Out of the Dark (16 page)

“Real hungry?”

He barked twice, prancing and dancing all over the place.

She laughed for the first time in what felt like weeks. “Okay, in a minute.”

Emily blew dry her hair then applied a small amount of make-up. She slid into a pair of black jeans, a white frilly blouse, and a pair of sandals with a small heel.
Being in her own clothes felt wonderful.

Once in the garage she called Hershey to get in the car for a trip to the store. The shower, cle
an clothes and her friendly dog made Emily almost forget about Mac. As she pulled out of the driveway she looked at the black SUV and made a mental note to call and have the car, along with all memories of Mac, picked up.

***

Mac paced the carpet again. He urgently had to get those phone calls, but he wanted Em to be safe. What if something happened to her? What if Marino got his hands on her? Unable to stand her being away from him, he fought the urge to pick up the phone, but couldn’t muster the nerve. What would he say?

His hand hovered over the phone for a moment before he walked away. Running his fingers through his hair, Mac reminded himself Em had her own life to live, and Frank had her secure.

Closing his eyes, he tried not to think about last night when their hot bodies lay entwined, and he’d entered heaven. Her lips were so ripe and eager. Her body pulled at him like a magnet to metal. God, he needed her.

The phone rang and Mac jumped.

“Hello?” He’d hoped it would be Em’s voice on the other end, but it was an informant he’d contacted earlier. He hung up, confident his hunch had been right on target.

He decided to check in with Frank to see if Brody
had found out anything.

After leaving the grocery store, Emily tossed the bag of dog food in the trunk, and wondered why she didn’t have a smaller dog.

One that ate less
.

Inside the vehicle, Hershey barked and wagged his tail with excitement. Even though he could be
a pain at times, she adored the fact that he loved her so completely.

Maybe it was the goofy way he shook his head and tail in sync, or maybe those big bright, orange/brown eyes, but... she’d taken him in and loved him ever since
that visit to the animal shelter. Life would be unimaginable without him.

Walking around the car, she opened the door and shoved. “Move over, Hershey, let me get in.” Her being away had ma
de him more hyper than usual.

“Settle down, boy. Sit. Sit. Let’s get home.” She rubbed her hands on the sides of his face then pressed her nose to his. “You hungry?” He wiggled like a worm. “Yes, my handsome boy is. Okay, we’ll go home.” Hershey licked her cheek several times before allowing Emily to pull out of the parking space.

The sun settled into the West as she turned onto Bedford-Euless Road and headed for her quiet neighborhood. As she pulled up to a stoplight on Harwood Drive, a loud explosion shook her car. Instinctively, she looked at the sky wondering if a plane had crashed.

Strange.

All clear overhead, Emily slowly turned onto her street and drove toward her house, wondering what had happened.

Rubble
lay everywhere. Clothes were strewn in the trees and a large plume of smoke billowed into the sky.

She stopped and stared at where her house had
once been.

F
ire, smoke, smoldering charred wood occupied the corner lot. Her neighbors ran out of their homes, and Emily bit back the urge to scream.

In shock, she realized she’d just lost everything. Even Falcon
’s SUV resembled a mess of melted steel.

She looked around at her stunned neighbors then searched for the cars the Falcon agent
s had occupied earlier. They were gone. But further down the street a black sedan sat with its engine idling. She couldn’t identify the driver because of the tinted windows.

Slowly, she backed into her neighbor’s drive and drove
away, constantly checking her rearview mirror. Nothing moved, so hopefully, no one followed.

Somehow, she managed to get on the freeway and dr
ive to Mac’s apartment complex. She pulled her Honda up to the gate but couldn’t remember the combination. Looking up she saw Mac running toward her. He pressed the combination and waved her inside the complex.

Frantically, she pulled forwa
rd and into the same space as earlier when she and Mac parted. She killed the engine. Hands shaking, she reached for the door handle.

S
he staggered out of the car. Warm summer air slapped her in the face. Mac ran to her and, before she knew it a pair of strong, male arms wrapped around her and held her in an unbreakable grip. She buried her face against his shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent. His hand came up and cupped the back of her head.

“I’m sorry, Em. I’m so damn sorry you’re messed up in this.”

Tears streaming down her face, she leaned away from him and looked into his eyes. She didn’t care if he saw her crying. It didn’t matter anymore. “Everything is gone. Even the SUV.”

After kissing her forehead, he put his arm around her shoulders and they walked toward the stairs.
His eyes searched the surrounding area. “Come on, let’s get out of the open.”

As they reached the steps, she stopped
, remembering Hershey. “Wait, my dog is in the car.”

Mac looked over his shoulder at the blue sedan. “Does he bite?”

“No.”

Reluctantly, Mac released her and approached the car.

Mac opened the door. A brown Lab the size of a small horse bounded out of the car then ran and tackled Emily.

“Settle down, Hershey.” Em said. “You have to be a good boy.” She instructed sternly. Pointing a finger at the mutt, she continued. “Can you do that for mommy?”

The dog actually nodded his head, but Emily had obviously seen that before. “I mean a really, really good boy.”

Hershey rolled over on his back and whimpered his disapproval at having to be really, really good. “No, I mean it this time. You have to be nice or you get locked in the bathroom.”

Hershey jumped up and barked furiously. Emily looked at Mac. “He hates the bathroom.” She turned her attention to the dog. “I want your promise now.”

The dog whined and growled. Then when she didn’t relinquish, he sat on his haunches and nodded. God, Mac thought, now I’ve seen everything.

“Can we discuss all this inside?”

They entered the small apartment and Hershey walked ahead of them into the living room. “Oh, I left the bag of dog food in the car trunk.”

“I’ll get it.” He took her keys and motioned her and the dog to stay inside.

When he returned to his apartment,
Em and Hershey stood in the middle of the living room staring. They both looked unsure what to do.

He passed them and went into the kitchen and opened the dog food bag and sat it on the floor. As soon as Hershey heard the paper ripping, he charged. The dog started eating like he hadn’t been fed in a week.

Mac looked at Emily then the dog, which now had its face buried in the bag. “When’s the last time you fed him?”

Emily wrapped her arms around her body. “Debbie, my neighbor fed him last night. Hershey is just a natural born pig. Don’t you have something you can put the food in? He’ll eat until he’s sick.”

“Won’t he stop when he’s full?”

“Not a chance.” She looked over her shoulder at him. “You ever cleaned up dog puke?”

He moved past her into the kitchen, frantically looking for a bowl. “No, and I don’t intend to.” When the search didn’t immediately reveal anything, Mac reached down and took the bag away from Hershey, who wasn’t through eating. The dog managed to sink his teeth into the bottom of the bag. As Mac pulled one way, Hershey tugged the other. “Let go, mutt.” Mac snarled. Hershey growled and continued.

“Stop it both of you or...”

The bag ripped, and brown nuggets spilled all over Mac’s spotless, white floor.

“I’m sorry, Mac. I tried to warn you.”

The stupid animal acted like he was in doggy heaven. He sucked up kibbles faster than a vacuum cleaner. The phone rang. Mac looking down at the mess, and shook his head.

“Answer the phone. I’ll clean this up.” Emily said, pulling at Hershey. “You’ve had enough.” The dog stopped and licked his chops. The phone rang again. “Didn’t I tell you that you had to be really, really nice?” She pointed at the living room. “Now go over there in the corner until I clean this up.”

The dog barked and the phone rang again.

“No arguments. Go.”

Mac reached the phone, just as the dog dropped his head, ran his tongue over his nose and trotted toward the corner.

He turned and loo
ked up at Mac with big amber eyes and growled softly. “Hey, don’t blame me, you’re the pig.”

Mac put the phone to his ear.

He listened carefully as the informant told him everything he needed to know about Marino’s activities. Just to be sure, after hanging up, Mac made two more calls that confirmed what his snitch had said.

Several of his contacts said they’d heard rumors about a bomb, but they didn’t know anything solid.

He hung up and looked at Em, tears running down her face as she swept up the dry dog food. He looked over at Hershey and saw he now sat with his nose pressed against the corner.

Emily had found a dustpan and a plastic bag to dump the dog food into. He walked up and relieved her of those and put his arms around her, pulling her up against him. “Tell me what happened.”

“Well, I went to the store to get Hershey some dog food because he’d eaten the bag I left at Debbie’s. On the way back as I neared the house, I heard this loud explosion. When I got closer I saw my house engulfed in flames. Then I stopped and...” Emily took a deep breath. “Mac, everything is gone. There’s nothing left.”

Mac couldn’t believe it. Emily could have been in that house. She could be dead right this minute. And all because of him. This mess belonged to him. Yes, she took the pictures, but if Marino wasn’t so hot and bothered about killing him, maybe none of this would be happening. Now, her life was in
a complete shambles.

He pressed her closer, loving her scent. Enjoying the feel of her body against his. Being this close to her drove him crazy.

For someone to find out where Em lived wouldn’t be hard, but to know if she were home or not meant that someone had been watching.
Or had they?

Emily
pulled away and walked over to sit on the arm of his couch. “Mac, how did you know I was outside the gate?”

“What?”

“You knew I was coming?”

“The agents in front of your house called me.”

“But they’re gone.”

“They never left you unprotected. A set of agents followed you to the store, and then turned off. The agents in front of your house received a bogus call to return to base. But the caller didn’t know to use the code word before saying anything. They drove away only to transfer to another car and drive back to see your house explode.

“They couldn’t get to you before the blast because right now they’re following the black car that was parked down the street from your house.”

“How did they know I was co
ming to you?”

“They followed
long enough to figure out where you were headed then informed me you were on the way. I knew as scared as you were, you probably wouldn’t remember the code.”

“God, you guys are clever. But I could have been killed.”

“Yes, but you weren’t.” Mac picked up her purse. “Em where is your cell phone?”

She covered her mouth. “Oh no, I left it in the rental car. Now I don’t even have a phone!”

“Thank God.”

“What?”

Mac picked up the phone and called Frank. He answered the first ring. “Frank, I think I know how they’ve been able to track us.”

“How is Emily?”

“Em and her dog are fine. However, Hershey is in time-out.”

“Huh?”

Mac shook his head. “Never mind. Listen, Emily’s house was blown up because her cell phone was in the rental parked in her driveway. They’ve been using her GPS system to keep tabs on her. They blew up the house thinking she was inside.”

“I’ll be a son
-of-a-bitch.”

“Yeah, me too. I should have figured that out in the beginning. I just assumed since our phones are non-traceable, so was hers.”

“I have to admit, I hadn’t thought of that either, Mac. But it makes sense. Now they think Emily is dead. That leaves only you.”

“Jake and
A.J. are tracking the black car seen in Em’s neighborhood when the bomb went off. They’re keeping me informed. Is Brody heading this way?”

“Yes, but I think I might come and stay with Emily until we see where that vehicle leads us.”

“No, you’re better off there. No one knows Em is alive. Should they happen to spot you, they’d know their plot failed.”

“Y
ou’re right.”

“I have a call into
Archuletta. I think I’m on to something.”

“Keep me informed. If you need help, let me know.”

“I will, Frank.”

“Above all else, keep Emily safe. And you better be on your best behavior, Mac.”

“Sure.”