To Karen’s surprise, Tucker laughed, a real one. The action smoothed out the hard planes of his face, giving him a softer look. She wanted to be the one to make him laugh like that again. “Guess you could say that.”
“We ran those prints you sent us. . . .” Selene let out a low whistle. “They appear to be pricey hitters. Former jobs have them listed as contractors, but looking at the way they’ve been paid, I say they’re hired guns, not just personal security. And those guys are linked to the dead guy we found at the crash site of your truck earlier. He’s former Army, just like the first four sets of prints, but not a hired gun like the others. At least not well-known enough to be on any databases, and his financials don’t indicate hired mercenary. All of them were in the same division, which tells us a lot about them and whoever hired them.”
“You found out who hired them?” Tucker sat up straighter, his gaze intense.
“No, but we’re working on finding a common thread. Trying to see if we can link one or all of them to someone on that list of DEA agents.”
Tucker shifted a fraction against the seat, hope flickering across his expression for a moment before it was gone and his stoic mask was back in place. “Your boss believes me and my guys?”
Selene made a noncommittal grunt. “Something’s not right here and your alleged crimes don’t match up with the profiles of you and your men. Sometimes people go off the tracks for whatever reason—money, religion, revenge—but none of that fits the profile here. The more we dig, the clearer it becomes this is a setup. A very thorough one. And just my personal opinion, from all accounts you’ve gone out of your way not to hurt Karen. Even that cop you held up at gunpoint, you could’ve just shot him but you didn’t. Doesn’t sound like a cold-blooded killer who tried to blow up the Botanic Garden.”
Tucker rubbed a hand over his face, seeming to relax for the first time since Karen had met him. “Just let me know how you want this to go down. I can come out first and your people can bring me in or Karen can leave the place first and I’ll come out next. I’ll keep my hands visible and strip off enough so you can see I’m unarmed.”
Selene was silent for a long moment, then said, “Take me off speaker, Karen.”
Without pause Karen took the phone off speaker and put it to her ear. “What’s up?”
“While Wesley’s dark, I’ve got some operational latitude. That said, after I got your call and we picked up that dead guy from the locals, I wanted to be sure we knew how you guys were tracked. Elliott came up with it, so I can’t take credit for it, but we started looking at all the immediate family members of Pankov, Brooks, Kane, and Erickson. There’s a new wiretap warrant for any family the four of them might reach out to, which makes sense after the bombing. But Elliott discovered that a few of their family members had already been under surveillance for the past month. The order originated from the DEA, but he’s not sure who from and the paperwork is sketchy. We’re going to find out, though.”
“Tucker called his parents from a burner phone when we were driving. He tossed it right after making the call, though.” Still, it wouldn’t have been the hardest thing to track them for someone with the right equipment. It just meant that someone had access to satellites and had been lucky enough to have someone in the area to hunt them down.
“He didn’t toss it soon enough,” Selene said. “Someone with a lot of resources is out for blood. That attempted hit in the middle of the day . . . I saw pictures of the truck you were in. So, answer me honestly, how would you feel about sitting tight with Pankov for another couple hours?”
Karen met his gaze again and couldn’t fight the shiver of awareness that streaked through her. “Okay.”
“I figure you can use a few hours of sleep and you’re sure as hell not going to get it if we bring you in now. But be real with me.”
“It’s fine, Selene, I swear.” Though she was unsure why Selene would be asking. At this point she was running on fumes and could do with some rest. Being with Tucker made her feel surprisingly safe.
“Ortiz and Freeman have their hands full with an assignment, but when they’re done I’m sending them over to get you. Only Elliott and I are aware of this place, so absolutely no one will know where you are. I know you and Ortiz are friends and he’s one of the only guys I trust implicitly with your life. I just need to make sure you’re okay staying with Pankov. I’d pick you up myself, but—”
“Okay.” Karen didn’t need to hear any more. Wesley had left Selene in charge for a reason and if Selene wanted to wait for two men she trusted to pick them up, that was more than fine with Karen. “I could use a shower now anyway.” At her words, Tucker’s eyes flickered with surprise before his gaze went molten. He’d obviously figured out that Selene wasn’t sending someone to get them right away.
Feeling her cheeks heat up, she glanced away and wrapped up with Selene, telling her where they’d ditched the dead guy’s SUV. Of course Elliott already knew where it was, as he’d tracked them right up until they’d stolen the Jeep. Then he’d apparently lost her and Tucker. Once they’d disconnected she relayed everything to Tucker.
He was surprised Selene was waiting but didn’t seem to mind. “If you want to grab a shower I’ll clean up down here. Then I’ll take one after you,” Tucker said.
“We could both take one.” As soon as she’d said the words she realized how it sounded and cursed her fair skin. Her cheeks heated up as she hurried on. “I just meant there are two bathrooms upstairs, so you don’t have to wait or anything.”
His expression barely changed as he watched her and she wished she knew what he was thinking. “I’ll wait.”
Okay, then. After e-mailing Elliott the files, she hurried upstairs and tried not to think of what it would be like to actually share a shower with someone as sexy as Tucker. She’d only seen bits of his exposed skin, namely those delicious forearms, but it was impossible to hide that built body under his clothes. She couldn’t help wondering what the rest of him looked like.
As she thought it, she was also very aware of the fact that there was only one bed in her friend’s place. The other room was used as an office. She planned on crashing after her shower and wondered if Tucker did too. Nerves fluttered in her stomach at the thought of sharing a bed with him. The thought of kissing him—or more—got her a lot more flustered than she’d thought possible. He probably wasn’t even thinking along those same lines. But if he was . . . she wouldn’t mind sharing more than just a bed with him.
Chapter 11
Going dark: when an operative cuts all communication for a certain period of time.
Tucker ran a towel over his damp hair as he stepped out of the guest bathroom. As he moved into the hallway, he tensed at a humming sound until he realized it was a blow-dryer coming from the other bathroom.
Despite what he’d told Karen, he’d snagged a quick shower while she was taking hers. He didn’t like that this place lacked a security system, but he was armed and this was a fairly safe area as far as homes went.
After another quick check of the place, he tossed his clothes and the ones Karen had left on the floor of her friend’s room into the washing machine. They wouldn’t be here that much longer, but he wasn’t sure when Karen would get clean clothes again. Then he put on a pair of sweatpants he kept in his duffel bag. He and his team were always prepared with extra clothes, and in this case he had clothes and ammo. He’d given his money and fake passports to Cole before they left the house.