by Rebecca Deel
Back in the living room, she sat at the opposite end of the couch from her cousin. Their luck, the underlinings were somebody’s bored doodling, though how anyone could be bored with a Nora Roberts book was beyond her understanding. Trying to make sense of the marks would occupy Ivy for a while. She hated to let go of a puzzle until she’d solved the thing. Made her a good teacher.
Del checked the two books she suspected were hers, nodded in satisfaction when she was proved correct. No odd markings. Just the well-worn creases of much loved books and a chocolate smudge on the edges when she’d pushed the books across her kitchen table without realizing she had candy on her fingertips. The summer heat had melted her chocolate bar and left a sticky residue.
She examined the other three books. No funny markings that she noticed skimming the pages. The inside front cover of the books, however, contained a name. Catherine Wright. Del frowned. Sounded familiar. She searched her memory, came up empty. Maybe she heard the name on the news. “Ivy, look at the inside front cover of your book. Is there a name written?”
Ivy flipped open the cover. “Catherine Wright. Is her name in your books, too?”
She nodded. “The question is, did the markings mean anything to Catherine?”
“Who’s Catherine?” Deke walked into the room and dropped onto the recliner. “What did I miss?”
“Catherine Wright is the person who owned most of these books,” Del said. “The book we’re most concerned with is the one Ivy has. It has some interesting markings in chapters 8 and 10.”
His eyebrows rose. “May I see it?”
Ivy tossed the book to the marshal. He flipped to the first chapter, stared at the underlining. Turned pages. “What do you make of the markings?”
“Code, maybe.” Del bit into her Snickers bar, chewed before continuing. “Got any ideas? Ivy wrote down all the letters. We were going to put our heads together, see if we might crack the code.” She winced. “Now I sound like a detective novel.”
Deke grinned. “I’ve heard worse. Do the letters spell anything?”
“No.” Ivy held out the piece of paper. “I’m not good at word search or crossword puzzles, but the letters don’t seem to mean anything.”
The marshal took the paper, studied it a few moments. “What about numbers? Hand me the pen.” He spent a few minutes writing on the sheet, then handed it to Ivy. “What do you think?”
Del lifted Ivy’s foot from the pillow and slid closer to her cousin so they could study the paper together. Numbers ranged across the top of the letters. “The numbers represent each letter’s position in the alphabet?”
“What do the numbers mean?” Ivy asked.
“That I don’t know. Could be anything.” He stood. “Time for another security sweep around the cabin.” Deke eyed Ivy. “Stay inside, okay? Rouse Stella if something spooks you. I’ll be outside, searching the grounds.”
“You won’t go far?” Ivy’s voice wavered a little.
That made Del smile. Her cousin was adding one more man to the list of trusted ones.
Deke grinned. “Not if I want to stay healthy. There’s no telling what these crazy yahoos are setting up for Granger. Since they didn’t tell me where their traps were located, I’d be risking life and limb traipsing in the surrounding countryside. Yell out the door or window. I’ll hear you.”
A nod from Ivy and she settled against the couch arm again.
“Do your rounds.” Del smiled. “Ivy and I will work on the numbers.”
With a nod, the marshal left.
Del slid out from under Ivy’s foot. She lifted the bag of melted ice and towel and stood. “I’ll bring your pain meds. Want a Coke?”
“Thanks.”
She detoured to check on Stella. The marshal still slept on the library couch, pillow stuffed under her head, blanket pulled to her chin. After a stop in the kitchen, with two Cokes and pain meds in her hands, she returned to the living room. Ivy was curled on her side, sound asleep.
She tiptoed into the room to leave the Coke and medicine on the coffee table, then retrieved her books. She settled on a barstool. Del’s Coke was the perfect chaser to the chocolate. She opened the Nora Roberts book and slipped back into the story.
Josh shoved the collapsible shovel into his Go bag and stood. “That’s the last hole. You set?” He examined the area where they dug. They had cleared the area of their presence, so no one would know they disturbed the earth. The more information he received from Jon, the more concerned he grew. Curt didn’t have anything to lose. He didn’t care if he lived or died while Josh had many reasons to keep breathing, starting with the beautiful bookseller who’d stolen his heart.
“Done. What’s next?”
Josh consulted his to-do list from Nate. “Tripwires and motion sensors in the fourth quadrant.”
His partner stilled. “That’s too far from the cabin.”
“Quinn checked in. He’s working one hundred feet from the cabin.”
Alex grabbed his Go bag and trotted toward their last assigned area. Josh followed on his partner’s heels, erasing their trail as they went. One misstep on his part and he could trip one of the surprises they’d left for their adversary.
Halfway to their destination, Josh’s cell phone vibrated. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen. His stomach knotted. “Hey, sunshine. Everything okay?”
A few feet ahead, Alex skidded to a halt and turned.
“We had some excitement in the store.”
Josh’s free hand fisted. “What happened? Anybody hurt?”
“Granger showed up. We were pretty scared. He didn’t like the answers we gave to his questions.”
“What did he ask?” Though he suspected, he needed it confirmed.
“If we knew where Del and Ivy were.” She drew in a deep breath, one that sounded shaky to him. “He cornered me in the office, grilled me about you and Alex.”
Josh’s face burned. “Did he hurt you, Maddie?” When she paused, he knew the truth. “What did he do to you?”
Alex stepped closer, a scowl growing on his face.
She gave a shaky laugh. “Nick says I’ll have a shiner by day’s end.”
Granger would be lucky if Josh stuck to the plan and simply bagged him and put him on ice. “I’m sorry, sunshine.” If Curt had gone after Megan, she would have fought dirty enough to get in some good licks. Rod had been sparring with her at the gym since they married last winter. Of the triplet sisters, Madison was the most fragile. He’d never admit he worried about her more than the others. Since Serena was pregnant, though, that might change. “What about Serena and Meg? Did Granger try for them?”
“Guess I drew the lucky straw.” She sniffed. “Sorry. I’m glad he didn’t try to hurt the others, especially Serena. It makes me sick to think of what he might have done if Serena had been here or if he caught her by herself.”
If anything happened to his niece or nephew because of Granger, the former Delta operator wouldn’t be able to run far enough or fast enough to get away from him or any of his brothers-in-law. Ethan wouldn’t rest until he’d tracked the man down. Personally, Josh would rather have any man but Ethan on his trail. The former Ranger was smart and ruthless when he needed to be. “I’m glad you’re okay. How’s Nick holding up?”
“I’ve never seen him so angry. Nick wanted to kill him for hurting me. Do something about that maniac, Josh. I don’t want to visit my husband in the state penitentiary.”
“You have my word on that, sunshine. Are Del’s employees all right?” Josh knew that would be one of her first questions when she heard the news. He motioned for Alex to move ahead and fell into step beside him.
“He didn’t touch them.”
“Did Granger do anything besides interrogation?”
“That’s the funny thing. He made one of Del’s people round up the Nora Roberts books in the used book section.”
He grinned. This was good. A break they desperately needed to end this nightmare. “All of them?”
“Every one. The feds don’t know what to make of that. Can’t imagine he has a sensitive side and plans to read them.”
Josh knew what to make of the information. Del had the key, a used book. Had to be the book with the underlining. If they could figure out what it meant, Del and Ivy would reclaim their life and he could romance a certain lady. “Is Ethan handy?”
“He’s here. Ethan declared both stores a crime scene and sent the workers home. He’s lifting fingerprints and fending off Jordan’s attempts to take over. I’ll get him.”
“Madison?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
Another sniff. “I love you, too. Stay safe. It would break my heart to lose you.”
“I hear you, sunshine. Hand the phone to Ethan.”
Some fumbling, a few muffled words, then his brother-in-law’s deep voice came over the speaker. “How much longer do you need?”
“Twenty-four hours. We’re setting traps now.”
“Run it down.”
Josh told Ethan the details of their plan. When he mentioned bagging Granger and sending him to a black site, his brother-in-law grunted. “And the point for that?” More explanation followed.
“Dangerous,” Ethan said. “Is it necessary?”
“To stop the boss from sending more and more men after Del and Ivy, yes.”
“Bring in the feds during the second phase of this op.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Keep me informed. Watch your back. And Josh?”
“Yes, sir?”
“You get one shot at this. If he slips through, he’s mine. Granger’s not coming after my wife and child. You hear me?”
“Roger that.” Josh blew out a breath. Granger didn’t stand a chance against Ethan Blackhawk. No one was as good a tracker as that former Ranger. His brother-in-law had been a legend in the Rangers and still received calls from law enforcement agencies to track dangerous fugitives. He didn’t take as many out-of-state cases since he married Serena. The only cases he never turned down involved abducted children. The last time Josh checked, Ethan’s success rate hovered near ninety percent.
“What happened to Madison?” Alex asked.
“Granger clocked her.”
“She okay?”
“Black eye. Curt wasn’t happy when she couldn’t answer his questions.” He grinned at his partner. “Guess what else he was looking for? Used Nora Roberts books.”
Soft laughter from his partner. “Beautiful. So we do have what he’s after. What are the odds of that happening?”
“Almost nil. About time the tide turned in our favor.” He signaled Alex to step up the pace. They needed to finish their work and return to the cabin. He had a puzzle to solve and another guess at Del’s first name.
Ten sensors, several hundred yards of tripwire and a fifteen minute jog later, Josh and Alex opened the door into the kitchen. Del turned on the stool, finger to her lips. “Ivy’s sleeping in the living room,” she murmured.
Alex headed toward the stairs. “I’ll put up my bag and check on her.”
Josh stashed his bag against the wall. “How are you, baby?” He gave her a quick kiss. “And what smells so good besides you?”
“Chicken for tonight’s dinner.” She studied his face. “What happened?”
His eyebrows shot up. She caught something from his expression? Interesting. Most of his teammates couldn’t read him. Alex had his facial expressions down cold, but they’d been friends since basic. No use delaying the inevitable. “Granger showed up at the store.”
Her hand clamped on his arm. “Did he hurt anyone?”
“Gave Madison a black eye.” Fury still burned in his gut over that. “Everyone else is fine. He probably singled out Maddie because she’s my sister.”
“I’m sorry, Josh. Should we go back? Maybe if we’re close by he’ll come after us and leave your family alone.” Color drained from her face. “What if he goes after Serena? We must go home. I can’t let him hurt her or the baby.”
He laid his finger across her lips. “We stick with the plan and draw him here, away from my family and yours. By day’s end, Jon will start connecting with his contacts. If all goes well, by tomorrow night Curt won’t be a threat.” He placed his hands on the counter, one on either side of her body, caging her. “Hang in there a little longer. I promise you, Ethan will double security on the triplets. Granger won’t get to them again. Besides, I doubt Curt will try for the other two. He saw Madison as the weakest of the three. Since she couldn’t give him information, he’ll assume I didn’t tell anyone where I went.”
“Would he go after Ethan, Rod, or Nick for information?”
He grinned. “That would be the biggest mistake of his life. He wouldn’t get squat from them, but they would take great pleasure in making Granger regret taking them on. All three are out for blood because of Madison.”
She swallowed hard and buried her face against his neck. Josh’s arms closed around her. He needed a distraction or the distraught woman in his arms might dissolve in tears. He could handle a lot of things, but her crying wasn’t one of them. “Hey, I thought of another name.” Actually, he’d surfed the web on his encrypted phone and noticed a name that was sure to make her smile. He doubted the name was correct. The timing wasn’t right for her mother to choose that name even if she did read the book series.
Her laugh was muffled against his neck. “Let’s hear it.”
“Delia.”
She lifted her head, a smile blossoming on her face. “As in Delia Peabody, Eve Dallas’ partner? Nice, but no. That’s not right, either.”
He let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Ask your question.”
Her smile faded. “Is what we’re feeling for each other real?”
Josh lifted a hand to her cheek. “It’s as real as it gets, baby. This situation with Reece’s murder brought it on faster, but the interest has been growing for months.” He paused, struck with a serious case of uneasiness. Maybe the feelings were on one side. Was he so out of touch with the dating scene he’d misread the signals from her? “At least on my part.”
“I felt the same. However, I convinced myself you weren’t interested since you never asked me on a date.”
He chuckled. “I was trying to figure out a way to ask without getting shot down or causing awkwardness between us if you weren’t interested.” Josh sobered. “I didn’t want to cause problems between you and Madison.”
“I love your family. I’d never allow anything to interfere in our friendship.”
“Good to know. Anything happen while Alex and I were gone?”
Del handed him the paper Ivy had been working on when they left. Over the letters were a series of numbers. “What’s this?”
“Deke wrote the numbers. He wondered if the letters represented numbers based on their position in the alphabet. It made sense to us, but we couldn’t figure out what the numbers meant.”
Josh studied the numbers, searched for a pen. He took the numbers and moved them to the bottom of the page in the order they were listed, frowned. There was something about those numbers. Couldn’t pin it down, though. “I’ll run these by Jon. If it’s possible to figure this out, he will. Did you and Ivy come up with anything else?”
“A name. Catherine Wright. The books belonged to her.”
Dread built until it felt like a giant ball of ice in his stomach. That is not what he wanted to hear.
“You knew her?”
“Recognize the name. She died about six weeks ago.”
She dropped her hands to his and laced their fingers together. “Go on.”
“She was murdered. The police don’t know who killed her.” Man, he didn’t want to tell her more even though she needed to understand the danger in pursuing his plan. The stakes were higher than he realized. Now that he knew Catherine’s name, he also knew who was after Del and Ivy. Never in his worst nightmares would he have connected the name with Del. Perhaps the best course of actio
n was to get her and Ivy out of the country. He could call in a favor with Fortress or one of his former Delta teammates. “Catherine Wright was tortured.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Tortured?” Del swallowed hard, hoping her stomach stayed in place. “Did Granger kill her?”
“Maybe. Now that we have a connection, law enforcement might be able to place Granger in the area.” He sounded doubtful.
“But it’s not likely?”
“He’s called Ghost for a reason.”
“What did he do to her?”
“You don’t need to know anything except the M.E. had to use DNA to identify her.”
Del slipped out of his arms. She needed a Coke. Now. In the refrigerator, she slipped two bottles of the soda from the plastic rings, handed one to Josh before opening hers and drinking a third of the liquid.
He gulped most of his, watching her as she settled on the stool again. “I’m sorry, baby. I should have found a better way to tell you.”
“I hate that Catherine suffered. Why was she tortured?”
“Don’t know for sure, but I suspect it has something to do with her gun dealer brother.”
“Gun dealer? Are you talking about Xavier Wright?” A shiver raced over Del’s body. She was familiar with his reputation from his frequent mentions in the press. The government was always bringing charges against him for dealing guns to terrorists. He beat every rap because the evidence was either misplaced or contaminated and useless against him.
“Unfortunately. There have been rumors the last couple months about problems in his organization. Law enforcement hasn’t been able to get anyone inside to find out what’s happening.”
She frowned, glancing down at the paper with numbers and letters scribbled all over it. “What does the book with underlining have to do with Wright?”
“Not sure yet. I have some calls to make. Maybe we have enough pieces to start making sense of this.” He cupped her face between his palms and kissed her. “Good work, sweetheart.” Between one heartbeat and the next, Josh was outside.
