Honeymoon To Die For (47 page)

“Never screw with the Banker.”

“Who’s the Ba—”

Two muffled shots struck with a soft
thud, thud
. The phone sounded as if it had been dropped.

Footsteps walked across Nanci’s tiled floor.

Skidding to a stop, Margaux wheezed, “Nanci?”

There was a gasp of air, then silence.

Pain stabbed her midsection. Margaux fell to the ground, bent over and gripping her stomach. Rage and agony exploded in a scream.

Nanci was dead.

CHAPTER 56

Bianca set the bottle of medication aside. The pills were useless against her real pain, the one that had been eating a hole in her chest since she woke up in the hospital with no Ryder.

 She could tolerate the ache in her side. The bullet had sliced across her side just underneath a rib. It had bled like a son of a gun, but she’d been lucky the powerful round hadn’t hit her solidly. Lucky she hadn’t died.

She hadn’t, thanks to Ryder. That ache started again, not the one in her side, but higher in her chest.

There wasn’t enough morphine in the universe for that kind of pain. She needed to get away from here and give her heart a chance to grieve.

“Are you ready to go?”  Murdock strolled into her hospital room where she’d been under guard for thirteen days for her protection.

Just another Friday. Nothing like the day two Fridays back when she was still with Ryder. “Sure.”

“You did a hell of a job.”

Two weeks ago, she’d have wallowed in happiness at a compliment like that from her boss, but she couldn’t drum up the strength to be happy. “Thanks. Any word on Nanci’s killer?”

“Not yet, but we’re working on that.”

She nodded. Nanci’s death had been a professional hit, thus the reason for guards on Bianca’s room, but Sabrina Slye had shared something with Murdock that convinced him Bianca was no longer under threat.

Bianca had told Murdock on the way to the hospital to not tell her parents she was wounded and risk giving her father a heart attack.

He’d promised to tell them she would be in debriefing, which might take a week or more and she’d get in touch with them when she was free. Bianca would sort out the rest when she went home.

Murdock was unusually quiet when he normally rattled off orders nonstop. “You’re clear to leave, if you’re sure you can drive.”

“I can drive.”  She couldn’t raise her left arm very high without pulling on the stitches, but after surviving last week, she was pretty sure she could handle an automatic transmission.

When Murdock picked up her bag of clothes and toiletries, Bianca followed him down the hall. She had her personal items from her travel bag in the cabin, but not her prepaid phone.

 Murdock hadn’t brought up that sticky issue so she wouldn’t either.

He kept talking in an easy tone as they walked out. “VDE has been cleared of any wrongdoing since we have your statement on Terrence Van Dyke and Aldwin Taylor aka Munk.”

She could never think of Munk as Aldwin. It didn’t fit the cold-blooded killer found later in the woods with two shots between the eyes.

Another professional hit. “What about the Dubai arms dealer? Did you figure out how he was getting the weapons?”

“He had molds for the Woden lower receivers out of the first test run weapons. Terrence got the mold out of VDE and shipped it to Dubai. They made the lowers with no serial numbers, but a consistent flaw matched the ones we inspected at the Van Dyke manufacturing and testing facility. Once the Dubai broker had lowers, they purchased the other parts from random dealers to assemble complete weapons.”

She was floored by the work that had gone into illegal sales. Terrence was probably brilliant. Just evil. “Was Sam Long involved?”

“No. His ski trip was a vacation and he got called back to an emergency that was traced back to Terrence. Just another person who got used in the setup.”

She hoped Murdock was including Ryder as one of those people who was used and set up. “What happens now in Dubai?”

“It’s done. From what I understand, the CIA had a parallel op going on in three countries where they suspected Van Dyke as well. Seems that the CIA got their hands on the same financial information we did for Dubai.”

Bianca cut her head up fast at Murdock. “How?”

“I had a visit from a man who gave me a name that I’m sure isn’t real. He’s a spook after all. Definitely CIA. He gave me info from his resources and we compared notes to wrap up this case.”      

She fought the insatiable urge to ask about Ryder. He’d been cuffed and taken back to prison. Somewhere during her drug-induced first twelve hours in the hospital, she’d grabbed Murdock’s arm and told him Ryder had been set up, that the emails came from Terrence who was the Komodo.

Had Murdock reviewed the prison video or just agreed to keep her calm when she’d been bleeding in the helicopter? Would he read too much into it if she asked about Ryder this soon?

Ryder had broken her heart in a way that couldn’t be fixed, but he deserved justice.

“About Van Dyke,” Murdock started as they exited the doors to a chilly October afternoon in Atlanta.

She noted that her Ford Explorer was parked on the curb, being watched over by an agent she didn’t recognize. “Which Van Dyke?”

Had Murdock’s lips twitched?

Her boss clarified, “Ryder Van Dyke. Munk’s rifle was the murder weapon for J. K. Kearn and Edward Abbot. That cleared Ryder of the charge against him for Kearn’s death.”

That didn’t mean Ryder was free. Since Murdock brought up this topic, Bianca felt safe in asking, “Did anyone review the video of the guard’s death?”

“Yes, and when the techs slowed the frames down there were two seconds of Ryder’s hand holding the guard’s radio. That was enough to determine he
had
been trying to get help for the man. Plus a snitch in the prison ratted out the men responsible for the attack on the guard. He was terrified of those two after Ryder left and wanted them out of there.”

The breath she’d been holding released with all the tension in her body.

“Took until early this morning to get him released, but he’s free.”

Ryder would not spend another day locked away. Tears burned at the corner of her eyes, but she squeezed them into submission.

Murdock opened the passenger door to Bianca’s SUV and tossed the bag in on the bucket seat. He walked around to the other side and opened the driver’s door, waiting for her.

When she stopped in front of him, Murdock said, “Because of your efforts we located the funding vein for the terrorists and prevented an attack on the Vatican that could have killed the pope and thousands of men, women and children.”

“It wasn’t just me. I was the rookie in this operation and Ryder was the one with skills. I couldn’t have found that information, or stayed alive, without Ryder’s help. He deserves as much or more credit.”

“He’ll be compensated.”

How did you compensate a man for all that Ryder had lost?

Pain stabbed her chest and it had nothing to do with her injury. “Speaking of that, do you have my, uh, divorce papers?”

“No. Ryder hasn’t signed them yet.”

“Why not?”

“He disappeared the minute he walked out of prison. Probably back with Sabrina’s team, which means I have no idea where to reach him. I got the impression from Sabrina he was gone on a covert op. I left the papers with her and she said she’d get them to Ryder, but if he doesn’t sign them just let me know.”

“He will.”  She forced the sadness back into the hole in her heart and twisted the ring that someone had put back on her finger while she’d slept last night. She couldn’t bring herself to take it off yet, but admitted, “This ring is his.”

Murdock waved her off. “Ryder left word that he wanted you to keep that. Said it was yours.”

Her heart stuttered. Had Ryder given her this beautiful ring to keep because he’d felt guilty for getting her involved in this mission?

He couldn’t have given it to her for any other reason. Could he?

Dammit. Why was she still determined to read more into what happened between them? She shrugged to hide the emotions wallowing around inside her. “It’s probably not worth much, but I hate to keep something that isn’t mine.”

Murdock chuckled wryly. “We talked about having Lloyd’s of London insure that ring. It’s a Van Dyke heirloom, been in the family since the mid 1800’s.”

Bianca stared at the rock on her finger. “He can’t give me a family heirloom. Good Lord, Hubrecht has probably been worried to death about this thing.”   

“It’s not Hubrecht’s. It belonged to Ryder’s mother, who left it for him. He said it was the one thing that would definitely convince his family you were really his wife.”

On the drive to lunch with Terrence, Ryder’s brother had told Bianca only two things meant anything to Ryder. His car and something his mother had given him.

He gave me his mother’s ring.
Her heart did a backflip in her chest. Did that mean he ...

No, he doesn’t love you so just stop it.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she blinked hard to keep them from falling. Ryder had walked away from everything, including her.  

If he’d wanted her to keep him
and
the ring, he’d have found a way to be here even if Murdock wouldn’t share her location. Nothing so simple would have stopped Ryder. Bianca squeezed her eyes to stem the waterfall she’d been holding back for twelve days, kidding herself that he was just going to show up and tell her he loved her.

Ryder had tried to protect her every step of the way just as hard as she’d worked to bring him justice.

She was safe and he was free. Mission accomplished.

He felt responsible for her being stuck as his wife and getting wounded. She would not allow him to give her this ring as some sort of payment, but taking it off was going to rip her in half.

She didn’t want the ring.

She wanted Ryder. That had been a fool’s wish.

He was gone and knew how to vanish forever. She swallowed the hurt and pulled the ring off, handing it Murdock. “I don’t want this and ...”  
Without Ryder’s love it means nothing.
She shook her head. “Please send it to Sabrina. She’ll get it to him.”  

Murdock accepted the ring and slipped it into his coat pocket. “Any message you want me to relay?”

The idea of Murdock passing along a personal message was surreal. Bianca gave him the truth. “Yes. Just say it was never mine to keep.”  She made a move to get in.

  “One more thing, Agent Brady. I’d like you to transfer to my anti-terrorism team here.”

Her mouth fell open. “Really?”  Brilliant. Now he could recant that decision based on her inability to form a coherent response.

“Really.”  He actually smiled.

Then she considered what she’d just been through. “Just so we’re clear, I’m not cut out for field work, Sir.”

“I might argue that point if you had more training, but that’s not the position I’m offering you. I want your analytical and computer skills.”

She was being offered her dream position. She should sound more excited, but the best she could do right now was to force a smile and say, “Thank you, Sir.”

“I can take that as a yes?”

“Absolutely. I just need a day to go see my family and I can be back.”

“You still have to rehab that injury and you need some down time. Call me in two weeks and we’ll talk.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Sure you don’t want to reconsider keeping the ring, Brady?”

She shook her head, still confused over Ryder’s offer. Swallowing past the lump in her throat was difficult. “No, Sir.”

Sliding behind the steering wheel, she settled into the seat carefully. Her side still hurt, but if she took it easy the ache was bearable without pain meds. She cranked the engine and drove away while she still had her act together.

The ring bothered her. She wished she’d seen him one more time.

But who was she kidding? There would never be closure as long as Ryder owned her heart.

He just didn’t know it, because they’d parted on bad terms without her getting a chance to tell him she’d been wrong to lose faith in him even for a brief moment. She was not the woman she’d been two weeks ago and she owed that to Ryder. She was a stronger woman because of what she’d learned about herself around him.

It would take a while, maybe forever, to go on without him, but she would never be sorry for falling in love with him.

Everything else was going to be all right here.

Now, to figure what to tell her parents about why she’d gotten married and divorced. Some people would laugh at her concern, but her parents trusted her to make a wise decision in choosing a partner and to do the work it took to make a marriage successful. They wouldn’t understand why she’d had to marry for her job and would still think she’d fallen in love with Ryder.

Divorce would be tough enough to explain without having to tell them the son-in-law they were dying to meet didn’t exist.

How had she screwed up so badly?

Idiot that she was, all she could think about was driving to Slye Temp and begging Sabrina to tell her where Ryder was so she could see him. Touch him. To tell him it was okay that he didn’t love her, because she had enough to last a lifetime for both of them. She wanted one more kiss.

One more time to look into those molten silver eyes.

She reached for the box of tissues in the console as the first fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

CHAPTER 57

Chatton called The General at a hotel where he was staying in Chicago just to piss him off, because everyone in Czarion had agreed to not use phones.

He answered, “What?”

“Take you away from something important?”

“You know better than to call.”

As if she cared? “It appears that you’re still in my debt since Ryder Van Dyke was not the shooter.”

His sigh said he’d like to choke her to death, but he gave a wicked chuckle. “You get my message about passing along information to the wrong people?”  

Her extra sense went on alert and came up with only one possible message. Chatton had installed a listening device at Nanci’s house and had heard the exchange before Nanci was shot.