Bare Facts (6 page)

“Where are we going?”

“To my workout room. I think it’ll be a nice distraction from all the waiting.”

“I can think of a few other things that would distract me.”

“Yes, but I’m not into casual sexual encounters.”

“I promise it won’t feel casual.”

She could believe that, which was precisely why she was leading him up the stairs and down the hall to her workout room.

She opened the door and nodded toward the changing room on the left. “There should be a Gi in there that will fit you.”

“I can fight in these clothes.”

“We’re not fighting, we’re sparring. There’s a difference.”

“Not to our enemies.”

“Do you want to spar as we are?”

“No.”

He crossed the mat to her. “I don’t want to spar at all. Get your things so we can get to the airport.”

“Daniel, I’ve heard that the gut should be our inner compass. And right now every instinct I have is telling me we need to give the team time to go over that plane.”

“I don’t want to hide. And my enemy will definitely know that I’m hiding.”

“We’re not hiding, we’re regrouping.”

“Then why the sparring?”

“To distract you. I can feel the anger pulsing through you.”

“You can?”

“You seem outwardly calm but there’s a tension in your shoulders and a real fire in your eyes. If you don’t want to spar with me, you can beat the hell out of that punching bag. But I think you need to do something before we get on the plane for five hours.”

He stood still in the center of the room, watching her, and she wondered if she’d said too much, if she shouldn’t have kept her opinions to herself. But she’d never been one to stay silent.

“You might have a point.”

“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” she said to distract him.

“Yes?”

“I’m always right.”

“Funny thing, so am I.”

“Well, we can’t both be this time,” she said.

“Exactly, so pack your things and let’s get out of here.”

“Why are you so stubborn about this?”

“Because he’s taking down my house, Charity. Every time I evade him or his assassins he goes after someone else close to me. I’m not going to let go of my anger because it’s what I need to make sure I don’t lose focus.”

“I can’t see you losing focus—everyone needs to breathe to keep their center, their balance.”

“Not everyone. I need a fight, a real fight with my enemy. And no matter how tempted I am to spar with you, I don’t think this is the right time.”

“Give me his name and we’ll leave.”

“You’re not in charge,” he said. “And we’ve already been over this.”

She was smart enough to know when to back down. And she knew Anna was working on Daniel’s past. She’d find this person who was threatening him and then maybe Charity would find the answer to why he was reluctant to name his enemy. And maybe even the real truth as to why he didn’t want to gather his strength before confronting his enemy again.

C
harity didn’t kid herself that she wasn’t deep in self-deception mode as she left Daniel in the workout room. She had seldom met any man that she couldn’t get around. But she was reluctant to use the attraction between them as a tool.

Which really ticked her off. She palmed her BlackBerry and dialed Sam’s number.

“What’s up, Charity?”

“Justine needs time to vet the plane before we get to the airport but Mr. Williams won’t stay put. He wants to be out there like a moving target.”

“So?”

“Sam, I’m his bodyguard. My main objective is to keep him alive. I can’t do that if he insists on countermanding everything I tell him to do.”

“I can send Justine in to cover him,” Sam said. “Move you to a more strategic role.”

“I don’t want that.”

“What do you want?”

“I want him to let me do my job.”

“Charity…”

“Don’t say it, Sam. I’m not treating him like anything other than a client.”

“That says otherwise.”

She pushed open her bedroom door and stalked to the closet. “He’s trying to protect everyone else. He seems to have no regard for his personal safety.”

“Has he given you any reasons for that?”

“Just says that he’s dealing with an old enemy…who he won’t name. Can you get the name?”

“I’ll try. Anything else?”

“No.”

She hung up with Sam and quickly packed her bag. She had a weapons bag that she always kept ready and it was already in the Rolls downstairs. She glanced around the room that her mother had decorated for her when she’d been twenty. It had been completed three short weeks before her parents’ deaths. The room, with all its classical feminine touches, was like getting a hug from her mom every time she came in here.

She dialed Justine’s cell next. “We’re coming in about thirty minutes.”

“We’re not clear yet. I found something strange loaded onboard,” Justine said, clearly distracted by the work she was doing.

“What?”

“I’m not sure yet. I think it’s a tracking device but it could also be a listening mechanism.”

“When will you know for certain?” Charity asked, reordering what they’d need to do. She needed more information from Daniel and if Sam came up empty she was going to have to…treat him like she did other men. Her mother was the first one to teach her that a pretty girl could open doors, or, in this case, gather information, with just a smile.

“By the time you get here. Why aren’t you staying put?”

“He won’t.”

“Does he want to die?”

Maybe he did. With Daniel it was hard to tell what was going on inside his head. She only knew that as long as there was a breath in her body, she wasn’t going to let him get himself killed. She suspected that was why he’d hired them. To make sure he had backup for whatever crazy, angry strategy he’d come up with. Too bad he played his cards so close to the chest…because she needed to know what was going on in his head.

“No, it’s not like that. Just be ready for us.”

“I will. You okay?” Justine asked.

“Fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

“I am.” This was her job, and she needed to find a way to push Daniel out of her mind and make him a client. With a job, not a man who fascinated her, she’d do better. Even Perry had never affected her this way. “This has just been a weird day.”

“You can say that again,” Justine said under her breath.

“What happened?” Charity asked, suspecting it was something personal because nothing rattled Justine on the job.

“That cop asked me out.”

“Are you going?”

“Hell, no. I don’t date law-enforcement types.”

“You’re not the kid you once were,” Charity said.

“Whatever. Give me a call when you’re at the airport. I want to make sure I’m ready before you come in.”

“I will. Where’s Anna?”

“She’s here, doing something to the computer flight plan program.”

“What?”

“Filing a dummy flight plan so you won’t have to worry about anyone shadowing you in the air.”

“Should I call her?”

“Nah, everything’s under control here.”

She hung up with her friend and glanced around the room one more time. She had every item she’d need for this job. Maybe too much stuff, considering she’d packed for a week and Daniel was determined to get this over with as soon as possible.

She rubbed the back of her neck, aware of the tension building in her. The tension that had been there all day long and was now getting worse.

Why should it matter to her if her client wanted to end the threats on his life in any manner possible, even by dying?

Daniel returned to the command center as soon as Charity left. Anger was like a hot lance inside of him and had been for the last three days since he’d realized that Sekijima was still alive and after him.

He knew his old friend well enough to know that he wasn’t just toying with him. He was tearing down the house that Daniel had built from the ashes of Sekijima’s old empire. Causing him to lose face. Daniel wasn’t Japanese but he’d been so much a part of the Yakuza that he knew in his soul he was.

Daniel went to the weapons cabinet and opened it up. She had an arsenal…that shouldn’t turn him on the way it did.

He fingered the samurai sword that hung there. It looked like one made by the Matuza. He had one in his own collection in the San Juans. Swords weren’t used in fighting much anymore but he’d always liked the way they felt in his hands. He suspected that was because he’d first learned to kill with a knife.

Maybe he should have taken this break she offered, this respite, but he didn’t want a break.

He had to keep moving so he could focus on his anger and not remember that he’d betrayed Sekijima first.

He didn’t regret his actions…wouldn’t let himself. There were some lines that should never be crossed, but at the same time, he did regret the loss of the man he’d once considered a brother.

“Do you like the sword?” Charity said, entering the room soundlessly. He glanced over his shoulder at her and realized she’d put something on her lips that made them glisten. He bit back a groan. His eyes fixated on her mouth…on her luscious mouth. Hell, if she’d suggested spending an hour in her bed instead of the workout room, he suspected he wouldn’t have turned her down.

“Yes. Are you trained with it?”

“With all these weapons. I started training when I was twenty.”

“In college?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, I…I was a model so I traveled around doing jobs and partying.”

“How did you go from that life to this?” he asked, needing the distraction of talking about her. But the truth was, he was fascinated by her. By everything about her. And he knew that he should leave her. Get further away than he’d agreed to.

Protecting her by keeping her with him had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now he wondered if there wasn’t more to it. Had he kept her around because of lust?

“Um…something happened,” she said. She walked over to the computer and sat down.

Dismissing him. But he wasn’t the kind of man to be set aside. “What happened?”

“My parents were killed.” Her fingers moved over the keys, opening her e-mail program and sorting through the messages there.

“Car accident?” he asked.

“No. Murdered for their money and jewelry by some street punk when they were in Japan,” she said, opening a photo from the e-mail program. “I didn’t have a chance to ask you if you recognize this woman.”

He leaned in close over her shoulder and stared at the woman who’d shot Alonzo. He didn’t know her but there was something familiar about her and her features. She reminded him of one of the wakushu—gang deputies trained as assassins.

There was something cold in her almond-shaped dark eyes that he recognized, harkening back to his own time working for Sekijima. Dammit, he felt that old life drawing on him. A part of him wanted back in that world. At least there he could act.

Life was so much easier when you went after what you wanted and took it, instead of spending hours in meetings and negotiations. But another part of him, the man who covered his tattooed back in thousand-dollar shirts and suits, knew that he’d made a choice a long time ago and this life…was the one he had to continue to lead.

“I don’t know her.”

“We can’t find her in any of our domestic databases, but Anna will run her through the international ones. Daniel, can I ask you something personal?”

“Sure.”

“I guess I meant, will you answer?” she said.

“Depends on the question.”

“How did you lose this finger?”

“Accident,” he said. He and Sekijima had entered Dragon Lords as candidates together and worked their way up the ladder. One mistake early on had cost him that finger but he didn’t regret the loss. It had made him the man he was today. A man unwilling to back down and focused.

“Accident? What kind?”

“The kind where you lose a finger.”

“Daniel…why are you shutting me down? You came to us for help.”

Charity watched him retreat, his green eyes going completely blank as he moved away from her. She sent the picture of the assassin to her BlackBerry so she’d have it with her.

Every question she asked him, he evaded neatly, keeping her not only at arm’s length but in the dark. And that was a very dangerous place to be with a hit man on the loose. There had to be a connection between Daniel and the blackmailer that was more than just an illegal business transaction.

“For your own safety, there are some things that you aren’t prepared to deal with.”

“Probably,” she said, “but I don’t think we’re going to be dealing with an infectious disease or a baby.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Those are the two things I’m not prepared for,” she said.

She almost teased a grin out of him and it felt good. She needed to find a way to make him trust her. And she wanted that trust to come from a bond of…well, friendship, if nothing else.

“I’ve been thinking more about what happened behind the hotel. I think Alonzo was the target.”

Daniel said nothing.

“Is it gang-related?” she asked at last, pivoting to face him.

“Why would you think that?”

She closed the distance between the two of them, walking straight up to him. He didn’t back down, which didn’t surprise her. “Just ruling out possibilities.”

“How is that a possibility?” he asked.

“Everything’s a possibility until we cross it off.”

“What kind of gangs?” he asked.

“You tell me.”

He shrugged. “I’m a CEO—what do I know about gangs?”

“Your fingertip is missing.”

He arched one eyebrow at her.

He’d reacted too strongly to her suggestion that there might be gang involvement, and there was only one reason she could assign to that. She ran through a list of gangs that she knew from the West Coast, quickly eliminating any that didn’t deal in trafficking from other countries. Mexicans would bring their goods up over the border or perhaps in through Canada. Japanese would need a ship. It was hard as hell to get stuff from Asia into the U.S. without one.

Japanese meant…Yakuza. She knew precious little about the Japanese gangs, other than that they were thought to be modern-day descendants of the samurai. And she knew that they prided themselves on their loyalty to their gang and their boss…someone called the Oyabun. Gang members had elaborate body tattoos that weren’t visible when they were dressed. And sometimes had severed fingertips.

The fingertips were given to a higher-up in reconciliation for mistakes. Now, Daniel wasn’t Japanese, but…

“Are we dealing with the Yakuza?”

For a moment his eyes flashed with her answer. A terse nod of his head was all he gave before turning away from her.

He wasn’t going to give up any information easily, she knew that. But this one piece…the Yakuza…dammit, that was going to be hard. They were a closed society. Hard to get information on because they didn’t let their people leave alive.

He was afraid of showing any weakness—most men were, but she added in the fact that his enemy was going after those closest to him, striking at the housekeeper and now his security chief. The Yakuza was the only thing that had made a certain kind of sense.

“Do you have a criminal past?”

“No,” he said.

She knew he was lying and cursed herself for asking the question so baldly. She sent a quick e-mail to Anna, telling her to focus on the Yakuza. And then shut down her computer.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked. If she stayed with him another moment, she was going to be tempted to force him to answer her questions. She shook her head. What was she going to do, beat the truth out of him? That was a line she wouldn’t cross. Justine, however, would. She gave a brief thought to asking her friend to do just that, but she had a feeling that Sam would not approve. And she also suspected that Daniel wasn’t the type of man not to hit back, no matter that the person beating him was a woman.

“Not yet. Don’t dig into this, Charity. The past has no place in what’s happening now. Your job is to protect me. That’s it.”

She let go of her own anger. Smile, she thought. Use the femininity that men never fail to respond to.

“You’re not even sure you want me to do my job. And you won’t listen to me,” she said carefully. She turned to face him, looking up at him from her chair. “I just want to help you, Daniel.”

“I’m your boss,” he said. “Just do what I tell you and we’ll be fine.”

But she knew there was more to it than that. Daniel was the kind of man who was very used to getting his own way and he wasn’t about to let a woman tell him what to do.

“You’re a smart man,” she said. “And I wouldn’t dream of telling you what to do in the boardroom, but here…in this situation, I have more experience than you do.”

“That’s not it,” he said.

“Then what is?”

“Control’s a big thing for you,” he said.

“I’d say I’m in good company then, because you refuse to back down. Don’t forget it, buddy. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to keep you safe. Even if that means digging all the way back to samurai days and the inception of the Yakuza.”