“What?”
“I said—”
“Oh, just come in, for God’s sake.”
He tried the door, but it was locked. “I can’t.”
“You mean to tell me between the three of you, you can’t jimmy a bathroom lock?”
“Hold on.”
He went back to the kitchen and asked Seth to lend him a hand. Boone knew how to get in using C4, but since that seemed a little much, he got Seth to use his handy kit. It took less then a minute, and Boone knocked once more before he opened the door.
Although his intentions were completely on the up-and-up, the moment he saw her naked in the tub, his body reacted. Even before the humidity got to him, he was sweating, and as he walked over to take a seat on the closed toilet, he felt the pressure in his jeans.
For her part, she just sat there watching him, her neck cradled in the pillow, the fragrant water holding up her breasts. Water droplets shimmered on her moist flesh, but she didn’t take notice. She was too busy staring daggers at him.
“I was a jerk,” he said.
“Go on.”
“I should have thought, and I didn’t. I was so focused on the job that I didn’t take your feelings into account. I’m sorry.”
Christie closed her eyes and let her head fall back. “Where are the cameras?”
“In the bedroom, the living room and the kitchen. I also have one on the front door and by the window in the guest room.”
“So basically, everywhere.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you actually see him come into my bedroom?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“There was no way to identify him. I got a general shape, size, but nothing concrete.”
She looked at him again, and he squirmed under the glare. “Did it ever occur to you that I might be able to figure out who he is? That his shape and size would ring a bell?”
“No, it didn’t.”
“Okay, so we know that you shouldn’t quit your day job to become a detective. Do you still have the tape?”
“Yeah. We’ll take a look at it as soon as you’re ready.”
She didn’t respond. She also didn’t stop staring at him.
“I don’t expect your forgiveness,” he said. “You say the word, and I’m out of here. Seth and Kate will take over. They’re damn good and they know the situation. You won’t have to worry.”
“You want to bail?”
“No.”
“Then don’t. But I swear to God, if you lie to me again, I’ll use my new skills with my gun to shoot you where it hurts the most. Is that clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Okay then. We’ll look at the tape together. Then we’ll get on with it.”
“Fair enough.”
“Do we have a plan?”
“We do. Seth and Kate are going to come back tonight, but they’re going to put on a show for the geek.”
“A show?”
Boone nodded. “They’re going to tell us to get ready. To pack up for an indefinite period of time. We want the geek to believe we’re going underground.” He kept his eyes on her face, because every time they dipped below her neck, he forgot what he was saying.
“And this will do what?”
“Force the geek to come inside the house.”
She sat up in the tub, revealing a lot more. “That’s it? That’s the whole plan?”
He focused. Again. “No. You’re going to tell him that you don’t care where you live because you and your boyfriend are going to be married. And then you’re going to show him your engagement ring.”
She looked at him for a long time. Finally, she sighed. “So where’s this ring?”
He watched a single drop of water quiver on the tip of her nipple. “Ring?”
“I’m going to wave an engagement ring around?”
“Yeah.”
“Boone, maybe I should get out of the tub and get dressed.”
“No, don’t.”
“Pardon?”
He jerked his eyes up. “Sorry, what?”
She laughed. “Good to know that no matter what the uniform, boys will still be boys.”
Boone stood, giving himself a mental whack on the head. He turned toward the door. It was just safer that way. “Okay, the ring. Yeah, we’ve got one. Kate brought it. Oh, and she wants to talk to you about a couple of men from your past.”
“Which ones?”
“She didn’t say. Were there any that were, you know, more than just casual relationships?”
“A couple.”
“Really? Who?”
“Why,” she asked, a smile in her voice, “jealous?”
“No, no. Just trying to figure this thing out.”
Water sloshed, and he pictured her getting out of the tub. All that naked flesh dripping with warm, sweet water. He discreetly adjusted the boys, but it didn’t help a whole lot. Then he tried to think of something really unsexy, but every image turned into naked Christie.
The water sounds stopped, but then he heard other stuff. A soft footfall, the towel slipping from the rod. “You probably want to get dressed,” he said. “I’ll go to the kitchen and wait.”
“No, don’t.”
He turned to find her wrapped in her towel. Her hair was still tumbled atop her head, and her skin still looked damp and warm.
“There’s still some things to discuss. Aside from the plan, which I want to go over again. But this…I need to hear this from you. Alone.”
Boone nodded. Whatever she asked, he had to give her the truth, as long as the truth wouldn’t get her killed.
“I really appreciate what you told me about Nate, but I need more. I want to understand. What did he do that was so terrible someone had to blow him up with a bomb?”
“Christie…”
She sighed as she sat at the side of the tub. She reached down and pulled the plug, then dried her hand with the edge of the towel. “I don’t give a shit about the danger. Been there, doing that. Just talk to me.”
Boone walked over to the other side of the tub and sat down, angling himself so he wasn’t looking at Christie. “We were recruited by a special ops group, an offshoot of the CIA who worked with the Pentagon. All of us were picked for our particular specialties. It was just good luck that Nate and I were both selected for the team. I’d also worked with Seth.
“Our assignment was in Pristina, Kosovo. We were to get to a rogue scientist working there. Destroy the lab, and everything in it, then get out.”
“When you say ‘get to’ you mean kill, don’t you.”
“Yes.”
“What went wrong?”
“Everything. The scientist wasn’t who we were led to believe. The information we were told to destroy had nothing to do