Body of Evidence (Evidence Series) (17 page)

The timing of Mara’s involvement with Evan was…interesting. Especially since Robert Beck had also been in Egypt, traveling with the former vice president, ostensibly to visit his son. But of course, Robert Beck had been the one to supply the arms. Stevens was merely the broker.

Curt had suspected Evan killed Roddy because Mara’s return to the United States would reveal Roddy had led her off-site and could implicate Raptor in dirty dealings in North Korea. But this could be about Egypt and the arms deal. “How did Evan take the breakup?” he asked.

“He made a show of being alternately outraged at my accusations and devastated I’d dumped him.”

“And you believe he could have killed Roddy and shot at you?”

“The idea makes my skin crawl, but right now, I’ll believe anything.”

Except that her uncle was behind the attempts on her life.

“Could Evan have rigged the jet to blow on Oahu?”

“Easily. He’s an ordnance expert.” She rubbed her arms as if she were cold. “He has a military ID, which gives him access to the base. Through Raptor, he has flight line access. The hardest part would be getting close to the jet.”

“Not so hard, because no one was guarding it. There are conflicting accounts. It appears the jet was refueled, and then a second fuel truck may have driven up after the first one left. Raptor is one of several contractors who provide base services including refueling. A small explosive device on a timer next to a wing tank is all it would take. If that’s how it happened, then the fuel truck would have provided cover while he set the device.”

She shivered at his cursory description of how her ex-fiancé might have rigged a bomb to kill her. He itched to pull her into his arms and hold her, give her comfort and a shoulder to lean on, but feared where that would lead them. Instead, he focused on her words and remembered another detail he’d wanted to follow up on. “Speaking of Evan’s role as ordnance disposal technician, I want to know more about the bomb you found the last morning in North Korea.”

“What about it?”

“There’s no record of it. There’s no mention of a bomb or Evan clearing the site in the official JPAC story. In the official version, you had a lover’s quarrel with your ex-fiancé—Jeannie said he wanted the ring back—and you were so angry, you stormed off. Alone.”

C
HAPTER
S
IXTEEN

I
T TOOK A
moment for Curt’s words to sink in. Mara had expected him to talk about the bomb. She’d expected ambiguity, certainly. But this…this was utter betrayal.

She bolted to her feet. “No fucking way.” She crossed to the bar and pressed her fists against the counter, taking one deep breath after another in an attempt to stop herself from doing something foolish. Like punching something. Or crying.

She fought to keep her voice measured. “We didn’t have a lover’s quarrel. I’d gotten rid of the ring nine months before, for Chrissake. We fought because I didn’t like how he planned to dispose of the bomb.”

“Why?”

Careful, Mara.
“Clearing the site wasn’t standard op.” That was true.

“According to JPAC, he didn’t clear the site. But, according to JPAC, there was no bomb.”

Mara closed her eyes and remembered: Evan’s decision, their argument, his asserting his power and ordering her to leave. Jeannie, standing behind Evan with wide eyes—like a kid watching parents fight for the first time. Mara had stormed off with Roddy on her heels.

They’d gotten into the Nissan Patrol, just the two of them. The others were supposed to follow. Had they? Had the four members of the team who’d been working on the other side of the ridge even known about the bomb and the orders to leave, or had Evan only issued the directive to Roddy, Jeannie, and Mara?

JPAC and the State Department had been led to believe she’d stormed off in North Korea after a fight with her ex-fiancé about an engagement ring. No wonder Curt had thought she was a twit when he first questioned her. “Why didn’t you tell me about this when I first mentioned the bomb…good Lord, was that only yesterday?”

Curt’s smile was as weary as she felt. “Yesterday for us. Two days ago in North Korea. Or something like that. I’m losing track. I intended to talk to Roddy before telling you. But then Roddy ended up dead.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Who saw the bomb besides you and Evan?”

Answer casually. Don’t reveal you’ve thought about this for hours on end.
“No one.” She looked up at the ceiling to slow her response. “Roddy and Jeannie witnessed the argument, so they knew
about
the bomb.” She really needed to find Jeannie—which reminded her once again she wanted to know why Agent Palea had identified Jeannie as a suspect.

“Where was the rest of the team? Weren’t there eight of you in North Korea?”

“Eight in the field, plus a liaison in P’yŏngyang. A Nissan mechanic and a medic were stationed at the base camp. Of the field team, the last morning the other four were on the opposite side of the ridge. They didn’t witness my argument with Evan or, to the best of my knowledge, see the bomb.”

“So Jeannie Fuller was the only JPAC employee who witnessed the argument?”

“Yes.” Jeannie, her friend and protégé, had lied and let their supervisors believe Mara had behaved negligently. As if she’d storm off alone in North Korea. That was insane.

As insane as what had really happened.

Curt stood and crossed the space in three quick steps, sympathy evident in his turbulent eyes and downturned mouth, but he stopped short of reaching out to actually comfort her. “Mara, during my flight to North Korea, JPAC e-mailed me PDFs of your field journal. The last page included an account of you storming off, the crew’s search for you, and their eventual expulsion from the country. According to the log, they were kicked out because of you—because you’d been arrested. The entry was signed by Jeannie Fuller.”

His words crested her breaking point. Unstoppable tears rolled down, one after another as the full meaning took hold and ripped open her heart.

Jeannie really had betrayed her. Her damning statement would have ensured the entire fiasco was blamed on Mara. A simple sentence reporting Evan’s command to clear the site was the difference between following orders and appalling negligence.

“Why would Jeannie do that?”

“Jeannie Fuller has a brother with a gambling problem.”

Shock temporarily halted the flood of messy emotion. “Eric?”

“You know him?”

She nodded and sniffed. Curt grabbed tissues from the counter and pressed a stack into her hand. She mopped her cheeks and took a settling breath. “Eric visited Jeannie on Oahu nearly a year ago. I didn’t know he had a gambling problem.”

“He owed bad people big money, meaning Jeannie could be bought.”

“You think Raptor paid her to lie.”

“Yes.”

“We need to find her.”

“The FBI is working on it.”

She touched Curt’s arm as an idea took hold. “She probably went to Eric. She doesn’t have any other family.” She squeezed his bicep. “He’s stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, in Arizona. We could refuel there.”

He stiffened. “Another military base is dangerous. I’ll call Palea, see what he knows, before we decide to do anything that drastic.”

It took over two hours for Palea to talk to the FBI agent who’d interviewed Eric Fuller and get back to Curt. Seated in a plush recliner, Curt leaned back with an exhausted sigh. “Airman Fuller says he doesn’t know where his sister is, but the agent who spoke to him believes he lied.”

The forced air made her throat dry. Or maybe it was the awareness she could do something. She could stop running and hiding and take action. “Curt, he’ll tell me.”

He narrowed his eyes and fixed her with a penetrating stare. “What makes you think that?”

She shifted uncomfortably, remembering the last time she saw Eric Fuller.

He shook his head. “Don’t tell me you were engaged to Fuller too?”

“Of course not! He’s Jeannie’s little brother and too young.” She frowned. She hated this story, but it had to be told. “When he was visiting—it wasn’t long after I dumped Evan—we went out for drinks one night. Evan showed up at the bar and tried to pick a fight with Eric.” She allowed a grim smile. “It was appalling, juvenile, and ridiculous. Eric ignored him.” Here she paused and caught her breath. “So Evan turned on me.”

She heard Curt shift in his seat but didn’t see his reaction because she dropped her gaze to her fingers, intertwined in a tight, painful tangle, remembering the pain that had exploded across her scalp when Evan yanked her off the barstool by her hair. She cleared her dry throat. “Evan is a highly trained operative, but Eric is ten years younger, in better shape, and doesn’t have a bum knee. He kicked Evan’s ass.”

Curt dropped to a knee before her, forcing her to look at him. “I’m starting to like the guy.”

She nodded. “After going through that…I think he’ll talk to me. And I’m Jeannie’s friend. He’ll know I’m trying to find her to protect her.”

“Are you? She lied, you know. About you.” The cold pronouncement hurt. “And, Mara, you should know, Palea said preliminary examination of her home computer turned up transactions she made with foreign banks. She was well paid.”

How much was selling out a friend worth? But then, how much was a brother’s life worth?

The idea hurt too much to accept as fact. “There’s money in my bank account too. But I didn’t take a bribe.”

Curt said nothing, and she wondered if he wasn’t convinced of her innocence, and that idea hurt almost as much as Jeannie’s betrayal. “Look, with you by my side, we can convince Eric you’re willing to cut a deal with her on the bribery charge.”

“I’m not in a position to make deals—”

“He won’t know that. He’ll tell us where she is. C’mon, Curt. We have to refuel anyway.”

Footsteps sounded, and she looked up to see Curt open the cockpit door and step inside. She waited, tension coiling through her, wondering what arrangements he was making. Minutes later, he returned and dropped back into the plush recliner.

“We’ll be at Davis-Monthan in three hours.”

She gasped as her heart hammered. “Really?”

“We’ll talk to Eric Fuller. But that’s all. No matter what he tells us, we won’t go after Jeannie, you understand? That’s the FBI’s job.”

“I know.” She reached across the narrow aisle and grabbed his hand. “Thank you.”

“We wouldn’t take the risk, except Raptor doesn’t have offices in Arizona. Their closest field office is in Texas. We’ll be in and out before they even know we’re there.”

She smiled. “I guess I should stop complaining about you being too much of a chess player and start being thankful for the strategy.”

She expected him to pull away from her touch, but his fingers tightened. “When we’re on the ground, you’re sticking with me like glue. No talking with Eric Fuller in private—not even if he demands it.”

She nodded.

“My job is to keep you safe. I’m not going to fuck it up this time.” His jaw was tight, and his gaze met hers in an unapologetically hot look that somehow slipped past his rigid control. The heat in his eyes stunned her, but then, she’d been on such an emotional roller coaster, she needed to remember he’d been strapped in for the same ride.

She girded herself for another plummet and slowly stood, still holding his hand. Her belly fluttered in free fall as she lowered herself onto his lap. She grabbed the knot of his tie and began to loosen it.

His hand stopped her. “No, Mara.”

“Just the tie. Please?”

Heat shimmered in his gaze, and finally he gave a quick nod. “Just the tie.”

In moments, she had the noose off him, and settled against his chest. His arms closed around her. For the first time since she’d met him, she felt she understood him. He chose his armor and weapons carefully, and his shield could drop only so far when they were alone. When he was in prosecutorial mode, his actions were always calculated. She’d bet he even knew what she was going to say next.

She pressed her head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. “What’s your favorite chess piece?”

“I like the pawn, because no one sees it as a threat.”

“Tell me everything will be okay.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Tell me I’ll get my life back someday.”

“I can’t do that either,” he said.

“Then tell me you like holding me as much as I like being held by you.”

His arms tightened, and his chin rubbed against the top of her head. “I like holding you. Far more than I should.”

She smiled against his chest. “I want to sleep.”

“Then sleep.”

“I want you to hold me while I’m sleeping, like you did last night. It was the best sleep I’ve had in months.”

His fingertips traced the cut on her forehead. “Then sleep.”

She lifted her head and stared into his eyes. Her heart beat so loudly she was certain the pilots could hear. “Will you kiss me?”

“No.” Even as he spoke, she felt evidence of his arousal. “Yes, I’m hard, but I won’t kiss you, and I won’t make love to you.”

She relaxed against him. “Yet,” she murmured and closed her eyes.