Finding the Edge

by Debra Webb

  “So, how’s it going with Dick?”

  Eva laughed. Her sister always did have a way with words. The ability to summarize a situation quickly and eloquently had made her one of Chicago’s most beloved reporters. “Things are fine with Todd. He’s an excellent bodyguard.” More of those sensual images and sounds from last night whispered through her mind.

  “There was never anything wrong with his body,” Lena retorted. “It’s his heart where the trouble lies.”

  “I’m not having this discussion. How’s it going in DC?” Why she felt any need whatsoever to defend Todd she would never understand. The idea that her sister’s words inspired a glimmer of anger made her want to scream in frustration. But she wouldn’t do that either.

  “Oh my God.”

  Those three words told Eva that she was in trouble.

  “You slept with him already.”

  Humiliation and frustration roared through her in equal measures. “I did not sleep with him.” It was true. They had sex. There was no sleep involved.

  “You never have been a good liar, little sister. You had sex with the man which means that when I get back I have to kick his ass.”

  Eva burst into full-on laughter. “Kicking his ass will not be necessary. I ended a long dry spell. No big deal. It was just sex.”

  “Who do you think you’re kidding? You ended your dry spell with the jerk who broke your heart when you were just a baby. We need to have a long talk when I get back, sweetie. You have got to start getting out more.”

  “I was not a baby. I was nineteen.” She ignored Lena’s other comments. They had been down that “fix her up with this one and then that one” road. Her sister was a great reporter but she totally sucked at matchmaking. “Everyone gets their heart broken, Lena. It’s not the end of the world.”

  She made a rude sound. “It’s different when it’s your little sister.”

  “Are you being extra careful?” It was time to change the subject. Eva knew Lena would not let it go unless she ignored further attempts to discuss the matter. Maybe not even then. Persistence was another of her award-winning traits.

  “I am. I’m so bored I could take a cooking class. I know this political stuff is super important right now but I’d much rather be back in Chicago doing something that feels more real.”

  “How about I give you an exclusive when this is over?”

  “That’s as real as it gets,” Lena said softly. “You sure you’re okay? You could come stay with me. I’m sure Dick knows what he’s doing but I can’t help but have reservations.”

  “He knows what he’s doing and I’m being very careful.” She stared at herself in the mirror. “I’m at the church clinic today so I really should get back out there.”

  “I’m doing a story on that soon,” Lena warned. “You guys are doing great work. I want the city’s uppity-ups to hear about it more often.”

  “We can always use more donations,” Eva admitted.

  “You got it. Love you.”

  “Love you.” Eva ended the call and tucked her phone away.

  Lena reminded her more of their mother every day. There was just one place where the two had differed immensely. Lena might never forgive Todd for walking away all those years ago when their mother, Stella Bowman, had loved Todd even after he was gone. When he left she had held Eva and promised her she would be fine. She’d also made a prediction or maybe it had been nothing more than wishful thinking. Either way, her mother had been adamant about her conclusion on the matter.

  He’ll be back one day. You’ll see. Todd Christian loves you in a way that can’t be ignored.

  Tears burned Eva’s eyes even now and she swiped them away. “Miss you, Mom.”

  Eva knew her mother had meant well. She never gave up on anyone she loved. Eva hoped she hadn’t spent the last decade unconsciously pushing everyone else away because of what her mother had predicted.

  Stella Bowman had been right about one thing. He was back.

  But it wasn’t for the reason her mother had meant. It was coincidence. And when the tragic events that had aligned to create the chance reunion were no longer a threat to her, he would be gone. Just like before.

  Eva drew in a deep breath and pushed out the door. She jumped when her gaze collided with the blue eyes she feared would haunt her dreams for as long as she lived.

  “You ready for lunch?” Todd rubbed his lean abdomen. “I’m starving.” He hitched his head toward the cop who had a crush on her. “O’Reilly tells me there’s a great taco stand next to the Mickey D’s across the street. He’s even offered to make the food run.”

  Eva smiled. “Sounds good.” She turned to the cop watching Todd like a hawk. “I would love to have lunch with you, Kelly.”

  He looked from Todd to her and his fierce expression softened. “Text me your order and I’ll be back in a snap.”

  Eva asked Betty and Dr. Taggart if they would like something from the taco stand, and they both declined so she sent her order to Kelly. When he returned she made it a point to chat mostly with him as the three of them ate lunch together.

  As she returned to seeing patients she felt Todd watching her. She knew it wasn’t right but she was enjoying ignoring her bodyguard. The idea that he seemed jealous made her far happier than it should.

  Sometimes being bad just felt so damned good.

  Chapter Ten

  6:15 p.m.

  Officer O’Reilly and his partner descended the steps at the front of the church with the final two patients of the day. The fondness in Eva’s smile as she told Todd how the elderly women who came each week to have their blood pressure checked stirred an unfamiliar longing inside him. The women were sisters, twins no less, and they had lived together since their husbands passed away twelve or so years ago. Both had flirted relentlessly with Todd until he’d escorted them to the door and then they’d turned their gregarious attention to the officers.

  Todd hadn’t minded. In fact, he hoped he was as healthy as those two when he reached his eighties. He’d been only too happy to take care of the ladies while Eva and the other nurse packed up for the day. While he’d attended to the twins, the screens and portable tables had been stored away in a large supply closet and the remaining medical supplies had been taken away by Dr. Taggart. Eva’s team had the set up and the cleanup down to a well-practiced routine.

  They would be out of here in the next fifteen minutes. As he surveyed the boulevard that ran in front of the church, he noted the car parked across the street, dark, heavily tinted windows and big, shiny wheels. His warm thoughts of family and all those lifelong connections he’d missed, and suddenly found himself wanting, faded with the reality of what was no doubt about to go down.

  Trouble.

  Easing back into the entryway, he waited until he was out of sight of anyone in the car and then he turned and moved from window to window, checking the streets from every available angle. Thankfully only four of the windows in the main sanctuary were stained glass—the rest were clear, allowing a view of the streets that ran along two sides of the church. Eva had said that donations were slowly but surely replacing all the windows with stained glass to look like what would have originally been in the church. Today, Todd was grateful the renovation was not complete. He spotted at least one other suspicious vehicle.

  Damn.

  “Christian.”

  He turned to Rob Gates, the officer working with O’Reilly. Gates hitched his head toward the front entry as O’Reilly joined him. Todd glanced over to Eva and her friend who were finishing the cleanup before joining the two uniforms.

  “You saw them, too?”

  O’Reilly nodded. “My captain told me to keep an eye out for potential gang members.” He nodded toward Eva. “Gates and I have monitored the streets all day. Those lowlifes showed up about two minutes ago. I’ve already alerted my chain
of command that we may have a problem.”

  Relief rushed through Todd so hard and fast he almost hugged the guy. “You have an ETA for backup?”

  “Six, seven minutes.” O’Reilly glanced back at the front entrance. “As long as they don’t make a move between now and then, we should get out of here with no problems.”

  But nothing was ever that easy—not when the nastiest of thugs were on the trail of their target.

  As if the enemy understood they’d been made and time was short, the first hail of gunfire shattered the glass in the double front doors and burrowed into the brick walls on either side of the entry.

  As O’Reilly and Gates readied to return fire, Todd rushed to Eva and her friend. “Under the pews.”

  The pews weren’t bulletproof by any means but the thick, dense older wood would provide some level of protection, and some was better than none.

  Eva grabbed Betty’s hand and hurried to do as Todd asked. He took a position at a window facing Warren Boulevard. A quick look verified his worst fears. The bastards were moving in.

  “We’ve got movement,” O’Reilly shouted.

  Todd kept his head down as he moved back to where the women were hiding. To Eva he said, “They’re coming in. We need to find someplace else to hide the two of you.”

  “The basement,” Eva said, fear shining in her eyes.

  He shook his head. “We don’t want to get pinned down where we can’t get out.”

  “There’s a tunnel,” Eva explained. “Mr. Fry told me about it.”

  Todd hesitated again. “What if he’s wrong?”

  Eva shook her head. “I don’t think he is. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  She turned to her friend and the other nurse nodded. “I’m with you.”

  Eva led the way to the storeroom that had once been a coatroom. A single door on the far side of the room opened to a narrow staircase that plunged nearly straight down. Todd pulled her back. “I go first.”

  She stepped aside and allowed him to take the first step down. Since he didn’t spot a light switch or pull string, he used his cell’s flashlight app to see where the hell he was going. “Close the door,” he said over his shoulder, “and stay close behind me.”

  The steps continued downward for about ten feet, ending abruptly at a brick floor. He felt along the wall next to the final step. No switch. Using the flashlight app, he surveyed the small basement and spotted a pull string that led up to an old single bare bulb fixture on a rafter overhead.

  He gave the string a yank and a dim glow came to life. Boxes covered in dust lined the far wall. Rows of shelves with books and literature lined another. A couple of tables and several chairs were piled in yet another corner. No windows and no doors.

  “Where is this tunnel supposed to be?” Todd looked to Eva.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “I’ll start looking where the books are stored,” Betty offered.

  Eva headed toward the stack of tables and chairs.

  Todd surveyed the bare wall beneath the staircase. No sign of an opening there so he moved on to the boxes. Some of the boxes were fairly heavy, others were so light he wondered if there was anything inside. Then he found the reason for the lighter boxes. Behind them was a small door, maybe two feet by two feet. The door was wood and reminded him of an old-fashioned crawl space door. Both the houses where he’d lived as a curious ten-year-old had doors exactly like this one that led to the area under the house. He and another foster boy had explored the space too many times to recall.

  He opened the door. Sure enough, it led to a tunnel that looked to be five or six feet tall, maybe three feet wide and disappeared into the darkness well beyond where his flashlight app would reach. If the exit was sealed off, the find wasn’t going to help much. In fact, they could end up trapped like rats.

  If there’s no exit, you already are.

  A deep whoosh resonated overhead. Todd stilled and evaluated the sound. Not gunfire. Not a bomb.

  Fire.

  “Here!” Todd called, keeping his voice low despite the worry pounding inside him.

  Eva and Betty hurried over to his position. “The two of you go first.” He pulled the string to extinguish the light. “I’ll pull some of the boxes back to the opening to conceal it and then I’ll be right behind you.”

  Footsteps pounded on the stairs. Todd shoved his cell in his back pocket and drew his weapon with one hand and ushered the women into the tunnel with the other. A flashlight beam roved over the room.

  “Christian? Eva? You guys down here?”

  O’Reilly.

  Todd straightened, allowing the officer’s flashlight’s beam to land on him. “What’s going on up there?”

  “Molotov cocktails,” Gates said. “The old wooden pews are burning like kindling.”

  “We have to get out of here,” O’Reilly urged. “Where’re Eva and Betty?”

  “This way.” Todd ducked into the tunnel. They might die from smoke inhalation if they were trapped in this tunnel, but, hopefully, if it was long enough they could stay away from the danger until help arrived and put out the fire.

  Eva and Betty were already at the farthest end of the tunnel.

  “There’s a ladder,” Eva said. She tilted her cell phone flashlight app toward the old wooden ladder. “I don’t know if it’ll hold us or if the door at the top will open.”

  Where the ladies stood, the tunnel did a ninety-degree turn, moving upward. The opening was still only three or four feet in circumference but soared upward maybe ten feet.

  “Only one way to find out.” Todd put his weapon away and grabbed onto the ladder.

  He measured the soundness of each rung before putting his full weight onto it. When he reached the door it was much like the one in the basement that had accessed the tunnel, about two feet square. It took some doing to force it open. When he did musty air hit his nostrils. He moved up a couple of rungs and looked around with his cell. The stone piers, the plumbing and ventilation ductwork that snaked around told him it was a crawl space. He climbed out of the hole and looked around a little more. Definitely a crawl space.

  “Come on up,” he called down to the others.

  Eva climbed up the ladder first. Todd helped her out of the tunnel. “Watch your head.”

  Betty came next, then the two officers.

  “This must be the crawl space under the old parsonage,” O’Reilly suggested.

  “There should be a way out somewhere along the foundation,” Todd said, already scanning the outer perimeter. He spotted the small door in the beam of one of the flashlights roving the darkness. “There.” He pointed to the north end of the crawl space. “We just have to watch out for the plumbing and the ductwork as we move in that direction.”

  “And spiders,” Betty said.

  Eva groaned. “I hate spiders.”

  “Spiders don’t bother me,” O’Reilly said. “Snakes, that’s what I hate.”

  Eva and Betty insisted on staying behind the men as they made their way across the cool, musty space. As they crawled toward the exit, the blare of sirens grew closer and closer. Two minutes later they were crawling out into a fenced backyard. What had once been the church parsonage had been turned into apartments. Todd was grateful for the six-foot wood privacy fence that ran between the yard and the church parking lot. The instant he stood he spotted the smoke from the fire at the church.

  He swore and shook his head.

  O’Reilly took a call as they dusted themselves off. When he put his phone away, he said, “My sergeant says it’s all clear. We can head back to the church.”

  Todd hitched a thumb in the other direction. “I think Eva and I will take another route, just in case they’re watching my car.”

  O’Reilly nodded. “Good idea. They might be laying low, waiting to
see if the two of you make it out and planning to follow you away from the commotion at the church if you did. I can have a cruiser pick you up.”

  Todd shook his head. “One of my colleagues is already en route.” He thrust out his hand to the other man. “Thanks for your help.”

  O’Reilly gave his hand a shake as he glanced at Eva. “Keep her safe. We count on her around here.”

  Eva and Betty shared a quick hug. Both swiped their eyes. Those bastards had destroyed an important part of this neighborhood—a part all those people who came through the makeshift clinic today depended on. Todd hoped he got the chance to make Miguel Robles pay.

  Gates followed his partner’s lead and shook Todd’s hand next. “Keep your head down, Christian.”

  “Count on it.”

  The two officers and Nurse Betty James slipped through the gate next to the house and disappeared. Todd took Eva’s hand in his and gestured to the gate at the rear of the yard. “Let’s go this way.”

  * * *

  EVA WOULD HAVE preferred to go back to the church and assess the damage but she conceded to Todd’s judgment. She would find out how badly the church was damaged later. Right now, staying out of sight of those thugs was top priority. Anger roiled inside her at the idea that they had damaged the church to get to her. Now they’d have to find a new place willing to allow them to treat patients from the neighborhood. Every day it was as if her troubles swallowed up more innocent victims. She had to find a way to end this.

  As if he sensed her tension, Todd tightened his grip on her hand and urged her forward a little faster. Apparently being lost in thought wasn’t conducive to moving quickly. She wondered if he had contacted Ian Michaels again for a ride. She had to give him credit. He was smart not to go back to the car in which they had arrived. Those thugs would be watching. When they’d attacked the church they had known the people inside would have no choice but to find a way out. Made sense that they would eventually end up back at their cars.

  But Todd was a step ahead of them.