Agent Undercover (12 page)

Paige lifted a brow, wondering where this was going.

Fiona blushed and said, “I guess what I’m trying to say is he’s had a rough time, and I don’t want to see him hurt. If you’re not …” She trailed off and bit her lip.

Paige’s heart swelled. “He’s lucky to have you for a friend.”

“My brother, Cal, is one of the deputies here in town. He’s the one who had to tell Dylan about his sister and her boyfriend.”

Paige grimaced. “I’m sorry.”

“Working in a small town like this, it’s not often a lot of really bad things happen. Well, that was a really bad thing and telling Dylan was one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do. And Will …” She shook her head. “I don’t know that he’ll ever recover.”

“He will,” Paige said softly. “Somehow, I really believe he will.”

Fiona’s face softened and a smile graced her pretty lips. “I think I like you, Paige Worth.”

Paige grinned. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

Dylan popped his head in, his face grim. When he saw Fiona, he nodded to her but spoke to Paige. “I’ve got to run over to Bryson City to the hospital. Cheryl’s had a heart attack. Do you mind taking Will home and staying with him until I can get there?”

Concern for the woman who was like a mother to Dylan and a grandmother to Will flashed through her. The thought of being responsible for the child sent terror flooding through her. “Dylan, I don’t know …”

“Please? He trusts you. I can’t leave him with anyone else. Not with everything that’s going on.”

From the corner of her eye, Paige saw Fiona’s brows
shoot north. And while the woman didn’t say anything, she could almost hear her thinking,
You could leave him with me, with friends you trust and have known for over two decades.

However, the look in Dylan’s eyes said he trusted her. And while part of her reveled in that, her mind mocked,
What makes you think you can be trusted? What if something happens to him the way it did to Ben?
“Sure, I can do that.” The words slipped through her lips before she could bite them off.

His relief was obvious. “I’m just going to pop in and make sure everything’s okay. I’ll be home before dark, I hope. Margaret has a spare key at the office.”

Paige eyed him. “And she’d just give it to me?”

“No,” Dylan replied. “I’ll let her know you’re coming.”

“Fine. And I have something I need to talk to you about.”

His brows creased. “Can it wait?”

Could it? “Yes. I’ll tell you tonight when you get home.”

“All right. I’ll call when I’m on my way.”

Dylan left and Fiona smiled. She said, “Be careful with his heart, Paige. I think you already have it in your possession.”

She left, and Paige replayed the conversation in her mind. Her stomach clenched when she realized they sounded almost like a married couple. No wonder Fiona’s brows lifted.

And then before she could stop the daydream, she wondered what it would be like to be married to Dylan. To fix his dinner, make plans with him … to be a mother to Will.

The last thought shot a surge of fear through her. She
remembered the police outside her house when she got back from Mama Ida and Papa Stu’s home. She’d only been eight years old, but the police asked her about Ben, wanting to know the identity of the child who had died of pneumonia while her mother ignored his coughing and Paige had escaped to Mama Ida’s kind embrace.

Ben’s mother had come back for him while the police were questioning Paige, saving her mother from being blamed for the neglect. Ben’s mother had been arrested.

Paige still shuddered at the memory. And now she’d just said she’d take Will home and take care of him until Dylan could get home.

She paced from one end of the room to the other. What had she been thinking?

God? If You’re there, and Mama Ida said You always are, would You please help me out here?

For the rest of the afternoon, she watched the clock, her stomach twisting at the thought of being alone with the little boy who’d captured her heart.

P
aige sat on the couch and stared at the television without seeing. Darkness had fallen ten minutes ago. Dylan had called and said he’d be home by seven-fifteen.

She got up, walked down the hall and peered in at the little boy, snuggled under the covers, his arms clutching a ragged stuffed animal.

She’d survived taking care of a child.

They’d
survived.

Still amazed at that fact, for the first time that she could remember, she felt hopeful. Like maybe she could have a future, be a part of a family. Step out of her lonely existence and share a life with someone.

Stepping across the room to his bed, she brushed his hair back from his forehead and stared down at him. A living, breathing child. And he’d seemed perfectly content to be with her. A miracle.

Scrape!

Her nerves jumped, and she whirled to face the bedroom door. Where had the sound come from? “Dylan?” she whispered.

A chill climbed up her spine to lodge itself at the base of her neck. What had she heard?

It wasn’t Dylan. He wouldn’t just make a noise, then be quiet.

Stepping back down the hall, her gaze flicked to the alarm pad near the front door. Dylan had given her the code, and she’d set it as soon as she and Will had stepped into the house.

It blinked at her in reassurance. Still armed.

Again she wondered where the noise had come from?

Inside?

Outside?

Definitely not inside. No one had set off the alarm.

On silent feet, she padded into the kitchen. Nothing looked disturbed. Leftovers from the pizza she and Will had shared sat on the counter.

Her fingers reached for her weapon, and she took comfort in the feel of it in her palm. Maybe she was overreacting.

Maybe not.

After all of the trauma everyone had been through the past few days, she wasn’t taking any chances. It didn’t take long to notice the garage door was still shut.

Methodically, she checked each window, fingers giving the locks an extra twist. Satisfaction curled in her. Dylan was taking his security seriously.

Now she stopped. Listened.

Heard nothing.

A glance at the clock told her Dylan would be home soon.

Paige walked back to Will’s room where she’d first heard the sound. Without a sound, she moved to the window and checked the lock.

Locked.

Then movement caught her eye. A shadow? Some kind of form skulked beneath a nearby tree.

Two-legged or four?

Darkness hid the details from her.

Adrenaline pumping, she continued to watch, her eyes straining to catch another glimpse of whatever it was that she had seen.

Nothing.

Then headlights swept across the window, and she saw Dylan’s car pull into the driveway.

The garage door lifted and still Paige didn’t take her gaze from the spot where she felt sure she’d seen someone lurking.

The back door opened and shut. The alarm beeped then was silent. “Paige?”

She tucked her gun away and met him as he walked into the den.

As soon as his eyes landed on her, he frowned. “What’s wrong?”

The brief thought that he read her way too easily flickered in her mind. She ignored it and said, “A feeling.”

“What kind of feeling?” Wariness flashed.

“Did you see anyone in your yard or lurking around your bushes when you drove up?”

“No, why?”

“I thought I heard something. When I glanced out the window, I thought I saw something. A shadow. It might be nothing.”

“Or it might be something. Where’s Will?”

“Asleep in his room. I’m going to check out the house. I want you to call Eli and have him come over. We need to talk and I need him involved in this investigation now.”

His eyes narrowed. “What are you thinking?”

“I’ll tell you when I get back. Call Eli, will you?”

After a brief hesitation, Dylan grabbed his cell phone.

Paige opened the front door and stepped outside.

Once again, Dylan felt helplessness pour over him. If danger lurked outside, Paige could be hurt—or worse. The fact that she was well trained to handle whatever she came across didn’t make him feel any better this time than it did the last time.

Eli answered on the third ring.

Dylan quickly explained the situation, and Eli promised to be right over.

While Dylan waited for Eli, he went from window to window, doing his best to keep his eyes on Paige as she walked the perimeter of the house. Everything in him wanted to be out there with her, guarding her back.

But he couldn’t leave Will alone. Not when someone had made it more than clear that the little boy was the target.

In Will’s room, between glances at Paige through the window, he studied the sleeping child.
Please Lord, keep him safe. Show me how to keep him from harm. Do I take him and run? Stay and fight? Tell me what to do.

Will stirred in his sleep and his brow furrowed.

Dylan stepped to the window. Even though it was dark outside, the street lamp cast a dim glow on the area around it. He’d lost sight of Paige.

Was evil lurking outside even now?

Watching? Waiting for the chance to snatch the little boy in his sleep?

Was the noise a distraction? A way to get Paige out of the house? Maybe Dylan, too?

Leaving Will unprotected and alone?

Shuddering at the thought but knowing it could be a real possibility, Dylan pulled a chair close to the side of the small twin bed and took the child’s hand in his.

Will rolled toward him but didn’t wake.

Where was Paige?

He offered up a short prayer for her safety. For the safety of them all.

He listened for the knock that would signal him to unlock the door and let her in.

Nothing yet.

Had she found something?

Had something—someone—found her?

Agitation clawed at him. Uneasiness churned in his gut.

He had a feeling he should have listened to that still small voice urging him to leave and put Rose Mountain behind him until Paige was finished with her investigation and caught the person responsible for all the chaos going on.

But he hadn’t.

Would Will be the one to pay the price for Dylan’s hesitation?

Paige kept her weapon out and headed for the spot where she’d last seen the shadow. Wariness and caution shot her adrenaline sky-high. Heart pounding, she paused, trying to listen, straining to hear the slightest sound that didn’t belong.

Crickets chirped.

And then a car door slammed. Very faint. Almost indiscernible. And if she hadn’t been listening for it, she wouldn’t have even noticed it.

Racing in the direction of the noise, Paige knew that she could be facing a dead end. Someone leaving for the night, someone just getting home from dinner.

But instinct sent her to investigate.

Feet pounding the asphalt, she arrived next to a vehicle parked on the street. A look around told her it was the only
one nearby. Other cars sat in driveways, but only this one was parked on the curb.

With a perfect view of Dylan’s house at the end of the cul-de-sac.

She touched the hood.

Cold. Of course, it would be if the person had been sitting there awhile.

Like while he watched the house.

Her fingers gripped the door handle and pulled.

Locked.

Stepping back, she glanced down the street, then back up.

Eyeing the car one more time, she considered. Had someone gotten out of the car?

Or in?

Did she dare press her face against the tinted, almost black windows to look?

Even now, someone could be on the floorboard, gun pointed toward her. If she got too close …

Paige backpedaled. Probably paranoid, but she didn’t feel bad about it one bit. Someone had given her—and Dylan—good reason to be a paranoid.

She took note of the license plate and punched in a text to her boss. Just in case.

Another glance around told her if someone had been outside Will’s window, he was gone now.

Paige had started back toward Dylan’s house when a car engine started from behind her. She turned in time to see it back from the drive two doors up and speed up the street. The street lamp illuminated the vehicle for a brief moment.

Cold fingers scraped her neck.

She had a feeling the person she’d been looking for had just driven off.

In a white car.

Like the one that had tried to run down Will at the school.

Anxious to get back and tell Dylan she really thought he and Will needed to find a safe place to hide out for a while, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and started toward his house.

The boom shocked her. Froze her in place as the ground rumbled beneath her.

The orange-and-yellow ball rising to the sky made her run, terrified, horror chasing on her heels, toward Dylan’s house where flames now greedily devoured everything in their path.

“D
ylan! Will!” Her screams made her hoarse. In disbelief, she stared at the burning house. Her stomach cramped, and she bent double, grief consuming her.

There was no way they’d made it out of there alive.

She started toward the house, ignoring the searing heat. She had to get in there. She had to do something.

A hand on her arm jerked her back.

“Are you crazy?” Eli demanded in her ear.

“They’re in there!”

She just now noticed the screaming sound of the sirens. Eli paced forward.

Back.

Rubbed a hand across the top of his head and stared at the flames grasping for the night sky.

“Do something!” she demanded. Tears blurred her vision, and she choked on a sob.

She was DEA. She was supposed to stop stuff like this.

She was supposed to protect them.

And now they were dead.

Because she hadn’t done her job and found who was after them.

Paige sank to the ground, flashes of Will’s shy smile
and Dylan’s almost-kiss parading across the forefront of her mind. Along with the memory of the battery he’d replaced for her. His sweet concern. His …

“No-no-no-no.
You can’t do this, God,”
she sobbed into her knees.

“Paige.”

She wept.

“Paige.” The hand on her arm jerked her gaze up to see Eli peering down at her. “Look.”

She did.

And saw Dylan walking toward her, Will gripped in his arms.

For a moment, she sat frozen, too stunned to believe what she desperately wanted to believe.

“They’re alive?” she whispered. She blinked. They were real. Stumbling to her feet, she flew across the grass and wrapped her arms around both of them, checking for cuts, bruises, burns. “How? Wha—?”

“We were in the car. I felt like we needed to get away. I was going to park down the street a bit, leave Will hidden in the car and come back and get you. I thought whoever was watching the house would think I left again, leaving Will and you in the house. When he went in, I’d follow and …” He flushed. “Dumb plan, huh?”

Dylan held her up against his side. If his arm wasn’t around her waist, she wasn’t sure her knees would hold her. “No, it was the perfect plan. It saved your lives.”

Raindrops splattered her upturned face and she blinked.

He said, “I’d already backed out of the garage when the house exploded. The blast never touched us.”

“Will, sweetheart?” She stroked his cheek. “You’re okay?”

The boy leaned over and wrapped his arms around her neck.

She gave a choked laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Her eyes collided once again with Dylan’s. The hand on her waist moved to the back of her head, and he brought her lips to his.

It was rather awkward with Will’s arms still clutching her, and for the second time that night, she froze in shock. Then melted into his sweet embrace, her terror at losing him and Will forgotten for a split second. When he pulled back, she couldn’t help frowning in protest. Then she saw his eyes on the house.

Squinting through the rain that fell harder.

Will, arms still holding her, whispered, “The bad man said he’d hurt Uncle Dylan just like he hurt my mom.”

Paige gasped and her eyes shot to Dylan’s. He hadn’t heard his nephew’s words, they’d been uttered so soft and right next to her ear. She looked back at Will.

“What man?” This time she and Will had Dylan’s attention, but she kept her focus on the boy.

For a minute, Will didn’t speak again, then he sat up and looked at the firemen putting out the fire intent on destroying yet another of his homes. Head swiveling, he looked at her, then Dylan. “I don’t want you to die, too, Uncle Dylan.”

Tears filled his eyes and dripped over to splash on his cheeks.

Dylan pulled him into a bear hug. “I know. And I don’t want to. Not yet.” He stared into the Paige’s eyes. “God’s stronger than the bad man. He’s not going to get me, Will. Understand?”

“Then why did he get my mommy and Larry?”

Paige lifted a brow and wondered how Dylan would
handle that one. He looked a little lost, so she jumped in to rescue him, to give him time to think of a response to a question that didn’t really have a good answer for a six-year-old who just wanted his mom back.

“Tell me about the bad man, Will.” All sounds around her faded as she honed in on Will. Even the rain failed to distract her. Would he tell her or clam up again? In her peripheral vision, she saw Eli standing close by, listening.

Will’s eyes darted between her and Dylan. “He said he would hurt Uncle Dylan if I told. He said if I said a word, he’d burn him up just like my Mommy.” The little boy’s face crumpled. “And I didn’t say anything, and he tried to do it anyway.”

“So you were protecting your uncle?” He nodded and she rubbed his back. “You’re so brave, Will.”

“No, I’m not. I was scared. You were brave. You saved me from the car and the bad man who tried to take me from the restaurant.”

“Oh, honey.” She thought she saw tears standing in Dylan’s eyes. Then he blinked and they were gone.

Eli stepped forward, his deputy hat shielding his face from what was sure to be a downpour. “Hey, Will. Glad to hear your voice again, buddy.”

Will frowned at the intrusion.

Eli turned to Paige. “You were chasing after the person who did this. Could you ID him at all?”

“No, I …” A thought exploded in her mind. “ID.”

“What?”

“It all comes back to that ID found at the fire.”

Eli’s gaze sharpened. “How do you know about that?”

Paige bit her lip. It was time to come clean. “I’m DEA.”

Surprise flashed for a brief moment on Eli’s face. “Well, I thought you were something, I just didn’t know what.”

She lifted a brow. “Really?”

He smiled. “Let’s just say I wondered.”

“There was an ID found in the fire but it was too badly burned to give us a whole lot of information.”

Dylan shifted Will, looked up at the sky. “What do you say we get out of this? Will you two meet me back at Cheryl’s house? I think we’ll stay there for the night. Fortunately, I packed a small bag for us so we can get through the night. I’ll make a final decision about what to do about a place to stay first thing in the morning.”

Eli looked at Paige. “There’s nothing more you can do here. Why don’t you guys go on? I’ll be at Cheryl’s when I finish up here.”

Paige looked at Dylan. “I’ll follow you.”

With a backward glance at his house, sorrow and grief etched on his face, Dylan gripped Will and headed for the car.

Eli placed a hand on Paige’s arm. “We need to talk.”

“At Cheryl’s house. I think it’s time to move in and do some serious investigating into the ID badges at the school.”

“Give me at least an hour. I may be able to make it before then.”

“You got it.”

Paige walked to her car, her thoughts churning, planning.

Praying.
Thank you, God, for sparing them. I didn’t realize how much I’d come to care for them until I thought they were gone. I think You’re trying to tell me something. Something that I’m afraid to hear.

She cut the prayer off. While she was grateful beyond words that Dylan listened to the voice telling him to run,
real fear settled in her stomach because she was in very deep. Emotionally.

And when it came time to say goodbye, she wasn’t sure she would survive it.

Dylan pulled into Cheryl’s drive and cut the engine. Will had fallen asleep in the backseat. Climbing out of the car, he walked the few steps to the drain and felt behind the piece of metal. His fingers found the magnetic key holder and he pulled it off.

Sliding it open, he snagged the key and dropped it into his front pocket. He wasn’t about to leave Will in the car while he opened the door. He’d just have to juggle the child against his shoulder while unlocking the door.

The rain had nearly stopped but the heaviness in the air said it wasn’t finished for good.

Once inside, Dylan left the lights off, pulled off the boy’s wet clothes and replaced them with a pair of pajamas Cheryl kept in the little room Will used when he stayed with her.

All of this, and Will only stirred to mutter a short protest before nodding back off on Dylan’s shoulder. Dylan carried him back into the den and placed him on the sofa. The little boy sighed in his sleep, but his forehead was smooth. Like he’d given himself permission to rest without fear anymore.

Just speaking the words, sharing the burden he’d been carrying around inside him for so long with the adults he trusted seemed to give him a new measure of peace and security.

Soon he saw headlights flash across the front window and figured Paige had arrived. However, he wasn’t ready
to take that for granted. Walking to the window, he looked out.

As his pulse hummed, he watched Paige climb from the vehicle with a glance to the sky. The kiss they’d shared at his house seared his mind. He’d seen her grief, her weeping because she thought he and Will had been in the house during the explosion.

And he knew she cared. Probably much more than she wanted to admit. He saw the love in her eyes when Will hugged her.

But loving a child was different than wanting to take on the full responsibility of parenting one.

She rapped on the door and he opened it.

And handed her a towel.

Paige took it with a smile. “Thanks.”

“Will’s asleep on the couch,” he told her. “I’m just not ready for him to be out of my sight yet.”

“I understand.” She kept her voice soft.

“If we sit in the kitchen, I can still see him and maybe our voices won’t disturb him.”

She nodded and set her keys on the kitchen counter. Dylan walked to the cupboard and pulled down a coffee filter. He added water to the maker and pressed the button to start the process.

Soon the smell of fresh-brewed coffee filled the room.

When he turned back to Paige, her gaze slammed into him.

And he sucked in a deep breath.

Realization came fast and not necessarily wanted at that moment.

He loved her. He loved another woman who wouldn’t be able to commit to him and Will.

Now what was he going to do?

He looked shell-shocked. Who wouldn’t after this night?

“How’s Cheryl?” she asked.

Blinking, Dylan shook himself. “Awake and holding her own. I checked on her on the way over here. Let her know that something had happened with my house and asked her if she minded us staying here.”

“And of course she didn’t.”

He smiled. “Of course.”

Paige finally asked the question that she’d been meaning to ask for a while now. “Where are you parents, Dylan? You’ve never said.”

“They died within a year of each other. Mom of cancer, Dad of a heart attack.” He sank into the chair next to her.

She clasped his fingers. “I’m so sorry. Recently?”

He squeezed back. “No, about six years ago. Right after Will was born.”

“No wonder you were so protective of Sandra.”

He nodded. “I tried, but she was already hooked by the time Will was born. It’s a miracle he was born so healthy. I don’t think she was doing cocaine at that point. That stuff came later, but still …”

“Where’s Will’s dad?”

Dylan shrugged. “I don’t know. Sandra got married right out of high school. He took off, and about year later, she was pregnant with Will.” Sadness filled his eyes, and her heart went out to him.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

A knock on the door brought Paige to her feet, hand on her gun.

Dylan stood and said, “It’s probably just Eli.”

It was.

Eli entered the kitchen and took a seat at the table. Dylan sat opposite him, and Paige found herself in the middle.

Eli looked at her, leaned back and crossed his arms. “Can you fill me in?”

She looked at Dylan, back to Eli, and started talking.

After she’d brought him up-to-date on everything with the case, she said, “So, as you know, the only evidence found in the fire was a school ID that had all of the information burned off except partial letters of the elementary school’s name.”

“What about Larry and Sandra?”

“Larry was undercover in the high school. He was subbing as a math teacher. The man was a whiz with numbers. Anyway, he said he met Sandra in the teacher’s lounge one morning and could tell she was on something.” Paige shot an apologetic look at Dylan who blinked and looked away. “To make a long story short, he fell in love with her, convinced her to get clean, trust him and give him names of those involved with the drug running. She told him about the two elementary school parents who’d been arrested on drug charges, but didn’t know who the top dog was. That’s what Larry was working on finding out when he was killed.”

“So that’s two connections to the elementary school. The parents and the ID tag,” Eli murmured.

“Right. Which is why we decided to focus on the elementary school rather than the high school.”

Dylan’s eyes sharpened. “Then you need to figure out which staff member is missing an ID.”

“We tried that. Two people reported lost IDs and had replacements made, but they checked out clean.”

Eli paced to the kitchen and perched on a bar stool.

“Could the ID belong to a past employee who just happened to have it on him at the time of the fire?”

Respect for the sheriff blossomed. “We thought about that, too. The dates on the ID were still discernable. They were for this year.”

Dylan interrupted. “The two people who were questioned about their missing badges, did they say what happened to them?”

“One went boating and dropped his wallet in the lake. He never did recover it. We checked that story and it was legit. He applied for a new license, new credit cards, everything.”

“And the other?” Eli asked.

“She said she left her badge in the top drawer of her desk like always. One day it was there, the next it was missing.”

“That wouldn’t happen to be the day after the fire, would it?”

Paige nodded. “The very one.”

“Okay, so a staff member—” Dylan started.

“—or a very clever volunteer—” Paige interrupted.