Agent Undercover

by Lynette Eason

  “Just a few days.”

  Jessica shrugged and walked back into her classroom.

  Children scampered past Paige in the hallway, a few stopping to give her a hug. In spite of her frustration at her lack of success in finding a tampered badge, she smiled. She’d made some friends here.

  Paige pulled the list of staff members from her back pocket and checked off Jessica’s name. The last deputy had reported in. The four absent staff members’ badges had also not been altered. She checked those names off.

  Six names left. Including office and maintenance staff.

  “Any luck?”

  Tom Bridges rounded the corner, new lines on his face suggesting he wasn’t dealing well with the stress they’d laid on him today.

  “No, sorry, not yet. Six more.”

  She showed him the list. He nodded. “I’ll take these three, you get the last three. Sam Hobbs is waxing the cafeteria floor, Lila Johnson was vacuuming the library and Stacy Dobson was sweeping the back hall.”

  “Got ‘em.” The cafeteria was two doors down. She’d start there.

  Dylan ground his teeth, his anger at himself barely under control. How had Will managed to slip off again?

  Exasperation consumed him. He looked at the secretary. “Did you happen to see which way Will went?”

  “Toward his classroom, I think.”

  His classroom and Paige’s office were off the same hall. Adhering the name tag to his left shoulder, Dylan exited the office and headed toward Will’s classroom. He’d stop in at Paige’s office and see if she was there.

  Looking in the door, he was almost shocked to find it empty. He’d fully expected to see her and Will in conversation, Will telling her whatever he’d been so adamant about stopping by the school for.

  “Huh.” He turned and made his way toward Will’s classroom.

  Paige watched Eli approach, his footsteps moving him down the hall at a rapid clip. The look on his face didn’t bode well. “What is it?” she asked.

  “Right after the accident with Alex, I had my deputies start running plates of every white car they came across to see if it matched up with anyone that might be a potential suspect.” He grimaced. “You wouldn’t think there would be that many in a town this size, but there are. That’s why it’s taken us so long.”

  “What’d you find?”

  “I started matching white cars to cleared badges. There’s only one left that hasn’t cleared.”

  “Whose?”

  “Sam Hobbs.”

  She blinked. “The janitor? Is his car in the parking lot right now?”

  “Nope. He’s got a red Ford truck he just purchased about two months ago. That’s the one in the parking lot.” He gave a tight smile. “However, the white car hidden in his shed in the back has a damaged front headlight.”

  She drew in a deep breath. “Okay, that’s pretty much enough evidence for me. However, let’s find him and check his badge just for good measure.”

  “Working on it now.”

  “Hey, Paige.”

  She turned and gaped. “Dylan? What are you doing here?”

  “Is Will with you?” His words were tense, and she could hear the frustration behind them.

  “No. I thought you two were on your way out of town.”

  Worry flickered across his face. “We were. Then Will insisted we stop here. Had a fit that he had to tell you something. I stopped to sign in at the desk. When I turned around, he was gone. Again.”

  “You find him. And stay away from Sam Hobbs. He may be the one we’re looking for. He owns a white car with a damaged headlight.”

  “Sam?”

  “Yeah. Plus we haven’t cleared his badge yet.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out for him.”

  Paige saw the glint in his eye and laid a hand on his arm. “I’m not saying he’s the one. I’m saying be careful.” She looked at Eli. “I’m going to go with my gut. Can you have one of the deputies start a background check on him? Let’s move Sam to the top of the priority list and track him down. He’s still innocent until proven guilty. Just because the car’s in his name doesn’t mean he’s the driver.”

  Eli nodded and glanced at his list. “I will say that the others still to be cleared don’t own a white car.”

  “At least not in their name.”

  He shrugged. “True.”

  “Still, I’d feel better if we cleared Sam first.”

  Dylan raked a hand through his hair. “I knew I should have just kept going.”

  Paige gave him a gentle shove in the direction of Will’s classroom. “See if he’s there. If he is, wave at me from the door, get him and get out. I can give you five minutes, so please just grab him and go. We’re going to have to put the school on lockdown just in case the person we’re looking for turns out to be Mr. Hobbs and he turns ugly.”

  Dylan nodded. “Five minutes. That’s all I need.” He spun on his heel and headed for the classroom. Paige waited until she saw his relieved face look back. He gave a wave and disappeared back into the room.

  Will was safe.

  She looked at Eli. “Where was Mr. Hobbs last seen?”

  “The cafeteria.”

  “Let’s start there.”

  Dylan pulled Will into a hug. “Why didn’t you wait on me, buddy?” Without giving Will a chance to answer, Dylan looked at Will’s teacher, Ms. Conley. “I just brought him for a minute. When I looked back, he was gone.”

  “Um, that might be my fault.” Ms. Conley gave him a sheepish smile. “I saw him in the office. I motioned him to come with me. I thought you were just bringing him late and were signing him in.”

  It didn’t matter. Will was safe, and that was all that mattered. Now, it was time to leave. They needed to hurry.

  He told Will, “I just saw Paige. She’s really busy, so we’ll have to see her another time, okay?”

  “No! I have to see her now.” Will pulled back.

  Dylan felt helplessness fall over him. “What’s so urgent, Will?”

  “I have to tell her something.”

  “What?”

  “I have to tell her—”

  The door opened and a voice called out, “Hi, Ms. Conley, I’ve got a little something from the office that needs to go home with …”

  Dylan turned and saw Sam Hobbs standing there, envelope in his left hand, eyes locked on Will.

  EIGHTEEN

  Paige waited until she felt sure Dylan and Will had enough time to leave, then requested the school be put on lockdown. If she was wrong about Mr. Hobbs, she’d apologize.

  However, her gut kept insisting she was doing the right thing. The only problem is they would have to go room to room once again in order to enforce the lockdown. If there was a Code Red announced over the PA system, Mr. Hobbs—or the person responsible—would be put on alert and go into hiding.

  And while he didn’t know that they were on to him yet, the Code Red might make him nervous. Nervous enough to do something stupid. And Paige desperately wanted to avoid that.

  When people did stupid things, other people, innocent people, usually ended up hurt.

  She went classroom to classroom explaining they had an intruder on campus, and everyone was to stay in the classroom keeping the door locked until further notice.

  When Paige got to Jessica’s room, the woman frowned at her. “Is everything all right?”

  “I’m sure it will be. Just keep the door locked, all right?”

  “Sure.” The woman shut the door and Paige moved on.

  Dylan shoved Will behind him as he stared at the man Paige thought was behind the terror inflicted on his family. The man who may have murdered his sister and Larry.

  And because Dylan had been too slow to leave town, he had placed Will—and the rest of the students in this classroom—in danger.

  If he was overreacting, he’d apologize later.

  Dylan felt his body react to the adrenaline rushing through it. No one else seemed to be disturbed by the m
an’s presence. Mr. Hobbs set his mop against the wall and shoved the bucket to the side of the door. His fingers clutched the white envelope he’d pulled from his pocket upon entering the classroom.

  All the while, he kept his eyes on Dylan and Will.

  Eyes that had narrowed at Dylan’s protective move.

  And Dylan realized his mistake.

  He’d automatically moved to protect Will when Sam entered the room. Realization flashed across the man’s face.

  Dylan cleared his throat and tried to bluff. “We were just leaving.” He turned to Ms. Conley. “We’ll see you the beginning of next week.”

  He pulled Will beside him, not wanting the child to know anything was wrong and moved toward the door.

  The janitor let Dylan and Will pass him, then followed them into the hallway. The door clicked shut behind him.

  “We were just leaving,” repeated Dylan, praying Sam would let them leave without making a scene.

  Instead, the man looked up and down the hall then back at Dylan and Alex. Dylan realized how empty the hallway was between them and the exit.

  When the man pulled a gun faster than he could blink, Dylan froze.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Sam growled at Dylan. “I guess the gig’s up, isn’t? Your first reaction to seeing me is to hide the kid. That says a lot.”

  Dylan backed up. “What are you doing?” Terror made his words choppy.

  “What I’ve been trying to do all along. Get rid of you and the kid.” Sam backed them up to Paige’s office and motioned with the gun. Dylan followed the command, keeping himself between Will and the gun. Still holding the weapon steady, Sam used his other hand to grab the keys from his pocket and open the door.

  If it had just been him, Dylan would have taken the chance and jumped the man, but he couldn’t do that with Will there.

  Keeping his face toward Sam, Dylan managed to scoot Will into the room behind him, never allowing the gun to be aimed at the boy. Sam shut them in Paige’s office.

  “Why?” Dylan asked. “Why get rid of us?”

  “I overheard you talking in the lounge about how you and that counselor were going to be talking to him about the fire. But even before that, I know he saw me that night.”

  Dylan gulped. “But he never saw your face. He couldn’t have identified you.”

  The man’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not so sure about that. Just a few days ago, he looked at me like he recognized me.”

  “Probably your guilty conscience.”

  “Shut up,” Sam snarled. “I’ve been sneaking around this school, trying to avoid that kid for long enough. And I simply couldn’t take the chance that he would keep his mouth shut forever. I don’t know what he saw me do. I would have killed him that night, but the cops got there fast. A neighbor called it in before I could finish the job.”

  Keep him talking was all Dylan could think of. Find a way to get the gun. “So you just had time to warn him to keep his mouth shut.”

  “Yeah.” He glared at Will. “And we see how well that worked.”

  Dylan searched for the right thing to say, anything to get the man’s focus off Will. Dylan felt Will moving behind him. He pressed his fingers against the boy’s arm, hoping he would get the message to be still.

  Sam waved the gun and muttered, “I can’t believe this.”

  An indrawn breath behind Dylan made him turn and look down at Will. The child’s face was bleached white. His lips worked as he stared at the janitor.

  A knock on the door made them all jump.

  “Who’s in there?” Paige’s voice came from the hallway. “Will? Dylan?”

  He pointed the gun at Dylan, then back at Will. “You better tell them everything is just fine.”

  “But everything’s not fine!” The words burst from little Will and echoed through the room. “You’re the bad man! You killed my mom and Larry!”

  “Will! Who’s in there?” Paige’s voice came clearly through the door.

  “The bad man, Paige!”

  Dylan kept a desperate hold on the child struggling to launch himself at the man he’d just realized was responsible for his mother’s death.

  “Will, be still!” Dylan ordered.

  Will was beyond listening at this point.

  Sam watched, seemingly mesmerized by the child’s anger.

  And then Will was free, slipping out of his uncle’s grasp as his little T-shirt ripped.

  Horror filled Dylan as Will ran to Sam and lashed out with kicks and punches. “Will! Stop!”

  Sam grappled with Will as he tried to pull the gun around and gain control of the situation.

  Dylan crept closer, waiting for the right moment, praying one would present itself.

  More banging and yelling from the outside. He registered the panic in Paige’s voice.

  Saw the gun turn toward Will.

  And Dylan launched himself between the two, his elbow clipping Will in the chest and his left hand snagging the wrist of the hand that held the gun. All three crashed to the floor. The door slammed open.

  And the gun went off.

  Paige’s terror knew no limits as her ears rang from the sound of the gunshot. She leveled her gun at the now struggling men. “Freeze!”

  An officer slipped around her, snagged Will from the floor and bolted out of the office.

  Paige’s eyes followed Dylan and Sam as they rolled, ignoring her order. “Freeze! And I mean now!”

  Eli came in beside her, his weapon trained on the struggling duo. She couldn’t get a clear shot.

  Then she saw Sam move, his weapon aimed at Dylan’s head and for a brief second, she had a shot.

  She took it and the weapon bucked in her hand.

  Sam screamed and dropped back, Dylan landing on top of him. Sam’s gun skittered across the floor.

  Eli pounced, kicked the weapon aside.

  Paige shoved Dylan off, landed a knee in Sam’s back, and pinned him to the floor. Within seconds, she had his hands cuffed and Sam in Eli’s custody.

  Now her concern shifted. She zeroed in on Dylan who sat on the floor, back to the wall, getting his bearings. “Will,” he whispered as his gaze became frantic, searching, probing, looking for the child he loved.

  Paige hurried over and laid a hand on his arm. “He’s fine. He’s with Cal.”

  Dylan slumped back.

  “Hey, I need a doctor!” Sam’s voice penetrated. She looked up and saw her bullet had plowed into his right shoulder. Exactly where she’d been aiming.

  She glared at him. “You’ll live.”

  “No thanks to you,” he spat back.

  Turning her back on him as Eli shoved him from the room, she focused back on Dylan. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

  He shook his head. “Just my pride.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “It was pretty stupid of me to bring Will back here just because he insisted.” Tears appeared for a brief moment before he blinked them away. “I don’t know if I’m cut out for this whole parenting thing,” he whispered.

  “What?” His statement rocked her. “What do you mean? You’re one of the best parents I’ve ever seen. You’re fantastic with Will.”

  He shook his head again. “I messed up. Big time. So big I endangered his life.”

  “Not on purpose. This whole thing was supposed to be low-key. It was supposed to be look at the badges, see which one had been tampered with—if one had—and then question the person it belonged to. Simple.”

  “I know. But I also knew the person responsible had killed before. Might very well be a staff member at this school. And I just didn’t … I didn’t make the right decisions.”

  Her heart went out to him. “You can second-guess yourself, Dylan. But either way, Will needs you.”

  Dylan took a deep breath. “Yes, he does. And by the grace of God and with His help, I’ll get the hang of this parenting thing one day at a time.”

  “Yeah, I believe you will.”

  “I need to see Wil
l now that I’ve stopped shaking.”

  “Come on.” She held out a hand and he grasped it.

  An officer stood to the side guarding the scene until a forensics team could get there. He nodded that he would handle the situation for now. Paige smiled her thanks, and together, she and Dylan went to find Will.

  Dylan’s heart thumped when he saw Will held in Cal’s arms. A lump formed in his throat as he realized it was finally all over. He held out his arms, and Will fell into them. Dylan pulled the little boy close and breathed in his scent. “It’s over, buddy. The bad man is in jail. He can never hurt us again.”

  Will pulled back and stared into his uncle’s eyes. “For real?”

  “For real.”

  Paige watched them, and he thought he saw tears in her eyes. He looked at Will. “What was so important that you had to tell Paige?”

  A shy smile crossed the child’s face, and Dylan wondered what was going on in that head of his. Will held out his hand toward Paige, and she grasped it. Will’s smile slid off, and he frowned. “I got mad at my mama. She told me I couldn’t have a puppy.”

  “I’m sorry,” Paige offered, but looked confused.

  “The night the fire burned up my house. I was mad at her so I ran away. Only it was cold so I came back.” Tears filled his eyes and dripped over onto his cheeks. He swiped his eyes and sniffed. “But when I got back, the fire was really, really bad. I yelled and yelled for her to come out, but she didn’t. Then the bad man grabbed me and told me not to tell anyone anything. He’d hurt Uncle Dylan if I said a word. So I didn’t say anything.”

  “Oh, honey,” she whispered.

  “What about Paige, Will?” Dylan pressed.

  “I didn’t tell my mama I loved her. I did that morning but not that night. I was going to tell her, but it was too late.” He looked at Paige. “I didn’t want it to be too late for you.”

  Paige’s eyes went wide. “What?”

  “I wanted to tell you I love you, Paige.”

  Dylan thought he heard a sob escape her. Then she choked, “Oh, Will, I love you, too, honey.”

  A bright smile spread across his sweet face, and Dylan’s breath left him in a whoosh. He looked at Paige. “I love you too, Paige.”

  She gaped and swallowed. Fear flashed before she could hide it. Dylan felt his heart sink. She pulled in a deep breath. “Excuse me, I … I need to go question Sam Hobbs.”