She eased open the door slowly, wincing at the slight creak of the hinges. She didn’t know how soon anyone would arrive in the office, so she needed to do a quick, cursory glance. She noticed Judge Mitchell seemed to suffer from the same affliction for disorganization as Judge O’Connor and shuddered. She prayed her time in the District Court would be brief, because she didn’t want to invest the insane amount of energy it would take to get Judge Mitchell even close to being organized.
With multiple stacks of papers and files, Evie would need a miracle to pinpoint anything tied to Judge O’Connor. Spying a stack of envelopes in a tray labeled “mail,” Evie moved toward it quickly but drew up short when she heard a noise coming from the outer hallway. She wanted to go through the mail desperately, but she couldn’t afford to get caught. She had another few days to dig in deep, and she would use every moment possible.
Flipping off the light switch, she hurried out the door, making sure it locked behind her. She sprinted to the area she had assumed would be her space for the short time she would be there and waited anxiously for the office suite door to open. When a couple of minutes passed, she growled with frustration. Of course, it had to be a false alarm. I just needed a little more time!
After a few moments of pacing, she began to peek in the file cabinets and cringed at the organization structure. She hoped they found a replacement, soon, or she would quickly lose her mind. It didn’t take long for her to discover a coffee pot in a small breakroom, and after rummaging around in the most illogical places, she found the filter, coffee, and sugar.
She eyed the refrigerator with trepidation and glanced at her watch. Twenty minutes until eight. She hoped the judges were punctual and showed up on time, though she knew many didn’t begin their days until nine. Carefully rolling up her sleeves, she drew a deep breath and held it when she opened the refrigerator door.
Even though she tried to breathe through her mouth, the scent of something rotten nearly made her eyes water. She began to purge the contents of the fridge, then dug up a cleaning cloth, soap, and bleach, and went to work scrubbing the interior until the foul odor went away. The entire breakroom needed serious help, but she couldn’t tackle everything on her first day.
“You must be Evie.”
Lost in the hum of the fridge, Evie squeaked at the voice and jumped, banging her head on the freezer door overhead. She rubbed the back of her head furiously to ease the sting as she stood and searched for the source of the voice.
A tall, statuesque woman stood in the breakroom doorway, holding a disposable cup of coffee from a popular coffee shop not far away. Her eyes were wide in her face, her mouth forming a small circle. “I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No,” Evie chuckled at herself. “I kind of got lost in my little project here. My mind must have been a thousand miles away.”
“Or only a little over a hundred.”
“What?”
“You sure you weren’t thinking about Francis and wondering how she’s getting by without you?” The woman arched a perfectly styled eyebrow. She stepped into the breakroom and extended a hand to Evie. “I’m Judge Mitchell. Francis brags about you non-stop. We’re grateful to have you, even if it is only for a little while.”
Evie flushed, hating that her new boss found her buried in the refrigerator scrubbing like a madwoman. “Oh, hi! I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to get started on, and since no one was here yet I thought I’d take advantage of the time to get a little cleaning done.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you found a fully-functional disease factory growing inside there. I don’t think it has been cleaned in years. I’m grateful, but it certainly isn’t your responsibility to clean up our mess.” Her brilliantly rich brown eyes traveled around the room and landed on the coffee pot. “You made coffee! Do you make good coffee? If so, you truly are a gift for our group. We run on caffeine all day.”
Evie shrugged as she rolled her sleeves down and buttoned them. “I try. Judge O’Connor claims my coffee is the best she’s ever had.”
“You have no idea how high her standards are. That’s tremendous praise from her. She and I practically lived in a café while studying for exams in law school.”
“She mentioned you’ve known each other for quite some time. I’m honored to work with you.”
Judge Mitchell looked at her speculatively. “Francis didn’t like the idea of letting you leave. She also mentioned you’d probably hate Corpus as much as she does and resent being here with us.”
Evie chuckled and shook her head. “Not at all. I truly am honored to work with you. Judge O’Connor speaks very highly about you. You have a true fan.”
Judge Mitchell waved a hand in her face as though she might faint. “Flattery and the promise of good coffee in the morning? I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to let you go. And I think you’ll love being in a bigger city. I used to live in Houston, so Corpus feels a little too small to me.” She turned and began to walk out of the room. “Come with me. There’s a lot to show you, and the clock is already ticking. Time is going to fly by.”
* * *
All of the previous afternoon and in the dark of the night, Francis mapped out every possible scenario, yet none came back with a satisfactory answer. Over a week ago she had taken a huge chance, hoping it would pay off and she’d finally have the answers she wanted and so desperately needed to put an end to her time-consuming, soul-crushing project. Instead, her attempt to bring peace and safety to not only the people of America but also to those suffering from the treatment of the criminal leaders south of the border had fallen apart.
Her last attempts to get concrete evidence had been Friday. She knew she had stumbled upon something critical, and to gain the trust of someone who seemed to have all the critical connections she needed, she paid a very steep price.
Monday morning, she learned how steep the price had been. Someone had discovered her real identity, and she lost all control over the research and data she had been building for nearly two years. All of it devastated her, but nothing more than the identity of the person behind it all.
She prayed Evie had built enough security within the dark web site to prevent a skilled hacker from gaining access to the hidden files. She felt certain, though, that someone knew the files existed but couldn’t see the data hidden by all of the elements Evie had built. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her nerves.
With the power out of her hands, she knew he’d come after her to kill her. She had finally found him, finally uncovered his secrets, and he wouldn’t let her live with such knowledge. If she told Santo everything, he would move mountains to protect her, but she knew how ruthless the men she had angered were. She couldn’t let anyone know for their safety. Even Santo.
She had so much to accomplish and so little time to do it. She turned on the camera on her computer and began to speak, pouring her heart out through her words. She asked for help, action, and courage. More than anything, she asked for forgiveness. Once she finished recording three messages, she took the flash drive for each and placed them in separately addressed envelopes.
Everything she had done existed on the flash drives. She’d already scrubbed her computer completely clean, so the only way anyone could find the information she had would be through the flash drives. Even if he threatened to torture her, she’d never give the bastard any answers he wanted.
She began to seal one of the envelopes, then hesitated, picturing the way the package would be received. Willing her hand to steady, she began to write a lengthy letter, and by the time she finished, tears slipped down her cheeks. She never thought things would end with such madness. She never thought she would lose control over everything.
Santo had warned her though. He had sensed it, and she knew he had been right, but she hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself. She wanted to believe she could crack open the illegal underbelly all on her own and be part of taking down a great manipulator. Only—she had been manipulate
d into playing his game.
She signed the letter with a flourish and slid it inside the package and sealed the three envelopes. She had had a stack of other letters to be sent out sitting on the edge of her desk. Everything had to fall into place at the right time or every step she had taken for the last two years had been completely pointless.
She stepped out of her office and closed the door firmly behind her. Nancy sat at Evie’s desk, squinting at a note Francis had written for her over an hour earlier to schedule a meeting for the following day. She clenched her teeth together to stop herself from yelling at the woman. She made an excellent County Clerk, yet had little to no knowledge of how to manage the day-to-day minutia that made up the life of a county judge.
“Nancy, thank you for your help today. I’m going to run an errand and grab some lunch. You’ll probably be gone by the time I get back.”
Nancy glanced at her watch. “I should have left about thirty minutes ago, to be honest. I haven’t been able to get this meeting scheduled for you, though. Will you be okay setting it up yourself?”
Francis forced a smile to her lips. “Yes. Of course. Enjoy the rest of your day.” She moved quickly down the short corridor to the stairs, keenly aware of anyone watching her or following her. Fortunately, no one seemed interested in her comings and goings at the moment.
She could easily walk to the post office, but the idea of being out in the open and so vulnerable made her skin crawl. For the first time in her life, she wished she had followed up on her weapons training and gone for her license to carry a concealed handgun.
She parked at the back of the post office and kept the three packages and other letters concealed in her purse. Only one person stood behind the counter and no one else waited to be served. She stepped up, smiling at the postal employee who appeared to be sorely overworked. “I have some items I need to mail,” she began and pulled everything from inside her purse. “It’s very important that none of this is mailed out before Monday morning.”
The employee looked confused. “Are you asking me to just hold onto these items before sending them out? If I send this regular mail Monday morning, it, won’t be delivered until Wednesday morning.”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I need. If there’s some sort of fee involved to make that happen, I’ll gladly pay it.”
“No. No fee. Usually, we have people coming in asking for us to get stuff sent out faster, not slower, that’s all. I can put these in the bin for Saturday afternoon and no one will touch it until then.”
“Perfect.” After paying the shipping charges for the packages, she returned to the office and began to organize the final things she had to do to be ready. Evening descended and she fought the temptation to call Santo. He could help her. He had been trained to battle many different circumstances, and he just might be able to get her to safety. The thought of putting his life at risk for hers, though, made her stomach twist in knots.
She wouldn’t go down without a fight, though. She knew her odds of surviving were slim to none. She needed to get away from the courthouse and lure whoever had been sent after her far enough away no one else could get hurt.
She stared through her open door at Evie’s desk and felt relief she had gone to Corpus. She couldn’t stand the thought Evie getting hurt while trying to protect her from the mistakes she had made. She knew Evie would stay by her side to the very end if she thought she could protect her—hell, probably even if she didn’t think she could protect her. Her loyalty knew no limits.
The sun dipped lower and she grabbed her bag. She had to leave before it became too late. Suddenly she felt strangely calm. She knew she had created her fate, and she had also done everything in her power to right the wrongs she had created. She only hoped she had chosen the right people to take the information and stop the madness once and for all.
A noise downstairs jerked her to a stop in her doorway. It had sounded like a loud thud on the ground. She had waited too long. She had miscalculated how quickly someone would come for her. Trapped in the courthouse, she knew she had no choice than to call Santo.
“Francis? Are you all right?” His deep timbered voice with the beautiful Venezuelan accent she had loved from the first time she met him brought another level of calm.
“I’ve made a terrible mistake, Santo. You were right. Of course you were right. Have you ever been proven wrong?” She laughed and wondered if she might be losing her hold on her sanity given she knew what lay ahead of her.
“Francis, what’s wrong? Have you been drinking?”
“No, though I wish I had some great Tito’s Vodka right now. Do you remember the first time we got our hands on a bottle? With all the mischief you were always dragging me into, it’s a miracle I ever became a judge.” She realized she had started to ramble, and she couldn’t afford the luxury. She tiptoed to the door of her office and closed it, securing the lock. It wouldn’t hold anyone back for too long, but it gave her a little time.
“Franny, you’re starting to freak me out. I’m getting in the truck now. I should be there in less than thirty minutes.”
“I should have called you sooner. There isn’t enough time.”
“What the hell is going on? Are you hurt? Has someone hurt you?”
“No.” She choked back the tears burning the back of her throat. “Not yet.”
“Not yet?” Through the phone, she heard his tires spinning out on pavement as he came off the dirt road. He had to be driving exceedingly fast. “Where exactly are you? Are you at your home? Do you have all of the deadbolts latched?”
“No. I thought I’d have enough time to get away, but I underestimated them. I’m at the courthouse.”
“Franny, talk me through all of this. What is going on? Why do you think someone is going to hurt you?”
“It’s just like you said. I got in over my head. Crap, Santo, I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I could present it to you and Admiral Haslett on a silver platter. I got too arrogant. I thought I had control, but I gave it all up.”
Another sound from the first floor drew her attention and a cold sweat broke out over her body. “I have to get ready, Santo. My time has run out.”
“What are you talking about, Francis? Damnit, answer my questions!”
“You’ll always be a brother to me. I’ll never forget everything you’ve done. Promise me you’re going to follow this through to the end. Please, Santo, promise me.”
“I promise. For the love of…I don’t even know what I’m promising, Francis, but I’ll promise you if that means you’ll hide from whoever is coming and wait for me to get there.”
“I’m going to fight. I’m not going to give up. But I know what I’m facing. Just promise. I know I’m asking a lot of you right now, but my time is running out. Can I trust you, Santo?”
Several colorful Spanish curses flew from his lips. “Yes, Francis. You can trust me. You can always trust me. Please tell me what is going on. Please!”
“Thank you, Santo. You’re a better person than I could ever dream of being.” Santo still yelled into the phone as she ended the call.
Chapter 11
Santo drove like a man possessed. All of his suspicions that Francis had been in way over her head had been confirmed in the short phone call. Yet, as fearful as he felt for Francis, his stomach churned with terror for Evie. She always stayed at the courthouse late with Francis, and the multiple horrific images that ran through his head made him drive even faster. Evie had to be okay. He didn’t know what he would do if she wasn’t.
He didn’t know what he would encounter when he arrived and knew it would be foolish to enter the situation unprepared. As he’d been on the phone with Francis he’d given simple hand signals to the team and the men all knew what to do. Buzz rode shotgun next to him while Brusco, Phantom, and Lobo sat in the back. Stryker and Snap stayed back at the ranch to provide any technical support and help with coordinating the involvement of Sheriff Verduzco if necessary.
; They parked a block away from the courthouse and split apart. Phantom and Lobo headed towards the rear of the building while Santo, Buzz, and Brusco approached the front. Each had their handguns ready, scanning their surroundings for any potential threat. Santo recognized Francis’s car in the parking lot and one other. He had checked the plates on the vehicles that had been at the courthouse the last time he had been there and knew the car belonged to the security guard.
The lights were still on inside the building, and Santo clung to the hope that the security guard had been able to stop whoever Francis had said had arrived, and that he would find Evie shaken but safe. Buzz and Brusco fanned out on either side of the doors to enter and he gave them a curt nod. With smooth, precise movements, they kicked in the door, and Santo advanced. His heart sank when he saw the security guard lying prone on the floor. He had pulled his gun but hadn’t fired.
Brusco signaled to them he would tend to the security guard. Santo and Buzz nodded, not making a sound since the person responsible for the downed security guard could still be in the building. They climbed the stairs quickly, their boots not making a sound.
Santo had been on many missions where the variables were unknown and braced himself for any possibility. He held his handgun at the ready, checking every corner and potential hiding spot before moving forward. Finally, they came to Evie’s desk and Santo had to swallow the bile in his throat at the destruction around her desk. He didn’t see her anywhere, and his heart raced in his chest. Then his eyes fell upon Francis’s office and he saw her legs lying on the floor beside her desk.
Buzz headed down one of the short corridors to make sure they were alone, checking each office as he went. Santo moved in towards Francis’s office, and his heart squeezed painfully when he saw a large pool of blood spreading under her desk. He wanted to rush to her, but he’d be no use to her if he got himself killed because he didn’t follow the steps that had been drilled into him for years.
Protected in His Arms: Elite Texas SEALs Page 10
