Love Inspired Suspense June 2014 Bundle 2 of 2: Forced Alliance\Out for Justice\No Place to Run (9 page)

* * *

Midnight in Armond Gardens.

Connor could smell the danger. The hot air was tinged with heat lightning and dark clouds. A storm. Just what they needed.

Beaux had smuggled them into a sleek black SUV and moved them through the city while they huddled down in the far backseat. Then they'd taken the back roads north toward the Old River Road and the back gate to the Armond estate.

And with each bump and bang on the rough roads and unpaved trails, he'd been so close to Josie he could feel her heart beating. He remembered kissing her, remembered the fresh new feelings washing over him with that kiss.

She'd returned it, measure for measure. The woman had a thing for him. He could feel it. Could they make a good team?

She shifted now. “Are we there yet?”

“Almost. It takes longer coming the back way.”

“I'm getting mighty tired of these Louisiana back roads.”

“But our lovely vacation is just starting, sweetheart.”

“Funny. Shut up.”

He grabbed her hand. “If I have to be on the run, I'm glad it's with you.”

“You might change your tune on that,” she whispered. “I'm not in a good mood.”

One more bounce and the SUV rocked to a sudden halt.

“Beaux, what's wrong?”

“We got trouble,” Beaux said, his words rushed.

“What now?” Josie lifted her head, then let out a groan. “We're too late, Connor.”

Connor raised his head. “What's going on?”

“I can't go any farther,” Beaux replied. “See? Up ahead.”

Connor saw the bright orange blaze. “Is the house on fire?”

“I think so,” Beaux said. “And if it is, we need to be away from this place.”

“No.” Josie stretched and launched herself between the captain seats. “No. We need to investigate.”

Connor knew he wouldn't be able to stop her, but he tried. “Josie, Beaux's right. We can't be caught here.”

“I'm going.” She was already opening a door. “And I'm calling it in. I should have stayed here the other night and I didn't. Tonight, I'm doing my job.”

Connor groaned and climbed out after her. “Beaux, stay here and don't make a move. If we're not back in an hour, come looking for us.”

Beaux nodded. “Be careful.”

Connor saw the irony of a hit man telling them to be careful while they headed toward a raging fire at a Mafia don's big estate. Yeah, they'd be real careful.

By the time they'd trekked up the back part of the vast property, they could already hear sirens off in the distance.

“The village volunteers,” he said, halting Josie a few yards from the big house.

“Look,” she said. “It's not the house. It's the garage.”

Connor squinted into the bright flames. “The six-car garage behind the house. The very place we're here to search. The place where my car used to be.”

“That'd be the one. At least your car is probably safe back in the city.”

He could see it now. The garage was directly behind the house but about fifty yards away. From where they'd stopped earlier, it had looked like the mansion was on fire.

“Why would someone set fire to the garage?” Josie asked, her tone full of sarcasm.

“They hate black SUVs?”

“Or they knew something was in that garage. Something no one was supposed to see. The same something Armond warned Beaux about.”

He turned from the flames to Josie. “Now what?”

“We can wait 'em out and investigate later but this fire might destroy any evidence we could use.”

“You know the feds will be all over this,” he reminded her. “Wait, you are a fed.”

“Yes, and I need to let Sherwood know that we're on the scene. He won't like that we came out here on our own, but that's a perfect excuse for investigating this fire, too.”

“But, Josie, whoever set this fire might still be around. Maybe they set it to lure us out here.”

Her chin lifted. “Or as a distraction.”

“So they could go into the main house and get whatever it is they don't want anyone to find,” Connor finished.

“Exactly. Let's get moving.”

He had to follow her. He didn't have any other choice.

He wanted to solve this mystery and get out from under this hit so he could enjoy being with Josie in a more relaxed, normal situation.

But could he actually spend his life with an FBI agent?

“I guess this is a good practice run,” he mumbled as he hurried to catch up with her. “If we survive this, we can survive anything.”

ELEVEN

T
hey jogged along the fence line and stayed in the shadows near the oak shrubs and tall grasses.

“Tell me again why we need to do this?” Connor asked, his hand on Josie's elbow as they rushed toward the scene. He was halfway teasing but he wanted to talk this through one more time.

“We have to do a thorough search of the house and outbuildings, especially that burning garage. Except now we have to make sure no one is hurt or in danger from that fire.”

Connor thought of all the rules her supervisor, Sherwood, had allowed them to break. He found that odd. “Does it bother you that your boss has given you so much freedom?”

Her frown was shadowed in moonlight. “Why should it? He expects me to investigate Armond, and I'm doing that while I also try to keep you alive. He's got Armond. Now he just needs more evidence to hold him. He's got the alleged shooting of the mistress, but with no concrete witnesses and no weapon to prove it, that can only hold up for so long.” She shrugged. “The money can be explained away and those invoices have to be validated. In the meantime, I'd like to stay alive and get back to my other cases.”

Connor clapped his hands. “You actually make sense.”

“Look,” she said, waving her right hand toward the fire. “The garage is on fire but help is coming. It's empty, right? We confiscated all the vehicles.”

“Right.” Connor glanced at the big stucco garage. “But some of the lowly employees did have rooms up there.”

Josie whirled to stare at him. “Are you saying someone could be trapped in that garage?”

“I'm saying people had rooms there,” Connor replied. “But they're either in custody or out of the country by now.”

“We have to check it out.”

Josie took off running, leaving him in the dust again.

Wishing she'd quit doing that, Connor followed her, his mind whirling with how to spin this explanation in case they got in trouble.

She's an FBI agent. That gives her jurisdiction, and the earlier interview with Big Beaux, along with what they found in the safe, gives her probable cause
to enter and search the premises. And the fire is an emergency situation, so that gets first dibs.

Why was he so worried about rules and regulations now?

Because he was worried about Josie.

That also made perfect sense.

Didn't it?

He shouted after her, “Josie, be careful.”

Connor reached her just as one end of the garage caved in. He grabbed her and pulled her around. “We can't go in there.”

She held up a hand to shield her face from the heat. “What if someone is trapped?”

He heard the sirens growing closer. “The fire department will verify that. This place will soon be running over with the usual law-enforcement people. If we want to stay undercover, we might want to stay hidden, remember?”

She glanced from him to the road. “The gate? How will they get in?” She pushed at her hair. “We can't stand by now. We have to help the firemen.”

“I know the code,” Connor replied, already running toward the house. “You stay here and update them. I'll be back soon.”

“Okay.” She seemed to move closer to the fire as he ran away.

“Don't do anything crazy!” he called over his shoulder.

But his plea got lost in the wind and now the rain.

* * *

Josie squinted into the white-hot flames, the smell of electrical wires and burning wood and plastic making her cough. She'd have to get away before this place blew up.

The raindrops hit her with a wet frenzy, and she thanked God for them. “Yes. Stop the fire. Please, stop this fire.”

Who had done this and why? Did someone hate Armond so much that they wanted to destroy him completely? Or was someone trying to destroy important documents? More invoices with even more damaging information? Or a whole cache of illegal goods? Maybe even the coveted will?

Or was someone after Connor? Maybe only Connor? He had fooled and betrayed a lot of people before he turned FBI asset. Maybe she should consider that angle, too.

She heard a crackle and then another part of the roof fell in. She turned to run but a scream turned her back toward the fire.

Somebody was in there.

* * *

Connor let in the lone fire truck and told the volunteer fire chief where the fire was located. “You should see a dark-headed female back there,” he shouted. Then he hopped up onto the big truck's bumper and rode with them. “I'll show you.”

But when the truck got closer, the rain hit, washing him with a cold, fresh rinse. He wiped at his eyes as the sharp drops hit him in the face. He didn't see Josie anywhere.

She'd disappeared on him again, and once again his heart did that tightening thing that made him want to scream. He wasn't sure he was ready to care about a woman who was so fearless, but his heart wasn't listening to his head.

“Where's the woman?” one of the volunteers shouted.

“I left her here,” Connor shouted back. He hopped off the truck and ran toward the growing flames. “Josie?”

Lightning flared across the sky, beaming across the burning garage. Connor squinted into the bright light while the firemen went to work with the pumper truck. He hurried closer to the big building but the extreme heat burned at his skin. A roaring, raging sound filled the night. The fire taking over, moving rapidly across the entire building.

“Josie?”

Had she gone in there?

* * *

Josie held her arm across her mouth and nose and searched the yellow-hot building, her eyes burning from the heat. “Hello? Anyone in here?”

She heard a muffled call. “Over here. Help me, please.”

Josie followed the sound, smoke clouding her in a scorching blanket of choking heat. “Keep calling,” she shouted. “I'm coming.”

She heard a woman's whimpering plea. “Hurry.”

Josie was almost to the back of the garage but the flames were licking hungrily all around her. Taking off her jacket, she pushed it against her nose. “Where are you?”

“Here, here.” A tiny dark-haired woman appeared out of the smoke. “Help me.”

Josie rushed toward the woman, but when she heard timber cracking behind her, she turned and looked up toward the stairs leading to the apartments. The fire was headed that way. In a brief flash, she thought she saw a man standing at the top of the stairs. She blinked to clear her eyes, but no one was there. Then the woman screamed, closer this time, and Josie turned back toward her.

“Hurry,” she called. “Follow me out.”

The woman looked terrified. “I won't make it.”

“Yes, you will.”

All around them, wood was splitting and popping, while ribbons of smoke poured over them like liquid silver. Josie turned to grab the woman but then she heard the high beams of the big building buckling into the flames like matchsticks.

She looked up and instinctively held her hand over her head and watched in horror as one of the beams creaked and moaned. Without thinking, she lunged toward the woman and threw her body over her.

The beam hit the garage floor with a crashing collapse right in the place where Josie had been standing.

She lifted her head to make sure the woman was all right and then saw the flames lapping at them like fire water.

There was no way out.

* * *

Connor shouted to the firemen, “She's in there. Josie! She's inside.”

“Get back and let us do our job,” one of the men shouted.

But Connor couldn't stand there. Searching the building, he saw an open door, and before anyone could stop him, he ran with all his might into the fire. He had to find Josie.

Once inside, he held his head against his arm, lifting it away to call out, “Josie? Josie, where are you?”

No answer.

He couldn't give up. Why had she come in here?

And how was he going to get her and himself out alive?

* * *

“Hurry,” Josie called, holding the woman behind her as they stepped over fallen metal shelves and boxes of old auto parts. Bruised and cut, Josie coughed with each breath. The woman echoed that same cough. They needed fresh air.

She'd found a small corner where the fire hadn't crossed the concrete floor yet. She thought she saw another side door back there, but she could be wrong.

The roof above them groaned with the weight of burned beams and now heavy rain. At least the rain was doing its best to subdue the roaring flames. She couldn't be sure but she thought she'd heard the stairs crumbling.

“C'mon,” she said, urging the woman toward the door. “We have to hurry. If the wind shifts, the flames will leap over into this area and we'll be trapped.”

“I can't.” The older woman had dark hair and black eyes. She was dressed in what had been an expensive white pantsuit, which was now smeared with dirt and soot. “I can't. Too tired.”

Josie turned to the hysterical woman and shouted over the rain and wind, “You need to get out of here or you'll die. We'll both die.” With that, she tightened her grip on the petite woman and practically lifted her up and over the final two feet toward the side door. She prayed it wasn't locked. Or blocked.

“No, no!” The woman's frantic shouts filled the air as she tried to twist away. “I have to go back inside.”

“Let's go! Now!” Josie's breath was caught in a web of hot, choking smoke and her head burned with a pulsating heat. Would she have to knock this little spitfire out to save her?

Before she resorted to that, two strong hands grabbed the fighting woman and lifted her up into the air.

Connor.

“Are you all right?” he called to Josie.

She nodded and pointed toward the beckoning door, flames chasing her even though the rain was still pouring.

Connor followed, dragging the frantic woman with him.

Josie called to him, “When I open this door, it might suck the flames toward us. We have to run.”

He nodded, both hands on the scared woman.

With a grunt and a tug, Josie took her coat and grabbed at the door handle. It flew open with a whine and she ran through it, welcoming the cold, wet rain while the scalding heat burst in a trail, chasing behind her. She turned to make sure Connor had the woman and saw him emerging right behind her.

Within seconds, they went from hot and ash-covered to wet and shivering, but they'd saved the mysterious woman.

And once again, Connor had saved Josie.

* * *

A few minutes later, the little lady stared up at Connor, her scowl full of recognition. Between inhales of oxygen and coughing, she shouted, “You! This is all your fault.”

A fireman came up and took over, insisting the woman should be checked out at the nearby ambulance. But she was still kicking and pointing a finger at Connor.

“Who is she?” Josie asked, her shock followed by realization after she heard his intake of breath. Then she figured it out. “Vanessa Armond? Connor, is this Armond's wife?”

Connor bobbed his head, his hands moving over Josie's wet, smut-smeared face. “I'm not worried about her right now. Are you all right?”

“I'm fine.” Josie pushed away the oxygen mask a paramedic tried to keep on her. Still coughing, she kept talking while the medic checked her airway. “I heard her screaming. She wanted something and she obviously thought it was in that garage. She didn't want to come with me.”

Connor's gaze hit on the mad little woman, who was now shouting at the top of her lungs to the paramedic team and the sheriff deputy. He took the mask and forced it over Josie's hair and down on her face. “Breathe into this, Josie.” After she did as he told her, he asked, “Think she set the fire?”

“I haven't had a chance to question her.” Josie got up and handed the oxygen mask to the frustrated paramedic and then hurried to where the woman sat on the back of the ambulance with a blanket around her.

Vanessa Armond didn't want to be checked over, either, but the paramedic did his job. “Your nose hairs aren't singed. No smoke inhalation that I can tell, but you need to be checked out at a hospital.”

“No hospital,” Vanessa said, daring anyone to dispute her. “I'm okay. I...I only ran in because of the fire.” She gave Josie a heated glare. “I needed to find something, but she forced me out.” Vanessa's dark eyes moved from Connor to Josie. “Who did you bring into my home?”

Giving up on staying undercover, Josie flashed her badge at the deputy and then made sure Mrs. Armond saw it, too. The deputy nodded and hurried over to report to the sheriff.

“FBI?” Vanessa Armond almost spat the question. “Where is my husband? Where is Louis?”

“He's safe for now,” Josie said. “He's injured—he got shot—but we have him in protective custody, since he's had two attempts on his life.”

The woman turned her wrath on Connor. “This is on you. You and your charming ways. I told Louis not to trust you.”

Connor replied calmly, “He doesn't really trust anybody, including you.”

Vanessa lifted up to go for Connor, but Josie interceded. “Just for the record, are you Vanessa Armond?”

“Yes, I am,” the woman replied, her accent heavy. “Thank you for saving my life, but I will not talk to you any further.”

She tried to stand but she started to wobble again. Connor grabbed her and turned to the paramedic. “I'm taking her inside. She lives here. If anyone needs to question her or get our statements, you can find us inside the main house.”

The young paramedic looked at Vanessa. “Are you sure, ma'am? You need to be checked over at a hospital.”

“I'm fine now, thank you.” Vanessa nodded to Connor while she signed some paperwork. Then she turned back to the first responders. “Thank you all so much. If I don't feel any better, I'll go to a hospital.”

The fire chief walked up. “We'll need to question you later, ma'am. Don't leave the premises.” He shot Josie a measured glance. “Keep an eye on her for now. We think this fire was set intentionally.”