A Little Harmless Secret (7 page)

“So, you have a plan?” Micah asked, bringing him back to the present.

Devon jerked a shoulder and took a sip of his coffee. He instantly regretted it. It was cold. He needed something stronger, something more fortifying. He rose and went to grab the scotch he’d brought with him.

“Grab two glasses,” Micah said.

Devon did and joined him back at the table. He poured them both a couple of fingers of the scotch and they sat in silence.

“So, you have a woman and kid to look out after.”

A statement—because his brother-in-law knew his character. There was no way in hell Devon would walk away now. Knowing Ali was in danger was enough to send him over the edge.

“Yeah,” he said and tossed back the scotch. He poured more in his glass. This time, though, he sipped at it. They drank in silence. Devon knew better than to talk. Micah was going through the problem in his head.

“Do you think you could have led someone to her?” Micah asked.

“I’m not sure.” And that was the one thing that had been bugging him all night. Had he put his child in danger? He had just found out about her, and the idea that he might have led the intruders to the house made him sick.

“I am going to lean heavily in the negative category,” Micah said.

He studied his brother-in-law. “Why?”

“First, they would have known you went back there tonight. If they know you, they know you’re trained. Alicia seems pretty well trained.”

“Yeah, her father was MI-6 so it’s a family kind of thing.”

He smiled. “Great. You have a woman who can kill you in your sleep.”

He hated to admit it, but that was kind of a turn on. She was a woman who didn’t need to be taken care of…and the element of danger made her even more attractive. He had sensed it that night, felt it course through her when he touched her. She was beautiful, but that inner strength was sexier to him. Of course, the sexy underwear was fantastic too.

“Earth to Stryker.”

He blinked. “What?”

“You’re sitting there staring off in the distance with a goofy smile on your face.”

“I am not,” he said.

“Yes, you were. Daydreaming about a woman who could snap your neck.”

“She can’t snap my neck. Maybe. Still, she wouldn’t. She had many chances before.”

Micah gave him a strange look. “At least I don’t think she would hurt Dee, and that’s what matters.”

“Why does that matter?”

“Because I love your sister.”

Devon waved that away. “No, why do you say that she wouldn’t hurt Dee?”

“Oh. Well, she was concerned with putting Dee in danger. And, there was the way she was looking at her. She just wouldn’t hurt her.”

“Don’t be
that
fooled by her demeanor. She’s definitely been trained. I had no idea the night we were together.”

Micah poured himself another shot of scotch. Another few minutes passed before he spoke again. “Yeah, well, what about that? You’re usually so cautious about women.”

He had been. Except on that particular night. There had been something about her. So lonely, and it had resonated with him. When he had touched her, it felt like kismet—as if he had found the one woman meant for him.

That was probably why he had searched for her the way he did.

“Another coincidence.”

Micah chuckled. “Okay, I’ll let you tell yourself that lie. Are you going to call Jay?”

He nodded, thinking of his private pilot. He’d already warned Jay they might be heading back early. They definitely were now.

“I guess we should get some sleep. I take it you’re riding the couch?”

Devon glanced at the couch, and knew it was going to hurt like a bitch to sleep on it. He sighed. “Yeah.”

Micah turned to head to the bedroom, Devon thought about what had happened at Ali’s house.

“I think we should go back by her house, see if we can get anything.”

“If they didn’t destroy it.”

He nodded. “If they didn’t—or even if they did—there is a good chance they left some kind of evidence behind.”

Micah nodded. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Once Micah left, Devon went to check on Ali and Bridget. They were both sleeping. Bridget was cuddled against Ali, who had her arm wrapped about the little girl. He sighed, sipping the scotch as he tried to come to terms with the way his life had changed in the last forty-eight hours. He had never thought to be a parent, but now…he had a little girl.

It was almost too much to deal with.

He walked back into the kitchen, then went out on the balcony. He sat in one of the chairs and watched as the sun came up over Seattle, mulling over what other changes were about to hit him.

* * * *

Devon wanted to growl when Ali crossed her arms across her chest and raised her chin. Nothing was ever going to be easy with her. Never had been either.

“I think I should go.”

Of course she did, Devon thought. She’d been trying to tell him what they should do since she popped up out of bed that morning. The dark circles under her eyes told him she hadn’t gotten much sleep, but he hadn’t either. He didn’t have the patience to deal with her stubbornness. They had enough time to run to her house, then get to the plane.

“Not a good idea.”

Her frown turned darker. Devon was not going to budge. He really wanted to get the lay of the land and what kind of men were after them. With her expertise she could help, but she was still upset.

“But there are things I want to get. You might not understand.”

He found the tone in her voice mildly offensive. Maybe he hadn’t finished training, but he had eluded the Company for years. He studied her for a moment or two longer and then looked at Micah, who shrugged. No help from that end. Devon took Ali aside. If she wasn’t going to listen to reason, he would use the one thing in this world that would get her to do anything.

Devon straightened his shoulders. “I would rather you stay here.”

He thought he heard her growl. “I would rather go.”

“Listen, it might be kind of hard to see your house if they blew it to smithereens. I also want Micah to get a look.”

“What good is he?” she asked, then she looked at Micah. “No offense.”

Micah smiled. “None taken.”

“So?” she asked him.

“He was a bounty hunter. He could tell what kind of men are after you.”

She snorted. “I can handle that myself, thank you very much.”

“Are you okay with Bridget being left here?”

Alicia opened her mouth to argue, but stopped. She looked at Micah and Dee. Then back to Devon. “Okay, I better stay. Not that I don’t trust you two, but Bridget might not like it.”

And that was the crux of the thing. Anger was now riding her temper to new heights. It was more than that. Much more than that. For so long she had been in control. Sure, she was in hiding but every decision had been hers. She had been in control. Now this man she barely trusted was telling her what was best. As if some wanker who couldn’t finish training knew what was best.

But what he was saying made sense. Bridget had been through so much the night before. The fact that her daughter might be shell shocked from it didn’t make her any happier.

“It would probably be best if you would just make a list,” Devon

She looked at Devon. He was trying to help, even if she didn’t trust him completely. Hell, she didn’t trust anyone, but she didn’t have much choice at this point.

“But…”

She didn’t want them going through her things. It was stupid because there was nothing to be ashamed of, but she wasn’t accustomed to being so open with people.

“Okay. I will probably have to call the security company.”

“I take it that you didn’t do the regular home security people?” Devon asked.

“No. I used Dillon Security Systems. They laid it out to my specifications.”

“Small world,” Micah murmured.

“What?” she asked.

“We know them. Let me give Conner a call.”

“I dealt with Maura. She and I got on famously.”

Dee smiled. “Another coincidence.”

Alicia didn’t argue this time. She just let it go. She wanted to be the one to survey her house. Her training made her the best to look. Usually. This time, though, Alicia knew she was too close. And, she would feel better staying close to Bridget.

“Okay. I’ll stay behind for this. But, if you have issues, call.”

Devon and Micah shared a look, then they turned toward her and nodded.

“Just remember, you screw any of this up, I’ll whack your bollocks off.”

They said nothing as they left, shutting the door with a very definite snick.

Dee stepped up beside her. She had her hand on her softly rounded belly. “Don’t worry. They won’t take it personally that you threatened them.”

She looked at the woman, who had the same blue eyes as Bridget. “Oh, Dee, I wasn’t threatening them. If they screw anything up, I
will
whack their bullocks.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Alicia had just finished cleaning up the dishes from breakfast when Dee walked in with a frown.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Dee nodded. “I’m fine, but you didn’t have to do that.”

Alicia blew out a long breath. “I have to do something. I might go mental if I just sit here.”

She smiled. “I understand that. Drives Micah crazy that I can’t always sit and just be. I’ve been working since I was seventeen. I was put on bed rest with my last pregnancy. Micah was ready to tear out all of his beautiful hair. I couldn’t help it. I felt so lazy. I knew I needed to be there, but still.”

Alicia nodded. She completely understood that. “My father always said time spent daydreaming was wasted time.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. A little bit of dreaming can be a good thing.” Dee shook her head. “I didn’t daydream for a really long time. Not while I was on the run.”

“You mentioned something about that last night.”

She motioned with her head to the table. Alicia followed her and sat across the table from her.

“Well, my father tried to have me killed. Devon too.”

Alicia blinked. For a second, the words didn’t compute, when they did, she opened her mouth once, then closed it.

Dee laughed. “Yeah, everyone has that same reaction.”

Alicia sat down. “Your father tried to kill you?”

She nodded and rested her hand on her belly. “I overheard him having a man tortured, then killed. We didn’t know it, but Dad was Mafia.”

“You had no idea your father was in the Mob?”

“I take that back. We had an idea he was connected. I mean, a lot of our friends had fathers involved in some way.” She shrugged. “Devon was always gone to some nerd camp, and I had…well, we were teenagers. What were you doing at seventeen?”

“My father had me along with him on a job in…” She paused trying to remember where they had been. “Thailand. I liked Thailand.”

“Wait, your father took you on jobs when you were in high school?”

“Yes. After my mother was killed, he didn’t like leaving me with anyone. I went along.”

There was a look of horror on Dee’s face.

“What?” Alicia asked.

“I can’t imagine going on spy jobs at that age.”

She shrugged. “It was good training. I learned a lot.”

“You did this from the time you were twelve?”

“Part of the reason was safety. The other part was learning from my father. He knew they would pull him from the field very soon and I needed to learn from the best.”

Dee studied her for a moment, then shook her head. “Anyway, I was hiding in my dad’s office. I wasn’t hiding to begin with, but I wasn’t supposed to be there. Heard my dad, then hid in the closet.” Dee shuddered. “So, I went to the FBI. Dad ended up finding me though and I went on the run for years.”

Alicia worked through all the information. “That was when Devon was at the CIA camp.”

Dee snorted. “I guess we can call it that. So, tell me more about your father.”

Alicia sighed. “He was all I had in the world after my mum died.”

“You were close?”

She thought back to their time together, then further back, before her mother had been killed, before the paranoia had set in. She remembered the three of them, a unit. They had been careful and she was sure there were measures her parents took to ensure her safety. Still, it had been a normal childhood. There were vacations and fun times at holidays, then everything had been destroyed in a matter of seconds.

“We were. My mum was killed by a terrorist bomb. Not really directed at her. Just wrong place, wrong time. Dad never really got over it.”

Dee nodded.

“And then, I went into the business. I know that he watched out for me, but did not meddle. He believed that I should make it on my own.”

“And you did too.”

She nodded. “I was getting rather good…then it just sort of went to shit.”

“But you have Bridget.”

She thought about her daughter and smiled. “Yes. I have her.”

Dee opened her mouth, then hesitated.

“Go on.”

“I just want you to understand Devon. He was always kind of…I don’t know broken.”

“You’re twins. He was broken but you weren’t?”

“Things happen for a reason, right? Or that’s the way I always looked at it. But, for us, it was so damned horrible. I had to go on the run after someone from the FBI sold me out. I didn’t let anyone close for a really long time. It was too dangerous. Trusting someone could put their life in danger or mine. I just couldn’t take the chance.”

“And Devon? Didn’t you trust him?”

“I thought he was dead. There was an accident…thanks to my father. Devon survived, but he lost his girlfriend.”

That put a different light on his disappearance. Following the timeline in her head, it would have been around the time the CIA went into panic mode looking for him.

“We were so young at the time, but I know that he has always felt he was the reason she was killed. Dad thought he was in the car. So, Devon disappeared.”

“Oh.” Everything made a lot more sense now. When she had read his file and the case studies of his character, there was nothing that would convince her he had been selling secrets.