Tactical Advantage

by Julie Miller

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. While you were busy thinking up ways to get rid of me, I was watching the traffic. No black SUV on our tail.”

  “Then it’s probably just a coincidence that he’s here, right?” Nick didn’t like coincidences. “Right?”

  “You need to be more aware of your surroundings,” he advised, forcing her shorter legs to hustle a little faster. “Don’t stand around analyzing things. That gives anyone watching you the same time to observe your actions and plan their strategy. Make quick impressions and keep moving.”

  “Analyzing things is what I do.”

  “In the lab, but not when it involves personal safety.” Unsure whether the men were simply waiting for their car to warm up before driving it, or if they were up to something more sinister by lurking in the shadows, Nick tried to make out a plate number he could call in. No good. He’d have to come back out and check on the SUV once Annie was secure in her apartment. “I suppose if the lot’s full, you park out here on the street and walk past all these cars?”

  “Aren’t you being a little paranoid? I was perfectly safe in the lab all day, even without your pacing the hallways, asking coworkers to identify themselves and making them nervous.”

  “Besides you and Mac Taylor, I saw three people in that whole building today. Raj Kapoor who brought in the tarps from the alley and processed them with you, the guy finishing up paperwork in his office on the fourth floor and the guard at the front desk. That’s another thing—there’s safety in numbers. I know you like that whole leave-me-alone-and-let-me-do-my-work thing, but you make less of a target if you’ve got some backup with you.”

  “Why would I be a target?”

  “Let’s see. You’ve been attacked once already—”

  “That man was stealing evidence. It wasn’t about me.”

  “You’re a successful professional. The type of woman the Rose Red Rapist targets. Maybe you should watch out for him.” To date, their unsub hadn’t discriminated in looks or ethnicity when choosing his victims. The common denominator seemed to be his penchant for brutalizing strong women—and this one’s obstinate will certainly qualified her.

  Snowplow crews had been through here at least once in the past few hours to clear the street, creating deep snowbanks around the cars that hadn’t been moved since the winter storm had begun before the New Year last night. Nick stomped a path through a drift to reach the curb, feeling the snow cling to his jeans and chill his legs. He kicked aside the tiny avalanche that spilled onto the sidewalk and turned back to reach for Annie’s hand. “Watch your step.”

  Despite the murderous glare in her eyes, Annie was practical enough to fold her fingers into his, holding on for balance while she made the precarious climb to the sidewalk. “This is the wrong place for him,” she reasoned. “He likes the uptown district where all the outsiders are pouring in their money to revitalize the historic buildings and bring back the neighborhood. Besides, he went after Rachel Dunbar last night. It’s not his pattern to strike again so soon.”

  “His pattern changed when Dunbar died. Who knows when he’ll strike again.”

  She paused in the middle of the snowbank. The defiance in her tone was replaced by something softer that matched the concern in her eyes. “Not every person you run into is a threat, Nick.”

  “Maybe not, but I don’t want to miss the one guy who is because I wasn’t paying attention.”

  Her right foot slipped on the ice compacted beneath the snow and Nick tightened his grip. He was pulling her over the slick mini-mountain when he heard a big engine revving.

  Nick’s gaze flew to the black SUV. Tires squealed against the pavement, fighting for traction. “Move!”

  The CSI kit sank into the snow. Nick cinched his arm around Annie’s waist. She yelped as he lifted her off her feet and spun around, setting her on the sidewalk behind him. The driver opened up the throttle and the black car fishtailed onto the snow-packed road, spitting up a spray of slush, ice and road salt as it barreled toward them.

  “You crazy—”

  Annie’s shout muffled against Nick’s chest. He covered his face with one arm, squinting against the pelting debris, turning his shoulders to protect her from the worst of the deluge—all the while trying to get a glimpse of a face or a plate number or any identifying mark that could help him track the jerk as soon as he got on the phone to Dispatch. Ice chips stung his face and stuck to his clothes. The slush soaked through wool and leather, straight through to the skin.

  “Stay put!” Nick pushed Annie back behind the protection of a parked car and charged after the speeding vehicle. Black. Souped-up engine. Missouri plates, he noted, but little more. It was three blocks away, gaining speed and disappearing into the night before he even made it to the corner.

  “Son of a—” Nick skidded to a stop, swinging his gaze back and forth to make sure there were no more unwelcome surprises waiting for them. He dropped his jaw open, exhaling deep foggy breaths after the quick sprint through the frozen night.

  “E-14.”

  “What?” He spun around to meet the dark-haired beauty running up behind him. “Damn it, Annie, why didn’t you stay put?”

  He caught her by the shoulders, moving her farther away from the intersection, away from the street and beyond any other spy’s line of sight. She was slightly winded and fumbling with her purse and camera, but that tongue of hers worked just fine. “I couldn’t see the license plate over the roofs of the parked cars, but I could make out a parking sticker on the back window. I couldn’t read where the lot was, but saw E-14.” She got a firm hold of the camera and held it up like a winning trophy. “I got pictures. If there was enough light on even one of them, I can blow it up and read the fine print, maybe get the license number.”

  “Annie.” She’d done all that in the few seconds he’d given chase? Why hadn’t she just dropped for cover? Those could have been bullets flying at them instead of sooty snow and ice. Dropping his arm around her shoulders, he tucked her to his side and scooted her back toward the apartment complex. His eyes were watching every car, every window they passed, whether they showed signs of life inside or not. “When I tell you to do something, you need to do it.”

  The woman planted her feet, nearly toppling over when Nick didn’t immediately stop. Her hand latched on to him, squeezing melting slush from his jacket and scarf through her bare fingers. “You told me not to just stand there and analyze.”

  “There’s a difference between...” Not wanting to stand out here in the open any longer than they had to, he nipped that argument in the bud, conceding her point—and admiring that she’d thought so quickly on her feet. “I did, didn’t I? Figures you’d decide to listen to me now. Good work.”

  “Thanks.” Oh, man, was he in trouble. She was too pretty when she smiled like that. The flat-out worry that had tightened his chest eased with that cautious little smile and he felt the corners of his own mouth crooking in response.

  But knowing his first move shouldn’t be to come up with some other compliment to keep her smiling, Nick pulled her hand away from his wet leather and dripping scarf. Sparing a few seconds to wipe the moisture from her pale fingers and slide his gloves from his hands onto hers, he ignored the chill on his own skin and pulled her back into step beside him. “Come on. Let’s get you inside before you freeze.”

  “You’re the one who’s freezing. I’ll put on a pot of coffee. I have to get you out of those wet clothes.”

  Nick stopped to close the kit she’d thrown open, ignoring the sudden warming beneath his chilled skin at the suggestive invitation of that one innocent line. A completely naughty image of Annie Hermann stripping off his clothes made him forget the weather entirely for a few awkward seconds. Would the bedroom Annie be the single-minded, precisely adept scientist he’d watched working in the lab all day? Or would she be the softly vulnerable klutz in the hospital E.R. who held on with both fists and kissed him with guileless abandon?


  Practicality cut the fantasy short. They were still out in the open, and if the guys in the black SUV had been watching for Annie’s arrival, then anyone else could just as easily be watching them from the shadows. He hooked her elbow and starting walking into the courtyard framed on three sides by the two-story brownstones. “Coffee sounds perfect right about now.”

  “I’ll even throw in a sandwich or an omelet,” Annie offered, taking him to a more familiar place. Coworkers. Brainy lady and bodyguard. Crazies out there in the world who’d hurt her once, had nearly hurt her a second time and who wouldn’t get the chance to hurt her again.

  “I get it. Now your strategy is to poison me so you can get rid of me.”

  “It’s an option,” she teased, and Nick chuckled in his throat. This back-and-forth banter was definitely more familiar than the magnetic spell she’d cast over him today and very real concerns he had for her safety. “I’m starting to see how you might be useful to have around for a while.”

  “I must have snow in my ears. That sounded like you just said something nice to me.”

  She stopped on the front steps at the first building, and pulled the security card out of her pocket. She tilted her face to his, showing him something far too vulnerable and dangerously distracting in those soulful eyes. “I slipped on the ice and was on my way down to the pavement. Whether that SUV was just an idiot driver who can’t handle this weather, or it was something intentional, I would have fallen into the street, right into his path if you hadn’t been here. Thank you. Again.”

  Nick took the card from her hand, giving her fingers a reassuring squeeze before swiping the card to open the door and usher her inside. “Don’t think this makes us even, Hermann. I’m still going to look after you for the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours. Just like the doctor said.”

  “Twenty-four hours, max.”

  He waited for the door to close behind them, then followed her up the steps to the second-floor landing. “You can’t get rid of me.”

  “I still want my car.”

  “Ain’t gonna happen.”

  She’d pulled out her keys by the time he reached the top step. He was glad to see she had to unlock a dead bolt in the thick walnut door as well as the knob. While the security outside hadn’t been all it should be, it was reassuring to see things improving inside the building.

  Or not.

  The door on the opposite side of the landing swung open and a big man with a TV remote clutched in his hand joined them. “Annie? I was watching the game, but I thought I heard you coming in. Are you okay?”

  She muttered something like “Not now” before turning with a smile. “Hi, Roy. I—”

  Stifling her greeting, the man walked straight over to Annie and lifted her onto her toes in a hug. Something hot and protective jarred through Nick’s cold body at the man’s presumptive right to put his hands on her. She clearly knew the guy, but was this a neighbor? A friend? Something more?

  Something worse?

  “I was worried. When I took Betsy home this morning, I saw you were still gone. You left last night and you’ve been gone all day—” Just as Nick reached out to separate them, the man set Annie down and pulled away. His gaze zeroed in on the violet-and-purple swelling above her left eye. “Oh, man, you’re not okay.” The shoulders of the red football jersey he wore puffed up, and Nick saw his stance shift. “Did this guy do this to you?”

  As soon as the guy thumped Nick’s chest, Nick grabbed his hand, twisted his arm behind his back and pushed his face up against the wall. “I’m KCPD, pal. Who are you?”

  “Roy Carvello, neighborhood watch.” The remote clattered to the floor as his cheek rubbed against the plaster. “It’s my duty to check on her.”

  “It’s okay, Roy. He never hurt me. Nick, let him go.” A gentle hand squeezed around Nick’s shoulder, shooting a tiny jolt of electric awareness through him.

  “You said, ‘Not now.’ He grabbed you anyway.”

  “I’m just tired. I’m not used to dealing with so many people all day long. Please.” More than the guy’s free hand raised in surrender, Annie’s touch and soft voice cut through the blinding frustration of yet another attempt to keep her safe gone wrong.

  Nick eased his grip and slowly backed away, giving Roy Carvello room to turn around. Annie’s hand curled through the crook of Nick’s elbow, pulling him back another step. “Detective Fensom’s okay. He’s...” Her grip pulsed around his arm. “He’s a guy I work with. He gave me a ride home because I couldn’t drive.”

  A guy I work with? Their relationship had gotten a lot more complicated than that over the past twenty-four hours. How did she explain that kiss at the hospital? Clinging to him for protection and comfort? What about the way their endlessly argumentative banter had changed to teasing quips and grins and friendly intimacy in just the last few minutes?

  He’d stopped being just a guy she worked with sometime between carrying her out of that alleyway and accepting her invitation for food and coffee.

  Nick was a tangled-up mess inside, going on thirty-six hours without sleep, dealing with guilt, fighting his own hormones and on guard against any man until they could ID her attacker. He knew the perp would come back to finish what he’d started. And she was shootin’ the breeze with Tall, Dark and Nosy here?

  Carvello straightened the jersey he’d put on over a black hoodie and jeans. “Isn’t there some law against police harassment?”

  He’d thrown the taunt at Nick, but it was Annie who answered. “It’s been a long day, Roy. Detective Fensom is a little overprotective of me.”

  “What’s wrong with your car?” Roy asked. Turning his eyes to the petite brunette, his accusatory tone eased back into friendly concern. “Were you in an accident?”

  “My car’s fine. It’s parked downtown.” She released Nick to point to the bandage above the bruise. “I got this bump on my head and the doctor doesn’t want me to drive. How was your party? Looks like you and Betsy were having a good time.” Annie tilted her head to peek into his open apartment. “She didn’t stay for the game?”

  “No. She helped me clean up the place. Then I took her to breakfast and drove her home.” Roy reached out to touch Annie again, but a warning look from Nick forced his hand back to his side. “Who did that to you?”

  “That’s a crime we’re trying to solve.”

  “You look like you’ve been in the boxing ring for a few rounds.” He thumbed over his shoulder into his tidy apartment. “Do you need anything? I’ve got an ice pack. Aspirin. Leftover pizza. A private phone you can use?”

  “I’m okay.”

  Did this bozo really think Nick had hurt Annie? “We appreciate your concern, Mr. Carvello, but I’ve got it covered.”

  “Yes, sir, Officer.” Roy dropped his gaze to the puddle around Nick’s feet. “Dude, you’re dripping on the floor. The landlord refinished these last summer. He won’t like that you’re making a mess.”

  Nick opened his mouth to mention snowstorms and ice and the jackass who’d nearly plowed into Annie. But her hand was on his arm again, cutting through the tension, calming him down. She picked up the remote and slipped it into Carvello’s hand. “It’s okay. I’ll get a mop and clean it up.”

  “I’ll do it for you. It can’t stay there for long or it’ll pull up the finish. It’s halftime anyway. You just go get into some dry clothes and let me take care of it.”

  “That’d be a great help, Roy. Thanks. Good night.”

  Her smile was contagious. “Good night, Annie.”

  But once they were inside her apartment, the smile vanished and Annie turned on him. “What was that?”

  “What was what?” While she unbuttoned her coat and unzipped her boots, Nick locked everything.

  Her boots thumped down on the throw rug beneath his feet. “That Neanderthal reaction to my neighbor looking out for me?”

  Nick paused with his hand on the chain that added another layer of security. What was that knee-jerk reaction to Roy
Carvello wanting to touch Annie all about anyway? Protective instincts? Or jealousy? It better damn well not be the latter, or else his ability to watch over Annie the way he needed to would be in serious trouble. He hooked the chain and faced her. “Did I interpret that wrong? Did I not see you cringe when Carvello opened his door? Remember, I’m not waiting to be blindsided by the one guy who is a threat.”

  “Okay, so Roy doesn’t understand boundaries.” She hung her coat on the rack beside the door and indicated he do the same. “But he’s not a bad guy. He keeps an eye on things when I’m gone.”

  “Why didn’t you want him to touch you?”

  “Because I’m happy being friends and he wants... How did you know?”

  Nick tapped the badge hanging at the center of his chest. “Detective?”

  With a heavy sigh, she knelt down to cuff the hem of her jeans above her stockinged feet. “He wants to be more than that. Well, actually, I think he wants to be more than that with every woman he meets. I had to fend off his advances once when he was drunk.”

  “So he’s a player.”

  Annie stood, still defending the guy. “Sober, he’s a good neighbor.”

  “I don’t like him. And I don’t think you like him much, either.”

  “How would you know? You’ve known him for only five minutes, and you spent half that time with your forearm pressed against the back of his neck.”

  “Then he shouldn’t have touched you.”

  “Look, I don’t have that many friends around here, so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t alienate the one guy...” She worked her rosy pink lips between her teeth, stopping the argument. Before continuing, she plucked his stained, dripping scarf from his hands and carried it into her galley-style kitchen where she rinsed and squeezed it dry in the sink. “Coffee, sandwiches and dry clothes, remember? I owe you that much.”

  “You owe me nothing.”

  “Don’t you ever get tired of fighting with me?” She circled the counter into the hallway and pulled out a towel to wrap up his scarf. She tossed him a second towel and pointed to the radiator beside the front windows. “You can warm yourself over there while I change and come up with something for you to wear. And don’t scare my cats the way you scared Roy.”