Not This Time (5 page)

Sara’s expression said it all. Her jerk husband, Robert Tayton III, was still missing.

Head down and shoulders slumped, Sara departed.

“Is she okay?” Roxy asked. “She looks ready to jump out of her skin.”

She did. Something was definitely amiss. They were all upset, but Sara carried some extra burden. For some reason, she seemed to be blaming herself for this incident. Why?

Hank answered Roxy. “Sara’s always been high strung. But if she made it through this without an attack, she’ll be fine.”

He was right about that.

“You calling in your old team?” Jeff asked Mark.

Mark had been in Special Operations. His team had all been in the village to help when Lisa had been abducted. Beth liked them all, but one team member was special
. Joe
. Her breath hitched. She’d love to see him—he’d planned to be here today for the ceremony—but something he wasn’t free to discuss had come up.

That was often the case for the former Shadow Watchers. Spies who once spied on spies had a lot of things they weren’t free to discuss, even after they left the intelligence community and just consulted on special assignments. Having consulted often with Quantico, Beth fully understood. It’s impossible to take out of a person’s head what you’ve put into it. Once in, to some extent, you were in for life.

“The team’s tied up right now,” Mark told Jeff.

Disappointment bit Beth hard. She tucked her chin-length hair behind her ear. This ordeal rattled her in a way she’d rarely been rattled. Joe had a soothing effect on her and others. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a calm and confident air that made him serene even in crises. With eyes somewhere between blue and green and thick blond hair that curled low on his neck, the man was a woman magnet and just plain cool too, which is why she’d had coffee
and dinner with him dozens of times but hadn’t allowed herself to fall for him.

He’d break her heart just like Max had, no doubt about it.

Max had been cool too—and he’d humiliated her, ditching her very publicly for a glamour girl. The same kind of glamour girl that gravitated to Joe and clung.

“Sorry, Beth. You’re too
 … 
ordinary.”

Even now, Max’s words stung. Everyday average couldn’t hold up to glamour. Never did, never would—which is why Joe, no matter how sincere he seemed or how charming, had to be kept at arm’s length.

Still, his skills would be helpful. He’d been on the front line and instrumental in resolving Lisa’s abduction. If this was about NINA, the villagers needed Joe. Beth did too. He subtly invited her to lean on him, and she could … but only just a little. Another broken heart she did not need.

Not that she was the same woman now she’d been with Max. Now, she was a successful businesswoman, rich, and confident in her skin—and that skin was slimmer now due to her daily beach runs, but it was still ordinary and everyday average.
Once burned, twice shy
.

Annie stood near Nora’s shower screen, waiting patiently. Beth looked at Lisa. “You’ll get your mom and Nora home, right?” They shared an apartment at the Towers, next door to Beth’s beach house.

“Mark and I will handle it.” Lisa nodded. “Don’t worry, Beth. Mom’s good at comforting the grieving. She’ll take care of Nora.”

Annie would. Beth started walking away, stopped, and looked at Mark. “If you hear from Joe, have him call me when he can.” Her insides twisted. She needed a little of Joe’s calm, even if it was from a distance.

Knowing glinted in Mark’s gray eyes. “He’ll like that.”

Unable to miss Jeff’s disappointment, Beth walked out toward her car. Jeff was a good man. He was also still half in love with her. If she had half a brain, she’d jump at him, but her heart wouldn’t let her. He deserved someone to love him back, and she just didn’t. So every day of her life, she prayed he’d find a
woman who would. So far, it hadn’t happened, but like Nora always said: “In God’s own sweet time.”

Ironic that Beth felt the same way about Joe. And even more ironic was, despite Mark’s comment, Joe was about as apt to be genuinely interested in her as she was in Jeff. Oh, Joe said he wanted a home and a family, one day—and he said it in a way that made her think he’d never really had either one—but she wasn’t a fool. She was fine for coffee and conversation, but Joe would build that life with an extraordinary woman.

Beth sighed.
Love’s fickle. That’s that
.

Fire trucks lined the front of the parking lot. Every patrol car in the tricounty area seemed to be on site. From the cameras and lights, a ton of reporters had gathered just outside the police blockade. Their shouted questions garbled but one snagged her ear.
“Was it NINA?”

The media all thought NINA was responsible too. Why?

Beth didn’t know—yet.

4

W
e’ve got a problem.”

Joe recognized his former Shadow Watcher teammate’s voice in his Bluetooth. After taking down NINA’s human-trafficking operation and rescuing Mark’s Lisa, the team decided it best to keep their distance for a while.
Broader target
. Fortunately they had secure phones to stay in touch.

“What’s up, bro?” Joe slid on his stomach through the grass and held up his night-vision goggles.

Nearly nine thirty, long past dark, and still no sign of Karl Masson. Joe’s sources had been adamant that the escaped NINA operative was in this state park. His RV and the car he towed behind it hadn’t moved in two days, but the man was a no-show.

Mark filled Joe in on the club attack.

Joe’s stomach clutched. “Are Beth and Lisa okay?”

“Lisa’s safe. Beth’s rattled but fine. She’s why I’m calling.”

She’s safe. She’s safe. Breathe, Joe. Breathe
. “Oh?”

“Yeah. She’s looking into the incident, Joe.”

“Dangerous work.” If NINA was behind it, deadly.

“And then some. She wants you to call her.” Mark sighed. “She’s like you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Always the strong one holding up everybody else.”

“You’re subtle as mud, bro.” Mark had overhead one too many calls from Joe’s wayward brothers, hitting him up for bail money. “It’s different. She’s different.”

“I don’t think it’s different.”

“Taking care of everybody is her nature.” Joe loved that about her. As a kid, he’d longed for someone to take care of him and his brothers. But with his parents, that was a pipe dream. They’d rather drink than feed their kids. With Beth, caring was just there. As natural to her as breathing. Was it encoded in her DNA or something? He wondered. Often. The woman was gorgeous—slim, brown shiny hair with gold streaks and bright brown eyes—and got Joe’s attention, but her nurturing everyone—even him … That snagged his heart and reeled him in like a fish. Where she stood toward him was anyone’s guess.

“Not to change the subject, but you need to know. We had a fatality—Clyde Parker.”

Joe recalled the arthritic senior he’d first mistaken for Nora’s husband and his stomach clutched again. “I’m sorry, bro. He was a good man.” Joe skidded back to a tree and sat up behind it. “How’s Nora taking it?”

“About like you’d expect.”

“Yeah.” Joe let his gaze drift. “You summoning the team?” Mark would get the indirect question.
Do you think NINA pulled the attack?

“Considered it, but things here are too hot. FBI is handling it.”

And Homeland Security. “I’m there if you need me.”

“I’m not officially in the loop. Anything changes, I’ll let you know.”

“Understood.” Beth wanted him to call. She confused Joe, and he couldn’t get her out of his head. She seemed interested in him, but his charm didn’t work on her. Figured. The one woman he wished it would work on was immune. “Did Beth say why she wanted me to call?” Was it personal or professional?

“No.”

“Care to speculate?” Joe couldn’t tamp his interest.

“Could be she’s shaky. Seeing everyone blacked out like that and Nora losing Clyde—you know Beth’s really close to Nora, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” There wasn’t much Beth and he hadn’t discussed except those parts of their work that neither of them could discuss with anyone.

“She might want to talk about Sara’s husband.”

Beth and Robert Tayton had a longstanding feud. She didn’t trust him and
he hated her for it. Sara was stuck in the middle, playing peacemaker, and Beth hated that most of all. “What’s the snake-oil salesman done now?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t show up today. Sara couldn’t reach him. She was worried.”

That’d send Beth into a tailspin. Back in college, she’d promised Sara’s mom she’d watch over Sara, and since Sara’s parents’ deaths, Beth had kept her word. “I’ll call her.”

“Anybody phone home?”

The team. “Sam’s neck-deep in the annual Civil War battle reenactment.” Mark would know that was in Alabama. “Tim’s down in the Keys.”

“Still nursing a broken heart?”

“Oh yeah.” Joe frowned and swatted a mosquito buzzing his face. “Mandy was supposed to marry the guy she dumped Tim for today.”

“Did she do it?”

All the guys had hoped she’d come to her senses. “I haven’t heard, so I guess she did.”

“Tim’ll be a wreck for a while then.”

“Yeah.” Tim and Mandy had been engaged for nearly a year when she met Mr. Wonderful and kicked Tim to the curb like a piece of trash. Foolish move she’d one day regret. Tim had it all: looks, personality, money, and class. Joe didn’t get it—and he liked women and understood most of them better than they understood themselves. But he’d never understood Mandy. The woman had secrets; Joe would bank on it.

He swiped at the sweat on his forehead with his shirt-sleeve and glanced over. Light from a pole splayed over Karl Masson’s RV and the rear windshield of his car. Nothing stirring. “I haven’t talked to Nick.”

“Special assignment. Madagascar, I think.”

Joe deciphered the code.
Middle East. One of the oil-producing countries
.

“Where are you?”

“Following up a lead on Karl Masson.”

“Without backup?” Mark’s voice elevated a full octave.

“Just some recon, bro. No interdiction.”

After the human-trafficking incident, the FBI put out word that Masson had died in a fishing camp explosion in Louisiana. As long as NINA continued to think that, Masson would live. Yet something was going on, or headquarters wouldn’t have requested Joe take on a special assignment monitoring Masson’s RV.

“Watch your back.”

“Will do.” Joe checked again. Still no activity. It’d been nearly forty-eight hours. Where was he? Had to be on an extended rafting trip. That’s the only thing that made sense. “When’s Clyde’s funeral?”

“Tuesday. But don’t come. Like I said, things are too hot here right now.”

Typical Mark. Always trying to protect everyone else. But if things were that hot, someone needed to watch his back and Beth’s. “Understood.”

“I mean it, Joe. NINA would love to kill us both. Lay low.”

“Got it, bro.” Joe would radio in the RV’s GPS coordinates and leave immediately for Seagrove Village. Mark knew Joe would; had known it when he called. One of those strings had been tied to Lisa’s finger. No way would Mark stay out of it—officially or unofficially—and for the same reason, neither would Joe.

Beth Dawson might not yet realize she mattered much to Joe, but he realized it. She was sporting one of those strings
and
looking into the incident? Wild horses couldn’t keep him away.

“Get creative.”

Very creative
. “Yeah.”

“And check with your sources on Robert Tayton III. Something’s off with that guy.”

Of the team, Joe had the broadest reach on connections. His team depended on that to survive. “Any idea what?”

“No. But it’s something.”

Mark’s instincts were legend. “All over it.” Joe locked in the GPS coordinates and crawled on his belly and elbows through the woods to his bike. He’d
call Sam on his way down to the village and have him run a background on Tayton. Nick was sharper on computers, but Sam had a bloodhound’s nose. If there was anything to find, Sam would find it. “Karl Masson’s been MIA from his gear for forty-eight hours. He could be your man.”

“You think NINA knows he’s alive and brought him back into the organization?”

“Do we have proof NINA ever considered him dead?”

Mark grunted. “Valid point.”

Joe slid over an oak’s protruding roots, scraping his stomach and thighs. “Get me a secure line to talk to Beth.”

“I need a couple hours.”

“Fine.” A rock dug into Joe’s elbow. He winced. “Who’s handling the club attack?”

“Roxy.”

It was her event—she was the bride—and the FBI assigned her? She was good, very good and gutsy, but the personal interest made assigning her a questionable move. “She’s way too close, bro.”

“She can handle it. She’s the top authority on NINA and motivated.”

So Homeland Security made the call and pegged NINA as its primary suspect. With Karl Masson on the loose, this didn’t look good. “You need the team.”

“No. Not this time.”