Bare Facts (7 page)

He gripped her arm hard, drew her body close to his, glaring down at her. “There are some things that aren’t meant to be brought forward.”

What was he so afraid of in his own past? “The past always shapes who we are now. We can’t run from it or it will consume us.”

“That’s a very Zen thought.”

“Yes, it is. But it’s also true.”

“In certain circumstances, but I refuse to be defined by what happened years ago.”

“We’ve all made mistakes, Daniel…don’t worry about what we’ll find.”

He let her go, stepping away from her. She followed him, knowing that she was close to getting some answers. Needing those answers now more than ever.

“Tell me. Whatever it is, I need to know if I’m going to keep you alive.”

“It’s nothing. There’s no big secret. Dig around in my past all you want. But stay away from the Yakuza. The Oyabun doesn’t take kindly to anyone sniffing at their door.”

The Oyabun was serious business. For the first time, she felt a frisson of fear for Daniel. She had utter confidence that she could protect him but if his enemy was that powerful, nothing short of death would stop the man. And his death would simply bring about another enemy. Another person to take up the blood vengeance.

“You’re going to have to trust me sooner or later.”

“No, I’m not. Because we’re going to take care of the threat to me and then you’ll be out of my life.”

“If you are an enemy of an Oyabun, this isn’t going to go away easily.”

“Let me worry about that.”

She shook her head, grabbing her back and walking out of the command center. She heard him behind her as they walked out the front door. She paused to reset the alarm on the house.

“I really don’t like you right now.”

“Good. Don’t like me. Don’t try to figure out what’s going on here. Just do your job and keep me alive so I can take care of business.”

She gave him a steely-eyed look as he brushed past her, but he totally missed it because he concentrated on getting into the car.

“What’s your plan when we get to the airport?” she asked. “Parade around until someone else takes a shot at you?”

“If I thought that would work, I’d try it,” he said with a grim smile. “That way we could finish this now.”

“You want it finished?”

He arched one eyebrow at her.

“Then give me the name of your enemy.”

He held the door open for her and she tossed her bag into the backseat of the car.

“Tell me, Daniel. It’s the only way to get him. Quickly and efficiently.”

L
aing was definitely onto something with his thoughts on guilt, and Charity couldn’t help but believe that was at the heart of what drove Daniel. His silence about the name of his enemy made her believe strongly that there was more to the threat.

“His name is Sekijima. But you won’t find him in any of your government databases. Trust me on this.”

“Why is he coming after you?”

“Revenge,” Daniel said. “Get in the car. Even though you have the security fence, I don’t like being out in the open.”

She slid in the backseat and Daniel followed quickly behind her. She didn’t know Henry and couldn’t trust the man, so she knew they’d have to wait to continue this discussion when they weren’t in his presence. The scent of Daniel’s aftershave was strong and lingered in the air.

“Take us to the executive airport, Henry,” Daniel said as soon as he was seated.

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell me more about your parents’ death,” he said, as they left the compound and entered the residential area. Henry drove with skill through the traffic. His change of topic told her that he didn’t trust the driver, either. But that didn’t surprise her—Daniel really didn’t trust anyone.

Charity kept one eye on the cars around them. “Why do you want to know?”

“You said our past shapes who we are,” he said gently.

That’s right, she had. “I was very shallow back then.”

“You were young. Twenty is just not old enough for maturity.”

“Well, I never felt that way. I mean, I’d been traveling and socializing for over five years in the super-model crowd. I was an only child and my parents were very indulgent.”

“You were their princess?” he asked.

She felt a twinge of shame at how spoiled she’d been and how she had taken that for granted. She’d wanted for nothing growing up. Materially her parents provided more than one child could ever play with. And emotionally, they’d doted on her and she’d returned that love. Until she’d reached her teenaged years.

“Definitely. My father had insisted that I get an education and I had attended a boarding school in Switzerland before I started modeling. He wanted me to continue but I talked him out of it.”

When word had reached her of his death, she’d been haunted by guilt and her own arrogance. She’d expected to have a lifetime to find her way back to her parents, to live up to their expectations, but everything had changed in a moment.

She’d left Paris, where she’d been working and living, and traveled to Kobe, where her parents had been killed. The local police didn’t have any leads on who was responsible for her parents’ deaths, and she’d stayed there, working for almost two years training under an aikido master and asking questions. Becoming so much a part of the town and the people there that eventually she’d found the answers she’d sought.

And once she’d had a name, she’d honed her skills until she was able to go after the man who’d killed her parents—and bring her own retribution to him.

It was after his death that Sam had found her. He’d completed her training and offered her a chance to work for justice, not as a vigilante. She’d accepted and never looked back.

“Did you ever go back to school?”

“I have a degree in business administration. But working for Liberty Investigations, I don’t really use it. But, yeah, I have it, and I’d like to think that maybe he knows I do.”

She felt so exposed sitting next to him, thinking about her parents. She knew it was the vulnerability that remembering them always brought to the fore.

“What about you? Are you close to your parents?” she asked. The file they’d had on him didn’t mention any family at all. Her family had defined how she’d lived her life and where she was now. She didn’t like to dwell on them, because that was the past. She tried hard to always keep looking forward and moving forward.

He rubbed his thumb over the tip of his distorted right forefinger. “My parents…I never knew them. My earliest memories are of living on the street.”

“Oh, Daniel,” she said. The picture she had of him suddenly reshaped and changed. She wanted to touch his distorted finger, to take it in her hand and rub it the way he did.

In his eyes she’d seen that there was more to the man than the GQ clothing and urbane sophistication, but she’d never have guessed at this type of past. Factoring the Yakuza connection…she didn’t like where this was going. If Daniel had once been a part of the a gang, then he would never be able to get out.

“What? It wasn’t bad. I learned at an early age how to survive and I’ve never forgotten those lessons.”

“I imagine you haven’t. No wonder you are so successful.” She felt every inch the spoiled, pampered girl she’d been. True, she’d changed once she’d reached adulthood, but there were times when she was embarrassed by the girl she’d been.

“How do you mean?”

Why had she started this conversation? She didn’t need to know the details of his past in order to guard him. Yet she couldn’t help herself. She was curious about what made Daniel Williams who he was.

“You learned early to go after what you wanted and not let anything stand in your way.”

He glanced over at her and she felt something pass between them. It wasn’t sexual but it had a tinge of that in it. It was more a soul-deep recognition.

“I guess so,” he said.

“It took me a while to get there. I expected my life always to be perfect,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I feel so silly saying that to you.”

Daniel turned to her and she felt her breath catch as he watched her. He looked at her like she was so much more than the sum of her parts. Like even though he now knew her shameful past, he still saw her as someone of integrity.

“You don’t strike me as someone who feels silly often.” She liked the way his voice sounded when he talked quietly. Keeping the conversation between the two of them made it feel so much more intimate than it probably was.

“True. But in light of the kind of life you must have led—”

“Don’t belittle your upbringing. We all have scars we carry with us. Even if they don’t show on the surface, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t painful.”

She bit her lower lip and leaned in close to him. “I liked you better when you were making passes at me.”

“Liar.”

“Maybe.” She fought the urge to smile at him. She wanted to believe that she was keeping one step ahead of him but he read her like an open book.

“No maybe about it,” he said. “You don’t respect anyone who can’t see past your curves.”

Charity wanted to ask him if her respect was important, but she was very afraid that he’d say yes. And even more afraid that she’d believe him.

Henry accelerated and weaved through the cars on the highway with more than skill, driving with more speed than he had been before.

“Is there a problem, Henry?’

“Someone’s following us, sir.”

Daniel was glad for the distraction. Charity was too much of a temptation. He wanted to make promises to her that he knew he’d never be able to deliver. But she made him long for a life and for a path that he’d never experienced. Never wanted before he’d stared into her gunmetal-gray eyes.

“Slow down and let them catch us.”

“Yes, sir.”

Charity gripped his arm. “Are you crazy? We don’t know who’s in the car.”

“We will when they catch us.”

“Daniel—”

“I’m in charge, remember?”

“You’re looking for a fight,” she said, under her breath. But he noticed she reached for her weapon. As had he.

“Where is the car, Henry?”

“Black Spider. He’s keeping his distance but he’s been back there since we left Ms. Keone’s residence.”

Charity turned around. With the tinted, bulletproof windows, there was no way for the driver of the other car to notice her attention on him.

“Can you make out a plate on the car?” Charity asked.

“No.”

“What’s your plan, Daniel?” she asked.

“Henry, pull off the road up here. We’ll sit and wait.”

“As your bodyguard—”

“They’ll probably drive past. How good a shot are you?”

“I’m a marksman.”

“I think a flat tire would help us,” he said.

She nodded. “What will you be doing?”

“Hoping the driver presents a target.”

“We need him alive to question.”

Daniel didn’t say anything. Henry eased the car to the side of the road and Charity opened her window to set up her shot. She was on the right side so the car would be going by on the left. She knew that she’d have to time her shot just right.

She didn’t pay any attention to Daniel or to Henry. She had her job to do and she would get it done. She saw the cars flying past at over 70 miles per hour and waited for the black Spider.

As soon as she saw the taillights she took a breath, let half of it out, and squeezed the trigger. The silencer muffled the sound and she felt it kick in her hand. A second later the car lurched as the right rear tire started losing air. The driver didn’t slow down but kept moving.

She memorized the license plate and then glanced over at Daniel. Henry was already pulling back out into traffic. “Are we trailing them, sir?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see the driver?”

Daniel had memorized the face. He had little hope of actually recognizing anyone Sekijima sent after him. All of the people who’d been close to the Oyabun years ago were taken down when Sekijima was.

He wanted to know how long Sekijima had been working on rebuilding. Then he’d have a better idea of how loyal and well-trained they were. Loyalty, though, he knew would not be easily shaken. The blood bond that brought the Yakuza together was one that few were ever able to betray.

“I didn’t recognize him.”

Henry pulled out, following after the car.

“I’ll watch our back,” Charity said. She kept her weapon palmed and ready, though she didn’t relish the thought of any type of high-speed shoot-out on the busy interstate.

Henry accelerated and she was thrown off balance as he quickly changed lanes. Daniel steadied her. “Put your seat belt on.”

“I can’t see what’s going on behind us if I do that.”

“Then I’ll watch. I don’t want you injured.”

“I’m fine. You’re the priority here.”

“You’re not fine while Henry is trying to catch the Spider. Put your seat belt on.”

She braced herself on the seat with one foot on the floor. “Now, I’m fine.”

And she was. As Henry weaved between two more cars, Daniel took her arm and physically turned her in the seat, reaching across her body and drawing on her belt. It snapped into place with a solid click. Then he adjusted the strap, his fingers lingering over her right breast.

She brushed his hands away. “Why is this important to you?”

“Car accidents kill.”

“So will anyone who’s trailing us. I need to be free to do my job.”

“You will be. Henry, give up the chase and take us to the airport. We’ll see if anyone else follows us there.”

She shook her head at his stubbornness. “This isn’t going to work.”

“What isn’t?”

“You protecting me,” she said, taking a stab in the dark. She was beginning to suspect that the only reason he’d changed his mind was so he could keep her safe from his enemy.

“It’s working fine so far.”

Charity crossed her arms over her chest, but she still held her weapon in one hand. Instead of looking pouty, she looked like she was getting ready to shoot someone.

“I’m the boss,” he reminded her.

“You take a little too much pleasure in that.”

“It’s the only way I can win with you.”

She uncrossed her arms and tilted her head to the side, studying him. “Is that important?”

He arched one eyebrow at her.

“You can be such a man sometimes.”

“That’s because I am one. Henry, do you notice anyone behind us?”

“No, sir. But I was doing some evasive maneuvering early to try to catch the Spider. I’ll slow down now.”

“I don’t want you to drive directly to Mr. Williams’s jet’s hangar when we get to the airport.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What are you thinking?” Daniel asked.

“That my team needs time to get into place and see who follows us if Henry’s skillful driving didn’t warn them off.”

Daniel stroked his thumb over the nub of his forefinger. He had absolutely no idea what Sekijima would do next. He hated that his old friend had the advantage on him—Sekijima knew him better than anyone. Knew everything about him from the time he was a young boy.

“What are you thinking?” Charity asked, her voice soft and low, startling him out of the past.

He shook his head. “Nothing important.”

“Daniel?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m never going to lie to you, even when it might be easier than telling the truth.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear that.”

“I expect the same from you,” she said. “If we’re both going to stay alive we have to have trust between us.”

He had no response for her. He’d trust as much as he was able to—which wasn’t a lot. He just didn’t trust. Even with Sekijima he hadn’t. But then, the Yakuza had bred him to trust only himself. In business he’d survived and prospered because he always played his cards close to the vest.

“Can you do that?” she asked.

“No.”

“Is it me? Do you think I’m not trustworthy?”

Charity was the kind of woman every man dreamed of having by his side. The kind of woman who’d be a loyal and fierce partner. She was good-looking and had the kind of manners that money just couldn’t buy. He knew—he’d tried to.

She was so much better than he was on so many levels, and he hated that his inability to trust had been interpreted to mean something else by her.

“It’s not you I don’t trust. I thought I already told you that.”

“You did. But a lot has happened since then. I think we need to communicate better so we’re not missing any clues.”

“If I think you need to know something, I’ll tell you.”

“Like you did with Sekijima’s name,” she said, almost whispering. He knew the sound of her voice didn’t carry beyond the two of them.

“Yes.”

“What were you just thinking about?” she asked. “And don’t say
nothing
—you looked too fierce.”