by Jodie Bailey
If only. For a moment, Trey gripped the phone and stared at the screen. Every iota of the man in him wanted to do exactly that. To buy into the lie that, for one more hockey game, they could be like everybody else.
He poised his thumbs over the screen to ask if she was okay, then caught sight of the time stamp. She’d sent that text a couple of hours ago, minutes before he’d saved her from that horrific attack. She wasn’t talking about the wreckage of her life. She was talking about that instant when he’d nearly kissed her.
He shot up a fast prayer of thanks that he hadn’t. Kissing her would have made everything so much worse than it already was. Nuclear worse.
With an exhalation that felt like it emptied his lungs, he keyed an I’m sorry, his thumb hovering over the send button. He was sorry, but she’d never believe it. And no investigator would ever say that.
He sent it anyway, then slid the phone into his pocket and jerked the refrigerator open to reach for a soda. He’d go into his office and video call Captain Harrison, explain the evening and see what orders came next. After that?
After that, he had no idea.
Popping the top on the can, he headed for the hallway, but Dana’s voice stopped him as he reached his office door. “Um, Trey? We have another problem.”
That was more than concern in her voice. It was genuine alarm. By the time he made it back to the den, she was standing by the recliner, staring at the tablet in her hand. Her jaw was set with a grim look he’d only seen one other time. On her first mission, they’d nearly lost an operative to an assassin who’d figured out they were undercover. Dana’s face had looked exactly like that, pinched around the mouth, eyes narrowed, nostrils flared.
Not good. Not good at all.
She walked up the hallway and thrust the tablet at Trey. “Remember the hidden NIC on the laptop? Someone has been using it not only to control the alarm, but to randomly activate the camera. There’s a video time-stamped yesterday.”
Trey took the tablet, a sick feeling growing in his gut. He stared at the frozen image on the screen. That was a clear shot of him at the laptop, cloning the hard drive, on speakerphone with Dana. He inhaled sharply. “Is there sound?”
Dana reached over and hit the screen.
The video sprang to life.
If Olivia hid something, I can find it. Never underestimate me.
Never said I did.
Trey punched the screen and lifted his eyes to meet Dana’s. Someone had been watching the whole time. “They know we know everything.”
“And they’re probably watching Macey right now.”
THIRTEEN
Macey stood in the doorway to Olivia’s former bedroom and stared into the darkened space as Kito sat silently beside her in that way he had of knowing she needed him close. Three years. For three years, a traitor to their country had slept in that bed. A criminal. A liar. A backstabbing betrayer who’d manipulated gullible Macey into believing they were friends just so she could set her up and leave her to take the fall.
Didn’t they give the death penalty to traitors?
Macey groaned against a nausea so intense she wondered if it might just kill her. She had no idea what her punishment would have been or how close she’d come to being handcuffed and hauled away as a national disgrace.
Handcuffed by her other closest friend.
No, not her closest friend. An agent with the military who’d been pretending from the first time he’d knocked on her door after Kito had jumped the fence into his yard.
They were all pretending. All using her. All caring more about themselves and their own agendas than they were about her.
Even to the point of throwing her out to the wolves.
Macey slipped into the room slowly, half-afraid a killer would rise from the shadows wielding a knife or a box cutter. She made her way on tiptoe to the window, a stranger in her own house. Slipping one slat of the blinds up, she peeked at Trey’s backyard, which sat at an angle to her own.
In the dim light from his kitchen window, a man sat on Trey’s porch, facing her house. It was too bulky of a dude to be Trey. Probably Rich, keeping an eye on things.
That was either terrifying or comforting.
Having her house watched was invasive, but what else could she do? Call the police? Hire private bodyguards? How would she even find someone like that?
There was nowhere to go. She couldn’t try to hide at her mom’s and risk raining danger on her head, though her mother would relish the excitement, at least for a little while. Every spy movie she’d ever watched said her car was probably being tracked. Maybe she could take a ride-share to the airport, but she had no idea how to go into hiding in a way that was foolproof or feasible.
She didn’t even know who she was running from.
She had no choice but to allow Trey and his friends to stand guard, even if the pain of his actions cut almost as deep as Olivia’s. Regardless of any deception Trey had perpetrated, he’d had a good reason.
That reason involved men who were willing to torture her to get information she couldn’t give them. Information she wouldn’t give them, even if she knew where it was. Somehow, Olivia had made everyone believe she was the thief all along. Then she’d died and left Macey to burn up in the fallout.
Kito rose from his spot at her feet and trotted into the living room. Knowing him, he could feel the vibes of her tension and had had enough for one night.
She sank to the edge of Olivia’s bed, staring at a photo on the bookcase of the two of them at Carowinds. Olivia had been scared to ride the Carolina Cyclone. Macey had pushed her until she would. They’d both laughed afterward at Olivia’s terror, then gorged on ice cream and corn dogs.
It had all been a lie.
A noise from the living room brought her to her feet, heart hammering. Why didn’t she own a gun? At this point, even her self-defense skills had failed her. She backed against the wall at the sound of the front door opening and Kito’s toenails tapping on the hardwood, heading for a new friend. A new friend who was probably out to—
“Macey!” Trey’s voice, frantic and harsh, bounced into the room.
She froze before all of the anger and bitterness rushed in and set her feet into motion. Macey stalked across the room and down the short hallway, where she confronted Trey as he strode across the living room toward her. “Did you ask to come into my house? Do you have any kind of warrant? Any kind of—”
He edged past her and down the hall to the bedroom she used as a guest room and office, where he strode to the bookcase in the corner.
“What are you doing? You can’t go through my stuff without permission.” She wanted to shove him in the back, to hit him and make him stop, but that wasn’t her nature. Instead, her voice grew shrill and loud. “I’m innocent, remember?”
He ignored her. Instead, he reached up and pulled the internet modem from the top shelf. For a moment, he held the device in his hands and stared at it. Then he ripped the plug out. He dropped the box to the floor and smashed it beneath his foot.
Macey shrieked, then buried her fist against her lips. Plastic shards flew toward her and skittered along the floor past her feet. What was he doing?
When Trey turned, the outline of a holstered pistol showed at his hip.
Somehow, the knowledge that he was armed brought her situation into stark reality. Everything was completely out of control.
Macey opened her fist and covered her mouth, her breath warm on her fingers. She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t react. Couldn’t do anything at all except stare at this man she knew so well who was now nothing more than a stranger. A man who acted out of character, who carried a weapon...
He slipped past her into the hall and went to the bar near the kitchen, where he stared up at the wall, scanning the area as though he planned to remodel her house or measure for pictures.
When Macey caught her breath, she dared to step closer to him, stopping between the hallway and his position. If he was into smashing things randomly, there was no way to know what he’d do next. The change in him threw her off-kilter, rocked her in another nauseating direction. “What are you doing?” The words came on a whisper.
“Somebody’s been watching you. Has been watching both of us.” His voice was heavy and resigned. Without looking away from the sensor on the wall between the kitchen and the living room, he motioned her closer.
Caught between truth and lies, trust and betrayal, Macey hesitated. He could do anything. Handcuff her. Shove her in a closet. How could she be sure he was one of the good guys?
Because he was Trey. Deep inside, something in her knew he wouldn’t hurt her, even if he’d been lying to her for months. He might not be the guy who would stay, but he was the guy who’d protect her until he left for something better.
She chose to believe that and eased closer until she stood only a couple of feet away from him. “What are we looking at?”
He pointed at the motion sensor. “I’m ninety-nine-percent certain that’s a camera. Follow me.” Walking into the living room, he studied the wall behind the couch, then pointed to another sensor. “That’s one, too. Based on what Dana has found, there’s one in the garage and one in the hallway, too.”
“Bedrooms?” The word choked out, barely audible. She felt violated, robbed of all security. Ready to flee the home that was rapidly becoming a house of horrors.
“Only public spaces.” Trey kicked at the carpet, then turned toward Macey. “At least Olivia had some common decency in her.” Absentmindedly, he petted Kito’s head when the dog trotted up. He gave the husky a quick side pat, then pointed to his bed in the corner of the living room.
Kito padded away and lay down.
“The laptop that controlled the alarm had a hidden wireless card on it. It’s been hooked up to the outside world the entire time. Anytime you opened it, it transferred data to another computer somewhere, including whatever it downloaded from the cameras. It could be accessed even when it was closed. The only way to stop the surveillance for certain was to destroy the modem.” His eyebrow tracked toward his hairline and he looked like a guilty little boy. “Sorry for the drama.” He glanced at his watch and slipped back into his government persona. “I need you to pack a bag with some clothes. No phone, no electronics. We have to get out of here. They know we’re investigating. They could show up at—”
“I need a minute.” Macey held up a hand, rounded the couch and sank onto the edge of the coffee table. Information overload had robbed her brain of logical thought. Wireless cards and cameras, and being watched in her own home? She was going to be sick. She pulled in huge breaths and tried to regain some sort of control before she fell apart completely. “You at least owe me some answers before I trust you to drag me off into the dark of night.”
After a short hesitation, Trey followed her footsteps and sat beside her, his shoulder almost touching hers.
Smart man to keep a little bit of distance. “I’m still not sure how I feel about you. For months, you’ve lied to me.”
“I know.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m angry that you’d think I could be such a horrible person. That you could lie to me about...about everything.” She sniffed at the sudden sting of tears. He didn’t get to see her cry. He had lost the right to comfort her.
But the truth was, his betrayal was only the icing on a very bitter cake. “Honestly, what Olivia did hurts worse.”
“I know that, too.”
She ventured a sideways glance at him. His elbows rested on his knees, his hands clasped between them. He was staring at the floor. That profile was ridiculously familiar from countless hours of watching hockey, and frankly, it was comforting.
Macey sighed. “Was anything about you real?”
He chewed the inside of his lower lip. “My last name isn’t Burns. I’m not from Toledo. I’m not a staff sergeant in an infantry unit.” Trey stared at the floor for a long moment before he turned his head and caught her gaze. “My wife really left me exactly the way I told you. My best friend really died in a drag race gone wrong. I really was almost killed, too. Jesus really did change my life. And at some point, Macey...” He turned to look at the couch and shook his head. “At some point everything between us became all too real.”
“Even this morning.” Her voice was low, barely a whisper. If he said no, she couldn’t bear it.
“Even this morning.” The words were raw and heavy, ragged with something she couldn’t comprehend, even though her heart picked up a rhythm it definitely should not have. “I shouldn’t have let it get real. That goes against everything I’m trained to do. But once I suspected you were innocent, nothing in me was willing to hold back, no matter how hard I tried.”
“You only found out I was innocent this morning.”
“I’ve known pretty much since I started investigating you. I just didn’t have proof.” He turned and looked her in the eye so suddenly that she didn’t have a chance to look away. “You’re not the type. There’s not an evil bone in you. Not like Olivia. I started trying to prove the evidence was wrong. I was probably biased, which means I’m a terrible investigator.” He braced his hands on his knees and stood, pacing away from her.
There was nothing to do but watch him. What could she do with a man who claimed he was her friend, who acted as though he was attracted to her, but who couldn’t act on it? And what could she do while standing in the doorway between life and death while men who were well versed in torture waited to snatch her away?
“I’m still being a terrible investigator.” Trey glanced at his watch. “Pack your clothes. Put them in a garbage bag in case someone has tagged your suitcases. Grab your ID but nothing else in your wallet. We have to leave in the next ten minutes. We’re already pushing it. They may not have seen me make that arrest tonight but they definitely saw me on the cameras. They know I’m investigating them. My cover’s blown wide-open, which means they’re going to do something big soon to keep me from getting you to safety. Go. Before they make good on their threats to destroy you.”
* * *
Trey texted Rich to pack up, also letting him know they were about to move. Then he paced the living room while Macey pulled out drawers and rummaged through her closet. Letting her out of his sight even to pack tore at his nerves, but he didn’t want to alarm her any more than he had to. Olivia might be dead, but it was clear from the access records Dana had found that someone else was keeping tabs on the house. Someone who continued to believe that Macey was the source of their pirated information. That she’d taken their money and was about to run.
With all he had inside him, he prayed for time. He’d grown so hyperfocused on proving that Macey was innocent, he’d dropped every ball out there on searching for who was coming after her. He’d been on defense instead of offense, and now it was too late. They were on the run, which made everything worse.
A soft sound on the far side of the living room lifted his head. Macey stood at the entrance to the short hallway that led to her bedroom. She held a lumpy white kitchen garbage bag and looked like a lost child. “Kito?”
At his name, the dog lifted his head but remained on his cushion, where Trey had banished him earlier. He might be a headstrong pup, but he was an obedient one when his stubborn streak took a break.
No way could they leave him behind. In their quest to make Macey talk, those killers might even go after her beloved companion to cause her pain. “Where’s his leash?”
“Hanging on the hook just inside the garage door.”
Trey grabbed it and clapped his hands together, Kito’s signal to come. The dog jumped up, his whole body wriggling as he leaped repeatedly at the sight of his leash. Trey leaned over and clipped the latch to the ring on his collar. “Sorry it’s not a real w-a-l-k, buddy,�
� Trey muttered. “But you do get to go for a ride in my truck, so that should console you a little.” A long ride. They were headed to the home of Captain Gavin Harrison’s army buddy just outside Mountain Springs, about five hours’ drive.
It was going to be a long night.
“Ready?”
Macey didn’t move. Instead she stood, gripping the bag so tightly that her knuckles were nearly white. “No. I need...” She pulled in a deep breath and looked straight into his eyes. “This isn’t some weekend trip. This could be a really long time. I may never have my life back. This is all too fast.”
“Now that we’re on their trail, Dana and the team can start tracing them from their connection to your house. It might not be that long before we end this.”
“Stop. You’re talking about a whole ring of criminals. I know their reach is long. I know nowhere is really safe.”
Dropping Kito’s leash, Trey gave up pretending he could keep his distance. Macey was in pain and he needed to help her. He crossed the room and pulled her to him before he thought the whole action through. He wanted to hold her close, to shield and protect her and to promise her he could keep her safe.
But he couldn’t, and she shoved him away.
“You’re part of the problem. I’m trusting you because I have no other choice.” She pulled the bag up in front of her and hugged it to her chest. “Right now it seems like everything is a lie. Like everyone is letting me down. Like there’s no one stable.”
Now wasn’t the time to try to convince her that he was going to stick by her and that God was, too. Now wasn’t the time for anything except ushering her to his truck and getting on the road before some faceless monster made another move against her. “We need to talk about this while we’re moving. I know you need time. I get that. But we don’t have—”
A loud pop and a crash at the front door stopped his sentence cold. Trey whirled, stepping between Macey and the door as he reached for his weapon.
