Thief in the Night Pt. 02

"So could Hawthorne be on the straight and narrow?"

"I don't know. Something smells off here. Let me do some more checking and see what is going on. It does seem Kerry's offer is legit."

"Christ, this feels off, Jon. The FBI, any national agency I know doesn't work this way."

"I just know the DEA and we sometimes had similar operations. Of course, drugs are a completely different world than art."

"Very true. What do you have on McCall?"

"Nothing in the short time it's been since we talked. Just be patient. Look, the deal with Kerry is she has to start a new life. She'll work for Interpol but have a new identity, protection, the whole works. You know what that's like."

"So?"

"So? Don't fall for this one, Henry. There's no future. She has to either start over fresh without you, or she'll go to prison for life."

"Maybe if she had another deal there could be a third option."

"Europe has her and they won't let her go. The FBI will have little to offer her here. Just enjoy what you have, help her make the right choice, and let her go. It's the nicest thing you can do."

Henry murmured agreement and hung up, staring at the shimmering light of the lit pool. Henry mostly handled estates and trusts with international jurisdiction issues, Cynthia was the criminal lawyer, and Jon was a former DEA agent.

He knew they were right, but the last time he had let a woman he loved walk out of his life she had come back ten years later head over heels in love with another man. He didn't know just what he and Kerry had, but he would be damned if he was going to let it fall apart because he was doing the right thing.

He'd always been a Boy Scout, the honorable white knight. He was sick of it. It had let Cynthia slip from his grasp, it had driven Sharon off. Being the good guy had never really won him anything in life other than long, lonely nights.

It was time to change all that.

***

"See, I just didn't get a chance to change the frequency in that area," Billy said, showing her something complex and unintelligible on the computer.

"Uh..."

He sighed. "Sven, that second guard, he was out of range so he didn't get the message I sent out to change bands on the walkie-talkies. It would have worked if I was somewhere else in the house, more central."

"So move."

"I can't! I'm pulling triple duty, here. I'm gadgets, body guard, and spy. I have to stick closer to you, because god knows if the sex god does it you just end up humping like demented bunnies."

"Like I begrudge you playing hide the sausage with Danny."

"I've never let it interfere. If you and Mr. Studly hadn't spent so long fucking in the shower, using all the hot water and towels I might add, we would have had more time to coordinate."

"Sor-ree. Look, I just haven't had good sex in a while, can you fault me?"

Billy turned serious. "This isn't my job. If it were, I would lure McCall into the woods and shoot him in an unfortunate hunting accident, then be on my merry way. But this is your show luv and we're following your lead, so goddamnit lead and delegate."

The door opened and Henry slipped in, looking dark. Billy kicked her ankle and Kerry stumbled. "Ow! Christ, is this what growing up with a sibling is like?"

"Yes," Billy said dryly. "My brothers know how to duck and feint. Now get on with it!"

"Look, I know what you're going to say," Henry said, sitting on the couch with a sigh. "I'm a hindrance. You asked me to spy on McCall and I dumped that in your lap, Billy, when you already have enough to handle. I am sorry.

"But I have an idea. I guard Kerry taking turns with you. We don't leave her alone. And I try to ferret information from McCall, you ferret information from Danny, and keep work on security. I'll help when I can."

"Mate, you mean you'll actually help use steal the bloody diamond?"

Henry nodded.

Kerry leaned against Billy's doorway and watched Henry, suspicious. "Why the sudden change? What happened to 'stealing is wrong' and all that?"

His burning blue gaze settled on her. "Maybe I found something more important than my conscience."

"Dunh-dunn-dahhh!" Billy said sing-song and melodramatically behind her. "God job, you snared the sex god and perverted him to the dark side. Do you have beer flavored nipples or something?"

She hit Billy's knee before he could get away, kicking back without looking and smiling at his yelp of pain. "Henry, are you sure? Do you know what it means? If we fail, if anything goes wrong, you could become a wanted criminal."

Still holding her gaze he nodded slowly. "And if it goes right, I want to be partners. Fifty-fifty here."

"Henry, there's no real money. This is about- It's about money and revenge." She almost slipped and told him the truth, that it was vengeance and a chance at a real life, but since the deal offered to her extended to no one else, best not to mention it. They were on the wrong side of the law now and that time next month she'd be on the right.

"Can you offer what you're paying him?" Henry asked, looking at Billy who was cradling his knee and cursing Kerry to a very creative death even Dante could never imagine.

"Sure," Kerry said shakily. She found her cigarettes and ignored his wrinkle of distaste. This was too much to handle.

"Then I will do whatever you need."

Billy hobbled up, brimming with ideas, and Kerry sank to a chair watching her new friend and her new lover talk about how to surveil her archenemy.

Henry was a mystery still. Georges trusted him, which meant he was a good man. He was a commanding lover, and an intelligent and direct man, and though he had refused so long to support the theft fully he never made her feel guilty or wrong for it. He'd actually been strangely supportive.

She didn't know the music he liked or the food he preferred, didn't know if he read for fun or just those legal books she'd caught him with a time or two. She didn't know his hobbies or if he could stomach watching Monday Night Raw with her.

And he was willing to risk his entire life to help her, no questions asked.

Stupidly, without reason, Kerry did something she had never done in the entirety of her life.

She fell in love with Henry Williams.