Dead Even - Mariah Stewart [100]
“It’s not easy.”
“No one thought it would be.”
“Which reminds me . . .” She stepped back and held him at arm’s length. “I don’t think you should stay here until—”
“Until Julianne’s settled?” He finished the sentence for her. “I hadn’t planned on it. I figured this was all going to be hard enough without her finding out that, on top of everything else, there’s another man in your life. Especially since there’s a pretty good chance her father will turn up pretty soon. Mrs. West next door has gone to stay with her sister until this is over. She left the key with me so that we can use her house if any of us need to grab catnaps, so I’ll be getting what sleep I can on her sofa.”
“That was really sweet of her. But you don’t mind, until things settle down here?”
“You waited for Julianne for seven years.” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the tips of her fingers. “I can wait for as long as it takes.”
“I really love you, you know that?”
“Actually, I do know that.” He kissed her. “I love you, too. Now, go on back inside and get on with the business of getting to know your daughter again.”
Mara stretched up to kiss him one more time, then started across the lawn toward the house. Just before she reached the front porch, she turned back to him.
“Don’t forget. Please, Aidan. Don’t shoot him.”
“I won’t forget,” he promised her. “Don’t worry. I won’t shoot him.”
But not because I won’t be tempted to.
Aidan went back to the car and reached in through the driver’s-side window to retrieve his ringing cell phone from the console.
“Shields here.” He listened for a long moment. “They lost him where? How long ago was that? Great. Swell.”
He began to pace slowly, still listening.
“Tell Fletcher and Cahill I’m already at the scene. I’ll be here when they get here. No, Jayne’s gone. She’s been reassigned. Sure. I’ll keep in touch. . . .”
He disconnected the call and tossed the phone back onto the car seat. Then he walked to the end of the driveway and stood in the halo of the streetlamp, wondering who would arrive first, his backup, or Jules Douglas.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
It was just barely dusk when Will stopped in front of the driveway at 1733 Hillcrest Road and turned off the engine.
“This is the house?” he asked, leaning forward slightly to take a look.
“Yes. And there’s Aidan, back near the garage. Doesn’t look as if much is happening right now,” Miranda observed. “At least not outside. Inside, I’ll bet there’s plenty going on. I wonder how Mara’s doing with Julianne.”
“I’ll bet it’s pretty tense all the way around. And on top of everything, here come the Feds to lay a trap for her daddy. I hate using a kid for bait.” He shook his head as he pocketed the keys.
“So does everyone else, but no one could come up with a better way to lure Jules close enough to pick him up. Besides, those were the orders.” Miranda unsnapped her seat belt and opened her car door. “Let’s hope this goes quickly and quietly.”
“Hey, guys.” Aidan walked down the drive to meet them.
“What’s going on?” Will asked.
“Nothing yet. Rob Flynn got here just before you did. He’s next door changing into what he calls his nighttime surveillance attire. He takes that all-black thing real seriously. The old lady there has offered us the use of her house for as long as we’re camped out here. She’s real close to Mara, and she has had nothing good to say about Jules, so she’s been great about letting us set up in there.” Aidan turned to Will. “Go ahead and pull your car in the drive there behind Flynn’s. That way, if—when—Jules shows up, there won’t be this cluster of vehicles around Mara’s house. We don’t want to scare him away.”
“Won’t he expect to find someone watching the house?” Mara asked. “He can’t possibly be stupid enough to think that we’d leave Julianne here without a watchdog.”
“Tough to know what he’s thinking. Keep in mind, he doesn’t know who was sent in to bring her out. For all he knows, it could have been