Undercover Protection

by Maggie K. Black

  It was Moses the cat.

  She willed her beating heart to calm.

  “Jay?” she tried again. “Where are you?”

  Lord, please may he be all right.

  Then she heard the sound of a gunshot split the air.

  * * *

  Jay froze, lying outside on the ground, with his body pressed against the damp earth and a single bright beam of light stretching across the ground directly between him and the hole in the wall through which Leia had just disappeared. He felt a cat skim past his body, scampering over his back before leaping down and brushing against his legs. Then it disappeared into the darkness.

  Jay held his breath and prayed for help. He couldn’t risk moving until the man who’d dropped the flashlight picked it up again. Otherwise, he’d crawl right through the beam of light. But if the man swung the light in his direction when he grabbed it, his next bullet could have Jay’s name on it.

  “Hold your fire!” Ben shouted, his words laced with profanities.

  “I saw someone!” Willie snapped and swore.

  “It was a cat!” Ben said. “You shot at a cat and almost hit it!”

  “It was a man!”

  “Then where is he?”

  Jay lay as still as he could and kept his body tucked against the wall, waiting for the flashlight beam to move.

  “We’re not supposed to kill her,” Ben shouted.

  A chill ran down Jay’s spine. Yeah, Ben had said that before, but it hadn’t really hit Jay until now. By “she” did they mean Leia’s mother? Or Leia herself? And why did Franklin need either of them alive?

  “I told you, it was a man!” Willie roared like he was moments away from physically punching the younger man. “You don’t get a say in what happens to who here. Your job is to be quiet and tell us if you see anyone.”

  He snatched up his flashlight. Its beam bounced across the wall inches in front of Jay.

  “You shot at a cat!”

  The bickering voices began to fade as the two criminals walked down toward the front of the house. And even though Jay knew he’d left Leia alone in the basement, part of him fought the urge to follow. He needed to hear more.

  Instead, he crawled as fast as he could to the hole in the wall through which Leia had disappeared and as he drew closer he could hear her whispering his name.

  He slid his body beside it and looked in. There was Leia, faintly lit by an unseen light source, fear and worry filling her eyes.

  She slid her hands over her lips as if to stop herself from crying out. “Jay!”

  “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “You okay?” she asked. “I heard a gunshot.”

  “Yeah, they tried to hit the cat and missed,” he said. “Give me a second.”

  She stepped back and disappeared from view. He pivoted and slid his body through the hole feetfirst. It was such a tight squeeze that for a moment his shoulders stuck, leaving his body in the basement and his face still outside in the rain, until he wriggled himself through.

  He landed crouched on the balls of his feet in the cold and dark basement. As he stood, he felt Leia rush into his arms and envelop him in a hug. Instinctively he felt his arms part as he hugged her back.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I was worried,” she said. “You disappeared and I thought I was going to have to do this alone.”

  He pulled her tighter to his chest, feeling as if, just for a moment, that broken part of him had fit back into place. His hand stroked along the back of her head and tangled through her hair.

  “You can’t get rid of me that easily,” he said. “I promise. Until this is over you won’t ever have to do it alone.”

  She didn’t answer but she didn’t pull away, either. Neither did he. He just let the hug linger for one long moment.

  Lord, why does it feel like my feelings for this woman are at risk of coming back now? I tried so hard to move past them and put them behind me. It had been hard enough to try and get over her when they were apart. When he’d seen her at her father’s graveside from a distance, it had taken all the strength he had to keep from running to her side, pulling her into his arms and comforting her. And now, just a few hours back in her company, he remembered how much he’d admired her, cared about her and wished they could build a life together. How can my heart still be so weak? Help me be strong.

  It was Leia who pulled away from the embrace and stepped back. That’s when he saw where the light was coming from. A heavy, plastic yellow flashlight sat facedown on the carpeted floor, casting just the smallest pool of light there. It was the kind he’d had as a kid that gobbled up large batteries for not much light in return. He walked to the window, felt for the vent grate and pulled it back over the hole, blocking out the rain and hopefully keeping anyone outside from seeing the light.

  Leia picked the flashlight up and swung it around the room. The office seemed even smaller than he remembered and packed on all sides with old-fashioned metal filing cabinets and Bankers boxes, all of whose contents he’d once unsuccessfully poured through and which now lay tossed in a deluge of white paper on the floor. A door to one side led through to the family room, and an unfinished staircase led up to the main floor. The computer’s large and sturdy bulk took up most of the small desk.

  “Have you managed to get it running?” he asked.

  “Not yet,” she said. “I was waiting for you before I started moving things around. Glad you made it.”

  “Yeah, I am, too,” he said, despite the fact he wished he’d been able to hear more of the criminals’ conversation.

  “What’s wrong?” Leia asked. “You’re frowning.”

  Was he that obvious around her? How had he ever managed to keep his true identity from her for so long? Or had she somehow, despite it all, managed to see the real him back then even through the mask?

  “I was just thinking that something about this whole case doesn’t make sense,” he admitted.

  “A lot of it doesn’t make sense,” she said. “What specifically?” She pressed the computer’s large gray button twice and when nothing happened pushed some boxes aside and slid around behind the desk and fiddled with the cords. “One second, the power bar needs to be reset.”

  The computer sprung to life with a loud chime as the decades-old operating system began to load. He lunged for the computer and slapped his hands over the speakers to block out the noise. Leia did so, too, and for a moment their hands overlapped as they tried to block the sound. Then the noise stopped, and a static blue screen appeared with a colored flag. White text assured them that despite appearances it was loading.

  Leia blew out a long breath and dropped into the chair.

  “So far so good,” she said. “Now we wait to see if it actually works. So, why were you frowning?”

  “I’m not even sure how to put it into words,” he admitted.

  “Try,” she said. “Pretend I’m a fellow officer or your mentor, someone who you respect who isn’t connected to the case.”

  “You are someone I respect, a whole lot,” he said. He sat on the staircase and stared at the unmoving screen. “How many criminals did Vamana send here tonight?”

  “Five,” she said, like the answer was obvious, “as far as we know. Stan, Ross and Willie kidnapped me when I walked through the door. Ben was patrolling outside the house at the same time, and Dunlop kidnapped me and was killed by Stan. Why?”

  The blue loading screen disappeared, followed by a brief black screen and then the desktop. An hourglass spun. Leia moved the mouse over to an icon on the bottom of the screen, but nothing happened when she clicked.

  “That’s a whole lot of men for an assignment like this,” Jay said. “Sending five people up to a barn in the middle of nowhere to steal some files and kidnap someone. And remember I recognized a handful of these from my research, so I know their
services don’t go cheap.”

  The computer grumbled mechanically as it slowly got around to opening programs.

  “I forgot both how loud and how slow these machines used to be,” Leia said. “For argument’s sake, Franklin Vamana is very wealthy, and being accused of being a serial killer is a pretty serious crime. Why not send all the guys you’ve got?”

  “Because why go to all this trouble and expense?” Jay countered. “If his only goal is to destroy all evidence that he’s a serial killer, why not just burn down the farm killing everyone inside? Why search the house? Why try to take your late mother alive? It’s almost like Franklin has another goal other than just getting rid of anything and anyone who could prove he’s a killer.”

  “I don’t know,” Leia said. She turned back to the screen, sending dark hair cascading over her shoulder. She clicked an icon at the bottom of the screen again and this time it loaded. “I’m going to write the emails and hit Send before I turn the modem on. That way we’re not setting off a loud modem before we’re ready.”

  The email program opened, and she created a new message.

  “I’m sending it to Sally, Quinn and Rose at once.” She said the words out loud to him as she typed them. “‘Urgent. It’s Leia. I’m safe and hiding at the farm with Jay. Criminals have broken in and have already killed one of their own. Apparently, Dad was assisting in a cold case before he died. Call the police. Warn each other. Don’t let Sally drive up. See you soon. I love you. Psalm 61:2b.’”

  “‘When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I,’” Jay quoted. “Why end with that verse?”

  She felt herself blink.

  “Dad used to quote it to us at bedtime,” she said. “I knew if I used it my sisters would know the email really did come from me.”

  She got up from her chair and let him take over the computer. He didn’t read what he wrote out loud and she didn’t ask.

  “All right, I’m done,” he said. “I’m sending this to Jess and Travis in Kilpatrick, their tech guru and my supervisor. Hopefully one of them will get the message, they’ll send rescue, the bad guys will be arrested and this will finally be over. You ready?”

  “I’m ready,” she said. She leaned over the desk and switched the modem on. “I hope this works.”

  The deafening screech of the modem springing to life filled the room.

  A shout came from the floor above them. Then came the sound of footsteps pounding toward them.

  Leia’s face paled. “They’ve found us.”

  SEVEN

  “Get behind me!” Jay yelled as he leaped in front of her, and then it was like everything was happening at once.

  The modem screeched like an ancient machine trying to come to life. The icon on the screen spun futilely. She felt Jay’s arm around her shoulders and his other on her waist as he half guided and half pulled her down to the floor. He rolled with her underneath the stairs and sheltered her with his body, and for a moment she didn’t understand why.

  Then gunfire filled the air above her. As she watched, the computer was riddled with bullets, shattering the screen, blowing holes in the case and sending broken fragments flying around the room. She clasped her hand over her mouth to keep from making a sound. She was helpless to do anything but watch until the machine was completely destroyed and the wall behind it was full of bullet holes.

  Help us, Lord.

  She had no idea if the messages for help were even sent and now her best hope to reach the outside world had been demolished into a mass of broken plastic and glass. The sound of gunfire stopped. Footsteps creaked on the steps as if someone was slowly walking down. It was Ross. Jay pulled away from her and leaped, snatching up the flashlight and wielding it like a baseball bat. His blow caught the man across the jaw. He grunted and fell back.

  Jay tucked the flashlight into his belt and reached for Leia’s hand. “Come on.”

  She leaped to her feet and followed as they pushed through the door into the huge basement rec room where she’d spent endless hours watching television, making crafts and building forts with her sisters. They pushed through another door and ran up the back staircase toward the main floor. They reached the landing outside the kitchen and listened. Silence fell from the other side of the door.

  “I don’t know if the emails went,” she said.

  “We can only hope,” Jay said. “Now, if the coast is clear we sprint straight through the back door and into the woods. Then when we’re sure we’re not being followed, we make it back to the loft in the barn and regroup.”

  “Okay,” she said, and nodded. “If you’ve got your gun, why didn’t you shoot him?”

  “Because for now he thinks I’m a hapless farmhand who got caught up in all this,” he said. “Once I pull my weapon, I run the risk of someone realizing I’m a cop. And if I kill him to keep from blowing my cover, when does it stop?” His hand caressed the side of her face. “But don’t worry. I promise you that when it comes time to fire and I know it’s my only option, I won’t hesitate.”

  He eased the door open and they looked out.

  Stan sat in the kitchen of her childhood home with his muddy boots up on the table. In one hand he swigged a drink from the handmade mug her little sister Rose had made and painted for their dad in elementary school. A sudden flash of visceral rage rose up inside her like a phoenix. Nobody touched Dad’s favorite mug or put their filthy boots on her family’s table. No one came into her home and destroyed it.

  Stan turned, his feet smacking the floor as he reached for his gun.

  But his hand never reached it. Because before he got the opportunity, Leia struck, yanking a heavy saucepan from the shelf just inside the door and hurling it at his head. A frying pan and soup pot followed, leaving the criminal helpless to do anything but try to dodge the projectiles. Stan turned to her and swore vile and violent threats, his hand still unable to make it to the gun.

  “Get out of my family’s house!” she screamed back. “You don’t belong here! Get out, now!”

  Jay grabbed her by the shoulder, pulled her back inside the door and locked it behind them.

  “Okay, so that was both brave and impressive,” he said. “You probably just saved us from being fired at. But now we’ve got to keep moving.”

  She didn’t want to keep moving. She wanted to find a way, no matter how futile, to take a stand and protect her family home, even as she knew that Jay was right. They ran up a second flight of stairs and came out at the other end of the very same hallway they’d found themselves in two hours earlier.

  They’d literally just been running around in a giant circle and, despite how hard they’d tried, hadn’t come any closer to escaping. Jay paced down the hallway, listening as if to figure out what direction the criminals were coming from. But she stopped for a moment and panted. Despair welled up inside her. Her sisters’ door where they’d barricaded themselves behind earlier had been smashed in. The house was being destroyed bit by bit around her.

  Help me, Lord! I don’t know what to do or where to go. The verse she’d referenced at the bottom of her email to her sisters filled her mind. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

  According to Jay, her dad had told him that if they were ever in trouble to head to the attic. She hadn’t listened to him then. But now, what other way was there to go but up? She glanced up at the ceiling hatch leading to the attic stairs. It was too high to reach without a ladder, and they didn’t have time to find something to climb on. But there was more than one way to get up there.

  “This way,” she said. The door to her father’s room lay open. She darted inside. The room had been tossed and the contents of her father’s dresser and bookshelf had been scattered across the floor. But the huge four-poster bed that had been her parents sat in the middle of the roo
m, and beside it the overstuffed pull-out chair that her father had slept in many nights, saying the bed felt wrong without her mom.

  Jay rushed into the room behind her, closed the door and locked it behind him. “What are you doing?”

  “We’re heading to the attic,” she said. “Like you first suggested. And since the hatch to the stairs is out in the hallway we’re going to improvise.”

  She went over to the window, opened it and looked out, thankful the overhang of the dormer window shielded her from the rain. Below, her flashlight beams swung back and forth in the darkness. Jay leaned out the window beside her. His shoulder came in contact with hers.

  “You’re kidding,” he said. “There’s nothing to break our fall.”

  “We’re not going to fall,” she said. “You said yourself that Dad said if there was ever any trouble we should head to the attic. Not that I have any idea why. Don’t worry, it’ll be okay. I’ve done it before.”

  The door handle behind them turned and then it shook. Someone was trying to get in.

  “Go!” Jay shouted. He ran across the room and toward the door. “I’m right behind you.”

  “You’d better be.” She slid her body out the window and onto the ledge. Immediately rain hit her anew. She gripped the shingles of the dormer overhang above her. She whispered a prayer, grit her teeth and began to climb.

  * * *

  The bedroom door was locked, but the home invaders had already proved they could rip a door down off its hinges if they wanted to. Jay grabbed an overturned bookshelf and pushed it against the door, hoping it would buy them another few seconds of time. Then he ran back to the window where Leia had disappeared and looked out in disbelief.

  There was nothing there. No ladder, trellis, rope or anything to hold on to. Just a drop down to the ground below. His head swam.

  “Jay!” Her voice called down to him from above but it was almost completely swallowed up by the raging storm. “I’ve made it. It’s okay. Just climb on top of the ledge over the window and hoist yourself up.”