Tapestry of the Past (25 page)

“I won’t break the law for you, Gabe,” Harley warned.

“Won’t have to.”

Fear and fury twisted her stomach into knots. “Tom, you can’t mean to go along with this insane plan! You and I both know Gabriel is setting himself up as the target. He’ll think Gabriel is onto him. He’ll have to take him out and you will have given him the perfect opening to get away with murder. Well, I won’t allow it.”

“Hush, sugar. It’s the only way. Time is running out. I feel it. That packet to you is the only mistake he’s made so far. We need to push him.”

She rounded on Tom. “You agree with this?”

He nodded. “I do. Right now we don’t have a clue who the killer is.” Tom’s warm brown eyes hardened. “And I will not tolerate a dirty cop in my department.”

Kalesia
knew she was licked. There was no talking common sense into either man. But she didn’t like it. And when they got home, she’d make very sure Gabriel understood that. “One little scratch and I’ll have your hide, Gabriel Steele.” At Harley’s poorly concealed chuckle, she froze him with a frigid glare. “I promise this now, Tom Harley. You let him get hurt and I’ll peel the hide from your body and let the fire ants have what’s left.”

She expected a smartass comment. Instead he studied her for a moment.

“I promise that if it is within my power, I won’t let him get hurt.” His tone was almost gentle.

Tears burned
Kalesia’s
eyes. Before they could fall, Harley flicked a quick glance down the hall.

“If I agree to plant the information first thing in the morning, can I get back to bed?”

Kalesia
caught the sound of a faint rustle from the bedroom. She knew Gabriel had too, when a sardonic grin spread across his face.

“You sent her to me,” he said. “Into every life a little chaos must fall. It’s only fair you experience the aftershocks too.”

“Now is that any way for him to treat a friend?” Harley appealed to
Kalesia
. He turned back to Gabriel. “Bug off, I’ve got better things to do with my night, or rather, what’s left of it, than trade barbs with you.”

They were trying to make her feel better, lighten the atmosphere. As much as she hated to admit it, it worked. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and frowned at both of them. “It’s impolite to insult a person as if she isn’t present.”

Gabriel stood, hauling her up beside him with an easy strength. “She has a temper too.”

“Goes with the hair,” Tom observed.

“Tom,”
Kalesia
began, her voice a little too sweet, “go to bed.”

“Bossy little thing, isn’t she.”

Kalesia
raised her voice, making sure it could be heard all the way down the hall. “But, Tom, she’ll have to find out sometime—
mmf
.” A hard hand clamped over her mouth. She bit it, hard. Gabriel yelped and snatched his hand away, sucking on the pad of flesh beneath his thumb. “What it’s like dating a dedicated officer of the law.”
Kalesia
stuck her tongue out at Tom’s horrified expression.

Gabriel grabbed her arm and propelled her toward the front door.

“I forgot to warn you,” he said over his shoulder, “witches fight dirty.”

“‘Night, Tom,”
Kalesia
sang out as she was hustled outside.

“Witch,” Gabriel muttered.

“Who me?” She batted innocent green eyes at him. “What did I do?”

Gabriel leaned down for a short, hard kiss. “Don’t act so modest. You know very well that you turned a hardened veteran into a nervous wreck. Talk about ruining a man’s love life,” Gabriel said with a heartfelt masculine sympathy that
Kalesia
thought entirely misplaced. “It’s a good thing they outlawed burning at the stake.”

Kalesia
sniffed. “Men, they can dish it out but they can’t take it.” She giggled, ruining the effect. “He did look as if he wanted to dig a hole and pull it in after him, didn’t he?”

Once more back home and in bed,
Kalesia
sobered. “Gabriel?”

“Hmm,” he mumbled, nearly asleep.

“What happens if the story Tom plants doesn’t smoke out the killer?” She couldn’t keep the worry out of her voice.

Gabriel fitted her body to his, closing both arms around her. “Then we’ll think of something else. He’s made one mistake. Sooner or later, he’ll make another.” Despite his confidence, she knew Gabriel recognized the fact they had to wait on the unknown assailant’s time schedule. He was too intelligent not to immediately realize the disadvantage in which that placed them.

“But what if—”

He nipped her ear. “Wrap your arms around me and tell me again that you love me.”

* * * * *

“My vision is different.”
Kalesia
dropped the comment with the subtlety of a nuclear warhead. She waited for the explosion.

Gabriel snaked his head around. He had a smear of dirt on one cheek. “Different? How? When?”

“Four days ago.”
Kalesia
kept her attention concentrated on the dark, rich potting soil as she transferred seedlings to bigger pots. They were in the largest greenhouse. At Gabriel’s urging, she was helping him this morning. Though he hadn’t said so,
Kalesia
figured her incessant pacing had driven him crazy. She couldn’t help it. Harley was going to plant the different versions of the story this morning. She wanted results now. Waiting, she was learning, was hell on the nerves.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” he demanded silkily.

“Because we were barely speaking. Because I wasn’t sure if you’d want to know.”

The muscles in Gabriel’s throat worked. “I wanted to know.”

She concentrated on packing the dirt around the raspberry sage seedling so she wouldn’t have to meet his eyes. She hated knowing she’d hurt him. “I’m sorry.”

With that silent tread that was so much a part of him, Gabriel moved until he was right beside her. One broad, battle-scarred hand, palm up, settled in front of her face. Her heart beat in her ears. Once. Twice. It was a hand that could wield a knife with deadly efficiency or cup the blossom of a crepe myrtle so gently he didn’t ruffle a petal.
Kalesia
placed her hand in his. It closed over hers and Gabriel pulled her to him. That same hand caught her chin on the edge of his palm. “You had reason.” This close she could see the threads of darker gray in the silver. Feel his heart beat against her.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you. Even then, a part of me knew I could.” She pressed her forehead against his chest. Today, she was wearing her canvas sneakers so she didn’t even come up to his collarbone. His scent surrounded her, made her feel safe. “I was angry,” she confessed in a rush, “and wanted to punish you.” She’d felt betrayed.

“I hurt you.”

“No,” she denied, realizing it was the truth. “I hurt myself. I let a pack of anonymous lies come between us.”

He curved his large hands over her shoulders and tried to move her back a bit.
Kalesia
wound her arms around his waist and refused to move. God, it was hard enough to admit her stupidity to herself. She couldn’t look him in the face, not in the bright, early morning light. It was so much easier last night.

“But it wasn’t all lies, was it?”

The lingering hint of pain propelled
Kalesia
out of hiding. “Gabriel! Don’t. You were doing your duty.”

He laughed, a bitter sound that raked claws down her spine. “Duty.”

“Yes,” she said, firmly. “Gabriel, listen to me. The picture he painted of you, of what you did, was a lie. I know that. A part of me knew it then. He took what you did and twisted it.” She could tell he didn’t agree.

“How is your vision different?”

Kalesia
wanted to protest the abrupt change of subject. The remote expression on his face said argument was futile. “My death didn’t happen by the pond.” By sheer force of will, she kept her voice steady as she recanted the new vision of her murder. “It was odd, really. I have the impression it was inside a building. I’m not sure exactly but I think it was a barn. I remember seeing hay.” Depression lay in her chest like a lead sinker. It was even less to go on than before.

“Were you still shot? Has that changed?”

Although the new version of her death was, in many ways, less clear, the details less defined, almost out of focus, that fact remained the same. “I’m still shot. I still get the impression of an exit wound.” She shivered, a sense of helplessness washing over her. “What I don’t understand is why my vision changed. That’s never happened to me before.”

He didn’t answer right away. “The only reason I can come up with is that my involvement has changed the equation somehow. Maybe in your original vision, I wasn’t a factor. Hell, I don’t claim to understand it but there’s a possibility that as long as I’m involved, what happens is in a constant state of flux. The trick is making it go the way we want.”

Chapter Twelve

Wolf, Sam and Badger returned to Gabriel’s house dead tired. Gabriel met them at the door. Arm outstretched across the entrance, Gabriel simply stared at Wolf. The other man stared back, a hint of wariness on his austere features.

“Let him in, Gabriel,”
Kalesia
ordered, sounding exasperated. “You can’t hit a man because he was right.” Slipping under the barricade, she hurried out onto the small stoop and hugged Wolf. Gray eyes met gray eyes over her head. Wolf smiled faintly and held one hand out in a peace offering.

Gabriel retrieved his woman, conscious of the other man’s quiet amusement at the gesture. Once she was safely ensconced under his wing, he shook the proffered hand.

“I wasn’t going to hit Wolf because he was right,” Gabriel objected mildly. “I was going to deck him because of his method of achieving his objective.”

“You always did hate being backed into a corner,” Wolf agreed.

“Anything new, or did you just come back to bury the bodies?” Gabriel laced the question with mild sarcasm.

“I found a few things of interest.” Wolf pushed past him and entered the house. In the living room, he dropped into a chair, exhaustion clearly written in the drooping line of his broad shoulders. He rubbed his face.

Badger and Sam, following close behind, sank down onto the sofa and closed their eyes. Tired as they were, Gabriel knew they were listening to every word.

“We have some news too.” He put his arm around
Kalesia’s
waist as she sat on the arm of his chair.

Badger cracked opened one eye. “Yeah? Good or bad?”

“Depends on your point of view. Someone knows enough about my past to twist it and use it against me. And he knew where to find
Kalesia
.”

Wolf stretched his legs out in front of him with a groan. “I take it you two got things straightened out. She’s still here.”

“She,”
Kalesia
said pointedly, “is still here because she finally remembered he was one of the good guys. I may be slow but I’m not stupid.”

Wolf grinned, just a faint movement of his lips. “Never thought you were.”

“Dirty cop?” Badger asked, ignoring the byplay to focus on the implications of Gabriel’s statement. “Damn, how the hell did that slip by us?”

“Looks that way. There’s something else to be considered. The murderer not only knew where she was but got his hands on pictures and reports.”

“Hell’s bells! That moth—”

Gabriel aimed a frown at him.

Badger’s mouth snapped shut and he looked sheepish. “That means the asshole has friends in high places.” He gave a “what?” look as Gabriel leveled a glare.

Kalesia
patted his thigh. “Don’t worry about it,” she whispered.

Later, he resolved silently. He would have a little chat with Badger later.

Wolf stacked his hands over his stomach, a thoughtful look on his face. “Or a well-placed partner.”

“That would explain the lack of information I found,” Sam interjected. “Each alley seemed to turn into a dead end. I’ll be honest. I’ve never come across such a complete nonexistence of information. In today’s world, it’s damn near impossible to avoid leaving some sort of trail, paper or electronic.” He sounded disgruntled and betrayed by the absence of computer-generated footsteps.

“Interesting,” Gabriel commented.

“
Ain’t
it just,” Wolf agreed. An air of grimness settled over the drawn faces.

Gabriel laced his fingers with
Kalesia’s
. Her fingers tightened around his. “I had Harley bait a trap. We’ll know in a few days if I caught anything.”

“Plan to use our cop with the big mouth to catch bigger fish?” Wolf asked.

“Uh-huh.” Gabriel thought hard for a minute. “Maybe we’re coming at this from the wrong angle. Sam, see who has accessed my files lately.”

“
Workin
’ on it,” was the laconic reply as Sam reached down and pulled his laptop from its case.

“What line is Harley going to drop?” Wolf asked curiously.

“That I believe I got screwed over by the government on my last mission and as a result, I’m working for a South American cartel. Each version is going to have one key difference. In one I dabbled in running drugs and arms in South and Central America. In another, I sold out our military to various governments during my years with the Agency.” He felt
Kalesia
start and sighed inwardly, knowing she wouldn’t like it that he and Harley had refined the plan without telling her. But, hell, setting traps was his area of expertise.

Wolf whistled softly. “Better walk softly on that one, friend. There’s still a lot of bad feeling. A lot of guys lost buddies and they remember.”

“Call it off. We’ll find another way to make the informant reveal himself.”
Kalesia
gripped his thigh. He winced as her fingers dug into the muscle. He pried her hand loose and laced it with his.

“Wolf’s exaggerating. Harley’s making sure no one else will know.”

She glared at him. “Don’t treat me like I’m stupid and don’t you lie to protect me!”

He groaned. She was too damned smart.

“I knew you two were hiding something from me. It stops now! I will not be insulated from the truth.” Fire lit her emerald gaze. “And this idiotic plan stops now.”