Daniel didn’t respond to Locke.

  “Sure, you could have planned it. You’re not just a grunt, you’re a SEAL.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “It’s still there, though.” Locke didn’t figure the skills just melted away after a person was discharged, even dishonorably. That just meant Daniel was angry and trained. And Locke had the injuries to prove it. “You could have planned this, even with the mistake in targeting Alana—”

  “Who says that was a mistake?”

  Locke waved a hand toward her. “So you planned to swim up on her in the surf and…what, slit her throat?”

  Daniel shrugged.

  “Then you question Kaylee. Oh, after you killed Beatrice Colburn. Then Brian kills Zane Franks.”

  Daniel swallowed.

  “Now he’s gunning for Kaylee or Alana. Cleaning up your loose ends?” Locke stared him down. “Why would he need to do that if you’d done what you were supposed to do? I think you missed. You failed, more than once. Like you did in the navy.”

  “You don’t know anything about it.”

  “You’re right.” Locke didn’t know the reason Kaiko had been discharged, but it wasn’t by doing what he should’ve done. “But I can guess.” He paused. “Hotheaded? Probably had a problem with authority. Navy wasn’t as lucrative as the yakuza, and the weather wasn’t as good as it is in Hawaii. There’s a lot of reasons the grass might be greener on the civilian side. But you didn’t leave, they kicked you out.”

  Daniel’s lips pressed together.

  “Now you’re mad. Your commander in chief didn’t want your service anymore, so now…what? You’re trying to put him out of service?”

  Daniel said nothing.

  “Is this a plot to kill the president?”

  Silence.

  “Does it have to do with the surf competition?” What had Kaylee discovered that led to her listing those four names she had the cop give to Alana? Locke sent a text to William to have him ask her and prayed it would go through.

  “This will get put on you. All of it.” Locke took a half step toward Daniel Kaiko. “If anything else happens. If the president is hurt. If anyone else is injured or killed, this all goes on your shoulders. I’ll make sure you’re charged with all of it while Brian Wells gets a couple counts of conspiracy.”

  “He killed that cop in the restaurant, not me.”

  So Daniel had heard that the man died in surgery. Locke hadn’t even had the chance to tell Alana yet. “It won’t matter whether it was Brian or not. You’re part of this, and that cannot be denied.”

  The only way to get Daniel to turn on whoever had hired him and Brian Wells was to play on his dislike of that person—his dislike of being forced into a corner. Daniel would need to reclaim the power, to fight back. Only with that would Locke have a real shot at getting the information out of him.

  The elevator dinged.

  Ray moved Daniel out of the car. Alana followed on their left and Locke took up position to their right.

  Daniel glanced at Locke as they walked through the lobby. “You think I know who’s behind this? What if all I have is text messages and instructions but no name?”

  “Then I guess you’ll have a long time in prison thinking about how you should’ve done things differently.”

  Locke had the phone, and they could trace those messages to their origin. But if that number was unregistered, it would be nothing but a dead end.

  He held the door. Daniel came through with Ray and they fanned out again. As they hit the curb, Locke paused for a car to pass them before they could cross.

  Daniel Kaiko’s body jerked. Before Locke realized what happened, the man fell to the ground, taking Ray with him. There was a bullet-size hole in the former SEAL’s forehead.

  “Down!”

  Alana, already crouching, dived for the ground and Locke did the same.

  SIXTEEN

  “I was wrong.”

  Alana glanced over. Ray was talking to Locke.

  Daniel Kaiko lay dead between them. She turned away from the sight of it and stood, brushing off her clothes. No other shots had come. She hardly knew what to do. Maybe this was only the calm before another storm.

  Alana scanned the rooftops, trying to see detail past the yellow glow of street lights. Skyscrapers neighbored this downtown hospital, and she looked over every window. Usually she enjoyed the heat of evening, but right now it felt too close. Too…something. She wiped the sweat from her face. Her stomach pinched with every move, and she laid her hand over the wound on her side.

  Locke got up and strode over. “You okay?”

  She should ask him the same. “I think I pulled it again when I landed. But you look worse than me.”

  “I’ll be fine.” He put his arm around her and pulled her close to his side. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  Alana hugged his middle, grateful they could take a moment to comfort each other without the added pressure of their feelings. Whatever happened on this trip, when they got home they would remain friends. She hoped. “He’d have shot us by now if he was going to, right?”

  Locke nodded. “We should walk around, see if we can see him.” He surveyed the buildings around them as she had done.

  “I didn’t see him.”

  “You can stay with Ray. I’ll go.”

  Alana shook her head.

  Ray said, “So both of you are just going to ignore the fact I’m standing here?”

  Alana turned to her brother. “You have to stay with Daniel, right?” She didn’t like his tone at all.

  Ray nodded, but he didn’t look happy. “Homicide will want to talk to you.”

  “We’ll be back.”

  As Locke walked away, Alana followed. Ray called out, “I just wanted to say thank you. That was all.”

  She looked back over her shoulder at her brother. Ray almost looked like he felt guilty. Or sorry, at least. He told Locke, “You protected Alana. I just wanted to tell you I appreciated it.”

  Locke said, “It’s my job. I’m just trying to do my best with it.”

  Alana winced, and thankfully Locke didn’t see it. She didn’t need him to throw those words back at her. Even if he was talking to Ray, he was only repeating what she’d said.

  When they were out of earshot of her brother, Alana took out her ponytail and ran her hands through her hair, trying to inject some energy into her movements. When was the last time they ate? She wasn’t the kind of person who could forsake food for long stretches of work and expect to operate at maximum capacity. Eventually she would fatigue. She retied her hair and looked around, watching the people and windows for Brian Wells.

  “You okay?” He asked it, but he didn’t look at her. Locke was on the job.

  Did she want to admit to him that she needed to eat? It wasn’t like she had a medical condition, just a normal person’s need to consume food when she was expending so much energy. The day had been a roller coaster of adrenaline ups and downs and breakfast at the hotel had been a long time ago. She was starving. Probably a strange reaction to her life being in danger—again—but it was what it was.

  Still, Locke looked more in need of medical attention than she was of food. He should get those cuts looked at. Locke said, “I know what it probably sounded like, me telling Ray exactly what you told him. I’m not taking it lightly, and I’m not brushing it off.”

  Alana said, “What?”

  “Whatever’s happening between us. You know…that kiss we nearly had.” His eyes were warm, as though he’d been anticipating something good and even just the memory of it affected him. “It’s just nothing to do with your brother.”

  “Oh.”

  “I figured a united front was the best option, so I told him exactly what you did.”

  Okay, so that wasn’t a bad reason. She didn’t like how it had sounded, but figured that just gave her a window into how it felt for him to hear her say that about them. It stung, basically. But his reasoning wasn’t bad.

  Alana looked at each person as they walked. Downtown was always busy, even this late in the day. “I just wasn’t going to explain to my brother something that’s none of his business. And why is he getting all big brothery on me now? Like it’s his right to question you and make sure your intentions are good.” She shook her head. “Where was he when—” Alana shut her mouth. There was no way Locke needed to hear about old teenage drama that had seemed like a big deal at the time.

  “There’s a story there.”

  “Sure.” She smiled, making an older man passing in the other direction do a double take. “But there’s no need for me to tell it to you.”

  Locke slowed and turned. They were stopped on the sidewalk, forcing people to part around them.

  She looked up at him. “What?”

  Locke didn’t speak for a moment. Then he nodded, almost to himself, and said, “Six years ago there was this rookie. Her name was Tina.”

  Alana knew the story, but she wanted to hear it from Locke. “What happened?” Clearly it was something that had affected him deeply, or he wouldn’t be looking at her so seriously.

  “It was a routine trip. We were in Denmark, and the president was leaving a summit. Normal stuff. Everyone was jet-lagged and we just wanted to get back to the hotel. This was the last event of the day.”

  She took his hand and held it in hers. Locke gave her a small smile and continued, “Someone yelled, ‘Gun.’ Everyone thought a man in the crowd had pulled a gun and meant to kill the president. We moved with the president toward the car, but a delivery truck swerved. Tina was on the edge when it plowed toward the front doors of the conference center. She was hit by the truck. She died at the hospital. Doing her job. She was the one on that side of the formation, and there was nothing that could’ve changed it…” His voice faded out.

  “But you still feel responsible.”

  “It was my team.”

  “It was a terrible accident.”

  Locke set his free hand on her shoulder. “It was a terrible accident, but it’s also the job we do. And mine is to take care of the president and every team member.”

  “You aren’t all powerful. If you were, I know you’d fix everything, but that’s not the way it works. People are responsible for their own destiny. The agent. Tina. She was doing her job. What about the driver?”

  “He was drunk, back on the job after his lunch break.” Locke shook his head.

  Alana moved closer to him. “It was a horrible thing, I don’t doubt that. But we have to try to figure out how to move on from those things, maybe even how to use them to be better.”

  “Like your surfing accident.”

  Alana nodded. It had been hard, but she’d channeled all that drive to be the best into being a Secret Service agent, and in making her dad proud.

  “How did you do it?”

  “I found new dreams.” She sighed. “Only now that I’m back here, it feels like everyone else didn’t. Like they think I was wrong because I found something I want to do. It isn’t resentment, but it feels similar. Blame, maybe.”

  She didn’t want to think about surfing. Yes, she’d been really good, but it almost felt like they begrudged her for being a Secret Service agent now. As though she couldn’t be successful at more than one thing, and she’d had her shot then lost it through injury.

  Alana looked around just so she didn’t have to look at Locke. The police hadn’t found Brian Wells, either, and they were searching hard since one of their own had been shot in the restaurant. Was the man just so good of a sniper that he would be impossible to find?

  “Alana.” His hands were still on her shoulders.

  She glanced at him then. “Yes?”

  “I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you’re okay. It’s been close a couple of times, and you look like you’re about to drop. You have to tell me when you need rest, or food. Because I want to be there for you, to help you.”

  Sure, that was nice. But still… “Locke, you can’t blame yourself if anything happens to me. You can’t control Brian Wells, just like you couldn’t control Daniel Kaiko. Help is one thing, but you can’t just protect me because you’d be torn up if I got hurt. That’s like trying to control the situation by circumventing what might happen.”

  Locke pulled her to him then. He held her in his arms and pressed a kiss to her forehead. It was the sweetest kiss of her life. “Guess I have some things to learn, then. About trusting God. And about trusting you.”

  Alana leaned back. She touched his cheeks and pulled his face to hers so she could kiss his lips. It didn’t last more than a second, but from the way her heart leaped in her chest, she wouldn’t have guessed that. “We do this together. As partners.”

  He kissed her then. “Partners.”

  *

  Locke wanted to hold her hand, but walking back to the hospital entrance he saw Ray spot them and decided against it. Sure, the cop had concluded Locke wasn’t a bad guy. But while Ray might not be planning to arrest him, Locke figured he was on thin ice with Alana’s brother. If they even had ice in Hawaii.

  Ray called out, “No sniper?”

  Locke shook his head. “We didn’t spot him, but it was a long shot. He could be on any of these rooftops, in any window. He could be long gone or right under our noses.”

  Ray’s expression morphed. Locke didn’t like the facts, either, but Brian Wells had been trained to remain unseen. To go in, complete his assignment and get out, all without being discovered.

  Ray said, “There are cops still out here, flashing his picture and looking for witnesses. Let’s hope they find something.”

  Locke nodded. Beside him Alana remained quiet. He wanted to draw her out of her shell more. He’d shared something important with her, something painful. She didn’t share his sense of guilt and had told him that he shouldn’t blame himself, but it was how he felt. Tina was dead, and as her team leader the responsibility fell on him. Just as it would be on Locke’s shoulders if anything happened to Alana now.

  The rest of his team had been grafted into William’s, tasked with protecting the president. He got updates, but they all knew the drill. Once the surf competition was ironed out, Locke and Alana would join them for the remainder of the trip. None of them argued when the fate of the president of the United States was in the balance.

  Locke pulled out Daniel’s phone and showed it to Ray. “Do you think—”

  Alana darted away from them. Locke moved around Ray, just in case there was a threat. He didn’t want her to face it alone. But it wasn’t a threat. Kaylee Preston walked out of the hospital, leaning heavily on Mikio Adachi. She didn’t look well; she was pale and clearly exhausted. Why was the woman leaving the hospital?

  “Kaylee?” Alana approached her and Mikio. Locke glanced back. Sure enough, Mikio’s car was parked at the curb, a yakuza soldier ready to open the door for them. They had a lot of courage to operate so brazenly in front of so many police officers and a crime-scene unit processing a murder scene. All the officers here knew who they were, but clearly Mikio didn’t hide when he wasn’t overtly doing anything wrong, which probably had the disadvantage of making Ray even more frustrated.

  Kaylee met her gaze out of the corner of her eye. “Don’t, Alana.”

  “Don’t what?” His partner trailed behind Kaylee and Mikio as they made their way to his car, which was more of a limo than the vehicle he’d brought earlier. Evidently picking up his girlfriend warranted a more luxurious ride. “Kaylee, why are you leaving the hospital?”

  “It isn’t safe. I’m not going to stay here and be shot at.”

  “Can’t we at least talk about this?”

  They stopped by the car. Kaylee looked at Alana. For a few seconds she didn’t say anything, then she nodded.

  “Not out here. We’re too exposed.” Mikio glanced at Locke, and then said to Alana, “Get in.”

  Kaylee climbed in first. Alana next. Mikio went to get in, and Locke set his hand on the man’s shoulder. The soldiers all tensed. Locke lifted his hands. “I want in on the conversation.”

  Mikio’s lips thinned. “Very well.”

  Locke got in and moved to sit beside Alana on the middle seats that faced the center. Kaylee sat at the back, and Mikio sat beside her. He put an arm around her, and she relaxed into his side.

  Alana perched on the sideways seats, and Locke leaned back so he could see over her shoulder. He wouldn’t get in the middle of their conversation, but if Alana was going to be in here, then it was where he would be, as well. Anything could happen, and if it did he would be with her.

  “Kaylee, you think that Mikio can keep you safe?”

  Alana wasn’t pulling any punches, and he didn’t want her to. Locke wanted to see her grow in strength, and part of that was her need to face down her sister. No matter what Kaylee threw at her, Alana needed to hold herself together. Otherwise she would never get past the default of reacting to Kaylee’s emotions. She had to be able to…not disregard her sister’s feelings, but operate in spite of them. It was the only way Alana could make peace with herself and what she’d made of her life.

  Mikio shot Alana a look. “Of course I can keep your sister safe. Otherwise she wouldn’t be leaving with me.”

  “Not that it’s any business of yours,” her sister said, “but I trust Mikio.” Kaylee paused. “Are you really in this car to question his ability to keep me safe?”

  Alana didn’t rise to the bait. “I want to know about the four names on the list. You might be safe now, but the rest of us have a job to do. I need all the information I can get so that Locke and I can keep the president safe.”

  For a moment her sister looked proud, but the expression disappeared as fast as it had come. Locke wondered if Alana had even seen it.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you.” Kaylee sighed. “It was at the newspaper. I received an email that was sent to me by mistake—looked like a typo in the address. It was responding to an advertisement that had been posted on a social media account offering a couple of days’ work at a local bookshop for cash. Beatrice answered that ad.

  “I forwarded her email to the right person, but when I got a second email, about work at a gun shop, I looked into it more. The email said she’d seen the ad on her news feed so many times and she didn’t normally do this kind of thing, but clearly they needed help because of the man she met at a coffee shop who mentioned it as well, so she was offering.”

 

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