Sealed In Lies (29 page)

Caroline propped the mop against the kitchen counter and walked over to the oval dining room table that she had cleaned only an hour before. She looked over his shoulder at the laptop. She hoped he hadn’t cracked something when he slammed it closed. “Maybe he’s not and you just need to step away from it for a while. You’ve been staring at that screen for almost two hours. I have had time to clean the bathroom and the kitchen while you were plunking away. I believe Webster’s might be interested in the definition for all the new curses I heard you use.”

Without thinking, she placed her hands on his shoulders and began to knead the rock hard muscles. He was so tense. She moved her thumbs in a circular pattern across his shoulder blades and gently squeezed the tops of his shoulders with her other fingers.

Jack rolled his neck around and then let his head fall to his chest. “Mmmm. That feels good. Were you a masseuse in another life?”

Caroline laughed. “No, just years of practice on Warren. He liked things done a certain way and you learned how to do it or else.”

“
Bastard.” Jack mumbled.

Caroline leaned in a little closer. He smelled of oily dirt and sweat but she didn’t mind. She liked it. She inhaled deeply. “What did you say? I didn’t hear you.” Her lips were very close to his ear and she felt him shudder.

“
I called your husband a bastard. Dammit, I have got to get these files de-coded. We are on a very short time frame and if I don’t figure this out, innocent people are going to die.” He slammed his fist onto the table. “Shit, Damn, Fuck!!!” Jack started to rise but Caroline was too quick for him. She shoved back down into his seat with surprising strength.

“
Will you stop it before you tear up everything in the house?” She sighed and began to massage his shoulders again. “Listen,” she said more softly. “You are tired and you have to be hungry. We haven’t eaten since nine o’clock this morning and it is almost five now. Relax for a minute. Let me work these kinks out of your shoulders and neck and then we will go into town and get a bite to eat.”

Jack leaned back in the chair and let her work her magic. Truthfully, he was tired and frustrated. Not being able to break the code on the encrypted data was wearing him down. Her fingers were strong and sure as they kneaded the knots from his neck. Her hands were soft when they slipped under the collar of his t-shirt to touch bare skin. He felt the reaction in his lap immediately.

He leaned his head back and looked up at her. Caroline smiled at him and continued her ministrations. She leaned down, almost touching nose-to-nose and said, “See, I told you this would make you feel better.”

Automatically his hand went behind her head and brought her mouth down to his. He didn’t take the time to think about what he was doing, he just reacted. It was a soft kiss, lips touching lips, and when he heard her soft sigh he deepened the kiss. He scraped his teeth against her bottom lip and teased her mouth with his tongue. Surprise washed through him when she opened her mouth and let him explore. She tasted of mint and coffee. It was the sweetest taste he had ever experienced.

Caroline was the first to pull away. “Well, that was unexpected.” Her voice was a little breathless and her cheeks flushed crimson. Her thoughts went immediately to the first time he’d surprised her with a kiss. That was nothing compare to this. She felt hot and light headed.

Jack stood up quickly and pulled her into his arms. “I’ve been wanting to do that again, all day. I’m not going to apologize for it, Caroline. You’re a beautiful woman and I happen to appreciate a beautiful woman.”

She looked down, embarrassed. “I don’t expect an apology, but I shouldn’t have kissed you back.” Her thoughts strayed to the conversation with the woman she overheard Jack speaking with two days ago. What would she think about all this? It sounded like they were extremely close and she wouldn’t be responsible for breaking up a loving relationship. She would not let that happen again, she told herself. It was wonderful, but it would not happen again.

Jack ran a finger down the side of her cheek and captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger. He looked into her beautiful eyes. A man could drown in those sea green eyes. If he wasn’t careful he surely would. He should remind himself she was another man’s wife, but he didn’t really care, if that made him a rogue bastard then so be it. She was a treasure and her body cried out to be loved and cherished, not beaten on and abused. It ate him up inside that she belonged to someone who would abuse her and treat her like garbage, but he was nothing if not honorable. This had to be her call, and if she wanted him who was he to refuse her? He certainly was no saint.

She reached up, captured his hand with her own and gently brought it back to his side. “It was sweet, but I don’t think your girlfriend would approve if you do that again,” she said primly.

“
Girlfriend? Where in the hell did you get the idea that I had a girlfriend?”

Caroline was surprised. “Well, uh, that woman you were talking to on the phone the other day, Lucy, I think her name was. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I heard you say ‘I love you’ so I just assumed she was a girlfriend, wife or lover. You never said you weren’t married or attached.”

Jack laughed, a deep rich sound, which filled the entire room. “Oh, Lucy is going to love this.” It took him a few minutes to stop the laughter and catch his breath. “Caroline, Lucy is my sister.”

Caroline’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh, your sister, well I just… I’m very sorry to have made such an assumption and I am sorry that I eavesdropped. My mother told me never to do that and I should have listened.”

Jack chuckled again. “No harm done.” Then he grew more serious. “I probably shouldn’t have kissed you but, damn, you are hard to resist.”

She reached up and softly touched his cheek. “It’s okay, I liked it.” She winked. “I might even let you do it again some time, but right now I’m starving!”

“
Well, by all means, don’t make me the reason you don’t get food in your belly. I bet you’re mean when you’re hungry.”

Her eyes twinkled with merriment. “You know it. A beast.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Are you now? That could be interesting.”

She hit him on the arm. “Come on. Feed me and then I’ll help you take a look at that code when we get back.”

He turned to look at her as they walked out the door. “What do you know about encrypting files?”

“
There are a lot of things I know, Jack Weaver.”

They found a local restaurant called Bob’s Bar and Grill next to a movie theater in town. She noticed that a new super hero flick was playing, along with some good chick movies. She couldn’t remember the last time she went to a theater to see a movie. Warren never allowed it because he didn’t enjoy movies. Caroline loved them. She loved the big screen and the action that came to life in front of her eyes. There were times when Warren would leave for long trips and she would have one of his goons take her to the video store. She would walk out with three or four movies. Once home she would curl up in bed with a bowl of popcorn enjoying the solitude.

Jack saw her gazing at the movie posters. “You like movies?”

“
Yes, I love going to movies. I was just thinking that I couldn’t remember the last time I went.”

“
Well, while we are here, we might be able to sneak one in if we are careful.”

“
Really?” Her eyes sparkled like a child’s. “That would be so much fun.”

Jack smiled down at her. She resembled a cherub when she smiled that way, wrinkling tiny dimples in her cheeks. He would give her the world if she was his, and right, wrong, or indifferent he had to remember that she didn’t belong to him. Hadn’t she just pushed him away when he last kissed her? That should send a loud signal to that thickheaded brain of his. He just can’t resist her. She is sweet and charming with her southern ways. She makes him laugh and more importantly she makes him want to tell her his inner most secrets. He’d never met a woman that affects him the way she does.

He needed to get his hormones in check was what he needed to do. She has been through a very traumatic experience with one man and she certainly doesn’t need the likes of him pushing himself on her. He knew it was inconsiderate to kiss her, twice, but again he couldn’t help it. Why were women so complicated?

They found a table toward the back of the restaurant. At this hour it was not crowded at all and the waiter came straight to the table. Jack ordered blackened salmon and Caroline asked for chicken Parmesan. They both ordered a beer.

“
So tell me about this big plot that you are trying to uncover.” She tipped her bottle and took a long swallow.

“
Are you sure you want to know? I have to be honest with you Caroline. Warren is in this up to his neck and you’re not going to like what I have to tell you.”

Caroline studied his face before she spoke. The honesty in his eyes frightened her. “What’s going on Jack? I need to know the truth.”

Jack glanced around the restaurant to make sure no one was close enough to overhear. “This all started when I was in Colombia working undercover trying to bust up the Cortez drug cartel.”

Caroline choked on her swallow of beer.
“The Cortez Cartel? Carlos Cortez?”

Jack’s eyebrows rose. “You’ve heard of him?”

“
Yes, Warren mentioned him often. When he was heavily involved with the Homeland Security Team he spoke of Cortez as being quite a threat. Warren said he has men infiltrating every state in America. Not only is he involved in drugs but Warren also believed he might be funding some terrorist group based out of the Middle East. He is a very dangerous man.”

“
Well, not any more, he’s dead. I killed him the night I killed Kent Larson.”

Jack stopped talking as the waiter brought their food. Caroline was staring at him, mouth hanging open, waiting for him to continue. He took a bite of fish and gestured with his fork. “That wide open mouth of yours could use some food in it. You better eat that before it gets cold.”

Caroline closed her mouth. “You killed Carlos Cortez and killed the Deputy Director of the CIA all in one night? No wonder you’re running around looking over your shoulder.” Caroline forked a bite of food into her mouth. “Now go on with your story, I’m intrigued.”

“
If I remember correctly you weren’t so intrigued the first time you asked me if I’d killed Kent Larson.”

“
Jack, you still scare the hell out of me, but I think I know you a little better now. Please, tell me the rest.”

Jack took a swallow of beer, glanced around the room again, and then continued. “While I was working for Carlos,” he stopped when Caroline interrupted.

“
How did you even get in to work for him? I mean, how did you ever gain his trust enough for him to let you get so close.”

“
That’s a long story and I’ll save it for another time.” He forked another piece of fish into his mouth and glanced up at her. The look of disappointment was obvious and he knew she wasn’t going to be satisfied until he told her.

“
Okay,” he said. She brightened immediately.

“
I speak Spanish, naturally, and I hung around Miami for months working for this club I knew Carlos liked to frequent when he was in town. I saved his sorry ass one night from a jealous boyfriend and we were instant buddies. Satisfied?”

“
For now,” she took another bite of pasta, her green eyes glued to his face.

“
Good. Well, as I was saying I had been working for him for almost a year and during my off hours I would hack into his personal computer and try to find incriminating evidence. A few weeks ago I ran across this file called The Emperor. I was curious so I opened the file and found encrypted data. As you might imagine this made me even more curious so I started decoding the files.

“
What I discovered was a plot to assassinate the presidential elect, Michael Hardy, on inauguration day. Cortez was being hired to perform the assassination by this Emperor guy so your husband could obtain the Presidency.”

Caroline’s fork clattered on her plate. She sat staring at Jack, her mouth hanging open for the second time that night.

He looked around the restaurant, noticing the staring patrons. “Caroline, close your mouth, you look like a fish.”

She snapped her mouth shut, anger firing in her eyes. “Are you saying,” she stopped when Jack held up a hand.

“
Lower your voice, please.” He moved his hand in a downward gesture. “This cannot be overheard. We shouldn’t even be discussing it in here.”

“
Okay, sorry.” Caroline dropped her voice to a whisper. “Are you saying that my husband was part of a plot to assassinate Michael Hardy on Inauguration Day? I just can’t believe that’s true, Jack. Warren and Michael worked so hard to win that campaign. They are friends. I can’t believe he would take part in anything that would harm Michael.”