Tamed by Love (Agent Lovers Series Book 2) (28 page)

“And how do things stand now? Are the files secured again? What’s with the broker? Do they have copies of the copied files?”

“That’s not how they operate. They focus just on the broker; they don’t have any access to the information offered for sale. They actually don’t want to have access. They go out of their way to avoid trouble. The buyer assumes the risk for the authenticity of the information.”

“So they can wash their hands of it,” Liz said.

Townsend nodded. “They painstakingly remove any evidence that could lead back to them after each transaction. They don’t leave any traces, change their location and naturally, without any evidence, we couldn’t get on their track. Rather clever boys.”

“How certain can we be, that those we eliminated are the ones who got their hands on our files?”

“By the looks of it, we got lucky. We realized it not even twenty-four hours after the transaction took place. They were so busy “collecting” the agents and their families that they never thought to take others into their confidence.”

“They probably wanted to make a killing by selling off the entire
Dozen
to the highest bidder. The status and knowledge that each of us has is extremely valuable. If it had gotten into the right hands…” Jeff shook his head stunned, at the realization. An ice-cold shiver ran down his back. He didn’t even want to think about what could have happened.

Even Townsend didn’t want to think of the consequences. It could have been devastating. It would have been possible to have access to every security facility in the country with a TDA in their pocket. Highly controversial documents, secret results from weapons or pharmaceutical research could have been discovered, and much, much more. Terrorism could have assumed unknown levels and plunged the country into a deep crisis.

“What’s with the prisoners in Alabama?” Terence asked.

“After Elizabeth and Jennifer’s visit yesterday, they suddenly became very talkative.” The older man’s face lit up with a mischievous smile when he looked at the women’s surprised faces. “Did you think I didn’t know about that? Nothing stays a secret from me for long on the base. As I said, after your visit, both became suddenly very talkative and gave us a full confession regarding the kidnapping. In addition, they provided information on other activities the small group was planning. They gave us, among other things, names and locations of accomplices and “business partners.” We’re already in the process of reviewing and evaluating the evidence we got from them. Until now, all their information agrees one hundred percent with the results of our subsequent investigation. But we aren’t done with the investigations by a long shot and will have to sit tight to see whether the rest of their information is correct.”

“Why did they suddenly change their minds and talk? They were interrogated repeatedly by you, Lt. General. And each time they kept quiet,” Jeff said, looking at the assembled group. Townsend smiled and nodded at Liz and Jennifer. “They were the reason. One of the conditions of their confession and for their helpful statements was that they never again, under any circumstances, meet with the two “lunatics.” They even tried, in return for helpful information, to negotiate a suspended sentence for themselves.”

Alarmed, Gray and Chris sat up in their chairs. Townsend wouldn’t have agreed to that, or would he? If he had, Liz and Jennifer would probably continue to be in danger, because no one could say whether the two men who had the information on their wives and the other agents, wouldn’t try to resell the information as soon as they were free again.

When Townsend noticed the intense reaction from the two men, he raised his hand and smiled. He knew exactly what was going through their minds. “You don’t need to worry, Blackwood. Of course there wasn’t any question of a suspended sentence given the long list of offenses we can prove. The prisoners will be kept, shall we say, in an unknown high-security prison for the rest of their lives. We’ll make sure they don’t have any contact with the outside world and can’t pass on any controversial information.”

“Then it’s really over?” asked Jennifer, to be sure that everyone was out of danger, their lives could assume a normal rhythm again and they could have their children without worry.

“It’s over. Elizabeth, you and both of your families are safe,” said Townsend with a smile who put his cup on the table before he stood up to leave. “You’ll excuse me? I have one last problem to deal with and he’s waiting in my car, biting his fingernails.”

Gray and Chris walked with Townsend to the door while the rest of the crew remained on the patio. None of them could believe that after all of the aggravating, grueling weeks in which their lives had been severely shaken up, their problems had suddenly vanished.

Jeff was the first to speak, “Oh, man! When you think of what we had to go through because of this thing. Finally it’s over. Whew!” He sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“Can you tell me what you had to endure?” said Terence with a mocking laugh. “I’ve been made fun of, tricked, been cheated at poker and drugged. And you maintain that you had to endure something? And playing a little clothing rack doesn’t count, by the way.” He snorted sullenly, which caused Liz and Jennifer to burst into hearty laughter. For that they earned a withering gaze from both men.

“Are you two up to no good again? Jeff and Terence are shooting daggers at you,” Chris said. He came back onto the patio with Gray and looked from Liz to Jennifer.

“They’re bragging about their “war wounds” from the last battle.”

“That you and Liz inflicted. Let’s not forget to mention that, Jenny,” said Jeff.

“What wounds?”

“Wounded pride perhaps?” Liz said. “What man likes to admit to being duped and beaten by a woman? So much for women being the weaker sex!”

“Won the fight? Not entirely! Didn’t you forget a little something?” Gray walked around the table and pulled Liz up from her chair and into his arms. “You might be insanely good at playing tricks on people, fighting individual battles and winning them, but in the end, Chris and I duped you without you finding out. We clearly won decisively.”

“What do you mean?” Liz asked confused. “When did you win and when exactly did you dupe us?”

“Can’t you guess?” Gray looked at her without giving another clue, lost in the depths of her sky-blue eyes. Neither Gray nor Liz noticed they were now alone on the patio.

All of a sudden, she knew the truth. Liz stared at him with her mouth open in disbelief. “I was right, wasn’t I? That time in your office when you gave me the choice to either marry you or have to live with you telling my father the truth about my job. When I said you would never do that, I was right!”

“Yes.”

“If I had said no, I would have gotten off? You would never have sent the message?”

“It was only a bluff. I laid out the bait and you fell for it. Although I have to admit, I had my doubts about whether it would really work.”

Liz was speechless. To him it hadn’t been about being “kept.” Something else had tipped the scales for his behavior at the time. “The point for you wasn’t to induce me to stay, was it? You were already in love with me by that point. And you blackmailed me out of desperation because I didn’t want a serious relationship with you.”

Gray sat on a chair and pulled Liz into his lap before he answered. “You can’t imagine how desperate I was at the time. I had fallen head over heels in love with you so fast, secretly planed our future together and you only spoke to me about upcoming appointments with the doctor and that you couldn’t wait to jump into the next assignment.”

He swept the hair out of her face, leaned forward and kissed Liz gently. “Whenever I steered the conversation toward our relationship, you pulled back from me. It almost drove me crazy how you constantly changed the subject so I couldn’t make any progress with you. I didn’t know what else to do, so I put all my eggs in one basket.”

“And you saw the solution to this problem in blackmail?”

“Jeff gave me the idea, or more precisely, us. Chris was at a loss with Jennifer too. We poured out our hearts to him and he gave us advice which we simply followed.”

“And how exactly should I picture the sage advice of my brother-in-law?” Liz asked with a chuckle.

“He said we should think about the saying,
All’s fair in love and war,
then sooner or later we would get what we wanted.”

“The douchebag. He’ll be in trouble when I get my hands on him.”

“Why?” Gray asked. “His advice was good. Because of it, you stayed with me, fell in love with me and in doing that, made me the happiest man in the world.” He put a hand flat on her stomach, spread his fingers, stroked her silky-soft skin and smiled slightly.

“How fortunate you are that things developed for the better between us; I know, because you prove it to me every day and every night. But couldn’t he have given you the advice sooner? For that, he’s in trouble, the idiot!”

Gray laughed and framed her face with both hands and whispered, “I love you!” before he placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

Tears glistened in her eyes, but she smiled. Liz stroked his cheek with her hand. She ran her thumb over his mouth while she looked at him dreamily. “Thank you for that, for not giving up, for forcing me to be happy, for giving me this gift…,” gently she covered his hand which still lay flat on her stomach, “…and for loving me. I love you, Gray!” whispered Liz. She leaned against him and let her mouth fuse with his in a heavenly kiss.

Gray pulled her tightly to him as if he would never let go of her again. And Liz didn’t want him to ever let go of her either. All that mattered, what was really important, was the two of them.

The most important thing was love, her mother had always said. And that was true. Love was the key to happiness.

One year later.

Gray leaned over the bouncy seat lined with light-blue material and smiled. His son immediately began to gurgle as soon as he saw his father. Lovingly Gray stroked his son’s dark head of hair and kissed him on the tip of his nose. Then he turned back to the stove where a pan of fried eggs sizzled for a late breakfast.

Tony whimpered immediately when his father was busy with something other than him. But luckily there was still his uncle, Jeff, who immediately picked Tony up and devoted himself to him.

“Now stop that, young man,” Jeff said and tickled his nephew’s stomach so that he gave a squeaky laugh and his arms waved wildly in the air. “Let your dad make our breakfast, otherwise I’ll die of starvation! You’ve already had yours. Where’s your mother anyway? I haven’t actually seen her all morning.” He looked at Gray and was surprised by his secretive smile.

Gray dished out the eggs onto two plates, added toast and came to the table. After he sat down and continued to smile to himself as he ate, Jeff said, “Are you going to tell me what you find so funny, or do I have to get rough first? I hate it when I don’t know what’s going on.”

“You are curious too, little brother. Almost worse than Liz at last year’s Christmas party. I had my work cut out for me to keep the presents hidden from her so she wouldn’t find them early. And she really has a good nose for possible hiding places.”

Jeff laughed at the thought of Gray’s heavily pregnant wife turning the whole house upside down to find the presents. But she had never looked where they ultimately lay because she wasn’t able to due to her girth.

“This year you’ll have to look for a different hiding place. After all, Liz is as thin as she was before she got pregnant and will certainly be able to fit through the tiny hatch that leads to the attic. But don’t avoid the question! Why are you grinning to yourself like the Cheshire cat?”

“I’m not avoiding the question.”

“That’s exactly what you’re doing.”

“Am not. And this year I’ll be able to hide her presents in the attic again.”

Jeff hesitated before he understood what Gray was saying. “Liz is pregnant again?”

“Yeah. Why do you think she’s still in bed? Morning sickness has had a lock on her for a few days. And that can only mean that Liz is pregnant.”

“Don’t tell me you made a bet with Chris to see which of you could grow his family faster. Jennifer’s also in a delicate situation again. And Chris is in a tizzy about being a father again only a year after Lily came. Apparently Jennifer and Liz are still working as a team. Did you plan that to keep your wives this busy?”

“Planned? Not really. But hoped.”

“Are you sure there’s already another baby? Maybe Liz should go to the doctor?”

“I’m absolutely sure about it, even if Liz isn’t. You were already in bed last night when she scarfed down a bag of gummy bears and chili crackers in front of TV. Half an hour later, I had to leave to get her some walnut ice cream, which she doesn’t even like. And the ice cream ended up being a topping on a cold anchovy pizza.”

Disgusted, Jeff grimaced, shuddered, and agreed wholeheartedly. “She’s obviously pregnant. Only pregnant women can get something like that down.” He put the sleeping Tony carefully back in the bouncy seat and spread a light blanket around him that was covered with cute light-brown baby bears. Spellbound, Jeff watched his nephew sleeping peacefully in the rocker on the floor. When Furball, followed by Lucky and Nero suddenly strutted into the kitchen, Gray stood up and turned on the kettle. Whenever the three animals emerged, Liz wasn’t far behind.

Jeff shook his head. “You really have to see it to believe it! Does Liz send them ahead as a sign that you can get the coffee ready? I hope they don’t sleep with you in your bed?”

“At least I’ve successfully defended that territory against an invasion by the animal trio, at least as long as I’m lying in the bed. As soon as I’m out and Liz is still sleeping, they’re there to take my place. They’ve barely moved from her side the past few days. When they do though, they gather around Tony, as always.” He nodded toward his sleeping son.

The dogs lay on either side of the bouncy chair and Furball curled up on the floor at the foot of the rocker. The cat watched Jeff warily for a while from under half-open eyes before he closed them and slept purring softly.