All In (9 page)

‡‡‡

CHAS, SUSANNAH, AND BUZZ
were in the air, on their way back to Tangier. They were sitting in seats facing one another, all drinking ginger ale and looking amazed and confused. Buzz was the first to speak, and his words came out haltingly, coarsely, as though he was embarrassed by his own emotions. “I’m so sorry, honey,” he said, awkwardly and with a bit of hoarseness in his voice. “I don’t know what to say to you. I missed out on your life. I missed out on being your father. I’ve been watching you for years, and I want so badly to know you now that I have been given the second chance I never dared to hope for. You and your mother were the best things that ever happened to me, and I had to run from you—I had to, because I feared if I didn’t, one of these terrorists would use you to get to me, and in the most vile way imaginable. Oh, Susie, I’m still so scared that I might jeopardize your future. If you had been inside my house when they blew it up—” At this, Buzz stopped speaking because tears threatened to emerge.

Chas and Susannah shared a look. Neither of them had known what to expect, and neither of them could keep their own emotions at bay. Susannah exclaimed, “But Dad,
Chas
was in your house. And he was nearly killed, trying to save you.”

“I know that,” Buzz said, clearing his throat, “and I don’t know how to apologize for putting you in harm’s way.” He dropped his head into his hands, and Susannah and Chas waited for Buzz to collect himself, which took some time.

‡‡‡

BUZZ CARTER HAD
his head in his hands and was trying to keep his emotions under wraps. He was also trying to figure out why Chas Palmer was lying. He had set that bomb himself, to throw his trackers off the scent, so he knew no one had dropped any intel in his house, and no one had set the bomb but him. He also noted that Chas was in remarkably clean clothes for being involved in an explosion; also, there was a mark consistent with his pant leg getting caught in a scooter. Buzz figured he had gone a few miles or so, somewhere he could duck out and back without being noticed. Was that where he got the intel? From whom? And why was he lying? Buzz’s protective spirit regarding his daughter began to rear its head, but he figured he’d better keep it to himself until he knew more. He already knew about Chas. He had kept tabs on his wife and daughter in every way he could over the years; mostly, he tracked them through online sources. He had done a ton of research on Chas ever since he stumbled upon a wedding announcement and found out Susannah was engaged. He knew Chas was not the leak he sought; he was an upstanding man who’d been in deep cover for years and was no danger to Buzz. Yet he still didn’t fully trust Chas. Until he felt more assured, he’d tell them
some
stuff but not all of it—he’d have to be careful until he knew what was going on.

‡‡‡

SUSANNAH TOOK A MOMENT,
then responded to her father. “Chas made it out alive, and so did you. That’s the good part. As for our reunion, well . . . I didn’t know what to expect. I’m still really confused. But I understand you did what you felt you needed to do. I just can’t quite believe it had to be so—final. It destroyed my life, Dad. Wasn’t there any other way?”

He looked up at her, his blue eyes red-rimmed. “I didn’t have a lot of time to think. I was tracking a monster, a monster I’ve come closer to ever since, but I thought that if he knew I was alive, he’d use any weapon to try to get to me, and that meant you and your mother. I don’t know how far his influence goes, so I had to make sure no one knew about me, not witness protection or the CIA,
no one
. Truth is, I thought this would be temporary, that I could come out of hiding within a couple years. I thought I’d find him. It’s like I’ve been chasing a ghost, and I ruined my life and yours in the process. God, Susie. I’m so dreadfully sorry for all I have given up to protect the ones I love.” Buzz shifted awkwardly in his chair, clearing his throat.

Chas moved across to the opposite side so he was next to Buzz. He put his hand on Buzz’s back and spoke gently and firmly. “Mr. Carter. We want to hear the details, but now is not the time. You owe Susannah and her mother the full explanation as soon as you have the chance to give it to them.” He looked at Susannah, who nodded to him to go on. “We know you did what you thought was best for your family. Now it’s time to talk about the future.”

Buzz looked at Chas and smiled. “First of all, please call me Buzz. Second, I am so grateful you and Susie have found each other. I’m sorry I unwittingly interrupted your wedding, but I’m thrilled that now I’ll have the chance to—” Buzz stopped abruptly and cleared his throat again, and Chas jumped in.

“Buzz, I understand, really I do, but I think we need to strategize. What exactly did you find out? And where do we go from here?”

Buzz swallowed and looked at them both. “I don’t know how much you know, but at this point I should tell you this: I think someone in my department was turned. I was in an undercover CIA unit responsible for stealing codes, and we were run entirely off the books. It was a collection of the smartest men and women I’ve ever known. But I’m sure one of them was in on this. There was too much information that was compromised, too many pieces of information that went to the other side. I came pretty close to closing in on him. But I never did.”

Chas and Susannah both leaned closer. “Dad,” Susannah said, “can you be more specific?”

Buzz ran his hands through his thinning hair. “It’s bad. Real bad. The man responsible for all this—”

“Is this the BS character we keep hearing about?” Chas interrupted.

Buzz looked startled. “I didn’t realize you were so informed, but yes. This is about Baba Samka. Most of the Moroccan operatives are suspicious about even saying his name. He’s an elusive man and has a reputation of being an all-out butcher, a criminal, a monster. However, he is also a man. A very dangerous one.” He took a deep breath. “When I was working for the CIA, we had access to something incredibly insidious, something the world never should have created. I always felt like I was living in a modern-day
Lord of the Ring
s, the group of us trying to get to one ruler before his power became absolute. Truthfully, I saw the ultimate power of this man as something of a fairy tale, never quite believing it existed until I saw it at work. Now, we all know which countries have nuclear weapons or nuclear capabilities, and there are some we are suspicious of, but for the most part, we’re all open about who has what. Why? Because that’s power. That’s negotiation. But what if someone had power over all of it? What if there were codes created and exchanged that made it easy for a network of individuals to program those arsenals at every point on the globe? What if someone could effectively blow up the earth? What then?”

There was a long silence. Then Chas said, “But Buzz, could someone really do that? What would be the point?”

Buzz looked up at him with anger in his eyes. “No, not one person alone, but one man controlling several others. Yes, he could do it with his network of accomplices. Someone could blow up the whole world. And the point? You tell me. Evil geniuses have been trying to blow up the earth for millennia. For some of them, I imagine it’s the greatest puzzle ever to be solved. For others, it’s narcissistic. And for most, it has to do with making personal misery manifest in the most extraordinary way imaginable.”

Susannah sighed and sat back. Looking at her father seated next to Chas, she was beginning to feel hope for the future, but Buzz’s words were scaring her. “So what do we do to stop him?”

Her father looked frustrated. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out for over sixteen years, but each time I get close, he gets further ahead of me. I’m wary of involving too many people, but there is someone I can think of who could help, the sharpest guy I ever knew, works under the radar and probably has a lot more intel than I do.”

“Who’s that, Dad?”

“My old friend, the head of my division. Robert Smith.”

‡‡‡

SUSANNAH WAS TRYING
to put two and two together but it all amounted to a far more complex equation. Who was this guy they were tracking? Who was tracking her father? And why was it necessary for him to have killed himself off to protect her? This was too much to comprehend. Just as she was about to ask a few more questions, her father looked directly at Chas and said, “Now, do you want to tell me why you’ve been lying to my daughter?”

9

LISA BEE AND JACKSON
had traveled the remaining hour and a half or so to the Friouato Caves and were almost at their target. It had been an even bumpier ride since they left the hotel, and Lisa Bee wished she could have taken the ride on a pillow; as it was, she was quite sore. The caves were a tourist destination, but there were so many miles of undiscovered caverns that it was possible groups of people lived in the bowels of the place. Jackson’s friend Hassan had told him that there were some “old friends” of theirs who could be found squatting in one of the untraversed sections of the caverns and that these people might be able to put them on the right track.

The sun was rising when they got to the caves. Though the park wasn’t open for tourists until seven
A.M.
, Jackson knew a back way in. Before heading inside, Lisa Bee called AJ. She and Jackson were in full spelunking gear, both carried backpacks, and each wore a hidden earpiece and a hidden camera inside their headlamps. The call connected, and AJ answered. “Don’t you two look fabulous!”

“Oh, great,” Lisa Bee said, “so you can see us? We’ve got a video feed from the headlamps, yes? Can you hear us if I hang up?”

“Click the button on the earpiece. Ah! There we go. Now hang up. Got you both.”

“Excellent,” Jackson said as they packed stuff in the Vespa’s under-the-seat compartment. “So how far can we go down?”

AJ laughed. “You really want me to answer that without a joke? Okay. I can get the first fifty feet down with no problem. Farther than that and I can’t. But I’ll be able to pick you right up again when you surface. And you can go underwater or in mud; I’ll be able to get it all. In other words, spelunk as much as you like.”

Jackson said with a grin, “If I had a nickel—”

Lisa Bee gave him a playful slap. “Did you catch that, Fingers? That was for you.”

“Oh, I got it all right. Thanks for that. Jackson, turn to face Lisa Bee for a second? Bee, is that a pink caving harness you’re wearing?”

Lisa Bee smiled and proudly modeled it. “Jackie wanted us to look like tourists, and his friend happened to have this on hand, so I figured it would work.”

“I dig it,” AJ said. “Jackson, is that the way your harness is supposed to fit? It looks like you’re trying to showcase the family jewels.”

“When you got ’em, flaunt ’em,” he responded.

“Yes,” she said, “but that’s kind of a five-pound case for a ten-pound necklace, you know what I mean?”

The Boss came on the line as well. “Can we do
anything
without referencing Jackson’s gems? I mean, we do have a case to solve.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Jackson said. “How’s the Boss in on this?”

“I patched him in to keep you in line, Jackson,” AJ said with laughter in her voice. “I didn’t think I could handle you on my own.”

“Now, that’s a bunch of bullshit,” the Boss said. “I just wanted to check in. How’s everything going?”

“We’ve got it covered, Bossman.”

“Good,” the Boss said. “Let’s walk through it, shall we? Then I’ve got to get some sleep. It’s about two
A.M.
here.”

“Okay, Bossman,” Jackson said. “We’re gonna play like we’re tourists, new to spelunking. Unless I run into any old friends—then I’m just taking my girlfriend on a fun trip. We’re gonna go down there and see if we find any of these guys Hassan talked about, and if so, maybe they can lead us to BS. Intel only. Clean and easy.”

“Right,” the Boss said. “If you’re in danger, you use the stuff Scrubs sent, okay? No trying to get info, no taking anyone out, nothing. You got that, Jackson? We are all agreed on this point.”

There was a pause. Then Jackson and Lisa Bee both said, “Got it, Boss.”

“Rock on, kids. And, Jackson?”

“Yeah, Boss?”

“How dangerous do you think this is?”

“We’ll be okay, Bossman. My first priority is our safety. And if it’s just me shaking it down with some old friends, then it’s no big deal. Really.”

“Good. You’ve got protection?”

“Always, Bossman. Never know when a hot lady’s gonna surface from knee-deep bat droppings.”

An exasperated sound came from the earpieces. “I meant a gun, Jackson. Preferably loaded with extra ammo.”

“Oh, that.” Jackson turned away from Lisa Bee’s headlamp and revealed a gun tucked inside the waistband of his khaki explorers. Then he turned back to the camera and said, “Also, the Bee’s got a gun and we’ve got a backup in the pack. But if you mean the other kind of protection—”

The Boss said, “Put a lid on it, Jackson,” but they could hear AJ laughing. “Oh, how I love a man who comes prepared,” she said. Then, as they entered the cave, she treated them to a recording of “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” It played out, and then the line went silent, ready to activate if needed. Jackson smiled, but inside he was frustrated with himself. How was he ever going to win Lisa Bee if he kept going along with all these jokes about his sexual prowess? It was his default setting, because he didn’t know how to just be. Maybe this time alone would be good for them, he thought. Maybe, just maybe, he could focus on her, and stop broadcasting his sexual history, and be a bit more . . .
real
. He’d told her he wasn’t going to push anything, that they could wait till they were back in the States to talk again. But he could use this chance to open up to her,
right
? Looking at the sun glinting off her fiery red curls, he knew he’d need to take the opportunity. Because he had already fallen for her, in every way imaginable.
And you only live once,
he thought. She smiled at him, and he took a breath. It didn’t matter if anything more than friendship worked out between them—what mattered was that he showed her who he really was, and opened his heart to her. It was time for him to become the man he promised to be. For her and also for himself.

‡‡‡

THEY ENTERED THE MOUTH
of the first cave, and Lisa Bee’s jaw dropped. It looked to her like every great movie set she’d ever seen, mixed with every great
National Geographic
Explorer
photo spread. The cave rose up around them, ancient and spooky. Rock structures were formed all around, and the air felt cool and moist—she could hear the steady ping of water droplets. This cave was bright, as a hole in the ceiling let light in: A beautiful beam of otherworldly rays illuminated a turquoise pool in front of them. “Wow,” she murmured. “I had no idea.”

‡‡‡

JACKSON WAS RIGHT
behind her, letting her take a long look before leading her farther in. He grabbed her hand and led her to the beginning of a rock path where they could stand and take in the full expanse of what lay before them. “Mahmoud and I used to come here when we were in middle school. As soon as he learned how to ride a Vespa, he took me here, and we explored as much as we could, past the caves where the tourists are allowed to go, down to the caverns several feet beneath. We’d camp here overnight. And when we got a little older, we’d sometimes take girls from the international school with us. The Moroccan girls were never allowed, but the French girls? The Italians? They were something else.” Why was he doing that again, talking about other girls?
Stop it, Oreida,
he said to himself.
Stop it right now.

‡‡‡

LISA BEE SMILED.
Jackson was certainly predictable.
Girls, girls, and more girls.
She said, “I think it’s great that you’ve had such a checkered past, but I don’t need to hear about it every two seconds. Tell me something else. Give me more about you and Mahmoud. It sounds like you had a lot of fun together.”

“Oh yeah,” Jackson said with a smile. “Mahmoud was the best friend ever. In some ways, I think this place made us the men we turned out to be. We’d explore from dawn till dusk, leave no stone unturned. Then at night, by the campfire, we’d make up stories. We’d tell each other these crazy tales about traveling all over the world to fight crime and save people—we’d make ourselves the heroes. It was awesome, Bee. I think in some way, we wrote the stories that our lives became. This place really made me the man I am today.”

She looked at him in the mystical light of the cave. His eyes sparkled, and the water of the pool below reflected off his strong features. It was odd that she’d never noticed how regal he looked, how his profile looked carved out of stone. Thinking she was staring a bit too long, and not wanting to give him the wrong idea, she said, “And I’m sure you wrote in having sex with plenty of chicks, huh?”

‡‡‡

JACKSON FOUND HIMSELF
beyond frustrated. It was exactly what he feared: She only saw him as a player. And now it was even worse. He was again telling her about his sexual exploits. He was so much more than that, and he needed fiercely to let her know.

There was a long silence. They were standing close to each other, holding on to the railing that kept them on the stone path. Jackson took a step back and looked at her a long time. “You know those days are behind me, right?” he said with utmost sincerity. “I meant what I said. A lot of it is talk, that’s all.”

Lisa Bee laughed. Her laughter echoed off the stone walls that surrounded them. “Oh, come on, Jackie! I wasn’t born yesterday. You’re a player! We all know who you are, and we love you for it. I mean, come on, you really think—” But her words stopped when Jackson leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

‡‡‡

LISA BEE WAS STARTLED
for a moment and lost her breath. Then Jackson took her into his arms, and she lost all possibility of thought. Jackson kissed her in a way she’d never been kissed. The way his lips felt upon hers, the way his arms were wrapped around her—
My word!
Is he made of pure muscle?
The way his body moved against hers was like the undulating power of the ocean. The moment seemed endless; the kiss deepened to places in her soul Lisa Bee hadn’t dared to go. Then all too soon it was over. Jackson stepped back and Lisa Bee, weak in the knees, sank to the ground. He rushed to help her up, and when she was steady, he stepped back again.

“You okay?” he asked, concern in his eyes. Were his eyes
hazel
? What was that miraculous series of colors? She had never noticed them before and would have sworn they were brown. But they were dark green, forest green, a beautiful and unusual color. It took her a moment to find herself under a gaze she had never been held inside until now. Or was it just that she hadn’t noticed?

It took her a long moment to find her voice. “I’m not sure what that was for, but I guess all that experience has done you well.”

His face brightened, and he grinned from ear to ear. “Do you really mean that, Bee?”

She laughed. “I more than mean it, Jackie. That was . . . that was incredible. I mean, Jackson—
wow
.”

He laughed, a hearty bass that sounded to Lisa Bee like the music of the spheres. She could feel his laughter from the tips of her crazy red hair all the way down to her hot-pink-manicured toes. And she could feel it in all the places between. The places that had come alive recently. The places in her that now desperately craved his touch.
Whoa, girl, slow the fuck down,
she thought, and put her hand on the nearest cave wall for balance.

“I meant what I said before, Bee,” he said. “I want to be with you.”

“But Jackie,” she said, coming to her senses, “I don’t understand. I’ve known you for years. You’ve always been a player. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just true. That’s who you are, right? I mean, what’s going on? I don’t get it.”

He closed the space between them and put his hands on her arms. She let out a gasp of air because, in a way she hadn’t been prepared for, his skin on her arms shot a message straight to that place in her lower belly that deeply yearned for more. It was something she hadn’t felt in a long time, and she almost threw her clothes off right then and there and begged him to take her. But she got control of herself and steadied her nerves. He looked straight at her soul, straight through her eyes and deep into her heart, and said, “It’s you, Bee. It’s always been you.”

All at once their earpieces crackled to life. “Well, that was exciting. We’ve really enjoyed this.” It was AJ, sounding both amused and frustrated. Somehow, in the midst of everything, they’d forgotten they were online.

The Boss spoke. “Yes, yes, guys. What a tender scene. Really delightful to listen to. Any chance you can get on with it and do what the fuck you went there to do?”

Jackson and Lisa Bee scrambled to put themselves back together. What were they thinking?
Good Lord, there was a case to solve!
The Boss was listening in, and AJ had full eyes on them! How had they totally forgotten themselves like this? Lisa Bee was totally mortified. And Jackson looked embarrassed as hell.

Jackson was the one to cover. “Sorry, guys. Got carried away. Bit romantic here. Reminds me of my younger days. Forget all that and let’s get back to work.”

The Boss harrumphed. “That’s music to my ears. Get on with it. I’m out. It’s past my bedtime, and I know Fingers can handle it from here on out. I’ll be back in touch after I get some sleep. But one thing first. Bee?”

Lisa Bee straightened her harness. “Yeah, Bossman?”

“I don’t like it. You’re a sweet girl. Jackson’s not for you. Watch yourself, okay?”

“Roger that, Bossman.” They began to walk farther down the rock path, awkwardly now, keeping their distance.

They had gone a ways in silence before Jackson mumbled, “Thanks for the ringing endorsement, Boss.”

‡‡‡

AN HOUR OR SO
had passed in silence, broken only by the occasional directive. Also, AJ checked in every ten minutes or so; the Boss had signed off. Jackson was leading Lisa Bee down a steep embankment in a pitch-black cave. Both of them had their headlamps on, and their fleece jackets, since it had gotten much cooler as they descended. They were covered in mud, having crawled through some fairly tight corridors that connected the caves. The sounds around them were a bit different: the steady chirp of bats and the flap of hundreds of wings. Jackson and Lisa Bee were both nature lovers, and easy with bats, snakes, spiders, and the like. The only thing that made Lisa Bee uneasy was the darkness. She had always been scared of the dark, and now was no exception. But Jackson knew these caves like the back of his hand, and that made her feel a bit safer. She clung to him, grateful for his guidance, but more grateful that she had reason to touch him. She was feeling all kinds of confused and needed some time in the silence, in the dark, to think. And to allow herself to feel what she was feeling, and, under cover of darkness, to get used to the way his touch was driving her crazy.