Undercover Protection

by Maggie K. Black

  Fear ran like cold water through his veins. He’d told Leia that most serial killers kept souvenirs from their victims, feeling too arrogant to believe they’d ever be caught.

  But nothing in his training had prepared him for this. He was standing inside the Phantom Killer’s lair.

  He crouched down, careful not to touch the evidence as much as possible. A sob rose in his throat. One of the licenses belonged to his father.

  Leia had been absolutely right when she’d insisted they come here. They’d found the killer’s lair, and he’d left her alone, outside and unprotected.

  SIXTEEN

  “You do understand that while some people won’t understand everything I did, none of it was actually wrong, don’t you Leia?” Franklin asked. His voice was an ugly mixture of arrogance and a pitiful need to be agreed with. “I would’ve done right by your mother and taken care of you if she’d told me the truth. It’s not my fault she ran away.”

  Leia had no idea just how long she’d sat on a metal folding chair in the middle of a filthy and abandoned gas station, with her hands tied behind her back and some kind of suicide vest strapped to her front. But Franklin had spent the entire time talking, like he was some kind of monarch and she was a subject of his kingdom he thought he could berate and cajole in turn until she told him that he was right and begged him for mercy. He’d paced and yelled. He’d pulled up a chair opposite her and tried to sound like he’d be reasonable if she’d just submit to his authority. He’d gotten inches from her face and shouted.

  And all the time, the bomb on her vest ticked down.

  Franklin had made sure the henchman who’d wired her up had positioned the timer on her chest so that he could read how much time she had left and Leia couldn’t. It was clear he enjoyed being the one in control.

  How courageous her mom must’ve been to escape him.

  “See, this gas station was my first real property purchase,” Franklin said. “I was going to build a club. But I was only eighteen, and the real estate agent was a crook and didn’t tell me the soil was contaminated from the gas and I wouldn’t be able to get zoning. That’s why I used this place to bury the things I didn’t want anyone else to find. Then when my entertainment empire really began to take off in Toronto, there were all these people who just kept trying to ruin it for me. Worthless, filthy people who nobody cared about and contributed nothing to this world. Drunks, beggars, drug users, people who’d do anything for money—”

  “People who had friends, coworkers and families!” Leia’s voice rose. “People who were loved and made in the image of God.”

  The least of these.

  The faces of his victims on Jay’s crime board filled her mind. Her father and mother had instilled deep inside her that every person had value and to fight for those in need. She’d decided to dedicate her career to that. Jay had dedicated his life to that, too.

  Hot tears filled her eyes.

  Oh Jay, where are you now? Whatever happens to me, please be safe.

  “You don’t understand,” Franklin started.

  “I think I do!” she said. “My father taught me my entire life about evil people like you, who think they can just treat others as disposable and throw them out like the trash. Well, you’re wrong. I’m proof of that. Because those people you killed were never forgotten and whatever you’ve got hiding here will be found. You’re not some phantom or a shadow, let alone some king who gets to decide who deserves to live and who dies. And no matter what you do here today and what happens to me, you will be found and you will face justice.”

  A look turned in his eyes that was so dark for a moment she thought he was about to slap her. Instead he leaned forward and pressed a button on her suicide vest. The bomb beeped loudly.

  “You don’t deserve my pity or understanding,” he said. “You think some pathetic country farm girl like your mother and her unwanted daughter could bring me down? Well, you’re too late. Because when the timer goes off it will all be gone. If you’d been willing to ask nicely and promise me you’d behave for me, I might have been willing to take you with me before it explodes. But now, I’m going to leave you here, tied up, to be destroyed with the rest of the garbage buried below you.”

  She pressed her lips together, raised her eyes to the skies and prayed. Psalm 31:5 filled her heart. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, Oh Lord God of truth.

  “You have no idea who you’re dealing with,” Franklin snapped. “Or what I’m capable of!”

  “But I do!” Suddenly Jay’s voice overtook the air. She turned and there he was. Jay was filthy and disheveled, his fake beard gone and dirt streaked his face. He looked like he’d been buried alive. But with a brighter light than she’d ever seen before shining in his eyes. Then he met her eyes, and a look that covered more than a thousand words could ever say moved between them. Jay aimed his gun at the killer he’d never given up on one day bringing to justice. “I know you’re a cold-blooded killer who murdered almost a dozen people. I’ve seen your cave of sick trinkets and souvenirs. And I’ve called my colleagues from one of the phones I found. The police are on their way.”

  Franklin snapped his fingers as one of his bodyguard’s stepped in between Franklin and Jay’s gun.

  “You can’t win,” Franklin said. “My bodyguards won’t let you kill me. There’s a bomb strapped to Leia and only I know the code to deactivate it. Your only option is to drop your weapon and let us go.”

  Jay did so and raised his hands. His fists clenched tight.

  Franklin snickered. “Any last words?”

  “Yes.” Jay opened his palm, showing the golden badge in his grasp. “I’m Officer Jay Brock of the Ontario Provincial Police. Franklin Vamana, you are under arrest for the murder of my father, Jayce Starling...”

  * * *

  Something swelled in his chest as Jay stared down the Phantom Killer and named all of his victims, one by one—Jonathan, Nathaniel, Calvin, Janet, Electra, Marissa—reminding Franklin of the people he’d killed and the lives he’d stolen. Then he heard the thrumming of helicopters and saw the cars swarming down the road toward them as police rushed onto the scene before he could even finish reading Franklin the charges. Doors opened and police poured out, surrounding Franklin and his bodyguards.

  Jay almost laughed. He’d gotten through to Jess a good fifteen minutes before he’d found his way out of that hole and they’d made it in time. Thank You, God!

  He ran for Leia, pulled his pocketknife and cut her hands free. She leapt from her chair. Her panicked eyes met Jay’s.

  “How much longer is left on the timer?” she asked.

  He glanced down at the bold red numbers on her chest. “Forty-two seconds.”

  For one agonizing second her gaze locked on his face. Her lips parted, but no words came out. Then she turned and ran, bolting through the arriving officers and making a beeline for the river.

  And suddenly he knew what was going to happen, she was about to jump into the water to save them all.

  “Leia! Wait!” Jay shouted. He ran after her.

  “It’s too late!” she called. “They’ll never be able to defuse it in time!”

  He gritted his teeth. She was the most stubborn and courageous person he knew. And he loved it about her. She reached the edge of the cliff.

  “I love you, Jay!” she leapt.

  But he caught her by the arm and yanked her back before she could fall.

  “I love you, too,” he said. “More than you’ll ever know. Now, hold still and let me try to save you.”

  “But if the bomb goes off—”

  “Then I’ll die with you.”

  Desperately he hacked at the straps binding her with his pocketknife, slicing and cutting at anything he could reach. Finally, the shoulder straps tore. She wriggled free. He wrapped one arm around her waist and hurled the bomb vest
toward the Niagara River.

  “Maybe, you disarmed it—” she started.

  An explosion filled the air. Water and dirt rose up around them like a plume. He pulled her into his chest and she wrapped her arms around him. Then, slowly they walked back from the edge.

  “You know, out of everything my dad taught me,” Leia said, “I never learned how to defuse a bomb.”

  He tossed his head back and laughed. Relief coursed over him like a wave.

  “Where were you?” she asked.

  “I fell into a hole and found the souvenirs of his victims,” he said. “Bones, too. Exactly where you told me to look. I found a phone with a working battery and used it to call for backup. Then I used a metal shelf as a ladder. It wasn’t quite high enough, but I managed to grab some roots and rocks from there and climb back out.”

  “I’m just glad you’re alive,” Leia said.

  “You were right,” Jay said. “About everything. I found the cave where he kept the souvenirs of all his victims. And you’re right, it’s more like a hole. But we’ll get the forensic team down here to process the evidence and then we’ll start using it to put together a case. It’s finally over and it’s all thanks to you.” He took her face in his hands. “And I meant it when I said I love you. I know you don’t have any reason to trust me, but I promise that whatever I felt for you last summer is nothing compared to what’s grown between us in the past day.”

  He leaned forward to brush a kiss over her lips, but she stepped back. She started to walk back toward the police, and he followed.

  “What about your career as an undercover detective,” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “But I know I love you.”

  Her head shook.

  “You keep saying that,” she said. “But are you sure you’re not just swept up in emotions? We’ve gone through so much craziness in the past day. Love isn’t just words, it’s actions. I don’t just need a man who’ll throw himself into danger for me. I need a man who loves me enough to come home to me every night.”

  They kept walking in silence. She doubted he really loved her? Was she right?

  “Leia!” Franklin’s voice rose to a plaintive shout. “Leia! I demand to see my daughter.”

  She turned toward him, but Jay grabbed her arm. “Don’t let him manipulate you.”

  “I won’t,” she said.

  Jay followed her as she strode, head high, toward the handcuffed killer, through the crowd until she and Franklin were face-to-face again.

  “You had a whole lot of words to say to me earlier,” Leia told him. “Now I’m going to say my piece to you. Your sister says you are sick. If you do need a donor at some point in the future, write to me and let me know. I’ll get tested, and if I’m a match, I’ll pray about what to do next. Either way, I will pray for you every day for the rest of my life, and if you ever find salvation from your ways, feel free to let me know.” She leaned toward him, and for the first time since Jay had laid eyes on him in Toronto, the sneer was gone, leaving nothing but a tired and broken man beneath. “But let me get this straight. I am not your daughter and you are not my father. I had a father, and his name was Walter. He gave everything he had to love me and guide me. And I will always be his child.”

  Then she turned away, leaving him spluttering and to be driven away by police before he could say another word.

  She walked over toward the water, away from the gathered crowd, and silently Jay followed her. She stopped and her shoulders shook. Wordlessly he wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned back against him.

  “I spent so much time being frustrated with my dad for being the way he was,” she said. “It was like he was afraid of what would happen if he just let my sisters and I live our lives. I was hoping that maybe, when all this was over, I’d fully understand and agree with every decision he made. But I just can’t.”

  “I know how you feel,” Jay murmured softly into her hair. “When I discovered Franklin’s lair of souvenirs, I found my father’s wallet and press credentials. I thought that maybe if I proved that the Phantom Killer really had murdered him...”

  His voice trailed off.

  “Then you’d know he’d been right all along and you wouldn’t have to forgive him for the mistakes he’d made?” Leia asked softly.

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “I was hoping for some kind of perfect, complete answer where I wouldn’t have to forgive him.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I don’t know how I feel right now,” he confessed. “It’s like this big thing I’ve been chasing has come to an end, and I’m not sure who to even be now.”

  “I get it,” Leia said, “and I don’t have any answers. But I think we should take some time away from each other, until we’re really sure we know how we feel.”

  He hugged her for a long moment while police moved around them, securing the scene. His heart felt heavy in his chest. Lord, she’s right. I can’t just say I love her. I have to step up and be the man she needs me to be. I just don’t know.

  Finally she pulled away and said goodbye. He stepped back and let her go.

  SEVENTEEN

  The sun was setting as Leia sat on the ledge of the attic window, with her feet on the slanted roof; she looked out the window below. It had been the longest day in her life and even though she’d slept a few hours in her own bed when she’d finally made it home from the crime scene in Niagara Falls, her body still ached with fatigue.

  She thanked God she was safe and wasn’t alone. Her sister Sally had met her at her Toronto apartment with Mabel and drove her back up to the farmhouse to collect her car. When she got there, she’d been surprised to find that not only had the police already finished with the crime scene, her sisters Quinn and Rose had flown from across the country to surprise her. They surveyed the damage left by the criminals and had already contacted insurance and started developing a plan to get the farm back on track. All they needed now was to find and hire a farmhand.

  Leia closed her eyes and let the final rays of the setting sun wash over her.

  Lord, I have so much to thank You for that I don’t know where to start. Heal our farm, heal our hearts and let Your justice continue to flow over our lives, this world and all we touch.

  A confident meow came from behind her. She opened her eyes and turned around to see Moses leap through the open hatch and stalk toward her across the floor with a bright blue collar and tags around his neck. The cat leaped past her and disappeared down the roof. An instant later, Jay’s head appeared through the hatch.

  “I hope it’s okay I got him a collar,” he said. He climbed through the hatch and into the attic. “One of the other cops found him strolling around their ranks at the bottom of the Niagara Falls building, like he was part of the squad. I told them I’d take him back home.”

  She slid over to make room for Jay on the window ledge. But instead of swinging his legs outside onto the roof like she had, he sat with his back to the sky, his feet inside the attic and his face looking into hers.

  “Why the collar?” she asked.

  “So if he ever gets lost again he’ll know his way home,” Jay said. “You’ll never guess who showed up at the regional police station and turned himself in this morning,” he added. “Ben! He wanted to confess everything and help in the case in any way he could. He also said that you’d promised to help him find a lawyer.”

  “I did,” she said. “He reminded me of so many other people who’d gone down the wrong path. I wanted to give him an opportunity to help turn his life around.”

  “Well, looks like he’s taking it,” Jay said. He looked down at their joined hands and then up into her face. “I also want you to know that I’ve decided not to continue being an undercover officer. It’s the right job for a lot of people, but not for me. I think I was drawn to the idea of hiding from the past by pretending to be someone I
wasn’t. But I’ve decided that the past isn’t as important as the future. And you are my future, Leia. It’s so obvious and true, and I feel like I’ve known it forever. And those aren’t just words. I’ve already started to put them into action. I’ve spoken to a grief counselor about getting help for processing the death of my father and the unhealthy ways I dealt with it in the past. He knows I also want to get help working through everything we’ve learned about your past, too. And I’ve spoken to my mentor about switching to a kind of investigative work that lets me come home to you every night. I really want to do this right.”

  Joy swelled in her chest.

  “What are you saying?” she asked.

  “I’m saying that I’m in love with you,” he said. “I knew I loved you and wanted to marry you since the day we met, and all I’ve been doing since then is arguing with myself, because I never expected to find a woman as beautiful, incredible and extraordinary as you. I’m in awe of you, Leia.”

  “I’m in awe of you, too,” she said. “I love everything about you.”

  “I’m a better man when you’re with me,” he said. “And I don’t know what career path I’m going to take yet. All I know is that I won’t stop fighting to take down criminals every day, with everything I’ve got, and that I’ll be coming home to you every night. And one day, when you’re ready, I’m going to ask you to marry me and start that new life together.”

  She reached up and cradled Jay’s face in her hands, letting her fingertips run through his hair.

  “I’m ready today.” Her voice caught in her throat. “I want to marry you, Jay. I always have and I always will.”

  “I want to marry you, too,” he said.

  “Good,” she laughed. “Because I don’t want to live another day without you.”