Harlequin Intrigue June 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: To Honor and To Protect\Cornered\Untraceable (29 page)

Rather than run through the details, he got up to his knees and reached for the bag. The rip of the zipper echoed around them as he drew it down and the soft rain began to fall again. He typed one word into his watch to communicate with Holt:
diversion
.

The response came back in a second:
no fireworks
.

Cam pretended he didn't see that. He wanted big but went small. He pulled out an explosive device. It resembled a stick of dynamite but wasn't. It consisted of an internal chamber housing the chemical substance and wires. He could use a trigger from a good distance away. There would be a crash and fire. Enough to bring anyone hiding out running, which was the point.

“If you trip with that thing, will you blow up?” She sounded more intrigued than concerned.

He wasn't sure how to take that. “I have to set it off, so no.”

“I still want to go on record as doubting this plan.”

He put the pieces together and lifted the device into his arms. “If we flush the right people out, we can end this right now and we can sleep in a warm bed tonight.”

He left out the word
together
, but it was implied. From her smile he thought she got that.

She gestured toward the car. “Then what are you waiting for?”

“I thought so.” Cam took off then. He slid down the hill on the side of his foot, winding through the trees and dropping to his stomach when there was nothing to block a direct line to seeing him. He could almost hear Holt swearing from a half mile away.

Cam crawled the last few feet. Pebbles crunched under his knees and something sharp dug into his thigh. The wet ground helped muffle the sound, but he couldn't go in using pure stealth. Not with an explosive device in his hands.

He had neared the front tire when the door banged open. Not knowing if he was made or just unlucky, he tucked the bomb against his chest and rolled under the car. Footsteps thumped around him. He heard the car door open and calculated how fast he'd have to move not to get crushed under the tires.

But the engine never turned over. One of the guy's legs stayed outside the car as if he was leaning in to grab something. Singing while he did it. Then he stepped back out and slammed the door.

Cam held his breath until he heard the building door shut again. He exhaled, trying to slow the sprint of his heartbeat. Let his head fall against the cool ground for a second. Then he thought about Julia on that hill and started moving again.

He shimmied back out and set up the device. Placed it close to the tire on the far side of the building. The explosion should blow the car and rock the house. Bring the singer and whoever else was in there running.

Two wires and he hooked it up and, ready to go, got to his feet. His palms stayed on the ground as he looked around for the best place to hide. He had just pushed up when he heard it. The pump of a rifle.

“Stand up nice and slow. Hands on your head.” The man laughed as he talked.

“You are not supposed to be here, but unfortunately for you, you are,” another one said.

Cam ignored the comment about his hands and turned around. One of the men looked familiar. Cam thought he remembered him from the ferry. The other, no. Neither was Ray and neither looked to be in charge.

He tucked the detonator in his hand, hiding it. He had to get out of the blast radius. If he didn't, he had to buy time for Holt and Shane to move in close enough to fire. But even with them on the scene, it might be too late. These two men were smart enough to put the car in front of them and the building behind. It was a good plan until the vehicle blew up, and that was about to happen.

Cam tried some guy talk while he put a map together in his mind. “Just out for a walk, boys.”

“Nice try. We know who you are.” The bigger one pointed to Cam with the end of his gun. “People are looking for you.”

“Where's the woman?” the other one asked.

Confirmation. They were with Ray. Cam didn't know who else they were with, but he made that connection.

Cam shook his head. “Don't know what you're talking about.”

“There.” The guy pointed to the hill.

Cam almost hated to follow his gaze, but there she was, on the top of the hill. Standing. Was she waving her arms?

Anger rushed over him and he almost missed the opportunity Julia handed him. With the men's attention switched, Cam moved. He took a few lunging steps, then dived over a bush. His finger hit the button as he flew.

A crack sounded behind him and then a wall of heat smashed into his body. He fell to his stomach with his arms crossed over his head and listened as the world exploded into chaos behind him. Yelling and the crackle of fire. One explosion followed another, and chunks of car rained down around him.

He didn't know how much time had passed until the thunder of noise died down. When he lifted his head again, Julia hovered over him with fear shining in her eyes.

“Cameron?”

“I'm okay.” He had no idea if that was true, but he rolled over and didn't spy blood, and all his limbs were there, so he took that as a good sign.

“We're going to talk about that stunt later,” Holt said from somewhere above him. “Lucky for you Shane caught the one guy who was thrown before he could get up and run.”

Cam assumed that meant there were just the two. “And the other?”

“Gone, as in dead.” Holt looked down at Julia where she sat slumped over on her knees. “You go with Cam.”

She shook her head but didn't say anything. The lack of response fueled Cam. This was not a woman who stayed quiet. He struggled first to his elbows as the adrenaline gave way to aches and pains. Then he sat up.

“You created a diversion.” She'd risked her own safety, and the idea of that had him reeling. He was half furious and half drowning in his attraction to her.

She picked at something on the ground. “They were on a beer run.”

“What?”

“The guy took beer out of the car, got as far as the porch, then turned again.” She let out a ragged exhale. “I guess he sensed you were there.”

“And you rescued me.” The idea held him in awe. He was not in the habit of needing someone to ride in and save him.

She shrugged. “It was my turn.”

He heard Holt moving around and looked his way. The place looked like a war zone. A flipped-over car and a fire raging up the side of the shed. One body on the ground and fire and debris everywhere.

Cam cleared his throat. “You get to pick where we go next.”

She touched his sleeve. “Sandy's house.”

That was not really what he had expected. “Really?”

“You smell.”

* * *

R
AY
LOWERED
HIS
BINOCULARS
.

The shed, the entire area was on fire. He had another man down and one caught. He'd almost gotten off a shot and taken the runner out, but then more men appeared. Good thing the guard didn't know anything. He was stationed out here, checking the boundaries. He hadn't even done a good job of that. Too busy drinking, apparently.

No, like every other man on the job, this one couldn't be traced back to the boss. Ray doubted the guy they caught could say much about him, either. But he could answer some questions, and that moved up the timeline to take the Corcoran Team out.

At least he had the information he needed. Corcoran didn't send one man to grab a witness. At least three wandered around out there, making his life difficult. Ray could dispose of three. While he was at it, he'd eliminate the woman, too.

The boss was not going to like this. Then again, the boss wasn't going to be the boss for much longer, so Ray didn't care. It was all a time game now, and the countdown had started.

Chapter Twelve

Julia regretted her decision within an hour of getting to Sandy's house. She'd made him promise before they ever stepped on the property not to call the police. But that didn't mean Sandy greeted them with a smile. He grumbled and took verbal shots at Cam.

With Cam in the shower, she knew it was her turn. Still, she tried to avoid the moment by hiding in the kitchen. She leaned down with her elbows on the marble counter and paged through the news stories she'd called up on Sandy's laptop. She had one empty bottle of water next to her and was most of the way through a second. Once she had a hot meal she'd feel better.

But she had to live through the interrogation first.

“You can do better.” Sandy set his coffee mug down with a hard clunk as he slid onto the bar stool across from her.

Julia didn't pretend to be confused or dance around the topic. “He's not a killer.”

Cam was a lot of things. Lethal, determined, caring, stubborn and a heck of a kisser. He could be difficult and demanding, but she knew to her soul he was not a killer. Not in the sense Sandy meant.

But Sandy wouldn't let the subject go. “You're telling me he hasn't killed anyone since you've been together?”

“Not exactly.” She couldn't really avoid the details. The news was all over the island. There was talk of instituting some form of martial law and keeping people in their houses until the police could search. Ferry service had stopped for all but essential services, and word was that more law-enforcement officials would be pouring in soon.

None of that was good news for Cam or his team. As outsiders they'd be tagged as perpetrators. And Cam hadn't exactly been subtle in fighting his way through the island. Add in a potential drug runner working somewhere on the island and disaster loomed.

“That's it. I've waited long enough.” Sandy slipped his cell out of his back pocket.

“No!” She lunged over the stove top and reached for the phone.

“This is the best option. You need to trust me on this.” He pulled it back just in time and glared at her. “What is wrong with you?”

She wondered the same thing. That phone came out and a furious fire roared to life in her brain. Instinctively she knew she had to protect Cam at all costs. “You promised.”

“That was a mistake.”

This couldn't happen. She'd grab Cam and run if needed, but she didn't want it to come down to that. Sandy would see that as her picking Cam over him. He was that type of man. A very black-and-white thinker, he put a high price on loyalty.

“I trust you, and if you...” She didn't want to threaten, and she'd walked right to the edge. “You need to trust me back.”

“I have a problem with him, not you,” Sandy yelled as he pointed toward the hall.

The water had shut off and she waited for Cam to come running. When he didn't she filled in the piece that still didn't make any sense to her. “He's with me.”

Sandy's mouth opened, then snapped shut again. He stuttered and shook his head—things that were very un-Sandy-like. “Oh, Julia.”

Pity. Great. She hated that tone and the sad-eyed expression. He'd been shooting it her way for years. “Please don't look at me like that.”

“At the very least agree that when he heads out, you'll stay behind with me. Behind locked gates and doors.” He wrapped his fingers around the edge of the counter and leaned in. “That man is dangerous.”

As far as she was concerned, he had it backward. “Right now this island is dangerous.”

“Because of him.” Sandy's knuckles turned white.

“He has put his body in front of mine and risked his own neck to save mine. He's played decoy and lured attackers away from me.” She could keep listing but ticked off the highlights on her fingers instead. “Does that sound like a guy who will hurt me?”

Sandy leaned back on the bar stool. “Why is he on Calapan?”

She wanted to ignore the question or at least dodge it. But Sandy deserved more than a shove off. “He came here to interview a witness. Apparently there's some intel—”

“Intel?”

“—that someone is running drugs, serious drugs, off Calapan.”

Finishing the sentence was easier than admitting she sounded like a television show. After a few days Cam had her sounding like him, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing, since she barely understood what he was talking about sometimes.

“How did an interview turn into a shoot-out?” Sandy asked.

She grabbed her water bottle because she needed something to occupy her hands. “Rudy was the witness and someone killed him.”

“You keep ignoring how your man is at the center of all this.”

She let the phrase
your man
slide by. She didn't hate it. Being linked to Cam didn't scare her or upset her.

“Someone in power is at the top of this. There's a man on the island pretending to be a police officer.” She peeled down the corner of the label and heard a rip.

Sandy never broke eye contact with her. “You know that to be true?”

“Yes.” Only because Cam and his team had told her, but she would not get knocked off track. The need to test Cam's trust kicked hard inside her, but she pushed it back. He didn't have anything to prove and she had to keep remembering that. “Is it possible Chief Kreider is involved?”

Sandy sighed at her. “I know you don't like him.”

“He has connections and knows the island.” She tore the label in half.

“You're taking on your boyfriend's paranoia.”

“She's smarter than I am.” Cam stepped up right behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

She noticed how he didn't correct Sandy about who he was to her. Like that, all the anxiety curling into a ball in her stomach disappeared in a flash. His voice had the power to do that to her.

She pressed a hand over his. “Cam.”

He came around her side to stand directly in front of Sandy. “Is there something you want to ask me?”

“I'm worried about Julia,” Sandy said before Cam finished the question.

Cam nodded. “So am I.”

“I can get her off the island.”

She listened to the verbal volleys until a migraine started to form over her eyes. “I'm sitting right here.”

Silence flashed through the room. The refrigerator hummed and a clock ticked somewhere, but no one moved.

Finally Sandy stood up and put the cell back in his pocket. “You both look ready to drop.”

Tension choking the room eased and Julia knew they'd avoided something pretty awful. At least for now. “We could use food and a good night's sleep.”

Cam still didn't move. “Unless I need to worry about you calling the police the second I close my eyes.”

“I'll agree not to call the police tonight if you agree not to run out into the rain with Julia,” Sandy shot back.

She sighed at both of them...not that they were paying any attention to her. “I'm still right here.”

Cam nodded. “Deal.”

* * *

C
AM
HELD
J
ULIA
'
S
arms above her head and pushed into her one last time. Her head dropped back into the pillows, and her heels dug into the back of his legs. Watching her while she lost the last of her control was one of the sexiest things he'd ever seen.

She went wild, not holding back. Touching him, kissing him. And when her inner muscles grabbed on to him, his control snapped. His body bucked and the air rushed out of his lungs. Every muscle tightened until the last pulses moved through him. Then his bones turned to mush.

Desperate not to crush her, he rolled to the side and took her hand with him. Held it in his in the middle of his chest so they didn't break contact. He threw the other arm over his closed eyes and silently thanked Holt for handing him another condom back at the explosion scene. Cam had no idea how his friend knew, but he did. They didn't say a word. Just had a handoff.

Cam decided not to share that bit with Julia. She had enough on her mind without worrying about the team. She might not understand that the condom handoff meant acceptance. The Corcoran Team members were weird that way.

Cam's arm fell to the mattress. “I don't think this was what Sandy had in mind when he told us to go to bed.”

“I'm a grown woman.” Her legs shifted and a foot brushed up against his calf.

Cam wanted her to climb on top of him, but he'd need to build his strength back first. “No arguments here.”

“I don't appreciate being talked about like I'm a child.”

“Wait a second.” At that tone, all surly and sharp, he lifted his head. “Am I in trouble for something?”

“Sandy is protective.” She turned to her side and one arm snaked across Cam's stomach. “Overly so, and I don't always like the way he orders me around like I'm five.”

Cam noticed, but he couldn't exactly get ticked off about the attitude. He had grabbed her in her father's house and dragged her into danger all over the island. If the positions were reversed, Cam would have been skeptical. Might actually take out a gun and fire a shot to make sure she stayed safe.

The relationship with Sandy struck Cam as paternal. He knew she hadn't been close to her dad. She'd made that much clear. That could explain the tight hold on her. “Does he have kids?”

“Divorced a few times but no kids. He says he spent most of his younger business years making money and never at home.”

“Now he's retired.” Something about that fact caught in Cam's brain. A workaholic without a job, and Sandy was only about fifty.

“Which is weird.” She rubbed her hand back and forth until her fingertips found Cam's exposed nipple. “He's not exactly the sit-around-the-house type.”

Concentrating on the conversation became harder with each passing second, but Cam tried to stay engaged and ignore his resurging erection. He wanted to know about Sandy because something didn't feel quite right with the guy. “What does he do all day?”

“Count his money?”

“Me, too.” Cam laughed at his own joke. “I think I have thirty-eight dollars.”

“Dinner is on you when we get out of this.” She stretched and her hand moved higher on his neck. Then she jerked and lifted herself up on her elbow. “Uh-oh. Did I scare you?”

He hadn't said anything, but his body went stiff. It was an involuntary reaction to the idea of commitment. His entire life had been about keeping free and being able to move. Except for the Corcoran Team, he'd never really believed in anything enough to commit to it.

He went with an answer that said nothing, because the idea of giving her the speech he'd delivered to others made him feel hollowed out inside. “I don't scare easily.”

“But?”

Now was not the time. He had a prepared speech for this, but it clogged his throat and he couldn't figure out how to get it out. “You know I'm not the settle-down type, right? I go on missions and travel. I get shot at. A lot.”

She leaned up on an elbow and stared down at him. “None of that is a surprise to me.”

Nothing shook her. He'd never met a woman like her before, and the fact that he kept wanting to know more scared the crap out of him. “I'm just saying dating me is not easy.”

She smiled. “Have you actually gone on dates? Like, at some point you found the time and strength to make it happen?”

Relief filled him at her amused tone. “Yes.”

“And maybe one time in your life you've gone out with the same woman more than once?”

He wanted to laugh but went with an honest answer. “Yes.”

“Do you see where I'm going with this?” She asked the question as if she were talking to a naughty child.

“You're telling me I'm overstating my dating issues.”

“Yes.” She slid over him, closing her eyes when the friction had them both groaning. “I'm not any different from the other women you've dated. You made it work with them, at least for a short time.”

That was where she was wrong. That was the piece that had him both wanting to run and wanting to stay. “You're different.”

She frowned at him. “Why?”

Cam thought about holding the truth back but let it fly. She'd earned his trust that much. “You matter.”

“Well, that's pretty sexy.” She leaned down and kissed his chin.

He moved his head to give her better access. “It's not a line.”

She laughed and the sound vibrated through her. “That's what makes it so sexy.”