Defender for Hire (16 page)

“Wise words, Tessa. My head knows it, but my heart is telling me that I can’t fail you.”

“You never could.” She brushed her fingers along the back of his neck. He grabbed her hand and squeezed gently, his heart beating wildly for her.

He hadn’t realized how much he’d needed this, had forgotten how nice it felt to be heading to church with a woman he was crazy about by his side. His life had been too full to ever be empty, but his heart had had a place that needed to be filled. God had seen that even if Seth hadn’t.

“Here’s what I’m thinking, Tessa,” he said as he pulled into the church parking lot. “Pumpkin and apple pie.”

“What?” She laughed, probably not expecting him to start talking about pies.

“For Thanksgiving this year. Next year, we’ll fly to the East Coast and stay at my folks’ place. Then Mom can cook for us.”

“You’re making a lot of plans for the two of us.”

“Does it bother you?”

“I...don’t think so.”

“We’ll work on that,” he replied, lifting her hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

She flushed and tugged away, a half smile hovering on her lips. “We’re going to be late.”

“Stay there. I’ll come around.” He jumped out, scanning the full parking lot. The day felt alive again, a few birds swooping low over a nearly bare cherry tree. The police cruiser sat near the entrance to the lot, and the officer waved as Seth rounded the truck.

A normal morning, but Seth still felt something in the air. A whisper of danger. A hint of trouble.

He couldn’t ignore it any more than he could ignore the need to protect Tessa from it.

Please, God, don’t let me fail her,
he prayed as he helped her out of the car and escorted her into church.

NINETEEN

B
eing at church felt like spending time with an old and very dear friend.

Being there with Seth felt like every dream Tessa had ever had coming true.

It felt like family and forever, and she couldn’t stop thinking about that as she sang hymns and listened to the pastor speak of faith in tough times.

She’d had plenty of tough times, but she wasn’t so sure about the faith part. She’d been so tentative, so unsure. She wanted more, though. She wanted the sure and confident faith that Seth seemed to have.

He took her hand as the final chord of the final hymn faded away. “Let’s sneak out before a hundred people converge on us.”

“Why would they?”

“Curiosity?” He smiled, his eyes the warm blue of the spring sky. “You know how these things work.”

Not really. It had been a long time since she’d been part of a church community. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it until just now. This was where she wanted to be on Sunday mornings—in church, next to Seth.

She let him tug her through the exiting crowd.

They walked into the parking lot surrounded by a community of believers, the throng of people comforting rather than disconcerting. For the first time in what seemed like months, Tessa felt relaxed and at ease.

She got into Seth’s truck, humming the last hymn, excited and happy and so ready for whatever the future would bring. She couldn’t believe the way she was feeling—it was as if someone has switched on a light in her soul.

“You’re glowing,” Seth murmured, his fingers trailing down her arm.

“I’m happy.”

“It’s a good look on you, Tessa. Stay that way.” He winked and closed her door.

She wanted the moment to last. She wanted the past to be washed away, the present and the future to be all that mattered.

She wanted to believe that God had brought her to this place, and that He planned to keep her there, safe and happy and secure.

“You’re quiet,” Seth pointed out as he maneuvered through the parking lot.

“Just thinking.”

“About?”

“How fleeting a moment is, and how much I don’t want this one to end.”

“Every moment ends.”

“I know, but I don’t want any of this to end.” She waved her hand at the November landscape, the golden fields and grazing horses, the mountains already tipped with snow, towering in the distance. “Pine Bluff. The people in it.
You.
I want it to last forever, Seth, but that’s not the way life works.”

“Sometimes it does.” He took her hands and kissed her palm. She closed her hand into a fist, holding onto the warmth of his lips.

Maybe he was right. Maybe it could last. Maybe five, ten, fifty years from now, she’d still be living in Pine Bluff, still be riding home from church with Seth beside her.

Dreams were so easy to believe in if she let herself.

Seth’s cell phone rang, and he answered, murmuring a few words that she could barely hear. When he was finished, he shoved it in his pocket, and met her gaze.

“Change of plans. We’re going to have to skip lunch.”

“What’s going on?”

“Remember the print Logan pulled from your back door?”

“Yes.”

“Logan found a match.”

“Who is it?” she asked, her mouth suddenly dry and hot, her head throbbing with tension.

She already knew what he was going to say. She just didn’t know if she could handle hearing it.

“Andrew’s.”

His name landed on her like a physical blow that stole her breath. “Are they sure?”

“Logan petitioned to have his juvenile record opened. His prints were in it. They’re a match.”

“Andrew is alive.” She breathed the statement more than spoke it, her heart tripping and jumping so fast she felt dizzy.

“Yes. Logan wants me to escort you to the station. He has a couple of photos for you to look at.”

“What photos?”

“From footage taken at local convenience stores. He’s been asking around, trying to find out if any strangers have been noticed in town. He took surveillance video from a couple of places.”

“Why didn’t he mention it before?”

“We can ask him that when we get there,” Seth responded, his eyes on the rearview mirror.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re not acting like it’s nothing.”

“You know that I’m paranoid when it comes to protecting you, Tessa.” He turned his attention back to the road, his jaw tight, his expression hard.

“You don’t believe that and neither do I.” She looked out the back window. The patrol car was several car lengths behind, Sunday-morning traffic filling the normally quiet country road.

“Things look okay for now, but I’m not banking on it staying that way. If Andrew is alive, he’s spent five years planning this. He isn’t going to let anything get in the way,” Seth muttered.

“Get in the way of what? Killing me? He could have done that dozens of times in dozens of ways if he really wanted to.”

“He tried.”

“What do you mean?”

“On the fifth anniversary of your husband’s death. Remember?”

How could she not?

She touched her neck, remembering hard fingers and whispered words. “We don’t know that that was Andrew,” she said, not believing what she was saying even as she said it.

“Who else could it be?”

“Anna? Someone else?

“You’re grasping at straws. All the evidence points to Andrew, and we’ve got no reason to believe it’s anyone else. After we meet with Logan, I’m bringing you back to the safe house. You’ll stay there until Andrew is found.”

“Says who?” she snapped, fear and anger roiling into a mass of feelings that she couldn’t quite control.

“I’m not going to be the bad guy, here, Tessa. You’re too smart to think you can keep living in your place while Andrew stalks you. Eventually, you’ll be at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“What about Bentley?”

“I’ll keep him until this is over.”

“I thought you’d be at the safe house.”

“I will be, but I’m not going to be working as a security agent. I’m too close the case, and I don’t want my feelings for you to blind me to things that I should see.” His honesty disarmed her, and her frustration slipped away.

“I’m sorry. I know you’re just trying to help and—”

“I’m doing more than trying to help.” He paused, glancing in the review mirror again and frowning. “I’m trying to keep you alive. Tessa,” he said, taking his eyes off the mirror for a moment, “I’m falling in love you. I haven’t made any secret of that.”

Tessa’s heart nearly stopped in her chest. She was afraid, afraid to give voice to what she was feeling. Afraid that if she did, Seth would be snatched away as quickly as Daniel had been.

“If you don’t feel the same, I need to know it, Tessa.”

Her heart opened to his words, but she couldn’t get her mouth to do the same.

She had so much fear and worry, and she didn’t want to be disappointed again. Heartbroken again.

Lost.

So many years spent wandering, trying to find a place that felt like home. She’d finally found it, but she didn’t know if she could rise to the occasion and accept what she was being offered. She wanted to—she wanted to desperately. She wanted to give him what he wanted, to say the words that would seal whatever it was that was between them.

She just had to get them past the huge lump in her throat and the terror in her soul. “I—”

Seth swerved onto a side road, the movement so quick and unexpected that Tessa slammed into the door.

“Hang on!” he growled. “We’ve got a tail.”

“What?” Tessa shifted to look out the back window, and then wished that she hadn’t. A blue pickup barreled toward them, the windows tinted nearly black. “Where’s the police cruiser?”

“Hopefully following. This guy is coming fast, Tessa. Get down and stay down until I tell you different.”

“What about you?” she yelled as Seth pressed a hand to her upper back and forced her down.

“Stay down,” he repeated, his voice eerily calm and quiet.

That scared her more than the pickup had.

She yanked her cell phone from her purse, dialing 911 as Seth swerved again and then came to a sudden stop. She flew forward, the belt tightening as her head slammed into the dashboard.

She saw stars, then felt a cold, crisp breeze.

Seth’s door was open, the autumn air drifting in.

No sign of him.

A loud report shattered the silence, and Tessa screamed, cowering in the vehicle while Seth fought for his life and hers.

For a moment she was back in the village, children screaming, women crying, guns firing. Fire and smoke and the coppery scent of blood in the air.

She gagged, crawling across the seat and tumbling out onto cold earth.

“Seth!” she screamed his name, her throat raw, her heart racing.

Please, God, please, let him be okay.

Please.

“I told you to stay down,” he growled, slipping out from behind the open door, his hair ruffled, his eyes blazing.

He looked better than sunrise after a long dark night.

Better than spring on the frozen tundra.

He looked like hope and the future, and she wanted to throw herself into his arms.

“Get back in the car, Tessa!” he snapped, nearly shoving her backward as he turned to face the truck, a gun in hand.

“Is he alive?”

“I don’t know, but I plan to find out!”

“Let the police handle it,” she said, but she scrambled back into the truck.

“Just—” He never finished. The truck’s window exploded just above her head. Another explosion rocked the air.

No. Not an explosion. A gunshot.

Something whizzed past her head, slamming into the seat a few inches from her face.

She screamed and was yanked backward, hard hands on her ankles.

“Get out. Get down!” Seth shouted, but he didn’t seem to be willing to give her time to do it, either.

She was on the ground, face pressed to the dirt, Seth covering her with his body before she realized what was happening.

“Get out of the truck! Keep your hands where I can see them!” someone shouted.

Tessa tried to raise her head to see who was speaking, but Seth pressed her back down.

“Don’t. Move.”

Tessa thought she caught a whiff of African heat and warm blood. She gagged, and tried to take a deep breath and clear her nose and throat. The scent was still there, hanging in the air, swirling around her. Something fell onto the ground beside her face, a drop of deep-red blood that sank into the dry earth. She looked up at Seth and tried to focus on him, tried to bring herself back into the present. She wasn’t in Africa. She wasn’t in the middle of the massacre. She was here, now, with Seth. The man she loved.

“You’re hurt,” she gasped, shoving against Seth.

He didn’t move. “We both will be if you don’t hold still.”

His hand slid up beside her face, his gun aimed at the truck. A police cruiser had pulled up behind it, an officer taking cover behind its open door, his gun drawn.

“I said, get out of the vehicle. Keep your hands where I can see them.” His words echoed through the air, and the truck door opened. A man fell out onto the ground, a gun clattering beside him.

“Hands where I can see them,” the officer repeated, his gun aimed at the man’s head. “Nice and slow.”

Slowly, the driver raised his hands, then his head.

He didn’t look at the officer, though.

His gaze was on Tessa, his dark eyes as familiar as Tessa’s own, his scarred face one she would have known anywhere.

“Andrew,” she whispered, and he grinned, his eyes feral.

“Long time no see, sis,” he responded, his voice raspy and hard.

“I thought you were dead.” She tried to move, but Seth was a dead weight against her back, his gun hand steady near her face.

“Wished I was, you mean?”

“I would never have wished that,” she replied truthfully.

“Of course not. You’ve always been too good for something like that.” Andrew glanced at the officer who’d eased out from behind the door. “Too bad you called Jack, Tessa. We could have had a lot of fun together with what I made in Kenya.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, her skin crawling as he turned his attention back on her.

“You knew what I was doing. I realized that when that investigator from the board arrived and started digging into things.”

“Anna?” She had no idea what he was talking about, and she pushed against Seth again to let her up.

“Don’t act stupid! Yes, Anna. Little witch. I knew she was trouble when I picked her up from the airport. She kept asking questions about who was in charge of the books, who had access to our funds. Someone tipped the board off, and she was sent to find out what was going on.”

“Jack said the accountants discovered that funds were being misappropriated. I never—”

“You did!” He spat the words out. “You knew, and instead of coming to me and giving me a chance to explain, you called the mission board.”

“No, I didn’t!”

“You did. We both know it. You forced my hand. Forced me to kill my own brother.”

His words were so surprising she couldn’t speak, couldn’t think of one word to say that could make any difference.

“Nothing to say to that, Tessa? No defense?”

“You killed Daniel?” It was all she had, the only thought in her head.

“I hired men to stage my kidnapping. I paid them good money to help me disappear. They got a little carried away and started killing people. They probably would have killed me if I hadn’t managed to bribe one of them into letting me go.”

“Andrew...” She couldn’t continue, couldn’t speak past the horror.

“You and Jack and Anna, you caused all that death. You killed all those people. Now it’s time for you to pay.” He glanced at the police officer, then his hand dropped and he pulled something from behind his back.

A gun.

Pointed straight at Tessa’s face.

She had a single moment of stark terror, and then the world exploded.