Code Name: Nanny (SEAL and Code Name #5)(37)

“How do you know that?” Audra demanded.

“I just knew.”

Tracey sprawled on a pink chaise, laughing. “Good work, Sophy. You ought to be a spy. Want a Camel?”

“Shut up, Tracey.” Audra glared at her friend.

“No. I want to hear about Sophy and this stuff she knows. How does it work, Sophy?”

The younger girl chewed her lip. “I don’t plan it, but it comes and goes. It’s like the TV channels in a storm, you know? The picture can get wavy, but you can still see it.”

“Let’s go, Sophy.” Audra was angry at her friend, but some part of her was still curious, unable to stop picturing exactly what Tracey and her mystery friend did when they sneaked outside at night. Was that abnormal? Audra wondered. Did you go to hell for having too much curiosity and too many bad thoughts?

“Chickens,” Tracey called as the girls crossed the porch.

“I don’t like it when you smoke.” Sophy stroked Liberace’s head. “I don’t like Tracey very much, either. She’s going to get in trouble someday. Besides, she’s too old to be your friend.”

“She’s only a year older than I am.”

“But she acts a lot older.”

“Why don’t you like her?” Audra demanded.

Sophy shrugged. “Just because.”

“Did something happen?” Audra was seized by a flood of dark possibilities. “Did she do something to you?”

Sophy continued walking. “No, she just gives me the creeps. She doesn’t like herself very much; you can see it in her eyes. One day I saw her talking to Uncle Tate, only she was acting odd.”

Even though he wasn’t their uncle, Sophy called him that. Audra thought it was stupid, but it was better than Dad, which just didn’t feel right. “Talking about what?”

“I couldn’t hear. But she was laughing and touching his arm, and then he looked mad and he said something back to her and then her face got red. She walked away really fast.” Sophy looked up at her sister. “Uncle Tate just stared after her for a long time. He didn’t look happy, either.”

Audra had a cold, sick feeling in her stomach. Maybe she wouldn’t see Tracey anymore. Maybe that was best.

“Come on,” Sophy said impatiently. “It’s late, but we can sneak down to the kitchen. Patrick left us some German chocolate cake.”

“I don’t want any,” Audra said tensely. She couldn’t stop thinking about Tracey and Senator Winslow. What if they were—

Without warning, Liberace wriggled out of Sophy’s grip and shot along a low branch of the tree. Audra went after him while Sophy giggled.

Somewhere a clock chimed quietly in the depths of the night.





[page]chapter 13

Mist swirled up from the beach as Summer walked down the flagstone path to the pool. The perfume of roses was intense here, reminding her of early summer nights back in Philadelphia.

There was no sign of activity in the outbuildings, or down the path to the rocky beach. All the ground-floor windows of the house were closed and locked.

Summer wasn’t surprised to see Gabe pull out night-vision glasses and sweep the area a complete 360 degrees. “Everything nailed down tight,” he said finally, stowing the glasses in his pack.

“In that case, I’m going inside. I want to recheck the windows in the kitchen and be sure the alarm is still set.”

Without a word, Gabe turned, cutting across the tennis courts.

“You’re not asking why?” Summer said quietly.

“I never question thoroughness.”

Summer hid her surprise and rolled her shoulders, trying to work off some of her tension. “What time is it?”

“Almost one.” Gabe moved with powerful grace, his footsteps silent on the damp grass. “I’ll take the next circuit. We can rotate.”

Summer raised an eyebrow. “You trust me to handle things?”

“You’re the officer assigned. That means I have to trust you. It also means—” He turned suddenly, pulling her back against the corner of the garage as gravel skittered down the road. Car lights flickered through the mist, and Gabe’s arm dropped to her waist, drawing her out of sight while the lights moved in a slow arc over the grass.

As the beams traced the wall only inches away from where they stood, Summer planned defensive scenarios in the event of gunfire from the car. At the same time she reached down, finding the handle of her service weapon.

If a door opened, she was ready to roll.

But no door opened. No footsteps crossed the gravel. The car moved slowly down the road, its lights fading back into the night. Summer felt the bushes twitch beside her and realized Gabe was gone. Releasing her handgun, she peered around the corner of the garage.

He emerged like a wall of shadow out of the fog, his expression grim. “I only got the last three letters on the plate, but I’ll check it anyway. It could have been a local resident taking the wrong turn.”

“At one A.M.?”

“Not everyone’s a criminal.” Gabe looked down, frowning. “Don’t move.”

Summer swung her head, assessing threat scenarios. “Did you hear something? Why are you—” Her voice caught in a gasp of pain as something dug into her scalp.