by Lisa Harris
This fight to find West and bring her to the FBI was proving to be tougher than he’d expected. But then, since when had life ever gone to plan? Certainly never, not that he remembered at least. He should be better at rolling with the punches. And entirely more accustomed to being ditched by a woman—both literally and figuratively.
That was nothing new.
To be fair, he couldn’t say he normally tried arresting the women he’d been interested in.
Conversation in lower octaves drifted to him, above the rhythmic heavy fall of his feet, and the sound of every exhale. Two men appeared to his right, far enough away he could just make them out.
He stopped fast, using a downed tree and a copse of bushes for cover as he watched them make their way through the woods toward the stream. Had they seen Hollis? Maybe they were coming to meet her. That meant Will would simply be collateral damage, nothing to lose sleep over, even if he was an FBI agent.
Both men had guns out. Will watched them approach, assessing the situation as he tried to figure out what danger they posed. How to subdue them. How he should go about finding Hollis.
She would be long gone by the time he divested these two of their weapons. Or, if she really was trying to meet up with them, he would finally know the truth. And exactly what kind of person she was.
Will watched for her. Meanwhile, the two men came close enough so that he got a good look at their faces. They were the two guys from the diner. The ones who’d tied him to that chair and smacked him around before setting the diner on fire, trying to burn him to death in the process.
His whole body surged toward them, but Will caught himself before giving away his position. Armed with only pepper spray. While these two both held pistols.
“See her?” That, coming from the one who’d seemed to be in charge back in the diner office.
“Nah,” his friend said. “Maybe it was a deer or something, I just thought it was her.”
“You saw her. Which way was she going?”
The guy waved in the right direction. “Up there.”
“That really narrows it down, genius.” He looked like he wanted to slap his friend up the backside of his head. “Get up there and keep looking. Call me if you spot her.”
“Fine.” He huffed out a breath and trotted away, looking irritated. That left Will with the one he should get revenge on for nearly killing him—and all because he was a Fed. How they’d found that out might be worth asking. If he could question the guy while he pummeled him. Seemed like Hollis genuinely hadn’t known, so he didn’t think she’d sold him out. But someone had—and not knowing who it was would be even more dangerous.
But, first things first. He needed to get this guy subdued, get his gun and phone, and be creative about what to do with him. Will didn’t want to walk the guy back to Last Chance tied up. It would take forever. And he didn’t want to kill the guy. But he couldn’t just leave him walking around, either. The guy likely intended to harm good people.
Which meant Will could allow himself to get creative.
So this was going to be fun.
“I hear you.”
Will didn’t move.
“I hunted with my daddy every weekend, all season, every year of my whole life.” The guy turned slowly. “You think I don’t know when something’s hiding. When I’m being watched.”
Will held still until the guy’s back was turned away from him. He launched up from his hiding spot and raced across the thirty or so feet that separated them.
The man spun, gun up.
Will bobbed and came up with his arm outstretched and sprayed the man in the face with the pepper spray. He cried out, and Will used the distraction and momentary blindness to grab for the gun. Will tackled the man to the ground.
They fell with a grunt. Will slammed his elbow into the man’s nose while he rubbed at his eyes, trying to shove the big FBI agent off at the same time.
Will grabbed the gun and used it to break the guy’s nose.
The guy clasped his face with both hands. Will stood, holding the gun on the man. “Don’t move.”
“What was that…pepper spray?” The guy tried to blink up at him.
“Don’t rub your eyes. You need to rinse them.”
The man called him a couple of choice words.
“That might be true, but you still didn’t manage to kill me.” Will held aim, part of his attention on the woods around him as he waited—and hoped—for the other guy to appear. Or Hollis. He’d have to deal with either. “So, who sent you?”
The man only cried out.
Will held the gun on him with one hand and used the other to flip the guy over. He fought the concept, but with pepper spray in his eyes and facing a rather large FBI agent, there wasn’t much he could do.
The back pocket in his jeans held the man’s wallet. Will pulled it out and flipped it open one handed to find an expired driver’s license and a picture that matched the man in front of him. “Arnold Tenor.”
A biker had been murdered a few months back. Will wondered if Karl Tenor was a relation of this guy.
“So, Arnie. Who do you work for, huh? Who wants the diner destroyed—and me dead?” When he said nothing, Will continued, “Probably someone looking to blame Hollis. Or cashing in on an insurance payment after an FBI agent is found dead inside.”
Will moved down to the man’s boots and pulled them off. He tossed them in the direction of the stream, but didn’t manage to get them into the water. Then he pulled off the man’s belt.
He didn’t want the guy coming after him, and he had a decent amount of payback to dish out. Or wanted to, but probably shouldn’t.
Will had to make sure this guy wasn’t able to attack him before they reached Last Chance. But he also didn’t want to be cruel. Nor did he want to tie the guy up so wolves, or a bear, could find him.
He winced, pocketed the guy’s wallet, and stood.
Then he knocked Arnold out as cleanly as he could, without lasting damage. He’d only be out a couple of minutes. Plenty of time for Will to use the belt to secure his hands together. The man would still have the use of his hands, but it would be awkward. More than the concessions they’d given him when they tried to kill him.
But this was proving to everyone that Will was the better man. After which he would find Hollis and sort this mess out.
Will took his phone and used the man’s thumbprint to unlock it, before taking a few snaps of the man’s face and a few that clearly identified the location of where Arnold could be found. Will disabled the thumb print ID feature straight away, then made sure no one was about to sneak up on him as he made a call.
“Chief Barnes, Last Chance Police Department.” This was his cell number, but probably the number wasn’t labeled in Conroy’s contacts.
“It’s Will.”
Silence. “Who?”
“FBI Special Agent Will Briar. I left with Hollis?” He explained to the very quiet police chief what had happened.
Conroy’s end of the line rustled. “We’re on our way. Stay on this line, and I’ll have Ted trace the call. We’ll find you.”
“Okay, cause I’m looking for Hollis and the other guy. She’s got a broken arm so medical supplies would be good.”
“Copy that.” He heard Conroy relay the information to whoever was with him. “It’ll be thirty minutes.”
“I’m putting the phone in my pocket, but I’ll leave the line open. I need both hands.”
“Copy.”
Will stuffed the phone in his back pocket. He raced in the direction the other man had gone, Arnold Tenor’s friend.
He had to find her. She was either getting away, or that man was here to hurt her. Will didn’t want what had happened to him to happen to anyone else. Least of all Hollis.
A scream up ahead spurned him on. Will held the gun up and ran flat out. He was tempted to pray, which he always did when he needed that little bit of extra help. He’d just never admitted that to anyone. No one should know h
e sometimes thought he might not be able to succeed.
Especially when so much was on the line.
He wanted to get out of Last Chance. Which meant this case had to be over.
There. “Hey!”
The man spun, and Will realized he’d shouted aloud. He lifted his gun. Will lifted his. Shots rang out.
Will dove to the ground, which didn’t feel super good. His feet were almost numb. Everything was stiff, and his hip hurt like crazy from hitting that rock. He rolled over and stopped with his stomach to the ground and both arms stretched out in front of him, finger on the trigger. He fired again.
The shot went wide.
Will heard a whimper, and everything in him stilled. The man hauled Hollis in front of him and turned his gun so it pointed at the side of her neck.
“You want me to kill her, that’s on you.”
Will moved his finger from the trigger.
Hollis’s gaze flew around, and then she found him. A cry escaped her lips. “Will.”
It was the sweetest, most awful sound in the world.
Will stood. “Don’t hurt her. Just let her go, and you can go on your way. No harm. No foul. Go find Arnold and get out of here.”
The old “live to fight another day” tactic was appreciated by a lot of bad guys who knew the cost of the rough lives they lived. Would this one take that olive branch?
The man backed up a step, dragging Hollis with him.
“No way.” The man bit out, “She comes with me.”
Chapter Eleven
“No.” She didn’t want to go with him. And as much as she’d wanted to leave Will behind—and in the past—right now Hollis would prefer to be with him than with this guy, or alone. “I’m not going with you.”
“Then I’ll shoot you right now,” he said to her in a low voice. “And she don’t get paid.”
She? The only “she” Hollis could think he might be talking about was her mother. The one to whom she’d gone for help when she was told Frankie had been kidnapped. She don’t get paid. She hoped that didn’t mean what it sounded like.
There was no time right now to figure it out.
“Will.”
He said, “Let her go.” His expression deadly serious.
“Don’t test me. I’m the one with the power here,” the guy holding onto her said. “So put your gun on the ground. Yeah, put it down.”
Was he making this up as he went along? That was never good. She didn’t want to die. At least not while Frankie was still a kidnap victim. “Don’t do this.”
Will’s mouth shifted. She could see he wanted to do something. But he also felt powerless—she could see it in his eyes. In that moment, despite what was happening to her, she also wanted to help him. Even though he’d arrested her. Even though he’d treated her like a low-life suspect.
Hollis hadn’t seen the documents on the flash drive, but even she knew “criminal conspiracy” couldn’t be good.
Even so, she’d fallen for Phil. But, she also had to concede, at least in part, that she’d fallen for Will. He might argue otherwise, since Phil had been an undercover alias. But there had to be at least a tiny measure of himself in the persona of the man she’d started dating.
The man she’d been prepared to leave.
Hollis wanted to sigh over how complicated her life was right now, but the man holding her squeezed her arm. He jerked her closer to him, and the gun dug into the skin of her neck. “I said put your gun down!”
“You know I’m FBI. We don’t do that.”
Hollis blinked. He was just going to let this guy shoot her? She opened her mouth to beg him to do something when Will lifted his gun up and to the right. He fired off a single shot past the gunman’s shoulder.
She flinched anyway. She let out a squeal and tried to duck away from it.
The gunman moved his weapon away from her to fire at Will. Hollis wrenched herself from his grip as he took aim on the Fed. She stumbled and went down. A gun went off.
Hollis threw her arms over her head and just stayed down. If Will was dead, and that guy was going to kill her or take her like they’d taken Frankie, she didn’t even want to know. Hollis would rather not see it coming.
“Hey.” A gentle hand touched her shoulder.
Hollis flinched and looked over her shoulder but didn’t lower her arms. Will gathered her to him. She was crouched, so she basically just lost her balance and fell into him. Her arms still up. So when he wrapped his arms around her waist, hers lowered to settle on his shoulders. A strong hug. The place of safety she’d first felt with Phil.
But now she felt so much more.
This man was strong where Phil had been malleable. He’d stepped up for her. Put his life on the line.
She’d saved him from that fire and, yes, he’d arrested her. But, he’d been there when their car was run off the road. And now, he’d killed a man for her.
Or so she presumed. Hollis was not going to take a look.
She sighed and his arms tightened around her in a way that was more comforting than anything she’d ever felt before. “What are we going to do?”
Their relationship, if it could be called that, was so mixed up. There was probably no way to unravel it. If he even wanted to help her try. Maybe he still just wanted to take her in to the FBI office for questioning. All so he could close this case.
Will shifted, and he pulled back. He seemed to realize she was in his arms and got all stiff as he stood. “We should get going. There’s no point waiting out here when it’s going to get dark soon.”
He turned away, leaving her to clamber to her feet without assistance. Hollis had to get up one handed. The other one was all swollen now. It did not feel good, and when she rose to her feet, she swayed. Woozy. Will caught her elbow. But he didn’t hug her again.
“I’m okay.”
Will gave her elbow a squeeze and let go like she’d burned his hand.
Of course, she was absolutely not okay, and they both knew it. But that was hardly the point since nothing had been resolved between them.
Apparently, it wasn’t going to be. Will would continue to treat her like a criminal, and Hollis would have to figure out how to save Frankie before everything got worse.
“Hollis!” That was Mia.
“Will!” And Conroy.
They were accompanied by two other officers, both wearing SWAT-type gear. No helmets, though. Just boots and padding, gloves—like they were planning on maybe going rock climbing.
Mia ran straight to her and enveloped her in a hug, but, in doing so, clipped Hollis’s wrist. She tried to hold back a scream.
“Oh no.” The Lieutenant’s voice was slightly louder than it needed to be. Mia was still awaiting a surgery that would hopefully give her a considerable amount of her hearing back. Until then, she was confined to doing paperwork at the office. And doing the lunch run to pick up everyone’s sandwiches from the diner. Lately, at least. Apparently, right now, she was field certified.
“It’s fine.” Hollis made sure her lips moved clearly, so Mia would be able to read them. She lifted her arm and showed Mia. “I think I broke it.”
Mia slid her arm along Hollis’s shoulder and turned them both towards the men. “My friend needs medical attention.” She practically shouted.
They had her sit on an overturned log which probably housed a million bugs underneath. Thinking about them, even though they hadn’t crossed her mind this entire time until just now, was better than how it felt to have her wrist wrapped. Even when the officer handed her an ice pack to put on it. The bizarre mental reprieve was nice.
“Long day, huh?”
The nameplate on his shirt said, BASUTO. He’d responded to the diner fire, and his mother was in the church choir Hollis had tried to join. Mama Basuto was one of the nice, older women at church.
Hollis registered what he’d said and glanced at Will. “I have this feeling it’s not over yet.”
Basuto chuckled. A low rumble that sounded ni
ce.
But Hollis couldn’t relax. And she certainly wasn’t in the place to be soothed. They still had to walk out of here.
Basuto squeezed her shoulder. “Stuart and Dean are on their way with a couple of ATVs, so you’ll be able to get a ride back to town.”
“Did you guys walk?”
“More like ran.” Basuto motioned at Conroy, who was standing beside Will but ignoring the Fed’s attempts to talk to him. “The chief wanted to get here as quickly as possible.”
Conroy nodded, as though to confirm.
Will said, “Someone should go find this guy’s partner. They’re the ones who burned down the diner and attacked me.”
“They are?”
Everyone glanced at her at the same time. Hollis felt the prickle of so much attention all at once on the back of her neck. She glanced down and adjusted the cold pack on her arm.
“I’ll go.” Basuto said, “Soon as Dean and Stuart get here, I’ll pull some supplies together and head out.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Hollis hadn’t been expecting to face Stuart, though she’d spoken with his wife, Kaylee, already today. Why not? After all, she was only supposed to be long gone from town by now.
Instead, she was injured and a whole group of people had come to rescue them.
My friend needs medical attention.
Hollis had never counted Mia a friend. Then again, she didn’t especially count anyone in town as a friend. She had a whole lot of acquaintances and saw many of them every day as they came in and out of the diner. But at the end of her shift, she left alone, and then went home to her apartment. To be alone.
The last thing she’d ever wanted to do was make a plan to be sociable with even more people after a long day at work.
Until Phil.
But that had hardly been real, had it? Now she knew it was a lie. And the people she’d never considered friends before were now claiming her as one. What would her mom have said if she’d heard Mia’s words? Aside from laughing, she’d probably think nothing of it. Her mom didn’t care enough to have an opinion on anything to do with Hollis. Except being jealous of her jacket.
Why was today proving to be so confusing?
