Authors: Nicola Claire
“How so?” I enquired.
He smiled. It was a little chilling.
“For every minute you’re late, Cain has declared you’ll spend the same amount of time in the boxing ring, unarmed, against him. Target practice can mean more than one thing, Charlie. You’re about to find out how the Army does it.”
I let a slow breath of air out. Great, an Army ambush. Just what my life needed.
“Tick tock,” he called out as I started towards the rear of the building and the firing range there.
His laughter was all I heard as I turned the first corner of the rabbit warren.
That and Adam saying, “Got a minute, boss?”
M
y heart beat
like a fucking metronome set to dance music. Spasmodic and freaking fast. I had to fight not to rub a hand across my chest to slow the fucker down. As it was, Nick knew immediately that some serious shit was up. Probably the glisten of perspiration on my brow or the fact I had Ben Tamati as my wingman tipped him off.
Or some mysterious mojo, giving him a sixth sense the rest of us could never hope trick in a million fucking years. Not much got past Nicholas Anscombe.
"What's up?" he asked, as we all piled into his office.
The walls closed in as soon as Ben shut the door behind him with an ominous click. In my head the click didn't drown out my heart.
How fucking cosy; all three of us still standing, aware shit was about to go down. Arms folded over chests, eyes wary, bodies at the ready. You could have heard a pin drop.
If not for the sound of my thumping heart.
I took a breath, but didn't get to speak. My wingman flying in to cut off the attack. Maybe he could see I was flailing. A situation that was as alien to me as it was to Ben, no doubt. Still, it was him who beat me to it.
"Adam's bein' followed," he announced in his customary drawl, taking one of the two seats on our side of Nick's desk. Immediately the tone in the room changed with that one move, but not the look of wary caution on Nick's hard mug.
"First time you noticed it was last night?" Nick asked, still standing.
I nodded, unable to shift my feet from their spot. I would have sat, going with Ben's attempt to calm things the fuck down. But I couldn't move. I wasn't usually thrown off my game like this, but usual was a past tense for me now.
"On my way home," I replied, voice steady, even if my pulse rate was not.
There were consequences to coming clean to Nick. I was familiar with them, even if I had never been subjected to this kind of spotlight before. I'd seen others stand here, face off against him. I knew what the fall-out could be. And part of me was desperate to not join the lofty - or not so lofty - heights of that particular club.
"What time?" he asked. And here's where things would get interesting.
"'Bout half one."
Nick sat. It was almost an exclamation point. So sudden and full of meaning.
"Where had you been?" he asked, not looking at me or Ben, but moving some papers on his desk as though that lame-arse motion alone would cover his suspicions.
ASI was like a family; we knew too much shit about each other. Like the fact that on a night off, after a week of night shifts hunting my prey, I'd hit the sack early. Trying to get at least some pretence of a normal life.
I ran a hand through my hair and sat down in the last available seat.
I may not have wanted to face my mistakes under the chilling assessment of this man I had the honour of calling my friend, not just my boss. But there's a line in the sand you cross at some point in these things; no going back now.
And I am not a coward at heart.
"Maraetai for a ride," I said, keeping my eyes trained on Nick, on the one person who had seen potential in me and allowed me to find it in myself.
He didn't look back.
"Alone?" he asked. Ben sat ramrod straight in his seat; no lounging with a leg slung over an armrest, like he'd normally be. He was alert. On guard. But whether he was waiting for Nick to explode or me, I wasn't sure.
"I was not alone."
It was a hell of a lot easier to say than I'd thought.
I waited for the question. The one Ben had asked this morning and the one I expected any sane person to demand, as well. But Nick Anscombe was not necessarily sane.
"Could the tail have been on your companion?"
Ben turned his head slowly to look at me. It wasn't difficult to meet his arched brow look. Charlie had already abandoned me by the time I felt I'd picked up a tail. If they'd been after her, they wouldn't have followed me.
"No," I said, not elaborating further.
I should have known better. This was Nick Fucking Anscombe, after all.
"Tell me everything," he said, and once the words were spoken, I knew I had no choice. It was a relief, really. You didn't hide things from Nick. You didn't lie. You didn't hedge. If he asked you a direct question, he expected a direct answer. Common courtesy would have said the same.
But it wasn't just respect that made you want to answer honestly. It was the fact that every single one of us had Nick to thank for something in our lives. We owed him. One way or another. And loyalty always won out.
We were closer than a family. We had the love, sure, but we also had the trust. Nothing could tear that apart.
Besides, it just confirmed my earlier epiphany. I'd crossed that line; I'd made the decision now to confess; there was no going back.
"I went for a ride with Charlie," I said, and felt more than saw Ben's shake of his head. No doubt with a "stupid motherfucker" thought running through his brain. "After we parted ways..."
"Where?" Nick asked, not batting an eyelash at my admission. He
had
been the one to assign her training to me after all.
And suddenly I had a way to make this not sound as douchebag as it potentially was. It had all been training. Ben's and Abi's suspicions aside.
"We split up at Somerville," I provided, feeling more sure of my footing now. "I headed towards home, but sensed the tail around Parnell. Lost 'em in Epsom."
Silence. From both men. Ben, wisely, because now was not the time to harass the poor sod who'd been caught with his pants down. Nick, because he was digesting and would come to some miraculous conclusion, offering insight and much needed direction, and yet again saving the day.
"Who gave you the hickey?" is what he finally said.
Fuck. Forgot about that little giveaway. Probably now glowing with backlit red light like a fucking neon sign.
Fuck me and thank you, Lieutenant Downes.
Ben started laughing, but quickly coughed into his hand at the sharp look he received from Nick.
"It just happened," I managed to awesomely advise. Yeah, shit like that just happens. Right.
Nick ran a hand over his face.
"New girl and you get followed," he said, staring at the far wall as he leaned back in his seat. Now he looked like he was digesting and miraculous concluding. Incidentally, coming to the same conclusion as Ben.
"It's got nothing..." I started.
"E hoa," Ben interrupted softly. "You don't believe that."
I didn't know what I believed. But there was something about Charlie.
"OK," Nick said, after his eyes had made a quick scan of my face and features. Fuck knows what he saw there. "What are we potentially dealing with here? A plant?"
"Could be," Ben agreed. I just kept breathing through my nose; in, out, and in and fucking out. This shit could not be happening.
She sucked your cock on the Maraetai wharf and walked away. Who does that kind of thing?
Ah, fuck.
"But why? What cases have we got open right now?" Nick was saying.
"We have to assume it's got somethin' to do with one of Adam's," Ben suggested. "She's singled him out, after all."
Hunted.
Nick nodded. My head felt too heavy for my neck. I desperately wanted to place my face in my hands and pretend this wasn't happening.
"So, Mitchell Wallis' replacement and the new Chinese drugs we’re finding out on the streets," Nick said, referring to my current case load. "Who would want access to that?"
"Are we sanctioned?" Ben asked. Meaning were we doing this under the umbrella of the Police Force.
I watched as Nick shook his head. "This is personal. For Amber."
And there was that, of course. Amber had lived in fear of that man for too long. Lived under his "protection" and suffered for it. Nick looked after family. And Amber was family now, no denying.
"Need to check with Pierce, then," Ben advised. "Maybe there's someone in CIB followin' up on all that undercover shit."
Nick nodded. “Or these new drugs have been picked up in CIB Narcotics too,” he added, then turned chilling blue eyes as cold as ice to my face.
I held my ground, like any man would.
"What's your gut say?" The fact that he was still asking me that said a lot. I'd screwed up. But he wasn't ruling me out just yet.
And what exactly
did
my gut say? It said I'd felt hunted, that I'd felt ASI was being hunted, since the moment Charlie had arrived.
But it also said Charlie was in danger.
Protect her!
"Fuck," I muttered. "We need to be on alert and we need to keep this from Charlie."
A small smile hinted at the edges of Nick's lips.
"That all?" he pressed.
He wasn't going to like this...
"We need to keep an eye on her."
"Of course." I shook my head. His reasons were not my reasons for suggesting that.
"No, you don't get it," I pushed.
"Then enlighten me, Adam." Nick's voice was hard, unforgiving, authoritative. It was just what I needed to hear.
ASI was a business. A highly successful enterprise operating in a part of the underworld many people did not necessarily know existed. Nick had worked hard to make it what it was today. We'd all given so much to back him up and mould it into the place it had become.
It was a home.
It was a family.
It was a brotherhood and none of us would let it fail.
Fucking Charlie. Just what the hell was the woman up to?
"I'm scared, all right? Shit scared."
That hadn't been an act. I'd seen it in her eyes. About the one time those smoky greys had revealed something real.
If you didn't count the lust as being real, that is. And I did. It was very real. Just like Ben had said.
Charlie was real, and even though my mind was filled with concerns and queries, worry and suspicion, I didn't doubt that. What I felt for Charlie. And what I'd seen in her eyes at those two very different times.
Lust, attraction, desire. A connection.
And fear.
"There's something about Charlie," I started. Ben groaned. Nick just stared; icy cold and unforgiving. "Hear me out," I added.
He nodded for me to go on. Ben grunted, but didn't otherwise comment.
"Since the moment she's arrived I've felt like we're being hunted." I didn't add that
I'd
felt hunted in particular. Nick was only barely allowing me this moment as it was. I couldn't push him any further. "But underlying that sensation of the tables being turned," I pressed on, holding my breath, preparing for the inevitable shit hitting the fan reaction, "I also can't help feeling she's in as much trouble as the rest of us."
"That's bullshit," Ben exclaimed. Albeit in a gruff, quiet voice. But still an exclamation coming from him.
Nick didn't respond to his statement. Just said, "You sure it's not another part of your anatomy telling you that, and that part is
not
connected to your gut?"
OK, I deserved that.
"I'm sure," I said, laying my neck on the chopping block, and wondering how it had come to this after just one day.
One fucking day.
Nick sighed, staring over our shoulders at a picture of Auckland's skyline that took up most of the wall by his office door. The city we swore to protect in our own way. The city we all loved. The city we had risked our lives for in the past and would do the same again, if need be.
I waited. Ben didn't move, but that didn't mean the man wasn't thinking of something.
Nick said nothing.
And then, "This is how we'll proceed."
I let a breath of air out, unaware I'd still been holding it.
"We go on alert. Silently. Charlie is locked out of all top level decisions and considered a hostile in home territory. I'll get Eric onto your case, Adam, to make sure we've not missed another's interest. And
I'll
contact Pierce, myself, and see what he knows his end. We don't want to set off alarm bells in CIB, if we can help it. Amber will also do a thorough background check on your girl."
My girl. Despite everything, I warmed to that term.
Douche.
"More thorough than what we already ran," Nick added. "Because if you're right, Charlie has fooled us. And the Shaws won't take nicely to being duped. If there's something there, Amber will discover it."
I nodded, relieved Nick was in the know. The discomfort had been worth it, in the end. Then I had a sudden, disconcerting fucking thought.
"Are you gonna tell everyone
everything
that's been discussed in here?" I asked, feeling hot and itchy and not just a little fucked.
Ben started chuckling. Nick just smiled. It wasn't exactly heartwarming.
"You said it yourself, Savill," he announced. "There's something about Charlie."
Wait? What?
"We'll tell them you're just finding out what that something actually is."
"Um?" was all I could manage.
"Easy, e hoa," Ben said, slapping me on the back as he stood from his chair. "Now you've got an official reason to chase after her leather clad arse like a lovesick puppy."
Nick laughed. "Besides, if you shied away from the next hickey, what signal would that send her?"
God, he had a point. And why was I so fucking pleased about it?
"Anyway," he said, standing on his side of the desk, effectively announcing the end of the worst discussion I'd ever had to have in my entire life. "I trust you," he added. "I trust your instincts."