by Lisa Harris
The man shifted in his seat.
“I said don’t move, or I will shoot you.”
“You can’t shoot me,” he said.
“Oh, really?” Nikki stepped forward until she was half a dozen feet from the man and held her gun out, pointed at his chest. Blood dripped down his face where she’d hit him and probably broken his nose. But she was tired and irritated and at the moment didn’t care. “Here’s the thing. Normally, I might not be tempted to shoot you, but you caught me on a really, really bad day. I was in that plane that crashed at the airport yesterday, then a couple guys at the prison decided to use me as bait. And now I wake up to an intruder breaking into my house and … well, I think you get the picture.”
“I wasn’t trying to kill you—”
“Then what were you doing?”
“I wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone.”
“Who were you after?”
He was flustered. He used his shoulder to wipe away the trail of blood from his mouth. “I just do what I’m told and get paid. I don’t ask questions.”
“You still haven’t answered my question. Who were you looking for?”
“I was supposed to come here and take Erika Hamilton with me. I was told she might be in some kind of trouble.”
“How noble,” Nikki said. “So you were here to protect her with a taser.”
“Yes … no …”
“Who’s your boss?”
“I don’t have to answer your questions.”
Nikki’s head pounded. “I’m asking you who’s your boss?”
The man just stared at her, his lips pressed together tightly.
“Maybe I can help you,” she said. “Does the name Brian Russell jog your memory?”
His eye twitched.
“So it is Mr. Russell.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to,” she said, hoping her instincts were right. “Why would you think his girlfriend was here?”
“You’d have to ask him. He gave me the address.”
“And how do you get ahold of Mr. Russell?” When he didn’t answer she took a step forward. “I asked you a question. How do you get ahold of Mr. Russell?”
The man’s frown deepened. “He gave me a phone. That’s how we communicate.”
“Where is the phone?”
“Don’t I get a lawyer or something?”
“Where’s the phone?” she repeated.
“Front pocket.”
She grabbed the phone and scrolled through the list of calls. There was only one number.
Nikki pushed call, then held the phone to her ear.
“He’s going to kill me if he finds out I broke into a cop’s house.”
“I guess we’ll have to take that chance.”
She let the phone ring. No answer. No voice mail set up.
“Where is he?”
“Forget it. Shoot me if you want to, but I know my rights, and I’m done talking.”
Someone banged on the front door.
Nikki moved to open it, her gun still trained on the intruder.
Two officers stepped into her house. “Are you all right, Detective?”
“I am now.”
“Looks like you have everything under control.”
Nothing felt under control.
One of the officers handcuffed the intruder, then turned back to her. “Do we need to call an ambulance?”
“I don’t think so, though he got the worst of the fight. Someone might want to look at him. I’ll come down later today and give my statement.”
Brinkley walked through the open door as the officers left. He was wearing jeans and a short-sleeved T-shirt. She’d never seen him not wearing a suit.
“Brinkley?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”
“I couldn’t sleep and heard the chatter on the radio. When I heard your name, I thought I should show up.”
She frowned. “You didn’t have to do that. I would have given you a report when I came in this morning.”
“Who was he?” he asked, as the officers led him outside.
“I think he works for Brian Russell.”
“Why come after you?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. Apparently he was expecting to find Erika here.” She shook her head. “You said there was a leak in your division. Why would someone think Erika was here?”
“I have no idea,” Brinkley said.
“Then tell me what happened when they came after Erika that last time,” she asked.
“There’s not much to tell. She was staying at a safe house. Two agents were there with her. During the night—just after midnight—someone broke into the house. He had a taser.”
“Sounds familiar.” Nikki nodded at the taser lying on the floor across the room. “Send a photo of this guy to the agents who were guarding Erika last time and see if it’s the same person who broke into the safe house.”
“I will. Anything else you need from me?” Brinkley asked before heading toward the door.
“How about the truth?” she said, catching his gaze.
“The truth? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that you’ve lied to us since the moment I agreed to take this case.”
“We didn’t lie—”
“What would you call it? A bunch of half truths and omissions? No, you lied to me and used my team to try and get what you want.”
“We gave you the information you needed to help us in this case. Your job was to find Erika. You were outside this case, enabling us to search for her without risking the possibility of coming in contact with our mole.”
“So you just assumed we wouldn’t find out about Erika’s daughter?”
Brinkley tapped the edge of the island and caught her gaze. “I figured you’d find out, but it was part of the deal we made with Erika. She would only agree to testify if we ensured there would be no mention of her daughter.”
“I understand her concern for her. But it makes me wonder what else you haven’t told us.” Nikki set her gun down on the counter. “Are you any closer to finding out who your mole is?”
“We’re narrowing down our list of possibilities.”
Nikki frowned. Vague as always.
“And how many more are going to die before you find your leak?” she asked.
Brinkley frowned. “We’ve done all along what we thought was best at the time.”
“Well, guess what? Your air marshal is dead because of what you thought best. Kim is dead. And now Justin is in critical condition. Not to mention Aiden and our dead ‘fake’ marshal. When is this going to end?”
A flicker of anger sparked in his eyes. “Those deaths are tragic, but ultimately out of our hands.”
“Maybe they wouldn’t have died if you’d been more thorough in finding out the truth,” Nikki continued. “Because you told me you were convinced Erika wasn’t playing you. That she was scared of Russell and not you, and that there was no way she was simply pacifying you.”
“Nothing that has happened in the last two days convinces me that Erika wasn’t working for us. But I will do this,” he said, throwing a measure of sympathy into his voice. “I’m going to have a patrol officer outside your house until we figure out what’s going on.”
She started to object, then nodded. She was through with taking chances.
“Good,” he said. “I’m going to have to spend most of the day in court trying to see if I can postpone the indictment until we find Erika. Call me if you need me.”
“I will.” She followed him to the door. “But I should have said no to taking this case.”
“I asked you because I knew you wouldn’t say no.”
“Apparently, you were right.”
She shut the door behind Brinkley, locked it, then leaned back against it. She wasn’t sure if it was worth it, trying to get another hour or two of sleep, or if she should just stay up. She wanted to make sure her team did their own intervie
w of her intruder and have Gwen check over the phone. But she’d meant what she said. She shouldn’t have taken the case. She should have spent the day with Tyler and Liam.
But Brinkley had been right as well.
She couldn’t say no.
Nikki walked back upstairs, her legs still shaking, and stepped into the bathroom. There had to be a connection between the two breakins. Erika at the safe house and now at her house. They had to have a way of tracing Erika.
The thought hit her like a freight train. Erika’s watch.
She had Erika’s watch.
She tried to remember what she’d done with it. It had to be in her bag. She looked at the time. It was almost six. Not too early to call Jack.
He answered on the fourth ring. “Nikki … what’s going on?”
“Someone broke into my condo.”
“What?” There was a long pause on the other end. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. He’s in police custody now.”
“Who was it?”
“I’m not sure yet. They’ve taken him down to the precinct for questioning, but I don’t think he’s going to say anything. At least not willingly. But I’m sure he works for Russell. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“But why would they come after you?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.”
“And?”
“He thought Erika was here.”
“I don’t understand. Why would they think she was at your place?”
“You’re the gadget expert. Could they have put a GPS on Erika?”
“It’s possible, but we already know we can’t trace her phone.”
“What about her watch? The one she left on the plane.”
“I guess it’s possible. But I still don’t understand how that connects to you.”
“I have Erika’s watch. I forgot about it until a little while ago, but it makes sense. The FBI said someone had managed to track her down at the safe house. What if it was her watch all this time?”
“It makes sense.”
She shuddered. He hadn’t tried to kill her. Just subdue her.
Which meant they potentially knew two things.
One, the bad guys still didn’t know where Erika was, and two, they wanted her alive.
But why? Why go after her in the first place?
It had to be because she had information. Information that Russell would do anything to stop from getting out. He’d even tried to make sure Justin didn’t have information he might be able to pass on to the authorities.
“Have you looked inside the watch?” Jack asked.
“Not yet. That’s one of the reasons I’m calling.”
“It’s not easy to put a GPS tracker in a small piece of jewelry, but it would work with a watch. Especially with a bit of a budget, it would be possible.”
“So what do I do to find out?”
“Get something sharp and try to pop off the back of the watch and let me know what you find.”
Nikki found a small flathead screwdriver, then worked to pop off the back of the watch.
“Did you get it open?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s inside?”
“It looks like a small circuit board.”
“Then I think you’re right. Russell was tracking her.”
“And they weren’t after me. But how did the FBI miss something like that? They should have swept for bugs.”
“I don’t know. But Brian Russell has money. He didn’t want to lose track of her. Especially if he found out she was testifying against him. He’s going to do everything he can to stop her.”
And then the plane crash threw him off.
“We saw her running scared at the airport,” Nikki said. “If she saw someone she recognized, one of Russell’s men, or feared she was being followed, it makes sense she’d run.”
“Especially when they didn’t protect her the last time,” Jack said.
“I’m going to come in now,” she said. “We need to speak with Justin again as soon as he wakes up. The man who just broke into my house—”
“You should go back to bed. Get some sleep before you even think about coming in. I’ll come over and pick up the watch.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll get dressed and bring it in—”
The doorbell rang, interrupting her train of thought. She glanced at her watch. It was Tyler. How could she have forgotten he was bringing her breakfast?
“Someone’s at the door, but I’ll come in later this morning.”
“Or you can take the day off,” Jack countered. “Spend some time with your family.”
But she’d already made up her mind. “I’ll see you at the precinct.”
16
6:10 a.m.
Nikki picked up Jade, then opened the door, wishing she could erase her conversation with the nurse at the doctor’s office. With all that had happened over the past thirty-six hours, she’d barely had time to think about the consequences of the diagnosis. Or how infertility might affect her relationship with Tyler.
She shot him a smile. “Hey.”
“Morning.” Tyler stood in the doorway with a bag of takeout, two coffees, and the lopsided smile on his face that made her heart melt. Their relationship had evolved from best friends, and now she couldn’t imagine going back to the way things were. He’d told her their relationship didn’t have to be complicated. They were just two people figuring out love and life. But she couldn’t see things going forward between them once he knew the truth.
And life seemed anything but uncomplicated at the moment.
“You know you didn’t have to do this?” she said, shutting the door behind him. “The sun’s barely even up.”
“I figured you needed to eat, and it isn’t like you’ve had time to shop for groceries since you’ve been back. Besides that, it gave me an excuse to see you again. I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” She breathed in the smell of onions and sausage and forced herself to shove aside her doubts for the time being. “And you know you don’t ever need an excuse to see me.”
“I hope not.”
“And to be honest, you are a lifesaver,” she said, setting Jade down. “I realized unless I want the barbeque my mom sent over yesterday, I’m pretty much out of everything, including coffee.”
He set the food and coffees on the island, then pulled her into his arms. “Do you know how hard it’s been knowing you’re right across town, and I can’t see you?”
He kissed her forehead, then her lips. Her fears started to melt. It seemed that the only place she felt safe lately was in his arms.
“How are you feeling?” He pushed back a strand of her hair that had fallen across her cheek. “You look tired.”
She grabbed his hands and smiled. “I’m definitely better than yesterday.”
“Any signs of a concussion?”
“None. I took a sleeping pill and slept hard until—”
“Wait a minute. Something happened here?” He was staring at the lamp that had crashed against the tile floor. “What’s going on, Nikki?”
She looked up at him, wanting nothing more than to stay lost in his eyes and forget the reality of everything she was having to deal with. Just savor the fact that he was here with her. Because that was enough. Wasn’t it?
“Nikki?”
She took a step back from him. “I had a breakin this morning—”
“A breakin? What are you talking about?”
“Brinkley’s sending over a patrol car. Everything’s okay now. I promise. It’s connected to this case I’m working on. You remember the watch I had that belonged to Erika?”
“Yes …”
“There was a tracking device in it.” Saying it out loud again sent a shiver down her spine. How had she managed to get so entangled in this case?
“Wait a minute … so you’re saying they traced her watch here.”
She nodded.
“Nikki, this
has all gone too far. The plane crash, the prison, and now a breakin … Surely they aren’t expecting you to keep working.”
“No—”
“Good, because you need to go somewhere safe and let your team handle this.”
“But I need to keep working.” She looked up at him. “There’s a woman out there who agreed to testify for the FBI against the father of her child. This man … he’s got a lot of money and powerful friends, and he’ll do anything to stop her testimony. I need to find them—both her and her little girl—before he does.”
“I know what motivates you,” he said, running his thumb down her cheek. “Which means I’m not going to change your mind, am I?”
“No.”
“And I suppose you know I’d probably do the same thing in your situation.”
“Isn’t that part of the reason why we get along so well?” She managed a weak smile. “And on top of that, I’m hungry.”
“You better be, because I wasn’t sure what you were in the mood for, so I picked up a little of everything. Figured Liam would like the surprise of whatever was left over when he woke up.”
“What is it?”
“A variety of breakfast burritos and some fruit salad,” he said, sitting down on one of the barstools.
“Perfect.” She opened up the bag. “Where is Liam?”
“My mom’s staying with me for a couple days. I think she loved having him for these past few months and misses him when he’s gone.”
“I don’t blame her,” she said, pulling out a wrapped burrito marked spinach, mushroom, and feta.
“How’s your mom and dad? This has to have been tough on them.” Tyler took one with sausage and cheese and started unwrapping it.
“I haven’t seen them, but I’ve talked to them on the phone a couple times. The whole family’s a bit shaken. I watched the video of the crash again. It feels like a miracle anyone survived.”
“Your mother called me.”
Nikki grabbed the napkins, handed him one, then took a bite of her food. “You got a call from my mother?”
“She was worried. Wanted to make sure you really were okay.”
Another pang of guilt struck. She promised herself she’d see them as soon as this was over. She hoped her mother really did understand why she couldn’t just walk away.
Tyler was staring at his breakfast without eating anything. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach.
