The drive to Riley’s apartment passed in a blur. When she arrived, she dug in her purse for the key and let herself in. Focused on what she had to do next, she hurried across the threshold of the front door. A sound behind her made her pause. Footsteps?
She started to turn but was shoved from behind so hard she stumbled into the apartment, lost her balance and fell hard to her knees. She hadn’t expected to be attacked, but she should have reacted faster. Her father would have been disappointed in her response.
The door slammed behind her and a sharp-toed shoe slammed into Riley’s ribs.
She grunted and rolled to her side, looking up at the woman who’d just kicked the crap out of her. She knew the woman, but not in the context of her apartment.
“Tracy?” Riley clutched at her throbbing rib. “What the hell?”
“You’re the one who started all this mess. You’re the one who got Mr. Moretti killed and me fired. If you hadn’t meddled, I’d still be working at Quest, and Steve wouldn’t have dumped me.”
Tracy cocked her leg and shot out another kick.
This time Riley was ready for it. Twisting to the right, she avoided the sharp-toed shoe, snagged the woman’s ankle and pulled hard.
Tracy screeched and threw her hands in the air, searching for purchase, finding none. She crashed to the floor, landing hard on her back. She lay for a moment, stunned.
Riley rolled over and straddled the woman, pinning her wrists to either side of her head. “First of all, Moretti got himself killed by dealing with the wrong people. He was selling proprietary secrets to a foreign country. I didn’t make him do that. I just helped the FBI to discover who was dealing dirty.”
“So he sold some secrets. They’d have gotten them anyway. Computers can be hacked. Nothing is secret anymore.” Tracy bucked beneath Riley, but she couldn’t go anywhere.
“As for getting you fired, that was HR,” Riley reminded her. “With Moretti gone, they had no use for a secretary to an empty position.”
“I needed that job. I have a mortgage and bills to pay. Do you know how hard it is to find a job that pays as well?” Tracy jerked at her arms. “Let go of me. This is all your fault.”
“And what do you mean by Steve dumped you? Steve Pruett? I didn’t even know he dated.”
“He did,” Tracy practically spat out. “Me! Until a few days ago. Then he called and said he was done. Dropped my clothes and toothbrush off on my front porch and hasn’t returned my calls since.” Tears welled in her eyes. “He’s done. And it’s all your fault.” She bucked again. “I hate you, Riley Lansing. You’re poison!”
Riley couldn’t help feeling sorry for the woman. But her hardship wasn’t Riley’s fault so much as Tracy’s bad luck with her boss and poor choice of a boyfriend.
“Do you know where Steve’s lake house is?” Riley asked.
She snorted. “Yes, of course. We spent weekends there before he dumped me. But what’s it to you?”
“Tell me where his cabin is, and I’ll see if I can get you back on at Quest.”
“Why should I tell you where Steve’s lake cabin is? Isn’t it enough he dumped me? Now you’re making a play for the man?” Trace shook her head. “No way.”
“Fine, I’ll just call the police and report you for assault. If you have a criminal record, you’ll never find a job.”
The woman sagged beneath her and stopped struggling. “Oh, what’s the use anyway? I’ve lost Steve. I don’t have a job, and I’m going to lose my house. If I go to jail, at least I’ll have a roof over my head and three meals a day.” Tears leaked from her eyes. “Go ahead, call the police.”
Frustrated beyond patience, Riley bit back a curse. “I’d rather you tell me where Steve’s lake cabin is.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“He has something of mine that I want back.”
“Find him yourself,” Tracy said. “I owe you nothing.”
For a long moment, Riley stared down at the woman with tears dripping down the sides of her face. “I’m sorry this all happened to you, but it’s important that I find Steve. Please, tell me where I can find his cabin.”
Tracy sighed. “Let me up, and I’ll tell you.”
Riley frowned. “You’re not going to try anything, are you?”
“What could I try? You’re clearly better at fighting and pinning someone than I am.” Tracy didn’t pull at her wrists or move beneath Riley.
Shifting slowly, Riley released Tracy’s wrists, one by one. Then she swung her leg off the woman and pushed herself to her feet.
Tracy lay for a moment on her back.
Riley reached out a hand to her.
The woman grabbed her hand and let her pull her to her feet. “I’ll tell you where Steve’s cabin is if you don’t turn me over to the police.” Tracy gave her an address.
Riley repeated it to her, committing it to memory. Then she opened the door and held it for Tracy. “You should go now. And just so you know, I’m sorry you lost your job.”
Tracy bent to retrieve a small backpack from the floor by the door and turned in the doorframe. “Moretti was an idiot. He had a good thing going at Quest. He shouldn’t have gotten involved in selling secrets.”
“No, he shouldn’t have,” Riley agreed.
“And I shouldn’t have turned a blind eye to his activities.” She dug in the backpack as if unearthing keys. “But you know—” Tracy pulled a small handgun out and aimed it at Riley “—you shouldn’t have set him up.”
Riley stared at the gun, her pulse quickening, her thoughts racing through several scenarios. “Do you even know how to use that thing?”
Tracy stared down at the gun in her hand. “There’s not much to it. You point and shoot.” She raised her arm, leveling the weapon at Riley’s chest. “If I’m going to jail, it might as well be for a damned good reason.”
Riley could see when the woman’s finger tightened on the trigger. She dived to the side in a flying somersault and rolled to her feet.
The gun went off, hitting the wall behind where Riley had been standing the moment before.
Tracy swung the gun toward Riley’s new location. Before she could pull the trigger again, a man stepped up behind her and grabbed her around the waist, clamping her arms downward against her sides.
The gun went off, the bullet hitting the floor beside Tracy’s foot. “Let go of me!” she screamed.
“Not until you drop the gun,” Mack’s deep, resonant voice said.
Riley’s heart swelled in her chest as she rose to face Tracy and Mack. She grabbed the gun from Tracy’s hand, dropped the magazine from the handle and expelled the round in the chamber. When she was done, she stared over Tracy’s shoulder at Mack. “Thanks.”
Mack gave Riley a slight chin lift. “Call the police.”
Riley shook her head. “We don’t have time. She gave me the address to Steve’s lake cabin. I’m going now.” Riley swiped her car keys off the table in the hallway and stepped past Mack holding Tracy.
Mack’s hand shot out and he grabbed Riley’s arm. He repositioned his other arm to clamp Tracy in his grip. “You’re not going on your own.”
“I don’t need anyone’s help.” She lifted her chin, her lips pressing together. “This is my problem. I’ll take care of it.”
“You can’t go there alone. If Steve’s desperate, he could do anything.”
She squared her shoulders. “I’m willing to take that risk.”
“Even if it means Toby will be hurt?” Mack pinned her with his gaze.
For a long moment, Riley stared into his blue eyes, and then her shoulders sagged, just a little. “No.”
Mack glanced down at the woman in his grip. “We can’t leave her. She might give Steve a heads-up.”
Riley twisted her lips. “I’m not staying to babysit her. If there’s a chance we can find Toby, I want to be there. The kid has to be beside himself and scared.”
“My phone is in my back pocket.” Mack tilted his head to the side. “Get it. Call Declan. Tell him what’s going on and ask him to send a backup to hold this woman until we can get to Pruett’s lake cabin.”
“He won’t be there,” Tracy said.
“Why do you say that?” Riley asked.
“It’s being renovated,” she said. “He hasn’t been visiting the cabin for the past few weeks.”
“Would he go anywhere else?”
Tracy shrugged. “Where else would he go? His parents live in Ohio, and he doesn’t have any close friends or siblings in the area.”
Riley met Mack’s gaze. “We have to check. It’s the only other place I can think of.”
Mack nodded. “We will.”
Tracy’s eyes narrowed. “What’s Steve got that you want? Is he stealing secrets like Mr. Moretti? If so, he can rot in hell with Moretti.”
“I don’t know if he was stealing secrets, but he took something I care a great deal about.” Riley hesitated telling Tracy that Pruett might have taken her little brother. Not many people knew she had a brother. And from the way Tracy was acting, she didn’t know what Steve was up to. If Steve had dumped her several days before, he might not have wanted her to know about the kidnapping he would undertake. If, in fact, he was the kidnapper who’d taken Toby.
Tracy squirmed in Mack’s grasp. “You can’t hold me forever.”
“Oh, we won’t,” Mack said. “As soon as help arrives, we’ll be gone.”
Riley placed the call to Declan. While she waited, Riley keyed the address into her cell phone and brought up the directions to get to Pruett’s lake cabin. Thirty minutes away. She tapped her foot, counting the seconds until help arrived, freeing her and Mack to go after Pruett.
Within ten excruciating minutes, Declan arrived at her apartment with Mustang.
“We’ll take her from here.” Declan and Mustang each took an arm and led Tracy into Riley’s apartment. “Let us know what you find.”
“Will do,” Mack called out.
Riley was already through the door. She ran toward her car and slipped in behind the steering wheel.
Mack quickly caught up and dropped into the passenger seat, folding his long legs into the car.
She didn’t wait for him to close the door before she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street. Then she pressed her foot to the accelerator, racing down the dark street toward the edge of the city and out into the countryside.
For the first five minutes, silence reigned inside the confines of the vehicle.
Riley was fine with that. She didn’t have much to say to Mack.
“Why did you leave Charlie’s place without letting us know?”
Riley stiffened, but she forced a shrug. “I needed to move on and find my brother. Why does it matter?”
“I thought we were doing this together. What made you change your mind?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“To me, it does.” He turned in his seat and faced her.
Riley kept her attention on the road, but she could see him clearly in her peripheral vision and the light from the dash. His brow furrowed, and his lips were drawn into a line.
“Why?”
“Maybe I read you wrong, but I thought we had something special going.”
Her chest tightened. “Or not. What’s special without trust?”
His frown deepened. “What are you talking about?”
“A partnership can only work if the two people trust each other.”
“What have I done to lose your trust?” he asked.
“My trusting you isn’t the issue.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes. It. Does.” He touched her arm lightly.
Even as lightly as he touched her, it made her flinch and swerve.
Mack pulled back his arm and sat back in his seat, his lips pressed together. “We can talk about this after we get to the cabin.”
A heavy weight settled in Riley’s belly. “Or maybe we don’t need to talk about anything. We really don’t have anything to talk about, anyway.”
Mack tilted his head, frowning. “Have I done something to make you mad?”
Riley focused on the road ahead. “No.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” He sighed. “You can tell me what’s wrong, or I can continue asking questions until I hit on the right issue. Either way, I’m a patient man.”
When she didn’t answer, he nodded. “Okay. Was it something to do with the way we made love?”
She shot a quick glance his way. “No, of course not.”
He nodded. “Good to know. Was it something I said?”
Riley’s jaw tightened. “I’m not playing games with you, Mack.”
“So it was something I said.” He touched a finger to his chin. “I can’t remember specifically what I said, but I’m sure I put my foot in my mouth on more than one occasion.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Riley exclaimed. “Partners are supposed to trust each other.”
“Yes...and?”
“And you don’t trust me.” There, she’d said it. “And why should you? I’m Russian. As far as anyone is concerned, I should be deported, sent back to my mother country, banned from ever returning to the United States.” Her chest squeezed so hard she could barely breathe. “Only I don’t know Russia. I grew up here. I can barely speak the language.” She hit the steering wheel with the palm of her hand. “Damn it, I love this country. It’s my home. I’d do anything to protect her.”
“Pull into the gas station at the next exit.” Mack pointed to the exit sign indicating a gas station.
“No.” Riley sniffed, a tear finding its way down her cheek. “We have to get to the lake cabin before something horrible happens to my brother. Trust me or not, I’m going to find my brother. And if we have to leave the country, we’ll leave together. As a family.”
“Riley, pull over.” This time he spoke in a much more commanding tone.
She gripped the steering wheel harder as they approached the exit, refusing to slow her trajectory. “I won’t let them hurt my brother.”
“We won’t get to your brother if you don’t pull off and put fuel in the tank,” he pointed out. “Pull off.”
A quick glance at the gas gauge brought Riley out of her pity party. She yanked the steering wheel at the last moment and sent the car onto the exit ramp and into the service station. When she rolled to a stop at a pump, she sat for a moment, her entire body shaking. A chuckle started low in her belly and rose up her throat in hysterical laughter, which quickly turned to a sob. “See? I make a lousy spy.”
Mack got out of the vehicle, came around the side, jammed his credit card into the machine, activated the pump and stuck it into the tank. Then he yanked open her door and held out his hand.
Riley looked up at him through a wash of tears. “You don’t trust me.”
He didn’t wait for her to put her hand in his; instead, he pried her fingers off the steering wheel, dragged her out of the vehicle and into his arms. “You are one stubborn, hardheaded woman, you know that?”
She remained stiff in his embrace, her hands resting on his chest, though she didn’t push him away. “Why are you helping me?”
“Because Charlie asked me to and—”
“And she trusts me.” Riley laughed, without humor. “Though why she would trust me, I don’t know. I tried to kill her.”
“No on both counts.” With one hand around her, Mack reached out with the other and tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “I was helping you, at first, because Charlie asked me to. Now, because I care. And quit putting words into my mouth. I don’t know where you get the idea that I don’t trust you.”
She didn’t want to admit she’d eavesdropped on his conversation. Riley looked over his shoulder. “I can tell.”
“Then you don’t know me.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I wouldn’t make love with a woman I don’t trust.” He brushed his lips across the tip of her nose.
Riley lifted her chin, a shiver of awareness rippling through her veins. “Lots of spies make love to people they don’t trust to get information out of them.”
“Is that why you made love with me?” He pulled back, a frown pulling at his brow.
She shifted her gaze to his, unable to look away. “No,” Riley whispered.
Mack gripped her shoulders. “Why did you make love with me?”
Her lips trembled, and she hated herself for showing her vulnerability. “Why does it matter?”
“Because you matter to me. A lot.” He let go of her shoulders and cupped her cheeks between his palms. “For some crazy reason, I like you. I want to get to know you better. And I’d want to help you even if Charlie wasn’t in the picture.”
She frowned up at him, her heart swelling. “You would?”
“Yes.” His lips tipped upward. “And I trust you.”
“Even though I’m a Russian spy?”
A smile spread across his face. “Maybe even more so because you’re a lousy Russian spy.”
Her frown deepened. “I’m not lousy. I just didn’t want to kill Charlie after all she’d done for me.”
“My point exactly.” He pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers in a brief, hard kiss. “I trust you, and I want to make love to you again. But most of all, I like you and want to get to know you better.”
The pump clicked off, signaling the end of their brief break.
“We need to get moving,” Mack said, almost as if he regretted having to let go of her.
Riley nodded.
“Want me to drive from here?” he asked.
Yeah, she might be giving up control, and that might appear weak, but her hands shook and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath when Mack held her so closely. “Yes, please.”
He walked her around to the other side of the car, held the door for her and helped her into her seat. Then he hurried to replace the pump handle and screw the gas cap on. A few moments later, they were on the road again.
Riley stared at the pavement in front of them, her heart and emotions in a turmoil. She felt warm all over at Mack’s words. Then she chilled with her next thought. How could a former marine care for a Russian spy?
And as the miles ticked away, she prayed they’d find Toby and free him from his captor. Anything beyond that goal could wait to be resolved. Toby came first.