Ancient Birthright (64 page)

“Need some help putting that on your back?”

“Please, if you would.” She held her hair out of the way, as he smoothed the coconut-scented cream over unblemished skin.

“Want me to do your legs, too?”

“No. That’s okay; I’ll do them.” Dannie completed covering her exposed skin in lotion then called, “Mariee, come here and let me put suntan lotion on you before you burn!” She straightened the blanket and gave Nick a slow once over. “So, Nick, what do you do besides surf?”

“I have a job in procurement and trouble shooting.”

“What do you procure?”

“Whatever my clients hire me to find, but mainly large tracts of real estate.”

“Mommy, the water’s really warm. You should come swimming with me.” Mariee wiggled her tiny toes deep into the loose sand.

“I will in a few minutes. I’m talking to Nick right now.”

“When can we go surfing?” Mariee asked Nick.

“As soon as your mommy tells you it’s okay.”

“Go play for a few more minutes, Honey,” Dannie said as she turned back to Nick. “Have you been surfing long?”

“Since I was eight. I grew up on the Hawaiian Islands. I even won a few competitions in my teen years.”

Nick felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. He looked at the reflection in Dannie’s mirrored sunglasses and saw the redhead settle onto her repositioned towel about eight feet behind him. “If you’re worried about my surfing skills, why don’t you go for a ride with me first? That way, you can see firsthand how I handle a board.”

“I couldn’t do that. Who’d watch Mariee?”

Nick glanced around and noticed Mariee sitting on the sand talking to the lush redhead.

Gathering a little intelligence, are we?

“Mariee seems to have made a friend. Maybe she’d watch your stuff for a few minutes and you and Mariee can go together.”

“Let me talk to her,” Dannie said.

They talked for about five minutes before Dannie returned. “Okay, let’s go, but it has to be a short ride.”

Nick smiled and waved to the redhead before retrieving his surfboard.

He had Dannie sit on the front half of the board with Mariee behind her as he paddled them out beyond where the surf broke.

><

Riki watched the surfboard wobble as Nick turned it to run with the incoming waves and he and his passengers paddled as fast as they could to gain speed. All three scooped water as they propelled the surfboard faster. Nick nimbly jumped to his feet as Dannie gripped the sides of the board. Mariee used Dannie’s shoulders for support to stand in front of Nick. He had Mariee bend her knees and put her arms out to the side for balance. They raced along just below the crest of the surf curl moving swiftly parallel to the beach.

Riki squinted against the dazzling reflections. “Damn it… I can’t see them anymore.”

Ten minutes later, Nick nosed into the beach and jogged up the wet sand with his surfboard under his arm.

“Where are Dannie and Mariee?”

“They stopped to use the restroom and buy sodas. We didn’t realize we’d traveled so far on that wave. We found a better spot that’s not so crowded several hundred yards down the beach. I came to grab Dannie’s stuff and move it to the new location.”

Riki rolled to her knees. “Don’t you think you should wait for Dannie to get back? She asked me to watch her things. I don’t feel comfortable letting you walk off with them.”

“They’re planning on meeting me. They were going straight back to save the spot. I told them I’d bring the blanket and bag,” Nick said shaking the sand off the blanket and putting the bottle of suntan lotion back in the bag.

“Here, I’ll take that and follow you.”

“Not necessary. I can handle it.” Nick balanced his board under his arm and jogged away.

Riki watched Nick disappear in the same direction he’d come from. She stood up, searching the crowd for Dannie. When she didn’t see her or Mariee, she grabbed her bag and towel and followed Nick through the jumble of bodies. Within seconds, he reached the water, dropped his board in and paddled away.

After half an hour of running along the hot sand and calling for Dannie, she contacted the Beach Patrol.

Chapter 2

“Agent Dorn, get your ass in here!”

The cup she had tilted to her lips splashed coffee over her hand as Riki’s face flamed. Her heart pounded in her ears as she pushed her chair back from her desk. Every head in the bullpen locked in her direction as she took the walk of shame to stand in front of her boss.

When he didn’t say, “Close the door,” or, “Have a seat,” she knew this would be an ass reaming of epic proportions.

“My ass reporting as ordered, sir.”

Her boss, Kirk McCarry, crushed her report folder into a crumpled wad in his beefy pale-white, heavily freckled fist.

“I sent you on a simple surveillance assignment. You were to watch Nicolas Blade and find out who he contacted. But no—you had to get intimate with his contact and her daughter then lose all three of them from a public beach while you watched.”

“Sir, let me explain.”

“I think this report explains everything. Even a rookie would’ve handled this with more discretion and professionalism. You’ve been with this office for three years. You know how we operate. Making contact with a subject without authorization or backup is against so many rules and policies that I can’t even name them all.”

“But, sir. As I stated in my report, I didn’t have a choice. You never gave me any background on why I was watching Mr. Blade. I would have blown my cover if I’d refused to talk to the girl—”

“Refused to talk? You did a whole lot more than talk. You accepted responsibility for their possessions while Blade took off with the mother and daughter, and then you handed their stuff over to him, so he could remove any proof they’d ever been there. You do know the police are looking at you as an accessory to kidnapping.”

“Why is Blade important? Why won’t you let me read the case file?”

“It’s way above your pay grade. You don’t have the need to know. Forget Nicolas Blade. You never heard that name. I knew you were trouble when you were assigned to this office over my objections. This proves it.” He waved the crumpled report under her nose.

“The report—I explained what happened.”

“Well, lucky you. You’re going to have plenty of time to explain while Internal Affairs does a complete investigation. What were you thinking, contacting the local authorities instead of calling for Agency support? I’m going to try to keep a lid on this, and you’d better hope that the press doesn’t connect the Agency to the disappearances.” He tossed her report at the wastebasket, but only succeeded in tipping it over.

“Until the investigation is complete, and a board of review reinstates you, you no longer work here. Turn in your ID and your department-issued equipment. You have five minutes to collect your personal belongings before security escorts you from the building. I don’t need to remind you that all Secrecy Act restrictions still apply. You open your mouth to anyone—and I do mean
anyone—
and you’ll be staring through bars for the rest of your life.” McCarry shoved back his chair and used the desk to push his six-foot frame erect. His pale, broad, freckled face, topped by sparse dark-red hair, was set in a frozen sneer.

Riki shivered as the reality of the situation sank in. Her career, the life she’d lived since the Agency recruited her, the hours, days, and months she’d wasted undercover to complete every assignment dumped on her, it was all gone. Because a six-year-old had chosen her to talk to, her life was ruined, her career ended.

If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to find Nick Blade, and the Turneys.

She lifted the chain from around her neck and dropped the badge suspended from it into McCarry’s full cup of coffee, splashing brown liquid on the blotter and over a stack of signed reports.

The cords in McCarry’s neck bulged as one corner of his top lip rippled with a snarl. “You now have four minutes to clear out. What are you waiting for?”

Riki raised her chin and gathered her dignity to present a don’t-screw-with-me attitude as she returned to her desk. Opening her purse, she removed the Glock 23 that had become an extension of her hand from hours of range time. She would miss the gun more than she’d miss any of her co-workers. Removing the clip, ejecting the round in the chamber, and with a thin smile, she field stripped the gun into the smallest parts possible and scattered them around her desk. She even ejected the shells from the clip.

Maybe it was a little childish and vindictive, but Kirk Asshole McCarry could take his Agency property and shove it.

She turned to leave when she remembered that her cell phone was also Agency issue. “Oh darn, it fell apart, too.” Cell phone parts joined Glock parts across the desk. The SIM card happened to fall into her pocket as she distributed the components. Finished, she stepped back and smiled as a burly security guard took her by the right arm, copping a feel of the side of her breast before he latched on.

“Oh, hi, Fardy. Somehow I knew you’d be the one to escort me from the building.” The women in the building called him Four-hands-Fardy because he would claim a woman was acting suspicious, pull her aside, and insist he had to do a pat-down search, a very thorough search. “And lucky me, you brought your friend, Numbnuts. You think you two big, strong men can show me out?”

“The name’s Numisdt.”

“Isn’t that what I said?”

Numbnuts grabbed her other arm, and they marched her from the room.

><

McCarry pushed a button on his phone. “Jackson, get in here.”

“Yes, sir,” the tall, deeply tanned agent said as he came to a stop across from McCarry’s desk.

“Put a tail on Dorn. I want to know if she makes contact with Nicolas Blade. I’ve never trusted that bitch to keep the Agency’s secrets. If she contacts Blade, bring him in immediately.”

“What about Agent Dorn?”

“Her usefulness has run its course. If she doesn’t contact Blade, and you’re sure she’s not going to lead you to him, make her disappearance quick and clean. She’s become a liability we can’t afford. She doesn’t know anything specific about our guests, but she could raise enough questions to get some of the Washington heavy hitters involved.”

“Do you think she’s tied into the aliens?”

“Could be. I’m not taking any chances. What are the results on the last family we picked up?”

“CAT scans and X-rays were negative. All scans look human, but blood work and virology are still pending. If everything is negative what do you want to do with them?”

“How close to capacity is the holding facility?”

“We have twelve unoccupied cells and three more that will be available when the oldest prisoners are terminated.”

“Since we have the room, hold them for now. I have a hunch this family will provide the concrete evidence we need to prove the existence of extraterrestrials on Earth. Question the two girls in front of their parents. That should get us some answers.”

“How far do you want me to go?”

McCarry rolled the question around in his mind. Snatching people off the street and interrogating them to termination was one thing, but using children to get answers was something that would enrage the average oblivious citizen. “They’re never going to see sunlight again, so do what you need to get me proof.”

><

Before Riki could leave, she had to surrender her parking pass and permit a thorough search of her 2013 Lexus LFA sports car.

“How does an agent afford a car like this?” growled one of the guards.

“How do you think? The Agency lets me keep twenty percent of anything I make while I’m undercover
working
. Of course, McCarry personally keeps the other eighty percent. I wonder what his job title would be if he weren’t working for the Agency.”

The security guards leered at each other as if they had suspected all along that the female agents were selling it.

“You finished? I’ve got to go stake out a good street corner before McCarry gets all his other girls assigned.” She tossed her purse into the passenger seat and climbed behind the wheel, letting her leather skirt ride up, flashing an expansive amount of inner thigh for the guards’ enjoyment. She heard a sharp intake of breath from Fardy.

That’ll keep the blood from feeding the single brain cell they have between them.

A push of the start button and the V10 engine purred to life. She lowered the driver’s window before backing out. Hand in the air, she gave the two a single finger wave good-bye.

I hope those two spread the word, and McCarry gets a visit from IA or the Director.

An Internal Affairs investigation was the kiss of death to an agent’s career. In her years at the Agency, she’d never heard of a person undergoing an IA inquiry and being reinstated. At least, she didn’t have to worry about finding a job right away. Being the only daughter of one of the biggest film stars in America made working for a living optional. But damn, she enjoyed proving she had brains as well as a good set of—her eyes dropped to her chest—legs. She remembered the escalating promises of the recruiters as they fought to sign her as a prospective agent. A lot of their interest was due to her father and his connections in the entertainment industry.

As far as she knew, she was the only one in her division that had a Ph.D. in Criminology and had graduated summa cum laude from the U-of-M. And now her career was flushed down the crapper. It was all Blades’ fault; she was going to find him, reach in, and pull his asshole out through his nose.

The training and operations side of the Agency had a very different view of her. They viewed her as a liability. Someone hired to advance a recruiter’s career. Their attitude required she perform ten times better than anyone else in training. Every male in her class accused her of using her body to graduate. Even her instructors pegged her for a brainless set of tits that’d do anything for a good grade.

Enough! No more pity party. Time to get on with life
.

The first order of business was finding Nick Blade and the kidnapped Turneys. No—the first thing was to get to a computer and do some research. She wound her way through the rolling hills dotted with labs, offices, and training facilities in the Agency’s complex off the Pali Highway.