LITMIR.BIZ

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he met Jeff. Fourteen years old and a professional runaway from the welfare system, the kid was as hard and wild as they came. East was drawn to the youth in spite of himself, recognizing the boy’s sullen anger as a result of fear rather than meanness. The bond they formed was slow, but it surprised them both. Within a year, Easton Kirby had a whole new role in life. At the age of twenty-five, he became a father to a fourteen-year-old boy, and Jeff was no longer homeless.

      A short while later, SPEAR named East manager of the hotel where he’d been sent to recuperate. His file at SPEAR was purged and his days as a counterespionage agent were over. But that hadn’t ended his ties with the organization. Condor Mountain Resort and Spa was a part of the Monarch Hotel Chain—a legitimate corporation owned and operated by SPEAR, and available to agents on the verge of burnout.

      Occasionally East saw acquaintances from his days of active duty, but only if they were sent to the Condor Resort for some R and R after the close of a particularly grueling case. Yet the tie that had bound them together before had been severed by time and distance. That part of his life was over. He existed in a come-and-go world with his adopted son as his only family and it was just the way he liked it. Only now and then was he haunted by nightmares, and when he was, he focused instead on the doctor Jeff was studying to become, rather than the horrors of his own past. It should have been enough, but the absence of a woman in his life often left him with a rootless, empty feeling. Yet how could he live his own life to the fullest when he’d taken the life of an innocent man?

      The two seagulls which been sitting on the railing took flight as a waiter walked past. A few moments later, Easton Kirby walked out on the patio, causing more than a few female hearts to flutter, as well. He nodded and smiled as he moved through the area, but his focus was on the couple at the far table. They’d checked in last night after he’d gone to bed, but his staff had informed him they were here. He made it a habit to personally greet all honeymooners, and from the way the pair was cuddling through their morning meal, their stay at Condor Mountain was off to a good start. He couldn’t help thinking how blessed they were. Their whole lives were ahead of them, while his was stalled in a guilt-ridden limbo.

      Before he reached their table, his cell phone rang. He moved to a guest-free area of the patio to take the call.

      “Hello.”

      “Kirby.”

      It had been years since East had heard that voice, but there was no mistaking it. Instinctively, he moved off the terrace and down the steps toward the beach, putting distance between himself and the rest of the world.

      “Jonah?”

      “Yes.”

      East reached the first landing, and sat. Something told him he needed to be immobile when he took this call.

      “How have you been?” Jonah asked.

      East’s belly knotted. “Fine, but I’m assuming you know that, sir, or you wouldn’t be calling.”

      A slow intake of breath was all East heard. He waited for Jonah to continue. Chit-chat was not something one did with this man. Finally, Jonah spoke.

      “I need to ask a favor of you,”

      East’s eyes widened. Favor? Jonah didn’t ask favors, he gave orders.

      “Sir?”

      “I have a problem—a big problem,” Jonah said. “Someone is trying to destroy me.”

      East’s heart skipped a beat and he stood abruptly, as if bracing himself for an unspeakable blow.

      “Destroy you?”

      “It’s complicated,” Jonah said. “Suffice it to say that things are surfacing within high places that make it look as if I’m a war criminal, as well as a traitor to my country.” There was a moment of hesitation before he continued. “It’s not true.”

      East’s eyes narrowed. “Telling me that was unnecessary. That much I know.”

      Again, there was a hesitation, then Jonah spoke. “I thank you for that. But the problem still exists and despite my unlimited…uh, shall we say access…to confidential material, I have been unable to trace the source. For all I know, it could be within SPEAR itself.”

      East was incredulous. “No sir! I don’t believe that’s possible.”

      “I would like to think so, too,” Jonah said. “But at this point, nothing or no one can be ruled out.”

      East frowned. “If that’s so, then why call me?”

      “Because, technically, you are inactive. It’s been ten years since you’ve been in the field. We have no axes to grind and no issues that could be a possible basis for these actions. I have to trust someone. You’re it.”

      East’s gut knotted tighter. “Sir…don’t ask this of me.”

      Jonah’s sigh whispered through East’s conscience like a knife.

      “It’s been ten years since that incident with the kid,” Jonah said.

      East swallowed harshly, then closed his eyes against the glare of sunlight upon the water.

      “Tell that to my psyche,” he growled. “Besides, I have a family to consider.”

      “Yes…Jeff, isn’t it? Studying to be a doctor?”

      “Yes, sir. He’s interning now in L.A.”

      “He’s a man, Kirby, not a kid.”

      A noise on the beach below caught Kirby’s attention, he opened his eyes and turned. It was a pair of sea lions sunning themselves on an outcropping of rock. For a moment, he lost himself in the spray of surf hammering against the rocks and the seabirds doing a little two-step upon the sand. The urge to take the phone and toss it into the water, disconnecting himself from both Jonah and the world was overwhelming, but it was a futile thought. He’d learned long ago that no matter how hard he’d tried, he had not been able to get away from his past.

      “Kirby…are you there?”

      East sighed. “Yes, sir. I was just thinking.”

      There was a note of eagerness in Jonah’s voice. “And?”

      “I have to ask you a question,” East said.

      “Ask.”

      “Is this an order?”

      This time, there was no mistaking the sigh in Jonah’s voice. “I can’t order you to do a personal favor for me.”

      “I’m not the man I used to be. I’ve been out of the business too long. I’ve lost the edge needed to survive.”

      There was a long moment of silence, then Jonah spoke. “So…you’re turning me down.”

      “Yes.”

      Again Jonah hesitated, but this time his voice was void of emotion.

      “I understand. Oh, and Kirby, this call never happened.”

      “What call, sir?”

      The line went dead and Kirby knew there would never be a traceable record of the call ever happening. A fresh wave of guilt hit him head-on.

      “Damn it to hell.”

      He spun on his heels and headed back to the hotel.

      Chapter 2

      Sweat slipped from the sweatband around Alicia Corbin’s head and into her right eye as she focused on a spot upon the wall in front of her, rather than the pain of burning muscles in her legs. Gripping the handlebars of the workout bike a little tighter, she glanced at the digital readout on the machine and grimaced. Only another mile to go and she could quit.

      Although she was a health club regular, she hated working out. Her preference would have been to take a long, leisurely walk in a deeply wooded area with only squirrels

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