Dangerous in Charge

by Sidney Bristol

  “That’s it?” She sighed and deflated a bit more.

  “Yeah, believe it or not.”

  “So it’ll get better, is what you’re telling me?”

  “Especially once they catch the guy.” He steered the Jeep out of the parking lot.

  “You think they’ll catch him? After all this time?”

  “Even if this guy was a teenager—a kid—in the eighties when the first set happened, he’s got to be at least forty years old by now. From what we’ve seen, he’s not a big, strong guy. He’s going to mess up. He’s going to bite off more than he can chew. He’s going to get caught.”

  Except this guy hadn’t screwed up before now—that they knew of.

  That was what worried Kyle. This guy had decades to perfect his techniques and how to get away. He could very easily be halfway across the country or even the world by now.

  “Let’s talk about something else?” he suggested.

  “Okay.” Bethany turned to lean on the center console. “What’s up?”

  He chuckled. If only they weren’t hunting a killer. He’d like to spend time with Bethany. And that was the root of all his problems. Their histories were too similar. She needed someone who could be strong for her. A champion. Kyle wasn’t that person, but he wanted to be.

  BETHANY HADN’T BEEN completely honest about her reasons for riding along with Kyle. Deep down, she only felt safe with him around. She didn’t want to paste on a fake face while deep down she was anxious and afraid so long as he wasn’t there.

  It was kind of funny how she’d gone from intimidated by her patient’s attractive son to clinging to him like a hunk shaped life preserver.

  She’d clung to Anthony as well.

  But that was different. She’d been socially awkward and trying to navigate college when she met him. She needed Kyle in a different way.

  “If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?” he asked.

  “Oh, that’s...that’s a hard one.” Bethany stared at the darkening horizon. Her world had always revolved around Seattle. Even as kids, the farthest she’d been was a trip to California once. “I don’t know. I’ve never really gone anywhere.”

  “You haven’t seen some place in a movie or a show and thought you want to go there?”

  “It’s usually beaches. I’m not big on swimsuits and sand.” She liked more low key stuff, which wasn’t exciting. Especially to someone like Kyle.

  “Unless it’s HGTV?” He glanced at her.

  Bethany chuckled. He knew her far too well already.

  “You could go somewhere that swimsuits are optional?” Kyle glanced at her, his mischievous smile startling a laugh out of her. She’d never known he had a lighter side before his father’s death.

  Bethany rolled her eyes and propped her elbow on the console.

  Swimsuits optional.

  The idea of being freely naked around him again had parts of her perking up and her heart doing a weird, hop, skip and jump routine. The heat was back in her cheeks. She couldn’t remember a time before him when she’d blushed this much.

  “Where would you go?” She needed to change the topic off her.

  “Me? Hm.” Kyle scratched his jaw. “Depends if I’m going by myself or if I have company.”

  “Oh?” She swallowed. He’d been all over the world. His answer was no doubt ten times more interesting than her. She lived in a tiny bubble with no imagination.

  “If I’m going by myself I’d probably go to the Middle East. When we were sent over there we didn’t know anything about the culture or their history. I’d like to have the chance to learn. Not sure it would be a good idea or safe for an American, but it’s on my list.”

  He wanted to learn.

  Things like that set him apart from other men. From someone like Anthony. Kyle cared about more than what impacted him. She’d learned that just by watching him and now she knew it from firsthand experience. Kyle put others first, even his abusive father. Bethany didn’t think she could be that strong.

  “Now, if I were going with a friend?” Kyle glanced at her, that warmth still in his gaze. “I’d go to Paris. Or Venice. Somewhere romantic.”

  She tilted her chin to stare at the ceiling of the Jeep.

  That was a hell of a lot better than her answer.

  She didn’t know what Paris or Venice would be like, but the way he stared at her promised big, comfortable beds.

  What about her promise to herself? Was she going down the wrong path again? Could she even know what Mr. Right would be like? Kyle ticked all the correct boxes, but what did she really know?

  “Sorry—wrong thing to say?” he asked.

  “No.” Her throat was tight, making the one-word answer hard to get out.

  “Too far?”

  Bethany clasped her hands together in her lap.

  Her thoughts and feelings about Kyle were complicated. She’d be silly to not recognize that. There’d been plenty of times she’d marveled at his ability to put up with his father. One of her big reasons for staying on and weathering Mr. Martin’s liberal verbal abuse was that Kyle shouldn’t have to go alone. It had created a sort of one sided bond where she saw them as partners in caring for his father. Faith had pointed out before how her loyalty to this patient was misguided, and yet Bethany had stayed on. Because of Kyle.

  “Beth?”

  “Sorry,” she mumbled and shook her head.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

  “What it would that be?”

  “Us? Last night?”

  She didn’t want to talk about that because she didn’t know what to say. She’d promised herself to not date. Give herself time to really sort her life out. She’d just gotten to a good place when Mr. Martin passed and now here they were.

  “Last night I stepped over a line. I’m sorry.” Kyle’s voice wasn’t cold, but it lacked the warmth she’d grown to enjoy. This was...professional Kyle.

  “No. No, you didn’t.” She stared down at her hands hidden mostly in shadow. She’d known what they were doing and wanted it. There was never a point where she’d wanted to say no. “I just... Every relationship has failed spectacularly.”

  “Then you’re bound for something good.” He stared straight ahead without looking at her. “You told me last night you weren’t interested in dating—”

  “That’s not what I said.” She wracked her brain to recall exactly what she’d spoken. “Don’t try to pretend like I wasn’t an active participant.”

  “All I’m trying to say is, you don’t owe me anything. Maybe it’s better this way.” He glanced at her briefly. “I mean, with my history? I’m the last guy you should take a chance on.”

  “What?” She gaped at him, his profile foreign to her.

  “Look at what I come from. My dad married my mom, then when she lost her arm he treated her like a monster that had to be kept shut up all the time. Some people have stress balls. My dad had me.”

  Bethany stared at the side of Kyle’s face trying to process fact from bullshit.

  What the hell was wrong with him? Why would he say those things?

  “Here we are.” He pulled the Jeep up to the curb outside a police station. “It’s going to be a long drive back.”

  “You can’t just say those things and expect me to accept them?”

  “They’re facts, Beth.”

  “If you seriously think your father’s actions predispose you to be like him, then you don’t really know yourself, do you?”

  “Not one bit.” He nodded at the sidewalk. “There’s Roger.”

  “This conversation isn’t done.” She was about ready to throttle him herself, but that wasn’t the answer. He wanted her angry. And she was. But not at him. She focused her gaze on Roger striding toward them. “What’s preventing him from using his phone to figure out where we’re at?” she asked.

  “Nothing. We’re taking the scenic route to avoid being followed.” Kyle turned to face her. “We took M
egan away from the guy who kidnapped her. If he’s fixated on getting to you three, we want to make that as impossible for him as we can.”

  “Oh...” Bethany hadn’t even considered that.

  She slid farther down in her seat.

  The doors unlocked and a man slid in.

  “You’d better not try to pull anything,” Detective Blew said.

  “What? Like call the media and tell them a hot tip about a kidnapping? I’d never.” Kyle glanced at her then accelerated.

  This was going to be the trip from hell.

  12.

  SATURDAY. AEGIS GROUP Safe House, Seattle, Washington.

  Kyle held the door for Bethany. Over the course of their drive her silence had grown more and more absolute. Hostile even.

  Good.

  She needed to hate him because he didn’t know how to maintain boundaries to keep them in their corners right now. If she’d only ever been a client, no problem. But he’d known Bethany for over a year and wanted her for just as long. If he’d never crossed the line, they wouldn’t be in this situation. He had to do whatever it took to protect her even if it meant hurting her.

  Bethany and Roger stepped into the house to a chorus of greetings, mostly aimed at the former. Roger wasn’t popular with anyone in the house.

  Kyle closed his eyes and sucked down a deep breath of evening air. For the next however many hours or days, he had to be Team Leader. Unlike the others, he didn’t get time off the clock during an op. There was no down time for him. He had to be head of his team at all hours, and that meant there wasn’t a second to spend distracted by Bethany. Or wanting her.

  Right now her life was in his hands. If he fucked up, she could die.

  It was the same way with every op. He always knew that if they lost an asset it was on him, not the team. But it wasn’t every mission that the angel of mercy who’d blessed his life was looking to him for help.

  He’d get through this. Just because this op was different didn’t mean they were at a disadvantage. In fact, working with police put them at an advantage.

  Kyle glanced out at the quiet street and prayed things stayed this way.

  He entered the house, smells of food mixed with cinnamon greeting him.

  The house was another open concept ranch-style house. Zain favored booking these because of the clear sight lines and the ease at which they could vacate quickly. Any time they had to deal with stairs or closed off rooms it meant they were always going to be blind somewhere.

  Felix and Isaac sat clustered around the dining table. Right about now Kyle wished Adam were back on this coast. Kyle could really use his second’s input on everything.

  Megan was stretched out on the sofa, with Faith perched on the coffee table and Bethany standing with them. A couple empty dishes were evidence that at least someone had eaten.

  Zain stood in the kitchen which wasn’t all that surprising. This job was high profile and tricky given how involved the Hunts were. It made sense he would want to be a bit more hands on.

  Kyle glanced around until he spied an office door off the entry. He pulled it open.

  Shane sat behind the desk, several monitors in front of him.

  “How’s it look?” Kyle circled the desk to take in their eyes in the sky.

  “We’ve got cameras around the house, at each intersection and at the main entrance to the community.” Shane tabbed through the feeds.

  “Do we have anyone out there?” Kyle bent to peer at the night vision feeds.

  “Ian is in this van outside the front gates. Vito and Ryan are on their way, and they’ll be at the other entrances. The house’s owner warned us the HOA is extremely strict about vehicles left in the street, so Zain said to post them outside.”

  “Good.” Kyle nodded. Their biggest vulnerability would be who could come and go from the subdivision. If they had nosy neighbors out there watching their streets that was one less thing they had to worry about. “You want the door open or closed?”

  “Are you going to discuss plans?”

  “Probably.”

  “Open.”

  Kyle left the office and stepped into the living room.

  Detective Blew stood over the three girls, who seemed none too thrilled about his presence. The man smelled blood in the water and he was going to bite at anything in his path regardless of who might get hurt. Kyle would be damned if he’d let the detective bully their assets on his watch.

  “Detective?” Kyle strode into the living room. “Why don’t we do this at the table where Megan might be more comfortable?”

  Isaac and Felix glanced at Kyle, looking for an unspoken order.

  He wanted the guys there, to hear everything Megan said, so they would all be aware of who they were watching for. The unknown subject had escaped notice for decades, which meant there wasn’t anything overly suspicious about him. He was normal, unassuming and just that much more dangerous considering his kill history.

  Zain caught Kyle’s eye and nodded.

  Good. They were on the same page.

  “Detective, have you had dinner yet?” Zain gestured at the kitchen where the smells were coming from.

  Kyle crossed the living room to where Faith and Bethany were helping Megan sit up.

  “You need a hand?” He went to a knee next to the sofa.

  “I’m good,” Megan said in a steely tone.

  “He’s going to fire a lot of questions at you. I’m going to try to pace him so he doesn’t wear you out, okay? And if you want to stop, just say the word. Our only priority is you three ladies, okay?” He kept his gaze on Megan. She was more worn out than she wanted to admit. Stubborn to a fault that was for sure.

  “Help me up?” Megan held out her hand.

  “Sure.”

  Kyle straightened and grasped her by the wrist. She held tight to his forearm while Faith steadied her with an arm around the waist. Together they got Megan on her feet.

  “You got it from here?” he asked.

  “I think so.” Her voice was strained.

  “Let me move this.” Kyle shoved the coffee table out of the way to make more room.

  Bethany wrapped her arm around Megan’s waist from the other side and together the three women made a slow march across the house to the dining table.

  Megan should be in a hospital if only because of the exhaustion and dehydration alone. He knew he wasn’t going to win that battle, but at least Bethany and Faith were here. Between the two of them Kyle felt fairly certain they could hold this ship together

  He held the arm chair at the head of the table while Faith and Bethany got Megan situated with pillows to keep her comfortable and another tumbler full of water. Roger sat adjacent to Megan, wolfing down food like it might disappear.

  Kyle’s place in this was to guide the conversation and listen. If the detective got out of line Kyle would play the bad cop in everything while Zain smoothed it over later. He left the two seats across from Roger open for Faith and Bethany and took the third for himself. Bethany took the chair closest to Megan, leaving Faith to sit next to him. It was a little disappointing, but in the big picture this was best.

  “Has she eaten anything?” Kyle asked Faith in a whisper.

  “Some soup that was mostly broth,” Faith replied.

  “Good. You?”

  “I ate.”

  “That hit the spot.” Roger pushed his plate away from him then wiped his fingers.

  “Before we get started,” Kyle leaned forward, “what measures are you taking to protect Megan and her roommates?”

  “You took that out of our hands,” Roger replied.

  “Are you withholding their names from the media?”

  “Of course we have.” Roger scowled.

  “Just making sure.”

  “You know my dad’s going to say something at the first possible opportunity, right?” Megan sat back in her chair, her mouth screwed up into a grimace.

  “As long as everyone here’s on the same page,” Kyle s
aid. The only thing he could control was how tight Megan’s security was. Everything else was out of his hands.

  “I’m going to record this.” Roger set his phone on the table.

  “Megan, is that okay?” Kyle asked.

  “Yeah. Sure.” She nodded.

  Kyle sat back to listen. This was Roger’s interview, but Kyle had his own questions as well.

  “Can you state your name for the record, please?” Roger gestured at his phone and the red blinking icon that indicated he was recording.

  “Megan Hunt.”

  “Thank you. Megan, I’d like for you to start from the beginning and tell me what happened,” Roger said.

  “From which beginning? When I left the house?”

  “Yeah. Did you notice anyone following you? Anything out of the ordinary?”

  “No. I left the house like normal. He was waiting for me in the alley behind the gray house. There was a dark van parked in the shadows I didn’t notice at first. I saw the van, thought it was weird, and then he grabbed me from behind.”

  Kyle stared at the table top, picturing the scene in his mind.

  She’d have been walking on the sidewalk, after dark. The shadows were thick along that stretch of road, but she wouldn’t mind. She’d waked that path a hundred times. The attacker must have been hiding up against the privacy fence to the gray house. That way when Megan walked past and into sight, she was focused on the van and not the man. It was the best spot to set a trap. If she’d have seen her attacker first, she wouldn’t be unnecessarily alarmed because there were people who came and went. He hated to admit it, but the whole thing was spot on.

  “He had a gun. I threw my purse at him and told him to take it. He tossed my purse at the garbage cans and told me to get in the van.” Megan paused to take a drink from her cup. She set the tumbler down and stared at the table. She wasn’t seeing them. she was reliving those moments. “I knew not to do that, so I took a deep breath to scream. That’s when he hit me with the gun, here on my cheek. I was surprised, I guess. He hit me again, then kicked me. That was when I realized I was in serious trouble, but he was on top of me then. He handcuffed me and tied something around my face.”