to play here, and he’d better do it right if he wanted any chance at helping Simon. And Grace. “I understand, sir,” he said quietly. “I would like to apologize and—”
“Let’s not lay it on too thick.” Greg smiled grimly, causing divots to form in the cheeks of his aging face.
“Okay.” Quinn smiled briefly, too. Then waited.
“Here’s where we are,” Drew said from beside him. “Acadia is a national park, so the feds are involved in the investigation into the deaths of the tourists. So are the local police. Since the disappearance of Simon and Grace is assumed to be related, both are looking into that, too.”
“So we go as members of Alpha Force and find out what the hell happened,” Quinn predicted.
“No.” The general stood. “That’s what I hoped for, in the multipronged investigation. But I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that since members of Alpha Force might be the perpetrators of a crime here, we need to let other agencies take the lead.”
“No!” Quinn almost stood but felt Kristine’s restraining hand on his arm again. He took a deep breath, then another. “Sorry, sir,” he managed. “But my brother wouldn’t have killed anyone, whether he was shifted or not.”
He would probably have been shifted under the full moon, on the night of the killings. He might have taken the new version of the changing elixir even then, because of its benefits. As Kristine and he had discussed, some of the modifications resulted from incorporation of parts of Simon’s shifting medication, now that he had joined Alpha Force and turned over his formula.
But the combined new version might not have been tested adequately….
Yet Quinn had felt fine after taking it. Once. A reduced dose. Still, he wasn’t about to mention even a hint of concern about that.
Besides, he didn’t know for certain whether Simon had brought any of the Alpha Force elixir with him, or his own medication, or any shifting formula at all.
“We hope you’re right,” the general said. “But suspicion otherwise is partly what Team Leader Olivante’s dig was about. There’s a faction in the DoD that doesn’t know details of Alpha Force’s special abilities but even so doesn’t trust a unit that’s different. They’ll potentially shut Alpha Force down if it’s proven that any of its members have gone rogue.”
“I can help as much as anyone to find Simon and Grace. Maybe better.” Quinn struggled to keep his tone controlled. Of course he felt frustrated. Why the hell hadn’t Simon responded to any of his attempts to reach him? “And with that attitude in the organization … well, I don’t trust anyone else to find them safely. To find the truth. You know my background, sir. I’m a private investigator. You’ve got to let me …” He stopped, hazarding a glance down at Kristine who nodded encouragingly. “Okay. I enlisted. I get it. You don’t have to do anything I say. But I do have investigative skills I’ve developed over time. I’ve got to at least try to find Simon and Grace and figure out what happened. Please, sir.”
That last was a real effort, but he intended to do all he had to, to help his brother and new sister-in-law. Even act the role in which Simon had cast him.
Before either Greg or Drew responded, Kristine spoke up. “You know, sirs, I haven’t taken a leave for a long time now. I realize that Lt. Parran is too new a recruit to be entitled to one, but … well, I think he and I both need to take some time off. Maybe even take a trip. To Maine. And if we happen to end up in Bar Harbor just for the fun of it, who knows what we might uncover?”
General Yarrow’s laugh was a bark of humor. “I wasn’t exactly going to approach it that way, but I had something similar in mind.” He looked toward Drew. “What do you think, Major? Could you give these two Alpha Forcers a little time off to have some … fun on their own?”
“Sounds like a workable situation to me,” Drew said.
“Can our leave start tomorrow?” Kristine asked. “I just can’t wait to take my vacation as soon as possible.”
“Ditto that, sirs,” Quinn said. Was he laying it on too thick?
Most likely, there was no such thing.
“Then you’ve got it,” Drew said. “Although your leave will have to be short. We need answers fast, and we’ll have to disavow any knowledge of what you’re up to. And you’d better not plan on a military transport to Maine.”
“No, sir,” Kristine said. “For this leave, we’re going to go civilian all the way.”
“But you’ll still report to me,” Drew said.
“Absolutely, sir.”
And Quinn forced himself to imitate Kristine’s smart salute without a grimace.
Chapter 3
“We need to plan this.”
Kristine walked at Quinn’s side after the meeting, working hard to keep up with him. He hurried along one of the walkways at Ft. Lukman that led away from the building where the meeting had just been held. His stride was purposeful, his face grim.
Two other soldiers, also dressed in camo, approached from the opposite direction. They must have seen something in Quinn’s expression, too, since both seemed to do double takes before hurrying past.
Kristine didn’t slow down. She wondered what Quinn was thinking. Well, he needed to tell her, at least some of it.
“We have to figure out where and when we’re going,” she continued, trying not to sound out of breath. “How we’ll get there, how we’ll play it when we’re there, how—”
“Yeah, I get it,” Quinn finally grumbled. “In fact, I’m working on it.”
“How?” she demanded. “I need to know. I’m in on it, too.”
He stopped dead beside her and she had to make an effort to stop alongside him. “You don’t need to be,” he said in a tone that edged too close to threatening. “I can handle this myself.”
“Sure you can.” She leaned closer, looking up so her chin edged belligerently toward him. She kept her voice low but equally gruff. “You’ll be trying to figure out what happened. Maybe shifting. Maybe needing to shift by using the elixir you just tried for the first time. Without help? Maybe, but I don’t think so. Besides …”
She let her voice trail off, staring straight into those harsh golden eyes. Lord, but the guy was good-looking, even when he appeared grim and determined and angry.
He reacted the way she wanted him to, at least. “Besides what?” he demanded.
“Your new sister-in-law, Grace, is not just my commanding officer. She’s my friend. I intend to help her. Period.”
She continued to stand her ground and glare straight into his return glower.
He was the one to flinch. Well, not flinch, exactly. He smiled. And if she’d thought his rugged features to be a turn-on before, now he was absolutely the hottest man she had ever seen.
Her
