Blindsided (13 page)

“Come on.” Jesse tugged her toward a black SUV she didn’t recognize, his fingers tightening on hers. “Walk quickly.”

Like she had a choice. His legs were a good deal longer and he seemed in a very big hurry. “Whose car is that?”

“I rented it this afternoon.” He pressed a button. “Hop in.”

He’d rented a car. When he had his truck? That made no sense, but his urgency was enough to make her yank the door open and climb in without more questions. He started it, turned on the lights, and they pulled away in a sedate manner that was entirely different from the way he’d urged her from the building.

“Bend down,” he suggested. “So no one can see you, just in case they’re watching.”

“Fine.” She hunched in the seat, incredulous she was really doing such a thing. “But I hope you’re going to start talking soon because I admit I’m more than just a little curious, not to mention just a touch apprehensive.”

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The sarcasm in her tone made him smile, his mouth curving in that very sexy way he had, but he stared at the road and didn’t look over. “Someone wants to talk to you. The rental vehicle is insurance they don’t recognize the truck and follow me. The focus is on you, but they’ve probably figured out I’m part of the equation by now. Your brother seems to have some pretty convincing reasons to lay low.”

“My brother?” Kerin straightened as they pulled out onto the street. “As in Rob…my brother?”

“I thought you said you only had the one.”

She was getting the feeling that was just as well. “I do. Sorry, just surprised. Come on, Jesse, what the hell is this all about? Have I mentioned you’re scaring me?”

“Being scared seems part of the current equation. If you don’t mind, for clarity’s sake, I’m going to let him explain.”

Since she had no idea what to say to that, Kerin sat silent. Jesse drove with the same competence he used when rescuing stranded motorists and finding driveways in blizzard conditions. His profile was set and sharp against the glistening street lights.

Rob? She wasn’t sure whether she was surprised or not this had something to do with him. Accounting had always seemed a bit tame for his choice of profession and she hadn’t been able to get a hold of him for several months. She’d thought they were playing voice mail tag, but…maybe not.

Oh shit, at least two months since she’d talked to her brother.

About when all this started.

If she’d been able to think of something to say, she would have.

As it was, she sat there in a sort of numb silence until they arrived at one of the local downtown hotels. Lots of lights, valet parking, people walking in and out…

She slid out obediently and watched Jesse hand over his keys and a tip. As he set his hand at her waist and guided her into the hotel lobby, he murmured, “This is a pretty public venue. I have to give it to him. Rob seems as intelligent as you are. We’re on the ninth floor.”

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As a compliment, it was well done, or at least it seemed that way.

She felt a bit shaky and thinking straight was a problem.

To make matters worse, he said in an offhand voice, “He has a false identity and if they haven’t traced it yet, we should be safe enough.”

Good God, what was going on?

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He dipped the card into the slot in the door, saw the green flash, and opened it. The room looked deserted at first glance, but Jesse realized with a start that Rob Burke must have been strategically placed so that when the door opened, he would be behind it.

“It’s us,” he said unnecessarily.

“All right.” Rob moved a little and Jesse could swear he slipped something back under his arm. He wore dark jeans, a gray shirt, and over it the usual leather jacket, even in the warmth of the hotel room.

It was as if he wanted to be ready to leave at any minute. “A guy can’t be too careful. Hi, Keri.”

Kerin stepped past him into the room, her face pale and taut. “Was that a gun?”

Jesse followed her and closed the door, after giving one last glance at the hallway. It was deserted and generic, with blue patterned carpet and recessed lighting. It seemed benign, but he had an unreal sense of danger anyway, which probably stemmed from spending the afternoon renting cars and hotel rooms to help a man who was an admitted fugitive.

To think he just wanted to spend a few weeks reading and relaxing at the cabin. How he’d ended up in Indiana and the middle of this mess spoke a lot for the allure of one pretty doctor who had stumbled into his life.

Rob gestured at the bed. “Sit down. I realize I need to explain.”

Kerin wore a long black wool coat that contrasted nicely with her shining hair but at the moment emphasized her pallor. She slipped it off and sat down, her fingers tightly twined together. Under her red
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sweater her slender shoulders were tense. “Yes, you do. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you but you won’t return my calls. Mom and Dad are worried, too.”

The room was as generic as the hallway, with just the king-sized bed, a long dresser that held the television and a small desk with a chair in the corner. The sheers were drawn but the drapes open and the lights of downtown Indianapolis glowed against the sheer fabric.

Rob leaned one shoulder against the wall as if he was too restless to sit, and leveled his gaze on his sister. “I know. I got the messages. I just couldn’t return them.”

Jesse moved to take the chair by the desk. He was a spectator in this, not really a player. Or maybe he was one, but not part of the main cast. The story he’d heard in the restaurant earlier had been damned interesting. He was curious to see if Kerin bought it. Because of her, he’d helped Burke out, but he didn’t know the guy. She did.

Accessory after the fact came to mind, but he felt he didn’t have much choice. What was he going to do, turn in her brother?

No, he couldn’t. That said quite a lot about the state of his involvement with the very beautiful and passionate Dr. Burke.

Even now he wanted to put his arms around her and protect her.

“Why?” she asked flatly. “Why are we here? What’s happening?

Jesse said he wanted
you
to explain. I’m sitting here in some hotel room wondering just what that means. It’s obvious you’re in trouble, Rob. Is that why someone is watching
me
?”

“I’d guess.” Her brother’s tone was bitter. “They’ve done everything possible to make sure my options are limited and figured I’d come to you. I had to. Fucking bastards.”

“Who are you talking about? Please, Rob.” Her voice shook. “Tell me.”

Burke ran his hand briefly over his face. His blue eyes looked dark and troubled. “I’ve already told McCutcheon this, but he wanted you to hear it from me, so here goes. Look, I haven’t been quite straight because I didn’t want Mom and Dad to worry, but I work—

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worked maybe would be a better way to put it—for the government. I am a licensed CPA, but as you know, my degree is in actuarial science. Someone like me comes in very handy when they want to track laundered money. We spend a lot of time looking at the business practices of suspected organized crime fronts.”

Kerin sat very still. “All right, go on. I don’t know why you wouldn’t tell us that, but I’m listening.”

“I didn’t tell you because I’m sometimes undercover as an agent.

It’s actually the least glamorous job in the world, believe me, but for obvious reasons the less people that know, the better.” His smile was a brief humorless flash. “A mild-mannered accountant by day, a mole by night. There you go. Except nothing is simple when it comes to the type of situations I’ve found myself in now and again, and this last one went really bad. I’m taking the heat for it and not enjoying it one bit.”

Kerin’s knuckles were white. “How bad?”

“I witnessed a murder. I wish to hell I hadn’t, but I did.”

Jesse had felt the same flicker of revulsion that crossed Kerin’s face when he’d heard the same thing. Rob went on, now sounding unemotional. “It was a fellow agent named Donovan who killed the guy. By coincidence, the man he killed was an important source in our investigation. At the time, I had no idea why the whole thing went down like it did. I just thought it was a moment gone wrong. In retrospect, it seems clear why the victim panicked and went for a weapon. He must have known something Donovan wasn’t interested in having me or anyone else find out about. It wasn’t until later I realized it was premeditated. I’ve replayed the scene a hundred times in my head. It was definitely intentional. Donovan had me set up the meeting, so the victim had no idea he would be there. The minute the two of them came face to face, all hell broke loose, but Donovan had the advantage because he was ready for it, of course.”

The room was quiet. Kerin seemed frozen in place. Jesse imagined he’d held the same pose back at the restaurant as he heard
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the story for the first time. Finally, she cleared her throat. “If you reported this, why are you the one in trouble?”

“Yeah, good question, isn’t it? My direct supervisor might be able to answer it. I’ve had two months to try and figure out what’s going on and come to a conclusion I don’t like at all.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but what’s that?”

“My boss, Nathan Henderson, is part of this. Hand and glove.

They’ve set me up. I was starting to get uneasy almost right after I filed that report. It didn’t seem to go anywhere and I thought I’d have Internal Affairs on me the next day to discuss the situation. Instead I waited a week without a request for an interview. I was still undercover, so I didn’t get alarmed at once. I was in Florida at the time, still working the case, and Donovan was supposedly back at the office. Only he wasn’t. That was my first real clue I had trouble on my hands. I walked away from one very nasty car accident I shouldn’t have even survived, discovered my cover was blown by an anonymous tip, and ducked into hiding.

“Naturally, the first thing I did was contact Henderson and told him what happened. That’s when he told me Donovan’s story differed a lot from mine and since neither one of us waited around for local law enforcement, there was no official statement of any kind.

Donovan is too smart to not dispose of the weapon, and in his version of the story
, I
shot the informant.”

A shaky hand lifted to brush a strand of blonde hair from her face.

Kerin said, “You?”

“I can’t prove I didn’t.” Rob shifted, his body language unmistakably angry. “I can’t prove shit, Keri. I was an eyewitness, but the man who was shot was a scumbag, a snitch with ties to some of the most questionable people you can imagine. Nathan suppressed the report supposedly to keep both Donovan and I from a big Internal Affairs investigation over a guy who would have probably ended up in and out of prison for the rest of his life. If he hadn’t lied about Donovan’s whereabouts, I might even have let it all go.”

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Jesse wasn’t sure how he felt about that statement. A life was a life, and murder was just plain wrong, but he could at least see the point. “How did you know he was lying?”

“I saw Donovan. It was just dumb luck. My car accident could have been just that, an accident, but it didn’t feel that way and he made the mistake of driving past after it happened. There were police officers and ambulances everywhere but I’d managed to crawl out the back window. I’m positive he didn’t expect me to be one of the people standing around what used to be my rental car.”

“He tried to kill you.” Kerin looked both pale and shocked. “Can’t you tell…someone? The police—”

Rob’s mouth lifted with a cynical smile that had nothing to do with amusement as he interrupted. “The police usually aren’t called upon to protect federal agents from one another. Besides, I don’t have a shred of proof except my word on what happened during a killing in which I left the scene just as much as Donovan did. The police wouldn’t be ecstatic over that little point, Keri. In the meantime I think Henderson and Donovan are doing some serious damage control by trying to corner me and eliminate the only person who can confirm the shooting wasn’t just self-defense.”

“No.” Kerin shook her head in patent denial, her silky hair moving across her shoulders. “This kind of thing doesn’t really happen.”

Jesse spoke up. “I think it just might. What about the listening device, sweetheart? Does
that
sort of thing happen? The methods being used to keep tabs on you aren’t legal at all. Breaking and entering, tampering with your computer, bugging your house. That isn’t regulation stuff, but it is professional. Your role in this is incidental. It takes following the rules to make sure of a conviction in court. Rules aren’t being used. It makes me believe your brother’s story more than anything. They don’t want to arrest him, they’re after him.”

The vulnerable look in her eyes shook him. It was unguarded, it was stark, and it said she knew this kind of thing happened. It just
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didn’t happen to people she knew and loved.

Well, fuck
.

Jesse moved from the chair. It wasn’t conscious, it was the kind of action that happened as your brain sends signals to your muscles and a person reacts. Just like that.

He settled next to her on the bed and murmured, “If I didn’t believe him, we wouldn’t be here.”

It was a possessive statement and he had a feeling normally she would object, but instead she rested against him with acquiescent quiet, her slender body rigid within his circling arm.

Rob looked at them in somber contemplation. “I’ve had the past eight weeks to think about it. Moving from motel to motel, eating in the most obscure dives I can find, trying to figure out a way to fix this. At this point, I’m afraid to talk to anyone because I’m not sure who to trust. I’m out of money because they’ve got the resources to track any ATM withdrawals. They are probably tracking yours, too.”

“Mine?” Kerin straightened her already stiff spine. “Why mine?”