Code Name: Nanny (SEAL and Code Name #5)(23)

“In that case, I’ll drop my plans for a presidential run.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I can and I will. If you go, my presidential bid goes, too. I want you more than I want 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

“I won’t let you bow out.”

“Good, then help me find this bastard before he hurts anyone else.”

Cara took a deep breath. “I’ll give you one week. If we haven’t found him by then, I’ll inform the press that our wedding is off. I won’t change my mind about this, Tate.” Her voice shook.

“In that case, we’ll have to work fast.” He started the car and cut out into traffic. “Fortunately, I happen to know someone who’s perfect for this kind of job.”

“A private investigator, you mean?”

Tate shook his head.

“A policeman?”

“Something better. This man is as good as they come. I’d trust him with my life—in fact, several times I have.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will.” Tate’s eyes hardened. “He always gets the job done, no matter how nasty, and right now we need someone nasty on our side.”



He sits in a parked car and watches them walk out of the aquarium, one striking woman, one attractive teenager, and a little girl carrying a pink knapsack. Sunlight strikes the middle one, who’s wearing a red jacket. She looks angry, kicking at pebbles as she stalks ahead of the other two.

The tall woman is new, and he makes a note in a little book as she walks along the opposite side of the street. He sees her check the passing cars, the pedestrians nearby. Yes, this one is careful—maybe too careful.

He slides down behind the wheel of a rusty Honda Accord with Michigan plates. A Lakers cap covers most of his face, and the rest of his features are hidden behind a neat artificial beard. Always careful, he writes comments in a notebook between sips from a Thermos bottle. The book is full of timetables and maps, jammed with details of his eight months of surveillance. Who, what, where, and when—all are here, captured in neat, slanting script.

They are inside the parking garage now. His lip twitches as he watches the three of them slide into a white Lexus SUV with tinted windows and leather seats. Excellent car. Great power, tight handling, and zero to sixty in less than seven seconds.

The tall woman must be the new nanny. She drops something near the door and bends down to retrieve it. In the process she checks the underside of the car.

Very sharp, he thinks.

He frowns as she climbs into the Lexus, waits until the girls are buckled in, and pulls out into traffic, scanning the nearby cars.

People look at a BMW or a Jaguar, but no one looks twice at a rusty Honda Accord, and she is no exception. She is out in traffic in a second, unaware of him or the fact that this is no regular Honda. Thanks to his upgrades, the car can hold 160 on the straightaway.

Speed happens to be his second vice.

His lips curve in a smile as the Lexus passes, and he glances down, seemingly engrossed in the map of Monterey propped on his steering wheel. He lets a truck pass, then two other sedans. After that he follows, just another tourist on a sunny, crowded California street.

Near the dashboard, his telephoto lens clicks off a dozen shots. He will print them tonight and they will reach their destination three hours after that.

The three people in the white Lexus are attractive, confident, oblivious. Soon he will change all of that.

He is very good at his job.





[page]chapter 8

6:15 P.M.

Neither Sophy nor Audra would eat. They wanted to wait for their mother, who was due in twenty minutes. Their rooms were clean, their homework done, their pet ferret fed. Now they sat uncomfortably in the big den that faced the backyard, while the clock ticked loudly.

Sophy drummed on the pine coffee table. “Let’s play dominoes.”

“Dominoes are for dorks.” Audra gave a tight laugh and picked impatiently at a nail. “Forget it.”

“How about Monopoly?”

“I’m going for a walk until Mom gets here.” Audra swept up her red jacket.

“I’ll come, too.” Sophy shot to her feet. “You can come with us, Ms. Mulvaney.”

Audra rolled her eyes as she shouldered open the door and hammered across the porch. “Bring the whole world, why don’t you?”

Sophy skipped behind her sister. “Where are we going?”

“Into town.”

“There won’t be time for that,” Summer said calmly, catching the door before it banged shut.

Muttering, Audra crossed the grass, heading toward the driveway, but Sophy stopped at the edge of the porch. “I don’t want to go to town. I want to play baseball.” She picked up a bat from an old wicker chair. “Please, Ms. Mulvaney. Audra never wants to play anymore, but she used to be the best hitter around.”

“I still am,” Audra snapped.

“Really? Why don’t you show me?” Summer waited, hands on her hips. “Unless you’d prefer to explain why you set up that little surprise out in the gardening shed.”

Audra stared back, stiff and defiant. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sophy shuffled her feet. “You do know, Audra. You told me we had to teach her a lesson.”