Deadly Deception (SCVC Taskforce) (10 page)

“Whoever deprogrammed him did a shitty job.”

No kidding
. “Power, control, manipulation. The keys to being a cult leader. By ignoring me at the meeting and then calling me afterwards, he was establishing his dominance.”

A rude snicker. “Will he call back?”

“I don’t know.” A car pulled in next to hers. “Cooper’s here.”

“Good. Maybe he’s got something from Dyer.”

A minute later, Cooper strode in, flinging a sheet of paper on the table. “How did Adam get your number?”

Ronni glanced at the paper, saw a call log and a handwritten note from Dyer stating the call had indeed originated from the farm. Her number and the call were highlighted in yellow. How
did
Adam get her private phone number? “I didn’t give to him. All I filled in on my info sheet was my name and a message saying I needed to see Adam.”

“I thought maybe you gave your number to Melly when you talked to her,” Thomas said.

“Melly?” Cooper braced his hands on a chair back and leaned in. He didn’t look happy.

“Melanie Rooters.” Ronni fished the woman’s business card from her purse. “She claims Adam saved her hair and nail salon from bankruptcy. Records show they’re co-owners.”

Cooper took the card. “I’ll have Dyer check into it. Meanwhile, do we still have a chance at getting you in?”

The question of the hour
. “He’ll call back.”

“You’re sure?”

No
. “He’s cautious but curiosity will get the best of him. He’ll want to see me, relive old times, and find out why the hell I’m trying to get in contact with him after all these years.”

She sounded more confident than she felt, but the art of bluffing had become second nature during therapy.
How do you feel?
Fine
. How is work?
Fine.
Are you sleeping?
Like a baby
.

Lies, lies, lies.

“All right.” Cooper glanced at his watch. “Let’s all go home and get some rest. We’ll regroup in the morning.”

She was too keyed up to rest. Thomas seemed to understand. “You go on home. I owe Ronni a drink. I’ll make sure she gets to your place safe and sound.”

Cooper’s focus went from Thomas to her and back. He started to say something, called back whatever was on his tongue. “Keep your guard up. We don’t know what this guy is capable of.”

I do
, she wanted to say. Adam was handsome, charming, and socially savvy. And if he was like most cult leaders, he was also abusive, cruel, and untrustworthy. But all she needed was proof he was engaged in criminal activities—the kind of activities that would put him in jail for life.

“You got it, boss.” Thomas hopped up from his chair and he and Cooper exchanged some kind of crazy handshake-back pat thing. Cooper left, and Thomas snagged his Dew. “Let’s roll.”

“You don’t owe me a drink.”

“I got something better in mind.”

Sounded dangerous. “Like what?”

He cocked a thumb over his shoulder. “Come with me and find out.”

Wary, Ronni nevertheless felt that tingle at the base of her spine. A second after he disappeared out the door, she grabbed her bag and followed.

Chapter Eleven

“You shoot like a girl.” Thomas stood behind her shoulder, eyeing her target.

The indoor gun range was deserted and kind of creepy. They both wore ear protection and mics so they could talk to each other without yelling. Thomas had said it would do her good to blow off some steam. Ronni suspected he wanted to check her accuracy with a gun.

It was a new partner thing. She’d done the same to Celina back in Des Moines.

She also suspected from the amused look on Thomas’s face, he wanted to find something to give her grief about.

Big surprise.

“You need your eyes examined.” She nailed the male target in front of her three times in the head and laid a cluster of four shots into the fake guy’s heart. Her reaction time was slower than it used to be, but her aim was accurate.

Thomas stepped into the next booth over and fired at his target.
Bam, bam, bam, bam
. Double tap to the head, two to the heart. His accuracy was as good as hers. His firing time, faster.

He has bigger hands. Stronger hands. Of course he can fire faster. His gun recoils quicker.

But it wasn’t that. Her fingers trembled as she reloaded.

“I’m telling you.” His voice sounded tinny from the headphones. “You shoot like my little sister. Slow and deliberate. You think too much.”

She’d never shot anyone. Hoped she’d never be forced to. But she took the monthly training like all agents and passed every test. “
Thinking
is part of not shooting the wrong person.”

“You scared?”

“Of shooting the wrong person? Absolutely.”

“Of shooting
anyone
.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m a trained FBI agent. It’s part of my job.”

Thomas stuck his head around the partition, removed his headphones. “Then shoot like you mean it. You think about it, hesitate for even a second too long in the field, you’ll end up dead.”

He was going to school her now in shooting? Incensed, Ronni chambered a round and pointed the Glock at a fresh target.
Shoot like you mean it.

Her finger felt slippery on the trigger, breath locked in her chest. Taking aim, she shut down the voices in her head. Hers. Thomas’s. Everyone’s.

Shooting used to be easy. She could tune out the noise in her head. It relaxed her. Now, it was different. She had to focus too hard on the target. Force the white noise in her head to fade into the background.

Deep breath in. Let it out halfway. Hold…

Bam, bam, bam
.

Quick, efficient, and right where she intended. Satisfied with the results, she smiled, laid down the Glock, and took off the ear protection.

Thomas stepped behind her right shoulder, whistled low under his breath and frowned. “What do you call
that?
”

Ronni flicked the switch to pull in the paper target. As it drew closer, she inspected her handiwork…three holes blown into the fake guy’s groin.

Snapping the target off its clips, she handed it to him. “I call that
shooting like a girl
.”

His lips quirked.

“Any other tests you want to put me through?”

The quirk drooped. “Tests?”

“That’s what this is, isn’t it? You think I’ll break under pressure. Leave you hanging or get you killed?”

He dropped his chin, rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb.
So sexy.
Then he shook his head and chuckled. “Unbelievable.”

“What?”

“Do you ever lighten up? Let yourself have a little fun?”

I used to.
“This is fun?”

He saw her confusion. “I brought you here because you were stewing over Adam’s rejection.” His intense blue eyes stared unblinking. One hundred percent sincere. “You’re a basket of anxiety.”

Didn’t she know it. “And that
shooting like a girl
and
hesitate in the field and you’re dead
lecture?”

He grinned again. That grin made her feel alive. “Took your mind off Adam, didn’t it?”

Bastard
. “I wasn’t stewing.”

“The hell you weren’t.”

She returned her gun to its holster, pushed past him, and grabbed her jacket off a nearby chair. Fun. She’d actually been having fun for the past few minutes, but now… “I’m calling it a night.”

“Aren’t you going to clean your gun?”

“Not now.”

“It’s after midnight.” The tone in his voice suggested midnight was a time for wildness. Recklessness. Fun like she hadn’t had in a good while. “Long drive to Carlsbad.”

She understood the words, understood the meaning floating behind them. She shoved her arms in her jacket, ignoring the adrenaline tripping her heart into a faster rhythm. “You’re the one who kept me out this late.”

“Exactly. I thought you’d enjoy this excursion and you didn’t. Crash at my place. I’ll make it up to you.”

His place. Tonight.
Temptation
. She glanced over her shoulder, and damn, there were those eyes. All that sincerity. Her legs felt a little weak. She licked her lips.

And then she saw something more in those blue depths…something that snuffed out her libido as fast as his charm had ignited it.

Guilt.

Dammit
. Could he not leave the past where it belonged? She was trying so hard not to remember that night in Des Moines every time she looked at him.

Taking the first step…that was the hardest part. She needed to trust him. He needed to release his guilt. Letting down her defenses wasn’t easy. Having fun—the kind he was promising in that smile—was a big first step.

What to do?
Play his game
. “I might consider it if you agree to stop teasing, harassing, and yanking my chain.”

In Des Moines, he’d been dangerous to get close to. Still was. “That’s asking a lot.”

His teasing and harassment had grown on her. She didn’t really want him to stop. It would be too easy to let the lust between them flare to life
.
“Forget it then.”

“Okay, okay.” He held up his hands—strong, capable. A shiver skated over her body. “I’ll stop. But only until sunrise.”

She lifted a brow, her blood pumping harder. “Twenty-four hours. Swear on your firearm.”

“Ouch.” Placing a hand over his heart in a hurt gesture, he smiled a careless grin. “Don’t trust me?”

Were they talking about the job or something else? She cut her eyes to the far wall so he wouldn’t read too much in them. Tried to slow her rapid pulse. “I don’t know you.”

His voice went low, husky. “Yes, you do.”

Another shiver racked her body. Instead of slowing, her pulse leapt and raced. She was burning up inside and he hadn’t even touched her.

How to explain? She met his eyes, forced herself to stare back at him coldly. “I don’t
know you
know you.”

A shrug. No big deal. As if he’d be willing to bare his soul to her anytime. “I’ll show you my Blu-ray collection. Everything you need to know about me is right there.”

Him and his movies. Her mind flashed with an image of the two of them on his couch in the dark, watching some action flick. His wild recklessness would take her under. Their new partnership would go to hell fast.
Very fast
. “I told you, I’m not interested in your porn.”

He hesitated, laughed under his breath. Rubbed that bottom lip again.
My god, he has to stop doing that.

Thomas opened his mouth, ready with a snarky comeback, and then he cringed as he remembered he wasn’t supposed to tease, harass or yank. His lips closed. He growled softly in frustration.

Her knees shook at the sound.
Show no weakness
. “A whole twenty-four hours without one joke, prank, or harassing comment. Think you can do it, Mann?”

“No.” He sighed and holstered his gun. His chest muscles rippled under his t-shirt. “But for you, I’ll give it my best shot.”

She handed him his jacket, catching a faint whiff of clean soap and fresh gun oil. She inhaled.
Temptation
. “You’re learning.”

Chapter Twelve

The parking lot was dark and quiet in the dying heat of the day. Fog had rolled in, casting an unnatural glow around the solar lights overhead.

Adam waited inside Jacob’s car, parked in the shadows on the street. He hadn’t planned to come out tonight. Drive to San Diego. But then, he hadn’t planned on Special Agent Roanna Punto showing up at the farm.

My sacred sister
. An FBI agent.

He had pictures of her that Jacob had printed off the internet. He’d read all about her exploits in the field and kept track of her the past few years. Waited for her to come looking for him.

She hadn’t. But he knew eventually she would, so he’d waited.

It hadn’t been easy after the brainwashing. They’d taken him away from her the minute the two of them left Mount Royal. Kept them separated, sending her back to her real father, and putting him in a home for kids with mental problems.

I always knew she would come for me. It was only a matter of time.

At seven, he’d once left the institute to live with a foster family. They gave him a new name, a new life. He’d tried to be Corbin Wilks. Tried to be anyone
but
Adam Karsni. But the nightmares wouldn’t stop. His obsession with fire, guns, and explosions wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t sleep and paced the floors. He stole knives from kitchen drawers and hid them under his pillow. Close by. Just in case.

Even though he’d only been three during the siege, he’d known he was going to die. Those last moments with Roanna had been long and dark, filled with a terror that, even now all these years later, he could still taste on the back of his tongue.

No one can resist the call of the All Powerful.