Catch a Shadow (24 page)

“I'm going there, and I own my own rig,” said the guy in the baseball cap. “No rules to say I can't take passengers.”

“I'm going that way, too,” said the one who'd threatened violence to the attacker seconds earlier. “I'll follow part of the way. Make sure no one's trailing you.”

“I still think we should call the sheriff,” the waitress persisted, but a man next to her shook his head, and she went silent. The owner? Whoever he was, he didn't want any trouble.

“What about your car?” the waitress asked.

“I'll move it to the back and have someone pick it up, or pick it up myself later. If that's okay.”

The manager nodded. It was obvious to Kirke he wanted no trouble. Or police on the premises. It occurred to her that some of the women who'd gathered behind the men weren't motorists but working girls who offered services out of nearby trailers.

The manager nodded. “You want me to keep the keys?”

Jake nodded. “I'll park it, then give them to you.”

“How do I know whoever comes is legit?”

Jake glanced down at her and said softly so no one else could hear, “He, or she, will say Merlin sent him.”

The man's eyebrows raised, then he shrugged.

“Ready to go?” the trucker who volunteered the ride interrupted. “I'm on a schedule.”

Jake nodded. “I'll move the car and get our belongings.”

She tried to stand, but her legs were unsteady, and she sat back down on the ground. She was still woozy, and her head hurt. She wasn't going to say that, though. She wanted to leave this place.

“You didn't have time to eat,” the waitress said. “I'll throw some sandwiches together.”

Another waitress crowded near her, guilt evident in her face as she looked at Jake. “I'm so sorry about the coffee. We thought it would give her a chance to get away if …”

The manager joined them. “Damn if I'll let them convince me to sabotage a customer again,” he said. “You see, Lily was abused and stalked by her boyfriend for years. He nearly killed her.”

Jake gave him a crooked smile. “That's quite a defense team you have. I don't envy anyone who wants to rob the place.” Then the smile was gone. “Don't worry about it. It's nice to know there's people who care enough to risk themselves.”

The first waitress looked relieved. “I'll get those sandwiches.” She hurried off.

The drivers stayed with her while Jake went to move the car. One of the women who'd gathered on the edge went inside and came out with a wet paper towel and offered it.

“Thank you,” Kirke said and rubbed her face with the cold towel. To her surprise, she felt better.

She saw Jake step out of the car he'd driven around the corner of the building and parked among the sixteen-wheelers. He had his duffel and her suitcase in his hands. The truck driver who'd offered to take them broke away and led Jake to a huge eighteen-wheeler. After stowing the baggage, they both came back toward her.

Without so much as a question, Jake lifted her as easily as if she were a pillow rather than a 128-pound female and carried her to the cab, setting her inside. Then he got in next to her.

The waitress appeared with a huge sack bulging with sandwiches and a small foam ice chest. “Sodas,” she said. Jake took a twenty dollar bill from his pocket, but the woman refused it.

Then the driver took off, and she took comfort in the steel underneath and around her.

“Name's Cook,” the driver said. “Tim Cook. Have a load of new furniture heading from north Georgia to Richmond. What are you folks gonna do when we get there?”

“Rent another car, one they don't know about.”

“Be careful. Lots of these new cars with agencies have a GPS that can be tracked in case a car is stolen or isn't returned.”

“Thanks,” Jake said. “I'm Ed Metcalf, and this is Jenny. I'm a friend of her family, and she called me after her ex did this. She's finally leaving the bastard. Didn't think he would go so far as to follow us.”

“What do'ya do?” Cook asked.

“Just got out of the military after twenty years. Looking around now to find something.”

“You in Iraq?”

“Afghanistan.”

“I served at Fort Campbell in Kentucky before this war. Never did get overseas. I admire you guys. Bet that coward back there never served a day.” He paused. “You might think about taking up trucking. If you can buy your own cab, you have lots of freedom. I bought mine when the interest rates were low. Be paying on it forever, but it's mine.”

Kirke opened the ice chest. She asked if anyone else wanted a soda and passed one to the driver before selecting one for herself. Then she leaned against Jake and listened.

For a man who didn't talk much, Jake held his own with the driver. He just asked questions, seldom offering much information of his own. Her head pounded. She had inhaled enough chloroform to make her sleepy as well as queasy. Remembering her attacker's hands on her sent shivers through her.

Jake's arm went around her. She didn't know whether their benefactor noticed or not. She didn't care. She snuggled there and finished the soda. Some of the turmoil in her stomach settled.

She looked at the clock on the dashboard. Eleven p.m.

She closed her eyes, letting herself be cocooned in the safety of Jake's arm. Ever since she met him, she'd been wandering around in an unmarked minefield, stumbling from one mine to another. Yet at this moment, there was no place she would rather be. The warmth of his body radiated through her own. She heard the regular beat of his heart and occasionally his arm would tighten around her as if to ensure himself she was there.

They would be in Virginia before long. Then it would just be a few hours to Richmond. She wished she had the map from their car to follow the way.

“Where's the map?” she asked suddenly. “The one in the car.”

“I didn't see it,” he replied. “I brought everything in the car.”

“I marked it,” she said slowly. “Whenever I go on a trip I draw a circle around the destination. When I stop at a rest stop or gas station, I trace how far I've come.”

His body stilled, then he said, “I locked the car, but I left one window open slightly because of the heat. We sat where I could keep an eye on it, but then there was the coffee …”

“Ja—” she started to say, then remembered he was Ed now. “Ed, he must have taken the map.”

His arm tightened around her shoulders.

“I'm sorry,” she said.

“There's no way you could have known he could follow us. I was sure there was no tracking device on the car. If anyone has blame, it's me.”

“He knows where we're going.”

“We'll just go somewhere else,” he said.

But they both knew there was only one place for them to go.

Ames's fingers clutched the cell phone.

“You let them get away?”

“I saw a chance to get the woman. I figured once I got her, then we could get him when he came after her.”

“You figured? Well, you figured wrong. You should have waited until you could run them off the road and get them both. Now they know we've been tracking them, and they'll be more careful.”

He listened to more excuses, then replied curtly, “Get the hell back to Argentina. I'm tired of incompetents.”

“I do have something.” The man sounded as panicked as Ames meant him to be. He paid well, and he expected results. Bad things happened to those who couldn't get the job done.

“What?”

“A map. While I was trying to get the damn woman, Diego took a look inside the car. He can get into anything. It has Williamsburg marked.”

“Williamsburg, Virginia?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I still want you in Argentina. You might have been seen. Take the first flight out.”

He hung up before his employee replied.

But now he knew where they were heading, even if they did find the bug he'd planted.
What could be in Williamsburg? Damn little to interest them but the Farm
.

Whatever they were after was there.

What in the devil did Del tell the woman?

That was the question he couldn't answer, couldn't even start to answer.

And now the paramedic had obviously teamed with the one man he feared.

They'd already outmaneuvered him several times. And he was chagrined he'd not killed her on the street yesterday. He'd made the rifle shot himself, having more faith in his abilities than in that of his associates. The fact that he'd missed unnerved him.

And made him more determined.

Williamsburg was a small city. More a tourist town than anything else. It was not far from the Farm, and there were several watering holes used by instructors and students. There was one …

He looked over at the man who was with him. He trusted Drake more than any other person.

“Rent a small plane,” he said. “We're going to the closest airport to Williamsburg, Virginia. And reserve us two rental cars.

He didn't have to say more.

Maybe he could salvage something yet.

They hadn't gone to the police, probably because Jake Kelly had no credibility. He wouldn't risk going to authorities without proof. He would be back in Leavenworth faster than Ames could say “Gotcha.”

And if they did? Ames still had someone in the CIA who couldn't afford another probe into the matter. That person would step on any local official who asked questions. The words
national security
covered any number of sins.

It shouldn't be long before he had both of them.

CHAPTER 21

The truck driver dropped off Jake and Kirke at a motel on the outskirts of Richmond.

It was three in the morning.

They thanked him effusively. Jake tried to pay him, but the man refused to take anything.

He registered as Mrs. and Mrs. Gregory Evans. Kirke was getting tired of all the different names. She couldn't keep any of them straight. How did he?

This time he asked for only one room. Two double beds. They waited patiently while the clerk explained that it was a suite hotel, and they had a small fridge as well as a sitting room.

She didn't want a sitting room. She
only
wanted a bed.

They waited as the clerk made another card key. She'd always wondered how safe those keys really were. When she was on the newspaper, she'd intended to do a story about it someday.

When they reached the room, Jake inserted the card to unlock the door. He carried in his duffel and the small ice chest that still held a few sodas along with the remaining sandwiches. She carried her suitcase. They dumped everything in the small outer room that made the room a suite, and she sank into a chair.

He didn't sit. Instead, he eyed her purse.

“Is that the purse that was taken a few days ago?”

She nodded.

Jake picked it up and dumped the contents out. There wasn't much there. Her driver's license. A comb. A compact. Lipstick. A pen she'd picked up in the lobby.

He ripped out the lining. Dug deeper.

She watched in unsettled silence. She had few possessions with her, and that was her best purse, the one she'd paid what she considered an exorbitant price for. It was large enough to contain a notebook and host of other stuff. She particularly liked the long strap that she could wear swung across her shoulder. And it was a neutral tan that went with almost everything.

His fingers came up with what looked like a tiny hearing aid battery. “No wonder they found us,” he said. “Damn it!” he said.

He went to the phone and called the desk for a cab.

“I hate to make you move again, but we can't stay here now,” he said to Kirke. “I don't know how far behind us they are, or how many there are.”

“What do we do with that thing?” she asked, staring at the tiny instrument as if it were a snake.

“Leave it here. Hopefully, they'll think we're here for the night. We'll take the cab to the airport and get a car rental.”

“If they are right behind us, can't they follow us to the airport?”

“Not if we leave before they arrive. Without the bug, I can lose them.”

“They have the map.”

“But they don't know what our destination in Williamsburg is. Or why.”

He was putting all their belongings at the door. All she wanted to do was lay her head down on the pillow. She waited for the adrenaline to kick in again. It didn't.

She was tired of being helpless. Of being completely dependent on anyone. Maybe especially him. She didn't want to be a clinging female.

“I want a gun,” she said.

“Can you use one?” he said, his eyes showing no surprise.

“Yes. Sam made me take lessons with him.”

“Do you have a permit?”

She shook her head. “I never wanted one in the house, not after being a paramedic.”

“Do you think you can actually shoot?” he said dubiously. “If you can't, then it's more dangerous than helpful.”

“Yes,” she said. “I've had it with being mugged, shot at, burglarized, and kidnapped.”

“Then we'll have to get one illegally.”

What was shocking was her own acceptance of such illegality. She, the always law-abiding one. Now she was running around the country with a convicted felon fleeing the law and plotting to buy an illegal gun.

Jake gave her a piercing look she couldn't interpret. She'd never met anyone so adept at hiding everything he felt.

“I'll get you one tomorrow,” he finally said.

“Just like that?”

“Not quite that easy. But I'll do it.

“Am I going with you?”

“No! I'll find someplace safe for you for a few hours. I have to go into dangerous neighborhoods and deal with dangerous people. I've put you into enough danger. I'll be damned if I'll do it when it's unnecessary.”