Blood and Roses (Holly Jennings Thriller) (24 page)

“You know, she’s got a tattoo with a four-leaf clover on the left side of her ass. It’s cute,” Perez said.

O’Leary swallowed hard.

“I don’t care if she has a tattoo on her clit,” the agent replied. “Ride the horse, not the broad.”

O’Leary closed his eyes. The clover was their thing. He looked at the tattoo he’d gotten the night they’d decided they were lucky together. His was on the inside of his arm. Elena had slept with Perez. Dammit. O’Leary felt sick. He got up and paid his check at the counter. He didn’t look at Perez. He wondered if the ass knew he’d been sitting there at the booth only feet away.

It didn’t matter.

O’Leary wasn’t the jealous type. And he knew it had only been days since he had started seeing her again, but he had never stopped loving Elena. Never. He hated thinking of another man being with her, especially one like Perez. But he wasn’t so naïve as to think that Elena didn’t have sex. He’d certainly been no angel over the years.

Still…

Overhearing Perez only cemented in O’Leary the fact that he wanted to be with Elena that much more. He never again wanted another man to have her.

54

March 4, 2011

Ted Ivy woke up slowly and in pain. He tried to say something. A pretty Brazilian nurse stood over him. She rubbed his arm. “It is okay. We will give you something for the pain.” He watched, his vision blurring as she put something into his IV. He could feel the bandages on his face.

He drifted in and out of a drug-induced sleep. Memories of the past twenty-four hours swam in and out of his mind.

Meeting Quentin in the bar.

The plane ride.

The palatial estate.

Dr. Arroyo.

“You will recover nicely here,” Quentin had said, showing him first around the estate set against a hillside in Diamantina in the state of Minas Gerais. “Every desire will be catered to. You will have nothing that you do not want or need. When Dr. Arroyo is finished, you’ll be amazed at what you look like.”

The idea that the scars on his face would be gone was almost unbelievable. But everything Quentin had promised so far, he had done. He had saved Ted from a life of poverty and depravity.

Quentin was his guardian angel.

When Ivy came to again, the pain was somewhat less severe. The nurse offered him some dinner. “That would be good.”

Twenty minutes later an incredible filet mignon, a seafood risotto, some greens, and what had to be quite expensive red wine arrived in his room.

He couldn’t eat much because of the pain, surgery, and meds, but what he did get down was delicious. After living eight years in a prison cell, he would take the current pain and all the luxuries that accompanied it over the hellhole of prison any day.

When he finished his meal, the nurse took his tray away and moments later came back with a state-of-the-art laptop computer. Taped to it was an envelope. “For you,” she said. “I will be back. Press the buzzer if you need anything before I return.”

Ivy thanked her.

He opened the envelope. The first thing he spotted was a huge wad of cash. He counted it. Twenty thousand dollars.

Twenty thousand dollars!

There was a letter as well.

This is the first installment of many to come. Get online. I have set up an encrypted e-mail account for you. It is a private account, meant only for our communication. If someone else gets into the account, I will know, and there will be immediate consequences. Your first lesson is in the first e-mail. You have a lot of studying to do. I have faith you will do a wonderful job. Q

The e-mail account and password were in the letter.

Ted opened the laptop and went online. He did as he had been directed. Went to the e-mail site and logged on.

That is when he learned his new name, his new residence, and the first step of many on the way to the final act.

55

The next morning Holly was up before the sun. Not that she had slept much anyway. She had lain awake all night wondering about her life with Jack, trying hard to decipher what had been real and what had not.

The thing was, as angry and hurt as she felt, she believed him. The man she had married had been honorable, and when he’d joined the CIA he probably really felt it was for the good of the people. And it was for the good of the people—all the people except for her.

She also couldn’t deny that feelings for Jack were still there. They had come rushing back with each passing second as she began to accept that he was still alive.

But…

She was in love with another man. She had a new life, a new partner in Brendan. She could not deny that.

And although what Jack had done—leaving her and faking his death—was likely necessary given the lengths the cartel would go to in order to destroy people, she couldn’t get past the fact that he had never told her. He never told her that he was working for the CIA. He never told her that he was involved with a special task force.

They were married, for God’s sake. They were supposed to be a team, supposed to face challenges together. They could have figured it out. Couldn’t the CIA have gotten her out as well? Couldn’t they
have disappeared together? Been together? Raised their daughter together? She couldn’t stop herself from wondering why he’d never included her. Had he been looking for a way out? How much of her life, her love, and her marriage with Jack had been a lie?

She finished showering and put on the robe hanging on the bathroom door. She walked out and found a shopping bag on the bed. There was a card inside.
Thought you might like a new set of clothes. XOMLJ.
She forced away the smile. He was getting to her. The sight of the signature he’d always used when giving her gifts, starting with the plumeria charm…

When he’d handed her the jewelry box in Hawaii and she read the card, she looked up at him. “XOMLJ?”

“Kiss, hug, much love, Jack.”

She’d smiled, leaned across the small table between them on the balcony overlooking the ocean in their hotel suite, and kissed him. She opened the box and took out the charm. He stood and guided her arms around his neck. He picked her up and carried her into their hotel room, where they’d made love for hours. Lying in bed afterwards, she whispered in his ear, “XOMLH.” From then on, they’d adopted those signatures.

How dare he use it now. After everything.

She did gratefully remove the clothes from the bag—new panties, new bra—a little lace on them, nothing extravagant. Ivory. She felt her face flush. He remembered her size and what she liked. She then took out a V-neck cashmere sweater in a dark gray and a pair of jeans—again right size and her style. She slipped into the new clothes and as she finished buttoning the top button on the jeans, there was a knock at the bedroom door.

She opened it and there stood Jack, coffees in hand. “Thought you might want this.” He handed her a cup.

Like the clothes, he remembered how she took her coffee. After all these years, she still knew how he preferred his, too. She walked
out into the family room of the suite to find a breakfast spread set out.

“And I thought you might be hungry as well.” He pulled a chair out from the table and motioned for her to take a seat.

She did, and he sat down across from her. They didn’t speak for several long moments. As she ate breakfast with Jack, she realized suddenly how comfortable it was. How easy. She closed her eyes for a second and sighed, thinking about Brendan. What did all of this mean with Jack here now? He obviously still worked for some task force within the CIA. He obviously was undercover. How would this affect her marriage to Brendan? Oh my God, could she even marry Brendan? Would it be legal? This was all crazy. She had to know. She set her fork down.

Jack looked up from his plate. “Yes?” he asked. Always so confident. Always knowing what she needed.

“I’m getting married.”

He nodded and wiped the corners of his mouth with his napkin. “I know.”

“I love him. I love Brendan.”

“I know that, too.” He took a long sip from his coffee.

“What does this all mean then, Jack? You’re alive. I know you’re alive. Can I even legally remarry?”

He set the cup down. “For all intents and purposes, Jack Jennings is no longer alive. There are only a handful of people who know who I really am. That list now includes you. But your knowledge doesn’t change anything. If you want to marry Brendan, then that’s what you should do.”

“What do you mean
if
I want to marry him?” She could hear the upset in her voice escalating and tried very hard to remain cool. “Of course I want to marry him! Just because you come back all, all, all…” She shook her head, exasperated. “Riding in on your white horse announcing, ‘I’m alive!’ what am I supposed to do?
Call home and say to a man who would never, ever leave me, never betray me, ‘Sorry, Prince Fucking Charming is back! Wedding is off, babe.’”

Jack wore an amused look on his face. “Prince Fucking Charming? That’s a new one.”

“Yeah, well, that’s you.” She stood, threw her napkin at him, and walked back into the bedroom wanting to scream. He had gotten under her skin. He’d always known how to do that. She hated him for it. And she knew him so well. Their old song and dance came rushing from her memory bank to the forefront of her mind. She closed her eyes and counted down from ten. When she got to one, she heard the click on the door. He stepped in and walked up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “No,” she said. “Don’t go there. I have a call to make. It’s after seven in California and I have people to check on.” She walked out from under his touch and picked up her phone off the nightstand. Once Jack had returned it to her, he hadn’t asked her to give it back. She could have at any moment throughout the night called home, called Chad, called someone and told them about Jack.

But she hadn’t.

She called Chad now, questioning why she was still in the hotel suite with Jack.

“Hey partner, it’s about time. I was getting concerned since I hadn’t heard from you in a day!”

“I was giving you some time to be with your new family. How is Brooke? The baby?”

“Everyone is fine. I’m worried about you, though. It isn’t like you to leave us all hanging, and Brendan said you talked with Megan but not him. Is everything okay? You have us all a little freaked out. Amar was, too. He said the last you guys spoke you were going to the prison to talk to Ted Ivy. That was yesterday. What the hell happened?”

Holly knew she should have called Brendan. Dammit. But could she have kept the angst out of her voice? He knew her so well. “I promise you that I’m fine. Been looking for Ted Ivy is all.”

“Amar told me that he’d been let out. Or at least that’s what you guys thought. Did you confirm it?”

“Yes. I did. Dirty former warden. Long story, but Ted Ivy is out, and we suspect he changed his identity.”

“We?”

“I mean me. I do. I planned to talk with you and Amar and was sure you’d agree with me on this. I’m tired.” She tried to brush it off.

Chad didn’t respond right away. She glanced at Jack.

“No kidding?” Chad said. “Changed his looks?”

“No kidding.”

“You think he’s our man?” Chad asked.

“I think there’s a very strong chance.”

“So what about our theory? Do you still think there’s another killer involved? I suppose Ted Ivy, without changing his appearance, would have to keep a low profile.”

“He would. Honestly, Chad, I’m not sure what to think.” She knew that she couldn’t make her partner privy to everything Jack had told her. There was likely another man behind Ivy—someone had paid off the warden. Who he was at this point was an unknown.

“You don’t know where he might be?”

“No. And I don’t know who he is working with, if he’s working with anyone.”

Chad sighed. “I have something that may be interesting. I don’t know. I’ve been chewing on it until I could get you. Now I’ll let you gnaw on it.”

“Give it to me.”

“Equine Health Systems. Scott Christiansen’s company…”

“Yeah?”

“The tours they do and all that. Well, they also give a lot of product to facilities in need. Places where handicapped people go to ride, war veterans, and horse rescue places. That place you went to and spoke with that woman—Leann.”

“Purdue. Yes.”

“Her facility has taken some donations from them. And after going through their sign-in sheet for tours from last spring I saw the name Golden Hearts from Lexington, Kentucky. I asked Christiansen if he remembered the folks. He said that it was just one guy, a Dan Creswell. And get this, this guy was talking about his wedding and where they were going on their honeymoon. Fiji. To scuba dive. Receptionist told him that the dive place was closing in a matter of two days and that he could probably get a good deal on dive equipment.”

“Oh my God! Chad, I’ve gotta check something. I’ll call you back.”

“You better, and you better call your fiancé.”

“I will.” She clicked off the phone and stood up. “We have to go, Jack. I think I know Ted Ivy’s new identity.”

56

“Elena, I have to talk with you,” Perez said.

Elena stood in the filly’s stall, rubbing liniment down each of the horse’s legs. “Yes.” She stood up. “What’s going on?”

Perez shifted uneasily. Natalie the bug was with him. Uh-oh. Had he knocked up the nineteen-year-old kid? Hell, say it wasn’t so.

Natalie was a pretty young thing who had been making eyes at Perez since she’d walked into Elena’s barn. She was a good kid, from what Elena could tell. Same height as her, dark brown eyes, long dark-red hair. She wanted to be a jockey. Elena wanted to give her that chance, but she had a lot to learn. She knew the kid was from a broken home—a real broken one—so giving her an opportunity to exercise her horses was the least Elena could do, and she had noticed Perez had taken the kid under his wing. She had warned him not to take her into his bed, though. “What is it, guys?”

“It’s O’Leary,” Perez replied.

Elena came out of Karma’s stall and closed the door behind her. “O’Leary? What about him?”