Part 6 (1/2)

”Can you show me where the drugs are?” Justin stopped walking and plopped to the ground, rolling over to expose his belly. ”Hmm. I take it that your drug is belly rubs.” She rubbed his belly for a second as she took in the house.

The house had just had a complete upgrade inside. Everything was new. There was an entranceway with narrow stairs leading upstairs. A half bath was tucked in under the stairs, and an office sat across the front room facing the porch. Past the stairs was a dining room that also connected with the kitchen just beyond that. Cade had obviously knocked down walls to create a large kitchen and living room area in one. The kitchen had brand new stainless steel appliances. A large island with black granite countertops and six barstools separated the kitchen from the living room. The living room held a large leather couch and two matching chairs, one of which was now occupied by Justin. A large LED television was mounted to the far right wall. The back wall had French doors that led out to a brick patio.

Annie walked into the living room and slowly looked around at the pictures and books lining the walls and sitting on tables. There were pictures of Cade with all his siblings, a picture of Cade, Miles, and another one of his siblings in military fatigues in some desert, pictures of an older couple she guessed were his parents, and then some she guessed to be of grandparents.

She opened drawers and looked behind photos but could not find anything relating to drugs or anything else illegal. She decided to run upstairs and check his bedroom before doing a search of his office. Annie hurried up the stairs and peeked into two guest rooms before finding the master suite.

A large, king-size bed with a dark green comforter sat along the far wall in the middle of the room. She walked through the door to his room and couldn't help the slightly giddy feeling she got when she sat on his bed. Against the wall opposite the bed was another LED television and a chest. She felt through his clothes and couldn't find anything. She made her way through his walk-in closet and only found a couple of old unloaded rifles. She pushed open the other door in the room and walked into a ma.s.sive bathroom. A large shower with six shower heads took up most of one wall. Annie couldn't look away from the shower. She knew what she wanted to do in that shower. It was the perfect shower for it, the hot water pulsing all around, the steam rising up, the bodies... she needed to get out of here before she spontaneously combusted!

Annie lifted the small curtain next to the front door and looked out. All was dark and silent. She felt as if she were in her own world out here. Even though she was illegally breaking and entering, well, the door was unlocked she felt very peaceful out here. Knowing she was in the clear, she headed into Cade's office.

”If there is going to be any evidence of drugs, it will be in here.” She sat down in his chair and surveyed his desk. He only had a bookcase and a desk with a computer on it in the room. She opened the desk drawer and found nothing. She opened one of the side drawers and found a desk full of small black cases. She picked one up and opened it: National Defense Service Medal. She picked up another box: Silver Star. There were more than ten boxes in the drawer! She picked up another one and opened it: Legion of Merit Medal. She picked up one more and opened it. Holy c.r.a.p! It was the Army's Distinguished Service Cross. She put it back down in the drawer and closed it. She suddenly felt guilty for searching his house with his literally being a national hero.

She quickly went through the other drawers, and finding nothing, pushed back from his chair. She went over to the bookcase and looked at his books, finding a lot of history book such as A. J. Langguth's Patriots, David McCullough's 1776, Dan Jenkins' Semi-Tough and other football novels.

Annie was just about to call it quits and head back outside to wait when she noticed a heavy-duty lock on the wall hidden behind some large plants. She pushed the plants out of the way and found that it was actually attached to a door. Hmm, now this was strange. Annie pulled out her black leather lock pick case and opened it up. It took her a couple of minutes, but finally she heard the telltale click of the lock opening.

She put her tools away and put the case back in her purse before opening the narrow door. Looking around, she took a cautious step forward into the darkness. The room was pitch black, and she pulled out her small penlight. Annie aimed the light onto the wall and gasped. It was lined with weapons. She found the switch and turned on the fluorescent overhead lights and froze.

Rifles lined one whole wall. She recognized the Army's standard issue M24 Sniper along with an M40A3 and a very large M82A1 SASR. Wow, it was a beauty, a .50 caliber beauty. Along the other side of the wall were various handguns. There was an MK24, and oh, there was the new M11 also known as the SIG P228! She had always wanted to try one those. It was calling her name. She would swear to it in court if she got arrested for trespa.s.sing. She picked the M11 off of the wall where it was hanging and tested its weight and balance.

”Oh, you are one handsome guy,” she cooed to it.

”Why thank you.” The voice slid over her. She jumped, swinging the gun around and pointing it at her target.

”You do know it's not loaded, right Red?”

”What are you doing here?!” Annie accusingly asked him.

”I live here. What are you doing here?”

She heard the laughter in his voice and lowered the gun. Yeah, that's right. She was the one breaking and entering.

”You don't seem surprised to see me. How long have you been here?” Was he here the whole time she was drooling over his guns?

”Marshall called me from the Cafe and asked how I felt about getting married in April.”

Annie groaned and desperately wanted to hit the light switch and hide under the large wood table in the middle of the gun room.

”I said I thought it would be lovely, but apparently my bride is in a rush and wants to get married in January.”

Annie eyed the rounds for the M11 on the shelf and contemplated ending this before she died of embarra.s.sment.

Cade only felt kind of bad for her. He was having way too much fun embarra.s.sing her though to take pity on her. He had been halfway home when Marshall called, wanting to know all the details of their hot night together and telling him Mom was expecting him to bring Annie home for dinner on Sunday.

He had found his house still dark when he drove up and her car empty. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was up to. He had quietly come in the house from the back door and found the faint glow from his arms room spilling out into his office. When he looked in the door, there was his dog, sound asleep at her feet. Annie was holding his favorite gun and practically wors.h.i.+ping it with her hands.

”If you keep touching my gun like that, I'm going to be jealous.” His voice came out a little rougher than normal but her skilled fingers manipulating his gun was making him think of her using those fingers for something else. He was having a very hard time remembering he didn't want a January wedding.

Annie practically threw the gun back onto the wall and he had to laugh. She was so jumpy that he bet he wasn't the only one affected. ”So, you like what you see, Agent Blake?” With a small wave of his arm he indicated his gun room.

He could see the momentary shock on her face when she realized he knew who she was, but she recovered quickly enough. He watched as she wiped her tiny hands on her jeans and then as she slowly raised her green eyes to meet his. When he looked into her eyes, he felt transported to pastures during springtime with the multiple shades of green fighting for dominance.

”I would ask you how you know who I am, but after looking around your house, I think there is a lot to you and your military record that was left out of the database.” Cade smiled and rocked back on his heels. ”You could say that.”

Chapter Eight.

Cade held the door to the gun room open for Annie. She walked into his office and leaned her hip against his old desk while he shut and locked the door. He had to look twice for the hidden panel to get the key out of in order to lock the door. Annie just looked so s.e.xy in those tight jeans and simple white v-neck t-s.h.i.+rt that seemed to cling perfectly to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her hair haphazardly pulled back into a ponytail. It was driving him crazy!

Annie waited for him to finish hiding the key before asking him about his kidnapping. ”So, what was amateur hour about?”

”Actually, I was getting ready to come find you to talk about just that. I think I need your help.”

”Did the big bad goons scare you?” she teased.

”Ha! At first I had to go against my instinct to fight, but when I realized they were completely incompetent I had to fight from laughing. They tied loose knots and couldn't even put on a blindfold. Good news, I know exactly where the home base is. They took me into Lexington to the Iron Club and Spa where I got to meet Trevor Gaylen.”

”Great. I will pa.s.s this information along to my bosses and we can get some surveillance set up. Good work, Davies. Do you think this Trevor guy is the boss?”

”No.” Cade shook his head. ”He's a thug in a suit brought over from Scotland.”

Annie looked at him and he could see the question in her eyes, ”Then what did he want?”

”He wants me to send the best boys on the team to the gym in Keeneston to train with an ex-NFL player by the name of Devon Ross. Furthermore, I'm to be in the locker room sparingly and no longer test for S2. In return, I get a champions.h.i.+p team and you get to live.”

He watched as Annie narrowed her eyes as she took in his meaning. ”Well, then you have nothing to worry about. As you know, I can take care of myself.” She smiled at him and his body went weak.

”It's not just you he threatened. He also threatened my mother and my dog.”

”He brought your dog into it? Wow. That's low.” Annie shook her head and thought about it some more. Cade was right. This wasn't the boss man. The boss usually kept to the shadows. ”We think the boss, whom we call the Scientist, is the actual designer of the drug. Did he say anything that would give clues to the boss?”

”Trevor did say it was only temporarily illegal, that they were going to present it to the FDA,” Cade eagerly put in.

”That way he can make two fortunes, one now, while they sell the drug illegally and then a second if it becomes approved by the FDA. That's why I'm thinking the boss is younger, maybe late twenties, early thirties. It takes around fifteen years for a drug to be approved by the FDA, and my guess is he's young enough to be able to enjoy both potential windfalls.” Annie knew she was mixing her personal views with what the DEA believed, but it felt like Cade would believe in her theories where the DEA didn't want to speculate. She looked at Cade and saw him nodding his head in agreement.

”That would make sense. An older person wouldn't care about FDA approval. They'd just try to corner the street market. That would also make sense why the boss is keeping in the shadows. When they go legit, they'll need a figurehead with a clean record.”

”That's right.” He got it! Annie almost jumped with joy. Her bosses kept telling her it was too much of a leap to narrow the profile down to younger people. Therefore, they had too many suspects to even make a start in the investigation.

”But, S2 is not legal now, right?”