Born Ready (24 page)

Scott stepped back inside whistling the song they’d danced to the night before—“Love Is an Ocean Wide.” “Hey.” He stopped, studied her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Jackie forced a smile.

“Don’t lie to me, Jackie Birchard. I see right through you.”

“Fine, okay, you want to know what’s bothering me?”

“I do.” He nodded.

“I know about her.”

“About who?”

“Don’t lie to
me.
I saw you with the redhead and now when she calls you take it out on the porch.”

“That bothers you?” He looked amused at her jealousy.

Amused! He was amused.

“Yes.” She folded her arms over her chest. “I know it shouldn’t bother me. It’s stupid, but it does.”

“You told me we couldn’t have anything more than a casual fling.”

“I know what I said.”

“It’s hypocritical of you to get jealous.”

She sank her top teeth into her bottom lip. “I know. But don’t go see her.”

“I have to, Jackie.”

“Why?”

“Things are complicated and for now I can’t tell you about it, but listen to me when I tell you that this other woman means nothing to me.”

“Then don’t go see her.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“Then she must mean
something
to you.”

“She does, but not in the way you think.”

“So just tell me.”

“I can’t,” he reiterated. “It’s Coast Guard business. You just have to trust me on that.”

Trust.

It was not something that came easily to her. She wanted to trust him, but she could not ignore the deep hurting in her heart. Oh, dear God, this was exactly what she’d wanted to avoid, feeling like this. Raw. Split in two.

She spied her dress lying in the living room. She bent to snatch it up. “I’m going to make this easy for you. Go to her. Don’t worry about me. I’ve got my work…you’ve got yours. That’s all we need. Right?”

“Wrong.” His hand snaked out and snared her wrist.

Her temper flared. “Please let me go.”

“Not until you listen to me.”

Jackie glanced away.

Scott reached out, took her chin, forced her to meet his gaze. “We can sort this out, Jackie, just not right now. All I’m asking is that you trust me.”

She jerked away. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

Because she was scared out of her wits that he was lying. She was scared of what she was feeling. It was too much. Too powerful. It was better to cut her losses now and get out while the getting was good before she got her heart completely broken.

Too late, too late.

“Listen,” she said. “I’m not angry. This is completely for the best. We had a great time.” She waved a hand. “It was a lovely evening. Great. Beautiful. You’re a good guy. I wish for you a very happy life.”

“Seriously? You’re breaking up with me again just because another woman called me?”

“Yes. No. It’s not just that.”

“What else is wrong?”

She shrugged. “Things are getting too complicated. I don’t do complicated.”

“Yes, yes, they are. But that’s because you’re feeling something for me.”

“Things that I don’t want to feel.”

“Why not?”

“Because feelings are messy. They can get you hurt. Better to make a clean break of it now while we still can.” Her chest heaved with the effort of breathing.

“Is that what you really want?” Sadness filled his eyes.

“It is.”

He hardened his chin, stepped away from her. “Okay, fine. I’ve done my best to convince you that things could be great between us if you didn’t keep putting up walls, but apparently you like life all by yourself under the sea, mermaid. You’re free to go, but first, I want you to promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?” she asked begrudgingly.

“Stay out of the mangrove channel for the next few days.”

“I will not. If I need to go—”

“Jackie!” he commanded, and stepped forward so suddenly that Jackie took an involuntary step back. “I’m not playing games here. This is the Coast Guard talking, not your midnight lover. Do not go into the mangrove channel until I call and tell you that’s it’s safe. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

IT TOOK EVERY BIT of Coast Guard fortitude that Scott possessed not to tell her the truth about Juliette Sterns.

He hated to hurt her feelings. Hated seeing her in pain. It tore him up inside. But this was the way it had to be if he hoped to bring DeCristo to justice.

When this was over, he’d find a hundred ways to make it up to her. In the meantime, he had a lot of work to do. Juliette had told him that a new shipment of drugs was arriving the following evening.

He called his boss in D.C., told him what was going on down here in the Keys. His boss green-lighted additional funds for interdiction to destroy DeCristo’s operation.

Then Scott called Carl and told him what Juliette had told him. She would be picking up a delivery the next day in the mangrove channel and if he wanted a slice of the pie, he needed to bring her some money today.

After meeting with the D.A. on Monday morning, Scott met Juliette at the restaurant where they’d previously had lunch. He passed her fifty thousand dollars of marked government bills. They arranged a meeting time for later that evening for delivery of the product.

In the meantime, Carl got Coast Guard officers in place, hiding on the banks of the mangrove channel to intercept the transaction and take possession of DeCristo’s drone submarine. They also put an undercover Coast Guard on Juliette and at sunset, Scott went to join Carl’s crew in the mangrove channel.

All during the stakeout, Scott thought of Jackie. He couldn’t shake her from his head. He should have his mind on capturing DeCristo’s sub, but all he could do was think about how crushed Jackie had looked at the thought he was dating another woman. Hell, who would ever want another woman if they had Jackie?

Jackie.

She intrigued him like no woman ever had. Could he be falling in love?

It was a startling realization. He hadn’t expected it, but she’d come blowing into his life like a hurricane. He had no gauge for what he was feeling. He only knew he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it. He’d straighten this all out. One way or another he’d convince her they had something special.

The Coast Guard agents watched the mangrove channel for hours, but Juliette never showed up. What if Carl’s tourist was wrong and DeCristo did not have a stealth submarine? What if it was all rumor and legend?

Scott’s stomach soured that he’d pulled the brass in on the sting without sufficient proof of the submarine’s existence.

This was not good. He was supposed to meet Juliette at midnight, so all he could do was pray she would show up for that assignation. If nothing else, at least they could bust her and get her back into custody. Still, he hungered to get his hands on DeCristo.

He paced the wharf they’d designated as the rendezvous spot. Lanterns lit the town behind him. A cacophony of music blended. He thought of the night he and Jackie had walked on the beach. He checked his watch. Ten minutes past midnight. He wanted to call the officer who was tailing Juliette, but he didn’t want to be on the phone if she showed up late.

Then, his phone rang, the caller ID announcing it was Juliette. Relief slipped over him. Okay. No need to panic yet.

“Hello?” he said, trying to keep the tension from his voice.

“It’s not happening tonight,” Juliette’s voice sounded high and reedy.

His entire body tensed. “When?”

“Tomorrow.”

“What time?”

“I’ll call and let you know.”

Great. More waiting. “I—”

But she’d already hung up. Cursing under his breath, Scott spun on his heel. He did not like this. It could be a legitimate delay, but it made him uneasy when things did not go according to plan. He stalked to his car, called Carl and told him what was up. Then he called the undercover officer staking out Juliette. “You got your sights on her, Phil?”

“She’s at the Hotel Delgado, penthouse suite. I’m in the lobby.”

“Are you sure she’s there?”

“As sure as I can be.”

“Can you get closer than the lobby? I’m scared she could give you the slip.”

“I’m sitting right by the elevators. I can’t access the penthouse suite.”

“Okay,” Scott muttered. “Do the best you can.”

He went home and tried to get some sleep but insomnia dogged him. Finally, he got up and went to kayak the mangrove channel just as he had the first morning he’d seen Jackie. He paddled past where she had her equipment anchored.

She wasn’t there. Thank heavens. Maybe she’d taken his warning seriously. He could only hope so.

The stakeout continued throughout that day. Juliette never called. The fifty thousand dollars of government money that he’d given her burned a hole in his craw. He had a very bad feeling about this.

Finally, he could stand it no more and in the early evening of the third day of the stakeout, he called Juliette and got a message that her cell phone was no longer a working number.

Swearing viciously, he called Phil Drummond. “Has she left the hotel?”

“Not since this thing began,” Phil said.

“What about your relief?”

“She said all was quiet.”

“Dammit.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “Flash your badge at the hotel manager. Get into the penthouse. Call me the minute you find out something.”

“Will do.”

Scott paced Carl’s office. Placed his hands on top of his head. He had a very bad feeling.

Ten minutes later, Phil called back. “Bad news.”

“She’s gone,” Scott guessed.

“Yep.”

Scott blew out his breath and reality struck him like a fist to the gut. Juliette had absconded with his fifty thousand dollars and he wasn’t any closer to catching DeCristo than he’d been before. He let out a string of curse words. Then he did what he’d been dreading. He called his bosses and told them just how badly he’d screwed up.

“Pull the plug on the whole operation,” his boss said curtly. “And when you get back to D.C. there will be a reckoning.”

“I might have gotten taken by the woman,” Scott said, “but my gut tells me that the small-time dealer Carl arrested is telling the truth about the stealth drone submarine.”

“Do you have actual proof?”

“No.”

“Then pull the plug.”

“If you just give me a few more days… It’s time for a shipment. I think that pulling the officers off surveillance of the mangrove channel would be a big mistake.”

“Just how much of the taxpayers’ money are you willing to waste, Everly? Cut your losses. Bring the officers back in. Now.”

13

Under Staffed, Can’t Go, that’s the U.S. Coast Guard for you. They couldn’t find cocaine right under their noses.

—Drug kingpin Juan DeCristo

ON THE THIRD DAY AFTER she had spent the night with Scott, Jackie woke up feeling worse than ever. Wasn’t it supposed to get better with time? Isn’t that the way it worked?

She stayed out of the mangrove channel, not because he commanded her to do so, but because she didn’t want to take the risk of running into him.

She tried to concentrate on writing her research paper. Except she was having so much trouble getting fully into the project. This had never happened to her.