Las Vegas Sidewinders: Drake (Book 2) (22 page)

“I’d like to have that
stuff here too,” he said slowly. “But I’d rather have you.”

“Me too.” She knew she
shouldn’t be calling him again, but she was scared for him and had to figure
out a safe way for them to communicate.

“Any idea how long
you’ll be there?” he asked at last.

“Not yet. I’ll let you
know as soon as I know,” she promised. “But I was thinking maybe you could
cheer me up if you sent me my present.”

“Your present?” he
blinked for a second.

“You know, that
surprise you promised me? If you overnight it to my assistant in Washington,
she can get it to me here.”

He thought for a moment
and hoped she was talking about the information from the security firm; she
wanted to see the information the investigators had given him.

“I can do that,” he
said after a slight hesitation. “I didn’t realize you could get stuff like this
over there.”

“I’ll let my assistant
know you’re sending me a package and she’ll put it in with the next transport.”

“It’s kind of
expensive,” he said slowly. “Are you sure it’ll get to you okay?” He was really
asking if it was safe.

“I think so. If you
FedEx it to my assistant, she’s going to be the one under fire if it doesn’t
get to me.”

“Okay.” He needed to
make copies and then find a Federal Express office.

“So, is Kate there
yet?”

“Karl is picking her up
now.”

“Give her my love. Keep
an eye on them.”

“Oh, no thanks!” he
laughed. “They’re getting a hotel room! I’m not listening to that all week!”

“Um, you know, I don’t
know if that’s a good idea,” she said slowly. “I think it might be too much for
Kate, with Karl being so well-known around town. What if the press finds them
there? She’d die of embarrassment. I think it would be safer if they stayed at
home… You know how sensitive she is.”

She could feel Drake’s
breathing change. “You think?” he asked after a moment.

“Well, you know how she
is.” She tried to keep her tone light, but she knew that he knew better.

“I guess I could
mention that to him.”

“Look, I have to go. I
love you—please send me my present.”

“I will. I love you
too. Be careful, okay?”

“I will.” She hung up
and put the phone away. Locking up her office, she headed back to the
communication center. Liv was outside smoking a cigarette.

“You doing that again?”
she asked her friend, scowling.

“I’m in
Afghanistan
,”
Liv growled. “I’ll fucking smoke if I want to.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Erin
reached for the cigarette and Liv let her have it.

She and Liv had
occasionally shared a cigarette the last time they were here, and Shay had
teased them mercilessly. She’d never been a smoker, but the occasional drag
calmed her nerves, and she definitely needed some calming right now.

She took a deep drag
and nearly gagged. She coughed and handed the cigarette back to Liv. “Oh,
yuck!” She felt herself on the verge of vomiting and she ran to a nearby trash
can, leaning over it until the feeling passed.

“Girl, what is wrong
with you?” Liv was staring at her. “Is there any chance you’re pregnant?”

The women stared at
each other. Erin’s eyes widened in shock and she instinctively put her hand on
her stomach.

“I can’t be!” she
whispered. “Shit!”

“You sure?”

“I suppose. We always
used condoms, but they’re not 100% reliable. I can’t remember any breaking, but
it’s possible.”

“You need to figure
this shit out!” Liv hissed.

“I can’t exactly run to
the drug store and buy a test!” Erin hissed back. “Besides, I can’t imagine it
happened so fast.”

“You said he was hung,”
Liv pointed out. “Those things break.”

Erin tried to remember
a time that it could have happened, but their lovemaking was all a blur. She
shook her head with disbelief. “I can’t believe it; this isn’t good.”

“You’re tough,” Liv
said quietly. “You’re going to be all right. We shouldn’t be here more than a
couple weeks.”

“Liv.” Erin put her
hand on her friend’s shoulder. “There’s a chance one of the guys is working for
Clay.”

Liv opened her mouth
but no sound came out. She blinked rapidly and then lit another cigarette.
“You’ve lost your mind,” she said, taking a deep drag.

“If Clay was behind
what happened, how else would he have known to set something in motion that
day?
We
didn’t even know until thirty minutes before we left.”

Liv looked at her and
blinked again.

“Mark?” Erin spoke her
thought out loud. “He was Shay’s best friend. They were tight. I think Shay
would have noticed, but so many things slipped through the cracks, anything’s
possible.”

“Eric was the least
experienced of the guys,” Liv said quietly. “He was a last-minute addition
because he’s good with languages, but he doesn’t speak Arabic or Farsi. So he’s
the weakest link.”

“He has a big, close
family, and now a kid on the way; he doesn’t fit the profile.”

“Ronnie?” Liv shook her
head. “I watched that man sob like a baby over Shay’s body. I don’t believe
it.”

“Louie?” Erin frowned.
“According to Mark, he’s had a lot of problems with survivor’s guilt since
then. That doesn’t sound like a guy who helped it happen.”

“Which brings us back
to Mark.” Liv pursed her lips. “I’ll snap him in half,” she said after a
moment. “He was driving. You sped up but he didn’t try to catch you.” She met
Erin’s gaze. “And he’s here with us now.”

Erin felt her stomach
clench with distaste. “We could be wrong,” she whispered.

“But we could be
right.”

“You have to keep it to
yourself,” Erin said firmly. “We can’t take any chances. If we’re wrong, it
would be disastrous to our careers. And even if we’re right, we can’t tip our
hand. We’re going to have to catch him.”

“Shit.” Liv didn’t say
anything else.

“I need to know you
have my back, Liv.”

“Girl!” Her dark eyes
narrowed dangerously. “You had to ask me that?!”

“Neither of us should
be alone. Ever. If you need to pee in the middle of the night, you need to wake
me up.”

Liv took another drag
of her cigarette and nodded slowly. “All right. You got a plan?”

“Not yet.” Erin stared
up at the sky. “But I will.”

Sitting at the dinner
table, Drake was thinking that Kate’s presence almost made him miss Erin a
little bit less. She brought the same sunshine and laughter to their bachelor
pad that she had brought to Erin’s townhouse on the other side of the country.
Watching Karl watching her, he had a feeling his friend was a goner, even
though he insisted they were taking things slowly. He’d known Karl since he’d
first come to the NHL from Sweden six years ago and he’d never seen him act
like this with a woman before; it was kind of fun to watch.

Dinner had been
delicious and having a woman bustling around the kitchen was nice. He’d enjoyed
being single, but was really glad he wasn’t anymore. Karl seemed to feel the
same way, based on the ease with which Kate fit into their household after just
a few hours. They’d talked some when she first arrived from the airport, but
the security firm had been there most of the day sweeping for bugs. He almost
laughed, thinking about it.

“What are you smirking
about?” Kate asked, coming in from the kitchen and sitting between them.

“It just occurred to me
that our apartment was swept for bugs,” he said in a drawn-out whisper. “I
never thought that would happen to me.”

“You Americans are
crazy,” Karl muttered. “This shit doesn’t happen in Sweden.”

Kate smacked his arm.
“Right. There are
zero
criminals in Sweden!”

“None!” He winked at
her and she shook her head, laughing.

Drake’s phone rang and
he was surprised to see his brother, Mike’s, name on the screen. “Hey, bro!” He
greeted him pleasantly. “It’s been ages!”

“Hey, Drake.” Mike
sounded unhappy.

“Is everything okay?”
Drake asked.

“Look, I don’t know how
to tell you this, so I’ll just say it.”

“What’s going on?”

“I just got an email
from your new
wife
, asking me if I thought she was sexy. She attached a
nude photo of herself.”

“What?!” Drake shot up
and began pacing. “Shit, Mike! You need to forward that to me right away!”

“Drake, do you have any
idea who this woman really is? I mean—”

“Mike, I know you’re
just looking out for me, but I promise you, this isn’t what you think. Her
ex-husband has been trying to make trouble for her—listen to me. You need to
forward me that email and then delete it off of everything. Make sure it’s not
anywhere on your computers or email. And please, don’t talk about this to
anyone.”

“Drake, what’s going
on?”

“Mike, can you trust me
on this? I’m serious. This isn’t Erin’s fault.”

Mike wasn’t convinced
but he agreed. “Yes, of course. Whatever you need. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know, but I’m
working on it. Thanks. Love you, man.” Drake hung up and began to pace.

“What is it?” Kate
asked him.

Drake opened the email
app on his phone and saw that Mike had just sent the email. He opened it and
forced himself to breathe.

“What’s the
attachment?” Kate asked in a whisper, reading over his shoulder.

“It can’t be good,”
Drake said, forcing himself to hit the button to open it. Kate reacted first,
clapping her hand over her mouth.

“What’s going on?” Karl
asked, coming over to them.

Drake closed the
picture before he could see it. “Someone sent my brother an email pretending to
be Erin, with a nude picture attached.”

Karl stared at him and
narrowed his eyes. “Clay?”

“It has to be.” Drake
clenched his fists. “Sonofabitch!” He threw the cell phone across the room,
where it exploded against the wall.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Kate
held tight to his arm. “You know she didn’t do this.”

“I
know
,” he
hissed. “I’d almost feel better if she had! At least then she would be safe!
Jesus fucking Christ. What are we going to do?”

“I don’t understand,”
Karl looked at them.

“We’re going to have to
be proactive,” Kate said, hands on her hips.

“There has to be a way
to track that email back to the original sender,” Karl said reasonably. “Call
that damn security firm and get them back over here now.” He handed Drake his
phone.

“First thing’s first,”
Kate looked at Drake. “Do you have cash?”

“Yeah,” he blinked.
“Maybe a couple hundred bucks. Why?”

“Karl, you need to go
buy as many disposable phones as we can get with the cash on hand.” She took it
as Drake pulled out the money clip Erin had given him at Christmas.

“Buy what?” Karl asked,
frowning.

Kate rolled her eyes.
“Never mind. We’ll go together. Drake, call the security firm and get them over
here. We’ll be back in a few minutes. Is there a Walmart nearby?”

Karl was still trying
to figure out what they were doing as Kate hustled him out the door.

Drake drummed his
fingers on the counter, regretting that he’d smashed his phone. Tomorrow, he
would have to get another one. Tonight, he had to get himself together and
figure out what to do.

Clay had put his plans
in motion, and he’d started by trying to drive a wedge between him and Erin. He
had to have known Mike would tell his younger brother what his new bride had
done. So Erin had been right to be worried about him; Clay was coming after
him. The thought of needing a gun made him feel light-headed. Though he’d grown
up like most boys, shooting BB guns and going hunting with his father and
brothers, they were city boys and hockey players didn’t do a lot of shooting.
He spent his time at the rink or at the gym, not at a gun range. He could
probably still handle a rifle, but handguns weren’t even on his radar. He’d
been surprised when Erin had shown him hers, but she’d made sure he knew where
it was and that it was loaded. As a woman living alone, it made sense that she
had one, but he’d never thought about having one himself.

Shaking it off, he used
Karl’s phone to call the security firm’s emergency number, and then he called
Dom. He was smart enough to know he, Kate and Karl couldn’t handle this alone;
they were going to need backup.

Erin tossed and turned
all night, finally getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. Liv was snoring lightly on
the bunk across the room. She contemplated waking her, but despite her own
rule, she decided to sneak into her office while everyone was still asleep. She
dressed quietly and left Liv a note telling her where she was. Then she slipped
out and made her way across the dark base. She unlocked her office door and
shut it behind her. Without turning on the light, she pulled the sat phone out
of the drawer. Praying she wasn’t making a mistake, she dialed the number she’d
memorized last night.

Halfway across the
world, Molly was at the grocery store when her cell phone rang. Not recognizing
the number, she frowned before answering. “Hello?”

“Molly, this is Erin.
Drake’s wife.”

“Erin!” Molly was
startled. “Aren’t you—”

“Yes, please listen,
Molly. It’s very important.”

“I’m listening.”

“I need you to tell
Drake that I think Clay is working with someone in my unit and that he could be
in danger. I think Clay will try to hurt him as a way of hurting me. I can’t
call him because I don’t know how far Clay’s reach is, if he’s tapped his
phone. You’re the only person I could think of that Clay probably wouldn’t know
to watch.”

“Oh my God!” Molly
gasped.

“After we talk, you
need to turn off your phone and then go home to Dom. Make sure you don’t
call
Drake. You need to tell him in person, somewhere outdoors maybe, where no one
could be listening. Then throw your phone away and get a new phone number. Can
you please do this for me? If you need money—”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Molly nodded even though Erin couldn’t see her. “Consider it done.”

“I’m sorry to drag you
into this, but I don’t know what else to do. I’m terrified that Clay is going
to try to hurt Drake.”

“I’ve got this,” Molly
said, abandoning her shopping cart. “I’ll get the message to Drake. You take
care, okay?”

“Thanks.” The line went
dead and Molly immediately turned off her phone. She casually dropped it in the
garbage can outside the grocery store. As soon as she got into her car, she
pulled the disposable phone Dom had bought her in case of emergencies out of
her back pocket and put it in the console next to her. She drove out of the
parking lot as quickly as she could.

She knew where Drake
lived and got there in less than 15 minutes. She knew Dom was probably still
there after Drake had called him earlier, so she parked outside and went up to
the top floor of the building, where he and Karl shared an apartment.

Dom opened the door
with a scowl. “What’s going on?” he demanded, reaching for her. “Where’s your
regular phone?”

“I’ll explain in a
minute.” She kissed him. “I’m okay, Dom. Relax.” He was overprotective, and he
had every right to be after what her ex-husband had done to her last fall, but
right now Drake and Erin needed them.

“Did someone contact
you?” Drake asked her warily.

“Yeah. Erin.” Molly
sank onto the couch next to Dom. “She told me I should get rid of my phone
after we hung up, so I turned it off and tossed it. I don’t know what you two
have gotten yourselves into, but she sounded pretty scared.”

“What did she say?”
Drake felt his heart slamming in his chest.

“She said we needed to
be careful where we talked.”

“Professionals swept the
apartment for bugs
today
,” Drake said.

Molly nodded. “She said
you needed to be careful, that Clay was probably going to come after you to try
to hurt her. I don’t know what that means, but she also said she thinks Clay is
working with someone in her unit.”

“No, no, no!” Kate and
Karl had just returned from their trip to the store and she looked horrified.
“It can’t be one of the guys!” She knew instinctively it couldn’t be Liv. There
was no way.
Was there?

“I don’t understand,”
Molly said. “Her ex-husband is going to try to hurt you as a way of hurting
her?”

“I should have stayed
in Detroit,” Karl deadpanned. “The worst thing that happened to me there was
winter, and I’m used to that—I’m from Sweden.” He sank into a chair.

“Thanks a lot, bro.”
Drake shot him a look, but he knew Karl was kidding and trying to lighten the
mood. Letting this get to them was exactly what Clay wanted, and he was damned
if he was going to let that asshole throw him off his game.

“I think we need to be
read in,” Dom said, his dark eyes glistening as he looked around.

Drake explained as much
as he could, with Molly staring and Dom shaking his head. “So Erin is over
there with no safe way to communicate with me, a possible traitor on her team,
and we’re here dealing with fallout she doesn’t even know about. I need to be
able to handle this without her knowing,” he continued. “I mean, I don’t want
her being so distracted worrying about me she gets herself killed.”

“What can we do?” Molly
asked quietly. “You were there for me when I was in trouble, so you know we’re
happy to repay the favor.” Dom squeezed her arm affectionately.

“The security firm I
hired to find out about Clay is coming over to discuss options and to see if
they can find the origination of that email to my brother. I’m going to see
what they think I should do. I don’t want to put anyone else in danger, but I
can’t leave Erin to handle this on her own.”

“Do you have any idea
where he got that picture of her?” Dom asked.

 “I know her,”
Kate said firmly. “She never would have posed nude for
anyone
,
especially not Clay. And from what I could see, she was asleep. She probably
doesn’t even know the picture exists.”

“I’d have to agree,”
Drake nodded. “She’s going to be horrified.”

“We can only deal with
one thing at a time,” Karl said, his usual practical self. “Right now, she
doesn’t know about it, and until we get this sorted out, hopefully she won’t.”

Drake didn’t sleep at
all, lying in bed thinking about Erin, wondering if she was okay. He had to
hand it to Karl and Kate—he didn’t hear much from their room at all, although
he heard the rustle of sheets every so often. They weren’t sleeping either, but
probably for a much more fun reason. Sighing, he finally got up at dawn. He was
going to be a wreck today, but that couldn’t be helped. He was just grateful
they didn’t have a game tonight. He’d get through practice, but he didn’t know
if he’d be in any position to play. He might have to feign some sort of illness
tomorrow night. He’d never imagined himself pretending to be sick so that he
wouldn’t have to play hockey, but for the first time in his life, he’d found
something that was more important to him than the game.

He made coffee and
opened his computer. He caught up on scores around the NHL from the night
before, and read about injuries in the league. He tried to keep his mind
focused on something other than Erin, because if he didn’t he was sure he would
go crazy.