Christmas Witness Protection (Protected Identities Book 1)

by Maggie K. Black

  “With the paramedics.” He grabbed both her hands in his. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

  She stood, and he found himself wrapping his arm around her as they started across the parking lot to the SUV. The sounds of honking filled the air. The lot was jammed with cars trying to leave. Then he realized a single vehicle was sitting in the middle of the exit as if waiting for something and forcing all others to go around it. It was Seth.

  Noah reached the car and climbed in the back seat with Holly. Seth’s worried eyes met his through the rearview mirror. “You’re alive. That’s a good thing.”

  “Yup,” Noah said. Thanks to Holly coming after him.

  Seth hit the accelerator and the SUV lurched forward. “I get now why not telling you I was alive before was a bad thing.”

  “I’m guessing you set off the fire alarms and called in the emergency?”

  “Yeah.” Seth blinked. “You’re wet.”

  “Yeah, that’s what happens when you set off the sprinklers.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Just pump up the heat.”

  “Did you manage to grab a laptop?” Seth asked.

  “No, we were kind of busy,” Noah said. “Did you hack into the Wi-Fi?”

  “I did,” Seth said, “and I downloaded everything I could, but Snitch5751 wasn’t anywhere connected to the network. If I had to guess, I’d say he wasn’t at the party.”

  Did that mean Snitch5751 wasn’t General Bertie?

  “Now what?” Seth asked.

  “Drive,” Noah said. “Slowly. Back to the farmhouse, but take back roads and detours, and keep an eye out for anyone following us.”

  Noah slid his arm around Holly’s shoulders. She was quiet and shut down, like she’d slipped deep inside herself and was hiding there. He cradled her to his side, feeling the comfort of having her there. She nestled against him, letting her head fall onto his chest, as Seth drove. And as cold, uncomfortable and worried as Noah was, something inside him wished the drive would never end.

  The house was quiet when they reached it. Anne helped Holly inside and upstairs. Seth sat down in a corner and started working again, his frantic tapping filling the small room like the ticking of a clock.

  Noah paced, letting prayers pour through him.

  Help me, Lord. What do I do? I care about this woman more than I’ve ever cared about anyone before. I don’t know how to save her. I don’t know how to protect her. I’m no closer to finding out who Snitch5751 is or his connection to Bertie. The witness protection identities auction is tomorrow, and I’ve never felt so helpless. Please, help me.

  The grandfather clock sounded, again and again, until he’d counted twelve bongs. Seth’s tapping froze. His eyes met Noah’s. It was midnight. Christmas Eve had arrived.

  The auction was today.

  “So, what’s the plan?” The sound of Holly’s voice broke the tense silence. He looked up. She was coming down the stairs toward them, swathed in a simple gray track suit. The makeup was gone from her face, her hair was wrapped up in a towel and he knew without a doubt he’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “We’ve got twelve hours to find the Imposters and stop the auction.”

  And they were no closer than they’d been six days ago. Jess had monitored the situation from within RCMP headquarters, Mack had shaken every criminal tree he could find, Liam had called in every favor he had from every cop he’d ever served with and Seth had spent every possible minute online. They’d exhausted every plan they’d come up with and they were helpless to stop what was about to happen when the clock next struck twelve.

  Holly reached the bottom step and crossed the floor toward him. She grasped his hand and held it, not saying anything but just being there.

  They’d exhausted every strategy they’d brainstormed back in Seth’s loft, except Holly’s. She’d suggested baiting a trap and letting the Imposters come to them, but he’d brushed her off. And why? Because he’d thought he knew better? Because he was so focused on saving her he hadn’t respected her need to help save herself?

  “If it’s not too late, I want to go with your original plan, Holly,” he said. “I want to make the Imposters come to us. Here. Today.”

  “It’s too late.” Seth shook his head. “We suddenly announce where Holly is hiding, hours before the auction, and they’ll never believe it isn’t a trap.”

  “But what if we use bread crumbs that someone dropped days ago?” Noah asked. “Thanks to you, rumors have been swirling online for days that Hildegard Asher applied for a marriage license and the Imposters already think I’m John Smith.”

  Noah felt Holly squeeze his hand. “What are you doing?”

  “Your plan,” Noah said. He turned toward her. “We’re going to bait a trap and lure the Imposters to us.”

  “But we can’t...”

  “Yes, we can,” he said. “Because we already have the perfect cover. Something they won’t even think is a trap. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you before. But let’s go with your plan. Let’s do this your way. Let’s catch them today, this morning, before the auction goes live. Let’s find an easily secured and remote location, hold a fake wedding and pretend to get married. What do you say?”

  “No.” Holly shook her head and pulled her hand away from his. “I won’t do it. I don’t want to pretend to marry you.”

  TWELVE

  How could he do this to her? How could he so casually ask her to pretend that they were a couple, that they loved each other, that they wanted to spend their lives together? Noah’s eyes were searching her face, looking puzzled, confused and even lost. She turned away. No, this was one step too far. All she’d done for days was pretend to be someone she wasn’t, while developing very real feelings for this man. Pretending to marry him, pretending their relationship was something that it wasn’t, was akin to pretending she didn’t feel what she felt. No, worse than that, it was making a mockery of it. She couldn’t pretend to be in love with a man she was beginning to fall in love with for real.

  “Give us a second, Seth,” Noah said. “Please.”

  She heard Seth get up, walk into the kitchen and close the door behind him. Then she stood there for a moment in the stillness of the farmhouse living room, listening to the sound of the snow pelting the windows outside, the clock ticking and her own beating heart.

  “I feel like I should apologize,” Noah said, after a long moment. “But I don’t know why or what I did wrong.”

  “You don’t need to apologize,” she said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Then why aren’t you looking at me?” His voice broke. “And why does my heart feel like someone is twisting it around like a dishcloth?”

  She turned back. He was standing as close to her as he had been back at the gym when they’d kissed. It would take so little for her to lean forward and kiss him again. And somehow it felt wrong not to have his arms around her.

  “I don’t want to pretend to marry you,” she said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t want to pretend to have that kind of relationship with you.”

  “But why not?” He looked so lost. He didn’t get it. How did he not get it?

  “Why did you kiss me back in the gym?” she asked.

  “Is that what I need to apologize for? I’m really sorry if I overstepped. I know I shouldn’t have—”

  “Don’t say that,” she said. “I don’t need you to apologize for kissing me. I don’t need you to apologize for anything.” She paused. He didn’t speak, and for a long moment she didn’t, either. Then she grabbed his hands. “Tell me. Why did you kiss me, Noah?”

  Because she knew why she’d kissed him. She’d kissed him because she wanted to. She’d kissed him because she liked him on more levels than she ever knew it was possible
to like someone. She’d kissed him because he was kind, strong, caring and extraordinary.

  And because he was the one and only man she wanted to kiss, every day, for the rest of her life.

  She willed him to tell her that he felt the same way, and that he didn’t care so little for the thought of being with her that he was willing to fake the most important day of their lives.

  “I don’t know what to say, Holly. I don’t understand,” Noah said. “I thought you’d like the idea. I thought it’s what you wanted. And again, I’m really sorry for kissing you. Clearly, I wasn’t thinking.”

  She took a deep breath, stepped back and pulled her hands from his. Of course he didn’t understand. They’d met only six days ago. They barely knew each other, and they’d been thrown together by circumstances beyond their control.

  “The beauty of having a fake wedding is it’s already been out there online for days,” he said. “Seth already planted it and then the rumor grew online all on its own. The Imposters won’t realize it’s a setup. All we’d need is the team, a remote location with good lines of sight and no civilians. It just seems like such an easy solution. But if you can think of a better one, by all means let me know. I’m just focused on trying to stop the auction, and willing to do whatever it takes to save those lives.”

  She swallowed a painful breath. He was right. He was beyond right. People’s lives were in danger. The auction was going live in less than twelve hours and she’d do whatever it took to stop it, too. She had to put the lives of the people in danger first. The fledgling feelings in her own ridiculous heart couldn’t even begin to compare with that.

  “No, you’re right,” she said. “We don’t have time for another plan. I don’t like this one, but I can’t think of a better one.”

  He just stood there staring at her, hurt filling his eyes, like he was drowning. She wanted to save him. She wanted to reach across the gap between them, open up her heart and make him understand how she felt about him and why. But she’d never opened her heart to anyone before. This wasn’t the time or the place to start.

  “Are you sure?” he said. “Because I don’t want to push you into it if you’re against it.”

  “There’s no time.” She ran her hand over her head, feeling the hidden wax keeping her fake hair in place. “Not for what we need to accomplish. You’re right about choosing a remote location with no civilians. But we’re not doing it in a church. I refuse to fake a wedding in a church.”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  “Not the gym, either.” She stepped back and crossed her arms. “I don’t like it for a sting. Too many exists and entrances.”

  “Got it.” He nodded again, but still looked so lost it wrenched something inside her. Why did he care so much? And if he cared, why couldn’t he just come out and admit it? If she swam in to save him, they could both drown. “There’s a one-room schoolhouse in town. It’s owned by the historical society. It had good lines of sight and only one exit. I don’t expect it’s booked today.”

  She stepped even farther back. This was good. Keep focusing on practical aspects of the plan and block out the emotion. She could get through this. It was just like a military operation. But one with too many lies on the line.

  “Can Seth make it look like it was booked days ago?” she asked. “But anonymously. Like we were trying to elope?”

  Noah nodded. “I’m pretty sure he can.”

  “We also need to get Anne and the kids out of here,” she said. “I don’t want them anywhere near the Imposters. Not in the same town. Not in the same part of the province. Since as far as anyone will know you’re John Smith, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that they’re not invited.”

  And as for her own family, fortunately her parents would never need to find out she’d had a fake wedding.

  Noah glanced to the clock. “I can call Liam, Mack and Jess right now and get them here by sunrise,” he said. “Mack can take Anne and the kids somewhere safe. She has friends in Barrie she can stay with. Liam and Jess can help put together a wedding. They’ve set up far more complicated undercover operations in a lot shorter time frames. Seth can make the online trail look real. Maybe it won’t hold up to intense scrutiny, but they’re not going to have a lot of time to look into it, if their plan is to kill us and still get the auction up by noon. We can set it up to look like a simple elopement. The story can be that we only met recently, it was love at first sight and we decided to get married. It fits the facts well enough and it’s believable, especially considering your own parents only knew each other a few days before they decided to get married.”

  That was true. And the fact that he didn’t know that was the exact worst thing he could’ve reminded her of right then just showed how little he actually knew her.

  “Well, Anne’s still up, so I’ll go let her know the plan while you talk to Seth,” Holly said. “I also suggest we both do a whole lot of praying.”

  She turned to go, then felt Noah’s hand on her arm. She stopped, but didn’t turn.

  “Are you sure everything is okay?” he asked.

  No, nothing was okay. It hadn’t been in a long time and she didn’t know when it would be again.

  “My head is fine,” she said, even though her heart wasn’t. “All that matters is that we’re going to do whatever it takes to catch the Imposters and stop the auction. They’re not going to hurt all those innocent people. We won’t let them.”

  And the foolish longing in her heart for an unforgettable man wasn’t going to get in the way of that. She walked up the stairs without looking back, feeling her limbs shake with every step. She could do this. She knew who she was, she was strong and she was a soldier. She’d faced far tougher battles than this.

  Then why did she feel scared in a way she never had before?

  Anne answered her upstairs office door on the first knock. The doctor’s keen eyes searched Holly’s face. “What’s wrong?”

  “The auction goes live today at noon,” Holly said. She stepped in and closed the door behind her. “We’re hoping to make a last-ditch effort at stopping the Imposters by bringing them to us.”

  Anne sat and listened while Holly told her the plan.

  “Okay,” Anne said. “I’ll make sure the kids are packed up and ready to go. Drew will probably want to help you get ready before he leaves. You can wear my old wedding dress. I gave it to Drew to make something out of. I think he’s still awake and working on something.”

  Holly’s heart thudded with a fresh horror. She hadn’t even thought of what she was going to wear. “I can’t wear your wedding dress.”

  “It’s okay,” Anne said. “It’s just my first. I bought it secondhand, and Caleb and I have renewed our vows twice since then.”

  Twice? She had a hard enough time imagining a brilliant woman like Anne marrying Caleb once, let alone pledging herself to him three times. It was Christmas Eve and Caleb wasn’t even here to be with his family. What was wrong with people in love? Her own mother had fallen in love with a man who she’d felt she had to give up her dreams for. Anne had fallen in love with a man who’d disappeared.

  And I’m falling in love with Noah.

  “What’s wrong?” Anne asked.

  “I hate everything about this plan,” Holly said. “I hate weddings. My parents’ marriage is a mess. They’ve been separated for years in this weird holding pattern where they’re not together but haven’t completely given up. And...”

  Her voice trailed off.

  “And between your parents’ marriage and what you’ve heard about me and Caleb, the idea of getting married has left you with a pretty bad taste in your mouth?” Anne supplied gently.

  Well, yes. But Anne’s relationship was none of her business.

  “I’m not marrying Noah,” Holly said. “I’m pretending to marry a man named John Smith to lure cyber terrorists out into the open befo
re a witness protection auction goes live.”

  Anne nodded.

  “And even though it shouldn’t, this whole situation reminds me of my parents,” Holly said. “They fell in love really fast.”

  “Caleb and I fell in love slowly,” Anne said. “And several times, over many years and several breakups. I’d been very badly hurt, and he was the first man I knew who would never ever lay a hand on me. Sure, he’d run. But he would never hurt me. Caleb had been abandoned by everyone he’d ever loved. He needed someone who wouldn’t give up on him, no matter how hard he ran. I’m not saying our marriage isn’t broken, maybe beyond repair. But I still wouldn’t trade anything for the good times we’ve had together.”

  “I know it’s none of my business,” Holly said. “I don’t understand how you could do that.”

  “One day at a time,” Anne said. “One prayer, one battle, sometimes even one breath at a time. Every love is as different as the two people in it. My relationship with Caleb is nothing like my parents’ relationship was. Noah’s parents had an incredibly strong, faithful and long-lasting marriage. And when Noah fully gives his heart to someone, he won’t love that woman the same way that Caleb loved me. In my experience you just pray for the grace for the relationship you’re in.”

  Holly nodded. Somehow that helped, but she didn’t know why. As broken as Anne’s heart might be, her love for Caleb was real, raw and built on the reality of trying to slog it out in life together. And no matter what Holly felt for Noah, when they walked down the aisle it would be nothing but pretend.

  * * *

  “Stop pacing, man!” Liam leaned forward and tapped Noah on the shoulder as they waited at the tiny wooden podium in the one-room schoolhouse. “I’m pretty sure your bride won’t leave you at the altar.”

  “Har-har.” Noah forced himself to chuckle. “Of course she wouldn’t miss this mission for the world. The chance to catch the Imposters? Come on!”