Harlequin Intrigue June 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: To Honor and To Protect\Cornered\Untraceable (52 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Evan watched the distant port of Annapolis come into view. It would take only an hour or two now before they docked and were able to disembark. He was ready to get off this yacht.

He glanced at Juliet, who sat in an overstuffed love seat enjoying the late afternoon sunshine. Her eyes were closed and her battered face turned up toward the sun, which had chased away all traces of the storm. The sight of her wounded face brought back many unpleasant memories for Evan, but Juliet seemed to be doing fine.

More than fine, if her slight smile gave any hint.

Truly, she had handled the entire situation with the Ukrainians like a champ. She may have been out of the game for the past eighteen months, but no one would have known that last night. Evan could still feel the terror that had washed over him when that bastard had taken her out of the galley to go get the codes.

Not knowing what the Ukrainian was doing to Juliet—whether he would kill her as soon as he had what he wanted—had been much worse than the pain in Evan's shoulder. And then to see her come flying back through the galley like some professional wrestler, tackling a guy twice her size? Yeah, she'd saved Evan's life, but she'd also taken ten years off it as he'd watched, helpless, as the second Ukrainian raised that knife at her.

So thank God for Christopher Cady and his good aim.
That
was a sentence Evan never thought he'd say.

Vince Cady, although thrilled with his son's actions, was truly appalled at what had happened. He'd moved Evan and Juliet into a huge cabin for the little of the night that was left and had apologized profusely. Multiple times.

In the end, Evan had no doubt this incident would strengthen their relationship with the miscreant. It was always good when a criminal owed you a favor. Vince was less likely to be suspicious of them in the future when he remembered what they had gone through under his watch.

Cady would eventually be arrested for his crimes, but first he would inadvertently provide Omega all sorts of intel about his criminal network. Evan would see to that.

But most of all, everything had become crystal clear to Evan last night. He was not going to live without Juliet any longer. Life was too short, too fragile. And he'd loved her too damn long to be without her anymore. Whatever it took to convince her of that, he would do it. He'd made the mistake of giving her space for too long.

He wouldn't be making it again.

“You doing okay over there?” Juliet asked him from her chair. “How's the shoulder?”

The yacht's medic had stitched him up and given him a tetanus shot and some painkillers. It didn't seem as though any permanent damage had been done, especially since Evan had full range of motion. But the doctor had suggested he get himself completely checked out once they reached shore. None of Juliet's bruises and swelling would have any permanent effects, either, he predicted.

Evan turned and leaned against the railing so he was facing her. “Not too bad. How about you?”

“I'm just glad that ridiculous storm is over. This is much more what I think of when I envision myself on a yacht.”

Yeah, they'd made it through all sorts of storms last night.

Evan went to sit next to her on the love seat. He didn't see anybody within earshot, but just in case, he pulled her close.

“How about, when we get off the boat, you come and stay with me at my town house?”

Juliet opened her one good eye. “You mean, for the op?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper. “In case they're following us?”

He shrugged, then brought his face near hers. “Yeah, that. But mostly because I want you there, Jules.” He kissed her gently. “Now. When this case is over. Forever.”

Juliet sighed. “I'm still pretty messed up, you know.”

“We're all messed up in this business. We'll just take each day as it comes. Together.” He wanted to tell her he loved her, but was afraid it was too soon, that it might scare her off. If she agreed to come stay with him, hopefully live with him, that would be enough for right now.

Evan held her close as the ship headed to Annapolis. He enjoyed just being there with Juliet. Omega safely held the drone codes. And because of their injuries, nobody was bothering them.

He felt Juliet stiffen as she leaned back in his good arm. His gaze followed hers and he realized the problem. Heath Morel. That bastard was still throwing malicious glances their way every chance he got.

Evan and Juliet hadn't checked for the past twenty-four hours to see if she had received any more sweetheart emails. But regardless, Evan had had enough of that nonsense. As soon as they were back on dry land, he was going to make sure Cameron or Sawyer picked up Morel.

The man needed to be questioned about the emails so they could get to the bottom of this. So Juliet could move on with her life. They probably couldn't actually arrest and prosecute Morel, as the emails weren't threatening in nature. But they could see him charged with other crimes.

“We'll get him, don't worry,” Evan vowed. “He may not spend any time in jail for those emails, but I'll have your brothers breathing down his neck. He'll keep his distance.”

“I just want to move forward. To stop having to worry about those emails and the past in general.”

Evan kissed her temple. “I know, hon. And you will. We'll handle it for you. Let's just concentrate on the future.”

Juliet smiled and turned her face back up toward the sun. “That's no problem at all.”

* * *

A
FEW
HOURS
later Juliet and Evan were finally off the yacht and on their way back to Omega to debrief. At the first pay phone they saw, just in case their cell phones had been bugged by Cady, Evan stopped to call Cameron and Sawyer. He wanted Heath Morel picked up as soon as possible, before the man went underground and they couldn't find him.

As Juliet had said, it was time to start concentrating on the future. The sooner they took care of Morel, the sooner that would happen.

He and Juliet both were looking forward to not having to worry about what they said or if someone was watching or listening. And he knew they both wanted to wash the filth of the past few days off them.

After they had gotten off the ship and returned to Cady's house via limousine, Cady had apologized again, Christopher right by his side, as they were leaving. “I hope this incident won't jeopardize our business dealings in the future,” Vince had told them.

“It's not like you planned this,” Evan had responded.

“Although next time, we trust your security team will be more on the ball.” Lisa's snooty tone came through loud and clear.

“Oh, believe me, they will,” Vince promised.

“And thanks again, Christopher, for your quick trigger finger.” Evan shook hands with him, noting that his gaze remained riveted on Juliet.

“Yes, thank you, Christopher,” she had murmured, when he'd let go of Evan's hand to shake hers.

“Au revoir,”
Christopher had replied.

French? Evan barely refrained from rolling his eyes. He had ushered Juliet to the Jeep immediately.

They both just wanted to go home and crash. Evan especially, since Juliet had agreed to stay at his house, but they both needed to debrief, so here they were.

They barely made it out of the parking garage and into the building before Juliet was engulfed in hugs by her brothers. All three were still there, even though Dylan didn't technically work there any longer. The eyes of each shone, locked on Juliet.

Relief and pride were evident in their every motion, every statement.

Juliet smiled at Evan from the circle of brotherly limbs and torsos. Her chin was high, her voice animated as she told some of the story of what had happened on the yacht.

Good. She deserved to be confident and satisfied in what she had accomplished. Because it was a lot, on both a professional and personal level.

After greetings, they were ushered to the Omega physician, who reevaluated their wounds. Although Evan's shoulder hurt like hell, the doc agreed with the ship's medical professional. It didn't look as if there had been any permanent damage, given Evan's range of motion. The doctor gave him a round of antibiotics and pain medication, warning him not to take the latter until he was near a bed he didn't need to get out of for at least eighteen hours.

Juliet's wounds, now a myriad of purples, greens and blues all over her face, were also superficial. Painful, but not serious.

Their boss, Dennis Burgamy, with his overworked assistant Chantelle by his side as always, found Evan and Juliet. He congratulated them on a job well done, obviously thrilled that Omega would be able to take credit for recovery of the drone codes.

Yeah, Burgamy always had his eye on the truly important stuff. Like accolades.

But at least he told them to go home and get some rest. Debriefings could take place tomorrow, since nothing involved with the case was pressing.

Evan was thrilled at the thought of sleeping with Juliet at his side. Someplace where he didn't have to watch what he said because other people were listening. Where he could actually call her
Juliet
. Although he didn't think either of them were up to anything too physical, he still just wanted to be with her. Holding her. That was more than enough to make him happy.

Of course, he didn't necessarily want to explain any of this to her brothers just yet, even if they were his best friends.

Evan grabbed Juliet's hand and pulled her around a corner, out of earshot of everyone else. “You're still coming back to my place, right?” He kissed her briefly, gently on the lips.

Juliet nodded. “I need a ride, since you drove me here. And my brothers are going to have a field day with this, you know.”

Evan rolled his eyes. “Oh, believe me, I know. I was hoping maybe not to get into all that with them tonight. I'd like to be fully functional and able to defend myself before telling them that I'm having my wicked way with their sister.”

Juliet leaned in a little closer. “Your wicked way with me? I think I like the sound of that.”

“Then let's get to my house.” He kissed her again; he couldn't help it. It was all he could do not to back her up against this wall and kiss her until both of them couldn't see straight. Brothers be damned. Evan would take his chances.

And what was that nonsense he'd been thinking, about just holding her tonight? Not the way both of them were feeling right now.

At least Juliet still had the sense to remember that a lot of their colleagues, not to mention their boss, were just right around the corner. She pushed Evan back. “Okay, we'll just need to stop by my house and grab a few things. Then I'm all yours.”

At those words, he leaned in again, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest, a playful smile on her face.

Not a moment too soon. Sawyer stuck his head around the corner. His eyes narrowed at their close proximity, but he didn't say anything about it. “Hey, Evan, Baltimore PD just nabbed Heath Morel. They're not sure what to hold him on. Cam and I were going to go question him. You want to come observe in case you can help?”

Evan sighed. All he wanted to do was go home with Juliet this very second. But the sooner they dealt with Morel and got those sweetheart emails stopped, the sooner she would be able to move on with her future.

Their future.

“Yeah, I want to come,” Evan told him. “We can't let Morel see me, of course. But I can feed you info from the other side of the glass.”

“Okay, we're headed out.”

Evan nodded. “I'll be right there.”

Sawyer left and Evan turned back to Juliet, smiling ruefully. “I guess we'll have to put those other thoughts on hold for a few hours. Here are my keys, to the Jeep and my house. I'll see you in a little while, okay?” He tucked a strand of Juliet's blond hair behind her ear, then kissed her again.

“I'll be waiting,” she murmured against his lips.

Chapter Twenty-Four

A couple hours later, after Evan and her brothers had left to question Morel and Juliet had finished a little of the paperwork at Omega, she pulled up to her house in Evan's Jeep. She just sat in the vehicle looking at her home, dark and empty, for a minute. How she had hated coming here for the past eighteen months. Hated knowing she was alone and weak and a coward.

Hated knowing she'd be trying to sleep in that damn closet, like a child afraid of the monsters under the bed.

But now, after the past week, her perspective had changed. She had found her footing in the case and realized how much she truly enjoyed undercover work. She'd kept her wits about her and successfully completed a dangerous mission, possibly saving thousands of lives in the process.

Just as importantly, she'd found out she could still respond passionately to a man. At least when that man was Evan, whom she had known—somewhere in the depths of her subconscious—was in love with her. Had been in love with her for a long time.

Just as she had been with him.

They had been floating toward each other for years and things probably would've happened a lot quicker if it hadn't been for the attack. But Juliet didn't begrudge that anymore. The past was the past and she wasn't going to let it control her. She and Evan were stronger together because of what had happened. And they would remain strong.

She got out of the Jeep and made her way inside her house. For the first time in eighteen months, she didn't bolt all the multiple locks on her door when it closed behind her. She didn't have to live in fear any longer.

Juliet looked around. She liked the thought of leaving this house for good. It held too many bad memories she didn't want to battle anymore. Even if she wasn't moving in with Evan she would've been looking for a new place. Moving forward.

She didn't rush through her house. She knew Evan would be hours with Heath Morel. That was another part of her past she wanted to have done with. She was glad they'd arrested him. Her brothers would take care of this for her. For once their excessive overprotectiveness would come in handy. She didn't expect to have much future trouble from Morel.

Juliet got a suitcase out and packed clothes and toiletries. Her house was still a disaster, even with the work she and Evan had done a few days ago. But she'd deal with that later.

She grabbed a soda from her fridge and decided to catch up on a little office work on her computer. She smiled. Once Evan got home, who knew when she'd be interested in checking emails again? She'd have better things to do.

She checked her own personal stuff first. Not much there. Then she decided to go ahead and check Lisa Sinclair's emails. She knew there would be new ones. Undoubtedly Morel had sent her some since she'd turned off the email indicator chirps on her phone.

And there were. Juliet was aghast to see fifty-seven new messages in the past two days.

Oh my God. Morel was obviously more sick than they had thought. Being around Juliet and seeing her on the yacht must have made him downright crazy.

Fifty-seven messages.

At one time she would have read them all. Pored over each one, here alone, fighting and losing the battle to not let fear overwhelm her.

But she wasn't going to do that. Not tonight. She'd wait until tomorrow, or the day after, when Evan, or even the entire Omega staff, was with her. Waiting didn't make her weak or a coward. It meant she was growing, learning. Facing her fears in a better, more effective, way.

She would just go on over to Evan's house. She didn't need to stay here anymore. But as she scrolled up to close the email account, she noticed the date and time of the latest sweetheart email that had been sent.

Today. Five minutes ago.

What the hell? This one Juliet opened.

Just you and me together at last, sweetheart. We've had to wait a long time, haven't we? You're so beautiful.

She sat staring at the screen. If Heath Morel was in custody, there was no way he could've sent that email.

And then she smelled it, a sickly sweet odor coming from her hallway. One she recognized from just a few days before. The smell of a cigar.

Oh no, they'd made a horrible mistake. Juliet turned slowly in her chair and faced the doorway.

There stood Christopher Cady. “Hello, my sweetheart.”

* * *

E
VAN
WATCHED
FROM
the other side of the two-way mirror as Cameron and Sawyer questioned Morel. Dylan watched with him, since he wasn't actually law enforcement.

For nearly forty-five minutes Cameron and Sawyer had been at it, at first drilling Morel about his criminal activities, although very specifically not mentioning Vince Cady, and then moving on to the emails sent to Lisa Sinclair. Morel had looked a little uncomfortable when they'd mentioned his shady activities, although he hadn't said anything that incriminated himself. But his stare was completely blank when they mentioned the emails.

“I know I've been out of the game for a few years,” Dylan said to Evan as they both watched the action in the interrogation room. “But if I had to guess, I would say that Morel has no idea what they're talking about with the emails.”

“But I've read them all, Dylan. They contain details that no one could know if they hadn't been there or been communicating with Robert Avilo. And Avilo hasn't been communicating with anyone. It has to be Morel.”

Through the glass, Cameron continued questioning the man, but Sawyer was looking at a text he'd just received. Confusion suffused his face and he glanced over at the two-way mirror. When he walked over to Cameron and showed him the text, his brother got the same befuddled look, then gestured with his head for Sawyer to go to the observation room.

“What's going on?” Evan demanded as soon as he arrived.

“I just got a text from Megan. She's still at the Omega computer lab. She said another email came in for Lisa Sinclair fifteen minutes ago.”

“Is it on a scheduled timer or something?” Dylan asked.

“No. It was actually sent then. No timer. Megan is sure.”

Nobody dismissed Sawyer's fiancée. She was smarter than all three of them put together.

But if she was right, that meant Heath Morel wasn't their perp. Damn it, Evan had really wanted this to be over with.

He rubbed his eyes. “Okay, I guess it's not him, then. Tell Cam to ask a few more random questions to throw Morel off any scent and—”

Evan froze as his and every other phone in the room began buzzing. They all grabbed for them. Another text from Megan at the Omega office.

Juliet had just activated the emergency transmitter in her locket. She was in trouble.

Evan was running out the door before he even finished reading the message. Dylan and Sawyer were right behind him. Cameron would have to stay with Morel.

They made it to the car, Evan letting Dylan drive because of his shoulder. Sawyer was already on the phone with Megan. He put her on speaker.

“Honey, what's going on?”

“Juliet pushed the panic button on the locket.” They could all hear Megan clicking away at the keyboard while speaking to them. Multitasking wasn't a problem for her.

“Are you sure it wasn't an accident or something? A mistake?”

“No, setting it off accidentally is nearly impossible. And I've already tried to call and text her. No response.”

“Is the tracker working, Megan?” Evan asked.

“Yes, Evan. She's at her house. She hasn't moved any significant distance since the transmitter was turned on.”

Evan tried not to panic. There was more than one reason Juliet could have hit the emergency button without it actually being a life-threatening situation. She'd gotten smacked around by the Ukrainians pretty hard. Maybe she was just having problems from that.

Evan could recognize the holes in his own theory, but he clung to it. He couldn't stand the thought of her being hurt again.

As if Dylan could read Evan's thoughts, he pushed down on the gas and the car shot forward.

Juliet wouldn't have activated the device if it wasn't truly an emergency. Everybody in the car knew that.

“Oh crap,” Megan said. Evan had forgotten they still had her on speakerphone.

“What?” All three men responded in unison.

“Hold. Processing.” Megan was a scientist to her core.

If she was telling them to wait, she had a good reason to do so, but those moments were some of the longest in Evan's life.

“Oh crap,” she repeated.

Evan closed his eyes and forced himself not to scream at her.

“We've been digging more deeply into Robert Avilo, since he knew the most about Juliet's rape. Details that were in the emails.”

“Yeah?” Evan replied. “Juliet talked to the warden at his prison and he said Avilo hadn't had any contact— written, phone calls, visitors, anything—since he'd been in jail. Evidently Robert's brother Marco was his only friend, and Marco's dead.”

Good thing, too, because Evan was pretty sure he would've killed him for what he'd done to Juliet if the man wasn't already in the ground.

“No, that looks correct. Robert Avilo hasn't had any outside contact with anyone, as far as we can tell,” Megan confirmed.

“But...” Evan prodded.

“But Avilo's cellmate sends out letters all the time. Sometimes two or three a week. All going to the same person and place. His cousin, a resident of a mental hospital–country club type place in Croatia.”

“Croatia? Like Europe Croatia?” Evan asked. And what the hell did this have to do with Juliet?

“It's a place where rich parents send their bad teenagers and young adults when they've gotten into trouble, and they want to keep them out of prison or out of sight. Nonextradition. Of course, that's interesting, because Croatia has traditionally been a democratic-supporting country at least in terms of socioeconomic—”

“Honey,” Sawyer said. “Focus.”

“I'm sorry,” Megan replied. “Anyway, Robert Avilo's roommate writes to his cousin there all the time. We were able to get a scan of one of the letters, and although it doesn't mention any names, it definitely includes some details about a rape.”

Evan could feel cold pooling in his chest. “Who is the cousin, Megan?”

“It's not the cousin that's a big deal. It's the cousin's BFF at the hospital, who was just released back to his family about six months ago.”

“Who?”

“Christopher Cady. Vince's son. According to records I hacked, Cady sent him there five years ago at the ripe old age of seventeen, after a fourth woman claimed Christopher attacked her. The Cady family couldn't buy her off, like they had the others, so needed him out of the country quick.”

“Juliet said the emails have been coming for about a year,” Evan stated. “Would Christopher have had access to email at this hospital place?”

“Without a doubt. It's not a prison, it's more of a retreat. And when Cady got home six months ago? That's when the pickup in emails really started.”

So many things made sense. How the emails became more excitable a few days ago, after Cady met Juliet for the first time. And the looks Evan had seen on Christopher's face while on the yacht.

Obsession.

A man obsessed with Juliet had her in his clutches. The cold in Evan's chest spread further.

“Wait, she's on the move now, actually headed toward you.” Megan provided them coordinates. “Do you want me to send in local PD?”

“No,” Evan told her. “Police might cause Christopher to do something desperate. But have them on standby.” Evan didn't want to risk Juliet's life.

“Hurry,” Megan said. “If she gets out of range, we'll lose her. That transmitter is limited. I'll keep giving you coordinates. Right now, she's still headed north.”

“Drive faster,” Evan whispered to Dylan. He prayed they would get to her in time.