COLE (Dragon Security Book 1) (16 page)

Megan

Cole was once again driving much faster than he should have done. We screeched to a stop outside the first house, a small, ranch-style home on a street three blocks from Rice. He bounced out the door before the car was fully stopped. I was following when my cell phone rang.

“Sunset and Albans,” Sam said. “Someone just called nine-one-one reporting an unconscious woman.”

“Cole!”

He turned just as he was about to knock in the locked front door of the empty ranch.

“We have her.”

He ran back, but I’d already slipped behind the wheel of the car. I wanted to find Amber as much as he did, but I wasn’t willing to die for her.

We pulled up to the house right behind the police. They made us wait, standing on the sidewalk as they went inside to check things out. I thought Cole would have a stroke. He was pacing, staring down the front of the cottage like he wanted to melt the mortar and see inside, see that Amber was there and she was safe. But before he could somehow develop the power to do such a thing, a cop came out the front door, guiding Amber in front of him.

Cole ran across the yard, grabbing her face in his hands, searching her for injuries. Even I could see that she was bleeding from a cut on the side of her head, but she looked otherwise unharmed. Physically, anyway.

The police told Cole to get back. They needed to talk to Amber before anyone could influence her statement. But she wouldn’t let him pull away. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pressed her face against his chest, sobbing as she whispered, “I’m sorry,” over and over again.

She was safe. That was all that mattered.

***

It was hours later when we were finally alone. Amber was a little dazed by the medication they’d given her for her headache, but her eyes were clear enough. Mom had brought the baby, and she was holding him against her chest. She couldn’t feed him, not to tonight, because of the medication, but holding him close was enough for now, it seemed.

Cole was at her side, his hand on her leg, watching her as if he would never look away again. He clearly was intent on never letting her out of his sight again.

“Is there anything else you can tell me?” I asked.

She’d described the men and the masks they were wearing, the questions they’d asked. None of it made a lot of sense to me, especially their pointed questions about me and my investigation into Peter’s death. But it sounded like, whoever they were, they were satisfied with her answers. It was curious what she said about them arguing over saying something about others in front of her. I wondered if they were talking about Kurt Sanchez and John Fuller because it hit the news less than fifteen minutes after we found Amber: They were arrested and charged with acts of terrorism in connection to the recent terrorist attacks in France.

“One thing…”

Cole sat up a little. “She’s exhausted, Megan. Maybe we can do this later?”

I started to agree, but Amber focused on me with a determination I could feel like fingers holding me in place.

“One of them knew you.”

“You mean my name? My reputation?”

That seemed obvious. But she was a little loopy from the meds.

“No,” she said softly, her eyes beginning to slide closed. “Every time the guy asking the questions mentioned you, this other guy—the one who laughed when I told them about the night Peter and I slept together—he would have this weird reaction. He’d sit up straighter or stiffen. He flinched once, I think.”

I frowned, trying to imagine what she saw.

“Why?”

Her eyes were closed now. “Don’t know,” she mumbled. “But it seemed almost like it hurt him to hear your name on that man’s lips.”

Luke. It had to be.

“Megan…”

I rushed out of the room and drove across town, my heart in my throat. I drove up to the house where they found Amber and cut the police tape. I picked the lock and rushed into the living room to where the police had spent most of their energy, fingerprint dust still everywhere. He was here. He stood in this room.

I started with just a quick look around the room. But then I begin to search in earnest, fully convinced that he would have left me a message if he could. I was quickly growing impatient, but I kept at it, moving to the other rooms in the house when I found nothing in the living room. But there was nothing. I sank to the floor, tears threatening to roll. But then…didn’t Amber say that he was sitting in a chair by the wall?

I went to the chair that was still leaning back against the wall and studied it. I picked it up and searched it, running my fingers along all the crevices. Nothing. But when I ran my hand along the stitching on the seat pad, I felt a teeny place where the threads had been worked loose. Inside was a piece of chewing gum wrapper.

I’ll never leave you.

Tears poured down my face.

It was Luke. He was still alive.

And he still loved me!

Cole

Amber was curled up in our bed, a pair of panties the only thing covering her lovely body. I stood in the doorway, watching her sleep, wondering how long it would be before she announced that she was leaving.

There was a faint scar on her forehead. She ran her finger over it from time to time, like she was reminding herself of all the darkness the Bradford brothers had brought into her life. She hadn’t been looking for a job in the last week or so, but I was sure that wouldn’t last. She hadn’t bothered to tell me about it before. Why would she now?

She stirred a little, stretching as she turned toward me. Her face lit up with the smile that touched her lips.

“Hey.”

“Baby’s asleep. You should get some more rest.”

“I’d rather curl up with you.”

I walked slowly to the bed, my heart in my throat. It was time to have a conversation that I’d been putting off for far too long. Behind my back I held the wrapped box Megan had dropped off the day Amber got out of the hospital. I should have given it to her sooner. But I just couldn’t make myself do it. Not yet.

“You okay?” she asked, sitting up as I joined her on the bed.

“I have something for you.”

I held it up where she could see it. She squealed a little, like a little girl getting a gift for no reason. But then the joy left her face when she read the note taped to the top.

“It’s from Peter?”

“Megan found it in his office when she helped Mom and Dad clean it out.”

She studied my face for a long second. “Do you know what’s in it?”

“It’s yours. No one opened it.”

She hesitated.

“Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“No. I just…he never gave me anything. I don’t know why he would give me this.”

“Open and find out.”

She slowly tugged at the wrapping paper, revealing a thin white box underneath. She tugged off the top and found several sheets of paper underneath a tiny, silver baby rattle.

“He knew?”

“We never really talked about it. I only saw him twice after…and I didn’t even know until the night he brought that envelope to me.”

She picked up the first piece of paper in the box. It was a letter handwritten in Peter’s hand.

“Dear Amber,” she read out loud.

“You don’t have to share it with me.”

“Yes I do.” She leaned over and ran her thumb over my bottom lip. “No more secrets, remember?”

Dear Amber,

I got a call this morning from the Planned Parenthood clinic in Ada. I thought they were making a mistake, but I guess they couldn’t get ahold of you and you gave them my number as a backup? Anyway, they said you were pregnant. And…well, I know there’s little doubt that the baby’s mine. I feel like an ass, acting so irresponsible. At the same time, I’m so deliriously happy at the prospect of being a father than I can’t keep a smile from my face. My secretary just asked me what the hell was wrong with me!

Anyway, I know we have a lot to talk about. And I know there’s plenty of time to do it. But I wanted to show you that I take this seriously from the word go. So I called my accountant and had him take out a new life insurance policy with you and the baby as beneficiaries. Then I opened a trust fund in your name for you and the baby. I know it would be presumptuous to assume you’ll want to make a life with me, but I want to make sure you’re taken care of. You are a smart, beautiful woman. You just need to believe in yourself. And money never hurts. So…when you’re ready, you can use this money to go to school like we talked about. And, in the meantime, it’ll help you get the best medical care and find a good place to live. Maybe even quit that dead end job. Or not. The choice is yours.

I’m sorry for making your hard life harder. But please let me make up for my stupidity by making things a little easier.

Peter

We were both quiet for a long time, staring at the letter in her hands. Then I lifted the other documents out of the box, whistling when I saw exactly how much my brother had left to his child and the child’s mother.

“You’re a very wealthy woman now, Amber.”

She shook her head. “I can’t take it.”

“Of course you can take it. It’s what Peter wanted.”

“But—”

“It’s what Peter wanted. How can you argue with a dead man?”

She was quiet for a long time, her hands shaking as she stared at the paper still clutched in her hands.

“It’s what you wanted. To not be dependent on me or my family anymore.”

“That’s not what I wanted.”

“You were looking for a job.”

“So that you would know that I was here by choice, not necessity.”

I tilted my head, looked at her for a long minute.

“What?”

She shook her head. “I wanted a job because I thought…you were acting like you didn’t believe me when I said I loved you. I thought it was because I made such a big deal about not wanting to depend on you. So I wanted to get a job to show you that I was still here, not because I had no choice, but because I wanted to be here.”

“That wasn’t…” I grabbed her face and pulled her close to me, kissing her roughly. “Stupid woman,” I whispered. “I didn’t care about that. I mean, I did, but it wasn’t what worried me the most. I thought…I was afraid you were in love with Peter and I was just—”

“Second best?”

“Yeah.”

She groaned, the sound like the painful groans that slipped from her lips when she gave birth to PJ.

“I never loved him. I love you. Peter…he was so kind to me. But he didn’t make me feel the way you did. You do.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She kissed me, hard, with all the desperation I felt. “I’ve never told anyone I loved them. I never felt this way for anyone. Peter…I was grateful. But that’s not love, Cole.”

“I know.”

I pulled back and studied her face, feeling like I wanted to scream and cheer and tell the world about this ball of happiness that was expanding in my chest.

“I love you.”

She smiled.

“I know.”

Megan

Six months later

“The new candidates are waiting.”

I looked up, distracted by the report on my computer. Dominic just finished a case involving some guy who thought he could use his employer’s plane to smuggle drugs in and out of the country. I was reading the report, wondering what trouble Dominic might be in this time.

“Okay.” I slowly stood, flipping off the monitor. “How many?”

“Four today.”

“I liked that guy yesterday. Vincent Caplin.”

“Me, too. I’ve already arranged for his background check.”

“Good. Maybe one more and we’ll be good.”

“Well you’ve got four good candidates today. Two were in the Marines, one was a SEAL, and one worked for the New York Police Department for five years.”

She handed me four file folders with names and pictures clipped to the front. Two stuck out to me right off the bat. Marcus Hanson. He was one of the Marines, active around the same time Cole was in the service. The other was Dante Saladin.

“What kind of name is Dante Saladin?” I asked as I walked into the room. “Your mom a fan of Dante’s Inferno or something?”

“Something like that.”

My head jerked up at the sound of his voice. It was deep, but silky, very much like Luke’s voice had been. But this man looked nothing like my missing fiancé. He was just as tall, just as dark. His hair was a longish black that curled at his collar and his eyes were a caramel brown that seemed to sparkle in the fluorescent lights. But his jaw was a little wider, his chin heavier. And his nose was narrower.

Not Luke. But the voice was almost too much to bear.

And Inferno. It was something of a joke between Luke and me. We read it in high school together because he had to do it for English class, but he didn’t understand any of it. But when we read i read it together…

I tilted my head slightly.

Get a grip, Megan. You’re tilting your sword at windmills.

“So, you were a cop…”

~~~