Navy Justice (Whidbey Island, Book 5) (10 page)

CHAPTER NINE

P
ULLING
OUT
OF
the driveway on her own was anticlimactic. Brad had left the house on foot fifteen minutes ahead of her after instructing her to drive toward her new office as if this was any other workday. He cautioned her to watch for anyone following her.

Joy gripped the steering wheel as she drove down West Beach Road. “I’m a lawyer, damn it, not some special agent.”

Her words seemed to hang in the car as she tried to process the fact that her new job wasn’t the priority at the moment. First step was to find Brad and get him in the car. Then they’d drive to General Grimes’s without any drama, or so she hoped. And prayed.

After that she could still get to work in time for a normal day.

She continued along the smoothly paved surface of West Beach Road. On any other occasion she’d appreciate the beautiful drive. Through the fir trees lining the road, she caught brief glimpses of the cliff views off the Strait of Juan de Fuca, its waters glistening in the bright sunlight. Driving through the forested part of the road onto the cleared highway that led into town, she forced a smile onto her lips. Brad had said that she needed to look “normal.” That she was being watched, no question. She wouldn’t be able to tell whether or not the authorities wanted her to
know
she was being tailed.

No sooner had she pasted a smile on her face than she noticed a dark car in her rearview mirror.

“Crap!”

Brad had said to forget picking him up at their predetermined point—near the long drive that led up to a dog kennel, an obscure area—if she even suspected she was being tailed. He’d wait for an hour before striking out on his own.

She didn’t have the training Brad did, but she’d represented enough clients who’d been followed, or who’d had the training themselves. She knew that the first way to determine if she was being followed was to take a few unexpected turns.

Blowing past the place where she was supposed to pick Brad up, she headed into the island’s main city, Oak Harbor. Let the bastard follow her into Starbucks during morning rush hour.

To her distress and anxiety, he did. The driver of the dark vehicle, which had stayed behind her the entire trip, walked into Starbucks two minutes after she did.

Keep cool
.

She gripped her purse, steeling herself to make a quick exit if need be.

“Joy?”

To say she jumped out of her skin was an understatement. She swallowed a scream that would have pierced the eardrums of the barista.

A display of large mugs stood to her right. If she needed to, she could grab one and deliver a blow to someone’s head.

She turned around and stared at her “tail.”

“Paul!”

Paul Scott, her new boss. Great.

“I thought that was you. What, isn’t the coffee at the office good enough for you?” He flashed a warm smile at her.

“Were you just on West Beach Road?” she asked.

He gestured at his running attire. Certainly not what he’d worn when she’d seen him at the office.

“Yes, I go over there for a run once or twice a week before work. It’s convenient to have a shower room in the office. You know the showers at work are for everyone, right?”

“Of course.” She tried to allow relief to flow through her, relax muscles that were bunched in a fight-or-flight response. “I, um, hope to use them myself, once I’m more settled.”

He looked her up and down, obviously taking in her more casual clothing.

“I just left a yoga class.”

He nodded. Totally believing her.

“You can try out the new sauna I had installed last summer.”

“I’m used to driving to the base gym for my shower and sauna. I haven’t found a place in town yet. It’ll be pure luxury to have it in the office.”

“It might be a little over-the-top, but I do want to keep everyone who works for me happy.” Paul seemed pleased with her observation. She’d never been an ass-kisser, a “smack” in Navy parlance, and hated to start now. But if it kept him unaware of her actions of the moment, she’d take the hit. There’d be time to explain herself later, after she got the information Brad needed to close his operation.

Crap! She couldn’t tell Paul she wasn’t coming in today. Her plan had been to call in, but Brad had insisted she leave her phone at home. One less thing anyone could track her with.

Usually the coffee line went quickly, as the early-morning baristas were the best; today, of course, it crawled. She tried to discourage further conversation by staring at the menu that was posted above the counter area.

“How are you feeling on your second day of work? How did yesterday go?”

“Great! I loved it.” She ignored her guilt over taking a longer lunch on her very first day to go to the base and arrange for files to be delivered that had nothing to do with her new employment.

“Everyone’s been so nice and welcoming. I can’t thank you enough, Paul. My initial cases are very doable.” Did she just say
doable
? She couldn’t help flinching.

“Glad to hear it. I know the transition from active duty to civilian can be rough at first. My brother is Navy, and getting ready to become a full-time civilian. You’ve met his fiancée—Serena.”

She nodded, willing the line to go faster.

“They met in unusual circumstances having to do with a family house. Have her tell you about it sometime. At any rate, take all the time you need to adjust and get settled in. I like to think I run a family business, and you’re part of our family now.”

“Thanks, Paul.”

She was grateful that he didn’t know she’d briefly dated his brother. Or if he did, he saw no reason to bring it up. And she wasn’t going to tell him what she and Serena had discussed yesterday. She was just getting to know Serena and didn’t want to betray her trust.

Serena was right; Paul was the perfect boss.

“Are you glad you went into law?” she asked.

“Yes. It’s afforded me a life here on Whidbey, which works well for my family.” She could tell that Paul was starting to get tired of their small talk, too, judging by how he pointedly studied the menu.

Would the damn floor open up and swallow her, please? Her legal training and Navy experience had taught her to interpret facts in all kinds of ways, but outright lying would never be natural to her.

It’s for the right reason. Lives are at stake. It might involve national security
.

“Can I help you?”

Finally. Reprieve in the form of a coffee cashier.

“Cappuccino. Whole milk, please.”

“Anything else?”

“Bagel with everything, toasted.”

She wasn’t hungry but had to keep up the ruse that she was on her way into her second day of work with no other plans. Dressed as if she was coming from a yoga class she’d never attended.

“I’ve got it.” Paul’s hand reached around her, and he gave the cashier a credit card. “It’s on the office. I’ll take a large morning blend, please.”

Joy smiled at him. “Thanks, Paul. I appreciate it. You don’t usually come in here, do you?”

She would’ve noticed him before; he was too distinguished-looking not to attract attention, and she’d frequented the shop often when she worked on base.

“No, I prefer the little mom-and-pop drive-through, but my run went longer today. I need to get in early for a conference call with Seattle and New York, so this was closer.”

Of course he had a conference call. Paul was an accomplished, busy lawyer.

And he’d just hired a lying, law-breaking woman who’d probably be on the lam before the week was out.

* * *

I
T
FELT
LIKE
FOREVER
, waiting for Joy to turn around and come back for him. Fifteen more minutes, and he’d hike it down to General Grimes’s place on his own. Thirty-two miles on foot—it would take him the entire day to get there, especially with his need to remain hidden.

He heard barking, and the bushes around him rustled. He knew the yelps were from the dogs in the nearby kennel, but the rustling had him on alert. Suddenly, with no fanfare at all, a large possum rambled out from under an overgrown rhododendron. He stepped aside to let it pass by, grateful it hadn’t been anything to worry about. Like a terrorist.

Or a skunk.

His respiration rate was up, and sweat beaded his forehead even in the cool morning. He sat down in the tall grass, closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down.

Images of yesterday’s events flashed across his mind. The SAM apparatus in the small fishing vessel. The enemy agent lifting it, preparing to fire. The crisp blue of the sky as he fired his own weapon. The subsequent fireball.

Joy’s lips.

Joy. He didn’t deserve her belief in him. The sheer determination on her face as she told him she’d get the answers he needed had allowed a tiny flicker to ignite in his cold, dark heart.

Hope.

He opened his eyes.

He had to talk to Grimes.

* * *

J
OY
WAS
NEVER
more grateful to be leaving the coffee shop for the parking lot. The diversion from her route had cost her fifteen minutes. Running into her new boss, almost literally, had made her wonder if she was really the right person to help Brad. Lying, hiding an undercover FBI agent and sneaking him to a secret meeting while she foraged through classified government documents that she had a mere thirty-six hours to access—she hadn’t been trained for any of this.

Not intentionally.

She smiled to herself as she thought of how scarily qualified she actually was to do all those things. She might not think of herself as a liar, but the ease with which she came up with blatant falsehoods had to be credited to years of piecing together seemingly random facts to create a defense or prosecution. The cappuccino was hot but worth the immediate lift it gave her. As if she and Brad hadn’t consumed enough coffee over the past twenty-four hours!

Her usual confidence reappeared in the form of knowing she’d find the answers he needed. Brad had stumbled across something significant when he was in the middle of a difficult mission overseas. She was sure of it. They just needed the case documents to figure out what and to whom it was so damned important.

She could do this.

“Joy!”

She spun around and faced her good friend and knitting partner, Emily Bowman. She and Emily had met at the base gym during a Pilates class over a year ago.

“I don’t usually see you out and about in the mornings!” Emily’s brunette bob fluttered in the wind, her corkscrew curls wild, her cheeks flushed from exertion.

“Hey, Emily. Are you on your way to or from the gym?”

Emily laughed. “You know me too well. When I got off duty at the hospital, I hit the 0530 spin class they’ve started. You should come and join me.”

“Yeah, well, with the new job and all...” Lying to protect Brad’s innocence was one thing. But now she was putting on a false front with a close friend. Emily had helped her through a rough period when she’d been weighed down by cases on base and had just broken off with another man she’d dated. It all seemed like such a waste of time. All that effort trying to find a man she could be with. When all she really wanted...

Was an irrevocably unavailable man.

“Oh, no worries. I understand. You know how crazy I’ve been since my book came out!”

Emily’s book. Crap. Joy had forgotten—the signing was last night.

“Oh, my goodness, Emily, I missed the signing! I’m an awful excuse for a friend. Please tell me there’s another one?”

“There is. Tonight, in the yarn shop in Coupeville.”

“Oh, um...”

Emily’s face clouded for an instant before she smiled and patted Joy’s forearm.

“Joy, it’s no big deal. It’s a knitting pattern book, not some big juicy novel or Pulitzer Prize contender.”

“It’s
your
book, Em. You used my rosewood needles to create the sweater pattern!”

“Yes, I did.” They’d been on a two-day jaunt to a fiber festival in Oregon. Emily had forgotten her complete needle set in the midst of designing a lovely tweed pullover for her pattern book. Joy had her circular set with her, including the size Emily needed. It was a small thing as far as Joy was concerned. But Emily had been so grateful she’d knitted Joy an intricate lace scarf with the leftover yarn from the sweater. Joy cherished the scarf, which was the first gift she’d received from anyone on Whidbey, and it had made her feel she belonged somewhere besides an aircraft carrier, courtroom or Navy base. It made her feel that Whidbey was
home
.

“Do you think you can make it tonight? Maybe we could do dinner before the event.”

Joy faltered. This was getting harder.

“Oh, I wish I could, but I have a meeting with my new colleagues that’s going to take all afternoon. I’ll probably have to grab something from a drive through for dinner.”

Emily shrugged as though it was no big deal.

But it was. Emily was her friend, and Joy prided herself on being there for the people she cared about.

Wasn’t that why she was slinking around like some kind of a black ops wannabe for Brad?

“I’ll see if I can get out of it early, Em.” She sent up a silent prayer that she didn’t have to go on the run with Brad before the signing.

“I know you do—stop stressing out. We can go to dinner another time. And if you make it to the signing, great. If not...”

A tall, slender man walked past them, so engrossed in his cell phone that he accidentally bumped into Emily.

“Whoa. Sorry.” The man paused and stiffened as if he’d been hit by a two-by-four. It was impossible to miss the look of annoyance in Emily’s eyes.

“Must be a really important text.” Emily’s grim tone surprised Joy. Her friend was usually upbeat, although she’d had her own sad times, losing her husband, Peter, to cancer while they were still newlyweds. But that had been more than a decade ago, and Emily seemed happy with her life. She was a talented Labor and Delivery nurse, and all the new mothers adored her.

She and Joy didn’t talk much about Emily’s dating, but judging by the way Emily glared at the inconsiderate texter, Joy realized that maybe she and Emily suffered from the same thing.