty wasn't sure what Drew was looking for or if, when he looked away, he did so because he'd found it. But whatever was going on in Drew's mind didn't matter a bit to Ty—all he cared about was making sure the team director had the best people to do the job. He could never eliminate the risk to Dani, but he sure as hell would do whatever it took to reduce it.

Drew sighed and swung his eyes back to Ty. “What do you suggest?”

Ty looked at Drew, “I have a couple of friends from my SEAL days, bring them in. They can shut the machines down long enough to get the rest of the team through and they'll do it every time.”

“They're military,” Drew pointed out. Technically, US military wasn't supposed to use armed force on the US civilian population. Ty almost laughed—technically the CIA wasn't supposed to be operating against US citizens either. That Drew brought this up was amusing.

“They won't fire any weapons,” Ty offered, knowing no SEAL would willing go into an operation without weapons. They wouldn't be obvious, they might not even fire them, but they'd carry them. “But, if you're worried about protocol, one of our other teammates, Rani Khalid, formed a small securities company, Bright Line Security, when he retired. They could take a leave of absence and sign on with Rani. They'd be civilian.” The setup wasn't quite that clean, but it would be clean enough to get away with.

“Bright Line Security,” Drew cocked a brow. “Sounds like a day care center,” he added.

“It does, but it's not. Rani picked the name as a joke since bright lines were hard to come by in our line of work.”

“I know a little something about that myself,” Drew replied. Ty studied the man and, for the first time, noticed that Drew looked his age. He wasn't old at thirty-eight, but if he'd entered the CIA right out of college, he'd been doing it for over fifteen years, and Ty knew how much gray a person could see in fifteen years.

“I suspect you do,” Ty answered.

“And why would these friends want to do this?” Drew asked, bringing the conversation back on track.

“Because I'll ask them to,” Ty responded. Drew's eyes never wavered from his and so Ty opted to continue. “And because they took a liking to Dani when they met her in San Diego. They'd be upset if anything happened to her.”

“And you? Would you be upset?”

“Yes.”

“Yes? That's all you're going to say?” Drew looked at him with something akin to amusement.

“What is it you want to know, Drew? That I care about Dani?” Ty countered and then continued when Drew remained silent. “You already know I care about her. And since you keep sending me to her room and turning a blind eye, along with the rest of the team, to what is obviously
not
a by-the-book working relationship, I'd wager you approve. Even if you can't outwardly support it.” Ty studied Drew's expression. The director's jaw ticked and his eyes were carefully blank. He sensed that Drew had a lot to say on the matter, but the time and place wouldn't allow him to either confirm or deny Ty's assertion. So Ty took the opportunity to say what he wanted.

“So, yes, I do care about her. Very much. But the rest is between me and Dani. And if you're worried about me going off the deep end if something happens to her, don't be. I'm not going to lose it if something happens to her, but I sure as hell am not going to sit around and do nothing when I know how to reduce some of the risk both she, and the rest of your team, face.” Ty wasn't convinced he was telling the truth about not going off the deep end, but he was saying what needed to be said.

“You've changed her,” Drew said.

Ty shook his head. “Whatever she's doing differently is her choice. Maybe it's because of me, I'd like to think I might be affecting her in a good way, or maybe it's this case.”

“Or maybe it's both. And as for being in a good way, well, we'll see. As her friend, I'd say yes, no doubt. As her boss, the jury is still out.”

Ty was surprised that Drew allowed himself to comment on the matter, and he knew he should leave it at that. But he couldn't. He couldn't let Drew think Dani might let him down. “You should have more faith in her, Carmichael. Even if she's changing, or probably more to the point, letting herself change, she's not going to screw up her job. It's too much a part of who she is.”

Drew raised an eyebrow in a ‘we'll see’ gesture and turned away, ending any more talk of Dani.

“We don't know when this thing with Getz is going to go down, or even if it is going to happen here. It could be a big waste of your friends' time,” Drew said, returning to the earlier topic.

“Fawkes hasn't taken leave in a couple of years, believe me, he won't mind coming to the house to hang around for a few weeks. If you don't want him here, he can stay at my place. As for Roddy, he and his wife just had a baby and her family is from a few miles south of here. He also has a lot of leave and his wife is already excited about spending some time with her parents.”

“You've already talked to them.” It wasn't a question. And Drew wasn't happy about it.

“They know enough about what's going on from when Dani was in town—when you authorized their assistance,” Ty pointed out. Drew had approved using Fawkes and Roddy as backup, so to speak, for Dani. “They know I'd like them to come and work on the team but not what we'd need them to do. I've run the logistics by them. If you agree and bring them on, it's your show, it's your job to tell them what you want them to know.”

Drew was silent again for a long while. He rose, ending the conversation. “I'll think about it,” he said.

It wasn't what Ty wanted to hear but it was better than a flat ‘no’ so he nodded in acknowledgement and left without another word.

*   *   *

Ty closed the door behind him and Drew wondered if he was heading to Dani's room. For the first time in possibly forever, he liked one of the guys Dani was seeing.

Except protocol dictated that they not technically ‘see’ one another.

Ty was a good man, and strong enough to handle Dani, which was saying a lot. But Drew also saw the little things Ty did for Dani, like giving her his sweatshirt earlier in the day and sending her restaurant recommendations when she was in San Diego. Things that made Drew understand that, while Ty recognized how strong and capable Dani was, she was still someone he wanted to take care of, still someone who could use a little TLC every now and then. And he did it without making a big deal out of it. Maybe that was why she
seemed to accept his attentions—the most surprising development to Drew's way of thinking. It was good for Dani, but it meant additional stress for Drew as he tried to separate what he wanted for her as a friend and what he needed from her as an agent.

And he hadn't been lying when he told Ty that Dani was changing. She'd been the same woman for years—focused, determined, one of the smartest people he knew. And she hadn't changed in those respects. But there was something more to her now, an openness that wasn't there before. A willingness to look at the possibilities. And, as her friend, he did think this was a good thing. It could be a good thing as an agent, too. But because she was changing in new and different ways, and because it was happening in the middle of a mission, Drew didn't know how much he needed to account for the differences between the Dani he'd always known and one he saw her becoming.

Yes, there was no doubt it was causing him additional stress. But if anyone deserved a chance at happiness, Dani did. And so did Ty for that matter. Now all Drew had to do was make sure they got it.

Chapter 15

DANI CRACKED HER EYES OPEN
and sighed.

“Good morning,” she grumbled, snuggling deeper into her warm bed, ignoring the annoying fact that—yet again—she hadn't woken up when Ty had come into her room.

“Morning, sunshine,” Ty answered. Dani could hear him getting comfortable in the chair next to her bed. She rolled over and faced him, pulling the covers up and enjoying the feel of the soft material on her bare neck.

“I'll get out of bed soon, I just want to stay warm for one more minute before we have to go out in that god-awful water again,” she said.

“No worries, we're not going out in the water today,” Ty responded. Dani studied Ty with a frown and wondered how he happened to be ‘in the know’ so early in the morning. She flicked her eyes to the clock and realized that, if he'd already talked with Drew, he must have been to the house earlier than usual. And he didn't look the least bit tired, even though she knew he left late last night, or rather early this morning. She took in his dark eyes and black hair and smooth jaw. He was wearing jeans, a cotton t-shirt and pair of boots. He must have ridden his motorcycle this morning. His ankle was resting on his knee and he was watching her all but devour him with her eyes. His eyes glittered and a smile played on his lips. She'd been caught ogling.

Dani tugged the blanket over her head and groaned with a mixture of embarrassment and resignation. No wonder Drew was worried about Ty affecting her work, though he had been remarkably lenient.
She hadn't given a second thought to what she might be doing today, she'd been thinking how much she'd like to run her fingers through Ty's hair. Amongst other things.

“Aren't you the least bit interested in what we
are
going to do today?” Ty teased, as if reading her thoughts.

She heaved a dramatic sigh, flipped the covers back and turned back to Ty. “Yes, and I'm sure you'll be able to tell me.”

“We're going on a boat ride.”

“And,” Dani prompted as she sat up in bed, tossing the covers away.

“And we're going to cruise on by the compound, drop a few surveillance bubbles, and hang out for a while. We'll have to think of a reason to loiter at the edge of the bay, but I'm sure we can think of something.”

Dani heard the words and even absorbed the meaning. She wasn't worried about being caught by Getz's henchmen, she wasn't worried about dropping the surveillance bubbles—they'd figure it out. She was wondering why he wasn't making a move to kiss her, like he had yesterday.

As soon as the thought formulated, Dani laughed at herself. Ty raised an eyebrow in question. Since when did she wait for what she wanted? She swung herself out of bed, placed her hands over his arms where they rested on the chair, leaned in, and kissed him. She felt the muscles in his arms flex beneath her hands as he shifted his body forward, trying to lean into her.