A Cold Dark Promise (Cold Justice #8.5)(37)

Frazer grinned. “We helped them catch a bunch of terrorists and prevented a bioweapon being sold on French soil. We made them look like heroes. We can just as easily make them look like incompetent assholes, and they know it.”

“Did you track Josette?”

“Officially? No. Unofficially the Mossad reached out to some IC connections and suggested the samples were in friendly hands.”

The Mossad was better than a terrorist group, but Alex still didn’t like it. “Figure out who the seller is yet?”

Frazer shook his head. “Nope. But the list of potential suspects is small. We’ll catch them.”

They screeched into a small private airstrip, and the car drove right up to the steps of the sleek-looking jet and jerked to a halt. The other car pulled up behind them.

Frazer virtually dragged Alex out of the car and up the steps of the airplane. Jane and the others jogged quickly after them.

Once they were onboard, the door was immediately closed and the steps rolled away. Alex nodded to Ashley who smiled back at him. No sign of the others. Presumably they’d returned to the States. The jet immediately started taxiing. Someone had thoughtfully placed several thick towels over the seats so they wouldn’t ruin the soft leather.

“Someone is taking their best man duties very seriously,” Alex noted wryly as Frazer sank down beside him.

One side of the man’s lips curled. “What can I say? I am the best man.”

Alex glanced across the aisle at Reilly and Jane who were holding hands. Taylor sat grinning and looking around in excitement. She’d bounced back remarkably quickly despite everything that had happened. Being reunited with a mother whom she’d thought she’d lost had definitely eased the pain of her father’s death. And Masook had been a hard man, not given to overt displays of affection.

Alex wasn’t sorry he was dead. He was only sorry Taylor had seen the helicopter wreckage and understood what it had meant.

“Would you like to come to my wedding?” he asked her as the plane reared up into the sky.

Taylor’s eyes went wide, and she nodded. He’d spent the last few days telling the girl all about Mallory and the baby and their dog, Rex. Jane and Reilly obviously meant something to one another, and Reilly was coming to the wedding. Why not Jane and Taylor, too?

Jane looked down at her clothes with a grimace. “We have nothing to wear.”

He thought about the conversation he’d had with Mallory about clothes. It seemed like a million years ago now. “I don’t care what you wear. You can come like that.”

Jane gaped at him.

“I fetched all your belongings from the chateau so you have dry clothes you can change into just as soon as we reach cruising height,” Frazer said patiently. “You can give me your sizes and my beautiful and amazing partner will arrange something for the ceremony. She has excellent taste.” Frazer flashed Jane a smile.

“Think I should call Mallory?” Alex asked quietly.

“It’s three a.m. her time the night before her wedding. Let her sleep. Send her a text and say you’re on your way.”

“A text?”

“It’s an electronic message they use on phones.”

“Funny.”

“I thought so.”

“Good thing I don’t have my gun.” Alex had thrown it over the side of the Fair Winds to avoid any possible murder charges.

“Temper temper.”

“Lincoln?”

“What?” Frazer turned and looked him in the eye.

“I love you, man.”

Frazer shook his head in disgust. “Get yourself tidied up before you embarrass yourself.”

They reached cruising altitude, and Alex immediately undid his seatbelt and stood, grabbing Frazer’s head and kissing him on the top of it. He ruffled the man’s perfectly trimmed hair. “I know you love me, too. You’re repressed. You’ll figure it out eventually.”





Chapter Twenty-One





It was seven a.m., and Mallory’s girlfriends had been doing a good job of keeping her company, but now they were both sleeping after staying up late talking. Ashley wasn’t here yet.

Mallory couldn’t sleep.

The newborn sun glowed pink and yellow as it peeked over the nearby wooded hills, making long shadows stretch over the endless rows of short vines. The vineyard buildings and the small elegant hotel were behind her. In front of her a couple of houses were dotted around the rural valley, but no one else appeared to be awake. The houses looked like little oases of tranquility.

She was wearing rubber boots caked in mud, and was dressed in maternity jeans and a pretty pink cotton tunic and a gray cable sweater to fight the early morning chill.

Rex ran on, sniffing every other vine. Cobwebs sparkled with diamonds of fresh dew and birds sang a morning chorus that should have cheered her heart. The dog darted off after a rabbit and she followed him down the valley, into the thin mist that clung to her cheeks in a cool film.

Something was very wrong.

Mallory had texted Alex regularly this week and he had assured her he would be home in time for the wedding, but there had been something elusive in his messages that troubled her. And he still wasn’t here.

It just wasn’t like him.

Leaving her alone like this wasn’t like him.