Witness Protection

by Barb Han

  If he was being honest, there’d been sparks from the second their eyes met the month before. That spark had grown into a raging fire. He wanted her more than he wanted air.

  But he couldn’t let her make a mistake she’d regret. “I’m not trying to punish you by keeping you at the ranch. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

  “The only way you can guarantee that is to keep me with you. Besides, you’ve waited too long to kiss me. Is there something wrong with me? Don’t you find me attractive?”

  She shifted her weight underneath him, and his erection throbbed.

  If she wasn’t going to stop this, he should. He wanted to make love to her. Just not on the bench seat of a pickup truck. He wanted to take his time and kiss that freckle on the inside of her thigh until she moaned.

  “Finding you desirable is not the problem. You sure you want to make love with me?”

  She nodded.

  His resolve fractured. “You just gave me an even better reason to march your butt in the house. But I guarantee we wouldn’t leave anytime soon. I plan to take my time. And I need to follow up on this lead. Make sure those men can’t hurt you anymore.”

  Her smile made him want things he shouldn’t. Threatened to open old wounds, too. More alarm bells sounded, but these had to do with a totally different danger. His heart. He ignored them, dipping his head one more time to taste her sweetness.

  With every bit of his strength, he pushed himself up on his arms. “So, you have to go inside.”

  “We have an agreement. Remember? You don’t make decisions without me.”

  “I didn’t violate—”

  “No. You didn’t. And I don’t plan to, either. But take me back in there and I’ll be gone before you get back.”

  He searched her eyes to see if the threat was hollow. He’d suspected it was when she’d made it earlier after they’d first arrived at the ranch. Where would she go? Just run off into the night? She had to realize she didn’t have a bargaining chip in this poker game. She wasn’t stupid. On the other hand, her back was against the wall. Would she be desperate enough to follow through with her threat? She was smart, sexy and stubborn.

  She watched him intently as he processed the information. The minute she figured out she had him, she smiled.

  He had no choice but to let her come with him. He didn’t want to risk her leaving, even though somewhere inside he knew she was bluffing. Calling her on it would take away what little power she had left. He didn’t have it in him to do that. He could make this work. Stash her in the truck and keep her a safe distance from the warehouse. That way, even if she did try to find him, she wouldn’t be able to.

  “Are you considering taking me?” Her smile melted what was left of his resolves.

  “Yes.”

  She rewarded him with another sweet kiss that was gently pressed to his lips, which almost had him thinking bedding her right then wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “That kiss is to be continued later. And, sweetheart, I don’t plan to be in a hurry when I peel off your clothes and kiss every inch of the silky skin on the inside of your thigh.” He pressed his hand to the inside of her leg. “Or your stomach.” He ran his finger along the waistband of her jeans, barely touching the sweet skin there. “Or your neck.” He dipped his head and skimmed her breastbone with his lips.

  She let out a sexy little moan through ragged breaths. Her jewel-toned eyes glittered with need. “I sure hope you’re a man of your word.”

  A big piece of him cursed the timing of the drive to Dallas. He’d be a lot happier if he were back at the ranch. With her. In bed.

  The thought sobered him as he took the driver’s seat. He patted a spot next to him. “Buckle up.”

  She scooted over and leaned her head on his shoulder. “You know, if you’d asked me out on a date back in Creek Bend, I most likely would’ve gone.”

  “I couldn’t. Against the rules. There were times when you looked like you could barely stand to be in the same room with me. Thought for sure I’d scared you off more than once.”

  “Everyone freaked me out but you. There was something about you that put me at ease. I guess it’s all your training. It worked.”

  His gaze moved to hers and intensified. “Darlin’, flirting with you was the only time I wasn’t acting in Creek Bend.”

  He put the truck in Reverse and backed out of the lot. He maneuvered onto the highway with the all-too-real notion his feelings toward Sadie were growing. She’d put a chink in the armor surrounding his heart. This wasn’t part of the plan.

  What he needed to do was focus on the job ahead.

  Grimes was out for revenge. They had no idea where he was but believed him to be somewhere in Texas. He’d partnered with her handler, and quite possibly given up his supervisor. Grimes wouldn’t let up until he erased the woman Nick was falling for.

  Hold on there.

  Was he admitting she’d become so much more than a witness to him? The sexual chemistry between them could light a fresh-cut log on fire. But his heart? Not on the table.

  His cell buzzed. He fished it from his pocket and handed it to Sadie, instructing her to put the call on speaker when he saw the name Smith on the screen. “You’re on speaker with me and Sadie. What’s the word?”

  “I have good news for you, Sadie. Evidence points toward Charlie’s innocence. Looks like your handler was clean. And there’s a pretty good chance he hid your file before he was murdered.”

  A mix of relief and sadness played across her features.

  “Thank you for telling me,” she said.

  “I figured you’d want to know that first.”

  Nick kept his gaze trained on the yellow stripes in front of him, leading the way to Dallas. His headlights slashed through the darkness descending around them. This turned his theory upside down. “What else did you find out?”

  “I have it on good authority Jamison is the one who set Charlie up. He threw Charlie under the bus to appease them, since Jamison wasn’t having luck finding information on Sadie’s whereabouts.”

  Nick muttered a curse.

  “Worse yet, Jamison wasn’t their lackey. He was their partner. My source discovered—”

  “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. Money in a Swiss bank account.” Nick grunted the words.

  “Close. Jamison had a weakness for the Cayman islands.”

  “So, Jamison was on the take? The greedy bastard got a good agent killed to pad his own retirement fund?”

  Smith coughed. “My sources say it’s worse than that. Two hours ago, a list of all Texas deputies and their personal information surfaced.”

  The words hit Nick like a sucker punch.

  His mind snapped into focus. He knew exactly what that meant. The ranch was no longer safe. He had to get word to Luke. His brothers would know how to handle any threat. It wouldn’t be safe for Sadie to return, either. He hated to think of her reaction when he told her she couldn’t go back for Boomer. They couldn’t go back to the ranch now.

  He glanced at her. She held up the phone. Didn’t say a word. He could almost hear the wheels cranking in her mind.

  “Nick.”

  “Yeah.” He was still trying to get his head around this last bit of information.

  “I won’t stop until I find him.” His voice was nothing but steel resolve.

  “Any chance Charlie stashed her folder somewhere safe?” He gripped the wheel. “Never mind that question. They wouldn’t have found her.”

  “I’m going to send some pictures. Sadie, I need you to look at them. If you can identify him, I’ll be able to get a warrant to search his house.”

  Sadie sucked in a breath. She must’ve realized the implication. “One of the guys who abducted me might be a U.S. Marshal.”

  There was dead silence.


  “It would certainly explain why they’re coming at you so hard,” Smith said. “You said in your statement that you’d seen their faces.”

  They’d been relentless so far. It also made sense why they seemed to understand how Nick would work. How they anticipated his moves or had had someone on his heels at every turn. A man with the same training would have a better idea where to look.

  Nick took the next exit. “Send the photos.”

  He ended the call and located an abandoned lot. He parked and flipped on the cab light.

  Sadie’s grip on the phone had turned her knuckles white. Her hand shook and her skin had gone pale.

  Nick gently pulled the cell out of her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. “I need to warn Luke.”

  His brother picked up on the first ring.

  “Bad news.”

  A yawn came through the line. “You didn’t wreck my truck, did you?”

  “Nope. Much worse. We’ve confirmed our suspicions. This case involves some of my own.”

  The line went dead quiet.

  “That’s not good.”

  “My involvement in the case has most likely caused them to target me,” Nick said, his gaze on Sadie the whole time. She was afraid but brave.

  “That’s really not good.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  “Any chance they know about the ranch?” Luke asked.

  “A list just turned up with Texas deputies’ personal information on it.”

  Luke let out a string of curse words.

  “So far, I know one supervisor was involved. He got a deputy killed to protect his healthy bank account on the islands,” Nick said.

  “Hard to believe someone would turn on their own for a few bucks, but to each his own, I guess.”

  “He’s a jerk.”

  “One I’d like to be alone with in a room for ten minutes.”

  “Agreed. Problem is, because of him a good deputy was killed and many more are at risk.”

  Luke grunted.

  “My boss is sending over pictures for Sadie to look at, so I can’t stay on long. We’re certain all the deputies in Texas have been identified for Grimes and his men.”

  “Bastard.”

  “Agreed. Get everyone off the ranch, just in case.”

  “Will do. I’ll have Reed take them to Galveston. Everyone except Meg and Riley. They’ll have to stick around to be close to her doctor. I’ll stay at my place in Dallas. Can’t get too far from The Metroplex while I’m working on my case.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Make Meg and Riley promise to have their place watched. Better yet, do Riley’s parents live in Fort Worth?”

  “I believe so.”

  “Any chance you can get them to agree to stay there? I don’t want to take any risks with her so close to her due date.”

  “I’m on it,” Luke said. “I’ll get the others out by tonight. Don’t worry. And I’ll make sure Sadie’s dog is taken care of, too.”

  “Boomer,” Sadie said in almost a whisper.

  “I’ll take care of him while you’re on the go. You got a safe house, man?” Luke asked.

  “Yeah. I’m heading to Richardson after a little trip downtown. I might need a favor while Reed’s down south.”

  “Yeah?’

  “Grimes has a real estate holding in Houston. I need someone to check it out for me. Dig around. See what they can find.”

  “Wish I could go myself.” The telltale adrenaline that hit before a big assignment deepened Luke’s tone.

  “I wish we could go together. I like my odds better if I have someone I can trust backing me up.”

  “I’ll tell Reed. Text the address.”

  “Will do.”

  “When this is over, you should come on over to our side. FBI needs more good people they can trust,” Luke said, using his sense of humor to lighten the mood.

  “Believe me, after this assignment, I’d almost consider it.”

  “If we were smart, we’d leave our day jobs and work for ourselves.”

  “Another tempting idea. Have Reed give me a call as soon as he gets to that warehouse.”

  “Can I give him a heads-up on what he might expect to find?”

  “Wish I could help.”

  “That close to the border, Grimes might be moving product in through Galveston,” Luke said.

  “Yeah. I have no idea what to expect. All I know is he has a straight line up to Canada.”

  “You’ve found the right man for the job if they’re hauling stuff through the Gulf,” Luke agreed.

  “His department might find something interesting. He’ll need a reason to search the place officially.”

  “Reed can be damn inventive when he needs to be.” Luke paused. “Keep me in the loop.”

  Nick agreed and ended the call. He had eight text messages waiting. He opened the first and showed the picture to Sadie.

  She shook her head.

  The second received the same response.

  The third, fourth and fifth had the same affect.

  When he opened the sixth and glanced up, he saw recognition stamped all over Sadie’s features. Her pupils dilated and her breath came out in a gasp.

  “That’s him.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “This guy looks familiar?” Nick asked. Anger rose inside him as he watched a tremor rock her body.

  Her chin came up, and she locked gazes. “Yes.”

  He fired off a confirmation text to Smith.

  “He was one of the guys who abducted me,” she said, her body shaking. “I’d been grocery shopping. I was putting the bags in my car when all of a sudden this van pulled up behind me, blocking my car. I didn’t think much about it. I mean, I lived in a relatively safe suburb. I actually thought the driver was about to ask for directions when this man came out of nowhere from behind the van. He put some kind of cloth over my mouth. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me in broad daylight. The smell of whatever was in that cloth burned my nose and eyes.”

  Nick’s fists clenched and released. He was more determined than ever to stop whoever was after the woman he was falling for. Forcing Sadie to remember such a heinous experience went against every fiber of his being. He’d buried his own bad memories so deep hell itself could rise up and not find them. Except remembering might just save her life.

  Causing her more pain ate at his gut. Everything she’d been through was totally bogus.

  She was in trouble. So was he. His feelings ran deeper than he should allow. He still wasn’t sure what the hell to do with them. No one since Rachael had touched his heart so deeply or threatened to crack his tough veneer and he still hadn’t figured out why he’d kept her ring in his pocket for a year. He figured something inside him didn’t work right after watching his mom’s pain and deciding love was about the cruelest thing that could happen to a person. He assumed that part of his heart had been closed off forever. “The whole scenario had to be scary as hell.”

  “Yeah, panic didn’t cover it. I felt so helpless. Next thing I knew I woke up in the back of the van, and that guy was staring at me.”

  Nick didn’t say the agent must’ve expected to kill her if he let her see his face. “You’re safe now. That’s the important thing.”

  A car pulled into the lot.

  Nick checked his rearview mirror, started the engine and drove away, spewing gravel from the back tires.

  He didn’t want to press Sadie to talk but if she remembered something, anything, they might be able to pinpoint a location. He’d talk to her about it more when they arrived at the safe house later. Right now, he had a warehouse to investigate.

  They’d been driving a goo
d twenty minutes before either spoke again.

  “Where are we going? Sadie asked.

  “Brenner and Harry Hines. Near Love Field.”

  “How convenient to have a warehouse so close to an airport.”

  He exited Stemmons Freeway onto Walnut Hill and then turned right onto Shady Trail. “It’s regional. But, yeah, it would be handy. If they needed to go farther, DFW’s twenty minutes away depending on traffic.”

  He parked the truck in a small lot next to Old Letot Cemetery. The cemetery was the size of a half-decent backyard encased in a four-foot-high chain-link fence. Getting to Brenner would be an easy walk from there.

  Leaving a beautiful woman like Sadie in the truck in a bad neighborhood—even locked—was riskier than taking her with him. Besides, he doubted she’d stay put, anyway. He could keep a better eye on her if she went with him.

  “We’ll need to keep quiet.”

  She seemed to catch the word we quickly, and perked up at the realization she was coming. “Not a problem.”

  “Anything happens to me and you’ll need a way to protect yourself.” He pulled his .38 caliber from his ankle holster.

  Her hand shook as she reached for it.

  “You okay?”

  To her credit, she nodded and gripped the gun.

  “Stick close behind me. I stop too fast, I want to feel you run into my back. Got it?”

  She nodded again.

  “Then, let’s do this.”

  She scooted out his door, exiting the truck right behind him. Apparently, she had every intention of taking his request to heart. Good. He wanted her so close he could hear her breathe.

  He hopped the fence and helped Sadie over. They cut across the small cemetery so he could investigate the warehouse from the back first. He crouched low behind the Dumpster in the back parking lot and watched.

  There was no activity in the row of warehouses. A handful of vehicles were parked in the small lot—two vans and a couple of flatbed trucks. Everything was quiet. He didn’t hear any traffic. He located the numbers 2626 on top of the metal sliding door.

  They’d wait and see if there was any activity. He needed to ensure no one came or went before he and Sadie made a move to get closer.