by Liz Wolfe
She moved back against the wall and looked around the room. They’d moved the small coffee table over when they pulled the sofa bed out, and it was within easy reach. She tucked her gun into the back of her shorts, bent over, and grasped the end of the small table.
The shadows indicated that the two men were almost at the doorway and walking side by side. She waited until she could see them turning the corner into the front room. She blew out her breath, lifted the table, and slammed it into them.
The table was too light to stop them, but at least she heard the satisfying whoosh as she knocked the breath out of them. Her body performed the offensive moves without conscious thought-left fist slamming into a neck, right foot connecting with a jaw. She took a blow to the midsection and stumbled. She regained her balance and spun into a roundhouse kick, catching one of the men in the head. The man dropped to the floor, but his buddy was coming at her. Suddenly his head snapped forward, his eyes rolled up into the sockets, and he crumpled. Zoe was standing behind him holding a fireplace poker. Shelby ran to the back door and wrenched it open only to see a third man scampering over the fence.
Crap.
Shelby rummaged in the kitchen drawers and found a roll of thick twine. “Here, tie them up,” she instructed Zoe.
“Who are they?” Zoe asked.
Shelby quickly frisked the men and found no identification, but one had a piece of notepaper with The Center’s logo on it. Not surprising. How they’d found the safe house was still disturbing, but she’d have to deal with that later.
“Thanks for the help,” Shelby said to Zoe. “But I could have handled them myself. I’d rather you stay back if this happens again.”
Zoe shrugged. “Staying back isn’t in my nature.”
Shelby could understand that. It wasn’t in her nature either. She stepped to the back of the house and found Mac, Shannon, and Sam in the bathroom.
“Next time I tell you to stay put, do it,” Shelby said to Mac.
“I just thought—”
“We need to leave here, now!” Shelby interrupted him.
Mac pulled Shannon out from behind him. She was holding a sleeping Sam in her arms. “I’ll get the stuff.”
Shelby led Shannon and Sam outside to the car. Mac and Zoe arrived moments later with all the bags of stuff he’d bought at Wal-Mart. Five minutes later they were on I-10 headed north.
“What the hell happened back there?” Mac asked.
Shelby glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Sam was sound asleep in Shannon’s arms. Two women and a child in the backseat of the Mini was a bit cramped, but Sam didn’t seem to mind sitting in his mother’s lap. “I knocked them out.” She saw Zoe frown. “With Zoe’s help. Evidently they were from The Center.”
“How could The Center know where we were? I thought that was a safe house.”
“It was until they found us. Did you call anyone?”
“Of course not!” Mac looked genuinely offended.
“Me neither,” Zoe added.
“Then they found us some other way. I’ll have to deal with that later. Right now, we need to get to someplace that is really safe,” Shelby said.
“Is there such a place?”
“Oh, yes. There’s a place that’s as safe as your mama’s arms,” Shelby assured him.
“Tell me you aren’t taking us to some FSA maximum security site.”
“No, we’re going to a retreat in Sedona.”
“A retreat?”
“Hot tubs, mud baths, meditation, herbal wraps—stuff like that.” Shelby smiled brightly, but Mac didn’t look convinced.
Four hours, six cups of coffee, and two rest stops later, Shelby turned into the driveway of Serenity Haven on the outskirts of Sedona. The long drive led up to an eight-foot high stone wall. She rolled to a stop at the gate, lowered the car window, and pressed the intercom button.
“How may I help you?” a smooth, deep, male voice asked.
“I’m here to see Mel.”
“And your name?”
“Falcon,” Shelby answered.
“Falcon, I apologize for the delay. Please enter.” The iron gates swung open.
Suddenly she recognized the voice. “Bear?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be damned.”
“No doubt, but come on in anyway.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Friend of yours?” Mac asked.
There was no way to answer Mac’s question without talking for several hours. Even then, he probably wouldn’t understand. She drove through the gates and down a long, curving driveway, finally arriving at the main building of the retreat. Mel stood at the front door.
Shelby hadn’t seen Mel in a couple years, but she looked better than ever. Maybe it was the stress-free life of living at a retreat. Maybe it was the Native American ancestry coming to the surface. She stood several inches taller than Shelby and had a bearing that could only be called regal. Straight, black hair fell almost to her waist, which was still trim and toned at forty-eight. Shelby smiled. Damn. She should look so good in fifteen years.
She noticed that Mel’s looks weren’t lost on Mac, as they all piled out of the car. He was looking at her like he’d seen a goddess. Mel took everything in at a glance and opened her arms to Shelby.
“I assume you’re in trouble?”
“Some things never change,” Shelby said, returning her hug. “This is Mac, Zoe, Shannon, and Sam. We could all use a shower and a nap.”
“And a meal, no doubt. Come. Bear will show you to your cottages, and I’ll get something for you to eat while you clean up.”
Bear was an extremely large African-American man. Shelby’d never known his age, and it could have been anywhere from thirty to fifty. His head was shaved, and his bulging muscles threatened to burst the seams of his black tee shirt. He still favored fatigue pants and commando boots, and his brown eyes were as warm and inviting as ever. Bear was a gentle giant who was ferociously protective of anyone he cared about. Shelby counted herself lucky to be in that small group.
“We’re pretty full up, right now. I can put the child and his mother in a cottage, and you three will have to share one.” Shelby, Mac and Zoe all nodded, too tired to consider an objection. They stopped at a small, one-room cottage, and Bear showed Shannon and Sam inside. They left them with the small amount of clothes and accessories Mac had gotten for Sam and continued on to another similar cottage.
“Clean up, then come back to the main house,” Bear instructed with a nod that was almost a bow.
“Thanks, Bear.” Shelby threw her arms around those broad shoulders and gave him a fierce hug before he left.
“Nice place,” Mac said looking around the room. Mel’s cottages were each designed around a theme. Egyptian, Japanese, Medieval, French Country—there were a dozen of them, each one different. They had the Tropical cottage. One bedroom had a king-sized bed surrounded by a mosquito net suspended from a bamboo frame. Across from the bed, a teak cabinet hid a large television and stereo system. Next to that, a door opened to a walk-in closet with drawers and shelves. The second bedroom was smaller, with only a full-size bed and a small desk. The bedrooms were on either side of the main room of the cottage, containing a sitting area and small kitchen. A few feet from the sofa and two mama san chairs, French doors opened onto a small private patio that bristled with tropical plants. A waterfall trickled down artfully arranged rocks into a shallow pool.
“Beats the safe house.” Shelby dropped her small duffle bag on the bed and unzipped it. “Mind if I shower first?”
“Go ahead. I think I’ll just relax out on the patio.” Mac walked out through the doors and dropped into one of the chaise lounges.
“No problem,” Zoe said. I don’t have anything to change into anyway.”
“I’ll see what Mel can come up with for you to wear,” Shelby said on her way to the bathroom. “But there are extra robes in the bathroom. You can use one until we find you something else.”
“My turn.” Mac rose from his chair.
“Not yet. Zoe’s in there.”
Mac dropped back into the chair. “What’s her story?”
“I haven’t had time to talk to her yet. I know she was at The Center against her will, and that’s about all. She seems a little reluctant to go into any detail.”
“I wasn’t aware that she was there.” Mac frowned. “But, I wasn’t able to find Shannon either.”
“She said she’d only been there since Wednesday. I take it the doctors didn’t let you into the lab area?”
“No. I didn’t even have the code for the lock.” Mac shook his head. “I wish I knew what the hell they’re up to.”
“We’ll find out. I sent all the files I downloaded to the FSA. They should have them unencrypted soon.”
“Can’t be too soon for me,” Zoe said as she came out onto the patio, wrapped in one of Mel’s fluffy, white robes, damp hair hanging down her back. “I’m still puking several times a day.”
Shelby nodded at a chair. “Want to tell me how you came to be there?”
“I’m going to take my turn in the shower.” Mac smiled and lifted his eyebrows at Shelby. Seconds after he’d left, there was a knock at the door.
“Come on in. It’s open,” Shelby called.
Mel opened the door grinning at Shelby and holding a thermal pot of coffee. “Thought you might want some coffee.”
“You know me. There’s no such thing as too much caffeine. You want some, Zoe?”
“No, thanks.” Zoe shook her head and continued running a comb through her hair.
Mel swiped two mugs from the counter and brought the coffee out to the patio. “This smells like FSA, and I could have sworn you left the FSA to open your own PI shop.”
“I did. Parker Security and Investigation,” Shelby said.
Mel lifted her finely arched brows in question.
“Ethan hired me to do this op.” Shelby savored the smell of the coffee and sipped. “And it’s a black op. Well, almost. Ethan calls it gray.”
“He would.” Mel laughed. “So, tell me everything.”
Shelby brought her up to speed on the op, including that Mac was a psychiatrist for the FBI, Shannon and Sam were obviously psychic, and that she didn’t have a clue what the demented doctors at The Center were up to.
“And how did you come to be there?” Mel asked Zoe.
“I was doing a job. Someone conked me over the head, and I woke up several days later at The Center with Dr. Jonah Thomas pretending to be my caring doctor.”
“Doing a job?” Shelby asked.
“Yeah.” Zoe concentrated on a tangle in her hair.
“What kind of job?” Shelby asked with frayed patience.
“Doesn’t matter. Just a job.”
“It matters,” Shelby said.
Zoe stared at her for a minute. Mel chuckled. “Don’t worry, Zoe, Shelby isn’t going to turn you in.”
Zoe seemed to consider that and finally shrugged. “I was stealing something for someone. From Jonah Thomas’ house. I was in the bedroom when he knocked me over the head with something, and the next thing I knew I was waking up strapped to a hospital bed.”
“What were you stealing and who sent you there?” Shelby asked.
“Some photographs and negatives. The woman said her name was Janet Johnson.” Zoe shrugged. “Probably made that up. Most of my clients don’t give me their real names.”
“You steal for a living?” Shelby asked.
“I’m going to school to be a CPA.” Zoe’s back straightened. “Stealing is the only thing I know how to do, but I’m getting out of it. I only have another six months in school.”
“I’m not judging you, Zoe.” Shelby smiled. God knew she’d done worse. “That was Tuesday night?”
“Yeah. I woke up on Saturday. I was really dizzy and groggy and puking. The jerk told me I’d been in a motorcycle accident and had internal injuries. The only injury I had was where he conked me.” Zoe frowned. “I’d like to know where my bike is.”
“What else did he say?” Shelby asked.
“Told me I’d been restrained so I wouldn’t injure myself, that I was locked in my room for my own safety. I pretended to go along with it, and waited. Then you came along and took us to that house.”
“Which brings us to here. And me wondering just how the hell The Center knew where I’d taken them,” Shelby said.
“You’re sure no one followed you either time?” Mel asked.
Shelby shot her a look, and Mel laughed. “I know, I know. Just checking out all the possibilities.” Mel sipped her coffee. “And Mac didn’t call anyone at all?”
“No, I didn’t.” Mac walked out to the patio wearing shorts and sandals, pulling a tee shirt over his head, but not before Shelby got a look at his chest. It was definitely nice. Not the kind of chest you’d expect a psychiatrist to have. Unless he was seriously into sports or the gym.
“Not even your SAC?” Mel asked.
“Especially not my SAC. I’ve been avoiding unnecessary communication with her since I’m disobeying her direct orders.”
“Wise man.” Mel grinned at him, and Shelby remembered that Mel had always had an unhealthy attraction for men who break the rules. “And Shannon didn’t have access to a phone? No cell phone?”
“Nope.” Shelby shook her head. “She left The Center with nothing but jammies and slippers, just like Zoe.”
“I suppose we can rule out Sam.” Mel said.
“Well, I wouldn’t rule out him being able to make a phone call, but I don’t think he would have done it.”
“Of course not, I’m just going through all the possibilities, no matter how extreme,” Mel said.
“So, we weren’t followed, no one made a phone call—except mine to Ethan.” Shelby looked at Mel who’d raised her delicate eyebrows. “No. No way did Ethan tell The Center where we were.”
“I didn’t say that. However, you don’t know who else Ethan might have told.”
“You mean there could be a mole in the FSA.” Shelby had thought of that before, but she didn’t want to believe it. She’d told Ethan that she’d taken Zoe, Shannon, and Sam to the safe house. On the road, she’d left a voice mail saying that they were leaving the safe house because The Center had found them, without telling him where she was going.
“It’s happened before.” Mel shrugged.
“I know. I just don’t like to think it could happen again.” Shelby set her cup down and got up. “I guess I need to talk to Ethan about this.”
“Good idea.” Mel rose and walked to the door. “I’ll find some clothes for Zoe and Shannon.” Mel let herself out as Shelby punched the speed dial number for Ethan into her cell phone.
“Ethan?”
“Shelby! Where the hell are you?”
“We had to leave the safe house.”
“I got your voice mail about The Center finding you. How the hell did that happen?”
“I’ve been trying to figure that out myself. No one followed us, no one made any phone calls. You were the only one who knew where we were.”
“Damn! I only told Chambers.”
“Could someone have overheard you?”
“Not unless his office is bugged.” Ethan paused. “I’ll have to tell him about this. Maybe he let it slip to someone.”
“We’re in a safe place. I’m just going to sit tight until we know something.”
“I want to bring Zoe, Shannon, and Sam to headquarters.”
“Yeah, I know. But until we know how The Center found us, I don’t want to move them. They’re safe here.”
“Where are you?” Ethan asked.
“I don’t want to say until we know how they found us at the safe house.”
“Shelby, I need to
know where you are.”
“No, actually, you don’t.”
“How can I provide you with any backup then?”
“I don’t need backup Ethan. I told you, this is my case. I’m doing it my way.”
“Are you saying you don’t trust me?”
Shelby could hear the tension in Ethan’s voice. “No, it’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s that I don’t know how The Center is finding us. Until I know that, no one is going to know where we are.”
“I’ll talk to Chambers and get back to you.”
“What happened, Allan?” Ruth’s voice was clipped and unemotional. Allan squirmed under her scrutiny.
“Like I said, we got there, confirmed that the targets were in the house. Kevin and Steve went in through the kitchen window. I stayed outside.” Allan reached down and rubbed his shin where his pants were ripped. Ruth could see a big knot of bruised, scraped skin.
“Everything was quiet. We thought it was a sure thing.” Allan sipped from the glass of water. “Then I hear some scuffling. I figure the guys are taking her out or something. Next thing I know, it’s all quiet again, and she’s coming into the kitchen. She had a gun.”
“So you ran.” Ruth looked at him in disgust.
“It was the plan,” Allan protested. “If something happened I was to get out and come back.”
“No. You were to get out and call in.”
“I forgot,” he mumbled. “But I didn’t forget to put the long range transmitter on the car. We can track them.”
“That’s good, Allan. Not perfect, but good. I’m glad you didn’t forget to do that.” Ruth turned away and nodded to the guard. Incompetent. Unable to follow the simplest orders. And now they’d lost them again. “Take care of him.” She walked out, closing the door behind her. Ten steps from the room, she heard the muffled shot and kept walking.
Jonah held up a finger to silence her as she entered his office. Ruth would have ignored it but she knew he was talking to Chris.
“Well, find out!” Jonah closed the cell phone and sighed. “Chris doesn’t know where they are. She’s checking her source. Whoever that is.”
