Risky Return (Covert Operatives Book 3)

by Virginia Vaughan

  The frown lines on his face were deep. She didn’t know if it was from pain or worry or both, but she hurried toward the cart and found gauze, tape and antiseptic. “Got it.” The sound of footsteps caught her attention. “Someone’s coming.” She grabbed his arm and led him through a door into the main part of the hospital. He was dragging now and leaning more on her, and Rebecca knew she had to find somewhere to dress his wounds fast.

  She saw a patient room with no name and pushed open the door. The room was dark and empty, just what they needed.

  Collin flicked on the bedside lamp, sat on the bed, removed his jacket and raised his shirt, exposing the wound in the back of his arm.

  “Have you ever cleaned a gunshot wound?” he asked her and once again she was reminded of all he must have seen and done in the years since they’d been apart.

  She shook her head. This was a first for her. He reached for her hand and gave her a slight, pain-riddled smile. “It’s okay. I’ll walk you through it. It’s only a flesh wound.”

  “It’s bleeding a lot, Collin.”

  “That’s just because we’ve been running.”

  He walked her through cleaning the wound and taping it up. As she finished, she couldn’t help but notice the older, faded scars on his back.

  “You’ve been wounded before.”

  She fingered one and felt him shudder beneath her touch. “Once or twice.”

  A tear rolled from her eye as she realized all he’d been through without her. War. Battles. Loneliness.

  She stood in front of him, her hand grazing his cheek as he removed his shirt and looked up at her. All he’d endured seemed to shine in his eyes. He’d been broken and battered, but Collin—her Collin—was still there behind the dark green that stared back at her. “Sometimes you’re just like the man I knew and sometimes you seem like someone completely different.”

  His eyes seemed to search her, digging right through her barriers to the regrets of her soul. “It’s been a long time. I suppose we’ve both changed.”

  She tucked a stray curl behind his ear and he gave a sigh. His hands went around her and he pulled her toward him. He was going to kiss her and if the flutter in her stomach was any indication, she was going to let him.

  “Not again!” an exasperated voice from the doorway said. “Don’t you kids have anything better to do than sneak into hospital rooms and—” The main lights flickered on and the woman in scrubs stopped.

  Rebecca suddenly realized what they must look like to her.

  “Aren’t you two a little old for this?” she asked with a smirk on her face.

  Collin grabbed Rebecca’s hand. “Sorry,” he said as he pulled her out of the room behind him and hurried down the corridor.

  Giggles escaped her as they hurried through the hospital searching for an exit. Collin was grinning, too, at being mistaken for a couple of teenagers.

  “Apparently, they have a problem with kids sneaking in and making out,” he said. “If I’d known that was an option when we were teenagers, we would have definitely done it.”

  She laughed at his humor and he slid his arm easily over her shoulder the way he used to. For a moment, they were those kids again. But the lightheartedness of the moment evaporated once they hit the mugginess of the afternoon air.

  He pulled his arm away and went on high alert once again, his smile replaced by the frown lines on his forehead. “We’re too exposed out on the street. We should find a place to stay.” He motioned toward a hotel that was visible just a block away. “I say we check in there and lay low for a while.”

  As he took her hand and led her down the street, Rebecca couldn’t help but compare the boy she’d known to the man who was with her. She’d loved Collin with all her heart and she hated to think what he’d had to go through these past twelve years, but she was glad for it because she needed the man Collin was now to keep her and Missy safe.

  * * *

  He couldn’t believe he’d almost kissed her! What had he been thinking going down that road again? He could only chalk it up to excessive blood loss and the adrenaline pumping through his veins. That and the sweet scent of her shampoo.

  He’d seen horror in her face at what he’d been through, but it had made him the man he was today, the man who could protect her like he never could have before. He didn’t regret joining the army or any of his missions. He didn’t even regret breaking orders and rushing in with his team to save those in the American embassy three months ago. The only regrets he had were for the people he’d lost. He should have been better.

  He glanced at Rebecca as she checked them into the hotel. He had to do better for her, too. He couldn’t let her down the way he had all those years ago. He’d promised to take care of her, but he couldn’t and she’d lost the baby and her faith in him because of it.

  She approached him with two key cards. “I got us adjoining rooms. I used a prepaid debit card I’d gotten for Missy so no one should be able to trace us here.”

  “Good thinking,” he said, hating the fact that she had to think about details like that...and that he hadn’t thought of it himself. He was supposed to be looking out for her, but now—he grimaced at the pain in his arm—it seemed like it was the other way around.

  They rode the elevator to the third floor then he cleared both rooms and locked the doors behind them, making sure all the locks were set. He closed the drapes before switching on the lamp in her room. It was starting to get dark outside and he could already see the weariness on Rebecca’s face.

  “You should lie down,” he told her. “Time to take one of those pain pills the doctor gave you at the hospital and try to get some rest.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll keep watch.”

  “You need rest, too. You lost a lot of blood.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll be fine. I’ve gone days without sleep while on missions. I’m used to it.”

  “Collin, I’m glad you’re here with me. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t swooped in to rescue me.”

  He smiled. He’d never swooped in his life, but he appreciated the sentiment. Besides, he owed her. “It’s the least I can do for you, Rebecca, after the way I let you down.”

  “What do you mean, the way you let me down?”

  “When we were together. I promised to take care of you, but I—I couldn’t. I’m sorry about that.”

  She stood and walked to him. She touched his arm softly, sending shivers through him. “You never let me down, Collin. I was the one who failed you. I failed us both.”

  He couldn’t believe what she was saying. “How did you ever let me down?”

  “By being what I am—a spoiled little rich girl. If I had taken better care of myself...if I hadn’t been so demanding—”

  “You were never demanding.” In fact, she’d been too agreeable to living in the squalor of all he could afford back then. It had been a far cry from the mansion where she grew up. “You don’t strike me as being a spoiled little rich girl anymore. You’ve built a life for yourself. You’re strong and brave and you should be proud of yourself. I am.” He was the one who’d let her down and she was trying to apologize to him. “You’re tired. Get some rest. No one will bother you. I promise.”

  “Thank you, Collin.” She whispered the words as she crawled onto the bed and drifted off to sleep.

  He watched her. He’d been a terrible husband and provider, but he was a good protector. He’d garnered the skills he needed to keep her safe and even though he would never be able to call her his again, he vowed he would protect her.

  He peeked through the curtains to the street below. The streetlights had come on, illuminating the area, but there was little traffic. He saw nothing that concerned him. Yet. But whoever was after Rebecca would be back. They’d found her several times but this last attack baffled him the most. How h
ad they known where and when they were headed, or that they had taken a cab? Had they been watching when they left Rebecca’s house? Were they tracking them somehow? Through their cell phones? Or was Missy right and someone on the force was involved with the ring? The house had been surrounded by police when the cab arrived.

  Only two people had known where they were going and now one of them was dead. He’d seen the driver’s wound and knew from experience he wasn’t getting back up. Kent was the only other person who’d known they were going to Janice’s house. They hadn’t told anyone else.

  Kent.

  Had his old friend betrayed them to the ring?

  His cell phone rang and he glanced at the caller ID.

  He pressed the answer button. “Hello, Kent.”

  “Collin! Where are you? What happened? We found the cab you left in. The driver’s dead.”

  “Someone ambushed us as we were leaving Rebecca’s cousin’s house.”

  “I know. I’m at the scene now. Where are you? I’ll come and get you.”

  “No. We’re safe for now.” He hated believing his old friend was untrustworthy, but he wasn’t going to risk their lives again by taking a chance and telling him where they were, either.

  He heard the exasperation in Kent’s tone. “Collin, I have a dead man here. I need you and Rebecca to come in and give me a statement. I know she knows what’s going on. It’s time she tells me the truth.”

  The truth?

  He glanced at her, already sleeping on the bed. She was the most truthful person he’d ever known and she had a right to be cautious. His experience with terrorists had taught him that just because someone raised the white flag didn’t mean they were trustworthy.

  But Kent did deserve the truth. “She doesn’t trust you, Kent.”

  Silence filled the other side of the line, then came his stunned response. “What?’

  “She doesn’t trust you and neither do I. Too many things have happened that make us both suspicious of the sheriff’s office.”

  “You think I’m dirty? I’ve known you both since we were kids. How could you think that about me?”

  “People change.” He certainly had. He’d seen too much, especially during his time as a covert operative. Secrets and lies were facts of life. “How did the shooters know we were at Rebecca’s house? Or that we’d taken a cab? Only you knew that.”

  “I would never do anything to hurt Rebecca. I would never—”

  “Look, Kent, right now my goal is just to keep her safe,” Collin said, interrupting his I’m-the-good-guy spiel. He ended the call and turned off the phone so they couldn’t track it then picked up Rebecca’s and shut it off as well. She’d already spoken to Missy earlier. She could turn it on again briefly tomorrow to see if Missy called during the night.

  Then he remembered he needed to contact someone with the FBI to make arrangements. He turned his phone back on long enough to look up a phone number—an old ranger buddy who’d married an FBI agent a few years back and was local. He remembered the connection because they’d both grown up in small towns in Mississippi only to meet thousands of miles away in another part of the world. He jotted down the number then shut off his phone again and grabbed the hotel line, hoping his old friend Josh Adams would remember and help him.

  He did remember Collin and listened as he explained what was going on. “I’m out of the state right now,” he said, “but my wife is still with the FBI. In fact, she heads up a human-trafficking task force, so I know she’ll want to hear what you have to say. I’ll give her your number and have her call you.”

  He gave Josh his cell phone number as well as the number for the hotel room then thanked him and hung up. It felt good to have a contact, someone who knew they were fighting for their lives here. He hoped she would call soon.

  He worked out the scenario of the events in his mind as he stood watch. The ring wasn’t necessarily connected to his hometown, but there had to be a presence close by that Missy had escaped from. An empty warehouse with Mason Industries painted on the side. He’d read that Rebecca’s father had moved much of his manufacturing operations out of the country, where employee wages were lower, but the last he recalled he’d had vast holdings across several states. The empty warehouse could be any one of a number of buildings.

  He shuddered just thinking about the kind of evil that would perpetuate such an idea as to steal a child from one woman and sell it to another. He’d seen that kind of evil and callousness before, but that had been overseas in countries where women were little more than baby makers. This was his country, his state, his very hometown where this kind of malice was operating. It was monstrous.

  He glanced up at the night sky through the curtain and wondered not for the first time where God was in all of this. Had He abandoned them all? Collin deserved what he got. He’d let too many people down with his failures. But Rebecca didn’t deserve this. She was good and pure and innocent, and she’d suffered unbearably all because she’d chosen to place her trust in him.

  * * *

  The sun was up when Rebecca awoke. Her muscles were stiff but she was relatively pain-free, something she hadn’t felt in two days.

  She heard voices and sat up, scanning the room. She didn’t see Collin. She walked toward the door to the adjoining room and the sounds increased. He’d pulled it shut but not all the way, so they could still communicate.

  Suddenly, the door opened and he appeared, holding a tray full of food.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I ordered us breakfast.”

  He set the tray on the table and she took a chair, her stomach growling at the scent of scrambled eggs and freshly fried bacon.

  “It smells delicious. I’m starving.”

  He poured himself a cup of coffee, which surprised her. He hadn’t drunk the stuff when they were together, but it wasn’t the only thing about him that was different. His morning stubble was fuller and darker, and his hair was curlier. She’d seen him run his hands through it several times and thought that probably accounted for the curls. He was bigger, fuller, a man instead of a boy, yet she still saw the face of the kid who’d stolen her heart.

  She dug into her eggs and tried to tromp those memories away. The things she’d felt for Collin once were shadows, figments of a past that wasn’t nearly as rosy as she remembered it. He’d broken her heart and proven himself untrustworthy. She could never take that risk again. Why then did she instinctively trust him so much?

  “So what is our plan?” she asked him.

  “I called an old friend last night. His wife is an FBI agent. Once I hear back from her, we’ll set up a meeting so she can interview Missy and hear about the evidence you collected.”

  She sighed. “Maybe I should have just taken it to Kent to begin with. Maybe none of this would have happened.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  He took a swig of his coffee but she saw doubt in his eyes that he tried to hide with the coffee mug.

  “Now you don’t trust him? Why?”

  He grimaced. “I don’t have a reason, just a gut feeling. I was thinking about it last night and he was the only one who knew where we were headed. How could someone know how to target us unless they knew where we were and which direction we were going?”

  She hadn’t thought about that, but it made sense. Kent had been the one to ask her where she would be staying and he’d seen them drive away in the cab. Still, they’d known Kent Morris all their lives. But Missy was terrified of cops and Rebecca’s gut had told her to hold back what she knew about the kidnapped girl’s reappearance. Would Kent really have a total stranger killed? But if he was cold enough to be involved in kidnapping girls and stealing their children, what was murder?

  “So we’re not trusting Kent, right?”

  “Right. I say we lay low until we hear back from the FBI. Once we do, we’ll
grab Missy and get out of town. I don’t want to give anyone else the opportunity to target you.” He pulled out his phone and powered it up. “I’m ordering a rental car, and I’ll need to stop by my mom’s house to pick up something.”

  She pushed away her food, her stomach suddenly churning with anxiety. They were effectively on the run from everyone she’d ever known, unable to know who to trust and who not to trust, including her own family.

  She longed for nothing more than to place her faith in God and know that everything was going to work out. She had once, but that had been a long time ago, back before she’d lost both Collin and her baby. Since that time, she’d gone through the motions, going to church and singing, but it was all surface. She had no faith in the Lord to help her. She’d been hurt too many times to believe the Lord was on her side.

  She reached for her phone and saw it was turned off. Collin quickly explained why and his reasoning made sense to her.

  “Okay if I see if Missy has called?”

  “Sure, but make it brief. We don’t need Kent and the locals tracking us down before we can reach the FBI.”

  She powered up her phone and noticed she had several missed calls and multiple text messages. Many of them were from Kent asking where they were and wondering if they were safe. Others were from family and friends who’d heard about the drive-by shooting and were checking up on her. But one message stood out, sent just an hour ago from her father.

  Come to the hospital. Janice was attacked at her home this morning.

  FIVE

  Collin didn’t like the idea of going to the hospital, but he knew he wasn’t going to talk Rebecca out of seeing her cousin. He needed to stop at his mom’s house to get his weapons. He should have thought to put one in his car, but he hadn’t been back there since the second attack on Rebecca and he wasn’t keen on keeping them unsecured in the back of his car at a busy hospital. He would have to make getting over there a priority. Right after Rebecca saw her cousin.