Christmas Witness Conspiracy Read online

  Faded scars traced the strong lines of Liam’s jaw and there were at least two new bends in his nose. Gray brushed the temples of his short dark hair. He looked both weathered and stronger somehow, and maybe a little tired. But despite the outward changes from both past battles and time, the intensity in his gaze was as powerful as it had always been. He lowered his head toward hers. His voice was deep and low in her ear. “Did you hack Renner Phillips’s widow’s witness-protection file?”

  So many questions flooded her mind that for a moment she couldn’t find her voice. How did he know? How had he found her? This man who’d once convinced her foolish heart he loved her, and had even asked her to marry him, then had disappeared from her life entirely, leaving her to a life in witness protection, caring for a mother who was having a nervous breakdown, while pregnant with his child—his daughter, Hannah—whom he’d never even acknowledged beyond a terse email telling her to put the baby up for adoption.

  “I’ll ask you again,” Liam said. “Why did you hack and destroy Hannah Phillips’s witness-protection file?”

  How could he even ask her that? Had he not figured it out?

  “To protect her, Liam!” she answered honestly. “Because she’s our Hannah! She’s our girl.”

  Yes, the adoption had been closed, but their brilliant, beautiful and incredibly talented twenty-one-year-old daughter had searched for Kelly and found her after her adoptive parents had been killed in a car crash when Hannah was in her first year of college. When Kelly had written to Liam about the birth of their daughter, she’d told him Hannah’s first name. Certainly Liam was a smart enough detective to match Hannah’s name, birth date and the fact she was an adoptee to the letter Kelly had sent, years ago, telling him their baby had been a girl.

  Behind her she could hear someone calling out “final boarding” for the party cruise. She glanced back. The line to board had dwindled down to a handful of stragglers. A thin man with a giant red Santa sweater over his jacket was yelling into a megaphone that anyone left had better hurry up. Hannah and her infant daughter were already on board, waiting for Kelly, so that together they could escape the cruise by motorboat, get into the United States undetected and finally reunite Hannah with her husband, Renner, after over a year apart.

  A shiver ran down her spine. Did Liam know that Hannah had been pregnant with Renner’s child when he disappeared? Or that Renner was still alive and had spent months in hiding, while working desperately and diligently to find a way to reunite with his wife, so the two young newlyweds could finally be together?

  For her part, Kelly had both disliked and doubted the couple’s plan from the start. Why not just come forward after the roadside bombing? Why had Renner instead gone into hiding? Hannah had explained that it was because there was no master-key decoding device, and that those who wanted to get their hands on it would never believe that was true, so Renner was doing what he had to in order to keep her safe.

  It was clear that Hannah loved her husband and vice versa. The threats against their lives had been real and Kelly knew that Renner was a good man with a good heart. But they were both so young. They weren’t thinking through their decisions. And Kelly’s attempt to talk them into finding another way had fallen on deaf ears. Now all she could do was go with her daughter, help protect her and ask Renner what he was thinking, face-to-face.

  Unless Liam had a better plan? Could Liam be an unexpected ally in talking their strong-willed daughter out of this plan?

  “What do you mean she’s our girl?” Liam’s question drew her eyes back to his face. His tone was baffled, and his face was blank. “Who do you mean by our? Some group? Some crew? Are you somehow part of the Imposters or some other criminal gang that’s after Renner’s master-key decoding device?”

  His words hit like a slap.

  She’s ours, Liam! Yours and mine. Our secret daughter. The one we gave up for adoption!

  She could feel the words forming on her lips, begging to be spoken. But something in the flat, emotionless look in his eyes made disgust twist in the pit of her stomach. Had he forgotten their daughter’s name? The fact they even had a daughter? Or had he never read her letter? Either way, he didn’t deserve her trust now. And yet somehow, as she looked up into his face, hope still crashed over her damaged heart, like a fresh wave on the shore. A horn blew behind her. The boat was leaving.

  “There’s so very much I need to tell you,” she said, “and that we need to talk about—”

  “And I want to listen,” Liam said.

  “But I have to go,” she said. “Right now. Come with me, please, and I’ll explain everything.”

  “No, Kelly,” Liam said. “I’m sorry. You’re going to have to come with me.” Liam’s left hand took her arm. With the right, he pulled back his leather jacket just enough to show her his RCMP badge, gun and handcuffs. He was also wearing a bulletproof vest. “I’m arresting you on suspicion of accessing a criminal dark-web auction site and illegally accessing an RCMP witness-protection file...”

  What was wrong with him? What had happened to the thoughtful, logical and caring man she’d loved a long time ago? The boat honked its horn again and the faint sound of party music filled the air.

  The cruise ship was about to pull away, taking Hannah and the baby with it.

  “Liam!” Her voice rose. “Stop, please, you’re making a mistake.”

  He didn’t even blink, let alone pause. “You have the right to retain and instruct legal counsel without delay...”

  No, this was not about to happen. She had to go. Lord, if I’m wrong, please forgive me for what I’m about to do. Her hand darted to her pocket, yanked out a mini–stun gun and drove it hard into Liam’s side, right underneath his bulletproof vest. He groaned and fell back, doubling over in what seemed to be both pain and shock. She shoved him hard, then turned and ran. Her feet pelted down the boardwalk, slipping on the boards.

  “Wait!” she shouted. She shoved the stun gun back into her jacket pocket, yanked out a bright yellow ticket and waved it above her head. “Don’t leave without me!”

  Behind her she could hear Liam calling her faintly, as if forcing her name through pained lungs. The man in the ugly red sweater paused and she nearly crashed into him, barely stopping herself from falling off the dock.

  “I have a ticket,” she said and pushed the paper into his hand. “I’m sorry I’m late.”

  The man’s eyes darted from her to what she guessed was Liam behind her. “What about him?”

  “He’s my ex,” she said. “I hoped he’d come with me. But instead he tried to stop me... It’s complicated.”

  Twinkling lights shone and music thumped from the triple-deck ship ahead of her. She pressed her lips together and prayed hard. Maybe boarding the boat was a foolish move, but she had no time to come up with a better option. Hannah and the baby were waiting for her, and if she didn’t go now she might never see her daughter again. The man nodded, took her ticket and waved his arm toward the boat. “Welcome to the Ugly Sweater Holiday Cruise. This party tour around Lake Ontario is approximately three hours long. The buffet is on the top deck. We return to Toronto at midnight.”

  And if her last-ditch effort to talk Hannah out of her plan failed, then Kelly, Hannah and the baby would have left the boat long before then.

  “Thank you.” She scrambled on board. People crowded around the side of the deck, huddled in winter gear and watching as the boat pulled away. She pushed through them and ran up a narrow flight of stairs to the second deck. It was only then she grabbed the railing and glanced back. The boat had pulled away from the dock. Liam stood there shaking his head, still on the shore, a few feet away from where she’d left him.

  Had she really just run from the one man she’d waited twenty-two years to see again? How had he just let her go? But there was no sign of a police boat rushing after them or of anyone trying desperately to flag the bo
at to turn back. A jolly voice came over the speakers and welcomed everyone to the party. A cheer erupted from the deck below her and the music grew louder. What had she been thinking, asking Liam to come with her? Or hoping that he’d step up now after abandoning her and turning his back on her so many years ago?

  She’d been a few months shy of twenty and happily pursuing a criminology degree with dreams of a life in law enforcement when Liam had walked up to her in the courtyard outside of class, flashed a badge and quietly told her to pack a bag because her life as she knew it was over. Less than an hour later, she was in the front seat of his truck as he drove her across the country to join her mother in witness protection, all because her greedy father had processed a whole lot of fake bank loans for some very dangerous people.

  It had been a white truck, she remembered. Funny which memories had stuck and which ones hadn’t. Liam had learned a whole bunch of handy tactics for staying alive from his father, and he’d shared them with her on their journey. One was that white vehicles were most likely to go unnoticed because they got dirty fast. Trucks were best because they were often mistaken for contractors and could handle tough terrain.

  She hadn’t thought of the introverted detective as her type at first. Liam had been too tall, too quiet and too slow to let her in or even smile. At first, he’d even flinched when she’d touched him. But she’d trusted him. He’d kept her safe when things had gone awry and the men her father had flipped on had ambushed them and nearly killed her. What should’ve been a two-day drive had instead ended up with them being on the run together for almost two weeks, with only Liam’s quick thinking and the survival tactics she’d learned from him keeping her safe.

  But more than that, they’d fallen in love. Or at least, she thought they had. Liam had asked her to marry him, she’d said yes and he’d promised he’d find a way for them to be together. Instead, after he’d kissed her goodbye, he’d never returned, answered his phone or even replied to her letters.

  “Mom!” Hannah’s hand landed on her arm as her voice snapped Kelly back to the present. She turned to see her daughter’s worried eyes. They were the same deep brown as Liam’s. “What are you doing out here? Come in where it’s warm!”

  “I could say the same to you,” Kelly said. She looked down at the tiny baby huddled against Hannah’s chest, so deeply swathed in a wool hat and coat that Kelly could hardly see her granddaughter. They called her “Pip.” It was a placeholder nickname, as Renner came from a military family which had a tradition that a baby wasn’t named until both parents had held her. In Alberta, parents had a year to register a baby’s birth without penalty and normally that just meant waiting a few days at most. Kelly had no idea what Hannah and Renner would do if they didn’t reunite before the year was up. “It’s way too cold out here for a baby.”

  “I’m heading back inside in a second,” Hannah said. She ran her hand down Pip’s back. The baby was such a sound sleeper Kelly wouldn’t be surprised if she slept the whole journey. “I just came looking for you.”

  Kelly glanced from her daughter back to the shore and suddenly realized how far out they’d gone. They’d already passed Toronto Island and the city’s shoreline spread out behind them in a tapestry of shining lights. “Maybe I wanted to say goodbye to Canada.”

  And goodbye to Liam, too.

  Kelly forced a smile she thought would look genuine but it did nothing to change the worry in her daughter’s eyes.

  “Are you sure you want to come with us?” Hannah asked.

  “I’m positive,” Kelly said. “As you know, I’ve got concerns about this plan. But that doesn’t mean I won’t go with you. I’ll talk to Renner. I’ll hear from his own mouth why he went into hiding and let people believe a decipher-key device exists if it doesn’t. Maybe I’ll talk you both out of hiding and into cooperating with the government. But either way, I’ll be your mom and Pip’s grandma.” She’d rebooted her life once before. At least this time she’d be doing it out of love. “So what’s the plan?”

  Hannah glanced back over her shoulder, even though they were alone.

  “In about twenty minutes, when we’re closer to American waters, Renner says we need to head to a small motorboat off the port bow,” Hannah said. “It’ll be very small and pretty undetectable. He says there’ll be a big, flashy distraction and that’s when we make our move. He has contacts in the United States who’ve helped arrange for temporary visas if needed through an American contact. But either way he’s got a plan to get us out of the US in hours and a new home set up for us somewhere in South America.”

  “What kind of distraction?” Kelly asked.

  “I don’t know, but Renner says it’ll provide us the cover we need, and I trust him.” A smile had crossed Hannah’s lips when she’d said her husband’s name. Now her daughter frowned as she searched Kelly’s face. She was so observant, like her father, and practically impossible to fool. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  I just saw your father. He’s a cop, he doesn’t know you’re his daughter and he just tried to arrest me.

  As the words crossed her mind, she bit them back and instead prayed for wisdom. She’d had dozens of both excuses and justifications for not telling Hannah who her father was. None of them rang completely true and all of them came down to some variation of wanting to protect Hannah. She’d tell her when the timing was right—and it still wasn’t right.

  A tiny plaintive wail arose from below her. Little Pip had woken up. Immediately, Hannah started to sway from side to side on the balls of her feet.

  “I’ve got to get her inside and feed her,” Hannah said, her attention diverted. “I’m also going to call Renner and let him know you’ve boarded safely. There’s a very small but quiet room on the lower deck that a kindly member of the crew said I could use. I’ve stashed her diaper bag and car seat there. This is supposed to be an adults-only event. Have you eaten?” Hannah searched her face as if to confirm she hadn’t. “There’s an amazing buffet on the top deck. You should go eat.”

  It was a good idea. Hannah probably wanted a few minutes alone to talk to Renner, and Kelly really did need to eat. She slipped her arms around Hannah, feeling the warmth of her and the baby between them against the cold air of the night.

  “Go,” Kelly said. “Get inside. I’ll go get something to eat. Where will I meet you?”

  “Bottom deck,” Hannah said. “Port side. Twenty minutes.”

  “I’ll be there.” She followed Hannah inside, then headed up a narrow flight of stairs. Holiday music assailed her ears even before her feet reached the top. She pushed through a door and came into a huge room the width of the boat and the length of a ballroom, with glass windows on all sides. Gold and green decorations festooned the ceiling. Bright red tablecloths were draped over every table and went all the way to the floor. There were about two hundred people, she guessed, all clad in various Christmas sweaters that had everything from billowing trees to smiling elves and even giant bows on them. Hannah hadn’t been kidding about the food, though. The spread ran over a dozen long tables covered with turkey, ham, breads and salads. Not to mention more types of cake than Kelly could count. She filled a plate, sat down on a very high chair at a tall table by a window and pushed some cheese around with the tip of her knife.

  “Anyone sitting here?” The chipper voice was male and, from what she could see out of her peripheral vision, belonged to a tall man in a blue sweater with grinning jingle-bell-clad puppies on it.

  “Actually, I’d rather be alone—”

  “Oh, I insist.” The voice dropped an octave to a deep rumble that seemed to move over her skin. She looked up, her eyes widening as Liam settled into the chair opposite her. Instinctively, her fingers tightened around her knife, but his hand dropped onto hers in a gesture that was no doubt meant to look friendly, but that kept her hand from rising off the table.

  “Now,” Liam said. “Let
’s try this again.”

  TWO

  Music, chatter and laughter moved like currents around her. She sat there with the warmth of Liam’s hand enveloping hers and her body felt momentarily frozen in place.

  “Where’s the stun gun?” Liam asked.

  “Right-hand inside pocket of my jacket,” she said. “Let my hand go and I’ll pass it to you.”

  He chuckled. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Didn’t think so.” She wondered if he’d been expecting her to act all shocked and surprised by the fact he’d somehow materialized across from her on the boat. If so, she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. She glanced down at their hands and couldn’t help but remember how hesitant and uncertain he’d seemed the first time they’d held hands. The first time she’d hugged this big, strong man, it was like he’d never been hugged before.

  “So you’re just going to sit there holding my hand?” she asked.

  Liam leaned across the table toward her. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you know I can’t do that as long as you’re holding a knife.”

  “It’s a cheese knife that I grabbed off the cutlery table,” she said, ignoring the fact he’d just called her “sweetheart,” like he had back in the old days. Did he call everyone that now? Had he grown warm and cuddly, for that matter? Or was his brain misfiring at seeing her again, too? “It’s pretty blunt.”

  “Doesn’t mean you won’t try to stab me with it,” Liam said, with a smile. “Of course, if I disarm you of that knife you might throw that plate of food in my face as a distraction and go for the stun gun again. I know it’s what I’d advise.”

  She could feel a smile trying to curl on her own lips and she gritted her teeth to stop it. Instead, she forced her fingers open underneath his and dropped the knife on the table, where it clattered loudly. She waited to see if it would make Liam let go of her hand. Instead, as she turned over her hand, somehow she felt their fingers looping through each other’s just like they used to.