COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) (17 page)

            Kate’s heart pounded at the thought of a man hiding in the dark behind her home, and the others in the car out front. What would those men have done if they hadn’t decided to leave tonight, if they’d put the children to bed and gone to sleep in that house? She shuddered.

           
The kids are safe. We’re all safe.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

            Rose had spread the
What Could We Do
list out on the floor in front of her. “Anybody got a pen or marker?”

            “I do.” Janice rummaged through her purse and produced a red Sharpie.

            “Thanks.” Rose put a check mark next to
Get kids away
.

            Kate skimmed the rest of the list. “Can we even think of a safe way to contact the ambassador again?” she asked.

            “I’ve got the trust fund papers as a good excuse to contact him,” Rob said.

            “I’m not sure talking to him again is going to do much good,” Skip said. “I vote for blowing the whistle on him.”

            “We’re signing his death warrant if we do that,” Kate said. “He’ll be sent back to his own country and executed.”

            “Yeah but the man knew the risks goin’ into the game,” Mac’s disembodied voice came from the phone. “You all have gotten caught up in this ’gainst your will.”

            “Who would we even tell?” Rob asked. “The CIA or the FBI?”

            Kate looked at her watch. “It’s not going to be that easy to get through to somebody tonight. And that still doesn’t keep us safe while they investigate. They’re not going to just march into some foreign embassy and arrest the ambassador on our say-so.”

            “I’m thinking we might as well try to figure out who’s doing this ourselves,” Skip said. “Promising not to poke around isn’t stopping these guys from seeing us as a threat.”

            “How about we do both,” Kate said. “Investigate ourselves and confront the ambassador again.”

            Rose bracketed those two options together and put a red number two next to them.

            “Going to his mistress’s house on Friday would be the most discrete way to confront him,” Rob said.

            “So we see what we can find out tomorrow,” Rose summarized. “Confront him Friday. Reassess Friday evening to decide if it’s time to move on to...” She put a red three next to
Blow the whistle on ambassador.

            Everyone looked at Kate. She nodded.

            “Dolph and I’ll take care of the investigating,” Rose said. “Our computers at the agency have a thick firewall.”

            “Scratch killing him off the list,” Rob said. “We wouldn’t know how to do that anyway, without getting caught.”

            Skip shook his head, just as Mac’s voice growled from the phone. “I do.”

            “Put a four next to it,” Skip said after a beat of silence. “Last resort.” He pushed himself to a stand and offered a hand to Kate.

            She stared at it for a beat, then looked up into his face. This man had killed once in his lifetime. It had been ruled a justifiable homicide since he was defending Kate and Rob at the time, but it had still torn him up inside for months afterward. And now he was talking about cold-blooded murder.

            What the hell have I gotten us into?

            Skip’s eyes softened. “I doubt it will come to that,” he said quietly.

            Kate took his hand and let him hoist her to her feet.

            He put an arm around her waist and steered her toward one of the unfurnished bedrooms. “Goodnight, y’all.”

            Once settled on the floor, Skip’s jacket bunched up under her head as a pathetic excuse for a pillow, Kate stared at the ceiling. Skip lay beside her, his pearl-handled .38 within easy reach. He put an arm around her waist and snuggled up against her. “’Night, darlin’.”

            “Goodnight.”

            A minute went by, then she felt him squirm next to her. “Plush carpet or not,” he muttered. “The floor underneath it is damned hard.”

            Kate felt her lips curve into a small smile. “Love you, sweetheart,” she whispered.

            “Love you too, darlin’.”

            After awhile, she felt his body relax into sleep.

            She stared at the shadow of the window blinds, cast against the ceiling by the lights from the street below, until she eventually drifted off.

~~~~~~~

            After showering the next morning and changing into the somewhat rumpled spare clothes from the tote bag, they found Rose and Janice at the breakfast bar that divided the apartment’s spacious kitchen from an even more spacious living room. The women were drinking from Starbucks coffee cups.

            Grinning, Janice handed one to each of them. “One of the perks I love about this building. Starbucks on the ground floor delivers to the residents. There’s also a wine shop. Same arrangement. So liquid refreshment is always available for both ends of the day.”

            “Thanks. Where’s Rob?” Kate asked, then took a sip from the steaming cup.

            “Up and gone already,” Rose said. “Breakfast meeting with a client. He went home first to change.” At the worried look in Kate’s eyes, she added, “I had four of our men outside the building last night. One of them is now Rob’s chauffeur, since we left his car at your house. A guard will go with each of you as well. They’ll be replaced by fresh ones by mid-morning. You may not see them, but they’ll be there.”

            “Why not have them visible, as a deterrent?” Kate asked.

            Rose paused for a moment, trying to put words to her gut instinct. “These guys are highly trained professionals. Either mercenary hit men or members of a guerilla organization. If they see the guards, they can devise a plan to get past them. If they think you’re unguarded, they’ll focus on you. Then the guards can jump in and stop them.”

            Skip nodded his approval. “We don’t want to let on that we’re all that worried. During the day, we act as normal as possible. Let them assume that we think the guys at my office were thieves. You got anybody on our house, Rose?”

            Rose shook her head. “We’re spread too thin for that, but I’m going to drum up somebody to watch the apartment while we’re all gone.”

            “Probably not necessary,” Janice said. “Concierge doesn’t let anybody come up to the apartments without permission from the tenants, and there are two security guards in the lobby to enforce that.”

            Rose gave her a skeptical look. “The building’s security is no match for these guys. There’s a dozen ways they can slip past those guards and the concierge.”

            “How about Lilly?” Skip said. “Do you think she’d be offended if we asked her to act as a bodyguard?”

            It was Janice’s turn to look skeptical.

            Skip grinned at her. “Don’t let her name fool you. Lilly is quite formidable.”

            Rose flashed a grin of her own. Lilly was a licensed investigator. She’d only been working for them for about six months, but she was proving to be as tough as they come. Rose paused for a second to consider the irony that they were both named after flowers.

            “I don’t think she’ll mind. I’ll call her.”

            “I’m going by the house on my way to the office,” Skip said. “Be good to know if anyone’s been inside.”

            “Unh, uh,” Rose said. “If they haven’t figured out that you’ve vacated, you going
in
instead of coming out, will make them suspicious.”

            “Easy enough to sneak in.”

            “Janice and I need to pick up our cars,” Kate said. “If we’re aiming for normal, we can’t all be riding around in strange cars with big burly men.”

            “Okay, I’ll take you, and go over your cars for bugs.” Rose turned to Janice. “You okay with us coming back here tonight?”

            “Sure. Can you get some more clothes out of the house while you’re there?”

            “Shouldn’t be that hard to do,” Skip said.

            Rose’s mind had turned to other things. Had they covered all the bases? They’d been at risk before, had to put guards on everyone. But those times, their enemies hadn’t been well-trained international operatives. She couldn’t think of anything they’d missed. She said a silent prayer, crossing herself.

            She glanced up to catch Kate following suit. The two lapsed Catholics exchanged a small smile.

~~~~~~~

            Skip’s brain was multitasking. One part was watching for anyone following him, other than the car right behind him that contained one of his own employees. Another part was figuring out how he wanted to approach the house. And, in the background, were the emotions he was trying to sort out, or
process
, as Kate would say. He smiled to himself. Living with a psychologist was challenging at times.

            The attack at his office hadn’t scared him all that much. He’d been in tight spots before, and the calm detachment that kicked in at such times had not failed him. What worried him was the implication that these guys, whoever the hell they were, meant business. They weren’t going to leave any loose ends, and his wife was a huge loose end.

            His chest ached a little when he thought about his children being shipped off to Ohio, but he knew Mac would do everything in his power to keep them safe. He shoved aside his worries about them to focus on the bigger issue.
Kate.

            His mouth went dry at the thought of her walking around in the world with just one invisible guard trailing discreetly behind. Rose said she was putting Manny back on Kate as of this afternoon. That eased his anxiety some, but not much. Manny Ortiz was their best guard, smart and dedicated, but he was just one man. Skip wanted to surround his wife with an army of men.

            He realized he was getting close to his house. He pulled over to the curb and got out as the car behind him cruised on by. It parked several houses up.

            Skip stepped out of his truck and made a slight come-here gesture toward the car, then turned the movement into the act of running his hand through his hair.

            A man of average height but with a thick muscular build got out of the car. He put a baseball cap on and headed Skip’s way.

            As he neared, he slowed slightly, as if he were just greeting a neighbor while taking his morning constitutional. “Hey, boss,” he said softly.

            “Good morning, Claude,” Skip said in a cheerful voice, then quietly added, “We go in the back. It’s quite possible someone’s in there.”

            The man sketched a friendly wave in his direction and kept walking.

            The two men made their way separately to the alley behind the house. They pulled out their guns, then silently spread out across the end of the yard. Moving slowly forward, they checked behind bushes and trees. The yard was empty of human beings.

            They approached the back door. Skip slipped his key in the lock, then tilted his head toward the right before swinging the door open.

            Claude went right, Skip left, guns extended in front of them. The laundry room, crammed with boots, snow shovels and a washer and dryer, didn’t offer many hiding places.

            Skip nudged open the door into the L-shaped living room. They swung to each side of the back section of the room. Skip checked behind the dark big-screen TV while Claude eased up to the corner.

            He peered around it, then nodded without looking back and kept going. Skip moved quickly into the main part of the room, checked behind the sofa, then slipped into the entryway and cautiously opened the coat closet.

            The doorbell rang. Skip looked through the peephole to verify it was Rose. He unlocked the door.

            As he re-locked it behind her, Rose leaned down to pull her gun from her ankle holster. “Nobody watching out front,” she whispered. “The cars were clean.”

            Skip silently pointed her toward his study. She moved past him, gun extended in front of her. He signaled to Claude and they cleared the kitchen.

            Skip pointed to the bottom of the steps. Claude walked to that spot and kept his eyes and his gun trained up the stairs while Rose and Skip cleared the master bedroom and bath.

            They moved up the stairs, Claude bringing up the rear. It took another fifteen minutes to check the upper floors, and then the basement. Next Rose swept the house for listening devices.

            “Clean,” she said, as she returned to the living room.

            “Hard to believe nobody’s been in here,” Skip said.

            Rose headed for the bedroom. “I’ll get some more clothes for you guys.”

            “Backpack’s on the floor of my closet,” Skip called after her. “Bring the one from Kate’s closet for Janice’s stuff. I’m gonna get my other gun.”

            He went into the study and reached up to the top shelf of the bookcase for the fake book in which he kept the key to his gun safe. The book was there. The key was not.

            “Shit!” Pulling out his key ring, Skip found the small key and unlocked the gun safe’s door. The safe was empty. He banged his fist down on top of the metal box.

            The noise brought Claude and Rose around the corner, pistols extended in front of them. They relaxed when they saw that Skip was the only one in the room.

            “Shit!” He banged his fist again on the gun safe.

            “What’s the matter, boss?” Claude asked.

            “My 380's gone.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

            “You need to report it stolen asap,” Rose said. “They may use it in a crime and then frame you for it.”

            “Yeah, but I think I’ll tell the police it was taken from the office. I don’t want them crawling all over the house. That wouldn’t exactly look normal.”

            “I’ll dust the safe for prints. See if any show up besides yours,” she said. Starting to hand him the empty backpack, she added, “Grab some stuff for Janice.”