“You okay?” Ben asked him. “You look—”
“I’m fine,” he grunted. “Just . . . worried.” He almost flinched when Lily turned her head and gave him a little smile, her eyes flashing with emotions he couldn’t deal with. And didn’t want. What the hell did she know anyway? She was too young. Too trusting. Too fucking everything. He’d have to be an idiot to believe a single word that had come out of her mouth that morning.
Moving away from her, he threw himself into the chair over by the wall, leaving her alone in front of the desk.
Ben frowned, looking between the two of them, before settling his worried gaze on Lily. She was still standing, and he held out his hand. “I’m afraid we didn’t get properly introduced. I’m Ben.”
“Lily,” she said, shaking his hand. “I want to thank you for taking the time to meet with us when you’re so busy.”
He gave her an easy smile. “Not a problem. I’m never too busy for my friends.”
Ryder stiffened, a little surprised by Ben’s words. He hadn’t really ever thought of him as being a friend. They worked together. Period. He didn’t have friends. Or girlfriends. Hell, he was such a reclusive jerk, he probably wouldn’t see his sister if she didn’t make it a point to come down and visit.
Before he could sort out his thoughts, Ben asked Lily to take a seat, propped his hip on the edge of his desk, and caught Ryder’s gaze. “Tell me what you need and I’ll make it happen. But first, I want to know what’s going on.”
Though he’d given Ben a brief overview of the situation over the phone, he hadn’t gone into any specifics. He did that now, explaining about Yuri Radovich, the op he and his fellow team members had carried out against Radovich three years ago that they’d mistakenly thought had resulted in the terrorist’s death, and how Heller and his girlfriend had been killed. Then Ben asked Lily to explain how she’d managed to make it from the Caribbean to Florida, and Ryder listened with interest. His damn head had been so screwed up since last night he hadn’t yet taken the time to ask her that question himself. Her story about paying some guy on a deep-sea fishing boat to smuggle her into the port so that there wouldn’t be any records for Rado to trace gave him chills, considering how easy it would have been for some bastard to hurt her. When she was done, Ben looked at Ryder and asked, “Could Radovich’s hit on Heller and his family be a personal strike against you?”
Lily sat up a little straighter in her chair, her confusion showing in the crease between her delicate brows. “What would an attack against my father have to do with Scott? As far as I know, they never spoke again after he left my father’s unit.”
Ryder shook his head a little, warning Ben off that particular track. He knew exactly what the guy was thinking—that Radovich thought there was a romantic connection between him and Lily and had tried to kill her because of it. No way in hell did he want his boss blurting out a bombshell like that. He’d never be able to convince Lily he wasn’t interested if she suspected he might be lying to her. Idiot woman had decided she wanted a piece of him for some unknown reason, and until he’d dealt with Rado and sent her home, he needed to be careful not to give anything away. Not that he was doing that great a job of it. He’d already had her panties down around her knees once today, and it wasn’t even lunchtime.
Picking up on Ryder’s signal, Ben shrugged Lily’s question off, saying it was nothing, then asked what he could do to help. Ryder rubbed his scar for a moment, knowing Ben probably wasn’t going to like his plan. But he didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter. He needed Radovich dealt with as soon as possible, because his control was only going to last so long. Sitting forward in his chair with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped between them, he said, “I’ve talked to Lily, and we both believe that her best chance of survival is to draw Radovich to Moss Beach so that I can deal with him personally. I know Rado will be keeping tabs on the east coast for word about Lily. He’s got guys who know their way around our statewide communication systems even better than we do. I was thinking that if you could put out a statewide alert for a man matching his description in connection with a local investigation, then it should be enough to snag his attention without setting off any red flags with the military, since they still don’t know he’s the one who made the hit. But the second Radovich realizes I’m a deputy in your department, he’s going to know that Lily came to me for help.”
Ben looked unconvinced. “Will he really think we’re stupid enough to put out an alert like that and not expect him to find out about it?”
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks. Even if he figures out it’s a setup, he’s still going to come after her. That’s a given. Regardless of his reasons for wanting to kill her, he isn’t the type of man who can allow a woman to get one over on him and let it go unanswered. He’s too fucking arrogant for it.”
“And you’re both okay with this?” Ben asked, looking from one to the other.
Before she could say anything, Ryder grunted, “Yeah. We talked about it this morning.”
Ben shot her an odd look, as if surprised to hear that she’d agreed to the plan. And Lily, damn her, hardly gave the impression that she was on board with the idea. She looked too pale, the tightness around her mouth a dead giveaway that she was on edge.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Ben said, “It’s a hell of a risk, luring an international terrorist to our town, Ryder.”
“I know. But I’ll deal with the bastard when he shows. I don’t expect the department to take this on.”
“Christ,” Ben muttered with a scowl. “No one’s going to stand by and let you handle this on your own. But drawing him to your home isn’t going to play out well if something goes wrong. I don’t want you having to hit the road in order to fall off his radar and end up losing my best deputy.”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong. I made the mistake of leaving that asshole to die once. I won’t do it again. This time I’m making sure he’s in pieces before I walk away.”
If Ben thought that was a bloodthirsty plan, he didn’t show it. He simply asked, “And then what?”
Ryder was careful not to look in her direction. “Then I’ll go back to work at the station and Lily can get back to her life in Virginia.”
Ben sighed, cutting an almost sympathetic glance at Lily. Ryder didn’t know what kind of expression she was wearing now, since he refused to look at her, but judging by the look on Ben’s face it wasn’t good. His boss looked like there was a lot he wanted to say, but knew better than to even try, and Ryder was grateful for his silence. He knew the next time he and Ben were alone he’d probably be getting an earful about God only knew what. But at least the guy was keeping his opinions to himself for the moment. The sheriff’s only question was, “You going to stay in the county’s safe house?”
“We have a safe house?” Ryder asked with surprise.
Ben grimaced. “Yeah, though the previous sheriff only used it as a place to house his latest mistress. I’ve slotted it for sale, since the county has no use for it. And I sure as hell have no need of the place. But it could come in handy in this situation. The security is tight, and there are cameras set up for outside surveillance.”