Two Weddings and a Fugitive (The Chanel Series Book 4) (11 page)

‘Damned cart caught on fire.’ Billy let out a laugh. ‘Then exploded.’

‘You were all lucky.’

‘Better go to our place,’ Billy said. ‘Less eyes,’ he murmured.

Matt nodded and said, ‘Actually Lucy would you mind sending them up to the Ocean View Apartments?’

‘Number Four,’ Billy said.

Lucy nodded her head and we all walked towards one remaining buggy. It could fit four, five at a pinch, and there were seven of us.

‘Martine and I will wait for Harry.’ Mum pulled her phone out of her bag. ‘Shall we go to the apartment or the restaurant?’

‘Go to the restaurant,’ Billy said. ‘Tell them we won’t be long.’

Mum nodded and Tara, Matt, Billy, Nick and I crowded onto the buggy. The thing had more get-up-and-go with five of us than our poor deceased one had had with two.

‘That’s more like it.’ Nick nodded his head in satisfaction as we roared up the hill.

‘You’re bleeding,’ Tara said.

‘I am?’ I looked down at my leg. A streak of blood ran down my left ankle and onto the shoe. ‘Oh no.’ I wrenched the shoe off and rubbed at the material. The blood came off on my fingers. ‘Phew.’ I looked at Tara and smiled. ‘Thought I’d ruined it.’

She shook her head and reached down to run her finger over my leg. ‘Just a scratch.’

‘Just a flesh wound,’ Matt and Billy said at the same time.

‘Have you got any idea what they are talking about?’ I asked Tara.

‘Monty Python, Black Knight,’ Nick said. ‘It’s a classic.’

‘Monty Python,’ Billy said. ‘Something for every occasion.’

Matt nodded his head. ‘And I think this morning’s was,
Run away, run away
.’

The two of them burst out laughing and didn’t stop till we got to the apartment.

***

‘This is going to hurt.’ Matt stood behind Billy, one hand poised over the piece of metal.

‘No shit Sherlock.’ Billy shook his head, gritted his teeth and said, ‘Just do it.’

Nick shook his head and said, ‘Niké.’

‘Huh?’ I looked from Billy’s face to Nick’s.

‘He was quoting the Niké ad.’

‘I think he was just telling him to get on with it.’

Nick shook his head, a sympathetic expression on his face. ‘It’s a competition, Toots.’

I looked back at Billy just as Matt wrenched the piece of metal out of his back. His eyes squeezed shut and a low growl came out of his throat. Matt took a wad of gauze from Tara and pressed it to the wound.

Billy let out a hiss at the pressure. ‘Does it need stitches?’

‘Let me stop the bleeding first and I’ll have a look.’

A couple of minutes later Matt pulled the gauze away and stared at the wound. Gathering my courage in both hands I moved around and peered at Billy’s back.

A slow trickle of blood still dribbled out of the cut. Matt pushed on one side of it, opening the wound so he could gauge its depth. At least that’s what I assumed he was doing.

‘It’s not that deep. Should be able to glue it and strap it,’ Matt said. ‘Got any superglue?’

Billy nodded his head and Tara started rummaging through the first-aid kit Billy had brought out of his bedroom. ‘Here.’ She pulled out a little bottle.

‘Great. Can you get me the Betadine. I’ll swab it first.’

‘Seriously? I said. ‘Super glue?’

‘Been used as a wound dressing since the Vietnam War,’ Billy said.

‘Better than stitches.’ Matt placed some Betadine on Billy’s back and wiped it over the wound with a new piece of gauze. ‘Less chance of infection.’ He turned to look at Tara. ‘You want to put it on or hold the wound?’

‘I’ll put it on. Billy, lean over.’

Billy leant forwards and Matt pushed gauze onto his back again. After another minute Matt removed the gauze and pulled the wound together. Tara squirted the glue over it, making sure it covered the healthy skin all the way around. Matt waited for another minute and then slowly removed his hands. The cut remained closed.

‘Want a painkiller?’ Tara asked.

Billy moved his shoulders back and forth. ‘Nah. It’s not so bad.’ He disappeared back into his room and returned wearing a shirt.

I tried not to be disappointed. I mean he had got that wound protecting
me
, I had no right to be taking advantage of the situation by perving at him. But disappointed I was nevertheless. He wasn’t going to be able to play volleyball now, which meant I had missed a whole afternoon of perving. I deserved to be compensated for my loss in some small way.

‘I’ll get it,’ Nick said, heading for the front door.

I started out of my daydream about Billy’s abdominal muscles and my hands. I hadn’t even heard the knock on the front door.

‘Sergeant Thomas,’ Nick said. ‘Come in.’ He pulled open the door and a bronzed God with scruffy, blond hair strolled into the room.

‘Nick my man,’ he said. ‘How’s it hanging?’

‘Great Alex. You?’

‘Caught some sick waves this morning. Things have been going downhill since then.’ He looked over at us and his eyes settled on me. ‘Until now.’ He strode towards me and held out his hand. ‘Well,
hello
there.’

I could feel a blush start up on my cheeks. ‘Constable Smith,’ I said, shaking his hand. I know, I know, I left out the probationary part. So sue me. Can’t a girl talk herself up occasionally?

‘Does Constable Smith have a first name?’ He had a dimple in the middle of his chin when he smiled.

‘It’s Chanel.’ It must have been the pain making Billy sound so pissed off.

Alex looked between Billy and me and then turned back to me. ‘Are you and he connected in some way? Tell me now or forever hold your peace.’ He barked out a laugh.

I opened my mouth but the word brother refused to appear at its cue. ‘It turns out, we have the same father.’ I even had to force those words out between my teeth.

‘FBI agent, Billy Milano.’ Billy held out his hand and Alex shook it.

‘Got an FBI agent for a brother.’ Alex looked me up and down. ‘Oh well. No guts no glory.’

I headed into the kitchen to hide my increasing blush. ‘Anyone want coffee or tea?’

I made the drinks while Alex asked questions about what had happened to the buggy. When he had finished, he flipped his notebook shut and tucked it into his pocket. ‘And you think it was Boris Tolokonsky who placed the bomb?

‘Him or one of his buddies.’

Alex leant back and tapped a finger onto his lips while he thought. ‘You won’t think about cancelling the ceremony?’ he finally said to Matt and Tara.

Matt looked over at Tara as if giving her permission to call the shots. ‘No,’ she shook her head. ‘I’d rather lure him into the open now than live the rest of my life wondering when he was going to act.’

‘Right.’ Alex nodded his head. ‘You need more backup.’ He looked over at Billy.

‘The Bureau will send agents.’

‘They’ll take a day or so to get here.’

‘That’s true.’ Billy nodded his head in agreement. ‘But we don’t want to spook Boris. I need him to think he has a chance of success.’

‘Or he’ll back off and strike later. Yeah I get it.’ He looked over at me and smiled broadly. ‘Want a date for the wedding?’

‘Oh that’s so nice,’ I said, ‘but Nick’s my Plus One.’

Nick let out a chuckle and rubbed his hands together. ‘Crash and burn,’ he said to Alex.

‘It’s only Round One, buddy. I’ve got at least thirty-six hours to sway her with my good looks and charm.

‘Twenty-four,’ Billy said from between clenched teeth. His back must have really been hurting.

‘I’ll stay until your men show up, and then you can decide if you still need me.’ He took a card out of his pocket and handed it to Billy. ‘Flick me a copy of the agenda.’

Billy nodded his head once and said, ‘But you stay in the background.’

‘Sure.’ Alex stood up. ‘Later, Beautiful,’ he said to me. ‘Got to get myself some new digs.’

‘Insufferable arrogance,’ Billy muttered as Alex closed the door.

Matt laughed and clapped him on the back. ‘Oops. Sorry,’ he said when Billy let out a hiss of pain.

Billy gave him a dirty look and pulled out his phone. ‘Going to call this in,’ he said, opening up the door to the balcony.’

The front door opened again and Salindra entered. ‘Alex’s here. What’d I miss?’

‘The golf buggy went boom.’ Nick’s hands mimicked an explosion going off.

‘Oh bugger.’ She crossed and took a seat at the table. ‘I miss
all
the fun. Where’s Billy?’

‘Outside,’ I said. ‘Want a cup of tea?’

‘No, but I would kill for a coffee.’

Tara crossed the room to Matt and he pulled her onto his lap. ‘Sorry.’ He kissed her forehead.

‘Not your fault.’ She let out a sigh. ‘I knew what you were like when I fell in love with you. And even now,’ she gave him a weak smile, ‘I wouldn’t change anything.’ She lay back, curling against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

Billy slid open the door from the balcony and re-entered. ‘Find anything?’

Sal took her coffee from me and shook her head. ‘Nothing yet, but it’s taking time at the hotels.’

‘We don’t
have
time.’ Billy’s frustration was clashing with his pain. I wasn’t sure which was making him more pissed off.

‘You want me to flash my badge?’

Billy breathed out loudly through his nose and shook his head. ‘What about the Marina?’

She took a sip of the coffee and let out a groan before nodding her head. ‘About half of the boats are regulars. The rest come and go staying from as little as a day to a few months.’

‘Any of them look suspicious?’

She shook her head. ‘I only managed to get a look at the permanent-mooring register. One of them is registered to…,’ she pulled a small note pad out of her pocket and flicked through the pages, ‘Aleksey Tolmachyor.’

I smiled at her attempt at a Russian accent.

‘But his yacht, The Babushka, has been there for years and apparently Aleksey is a local. He lives in Airlie Beach and comes over on weekends.’

‘Any chance of your getting a look at the temporary-mooring bookings?’ Matt asked.

Sal flashed him a smile. ‘Working on it. And tomorrow I’ll go hang out at some more hotels.’

‘We’d better get to lunch,’ Billy said. ‘People will already be worried.’

‘And then volleyball.’ I tried to sound upbeat about that. I failed.

Tara looked at me and let out a laugh. ‘You don’t have to play,’ she said. ‘It’s just a chance to let our men show off in front of us.’

‘Like a Western Society mating ritual?’ I asked.

‘Exactly.’ Tara nodded her head. ‘And our part of the ritual is to work on our tan. So bring your bikini.’

‘Well,’ I said, heading for my bedroom, ‘that I
can
do.’

***

The whole mating ritual had been going splendidly until Salindra had decided she was going to play volleyball. Now the rest of the women sat, sipping their cocktails, while she jumped around the court in her bikini.

Thankfully, not the bikini from the other day. No, this one had a full brief. But it still left nothing to the imagination, and hid only a teeny bit of her magnificent body. Add to that the fact that she could have played volleyball for Australia, and that Billy was cheering her on, and disgruntled was the little brother of my mood.

‘You’ve been working out,’ Mum perched on a stool beside me.

‘Huh?’ I turned from my contemplation of the rise of Salindra’s breasts to face her.

She smacked the back of her hand on my stomach. ‘Your abs. I can see them.’

I shrugged. I’d spent the first two weeks after I’d come back from Las Vegas in a sugar coma, then I’d started going to the gym instead. It had helped take my mind off…

‘Go Sal,’ Billy yelled. ‘Spike it.’ He was sitting at a table on the far side of the court with Harry and Ricardo.

Mum tilted her head to the side and stared at me. ‘And you got a new bikini. Red looks good with your new hair colour. Very dramatic.’

‘I like a lady in red.’

I swung around to the new voice. Alex, wearing only a pair of board shorts and a straw hat, stood behind me. I looked up the long, lean expanse of him to his face. Surfing obviously gave him a good work-out. He had a towel thrown over a shoulder and a cocktail in the other hand, but all I could see were his biceps. ‘May I join you ladies?’

‘Alex.’ Nick yelled out from the volleyball court and waved a hand at him.

Tara smiled and introduced him to the others and then he pulled up another seat and squeezed in between Mum and me.

Billy glared at him from the other side of the court. I didn’t need to be a genius to know what he was thinking. He had told Alex to keep his distance but he had come to flirt with me anyway. I smothered my smile.

‘So,’ Mum said, looking him up and down, ‘what fantasy did you step out of?’

She timed it perfectly. He had just taken a sip of his drink and now some of it spurted back out of his mouth.

‘Hello handsome.’ Martine leant across Mum to squeeze his knee. She smiled and then repositioned herself so that her short sundress showed off her shapely legs.

He looked over at Martine and then threw me a pleading look, but he was
exactly
what Martine liked in her men and she hadn’t had any fun for a while. I smirked and tossed him to the dogs.

‘Another drink?’ I said to Martine.

‘Me too,’ Mum said.

Elaine and Nat put their hands up and I left Alex there with Mum peppering him with questions and Martine fluttering her long lashes.

I was ordering their drinks when Billy joined me. He sat on a stool, adjusting his position till his back was comfortable.

‘Does it hurt much?’ I still felt guilty that he had been injured protecting me.

‘Nah.’ He shrugged his good shoulder. ‘I’ve had worse.’

‘Really?’ There was a lot I didn’t know about him.

‘When I was in Afghanistan I got shot up pretty badly.’ He paused for a minute as his eyes focused on another place, another time. ‘I’d be dead if it wasn’t for Matt.’

‘What was he doing there?’

‘What he does best. Reporting.’

‘So what happened?’

He sighed. ‘We were ambushed. I was out the front. Never saw it coming. One minute we were patrolling and the next we were fighting for our lives.’ He pulled up his shirt and pointed at some silvery spots down his right side. ‘I copped six rounds. One went through my lung. Matt risked himself to drag me to safety.’