Operation Date With Destiny (28 page)

“
Willow
’
s the only family I had left before I met Tate. I know how hard it can be when you lose your parents. I can only imagine how much harder it is for Jackson being that young and having witnessed it
.
You deal with whatever demons you need to fight and come back to him the sist
er he remembers. He needs you, D
estiny. You two need
each other
.
”

Destiny didn
’
t trust herself to speak—she simply couldn
’
t
,
not without breaking down in
a
blubbering mess. Maybe it was her years in the Army that had conditioned her to be so controlled—sympathy was not something you received a great deal of on a daily basis, but showing her emotions in front of people was something she still had a great deal of trouble doing.

“
I also know, there
’
s always more room for one more person in your life…sometimes you find a gap inside you didn
’
t know needed filling until it
’
s gone.
”

Destiny eyed the woman across from her warily.
“
I don
’
t know what you
’
re talking about.
”

“
I think you do. Don
’
t be too fast to write off
Tupper
. He
’
s a good man—he
’
s just been waiting for the right woman to come along who can handle him.
”

“
I think
he
’
s
quite happy to handle himself. He doesn
’
t need me to do it.
”

“
Don
’
t be too sure.
”

There was no point to this conversation—there really wasn
’
t. She didn
’
t want to think about Johnny Tupperoni and how empty her life was going to be when he left
.

Chapter
Sixteen

They left without fanfare, early the next morning
,
travelling by boat to the nearest island with an airport and taking a commercial flight back to the states. It was a long, drawn-out process when the island was so remote
. There was no such thing as a direct anything!

Johnny
had been quiet throughout the trip. They
’
d barely spoken over the last day and a half—not since the
y
’
d found Jackson in the bunkhouse.
Actually, she thought as she watched him discreetly from where she sat across from him in the airport waiting room, it wasn
’
t as much as argument as a slight difference of interpretation of their relationship. She had no idea what she was going to do about it—she wasn
’
t usually such a coward, but this time it just seemed wiser to ignore the problem and hope that it went away on its own.

Their flight was called a short while later and the silent trio handed their boarding passes to the impeccably groomed woman at the gate.
“
I hope you enjoy your trip,
Sir
,
”
she said as Tupper handed her his pass in a voice that sounded like sweet
,
sticky honey and
she
seem
ed
to thrust out her rather impressive
,
but impossibly
large
bust line
that
could
in no way
,
shape or form
,
be
natural
.

“
Well I don
’
t see how I couldn
’
t with you on board, darlin
’”
Johnny
said with a wink and Destiny rolled her eyes as she stood in line behind him.

“
Puleeeze,
”
she groaned quietly and heard Tate
’
s small chuckle behind her.
Destiny waited impatiently as the hostess tore her eyes from
Johnny
and
looked up
, her come-hither grin fading abruptly as she took Destiny
’
s boarding pass.

As
luck would have it
, the
plane
was full
and as
Johnny
slip
ped
into his seat
,
she bit back a groan
realizing
she had the seat beside him.
Abruptly she turned to Tate
.
“
I
’
ll swap seats with you
.
”
Yes, she
heard the slight plea in her tone
,
but
she
was beyond caring at this point.

“
No way. Sorry babe—you
’
re on your own here. I
’
ve learnt the hard way never to sit next to Tupper on a flight—he snores.
”

She ignored the fact she was holding up the line of passengers waiting to take their seats.
“
I
’
ll
pay you
to swap seats,
”
she tried again, sending
a glare to the
man behind Tate
who was beginning to shuffle his feet
impatiently
.

“
You couldn
’
t pay me
enough
to endure that,
”
Tate said dryly, shaking his head.

With a frustrated huff, she turned away and headed for the empty seat beside
Johnny,
ignoring his smug grin as he settled back and got comfy.

“
Aw
, man. I can
’
t believe you
swapped
seats with
Ox
!
Are you stalking me or something?
”
Tupper asked deliberately needling her about the seating arrangements.

“
In y
our d
reams,
”
she muttered.

“
You only want me because of my nuts don
’
t ya
,
”
he went on undeterred by her less than enthusiastic expression.

“
Excuse
me?
”

“
I brought along my own snacks,
”
he smiled innocently, holding up a packet of peanuts and waving them in front of her nose.
“
Hope you
’
re not allergic to nuts?
”

“
Only if they
’
re attached to a
moron
,
”
she answered, sending him a tight-lipped smile.

“
Ouch. I see we
’
re in fine form today. PMS-ing are we?
”

“
Tupperoni, I strongly suggest if you want to disembark this aircraft with your
nuts
—
,
”
she said, flicking at the packet he still dangled in the air,
“
—i
ntact
…that you don
’
t talk to me for the remainder of the flight.
”

She ignored his snigger as she turned her back on his and tried to get some sleep. This was going to be one hell of a long flight.

****

It was early morning—too early for most people to be awake yet and the streets of
New York
were almost deserted. They hired a car at the airport and headed to the
address her contact had given her
, to a
hotel
down near the harbor
.

Johnny
blew a soft whistle from between his teeth as they pulled up across from the fancy building.
“
Pretty fancy digs.
”

“
So what
’
s our plan?
”
Destiny asked, eager to get this over with.

“
We can
’
t grab him from his room…there
’
s too much security to get through. We
’
ll have to wait
un
til he leaves the building.
”

“
You think he
’
ll tell us what we need to know?
”
Destiny asked, slumping against the back seat as she
realized
they wouldn
’
t be going anywhere for a while yet.

“
Depends what his pain threshold
’
s like,
”
Johnny
answered looking out the side of his window from the driver
’
s seat.

“
He
’
s been working with
Tre
’
ago
for a long time—I
’
m not so sure he
’
s going to be as easy as we think. How far are we willing to go to get the information?
”

Johnny
swung his gaze from the window to meet her
eyes
in the rear view mirror steadily.
“
As far as it takes
.
Tre
’
ago
will
be brought down.
”

In his eyes
s
he saw the steely determination that told her more than simple words ever could just how serious he was about this. The hatred he had for her father was a sobering thing. She had no love for the man who
’
d fathered her, but she did wonder if push came to shove, whether she would be able to resort to the level of violence
T
re
’
ago often went to in order to get information or cooperation from a person.

She
’
d seen more than her fair share of violence and the worst of human nature while she
’
d been in the field in places like Afghanistan and the Middle East…but she also knew there was a limit to how far she could allow someone to go before she felt compelled to step in. She was
n
’
t the
cold hearted robot her father
resembled
. She
’
d inherited too much of her mother
’
s empathy to be able to turn a blind eye to another person
’
s suffering. But that tiny niggle of doubt lingered inside her mind. She
’
d obviously also inherited some of her father
’
s determination, having made it through some of the most demanding training in the Army and then doing some of the things she
’
d had to do in the line of duty while deployed.
Could she ignore her inner decency if these two men pushed the attorney too far?
Did working for her father mean this man was any less entitled to basic human compassion? If they didn
’
t get the information about these offshore bank accounts and the hidden dummy corporations her father was running, Tre
’
ago would never be out of their lives. But did that
justify taking this man
’
s
his life
in the process
? Would Tate and Johnny actually go that far?

The sun began to push up through the tall buildings around them, and the skyline lightened as morning dawned and people began to get on with their daily lives.

They watched the front of the building and waited for the attorney to appear. If they failed to get him as he left the building, they knew where his office was and would have to work out a way to get him from there. It would be easier and a whole lot less conspicuous to be able to take him from the street here than from a busy office with a lot of people around.