Shell Game (15 page)

“Just thank-you.” She kept her eyes on the crew rolling Agnes toward the elevators.

“Awfully big smile for getting a thank-you.”

“It’s always nice to hear. Poor thing was just so embarrassed to have fallen.”

“Is she going to be all right?”

“They’ll want to observe her overnight to make sure she doesn’t have a problem with bleeding into the brain. But she’s probably more embarrassed than hurt.”

“You were wonderful.”

Sharla turned to look at him. “It was just a little fall.”

“I know. But it was a big deal to Agnes and her husband. You were all business and comforting and reassuring at the same time. That means a lot to someone when you’re hurting. And scared.”

“The voice of experience?” She used the same words he had the other night on deck.

He just nodded. Too many memories of too many good men hurt and dying flashed before his eyes. Along with the medics, risking their own lives to save their buddies and too often failing. This may not be a Middle East desert, but this woman had the heart of warrior. And an angel.

* * *

Finally able to wind down from the unexpected medical emergency, Sharla found playing evening bingo had turned out to be way more fun than she’d imagined.

They’d sat around in deck chairs watching the numbers appear on the big screen over the pool. The cruise staff guy, Insk from Minsk, was calling the numbers and making ridiculous jokes in an absurd version of what she suspected was a Russian accent. “What’s written at the bottom of a milk bottle in Minsk?” he asked. After a long pause he answered, “Open other end.” As stupid as the shtick was, he had her laughing so hard a few times, tears would stream down her cheeks.

“Okay.” Nana set down her cards. She hadn’t won big, but she’d won back some of her bingo fees. “Now it’s time for the crap tables. But I need to get my money from the cabin. Why don’t you kids come with us?”

It wasn’t an order, but it wasn’t a question either.

Nana turned to Gloria and George. “We’ll meet you at the tables?”

“I’ll be at the slots,” Gloria answered.

“Blackjack’s my game,” George added.

“Sounds like a plan. See you in a few.” Nana linked arms with Sharla, clearly expecting her to come along. Herbie and Luke shrugged and fell into step behind them.

In the elevator everyone remained silent as passengers moving about loaded on and off at every other floor. When they reached the cabin, Herbie took Nana’s keycard and opened the door for everyone. Herbie did the same thing as Luke, quickly glancing about just in case the Boston Strangler was hiding out in Nana and Sharla’s room.

She lifted her hand to her mouth to hide her laughter.

Everyone stood aimlessly in the small space as Nana took her position in front of the cabinetry with the small safe.

The moment the cabin door latched shut, Nana spun around and pointed a finger at Herbie and Luke. “What the hell kind of game are you two hustlers up to?”

Chapter Fifteen

Herbie’s jaw dropped; Luke’s brows shot to his hairline, and Sharla was aghast. “Nana!”

“Don’t
Nana
me, young lady. Sit down.”

On command, Sharla obediently dropped to the edge of the bed. Herbie snapped his mouth shut. Luke tossed a sideways glance at him, and both men shifted to sit.

“Not you two,” Nana ordered. “I want answers.”

Luke looked to Herbie and lifted a shoulder in a casual shrug.

“Well?”

“I’m afraid we’ don’t know what you’re talking about,” Herbie said.

“What crazy stunt are you two trying to pull with that half-assed con artist?”

“What?” Sharla shot up.
This couldn’t be good.

“Honey, this is between these two. You’d better sit down.”

“Nana, I don’t think—”

“It’s okay, honey. I know what I’m doing.”

“Sophia,” Herbie spoke first. “I’m sure you’ve misunderstood.”

“The hell I have.
It takes a con to spot a con
may be true most of the time, but, this time, any idiot should be able to smell this guy’s stink a mile away.”

Luke’s brows went up again, and Sharla swallowed a groan.

“Have either of you asked for an accounting report?”

Both shook their heads.

“What about references? Real ones, not testimonials.”

Herbie shot another quick glance at Luke before volunteering, “Not exactly.”

“Care to expand on that?”

Again his head shifted from side to side. Obviously not ready to explain further.

“Well, I know neither of you are stupid. Crazy maybe, but not stupid.” She turned to Herbie. “You’re an ex-cop. Didn’t you work vice?”

Herbie nodded.

“And you.” She pointed a finger at Luke. “Sharla says you work for the State Department.”

Luke swallowed and bobbed his head.

“In other words, CIA.”

Again that wasn’t a question, and Sharla’s heart took off at a rapid clip. She put one hand on her chest and the other on Nana’s arm, Her grandmother knew an awful lot of strange things about a world Sharla never even thought about, but she had to be wrong about Luke.

His gaze shifted to Sharla for a few very long seconds before he turned back to her grandmother. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

* * *

Luke was glad Sharla was already sitting down. The way her face went pale as the sheets on the bed, he suspected, had she been standing, she might have keeled over.

He’d considered falling on standard operating procedure and denying outright that he worked for The Company. Evading the way he had earlier with Sharla. But now that the idea of a lifetime with Sharla had started to take root in his mind, he couldn’t bring himself to put up any more smoke screens. He just wished she didn’t look so damn horrified.

“So.” Sophia slid her hands onto her hips. “Now that we’ve established that neither of you are neophytes, what’s the plan with this character, and why are we after him?”

“We’re not after anything,” Herbie took a step in Sophia’s direction.

She held up her hand to stop him. “There are a few things I haven’t gotten around to explaining to you yet, Herbie.”

“Nana.” Sharla seemed to snap out of her slight daze. “I don’t think now is—”

“I’m afraid now is as good a time as any.” She reached over and patted her granddaughter’s cheek, then turned back to the men. “I come from a long line of confidence men.”

Con artists?

Herbie’s brows buckled, and he took a step back.

“My husband Benny and I retired when my daughter married a reputable archeologist. It wouldn’t have looked good for my son-in-law’s career to have his wife’s family caught up in a major scandal.”

No doubt a euphemism for
jail
.

“Most of our relatives retired shortly after that. All the newfangled technology and gizmos took a lot of the fun out of it anyway.”

Herbie took a seat next to Sharla.

Luke couldn’t blame him. The news was a bit of a shocker, but, instead of feeling weak in the knees, he found himself stifling a smile. No wonder the old bird was so feisty.

“None of that is important now,” Sophia continued. “What’s important is this guy is a con. And not a good one either. And you want him. So tell me what you’re up to, and then we’ll see how I can help.”

“Nana.”

“Okay, how
we
can help.”

“Nana!”

Herbie stared at Sophia for a long while.

Sharla seemed to be floundering from incensed to mortified and back, and Luke was at a complete loss for words. He’d run a lot of missions in his day, done a great deal of undercover work over the last two years, but, he had to admit, running a con was not his forte.

“Would you two excuse us for a little bit?” Herbie pushed to his feet. “I’d like to talk with Sophia alone. We’ll meet you in the casino soon.”

Sharla looked to her grandmother, who smiled. “It will be fine, honey. You and Luke go win some money.”

Silence hung in the air for a bit. He was pretty sure Sharla was going to object when Sophia patted her arm and repeated, “Go.” After another minute of consideration, Sharla turned and led Luke to the door.

Neither said a word in the hall. In the elevator he was surprised when she pushed the button for the upper deck instead of the casino. He didn’t know what to say. Finally he said the only thing he could think of. “I really like Sophia.”

“I love her.”

“I know you do.”

Sharla kept her gaze on the closed elevator doors. “I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“Believe it or not, neither do I.”

The doors opened, and he followed her out to the upper deck and jogging path they’d walked the other night. Not a bad idea. He could use a little fresh air.

“Do you really work for the CIA?”

Lips pressed together, he took a chance. “Yes.”

“Why did you lie?”

“I didn’t.”

She stopped and faced him. “You said you were with Internal Affairs.”

“In a way I am.” When she didn’t say anything or resume walking, he added, “Every agency has its problems with rotten apples. I’ve been working to help get rid of a few.”

She returned to following the path. “Did you?”

Gazing out at the stars, he thought of the three dead bodies in the luxury compound in Afghanistan. “Yes.”

They continued walking around the front and out of the wind. “What happens when your thirty days’ leave are up? Do you go back to finding more bad apples?”

And wasn’t that one hell of a question. Five days ago he would have said
hell yes
. Even this morning he would have said yes. But ever since picturing the two of them old and happy in thirty years, he wasn’t so sure. “Honestly I don’t know.”

Once again she stopped short, turned to him and studied his face a good while before asking, “Why?”

“Because of you.”

* * *

Of all the answers he could have given her, that wasn’t what Sharla had expected. She kept walking. Without a word they rounded the path more than once. She wasn’t sure if it was twice or even three or four times. She had no idea.

As they turned the corner into the strong breeze at the front of the ship, his hand slid over and grabbed hold of hers. Their fingers wove together and, instead of the usual shock of sensual electricity that his touch brought, a sense of comfort and strength blanketed her like an old quilt on a winter’s night. A sense of belonging so solid that it overwhelmed her, robbing her of words.

She had no idea what to do or say.

Could she do this again? Could she take a chance on falling in love with another man with a high-risk career? Just the thought squeezed at her heart. And the possibility she was already on her way tightened the pressure. “I thought it was a nightmare.” She dared a glance at Luke, his face void of all emotion. His gaze straight ahead. “Tyler came to tell me what happened. There was no time to rush to the hospital and worry over a wounded husband in intensive care. Danny was already gone at the scene. We’d only been married three years. But we were happy.”

In her peripheral vision she could see Luke nodding.

“I don’t want to care about what might happen to you. And I don’t think I could live with the fear.”

Squeezing her hand, he shifted his attention to her. “I don’t want you to live in fear of anything.”

They made one more lap around the deck when, still holding her hand, Luke paused by the doorway leading inside. “It’s getting late. Sophia and Herbie might be looking for us.”

“Right.”

All the way to the casino he kept hold of her hand and not once had she felt the need to pull away. Inside with the smoke and noises associated with gambling, they walked from the crap tables to the blackjack tables. Finding Gloria by the slot machines.

“Have you seen Nana or Herbie?”

“Nope. George waited for about an hour and then went to bed. I hadn’t gotten up to look, but I’m sure I would have noticed them if they’d come in.” From her vantage point she certainly could have seen them at the craps table.

“Then, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Good luck.” Sharla flashed a thumbs-up with her free hand.

Back in the game, Gloria managed to wiggle a two-fingered goodbye.

“Where to now?” Luke asked.

“My room. Hopefully Nana isn’t curled up crying her eyes out.”

To her surprise one side of Luke’s mouth lifted in a sly smile. “I’d be more worried about Herbie.”

Considering how concerned she was about her grandmother, she shouldn’t have felt like smiling too, but she did. Luke was probably right. Her grandmother was many things, and a force to be reckoned with was at the top of the list.

Still holding her hand, Luke’s pace slowed as they moved down the hallway. “Uh-oh.”

Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, her heart pounding against her ribs, she faced Luke. “What?”