Justified Lies

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Kapone Hanson hated anyone who arrived late. His mama had taught him the importance of showing up on time. She had been married to an Army man, and she had taught school. She was a bit of a tyrant. So, even at the age of thirty-five, he broke out in hives when he was late.

Like right now. He rushed into the TFH headquarters, irritation running up and down his spine. He understood it was insane. It didn’t, however, make it any easier to deal with being fifteen minutes late to a job where he didn’t have to be on time. Team Bravo’s captain was laid back.

The moment he rushed into the common room, the energy was off. Robbie Ramirez, better known as Rami, and Nikki Kekoa were huddled together. For once, they weren’t fighting. When Robbie Ramirez looked up at him, he shook his head.

“They’ve been looking for you, Kap.”

“I’m fifteen minutes late,” he said, exasperated.

He rolled his eyes. “Not that. You know they don’t bust our balls about that.”

Since the two active teams were always considered on call, they got a lot of leeway in their schedules.

“Then what?”

“Jesus, Rami,” Nikki said, rolling her eyes. “It has to do with a case Alpha got last night. Some victim found dead in Haleiwa.”

He frowned. Bravo was a search and rescue team. Granted, they often ended up helping with various cases, but their primary focus was searching for missing people. Alpha team handled more prominent cases. Things that involved foreign dignitaries and…fuck. Government officials.

In his life before TFH, Kap had been an NCIS agent. He didn’t want to deal with the headache that came with that old life.

The door to the commander’s office opened.

“Kap, we need you in here,” Seth Harrington called out.

The office was entirely made of glass, so he could see Adam Lee, Team Alpha’s captain, along with the commander, of course.

He knew there was no way of avoiding this shit, so he strode into the office.

Martin “Del” Delano was sitting behind his desk. The former Army Ranger had been the original commander of what became Team Alpha. At mid-forty, he was still in top shape. The massive Hawaiian sported his signature bald head and was wearing a TFH polo shirt and cargo pants. He still looked like a hard ass. The only thing that softened him was the multitude of pictures featuring his wife and kids surrounding him.

“What’s up?” Kap asked.

“We had a case last night, and we thought you might be able to help us,” Adam said.

“Sure. Something to do with NCIS?”

Seth and Adam shared a look.

“What?”

Seth sighed. “The guy was former CIA.”

His stomach dipped. Of course, that was the reason they’d pulled him in. It was Monday, and all Mondays were shitty.

“Is that a fact?”

“Yes,” Seth said. “And he worked with Eden Carlyle at one time.”

Fuck. Yep, Mondays were always ballbusters.

“I didn’t know that part of her life then.”

And he didn’t. She’d hidden it from him.

You were dating for only a month.

Shut up.

Adam glanced at the big boss and, apparently, both he and Seth were going to let him take over. Kap looked at his boss.

“Listen, we know it is a sore spot, but, apparently, this Andrew Green was working in the same region you were at the time.”

The Middle East. He had been stationed at the NCIS Bahrain Field Office. A work weekend trip to Saudi had him at the US Embassy, and from the moment he had seen Eden, he had wanted her. He had pursued her, and for a month, they had spent all their off time together. That had ended when he’d found out she had been lying to him the entire time.

“I haven’t had much interaction with Eden since that time.”

“We know,” Seth said. “It’s just that if Green’s death is linked to his work, you were there at the time. You might be able to give us some background.”

“And with Eden Carlyle,” Del said, pulling off the band-aid. The two team captains looked at him, and he shrugged. “Kap isn’t dumb. He knew exactly what you were going after. We want you to go with Team Alpha to question Eden.”

There was something in his voice that had Kap’s senses tingling. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

Del looked at the captains again. “See, I told you. Not dumb.” He turned back to look at Kap. “He had Eden’s home address on a piece of paper. He also had her unlisted number. It’s the one that Dillon Security gave her, and not a lot of people have access to that.”

He absorbed that bit of information. “I’m not the person you want there. I irritate her.”

And the moment he said it, he knew that he had told them more than he had wanted to. Rookie mistake.

“But you knew her once upon a time. You can tell us how she reacts to the news.”

There was a long moment of silence as the pieces fell into place. “You want to know if she had anything to do with his murder. How was this Green killed?”

“Execution style, back of the head,” Seth said.

“And y’all got the case because he was CIA?” he asked Adam. If he had worked for them for any amount of time, there could be dozens of people who might want him dead.

“Yes. HPD was thrilled to throw this at us,” Adam said.

“Not sure how much I’ll help, but I’ll do what I can.”

“Good. We’re sending you with Graeme. He’s the one she had the least amount of interaction with. We definitely don’t want Autumn going, since her brother works as Eden’s partner most of the time.”

He nodded. “Just tell me when and I’ll go.”

There was a knock at the door, and he saw Graeme MacGregor standing there.

He fucking hated Mondays.

---

When they pulled up to the small house in Waimanalo, Kap ground his teeth. He was trying his best not to show just how much this was irritating him.

“You should stop grinding your teeth if you don’t want your ex to know this irritates you.”

He glanced over at the giant Scotsman. He was former military married to their ME, Elle.

“And maybe don’t glare at your temporary partner.”

“Sorry. This is still a sore subject with me.”

“You don’t say.”

He heard the humor in Graeme’s voice and couldn’t help but smile.

“She’s going to lie. It’s what she does,” Kap said, looking back at the house. Eden’s family had a lot of money, so the modest house surprised him. He thought for sure she would live in one of the palatial beachfront mansions.

“CIA, I get it. Just don’t say that to her face.”

Kap slanted Graeme a look. “I won’t.”

The other man rolled his eyes. “Sure, you will. She’s under your skin, and from my own personal experience, when feelings are involved, things can go awry. Just let me take the lead.”

“No problem.”

Graeme was muttering under his breath as he slipped out of the car.

Kap followed, his head pounding and his hands sweating. Why? Why did this woman still send his senses spiraling?

Graeme rang the doorbell, but there was no answer. After a few moments, he knocked on the door. Jesus, the man just did not know his own damned strength. The door vibrated with each hit of his fist.

“I’m coming, Jesus,” someone grumbled. He knew that voice with a hint of Texas twang dripping from each syllable.

The door swung open, and he blinked.

Eden stood there, her hair a mess like she’d just woken up, and she was wearing a tank top and little sleep shorts.

“What the hell?” she grumbled, looking at Graeme. She hadn’t noticed Kap yet. Hard to see him with a giant taking up most of the space.

He knew from personal experience that she liked to sleep in those little bitty shorts.

“We need to talk to you.”

“We?”

Graeme moved so that she could see me. Her cheeks lost a little color when she saw Kap, but she didn’t address him. Her gaze went back to Graeme.

“What do you want?”

“I thought people from Texas were supposed to be nice.”

“Who the hell told you that? You know the state logo is Don’t Mess with Texas, right? Especially when a Texan had about three hours of sleep. Wait? What time is it?”

“It’s almost noon,” Kap said.

“Okay, four hours and horrible jet lag.”

Graeme sighed as if he was being put out. Kap rolled his eyes.

“Graeme would like to come in and talk to you about a case we’re working. Your name came up.”

She turned her attention to him, and he wanted to groan. Three years and all the lies she’d told him, and no other woman grabbed him by the balls with just a look. Her light blue eyes seemed to see more than he wanted to show her.

Then, she sighed and stepped back. They walked past her into the foyer, which led right into the living room. A large, grey sectional took up most of the room in front of a massive TV.

“What the fuck?” a male voice from up above bellowed.

“I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with this,” she muttered.

Kap looked up and saw a tall blond guy marching down the stairs. He was missing a shirt and was only wearing a pair of board shorts. In the last few months, he had run into Eden, but she had never had a man with her. Jealousy hit him harder than he would ever admit. Again, three years and she still got to him. So much so that Kap was thinking of punching the asshole for irritating Eden.

“What the hell are they doing here?”

“I don’t know, and if you don’t stop yelling, I will shoot you.”

Kap blinked and looked at Eden. She sighed.

“El, this is Graeme MacGregor from TFH Team Alpha,” she said, motioning to Graeme. Then she pointed at Kap. “The other one is Kap. Gentlemen, this is my brother Elwood.”

El had reached the ground floor, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at Kap. He ignored Graeme. Great. El, the twin she’d talked about constantly. He was never a romantic rival, but Kap remembered being insanely irritated with their connection. It made sense since they were twins, but also the only children in the family.

“Did you just threaten to shoot your brother?” Graeme asked. Meanwhile, El was still staring at Kap, as if he were thinking about feeding him to sharks.

“Only fair. I have had no coffee, and I’m tired. Come on in the kitchen.”

They followed her into the kitchen. She started an electric kettle, then grabbed a French press.

“What do you need?”

You.

Dammit. No. That was wrong.

He cleared his throat, which caused both Eden and Graeme to look at him.

“Your name is connected to our current case,” he said.

She glanced at him, then at Graeme. “I got that already.”

“What Kap is trying to say is that we were called to a murder scene of someone you know.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Please. I’m tired. I landed at about three this morning from Japan. Just spit it out.”

There was tension in her voice that had him on edge. Did she know what happened? Did she have anything to do with it?

“Andrew Green was found murdered,” Graeme said.

Most people wouldn’t notice the way her eyes flared and the little bit of color that leeched from her face. But he did. They may have been involved for only a month all those years ago, but he knew her better than any woman he had been involved with. That was why he was there. Graeme probably didn’t even notice it.

“You worked with him,” he said.

She shook her head. “Not directly. We knew each other because we were stationed in the same region. We had the same mentor.”

“And that would be?” Graeme asked.

She stared at him as the kettle went off. After a few seconds, she finally grabbed the kettle and poured water into the French press.

“Ms. Carlyle, we need to know who that is.”

She sighed, then looked at Kap. “You know I can’t say.”

That meant the mentor was still active.

“He was found here in Hawai’i?”

They both nodded.

“I didn’t know he was here.” She lifted her hands to rub her temple. “He didn’t contact me.”

“He had your cell phone number.”

Her hands dropped, and she looked at them. “A lot of people have my number.”

“This is your unlisted number with Dillon. I guess a lot of people don’t have that one,” Kap said.

He knew from what her partner had told them one time that all agents on assignments get a phone that is unlisted and almost impossible to trace and track.

She swallowed, another sign of her stress. “Do you know when Green came here?”

“No.”

Team Alpha might know, but he had no idea, which helped with the questioning. He wasn’t lying to her, and, normally, he wouldn’t care about lying. But she was former CIA and a former lover. She would pick up on the lies.

“He never called me. I’ve been in Japan for the last week.”

“Mix wasn’t with you?” Graeme asked.

Mix was her usual partner. His real name was Ian Smith, the brother of Autumn Bradford, a Team Alpha member. This was going to be so damned messy.

“No. He picked up a job with Task Force Honolulu. I had already been approved for a job in Japan. Emily is working with him.”

“Who were you protecting in Japan?”

She blinked, then shook her head. “Talk to Dillon. If they say I can brief you, then I will. Otherwise, I signed an NDA. I can’t say anything without their approval.”

“This is a murder investigation,” Graeme said, irritation threading his Scottish brogue.

“I understand, and I will happily tell you where I was if you call Dillon to get approval. I need coffee first and a shower because I feel like I have traveling crud on me still.”

He knew she wasn’t lying, or he thought she wasn’t. But there was something she wasn’t telling them.

“Can you take a guess at why he had your number?” Kap asked.

She shook her head. “I’m not sure, unless he was trying to get a job with Dillon.”

Which would make sense. Dillon Security was one of the world’s top security agencies. There was still something there, something that she wasn’t telling them. And that pissed him off. This was a murder investigation, and she was fucking around.

“He had your unlisted number,” Kap said, unable to keep the anger from bubbling up.

She shrugged, but he noticed the tension in her shoulders. “I don’t know. He was CIA.”

“Former,” Kap said.

Her eyes widened. “He left the CIA?”

That was a genuine reaction, although Kap wasn’t sure. She had lived a lie most of her life, so it was second nature to her.

“You didn’t keep up with him?” Graeme asked.

She shook her head. “We had the same mentor, but we didn’t work much together. I was kept away from many known operatives because I was considered more of an asset. Andrew was…well, he was sloppy at best.” She sighed. “I did suspect him of being one of the people who might have outed me.”

“We’ll need proof you were off the island.”

She nodded. “You can talk to Dillon. I flew back with the client, so they will have to get his approval.”

“Your brother? Was he here?” Kap asked.

“No. He was on the job with me. Why he’s here with me still, I have no idea.”

Graeme chuckled. “Not fun living together?”

“We might be twins, but he’s still my little brother.”

“By five minutes, Eden,” her brother said as he walked into the kitchen. He was dressed now, or at least he’d put on a shirt.

“We’ll be talking to Dillon,” Graeme said.

She nodded. “I’ll be waiting to hear from them. I’ll happily come into TFH when they give me permission.” Which meant that whoever she traveled with had Dillon sign an NDA, which wasn’t that unusual. Celebrities and the wealthy often preferred to keep many aspects of their lives out of the public eye.

“What happened?” El asked.

She glanced at them, and Kap nodded, letting her know she could tell her brother. One thing about Eden was that she knew how an investigation had to proceed.

“Andrew Green was found murdered.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise. That’s when Kap realized he and Eden shared the same light blue eyes.

“Green?” He looked at Graeme and Kap. “He was on the island? That’s weird.”

“Why?”

“He was all about the Middle East. He could even speak Arabic and Farsi.”

“You knew him?”

“Briefly. He was a bit annoying. Like he was always trying to impress people with his language skills and the fact that his uncle had been in the CIA.” He shrugged. “That’s a dangerous habit when you’re working undercover.”

He was right. That must be what Eden meant about him being sloppy. Eden would never accept that since she had been so damned good at hiding her real job from him.

“He left the CIA,” Eden said. “Had you heard that?”

El shook his head. “Wow. I thought he would never leave. He would brag about his uncle, saying he would move up the chain fast. I think he saw himself as a section chief, which we all knew wouldn’t happen.”

“We?” Kap asked.

“Everyone who talked to him. Bragging is the kiss of death as a spy. But both Eden and I are considered out of the circle of trust.”

“We’ll probably want both of you to come in,” Graeme said.

They both nodded. “Get us the all clear from Dillon, and I will happily come in.”

She gave them her number and saw them to the door.

“If you think of anything, let us know,” Graeme said.

She gave Graeme a blinding smile that had Kap curling his fingers into his palms. Even knowing she was doing it to divert Graeme’s attention, it irritated Kap. Again, the acid taste of jealousy hit him hard. Graeme had no interest in her, though. First, she was tied to their case, and second, he was insanely in love with his wife, their ME.

“I sure will,” she said, injecting more of her Texas accent into her voice. Yep, she was trying to divert them.

Graeme headed for the SUV, but Kap lingered. It had nothing to do with the fact that he still dreamed about her. No, he knew without a doubt, she was lying to them. Maybe not outright, but she wasn’t being completely honest.

“We’ll find out what you’re hiding, Eden.”

She studied him. “A woman has the right to a few secrets.”

“You call them secrets. I call them lies.”

Her smile dissolved. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Kappy.”

Fuck, he hated when she used that name. “You see it differently, I’m sure.”

“Interesting. I have a question for you. Have you worked deep undercover?”

“That’s not the same.”

“Answer the question. Unless you’re afraid to.”

“Yes.”

“And even if you met someone you liked while you were undercover, would you blow that cover?”

“It wasn’t the same.”

“No, it wasn’t. I have a feeling that you had no idea what was on the line.”

“I have a good idea.”

“Oh, do you? When you were undercover, was your entire family at risk? Did one of your sisters get into service and help you with your undercover work?” He said nothing. “No. They didn’t. So forgive me for not telling you everything the moment we met.”

Kap knew she was right, that she definitely had done her job just like any other undercover operative had.

“We were together for four weeks and you never said—”

“This argument is old. You’re pissed that I wasn’t completely truthful with you from the moment we met. Do you remember what I told you?”

You don’t want to get involved with me, Hanson.

“Yeah, you do,” she said, as she studied his expression. She shook her head, suddenly looking as if she was exhausted. “I’m sure Dillon will call me when they clear me to talk to you.”

Without another word, she stepped back and slammed the door in his face.

He pulled in a deep breath and released it before heading to the SUV. When he stepped up into the vehicle, Graeme gave him a second before he started asking questions.

“So, do you think she knows something?”

He studied the front of the house.

“Oh, she knows something, but not sure what it is or how it fits into the broader story.”

Because the one thing he knew about Eden was that there was always more to the story.

End of Excerpt