Deadly Obsession (29 page)

Hallway?
Bedroom?

God, the uncertainty was killing her. Should she take the offensive? Hold him at gunpoint while she called the cops? Would he lunge at her? Would she have to fire?

Fuck!

Enough.
She took another step back and turned towards the room, raising the rifle to her shoulder again. Then she edged forward until she could make out the guy’s silhouette. He was still standing beside the doorway, his gaze fixed on the set of stairs leading to the loft.

That’s it, asshole. Head for the stairs so I can blow
your
fucking head off if you so much as breathe too loudly.

She watched him walk off to his right, tracing a path across the wall. His hands looked empty, but she knew he was packing. She inched ahead, her feet silent across the cold wooden floor. She waited until he was two steps away from the staircase before cocking the gun aimed at his back. Even in the darkness she saw his reaction. He froze, his shoulders bunched, his back stiff. He’d reached for something inside his jacket, but now stood rigid with his hand still angled towards his chest. She stood watching him for two more heartbeats before wetting her dry lips and breaking the silence.

“You so much as
twitch,
and I’ll blow your head off.” Brooklyn tightened her grip, the muzzle pointed in the centre of the man’s back. “Now I suggest you listen very carefully. I want you to remove your hand from inside your jacket, and raise your hands above your head. Don’t bother trying to grab that gun you’ve got tucked away. We both know I can pull the trigger faster than you can draw and turn.”

Brooklyn
watched the man nod as he jerked his hand away from his chest. “Slowly, asshole,” she yelled, trying to keep her voice steady. Beads of sweat trickled down her back and between her breasts, as she clenched her hand around the shaft so tightly her knuckles
glowed
white in the pale light.

“That’s it,” she said, when his hands stopped at either side of his shoulders. “Now keep them there.” She stole a quick breath, racing to think up her next move. Damn, she hadn’t thought it all through. She should call the cops? But it took both hands to hold the rifle, and she didn’t think she could spare one to grab the phone. Maybe she could knock it off the base and use her toes?

Brooklyn
nearly laughed hysterically at the thought of her playing footsies with the telephone while keeping her rifle trained on the bastard standing in her house. She sucked in a haggard breath, willing her hands to stop shaking. First she wanted to see Drake for herself. Stare into his eyes while the power flowed through her instead of him. Maybe he’d think twice about trying to lunge at her if he was looking down the barrel of the gun.

“Okay, jackass.
Here’s what you’re going to do. I want you to take two very slow steps to your left. Don’t lower your hands and don’t move faster than a fucking snail, got it?” The man nodded, and for a moment she thought she heard him chuckling. She firmed her stance. “Good. Now when I tell you, you’re going to move your left foot over a bit and press that switch on the floor. It’s attached to the lamp in the corner.” She shook the gun at him to accentuate her point. “And remember to move slowly.”

The man nodded again, inching his foot over until it wavered above the small circular switch. He held it suspended an inch from the button until she growled behind him and he carefully lowered his weight. There was a flash of white light as the lamp sprang to life, casting a bright glow across the room. Brooklyn squeezed against the trigger, engaging it halfway in case the creep decided to spin at the same time, but blinked to find him still standing next to the fireplace, his hands wavering beside his head. She stood there, fear so heavy in her stomach she had to concentrate to keep from throwing up. What the hell had she gotten herself into? Even with the deadly weapon cradled in her arms, the guy’s heart centred in the crosshairs, she felt vulnerable. This was so far outside her comfort zone she couldn’t even think straight.

She clenched her jaw and forced her knees to lock. There was no way she’d let Drake take her. “Okay. Now turn around.”

Brooklyn
waited.
Hands trembling around the cold metal, eyes watching for any sign of divergence.
Her chest heaved and the sweat dripped down her forehead. His head was bowed towards the floor, his hair hidden beneath a dark woollen cap. She held her breath, bracing herself to peer into the eyes of a killer, when a familiar sparkle nearly brought her to her knees.

“Hello, Brooklyn.”

Brooklyn
hissed out the breath she’d been holding, anger flaring through the fear. “God damn it, Gage!”

 
She met his gaze, her hands still locked around the rifle. He didn’t even look nervous, a roguish smile gracing his face.

“Jesus Christ! Do you know how close I came to pulling this trigger?”

Gage raised his eyebrows, bending slightly as if trying to get a better view at her hands. “By the looks of it, I’d say about halfway.”

“Halfway?” she huffed. “You are far too smug for your own good.”

Gage’s smile widened and she could tell he was resisting the urge to wink at her. “Nice rifle. It’d be even nicer if you pointed it somewhere else. Or are you still toying with the idea of shooting me?”

Brooklyn
sneered at him and tried to lower her arms, but the signal wasn’t getting through. She closed her eyes, wondering if she might pass out.

“Easy, darling.
Just take a deep breath.”

Brooklyn
opened her eyes, to find Gage stepping towards her. She matched his motion backwards before she realised what she was doing. Gage stopped, his eyes darkening as he studied her carefully.

“Are you okay?”

She swallowed, forcing her arms to lower until the barrel was pointed at the floor. She wanted to drop it, but her fingers wouldn’t release their death grip.
“Fine.
And don’t flatter yourself. Shooting you would be a waste of a good bullet.”

Gage winced at the tone in her voice, but didn’t move any closer. He merely pulled off his cap as he leaned against the chair and watched her, his arms crossed. She sighed, finally allowing the weapon to clank to the floor. Damn, she was tired. She glanced at the clock. It’d only been ten minutes since she’d gone up to her room, yet it felt like an eternity. She took another step back and rested against a small, wooden table. She would’ve run her fingers through her hair to calm her nerves but didn’t have the strength to lift her hand.

“How did you find me?” she
asked,
cringeing
at the desolate quality to her voice.

“It wasn’t easy. We got a few names from the diner where you hitched a ride, and discovered one of the men was headed to Denver. I talked to his wife. She seemed anxious about the topic of our conversation, which made me suspicious. After that, we just pieced it together with the information in your file.”

“File?
Since when do I have a file with the F.B.I.?”

“Since you ran off on me five days ago.”

Was that hurt in his voice? Brooklyn studied his face, but he’d plastered on a fake smile to hide whatever he was feeling. It was a look she knew well, and one he’d perfected over the past several months. She released a long, slow breath, trying not to appear too overwhelmed. She heard Gage shuffle closer, but he stopped several feet away.

“I have to hand it to you. You picked your location well. If that guy you bummed a ride from hadn’t been a regular, we might not have found you.”

“He was the only truck heading this way.
Besides.
I didn’t have time to be choosy.” She looked back up at him. “So are you going to tell me why you’re here?”

“I think you know why. Based on the way you looked when I turned around, it wasn’t me you’d thought had found you.”

“It’s a shame, too, because I could’ve ended it all tonight.”

Gage shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Oh it would’ve ended, all right. But not the way you think.”

“Gee, thanks for your vote of confidence,
baby
. But I could’ve sworn it was your head in my crosshairs just a few minutes ago.”

Gage gave her a cocky half smile she instantly wanted to smack off his face. The man was way too arrogant for his own good. “I would’ve countered your approach if I’d needed to. You’re a pretty good shot, but that rifle’s way more than you’re used to handling. Your reaction time would’ve been a lot slower than you realise.”

“Does that mean you’d like to try it again?”

Gage huffed and shook his head in frustration. “I can see you’re going to be difficult.”

Brooklyn
snorted. “I wasn’t planning on anything of the sort, because there’s nothing to be difficult about. I believe I made my feelings quite clear. I don’t want the Bureau’s help, and I don’t want your protection. I’m doing just fine.”

“Oh, are you? So I suppose you think hiding out here is enough to stop that bastard from tracking you down?”

Gage took another step forward. It was a typical tactic of his. The closer he got the larger his shoulders appeared, making her feel small and feminine. But she wasn’t falling for his intimidation techniques tonight.

“It took you five days to find me, and you had the entire Bureau at your disposal. What makes you think Drake could track me down that fast? He doesn’t even know me.”

“Four days. We knew where you’d gone last night. We just couldn’t get here any faster. And there’s no doubt in my mind Drake will find you.”

“What makes you think that?”

“We know who Drake is. His real name is Scott Mann. He’s an ex-Navy SEAL and an ex-Federal Agent. Based on what Doug uncovered in his file, he’s more than got the expertise to hunt down your location.”

“You know…” Brooklyn sagged back, her legs suddenly weak. Oh God. They knew who he was.

Gage nodded. “Quite frankly, we’re just lucky we found you first.”

Brooklyn
snapped her head up.
“We?
Don’t tell me you dragged Sam here as well?”

“Of course I brought Sam along. He’s co-ordinating with Doug to arrange a safe house as we speak.” Gage moved towards the stairs. “Is there anything you need to pack? It might be better if we spend the night in town. I’m sure Doug can get us out on a flight in the morning…”

“No.”

“I’m not sure where we’ll be headed, but—” Gage stopped and turned to face her. “What did you say?”

“I said, ‘no’. I’m not going to a safe house.”

Brooklyn
watched Gage’s expression change. He wasn’t hiding his emotions any more, and the look on his face barely contained the anger boiling inside him. He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

“Okay. What’s up?”

“Nothing’s
up
.” She kept her voice calm and low, not wanting to irritate him further. “I’m just not going to a safe house. I was planning on moving in the morning, anyway. Now I’ll just make sure I’m even more careful.”

“Careful? You’re going to be careful? Just like you’ve been careful all along? Hitching a ride with a man you didn’t even know! Leaving with barely enough money to buy some food for a few days! Hiding out in a house that took me exactly ten seconds to break-in to!
Great idea.
I feel much better now. I can’t imagine why I didn’t think of it first!”

Brooklyn
ignored his sarcasm and drew herself up, crossing her arms beneath her breasts, in an attempt to stop the sudden onset of shivers from becoming more noticeable. She didn’t know whether she was cold, or upset, but she’d be damned if she’d give Gage the satisfaction of seeing her lose it. “Good. Then we agree. Say ‘hi’ to Sam for me, and don’t run into the clothesline again on your way out. I wouldn’t want you to hurt anything important.”

“Okay,” said Gage, stepping in front of her as she tried to brush past him. “I tried asking nicely. I tried explaining the danger you’re in, but you’re obviously too damn stubborn to admit running off was a mistake. So why don’t we cut through the crap and discuss what’s really going on here?” He paused, as if drawing on some hidden reserve of strength. “We both know you left because you were mad at me. This little stunt of yours has nothing to do with Drake.”

Brooklyn
backed away, not wanting to be within arm’s reach of him. “Mad at you? You think I left because I was mad at you? How juvenile do you think I am? This isn’t about me being angry with you. This is about us not being able to stay in the same room together without it blowing up into a showdown.
About you avoiding me for six months.
About everything,
but
me being mad at you.”
Tears collected behind her eyes, but didn’t care. She was done running from him and her feelings.

“Do you have any idea what it’s been like living in our house these past several months? Ever since that night you’ve been the invisible man. I’d find evidence you’d been home…an empty beer bottle in the kitchen, a pair of socks on the floor, maybe a half-eaten sandwich in the den. You rarely talked to me. You never touched me. You didn’t even call to tell me when you weren’t coming home you just had Sam do it for you. Do you how many times I died inside wondering if Sam was calling to tell me you’d been k…” She trailed off, wiping the steady stream of tears off her cheeks. “It took me two months to stop jumping every time I heard the phone ring. Then I was attacked, and finally, after all this time, things seemed…different. I thought…”