Valiant Defender

by Shirlee McCoy

  This wasn’t right.

  None of it.

  The light in the hall outside the apartment had been on.

  The last time a circuit had blown, it had been out.

  This made no sense... Unless someone had entered her apartment and removed light bulbs or cut lines.

  She went cold at the thought, her skin crawling as she walked to the door. She told herself not to run, because if someone was in the apartment, she didn’t want him to know she suspected it.

  Someone?

  Boyd. If Boyd were in the apartment...

  “Please, God,” she whispered.

  “I don’t think He hears you,” a deep voice responded.

  She whirled around, ready to fight.

  Pain exploded through her head, and she fell into nothingness.

  ELEVEN

  There’d been no red rose. He’d spent an hour searching the sidewalks near the school, and he’d come up empty. When Justin tried to find the airman who’d called in the report, he couldn’t. She hadn’t given her name, hadn’t offered an address, and the phone number she’d called from was unlisted. He suspected the phone was prepaid and impossible to trace.

  Thinking about that had kept him from sleeping.

  No sleep led to a bad mood that no amount of cafeteria coffee seemed able to ease. He dumped a packet of sugar into his cup and took a sip.

  That wasn’t doing it for him, either.

  Not that his mood would have been stellar if he’d gotten a full eight hours. He’d made a jerk of himself with Gretchen last night, taking offense because she hadn’t been willing to step out in faith with him. He could blame that on fatigue as well, but he didn’t make a habit of lying to himself.

  Over the past few months, he and Gretchen had built a rapport and a relationship, and he’d been intrigued enough to want to try for more. After spending the afternoon with her, he’d thought she’d felt the same. They’d clicked, fitted together like two halves of a whole, and it had felt as right to him as sunrise in the morning or snow in the winter.

  She obviously hadn’t felt the same.

  If she had, she’d have been more willing to let go of the past and step into the future. Whatever it brought.

  At least, that was how he’d felt last night.

  In the cold hard light of day, he wasn’t as convinced.

  He set his coffee on the conference room table and glanced at the clock. Ten o’clock, and, as if on cue, the door opened and Westley and Felicity walked in. They both looked tired but happy.

  “Good morning,” Felicity said cheerfully, grabbing a mug and pouring coffee for herself and Westley. “Any news from Oliver? I was hoping that a miracle occurred, and the FBI located the Olio kingpin. The crime ring needs to go down for what it did to our dogs.”

  “Were they injured?” he asked, eager for a report from Westley now that he’d had a chance to get the three German shepherds examined by the base vet.

  “No, but they’re traumatized. It’s going to take some time for them to get acclimated.” Westley pulled a chair out for Felicity and then took a seat, his dog, Dakota, settling down beside him.

  “Fortunately, we can give them that,” Felicity said, glancing around the room and frowning.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Where’s Yvette?”

  “She’s not here?” Ava stepped into the room, Roscoe loping beside her. If she was tired from the late night, it didn’t show.

  “Maybe she didn’t realize we were meeting?” Justin offered.

  It was strange.

  Since Boyd had been on the loose, she’d been at every meeting regarding the Red Rose Killer. The fact that she’d received a rose from him had made her a part of the group.

  “How’s everyone?” Vanessa Gomez asked as she walked into the room. A nurse who worked at the base hospital, she’d nearly been killed by a Red Rose Killer copycat. She’d become involved in the quest to stop Boyd when she’d thought she was his target. Even after she’d learned the truth, she’d remained part of the team. Tech Sergeant Linc Colson was right behind her with Nick Donovan. Oliver was back in Houston working on the Olio ring, so everyone on the team was accounted for.

  Except one.

  Gretchen hadn’t arrived.

  He glanced at the clock again—10:10 a.m. Not exceptionally late, but Gretchen was always early. His mood took a nosedive, the rose and the airman who’d reported it nagging at the back of his mind. He should have stopped by her apartment and offered her a ride. He had told her not to leave the house without an escort, but he’d been preparing for the meeting and time had gotten away from him.

  And he’d assumed she’d call.

  That she’d realize the seriousness of the situation and agree to his plan.

  “Is Gretchen coming?” Linc asked, his attention on the empty seat.

  “She was really tired last night. We’ve had a couple of long days,” he hedged.

  “Want me to call her?” Vanessa asked, pulling out her cell phone.

  “I told her she could skip if she wanted to,” Justin admitted, and the team went silent. No more quiet conversation. No more rustling papers as they looked through the case notes he’d put together for them.

  “You told her she didn’t have to attend?” Nick asked. “Why?”

  “I already explained that,” he replied, glancing at the clock again. Fifteen minutes after the meeting was supposed to begin, and she still wasn’t there. And if he knew anything about Gretchen, it was that she didn’t skip meetings and she never shirked responsibility.

  She should be there.

  She wasn’t, and the team was right to be concerned.

  “But you’re right. It’s not like her to not show.” He pulled out his cell phone and called, waiting impatiently for her to pick up.

  She didn’t, and the unsettled feeling in his gut intensified.

  “She’s not home?” Ava asked.

  Like Justin, the team knew Gretchen’s work ethic.

  “Not answering,” he corrected.

  “Who’s not answering?” Oliver walked into the room, crossing to Ava and setting his hands on his fiancée’s shoulders.

  “Gretchen,” she responded, looking up to meet his eyes. “What are you doing here? I thought you were staying in Houston.”

  “Just until we got the information we needed. And we did. We picked up Rusty’s friend last night. He’s singing like a canary. We got several names and addresses. We also went to a storage unit he told us about. We found all the equipment needed to counterfeit currency. We put out an arrest warrant for the owner of the property, brought him in and got a list of names. We have a dozen people in custody.”

  “That’s wonderful!” Ava said.

  It was. If the FBI hadn’t completely shut down Olio, they’d put a huge dent in its operations. Even if it managed to limp along for a while longer, it wouldn’t survive.

  “So, what’s going on with Gretchen?” Oliver asked, taking the empty seat.

  “She’s not here,” Ava responded. “Which isn’t typical. She’s usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.”

  “I’ve noticed that about her.” Oliver frowned. “You tried to call her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Maybe the next step is going to her apartment. If she’s there, we can have the meeting at her place.”

  It was a better idea than sitting around hoping she’d show up.

  Justin stood, grabbing his coffee and notebook. “Quinn, heel.”

  He left the room, the rest of the team filing out behind him.

  The apartment’s parking lot was nearly empty, and Justin spotted Gretchen’s car easily. Parked where it usually was. Just a few spaces away from the lobby door.

  He jumped out of the SUV, not bothering to wait for the r
est of the team. His heart was racing, adrenaline coursing through him, telling him something was wrong.

  He released Quinn and ran into the building, bypassing the elevator and taking the stairs two at a time. He made it to the third floor in seconds, shoving open the stairwell door and running into the hall.

  He realized her door was open before he reached it.

  He could see a sliver of darkness beyond the well-lit hallway and his heart sank. He rapped on the door, stepping inside as it swung open.

  Quinn growled deep in his throat, his shoulders hunched with tension as he lunged against his leash.

  “Find,” Justin commanded, releasing the dog, letting him bound through the living room. He ran down the hall and scratched at a closed door.

  Justin knocked. When he got no answer, he turned the handle and walked into the room. And he saw the long-stemmed rose lying in the middle of the bed. There was a note beside it, the letters scrawled in thick black marker—You’re next.

  “He has her.” He whirled around, nearly knocking Westley off his feet as he retraced his steps down the hall. Quinn was ahead of him, sniffing the floor, the walls, the couch.

  “The light is out,” Nick said, flicking a switch near the door.

  The words barely registered. Justin couldn’t think of anything else but Gretchen. If anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.

  “This one, too,” Oliver said, glancing under the lampshade, then dragging a chair into the hall and checking the light fixture there. “No bulb. Looks like someone was here ahead of her, and made sure she was in the dark.”

  “How about we name that someone?” Justin said through gritted teeth. “Boyd has her. I’m taking Quinn to see if we can find their trail.”

  “Hold on.” Nick grabbed his arm before he could leave. “I don’t think running off half-cocked is going to help anything.”

  “It’s better than standing around hoping something turns up.”

  His phone rang, and he grabbed it, glancing at the number.

  Unknown caller.

  He knew, though. Before he answered. Before he heard Boyd’s voice.

  “Hello,” he barked, and Boyd chuckled.

  “You sound cheerful this morning.”

  “Where is she?”

  “If you’re talking about your girlfriend, she’s in a safe place. For now.”

  “Let me speak to her,” he demanded, his tension making Quinn pace restlessly. The dog was feeding off his energy. If they were going to search effectively, Justin needed to dial it down.

  “Sorry. I call the shots now. You want to talk to her, you’ll have to find her.”

  “I don’t like hide-and-seek.”

  “I do. So, you have until midnight to figure this out. If you don’t. She dies.” He disconnected, and Justin was tempted to toss the phone across the room. Breaking it wouldn’t achieve his goal, though.

  And his goal was to find Gretchen.

  The team had gathered around him, everyone waiting for him to make a decision or give a command.

  He took a steadying breath, forced himself to focus. “He has her, and he’s playing games again. He’s given me until midnight to find her.”

  “Did he give you any clues?” Ava asked.

  “Not this time. Our best option is to take the dogs out and start searching.”

  “Where? On base?” Nick walked into the bedroom and grabbed the pillow, holding it out for Annie to sniff.

  “Could he have gotten back on base without gate security stopping him?” Vanessa asked.

  “He could have if he were in the trunk of a car that belonged to someone who had ID.” Justin had taken the pillow and was holding it in front of Quinn’s nose. The dog inhaled deeply, his tail wagging.

  He knew Gretchen.

  He liked her.

  Please, God, let Quinn be able to find her.

  “I know we’re in a hurry, and you don’t have time to waste,” Vanessa said. “But I keep going back to the conference room and those snacks. A couple of months ago Gretchen and I followed Yvette, remember? We were trying to see if she was helping Boyd.”

  “Right,” Justin said. “I remember, but she wasn’t caught doing anything out of the ordinary. She’s clean.”

  “Or she overheard the plans and made sure she didn’t do anything suspicious. Think about it. Lately she’s always at headquarters. Always. Every time I turn a corner it seems like she’s there.”

  It was true. Justin had noticed the same thing. “That makes her nosy. Not guilty,” he said, but he was thinking about the missing snacks, too. Thinking about the phone call last night and the report of the rose on the sidewalk in front of the high school. All of it timed just right. If Boyd had been in the apartment, he’d have heard Gretchen return. He’d have realized Justin was with her, and he could have easily hidden somewhere, called someone and had the false report made.

  Yvette had dated him when they were in basic training.

  She’d broken up with him, but Justin remembered the relationship—how eager she’d been to please Boyd. How callous he’d been to her.

  He’d been relieved when Boyd was dishonorably discharged, and hopeful that Yvette would find someone who treated her better.

  Had she contacted him while he was in prison?

  Or had he reached out to her after he escaped?

  If so, she’d probably been a willing pawn, eager for a relationship. She was also knowledgeable about the base. Well liked by everyone.

  “You’re thinking what I’m thinking,” Oliver said, and Justin met his eyes.

  “Yvette,” he said, because he knew they were on the right track. “She’d have been able to get past gate security easily. She was at headquarters when I broke radio silence, and she probably called Boyd immediately. I gave the coordinates, so he’d have had no trouble finding the cave. She drove off base in her car, met him and they drove to the state highway together. She could easily have gotten him on base in the trunk of her car. He got into Gretchen’s apartment and waited for her to return.”

  “Then what?” Vanessa asked. “There aren’t a lot of places on base where he could hide her. Plus, transporting her wouldn’t be easy. She’s tall, and she knows to fight. If he managed to knock her out, he’d still have the problem of getting her out of the building without anyone noticing.”

  “Maybe he didn’t take her out of the building,” Ava said. When they all turned a questioning eye to her, she explained. “Yvette lives on the fourth floor.”

  “In this apartment complex?” Justin asked, his heart slamming against his ribs, his muscles tight with the need to act.

  “In this building. I was there last year. She offered a healthy cooking class to people on the K-9 Search and Rescue team. She’s in 418. It’s on this side of the building and has a balcony that looks over the parking lot. Just like that one.” She gestured toward the sliding glass door that opened out onto a small deck.

  “Let’s go.” Westley headed for the door, but Justin grabbed his arm.

  “If he hears us coming, he’ll kill her for the fun of it.”

  “Then what’s the plan?”

  Good question, and Justin needed to come up with an answer. One that would keep the team safe, keep Gretchen safe and bring Boyd and Yvette to justice.

  He walked to the sliding glass door but didn’t open it. If Boyd or Yvette were watching, he didn’t want to give them any hint that he planned to access Yvette’s apartment. It was just above Gretchen’s, and should be easy enough to enter. If they were careful.

  Stealth was the key, and he and Quinn were good at it. They’d ascend the fire escape and cut through the sliding glass door. He had the tool in his tactical vest. All he needed was a diversion.

  “We pretend to do what we’d be doing if we didn’t think Gretchen was in this building.
Team up. Take the dogs out. I’ll take Quinn around to the east wing of the apartment complex and go in through the service door there. The basements are connected, and I should be able to access this wing easily.”

  “You don’t think we’re going to let you do this alone, do you?” Westley said. “Because that’s not going to happen. You may be the captain of the team, but we plan together and we execute together.”

  “You’re all going to be my diversion. Create plenty of radio traffic. Make things up if you have to, but make sure it sounds like we’re out searching, still trying to figure out where Gretchen’s being held. Unless I miss my guess, Yvette has a scanner in her apartment. She’s probably been monitoring our team for months.”

  “What I’m hearing you say,” Oliver said, “is that you’re planning to do this alone.”

  “Quinn and I are going to climb up the fire escape and access the balcony that way. I’ll need someone to go to the front door and offer a distraction. Yvette didn’t show up at the office today. That’s a good enough excuse to do a well check.” He glanced around at the group. “But we’ll need to be careful. Boyd isn’t stupid. He’s going to be hard to surprise.”

  “Isaac can do it,” Vanessa said. “I texted him and asked him to bring Beacon.”

  Justin nodded. Her fiancé, Isaac Goddard, was a senior airman and former fighter pilot. He’d returned from Afghanistan with PTSD and the desperate desire to bring home the German shepherd that had saved his life while he was overseas. It had taken months and a lot of red tape, but Beacon had finally been flown to the base. While Isaac was waiting, he’d saved Vanessa from an attacker and had been instrumental in stopping an air force psychiatrist who had been selling drugs on the black market and treating his patients with placebos. Justin had found Isaac to be smart, tough and quick thinking. Beacon was proving to be an excellent therapy dog for him, but Isaac wasn’t content to get the therapy certification. He’d been training Beacon in obedience and protection. The shepherd was as smart as any of the dogs they had in the kennel.