SEALs of Honor: Dane (4 page)

Marielle stared at him, her demeanor changing from comfortable to openly hostile. “What?” she cried. “I didn’t do anything.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t say anything.”

“No,” she said, her tone dropping. “But the look on your face changed. As if I wasn’t quite who you wanted to be here.”

“Ignore him,” Shadow said. “He wouldn’t know what he wanted even after he tripped over her.”

There was a furious pounding on the keys then a sudden, “Come to me, lovely. Come to me.”

Dane stood up and walked over, keeping an eye on Marielle to make sure she didn’t bolt. “What did you find?”

“An FTP server that he had on automatic log in.”

“Hmmm.” Not knowing what an FTP server was, Dane kept quiet. They all needed to have a modicum of computer knowledge and he did, but for Shadow, the computers just opened up and talked to him. No one else on the team had that touch. Shadow was known for getting in and out of places without being seen or heard. His nickname suited him.

He knew how and when to move to stay out of sight. The team knew how to move quietly, but Shadow was silent.

Just as Dane turned away he heard an odd noise in the hallway. He was at the door in seconds. And waited out of sight.

The biggest, fattest, orangest tomcat he had seen walked into the room. And stopped at the entrance, a king surveying his property.

“Masters,” Marielle jumped up and raced to the cat’s side. The orange cat was picked up and waltzed around as she hugged him close. The cat didn’t appear to be upset in any way. As Dane watched, the big tomcat rubbed his head against hers.

“Oh, I’m so glad to see you,” she cried.

“You know his cat?” He couldn’t quite keep the suspicion out of his voice.

She didn’t seem to mind this time. “Michaels had him at the university some days. We all loved him, but I used to look after him when the professor was out of town.” She scratched the guy’s head. The cat closed his eyes in ecstasy. “I really missed him.”

“He’s big enough to fend off most intruders, but I’m surprised Michaels took him to his office.”

“Sometimes he was there for long days, working. We all loved Masters and often asked Michaels to bring him in if he could.”

“And the university rules?”

She laughed. “Can’t say any of us cared.”

He nodded and walked close. Masters grabbed his hand in his paw and head butted his fingers. “Friendly guy.”

“As long as you are too. He’s a very good judge of character.” She squeezed him tight, and the cat’s engine kicked in so loud Shadow spun around to see what the ruckus was all about.

“Now that is a big ass cat,” he called out in surprise.

Marielle laughed. “Yeah, he is.”

The cat jumped out of her arms and strutted over to Dane. He rubbed against his legs and did his best to wind himself in circles.

“He probably needs to be fed,” she said, frowning down at him. “Surely Professor Michaels wouldn’t leave him behind.”

“I don’t think he’d planned on leaving.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked him wryly. “It’s not like you can wait here until he comes back.”

“We have ways of finding out when he returns.”

She nodded. “And I really don’t want to know. Can I go home now? I want to see my mother.”

Shadow spun around from the computer. “No, you can’t.”

She gasped and turned to stare at him. “Why not?” she cried. “I can’t stay here anymore.”

“You were next door, right?”

She nodded. “I was supposed to be there for the week, but that’s not happening now, so I want to go home.”

“Not happening. At least not yet.”

“Why?” she asked, a forlorn sound to her voice.

“We need you. You’re the only connection we have to the perp,” Dane snapped. “You aren’t leaving.”

And besides, I can’t trust that you’re not involved yet. But he kept that thought to himself. He didn’t see her as a femme fatale. She was too…he didn’t know, maybe honest was the word he was searching for. Then again, he had nothing to go by other than instinct. But he’d learned to trust his instincts.

Shadow called him over. “Take a look at this.” Dane, after a warning glance in Marielle’s direction, walked over to see what Shadow had found.

“It’s a series of files. Called Michaels’ Miracle.”

“That’s what he called his project,” Marielle said, jumping up to join them. “Those will be part of his research.”

Shadow clicked several buttons and files copied over.

“Where are you sending them?”

“For safekeeping so we can take a look at it later.”

Shadow nodded his gaze on the monitor, his mind on the implications. “How would a company like his keep this type of research?”

“Under lock and key,” she snapped, watching the files copy. “Corporate espionage is a huge industry. Think about warfare and the implications for the Far East.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Exactly.” She wandered the room. “I wonder if he has access to his lab in this house.”

“You mean a lab in this house or access digitally to a lab via this house?”

She stopped and stared. “He could have a lab here.”

“Could he?” Dane couldn’t imagine all the chemicals. “Surely that’s too dangerous.”

“No more dangerous than any other science,” she said. “Still, he’d need the filters and safety equipment.” She shook her head. “I don’t think I saw anything like that.”

Dane wondered, “How hard would it be to hide a lab?”

She frowned. “In theory, not hard at all.”

Chapter 5

D
ANE’S QUESTION ABOUT
a hidden lab triggered mentions in previous conversations. “He might have a lab here. At least of some kind. But his work had to be done under special filters and with multiple safeguards, it would be too expensive to set up here.”

“I doubt money is an issue.” Dane glanced around. “It rarely is in cases like this.”

“I need to go to my mother.” She waved her hand. “My point in coming here no longer stands, so I’m heading to the airport as soon as I can. You don’t need me and if you do, you can contact me at home.”

She strode over to the doorway and found Masters staring up at her. “Damn, have you been fed?”

Masters meowed.

“Okay, let’s check out the kitchen,” she said. “I hate to leave you at all, but I’m not going to let you starve too.”

With the cat racing ahead, she headed to the kitchen to see if he had food and water. Dane followed. There might be a passage where he could get out and hunt for himself, but she wasn’t going to waste time searching for it. In the huge stainless steel chef’s style kitchen, she opened the closest cupboards looking for cat food. She found a stack of cans in the third one. She opened one and dumped it into a bowl. There was a bowl of water on the floor so she placed his food down beside it. Masters dug in.

As if he hadn’t been fed in a day or two.

Or as if the cans were a treat he rarely got. She shrugged.

She still hadn’t eaten. And she was starving. She found fresh bread and butter on the counter. There might be nothing to add to it, but those two elements alone were making her salivate. While the big man watched in silence, she quickly cut up the bread and buttered several thick slabs. After checking the cupboards and the fridge, she squealed at the chunk of fresh cheese. And proceeded to cut thick slices for the bread. She figured the professor owed her that much. The board full, she carried it the table back at the office and sat down. She motioned to Dane. “I made some for you.”

She saw his start of surprise and ignored it. She was going to have to deal with the men regardless, so might as well have them on her side.

She picked up a large slab and took her first bite. “It’s delicious. Nothing like bread and cheese while in Europe.” She laughed. “Not that I would know much about it.”

He shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”

“Meaning you are hungry but can’t eat and shouldn’t eat anything prepared by a potential enemy.” A sharp pain jolted her. Then she shrugged and added quietly, “I understand.” She helped herself to the simple repast until her stomach stopped yelling at her. Moments later she turned to face him. “So what’s next?”

He shrugged. “When we’re done, we’re leaving.”

“Good. So I can go to the airport, right?”

He frowned. “We don’t know where the professor is. He might still be after you.”

“He might, but he’s not likely to do something in a big way in a public place like the airport.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not his style. Luring me to his neighborhood and trying to kidnap me to stay here – that’s his style. Threatening my family. That’s his style. Kidnapping me again from a hotel might be his style if he could find me. But blowing up an airplane to kill me off –
not
his style.”

“You sound very sure.”

“He’s weak. Likes money too much, prestige, but he’s not a killer.”

“And what about the company he works for?”

“From my understanding, they are likely to be the killers. Big money. Big payoffs. No one gets in their way.” She scrunched up her face. “Now
they
might blow up an airplane.”

“But they need you.”

“Do they know that though, or do they just see me as part of the problem that needs to be cleaned up?”

“Good question.” He stared at her. “Which are you? Problem or solution?”

“I’m neither. Just someone who stumbled on an unexpected chemical application.” Tired and fed up and wanting to go home, she added, “I’m not involved in this chaos and I don’t know anything.” And as soon as she could shake his leash, she was going to the airport to see when she could catch the next flight out. Then she realized shaking off his leash was likely to make her look guilty as hell.

She turned back to him. “When can I leave?”

“We’ll need to talk to you more.”

“And you can do that on home soil. Personally at this point I’d like to be back in the US as soon as I can get there.”

“Where is home?”

“San Diego.” And was she imagining the light of interest in his gaze? Surely not. No, he was interested in her work and how that could help him.

She ran fingers through her hair. She didn’t exactly fit into any category, so he most likely didn’t know what to do with her.

Returning to the main hall, she found her purse and bag where she left them at the front door. She opened her purse and pulled out her wallet. She searched her purse for the rest of her stuff, relieved to find what she expected inside. She didn’t want the headache of having to deal with a missing passport. Putting everything away, she opened her phone and called for the same cab company who’d delivered her from the airport originally. All through it Dane didn’t say a word.

He watched her actions intently. She closed her phone and put everything away. “There. I should be on my way home in a few hours.”

“I need more information from you.” He pulled out some kind of small computer and entered her passport number and her driver’s license. By the time he was done, she felt like he knew her better than she knew herself.

“Anything else?” She watched a cab turn onto the street. “Looks like my ride is here.”

“No, I have everything I need.”

She stood up and motioned to the cab. “So I can leave?”

He nodded. “We’ll be in touch.”

She smiled up at him. “Of course you will. It’s your style.”

“What style?” he asked in confusion.

“The whole honorable protector thing you have going on. It’s really working for you.” She laughed at the look on his face. “Don’t worry. I won’t share your secret.”

“What secret?”

“That you’re really a teddy bear.” She walked out of the door and greeted the driver. Her protector stood on the front step and watched as the cab pulled away. Just as they were going around the last corner she gave into the urge to look behind her. And found him still staring in her direction.

She waved and watched.

Finally he waved back. Yeah, he’d contact her at home. She couldn’t wait.

*

W
HAT THE HELL
was that? She’d blown into his life and now right back out. But he wasn’t as unaware or as unaffected as he’d tried to pretend. He had no real reason for keeping her. Not if they’d found the files they needed on the computer. Besides, it would be easier to keep an eye on her back home. Hell, he was ready to return himself. So far this mission had hit the pits. By the time he pulled himself back to the present, the cab was just a faint splash of color in the distance. He turned to walk back inside when he heard the explosion.

Spinning around, he watched as the cab was tossed in the air and came down on its roof. With Marielle inside.

His feet were already in motion. He heard other people coming out of the various houses to see what was going on. Jesus. With his heart pounding against his ribs and his nerves locked down, he raced to the cab – or rather what was left of it. Was she still alive?

At first glance he couldn’t find her. Then he heard her instead.

She’d been thrown to the far side of the road. Crumpled into a broken looking heap. He ran to her, his hands checking for a pulse. It was there. Thank God. He did a fast check but didn’t see any broken bones, but after a shock like that, he didn’t want to move her just in case. She needed a doctor. And fast.

Had someone tried to kill her? If so, why? Surely she was worth more alive. Unless they
had
picked up her research – then did they need her any longer? Or were they cleaning up loose ends?

Shadow arrived at his side in seconds. He had her missing bags in his hand, looking crumpled and charred but still intact.

“How bad?”

Marielle moaned. And opened her eyes. Her gaze locked on his face, unsurprised, almost as if she’d known he’d be there. He didn’t know how that worked, but he almost understood.

“Hey, don’t try to move just yet.” He stroked a hand across her face, brushing the hair off her forehead. “How do you feel?” he asked in a low voice. There was chaos behind him as others checked the cab driver over and tried to put out the flames.

“I’m…okay…” she said as if testing the sound of her own voice. “I’m not sure what happened, but I guess I didn’t get very far, did I?”