Hot Pursuit (31 page)

“Could be a gator.” Which means they had
Sarah near the bayou. But that hardly narrowed things down.

“I might have been able to analyze it more
extensively, but Mendez came in. I had to back out of the program
pretty quick.”

Matt pushed a hand through his hair. “Jesus,
Kev. You better stop now. Don’t do anything else for me, okay? Wipe
the files and forget any of this happened.”

Kev swore. “Christ, Richie, we used military
assets to track a civvie for you. You think I’m backing out
now?”

“I could order you to cease.”

“Just like you ordered me to help, right?
Forget it. Sir,” he added, emphasizing the difference in their
ranks as if to say, this time, it didn’t matter to him in the
least. Matt didn’t bother arguing. It was no use when Big Mac made
up his mind to do something. If this were an official op, yeah, his
second-in-command would obey orders. But not now. Matt didn’t know
whether to feel grateful or guilty. Right now, he was opting for
grateful. He needed the help and he was damn glad to get it.

“You got anything on that car yet?”

“Glad you see it my way. Nothing rented to a
Brianna Sweeney, but several dark Chryslers from at least five
airports in the region. Kid’s working on narrowing that down.
West’s phone hasn’t been used again.”

“Can we tap the GPS positioners on the
rentals?”

“Kid wants to narrow it down before we do.
Less of a signature.”

“Got it.” The smaller their electronic
signature, the better. If this were a sanctioned op, it wouldn’t
matter. Since HOT was operating under the radar, they had to be
damn careful. Hell, he’d gone so far over the line he didn’t even
know where the damn thing was anymore. And he didn’t regret it. He
would
not
let Sarah die at the hands of those maniacs just
because it was against the rules—hell, the law—to use HOT assets
for personal reasons. He’d pay for it later, gladly, so long as
Evie’s sister was alive and well.

And so long as Evie was out of danger
permanently. He could go back to whatever life he had so long as he
knew she was safe. If he had to give up his life on the team, it
didn’t seem quite as soul-crushing a prospect as it had only hours
ago. Because there was life after HOT, even if he’d never quite
thought so.

There was Evie. There was this thing between
them. And maybe a whole lot of steamy nights where he lost himself
in her arms, provided he were free to return to Rochambeau. There
were worse things he could do. Even if it gave him a twinge of
regret to imagine his life without HOT, it wasn’t the completely
empty prospect he’d always thought it would be.

Matt finished up the call, then sat back and
closed his eyes to think. He needed to turn on the marine radio,
listen to the police chatter, and see what was going on with the
house explosion—but he wasn’t ready just yet.

Jee-zus
, he still couldn’t believe
they were sitting here, on Rochambeau Lake, alive and contemplating
their next move. Not because he didn’t fully expect to be able to
take care of himself with a contract killer on his tail—in a way,
he was a contract killer too, except his targets were usually
terrorists—but with a concussion, and a chef in charge of the
getaway car, he was simply amazed they were here at all.

She’d done some mighty fine driving back
there. Except for a few moments on the dock, he’d barely divined
even a hint of panic in her. She was calm and cool-headed under
pressure, though he’d definitely noted the effects of adrenaline in
her shaky hands on the steering wheel. It was to be expected, yet
she’d liked it too. Oh, not at first, certainly. But after, when
they’d driven away, she’d been happy with herself, even if she
couldn’t quite admit it.

Evie Baker was an adrenaline junkie in her
own way, even if she didn’t know it.

She’d been calm about Candy though. Calm and
understanding. What the hell was he doing spilling his guts like
that? He’d never told anyone about Candy. Man, just get him a spot
on fucking
Dr. Phil
or something. He’d be mighty
entertaining, wouldn’t he?

He rubbed the side of his head. The hammers
in his temples had subsided to a dull thudding and he didn’t feel
dizzy when he turned.
Progress
. He’d hate to have to make a
quick getaway right now, but soon enough he’d be back to
normal.

Or normal enough anyway.

He got up and flipped on the radio. Evie
smiled at him, the corners of her mouth barely lifting. She was
tired, operating only on adrenaline again. He wasn’t sure how much
more she could endure. Which was another reason he’d wanted to take
Candyland
out. He could leave her on the boat, secure in the
knowledge she’d be safe, while he went after Brianna Sweeney and
her comrades. He didn’t plan to tell her about that part until he
had to.

“…
a late-model BMW, silver, possibly with
two people. A Ford F-150, red, reported stolen, last seen heading
north on Lake Avenue…”

“They’re talking about us, aren’t they?” Evie
leaned against the counter, staring at the radio as if it would be
the one to answer her question. “Whoever was behind us stole the
truck they were in.”

“Yeah.” Finding the Chrysler probably
wouldn’t do them a bit of good now, but he decided not to stop Kev
from tracing it.

“Detective Proctor will be thrilled once he
figures out who was in the BMW.”

“If we’re lucky, it’ll take them a while to
find the car. They’ll connect it with me pretty quickly, but the
senator will make them jump through hoops before he admits I have
it.”

“Why would he do that?” She looked genuinely
puzzled.

“He’ll be trying to decide how embarrassing
it could be for the family, and he’ll get Mrs. Doucet on it ASAP.
They won’t make a statement while they consider all the
possibilities.” And just wait until Colonel Mendez learned about
it. The nails were pounding the coffin closed on Matt’s career
faster than he could knock them back out again.

“What about the people who saw us leave the
marina?”

He didn’t bother to lie. “A bit more
problematic. Still, it’ll take the police some time to mobilize the
cavalry. In the meantime, we need to go into the bayou.”

“Will this thing make it?”

“The channel’s deep enough if you know where
to go. We only need to get under the cypresses and turn off the
lights.”

“And then what? We can’t sit out here all
night.”

“No.”

She flipped absently through a rack of CDs
sitting on the counter, her frustration evident in the way the
cases clacked together. The old man hadn’t quite made the shift to
MP3s yet. Hell, he probably didn’t even have an iPod. Suddenly,
Evie’s hand stilled above the next case in line.

“What is it?”

She looked like a movie on pause. Then she
snatched a case from the rack and opened it, took the CD from the
holder and turned it over in her hands. “Is it possible to put
information on a pre-recorded CD? Like a band’s CD?”

“No.”

She looked crestfallen, so he tried to
explain.

“The information is burned onto a
polycarbonate surface. You’d need a rewriteable CD with a
phase-change alloy surface in order to make any additional changes
to it.”

Violet eyes stared back at him for a moment.
She flipped the case over, studied it. Two spots of color appeared
in her pale cheeks as she turned something around in her head.

“David liked music. He got me into the Red
Hot Chili Peppers. I have a CD of theirs he gave me, greatest hits
I think. He had them on his iPod, but he liked to have the CD too.
Said the music was purer or some such thing. There are a few other
bands he liked as well. I have all the CDs he gave me, Matt. What
if he put one of those media cards into one of the cases?”

“THIS IS RIDICULOUS.” EVIE WATCHED as Matt
stood on the stern and shed his clothes. He’d jolted into gear the
second she’d told him about the CDs. It was like someone had
flipped a switch on a Christmas tree and all the lights popped on
the way his face had lit up. “Let’s take our chances driving. We
can get back to Reynier’s Retreat and get the CDs from my car in
less than twenty minutes.”

“We can’t risk it, Evie. The cops are looking
for the Beemer, and you have no idea who was in that truck or where
they’ve gone. They could be at the marina now, talking to people
and learning we took the boat.”

“Then at least
drive
this thing back
to the marina to get a smaller one.”

She still couldn’t fathom that he planned to
swim the distance. In alligator-infested water. Naked—or nearly
naked anyway. Evie wrapped her arms around her middle and shivered.
Made snakes look like a breeze.

“I already told you,” he said patiently while
he stood there in his underwear and sent her pulse revving, “we’re
too visible in this boat and it’s too big to take up the bayou to
Reynier’s Retreat. We need a smaller one.”

Evie forced herself not to let her gaze
drift. She kept her eyes locked on his.

“So you’re going to waltz up in your
underwear and ask someone to give you a key?” Though she had to
admit if it were a female he talked to looking like that, he’d
likely get offered a whole lot more than a key. The thought did not
amuse her in the least.

He grinned. “No, I’m going to swim up and
borrow what we need.”

“Borrow? You’re planning to hotwire a
boat?”

“Something like that. I’ll take it back
later, don’t worry.”

“Isn’t it a long way to the marina?” She
could see the lights winking in the distance since he’d moved the
yacht closer. But still. It had to be at least a mile.

He put his hands on her shoulders.
“
Chère
, I usually swim five times this distance in full
gear. This is easy, believe me.”

“I bet you don’t usually swim that far with a
concussion or into a sea of evil lizards looking for a meal.”

His mouth crooked again. “Don’t bet on it.
Besides, the gators prefer the bayou to the lake. I’ll be back
before you know it.”

“Promise?” She couldn’t keep the worry from
cracking her voice.

He hugged her close to his big warm body. She
took the opportunity to run her palms over his muscular back. God,
what she wouldn’t give for this to never have happened: for Sarah
to be safe and happy at home, even if she was still being a brat.
If Sarah was safe, Evie could spend the next forty-eight hours or
so entwined with Matt. And that was a far more pleasing prospect
than watching him lower himself into the water and leave her behind
as he risked his life for Sarah.

“See what you do to me.” His voice was a soft
growl as his cock stirred against her belly. “I’m coming back,
Evie. I haven’t finished with you yet.”

Yet
. Still, so long as he came back,
she didn’t care. She’d take what she could get.

He turned away from her and took a leaping
dive off the side of the boat so quickly her heart pounded with
fear and excitement. She hurried to the edge, trying to find him in
the black water below. She couldn’t see him, but the smooth sound
of his strokes cutting through water drifted back to her. She
strained her ears listening for him until long after he’d
disappeared.

The night had turned oppressively sticky.
Frogs rumbled in the waters and bugs the size of bombers buzzed by
her ears. She went below and found a can of bug repellent, then
doused herself in it. She couldn’t wait down here for Matt to
return. She needed to be topside, listening for any sounds of him.
She went back and sat on the bench seat at the rear of the yacht.
The bugs strafed her, whining loudly as they passed, but they
didn’t stick around to bite.

She couldn’t imagine what Matt was going
through. She refused to even think about gators. She could only
pray he was right about them liking the bayou better.

Who’d have ever thought the richest kid in
town would turn into a hero who’d stop at nothing to get the bad
guys? Matt had been the golden boy, the one whose future was so
bright it seemed to laser through any difficulty or pain. She’d
wanted what he had, even when she’d known it wasn’t perfect. She’d
been too young and naïve to realize that his fights with his father
were indicative of something more, or that he hadn’t bounced back
from his mother’s death the way she’d thought.

Of course he’d been a lonely, angry kid. Even
with money.

Evie’s hands curled around the railing. How
would she manage living in Rochambeau without him when he left
again? He’d said he’d missed her—and she’d missed him too. He was a
part of her childhood, a part of her adolescence. And yes, a part
of all the trauma and pain of being a teenager.

Regardless of anything else between them,
he’d been important to her from the moment he’d first walked into
her life when she’d been six. The knowledge that, once he left
again, he’d be somewhere foreign, fighting and maybe dying for his
country, made her frantic and angry all at once. She wanted him to
stop doing that. She wanted him to have a reason to want to stay
right here.

She wanted him to want
her
.

Evie closed her eyes tight. That wasn’t going
to work and she knew it. Matt had his own life and she had hers.
They had chemistry, but that wasn’t enough to make life-altering
decisions.

And she knew that Matt wasn’t going to give
up his job as a military badass. He loved it too much.

When he’d been gone for half an hour, she
seriously started to consider firing this big puppy up and driving
it to shore, no matter if she plowed into a tree or ran aground or
sank it in the channel. Anything was better than sitting, waiting
and wondering and getting more and more scared for Matt as the
night dragged endlessly on.