Outlawed Love

by Jason Krumbine

  “I appreciate that,” she said breathlessly. She ached all over and it wasn’t from the fighting.

  His eyes drank in her curves. The way he looked at her, she had never felt more naked, more desired.

  Archer grabbed her arm and started to pull her to him again, but she put her hands to his chest. She paused, enjoying the feeling of those powerful muscles beneath her hands, but pushed away.

  “Kate,” he paused. “You can’t be playing with fire here.”

  “I know,” she said.

  “I’m not gonna lie. I want you,” he said. “But if this isn’t gonna go anywhere…”

  She looked him in the eye. “It’s not,” she said and turned away.

  Chapter 12

  Lt. Thomas Hayes paused, trying to not spit out his chewing tobacco. Then he stared at the US Marshal badge clipped to her belt. Hayes was in his late-forties, a slight beer belly forming late in life. He had spent his entire adult career in law enforcement. There wasn’t much that surprised him anymore. But this, well there was a first time for everything, he supposed. He stared with open surprise and incredulity at the attractive woman before him.

  "You want to run that one by me again?" he asked.

  They stood in the empty observation room, two two-way mirrors on either side of them.

  "I thought I made myself pretty clear," Kate said, trying to remain diplomatic. The man was just doing his job. After spending twenty minutes washing up in a bathroom sink and finding a replacement T-shirt, she still felt grimy. The bandage on her arm where the sword cut her itched.

  "I've got a full blown gridlock on I-4," Hayes said, leaning against the wall. "Half the people out there claim that you engaged in some kind firefight/brawl with the Rising Sun biker gang, of which I’ve three members of in my morgue and the rest in intensive care. You say you’re a US Marshal and your office confirms that, although there’s some question as to whether or not you’re supposed to be alive. This guy,” he pointed to Archer on the other side of the two-way mirror. He sat at the table, his hands still cuffed, and now dressed in the orange jumpsuit of a Florida State prisoner, “is supposed to be your prisoner, but according to witness accounts, he was fighting the Rising Sun Biker gang with you. You can’t tell me where you’re supposed to be transporting him and now you want to question that guy,” he pointed to the biker locked up in the other interrogation room behind Kate, “alone, with your so-called prisoner.”

  Kate folded her arms, wincing slightly as her fingers brushed across the bandage. “Well, I’d say you’ve got a pretty good handle on everything.”

  Hayes scoffed. “Yeah, I’ve got a handle on everything alright,” he picked up the file on the table between them. “This is everything on the Rising Sun. They’re organized out of Orlando. For the most part, they stick to gun running for the Mexicans. They don’t normally pick up hit contracts.”

  Kate flipped through the file briefly.

  “One of my guys has already talked to him,” Hayes said.

  Kate looked up. “And?”

  “And nothing. The guy no speakee English,” he said. “We’re still trying to figure out what he does speak and get an interpreter.”

  Kate looked over her shoulder at the biker through the two-way mirror. He sat, handcuffed to the table, looking confident and smug. She turned back to Hayes. “Does this mean you’re not going to let me talk to him?”

  “Oh, no,” Hayes said. “You can talk to him. I wouldn’t miss this show for the world.”

  _____

  Archer sat at the metal interrogation table and tried not to fidget. He had been stuck in there for the better part of an hour and he was getting restless. The fluorescent light was starting to give him a headache. The bandages on his chest itched and the orange jumpsuit they had given him was a little more snug than he was used to. He was pretty sure it was a size too small.

  He shifted in the chair but couldn’t find a comfortable position.

  He had an idea of what was going on and it irritated him that he was not included. Kate was going to have to tread carefully to avoid getting them thrown in jail. He was frustrated that he was stuck in this tiny interrogation room, but he didn't envy her. What she had to do, it wasn’t an easy job and diplomacy was not something that came easy to him.

  Archer stared at the two-way mirror. His own tired reflection stared back. He wondered who was on the other side. Was it Kate? Was she watching him? Or was it someone else? Perhaps Bragan’s men had already found them again. It wouldn’t have been difficult at this point. They practically had a neon sign pointing at them.

  He rocked back in his seat. How could he have gotten Kate into this? What was he thinking? Of course, he hadn't known her then. How was he to know who would be handling his transfer?

  Still, once things had gone south, he should have never involved her. If something happened to her, it would be his fault. Yes, it would be Bragan who pulled the trigger, but it would have been Archer who put her in harm’s way.

  No, this was wrong. He needed to be honest with her. She had every right to know, she was just as involved now.

  Archer hung his head back and sighed.

  Could she forgive him? No, of course not. As far as she was concerned, she was a good guy and he was a bad guy. It was just that simple.

  He thought back to the last woman he had loved and there was a sharp pain in his chest. Sara. It had been almost five years and it still hurt to think of her.

  Archer hung his head. He couldn’t compare the two women. Sara had been vulnerable. Theirs was a love born out of dependence, out of desperation almost. It had been brief, but intense, and when she died, Archer almost died himself. The guilt plagued him to this day. But had it been love? Had he loved Sara? He had thought so at the time and afterwards as well. Perhaps his perceptions had become clouded with guilt, though. Death carries that with it, no matter what the circumstances were.

  Since Sara there had been nothing but a string of empty relationships. Women would drift in and out of his life. But now, with Kate? Kate was different. He could see that from the very first second he had met her. The connection he had with her was powerful. But was it love? Is that what he felt for Kate? Love?

  The door opened and a uniformed officer stepped in. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen now.

  And Kate? What about Kate? Was she different? Could she be different?

  Archer got to his feet and followed the officer.

  He couldn’t tell her. No matter how he felt. This was too important.

  _____

  Kate stood outside the interrogation room. She took a deep breath. Interrogations were not her favorite thing in the world. But then, that could sum up this entire case she had been stuck with.

  Archer appeared a moment later, escorted by one of Orange County’s Finest. She nodded, assuming custody of him. She looked at him, trying to avoid locking eyes, though. The last thing she needed was to gaze into those sexy pools of green. Seeing him in the orange jumpsuit, she felt a pang of guilt. Why did she feel that way? She struggled to get her feelings under control. She was not going to fall for this man. He was a criminal. He might have been incredibly good looking and she might have felt an irresistible attraction to him, but at the end of the day he was on one side of the law and she was on the other. He belonged in that orange jumpsuit and that was that.

  “Long time no see,” he said, his voice sounded hoarse. A look of hunger flickered across his eyes. Or had she imagined that?

  “How do you feel?” she asked, trying to focus on the situation and not her feelings.

  “Like I was chased down by an assassin motorcycle gang,” he replied. He smiled crookedly. She wanted to melt against him.

  Kate took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, me, too.”

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “It’s complicated,” she said. “They’re letting me interrogate the biker you kept.”

  Archer raised an eyebrow. “Why bother?”


  “Because I want to know how they found us,” Kate chewed on her lower lip. “The downside is Lt. Hayes here checked in with my office to verify I was who I said I was.”

  “That’s not good,” said Archer.

  “No, it’s not,” she glanced at her watch. “There was some question as to whether or not I was supposed to be alive.”

  “And he spoke to somebody that vouched for you?”

  She shrugged. “Apparently, but it wasn’t Bullings. Bullings didn’t answer his phone,” she said. “Nobody knows where he is.”

  Archer gave her a knowing look.

  “No, he’s not the leak,” she said. “I don’t know how much time we’ve got. I want to get this done and over with. We need to get back on the road before anyone else tries to kill us.”

  She opened the door to the interrogation room and they stepped in.

  Chapter 13

  “I want answers and I’m short on patience. So let’s skip to the end and pretend I’ve already worn you down and you answer my questions,” Kate stood across from the biker, her hands pressed against the metal table. She gave him her best bad cop look.

  Behind Kate, Archer stood in the corner, watching the one-way exchange. He admired the strength of the woman. It only added to the irresistible attraction he felt towards her. He watched the biker.

  The biker was in his early to mid twenties with spiky black hair, tipped with blond highlights, but now darkened with sweat and plastered to his forehead. He wore a perpetual sneer, as though his face had been molded that way. Down the length of his arms ran various tribal-like tattoos.

  The biker maintained his silence.

  “Maybe you didn’t understand me,” Kate leaned in until she was breathing right in his face. “You’re in a world of trouble. Start answering my questions and maybe I can make life a little easier for you.”

  The biker snarled and said something in Chinese.

  “If you’re going to insult me at have the courtesy of doing it in English and not Chinese,” Kate said. She straightened up and stepped back.

  “It’s not Chinese,” Archer said quietly from the corner. “It’s Japanese.”

  Kate looked at him, surprised. Was there no end to his list of talents? Her mind immediately drifted to what kind of talents he might have in the bedroom. She chided herself and focused on the present. She walked over to him. They spoke in hushed tones. “You speak Japanese?”

  “Well, I speak something that sounds like Japanese,” Archer explained. He smiled. “I have a terrible accent. Why don’t you let me talk to him?”

  Kate shot him a narrow look. “You didn’t think to mention this earlier?”

  He shrugged. “It didn’t seem pertinent,” he twitched his eyes towards the biker. “Do you mind?”

  “Yes I mind,” she said, folding her arms. “You’re in cuffs. You’re hardly a threatening figure.”

  “Well, you know where I stand on that,” Archer replied dryly. “Regardless, I think I have more experience in extracting information than you do.”

  Kate raised her eyebrows. “Oh really? Being an accountant afforded you a lot of interrogation opportunities?”

  “Hey, numbers have their stories to tell, too.”

  She chewed her lower lip. It was ridiculous that she was even considering it. She glanced sideways at the mirror. Hayes was on the other side. What would he do if he saw Archer handling the interrogation?

  She looked back at Archer and found herself searching his eyes. She found a hardened edge, a steely glint there that she had missed before. She shuddered slightly. What did she really know about this man? What did she want to know? Kyle Archer was certainly no accountant. But who was he? Could she even trust this man?

  Archer watched her weigh the decision. He saw she was torn. He said nothing.

  “Okay,” Kate stepped aside. “He’s all yours.”

  Archer smiled, but it was humorless. He walked over the biker, around the table and whispered into his ear. Kate tried to listen but she couldn’t make anything out.

  Archer continued to whisper into the biker’s ear for another minute. The biker’s eyes slowly widened and the color drained from his face. He shook his head. “No, no, no,” he repeated quickly.

  Archer straightened. “Then tell the nice lady what she wants to know” he stepped back around the table, returning to his corner. “He’s all yours.”

  “What did you do?” Kate asked him quietly.

  He shrugged. “Nothing much. Just made some promises. Described some things.”

  Kate looked at him, her expression silently repeating the question.

  His face darkened. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

  She shivered slightly again. There was a very dark side to this man and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

  Kate turned back to the biker. “Do I really need to repeat the questions?”

  The biker shook his head. “We were paid half a million dollars to deliver his head,” he nodded fearfully at Archer.

  “Paid by who?”

  He shook his head. “Man in a suit. Nobody told me who he was. We were given a specific location to deliver his head and told there would be a representative there to accept delivery and give us the rest of the money.”

  Kate’s eyes widened. He had meant that head bit literally.

  She thought for a moment. “Where’s this location?”

  The biker shook his head again. “I don’t know.”

  Kate frowned. She took a chance and looked back at Archer. He caught the signal and started to step forward again.

  “I don’t know!” the biker suddenly shrieked. “I don’t know! Only two people knew the location! I don’t know!”

  Archer stepped back.

  Kate turned back to the biker. “Okay. Now how did you find us?”

  He didn’t answer right away, his eyes flitting back forth between Archer and Kate. He was breathing heavily.

  “I don’t like having to repeat my questions,” she said darkly.

  The biker swallowed. “We were given a GPS locater. You were already programmed in. We just followed the directions.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” she turned to Archer. “In order for that to work one of us would have to have a GPS signal for the device to track,” she turned back to the biker. “I’m not buying that.”

  “It’s the truth! I swear!” he shrieked again. “I do not know anything else! Do not let the man back over here! No!”

  Kate flinched. She hoped Hayes wasn’t going to barge in any second.

  She turned back to Archer. “Just some promises?”

  “And some vague descriptions,” Archer said. “I really don’t know what’s got him all worked up. How did you pay for the car?”

  “With a card.”

  “Is it possible the leak could have traced the card and got the GPS signal of the car?” he suggested.

  Kate sighed. “At this point, anything’s possible,” she looked back at the nervously sweating biker. “Okay. We’re done here.”

  _____

  Hayes was waiting for them outside the interrogation room. “I’ve got some questions.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Kate said. “But for now you’re going to have to keep them to yourself.”

  Hayes straightened up, puffing out his chest. “Now listen here, clearly you’re legitimate, I don’t doubt that. What I doubt are your methods,” he glanced at Archer.

  “Well, fortunately I don’t fall under your jurisdiction,” said Kate firmly, not backing down.

  Hayes tried to wear her down with a strong gaze, but Kate didn’t budge.

  “There’s something fishy going on here,” he said. “And I’m going to find out what it is,” he nodded to the office across the hallway. “You’ve got a phone call.”

  _____

  “Is this line secure?”

  “It’s as secure as its going to be,” Bullings said on the other of the phone. Kate sat, perched on t
he edge of the desk. Archer took a seat in the leather chair behind the desk. He rocked back in experimentally and gave a satisfied smile. “What the hell are you doing out there? I’m fielding calls left and right from people higher up the food chain wondering why you aren’t dead.”

  “Things got a little complicated,” Kate said. “It would have been easier if we could have gotten a hold of you.”

  “Well, pardon me,” he said. “But I am in the middle of a witch hunt here,” Bullings sighed. “What’s the damage?”

  “We think the leak already knew we were still alive,” Kate explained. “They traced my credit card transactions and put a GPS trace on my rental car. Bragan’s got a half a million dollar price on Archer’s head. And I mean that literally.”

  “Great,” Bullings muttered.

  “I need some back-up out here,” Kate said. “I don’t know how many more of the assassination attempts I can fend off.”

  “Who would you like me to send out there?” Bullings asked. “Bragan’s pockets run pretty deep. Beyond you, right now, I’m not sure who to trust.”

  Kate sighed. “I know. But things look a lot different when you’ve got people shooting at you.”

  “I understand,” he paused. “Look, call me back in two hours. I might be able to pull something together. The police station might just be the safest place for you to stay for now.”

  Kate looked over her shoulder at Hayes pacing back and forth outside the office. “I don’t know about that.”

  “The whole office knows you’re alive now,” Bullings said. “The leak’s job just got a lot easier. I’d feel better knowing you were surrounded by plenty of Orange County’s finest.”

  “Right,” she said.

  “Can you trust him?” Archer asked after she hung up.

  “We’re not going through this again,” she said. “He’s the classic father figure. Bullings took me under his wing when I joined the Marshals. If I can’t trust him, then we’re already screwed.”