Wanting (PAVAD) Read online

  “Fourteen.”

  “And Twiggy here is a four. So...have them get a few cut-down-to-heres in fourteens for Carrie, tens for me, and fours for Paige. What about the guys?”

  “Boss man has decided that we’re a family act.” Paige flopped back into her chair, disturbing Carrie’s piles of sheet music. Carrie straightened them, her attention only partially on the conversation. “Get this, I’m with Josh, you and Care and Josh are Dan’s kids. And boss man is my brother. He’s the reason we’re in this area, as he’s supposed to be local. I convinced the rest of you to move to St. Louis from Osage City to be closer to my only family, and because the gigs are better. But they haven’t been, which is why we are in East St. Louis. How’s that for a kick?”

  “I think it will work.” Al stared at Carrie for a moment. “Red streaks in my hair?”

  Paige nodded. Carrie knew this was routine for them. Before transferring to PAVAD and Sebastian’s team, the two had worked in Undercover Operations, devising backgrounds and identities for the rest of the division—when they weren’t a part of the operations themselves. “And your hazel contacts so that your eyes are closer to Carrie’s. And we’re goth-ing up the boss man. Messing up that GI Joe-meets-GQ look he’s got going on. Making him edgier. Sexier, in a dangerous, club-hopping kind of way.”

  “And Dan and Josh?” Carrie asked.

  “Dan’s going for the rough, construction worker Dad turned band manager look. Department store jeans and work shirts. We’re deepening the red in his hair to closer to Carrie’s, and we’re doing the same to Josh. It’s just cool that they both have red in their hair to begin with. This might actually work, if we can nail the audition. Al, you’re going to be the available-vamp-type. Carrie, you’re the protected baby of the family. I’m the wild lover of the only boy. This is gonna be fun.”

  Carrie hid her smile. Paige had always loved pretending to be other people. She’d entertained herself—and Carrie—many nights by telling stories of who they really were. Then she’d write skits for herself and Carrie to perform. They’d role-play for hours—when they weren’t traveling or playing the battered guitar Paige had traded a few hours’ work in a secondhand store to get. Or when they weren’t reading the battered old high school textbooks they’d found at the same store. Carrie had easily mastered the math and science questions. Paige had enjoyed the humanities books. They’d carried those six books with them to every city they’d landed in. They’d read aloud and quizzed each other nearly every night.

  Carrie still had those books in her safe, though she had not looked at them in years. She just couldn’t seem to get rid of them.

  “We need to get Dan and Josh and find some instruments. Then we need to practice. Hard.”

  Chapter 52

  *****

  Ashleigh had told the FBI everything she knew about Elliot. But the nightmares still came. Would they always?

  She threw the blankets back and stood. Her mom slept in the hotel suite’s other room. Her dad was on the couch in the sitting room. He’d barely let Ashleigh out of his sight since he’d arrived at the FBI. He’d hugged her and hugged her. She’d hugged him back and cried. He’d make everything safe—he’d promised her that.

  He hadn’t said a word to her mom, and Ashleigh was happy about that. They were always fighting over her, and she didn’t want to hear it anymore. Her dad was still mad that her mom was with Elliot in the first place. If her mom hadn’t met him Ashleigh wouldn’t have had to run away.

  So it was her mom’s fault.

  But Ashleigh tried to tell herself that her mom had just made a mistake. And she loved her mom. Her mom loved her. But that didn’t mean she wanted to talk to her mom about anything that had happened, no matter how many questions her mom asked. She wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to anyone about it. Not yet. She had talked to Paige, the Goth FBI agent. She’d understood. But Ashleigh couldn’t talk to her anymore—Paige had had to leave. Her and Al. They had to go stop the other men responsible for that boy’s death.

  Ashleigh shook her head, trying to get Marco’s face—his dead face—out of her head. She’d never seen anybody dead before. She’d never even went to a funeral before. Marco’s family would have him a funeral. Should she go? She kind of wanted to. To tell his family she was sorry for what had happened, and that she was sorry she hadn’t been able to tell them about Marco sooner. It must have sucked for them, not knowing what had happened to him for so long.

  Had it sucked for her mom? What had Elliot told her? What had she believed? Did he tell her all kinds of lies; lies that made her mom hate Ashleigh?

  Ashleigh slipped the door to her hotel room open and crept down the short hall toward her mother’s room. She just wanted her mom, that was all.

  Her mom was asleep. Ashleigh knew she would be—her mom slept deeper than anyone Ashleigh had ever seen. Ashleigh slipped into the bed beside her mom and pulled the blankets around her shoulders. Like she used to when she was little. She just wanted her mom to make things all right again.

  Somehow.

  That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

  Chapter 53

  *****

  Three o’clock the next afternoon Carrie walked into Benito’s dressed in black leather pants and a daring green top cut almost to the center of her chest. Paige and Al walked on each side of her, Josh and Dan trailed behind, carrying the guitars. Al was to be the spokeswoman for the group, and the now-strawberry blonde’s outfit was the most daring Carrie had ever seen. It had drawn eyes the moment Al had entered the hotel lobby. Hell had checked the non-band members of the CCU into a lower budget hotel close to Benito’s to use as their home base , as a safety precaution. Al was enjoying the attention, too. She’d laughed at the teenage boys who’d gawked at her, tossed her hair at the construction workers they’d passed on their walk to Benito’s, and strutted. Paige cracked jokes at the other woman’s expense the entire time. The two were hilarious together and Carrie fought laughing several times.

  Benito’s was dark, with only the lights by the bar and over the stage on. A large black man was behind the bar, a stack of papers in his hand. Two other men sat at a table near the bar. The men stared, their attention going back and forth between Carrie, Al, and Paige. One of the men at the table stood and met their group halfway across the dance floor. "You here for the audition? I’m Benito, Jr. My father owns the club, and I oversee its operation."

  Al held out her hand and shook his. Carrie watched his gaze settle on Al’s chest and stay there. "Yes. I’m Ally, and this is my Dad and brother, and my sister. This is our friend P.J.; I believe you met her yesterday?"

  Benito Jr. looked up and studied the rest of the group. Carrie resisted the urge to fidget when his attention landed on her. It stayed almost as long as it had on Al, and that made her nervous. She hated it when people stared. "Yeah, I remember her. Where’s your brother?"

  Paige shrugged. "Who knows? He’s not the most reliable sort. He agreed to show us around down here, and that was it. I’m sure he’ll turn up eventually. Probably wanting money. So are we gonna do this audition or not? We got another in two hours, so..."

  He didn’t like that. Carrie easily read the emotion that flitted across his face. "Get set-up. I have business of my own at four. So we’ll make this as quick as possible. If I decide you can’t cut it, audition ends right there. If you can, we pay good. Real good. Got me?"

  "Crystal clear. We’ll need ten minutes."

  They were ready in five. Carrie took her place behind the keyboard that was already in place and Josh settled behind the drums. Al, Paige, and Dan warmed up a few minutes, then Al gave the signal.

  Carrie’s fingers landed on the keys and she opened the number. It was heavily piano-based, and Al slipped into the torchy ballad Paige had written when she and Carrie were eighteen.

  Carrie played, then once the song was underway and she could play by rote, she studied Benito Jr. and the other two men. They seemed pleased with what they’d seen. That
was good. Benito Jr.’s eyes met hers for a moment and she fought a shiver as dread slipped up her spine.

  She knew then that they’d nailed it. And Benito Jr. was as dirty as they come.

  ***

  The first night they were scheduled to play the club rolled around too soon. Carrie had played clubs like Benito’s before and she knew exactly what to expect. For once, she was the experienced member of the team.

  Hell had called a small meeting of the principles. Georgia and Al had procured the right kind of clothes for the band—clothes that were appropriate for a club that moonlighted as a small strip club two days a week, when the band wasn’t playing.

  Carrie knew her job. She was to keep the band appearing as legit as possible, Paige and Al, the same. All of them were to take note of the bar’s principle employees and patrons. Her teammate Zeke Norton, and an agent from Sebastian’s team would visit the club during stripping hours and check out those patrons and employees, as well. Hell had spoken with his contacts at Immigration and Customs Enforcement—Benito’s club hadn’t even hit their radar yet. So the CCU had full jurisdiction over whatever they found.

  The ramifications of what she was doing hit Carrie full force and her fingers stumbled over the keys. Paige threw a look over her shoulder, concern on her face. Carrie shook her head, wordlessly telling Paige that she was fine. She was a strong, confident, professional federal agent—not a naive kid trying to look older in a club she had no business being in. Those days were behind her. She’d focus on what she had to do to stop the monsters preying on defenseless kids.

  Marco Galeano’s photograph flashed before her mind’s eye followed quickly by every one of the photographs attached to those hideous purchase orders she’d found. Then little Ashleigh’s face as she’d realized she was finally safe from Courtney.

  No, Carrie wouldn’t falter again. She’d do what she had to do.

  ***

  Sebastian and Agent Norton, going now as just "Z" for this operation, wove through the crowd of twenty-somethings dancing in front of the stage. Sebastian forced himself not to look directly at Carrie. It was damned hard. The dress she was wearing made him want to swallow his own damned teeth.

  He knew the dress was designed to grab male eyes and keep them. And it hugged the most beautiful set of curves he had ever seen, so why wouldn’t other men be drooling over her? He was.

  He ordered a beer from the waitress and waited for "Z" to do the same.

  "Carrie looks good tonight," Norton said. Sebastian studied him for a moment. What had he meant by that? "Blue is definitely her color. Of course, they all look good. Don’t you think?"

  "Yes. They’re supposed to." It was part of the game they were playing.

  "But Carrie...she looks especially good tonight."

  "Are you fishing?" Norton was one of Carrie’s teammates, and Sebastian knew he cared about her. But was now the best time for this line of questioning? "What’s between us is private."

  "So you’re not going to have a problem with the fact that ol’ Benito over there hasn’t taken his eyes off of her since the moment we walked in?"

  Sebastian released a curse and followed the direction Norton indicated. The other man was right—the bar owner’s son made no secret of the fact that his interest was in the piano player. They hadn’t figured on that. Sebastian wanted to rush the stage, then rush her off of it.

  "That’s what I thought you would think." Norton leaned toward Sebastian. "So how are we going to handle this? Carrie doesn’t need a guy like that slobbering all over her."

  "I think Carrie can handle herself better than you think. But the question is, do we need this?" Sebastian gave it a few moments’ thought. "Carrie needs taken off his radar."

  "And how do you plan on doing that?"

  By putting himself between her and Benito Jr.. "Just leave it to me."

  He pulled out his phone and shot a quick text to Paige.

  Norton laughed. "So it blows that way. I’d heard the rumors and seen it with my own two eyes. Never would have believed it, though."

  "Why?"

  "Because Carrie is sweet. Wholesome in that girl-next-door kind of way. Naive. You are the exact opposite. I’d hate to see her hurt, ok? Now, I’m gonna get to work. Hope K.D. doesn’t mind that I got to play up the lady-killer in me for this one!"

  Sebastian had long suspected Norton had a thing going on with his female teammate Kandice Jacobs. The woman was out on maternity leave, but Sebastian hadn’t thought Norton was the father. At least, he hadn’t heard any gossip to that direction. "Go. I’m going to give Benito Jr. a show with Carrie and Dan in a bit. Keep your eyes and ears open."

  "Will do."

  ***

  "Just got a weird text from boss man," Paige leaned over the keyboard and whispered in Carrie’s ear. "He says you are his new girlfriend, but Daddy doesn’t approve. Wants you to meet him just backstage. I think he’s planning something. He wants Dan to follow five minutes after you."

  "What’s going on?"

  "I don’t know. The rest of us will carry on out here. Watch your back."

  Carrie finished the song, then slipped off the stage through the back door.

  A hard arm wrapped around her stomach and pulled her back against a hard male chest. Only the familiar smell of Sebastian Lorcan mingled with his whispered admonishment in her ear had her not screaming. “Just play along, ok? We have a bit of a problem.”

  He turned her to face him, keeping his face pressed against her neck. Carrie shivered, both from nerves and from his touch. She nodded, signaling her cooperation. Her hands slipped beneath his elbows and around his back. If he felt necessary for this kind of touching in the middle of the operation, there was probably a reason for it. Because it certainly wasn’t something she’d ever expected him to do. And that confused her. “What’s this about?”

  “You have an admirer. Benito Jr. hasn’t taken his eyes off of you since you took the stage. And I didn’t like it.”

  Carrie pulled back a bit and looked up at him. “Why is that a problem? I thought we were supposed to pull attention our way?”

  “Al is. You’re not.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, that’s not your assignment.” He leaned closer, pretending to nip her ear. “And you’re not equipped to deal with a man like Benito Jr.”

  “But I can deal with you?” She felt the first burn of annoyance filling her stomach. What made him so special?

  “You’d better believe it.” He kissed her, hard, then pulled away just when she’d forgotten why she was getting angry with him. Why had he done that? Did he honestly think she couldn’t deal with Benito Jr.? “And this gives me an opportunity.”

  “What kind?”

  “You and I can sneak around backstage.”

  “With what reason?”

  “Easy. Daddy doesn’t approve of our relationship. Thinks P.J.’s loser brother isn’t good enough for his baby girl. This gets me back here waiting for you—and you in various places in the club searching for me.” He dropped his voice even further. “And I’m going to have Al sleazy up to Benito Jr. a bit.”

  “Why not me, if I already have his attention?” Did he honestly think she couldn’t do it? That hurt, even though she didn’t want that attention.

  “Because I don’t want you to.” He kissed her again, then pulled back. “I’m not going to ever lie to you, Carrie. I don’t want you flirting with him. And it has nothing to do with why we are here, at all. It has everything to do with just me and just you. Got me?”

  No. She didn’t understand him at all. Would she ever? “I guess. I have to get back out there. We don’t want people thinking there’s a problem.”

  “Yes…I’ll fill Dan in on what we’re doing. He’ll need to play his part. In the meantime, if Benito Jr. tries to talk to you, hedge with him, then finally tell him in confidence that you are involved with someone but your father doesn’t approve. Appear as naive and sheltered as you can. I want Al to appear
the exact opposite.”

  “Ok. Now, I have to get back up there, I’m singing the next song.”

  ***

  Sebastian watched her from the small area beside the stage. Had he made a mistake? He admitted it to himself—the only reason he had done what he had was because he didn’t want some other guy anywhere near Carrie right now. Period. What did that mean for him?

  It meant he needed to get a hold of himself and do his damned job without worrying about Agent Carrie Sparks. He had never allowed a woman to influence his job before. Why her? What was it about her that made him want to toss everything he ever knew about whom he was aside and claim her in front of every damned man in the club currently salivating at the sight of her in navy silk? He had no idea, but he did know that he wasn’t a damned cave man.

  Dan stepped out from the black curtain separating the stage from the staging area. His face was guarded, blank. Sebastian tensed his body into an aggressive pose, knowing the security cameras above their heads had captured him and Carrie kissing, and knowing that the next stage of his cover depended on what he and Dan managed to pull off here. “Reynolds.”

  “What the hell are you doing back here?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest, then smirked at the shorter man again. “Carrie looks hot tonight, and I thought I’d tell her so.”

  Chapter 54

  *****

  Dan studied Lorcan for a quick moment. What was the boy playing at? Body language told Dan Lorcan expected to be challenged. By him. Why? Dan tensed his shoulders. “What’s this about?”

  Lorcan’s gaze flicked up and to the left. Dan’s followed. The cameras were there, hidden, but anyone with any experience could spot the devices. Dan nodded; he understood now. “I told you, I’ll see your daughter when I want...and when she wants, old man.”