Risk of a Lifetime (16 page)

How would anyone have known he’d head back to Crayton at this exact time? Sure, he’d thought about heading home after Jennings was killed, but he’d shaken it off. There’d even been the meth lab bust that went bad when he worked with Landon for the first time. Still he’d decided to stay with the FBI. Wasn’t until after he’d been hurt on the last case that the idea—go home, see his ex-wife, make amends—kept flashing in his mind. Then the reprimand for nothing from Wilson had been the tipping point.

None of this fell together. At least, none he could see right now. Maybe he’d think better after a little sleep himself. Otherwise, the only rationale was that they followed him and chanced on the perfect setting to make him suffer. Not likely.

Sliding her hand from under the cover just enough to touch his body, she closed her eyes. A few miles later, her soft sleep sounds pulsed in his ear.

JB flipped the attacks through his mind, piecing them together with what she’d said about the thug chasing them to see if anything shook out. Could the would-be killer have seen his reaction each time? Been getting off on the rage and misery he saw JB experience in each desperate moment?

The bank shooting. Had the shooter actually tried to kill Marcy or just wound her? The office building explosion. He’d got her phone call to pick her up. Had there been a listening device in her office? After all, he’d only been half a block away when the blast ricocheted through the air.

If this guy were that sophisticated in his techniques, then there’d be no way to trace the bullets or the note back at the house. There’d be no evidence from the crawl space underneath the place. There’d be no prints. No DNA. Nothing that didn’t belong there.

JB’d done the same in his undercover work. Having all the procedures thrown back in his face was either a blessing—because he knew what to look for—or a trail to the end, because the person had figured out his modus operandi. In which case, that meant every reaction he made would be calculated into the creep’s plan.

Who knew him that well? Who knew how much Marcy meant to him? Or was that just a guess?

Cain glanced over the seat. “She asleep?”

“Yeah. What did you get from the notes?”

“Cat and mouse.”

“Exactly.” JB leaned his head back. “Cat and mouse. In fact, she may be right about him trying to make me feel his pain. Maybe leaving me alive as more punishment.”

“You’ve riled somebody mighty crazy out there.” Cain shook his head. “This isn’t about some gang retaliation or a hit being put on you. This is flat out personal. I bet there’s a link between this and your past couple cases.”

JB’s thoughts flashed to the last case. The thugs beat him within an inch of his life, slashed the knife across his chest until one of the guy’s stopped the others. Said their orders were to keep him alive. So they burned his shield into his chest and threw him in the gutter. Now this. “That’s my thinking, too. You been with the DEA long?”

“Long enough to know you follow the roadmap back to whoever’s out to get you. Check off the players in your past jobs. Don’t leave anybody out as a suspect. Nobody.”

“Yeah.” JB learned in training, no one was above suspicion. Who, though? Who’d he missed? He couldn’t think any more, his brain was tired. His body ached from the past few days of blows and bruises. A fog settled around his thoughts… There was a clue…there had to be…one clue was all he needed. Tired, so tired…there was always a clue…someplace…where was the damn clue?

“Get some sleep, buddy. No telling when you’ll be able to rest again.” Cain turned the radio on low. “I’ll drive up to Jefferson City. Nurse a beer in one of the bars for an hour or so. You two can sleep back there. With the tinted windows on this truck, no one will be able to see you. Should still give us time to get you where you’re going.”

“Appreciate it.” JB angled his head as close to Marcy as he could, holding her hand. “You know, right before we left the house, she told me she never signed the divorce papers. Never filed them.”

“That’s some mighty heavy news to have dropped.” Cain paused, clearing his throat. “How you feel about that? About still being married?”

“I don’t know…I honestly don’t know.” He’d think about that later. Right now, staying alive was top priority. His eyes drifted shut.

Ten .38 bullets. Why thirty-eights? Why ten? Why…?

Chapter Nineteen

She was awake, but Marcy didn’t want to open her eyes. Instead, she wanted to lay there with JB just a touch away and pretend they were home in their own bed. Tucked beneath a nice, warm blanket with a shared glass of wine on the night table. They’d have nothing to do but make sure each other was happy.

“Wake up, sugar.” JB nudged her shoulder.

She stretched, smiled, then elbowed up on one arm and caressed his cheek. Reality slammed full force as the past twenty-four hours flashed through her mind. She jerked to sit up.

His hand pulled her back down. “Be careful. Someone might be following.”

“Where are we?” Her insides felt fueled by fear. Her outsides hurt and ached from the bulldoze effect of brush and trees slamming against her as they ran through the woods earlier. “How long have I been asleep?”

“About four hours. Cain’s been taking us on a road trip around the county.” He shared his cup of coffee with her. Handed her a sack. “Even bought us a couple of sandwiches at the bar in Jefferson City.”

Famished, she scrounged inside and came up with a hamburger. “You don’t know how much I need this.”

Cain kept his eyes glued to the road ahead. “My pleasure. By the way, I swung by the cabin and upped the heat. Plus there’s plenty of food stocked up.”

“Thanks.” Marcy swallowed a bite of burger. “And thanks for helping us. I doubt you ever planned on being part of a good-guy-bad-guy scenario.”

“You’re right about that. I’m just a nice, peaceful kind of guy.” Cain glanced at JB, and the two men shared a like-hell expression.

Someday, she’d ask what that was about, but for now, she was content to know she and JB had a friend willing to help.

Every so often, Cain glanced in his mirrors. “About twenty more minutes to drop off.”

“Eat up, Marcy.” JB straightened. Checked his gun. Reached under his sweater, readjusting the Kevlar vest. “As soon as you’re finished, I want you to start stretching your arms and legs. You need to be able to run the minute we hit the ground.”

She swallowed the last bite before finishing off the coffee. “Did you sleep? Eat?”

He nodded. “Always thinking about how I am, aren’t you? How’d I get so lucky?”

“You were the best-looking jock in high school.” She longed to feel his arms around her like the times they parked at Crayton’s lookout point, cuddling to the sound of soft music. They’d even gone there a couple times after they were married.

Cain cleared his throat in mock gruffness. “I beg to disagree about him being the best jock in school.”

“Well, you were always a really close second.”

For a moment, the three of them laughed at memories. Then the quiet consumed them.

“Get your gloves and hat on, Marcy.” JB worked his legs in a pedaling motion, stretched his arms forward, and bent his back.

She followed his lead and gradually got into her own rhythm. “What time is it?”

“About three. We should be to the cabin by four, four-thirty, at the latest.”

“Won’t it be light by then?” Her hand checked to make sure the gun still rode in her pocket.

“This time of year, probably won’t be light until five-thirty, six, maybe later.”

“Getting close.” Cain turned the truck onto what had to be a rutted, gravel road from the bounce and jog motions. “Just so you know, I’ve got a guy waiting alongside the road where we’re gonna stop.”

JB’s jaw clenched. “Who?”

“Don’t worry. He’s okay.” Cain glanced back. “I wouldn’t bring him in otherwise.”

She could see the look on her husband’s face. He wasn’t convinced. Wasn’t happy about the change. His hand hadn’t left the Glock in his shoulder holster since the guy was mentioned. She tensed right along with him.

“Why?” JB asked.

“Figured we need a diversion in case we are being followed.” Cain flashed his lights. “Me and him will do a deal out here in the middle of nowhere. And, of course, first I’ll want a sample. Should give you enough cover time to get a good ways into the woods.”

“Does he know we’re in here?”

“He knows someone’s here.”

JB eased the gun from his holster, motioned her to the far side of the floor bed. She moved quick and silent. Her insides churned with nerves and nausea and nagging stomach cramps. She shouldn’t have eaten the burger. Scared didn’t even begin to describe what she felt, except that underneath it all was the knowledge that her husband would do what had to be done. And she’d do the same.

Cain stopped the truck, backed up, and angled the truck bed toward what must be the woods, front end to the pavement. Someone coming down the road wouldn’t see them get out. The engine purred into a parked rumble, the slight illumination from the headlights clicked to blackness.

“Keep your finger off the trigger. The man’s okay.” Cain said. “If I wanted to take you two out, you’d already be dead.”

“You might have tried. Let’s get this done.” JB turned onto his knees, holstered the Glock, and then rested his hand on the door handle. “Cain?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks, man. I owe you one.”

Cain nodded, opened the driver’s side door, and then jumped out.

JB clicked the rear, passenger door open at the same time. Marcy crawled behind him as he slid from the truck, then he held out his hand to her. He crouched, Glock back in his hand, and pointed at the rear of the truck bed. She knew to wait until he motioned, but she hitched the backpack into place, then patted her pocketed gun one more time.

“Hey, there.” Cain’s words came from behind them now. Evidently, someone else had pulled up. “I hear you’re the man with the good stuff around here.”

“Where’d you hear that?” The other man’s voice held a heavy Texas twang.

JB motioned her to get out of the truck, stand behind him. She did exactly as he said, as fast as she could, as quietly as she could. She wouldn’t let him down.

“Some guy back at the bar said this road held pure gold.” Cain’s voice had taken on a friendly, down-home country drawl. “Figured I’d stop by. See what you got.”

“What you looking for?” the other man asked.

“Maybe a little…”

JB jerked Marcy forward. Crouching, they ran into the woods. Further and further. Trees and more trees blocked their path. He tried to keep the limbs from flying back to hit her once he passed. Some didn’t, some did. A trickle of warm blood oozed down her cheek after one blindsided her like a whip. Bushes and thorns grabbed at her jeans. Large, low-lying rocks seized her footing. She tripped. Fell. Knocked her chin on the ground. JB grabbed her and lifted her straight to her feet.

She looped her thumbs under the straps. He turned back to his trail-finding mode and surged ahead. She followed. One foot in front of the other. Her lungs burned. Leg muscles tensed. She needed water, needed rest. How long had it been since they left the warmth of the truck at the edge of the woods? Still she followed. Her right calf cramped, and she grimaced with a reactive groan.

JB turned. The set of his jaw conveyed his anger at the unexpected sound, then his expression shifted to concern. He laid her on the ground, massaged her calves, grabbed a bottle of what looked like water from his backpack, and motioned her to drink. The taste screamed of electrolytes. She took half and gave him the rest. He massaged her legs until she motioned to stand.

On her feet again, she looped her thumbs under the straps one more time.

He leaned in, placed his cheek against hers. “Not much further, sugar.”

Her mind shouted how much, but she didn’t ask.

He forged ahead.

She followed.

…

JB slowed his pace once Marcy’s leg cramped, amazed she’d been able to keep up for that long given having surgery a couple weeks ago. If they could have driven instead of hiked to the safe house, the trip would have been easier. But the more twists and turns, detours, and unexpecteds they could throw in the perp’s way, the more time they bought for the sheriff’s department to search for clues. The more clues, the better chance of tracking him down.

The pinkish glow of dawn on the horizon urged him forward. His one goal was to reach the cabin before daylight. Ten minutes ago, they’d approached the wrong cabin. They’d turned away in time when the sound of a dog’s bark from inside signaled their approach. He heard the owners tell the pet to lie down.

Soft pine boughs swept aside as JB walked through the trees. He stopped. The cabin visible through the tree line called up memories he forgot even existed. The flagstone steps leading down a more than slight incline to the dock. A porch wrapped around three sides of the house. The black, cast-iron bell on one of the end posts of the railing. This was the right place.

Motioning Marcy to stay behind him, he crept to the back side of the house, gun drawn. He gave a quick look through the lower pane of glass on the only window along the back wall. Nothing but closed, louvered shutters greeted him. On the south side, he found the same at the next two windows. Made sense. As he recalled, the two bedrooms were on the south side of the house.

They reversed their steps to the north wall as his mind played the inside set up from fifteen years ago. Back corner…kitchen…one window…curtained. Through the crack of the two yellow panels, he managed a good view of the room plus part of the bedrooms across the way. A nightlight shown from the bathroom nestled between the two open doorways, just like Cain said he’d left the place. He also said the heat would be on. They could use some heat.

JB felt more than saw Marcy shiver. She was cold, tired, and way past her limit for survival, but still she did everything he told her to do. Someday, he’d tell her how proud she made him the past few hours. Hell, the past few years.

The front side was the tricky part. He had no intention of letting her out of his sight, but at the same time, he needed to get a look in the living room and unlock the door with the key Cain had given him. He needed to sweep the interior for possible lurkers, stomp on all the damn floors, and climb into the attic, too. Interior sweeps were routines he prided himself on for saving lives in unknown situations.

Stomping on floors had been added tonight after the conversation with the sheriff.

So much for routine. Surprise would have to do this time. He motioned her to follow on the count of three. Yelling, he jumped on the porch, quick-glanced through the window on his way to the front door, shoved the key in the lock, and turned.

“Watch my back.” Glock tight in his grip and aimed, he charged inside.

She already had her gun drawn and aimed in the opposite direction.

He did a visual sweep of the living room-kitchen. Opened the entry closet. Coats, shotgun, ammo, tackle box, fishing poles, cooler. Next, he swept the front bedroom… bathroom…second bedroom…a bigger bath…closets…under sinks…pantry…utility room. Every room he went to, he stomped from the perimeter inward, even shoved the bed out of the way to find the floor beneath. Last, he hoisted himself up into the attic, along with the powerful flash light Cain had left on the table.

Nothing. Good…good. He motioned Marcy inside, then slammed the door and set the lock. His gut told him the perp didn’t know where they were. To have gotten this far with no sign of the coward felt like a once-in-a-lifetime feat of luck. A feat that wouldn’t have been possible without a lot of good people risking their lives. He’d pay them back one day.

After one more quick look out the windows, he holstered his Glock. “We made it, Marcy. The place may not look like much, but it’s clean. We’re safe.”

She stepped further into the living room. Her weary eyes took in the bare-bones surrounding of a man’s cabin. “Looks like a castle to me.”

He grinned as she shed her hat, gloves, coat, and boots. She held up the gun he’d given her, shrugging her shoulders as she looked at her jeans pockets. No room there.

“Keep it within reach whichever room you’re in.” JB pulled the refrigerator door open. “Hungry?”

“Is it okay if I take a shower first?” The frailness of her tone spoke volumes. “I can wait if I have to, though. Maybe I should wait. That’s what I’ll do, I’ll wait.” Her eyes twitched from wall to wall, nervousness wobbled in her voice. “I’m so tired, I can’t think anymore. Just tell me what to do.”

He grabbed her in his arms. Kissed her hard and deep until she kissed back with the same depth and passion. Until their mouths and hands followed the roadmap of the other’s body, hungry for touch, for hope. Until her body eased to a soft sag against his chest. She pushed away enough to kiss his chin then smiled.

“I think I’ll take a shower now.” Heading toward the front bedroom, she picked up her backpack from the sofa.

“We’ll use the back bedroom. It’s bigger. Easier to defend.” JB also figured it might be easier to escape from if need be. “Looks like a brand new bathroom’s been put in.”

She walked to his requested room, then popped her head back out the door. “What were you stomping around the house for?”

“When?” He knew damn well when.

“While I covered you from the doorway.” She tugged off one of her sweaters. “Sounded like you were marching in the half-time band.”

“Beats me. I didn’t even notice.” He grinned. “Why don’t you go take a shower while I cook us up some breakfast?”

She cocked her head, narrowing her eyes. Guess she didn’t believe everything he said. “Ummmmm…is that right?”

“Okay. The sheriff said he thought the guy had hidden under our house last night. Satisfied?”

She nodded, then as the implication sank in, she clenched her hands against her jeans. “That means he heard you and me… Got his fix from listening to us. Oh, that’s sick. Really, really sick.”

He avoided her look. “Go take your shower. Warm up while I fix us something to eat.”

Mumbling, she walked into the bedroom. “That creep needs some serious medication.”

He laughed. Listened for the click of the bathroom door, then the sound of running water in the shower. Again he checked the entire floor, plus the walls this time, doubtful the man would use the same technique twice, but it didn’t hurt to be sure. Taking the broom with him, he climbed into the attic again, walked the rafters, and pounded the roof for any sign of tampering. Nothing.