Love Inspired Suspense June 2015 - Box Set 2 of 2: Exit StrategyPaybackCovert Justice

by Shirlee McCoy

  She smiled when she saw him, and that smile made his insides squirm. She’d been distant since he’d come home from the hospital and, to be fair, so had he. He couldn’t forget what he’d heard in the ambulance. The idea that she might have some sort of feelings for him beyond friendship presented itself every time she came into view.

  He could not fall for her. Why her, Father? Why now?

  Hadn’t he been through enough? He’d loved Lana, and while their marriage hadn’t been perfect, he’d made every effort to make it work. Even after she’d admitted to the addiction and the embezzlement, he’d been willing to try, but she’d made it clear her feelings for him had never been more than a passing fancy that had long since shriveled into outright disdain.

  He’d been sure he’d never find anyone else he’d be willing to take a chance on, and with the way he lived his life, the likelihood of meeting someone had been slim.

  Then Heidi had dropped into his world with her crazy hair, her badge and that gun she kept tucked in her waistband, all contrasting with the woman he’d discovered her to be. A woman who loved tea and scones and dainty sandwiches, who could play Candy Land with Maggie for hours and had even taught her how to knit a dishcloth.

  A woman who was worth risking his heart. Maybe even worth the risk to Maggie. Maggie had strong women in her life, but what would it be like for her to have Heidi as a stepmother?

  What was he thinking? Even if he could get past the danger of her job, there was one other pesky problem. She hadn’t moved here. She had a home in Virginia and a desk in a building owned by the FBI. When this case ended, she’d go back to the life she’d been living.

  He didn’t want to think about how he would go back to the life he’d been living.

  It would never be the same.

  “Blake, I’d like you to meet Kyle Richards. You may not remember, but Kyle was one of the EMTs who took you to the hospital. He’s also the lead agent on the TacOps team assigned to this case.”

  Kyle extended his hand. “Good to see you up and around. I imagine you’re still feeling that crack to the noggin, though.”

  They shook hands. “Thanks for getting me to the hospital in one piece. I appreciate it.”

  “Just doing my job.” He pointed to the mess of metal behind him. “I was telling Z as far as we can tell, these shelves weren’t screwed together right.”

  “How do you mean?”

  Agent Richards picked up a metal support piece. “See this here?” He pointed to a bolt hole. “At least half of these pieces had bolts in them at one time, but they aren’t here now.” He pointed to the pile. “We’ve been through it piece by piece. The only explanation we can come up with is someone has been removing the bolts. Maybe all at once. Maybe a few at a time. Either way, this setup was going to come down sooner or later.”

  He tossed the piece back into the pile. “What we haven’t found is any sort of trigger. Either someone helped it fall as you came by, or it was a total fluke.”

  Heidi met Blake’s gaze. “I don’t believe in flukes,” he said and caught the twinkle in her eye.

  “Me, neither,” Richards said.

  “Who brought it down?” Heidi asked the question, but she clearly didn’t expect an answer.

  Richards rubbed his chin. “Somebody who knows how to cover their tracks.”

  Heidi and Richards exchanged a look that spoke volumes. They were worried. And if they were worried, he should be petrified.

  *

  On Saturday morning, Blake rolled over and grabbed his phone. Five o’clock. He threw back the covers and went straight to the coffeepot.

  What a week. They’d had the plant shut down until Thursday. Then his dad’s cousin had passed away in Vermont and his parents had flown out yesterday for the funeral. Caroline had gone to a spa somewhere in Georgia for a long-planned weekend with her college roommates.

  His former in-laws, the Petersons, had taken Maggie home from her ball game last night and he and Heidi had wound up going to dinner.

  It hadn’t been a date. They were hungry and needed food.

  But they’d sat in the Thai restaurant until it closed at ten. Then they’d stood in the driveway and talked until after midnight.

  The funny thing was they hadn’t talked about the case or the plant. They’d talked about other stuff. Pet peeves, favorite foods, books, movies, even places they’d love to visit. They talked about college and his grandparents and her godparents. Safe topics for the most part, although every now and then he got the impression that she was holding back.

  The difference from this conversation and the one they’d had at Christmas was that he didn’t think she was holding back because she didn’t trust him, but because she was trying to protect him. From what horror, he had no idea.

  When they said their reluctant good-nights, it was with the promise to meet in the driveway at 9:00 a.m. to get some breakfast.

  He couldn’t get a handle on it, but something had changed last night. The air had been thick with words unspoken and questions unanswered.

  He had no idea what was happening but he needed to get his head on straight before he saw her again. If he got moving, he’d have plenty of time to head to his favorite spot and spend time in prayer.

  He and the Lord needed to talk. He couldn’t understand why God would drop a woman like Heidi into his life only to snatch her back out of it. It seemed cruel. But what if it wasn’t? What if a way to make it work existed but he hadn’t figured it out yet?

  He filled a thermos with coffee, grabbed a couple of granola bars and three fun-size Snickers bars and picked up his cell phone, keys and Bible before he walked out the door. He knew the path well enough to walk it in the dark, but he flicked on the flashlight anyway. No need to take unnecessary risks. Heidi would already never let him hear the end of it if she found out he was hiking with a concussion.

  Thirty minutes later, he’d set his Bible, phone and coffee on the large boulder stretched out over the edge of the waterfall that emptied into the river running behind the plant. He loved it here. The peacefulness, the solitude, the calm.

  He bowed his head and waited in the predawn silence. This place was sacred to him. A place where God met him. He knew there was nothing unique or special about this boulder, only that this was where he got quiet and listened.

  So he listened and waited for answers to come.

  *

  Heidi’s phone jarred her to consciousness and she was thankful for the disruption. The nightmare had been coming more often. The same one she’d been having for fifteen years. Sunshine and a cool breeze on her face morphed in an instant to darkness and heat as her clothes melted into her skin and she shrieked in agony. That’s when she woke up, face covered in sweat, or maybe tears. She could never be sure.

  She hadn’t cried over her scarred body and broken dreams in years. At least, not when conscious. But last night, the way Blake had looked at her—

  She groaned and wiped her face with the damp sheet.

  He had no idea how messed up she was. Or how much damage the long-sleeved shirts covered. She’d gotten away with hiding it to this point. The mountains were cold in the winter, and she’d told everyone she was cold-natured. No one questioned it.

  They would in the heat of summer, when tank tops and shorts became the norm. She didn’t need or want their pity, but she dreaded the day she saw that look in Blake’s eyes. The one she’d seen before from other men when they cringed away from the puckered and pink scars covering half her body.

  When it happened, she would never recover.

  Her phone squawked again, this time with a text message instead of a call.

  WAKE UP AND CALL ME

  Agent Richards? Why would he be calling her at five-thirty in the morning?

  She pulled on a pair of jeans as she dialed.

  “It’s about time you called.”

  “Your text—”

  “No time. Do you have any idea why Blake Harrison is hiking in the woods
behind the plant?”

  Heidi rubbed a hand over her face. “What?”

  “Blake Harrison is walking around in the woods behind the plant.”

  “Now?”

  “Until two minutes ago. The locater we have on his phone stopped moving. Looks like it’s beside a river.”

  “He knows these woods. I guess he went out for an early-morning hike. What’s the problem?” She slipped a sweatshirt over her head.

  “The problem is the other GPS locator in the area.”

  She didn’t need to ask, but she had to. “Who?”

  “Kovac. He’s almost to the same spot.”

  “No!” Heidi threw the phone onto the bed as she raced to pull on tennis shoes. She grabbed two handguns and strapped them to her waist. If someone saw her, tough.

  She picked up the phone and ran down the stairs. “I’m headed out there. Call in the cavalry.”

  “Z. You need to wait for backup.”

  “I don’t have time. If Kovac acts fast, I need to be able to stop him. Send his location to my phone and get the team moving in this direction.”

  She heard him giving orders as she pulled a rifle from behind the refrigerator and slid the strap over her shoulder and back.

  “We’ll blow your cover.”

  “Do you think I care?”

  Heidi ran out the screen door and hit the hiking trail at a steady run, thankful she had a good idea of where she was headed.

  “No, ma’am. I have everyone converging on his location. Keep your phone on so I’ll have some ears.”

  “Fine.” She slid the phone into her jacket pocket and ran faster.

  There was no good reason for Kovac to be following Blake up this mountain. The Harrisons had several picnic shelters and hiking paths laid out for the use of their employees, but the spot where Blake was—the one he had told her about—was nowhere near those public access areas.

  How could Kovac have known he’d be there at this time of day? Was he tracking Blake? And if he was, why hadn’t they caught on to it? How had they missed it?

  She’d been a fool. Distracted. Incompetent. Letting stupid emotions keep her from focusing on the issue at hand. Her idiocy may have already gotten Blake killed.

  She pulled her phone back to her ear. “Richards?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Do you still have Blake’s phone active?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Why?”

  “If it disappears, you let me know.”

  Richards didn’t say anything for a moment. “You’re going to get to him in time.”

  “Are you a praying man, Richards?”

  “At times like this.”

  “Good. Pray hard. That’s an order.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She put the phone back in her pocket and pushed on. She could run at this pace for several miles before she had to slow down, but the bumpy uphill terrain added a degree of difficulty. Spraining her ankle could be a death sentence for Blake.

  She’d hiked up here once when she’d been familiarizing herself with the Harrison property. She ran until she thought she was close and then slowed and slid the rifle over her head.

  “Richards?”

  “Kovac is three hundred yards to the north of your current location. He hasn’t moved in the past ten minutes. Blake is three hundred yards northeast. I’m guessing Kovac is watching and waiting for an opportunity.”

  She took a few deep breaths. “I’m going to get in closer. Where’s my backup?”

  “Ten guys are headed up the trail behind you, but they don’t know the path the way you must have. They’re moving at a good clip, but…”

  “Have them pull up when they get to this location and come in slow.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Good luck, Z. I’m praying.”

  Heidi checked her weapons and eased forward through a natural curve in the trail.

  There. She could hear the waterfall churning in the distance and she could imagine where Blake sat.

  Markos Kovac leaned against a tree, hands on his knees. She could see his chest heaving. He’d hotfooted it up here, but he’d left himself too winded to finish the job.

  Thank You, Father.

  She moved closer and knelt behind a spruce to watch him through the scope. As far as she could tell, he had a gun and a…baseball bat? Surely he didn’t intend to club—

  Oh.

  Yes, that would make sense. This murder would look like a tragic accident. If he could sneak up behind Blake and hit him with the bat, even if he didn’t kill him with the blow, he could knock him out and shove him over the edge. There would be a good chance the impact at the bottom would disguise the trauma. Everyone would think Blake had slipped.

  Of course, he’d brought the gun as backup. He had every intention of killing Blake this morning, she had no doubt. If the accidental plunge to his death didn’t work, he’d shoot him and toss the gun in the river.

  And it wasn’t a bad plan. Or it wouldn’t have been if the TacOps team hadn’t been watching.

  She’d owe those guys for eternity.

  She weighed her options. She could try to shoot Markos from here, but a branch could deflect the bullet. She could scoot closer and hope the roar of the water would drown out her approach. She could call Blake on his cell and tell him to get out of there, but if he moved, she couldn’t predict Kovac’s response. He might shoot him on the spot before she could do anything.

  Father, help me.

  She picked her way through the trees, thankful the ground was moist from recent snow and the leaves blanketing the forest floor bent instead of crackling as she stepped on them.

  She’d gotten within fifty yards when Markos moved toward Blake. Slow and deliberate. She followed behind him at a faster pace, relying on the sound of his own movement to disguise hers.

  Her mind raced for a way to get them all off this mountain alive, but no matter which scenario she considered, someone wound up dead every time. Kovac wouldn’t surrender, but maybe she could disarm him. She’d seen one gun. And the bat. But she had no way of knowing what sort of arsenal he hid under the field jacket he wore.

  She wanted to take him alive. He was the key to unlocking the door to his family’s plans for HPI.

  She slid through the brush behind him, shrinking the distance between them. At this point, if he turned, she’d be exposed, but that didn’t matter anymore. She slid the rifle back over her neck and pulled her Glock out of the holster. At this range, she could drop him if she had to.

  He paused twenty feet from Blake’s position. If he would sit tight for five more minutes, she’d have a team of agents at her disposal and they’d be able to wrap this up in a nice neat bow.

  Kovac moved.

  So much for waiting on backup.

  FOURTEEN

  Blake finished his coffee. He still didn’t have any answers, but the peace he’d been missing for weeks had settled over him. He knew deep in his soul God had not dropped the ball. He needed to wait. And trust.

  “Don’t do it, Markos!” Heidi’s voice rang out from behind him.

  He turned and for one long second, everything froze. The man he knew as Mark Hammond stood three feet away. A large gun protruded from his waistband, but the immediate threat came from the baseball bat Mark gripped with both hands.

  Ten feet from Mark, Heidi stood exposed, weapon drawn.

  Mark turned toward Heidi.

  Before Blake could blink, Mark drew his gun.

  Heidi and Mark fired at the same time.

  Heidi ran in a crouch toward them. “Blake! Run!”

  Blake looked back to Mark. He lay on the ground, blood seeping through his jacket, but he managed to lift his arm and take aim. Blake kicked Mark’s arm and his gun flew into the woods.

  Heidi stood two feet away, chest heaving, hair flying around her face, eyes burning as she glared at Mark, her gun pointed at his chest.

  “Markos Kovac, you are under arrest for attempted murder.”

  Mark
looked at Heidi, then at Blake. “I am truly sorry.”

  He reached for his belt. Did he have another gun?

  “Blake! Run!” This time, Heidi grabbed Blake’s arm and pulled him as she dashed away from Mark.

  What was going on? She had a gun on him. What did she think—

  The ground rocked beneath him and an explosive force knocked him off his feet and away from Heidi. Burning branches rained down on them and as the dust cleared, Blake looked back toward Mark.

  Mark was gone.

  His gun lay a few feet away, and Blake scrambled for it. Where had Mark—?

  As he reached for the gun, his brain made sense of the scene and the awful truth registered.

  Severed body parts lay strewn over the burning mountain. A stench he couldn’t describe, but would never forget, filled the air.

  “Heidi?”

  She had known. Somehow she’d known what Mark intended and she’d pulled him to safety.

  “Heidi?”

  Oh, no. “No!”

  Heidi’s jacket glowed with fire. She yanked the rifle over her head, dropped to the ground and rolled.

  He rushed to her side and grabbed one sleeve to help her pull her arm out. Her eyes were wide and the terror in them frightened him more than anything he’d witnessed yet.

  Free of the jacket, she yanked her smoking sweatshirt over her head and threw it to the ground. She stood and stomped on both the jacket and the sweatshirt, over and over before she collapsed to her knees, sobs shaking her body.

  She was in just a tank top now, and on her exposed skin he could see the patchwork of scars from her neck down the back of her arms. The skin stretched and puckered in odd places, and had a pinkish tint that didn’t match the rest of her olive-toned complexion. The scarring could be seen on her chest above the edges of her shirt. He could only assume it covered most of her torso.

  What had happened to her?

  Blake knelt beside her. “It’s okay, honey. It’s okay. It’s over.” He pulled her into his arms and held her as she shook. Was she in shock? Having a panic attack? He couldn’t make sense of her reaction. She was the bravest woman he’d ever known and not the type to fall apart over an explos—