She pulled him close and kissed his lips and it started all over again. A bit less frantic, but ultimately equally satisfying and intense.
The next time she opened her eyes, her tension had vanished. It had vacated her heart and left contentment behind. Almost like giving birth, she imagined. Then her stomach rumbled and they both laughed.
“You said something about Chinese food?”
His reaction surprised her. He tilted his head and grew a broad grin. “You know from now on that’s going to be our thing. Someone we’re with will suggest Chinese food and we’ll be giggling all the way to the bedroom.”
Skylar felt another pulse of pink light. He’d just referenced a shared future. Could this be happening? Could it continue? So many questions. Good questions this time. “I love that you think that way.” Oops, she’d said the L word. She quickly followed up. “I’ll take the mapo doufu, please.”
“So you like your Chinese spicy?” he said with a wink.
She smiled and stole a quick kiss. “I do.”
As Chase rolled off the bed, her computer pinged. Skylar sat up and saw that a single pin had appeared. The email had been opened. On the big map, it wasn’t far from their current location. But it also wasn’t on land.
66
Strange Arrangement
THE TILTROTOR disgorged David and Pierce into the company of two more guards, both unabashedly brandishing HK MP5s. The one to David’s right addressed them. “Please follow me, gentlemen. Ms. Eiffel is expecting you.”
“I’d hate to think what would have happened if we hadn’t been expected,” Pierce said.
“All your worries would have disappeared,” David said, forcing a smile.
They marched through the house toward the owner’s suite in the back. Marching was the right word, David thought, given how they were sandwiched between men wearing combat boots.
They could see Aria working on her laptop through a doorway that resembled the entrance to a vault. She looked up at the sound of their approach. “Welcome to my safe suite,” she said, rising to meet them while closing her computer.
The soldiers peeled off to the side as the guests entered hallowed ground. Once the two Immortals passed her threshold, Aria pressed her palm against a glass plate installed in the wall. The door swung slowly shut, closing them in with a gas-expelling whoosh.
To David’s eye, the central room of Aria’s safe suite mirrored the main room of many modern estates. A full kitchen complete with a long granite island covered the back wall. Luxurious eating and lounging areas occupied the middle, with more intimate seating areas off to the sides. Everything was oriented toward a breathtaking view over her picturesque pool and private beach of sugary sand.
David’s focus moved to the middle of the room, where a table was set for a seven-star feast. Steaming lobsters and chilled oysters and a rainbow of fresh fruits. Wines and juices to the right. Prime rib to the left. Salads and starters and a tiered silver tray full of sweets on the far side.
“The refrigerators and pantry are also fully stocked,” Aria said. “We’ll be quite comfortable for a week. If it looks like we’ll need more time, I’ll have a second round brought in.”
“More time for what, exactly?” Pierce asked, as Aria settled back into her lounger and they took opposite chairs. “What do you expect the three of us to accomplish?”
David gestured toward the sumptuous table in the center of the room. “She’s interrogating us, albeit in seven-star style. It’s a simple but effective tactic. You lock people in a room long enough, and they start talking. They can’t help it. Ask any police detective.”
“It’s a brainstorming session,” Aria corrected. “The police don’t serve lobster and Champagne. And I’m delighted to say that it may all prove to be unnecessary. I just got an email from Tory.”
“An email?” Pierce clarified. “That’s a first for Tory. Isn’t he Mr. Security?”
“He called first to find out if I knew why Felix wasn’t answering his phone. Of course I told him. Then he dropped the bomb.”
Aria stopped there, savoring the moment while they squirmed forward in their seats. “He told me he knows the killer’s identity.”
“Who?” Pierce asked, packing a load of excitement into just one word.
“He refused to say over the phone. He wanted to meet.”
“That sounds like a trap,” Pierce said.
“My thought exactly. So I said he could email me the name if he couldn’t talk on the phone.”
“And?”
“He said he’d consider it. That was hours ago. But he just did. Sort of. I’m glad I opened it. I’ve gotten a few junk emails today, so I almost deleted it outright.” She lifted the lid of her laptop and read. “It’s not a person, it’s an organization. The one you’d least suspect.”
“Does he reiterate his request for a meeting?”
Aria rotated the computer around on her lap to show them the screen. “No, that’s it.”
Pierce leaned in. “It’s pretty vague. Sounds like he’s trying to provoke a reaction. Get you to request a meeting.”
David reached for his phone. When his hand found the soft fabric of a sewn-shut pocket, he remembered that they’d surrendered everything back on the mainland. “I got a call from Tory, too. But I didn’t answer.”
“Why not?” Aria asked.
“I wasn’t in the mood to talk about replacements.”
Pierce harrumphed. “Apparently that’s not what he wanted.”
“Who could have guessed?” David turned from Pierce back to Aria, then nodded at the laptop. “How do you plan to reply to Tory?”
“Invite him here,” Pierce suggested. “Let him get that warm reception from your security staff. Then we’ll interrogate him in person.”
David shook his head. “Tory is a first-rate soldier and tactician. He will arrive with overwhelming force—if he’s up to something. Personally, I can’t imagine why he’d want to be deceitful or antagonistic. We’re his gravy train.”
“Maybe he’s figured out that he can blackmail us into giving him the whole railroad.” Pierce held up a finger as an idea struck. “Don’t give him the name of the island, just the airport in North Palm Beach. Bring him here the same way you brought us. Preferably blindfolded.”
Aria’s stomach grumbled. She blushed and rose to her feet. “Gentlemen, please fill a plate. I spent an hour watching them prepare that feast. Clearly, my willpower has reached its limit. We’ll get to Tory once we’ve fueled our brains.”
“Sounds good to me,” David said, rising. A lobster had caught his eye. He grabbed it along with a candle-warmed pot of drawn butter and made his way to the small round dining table set for three. A crisp white card had his name printed in script, an artifact of Aria’s fastidiousness. He set the lobster down and returned to the buffet where he filled a smaller plate with Caesar salad. “Who else is drinking Champagne?”
“You read my mind,” Aria said.
“What the heck. I’ll switch to Bordeaux later,” Pierce said, looking up from the prime rib where he was working a long silver carving knife.
David found it odd that Aria had allowed such a formidable weapon into her sanctuary. Perhaps it was a test. Or perhaps this whole arrangement was more than it seemed.
67
Alternative Approaches
SKYLAR’S BODY was still basking in the afterglow of her amorous outburst as she grabbed her laptop off the desk and returned to the bed beside Chase. Laying it on her bare legs, she noted with some pride that they remained tanned and toned despite her recent lack of exercise. Well, training, she corrected.