Edge of Midnight (McClouds & Friends #4)(76)

“Look down, to your right,” Sean said.

She did, and gasped. The road was on the crest of a hill that sloped down to the beach. The vast immensity of the Pacific Ocean spread out before them, illuminated with moonlight that cast the shadows of the stunted, wind-contorted trees. Wind-combed shreds of cloud moved across the sky. Surf washed over the broad, shining beach, in long swathes of white, bubbly foam, crashing against spires of black rock. It was beautiful, in a cold, aching, melancholy way.

“Tam’s fortress is up top,” he explained. “Architectural camou-flage. You really can’t see it until you’re in it.”

“It’s like a James Bond movie.” Liv’s voice sounded nervous.

“Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” he assured her. “Tam is like a bad Bond girl herself. The kind that’ll do a backflip onto your head and break your neck with her perfect thighs if you don’t look sharp.”

She turned a worried gaze on him. “That sounds alarming.”

“Oh, no. She’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys. It’s just that you can’t ever relax with her. She’s…well, you’ll see.”

“Who is this woman?” Liv demanded. “What does she do? You’re driving me nuts with this ‘you’ll see, you’ll see’ crap. Tell me, already!”

“She’s a mystery,” Sean said helplessly. “I’m not being coy. We don’t know much, and we’re kind of afraid to ask. Nobody knows what all she’s done, but it was against the law, that’s for sure. And when you look around her place, you’ll see that it was profitable.”

“How do you know her? You don’t mean to tell me that you…?”

“Hell, no,” he said hastily. “I’m squeaky clean, sweetheart. I don’t need to go looking for trouble. I’m plenty busy enough with the trouble that comes looking for me.”

“So how did you meet her?” Liv persisted.

“My brother Con met her a couple years ago. She was the mistress of this psychotic billionaire who was trying to rub out my brother’s girlfriend. Who is now his wife, Erin. Anyhow, turns out Tam was trying to assassinate the guy herself, but he was a real tough bastard. She and Connor saved each other’s asses.”

“It does sound a tad stressful,” Liv murmured. “So? Did she?”

“Did she what?”

“Kill the billionaire,” Liv said impatiently.

“Ah, no, actually. It was Erin who killed him.”

She shot him a wide-eyed glance. “You mean, Erin is a commando chick who breaks men’s necks with her perfect thighs, too?”

“Nah. Erin is a sweet, demure antiquities nerd who wouldn’t hurt a fly. But she stabbed that evil f*cker right in the throat with a Bronze Age Celtic dagger.” Sean’s voice was proud. “Blood squirting everywhere. You should have seen the walls of the place. It was unreal.”

“Thank God I didn’t,” Liv said faintly.

“Well, he was trying to strangle her to death,” he added, defensive. “And then Con and Tam shot up all his evil henchmen. It was intense.”

Liv shook her head. “I’m getting an inferiority complex.”

“Why? It’s no different from what you did to T-Rex this morning.”

Liv let out a bark of laughter. “There’s the difference that Erin killed the billionaire. Whereas T-Rex is still running around out there.”

“Don’t feel bad about it, babe. Practice makes perfect,” Sean encouraged her. “I’m sure you’ll get another whack at him.”

“Whoopee,” she muttered.

Sean pushed on. “So that was our bonding experience with Tam. She was maid of honor at Con and Erin’s wedding, when she gave Margot, Davy’s wife, this hairclip that sprays soporific gas. Which saved Margot’s life when they were being hunted by this wacko scientist who was selling a lethal flu vaccine…” His voice trailed off. He gave Liv’s averted face an uneasy glance. “Maybe now’s not the time to share.”

“It’s OK.” Liv’s voice was hollow. “I’d rather know that the woman I’m staying with is a hard-core career criminal.”

“Not now,” Sean said quickly. “Retired career criminal would be more accurate. She just lurks in her fortress. Designs crazy jewelry.”

“Yeah. She’s as harmless as a patchwork granny, I’m sure.”

“She’s special, our Tam. Try not to let her get under your skin,” he advised. “Check out this space age cloaking device over the garage.”

“What garage?”

She gasped as the mountainside split, bushes and moss and rocks gliding smoothly aside to reveal a garage carved right into the mountainside. “My God,” she whispered. “This is surreal.”

“Yeah,” he said, switching off the headlights. “Don’t worry. Tam likes us, for some reason. I imagine that’s why she hasn’t killed us yet.”

Liv stared, transfixed, at the rectangle of red-tinged light at the end of the dark garage. Light spilled out, reflecting in a long, ruddy streak on the gleaming stonework of the floor. A slender form appeared in silhouette, dramatically backlit. Hip cocked, leaning against the door frame. A gun dangled negligently from one hand. The other brought a cigarette to her lips. The tip glowed red. She tilted her chin up, blew out a stream of smoke. It looked like the opening of a dance piece.