She nodded. “Yes. About Elizabeth.” Cici jumped on the bed and smacked Julie in the face with her tail.
“That’ll wake you up,” Lauren laughed.
“She’s got all kinds of evil ways to wake a person up,” Julie said, running her hand down Cici’s back and noting the 9 a.m. time on the clock. “I thought you weren’t coming in until lunchtime?”
“We went standby and got in earlier.”
“I hate that you left your honeymoon like this.”
“I hate that you didn’t call us sooner.”
“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Luke said.
“Luke,” Julie said quickly.
He glanced back at her, arching a brow.
“I had something else to tell you last night, but Blake showed up.”
He stared at her for a long, intense few moments, before he said, “I’m not going far. Not yet.”
Not yet. There was an underlying meaning to that answer, she was certain. There was still hope. He left the room and Lauren lowered her voice, “Yowza, what was that?”
“I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
***
Julie and Lauren talked for a good hour before Julie showered and pulled on a pair of black sweats and a red t-shirt Lauren had brought her. Sooner or later she had to go shopping – that was, if she lived through this mess.
Feeling ridiculously nervous about seeing Luke, she opened the bedroom door to find Luke, Royce, Blake, and Lauren sitting in the living room. Lauren stood up from the couch she shared with Royce and held a finger to her lips.
Julie stopped at the edge of the room, across from the leather chair Luke occupied and knew this call had to be Arel. After a few seconds, he ended the call. “It’s not good. Arel wants me to deliver a certain piece of art by tonight.”
“That’s impossible,” Blake said in disbelief.
“Tonight?” Royce asked.
“The impossibility seems to be the point. It’s that or he gave me another option.”
“The journal,” Julie said, remembering what Luke had said when her apartment had been trashed about not underestimating Arel.
“So basically,” Royce said. “He wants the journal.”
“You can’t give the journal to him,” Julie said. “It’s part of the proof you need to take down the cartel.”
“We’ll just have to copy it before we give it to him,” Blake said. “He has to know that.”
“And he probably knows that might not even be admissible in court,” Lauren said, putting her criminal law degree to work, “and certainly it would leave room for speculation about tampering with documents.”
“It’s less damning to Arel than it is to the judge and Dragonfly,” Luke said. “This is the kiss of death for them.”
“How does Arel know about the journal?” Lauren asked.
“Maybe they tortured Elizabeth before they killed her,” Luke said. “Maybe they tapped the sister’s phone. There are too many possibilities. We need me inside this operation to take down Arel. We have to give him the journal.”
“Agreed,” Royce said.
“Agreed,” Blake added. “So how does this go down?”
“I’ll get a call and instructions,” Luke said. ”
“Of course,” Royce said. “Giving us no time to plan.”
“I’ll call Hendrix and Murphy and round up the rest of our team for a planning session,” Blake said, pushing to his feet.
“It should be a simple drop, shouldn’t it?” Lauren asked. “It’s what he wants.”
“We don’t ever assume anything is simple or as it seems.”
***
An hour later, Luke and his brothers had Murphy and Hendrix on speakerphone, trying to get a grip on just how many people they needed to be involved tonight.
“I don’t mean to be the Grim Reaper,” Blake said, “but this could all be about the journal, not about trust. They get it and take Luke out. We need to be ready for this.”
Luke had already thought of that. “It’s a strong possibility.”
“Which makes my immediate concern is that we’re headed back to the island and that means moving out now,” Blake said. “We need a team there yesterday.”
“It could be in the city,” Murphy said. “Arel does the unexpected.”
“We have to be ready for both,” Hendrix said.
““That will mean splitting up, which will leave Luke with less support,” Royce said. “I don’t like it.”
“But not splitting up,” Hendrix countered, “could mean he ends up with no support.”
“I’m staying with Luke,” Blake said and he glanced at Luke. “Jesse knows the city like his own stink, man. We need him and we need manpower.”
Luke considered a moment, fighting personal feelings to focus on the reality of a grim situation. “Fine. Call him.”
“I’ll stay here too,” Hendrix said. “I know this city pretty damn well myself. Murphy should go. One of us needs to be at both locations since we’re accountable to the task force.”
Royce eyed Murphy. “You, me, and my man Kyle, on the island?”
Murphy nodded. “Works for me. We still keeping the rest of the task force out of this?”
“Until we know who Dragonfly is,” Luke said. “Yes.”
“I say Luke wears a wire,” Blake said. \
Luke shook his head. “They’ll pat me down. I’ll have to try and record with my cell phone.”
A general mumbling of approval filled the room.
“This call could come at any moment,” Luke said. “So we need to get this rolling now.”
Murphy ran a hand over his hair. “I just hope this really is a test. If Luke is in Arel’s circle after this, then maybe we really can get answers about our missing agent and shut him down.” He eyed Luke. “So don’t go getting killed, how about it?”
Luke didn’t plan on dying and he knew that meant keeping his head clear. If he went to his apartment, if he let himself get worked up over Julie, he wouldn’t.
***
Julie spent the afternoon with Lauren, who offered her a much-needed distraction by way of honeymoon stories and pictures, especially since Luke hadn’t so much as called her.
They were sitting at Luke’s kitchen table, where Julie had her laptop open, trying to do a bit of work, when Lauren’s cell rang. Julie listened to her talk to Royce, and watched how her friend glowed just talking to her new husband.
Lauren ended the call. “They’re still working on preparation. I’m going to head out to stay with Royce on the island later.”
“Okay,” Julie said, rising to her feet and refilling her coffee cup, trying not to think about how badly she wanted to see Luke and talk to him.
“You want to talk about Luke?”
“Not yet,” she said. “But eventually.”
“That’s closer to talking about him than we’ve ever gotten, so I’m pretty pleased with that answer. You normally shut me down when Luke comes up. Just know that I’m here when you need me.”
“I know,” Julie said. “And thank you.”
The door to the apartment opened and shut. Luke appeared in the doorway and Lauren got up. “I need to go unpack.” She hugged Julie. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
Julie and Luke stared at each other. The door opened and closed again. They were alone. “I had to go last night. I didn’t want to lose you. Luke, I–” She set her cup down and ran to him, throwing her arms around him. He didn’t hold her, didn’t touch her, but she wasn’t going to back down. “I don’t want to lose you. Don’t shut me out because you think I meant something I didn’t. I’m not used to feeling like this. You’re not just some ‘bedroom buddy’. I don’t know how to prove that–”
He kissed her, oh god how he kissed her. Hot, passionate, deliciously possessive. She lifted to her toes, trying to get more of him, trying to show him how much she needed him.
He tore his mouth from hers, tangled his hand in her hair and stared down at her. “I’m going to protect you at all costs.”
“I know.”
“You won’t always like it.”
“I know that, too, but you have to accept I’ll do the same for you.”