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“What about her brother?” Walker asks sharply. “If you brokered the deal with Liam, you have everything you need to convict him.”
I turn to Noah, stricken. With everything else we’ve talked about, I somehow forgot that the reason he’s even here is because he’s investigating my brother’s criminal activity. No matter how much I love him—and I do love him more than I ever dreamed imaginable—I can’t be with a man who is trying to destroy my brother’s good name. It’s all I have left of him.
Noah returns my gaze steadily. “I’ll work with the government to see what they want to do once the weapons are recovered. Maybe they’ll want to mark them and have me deliver them to El Gato so they can ultimately track them to him and arrest him. Maybe they’ll return them to the Iraqi government and I’ll quietly extricate myself from El Gato’s regime. But Liam’s dead. There’s no need to implicate him. His secrets can die with him.”
“Thank you.” I can’t keep the tears from falling, and Noah wipes them away tenderly with the pad of his thumb. I reach up and grab his hand, moving his thumb to my mouth.
Walker clears his throat, and both Noah and I start. Noah lowers his hand, but he keeps our fingers entwined.
“What can I do to help?” Walker’s tone is brisk and authoritative, and I’m glad he’s on our side.
“We need to find the guns, and the sooner the better,” Noah says. “I think Liam’s bucket list holds the key to where they are, but I haven’t figured out how. Someone seems to think McKenzie knows. If she does, she doesn’t know what it is. Maybe there will be something that triggers her memory, but until that happens, we’ve got to follow everything on the list, because we don’t know what’s important and what’s not.
“That’s where you can help.” Noah nods at Walker. “Liam added diving in Malaysia to the list right before he died. There may be a clue there. There are some other things on his list that have to happen on this side of the world, but there’s a handful of clues to follow in the states. If you can look into his bucket list items back home while Kenzie and I finish the ones here, we’ll save some valuable time.”
Walker strokes his chin thoughtfully. “That could work. I’m on leave for the next six weeks.”
“I’m actually starting to think the most important evidence is there, not here,” Noah confesses.
“What do you mean?” I can’t hide my surprise. Noah hasn’t said anything to me about that.
Noah directs his comment to Walker. “The aid worker that your team rescued when Liam died. Did you know he was killed in a freak car accident a few weeks after he got back to the states?”
I stare at Noah, shocked by the news. Walker frowns. “I did not know that. What do you think he knew?”
“He didn’t know anything,” I volunteer. “I met him after Liam died.” Both men turn and gape at me. “He sent me his condolences when he heard about Liam, and he told me who he was and invited me to come visit him if I was ever in California so he could thank me personally for Liam saving his life. He was one of the last people who’d seen Liam alive. I went to see him.”
“What did you talk about?” I know Walker far too well to buy into his casual tone.
“Not much really. He told me about his humanitarian work, and how he’d been captured by Al Qaeda. He told me how brave Liam was. He was a sweet man. He gave me a necklace.”
“What kind of necklace?” Noah is staring at me intently.
I shrug. “It was silver, with some kind of emblem on it. He told me it stood for valor.”
“Where is it?” Walker snaps.
“At home. Why?”
“It’s got to mean something,” Noah says.
The two men exchange a glance, and a look of complete understanding passes between them. Walker nods, as if they have just mapped out a plan, although neither one of them has said a word.
“You two stay here and carry on with business as usual,” he says. “We don’t want anyone to suspect we’re onto another trail. Meanwhile, I’ll go back home, visit the aid worker’s family, and see what I can find out. I’d like to see the necklace. Is it at your apartment?”
I nod. “There’s also a copy of Liam’s bucket list there that you can take. I keep the original one on me, because it makes me feel closer to Liam, but I didn’t want to risk losing it and not having a copy. Gemma’s in New York for a bridal show until next weekend, but there’s a key buried in the pot of rosemary by the back door. The necklace is in a waffle box in the freezer with the rest of my jewelry.”
Both men stare at me like I’ve lost my mind. “What? I read somewhere that you should keep your jewelry somewhere a thief would never think to look.”
Noah leans over and kisses my nose. Turning to Walker, he says, “How could I not love her?”
Walker smiles, and it completely transforms the hard planes of his face. “Get a room,” he groans, but his eyes are warm and I can tell he likes Noah.
“Already taken care of,” Noah says, and my pulse quickens at the thought of the night ahead of us on Sipadan.
“I can send another SEAL to keep watch from a distance, just in case. A little extra security couldn’t hurt.” It’s a statement, but Walker looks to Noah for confirmation.
Noah nods. “That’s a good idea. I don’t want to take any chances on anything happening to her.”
