Disillusioned

by Christy Barritt

  That wasn’t an option.

  Finally she climbed out, hoping she’d thrown her pursuer off her trail for long enough. She couldn’t feel her legs, and her teeth were chattering. She stayed at the edge of the woods and within sight of the stream.

  She didn’t hear anything behind her. Could she have lost him? Was that possible?

  Her breath came fast. Each one caused her lungs to ache. She was pushing herself hard; she had no other choice.

  At the moment, she had no confidence in the government. They’d shoot first and ask questions later, she feared.

  As she crested a hill, a new sound filled the air. What was that? It wasn’t the sounds of nature she’d heard all around her up to this point. It wasn’t a bird or the trickle of water or the rustle of leaves.

  It was the hum of the highway, she realized.

  She was getting closer.

  “Nikki, stop,” a deep voice said behind her. “You’re not doing yourself any favors.”

  Her heart lurched. She knew that voice. She just didn’t want to admit to herself who it was.

  It couldn’t be.

  Nausea and denial gripped her. She kept running, even more frantic now. Desperation had saturated every part of her.

  “Nikki, please.”

  He was close enough to harm her if he wanted to. Close enough to grab her.

  But she was almost at the highway. Just a little farther.

  Before she could contemplate anything more, a hand clamped around her arm and jerked it with such force that she thought it might be pulled out of its socket. Trepidation filled her as she slowly turned. She had to face this. She had to face him.

  Her heart plummeted as she looked up. “Pierce . . .” she whispered.

  Just as she’d thought. Her ex-husband. The man who’d caused so much pain in her life. He’d always looked at her with ownership. He hadn’t been able to control Nikki, and he had resented her for it.

  He looked the same, except shadier now. Or maybe he’d always looked like that and Nikki had just never been able to see it until his true personality emerged. His dark hair had a touch of curl. His features were flawless. His charisma undeniable.

  But there was more. His eyes looked soulless. His cheeks almost hollow. His movements seemed purposefully diabolical. The FBI vest he wore only made him seem like more of a contradiction.

  “Stop fighting, Nikki.” His fingers dug into her biceps. “You’re not doing yourself any favors.”

  Nikki tried to snatch her arm back. It was no use. His grip was like an iron trap. “Let go of me,” she snarled.

  “You know I can’t do that.”

  “I thought you did whatever you wanted.” She tried to jerk away again, to no avail. “What are you doing here? I thought you were working out of the Philadelphia field office.”

  “What? You didn’t think the FBI would pull me into this? We were married. I knew you better than anyone.”

  “You’re incapable of knowing anyone.”

  His eyes flashed. He reached for her and wiped a hair out of her face. “You’re still beautiful, Nikki. I always liked it when you got feisty.”

  “Don’t touch me.” Her words came out as a growl.

  “Why? You’re my wife.”

  “I was your wife. Not anymore.”

  Pierce pulled her close enough that she could smell the spearmint on his breath. That smell still turned her stomach.

  “I can help you now, Nikki. You need someone in your corner. You and your brother are in a lot of trouble. People think he’s a terrorist.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You know he’s not.”

  “Even if I believed in his innocence, that doesn’t mean anyone else does. This is much bigger than you think, Nikki. Let’s just make this easy. Come with me. I’ll talk to some people. Pull some strings. We’ll get this sorted out.” His finger traced the outline of her face again, soaking in her features like it was his right.

  She remembered the beatings she’d endured under his “care.”

  “I’ll never go with you,” she seethed. “Never.”

  His gaze darkened. “Then we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

  Pierce.

  As soon as Kade realized who Nikki was talking to, fire shot through his veins. He didn’t know what had happened between the two of them, but he knew it wasn’t good. He’d seen the fear in Nikki’s face whenever Pierce’s name was mentioned.

  That was unacceptable.

  Kade pushed himself ramrod straight in the driver’s seat. They’d pulled to the side of the road, just out of sight. No one seemed to have followed them.

  “You have to help her.” Bobby had sprung to life again. He reached for the door handle as sweat beaded across his forehead. “Pierce is bad news.”

  That was all the encouragement it took.

  “Get in the driver’s seat,” Kade ordered. “Be ready to gun it as soon as I get back with Nikki. Can you handle that?”

  Bobby nodded, his eyes nearly twitching. “I can.”

  Kade snuck from the SUV and into the woods. He could hear their voices. Nikki had been so close to the highway and to rescue. So close.

  How had Pierce found her so easily?

  Kade made his way quietly through the woods. Finally he spotted them by the banks of the stream.

  Pierce had one hand on Nikki’s arm while his other brushed her face. Just seeing it made anger surge through Kade. This guy was trouble, without doubt.

  The little bit of their conversation that he’d heard made his blood boil. Pierce sounded like a manipulator, someone who liked to exude his control over others.

  Kade crept closer, watching every step so he wouldn’t alert them to his presence.

  With a malevolent laugh, Pierce turned to drag Nikki back in the direction they’d come. Nikki dug her heels in, trying to stop him, but she was no match for his strength.

  At her whimper, Kade’s heart lurched.

  Drawing his gun and relying on every bit of training he’d ever received, he swiftly approached Pierce from behind and slammed the butt of the gun down on his head. Pierce sank to the ground, unconscious.

  Nikki turned, her eyes filling with relief. “Kade?”

  He grabbed her hand. “We don’t have much time.”

  They ran together toward the SUV. Mud sucked at their feet. Underbrush clawed at them. Tree roots tried to trip them.

  Kade kept an ear open for the sound of anyone following them. He heard nothing. He spotted the SUV up ahead. Just a little bit farther.

  Finally they reached the embankment. Moving swiftly, they climbed the rocks and dirt, then dove into the backseat of the SUV. Just as Kade closed the door, Bobby hit the accelerator.

  CHAPTER 17

  Nikki clicked her seat belt in place as Bobby picked up speed.

  “Bobby’s driving?” Nikki’s brief moment of relief was quickly replaced with alarm.

  “I’ve got this,” he insisted.

  Bobby was talking, which must mean that he was in his lucid yet paranoid mode. That didn’t make her feel better. Plus, how long had it been since he’d driven? Years probably. Since before his capture.

  Nikki pushed that thought aside when she noticed the gash in her jeans. Blood surrounded the cut. She’d grazed her skin while running, she realized. Was it the underbrush? A tree limb?

  It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were safe now. Or were they?

  Her heart pounding in her ears, Nikki glanced out the back glass, looking for a sign that they were being followed.

  “Did he see you guys?” Her voice was wrought with tension.

  Kade shook his head beside her. “Not that I can tell.”

  “Good.”

  “I switched the license plates just to be sure.”

  “Do you always carry extra license plates around?”

  “You never know when a situation like this might pop up.”

  “You never know.” Nikki sighed and sank lower in the seat, tryi
ng to put what had just happened out of her mind. “That was close. Good job running in those cowboy boots.”

  Her attempt at humor didn’t work on him. He was in assessing mode, and she was his subject. The concern in Kade’s eyes was enough to take her breath away. Despite the fact that her arm hurt and she’d cut her leg while running through the woods, she felt like she could conquer the world when Kade was with her.

  He rubbed her arm just below the sleeve. “You’re going to have a bruise.”

  “Won’t be the first bruise that jerk gave her,” Bobby grumbled in the front seat.

  Nikki’s cheeks warmed. Of all the people to discuss this in front of, she didn’t want it to be Kade. She hated feeling weak.

  “He used to hurt you?” Kade asked, his entire body going stiff.

  “It doesn’t matter right now.” She looked away, unable to meet his gaze. Certainly he’d seen the truth.

  “I think it does.”

  She put a hand on Kade’s forearm and dragged her gaze up to him. “Please. Not now.”

  “Where should I go, Kade?” Bobby asked. “Should I head back the way we came?”

  Kade glanced over his shoulder, his expression steady. “Yeah. I think we’ll be okay. We need to get out of this area as quickly as possible.”

  A car beside them threw on the brakes, tires squealing against the pavement. Nikki glanced over, holding her breath. Two cars in the distance had barely avoided a collision. The incident had nothing to do with them. She released the air from her lungs.

  But when she looked at Bobby, she saw the sweat on his forehead. That near danger had clearly set him off again. Episodes like today’s seemed to bring back such powerful memories.

  “Well, Raz ended up being no help,” Kade said, scowling.

  “No,” Nikki said. All he’d helped to do was replant a seed of doubt. It had worked. She swiveled around to get a better look at her brother before quietly asking, “Bobby, did you have bomb-making materials in my basement?”

  Bobby jerked his head back. “No! I told you already, I was set up. Someone left that there to make me look guilty. You don’t really think I would do that, do you?”

  “I had to ask,” Nikki murmured.

  “If you don’t think I’m innocent, I don’t know how anyone else will.” His words sounded dull, hopeless.

  “I didn’t say that, Bobby. I was just asking questions. There’s so much that doesn’t make sense.”

  Bobby’s hands began to tremble on the steering wheel again. Maybe Nikki shouldn’t have asked while he was driving.

  “Why don’t you pull over, Bobby?” Kade said. “I can take it from here.”

  Bobby didn’t even argue. His hands trembled even more as he pulled off the road. Quickly they all switched seats, Nikki moving up front with Kade.

  Bobby popped a pill in his mouth. Probably some of his anxiety medication. If that was even what it was.

  Kade glanced in the backseat. Just as they hit the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and the sun began sinking lower in the sky, Bobby’s eyes closed and his breathing evened out. He was asleep.

  Good. He needed to talk to Nikki.

  He turned the radio down. He’d found a country station that played upbeat music, but the tunes sharply contrasted with everything happening in their lives at the moment. He only wished his biggest problem matched that of the song crooning through the speakers now: the end of summer.

  Though Kade wanted to press Nikki about Pierce, he couldn’t do that right now. Several things about Nikki’s conversation with Raz bothered him. One more than others.

  He leaned back in his seat and let one arm slide across the back of Nikki’s seat. She was already on edge, so there was no need to sound overly accusatory and set their relationship back even more than it already was. He needed to watch his tone.

  “Nikki, what did Raz mean about Bobby calling Colombia?”

  He’d halfway expected her to deny it. Maybe he hadn’t understood correctly. Certainly she wouldn’t have left out a detail like that.

  Instead, she frowned and stared out the window, the start of a bruise forming on her arm where Pierce had grabbed her. He could see it peeking out from her short-sleeved shirt. Her shoulders slumped. This exhaustion was different from what he’d seen earlier.

  Was it because of Pierce? Was the history that had existed between them making her feel this defeated?

  Nikki squeezed the skin between her eyes and shook her head. “I should have told you.”

  Her words caused his chest muscles to tighten. So it was the truth? He’d desperately hoped that wasn’t the case.

  “Should have told me? I’ve put my entire life, career, and reputation on the line to help you guys. Meanwhile you’re keeping secrets?” Kade didn’t want to sound cross, but this was no time to play games. He needed Nikki to be honest with him.

  “The phone call didn’t mean anything.” Her voice sounded listless, as if she was losing her fight.

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  “Because I know my brother.”

  “You knew the person your brother was,” he said, lowering his voice. “So did I. Neither of us have any idea what he’s capable of now.”

  She raised her chin, that stubbornness returning. The fading sun illuminated her face in an orange glow that only enhanced the fire in her eyes. “Not terrorism.”

  “So who did he call?”

  She licked her lips and stared out the window. “I have no idea.”

  “I need to know what you know, Nikki.” Kade kept his voice even and calm yet firm. Everything in him wanted to make demands. That wasn’t the way he operated, though. Not with Nikki. Not even with his enemies.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know much. I promise you I don’t. It was two days after we got back here. I thought he was doing okay. Surprisingly well, for that matter. Then I walked in on him in the office. He was on the phone with someone, but he wouldn’t tell me who.”

  She glanced over her shoulder, checking to see if her brother was still asleep.

  “Did you ask him?”

  “Of course I asked him.” She sighed and rubbed her temples. “He said he was checking on insurance.”

  “And you believed him?”

  She sighed again. “No. I didn’t. I checked the call log, and it was an international number. I traced it to Colombia. I asked him about it, but he said he’d explain it all later. I had every intention of pressing him for more details.”

  “But . . .”

  “It was after that he started acting crazy. The mood swings started. I couldn’t talk to him about anything, much less get any more information. A few days later I had no choice but to hospitalize him. I didn’t want to do it, but he was scaring me. I was afraid to sleep at night, worried that he’d either sneak out, harm himself, or harm . . . me.”

  Compassion flooded him, but Kade couldn’t let that dictate the rest of the conversation. “Any ideas on who he really called?”

  “No. I learned it was a Colombian cell phone, but that’s it.”

  “Nikki, you realize if he’s guilty, we’ll be charged with aiding terrorists? We’ll be locked up for life. Are you sure you want to bet everything on his innocence?”

  “I’m in too deep to back out now.”

  “You know I work with people with PTSD,” Kade said. “He has all the signs. The fact is that we don’t know what the truth is or isn’t right now. What happened last night, what happened with Desmond . . . it doesn’t look good, Nikki.”

  She pinched the skin between her eyes again and grimaced. When she looked at him, her gaze was eerily calm, almost resigned. “Can you help him, Kade?”

  “Right now we’re in crisis mode. I’m continually talking him down from the ledge. With all the stress he’s under—we’re all under—we’ll be doing well to just maintain a semblance of stability.”

  She glanced back at her brother. “What if I’m helping him . . . only to find out everything is in his head? What if none
of this is true?”

  That was a great question, Kade realized. One he’d asked himself many times before.

  CHAPTER 18

  Nikki pulled her knees to her chest and stared across the backyard. After showering and bandaging her cut, she’d watered the mums on the porch. Not wanting to go back inside, she found a cheerful, flower-printed cushion in the deck box and plopped it on the wicker love seat on the deck. The sun was beginning to set, and it was chilly outside, but she needed time to process.

  They’d gotten back an hour ago. Bobby had insisted on lying down. Kade had gone upstairs with him to chat for a few minutes, and Nikki didn’t argue.

  She had too much to think about: her meeting with Raz, her home burning down, Pierce finding her. That was just to name a few.

  Before she let her thoughts go there, she observed the area around her. Her throat tightened again with that familiar feeling of being watched.

  Ridiculous. If the FBI had found her, they would have already surrounded the house and captured them. If ARM had located them, at this point they’d be dead.

  She wasn’t sure why she kept feeling like eyes were on her.

  She let out a deep breath and looked at the deck. The wood was fresh, not even stained yet. Wooden chairs and a picnic table dotted the area, along with some friendly stone statues—several birds and a turtle. She wondered if the couple who owned the place—Jack and Savannah—had begun fixing it up because they were starting Hope House.

  Even from where she sat, which was a considerable distance from the bay, Nikki could feel the steady breeze that rushed over the water. It ruffled the grass and made the tree leaves sway. The sun was sinking low, smearing magical colors across the sky.

  For a moment, and just a moment, she felt serene. Peaceful. As if her cares were gone.

  A footstep sounded behind her, and before she could turn, a blanket was draped around her shoulders and a steaming cup of coffee placed on the arm of the chair. She looked back and saw Kade.

  She sucked in a breath at the sight of him. He’d donned his typical cowboy boots, jeans that hugged his thighs, and a well-worn blue shirt that made his eyes look warm. Was there anything about this man that she didn’t find appealing?