Dead End

by Lisa Phillips

  She turned to them. “Wait. He didn’t disable the feed?”

  The employee nodded gingerly. “Actually he tried. We’ve had so much of a problem with vandalism that our security company set up a kind of backup system. Your guy cut the main feed, but missed the secondary signal. To shut that down you literally have to destroy every single camera. Cost a mint, but saved us thousands in repair costs and repainting over spray-paint tags.”

  Nina frowned.

  The man added, “It’s my brother’s company.”

  Nina glanced back at her search engine. She had no idea which motel Steve Adams had taken her to. While they scanned the surveillance video, she shut her eyes and tried to remember what she’d seen and heard. Anything she could dredge up might help them find Emily, or where Steve Adams might have taken her. Because without some kind of clue, they had nothing. No idea.

  Nina sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly.

  Traffic. The sound of cars driving past, high speeds. Some even overhead.

  Nina pulled up a map of the freeway and found a spot where it arced over a seedier part of town. Low-budget motel, cash only. There was a line of four motels in a row, but only one was under the overhead freeway, actually an on-ramp.

  The question was whether that was the place he’d taken Emily, to try to do that scene over. To get himself a different outcome to his plan, the outcome that he wanted. Nina tapped a pen on the top of the desk.

  “Bingo!” Parker’s yell jolted her from her thoughts. She spun in the chair just as he pointed to the screen. “Silver Buick. I’ll call the plate in, get an Amber Alert out.”

  He strode from the room, not wasting a minute of Emily’s time. Nina watched him go and saw Wyatt’s attention was on her. He frowned. “What did you find?”

  Nina motioned to the computer screen where the map was still up. “I think I know which motel he took me to.”

  Sienna said, “You think that’s where he took Emily?”

  “I have no idea, but I guess it’s possible. He might think I couldn’t identify it, that the location is safe.” She shrugged. “It’s all I could think of that might be helpful. At least until we get something back off the Amber Alert.”

  Wyatt’s gaze roamed over her face. He nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Before she could answer, he hauled her from the chair and out the door. Sienna followed to one of the SUVs, a smirk on her face. But Nina didn’t have time to ask her what that was about before he opened the door and practically lifted her into the seat. “Let’s go!”

  She saw the fear in his eyes, fear that they would be too late. It was the same fear she was feeling. Sienna got in the back, and Parker joined them. Wyatt took the keys from Parker and tore out of the parking lot. Nina grabbed the handle at the top of the door and held on as he tore through town.

  Sienna leaned forward and put her hand on Nina’s shoulder. Nina set her free hand on Sienna’s, grateful for the support of her friend. She’d been alone so many times on missions it was strange to have people here with her, supporting her in this time of crisis, but not unwanted. In fact, she was soaking up this feeling of togetherness. Of family.

  Sienna whispered, “I told you so.”

  Nina shook her head, but didn’t let go of her hand. Yeah, so Sienna had been right about Wyatt and Nina. She didn’t have to gloat.

  Steve Adams had tried to take it away from her and Wyatt, but they’d overcome his plans. Now they were going to make sure he didn’t take Emily’s future from her.

  Wyatt parked outside the office. They hung back while he got in the motel manager’s face, showing him a picture of Steve Adams and demanding to know when he checked in. Nina didn’t know what time it had been, or what room. But the manager produced a key.

  Nina put it in the key-card lock and hung back. Parker entered first, gun drawn, followed by Wyatt. Sienna was in the car, because no one wanted her anywhere near Steve Adams when she was pregnant.

  “Clear!”

  Wyatt came back out, and she saw it written on his face. “It’s empty. She’s not here.”

  Nina nodded, but the tears came hot and fast. She crumpled against the building, not caring who saw her lose her cool so thoroughly. They all felt the same way. They all cared what happened to Emily. They all knew what being acquainted with Steve Adams had cost her over the years.

  Sienna came over, but didn’t crouch and offer Nina comfort. When Nina looked up, she saw why. “Mason Pierce left the hospital. He slipped out from under marshal guard, even with the crutches. Somehow he got a change of clothes and a car. He’s gone.” Sienna paused and frowned. “They’re looking for the car. But if he can find Emily somehow, why stop him?”

  Parker hugged his wife to him. Sienna continued, “And the Amber Alert? A gas station attendant called in. He spotted Adams a couple of minutes ago when he stopped to refill.”

  Wyatt hauled Nina to her feet, and they raced to the car again. Sienna got the address, and they pulled up at the gas station minutes later. Parker was on the phone with police dispatch. Nina glanced back to see him cover the phone with his hand and say to Wyatt, “Keep going along this street. Take Portrait to Halvern.”

  “Got it.” Wyatt swung the wheel hard to the side, the SUV’s lights and sirens clearing a path for them to race through.

  “They have him cornered on Halvern where it dead-ends.”

  Nina covered her mouth with her hand. It wasn’t above Steve Adams to use someone as a human shield. But when they pulled up behind the barricade of cars, there was only Steve Adams, standing with his hands in the air as he faced off against a crowd of police officers.

  She climbed out, but it was Wyatt and Parker who raced to stand with the officers. Adams’s rage was clear as he glared at both her and Wyatt. They had bested him, and now he knew it.

  “Where’s Emily?” Parker’s command was clear. “You’ve got nowhere to go. This is the end of the line, Steve. Now do the right thing and give us Emily.”

  Steve glanced to Parker, the glare still in place.

  “Where is she?” Wyatt yelled. “Where is Emily?”

  Steve Adams shifted, his arms lowered.

  “Don’t do it!”

  “Hands up!”

  Nina frowned at the scene. What did they think Steve was going to do?

  She watched as the man lowered his arms and reached with one hand behind his back. Wyatt and Parker yelled, but he locked his eyes with her and brought around a gun. Before he could fire, the police did. Nina covered her ears to shut out the deafening boom of each shot. Steve Adams’s body jerked several times, and he fell to the ground.

  * * *

  The moment the gunfire stopped Wyatt ran to the car. Where was Emily? He called her name over and over, but heard nothing. He pulled the backseat door open. Nothing. She wasn’t there. Parker strained to open the trunk with his fingertips while Wyatt pulled the keys from the ignition.

  Nina stepped up beside him as he turned the key and pulled it open, a prayer on his breath. If she wasn’t here they would never find her. If she was dead, if Steve Adams had killed her, Wyatt didn’t know how he would survive it. He would make the same turn as his father had. He would retreat from everything and everyone—including Nina. Their shot at a relationship would be over before it had barely begun.

  Emily Pierce looked up, tape over her mouth, and her hands and feet tied. She whimpered, and Wyatt gathered her up. “It’s okay now. Everything is okay.”

  Worried he was squeezing her too hard, Wyatt loosened his grip. Relief washed through him. He needed to call his father and tell him that it hadn’t been condemnation that caused him to pull away from him. No, in fact it was that they were so much the same. Wyatt would never have been able to handle losing a child either. But because of God’s grace he had found new life, and Emily had be
en saved.

  Wyatt didn’t know why one girl had died and this one had lived. All he knew was that overwhelming sense of gratitude flooding his heart.

  “Thank you, Lord.”

  Parker clapped him on the shoulder and then shut the trunk. Wyatt set Emily on it so Parker could cut the tape on her hands and feet. Nina reached for the tape on her mouth. “This will hurt.” A determined look flashed in Emily’s eyes. “Okay, girl,” Nina said. She pulled at the tape in increments and managed to get it off.

  “Are you okay?” Wyatt almost didn’t want to ask, but if she wasn’t they needed to get her to a hospital. “Did he hurt you?”

  “No. He just threw me in here.”

  “Em!” Mason Pierce wobbled over to them on crutches.

  “Daddy!” The girl hopped off the trunk and ran to her father, who caught her up in a hug.

  Wyatt exhaled for what felt like the first time in days. Nina chuckled and he gathered her to his side, pulling her close enough they could get a good hug in. She laughed more. “Don’t smell me. I think I need a shower.”

  Wyatt smiled, but didn’t let her go. “I know I need one.”

  “Yeah, you both stink.”

  Wyatt looked at his partner. He kicked out with his leg, but Parker dodged him. “Nina and I are leaving.”

  “You should be going to the hospital.”

  “I’m fine,” Nina said.

  Wyatt rubbed his hand up and down her back. “I’m fine, too.”

  It was finally over. They were finally free of Steve Adams. Nina was finally free of him. Emily was being treated by EMTs, and with time the emotional trauma would heal. Her father was home, and he would recover from his wounds.

  Parker and Sienna were both unharmed, and Sienna was having his baby. Wyatt had found peace with his father, and though they still needed to talk and get back to the relationship they once had, things were at least on the mend.

  “It’s over.”

  Wyatt pulled back and looked down at her face. “I’m thinking more that things have just begun.”

  Nina’s smile eclipsed her face.

  Wyatt leaned down and kissed her.

  EPILOGUE

  Eight months later

  Wyatt had been right. Things had only just begun.

  Nina touched her fingers to the glass as she stared at the tiny person Sienna and Parker had made. For hours Nina had waited in the hall for word everything was okay, that little Melody had been born and that mom and baby were healthy. Now Auntie Nina couldn’t stop staring at the little creation.

  The corners of her mouth curled as Nina looked at those tiny lips. That tiny nose. She couldn’t think of a time in her life when she had been happier. Things with Wyatt had been going well, their initial long, sweet phone calls and dates developing into spending more time together. Nina was enjoying her teaching job. Wyatt was hinting that he’d like to buy a bigger place, that it was time.

  Things were perfect. In fact, they were almost too perfect.

  Wyatt had never once mentioned the fact that Nina had—repeatedly—pushed him away in those early days, when they’d been battling Steve Adams. All that was almost a distant memory now, but the concern lingered. Nina hadn’t wanted to bring it up, not if it was going to rock their already precarious boat. She’d done better since they started dating, embracing what her life was now and trusting the Lord to guide her through it.

  And why couldn’t she dismiss the worry? Why couldn’t Nina be happy now that she basically had everything she’d ever wanted?

  The echo of Sienna’s voice counseling her to put aside the anxiety and just live, to be happy, made her smile more even as it frustrated her at the same time.

  Why couldn’t she just be happy?

  “She’s pretty cute. Though that’s probably because she looks more like Sienna.”

  Nina turned, the smile still on her face. Wyatt was covered in sweat, dirt smeared across his face and the ball cap he had on. He still wore his bulletproof vest, was still armed and the star badge of the marshals was clipped to the front of his vest. “Did it go okay?”

  “I’d rather have been here.”

  Nina shook her head. “It was boring, waiting hours to hear.” She leaned closer to him. “Although hearing Parker shout at everyone was pretty funny. That man does not deal well with his wife being in any kind of discomfort.”

  Wyatt cracked a smile that made him look a little less exhausted.

  “But everyone is fine now. Melody is here, and Sienna is sleeping.”

  He turned to stand shoulder to shoulder with her at the window. “She is seriously adorable.”

  Nina nodded. She couldn’t agree more, though guys backed off when they thought a woman was baby crazy. Everyone knew that. It didn’t stop her from wanting one of her own someday. Or even four. There was a lady at church who had nine kids, and she made it look so easy.

  “I want one.” Nina slapped a hand over her mouth. She’d said that aloud!

  “I’m thinking we should have two, because one would be outnumbered by us and with three there’s always one left out. With two, they always have someone to play—and fight—with.”

  Nina pushed off the window and took her time lifting her gaze to his face. He’d thought about having a family. He’d said us. Was he serious? Her heart leapt with hope. “Us?”

  “Maybe it’s too early, but come on, Nina. It’s been months.” He stepped closer, looking more like he was chastising her than happy. “You’re it for me. I’ve known it since I met you. It works, you and me. Once you get past the fear you’ll realize it, too.”

  “I’m not afraid.”

  Wyatt had the audacity to smile. At her. “You’re more afraid of your own emotions than you ever were of Steve Adams.”

  Before she could respond, he swept her up in his arms and kissed her. Nina squirmed, because he smelled as bad as he looked. “You need a shower.” Her voice betrayed her humor.

  Wyatt apparently didn’t think it was funny, because he wasn’t even smiling. “You love me.”

  “Yes, I do. And you love me.”

  “Why did it take us this long to say that for real?”

  Nina tipped her head to the side. “Maybe because we’re each as stubborn as the other.”

  He smiled then. “That’s probably true.”

  “Set me down.”

  “Are you going to let go, and be happy?”

  “Can I tell you that I’ll try?” Her life had been a crazy mess of danger and fear, and she wondered if she’d ever fully let go of it.

  “I’ll accept that.” He sighed, then got down on one knee and held out a tiny blue velvet box with a ring in it. One perfect diamond glinted at her.

  Nina froze. “What are you—”

  “I’ve had this with me for weeks, waiting for the right time. I guess this is it.” Wyatt’s eyes were full of hope and a tiny bit of fear. Was he worried she might say no?

  He smiled, and it wobbled. “Nina, will you—”

  She launched herself at him. “Yes!”

  Wyatt stood with her in his arms and kissed her again. “—marry me?”

  Nina grinned at him, and Wyatt burst out laughing.

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed DEAD END, look for these other great books from author Lisa Phillips, available now.

  DOUBLE AGENT

  STAR WITNESS

  MANHUNT

  EASY PREY

  SUDDEN RECALL

  Keep reading for an excerpt from RANCH REFUGE by Virginia Vaughan

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Dear Reader,

  Thank you so much for joining me for my sixth Love Inspired Suspense book! It encourages me greatly to spin an exciting tale interwoven with the truth that God desires to speak into our hearts: He is faithful, and He loves us.

  Nina and Wyatt had a tough road to walk together, and a fierce enemy to face. The same is true of us and the giants we face in our own lives. But God’s heart is to hold us up through it, and to use those experiences to shape us into the people He has called us to be.

  I hope I have many more Love Inspired Suspense books to come, and that you’ll join me for each of them. Until then, God bless you richly.

  If you’d like to email me, my address is lisaphillipsbks@gmail.com. You can also join the mailing list on my website, www.authorlisaphillips.com. I also love to receive letters from readers, and you can write to me c/o Love Inspired Books, 195 Broadway, 24th floor, New York, NY 10007.

  In the strong name of Jesus,

  Lisa Phillips

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