Page 28 of Honor ’N’ Duty

“A friend’s house.” He tugged his phone from his belt and cued up a number. “Jamie,” he said. “Mind if I stay at the shack for a few days? I’ll explain later. Call me back.” He ended the call, then dropped the phone into the center console.

“The shack?” That didn’t sound particularly inviting, more like an outhouse in the middle of the woods. “Do we need to stop for sleeping bags, bug spray, and bear repellant?”

Kade snorted, and she glimpsed his right-side dimple. “Nah. We’re good. But we do need to get some food. Jamie hasn’t been around for six months. Probably won’t show up for another six. Whatever food he’s got in the shack is probably covered with three shades of green mold by now.”

Yum. Though Kade couldn’t see it, Laia wrinkled her nose. “Where is this place, exactly?”

“Manasquan.”

“Manasquan? That must be some ‘shack’ your friend has.” That part of New Jersey was right on the water. Like Rumson, the cost of houses there was through the roof.

“It’s not bad.” While still keeping one eye on the road, Kade picked up his phone again and placed another call. “Jose,” he said when a voice answered, then, “Yeah, I know it’s been a few years. I need your help.” Laia heard another man’s voice but couldn’t make out the words. “Fernando Colon was released two weeks ago. I want to know what he’s been up to. Someone’s been watching my brother’s wife, and her house was broken into. We already know this has something to do with Colon, and I want to know what he’s after. I’m willing to pay for it. Whatever it takes.”

A moment later, he ended the call and began tapping his fingers on the wheel. Silence filled the passenger compartment, as if neither of them wanted to address the hulking white elephant taking up most of the space and hogging all the air.

“Who was that?” Laia asked, looking at Kade’s hard profile.

“An informant.”

Bile rose in the back of her throat. Her house had been broken into. They’d just escaped a “tail” by racing down the highway at breakneck speed. Now Kade was calling informants. This was all becoming far too real. Her world was about to fly apart all over again.

“Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out.” Again he rested his hand on hers, squeezing it and casting her a quick glance.

She looked down at his hand, so big and strong. So reassuring and—

Don’t even think it.

As the exit numbers went down, she began chewing on one of her nails. Manasquan was only twenty minutes or so from Asbury Park and her job, but how in the world could she possibly return to work with everything that was happening? She couldn’t, and there was no way she’d drop her daughter off at daycare.

“What’s wrong?” Kade asked, tacking on, “Other than the obvious.”

The enormity of the situation was suddenly overwhelming. “I have to call work and tell them I won’t be in tomorrow.”

“Can you take the week off?”

Not really. Given the short notice, her boss would blow a fuse. Then there was that pesky little issue of not getting paid. Between her week-long vacation with Rosa and taking care of her mother when she’d come down with the flu earlier in the year, she’d used up every last one of her vacation days. “I’ll have to.”

She dug around in her bag for her phone and called her boss, Bill Weiss. “Hi, Bill,” she said when he picked up after three rings. “Sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but I, uh, have to take the week off. I have a—” Bill’s expectedly annoyed reaction came through clear as a bell. “I’m sorry, but it’s a family emergency.” As Bill rattled on about her job obligations and how difficult it would be for him to find a replacement on such short notice, she stupidly imagined telling him the truth: A drug cartel is after me. The only thing that would get her was unemployed.

“I’m sorry,” she continued. “And yes, I know I won’t get paid. Believe me, I don’t have a choice. Again, I apologize for the short notice.”

When she’d stowed her phone back in her purse, she leaned back and couldn’t stop the groan from escaping her lips.

“Don’t worry about the money,” Kade said. “Jamie’s place is free, and I’ll take care of buying groceries and any other expenses that come up.”

She shook her head. “That’s very generous of you, but you’ve already done enough for us by helping with the police and giving us a place to stay. I’ll find a way to pay you back.”

“No, you won’t.”

A flash of indignation had her lifting her chin. “Yes. I—”

“Forget it,” he snapped, clenching his jaw.

What did he have to be angry about? “Look”—she shifted in the seat to face him—“I appreciate you driving all the way from Maryland to my house. I didn’t really expect you to do that, and I probably shouldn’t have called you in the first place.”

“Why not?” When he looked at her, he was frowning. “I should always be the first person you call for help.”

“Are you kidding?” She widened her eyes, staring—no, make that glaring—at him. “In the last six years, how many times have you bothered to show up in my life? Twice. On my wedding day and for Josh’s funeral. Your complete and utter absence made it crystal clear to me that whatever you think we felt for each other in that elevator is null and void.” If not completely dead and buried. “So why should I call you first? For anything?”