Chapter Fifteen
Connor walked across the property with Shane by his side, leaving Jana protected by Holt. The sun rose, casting the rocks in a glow of fiery red and orange. The heat of the day would set a few hours from now. This morning a cool breeze settled over the quiet of the abandoned area, causing loose brush to tumble across the landscape.
Their boots thumped in steady precision as both held their guns, fingers off the triggers but close enough to move, if necessary. Rocks and dirt crunched under their matching steps. Neither spoke. They’d trained and run drills without talking, relying on hand signals and matched instincts. They used those skills now.
Keeping his focus on the house, Shane pushed open the front door but hesitated on the threshold. “Remember, you promised Jana not to kill this guy.”
“No, I didn’t.” Out of the corner of his eye, Connor saw Shane smile then it disappeared again.
In front of him, Connor could make out Marcel’s outline through the crack in the closed curtains. This guy sent Connor’s anger spiking. One look at Marcel’s smug face and Connor wanted to hit something. Put the guy in one of those stupid cardigans and let him walk around talking about international politics as if he had any idea what it took behind the scenes to pave a safe way for charities like his and Connor had to fight the urge to give him a reality check.
When they walked in, Marcel stood in the middle of his family room. At the click of their heels, he spun around and jumped. Coffee spilled over his hand. For once, his crafted image slipped and he swore and scowled. Almost seemed human for a second.
Satisfaction surged through Connor. “You’re up early.”
“What do you want?”
He’d had warmer welcomes, but he’d honestly had worse. At least this one didn’t come with a swinging blade or gunfire. “A conversation.”
Marcel jumped back as he shook his arm, sending drops of coffee flying, and then wiped his wet hand on his perfectly pressed gray pants. “It’s not exactly easy to concentrate. There are a lot of people in the house right now.”
The voice, the wardrobe... It all struck Connor as overkill. Normal people got more upset about a kidnapping in their office than spilled coffee. Not this guy. “Not now.”
Marcel’s scowl deepened. “What?”
For years Connor tried to figure out what Jana saw in Marcel. His accent went in and out. He came off as phony and pretentious, even while walking in squalor in developing countries. Connor tagged the guy as a rich boy who never shook off the entitled attitude of his youth.
Not that the charity didn’t do good work. It absolutely did. But Jana could ensure vaccines for those who needed them without depending on this guy to do it.
“Let’s not be overly dramatic. Your house isn’t swarming with people.” Connor nodded in Shane’s direction. “There’s just the three of us.”
Shane made a clicking sound with his tongue as he gave Connor the once-over. “To be fair, you’re not exactly small.”
“True.” And Connor wouldn’t hesitate to use that power to protect what mattered most to him.
Marcel put his mug down on the coffee table with a loud clank. “Where’s Jana?”
He said it like a demand. The tone had the words skidding across Connor’s brain. Heat rose and he itched to put his hand on his gun. “You mean my wife.”
“Of course. Who else would I be talking about?” Marcel slid onto the end of the couch. With one leg over the other, he rotated his ankle.
His stance seemed more suited to a party than a talk about keeping his hands and mind off another man’s wife. As if Marcel didn’t know and couldn’t see Connor seething right in front of him.
Connor struggled to keep his voice even. He would not give this weasel the satisfaction of knowing he pricked him. “Just making sure you understood the reality.”
The foot stopped bouncing. “What are you talking about?”
“She’s taken.” Whether Marcel liked it or not, whether Jana understood it or not, she belonged with him. Connor would spend the rest of his life making sure that happened.
Walk away from Corcoran. Put down the weapons. Move, go on vacation, even pick up his clothes. Whatever it took, the part of his life where he lived away from his wife was over. His patience had long expired on that.
“You act like Jana doesn’t get a say in what happens in her life,” Marcel said. “She’s a grown-up.”
Shane moved before Connor could. With his legs apart and one hand hovering near his holster like a character in some sort of old-time western, Shane waited as if willing Marcel to push one more time. “He’s not getting it.”
“Clearly.” One word. That was all Connor could get out while holding on to the edge of civility.
“I assume you’re trying to tell me something.” Marcel drummed his fingers on the armrest of the couch. “Maybe you should come out and say it.”
Fine. If he wanted truth, Connor decided to give it to him. Bare and stripped down to the basic point. “Your interest in Jana is over.”
The room went still. Marcel’s fake smile ripped through the tension a second later. “We only work together. My interest in her is professional.”
The guy didn’t look like he believed it. Even if he had, Connor would not have bought it. “Right.”
Marcel’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “That’s what this is about, right? You’re jealous.”
The word grated against Connor’s last nerve. Marcel didn’t deserve a minute of his time. If Connor was right, the guy had his hands in something nasty and brought Jana along with him.
The job and the personal side mixed and colored everything. Connor had trouble separating out one from the other and staying neutral about any of it.
Most of all, Connor hated Marcel. Everything he said and how he acted. The way Jana made excuses for him. “I’m tired of you hanging around her.”
“She came to me.” Marcel tapped his fingertips together. “Or is that the real problem? She could go anywhere but she picked me. Over you.”
Shane shook his head. “Let me hit him.”
Connor considered the possibility but quickly discarded it. Jana would be upset and he lived to make her happy.
“I understand you’re upset about the state of your marriage, but don’t blame me.” Marcel kept tapping. “I didn’t do anything to push Jana away. I’m not the one who caused her to run across the country for a break.”
That counted as the one step too far. For Jana’s sake, Connor held back from unleashing the rage boiling inside him but his control started crumbling. “You might want to tread carefully.”
“He carries a gun,” Shane pointed out.
Marcel’s gaze flicked between the two men towering over him. After a charged silence, he spoke again, this time with a lot less amusement in his voice. “I offered a shoulder and an ear. She had concerns and complaints and I listened.”
No way. She left and got angry but Connor refused to believe she used this man—one she knew Connor hated—as a confidant about the most private pieces of marital life. “You expect me to believe that Jana talked to you about me?”
“Well, she has been here for a few months.”
“A few months out of a lifetime. Not really important in the grand scheme of things, now is it?” He believed that. He had to or he’d stop functioning.
“Especially since you failed to keep her safe,” Shane said.
Marcel’s gaze roamed again. “There was a break-in. Not something expected way out here. Frustrating and upsetting but not life ending.”
This time Shane and Connor shared a look. Connor wondered if the rage simmering in Shane’s eyes would be mirrored in his own.
“Armed men touched her.” Connor heard her panicked screams every time he closed his eyes. The sound of her terror would replay in his head until the day he died. Maybe he needed the reminder of how close he came to losing her. Or maybe he deserved the punishment for not guaranteeing her safety, no matter what.
“What do you mean?” Marcel came up off the couch in a rush.
Shane held out a hand, suggesting he was plenty close enough. “You’re unclear of the definition of touch?”
“You mean—”
Enough playing around and circling for the right position. Connor went in for the kill. “When she needed someone to help her, she called me. She will always call me.”
“If you think you can threaten me—”
“Oh, I definitely can.” Can and would.
“Gentlemen. Sorry I’m late.”
Connor sensed her before he heard her. Soft footsteps fell on the hardwood floor. He closed his eyes at the sound of her voice and when he opened them again, she stood beside him. With her hair in a ponytail and her face scrubbed clean she looked fresh, younger than she was. The slim blue jeans and light blue polo top helped.
He shifted to include her in their informal circle. “No worries. We were just talking.”
Shane shrugged. “Men hanging out. The usual stuff.”
“Where’s Holt?” Connor asked, even though he could guess the answer.
She smiled. “Keeping watch on the front porch.”
Marcel stayed quiet. He stood there staring at Jana. His gaze swept over her and some of the tension left his face.
Connor gauged the distance away from Marcel and thought he could land a punch without much trouble. “Actually, we’ve been coming to an understanding.”
“About?” She stepped closer until her arm touched his.
Connor loved the way she leaned into him. No distance or pretending. “The charity. Marcel agreed to open up all his books and let us pore through everything.”
Shane nodded. “He’s very helpful.”
“I bet.” Jana dragged out the words. “Certainly looks like you’ve come to an understanding.”
They all stared at Marcel now. Three sets of eyes focused on him as the blood ran out of his face.
He cleared his voice and returned the glaring then he focused on Jana. “You know I can’t do that. There are privacy concerns.”
Last thing Connor wanted was Marcel working directly on Jana. She felt bad for the guy and didn’t buy into his seediness. If that meant Connor had to keep dragging the conversation back to him, he would. “I’m not going to tell anyone anything.”
“That’s not the point. I can’t just—”
“Yes.” She looped her hand through Connor’s arm as she backed her former boss down. “You can.”
Score one for Jana.
“Excuse me?” Marcel’s usual cool demeanor abandoned him as he stuttered out the question.
“I’m not a charity employee, not technically, not anymore, and I’ve been going through the records. You never complained.”
“I thought you were working on outreach. You took on the paperwork issue without telling me.”
“Well, reality is I did take it on and have been all over the files and you didn’t stop me. If needed I can vouch for my husband.” She squeezed Connor’s arm. “He has a security clearance and is the most trustworthy man you’ll ever meet.”
Connor was pretty sure she’d never been hotter. “Thank you, honey.”
“I’m sorry, but your word is not good enough. There are liability issues at work here. You know that.”
“Then there’s the part where Connor has a gun,” Shane said.
“They need the information to provide the proper level of protection. This is not about getting access to credit card numbers or scamming anyone.” She dropped her hand. “More importantly, the task will go faster with Connor’s help. We can all agree that everyone suffers if the charity isn’t up and operational. The sooner we get through this, the better.”
Connor had the exact same thought. “In other words, she wants to be done so she can come home. With me.”
“That is not what she said.”
The words didn’t matter. Not to Connor. “It’s what’s happening.”
“That’s her decision.” Marcel practically screamed his comment.
Connor let it float there. If Marcel wanted to prove he viewed himself as a friend only, he’d come pretty close to blowing it. Even Jana frowned at him now. She didn’t ruffle. She stood there, soaking it all in and looking as if she was fighting off a men-are-so-ridiculous eyeroll.
“If it’s my decision, we’re going. Get whatever you need and we’ll head over to the charity.” When Marcel started to talk over her, she cut him off. “Please, Marcel.”
Connor almost felt bad for the guy. Ignoring her when she asked like that proved impossible for Connor. Her eyes grew big and soft and he got dragged under. Looked like Marcel suffered from the same reaction.
His shoulders fell. “I’ll meet you there.”
Shane dropped down on the arm of Marcel’s couch. “I’ll wait here and drive you.”
“That’s not necessary,” Marcel said through clenched teeth.
So much for Marcel’s carefully crafted calm. The guy folded and his anger raged. This act differed from the one he usually tried to sell. Connor thought it was about time. “There are killers on the loose.”
Shane smiled. “We’d hate to see anything happen to you.”
“Jana, may I speak to you for a second?” Marcel took a step toward Jana.
She backed up before he could touch her. “We’ll talk at the office.”
* * *
L
uc
didn
’
t
bother
with niceties and introductions. He’d been waiting in his secure space under the house and heard the entire pathetic conversation. Connor roped Marcel in and ran him around in circles until he cracked. Then Jana stepped in and smacked the final nail in the coffin.
It was embarrassing, really. The whole scene made Luc wonder how Marcel had run this operation for as long as he had. It also convinced him that today was it. They had to run the final plan and get out.
With the decision made, Luc contacted the men. Now he had to explain to Marcel. Luc went back and forth and decided limited information was the answer. Let Marcel think he was in charge. He had set up the entire vaccines-as-cover scheme to begin with, but he’d long ago been shifted out of top management and used for his contacts only. Not that he understood the change in the balance of power.
The second Connor and the gang left, Luc stepped into the hallway. He had only a few minutes since Shane made it clear he’d be coming back and even now was talking with Connor on the front porch. Probably planning some military incursion, knowing those two.