Frailty of Things Page 11

  “And?” she pressed, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “And I wouldn’t put it past him to have left because he knew what your father was but wanted to keep you out of it as much as possible. Wanted you to continue to have the life he thought you had.”

  He was surprised when Kit didn’t immediately reject his suggestion; instead, she stood there, a far-off look on her face. He got out of bed, pulled on his boxers, and went to her.

  “Kit?”

  Her eyes came back to him and in them he saw her own questions, her own doubts. Finally, she gave a small shake of her head. “I don’t know, Garret. What you say actually does sound like Caleb, like the Caleb I knew all those years ago. If he actually thought he was protecting me by leaving, by keeping me away from whatever it was he was looking into about our dad, I can see that. But...” Her voice trailed off.

  “But so much has happened since then it’s kind of hard to see the forest for the trees?” he offered.

  She nodded. “I just don’t know anymore, Garret. Protecting me while I was young does sound like him. But then to stay away for so long?”

  He heard the hurt and pain in her voice and wished he could explain it, but there was only one person who could do that.

  “Why don’t you get dressed and go talk to him?” he suggested. A look of panic crossed her features. He cupped her face and tilted her eyes up to his. “You already laid everything out, Kit. If you and Caleb have any chance of repairing your relationship, of getting back what you had as kids, you need to let him tell his side of the story.”

  She swallowed and after a few beats, nodded. “I’ll get dressed and be down in a minute. Can you go down and make some tea? Between the jet lag and the time of day and what we need to talk about, it could be a long night.”

  He nodded, then kissed her forehead. “You’re an amazing woman, Kit,” he said.

  She gave a small, sardonic laugh. “If only that were the case, but I’m glad you think so.”

  And he did. He watched her move into the bathroom and start brushing the tangles from her hair before he dressed himself and prepared to meet her brother. He had no doubt that Caleb was going to go to extreme measures to make things right with his sister. That was just the kind of guy he was. But Garret was pretty sure Caleb wouldn’t be extending the same understanding to him.

  And it didn’t take more than ten steps out of Kit’s bedroom for Caleb to confirm that for him. When he was halfway down the hall, Caleb came bounding up the stairs and sucker punched him with a mean left hook. Garret crashed against the wall, but didn’t otherwise defend himself. He could have, but he figured he’d let his friend get it out of his system.

  He was just straightening up when Kit flung her door open and quickly took in the scene. He noticed she’d pulled on a pair of yoga pants and dark green sweater, but her hair still looked a little wild.

  “Jesus, Caleb. What did you do?” she demanded, coming to Garret’s side.

  Neither he nor Caleb answered. She raised her hand and gingerly touched what he thought was probably a pretty decent sized red mark on his cheekbone.

  “Are you okay?” she asked him.

  “He’s fine,” Caleb grumbled.

  She turned and shot her brother glare. Garret thought Caleb looked suitably guilty.

  “Come on, let’s get some ice on that,” she said, taking Garret’s hand and leading him to the kitchen. Caleb followed and soon enough, Garret was propped on a stool with Kit tending to him. He thought it might have been worth the hit just to have her nursing him, standing there looking concerned, holding a bag of ice against his cheek.

  “He’s fine,” Caleb repeated.

  Again, Kit glared at him. And in turn Caleb glared at Garret, who smiled.

  “Jesus, he wasn’t such a baby when his arm all but got blown off a few years ago,” Caleb muttered.

  “That’s because she’s a better caregiver than you are. Prettier. She smells better too,” Garret shot back.

  Kit made a face. “I smell like sex,” she said quietly.

  Caleb all but growled and Garret’s smile got wider.

  “You,” she said with a pointed look at Garret, “don’t have to look like you’re enjoying this so much.”

  “But I am,” he answered.

  She gave them both one of those looks. “Well, I’m not. Caleb, why on earth would you do something like that?”

  “Because he’s sleeping with you,” came his matter-of-fact reply. As if that alone explained everything. And it kind of did, to Garret. But Kit did not look so appeased.

  “Right,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “As if you’ve never had sex before. Geez, Caleb, grow up.”

  He grumbled something.

  “And let’s get one thing clear, dear brother,” she continued, fixing him with a look. “Short of you needing to protect someone’s life, if you ever, and I repeat ever hit someone in my house again, or even on my property,” she amended, “you will not be welcome in my home.”

  Caleb just stared back at her.

  “Do you understand?” she demanded.

  Finally, after a long pause, her brother gave a single nod.

  “Good, now that that is out of the way, I think—” But she never got to finish her sentence. The bell indicating that someone was turning into her driveway rang.

  With a frown, she handed Garret the ice bag and moved toward the security monitor she had in the kitchen. Garret watched as her head cocked to the side. He couldn’t see her face but judging by her body language, he’d wager she wasn’t sure about something.

  “Kit?” Caleb seemed to sense the same thing.

  She shook her head and turned around. “It’s nothing. Or rather, I think it’s nothing, but Drew is coming up the drive. He just,” she said with another glance at the monitor, “he just doesn’t usually visit without calling first. But I guess we’ll know why soon enough,” she added as they heard the car pull onto the parking pad.

  Garret watched Kit, who looked more curious than concerned. Which was exactly what he was not feeling. Anxiety crept up his back and into his shoulders as the seconds ticked by. He didn’t like the idea of the agent coming to visit Kit unannounced. As far as he was concerned, it was a little like getting that middle-of-the-night phone call.

  By unspoken agreement, he and Caleb stayed in the kitchen when Kit went to answer the door. One look at Caleb told Garret that his long-time partner was thinking the same thing—nothing good was going to come of this.

  He heard Drew and Kit greet each other and then the sound of a kiss being given, a jacket being removed, and gloves coming off. A few seconds later they both walked into the kitchen.

  Garret didn’t know what he had been expecting when he’d first heard about Drew, but it wasn’t this. The man looked like he’d just stepped out of some yuppie catalog or off some yacht. He was tall and lean. His blond hair was the right length to fall over his forehead just so and his blue eyes tracked Kit. Garret hadn’t been inclined to like him before meeting him. He liked him even less now.

  Kit made the introductions, but none of the men offered to shake hands. Then, after a few seconds of awkward silence, Drew turned back to Kit.

  “Kit, is there somewhere we can talk?” Privately was left unspoken.

  Kit glanced at Garret, then at Caleb. Garret could tell from the look in her eyes that she was getting a bad feeling about this too. He was about to step in when she nodded to Drew.

  “Yes, my office.”

  Drew inclined his head and she gestured for him to follow.

  “Kit?” Garret said, rising from his seat, not wanting her to go anywhere with a man who no doubt knew more than he should about the way the world worked. He didn’t want her exposed to that any more than she already had been.

  “It’s fine, Garret. I’ll be right back,” she said before disappearing up the stairs with Drew following behind her.

  He tracked their footsteps down the hall, through her room, and into her
office, then heard the office door slide shut. He looked at Caleb.

  “What the hell?” Caleb said. And again, Garret was struck by just how much this situation was stressing Caleb out. He’d heard him swear more times in the past two weeks than in the previous five years.

  “Any idea what it’s about?” Garret asked.

  Caleb drew back and made a face. “How the hell would I know? I just found out she has friends in the agency.”

  “You can’t tell me you didn’t look into it while I was in Rome,” Garret pointed out.

  Caleb shrugged. “Yeah, I did. No one seems to know much, but those who did know something didn’t seem to think,” he paused, presumably looking for the right word, “didn’t seem to think she was involved in anything more than what she told us. No reason for her to be in danger.”

  “She carries information for the CIA. There’s always the possibility of danger,” Garret pointed out.

  “Yeah, well, their view of danger is relative, and in their estimation, she isn’t in any.”

  Garret considered this as they fell into an expectant silence. He didn’t like the direction his mind was taking, but until Kit came out and actually told them what was happening, he wouldn’t be able to keep his thoughts from going to all sorts of dark places.

  Finally, he heard the office door slide open, but it wasn’t Kit who came down the stairs. Drew’s boots made an appearance and the man himself soon came into view. Taking a look at the two of them, he leaned casually against the wall and crossed his arms.

  “Where’s Kit?” Caleb asked.

  Drew’s eyes flicked to Caleb’s, held them for a moment, then landed on Garret’s face.

  “She’ll be down in a minute. That’s some hit you took there,” he commented with a nod toward Garret’s eye.

  Garret tipped his head.

  “You hit him left-handed,” Drew added, directing his comment, if not his attention to Caleb.

  “I’m left-handed,” Caleb countered.

  “No you’re not,” Drew answered. “You’re mostly ambidextrous but your right hand is your lead.” On the surface it was an innocuous statement, but no one in the room was fooled. Drew had very subtly thrown down the gauntlet, letting them both know just how much he knew and what kind of detailed information he was privy to.

  “But it’s not as though I haven’t been there before,” Drew added with a smile and a nod toward Garret’s bruised face, “Dani, who you met in London, and her sister Sam are like sisters to me. We grew up together.” His eyes danced to Caleb, then seemed to grow thoughtful. “Of course, with Dani there was a time or two when it was her I wanted to throttle,” he added.

  “Ready?” Kit said, jogging down the stairs. Carrying an overnight bag.

  Both Garret and Caleb shot out of their seats.

  “Like hell,” Garret said. “You aren’t going anywhere,” he added, making a move to stop her. She ignored him and focused on pulling on her boots.

  “Kit,” Caleb warned.

  “Oh, stop,” she said, straightening and reaching for the coat Drew had retrieved for her. “You come and go all the time. And I mention that not to sound spiteful but to remind you that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Garret demanded. Then, rounding on Drew, he added, “Where the hell are you going because she sure as shit isn’t going without one of us.”

  Drew tugged his gloves on with infuriating nonchalance. “I’m afraid she is. We’ve had a little chat and she’s agreed to come with me for a few days.”

  “On company business?” Caleb demanded.

  “Kit,” Garret said, trying to stop her.

  “Ready?” Drew asked, ignoring Caleb’s question. Kit nodded.

  “Jesus, Kit. You can’t just leave,” Garret erupted.

  The look she gave him seared into his brain. She could and she would. But then her eyes seemed to soften and she stepped back into the kitchen. She walked up to her brother and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Caleb stood stalk still and Garret had no doubt his friend had no idea what to do—let her go or steal her away. He recognized the look because he could sympathize.

  Then she approached Garret. Gently she brushed the hair beside his growing bruise. “Take care of that,” she said. He reached for her hand and she let him take it, if only for a moment. “I’ll be back soon,” she said. Then she leaned into him and brushed her lips against his.

  He wasn’t sure how it happened, but the next thing he knew, the door was closing behind her and once again, he and Caleb were left in a hollow, empty silence.

  The sound of Drew’s car faded into the distance and he brought his eyes around to Caleb’s. The gaze that met his wasn’t that of his friend. It was that of his partner of the last seven years, his colleague, his brother in arms. Without a word, they formulated a plan. They both knew what they had to do.

  “I’ll make the calls,” Caleb said.

  “I’ll make sure the plane is ready.”

  CHAPTER 10

  BY SEVEN the next morning, Garret and Caleb were making their way through security at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. They’d learned a little bit about what was going on through the various phone calls they’d made during the night, but they didn’t know too much more than they had when Kit walked out the door.

  What they did know was who was running the show and calling the shots, and that was who they were dropping in on this morning. The plan was to be read in and given the details of where Kit was—and why—and then go find her. Garret had an additional plan, but at the moment, he was keeping it to himself.

  Given their level of clearance, they made it through security quickly and were assigned a young soldier to escort them to their destination.

  Five minutes later, over the objections of his assistant, they walked into Drew’s office without knocking. Sitting behind his desk looking immaculately put together, he glanced up at them from over the lenses of a pair of reading glasses, then waved off his worried assistant. The door shut behind them.

  “Have a seat,” Drew said, returning his focus to his computer.

  “You don’t seem surprised to see us,” Caleb commented.

  Drew looked back up at them and as his eyes travelled to Garret he let out a little laugh. “No, I’m not surprised to see you.”

  “We’re here to see Rina,” Garret said.

  “I know, but she’s finishing a meeting. Like I said, have a seat. She’ll be here as soon as she’s done.” Neither Caleb nor Garret sat; after a moment, Drew shrugged and went back to his computer.

  Garret gave Caleb a look.

  In response, Caleb pulled out his phone and dialed. “Rina?” he said.

  “Jesus,” Garret heard her muffled reply, then realized as the door swung open behind them that he hadn’t been hearing her voice through Caleb’s phone. “I told Drew to keep you entertained while I finished my meeting, but you always were an impatient bastard, Forrester,” she said through the now open doorway.

  Rina Ahmed strode into the room, took everyone in, then narrowed her eyes. At five foot nothing, the older woman had grown plump with age and her black hair was streaked with gray. Wearing a dark blue dress and blazer, pearls, and sturdy heels, she looked a little like the stereotype of a librarian from the fifties—bun and all. But Garret knew enough about her to know that the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” had probably been created with her in mind.

  Rina was one of a handful of people who ran the show at the agency. Not the public parts—no, that was a more politically savvy appointee who was not much more than a figurehead—but the parts that actually got things done, that worked with operatives, analyzed intelligence, and planned operations. That was all her. At least when it came to their foreign operations. Having been one of the best operatives of her time, she was well respected—by those who worked for and with her—and she was also one of the most blunt.

  “Sit down, Forrester, Cantona. Drew, do you
have anything new coming in?” she asked, closing the door and moving toward the small, round table at one end of Drew’s office.

  “Yes, they’re just departing from the military base near Stanwick now. We should have more information in a few hours.”

  “Then join us,” she commanded. Picking up a few files from his desk, he did so, and in short order, the four of them were sitting around a table that was way too small. Garret looked at Rina.

  “As you know, Jonathon Parker is an MI6 agent who was recently put on leave pending an investigation into the release of certain information that compromised several key MI6 assets,” she began. “No one likes a leak, especially one with those kinds of consequences, and it was even less fortunate that a few of those assets worked with us on occasion as well.” As she spoke, she slid a file in front of each of them.

  “We were doing our own investigation, of course, and have known for about ten days that Jonathon wasn’t the problem. But until we knew the extent of the problem within MI6, we decided to hold the information close to our vests.”

  “With the exception of what Drew had Kit give him,” Garret interjected, not hiding the bitterness he felt.

  Rina carried on without missing a beat. “And I’m glad Drew did so because we concluded our investigation last night, and based on our findings, three people at various levels in MI6 are involved. Jonathon was an easy one to frame, given his travel schedule and contacts, so when someone at MI6 finally started to suspect a leak and they began putting the intel together, including the fact that assets were being killed in a subtle but systematic way, one of those three men involved in the leak, someone higher up on the food chain, had everything lined up to point to Jonathon.”

  “So they’re clearing him,” Caleb said.

  “And why do we care about this?” Garret interjected. He was getting impatient to get to the parts relevant to Kit.