That likely had been true with the break-in at her apartment before she left Washington. But Nancy wondered if things hadn’t changed drastically for Senator Davies since then. She could think of at least one reason why someone would go to the trouble to come here, try to steal her cell phone—essentially committing an illegal act—and then allow himself to be caught, and then confess his crimes.
That would be if his real objective wasn’t to steal the phone, but to incriminate Senator Reese Davies.
Of course, the hole in the plan was big enough to drive a semi through—a semi, or an ATV, or hell, even a motorcycle. Anyone could easily drive any of those vehicles through any of the fields surrounding Lusty, and could gain access to the town’s streets through any number of backyards, including her own. There were fences along the roadway, but not anywhere else, except for the handful of small ranches scattered here and there.
The more she thought about it, the more she decided that it wouldn’t do for her to go into this situation unarmed. It also wouldn’t do for her to share that information with any of the men attending this planning session.
“Now, once we get in place, Nancy, you don’t need to worry about being seen doing anything,” Adam had said, “until we get the word that an unknown vehicle is approaching the town. You’ll be wearing a wire, so you can just relax—maybe take your e-book reader with you. It’s a nice day to sit in the shade and read.”
“All right. You want me to sit on one of the benches along Main Street? Maybe I could take a little stroll past the shops?”
“Either, or. It may be a long time to sit and wait for our perp to arrive—if he shows up at all,” Adam said. “Strolling down the sidewalk would at least alleviate the boredom for you.”
Despite having been included in a conference call with her men and a high-ranking member of the justice department, it was clear to her that Adam had his doubts about the need for this entire operation. The fact that he was doing his best to make it as iron-clad as he could spoke of his devotion to duty—and his reluctance to entertain her concerns. “There’s just one thing that’s bothering me.” Despite her earlier vow to keep quiet she thought that on this point, at least, they would listen to her. “You said earlier that you don’t want me to carry my purse?”
“It will be easier if you have your cell phone visible on you, don’t you think? I’m thinking you could put it in your jeans pocket?”
Nancy shook her head. “No.” There was no way she was wearing jeans to this “op.” Vanity had nothing to do with it. For what she had in mind, jeans simply wouldn’t work. She’d quickly formulated her own plan—and was definitely going to be armed, something none of the men had suggested. For all their bluster about her having missed her burglar when she’d shot at him back in Washington, she thought the lack very telling.
Of course she wasn’t going to tell them that. No, siree, there is no sense in stirring up that beehive. She brought herself back to the moment. Adam’s brow creased, and she didn’t know if he was annoyed at her mutiny or just confused. “I have a small shoulder bag with an external cell phone slot. I don’t use it often, because the damn phone is nearly half-exposed and I’m always afraid it will fall out. But for our purposes…” She let her thought trail off. “Women carry purses, Adam. I’d look ‘off’ without one.”
“She has a point,” Jake said. “You know our Ginny never goes anywhere without her purse.”
“That actually might be even better,” Eli said. “If this bastard, whoever he is, comes toward you from either direction, he could grab the cell phone from your purse and run, making minimal contact with you. That sure as hell suits me a whole lot better.”
Nancy grinned. “Face it, Special Agent Barton. What would suit you best is if you had me in Adam’s office, here, locked up in the one and only jail cell in town.”
Jeremiah laughed. “She’s got your number, bro.”
“What, and you don’t feel the exact same way?” Eli shot back.
“Not at all. I’d feel better with her in a safe house somewhere about a thousand miles away, surrounded by either Navy SEALs or Green Berets—or both.”
Eli grinned. “Now you’re talking.”
“If y’all want to indulge in a private conversation, why, you just go right on ahead. I may be able to imitate the sounds of an ape, but I don’t really understand the language the way the two of you apparently do.”
Nancy considered her chastisement a good one. It was just unfortunate that the rest of the men contained their snickers. Mel Richardson sent them pitying looks, but unfortunately neither Eli nor Jeremiah saw them. No, they just grinned at her like they thought she was cute.
While the men fine-tuned their plan, Nancy announced she would go home, ostensibly to get that handbag. In reality she was intent on getting changed—in private.
Nancy shook her head. They weren’t, apparently, even going to let her do that on her own.
“Baby, you need to wait. We’re not done here yet,” Jeremiah said.
“It’s just a couple of streets over. I do believe I know the way and can go there, myself.” It wasn’t even a four-minute drive from the sheriff’s office to her house. She’d be back in fifteen minutes, tops.
“We’re on alert,” Adam said, “and we’re that way to keep you safe. Your men understand that means you don’t go anywhere alone.”
Nancy personally though the men were getting carried away with their “planning”.
“I’ll take her,” Matthew said. “And before you protest, I will remind you that Kelsey thought she would be safe walking from Lusty Appetites to here, and she was abducted right out on Main Street, a block from this office.” Matt nodded. “So I will be accompanying you to your house.”
“All right. Fine. Let’s go, Deputy.” Nancy thought the men breathed a sigh of relief when she said that—not just because she’d given in but because she was going to be giving them some breathing room. They do like to do their macho things without us women present.
“Don’t be pissed,” Matthew said.
She settled herself in the front seat of his cruiser and fastened her seat belt. “I’m not pissed. I’m just not certain this precaution is necessary.”
“Maybe it isn’t, Nance, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, don’t you think?” He put the cruiser in gear and left the curb, beginning the very short drive to her house.
It was a rhetorical question, so she didn’t feel the need to answer him.
Matt pulled the cruiser into her driveway, and shut it off. When he opened his door, and gave the area a quick scan, Nancy realized that there was no way she was going to get him to wait out in the car. She bit her bottom lip. She didn’t want him following her upstairs, because she didn’t want him to know what she was going to do. Then she smiled. She had the perfect solution.
Inside the house, Nancy stood back while Matt conducted a quick look around, much as he’d done outside. The front door had been locked, and so was the kitchen door. He nodded to her. “Where’s that purse?”
“Upstairs. Chill for a couple, cousin. I need to use the facilities and I want to freshen up. I promise I won’t be long.” Then she turned on the stereo system, dialing it up a little from the soft background sound that she usually selected, and gave him a smile.
“Wait where you’re comfy,” she said. “I really won’t be long.”
Matt made his way over to the book shelves she had in her living room, while she headed up the stairs to her bedroom.
Once there, Nancy quickly looked through her closet. She selected a casual skirt with a fairly loose fit, and a cotton T-shirt that was also a loose fit. The weather was warm enough—thank God she was back in Texas and not still up north—that she didn’t need to wear pantyhose.
As she quickly changed her clothes, she heard the sound of a motor just under the sound of the music, and wondered which of her neighbors had fired up their lawn mower. It’s a good day for cutting grass. In just another couple of months
’ time, the weather would be far too hot to tackle such chores even as early as midmorning. She grinned. The downside of being back in Texas, and not still up north, she guessed, was the Texas heat.
Rather than pumps, Nancy slipped a pair of running shoes on her feet. She located the small shoulder bag she’d told the men about in one of her dresser drawers. It only took a moment to take what she needed out of her other handbag. Lipstick, compact, tissues and change purse went inside. She tucked her cell phone—her new cell phone, given to her the moment Adam commandeered her other one—into the little external pocket she’d told Adam about.
Nancy was almost ready to rock and roll. There was just one more accessory she needed, and it was in her bedroom safe. She checked her watch. She’d barely been up here ten minutes, and she was almost done. Too much longer, she knew, and Matthew might come looking for her.
It had been a long time since she’d worn the leg holster—a gag gift from her brother Warren, given to her one birthday a few years back. The holster had been specially designed and made for her and her Walther PPK. Years of not wearing the device didn’t make a difference, and she put it on easily. Once it was secure, and her weapon loaded and holstered, she lowered her skirt and stood in front of the full-length mirror.
The weight was just a bit more than she recalled, but then she had only tried the device on to show Warren that it fit, and to prove to herself that it worked. Nancy turned this way and that, her eye critical on her reflection. The entire outfit looked good, and allowed her freedom of movement. Most importantly, the gun didn’t show.
She nodded once, then grabbed her purse, slung it over her shoulder, and headed downstairs.
It would take almost no time at all to get back to Adam’s office. Nancy crossed the great room, past the kitchen on her way to the door. “Okay, cousin, I’m ready to go.” Nancy’s eyes swept the room, and she gasped when she saw Matthew Benedict lying on her living room rug. She screamed his name, and took one step toward him.
And squeaked when she was grabbed from behind, held tight, a hand pressed firmly over her mouth.
“Finding you was a lot easier than I thought it would be, Ms. Jessop.”
* * * *
“Greg and Alex have been out there since minutes after that Skype conference,” Adam said. “Your bosses didn’t give us many specifics to go on. We weren’t willing to take the chance that the son of a bitch, whoever he is, wouldn’t have maybe been closer than we were led to believe.”
“I know.” Eli looked at the map of Lusty once more, spread out on Matthew Benedict’s desk. It was a small town, and he was able to see the way it had been set up, in the middle of family ranchland, really did only leave just two ways in, or out, of town.
He also took note of the pastureland and empty fields that completely surrounded Lusty—and the fact that the road that led through town, north to south, was indeed a connecting road between two farm to market roads that ran east-west. Looking up at the photograph, he realized that Nancy had had a point.
Eli looked over at Jeremiah, and then back down at the map. Then he met Adam’s gaze. “You know, if I wanted to sneak into this town, I’d do what Nancy suggested—employ an ATV or a motorcycle, or hell, just hike in across the fields.”
“If sneaking into town was your only objective, then that would definitely work. But our perp has more of an agenda than that, doesn’t he? He’s looking to steal something, and escape. Following the sneak-across-the-fields scenario, once he took something, we’d be alerted, even without these precautions we’re taking. He wouldn’t be able to get away. It would take him time to find a car to steal—and coming in, that would be a big uncertainty because he doesn’t know our little town at all. If he were traveling on an ATV or a motorcycle, we’d likely still catch him, because there are only a few places on either farm to market road where he’d have easy access onto or off of family land.”
“You know, Travers said his informant believed our perp would roll over if we caught him,” Jeremiah said. “In fact, if I was to characterize his mood when he said it, I’d have to say he was damn near giddy with glee. That doesn’t imply guess work. That implies specific, certain knowledge.”
Eli noticed that the other men present stopped talking among themselves and moved closer. Connor Talbot, Mel Richardson, and Jake Kendall, looked down at the map and then up at him and Jeremiah.
“He did sound very sure, now that I think about it,” Connor said. “Likely he knew more than he wanted to tell us. The old need-to-know philosophy—God help us all.”
Eli thought he detected an edge of bitterness in Talbot’s voice. His next words explained the emotion.
“That’s the same kind of stupid power play bullshit that got my former partner killed.” Connor met Eli’s gaze. “So let’s take a minute, here, before Nancy comes back, and ask the obvious question.”
Eli nodded. “Why would Travers be so certain that our perp would roll once we caught him?”
“Because his informant assured him he would,” Mel said. “That’s the logical answer.”
“But why?” Jake asked. “Why would someone come here, commit a crime, and then surrender? He could snatch that cell phone and be gone. We hope to catch him, but we’re not sure we’re going to.”
Eli met Jeremiah’s gaze. His friend’s expression changed subtly. “Because getting his hands on Nancy’s phone isn’t the real mission,” Jeremiah said.
“The real mission is to create a situation where Davies will be implicated. A situation, or crime, so serious that Davies, implicated, would be done as a United States Senator—no ifs, ands, or buts. No plea bargains, no cronyism.” Eli felt the hair on the back of his neck raise up. “That’s what this is all about, and that’s why Travers had that conference call with us in the first place. He knows that’s what’s going to happen and he wanted us to be prepared.”
“Son of a bitch,” Adam said. “That makes a very sick kind of sense.” The Sheriff looked fit to be tied as he did what the rest of them were doing, connecting the dots. “And stealing a cell phone from a woman is only a misdemeanor. Petty theft. Even if you add a hint of conspiracy, that’s not a serious enough crime to guarantee jail time for a sitting United States Senator.”
Jake laughed. “One of you two G-men is going to have to apologize to Nancy when she gets back here.”
Eli looked up at the clock on the wall. Nancy had been gone damn near a half hour. He’d have thought she’d be back by now. He told himself he wasn’t worried. She was, after all, in the company of Lusty’s Deputy Sheriff.
The door opened and he turned, expecting to see his woman come in. Instead, Ryder Magee and his best friend Colt Evans strode inside.
“Everyone’s in place, and Morgan Kendall is manning the communications center out at the airfield,” Colt said. “So far, no one has ventured into town who doesn’t belong here.”
“Good. As soon as Nancy and Matt get back, the rest of us will get into position.” Adam nodded to Eli. “You’ll want to be where you can see her and also in a position where you can give chase.”
“Yeah, Jeremiah and I both want to be able to have eyes on our woman. We’ve made it as safe as we can for her, but I really don’t like the idea that she’s ‘bait.’”
“Well let’s just hope your motorcycle is more trustworthy than the one I used to have,” Ryder said. “Because unless you want it idling the entire time, you may need to start it and then go like hell.”
“Motorcycle? What motorcycle?” Eli frowned, glanced at Jeremiah and then looked back at Magee.
Ryder frowned, and looked at Colt for a moment. “You—neither of you—have a motorcycle?”
“No, why?”
Ryder cursed. “Because when we drove past Nancy’s house just now, aside from seeing Matt’s cruiser in the driveway, we noticed a motorcycle in the backyard, close to the back door. We just assumed that one of you…” He didn’t finish the sentence. But then, he didn’t have to.
Jer
emiah pulled out his cell phone and called, his actions mimicking Adam’s, even as everyone else froze in place. He must have turned the sound up because they all heard it ringing.
“Voice mail,” Jeremiah said.
“Fuck, Matt’s not answering, either,” Adam said.
Eli looked at Sheriff Kendall. “Can you get us close without anyone in the house seeing us?”
“Yeah.” Adam’s string of curses was impressive as he—and everyone else—headed to the door.
Chapter 23
“Look, you didn’t have to tie me up. I’m not going to cause you any trouble.” Didn’t I promise Adam that? “Just take my cell phone and go. I won’t mention a word to anyone, I swear.” No, there wasn’t a weeping, whimpering, or simpering bone in her body, but Nancy had been raised to have extreme respect for firearms.
Especially when one of them was pointed at her head.
She let her gaze travel over to Matthew who was, thank God, conscious now. Their captor had made her put his own handcuffs on him, and tie his feet together before he’d even gained consciousness. Then he’d tied her up. The moment Matthew had begun to make sounds, the bastard had gagged him.
Her cousin’s gaze looked only slightly blurry, but his expression was mad as hell.
“I didn’t come here to steal your cell phone.” The man on the other end of the gun wasn’t what she’d expected at all. A part of her had wondered if the person that she’d inadvertently captured in those cell phone pictures with Davies—Tobin Lewis—would be the one Eli and Jeremiah’s boss had warned them about.
She couldn’t say why, but when they’d showed her Lewis’s picture and told her about him, she had the sudden sure knowledge that he’d been the one who’d broken into her apartment.
This man wasn’t nearly as tall as Lewis, and he was much older. He looked to be in his late sixties, though there was nothing either elderly or fragile about him at all.
He didn’t seem the type to knock out a sheriff’s deputy, tie him up, and then point his gun at a woman, either, but here they were in her home and he was doing exactly that.
Love Under Two Undercover Cops [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 22
