“That isn’t good.”
“The women’s shelter is guarded, and the team is checking for devices. I told them to keep their eyes open.”
Conner nodded. “Good. We should check here at the safe house, too.”
“I’m going outside to do that now.”
“I’m hoping between the laptop and Andis, Jan hasn’t had time to make an improvised explosive device. An IED is not something I want to deal with.”
Locke said, “It’s a new world. The gunman on the grassy knoll isn’t our biggest threat anymore. It can come from anywhere, including a radio-detonated bomb inches from the target.” He shook his head. “We have to completely change our thinking or we risk POTUS or anyone we’re protecting because we aren’t prepared for a new kind of attack.”
“It isn’t a world I want to raise a family in, but what choice is there?” Conner was too tired to temper what he was saying.
Locke glanced at Kayla. “She can handle it. Otherwise you wouldn’t even consider a family with her.”
“It isn’t like I’m considering anyone else. Or that I ever have.” Conner shrugged. “It was only Kayla. Always.”
Locke nodded. “Guess I’ll have to take your word for that. At least until it happens to me.”
Conner wasn’t sure it ever would, not when the man was so stubborn he’d probably refuse to see what was right in front of him.
Locke glanced at him, then barked a laugh. “Guess I know how you feel about that.”
“So what now?”
Locke shrugged. “Rest is good. Keep watch.”
Conner opened his mouth to speak his agreement, but Locke’s phone rang.
“Agent Locke.” He turned his body slightly away, then went completely still. Like he’d been frozen. “Sheriff—” His words cut off. “Hello? Can you hear me?” He lowered the phone.
“What is it?” Conner asked.
Kayla stirred on the couch and got up.
Locke glanced between them, then put the phone on speaker. “Sheriff?”
Bang.
Kayla’s hand slipped into Conner’s. Locke looked up, his gaze dark. “Let’s go.”
Five minutes later Locke pulled the SUV into the parking lot of the sheriff’s office. Conner sat in the back with Kayla. Locke got out, and Kayla moved to follow, but Conner held on to her hand. “Stay here with me for a minute.”
“Okay.” She looked up at him, expectant. The car’s interior lights went dark. “What’s up?”
“I just don’t want you in there until Locke says it’s safe.”
She grinned. “So we’re out in the open and not inside with cover?”
She was right. “Good point. But the SUV is bulletproof, so we lock the doors and no one’s getting in.”
“Of course it’s bulletproof.” She reached down for her purse and started rooting around in there. “Where did I put my phone? I lose the thing every time I drop it in here. But you’re a guy. You just don’t get that stuff vanishes in a woman’s purse no matter how often you clean it out.”
“Why are you in avoiding mode? I haven’t seen that one in a while. Last time, I was trying to convince you not to go to that concert, and you only wanted to talk about why hair spray was better than mousse. I’m pretty sure your speech lasted half an hour.” Conner thought for a second. “Because we’re in danger?”
“Because I’m in danger with you.”
“I said I’d protect you.”
Kayla folded her arms and glanced out the window. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
“I gather that. I’m just curious as to your reaction. You know I’m a Secret Service agent, that I would give my life to save someone. It’s just who I am. It’s how I’m built.” He glanced around, but no one was close to them. “You don’t have to worry, Kayla.”
“I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Because you don’t like the idea of being saved?” It dawned on him. “Because you don’t want me to get hurt.” Conner nodded, mostly to himself. “Because you’re falling in love with me.”
Kayla’s head whipped around. Her emotions, already so close to the surface, erupted. “I am not! You are so self-absorbed. Like I should be grateful you’d die and leave me here!”
Conner could have smiled, the sense of satisfaction was so great. “Because you’d miss me if I was gone.” She’d pine for years for the lost love of her life, leaving her unable to function in normal society. Good—that meant she felt the same way he did. “You would. You’d totally miss me if I was gone.”
She made a face. The angry tears were coming again. “You’d like to think that. Like I said, self-absorbed. You just want everyone to think you’re all that.”
Conner flicked his head. “Not everyone. Just one person.”
“If you think for one second dying is a good idea, I will hate you for the rest of my life.”
His mouth crooked up on one side. “Guess I’m sticking around, then. For pretty much ever. Sound good to you?”
Kayla apparently wasn’t done being mad. She shrugged one shoulder. “Suit yourself.”
Conner laughed. Kayla Harris was probably the one woman in the world who could throw him attitude two seconds after he’d had the sweetest moment of his life. She was falling for him, just like he was falling for her.
“Here comes Locke.”
The agent opened the back door and leaned in, his face grim. “The sheriff is dead. And so is Tim Harmer.”
FIFTEEN
Kayla tried to breathe deep. She could smell it—that was what hit her the most. It wasn’t right. It just couldn’t be. Death should be as peaceful as it was final, but this mess was an abomination. She took two steps back toward the front door of the sheriff’s office, but it wasn’t enough. She needed air.
Kayla whirled around and raced to the front door. Conner caught her before she stepped outside. “It’s not safe outside unless we check first. Go in that room.” He gave her a gentle push onto the chair in the interrogation room. “Head between your legs.”
Kayla groaned but did it. Sheriff Johnson and that other man were dead. She tried to feel something for the one who had slammed her against the truck and stolen her laptop, but she couldn’t. There was nothing she could do except feel for the sheriff. The grief of a friend’s death—a good man who had looked over this town, who had encouraged her earlier that night. Someone who had helped her with the women and children who lived at the shelter, referring her cases and helping her keep the whole thing confidential. Now he was lying dead on the floor, and Conner wouldn’t let her see it whether she wanted to or not.
She listened while Conner talked to Locke about things she didn’t even want to hear. She lifted her head, not knowing if she wanted the answer but needing to ask anyway. “What did they do to him?”
“Two shots to the chest. If Jan Barton was in the army it could have been her. There’s a lot of blood, but that doesn’t mean it was sloppy like a gut reaction. Whoever fired those shots meant them to be dead.”
“Why would someone do that? Just to silence Tim? They didn’t have to kill Sheriff Johnson, as well. They could have left him alone.”
Conner touched both his hands to the outsides of her arms. The look on his face was soft, and she realized she was breathing too heavy.
Kayla inhaled and held the breath for a second. When she had regained some control, he said, “Jan is still at large. We have to be more careful than ever now.”
Kayla scrunched up her face. There was nowhere safe, nowhere that they could go that Andis wouldn’t eventually find them. What was the point in being careful? They would only end up the next victims.
Conner ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t give up on me now. We can prepare for what might come since we know Jan—and Manny and Andis—are out there still. We’ll stay vigilant while we figure out a plan with Locke to get Andis.”
“They’ll come after the house. They’ll try to find Sofija and Lena. I can’t let him hurt any
one else. Sheriff Johnson is dead.”
“I know.”
She ignored the softness of his words and stood. How much more will You ask me to handle, Lord? I don’t think I can take much more. I’m breaking, and I don’t know how to get through it.
Kayla paced the length of the interrogation room.
“We have to stay here until Locke is done. After that, we can head back to the house.”
Protect them, Lord. Just like You protected me. You sent Conner to save me, and now You brought Locke to help both of us.
The sheriff hadn’t had that, despite whatever faith he’d had. Faith wasn’t a guarantee of safety. Everyone still had to live in this world—a crazy beautiful place full of messed-up people all trying to live their lives. And selfish people who only wanted to please themselves.
Kayla lifted her chin. “Who will make sure the town is safe now?”
Maybe she should move the women’s shelter. Could she uproot all those people, send them from their place of safety to another location they weren’t familiar with? She had to consider the trauma some of them had been through. Could Kayla move them now and make the manager explain that they were no longer safe? Did she have another choice?
She sighed. “I’m sorry.”
He frowned at her. “For what?”
“You’re all doing so much to make sure everyone else stays safe, including me. All I seem to do is scream and run with you wherever you take us.”
“You’ve helped plenty, Kayla. You got us out of the construction site when I was shot and drove us to the house.”
“Your handler got that safe house for us to stay in.”
“Don’t discount the part you’ve played in this.”
“You mean causing all of it?” She saw his face. “No, don’t give me that look. It’s true. I’m the reason you haven’t been able to complete your mission. Now I might have messed it all up.”
“So?”
“What do you mean, ‘so’? It’s important.”
“More important than you being safe? Or the women and kids who live in the shelter?” He paused. “Because I’ll tell you, it isn’t. Nothing is more important to me or this job than your protection. That’s how it is, Kayla. Not a result at the expense of anything else. I don’t operate like that.”
She knew that. Mentally she knew, but did it make things better? He had to get Andis, and now Manny and Jan Barton, too. Kayla liked to think she could take care of herself, but the last time she was in a terrifying situation without Conner there—at least before this all started—she’d only managed to grapple with the guy long enough for him to show up. And that was years ago. Since he’d appeared at her office, she’d managed to get some hits in, but the reality was that she hadn’t even been able to keep her laptop safe.
If she was cut off from Conner somehow, would she even survive the next time? Tim Harmer was dead, but there were way worse people after them. This man was happy to die for her, but what would he do if it was Kayla who died to protect him? Her tendency to create a catastrophe was leaping off the charts, and she needed to rein it in.
*
Conner watched her pace the room. It was clear that Johnson’s death had rocked her. Her emotions had run the gamut from one extreme to the other, and he didn’t envy her having to feel all that. Conner had kept himself separate from other people for so long he didn’t really remember what it was like to be friends with someone.
Then along came Kayla.
The only reason things between them were going as well as they were was that it was her. She didn’t want him to die, but she didn’t get that, as it had been for the sheriff, death was a very real possibility in his line of work.
She stopped pacing and pinned him with a stare. “I want to go to the shelter.”
Conner stepped closer to her, but Kayla backed up. “I know what you’re going to say. I know it’s the best thing to stay away. They have enough protection. But I promised them they’d be safe, and they’re not. Right now it’s only a threat, but it could become so much worse before we catch Manny and Jan. And bring down Andis.”
“None of them know about the house. Jan might have killed the sheriff and Tim, or it could have been Manny. We won’t know for sure until the evidence is assessed.” He motioned toward the main area of the sheriff’s office, where Locke was. “This could be Andis just as easily as Jan. Or one of his other men.”
He didn’t want to tell her that it was possible the sheriff had been tortured. If he’d told his killer about the shelter, then it was in imminent danger. Had he known where it was?
Locke had called his team. They were prepared, and they would defend the shelter. Kayla didn’t need to worry about them.
Conner had more questions than answers. Andis’s wife and daughter were long gone, but the house Kayla had set up was still here. What would be the point in Manny terrorizing them? Would Andis destroy those people’s peace just for the sake of one-upping Kayla? And they still didn’t know why Jan was so invested in all this. Whether she was the one who silenced her boyfriend, or if it had been Manny.
“Hey!” Locke’s voice boomed through the sheriff’s office. “Hands where I can see them! Get them up!”
Conner pulled her back and went to the door. He palmed his gun. The man who’d entered stood in the door, both hands raised. Conner tilted his head but didn’t move his gaze from the man. “It’s Manny.”
He felt Kayla’s hands grip his shirt from behind. “What does he want?”
Conner called out, “What do you want, Manny?” Locke hadn’t ever seen the man, not yet.
“I just came to talk. That’s it, just talk.” Manny lifted his shirt and turned in a circle so they could see he had no weapon.
Locke still had his gun trained on Manny, so Conner lowered his. He didn’t holster it, just kept it by his side. Quietly, he said, “Stay in this room, Kayla. Don’t come out where he can see you.”
She pressed into his back for a second and then stepped away.
Conner crossed half the room, careful to stay out of both the sheriff’s blood and Locke’s line of sight, and moved to Manny. The coroner was due soon, and local crime scene technicians. The place was going to start buzzing with deputies and reporters as soon as word got out that the sheriff was dead.
The deputy on duty was due back soon, and no one had found the dispatcher. The others who worked for the sheriff were on their way in. Conner hoped they wouldn’t walk into a gunfight.
“Did you do this?” Conner motioned behind him to where the sheriff still lay.
Manny dragged his gaze from the sheriff’s prone body. “They got Harmer, too?”
Conner nodded. The man’s body was still in his cell. They hadn’t even unlocked the door, just blasted him through the bars. “You know who it was?”
“Andis ordered it, but it was Jan, I’d guess.” His expression didn’t change. “The old man is scrambling, trying to find Sofija and Lena.” There was a spark when he said Sofija’s name. “Jan bought her way back in—I have no idea how. Unless I kill you, I have no standing.”
“Is that why you’re here? To kill me?”
“I’m done working for him, playing the part. Sofija and Lena are in trouble and I want to help them.”
“Why now? What’s changed?”
“I didn’t know about the laptop. I didn’t think Kayla would actually have a way to contact them. Now that Andis got what he needed from Jan, he has the laptop and he’s cleaning up loose ends. Didn’t want Tim Harmer talking. I’m guessing the sheriff was just collateral.”
“And the pharmacist?” Conner didn’t trust anything the man said but was willing to listen if it fed them more information. “Trying to kill me at the construction-site office?” Conner motioned to his leg.
“Andis’s orders.” Manny winced. “I’d say thanks for putting up a decent fight, but…” He shrugged.
“You shot me in the chest.”
“You were wearing a vest, weren’t you?”<
br />
“You’re gonna have to explain this,” Conner said. “Because I just don’t believe you’ve had a change of heart.”
Manny stared. After a minute of quiet assessment, he said, “Sofija. She was supposed to call and tell me that she was okay, that it was safe. I was going to join her.” He took a breath. “I’m putting all of us in danger, telling you this. Andis is on a rampage about her. He thinks Jan is going to lead him to them, and I’m scared he might be right.”
“You’re scared?”
“Yeah, Conner. I am. Sofija and Lena don’t deserve this. They just wanted a better life. I didn’t want to go unless it was free and clear.” His eyes hardened. “I won’t live a life looking over my shoulder. I knew about what Kayla did, so I told them when she’d be at the grocery store. It didn’t take much to secure them a ticket to a new life. With some insurance.”
“What was it?” Kayla had mentioned Sofija having said something about an “insurance policy.” “What does she have on Andis that makes him want to find her so badly?”
Manny shrugged. “I don’t know. But he’s mad like you wouldn’t believe and determined to get her back. Everything is falling apart.”
“Wow,” Locke interjected. “That was a great story, but I didn’t believe a word of it.”
“Sofija and Lena are in danger.”
“We know,” Conner said. “What we didn’t know was that you were having an affair with your boss’s wife.” He wanted to roll his eyes. No honor among thugs. “And now, after playing your part expertly, making us think you were trying to kill us, you’re inclined to change your tune and act like the concerned third party.”
“You’re under arrest.” Locke stepped forward.
Conner did the same. “There are multiple things we can charge you with, but I’ll settle for having you off the streets so you can’t do any more damage under Andis’s reputation. You’re done, Manny.”
“They’re in danger,” the man sputtered. “You have to help them!”
“We are. And part of the reason they’re in danger is because of you coming after Kayla.”
“I was helping distract Andis! Jan and Tim were the ones hurting people!”
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