Seek and Destroy (27 page)

    "Oh wow," she whispered, stared straight ahead. After several annoyingly silent seconds, she nodded. "Now it makes sense."

    "Care to enlighten me? Because I'm still trying to wrap my brain around all of that IP nonsense you rambled about."

    She turned to him. Her words were hurried as she spoke. "Not many people know this, but Surreal used to be one of us."

    He almost threw the car into a spin, he jerked the steering wheel so hard. "What?"

    "Well, not one of
you
, but he used to be ICE. See," she paused and narrowed her eyes, seemingly contemplating whether or not to drop the next bomb she had up her sleeve. After that last one, he didn't know if he could take another. "We all have codenames. We have to in our line of work."

    David's pulse kicked up a notch. "So you know Surreal's true identity?"

    She nodded.

    "And that is?"

    She frowned, the cute little crinkle between her brows causing him to smile. She didn't even have to try to hold his attention. She just
did
. "We're here."

    Looking up, he realized they'd arrived at the RV. How in the hell had he brought them here without realizing it?

    

    

    David glanced at the paper the director gave him and then back up at the house. Charis looked around his shoulder and followed his eyes up to the house in front of them. The RV was at a house? Not just a house, but a really nice house. Contemporary architecture, curved archway, stucco siding. Interesting spot for a briefing. She wondered who lived here.

    Shivering, she folded her arms in front of her and stepped closer to him. Why didn't she pack a coat? Because she thought she'd only be in Maui before returning home, that's why. The rain had stopped, but it still remained a teeth-chattering cold. She glanced up at the sky. Gray. The trees stood sad and motionless aside from the occasional drip of residual rain that had collected on the needles and branches. Everything was wet and just plain depressing.

    No wonder people in the Pacific Northwest hated winter so much. Mt. Rainier had the only snow in site. The foothills didn't even have any snow, at least none on the foothills she could see through the cloud cover. She pulled her arms even tighter and shivered again.

    She missed Montana. The majority of the precipitation they received fell in the form of snow. The sky sported a brilliant blue three hundred days out of the year. She missed Maui too, but for a different reason entirely.

    He turned and threw her a glance over his shoulder. As he spotted her no more than a few inches away, he paused and captured her eyes with his. "Do you always need to stand so close?" He gave his best act at being annoyed, but she knew by the look in those dancing chocolate eyes he was anything but annoyed.

    She nodded, didn't take a step back. "I'm cold."

    He gave her a quick once over. "You're also turning blue. Here." He removed his jacket and threw it around her shoulders.

    She wanted to kiss him, and almost did. After wrapping her up, he kept his arms around her. She looked up into his eyes and leaned toward him. He licked his lips, lowered his gaze to hers. Then, abruptly, he dropped his arms and stepped back. She heard him mutter a few of his favorite cuss words.

    Damn. Another near hit. She knew better than to ask him why. Instead, she brought her attention back up to the house. "Why are we here?"

    "I don't know."

    "Are you sure we're in the right place?"

    "That's what the address says." He waved the little piece of paper in his hand.

    "Then let's knock and get inside. I'm freezing."

    He turned and approached the door, rang the bell. When no one answered, he knocked. Then again. "Hmm," he muttered. "No answer."

    He brought his hand up to knock again. The knob turned and the door swung open to reveal JT Weber with a baby on her hip. The mini-JT had little blonde curls scattered all over her head and the biggest green eyes Charis had ever seen. Hands down she had to be the cutest baby she'd ever laid her eyes on.

    "David!" JT practically jumped into his arms, baby and all. She felt an odd pang of jealousy and longing. She stepped back and watched as he threw his arms around JT and the baby, laughing and kissing the female Weber. It was only a peck meant in greeting, but it still made Charis' heart jump in protest.

    "Ah, JT. I can't believe how much I've missed you." He held her in his arms and squeezed until the little baby squealed to be released. "Sorry."

    "Don't mind her. She's cranky. Her dad is in a bad mood and she picks up on that. Come on in!" JT opened the door the rest of the way. As Charis stepped inside she smelled something so delicious it literally made her mouth water.

    "Hi," she said with a smile when JT's eyes finally left David to rest on her.

    "You did it!" JT then threw her arms around her until the baby squealed again, this time crying and reaching for her daddy, who'd just come out from another room to greet them in what appeared to be a rather large mudroom.

    He looked completely different than how she'd ever seen him. He seemed relaxed, and dare she say, even smiling. With a towel over his shoulder, he couldn't look more domesticated.

    "Come here, my baby." He reached for his daughter and brought her close to him. She leaned into her daddy and laid her head on his shoulder, her thumb firmly in her mouth. She eyed Charis and blinked away her tears as she kept her body safely pressed against her protector.

    "David Snyder," Weber stated and smiled proudly as he looked down at his little girl, "meet Stephanie Weber. My daughter." He kissed her forehead. "She'll be six months old tomorrow."

    Her heart melted. Maybe the director wasn't such a bad guy. She stole a glance at David, who seemed to be smiling almost as proudly as the director. He must really have a special bond with the Weber's. She wondered if she'd ever have that special of a bond with anyone, let alone an entire family.

    "Stephanie? After Gessler?" David brushed the curls out of her eyes and played with her nose until she smiled and buried her face against her daddy. She peeked back up at him, the whole while never removing her thumb from her mouth.

    Weber nodded and swallowed. If she didn't know any better, she'd say his eyes just misted. "Yeah. Steve always said he thought I'd make a great dad."

    "He's right," JT purred and wrapped her arms around him.

    "Okay, you two," David drawled and stepped back to give them some space. "Enough, already."

    Weber grinned and shrugged, kissed his wife on the forehead. "McKoy, you can hang your coat up over there."

    Little Stephanie started to fuss, apparently picking up on her daddy's mood as JT had pointed out. "I'll take it," JT offered and took the coat from her, hanging it on one of the coat hooks by the door.

    Charis wanted to tell him to shove the coat up his ass after the way he'd been treating her since she came back from Maui. She pushed her fist into her midsection to stop herself from fidgeting. Why did this man make her feel like she'd been sent to the principal's office?

    The director motioned for them all to follow him. He led them into a large dining room. In the middle of the room sat a gorgeous oak table set with all the trimmings for dinner. Roast chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, little baby peas. Her mouth started to water again.

    "Food," she breathed. She was starving. Although they talked about it, they never did stop for anything to eat.

    "Not just
food
, McKoy." Weber almost barked at her. His face hardened as he gave her a passing glance and shook his head in obvious disapproval of her comment. "JT's been working on this
food
all day since I had to stick around HQ until you got around to checking in."

    She cursed herself inwardly. Just once she'd like to be able to stop herself from saying exactly what she thought. Maybe then she'd stopped pissing off the director every other word. Feeling about an inch tall, she paused at the end of the table. "Sorry, I-"

    "Don't mind him," JT cut in and took her daughter from him as she started to cry. "He had this dinner planned since finding out you found David. Besides, he has this thing about his cooking."

    His cooking? Didn't he just say she'd done the cooking?

    "He got up at six this morning to start on the dinner. It's been ready for hours," JT explained. "I only kept it warm. Trust me, you don't want to eat anything I cook."

    She smiled, grateful JT pulled her out of another disappointment in the director's eyes.

    "Be sure to tell him how much you love the food," JT offered. "If you don't congratulate him and declare him the Master Chef of the Universe, he gets cranky."

    "Are you dissing on me again, woman?"

    JT lifted her brows in an attempt at innocence. "What? Me? Hell, no. I don't have to cook, just warm. You could make cold cereal for dinner and I'd still declare you the Master Chef of the Universe."

    Weber rolled his eyes. "That makes it all worthwhile."

    "Ah, damn. It is good to be back." David grinned from ear to ear. He reached for Charis and, leading her by the elbow, pulled her toward the wafting smells.

    "I'm going to go put her to bed," JT said and excused herself.

    Weber watched his wife leave, the admiration shining in his eyes. She hoped someday a man would look at her like that. She stole a glance at David and when their eyes caught, the connection shocked her heart into skipping a beat.

    He took a seat as Weber did, sitting opposite from each other. Since there were only four chairs, she took the one next to him so JT could sit next to her husband. Besides, she didn't want to be that close to the director.

    Once JT rejoined them, Weber started passing around the food and took the opportunity to start the briefing. "McKoy, did Snyder tell you why you are here?"

    She accepted the bowl of peas from David. "No, sir."

    Weber scooped up a pile of potatoes before offering it to David. "We have a situation."

    "You said that earlier." David jumped in. "After she brought me back in."

    Weber narrowed his eyes at Snyder. Something passed between them. David shook his head. Weber nodded in return.

    Were they mind readers? Performing some sort of mind meld?

    "I hate it when they do that," JT commented and dug into the peas.

    "What?" The men asked in unison, looking as guilty as kids caught breaking into their dad's liquor cabinet.

    JT ignored them and looked across the table at her. She saw where their baby got her gorgeous green eyes. The blond hair must have come from her daddy since JT's long waves were a dark brown. Charis knew why SD Weber couldn't take his eyes off his wife. She was beautiful.

    "They used to do this all the time," JT explained. "One would say something then they would have some sort of eye conversation. Next thing I know, they have some secret pact." She then turned her eyes to Weber. "You know I hate secrets, Dan."

    Weber stole a final glance at David, gave him a slight nod, before turning to JT. "Pass the potatoes, please."

    JT growled. "You're slipping, Special Director."

    Weber cocked his head. "How so?"

    "You already have potatoes on your plate."

    He looked down and muttered some of the cuss words David seemed to favor. Not willing to be shadowed by his flaw, he scooped more potatoes onto his plate. "I know. I'm just really hungry."

    
Riiight
. Charis grinned inwardly. It was nice to see the director squirm for a change.

    Weber continued after setting the potatoes down. "We think we may know where Surreal is. At least the general location."

    David stopped chewing. "Seriously? Where?"

    "You won't believe this. Same location as before."

    "It's a decoy," Charis added without hesitation. Both Weber and David looked at her. But JT nodded knowingly.

    "You're shitting me," Weber stated, his mouth full.

    Charis shook her head with an easy shrug. "Sorry."

    "How do you know?" he asked, still not bothering to swallow.

    "Because I installed traces in that location. If he so much as sneezes within a hundred feet of where the shack used to stand, I'd know."

    David narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. "Tell me what you remember about that day. Did you see you weren't alone?"

    She turned to him. "How did you know I was there?"

    "Just answer the question," Weber growled.

    "I remember seeing another agent. I think I did, anyway. But it all happened so fast. I was standing there, ready to approach the shack. The next thing I know, another agent pops up over the hill on the other side of the field. I take a step toward him to tell him to back off and feel a tug on my foot. I look down and realize there's a wire wrapped around my shoelace." The memory caused her eyes to sting, her throat to burn. Her scars throbbed. Swallowing, she looked down to regroup. "I realized what I did a split second before the explosion."

    "I remember looking in your eyes," David admitted, then colored when both Weber and JT stared at him. He shoveled a mouthful of chicken into his mouth and kept his eyes down at his plate. He swallowed and, after no one looked away, he met their expressions before turning back to her. "I was the other agent."

    Charis blinked once. Twice. "You?"

    David looked at her.

    His eyes! Of course. She
did
know him. The flutter of recognition. How could she have forgotten? "What was NASSD doing there?"