She laughed. “You’re paranoid.”
He stared at her. “Do you recall the last two years of our life? We had three killers try to gut you, someone shot me outside a gay bar, and now we have some granny killer on the loose. This is the perfect time to be paranoid. In fact, you should try it. It’s appropriate.”
Callie ignored her husband as she pushed the door open and headed right into the house. His grumblings only amused her. She was perfectly safe by his side. The killer was long gone, and they were all alone.
What could go wrong?
“We need to work fast. The funeral is over in an hour. We don’t know that the rest of the family isn't coming here,” she said, moving through the small outdated space.
He began looking around, snapping pictures of everything. They’d go over them later when they were safe. Finesse wasn’t their friend. The two of them needed to do this, and fast.
“Look,” she said, pointing to a chair in the middle of the room. There was blood on, and around it. “She was tied there.”
He happened to agree. “This wasn’t a robbery. If it was, they would have knocked her out, taken what they wanted, and gotten the hell out of here. They bound her there for a while.”
Callie scanned the room. “They ransacked the place. There’s broken glass.”
Crossing the room, she crouched down beside the largest mess. “There’s a picture frame but no photo,” she stated. “Why didn't the sheriff’s department take this in?”
Quinn knew the most obvious reason was likely the truth. It looked like incompetence was running rampant in Fredricksville.
Great.
“The chair too,” she added.
Yeah, he found that odd. What he wouldn’t give to see the police report, detailing what the crime scene team had logged?
“Let’s look around, and then get the hell out of here, Callie. The hair is standing up on the back of my neck. I feel like we’re being watched, and I really hope it’s Jagger playing peeping Tom.”
Callie trusted her husband’s gut, so she moved around taking as many photos as possible. Behind the house, just outside the kitchen, she found a place that looked like someone had been roughed up. There was blood on the ground, along with vomit.
Yeah, they’d worked someone over.
Taking a few pictures, she met Quinn inside.
She told him what she found.
“They probably moved her outside to make it harder in case they left any evidence. It’s harder to get footprints in grass than it is on a blood covered wooden floor.”
She pointed toward the bathroom. They needed to see where the woman died. If the rumors were right, they’d left her in the bathroom. Pushing the door open, the smell hit them. It was of blood, bowel, and vomit.
Callie had to cover her nose. She’d been to some bad crime scenes, but never while pregnant. She wanted to retch.
“Here’s where they left her,” Quinn said, disgusted at the depravity.
“They meant business.”
“I don’t have much faith in the investigative team. The cashier at the store knew that the body was dumped here. That means that someone has loose lips,” Quinn admitted.
That worried Callie too. So far, they’d seen shoddy crime scene work, and now word was traveling about the victim. It spelled a disaster.
Quinn was getting more and more edgy. It reminded him of that morning he was shot in Atlanta. This was exactly how he felt before he put on his vest.
His nerves were a mess.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Quinn said, grabbing her arm. As he turned, he saw the telltale sign that they were screwed.
There, pointed at their heads, were two guns.
Yeah, now he knew why he was worked into a tizzy. They were in deep shit.
“Freeze! Sheriff’s department! Don’t move!”
Quinn swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared down the muzzle of the handgun.
Yeah, this was exactly what he was worried about.
Callie was a trouble magnet.
And here was his proof.
* * * C a r t e r - G a i n e s * * *
Nate kept his eyes on the road behind them as they headed down the highway. He wanted to make sure they were absolutely safe before he would let Avalon get off the floor behind him. If someone was going to shoot at them, she was better off down there.
“I think it’s clear, Avalon. You can come up here if you want,” he offered.
“I think we’re safe,” she offered. “I don’t feel like we’re being followed.”
Well, that was good to know.
“Great. Come up to the front.” Nate held his hand out, waiting for her to take it. When she did, his gut clenched at the light touch.
Yeah, he was sinking fast, and he knew it.
“That was crazy,” she stated. “I wanted to be sick!” While she couldn’t see it, Avalon heard everything. Someone was trying extra hard to get to her.
It was never this bad before. It looked like fate was upping the game to move it along.
When she was buckled in, he checked the mirrors. From the corner of his eye, he could see that she was shaking. Nate wanted to do everything in his power to ease her fear. “Are you going to be okay?” he asked.
She nodded.
“You don’t have to lie, honey. I’m scared out of my freaking mind,” he admitted.
“That was horrible,” she said, trying to stop shaking. “I thought they were going to get me.”
Nate knew he wouldn’t let that happen. He’d fight bitterly to keep Avalon safe. Not only was it his job, but he couldn’t let her get hurt.
“Is it always like that?”
She shook her head. “No. They move me, and it’s generally calm.”
Nate was afraid of that. If this was escalating, they were going to stop at nothing to get to her. That meant that the team was going to have to up their game.
“Maura is going to be all right, isn’t she?” Avalon finally asked.
Nate patted her leg. “Yeah, she is. Maura is incredibly tough. She doesn’t go down easy, and then toss in Luke, and they’re a difficult team to beat. My partner may sound like he’s a big jokester, but he takes the job very serious. When people are trying to kill you every day, you have to be on top of it.”
She relaxed. “Okay.”
Nate took a chance. He picked up her hand, hoping to offer her some reassurance. Instead, the simple action made his heart thunder in his chest. He couldn’t help but notice that Avalon twined her fingers with his.
It was so…peaceful.
Automatic.
“You’re safe, Avalon. I promise.”
She squeezed his fingers. “I know I am, Nathaniel. There’s no one on this planet who would protect me better. My heart knows you won’t ever hurt me.”
He glanced over at her. “You sound so sure. I wish I believed that. After all, I did let you get a burn making tea,” he teased, trying to cover his uneasiness. When she spoke to him, it was like they knew each other. He was getting that feeling of déjà vu.
“I know because your soul knows mine. Can’t you feel it, Nate?” she asked, staring blindly out the window. It was the only clue she could give him.
He had to recall their dream on his own. If she told him, he’d never believe her. No, this was something he had to discover in his own time.
Avalon only hoped it was soon. They didn't have a lot of time left, and she knew it.
“I feel something,” he admitted. “I’ve met you before, haven’t I?”
She turned to face him, her pale blue eyes showing no emotion. They were empty. “Yes.”
“Where?”
She shook her head. “I can’t tell you, Nate. If I do, you won’t believe me.”
He almost told her he would, but then he realized she was probably right. Had anyone told him any of this beforehand, he wouldn’t have believed them.
Since meeting her, he was on one hell of a crazy ride.
<
br /> “Okay. I’ll let it go for now. Will I understand later, Avalon?” he asked.
“I hope so, but promise me you won’t run.”
He ran the pad of his thumb over her hand as he drove them to safety. “I promise. I won’t do that to you.”
“Thank you, Nathaniel. I appreciate your trust.”
He didn't speak.
Nate was too lost in thought to even ask any more questions. His brain and gut were battling to make sense of it all.
“Can we listen to music?” she asked. “It calms me.”
“Absolutely.” He hit the button, and it auto tuned to a station. Music might calm him down too.
Then, it was a love song about two strangers finding each other. After that, there was another, about risking it all.
Finally, the last song was about loving and losing someone. Nate wasn’t sure if this was some message from fate or his imagination.
Was the universe was trying to tell him something or screwing with him?
Damn it!
He wished he knew.
* * * C a r t e r - G a i n e s * * *
He couldn’t believe they were going to steal a car. It was bad enough that it was illegal, but they were on a car lot with hundreds of vehicles looking for the right one.
“Just grab one,” he whispered, trying to avoid any of the cameras in the lot.
“It has to match the plate,” she stated. After ditching the stolen car, they made sure to steal a plate off some vehicle. By the time the person realized it, Maura and Luke would have met up with Nate and Avalon.
She knew it would work.
After all, she’d done it before.
Luke was both enthralled and horrified that his fiancée could steal a car so easily. She already had the door open and was working on the electrical system.
“You’re staring,” she said, a tool clenched between her teeth.
“Who are you?” he asked, as the car came to life.
“Strip the paper off the hood and seats. Then we’ll be on our way,” she stated, pulling plastic from the driver and passenger seats.
Luke obeyed, only because he wasn’t sure that he was awake. This was so crazy that he had to be dreaming. He’d watched her take down a three hundred pound oaf with a single slice, and she may have killed the second man with a punch to his temple.
His life had changed so much since meeting her.
“Let’s go,” she ordered, pulling out of the lot.
What shocked Luke the most was that she was driving along like nothing had even happened.
“You’re quiet,” she said. “What’s going on in your head, Lucas?” Maura asked, hoping he wasn’t thinking she was a horrible person. She was just used to doing desperate things to keep her people alive. That’s why she was so damn good at her job.
“I think I’m horny, but it may just be fear,” he said, trying to keep a straight face. “I want to jump you, but I still want to stare at you and wonder what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.”
That made Maura laugh. “Well, I hope it’s the first and not the last. I can’t fix fear, but I can work on the horny part later.”
He snorted. “The rest of my life is going to be one hell of a ride. In one day, we’ve been threatened, you cut a man, killed another, and now we’re up for grand theft auto. Are we in a video game?”
She winked at him. “This is my life. If you recall, I warned you at the beginning that it wasn’t going to be cupcakes and puppies. In my world, it’s guns, knives, and theft. After I warned you, someone...” She pointed at him before continuing, “told me not to be crazy. What could possibly go on in a normal day for me? Well, here it is. Enjoy.”
Luke leaned over to kiss her on the lips. “Yeah, well, I like your world. If we’re going to go, let it be in a blaze of glory.”
She didn't disagree. “Can you call Nate and let him know we’re behind him? We need to regroup before we head to the safe house. He’s driving a marked vehicle, and we’re in a stolen one. We don’t have a lot of time on this one.”
Luke pulled out his phone. “I can do that.”
“Good. Tell him to find a local place to call it a night. It can’t be a hotel. We need a no-tell motel,” she stated.
He snickered. “If the walls are a rockin’,” he began.
Maura punched him in the leg.
“Ouch! Come on! I didn't even get a safe word. That’s not fair!”
If anything, Lucas Mars made her laugh. “Tell him to park at another location—one not next to the motel. They’ll have to walk there. If they’re tracking your Hummer, and we stay at a mega hotel, we risk getting trapped in a room. We need to make it as hard as possible to find us. We don’t need a shootout around civilians.”
Luke pulled out his phone.
“Tell him not to bring Avalon in when he pays. They can identify her. If someone starts passing around photos, she’s going to stand out. The goons didn't see Nate. So, he’s going to be the one they can’t pick out. We’re made.”
He dialed and when his partner answered, he relayed it all. At the end of the conversation, he hung up, keeping it short and sweet. “He’s going to text me the coordinates as soon as they’re bedded down.”
“Good. I don’t like traveling in the daylight like this. We’re easily spotted. Thankfully, your Hummer is black. If it was some racy color, that makes it more descript.”
“You’re really worried,” he said, seeing the lines around Maura’s mouth.
“Yeah, I am,” she admitted. “They let us get away once. The next time they catch us, we’re not going to be so lucky. If you thought they were playing for keeps before, you haven’t seen anything yet. We took down one of the hired guns, and likely killed the other. There’s four more that I know of, and I’m sure whoever hired them can get more.”
“You’re thinking rich bastard who wants to use Avalon.”
She nodded. “It’s beginning to look more and more like he’s heard about her, and he’s coveting what the government has.”
“That sucks.”
She glanced over. “You have no idea. That’s why we have to keep her safe at all costs.”
He understood.
The game just got more dangerous.
* * * C a r t e r - G a i n e s * * *
Fredricksville
This was bad.
Not only were there two guns aimed at them, one was pointed straight at his pregnant wife. Quinn began praying to a higher power that the man behind the trigger didn't get nervous.
This whole thing pissed him off and terrified him at the same time. He knew this was a horrible idea, and he should have gone with his gut.
“Who the hell are you?” the man asked.
“We’re going to reach for our badges,” he said, still not moving.
“Do it slow!” the sheriff demanded, not lowering his gun. “Why are you in our crime scene?”
“Let us show you our badges, and then maybe you can point the guns away from the pregnant lady.”
The two men looked at her belly. Immediately, the man who was obviously in charge lowered his sidearm.
Quinn was grateful.
“Okay, show us,” the one man said.
Reaching into his pocket, right beside his gun, Quinn pulled the shield out with his two fingers. “I’m Detective Quinton Gaines, and I’m working a case,” he said, holding it out for the man to see.
Callie slowly removed hers next. “I’m Doctor Callista Gaines, and I’m a profiler for the FBI. My partner here isn’t kidding. We’re here in Fredricksville on FBI business.”
The men checked out their credentials. When they were satisfied, he told the second man to put away his weapon.
Finally, Quinn could breathe.
“Before we go any further,” stated the sheriff, “we need to corroborate your story. Who can we call to verify that these badges are real?”
Here was what Quinn was worried about. “Have you ever heard of Director Elizabeth Blackhawk
out of FBI West?” he asked.
“Yes, I have.”
Callie handed him one of her business cards. When you get the receptionist, tell her that you need to speak to the director regarding the Miller case.”
They waited while the man dialed.
When he got Elizabeth on the phone, it was a quick call. He immediately thanked her and hung up.
“She’s verified you, and asked that we give you a little leeway,” he stated.
Quinn relaxed.
“I’m Sheriff Adam Lawrence. I’ve been in charge of this town for the last ten years or so. This is Deputy Mario Pasquale. We work the dayshift here in Fredricksville.”
They shook hands.
“How about an explanation?” he asked. “You could have just come to us and asked to see the scene. I would have cooperated.”
“We were told by our boss to keep it quiet. The FBI wanted us to keep the whole town from knowing we were here.”
The sheriff didn't say anything.
“We’ve been here one day, and we heard from a local about the crime scene. That’s exactly what we couldn’t let happen,” Quinn stated. What he wanted to say was the sheriff had one hell of a leak, but it wasn’t his place. Besides, the man took his gun off a pregnant woman.
How bad could he be?
The sheriff got the point. “How about we get out of here? This place creeps me out. We can talk outside where it doesn’t smell so damn bad.”
They followed him, the deputy closing in behind them as if he still wasn’t quite sure this wasn’t an ambush.
Outside, they stood in the fresh air, and Callie started feeling a little better.
“How did you know we were here?” Quinn asked.
“Well, we saw two strangers in town yesterday, and then last night we got another call about a dead body. It didn't make sense to us. We don’t often get two murder victims in two weeks.”
That made them pause.
“You have a second body?” Callie asked incredulously.
“Yeah, that’s why we thought you were up to no good. Strangers plus bodies usually equal troubling news.”
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