The Switch Read online

  Sean came to attention, considering the possibilities. Somebody who could provide a good cover story might make this much less dangerous.

  “How?”

  “He tells questioners it’s for a movie. Just need to have somebody around with a camera and the right permits. He bragged about how fast he can get a permit, especially when it’s a student film.”

  “Perfect.” Any amount of foolishness went on in the movies, so pretending to perform a scene from World War II shouldn’t worry the police at all.

  “When did you want to do this? He’s only in town for a little longer.”

  “She’s in Berkeley this week.”

  “Sounds like time’s short so you’ll need both Carol’s uncle and me.”

  Sean slammed his fist down on the table. “Hell, no!”

  “Dad, getting a filming permit usually takes time but it’s faster for student permits. We can do it if you bring me in.”

  “Mike, we’re talking serious jail time here. I wouldn’t be a father if I let you anywhere near this.”

  “You got a student ID?” Now, Mike sounded like the one who’d thought things through.

  “No! But you’re too young to be involved.” Sean fell back on the most basic fact, the one that he’d built his life around. Mike was his son and under his protection.

  “You need my help, Dad. You’ve always done everything for me, no matter what it cost you.”

  “You don’t need to pay me back, Mike. This is about me and you’re better off staying out of it.” Sean’s voice was softer now but still firm. Mike had always been too old for his years, even when he was meeting all those cops.

  “I want to do this for you, Dad, as a present. It’s something only I can do. You don’t get many chances to give something really unique.” Mike leaned forward, willing his father to understand.

  Sean hesitated, startled by the naked love in Mike’s voice. Neither of them had every much mentioned their feelings for each other, of course. How could he refuse a gift from his son, given in full knowledge of the risks? He tried once again.

  “Mike, I really don’t think you need to. I’ll be okay.”

  “Dad, we’re doing this together. If you don’t want to think of it as a gift, then just see it as the two Lindstrom men standing together, no matter what the odds. Okay?”

  Sean froze, trapped by the old saying he’d first used when Mike was four. The two Lindstrom men always stood together, no matter what. He had no counter for this argument.

  He glared across the table at the man sitting there, the adult he’d been privileged to sire.

  Then Sean laughed and held out his hand for a high five. Mike had won by turning Sean’s weapons against him.

  The two Lindstrom men were going into battle together.

  Chapter Eleven

  San Francisco Airport

  Monday, 9 am

  Beth waited patiently for her parents to clear Customs, slightly apart from the rest of her family. Everyone was there: her three older brothers, their wives and all seven of their children. Even Kasey, Jason’s very pregnant wife, had come to welcome her in-laws. They all carried a gift, flowers and balloons mostly. Beth had a box of her mother’s favorite Belgian chocolates, miraculously produced by the concierge at her hotel.

  She hadn’t slept the night before. In fact, she’d spent most of the night pacing across her hotel room; it had seemed a better option than tossing and turning, crying in a lonely bed. Sean was the finest submissive man she’d ever played with. But she couldn’t lie to herself again and say that only one side of her needed to be happy.

  Little Hiroki, who considered himself quite the conqueror at not quite two, hurtled across the lounge towards the door. His father Conal broke off his discussion of the latest artificial heart technology and scooped up the toddler just before the door swung open. Sean would have moved as fast to rescue a child.

  Tears welled up at the image. She needed to find something else to think about, something that wouldn’t bring Sean to mind.

  Suddenly the flow of emerging passengers opened up, showing Hiroki and Catriona Nakamura walking hand-in-hand behind a porter pushing a heavily loaded luggage cart.

  The Nakamura clan burst into action as all members hurried forward. All was pandemonium as greetings were exchanged, children exclaimed over and gifts given. Beth hugged her mother briefly and stepped aside quickly as little Hiroki demanded attention from his favorite grandmother.

  Beth would have liked to linger a bit longer near her mother, who was always ready to reassure and defend her children.

  Somehow Beth found herself in the back of Jason’s minivan with her father, heading towards the family home in Berkeley. Catriona was in the next row forward, catching up on the latest news of Kasey’s condition.

  Beth tuned the conversation out; all her brothers’ wives wanted to talk about their pregnancies with Catriona, since she was an obstetrical surgeon. What would it be like to talk about her pregnancy with her mother?

  “Your grandmother sends her congratulations, Beth.”

  Beth snapped her attention back to her father. “Forgive me, Father. My attention was wandering.”

  Hiroki’s eyes searched hers briefly, seeing every detail. He patted her hand.

  “I mentioned to her that you have achieved career status with the American government.”

  Beth nodded, trying to see where this was going. She now had a permanent job with the government, not something that could be ended at the government’s convenience. Father had bragged about Beth to his mother, after not publicly defending Beth a year ago. It sounded like he’d undertaken a quiet campaign to recover Beth’s status.

  “The Nakamura clan is very proud of your achievements, Beth. My mother sends this in token of her regard.”

  Hiroki offered Beth a beautifully wrapped box and she opened it carefully. Inside the elegant wooden box lay a magnificent pearl necklace, composed of perfectly matched, graduated large South Sea pearls.

  “The necklace was a personal gift to her from her grandmother, upon her graduation from college, the first woman in her family to achieve that. Now you are the first to serve the American government, a great honor for our family.”

  Beth’s mouth worked but no words came out past the knot in her throat. Grandmother had just brought her back into the clan again. She managed to smile at her father.

  Hiroki slid his arm around her shoulders and hugged her.

  “I am so very glad to have you as my daughter,” he said softly and kissed her on the cheek. “You have always been everything and more than I hoped.”

  “Oh, Father!” Beth gulped and yielded to tears. Hiroki pulled her against him and she cried into his shoulder, finding the comfort she had needed from him a year ago. His arms continued to shelter her while she mourned the loss of Sean.

  * * * * *

  The old pickup truck jerked to a stop. Beth was sprawled across the seat with her head in Sean’s lap. The motion sent her feet to the floor but her mouth never lost contact with his cock. She swirled her tongue up his shaft and opened her mouth to take him deep again.

  Sean jerked her up by the shoulders. She caught a glimpse of the world outside for a moment. They seemed to be in the alley behind a lumberyard. Not his house, not her hotel. That didn’t matter; getting her hands on him was more important than finding a bed.

  Then he dumped her onto the seat and came down on her. His tongue stabbed deep, claiming her. She responded fiercely, feeling teeth and lips grind as their tongues mated.

  He growled and started fighting her pants’ zipper. She lifted her hips for him and he yanked the denim down past her knees. They fought the confined space as much as the cloth, as both lovers tried to overcome the jeans’ barrier. Beth banged her wrist against the steering wheel but finally succeeded. Her shoes and trousers dropped onto the floor under the brake pedal.

  A moment later Sean’s hot body covered her again. She nipped his shoulder in welcome, even as he plung
ed inside her. Lights burst behind her eyelids as she convulsed.

  * * * * *

  The alarm went off at precisely six am on Tuesday morning, as it had been told to. Time to rise so she could have breakfast with her father. Damn.

  Beth rolled over and buried her face in the pillow. The dream had been so real that she could still see Sean in the light from the lumberyard. She was wet between her thighs and moved farther away from the matching spot in the sheets.

  Beth sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. She rested her cheek on the tight knot of her limbs and rocked slowly, curled to comfort herself as she remembered old challenges.

  She had always wanted to be a Japanese lady, her head bent meekly as she followed her lord. But she didn’t fit in Japan, either physically or emotionally with her intense drive to reach the top and lead, both at work and in the bedroom. Genichi had been right about that, no matter how hurtful his words had been when she had broken the engagement.

  She had never wanted to be a Scottish lady but she behaved more than often not as a strong, creative Scot. Was she asking too much for one man to be, as Jenn said? Or was Sean right? Could he satisfy both sides of her dream?

  No matter what she did, she kept thinking about Sean. He’d followed her into her sleep more than once. Even total exhaustion after playing with her nieces and nephews hadn’t kept him away. She felt like a teenager daydreaming about the man who’d showed her carnal pleasure for the first time. Had Mother felt like this after she met her future husband?

  She sighed and sat up. Thinking didn’t change the fact that she’d sent Sean away and lost him. He wouldn’t possibly want to see her again, after she’d dismissed him so completely.

  Beth came into the kitchen after putting her sheets in the wash. The coffee pot was full and she checked the time in surprise. Her mother usually left for the hospital well before now, even on days without duty in the trauma department. Beth filled the waiting thermos and then started a fresh pot.

  She sat on the chair, elbows on the counter, and contemplated the brewing coffee. She had never been a particular fan of coffee, seeing it as a survival necessity in the workplace rather than a pleasure.

  But now the smell reminded her of Sean. She smiled, remembering how he drank his coffee as if every drop was necessary for life. She wondered if he had a pickup truck.

  A door closed upstairs and Beth jumped. She quickly popped a bagel into the toaster.

  “Good morning, Mother. Your bagel is almost ready and here’s your thermos for the drive.”

  Beth noticed that her mother looked like the proverbial cat who’d caught the canary. And then spent the night playing with it.

  For the first time, she wondered about her parents’ sexual relationship. A quick glance at her father showed that he looked exhausted, sated and very content.

  Beth turned to give her mother a hug and flinched inwardly at her mother’s surprise. Years of squabbles and subsequent distances couldn’t be erased in a minute but she could start now.

  She hugged her mother again, turning the casual greeting into something more significant. It almost felt like embracing her own twin, given their matching height and build. But Catriona had blonde hair and blue eyes, while Beth had the black hair and eyes of her father’s family.

  “Thanks, Beth, for looking after me. I don’t know where the time went. Guess I must have overslept.” Catriona’s voice was a little hoarse at first but quickly recovered its usual lilt.

  Catriona kissed her daughter’s cheek and Beth responded with a clumsy peck. She needed to do this more so she’d become less awkward. Catriona was gone within seconds, after a brief discussion of dinner plans.

  “Would you like a cup of coffee, Father? Or would you prefer tea?” Beth offered, returning to their usual custom. She and her father always shared a cup in the morning on her trips home, before he departed for his lab at UC Berkeley.

  “Coffee would be fine, thank you. Perhaps you will join me on the deck?” Beth nodded.

  They sat outside silently, enjoying the mugs’ warmth between their palms while watching the morning sun burn through the fog. The Golden Gate Bridge would be visible later when the haze vanished.

  But now the fog wrapped them intimately, even as it caressed the eucalyptus trees next to the deck. Hiroki Nakamura and his daughter sat in similar attitudes of contemplation, meditating on the scene before them.

  “Father, may I ask you a question?”

  He nodded calmly and waited, his expression open and relaxed.

  “Were you surprised to fall in love with Mother?”

  His eyes widened briefly at the question.

  “Yes, I was very surprised to fall in love with Catriona. She was very different from what I’d ever considered finding in my life. But…” Never very articulate, he hunted for words to express himself. “She fulfills me. She fulfills needs I was unaware of. I knew within a day of our first meeting that I could not live without her. Knowing that made everything else easier to manage.”

  Beth nodded in understanding. Her parents’ love and need for each other had been strong enough to build a good life together, despite the conflicts between their two totally different backgrounds. Two had become a strong whole. Could she build an equally satisfying world with Sean?

  “Beth, life is not always what we want. It is often not what we would wish for our beloved daughter.”

  Beth smiled at him, misty-eyed. He had been so angry when Genichi had humiliated her, mincing no words in his denunciation. Memory of that unexpected torrent now overshadowed his subsequent patience with his mother, when he waited for a better time to overcome his mother’s angry disappointment.

  Hiroki went on slowly. “I pray that your life has not left you too scarred to try again. I pray that you will take a chance again on a man that you can love.”

  Beth put out her hand and slipped it into her father’s. Maybe he could comfort her now.

  “Father, I met someone that I’d like to tell you about.”

  * * * * *

  Beth toppled her king, acknowledging another defeat at chess. Hiroki began to set the pieces up again without looking at her and she helped him, glad he didn’t say anything about her lapsed concentration. If he did, she’d pretend she was thinking about her new assignment, which was something important.

  Thursday noon. Eighty-six hours without Sean but who was counting?

  “How are our birds doing?” he asked as he moved an ivory knight neatly into place.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t been up to the park to watch them.” She set the ebony queen next to her king. The sunroom, with its walls of windows showing yet another storm coming in across the bay, felt like a prison.

  “I thought of them while I traveled, every time someone mentioned the weather.” He turned the ivory queen so she was aligned identically to her king.

  “Perhaps I should go check on them and make sure the storms haven’t disturbed them.” And try to think about something other than the mistake made with Sean.

  “It is always good to know when loved ones are safe,” Hiroki agreed, moving pawns smoothly into position.

  Beth stood up, then gave him a quick, fierce hug. His hand closed strongly on her arm, returning her affection. Then he patted her hand. “Take your time visiting our friends, Beth. I have much to catch up on at home before your mother returns.”

  Beth started up the path with a hard stride, head up so she could taste the wind. She should be happy and excited to start her new assignment for the Treasury. Instead her thoughts revolved about a man that she’d left, quite deliberately, behind.

  She turned past her parents’ garden and up the hill, looking for the first vantage point where she could see the hilltop. The path took almost two miles to climb to the park, most of it spent skirting yards and cliffs. It crossed streets at only three points before it emerged into the grove.

  Another bird watcher, a much more dedicated sort who kept his binoculars at the ready for minutes
at a time, was visible from one of the few vantage points. He was a slender man, dark-haired, standing in the grove and sweeping the surrounding skies with his glasses.

  Something in how he surveyed the scene reminded her of the bookstore clerk in Seattle, watching the sidewalk outside his store. What was his name? Gary, of course. Why did she remember him so easily? Was she fated to remember everyone and everything connected with Sean?

  She shook herself into action and continued walking. She hit the next incline in a burst of action that sent sparrows flying. She moved with the speed of long-familiarity under the trees, glad that they were recovering so well from the fire of a decade past.

  She never saw Gary lower his binoculars, then speak quietly into a radio he produced from a pocket.

  Beth paused at the first street, a narrow opening into a cul-de-sac that seldom offered any traffic. It was busier than usual today, with an ancient truck rumbling in the middle, which looked old enough to have welcomed De Gaulle into Paris. One man was under the hood with only his hips and legs visible. Another sat behind the wheel with his head out the window, listening to the mechanic’s instructions. The mechanic’s backside was as fine as Sean’s, even in a rough leather jacket and baggy pants.

  Two men fussed over a big movie camera on a tripod, setup on the street corner yard. The one facing Beth was young and tall and blond; he might grow up to be as attractive as Sean one day. The other man seemed familiar but he kept his back turned.

  Beth swore silently. Was she doomed to look for Sean in every man she saw?

  Time to go; there were two more streets, and another mile, before reaching home. She checked for traffic and then stepped out into the street.

  Things happened swiftly after that. One moment, she was crossing a strip of California road. The next moment, she was standing in the middle of the street, staring into Sean’s wary but determined eyes under a black beret. It lay flat on his head in the French style, hiding his American hair cut. Was that a Luger pistol in her ribs?

  What the hell was going on?