Love Inspired Suspense September 2015 #2 (52 page)

She decided to say something. “Max, I know everything about what we're doing here has been a bit unconventional, to say the least. Do you really think that once this is all over that you'd be able to handle a normal relationship?”

“I surely hope so.” He laughed. “Where did that come from?”

“I was just thinking about everything we've been through. I think your feelings for me might be impacted by the danger we're in and your natural inclination to serve as a protector. Once that's over, you may go back to your regular self. The guy who doesn't show emotion and has the walls built up. The guy who doesn't really want to be in a relationship with anyone.”

“I don't think that's going to happen, Syd. I've really thought about everything. The road back to faith has forced me to grapple with a lot of things that only I can deal with on my own—and with God. But we both know that I'm not the man you first met. So much has changed in my heart and mind. I can't deny your involvement in this process. And, no, I'm not perfect. I'm sure I'm going to struggle with showing my emotions for the rest of my life. It's not like a light switch I can easily flip on and off. But I want to try because I don't like the shell of a man that I had become.”

He sounded so convincing. She wondered if they really could have a chance. But right now she didn't know. “I'm glad that you feel like you're making positive changes” was all she said. All she could say. She steadied her breathing and settled into the jog.

After a few minutes Max pulled up short. “My shoulder.”

She stopped beside him. “You're hurting. You need to rest for a minute. I'll wait with you.” They were going through the motions just as they'd discussed.

He bent over. “Yeah, the running is starting to bother my whole arm and shoulder.”

She leaned down toward him. “What can I do?”

“Don't let me hold you up. You keep on going.”

He'd insisted that they act this out with dialogue even though it was unlikely anyone would be close enough to hear exactly what they were saying even if they were being followed.

“All right. If you're sure. I'll just finish my loop and meet you here on my way back, unless you're able to walk to the starting point before then.”

“I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Go ahead.”

She took off running down the trail by herself. Or at least it felt as though she was completely alone even though she knew that the two FBI agents were somewhere close by. Max had insisted he knew where they were, but Sydney had never been able to notice their presence.

She took in a deep breath and allowed herself to enjoy the movement. After feeling so confined lately, this bit of freedom was a welcome respite.

When she heard the sound of footsteps approach from behind, she turned to look but saw it was just another jogger. He smiled at her and breezed right on by.

Am I running that slowly?
Just like Max, she'd been out of practice with her normal exercise routine and her intense self-defense training, which was an amazing workout and another reason she was eager to get back to her regular life. But her life would never really be regular again. Not as long as Max was in it. How would they work things out once this was all resolved?

Would Max want to keep working as a marshal? She'd support him in whatever decision he made, although it made her nervous to think of him staying in such a dangerous profession. But she'd never hold him back from what he was so good at.

If someone tried to stop her from doing her work, she wouldn't be very happy with that. He actually seemed to have a bit more understanding of the work she did as a forensic artist now. All she asked was that he didn't put her down like Rick had. After Max had seen her testimony, he'd acted as if he respected her work a lot more. That meant so much to her. She wanted him to believe in her.

While she didn't feel too great about her security situation and revisiting her past, she felt a flood of optimism about the possibility of at least a continued friendship with Max. She'd reserve judgment on anything more for now.
Lord, can I ever trust another man enough to be in a romantic relationship again?

“Ugh.” Her shoelace on her right foot had become untied and was going to cause her problems if she didn't stop and retie it. She was enjoying her run so much she hated to break her rhythm. But she leaned over to reach toward her shoe and as she did, a gunshot rang out. Instinctually, she hit the ground and started to bear crawl to the shrubbery on the side of the trail.

She heard another shot, but then male voices rang out loudly. That had to be her FBI escort. Crouching down low behind the shrubs she waited. She wasn't going to take any chances.

And then it occurred to her that if she wouldn't have stopped and leaned over to tie her shoe she might be dead right now.
Thank You, Lord, for watching out for me, yet again.

Looking down she saw her hands were shaking, but she was alive.

“Sydney!”

She instantly recognized Max's voice.

“Over here,” she yelled.

He came running to where she was hiding. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, but it was close, Max. If I wouldn't have bent down to tie my shoe...” She paused and looked up at him. “I think I would've been hit.”

“I don't know what all happened. When I heard the shots I came running, but it looked like the FBI agents have the shooter in custody.”

“Anyone you recognize?”

“No. I've never seen him before.” He took her hand and pulled her up from the ground and into a big hug. “I am so glad you're all right. When I heard that shot, all I could think of was how this plan had gone wrong.”

“I'm not going to lie. That was close.”

“We need to rethink our strategy. This plan was all premised on the idea that Rick would want to take you alive, and more specifically, that he would be the guy to come after you. Once the shooter doesn't go back, the East River guys will know something happened.”

She nodded. “This definitely didn't go as I wanted it to. Rick is nowhere to be found, and he sent some other random East River guy to take me out.”

“We don't know that for sure, but that's a totally reasonable assumption. Let's get you out of here.”

* * *

“We're going to have to adjust the strategy,” Tom said. It was a couple of hours later, and they'd regrouped at their current safe house.

“What is the guy who was apprehended saying?”

“He lawyered up immediately. Didn't say a word, and frankly, I'm not expecting him to. He's much more afraid of East River than he is of law enforcement.”

Elena walked into the kitchen. Max wasn't expecting to see her. “Hey, everyone. I bring news from the US Marshals.”

“What kind of news?” Max asked.

Elena sighed. “Not the kind you're going to want.” She took a seat at the table joining him, Tom and Sydney.

“I made another pitch to the Marshals based on the current set of facts. But they think this is purely FBI territory right now. They're not denying that Sydney is in danger, but no one who has any power at the Marshals thinks this has anything to do with Sydney's testimony against Kevin Diaz. And Diaz was acquitted and is back to leading his regular life. A pillar of the community and all of that. Honestly, I think there may be some at the Marshals who are afraid to overreach on this for repercussions to their careers. Diaz is connected to a lot of powerful people.”

“Thanks for trying to get me additional help,” Sydney said.

“I'm sorry I wasn't more successful, but this is the end of the line. And it also looks like my time at the Marshals is drawing to a close. There's going to be a review board hearing next month about how I handled the Davies situation. Until then I'm on administrative leave. Even though I ended up being right about his involvement with East River, I didn't follow protocol. In fact, I broke almost every rule in the book. I'm already prepared to move on, but I just wanted to let you know about that.”

“Oh, Elena. Is there anything I could do to vouch for you?” Sydney asked. “You did what you thought was best at the time.”

Elena shook her head. “No, Sydney. In retrospect, it was definitely the wrong move. I've had plenty of time to go over it again and again in my head. I should've never kept the information from Max. Since he was in charge of your security, my actions could have caused you grave harm.” She paused. “But enough about me. I just wanted everyone to know what was going on. Given everything that's happened, I should probably not be involved in any of your active FBI operations. I don't want to get in more trouble than I already am. But if you get in a bind and need me, all you need to do is ask.”

“Thanks, Elena,” Max said. “I'm sure I'll be exiting the Marshals right behind you. Even though I've taken a leave of absence, they aren't going to like what I've been doing.” He ran his hand through his hair. “But I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. My number one priority right now is Sydney.”

“I'm going to go. I'll let you all get back to it. Call me if you need me.” Elena stood, walked to Sydney and gave her shoulder a squeeze. Max hated seeing Elena's career destroyed over this, but she had made a mistake. He could forgive her, but a strike like that against her record would stifle forever any career advancement possibilities at the Marshals.

After Elena had left, Tom stood and leaned against his chair. “I'm calling off the current operation. We made some assumptions that appeared to be flawed. Including the fact that Rick was so obsessed with Sydney that he would personally be the one to come after her.” Tom took a step away from the chair and crossed his arms. “What that tells me is that Rick is worried about getting caught. Yes, he wants his revenge against Sydney, but he also doesn't want to go back to jail.”

“Yeah, we made the wrong assumption,” Max said.

“With the current set of facts I'm not willing to keep putting Sydney out there in harm's way, purposely trying to draw Ward out.” Tom turned to her. “I think you need to lie low until we come up with a better plan.”

“You're not going to give up on finding Rick, are you?” Sydney asked with wide eyes.

“No. I'm definitely not giving up. Just reassessing what's the best way to get to him. And I have to be honest with you, Sydney. This may be a long-term issue. You may want to consider leaving the state and going somewhere far away.”

“But I don't want to hide,” she said loudly. “I have a career. I want to get back to my job, to my life.” She looked down and then back up at Tom. “Rick Ward has already taken so much from me. I refuse to go into hiding and let him keep taking from me.”

“Just think about it,” Tom said. “And in the meantime, the plan will be for you two to stay locked down.”

Max could tell by looking at Sydney that she wasn't going to go on the run. He just hoped that she wouldn't attempt to do anything drastic.

THIRTEEN

“I
can't keep living like this,” Sydney said. It'd been two weeks on almost complete lockdown, and she had about had it.

“I'm sorry, Syd. But Tom will be here soon to take you to consult on that case you were contacted about. At least that will get your mind off of things.”

“What are you going to do while I'm gone?” she asked Max.

“Hit the gym and the grocery store. Just moving forward and trying to keep it all in perspective.”

“I know. And I'm sorry you have to hear me complain. It's not you that I'm upset at or even Tom. It's Rick and the entire East River operation.” She took a breath. “And seeing Kevin Diaz on the nightly news is making me lose my mind. When he did that interview about being falsely accused, I could barely keep it together.”

“One thing I've learned from all my years in law enforcement is that people like him are never one-time offenders.”

“But don't you see? That's the problem. Some other innocent woman will probably be killed because of me failing in my testimony against him.”

“Don't think about that right now, Syd. Focus on your witness consultation.”

“Thanks, Max. I feel like every job I have from here on out will always be about redeeming myself.”

“One case at a time, Syd.”

Tom came through the door. “Sorry I'm running a few minutes late. You ready to go, Sydney?”

“Definitely.” She grabbed the bag that held her laptop and supplies. Looking over at Max, she smiled. “I'll be back in a few hours. Have a good workout.”

“See you soon.”

Sydney followed Tom out to his dark sedan. “Thanks for setting this up and for taking me. Going back to work is exactly what I need right now.”

He opened the car door for her and she got in. He joined her a minute later and started up the engine.

“I'm just glad I could work this out. I know you'll get a little boost from this meeting. According to the local police, the witness is very anxious and scared. I think you'll be just what she needs to calm down.”

“Working one on one with the witnesses is probably my most favorite part about the job.”

Sydney's cell phone rang and she saw it was Max calling. “That's Max. Wonder what he could want since we just left.”

She pressed talk. “Hey, what's going on?”

“Brian's asking for me at the hospital.”

“Why? Is he okay?”

“I'm not sure. But I'm going over there now. I just wanted to let you know.”

“Sure. Be careful.” She ended the call.

“What did he want?” Tom asked as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

“He's going to visit Brian.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he just wanted to let me know where he'd be.”

Tom nodded. “Shouldn't be long and we'll be at the station.”

* * *

Max entered Brian's room after getting cleared by the police officer stationed outside the door. No one was convinced Brian wasn't still a target of East River.

“Brian, are you okay?” He pulled up a chair beside the bed.

“My memory,” Brian said. “It's starting to come back to me.”

He smiled. Finally some good news. “That's great.”

“You would think so, but I'm having some really bad and confusing memories.”

“That's to be expected. You took a real beating while you were being held by East River.”

“It's not that part that I'm so concerned about.” He looked away and then made direct eye contact. “I'm about to tell you something, but you have to keep this to yourself in case I'm totally wrong or delusional. The doctor did say that it was perfectly normal for my memories to be jumbled. But I felt like I just had to say something because what I'm remembering just won't go away. If anything, these specific thoughts just become more persistent by the minute.”

Max wondered if Brian was having some type of PTSD. “Whatever it is, Brian, I'm here for you. And if you need to talk to a professional, I'm sure we'll get you the best one the FBI has.”

Brian shook his head. “It's not like that, Max.” He paused. “How do I even say this?”

“Take your time.”

Brian nodded. “I keep having these flashbacks. I was locked in a room and different East River guys were in and out, including Rick Ward. Davies was the one who initially kidnapped me—that I know for sure—but I didn't really see much of him after that. This was mainly an internal East River operation.”

“Okay, then what happened?”

“They beat me up pretty bad on multiple occasions. But here's the thing.” Brian took a deep breath, and Max could tell this was difficult for him.

“Whatever it is, we can handle it together.”

“I heard a voice a couple of times in that room. Talking about strategy and tactics. They probably thought I was passed out from the pain because I usually kept my eyes closed to conserve what little energy I had.”

“What about the voice is bothering you?”

“It's a voice I'd recognize anywhere, Max.”

“Who?”

“It was Tom Hilton. The voice I heard was Tom's.”

Max gasped as though he'd been punched in the gut. “Are you sure?”

“I know you probably doubt my sanity right now. And is it possible that I'm totally off base and delusional? I guess so. But I know my own thoughts, and I definitely know the man I've worked with for years. It was him, Max. Tom was in that room.”

As Brian's words hit him, Max felt as though the room was closing in on him.

“Max, say something. Are you all right?”

Max shook his head and stood up. “No. No. This can't be happening.” He paced around the small hospital room for a minute to gather his thoughts. But he knew exactly what he had to do.

“I'm sorry, Max. I just had to talk about it.”

“He has Sydney,” Max whispered.

“Who has Sydney?”

“Tom. He picked her up to take her to a witness consultation. This is her first attempt at going back to work. He offered to take her, in fact.” Max looked at Brian. “I've got to go. I have to make sure she's okay.”

“For her sake, I hope I'm wrong, Max. Please know that.”

Max was already running out of the hospital room—and saying a prayer.

He pulled out his cell and called her. It went straight to voicemail. Oh, no, he thought. What if he was too late?

Then he remembered her tracking chip. The only problem was that he needed an FBI agent to be able to access the chip. And at this point he had no idea if the two agents Tom had brought in were trustworthy or if only Tom was dirty.

He told himself to take a deep breath and think. It was entirely possible that Brian was delusional. He'd gone through a terribly traumatic event. But Max wasn't going to bank on that.

What he needed to do was call the local police and see if Sydney had made it to the meeting.

Fifteen minutes later after jumping through hoops, he got the answer he feared the most. Sydney had never arrived at the station.

* * *

Sydney looked forward to this meeting. Getting back out there and focusing on her work—what she loved—was really what she needed. Lately her world had been consumed with threats and looking back to the past.

Tom's phone rang and he answered it. She could only hear his side of the conversation, but she could immediately tell she wasn't going to like what was happening.

“There's been a security breach at the police station,” he explained once he disconnected the call. “It's not safe for you there now.”

“Are you taking me back to the safe house?”

“No. It's best if I take you to a new place. I have another safe house we can go to.”

“All right. Let me call Max and let him know so he won't worry.”

She pulled out her phone.

“I can't let you do that.”

She looked up and her stomach clenched.
No. This can't be.

But it was. Tom's left hand was on the wheel but his right hand was holding a gun, and it was pointed right at her.

“Just put down the phone, Sydney. I don't want to have to use this.”

She slowly set the phone on her lap. “Why, Tom? Why would you do this?”

“Now's not the time for you to be asking questions. Just stay quiet and we'll be there in a bit.”

Was he going to turn her over to Rick?
Dear Lord, please help me now.

Tom drove outside the city to a more rural area. He pulled down a dirt road and drove up to a red farmhouse. The area surrounding the house was heavily wooded.

Still holding his gun, Tom opened his car door and walked around to the passenger side.

“Get out slowly.”

“Please, Tom. Don't do this. Don't throw away your entire career over me.”

He grabbed her arm, pulled her out of the car. “I tried to give you the chance to get out of this by suggesting that you leave the state and disappear. But you didn't take that advice. This is much bigger than you, Sydney.” He dragged her up to the front door and into the farmhouse. “And don't even think about that tracking device helping you. Remember, I'm the one that injected you, so I have control over the tracking technology, and I've already deactivated it manually.”

Her heart sank at that revelation. She needed to buy time. And she prayed that Rick wasn't somewhere in that house.

“Tom, I've gotten to know you. Would you really turn me over to that monster knowing what he's done to me?”

Tom looked down. “Ward is now the number two in East River, and that's why you're here. What Ward wants, he gets. I'm in no position to question him. I have my own problems to contend with.”

“But you could've turned me over to him before. Why now?”

He let out a loud sigh. “Because I needed to keep my position at the FBI for as long as possible. Taking you would've added complications that we didn't need.” He brought out his handcuffs and pulled her into the bathroom where he secured her to the pipe under the sink. “You're going to hang out here while I handle a few things.”

“Were the other agents you brought in to help me in on this, too?”

He shook his head. “No. My circle is tighter than that.” He walked out of the bathroom leaving her alone.

A million thoughts flooded her mind. She tugged against the pipe to see how sturdy it was. Unfortunately, it didn't budge. She had to find a way out of there before Rick showed up. She'd hoped that she could get through to Tom, but she was starting to think that for Tom this wasn't about her. What had he gotten himself into? He must be knee deep in with East River.

Would Max be able to find her in time? She could only pray he would. And that she'd somehow get out of this alive.

* * *

Max called Elena. They both agreed it was worth the risk to reach out to the two FBI agents who had been working with Tom. They had no other choice. They needed to know if the agents were in Tom's pocket. Clive Roberts and Shay Hall met him at the safe house.

“We have an issue,” Max said.

“What is it?” Clive asked.

Max proceeded to tell them what Brian had told him and that Sydney and Tom were currently MIA. As he explained, he and Elena watched them carefully to read their expressions and body language. Confident they were not in league with the rogue agent, he nodded at Elena who returned the gesture.

“You think Tom is working with East River?” Clive asked.

“Yes. And now he's taken Sydney.”

“That's just unbelievable,” Shay said.

Elena took a step closer to the agents. “Right now we need your help. You have access to the tracking chip.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” Clive pulled out his phone and a moment later blew out a breath. “I'm sorry. It looks like it was deactivated on the FBI side.”

“Tom's responsible for that,” Max said. “Can you reactivate it?”

“I can't but Shay's the tech guy.”

Shay looked at Max. “I'm not supposed to do it because it will require me to break some technical security protocols.”

Max stepped closer. “An innocent woman's life is on the line.”

“Understood,” Shay said. “Let me get my laptop out of the car and start working on it.”

“Assuming we get a location, what next?” Clive asked.

“We get out to her as fast as we can, and we have to be ready to be met with resistance. I'm not sure what Tom is up to here, but whatever it is, it isn't good.”

“He's been running the East River task force for years,” Clive said, shaking his head.

Max nodded. “I know. I can't believe they got to him.”

“I'm going to get on the phone with my bosses at the Marshals,” Elena said. “Maybe once they hear all of this, they'll provide some assistance.”

Max walked outside for a minute to clear his head.
Dear Lord, I'm scared to death that something is going to happen to Sydney and that I won't be there to protect her. God, I don't know what I will do without her in my life. Please help her and help me. Give me the strength to know what I need to do.

Max found a brief moment of solace in his prayer. But he couldn't just sit around and wait. He walked back inside where Shay was banging away on the keys of his laptop at the kitchen table.

“I don't have to tell you that every minute counts,” Max said.

“Roger that.”

Elena walked into the kitchen. “It's a no go from the Marshals. They don't want to touch this. It's a no win for them. I'm sorry, Max. We're on our own here.”

“Got it,” Shay yelled.

Max pushed away the bad news from Elena and stood over Shay's shoulder.

“Assuming the device is still implanted, I've got the address.”

“We could really use your help. Are you two guys in on this?” Max asked.