The Agent's Surrender (7 page)

His hands were frozen, but his heart was lighter than it’d been in months. Finally, a break. Thank God for Miko’s penchant for hiding things. It was oddly comforting to know that even though Miko had changed, some things had remained the same.

Chapter 6

J
ane remained silent once they’d climbed into the car. She’d been absolutely certain she’d missed nothing in her investigation, but the second Holden had discovered that hidden manila envelope, everything she’d thought she’d known came into question. Was there more to this case than she’d originally thought? And if so, what did that mean? Who was involved? It hurt her head to think the corruption centered at I.D. was bigger than they could imagine. “How had you known to keep looking?” she asked, breaking the silence. “As far as I could tell, we were staring at an empty building. But you sensed there was something hidden. How?”

Holden shrugged, as if he really didn’t know and his inability to put it into words made him uncomfortable. “I guess it’s the twin thing. Miko and I shared a bond. And I just knew I was missing something. It’s like an itch you can’t scratch, except that it’s at the back of your mind, nagging, whining in your ear.” He stopped as if he hadn’t liked the way his explanation had come out and finished with another shrug, saying, “I don’t know. I just knew.”

“Why would Miko hide something in the pool table?” she asked, mostly to herself. “I have to be honest, the discovery of that envelope opens up a whole other realm of questions that I’m not entirely comfortable with.”

“I can imagine.”

“Oh? Can you?” She didn’t try to hide the bitterness in her voice. Her father was not going to be happy about this newest development. “Obviously he didn’t want anyone to find it. And if he didn’t tell you about it, something in that envelope must be important.”

“My thoughts, too. Which is why we’re not taking it back to the office,” he said, surprising her. He cut her a short look just as she started to protest. “Listen, I don’t know how far or how deep the corruption went with I.D., but I do know that my brother got caught up in something bad. So forgive me if I’m not too trusting right now.”

“Even with your own team?”

“It’s nothing personal, but I can’t afford mistakes. My brother died. Yes, he may have pulled the trigger, but someone else was pulling the strings. You know what I mean?”

“That’s one theory,” she reminded him, not quite on board yet that Miko hadn’t been pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes, including his brother’s. “The other theory is that Miko had plenty to hide because he was doing things he knew were wrong.”

“Miko was the soldier, more so than I ever was. He believed in doing the right thing and standing up for the little guy who couldn’t stand up for himself. He had integrity, grit, a singular sense of justice,” Holden said, holding his ground, obviously determined to defend his brother to anyone and everyone. “And I refuse to believe that in one year’s time he became the polar opposite of everything he ever held true.”

“People change,” she said, trying to soften the harsh truth. “And sometimes we don’t even know what happened.”

“I’m going to find who’s pulling the strings. I don’t care how long it takes or what it costs me. And when I find him or her...I want to put that person into the ground.”

She suppressed a shudder at the menace in Holden’s voice. A part of her wanted to remind him this was the reason he hadn’t been allowed to investigate the case in the first place. Emotional attachments muddied a person’s ability to think rationally. But there was another part of her, the part that admired his loyalty and tenacity, that couldn’t deny the sharp pull of attraction. He was damn sexy when he was going all
Rambo
and
Rebel Without a Cause,
even if it was the most reckless attitude she’d ever witnessed. She swallowed and cleared her voice, not liking the way her thoughts were tumbling through her head. “And just where do you plan to take this evidence?”

“Back to my place.”

“It’s evidence and needs to be logged properly,” she maintained stubbornly. “You’re dangerously close to going rogue. Don’t screw your career trying to avenge your brother.”

“I’m not killing my career. I’m chasing leads. You already had a chance to dig deep into this case. You were content to look at the surface, and that’s just not the case with me. When I’m done learning whatever I can from the contents of the envelope, I will log it properly. Until then, it’s not leaving my side.”

She could tell it was no use arguing with him on this point. She’d been around enough stubborn men to know when the smartest course of action was to back down and try a different tact.
Motto for the day: Fight smart.
“Fine. But I’m coming with you. I need to make sure the integrity of the case remains unsullied, even if you are using unorthodox methods. And that point is nonnegotiable.”

Holden probably didn’t like her terms, but he didn’t shoot them down, either. Holden was a lot of things—stupid wasn’t one of them. At least they had that in their favor.

Soon enough, they arrived at Holden’s apartment, and Jane had to tamp down the mild flutters erupting in her belly at the memories surfacing. She could chastise herself all day for allowing her thoughts to wander, but she enjoyed the seductive allure that came with lingering over that brief time in her life. She couldn’t lie—they’d enjoyed some good times. “Did it ever occur to you when you were apartment shopping to consider a place that didn’t look like a prison from the outside?” she asked with a healthy dose of sarcasm, and he responded with a grunt. Such a Chatty Cathy, she wanted to grumble. Would it kill him to engage just a little? She followed him through the gated entrance and then up the long flight of stairs to his door. From the outside, the nondescript gray building was nothing to look at, and since everything was covered in snow, not a hint of foliage was visible, either. “Not much for ambiance,” she said under her breath, to which Holden just kept walking.

“I’m not interested in making the place look inviting. The less traffic, the better.”

“Such the people person,” she said, walking into his spacious apartment. The first time she’d seen his place, her jaw had dropped to the floor. Never in a million years would she have imagined such an awesome bachelor pad tucked in this building. It was like something featured in
Architectural Digest,
with its high ceilings and polished bamboo flooring, and the decor was tastefully masculine without appearing to lack a woman’s touch. Holden had knocked down the walls connected to three more apartments, which heightened the chic appearance and immediately told people that this wasn’t your average apartment. And seeing it again, not just through the sliver of an open door like the other night when she’d visited him, was enough to fill her with awe all over again. “God, I’d forgotten how much I covet your apartment,” she blurted.

The tiniest quirk of a smile was his only response as he tossed his keys into a small ceramic bowl by the door. He went straight to the gleaming kitchen and grabbed a bottled water from the stainless steel refrigerator and tossed another to her. “Sorry, but it’s a package deal. Can’t have the apartment without me,” he said with a shrug. “And you’ve already kicked me to the curb.”

Why’d he have to constantly bring up their past? It was getting old. She turned to face him. “Can you stop being a whiny baby for two minutes? I can’t believe how petulant you sound.”

“You’re right,” he said, grinning. “Can’t seem to help myself when you’re around. Low-hanging fruit and all that.”

“Well, try,” she told him and opened the water bottle. “Here’s something I’ve always wondered...how did you manage to convince the owner to give you three apartments so you could make these changes?”

“I own the building. As long as I got the right permits, the city let me do whatever I want.”

“You own the building?”

“Yeah? Didn’t I mention that before?”

“No.”

He chuckled as if it were no big deal and said, “Well, now you know. I own the building. It’s the best way to control who your neighbors are.”

Wasn’t that the truth.
If she’d been in charge of her apartment complex, she never would’ve allowed dogs. Her immediate neighbor had a small, yappy purse dog that barked at all hours of the night. Before Jane had invested in earplugs, she’d wanted to commit a crime that PETA would’ve persecuted her for. She’d even gone so far as to measure the width of the trash chute and, yep, a small dog would totally fit through the opening. “I suppose so,” she admitted with a shrug before slanting a curious gaze at him. “And
how
exactly did you afford this building?”

“Smart investments. I bought it years ago when housing values were still manageable. Cosmetically, it was in bad shape, but the bones were good, so I did the work myself, with some help from Miko when he could manage it. Once we were finished, I was judicious about who I rented to. All in all, it’s worked out pretty well.”

She whistled with appreciation. “I should say so. Holden, I never thought I’d say this about anything involving you, but I’m jealous.”

“I don’t blame you. Your apartment sucks.”

Her cheeks heated and she wrinkled her nose at him. “Yeah, well, not everyone is independently wealthy, as you apparently are.”

“Not wealthy, I just have an eye for good investments.”

“I guess so. A bachelor pad like this probably bags plenty of chicks. I imagine the hardest part is getting them to leave.”

“I suppose it could be, but I don’t bring chicks here.”

She tried not to let his admission floor her. Had she been the only woman he’d brought here? She’d thought for sure he’d use this place to get plenty of tail. “Really? So all of this grand architecture and stylish decor is just for your benefit?”

“Pretty much. Your home should be your sanctuary. When I come home, I don’t want other people crowding my space. You know what I mean? When I walk through my front door, I try to leave everything else behind. And if I started bringing chicks here, it would change the energy of the place. Plus, I don’t like women knowing where I live. It gets messy.”

“So why’d you bring me here?” She shouldn’t have asked, but she had and there was no taking it back.

His gaze darkened. “Do you really want to know the answer to that?”

She swallowed. Maybe not. She nodded anyway. “Yeah.”

“Because you were special. I know you don’t believe me, but I don’t go around telling women that I love them unless I mean it.”

A strange, sizzling burn skidded across her chest, and she had to suck back the gasp from the unexpected pain. Why did he have to go throwing the
L
word around? It wasn’t that she didn’t believe him or she hadn’t felt something in return, but she’d known that if she didn’t end things, it would’ve ended messily later. “Well, I guess that’s ancient history,” she returned briskly, forcing a smile. “I think we both dodged a bullet. I don’t think either one of us is cut out for the
until death do us part
thing. It would’ve been a nightmare in the end.”

“I guess we’ll never know.” A shadow passed over his face and she suffered the knowledge that she’d hurt him, probably more so than she’d realized at the time. However, as evidenced by the way her dad had reacted to Holden’s little sit-down-and-chat, she really had saved him years of misery. “And now the conversation just got too angsty,” he announced, breaking the silence between them as he pulled the envelope from his satchel. “Let’s put a pin in all that ‘ancient history,’ as you call it and see what’s in this envelope,” he suggested, redirecting. He had a point—they weren’t here to gab like girlfriends; they were here to open that envelope. Jane took a long drink of water as Holden used his Leatherman pocket knife to slice open the envelope. He dumped the contents carefully onto his granite countertop.

“Wow, someone was saving for a rainy day,” she observed as money, at least twenty thousand dollars, dropped to the counter along with several passports and driver’s licenses. Jane grabbed the first passport closest to her. “This isn’t your brother’s name,” she said, showing Holden the fake ID. “None of these are. Why would he need multiple aliases?”

He frowned. “I don’t know.” Holden pushed the cash out of the way and grabbed the IDs. “Three different identities, none of which I’ve ever heard of.” He read the addresses. “Mexico, Switzerland, London. What were you into, Miko?” he muttered. “What the hell were you doing?”

Wasn’t it painfully obvious? “Holden, he was getting ready to run because he knew he’d been caught. For whatever reason, he decided to kill himself instead.” Jane would have to be the bad guy. She tacked on, “I’m sorry,” because she did feel the tiniest bit of regret that she’d been right all along. She wasn’t an ogre. Holden had obviously loved his brother. “Give it some time,” she suggested. “With some distance...you’ll start to feel better.”

Holden shook his head, that stubborn look returning to his expression. “No, my brother would never leave me behind. You can argue all you want, but I know he wouldn’t. It’s that twin thing I told you about earlier.”

She smothered a sound of frustration. “How many more clues do you need that prove your brother was guilty?” she asked. “Look, I know how hard this must be. And honestly, I was kind of hoping we might find a different answer, but the facts seem pretty clear.”

His dark chuckle made her groan. Holden braced himself on the counter, leaning toward her. “They’re clear, are they? I’m sure they’re
very
clear for you. We both know this investigation is not high on your priority list. I know how this looks for you. I’m not stupid. And I know I’m asking a lot for you to trust me, and sometimes we don’t even like each other, but when I tell you there’s more to this story, you’re just going to have to believe me and help me get to the bottom of this.”

“Why? Like you said, tearing apart my own investigation isn’t high on my to-do list.”

“Because your type A brain won’t let the possibility that you screwed up pass you by. It’ll eat at you until you find the answers, even if you don’t like the answers you find.”