Ghosts That Haunt—2
"Hello, Johnny. New toy?"
That hint of a sneer beneath what on the surface appeared to be nothing more than an honest query was all too familiar, and Casey sincerely wished he wasn't really hearing it. He ended the kiss with Riah, but not before he pressed a little more fervently against her mouth. This would not go well at all, and he was once more going to have to admit something to Riah he would really rather not. If he was very lucky, she didn't know, which would buy him time to explain. If he weren't so lucky, well, he was going to have a lot more explaining to do, and the specter of Riah's father and what he might contribute to the conversation didn't bear thinking about.
There was a scrape of a chair, and Casey looked across the table at the redhead wiggling her way into the seat. Pale, sea-colored eyes gave him an amused look. She was well-aware, obviously, what she interrupted. "I don't believe we've met," she said, her eyes shifting to Riah. The woman waited for Riah to make the first introduction, he noticed, or, perhaps, she expected him to do the honors.
Riah elected to remain silent, and Casey began to wonder if he had a front row seat at a massive train wreck. Carina Miller could demonstrate the worst of all female attributes in one package and not even lift a single, manicured finger. Riah, he reflected, generally kept her behavior polite and her temper in check, but after the whole Val episode, he wondered if she would make an exception this time. That might depend on whether or not she knew about Prague.
Body armor might not have been a bad idea.
Carina leaned in, folded her arms on the table, but before she could start, the waiter arrived and asked, "May I bring you a menu?"
Riah cut in before Carina could answer. "She's not joining us."
In other circumstances, Casey might have been amused by the steely edge in her voice.
The waiter nodded and left them.
"It does speak," Carina drawled. She looked over and met Casey's eyes. She lifted her brows. "Lose her, Johnny. We've got business to discuss."
"Business hours are over," he said tightly. If the DEA needed him, Beckman would have notified him. In the absence of a call or other orders, he'd assume Carina was simply making trouble. It was, after all, what she did best.
Besides, her go-to partner was usually Walker if they were in the same locale.
"Send ISI packing, Johnny," Carina bit out. "I really do need to talk to you."
It was obvious she knew who Riah was, he noted. Casey sat back, shook his head. Carina's eyes narrowed. Then she turned to Riah.
"This is none of your business, Marla."
"If you say so," Riah said coolly before she tacked on, "Karen, I believe?"
That set Carina back, and Casey decided the entertainment might be worth the later pain.
"This one has claws, Johnny," Carina said tightly. "Well done." He ground his teeth as her face went as innocent as she could make it, which wasn't much, before she added the inevitable taunt, "But then you like that."
He was afraid to look at Riah.
Carina gave a feline smile, the sort that followed swallowing the proverbial canary. "Johnny and I go way back."
"I know who you are," Riah told her quietly.
"Is that right?" Carina asked.
Riah's eyes did a sweep. "Red hair, blue eyes, just under six feet, can't stay focused on the job, and attitude to spare—Carina Miller, DEA."
Her tone of voice indicated she was bored, but her words proved inflammatory, and as he looked at her, he was pretty certain she'd known they would be. He shouldn't have been surprised by that, he supposed, but he considered leaning over and asking Riah to let go of the gun holstered in the small of his back. She'd slipped her hand there when Carina first interrupted them. He knew Carina well enough to know she was about to escalate, not that he could necessarily blame her after what Riah had just said, but he'd really rather not have to deal with clean up if Riah shot her, not to mention having to deal with an obviously pissed off and armed woman.
Carina responded in kind. "Blonde, blue-eyed, five-five, can't do anything right—Mariah Adderly, ISI, if I'm not mistaken."
Riah's lips twitched. "I am Mariah," she returned cheerfully, but Casey could tell that wasn't how she really felt. It was in the eyes, the tightness of her jawline.
Casey's suspicions deepened. They had spoken once about what happened between her father and Galina Vian, but she had never said a word about Casey's parallel situation with Carina. Prague had had a long life, helped along by the photographs and boosted a bit longer by the one Walker had taken the year before. The last photo had had a limited release, so to speak, but the story went around. He knew the Prague episode had made the rounds of several agencies, not all of which were American. It was entirely possible Riah not only knew the story but had seen the pictures. At least this time he hadn't known her when that happened, so she couldn't hold it against him.
Her hand slipped from the butt of his holstered Smith & Wesson. She curved it over his forearm and looked across the table at Carina. Apparently, she'd made whatever point she'd wanted, and she reverted to cool politeness. "If you will excuse me a moment, you can talk about whatever it is that brought you here without me." She looked up at Casey and smiled before she slid out of the booth and made her way to the restrooms.
"What?" he barked as soon as Riah was out of earshot.
"Really, Johnny, is that any way to say hello to an old friend?" Carina's voice purred, and it left him cold.
"We're not friends," he reminded her.
"I've got a job on, and I need you and Sarah." She leaned across the table to add, "Leave your plaything at home."
His eyes narrowed, "Official channels, Carina. You know as well as I do that I'm here on assignment—and your job isn't it."
"Adderly's daughter isn't it, either," she added. "Still have problems keeping it in your pants around a woman, Casey?"
His teeth ground, but he held his tongue. She knew as well as he did that her accusation was false despite the one slip he had made with her. Well, two, and having to acknowledge that made his temper tick up a couple more notches. He decided he'd engaged all he intended.
"Fine." She pouted. "I'll go through General Beckman." When he remained unmoved, she sat up. "Expect a call."
As she left, she made sure she bumped Riah hard as she passed her. When Riah slid back into her seat, he met her gaze and waited. She wore a tiny smile.
"What?" he said without the animosity he'd used when he asked Carina the same thing.
"Nothing," she said and neatly tried to change the subject.
He gave her a glare he normally used on Bartowski. She held her hand up, and he grinned when she showed him Carina's ID and badge. She shrugged. "Really," she said, "if you're going to bump into someone like that, it's all too easy to pick your pocket—purse in this case."
He snatched the ID case from her, and stuck it in his jacket pocket. On the one hand, that particular skill could come in handy at some point. On the other, Carina would go ballistic when she realized what Riah had done. He'd get Walker to return it.
Riah was unrepentant. "I nearly took her gun."
Casey knew he wasn't off the hook, knew Riah wouldn't let that go that easily, and as dinner passed with pleasant though meaningless conversation, he felt himself grow more tense, waited for her to start, because he was dead-certain she would. By the time they arrived home, he was ready to confess to just about anything to get it over with.
That just pissed him off.
It especially pissed him off that Riah acted like nothing had happened, as though no one had interrupted their dinner. Only that wasn't true, he thought, as he brushed his teeth. She'd been a lot more friendly before Carina turned up.
She wore a nightgown when he returned to their bedroom. Given that neither of them slept in clothes, for the most part, that was telling in itself. Then he realized it was a nightgown, not her usual boxers and skimpy shirt, and he wondered what she intended.
It was quite a nightgown. He'd liked the corset, but this was pretty good as well. It was low-cut, skimmed her body closely before it ended just below her hips, and he could see right through the black fabric. God bless her, she wasn't wearing underwear.
One of her eyebrows shot up, but she didn't say a word, simply gathered her discarded clothes and walked toward the closet where she pitched them in the hamper. When she walked back in, she stood directly in front of him and asked, "Is that what you like, John? Tall, skinny, no boobs and big hips?"
He nearly laughed at the description, apt though it was. Figuring he was about to lose a hand, he stretched one out anyway, curved his fingers under one of her breasts. "No," he told her, "I prefer curves on a woman." Since she wasn't objecting, he stepped closer, said what he was certain she wanted to hear: "Yours, to be exact."
Her hands came to rest on his waist, slid up his chest. "Right answer," she told him softly.
Casey slid his hands to her waist and pulled her against him. "I suppose I need to explain."
"No," she told him. "I know the story—saw the pictures, too."
Surely her father hadn't shown them to her? Casey dismissed that thought almost immediately; then he realized it was entirely possible they had been in his dossier at ISI, which she had admitted reading before she arrived.
"You're no saint, John," she continued, "and I knew that before I got here. Your past is your past. You can tell me or not. Your choice."
Not sure which answer she wanted, he asked, "Do you want me to tell you?"
The tip of her tongue ran along her upper lip a moment, and his eyes followed that bit of pink flesh. "No," she said quietly. "I don't think I do."
There had to be a trap waiting to spring, he thought. There was no way she was going to let this go this easily. He hadn't imagined her own cattiness with Carina, and her description of the woman as titless and big-hipped spoke volumes. There wasn't a woman alive who wouldn't use this to her advantage, yet as he looked down at her, she appeared content to let it go with that. If he were smart, he'd let it go as well, but if Carina had been serious and if he really was going to have to lend a hand with whatever had brought her back to Los Angeles, he wanted to know for certain that Riah wasn't going to gut him.
Her lips twitched, and one hand stroked over his shoulder. She answered his unasked question. "Isobel Gerrard showed them to me."
Izzie. He might have known, he thought fondly. "I didn't know the two of you were acquainted."
All of a sudden, there was a whole new trap yawning before him.
Someday he really would learn not to talk to women.
Riah rubbed her body against his. "Mrs. Gerrard and I are acquainted," she told him, tipped her head back to meet his gaze. "She scares the hell out of me, but we have met."
Casey laughed at that. Izzie could be scary as hell, it was true. Even Casey had a qualm or two when it came to dealing with the woman. It was telling, though, that Riah called her Mrs. Gerrard.
"Last I heard," he said, "Izzie's retired."
Riah's brows shot up at the diminutive, and he had an uh-oh moment. "She is, indeed," was all Riah said.
"We through here?" he asked.
A smile spread across Riah's face. "Not by a long shot," she assured him.
Casey took that as his cue, bent and kissed her.
First thing in the morning, he caught Walker, handed off Carina's ID and badge with a "Don't ask."
He should have known she would. She gave him a shit-eating grin and said, "Do I want to know how you got this?" She leaned across the counter of Orange Orange and added, "Were there pictures?"
His terse, "Riah picked her pocket," had her brows shooting up. Within moments, Walker got the story out of him.
At least she agreed to get the slim wallet back to Carina.]
Around mid-morning, Riah walked through the doors to the storeroom where Casey loaded a cart to take merchandise to the Buy More floor. He would have welcomed the interruption had he not seen her grim expression. "Carina Miller is out front asking for you."
Round two, was his first thought. He'd managed to get off lightly with round one, but he really didn't care to face a second. He'd not heard from Beckman, so he could, in good conscience, say no to whatever the redhead wanted. He grunted. "I'm surprised she didn't follow you back."
He noticed Riah made at least a small attempt to control the smirking little grin that budded. "I called Morgan's attention to her."
Casey snorted. Then, he realized Bartowski must have told Riah about Carina and his little buddy's obsession with her. "Give me a minute."
As he watched her go, he felt his phone vibrate. He fished it out, saw it was General Beckman, and answered it. With any luck, he would soon be far away from the redhead's mess.
Sadly, he couldn't get that lucky.
"Carina Miller, I understand, has made contact with you," the General said briskly. "Provide support, but offer no more assistance than is completely necessary."
"Understood," he bit out.
"Bring Ms. Miller, Agent Walker, and Mr. Bartowski to Castle for a briefing." He thought he heard a small sigh. "Find a way to bring Miss Adderly."
"Ma'am?" He couldn't see any possible reason for including Riah in one of Carina's clusterfucks. And it would be a clusterfuck. Not a bit of it would go according to any agreed upon plan, he knew.
"This involves the Canadians, but we'll need a bit of subterfuge. Carina is determined not to let the Canadians in on this, but Miss Adderly has connections to the case. Take Mariah to Orange Orange with you. Leave her upstairs until I tell you otherwise."
He probably should have asked more questions, he thought as he entered the store's sales floor. Riah was at the Nerd Herd desk with a customer, and Walker and Bartowski stood talking to Carina. There was no sign of the Bearded Wonder, and Casey wondered how they had managed to get rid of Grimes.
"Like I said, Johnny," Carina began without preamble, "I need you."
"What mess do you need us to clean up this time?" he asked.
"Drug sting," Walker added.
It mollified Casey that Walker seemed as unenthusiastic as he did. "Not our job," Casey said, and he made sure that came out surly as hell.
"General Beckman is expecting us," Carina said and put a hand on his back.
"Move it, or I cut it off," he growled softly. She complied, though she took the opportunity to turn it into a caress. He gritted his teeth. "You and Walker take Bartowski to Castle. I'll follow."
Riah was free when he crossed to her and leaned down. She looked over his shoulder and narrowed her eyes. He figured Carina was watching and wondered why Riah was acting this way. It wasn't like her. "Riah," he growled, and she returned her attention to him. "We're going to have to go to Castle for a while. Bartowski, Walker and Carina are going over now; I'll follow in a little bit. I need you to leave with me as if we were going on break together."
She nodded told him she'd find someone to take over the desk for her. He watched her search, wondered if she'd manage to find anyone, and waited impatiently until she reappeared with Skip Johnson in tow. Casey looped an arm over her shoulder, and they left the store.
When they were outside, Casey dropped his arm. "Can you hang tight in the Orange Orange?"
She shot him a look. "I suppose so," she said.
He sighed. "Carina's missions never go according to plan. She's often running a secondary game no one else knows, and she's too prone to improvising on the spot. Beckman plans to deal you in, which is good because I like having someone who can be trusted to do what needs to be done."
Surprise flashed across her face, which irritated Casey a little, but then she nodded. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I doubt DEA's going to let me play in her sandbox."
Casey knew better, but he didn't tell Riah that.
The others were waiting in the yogurt shop when they arrived. "Why'd you bring ISI?" Carina demanded.
Before he could come up with an answer, Riah supplied one. "We always go on our breaks together," Riah replied. "It would have looked suspicious if I hadn't walked out with him." She dropped into a seat at one of the tables and fished a paperback out of her bag. She made a shooing motion with her hands. He didn't dare look at Carina and see how she reacted to that gesture.
They filed downstairs where Beckman was already connected. She ran through a few things about interagency cooperation, made sure she gave a meaningful glare at Casey and at Carina, and then got down to business, in a manner of speaking. "I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that given the players and the nature of this particular operation that it would be of benefit to include Miss Adderly." She eyed them through the monitor. "Major Casey, please invite Mariah to join us."
As he climbed the stairs, he could hear Carina's protests, listened as she changed tack at least twice when the General sternly overrode her protests. He stepped out of the access to Castle and motioned for Riah to join him.
General Beckman waited as they descended the steps. Mariah slid into the seat Casey held for her, and he sat next to her. "Miss Adderly," the General said, "Carina was about to brief the team on her assignment. Your assistance with this matter is vital."
"One of my fellow agents and I infiltrated a drug smuggling operation in Canada," Carina began. "They bring drugs from South America into Halifax and from Asia into Vancouver. From there they are primarily distributed to the United States." Her pale eyes studied Riah. "The mastermind is, apparently, an old friend of yours."
From her tone and the way she slid her eyes to him, Carina expected Casey to take exception to her insinuation. He knew that whoever it was, it had not been an intimate relationship. Riah raised her brows and waited for the other woman to continue.
Beckman, tired of waiting for the stalemate to end, said, "His name is Edmund Donnelly."
Riah's frown was thoughtful. "There must be some sort of mistake," she said. The General put up a photograph of the man in question, and Casey watched Riah's face pale. It was obvious she recognized the man, and Casey wondered how she knew him. The photograph was replaced by one of Donnelly shaking hands with another man whose dress and posture practically screamed drug supplier and then one of him handing a briefcase off and receiving a small bale of what looked like cocaine in return. Donnelly was apparently stupid, was Casey's first thought. Most drug runners were smart enough to choose drops that didn't expose them to anyone with a long lens, and very few would accept what was obviously supposed to be drugs in the open.
Carina explained that Donnelly was the kingpin of a drug ring that stretched across Canada and was slowly moving into the United States. When Casey shot a look at her, it was easy to see Riah wasn't buying Carina's story, but he noticed she held her tongue. When Carina had finished, though, Riah said, "I fail to see what use I can be to you."
Carina spoke quickly, "That's what I said. From what we've learned, you're more likely to tip him off than help us."
Casey sent a glare at the DEA agent, and General Beckman's trademarked frown appeared. The General saved him from saying something he really shouldn't. "Miss Adderly's loyalties are not in question," she said tightly. She looked at Riah then. "I do, however, understand that you and Donnelly were childhood friends."
Riah nodded. "Eddie and I went to elementary school together. He went on to St. John's for high school, but I returned to Ottawa. I lost contact with him. We met again when I went to graduate school. I assume your files indicate that we dated for a while."
Casey's hand fisted and his jaw clenched. Every time he turned around, it seemed they ran into another man who had dated Riah. He bit back a comment to that effect, but Bartowski's mouth dropped open. "But didn't you and Casey—"
It was all he could do not to roll his eyes before he interrupted tightly, "Why do you think it was only for a while, numbnuts?"
Bartowski shut up, but Carina looked speculatively at them. "That wasn't in our files," she said.
Beckman said coldly, "Needless to say, it was in ours." She paused, and then said, "If I may continue? Carina has infiltrated Donnelly's organization here in the States. What I need you to do, Miss Adderly, is renew ties with your old friend. Let's see if you and he can rekindle enough of your old feelings for him to take you into his confidence."
"General," Casey began, remembering the last time they had played this particular scenario out, "I would like it on record that I object—" but she cut him off.
"You will sit this one out, Major."
It helped that Riah looked unhappy as she met Casey's eyes. "General, I would feel a lot better knowing John—"
She cut Riah off, too, he noticed. "We can't arouse Donnelly's suspicions by having him see you with the man who replaced him in your bed."
Riah's face flamed, but she was smart enough not to correct the woman. When Riah looked over at Casey, he shrugged, but he was no happier than she. There were only three of them at this particular party who knew Donnelly had no real reason to recognize Casey, which made him wonder why the General had decided to sideline him.
"Mr. Donnelly is in Los Angeles, Miss Adderly. We believe he is meeting with a representative of the Santiago Cartel. He's having dinner at Ivy this evening. I would like you to bump into him at the restaurant."
On second thought, Casey would be happy to miss cooling his heels where the pretty people grazed. Riah, as far as he could tell, would rather give it a miss as well, but he hadn't noticed, if he excluded her expensive underwear habit, that she frequented anywhere the famous went. "Look," she told the General, "I avoid places like that, if for no other reason than my mother's friends go there. I could be recognized as Ariel Taylor's daughter."
"I would think," the General told her tartly, "that this is one time being so recognized could work in your favor."
"Edmund knows my father, who he is," Riah tried next, and Casey caught that this time she used his full name. "He probably knows I work for him."
"Then you will inform Mr. Donnelly that you no longer work for ISI," Beckman bit out. "Tell him that when you and Casey began your relationship, we insisted you quit or quit seeing him."
Riah sat back, but Beckman apparently thought she was simply regrouping and decided to end this. "Now that your objections have been satisfactorily dealt with," she said with a steely glare and acid tone that told Riah not to raise another. Casey slid his hand into hers beneath the table as Beckman proceeded to outline the support she would have in place for the operation. Casey was as unhappy as Riah that Carina would be with Donnelly, mainly because the DEA agent's unpredictability made it more risky for Riah, whom Carina would sell if she had to in order to save her own ass. Casey knew better than most not to trust her.
As they made their way back to the Buy More with Bartowski, Casey told the younger man to go on ahead. He stopped Riah on the sidewalk. Before she could say anything, he dropped his voice and told her, "As soon as we get home, you're going to tell me what you know about Donnelly." She nodded.
He watched her as the day progressed. She often appeared lost in thought as she worked. He wondered what she was plotting, because he knew that expression she wore for most of the afternoon. He looked her friend up when he could steal a minute and was surprised to learn the man was a Mountie—or had been. That put an interesting wrinkle in things, and he considered various options, none of which seemed to fit what Carina described.
Still, it wouldn't be the first time a cop figured out crime could be far more lucrative.
Late in the afternoon he received the encrypted e-mail he had requested with a synopsis of Donnelly's career, and when he went to ask Riah about a couple of oddities in it, he couldn't find her. Bartowski said she'd gone in the back, but when he got there, he didn't see her. He saw Bunny, asked her if she knew where Riah had gone. "Loading dock," she told him tersely.
Casey had a bad feeling, one that was confirmed when he opened the door and heard her on her phone: "I need to know if Edmund Donnelly is still working for the RCMP."
He watched her fidget as she listened to whomever she spoke. Then she asked, "Is he working undercover?"
She was not selling information, he told himself. She was surely just making sure the target was what the file Casey had read said. Perhaps he should have sent it on to her so that she wouldn't be jeopardizing the mission this way. If the RCMP was looking at Donnelly as well, hell, even if CSIS or ISI was looking at Donnelly, he might have friends in those agencies who would tip him off after her call.
Then he heard her say, "Rob, I've been seconded to the Americans—which agency and why isn't important—but Eddie is in town, and he's wearing a target. I need to know if it's a legitimate target or if he's following orders."
He was going to kill her, he thought. If he didn't, Beckman would. She'd just told this Rob, whoever he was, the one thing she shouldn't, and Casey didn't care how well she knew the man or how much she trusted him—that was one thing an operative did not do.
"Too late," he heard her add. "There's a DEA agent who has infiltrated his organization, and I've been ordered to rekindle our friendship with the intent of getting the goods to bring him down."
Casey was furious. She had just compounded her mistake by telling whoever she spoke to the DEA was involved. He was going to have to call Beckman, who would probably send her home to her father, if she didn't order her arrested or killed.
"As Dad would say, bingo," Riah told the man to whom she spoke. Casey had a brief flash of amusement. Her father did, indeed, say that when he slotted the final piece of a puzzle in place. It was the first time he'd heard Riah use it, though.
He watched her as she paced to the edge of the concrete dock. "Probably not," he heard her admit. After a few moments, she added, "Listen," but whoever she spoke to must have cut her off. When he finished, she said, "I can live with that. There is a piece of information it would be useful for him to have about my cover, though."
She started to pace away, but then she stopped. "How did you know that?" Casey wondered what "that" was.
After a moment, she said, "I will."
There was another long pause. "I'll do that."
When she disconnected and turned around, Casey stood in front of the door with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn't bother hiding how pissed off he was. "Tell me you weren't talking to the RCMP about Donnelly."
"Actually, I was."
He uncrossed his arms and stepped toward her. That she admitted it won her a few points, but she should not have done what she had just done, and from the look on her face, she knew it. He grabbed her arms and leaned down, but he tempered his voice a little. "Riah, if you've compromised this mission, Beckman will have your head."
"John, you saw those photographs. Anything strike you as odd about them?"
He frowned, and she maintained eye contact while he considered the photographs they had looked at. He'd thought as he looked at them that Donnelly was an idiot, but now he wondered if there was something else going on. He had, after all, seen that kind of photo before, and the other man in the pictures was a particularly obvious breed of scumbag. "Let me guess. The RCMP's running a sting, and Donnelly is the officer in charge."
"That's what Rob says," she said, "and I trust him."
He nearly asked who in hell this Rob was. Instead, he told her, "You realize you've just told them we're about to step on their operation."
She nodded. "You can yell at me if you want, John, but Rob will make sure Edmund isn't taken by surprise when I run into him. Carina is a wild card, as you say, but she's not an idiot. If Edmund fumbles or doesn't play along, then she's going to wonder why."
He eyed her. It was true enough, and he knew it. Carina was already pissed about Riah's inclusion, and she would use whatever she could to get her shut out of the operation. "What was your relationship with Donnelly?"
She blushed. "We dated, but it was cover."
He cocked his head and lifted a brow. "Make a habit of fake relationships?"
She laughed. "He's gay, John. I was cover for his boyfriend. He was undergoing a security check for admission to the RCMP. He couldn't afford for them to suspect his sexual orientation, so what better than to be seen dating the daughter of ISI's top agent?"