Home Front, page 14
“Bullet,” he confirmed, before she’d asked.
“It’s so close to your heart.”
He rubbed the spot with one finger. “Eh. Not really. The heart’s lower and more centered than most people think. I was lucky. This didn’t hit any vital organs or nick any arteries. But the bullet did get lodged in my collar bone. That was a bitch. Otherwise, it would have gone in and out. No problem.”
No problem? She didn’t agree. “That’s crazy.”
He wobbled his head from side-to-side but didn’t disagree with her. “There’s more. Keep looking.”
Her lips twitched when she spotted the small scar by his lip. She pointed to it in triumph. “Right there.”
“Yup. My big sister Kendall threw a snowball at me when I was little. It was more ice than snow and cut up my lip pretty good. Bled like a son of a gun. She got in trouble and I got hot cocoa with marshmallows. It was a pretty good day.” Kyle grinned.
She listened to the tale from his youth, once again feeling envious of Kyle’s big family. She’d always wanted a sister. She would have loved a whole brood of brothers like he had too.
Her aunt tried to fill the hole in her life but it wasn’t the same.
Then there was Daniel. Luna had complicated that relationship with her cousin by hiring him. How did you fire a relative without irreparably damaging the relationship?
“Go on. I got a couple more,” Kyle continued, still playing the game.
Grateful for the distraction from her less-than-happy thoughts, she got up on her knees and started to really search. Buried in the fine hair leading down to his groin she found a long slim scar, as well as his newly emerging erection.
Valiantly ignoring the appendage, for now, she said, “Found it. Appendicitis?”
“Knife wound.”
Eyes wide, she waited for him to explain.
What she got was a head shake as he said, “It wasn’t deep. Keep looking. Last one.”
As he looked smug, she tried to move on from the mysterious knife wound and searched some more.
She examined him back to front. And was ready to attack him again by the time she was done going over his incredible body, inch-by-inch.
Finally, she sighed. “Okay. I give up. Where is it?”
“Right here.” He tapped his heart, looking serious. “Mary Ellen Moffat. She broke my heart.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “No fair. You’re quoting the drinking scene from Jaws.”
He grinned wide. “You know the movie.”
“Of course, I do,” she said, shocked that he was surprised she would.
“It’s way older than you are,” he pointed out.
She lifted one shoulder. “It’s still a classic.”
His smile remained as he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer until her body covered his. “Tell me you listen to classic rock and you might be the perfect woman.”
She pressed her lips together. “Sorry. No can do. Rock and country music are my two no-gos.”
He expelled a loud, exaggerated breath. “Oh well. I guess perfection is overrated.”
Smirking at his own joke, he ran his hands over her bare bottom.
She was tired of talking when there were so many better things they could be doing.
“Can we have sex again now that your little game is over?” she asked.
“Definitely.” Growling, he rolled them both over and gently brushed a kiss over each of the scars on her breasts.
She was just enjoying his mouth on her as he kissed his way down her stomach when her cell phone rang.
Angel had terrible timing. With a sigh, she stretched for it on the table between the two beds but couldn’t quite reach while Kyle was on top of her.
He struggled to get off her and give her the space to sit up and answer the call. Meanwhile, all the while his cock saluted the ceiling, distracting her from the ringing phone.
Finally, she could reach the device. She picked it up and glanced at the display.
“Is it Angel?” he asked.
“No. It’s my assistant.” She raised her gaze to meet his. “She has instructions not to bother me while I’m in New York unless it’s an emergency. I should answer.”
“I agree. Put it on speaker so I can hear too,” he instructed.
She didn’t object. So far every call she’d gotten since being with Kyle had been a report of something bad. Why would this one be the exception?
After answering the call and hitting the button for speakerphone, she said, “Hey, Amy. What’s up?”
What she heard in response was a near-hysterical Amy, and what she was saying was not making any sense.
“Amy. Calm down. Take a breath. Then tell me what’s wrong.”
“A box…” Amy sobbed.
“What about a box?” Luna asked.
“A—a box. With a dead fish in it. On my desk.”
“A what?” She couldn’t have heard Amy correctly.
“A dead fish. And the note says, Luna Blue is next if she doesn’t go home and stay home.”
At those words, she turned to look at Kyle in time to see him mouth one word. “Fuck.”
Kyle was on his feet and dressed in under a minute. He was on the phone a few seconds later.
When whoever he’d called answered, he said, “This is Kyle Jones. You said to call if I needed back up. I think I might need back up.”
twenty-two
“Has your location been compromised,” Chris asked.
“No.” And now that the initial adrenaline surge had passed, he realized so far, they were safe here. No one in the world knew where Luna was except for him, Kurt and his father.
Maybe that explained the uptick in threats. To Angel. To the assistant. They couldn’t find Luna so they were striking out at everyone connected to her.
And that had to mean she was good here. For now. But not once she returned to Miami.
Then they’d know right where to find her. She’d be vulnerable and he wouldn’t be there to protect her.
That meant he had to find the bastard threatening her before she left for Miami.
“We’re good for now,” he said with more confidence. “The problem is I’m here with her instead of being out there looking for this person. I can’t even investigate online. I’ve got a cell phone and shit signal.”
“Not a problem. We've got a computer guru and a couple of PIs on the payroll. Give me the contact of everyone who's gotten a threat. Mail, email, phone call, whatever. We'll follow up. We’ll get all y’all some answers.”
“That would help. Thanks. I’ll get you what you need within the hour.” Kyle promised, realizing that he’d clearly underestimated this job.
Simple bodyguard duty should not entail dead fish in boxes delivered to personal assistants.
At least that was what he had assumed. Probably what Jon Rudnick had assumed as well. They’d been wrong.
It took the better part of an hour for Luna to gather everything for Chris. The contact information for everyone who’d received a threat, where it had been delivered, how and when.
In addition to the threats, he also included the information about the strange reporter who’d called Dan requesting an interview and the photographer who’d received the anonymous tip with the ski house address.
Finally, Kyle had Luna write down the exact wording of what the threatening messages said. That was as much for him and his own investigation as for GAPS.
While GAPS tracked down IP addresses and traced calls, he didn’t intend to sit idle. He was looking for clues, patterns in the messages themselves.
He stared at the list now. The only information missing was exactly what Angel’s note had said. And since Angel wasn’t getting back to them, that information would remain missing until he did.
Kyle tapped the last line on the paper list with one finger. “There’s a pattern here.”
“Is there?” Luna asked, looking exhausted from the stress.
He had found the opposite as he rode an adrenaline high. His body felt primed and ready for action. Sitting here in the cabin and not being able to move was the hard part for him. Not being able to actively do anything to help.
But he couldn’t blame Luna for being worn down. He’d done what he could to keep her calm. He’d even heated water on the stove and left her alone with a basin, a bar of soap and a towel so she could get cleaned up. Short of sneaking her into his parents’ house to shower, that was the best he could do for her.
While she was washing up, he’d jumped into the pond right outside the cabin with his own bar of soap and towel.
This time of year, the water was cold as fuck. Although no worse than Coronado Beach during his winter BUD/S class all those years ago. At least the lake wasn’t salt water or sandy.
Her mug of herbal tea sat on the table, mostly untouched. She was obviously stressed in spite of all his efforts. He couldn’t imagine she was going to feel better until they caught whoever was responsible for the threats.
He stood and walked behind her, rubbing her shoulders, his last ditch effort to lessen the tension she nearly vibrated with. He had to do something to counteract the effect of the discussion about the threats he’d initiated.
Like it or not, he couldn’t do this completely alone. He needed her input.
“The first letter arrived in Albany, hand delivered while you were on tour,” he began. “Right around the same time, the message was written in the steam in your bathroom…”
The message that chilled him to the bone as he pictured the person in the same room with her. Just on the other side of the shower curtain. Too close. Too dangerous.
“They both basically said in slightly different wording, that you should leave,” he continued. “Then the last one. The message with the fish sent to your assistant. That one also tells you to go home and stay home.”
He moved around to sit again so he could see her face.
“Seems to me someone doesn’t want you out on the road touring.”
A crease formed in her forehead. “But I’m not touring right now. That ended weeks ago.”
“But you will be on the road again. Soon. Right?”
She nodded. “Yes. In a few more weeks. After Angel gets back from Europe. But who would do this? And why?” she asked.
“A rival maybe?” He shrugged. “Did you knock someone’s song off the charts and they’re pissed?”
“Songs get knocked off the charts all the time. It usually doesn’t drive people to this.” She swept a hand to indicate his threat list.
“Well, maybe we’re not dealing with a balanced individual. Who knows what set them off?”
“No.” Luna shook her head. “I think you’re wrong. I haven’t had a chart topper since the album dropped. And that was a year ago, before the tour started. Why would they wait a year, until the tour was ending, to get angry?”
“That’s what is nagging at me about all this. The timing.” Kyle narrowed his eyes and stared at the list again. “These all came within a month of each other. What was the catalyst? Why now?”
He raised his gaze to her.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged.
That was what he had to figure out. He felt it in his gut. That was the missing clue. If he knew why, he’d be able to pinpoint who.
He was concentrating so hard on doing just that, the ringing of his cell startled him. He blew out a breath of relief when he read the name on the readout and grabbed the cell to answer. “Rudnick. You back?”
“Hello, Jones. I am. Heard you had some excitement while I was gone.”
That was putting it mildly. “I did.”
“You all right? The package safe?”
The package.
Kyle bristled at Rudnick’s use of that generic and unemotional term for Luna. It was a reference he’d used himself in the teams. Its use was just as appropriate in this situation, but today hearing it bothered him.
Luna was a person. Not a package. And even his thinking that was proof he was too emotionally involved in his situation.
He should remove himself from the job. It was the right thing to do and he knew there was no way in hell he was going to do it. Kyle only trusted one person to keep her safe. Himself.
“We’re both fine,” he told Rudnick. “We’d be a lot better if we could locate the source of the threats.”
“That’s one reason I’m calling. Our computer guy has got something.”
“Yeah? What?” That was fast. Kyle was impressed.
He’d completely forgive Rudnick for going MIA and for calling Luna the package if the man’s company could pull off finding the person threatening her.
“You’re not gonna like it,” Rudnick warned.
Shit. He didn’t even like the sound of that warning. He could only imagine how much he was going to dislike what Rudnick was about to tell him.
He was just going to have to deal with that. “Go on,” he prompted.
“We tracked down the photographer. The one who paid you the visit at the rental house.”
“How did you do that?” Kyle hadn’t gotten the guy’s name.
In hindsight, he probably should have. Another reason he was a better SEAL than a bodyguard. The CIA usually handled shit like names and details.
“We acquired the names of everyone staying at the ski resort during that time. Being off-season, it was a short list. Didn’t take long to pinpoint our guy. We reached out and persuaded him to let us try to trace the source of the anonymous tip.”
“Really? And he was on board with that?” Kyle had trouble picturing that guy being all that generous with information.
“We can be very persuasive.”
The way Rudnick said it, Kyle didn’t ask any more.
“Anyway, we were able to trace the tip. And this is the part you won’t like. It came from Luna’s manager’s computer.”
“What?” Kyle looked up and saw Luna staring at him. This news might be what was going to break her.
“Daniel Diaz. The same man who hired us to protect her,” Rudnick confirmed.
And the man who was not just her manager, but also family.
“What the fuck?” he asked, to no one in particular.
“Yup. We’ve actually seen this before. People cause a problem, usually for someone close to them, so they can save that person and be a hero. It’s called Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy.”
Jesus. That fit.
Kyle glanced at the list again and it was like the puzzle pieces began to fall into place as he saw them in light of this new information.
They already had proof that he tipped off the photographer as to where she was.
As for the rest, Dan could have written the first note he claimed was hand delivered to the hotel in Albany. He could have snuck into the bathroom to write the message on the mirror. Then, when Luna was good and frightened, he swooped in to save the day by hiring her a bodyguard.
And he’d supposedly shielded her from the call from a fake reporter trying to get access to her. But they only had his word that the call even happened. His word that a suspicious boat was hanging around her house.
As for the messages to Angel and Amy, those could have easily been Dan too.
The question remained, why? And why now?
“What does the client want us to do with this information?” Rudnick asked, bringing Kyle back to the reality that he was going to have to break this news to her. “We can turn over what we have to the authorities.”
“Um. Let’s wait on that until she can wrap her head around this and make a decision.”
“Understood. I’ll wait for your call.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” Kyle disconnected and glanced up at Luna.
“Kyle, what’s happening?”
“There’s evidence. It’s possible that these threats might have originated with…Daniel.”
Her eyes widened. “My Daniel?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, hating he had to confirm the worst. “But I still don’t understand what would make him suddenly do this. He’s worked for you for how long?”
“Five years.”
“So why now suddenly?” he asked again.
Looking miserable, she raised her gaze to meet his. “Because I’ve been thinking about letting Dan go. About a month ago, right after he approved the announcement of my engagement without bothering to discuss it with me, I’d had it. I emailed a friend in the business and asked if they could recommend a manager who was taking on new clients.”
Well, that would explain it.
Shit.
All he’d wanted was to find the person responsible for torturing Luna. But now that they had, it might have made things worse.
“You okay? It can’t be easy to hear it’s Daniel.”
“I’m sad. And I feel guilty that something I did hurt him so badly he’d resort to this. And, I know this is going to sound horrible, but I’m kind of relieved that it was him and not some psycho stranger out to kill me. Daniel might be upset and angry, but he’d never really hurt me.”
Kyle could only hope she was right.
twenty-three
“Rudnick is waiting on you to turn the evidence they have over to the authorities.”
Luna shook her head. “No.”
As devastating as this news was, what would be worse would be a huge media storm. And if this went to the police, the media would no doubt get a hold of it.
Daniel was family. He might be trying to scare her. But he wouldn’t hurt her. She wasn’t in danger. That’s all that mattered.
“So what do you want to do?” Kyle asked.
“Nothing for now.”
“Nothing?” His eyes widened.
“I’ll deal with Dan when I get back to Miami.”
He nodded. “All right. I understand.”
She got up and moved to where Kyle sat. She sat in his lap facing him. “You know what I really want to do?”
“What?” he smiled, probably thinking her request was sexual in nature given she was straddling him.
“I want to go to church and hear your parents sing in the choir. I want to meet your mother and grandmother and your other brother and sister and her kids. I want to sit down at the Jones family dinner table and eat stew. I want to be normal. Just for a little while before I go back to my real life.”
