chapter Fifteen
Hot rage thumped through Cade’s veins, and a red haze clouded his vision.
There it was in plain view for all to see. Prospero didn’t trust him. Jack Coburn didn’t trust him. Had J.D. been lying to him, too?
“Wait.” Jenna held up her hands. “That doesn’t make sense, either. If Prospero believes Cade still has those anti-drone plans, they would’ve stayed in that warehouse and captured him. Why kill Jeff at that point?”
How quickly she’d leaped to his defense. Her words dampened his anger, and he took a deep, shuddering breath.
Beth put a hand to her head. “Jeff and I weren’t in on any other plan except to deliver the IDs and your new location to you.”
“But if the powers that be at Prospero told you what they had planned for me, you still would’ve gone ahead with the meeting, right? It’s not for you to question authority, and they know that. They’d have no reason not to tell you.”
Cade crossed his arms and bunched his fists against his biceps to keep from hitting the wall.
“I don’t know, Cade. The powers that be, as you call them, have been acting strangely lately. They’re wondering, along with everyone else, why the people who stole the plans from you haven’t come forward yet to offer them on the world market.”
Jenna hopped up from the table and paced the room. “Maybe the people who stole the plans aren’t interested in selling them. Maybe they’re interested in developing the weapon. They could’ve been Zendaris’s customers, and instead of paying a fortune to an arms dealer, they decided to steal them.”
Cade tugged on his ear. “That makes sense. I just wish they’d step forward so Zendaris would get off your tail.”
Jenna stopped pacing and twisted her hands in front of her. “Why would they step forward? The heat’s off them. They’re free to develop the anti-drone in secret without interference.”
“That does make sense, Jenna.” Beth traced the rim of the bourbon bottle with her fingertip. “But what just happened in the warehouse?”
“I don’t know.” Cade raked a hand through his hair, feeling as if he’d taken a blow to the head himself. He didn’t know what to think and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he didn’t have all the facts from Prospero. A big piece of this whole puzzle was missing.
Beth finished off the booze and spun the empty bottle on the table. “Did you send a message to Prospero about what went down in the warehouse?”
“Yes.”
“Did you get confirmation?”
“Yes.”
“Nothing else? No new meeting scheduled?” Beth’s gaze never left the spinning bottle.
“No.”
She smacked her hand against the bottle to stop it. “That town in Oregon was my first choice, but it wasn’t the only choice.”
Cade took Jenna’s arm and pulled her toward the bed. Her fidgeting scattered his thoughts even more. “What are you proposing, Beth?”
“I’m proposing—” she hunched forward in her seat “—that we finish the job. That I get you and your family settled.”
“The IDs?”
She grinned and patted her bag, the one she’d been clutching on the floor of the warehouse office. “Jed Moran wasn’t the only ID I had picked out for you. I made a couple of extras with different names in case you had any objection to the one I picked for you.”
“Are you telling me you have some extra IDs in your purse?”
“I do.” She plunged a hand into her bag. “I don’t have the camera anymore or the laminator, so I can’t get a picture ID for you, but I have a couple of social security cards and a birth certificate for Gavin.”
Cade bounded off the bed and kissed her forehead on the other side of her bandage. “You’re brilliant.”
Beth’s pale skin reddened under his attentions. “Just thorough. I propose we go on to plan B, and I’ll return to Prospero once we’ve implemented it.”
“Are you going to tell Prospero where we are?” Jenna clasped her hands between her knees.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell them, anyway.” Beth shrugged. “Only Jeff and I knew your new identities and location. And Jeff’s gone.” She sniffled and rubbed her nose.
Cade clasped her hand. “God, I’m sorry, Beth. You and Jeff were more than coworkers?”
Her blush deepened and her lashes fluttered. “Just friends, but good friends.”
“We appreciate your help, Beth.” Jenna rose from the bed and hovered behind her. “Where is the location of plan B?”
“Closer than Oregon. In fact, we can take that little car you have out to Texas.”
Jenna groaned. “More driving?”
“But this time, you’re going home. You can enroll Gavin in school, get jobs, settle down.”
Jenna scrunched up her face. “Gavin’s only three. He has two years before he starts school, and I hope we’ll be in our real home before then.”
“Of course.” Beth’s gaze wandered to Cade’s as if they shared knowledge Jenna couldn’t possibly comprehend...and maybe they did.
It could be years before the people in possession of the plans developed a weapon to use against the drones, years during which Zendaris would still believe Cade had those plans or at least that he’d sold them to someone else.
Men without honor had no difficulty believing other men shared their lack of conscience. Look at Kevin. He actually thought Cade would go along with his dangerous scheme.
He rapped his knuckles on the table. “Then Texas here we come. I even have a pair of cowboy boots.”
Beth laughed, which was a good sign, even though it was accompanied by a little wince.
“J.D. would be so proud of you. Remember that one Christmas party where he showed up wearing a black cowboy hat, black boots with silver-tipped toes and a huge silver buckle on his belt? Then he spent the entire party saying things like y’all and darn tootin’ just to bother you? We all thought you were going to strangle him.”
“I do remember that. We had some good times at those parties.”
Jenna huffed out a breath. “I wouldn’t know. I never got a chance to go to one.”
Cade rose from the table and hung an arm around Jenna’s shoulder. “You could’ve gone to the Christmas party, but it was in D.C. and I distinctly remember you were working that weekend—flying to London or something.”
“Don’t think I would’ve had the stomach for J.D., anyway.”
“How about Texas? Do you think you have the stomach for Texas?”
She threaded her fingers through his and pulled his hand to her lips. “As long as I have you and Gavin with me, anyplace is paradise. How far?”
“West of Dallas, so it’s less than a fifteen-hour drive. We should turn in now if we want to get an early start.” Beth pushed back from her chair and gripped the edge of the table, swaying.
Cade pulled away from Jenna and steadied Beth. “Are you okay? Still dizzy?”
“Just a little. I’ll go down to the front desk and get my own room.”
“No way.” Cade pointed to the bed not occupied by Gavin. “You can have that bed tonight, and Jenna and I will share with Gavin. Won’t be the first time, and my guess is it won’t be the last.”
Beth’s gaze darted to Jenna’s face. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You suffered a serious injury tonight and the loss of your friend. We’re not going to allow you to be on your own.”
“We don’t have much, but we even have an extra toothbrush.” He pulled a bag from the drugstore out of the suitcase and handed it to Beth. “Help yourself.”
“Thanks, Cade...and Jenna. I’m going to get you two settled if it’s the last thing I do for Prospero.”
Cade smiled his thanks, but it masked more uneasiness. Why would settling him and Jenna be the last thing Beth did for Prospero? She didn’t really believe that by giving him and Jenna a new life she was going against the wishes of Prospero.
Did she?
* * *
JENNA LAY AWAKE AND STARED at the blinking red light on the smoke detector. With each double blink, she repeated Tex-as, Tex-as, Tex-as.
Would the Lone Star State be their refuge? They needed a refuge. They needed to slow down, live their lives, stop running. But she couldn’t imagine Cade ever being satisfied with that kind of life.
Beth had mentioned getting jobs in their new location. Jenna missed her job as a flight attendant, but she’d take any job to support Gavin and keep him safe. Would Cade?
Had he worked so hard all those years to get into the Naval Academy, to get through Navy SEAL training, to become a member of Prospero only to throw it all away for some other job that could never satisfy him? Would he come to resent her and Gavin for tying him to an ordinary life?
Maybe they should go on like before. She and Gavin could live in hiding, and Cade could go back to his life as a Prospero agent.
If they’d take him.
What was the meaning of the silence on their end? Cade had explained to her that his contact with Prospero did not include lengthy conversations on the phone. Rather, that cell phone functioned as a vehicle for coded communications.
Coded or not, Cade hadn’t been receiving much in the way of communications from Prospero. And now Beth seemed to be cut off, as well.
Jenna sighed and tugged Gavin’s body across hers and onto the other side of her, so she could snuggle up against Cade. She wrapped one arm and one leg around his strong frame and kissed his sleeping face.
Beth echoed her sigh from the other bed and Jenna froze. Was someone else having trouble sleeping this night? She whispered. “Beth?”
Silence.
Nope, it would appear that she was the only restless sleeper in this room. She rolled to her other side and spooned against Cade while tugging Gavin’s back against her. There. Between her two favorite guys in the world, she had to fall asleep.
The following morning, Jenna woke up to someone tapping her nose. She opened one eye and met a pair of brown eyes, fringed with stubby dark lashes.
“Mommy, there’s a lady in our room.”
She pinched Gavin’s nose. “I know that. She’s a friend and she needed a place to stay last night. She’s going to come with us today to a new place.”
“Is she bleeding?”
Jenna’s stomach lurched. Gavin hadn’t forgotten Sonia’s body at the Arizona outpost. “No, she’s fine.”
That wasn’t quite true. Beth probably still had a bloody bandage stuck to her head.
The mattress dipped behind her, and Cade scratched her cheek with his beard. “What are you two planning?”
Gavin scrambled over Jenna and wormed his way between her and Cade into his rightful place. He cupped his little hand over Cade’s ear and said, “There’s a lady over there.”
“That’s Beth. Do you remember when we, uh, picked her up last night?”
“I was sleeping in the car.”
“That’s right, you were. She hit her head last night, so we picked her up and brought her here.”
Gavin wrinkled his nose. “She’s bleeding?”
“A little. She’s okay.” Cade raised his brows at Jenna over Gavin’s head.
“Like the lady in the bed. Like Marti.” Gavin turned so suddenly that he bumped Jenna’s chin with the top of his head. “Where’s Marti?”
“She’s back in Lovett Peak.” Jenna held up her hand to play patty-cake, and Gavin smacked her palm with his own. “She lives in Lovett Peak.”
“Are we going to Lovett Peak today?”
“Nope, no Lovett Peak for us. We’re going to Texas.”
“Can we swim in Texas?”
“Absolutely.” Cade grabbed Gavin under the arms and lifted him in the air and jiggled him around until giggles spilled from his lips.
Jenna pinched Gavin’s toes. “Shh, Beth is still sleeping.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Sorry.”
“No problem.” She executed a noisy yawn. “What time is it, anyway? I can’t see the alarm clock.”
Jenna peeked over Cade’s body. “It’s seven o’clock.”
“Ooh, that’s late. Even if we get out of here by eight, we won’t make it to Grenfield until around eleven o’clock tonight.”
Cade stopped hoisting Gavin up and down. “Grenfield?”
“It’s between San Antonio and Austin. Nice, midsize town—you can blend in but not get overwhelmed.”
“You’re the expert. Why wasn’t Grenfield your number one pick over the place in Oregon?”
“The Oregon town was on the coast. I thought you might like that better.”
Jenna slipped out of bed. “How are you feeling, Beth?”
“Much better.” She touched her bandage. “I think I can get rid of this today.”
“Unless you need stitches.” Jenna folded her arms over her cotton nightshirt, the awkwardness of their situation highlighted by the morning sun. “Cade, let’s get ready and head down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast and give Beth some privacy.”
He tossed Gavin onto the bed. “It’ll take me two minutes to shower.”
“And Gavin had a bath after his swim last night. It won’t take me more than ten minutes to shower and dress.”
“Then I’ll catch a few more winks of sleep.” Beth buried her face in her pillow and pulled the covers over her head.
Jenna busied herself with dressing Gavin and packing up their things—again. When Cade stepped out of the bathroom, she handed Gavin over to him. “Why don’t you go downstairs and get us a table. I’ll join you in ten minutes.”
Jenna zipped through her shower and pulled on a pair of jeans and a black turtleneck. She ran wet fingers through her dry hair to fluff it up, and then peered out of the bathroom door.
A muffled sob came from the depths of the covers on Beth’s bed. Jenna crossed the room and patted her shoulder. “I’m sorry about Jeff.”
Beth yanked the covers off her head, and her eyes glowed with anger. “He’s going to pay—whoever was responsible.”
“I’m sure he or they will once Prospero finds out who ambushed you.”
“Prospero...Cade has a lot more faith in the organization than I do. He’s in the field and is removed from the petty politics. It’s like any other government agency, and just like any other government agency, it has its bad eggs, its slackers, its power hungry, its traitors.”
“Then I guess you just have to put your faith in the men and women in the field. They’ll get justice for Jeff.”
“You have a lot of faith in Cade, don’t you?” Beth had scrunched up the pillow behind her back and scooted to a sitting position.
“Of course I do. He has saved me and Gavin again and again these past few days.”
“That’s good. You’re lucky you found someone like that.”
Her eyes misted over again, and Jenna patted her hand. “Prospero Team Three will avenge Jeff’s death.”
Jenna left Beth so she could get ready on her own, and she joined Cade and Gavin at breakfast, already digging into their food.
Cade held up his fork. “Hope you don’t mind we started without you. I was expecting you sooner.”
“I had a conversation with Beth. She’s torn up over Jeff and doesn’t seem to have a lot of confidence in Prospero to find his killers.”
“We’ll get the job done. We always do.” He shoved his half-eaten eggs toward her. “Breakfast?”
“I’ll just have some coffee. Looks like we’re in for another day of sitting in the car.”
By the time Beth joined them, her anger and bitterness seemed to have dissipated...along with her bandage.
Jenna asked, “Is your head okay?”
“It’s fine.” Beth pulled out a chair across from Cade and fluffed her hair. “I washed the, um—” she glanced at Gavin clicking two spoons together “—sticky stuff out and combed my hair over the whole mess. I’m good.”
Gavin turned to Beth and put the two spoons over his eyes.
“Gavin.” Jenna snatched the spoons from his hands. “Someone might want to use those spoons. Say hello to Beth. Beth, this is Gavin.”
“Nice to meet you, Gavin.” Beth extended her hand, and Gavin stared at it.
“She’s trying to shake hands with you, silly.”
Gavin put his hand in Beth’s and shook it up and down about ten times.
Beth extricated her newly sticky fingers and wiped them on a napkin. “Good job.”
Cade laughed. “The hazards of shaking hands with a three-year-old.”
Beth ordered just a coffee like Jenna, dumped some skim milk in it and gulped half the cup. “I think we’d better get going.”
“I don’t think we’re going to find a hotel at eleven o’clock at night, anyway.” He pulled out a wad of cash. “Maybe we should stop at a halfway point.”
“We don’t need to find a hotel.” She pointed to the cash. “I have more of that for you, too.”
“Why don’t we need a hotel? I’m not sleeping in that car.” He winked at Jenna. “We tried that once and it didn’t work out too well.”
“I have keys to a place in Grenfield.”
“Really?” Jenna’s voice squeaked. Beth had it all planned out.
“That’s how I operate. I narrow down the selections to four or five choices, and then rent a few places for a few months.”
“Didn’t you just get the order to resettle us a few days ago?”
Beth clicked her tongue. “How little you covert ops guys know about how we operate. We’re always working on resettlement locations—and the safe houses. These things happen on the spur of the moment. You can’t expect us to come up with places within a few days.”
“I’m impressed.” Cade waved the check at the waitress. “So you already had some locations lined up.”
“Exactly, so no hotels for us tonight. We have a little house rented and ready to go. Oh—” a blush stole over her cheeks “—I hope you don’t mind if I crash with you one more night. I’ll be on my way the following day.”
“Of course not. Where would you stay at eleven o’clock at night?”
Cade grabbed a napkin and wiped the syrup off Gavin’s hands. “We keep talking about eleven o’clock, but if we don’t get moving that’s going to be eleven o’clock a.m.”
He gave up on Gavin’s hands and hauled him to the bathroom to wash with soap and water.
Beth tilted her chin toward them—father and son. “Looks like he’s taken to parenting.”
“I had no doubt about it.” Actually, she’d had lots of doubts after what he’d gone through with Kevin, but with every minute Cade spent with Gavin, his confidence as a father grew.
She just hoped their stint in Grenfield, Texas, wouldn’t make Cade long for bachelor life again.
On the fifteen-hour drive to Texas, the three of them switched off driving duties, took turns entertaining Gavin and even caught a nap or two.
The little car, which had seen Cade and Jenna through five states in fewer than five days, rolled onto the dark streets of Grenfield.
Beth punched up the directions on her smartphone and called out the turns to Cade in the driver’s seat. When he turned on a street lit with old-fashioned streetlights, she said, “It’s on the left—five eighty-two.”
“This looks nice.” Jenna rolled down the window. “Not too cold, either.”
“Texas is known for its extremes in temperatures. Eighty degrees one day and forty-eight the next.” He peered out the window and pulled up to the curb in front of a light-colored house with a big tree in the front. “I think this is five eighty-two.”
He cut the engine and sat for several moments with his hands on the steering wheel.
Was he regretting this already?
“Well, let’s take a look at our new—temporary—home.” Jenna reached for her door handle first in the backseat.
It seemed to drag Cade out of the spell the house had seemed to cast over him. “I’ll get Gavin. He’ll be ready to burn some energy tomorrow.”
“Just hope he stays asleep tonight or we’ll never get him down.”
Beth magically produced the key to the house and stepped inside first, flicking on the nearest light switch.
Homey. The furnished living room exuded an air of normalcy. This could be any room in any house in any city in America. She and Cade and Gavin would blend in. Nothing dangerous here. Nothing out of the ordinary.
“Is it okay?” Beth nibbled on her fingernail, and Jenna realized how hard her job had to be and how seriously she took it.
“It’s perfect. Cade?” She turned to Cade disappearing down a short hallway with Gavin in his arms.
“Shh.”
Jenna took a turn around the room and punched a button on the wall to turn on some recessed lights in the kitchen.
Cade returned to the living room, brushing his hands together. “The kid didn’t make a peep.”
“H-how’s the house?” Beth had edged to the window and peeked through the blinds.
“It’s fine. Thanks, Beth. You’re a miracle worker.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the hallway. “And there are three bedrooms back there, so you can have your own room tonight.”
“That’s good, not that I don’t like you guys.”
“And you even have a toothbrush. I could give you a change of clothes for tomorrow. I know how hard it is running around the country in the same outfit with nothing to change into.”
Beth cocked her head. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m a little bigger than you. I’ll be heading back to my hotel in Arizona tomorrow, anyway.”
Cade sidled next to Jenna and slipped an arm around her waist. “We still need to figure out the transportation, unless you have a car for us here, too.”
“No such luck, but I can take a bus back.”
“Or you can take our car, or rather Prospero’s car, and we can find something else while we’re here.”
“You shouldn’t be without transportation, Cade.”
He yawned. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow. You don’t have to leave first thing in the morning. Rest, give us some tips for surviving with our new IDs and we’ll work out the car situation.”
They claimed their bedrooms, and Cade shut the door and stood with his back against it. “Ah, alone at last.”
Jenna plucked a pillow from the bed and threw it at him. “That’s not very nice after everything Beth did for us.”
“I think she owed us after we got her out of that warehouse. She and Jeff were sloppy.”
“I still don’t understand what happened or who killed Jeff.”
“I don’t, either, but I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
She raised one eyebrow. “And how is Mr. Yardley going to do that from Grenfield, Texas?”
“I have ways.” He lunged for her, grabbing her around the waist, and she squealed.
“Shh.” He kissed her mouth to keep her quiet.
And it worked.
When his hands worked their way beneath her clothes, she grabbed the front of his sweatshirt. “Do you really think we should?”
“Are you kidding? Our son is finally in another bed in another room, and Beth, our constant companion for the past twenty-four hours, is in another room. I’m not wasting another minute.”
He walked her backward to the bed and they fell across the mattress.
She couldn’t think of one more objection. With Cade smothering her with kisses, she could barely breathe.
* * *
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, they made their first strides toward settling in by going grocery shopping, getting the gas turned on and finding the nearest park.
Cade had insisted that Beth take another day to rest before making her way back to Arizona and facing her bosses at Prospero. And she needed it.
Beth’s pale face made the dark circles beneath her eyes stand out even more, and Jenna wondered if she was completely healed from her attack.
As they sat at the kitchen table eating sandwiches, Jenna poured Beth another glass of water. “I think you should see a doctor when you get back. You need to get checked out.”
“You’re probably right. I can see one of the doctors Prospero has on retainer—no questions asked.”
“That’s the way we like it.”
Cade’s cell phone buzzed and he checked the display. “I can’t believe it. It’s J.D.”
He answered the phone and nodded to Jenna. “Did you make it back okay?”
He paused and replied. “Man, you have no idea.”
Then he held up his finger and wandered into the back of the house.
Jenna shrugged. “Hush, hush. I’m glad J.D.’s back in the States. Maybe he can help Cade figure out some of the recent events.”
“I’m glad he’s back, too. I contacted him earlier to let him know Cade’s new location. I figured if there was anyone I could trust, it would be J.D.”
“I didn’t realize you knew all of Prospero Team Three so well.”
“I started around the same time they did. I was assigned to support them at first.”
Cade returned to the room. “J.D.’s flying into San Antonio tonight. I’m going to pick him up at the airport.”
“You’re not bringing him back here.” Beth crossed her arms, not a hint of humor in her face.
“Excuse me?”
Beth spread her arms. “This is a resettlement house. You’re not Cade Stark here and you wouldn’t know J.D. the spy. It’s a rule, Cade. You can’t bring him here.”
“Well, he hadn’t planned to stay here, anyway. We just need to talk.”
“Talk at the airport.” Jenna wiped Gavin’s mouth and offered him an apple slice.
“I don’t want to drag you and Gavin to the airport.”
Beth held up her finger. “That would break another rule. Jenna and Gavin shouldn’t be anywhere near J.D. You could compromise this whole location.”
“I don’t like leaving you. Where will you three be?”
“Right here. Where we’ll be safe.” Beth spread her arms. “Nothing unusual about a sister helping her sister and nephew get settled in their new home.”
Jenna hid a smile beneath her hand. Beth had insisted on this charade of sisters when they looked nothing alike.
She said, “Beth’s right. We’ll stay here while you meet up with J.D. at the airport.”
“I’m leaving a gun here. Beth, you don’t carry one, do you?”
“No. If I had, Jeff might still be alive.”
Cade quickly changed the subject. “Okay, then. I’ll go to the airport to meet J.D., and pump him for information. Maybe he knows more about what happened to Jim back at the outpost. Maybe he knows something about what went down at the warehouse.”
Beth pointed a finger at him. “And if you’re made at the airport, you don’t come back here.”
He saluted. “Got it, Chief.”
A few hours later, Cade left a gun on a shelf in the cupboard. “Just in case.”
“We’ll be fine.” Jenna curled her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Be careful out there.”
When Cade left, Jenna sank into the couch and aimed the remote at the TV. She surfed through several channels. “If we’re going to stay here, we need cable in the worst way.”
Beth came out of the kitchen carrying two glasses of red wine. “This will make anything on TV a little better.”
Jenna took a glass from her and clinked its rim with Beth’s. “So true.”
Halfway through the show they were watching, Jenna put Gavin to bed. She almost curled up next to him. Everything that had happened to her since the moment she scrambled beneath the floorboards in Lovett Peak hit her at once.
She dropped onto the couch and drained her wineglass.
“Do you want another?” Beth half rose from her seat.
“No.” The word felt thick on Jenna’s tongue. She curled her legs beneath her, and her head drooped to the side.
“Good. Because now I’m going to take your son.”