Operation Unleashed

She’d even reached out to him that night. It had been a long time, and he was hungry enough to take what she offered, even knowing it was out of gratitude rather than love. It didn’t happen often, but considering they’d started out with her insisting she would never, ever sleep with him he supposed it was something. He’d found it amazing how you could almost get used to not having sex if you went long enough. Like you went numb or something. Except for those times when the need became overwhelming and he’d resorted to the oldest method in the world, with stupid fantasies about his wife running through his head.

He saw her cheeks turn pink, knew she was remembering that night as well. It had been good, even she couldn’t deny that. But she’d been so glum afterwards, as if she felt guilty, he knew it would be a long time before he got that offer again. And he’d spent a long time after that cursing his dead brother for having such a hold on her. He just didn’t understand it. She was a bright, clever woman, why couldn’t she see who Doug really was?

Alyssa turned away, looking out the window where Luke and Cutter were playing under the watchful eye of the guardian Quinn had promised. Liam Burnett looked young from here, but Quinn had assured them he was more than competent.

“He’s been trained by the best,” Hayley had added with a loving glance at her fiancé. “And young enough he’ll probably end up playing right there with them before long.”

Drew wondered what it would be like, to have your woman look at you like that. He knew Alyssa respected him, was grateful to him, and—God help him—appreciated him. But love him, the way Hayley clearly loved Quinn? No. And he had no right to expect it. Ever.

“We’ll find Oliver, wherever he went,” Quinn promised now. “And no matter how long it takes. We’re dealing with a different sort of situation now.”

“More what you usually do?” Alyssa asked.

“Yes,” Quinn agreed, “but we won’t stop on the other. We’ll just add finding Oliver to it. And if necessary, once we do we’ll keep an eye on him from then on.”

Alyssa turned back. “That could get expensive,” she said with a frown.

Drew hadn’t even asked. Her safety and Luke’s was something he didn’t put a price tag on.

“Foxworth doesn’t charge,” Quinn said.

Drew blinked. “What?”

“Once we decide to take on a case, we fund it.”

Suspicion bit, deep and hard. “And just how do you manage that?”

“We’re funded by a trust, set up with my parents’ life insurance.”

“They’re both gone?” Alyssa asked softly.

Quinn nodded. “Years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

There was no doubting the genuineness of her tone. Alyssa had that down to her bones, that capacity of empathy. Perhaps because of what she herself had been through, she had a knack for making people realize she truly did know how they felt. He used to wish she’d use some of that on him, but soon decided it was just as well she didn’t know how he felt. Especially after he’d made the stupid mistake of falling in love with her.

“It was the Lockerbie bombing,” Hayley said.

Drew sucked in a breath. He’d been a kid at the time, but he remembered his parents’ horror. Alyssa had only been a baby, so while she knew of it, it likely didn’t have the impact it had for him.

“That was the terrorist attack, the passenger jet?” she asked.

Quinn nodded. “They were both on board.”

“My God,” Alyssa breathed. “How awful. I’m so sorry. You must have been very young.”

Again the empathy fairly glowed from her, as if it were a tangible thing between her and the person she was feeling it for. He wasn’t used to that kind of introspection, he just went along day by day doing what had to be done. Alyssa sometimes unnerved him with her observations, leaving him wondering how she knew such things about people, things they never said.

And wondering whether to be hurt or thankful she didn’t seem to ever turn that capacity on him.

“I was ten,” Quinn answered.

“And alone?”

“I had my sister. She was four years older and practically raised me from then on. Our uncle really tried, but he wasn’t cut out for kids.”

“Is that why you joined the military?” Alyssa asked.

“Mostly,” Quinn said.

“And then the bomber got released in a backroom deal,” Hayley said. “That’s why Foxworth does what it does. Quinn didn’t ever want anyone to feel as helpless and wronged as they did when that happened.”

“So you used your parents’ insurance money to set up Foxworth?” Drew asked. “Must have been a nice inheritance.”

“It helps that my sister turned out to be a financial genius,” Quinn said with a grin. “Thanks to her we have facilities in all four corners of the country, plus headquarters in St. Louis.”

“Does each one have its own helipad?” Drew asked; he’d noticed the windsock next to the square of concrete outside the warehouse beside the green, three story building they were in now.

“Not all, not yet,” Quinn said. “We’re working on that.”

“And is every Foxworth building unmarked?”

Quinn’s gaze sharpened once more. He leaned back in his chair, and again gave Drew a nod of approval. “You noticed that.”

“Hard to miss.”

“Not for some,” Quinn said. “Let’s just say some of the people we help have enemies who aren’t too happy about it.”

“Why do I get the feeling your help isn’t limited to just avoiding domestic situations and tracking down released ex-cons?”

“Because you’re a smart guy?” Quinn suggested. He studied Drew for a moment. “You ex-military? Law enforcement?”

“No,” Drew said, then added with a crooked grin, “I was a Boy Scout once.”

“You still are,” Alyssa said.

Drew’s head snapped around. There hadn’t been a hint of a dig in her tone, although he knew there was a time when there would have been. Back when Doug had used it as an insult. My brother the Boy Scout, he’d said constantly.

I’ve got no chance of matching you in the good little boy department, so maybe I’ll just have to go for the bad instead.

The laughing statement that had haunted him for years now echoed in his head. Nothing else Doug had said or done had hit him quite the way that had. For a long time he’d felt almost responsible for his little brother’s twisted mindset. As if he’d set an impossible standard to live up to. He’d never felt he was anything special, he’d just tried to do his best, make their parents proud, but apparently in the process he’d somehow made Doug feel inferior.

But Alyssa was smiling at him.

He felt the strongest urge to call this all off. To go back, to try and hang on to the mood of the last week. It had been, on the surface, the life he’d dreamed of with her. And if they could hold on to that, maybe he could work on the rest, maybe someday she might actually look at him the way she’d once looked at Doug.

He tried to scoff himself out of that silly idea, but it clung stubbornly to the edges of his consciousness. But now he knew he had to decide, and decide now. For so long he’d wanted her to see the truth, wanted her to see the real man—or rather, boy—his brother had been. And on that day he’d realized he loved her, he knew he’d wanted her to see Doug differently in the hope that she would then be free to see him differently.

But now he wondered if it would be worth it. How would she react if he destroyed that rose-colored image she had?

If he let this go on, and Foxworth somehow found the answers and proved him right, what would he be left with?

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