Naples, Italy
Seven Years Ago
“Quinn looks like you’ve got an admirer,” called Vanessa Fielding, one of the senior JAG attorneys.
Quinn had just walked into the JAG headquarters at Naval Command in Naples. Sure enough, there was a small, free-form clay pot with at least eighteen kaleidoscope roses. She smiled. She’d have to talk to Cole. They’d agreed to keep their budding relationship on the down low.
“Borland?” called the Admiral from inside his office.
Quinn placed her bag in her desk drawer and answered her summons.
“Come in, shut the door, and sit down,” he barked.
Quinn did as ordered, noting that Trenton Culp was lounging against the admiral’s credenza.
“Sir?”
“The flowers, Borland, who are they from? And before you think about lying to me, you should know that Culp here spotted you with a NATO operative, one that’s under suspicion.”
“First, Sir, with all due respect, I don’t appreciate you suggesting I’d lie to you. Second, Cole Waverly is with NATO Intelligence and last time I checked, they were supposed to be on our side.”
“Waverly’s dirty. We just haven’t been able to move against him. Everybody knows it. It’s why he hasn’t been reassigned,” said Culp. “Now, what have you told him?”
“I haven’t told anyone anything,” said Quinn. “I know my job, Culp. I know what’s at stake.”
“Do you?” he said, eyeing her with hostility and suspicion.
“Yes, you’re setting me up to infiltrate Mosby’s operation.”
“You were recruited to sleep with him. That’s going to get a little crowded if you’re already spreading your legs for Waverly.”
“See here,” sputtered the Admiral.
“Stay out of it,” growled Culp. “You made a deal. I expect you to fulfill your end of the obligation.”
“Why? You didn’t.”
“It’s not our fault that the op went sideways.”
“I’m not sure I believe that. I told your buddies back at the Agency that I’d do what you needed me to when they got my brother’s wife and child out and safely back home. You have yet to provide me with evidence that has been done,” said Quinn, reining in her temper.
“I told you these things take time.”
“And I told you I wasn’t going to whore for you until it did.”
“What the hell is going on here?” asked the admiral.
“My brother was Agency and was sent in deep cover. He ended up marrying the daughter of a tribal chieftain and having a child. His cover was blown and one of the extremist groups was going to behead him. Culp came to me and said they could get him out but needed my help. I agreed in exchange for my brother and his family being extracted. Something went wrong and my brother was killed. There’s been no word about my sister-in-law and nephew.”
“Was her brother one of yours?” asked the admiral.
“He was ex-paramilitary living in a region not known to be friendly to Americans...”
“In other words, yes,” said the admiral with disgust. “And you agreed to this?”
“I wanted to save my brother. Now that I can’t do that, I want to see that his family is taken to safety and provided for.”
“You’re a hell of a sister,” said the admiral.
“If that’s all, sir,” said Quinn, standing.
“It is. I’ll get to the bottom of this, Borland.”
She’d walked out of the admiral’s office with her hands shaking. Once in her own office, she closed the door and took her cell phone out of her purse, calling the only person she knew could help put this right. It was time to level with Cole.
“NATO Operations. This is Wecht, can I help?”
“Wecht? It’s Quinn Borland. I’m looking for Cole.”
“I’m sorry, Commander Waverly has been reassigned and is no longer available.”
Before she could respond, the line went dead. As if they’d been waiting for the call to end, there was a knock on her door. It was Vanessa Fielding.
“Problem?” she asked.
Quinn shook her head. “I don’t know. The flowers are from a guy I’ve been seeing. He’s with NATO. I just called his private cell and was told he’d been reassigned and was no longer available.”
Vanessa frowned. She was career JAG and was rumored to be next on the promotions list.
“That’s not good. Did whoever answer the phone identify him or herself?
“Yes, a man named Wecht.”
Vanessa slid down into a chair. “Wecht? You’re sure?” Quinn nodded. “That’s not good. Wecht is part of their internal affairs group. They only bring him in for big game. If he’s answering Cole’s cell, Cole has run afoul of them. He’s either on the run or they’ve arrested him, and he’s headed to some dark hole until they get what they want from him. You need to start limiting the damage any association with him might do to your career.”
Without another word, Fielding got up and left her office.
Things had gone from bad to worse. That very afternoon, a bulletin had gone out that Cole Waverly was wanted for espionage and treason. He was accused of betraying his country and going into the illegal arms trade, taking several top-secret guidance systems with him. Aaron Mosby had disappeared, and Quinn had been brought up on Article 133 charges: conduct unbecoming an officer, which had revealed her covert work for the Agency. She’d been cleared of all charges and specifications, but it had made her persona non grata with both the Navy and the Agency, who’d left her to twist in the wind.
It had been made plain to her that she was no longer welcome at JAG.
“How bad is it, Vanessa?” she’d asked of the woman who’d stepped up to act as defense counsel.
“Bad. There’s a lot of posturing going on. I’m not sure what the Admiral knows, but he’s negotiated with Command to allow you to quietly leave the service as Quinn Borland. He also made sure that your real name was restored and service records for Kennedy Greyson will be in place so that you can move on in civilian life.”
“My brother’s family?”
Vanessa shook her head. “The Agency has disavowed any knowledge of you or your brother. His family has disappeared.”
Kennedy closed her eyes and sighed. “It was all for nothing. And Cole?”
“Last anyone heard, he was working with Mosby.”
“You must think I’m such a fool.”
“No. I think you got used and abused by the Agency for the noblest of reasons.” Vanessa extended her hand. “I’m proud to have known you and wish I could have done more.”
“You kept me out of prison. I wasn’t sure how you were going to pull that off.”
Vanessa grinned. “Me either.”
Looking Glass Falls, Idaho
Present Day
Kennedy had packed her things, come back to the States, rolled up her sleeves, and gone to work. She’d tried reaching out to old colleagues to see if she could find out anything about her brother’s family and been rebuffed. Just when she’d thought she’d found someone in the private sector who could help, she’d been contacted by a United Nations group that her sister-in-law and nephew were in a refugee camp.
Their first meeting had been on Canadian soil three months later. Shortly after that meeting, Kennedy had moved to Seattle to become a named partner and head up the criminal division of a new law firm. She set up her brother’s family in Victoria, Canada and saw them as often as possible.
Cole Waverly and his betrayal of both country and her had become a bad memory, but one that still had the power to rip her heart out every time she thought about him. Even after seeing the evidence, she hadn’t been able to believe he’d been a traitor and now, here he was living as though nothing had ever touched him. Just this morning he’d shown up bold as brass, staring at her across the footboard of the bed.
Kennedy pulled on a pair of jeans, boots, and a loose, silk sweater with a deep, scoop neck. She needed to get her head on straight; maybe a ride would help with that. She wandered out to the barn to find Cole saddling a horse.
“Counselor? I was just going out for a ride. Care to come along?” he asked with a sardonic smile that had always seemed so much a part of him.
“I don’t think so. Seriously Cole, how are you here? The last time I heard anything about you, NATO had declared you rogue, you’d joined Mosby’s operation, and you were wanted on charges of treason and espionage.”
“I would think you would have learned that you can’t believe everything you read,” he said as he steered the horse outside and mounted it. “You sure you don’t want to come? As I recall, you always liked to come and did so easily and frequently.”
“God, you’re an ass. You left me high and dry in Naples and yet you act like I should be grateful.” Emotions flooded her brain and body. She spun on her heel and stalked back toward the guesthouse, determined to extricate herself and her firm from whatever was going on. At this point, she wouldn’t allow the firm to represent Clay Waverly, but would refer them to an excellent competitor that could do the job.
The sound of Cole dismounting and handing his horse to one of the ranch hands reached her as she increased the speed with which she was approaching the guesthouse. She could hear Cole’s footsteps behind her. She changed direction, heading to the main house, instead, to keep from being alone with Cole again. She managed to evade him until just before she reached the French doors that led into the study.
Cole caught her by the arm, halting her forward momentum, then spun her around to face him. “It wasn’t your gratitude I wanted, Kennedy. It was your honesty, your trust, your faith in me.”
“My faith in you?” she asked incredulously.
He nodded. “They told you I was a traitor and had joined ranks with Mosby. Ever wonder how his organization fell apart? I’d have thought at spy school they would have taught you to spot a well-done op.” He shook his head. “And here’s the stupid part, I almost scrubbed the whole thing when I found out what Culp had tried to do, then washed his hands of you.”
“My friend Vanessa defended me against those charges and did a damn good job.”
“She did. Ever wonder how that evidence she used to clear you came into her possession?”
Kennedy stopped and looked at him, really looked at him for the first time. He still had the same rakish good looks he’d had when they’d been together. Memories from their brief but intense past washed over her, threatening to undo all she’d done in the following years. She had to remind herself he’d disappeared without a word, leaving her to pay for the games he and Culp had been playing.
His angry expression softened. “I told my handler that if they didn’t find a way to get the charges against you dismissed, I’d scrap the op, testify, and blow the whole damn network out of the water.”
She stumbled back as if he’d slapped her in the face. “It was all a set up. NATO, the Agency, anyone else? Naval Intelligence? Was I just a pawn to you? You’re no better than Culp.”
He winced the slightest bit but lost his aggressive stance all together. “You should never have been put in that position. I knew you were hiding something. Finally figured out you were Agency, but it took longer to figure out why.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you say something?” she asked, willing away the tears that threatened to fall.
“Me? I was exactly who I said I was. The only thing I did was shade what my real assignment was in Naples. You weren’t truthful about a damn thing, and I still believed in you… in us.”
“There was never an us, Cole.”
“There was and you bloody well know it,” he growled.
She shook her head. No, he wasn’t going to do this again to her. “I don’t know a damn thing except that your family needs to retain new counsel. My firm and I are withdrawing. I will see that your entire retainer is returned to you.”
He reached out to touch her. “Don’t, Kennedy. I won’t say I don’t care if you don’t believe me because I do, but what Clay needs is you. If the only way for you to stay is for me to stay away from you, I’ll do it. He’s my brother and he doesn’t deserve this. Somebody is trying to frame him. I’ve followed your career...”
“You have?”
He nodded, looked down, and stubbed the toe of his boot in imaginary dust. “I hate to admit it, but I’m probably your number one fan. I know every major case you ever worked. I managed to get myself into the gallery of the Supreme Court both times you defended your clients and got them set free. You can hate me if you want for what you think I did, but Clay has done nothing to you, and he needs your help.”
Kennedy shook her head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Hell, I wasn’t ever expecting to see you again. As for the case, all of you had motive, but at least three of you had alibis. And this thing between your oldest brother and the deputy in charge of the investigation…”
“Don’t even go there. Cade and Trey went through a lot to find their way back to each other. Cade decided he had to be noble and save Trey from her feelings for him. It was complete and utter bullshit. They wasted a lot of time. In the end, both of them knew they were meant to be and had the courage to take that leap of faith together.”
Before she could respond, the door from the foyer to the study opened. Cade and the woman she suspected was Trey stepped inside.
“Kennedy, may I present my fiancé, Trey Mitchell, the chief investigator,” said Cade, wrapping his arm around the woman at his side.
“Fiancé?” asked Kennedy. “I had been led to believe your relationship was relatively new. I wasn’t aware things had progressed to that point.”
“Don’t feel bad, Counselor. I wasn’t aware either,” said Trey, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Although I think I’m probably happier about that idea than you are.”
“I told you Trey and Cade should have been together a long time ago, but big brother there went off to be honorable and stupid,” said Cole.
“A trait that seems to run in the family,” Kennedy quipped.
Trey was watching she and Cole with the experienced eye of a good investigator. “Look, Kennedy, the sheriff isn’t happy about this either, but I’ll tell you what I told him. My relationship with Cade is not going to influence how I do my job. I’ll follow the evidence wherever it may lead. I also told him that I don’t think Clay did this and that anything I find I will share with you as his defense counsel of record.”
“Is an arrest imminent?” asked Kennedy, perking back up as she dropped back into the familiar territory of legal defense while trying to ignore Cole’s distracting presence.
He’d always had that effect on her. Kennedy had a laser like focus on things, especially her work. Cole had always been able to throw off her equilibrium. If she was going to stay, she’d need a way to counteract the power he still seemed to have over her.
“Not that I’m aware of, but I’m off today and for the next couple of days. When I get back, I’ll be focused first on identifying the body we found dead in a stolen SUV parked at the diner,” answered Trey.
That seemed to do the trick. Kennedy focused her full attention on the investigator. “Do you think the two are connected?”
“Based on the evidence? I have no opinion. We don’t know enough. Based on my gut? Yes. We’re a small town. The last time we had an unexplained death in this town was a long, long time ago. So, two in less than a week? I’m not buying it,” said Trey.
Kennedy nodded and extended her hand. “I think I may have misjudged you based on my own past interactions with small town cops. Clay has said repeatedly that we are far better off with you at the helm of the investigation than not.”
“Tell you what, you don’t hold my being a cop against me and I won’t hold the Parenti trial against you.”
Kennedy laughed. “Deal.”
“Parenti trial?” asked Cade.
“A case the FBI worked on for three years that Clay’s attorney dismantled in less than an hour.”
“Your over-eager buddies from the Chicago PD did that. They didn’t have probable cause and they didn’t have a warrant. Fruit of the poisonous tree.”
Cole and Cade both looked at Trey, mouths slightly agape.
“It means the evidence the cops found couldn’t be used as it was tainted from an illegal search and seizure. Like I said, she doesn’t represent guilty people unless there is a larger constitutional issue at stake. Parenti was guilty as hell, but freedom from illegal search and seizure would be one of those pesky constitutional issues.”
Kennedy smiled at her. “I think, Deputy, that you and I are going to get along just fine. I’m actually very fond of good cops. They have a lousy job and when someone gets sloppy and screws up a case that should have been a slam dunk, I’m quite sympathetic. I’d like to ask that we don’t hold discussions regarding Clay’s case except in the guest house and that Trey consider the guest house off limits as I’m using it as my office.”
“I have no problem with that.”
Cash and Clay joined them from outside and the six of them left for dinner in town. Kennedy wasn’t expecting the local diner to have food that could rival many of Seattle’s best restaurants but was pleasantly surprised. She was quiet for the most part but found herself relaxing as she watched Cole interacting with his brothers and the woman that would soon be his sister-in-law. Cade seemed to dote on Trey, and his younger brothers seem to already regard her as one of the family.
As she watched him, she had to wonder if there was any truth to what he’d said? Had she misjudged him? Or was he the snake she’d come to believe him to be, coiled and ready to strike?